How I know if I got my $$'s worth on my clothes

When I outgrow (or after I started running, under growing) my clothes I like to give them to someone that could use them. I feel that is just being a good steward of my property.
Now if it is a sizing issue, I don't mind getting rid of clothes. But then there is the other side.
That is the side where you get rid of clothes that still fit. Come on, you know what I am talking about. The ones where you buy them, take them home, and ask yourself "what was I thinking?". We all do that. When I have that happen, I kinda get upset at myself. I am just a frugal (ok, cheep) person. I feel like I am waisting my money.
What makes me kinda of proud (at least in a sick way) is the clothes that still fit, but are deemed unworthy to be worn and public and unworthy to pass along and head straight to the garbage. Ahh, then I know I got my money's worth!

The Guardian

I am sitting here watching a movie called "The Guardian." It is a good movie. Go get it on Net Flix. But the thing that is impressing me most is the talk what is the Coast Guard willing to do save someone. They are willing to whatever it takes to save someone. I just wonder if I have that same fight to do the things that God has called me to do. To rescue those who need rescued. I hope I do.

How I get rid of a cold

I am sick. It takes a lot for me to admit that but, I am. I have a huge sore throat. On top of that my whole body is aching. So at staff meeting today I shared my theory on how to get rid of a cold. Simple, exercise! I think you can get rid of a cold by some good old exercise. Being that I like to run, my method of exercise is running. Sound pretty easy huh? Now the rest of the staff thought I was crazy. I did go for a run today. And man did it feel great. Not to be gross, but I could feel some junk breaking up inside of me. After I was done I felt really good. Unfortunately now I feel bad again. Argh! Hopefully the other way Dan gets rid of a cold will work tonight. That would be the all famous NyQuil. That's some good stuff.
So what I would like to know from all of you is this: How do you get rid of a cold? What is your secret? Any suggestions?

The Economy and Families

As the economy was tanking, I knew certain things were going to happen at the Lighthouse. I anticipated more calls, more people needing help, and having to work even harder to find funding. Those things I expected. I was ready for them at least mentally.
But there was something that I was not prepared for: a number of marriages falling apart. I guess this was just an oversight on my part. The reason this is happening is when finances are not good, that puts a lot of stress on a marriage. That stress leads to marriages falling apart.
For example, about two weeks ago I was talking to a lady today who brought her car into our Wheels of Work program to be checked over. We looked at it, and the car was beyond repair. The cost to fix the car exceeded the value of the vehicle. I received a phone call from her today. She was wondering if we had a vehicle available. Unfortunately with new car sales down, the amount of people donating their old car is down as well. With less donated cars, we have less cars available. Because of this ordeal there was a lot of arguing and fighting, and now this couple is separated.
I am not sitting here blaming myself or anyone else. It is just a sad reality. I am hoping and praying for the family and the countless other families who are going/will be going through stuff like this. I will do my best to preserve the family.

Making life eaiser

Our microwave died today. I will admit it has been a good microwave. But after 17 years of existence, it quit. So we went to get a new one tonight. We found one that says it will grill/toast. Well that seemed exciting. We could replace our toaster oven and our microwave all in one fast swoop. Now the making toast in the microwave has not been going too well. We tried but we timed it and our old toaster oven takes 1 minute and 50 seconds to toast a piece of bread, and we have not been able to break the 4 minute mark with the microwave. Maybe we will try a few more things.
But that did get me thinking, why do we have a washer and dryer? Why can't we figure out how to do both in one unit? Doesn't that make sense? I mean we figured out how a dishwasher can wash and dry dishes. It is just a pain to go down in the basement to switch a load of laundry.
Hmm...why stop there. Don't you think it is a little ridiculous that there are ovens, microwaves, toasters, toaster ovens, convection ovens? Wouldn't it be great if they could just combine them all in one?
Sorry for the ramblings :)

Dwelling on the things of God

Today was one of those days that just seemed to go on and on without anything happening you want. I stared at a computer for a long time filling out a grant. Worked and worked and worked on it. We got it done, faxed it off and we good to go. Or so I thought. I listened to my voice mail and had a call from a lady who we just faxed everything to and she told us that what we just finished is not what she needed. Argh. It was just one of those days. But just before I left, I returned a call and was able to help someone. So I am going to go to bed tonight thinking about the person that we were able to help. You have to do that. You have to remember what you are trying to do. I when it happens, think of those things.

Talk, talk, talk

Ok, I can admit, I talk to much. My name is Dan and I am a talk-a-holic. Now while this is true, I need to defend myself. I only talk about things that I am passionate about. If you get me on a subject that gets me fired up, I am sorry if you have to listen to me forever (is this an apology to my wife?).
So tonight when I had an opportunity to talk about some of the things we do at the Lighthouse, sure no problem. I was talking (and talking, and talking) when I realized that my time was up. Wow, I think I could have talked for like 2 more hours.
But when all said and done, I am glad that there is certain things in my life that I passionate about that do get me fired up. But man, do I talk a lot!

The 10%

Now I know you are thinking this is going to be about tithing, not quite. Let me explain.
10% of what we do takes up 90% of our time. This is definitely true in my life. I think back to putting together a service when I was at Bakerstown Alliance. It would be that 10% of service that I would spend 90% of the time.
Understand something here, if you were back in school a 90% on a test is not too bad. In fact there were many times I could only dream about a 90%. However, 90% is good, but not great.
The feeling you get when you invest that time and energy to get that 100% rather then 90% is amazing. I love being in that 10% zone.
When you see someone, or a group of people, operating at the full 100% you can tell. Much of the time you can't put it in words, but you can sense it.
Let me just encourage you to find something that you could do at 90% with no problem, but put in that extra effort, that 90% time for that extra 10% and remember that feeling. You going to like it, trust me!

Power

Once again our power went out. Argh. It went out most of last night came on this morning and went out again. Argh. Now this time I will admit, I can handle a couple of hours, unlike a couple of days back in September.
Now what if we had to suffer "brown outs" or "black outs" with God that would be really devastating. How long do you think you could go without the "power" or should I say the Holy Spirit in your life? One hour? 10 hours? 1 day?
Honestly, I don't know if I could survive. Then again, I don't want to find out.

My New Band!

Yeah that is right, I joined a new band today. And let me just tell you, it is pretty sweet! We already have a name for our new band: Richland Park! We had our first practice today and let me just tell you we had some sounds that you have never heard before. But were we ever rocking it hard.

And now for the rest of the story:

Isaiah decided that he wanted to play with his instruments, so we got them out of the closet and thought he would have a fun time. He then told us he was going to make a new band. We asked him the name and he said Richland Park Band (pretty sweet title huh?). Well somehow he decided that we needed to play, but we were only allowed to play upstairs. So I went upstairs with Isaiah, we break out the instruments, and I had to play like 7 at a time. There was no getting away from that one. So while I was doing the best I could to rock out on my 7 instruments (I have a hard time walking and chewing gum might I remind you) Isaiah would be singing. I definitely noticed some hard-core/rap influences on his vocal selections. Heather then came and joined the band to. Some of the lyrics that Isaiah was singing made you laugh and cry at the same time. All in all was just a really fun time. However, I am glad we don't live that close to our neighbors!

"The impact God has planned for us doesn't occur when we're pursuing impact. It occurs when we're pursuing God." Phil Vischer.

Stop, re-read that quote above. I will wait till you finish.

Most of us want a close deep relationship with God. In fact, in all my years of ministry I don't think I have ever met anyone who does not want a closer relationship with God. The end result or the impact of a close relationship with God is incredible. But to pursue that end result for the sake of the end result is not where it is at. The impact is in that pursuing.

Now I am no expert at marriage, I make many mistakes. In order to have that impact that we all want, the impact that God has planned for marriage, you have to be pursuing your spouse. It is in that pursuit that you will find the impact that you so desire.

Let's take one dimension of spirituality, prayer. There are a thousand different "techniques" that I have read about. So the one day you are doing it one way and it is giving you that impact, great. The next day you try the same thing nothing. So move on to another method, and then another. During those time of pursuing that relationship with God, you will have that impact that you are craving.

Not Burned Out

I have been thinking about this lately. Have I ever been burned out? Hmm...tough question to answer. So I thought about it for a while. Honestly I don't think I have. Well that might not be completely true. I think I might have got burned out when I worked for Shop-N-Save. I will admit, it was not exactly where I saw my self in say 5 years, nor was it a career goal for me. Plain and simple it was a job that paid me. But as far as the rest of my life goes, I don't know think I have been burned out. Now I will admit to being tired and needing a vacation. I know of a lot of times I needed a break. Burned out? I don't think so. I have a theory on why that it is. It is simply because I have been concentrating on doing what God has called me to do. I have been trying to follow his leading. That is not to say that I am perfect and I do everything right. It is just interesting to me to see the level of contentedness (is that a word?) of people who are trying to do what God is calling them to do. Makes you wonder doesn't it? Understand that these people who are not burned out following God's leading still suffer, still feel defeated, still feel spent. But they have that goal and purpose that God has given them. It is that goal and purpose that prevents burn out.

Stuck in the Driveway

I don't know if it really blog worthy, but I am going to anyways. This past week I have had 4 vehicles stuck in my driveway. Argh. Now let me tell you about them:

• This was our van. Heather was backing up and accidentally got it into the snow. Fortunately with the help of 4 pushers and 1 driver we were able to get it on the driveway again
• The 2nd one was the Prism and totally the result of me not paying attention. Some how I drove it off the driveway, then of course tried to fix my mistake and got it stuck worse. Called AAA but they would not come. They said our road was too scary. Wimps! So I called my dad, he tried and could not get it. Finally, Dave Martin brought the plow truck over and hooked up a chain to it and pulled right out.
• So today I was driving our little box truck (affectionately referred to as "Mini-Me"). I drove it right up our driveway with no problem. Got something from the house and started heading back down the driveway. I slid into the side of the hill. Stuck!
• So I called my dad again, hooked up a tow rope, pulled with his mini van, nothing! Then we could not get the rope off because we could not go forward with the mini van. That took a while but through a series of pushing and pulling we moved the mini van forward just barely enough to get the strap off. Then we had to push the mini van out. Finally we were able to get my dad's minivan moving again. I know what your are thinking, what about Mini-Me? Dave Martin to the rescue again. Tried the first time and no luck. Gave it a jerk and was to move it.

I am so done with all this snow, hopefully it all melts off my driveway this week. I don't want to get any more vehicles stuck.

How to make my wife happy

Being the kind loving supporting husband that I wish I was, I am always thinking that I should be trying to think of the perfect gift for my wife. You know what I am talking about, the gift that she will never forget. The type of gift that will leave her speechless.
With all of that in mind, I have gotten my wife just about everything you could imagine to try find that special gift. I have tried the spa gift card. I have tried the MP3 player. I have cooked a great meal. You name it, I tried it.
I think I have finally figured out what I should be getting her. Office supplies! That's right. You heard me. I am talking sticky notes, mechanical pencils with the refills, erasers that fit on top of the pencils, paper clips.
Next time you see me going to Staples, don't think I am picking up something for the Lighthouse. I am buying my wife a present she will love.

Tax Time

It is the time again. Time to start on the taxes. Now, some people get really worried about taxes. Some people at the mere mention of the word go into cardiac arrest. Some people "forget" to pay their taxes (was that a political reference?). Personally, I find it a game. I find it a challenge to find every possible legal way of paying the least amount of taxes possible. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should pay their fair share of taxes. But the way the tax code is written, there is tons of loop holes, heck there is even loop holes for the loop holes. I still do my own taxes. And don't tell this to the IRS, but I have never been audited! You know you are proud of me! So as another tax season is upon us, happy deductions!