thoughts consumed...

We have had a week of prayer and fasting at our church and I (along with my beautiful family) will be traveling up to Grand Marias to take a mini-vacation, and minister in the church up there.

That being said, my thoughts have been pretty much consumed this week between ministering at our local church, and preparing a sermon for Sunday.

I know it makes for a pretty boring blog, but I promise something interesting will definately come out of this...

did you follow that?

Well, chalk up another full weekend in the books.

Friday night I spent the evening working in the yard. I had to get the mower and trimmer all cleaned and tuned up for the season. Then I attacked the lawn... it took me a while because the grass had grown tall and thick with all the rain. The lawn mower had quite the time cutting through some spots.

Saturday morning I packed up my tool belt with all of my roofing stuff and headed off to Two Harbors, MN to help some friends roof their house. They had plenty of help there, and a few guys who knew what they were doing, so I let them take the lead up on the roof. This left me on the ground cleaning up scraps of old shingles, cedar shakes, and tar paper. I also got the job of carrying the ridiculously heavy bundles of new singles up the 2 story ladder to the roof... ugh!

Saturday evening was the first meeting of our new F.I.R.E. group. That went really well. We were able to establish the vision for the group, and spend some time in prayer. We received some awesome confirmation that we are on the right track.

Sunday, we started out with church in the morning, then it was off to the store to get some food for a baby shower later that day. I dropped my wife and kids back at the church after lunch to prepare for said baby shower. I went to softball practice for an hour and 1/2, and then went back to pick-up the kids.

Then it was off to my mothers house to mow her lawn (which required a tune up and minor repair to her mower). I had to move my sister Sarah's car while I was there to get at the mower. If I would have had my digi cam with me I would have taken a picture for her to reminder her of her cute little car, but instead I have this...

(Please note that this is not a photo of the actual orange in question... just a representation for visual effect.)

This is a picture of an orange because she left a very large orange in her car... which I removed... you're welcome Sarah!

So, then I went back to the church to retrieve my wife and then went home to spend a quiet... uneventful evening.

So now you know...

smile...

I usually don't go for these type of emails, but this one made me smile!

rambling adventures: Happy Men

one year...

A lot can happen in a year. I just realized that this blog has reached it's one year anniversary! I don't know that it needs a celebration, but it is a milestone none-the-less.

I will mark this occasion with a reminder of another, not-so-happy anniversary, and a pleading reminder of something very important...

LifeThisWay -> ->: Who have you loved today?

Hi Sarah! (if you are reading this...)

This week started out with our first softball game of the season on Monday... I will tell you now that I am still sore. I feel like I have been walking around like an old man half the time... We lost miseribly, both games. But we had so much fun!

My sister is officially in the Philippines as of today. I will try to keep this thing updated with photos and such for her!

Here is the first of the photos for Sarah...

"Hi Sarah!"- Noah at 3 months

you gotta be having a better day than this!

Check out this footage, which I am sure you will see on the TV today! (helps to have high-speed)

kare11.com : Minneapolis, St. Paul

Yikes!

All things CSS...

For those interested...

CSS, Accesibility and Standards Links

DESTROY your favorite web page!

Here is a fun link to play with!

Netdisaster - Destroy the web!

who is to blame?

I find it interesting to see another major media source scrambling to blame someone... something... anything else... How a Fire Broke Out - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com

Friday was a busy day...

Friday seemed link a very busy day in the blogosphere. I noticed that a lot of the blogs I normally read/watch were FULL of new stuff. Like 3-4 posts each day. It makes me wonder if I missed out on some sort of big blogging event or something.

I had a very interesting weekend, and am findiing it difficult to put it into words exactly. I would say that I spent a lot of time being very introspective. I think because I am reading this book. I would recommend it, but I am still working through it. So, you will have to wait for my final opinion...

In other news, I was installed as an elder at my local church this weekend. (I don't really like the word "installed"... makes me feel like a light fixture or something...) I don't feel that much different, but I guess I have been functioning as an elder there for a few months anyway. So, here I am, called to serve a group of beautiful people in northern Minnesota. It feels good. It feels fresh. Now I think my biggest challenge is to convey that to the people that I have been ministering with for the last 10 years or so. It is a new day for me, can I encourage them in that too?

It seems to me that everyone wants to be a "church planter" today. (Don't get me wrong, I know there are many legitimate church plants taking place right now.) But it also seems to be the cool Christian thing to do at the moment. Like it is the new form of "church hopping".

(You know, the practice of going to a church until they speak or teach something that makes you a little uncomfortable or a relationship becomes diffucult, and then moving on until you find a new place that makes you feel good... until they make you feel uncomfortable... and the cycle goes on...)

It's like all those church hoppers are getting tired of it, and have decided to go and make house churches where they make the rules, and they don't have to feel uncomfortable ever again.

I always come back to my relationship with Jesus. I know where he has called me, and I know that I am in the exact place where I am supposed to be. It feels great, and I am excited for what is to come.

Woof!

Check this out...Service Helps Dog Owners Interpret Barks - Yahoo! News

Is it really that hard to tell what your dog is thinking??? Or is this a joke?

mozilla.org news - UPGRADE TIME

Hey! Just checking in to my own blog, and noticed that there hasn't been a whole lot going on out here. Go figure!

At any rate, check out the link below for you Mozilla Fire Fox users.

mozilla.org news

(Thanks to Julie for the heads-up on this security update!)

Birthday "Blast!"

Hey, check out my new gadget I got for my birthday: Leatherman Blast

Yes, yesterday was my official birthday. So I am now officially 28. I took the day off from work, and spent the day with my wife and kids. We also had our first softball practice of the season for our church softball team. I woke up so sore this morning... time to get back in shape! :)