mmm hmmm

well, it's cold.  i'm cold from snow blowing for the 348,723 time this month.  awesome.  what's your favorite part about winter.  i personally like snow blowing a lot.  i also enjoy shoveling, cleaning the snow and 4 inch thick ice off my sweet 99' ranger.  i'm fond of buying and spreading salt out on my walk ways so that the kids skipping on to school and the mail person don't wipe out, fracture their femurs and sue the crap out of us.  oh, what else...it's so hard to narrow this down to just one favorite.  ha! i got it.  driving 11 mph on the freeway and having some lady blow by me doing like 75 mph in her rad 4x4.  now that rocks my socks right off.  all kidding aside, i actually do like the winter.  i like snow ball fights, sledding, paying more to my gas supplier to heat my house...aww yes...winter.  please, let the rest of us know your favorite parts about winter.  stay warm and may God be with us all.

the sweetness

hi all,

yeah, it's been forever.  so here's what i'm wantin' to yap about.  what did you think about the bitterness message last night?  how did it effect you?  are you struggling to forgive someone?  what's been holding you back from forgiving.  if you have a great story of forgiving and letting the bitter root die, will you share it?  and lastly, who wants more chocolate!

looking forward to you responses!  love ya'll!

the longest and busiest weekend of all time and it all started with the dumbest snow storm ever

my weekend was long and tiresome yet fulfilling.   tonight, christi and i are recovering.  i am really too tired to say much other than to say that i am grateful for everything we had going on this weekend as well as grateful that God got me through trucking on friday through deathstorm '08!  you ever notice that sometimes the things we dread can be just what we needed..kinda like a shot.  no one wants to get a shot but, it is just what they need to recover or feel better.  this weekend was like a shot.  we had 73,293,002,849 things to do and most of it was to serve others and visit our family which left me no time to be selfish and that messed with my flesh.  ha ha haha ha!  everything went great and i do feel better.  i dreaded this past weekend like a shot...but after going through it all, i feel better for it.  just my simple thoughts.  God bless.

the good guys

i'm on the connection team at connection church.  basically, i call people who are newer and in the age range of 18-30.  today, i talked to a fine gentleman named Scott.  he tells me he and his wife like our church a lot.  i invite them to besideus (our young adults ministry) and he informs me that due to the fact that he is in the army, his schedule makes it difficult for him to attend church much.  i thanked him for his service (i have the highest respect for those who serve in our military).  i asked him if i could get a little personal with him and assured him that it was just a military question.  after he agreed, i asked "on returning from war, our WWII vets were thrown parades and people adored them for their bravery, commitment, and sacrifice...rightly so.  when our troops returned from Vietnam, we didn't throw any parades, we threw rocks and hurled insults...frankly disgusting.  how have you been received by the civilians since returning to the states?"  i gotta be honest.  i really and truthfully expected to hear him say that everyone has been great.  maybe some have thanked him and maybe some guys shook his hand or offered to buy him a coffee or a beer or something just to say "thank you".  i really believed that our generation would not repeat the ignorance, and i mean with complete sincerity the absolute ignorance of those in the past who treated our beloved military sons and daughters less than unwanted.  Scott begins to tell me how he was just getting home from a military funeral for a colonel who died while serving in Iraq.  he said that after the funeral, he stopped off at a meijer store to grab a few things and he said that while he was walking through the store, several people gave him dirty looks and angry glares.  need i comment further?  i mean, do i really need to say anything at all?  look, i know that a lot of americans out there would at the very least pass a man or woman in uniform and treat them the same as anyone else.  but obviously there are a handful of so called americans who feel that they are smarter than those who make the big decisions and could have done a better job themselves.  please, no matter what your stance is on this or any war at all, have the decency to treat our military servants, active or veteran, with at least the same respect you would any other human being.  for you who feel the need to display your unkind gestures to our service men and women, you can take freedom of speech and freedom of the anti war glaring stink eye and shove it.  it's called respect and some people in this country could use a lesson in what that means.  i can tell you now that i am not mr. pro war...however there is a time for war and when that time comes, we need to honor those who serve.  let's not forget who the good guys are.   

keep a yo head up

you remember that song that i think came out in like the 80's, the one that went: "keep a yo head up-ooh child, things are gonna get easier-ooh child things 'll get brighter"...i can't say that things are gonna get easier but let me plead with ya'll...keep your heads up.  all day long all i heard on the radio was about how horrible things are in michigan, the country, the economy, the world, and on and on.  i'm not blind to the fact that this is the hardest time our generation has ever seen and that many of you are hurting and struggling  and worrying and i can understand but please, please keep you heads up!  God is aware of all you are going through.  He isn't caught off guard by the things that are happening.  I believe with all my heart that now is the time, if you aren't already, to give it all to God.  all you got.  leave nothing behind.  i know that this is the typical thing many of you would expect me to say but know that i too need to follow my own pleading for laying all we have before the throne and trusting God completely with all that is our lives.  happy friday.  rain down your joy on us daddy...let it rain!!!

oh, the winter

i like living in michigan.  i haven't always liked it but, as i have gotten older i have learned to appreciate the beauty of the 4 seasons.  many places have 2 long seasons with like a couple a weeks of fall and a week of spring.  but in the mitten we get 4 squares a year.  with the change of seasons come the bodies reaction to the change.  i just had my annual holiday with my pal mr. sinus/head cold this week.  that was a real treat.  i can't help when looking at how seasons changing effect the inhabitants of the area in transformation.  when winter arrives, we are all effected greatly.  it's unavoidable unless you uproot and move to a warmer climate.  this is how i think it is spiritually for us in the midst of the changing of seasons.  when the time for summer seasons in our spirituality give way to a terrifically brutal winter, we typically look for a way out, a way back to the comfort of the warmth.  most of us will whine and complain about how things were in the "summer" while a small group of people run into the blistering winds with an eagerness to be tested...to be taught what only winters can teach.  while most hibernate begging for the return of the good old days when life was comfortable and easy, scheduled and predictable, a few of us relish the late sunrise and the early dusk.  we want to grow.  we want to have stories to tell others about how we fought the cold with wise snow caps and jackets of righteousness.  our winter boots leading us and the peace that was only given to those who trust the leading of those boots of wool and rubber.  a few, only a few want to hand these ways down to their children and their childrens children.  those fanatical lunatics cry out "bring forth the warfare!"  if you're one of those crazy fearless fanatics then you know just how to enter a winter just by simply asking for it...just ask God who gives generously "Daddy, i want to love people more, i want to be more patient, give me wisdom, whatever it takes, i want it and i want to give it back in return."  while most ask for summer, the believers know that there comes a time when you get down on your knees and softly ask our Heavenly Father to send a cold breeze their way.

wow...missed bloggin'

so, my amazing mac went on the fritz, the hard drive crashed and so i had to give up my laptop for a few days.  i've spent most of my free time the last couple days trying to restore my mac back to the way it was when i turned it in (i could preach metaphorically on that for about a solid 20 minutes).  

anywho, i was thinking about Justin's message in besideus last night and it was really good to hear what he had to say about the cost of following Jesus.  not because it was a flowery, easy to hear message with promises of eternal bliss, but because it was the truth.  the cost of following Jesus completely is great but so is the reward.

write me back.  i want to know what runs through your mind when you hear someone explain the cost of following Jesus completely and being willing to give up EVERYTHING to follow Him to the end.  be real.  be honest with yourself.  i won't lie...i know beyond any doubt that His way of living would bring anyone who follows Him to the fullest life imaginable, but it is hard to get out of that every day, me-me-me, materialistic and worldy mind set.  

to sum Justin's message up, i think what Jesus said when He told us we had to take up our cross DAILY and follow Him is what this is all about.  okay, i'll wait to hear back from ya'll.