Run the race

Today was a bit of a gloomy day at first. I snuck in an early walk around the building at work before it rained. We've had alot of rainy days this summer. Each time, I can't help but think about the folks who have said they really hate gloomy days. Or the ones who get soaked delivering packages in them. I feel bad that they are probably not feeling too hot. If it wasn't for those thoughts, I'd rather enjoy gloomy days. It reminds me of a song by Amy Grant, "Lonely Days". Look, I grew up on that album alright.

There's some good stuff in that song. Lonely days (more than weather) should chase me to God, not be chased away by me. Sometimes I'm grateful that I do not have the capacity or stamina to put off tough thoughts on my own for too long. I need the opportunity to deal with them and learn from them the way God wants me to.

Other great songs on that album include "El Shaddai" and "Fat Baby". Not to be confused with "My Big Ol' Fat Baby" by Stewie Griffin.

Another Monday, another couple of softball games. Congratulations to both Kari R. and Joey's teams for kickin' it. Perhaps the wins have to come in pairs. I'm sorry I didn't make it for Bethany East's victory.

Dave wins MVP for giving us four, count 'em, four RBI's. First a homer with one on base. Then a triple with two on base. Michael and Kari had the play of the game with a double play on second and first. Nice.

Ashley made a beautiful base hit, but didn't want to follow through to second when the first baseman missed the catch by a mile (juuuust kidding Ash). Doug tried to tell her, but no. Doug, I think she's laughing at you. Are you gonna take that?



Joey's team warming up.


Doug called up the owner to see if we can trade Ashley for Tyler. He's thinking about it.



Later, I got to see the other Mr. Dave and Timly glorifying it up at the Rescue Mission. Dave, your joy and excitement definitely fired up the guys. Very encouraging. Good job with the song we didn't know. Nuthin' like singing into the microphone a really fast hymn that you've never heard before.

Timlee reflected on Phil 3:13-14 - "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Tim, thank you for sharing your heart and God's word. Most of all, thank you for not wearing short shorts for our Marathon. It was, and forever will be, a good decision. Seriously though. I've stumbled quite a bit in the race recently, but I'm encouraged at Paul's clear vision for how we are to press on.


Good night!

Comments

A couple of people have noticed that the ability to comment on this blog is spotty. Upon the very first post, I decided that commenting wouldn't be allowed. It's just something that I can do without missing when comments dry up. But, it turns out that even more annoying than my potential to covet comments (and I will) are my friends who keep telling me to turn commenting on. So it's back. Have at it.

Jerelyn, the room is getting there. It's 70% cleaned. The remaining 30% just looks alot worse than the first 70%

It's Sunday!

Sunday is generally my busiest day. So if I have to be busy doing it, you get to be busy reading it.

So, we (the choir) sang a song this morning. It was convicting to sing words like "Everything I do is all for you [God]", when I know that most often, that is not the case. I was greatfull for an excuse not to sing the second service, where many people KNOW that this is often not true of me.

Pastor Ritch is between sermon series right now. During that time, he likes to spend some weeks in the Psalms. Today was Psalm 84. As I typed a few thoughts, I realized, you should just go to the Bethany link on the right and download the sermon from the "Resources" section. My thoughts aren't going to do it justice, and people will probably end up pointing out how much I missed :-)

Let us pause a little for some Maia time. Isn't she precious??




Maia and I took a field trip to Camp Good News, where a few folks from Sunday School class began work on the camp's set for this year's bible superheros theme. The stage area where the kids meet will be designed to look (somewhat) like the "Hall Of Justice". I said somewhat.







What???
Ben and Ashley's little niece, Libby, got her hands dirty and joined us. We really appreciated her help.

Tim, you could learn a few things from Princes Ariel. We had no need to paint the underside of this wall, but she took the initiative and did it anyway. Thank you Libby!

Later was the South Side Mission worship service where 20 or so residents and local visitors remind me once again how ungrateful I am for the life God has given me, and how many of His blessings I take for granted. Joel Taylor was the speaker, and he did a FABULOUS job speaking on 1 Peter 3:13-17.



When I got home, here was the scene outside.


That's seven cars, including my own. Four roomies, Two girlfriends, one fiance and a dog. And you know why I'm cool with that? No, not because of the homemade chicken pot pie that I got out of it. No, not because Jerelyn often cleans my house. No, not Ashley's warm smile. No, not Jerelyn and Julie's boisterous laughs. Oh wait, it is those things, and much more. I love you guys!!

Chris and Jerelyn

Andrew and Ashley

Jed and Julie

I found out what I'm doing wrong in putting away socks. Apparently, just as in marriage, each sock has one special mate with which it must be paired. It's not like in countries where your parents just pick one out for you. As Jerelyn demonstrates, it takes careful comparison and consideration.

She also pointed out that I mentioned, in this blog, that I would clean my room this weekend. Did I really?

....yup, there it is. Ok.

It's Trey Time

So, after Josh and Amber's wedding I was given the opportunity for some Trey time. Steve and Elise's 5ish month old boy, Treyven, is pretty much the cutest baby I know right now. The kid doesn't stop smiling and is usually laughing. Susanna Song (you may remember her from WEEK News 25 ) was in town for the wedding, and also got some Trey time. So did Mike.

Happy Birthday Jenna P!! Sorry Mini golf didn't work out. Flushed Away is just as good.

My Dearest Has Returned

MAIA'S BACK!!

Yes, there is now a 5th person living in the house, and she's a girl. Pretty scandalous. I've just been informed that we have a 6th person tonight as well. A wayward wedding goer of sorts. All are welcome, but all I know is, dibs on first shower man.

Maia Laugherty visited us for a couple of weeks last year, and loved it. She's been begging Fred to let her stay over again, and they finally relented. We're gonna have a great time. Staying up late barking at Jed. Sloshing water from the bowl everywhere. Chasing after rabbits and certain types of neighbors.

I just got back from Josh and Amber Durham's wedding. Horray! Praise the Lord for glorifying His name through this wonderful couple. It was very beautiful and what a gorgeous day for it. The reception was outdoors in the best weather we've had this year!




Andrew is so used to signing the "Worship Registry" on Sunday mornings. Habbit!


Jed, what did you DO to deserve such a glare from Becky!


MUCH better :-)



This morning was Men's breakfast at church. As usual, a wonderful breakfast was served by some awesome cooks, and among other things, Jerry Sanderson talked to us about our need for spiritual discipleship. After breakfast, we headed over to Harrison Homes to do a little painting on a South Side mission apartment used for various ministry activities. It was originally painted green, and gave you the distinct impression that you were inside a submarine.

No Spoilers

Yesterday, my Dad, brother and I saw the new movie in the Narnia series, Prince Caspian. We all thoroughly enjoyed it!

I had read the book a while back, and did a quick review yesterday. A few major things were added, and some details taken out, but the stuff that was added was pretty cool, and the stuff left out was minor. Not only was a message of trusting and waiting on God to order your life clear, the added stuff only reinforced the message.

The movie also carried on the tradition of basically being The Lord Of The Rings "Light". There were a ton of similarities, but anything similar was on a much smaller scale.

In order to be consistent with my usual critical attitude, I must point out that they still haven't worked out the simple fact that Aslan does not blink!! :-)

After the movie, we headed over to CiCi's and I finally experienced macaroni and cheese pizza. Excellent...

Losing Grip!

Oh NO! There has been no blog update here in over a day. Perhaps that's a good thing. Not much has happened around here. This would would have been the perfect time to talk about the Lord's many blessings wouldn't it? Sigh, I was too tired and lazy to do that the last few days. Hopefully soon.

Tuesday's softball game was rained out. No Stevie Wonder home runs or cute baby Treyven time. Discipleship was good Tuesday. My perspective on the poor and sick and what caring and love really means will forever require submission and challenge to grow closer to God's will. It's a good thing I remembered that I was leading it this week...(emmmbarassing).

Josh Fay was gracious enough to spend some quality dinner time with me Wednesday before a great choir practice with Mr. Able.

The Bethany pastors returned from their three day retreat last night. The good news - they're still talking to each other, and Fred and Jerry got some sun! :-) The bad news - they look totally wiped and will be crazy busy the rest of the week. Poor guys. What a blessing they are to all of us. I can't express my appreciation for these men and their perseverance and love by God's grace.

Pastor Fred turned 50 this week BTW. He doesn't look it, so don't let him forget it. :-)

There's alot to do before the weekend hits. I need to redeem the cleanliness of our house after those pictures in this blog's very first post. Then, spend some quality family time watching the new Narnia movie. Yes, I know. This secular production will probably rip out the wonderful references to God's power and sovereignty which exist in the book. It should still be enjoyable.

I've had a horrible, embarassing and hurtful attitude recently. No more sappy rant about that. It's too complicated anyway. Just needed to say it.

Softball Has Begun

Congratulations to Bethany West (BW). No, not for winning. I mean let's face it, you got creamed 10-1. But you still played well. There were plenty of good plays, but their placement was excellent, and we made a few mistakes. That's the analysis of a layman, take it or leave it.

The play of the game goes to Erika for her spectacular catch in the infield.

Most embarassing play of the game goes to Josh for running back to first base, arms flailing like a sissy, when he realized he didn't touch the base or something. Honestly, I have no idea why he did it, but it was worth it.




I suppose another noteworthy mention would be Marc Lofgren's appearance at ultimate frizbee yesterday afternoon. Hopefully he sticks around for the antics of us amateurs another week. Check out his blog on the right. Excellent read.

Virginia Part 2

We're back!

Not a whole lot to say right now. Lets go with pictures now, words later.

This is Saturday night, after Virginia Part 1 was posted. I know you can't tell, but everyone in the picture actually wanted to be doing this (playing Wii) more than sleeping.



Thomas Road Baptist Church. Pastor Fred would kill to have that many instruments on stage every week.


Caption: "Wiiiiiii"




And we're back. The End. I'm going to bed. Good night.

Virginia Part 1

We're Wiiing it up right now at Kristi's place in Lynchurg, Virginia. The Rabenhorst Nintendo Wii is going to be loaned to Kristi for the summer, so it's getting thoroughly used tonight. Going to be a long night.

The 13 hour trip went well. We took a couple short detours, but arrived at graduation just in time, 7:35am.

Things at the homestead seem to be falling apart. You know that you're neglecting things a little too much when Jed calls to offer to mow the lawn. Thanks man.

I'm not feeling too creative right now. So, we'll post pictures and see what comes to mind.

Dinner was in Champaign at Za's, where we met up with Josh's brother, Aaron.


One of many phone calls between Kari and Doug over a map.


Amusing gas station bathroom sign.


Wake up! Almost there.


Turns out Josh was one of Chuck's undercover bodyguards.


4800 graduates.


Where's Kristi?








There she is.


Proud parents


There's chuck.


The only competition between Chuck and Doug was a staring contest. Doug was in the stands and Chuck was at the podium. Chuck never started, so Doug won by default.

Josh wasn't very excited to see Kristi walk. We did take a nap after lunch, so Josh, and everyone else, is wide awake now, I assure you.


Students actually walked later in the morning at different locations for their major. Here is Kristi's proud strut.




Lunch at the Depot (where Kristi works).