Spring has Sprung !

The weather has gotten nice and that means work is abundant. Everyone and their mother has a landscape project they want done now. Too bad we are booking out 6 weeks. Blog posts will become a bit more scarce as I'm working long hours and sometimes six days a week.

In other news, I saw the movie Expelled last week and would highly recommend it. It is well worth the price of admission if for nothing else then the interview with Richard Dawkins at then end of the film.

If you read this...leave a comment!

Okay all you blog browsers...I'm looking for words that rhyme with "ignite." Any and all words will do such as "sight," "light," and "kite." How many can you come up with?

"Set the World on Fire"

I wanna set the world on fire
Until it`s burning bright for You
It`s everything that I desire
Can I be the one You use?

I, I am small but
You, You are big enough
I, I am weak but
You, You are strong enough to
Take my dreams
Come and give them wings
Lord with You
There`s nothing I can not do
Nothing I cannot do

I wanna feed the hungry children
And reach across the farthest land
And tell the broken there is healing
And mercy in the Father`s hands

My hands my feet
My everything
My life, my love
Lord, use me

I wanna set the world on fire
I wanna set the world on fire, yeah

I`m gonna set the world on fire
Set the world on fire

Interesting signs

Sign in a Realtor's office: "Lots for little."

Sign in a shoe store: "Come in and have a fit."

Sign in a maternity clothes store: "We are open on labor day."

Sign in a non-smoking area: "If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."

Sign on the door of the maternity ward: "Push Push Push."

Sign in a bookstore: "We treat you write."

Sign in an optometrist's office: "If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."

Sign in a podiatrist's window: "Time wounds all heels."

Sign on an electrician's truck: "Let Us Remove Your Shorts."

Sign in a butcher's window: "Let me meat your needs."

Sign in a muffler shop: "No appointment necessary. We'll hear you coming."

Sign at a hotel: "Help! We need inn-experienced people."

Quoteables

Ravi Zacharias powerfully observes, "God’s sovereignty is not tyrannical when it is bounded by goodness. God’s holiness is not tortuous when it is tempered by grace. God’s omniscience is not taunting when it is coupled with mercy, and God’s immutability is far from stifling when it is certain of good will."

Springtime in the Rockies

Ah, the joy of living in Colorado. And running a landscape company in the midst of crazy springtime weather. In the past 48 hours El Paso county has had:

• 70-degree temperatures
• 40 mile-an-hour winds
• 4% relative humidity
  
• Multiple large wildfires
• 20-degree temperatures
• blizzard like conditions
• Slick road conditions
• 5 inches of snow
• oh and beautiful blue sky!

Ignite Saturday Night

More to come...

Your mission...should you choose to accept it

The following is an excerpt from Ordering Your Private World by Gordon McDonald speaking on how our Lord used his time here on earth.

“Jesus clearly understood his mission. He had an overarching task to perform and He measured His use of time against that sense of mission. This is quite apparent during his final walk toward Jerusalem, where He would be crucified. As Jesus approached Jericho, Luke wrote (chapter 18), His ears picked up the shrill voice of a blind man and He stopped much to the consternation of both His friends and critics. They were irritated that Jesus did not appreciate that Jerusalem was still six or seven hours away and that they would like to get there to achieve their purpose, the celebration of Passover.

And indeed they had a point-the purpose of Christ was merely to reach Jerusalem in time for a religious celebration. But as we soon learn, that was not Jesus’ prime mission. Touching broken people like the blind man was a more significant matter, important enough for Jesus to invest His time.

Not long after the first encounter, Jesus stopped once again this time under the branch of a tree to call down Zacchaeus, a well-known tax collector. It was the Lords idea that the two get together for a conversation at Zacchaeus’s house. Once again the crowd surrounding Jesus was incensed first because the trip to Jerusalem was again interrupted and second because of Zacchaeus’s reputation.

From where they were standing, it appeared that Jesus was misusing His time. From where Jesus was standing, however, the time was well spent, for it fit the criteria of His mission.”

What is your mission? Are you spending your time and energies to fulfill that mission? Everything we do ought to fit the criteria of our mission. I would encourage you to take a few minutes and let your mind mull on your mission.

Amazing story

"Make every effort"

Recently, I was celebrating a friend’s 21^st birthday at Old Chicago’s with a large group of people. Some were drinking a beer with their pizza. For some reason, our server was not really checking ID’s of those drinking. No big deal. Or so I thought until a conversation with the 20-year old sitting next to me. He was fighting an inward battle about whether or not to order a drink. Upon conversing with him for several minutes I find out that he has had a problem with alcohol in the past, yet is trying to live a Godly life and not drink (which for him has led to getting drunk.) Additionally, he had come to realize that even if he thought he could handle a drink he shouldn’t because he is underage.

Yet sitting there that night he was being tempted to order a beer because others at the table had a beer with their pizza and it looked good. Very good. Talk about a battle within. As the minutes passed he rationalized more and more about why he should have a beer. He asked my opinion. I turned and asked him what his conscience was telling him…this lead into a great conversation.

The question I have is not whether or not he should have ordered a drink that night. It is clear from the scriptures that we shouldn’t get drunk (Eph 5:18, Rom 13:13, 1 Cor 6:10, Gal 5:21.) It’s also clear from the scriptures that we ought to obey our authority (Rom 13:1-7) which in this case is the government, as they have established 21 as the legal drinking age.

Rather the question that should be asked is: what is the responsibility of those sitting at the table who had ordered beers? Were they causing a brother to stumble? Should they have asked if anyone had a problem with them ordering alcohol before they did? I believe that would have been the proper course of action. The Bible speaks of this in Romans 14:19-21 where Paul writes: “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.” By ordering beers those around this young man didn’t cause him any peace or mutual edification. In fact, I witnessed him not at peace much of the night. I’m not judging those who ordered drinks that night and I wonder if they knew what was going on a few chairs down from them.

In the end, by the grace of God, he didn’t order a drink that night and I believe God was pleased. He and I spoke two weeks later and within the first couple of minutes mentioned how glad he was he didn’t have a drink that night. Now in future, he said, it will be much easier for him to say no because he knows what it is like to win a battle.

I had never before seen this type of scenario played out right in front of me. I won’t soon forget this valuable life lesson…

Indoor soccer

Over the past couple of weeks I've had the opportunity to play a couple of indoor soccer games on my brother-in-laws team. It is a great workout and a ton of fun. Here are a few pictures from a game this past weekend





Troy's first game at goalie~nice save!


The Shot


The Save


The Collision


Empty Net!

Quoteables

"Wisdom is not the product of schooling, but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it"

"Not textbook, but storybook"

"When it rains it pours...or in this case when it doesn't rain it gets poured"

"You always reap more than you sowed"

"Don't be deceived by the flutter of your heart"

"Wisdom is: doing the right thing, at the right time, with the right attitude"

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him"

General Reflections

There is a line in the movie Hitch where Will Smith says: "In my head...I didn't see it going that way." In our human perspective we see things going one way in our head, yet they play out completely different in real life. Why? Is it because we are inherently selfish? Or perhaps because we can't truly view how others perceive things? Philippians tells us to look out for the "interests of others." It is frustrating beyond measure when we try to do this and fail. I'm trying to truly look at things from others perspectives but actions and words still get misconstrued. Do you ever get the feeling sometimes people stop listening, stop thinking, and stop reasoning. It doesn't matter what you say they aren't listening. Period. They don't care what you have to say. This is frustrating. When misunderstandings occur with those around me I will try to understand where they are coming from because I've been on the other side.

We are imperfect beings thus we will fail and misunderstandings will happen....yet I'm weary of being misunderstood.