My Kids Have Good Taste in Music

so, i went to pick up the twins from school the other day and when we got to the car, they both yelled "daddy, put on lenny colin"

what?

"lenny colin! you know what we dance to. put on lenny colin. the cd!!"

lenny colin?

"yeaaaaaaaah! lenny colin!"

i don't have a cd by 'lenny colin'. never even heard of him.

"daaaddddyyyy! put on lenny calling!!!"

ohh....i say, figuring out the mystery cd.

"you know daddy (kids making guitar noises) errrr errrrr errrr dooo dooo dooo doooo...errr errr errr dooo dooo dooo dooooooo"

yeah!(boy making wolf sounds) awhoooo oooooo ooooo ooooo oooooo!

you mean "london calling"?

yeaaahhhhhh! lenny calling!!!

well....ok then.

Much Ado About...

"and the devil wants to cast all manner of doubt on the real Lover with the key dying to let you out from the bars that you fashion with your stolen clout"
from "parting shot" by Bill Mallonee

so, winter has come to northern vermont right on time (it feels early, doesn't it?) and we were not ready...we got caught without snow tires.

friday afternoon i get a call from dina that her car was stuck on the road and i chuckled to myself bc i had just got the van stuck in the driveway. she ended up getting some help and came home and the next day i got the van out and parked it up near the garage.

funny thing tho, the next day we couldn't open the doors. i tried. dina tried. i tried b4 church. dina tried again too. frozen solid shut. what do you do about that?

we came home from church and i tried opening them again...come on! it's sitting in the sun! it can't be that cold, yet!! so i try pouring very hot water over the door. still nothing. i put some more water on the stove and try again. nope.

i went and got the blow torch...

man...i was pulling so hard i thought the handle would break off. come on! every door...frozen? solid? how can that be? what could we possibly do? wait till spring?

so, last try b4 i do something drastic (which i hadn't decided what just yet).

what? what's that?

the doors are LOCKED!????

oh. (sheepishly goes to get the key).

what a great metaphor for the spiritual life. we waste our time trying to fix ourselves and we waste even more time trying to fix other people...

we go and get hot water and pour it over the door...

we pull and pull and pull...

we yell and curse and kick dirt...

we call the car stupid.

we call the weather stupid.

when, in the end, we just need the key. we wasted our time doing it our way...we wasted our energy doing it our way...we risked burning ourselves...we risked breaking our car...and, to top it all off, we looked pretty foolish.

Jesus died to set you free.
that's still all there is to it.

believe Him. and let Him use His key.

Asleep at the Wheel

i've been.

but, i think i will start posting again, soon.

outline for 03 November 07

Membership in the Body of Christ

Some words God uses to describe His people are

His body His family His bride

There is a sense of permanence to these words

1st step: Membership in the Body of Christ

Through Faith: The Gospel is as easy as ABC:
Accept the claims of Christ

He is the Son of God
He died for our sins
He was raised to give us new life
He lives to walk with us in newness of life

Believe He died for you

Commit your life to following Him

2nd step: Affiliate with a local body

It brings accountability


It gives identity


It provides opportunity to serve

outline for 04 November 07

Growing in Character
5 character traits for Christians to develop:

Humility
Humility deals with our lives and our sins
For further study: Matthew 5:5; Romans 12:3;
2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Grace
Grace deals with other people’s lives and sins
Grace is an outgrowth of humility
“But for the grace of God go I”
For further study: Ephesians 2:8-10; Mathew 7:1-5

Compassion
Compassion is gracious understanding
that leads to action
We bless people with the overflow of God’s compassion in our own lives
For further study: 2 Corinthians 1:1-2

Willingness
To be used by God
God did what He did for us, we should respond appropriately
For further study: Ephesians 4:11; Isaiah 6:8

Commitment
To growth
For further study: 2 Peter 3:18