question of the week - your mom
there's a certain someone in our youth ministry that loves to say "your mom". what i find hilarious is that he even says this to his own brothers and sisters, so he's really talking about
his mom!
in any case, this week's question is somewhat inspired by the "your mom" phrase:
// what are you getting your mom for Christmas? //
____________
as for me . . . i have no idea. it's really getting harder and harder to think of stuff she'd like or need. anyways you'd have to really know my mom to completely understand, and to explain my mom takes
way more words that i'd like to write at this time.
so give me you're best ideas. (especially if you're my sisters, what are
you getting
your mom?)
____________
p.s. btw the "your mom" guy now loves to quote Nacho Libre. "iz de behssst!"
get to know your pastor - winter thoughts
if you live here you already know, we're experiencing an 'arctic' cold front this week in eastern washington. so our highs are in the lower 30's and wednesday will be a high of 23*! and then lows in the teens.
that may not mean much to those of you in minnesota that have had that kind of weather since mid july (sarcasm intended) but it's really cold to those of us who as of 4.30pm on monday still do not have our furnace fixed. (don't worry, 'the guy' is coming later this evening, and we've been doing fine with the space heaters mentioned
on my blog.
// since i started this post (4.30pm) and now (8.20pm) 'the guy' came and said the "ignitor" was defunct and needed to be replaced. he didn't have one on him, so he'd come back tomorrow. //anyways, i feel sorry for all of you mild climate parts of our world, where the difference between winter and summer temperatures is a mere 20-30* F. here in our neck of the woods the difference is degrees is about 70-90* F. and so winter brings with it a whole different mindset.
a twofer today
so we're gonna do tuesday's question and wednesday's wisdom together.
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question of the week:this week's question, obviously would be remiss if it didn't involve thanksgiving, so . . .
(easy): what's your favorite 2 thanksgiving dinner foods?? in other words if you could only eat two things this thanksgiving what would you want to eat?
(harder): will you (or did you, depending on when you read this) just give a pat answer to the "what are you thankful for?" question during this year's family get together, because you don't feel comfortable being transparent with you're own friends and family? if so, why? and would you feel comfortable being transparent here in the comments section? AND if you are honest, by all means tell us what you're thankful for?
as for me . . . (easy) mashed potatos and apple pie. if i could only have two dishes, that's what i'd pick. (hard) well, it'd be pretty hard for me to just give a "pat answer" now, don't you think? especially since i'll be eating thanksgiving dinner with some people that read this blog, so they're gonna know that i'm expecting more from their answers. i'll think about it more tonight and tomorrow morning and let you know what i come up with.
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wednesday wisdom:
what are you thankful for? giving thanks, that's what
this is all about right? i was struck by how many times i heard from people today, "have a great
turkey day!" and not just from non-church goers, also church attenders. there was no mention of giving thanks. so first it was Christmas, and now Thanksgiving has been 'secularized'. or maybe it's only now that i've noticed it.
i think it's because we're considering homeschooling our kids, and as such i'm realizing much more my role as teacher to my kids. i know, i know i should have had this outlook a lot sooner, like 4 kids ago sooner; but i'm here now. so i'm trying to make a conscious effort to teach them the true reasons of holidays. such as focusing on 'giving' rather than 'getting' for Christmas. (yes i know the real reason for Christmas is the birth of Christ, but with merchant's advertising in full swing, we'll tackle one elephant at a time.)
this past sunday our church hosted the "community thanksgiving service", which as the name suggests all the churches of the community get together for a thanksgiving service. the speaker, a fellow youth pastor,
brought the message. he explained that being thankful
as the one greatful leper meant getting to the place where we "
can't not tell other people" what God has done in our lives and then do something about it. that's a pretty good definition, if you can follow it.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. // 1 Thessalonians 5:18
let me point out to you the "God's will" part for you in the passage above. that's may seem pretty hard to swallow. i mean it seems to be pretty plain, in black and white, and hard to escape what God's will for your life is. in case you were wondering, as a Christian, now you know. and what is
that will?? to "be thankful." and if that wasn't hard enough, it goes further and says, "in all circumstanecs"!
now first of all let me make it clear, that it does not say
for all things but
in all things. there's a difference. and secondly, being thankful by vary nature implies that you're thankful
for something and
to someone.
so i ask again what's your
something? and who's your
Someone?
to make a long story
short. i'll 'for reals' write tomorrow. oh and if you haven't heard already there's no school at the middle school tomorrow, because of a broken pipe or something. cya.
get to know your pastor - awkward return
so obviously this blog has been sorta hit and miss for me lately. and so now i find myself in that "awkward - embarassing return" that i spoke about on sunday. in case you weren't at church on sunday you can catch the message
at our church website or subscribe to the podcast on
iTunes.
anyways, i feel after such a long absence with not much substance in writing that people are expecting something spectacular. as if i've been preparing some
'opus' or pulitzer prize article. well unfortunately, there's nothing. the plain fact is that i've just been lazy. i haven't been commited to writing and i also allow myself to be distracted by meaningless stuff.
well let me know what you want to hear about? i had a schedule that i was "sorta" keeping:
mon - get to know your pastor
tue - question of the week
wed - wednesday wisdom
thur - misc.
fri - internet gem of the week
sat - video of the week
did you like this format? is there something else you'd like to see/read?
another thought i had was for anyone to submit questions for me and then i'd respond via video to that question. sorta a video "dear abby" on the blog - call it "ask abe" or something else (suggest name ideas if you have them). so if you like that idea tell me, submit your questions. whether it's about god, life, school, relationships, family matters, money, etc. (you get the picture)
well, g'night! i'll see ya tomorrow! :-)
NAAAACHOOOOOOO ! ! & nachos
first of all go ahead let the feedback begin, am i a slacker or what?? a whole week without a post!
sorry, as if that changes anything, but i apologize.
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ok, so as for today. most of you know that it's Movie NIGHT!
today we'll be watching:
we've also been provided with nacho's for tonight.
so come out and enjoy the fun. we'll begin around 8pm and hang out till about 10pm. see ya tonight!
internet gem of the week - freecycle
so i was intrigued by the idea of a web group dedicated to people giving and getting stuff for free. i read about this on
sarah's blog, although she didn't mention the specific site/forum she uses; i did find this one:
The Freecycle Network(tm) - Changing the world, one gift at a time.
on this site you can choose the area that you live in (or if none exists you can be the lucky one to set it up and bring this to your community) - then sign up for the 'group' with a yahoo id (create one if needed) - and then you'll get perodic emails whenever someone posts to the group that they have something to give or something they need.
the idea is that people will help each other out. you may want to clean out your garage, don't want to wait for a yard sale, so post it as a free item in your community, someone may want it and be able to come pick it up. see the link above to sarah's blog on a good practical use of these kind of sites. and then vice versa, if ever you need something that you think someone is willing to give away, post it and who knows you may get lucky!
i just read about this kind of site today, so i'll be joining up. i'll let you know what i 'score'!
enjoy.
question(s) of the week - rather have . . .
this week's question(s) come from an old survey i gave to the youth ministry when i first came. i found it when clearing my macbook hard drive of old files. we've got new people now so we'll get new responses. and if you do remember the survey . . . are you answers the same?
everyone answer in the comments and get to know your fellow reallife blog readers:
would you rather have?
| coke | pepsi |
| mcdonalds | burger king |
| beauty | intelligence |
| married life | single life |
| one big present | lots of little ones |
| large youth ministry | small committed core |
| a saturday at home to relax | a saturday to “go out on the town" |
_________________
i'll answer later so as not to skew results
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