Tough!

We even make 3D glasses look tough.

French Fry Warfare

I'll fabricate a story for this later. :)

The Summer of Baseball

You are looking at the greatest baseball player of all time. His name is Joey, he's eight and he just happens to be my son.

He has taken a huge interest in baseball this year. Over the little league season he has improved his hitting 1000%. Last year he was in T-ball, and this year they use a 40 m.p.h. pitching machine. It took a while for him to get use to it, but he's hitting about .667 now.

Our regular season is over. We ended with 1 tie, 4 wins and 5 loses. That's still pretty good considering we lost games 2-5 and then went on a 4 game winning streak.

We figured out that Joey needs to stay loose in the batters box. Watch the video below.

The Summer of Baseball ROCKS!!!

Courage and God Speed.

Get Wasted?

I think there is something about billboards that irritate me. Especially ones that are placed inside the limits of small rural cities.

This might be happening all over and I just don't know it, but there is a local jewelry store that we use to shop at that puts up some very irritating billboards. Things like "He spent how much on his golf clubs?" or "If it was a 14 carrot truck, he wouldn't hesitate." Over the last couple years they have tried their hardest to make women feel that they deserve to splurge on bling just for putting up with their husbands.

I know if Cabela's started taking this approach, the N.O.W. would be burning their bras.

There is a particular billboard across the street from our High School, in the corner of a church yard that currently reads "Get Wasted." This is a message from another community church that apparently is trying to get the message of Matthew 16:25-26 across. That verse says "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

I'm assuming that "Get Wasted" refers to where it says "but whoever loses his life for My sake..." If I'm correct, aren't they saying that becoming a Christian is a "waste"? And remember, this is posted across the street from a high school, on church property.

I think that whomever is in charge of placing this ad should be posting a retraction of some kind. Some very poor judgement on the churches part.

Is this a reflection on the state of the church as a whole.? Is the state of the church a reflection on the state of the nation?

I think so!

How about an allternative version...

Courage and God Speed!

My First Fishing Trophy

The year was 2005; I was headed up to the U.P. (upper peninsula for those of you who do not have the good fortune of living in Michigan) for my first Men’s Retreat. The destination, a quaint little Christian camp about a 45 minute drive from “the bridge”. The purpose, to get some quiet time alone with God.

The scheduled events for the long weekend were skeet shooting, golf, paint ball, and fishing. The latter is my personal passion. The campground is set on a wide spot on a river, and if you didn’t know it was a river you would think it was a small lake for the heavy population of beavers have dammed up both ends of the faux lake. Crossing the lake was a nice mini version of the Mackinaw Bridge. Hiking trails were in abundance, but the camp personnel warned to go with a buddy or not to go to far for there had been evidence of a bear recently.

Although I should have been hitting the trails to find a nice secluded spot to sit, read my bible and pray, I choose to go fishing. Now the story was that there were walleye in the “lake” and the rules of the fishing contest were: the biggest fish wins, catch and release, and no fishing after dark. I don’t know much about walleye, but they told me that they are nocturnal feeders. I had never been walleye fishing before because I had always preferred the mortal combat of pulling a large mouth bass out of the water, sticking my thumb in it’s mouth to lift it up, and then putting it back in it’s domain so that I can catch it again another day. So, I didn’t have any tackle in which to catch a walleye with in my tackle box. I jumped in my jeep-wannabe and headed for the nearest civilization in search for a tackle shop or a hardware store. After prodding the locals for tips on how to land a walleye and making my purchases I headed back for my spot on the water.

Three days I was on that water. Baking in the sun. Beavers attempting to scare me away from their young by slapping their tails on the water. It sounded like someone dropping a boulder in the water. Three days of sitting in a canoe, bobbing a night crawler up and down. Up and down. Nothing. Not a nibble.

In-between fishing sessions we would have mini church services and meals. They fed us like kings.Up and down. Back breaking from sitting on a hard canoe seat. Skin on fire from the cloudless sun above.

Last day of the retreat. Last day of the contest. Nobody had caught anything. Biggest fish wins right?

Still nothing. Are there any fish in this lake? Somebody had caught a crayfish with a cup, but they hadn’t entered the contest.

30 minutes to go. Got to do something to catch a fish. ANY FISH!

What’s that swimming next to the dock? Minnows. I pulled a black fly from my tackle box and tied it on. Very gently, I bobbed it on the surface of the water. Slam! After three long days of baking in a canoe, this monstrous fish actually brought a smile to my face. I snapped a picture with my service starved cell phone and released my “White Whale” back to the depths which had spawned it.

I rushed up to the main hall where they were about to award the prizes. Whipping out my phone I sported my entry to the ministry leader. While waiting for the award ceremony, I heard that, before I showed my fish, they were going to give the fishing trophy to a 7 year old boy who had come with his dad. I felt about 3 inches tall.

Well, I received my prize and then heard that the boy who would be the recipient of the trophy had already left. That made me feel better about leaving with it. Hey, I paid ten dollars to enter this contest.

So I gained a trophy for my wall, I lost three days of time with the creator of the universe. Next time, I leave the fishing gear at home.

Courage and God Speed!