Me and the Monks (Part 2)

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I just got back from another Solitude Retreat at Assumption Abbey near Ava, MO. ?It is a Trappist?monastery?with a Retreat Center tied to it. ?I went with a group of pastors from SW MO. ?It was really good to get away and focus on the Lord and what He is speaking to me. ?I got a lot of reading done and had a couple of good hikes, etc. ?Really thankful for what God is doing in my life right now.

Here is my post from way back in 2007 when I went the first time. ?It gives a bit of history of the monks and links to more info. ?We are praying for them as they are in a bit of a “holding pattern” right now at that particular abbey. ?Many of the monks living there are getting up in years and there have not been many new candidates come on board. ?It is a really amazing place and these men are truly dedicated to the Lord in their particular “station” in life.

On the way home yesterday, went to Rockbridge for lunch. ?It is an old mill that is now a trout park. ?Then we headed into Ava for an ice cream cone for only 10 cents at the Ava Drug Store and soda fountain. ?Here are some pics of the Abbey as well as my traveling companions.

Monday is for Missions…and mudpies

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Wow, what an awesome day at Forest Park Carthage yesterday! ?We had a ton of new faces at both of our services. ?We also got a ton of people signed up for LifeGroups! Exciting things are happening here in Carthage!

Monday is for Missions…

  • Keep praying for Haiti. ?FP has had over 60 people interested in going on relief trips to Haiti. ?We have raised well over $1000 to go to Haiti.
  • FP has a group in Kenya this week. ?Pray for them as they minister in His name at the Mattaw Children’s Village
  • We just had a group get back from Fort Worth, TX yesterday that were working in the inner city with a church downtown.

Too good of a post to pass up on this Monday afternoon…Enjoy! ?This is from Matt Wilkie’s blog this week. ?Powerful!!

A few months?ago, I got my own?Haitian mudpie. It sits on my desk. This gift from our Haiti director,Kevin Rose, has reminded me to pray for the poorest people in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

mudpie

On Tuesday, like every other ?normal? day in Haiti, people in the poorest areas of?the country?were eating these for lunch. Some ate them for breakfast that morning and dinner the night before as well. They?re made of dried yellow dirt, vegetable oil and salt.

I?m going to type that again?they?re made of dried yellow dirt, vegetable oil and salt. They?re real mudpies. People eat them.

Then an earthquake hit.

I?m still processing things?but I for now, I wanted to mention the mudpies.

around the world with Jesus ? Blog Archive ? Mudpies for lunch Tuesday, and then?.

Haiti – Compassion International on Vimeo

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I have some great friends at Student Life that I went to seminary with and have always been a HUGE fan of SL Camps!! ?@KStratt got an email from SL this afternoon sharing this video.

The email says this:

In November 2008, a Student Life team went to Haiti to spend time with the people and produce a film on the work of Compassion International in Haiti.

We hope this video will be useful in your time with students as you pray for the people in Haiti.

Compassion has close to 50,000 Haitian children in their projects in what is the poorest country in our hemisphere with over 50% of the 9 million people living on less than $1 a day. ?Compassion International works in Haiti to relaese children from spiritual, economic, social, and physical poverty.

But now more than ever, they need your prayers and support after this devastating earthquake. ?We encourage you to have your students praying for this country this week and giving to Compassions’s Disaster Relief Fund. ?This fund allows their staff to provide food, clean water, temporary shelter, basic sanitation and medical attention to children and families in need.

Haiti – Compassion International from Student Life on Vimeo.

Operation Christmas Box–Alaska Style!

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Monday is for Missions

lindyalaska1

I have a good friend from high school that is married to a Trooper in Alaska…the great white north of Alaska! ?You think it is cold here in the Ozarks last week! ?They have to scrape ice off their storm door…on the inside…to get in and out of their front door!

I thought this was really cool what their church did for Christmas to serve people who are less fortunate! ?Awesome stuff! ?Check out her blog as well. ?She doesn’t post too much because the internet is really slow up there, but each post is pretty interesting!

lindyalaska2

Icey & Spicey Tales from the Great North: Operation Christmas Box.

Friday is for Friends…Go Habs!! Right Bradleyboy?

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head_bradOne of my really good friends is Brad Daily.? The boys and I are watching the Montreal Canadians 100 year anniversary celebration game and I am thinking of he and his bride, Nora.

I first met him while I was serving at Hopedale Baptist Church in Ozark, MO.? He was a huge help to me in the student ministry as well as traveling companion on several trips, basketball watching, golf playing, early morning music store line crashing, and baby photographer when Taylor boy was born!(I know that really wasn’t even a sentence!)

He took an interest in video production and web development while he was living in Nixa, MO.? He then served several summers on staff with World Changers, a ministry of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (wow, we have some long names in SBC life, don’t we?).? While he was doing World Changers, he met some folks that had ties to the Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists.? They offered him a position as a media guru (probably not his actual title) in their office in Topeka.? During that same year, Jenny and I felt called to plant a church in Nixa.? Brad created a promotional video for our church plant.? We are eternally grateful for his hard work on it.

Then, to go a step or two more, he built us several different websites for the church.? He is an amazing developer and brilliant with web developing (as you can tell from SlideShowPro Director.)

How did he get to Montreal?? Well, it is a pretty long story, but basically, he had several friends from Kansas-Nebraska, World Changers, and NAMB that got him up there.? Then he stayed, fell in love, and the rest….you know the drill.

This past fall, he and his beautiful bride, Nora moved to Nixa, MO.? (Nora and Brad met and married while Brad was serving as the communications director of the Canadian National Baptist Convention.) Make sure you check out Nora’s blog to record all of the fun details of a “Greek-Armenian-Canadian, french speaking Montreal native” living in the “sticks” in the Ozarks!

He has continued to be a very good friend all the way to Montreal, Canada by way of Kansas and back to the Ozarks. (Check out some of his handywork on e-quip.net. and his recent venture at SlideShowPro.net and SlideShowPro Director.)

Anyway, Let’s GO HABS!!? And let’s hear it for friends!!

habs100The Original Habs.

How to Carve a Pumpkin on an Albino Farm

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My buddy Jeff Houghton wrote a hilarious bit on a Springfield legend…and our church photographer and all around great guy, Taylor Orr sent me a picture of his award-winning carved pumpkin! Enjoy a late Halloween post!

Taylor’s Pumpkin…

DO-IT-YOURSELF_1

Do It Yourself Pumpkin Carving – 10 Easy Steps to an all New You!

and Jeff’s spooky spoof…

For Halloween, here is an article I wrote for the satire site, Fair City News. If you?re from out of town, there is a legend regarding a spooky place called the Albino Farm north of Springfield.

ALBINO FARM TO OPEN TANNING SALON

Springfield, MO?Legendary spook site, the Albino Farm at Springlawn Farm, has a brand new surprise for the area, a tanning salon. Albi-No-More is set to open this Saturday, the 31st. The so-called Albino Farm has for years been notorious in legend for being haunted, by either an albino ghost caretaker, or an albino ghost family, depending on who is telling you the story.The present day owner of the property, Jerry Overholser, thought it was time for a change. ?I?m plum tired of teenagers sneaking around on the property,? explained Overholser. ?I figured if I can?t get the teenagers out of the albino farm, I?ll get the albino?s out of the albino farm.?Overholser is hoping to begin a different perspective on the property.

Albi-No-More is planned to have four standard beds, one Mystic spray-on tanning room, and one super powered machine designed specifically for modern day albinos called Burnt Toast. The interior is decorated with inspirational before and after pictures, with a picture of an albino on the left and a picture of the same albino glowing red on the right. Albinos, by the way, will get a special punch card for one free tan after enduring nine. At the grand opening they plan to give away Oreos, with the cream licked out to the first 100 customers.
Standing near the newly asphalted parking lot, teenager Troy Spelster, is not in favor of the new plan. ?I?ve had some of my best times on the Albino Farm. Ain?t nothing scary about a copper bronzed ghost chasing you.?
According to Overholser that?s exactly the idea, ?A brand new, well lit steel building with office furniture, a wide variety of oils, and watts and watts of UV rays won?t scare off anybody. Well, unless you?re scared of cancer I suppose.?

I Spilled Miracle Whip on my Vest ? The Mystery Hour.

I am second: Red River Rivalry

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I honestly don’t know who won this year’s Red River Rivalry. I had to got to a flag football game before the game was over and didn’t have opportunity to watch SportsCenter to check the score this weekend.

However, I saw these videos and it began my mind racing about a friend of mine that went to be with Jesus on the way back home from the OU v. Texas game. ?He was in junior high and flying back from the game with his dad in a small plane. ?The plane crashed and both he and his father were killed. ?One of the great things that happened was another friend of mine came to know Christ at his funeral. ?Thank you Jesus! ?I know it is kind of wierd, but every time I see anything about this huge rivalry game, I remember both of my friends. ?I remember my friend that lost his life at such a young age. ?He was a soul winner in every sense of the word! I remember being with him on a mission trip when we were younger…his passion for people was amazing…his passion for sharing about Jesus was amazing! ?I also remember my friend that received Christ at the funeral. ?I remember his ministry that he continues to this day. ?I remember their passion for college football, the Red River Shootout…but most importantly his/their passion for Jesus Christ.

So, it really doesn’t matter who won this past Saturday in the Cotton Bowl. ?What matters more is that Jesus’ name would be made more and more famous around the world! ?Here are some video clips from iamsecond.com that speak of the importance of faith for quarterbacks Colt McCoy (Texas) and Sam Bradford (Oklahoma). ?Winning isn’t everything…Jesus is everything. ?I am second.

I guess I will go look up who won the Red River Rivalry now, even though it really doesn’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things…

Sox H8r ? My Soul Friends

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Great post from one of my soul friends, Daryl Eldridge.? Got to hang out with him for a while this afternoon at an Emerging Leaders Group that meets each month.? Great conversation today and a great post here!

Sox H8r ? My Soul Friends.

Question: Much like an orange being squeezed produces orange juice, when life squeezes in on you, what comes out?

Facebook News Feed From Throughout History! ? The Mystery Hour

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Friday is for…FUNNY!

This post is really well worth the read from my friend and blood drive coordinator, Jeff Houghton.? This dude is hilarious!? He and his Skinny Improv crew came out and did an annual banquet for us at Finley Crossings and made me laugh so hard my side hurt!

Here is a bit of the post for an appetizer…Thanks for the laugh, Jeff!!

I started to wonder what it would be like if Facebook was around throughout history. What if they had all been friends? I wonder what their News Feed would be like? I?ve heard of a similar thing people have done with Twitter, so it?s not a totally original idea. But, this time it?s Facebook?totally different.

George Washington Just crossed the Potomac. Hellacold!

Alexander Hamilton likes this

Napolean Bonaparte Heading to Waterloo. Should be fun. When I get back I?m buying at Applebee?s.

Ghengis Khan took the quiz, Which Ruthless Leader From History Are You? The result was: Ghengis Khan

My personal favorite…

Richard Nixon This is going to be the party of the year! BYOB!

Ain?t No Party Like?a Republican Party

Location: Watergate

Time: 3 am-

Check out the main course on the link below…

Facebook News Feed From Throughout History! ? The Mystery Hour.

Haircuts and Chick-fil-A Fridays

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We went to Joplin for some Chick-fil-A and Tucker and I do get a haircut. Also, a perfect way to put off painting the office!

Tuck wanted his hair to be “spiky.” He also wants to wear it like a faux-hawk. Check out Noah McBride’s twin…