Category: personal

i presently weight more than i have ever weighted in my life. i tip the scales right now at 199 pounds. weight is usually not a very important thing for me. i’m not real concerned with being skinny. i usually eat what i like and exercise when i feel like it. weight just isn’t that big of a deal for me, but buying clothes is. actually not buying clothes is a big deal to me. i hate buying clothes. i enjoy being slightly (and sometimes abundantly) out of style. i can’t stand the thought of wasting money on clothes that will only be in fashion for a little while. it also seems to me that clothes feel better the longer you wear them. usually i wear my clothes until they fall apart and then i get whatever is on sale.

about four weeks ago my weight became an issue because i was having a hard time fitting into my pants. i usually weight between 185 and 195 pounds. four weeks ago i tipped the scales at 211 pounds and my pants were showing and i was feeling it. i knew something had to give so i started exercising again (i have to admit that i haven’t really exercised since hurricane katrina) and eating lunch out less. in the past four weeks i have dropped 12 pounds and my pants fit better again (though still not perfect).

tonight i discovered that i have a choice to make. you see the pennington company is doing medical research on slightly overweight people and 211 pounds at my height is the minimum to be in their study. if you are a part of their study they will help you lose weight, give your free medical treatment, and pay you $2500 at the end of the 16 week study. so now i have to figure out if i should gain the weight back (and buy some new pants) or continue on my path to 185 pounds. 🙂

since pam and i have finally landscaped our front yard (though the north side of the house still needs to be completed) i am now at a point where i get to buy a garden gnome. i love garden gnome. i think they are cheesy and that’s basically the reason that i love them. now i need to make sure you know that i’m not a big fan of villages of garden gnomes. you won’t find gnomes swinging, or riding, or gathering in visible groups in my dream yeard. you see it’s really just the thought of a hidden gnome within the garden that i like.i think it’s funny.

so after convincing pam that i would hide him well i have finally bought my own garden gnome. the photo above is my gnome. he is from the same style family as the gnome i used two years ago as a part of a message series i did at the youth ministry’s worship service. he should be here in a week.

now i have to come up with a name for him and a good spot in the garden.

i was in a conversation a few days ago in which the upcoming da vinci code movie was mentioned. i’m looking forward to the movie because i figure some good discussion will come of it. i personally find it hilarious that dan brown has somehow been turned into some type of gnostic prophet. just look at his past books. he has written thriller after thriller. that’s what he does … he writes quick read thrillers like tom clancy or john grisham. it’s just so happens that his schtick is the whole knights of the templar thing. jon stewart pointed out on crossfire that we should never confuse his daily show with hard hitting news because it’s supposed to be a comedy (if you haven’t seen the video here it is). i think the same thing should be remembered about dan brown. HE’S A THRILLER AUTHOR!

anyway back to my conversation with these pastors. when the discussion swapped to the da vinci code movie one of the pastors said “that book is a strong attack from satan on the chruch.” it was at this point that i blurted out “then our enemy is an idiot because it’s not a very good book.” i read the da vinci code and personally found it pretty predictable. one of the other pastors then said “you and i may not agree with the book but it is an excellent work of fiction and a powerful story that will be flowed. i should know because i love good fiction every now and then.”

this statement was what blew me away. not the part about the da vinci code being powerful. it’s not. everybody talked about it when it first came out and then it died away (just like all quick reads do) and the same will happen with the movie. in my opinion it won’t have many lasting thoughts. afterall we don’t base our legal system on john grisham or our defense strategy off tom clancy why would we base our faith off dan brown? the statement that blew me away was that this pastor consider the da vinci code an “excellent work of fiction.” he then went on to mention other works of fiction that he enjoyed reading and they were all from the same genre. most of the pastors i know don’t read near enough fiction and they definitely don’t read anything worth while. there is fiction and then there is good fiction (also known as literature). some books change the way you think and challenge society. books like “to kill a mockingbird,” “catcher in the rye,” “a lesson before dying,” “crime and punishment.” and other books are quick reads that are full of cliche’s and simple plots like “the da vinci code.” some works of fiction should be read because they are full of more truth than some of the non-fiction books that pastors read. works such as “the lord of the flies,” “the grapes of wrath,” “the scarlet letter.” other books don’t teach people anything … books like “the da vinci code.”

i’m not sure why it somehow became noble for pastor’s to say “i don’t read fiction.” yet, i’m convinced if more pastors read good fiction then we would see “the da vinci dode” movie for what it is … a summer blockbuster that will be forgotten within 5 years rather than being convinced that it is the greatest attack on faith in CHRIST ever.

i haven’t blogged on this blog in quite sometime. it’s partially because i’ve been more excited about photography (i finally was able to get a nikon d50) and partially because i simply haven’t felt like blogging about ministry.

anyway that has been changing over the past few weeks and i finally decided it was time to post something. over the next three weeks i will be speaking at our mid-week worship service about living a life of simplicity. i meet each week with a group whose desire is to make each week’s worship service something experiential and special. while we were talking about the message series which i was calling “the simple way” (in an ode to some friends in philadelphia) one of the people within the group said “is that supposed to be making fun of the paris hilton/nicole richie show ‘the simple life’?” once we heard it everything was settled. we had to make a mock “the simple life” trailer. we decided to do one for each week that was focused on the point of each week’s message.

so here’s this weeks video dealing with the need within a simple lifestyle to be able to say “no” to things, even some things that are good.

…Hummingbird Moth…

Originally uploaded by …Random Images from The Heartland….

i’ve lived a decent amount of time on this earth and until tonight i had never seen a hummingbird moth. i was on the back porch cooking some hamburgers and i saw the things zoom in on our flowering bushes. i thought it was a hummingbird at first and tried to get a closer look. it was dark outside so it was hard to see what these things were. when i figured out that they weren’t hummingbirds i got a little freaked out. i thought they might be some weird mutant strain of bees and everyone knows that weird mutant strains of bees absolutely hate people who are cooking beef (because cows are the natural symbiotic friends of weird mutant strains of bees). not wanting to be attacked as a beef cooker i grabbed my outdoor cooking tools and prepared to do battle if need be with the weird mutant bees.

standing there with my spatula in hand i waited. yet they didn’t attack and this scared me even more than before. weird mutant strains of bees are notorious for their devious attack strategies. i thought maybe the bees had called for their weird mutant friends to flank me and attack from behind. franticly i turned back and forth looking for bees everywhere. still there was no attack.

i decided to take a closer look at this weird strain of mutant bees and determine what danger i was facing. it was at this point that i saw that one of the weird mutant bees had a 6 inch long snout. relief flooded my body because everyone knows that weird mutant strains of bees never have 6 inch long snouts. feeling safe i finally figured out that my little visitor was some type of strange moth. i quickly went inside to look for information regarding the long snout wielding moth on the source that i always go to for useless information … the internet. after a few minutes of web surfing i discovered that my guest was a hummingbird moth and that they don’t attack people who cook beef. i was safe.

i feel better now.

for those who haven’t seen my glasses yet this is what i look like with them on.

i lost my voice yesterday. i made it through sunday school, a worship meeting, a some premarital counseling i am doing for a young couple but i lost it last night. this morning it was completely gone. i went to woman’s hospital to be checked out by employee health (that’s right i went to woman’s hospital for medical treatment and if you have a problem with it you can take it up with my wife who works there and gets me medical treatment for $10). that’s when i found out that i have strep throat that has caused laryngitis. i can barely talk at all. if you would like to hear a sample of it all you have to do is call my cell phone and listen to my voice mail. if you listen to the introduction to my voice mail you’ll hear me shouting and it’s not very impressive.

when you’re a pastor you depend upon your voice allot. i talk to allot of people during my normal day. in fact, i usually have to talk to so many people that i have to specifically schedule study time to be alone so that i can prepare for the messages i have to deliver, planning i need to do, and studies that need to be written. of course, even when i have scheduled study time i still assume that there will be “interruptions” from people who need to talk for “just a second.” these “interruptions” are some of the most important parts of the day. often the best ministry is found within these “interruptions.” that’s not possible for the next day or two.

i received allot of phone calls today from people who needed to talk to me for one reason or another. i tried answering the phone and talking early in the day but it was a stupid idea. no one could understand me unless i shouted and even then i sounded no better than a screeching cat going through puberty. it was useless so after mid day i stopped answering my phone. i just let my voice mail tell them why i wasn’t answering the phone.

this whole thing is pretty frustrating.

yesterday we had a guest preacher at our church who made the following state:

a while back i was walking through a park and a saw a young couple being overly affectionate. i stopped and asked them, “would you be doing the things you are doing with each other if your mom was in the backseat of your car watching?”

the young man responded “no way!”

i then told him that GOD was always watching over him. that’s one of the lessons that our young people most deserparetly need to hear – GOD is always with them.

now before i say anything else i need to add that i love the guy who said this. he is one of those guys that you can listen to for ten seconds and simply know that he would be a terrific grandfather. though i love him i couldn’t disagree with him more on what he said. his point was basically that we should teach our teens that GOD is always with them so that they will feel guilted into not doing certain things. i don’t think that “immanuel” (GOD with us) is about making sure that we have a “big brother is watching” mentality with GOD. i deal with enough teens (and truthfully their parents) who walk around all day long thinking that they are scum and worthless. most people know exactly how evil they are. i believe that what most people need is someone to point them to the ONE who proclaims them to be valuable and precious.

while i disagree with the preacher’s motive i would atleast partially agree with our speaker on his main point – that kids need to know that GOD is with them – but i would do it for an entirely different reason.

the day i turned 16 i took the test to receive my alabama driver’s license. it was important that i passed the test because we had a
twirp” dance that night and having an early birthday i was the only one of my friend’s old enough to be the driver (“twrip” stands for “the woman is required to pay”). i had to passed this test or our parents would be driving us to the dance. being the ace student i am i easily passed the test and then decided to drive around to my friends’ houses to show them my new license. i drove from friend to friend showing them my license and making them jealous. i know my dad reads this blog so he can back me up on the next part. when i got home my dad sat me down and began to detail out everywhere i had been and when i had been there. i sat there in fear of my future – my dad had eyes and ears everywhere. i would never be able to get away with anything. what my dad said next still rocks my thoughts. my dad said:

robert, i know people all around this town and i want you to know that if you ever get into trouble or have something bad happen i’ll hear about it quickly and i’ll be there to help you.

my dad’s presence (or perceived presence) around the town was a great source of comfort for me. i had someone who was watching my back. that’s what i think GOD’s presence with us is like. it means we are not alone in this hostile world. there are times when we should feel guilty but that’s not why i want teens to know that GOD is with them everywhere they go. i want teens to know that they never have to worry about leaving GOD behind because HE will go everywhere with them and thus already be with them when they need HIM most.

this is worth watching.

the past two days pam and i have been working on the flower beds in our front yard. we had 6 cubic yards of topsoil brought in to raise our flower beds. while pam and i have been taking dirt and raising the beds adam and noah have found several more entertaining used for our mound of dirt. they have busied themselves playing “king of the hill” on the dirt pile and then digging a hole to the bottom of it. it’s been fun to watch.

i’m not sure when this website will be down. it’s supposed to have happened by now but obviously hasn’t. anyway, soon the website will be down for a little while.