Just Chillin' With the Ladies

It seems there is always something going on. This week is VBS at the church, so our days are pretty full. Last night, Amanda and I did a few geocaches while Brooke laid down with a migraine and sore back (doesn't that sound like fun). Tonight we stayed home. After dinner, I took the dogs out to play in field behind our house. We have not had them out much without their leashes so I was not sure how it would go, but they stayed close, came when I called them and had a great time running around. When we came in, Amanda wanted to go outside and play, so we took the dogs back out, played 'Monkey in the Middle' (Amanda, Sully and me), ran around with the dogs and then came back to the back yard to let the turtles out for a stroll. After that, we came in, Amanda got a bath before bed and I sat down with Brooke to watch the Mavericks lose the NBA playoffs. I'm not a big basketball fan (I'm not a sports fan period), but tonight was just a good night to chill out with the ladies in my life.

- Rob

Study Your Skills to Reveal Your Assignment

"When I was six years old, my father build us a house. Architectural Digest didn't notice, but my mom sure did. Dad constructed it, board by board, every day after work. My youth didn't deter him from giving me a job. He tied an empty nail apron around my waist, placed a magnet in my hands, and sent me on daily patrols around the building site, carrying my magnet only inches off the ground.

One look at my tools and you could guess my job. Stray-nail collector.

One look at yours and the same can be said. Brick by brick, life by life, God is creating a kingdom, a "spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5 CEV). He entrusted you with a key task in the project. Examine your tools and discover it. Your ability unveils your destiny. "If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ." (1 Pet. 4:11). When God give an assignment, he also gives the skill. Study your sills, then, to reveal your assignment.

Look at you. Your uncanny ease with numbers. Your quenchless curiosity about chemistry. Others stare at blueprints and yawn; you read them and drool. "I was made to do this," you say.

Heed that inner music. No one else hears it the way you do."

- Taken from Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado

We Need God in America Again

That's the title to a song by Carman, but that's not exactly what I was referring to. When I read news stories about terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan or wherever in the Middle East, America is referred to as an infidel, etc. The terrorists claim they are in a holy war and their god (Allah) wants to punish us. I sure think it would be awesome if America would turn back to God and would say (as a whole nation, with pride) ONE NATIONS UNDER GOD. Why? Well, there is the obvious benefit of God's blessings and protection. But I'm being a little less heavenly-minded I guess. I would like to see America united as one nation under God so we could say to these terrorists, "Your god wanna pick a fight with our God? OK, let's rumble!"

Of course we would have to make a LOT of changes as a nation in order for this to happen, and my "cool scenario" could not be our motivation for doing so....but it would be cool, wouldn't it? I'm not talking about destroying another nation being cool, but I am talking about being able to live like Israel did (at times) in the Old Testament where they could sit back and watch God fight for them because they were God's people. How cool would it be to have America say, "We choose (to live for, obey and run our country like) the God of the Bible"? Hmmm...I guess this would be easier to accomplish if the Church would do it first, huh.

II Chronicles 20:17 (NET Bible)
"You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you."

But what made me think about this, again, today was reading Isaiah 46. It is a little more accurate picture of where America is with God today. Sure would be some good advice to follow as a nation.

Isaiah 46 (NLT)
The idols of Babylon, Bel and Nebo, are being hauled away on ox carts. But look! The beasts are staggering under the weight! Both the idols and the ones carrying them are bowed down. The gods cannot protect the people, and the people cannot protect the gods. They go off into captivity together.

"Listen to me, all you who are left in Israel. I created you and have cared for you since before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime--until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

"To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal? Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it. Then they bow down and worship it! They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there. It cannot even move! And when someone prays to it, there is no answer. It has no power to get anyone out of trouble.

"Do not forget this, you guilty ones. And do not forget the things I have done throughout history. For I am God--I alone! I am God, and there is no one else like me. Only I can tell you what is going to happen even before it happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. I will call a swift bird of prey from the east--a leader from a distant land who will come and do my bidding. I have said I would do it, and I will. Listen to me, you stubborn, evil people! For I am ready to set things right, not in the distant future, but right now! I am ready to save Jerusalem and give my glory to Israel.

- Rob

You Can Watch It, But You Can't Like It...

I had to laugh when I read this (origianl story here, full story copied below):

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Phnom Penh patriarch Non Nget has told Cambodia's 40,000 Buddhist monks to remain passive while watching World Cup soccer games or be defrocked.

Non Nget said Monday monks should not watch the games in public, cheer or bet on matches as such actions were against Buddhism.

"It is very difficult to ban them because new technology means the games can be aired live and seen everywhere," he said. "They may watch, but must be calm."

"But if they make noise or cheer as they watch, they will lose their monkhoods," Non Nget told Reuters.

Pros and Cons of Turtle Ownership

My friend Stephen posted a comment under the posting of Little George O'Mally's picture. Stephen said: Okay so give me the pro's and con's of having a turtle. We are thinking of letting the kids get one but I have heard they are fairly dirty and hard to own. Truth to that?

So here's all I know/have experienced about Box Turtle care.

• I read online that Box Turtles are hard to keep, but it hasn't been too hard for me. I'll tell you what I do to take care of them below.
• As far as dirty. I also read that they can carry salmonella, so we always was our hands thoroughly after handling them.
• From what I read, it is much easier keeping them outside. If you keep them inside, you need a LARGE container and an aquarium will not do. If inside, you also have to purchase a special kind of light because they need sunlight (and you have to provide something artificial inside). Also, you would need to cover the bottom of your pen with dirt, leaves, etc because artificial surfaces can cause their legs to be deformed, their 'beaks' to get too long and their toenails to get too long.
• So I keep my turtles outside. We have two turtles now and they are in pen that is 15 foot by 9 foot.
• A chain link fence will not work for a turtle pen because they will drive themselves crazy trying to get through it. What I read said you needed 16-18 inches of wall to keep them from climbing out, but cinder blocks would work for our turtles. But then again, I don't know how big they will get 5 years from now (they can easily live to be 50 years old).
• Box Turtle care: I did not know this, but Box Turtles need humidity/moisture. If they do not get it, they develop eye and ear problems. You can soak your turtle (throwing them in the pool for a 'swim' would not work due to the chemicals) or you can do what I do and water the pen area 1-2 times a day making sure to soak the turtle as well.
• Food: with a big enough pen area, turtles can find quite a few bugs to supplement their diet. Little George always comes out after I water the pen because it seems easier for him to find bugs. I usually feed them every-other day rotating Romain lettuce and superworms from the pet store (about $6 for 50 worms). They supposedly eat other apples, strawberries and an occasional banana, but I've not had much luck with that. The lettuce has to be the dark green stuff like leaf lettuce, Romain or some kind of greens. Spinach is not good for them (don't know why) and Iceberg lettuce is not either because it has no nutrients. I usually feed the little turtle 3-4 worms and the bigger one 4-5. Pet stores sell turtle food in pellet form. My turtles don't seem to like it, but the dog does!
  
• Water source: As you can see from the pictures below, I dug a hole in the turtle pen and placed a plastic trash can lid upside down to provide water. I guess they drink out of this, but they also drink out of temporary puddles on the ground when I water their pen. They can also swim in this, but ours rarely do this. Water should be dumped and refilled daily to reduce likelihood of salmonella. I have heard that they make tablets you can put in the water to kill the salmonella, but I don't do that.
  
• Winter time: In the winter, you have one of 2 choices 1) Let the turtle go in the wild so it can hibernate, but since you are getting it for the kidos, you will be 'evil' if you choose this option. 2) Figure out how to hibernate them yourself. I have read online about how some people almost 'pack up their turtles for the winter' and go through all of this elaborate packing them in with bags of leaves,etc. What I found that makes the most sense to me is till up the ground in their pen and let them dig themselves in for the winter. It seems they only need to go a few inches down to make it through Texas winters. I am going to till up a section of their pen real well and with the dirt that loose and moist, they will be able to dig down several inches (turtles are good diggers so I'm only tilling the middle of their pen so they can't dig under the pen wall and fence).
• I guess that looks like a lot, but I enjoy the turtles and don't think of it as a pain. There was the initial time investment of building the pen (gave give you instructions on how to build a SIMPLE pen like this if interested). Feeding them every other day is not too time consuming and I usually do it with Amanda to spend time with her. Watering the pen doesn't take much time and I have the hose readily available, so it's no big deal. I don't know about the hibernating thing yet. I just know you are supposed to make sure they have plenty to eat before they go into hibernation so they can make it through the winter. The superworms are kinda nasty, but it's not bad.

So I guess I did not label any of that 'pro' or 'con'. You can apply your own labels. I read Box Turtles are hard to care for, but our seems to be doing ok and I don't think they are too much trouble. They seem to be doing ok. I think having the outside helps. That's all I know. Here are some pictures.

Grumpy O'Mally (left) is a Three-Toe box turtle
Little George O'Mally is a Texas Ornate box turtle
(Little George is small because he is younger)

Outside of the turtle pen. 16 inch walls along the side to keep them in. The cinder blocks are a little for support, but mostly to cover up low spots where they might get out.

Inside turtle pen. Upside down platic trash can lid for water, round stone for sunning and putting dinner on, log pile for Grumpy (his favorite spot to hang out) and cinder blocks to cover low spots and a place where Little George likes to hang out to get out of the sun.

- Rob

This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING 'SPEAK ENGLISH'

..."They don't know how lucky they are. All we're asking them to do is learn the English language," said Geno's owner Joseph Vento, 66. "We're out to help these people, but they've got to help themselves, too."

Vento, whose grandparents struggled to learn English after immigrating from Sicily in the 1920s, said he posted the sign about six months ago amid concerns over immigration reform and the increasing number of customers who could not order in English when they wanted Philly's gooey, greasy specialty — fried steak, sliced or chopped, in a long roll, with cheese and fried onions....

Read the rest of the article here.

- Rob

Just Out For a Walk

Little George O'Mally going for an after-dinner walk today

It Went Off WITH a Hitch

Generally speaking, having something go off WITHOUT a hitch is a good thing unless you are perform a wedding in which case the hitch (getting hitched) is pretty important.

So tonight, there was a hitch and the hitch had a name...Bobby and Rachel Rodriguez. Bobby and Rachel grew up in the youth group when I was youth pastor. Both were active in the youth group and have stayed active in various ministries in the church since they graduated from high school. When they approached me several months ago and asked me if I would perform their wedding ceremony, I was honored. We have spent the past 5 weeks in pre-marital counseling, the rehearsal was last night and the big event was at 6:30pm tonight.

The wedding tonight was extra special for me. Not only was it cool seeing two of my youth group kids getting married, but I got to do the service and it was my first wedding. There were lots of things that made me sad when I transitioned from being youth pastor to administrative pastor a little over a year ago (like 'leaving' kids I loved and spent my life for), but I had only one regret...I was leaving the youth pastorate and I never got to do a wedding for any of my youth group kids. I was honored that Bobby and Rachel asked me to participate in this part of their lives.

The pre-marital counseling went well from my perspective. What you learn about marriage comes from experience and not from listening to somebody talk about it, but I hope I gave them some things to watch out for and perhaps some 'preventative medicine'. The rehearsal got started late last night, but we were done in time to get to the dinner, and the rehearsal ran smoothly. The wedding tonight was great. Rachel looked lovely and I got to hold hands with Bobby! Actually, I just shook his hand in the wedding pictures, but we had to hold the pose and we both laughed about it.

Speaking of laughing, there was one funny part in the service, but I'm not sure if anybody who was not on stage caught it. Bobby and Rachel chose big bands for wedding rings. When I took the rings out of the box to give to the best man and maid of honor before the service, I thought how VERY similar they looked. During the service, I took the rings back from the best man and maid of honor. I held them in my open palm and told Bobby to take Rachel's ring and put it on her finger. He took a ring and as I was about to start reading the vows for him to repeat, I heard Rachel say, "It's the wrong one!" The rings looked so much alike, Bobby grabbed the wrong one. We made a quick switch and I'm not sure how many people caught it, but it was kinda funny.

So tonight was a good night. Family and friends got to witness two 'kids' pledge their lives to each other, place Christ in the center of their marriage and ask God to bless them. Marriage was God's idea, and it was fun celebrating this 'great idea' tonight. It went well, and it went off WITH a hitch.

- Rob

A Day Without Volunteers

Not long ago some people attempted to make a statement by staging a "Day Without Immigrants". As I was sitting in church this past Sunday, I thought about what a "Day Without Volunteers" would look like at the Vine Fellowship. Our volunteers at the Vine would never organize something like this, but I did think about what the service would have looked like on a Day Without Volunteers.

The first thing that would have happened to our guests on a Day Without Volunteers is...nothing! There would be no usher to open the door for them, no greeter to greet them, nobody to hand them a bulletin and nobody to offer them coffee. We serve Starbucks coffee at our church, but it is made each week by volunteers. Sorry, no coffee this week. And how many people would want a bulletin that wasn't folded and had two inserts per page because nobody had cut them? No volunteer to do this.

And if we had guests, it would be easier if they had no children and arrived early because there would be no greeters to tell them where to take their children, and even if they figured it out on their own, there would be nobody in the nursery or helping in the children's department. And if they arrived late, they would probably just turn around in the parking lot and go home because there were no ushers put out cones and a sign showing them where to park after the parking lot filled up.

But supposing they came early, they had no kids and they didn't really care for coffee. I hope they don't mind finding their own seat in a sanctuary full of strangers because there would be no usher to help seat them. Of course, once they found their seat and service started, it would probably be much different than anything else they have ever experienced. Hopefully they know the words to all the worship songs because there are no volunteers to run the worship software and project the words onto the screen. And hopefully they like one-man-bands because Brad is the entire worship team on a Day Without Volunteers. Maybe people can make requests for their favorite instrument: Brad can play guitar this week, drums next and the piano every third Sunday.

Then there would be the offering. I'm not sure if offering would be up or down. After all, there would be no ushers, so Pastor would have to have each row come down front one by one while he held out the offering basket. Would a guest give just because they have to face the pastor and not put money in, or would they withhold what they were going to put in the offering because they were too intimidated to go up front their first Sunday?

I guess communion would have to be served in a similar fashion to how the offering was taken up...everybody come down front to Pastor. Actually, it would be more like "Here, pinch off a piece of this pita bread and take a swig out of this half gallon grape juice jar" because there were no volunteers to prepare the elements for communion.

At least announcements would be short. There would be no Retro, Young Marrieds, Silver Edition, youth or children's ministry announcements because there would be no functioning ministry on a Day Without Volunteers. Actually, people would have a lot more time on their hands...no ministry activities or outreaches and no Life Groups without volunteers.

But maybe the extra time in the service would be good so that there was time at the end of the service for people to wait in line to be prayed for. If only 15 people wanted prayer and Pastor had to pray for each one himself, that might take a while.

I guess the paid staff could have done some of this...they do serve each week. Let's see, Stan is a coffee drinker and a people person. He could have made the coffee and greeted all of the guests. Rob is an organizer, so he could have run ALL the sign up tables (except they would not be needed if there were no volunteers to run the events/outreaches). Tammy could have taken the bulletins home after work during the week and cut, folded and stuffed them. Maybe Brad really could play a different instrument each week. If Eva served communion to everybody, at least she'd make sure no crumbs got dropped on the floor since she's the one to clean it up. Maybe Brooke could have been in 4 classrooms at one time and overseen all the children's ministry, and certainly Shaun can handle 70+ students at one time by himself with the youth ministry. If Jason came to church before the sun came up, he would have time to set up cones in the parking lot before getting all the sound stuff ready for Brad's one-man-band and worship. And I'm sure Pastor could take up the offering, preach, serve communion to everybody AND pray for everybody who needs individual prayer. Sunday is his only work day anyway, right? Oops...who's going to help take up all of the chairs after service? Ah, if the female staff members help, it won't take more than half an hour!

So I have to admit, at various times during the service on Sunday I was distracted. Every time I saw a volunteer doing something, I thought about how the church could not function on a Day Without Volunteers.

- Rob

GeoWoodstock 4

Amanda and I started geocaching in February, and just a short time later, we began hearing about something called "GeoWoodstock 4" (AK G4). GeoWoodstock is basically the biggest gathering of geocachers from around the world, and this was the fourth year the event was held. As we got more into geocaching and found out what a big deal G4 was, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to be there since it was being held here this year (Cedar Hill State Park).

Since we live so close and since we had other stuff going on this weekend (End of the School Year bash on Friday night, church on Sunday), we didn't camp but just drove back and forth. On Saturday, we left around and noon and showed up at the state park. We registered, met some people, bought a souvenir t-shirt and water bottle and then headed out to Treasure Island. Treasure Island was the activity center for kids. Amanda had a blast doing crafts, playing games and meeting other geocaching kids. Of course, Amanda wanted to swim, so I baked in the blazing hot sun for two hours before we went back to Treasure Island for some Bingo (played on CACHE cards instead, of course). Amanda won a game and picked up a few treasures as well as a gift certificate from geocaching4kids.com. By this time, we were starving and enjoyed the free BBQ dinner from Dickey's and also enjoyed getting to meet some fellow geocachers. After dinner, we drove around the park a bit and then went to the park's nature show/talk, Reptiles, Our Scaley Friends. We heard about turtles, lizards and (of course) snakes. Amanda got to touch a couple of the snakes they brought and then we drove home for the evening. We were well-sunned, tired and chigger-bitten.

During G4, a number of "cache runs" were scheduled. This is where somebody plans a route and groups of people go out geocaching together. There was an event scheduled in Ft. Worth at 3pm on Sunday, so we drove out for that. We did not know quite what to expect, and things were quite 'interesting' at first. We wanted to ride with some other people rather than be in our car by ourselves, so we ended up in a truck with some folks from Oregon and their black lab puppy, Cache (honestly that's his name...and some of you think I am consumed by geocaching?). I think we did 6-7 caches with this group which consisted of about 8 cars...and it was not real enjoyable. It was difficult getting in and out of the vehicle with the dog, and I don't know if it was because of the group size or what, but every stop was a MAD dash out of the truck, to the cache and back. The lady who was driving never wanted to be last so we always had to hurry. Somewhere in the midst of the bedlam, I logged my 100th cache. (Everybody in the group logs the cache once it is found).

After this, the group headed back to find a cache at the Wal-Mart where our car was parked (why didn't we just start with this one?). After logging this one, Amanda and I decided to ride in our own car, so we ran back to the car thinking we would join the 8 car caravan. Fortunately for us, we met a much smaller group who also found the large group thing unenjoyable, so we were able to spend the rest of the day with them. This caravan was only 2 cars and consisted of a mom and dad (whom Amanda and I rode with), their daughter and son-in-law and a friend of the mom and dad. We found several caches, stopped at Steak And Shake for dinner, hit a few more caches then got dropped off at our car (around 10:00pm) and came home. Just before we left our new-found friends, we calculated that Amanda had also reached her 100th cache, so she was very excited on the way home...until she fell asleep in the car. We found 20 caches on Sunday.

I doubt GeoWoodstock will be in this area again and so I doubt we will be able to attend another one, but we really enjoyed this one. Amanda and I enjoyed our time together, she had fun playing all day Saturday, we enjoyed getting to know and spend some time with fellow geocachers and we both made it past the 100 mark. It was a very nice weekend.

For those of you who are wondering, we did take the day of from geocaching today and spent some time with Brooke! She was also exausted from a busy weekend doing kids ministry stuff and working a wedding reception to earn money for her Nicaragua trip so we all hung around the house and did not much of anything. A good way to end a busy weekend.

Here's a few G4 pictures.

You know those games where you have a list of tasks to complete like "Find somebody to sing Row Row Row Your Boat with you and then sign here"? This was one of those games and somebody asked GeoPunkin to thumb wrestle with them. Amanda had never done this before, so she thought it was great.

GeoPunkin making GIANT bubbles at Treasure Island

They did face painting at Treasure Island, so Amanda had "GeoPunkin" tattooed on her arm

Kids playing Bingo with CACHE cards

The last thing Amanda did before leaving the state park on Saturday night!

Logging my 100th find (with a guy from our group)

I LOVE pictures like this! The hunting and the treasures of geocaching are fun...but this is best part!

GeoPunkin's favorite trade item for the day

ATMA and GeoPunkin finding a cache. GeoPunkin actually spotted this one first. This is Tim, and it was he and his wife Rhonda that we spent the afternoon with. They are a very nice couple from Houston.

-Rob

Are You Religious...or Real?

As our church has started Da Vinci Code discussion groups, I have read and heard different opinions about Christians seeing this movie/reading the book. Christians basically fall into one of three categories here:

1. They went to see the movie because they like movies and are not really discerning about what they will or will not watch
2. They did not see the movie because the claims of the movie are insulting to Christianity
3. They went to see the movie (or read the book) because they wanted to use conversations about the movie/book to share Christ with unsaved friends

I am in group three. When I first started thinking about a response to the Da Vinci Code, I shared a few things in common with group number two. The main thing I shared was not wanting to give my money to the Da Vinci Code...I did not want to support it. However, as our discussion groups move along, I am getting more frustrated from some in group two who loudly proclaim their belief that preparing a response to the movie/book is a waste of time or drawing us away from time we should be spending with the Lord. If it is their moral belief that it would be wrong for them to see the movie, I will respect that. But for others, I wonder, "Do they even have lost friends they could discuss this movie/book with?"

When Jesus talked to the lost, which did he spend more time doing...quoting Scripture or telling stories and using illustrations from everyday life that people understood? On the one hand, this study is showing me that Christians MUST know the Bible and Christian doctrine if they are going discuss this book/movie with their lost friends and hope to share the Truth with them. And on the other hand, is it such a far stretch from telling parables to using illustions from movies to share the Truth?

This morning, I was reading quotes I have written down in the back of my Bible. I found a quote from a speaker we had at church, Jim Britnell, on January 25, 1995. I think what he said pretty much sums up my opinion as to why our church should be preparing a response to the Da Vinci Code:

"Religioius Christianity simply insulates us from the world.
Real Christianity impacts the world."

So my question for Christians is, "Are we being religious...or real?"

- Rob

Militant Women's Groups Supporting Gang Initiation

Anti-life groups have been trying to tell us from the beginning that we should allow abortion because it protects the life of the mother, there are women who get raped and all of these other "necessary" reasons. Pro-life groups have warned, from the beginning, of the slippery slope of abortion...that it will lead to aborting babies just because they are "less-than-perfect". Here's a story showing how this exact thing is happening, and in typical anti-life fashion, commentors at the end of the article avoid the real issue and try to trump "women's rights".

I guess women-to-be (unborn baby girls) don't have rights? I guess the "intelligent" women of the "women's rights movements" don't realize that approximately half the time they are killing their own ranks through abortion? Reminds me of a gang initiation...you know, the one where they beat the crud out of a person who wants to join the gang, and if they live through it, they have "earned the right" to be part of the gang. Women's Rights Gang Initiation: (a.k.a. Abortion).

- Rob

We're A Two Turtle Home

Pictured right to left:
Grumpy O'Mally - the original "Hurt turtle" adopted while geocaching
Amanda - name giver to the O'Mally line of turtles
Little George O'Mally - a turtle Mrs. Debi rescued from their pool

The fact that Grumpy O'Mally ended up at the Hurt household was a lack of forethought on my part. You can read all about it here. And now it seems he is here to stay for a while. Just when I think I have Amanda talked into letting him go before winter instead of having to hibernate him, she goes all female on me. This past weekend, for instance. I asked her if she wanted to take Grumpy (this was before Little George's arrival) to the state park where we were meeting my parents for the weekend. I told her we could let him find a turtle family and go free. She did not go for it, so I reminded her that we would need to let him go before winter because, although people do hibernate their turtles for the winter, I have no experience at this. Things were OK until bed time. Amanda went to sleep, but as Brooke and I were talking in my office, Amanda came out of her room crying. When we asked her what was wrong (thinking she was having leg cramps), she said she had a bad dream. This has happened before, so I didn't think much of it until she further explained, "I had a dream it was almost winter and we let Grumpy go." Am I the only one who sees this is not going to go well?

I am not sure why Amanda is so attached to Grumpy. I mean she looks at him, takes him out of the pen for a 'walk' sometimes and everything, but I am the one who takes care of feeding him, keeping his 'turtle ranch' damp and humid, etc. OK, I have to admit, I like having the turtle around now, but I planned on letting him go before I'd have to hibernate him.

And then this week I got a call from Mrs. Debi telling me she had rescued a little turtle from her pool. George and I went to look at him and help figure out what to do with him. Debi offered to let him live in the yard, but he'd probably fall in the pool again (chlorine water is not good for turtles!) or, as she pointed out, he may meet with the mower (even worse for turtles that chlorinated pool water). George (my friend, not related to the turtle nor the turtle's namesake) had the best idea, "Let's let him go now". But did I heed this bit of wisdom? No! I took the turtle home and put him in the pen with Grumpy to show Amanda. If you were a seven year old little girl who liked turtles, how would you respond if you saw a smaller, cuter version? No, I was not fortunate enough to trade Little George O'Mally for Grumpy O'Mally's freedom...we are now a two turtle home. And we will have to turtles until one or two things happen this winter: 1) I make my little girl cry for who knows how many days or 2) I learn how to hibernate box turtles.

Please excuse me while I head over to Google..."hibernate box turtles".

- Rob

Doctrine is Important

Our church Life Groups are discussing the Da Vinci Code. Our reason for the discussion groups could best be summed up the an article entitled "Dan Brown's Gift to the Church". I'm still processing a lot after reading the book and seeing the movie:

• Is anybody really going to base their theology on this far-out, obviously fictional book?
  
• How can I use this to share with my unsaved friends?
• Oh my goodness...do Christians I know really not know the answers to the questions they have asked me after reading the book?
• Is this book changing the way our society thinks about Christianity, is it merely amplifying some of what our culture believes or just a good conspiracy theory?

Our Life Groups are using small group curriculum by Lee Strobel, and we spent some time talking about the question "Does it matter if Dan Brown flat out lies about the Bible, Christianity and history if he is writing a fictional novel. Some people feel is a HUGE deal, others don't feel it matters much.

I don't know if this really answers any of the questions I asked above, but the one thing that stuck with me from this first session was something a history professor said on the DVD. He said {not a verbatim quote} "If Dan Brown were writing a history of WWII, Hitler would be the victor, Churchill would be on trial in London and Roosevelt in Washington."

I guess that does summarize my feeling about the book to a point. Yes, it's a novel, but historically it just NEVER HAPPENED THAT WAY. And the subject Dan Brown lies about is one that I have based my life around. If someone wrote a novel that said Hitler won WWII, I would want to make sure that person knew it just wasn't true. The same is true about the incredible story Dan Brown has made up about Christ. I want to make sure my unsaved friends know fact from fiction in the hope that they can come to know Christ. I want to make sure my Christian friends know the difference because I hope they are also talking to their unsaved friends about the claims of this book/movie. And this is why I'm glad my church is hosting these discussion groups...if we were to announce an apologetics class, I don't think many people would sign up. But talk about a movie and people will get into the discussion. And doctrine, what we believe about God, is important.

- Rob

Remembering to Remember

Like everybody else, I'm a busy person. Of the time management books I've read, I liked Stephen Covey's First Things First the best. The basic premise...don't be ruled by the clock, rule your life by the compass. Figure out what is most important and do that first.

I guess the logic behind this has always made sense to me. I remember being in college (before I read this book) and walking down the hall late one night my senior year studying for a test. I was walking the hall with a textbook in my hand because that was the only way I could stay awake! At the end of the hall was a HUGE window looking out over the campus. Each time I came to that window (before turning and walking to the other end of the hall) I thought about how miserable and absolutely happy I was at the same time. I was miserable because I wanted sleep so badly, but I was happy because I was having the time of my life. At the age of what...21?...I made my first decision to REMEMBER TO REMEMBER.

I had a wonderful college experience: a great school, staff and friends, wonderful church, best friend roommate, experiencing "life on my own" while Mom and Dad were still paying for school and most of my living expenses. I had heard people talking about college being some of the best years of their life, and I figured I was having a pretty good time. So I made mental notes that night and decided to remember that night (and my whole college experience) not so I could live in the past sometime later, but so I could appreciate how good I had it at the time. I remember the green carpet on the floor (laid on cement without padding), the too many coats of 'white' paint on the walls, the vaulted ceilings, the HUGE picture window at the ends of the hall, the steam heaters that creaked ever-so-loudly when turned on at the base of the windows, the stars I could see looking out the window and the jogging shorts I was wearing at the time (side note: when I see pictures of me in those shorts now I realize I NEVER should have worn them out in public...what was I thinking!?).

What made me think about all this is an experience I had last week that made me think about the second time I made an effort to remember to remember. Two of the students I had in youth ministry are getting married soon and I was walking through the wedding ceremony with them in the sanctuary. As we talked about the unity candle, I thought back to when Brooke and I lit our unity candle. We lit the candle and Scott Wesley Brown's song "This is the Day" was playing. I was looking at Brooke in her wedding dress, glowing, her hair done up extra special, smiling...the sanctuary, our friends and family there. Brooke kept talking to me and I finally said "Shhhh". She didn't get it at the time, but I was remembering to remember. I was taking a mental picture that I will remember forever of the day I pledged my life to my wife. I don't want to return to the past, but I'll never forget that moment of that day...it was beautiful.

I remember the day Amanda was born, but my 'remember to remember' moment with her as a baby was one night sitting in the rocker in her room. I sat in the recliner/rocker having just fed and burped her, laying her on my chest getting her to go to sleep. That one night, I sat there with tears streaming down my face while I thanked God for the precious, precious gift laying on my chest. I thought about the days coming too soon when she would have her 'own life' and there would not be enough time for Dad (not as much time as I would like). I knew I would never have those precious moments again and I decided to remember to remember.

The fourth, and most recent, remembering moment happened this school year. Each day, Brooke and/or I walk Amanda Kay to school (weather permitting). Just a couple months ago Amanda and I were running late. I was walking her to school and had a ton of things I needed to do at work. I walked her to the crossing guard and then let her walk up the hill, across the parking lot and to the school door by herself. On the way home, I remembered to remember. I thought, "How many more days is Amanda going to want her Daddy to walk her to school holding her hand?" In that moment, all of things I had to do didn't seem nearly so important. Amanda had seen a friend that day and certainly didn't mind walking the rest of the way to school with her friend, but I caught myself. Walking hand-in-hand with your little girl to school (when she wants to) will not last forever. I decided to remember the walks to school. Yes, it makes me a little later getting to work and yes, Amanda talks non-stop about the least important things sometimes...but we're spending quality Daddy/Amanda time so who cares!?

Heavenly Father, help me remember to remember these special moments in life and not waste them! Thank you for them.

- Rob

See How Much Our Heavenly Father Loves Us

See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!

- 1 John 3:1, NLT

Everyone Needs a Motorcycle

As I shared earlier, some friends from church let us borrow their motorcycle for the weekend and then said "keep it"...for an extra couple days. By the way, their motorcycle is the big Harley shown in previous posts...not this one. This is just a picture I found on the Internet, but it's a bike with a look similar to what I would like to have.

Yes, I would like to have a motorcycle. I used to have one, but when it was time for Amanda to be born, it was also time for a number of motorcycle repairs, so the bike had to go. I've kept my license current believing that I will have one again someday.

But I believe everyone should should have a motorcycle. Why? Because when you have a motorcyle, it makes you relax. I thought about this while riding home from the Maverick Club (where I play racquetball) today. I took a side street that had a nice winding road with trees lining both sides. It was not as fast nor as direct as taking the highway home, but I went that way just because of the scenery. On Sunday night, Amanda and I took the long way around and went to visit my parents just because we wanted to go ride. We rarely drive to Duncanville 'just for a visit', and we would never take the back roads because they are slower. But Sunday night, because we had a motorcycle, we took time to enjoy the scenery, find a road we did not know existed and went to visit my parents for a few minutes 'just because'. Before we took the bike back today, Brooke and I took a short ride just to be together. Having a motorcycle helps you relax and do something just for the enjoyment of it instead of being a slave to time and schedules.

OK, maybe "everyone" doesn't need a motorcycle. Maybe the second person "you" in the previous paragraph should have read "I" as in "Rob". Yes, I need a motorcycle. Maybe one day.

- Rob

Funny Wedding Vows

I am getting ready to perform my first wedding in a little over a week. I have been going over the ceremony with the bride and groom to be and I came across this.... wedding vows inspired by Dr. Suess written by Marty Blase.

Pastor: Will you answer me right now
These questions, as your wedding vow?

Groom: Yes, I will answer right now
Your questions as my wedding vow.
Pastor: Will you take her as your wife?
Will you love her all your life?

Groom: Yes, I take her as my wife,
Yes, I'll love her all my life.

Pastor: Will you have, and also hold
Just as you have at this time told?

Groom: Yes, I will have, and I will hold,
Just as I have at this time told,
Yes, I will love her all my life
As I now take her as my wife.

Pastor: Will you love through good and bad?
Whether you're happy or sad?

Groom: Yes, I'll love through good and bad,
Whether we're happy or sad,
Yes, I will have and I will hold
Just as I have already told,
Yes, I will love her all my life,
Yes, I will take her as my wife!

Pastor: Will you love her if you're rich?
Or if you're poor, and in a ditch?

Groom: Yes, I'll love her if we're rich,
And I will love her in a ditch,
I'll love her through good times and bad,
Whether we are happy or sad,
Yes, I will have, and I will hold
(I could have sworn this has been told!)
I promise to love all my life
This woman, as my lawful wife!

Pastor: Will you love her when you're fit,
And also when you're feeling sick?

Groom: Yes, I'll love her when we're fit,
And when we're hurt, and when we're sick,
And I will love her when we're rich
And I will love her in a ditch
And I will love through good and bad,
And I will love when glad or sad,
And I will have, and I will hold
Ten years from now a thousandfold,
Yes, I will love for my whole life
This lovely woman as my wife!

Pastor: Will you love with all your heart?
Will you love till death you part?

Groom: Yes, I'll love with all my heart
From now until death do us part,
And I will love her when we're rich,
And when we're broke and in a ditch,
And when we're fit, and when we're sick,
(Oh, CAN'T we get this finished quick?)
And I will love through good and bad,
And I will love when glad or sad,
And I will have, and I will hold,
And if I might now be so bold,
I'll love her my entire life,
Yes, I WILL take her as my wife!

Pastor: Then if you'll take her as your wife,
And if you'll love her all your life,
And if you'll have, and if you'll hold,
From now until the stars grow cold,
And if you'll love through good and bad,
And whether you're happy or sad,
And love in sickness, and in health,
And when you're poor, and when in wealth,
And if you'll love with all your heart,
From now until death do you part,
Yes, if you'll love her through and through,
Please answer with these words:

Pastor and Groom: I DO!

Pastor: You're married now! So kiss the bride,
But please, do keep it dignified.

So There Is a Word for That?

I got an e-mail from Reader's Digest this morning and I came across this section on foreign words. There were a couple of funny ones, but I thought this one was hilarious...guess 'cause it happens enough that there ought to be a word for it? (Go ahead and leave the 'nice' comments...it's still funny!)

Some people live by the credo "Why use one word to describe something when I can use 47?" But in some cultures, that's frowned upon. For example:

Foreign word: bakku-shan (Japanese)
English translation: "A girl who appears pretty from behind but not from the front"

- From The Meaning of Tingo, by Adam Jacot de Boinod (Penguin)

What Kind of Car do YOU Drive?

"I used to drive an Eclipse. I think it was a nice car, but I couldn't look directly at it."

Out For An Adventure

Amanda and I started out on an adventure tonight. We were going to do a few caches, but this one, My Favorite Game, was as far as we got. Actually, we did not even get to the end of it, but we had fun. We'll finish it tomorrow night. Anyway, here was stage one. We had to use the date on this historical marker (you can click on the picture to enlarge and read it...interesting if you live in Tarrant county) to solve a puzzle to find the next stage.


This was stage two. A little to the left of this picture the water was low enough we did not have to make this quite so adventuresome, but Amanda (aka GeoPunkin) would have been disappointed if we did not. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I think we were at least 15 feet above the water. At the end of bridge was a baseball magnet with the coordinates to the third stage which we will have to find tomorrow night since it took us so long to find the baseball with the coordinates on it.

A little bird that was watching us as we walked/scooted across the bridge.

- Rob

Thanks For Sticking With Me

Goodness, please don't tell Dawn that the "Blog Cop" has not posted since last weekend! Now that school is out, maybe I'll have time to blog during the week. I was just telling my Mom this weekend that things seem busy now that Amanda has homework all the time: come home from work, eat dinner (thank you, Brookie!), do homework (while Brooke takes care of the dishes), do something for 30 minutes and then help Amanda get a bath. After that, while some might think this would be a good time to get some work done, Amadna thinks it is the ideal play time. After all, in a seven year old's mind, doing homework and helping her wash her hair, etc doesn't really count as "Daddy/Amanda time". So after we play games, hop into bed, talk and pray it is 9pm. Don't know about you, but I don't get much accomplished after 9pm when I've worked all day.


But anyway...about our week. Since school is almost out, it's the time of the year for school awards. We were proud of Amanda as she received a perfect attendace award this year (thank you Jesus for a healthy year) and a reading award. We were especially proud of the reading award after she started off the year behind where she needed to be. Here's a picture of Amanda with one of her friends after the awards ceremony.

It was another great weekend. Brooke and I planned a 'motorcycle date night' for Friday night, so we were excited for the weekend to get here. We've got some friends who let us borrow their motorcycle for special date nights, and we enjoyed ourselves again this weekend. But since I picked up the motorcycle on Thursday night, Amanda wanted a ride to and from school on Friday. Getting dropped off was OK, but what she really wanted was to be picked up in front of her whole class on Friday afternoon. When I picked her up, her swollen head would hardly fit in the helmet and she waved at everybody on campus like she was queen of a parade. Here's a picture of her when we got home.

Friday night, we took Amanda to Ge-Ma & PaPa D's. She had a great time and so did Brooke and I on our date night. We went out to eat and then to see Da Vinci Code in preparation for our church's Da Vinci Code discussion groups. After that, we went for a late night motorcycle ride and stopped at IHOP for a brownine sundae we did not need but certainly enjoyed.

Saturday morning, I went to our church's men's breakfast while Brooke went to the Young Marrieds' cooking class. In the afternoon, I headed to Ft. Worth with my Mom because she wanted to try out for Wheel of Fortune. It was a great time spending time with my Mom, but here's the short version of our hilarioius afternoon: drive to Ft. Worth and then drive all over downtown trying to find a parking place, drop Mom off to get in line and drive all over some more looking for a parking place, realize Mom has all the cash so now I am going to have to find a FREE parking space, find parking space, find Mom in line, wait in line for 2.5 hours with Mom, sit in on audtion group and not have our names called to get on stage, leave and look for car (oops, that message I left on my cell phone to remind me where I parked did not record for some reason), leave Mom at corner to walk further to get car, find car, drive back to pick up Mom and forget what street I left her on! But after I found her again and picked her up, the evening went smoother. She took me out to Olive Garden and we had a nice dinner together. Still conceivable Mom could get a call for a second try at an audtion, but statistically not very likely. Long wait but a good time to spend with Mom.


Sunday, went to church as usual and had a good service. Brooke washed cars with the team preparing to go to Nicaragua for a week this summer. After church, Amanda and I hit seven geocaches together. Here is our picture for the week. This evening, Brooke went to her Da Vinci Code discussion group (which she said was very good) while Amanda and I took the back roads on the motorcycle to visit Ge-Ma and PaPa D in Duncanville.

So Jason, this was as brief as I could be when I had to cover the highlights of the whole weekend. Thanks for sticking with me! (My friend Jason is a very busy man and prefers the shorter blog posts but he assures me he reads my posts even when they are 'near book length'). And since I'm picking on Jason, I gotta give a link to a great web site called TrueLife.org he has done the video for and is helping get off the ground. I could tell you more about it, but they can share their vision better than I can AND Jason wouldn't want this post to be any longer!

- Rob

What a Great Weekend

Wow, this weekend almost felt like being on vacation...it was just plain great!

Thursday night the staff and advisory team celebrated Pastor David's 57th birthday. We all went in to buy him a suit for his 'tropical paradise' trip later this year. I also got to tell him about the cache I placed in his honor for his birthday.

Friday, I got up early and took my friend Mickey to the airport. Didn't get to spend a lot of time with him, but I was glad for the time we had to hang out traveling from the airport to Arlington, Wednesday night at Life Group and Friday on the way to the airport. After that, I came home an mowed the lawn. I am NOT a lawn person and this is not something I normally enjoy doing. However, Friday the weather was so beautiful! I took my Dell DJ with me, played some Oak Ridge Boys and Beach Boys while mowing. The fun music and nice weather made for a great time being outside.

On Saturday, I went with Brooke and Amanda to Club Libby Lu where Amanda got a makeover for the Mother/Daughter banquet at the church. {More pictures HERE..click the Libby Lu album). Amanda had a great time and looked so cute (this, coming from her unbiased father, of course). I asked Brooke what she wanted for Mother's Day and she said she wanted Amanda to get the makeover since this was the first year she could attend the Mother/Daughter Banquet. (If you're thinking I'm a total loser for not getting Brooke something just for her, I did get her a dozen red roses while she and Amanda were at the banquet). After that, I went to the Dillard's outlet at Six Flags mall and got a nice suit for $95 on sale ($295 original price, 50% for a tagged price of $147.50 then take off an additional 40%). I was able to do this because of some birthday money I had left. I am officiating a wedding on June 2nd, so I needed a new suit.

Today (Sunday), we headed out to Cedar Hill State Park where my parents are camping for the weekend. We ate lunch with them and Mom her Mother's Day card and told her about the cache that I hid in here honor. After that, Dad, Amanda and I headed out to find a few geocahces (Dad's first). Amanda was proud of herself for finding all three of the caches. After that, I took Amanda to the lake to for a swim in the COLD water. She swam, I did not! Then it was back to the camper with Ge-Ma and PaPa D for smores. We headed home around 7:00 PM, Amanda got a shower and then did most all of her homework for the week by herself. She just got excited about getting it done and did a great job.

So I'm worn out from this great weekend. I'm gonna post some pictures here and then head to busy. What a great weekend!

The 'beautification process' begins


DeShawn at work


My princess


My queen and princess


Geocaching with PaPa D


Smores with Ge-Ma

Black Holes, Barf Bags and Super Suction

I've never watched the show American Invetor, but here's a picture of my submission. Let me tell you about it.

Have you ever been in your car eating McDonalds frenh fries and had one fall down beside your seat? I don't just mean fall on the floor, I mean in that little spot between your car seat and the middle console where the parking brake and gear shift is. It's that little tiny place where, if you turn your hand just right, you can touch the french fry and almost grab it to bring it out and throw it away. The little spot where you have to get two ballpoint pens and use them as chopsticks to reach the fry. OK, if you have a car with the gear shift between the seats, I think you're familiar with the spot. I call it the black hole for french fries.

Speaking of the car, I had to meet a friend at 8am and take him to the airport. Since our doggies love to be "Adventure Dog" and ride in the car, I took them with me. They were excited and all was 'fun' on the way to the airport and most of the way back.

I stopped at the bank to make a deposit on my way home, and as I did, I saw the look on Sully's face. If you're a dog owner who travels with dogs (maybe you have to have owned more than one dog) you recognize this look the look. It's the look that says, "I don't feel so good". What I did not realize at first was, this was the after look. When I went to put on the parking brake, I saw that Sully's little tummy could no longer handle the ride in the car and breakfast had come back up. Have you figured out where it came up to? That's right...right in the french fry black hole! So then I had to make the deposit, try not go gag, drive home with dog puke sitting next to me and figure out how long it would take two ballpoint pens, working like chopsticks, to clean up a good size pile of dog puke.

So if you're putting these two stories together, you're asking yourself, "What is the name of this great invention pictured above?" and "How did he clean up the puke?" Well...it's called a "Barf Bag for Dogs" and all I can say is "Thank you Lord for wet vacs with super suction!"

- Rob

Heaven Help Us!

Here's a sure sign we had better be praying for our country...an article entitled "The divine Miss Winfrey?" I have made comments in past sermons about the "Oprah society" we live in, but I was talking about the fact that we think we have to listen to everybody's opinion about everything. I was not talking about Oprah being some kind of modern-day guru. Here's the list of 'titles' that have been given to Oprah by this artcile or quoted in this article:

• guru
• spiritual leader for the new millennium
• moral voice of authority for the nation
• a really hip and materialistic Mother Teresa
• a symbolic figurehead of spirituality
• a moral monitor
• America's pastor
• today's Billy Graham
• The Church of Oprah

You can read the article for yourself, but here are few quotes that made my blood boil:

• "She's a moral monitor, using herself as the template against which she measures the decency of a nation," Lofton says.
• In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. (Judges 21:25, NLT) How can so many Christians think Oprah is so great when she is her own standard? Granted, Oprah did not say this about herself, but listen to what she does say! She doesn't claim the Bible as her standard of decency. She throws "God" into the conversation from time to time, but as we'll see in a moment, she has all kinds of 'spiritual teachers' on her show and in her life. Oprah is her own god. She picks and chooses from all of the 'religious options' and comes up with her own spirituality. This is exactly what happened to the nation of Israel in Judges and it is exactly what too many Christians are doing today.
  
• What this article is saying is that Oprah has now achieved the status that some people are actually taking from 'the Church of Oprah' and mixing it with other 'religions' to come up with their own spirituality. To many, even in the Christian Church, Oprah has become equal to the Bible when defining their 'Christian theology'. They may not say it, but it's what they are living.
  
• Last fall, at the start of this 20th season of The Oprah Winfrey Show, guest Jamie Foxx said much the same thing, but he wasn't joking. "What you have is something nobody can describe," Foxx said to Winfrey on the air. Then he explained about how he told Vibe magazine: "You're going to get to heaven and everyone's waiting on God and it's going to be Oprah Winfrey."
• The article points out that Oprah went on record as saying "I am not God" for a story in 1989, but to even sit there while somebody makes a blasphemous statement like this is too much for me. Did she stop Jamie Foxx in mid-sentence? She's thrown others off of her show for offending her...I don't believe Jamie Foxx was thrown off the show for this.
• "...and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them. 22 The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, "It is the voice of a god, not of a man!" 23 Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people's worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died." (Acts 12:21-23, NLT)
  
• In a November poll conducted at Beliefnet.com, a site that looks at how religions and spirituality intersect with popular culture, 33% of 6,600 respondents said Winfrey has had "a more profound impact" on their spiritual lives than their clergypersons.
• If you go to a Bible-preaching church, I don't care how low your pastor's ability to preach falls on his lift of gifts...if you read the Word of God for yourself, this will NEVER be you because you'll see that Oprah's message is contrary to that of the Bible.
  
• Cathleen Falsani, religion writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, recently suggested, "I wonder, has Oprah become America's pastor?"
• Oprah can only be a 'pastor' for those who don't read the Word for themselves!!
  
• At the seminar, according to AP, Winfrey repeatedly spoke of her relationship with God. She even sang a chorus of I Surrender All. "I live inside God's dream for me. I don't try to tell God what I'm supposed to do," she told the crowd. "God can dream a bigger dream for you than you can dream for yourself."
• Why do 'Christians' think just because Oprah makes statements like this that she is a 'Christian'? I'm not sure Oprah would even call herself a Christian. She certainly doesn't fit the Bible's criteria of a Christian.
  
• Marcia Nelson says that it's not going too far to call her a spiritual leader. "I've said to a number of people - she's today's Billy Graham."
• Blah! {please excuse me while I clean up...I just puked!} What disrespect for this great man of God.
  
• One of Winfrey's most appealing subtexts is that she's anti-institutional, says Chris Altrock, minister of Highland Street Church of Christ in Memphis. He says Winfrey believes there are many paths to God, not just one. After doing his doctoral research three years ago on postmodernism religion, a religious era that began in the 1970s as Christians became deeply interested in spirituality and less interested in any established church, he came up with what he calls "The Church of Oprah," referring to the culture that has created her. "Our culture is changing," he says, "as churches are in decline and the bulk of a new generation is growing up outside of religion." Instead, they're turning to the Church of Oprah.
• There you go people. How can you be a Christian and still 'admire' Oprah?!!?
  
• "I think at the time when she had me and Gary Zukav and a lot of the other spiritual teachers on her show, it was her own journey, and she was taking all of the world on that spiritual evolution," Ford says.
• OK, I'll leave you with this one. Read the Bible...you cannot pick and choose from this and that to create your own spiritualilty!
• Jesus told him, "I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one can come to the Father except through me. (John 14:6, NLT, emphasis mine)

Heaven help us!

- Rob

Working Definition of GEOCACHING

Geocaching (v.): Using multi-billion dollar satellite systems and receivers to locate a box full of discount store sale items

- Taken from http://www.wnag.net/wnag_quotes_page.htm

Dirk, Thank You

This is a picture of Dirk Wood at our church missions conference in 2005. If you were to map out all the different personality types on a straight line, Dirk and I would not even be close! I have a tendency (admittedly a bad one) to be annoyed with personalities quite a bit unlike mine, but I don't feel that way toward Dirk. I just plain admire this guy. Dirk is 100% sold out to Jesus and he is EXCITED about being a Christian. He is excited about being a Christian, excited about telling others about Christ and excited about telling Christians how we need to be more excited about being a Christian! Dirk is a radical for God.

But being a radical does not come without a price. I only catch a little bit here and there, but I know that Dirk is not popular in many circles because of his 'unorthodox methodology'. I encourage you to check out some of Dirk's newsletters here...I just don't have the space to write about all of the creative ways he preaches the Gospel. He is an expert at getting people to stop and want to hear what he has to say. I think if Jesus were walking the streets of this world today, he would have FUN traveling with Dirk. I can just picture Jesus watching Dirk with a big grin on his face, and I think Jesus would even jump in and do some 'psycho-drama' with Dirk (check out the links above to find out what this is all about).

Dirk is always entertaining to listen to which is helpful since his messages to the church are always very challenging...he always makes me ask myself, "Am I really excited about being a Christian and am I doing enough for the Lord?" Dirk loves the Word of God. He loves to read it, preach it and preach about how much YOU need it. As usual, Dirk talked about the importance of the Word of God when he preached at our church this morning. Here's a couple things he pointed out that really made me think:

• In the story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus (Luke 16), he contrasted how difficult it was for the rich man to cry out to God while on this earth because he had everything and how easy it was for Lazarus who had nothing. The rich man ended up in hell while Lazarus ended up in heaven. A point Dirk made from this...having problems is a good thing because it makes us turn to God. Wow, I never would have said 'having problems is a good thing', but he was certainly right. The number one time I turn to God? When I have problems.
• The rich man in hell wanted Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to warn his brothers so they would not end up in hell. He said if someone from the dead would come back and tell them, they would believe because of the miraculous sign. Abraham answered, "If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets {i.e. the Word of God}, they won't listen even if someone rises from the dead." Again, wow! Dirk pointed out that subjective experience is an OK thing, but subjective experiences will never change a person's life like the power of God's Word.
• In the story of the men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-), Jesus appeared to the men and they did not recognize him. He asked them what they were discussing which happened to be everything that had just happened to Jesus (his death on the cross). When they were done telling Jesus what they knew, it says that Jesus opened up the Scriptures and showed them why all of that had happened. As Dirk pointed out, Jesus could have done any number of miracles to 'help them' recognize who He was, but instead He taught them from the Word of God. A subjective experience would have made a point, but the Word of God changes lives!

I will have Dirk's message online tomorrow (Monday) at The Vine Fellowship web page. You really must click on the "Weekly Message" link and hear Dirk's suggestion as to what Jesus could have done to reveal himself to these men, to hear his Gospel rap and how he is endeavoring to 'redeem rap music', and to find out what it means to be 'on fire for God' and how you can see this happen in your own life. It will be a worthy investment of your time.

I must be aware of the busy people who read my blog and do not have time to read any thing approaching 'novel length' (Jason, you know I love to harass you), so I must wrap this up. But Dirk, thanks for coming today, thank you for being true to who God created you to be and thank you for challenging me every time I am around you.

- Rob

How to Relax and Enjoy the Good Weather

What better way to relax and enjoy a beautiful afternoon than to go geocahing? We headed out to Village Creek Park off of Dottie Lynn Hwy. (aka Green Oaks north?) and hit 4 cahces there today. We could not find Tiger's Den, but after missing that one, we went on to find Dottie Lynn Parkway #1, Bug Attack (there were mosquitoes everywhere in the park today!), If This Tree Could Talk, and Stuck on You.

This picture was taken after finding our last cache. Amanda is proudly holding a picture of Wee Willy, a geocahing dog who (with his owner's help) has hidden a TON of great cahces. It is Amanda's desire to meet Wee Willy at GeoWoodstock IV over Memorial Day weekend and get her picture taken with him.

GeoPunkin was the geocaching guru today. While I was looking where the GPS said this cache 'should' be, she was thinking like a true geocacher and found this one on her own. (She'd like to market the sunglasses as official geocahing gear).

I don't know how big this guy looks in the picture, but I know he was a good 3 feet long. He may be non-poisonous, but it was defintely a 'If-you-leave-me-alone-I'll-leave-you-alone' relationship when I almost stepped on him walking out of one of the cache areas today.

Number of Finds to Date:
Seekhim17 = 72
GeoPunkin = 61

-Rob

Tea Anyone?

Please don't question Sully's masculinity...he's just a nice boy who lets his big sister, Amanda, put him through all kinds of torture and humiliation.

Keeping Your Eye On The Goal

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.

- Henry Ford (1863-1947)

Hodgepodge

Yesterday, Amanda and I hid her first cache at a park near the house. Today, we got an e-mail alert that a new cache was hidden about 160 feet from where we hid our cache. We tried to be the first to find this new cache today, but we could not find it...neither could anybody else who looked for it! The real bummer is, we will have to move our cache because it did not get approved due to the close proximity to this other new (now missing?) one. The other person submitted his cache yesterday as well, but his went through first so he got the spot. Oh well...we'll just move GeoPunkin's first hide. But after that, we went on to find 8 more cachces today...a one day record for seekhim17 & GeoPunkin. We were tired afterwards, but we had fun. Our stats, as of today, are shown here.

This is going to be a busy week. Next Saturday is my first work day since I've taken over as administrator. I've got lots of guys coming so we should get lots done...just hope I have enough jobs ready to go for everybody to work 3 hours. Wow...20 guys x 3 hours = 60 man hours! That's a lot of work!!

And then we are going to be starting a 'special campaign' with our Life Groups starting next week. I'm excited about what we are doing, but I didn't think we'd be doing it or else I would have started weeks ago! This week, I've got to order curriculum, talk to potential new leaders, do up a bulletin announcement about it and put all the info on the web page. Great stuff...just lots to do.

Well, I was going to blog, pay bills and then work on this new campaign stuff, but I've got the first one done and now I'm outta gas. Gonna spell check this, start my computer backups for the night and hope to get enough sleep to go at it full throttle all day tomorrow. Will probably be a tiring week, but it should be fun. I get to organize a big work day (I LOVE to organize stuff) and promote a campaign I am 100% behind (I meant I support it, but I am a bit behind schedule-wise, too!). Busy week!

- Rob