how time flies

Time is amazing. I'm sitting here in my office, watching my VeggieTale clock tick away. I realized tonight that this past week got away from me. We went to Lexington to spend a few hours with Kim's parents, brother and sister-in-law, Kim's sister, her husband and their twins last Monday. We also spent some time with our nephew Adam's Mom, Mary Ann. Time has gotten away from us all. Kim's Dad was in good spirits. The one test came back as an aggressive cancer. We'll know more this week. I'm sure time has gotten away from James and Rhonda this week as well.

I remember as a kid how time just crept along. One night, we went to a furniture store and I had just received a stop watch for a gift. When we left our house I started the watch. After we had been in the store for what seemed to be hours, I took the stop watch out of my pocket and looked at it for the first time since we had left. It said that we had been gone less than an hour! WHAT?! Impossible! I thought maybe my stopwatch was broken, or didn't work right!

I heard a professor in College talk about the time he wanted to pray all night. He closed himself into a closet (literally) at 7:00 pm and started praying. It seemed like he had been praying forever. He prayed some more. He prayed some more. When he felt like peeking to see how long he had been praying he stopped himself from doing it. Just keep on praying all night! Finally, the curiosity got the best of him! He looked outside the closet door to look at the clock and the clock said 10:30! He thought maybe he had prayed all night until 10:30 the next morning. WRONG! It was 10:30 that same night.

One afternoon in High School I came home and laid down to take a nap. I woke up to the wonderful smell of bacon! Man, that's a wonderful smell! Anyway... I got up and went in to take my shower. Suddenly, I hear a loud knock on the bathroom door. It was my Dad. He asked, "What are you doing?" I said, "Getting ready for school!" "Why? It's dinner time!" he laughed! Man was I happy! I felt great and still had an evening to do whatever I wanted! And then more time to sleep!! Yes!

Yes, time is amazing. It does not heal all wounds, but it sure does help. The things that really mattered 10 or 20 years ago don't seem so huge any more. And the things that matter today will probably fall into that same category 20 years from now. This week in Kid's Church we're doing a lesson about CHAMPIONS. There's this really important game on this Sunday night called the SUPER BOWL. At the end, they will pass out trophies to the winning team. They will talk about a game for all time! They will talk about these CHAMPIONS. Well, the Bible talks about these champions too. And it's all about TIME. The trophies that these players and coaches will receive this Sunday night will not last. And they work really hard to get those trophies too! In fact, I would say that there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying to be the best at something. But what kind of trophy will last forever? The eternal kind that only God can give. How about a little effort for that kind of trophy?!

How are we spending our TIME? Are we striving for something that will last or not? Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking... into the future.

bad news

Kim's Mom called tonight with some bad news about Kim's Dad. It seems he's got several tumors, one in his back, and one in his shoulder. They are waiting for some more tests to come back, but everyone is pretty devastated by all of this. It makes the past 8 months or so that we've been around alot more seem really a blessing from the Lord. We're going to head down to Lexington either tomorrow or Monday to spend some time with them. Makes you think about life and death and the fun times that we've all shared together.

I met James in 1978. It seems incredible that it's been almost 30 years. He was always so funny and warm. I remember the night when James came down the steps after a few hours in the dark because of a storm and asked, "Who left the dukey in the toilet upstairs?" I remember when he fed our daughter Sarah who wasn't even a year old fried baloney and gave her Pepsi to drink. He's been an incredible example to me of a person who serves Jesus no matter what others might think. He could have easily stayed in the public sector, making lots of money. But instead he chose to serve God in ministry, changing one life at a time. James and Rhonda have served others in so many ways I can't even begin to tell you.

Several months ago James came down with a very life-altering disease. He lost the use of his legs. But he fought back! He even got to stand in front of his church plant people a few weeks ago and preach once again. The last time we were together for New Years, we watched a home movie from the 60's, 70's and even Sarah's first birthday party in 1981. It brought alot of tears. Jamison is using the video during his shows. It's an amazing example of a life well lived! I hope to live my life that well too!

hot chocolate

The following was an email forwarded to me by my Aunt Carolyn:

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate. When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate; man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate!

Good stuff! Thanks Aunt Carolyn!

being a story teller

I love telling stories. Stories from my childhood. Stories from my teenage years. Stories from College. Stories from early married life. Stories from the days of my kids. Bible stories. Since I can remember, I've loved to tell, write and make up stories. I hope I will always be a story-teller.

The stories I tell have gotten better over the years. They've been expanded. They've been made funnier. They've kept secret the identities that would be embarrassed by them. (not really) I've laughed at the stories until I cried and fell on the floor. I've cried at the stories that made me reflect (or had sad music attached to them).

One night, on the way home from an adventure with my kids to find some replacement swing set parts, my daughter Jennifer told us a wild story about the planet Venus. She talked for about an hour straight. It was amazing! At the time she was probably around 6 years old. Jennifer entertained us with her story for the whole trip back from Akron to Cleveland! I can't remember much of the details of her story, but I remember thinking at the time, "This girl is on a roll! I've never heard Jennifer do this before." Stories are amazing.

I'm trying something different this week in Kid's Church. It's the story of Elijah and the False Prophets done with Chocolate Mpire figures, a narrator, and sound effects. It's all recorded and video taped. I'm looking forward to seeing how the kids react to it. Over the years I've tried many different ways to make a story from the Bible come alive and be memorable. It started many years ago with a blacklight. Then there were Rock and Roll stories. Then there were Prop Stories, Sound Effects stories, Sunglass Stories, etc... I've never been afraid to try new methods. See how they work. Adjust it. Tweak it. Revise it. Make it shorter. Make it funnier. But usually with squirt guns. :)

Our lives are filled with stories. Share them with each other. Learn from the painful ones. Learn to laugh at the really painful ones! Learn to be a story-teller! And if you need encouragement, watch the movie BIG FISH. And then go out there and tell, baby! Maybe you're the story teller of the lady from Venus who lives on the planet of high hopes and dreams!

every so often...

Every so often something happens that reminds you that you're doing what God wants you to do. I had a couple things happen this week that reminded me of that:

1. A friend from Austin, Texas sent me the video above. It's for the Blacklight Story Time that he does in church for the kids. Matthew and Tammy Haney were volunteers for us when we were at the Big Vineyard here in Cincinnati a few years ago. They had kids in our ministry and volunteered to help us with puppets, etc... for Kid's Church. They saw many a blacklight stories those 3 years! They even helped paint some of the signs! A year later, we asked Matthew and Tammy to go to our preschool department to help establish a Kid's Chapel for the preschoolers. They went and did a tremendous job as volunteers. I still remember the day when we went to Matt's office and helped him empty out his office because he was being hired as our first Preschool Director. That was really cool! God had done an amazing thing with them. They took 2 road trips with our family to Augusta, GA to do a week's worth of a VBS programs. They were awesome! I remember a puppet training we went to and I thought Matt was going to have a heart attack he was so nervous! But God was taking them on an adventure. A few years after we moved to California, Matthew and Tammy and their 3 boys moved to Austin, Texas to take a Children's Pastor position. They've seen their church explode! Matthew sent me the song for the blacklight story just today. What a great thing! I am so blessed to think that maybe we had something to do with the ministry that they've overseen for the past 6 years. It reminded me to invest in people, no matter what you think the outcome might be. You just never know what surprises God is in store!

2. A kid who has been coming to VWS as a guest reminded me of why I do what I do. He told his mother (who showed up to church for the first time this past week) that he needed to do his worksheet because "it's time for me to learn this stuff!" WOW! As a Kid's Pastor I can't make the kids do this stuff, but I can provide the opportunity for them to do this stuff. He makes his Mom do the worksheet with him every night! That was such a blessing for me to hear. Sometimes you wonder if working this hard makes a difference. I can tell you that after the past few days... YES!!!!! I'm gonna keep it up as long as God gives me the breath to do it! Yeah!

another sunday complete

hey! we made it through another sunday! church was fun today, but i'm really tired tonight. time to watch some football and relax a bit. we had some friends from cleveland (well, they're actually jamison's friends) come down the past few days and spend some time with us. it was fun having them. anyhow, this week should be a bit calmer (yeah, right) but we can hope! it looks like kim and i will be headed to austin, texas next month to do some training and a kid's church for matt and tammy haney who used to work for us back in the day at the big vineyard. that should be a blast! it's always fun to do kid's church with a new group of kids because they laugh at my jokes. :)

I saw this ad on eBay this evening. It reminded me of an episode of the Andy Griffith Show from the 60's. It was where Barney had to grow an inch or so to meet some new Deputy requirements for the state of North Carolina. He used a harness that attached to his chin and "hung" himself in the closet from the closet bar while reading the newspaper. Opie and another boy thought Barney was trying to "hang" himself. But the harness worked! Along with some pockets filled with nickels for the few pounds he needed to gain! :)

Tomorrow in Kid's Church we're talking about "GROW MORE!" It's part 2 of our church's vision. The other 2 are "LOVE WINS" AND "LIVE OUT". As long as I can remember there have been schemes to "GROW TALLER", "BE THIN", etc... It usually comes with a "pill" or some simple scheme. I'm not so sure those things work. Growing in wisdom like Jesus did is hard work. How about Daniel? He and his 3 friends had several years of "training" in the ways of the Babylonians. Growing spiritually is difficult work too. I wish I could just lay my Bible under my pillow and night and let the words soak through into my brain. I wish there was a pill I could take to become spiritually strong.

I tried the Testa-mints from the Bible Book Store hoping they would do the trick, but they didn't. :(

I'm gonna push myself this year to grow more! How about you? And you don't even have to hang in the closet with a harness around your head!

air freshener

Over the years, we've used a lot of different air fresheners in our house. But this new one I found on eBay was a bit strange. Very understandable, but strange. It's a Bacon smelling air freshener. Perfect for those households that love breakfast. Maybe not ideal for a household with dogs or cats though. :) I was thinking about getting it. Sounds cool. Bacon wafting through the house at all times. Maybe it would make you want the real stuff. Maybe it would satisfy your hunger just through the smell. Maybe it would make you want eggs and fried potatoes and pancakes and syrup and fried apples and...

Air fresheners... huh... it all started with baking soda in the fridge. Freshen the air around us. Not a bad idea. It seems to me that we might need some personal air fresheners. OH! I know what you're thinking! For those teenagers that take pride in the fact that they haven't showered for days. But NO! That's not what I'm talking about! I'm talking about the way we fill the air around us. Do we fill it with stink? Do we fill it with a nice aroma? With our attitudes and words? Do we fill it with praise for the Creator of the world or do we curse him by the way we live our lives? OUCH! That last statement hit me especially hard!

We read a story in the book of John, chapter 12 about good smelling stuff. A well intentioned lady poured some very expensive perfume on Jesus feet! Then she wiped it with her hair. The smell filled the whole house! That was an awesome air freshener! Much better than bacon! But it was Mary's heart that overflowed. She spent a fortune on that perfume! Only to waste it on Jesus' feet! At least that's what Judas said about it! But I say "NO WAY!" We should do the same! Is our life a sweet smelling fragrance to Jesus? Or is it something else? Now, I admit... it's very difficult to always be sweet! To constantly provide a fresh aroma! But it's worth trying for! Somedays I'd even take bacon!

candy! i love it! it all started with a candy store in troy, ohio. jays! and the five and dime store across the street from my dad's first office. candy behind clean glass. buy it by the piece or by the pound. penny candy! have a nickel? 5 pieces! oh and the bubble gum! bub's daddy! a long stick of rounded bubble gum that we used to see if we could fit into our mouths. you could do it, but there's wasn't room left for chewing, that's for sure. now, the only place to buy bottle caps is walmart. at least where i live. in the big box. but i've realized something about myself. i go for a while with one kind, then i change it up. it's m&m peanuts for 3 months, then skittles. then bottle caps, then runts. i'm a fickle candy lover. right now as i type this, i look to my left, and there sits a half full bowl of bottle caps. it was full a few hours ago. there aren't too many people that don't like the sweet stuff. the bible says in psalm 119: 103
"How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" sweeter than honey!? really? God's word? sometimes the words of God are sweet. other times, not so much! at least at the beginning. it's like lemonheads!

it starts off taking your breath away because it's so sour. but the longer you leave it in your mouth, the sweeter it gets. just like the word of God! getting over the initial shock of what He wants you to do and doing it is shockingly satisfying. there's a lady in our church that makes 3 trips back and forth many miles to pick up some people and bring them to church. and the people she picks up would probably get the glare of "get outta here" somewhere else. there's a man in our church who picks up at least 15 kids every week and brings them to our church. and these kids are "rough around the edges" but he doesn't care! either do we! we know that a relationship with God is exactly what they need! the words of God! try it! you might like it! but don't forget the bottle caps too! :)

new recording stuff

my days are filled with recording stuff. songs, stories, video clips, and all sorts of creative stuff to make church a fun and meaningful place for kids. fun and meaningful have been my key words for many years. making church fun is hard. but making it both fun and meaningful is even harder. alot of churches have the fun part down. the kids come in and play games on video systems. they throw balls, climb on walls, and put together puzzles. they have fun! but to make it meaningful is another story. it takes alot of work! that's where the recording stuff comes in. after using the same 8 track digital recorder for the last 10 years, i recently purchased a 16 track model. yeah! this will allow us to add kid's voices, more instruments, etc... to our songs. i found it on ebay for a great price from a pawn shop in minnesota. and it works great too. can't wait to pull some kids in to do some recording. our plan is to put together a curriculum to start selling to christian schools next year to make their chapels fun. then over the next few years develop a curriculum to sell to churches that will be inexpensive but all inclusive to their programs. we've got alot of people around to help and assist with this process. it should be fun! then hit the road during the week to start doing children's pastors conventions and teach workshops on how to make church fun and meaningful. there are alot of curriculums out there, but they're all so expensive for the small churches to medium size churches to purchase. our goal is to make the stuff affordable. i hope this new equipment helps!

hello everyone!

There have been a few moments in my life that have defined me as a person. This is not one of those! :) But so many people "express" themselves in a daily blog I thought I might try it myself. Here goes:

I'm sitting here looking at a toy that I had as a child. When my parents moved a year or so ago to Missouri, they brought a box to me that had a few of my things in it. One such toy was a "Car Transporter". It's old and well used. It's missing a few tires. (Lord only knows why I took those tires off) Some of the decals are worn. But it's also orange (my favorite color) and green (I tolerate this color). The flap that comes down to unload cars from the top is broken. It was made in England in the early 1960's by the Lesney Company. I have some vague memories of using this toy in the sand box in our back yard. We would make roads and lakes and rivers. Sometimes meteors (rocks) would crash into the little towns we had created. But this toy survived all of the earthquakes, tornados, and attacks we could throw at it. It's a survivor.

I looked on eBay to see if anyone else had one of these babies and what they were selling for. I had dreams that it was worth hundreds of dollars. Afterall, it's a classic toy in good shape from England! My goodness! It must be worth alot! Well... in a word... no. I found one that was selling for $.99! That's 1 penny less than a dollar! Shipping was $9. So, that's where they make their money! :)

But as I was sitting here, wondering about this thing it occured to me... some things are worth more than they're worth. Some things you can't place a price on. Some things are priceless. This toy was a reminder to me that life is full of broken down things that are worth more than they appear to be worth. Like a friend who is down on their luck, wishing and hoping for another chance to make a difference in this world. Feeling like life is passing them by with little notice. Like their contributions are worth nothing or very little. Their decals are a bit worn. They're a bit used and rusty and missing a few things (like teeth and hair). But deep down inside they know that they're not nothing. Their life has a purpose. They have been designed for a special reason. God has not given up on them! So they shouldn't give up on themselves either!

I'm going to keep this toy around for a few more years. Then one special birthday or Christmas, I'm going to give that worn out toy a new life with a grandson of mine. And you can be sure that I'll clean it up, and try to replace those missing tires and include a few more cars to transport around. And maybe, just maybe, that toy will find it's way into the sand box once again to bring joy to a kid who can't possibly kill it with a rock or two. It will once again be a survivor!