Hmmmm...

Always remember, that when you "point the finger" at someone that you have three pointing back at you. Think about it. (Now sit there and try like I did and you'll see its true).

the more i know, the less i understand

It's always humbling to realize that you don't know as much as think you do. That's kind of how I feel tonight. I was reminded that my past experiences are not always the best way to evaluate a situation. It's embarrassing to admit to your self that you can be closed minded, even though you have promised and swore to yourself that you never would be. It's always important to listen to all thoughts and ideas first - then talk, especially when you think you've got it all figured out. I should know by now that the times when I think I have it figured out are actually the times where I'm most likely to end up way off base. I am grateful for subtle reminders and for people who have forgotten more than I'll ever know. I'm also glad that I was reminded that I can learn from anyone - regardless of my preconceived thoughts of them. Experiences are great and knowledge is cool but wisdom is what I need.

New Photos

I just added a new photo album under the "Our Photo Album" link. The name of the album is called "Orlando-Jan06". It has some pictures of our recent trip to Orlando to visit Kiel. If you're really bored check them out. Later.

The Printers Daughter

I read a story earlier today that has really stuck with me. It was during the time Martin Luther was having the Bible printed in Germany. The printer who was printing the Bible for him, had a daughter. This girl knew nothing about God except fear. One day she was cleaning up her fathers shop and she found fallen pieces of Scripture on the floor. On the paper she picked up it said "For God so loved the world, that he gave.....". The rest of the Scripture had not yet been printed. But it didn't have to be - this was enough. The idea that God would give her anything moved her from fear to joy. Over the next few days her mother noticed a change in her. She asked her daughter what had caused this new found happiness. The daughter showed her mother the piece of paper with the partial scripture on it. Her mother read it and asked her daughter "What did he give?" The daughter thought for a moment and then said "I don't know but if He loved us enough to give us anything we should not be afraid of him."

I love the heart that the printers daughter had. The idea that God, the creator of the universe would give to us is simply amazing. The one who hung the stars in the sky and created all that we see and know - gave to us. And not just "anything". He gave us the very best he had - he gave us His son. The thought that he would give us "anything" blows my mind. The thought that he gave us His son blows me away. I hope and pray that for the rest of my time on this earth that I can have a heart like the printers daughter. I simply want to live a life that is grateful for anything that my God is willing to give me. I want the idea of anything from God to be enough.

Oh yes...the picture. Last February I wrote a post called "The View". In this post I described a place that I drive by on my way home every evening after work. This view is one of the things that I feel God has given me each and every day. After being asked by a few of you, I have finally gotten around to taking a picture of it. Actually, Kiel took the picture when he was home at Christmas. Anyhow, hopefully you'll get a glimpse of what I was talking about when I wrote that post. Hope all is well and everyone is good.

Party Saver

I was replaying the events of my day in my head when I was reminded of something I had heard years earlier. You may of heard this popular Bible story from John 2: 1-11. It’s the one where Jesus performs his first miracle. Jesus goes to a wedding feast with his disciples and during the celebration the host runs out of wine. Jesus’ mother approaches him and tells him about what happened. See in that time weddings feasts were these week long affairs with huge banquets where the whole town was invited. Much planning went into these events. To run out of wine during one of these feast was more than just embarrassing; it broke the unwritten rules of the day concerning hospitality. Anyhow, Jesus’ mother told him about the problem and after some interesting comments to his mother, Jesus turned the water into wine. We’re not talking about cheap ripple either; we’re talking about some fine vintage stuff. By turning the water into wine Jesus saved the host of the party a tremendous amount of embarrassment by not running out of wine. And by not running out of wine the guest did not leave and the party continued.

Basically…Jesus saved the party.

When thinking about the events of my day, that's what I realized had happened to me. Jesus had saved my party. He didn't turn my water into wine or perform what most would consider a miracle. But he did save me from what could have been a potentially embarrassing situation. I’ll spare you the boring, technical details but He saved my “professional” party. I’m working on a huge software upgrade at work that is very demanding. Anyhow, through a series of events and discoveries that I take no credit for, I was shown where we were not fully prepared for our next upgrade. I was operating under the impression we were – but I found out we weren’t. Being responsible for this upgrade, I’m glad I found out now instead of later. It would have been very embarrassing and very costly ($) to the company. Jesus saved my party only the way he can.

Perhaps you’ve had Jesus save your party. You’re at a stop sign, you’ve looked both ways and you start to pull out. Suddenly out of now where is another car or a kid on a bicycle – for the life of you, you can’t figure out how you missed them. Or maybe it’s the end of the month and the check book is bottomed out. Your output is greater than your intake – you don’t know how you’re going to make ends meet. Then from out of the blue you get an expected check or receive a timely gift. Whatever it is you’ll take it and the bills get paid. Jesus saved your party. By now you get the point and you can probably think of times in your life where you were in a bind. You and only you know the depth of the pile dodo you stepped into. You can’t see a remedy and no solution is in sight. You close your eyes, grit your teeth and brace yourself for impact. But then….nothing. Slowly you open one eye and think “What happened? Why didn’t I ….”. It’s at that moment you realize you’ve been rescued; you’ve been saved from yourself. You’re the only one on this earth who knows all the details of your situation and you know there is no way this should have happened. The outcome should be different. There’s only explanation: Jesus saved your party. If you've every had your party saved you won't forget it.

Often times our first and natural reaction is to say “Wow, I sure was lucky!” Frankly speaking - luck had nothing to do with it. Personally, I think luck gets far more credit than it deserves in situations like these. Luck runs out – Jesus doesn’t. Anyhow, today I realized that my party was saved. One final thought concerning this and I’ll shut up. In the last verse (John 2:11) regarding this story it says “…. He thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him.” Two really interesting things happened when Jesus turned the water into wine and saved this party. First, it “revealed his glory” – it showed who he was. And second, by revealing his glory it caused his disciples to “put their faith in him”. When Jesus saves my party the same thing happens to me. His shows me who he is (his glory) and I’m reminded to put my faith in him. All I know is that I’m grateful that he thinks enough of me to intervene in my life – he’s invited to do so at anytime.

Enough about that – we’re out of town for the long weekend (MLK). We’re going to go see Kiel in Orlando - should be fun. I think Kathy’s dad Warren is going to come up to Orlando on Sunday and hangout with us. Hope everyone has a great weekend. We’ll try to take lots of pictures. Take care!

Debut

Tonight was extremley cool. Tonight the kids from our Youth Worship Band at church made thier public debut. The played at the coffeehouse at our church, they opened up for the church house band - "Piece's of the Wreck". (Yes our church has a house band) Anyhow, the guys from the youth group opened up before hand and did an INCREDIBLE job. I can't tell you how proud we are of ALL the guys in the band - Joe, Jake, Kyle, Steven and Katlin. I think they really impressed alot of folks tonight with the talents and abilites that God has given them. I've heard them many times before myself, but tonight was thier best performance by far. Take a look at the following pictures.

Kat playing his drums....

The Eastgate Youth Worhsip Band aka "Crash". Left to Right - Joe (Bass), Steven (Guitar), Kyle (Keyboards), Katlin (Drums) and Jake (Guitar).

Kat (middle) and Jake (to the right w/ all the hair)

What The $%#! You Doing????

I have a knack for getting myself into awkard situations. I don't know how, I guess it just comes naturally. Usually I say or do something stupid and before I know it I'm in the middle of embarrassing myself. Well I found myself in the middle of one of those situations yesterday but this time I wasn't the one who caused it. Actually, I was minding my own business for once - hard to believe I know.

Anyhow, I was at working away in my office when the phone rang. As I often do, I put the call on speaker phone so I can continue to work on my computer while talk. Rude I know but I must multi-task. I start speaking to the person on the other end of the phone as he begins to describe his computer problem. I start asking him questions to diagnosis the problem. About two minutes into the conversation, the guy across the hall comes into my office and sits down at my desk. I nod my head and acknowledge him and continue my conversation on the phone. Out of now where this guy does the strangest thing. He begins tapping his fingers on the top of my phone. Keep in mind I'm on a speaker phone and his fingers are inches away from the microphone. I do my best to act as if nothing is happening. I can tell that the person on the other end of the phone is distracted by this guy. I look at this guy with a "What the..." kind of look. But he just grins and keeps on tapping. I think I'm gonna kill him.

Finally after about 30 seconds of this I can't take it any longer. I stop my conversation with the guy on the phone and look this guy dead in the eyes. He can see it coming but he can't speak - his eyes get really big - he knows he's about to get nuked. Firmly but fairly calmly I say "Don, what in the hell are you doing?" - He smiles a nervous smile and says "Oh, I just thought I would come in and give Charlie a hard time." I look at him and inform him that I'm not talking to Charlie but that I'm speaking to someone else.

His face goes completely blank and his smile disappers. The tapping stops - he gets up and can't find the door to my office quick enough. About an hour later he works up the courage to come back in my office. He chuckles and says "I guess I made an idiot out of myself didn't I?" I tried to stop myself but I couldn't. "You certainly did - didn't you?" Once again, the chuckle disappears and a quick exit ensues.

Fast forward about three hours later. Again, I'm minding my own business and I'm working away. The same guy comes back into my office. I don't look up but I do see him out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly and quite spastically he starts swatting a fly swatter. He starts beating the crap out my walls, then my desk, then the door. He doesn't say anything - he just continues swatting. I stop working and look at him. He senses this and says "I'm not bothering you am I?" Once again I ask him the same thing I did earlier "Don, what in the hell are you doing?" He stops his swatting and says that he's been after this fly all day and he has chased him into my office. He then resumes his spastic activity - just as I was about to have him committed he swats the fly on my wall. He proudly says "He's soy sauce now!!' (haven't quite figured that out yet). He then turns and walks out leaving dead fly matter on my wall.

I have got to start locking my door.

You Would Never Know It But...

You would never know it but I actually do have a lot to say. I know that you would never know it cause I haven't posted much lately. However over the last several days I have found that I have alot rolling around inside of this empty head of mine. I think that I probably have too much to say and don't know where to begin. Other times I have things I want to say but I am just too tired to sit down and write. I'll simply start here and say this: God is good and nothing matters more than Love. Nothing. Happy New Years!