Thursday Thoughts: John Three Sixteen

It's been a busy week so far, and I'm sure today will not be any different. As I write this, I don't know what today will hold. But one thing is for sure... it won't be boring. 

Last night we had our children's services. I teach the lesson for the primary class (1st-3rd grade). Each week I bring a 'friend', a ventriloquist figure. Well, I brought Hannah for the lesson, and she helped me teach on John 3:16. A simple but profound conversation. 

I encourage you to go through each section of that verse. It's powerful, awesome, and life changing. As a Christian, my life depends on it. I can't make it on my own. It was because of the gift of the ultimate sacrifice. There's only one thing I had to do... humble myself, repent of my sins, and accept the offer! 

It's amazing that something so easy is hard for people to do. It's not something for us to earn. There's no way that we could ever live a perfect life.

 

~Matt

Week Rundown (09/18/2011-09/24/2011)

Sunday

Since I had been staying up late, I decided to give my eyes a rest and wear glasses in place of my contacts. All was going good until I tried to adjust them during Sunday School. They snapped at the nose, and I couldn't wear them. It then became a problem, because I'm basically blind! I'm so near-sighted that I can barely make out things. A good example of how I see without glasses would be to hold up a magnifying glass and try and make out a room... it's that bad!

Anyway, there went the idea of driving the vans during the afternoon. So I rode home with Lydia and the kids. Thankfully I had another pair, so I was fine for the rest of the day.

Our quartet sang a special during the evening service and we had a guest preacher who spoke about the Widow's Mite.

After services, we had family over to celebrate Malachi's 4th birthday. He's such a ham, and enjoyed all the attention. We had pizza, cupcakes, and ice cream. Malachi got some pretty cool gifts.


Monday

We woke up tired, but got up and going.

Lydia had a doctor's appointment. So afterwards, she picked Malachi up and headed home to start supper. I picked up Mysia from the Boy's and Girl's club after work and found out that there was an 'Open-House" at her school until 6. I called Lydia, and they met us at the school. We got to visit with Mysia's teacher, see how organized her desk is, and get to see some of the schoolwork she was proud of.

We ate a good supper. I rushed over for quartet practice while Lydia got the kids ready for bed. When I arrived back home, Lydia had just finished watching her favorite tv show, Castle.


Tuesday

After work and school, we met at home. We ate supper, watched some tv, and had a pretty good evening.

I had offered Mysia the chance to play my gameboy, but she opted to read a book instead!! Besides writing letters, reading is her favorite thing.

Wednesday

This evening was Master Clubs at church. We really focused on the books and verses. It turned out very well. Mysia is now in our class, she's already excited about it.


Thursday

Today was pretty normal, and nothing unusual happened. We had a nice relaxing evening after eating supper. Lydia worked on homework of course....


Friday

We came home and got supper ready. The Banks came over to do our discipleship lessons. We've been trying to meet up for the past month, but things have kept us busy!


Saturday

We woke up and got things done around the house. I mowed the lawn and did the next week's grocery run. Lydia worked on finances and homework. I took the kids for a walk and let them play outside for a bit. In the evening, Lydia and I did our "state of the family meeting', where we slip away and go over finances, parenting, and any other issues.


~Matt

You know you're a Baptist when…

Please don't get offended! I found these to be funny and mostly true! lol



You know you're a Baptist when…


You make use of all of your Bibles... one for home, one for devotions, one to keep at Church, one for the car, one for your purse (or shirt pocket if you are a guy) ,,,

Every anniversary, special meeting and conference is celebrated with a Church potluck!

You always seem to sit in the back of the church

Your pastor always goes to the back of the church at the end of the service where you can shake his hand

You need a cup of coffee before the morning service

You will park wherever there is a spot in the church parking lot

You actually want to attend Sunday school

Your church supports a lot of missionaries

Your church has missions conferences

Your church actually has a choir

Your church enjoys the 3 F's: Food, Fun, and Fellowship

You Consider Sunday lunch part of the service

You feel guilty about throwing the bulletins away

More adults sit on the front row during a children's choir concert, than do on Sunday morning

You feel the urge to say "amen" after every song- even at the Children's Choir Concert

You have never sung the third verse of any hymn.

You met your spouse at camp

Your preacher has a "Fried Chicken Belly"

Your Church's Sanctuary or Choir room smells like old books

When you were little you were afraid of one of the deacons.

You know that the words "we've never done it that way before" are the death toll to any new idea.

You know how to pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag & the Bible.

You hear "Just as I Am", "Create in me a clean heart", or any of those hymns and instantly stand up because you think it is decision time.

Your church had a Fish Fry/ Lord's Supper/ Baptismal service.

You have ever been given, or given to someone the "Right hand of Christian Fellowship"

You’re positive your preacher's books include: "1001 Illustrations" , "Greatest Collection of Church Jokes", etc.

Everything you know about illnesses & surgeries you learned in Wednesday prayer meeting.

You think God's presence is strongest on the back three pews.

You think "Amazing Grace" is the national anthem.

You honestly believe that the Apostle Paul spoke King James English.

You judge the quality of a service by its length.

You ever wake up in the middle of the night craving fried chicken and interpret that feeling as a call to preach.

You see that it's 12:05 when the invitation starts and get excited b/c you're getting out early that day.

Your church moves the Sunday evening service up two hours so they can watch the Super Bowl on the projectors.

You wonder whether you'll be singing or skipping the second to last verse in the hymnal.

Sitting in a different seat is considered “leaving your comfort zone.”

If you can't remember when you first memorized John 3:16

You consider "Victory In Jesus" the Baptist fight song.

You went directly from attending VBS to teaching it.

Your entire summer calendar revolves around church camp and VBS

You hear about a church fight, you say, "So, where's the news?"

You know at least a dozen funny things that happened during baptismal services.

You complain about the pastor's long sermons, but you would feel cheated by one under 20 minutes.

You don't like fancy, written-out public prayers, but somebody ought to help your preacher and the deacons put a little more life and freshness and thought into theirs!

You wish they wouldn't make all those announcements in the church service, but the times when they don't, you get angry because you didn't know about an important meeting.

Week Rundown (09/11/2011-09/17/2011)

Sunday

A pretty nice typical Sunday. Lydia and Mysia attended a baby shower for our youth Pastor's wife, Kristen before evening services.


Monday

Back to work, school, and daycare! At work, I got to handle the board while Jonathan Edwards was in Kentucky for the National Quartet Convention. He would introduce the songs by cell phone, and I was engineer! I also got to announce the weather.

I attended a PTA meeting. There are some exciting events coming soon for Mysia's school. It's neat to be a part of it.

For the evening, it was relaxing. No major plans.


Tuesday

After dropping Malachi off at daycare, I took Mysia to the dentist. Her tooth was bugging her, and come to find out, a filling had come loose. They took it out and replaced it! We're good to go!

In weather, today was HOT! We hit a new record... 99 degrees! Ugh!

Mysia got her entire week's homework finished at the Boys & Girls club after school. She was excited.


Wednesday

The weather cooled down quick... we actually set a record low!

This evening's services was the start of a three-day financial conference. We're trying to be good stewards of our money and keep within a budget.


Thursday

Today was Malachi's 4th birthday! Lydia woke him up before she had to leave and wished him a happy birthday.,He bolts up and looks down at himself. Since we're working on night-time potty training, Lydia asked if he was dry. He says, "yep and my legs are bigger too!!"

We went back to church for the continuation of the financial conference. It


Friday

My last day doing the board for Jonathan at work. We had some technical problems, and I lost him while he was doing an interview during the last hour of the show. I came on, introduced the next song, and tried to make contact back with Jonathan. I didn't realize it until afterwards, but I left the mic on!!!! Yikes! Yup, I'm still learning.....

We attended the last conference at church tonight. It went longer than the other nights, and we didn't get to bed until after midnight! Even though it wore us out, the whole thing was good.


Saturday

We woke up early and headed out. Granny watched Mysia and Malachi for several hours while Lydia and I helped our friends, Doug and Mary, move into their new home! We're so excited for them. It's a great place! We got most of it moved before the rain came, and the rain didn't stop!

We came home for the later part of the afternoon. We did chores, ate supper, and got the kids ready for bed. Lydia worked on homework and I did an evening grocery run.


~Matt

Friday Fun: Minister Jokes

I decided that I'd share several jokes today... it being Friday! The theme is Ministers.

-----

A minister told his congregation, "Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17."

The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up.

The minister smiled and said, "Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying..."

-----

As part of his talk at a banquet, a minister told some jokes and a few funny stories. Since he planned to use the same anecdotes at a meeting the next day, he asked reporters covering the event not to include them in their articles.

Reading the paper the following morning, he noticed that one well-meaning cub reporter had ended his story on the banquet with the observation "The minister told a number of stories that cannot be published."

-----

An old preacher was dying. He sent a message for his banker and his lawyer, both church members, to come to his home.

When they arrived, they were ushered up to his bedroom. As they entered the room, the preacher held out his hands and motioned for them to sit on each side of the bed. The preacher grasped their hands, sighed contentedly, smiled, and stared at the ceiling.

For a time, no one said anything Both the banker and lawyer were touched and flattered that the preacher would ask them to be with him during his final moments. They were also puzzled; the preacher had never given them any indication that he particularly liked either of them. They both remembered his many long, uncomfortable sermons about greed, covetousness, and avaricious behavior that made them squirm in their seats.

Finally, the banker said, "Preacher, why did you ask us to come?"

The old preacher mustered up his strength and then said weakly, "Jesus died between two thieves, and that's how I want to go."

-----

Three people were visiting and viewing the Grand Canyon -- an artist, a pastor and a cowboy. As they stood on the edge of that massive abyss, each one responded with a cry of exclamation.

The artist said, "Ah, what a beautiful scene to paint!"

The minister cried, "What a wonderful example of the handiwork of God!"

The cowboy mused, "What a terrible place to lose a cow!"

-----



Have a great weekend!

~Matt

Happy Birthday Malachi!

Well, today our little baby boy turned 4!

Okay, he's not a baby anymore, but an energetic toddler! Malachi is guaranteed to wear anyone out... he's everywhere and hard to keep settled down for more than 5 minutes. Just when you think that all of his energy is zapped, think again. He'll keep going, and going, and going, and going, and going!

He is our source of laughter from day to day. You just never know what he might say. He makes some great observations, and you really get an insight of a view of a kid when he speaks.

It's hard to believe that our youngest is now 4. He's grown up so fast!

DESIGN: The Flash Drives

Last week my brother Benjamin asked me to help him with a project. His work was doing a scavenger hunt with the theme of super heroes. The group that he was with needed a logo, and didn’t have time to come up with one. The name of the group was “The Flash Drives”. He asked me to come up with something like an outline of a flash drive with letters "TFD".

I talked to him over the phone that evening and drew up a sketch...

Then later that night, I used Adobe Illustrator, and finished up the graphic...

Makes me want one!

~Matt

Week Rundown (09/04/2011-09/10/2011)

Sunday

I made pancakes for the those in the van ministry before we headed out to pick up our folks for services. I then taught our Sunday School class. It was a short lesson. I also had the privildge to sing a special in the morning service. Boy, talk about a busy morning!

Leftovers and sandwiches were for lunch, and then we took naps. Evening services were good, by the time we got home though... we were ready for bed.


Monday

I had hoped to sleep in, but no chance of that. Unless one considers 7:30 sleeping in, which many of my facebook friends do!

I made pancakes for the family, making special creative shapes. Mysia liked hearts and diamonds, while I made a ‘race-car’-shaped pancake for Malachi. After breakfast, we spent the morning working on cleaning and tidying up the house. There was plenty to do, since we neglected it over the weekend.

Before noon, Lydia left to go hang out with her sisters. They did nails, manicures, and watched movies. I stayed home with the kids, fed them lunch and we took a short nap. I actually got a few things done on the computer before my rest, so my nap wasn’t that long. It sure was nice having the windows open and sleeping in a nice breeze that flowed throughout he house.

After naps, I took the kids to the park. They played and played for several hours. They claimed that I was the best daddy in the world! Not bad for just taking them to the park! When we arrived back home, my parents came over for a visit. We had shaved ice and home-made frappachino while visiting.

Lydia came home in time to make supper (chicken tenders), and we spent a nice calm evening watching RugRats and shows on NetFlix before giving showers and going to bed.


Tuesday

We again had nice weather, but it was a bit chilly in the morning. In fact, the kids wore jackets to daycare and school. Today sure felt like Monday since yesterday was a holiday. For me, I had some catching up to do at work.

Mysia got to go to Boys & Girls Club after school since we couldn’t pick her up until after 5. She liked it. Mysia came home with her entire weeks homework, and we encouraged her to go ahead and get it all done tonight. With little assistance, she did!


Wednesday

Another nice day, weather-wise. But a typical Wednesday. School, work, home for supper, and then church! However, today was the start of our children’s program for the fall semester. “Fun Night”, we had games, a great lesson, and snacks. Three kids recieved Salvation, and as a extra excitement... Lydia had the privilege of leading one of them to the Lord.


Thursday

After work, Lydia had a Honors Society meeting. I picked up the kids and we headed home. I let them fight it out on the Nintendo Wii while I made supper. They argued a bit on what games to play, but they did a job sorting it out. By the time supper was ready, they were ready to just sit and watch tv, so we watched RugRats while eating.

I got them got ready for bed and Lydia arrived at home. She ate some supper and then got right into her homework.


Friday

Today was pretty neat for me at work, I got to run the board for the radio station and announce the weather. I was learning it so I can do it next week from 3-6pm. Exciting...!

This evening was just a nice restful calm one. Lydia made lasagna for supper, the kids played, and we didn’t do much.


Saturday

Today we cleaned out our garage. No much fun at all, but it was something that needed to be done. Malachi and Mysia played outside while Lydia and I sorted through things. We loaded the van with the stuff we didn’t need.

We ate a quick lunch and took naps. Lydia had planned on doing homework then, but was feeling too tired. The nap felt great!

Afterwards, the kids once again played outside while I finished up doing some re-organizing. Lydia started her homework. Around 4ish, the clouds rolled in and I seen it was about to rain. I made the kids bring in all of their toys and we put them in a specific spot.

We ate supper, watched tv, and got the kids to bed. I then did a quick run to the grocery store.

~Matt

Remembering 9/11

As all of you know, the 10th year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is this Sunday. I hope no one forgets. It's hard to imagine that we would, but ten years is a long time. In fact, to put things in perspective on the changes in 10 years, think of this:

• The Class of 2011 were 8 years old... just starting 3rd grade..
• Cell phones did not have built-in cameras. (Sanyo SCP-5300, Jan 2002)
• Bread: $0.98/loaf, Milk: $2.85/gal, Eggs: $1.40/doz, Avg Income: $68,300/yr, Min Wage: $5.85/hr
• Federal spending: $1,864 billion, Federal debt: $5,807 billion
• Unemployment: 4.8 %, Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.34
• Apple introduced the iPod
• Wikipedia was launched
• A gallon of gas sold for $1.52

What really hits home though, is the other statistics. The facts of the attacks. Those who died. The loss of family members, friends, colleagues, and rescuers.

So many risked their lives to try to save others. Those... we remember!

~Matt

The Park Idea

On Monday I took the opportunity of the great weather and visited a local park with the kids! We actually spent several hours there. It was fun and enjoyable. I just made sure that I watched them closely. It struck me as a good idea to do more often, especially now that summer is ending and that fall will soon be upon us. That means that the weather is going to be a lot more enjoyable too! And I'd rather sit out in the sun when there is a nice cool breeze accompanying the rays that would otherwise be baking my skin!

There is another idea that came to mind about the park, and the fact that we have so many within our city limits. Earlier, I had stumbled across a website of another graphic designer that has taken on the personal challenge of 'branding' all of the lakes in her state. She in the process of designing a theme and logo for each one, doing one a day. It was said it would take her over two years to complete the project! Wow. Talk about some dedication.

Anyway, I definitely don't have time to do it daily, but the thought of 'branding' a local park once a week and featuring it on my blog has been on my mind. I know that I'm already a busy guy, but it would be something unique and fun that would challenge my brain a bit. Not only that, but it would also help me keep up with my design capabilities and give this blog some more life. I guess I'll see what might happen.

I don't know of all who reads or keeps up with my blog... So I wonder, would it be something that makes this more interesting? Email or tell me your thoughts! I love feedback!

~Matt

Week Rundown (08/28/2011-09/3/2011)

Sunday

We still were on vacation in Branson, and we had a great time! Even though it's only 30 minutes away from Springfield, it was still a good get-away for our family.

This evening I did the weekly grocery shopping since it needed to be done, and while I was gone, Lydia gave Malachi a buzz cut and put the kids to bed.


Monday

At my request, Lydia made chicken tenders for supper! Yum!

The big event for this evening was cleaning fish tank. The tank had gotten so dirty and green that it was hard to make out how many fish we had! It was gross.

I dumped the water, cleaned the rocks and fake plants, and filled it up with water. It took most of the evening to do, but I got it done! Whew!


Tuesday

Lydia's eye was bugging her, so she went to the clinic after picking up Mysia when she got off work. Come to find out She has pink-eye! She waited around for almost an hour to pick up her prescription, so I picked Malachi up from daycare and made supper before her and Mysia got home.


Wednesday

Today was a typical Wednesday, and we rushed to church after getting of work and eating a quick supper. The kids were both tired, and but did pretty well sitting with us in services.


Thursday

Nothing real big happened today. We had ravioli for supper and watched some tv together as a family before sending the kids to bed. Lydia had homework to do.


Friday

Today was our 8th year anniversary. I had planned to get off early so that we could make our way back up to Silver Dollar City and see one of the Southern Gospel shows. However, we were a bit tired, and figured it would a bit of a hassle to deal with the kids at the park just to fight the crowd.

So... we had a fun night at home with the kids! We had hamburgers, watched RugRats, snacked on candy, played several games on the Wii, and had a blast!


Saturday

There were several things we had planned to do today, but that all was changed when we woke up. The kids didn't allow us to sleep in much, and it didn't really matter. Lydia woke up with a weird pain in her chest and short of breath. She tried to let her body relax, but it wasn't working.

I called my mom, and Abigail came over to watch the kids while I took Lydia to Urgent Care. Once we got there, Lydia filled out some forms and was shortly taken back to a room. I stayed in the waiting room. It was too long and I was asked to come back as well. Come to find out, they had taken her pulse and found it to be over 170. The nurse said it was like her body was running a marathon.

They plugged her up, strapped her down, and took her to ER. Once there, they decided to giver her medicine to stop her heart for a second to allow it to restart. Lydia had a unique experience when that happened! She said that all of her pain intensified.

The best thing though, was that it worked. Her heart started beating at a regular pulse. We then waited as they watched her for an hour to make sure everything was fine before releasing her.

Once everything was determined to be okay, she was good to go. We got pizza on the way home and had a pretty good evening. Lydia took it easy.

~Matt

Hooray for Steve Mauldin!

I'm so happy, and here's the reason why.....

Remember (like you could forget) that horrible 'O Holy Night'?

Well, the singer, Steve Mauldin, has made the ORIGINAL of him singing available for download on iTunes! It sounds great.... er... if you can still call it that. The intro is better and not from a cassette!

He also has made the soundtrack for the song available, so anyone can sing there own way, whether good or bad! Oh, so awesome!!!!

~Matt

Wagon Ideas...

On one of the visits to Silver Dollar City, I asked one of the employees about bringing in our Radio-Flyer wagon to haul the two kids around in. They said that it’s fine... as long as it’s not motorized.

Wait... Motorized?

Okay, that perked my interest. For one, that’s a cool idea. Two, someone obviously already thought of it and brought it!!!! That sounds so cool!

I know you can buy a motor and install it on a bike or a scooter. But I had never thought of trying it on a wagon. Hold it.. perhaps I have! I remember as a kid wanting to have it go on it’s own, especially since I was the oldest child, and couldn’t get my brothers to push me. Going down a small hill was the closest I could ever get.

Of course, with gas prices the way it is, I guess I’d go with a battery-powered motor!

~Matt