I'm Thankful for...

• God's providence and protection over our son and grandson who were in a serious auto accident this past Saturday.
• That the injuries, although serious, were not life-threatening
• The surgeons who operated on our son in three places, who are skilled and did their best to repair a lot of damage.
• That there was no other damage; internally, or to the brain
  
• Three successful surgeries that went extremely well
• That our grandson, even though he sustained two fractures- his hip and his ankle- got up from bed on his own today and was released
• Our friends, Bob and Ellen, who came to the hospital Saturday and took us to dinner. That was some real ministry that met a practical need
• All those who prayed
• All those who came to see the boys in the ER and again today
• God's grace to heal some emotional and spiritual hurts in my relationship with my son
• Words that were spoken in love
• my wife, who is such a trooper....

"He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone." Psalm 91, 11-12

Things I wonder about

Why do people think they look cool with one of those Bluetooth things in their ear?

Why do I want to flick that little Bluetooth thingy every time I see one?

Why do people who aren’t all that important think they have to carry on a cell phone conversation- loudly - in public- and that somehow makes them look important?

I wish I had a device to electronically disable the cell phone of someone who is rudely and boorishly carrying on a conversation in front of me, holding up the line, when they should be focused instead on what they’re doing and not hold up the line.

Why do people with ghetto-bass in their car think I want to hear it too?

I wish I had a remote device that would turn up the bass on someone’s already-too-loud car speakers so loud, that it would permanently fry their system.

Why do people with a little fish decal on the back of their car drive like hell?

Why do people drive slow in the left lane on the highway when every ¼ mile there is a sign that says “Left Lane for Passing Only?”

I wish I had one of those lighted marquis signs in my back windshield so I could send messages to those people.

Why do liberals have long toes?

Why do 40 year old men think a goatee looks cool on them?

Why are there always huge people driving little bitty cars?

Why do people on a diet eat cottage cheese? I only see fat people eating it.

Why can a skinny guy eat two triple bacon cheeseburgers, large fries, and a 44 oz chocolate shake for lunch 4 times a week?

And eat Ding-Dongs and drink Dr. Pepper all day?

And never gain weight?

Why do homeless people always have money for cigarettes?

Why do women with large rears wear stretch pants?

Why is Dr. Z and Taylor Hicks on every 3rd commercial? I think we got it...

Am I the only one who thinks Taylor Hicks dances like Elaine Bennis on "Seinfeld?"

And I was getting so close to the end...

Just as I thought I was getting to the end of the Internet (yes, I was getting very close - I only had a few more webpages to read...), the smarty cats at RIPE develop IPv6 and add another

340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 new web addresses .

That's 340 undecillion, 282 decillion, 366 nonillion, 920 octillion, 938 septillion, for you numerophobes out there. Seems like 4 billion just wasn't quite enough, seeing as there's 6 billion global neighbors, and what's going to happen when all those third world countries get online?

To put it in something we might be able to imagine, here's a perspective on what a billion might be. I once saw $1million in $20 bills. It was a stack roughly 3 feet high, and about 4' x 4'. A billion $ would be 1000 of those. And those were $20 bills... I can't imagine $1 bills....

1 million seconds was 11.5 days ago
1 billion seconds ago was the year 1975

1 million minutes was 1.9 years ago
1 billion minutes ago was the year 104 AD

1 million days ago was 733 BC
1 billion days was 2,739,726 years ago

A billion is hard to imagine...Even less, I can't imagine a undecillion, or how much space that will create on the World Wide Web.

Surely there's a spiritual lesson in that - maybe relate it to the infiniteness of God... I remember doing a study once on the vastness of the known universe - and that blew my mind. Our Sun is 92,955,820 miles away. And our sun is close...comparatively. Just in the known universe, travelling at the speed of light, 186,282.397 miles per second, it would take between 46 and 78 billion years to reach the edges of what we know to be the universe. OK, I'll stop... As I was excitedly relaying this to my wife last night at around 11:00 p.m., her comment to me was, "You're a nerd!"

So if that makes you feel small and insignificant, think about this - In all of the heavens, God created this little speck of cosmic dust we live on, then created man in His own image to populate the Earth. Considering the scope of the heavens, and all that was created, after man sinned, God could have just flicked that little dust particle out of space and started all over. Yet, He sent His only begotten Son to forgive His creation, man, so that we could live forever with Him in eternity.

That really blows my mind.

Some House Church Pictures

Last week we had about 40 people in our house for church. Someone asked me prior to church that morning, "How are you going to fit all those people in your house?" "One at a time," I replied.

They all fit.

Last week the church from Killeen came to meet with us. While it is always nice to have a larger group, the worship time, and a good message to hear, I enjoy the close fellowship of a smaller group.This week we only had 8 attend, including 2 kids. The smaller the group, the more intimate the fellowship, and the more each one gets to share.

Here are some pictures of the larger meeting last week.















Roman & Tanya and Becky lead worship

















Worship time

















Sharing time
















Jim, Sheridan, and Bobby
















Pastor Phillip preaching


I will post more pics soon at the Association of Home Churches website.

I want to invite you to come Sunday morning and take part in our service. Today we all shared about God meeting us where we are. I shared the previous post with everyone and we discussed Ephesians 1: 6-12, and Eph. 4: 7, 11-17. We believe the "five-fold" gifts of Eph 4:11 are present within the body of believers, not just in one person, i.e, "The Pastor." God gives each one of us a unique gift, in order that we can use it to encourage each other, thereby equipping each other for the work of the ministry (encouraging those that need hope), and strengthening the body so that growth can occur. If you need help, encouragement, prayer, or want to offer some, please consider joining us Sunday mornings. But don't wait until then - call me or write me during the week. After all, it's really about developing relationships through Christ with each other. That's what church is about - so that we see God meet us where we are.

Where are you Spiritually?

Did you know that God wants to meet you right now? Right where you are- He'll meet you no matter what you're state of readiness or spiritual condition is. We don't have to do anything to recieve His grace except open our hearts to accept it. God is always ready to hear your prayer, and to respond. We can never make ourselves good enough, worthy enough, or ready enough for His grace. It's just GRACE - unmerited favor - that we recieve from Him. He is the one who is always ready, and He waits for us to open our hearts and give Him the opportunity to spend a moment with us. Yes, He loves us that much, no matter what we've done, where we've been, or why we haven't opened ourselves to Him before.

The 1st chapter of the letter to the Ephesian church tells us He chose us first - predestined us to become His sons and daughters. That's good news. Not just that, but the bible goes on to say that

• He made us accepted in the Beloved.
• He has reclaimed us by paying the debt of the weight of our sins by sending Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for us
• He forgave our sins, even though we don't deserve forgiveness, it is by His goodness
  
• He makes known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure
  
• when it's all over, He'll gather us all together with Christ
• We have that inheritance, which He predestined us with

Eph. 1: 6-12

Kansas Bob

Kansas Bob is a frequent commentor on here. He also gets the prize for being my 5000th hit on this blog! You win, Kansas Bob! You get the big prize!



You win a free link to your blog and a lifetime membership to read this blog anytime you want!

Ya'll check out Kansas Bob at his blog,

An Eye For Redemption

Drop in on him and read his insightful blog, and give him a big HOWDY from this site.

Thanks, KB!