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Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me This Before?
About 3 weeks ago I helped officiate a funeral for a 14-year-old girl that lived about 4 houses down from my home. She had taken her own life on New Year’s Eve and was discovered by the girl’s mother on New Year’s Day morning in their own home. An unbelievable tragedy to say the least! I knew the girl because her parents had attended our church for about a year and she was in 3rd grade at that time. I remember that little girl as this sweet, bright-eyed girl who loved to talk about her animals that her family had. One day at church, I had decided to present the…
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Axe The Distractions!
Recently my 17 year old son has been absolutely focused on everything except his school including his phone, his friends, video games, and his part time soccer referee job. He has what we all experienced at 17/18 years of age and that was “Senior-itis”. Add in the fact that he’s as ADHD as his dad you get a kid that looks like Daffy Duck when he gets all excited. Truth be told, I think many of us suffer from “Senior-itis”, we just don’t call it that anymore. We just call it “busy-itis” and we too are bouncing around like Daffy Duck from one thing to the next. If we are…
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Jesus The Kid Magnet!
To me one of the coolest things about Jesus is that he was a kid magnet. He loved, loved, loved the children and I can only imagine that kids felt his unbelievable love and warmth for them. My favorite scripture that really paints this picture is Mark 10:13-16. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of…
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Fish Trap Road
There is a road in the area that I live in called Fish Trap road. It’s considered a “back road” by most of the people in the area since it parallels the main HWY that connects this community with the rest of the world. Fish Trap is not a very long road but it’s really handy since it only has stop signs instead of lights. Most people however avoid it because it’s really rough and not well taken care of. If you are an auto alignment shop in the area, Fish Trap road is your biggest customer maker. No car goes unscathed by using Fish Trap! As I was…
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Dear President Elect Trump – Please Be A Good President!
Dear Mr. Trump, Congratulations on being elected our nations president! What an accomplishment considering that you had no prior political experience and the main stream media wrote you off. I’m excited to hear the fresh new ideas you have for America coming in as a non traditional political figure. Now that all of the pleasantries are aside, let’s talk turkey! First of all, no one has to tell you that there are a whole slew of folks who simply don't like you. Maybe they fear you or they feel threatened I don’t know but I know one thing, they think you are the devil with a combover.…
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Can’t We All Just Get Along? 3 Quick Observations From A Peacemaker!
If you know me, I’m a peacemaker and I really don't care for confrontation so when I hear about protests going on about Trump’s victory I’m a little troubled by it. I thought for blogging purposes I would share 3 quick observations of what I believe is challenging for a person like me who asks the question – can’t we all just get along? It appears that the losing team is throwing a hissy fit. I may be wrong but it seems to me that the protesters are simply throwing a big hissy fit about losing. In life, when we lose we can be sore losers or…
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The Miracle and Gift of Adoption!
Recently my wife adopted my 11 month old great-nephew. Oh my goodness is that kid cute! Just a precious child who ended up in our home because of circumstances beyond his control. I had always heard that there really isn't anything quite like adoption to help you better understand the Lord. I would have to agree! When you have kids, we get the truest sense of what it’s like to love something more than yourself. Adoption, I believe, actually takes that to a whole new level. With my kids, I naturally love them beyond measure simply because they are my own flesh and blood. With adoption, I have…
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The Comparison Trap!
A few weeks ago me and some of the church staff flew out to Phoenix and attended a church planters conference. The whole experience of going to a conference and filling my head with tons of information has always been a love/hate thing. I love flying and getting out of the office for a little while. I love going to different places and seeing new things and I love to hear great speakers and glean from their knowledge. In addition, I usually get to eat well and enjoy the company of my coworkers in a more relaxed casual environment. I usually learn a lot from the flood of…
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Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes!
I’ve always been a fan of David Bowie’s music, so to say the least I was saddened to hear about his death. In a past blog I referred to one of his songs called Changes. A song about twist and turns in life that seem to come regardless of how hard we try to control things. The lyrics to the song really don't match our current changing situation in my family except the fact that life seems to be…well…constantly changing. As I talk to people, peruse Facebook or read blogs I realize that my family is not the only one going through changes. Many people are facing big changes in…
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Expectations!
2015 was quiet the ride for me and my family. With the number of ups and downs we had I’d swear we were on a roller coaster. So much of this last year has been about adapting to new situations and overcoming challenges. It was both rewarding and defeating and was filled with overwhelming joy and unbelievable sadness. Overall 2015 wasn't all that we hoped for or dreamed of but then again perhaps our expectations were a little too high and maybe we set ourselves up a bit for failure by putting too much weight on what we thought the year should look like. Don’t we all do…
