Powell goes to Church

We have been working this summer at Powell Apartments with the T.A.G. (Teaching About God) program on Thursdays and have been enjoying the friendships and relationships we have begun experiencing. Last night, we took a few mini vans up to Powell to pick up any kids who would like to go to church. We had seven extremely excited children go with us. They love T.A.G. and the chance they get to sing songs, make crafts, learn lessons, and eat snacks and they wanted more. They wanted to go with us so they could experience the place we come from. A few barely stood the excitement as they approached the building. They were fascinated by the experience to be in a building and to sing and hear peple speak. They were in awe as we were let out for class time and we began to take them towards their classrooms. Jessie took them to their classes as I headed to teach the teen class. She told me later on, that when she got to one of the classrooms with a group of the kids from Powell that the teacher was absent and one of the deacons hurried to put some material together and asked Jessie to sing some songs as he made some copies up stairs. After singing a few silly songs, the deacon came in and the youngest girl that we brought from Powell asked something to the effect of "Now are we going to get to learn Bible stuff?" She wanted to learn, she was ready to hear what the Bible said. When we took them back to Powell that night they all told me how exciting class was. I asked them what they had done and one boy with a frightened look told me he had left his paper in by the fountain and asked me to jump out and get it before we left the carport. I ran in and grabbed a half ripped piece of construstion paper with glue stains and a paper laying nearby of Jesus that had barely started to be colored. I took it to him and he was so excited to have it back. He looked at it as we went back to Powell and excitedly took it with him when we dropped him off. He had done something at church and was going to hold onto it. They all told me they would come today to T.A.G. and that they would be back next week for church. I thought about the girl who wanted to learn about the Bible and the young boy who wanted to take back what he'd done in Bible class and realized that this ministry is so worth it. These kids see an excitement and love in our group and wanted to get that experience again. When given the opportunity to experience it they looked forward to learning about God and holding on to what they could get from him. Showing others God's love and compassion works, but you can't stop there you need to take it a step further and give them the opportunity to learn further about God and receive the many gifts that God wants to give them. I don't know if any of these students will become christians later on in life, but I know that seeds are being planted and that God is doing some great things through us for these kids and doing some great things for me through these kids.

Mexico Mission

This week, a group of our teens and adults, along with a group from Delaware are working in Mexico to build a meeting place for a church there of about 15 members. I have been left behind in West Virginia, but have been encouraged to look at the pictures and hear the stories on our youth group blog and on Matt Wilson's Blog, the youth minister at the Cedars church in Delaware. Looking at the pictures, I see an excitement in the chance to serve God. The work they are doing looks to be extremely tiring and I know they are working in some extremely hot weather. Hot weather + Hard Labor+ Teens and adults= a horrible experience? No way! They truly understand how to work for the Lord and realize it is a great and exciting privelege. I am very proud of their efforts there and wish them the best of luck. They are in my prayers. I ask that anyone who would read this blog would also continue to pray for their safety and for the success of the work now and to come in Mexico.

My top ten favorite Jack Handey Quotes

The following are from Jack Handey:
10."It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man."
9."Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick. "
8."If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might if they screamed all the time for no good reason."
7."Many people think that history is a dull subject. Dull? Is it "dull" that Jesse James once got bitten on the forehead by an ant, and at first it didn't seem like anything, but then the bite got worse and worse, so he went to a doctor in town, and the secretary told him to wait, so he sat down and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and then finally he got to see the doctor, and the doctor put some salve on it? You call that dull? "
6."If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy!"
5."You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who make people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea."
4."Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you"
3."Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."
2."I love to go to the schoolyard and watch the children jump and scream, but they don't know I'm using blanks."
1."To me, it's a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, "Hey, can you give me a hand?" you can say, "Sorry, got these sacks."
Jack Handey ( Pure Genius)- This blog is dedicated to the person I discovered Jack Handey with...Daniel Jonas.

Why are you walking, Bird?

I don't know why I'm starting my blog by continuously discussing birds, but I got to talk about how dumb birds have become. I remember when I was a kid when birds used to fly. While I was walking on the ground, birds were moving around using their wings to soar in the sky. It seemed like a pretty cool thing to me and if I had the opportunity to flap my arms and avoid the traffic rush, I think I'd take advantage of it.
Quick sidenote: I am not a fan of birds, in fact, I have been known to despise these flying torpedoes of fur. It started when I was a child and I was out in the yard one day, minding my own business pretending I was Leonardo(the turtle not the artist) fighting Shredder. A bird just so happened to be enjoying the berry buffet that my neighbor had left for him in his garden. He then deviously looked over at the idiotic kid in the next yard who was pretending to order pizza while busting out some of the most awkward karate moves known to bird. I can see him now chirping over to one of his bird pals with a grin " Watch this!" Then takes off, lines himself up, figuring out windspeed and velocity, and squeezing in to release the berry feast upon my head. I, being the dignified 6 or 7 year old, screamed bloody murder. My father being the sincere parent comes around the corner of the house and begins hysterically laughing at his son who looks like he had just gotten out of the Smuckers' family pool. After a while, he calmed his laughing to a mere giggle and took me inside and washed me up. I had found nothing of this to be funny. The idea that all I could see was a sort of purplish gunky bird leftover suprise out of my eyes was quite irritating to me. After being cleaned up, I then plotted my revenge, grabbed a stick and a rock, and hid under our carport for the rest of the afternoon in preparation for its return which never came.
Today, birds tempt the little angry boy inside of me. Instead of flying when anything moving comes at them, they now stop, ponder the meaning of life, do some multiplication, say their ABC's, and then slowly WALK out of the way. Apparently some of them try an extra step, by the number of birds I've seen lying on the road lately. This seems to be a phenomenon that has happened in the past few years in the bird world. Some of the birds must have gotten together at the annual Summit and reached a verdict that they had used too many Frequent flyer miles and that they should join the rest of creation by walking. I am afraid that this phenomenon is leaving the future generation to be lazy and maybe even worse not realizing that they can fly and that this is a tremendous ability that has been given to them. What if birds are beginning to forget that flying is an ability that they have and that it is something extremely special. Now, this does give more opportunities to swerve and earn some points(joking). You may be wondering where I'm going with this, but hopefully not.
How many times in our lives do we look around at everyone else and see how their doing things and conform? How often in our christianity do we see a successful christian that is great at something and try to repeat what that person is? God made everyone special and he has given us unique abilities that we can serve him through them. Ministry is not just for people who can speak, lead worship songs, or pray beautiful prayers. Ministry is about how we use our gifts to serve our Lord and others in our own unique and beautiful way. Birds need to realize that though walking works well for us, that they have the great ability to fly. Are you walking like everyone else when you could be using your wings to fly?

Smacking the Window

I was just sitting here in the office when all the sudden I hear this fantastic thud. Much to my enjoyment a bird had hit my window and flopped to the ground only to shake himself off and head in another direction. I truly enjoyed that moment today when my mood was not terrific. I know that sounds like I'm weird, but if you know me, you already knew that. It brought a smile to my face. Now, I know I should feel bad for the bird, this experience could cost him a withdraw in his self-esteem account not to mention the bills he will accrue for the future beak job and counseling visits. The bird has just had an experience that I have had before and I know the poor bird will survive atleast until he takes a rest on the wrong electric line(I'm sorry, couldn't resist).
How many times in our lives have we smacked the window? We are sailing through life and think we know just where we're heading when POW we smack into the unexpected. At that point, we sputter around trying to figure out where that came from and realize where we were heading wasn't what we thought. We then have the choice of staying put and questioning God on why he wouldn't allow me to go on this great path we had planned out for ourselves or getting up and flying down another path that is full of adventure and giving God all the praise for guiding you to a new path. Rejoice in the bumps on your head and thank him for allowing you to get up and fly again.

Thinking Out Loud

Letting your thoughts be read by complete strangers is such an odd thing. It is one of those bad dreams you have when a teenager where you go around the school having everyone laugh at you because every thought that you have is being broadcast to everyone in the school either by a screen on your forehead or maybe being announced over the intercom system. What would our lives be like if every thought that came to our minds was immediately available for everyone to see or hear. Would we be more careful about what we let come into our heads? Would we be embarrassed or ashamed daily because of the evil and repulsive things we let float around up there everyday. God knows our every thought and sometimes he must be saddened by the things that we spend our time pondering on. What if we truly set our minds on things from above and not on earthly things? What if our minds constantly were focused on the things in which God wanted us to reflect upon? How different would our actions and daily rituals be? Would Christians be easier to spot?