hello

been thinking about blogging a little lately. i have some ideas that are floating around in my head, stuff that i am wrestling with.

i am either too tired or too lazy to do it, blog that is.... maybe later this week.

topics to discuss (in no order of importance)

-safety

-baseball

-legacy

-balance

-maturity

hope to see you soon!

back to normal...kind of

monday morning, 5 AM, work out...not much of one though, it kicked my butt!  at least i am on the path back to working out and starting my day off right!

wow! we had a good weekend!  friday afternoon i picked the kids up, actually about noon, we surprised mommy at work with some flowers.  then the kids and i went to the discovery center...always a blast!  we met kim downtown at nona's for an early dinner...just a great day/night. saturday, kim got up early (thats a big deal!) and got me some starbucks coffee and breakfast in bed!  thanks mommy!  eric had a ball game later that day, my friend Hayward got to go to that with us...always a plus to hang out with Hayward!  then we came home to prepare our fancy night at home, valentines dinner!  we had steak and lobster tail!  all of us got dressed up in our fancy clothes and ate in the formal dining room.  it was a lot of fun! i hope to have some pics sometime in the future, i'll post them here when i get them.

then sunday...early service at JRA, and i knew from the moment we walked in that it was going to be impacting.  i saw missions banners up along the stair well in the foyer, and just had a feeling that it was good to be going to church with my family!  it has been several weeks since we have been together.  we come in and they are doing this drum beat tribal thing with dancers and fire and video...it was pretty awesome.  then John shared a little about cuba and they showed a video about cuba...very cool what God is doing in cuba.  then, dan betzer, from first assembly fort meyers, fl spoke on missions and faith giving.  let me interject here...i am not a big, capital fund-raising giving guy.  i have never been a part of any pledge deal or anything like that.  it all sounds too churchy to me and i'm out on it.  but this day was different, kim and i are trusting in God to provide an amount of money that we can not.  and when He does, we are giving it to missions around the world!  we will get to partner in making a difference all around the world.  simply, b/c we are trusting in God to do what we can not.  

i am not doing the service justice with my brief babbling about it...but it was awesome!  

in short, too late for that, we had a great weekend and it is really good to be home!  hope your weekend was good too!  later

the biggest gap

well, this could be the biggest gap ever between two related posts.  i have been out of town with the family last weekend, just taking a break...which didnt end up too relaxing, but that is another post.  and i was in oklahoma working sunday night thru yesterday afternoon.  so, lots of thoughts between this post ,about my new friend mike, and today's post.

here are a few...

i kind of set you up.  you could have read the last post and went, wow...that daniel sure does have a "heart for the lost", he was willing to be in somewhere they serve beer  just to witness to someone...  ok, you probably didnt think that exactly...but you get my point.  

OR you could have thought, wow!  that daniel sure is an idiot...you cant go around buying beer for sinners and expect them to be saved!  daniel sure is "back sliding", he is the one who might need to be saved...again...  he has been going to that assemblies of God church...  lol

well, i've thought versions of both scenario's.  here is the reality of it.  i almost didn't say anything to mike.  i almost just clammed up...you know why?  sins of commission.  some how in my talking with someone about Jesus, i automatically focus on what i am doing, and if i can be a "good enough witness".  how in the world does one man's lack of a connection to the Creator of everything get turned into something about me and my depravity?  i don't know, that is my answer... i don't know.  but here are two things i think it could be; 

1. a conviction of the Holy Spirit.  the Holy Spirit could be convicting me of my actions and saying, "hey...what are you doing?"  "you don't need to be here"
2.  an enemy saying, "you are not good enough to say anything about this Jesus you believe in" "you are a loser and everyone in here is going to look at you like you are a loser if you start talking about Jesus"  "you freak" "religious whacko" ... you get the point

i am not for sure which it was that night, maybe some of both. i don't know!

i think, i have been conditioned to respond to sins of commission, the sins i commit.  i feel guilty, i repent, then i do it all over again.  i tend not to feel that way about sins of omission, the sin of apathy and doing nothing.  i have walked away from dozens of opportunities to talk about Jesus and after a day or so...i stop feeling bad about missing the opportunity.  

i once heard a guy speaking about sharing the Gospel, he shared with an atheist.  the atheist told him that if that were true... if the only way to have life was to follow Jesus, if God came to earth and died on a cross to take away the penalty of mine and your sins.  then this atheist said he would crawl over broken glass to tell the world about this Gospel.  

right after i originally posted about this experience with mike last week, i saw this post on SCL.  it is about what a christian should be vs. what a christian is.  and then, on the same site i saw this video from penn of penn and teller.  

in a season where everyone is blogging,  merry christmas, ask your self... what does it mean to me, Christ came, what does that mean to me?  and, how am i going to tell everyone i meet about the Saviour who came?  

Merry Christmas!

new blog

this one time when my wife and i were on vacation with some friends. the girls went shopping and the guys went to play golf. when we all got back together, my wife says, "i bought you this green shirt, i wasn't for sure if you would like it or not....so, i bought you two of them." i was like, huh? it wasn't "exactly" like that, but very similar and that is the short version.
anyway, that was kind of my idea with starting another blog. i am not really that good at writing on one...so what the heck, i'll start another one! you are like, huh??
i started this blog this morning. you can read about it there, but basically i started it to have a place to keep me accountable, share some insights, and to focus this one a little on to something else.

so... enjoy!! have a good day! and check it out at www.just9moreminutes.blogspot.com .

challenging...

john lindell has been teaching through the book of luke for a while now, i dont know how long...but a long, long time!  the last few months or so has been really good to dig into luke 19 through 23 or so.  something keeps bothering me, it keeps challenging me, so...i decided to do a little digging on my own.  let me just tell you the part that has been bothering me...Jesus rides in to jerusalem, on a donkey, to the praises of almost everyone in the city.  they sing praise to Him, they shout Hosanna to the highest!  then, not a week goes by, NOT A WEEK! and the jewish leaders have Jesus arrested, pull a sham of a trial, take him to pilate, who takes him to herod, who sends him back to pilate...both find no guilt in anything he has done, BUT the jewish leaders still demand to crucify him.  so, where are all the people that were shouting Hosanna in the highest?  there are crowds yelling to crucify him, but where are all the people who were praising him not even a week earlier?  had the religious leaders convinced all of them that Jesus was not who he claimed to be and needed to be crucified?  

here is what i am finding.  i dont know exactly.  i dont find all the specific answers.  to be honest with you, it hacks me off, i get very angry when i think about where in the world could these people have been?  i mean seriously, Jesus had just healed some people, he was teaching in the temple and the people were amazed...so where in the h-e double hockey sticks were they? why didnt they come to at least stand up for Jesus?  i dont know.

here is what i do know.  my anger towards them, it can be directed towards myself a large part of the time.  this is what i am learning...  Jesus healed me, i have stood in awe of Jesus...and when there are people who are living lives for so much less than Jesus, it is very rarely, if ever, that i speak up and tell them why my life matters now, why my life has purpose, who it was that saved my soul and gave me purpose!  so my challenge is to take some of that anger and some of the frustration towards people that i dont know, nor do i have much of an idea of what the circumstances were, the people, who i don't know where they were when the mobs were yelling to crucify.  i am going to take some of that frustration and anger to fuel my fire.  to love people who are not so lovable, and to say something!  our faith has to have action ... otherwise, how much can we say that we really believe what we believe?  that is my challenge to myself...to not be like the people that didnt speak up...

would you join me?  in not being like the crowds...not in some judgmental, hypocritical way...but with love.  would you join me?

more pics and thoughts...

a great picture from one of "the crazy" guys from the FBC youth group.  you know the ones...the "funny ones".  this group of guys are different though, they have a real sense of what it is to live spiritually and have fun. they love Jesus and they love to goof off... it really is very cool.

well, i had to laugh when i drove up on these guys...this is the adopt-a-stream group.  that is fort st behind jim, fort and sunset...they apparently found this shopping cart along the stream clean up, along with the stick in jim's hand.  he proceeded to go underneath the waterway and emerged victoriously on this side...all the while staying upright.  i didnt want to see him get hurt, but i secretly did want to see him fall and get soaked!  it was only 30 degrees outside!!  

i was beat last night!  it has been a while since i have tried to hang with HS and JHS students...i still can, it just takes longer to re-cooperate!  as i sat vegging out last night, watching seinfeld, it was the episode where the restaurant goes in across from jerry's apt.  he wants him to succeed, but no one has ever stayed in that particular location for more than a couple of months.  you know that place right?  anyway, jerry decides to go and help the guy out.  babu, the owner, is so thankful for jerry's input that he decides to take his advice and close down for renovation and re-open serving only pakistani food.  jerry has this conversation in his head, praising himself for how much he cares for the un-cared for.  he pats himself on the back for taking the "effort" to go and reach out to this poor foreigner and give him some unsolicited advice/help.  if you have seen this episode you know how it ends...the restaurant goes out of business!

i think i am like that sometimes, and this weekend reminded me why we help out and why we serve.  it really has very little to do with us.  oh, we get the benefit of feeling good about accomplishing something.  but thanks be to God, that we don't do it for that...but to shine the light back on the One who has given us everything we could ever dream of and more! 

one last pic from the weekend...the fools who urged jim on!  these are your fearless volunteer leaders!  some of the greatest hearts...future church/mission/ministry leaders!!  pretty cool...

 

what is up with this?!

i had to mow the yard yesterday!  november 1st and i was mowing the stinking yard!  i thought there was some kind of deal with God that we are cursed and have to mow, BUT he was going to give us, who live in the midwest, some grace and not make us mow after the middle of september.

i think eric barb got me to thinking about this in this post about hair...

what other kind of unwritten deals do we have?

why i dont blog

i come to this page here sometimes, and i get distracted. i read what others are saying before i say anything. then my thoughts get all jumbled up and my time was spent on reading intsead of saying. (which i am pretty sure i learn more that way...lol) OR what i want to say is said much more eloquently some where else...so i just move on to the next project.

not sure if this matters to anyone, just wanted to give you my excuse for today as to why i dont blog much! haha...

i am being stretched as a leader and i am growing/being stretched in my spiritual walk. i just dont know how much of it i want to talk about on here. so, if you are into praying and stuff....i would appreciate prayer.

have a good week!

a touch of conviction...

i might...just maybe...have been a little negative in the posts below. and i am feeling a little bit of conviction now that i have went back and read it. you know what excuses are like, but anyway...here are mine: i am tired of hearing all the talk and no answers for current political and economic situations, i was tired last night and i was watching the debate...JUST ANSWER THE QUESTIONS! (nuff said bout that), i do get a little tired of the wacko christians who come out in uncertain time and try to scare the hell out of people. it is such a pathetic ploy...and it is not sustainable. what happens when the economy turns around and the world doesnt end? party-on i guess...that is another rant and i can feel my blood pressure rising...lol

so, conviction. it is a good thing, it is a frustrating thing, it is almost like a nagging in your soul...the one that you hate to admit to that you were wrong...but you were...so you have to. so, i admit i could have been a little negative and i'm sorry.

but now! i read psalm 24:1-2 today. that made me feel a little better about everything going on.

The Earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

i find so much comfort in that. EVERYTHING! that would be money, stock markets, republicans, democrats, oil, gas, people, houses, cars, ...you get the point! He founded it....He founded it....that settles my soul a little, no... A LOT! I think this verse has been used in my life to almost be a justification for things i wanted to do. today i view it as justification for the Lord to do whatever He wants to. it is His and He is in control, there are no surprises coming for Him.

this was good for me, dont know where you are....but hope this helps!

lazy ... funny

so i have been pretty lazy this week, in respect to blogging.  i had several ideas throughout the week, but the thought of picking up the computer and hashing it out went by the way side.  i know what excuses are like, but i did have a busy week...so cut me a little slack.

something that was funny, last night, we were out on the deck most of the evening.  had the tiki torches burning, had the big green egg bbq'ing a little papa murphy's pizza. (you would think there were sponsors for this post...lol)  kim's brother and his family were over, the kids were playing outside...we just had a great evening!  

well, after chance and his family left, it was get ready for bed and unwind time for us.  so,  i think i fed the cat and the kids were "be-laxing" in their room.  kim went out on the deck to snuff out the tiki torches, and all of a sudden i hear her yelling.  "daniel!!  come here, hurry!!!"  i ran in to the living room to hear this, " i think there is a skunk out there.  it is eating the cat's food, i almost stepped on it!"  sure enough, there it was. (we will call the skunk pepe from here on out.) as if it were not bothered by anything, just chowing away on poor little sadie's food.

so, i had to devise a plan, quickly.  i went to get my gun, which one to grab?  well, i was just telling my brother-in-law, i need to buy a good shot gun.  so, no shot gun.  in that same conversation, i said, "i wish i had my .22 rifle back."  so, no .22 rifle.  the most logical choice was the .22 pistol.  (i didnt think i need the stopping power of the 40 or a deer rifle...lol) so .22 pistol it was.  kim was right behind me, saying, "you cant shoot that thing on the deck!" well,  i was concentrating on how to get out there, WITHOUT GETTING SPRAYED, all while maximizing my opportunity to get rid of this thing.  the best i could come up with was, wait until it gets done eating and gets off the deck and try to sneek out there and ... well...you know, eradicate this varmint. 

pepe got done eating, waddled all around the deck and finally made it's way down the steps.  i, quietly as i could, sneaked out onto the deck.  and the skunk takes off!  those little suckers can move pretty fast...and it was dark.  (those are my excuses!) i ran after it and squeezed off 5 or 6 shots...pepe was bobbing and weaving as she ran and dodged the lead i was slinging at her...she got away....lucky little critter!

so, kim walks outside, laughing at me, and this is how the conversation went...

kim  " honey, what happened!  you didnt hit it!?" 

me "no honey, i didnt hit it!  did you see that thing's moves?"  

kim "well, the good news is you didnt get sprayed!"

me "well, the bad news is there are probably  some holes in the dora play house!"

we both had a good laugh.  the great white hunter lives to strike another day.  little pepe knows i mean business now also!!