Welcome Landon Max Jones!
Landon Max Jones was born yesterday, May 29, 2008 at 3:22 p.m.? He was 7 lbs. 13.5 oz.? Kari is doing great!? Congratulations . . . your lives have changed forever!!
Pray for the Jones
Lyndall and Kari (Pyron) Jones are having a baby!!!? TODAY!!? 17 days early!? She was due to have their little boy on June 15th, Father’s Day, but he decided to come early.? Kari’s water broke about 4 a.m. and they rushed her to the hospital.? They will hopefully have a big (he’s a Jones boy, for crying out loud!) baby boy sometime this afternoon or evening.? We hope for Kari’s sake that he doesn’t tarry too long into the wee hours!? If you think about it during the day, pray for our friends Kari and Lyndall today.
“Oh, people will come. They will most definitely come!”
I once did a speech at Missouri State on one of the greatest movies of all time–Field of Dreams. If you haven’t seen it, crawl out from under your rock and watch it on TBS or rent it sometime!! The movie is all about family and the great game–BASEBALL. And yes, I totally recited James Earl Jones’ monologue about the greatness of baseball! It was definitely a piece of work indeed!
I say all that to say that Tucker, Taylor and I went by the ol’ alma mater Kickapoo High School on Tuesday night to watch the Ozark Tigers thump my Kickapoo Chiefs in the baseball sectional game. We are planning on going to the quarterfinal game against Holt in Ozark tonight! There is nothing better than being able to watch Taylor enjoy this great game and root hard for his teams! Go Tigers!
Also on the baseball note, my buddy Kurt Simon’s son plays varsity baseball for Rogersville who are also in a quarterfinals against Webb City. Hopefully we will have a great representation of very local teams at the Final Four at Meador Park in Springfield next week!! Good luck Tigers and Wildcats!!
P.S.–Taylor boy won the pop fly contest at the end of practice on Monday!! All that practice in the front yard is paying off buddy!! He won a pack of baseball cards! One of my good friends in high school, Kent Greve, is the coach and my former co-coach, Dan Kennedy, myself and several dads are helping Kent out. It is really fun to get to hang out with high school friends that have kids the same age. We won’t hold it against Dan that he didn’t have the blessing to go to Kickapoo and had to endure being a Glendale Falcon!! Just kidding Dan! Not!!
Movement in the Force
Some of you may have sensed a movement in the Force on Saturday afternoon. Our friend and former Worship Pastor, Dale Campbell and his beautiful bride, Di, made it “back home” from New Zealand to attend his sister’s wedding. I am really excited to get to see Dale and Di and hang out with them.
If you know Dale at all, you know that he loves hibachi grills, specifically, Fuji. We are eating tomorrow (Thursday) at Fuji at high noon. If you are available, come and grab a chair around the grill and hang out with Dale and Di. I think they are going to be at Finley Crossings on June 1st, so you might want to see them then! Good Day, Mate! To the American Kiwi!!
Financial Peace University
What a great first session tonight! I listen to Dave Ramsey a lot on the radio and have read The Total Money Makeover, but this first session of FPU was awesome tonight. Daniel did an awesome job leading the discussion and I think everyone had a good time.
Calling Oprah Out!
Pastor and church planter, Shawn Lovejoy is calling Oprah Out here.? I think this is a very similar argument that I have shown on my blog post here, maybe even the same portion.? I know one of the clips I showed went a little further and had Jon and Kate from Jon and Kate Plus Eight on the show that day.? Don’t know how they exactly got from two sets of multiples to Oprah’s “all-skate theology,” but it sure happened in the show.
Sure sounds great that we could have an “all-skate,” but that just isn’t what the Bible teaches.? Jesus said, “I am the Way, The Truth, and The Life.”? Not a way, but The Way.? The more things change, the more they stay the same.? Simply New Age Theology in a new package.? But the problem is that the packaging that this New Age teaching is AWESOME!? Why isn’t the packaging of the TRUE GOSPEL in our churches as AWESOME?? We all need to strive to present the TIMELESS TRUTH of THE GOSPEL for OUR TIME.? People are starved to connect with God!? Let’s share the REAL TRUTH of JESUS CHRIST with them, not some watered down, cheapened gospel.
“When he [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36 (NIV)
Jon Lester No-Hitter!
What an AWESOME story of cancer survivor, Jon Lester, throwing a NO-HITTER tonight against the Royals. Check out this article on MLB.com for all the details.
Too bad it happened against the Royals, but it is only the 2nd no-hitter against the Royals in their history. The owner of the first no-hitter against the Royals?? No other than Nolan Ryan in 1973, 35 years ago. So Jon Lester is in great company indeed! What a great story of what can happen if you work hard and never give up!
Relay for Life
Straight Up!, our student ministry decided to help to raise a ton of money to defeat cancer by walking in the Relay for Life at Hillcrest High School in Springfield on Friday night. Jenny was at the “Scrap ‘n Yap” at church, so the Stone boys decided to come out and support our students and walk with them at the Relay for Life. Here are some pics of the gang:
Friday is for FLYING!!
Tucker and I were out riding bikes. OK, I was sitting reading while he was riding his bike on the sidewalk and a huge Army helicopter kept circling our neighborhood. (I think it looks like a UH-60 Series Black Hawk combat assault helicopter. John, maybe you and your aircraft expertise could help a brother out on this one!)
Finally, the circle got smaller and smaller and it landed in Taylor’s elementary school field. Tuck and I couldn’t help ourselves, so we drove up to the school to see everything. While we were there watching the Army helicopter, the Cox Health Med-evac Helicopter landed right next to the Army helicopter. Way cool for the kids to get to climb up in and on the helicopters! There was also the Keebler Elf and 18 wheeler, concrete mixer truck, ambulance, fire engine, limousine. Must be a vehicle Field Day, huh? Way cool opportunity for the kiddos.
Here are some pics from Tuck and my “covert ops”:
Friday is for Family
Here are some pictures of the devastation left from the tornado that came through Racine and Seneca.? My aunt Carolyn’s husband Ed’s family lives down there and one of their houses was totally destroyed. Here are some pictures of their house.
Please be in prayer for those who are picking up the pieces of their lives and especially for those who are having funerals this week. Pray also for those pastors as they help lead those communities to the Lord’s peace through this tragedy.