Maybe Blondes Aren't so dumb...

This one is for my wife...

This blonde walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. She says she's going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000. The bank officer says the bank will need some kind of security for the loan, so the blonde hands over the keys to a new Rolls Royce. The car is parked on the street in front of the bank; she has the title, and everything checks out. The bank agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan. The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the blonde for using a $250,000 Rolls as collateral against a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drives the Rolls into the bank's underground garage and parks it there.
Two weeks later, the blonde returns and repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41. The loan officer says, "Miss, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely; but we are a little puzzled. We checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is - why would you bother to borrow $5,000?"
The blond replies....."Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?"

Maybe that dumb blonde thing isn't all it's cracked up to be after all!!

What ifs...

Have you ever thought about what if...

...God told us our daily future every morning - how differently would we live?

...God told us when we were going to die

...We were born knowing what we now know as adults and every day we lived we forgot a little more - wait, the second half of that "what if" is already happening to many of us

...God had put an eyeball on the end of our index finger - think of what could be done with that (you could inspect inside your own ear, nose, look around the corner, look yourself in the face, etc. The possibilities are endless)

...We could disappear at will - how would you use that gift?

...You could change your physical appearance by thinking about it - would you?

...God asked you to do something that you were totally against - would you?

...Our church did not have to worry about its finances - what could we then do for God?

...You could trade places with anyone else in the world - would you do it?

...Bald really was beautiful

...You could eat any and all that you wanted and never gain weight - would you?

...The more you worked, the less you made - would you still work?

...Jesus had not come and died for us

...John Kerry were our president

Ok, that's enough!! Ecclesiastes says that there is a time for everything and it is now time to end this mindless diatribe.

I am so glad that there are some things that we will never know the answer to. Not knowing what we wish we could know keeps God in control and us dependant on Him. It's funny, but most of us would not know what to do with all the knowlege we wish we had. What if that were the case. Just think about how even more messed up things would be in this world. Thank God for ignorance - as they say, it really is bliss!

It's Monday!

It's Monday! Usually those words are spoken as a major downer - an intimation of something not really looked forward to. However:
yesterday's Worship services were awesome, especially the second one,
Jess' message was right on!,
the heat wave around here has finally decided to take a vacation,
my family and I are safe and healthy,
gas has not hit $4.00/gallon (yet),
the hostage standoff in West Fort Worth ended peacefully with no one getting hurt,
it's a beautiful morning outside,
my air conditioner works great,
I have running water (hot AND cold),
I have an awesome Pastor to work for (but more especially with),
my 5 year old will not go hungry today (unless he chooses to),
I get to cook him breakfast in a little while,
I live in the greatest country on earth,
football preseason starts in 20 days,
my wife is my friend,
I get to do what I enjoy doing to support my family,
my lawn is finally recovering from where I tried to kill some weeds and nearly sent my grass to lawn heaven,
I get to take Landon swimming today,
there are people in my life who know me, and love me anyway,
I get to see my daughter this weekend,
my oldest son makes me proud,
the Beverly Hillbillies will be on TV in 20 minutes,
I get to play trains all day today with Landon,
I have great neighbors,
I have good memories,
I get to pick out new furniture today,
I still have my parents,
I have a wife who loves God and me passionately (and in that order),
I have a house I get to clean,
I have shoes for my feet,
I have feet for my shoes,
I get to talk to God today,
did I mention I get to spend time with my little boy today?,
I have food in my pantry,
IT"S MY DAY OFF,
(for the fact that) I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and.........

As Jack Black so eloquently (tongue planted firmly in cheek) put it in that not-to-be-famous piece of mylar aka "Nacho Libre", "Life is gooood!"...and so is God.

News Junkie

Fox News, CNN, HNN, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC - Call me a news and talk show junkie and you would be correct - so much so, that if left to my own devices I would sit like a Spongebob SP and do nothing but flip channels and soak it all in. I remind myself of the alien in the old movie "Short Circuit" who walked around as he took in his new surroundings all the while repeating, "Input, input, input..." Drives Cindy nuts! She cannot, for the life of her, figure out why I love political current events and I cannot, for the life of me, explain it to her. This is a conundrum beyond repair, but being married 28 years has way of making it a part of our lives, and we keep moving on - happy to be together and loving each other in spite of that and so much more!

I really, honestly, do not have much time at all to sit and watch television. Most of my news input is done through the radio and internet news sites as I do other things. It all just makes me realize that God is in control and there is absolutely nothing we can do about any of this anyway, so why stress? I read a piece by Ann Coulter yesterday where she said something to the effect of, "Jesus Christ died for my sins. There is nothing else in the world that tops that so it doesn't matter what happens next - He died for me so why stress about all this other stuff." That's cool!

This next is a true ramble - thank God for caller ID. You figure it out...
I started writing a song as I was driving down the road the other day about this that goes something like the following:

It's a technical world that we live in, with gizmos and gadgets galore
There's some things I've found that I can't live without while others I've thrown out the door
There's computers and watches and cellphones, and a million more make up the rest
But for a man made like me, it's easy to see, which one of them I like the best.

Here's the chorus...

I thank God for caller ID, I can choose to ignore who I please,
'Cause I'm on the run, have no time for fun, and chatting on end needlessly
I choose where I spend all my time, and it's not making their priority mine
I'm in control when I put them on hold while I thank God for Caller ID.

Lest anyone get upset and see this as my anthem for ignoring you the next time you call me up and I happen not answer at that moment, listen up - This is a stupid song that means absolutely nothing! It came from an idle mind at an idle time - I just thought I would share it with you. Why? I have no earthly idea except that Brandon told us all that we need to let you see our personalities and you can see, that can be pretty scary!!!

Hey, the real world beckons and this rat has to jump back in the race.

Adios - Que Dios le bendiga

SD

Blogging - A Whole New World

My entry into the modern tool of interpersonal communication called blogging has left me somewhat diffident. I have spent countless minutes if not an hour trying to figure out how to make this ingenious modern marvel work for me. I think that maybe I have finally succeeded, thanks to some much needed assistance from Natalie Ivie. This is so very humbling! - Not that I have to get Natalie's help but that I haven't been able to figure it out on my own. Trust me, it's a man thang.

Enough of that... I just put the finishing touches on the music for next weekend (July 23rd) and I am so excited about those services. We will be introducing two awesome songs that I feel will connect people with God in an incredible way. In the morass of the Christian entertainment industry (don't get me on THAT soapbox) there are, I feel, very few artists who really have a passion for God and want to see His people connect with Him. There are three Christian recording artists that I feel God has His hand on in a mighty way in this area - Chris Tomlin, Jeremy Camp and Lincoln Brewster. All three of these guys have been coming out with some amazing material for the past several years - material borne out of a seemingly genuine desire to touch and know our awesome God. These two songs for next weekend both emanate from
this desire. One is "Glorious" from the new Passion project, written by Chris Tomlin and the other is "Majestic" written by Lincoln Brewster from his "live" CD, All To You. Both of these songs are incredible in their lyrics and their music structure. I can't wait to share them with the church.

I am in preperation to depart from this city of Fort Worth in about 3 hours and go spend 3 days with my baby girl who is a Senior at Ouchita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. I am SO proud of her! She just got back from an extended studies tour of Europe where they visited Italy, France and England for 3 weeks. The trip of a lifetime! I so enjoy having her sing on the same stage with me on the weekends when she is able to come home. Cindy, Landon and I need this time away.

Keli, are you happy now? LOL

Until I have another rare downtime moment... Ciao

Happy Birthday America!!! - Still in the recovery mode after Wounded Warriors, Fallen Heroes, I awoke this morning keenly aware of how long I'd overslept and immediately felt guilty. I guess the source of the guilt was that here I am getting to sleep in on a holiday while many of those who are protecting me while I sleep are not getting the same privilege. Thank you God above for allowing me to be born here in this awesome country where I can still, at least for a while, pray to you and worship you without retribution or reprimand. Thank You for those who are watching over our security. Protect them as they protect us. God, may You continue to bless America, but more importantly may America continue to bless You, God. Well, it's off to eat, sleep a little more and catch a few fireworks tonight with my family - how cool is that!!!