Broken Lawn Mower

Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right, and the other is usually the husband.

When our lawn mower broke and wouldn't run, my wife kept hinting to me that I should get it fixed. But, somehow I always had something else to take care of first: the truck, the car, e-mail, fishing, always something more important to me.

Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point. When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a few minutes. When I came out again I handed her a toothbrush 'When you finish cutting the grass,' I said, 'you might as well sweep the driveway.'

The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.

(Thanks to Ken Randell for sending this one to me)

In Memory of a Turtle

Friday afternoon Brooke and I were in the kitchen and Amanda came in from the back yard sobbing, "Gina (Geana) is dead!" We went outside thinking perhaps the turtle had just crawled up inside her shell and would not come out. Amanda then told us she found Gina upside down near the edge of the pen. It seems she crawled up on a brick and got turned on her back. The turtles usually turn themselves over when this happens, but Gina was missing a foot and was not as "mobile" as the other turtles. It seems this time she was not able to turn herself over and the sun got to the less protected bottom of her shell. She was indeed dead.

While Amanda cried and recalled what good turtle Gina was, I dug a hole and we buried her. Amanda wrote a story and a song (below) to remember Gina and then placed this "headstone" on her grave.


"Geana was a great turtle although she probably was sick, a great turtle like her should not die. I wrote a song for her."

Geana was a great turtle
for in my heart you are still here
You are still here.

Save a Forest...Shorten My Receipt!

What is up with the long receipts??? When I purchase something on my debit card, I fold up the receipt, stick it in my wallet, take it home and paper clip it with other receipts so that I can enter them into my computer checkbook. Some of these are so long my wallet doubles in size after I fold up the receipt and jam it in my wallet. Wal-Mart and Walgreens seem particularly guilty. I can usually fold their receipt in half and still see all the info I need to enter it into my checkbook (store name, date and total amount of sale). When we do "big shopping" at Wal-Mart this is not true, but if I get just a couple items, I get the extra long receipt.

When I have a complaint, I try to offer a solution. I have a suggestion in this case. Why doesn't somebody tell "Weird Al" Gore that he can save our planet simply by getting these companies (and others) to shorten their receipts? This will have a two-fold benefit: we can save trees AND Weird Al can support a cause that is actually backed by science and logic. Unfortunately will not be able to punish the "rich" to fill the government's coffers (oops, I mean to "save the poor") but he could go after "big business" and we all know that is a good thing, right?

Turning the World Upside Down

I came across something I thought was interesting as I was reading in Acts this week. In Acts 17, Paul and Silas visited Thessalonica after they gout out out of a Macedonian jail. Some of the Jews were converted and the Jewish leaders did not like it, so they gathered a mob, "set the city in a uproar" and took the city authorities to Jason's house where Paul and Silas were. What caught my attention was the charge they brought against them: "These who have turned the world upside down have come here, too." (Acts 17:6, KJV)

I thought about that and wondered if God expected the same of me. I mean, I'm a Christian just like Paul was. If he could turn the world upside down (his enemies' words), what does God want me to in my world?

The first thing that came to my mind was Jesus turning over the tables of the money changers upside down. "And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves." (Matt. 21:12, NASB) I don't think the Jewish leaders were saying Paul and company had literally turned the world upside down, but that was what first came to my mind. And when I thought that, I immediately thought, "I can't do that. That's not my personality, I'm not that kind of person."

I used to feel guilty for not being "that kind of person"...until I tried it on my own one time and fell flat on my face (long story...but Brad will remember it, the day we were at Chili's). When I got up off my face (figuratively), I kinda felt like God was laughing like a parent does when they don't want their kid to see them laughing, but they can't help themselves. He gently reminded me that he made me "ME" and not anybody else. He gave me my personality...all that I am AND all that I am not. He was very effective at getting my attention and reminding me to be just me...Rob.

So with all of that going through my head, I thought about the whole "turning the world upside down" thing again and God reminded me of a Scripture in Isaiah 5:20 that says, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" That Scripture has always reminded me of many things in our culture today where we accept as "normal" things that are upside down from the way God intended it.

And that's when it hit me. "Wait a minute. I CAN turn my world upside down. Actually, I'm just turning it right side up again." I don't have to run around throwing tables over, standing out and being seen. I can do what is right, treat people with kindness, show God's love in real ways and tell people about His love right where I am. I can take a stand for righteousness (without screaming at those who are not) and begin to turn the world upside down (right side up) right where God has placed me.

Turning the world upside down is not always about crashing tables and being loud. Actually, Jesus only did that with religious people, and it was an isolated incident. Paul was merely sharing what he knew and what Christ had done in his life when he was accused of turning the world upside down. I can do that much.

Quote

"It can be a terrible thing when a man identifies his aims with the will of God instead of submitting his aims to that will."

- William Barclay
commentary on Acts 17:13

Like "Duh, What Else Are THEY Going to Say"

Here's the FoxNews headline: Study: Congress Should Repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Here's the lead-in. Anybody else have a "duh" moment reading this?

WASHINGTON — Congress should repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" law because the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win, according to a new study released by a California-based research center.

How many California-based research centers are going to maintain their funding if they are not pro-gay?

Humor in Real Life

Amanda and I went for a motorcycle ride tonight out to Venus, TX and back. On the way home, we took the back roads to stay off the highway. When we were about 3/4 of the way home, I got adventuresome and tried a new way through the country. We were in the Mansfield/Rendon area, and I often ride around out there, get "lost" and drive around until I find a road or landmark that is familiar. Tonight, it took a little longer than usual to find something familiar.

Finally I started recognizing some road names (no longer CR 2403 or some other such name) and, although I did not know exactly where I was, I knew I was heading in the right direction to get home. Since it was after 9pm, I pulled off the road and called Brooke so she would not worry about us.

"Hey", I said. "We're kinda lost. I don't really know exactly where we are right now, but I do know we're heading in the right direction. I will call you again if we are not going to be home by 9:30."

"Are you OK?" replied Brooke. "Do you want me to come get you?"

Come get us? I laughed about that most of the way home. First of all, what good would it do to "come get us"? And secondly, if I don't know where we are, how can she come get us? I know...it's the thought that counts.

A Highlight From Our Trip

(click picture to enlarge)

Yea! My family is back with me and we are all home!! No time to catch you up on everything, but I've been to Alabama, picked up my family, been to the Liberty Fellowship family conference in North Carolina and we are now back home. Will blog more about all of this, but here's a picture of one of the highlights of our trip (for me).

Each year at the Liberty Fellowship family conference, Tuesday is "Family Day". Since Brooke was blessed with a generous love offering after doing the kids' camp in Alabama, we decided to take a family rafting trip down the Nantahala River in NC. We rented "ducks" as seen here. Amanda and I rode in a two person duck and Brooke rode in her own. The rapids were all class II, except for the last one (show here) which was a class III.

As we went through the first rapid, Brooke's eyes were as big as saucers because she did not know how to control her raft and Amanda cried all the way through. Brooke figured out how to control her raft by the next rapids and was doing better...it took Amanda about an hour and half before she could relax!

The class III rapids were right at the end of the ride, and there was a beach where you could get out and plan your approach through the last rapids. Brooke and Amanda decided they would just get out there, so I took Brooke's single person raft through the last rapid (pictured here).

Brooke said she had a good time, but Amanda said she does not want to do this again. I don't know when I'll get to do this again, but I had a BLAST and I'm thankful to my family for going with me this year.