One night Joshua and I were watching Veggie Tales when this song came on. It made us laugh...a lot. I found it on You Tube today, and thought I'd share.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Life with Josh
Last night I came home from work, and Joshua, our five year old, immediately started whining. He wanted his friend Kaleb to come over. I said, “let’s wait ‘til after supper and then we’ll see”. Evidently, that answer was not the one he wanted because from that point on, literally every five minutes Josh would ask, “did you decide yet? Can Kaleb come over?” voiced with A LOT of “whine”.
So having stored in my memory bank a conversation that I had overheard Josh having with a friend of his once, a conversation where Josh said something to this effect, “I whine until I get my way.” I said to him, “if you whine about this one more time, then the answer is no.” Yeah you guessed it, five minutes later I said “no”. Which in turn was cause for more whining.
He was about to drive me (and the rest of the household) nuts, so I thought I’d try to get his mind off of it by saying, “let’s all go in town and go for a walk”. The boys, Josh and Will, did not want to go, and I thought “that’s even better”, so we left them at home.
So, Denny, Maren, Merle (my mom) and I all went in town to go for a walk. We parked our van and had walked about five blocks when my cell phone rang. It was Will, who says with much distress, “MOM, Josh shoved a reeses pieces up his nose and we can’t get it out. I could hear Joshua both screaming and gagging in the background. I told Will to have him blow his nose, and it still didn’t come out. So Denny ran back to get the van to go home, while I commenced having a conversation with Joshua. I said, “Josh, can you breathe okay?” and he could. So I said, “don’t cry, don’t gag. Your dad’s on his way home, just be still” and he calmed down. Then I said “Josh, how did you get a reeses pieces up your nose?” to which he replied, “it was an accident.” I thought to myself, “what, like you threw one up in the air and tried to catch it in your mouth, and it went down your nose hole instead?”
In the meantime, I had told Will to go get his Aunt Darla who lives next door, while I stayed on the phone with Josh. While I was still on the phone, and before Denny got home, Darla got to Josh and had him cover the clean nostril and blow out the other side, and the reeses pieces came out quite nicely into Darla’s hand…YUK!!
In hindsight, I’m thinking the evening would have gone a lot smoother had we just called Kaleb in the beginning and had him come over!
So having stored in my memory bank a conversation that I had overheard Josh having with a friend of his once, a conversation where Josh said something to this effect, “I whine until I get my way.” I said to him, “if you whine about this one more time, then the answer is no.” Yeah you guessed it, five minutes later I said “no”. Which in turn was cause for more whining.
He was about to drive me (and the rest of the household) nuts, so I thought I’d try to get his mind off of it by saying, “let’s all go in town and go for a walk”. The boys, Josh and Will, did not want to go, and I thought “that’s even better”, so we left them at home.
So, Denny, Maren, Merle (my mom) and I all went in town to go for a walk. We parked our van and had walked about five blocks when my cell phone rang. It was Will, who says with much distress, “MOM, Josh shoved a reeses pieces up his nose and we can’t get it out. I could hear Joshua both screaming and gagging in the background. I told Will to have him blow his nose, and it still didn’t come out. So Denny ran back to get the van to go home, while I commenced having a conversation with Joshua. I said, “Josh, can you breathe okay?” and he could. So I said, “don’t cry, don’t gag. Your dad’s on his way home, just be still” and he calmed down. Then I said “Josh, how did you get a reeses pieces up your nose?” to which he replied, “it was an accident.” I thought to myself, “what, like you threw one up in the air and tried to catch it in your mouth, and it went down your nose hole instead?”
In the meantime, I had told Will to go get his Aunt Darla who lives next door, while I stayed on the phone with Josh. While I was still on the phone, and before Denny got home, Darla got to Josh and had him cover the clean nostril and blow out the other side, and the reeses pieces came out quite nicely into Darla’s hand…YUK!!
In hindsight, I’m thinking the evening would have gone a lot smoother had we just called Kaleb in the beginning and had him come over!
Monday, June 25, 2007
The Serious Side of She Speaks
“Wow”…that’s what I have to say regarding this year’s She Speaks conference. The conference is put on by Proverbs 31 Ministries. If you’ve never heard of them, I encourage you to check them out at www.proverbs31.org. I know that these women aren’t perfect, because none of us are, but I am so amazed at what a great example they set of being “servant leaders”.
Last year when I attended the conference, I went simply because God said “go”. I really had no idea why I was going. The conference was for speakers and writers, and though I’d done a little bit of speaking, and a little bit of writing, I was primarily a worship leader. So, last year, I spent most of the time walking around asking God, “why am I here?” Even so, what I left the conference with last year was an extreme love for these ladies. Colossians 1:8 “He is the one who told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you” NLT
I have written in earlier posts telling about how I feel called to this ministry. What I haven’t put on this blog is that things have been set in motion for me to join Proverbs 31 Ministries as a worship leader. I guess God did have a plan when he sent this worship leader to a speaker and writer’s conference.
This year my attitude was different. I still went because God said “go”, but this year I was excited about seeing people. I was excited about seeing those whom I had established relationships with. I did the intermediate speakers track, and I wasn’t nearly as nervous this year primarily because I didn’t care. That was the attitude that Kathy and I both had…we truly didn’t care. I don’t mean I don’t care as in “I could care less about this”. But I don’t care as in “whatever you do Lord is fine.” I don’t care as in “it’s all about you Jesus, and I trust you with my life.”
My favorite part of this year was a visit to the prayer room. Paula, Sara, Kathy and I decided to go into the prayer room. We thought we were going to go in there and pray together regarding a Bible study that we feel led to do this fall. But when we got in there, it was very quiet and people were sitting around praying quietly by themselves, and we didn’t want to disturb them. So after prayerfully walking around the room for a while, we each took a seat, and prayed by ourselves. I really thought that I would just sit down, and pray briefly, and get back up to go to the hotel room to rest. Instead, what happened was, I found myself pouring out my heart and saying, “all I want is you God, I don’t care about the anything else…I just want you.” And I got Him. Powerfully. Strongly. Lovingly. I got Him. I wept at the awesomeness of His presence as HE filled me with His love. Amazing.
I sat there for what seemed to be a long time, though it probably wasn’t. I left the prayer room, but I didn’t leave God…the time with God continued in our hotel room. His loving presence was so strong that I could not stop crying…I cried for the next hour, as He continued to consume me with His love…
Isn’t it great to know that you don’t have to go to a Christian Conference hundreds of miles away to be filled with His love…to experience God…but that we can do that right here…right now…
Last year when I attended the conference, I went simply because God said “go”. I really had no idea why I was going. The conference was for speakers and writers, and though I’d done a little bit of speaking, and a little bit of writing, I was primarily a worship leader. So, last year, I spent most of the time walking around asking God, “why am I here?” Even so, what I left the conference with last year was an extreme love for these ladies. Colossians 1:8 “He is the one who told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you” NLT
I have written in earlier posts telling about how I feel called to this ministry. What I haven’t put on this blog is that things have been set in motion for me to join Proverbs 31 Ministries as a worship leader. I guess God did have a plan when he sent this worship leader to a speaker and writer’s conference.
This year my attitude was different. I still went because God said “go”, but this year I was excited about seeing people. I was excited about seeing those whom I had established relationships with. I did the intermediate speakers track, and I wasn’t nearly as nervous this year primarily because I didn’t care. That was the attitude that Kathy and I both had…we truly didn’t care. I don’t mean I don’t care as in “I could care less about this”. But I don’t care as in “whatever you do Lord is fine.” I don’t care as in “it’s all about you Jesus, and I trust you with my life.”
My favorite part of this year was a visit to the prayer room. Paula, Sara, Kathy and I decided to go into the prayer room. We thought we were going to go in there and pray together regarding a Bible study that we feel led to do this fall. But when we got in there, it was very quiet and people were sitting around praying quietly by themselves, and we didn’t want to disturb them. So after prayerfully walking around the room for a while, we each took a seat, and prayed by ourselves. I really thought that I would just sit down, and pray briefly, and get back up to go to the hotel room to rest. Instead, what happened was, I found myself pouring out my heart and saying, “all I want is you God, I don’t care about the anything else…I just want you.” And I got Him. Powerfully. Strongly. Lovingly. I got Him. I wept at the awesomeness of His presence as HE filled me with His love. Amazing.
I sat there for what seemed to be a long time, though it probably wasn’t. I left the prayer room, but I didn’t leave God…the time with God continued in our hotel room. His loving presence was so strong that I could not stop crying…I cried for the next hour, as He continued to consume me with His love…
Isn’t it great to know that you don’t have to go to a Christian Conference hundreds of miles away to be filled with His love…to experience God…but that we can do that right here…right now…
Sunday, June 24, 2007
At The Airport
Kathy and I are at the airport, we got rid of the other two Marshallites (Paula and Sara), we were glad to see them go, they were wearing us out :-)...
You think I'm joking, but I'm not. I don't think I've laughed that hard for two whole days EVER!
There's much that we could share about this weekend, but we'll do that later. Right now, we just thought we'd waste a little time on the blog since we're just sitting around at the airport.
But...we're confident that God's up to something!!!
You think I'm joking, but I'm not. I don't think I've laughed that hard for two whole days EVER!
There's much that we could share about this weekend, but we'll do that later. Right now, we just thought we'd waste a little time on the blog since we're just sitting around at the airport.
But...we're confident that God's up to something!!!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
She Speaks Conference
To My Dearest Fellow Blogsters,
I would hereby greatly appreciate your prayers for safe travel as Kathy Lay and I make our way to Charlotte, North Carolina for the annual Proverbs 31 Ministries She Speaks conference.
We fly out tomorrow morning at approximately 8am ET. There's a whole bunch that I would like to say about this, but I have two ball games to attend tonight, I need to pack, and I need to review my talks that I have to give this weekend. So why am I on this blog? I guess because it's not game time yet, and I don't feel like packing or reviewing the talks. :-) I'll be regretting that at about midnight tonight! Denny just asked me what we were eating for supper...oops, hadn't even thought about that!
Kathy and I will be meeting up with Paula Sprigg and Sara Boyer....woo hoo! They left for Charlotte today. They're attending the "women's ministry" portion of the conference. Oh yeah, AND Paula started a blog you can find it here!
Anyway, back to the original point...we would greatly appreciate your prayers!
Now I'm gonna go nuke some corn dogs!
I would hereby greatly appreciate your prayers for safe travel as Kathy Lay and I make our way to Charlotte, North Carolina for the annual Proverbs 31 Ministries She Speaks conference.
We fly out tomorrow morning at approximately 8am ET. There's a whole bunch that I would like to say about this, but I have two ball games to attend tonight, I need to pack, and I need to review my talks that I have to give this weekend. So why am I on this blog? I guess because it's not game time yet, and I don't feel like packing or reviewing the talks. :-) I'll be regretting that at about midnight tonight! Denny just asked me what we were eating for supper...oops, hadn't even thought about that!
Kathy and I will be meeting up with Paula Sprigg and Sara Boyer....woo hoo! They left for Charlotte today. They're attending the "women's ministry" portion of the conference. Oh yeah, AND Paula started a blog you can find it here!
Anyway, back to the original point...we would greatly appreciate your prayers!
Now I'm gonna go nuke some corn dogs!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Musing or Amusing
I've heard Jennifer say about Tim before that he's either "on" or he's "off". I had never really thought about that, regarding myself, until I heard Jennifer say that about Tim.
I've actually thought about that a lot lately because I've noticed that I'm that way too. Except the way I think about it is that I'm either "musing" or being "amusing". I am either deep in thought, and pondering something, or I am just being totally ignorant and acting stupid.
One of the problems that I have encountered is that I "muse" in public. Like take the mall for instance. Shopping is one of my favorite times for "musing". When I shop, I ponder the things of God. I think about various things that He has going on in my life, and I ponder those things...I "muse".
The only problem with that is people see me, and because I'm "musing" I don't see them, so they think I'm "unfriendly". I cannot tell you how many times someone has told me that they saw me in the mall or at Wal-Mart and I have absolutely no recollection of seeing them. You would think that I would learn to be more careful where I do my "musing".
Then, at work, when I'm in sales meetings and I SHOULD be "musing", or pondering the things that the sales manager is talking about, instead I often find myself "amusing"...just kind of acting stupid, and interuppting the sales meeting with stupid comments that take the meeting off focus, and make it last longer. Am I five years old?
The problem is I don't want to change, because I like going shopping with God, and I like being stupid at work. Thank God, really thank God, that I have a fun boss. And if you see me shopping with my my friend Jesus, feel free to come talk to us. You might have to get in my face to get my attention, 'cause He consumes my focus.
I've actually thought about that a lot lately because I've noticed that I'm that way too. Except the way I think about it is that I'm either "musing" or being "amusing". I am either deep in thought, and pondering something, or I am just being totally ignorant and acting stupid.
One of the problems that I have encountered is that I "muse" in public. Like take the mall for instance. Shopping is one of my favorite times for "musing". When I shop, I ponder the things of God. I think about various things that He has going on in my life, and I ponder those things...I "muse".
The only problem with that is people see me, and because I'm "musing" I don't see them, so they think I'm "unfriendly". I cannot tell you how many times someone has told me that they saw me in the mall or at Wal-Mart and I have absolutely no recollection of seeing them. You would think that I would learn to be more careful where I do my "musing".
Then, at work, when I'm in sales meetings and I SHOULD be "musing", or pondering the things that the sales manager is talking about, instead I often find myself "amusing"...just kind of acting stupid, and interuppting the sales meeting with stupid comments that take the meeting off focus, and make it last longer. Am I five years old?
The problem is I don't want to change, because I like going shopping with God, and I like being stupid at work. Thank God, really thank God, that I have a fun boss. And if you see me shopping with my my friend Jesus, feel free to come talk to us. You might have to get in my face to get my attention, 'cause He consumes my focus.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Devotion
Hey All!
I added a devotion to my website. It may look familiar, I took it from a blog post that I had done a while back. I cleaned it up and put some corresponding scriptures with it.
I find that when I write on my blog, I just seem to kind of "puke" my thoughts out without putting much thought into it. And to be honest, I kind of like that about the blog. I like that it can be a series of incomplete thoughts! However, I have also felt called, somewhat, to go back a make some of those thoughts more complete in the form of a devotion.
Click here to read "The Ride". (hopefully it will work right. It had been so long since I added a devo to my website, that I almost forgot how!)
I added a devotion to my website. It may look familiar, I took it from a blog post that I had done a while back. I cleaned it up and put some corresponding scriptures with it.
I find that when I write on my blog, I just seem to kind of "puke" my thoughts out without putting much thought into it. And to be honest, I kind of like that about the blog. I like that it can be a series of incomplete thoughts! However, I have also felt called, somewhat, to go back a make some of those thoughts more complete in the form of a devotion.
Click here to read "The Ride". (hopefully it will work right. It had been so long since I added a devo to my website, that I almost forgot how!)
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Waiting on God
Okay, I have to say that I’m pretty excited about a couple of new songs that the praise team is learning! One is called “O Praise Him” which you can find on Denny’s blog. The other one is called “Everlasting God” by Lincoln Brewster. I love this song because it speaks of both waiting on God, and who God is.
You see, waiting on God doesn’t mean that we just sit around and do nothing. It means that we stay at our post until God tells us to move. It means that we don’t just jump into something, but we prayerfully consider what it is that God might have us do. There is definitely a time that we need to act but it’s His time, not ours.
Maybe God has whispered to your spirit something that He wants to do in your life, but you don’t see that happening yet. Wait. Maybe you’re in a bad marriage, not abusive, just not right. And maybe you feel like God just keeps telling you, “just hang on.” Wait. Maybe it’s another job, another house, a spouse, WHATEVER, you think God has spoken to you, but has not yet manifested. Wait. Stay at your post until God tells you to move.
I love the following verse Isaiah 30:18 “But God's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you. He's gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.”
The other day, I heard a preacher speaking of the Kentucky Derby. He said that going into the race the horse named “Street Sense” was the “chosen one”. He was the pick to win the race. However, going into the fourth turn, Street Sense was running second to last place. As they went into the fourth turn Street Sense began to make his move. He passed every other horse and won the Kentucky Derby. I hear tell that Later when they interviewed the jockey that was riding Street Sense, they, in a tactful way, asked, “what were you doing? You were running second to last going into the fourth turn?” The jockey replied, “I was just waiting to make my move.”
That’s how we need to be. We need to continually watch and wait, and then move when God says move.
You see, waiting on God doesn’t mean that we just sit around and do nothing. It means that we stay at our post until God tells us to move. It means that we don’t just jump into something, but we prayerfully consider what it is that God might have us do. There is definitely a time that we need to act but it’s His time, not ours.
Maybe God has whispered to your spirit something that He wants to do in your life, but you don’t see that happening yet. Wait. Maybe you’re in a bad marriage, not abusive, just not right. And maybe you feel like God just keeps telling you, “just hang on.” Wait. Maybe it’s another job, another house, a spouse, WHATEVER, you think God has spoken to you, but has not yet manifested. Wait. Stay at your post until God tells you to move.
I love the following verse Isaiah 30:18 “But God's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you. He's gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.”
The other day, I heard a preacher speaking of the Kentucky Derby. He said that going into the race the horse named “Street Sense” was the “chosen one”. He was the pick to win the race. However, going into the fourth turn, Street Sense was running second to last place. As they went into the fourth turn Street Sense began to make his move. He passed every other horse and won the Kentucky Derby. I hear tell that Later when they interviewed the jockey that was riding Street Sense, they, in a tactful way, asked, “what were you doing? You were running second to last going into the fourth turn?” The jockey replied, “I was just waiting to make my move.”
That’s how we need to be. We need to continually watch and wait, and then move when God says move.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Our Provider
Yesterday I was talking with a client and he said to me, “I had something really neat happen the other day.” To which I replied, “tell me about it.”
He said, “the other day this lady came over from Indy to shop my store, and somehow I ended up talking to her about church. I told her about how I help feed the kids on Wednesday night. And I told her about how we have this ministry that helps out single moms by providing them cars to drive.” He said, “I don’t know what happened, but as I was telling her these things, I started to cry.” He said, “I never do that.”I said, “you know what happened, God showed up.” He said, “yeah, you’re right, but it gets even better. Before she left, she gave me a car to give to our ministry!”
As I left there I thought, Wow! All God goes through to help ONE person, you know what I mean? He brought the lady from Indy. Laid it on my friend’s heart to start talking about that particular ministry, and probably all because God knew of one single mom that needed a vehicle. He knows the lady that has an extra car, and he knows the lady that needs a car…and he provides.
He said, “the other day this lady came over from Indy to shop my store, and somehow I ended up talking to her about church. I told her about how I help feed the kids on Wednesday night. And I told her about how we have this ministry that helps out single moms by providing them cars to drive.” He said, “I don’t know what happened, but as I was telling her these things, I started to cry.” He said, “I never do that.”I said, “you know what happened, God showed up.” He said, “yeah, you’re right, but it gets even better. Before she left, she gave me a car to give to our ministry!”
As I left there I thought, Wow! All God goes through to help ONE person, you know what I mean? He brought the lady from Indy. Laid it on my friend’s heart to start talking about that particular ministry, and probably all because God knew of one single mom that needed a vehicle. He knows the lady that has an extra car, and he knows the lady that needs a car…and he provides.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
The Hard Life
Okay, Denny begged me to watch this Shaun Groves video last night, but at the time, I wasn't in the mood to be on or around a computer. So today, I checked it out, and I laughed and laughed. Especially because what he's talking about I can relate to...not from living life as a full time musician, but from living life as a full time ad rep. Believe me when I say that we are very busy NOW, but that's not how it's always been. For instance, let me tell you about my first day as an advertising salesperson...
They sent me out with an experienced rep so that she could show me how to make sales calls. We left the office at approximately 9:30am. We immediately went to her apartment, where she had a bunny rabbit that her husband was making her get rid of. So there I am 20 years old and thinking, "what are we doing?" Anyway, I watched her cry, yes cry, as we returned the bunny rabbit to the humane shelter. By the time all of that was over it was probably 11 o'clock. We then met Tom McClanahan, who was in sales at the time, and a couple of other sales reps for lunch. I don't think we left the restaurant until about 1:30P...I know we were there a good two hours. Then we went to the mall, and then we MAY have made one sales call, and we returned to the office at about 3pm. I remember coming home that evening and telling Denny, "I think I'm gonna like this job!"
Anyway, here's Contemporary Christian singer Shaun Groves to explain how hard life as a full time musician is...
They sent me out with an experienced rep so that she could show me how to make sales calls. We left the office at approximately 9:30am. We immediately went to her apartment, where she had a bunny rabbit that her husband was making her get rid of. So there I am 20 years old and thinking, "what are we doing?" Anyway, I watched her cry, yes cry, as we returned the bunny rabbit to the humane shelter. By the time all of that was over it was probably 11 o'clock. We then met Tom McClanahan, who was in sales at the time, and a couple of other sales reps for lunch. I don't think we left the restaurant until about 1:30P...I know we were there a good two hours. Then we went to the mall, and then we MAY have made one sales call, and we returned to the office at about 3pm. I remember coming home that evening and telling Denny, "I think I'm gonna like this job!"
Anyway, here's Contemporary Christian singer Shaun Groves to explain how hard life as a full time musician is...
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