Take Two

Gabri running from the spray

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

Deuteronomy 6:4-7
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
NKJV

My pastor spoke at our Bible Study last night on “Why we do what we do”. Specifically, he spoke of the feasts that Israel had to attend every year and noted that there were times when we needed a spiritual refreshing. With our camp meeting coming up in a week and a half, it was a timely message. Since we have an awesome line up (Wayne Francis, Eli Hernandez, Jeff Arnold), my arm really doesn’t require a lot of twisting.

It also made me think about why I continue to serve in Sunday School. The pay is lousy (especially for the amount of time involved in the summer), the parents make you want to go nuts, and at times it seems like you are speaking to an audience of one (yourself). However, look at all of the kids in this picture (including my beautiful baby up front). We had the chance, over a week, to impact 225 lives. I have no idea what their life at home is like but, for a week, I can influence them, love them, and bring them hopefully into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. There isn’t enough money to pay for that.

On Friday of camp, I was presented with a shirt that a large number of the campers had signed in black. There were also 38 signatures in red. These were the campers who had received the Holy Spirit during the week for the first time. Our bishop, Brother Jordan, asked what it would take to buy the shirt. I informed him it wasn’t for sale at any price.

I just got to unpacking some of my stuff from camp (I know, it’s been a week but I’ve been busy) and I unpacked that shirt. I am reminded again of why we do what we do. In my day job, we charge an extraordinary amount of money for me to address the problems of our clients. But in ministry, we don’t always get that payoff. That’s why I’m glad I have that shirt. It reminds me that money could never buy what we are able to share.

Stockings hung on the mantle

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

To all of my friends and family, as well as the readers of this blog I don’t know, have a wonderful Merry Christmas. Blessings to each of you for the new year.

Christmas tree set-up

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

Due to a number of factors (illness/business/travel), we have been remiss in putting up our tree. This has been rectified by our kids. Lots of pictures of this on Flickr as well as pictures of Gabrielle’s school program.

The First Snow

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

Here’s a picture I took down our street this morning. Winter has officially arrived in Ohio. For me, we can have snow between now and New Year’s and then it can leave until next Thanksgiving. I’m pretty sure it won’t work out that way.

I picked up my new Dell Vostro 1500 with the Intel Duo Core Processor and other completely unnecessary but fun stuff yesterday.  Today, I am spending the majority of my transferring files which is a pain but I am enjoying the new computer.  A curious note- the largest and by far most time consuming file transfer is my iTunes.  Thank God for flash memory.

I will take a break to listen to Ohio State and Illinois today.  I haven’t completely lost the faith.

Van crashed into the wall

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

Michael and I were going to get Becky from school and run some other errands when we saw this van which had just crashed through the wall of the Mount Vernon Department of Water and Wastewater. The tan sedan in the bottom right of the picture was pretty banged up (on the driver’s side) as well. I don’t know how this happened but this picture was before the police and rescue arrived. Freaky stuff!

I’m busy dying of the plague right now.  Hopefully, I’ll be up and running next week.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=rPNnIFH6_RU]

Oh yes, it’s that time again.

I learned of Jeremy Foster through Sister Elms‘ blog. Ever since, I have been a loyal follower. His most recent show is one from Youth Congress last week. I laughed out loud at his discussion of growing up in church. Enjoy.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6703551152450056466]