I am sure it would come as a suprise to people in the pews of my church, but I really like to play online poker. Not the kind that involves real money… no, no no… just the kind that is Texas Hold ‘Em for free at the many cool sites.
My favorite site is Hold Em Poker. If you are bored and need a new addiction, check it out.
In youth pastor speak… this means I am preaching in the service tomorrow. I know it may come as a surprise, but preaching to this broad of an audience is not really my thing. While I don’t mind it and I’ve been told I do it well… It’s not my favorite thing to do in ministry. Give me a service project any day over this.
This also means that with a long week of Vacation Bible School, I’ve had to do a lot of the work on my day off. [NOW!] So between the graduation party this afternoon and the surprise birthday party tonight… I have lots of thinking, praying, and studying to do.
No clue!
I don’t know why I don’t enjoy “preaching” more. I like to be in front of people and I do like to teach the Bible, but preaching ain’t my thing. For one thing the group size is so strange and the seating so formal that I am left without much room for creativity. Put this with my uncanny ability to miscommunicate when I am nervous and I get a bit jumpy about it.
So what’s the scoop?
Later on you’ll be able to follow the link to the PA Talks section and download the sermon notes. But for now just know that it’s called Shaping our Kids from Psalm 144:12. It’s quite an interesting little thought, guide and challenge. It’s a conditional promise from God to David that if he allows God to win his battles, God will bless his children. In our lives this means that if we allow God into our [the parents] lives and let Him conquer your personal battles, struggles, and what not… That God will bless you by allowing your children to become strong shining examples of your faithfulness. It’s actually pretty cool.
In other news
I’ve been chatting about this house all the time. We haven’t given up and we are still pretty serious about it. But we’re really in a holding pattern as we continue to research it out and really pray about it. We want to do it… But we also want to know God is behind it.
Risk taker or ostrich?
This house-hunting has exposed some things about me and Kristen that I’d like to share.
Risky business
There is little doubt that buying “this old house” would be a massive risk. It’s more house than we can afford [though the mortgage guy is happy to loan it to us!] and it has more projects attached to it than I would know what to do with. I guess that it has 75-100 weekend projects. All kinds of stuff from ripping out the bad part of the barn to redecking a porch or two to splash guards in the kitchen. There are just oodles of little projects like that.
I look at it and say “for every dollar you invest, you get $2 back.” Kristen looks at it as a money pit. The naysayers in our lives say “you don’t have time for that, it will eat you alive.”
All true. But it may be our one chance in our lifetimes where we can take a risk on a “This Old House” candidate and see it pay off. While the naysayers see risk, I only see reward.
Rewards
I mean more than investment income. (Though I do mean this as well.) There seems to be a lot of reward in fixing up your own house. Like Napoleon Dynamite, I’ve got some skills. I look at this and see working on things with the kids and with Kristen. I see them enjoying the barn and the big yard. I see teaching them how to do stuff and learning a lot along the way.
No lone ranger
Just like in ministry. I have to weigh all of this against the impact on our family. This whole idea of risk taking stresses Kristen out. I have matured enough to know that I can’t just bulldoze through her emotions. I don’t want to take a risk that all of us aren’t in on 100%. A big thing I’ve learned here is that while I am a “wild risk taker” Kristen may only be a “risk taker in theory.” A lot to think on!
But, but, butt…
Yeah, there is that. This afternoon we are going to look at some other stuff in the village. Things that need less work, but aren’t quite so cool. Scattered all over are tons of bungalows and ranches. Not as sexy, but a lot less work. We need to at least give this a look.
Money
So I talked with a mortgage guy. For the first time in my life someone told me I had good credit. He said we could even afford a much heftier mortgage than I am looking at… No way! But it was nice to finally hear those words “you’ve got great credit, don’t worry.” Wow.
Let me start off by apologizing about the last post. It was poorly written with several massive typo’s. I suppose I had a couple of folks talking to me as I wrote that one.
VBS
Kingdom of the Son got kicked off this morning. I’m sure later in the week the numbers will be more important. But today everything went really swell. Lots of kiddies, good times had by all. Check out our first days video by clicking here.
More on the house?
There is a lot going on. We plan on looking at the house on Tuesday. Since we’re complete morons to buying a house I have little idea what to really look for. We’re also starting to think about the financing and worrying about our credit. We’ve learned that we could make a penalty free withdraw on an IRA for up to $10,000. That will come in handy. If we proceed I think I’ll even post the link to it. But for now… I’m being a pessimist.
Light Force
We’ve got Light Force this week. It seems like a million years ago since we’ve met. Though it’s only been 12 days! Hmmm… I must be a youth pastor!
