Giving up is not an option

Friday I wake up and get in the shower. While I am in the shower the water pressure kept getting less and less until there was no water. Argh. My pipes were frozen (again). So I start with all my tricks. Nothing! I could not get it unfrozen for anything. So I left the heater on it for a couple hours, get back home, try again, nothing! Argh! Called the plumber. He could not fix it. Argh. He gave me an idea that involved a big torpedo heater and some plastic. So I rented the torpedo bought the plastic and made basically a room. I heated it to about 75 degrees in there. After doing that for about 3 hours, I tried it again, and it worked! I had running water! So then I had to return the torpedo heater, get some more heat tape and insulation. Went home. Put the heat tape and insulation on. Finally at 10:00 I take a long hot shower.
Yes it felt good to get it done. I think that is result of refusing not to give up. This case it was water. But what if it is something that God is calling you to do. It might not happen right away. Will you finish the task or will you give up?

Eating with my wife

Tonight I did something that I have not done in a long time. I ate with my wife...Just my wife! How fun. I talked to her tonight with the only interruption was the server asking us what we wanted to order. Wow! It was nice to be able to have a full conversation, no interruptions, no mess to clean up, and no cutting food into small pieces. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. I love being with them. But it is nice to spend some time with my wife. Just was a real good time.

Praying for our Leaders

Today, I had a meeting with a bunch of pastors (and surprisingly it was only an hour). We were planning a joint service next Monday to pray for our elected officials before the big inauguration. Had a couple of thoughts I would like to share.

• I think it is neat that this will be on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Just something interesting about that to me.
• Love the opportunity we have to do what we are told to do. Pray for our leaders. Do we have to agree with them? No! But we are told to pray for them.
• Though this is not the first time that we have done something like this, it never ceases to amaze me how easy it is for us to do this. There is no tension among my fellow pastors. There is no worry about who gets the credit. There is no "well if he is involved then I am not going to participate." Just love how there is no tension there.
• The group of pastors I met with today...They love Jesus! The Greater Richland Area has a bunch of good guys leading their churches. That is sweet!

The big mo

I think one of the most overlooked aspects in life is momentum. I don't think we give it enough credit. Seriously, it is important. Being the sports junkie that I am, I am convinced that teams win (or lose) because of momentum.
After my experiences at Bakerstown, there were times when we had momentum and things were happening. It was great. Then of course there were also times when we did not have the mo going. During those times, well, things were not so good.
The question that I have been pondering lately is how to get and keep the big mo. As far as getting the big mo, that is not too difficult. Basically you find anything that is good, or excellent, or worthy of praise and you think of those things. (Phil. 4:8) Then soon after that you have momentum.
The keeping it is the hard part. I think the problem comes when we become content. When things become good enough. The key is to be always pushing the bar. Sure, celebrate the "wins" along the way. Sure, enjoy the moment. But the drive for more has to be there or else there is no mo.
I would love to hear your thoughts.

Sledding

This morning I had to be at the Lighthouse. The whole time I was there I wanted to be outside playing in the snow. I got home at lunch time. Ate lunch. Then we got the boys all bundled up and it was time to play. Boy did we play. Last year Isaiah did not ever go sledding with me. This year he did! And later on I got him to go by himself. That was a blast. The whole time he is laughing and having fun. I was just having a blast. I love that I can do these things with my kids. Probably because I am just a big kid myself.

My addictive personality

I have one of the most addictive personality I know. This is true in just about every facet of my life. Food, exercise, games, ect.. I don't now why. I just do something and I have to take it to the next level. That is why I wasn't satisfied with running a 10k or something like that, I had to do the whole marathon. Currently, it is Tetris on Facebook. Just can't get enough of it. Is anyone out there willing to admit their obsessions?

How a good day is made

I am not sure how this happened, but when I was in the shower this morning I started singing (in my head) From the Inside Out. It could be because that is the last song we practiced at our worship team practice. I am not sure. So all morning long, I was rocking out (in my head) all morning long. Made for a good day.
Now I would love to sit here and say that I do this every morning. Just not true. But maybe I should try to do this every day.

Ode to Obi

Today was not a great day. Our cat Obadiah, Obi for short, was really sick yesterday. He threw up several times. This morning we took him to the vet. The vet told us that he would need surgery (really expensive) and that the surgery may not work. So we had him put to sleep.
I know I will miss that little fur ball. We got him a couple months after Heather and I got married. He was the friendliest cat you have ever seen. I loved those days when he would keep my feet warm by laying on top of them. He was a little bad a times. We learned not to keep food out. But overall he was a really good cat. We will miss him.
You probably wonder why we named him Obadiah. Honestly, it is just a fun name to say. It also helped me learn another book of the Bible.
Obi was a good kitty.

P.S. No! No! No! We do not want another cat! We do not want a dog! We do not want fish! We do not want a ferret! We do not want a rabbit! We do not want a snake! We do not want any pet whatsoever!

Frozen Pipes

When we got home yesterday, Heather started to fill up the bath tub to give the boys a bath. Shortly thereafter, we find out that there is no more water. Look at it real quick and realize that the pipes are frozen. Quickly, I go to the source of the problem. I remove the cover over the pipes and rest it against the wall. I then get a blanket on put it over the cover and make a little tent. Next, step is to get the portable electric heaters and the blow dryer. Now I kept my eye on it, and would occasionally feel inside the "tent." Wow! It was pretty warm in there. After about 10 minutes, I kicked the pump on, and you hear these little chunks of ice going through. Fortunately no broken pipes. And everything worked fine after that.
Now rest assured this is not the first time this has happened. The first time I had no clue what to do. I had to call my dad to ask him what to do. This time (#5) I did it in about 15 minutes start to finish.
What I find funny is when Isaiah or Samuel grow up and have their own home, I know what is going to happen. They are going to call me and ask me what to do. And of course I will tell them.

Long drive and 3 year old!

Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking "now there is a disaster waiting to happen." We went to Connecticut this past week. Roughly 500 miles one way. On Wednesday when we drove up we only stop 2 times. One for a quick bathroom break. The other for supper, gas, and a bathroom break. Not bad if you ask me. And then on the way home, we only stopped twice again. Once was for the gas, food, and bathroom. The other was just gas. I am really amazed. I thought for sure we would be stopping like every hour. Makes me a little more ambitious to go further places. Any suggestions? :)