What is this?
Sorry for no post yesterday. I had hoped that I would have been able to post something about the Carolina Panthers football team going to the Super Bowl but that was not to be. So I left yesterday empty as a kind of moment of silence.
Today as I am still in a football mourning stage, I just wanted to babble about things that come into my head like “Is light a particle or a wave?” (Sorry to those of you that don’t know about this great debate – research it and stay up at night thinking about as I do). Oh, I did come to a conclusion though – Yes. (For those of you that know Boolean logic).
I also wonder how some things are invented. I know Post-It notes were an experiment gone bad. They tried to make the next great adhesive but it didn’t work. Then they figured out that it sticked just good enough but didn’t leave residue or make a permanent bond and 3M said, “Wow, that would be great on little pieces of paper.”
But how did spandex get invented? And why? Could they de-invent it?
I also wonder how people don’t get excited in reading Scripture. I mean, I was reading tonight about how when the Israelites were lost in the desert, God provided food from heaven on a daily basis. The Israelites called this food manna. You know what manna means – “What is this?” because that’s what they said when they saw it. (Exodus 16:15) For the longest time, I thought manna might mean something like “Gift from Heaven” or “Food from Heaven” or “God giveth” or something profound. But no, it was just the Israelites response as God provided for them on a daily basis and their response - “What is this?” I guess if you live with miracles every day like living through the plagues, parting of the Red Sea, following a cloud/tower of fire around the desert, then some nice food falling from heaven every day (except the Sabbath but the food was doubled up the day before) is no big deal.
It reminds me of that old candy bar – “Whatchamacallit”. Which makes me think – How did they invent chocolate? Never mind but I just want to say “Thank you!!!!”
Ice Cream is good for the soul
I saw this “joke” and said that this is totally something my son, Alex, would say and do. Enjoy
ICE CREAM IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL
Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads, he said, “God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!”
Along with laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!”
Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, “Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?” As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, “I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer.”
“Really?” my son asked.
The man replied, “Cross my heart.”
Then in a theatrical whisper the gentleman added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), “Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes.”
Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life.
He picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, “Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes, and my soul is already good.”
- Thanks to MikeysFunnies.com
The Winter Olympics are coming
Is anyone else out there really excited that we are only a few more days away from the Winter Olympics? I lived in Minnesota for eight years as a child so the Winter Olympics have always been more special to me than the Summer Olympics. I remember watching the American hockey team beat the Russian hockey team in 1980 and then going to the Hockey Hall of fame to only watch it a couple more times with my dad. We weren’t die hard hockey fans but the Olympics move people to be fans of sports they would not normally watch.
Why is it that we get so excited watching the Jamacian Bobsledding team? Or when we see a skier have a huge fall only to get gold two days later in another event? I think we see in these athletes a determination that we sometimes don’t feel in our own lives. That they have a purpose and they go for it. Many times we don’t know what our goals are or what purpose we have in our lives. The irony is that we were all created with a purpose in mind. Our Creator didn’t just create us to exist!!! He created us for a purpose. Each of us has a specific purpose in this world (actually, multiple purposes over time). No one’s is more important than another’s but they are all different; unique.
Is your purpose to be the best parent to your child? Is your purpose to be a friend to the one lonely person in the school cafeteria? Is your purpose to do that something special for the homeless? Is your purpose to walk through life with your friend who was just diagnosed with cancer? Is your purpose to find out more about Jesus Christ?
Seek out your purpose!!!
Panthers are going to the championship!!
The Panthers are going to the NFC Championship!!!. As those of you who know me, I am an avid Carolina Panthers fan and with our pending move to Germany, I know my Sunday afternoon games are about to end. However, the Panthers keep extending their season with these wins. I can’t tell you how exciting this is.
If any of you Carolina Panthers are reading this (yeah, right) – I have been a Panthers fan since the bid started for the franchise in 1992. So please go and win the Super Bowl. Make my last season as a fan the ultimate!!!!
Oh, I just found that there is an NFL Europe team in Frankfurt! Yeah!!!!
What does it mean to be in Ministry Partner Development?
That’s what Krista and I have started doing full time now – Ministry Partner Development. If you are not familiar with career missions with a faith based organization such as Greater Europe Mission, a lot of it has to do with raising up support, both financial and prayer. Mission agencies do not have money to “hire” missionaries; instead we must find people who will support us on an ongoing basis so that we can do the work that God has called us to.
Does this mean that we are asking for hand outs or in business terms, looking for people to buy “stock” in us? Are we selling ourselves? No. Instead what we are called to do in Ministry Partner Development is proclaim to people the calling God has laid on our hearts. Lay out the needs of Europe (if you want to know more, look at the posts under the topic Why Europe) and explain how God is calling us to help those that have these needs. It is by God that people who believe in this calling and want to be a part of it decide to become Ministry Partners.
Want to know more about our calling? Want to hear more about the needs of Europe? Contact us as we love to talk about what God has laid on our hearts.
Dinner Table Metaphor
Today, our son Alex was instructed that he could not leave the table until he had finished his meal which consisted of half a cheeseburger and four baby carrots. He hemmed and hawed through our time together and then Krista and I moved on to get our work done. There he sat. By himself. For two and a half hours. When he was finally done, he didn’t know what to do.
Afterwards I thought, Is this what we are doing? There’s not much more on our plate but do we wait it out some or do we just gobble it all up? Fortunately, we have made a decision on all that. We are gobbling it all up. We have 40% more of our ongoing support to raise which Krista is working hard on scheduling us appointments so that we can meet with people who may be interested in being a part of that, I have one seminary course which I am rushing to finish in the next few weeks, and we are scheduled for our prefield training late next month. Oh, and the house is on the market ready to be sold (which it had three showing this last weekend) The big question when all that is done is What do we do then? It will be a transition time for us as we move to Germany. It’s not like we won’t have things to do and its not like we don’t know some of what we will be doing, but the specifics are just not there yet. Steps 1, 2, & 3 aren’t just laid out which makes you want to stay at the table munching for just a little longer but we know that is not what God has called us to do.
So with a full stomach, we keep munching away at our plate so that we can see what is going to happen next, even if God hasn’t laid it all out for us just yet.
Blogging: New Grassroots Methodolgy
“Who Let the Blogs Out?” by Biz Stone
I finished reading this book a few weeks ago and it was a great help in understanding blogging and how useful it can be for what you might be trying to do. (Hence, I redid the format of this website out of the inspiration this book gave). It’s a non-technical book and is an easy read. I highly recommend it.
If you have questions about it, drop me a note.