Wii

We have had a blessed Christmas time.  The kids got what they wanted (a Wii), we got some time off from work, and my parents came to visit Christmas day.  All in all, we had a great time.  Ate way too much, but had a great time anyway. 

With all that fun, I am ready to return to somewhat of a normal life.  School starts in a couple of weeks for everyone, work starts back tomorrow, and my parents leave for AL tomorrow.  Our boring average life is really a blessing in alot of ways.  And I for one am ready to get back to it. 

So here is to a great Christmas, glad to have seen you come, but even more glad to see you go.  Grace and Peace.

Finally!

Finally. Over. Holiday here. Rest. Ah!

I made it.  Our Christmas work is over and now it is time to get some much needed rest.  Looking forward to seeing my parents Christmas Day! And can't wait to see the kids faces that morning.  It should be one to remember.

Anyway, here's to you and yours during this time of year.  May God bless you and yours abundantly.

Grace and Peace

Enjoy Yourself!

Weary and Tired

I have to be honest with you all.  I need a huge break from the stresses of life.  I really wish I could just hide away for a while.  Not that anything bad is happening or has happened, but I am just weary.  Weary from work, school, etc....

Why do I get so weary?  I'm not sure really, I just go through these phases where I feel weak and don't really care about anything.  Deep inside I do care, but mentally and outwardly I just don't feel like exerting the effort it takes to care on a daily basis.  I know what your thinking, "Your going into the ministry, you shouldn't have those thoughts!"  I hate to break it to you, but this is reality.  Why do you think ministers fail on a regular basis?  Why are so many falling to immorality, to drugs, to alcohol and to other sinful activities?  Because they are weary too!  Thats no excuse I know, but we all get weary- regardless of occupation or calling, age, race, creed....you get the point.  These men of faith are no different than you and I except in one way: they feel they have no recourse in venting the feelings of weariness that are bringing them down.  Remember the next time your having "roast preacher" for Sunday lunch that he may be more weary than you are.  Cut him some slack.  He needs it.  And so do we all.

As for me, (I can't believe I am saying this) I am ready for Spring. 

Who said that? 

Yeah, it was me.  Mister I love winter and colder weather.  Honestly, it isn't the weather I'm sick of this time.  It is not having anything constructive to do at work.  That makes my weary feelings more intense.  I wish I could have the weather of now, but the work of July.  But, alas it is not to be.  For now, I will have to settle for being weary and just trudge through until things get better in my mind.  Maybe the holidays and the four day weekend coming up will help that weary feeling.  I hope so anyway.  Until then, Grace and Peace.

Christmas Trees?

I had a question posed to me the other day that I simply must ask you all.  Why do I allow the pagan symbols of the Christmas Tree and wreaths to be in my home? 

My question to you is this: do you feel pagan when you hang a wreath or do you feel convicted by the Holy Spirit when you decorate the tree in your house? I would love to hear what you have to say about the matter.  It is bothering me, not in a conviction sort of way, but am I participating in something evil and don't even know it?  Or is this just another attempt by Satan to side track me?

Let me know.

Finally Done!

I finally finished my first semester at Seminary!  I turned in my last take home final this afternoon and thereby ended Fall 09.  I don't know as of yet what my grades are going to be, but I'm leaning toward an A and a B with two pass classes thrown in for good measure.  8 hours down.  82 to go! 

Bring on 2010!

Oh my achin' brakes!

Well, it finally happened.  My brakes gave up the ghost this morning.  I was on my way to get some orange juice and a diet coke for breakfast at the nearby gas station.  I took my camera with me so I could get some snow pics of the park before it melted off.  As I was turning into the parking lot, I pressed the pedal to stop in the parking space and thats when it went all the way to the floor.  Thankfully, I was going slow and there is a sidewalk there to act as a bumper, or I would have taken out the Parks and Rec office.  Oh and to top it off the frozen snow/ice accumulation on my driver side window caused my window motor to break and now my window flops in the breeze.  Great- a two for one special! 

So, now the truck is in the shop (aprox. 700 worth of brake repairs) and I have a lovely redneck window on the driver's side.  Merry Christmas to me!

Lights, and Santa, and Burr....Oh my!

At my job, we decorate a large park for the Christmas Holidays. Next week is the Grand Lighting and we are promoting it in the local papers. And of course that includes a photo op for our on-the-job Santa. "Santa" came to work today and had doctored up his beard and hair (and face) for the photo shoot. It was a little scary, I have to admit. We jokingly called him Santa Corpse. He really looked like the Ghost of Santas Past. Check him out and judge for yourself.

And Then There Was White!

Well, I came home from work yesterday to have lunch. While I was eating, I decided to get my laptop out and check my email. So I grab the laptop set it on the table and fire it up. And then it happened....nothing. The computer came on, but only blank white screen. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NO! Say it ain't so! So as any good computer guy will tell you, I rebooted to see if it was just a glitch or something. Press the button and again WHITE! Please tell me this is not happening?! I tried this process 4 times to no avail. Just plain old white and nothing else. WHITE. Well, I finish my lunch and run back to work, all the while seriously concerned over my laptop.

That evening, I got on my wife's computer and started a chat with an HP representative. For the next hour and a half, he proceeds to walk me through dismantling different parts of the laptop to isolate the problem. Turns out that the LCD screen died. Not really sure how that happened exactly but it is dead. So now I am waiting for a little box to arrive at the house to send my now deceased laptop to HP for repairs. And of course, they will have to wipe the harddrive clean because the computer is also acting strange (ontop of the screen being shot).

So after church, we scurry over to Wal-Mart to get a 8GB flash drive so I can transfer files from my laptop to the old computer. So I have to hook up the external monitor, startup in safe mode, and download my files to the flash drive. Then disconnect the monitor, reconnect to the cpu of the old computer, and transfer the files using the flash drive. WHEW! I'm tired just re-living it. Anyway, all the files I want to save are safe on this computer now (hopefully).

Hopefully by Christmas my laptop will be returned to me. And hopefully good as new. There are only two good things about the timing of the meltdown: (1)It is still under warranty (2)I finished all my papers before Thanksgiving and I only have 1 week of school left this semester. All in all it could have been WAY worse. Thanks God He at least let it happen now and not earlier or later.

Well, enough of the moaning and groaning. Grace and Peace

Presentations

Last night was our group presentation in Interpersonal Skills. We had to do a presentation on the book The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. I have to say I think it went well: at least well enough to pass the assignment! We did our 12-15 minute presentation, but it turned out with discussion and all to be nearly one hour long! But enough about that, thankfully it is over!

I had a few questions today about Mary Magdalene. Who was she? What did she do? Was she the same woman who poured the perfume on Jesus's feet? What did I know about her? Well, honestly I didn't know much at all about this woman of the Bible. So tonight, I plan to research Ms. Mary and see what she is all about. Be looking soon for more information about it. I'd love to hear your take on it and what you know.

More to come. Grace and Peace.