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…

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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…

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Let’s Get Political

(Found this in my drafts folder… I did not write it, but I thought the facts were still pertinent as we are in a presidential election season. National Security is the #1 issue. Without a nation, there are no other issues, and make no mistake, our total destruction, or at least our free way of life is under direct attack and our president cares more about preserving our nation than his reputation. That is a man of character and honor.) There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January. In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That’s just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq . Many people say that President Bush shouldn’t have started this war, but they fail to realize that: 1) FDR led us into World War II. While Japan did attack us, Germany never attacked did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost … an average of 112,500 per year. 2) Truman finished that war and started one in Korea, even though North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost … an average of 18,334 per year. 3) John…

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Midwest Teaching & Discipleship Convention NEXT MONTH!

If you live within driving distance of Chicago, mark your calendars for March 27-29, 2008 for a very affordable day of training and encouragement in West suburbs of Chicago. Great exhibitors (including Kidology!), great fellowship, and great training! Hosted by GCSSA (Greater Chicago Sunday School Association) this is an excellent training event that I’ve been privileged to be a part of many times over the years. It’s been a few years, but next month not only will I once again be doing some workshops and exhibiting, but they are adding a Kidology Pre-Conference! Here are the workshops I will be presenting: (NOTE: Thursday requires a pre-conference registration) THURSDAY, March 27th PRE-CONFERENCE FOR LEADERS HELP! I’m in Charge of the Children’s Ministry – PART 1 This workshop is for those brand new to leadership in children’s ministry, or those who may need to ‘start over’ more strategically. Learn the ABC’s of children’s ministry leadership. Get your bases in order! Leave with a practical step by step strategy for building a ministry that can stand the test of time! HELP! I’m in Charge of the Children’s Ministry – PART 2 Continue exploring the basics of children’s ministry leadership. This is an eye-opening…

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Luke’s Cake – Batteries Included

Luke is two. I keep asking him, “What did you do with my baby?” He is soooo big and turning into a mini boy. It seems like just yesterday…. O.K., snapping out of it, back to the present, and here we are with our little boy and his cake! Anyway, for our little family party Sara made an awesome birthday cake. (Remember her Super Bowl cake last year?) Let me show you just how AWESOME the cake was this year! Luke LOVES cars! He points to every one he sees, even when we are out driving. And he must always have one with him at all times. The center of our home is now a “Car Table” where he spends hours rolling them around. So Sara made a cake perfect for a little car loving boy! Complete with cars around all sides! But what is that up on top? It’s a race track with cars racing around! Check out this video to Sara’s awesome cake in action: [flv]http://media.kidology.org/flash/kblog/lukes2cake.flv[/flv]   We love our little boy! He is our wish come true!

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