Movie Mania

I've been so excited to hear of good movies with a good message have been hitting the movie theatres. I've heard that "One Night With The King" is a great movie that's been in the theatres the last couple of weeks. Today I heard about the movie "Unidentified" which is based on stories and hoax's of UFO's and it challenges people. I have a hunch that if there's a lot of money to be made by film makers who make a great movie without the junk that usually has to be added. I think that people who want these movies should really back these movies! Check out the website for Unidentified. www.unidentifiedthemovie.com

Find a Penny pick it up..........

Am I just in the right place at the right time or what? In the last week I have probably picked up at least 5 or 6 coins just left on the ground. I still get excited to find money on the ground! I pick it up every time I see one. Many people will never stoop down to pick one up. Maybe it's because the value of a penny, nickel, dime or even a quarter has gone down so much. Some people throw coins on the ground. I wasn't able to finish this Blog in one sitting so I went out to lunch and on my walk to the car I found a quarter. I couldn't believe it. I was just writing about finding coins and I found one. Then I also thought that maybe I just keep dropping coins and I find them. When I was a kid there was such a thing as penny candy. For 25 cents you could have a load of candy enough to make you sick. Today it can't even get you a pack of gum. I wonder how much money I've collected over the years? This reminds me of the story in the Bible where the woman can't find her valuable coin. She turns everything upside down in order to find it. When she finds it she celebrates BIG TIME! That's a great picture of the Lord. He desperately wants to find us in a right relationship with Him. He wants it so desperately that He puts His Spirit in people so that they do incredibly unselfish things for the good of others. I believe they do it, because the wants all people to come to Him! Last Sunday our Pastor told us of the awesome acts of forgiveness that the Amish community in Lancaster Pennsylvania extended to the family of the murderer of the little girls in the that small school. They even set up a college fund for the children of the murderer. They also visited the widow of the murderer WOW! When asked why they forgave they said the line from the Lord's prayer about forgiving others as we have been forgiven by the Lord. If you are wandering away from the Lord or have never come to meet Jesus as your Savior & Lord you should do so today. Just ask for forgiveness for all of your sin and ask Him to lead your life instead of you. When you do there'll be a big party in heaven with angels as they celebrate the finding of a lost soul!

Adios Audio Adrenaline

Adios Audio Adrenaline! Another one of my favorite bands of all time is about to call it quits. When I started in full time youth ministry they came out with their hit song “Big House”. I remember learning that song and playing it at First Baptist Church in Marshalltown Iowa. When I heard that fun song it made me think of some friends that have recently gone to heaven to be with Jesus. My college roommate Sam Ost died a couple of weeks ago and Scott Nisely from Marshalltown who served in Iraq died in the last few weeks too. I served with Scott in both the youth ministry & worship team ministry. He always had a smile, a funny comment & a great demeanor! Both Sam & Scott are probably living in a mansion right now and living with incredible joy that we can’t understand here on earth! Back to the concert! I was so excited to see Audio A. again. They started with Clap Your Hands. A couple of
memories that I have from the concert was when Mark Stuart was out in the crowd singing Big House. I think he’s probably done that a few thousand times. I also remember them singing their new song “Goodbye” which was written to say goodbye to their fans. Another era has passed for me since they are breaking up! I tried to savor that concert like I’m savoring each moment in life now! Life is too short not to do so! I really have appreciated this band, because they have been open about who they are as Christians! Their music has ministered & reached out to many people over the years! Audio Adrenaline you have ministered to me and my family over the years! Thank YOU! And Adios Audio A.

That maze was simply aMaZiNg! You won't believe what I didn't know!

Last night we went to the Hardy's Reindeer Ranch in Rantoul. First of all, I have to admit something! Until I went to the Reindeer Ranch about 2 or 3 years ago I didn't know that Reindeer really existed. No one ever told or taught me that they were real. I just thought of them as fictional characters like Rudolph etc. I couldn't believe that I had not known such a simple fact for 40 years! WoW! I wonder what else don't know that I should know! Now, back to last night. We went into the huge corn maze shaped in a pirate ship with a skull in it or something like that. For me and most of the people in it we couldn't tell at all where we were once you were further away from the entrance. The funny thing is that I got out, because it was almost time to go, then I realized that the youngest group (including my youngest daughter wasn't out yet) so I went back in to find them so the group could leave. Once we found them we started going back towards the way that I went out last time.
It took several wrong turns and a little help by the workers to finally get out for good! This all has made me think of life and how it is like a maze and how we need each other! This is another thing that I've come to know more fully through the years is our need as Christians for other Christians! Sometimes we need a group of people to enjoy going through life. In the maze I was a group of 4 others (Sarah, Jenn, Kristen & Jordan) for a while and we had so much fun scaring each, scaring others, singing "We are the Pirates who don't do anything....." and running through the maze with our lights held high just for the fun of it! We also NEED others to show us the way ! Today it seems like everyone likes to be on their own to make decisions whether they are right or wrong, good or bad. That's foolish to live life that way! We need each other in the family of God! We all need encouragement, friendship and direction!

Legacy of my good friendSam!

Last week I received a call that I had been expecting for some time. It was the phone call to let me know that my friend Sam had passed away after battling M.S. for many years. Sam was my first college roommate at Judson College. It would seem like it was just a random pick by someone at Judson to put us together, but I know better now! He has been a lifelong friend. My two other college roommates also flew down to Texas from Ohio & Iowa for his funeral last Wednesday. The four of us have been the kind of friends that could always pick up just where we left off even if we hadn't seen each other in a long time. The jokes, memories & teasing instantly resurfaced whenever we got together. Last Tuesday was a night that I'll never forget. It was Sam's memorial service. It lasted two hours and was full of worship, a slideshow & 10 people standing up and telling about Sam & their relationship with him. Each person made you laugh & cry before they were done. You also thought that the next person could never be as meaningful & fun as the last one, but it seemed like it just kept picking up steam as each person spoke. There were hundreds of people there to pay tribute to Sam. It made me (and probably a lot of others) think about what if any positive impact that I'm making on other people for the Lord's sake! I've learned many things from Sam. It was said that he never put anyone on a black list (where he'd hold a grudge or give up on someone). Most everyone also said that Sam was very competitive. Those two things came true in my first week of school at Judson. We were playing basketball and he threw the ball toward me real hard and I thought we were going to fight. We were nose to nose ready to go at it until our other roommate Bosco broke us up. I thought "oh great my roommate & I can't even get along and this isn't going to work out". Later that night there was big bonfire the freshmen week and Sam came over to me and apologized. We honestly never had a fight or argument that I can remember after that incidenet. We even played a lot basketball throughout the years and never got into it again like that first week of school. Different people said that Sam helped them follow the Lord. One young man said that Sam was his spiritual father. Sam also said things like God is good all of the time! WoW!! What a legacy!
I'm thankful to God for upclose view for a Legacy like Sam!