Robert's Blog

okay this is a complete rant.

i wish some people would take their “ministry” positions seriously. i firmly believe that every part of the ministry is important – from the smallest to the largest. yesterday, our youth ministry praise band led our 9:30 worship service in the singing portion of worship. i play with them even though i am by no means a youth (the reason is a long story but basically it is to make sure that i don’t throw some teens into a position that will build up “spiritual” pride within themselves – i’ve screwed up one kid before by putting him in charge and i won’t do that again so now i make sure that a spiritually grounded adult is there to keep everyone humble).

anyway, we were supposed to do the music. i had everything set up for that. i had the music ready, the sound set-up ready, and setup the mediashout presentation. the problem was that the person that is supposed to run the service’s “words” for the music apparently decided not to show up. this wasn’t a teen who failed to be there. nope it was an adult who apparently didn’t think the position was important enough to call and have another qualified person ready for it.

of course, i didn’t find this out until after the service. nope i was baptizing two kids at the beginning of the service and therefore they couldn’t get me. so they grabbed a teen who said she could operate powerpoint (saying i hate powerpoint may be too strong of language because i use it for messages – i do strongly dislike microsoft and try as much as possible not to use their programs). of course, mediashout is a different ball game and she didn’t know what was going on with it.

i found out after the service that probably 40% of the words actually made it on the screen. i don’t blame the teen. the reason this is such a big deal is because there were people who were not able to participate within the worship of GOD simply because there were no words on the screen. those words are very important. that truly “gripes” me when someone drops the ball like that.

i’m not even sure that i know who dropped the ball because i’m not in charge of that service. next time, i’ll come with someone to operate the mediashout also.

of course, i’m sure i wouldn’t want to hear what people say about me when i “drop the ball” as i often do.

A SIDE NOTE – i am so proud of our youth praise band (those who shall remain nameless). they get better and better and i love the spirit that is behind their playing. they are a great group of kids.

the “potato cannon” has been glued together and the starter has been installed. tomorrow i will duct tape the joints for added safety and then fulfill the dreams of some russets. it’s a little known fact that the russet potato is the most aerodynamic of all the spud universe. the russet literally longs to fly. tomorrow i will fulfill the dreams of some of these tubers.

SIDE NOTE – albert’s famous salsa is by far the greatest grocery store salsa i have ever encountered. i’m not sure how “famous” it actually is since the only people around here who seem to know about it are those that pam and i have introduced to it BUT i can say that it deserves to be famous because it is great.

there are some amazing pictures of the tsunami damage on flickr.

you can view them by going here.

and here is a different set.

here are pictures of the people who were effected by the tsunami. these are the people who are missing.

here are a few links on the asian tsunami. some of interest and some for purposes of helping.

• an animation of the tsunami’s imjpact – quite scary.
• flash tsunami presentation – includes pictures of the aftermath, details on how it happened, etc.
• international mission board part of your offering at parkview goes to the imb automatically. if you would like to give more specifically to the imb’s effort in helping during the asian tsunami recovery you can do so here.
• virtual prayer room for those effected by the tsunami.
• the salvation army – a great agency for any catastrophe.
• world vision – the same organization that does the 30 hour famine is already helping in asia. you can donate directly to the tsunami relief here.
• the baton rouge chapter of the association for india’s development – a local direct link to india.

consider helping in any way you can.

i just read an article about gentry tate speaking in tongues by using basketball player names – here it is.

the whole thing is a farce from the the holy observer but i think it is funny none the less.