Sunday Night “Sum Up”–12.13.2009

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Each Sunday night I will be summing up the previous week’s events in a “numbered” list, along with the “sum total” of our attendance for the week…even though “I’m not very good with numbers.”

  1. Busy week…goes without saying, I guess.
  2. We got our new Heat Pump installed in our house. Terry did an awesome job and we are so thankful for our people at FPCarthage!!
  3. I am expanding our closet because the air handler is in our closet–on Jenny’s side. ?I am getting there…see pics.
  4. I made these “14 Minute Sawhorses” in about an hour and fifteen minutes…with some expert help from Tucker! They are actually pretty cool…and I used all scraps that were in the shed. ?Most of which were left here by the previous owners–thanks guys!!
  5. I used part of the scrap wood that used to be a really high class shelving unit that we had in our home for the first years of our marriage. ?It was a set of 1 x 12 boards placed on cinder blocks! We carried those boards and blocks around all over the country. ?Classy, I know…but very fiscally responsible!
  6. My mom and dad came down for dinner and Christmas light looking on Monday night. ?Good to have them here!
  7. Had a really good couple of services this morning @FPCarthage!
  8. Man, the band did an awesome job! I had a TON of compliments today on our worship team! Great job, folks!
  9. I am so proud of our Leadership Team!! They did an awesome job today!
  10. Christmas concert was awesome tonight at FP Joplin.
  11. Jenny sang in the choir. ?They did an amazing job!
  12. As Jenny said, “Debbie (Clements) was ‘smooth like butter’ on her solo tonight! ?”I Believe” was amazing! Lots and lots of talented people in the FP family!
  13. Had a great time hanging out with our @FPCarthage folks at Braum’s after the concert.
  14. I think I am coming down with something…my throat is killing me…better get some sleep.
  15. By the way…Our student ministry had 31 students at Fusion tonight! ?Way to GO!!

Happy Birthday Jenny!

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Today is Jenny’s birthday! I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have her as my bride! Our song is “She’s Got a Way” by Billy Joel. ?I think the words to that song really speak to what she means to me on this special day!

She’s got a way about her
I don’t know what it is
But I know that I can’t live without her

She’s got a way of pleasin’
I don’t know why it is
But there doesn’t have to be a reason
Anyway

She’s got a smile that heals me
I don’t know what it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me

She’s got a way of talkin’
I don’t know what it is
But it lifts me up when we are walkin’
Anywhere

She comes to me when I’m feelin’ down
Inspires me without a sound
She touches me and I get turned around

She’s got a way of showin’
How I make her feel
And I find the strength to keep on goin’

She’s got a light around her
And everywhere she goes
A million dreams of love surround her
Everywhere

She comes to me when I’m feelin’ down
Inspires me without a sound
She touches me and I get turned around

She’s got a smile that heals me
I don’t know what it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me

She’s got a way about her
I don’t know what it is
But I know that I can’t live without her
Anyway

Halloween Costume Parade

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Taylor’s school had a “costume parade” this morning.? Some fun shots of his principle, a sweet girl’s outhouse costume as well as Taylor in his Roman soldier costume.? Got that baby done at about 1 a.m. this morning.? Why do I always wait too long to get these costumes figured out??

Amazing Sunday–Pastor Appreciation

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I am still in shock from our people at Forest Park Carthage!? They surprized us with a HUGE gift for Pastor Appreciation Month!

We “got a good deal” on our house here in Carthage.? Don’t get me wrong, we are totally blessed and very thankful for everything we have.? However, we moved into the house and it is about 20 years old and everything seems to be breaking.? The house inspector’s report was like a broken record on everything…”make plans for replacement. End of life cycle.” or something like that!

The first thing is/was the wall paper…it is/was everywhere!? There were only two rooms in the whole house that didn’t have any wallpaper in them! Second, the cabinets are getting old and breaking…I am getting pretty good at making repairs to keep them together. The final straw was our air conditioning.? We have a heat pump because we don’t have gas for the furnace.? So…last winter we simply turned on the “furnace” and had outrageous electric bills!? Come to find out, there is a refrigerant leak in the air handler under the house that is causing the unit to run on the electric heat strips 100%–not just to supplement on those below zero nights.? Needless to say, after I learned a little about heat pumps, I knew we were going to need to do something before the winter came again.

Enter our church family at Forest Park Carthage!? Some “little birdies” told some other “little birdies” about our situation and they wanted to bless their pastor and his family.? Boy, did they bless us!? Take a look at this brochure!!? This thing is being put in our house this week!

heatpumppaid

Absolutely blown away by the gift that our people sacrificed to give to us!? If you look closely on the picture…they gave me the brochure and it says “Paid In Full” across the front! It was a really cool time last night telling the boys about what our church family did for us!? They are really excited and thankful for our church family.? What is really cool is the technology increase in this unit compared to our old unit.? Our old unit is about a 5 or 6 SEER and this one is a 14 SEER.? So even if the old unit was working properly, we still are going to have a substantial energy savings cost.

Thank you doesn’t even cover what we would like to say to our church family!? You all are the best!

Spinning drills bits can create square holes? – Holy Kaw!

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Ran across this random post and “tweet” the other day at holykaw.com, Guy Kawasaki’s blog.

It reminds me so much of my grandfather. ?He was a carpenter for a living. ?Specifically, he made church furniture and delivered it all over the country. ?He was one of my heroes…of course, most kids have grandfathers or someone else in their life that are bigger than life and a hero. ?I used to think that he could make anything out of wood!

I remember spending weeks in the summers at my grandparents house in Cabool, MO, where my grandpa had his shop. ?(If you have ever been to a Cabool High School football game, then you have seen his shop. ?It is the little shop that backs up to the end zone of the stadium. ?They bought the old “general store” and converted it into a house and built his little shop “out back.”)

I used to love to go out in his shop and play in what seemed like an endless pile of sawdust and shavings! ?He would show me what each of the machines did…it was facinating!

One of his favorite machines/tools was one of these…a drill that would make square holes…to make joints, etc.

I know that two of my cousins, Ben and Tim, have really followed in my grandpa’s footsteps and work a lot with wood. ?Tim actually works with wood for a living and Ben has a degree in Wood Technology and is a Campus Director for the BSU at Purdue.

Thanks to Twitter, I was able to walk down memory lane…and think and pray for my cousins as well today!

Here are some pics of Tim helping Taylor make an airplane in his shop at our family reunion. ?I think Ben is in the pics as well. ?Good stuff!

Spinning drills bits can create square holes? – Holy Kaw!.

Maple Leaf Duathlon Recap

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Man, what a great afternoon of helping with the Maple Leaf 5K and Duathlon!? We had a blast helping out racers from all over the area.? I am so proud of our church family who stepped up and volunteered their time and energy!? You guys ROCK!? I had a ton of the racers who were so thankful for the kind words and encouragement from our people.? Belinda Shores (#330 in the pic) is a triathlete and serves in our Kids City children’s ministry every Sunday? She did an amazing job in the Duathlon (5K run/15 mile bik/1 mile run). She is standing in-between Trisha Fisher and Jessica Ensz, two other Forest Park(ers)!? They decided to run the 5K together and did an awesome job too!

Check out an email that Jenny got this morning from Belinda…FP Carthage, you guys are awesome and it really shows!!!

Hey Stone Family and church family!

Just wanted to tell you how much your help was appreciated at the Maple Leaf Run and Duathlon.? What a great response from our church and what a unique way to reach out to our community!? You all did a wonderful job of protecting the racers from oncoming traffic and giving directions.? Thank you!? Those of you who were serving the water were a refreshment to the thirsty.? Thank you!

Matthew 10:42 “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

Joyfully,
The Shores Family

By the way, Taylor your a great runner!? I could tell you trained hard, because you ROCKED the run!? Also, Patricia and Jessica what a great run!? Your run times were spectacular!? Way to go girls!

Thanks again to all of our FP Carthage folks who really made a difference yesterday in our community!? AWESOME!

Here are some pics from my iPhone…random, I know…forgot the “real” camera in the truck!

New look for stonesthrowblog.com!

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For those of you who read blogs on a reader, like I do, you could care less about “how” my blog looks. You simply pull up your Google Reader, for example, and read my post (which happens on average once every two weeks!) I am going to try to work on the extreme length between posts.

I am a perfectionist (I know that seems like a load of rubish if you have seen my office, or garage). But I can’t seem to work unless everything is working properly and in its place. I don’t like to clean up my office, for example, because I can’t ever “do it right.” This blog is kind of like that…I simply don’t have time to keep tweeking and making it “just right.” The problem is that I get into a funk and don’t want to write anything because I want to say it “just right” and it needs to look “just right.” I can’t tell you how many drafts I have sitting ready to be published but haven’t been because I don’t have it just right.

Ok, so I am turning over a new leaf. (I say this about every three months…but I really mean it…at least until midnight or so!!) No, I really am turning over a new leaf…I am revamping the ol’ blog and making a commitment to do a better job of communicating what is going on in our lives and on my heart as a pastor. I am making a commitment to post more often and post entries that aren’t “totally cooked.” This might be a dangerous thing…especially to you English majors and teachers.

It may be a few weeks before everything is up and going smoothly, but I am working on it. I won’t be able to work on it much this weekend as we have SEVEN kids staying with us on Friday and Saturday nights! Taylor’s friend, Dakota is staying the night on Friday and our friends, the Clements have a funeral and their four are staying with us on Friday and Saturday night! That is a HUGE prayer request there my friends–seven kids and three dogs! Bright side=good blog-worthy stuff to write about, I bet!

P.S.–My mom has already voted against “all the changes.” She was very frustrated to have the Twitter feed on the “wrong side,” for starters. Then the colors, it is hard to see, etc., etc. etc. My dad laughed and said, “we love change…I mean, we’re Baptists…we love change–within reason!”

Hopefully a CHANGE for the BETTER!

David

Sunday Night “Sum Up”–6.28.2009

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Each Sunday night I will be summing up the previous week’s events in a “numbered” list, along with the “sum total” of our attendance for the week…even though “I’m not very good with numbers.”

  1. I know, I know, I am a total slacker blogger…but I have been Tweeting a lot more lately. ?(Check out the left column)
  2. We had an awesome Sunday today!!
  3. Baby dedication was great…but, like Aaron Miller said today, kind of like “herding cats.” ?It was definitely dinner time for a couple of the four young ladies!
  4. Be praying for Ryan and Elise McBride along with Noah and Eli! They are pursuing God’s calling to go to serve Gunnison, CO. ?They are a community that is 90% unchurched! ?90%…amazing. God, please give them favor!
  5. Had 296 total people at Carthage today!
  6. Bapt-i-que was really great tonight! Good crowds, good food, good friends and conversation. ?Best of all…some serious diving prowess by Kevin Stratton. ?(Still has after ALL those LONG years since he was a diver at SIU!!) ?Check out the Facebook for some pics. ?I will also post as many pics as possible when I get them.
  7. A huge thank you to all who helped to make the evening a success! ?The Sanders, Yockeys, Friesens, Smiths to name a few! ?You guys are AWESOME!
  8. Still recovering from our “vacation” a couple of weeks ago…maybe I’ll post about it. ?Actually, I should save it and turn it into “National Lampoon’s Branson Vacation.”
  9. Pray for Jenny as she is going to have her gall bladder removed soon (she drove herself to the hospital in the middle of the night on our vacation…one of the many “hits” from our Branson Vacation to remember.)
  10. I am going to the doctor tomorrow for a rear kicking. ?Not eating right, not exercising, etc., etc., etc.
  11. I finally bit the bullet and bought P90X. ?The final nudge was from a pastor/church planter, Shawn Lovejoy, that I read his blog that has been doing it for a year. ?He feels he is the healthiest he has ever been in his life.
  12. I have really felt convicted about my health lately. ?I need to be more healthy for Jenny and the boys. ?They deserve me the best I can be…not some guy that is always tired and worn out all the time!
  13. We had a blast on Thursday night at the Springfield Cardinals game! ?Thanks to Uncle Tad and Aunt Katie for the great tickets (2nd row). ?They gave Taylor the tickets for his birthday in April.
  14. Continuing to work on our painting/wallpaper stripping project this week. ?Jenny finished getting all the wallpaper off the wall in the dining room. ?I am getting ready to texture and then paint. ?Lots of work ahead of us though
  15. Had our 14th Anniversary on Wednesday.
  16. Got our A/C recharged on Monday afternoon…Thanks Terry Ryan!
  17. Dog fence + lightening = Dogs running all over the neighborhood this weekend! (New transmitter and lightning protector in the mail!)
  18. 6 FP students found Christ at camp this week! ?That never gets old!
  19. Got my car back…6 new valves, new timing belt, etc. ?What a mess.
  20. Taylor had his last baseball game of the season. ?They did really good this year!
  21. We got a couple of Betta fish, Nemo and Swimmy. ?(I know we are crazy!)
  22. It is way too late for me to think back to last week!
  23. Good night!

Here are some pics from my phone this week…

Happy Anniversary Jenny!

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It is hard to believe that 14 years ago today, Jenny and I were married! ?I am really blown away at how quickly time seems to just fly by. ?What an amazing ride it has been!

We got up at the crack of dawn on the 25th to drive to St. Louis to fly out to Orlando for our honeymoon. ?We had an early “lunch” at about 10 a.m. at Jenny’s first experience with the greatness of the White Castle! ?Probably not a good combination for her first plane ride–the greasy, oniony goodness! ?I was “an excellent driver” back then as I am now, so I couldn’t find the hotel that was “right by the airport!” ?After about 30 minutes of wandering around the airport, we finally found the hotel where we were going to stay on the night we flew back in to St. Louis. ?We drove in a shuttle to the airport at a breakneck speed! ?I actually think the guy found pleasure in breaking laws to get us there on time–all the while listening to “smooth jazz” on the radio!

I am still an “excellent driver,” get lost a whole lot, have ADD, but most importantly still love you very much! ?I hope that we can have many, many more years of life together! ?I love you!

Batting 1000

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Taylor was 3 for 3 in his game tonight!

It is interesting to think about the small differences between batting 1.000 and .000. Even the difference between .200 and .300. An extra bit of hustle. A good bounce. All lead to the ever-elusive hit. Almost every Hall of Famer gets out 2 of 3 times he is at bat.

In life and leadership, we all need to realize that more often than not…we will make an out. That shouldn’t keep us from swinging for the fences! We need to realize that even the best strike out–a lot!

Keep swinging!