Dying to One's Self Is Not Easy

It seems the past few weeks or so I have been reading or hearing things that point to the need for Christians to "Die to their former selves and be reborn into their new life with Christ!" At first I was dismissing these "cues" as if to say, "I was baptized and I have repented of my sins. God loves me now and that is that!" I think God wanted me to hear more.

In my Sunday morning class at my church...we have been talking about how you must undergo a severe humbling process in order to turn your life fully over the the will of God. You must give up your own will, not only in mind, but in body, to the will of the Father. Even if the desires to continue in our sinful ways pull hard on our hearts, it's what the body does that shows the true desires of our hearts. We may confess all day long that we want to give up our sins, addictions, and selfish behaviors, but when we continue to choose to wallow in our hopelessness and choose not to act on our faith in God, we are showing that we are still giving in to the desire of our hearts to do what We want to do not what God wants us to do.

I have also been reading a book called "When Heaven Weeps" by Ted Dekker. In it the main character keeps referring to how Christians as a whole refuse to join Christ in His cruel and terrible death in order to show His love to others. He states we are perfectly fine to confess the love of Jesus, but we refuse to get our hands dirty to work to show that love. We say we love others, but if it means pain and suffering for ourselves, we will choose Self over Others every time.

God calls us to die our old self and join Christ in death. It is absolutely necessary to do this in order to fully understand, accept and act upon His Grace. There is a quote from the book that stands out..."Is the death of the will any less painful than the death of the body? Call it figurative if it makes you comfortable, but in reality the death of the will is far more traumatic than the death of the body." " In the death of the body the nerve endings soon stop feeling. In the death of the will the heart doesn't stop its bleeding so quickly."

Giving up our selfish will is hard to do. It's something I myself need to come face to face with. I am scared to death to do it. I have been a Christian for some time, but It's hard to show any tangible evidence of my faith as far as actively loving others is concerned. Recent events in my life have caused me to be much less judgemental when it comes to looking at the sins and actions of others, but I still have a hard time actively loving them.

My New Year's Resolution is to pray that God allows me to die to old self and be reborn a person who is fully capable of loving others the same way that He loves me. I am terrified of how God may choose to do this, but I know it will be the best thing for me. I am ready, I think. Pray for Me!

Shows My Kids Watch (Cartoons at least!)

I always make it a point to at least try to watch what my kids are watching on television. You never know what kind of messages and values the world is trying to instill in your children that is contrary to what God's truth is. Mostly our family does not watch much network television, but my kids, thus I by default, watch a few of the shows on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and the Disney Channel. We do not watch them all the time, we just pick these if we have nothing else to do. (Most of the time they would rather play outside or play video games.) After watching some of the "newer" cartoons, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of the new animated shows are stupid and are very annoying. It makes me miss the classic cartoons I used to watch as a child.

A brief list of some of the shows my kids watch from time to time (I try to steer them away from these shows as much as possible) are: Naruto (This is an excessively violent and annoying Japanese cartoon with a lot of yelling that hurts my ears. It also had some vulgar language and the main character harnesses the power of a demon, that he has inside of him, to try and do good things.), The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (This show features an extremely rude and disrespectful girl whose parents are afraid of her, an extremely gross and stupid boy with very stupid parents, and the Grim Reaper. It teaches kids that parents are dumb and easily manipulated and that stupidity and outright cruelty are acceptable behaviors.), Ed, Edd and Eddy (Yet another show with greedy, stupid and annoying sounds that get on my nerves. It teaches kids that its OK to cheat or injure others in order to achieve what ever goal you want, especially making money.), My Gym Partner is a Monkey (A show about a boy whose is sent to an animal school because of a mix up in his last name. It features a monkey who is obsessed with his butt and anything else gross. It also has annoying sounds that just grates your nerves.), Code Name: Kids Next Door (This show portrays parents as dumb people who are dictators and should be controlled by children who are really the smartest and dominate people on the planet. Grown ups in general are the enemy and should not be respected.) and Yu-Gi-Oh! (This show is another Japanese import that features a kid possessed by an Egyptian Prince? and it teaches kids that demons and false gods are real and their powers can be harnessed through sets of "playing cards".)

There is at least one show that we watch regularly that I am starting to grown concerned about; Pokémon. This show started out as something even I liked, but the more I watch it the more I am growing concerned that the show is teaching nature worship. The more recent episodes and books based on the series also teach that the universe was possibly created by the creatures called Pokemon and that they are responsible for the balance of the nature, time, and humanity as well. I am not sure this is the message I want my kids to be indoctrinated with.

Some current "family" shows I will not allow my kids to watch at all are: The Simpsons (The epitome of a bad TV show. A stupid and abusive father, rude and disrespectful children, not to mention the crude and gross behaviors of everyone else on the show.), Futurama (from the creators of the Simpsons, this show is outright vulgar, sexual and crude. Lucky for us it comes on very late at night.), and South Park (vulgar language, crude behavior, racist attitudes, and violent.)

Not all of the newer shows are bad though (At least as far as I can tell). Some shows like Spongebob Squarepants, Kim Possible, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Code Lyoko and Back at the Barnyard may have annoying things in them, but so far I have not found anything I particularly object to. I am still forming an opinion about the newest show my kids are watching called, Chowder (The show is about a little "kid" who eats almost anything and wants to be a great chef. Funny thing about this show is that all the main characters are named after foods. It is a dumb show but nothing objectionable yet.)

What happened to the good shows that taught some basic good moral values like: Rugrats, Doug, and PB & J Otter? Those were some good shows! Some shows I am glad to see off the air, such as Beavis and Butt-head and Ren and Stimpy.

At least I keep track of what my kids are watching. Some parents don't even know anything about the shows that their kids watch. Let me know what you think?

Who is a God like You?

I have been a Christian for the majority of my natural life. In all the years I have been a Christian I have to honestly say that I have read the Bible from cover to cover only twice (maybe three) time ever. I am just about to finish it for the third (maybe fourth) time. The hardest part of reading the Bible, to me, is reading through the major and minor prophets at the end of the Old Testament. The prophetic language is sometimes hard to understand and it seems very repetitive.

In my most recent attempt at reading through these books, I have tried to look at them with open eyes and with an open mind. What I discovered made me very sad, then angry and then extremely happy. The sad part was reading about the punishment that God was going to inflict on his people if they did not repent from their sinful ways and return to a life of righteousness and relationship with God. The angry part was that despite God's many warnings of what this punishment was, the Israelites and Judeans kept on sinning. I mean God warned them over and over again, that if they would just repent, He would save them. He wanted to show them mercy, but they ignored Him right on up to the point where they were carried away into captivity by their enemies. The happy part was knowing that God loved them enough to delay their punishment until everyone had heard the warnings and had a chance to repent. He loved them enough, that even when the punishment was carried out, He took care of the few who were faithful and blessed them anyway. Wow!

What a God! I think the prophet Micah sums it up best in his book. Micah 7:18-20 says, "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our iniquities into the depth of the sea. You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago."

God does not want to punish us! He does not want to send any of His children to captivity in Hell! God wanted to show His love for us so much, that He died for us in the form of His Son, Jesus, the Christ. He wants to show us His mercy and grace. He wants us to listen to the warnings. He wants those who have received Him to share the warnings and the good news of Grace to others. I pray that those who deny Jesus and continue to ignore the warnings wake up and accept His offers of mercy before it's to late.

What I got for Christmas

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas Day with their family! The presents are unwrapped and now a home must be found for them other than our living room floor. The visits with both sides of the family are over and my family has the rest of the week to ourselves, before school/work starts again next week. As for me I plan to just lay around in P.J.'s the whole week, NOT, we have some work to be done around the house.

The nice lady who cleans our house for us has disappeared off the face of the earth. We have not seen hide nor hair of her since mid-November. We would suspect something valuable is missing, but she is an Elder's wife at one of local church congregations. Still nothing seems to be missing in the house. She just stopped showing up. We called to check on her and there is no answer at their house. We called the church, and they said no one in her family was sick and they were not on vacation. Hmmm. I guess this means we have to clean our own house again for a while. (What a shame, to have to clean your OWN house...ha, ha!)

I did manage to get a nice bit of "stuff" for Christmas from family and friends. Here is my list...

I got three books: one from Ted Dekker, one from Randy Alcorn and a book by former President Jimmy Carter.
I got a $10.00 gift card to Books-A-Million.
I got a $5.00 Sonic card.
I got two pairs of Christmas type boxers and two pairs of long sleep pajama pants. I got a pair of Black & Decker power scissors, that are supposed to cut through that hard plastic outer coating that they came in. (Took several minutes to use regular scissors just to get out the new pair.)
I got a book of questions about "How much do you know your wife?" and another book like it called, "How much do you know about World War II?"
I got a baseball shaped "stress ball" that I traded with my daughter for a football shaped one. (She liked the baseball one better.)
I got a four pack of Vanilla flavored Starbucks Frappachino drinks. (Already gone.)
I got three new nice shirts to wear and $25.00 cash.

Now I need to go back to sleep...my kids woke us up at 5:00 a.m. --- maybe my next gift can be an interrupted 1 hour nap. --- Yea, that sounds good.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus...I can't wait for You to come and take us home with You.

That's My King!!

This video was put together to honor the late S.M. Lockridge, who once presented an incredible message, describing our God and who He is. Though God can't be described with just words, this is as close as you can get this side of Heaven.



And now a message from Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee...



Enjoy!!
Merry Christmas

An Interesting Christmas Observation & Fun Christmas Lights

The other day my family and I were remembering watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. While remembering the good things about the show: Rudolph becoming a hero, the Bumble turning good, and Hermie becoming a Dentist, we also came to the conclusion that Santa Claus may be just a touch prejudice. What? Santa is prejudice?

If you recall, when Santa first saw Rudolph and his "red-nose", Santa felt sorry for Donner and his wife, and told them that Rudolph would never be able to pull his sleigh. Wow, Santa discriminating against Rudolph because of his red-nose. It would be the equivilant of a sports coach not letting a handicap kid play on the team just because he/she looks different from the rest of the team. I thought Santa loved every one. It finally took an "emergency" for Santa to finally realize that Rudolph's nose was not a handicap but instead a blessing. At least Santa learned his lesson.

Now that I'm through bashing Santa...here is a video clip of some amazing Christmas Lights put to music. The person responsible no longer displays his lights this way, due to heavy traffic caused in his neighborhood. It is still fun to watch though!

Baseball & Steroids

In my opinion Baseball will always be the greatest game in the United States. It's just a shame that it took the The Mitchell Report to officially prove what the public has known for years. Many players have and currently use performance enhancing substances, ranging from steroids, to human or animal growth hormones, to make themselves "better" players and expand the length of their careers. Players who knowingly took these products against the rules of Major League Baseball, "Cheated", and we all know it.

You can make an argument that if the pitchers were using substances to make themselves better pitchers, then it's only fair that the batters used the substances to make themselves better hitters. Then it would only be fair that the fielders use the substances to be able to better field the ball that the "juiced up" batters were hitting off the "juiced up" pitchers. So what's the problem? Many of the players did not use these substances. What about them? They attempted to rely on their talent alone to try and best those who were cheating.

Records were broken, championships were won, wins and loses and other statistics were unfairly altered due the widespread use of these drugs and the players who cheated" MLB can attempt to punish the players and anyone else involved. They can erase the records of players who broke the rules, but can they go back and change the wins and losses for teams? Can they erase/add individual strikeouts, hits, runs, RBI's, etc... to those players who did not cheat?

We all know the punishment for players who take money to intentionally alter the results of a game, (see: The Black Sox Scandal), and players/managers who actively bet on baseball games, who are currently active in the sport, (see: Pete Rose). The punishment is a permanent restriction from ever playing the game again and from being included on a Hall of Fame ballot, thus banning them from The Baseball Hall of Fame. What should be the punishment for the users of performance enhancing drugs? They too altered the results of the game.

If any of the players named in the Mitchell Report are proven, not just implicated, to have intentionally used steroids, hormones, or anything else to unfairly alter their performance, then they should be punished.

Former Players should be immediately banned from participating in the sport of baseball for life and have their names removed from the Hall of Fame ballot for life, but not permanently. They should no longer be allowed to be involved in the sport, but since the use of these drugs was so wide spread, I think they should only be banned from the Hall of Fame until the day they die. This way the sportswriters of the future, can objectively weigh the player's achievements and possibly elect them to the Hall of Fame. If the player is elected to the Hall of Fame, they will not be alive to enjoy it. It is the only way retired players can be punished.

For those players currently active in the sport, then punish them according to the maximum punishment allowed by the current system that is set in place, Even if their use of the drugs are "after the fact." Then place a lifetime restriction to their inclusion on the Hall of Fame Ballot. Once again not a permanent ban, just until the player dies, so they cannot enjoy any benefits future Hall of Fame voters may choose to give them.

This is how I would handle the punishment for the players who have tarnished the reputation of the game forever!

13 Books I Have Recently Read # 2

I have just finished another 13 books. Here they are, with 13 being the most recent!

1. Red Hot Monogamy by Bill and Pam Farrel

2. Calvin & Hobbes: The Days Are Just Packed by Bill Watterson

3. Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola

4. Alice Nizzy Nazzy: The Witch of Santa Fe by Tony Johnson

5. A Skeleton In God's Closet by Paul L. Maier

6. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

7. Haunted Texas Vacations: The Complete Ghostly Guide by Lisa Farwell

8. Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey

9. The books of Ezekial, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah & Jonah from the Bible

10. Heaven by Randy Alcorn

11. Pokemon Sinnoh Handbook -- ? author

12. 12 Steps to a Closer Walk With God by Don Umphrey

13. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Some of these books I read with my children as part of our night-time reading routine. Others I was reading when my last list was posted. I really don't read books that fast. Let me know what you have been reading too. Reading is so much fun! I can't wait to read some books I know I'm getting for Christmas.!

"The Crud"

It seems everyone in our family has "the Crud." That's what us folks in Texas call anything that is sinus related. From colds, to bronchitis, to near pneumonia, if it makes us cough, sneeze, or stops up our noses, we have "the Crud." Sometimes our "Crud" comes with fever. I missed a day and a half of work because of this crud. My son has also missed a day and half of school. My wife must be the toughest of the bunch. She is feeling bad herself, but she has plugged on and went to work anyway. We must be some wimpy men. My daughter has also had a few sniffles but nothing as bad as the rest of us. She too, has not missed school yet. The women in our family are some tough ladies. If we can just feel better and hold on unto the Christmas Break, then we can all suffer at home and drink hot chocolate together. Maybe we will all be well by Christmas Day? So pray for my family and that God will exterminate the crud from our home. All I want for Christmas is a Crud free home and healthy family. Well...and the Complete Calvin & Hobbes Collection.

An Honest Opinion and Critique of the movie, "The Golden Compass"

Follow this link to find a Commentary about the movie (and books) The Golden Compass! I trust this fellow blogger, who took it upon himself to read the books and watch the movie before commenting about them. It is a great blog!

Some of My Family's Christmas Traditions

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is the annual reading of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! by Barbara Robinson. Every time I read the book, I come to tears in the end. It is both serious and funny, much like the Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park. (I wonder if your name has to be Barbara to write great intermediate level books?) My wife and I read this book to our children every Christmas. This year I read it to my Adult Education Class. They also loved the story. I wish I could find it on DVD or on tape.

Other Christmas traditions include:

(1) Reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess (and of course watching the television version with Boris Karloff doing the voices.

(2) Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV. Even though we own it own tape, we love to gather around and eat popcorn and support the showing of this timeless classic.

(3) Watching the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV Special). The songs get stuck in your head and you can't help but sing along with them. Plus who doesn't love "The Bumble."

(4) Doing the "12 Days of Christmas" gift exchange with my wife. We will each buy each other 12 gifts for Christmas (not counting the stocking). All gifts, except one, must be $5.00 dollars and under. One can be $10.00 or under. This helps us to think about each other more during the Christmas season, and we get to torture our kids by opening the presents, one day at a time, starting 12 days before Christmas. I have been trying to get my dear bride to adjust the amounts to spend to adjust for inflation, but so far she has not budged. She said if I want to get her something that costs more, that is what the stockings are for!

(5) Spending time at home with the kids. It's a great chance to get some extra loving on them before the year ends and it's back to school.

(6 & 7) Putting up the Christmas Tree. I am almost always the one who wants to put up the tree. I am ready to have it up the day after Thanksgiving. It helps we have another tradition that goes along with the tree. Each Family Member picks a new ornament for the tree. Some times the ornament can mean something special about the past year, or it can just be an ornament that they like. Most of the time Mom & Dad pick a "couples" ornament together. (You know, ones that have two mice sipping a soda, or two penguins dancing, or something like that.) But sometimes we do pick individual ornaments. The ornaments the kids pick we will send with them when they move off to college or start their own families.

(8) Watching -- Frank Capra's, It's a Wonderful Life either on television or on DVD. It's a great movie that ranks as one of my favorite films.

(9) Driving Around on Christmas Eve to look at Christmas Lights and Displays, while wearing a new set of matching P.J.'s! Driving around looking at Christmas lights has been a tradition for the past couple of years, but the new P.J.'s will be a new tradition starting this year. My wife has purchased a set of matching P.J.'s for the family that we will open of Christmas Eve. She plans to buy some new P.J.'s for us every year so we can wear them to ride around in. Cool!

We start these traditions shortly after Thanksgiving in order to get them all in before Christmas. We are currently reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!" at night. We have already seen "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on television. I think we own the Rudolph Special on tape and we may wait to watch it a little later. The tree, of course, is up. We have our new ornaments on the tree. (My wife and My's ornament this year is a Penguin giving a Polar Bear a Coca-Cola. My son's ornament is a mouse sitting on a video game controller. He sure loves the video games. My daughter's ornament is a dog in a dog-house. It has a bone above the dog house that you were supposed to write the name of your family pet in. But she wanted her own name written in, because she loves dogs so much.) I have finished my "12 Days of Christmas" shopping, I just need one more good stocking stuffer. I think my wife has one more to get for me. We have even finished our shopping from "Santa" for the kids. I think. Now we just need school to get out so we can enjoy the Christmas Break!

Trimming the Plants

My daughter recently learned at school that is is healthy to sometimes trim your plants back in the winter to allow for new growth in the spring. In an attempt to help our only surviving houseplant get a head start for next spring, she got a pair of scissors and trimmed our plant. She cut approx. a 1/2 inch off each leaf.

I thought the plant looked a little different when I was getting ready for work this morning. When I asked who cut the leaves of the plant, my daughter happily said, "I did it to help the plant grow!" I smiled at her, hugged her and told her that, trimming the plant means cutting off dying stalks, limbs or leaves from the plant and that you should cut them off near the roots. She was sad and asked if her "trim" job would kill the plant instead. I told her, I didn't think it would, and that it would be OK.

So now our houseplant has some funny looking leaves, courtesy of our well-meaning daughter.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, That Will Never Come

Here I am sitting at home enjoying a supposed to be relaxing on a nice Sunday afternoon, yet I can't seem to get my mind off the weather. The windows are open, to let in the cool air, because it is a balmy 80+ degrees in Texas. You would think it was early Summer with the recent weather we have been having. For crying out loud it's December and it's so warm outside you could wear shorts. Now, I'm not a big fan of cold/wet weather, but isn't that what we are supposed to be having in December? I want the cold weather. I want a fire in the fireplace. I want some hot chocolate; I don't want a suntan! I can't remember the last time it snowed where I live. Someone did tell me it snowed at my current home the year before I moved in. Maybe I cursed the place? I think I remember about 5 years ago it snowed enough to make a snowman with the family, but "Frosty" melted the next day. Like I said before, I don't want 5 foot snow drifts to trap my family indoors, but a little snow would be great. Maybe, just maybe, if I prayed hard enough, God would send us some snow for Christmas. Pleeeeaasssee God let it snow for Christmas. Even Texas deserves a little white stuff from time to time.

The Last 13 Books I Have Read

Just to let you know what types of books I read; here is a list of the last 13 books I have read.

1. Lilly's Ghosts by Laura Ruby
2. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
3. FAMILY Rules: Positive Parenting with a Plan (Grades K-12) by: Matthew A. Johnson
4. The Silent Witness by: Sir Lionel Luckoo
5. Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied & Survived Saddam Hussein by General Georges Sada and Jim Nelson Black
6. The 10 Best Decisions Every Parent Can Make by Bill and Pam Farrel
7. The Martyr's Song by Ted Dekker
8. Obsessed by Ted Dekker
9. Deadline by Randy Alcorn
10. House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker
11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
12. Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny by Barbara Park
13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

How to Turn a Dime Into $100

Today started out as pretty much a normal day. Nobody wanted to wake up and go back to school and work after spending time off for Thanksgiving. Despite the temptation to stay home and just sleep, I managed to get up and head off to work. I had been at work for about an hour when I one my co-workers, interrupted my class. She had a "While You Were Out" phone message for me. This struck me as strange, since normally I just return any calls after instruction time. She had a weird expression on her face as she told me, "It's about your son, you might want to step outside to read this." Of course I read it right away. The message was from the school nurse at my son's school. The message said, "Dime stuck in his nose!"

After initially bursting out in laughing in front of my room, I composed myself and asked if the message was real. After being assured the message was real, I got on my cell phone to find out my beloved wife had been trying to reach me, and had left a voice message. My wife's voice message confirmed, what the phone message said, my son had a dime stuck up his nose. The nurse had tried to get it out, but she was afraid because it was stuck up there pretty good, that it might have caused some minor damage to his nose, and she recommended we take my son to a Doctor, or the E.R. to have it removed. To bad my wife was already taking some time off to take my daughter to the orthodontist. So I had to go show the note to the program director and ask for the rest of the day off. If the situation wasn't happening to my own kid, it would have been hilarious. Ok, it was hilarious anyway, but I really didn't want to miss work.

By the time I got permission to leave, my beloved wife had already picked up the kid from his school. I took him to our family doctor where we spent about 10 minutes waiting to see if the doc can work him in to his already busy schedule. Since it was not an "emergency", he could not work my son and his 10 cent booger into the schedule. Meanwhile my son is worried he is going to snort the dime into his nasal cavity and swallow it, or choke on it. So we left the doctor's office and went to the E.R. After much paper work and another 10 minute wait, the doctor finally saw my son. She told him, that they could try to use high air pressure and blow the coin out or they could try to pull it out. He opted to have it pulled out. (Darn it, I really wanted to see the dime fly out his nose and roll across the floor!) After failing a good grip on the coin, they told us they might have to send him to a specialist and they might have to put him under anesthesia to pull it out. This scared my son and he started to "blow his nose" over and over again. By the time the nurse returned, the dime and finally slipped down enough that you could see it again. They gave my son a pair of small pliers and he pulled out the dime for himself. (I think they ought to give us a discount on the bill for that!) He thought it was funny that they put the dime in a Bio-Hazard bag because of the snot and mucus on it. It would have been more funny to me, if it wasn't for the $100.00 co-pay this will cost us, after insurance. For a 10 cent problem, it cost us 10 times as much to have it removed. It also cost me a day of my sick-leave.

You always hear about stuff like this happening to other people's kids! I guess my wife and I are just one of those "other people" after all. At least I got the rest of the day off after all. Oh, by the way -- He was trying to do some sort of magic trick for his friends in P.E. Some trick boy!

For my son's version of this story Click Here! For my wife's version of the story Click Here!

Tis the Season to Be Jolly and Overcrowded

Tis the season to be Jolly, Fa-la-la-la-laa, La-la-la-la!
Go to Wal-Mart it's overcrowded, Fa-la-la-la-laa, Hey, I need some service over here!

This time of the year creates so many mixed feelings for me. I love the weather. I love the tradition of putting up the Christmas Tree (ours goes up tomorrow). I love the focus on the birth of Jesus. I like watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas on the television. I love the extra long break from school and the anticipation of opening gifts chosen just for you. I also love to watch those I chose gifts for open their presents as well.

Despite all the things I love, there are also several things I don't like. I really don't like the overcrowded stores, Especially Wal-Mart. The customer service there is bad enough already, but it is especially bad this time of year. Even though I like some Christmas songs, I don't like listening to the same Christmas songs, over-and-over again. I guess I'm just a Scrooge, or a Grinch, when it comes to the songs. To bad for me, the Christmas songs are one of my wife's favorite parts of the holiday season.

Just 30 more days to go!!

Help the United Nations Feed the World

This is not a joke...you can actually help feed the world's hungry people just by playing a game.

Go to a web-site called Free Rice. The game is a vocabulary game. For each word you guess the correct meaning to, the sponsors of the site will donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations World Program. You would think these rich sponsors could do a little more than 10 grains of rice for each word, but we do what we can right? So go and play a little while and know that in your own small way you are helping to feed those who need it the most.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

What I'm Thankful For

It may be a little early, but here is a quick list of some things I am Thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

1. My Family -- My wife and 2 Children!
2. My Home -- Even if it does need a new kitchen ceiling and a new roof.
3. My Health -- I have lost weight recently, My cholesterol is down, and I have no other major health issues.
4. My Job -- I love my "new" job. I love my co-workers and my students.
5. My Dog -- Even though I am a cat person at heart, I love the little fella'.
6. My Friend Brent -- He is a brother I never had.
7. Most importantly: The Love and Grace of God -- Despite the fact I am a pitiful sinner, He still loves me like His own Son.

Thank you, God for all your blessings on me and my family. Help us to be good stewards of your blessings! -- ME

Alone With the Kids

My beloved wife is out of town for the next couple of days. Actually it's Friday night and she will return Saturday evening. This means I get to spend some time alone with the kids. What to do? What to do? I don't want to just let them play video games the whole time, because I want to spend at least some quality time with them. A few options include: 1) Watching a movie we have from Netflix called, Gus, which is an old Disney movie starring Don Knotts, about a mule who can kick 100 yard field goals, 2) Playing a board game with the kids, 3) Building a craft surprise for Mommy! or 4) Going to a park or something. We may hit the discount movies on Saturday. I will miss my beloved bride, but I am determined to spend some quality time with the kids while she is away. Hey, maybe I can make them clean their rooms while I am at it! Naaahhh!

Time to Change the Way I Think

As you may have read before, my family has decided to implement a few new rules around our house. (See Previous Blog) One of the new rules will probably be that our children may not watch movies, television shows, view web-sites or listen to music that is not appropriate due to age or morally. This got me to thinking. I watch a lot of movies. My family and I have been active members of Netflix for at least two years. We, mostly me, have watched all sorts of movies. Our kids definitely do not watch anything rated R or above. My wife and I don't watch anything rated above R. There are; however, a few movies rated PG or PG-13 that do push the limits of what is appropriate or not, that we have watched or are currently on our cue list. Movies like Transformers. My kids (ages 10 + 12) and I loved this movie, but is this movie really age appropriate? There is bad language, some sexual humor, and plenty of violence (just not gory!). Under our new rules, would I allow my children to watch this type of movie? It's a tough call, but one that has to be made.

It reminds me of a story...There were these two teenage children who lived in a Christian home. They were raised by good parents, although not perfect, who tried to raise their kids with good values and good decision making skills. One day the children came home with a group of friends with a movie they wanted to watch. The movie was rated PG-13, or R depending on the story. The father asked the girls what the movie was about and after hearing the movie's details, the father quickly decided this was not a good movie for the girls to watch. "But it only has a little bit of bad language. It only has a little bit of sexual themes in it.", the children insisted. The father, being a wise man, made a deal with the children, he would make a batch of brownies and if the children would eat the brownies then they could watch the movie. The children agreed. So the father went to the kitchen and gathered all his ingredients. He got flour, sugar, eggs, brownie mix and then he got a little bit of dog poop from the yard and mixed it in with the brownie mix. After cooking the brownies, he set them out for his children to eat. Before they started to dig in; however, he told them about the "surprise ingredient" he had added. "Gross!", his children asked. "But it only has a little poop in the brownies!", the father said. It was then his children realized what the father was trying to teach them. It doesn't take a whole lot of "crap" to be in a movie, T.V. show, or the music you listen to, in order to taint it.

It may look and even taste like a great brownie, but inside of it there is something that makes you sick. The movie may be a "great" movie, but hidden inside is the agenda of someone who wants to make you sick. Satan will do anything to turn us away from God. How many of us, myself included, have been feeding our kids "tainted brownies" and letting them watch programs they have "just a little-bit" of bad stuff in it. For that matter, who much "poop" have we been feeding ourselves.

Maybe it's time I change the way I think.

Thoughts About God and the Universe and Some Good News

God is an awesome God! Every time I watch a show about nature, I am awe struck by the creativity and majesty of my God. From the smallest of amoebas to the massive blue whale, God's workmanship is shown. From the tall Redwood trees to the smallest flower, God can be found. Every human on the planet, despite what we think of them, is beautiful to our God. We are made in His image. To me, this is incredible. The pictures from the Hubble Telescope, prove that God is not just a God of this earth, but of the entire universe.

Science can attempt to explain how the universe was formed and how it works, but they cannot prove their theory of a "Big Bang!" Science can attempt to explain why all the animals and plants are different with the theory of "Evolution", but in the end evolution is still a theory. It's a shame that the "Big Bang" theory and the theory of "Evolution" are being taught as fact in our public schools. To teach these theories as fact, goes against the very principles of "scientific experimentation!" Scientist have tested these two theories over and over again without coming up with undeniable proof that their initial theories are indeed facts. Granted you cannot absolutely prove that God created anything either, but it makes much better sense to me than evolution does.

Ok, Now that I am through ranting about the Almighty! -- Good news! I have lost 8 pounds in the past month. Even though my tummy is smaller, my wife claims most of the weight has disappeared from my already small tush! I guess I need to exercise a little more and try to gain muscle weight to replace the fat weight.

Trying a New Family Plan

On Monday my beautiful bride, went to a training seminar for work. The topic was Positive Parenting. She was so impressed with the speaker and his parenting ideas, that she bought his book, and a DVD to watch, and brought it home for me to read. After reading the book, I am very impressed as well. So the wife and I plan to implement a new set of family rules. The plan is called "F.A.M.I.L.Y" and it is based on a book called; FAMILY Rules: Positive Parenting with a Plan((Grades K-12) by: Matthew A. Johnson. We will let you know how the new plan works! It sounds like a wonderful alternative to my grouchy old way of doing things. It's even supposed to help the parents.

In A Funk

The past few days or so I have been in a "funk"! At least that what my wife calls it. I am still feeling distracted, non-focused, and just mildly depressed. Maybe it's a "Winter Depression?" I have heard that sometimes people feel more depressed in the Fall and Winter than they do in the Spring & Summer. Whatever it is I hope it goes away soon!

At this very moment I am sitting in a computer lab at a local community college waiting to start a training/in-service. I have been to this training before when I taught in the public schools; unless they have something new to add, this will be a boring 3 1/2 hours. After this training, I am going out to the woods, to do a little hunting. It may do me some good to get out in a stand and spend some quiet alone time with God. Maybe He will reward me by letting me see or possible kill a deer. Don't worry all you animal lovers; I do eat what I kill. My family is planning another one of our "family camp outs" this evening as well. It might also do me some good to spend some quality time with the family. I just want to feel better soon!

Thursday Thirteen -- 13 Facts About Satan

Once again I am shamelessly promoting my book, Messengers From Heaven: A Biblical Look at Angels. Last Thursday I posted a blog called 13 Facts About Angels, but since I am new to the Thursday Thirteen idea, I didn't know how to post it correctly and it didn't get posted. Oops!

This week I am following up with a post about Satan! Here are 13 Facts about the ultimate evil dude!

1. Satan is a created being -- The Bible clearly states that "all things" were created by God & the Word. (John 1:1-3 & Colossians 1:16) This includes Satan himself.

2. Satan is not omniscient (all knowing) -- If this were true then he would have known from the beginning, that his plan to kill Jesus, and his attempts to overthrow God would fail.

3. Satan is not Omnipresent (able to be everywhere at once) -- Revelation 12:9 & Luke 10:18, tells us that Satan was "cast out" of Heaven & Jesus himself tells us that there is a place of eternal fire prepared for Satan. (Matthew 25:41)

4. Satan is not Omnipotent (all powerful) -- If this were true then he would have succeeded in his attempts to overthrow God and kill Jesus and he could have stopped himself from being cast out of Heaven.

5. Satan will be punished by God for his evil deeds -- Once again in Matthew 25:41, Jesus tells us there is a place of eternal fire for Satan and his angels.

6. Proven names for Satan used in the Bible -- Satan, the Devil, the Serpent, the Great Dragon, Foe & Avenger, Tempter, Murderer, Liar & the Father of Lies, the Evil One, the Enemy, God of this Age, Ruler of the Kingdom of the Air, Prince of this World, and the Accuser.

7. Other possible names for Satan used in the Bible -- Lucifer, Beelzebub, Abaddon, Apollyon, and Leviathan.

8. Satan is a master of disguise -- 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us Satan can masquerade himself as "an angel of light." Some people believe this because, it is possible that Satan was once an angel himself. * See # 10.

9. Satan seeks to destroy all of God's creation and His chosen people -- 1 Peter 5:8 describes Satan as a "roaring lion looking for someone to devour." However if you resist Satan, he will flee from you.

10. Some people believe Satan was once an angel before being removed from Heaven. * Although believed by many this opinion has never been directly stated in the Bible. Verses of the Bible found in Isaiah 14:11-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19, have been used to support this opinion. However there are arguments for and against this idea. Therefore I do not feel comfortable stating this as an actual fact.

Please read my previous blog about angels as well. Sorry I did not get it posted correctly.

100 Things About Me: My "100th" Blog

Ok, this is really my 104th post so forgive me! I like what my wife said about her post of 100 Things About Her in honor of her 100th Blog. So I am going to copy her. Here goes.


1. I was born in Texarkana, Arkansas. My sister was born in the same city but on the Texas side of the border. (It's just so not fair!)

2. My earliest memory was getting a big fire truck for Christmas. It was so big you could sit on it. My parents tell me I got this truck when I was 10 months old.

3. My earliest memories of pets were, a Beagle named Pokey, a black cat named Blackie, and a horse named Dixie.

4. I am very afraid of heights and being swarmed by small insects.

5. I love listening to the musical scores of movies (my favorites are Superman, Pirates of the Caribbean & Battlestar Galactica)

6. I am a big fan of VeggieTales.

7. I got my first real kiss at age 21.

8. I am a sucker when it comes to buying stuffed animals.

9. I have written the lyrics to 14 songs. All are copyrighted but none have been recorded with music.

10. I have published a book -- "Messengers From Heaven: A Biblical Look at Angles".

11. My high school mascot was Buckeyes! We are still only one of two schools in the nation to have this as a mascot. The other is Ohio State University.

12. I played trombone in the band. I played it for 9 years.

13. While played trombone in the band for Tyler Jr. College, I actually was part of recording a song for a major motion picture's musical score, but ultimately the song was edited from the movie. (Dang it!)

14. I marched in a parade in Disney World, Florida as part of my High School Band.

15. I marched in two Cotton Bowl parades as part of the Tyler Jr. College Apache Band.

16. I marched as part of the half-time show in three different professional football games as part of the Tyler Jr. College Apache Band.

17. I have a Bachelor's Degree in History from Abilene Christian University.

18. The first words my wife ever said to me were, "Are you a real cowboy, or do you just dress like one?"

19. I have never used any illegal drugs...EVER!

20. I have never been drunk! EVER!

21. Foghorn Leghorn is my favorite Looney Tunes character.

22. When I was a child I used to pretend I was a super-hero named The Cheetah. Later my son told me he wanted to be a super-hero called The Cheetah, before he even knew I used to pretend the same thing.

23. I was reading a copy of John Grisham's book, The Chamber, when my wife was in labor. I would just hide it, when she woke up and went into contractions.

24. I like to hunt deer and fish.

25. My favorite movie is To Kill a Mockingbird. It is also my favorite book.

26. My favorite food is Tacos.

27. I used to cook chicken-fried venison for dates in college.

28. I took three different girls to watch the movie, The Little Mermaid in college.

29. I also took three different girls to watch the movie, Ghost as well.

30. I once had a girl pretend to like me, just so I would buy tickets and take her to a George Strait concert.

31. I would really like to see Jimmy Buffett live in concert.

32. I once met and shook the hand of George W. Bush, before he was President of the United States.

33. I also performed in a half-time show for the Dallas Mavericks as part of the Tyler Jr. College Apache Band. (They were playing the L.A. Lakers.)

34. I currently teach G.E.D. classes at Kilgore College-Longview.

35. Before that I taught 11 years in the public schools.

36. I love cats and have owned several black cats throughout my life.

37. I once owned a cat who could climb trees, even though he was declawed.

38. I have had my appendix removed.

39. I have also had my tonsils removed.

40. I had braces "twice."

41. I have only broken one bone in my life. It was my left collar bone.

42. I once lived in a house with a street number of 666.

43. I have owned 3 pet rabbits in my life.

44. I once owned a bird called Bonkers. He was "murdered" by one of our cats.

45. I want to set foot on all seven continents before I die. (Two down, 5 to go!)

46. My favorite childhood book is, Alexander and the Magic Mouse.

47. I was a member of the U.S. Army Reserves for 10 years.

48. I achieved the rank of 2nd Lieutenant before I left the service.

49. I am a huge fan of the original Star Trek TV show.

50. I know the first, middle and last names of all 43 Presidents of the United States.

51. I can say and sing the alphabet backwards as easily as I can forwards.

52. My favorite baseball team is the Texas Rangers.

53. I like to cook.

54. I know how to sew.

55. I have published articles for Encyclopedia USA.

56. I cannot spell the word mispelled...darn it...misspelled.

57. I once went to the store to buy some marshmellows only to call my wife and tell her I could not find them. All I could find were marshmallows. (Blush with embarrassment!)

58. I have been to Germany.

59. I got bifocals my junior year in college.

60. I like reading Junie B. Jones books.

61. I own the entire orginal series collection of "The Three Investigators" Mystery Series.

62. My Halloween costume for this year (2207) is Jack Sparrow from the movies Pirates of the Caribbean.

63. I can find any country on the planet (on a globe) in less than 5 seconds.

64. I almost won $1,000,000 in a McDonald's Monopoly game. I had Park Place, and a student of mine had Boardwalk. His father would not let us split the money, because he wanted his son to learn to earn his own money, not win it through a contest. By the time I convinced him to change his mind, the contest had ended.

65. My worst nightmare is one in which I fall and "bounce" only to fall even further than I did before.

66. Once while fishing with my father, a professional fisherman paid me money and gave me some free lures and bait to use a large bass, that I had caught, so he could "catch" it, over and over a gain, for his show.

67. I have had 4 cavities during my lifetime.

68. My first car was a used 1977 Buick Limited. It was an ugly lime green color, with a faded roof. "I nicknamed it, The Big Green Algae Machine."

69. I secretly like cartoons like "Spongebob Squarepants" & "Pokemon"!

70. I hate the sound of Styrofoam rubbing together.

71. I am allergic to penicillin.

72. I currently own a dog named Schnitzel.

73. The only High School sport I ever played was golf. (I played one year as a junior.)

74. I once pretended to be a rape victim, to help a local Rape Crisis Center to train police officers how to interview and be sensitive to victims of sex crimes.

75. I once played a donkey in an Elementary school play about Aesop's Fables.

76. I was bullied when I was in school.

77. I was a member of the Future Farmers of America as a freshman in High School.

78. I am an alumni member of the Nu Zeta chapter of Alpha Phi Omega (a National Service Fraternity.)

79. I had to go to Mexico in order to pass my 2nd year of Spanish in college. By being forced to speak the language, I finally learned it well enough to pass.

80. While in Mexico I saw the movie, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" starring Kevin Costner, in Spanish.

81. While in Mexico I visited the ancient city of Teotihuacan. It was here I climbed the Pyramid of the Sun.

82. My favorite ice-cream flavor is "Vanilla!"

83. My daughter says, "I am a the best daddy ever!"

84. I like doing the laundry and the dishes.

85. I would like to watch a live baseball game at every Major League Baseball ballpark.

86. I like to watch certain blockbuster movies on opening night.

87. I secretly wish to run for public office. (I want to be a U.S. Senator!)

88. I do not like spinning rides at amusement parks or fairs.

89. I wish they would bring back the comic strips, Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, and Bloom County.

90. I cast my first vote for President in 1988 for George H.W. Bush.

91. I played little league baseball and youth soccer.

92. I like to watch the T.V. show Ghost Hunters.

93. I think I have seen a ghost! Really! When I was younger, shortly after my Grand-pa died.

94. I was once slapped by a wet noodle.

95. I like looking for the hidden needles in Country and Country Extra magazines.

96. If I had to eat one color in a box of crayons, I would eat the color called, Macaroni and Cheese.

97. I have downloaded close to 300 80's songs from Limewire. Now I am just waiting for me to get an I-Pod to put them on.

98. I still think the sound of someone farting is funny. (not the smell though)

99. I was almost stabbed by my college roommate once as I was sleepwalking through our house at night. He thought I was an intruder.

100. I once snuck into a Texas Rangers baseball game so I would not have my ticket ripped in half. The ticket was signed by Rickey Henderson before the game. We were both eating at The Black Eyed Pea.

Today's Prayer to God

Heavenly Father,

I am so glad you love me despite the fact that I keep "getting lost" while on Earth. I apologize for not spending time with You last week. I both intentionally and unintentionally "forgot" to do my morning Bible study and devotional time with You. It took its toll on me. All last week I had trouble concentrating, and focusing. I was unfocused at work and I was unfocused in prayer. I couldn't seem to say what I wanted to say when I tried to pray. I became even more of a grouch that I normally am, and I exasperated my children and frustrated my wife. I do not like acting this way and I ask for Your forgiveness. Please help me to refocus myself and get back on the right path. Thank You for patiently waiting for me to come back to You.

Please bless my wife and my efforts to be more responsible with our finances, by following Financial Peace University. We desperately wish to honor You with our money as much as we try to honor You with the rest of our daily lives. Please send an angel to give me a good thump on the head whenever I wish eat "fast food" for lunches rather than eat what we already have at home.

Help me in my continued efforts to become a better teacher at my work. Help me to stay focused and be assertive when it comes to correcting the few instances of misbehavior I have with my adult students. Keep me healthy so I do not miss days at work as well.

Bless my children at home and at school. Help me to be a coach not a dictator when it comes to discipline or helping them solve problems. Help me to work with their Bible Class curriculum to improve their relationships with You. Bless their teachers to teach my children what they need to know.

You, O Lord, are such a Wonderful and Mighty God. You alone make sense in this crazy world. You alone are consistent in Your ways. You alone speak truth in our culture full of lies. Your word alone truly sustains me from day to day. You alone can save me from myself. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice so that I may live! I am so glad I am Your child. Through your Spirit I pray, Amen

The Armor of God

During our Family Devotional today, our family read about the Armor of God as described in Ephesians. Reading about this reminded me when our children used to own a plastic set of the "Armor of God!" they used to put the Armor and run around battling Satan and the bad guys. Occasionally they would forget about being godly and attack each other instead. Now that they are older, I'm glad they are learning what it means to put on the true Armor of God. All of us in our Family realize that the world, controlled by Satan, is constantly attacking us and our faith. It is only with the Belt of Truth, the Shield of Faith, The Breastplate of Righteousness, the Shoes of Peace, The Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit of the Word of God, that we stand a chance in our battle against the evil one.

I also may be a little premature but it looks like congratulations are in order for the Boston Red Sox. They are beating the Colorado Rockies three games to zero in the World Series. Baring another baseball miracle, it looks like the Red Sox will be the Champions of the 2007 season.

13 Facts About Angels

Ok, this list for Thursday Thirteen is an open attempt to promote my book "Messengers From Heaven: A Biblical Look at Angels!"

Thirteen Facts about Angels

1. Angels are created beings. (Psalm 148:1-5, John 1:1-3, and Colossians 1:16.

2. Angels are not to be worshipped! (Colossians 2:18, Revelation 19:10 & 22:8-9)

3. Angels are not Omniscient (Matthew 24:36 and 1 Peter 1:12), Omnipresent (Genesis 28:12, Daniel 9:21 & 10:12-14, John 1:51, Luke 2:15, 2 Peter 2:4) or Omnipotent. (2 Peter 2:4, Daniel 10:13, Revelation 7:9)

4. Counting the canonized Bible only, there have been only three angels that have been called by a specific name. Michael (Daniel 10:13, 31, Jude, & Revelation 12:7), Gabriel (Daniel 8:16-17 & 9:21-27, Luke 1:11-20 & 26-38), and The Angel of the LORD, JEHOVAH, or GOD (appears 59 times throughout the Old Testament). * = See Below

5. Little children have angels in Heaven. (Matthew 18:10)

6. There are both Good and Evil angels. (Matthew 25:41 & Revelation 12:7)

7. No one knows the exact number of angles there are. (The Bible never gives an exact number of angels...although there are at least 100,000,000...Daniel 7:9-10 & Revelation 5:11)

8. Every angel that appears in the Bible appears in the form of a man or young man. (the only possible exception might be Zechariah 5:5-11)

9. Angels will live forever. (Luke 20:35-36, Matthew 22:30 & Psalm 148:1-6)

10. Everyone will see angels one day! (Matthew 13:41, Luke 16:22, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, Matthew 25:31, Mark 8:38, Luke 9:26)

* = Many people believe that Satan is actually a fallen angel who was once called Lucifer, and that he lived in Heaven. Although widely believed, the Bible never directly states that Satan is actually Lucifer, nor does it state that Satan was actually an angel! However, circumstantial evidence from the Bible indicates that Lucifer and Satan are one in the same! (This belief is based upon verses found in Isaiah 14:11-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19) I may post a separate blog, called Facts about Satan, next Thursday.

WARNING -- About the movie "The Golden Compass"

Just found out this is true...The movie The Golden Compass is based upon a series of books that are strongly anti-Christian (any religion). The author of these books implies that you can kill God! What makes this worse it is being advertised as a children's movie similar to the Chronicles of Narnia. The movie even supports the idea of castration and female circumcision.

Check out the link about this article on Snopes.com -- The Golden Compass. By the way you can go to Snopes.com to find out the truth (as they know it) about any "Urban-Legend."

Happy Essences & A Wet Noodle

My family now has a new addiction. It is a video game called My Sims for the Nintendo Wii. In this game you are an architect who is called upon to rebuild a town and restore it to its former glory. It is a simple game and very fun to play. While playing the game you collect something called "essences" to enhance your building projects. One of the essences is called a "Happy Essence", which looks like a smiley face. Last night I put on a pair of Smiley Face boxers to sleep in. When my wife saw them, she commented how I have "Happy Essences" on my bottom.

Yesterday evening while sitting around the dinner table eating noodles and shrimp, my son commented that in the Lemony Snicket books, there was a character who hit people with a wet noodle. That got my wife and I to make comments about how we used to say, "I'm going to beat you with a wet noodle," a lot when we were younger. About the time dinner was ending, we started to look at the kid's report cards. (All A's and B's by the way.) My son had a note from his Science teacher with his card. (It was a good note.) As my wife started to read the note, I was being silly and started to say, "Dear Parents, your child has been a bad boy!" My son said, "Daddy, that's not funny," and then he hit me with a noodle. Literally. He slapped me in the head with a wet noodle. If it wasn't so funny, I might have gotten a little upset. But we all had good laugh over it. Especially my daughter.

I Will Not Give My Son $3-4

There is the video game my son wants really bad. He has earned/saved enough money to get the game, but not enough to pay the tax. He really bad wants me to give him the extra $3-4 to cover the tax. I know he would pay me back for the amount of the tax, but I am not going to give it to him. It may sound mean, but I am trying to teach him delayed gratification and the joy of being able to buy something entirely on his own. I am also trying to teach him that he can't always rely on Dad to give him "free" money if he needs it. He needs to learn to budget his money wisely, and having Dad, or Mom, give him a little extra, he is not learning the full meaning of saving his money to reach a goal. I know he may be sad now, but he will be much happier when he earns the money on his own and gets his game without having to pay someone else back.

Thirteen Little Known Facts About ME

I am borrowing this idea from my Wife's Blog, who borrowed it from someone else. I am just putting my own twist on it.

Fact # 1 -- Something I am very afraid of -- Besides something bad happening to my kids or dear wife, I would have to go with...heights or being swarmed by little insects.

Fact # 2 -- One thing I dislike about myself -- The way I am sarcastic and sometimes condescending to my children. I am working on it. Pray for me!

Fact # 3 -- One profession I have absolutely no respect for -- Any one who works for, or is associated with the porn industry.

Fact # 4 -- My favorite type of music -- Motion Picture Musical Scores (my favorites are Superman, Pirates of the Caribbean & Battlestar Galactica)

Fact # 5 -- A unique place I have visited -- Teotihuacan, Mexico. It was here I climbed the Pyramid of the Sun. What a trip! (See picture)

Fact # 6 -- Age at which I got my first real kiss -- 21. Hey, I was a shy young man, raised with very conservative beliefs. Plus I was a bit of nerd. I'm glad I waited though, knowing who I am now, I might have turned out quite different if I had started the "smooching" earlier.

Fact # 7 -- My dream job -- I think I would love to be an archaeologist! If not that, I think I would love to work full time for the Texas Rangers Baseball Club.

Fact # 8 -- A sound I love to hear -- The sound of my children laughing or the sounds of thunder and rain.

Fact # 9 -- A food I cannot eat enough of -- Tacos. I just can't stop eating them.

Fact # 10 -- Something new I really want to do as a hobby -- Join a ghost hunting group and do some ghost hunting.

Fact #11 -- My favorite word -- Truthiness -- "a satirical term created by U.S. television comedian Stephen Colbert to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or 'from the gut' without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts."

Fact # 12 -- Something that other people do that I hate -- Gossip! I hate it and try my best not to get involved with it.

Fact # 13 -- My little "vice" -- I loved stuffed animals and have a hard time not buying them for my kids or myself. (Hey, even a 40 year old man needs his Teddy Bear! Ha-Ha!)

It's Finally Fall Weather

First of all congratulations to the Colorado Rockies in their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks to advance to the World Series! Now I just hope the Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox!

Fall weather is finally here! The air is cool and windy. Fall thunderstorms are blowing through. Leaves are falling, and the grass doesn't need mowing until next Spring. In the part of East Texas where I am from, it is called "Yamboree Weather", because the cooler weather normally coincides with the coming of a county festival called The East Texas Yamboree. This festival is held in Upshur County in Texas every third weekend in October.

I think this is my favorite time of the year. The baseball playoffs are going on, with the World Series just around the corner. Football season is well under way. Hunting Season is rapidly approaching. The kids have a full six-weeks of school under their belts. Halloween is almost here, and the weather is finally cooling off, after another hot Texas Summer. I also like the fall storms, even if it is tornado season. It's just a great time to be alive and thank God for all your blessings. Especially since Thanksgiving is not to far away either. Tuuurrrrkeeeyy!

Funny Answers to a Test!

I received the following from an e-mail. The following list contains answers that children gave to a test over the Bible. The students attend a Catholic School. The answers are unedited and appear exactly as the children wrote them. They are very funny! Enjoy!

1. In the first book of the bible, Guinesses, God got tired of creating the world, so he took the Sabbath off.
2. Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark. Noah built an ark, which the animals come on to in pears.
3. Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.
4. The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with the unsympathetic Genitals.
5. Samson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah.
6. Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles.
7. Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingrediants.
8. The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten amendments.
9. The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.
10. The seventh commandment is thou shall not admit adultry.
11. Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.
12. The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.
13. David was a hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.
14. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.
15. When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.
16. When the three wise guys from the east arrived, they found Jesus in the manager.
17. Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.
18. St. John the blacksmith dumped water on his head.
19. Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says to do one to others before they do one to you. He also explained, a man does not live by sweat alone.
20. It was a miracle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.
21. The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.
22. The epistles were the wives of the apostles.
23. One of the oppossums was St. Matthew who was also a taximan.
24. St. Paul cavorted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.
25. Christians have only one spouse. This is called monotony.