It snowed today!

I just wanted a record for my grandchildren (yes, they will read this one day) that on April 22, the year of our Lord 2008 it snowed in Newark, Ohio.

I came down this AM and looked out and could not believe that the ground was covered. Angela said when she came downstairs at 5:30 AM the snow flakes were huge.

The cars had about 0.5" (that's 1/2 inch to my southern friends) of wet heavy snow on them.

Tinker started out, tried to turn around and come back in but I made him go on out. He could not believe it either.

I cannot remember ever having a snow this late before. The temp was around 35 degrees, so I am sure it will not last.

Amazing, where is Spring??????????

Bibles in schools

There is a big problem going on not far from here.

About 30 miles north of Newark there is a town called Mount Vernon. There is a middle school teacher named Freshwater who is in the news for not removing his Bible from his desk after his principal told him to.

This has been going on for about a week and the devil is pulling out all the stops. Since this 1st broke the liberal media in Columbus has said things like (I am paraphrasing):

• He has "branded" kids with a cross on their arms as part of a "healing" service.
• He was really a bad teacher anyway and needed to go
• He is linked with other radical conservatives who pray and protest things that are against the mainstream worldview

While others on christian radio say:

• Freshwater was teacher of the year last year, so how bad could he be?
• He is only being singled out due to his standing up for what is right.
• He has already complied with the schools request to remove scripture verses from his room
• The school board cannot back down due to pressure from outsiders, like the ACLU

What do I think?

I think this is another example of how the devil is using liberal organizations to chip away at the Christian worldview. I don't know all of the details, I am sure there are half truths and exaggerations to make this poor guy look bad. I thank God he is taking a stand for what is right. The news is reporting that several hundred students in that school are bringing their Bibles to school as a show of support. The TV video showed many kids with homemade tee shirts with crosses and slogans of support.

I think we need to pray for strength and support for Freshwater. God knows his heart and his motives. Once again, due to the controversy people have had to take a stand, and it looks like people in small rural town in Ohio have taken a stand for what is right.

We all need to take a stand and pray that God will give us the courage to do what is right if we are ever faced with a situation like this.

1974

I was over at my parents house today, helping them clean out closets and I found my senior year book from 1974 when I graduated from Newark Senior High school (I know I do not look that old).

It must be something I must have bought or got because the book has no pictures of anything from the school, just generic places to record things. Some of the interesting things I wrote down:

• A coke costs $0.20
• A hamburger = $0.28
• Large pizza = $2.90
• movie = $2.25
• Gasoline = $0.45 per gallon!!!!!!!!!!!
• Rock concert = $5
• Record = $4 (who remembers those?)
• Tapes = $5 (Who else remembers these?)
• 4 year goal = have a Bachelor of Science degree = complete, even though it took 5 years
• Long Term goal -= married and get a good job = Success on both counts
• After school hangouts - Gym, Frischs and Lums
• Best half hour program = "Happy Days"
• Best 1 hour program = "Banacek, Kojak, Kung Fu"
• Best new show = "All in the family"
• Best new commentator = Jon Chancellor - NBC news
• Best sports coverage = 1972 Olympics
• Worst commercial= Mrs. Olsen Folgers coffee
• Favorite album = Seals and Crofts - Diamond Girl
• Favorite songs = American band, Diamond Girl, Jesus is just alright with me.
• Pet = Susie, my poodle, who bit Angela the 1st time she came to our house!

Brinner

Angela and I were watching TV last Thursday. The Office was great and we were waiting for ER to come on and didn't want to change the channel. so we started watching the show "Scrubs".

One of the characters used a new word, Brinner, which stands for Breakfast for Dinner. Now most of you may know that word or have already used it, but for me it was new.

Well last night we actually had Brinner and it was great!! Eggs, bacon, biscuits, and Uncle Bob's (Evans) gravy. You cannot go wrong with that.

I have always loved breakfast, Bob Evans is my favorite place to eat out. Since it is not Angela's we don't eat there often, but when we do I love it.

So I was wondering if you have dinner for breakfast would it be - deckfast? dinfast?

We already know what what you call breakfast for lunch - Brunch. Many places have that, especially on Sundays.

What about lunch for dinner, would that be - linner? lunner?

I have waited my whole life for something to make my millions, maybe I should copyright those words and wait for the checks to roll in.

What do you think?

Religion, Culture and Society

It has been an interesting week all around the world.

• People are protesting the Olympic flame in the name of religious persecution
• 400+ children were taken from a compound where they were subjected to multiple marriages and forced sex on young girls in the name of a perverted religion
• The Bible was named the #1 book in the world.
• Non-evangelical seminary's are being forced to close due to financial pressures due to low enrollment. (click on Albert Mohler link on right)

Too many times people continue to look for answers in themselves or find a religion that matches what they believe so they will not have change anything.

I was reading Romans 12 today preparing for the lesson on Sunday and I cannot get past the first 2 verses (The Message translation).

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. "

How many times are we dragged down by our family, friends and co-workers into a culture we want nothing to do with? Way too many, if you ask me. We need to rise above it, with God's help and be the beacon of hope, to those who would drag us down with them. We need to resist things that society says are OK and stand up for what is right. We need to guard our minds and not let things enter that tempt us to do the wrong thing.

Now the hard part, self examination. Some people have a very hard time really looking at themselves in a critical way. They think they are fine and never want to challenge themselves and even consider the possibility that something in their life may NOT be good for them, their spouse or their kids. They are so focused on their own world, even thinking that the whole world revolves around them. An easy test is to think how many time today did you say the word "I" today?

In my job I teach people on how to change the culture in their organizations. Culture is made up of 3 things:

1. Behaviors
2. Beliefs
3. Rules

Take out a piece of paper and draw 2 lines on it to make 3 columns. Label each column with one of the labels above. Start with the "Beliefs" column, write down everything you believe to be true about your Christan walk, next write down all of the "Rules" you believe in things God had convicted you that you should not do, and finally. fill in the "Behaviors" column, what do I do with my free time, watch on TV, spend my money, etc. and then compare it with the other 2 columns. There may be some "Behaviors = things we do" that do match what we "Believe" or "Rules" we want to follow.

Then pick something on your list, pray for wisdom and guidance on how to change yourself to be more pleasing to God. Then we can be "Salt and Light" in the world, that is the culture we all need to help create.

We may never change the whole world, but we can change our corner of it!

Big Day on Friday 4/4!

This Friday 4/4, will be the happiest day of my life. I will be celebrating 27 wonderful years of being married to Angela. Guess what else happened in 1981?

• First flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
• The first year that the word Internet was mentioned and MS-DOS was released by Microsoft along with the first IBM PC.
• Gas costs $1.25 per gallon
• Iran released the 52 American hostages
• Ronald Reagan became the President
• Lady Diana Spencer married Charles, Prince of Wales
• Post-it notes were launched by 3M
• Raiders of the Lost Ark and Nine to Five, movies were released
• Diana Ross and Lionel Richie released "Endless Love"

WOW! A lot has also happened with us since 1981:

• 3 wonderful sons
• Angela's dad, Billy Reid, went home to be with the Lord
• We moved to Tennessee for 10 years
• Moved back to Ohio
• Jeff has worked for 5 different companies
• Angela stayed home and raised the boys, then went back to work
• Tyler graduated college and has been teaching school for 2 years
• Brandon graduates college this year
• Corey was 1 more year of college
• We have had 3 or 4 different dogs
• 20 some cats all at 1 time, and yes I was accidentally responsible for the demise of 1 of them
• Sat through too many soccer, baseball, football, and basketball practices and games to count all over Tennessee and Ohio
• AND ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

People ask, what does it take to stay happily married for such a long time, and all I can say what worked for us.

• Putting God #1, with words and actions
• Unconditional LOVE
• Honest and open communication
• Admitting mistakes
• Having patience
• Learn to say, "yes, Dear, you look great in that dress" helps also.

Thank you, Angela for making the past 27 years wonderful, looking forward to the next 27 and beyond!