The Weekend Update

Just a few things from the weekend:

• I took Friday off since I didn't take off my normal Monday. That was different, it was kinda fun
• Did basically a lot of errands on Friday
• Saturday I borrowed my dad's lawnmower to do some trimming around that house, which begs the question, will I ever fix my lawnmower?
• We had a bunch of people over at our house on Saturday for Isaiah's 3rd 3 year old birthday (why does he get like 4 or 5 birthdays?)
• Sunday was fun
• I felt Sunday the message had a old school feeling. It was a good time
• I did embarrass my wife on Sunday. Should I stop doing that?
• Swedish Meatballs at my mom's -- YUM!
• My kids have been waking up way too early
• This morning they were both up at like 7
• I ran today. Not one not two not three not four but 12 miles. Surprisingly it felt good
• I'm tired, good night!

This Day 7 Years Ago...

Was a great day. It was about 110 degrees. It was way hot. And I was actually dressed up. Yes, it was our wedding day. Still remember a lot of things about that day. I made sure of it. But more than just remembering one event that happened 7 years ago, I am thinking about the past 7 years. They have flown by.
Guys let me give you this advice: You know that person in your life that makes you awkwardly nervous every time you see her, or the one that makes your heart race, or the one you sit there and think "I could never be with her, she is too good for me", or the one you say something like "well if we lived closer so we could spend more time together then it might work," that person; chase her! (Chase the Lion) Go after her. Pursue her with all your might. Catching the greatest girl was a lot of work. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I thank God all the time for giving me Heather. I am the luckiest person in the world.

Always Room To Improve

When I was much younger and much thinner I was running cross country in high school. That is when my love for running started. But when I was running I decided something: I would quit the moment I ran my best that I would be capable of. The moment there was no room for improvement, I would be done! It was about always trying to run better.
I like to take that approach when it comes to ministry as well. The moment I do my best that I will be capable of, I quit. I always want to be improving. I have that internal drive inside of me that wants to be doing better. It sometimes is tough, you do something really well and you walk away saying "Yes, but I could have done..." or "Yes, but if I would have said..." stuff like that.
I am going to continue to try and improve. And I am going to keep trying to improve until either A: I die or B: Christ comes back.

I have sunk to a new low

Last night I noticed that the battery on my car was not doing too good. I had to jump my car to get to VBS. After VBS I went to start it it was completely dead. Argh. So I got a ride home, grabbed my tools, took the other car back to the church, jumped it again, drove it to Advance Auto Parts, pulled in at 9:02 and they locked the door on me. Shoot. Well it is off to Walmart. Get my shopping cart, head to the complete other side. Find the right battery. Go all the way back to the other side. Check out. Go outside in the parking lot and begin the procedure. You know how it goes, forget where you put the wrench, grab the wrong wrench, can't get the screw off. Finally get the battery in with the tie down in place and realize you have it in backwards. Take it back out turn it around tie it down and then you can't find your wrench. Well I did get it in and hooked up. Guess what? It worked! The whole thing reminded me of my dad. Am I becoming like him? Ahhhh!!!!! Scary! Then sure enough, like father like son, I got a drink at Sheetz after I was done.

Once again, another wreck

The intersection where Bakerstown Alliance is, is scary to say the least. I am pretty sure I am aware of about 10 wrecks there in the last 5 years. There could have been more, but despite what it seems I am not there all the time.
We were getting ready for VBS tonight, and I hear the sound that I have heard too many times. The sound of cars crashing. So I look outside, and sure enough, there is a wreck. So I head outside in the rain and make sure that everyone is ok.
There is a old lady in the one car. Physically she is fine. But she is panicking. Don't know what to do. So I just talked to her. Asked her questions, and just tried to keep her calm. Thankfully within a couple of minutes the police and paramedics arrived. They are so much better at handling that stuff.
The weird part was we tried to call the lady's son. She could only remember his home phone, not his cell phone number. So I get a call a little bit later from her son who she had not gotten a hold of yet. Needless to say it is not fun having to tell someone his mom was in a wreck.
Now I am trying to figure out what we can do to make that intersection better/safer.

Crazy Weekend

Sorry that, until now, I have not been able to tell you about the weekend. On Friday we took the time to decorate the kitchen and dining room to celebrate Isaiah's birthday which was Saturday. Hard to believe the little cutie is 3 years old now. Man I am having more and more fun with him. It was a lot of fun playing with him most of the day on Saturday.
Then of course there was Sunday. I only took one week off from preaching, and man did I miss it. It was so much fun. I loved kicking a bunch of boxes (i.e. knocking down the wall of Jericho) and watching everyone jump out of their seats :) It is nice that Bakerstown Alliance lets me do fun stuff like that.
It is VBS week! Yeah! So with a little bit of quick work by a bunch of people we set up everything in like an hour. VBS is a lot of work every year, but kids come to know Christ every year.
Because of VBS I worked today. Mondays....why do they exist? I think we should just cancel them completely. There is no need for Mondays.
I ran 10 miles today. Haven't ran that far since my 1/2 marathon. Felt good. So if 10 miles took a little under 2 hours; 20 miles would be 4 hours, then 26.2 should be 5 hours? 5 hours that would not be bad.
All in all a fun weekend.

Miracles

*Warning: Some theological content will appear in this post.*
Heather and I have been having an ongoing discussion about miracles. Basically what is a miracle, what isn't a miracle, and do miracles happen today.
Now I have heard/read all sorts of theories on miracles. Honestly, I understand where most of them are coming from and they make some good points.
A lot of it boils down to your definition of a miracle. Some people say that it has to be an unexplainable physical occurrence (i.e. the parting of the Red Sea). Others will say it is waking up and still being able to breath.
My definition is this: Anything that can be traced back to God. My reason for that may be a little different then the norm (ok, I am a little different than normal). My reason for that is when I start thinking of miracles in my life, I start focusing on God. When I realize all that he has done for me, when I realize the way he has been operating in my daily life it is a miracle. When I think of those miracles, I praise God!
Anything that leads to praising God is good, right? Therefore I am going to keep thinking about all the miracles in my life. Maybe I have been thinking about it a lot lately, but man, the number of miracles in my life in just the past week blows my mind.
I am not sure if I have gotten all the thoughts out of my head about this subject yet. I might have to have more posts later about this. I would love to hear you insights, definitions, thoughts, or reactions about any of this.

I'm back (which is more than I can say for my mini-van)

We made it back from Faith Mountain last night. Well, maybe I should say that we almost made it. The van broke down about eight miles from our house. Fortunately my mom was able to pick us up. What a fun time playing with my family. Loved it. There are many fun legendary stories to share with you guys, and I will at some point. Right now I'm getting everything caught back up. Thanks to all of you who were praying for me.

Blogcation

That right, I am off on vacation. I decided not to take my laptop, hence there will be no blogging. Kinda weird huh? Hope you all have a fun time. I know I will :) Keep it real and peace I'm out!

Weekend Random Thoughts

On Friday I got to spend two hours with a great man of God. Get this, it was literally right after he got done with a cancer treatment. He is 3 times older then I am, and I learned so much from him.

• Enjoyed spending Friday evening with the family
• Saturday we went to the zoo, that is always a good time. And now that we have a zoo membership, it makes it even more fun (i.e. it is already paid for)
• Just in case you didn't know, it is hot!
• Sunday was a great day!
• But it was hot
• It was hot when I walked outside at 6:30 a.m.
• Church was hot
• Todd brought me peanut butter doughnuts (yum)
• Good attendance even though it was hot
• Just love the openness of Bakerstown Alliance
• I asked everyone if they had issues, everyone raised their hands. You don't know how much that means to me. I love that about Bakerstown Alliance
• We got to use a paper shredder in church. Wow, that was fun!
• Lunch at my parents'...boy did that hit the spot
• Had to mow the grass, it was really hot outside
• Then it was packing, obligatory Walmart run, more packing
• forgot to tell you that I took 3 showers today. Did I mention it was hot?

Never Have I Wanted To Walk In Jesus' Shoes As Much As I Did Last Night

I knew it was going to be extremely hot at church today. And I knew that the AC wasn't going to work (ok there is no AC). Also keep in mind I have the blisters on my feet. I really didn't want to wear socks. I didn't want to wear my shoes. I wanted to wear my sandals. So I asked my wife if it would be ok if I wore my sandals. Her answer was: "If you had 'Jesus' sandals it would be ok." Man, I wish I could walk in His shoes :)

Dreaming big these days

I guess because I am 31 I am supposed to "settle down" or to "accept things the way the are." Not going to happen. I am still dreaming. I always want to be dreaming. I want to be 92 and still dreaming. Dreaming of stuff God is going to do. I really honestly have yet to give up on a God-given dream. I am not going to. I know with God all things are possible.
Now understand, I don't want people to say, "Wow Dan is so cool." That is not why I share all this. I am sharing this just to encourage you to keep on dreaming. Would love to hear about your dreams. You can leave me a comment or shoot me an email. Now I am going to go and dream about a bunch of people chasing their dreams. Already started to do that, Boy is this fun :)

Being a father

Today I read one of the saddest blog entries I have ever read. You can check it out here. Wow! It made me think how lucky I am to have my two boys who are completely healthy. I love the guy's openness and his ability to trust God through all of this. I don't understand why these things happen. I don't know what I did to deserve two perfect kids. I do know this: I thank God everyday for those little ones and for the fact that my kids have the greatest mom (I don't deserve her either). So I try and value everyday I have with them, to enjoy it, to try and make the most of it. By the way, I said "try." I am far from perfect.

My running update

Yes I am still planning to run a marathon this year. I really want to do the city of Erie marathon on Sept 14th. Hopefully I will be ready by then. Unfortunately those blisters on my feet have sidelined me for a while. I am not sure for how long. I hope it's just a couple of days. This was a "step down" week for me. So I guess it is good that it is this week rather then a normal week. Every three weeks is a step down week, which means that you run less than the week before. That way your body has more of a chance to recuperate. But still I will press on.

That Hurt

This may just be a pathetic attempt to get sympathy. On Friday I drove to North Park to run. When I got there I realized I did bring my socks. So I thought that I was just run without socks. No big deal right? Maybe a little stinky feet, but I would be ok right? Well I have blisters on the back of my feet. Ouch! What a pain! Moral of the story: "Always wear socks"