Thoughts & Escaping Reality

Hello eveyrone,


I hope you enjoyed your extra day off this weekend; I myself did though worked on lots of various projects on Monday. I'm still recovering from it today with a slight sunburn plus my muscles saying "Ow!" Anyways, onto my thoughts about escaping reality.

Today I got into church a bit late and spoke with some fellow staff members about various things. I picked up the "bug" as I sometimes call it. It's a rather nasty one that makes ya think about various issues, people, life etc. It's one that just makes ya feel sorta blah and tired of things. So, I'm now sorta doing the same thing my fellow staff members were/are doing. I haven't gotten to the church work stuff just yet and am trying to escape reality (hence the name of the post).


I escape reality though various ways: one might be just talking with a friend or hanging out in town or a different one i.e. East Lansing, Chicago (when I am able to go there). Another is to hop online and play Guild Wars. I might just go on a long drive around the winding roads with the windows down just cruising along.


The weather plays a role into this thing too. It's nice out which results in my not wanting to work on projects or church work. I'd rather be swimming in some cool water or on a boat out on the lake maybe even water-skiing who knows. Plus just staring out the window at times and letting my mind wander is another way.


How do you escape reality? Reading, watching TV, or a favorite hobby? I hope its not through some of the worse ways of escaping i.e drugs or alcohol.


Have a good rest of the week everyone.

Sunday Service & Thoughts

Hey there everyone,

Today's service went well; we had some plugs about the new kids program over the summer. There was a skit plus a PowerPoint with the kids as the main characters. Some small technical things, but nothing super major. No explosions or nothing so that's a good thing. :)



My wandering thoughts are on a different matter today. It has to deal with the RAC expansion and what all that entails. Some have already voiced that they will not support the endeavor whereas others are for it. I wonder if we as a church are doing the right thing since there's resistance to this project. I'm under the assumption that when one is doing the right thing and it's what God wants there would be attacks from the devil trying to stop whatever it is. I'm not saying that the devil takes a vacation and doesn't attack us when we are doing something wrong, just that when it is the right thing he steps it up a notch. I plan to support this project and here's my thought on the issue: if God really doesn't want it to happen He will stop it. Granted we could do the project even if God didn't want us as a church doing it; I'd say in that case various things would be more difficult than normal.


People on both sides of the issue have valid reasons and I'm not "knocking" them whatsoever. I want the project to have God's blessing and if we as a church aren't supposed to do it, I'm asking the Lord to let us know. I foresee this project possibly causing some tension between people and the church as a whole. I hope it doesn't get "ugly" in the next few weeks before the voters meeting.


Lord give us insight and wisdom in this matter. May we have one mind in this issue and do what you would have us do.
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Just Thoughts

Greetings again friends,


I wonder about many a things at times probably too much. I had a thought today while in the shower and it deals with being lukewarm. The water was lukewarm and I sure didn't like that at all. I (plus the rest of you) would probably have wanted hot water or cold water (if you were hot and running a temperature). It reminded me of the verse in Revelation 3:16 where God says that if you're lukewarm you'll be spit out. The Message states it this way: "You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit." Rather disgusting eh? I'd sure say so. I know that at the present time my walk with the Lord isn't as good as it could nor should be, I'm working on that. How's your walk going?


Another thing today was that I'm currently listening to a CD and when they "hit the wall." I'll admit it, I've done that or as I like to say have hit the wall yet, kept going forward through about 5 more. I'm not implying I'm going to crash and burn (I sincerely hope that doesn't happen) nor am I the perfect leader of the Media Teams. I'm struggling with some things in all three realms: personal, spiritual, and physical. I'm human just like you all are. So, I'd appreciate your prayers please. Thanks.


I'm still here at church and to be honest I don't quite know why I'm still here. I'm sure I could be doing something more productive or fixing some computer issue somewhere. I must admit I'm rather fortunate this summer. There really isn't anything big going on plus now that I'm off until the fall when college starts again, I have more time to ponder and think about things. That friends is a blessing which I'm sure most of you don't have or if you do have it, it's seldom and far between.



I'm fighting friends, and that's no joke. I'm fighting for things in church it seems like at times plus my rag which I dropped on Sunday. There were a lot of things that "made up" my rag this past Sunday one being my past. Ahh crap I'm reminiscing, can't go there......*shakes head* I've moved beyond that....


I do remember that one individual held onto the rag they had until after the service, placing it on the cross before this person left. I get teary-eyed and just... I dunno thinking about that.....hits a heartstring yet not as powerful as earlier in the week. I tell ya one thing, I've gone back to some of my old "stuff" I'll call it, *laughs* I even did that on Monday. Monday of all days after the great experience on Sunday!!!! *shakes head*



I'll admit I'm a bit worried about Sunday, my gut says that "we" (as a church) will go back to the "usual" way of doing things. I sure hope that doesn't happen; I pray I'll be able to do my part to help change things into something different or move things in a different direction than before.



Lord, may all the words I've typed above and what's in my heart... I had it over to You. Bless those who came on Sunday and myself. Help us all to be better followers of You and do what You would have us do. Thanks for being there Abba (Father).

Frustrations

See the title? That's how I'm feeling at the moment. Just some stuff in regards to church have hit a chord in me. Ugh! Yeah, I've talked to the Lord and told Him how I'm feeling etc. That still doesn't mean I'm all good now. I think it's just a matter of being tired plus thinking to much probably. I think I'll take a bit of my own advice and frag some people/stuff online. It helps; trust me I'm a certified Dr with an MD in PFSG. That stands for plays/frags stuff in games. I did that the other night/morning with tanks, battleships, planes, nukes, and a powerful gunship. Had a friend over so him, my brother, and myself playing a game called Supreme Commander. It's a RTS (Real Time Strategy Game); lots of good fun. Oh! I just had a thought: use video games at church to help bring people in. I can picture a lot of guys & gals at church duking it out over a LAN (Local Area Netowrk) on Hoth with Stormtroopers taking out the Rebels in Star Wars: Battlefront II. That's also a fun game too. Plus the Wings are losing 3-0 vs. Anaheim. Hopefully they'll get their game together. Anyways, just rambling as usual. Take it easy everyone.

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New Features

Hello friends,

I just recently added two things to my blog: the ability to add it to any feed reader plus e-mail updates. Just click the orange icon on the right hand side of the page and select the program that you use. For e-mail updates just click the link on the right hand side of the page and follow the prompts. Subscription updates will arrive in your inbox between 7-9 AM daily. You won't receive any spam either when you subscribe.

Oh, if you see a post you like and want to leave a comment, just click the word comment at the end of a post then follow the prompts.

Enjoy everyone! :)

(Wrote on BlackBerry)
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Special Sunday Service/ Something Different

(Wrote on BlackBerry 8800)

Greetings everyone!

It has been awhile since my last post, yet I now have time to keep up on my blog more during the summer. Anyways, onto this week's topic: Sunday.

We had a special service at our church that focused on Repentance and Renewal. I've been kicking around what all occurred plus what I took away from it. One thing that struck me while I was having dinner at McAlister's Deli was environment/mood. Here this restaurant is a deli; it has green colors, great food, and various nick-knacks on the walls. It all helps set theme/mood/environment that says: "Hey, you're in a deli." Its better than Panera, that's for sure. More food plus it tastes better too. I had the McAlister's Club on wheat bread with bakes lays chips, a big chocolate chip cookie and a diet. Oh plus a pickle and a little mint too for after you finish eating. Yum! Ok, back to Sunday and theme/mood. We changed the format compared to our usual services plus stuck with white text on a black background for everything we used on the screen except for the last song. Plus moved the altar onto the stage and used dimmer lighting than usual. All those different aspects help set the mood and tone. That's one of the key things that we sometimes do at my church yet, not every time. I hope that I'll be able to change that as we move forward. Another point in regards to Sunday, what did you personally take away from it? Do you need to walk closer with the Lord? Do you need to forgive someone that you haven't? Do you need to (not forget) but move on from your past and let that go? The last one is one thing that I gave up and am working on doing in my life. Just because I'm on staff or in charge of the computers doesn't mean that I'm doing well in life or exempt from things. If you'd like, drop me a comment below to share your thoughts, comments, and what you took away from this past Sunday. I pray that the Lord would help you and me in our walks and what occurred this past Sunday, whatever that means, looks like, or something that we have to do.

Some other notes: at staff meeting today we discussed blogs and everyone thought that was a good idea. Keep an eye out for some new blogs from the rest of the staff to pop up sometime down the road. Plus in both services keep an eye out for some slight, small changes from the "usual." Have a good rest of the week! :)

JB