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In an article on Yahoo News by the AP Religion Writer, reporting concern among some that Rick Warren is using the name of Jesus in his prayer at President elect Barack Obamas inauguration. There are some that think Rick Warren should be told not to use the name of Jesus. It might offend someone. Now before we go down this road of "how to do this fair", let me cut to the chase. Nobody gets to pray. In the end if a Buddist monk or an Islamic cleric were to pray and call upon their god, someone will get offended. So nobody gets to pray. Years ago I was faced with the same dilemma. I was asked to pray at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast. Right before I prayed someone whom I didn't know walked up to me and asked if I was going to pray a nonsectarian prayer? I said that I was going to pray the only way I knew how to pray. The person was shocked at my answer and walked away. I then turned to the President of the Chamber and asked her what her preference was. I was willing to bo

There is something cleansing about the new year. Why? I don't know. There isn't any reason why one couldn't do this at anytime of the year. I've been talking to people who say that they are going to, "turn over a new leaf." Or that they are going to make some "significant" changes. Well that's good but here are a few things you need to keep in mind. 1) Change what God wants to change . There is nothing wrong with dreams as long as they are God given dreams. Pray and ask God what He wants you to do. If you already know what He desires for your life then start today!!! What are you waiting for! 2) Ask for the Holy Spirits help. You have probably broken more new years resolutions than you have kept. Well quit keeping score, that just discourages you. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength and knowledge to be successful. 3) Enlist the help of others. This one can be tricky if you're not careful. The key here is empathy.

So what's your goal this year? Most of us resolve to do something that is good for ourselves like exercise or eating better. But what about your resolutions will improve the lives of others? What is going to move you out of your status quo? Giving makes us successful - ask anyone who is successful and loving it. Giving drives us to help others which in turn drives us to change ourselves. Think about it. What does God hold most precious? Us! And when we take on that same attitude towards each other - God will bless us with the power and ability to change. (FYI - My blogging has suffered over the last few weeks. The holidays took a bigger toll on me than I thought they would. Hopefully things will begin to settle down now.)

With tonight's Christmas Eve Service (11 p.m.) we will bring Christmas to a close. Enjoy your day with friends and family. Rejoice with all the gifts that you receive. But remember, every gift you get isn't necessarily wrapped. Enjoy the hugs from your children or grandchildren, a phone call from a distant relative or "Merry Christmas" from someone you don't know. Your getting a lot more than you probably know.

I was watching some of that wonderful weather they are experiencing up north and saw all those show drifts. Yell at me all you want about living in hurricane country. But I'm not shoveling snow. Brrrr! Being that I was raised in a place where snow fell, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot, I found that drifts were sneaky and deceptive. What were they hiding in there? One minute there was a drift and the next minute it's gone. Some people are like a snow drift - you don't know why they are there and the next minute they are gone. We tend to be hard on people who are that way, but to be quite honest I don't think it's that hard for any of us to drift away from God. We can get caught up in stuff that doesn't have to do anything with God, but it's all in the name of God. Like Christmas. Most of Christmas isn't about Jesus. So the meaning of Christmas has drifted away from our culture and many Christians. Someone told me today that they said

Anneka was a Sugar Plum Fairy in this years mini-Nutcracker. Too cute.

Well, I think that my kidney stones 15 minutes of fame is over. So with that said the winner is... Kid Rock Kid- short for kidney Rock- derivative for stone Congrats Sharon @ A Hoosier Family (http://hoosierfamily06.blogspot.com) email me ASAP and I will get your gift card out to you. Thanks everyone for sharing!

I was born in the same hospital that the Duggars have had their children delivered in. That's the family in Arkansas who has had all those kids. (#18 yesterday). I drove Sam Waltons car. I raised cattle as a teenager. (Paid most of my way through college) I have flown in a helicopter - backwards. I've eaten armadillo. I've stood in the chambers of congress of the nation of Brazil. I have stood on the Panama Canal. I've had 100,000 volts of electricity run through my body. (Obviously no amps.) I've been hit by lighting. There are some more I'm sure - Do you have any you want to share about yourself? Also don't forget to leave your entry in the "name that kidney stone" contest. (Scroll down) The winner will be picked this evening. The prize is a $20 gift certificate to Starbucks.

We had our youth Christmas Party last night. Here are some pics from it. Don't forget to "name that kidney stone" and win a $20 Starbucks gift card.

There are some of you who are contacting me via facebook to say that you cannot leave your comments on my page. This is probably due to the fact that you have pop ups blocked. I don't blame you. What you can do email me with your suggestion. I will be happy to post it for you. Scroll down to Contact Me. Here is a pic of the little trouble maker.

For some reason, many of you want to name my kidney stone. So here's what I will do. Between now and friday leave your suggestions below. The winner will get a $20 gift certificate to Starbucks. Names entered so far. Rocky Grunting Rock Ura Paine Jabez Leave your suggestion in the comment box below.

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. But I didn't feel good from the time I got up. It was my day off so I took it easy. Around 5 p.m. yesterday I got this sharp pain that made me cross my eyes and pray, I mean pray! I knew what it was and I had to go to the hospital. Kidney stone! Well I got home at 12:30 a.m. this morning and apparently I have passed the thing - the proof hasn't arrived yet. But the doctor told me the stone is about 3mm in size. That should get my attention! I'm going to have the thing bronzed, mounted on a plaque and hang it on my office wall. You should be proud of anything you make that hurts that much. Hmm! I wonder if this applies to our kids too. Anyhow, I'll blog more about this. There are pics of me while on pain killers. This should be good. Going to go drink some more water now. Oh! Have I ever told you I hate the taste of water?

Just had a great meeting with our vision team. These guys are willing to ask and face the hard questions. I really, really couldn't pastor this church without them. No doubt in my mind. Believe me when I say that they are just as fanatical about this church growing and impacting this community for Christ as I am.

There are very few people that I know who create change in their life just because they want to. Most of us create change out of need. We buy a new car when the old one dies. We buy new clothes when people start laughing at us for wearing parachute pants. God is a God who creates change. The paradox to us is, the God who never changes is the God who creates change. Seems unfair to some, but think about this. If we are going to change, what's the goal, the purpose of doing it. Our purpose is to be more like Jesus. Therefore, He must be the same yesterday, today and forever if we are ever going to become like Him. think about it, iif God was changing all the time, we wouldn't know what to do next. Now this bring me to my point. You probably know when change is about to happen in your life. There are signals that we can see and experience that tell us something is about to happen. When the transmission beings to slip in the car - you know something expensive is about

This is great!!

For the last two days (and it's to early to determine if today will be three). Life has not cooperated with my schedule one bit. Oh, I got a couple of things done here and there, but for the most part I'm so behind I'm about to lap myself. Not that anything else I had to do wasn't important or necessary. (Alright, I wasn't that excited about jury duty.) I found myself getting really mad about some of it towards the end. I had to stop for a minute and ask myself why I was acting like the master of the universe and if I were, then isn't all of this my fault? I started to laugh. As the dust settled yesterday evening I knew I had to get away from this for a little while and enjoy life! So I took myself and my family out to eat to a new restaurant. I ordered what ever I wanted (I knew this wasn't an expensive restaurant.) I enjoy ever minute of conversation with my daughter, my wife, the waitress, the manager and the hostess. Then I came home. Nope n

I really didn't mind that I had to go to jury duty yesterday. As the judge said, there is really only 2 things that your country asks of you. One is pay taxes and the other is jury duty. Now if I could go to jury duty and not pay taxes, I think all of us would do that. The system is a little annoying, but I do understand it. It's designed to move people as fast and as efficiently as they can. But I couldn't help but think that somehow I had time warped back to grade school. Being called by name, stand in line where you are told, led from room to room in single file, assigned seats, no talking. I started looking for Mrs. Gates, my 4th grade teacher after a while. Every break we got was a quick chance to return to adulthood and be yourself for a few minutes. Everyone was nice, polite and patient. As we were told, the wheels of justice would not turn at all if we didn't show up. I don't know how many trials there were schedule today, but at the end of the d

Randy Shurr sent this to me. I wonder if he is in the doghouse? Click here

Off to jury duty this morning. All I want to know is, how did they know today was my day off? Pray all goes well.

I conclude this series with the last three parts of the list of sayings I have learned to trust. • Ministry comparing is fatal to happiness. We compare everything about ourselves and our lives to someone or something else. I am getting to the point where I think it is just a part of our sinful nature. Who God created you to be and what God created you to do isn't just like what someone else is doing. It is the uniqueness of how God created us that allows Him to reach every part of this world with His Gospel. So when you compare yourself or this church to someone else or another church. You will always seem to be the loser in the comparison. Why? Because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. • Fasting has an incredible impact on my inner man. You have to try this one in order to get it. While many people fast in order to change a situation or circumstance. Try fasting for you. Just you. "Lord change me, speak to me, help me, give me revelation

Again, I go back to the list of sayings that I keep on my wall. I have probably had these up here for nearly 15 years and they have served me well. The only thing is, I cannot remember who said them. It was a chapel service when I was at CBC and I remember one other story he told which got my attention. As a young minister he has gone to a church as a guest evangelist. He was so nervous that when he got up to preach he gripped both sides of the pulpit and wouldn't let go. Well he had locked every joint in his body and before he knew it, he passed out. But because he had such a death grip on the pulpit, he fell backwards and pulled the pulpit on top of himself. Why did this make such an impression on me? The church was my home church in Arkansas. So let's pick up where we left off yesterday. • Pain is never permanent - It's true! You just think it will never go away. God does care about the different kinds of pain in your life. But if the only reason why we ha

On the wall of my office are a list of sayings that I received from a pastor nearly 25 years ago. Over time each and everyone of these have proven their value. • Crisis preceded promotion. We get so involved in the crisis that we cannot see that God is doing something through it that will promote our life and faith. Remember that God is in everything! Promotion isn't necessarily about our comfort but it will always be about our faith. Crisis is the fire that proves and purifies us. The word tells us to be faithful in the little things - even if they are a crisis. • Stagnation give birth to revelation. This one is tough. We sometimes call these "desert experiences". We feel that we are in a place where God isn't. It's dry and lifeless. The only thing that you have to go on is your faith and that doesn't seem like much. But believe me, it is from these places that some of the greatest men and women of God have emerged to become great witnesses for t

I haven't written in a few days for a simple reason. I've had nothing to say. Oh, I could have made some stuff up - but to be quite honest I think you deserve better than that. It happens to all of us at one time or another. Writers block. You just can't seem to get a handle on a thought. I have wondered if any of the authors of the Bible ever got writers block. Don't get all super spiritual on me here, yes I believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the writers but the human element is still there! You just have to fight your way through it. Here are a few things to remember when you have to face whatever is stopping you at the moment. - Whatever your obstacle appears to be, most of the time, isn't as tough as it looks. - If it is tougher than you thought it was going to be - get help!! Don't do this alone. - Don't take obstacles so personally. When it's all about you the obstacle will actually get tougher. When you turn it over to Jesus, then