Thursday, November 6, 2008
Taking out the trash
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Who am I?
Friday, August 15, 2008
Details...Details...Details!

Thursday, August 14, 2008
The cruel disappearing Magic trick!

I have always had fun with the habit my parents had with me. I would misbehave and one of my parents would say to the other "Your son.....". The angry parent would dis-own me in seconds. One bad decision made me disappear! It was like one of my friend's magic tricks. "Watch me lose a child in one bad decision!". I found myself doing that again this morning. My 7 month old was having trouble staying asleep at 2:30 due to congestion. When my wife woke up this morning for work I told her "Your son kept me up all night!". Now anybody that really knows me would know that I was just kidding but that behavior was followed with the thought "What if....What if God (Papa) said this to me and meant it?"
Wow....what a jaw dropper! I know this may catch people off guard but before you take offense, Think about it! I was given the "License to sin". I have made a commitment to a relationship that in return I was given the license to sin. This is a huge insurance policy that I did not earn but accepted as a gift. How would it feel to be told "your not my child any longer". There would be some major abandonment issues. "But why...what did I do for you to dis-own me???". This level of behavior could domino into a world of despair and pain in no time.

I am thankful to have a father that will love me no matter what I do! I am not trying to test him but I enjoy having this insurance policy...It makes things easier when I do make bad decisions!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Like Sheep
Once you were wandering like lost sheep. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:25)
On more than one occasion, the Bible compares Christians to sheep. I don't know if I'm really happy about that, because sheep are not the most intelligent animals on earth.
It would have been nice if God had compared us to dolphins. Now there's an intelligent animal. I once had the opportunity to talk to a man who trained dolphins. I asked him, "Are dolphins really as intelligent as they seem?" He said, "In some ways, yes, and in some ways, no. They are very intelligent in many ways, because a dolphin can read a symbol and understand what it means." That is amazing to me.
But Jesus didn't compare us to dolphins. He compared us to sheep. And sheep are some of the stupidest animals around.
They are easily spooked. They are vulnerable. They have no defense mechanisms to speak of. They can't run very fast. They are in constant need of care and attention. They have a horrible tendency to follow each other, even to their own death. It has been documented that if one sheep walks off a cliff, the others will follow.
The Bible says, "All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own" (Isaiah 53:6). Think about how many people have bought into the same lies, generation after generation. They fall into the same junk, the same addictions, and the same traps again and again.
We are like sheep. That is a fact. The question is, am I going to be a smart sheep or a dumb one? Smart sheep stay close to the Shepherd, and that is where we all need to be.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
To be alone with you - Sufjan Stevens
I'd sell my shoes
I'd give my body to be back again
In the rest of the room
To be alone with you
To be alone with you
You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and a family
You gave your ghost
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree
I've never known a man who loved me
Surrender!


Thursday, June 5, 2008
Clean - Inside Out

"You try to look like upright people outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:28)
People make changes in their lives for many reasons. Often it is when they face a crisis in life. It might be a heart attack. It might be the loss of a spouse through death or divorce. It might some other crisis that hits them, and they begin to evaluate their priorities and take stock of their lives. They determine to make changes.
But often the same people who vow to change end up going back to their old ways. We often hear of celebrities being admitted to drug rehabilitation centers. We hear about the great changes they have made. They tell their stories on television and write books about it. But then a few months later, we read that they have gone back to their old ways. Why? Because they have made moral changes in their lives, but they haven't gotten to the root of their problem, which is the absence of God in their lives.
Jesus warned the Pharisees, "First wash the inside of the cup, and then the outside will become clean, too" (Matthew 23:26). Jesus was telling them that they were missing the point when they only concentrated on the outward. They must first take care of the inward.
The clear mandate given to the church from the lips of Jesus Himself was to go into this world and preach the gospel, because when people truly find Him, it will change their lifestyle. If, as believers, we allow other things to detract us from this calling, then we are also missing the point. As Jesus said, "First wash the inside, . . . and then the outside will become clean, too." That is where we must focus our efforts.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Great Birthday!

But this year, I received a card from Carson. That was when it hit me! I am a father!!! I have just received the first of many cards to come. I actually teared up! It was absolutely great! Then I opened up the card from my wonderful and hot wife. It has a women in a night gown sitting on the master bed. The front said “This year I give you what you have always wanted!” and the inside said “24 hours of being right!”. So we had some fun with this! I began saying ridiculous stuff like “Honey, I think it would be best to buy a truck right now!” and my wife would look at the clock to see how much time was left until my 24 hours was up. And she would say “yes, your right!”. Honey, You know my life would be more meaningfull if you were not in it and she would look at the clock and let out a frustrated breath and say “yes, your right!”. “Honey, I know that your allergic to the grass but I think it would be a good idea if you mowed the lawn!” and she would look for the clock and say “yes, your right!”. We were having a lot of fun with this! She was talking about just giving it to me every year!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
I'm a MAN!!!!!
What makes a real man?
A friend of mine helped me make a dining room table and professed to his mother that "he is now a man" because he used the miter saw for the first time. Oh the "man dust" was sprinkled on him and he was instantly made a man!!!! (can't you hear the 100 member chior singing hallelujah!!)I think the answer is more simple than one would imagine, and I am more than thrilled to tell you I have found a definitive answer. But before I reveal this ground-breaking, earth-shattering breakthrough, I want to begin looking for the answer to the question by asking a few of my own.

First, is a man made by his courage?
You know, that whole “This is Sparta” thing. "My name is Maximus" Some would say so. Many, in fact. I for one think courage is overrated. Consider the apostle Peter. If he hadn’t been such a coward he never would have been such a shining example of restoration. And I think Peter was quite a man…fisherman, ear-cutter-offer. I don’t really think any man has courage when it comes down to it. Don’t believe me? Put any husband in a situation where he is being called out by his wife for (fill in the blank…forgetting to take out the trash, glancing at the TV during a Victoria’s Secret ad) and watch him squirm like a sniveling, pathetic six-year-old.
Then, is a man defined by his strength?
But what is strength? Being chisled and yoked? Or is it an inner thing–like doing the right thing in a situation when it is difficult to do so? When I was a kid, I saw this girl at the gym doing one day and I think she had like thirteen huge plates on each side of the weight bar. I looked at her upper legs and realized you could fit three of my entire body in one of them. I used the mirrors in the gym for several minutes to get a view of this person from every angle and I did indeed confirm that she was female. I then feared for my life, because I think she caught me doing this “research.” I exited to the “men’s locker room” ironically enough. Run away run away!
No, muscles do not make the man. Inner strength, then? It does take inner strength to be an adult male. Like when I am at a stoplight and the person behind me honks and instead of hitting the gas I stay on the brakes until the light turns yellow, then watch the guy’s expression as he has to wait for the next green at the light behind me as I zoom through the intersection. It also takes great strength to find your way to your destination when you are lost without asking a single solitary human soul just to show your spouse that no, you are not lost, but taking a “short cut.”
What about honor?

What about intelligence?
Have you ever seen Sixteen Candles? Of course you have. You know John Cusack’s character. He would not be considered "the man" in most social circles but I for one would because I loved this John Hughes character! I can just see him now with braces and starring at the girls underwear being held high by Anthony Michael Hall. But he would hardly be considered a man because of his smarts!
Is a man defined by the size of his truck tires?
Um…no. He is not. Chances are the guy with the big truck also was also the guy in elementary school that promised you a knuckle sandwich if you did not hand over your Snack Pack. But then again I am probably being judgmental. You may have a big truck and be a swell guy. But maybe, just maybe, you are overcompensating for something. Or maybe you just like making others plummet nine feet to the ground as they exit your vehicle, thus causing severe injury. I for one drive a old small SUV and can still beat you up very badly, big truck guy.
So what about conquests?
Surely a man is a man when he boasts of successful heists while carrying on his back the carcass of dead creatures slew by his own hand while dragging his maiden behind him home to roast his hunting prize.

My dad will have my hide for saying this because he raised me to be a hunter. For some reason when I was twelve years old (sitting in the woods in subzero temperatures staring down the barrel of my rifle at that fuzzy, defenseless rabbit that I could have very easily taken home as a pet) hunting was not my idea of a good time. Killing cute, cuddly things, whether in actuality or metaphorically in reference to locker room talk, does not strike me in any way to be representative of any of the aforementioned qualities of maledom. Yes, I still shot the rabbit. And retired from the sport shortly after I carried the steaming carcass out of the woods and bragged to all my friends about it.
OK, so, none of the above makes a real man, in my opinion.
So what does?
I am now going to tell you, and you are going to be shocked at how much this makes sense.
IF YOU CRY FOR GREAT MOMENTS IN SPORTS YOU ARE A REAL MAN!
That’s it.
That is, if you cry ONLY for great moments in sports. You have to possess the emotional vulnerability of petrified forest to be a true representative of the male species. You cannot even feel the tiniest tug on your heart for anything else. This especially includes tender moments with females, your children, Hallmark movoe or episodes of Extreme Home Makeover. You cannot show the faintest glint of breaking character even when songs like “Wild Horses” (by the Sundays not the Stones) are played around you. There is no reason to shed a tear in any–and I mean any–of life’s circumstances. Except one:
Here is the litmus test. I want you to watch the following three things. If you cry after these you are male. If you do not, you are female:
1. Go to youtube and type in “Autistic Basketball Player.”
2. Watch any Michael Jordan DVD
3. Find a replay of the 1987 college football game between Boston College and Miami when Doug Flutie threw a touchdown pass to Gerard Phelan with no time on the clock to win the game. I saw this live on TV when I was just a kid and I swear it changed my life. It made my eyeballs sweat!

**Author’s note: I do not actually play world of warcraft. But I think that commercial for the Toyota trucks is hilarious. In fact, I don’t think being a man has anything to do with football or sports. And also, I find that when guys are completely out of touch with their emotions it is actually a huge problem (which is why I was making fun of it in this post). Being a man, in truth, has everything to do with having, honor, courage, faith, emotional honesty, and trust in God. Just wanted to clarify. The blog is for your entertainment and the sarcasm is absolutely free!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
How do you live your dash?

A gentleman stood up to speak,At the funeral of a friend.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Just a thought!
If God had a refigerator, your
picture would be on it .
If He had a wallet your photo
would be in it .
He sends you flowers every
spring, and a sunrise every morning.
When you want to talk, He’ll listen .
He could live anywhere in the universe and He chose your Heart.
What about the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem ?
Not to mention that Friday at Calvary .
FACE IT, He’s CRAZY ABOUT YOU !