Flu to the Cold

Well, I overpowered the flu, but then moved on to the cold. My suffering is longlasting. I haven't been so sick in a long time. By so sick, I mean frequency. I held apologetics last night, it was fun, but I had a heck of a time when reading cause my nose is so stuffed. It's not fair.

On the other hand, I always love being sick when Maggie is there to take care of me. She's the best.

Anyway, a short post, but I'm building up to a larger one. More on that later.

The Flu

Well, I'm lying in bed eating a piece of toast sick with the flu. I stayed up all night visiting the toilet often. Now, I have a little bit of a sore throat, a headache, I'm sore, and tired, but I am feeling much better. The flu sucks.

Jesus Christ: The Undeniable

I found this article in the Google ad on my site. I have to say that it is incrediblely well done. My faith was strengthened after reading it. I encourage you to read it as well.

Felt Foto

My friend Scott has created a site that I think should be shared with everyone who has eyes. His photography is impressively brilliant. My favorites are the scenic photos. Visit it here.

Pick Up Your Cross

Things are going alright lately. It's been busy, but I'm staying upright. God is strengthening me through trials at work and within the church lately.

My boss is kind of a jerk at times, so I struggle with my attitude while working. It's always a challenge to keep optimistic when your position is unmoving in the company after two years and your boss has little respect for you, but I look to my co-workers who build me up in Christ and in confidence. They not only encourage, but hold me in check when I begin saying things that I will eventually regret saying. Every once in awhile I lose sight of the fact that God is my boss, not that guy that sits in the nice office writing my evaluations. Prayer is always good.

The church youth group seems to be steadily dying. I struggled for weeks about what to do. It's been mentioned that the building is so run down that people don't want to invite their friends to it, but nobody seems to care to fix it up. That bothered me, but not a big deal.
Church also seems to take up a lot of my time, which takes away from my time with Maggie, family, friends, and myself. On that note, I put a lot of work into my lessons hoping to reach the kids and impact their lives, but it seems that the response has been to crack jokes, or try to draw attention from the message and to some stupid act of immaturity. I get annoyed at them talking over me and ignoring me when I try to speak, but last Thursday, I tried something new. I explained that coming to church for friends and games isn't the point. I let them know that I wasn't going to continue casting pearls to swine. To speak to a group of people and receive no response in an environment that should produce one is unsettling and discouraging. Doing the work cannot be about the results, because often times ministry won't be rewarding, but I know that the people I spoke to could do better and weren't trying. Youth became a fun get together time with a small serious note that could simply be ignored to top off the social gathering they expected.

While the message seemed to be received well, my only regret was that there were only three high schoolers there to hear it. The junior highers, while of great importance, I don't think truly understood what it was I was trying to say, so I didn't expect a huge response from them. The point in all of this is to build the ministry of God, not to feel sorry for myself or anybody, but that my time working is not spent in vain. God needs to move on these youth, but it takes a willingness on their part that I just don't see.

I'm really just yammering on and on right now, but it feels good to do so.

I'm selling my bike here on ebay. Once it's sold, I'll be able to pay off the new bike. I must say that the new one rides impressively. The rubber mounted engine makes all the difference. Go there and check it out. If you want it, bid something like $20,000. Thanks.

I gave Sandie a bath tonight. She hates baths. I actually have to get into the shower with her to bathe her. She whimpers and yips from the torture of the shower head. If I'm not careful, I'll end up with claw marks across my entire body, soap in my eye from her shaking off to dry, or I become a doggie jungle gym. Once she's out however, she becomes excessively hyper and runs all around the house trying to dry off. It's really funny. As anybody would, I expected her to hate me for bathing her, but she instead loves me to no end. She's the funniest dog I know.

Anyway, enough typing for tonight.

Sandie

This is Sandie, the newest addition to our family. I found her one day last month wandering the streets. She didn't have a collar, there was nobody around that could've been looking for her, and she had major dreadlocks goin on, so I took her in. I called the animal shelter and put in her description, but no one ever called, so we named her Sandie. At first Maggie wasn't going to allow her to be on the couch and DEFINITELY not in the bed, but now she sits with us on the couches and sleeps in our bed at night. She's made her way deep into Maggie's heart and mine too. She's the cutest little girl I've ever seen. Don't you think?