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We bought a new printer for the home office today. It’s nothing fancy, in actuality I think it was the cheapest printer that they had.

But, I do like our new Cannon Pixma iP1500. It’s simple, fast, prints nice, and the ink is super cheap compared to our last one.

The reality is that this was a purchase that Kristen will mostly benefit. In the last year the only thing I remember printing is the family taxes. Presumably, it will be the same for this year.

One thing worth remarking about for this printer is it’s weight. Our old Epson 900 was pretty sturdy and heavy. It took up all of the top of my filing cabinet. This new printer weighs about 1/3 of the old one and is much smaller. So far it’s got 2 thumbs up from PA.

After hearing all day that we should cancel meeting last night because of warm weather and fog, we ended up having one of our better night.

I was exceedingly happy that I was able to delegate most of the night except for the things I want to focus on. (Communicating the announcements and the talk.)

Speaking of the talk. I am now hosting these at the Light Force website, in .pdf format. (PA Talks) I won’t be posting the script here anymore. If you would like to receive it as a word.doc please just contact me by leaving a comment including your e-mail address.

I am pleased to share what I write… But I don’t think there is a lot of wisdom in giving it away without knowing who is receiving it at all. Anyone is free to access the document, but you would have to work to cut and paste it. (I’ll post that link in the sibebar another day.)

This could lead to a rant building up inside of me about pastors who don’t write their own stuff for their own people…. But I’ll save it for later.

I got a note from my grad school professor late last night.

I am finally over the flu, the worst case and the longest lasting I have ever had. Since it unfortunately struck during our first class session, I need to find a time when most of you can meet for a make up day. I am willing to meet only one day, rather than two, in order to make it easier for everyone. However, I don’t want anyone to feel cheated by not meeting the entire two days. Let me know if only one day is a problem for any of you. It will be difficult to schedule a one or two day session any Thursday or Friday this semester, due to conflicts with other classes many of you will be taking.

Even though I knew this was inevitable, it does put a dagger in some of my plans for February. I was actually thinking of taking some students to a local service retreat here in the area… But it looks like those plans will be poo-pooed by a make up date. We will see.

Before I was just confused with this area, now I am starting to wonder about their sanity.

I awoke a few hours ago to the sounds of pitter-patter on the gutters of my house. In winter this could mean a couple of things. Either the gutters had birds flopping around in them or it was raining.

I knew it was supposed to warm up today, highs in the Romeo area are expected to hit 50. So imagine my surprise when Kristen declares to me, “Romeo schools are closed for today.” What? Who closes schools because it is warm and rainy in January? It makes no sense.

Put this on top of another factoid. Next week the students have Monday off and half days Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I don’t want to hear any whining about homework or finals! They have all the time in the world.

The bad news for PA is that this could mean students will be bored today and want to hang out. Normally I like that but not on a Wednesday… My talk is barely in the sketch form and I have loads and load to do to get it to where it needs to be for tonight. Funny and to the heart.

I don’t think I have posted this here. But this Sunday I am preaching in “big church.” It will be a fantastic time to follow up on my last talk on making disciples. This weeks topic, get our car in gear from 1 Cor 11.

The title of today’s entry is a take off on a chapter in John Wooden’s book, I believe it is currently referenced a few time already recently.

Tuesday’s mean lots of time with my giggling gals. They meet me at 6:15 AM at the local coffee shop for a little latte and Bible Study. We’ve been slowly and methodically working our way through Revelation… As much as I like it, I kind of wish I could be done with it since inside I am already looking forward to teaching Acts next Fall! (By the way, I’m only on week two of a 14 week series on Revelation, so I better settle in!)

After school, I pick up the same crew of giggling gals for worship team practice. Today, I don’t think they even got downstairs to practice, but that’s OK with me. It’s more important that they are happy and excited about it than anything else! Contrary to most youth groups in the world, the worship part isn’t going fantastic. In fact, I am pretty sure the quality has gone down in the last few months… But the quality of the leaders is good… So that can’t be bad.

Next week are finals at the high school. For some reason, some of my students are stressed out. It’s coming from a bunch of different angles… Last year I barely heard anything about this. I fully expect the juniors to be stressed out because juniors are always stressed out over school. I wish I could lie to them and tell them that college will be easier… But the unfortunate truth is that the undergrad portion of the bachelors in 3 junior years of high school in a row followed by a cupcake year. (At least, it was that way for me!)

No news on a make-up date for my grad school class. Perhaps we all are going to get off scot free. I doubt it, but perhaps.

This is from Chuck Shepherd’s excellent column, The News of the Weird.

Least Competent People

A 39-year-old man in Chillicothe, Ohio, was hospitalized in December after an unsuccessful suicide attempt that accidentally blew his own house to pieces and did heavy damage to neighboring homes. The man had turned on the natural gas to kill himself, but then realized that other houses might be in danger, and just as he dashed to the basement to turn off the electricity, the house exploded (probably from an electrical spark) and was leveled. A month before, the man had tried to kill himself with automobile exhaust and a garden hose, but his car ran out of gas before he could die, and he then hooked up a propane tank for the same purpose, but once again, he outlived his fuel supply. [Chillicothe Gazette, 12-7-04]

Now, I’m not for people killing themselves. But this is quite a scene. This guy is the “unbreakable” of the suicide world. He tried to kill him self with his car… Runs out of gas. He tries to kill himself with his grill… Runs out of gas. You would think that if would really want to do himself in he would give up on gas-power killing him? Perhaps he would try something more conventional? No, apparently this guy was so incompetent and enthralled with going up in flames that he had to blow up his neighborhood and in the process, not kill himself.

This guy must have some hope. Three times he has come up with “fool-proof” plans to leave this planet and three times he has come up famous. Maybe he should read into that? Maybe it’s not his time to go!

For the past two years (give or take) I have been a very active member of an online community at Youthspecialties.com. That doesn’t mean in any way that I’ve been sluffing off on my duties in the office, but it has meant that I’ve found comfort, gotten advice, and given advice, and just getting to know one another.

At times the forums have been a frustration and at times they have been a joy. The “strange thing” is that it has helped develop a tremendous amount of community among these folks.

I am longing to create this with the YS forums. I know it is impossible in many ways, but I do want our website to become a content rich place where students will actually hang out. I want it to become their homepage. I want it to become an online refuge… Moreover, I want it to become a place where the curious can come and learn about us. I am naive enough to think that a good website can actually bring people closer to the Lord. That may seem idealistic, but it is the goal.

So over the last 3 days I’ve had to jump into a new forum life in order to get this site up and running.

Let’s just say, now I know what it’s like to be the forum outsider. I haven’t felt this way since I first joyed the YS forums about 2 years ago. But, I’ll just keep poking my little head in to ask some more questions until I feel like I can contribute something.

The only thing I’ve been able to contribute other than my own problems so far have been… “Oh yeah, I’m having the same problem!”

This is probably 20 times harder since I’m so unfamiliar with PHP. I feel like a complete imbecile! But I am a fast learner and I know I’ll get it all taken care of before long.

I am happy to report that Kristen and I are going out tonight. I’ve been on the home front without leaving since Thursday afternoon. (Of course, I done tons of work at home but I have been home!)

I don’t think it matters what we are doing so much as it matters that we are going out.

The charitable side of me says, “you are helping a student make some bucks.” Yeah right, the real deal is that a babysitter is well worth the cash… mom and dad need to become Adam and Kristen ever so often.

Paul (16 months) is quickly learning to use his tongue. Just a few weeks ago we were still fascinated by his simple words like “ma” and “da” and shaking his head “no” when he didn’t want something you tried to offer him.

Now, it is clear that he is trying very hard to listen to what you say and make his tongue answer back. For the most part it is still one syllable sentences. Like, “Va!” means, “Hey, it’s Violet! Can I pet you?”

Paul has also learned the value of body language in combination with his words. If he gives his cup to you and says, “juice” we all know that he wants juice. For him this has been a great relief to his frustrations. He now gets more of what he wants… Especially since he is so good at pointing to exactly what he wants and patiently waiting for you to get it right.

I am sure there is a tie in with this observation to the spiritual life. My best guess would be that of baby believers. They know what they want, they know what they are feeling. But often times the find it impossible to express something in the “right Christian language.”

Perhaps this is merely a reminder of how important it is that we, as believers, learn to speak the language of the new believers instead of the other way around. So in the regard the illustration falls apart.