Garfeild minus garfeild

I have been reading the comics of Garfield, but without Garfield in them. Someone took out Garfield and left only John. The results are hilarious!

Here is a taste. Here is the link
HT: Marko

Quote of the Day:

"There are two ways of being a prophet. One is to tell the enslaved that they can be free. It is the difficult path of Moses. The second is to tell those who thinkk they are free that they are in fact enslaved. This is the even more difficult path of Jesus."

Richard Rohr: Wild Man to Wise Man, Reflections on Male Spirituality

More to come from this book.

Nice Sign

Seriously, some churches should have their church sign privileges taken away. We should organize a church sign police and hand out fines for this stuff.

HT: crummy church signs

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Bon Fire!

We built a fire pit and burnt our Christmas tree! It was amazing, and I am so proud of the way this turned out. A big thank you to Tom and Lance for helping me dig and gather rocks. Us guys had a bon fire and the gals went good will shopping, then we ate greasy hamburgers and chips. It was a blast!

Amazing Article

My friend Lance sent this article to me. It is about a girl who was allegedly raped, and having no one to turn to, she posted a video on youtube to find someone to listen to her and help her.

My friend Pam is an adult leader in our ministry and a Jr. High teacher in the public school system. She and our adult leaders are the greatest asset our ministry has. She met a gal who went through some hard times and they happened to share the same birthday so Pam would always wish her a happy birthday and give her something to let her know that she was special and loved. Fast forward a few years, and tat gal is going through some hard times again, and she contacted Pam for help. Pam was there to listen and affirm her and love her.

Two stories that show me that the vision of this student ministry, "To connect students to adults who are connected to God" is one that works. We may not get a large number to show up every week, we may not have a fancy light show or videos to show every week, we may not even have a funny engaging teaching time every week, but what we do have, are students who KNOW that they are loved, and can come to any one of our adults in our ministry in a hard time and find some guidance, find some love, find some needed affirmation, to find Christ incarnate in our adults.

There is a parable here somewhere

HT: Zach

I'll let you find the parable here. I got mine.

Parachutes Fail -

A friend of mine showed me this video. I am a total music snob, and I am very picky about what I listen to. I listened to this song multiple times today. It is amazing lyrically and musically.

The Story of Stuff

HT: MarkO

I spent 20 minutes watching this video [click here]. It was worth every second. I highly advise anyone to watch it and then watch it with your kids.

This video takes you into the system we call consumerism, and how it is destroying us and our world. Wow, really eye opening. Watch it, you won't regret it.

Special Needs or just Special?

HT Ben R. this is a clip of an autistic man who is labeled the human camera. He can reproduce on paper, landscapes of whole cities after one aerial flight.

We label people hadicapped, but are they? This reminds me of my son Isaac, who has most of the books we read him at night memorized, who will recall a memory, and recall details that Kara and I have long forgotten. Special Needs, or just special?

Youth Ministry Quote

I am reading a blog called Once a Youth Pastor. It is an amazing Blog that asks some really tough questions that I like to ponder. He just posted an amazing post, and here is a quote:

"We often operate our youth ministries like I did my garden. Just because you have hundreds of kids in your youth room doesn’t mean it’s a good thing – especially if they’re not producing good fruit! Fruit production takes patience. And a fruit farmer can only handle so much fruit in his garden before he becomes ineffective and inefficient."

What is Leadership?

Quote of the day: Brian C Berry HT: Marko

"I have been asked on a number of occasions, by journalists and curious clients, whom I believe to be the greatest leader in the America. And I usually respond with my own question. “Are you asking for the name of a famous leader?” This usually leads to a fair amount of confusion, until I explain that the best leader in the world is probably relatively obscure.

You see, I believe that the best leader out there is probably running a small or medium-sized company in a small or medium-sized town. Or maybe they‘re running an elementary school or a church. Moreover, that leader‘s obscurity is not a function of mediocrity, but rather a disdain for unnecessary attention and adulation. He or she would certainly prefer to have a stable home life, motivated employees, and happy customers—in that order—over public recognition.

A skeptic might well respond, “But if this person really were the greatest leader, wouldn‘t his or her company eventually grow in size and stature, and become known for being great?” And the answer to that fine question would be, “Not necessarily.”

A great company should achieve its potential and grow to the size and scale that suits its founders‘ and owners‘ and employees‘ desires, not to mention the potential of its market. It may very well wildly exceed customer expectations and earn a healthy profit by doing so, but not necessarily grow for the sake of growing.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where bigger is often equated with better and where fame and infamy are all too often considered to be one and the same. And so we mistakenly come to believe that if we haven‘t seen a person‘s picture on the cover of BusinessWeek or in a dot-matrixed image in The Wall Street Journal, then they can‘t possibly be the best.

Consider for a moment those high profile leaders we do read about in the newspaper and see on television. Most, but not all, of them share an overwhelming desire and need for attention. You‘ll find them in all kinds of industries, but most prevalently in politics, media, and big business. Look hard enough at them, and there is a decent chance you‘ll discover people who have long aspired to be known as great leaders. These are the same people who also value public recognition over real impact. And based on my experience, you might also find that they‘ll be more highly regarded by strangers and mere acquaintances than by the people who work and live with them most closely.

The truth is, our greatest leaders usually don‘t aspire to positions of great fame or public awareness. They choose instead to lead in places where they can make a tangible, meaningful difference in the lives of the people they are called to serve. The challenges and consequences of their decisions are no less difficult or important than those of higher profile leaders, even if they don‘t quite qualify for a cover story in TIME Magazine."

cutie

More pitures

More Pictures

making a cake

cake is good

cool cats

bath time

the bunny

happy birthday elijah

Emo Shot

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Nolan!

Ouch

HT: Naked Pastor

Insanity this weekend

This weekend was a busy and huge weekend. I am in a place currently where I am working non stop. I guess God wanted to send a message. Kara couldn't get hot water from the faucet so she told me to go down and look. I turned on the light to see 8 inches of water. The Sump Pump was not plugged in, and the water levels around here are at record highs. I got the Sump Pump back on and the basement emptied of water, to find out that the water heater is a fancy one with an electric ignition, and won't light without it. So we went to buy one, and there were none at Menards of Lowes. So we had to call a repair man. Gabe the repair man, he came in today and fixed it for a grand total of $249.00. He gave me a great deal and was really nice. It will be nice to shower again.

Weird E-mail

I just recieved an e-mail from a popular ministry in America (I can't seem to block them). The title for the e-mail really made me think:

"Ministry has never been so convenient for families."

I didn't think that sacrifice and service were supposed to be "convenient".

Just a thought.

3 funny cartoons from ASBO Jesus

Thought this article was interesting

[Click here]

Need Harmony

HT: MarkO

To Those Who Stole Our Stuff

Someone stole this church's trailor with all their stuff in it. They made this video in response.

HT: Todd R.

Paintballing

We took our group to Woodland paintball in Belding this last weekend, and it was a blast. We had a gruop of about 25, and we were missing all of our usual suspects due to an 8 hour play practice.

We will most definitly do this again. Funny story, Alex shot me four times in the chest, so I took cover and put my muzzle cover on, turned around with my hands raised, and he shot me in the back 5 more times! I think it was a revenge tactic, because I shot him 3 times the previous game.

Lots of fun, I'll do this again.

Jerry needs no help playing with his ball.

HT: Zach L.

I seriously need one of these for my spazzy dog.

T.V News Reporter Gets Destroyed!!!!

HT: MarkO

The Truth (Vertigo)

HT: Ben R