Time to close some tabs.  I may come back and do some blog posts on some of these later.

People upset with a prayer request concerning BinLaden-http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43075739/ns/local_news-west_palm_beach_fl/

There is no denying that Stephen Hawking is brilliant, but this is a statement of faith.  http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/16/6654463-hawking-there-is-no-heaven

So much for permissive parenting.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42807670/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

Just plain old sad.  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/03/29/obese-ohio-man-fused-chair-sat-2-years/?intcmp=sem_outloud&intcmp=obnetwork

Who does he think he is, the government? http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/05/17/player-borrows-500k-at-23-percent-interest/related

Hard to say your wrong or sorry.  http://sanfrancisco.ibtimes.com/articles/150670/20110523/harold-camping-not-ready-admit-mistake-apologize-yet.htm

Going to do a blog post on this one.  A lot to discuss here.  http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/27/church.scandal/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Controversy on this one.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43233984/ns/us_news-life/

A great perspective on our current "hook up" culture.  http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/31/my-take-there%E2%80%99s-nothing-brief-about-a-hookup/

Finally, this is just plain old funny!  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43252137/ns/us_news-weird_news/

Continuing the thought from yesterday...

God really rebuked me this week as I mentioned yesterday as He demonstrated again that He is in control and that I need to remember that.  It is easy to trust God in sunshine but when the sky darkens and the wind whips, we tend to start questioning.  And I at least usually feel pretty justified in that questioning.  I am regularly more impressed with the challenges of the creation than the power of the Creator.  Like these guys.

And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mark 4:37-40 NAS)

At first I say, "wow, how foolish for those guys to question whether or not God cares!"  Then, I start stressing out and I react to situations as if I am facing them alone with no recourse and no help.  If I feel overwhelmed by circumstances, I get all upset and worried and stressed and THEN I cry out to God and do some variation of, "don't you care?"

Why can't I sleep with Christ?  The storm didn't bother Him a bit and He looks at His disciples and wonders why their all upset.  I need to not simply come to God with my stress, I need to come to God BEFORE my stress.  I need to remember that He is in control and while I may face storms, I do not face them alone and whatever He's going to do, He can do and I can trust Him.  He may not calm every storm, but I may always be calm.

The Bible calls it peace.  I was bad at that this week.

How about you?

And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:25-31 NAS)

So it has been a busy week.  In some ways a tough week, but that is really due to me.

Started the week by going down and spending a couple of days helping my father inlaw rebuild the floor of the boat we will be using for camp this summer.  It was hot work but good work and I enjoyed working with my father inlaw and I learned some new things.  It did put a real crimp in my work schedule up here, but that's ok.

BUT... the last couple of weeks has seen several new wrinkles develop in my efforts to prepare for Berea this summer.  Already behind, I have had staff and speakers drop out in ways that I have never experienced in 13 years of being director.  There are many challenges to face and this week I really let it all get to me and I started really Stressing Out over it all.  When the second staff member in two weeks contacted me to tell me they couldn't come, I started contemplating my own departure.  I had had it.

God, however, was not stressing out.  My eyes weren't on Him though, my eyes were squarely on the waves.  I was way beyond doubt.  I was living with a firm conviction of hopelessness.  Then God sent five candidates to fill three positions.  Oh.  Well....uh.... yeah.    And I hadn't even had the sense to yell out, "Lord, save me!"

I stand rebuked again by the frailness of my own faith.  I too often eye the waves not the savior.  I know with Christ I can weather any storm, but when those storms come, I start worrying about the weather.  I am of little faith.  God is patient, but I should really get this together.

How about you?

Ok, so this week turned out to be much busier than advertised.   Not a bad week, just much busier.  Next week is starting to look rather crazy as well.  I'm not complaining.  Life is exciting and filled with many wonderful advertures and opportunities.  There is so much ministry taking place around me that I don't quite know what to do.  I love to keep up with the blog but when things get busy, it tends to get knocked down the list a little.  Here's a bit of recap on some great things this week.

Monday featured a wonderful time with my children.  We started by talking about the devastation in Joplin, MO and from there spent the afternoon having a science class on cloud formation, rain, thunder storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.  We spent probably two hours learning about these things and the kids were captivated, especially the older two.  The youngest is still a little young for it but some stuff stuck for him too.  For me, it was a great time of just being a dad and treasuring time with the kids.

Monday night featured a counseling session that was intense, but that reminded me of why I am here and how much I treasure my wife.

Tuesday saw me get some great progress on the next message, plus some important phone calls done, errands run, and a short but intense bit of exercize.  Sarah and I spent the evening have Nate and Charlene over and had such a wonderful time with them.  We are so blessed to have them as friends that really are family to us.  It was a good night and again reminded me how thankful I am for my family.

Wednesday I spoke at Greater Portland Christian School and took Mac with me.  We had a great time of talking, sharing, and encouraging one another on the trip and I had a great time with the students.  They showed that they were learning from the series that I brought.  Came home and had a great rest of the day as our family joined the Daltons and the Kobans, first at Scott & Aimee's for supper and then at Zach's t-ball game.  We are so thankful for Scott and Aimee and Nic and Lori for their friendship.  They too are more like family to us and we are so blessed.  We got home early enough that Sarah and I got some time to relax and sit on the couch together for some just plain us time.

Now today has been more phone calls than I planned and therefore less radio show recording than I planned, but I've got some done and am off to the station before I go pick up Gavin for the afternoon.  Had a great time with Nate this morning as he is learning how do take care of some of the web stuff so that he knows how to do everything I do.  The job of a leader is to work himself out of a job.  I like doing that.

Now if I just had someone like Nate at Berea.  I'm taking applications.  Just let me know.  :)

Well, gotta run, but didn't want to ignore the blog one more day.

Oh, by the way, if time allows, I'm going to talk a bit more about the Rapture stuff from this past week tomorrow.

So, it is the day after the not-Rapture.  Here are just a few thoughts.  This post will probably stir less passion than my previous post did.  :)  I think my Facebook page almost overheated.  :)

The Red Sox played 8 great innings of baseball last night.  9 innings would have been better but I guess you can't complain.  After all, how much could only one bad inning hurt?  Reason 1 why it was too bad the world didn't end sooner.

Although the grass is still wet, I'm going to just have to mow it.  Yes, the preacher will mow his lawn on Sunday.  Just wish it was a sun-day.  Reason 2 why it is too bad the world didn't end sooner-mowing the lawn.

Another promising week weatherwise.  When did we move to England?  Just looked at the forecast for next week.  The words "chance" and "showers" appear in EVERY DAY!  You know its damp when you get excited by the words "a slight chance of showers".  Reason 3.  "nuff said.  :)

When it comes to ministry, I wanted to be one who broke the mold.  With this weather I'm fearing I'm beginning to mould. (That one's for you, Nate.)

I wish they had alacarte cable channel selection.  It would be nice to be able to watch more Red Sox games but I'm not springing for full basic.  Too much stuff I don't need to watch for too much money.  I actually prefer the radio announcers to the tv ones and when I can watch the games, I turn down the volume on the tv and listen to the radio commentary.  Go Joe Castiglione!  Plus, since the tv feed is on a 8 second delay (about) you know what's going to happen just before it does.  I know I'm crazy, but I like it.

Jake and Haley Turner's new baby is adorable!  Ava and her mom are heading home this afternoon.  It is so cool to have so many babies being born at church lately.  (Ok, so that is poorly worded.  They aren't being born at church.  They come to church a little while after being born.)  It is great to see the future of the church appearing before our eyes.

Ok, I guess I've stalled long enough.  Gotta go fight the grass.  Maybe the rapture will take place this afternoon.  Maybe we're on rain delay....  Hmmm.

You know, here's a thought.  I should probably go buy a push mower rather than using the riding.  It would help my ongoing work to loose weight (down over 10 lbs so far) and get more fit.  Not this time though.  Grass gets any taller and I'm going to need to borrow the Turner's haying equipment.

Ok, ok, really, I'm going to go mow now!