Business Opportunity

So I'm out of commission today ... in bed with some type of fever, congestion, no energy thing. But that gives me a moment to fill you in on a great job option that you may not have heard of yet. To quote Jerry Seinfled, "you may have already won some very valuable prizes."

Here's the information you need to succeed. I was walking Noah around the block, and this elderly lady stops me to chat. She's very talkative, and we've spoken once or twice before. She and her husband drive matching cars, but they actually have 3 total that match. Maybe the third is a backup in case #1 and #2 break down. They're both a Lincoln Town car, or a Buick, or a Caprice Classic ... or whatever car that is that people two generations ahead of us drive. It's one of those big cars. But honestly, they have 3 matching ones. And one of them has the license plate "Winning" in case you ever seem them around town. I'm not sure if that's Bingo they're winning or Harrah's.

So the job opportunity ... she asked me if I needed some extra cash. She even told me that I looked like somebody who could succeed in this position. At this point, my adrenaline is really pumping as I may soon become someone who also drives a gigantic car. However, after considering my limited free time, I mention that I "may know of someone" in order to deflect the attention. This was not a good move.

After she mentioned that she only needed 30 minutes (which means 300 minutes) of my time to listen to her program, it was all downhill. I tried multiple times asking questions like, "Is it sales, or what kind of job is it?" The reply was always, "Well, I just need a pencil, paper, and 30 minutes of your time in order to show it to you." Now, don't get me wrong, this could be an excellent opportunity to have people hang up on you when you call them. So if you find me trying to hook you up with this lady, you'll know that this is a legitimate opportunity for an extra part-time job.

What is the moral to this story? The next time an old lady tries to hustle you into her pyramid scheme ... ask her if she bought those matching cars through this pyramid or from a regular job. If the money came from a regular job, then stick with your regular job. If the money came from the pyramid, then problem solved. You don't want matching cars, so why take the job.

Why not? I'll tell you why not!!!!!!

Well ... apparently it's not time ... YET! I was reading Russ Resnik's book Creation to Completion, and he was discussing courage vs. discouragement. Both are contagious, so which one will we spread? It was a very timely word that I read two days before our Sunday event. Courage is facing the obstacles despite our fears and insecurities. So if we're battling fear of man now, or the insecurities of what people will say ... don't spread that discouragement! Spread courage! There's always another battle to demonstrate your courage. Flory and Cheryl are very excited about this Thursday and Friday, so let's stand up and fight again.

Why not here?

Blogging wasn't a winter fad? Man, did I miss the boat. It seems people have been keeping their blogs updated, and I'm the only joker who didn't get the email. I did however read that the T-Blakes have solved a family feud, dating back to the early 80's, regarding the poop in the bathtub. See the comments section on Leah's blog.

So here's the story. It's 1am on the night before our big event at the Merriam Marketplace. As usual during any big event for KL, we have house guests. It hasn't been much of a distraction ... just classic that the timing was an exact match again.

I'm feeling pretty good about the plans so far. Tom's talk on "Did Jesus practice Judaism or Christianity" looks great. I have my outline put together, but it needs some polishing tomorrow. Jack managed to pick up the folding chairs about 10 minutes before they closed. That's right ... folding chairs. We realized there's no way everybody remembers to bring a lawn chair ... and that's if they even own them.

We've had 3 folks from our neighborhood say they are coming, plus 3 others who Lauren had spiritual conversations with this week. That may be 3 more spiritual conversations than we've had with anybody in the neighborhood, except Chad and Rachel.

The band practiced today. I'm actually feeling really good about the band. Sam has a good flow. In the words of David Ruis, he feels the rhythms of the earth.

Dr. Yang finally emailed me back. He's out of town now, but he had a good reason for being out of touch for awhile. Minister Hole won't be able to make it due to a commitment, and he let me know that he is officially retiring at the end of '08.

Overall, this is my feeling. Why not now? Why not Merriam? Why not?

The fear of God

My wife emailed me a picture, with a subject of "the real you." So maybe this is how she pictures me in her mind when I'm not around.

What many of you may not know, is that we have our very own absentminded professor ... in house. In the great think tank of Kingdom Living, there are many days when the basement is not used for formal meetings, but for mystical times of divine revelation. "The real me" even has a distinct set of clothes he likes to wear for these encounters, and we have now captured one of these moments on still picture for the first time ever. No video is available. It may be a little fuzzy due to the nature of the event, but in a landmark decision we are publishing one of these as inside information, reserved exclusively for readers of this community blog.

On this particular occasion, a comprehensive revelation was given after a four year journey into the question ... "What is church?" There have obviously been moments of significant revelation along the way, but this day was truly unique. It was a day when the factual knowledge turned into revelation at the spirit level as to who we are and what we are doing. The years of waiting have paid off, and the baby has now been born. Hopefully we're good parents.

If you'd like to know more, you can join us at the regular meeting times. Oh yes, the long awaited picture ...










































(click image to get a zoom-in of the moose slippers)

I'm back!

Well, since one of the ten people who read this blog asked why it's been so long since I've posted ... I have to answer the cry for more.

Don't look now, but I think somebody new came to house church last week. And the week before that. And the week before that. We are officially in a radical growth season ... if they come back. :)

Speaking of expansion, the latest title I'm using for "the books" is Kingdom Expansion. It's a more all-encompassing term than Kingdom Law. I have all 900+ pages of the notes that Maasen has faithfully typed up, and they are all now organized into quasi-chapters. There are still more notes to come, but there are definitely enough to get started now. I am considering allocating some time this semester to writing the first, in a series of about 10, of these short books ... maybe 50-100 pages each.

And while we're talking about expansion, the number of pastors in our city that have committed to praying for the city of Merriam just doubled ... Brother Gillis told me he would join me once a week. Notice I called him Brother Gillis, as I'm now pretty sure that's what he goes by instead of Pastor Gillis as we've called him for over a year now.

In other news ... it's cold out.

Harrison and I played two fierce games of Risk this weekend. He even wanted to order a new game, similar to the old Crossbows and Catapults from my childhood. Good times. Elsewhere on the kid front, Noah can go from laying down to sitting up now. He can also go from laying down to standing up if he's in his crib with the bars to hang onto.

Finally, I've been trying to semi-monitor the Presidential campaigns so that I can understand a bit more. Primarily, I've realized that Chuck Norris is about to round-house somebody.

I learned that ...

So the P-Blakes have been bunkered down for about 5 days now, with various flus being passed around the house. First Noah, with projectle vomiting. Then Lauren got it before Noah recovered, leaving yours truly as Mr. Mom caring for two sicklings. Now I'm just now recovering from a 12 hour vomit flut that turned into some kind of "no energy" scenario after that. I just laid in bed and slept a bunch. Well that was below average.

So what did I learn so that it wasn't a wasted experience? I'm glad you asked. I learned that you can fall behind and catch up during an illness. In 4 days of being out of commission, we're swamped to get ready for Christmas, while at the same time I was able to catch up on some soccer news.

I learned that I am NOT gifted at being a full-time mom. I remember laying down in bed once at around 4pm, and I realized it had been four hours straight of walking around the house taking care of my loved ones. I was exhausted. Then when I realized that was only a half-day's worth of work, my brain joined the exhaustion party just thinking about it. It's great to have a new level of respect and love for my wife who takes care of us every day. She is a wonderful mom, to be admired by all, using her gifts to raise him up to be a mighty warrior. Noah's even falling asleep relatively soon after we lay him down now.

I learned that if you sleep all day, you may end up being awake from 3am-8am. And THEN fall back asleep.

I learned that Brooks knows a lot about enzymes.

I learned that Tom can step up the plate even if I bail out on him and a church meeting at the last minute.

I learned that Eric will re-arrange his schedule at the last minute in order to fulfill a commitment that I made (which had nothing to do with Eric).

I re-learned how much better health is than sickness. But maybe the Lord felt I needed a reminder of how helpless and prideful I am. Isn't it amazing that He loves someone like me despite my flare-ups of arrogance. I need some revelation on how to love arrogant people.

I learned that Mark is wise to stay downstairs when there are this many germs on the main level.

I learned that Talkative Jim, with his brilliant home-owner ingenuity, used his leaf blower to clear snow off his driveway. Now my leaf blower is the cheap kind, but my leaf mower isn't! It's the strongest blower on the block, so I'm excited to try that next time. Just have to do it before anybody drives on it.

I learned that Tom shoveled my driveway on his own initiative. What a guy.

I learned that Harrison can shovel our entire driveway in under 20 minutes all by himself. He proved to be a good solo worker for a kid who does his best when others work alongside him.

I learned that the human body isn't designed to be in bed that many hours - it stiffens up in odd places.

I learned that Arthur Burk has more good teaching, and don't be surprised when you realize he's directing you towards ancient Jewish thought ... even if he doesn't realize it.

I learned that smelling the vomit in the toilet makes me want to vomit even more, so giving myself a courtesy flush after the largest upheavel of the session often helps relieve the gag reflux.

And finally, I learned that Lauren is much better at serving me while I'm sick than I am at serving her while she's sick. Add that to the list of things I need to die to self about.

So in sickness and in health, just remember ... a good spouse like Lauren, and friends like I have, makes life more enjoyable during both of those seasons.

Hmmmm

Why do carrots either get really dry ... or really wet and slimy?

Why don't more people in my neighborhood utilize the ultra-efficient leaf removal system of blowing/mulching/sucking that limits my leaf bags to one per week plus one trash can?

Why is Noah so cute?

Why doesn't Noah take longer naps?

Why I say ... why?

Why don't more people like to read?

Why doesn't Eric grow a ZZ Top beard?

Why does Mark ever cut his hair when his afro looks so good?

These are the things I'm thinking about.