don't even think of going anywhere

so here i sit in my office by myself after 5 on a friday waiting for the phone to ring. you see, i was a good samaritan earlier in the day and it ended up screwing up my whole day. argh!!

just for that i changed my ringtone back to benny hill. that's a little more fitting.

home sweet home

spent a few days north of houston at a wonderful lake in the piney woods. enjoyed the visit with my mother, sister and brother-in-law and their children. it was good to get away from home for a little bit but driving home i had a new appreciation for the area where we live known as the Texas Hill Country. Ok, so those of you who have lived here will probably say that i'm making too much of this area but i don't think so. some of you reading this i know have even moved here from the houston area. don't get me wrong, i love the city, i really do. but something about the hills and a two lane road with no shoulder just makes me want to crack open the sunroof and run the honda up to at least 45. (i would have added some music but i let the cd player get dirty and now its broke, maybe that means i should just put in a cd/dvd/mp3 player with a big lcd screen - tyler says yep!)

anyway, i hope you are having a great week. we have some challenges ahead of us, but by the limitless grace of the Father, we should be in good shape. i hope you feel blessed and that you don't watch too much of the DNC on tv this week. :)

what else

i went to the eye doc today so he could take a look at what's going on with my eyesight.  it's been bothering me a little lately and i wanted to make sure that all was ok. everything seemed ok, but i still left with my first ever script for glasses. now mind you these are computer glasses, not reading glasses - there is a difference - probably not in the frames or lenses or cost, but they certainly are different.
 
i add this insult to my experience last night while working at my computer at home i noticed that one of my toenails decided to part ways with the rest of his toenail friends. i didn't feel anything or notice anything, it was just here one min and gone the next. sooo...does anyone out there want to give me a heads up on what to expect next. will i awake with one less appendage anytime in the near future or anything bad like that???? gee, it sucks to get old.

don't give up

ok, so this new code is taking a little longer. don't give up, i'll get everything back in shape soon.
 
found out tonight that my wife now has a folder at the lutheran church. in some churches, having your very own folder certainly can be a sign of status. i'm not completely sure what this one means.  PAX!

Impact

visited a new church sunday morning - impact christian fellowship. i didn't really know this place existed until saturday evening when their band played at a "thing" held at clay street. WOW! is about all i can say. it was like seeing worship all over for the first time, like tasting the sweetness and power of God all at once, again.
 
for me the big driving force was that it was a piano led worship and the guy was amazing. now, i am always being accused of being a nathan follower so i don't want to make too much of it, but for me, when the piano is being played i am in the presence of God, period. the church was a lot like clay street, but with some refinements. these refinements are nice, but clay street is much more versatile and no one cares if you park a car in the middle of the warehouse (which i did once during a worship service).
 
i'll keep you posted on whether or not this may become another home for us.  i say another, because i'm starting to feel more at home at many places and not just one or two. it may be that i have keys to 4 churches in town and not just one. the older i get the more i am trying to become focused on the strengths of each ministry and where their specialties lie. i'm tired of wishing that one place would be the perfect model for evangelism, discipleship, etc.  just as i will never be perfect model for the same.
 
blessings, K

all things new

ok, so i decided to change up my template a little...i think i already miss my old one...and i added the whole comment thing so i'll see how long i can take people saying mean things, if they do. by the way, now that i've moved offices, i may have to give up my laptop with the bootleg off the corporate network connection so my blogging patterns may once again change. don't give up, i'll stay at this as long as the 3 people who read this stay with me.
 
have a good weekend. do something fun.
 
my apologies to everyone for blasting your links from my site. give me a few days with this new code and i'll get them re-added.

a day like no other

interesting day today, it was.

i got to work expecting to be called in to my mgrs office, which of course i was, and then found out that i was moving to a private office. i had thought i was going to get into trouble because i told another mgr yesterday that they needed to take some responsibility and quit blaming everyone else for all of their problems. (it wasn't pretty, but it needed to happen, or so i thought, and still do)

I will miss the office talk, but i think i'll like it. it gets me away from some of the time-consuming customer junk so i can really focus on my job and crank out some work. i guess now i will find out if i am as good as i think or if i suck just like the other mgr that i was causing so much grief.

nada mucho

not a whole lot has been happening the last few days, but i'll tell you anyway so you don't call and yell at me...

saturday
had a planning meeting with the church and school folks. it was pretty non-eventful until i told the church that they needed to allow parents to photograph their kids during the service if they ask them to participate. in the past, whenever the school kids sang or did a christmas program, the parents were told repeatedly that no photography was allowed during the service. all this did was enrage the parents and some have vowed to never come back. i tried to explain to the lutherans that before you can share the love of christ, they probably should show a little love and let a camera find its way into the service. after all, one of the biggest ways to the parents are through the kids. they seemed to get it toward the end.

sunday
noticed the isuzu had a bad water leak which made it look like it was bleeding to death in my driveway. its still in the shop. it may be expensive.

monday
found out that the sinkhole in the parking lot of the phone company is growing larger. how cool is that? i'll see if i can get some pics up so you guys can see. if you are driving around with nothing to do, stop by the back of the lot at the 955 building and take a look. you could also jump up and down on it and see if you can make it larger. no joke, it's kinda fun, well i do live a simple life.

tuesday
fire marshal just showed up at work. no biggee there.

steer this

i'm on a steering committee with the local lutheran church and school and last night the pastor said the church needs to do something to help get the kids off the streets. now keep in mind that most everyone on the committee is at least retired, some have been for many years, one lady is actually 91. the pastor mentioned creating some type of skate area or building a half pipe for teenage skaters. WOW! i have been with churches half their age and more recently with a church only a fraction of their age, but everytime we talked about creating a skate "thing" everyone laughed at the thought. for that matter, when it was recommended to reach out to the pierced and tattoo'd, of which skaters can be, one elder remarked that we really didn't want them here. hello!!! churches if you are going to reach the lost, and you aren't going to go to where they are, then at least allow them to act like themselves when they show up to your place.

i am constantly amazed at how powerfully creative or destructive leadership can be, and am once again reminded of the need to keep them in prayer.

a Jew?

it is interesting to me how the people of the jewish faith (outside the goings on of israel) seem to be completely more receptive of other people even though they still hold themselves to strict rules of the Torah. it sweems to me that these rules would put up barriers to openness, but from my experience, it doesn't. i would think that christians would be more loving and open to sharing the love of Christ, being that they are completely free from the law, but more often then not, it is harder to get into a christian circle than another faith. in many ways the christian faith seems to have become the american faith and has adopted all of the baggage that goes along with it. you know, being a rush to the top, climb the ladder, be all you can be, get out of my way or i'll step on you, kind of faith. all the while, there seems to be little spiritual growth or even an understanding about who Christ is or even who we can be through Christ.

it appears that the christian faith in many ways has adopted the very traditions that Jesus came to break us free from. if you are wrapped up in churchiness or busyness for the sake of Christ then i encourage you to break free from it. allow yourself to rest in the Father. get to know the God of the Bible in the way he wants to reveal himself to you. don't just take someone else's word. they are probably caught up in churchiness themselves and probably only know what the latest seminary teacher taught. remember the early guys of the old testament that had no church or temple or seminary to attend, yet they knew God in ways we can only imagine.

break free!

you want me to go where?

twice in the last week, dianna and i have made trips to waco (about 200 miles away) to scavenge through the rubble left behind by another christian school that couldn't afford to keep their doors open - another long sad lutheran story. i was expecting the place to be a dump but what we found was a wonderful facility that apparently was mis managed. i guess part of me is really curious how many ministries have to go under before people realize that a preacher does not a business manager make. (nor does a business manager a preacher make) in my opinion, it is very rare to find a person who can do both.

in our trips we purchased probably close to 3000 books, 5 lunchroom tables, 3 locking cabinets, 2 bookcases, a bunch of science equipment including microscopes, slides, plastic body parts (ooo, that sounds bad) and an assortment of other things.

once again to make my point from an earlier blog...i don't think it was the will of God to see this one church die out just to help us along, although this can show that God can make all things work to the good (to those called to the purpose). my hope is that the new pastor of that lutheran congregation can help heal the hurts and bring people back to the arms of the father.

the new lunchbox

had a conversation with tyler last week that went something like this. tyler, are you ready for school to start? not really dad. well, yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... yes... no... actually since i have a new spiderman lunchbox, then yes, i am.