Posts
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Sweet Home Sulphur Springs
Thursday night ESPN2 will be spotlighting my hometown's high school football team as they take on recently number two ranked, Texas, Class 4A, Wichita Falls Rider (see here).
Not sure if I'll get the chance to watch but all 14,551 Sulphur Springsinians will be.
Go Wildcats!
***Update***
Sulphur Springs pulled it off! After being down in the first half they battled back to upset WF Rider 22-16.
Monday, September 8, 2008
The Intruder
"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.”
-Jesus
This weekend we had an intruder in our home. Before you become too frightened for us I’ll spoil the story by admitting it was only a tiny mouse. If you knew the terror that surges through Ellen at the smallest evidence of such a creature you might better understand this reality. Animal activists beware!
Recently we noticed that some creature had taken shelter within the walls of our home.
I laid out snares in hopes of capturing and disposing of our unwanted guest. After the sticky pad method fell through the cracks I resorted to more extreme measures. Last Christmas my brother gifted me with a very nice pellet gun outfitted with a scope. On Sunday morning I entered full-blown sniper role. I suspected the tiny rodent had evaded the sticky pads, garnished with dog food and a pinch of cheddar cheese, to hide itself under our china cabinet or possibly inside it. So I waited, positioned at the foot of the staircase, taking aim. At last the fur-ball peeked out. In a hurry I tried to center the cross hairs but was spotted before squeezing the trigger. It raced back underneath its shelter.
For another 10 minutes I waited, reciting the line from The Patriot silently within my head, “Aim small, miss small”. Indeed, my target was small. Only an expert marksman could take down such a beast from nearly fifteen feet. Again the fuzzy critter reared its head and inched out cautiously from underneath the cabinet. With fingers crossed I squeezed the trigger and watched my prey scurry in a small circle before darting back under its hideaway.
I could hear it rummaging around underneath. I felt certain I had missed and that it had lodged itself somewhere within our cabinet. So I dug through each drawer, armed with cooking tongs in one hand to open drawers and shuffle there contents and a three foot piece of quarter round trim in the other, ready to wallop any sign of life. After successfully clearing each possible compartment with no sign still of the enemy, I decided to pull the cabinet from the wall in order to take a better look. In full man-mode I didn’t even consider simply grabbing a flashlight to shine underneath or maybe I did and I was too concerned that in my absence it would evade my pursuit.
When I pulled the cabinet from the wall I noticed a tiny tail lingering at the edge of the cabinet’s new position. Concerned that it might only be in freeze-mode, hoping that if it didn’t budge it would go unnoticed, I poked around with the stick of quarter round hoping to thaw its freeze. The little tail didn’t shift a bit. My heart leaped at the realization that I had successfully defended our home and put to rest Ellen’s discomfort. As I pulled out the trespasser with the quarter round by its still stagnant tail, I took noticed that I had actually struck it with my earlier shot. The man in men stood proud.
I trotted back to the bedroom to boast to my wife that I successfully guared our house.
-Jesus
This weekend we had an intruder in our home. Before you become too frightened for us I’ll spoil the story by admitting it was only a tiny mouse. If you knew the terror that surges through Ellen at the smallest evidence of such a creature you might better understand this reality. Animal activists beware!
Recently we noticed that some creature had taken shelter within the walls of our home.
I laid out snares in hopes of capturing and disposing of our unwanted guest. After the sticky pad method fell through the cracks I resorted to more extreme measures. Last Christmas my brother gifted me with a very nice pellet gun outfitted with a scope. On Sunday morning I entered full-blown sniper role. I suspected the tiny rodent had evaded the sticky pads, garnished with dog food and a pinch of cheddar cheese, to hide itself under our china cabinet or possibly inside it. So I waited, positioned at the foot of the staircase, taking aim. At last the fur-ball peeked out. In a hurry I tried to center the cross hairs but was spotted before squeezing the trigger. It raced back underneath its shelter.
For another 10 minutes I waited, reciting the line from The Patriot silently within my head, “Aim small, miss small”. Indeed, my target was small. Only an expert marksman could take down such a beast from nearly fifteen feet. Again the fuzzy critter reared its head and inched out cautiously from underneath the cabinet. With fingers crossed I squeezed the trigger and watched my prey scurry in a small circle before darting back under its hideaway.
I could hear it rummaging around underneath. I felt certain I had missed and that it had lodged itself somewhere within our cabinet. So I dug through each drawer, armed with cooking tongs in one hand to open drawers and shuffle there contents and a three foot piece of quarter round trim in the other, ready to wallop any sign of life. After successfully clearing each possible compartment with no sign still of the enemy, I decided to pull the cabinet from the wall in order to take a better look. In full man-mode I didn’t even consider simply grabbing a flashlight to shine underneath or maybe I did and I was too concerned that in my absence it would evade my pursuit.
When I pulled the cabinet from the wall I noticed a tiny tail lingering at the edge of the cabinet’s new position. Concerned that it might only be in freeze-mode, hoping that if it didn’t budge it would go unnoticed, I poked around with the stick of quarter round hoping to thaw its freeze. The little tail didn’t shift a bit. My heart leaped at the realization that I had successfully defended our home and put to rest Ellen’s discomfort. As I pulled out the trespasser with the quarter round by its still stagnant tail, I took noticed that I had actually struck it with my earlier shot. The man in men stood proud.
I trotted back to the bedroom to boast to my wife that I successfully guared our house.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Out of Africa
I've just returned from a two week trip to Africa. It was a great experience, but I am so thankful to be back home. Here are a couple of snapshots from my trip.
Me and my bed.
Speaking at the Leadership Seminar.
Boy inside the Malawian church.
Me on the bus preparing for the 15 hour ride into Mozambique.
A view from the bus ride. Mt. Mulanje, the tallest mountain in Malawi. In the foreground, a field of tea crops.
A view from the Malawi-Mozambique border.
A Mozambican boy.
A crowd that gathered to listen.
Me.
Me and my bed.
Speaking at the Leadership Seminar.
Boy inside the Malawian church.
Me on the bus preparing for the 15 hour ride into Mozambique.
A view from the bus ride. Mt. Mulanje, the tallest mountain in Malawi. In the foreground, a field of tea crops.
A view from the Malawi-Mozambique border.
A Mozambican boy.
A crowd that gathered to listen.
Me.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
We've Got a Lot to Learn
We had the chance to unload some of our faith questions and spiritual journey status with some good friends of ours recently. It was definitely motivating for each of us. One of the things we realized is how much more we need to immerse ourselves in God’s word. An idea that was suggested was to explore the Word in search of some guidance for being a disciple. That’s what we are right, disciples?
Disciple essentially means “learner of Christ”. Sometimes we get into slumps and we stop learning. Together we decided that it would be good for us to reenter the role of being a student of Christ. So we are examining God’s word to find out what Jesus taught his disciples, what mistakes they made, what they got right, etc.
I’ll tell you what has gotten me so excited about learning more. We’ve realized this is a mutual need and desire and we are going to “hit the books” or “The Book” together, sharing what is revealed to us about being a disciple, a learner of Christ. It’s such a blessing to share transparently where you are in your faith and then to link up and pursue God more intensely.
Please pray for us because while this is a step of faithfulness our faith has been weak lately. Thankfully God is steadfast and he rejoices in our decision to press on.
Disciple essentially means “learner of Christ”. Sometimes we get into slumps and we stop learning. Together we decided that it would be good for us to reenter the role of being a student of Christ. So we are examining God’s word to find out what Jesus taught his disciples, what mistakes they made, what they got right, etc.
I’ll tell you what has gotten me so excited about learning more. We’ve realized this is a mutual need and desire and we are going to “hit the books” or “The Book” together, sharing what is revealed to us about being a disciple, a learner of Christ. It’s such a blessing to share transparently where you are in your faith and then to link up and pursue God more intensely.
Please pray for us because while this is a step of faithfulness our faith has been weak lately. Thankfully God is steadfast and he rejoices in our decision to press on.
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