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| I went south last weekend, down to southern Oklahoma where guys where tighter jeans than gals. I had a great time. I even go to experience a charismatic church service. If you have never been, just imagine the set of TBN with Wranglers and snake skin boots.
Everything started okay. All was well when the pastor took the podium. As soon as he began to speak I heard a "COME ON, AMEN, COME ON!" I jumped(and maybe peed a little). It came from the guy in back of me with the blue ostrich skin boots on.
Every time I would get comfortable listening and thinking about the sermon, the ol' boy would "COME ON!"
The end was kind of unusual too. The pastor said that since he had run over time a little and it was Memorial Day weekend, we could slip out during the invitation...unless we wanted to come up front and experience the Spirit of God. Most everyone left. I didn't know whether to laugh or be depressed.
After I had gone to the bathroom to check my drawers, I came out and heard the pastor hootin' and haulerin'. The man had some lungs.
All in all it was a good experience. I did learn a few things to prepare myself for next time.
1)Learn the proper timing to say "COME ON, AMEN"
2)Get a Bible with those quick reference tabs because that guy moves quick
3)Always, always go to the bathroom before church starts. | | |
| I was watching my favorite - The Patriot - the other day. Well maybe my second favorite to The Gladiator. It was great. There was one line that really stuck out to me. General Cornwallis was repremanding one of his British field generals for killing women, children, and hostages. He was not fighting like a gentleman. As a result of all the slaying, Mel Gibson was gaining troops and resolve to fight for freedom. Cornwallis says, "Your brutallity has swollen his ranks."
It made me think about our war today, in Iraq and only Iraq. It started as a war to protect us from WMD, then to liberate, and finally to fight terrorism. I would finally agree that we are now fighting terrorism in Iraq because of our failure to effectively accomplish a mission...... whatever goal sounded best that month.
What do we do now? I'm not sure | | |
| You gotta check out this sermon by Doc Dunn in Enid. Go to http://thecornerstonepulpit.blogspot.com then click on "My Corner of the Cot". Read it on your lunch break. It will only take about 10 minutes. If you have never read one of his sermons, you will be refreshed. No fill in the blank, three points, hell fire and brimstone crap.
Here is the summary if you don't care to read the whole thing, even though I encourage it. Its the story of the Jesus healing the paralytic that is dropped through the roof by his buddies - Mark 2:1-12. Doc says it represents the church. Think about a funeral. It takes all the men/women to carry the casket. Well it takes all of us to bring people to Jesus. The four corners of the cot are 1)Presence - do we welcome people to our church, or just greet them. 2)Compassion - Do you truly and sincerely care about people(talk to Stacey about the people project if you don't know how to truly care about people...I'm still learning) 3)Understanding - it takes a commitment of time and energy to know a person and see that they need your help to come to Jesus. 4)Our Will - doing whatever it takes.
Jesus is waiting for us to bring those that need him, just like the paralytic needed his buddies to drop him in Jesus' lap. But whenever we don't even show up, a corner of the cot is left open. A study was done on what makes someone stay at a church. They found that a person is more likely to stay if they develop seven friendships. Are you committed to being one of those seven, or are you going to watch others try and drag a cot in the dirt. I encourage you - as I learn - to grab a corner and be committed to God's church. Check out the sermon! | | |
| Well, it has been a while. Its not that I have nothing to say. I have just been a slacker when it comes to the internet. I just checked my email from December! No more excuses. Things are getting exciting on the political front. The Republicans are leaving Bush out to dry and the Democrats and keeping their mouths shut. Politics is a funny thing. On one hand you do not want your opponent to succeed; however, you don't want your nation to fail. So why would anyone want to be a politician? - Their too ugly to work in Hollywood! | | |
| So I have this friend. Yes...believe it or not, some people like me! We were on the golf team at OBU, roommates for a year, Nat Sci study partners, Jeopardy fans, and midnight philosophers. Lupe (to protect his identity) "graduated" a year ahead of me and chased his love to Denver. He get married in Cabo this winter. Don't be jealous because I was lying on the beach while you all were freezing your buns off. I say "graduated" because Lupe had everything but a three hour credit. He was doing it online, but never finished.
So here we are, three years and $60K after going to OBU and no diploma. Lupe conveniently married the daughter of my Poli Sci professor, who agreed to teach him the course via US Mail. Its a two week course and my buddy just sold his business....sounds like a no brainer with all his spare time.
When Lupe called me and told me the situation, I immediately knew his delimma: Father-in-law / demanding prof / meticulous grader was teaching a son-in-law / lazy body / master procrastinator. So I gave him some hints on how the prof operates, the dos and don'ts, and wished him the best of luck. He has two weeks to write 120 pages of interviews, outlines, etc..... Flunk this class and the next few Thanksgivings could be awkward.
Click on this to check out my other post. | | |
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