Bye Bye 2008

Sitting here on December 31st, the last day of the year. As I was driving to the Lighthouse this morning I was thinking. What was the most memorable moment of the year for me. Hmm...that is a tough one. I think I have it narrowed down to two for totally different reasons.
The first one is the 10 days I got to spend with my family in between Bakerstown Alliance and the Lighthouse. I guess it is those unplanned vacations that are just amazing. The time we spent together was great. We did not go anywhere exotic or anything like that. We just hung out and had fun. I had so much fun.
The second one would be running in the Erie Marathon. Wow. I know that sounds like a purely physical activity. But for me it was mental and spiritual just as much. I can not tell you how bad it hurt. I can not fully describe the mental games that it was playing on me. But if you have ever had a dream, worked like crazy trying to accomplish that dream, use everything inside of you, and cross that finish line, you know what I am talking about. To have my wife and kids there to see me finish, wow!
Just two of the things that popped in my mind this morning. I like to wish you all a happy new year. And by all means Chase the Lion, Chase Your Dreams!

Loyalty

A blog with a whole lot more questions than answers. I am wondering where is the line of loyalty. We all have those things in our lives that we are loyal to. For example, deodorant. I have been using the same brand for about 15 years or so. We all have our restaurants that we are mostly loyal too. Then there are some things in life that there must be absolute loyalty. For example, a marriage. I think loyalty in a marriage is absolutely essential. But how long do you remain loyal to someone or something. If you get better food for a lower price, sorry loyalty is out the door. If it is buying something from a store with great customer service if it is $1 or $2 more no problem. But what about $20? Where is that line? I guess loyalty is something that really amazes me. The question comes down to this: When do you stop being loyal?

6 Christmas's

I did count. I have it figured out. My kids (and their Dad and Mom) will have not 1, not 2, not 3 but 6 Christmas's. Meaning that 6 times they will get to open presents. Wow! I am not sure how that all happened. Just work out that way with all the various family members. I will admit, I am lucky to have all those people in my life. I want my kids to enjoy this. However, I also hope that my kids realize how special this is.
One of the things that I have been fortunate is to have my parents live right up the road. Most every Sunday we have basically a family reunion. I never thought my brother and I would be living this close to our parents. It is great. We are taking full advantage of it and enjoying it.
So think about what you do have. Don't dwell on what you don't have. I believe Philippians 4:8 says something to that effect.

Who is Santa?

Whoa. Weird title, huh? Let me explain. I woke up this morning, got Isaiah his breakfast, and then looked outside. There on our deck was a big garbage bag that said "Borchert" and it had our address on it. I went outside got the bag, and looked inside the bag. It was filled with presents. Some for Isaiah, some for Samuel, some for "Mommy", and some for "Daddy." Now on the tags they all said from "Santa." I then ran up stairs and tell me wife (yes I am 32 years old) that Santa had come to our house last night. Needless to say she did not believe me. When we opened up all the presents it was amazing. "Santa" knew us. "Santa" got us gifts that we like. So all Christmas morning I have been wondering who is Santa? It is almost driving me crazy. However, just in case Santa reads my blog. Thank you Santa. I really do appreciate the surprise. I know I have said it before but this just further convinces me, that I am the most blessed person in the whole world. I don't know why. I don't know how. I know I have done nothing to deserve anything.
So whoever your are Santa, thanks.

Christmas Eve

Last night was really fun. It was very strange though. I did not have to worry about everything. For the last seven years or so it has always been "It is Christmas Eve. Everything has to be perfect on Christmas Eve." This year? None of that. I got to do some nice things like deliver presents and sit back and enjoy the true meaning of Christmas. So much more relaxing this year. Now I am not sure if this is something that I miss. I will admit, it feels good to put every ounce of energy into something. You get a certain sense of accomplishment. But it is also fun to sit back, enjoy everything, sit with your wife, have your kids with you lighting the candles and just enjoying everything.
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Open Source Sharing

I am a big fan of open source sharing. I think just about everything should be shared. Please if I ever write anything or say something that inspired you, use it! Please though, tell me about, it will make my day.
I guess this all started when I was trying to do a little research for our one program. I found this very well thought out procedure manual table of contents. Looked really good, so I asked if I could get a copy. They told me $75.00! Wow. I understand covering printing cost. But $75? Come on.
So allow me to encourage all of you to share anything and everything. After all in Ecc. 1:9 "There is nothing new under the sun."

Ringing the Bell

Yesterday I had the opportunity to ring the bell for the Salvation Army. It is something I grew up doing. Luckily for me it was quite pleasant outside. Well I was ringing I had a couple of thoughts I would like to share:

• The Salvation Army has a great reputation. I want that for the Lighthouse. We are getting there. Considering it has only been 23 years we are not doing bad at all.
• Please if you see someone ringing the bell, at least say "Hi." It was quite interesting at the people who would not even look at me.
• I love being out there with a bell saying "please, help." It is quite humbling on one hand. However it is quite energizing on the other hand. You have people saying "yeah I want to help with those who need help." To me, that tells me there are still some outstanding people in this country.
• I heard a little 3 or 4 year old ask his mom "Is that guy Santa?" True I did have a red apron on, but come on. My hair is not totally gray or white (yet). And I really hope my belly is not that big. Made me laugh for like 5 minutes straight
• I was having a whole theological debate with myself about giving. Matthew 6:3 about not letting your right hand know...
• I was realizing the value of your kids see you giving. Sure you can let them put it in. But when your kid sees you giving (or giving him money to put in) you are teaching them to be charitable.
• Hey guys, check this out. Giving when you are with your girlfriend...yeah that will give you bonus points. Chicks dig it!

So if you ever get the opportunity (and you can contact me and I will find an opportunity for you) to ring the bell, do it. Good way to spend the Christmas season.

One rejection away from your dreams

I wonder how many people give up one failure, one rejection before the dream comes true. That bugs me. Isaiah will do this to me. He will be so close to being able to do something, and then he will just quit. Argh! Come on finish the task. Don't let one rejection stop you from facing your next rejection. Which may be the one that lets you see the dream come true.
Everything in your life that you are proud of probably has a bunch of failures before it became a reality. I am proud of my ordination. However, I failed a whole lot of times before it became a reality.
Please don't give up. Please keep dreaming.

Remembering the reason

There is something funny about ministry that not everyone is willing to tell you. It is the fact that not everything you do is going to relate to exploring the truths of the Hypostatic Union (yes, I do know my Theology). Take today for example. I was tracking down our application for a bond. A bond? What does that have to do with expressing God's love in tangible ways? Well let me explain. We need to get the bond to be able to get a dealers licence for our vehicle donation program. Why do we need to get a dealer's license? Well it will help us be able to get more vehicles and sell vehicles faster. By doing that, we are able to help more people then.
You always need to keep the reason in mind. It is so easy to lose focus. It is so easy to get caught up in some minor detail. Later on down the road, when we have our dealer license, when I am able to give someone a car that was donated from a dealer because we have a dealer license I will sit back remember the bond and laugh.
Remember the reason.

Hanging with my friends

Got to hang out with some good friends today. We were supposed to have a meeting, but honestly we had a conversation. It was our monthly Ministerial meeting. I can tell you that all the members of the group love God. So much fun to talk to people who love God and are serving God. We all have different backgrounds and styles. We spend time talking about those things, not attacking, but just to gain understanding. Really fun to do that. The possibility of the Greater Richland area be set on fire? Good Chance!

Job Perks

Tonight I had the opportunity to represent the Lighthouse at a Christmas concert by the Bogmeisters. Turns out this was their first Christmas concert ever. Could have fooled me. Man, they were good. Not just good. Great. My foot was tired by the time it was over from all the toe tapping going on. The Bogmeisters are a barber shop group. So nice to hear that four part harmony.
What I really enjoyed was watching everyone singing. Either one or two things happen. Either they are great actors and deserve some sort of award, or they were having fun doing what they were doing. My guess is the 2nd one. Love to see people doing what they love.

Now let me also add something here. Admission to the concert was free. Guests just had to bring a canned good. All the food was donated to the Lighthouse. They did not need to do anything for the Lighthouse. They did not have to have us there. They did it just because they care about helping out their community.

So I go to represent the Lighthouse. I leave humbled and with a tired foot.

Anger is the good sense

Sorry I have not blogged too much this week. But allow me to tell you the story. Last Thursday we had a building inspection at Safe Harbor. I was really hoping that day we would get our occupancy permit. Well we didn't.
So the inspector gave us a list of things that needed to be done and told us see you on Tuesday. So we looked at the list, and we went to work. Doing everything that we could to get the list done.
Tuesday comes along...And we failed again. This time we have another list of things to do. With a, "I will be back on Thursday." So we begin to tackle that list.
At this point, I can not express how mad I was. I can admit I was angry. I was really really mad. Now I had to ask myself a difficult question. Was I mad at the inspector. At first I think I was. Then I thought about it, he honestly was just doing his job. What I was mad at was the fact it was not done.
I used that anger to do everything that I could to make sure that we passed. I am really sore, tired, and wore out. But we have our occupancy permit! Anger is a good sense.

Playing with Sam

This evening I got to have a lot of fun. What did I do? I played with my one year old son (oops excuse me, my 13 month baby). It was great. We didn't do any one thing, we just played with each other. Boy was it fun.
Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking "what a good dad." I don't deserve any of that. I am blogging about something that should be an every day occurrence. I am blogging about something that I should be doing more of. I am blogging about something that my wife does everyday. If any one deserves credit, it would be Heather.
Sometimes, I do forget how much fun it is to play with my kids. Hopefully I will remember this blog and it will encourage me to play with my kids more.

Did You See That?

That being the Steelers game. Wow! That was amazing. Now I am sitting here my throat might be a little sore from displaying my emotion. Wow! Incredible. My poor son was scared at my loud voice, but I just could not contain myself.
Now there are a lot of things that I want to get done this week. What a great way to start the week. A Week with a Steelers victory in a hard fought game is a great way to get your mo-jo going.

Catching Snow Flakes

Today I was walking outside. I happenes to look up. It was one of those times when it was snowing and the flakes were huge. I did what is natural. I stuck my tongue out and followed a snowflake in the air and caught it on my tongue.
Now in the fall when the leaves are coming off the tree, I will reach out my hands and try to catch a leave with my hands.
Yes I am Married. Yes I am 32. Yes I am a Ordained Minister with a "Rev." in front of my name. Yes I am a Executive Director. And yes I still catch snowflakes in my tongue. It is one of the way that I enjoy God's creation.
I think we take ourselves to serious when we will not allow ourselves to chase snow flakes or catch leaves. Now a little warning from a person who has received many of dirty looks over the years. Sometimes it is best to catch the snow flakes when no one is around.

Turkey Souffle

Tonight Heather cooked me a turkey souffle. Can you say "Yum". Now you are thinking, why turkey souffle. Well that is a good question. The answer is simple. We hate to waste good tasting leftovers and we get bored of eating the same thing. I will be honest, it was really good. So with a little creativity, a little experimenting, you end up eating good, saving cash, and not wasting food. Good deal huh?

Thank Goodness for Jesus

Today we had the building inspector at Safe Harbor. We are getting really close to being done with all the construction. Seeing what we have to do to get an occupancy permit. It can be really frustrating sometimes the things that need to fix. Such as our sink is 1/4 of an inch too high. Our toilet is 3/4 of an inch too far away from the wall. Things like that we have to fix.
Now as frustrating as all of that is, let me remind you of a couple of things. We are told that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). We are also told that for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). That means even if we were to live a "really good life" we would still end up 1/4 of an inch off. We would be out of code. Thanks Goodness for Jesus that offers to make us "code compliant."
Just a little more thankful for my Salvation today.

Free Starbucks?!?!

I was at Starbucks this evening picking up a much deserved Eggnog Decaf Latte for my wife for being gone most of the day today. I ran into a friend there. Talked to him for a while. Then I thought he was next in line and he let me go first. What a nice guy I was thinking to myself. So I ordered my drink. Pull out my card to pay for it. The Starbucks employee says "Oh, it has been taken care of." What? I stood there confused looking at the register wandering why it said $0.00. Well using every bit of intelligence that I had, I realized my friend paid for it. Wow! What a nice surprise. Puts me in a giving mood. Which is a good thing.

A mouse in the house!!!

This afternoon, I was just sitting and relaxing when Heather started saying, "There is a mouse, there is a mouse!" Then she grabs Samuel and leaves the room with the instructions, "Get it!" Hmm...there are so many different directions to go with this so I guess I will try and give a couple different views:

• The Hero View: Yeah, I came, I saw, I caught, and I got rid of it! Big tough guy huh?
• The Lazy Cat View: During this time of catching the mouse, my cat was around, so I figured he would catch it right? Well it took me a lot of effort go get that cat to even acknowledge that the mouse was there. Really, why do we have a cat? I have a new theory that my cat sees a lot of mice everyday and is just too lazy to get them.
• The Animal Lover View: My cat did not get the mouse. I did not kill the mouse. I caught the mouse. And then after I caught the mouse I released it into its natural habit. (ie the woods)
• The Ironic View: The little mouse will probably be eaten by a bigger creature out in the woods.

Care to vote for your favorite, or add any?

I have everything

Being that it is Thanksgiving season and all of that, I realized something interesting. I have everything. I am content. I have a refrigerator full of food (ok stuffed). And then today is "Black Friday." I looked at some adds for different sales. I just don't need anything. There was nothing I had to have. Maybe a couple things that would have been nice, but in general nothing I needed. So what did I do today? Hung out with my family. Lot more fun then waiting in 3 hours lines hoping for a good deal.
Now here are a couple of questions for you:

• Am I content because I have enough "stuff" or is there something else that causes the contentedness?
• What does one person need to be content?
• How can we help other's realize what they have and become content with what they have?

The one true bailout

The whole economic uncertainty has a lot of people on edge. People are worried about having a job, losing their retirement, and paying their bills. I admit I don't have all the answers. I will also admit that I don't think we can point to one person or one event that caused all of this. Now here is what I find interesting, people think that the government can save them. No, this is not meant to bash the government or anything like that. But the government is made of humans. Humans are incapable of rescuing anyone, or should I say bailing out everyone. That is not to be mean to the government. But the thing is the One who is capable of a bailout is Christ. His bailout is not a band aid or anything like that, His bailout will last forever.
Yes watching your 401K or IRA lose money is tough. But rather than put your faith in the people that are running the government, put your faith in God. Get that straight, make that your top priority. Then the economic problems are a whole lot less bothersome.

Im too old to be doing stuff like that

I was packing the car to leave Heather's relatives house yesterday. Somehow I did not see this shiny patch were I just happened to step on. Oops! Needless to say I went down like the stock market, fast and painful. Then I watch my 1 year old son fall about 234234 times a day. He does not even say "ouch". He just gets up and falls again. Me? I am sore for the next day or two. Man getting old is for the birds.

Remind me not to be a pig!

In the midst of the economic melt down that supposedly we are facing, I am staring down having 4 thanksgiving dinners. Wow! That is a lot! I don't know how that all works for me. I just got to make sure I don't eat too much.
Here is interesting part about that. I could sit here and complain about having to eat 4 Thanksgiving dinner and the fact that turkey is not my favorite. And how hard I have it, having to eat all those Thanksgiving dinners.
Stop! I am thankful for those opportunities. I am looking forward to spending time with family and friends. So no, don't feel bad for me. Once again, I am pretty sure I am the most blessed person in the whole world

Light in the Darkness

Going inside Blanchard House since the fire is, well, depressing. The way the smoke went through out the house made the whole thing black. literally looks like everything was painted black. On top of that, there were some windows that were broke and are now boarded up, making it even more dark.
FireDex came out the other day and strung some temporary lights. What a difference a little light makes. It is much better. Lot less depressing. Lot more hopeful.
Yes light penetrates darkness. We are called to be light. I know we tend to think our light is insignificant. But any light helps. Be the Light

Sorry

I have not been blogging that much this week. My bad. I guess one of the reasons is Anne of Green Gables. Yes, it is true. I watched not just the first one (3.5 hours), not just the 2nd one (4 hours), but both of those and the 3rd one (3 hours). I will say though that I did enjoy them all. I know they are suppose to be chick flicks. But I am man enough to watch them and admit that I like them.

What I get to come home to

Sometimes people don't know how good they have it. I do know. I know I have it good. I get to come home everyday from working to the two greatest kids that one could ever have. Little Samuel gets so excited when he sees me coming home. Isaiah normally puts on this high pitch "daddy" when he sees me. Then I have the wife of my dreams there to. Now I am not saying any of this to earn brownie points or anything like that. I am just thankful for all that God has given me.
I wish I knew why God blessed me this much. I know myself too well to know that I do not deserve all of this.
Honestly, I do hope and pray that everyone gets to experience the joy that I get to experience. Wish I could give you a 3 step plan or something on how to do it. But, I don't have the answers. I am just thankful.

Getting to know the Church

Notice I made sure Church was capitalized. I am talking about the universal Church. One of the cool things that I get to do as the Director of the Lighthouse is go to different churches and tell them about the Lighthouse. Now what is cool about this, is while I am there, of course I am scoping everything out. See how different churches do things. Just is really interesting. There are 2 points I want to make about all of this:

1. There is no one way to do church. Everyone is different. Everyone should be different. You have to realize who you are as a church and do church based on who you are.
2. God does not go to one church. God is all around. No one church has God to themselves

I am looking forward to getting to go to more churches. Just to see how things are done and getting to see a greater glimpse of the Church.

"I don't know how"

Something that is on my brain today. It has to do with trying. At the Lighthouse today someone said to me "I didn't know how to do it, so I didn't do anything." Then also there is my son Isaiah. He will tell me he cant do something and he never even gave it a try.
Those things bug me. It is a result of being afraid to fail. We need to get over that. We need to be willing to put it on the line. If you think about your greatest achievements they probably were the biggest risks you took. I know that has been true in life.
Please try. Please give it a shot. Please take the risk.

Was that a compliment?

Today I got to speak at our Golden Age Thanksgiving Dinner. It is always fun to talk about Thanksgiving. I enjoy that. I especially liked the opportunity to speak due to the fact that I have not done it for a while.
Now I had a lot of fun with the Golden Age group today. I was just being my normal goofy self. Then when we were all done a lady came up to me and said that I am a mix between Jim Carrey and Billy Graham. Hmm... Is that a compliment? To be mentioned in the same sentence as Billy Graham is always a good thing. And I guess for the most part I find Jim Carrey pretty funny. Therefore I am going to take it as a compliment. Any one else want to weigh in?

Where is the good news?

Sometimes I watch the news. Then when I am watching, I ask myself, "Why?" Why do I subject myself to that? How much news is just bad? How much news is negative?
Now don't get me wrong. I get the fact that there are some things that are just negative, just bad, and just awful. I know that.
But for just once I would like to hear the majority of news be positive. I would like it to focus on the good things that happen in this world.
This is not some sort of pop psychological philosophy of positive thinking will change your life. But do me a favor. Spend a day writing down everything that is falls under Philippians 4:8. Then compare your list to the news. My guess is it will cause you to be even more thankful.

Changing lives

I realize I am getting old. But because of the years gone by, I have a long history that I like to look back on. I am constantly amazed at how God has let me be a part of people's lives. I find it absolutely amazing when people tell me how much I helped them change or something to that effect. I know how flawed and messed up I am. I wonder how God can use me to change lives.

With all of that being said, I am actively contemplating in my head how to be involved in even more changed lives. I don't quite have all the answers. In fact I have very few if any answers. So I am going to serve God with all my heart. Along the way, He will use me to change lives. And 32 years from now, I hope to be wondering the same thing.

It is your job

All through out this election season we heard tons and tons of promises. When I am elected we will ______ (fill in the blank). Now I have to break some bad news to you all. Most of the promises are never going to be fulfilled by a Democrat or a Republican.

The thing is that in this country we the people are the difference. We the people are the ones to make the change. Let me start giving you some examples:

• I am totally against abortion. I hope that eventually Rowe versus Wade is overturned. But with all of that being said, legislation is not getting to the heart of the matter. You have to deal with people. You have to become involved in their lives. What if you worked hard at installing sonograms at abortion clinics and volunteered to show people the sonogram for free before they had an abortion? Or what about working at an adoption agency that makes it more affordable and easier to access? What about being involved in young kids' lives and teach them the value of life?
• Poverty. We all want to end poverty. Hate to break it to any of you but increasing the number of people and the amount of the earned income credit will not solve or really even make a dent in the poverty problems. Poverty is not solved by government giving a "ration." Poverty is solved by being involved in people's lives. Find someone who is struggling. Help them get an education. Help them find a good paying job. Help them with basic budgeting practices. Be there for them.

Those are two examples. There are plenty of more. Let us not think that government will solve our problems. Let us not try and "stay out of it" thinking it is the government's job. Let us not see our neighbor struggling and wonder when the government is going to show up. Let us not rely on the government more than we rely on God.

It is our job. It is my job. It is your job.

God Is Still On His Throne

As I sit here right now the election results are coming in. I don't know who is going to win. Today I talked to a lot of people who were genuinely concerned about election. Worried about what might happen. I hear what they are saying.

But here is the thing. Whatever happens here has not knocked God off His throne. He is still in charge. He is still in control. And He still is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

I know this election could have you all worried, but rest in God. Rest in the fact that He is still in control. When you wake up in the morning, unless Christ returns tonight, God will still be in control. Not a Republican or a Democrat living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Oh by the way, keep in mind I don't know who is going to win at this time. Our job is to pray for the leaders of our country.

God is still on His throne!

VOTE...for crying out loud

Ok first of all if you vote tomorrow you can get:

• A free cup of coffee from Starbucks
• A free doughnut from Krispy Kreme
• A free cup of coffee from Eat-N-Park
• A free chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A
• A free ice cream cone from Ben & Jerry's

Now I appreciate these companies for offering free stuff. And I will promise you that I will take advantage of these offers (I am trying to figure out how to do all the above :) ).

But for crying out loud. Is that what it is going to take to get people to vote? I am sorry, there is no excuse for not voting. There are plenty of countries who do not get vote. Voting is a privilege and a responsibility. There is no excuse not to vote. I think the only good excuse that I have ever heard was last year when my wife was in the hospital after giving birth the day before.

If you do not vote, you forfeit every right you have to complain about anything involving the country or politics or the economy. Whenever you hear someone complaining ask them if they voted. If they say no, well tell them to shut up. As far as I am concerned, they don't deserve the right to complain or criticize.

VOTE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD

My Son the "Fix-it" man

For some reason Isaiah has developed this obsession with tools. He loves playing with them. He also likes to help his dad out when his dead is fixing something. When I grab a screw driver he grabs a screw driver. It is just a lot of fun. I hope that I will have the patience to let him do more and more as he grows up.
I guess this is just part of being a father, a part that I like. On the other hand, it also means that I teach him how to do things right (and safe), and my attitude is where it should be even when I am frustrated at whatever I am working at.
I can't wait to do the 1109235481234 of father and son projects.

Did That Feel Good

What felt good you asked? Well that would be my run today. Was a short run, but man did it feel good. I started running, and next thing you know I am running a whole lot faster. I have not felt that good running since I ran the Marathon on September 14th. I think I am finally over it! I guess it does take that long to recover from a marathon. Now I am tossing around the idea of doing another one. Can anyone talk some sense into me?
I felt so much better after my run. I think we all need to make sure we have some sort of exercise routine. Trust me, the time that it takes you to do it, your productivity will increase even more so.

He loves God a little more

I was talking to a friend today, and he said something that got me thinking all day. He was quoting his pastor who said something to the effect, "He loves the Bible, but he loves God just a little more." Hmm... boy that got me thinking on so many levels. And boy did I toss that one around in my head for a long time. Still enjoying thinking about all the implications of the statement.
Now here is the thing I love about all of this. While I was thinking about the statement I was actively thinking about God. I was thinking about everything I know about God. About every verse that I had memorized that related. About everything that I have learned about God from others and from my own personal relationship with God.
That is the beauty of the whole process. If you spend the whole day thinking about God, that is a good thing. So I hope the statement, "He loves the Bible but he love God just a little more" causes you to do some deep pondering. Enjoy.

Fire at Blanchard House

Right as we were finishing a weekly staff meeting at the Lighthouse, we get a call. This is not the call you want to get. Blanchard house (our transitional house for 18-21 years old girls) is on fire. We all went quickly to the house in Butler, and sure enough it was on fire.


First thing we do is make sure everyone is alright. They are! That was the first and foremost concern. No one got hurt. Praise the Lord!


I also must say that the City of Butler Fire Company did a wonderful job. They responded quickly and kept the damage to a minimum. Thank you Butler Fire Company!


I am overwhelmed at the support that has already come in. As soon as the word of the fire spread, we had people calling and asking how they could help. I am overwhelmed by the compassion of our supporters.


I am truly amazed at our staff. To give you two examples:

1. Our cook (or should I say "Director of Food Services") was not working today. However as soon as she heard, she was at the Lighthouse cooking homemade lasagna for all the girls. Boy did that smell good! Thanks Bobbi



2. When our Resident Manager was allowed in the house, her first thoughts were, "How are the girls? What can we do for them? How can we help them?" What is amazing to me about that is all her "stuff" was in the house. She was not concerned about all of that, she was worried about the girls. When we told her we had some people gathering up clothes her reaction was, "Don't worry about me, let's make sure the girls are taken care of first."

Wow! Eventful day to say the least. We are working through all the insurance and everything right now. I am asking all of you out there in the blogsphere to pray for the girls of Blanchard House. This is going to be tough on them. They need your support. I also ask you to pray for the Lighthouse as we plan our course of action. Thank you so much!

Zoo Fun

It was incredible. For my nephew's 10 year birthday we decided to take him to the zoo. Now of course today was a mostly rainy day and a little on the cool side. But it was just so relaxing and fun. Everyone was in such good mood. It was a Halloween dress up day. Isaiah ran around the whole time in a super man costume. In my total biased opinion there has never been a cuter little three year old. Sam, dressed like a cowboy, fell asleep in his stroller and slept all through lunch. It was so cute too. All and all it was just fun. On the way out, free slurpies! Which were just enough to keep the boys awake on the home. Which was great because they both took a nap when they got home (and so did I). All and all just a fun time

You Just Talk to God

This evening I was giving Isaiah a bath. He was telling me about his friends at school, and said they were his "best friends." Of course I said "I thought I was your best friend." He responded with his famous line "you are my family best friend." So I asked Isaiah what does a family best friend do? He told me "you just talk to God." I followed up with "Is that all I do at the Lighthouse?" Isaiah said "Yeah."
Now the first thought that went through my head was "wow, that would be nice." Just to spend the whole day talking to God. Then I thought about it a little longer. Maybe we all should spend all day talking to God. Now I know there are things we have to do, people we need to talk to. But at the same point that does not mean we tell God to take a hike. He is still there.
No, we can't spend all day everyday talking with only God but, we must realize that God is there and we can talk to Him.

Opposites Attract

I have to make a confession. I am a morning person. I never wanted to be a morning person. But it happened. I'm almost to the point where if it is after 7:00 a.m. the morning is 1/2 over. I know I am sick.
Now enter my wife. My wife is not a morning person. Far from it. My wife thinks if the day starts before 11:00 a.m. it is way too early.
Needless to say this creates some interesting events. Like me up in the morning ready to go and wanting to talk to Heather and Heather responding "huh?" Or Heather trying to talk to me a night and me responding "huh?"
Now I know we are not the only opposites like this. I just always have wondered why these things happen. Oh well.

Relying on others

Last week my computer caught a cold. I guess I should say I got a virus on my computer. How sad. Now as soon as it happened I started to think, "How am I going to fix this?" I knew it would be tough, so I started thinking, "How much coffee do I have? Is it going to be an all-nighter?" Then I wondered if I could I even do this. So at that point I decided to give it to my brother, Phil. My brother has always been there when ever I needed him. So I take it to him, tell him what is wrong and he says "no problem."
As a man who likes to think he can do everything himself, I don't like to get help. But God has put people in our lives to help us out. Phil helped me out big time.
I got my computer back today, and it is working great. Thanks Phil.

Reason #213 I love my wife

One of the things that I would highly recommend to any one dating is that long distance relationships are actually a good thing. Heather and I always had a long distance relationship. The closest we ever were to each other is after I graduated college and she was still in college we were only 250 miles away. Due to that fact we were forced to develop a good system of communication. Fast forward to the current, and I love the fact that we still have that system of communication. It is great to have someone you can talk to about everything. It is not something I take for granted. It is not something that I can just forget, we still have to make an effort at it. I honestly want this for everyone. To have someone like that in your life is truly a gift from God. I am not saying any of this to earn brownie points, or to get out of the dog house or anything like that. It was just on my head, so I thought I would blog about it.

Poor Little Samuel

Can I ask you all a favor? Could you be praying for a little guy Samuel. The poor kid caught a nasty cold. The worse part is the feeling you get when you know you can't do much. It is tough when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Makes everything so much more difficult to deal with. So anyways please pray for Sam? Thanks, it means a lot to us.

Post #300 Celebration

This is post number #300! Wow! Impressive huh?
Today, I celebrated post number 300 with 20 people. We went to the Oil City Railroad with the Lighthouse Golden Age (60+) group. The train trip...that was...wow...ahhh....interesting to say the least. Every car has their own "tour guide." Our guide was Matthew. Now Matthew's fiance was supposed to be there, but she was not there for some reason. Matthew had never played tour guide before. You know those tours where there are memorized lines. Well I don't know what Matthew was thinking or talking about. I heard the words "bomb, kill, died, murdered" and we were talking about drilling oil. Very odd. Now Jaimie went on the trip too, and we were amused, disgusted, and just wanted him to shut up. Funny he actually asked "should I shut up now?" More funny, 1/2 the car said "Please." Of course, it gets better. On the way back we got to listen to high school karaoke that well...was just not good.
After the eventful train trip, we had lunch at a nice restaurant when all of a sudden the conversation turned to the new "health club" in the area that teaches pole dancing. Well for the remainder of the trip we had a bunch of Golden Agers talking about pole dancing. Some had no idea how to polka with a pole. So you have 1/2 the Golden Agers trying to explain to the other 1/2 what pole dancing is. Wow! The whole trip was definitely legendary!

Ready to help people realize their dreams

My vacation has been amazing. My time off has been wonderful. Hanging with the family has been great. Kind of sad to see that all come to end. I must admit it has been a blast. I love my family. Being able to spend all day with them every day has been great.
Tomorrow I start my new job. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to being able to work with everyone. The one thing that I did miss on my vacation, is being able to help people realize their dreams. But I get to begin to do that tomorrow. I am excited.
Now this is not the end of something legendary. It is the beginning of something legendary!

How much Is $18?

Today I had to get the propane tank filled. I had been putting it off for some unknown reason. But wanted to cook some kielbasa on the grill, so I got the tank filled. Now the total cost to get a tank filled is $20.32. No problem right? So I scanned my card, entered my pin, everything worked great. I was walking out and I actually glanced at my receipt. Turns out I only paid $2.32. Somehow the "0" did not get punched in. At this point I had a choice. And let me be honest with all of you, I did debate it with myself. The choice between celebrating, or telling someone. Ouch. $18. I could use $18. I am sure all of you out there could use $18. But however, I thought about the cashier who could get in trouble. I thought about all the times I have talked about honesty. I knew what I had to do. Now I did not like spending the $18, but I feel good about it.
Listen, I am not trying to make myself out to be this great super hero or anything like that. I know times are tough. I know the economics in the country have all of us worried. But choose to follow God, choose to trust God, and it will work out.

Good enough?

I was reading a bunch of stuff today and I came across a quote that really messed me up:

"It's rather sickening that so many settle for mediocrity in the name of Jesus Christ, but demand quality in the name of Starbucks - sounds backwards to me."

Now let us be honest. For those of us who are coffee addicts, we do not want bad coffee. We want good coffee. Now I don't think I am some sort of coffee snob or anything like that, I just want my coffee to be good.

A phrase that I have heard more times than I ever would want to hear: "oh, it is good enough for church." Come on! You serious? Good enough for the Savior of the world?

We demand excellence from our coffee, but we don't demand excellence in the name of Jesus? That is messed up.

Be the change that you want to see in others. How? By doing whatever you are doing for God with all your heart. By putting forth your best effort. By striving to serve not the best coffee, but to serve the Living God.

The cool thing is, you are not responsible for how others do (or don't do) their job. That is not your problem. You do what you can do to do your best to serve God. And please don't ever use the "it is good enough for church" line ever again, especially to me!

Things I might miss...

It is weird to sit here on a Saturday night not thinking about tomorrow morning. Kinda feels good, but kinda sad at the same time. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to speak one or two times per month. So it is not like I won't get to do it again. But the weird thing is I will not be doing it every week. It is funny when you have been doing something week after week for six years and now you don't. It is a funny feeling. Now with that being said. In a "perfect" world I would like to speak only 35-40 times a year. I think I was averaging like 47-48 times a year. Now with all that being said, it is quite possible I will blog about "how glad I am that I don't have to speak every week anymore" in a couple of weeks. Just the way I am.

I could get used to this

This week in my "week of transition" I am not doing much. I knew I needed a break, so I have one this week. Man does it feel great. I have been hanging out with Heather and the boys and having a blast. And now that I have been doing this for a couple of days my mind is starting to race with all sorts of ideas and concepts. By the time this little rest is over, I will be ready to go at it. Man is this is exciting!
Just goes to prove the value of rest. A little rest will get you recharged. I know you are all busy, but take the time to take a break. You will be way more productive.

Change

I think that is one of the most overused words lately. Every politician is promising change. I am in the midst of change right now. It has effected my blogging lately. I have been unsure of exactly what to say and what not to say. So I have basically stayed quiet. But it is time for me to start sharing with all of you out there. I imagine there will be several posts over the next several days dealing with all of this.
I have always had a respect for pastors who stay at the same church for thirty years. I see the value of that. I see the opportunities to effect three or more generations of a family. With that being said leaving Bakerstown Alliance after 6.5 or 8.5 years (I was the assistant for 2 years before becoming the lead pastor) is tough. In a lot of ways I would have liked to stay there a lot longer. Did I accomplish all the goals I set? No! Did I feel like I have done all that I could there? No! Do I feel that there is no room for growth at Bakerstown Alliance? Absolutely not! So leaving a place I love was tough. I love Bakerstown Alliance. I know the future is bright. But I also had to be sensitive to God's leading.
There is more I have to say about all of this, just keep checking.

Giving Blood to Get Something

A couple of weeks ago, I got a flier from the blood bank asking me to give blood on October 6th. Here is the deal, if you gave blood you got a free "Enjoy" coupon book. Wooohooo, free stuff! (might be my hidden love language) Of course, I gave blood. Of course I had my free cookies and got my free coupon book. Yes, I am willing to give my blood to get something. In college they gave us t-shirts for giving blood. For a while my wardrobe consisted of blood t-shirts.
Now here is the part that is almost incomprehensible for me. Jesus shed his blood, not to get something for free, but to free us. Think about that. That whole idea just has me really thankful today.

TP and the Government

With all the junk that congress is trying to add on to the "bailout bill" I would like to put in my suggestion. In this bill I think we need to have a ban on the production of single ply toilet paper. Single ply toilet paper is just wrong. For all you people who say "but it uses less"; that is just not true. You end up using twice as much toilet paper. So with everything else in that bill I don't think it is unreasonable to put that ban on the single ply.
Sorry just two things that were on my mind today that made me upset. So I thought that I would have a little fun and combine the two.

Fighting a Cold

I somehow managed to catch a pretty bad cold. I have a feeling this is still a result of my post marathon recovery stuff. Since Saturday I have been bad. I have been fighting a fever/chill/sweating, all that stuff. My throat has been burning. Finally today I am feeling a little bit more like myself. But still don't have the energy that I would like. Ohh well. I just keeping plugging away.

Why I like football more than politics

I am sitting here watching a little MNF sporting my Willie Parker jersey (even though he isn't playing tonight). Steelers are currently leading (and yes I am predicting a win). And I know the score. Not only is it on all the graphics but the announcers are kind enough to mention it ever so often.
On this past Friday being the responsible citizen that I am, I was watching the presidential debate. I listened to both candidates, and well, honestly, I had no idea who won. So I listened to some of the post debate analysis and that didn't help. Basically McCain's people thought that McCain won. Obama's people though Obama won.
Why can't we develop some sore of scoring system or at the very least have judges. Well I guess then if there were judges it would be hard to find a non biased judge. Oh well.
Therefore, I now turn my attention back to the game. Go Steelers!

I am a Dreamer

The more I think about it the more I realize that I am a dreamer. The more I realize I am a dreamer, the less I want to quit dreaming. I want to dream more. I think dreams are what motivates us. Dreams are what drives us.
Somewhere when we were growing up we were taught to stop dreaming. Think about going to a second grade class and ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Ask them about thier dreams. Then go to an adult class. Ask them about their dreams. I wonder if there would be any dreams.
Do yourself a favor, come to Bakerstown Alliance on Sunday at 10 am. You will learn how to dream again.

Post Marathon Recovery

This is one of those posts that I have been waiting to write until I started to recover. I have been a little afraid to mention some of the things because it is embarrassing. But it might help someone out there, so here I go.

Physical:

• I have never been as that much pain than when I was in mile 24
• I kept going and when I finished, wow!
• I took my shoes off and counted at least 10 blisters on my feet
• 10 days later the blisters are almost gone
• The greatest thing on the market: bodyglide!
• The first 72 hours after the race, I was in pain. I was taking a lot of motrin.
• I went for a jog on Saturday. Made it a mile. That is all I had in me.
• Went to the gym on Monday. I had nothing!
• I am gaining more strength back every day
• Sometimes I get worn out after just a little activity
• I have read that it takes one day to recover for every mile run. That is 26 days for a full recovery. So I guess I will have to wait.
• Interesting twist: I have develop a much stronger taste for Gatorade

Emotional Side:

• This is a lot harder to talk about
• Finishing was an incredible feeling, one that I will never forget
• But then comes the "post marathon"
• Last week was really tough emotionally
• I did not feel like doing anything
• I remember having a meeting on Tuesday and just did not want to be there. I was just feeling so low.
• My feelins low had nothing to with our electricity being out for 72 hours, but this was bugging me. I felt like a failure, I felt like I could not provide for my family. Again this is not reality, I know that, but that is how I felt.
• There is a real empty feeling when you accomplish something that you have been wanting to do since the 6th grade.
• I have wondered how can I top this?
• If I do another one will it be this crazy?
• I wanted to be happy with my time, I am not. That messes me up.

Those are most of the things relating to marathon recovery that I am going through. Today, I feel good. But it took me ten days to be able to write all of this. Running 26.2 miles is tough. I did not know exactly what I was getting into when I started to train for the marathon. I do now. Training/finishing/recovering is the hardest thing I have ever done mentally. I hate sport cliches but it is truly 90% mental.

Will I ever run another marathon? I don't know yet. Am I glad that I did this one? Yes!

The weekend

Yes it was a crazy weekend, but then again what else is new. I actually had a very low key Friday and Saturday just relaxing and hanging out with the family. I managed to run a whole whopping 1 mile on Saturday. It felt good. I think I might go all out on Monday: 2 miles! Seriously I read a lot about post marathon feeling and training and stuff. Very interesting. Not sure if I am ready to blog about all of it but some day maybe. This I did learn: That it takes about 1 day for every mile. So that means 26 days till I fully recover. Interesting.
At church today I wanted to accent the whole Body of Christ concept. So being that Bakerstown Alliance lets me do fun things, I re-arranged all the chairs. Caused people some confusion, but I had them arranged in such away so everyone could see each other. I was trying to create a more "intimate" atmosphere. I think it worked. Also got to use Mr. Potato Head to explain the body of Christ. Love the days I get to play with toys in the service.
The sad part of the weekend: I had to tell everyone (and now all of you out there in blogland) that I will be leaving Bakerstown Alliance. I have accepted a job at the Lighthouse Foundation. It is going to be a tough transition and I will mention more about it later. But just be praying for Bakerstown Alliance and myself during this transition.

Electricity and God

Sorry that I have not blog that much this week. It is basically because I had no power at my house. I had power at Bakerstown Alliance but the Electricity in our house was out for 72 hours or so. That made life a little difficult. Fortunately for us, my parents live like 3/4 a mile up the road and they did have power. So we stayed with them. But things were just a little more crazy then normal.
But all of this got me thinking. I don't think it is to far of a stretch to think of the Holy Spirit as electricity. Something you can't see but you sure can tell it is there. Something that makes a big difference even though you don't see it. Living with out electric was not a lot of fun. Living without the Holy Spirit is not a lot of fun. Yet sadly I think many people go through their daily life and never use the power of the Holy Spirit. That is about as ridiculous as having power and never turning anything on. Cool thing about the Holy Spirit is that He never goes out!
We have access to the most powerful force in all of creation. Use it!

I did it!

I finished the Erie Marathon. I finished all 26.2 miles. I am tired. I am sore. I am in pain. But I finished. Thanks to all of you who supported me. Today was hot! When I looked at the weather on Saturday it was supposed to be raining during the marathon. Somehow that all changed, and it was hot. Hot, Hot, Hot! I finished, I am happy, I am tired. I was able to raise $583.30 for church planting. That is great! Hopefully I will be able to walk normal again sometime.

The day before the big one

That is right. Tomorrow is the big marathon. I am really excited about it. It is cool when you know that you are going to fulfill one of your life goals. I have been drinking a lot of water this week, to make sure that I am fully hydrated. I have been eating a lot of pasta for the carbs (they're good when you running). I have been tapering the length of my runs for about three weeks now. This week I have felt like I should be running further. I feel really good.

In a couple of hours I will be leaving to go to Erie. When I get there, I'll pick up my registration packet, find some dinner, spend the night at Edinboro Camp, wake up some time way too early in the morning, drive to Presque Isle, and start the race at 7:00. Just in case you are in the Erie area I will try to get Heather to post my bib number.

I have set some goals for myself:

• Base goal = FINISH!



• Realistic goal = 6 hours



• BHAG (Big Harry Audacious Goal = 5 1/2 hours

Now here is what is really exciting to me. If I run all 26 miles we will raise $583.30 for church planting. Now that is exciting! I have to run the whole thing now! I have to finish! Now of course there still is more time to join in the fun. All you have to do is email me at dan_borchert@yahoo.com with the per mile amount you would like to sponsor me, and I will tell you where to send the check!

I just want to thank all of you who have encouraged me to do this. I thank you for all your support. Don't worry I will let all know how it went.

You want change? Start with your neighbor!

Surely by now you are getting to the point that you are sick of hearing about change. With the political election in full swing everybody is all for change. Both side are promising change. Both sides are promising a better country.

Now I know that God has never been a registered Democrat. I also know that GOP does not stand for "God's One Party."

Now let me encourage to make sure that you do vote. And let me encourage to make sure you study the issues (not the name calling), pray about them, and make an informed decision.

But (and here is where I begin to start typing really loud, because I am getting excited) this notion that if we vote for one candidate or another candidate that everything will be better, and one candidate is the next great prophet is totally ridiculous. If you are looking for the country to be run on Christian values, neither of the candidates is going to solve that.

Maybe at this time we need to take a look at ourselves. Maybe at this time we need to think about how we are doing at telling others about the Good News. It is not the job of politicians to "save" this country. It is my job and it is your job to tell others about the good news. The change that you are looking for comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ, not a relationship with a political philosophy. The change that you are looking for starts with your neighbor.

Guesss what? Even if everyone in this nation followed God, there would still be different political ideas.

Maybe we are not as "Christian" of a nation as we used to be. There could be two reasons for that:
#1: As the end times get closer and closer, we are warned in the Bible that society will continue to deteriorate. That just means Christ is getting closer to His return. I am ok with that.
#2: Maybe we are not doing our job at reaching our neighbors. I know that sounds harsh, but honestly, how much time are you spending arguing about your political philosophy as compared to telling your neighbor about Christ?

So if you are looking for change, start with your neighbor. Start with telling people the Good News. That is real change. The Good News brings real change!

Yes God Does Answer Prayers

I have been making a conscious effort lately to focus on answers to prayers. I wanted to see if God does answer prayers (I knew He does). I think what happens to us, especially when you hear tons of prayer request every day, is that we forget about the answers. I just go an email from a good friend telling me the cancer treatment worked! Every week at Church when I have been asking for prayer request I have been hearing a bunch a answers to request. It is a very subtle change, but I will encourage you to start making a conscious effort to remember the answers to prayer request. It will leave you with one word: "Wow!"

The weekend review a little later

Sorry about that. I just did not get around to blogging until now.
Great weekend! Had a blast. I am really encouraged right now at Bakerstown Alliance. Lots of exciting things going on. There is just a real open and accepting atmosphere at the church right now. Man that gets me excited. That is what I like to see. I also have been really pleased with the attendance as of late. No matter how you slice it we are growing. Now I don't know why or how or anything like that. But that is good because the only thing I can figure out is that it is God. And if all the credit is going to God, well that is the way it is suppose to be.
On Saturday I ran eight miles. That is my last "long" run before the big one this week. Eight miles? That is a nice distance to run. 26.2? Well that is just insanely stupid! Really looking forward to it. Trying to stay relaxed, hydrated, and rested. And if you want to support me in the "Running for Church Plants" effort, just drop me a email dan_borchert@yahoo.com I am looking for people to sponsor me on a "per mile" basis. So if you want to go say $100 a mile x 26 miles = $2600. Sounds good right? I use big numbers like that because I don't ever want to limit potential. And if you happen to be able to make it to Erie on Sunday please be cheering super loud for me. I can use all the support I can get.

Getting the job done

Sometimes I feel like repeat myself but honestly, that is because the same thing happens. I was mowing the grass and I had a lot of tractor issues again. Argh. I messed up my mower again. So this time my brother has a "back-up" mower. However, it hadn't run in 3 years. So it took a while to get it going. But once I did (5 hours later) I was able to finish mowing.
I love getting the job done. For me it is not a matter of how, it is a matter of doing.
We need to practice that theory when it comes to reaching people for Christ. Whatever it takes, we have to be willing to do it. It doesn't matter if it is "our plan" or not. We have to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
I am willing. Are you?

Where do I fit in all of this?

Getting ready for the Erie Marathon, my 1st ever marathon, I came across a quote that made me laugh:

"You don't have to be particularly fast or athletic to finish a marathon. You just have to be tough and stubborn, or perhaps just too dumb to know when to quit."

So which part do I fit? Tough? Hmm... maybe? Stubborn? I certainly can be stubborn. But perhaps, the last one is fits.

Well, with all that said, there is still time to enlist your support in the whole Running for Church Plants effort. Just email me for the details. dan_borchert@yahoo.com

Trying to get everything done.

In my head I always have basically a "best case scenario list." A list that if everything goes according to my plan I will actually be able to accomplish everything that I want to get done. Rarely (if ever) does this happen.
Today was one of those days that if I were to list my accomplishments it could sound pretty impressive. But on the other hand if I list the things that I didn't get done, I think it would be pretty disturbing.
I am sure I am not alone on this. That is why I am blogging about it. To make you feel like you're not the only one who suffers these things.
But soon I will go to bed, wake up, and start the next day and try to get everything done.

What a Great Day

This is one of those weeks that I am left really encouraged and really upbeat. In fact the whole month of August has been great.
Today we had a young guy come to church who literally in the middle of a "transition." He was running away from his home. Tough situation, I talked to him for a long time. At this point I don't know how we can help, but I told him "we are here for you" Wish I could do more.
What is even more impressive to me is the person who saw this person at a gas station playing his guitar and offer him a ride to where he was going (about an hour away) if he would come to church. He said "sure." Wow! So many things about that whole situation make me so proud of Bakerstown Alliance.
I got to say something fun today. I said "I love how much Bakerstown Alliance suffers." Seems funny huh? But it is all because of how much love for God and love for others that causes the suffering. Call it good suffering if you will.
My marathon is a couple of weeks away. I have to finish the race now. I have too much riding on it. A lot of people have taken me up on the "Running for Church Plant" challenge. Wow! Good stuff. However, I will remind you that there still is time to join this quest, just shoot me an email and I can explain further if you needed. dan_borchert@yahoo.com.
Attendance has been great the whole month. Today was a holiday weekend and it still was pretty good. God is blowing my mind at how He is doing this. Again -- I am excited!
I am watching the Nascar race, getting ready for bed, and running a mere 12 miles tomorrow morning.
I'm out!

It Is Official

I just registered for the Erie Marathon. You have to understand my thinking. I hate to spend money. Therefore I would not allow myself to register until I ran 20 miles (my longest run in my training schedule). But now I am registered. Now it is official. So remember if you want to encourage me and help complete the great commission by planting churches, please contact me.

The Wisdom of a Three Year Old

Conversation at dinner time:

Me: Isaiah, finish your carrots, and then you can have a cookie.
Isaiah: Dad, my belly is full.
Me: Oh that is ok, but no cookie then.
Isaiah: Well, there is room in the back. But food doesn't go in the back. The back is only for ice cream and cookies.

Heather and I must have laughed for five minutes over that one!

Wow! He is three years old and figured out how the human body works. He hit the nail on the head: You can be full ,but that secret compartment (which thanks to Isaiah I now know is in the back) still has room. Genius!

Call the Calvary

Today I received a prayer request. This is not an unusual thing. It happens quite frequently. As I have mentioned before we use a system called One Call Now. Now what happens is I call a 1-800 number, punch in a bunch of numbers, record the message, punch a few more numbers and it starts calling.
Since we have been using this system for a year, I generally know about how long it will take before it starts calling people (less then 1 minute!). After you are done with everything it says good bye and you hang up.
I was just sitting there, getting ready to move on to the next task, when I started to envision everyone's phones starting to ring. It was neat. I heard the sound of a bunch of phones ringing in my head. I thought about it for a little longer and realized that the Calvary had been called. I got the picture of this army of misfits being assembled and doing battle.
The whole concept just got me really excited today. So I had to share with all of you :)

Lifetime Warranty

You must keep something in mind; Our low mileage car has a 195,000 miles on it. Our high millage car has 240,000 miles on it. So both cars are not exactly "new."

Our van (the one with 240,000 miles) has a oil leak. It has had an oil leak since we bought it. Now the problem is that it leaks right on to the alternator. Apparently oil and alternators don't mix very well. The first time the alternator went, I had it rebuilt, trying to save a little money. The guy did a great job. It worked wonderfully. But he told me the day I picked it up "if you don't fix that leak it will break again."

Now keep in mind it has 240,000 and fixing the leak would be expensive/a pain. But of course you don't want to fix the same problem over and over.

So this time we got a new alternator. Get this: It has a lifetime warranty! That means, if it breaks again (or should I say when) they replace it.

Seems like a good deal huh?

Not even as close to the deal we have with Jesus. When we break, He fixes us. Time and time again, we break, Jesus fixes us. Jesus is the "unlimited warranty"

Running and Planting Churches

As you probably have been reading (and if you haven't feel free to read the archives) that I am training for a marathon. I will be running the Erie marathon on Sept. 14th. But there is an opportunity for you.
I am looking for people to sponsor me on a per mile basis. So if you would like to sponsor me at $100 a mile (or whatever amount you can do) X 26 miles = $2600. Now if I only make it 20 miles you only owe $2000.
All donations will go to Western Pennsylvania District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church Planting Fund. The purpose of this fund is to plant churches to reach people for Christ.
What is better then that?
If you are interested is sponsoring me, please contact me at dan_borchert@yahoo.com. I will give you the rest of the details.

Just How Far Did I Run Today?

Gee. I am glad you asked. I did not run 3 or 4 or 5 miles. I did not run 10 or 11 or 12. I did not even run 15 or 16 or 17. I ran 20! 20 miles! Wow. That is a long time. It took me about 4:25 to do the whole thing. Now here is even the more amazing part. I was done by 10:15. You ask how is that possible? Do the math. I started running at 5:50 this morning. That was early. The first 5 miles it was still dark.

20 miles. That is a long way. I am proud of the accomplishment, but I am not "feeling good" about it. I feel it, everywhere!

Why I love Bakerstown Alliance Part 423345

This is normally the post where I do a bunch of bullet points, but I just don't feel like doing it that way tonight.
If you asked me how today went I would tell you "really well for as bad as it was." Now that doesn't make sense. Let me explain. I get really annoyed when there are technological problems. Today the one microphone was not working. I had to replace it during a song. Just don't like there to be that distraction. But we got over it, and we moved on. Talked about a lot of stuff that did not make people comfortable. That is ok. I like doing that. But why I love Bakerstown Alliance: It was the love for others that I saw today. Lots of people sticking around and talking/sharing/praying with each other. That impresses me so much. I love that.
Something a little odd: August attendance has been great! Wow! That is amazingly good.
All and all, a good day. Good night!

Ballet and Nascar...yeah I like them both

You all know that I am a huge sports fan. This is the Nascar Bristol night race weekend. That has me excited. It is almost Steeler season -- excited about that too. The Olympics have been great to watch. So what did I do tonight? I went to see the ballet. Men, stop your whining. You need to broaden your interests.
The Pittsburgh Ballet Company put on a FREE performance at Hartwood Acres tonight. It was a wonderful night. We sat in our lawn chairs just enjoying the atmosphere and the dancing. Relaxing, enjoying, and fun outing.
Sure I love sports. I have my man card. But I also enjoy the symphony, theater, ballet, and just about any other cultural experience. So quit your whining, quit your fussing, and enjoy the show.

But What Did I Do?

I want to ask that question more and more. Let me explain what I am thinking. So many times I will have people say thanks. Of course we all could use a little more thanks. But I want to get the point where I am more and more dependant on God to the point where when someone says thanks, I can say "But what did I do?" By saying that, I would be giving the person who deserves the credit, the credit; That would be God!

Adventures with a ceiling fan

The light bulb in our ceiling fan had been flickering on and off for the last day or so. Today it totally stopped working. So when I got home from church this afternoon, I started taking it all apart figuring a wire was loose. Well I took it all apart, took the wire nut off, put the wire nut back on, tried it again...nothing. Arghish. I am thinking in my head..is it the switch? Is it the socket? So I decided I would check the socket, remove the globe, take out the light bulb, look at light bulb. Guess what? The light bulb was burned out. Arghish. All that work for a light bulb.

So that got me thinking...what is the most effective form of reaching for people Christ? It is someone telling someone else about what Christ has done for them. We spend most of our time and energy focused on things that are not the obvious choice (i.e. taking apart the whole fan before you check the light bulb). I promise you that any church will allow you to tell anyone you want about the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. It is efficient, effective, and well inexpensive.

Your friend you have that really needs to know Christ, maybe you don't need Billy Graham to have a tent revival in your back yard. Maybe you just need to tell him or her.

Why Bakerstown Alliance is so much fun

It is so fun because they allow me to be me. I know I am odd. I know I do things that are just not normal. But here is the more amazing part: They not only allow me to do weird things, but respond to my weirdness.
On Sunday the message came down to two questions:
#1 Do I value God enough?
#2 Do I value myself enough?
In order to show this visually, I handed everyone a paper plate. Then I held up a china plate. Obviously God should be fine china, and if He thought enough of us to send His Son, then we, too, are fine china.
I asked them to write on the paper plate if they were struggling with one or both of those questions. I was blown away at the responses. I was blown away at God working through me and in people's lives.
Having people grow closer to Christ, yeah that gets me excited, and that is a lot of fun!

Sleep...I Need Sleep

These Olympics are great. I love them. The problem is that I love them too much. Every night I find myself staying up way too late. I know I can find out the results when I get up in the morning, but for some reason I just can't make myself go to bed. I will admit, I love watching the Olympics. Maybe this is why they are only once every 4 years. Maybe it is so that I don't lose too much sleep :)

You got enough... trust me

Craig Groeschel said, "We have every resource we need to reach the people God has called us to reach today."
Wow, re-read those words. I will give you a second.
I love at quote. I wonder how much time we spend talking about what we don't have? I wonder how many opportunities we miss because we are too focused on what we don't have.
God will give us what we need to reach those who He has called us to reach today. I think when you have that in mind, you start wondering: "Who is it that God wants me to reach today?" rather than "Oh we don't have enough to do that."
Now go read those words by Craig one more time. I'll wait again :)
Now go reach the people has called you to reach today.

Giving...Some Good Stuff to Ponder

I am young. I was not around during the great depression. My parents were not around during the great depression. My grandparents were. I have also talked to a great number of people who survived the great depression. They are very interesting. They have a totally different mindset. They will save stuff that I would never think about saving. It is just fascinating to me to see how they been affected by the great depression.

Now the great depression was tough on a lot of people. Everything I read, everyone I talked to, all say that times were tough. I believe they were tough. I believe that things were difficult. I believe people had to do a lot "creative spending" to make ends meet.

Here is the interesting part to me: During the great depression people were giving 3% of their income to Christian/Charitable causes. Today, people are giving less then 2-3% of their income.
That is tough for me to swallow. I know gas prices are ridiculous. I know that maybe this is not the "strongest" economy right now. But I have to think that that hardships that we are facing today is nothing compared to the great depression.

My best guess, is like most things, it comes down to priorities. Rather then try and blast the society that we are living in, I encourage you to ask the same questions that I am asking to myself.

• Am I honoring God with my giving?
• Am I honoring God with my spending?
• Am I trusting God to meet all my needs?
• Am I remembering who owns all the resources in the world? (hint a 3 letter word, starts with G)
• Am I giving out of guilt, or am I giving out of my love for God?

Hard questions to honestly answer, I know that. But wrestle with those questions personally. To pin it on society as a whole is trying to get out of dealing with the issues. I know that because I have tried to do it :)

Weekend Thoughts

What an incredible weekend. So much happened. Let me tell you some of the highlights:

• Got to see Heather's grandma on Saturday. It was a blast, and the food was wonderful


• Richland Community Day happened without Bakerstown Alliance this year. The cost/reward factor was just not there anymore


• The Olympics are going to make me very tired. I just can't stop watching them at night :)


• Sunday was nice, it wasn't too hot. Now don't worry, I still sweated like crazy


• Felt there was a good vibe on Sunday, liked it


• Bob Keener shared about his cancer treatments, wow that guy is amazing. He trusts God for everything. You have to love that


• Then for the highlight of the weekend -- We had a baptism party!


• 5 People got baptized


• I asked them all "why do you want baptized?" Those answers were priceless -- they were raw, real, and much better said than I could have ever said myself.


• 5 people! wow!


• Then we had food -- not just any food. But lots (aka I ate too much) of good food


• It was great


• 8 Wins for Kyle Bush...that is impressive


• Did you see the 4X100 relay? I was trying to go to bed, and next thing you know I am sitting up yelling at the TV and then celebrating, it was great


• Got up at 6:45 a.m.


• Why? To run of course. But not just 1 mile or 2 miles or 3 miles, or even 11 miles or 12 miles or 13 miles. I ran 18! wow! Felt good! Did not walk at all!


• Next week I think I am only scheduled to run 12 miles, nice break.


• My wife is the greatest person in the world.

Angel food...It is so worth it!

A couple of months after a friends suggested it, we tried Angel Food. Great concept. You basically order food two weeks in advance and for $30 you get about $60 worth of food. It is overstocked food from places like Sam's Club. There are also a bunch of "special offers." In June we got a grill pack and put it in the freezer. Today we got out the T-bone steaks, thawed them, marinated them, and later cooked them. Wow! I have never had steak that was that tender or that juicy. Wow! I am still thinking about it now.
Another cool part about the deal is you get a variety of food. A lot of stuff is stuff you probably would never buy. So it adds variety to your cooking, which in my mind is always good.
I will encourage you to give it a shot. http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

Lawn Mowing and Pursuing God Ordained Dreams

So you look at the title and you think what is Dan up to now. Let me explain:
It all started on Monday. I blogged about my frustrating day. One of the frustrating events was with my lawnmower. Let me tell you what it took to get my grass mowed this week.
It started on Sunday. I had to replace the blades. That took a lot of effort. They did not want to come off for anything. Finally I got them off and the new ones on. Then I put the mower deck back on the riding lawn mower, went to start it and... nothing. So I looked around at it, found that it was a loose wire and decided to fix it tomorrow. So I fixed that problem.

On Monday I started the lawn mower, then started the mower deck. The new blades were hitting the deck (due to a previous "incident") so I had to pound that out. Finally I got it going again, and broke the belt. Trip to Lowe's, new belt, ok I am going again. Then I hit something and broke a piece that I needed to special order.

On Thursday the part was delivered, and I put it on. Wow I was actually mowing again. Then I ran out of gas. Run to the gas station, get gas, run back, put it in the lawn mower, start mowing again. Then something went wrong with that mower. It quit running. So I fixed it on Friday and finally was able to finish mowing.
So I look outside and I see the grass is mowed. And I am happy.
So now what does all of that have to do with pursuing God-ordained dreams? Well those God-ordained dreams are not going to occur without road blocks, obstacles, and set backs. Just because it is tough, or full of challenges, doesn't mean it is time to bail out.
Finish the job. Follow the dream.

My cool surprise last night

As I was sitting at home yesterday afternoon, taking a nap, and thinking about watching the olympics opening ceremony and Steelers preseason game, I got a phone call. And this was one of those cool phone calls. It was Beth and Jamie calling to tell me that they had 2 extra tickets to the musical West Side Story. Cool. So I called my mom and asked if she could watch two little cuties, and she said she could. The next thing you know Heather and I are out the door. It was really nice to get the opportunity to go out on a "date."

Ouch! That hurt!

What hurt? My whole body from my run today. For some unknown (to anyone with a brain) reason, I thought it would be good to run 15 miles today? Why? Why would I think that?
But in all seriousness, I made it, which was the goal for today. I think honestly, this whole marathon thing is probably the hardest thing I have ever done, physically speaking. Man it just tears you up and spits you out. I still hope to do the Erie Marathon on September 14th. Got a couple more killer long runs (a 17 mile and a 20 mile) in the next couple of weeks. After that, it is the grand daddy of them all, the Marathon.
I have set a couple of goals:

• Baseline Goal = FINISH
• Realistic Gaol = 6 Hours
• BHAG (Big Harry audacious Goal) = 5.5 Hours

So that is what I am working toward. On one hand I am really excited. On the other hand I am truly petrified (and no I am not talking about everyone's favorite Christian rock band from the 80's/90's)

The Update on My Frustrating Day

I did go to bed early last night. And by the time I woke up, things appeared not that much different. I started trying to get the water back to normal. I thought that I could basically flip a switch and it would work. Well it wasn't that simple. But I kept at it, and figured it out in about 45 minutes. Now my wife could verify this for you, but my day does not begin until I get a shower. So I got the water working, and took a shower. Suddenly the world was right.
So I began to tackle today's tasks. No problem. I am sitting here smiling, happy, and enjoying life once again.
God is big enough to pull you through any "arghish" (I think that word might stick around for a while) situations you might have. God is the God of rest -- boy did I need that. God is the God of hope -- He gave it to me. God is God!

My Frustrating Day

Argh! The word of the day. Argh and double argh. I still don't think those words are enough to express the full arghness of the day. Let me tell you why it was so arghish.
First I got up early to go for a long run. I was planning on running 15 miles. I made it five miles and my feet were really hurting. I got a blister last week so I knew there was already a problem. So I stopped to check it out. It was bleeding through my band aid and through my sock. So I stopped running. Now I am trying to decide if I can run through the pain and get back on schedule. If that was the only thing it would have been an ok day.

My tractor is on my bad list. Last night I changed the blades (it took me and my dad to loosen the one bolt). Put the deck back on the mower, went to start it and... nothing. Realized there was a bad wire. It was too late last night. So when I got home from running this morning, I started working on the tractor again. I got it to start! Then I engaged the blades on the mower deck. Sure enough, from a previous "incident" the deck was bent and once again I had to pound the deck out so the blades did not hit it. Argh. Finally got it all cleared, then started mowing again. Made it 50 feet and broke the belt. Are you kidding me? Drove to Lowe's, got another belt, put it on, everything was going great. Well that was for 50 feet. I hit something and broke part of the deck. Course I could not find this piece anywhere nearby so I had to order it. Should be here by Thursday. By that time my grass should be about as high as Samuel.

About a month ago we bought a new ceiling fan for our TV room. I decided to do that project since I couldn't mow. "At least I will be able to something productive." Good news - it is now up and working! Bad news -- while I was taking the old one down, I shattered the old globe all over the floor were the boys play most often. Argh!

Our upstairs toilet has been acting up lately. It won't stop running after it's flushed. So naturally it was running for a long time. If you have city water this means a big bill. If, like us, you have a well, it means that you have no water. Argh!

So at this point I totally had it. But it is garbage night. So I start collecting all the garbage, and I get to the litter box. I was out of litter. Argh. That meant for the 5th time today (I added it up) we had to go to route 8. Argh

So at this point it is 9:06 pm. I have decided that I am going to bed early tonight. I've had it. Enough is enough. I am going to bed.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Good night!

P.S. The picture I tried to attach to this post wouldn't load due to "an internal error." Figures.