Nov
6
Boy In The Bubbles aka A Bubble Tsunami!
Filed Under My Life | 9 Comments
I have to admit I’m a proud grandfather. I’ve talked to other grandparents and I would have to say the feeling is mutual. One of the reasons I have heard concerning why it’s great to be a grandparent is you can enjoy them and then hand them back to the parents. I agree with that with this caveat - I think you enjoy them more because you are much more calm and mellow with your grandkids than you were with your own kids. Being on the other side of raising our own kids has made me really appreciate my grandkids. I really savor the time I have with them. I think if we are truly honest with ourselves there are things we look back on concerning our children and wish we had spent a little more time enjoying certain things that at the time you don’t really appreciate. With the grandkids we know what’s coming, we’ve been through it before, we can truly appreciate those first steps, the funny things they say and do, etc. Enough gab, here’s a picture of our grandson Matthew in our whirlpool tub. We had been outside playing frisbee and he got a little dirty so we put him in the tub to get a bath. Of course we had to put a little bubble bath in there. Our tub has a bubble feature where air bubbles come up from little holes in the bottom of the tub. Bubble bath + air bubbles = a Bubble Tsunami!
Nov
4
Do you ever reme
mber seeing a movie or television show where the miner comes running into town screaming “There’s gold in them there hills!” Everyone would get excited, get their mules, their tools, and other supplies and head off into the hills. When some got there they would just pick up the stuff that was easy to get and make a few quick dollars. Others were in it for the long haul. The didn’t just go for the gold that was laying on the surface, they went for the big vein that was down deep. To reach that big vein that was under the surface it took some digging. It’s no different in the Word, there is gold in there, we just have to slow down a little and spend some time digging in the same spot until we strike it. Lately I’ve been camping and digging in Acts chapters 1 through 5. I’ve been reading through it daily at least once. I think it’s easy for us some times to just get into a habit of “I have to read my X number of chapters today” and not just slow down and let the Holy Spirit enlighten parts of the Word to us. It seems as though every time I read these chapters I see something different, I get another nugget. I’ve decided I’m just going to stay there and dig until I mine all the gold I can from these 5 chapters. The awesome thing about the Word is I could probably stay there forever and still not mine all the riches that are there.
Oct
24
What Is the Church? Part 2
Filed Under My Life | 3 Comments
This is part two of what will probably be a never-ending string of posts. Remember to read my disclaimer before reading any of my posts. It’s just to the right under “Disclaimer”. The things I say in this post may step on some toes, mine included, but here we go anyway.
I saw a quote today from a guy named Dan Edelen that really solidified some thoughts I have had about church in the good ole US of A.
Busyness is crippling the effectiveness of the American Church, but no one wants to fix the root causes because doing so would call into question the very nature of our modern society.
A church in any culture naturally takes on elements of that culture. Different cultures do things differently. All this is fine as except when something in that culture is in direct violation of Scripture. Obviously the Word takes precedence. That being said I think many things we do in church that we consider to be “God’s way” of doing things is in reality a product of our culture. Again, nothing wrong with that if we realize that these things are just that, cultural things, or we could say personal choices.
Let’s look at an example. Actually let’s grab a big bull by the horns and use the example of music. How many fights have you heard about in churches over the music, particularly the style of music. The arguments usually end at this point - One side says God “can” use this music, the other side says God “can’t” use this music. What do we have? A fight over personal taste in music. Period, over, out. Nothing more than that.
Ok, back to the quote. A huge part of our culture in the USA is busyness. Think about it, if you aren’t busy you aren’t being productive. This has been ingrained in all of us. But, activity and productivity don’t always go hand in hand. Am I advocating lazyness, No, definitely not. What I am saying is this. As churches we can keep ourselves so busy with christian activities that we forget the one we are trying to serve in the first place. This is a place that God has really been dealing with me lately. We all have to find out in each of our lives what is vital and necessary and what needs to be pruned. Pruning hurts but a tree that has been pruned bears more fruit. I’m not finished on this subject. I have some other thoughts on this that are still running around in my head that I’ll post in the future as they become more solidified.
Oct
19
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Oct
2
It’s Great To Be Back
Filed Under My Journey, My Life | 3 Comments
I told Susan today that I finally feel like I’ve rounded the corner in this recovery process from the burns. It’s been a little over 5 months since the accident and I’m taking no more medications (not that I took alot anyway), I have full mobility in my arm and shoulder, the pain is minimal at this point, the scarring is light, and I’m able to do just about anything. The only thing I really need to be careful of is getting out in the sun without sunscreen, a long sleeve shirt, and a hat. I forgot the sunscreen the other day and the right side of my face and neck looked like a freshly cooked lobster. Anyway, it’s great to be back!