Changing Times

Settling In

2008-08-20T19:12:00.001-07:00

So we've started our new chapter in our lives. It seems to be going great. We went from 10 children down to only 6. I know you are thinking, ONLY 6, ARE YOU NUTS!!! Yes we are, but it's a good nuts. We are back home and close to family and friends.

My new job is in the developmental stages at this point, but it's keeping me busy. The children started their new school and seem to be enjoying it. Noah started Kindergarten and is doing awesome. I thought it would be harder than it was watching him leave. I was home with him for the last 2 1/2 years and so I felt very close to him. We made it!

Christie goes back to school next week and she is crazy nervous. I know she'll do great. I'm soooooooo proud of her!!!! If she gets these classes under her belt she will be eligible to attend a 14 month nursing program through the U of A in June. The best part of it is, it will all be FREE. All she owes is two to three years of servitude when she graduates, but she would need a job after graduated anyway right. Till we meet again . . .

Heard this today

2008-08-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

I heard this today and it struck me. Satin may not be able to make you bad, but he sure can make you busy. In this day in age we are a microwave society, I want it now. With all that free time, wink, wink, we fill it. If we don't make time for God, like quiet time, or prayer time, we are going to fill it with something else.

The Move

2008-08-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

We are officially official. The move has happened and boy are we tired. We decided to make our first day in our house a complete work day. That hurt! We couldn't get to half our rooms, so it was necessary. Today is our fun day! Outings and having a good time with the children.

We arrived Sunday night, later then we had planned, but our friends showed amazing support. Even people that could not be there in person, had written amazing comments and we there in spirit. THANK YOU ALL.

Happy Anniversary

2008-08-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

I have been married to the most incredible woman for 10 YEARS!!! Today is our anniversary. Our anniversary is not going how we had planned, but that is life. We are moving, taking in 2 more children, starting new jobs, etc... We imagined renewing our vows at a ceremony in the park and have a BBQ after. Small, quaint, FUN!!! Our first wedding was a production, not what we wanted, but it was beautiful. I've been married a decade. WOW!!! Here's to 50 more.

Breaks your heart

2008-08-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

The children that we are leaving behind are bummed. They have made posters that say that they are on strike, make our background on our computer say please don't leave, we'll miss you, we love you, etc... Last night 2 of our older girls stayed awake till 3 in the morning cleaning the house for us, because we are working hard to make it dirty with trash and boxes. Part of the moving process. We are going to miss these ladies! I knew that saying goodbye would be hard, but they are not making any better.

New Counter

2008-07-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

Check out the new counter.->
Got it from the agent. Thanks man.

Shock and Awwwww Baby

2008-07-24T19:29:00.001-07:00

So Christie and I have decided to embark on this insane adventure, but now we are dragging 4 children along with us. I hope they know what they are getting into. In order to pull this off, I needed to get a job outside our current position and start about the same time as we leave. So I apply with an organization in Tucson and I don't hear back. I'm felling a bit down and to make things worse I get a letter from them in the mail declining the need of my services. But the good news is that the wished me luck in my career search. What an insult. Just say we didn't pick you, so now your sad and have to start looking again, sorry bout that.

That night I maybe sleep 3 hours wondering what to do now, we only have 2 weeks till kick off and I still have no income. The following morning I get an e-mail from my current administration asking if I got the job, because they want me to start a new program with them. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! At what point in time am I going to stop doubting God and realize that he has a bigger plan.

Back in the saddle again!!!!

2008-07-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while. A lot has happened and I have even been publicly admonished and even removed by others, but a great relief has been removed from my shoulders. My wife and I have decided to adopt 4 children that we have had in our care for over 2 1/2 years. We made this decision back in January, but could not tell the children till last weekend. What a difficult time. The children were shocked at first. It took them about 10 minutes to realize what was going to be happening. Then the questions were flying. It was great!

We are scheduled to leave our current house parenting role on the 3rd of Aug. This is a great loss, because of the children we are leaving behind. There are 4 children that we have grown very attached to and will have to say goodbye to. It is a loss financially as well. Another blog entirely. I say thank you to all that prayed and all that stayed.

These Guys Are Not In Collage Anymore !!!

2008-04-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

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This Is A Real Sport

2008-04-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

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2008-04-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

Day 2 was a bit more busy than the day before, but for a theme park, it was dead. The weather continued to be amazing. The children saw the water rides on day one and were so bummed that we would not let them on. Day 2 we were ready, bring on the water rides. We packed a change of clothes for everyone. These were some wet kiddo's. They had a great time.

The Tiger show was fun. There is a section of the audience that the fence is labeled, caution you may get wet. Well, some of our girls were sitting in that section because you are right up next to the tigers. When the announcer came out he made it known that the section labeled caution wet is not for water. Tigers are very territorial and like to spray, hint, hint. On that note, my girls got up and ran. I was wondering how often that really happens. Sure enough, the white tiger strolls on out and lifts his tail and, grooooossssss. He did it like three times. It was nasty. I learned that the the tigers think whole milk is like ice cream to us. That is how they get them to do some tricks. I also learned that it takes about 2 years before a trainer can work one on one with a tiger. It takes that long to build the trust up. In the mean time the prospective trainer must work indirectly with the tiger. This is not the case if the tiger is a cub. That is a long time to decide if you trust someone.

Rides, rides and more rides. This is the end of day 2 and we are still not done seeing all the park. It was awesome.

2008-04-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

Day one, Monday, has arrived. The park did not open till 10 and we had an hour drive from hotel to park, so we had a great leisurely morning. The car ride in was easy compared to the day before.

We arrived at the park and found the parking lot to be empty. We were concerned. come to find out it was just a slow morning. LOVE IT!!! We started off by doing the photo shoots, you know pose with this character, sit by , this fountain, etc... We decided to see a show first and went to the dolphin exhibit, the show was not for 45 min, so I took the older children with me and went on some rides. The first one was called Medusa. It was fast. They worn you to take all loose articles off, so I left my hat, some girls took off their sandals, the usual. As we are going up, and up, and up, I think this is sweet. We do the first drop and my glasses start to come off! We are flying, I think, this is crazy fast! So for the rest of this ride I've got my hand over my face to keep $400 attached to my face. That ride sucked, cause I couldn't see and my hand keep hitting me in the face.

Off to the dolphin show. This picture was taken by, Joleen. She is 9 and I told Christie, why aren't you or I taking these pictures? She said let her try. this is what we got. Way to go Jo!!! The older children were not excited at all about the show until it started. About half way through I look over and they are smiling, laughing, having a great time. It was awesome.

The entire day was about 70 degrees and all the rides were ones that we could walk right on to. We Had a great day!

2008-04-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

We have delayed the inevitable for as long as we can. Like I said on day one, it would have taken about 20 hours from Tucson, To final destination. Well there is nothing to do between Vegas and San Fransisco, so the 9 hour drive on paper, begins.

We left Vegas on an overcast drizzly morning after doing all the hotels at about 11, and the first picture is of the mountains that are around Vegas. Picture number 2 is about an hour out of Vegas in CA. and we started to get snow. It was great watching the rain change to snow as we were driving. It was a great way to start out this long trip.

The children were great. We did the stop every 2 hours and rationed the water till about 20 min prior to pit stop. Great idea wife! As we were driving, we were not taking the I-10 so we used a lot of hwys and stuff. We were able to see a lot of the smaller towns. For people in Tucson, that green stuff grows on its own, and the cows in northern CA. are huge and fat. Not like those Tucson cows that you want to call the animal cruelty line because they are eating the " foliage" around them. I'm sure mesquite tastes great, ONCE! not to live on. All skin and bones. It was a long drive, but worth it. It was a beautiful drive. green hills, animals every few miles, sheep, goats, cows, horses. I was impressed.

We rolled into the hotel/timeshare at about 9:30-10 at night, so it was an, assign beds, and get to sleep kinda thing. Tomorrow, the PARK!!!! YES!!!

2008-03-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

Egypt was our next stop. No not really. Our next stop was in Vegas. We arrived there about 3 hours later then we had planned because they are doing construction at the Hover Dam. So when we arrived the children were able to see Vegas at night as you come over "that hill". The city was gorgeous.

We got to our hotel late and so we then tried to take the children to the strip. When we told people what we were doing they were appalled that we were taking children, let alone 10, to Vegas, but our thoughts were that it is a very visual stimulating town and people from Japan come to see it, so it is a great place to see.

We could not park our 15 passenger van and to valet it, that is expensive! so we called it a night and the children were able to see the strip a night, though it was through their window's. We decided to take the children Sunday early morning.

It worked. There were hardly any people on the strip or in the hotels. And the people that were there were getting a free show themselves. It's not very often that 10 children go walking through Vegas in one herd. The children were impressed. We had a great time.

Next stop Six Flags in Vallejo, CA.

2008-03-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

So I made a challenge with a friend to try to keep up on the reading the bible in a year program, but I am here to confess that this is the second year I have tried to do this and have not been successful. There is a difference this year though. I am OK with admitting that I have failed this time. I am going to get back on the horse and start reading again. Is it going to be in the same format that I was reading before. No. I would like to read the stories and the lessons in their entirety this time and that is what I am going to do. Have a great night all, I have some reading to do.

2008-03-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is day 0ne of the hart family vacation. I would discribe it as one of the best vacations I have ever been on. It was 9 days of excitement.

We started off going to flagstaff. Our final destination was 2 hours north of San Francisco, but that is a 17 hour drive without children. Once you throw tinkle trips into that, its a 23 hour venture, so we tried to brake it up a bit.

When we arrived at the Grand Canyon, the children were taken back by the beauty, but after walking the rim for about 15 min., the comments started comming of when are we going to leave. So after about an hour of walking around and taking some sweet pictures were back into the car.

Sharing Testamonies

2008-02-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

I am reading Genisis 24 and Abrahm is not doing to well health wise and has asked his main servant " go to my country and my own relatives" to get a spouse for his son. Now the servant gets a bit worried and askes what if the woman that I find is unwilling to come with me. So at this point the servant is douting either his ability to convince a woman to follow him to another country or that the task is too great. I feel that the servant still wants to be obiedient, but needs to lay out all the options to Abrahm because he appernatly has overlooked the obvious. How often are we faced with a situation and say to God, either by words or by our actions, " now God, I know that you know what you are doing, but if I could offer a little advice or guidance that would be great." We are not douting God, but . . . I think we are douting God.

After reading Gen 24:1-5 let me know why you think the servant raised the issue about bringning the woman back.

Cold Days ? ? ?

2008-02-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

I went to an event this morning with 4 of my children at their school. This event was donuts with dad day, where I go eat donuts with the children in their cafeteria. We had a great time. So about 10 minutes before the bell rang we were going to go to the playground. On our way the monitors, were telling the children to go into the hallway. I asked the monitor why this was and She said it was too cold for the children to be outside. WHAT!!! When I was in school, we were sliding on the grass that has ice on it, onto the frozen puddles and had a great time. What the heck is giong on. Who ever thought this idea up is not from anywhere it is cold. The low today was 34, that is not even freezing. This is a great idea, lets load the children up on donuts and juice then take them into the hallway, BRILLIANT!! So I drop them off in the hallway and am screaming at them to tell them good by. What a mess.

Super Duper Bowl

2008-02-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

I admit that I didn't see this one coming. I thought the Patriots were going to wrought the Giants and I was going to be finding something else to do at half time. I was pleasently surprised and that was a GREAT game. We were all part of history either way. Patriots win, we see the best record in the NFL history. Giants win, we get to see the biggest upset in NFL history. What a great game.

Today's readings

2008-01-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

My family and I went on our 5 week break this weekend, and I found myself without a computer. When I am with out a computer, I am with out a way to get my daily bible reading in. So with that said, I am successfully 24 days behind in my bible in a year goal. A friend and I are trying this, "reading a bible in a year thing", and she made the statement that I love. She said something to the effect of, " If I try to keep on track I am going to get behind and then get discouraged and give up, so I am just going to read and not get discouraged if I am behind." I LOVE IT. I am so far behind at this point and if I try to catch up I would be overwhelmed and not get out what I need. So I am going to just keep swimming and soaking in what God wants me to hear.

With all that said, I was reading today and I saw that in Matthew 5, Jesus is having a small group. Jesus is calling his leaders together and saying, "lets do some deep tissue spiritual messaging here." That is what I feel that I am missing in the lifestyle that my wife and I live. We are in a situation that is isolating. Going to a small group in the evening is challenging b/c you are in a situation that requires all our children to behave and there are 10 of them. The age ranging from 161/2 down to 5. Reading that reminded me that this is something that I do miss and that is something that I need to make a priority in my life.

A Little Stroll

2008-01-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the family and I went for an outside adventure. Any time you take 10 children anywhere, it is and adventure, but this one was a planned adventure. We woke up and told the children we were going on a hike. They were pumped. Even our older children were excited, and that is always a good thing. We got this great idea from our friends who went on Sat., but we could not go, that was our crazy busy day. So the children were out of school, and we said what the heck.

The first place we decided to go was on the NW side of town by oracle and Magee. When we arrived there was not a single place to park. There were even cars double parked,crazy So we moved on. There was a sense of, oh no, now what. Christie and I had been to a place in Catlinia State park before. It was a bit more up Oracle and we had to pay to get in. We decided we could not allow these excited children to be in a car much longer so we did it.

We paid our dues and parked the car. The children were pumped. After about 1/2 mile in to the trail we hit a fork. One sign said, something pools 2.2 miles ahead. We were leery but decided to try it. That's a long way with 10 children. about .7 miles from that fork we hit another fork. Take the high road to the pools or the low road into the canyon. The children decided to go to the cayon.

These children are brilliant! The canyon was filled with water, and steeeeeeep canyon walls. Water falls all around and beauty that would take your breath away. I told all the children, at one spot, "The the first child into this water fall would get 5 dollars." They were not certain I was serious, until I pulled the 5 dollars from my wallet and layed it on the groud. Don't forget we are in January and this water is snow melt. Plus this place that I am asking them to jump into requires swimming once you are in to get to the edge and back out. After about 2 minutes of all the children giggling and looking at each other, you see Jordy flying through the air and Splash! She cam out of the water just as you would imagine a cat, shocked, wet and happy all at the same time. It was great!

We decided that it was time to go after 2 other children (David and Jyneen) decided to follow suit and get really wet. We had a great time and there was minimal teeth gnashing from the wet ones on the way back. It was great!!!

NOW !!!!!

2008-01-16T07:03:00.000-08:00

So I'm reading through Gen. and I get to Chapter 8 where Noah has been in this ark for what I can gather is about 6 months. Plus or Minus. Keep in mind that this is probably one of those low times in his life. He is a farmer, not a sailor, then you throw every animal on earth in your boat and close the top. This is a valley in my book!

Anyway, Noah sends out a raven to see if the water has dried up. This bird keeps comming back and doing this for 40 days. How low can this valley get? After 40 days Noah sends out a dove and it comes back empty. What If we were Noah and the dove comes back empty? How do we react? I would be very angry and might start to doubt God. Does Noah go down this road? Nope, he waits a week and does it again. Sure enough the Dove comes back with a sign that this journey is about to end.

We keep hearing that we are a microwave society and that we want things done now and with out the wait. I am in that place where my life is at the cross roads and this message has brought it all back into perspective. I need to wait and be patient to what God has planned for me. Not NOW, but wait.

Falling Short

2008-01-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

I made a pack with a friend to go through the bible in a year and blog about our experiences. I have to say, to this point, I have kept one day so far. I feel bad, not that I am not keeping up with the plan, but that I am robbing myself of such rich knowledge and wisdom that comes along with reading God's word. To spend time in the word of God is like having him sit next to you and whisper into your ear.

Our community has a blog, and one of the questions that was brought up was, what can you do to hear God better ( I am paraphrasing ). I would say spend more time with Him. If you are unfamiliar with someones voice and they tell you something you are not likely to listen. If your father asks you to do something, It could just be a whisper, you would be all over it. I think that is where spending the time in the presence of God can come in handy. Pray for me that I might get the strength to start back up again reading and get something out of it.

Golden Compass

2007-12-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

I may take some heat for this post, but that is the way it goes, right. There has been a lot of hype about this movie, and the fact that we as Christians should not go see this movie, and tell our non Christan friends not to see it as well. I felt the need to see the move to educate myself and if the opportunity presented its self, and I was able to encounter a person that was not a Christ follower we might have some common ground to work on. I believe that is what we are called to do, build relationships and allow God and the spirit to do the rest.

I went to see this movie for the same reason that I went to see the Da Vinci Code. To get more knowledge. I am not going to go into whether or not I liked it, or whether of not you should allow your children to go see it. You need to make that call. I am responsible for 10 children and felt the need to preview the movie for myself. Am I going to allow my children to go see the movie, most likely not. I have children that that rage from 5 to 16 1/2. The older children that are more grounded in their faith I might, but for the most part, I am going to say no.

Time To Breath

2007-12-21T20:54:00.001-08:00

This week was one of the most relaxing times in my life yet. Christie and I were given two extra days off this week. We are in the line of work that comes home with you. We work and live at the same place 24/7. After a while that can take it's toll. So when we get the chance to get away we try our best to do it right. That was until we started the dreaded BUDGET. This thing is 2 letters away from being a bad word. It is good to have one of these things (BUDGET) , but it can can take some getting use to. So we start this BUDGET 2 months ago and on our last break we did not give ourselves enough money to enjoy ourselves, so I began hating this thing. You know, the BUDGET. After talking with my bride, who by the way felt the same way, we decided to move some money around and grow that fund that allows us to have fun and still keep us in the red.

IT WORKED! ! We had a great time this time, and still used the BUDGET. There is a passage in the bible that is misquoted a bit more than I would like to mention. It is quoted often as saying,"money is the root of all evil." In 1 Tim 6:10 it states, " For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

Money is not evil, it is not alive. Our love for money is A root. I capitalize the a because it is one way that our eyes can be taken off the real prize, and that is time with God through our Christ Jesus. All joking aside, a budget is a way to tell your money where you would like it to go. Money cares not were you put it. It is very obedient when you tell it where to go. It is when you allow it to go where your emotions want it to go instead of using you wisdom and discernment from God that you get into to trouble.

Titus 1: 1-9

2007-11-12T14:39:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, we as a community started on the book of Titus. Our leader, Josh, spent a great amount of time with his explanation of woman in leadership. That is not what this blog is going to be about. Josh said a quote that resonated with me for a good period of time after that sermon. So I asked him for the quote, and here it is:

"We tend to assess leadership with a corporate mentality. Eldership can be thus seen as an achievement, as a reward, or as an opportunity for advancement. It is all too easy to assume that the elder's duties are parallel to those of board membership in a corporation. This can lead to a perception of elders' meetings basically as a time for decision - making, with the executive (the CEO, as the pastor may be conceived) carrying out the directives of the board. In this scenario, it is possible for elders to consider pastoral concern and care to be outside of their sphere of responsibility and to belong instead to that of the pastor. That is a common and serious misconception. It is corrected by Paul's instructions to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 'to be shepherds' and Peter's to elders in 1 Peter 5:2 to 'be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care.' The examples of shepherding: the good shepherd in Psalm 23 and John 10 and our 'Chief Shepherd' in 1 Peter 5:4 also serve as correctives." (From Walter Liefeld in the NIV commentary)

I am on the elder board for our community and took this statement to heart. I sat and thought about it for some time and came to the conclusion that this statement is a confirmation. I view my duties in our community different than that of a removed board member. I see everyone that comes into the door as someone that matters and to get to know that individual. Maybe not as deep as someone else can, but maybe get them connected to another person who can love on them like I can't. If our entire leadership team felt this way, I wonder what we would look like in the future.

For a while now I have told my friends that I love their company, but I can call on them during the week for help or to socialize. My duties are to the new people that are there for the first, second, or maybe even the third time. My friends are totally cool with that and have started to do the same thing. I love it. What a great community we have.

Do It Again?

2007-10-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

I was asked to speak again in our community. We are going to be going through the book of Titus in the upcoming weeks. I'm going to be going over Titus chapter 3. I thought I did really good when speaking on Transformers, but could have used some work with Shrek. Now I am being asked to speak on the the bible. This will be my first time talking twice in the same day. We moved to 2 gatherings in one day at the start of the fall and my friend said that it takes some getting use to. I'm excited.

I have been needing to get back into reading the bible on a more regular basis and so this is a great opportunity. My life has been turned upside down in the past month, and so I have been escaping through movies and video games. Not that movies and video games don't have there entertainment place, but the amount that I have been using them in, is excessive.

Well I'm off to go resonate in the word of my father. If you want, please read through Titus with us/me and give me some feed back. I love feedback.

Good Eats

2007-10-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

I don't like to just post a depressing Blog and that is what it seems like I've been doing for the past month. So I wanted to say that I have discovered Cinnamon LIFE cereal. This is some good eats. What are your favorite cereals?

WOW

2007-10-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

The rain continues to poor here at the Hart house hold. My bride successfully made it out of surgery Friday. She had a disk removed from her spine. She was was crazy scared, for good reason. She was putting up an EZ-UP at one of our son's swim meet last summer and heard a pop and her arm went limp. She thought that she hurry her shoulder, but in reality she cracked a disk and sent it into her spinal cord.

She lived with the pain for about a year until this last summer when she started loosing feeling in her hand then her arm. At this time she started to take this seriously. The MRI showed a piece of the disk jabbing into the cord.

The surgery went great and she was only in the hospital for 24 hours and now is at the house resting well. I am excited to have my lovely bride healthy again.

Tough Decisions

2007-09-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Josh was speaking at a conference this past Friday. He personally invited me to this conference, but I was unable to attend. Josh just currently did a blog post on a book that he read about choosing to cheat. Josh describes this book as at first it seemed to be "very far fetched." The concept I got from the book review is that in our lives we have only 24 hours in a day. 8 is usually taken up by sleeping. Some people less some people more, but for ease we'll say 8 hours. Now the other 16 are yours to do with it what you want. Most people do 8 at work and 8 with family. But that does not leave travel time to and from work, shopping time, hobbies time,etc... You are in charge of what you fill those other 16 hours with.

If you are married, I feel that you are obligated to share as much of those 8 family/not at work hours to your wife and children if you have them. This is what I was face with this past week. I know that Josh has confidence in me, and I am honored to know and feel that, but at the same time, the death of my father-in-law is a higher priority. When I look back at it, it is a no brainer, but when you are making the decision it is tough.

When It Rains It Pours

2007-09-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

I was talking to one my friends the other day about what is going in my life and he said," Wow you are really getting rained on!" My assumption is that he meant I was under attack. My wife's father, Gary Hawksworth, died on Thursday, September 13. He was not only my wife's father, but he was a father to me as well. I have not been in contact with my father for about 5 years now. I digress. We knew it was coming, just not so sudden. Before my son was born, 9 1/2 years ago, the doctors said that he had 3 more years and if he quit smoking they would give him 5. I think we kicked those doctors butt, personally. Gary was able to see 3 more grandchildren born and make a great impact in his community. It's kinda funny how your priorities shift when you know you are on a time table.

Along with the poor health of my father-in-law, my wife is struggling with some health issues. To make matters worse, and yes they can get worse, my wife can't talk about her health problems with her family b/c her father is diagnosed with cancer and is dying before there eyes. Now my wife's emotions are everywhere, and we currently have 8 children that still need a tremendous amount of our time and a father that has days to live.

During that same conversation with that friend I stated that I preferred that the storms would roll in hard, hit hard, then move on. I don't think I could handle the Seattle type of rain where it is not hard, but it is long and drawn out.

The Big Show

2007-08-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

I was brought up from the minors last week. My friend Josh is our senior pastor and he just had a baby son. Gavin was right on time. So, to make sure that he had some time off around the due date he arranged for me and a couple of others to preach in his absence.

Sure enough that time came for me to be called up to the big leagues. I have preached on one other occasion, but there was not as much at stake that time. We were with out a pastor and there was little happening at the church at that time. Well now our community is growing like crazy, and I am among some great speakers, including Josh, the senior pastor. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

When I was finished preaching, I stood in the back after the service and received nothing but complements. What a great feeling that was. My wife gets to nervous to stay and listen to me, so she leaves and helps out with the children. The following day my wife listens to me on our churches podcast and gives the greatest compliment. She said," This is good, this is really good." I felt so good at that point. As I write this a week after I still have people coming up to me and saying what a good job I did. I love being a servant of God!

You can listen to what I spoke about on our community blog, http://www.beginningsmessages.blogspot.com/. It was on Transformers.

Just Finished

2007-08-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

I have finished the longest book I have read since my collage days. To be honest I read more cliff notes in collage then the actual books. This book was a fun read. A lot of drama and suspense. I was surprised at the end, not to the point of disapointment.

The story is about a billionare that does something very questionable with his furtune after his death. The book has a large cast of characters, but a few main ones. There is one main character that is sent on an adventure to find someone and ends up finding himself along the way. While isolated on this adventure he finds out what means the most to him. I think that God tends to do the same to us. When we are isolated we tend to find we need to lean more on Him and build a stronger relationship with Him.

I have not read any other John Grisham books, but I might start after this one.

Missing the Point

2007-08-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

Deadbeat dead? Teen’s headstone repossessed
‘That’s just business,’ company official says; classmates pay $750 bill

Updated: 6:11 p.m. MT July 31, 2007
SPRINGVILLE, Utah - The cemetery headstone for a teenager who died in a car wreck was repossessed after a $750 bill went unpaid.

“That’s just business,” said Linda Anderson of Memorial Art Monument. “If we give every stone to everybody, we’d be out of business. They’d repossess your car if you didn’t make payments.”

Brady Conger, 17, and two friends died when their car smashed into a sport utility vehicle a year ago Thursday.

Memorial Art said bills sent to one address were returned, and the business couldn’t reach Brady’s mother, who apparently had agreed last year to pay the balance. “The end result was that there was absolutely no one who I could talk to about this,” owner Mike Anderson said.

Brady’s classmates raised money to pay the bill, and the headstone will be installed again this week.

Check this out

2007-07-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

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What's up with the weather

2007-07-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

My wife and I get a date day once a week. It is our time to reflect on what we are doing and get reconnected. Some times we call it our business time. For the past several months we have done the standard, go get lunch and go to the movies. First, this gets expensive and second, and most important, there is little connection happening when you are in theater for 3 hours and not allowed to talk.

So earlier this week I suggested we go trail running. Christie and I are trying very hard to get into shape, and do it together. So today I woke up and got into gym shorts and an tank top and was ready to go. Christie didn't think I was serious until she saw me making breakfast in this outfit. We dropped the children off at 10:00 a.m. and were off for our adventure.

The trail we choose was more like hiking, not much running occurred, which was good b/c I am still in the getting in shape phase. We got about 40 min into the trail and saw something cool in the mountains and decided to go climbing to get to it. It was great. about 12 p.m. we started to get hungry. We did not plan to stay this long, but hay, we were loving the time together. So instead of going back an hour hungry we collected prickly pear fruit and tried to eat them. This was funny. If you don't know what these are , they are little fruits that are about the size of golf balls covered in cactus needles. Some how we managed to get through 3 of them and they we delicious. Painful on the fingers, but delicious.

We we covered by clouds this entire adventure . It was awesome. Christie ran out of water cleaning her hands from the fruit, so we had to head back. Not something you want to mess with in the desert. If there was an abundant amount of water I am sure we would still be there. This was our best date night yet. It is going to be tough to top this one.

Summertime Rules

2007-07-14T20:01:00.001-07:00

These are great. I love seeing them every now and then. You are sometimes wondering if they are real or just drawings. Sweeeeeeet.

Party Time

2007-07-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

A gate-crasher’s change of heart
Gunman bursts into party, tastes cheese and wine, gets hug, then leaves

WASHINGTON - Police on Capitol Hill are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a teenager and ended in a group hug.

It started about midnight on June 16 when a group of friends was finishing a dinner of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp on the back patio of a District of Columbia home. That's when a hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the head of a 14-year-old girl. "Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he said, according to D.C. police and witnesses. Everyone froze, including the girl's parents. Then one guest spoke. "We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, told the man. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?" The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery and said, "Damn, that's good wine." The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, told the intruder to take the whole glass, and Rowan offered him the whole bottle. The robber, with his hood down, took another sip and a bite of Camembert cheese. He put the gun in his sweatpants. The story then turns even more bizarre. "I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said before apologizing. "Can I get a hug?" Rowan, who works at her children's school and lives in Falls Church, Va., stood up and wrapped her arms around the armed man. The four other guests followed. "Can we have a group hug?" the man asked. The five adults complied. The man walked away a few moments later with the crystal wine glass in hand. Nothing was stolen, and no one was hurt.

Once he was gone, the group walked into the house, locked the door and stared at each other _ speechless. Rabdau called 911, and police came to take a report and dust for fingerprints.
Police classified the case as strange but true. Investigators have not located a suspect. The witnesses thought he might have been high on drugs.
"We've had robbers that apologize and stuff but nothing where they sit down and drink wine. It definitely is strange," said Cmdr. Diane Groomes, adding that the hugs were especially unusual. "The only good thing is they would be able to identify him because they hugged him."

Harry Potter

2007-07-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the new Harry Potter movie. I enjoyed myself a great deal. I thought the did they did a great job keeping your interest. This is the 5th movie and all have been worth watching. I found myself at the end of this most recent thinking, now I have to wait another year for the next one. I have not read one book, so I haven't been disappointed. After seeing this last movie I might have to go out and get the next one in the series.

We are doing a series at our church about God in the movies and this movie came up as one of the possibilities for a sermon. After much deliberation it was decided that Harry Potter comes with too much controversy and a friend of mine said that the author of these books has a doctorate in mysticism. I did not know you could get a doctorate in that. Who knew. Anyway, I though the movie was good entertainment and I enjoyed myself.

What do you do with this???

2007-07-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

HWJAAB: How would Jesus advertise a bidet?
Pastor condemns cheeky billboards to go up next to Times Square church

NEW YORK - A bidet company's advertising plans in Times Square are too cheeky for the pastor of a nearby church.

Rev. Neil Rhodes, pastor of the interdenominational Times Square Church, is asking a state court to block a billboard company from posting huge ads that feature naked buttocks with smiley faces on them. The display is to go up on two sides of the Broadway building that houses Rhodes' church, its Bible school and day-care center.

"You walk into a church building, you have naked bodies before your eyes, how are you going to close your eyes and seek God?" Rhodes told the New York Post in an article published Sunday.

The ads promote the Washlet, a bidet-toilet seat that uses warm water and air. They were to go up for 30 days beginning July 1, but the church asked the state Supreme Court to block the displays, saying they would interfere with the church's religious mission.
Adam Silverstein, a lawyer for the advertising company, Van Wagner Communications, told the newspaper that he did not wish to trivialize the church's objections, but that "this is Times Square. It's the billboard capital of the world, and it's home to some of the most sensational advertisements in the universe."
A ruling was expected Monday.

Just put it next to Helen

2007-07-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

Meal guest finds host's wife, stepson in freezer
Guest helping with leftovers finds bodies in basement; man is arrested

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Police detained a man in eastern Belgium after a dinner guest found the bodies of the host's wife and stepson in a freezer, authorities said Thursday.
The female guest opened the freezer while helping to clear up after a dinner with a group of friends Tuesday at the man's home in the city of Verviers, 78 miles east of Brussels, said Christine Wilwerth of the city prosecutor's office.

"It was a lady who at the end of the meal at a friend's house, and after washing the dishes ... decided to take the leftovers of the meal down to the basement to store in the deep freeze," Wilwerth said. "Once she opened the deep freeze, she discovered the bodies."

Guests alerted police, who identified the bodies of the man's wife and her 12-year-old son. The bodies appeared to have been kept in the deep freeze for several weeks.
Wilwerth said the suspect acknowledged that a domestic quarrel had escalated and his wife had been stabbed, but she said he had not explained the circumstances of the child.

Party Time

2007-07-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

My peeps rock. My family went to 4th of July party with a bunch of friends. There was swim'n, cook'n, obstacle race, baptism, horseshoes, and night movie for the kids on the wall. What a great time. I played the owner of the shoes and think I got the raw deal when I lost in the first round 11 to 6. not much of a game.

I was privileged to be able to baptize one of my children. Joleen had come to my wife and I and asked about being baptized, so we explained that it was just an outward commitment of what is going on inside. My pastor and good friend Josh asked if I wanted to do the baptism. I was honored, but it was not my decision. I left it up to Joleen to make that decision, either the pastor or me. When we got to the party, Joleen asked if I would do it. I told her I would be honored and that yes I would. When the time came we both went into the pool. I was so scared, but I was so excited for her that I did not back down. It all happened so fast, but she was so happy afterwards.

This morning I asked her how it felt to be baptized, and she said," not really any different." That was good to hear. I am glad that she does not expect things to change right away. I will talk to her about "life after the plunge." What am I going to say, something along the lines of, " keep up what you were doing before and you will do great!"

This is Crazy

2007-06-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Teen surgeon flees as police plan to arrest him
Parents, both doctors, arrested after son allegedly performed C-section

NEW DELHI - A 15-year-old boy who allegedly delivered a baby by Caesarean section in an attempt to set a world record as the youngest surgeon apparently fled as police prepared to arrest him on Tuesday.
Raj Sekharan, superintendent of police in Tiruchirappalli district in southern Tamil Nadu state, said the boy had absconded and police were looking for him.
On Monday police arrested the parents of Dhileepan Raj, both doctors who supervised their son while he allegedly performed the Caesarean section. They were charged with cheating, forgery of records, endangering human life, concealing evidence and abetting a crime.

The two were jailed pending trial. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to seven years each, Sekharan said.
The Tamil Nadu chapter of the Indian Medical Association said last week that Dr. K. Murugesan showed a video recording of his son performing a Caesarean birth.
The video allegedly showed Murugesan anesthetizing the patient before the boy started the operation in his father’s maternity hospital in Manaparai city, said Venkatesh Prasad, secretary of the medical association.

Murugesan told the association that he wanted to see his son’s name in the Guinness Book of World Records, Prasad said.
Amarilis Espinoza, a spokeswoman for Guinness World Records, said in an e-mail Guinness does not endorse such attempts because they encourage “bad medicine.”

Shot Where? By Who?

2007-06-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Headache mystery solved by a bullet
After fleeing ER, wife admitted to accidentally shooting husband

MIAMI - A Florida man awoke with a severe headache and asked his wife to drive him to a hospital, where doctors found a bullet lodged behind his right ear, sheriff’s deputies said.
“The nurse looked at him and said, ‘It appears that you’ve been shot,”’ the Fort Pierce Tribune quoted St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara as saying. “And he said, ‘No way.”’
The wife, April Moylan, fled the emergency room when the bullet was discovered but later told deputies she had accidentally shot her husband as he slept early on Tuesday. She was jailed on a weapons violation charge while deputies pursued additional charges.

The husband, 45-year-old Michael Moylan, woke up with a head pain so severe he suspected he was having an aneurysm and asked his wife to take him to the emergency room, deputies said.
They arrested the wife after obtaining a search warrant and finding a gun and bloody rags in the couple’s home near the Atlantic coastal town of Port St. Lucie. The husband was hospitalized in stable condition.

Family Vactaion

2007-06-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

The following is a story, some names have been changed to protect the unknowing and to make a lame excuse for not blobbing in such a long time:

WOW! When school got out for the children on the 25th of May we hit the door runnin'. Last year we waited till the end of the summer to do our family vacation and the summer took forever. So Christie and I decided to go to California and play on the beach for a week at the beginning and see what happens. It was great. One day it was too cold at the beach so we got spontaneous and went down the road to a little place called Disneyland. The children did great, I was impressed.

When we got to Disneyland we did not have name tags, matching shirts, etc... remember spur of the moment thing here. My wife grabs a sharpie and starts putting our information right on the children's backs, it was great, I loved it.

Then when we returned from the California trip, my wife and 2 boys flew off to Kentucky, to see family for a week. We stayed with my wife's grandmother. This was my first time getting to see lightning bugs in action. It was great. I was also able to where my wife's family grew up. That was way cool.

Pirates

2007-05-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

There are not many movies out there where the third one in the series is as good as the first two. Spiderman, is a new release that would fit that bill. Some of the successful trilogy's or sequels would be, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc... We now have another one to add to the successful list. The Pirates of the Caribean has, once again, outdone themselves. This movie rocked. There were some weird parts, but over all this movie rocked.

Seeing it in a theater at 2:30 in the afternoon, and the theater is packed is always a good sign you are on to something good. There were so many twists and turns you were on the edge of your seat the whole time. I would recommend this to the masses and beyond. Be warned, it is a 3 hour long movie so pay the sitter a little extra if you are going to try to squeeze dinner in there.

Not a bad discription

2007-05-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/february/11.35.html

I got the following from an article in Christianity Today titled Five Streams of the Emerging Church

To define a movement, we must, as a courtesy, let it say what it is. Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger, in their book, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Baker Academic, 2005) define emerging in this way:

Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. This definition encompasses nine practices. Emerging churches (1) identify with the life of Jesus, (2) transform the secular realm, and (3) live highly communal lives. Because of these three activities, they (4) welcome the stranger, (5) serve with generosity, (6) participate as producers, (7) create as created beings, (8) lead as a body, and (9) take part in spiritual activities.

First Blog

2007-05-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is not the first blog I have done, just the first one I have taken ownership of. I am part of a great community that has started this blog trend and it's catching on like wild fire. our community meets on Sunday mornings, and is led by an awesome band with way too much talent for a little group our size. If you haven't guessed it by now, we're a church. If you really did not get it, then come with me on this great ride.

I don't want our community to be a church. I have found that there is more to church than just coming to a building on Sunday, singing, giving some money, listening to a guy talk while coloring on your program. NO way am I going to be part of that! And I'm not! Our community does meet on Sundays but is also outside Sunday's meeting house. We meet while feeding Tucson's less fortunate. We meet while cleaning our neighbor's yards, that they can't get to for what ever reason. This is just the beginning. But I hope there is no end to this great community. Have a great evening.