Is Anyone There?

Although I enjoy writing this blog and would continue to do it whether or not anyone reads it; I would like to take roll call and find out if anyone actually does. If you do ever find yourself looking this way could you at least leave a comment and let me know. It would be greatly appreciated.

Merry Christmas.

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Now You Can Smell Like the "King"

"Burger King has introduced a new cologne that has the fragrance of "flame-broiled" hamburgers. The scent is supposed to really "turn on" the women. Here is a snippet from NBC's Today Show.

The way to a man's heart may be through his stomach, but the way to a woman's heart — according to Burger King — may be through a new meat-scented body spray.
While fast-food chains aren't exactly best known for selling signature fragrances, on Sunday The Home of the Whopper rolled out a men's body spray called Flame by BK. The 5-ml bottles are available for sale in Ricky's stores in New York City and on a dedicated Web site, firemeetsdesire.com.
If you're salivating for a chance to marinate yourself in flame-broiled flavor, relax: The experience can be yours for just $3.99 — a small price to pay for some seriously mouthwatering mojo. "-Sarika Dani

read the full article here

Would you want to smell like a Burger?

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Why Does He Get Good Press

Chuck Colson recently wrote an article where he discusses the difference between Buddhism's idea of celibacy and Christianity's idea. The funny part of it all is that if a Christian espouse this kind of lifestyle, it is considered old fashioned and out of date. But when the Dalai Lama discusses it, he is saying something profound! here is a slice of what Mr. Colson said in his article.

"A prominent religious leader recently said that sex, however pleasurable it might be in the short run, leads to long-term trouble. He argued that celibacy is the way that leads to “more freedom.”

If you’re thinking that the leader was ridiculed for his comments, think again. The Associated Press described him as “waxing eloquent.” It probably helps that the “him” in question was the Dalai Lama." ...

read the entire article

Thoughts and comments...

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More Memories

In my mind, we had only lived in our new little apartment for just a short time. But frankly, I really don't know how long we had lived there when this next event happened.


One of my favorite memories of being younger, was my mom reading to me every night. I loved books from an early age and wanted her to constantly read to me. She read to me on a nightly basis, although sometimes reluctantly.

On one particularly occasion my mother was reading to me my favorite book-"The Ginger Bread Man". We were sitting on the couch cuddled next to each other. We were about half way through the book when something strange began to happen. My mom stopped reading and was silent for a small period of time. I looked up at her and it seemed to my four year old mind that she was going to sneeze. She motioned (at least that's how I interpreted it) for me to move away. I stood up from the couch and watched my mom fall down on the cushions as she began to convulse. Her eyes rolled back into her head, she foamed at the mouth and made low growling sounds.

As a small child, alone and watching strange things happen to my mom, I was scared beyond belief. I didn't know what to do! There was a wall dividing the dining room from the living room. Not knowing what else to do, I ran to the other side of the wall and cried as I listened to my mom lying on the couch having convulsions.

Although it seemed like an eternity, it was more than likely just a few minutes. My mother came to after coming out of her seizure. She was disoriented and could barely hold an intelligible conversation. She asked me what had happened and I told her as well as a 4-year old vocabulary could muster. She hugged me and said we should get ready for bed....

(to be continued)

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Here is an interesting video about calling in "gay" to work. I guess it is their way of protesting the passing of proposition 8 in California. My question is, if you call in "gay" to work are you admitting that it is a sickness....Just a thought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynd30mghrVM&eurl=http://news.google.com/nwshp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&feature=player_embedded

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Reflections on the Past

Recently I have been blogging about my experiences at the Christian bookstore. I think I will take a break from that subject and concentrate on some of my memories from when I was a child...



I was the product of a marriage that lasted less than two years. I was born in Bozeman, MT in 1974 and less than a year later, my mom and dad seperated and consequently divorced. Due to some physical ailments my mom suffered from, my grandparents, who were living in Idaho Falls, ID, took the trip up to Bozeman and moved my mom and I down to Idaho.



We were able to find a little studio apartment in what some call "the hood" in I.F. Now, of course, this neighborhood was nothing like living in South Central L.A., but it was bad enough. Auto theft, murder, and drug pushing were the norm in my apartment alone!



A few years later we were able to move into the little house that was located behind our current apartment. It was a tiny one bedroom converted garage. It was constructed completely of cinder blocks and was deathly cold in the winter. The only heating apparatus was an old style gas furnace that was stationed right in the center of the house. Consequently, only about a 10 foot radius ever was sufficiently heated. The place was small, cold, and located in a run down part of town. But we considered it home and stayed there for six years.

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Sick Kids

My daughter is very sick today. It breaks my heart to see something so delicate, so ill. She woke up with a very high temperature, sore throat, and a slight cough. She has no voice (i wish Keenan suffered from this problem). She can barely squeak out what she needs.

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Christian Bookstores Part 3

On a particular occasion, the soda fountain was "hoppin". We had every table full and a family just walking in the door. This family was rather upstanding in the community as they ran a chiropractic clinic. The family sat at the bar and began to order sandwiches for the whole group. Now, you need to understand that this family was not your typical 2.5 kids. Because of my location, the average size of a family is much larger. This group consisted of six kids and of course both parents were there as well.

I took the orders and began to systematically tackle the awesome task of making all the sandwiches at the same time. The goal, obviously, was serve all the sandwiches without much delay between them.

Before starting the other sandwiches I decided to make the grilled cheese sandwich for the mom and get it cooking. The other sandwiches did not need to be cooked and would not take as long. I plugged in the electric fry pan and began spreading mayonnaise on the others. After a few minutes I went back to the pan to check the temperature, and realized that I had failed to turn it on after plugging it in. I grunted just a little bit realizing my mistake, turned it on and proceeded to build my other michaelangelos.

A few minutes later the pan was ready to warmly caress the bottom of the first slice of bread. I carefully and lovingly laid the slice down and and layered it with a tasty piece of Cheddar cheese. I turned away to finish up the other sandwiches that were waiting to become masterpieces in their own right.

Fifteen minutes after starting all of the meals for this fine family, I finished seven of the eight sandwiches. I suddenly realized that the grilled cheese sandwich was still simmering away in the electric fry pan. I rushed over to see what kind of disaster awaited. I picked up the sandwich to discover that the bread was as black as night. After contemplating for a fraction of a second to just scrape the burnt crust off and serve it, I thought that perhaps this was not the best customer service and changed my mind quite quickly. I hastily tossed another piece of bread with a slice of cheese on the the grill and went to apologize to the mother for the length of time she was having to wait for a measly grilled cheese sandwich.

Five minutes later, it was time to serve the sandwich and be done with this family and this sandwich that was proving to difficult to get from pan to person. I grabbed a spatula to transport the sandwich from pan to plate....I didn't quite make it to the plate. The sandwich slipped off the spat and when "splat" on the floor. I was in shock. It had taken twenty minutes to get to this point and now, once again, I had to start from scratch.

I once again apologized to the mother (who was only sitting three feet from this fiasco) and began to try to make her another one. I put the sandwich on the grill, made sure the pan was on, carefully watched it so it wouldn't burn, and then delicately put the sandwich on the plate and daintily handed the mother her sandwich. almost thirty minutes after starting her tiny little grilled cheese sandwich, I finished. She was very considerate and did not have a bad word to say. I gave the sandwich to her for free.

There were many other fun experiences at the soda fountain like counting out $5 worth of penny candy, cutting my finger on an egg shell, spilling milkshakes on people, giving a person a banana split and forgetting the banana, and cutting my hand wide open while making a sandwich in front of the sandwich owner.

next time; part 4 of Xian bookstores.

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Christian Bookstores Part 2

The little bookstore opened its doors in June of 1995. It opened to some fanfare. It was located in an historic building in the center of Idaho Falls that had been the home to a drugstore and soda fountain for over 30 years. We tried to keep some of the charm of the place, the most obvious one being the soda fountain. The front of the store would sell the books, the center consisted of the music and gift sections. While the back would host the soda fountain with local ice cream, sandwiches made fresh and of course our huge shakes for a buck fifty. We even had to know the old soda fountain terminology like "mud", "chocolate cow" etc. It really was a nifty place with a lot of nostalgia for those of the baby-boomer generation especially.

tomorrow...stories from the soda fountain....

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Christian Bookstores Part 1

In the mid 90's I had the privilege of working in a Christian bookstore here in Idaho Falls. It was a local "mom and pop" bookstore run by some fantastic people that became near and dear to my heart.

When I first heard that the bookstore was about to open, I was truly excited. The only other Christian bookstore we had in town was run by a crotchety old man that cussed all the time and complained about all the "damned" kids that would come in and run around in his store. I really wanted to work at this new bookstore but did not know how to get a hold of the owners. So, I went up to the store and slipped a note under the door telling them about my qualifications. Those consisted of having incredibly useless knowledge of about every kind of Christian music one could imagine.

After a couple of weeks went by, I became convinced that I would never hear from and thus ending my thought of landing my dream job. Not a day later, I received a call from the owner who wanted to give me an interview! I was ecstatic, thrilled, and determined to land this job.

After another agonizing couple of weeks, the owner called me up and extended an offer for a job. They were looking for someone who about music and someone they could train up to be an assistant manager. He thought I fit the bill well enough and he wanted to give my a chance. I could barely contain my excitement. I couldn't wait to start. I promised him that he had made the right decision and I would be a person he could count on.

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Update

This weekend was very trying. The co-worker that I talked about in the last post killed himself on Friday evening. I am full of emotions that are proving hard to sort out. They range from sadness to anger to confusion as to how this could happen. I am going to the funeral tomorrow which will not be fun. Funerals are never fun, but when they are conducted by a certain religion, they are truly aweful.

Please pray for his family and especially for his four beautiful children that he left behind.

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Why Does God Use Losers?

This weekend was an interesting one for me. I have a friend at work that is going through an incredibly hard time in his life. He has lost his business, his house, and now his wife wants a seperation. He is devestated and distraught. On Friday night he confided in me that he almost comitted suicide last Sunday. With all that is going on in his life and the lack of sleep that comes from working two full time jobs, he was unhinged mentally.

He has only known me for six months and we only know each other through work. But, for some reason he chose me to confide in. Instead of going to his church or his close friends, he asked me for advice. I was stunned and completely at a loss for words. All I could think of was to grab him and step into the beer isle (we were at work) and begin to pray for him. I don't know what was stirred in the supernatural, but I am glad I let the flesh fall aside for once and let God give the advice.

Things did not miraculously change that night for him. He did not get his house back, his business wasn't restored, and his wife has not come back yet. In fact, things between him and his wife have gotten worse. But I have to believe that things were at least started in the spiritual realm and God has sent his angels to do battle.

Why did my friend choose me to talk to? Why did God choose to put me in this place at this time? I hate my job. I hate who I am. I am not a good Christian. I am not a good example. I know Jesus uses losers all the time. That is humbling. I don't think he should be able to use me, but I want to be ready when he does.

Please pray for my friend.

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Congratulations Billy Graham for your 90th birthday. You have been used by God in mighty ways. You have touched many peoples lives and have advanced the Kingdom of God.

If you haven't read the book Master Plan of Evangelism, please find a copy and read it. It is great book explaining how we can change the world in just a few years. Just by leading one person in the salvation prayer once a year, exponentially the whole world could hear about Jesus in just a few years.

Billy Graham has been a wonderful evangelist. But you and I can affect more people in a shorter time if we all truly felt the call of the Great Commission.

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Images

This is the picture I was talking about in the last blog entry. This, for those of you who don't know is Che Guevera. He was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary who was friends with Fidel Castro. And of course the cult of personality followed him around as well.

This is the image I saw on peoples t-shirts and banners. The imagry is striking.

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Thoughts on the Election

I watched the election on Tuesday night knowing the inevitable was about to happen. The candidate that I did not personally vote for was nominated as the president-elect.

Just like everyone else, I am excited that the dream that Martin had came to fruition just a few short decades after the turbulent 60's. We have went from blacks not even able to use the same water fountain in some parts of the country, to a black man being elected to the highest office in the land. It was an exciting thing to be able to turn to my children and say that no matter what their background, they can be anything they want to be in this great country. I applaud Senator Obama for his tremendous victory on Tuesday.

Now, having said that, there are many things that concern me about what I have witnessed the past few days after the election. I have so many thoughts rolling around in my very tired brain that I am not sure if I will be able to share them effectively. I know for a fact that I won't be able to do it eloquently. Please bare with me as you read on.

When it became clear that Obama would be the winner of the election, people began to celebrate in a way that I have never seen in my short life. I have only been alive during the terms of 6 presidents, and only 4 that I am old enough to remember. Even when the victory was so overwhelming when Reagan was re-elected, I never remember celebrations of the variety witnessed on Tuesday night. There were people from coast to coast, raught with excitement, demonstrating their emotion as if their favorite sports team had just won the championship, or as if we had won some sort of war. The raw emotion that I saw on many black faces discouraged me. Not becuase of the accomplishment of a black man being elected to the WhiteHouse, but because it became apparent that many people voted for him (whites included) based on the color of his skin. Now you may call me racist or ignorant or whatever, but to vote for somebody (or not vote) based on the color of his skin, is one of the shallowest things I can think of. How is the melanin a qualification for intelligence or lack thereof? Why to this day does it govern how we act or react to situations? People are cheering that this election proves that racism is dead or dying in our country. I propose that it is alive and well. It is just manifesting itself in a different way.
Another disturbing image was the banners and shirts I noticed that had the face of Obama embelished by multiple colors. He had this Stalin-esque or perhaps Che Gueverra like pose to him and it seemed as if there was perhaps some sort of cultish worship happening. Obama is an engaging man and can be someone who can inspire leadership. But does that make him a good leader? Some of the most engaging leaders in history have been evil dicators who killed millions of people. Some of these leaders are infamous...Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Castro, Pol Pot just to name a few. And on the reverse side of this, many of the greatest leaders were meak and mild in nature. Lincoln, Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Theresa. The cult of personality reigns supreme and we like sheep are sucked in because they make us feel secure with their promises, thier nice smile, and their engaging personalities.

I have many other thoughts racing through my head as I write this, but I will sign off with just a few more things. Although I am nervous for the future, I do intend to respect the will of the people. I will pray for our new president. I will pray for his safety, his dicerment, and for God's hand to be upon him as he leads us into the future. It is an uncertain time, and we not only need a strong leader, but we need Jesus. The bible tells us who puts leaders in power, and even though we may not be able to see what is going on, we know and believe that "He has the whole world in His hands." After all, we as Christians do know the ending right?

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Thoughts on Church

I have always been rather a skeptical human being, but have always believed that there had to be something bigger than me.

I was saved in a youth group when I was 16. The youth group was really an all city youth group that had more kids from other churches than the one that sponsored it. It was an amazing group and an amazing time in my life. I have heard many people comment about those years and how they wish the group now had that kind of fire. I am not sure what made it so special but it was definitely unique.

The church that sponsored the group came from a cessationist background. Which didn't mean much to me when I was 16. In fact it took me many years before I ever heard the term. But basically it means that they didn't believe the gifts of the Spirit were for today.

As I got older, I began to feel as if there was something more to this faith than I had yet to realize. That led me to a group in Montana that just so happened to be affiliated with Assembly of God. Now AG churches were of the opposite spectrum of the one I was saved in. They believed that the Spirit moved and did great works today and if you weren't "slain in the Spirit" at least once a week, you were not holy enough.

I began to realize that this was extreme as well. There had to be a middle ground somewhere.

While attending the group in Montana, I was introduced to music that was being made by a group of churches that called themselves the Vineyard. It would take me many years to find out truly what they were all about, but eventually I learned that the whole goal of the Vineyard was to find that "radical middle" as they called it.

I was fascinated by the movement and followed them for years before I ever attended one of their churches. I was deeply interested in the Toronto Blessing that engulfed a small Vineyard church in Toronto. The Blessing spread world wide and involved many churches. There was criticism about the types of manifestations that were happening. Many people outside and inside the Vineyard Movement felt that it was going too far. Consequently, there were many churches that left the movement and embarked on their own journey of faith.

Having spent the last ten years in the Boise area, I have had the privilege of being part of the Vineyard family in Boise and the rest of the Treasure valley. Tri Robinson is an incredible man that has managed to grow one of the biggest churches in the valley. Because of this, he along with Rich Nathan of the Columbus Vineyard have tremendous influence within the Vineyard movement and its direction.

Since the Toronto Blessing, Boise Vineyard and the Vineyard movement as a whole has shied away from most charismatic activity. They are afraid of abuses and thus don't want to participate at all. It seems as if the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. The radical middle is being missed for a style no different from Baptists or other mainstream evangelicals.

I am by no means proposing that we need to have some sort of charismatic happenings every meeting we have. But, what has set the Vineyard movement apart from many other denominations is its willingness to be a part of what the Spirit is doing. Could it be that if John Wimber was still alive, he would say goodbye to the movement he created and find where the Spirit is moving?

Wimber used to say that a movement has life for only about twenty years. The Vineyard is working on about twenty-five at this point. And I think John was right....

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Getting Settled

I think we are finally getting settled in our new house. At least we can walk across the floor without stepping on boxes or miscellaneous items that haven't found a home yet.

We are planning going to Yellowstone this weekend with the family. It will be the first time my children have seen the park and I am looking forward to seeing how they like it. They are excited, but scared. They are terrified that you won't be able to walk around with running into buffalo or elk. Although that is true to some extent, it obviously isn't as bad as they think!!

Next week three of my four chillens start school. Lem is 4th, Brayden 3rd and Abi is going into kindergarten. How did I get old enough to have a 4th grader!!! Time just keeps on moving.

Have a blessed day everyone.

P.S. Still haven't quite figured out what some the light switches go to....such a weird house.

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Have We Changed?

I was reading Romans yesterday and went over the section that dealt with what people were like when they had denied God. Now keep in mind, this is a person that was writing about a civilization that existed 2000 years ago. Of course now we are more advanced than that. We have become more cultured and intellectual. We are definitely not as barbarian as those who lived two millenia ago.

Lets look at a few words that Paul used to describe people in his own time and how they are so far removed from anything we are today.


And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct.
Rom 1:29
They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips,
Rom 1:30
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31
foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Rom 1:32
Though they know God's decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.


Now I don't know about you, but I am so glad that I don't live in that society. They must have been awful. Thank God for enlightenment and advancement. We are so much better off. That is my thought for the day. Feel free to comment.

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Unpacked?

No. Not even close. We have so much crap. And even though we have a pretty big house, we have nowhere to put it.... Such is life.....

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