Rambling...

It's Monday night, actually Tuesday morning. A wonderful thunderstorm came through a few hours ago and blessed me with an incredible nap. I love naps...especially thunderstorm induced. I miss them. In Arkansas, they were the norm...in Ohio, they're the exception. I've almost been in Ohio a full year now, and as far as I remember, tonight was the first opportunity I've had to enjoy one. I really love naps...

Had a great weekend, was privileged to get to meet and hear Dr. Ken Hemphill on Saturday evening. Had to drive an hour and a half to get there, but it was worth it. Great time for Denise and me to be together on the road. She loves to drive...I love to ride...we make a great team.

Sunday was something! Killer Bible Study on Sunday Morning. Looked at truth. What truth is. WHO is truth. Truth has a name...you can find the answer in John 14:6.

Sunday night at The River Church was fun. Talked about imitators. The girls chose three of our guys that they wanted to imitate...the guys chose three girls. Hilarious! Up on stage in front of everybody...simply hilarious. We found it's easy to imitate one another...but it's not so easy to imitate Christ...takes work...takes focus...takes, well you know, commitment. Paul did it. I like Paul. He wanted the Ephesus church to do it...imitate...Christ. He wants us to do it...same thing...imitate Christ. Check it out...Ephesians 5:1.

Today was Monday. I'm getting where I don't like Mondays...maybe it's cause I'm super exhausted from the weekend. Maybe it's cause I know I would rather be working on reaching my students instead of working at a secular job. Maybe it's cause I just need a darker roasted coffee. Maybe...

By the time Friday rolls around, I'm finally (but I don't know how) caught up on my rest, then the vicious cycle starts all over again. OK! I'll admit it...I don't like Mondays. Do you like Mondays?

I need coffee...I need to go to bed...I need coffee...I really need to go to bed...but I need coffee...bed wins...Yay bed! Goodnight coffee pot...I'll see you in just a couple of hours...

Truth...

Question for the day...

'What is truth?'

Special Days...

I love days like today! From the moment my feet hit the floor this morning till the time I go to bed when I finish this post, I have had a phenomenal day!

We slept in just a little bit this morning, not much, but later than we normally do. Then Tab and I got out to do a few quick errands. In the process, we detoured through the Tiffin Bake Shop. The pastries were good, but the young lady behind the counter who waited on us obviously needed a stiffer cup of coffee...

On the way home we had to take a much different route due to the Heritage Festival taking place in the middle of town. I'm talkin' thousands of people filled the downtown streets in our tiny community! When we got home, Denise had stacks of pancakes right off the grill! You go girl! After a little bit of time to do a little surfin' while the girls did a few things around the house, it was off to the festival we went...

Thank the Lord that most of the enormous crowd had left by the time we got up there. And to our surprise, we only found about a dozen food & concession vendors and a handful of craft vendors. Seriously, I'm not real sure why all the people had been there only hours before. I still had to put my stamp of approval on the food...yep, it passed the test! My selection, an Italian Sausage smothered in peppers and onions, bathed in cheddar cheese, topped with mushrooms and more peppers and onions. WOW, that was really good! For the life of me though, I just couldn't talk Denise into one of those! I know...she was looking for the chocolate wagon!

From there, like father like daughter, she and I had a huge craving for coffee (Like that's something new, I know!). So we ventured over to Ralph's, only to find they had REMOVED their espresso machine! BLASPHEMY I tell you, BLASPHEMY! We took a quick drive over by the campus, and to our surprise, Java Rave was still open. Tab wanted something cold, so she got, now get this, a Caramel Java Icer. That's really a wack name for a Caramel Frappaccino! For me, oh and it was almost really good, six shots (yes I said 6 shots) of espresso with just a hint of White Chocolate. As Tab and I inhaled our coffee, Denise just shook her head...she knew exactly what was about to happen! I was pretty much useless the rest of the day! LOL!

From there, we stopped by the video rental place for 3 movies, one for each of us, then we charted our way home. After a quick trip back out to grab pizza and cheesy bread, our family day concluded by watching all 3 of the movies, laughing and enjoying every second of each others company. Oh sure we've taken the time to do our share of texting friends and checking our email and facebook, (and Denise playing a few computer games while the scary movie was on...although she did end up watching most of it! LOL!) but the main focus was the main focus.

Need I really have to say, I love my family! And it's days like this that will forevermore hold a special place in my heart. I love you girls!

Are You Jokin'?!

I've seen some crazy weather stuff in my life, but today really takes the cake. We're just a short drive off the coast of Lake Erie...hundreds of miles off the Gulf Coast, and today we've got Hurricane force winds?! Are you seriously jokin'? My buddy TJ, down in Louisville, KY is one of thousands without power from this massive wind storm that's made it's way up the Ohio Valley. His church, TLC, was literally shakin off the foundation this morning, and this time it had nothing to do with Holy Spirit!

As we were heading to church tonight, it was a chore just to keep our vehicle on the road. Limbs and trees were everywhere, siding was flying off houses, our campus had stuff blown everywhere, and I think I saw a cow go by on our way home! Insane.

Oh, and the world must be coming to an end...our Wal-Mart Super Store is CLOSED thanks to no power...along with Arbys and half of our community. Dude, just when I wanted some Curly Fries too...

A Lazy Saturday...

After weeks upon weeks of no rain in our area, yesterday was such a welcomed day. The rain began earlier yesterday morning and has continued on through today. Our crops are in desperate need of water. It saddens me to see the time and effort put in by our farmers, just to have a front row seat to watch their crops wither away due to lack of water. That's one of the big differences I've noticed between crops in the south, and up here in the north. Here, farmers don't irrigate. The locals tell me that's usually not a problem, but this year has really been tough.
I've took advantage of the calm of the rain to spend some relaxing time around the house. Last night, Denise and I got out to get ice cream, but other than that, we spent the evening watching the Hurricane Ike show on Foxnews, surfing the internet (especially Facebook), and enjoying fresh coffee.

Today, wow am I lazy! I got up early to meet with my buddy Dan Duffy, he's helping me out by taking a display for me back to Columbus. After that, SUPER LAZY! I can't remember the last time I've crashed like this. And boy oh boy does it feel good! I've got a small to-do list I've got to get done today, but those shouldn't be a problem. I've got to wrap up my Bible Study for tomorrow morning at the Co-Ed Bible Study on campus, and I've got to put the finish touches on my message tomorrow night for The River Church. I'm hoping for lot's of 'laziness' today with my laptop, the coolness of the air, and lot's more coffee!

My prayers are out to all those affected by the massive hurricane. As I watch now, the reporters are telling me that it's headed right into Arkansas. Gotta call friends today to check on them.

I've added a couple of new things to my side bar. One, is the 'FOLLOW ME' section. If you are a regular reader, or just stopping by, I would like to invite you to click on the 'FOLLOW ME' section and sign up as one of my readers. Come one, come all...please sign up! This kinda gives me a better idea of the readers that I have.

I have also joined TWITTER. The button over on the side bar will let you keep up with me on a more regular basis. I'll be updating my TWITTER several times a day via text. You can sign up to be a regular follower over there, also.

Hope you have an incredible weekend...Mine will be much lazy! Mine will also be spent with my beautiful bride of 24 years...today! She's such a blessed lady! :)

Luau Pics...

This past Sunday, we had a BLAST with our students as we officially kicked off the Fall Semester. It was an amazing time!

If you would like to see MORE pictures from our Luau In The Park,

CLICK HERE!

Remnents of a Luau...

WOW! What an incredible time at the park today. We reserved one of the many pavilions and turned it into a Hawaiian Luau! It was a blast! I think we had 55 in attendance, but maybe more. Lots of fun, games, prizes...more free food than you could realize...and laughter galore! A special THANK YOU to Randy & Melodie Platt for taking care of all the details, providing and cooking the food, providing the games and prizes, and much more untold stuff. This was the largest fellowship projects we've ever had, and it was a massive success! Stay tuned...Pictures are on their way...

The Week That Was...

OK...TU is off and running! Man, is it running! The prof's are dealing out homework like never before...students seem to be already overwhelmed. Hopefully things will smooth out in a week or two.

We had a great kickoff to H2O last week. Wow, the electricity was amazing. Great group of new students! It was so great to see old friends. Can't wait till this Thursday!

We had a great time at First Baptist Church in Sheffield Lake this past Sunday. The people are incredible. And their pastor...Ron Woods, definitely a close friend in the making. We share so much in common, it's scary. I honored to have Ron in my friend circle.

We had great services at The River Church on Sunday night. Now that summer is over, our services are back on the TU campus. I'm glad to be back!

Got a couple of new toys this week: A car charger for my phone (Thank God)! That was sooo a necessity. And a cordless mouse for my laptop. The last thing I want is carpel tunnel of the finger by using the mouse pad! :D

Hope your week has been great...let me hear from you...gotta go, there's a fresh pot of coffee waiting on me...