one more...a little funnier.

one more...this could be too funny!!!!  man i am out of shape!

  

messing around in the back yard and field next to our house.  we got the brush hog out and eric laid out his first race track...then i mowed it out and voila!  the next travis pastrana???

wrigley field

got this in the mail yesterday!

your faith...

i was reading in mark 10 this morning.  the story is about a blind man named bartimaeus.  short story of when Jesus is leaving a town, just walking down the road.  this blind guy, bart, hears Jesus is going to be passing by.  he starts yelling..."son of david, Jesus! mercy, have mercy on me!"  everyone tries to get this nut job to shut up and sit back down, then he gets louder...."SON OF DAVID! JESUS, MERCY, HAVE MERCY ON ME!"  (pause for one second) didnt he know about the polite way to handle things?  didnt he know, he ought to listen to all the people who werent blind, but the know the polite, nice, comfortable ways to handle things?  

(ok, continue) and i love this. reading from the message , Jesus stopped in his tracks.  apparently Jesus did not know the rules either.  Jesus ask him, what can i do for you?  Rabbi, I want to see, says the blind man.  "on your way" said Jesus.  "your faith has saved you and healed you." In that very instant he recovered his sight and followed Jesus down the road.

for me, it is really hard not to listen to what the crowd of people are saying i should do.  but my favorite part of this story is how Jesus stops right in his tracks to see what this guy is all about!  this is the kind of faith that moves Jesus to compassion.  also, i love how bart says mercy, have mercy on me.  i dont realize how much mercy means to me sometimes.  the fact that i am NOT going to get what i really deserve!  my hope is to have enough faith that i could care less what other people think of me...  then my faith will have saved me and i can follow Jesus down the road.

how is your faith?  is it big and in dire need of Jesus?  or is small and listens to what others think?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

i am one lucky guy! seriously, i have an awesome wife who turns...well, turns one year older today!  lol  what i did to deserve someone as good as her, i do not know.  i love you and i hope you have a great birthday today honey!  

windy city

eric and i just got back from chicago for the weekend.  we went with my best friend from high school, rex, and his son, dake.  we drove up thursday night, the boys were champs! stayed with rex's mom and dad on thurs night and headed downtown to the windy city on friday morning.  we rode the ferris wheel at navy pier and hung out at the children's museum there as well.  we checked into to the hotel and ate went to eat at gino's east pizza!  AWESOME pizza!  

on saturday we got up and ate breakfast, got on the train and headed to wrigley field to watch the cubs take on the pirates.  now, i need to interject a note here...typically, i dont like baseball.  if i did like baseball, i would be a cardinals fan.  i like to go to the springfield cards game with eric from time to time.  but either way, i could really care less.  except for the fact that i am from MO and i do know the "we" hate the cubbies! all that said, i got a cubs hat, eric got a cubs hat and shirt and wrigley field is an awesome ball park.  so much history!!  i have to say, i caught myself not watching the game closely a couple of times and missing a close call or a good play and i was looking for the instant replay screen....aaarrrnnnt!  wrong!  this place is old school!  what  a great lesson to teach to eric about history and a time that is almost gone.  heck, it taught me a lesson.  it makes you want to slow down, pay more attention, think for yourself, enjoy the simple things.

we also got to spend some great time with rex's parents on sat. evening and sunday morning.  they are family to me, so it was great to let eric get to know them a little better.

oh yeah, everything is SUPER expensive!!  you gotta love the parking in chicago!

Bible reading thoughts

reading through Judges and Mark. here are a few thoughts from today's reading:

Judges 4-6

one thing real quick...the Bible i am reading through does not mark it's verses, so you will have to dig through the text yourself to find where i am at. sorry, i know it is a pain...but you might find something you can comment back on! : )

k...judges chapters 4-6

story of deborah

• she was a judge and prophet. that was weird to me, thought the woman were supposed to keep their mouth shut??? (in the OT, of course...lol)
• people of israel continue to sin. not too much different from me so far!
• speaking of this time before the Lord called deborah to lead an attack, the author says that warriors became fat and sloppy, no fight left in them...God chose new leaders. at this point i am having to ask myself who the Lord is speaking to?
• the command is for all people to stop what they are doing and listen, listen to the story of the victory God performed for the israelites.
• clan of reuben had lots of division and camp-fire discussions. sometimes it seems like i am talking a lot...obeying very little
• "thus may all God's enemies perish, while his lovers be like the unclouded sun" there isnt much in between here.

that brings us to the story of Gideon

• people went back to evil! if you are following along in the story....you have to be saying, your kidding right? they didnt...yep they did! how often do we forget how good God has been to us and then we go right back to how we were?
• God's angel goes to Gideon and tells him, you are going to be the guy who saves israel from midian. Gideon is like, not me! I am from the smallest tribe and i am the runt of the litter! i have been dealing with this here lately. i have been thinking of the apostle paul...that when we are weak, He is strong and the Lord said to paul, my grace is sufficient for you. and for me too!
• God's promise to Gideon is this, " I will be with you..." i know that is more than enough, but i am praying for the Lord to make that real, more real than it is already for me.

have to get to Mark later. read Mark 7 that is what i will try and comment on later tonight, maybe sometime later this week. we'll see : ) have a good week!