I got big trouble brewing........

My 9 year old baby girl got a Hanna Montana play wig for her B-Day a couple of weeks ago. She looks like she likes it very much. She also got a head-set and she has been prancing around the host dancing and singing like she is on stage. I think that if I hear "Best of both worlds" one more time I'm gonna scream !!!! Trouble is, she's really good at it. She really has talent. She auditioned for the part of Ms Cratchet from A Christmas Carol in the school play and got the part. Teacher said she nailed the part! I had heard her practicing the lines a week before the audition. She knew them so well that I thought she had already got the part. I am really proud of her. God has great plans for her. I am blessed with a great family and wonderful friends. I do not have many needs or wants. I am 52 years old and pretty well have everything that I could possibly want when it comes right down to it. I don't hunt or fish much, although it's actually time to reinvest in such things with the kids growing up. I don't golf or frequent bars and clubs. I love it at home. I love to visit or E-Mail friends. I love to go to church and teach All-Stars. Simple things for a simple person. As the old Emerson, Lake and Palmer song title says...."Oh what a lucky man he was..( I prefer IS) 'cause I'm still around. I have been traveling in the Book of Psalms here the last month or so with Through the Bible Radio ( www.ttb.org ) and one thing that keeps popping up is being grateful to God for all that he has blessed me with. Oh by the way, the blond Hanna Montana wig, it's got to go. Makes that 9 year old act like she's i9. I got big trouble coming. Our at least, that's how I see it.

Crack the sky......

Ever wish that God would just "Crack the Sky" and get it over with? Then you would be free from this worlds grips. Satan's temptations. You look around and see people starving to death. You see little children you know that are under attack by Satan physically and the suffering that it causes them and their parents. You see the suffering of those for Christ. The woes of this world. The injustices inflicted on people by man and the empires that he has created. It angers me sometimes, well actually all the time at the pain that man causes each other.

Ever hear of Mylon LeFevre and Broken Heart? For us really old people, Mylon was one of the founding members of the rock band of the early 70's, The Atlanta Rhythm Section. Well, anyway they, Broken Heart, have a tune called "Crack the Sky" Here are the lyrics.....

Sometimes I think it doesn't matter what I wish
Sometimes I wonder if I'd ever be missed if You came for me, if You came for me
Never asked You for a whole lot of things
Never begged You for the riches of kings
But I've one request, I hold it up to You...

Come on and Crack the Sky for me, Come on and crack the Sky and take me home
Take me home
Come on and Crack the Sky for me, Come on and crack the Sky and take me home,
Take me home, tonight!

I know You got where You want me to be
I know You got a plan of using me, but I long for You, For I long for You...
So I work here till Your ready for me,
But I don't know if I can ever guarantee that I'll never try, I'll never try to get to You!

Come on and Crack the Sky for me, Come on and crack the Sky and take me home
Take me home
Come on and Crack the Sky for me, Come on and crack the Sky and take me home,
Take me home, tonight!

What a great tune! Hard driving, lots of loud screaming guitars, really gets you going! Just think of it. No more diabetes on our love ones. No more heart diseases on our parents. No more depression on our people. No more oppression of the poor. No more ripping us off at the pumps! Yeah !!!! No more death, no more killing, no more drug abuse, no more temptations, no more of our beautiful ladies ruined by horrible abuses, no more of the tragedies of life, just healing!!!! Think about it! And when I do I always wind up in the same place....What about the ones that are yet to be saved, the ones whose turn is next? Those who are seeking. Then I start to feel selfish and I pray that Christ tarries till we work a little more, for that next one who will say yes. You know them...our unsaved children, our parents, our brother and sisters, our friends, the empty chair in our Lifegroups, the students of 24/7 who are accountable, the list is endless. There is so much work yet to do. Please pray that I an where God wants me to be till He "Cracks the Sky". I feel God is calling for me to do more. To trust Him more, to be open to His will no matter what or where it leads.

Do I want to go "Home"? You bet, but not till I have done all He wants of me.
Any hoo, that's how I see it.

Birthday weeek....

This was birthday week around here. Two of my favorite ladies had B-Days this past week. Crystal, my eldest, turned twenty something on the 11th (and it's not that I don't know that's she is really 27, but I learned at an early age not to give out a woman's age) and my Abie turned 9 on the 8th. I am blessed with a wonderful family. Crystal is a wonderful young lady. She is a great mom and a great wife to Wade. I have really never heard a bad thing said about her. She will do whatever it takes to please everyone. A real gift from God that she uses it well.

Abie, well Abie is a couple of bundles of pure energy. Some good and some....well you know if you know Abbs. She is pure love and will be somebody some day. I really cannot wait to see what she will do in life. I hope she turns all that energy and passion to work for the Lord. Can draw a horse better than anyone, Down to the eyelashes and muscles in the legs. As a matter of a fact there was a time in her life that she thought she was a horse, and she was so good at it we weren't to sure she wasn't. So we got to callin' her ..."our little Nebuchadnezzar". She is really a riot.

I'll tell you though raising a child in your twenties was allot easier than raising children in your 50's. But God gave these other two little one's to Tammy and I to raise (abie and ricky)and i know that he will give us all the strength and resources to do it with., and I thank Him for it. He always has, or that's how I see it.

Oh by the way, thats Abie and Ricky's granpa Dennis, my brother, in the picture with Abie, and that's Crydtal's husband Wade and daughter Sarala in the other picture.

24/7

Great night at UNDERGROUND ! AV Campus saw over 60 on campus and I heard the Fredericktown Campus was rockin also. Thanks to everyone who helped out. !!!!!!

Fearful....

Had a great week in church this past week. 24/4 Underground Kicked off this past Wednesday. Fearless series started up on Sat and Sunday. Life groups got going this week. I feel fortunate to be a part of each segment of our church ministry. I do not feel that I am capable of being an All-Stars Classroom Leader, or the 24/7 Underground Coordinator, or a Life Group Leader because of my fears. I have a terrible fear of getting in front of people and teaching, singing (Which is a good thing), leading in All-Stars, UG duties, or anything else that draws me in front of people. These are fears that only God can help me through. Speaking of fears, this series we are into about fears should be beneficial to me, but I must say I am afraid that the kids in All-Stars (The Children's Ministry at Meadow Heights Church) has beat the rest of the church to it. We studied fears (About witnessing ) in class a week ago. Nice to see that the rest of you guys are following our lead. We learned about the farmer sowing seeds on how the seeds fell on different kinds of soil. (Matt 13) As we broke into small groups my students (Grades 3-5) and I explored different fears that we might have. They were amazed when I shared with them the fears that I have about being in front of people. They did not believe that I could do something that terrified me week after week. The lesson told us to treat fear as a weed and to pray that God will help us to "Pull the weed of fear" and toss it out of our way so we could do God's will. This is true of me. I told the kids that in order to be able to do what I do I must "pull that weed" every time I lead All-Stars. I hope that it helped them. All-Stars is to cool. If you have not had a chance to check it out. Please do!

"Party on dudes'"

What a great evening. My grand baby is 2 years old. We celebrated at the park this evening. Lots of people came out and helped. As I enjoyed myself I also took a moment to realize how incredibly lucky I am. I really don't have a real care in the world. I have concerns. Bills, relationships, crazy workplace, repairs here, repairs there,24/7 opening up in a week, and the everyday concerns of everyday life, but problems, naw, only solutions. Problems to me are things like my sins not covered. Now that's a problem, but with a simple solution. Acts 16:31 has Paul and Silas telling the Jailer that he should "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved..." It is really that easy. Now the word "believe" takes on a whole big responsibility that goes along with it. There is trust, rely upon and obey as the amplified version says. We must also be ready to repent. Acts 2:38, 3:19, 8:22, 17:30, 26:20 all talk of repentance. To turn away from our sins. Some are easier than others, but when it comes right down to it, salvation is easy, living it is a little harder, but problematic? (If Webster will forgive me) No way. At the point of conversion from a lost soul to a redeemed child of God the power to repent is within us. We just have to choose to utilize it.

So i really got away from what I was going to say. i was wanting to go to Psalm 32:1-5. " How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. (ME) Whose sin is covered. (MINE) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. (THE REPENTED ONES) When I kept quite about my sin, my body washed away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. (CONVICTION) My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of the summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord'; and You forgave the guilt of my sin."

Salvation, what a great thing. Lucky man, you better believe it. Why I was drawn to God by the Holy Spirit, why I was granted salvation for my sins, why a holy God thinks of ME at all, I will never really understand. All I know is that He loves me! He loves you, and that it is not His will"....that even one shall perish, but that all will come to repentance."

I started out about Sarala's B-day party. Great time, great friends, great spirit about the whole event. Like i said, I'm a lucky man, or at least that's how I see it.

Blast from the past...

Ever have something that's reminds you of the past so suddenly that you become instantly overwhelmed? So I'm sitting here at my computer at 12:50 am on a Sat morning thinking I should go to bed when I thought I'd check and see what the weather for Sat would be. So I went the the channel 5 website (KSDK) and noticed that one of the stories on line at that moment was that Brian Wilson had come out of retirement and had cut a new album. (CD) Who might Brian Wilson be, you might ask. (If your under 40). Brian was THE driving force behind the Beach Boys. A writing genius to say the least. But due to drugs and what nots of that era, had a tough time grasping life, fame and everyday living. Literally spent years in his room, secluding himself from everyone. Hence the song "In my Room".

Well they had some sample cuts from the CD and I just started clicking on them and discovered that there was a song called "Lucky Old Sun" on there. I was floored ! Suddenly floods of childhood memories poured into my heart as I remembered my mother walking through the house singing that very song many, many years ago. I was almost overwhelmed. My mother went to be with our Lord a little more than eight years ago. Sometimes you forget how much you miss someone until you are unexpectedly reminded of that someone not only with memories, but with memories accompanied with emotions. There is a saying around my house we use sometimes and it comes from an old M*A*S*H episode about a solider that was overcome with grief (Frank Burns) and some how Radar got a call to Burn's mom and she comforted him. When told what a good job he did Radar replied that ..."sometimes a guy just needs his mom." Very true statement. Sometimes a person just needs their mom. I miss my mom, raised 11 children and a husband. Never complained much. Tammy, my wife, says she never felt like a daughter in law around my mom, just a daughter. My two youngest, Abie and Ricky never met there grandma, she past away before Ricky was born and before Abie was sent out to us from San Fran. Although the day she past away, Feb 15, 2000, we had a picture that was sent to us from Abie's case worker and showed it to my mom in the hospital before her surgery and she said that she was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen and that she could not wait to see her. She never got the chance, she passed away later that day from complications from her surgery she had to try and relieve her airways from cancerous tumors that blocked her breathing. The point is that when she said that Abie was the most beautiful baby she'd ever seen, she would of said the same thing to the next picture of another grandchild or the next or the next and meant it every time.

I'm missing my mom very much right now. You know what they say, "Sometimes a guy just needs his mom." Not this time, but I will rely upon Christ who will provide the comfort for tonite.

My mom's name is Dorthy, that's her picture above, in her mid 30's I believe. She passed away in her late 60's. You have heard the saying that when we cross to Jordan Jesus will send a love one to help us across to the other side,I hope it's my mom.

Pretty silly, huh?

Thanks for listening.