Busyness has stolen my life

i've been too dang busy to blog because i:
 - work more than 40 hours a week
 - have the privelege of chasing a 15 month old around when i get home from work and on weekends.
 - get to spend time with his mama (if i'm lucky)
 - have to travel for work (sometimes for the whole week)
 - am in the middle of reading 3 books
 - am taking a class from 6 to 8 on Sunday nights (that requires more reading besides what is listed above)
 - have to do yard work
 - have to do house work (the parts that my wife doesn't like to do)
 - have to spend lots of time on facebook checking out what my friends are doing (haha!)
 - think complex thoughts that aren't always easy to blog about either because you would cast me off as a friend or just because they're hard to articulate.

i'm sure there's more, but i don't feel like thinking of it, so i'm quitting.  americans are busy people and apparently somehow i've gotten sucked into that mode.

much love!!

Childhood memories

So, lately I've been somewhere or seen something or talked with somebody about something that took me back to my childhood.

First, the new school brings all the school buses back to the highways.  And, it takes me back to when I used to ride Marengo County School Bus No. 22.  Yeah, you guessed it, I'm old and so was my bus.  The bus driver was Coach Washington.  He picked me up at about 6:05 AM.  I was usually the first to get on even though my stop was second or third along the way.  But, that also meant I was among the first to get off.  I was usually home by 3:30 in the afternoons.  Coach Washington was awesome.  He was a heavy black guy that had been a basketball coach at some point in his career.  He came complete with a constant piece of drool on his lip.  That reminds me of my 15 month old.

The second bit from childhood came when the family was eating at the Pita Hut a couple of weeks ago.  A kid came in and tried to sell us some doughnuts on behalf of his "church".  Out of pity, we helped him out, but told him to give the doughnuts to somebody else.  I pitied the poor fellow because I remember selling doughnuts.  The great thing about selling doughnuts where I lived though is that KrispyKreme was a special treat because there wasn't a KK store there and they weren't being sold in the grocery stores like they are now.  Yeah, I'm both ancient and country.  But, oh the misery of rejection when you attempt to sell something.  And, oh the pain of having to deliver the tons of stuff that you've sold if you do make lots of sales.   Fundraisers are a double edged sword.  So, mamas don't make your babies grow up to be salesmen.

And, the next memory came when I was talking to somebody about Saturday morning cartoons.  I got my fair share when I was little, but the minute my dad thought I was useful for anything (even holding his hammer), he took my Saturday mornings and turned them into opportunities to make money.  We either went to my grandmothers to do stuff (like cut hay, rake hay, bale and stack hay, fix pasture fences, look for the cows - if they got out of the pasture, chase the cows into the catch pen - so we could haul them away and sell them for you your steak or hamburger, feed the cows hay or feed, pull corn, shell peas, pull watermelons, collect eggs from the chicken).  Okay you get the picture.  My grandma lived on a cattle farm and my dad made me work on Saturdays.  And, if it wasn't working there, it was cutting grass.  So, guess what I'm buying a farm and a riding lawn mower.  Caleb's going to be working soon.  That way, he can be a great guy like his dad.  Yes, I can be vain.  :o)

Much love

God still hates idols

The church that I attend is participating in something called the Radical Experiment.  There are five practical components including:

1.To pray for the entire world
2.To read through the entire Word
3.To commit our lives to multiplying community
4.To sacrifice our money for a specific purpose
5.To give our time in another context

As you can imagine, this is pretty challenging.  And if you're trying to be a legalist about all of the components, you are either a professional Christian or you are about to jump of the bridge.  It takes the Holy Ghost and a lot of grace to even try to keep up especially when it comes to including family in the whole picture.

But, I have been really diligent about reading which brough me to the following scripture.

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.  -- Ezekiel 6:1-7

And, I just told you all of that Radical Experiment stuff and copied this scripture here to say that we are under a new and better covenant, but God still hates idols (even American ones ;-).  Things that you can buy or make or create in your mind that take the place of God in your life; yeah, he hates them.  So, be careful lest you idolize something and get destroyed along with it.  Reading the prophets makes me search my soul HARD!

Much love peeps!!