Yosemite Here I Come!

As mentioned in the video for the First Things First Kidology online training session, my pastor challenged us to consider what “re-creates” us, and to intentionally PLAN it into our lives. Up until that time I wrongly considered recreation to be equal to play and often said my recreation and my occupation were the same: children’s ministry. How wrong I was! While I DO enjoy children’s ministry, it isn’t what re-creates me, it drains and uses me up! So I took the challenge to consider what truly RE-creates me, and for me it is time AWAY from ministry, out in nature with my Bible and camera. (and perhaps an iPod with worship or classical music playing.) As I prayed about what God would have me do to make RE-creation a regular part of my life, a dream began to form that slowly transformed into Yosemite Summit. God has answered my prayers by filling up this retreat with 8 more men seeking the same. So now I’ve been working on planning the hikes and figuring out what to bring (and not bring). I am so looking forward to this time AWAY from life as “normal” to spend with eight other guys…

Continue reading

My Friend Dan Gets to Celebrate Easter With Jesus

Dan and I, March 4th, 2008  Today I got one of those calls none of us wants to get. When I saw “Dan Rase” on my phone it didn’t matter that I was about to go out the door with my little boy for a father-son evening, this was a good friend calling – even if it had to be short and offer to call back, I was so glad he was calling. Instead it was his wife, Joyce. As soon as I heard her voice I knew something was wrong, but I was not prepared for her to tell me that Dan had gone to meet the Lord early this morning due to a heart attack while he slept. I had just seen Dan at the Kidology Gathering at CPC in San Diego. Afterward, even though it was nearly 11pm, we stood outside enjoying the cool evening California weather and talked until after midnight. We talked about life, our marriages, our ministries, our failures, our disappointments, our hopes and dreams… and our adopted children. It was one of those conversations that marks you and changes you. I was sick that whole week and running pretty weak, but knew that…

Continue reading

God Delights in Paradox

Came across this image on a blog I follow called the Scripturist.org, and just wanted to post it so I’ll never lose it. (click image for full size graphic) God loves to use the unusable, which is the only reason He uses me.

Continue reading

Toybox Tales Gone Bad?

I’ve had this photo e-mailed to me several times by people asking me if it is Toybox Tales gone bad? I checked my wall of action figures and my army guys all all still there, weapons accounted for, and no blood stains… so I don’t think these are my guys. Nevertheless – be nice to your toys!

Continue reading

REALLY LIVE WEB NEWS!

Today I discovered the coolest website! I’ve been trying out Twitter for a few days when Kidology’s “Web Guy,” aka Tannerman posted on his Tweeter that you could watch the Shuttle in space LIVE at www.livenewscameras.com. I clicked over and discovered an amazing site. It looks like this: (Click image for full size view) There are several pages of live cameras you can click on and watch.There are the old familar (boring) webcams of highways, etc., but there are also live cameras of newscasts, but you get to see when they are “off the air” – even saw a news gal fixing her hair, doing the news blurb and then asking someone off camera how she did. The change from when she was “on” and then off the air was fascinating. Real people! My favorite was watching the space shuttle as it did a full rotation as it passed over Australia so that the space station (where the camera was) could take photos of the entire exterior of the space craft for analysis. Then I watched it dock to the International Space Station! Pretty amazing stuff to watch live on your computer while working! There is a moderator at times…

Continue reading