TOPIC: Preaching soon...
I get the opportunity to preach again in Big Kids' Church this coming Sunday...I really like to do this...ultimately, I love teaching teenagers about the things of God, but I also really dig the chances I get to do it with adult-type people...I am preaching about John 9, the passage of the man who has been blind his whole life, and then Jesus heals him..."I was blind but now I see!"...what a great summary of the Christian life...once we were stumbling around clueless, but then we met Jesus and He helped make sense of things...don't know how many people will be there on Sunday, seeing as how it is the day after Christmas and all...doesn't matter...still looking forward to it...now I just need to hope and pray that I feel better by then...don't want to be sniffling or hacking up phlegm throughout the sermon...
Thursday, December 23, 2004
TOPIC: Jury duty...
How did I get picked for jury duty???...I have only lived in this town for a year and a half, and I get picked?...ridiculous...anyway, I went in last week to do my duty as an American...Marcy's first question when I got home was, "Was it interesting?"...in a word, no...it was quite boring...we stood around for a while, then sat around for a long while while we were read instructions, and then questioned, first by the prosecutor, and then by the defense attorney...after a long recess, we were given the results...as it turns out, I was not selected to be one of the twelve...it's probably a good thing that I was not chosen, because the defense attorney was so annoying, so condescending, that I wanted the prosecutor to win on that basis alone...she treated us like we were third graders and had never heard of the judicial process before...I know, how childish of me to base the fate of a man on that...that's why I say that it is a good thing that I was not among the twelve...
How did I get picked for jury duty???...I have only lived in this town for a year and a half, and I get picked?...ridiculous...anyway, I went in last week to do my duty as an American...Marcy's first question when I got home was, "Was it interesting?"...in a word, no...it was quite boring...we stood around for a while, then sat around for a long while while we were read instructions, and then questioned, first by the prosecutor, and then by the defense attorney...after a long recess, we were given the results...as it turns out, I was not selected to be one of the twelve...it's probably a good thing that I was not chosen, because the defense attorney was so annoying, so condescending, that I wanted the prosecutor to win on that basis alone...she treated us like we were third graders and had never heard of the judicial process before...I know, how childish of me to base the fate of a man on that...that's why I say that it is a good thing that I was not among the twelve...
Monday, December 20, 2004
TOPIC: A Christmas Poem...
Here is a Christmas Poem that our high school youth group helped me create...it's a sort of Mad Libs...in case you can't figure it out, the words in italics are the ones I had them fill in...enjoy, and Merry Christmas...
'Twas the dog before Christmas and all through the clock,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a snowflake.
The hockey pucks were hung by the moose with care,
In hopes that George W. Bush would soon be smelly.
The monkeys were nestled all snug in their bumper cars,
While visions of dogs danced in their duck.
And Mom in her shovel and I in my snowman,
Had just settled down for a lysdexic winter's tree.
When out on the baby there arose such a clatter,
I skipped from my curtain to see what was the matter.
Away to the gator, I ran like a flash,
Tore open the on/off switch and threw up the boy.
When what to my wondering liver should appear,
But a bright sleigh and 32 ugly reindeer.
With a little old driver, so lively and greasy,
I knew in a moment it must be Marcy.
More rapid than boogers, the pencils they came,
And he vomited and licked and called them by name:
On Sasquatch and Elvis,
On Dave Matthews and Barbie.
On Tom York and Frosty the Snowman,
And Ashton Kutcher and Napoleon.
But I heard him squat as he drove out of sight,
"Yummy Christmas to all, and to all a good pig!"
Here is a Christmas Poem that our high school youth group helped me create...it's a sort of Mad Libs...in case you can't figure it out, the words in italics are the ones I had them fill in...enjoy, and Merry Christmas...
'Twas the dog before Christmas and all through the clock,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a snowflake.
The hockey pucks were hung by the moose with care,
In hopes that George W. Bush would soon be smelly.
The monkeys were nestled all snug in their bumper cars,
While visions of dogs danced in their duck.
And Mom in her shovel and I in my snowman,
Had just settled down for a lysdexic winter's tree.
When out on the baby there arose such a clatter,
I skipped from my curtain to see what was the matter.
Away to the gator, I ran like a flash,
Tore open the on/off switch and threw up the boy.
When what to my wondering liver should appear,
But a bright sleigh and 32 ugly reindeer.
With a little old driver, so lively and greasy,
I knew in a moment it must be Marcy.
More rapid than boogers, the pencils they came,
And he vomited and licked and called them by name:
On Sasquatch and Elvis,
On Dave Matthews and Barbie.
On Tom York and Frosty the Snowman,
And Ashton Kutcher and Napoleon.
But I heard him squat as he drove out of sight,
"Yummy Christmas to all, and to all a good pig!"
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
TOPIC: Discipline
If you have read this blog at all, you probably know that I have a puppy...she is now a little over 5 months old...for the past several weeks, we have been taking her through obedience classes...that has been very good for her, and for us...this coming week, we actually have to be tested to see if Attie passes and gets her diploma...she has been doing very well, so we had no reason to believe that she wouldn't graduate...then comes last night...it was not a good night of training...it seemed like the things she had learned about stay-ing had been completely removed from her doggie mental framework...I would tell her to stay, and she would stand up and walk right along with me, as if I had never said anything...as a result, she would get quite a yank on her pinch collar...the more and more I did this, the more timid she would get...she also, surprisingly enough, got very loving...she knew something was wrong, and she probably knew I was causing it, but it just made her want to cuddle up to my legs and have me hold her...man, did I feel awful!...I was hurting her, but she just loved on me all the more...I knew what I was doing was for her own good...it still hurt, though...I wonder: does God hurt when He disciplines us?...and why don't we love Him all the more when He does?...hmmmm...
If you have read this blog at all, you probably know that I have a puppy...she is now a little over 5 months old...for the past several weeks, we have been taking her through obedience classes...that has been very good for her, and for us...this coming week, we actually have to be tested to see if Attie passes and gets her diploma...she has been doing very well, so we had no reason to believe that she wouldn't graduate...then comes last night...it was not a good night of training...it seemed like the things she had learned about stay-ing had been completely removed from her doggie mental framework...I would tell her to stay, and she would stand up and walk right along with me, as if I had never said anything...as a result, she would get quite a yank on her pinch collar...the more and more I did this, the more timid she would get...she also, surprisingly enough, got very loving...she knew something was wrong, and she probably knew I was causing it, but it just made her want to cuddle up to my legs and have me hold her...man, did I feel awful!...I was hurting her, but she just loved on me all the more...I knew what I was doing was for her own good...it still hurt, though...I wonder: does God hurt when He disciplines us?...and why don't we love Him all the more when He does?...hmmmm...
Thursday, December 09, 2004
TOPIC: God makes me shake my head
As I type this post, I am listening to an MP3 of my cousin preaching at my home church in Ohio...it makes me think about our family and what we are doing with our lives...here I am, in Missouri, a youth pastor...my cousin that is preaching on my computer right now is a worship leader in Ohio...another cousin is a youth pastor in Pennsylvania...how weird is it to have three people in the same family in full-time ministry?...and my brother is seminary-trained, too...makes me shake my head...this is not to downplay anyone else who works at a job outside of the local church...I know they have a ministry that is just as important as the ones we hold in the church...but as I think about our childhoods (can that be pluralized?), I just find it a little baffling the way that God has directed our lives...He never ceases to surprise me...
As I type this post, I am listening to an MP3 of my cousin preaching at my home church in Ohio...it makes me think about our family and what we are doing with our lives...here I am, in Missouri, a youth pastor...my cousin that is preaching on my computer right now is a worship leader in Ohio...another cousin is a youth pastor in Pennsylvania...how weird is it to have three people in the same family in full-time ministry?...and my brother is seminary-trained, too...makes me shake my head...this is not to downplay anyone else who works at a job outside of the local church...I know they have a ministry that is just as important as the ones we hold in the church...but as I think about our childhoods (can that be pluralized?), I just find it a little baffling the way that God has directed our lives...He never ceases to surprise me...
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
TOPIC: Closeness...
I have a good dog...this morning, Attie sat patiently by the back door, waiting for me to finish drinking my coffee and reading my Bible...I finally got up to let her out...she wandered out to the back sidewalk, but instead of running around the yard sniffing leaves or going into the yard to facilitize (go to the bathroom), she started heaving and came back up on the porch with me...I recognized that she was getting ready to throw up, so I tried to get her back down into the yard so as not to make a mess on the porch...but she wanted to stay close to me...so I simply petted her and talked with her while she vomited on the porch - twice...it's like that with our relationship with God...we are happy to run around the yard, footloose and fancy-free, until things are cruddy...then we scamper back up onto the porch to puke before God...the difference is that God never tries to push us back down into the yard...He simply strokes our back and speaks softly to us...I have a good God...
I have a good dog...this morning, Attie sat patiently by the back door, waiting for me to finish drinking my coffee and reading my Bible...I finally got up to let her out...she wandered out to the back sidewalk, but instead of running around the yard sniffing leaves or going into the yard to facilitize (go to the bathroom), she started heaving and came back up on the porch with me...I recognized that she was getting ready to throw up, so I tried to get her back down into the yard so as not to make a mess on the porch...but she wanted to stay close to me...so I simply petted her and talked with her while she vomited on the porch - twice...it's like that with our relationship with God...we are happy to run around the yard, footloose and fancy-free, until things are cruddy...then we scamper back up onto the porch to puke before God...the difference is that God never tries to push us back down into the yard...He simply strokes our back and speaks softly to us...I have a good God...
Monday, December 06, 2004
TOPIC: The sports doldrums...
Thank goodness for Lebron James and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers...if it weren't for them, I would be in a majorly bummed state as far as my sports loyalties go...the OSU Buckeyes never really showed up this year (except for against Michigan, which was nice)...the Browns are pitiful (except that Luke McCown got a start, which I predicted before the season)...and my fantasy football team reeks in a significant way...all I can say is, "Go Cavs!"
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