Happy Anniversary!

Mom and Dad,

Happy 39th Wedding Anniversary! I love you both very much and so want to be like you when I grow up.

Easily Amused

When someone gets the hiccups, I love to get them involved in conversation. I like to ask them open ended questions about subjects they enjoy. It’s not so much their answers, but their attempts to talk through their hiccups that I find amusing.

Just trying to give people an outlet to be heard. Public service, I say.

Of course, I don’t always understand what they say, so sometimes I need to ask them to repeat themselves.

Quote for the Week

A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.

Helen Keller

Switching Neighbors

Well, one of the families in our subdivision moved out. I didn’t know much about them. They were rumored to have an active herbal pharmaceutical business. How true that was, I don’t know. They pretty much kept to themselves. They had a lot of visitors, but it was always the same people. For all I know it could have been a mail-order string bean business.

Apparently, they were also friends with the local police, because they got a lot of visits from them, too. I guess the police buy a lot of string beans. It was a weird friendship, though, because the police only visited at night, they always brought a lot of police friends and made a lot of noise. One more thing, sometimes when the police visited, it was like the party ended too early. They would take the homeowner with them to continue the party elsewhere. I guess he really liked wherever they took him because it was months before he comes back.

Wonder what the new neighbors will be like…

Working Out

I was just talking to my wife about working out. We were loosely discussing people who work out, and proclaim it.

Heck, sometimes, I'll brag after I work out. It goes on Twitter AND Facebook.


The easiest thing for me to do at the end of a long day is to grab a Dr. Pepper, a cup of ice cream, and plop down in front of the TV watching a good game or one of my favorite nerd shows. That would be great!


But, I can't.

Instead, I try to eat healthy, and either lift weights, tackle the treadmill, or succumb to the torture of the elliptical, depending on the day. Although I enjoy that, I confess it's not as much fun as the ice cream and TV. Don't get me wrong, I still eat the occasional ice cream (Praise God for Cold Stone Creamery!) and doughnut (I prefer Dunkin' to Krispy Kreme, sorry), and I can't really swear off the Dr. Pepper. I just make sure I do everything in moderation and I continue to work out.

It's harder this way, but in the end, I'm a healthier person because of it. I've lost a lot of weight. I've gained a few pounds back, and I've lost some of them again. I'm sure there will be a lot of ups and downs. I still feel a great deal of pride that I am not as big as I was when I started. People no longer refer to me as the "heavyset" guy. Now, they tell me I'm disappearing. That motivates me. And now, I'm motivating others. That, to me, is something to take pride in.

So, you'll have to pardon me if I toot my own horn. I don't do it with a sense of superiority, nor do I do it to embarass anyone. I simply feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment, knowing how incredibly hard I've had to work to lose the weight, and how hard it is to maintain the weight loss.

I stopped trying to find something to motivate me. Instead, I motivated myself. I stopped trying to lose weight. I started trying to live healthy. Once I did that, the weight started coming off. I have not reached my weight goal yet, but I'm making life-long, healthy habit-forming decisions. I know I'll have to watch my weight for the rest of my life. It took me 10 years to gain the weight, I know it won't come off by tomorrow.

But, it IS coming off. Slowly but surely. Just hard work and determination.

So, please don't mind if I brag. This is a long, hard, mountain to climb, and I think I deserve a yell and a fist-pump or two on the way up.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1

Football

I was watching the football game today, while my daughters were eating their lunch at the dinner table. After a receiver dropped a pass that hit him in his hands, I screamed out in disgust.

My wife, who was upstairs, was startled, and yelled out, "What happened?"

My 8-year old yelled back, "Dad's watching the game. I think the Deadskins did something."

Quote for the Week

[F]or I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Holy Bible, Philippians 4:11-13

VS Has Personal Run-In with H1N1 Swine Flu

Cindy Adams, of Verum Serum, has had a personal run-in with the H1N1 swine flu. There's some good information in her post, so I thought I'd pass this link along:

H1N1 Up Close and Personal

Stolen Check

I read the story about the lady who gave an offering to a church with a stolen check. That got me thinking (this usually leads me to trouble). She used money that wasn’t hers and gave it as an offering. Now, there are several crimes wrapped up in this whole scenario. She’s going to need an attorney, no doubt.

But, walk this out with me for a little bit. Forget the idea of the crime committed. That’s wrong all the time, and most people I know will never do that. But, aside from the crime, are we guilty of something similar? Have we done something that perhaps is not wrong in the human legal sense, but perhaps morally, just a bit off kilter?

What happens if we take money intended for bills and use it to “sow a seed,” ultimately stiffing our creditors? Of course, some of them may not be completely moral, but we may not be in a position to judge them, just as they are not in a position to judge us. (Remember the whole “without sin cast the first stone” thing.) Beyond that, even if they are not 100% biblical in their practices, we still made a deal that left us indebted to them. Now, we have to pay. Stiffing them to play the “Church Lottery” is not moral either.

Or, what if we take out more debt on our credit card, though we can barely pay what we already have, in order to give an offering? Are we placing our family in jeopardy just to respond to an emotional ploy? Do we neglect to provide for our loved ones because we hope that we can manipulate Jesus into forking over heaven’s money?

Now, I'm not referring to tithing. That has biblical support. I'm referring to people giving beyond their means, solely in an effort to manipulate God.

Seeing this news story got me thinking of prosperity preachers, though they are not involved in this news story. I’m tired of prosperity preachers. They peddle a gospel that relies on followers going into hock so they can give offerings to the church. The message becomes one of promising earthly goods to those who give the most. Never mind the deeper message of repentance and redemption. Why preach about changing our insides when our outsides are screaming for bigger cars and houses.

All you need to do is give to me and God will give to you. Borrow from your credit card and trust God to pay it off. Use your mortgage money and trust God to pay your mortgage for you. Really?! Can you provide a Scripture verse to back that up? That’s an honest question. I’m not a Bible scholar, so I’m sure I have missed it if there is a verse.

But I don’t know. The whole prosperity thing seems a bit shifty to me. Stiffing others and neglecting our responsibilities so that we can throw it in the prosperity wishing well just doesn’t sit well with me.

We may not be a criminal or end up in jail, but in the end, are we morally any better than those who give an offering with a stolen check?

Quote for the Day

The media insist that crime is the major concern of the American public today. In this connection they generally push the point that a disarmed society would be a crime−free society. They will not accept the truth that if you take all the guns off the street you still will have a crime problem, whereas if you take the criminals off the street you cannot have a gun problem.

Jeff Cooper

Woohoo

My wife is finally back in town after a three week visit to her mom. Now that she has tagged in, I should be able to write a little more. Now, I need to sleep.

Quote for the Week

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

Ronald Reagan

Mr. Mom

My wife has been out of the country for two weeks to be with her mom, so it's just been the girls and me. There's another week to go before she returns. We've had fun but I have no idea where the girls are getting all this energy. I've barely had time to scratch my head.

There have been some victories, though. Social services has not been called. Everyone says their hair looks great. The house is clean. Well most of it, anyway. We still have time, though.

I really miss my wife. I can't wait for her to return.

Bears in Church

"I've always felt that the only way to handle a bear in a bear meeting is to have something you can handle a bear with"

Nicely put, Pastor Revely. May God bless you.

Piece be with you.