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.