Category: Uncategorized

Still getting it all set up. But this will be my new internet home.

We had a good talent show tonight, sponsored by our college ministry 3:13.

It was espcially nice to see Light Force well represented with performances by Lisa and Raya. It was also nice to see a Light Force skit performed as well as a favorite youth group song from Lisa. All in all, it was a blast.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about launching my own domain. Blogger is great and all… But the anonymity that I once relished I am now feeling sheepish about. Plus, I am thinking it might be a good idea to have ALL of my online stuff going to one place. There I could put pics of my kids, my talk notes, links to my online friends, links to my students if they want it, ministry resources for both the people I work for [i.e. church folk] and the people I like to support [i.e. online friends.] Plus, of course it would be my blogging home.

Of course, there would be some drawbacks and I would be inviting criticism. So I just don’t know yet. Plus, if I did this merger of my blogs… I wouldn’t release it right away anyway. I think I’d move a lot of my blogger posts to this new home as well and that would take time.

So, it’s a lot to consider and think about. Plus two other factors are slowing me down on it.
A. It will cost me $$$ to have my own domain and URL.
b. I have decide if I want the URL to just be my name, or if I want to convert all blogs go to heaven to it’s own URL. In some respects, it has developed a name for itself… But on the flip side version 2.0 can always be different. Right now I think I might be going for something that is either my name or “livingintentionally.com”

Tonight is our second attempt at hosting a Girl’s Nite Out at our place. I am looking forward to it… oh wait, I won’t be there. I’ll be hiding somewhere else like Best Buy or Home Depot.

The last time we did this we had about 20 ladies come over and play games, make carmel apples, and do a small devotion. For the most part it’s all about gabbing… I mean, let’s face it… it is.

I’ve got a lot of heavy thoughts floating around my head lately. Not put together enough to really write anything down… but God has been working on me while I was working on stuff today in the office.

Highlight of my day so far: When I went home for lunch the weather was so nice that after a quick bite to eat Megan and I spent some time out in the backyard playing with Stoney and then we decided to rake some leaves in the front. I love spending time with my little girl.

What’s big in the kids lives? Right now they are counting the minutes until the new playground area of the park at the end of our street opens. This will be big fun for the whole family, no doubt. Right now I just keep finding Megan on the front porch staring at it.

A little Northern Ireland love in them mail today…
Joy, nice to hear from you. We will put your kindness to good use! The whole family is doing well, getting over the cold that is going around, but doing well.

So yesterday I posted that I got out of the oil business. I still think it was a good call. I stuck to my target and got out when Grey Wolf hit my sell point.

So, again I am taking Jim Cramer’s advice and backed up the bus to get me some Sirius satelite radio. Hopefully, I will make enough on this to actually afford buying satelite radio. I think that with some new technology coming out for Christmas, lots of cars coming Sirius equiped, and strong membership growths… this is a good play for the holiday season. If I am wrong, I’ll just have to work an extra year or two before I can retire. No biggie.

OK, in honor of my nearly 5 years of paid youth ministry… I thought it would be funny to post some of the most ironic things of my position. Please, please… don’t think these are directed at anyone special… and I am not doing this because I am mad… it’s just for fun.

1. Even though I am 29 years old, married, father of two… I am supposed to understand, emphathize, and even be able to help 14 year old ladies… without warning and without calling a lifeline.
2. I am supposed to look over every social faux pax imagineable, but if I do something around your friends that embarasses you… you will never look past it. I am an idiot forever.
3. Even though I have millions of things going on, I expected to remember your half birthday or that you had a recital without you ever telling me or asking me to come.
4. I can share my entire life with you, you can meet my mom, stay at my house, meet my childhood friends, check me out through and through… but asking you why you and your dad aren’t talking… that’s too personal.
5. I am supposed to be friends with only people 12-17 and that isn’t creepy.
6. If I have something to do that doesn’t involve you, or if I make plans that don’t agree with something you never told me you wanted me to do but expected me to do… I am an idiot in your eyes.
7. Even though there are 40 of you and 1 of me… I am expected to spend countless hours with JUST YOU. The other 39 students don’t matter nearly as much as you. The thought that I could break up my time evenly… absurd!
8. If I can’t do something because I want to be with my family or I want to just rest or do something with people my age and not be surrounded by 12-17 year olds, I am selfish with my time.
9. We can spend 24/7 for a week together… but I am gross, socially stupid, or just plain a loser if I have a bugger in my nose or have gas or get sick.
10. I have to act suprised when the same girl freaks out on me the same time every month. I am not supposed to know that girls have PMS, periods, or that 12-17 year old females can be irrational because of hormones.
11. If I have a bad day, I never hear the end of it… but if you have a bad day I can’t notice.
12. Because you want to do an event over again, we have to do it over again because you want to and I have no right to stop doing it… even if it’s a bad event.
13. Ask any parent, their kid is the most important kid in the church for me to invest in. Nevermind the fact that I can’t even get the kid on the phone.
14. You can talk bad about me, write things about me, glare at me, gossip about me, and tell your friends that I am a loser and my feelings aren’t supposed to get hurt.
15. It makes sense to drink a 2 liters of Mountain Dew at 10 PM on a road trip. I don’t mind stopping every 15 minutes so you can pee.
16. We can talk online for hours, but the things you said weren’t really said. Just pretend I don’t exist!
17. It’s OK for you to IM 25 people at a time, but if I am slow to respond to your smilie… I am an idiot.
18. It’s OK for me to schedule an event that you really want to do and then for you to back out at the last minute because the person you wanted to go isn’t going… I mean, it’s not like we lose money or anything when you do that.
19. Even though I am 29 years old, I am expected to be up on every new CD, movie, music video, and whatever else it is that you are into and won’t talk to me about… I am just supposed to know.
20. Even though I am a Christian, I am expected to have psychic super powers.
21. When you have a crush on someone, I am not supposed to notice.
22. When you get your heart broken even when I told you it would happen, I am supposed to act suprised.
23. You don’t have to apply anything the bible teaches… but if I do one minuscule thing wrong, I never hear the end of it.
24. If you disagree with a tiny thing in something big I do… I am stupid and you are brilliant.
25. I can bend over backwards to make something work for you, but as soon as you have something better to do… I am mince meat and you don’t know my name.
26. When you graduate, even though I spend oodles of time with you, you won’t say thanks, you won’t even call or send me an e-mail to let me know how college is going.
27. I can remind you of something by e-mail, announcement, postcard, phone call… but you will forget.
28. Your mom will lie to me about why you aren’t doing something and that is ok.
29. You can say things about my wife, tease my kids until they cry… but I am just supposed to think it’s cute.
30. Cliques are good for the youth group, really.

Well, before I get too into this… I had better stop. Maybe there is something there worth chewing on and laughing at.

After a two week lay off on the normal light force, we got back to “our normal self” tonight with a real humdinger of a night. I like, I love, I want some more of it.

All around, an excellent feel to our youth group night.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I bought stock in a small oil drilling firm out of Texas called Grey Wolf. I made my taget today and cashed out. Of course I didn’t get the aboslute highest I could have, but being disciplined and cashing out at my target locked in a profit.

I’m still in “the house of pain” with Intel having a bad few months… but all in all I am still making money in the market. I’ll be shopping for a new play. More on that later.

There are a lot of places in my life right now that I am having discipline issues.

The kids That’s right, my perfect children can be a royal pain in the neck. Now these are really good kids, don’t get me wrong… But sometimes a 4 year old and a 2 year old will drive you nuts. Take this morning for example. Kristen and I were looking for the keys [see the next story!] to the car and Megan and Paul were at each others throats. Megan was mad that Paul touched her toy. So we told Paul to wait his turn. Then she was mad that Paul touched her toy ring. When I told Megan that Paul could play with the ring until you let him have the puzzle… She went nuclear. So in the midst of looking for the keys, I had to take Megan upstairs to her room. Good way to start a day!

Dogs and cats Our beloved dog Stoney and our beloved cat Violet still aren’t getting along. The big problem is our dog Stoney. Apparently, we aren’t giving him enough attention and he has been acting out bigtime. Over the weekend he managed to dig two bog holes in the yard, eat a grill cover and all our grill utensils, dig out all my landscaping lights, and eat the hose. Not bad. Yesterday and Monday he was fine as I paid him lots of attention. But this morning while I was taking a shower and Kristen was getting the kids dressed… He decided to eat Kristen’s purse. Now he didn’t destroy everything, he just pulled everything out and hid it different places. So… 30 minutes later when I was getting ready to leave the house… We couldn’t find the keys. It took us about 20 minutes but we finally found them in his bed. On the cat side… Violet is staying inside a lot more these days and she is getting into everything. How much longer until Spring?

Ministry stuff I know, I have the most perfectest ministry situation in the world. At least that is what I tell myself. But it is messy because it works with people… And lately I’ve been getting messy trying to keep it all sorted. I’ve had typical Drama Queen problems lately, though they are resolving themselves more and more quickly and with less and less pain. But one person does take up too much of my time and the net result is a loss to everyone else and that is frustrating.

Operation C update: The gang in on the case. They are praying more and more for this case. But at the same time they are having a hard time even tracking C and getting to talk. The good news is that all of my “operatives” saw C yesterday and are learning C’s habits. Sometimes the shepherd has got to get to know the sheep before he can find them.

Some good news: One of our sophomore girls has advanced to the State Finals this weekend in Jackson. She finished 9th overall in her regional competition. That is very exciting! I hope she does well at State this weekend and I wish I could go. Maybe I’ll find a way to do it?

I’ll be spending the next few hours at my favorite coffee joint preparing for tonight’s talk. Luke 4… tempation… sounds like a good one.