AnotherJohn.Com

Today is our last weekly youth meeting for the school year. We'll do some stuff during the summer here and there. Our mission trip isn't going to happen. The organization we were a part of has dissolved. No worries. To tell you the truth, I can't wait until the next school year. This year was a struggle for a number of reasons. Our youth ministry hasn't been where I would have thought it would be, or be doing. That is necessarily bad. It just means things didn't go the way I planned them. We've had some issues to take care of, and I think we've been doing that. Now, I'm not looking forward to next year so I can be done with this one. No; the praying, planning and building has accumulated into a wealth of ideas and information. I truly believe we'll be able to start ministering with the these students on a different level than we have before. That said, we're not done. My request is that you would continue to pray for: the students in ...

I don't recall where I got this from. But it's been in front of me for a while now and I thought I would share it with you today. Sharing His Joy! Joy is contagious, be a joy carrier A kindness each day brings joy your way. Take time to enjoy yourself or you'll never enjoy anyone else. Turn a frown to a smile by thinking of God's love. (I'm not quite sure about this one, but here it is anyways) Happiness comes when you stay too busy to worry. No one can take your joy away from you. That's something given to you by God. Just ask Paul. Shout with joy to God, all the earth! (Psalms 66:1) Stay blessed...john

This is an addendum to my last post. It is a wonderful thought that I think I might print out and place somewhere I can always see it. Whether you like it or not, your life is the first Bible most people ever read. That is why Jesus taught that our lives must be dominated by His love, not by religious activity alone. Our sociology must reflect our theology. How you treat people will be the clearest indication to them of who you really think God is. Becky Pippert in Discipling the Young Person Awesome! Stay blessed...john

I got this from a blog I usually scan. The blogger has a great interest in Robert Ingersoll (late 1800s political figure). He was probably most known for his speeches, and, for our purposes, his views on religion. As I read this selection today I was troubled; I don't even know how to describe it. Am I saddened by the thought that someone would think this way about Christ? Of course, but this is nothing new; it wasn't in Ingersoll's day and it sure isn't in ours. Does the influence of this kind of thought seem surprising? No, the apostle Paul dealt with it and suffered because of it. Can I say anything about evil, animosity or lack of biblical understanding in thoughts like these? Yes, I could, but those who view Christ (God) this way don't see enlightenment as evil; I'm not saying I do, but when our thoughts and ideas turn away from God that, by definition, is evil. The words of people who hold these beliefs speak of truth and character. However, I hav...

Okay, click on the link to see an optical illusion (kind of). Look at the center of the page for about 5-10 seconds then turn away. (whoaah!) The music isn't anything special. Strobing

A little boy, waiting for his mother to come out of a store, is approached by a man asking directions: "Son, can you tell me where the post office is?" "Sure," says the kid, "just go straight down the street a couple of blocks and turn right." The man thanks the boy kindly and adds, "I am the new preacher in town, and if you come to the church on Sunday, I will show you how to get to heaven." The boy grins, in that way kids have a way of grinning when they know something you don't: "Aw, c'mon, you don't even know the way to the post office!"

Here are some of the famous faces that bear my resemblance. This is from MyHeritage.com. Give it a try and lets see some pictures. Stay blessed...john

I love the Spirit Song, and I used to live in Edinburg. Can you feel the vibes right now? Stay blessed...john

about the gas station owner who did not sell gas for 24 hours? The owner of Towne Market Mobil in this suburb north of Milwaukee shut down his pumps for 24 hours, hoping to start a movement aimed at persuading oil companies to lower their prices. "Somebody out there is making money at these prices, but not me," said Pollack, 57. "So I just thought: What can I do to help the consumer?" That is an exert from an Associated Press article today. You can read the entire article here . Interestingly enough I can't figure out what I would want to write down about this. Okay, I'll think out loud on this one--hey I can always use the delete key. Can we call the man heroic, or a consumer advocate? Probably not, at least not at this point. But at least he tried something. Why do we think all our ideas have to "work" for them to mean something. Oh yes, even in the church, but I won't go there right now. Your ideas/work should be meaningful to you....

Yes, even in the church we find many guilty parties. If you've ever used PowerPoint or been aggravated by someone's overuse of it, I guarantee you'll laugh at some point in this video Life After Death by PowerPoint

There's a new movie coming out in June called Evan Almighty . It looks to be a sort of sequel to Bruce Almighty . I haven't read any reviews or heard whether it's any good or not. We'll probably go see it. It comes out June 22nd. A website called arkalmighty.com has launched and is a tool for churches to follow the theme of the movie--acts of kindness to others. Here is an exert from the website: "Doing kind deeds for others isn’t a new phenomenon. Fourteen years ago, Pastor Steve Sjogren inspired thousands of people to engage in random acts of kindness in his ground-breaking book, Conspiracy of Kindness: A Refreshing New Approach to Sharing the Love of Jesus with Others . The book ignited a flurry of selfless, unexpected acts of kindness intended to help others understand God’s gift of love and grace to all people. ArkALMIGHTY takes Sjogren’s ideas one step further by actively seeking out people in need and connecting them with those who are willin...

What's better than a little friendly competition? Well, maybe, but for our sake here let's go with friendly competition. I will warn you this game can get frustrating after the first few hours (yes, I'm not kidding) :) Anyways, have fun TRYING to beat me. If you think you can try the monkey kick off .

Go Spurs Go!

I finished Max Lucado's book entitled The Applause of Heaven . Our Womens' Bible Study used this book and God's Psychiatry by Charles Allen to study the Beatitudes. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Allen's book is a small gem; I recommend it. Here are a couple of thoughts from Lucado's book I thought were worth repeating. "Paul never took a course in missions. He never sat in on a committee meeting. He never read a book on church growth. He was just inspired by the Holy Spirit and punch-drunk on the love that makes the impossible possible: salvation." "We would do well to learn a lesson from the rod, the rock and the saliva. They didn't complain. They didn't' questions God's wisdom. They didn't suggest an alternative plan. Perhaps the reason the Father has used so many inanimate objects for his mission is that they don't tell him how to do his job!" It's an easy read. Someone probably has a copy you can pick up. Sta...

I like the concept. True, not every half sentence that shows up on a church marquee is worth a lengthy discussion. The "We're not Dairy Queen, but we have Great Sundays" is a lot overused. But this could spar some conversation. This is one of those balance issues. There are a lot of questions that come to mind, for me, when I think about using this. If not every search , what kind of searches can Google satisfy? When are we satisfied with the answers we find? At what point does the search end? Do we trust (are satisfied) more easily (are convinced of) Google's (or fill in the blank) answers more than we are with God's? What is it we find when we search? And on and on... I believe the ultimate authority in my life has to be God. Through constant prayer, meditation, contemplation and seeking I feel God has led me where He wanted me to be, and provided answers for me when I needed them--and even when I didn't want them. That said, I couldn...

Most of you are aware of the remodeling project going on in our church sanctuary. I read a story from home that the city of Galveston is looking to build two resort hotels on the west end of the island. The area they have targeted is where I spend the last years living. It'll be interesting, at least for me, to see how that will develop . I'm not against it or anything. But for me it was another message to my heart. When the remodel began in the church I took our youth group for a short tour and talked about what they would be doing. It was a good starter to go into a talk about remodeling, or renewing, our lives. And it definitely coincides with the small series were on now (The Power of a Changed Life). The key verse for this series is Romans 12:1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. This is a good time for us all to reflect on how we ca...

Here's this week's video invite for our youth group. We're studying "The Power of a Changed Life." Wednesdays @ 5:30 pm. Stay blessed...john

Here is a picture I found of Tuffy Tor (see recent post below). As you can see, everyone has a good sense of humor about it (the police tape & wheelchair). My sister told me they did catch who was responsible. Justice!!! Stay blessed...john

One of our Sunday School classes has recently began a study on marriage. Now, I want you to know this will not be covered in that class! This is pretty funny, though. Don't worry I'll figure some way to get it to everyone. How far could we reach into this one. Is does make for a great intro into a discussion about communication in marriage. What do you do if this is all you have? Is this really the way it works? Is this how we treat our communication with God? Oh, the possibilities are endless. We'll pick up on that later. Stay blessed...john

One of the last sections in my Sociology class dealt with race, ethnicity, discrimination and prejudice. This website explores many of the areas of concern within these topics. I haven't gone through the entire site, but it does look to be informative. Let me know. Stay blessed...john RACE--Are We So Different?

I thought this was humorous. It pokes a little fun at how news organizations can want a story a little too much. Hope you enjoy. Stay blessed...john

Here's a tragedy. It involves a kidnapping. Someone has kidnapped Tuffy Tor and left him for dead. Tuffy Tor was (is, and will always be) Ball High School's mascot. We didn't have someone running around in a suit. We had an 8-foot tornado that was lifted above the shoulders of class members. I've tried to see if I could find an actual picture, but with no success. You see, you just don't appreciate what you have until you lose it. I'll keep looking though. Here's the story from The Galveston County News. Kidnappers leave Tuffy Tor beaten, broken By Rhiannon Meyers The Daily News Published May 4, 2007 GALVESTON — Tuffy Tor is no more. Galveston police found the beaten and broken Ball High mascot in a field on 7-Mile Road Wednesday night. Tuffy had been a fixture at Ball High. He stood watch at the front doors of the high school. He was there at every football game and even had his own graduation cap. Students claim Tuffy was kidnapped from his front-...

"The End" of someting is usually a big deal in our world. Have you ever known when something was going to end and the few weeks beforehand seemed to last forever? What is it about the end that creates all the emotions we tend to experience? As I'm writing this we're heading into the final days of another semester. Believe me, I've been looking forward to this! It just got me thinking about how we handle the ends in life. Do we really have ends, or does everything work together to continue a work in progress? We can't say "the end" happens when we die. As CHRISTians we believe death to be the ultimate beginning. Does life end then as we enter eternity, or was this life a preparation for what is to come? See what a few moments of time to sit and write can produce. Yes, a mass form of confusion. Actually, I just wanted to give you something to think about. Perhaps we can talk about it soon. In the mean time I'm going to enjoy the END of th...

No, I'm not singing the song. I actually am exciting about some things going on in our church. Last night our Missions Committee met; this was only their 2nd meeting. We had a guest join us to help us explore some possibilities for community service and members shared ideas about some things we can do. All the ideas are being worked on and you should be hearing about some of these soon...like real soon. There was a lot of enthusiasm at the meeting. The night before at Bible study there were several people seriously considering what they could do to promote more the values and benefits of Scripture to our communities. I'm telling you; I've told you before. The sparks that flare when we involve ourselves in CHRISTian education and mission can be very powerful. They are very contagious. I am very excited about what I think God is preparing for our congregation. Be careful! Stay blessed...john

You might be a part of a church. What an experience that can be! Of course, that can be true in many faithful, positive, self-serving and negative ways. This blog is a place where all of those come together. Hopefully, when reading this blog you will laugh, think, Amen! and want to shoot the messenger. My love for the church, though, is so great that I have no other option than to be as honest and straightforward as I can be when it comes to what the church does. Sometimes that is another celebration and other times it’s another “come home to Jesus” moment. Me? I’m just another follower of The Way. I came to know God’s love when I was 18 years old. Since that time in my life I have tried to figure out what it means to love God in return. Those beautiful people I live with? Well, what can I say? I’m another husband with a beautiful wife and another dad with three children. They all remind me constantly of what it means to live a life of love. And, I’m trying every...