The other night I was sitting on the deck with Aubrey and thinking about a message that I heard earlier in the day. You can hear the message by Craig Groeschel here. A few of my thoughts are below in the clip.
Archive for August, 2008
Tonight Aubrey and I were able to spend some time together outside on the deck. She was bouncing quite a bit as you can see in the video. She really made me laugh at about 1:30 on the clip.
Neighbor’s Grandson: “Do you like booms?”
Neighbor: “Yes”
Grandson: “You like booms!”
Neighbor: “Yes, except when I have to fix them”
Author of one of my favorite books, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller said the closing prayer at the Democratic Convention tonight. I say a hearty “Amen” to his prayer. Here is his prayer:
“Father God, This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future. We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation. We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy. Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left. Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them. Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions. Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle. Help us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education. Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony. We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world. A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American. Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world. Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us. Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common. And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish. God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans. I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice. Let Him be our example.
Amen.”
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
We love you both and are excited that you have been together for 35 years. Thanks for your example.
This year our church played in a local softball league. We had two teams, a Tuesday night team and a Thursday night team. On this past Wednesday the teams invited the church to join us for a picnic and to watch the game. There was a great turnout and great food!
Here is some video from before the game (Warning the video is shaky):
The game was thrilling. It was very close throughout the whole night. In the fifth inning the score was 5-5. The Tuesday night team scored a run to go ahead 6-5 going into the top of the 7th inning. The Thursday night team had three outs before the game was over. In the top of the 7th, the Thursday night team took the lead 7-6. The game ended with this score. It was a great game!
Here is some video from the game.
Aubrey had a long weekend with lots of people on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. She finally reached a breaking point mid Sunday afternoon. Lauren captured a few shots from the day.
These two are ready for some Olympic boxing. Jeff and mom boxed on the Wii Sunday. I’ll quietly mention that mom beat Jeff twice.
This is a sure sign your Mountain Dew habit is way out of control.
