My wife's contests...

Seeing how many of my blog readers come from my wife's blog (thanks by the way), most of you will know this already.

My wife likes to enter contests online. I have decided that she is either incredibly lucky or she is just able to enter many contests that are hurting for contestants; because, well, I end up getting packages at the post office usually three times a week. Books, kids clothes, some handmade jewelry, hand cream, laundry detergent , these are some of the things that I end up picking up at the post office. At least one of the guys at the post office laughs at me when I bring in the little "item" cards from our box to the counter - "maybe this one will be for you" he says, then walks back and gets the packages, returns and says "nope."

Anyhow, my wife entered a contest about "Mommy moments" (entering a photo I took) and she is a finalist, she made the shortlist of 20 out of 400 some odd entrants. The prize is $1000. So, if you would, go vote for her here.

not today

no pictures today. didn't take one. that's quite odd for me on a saturday.
no one is more bummed about that than i.
hope you have a wonderful sunday.
blessings.

today

It's late.
There's a lot going on in my head, but nothing seems to be able to stay in "view" for more than a few moments. Today was a good day. Some time with family. Some time by myself. Some time with God. Some time with people. Some conversation, some silence, some fun, some frustration, and a whole lot of gratitude.

I'm incredibly thankful for so much. For friends. For health. For a God that keeps me going. For my wife who loves me.

Some photos I took;




edit: special thanks to Angelle M. who helped me identify this bird - it is a yellow rumped warbler

An article I found.

There are a few blogs that I follow that are pretty heady stuff. Stuff that I don't always understand, but find interesting. His post from Tuesday is good. It's an article that someone else wrote.

It's a description of a church service in which every element of the service is deliberately done in a way that reflects that church's thoughts and vision.

Part of me really resonates with this kind of thought and expression. I had played around with an idea to do a youth service at one point (like 6 years ago) with some (only some - I hadn't thought it all through like this guy has) of the same characteristics as is described. I got hung up on the practical side of things and couldn't resolve some issues of space and how to get people to understand what we were doing. We never ended up trying it, but that idea has been there like a burr in my brain.

For many people, the change in format is too much. It would be hard even for me to wrap my head around this thing. But what I appreciate the most is how deliberate they are in presenting what they believe and what they want people to learn about following God in the very structure of their service.

Anyways, all that to say, you might want to give this one a read.

If you preach and use the internet... read this

Found an article off Preaching Today from PastorHacks today. Good food for thought.

For the record I do look at sermons for ideas but only after I have made my own notes about the passage/topic I'm preaching on. I have at times also looked at the titles of someone else's sermons to see how they broke the book/chapter/passage up to preach week to week.

Anyways, good article,.