Man's Best Friend and Gas free option

Well if you know us. You know that we are one car short. Too many directions to travel and not enough vehicles. What we are not short of is dogs! Maybe one problem can be solved by the other! LOL. Check out this little video./ If you see me running down the road like this, remember what Mark twain said.

“Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in”.

I want your kite strings tangled in my trees all wrapped up

Well. It has been a long time. I have been through and am still going through what most likely is the busiest time of my life. I thought things were supposed to slow down as you got older? Not so! These are the days to run while you can.

We are just starting a new small group called Crazy Love. I expect it to yield great things in everyone's life as we work through it together.

One of my favorite books, the bible, has this saying in it. "in all your getting get understanding". I have been thinking lately about understanding. About our journey here on earth and how we are to go about getting that understanding as we move through it. About accomplishing meaningful goals and leaving some kind of a worthwhile impression on this place called earth and the lives it holds. One of the things I have noticed about this great land is the independence people have, myself included. It seems to be an integral part of who we are as Americans. In fact it seems to be the driving force behind our society. It has provided many things but it has also been costly.

Today working with a group of kids I was once again reminded what independence has cost us. It has cost us harmony. Not in the sense of everyone getting along. But harmony in the sense of oneness regardless of socio-economic status or race or geographic location. Independence has filled us with little regard for furthering us as humans and instead had filled us with desire to get to the top of whatever it is we are pursuing. Many people I happen to run into lack many of the basic social skills to impact others worlds even through a simple conversation and at every chance avoid those situations. I am not suggesting we abandon what we are, but I am suggesting we are leaving behind the things that matter most. "In all your getting get understanding". My understanding tells me we are a people far from God. I'm not getting all religious or supernatural on you. I am just saying that I see people who do not have God in their lives and I see the condition of their struggles. Mine included. I see lives that are unfulfilled but are filled. You know what I mean?

The bible says "apart from God we can do nothing". I have done a lot of things, but those things have not produced a filling. Really they were just traded for. Time traded for cars, time for stuff, time for position, time for authority. All that time went to those things. If you were not one of those things,you didn't get me! We tell our kids they are valuable, then we teach them to trade their time for things and rob others of those same great kids!

I may be entering another stage of life and I hope it will be different. I want more of what God has done to me. I want what I have stopped him from doing in me. I want to stop settling and I want to walk with Him. I want to be changed and filled by his presence and I don't want to be religious. I want to be a difference maker. I believe that's the difference between being religious and being in love. I want it at any cost. That is hard to say!

If you want my love, well you’ve got to get close to me
If you need my love, well you’ve got to get closer to me
Oh, if you want my love

I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I want your kite strings tangled in my trees all wrapped up
I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I’ll be the comets that are fallin from the sky you light up

You’re my shirt, I an arm
I’m the tick, you’re the bomb
You’re the L and the V, I’m the O and the E, and we…
Am I speaking clearly?



Jars of Clay/Closer

First Winter with alternative fuels

Well hopefully we are headed to Spring here soon. Only 20 some days until springs appears on the calendar. We have went through the winter with alternative fuels for the first time. This year we burned corn for heat in our cornburner and the only natural gas we used was to heat water.

The first thing I noticed was a constant heat source. Because the corn burns constantly there is no rise or fall of the temperature as the forced air furnace shuts down and waits for the temperature to drop enough so the thermostat clicks on.

Our heat bills last year were around $250.00 to $280.00. Since the cornburner our highest bill was $36.00 for the water heater. To sum it up. We probably would not go back. If for any other reason the house temp was kept much warmer than the previous years and I like the heat.

Let's talk vacations

Last month I was in Arizona Leading the Converge USA Assessment center. You might call it a work trip. However one afternoon while the rest of the team was working I slipped out for a couple of hours adventure. It was 35 degrees below zero in Iowa and that day in Arizona it was sunny and 72 beautiful warm degrees. So someone had to enjoy the outdoors and I knew it would not be my family back home in Iowa. So I sacrificed and down the road I went. My first stop was at a bike shop called Cactus Bike. If you have seen one bike shop maybe you have seen them all. I mean after all. All they have are bikes, grease and parts. But it is not the bikes that draws me there but rather the adventure of a possible vacation. As I said 35 below at home or 72 and gorgeous in Arizona. Where would you rather ride? I talked with the shop guys about the usual bike talk then switched to where do you ride? The thoughts of the desert and bikes is a trip I am hoping to make sometime. I know its a desert! Yep, that's what attracts me. In my mind I absolutely love the desert. Dry, sunny and more dry. They explained some of the rides that were taking place such as the Bark at the Moon ride. The Cactus Hugger festival. Sounds great right? Well. There just seems to be so much going on lately that I had to settle for some dreaming of riding the desert. So I walked out of the store Dreams in hand and a book to plan, scheme and dream. Someday in the future. The desert, my bike and oh yea my best friend. My wife. I will let you know when it happens but for now it's starting to warm up here. I can't wait to be active, outdoors and feeling the sun again.

A Little Bit Of Listerine...

Here is a midweek laugh. This is worth the time.