I love a good practical joke as much as the next guy, but this might have crossed a line. But it’s still funny!

Happy Friday!

I had a code install that started late last night. It started last night at about 11pm (that’s when I went back into work) and I was expecting/hoping that it would be over sometime around 6 or 7am this morning.

::INSERT ANOYING BUZZING SOUND HERE::

I actually left work at about 1:30 pm this afternoon…after being up for about 44 hours straight. Like I sai, it was a long night. I got about 5 hours of sleep when I got home…but I still feel like I got run over by a train…and I look like it to.

Here’s what I looked like “before”:

And me “after”:

Looks like I really need to get some sleep!

In Elder Meeting last night our pastor started of, as usual, with a devotional. Last night was from 1 Peter 5 and it was one of those times when something just sticks with you. As we read and discussed the passage this stood out for me:

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.
He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.
1 Peter 5:8-9, NLT

If you have a been a Christ follower for more than…oh….say…10 seconds, you know the truth behind this passage. We are all targets. Satan has it in for us. He is our enemy and wants nothing more than to see us fail and suffer. But that wasn’t what really stuck with me. What stuck with me…and is still with me this morning…is how God tells us to handle the fact that we are targets:

1. Stay alert!
2. Stand firm
3. Be strong

Not what I would have expected. I would have expected something along the lines of: “ask God to protect you, trust God to take care of the problem, let God handle this…” But that’s not what we get here (and that’s not to say we shouldn’t do those other things)…in this case God tells us to take some action…to have a Spiritual Backbone and stand up to the enemy who is bent on destroying us. To be sure, we need to do that with God’s power and strength…but we are called to take a stand and be strong in our faith. We need to lean on God, but we need to stand our ground too. Something to ponder…

Hopefully life is starting to settle down a little bit as I get back into school and a more “regular” schedule (whatever that is!). With the busy schedule blogging has taken a little bit of a backseat…which should mean I have a lot stored up right?

I’ll ease back into it today though. Today’s topic? Bad movie rentals! Anita and I have been on a bad run lately…every movie we have rented lately has S-U-C-K-E-D. Hopefully this is just a result of a lull in the movies that are available, but I am starting to get a little “gun shy” when we go to pick one out! We don’t get to the “big movies” very often so it’s a real bummer when a rental doesn’t pan out. Life is too busy to waste 2 hours of it on a lame flick.

Any recommendations?

It’s probably just me (I am a little slow), but God keeps repeating the same two themes in my walk with Him over the past few weeks. Life has been busy and stressful. School is out for a week and I am getting back on track (whatever that means).

So what has God been repeating? Two themes…

Theme #1: Turn to Him When Things Get Rough

I have said it before, but I have had the tendency in the past to turn to unhealthy things instead of God when the chips were down. This is a lesson that has taken, and is taking, time to really learn. God is undoing old, bad habits and teaching me how to turn to Him. Here’s the latest passage He has given me on the topic:

Dear children, keep away from anything
that might take God’s place in your hearts.
1 John 5:21, NLT

Theme #2: It’s All About Relationship

This one has been repeated in many different venues: Church, Men’s Group, School, Devotions, et al. And it’s the most exciting. Life is about relationships…it’s how God made us…it’s WHY God made us. And God wants to have a personal relationship with me and with you. That’s exciting! And it changes everything when I think about living my life with God as my friend…in relationship with Him. It came up last night in Men’s Group:

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God
because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Romans 5:11, NLT

So those are my lessons. How about you? What has God, or is God, continually teaching you? Are the repetitive themes in your life?

I must preface this post by admitting that what follows is insufficient, incomplete, and inadequate. But it’s true none-the-less.

God has truly blessed me with a wife I do not deserve. How do I know this (aside from her telling me?  Let me count the ways…

1. She is my best friend in the whole world.
2. She is a great lover (no details, even if you ask)
3. She is the best mom to our kids..and it’s no easy job
4. She has a sense of humor that I envy and get to enjoy every day
5. She is a Proverbs 31 woman
6. She loves God with all of her heart, soul, and mind
7. She thinks she is better at Bible trivia than I am
8. She is better at poker than I am
9. She is a Republican (more specifically she is a Libertarian that votes Republican)
10. She likes funny, goofy movies like Dumb and Dumber
11. She shares a guilty pleasure for vampire movies
12. She puts up with all of my &$%#@
13. She makes a mean Pumpkin Pie
14. She is a Broncos Fan
15. She is one sexy gal!
16. She puts her family ahead of herself on a consistent basis

Here’s what it boils down to…God created her for me and she is more than I could have ever hoped for. God knows what He’s doing (always has). I thank God for giving me such a beautiful, charming, sacrificial, and loving wife. I am the better for it; she truly is my better half!

I can fit an entire cheeseburger in my mouth and still eat it (I’ve actually done it), but this guy takes the cake. Once again…only a dude would even try…

Happy Friday!

Time for a little confession. This past week has been especially busy (no, that’s not the confession). What has paid the price? Mostly my time with God (there it is). I have been spending “time” with Him, but not the kind of focused attention that He deserves…my mind has been on other things.

This weekend we took our usual Labor Day camping weekend trip up to Como. As usual, it was good time with family and friends. And it was relaxing…something I needed, but that I am paying for now since I still have a big paper due in my class. During the one good time I spent with God this weekend I was confessing how I have been neglecting my relationship with Him. And as usual, He gave me something to chew on in return. Here it is:

As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist,
so I created Judah and Israel [and David] to cling to me, says the Lord.
They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name.
But they would not listen to me.
Jeremiah 13:11, NLT

Yes, I made a little personal addition there…but that is how God spoke to me. I was made to cling to Him.

Do I always do it? No.
Do I often? Guilty again.
Am I learning? Yes.

So today, in the midst of the busyness and craziness of life I am trying to cling to Him and turn to Him more and more. How about you? Do you cling to God when life gets crazy? Or do you cling to something else?

It has been awhile since I blogged…needless to say it has been a busy week. I am in the last week of my current class and life in general has just been busier than usual (which is usually pretty busy). So blogging has been the odd man out, but I haven’t gone anywhere and things should settle back down after this week.

That said, I did get an email this week that I thought I would share. I assume this isn’t true, but the lesson here is still valid and critical for all parents (moms and dads). I dare you not to take this to heart of you are a parent…

Can I Borrow $25?

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: ‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’
DAD: ‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ replied the man.
SON: ‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’
DAD: ‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.
SON: ‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’
DAD: ‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’
SON: ‘Oh,’ the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: ‘Daddy, may I please borrow $25?’

The father was furious, ‘If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard every day for such childish frivolities.’ The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and  started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door. ‘Are you asleep, son?’ He asked.

‘No daddy, I’m awake,’ replied the boy.
‘I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier’ said the man ‘It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.’

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you daddy!’ He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father. ‘Why do you want more money if you already have some?’ the father grumbled.

Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,’ the little boy replied. ’Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.’

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness. It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. 

Something for all of us to think about…