Category: General (page 17 of 121)

…and sloppy Joes ain’t hot dogs!

(NOTE: The following is an almost verbatim transcript of an actual phone conversation that occurred on Monday, July 24, 2006 around 2:01 p.m. The identities have been changed to protect the…, the…, well, read the transcript, and you decide what to call the protectee!)

ME: Hello?
CALLER: Whassup?
ME: Just putting a load of clothes in the washer. What are you doing?
CALLER: Nothing, just chillin’.
ME: So, what’s going on?
CALLER: I was wondering if you might have a remedy for something I did today.
ME: OK…a remedy for what?
CALLER: I just finished scarfing down six and a half sloppy Joes, and I’m not feeling so well. Got any ideas?

Well, you get the idea. Seems there was an impromptu sloppy Joe eating contest between “The Bo…”…I mean, “The CALLER” and some Goliath-sized football player in the cafeteria. For the record, “The Bo…”…I mean, “The CALLER” took him. But now he’s paying for it.

Just wait…

The late great Baptist preacher Vance Havner said one time when he couldn’t sleep, he simply referred to Psalm 121. Whereupon, he said, he gave his troubles to the Lord and said…

Well, I guess there’s no reason for both of us to stay awake. If You’re going to stay up, I’m going to bed!

I guess I need a little of Dr. Havner’s trusting skills, because here I am wide awake at 12:20 a.m. Even after a physically exhausting day, I just can’t go to sleep! Here are a couple of things on my Chinet tonight…

• Mr. Know-It-All
• God’s vision, purpose, and plan for our church
• The family finances
• The Middle East
• The peace of Jerusalem
• The old man who could hardly walk around the park tonight
• The 70+% of our area’s population who are unchurched
• Our church staffing needs
• The Hispanic families in the park tonight
• That funky wobbling/vibrating noise in the rear end of the car
• Why the cat has given up on the litter box
• The next two weeks
• Why I can’t sleep
• Whether the Braves are going to make a second-half run at the playoffs and whether they have what it takes to make that run
• The lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie,” who heads back to school tomorrow
• The family finances
• “The Boy” and his grades
• Why I can’t sleep
• What God could possibly do with a 45-year-old old coot
• Missed opportunities
• The family finances

One of the guys who stops by these parts of the blogosphere from time to time is the illustrious Sean Michael Murphy, of the West Chester, Ohio Murphy clan. He’s quick with a comment, and usually his comments are insightful and make me think. He also happens to have one of the coolest blog titles I know of. Yeah, go on over there and check it out.

Anyway, he posted today about the Adam Sandler movie Click, currently playing at a megaplex near you. His post quickly leaves the movie, and he ends up talking a lot about going back and living your life over with the knowledge and experience you have. What would that be like?

Here’s the last two paragraphs…

None of this really has anything to do with Click. His deal is more about fast forwarding through the rough times. By doing that, he misses out on life…and really living.

I wonder how much of life I miss out on by skipping by the great challenges? How different would my life be, going forward – if I embraced the challenges and dove straight into them, and took some greater risks…

Don’t miss that last “I wonder.” Don’t you dare miss it! In fact, you may want to print it out, tape it where you can see it, and refer to it often. Just so you don’t miss it…

We have a good friend to whom we affectionately and only half-jokingly refer as Mr. Know-It-All. Why? Well, because he knows everything, it seems! (Why else?)

Anyway, Mr. Know-It-All has been a real friend, an encourager, and a butt-kicker when necessary for 15 years or more. I really don’t remember exactly how we became friends, but I do know that his advice and encouragement and prayers have been the only things that have kept me going at times.

Last week, Mr. Know-It-All had a biopsy, and 2 of the 6 scan points (or whatever – I’m not real sure about such things!) came back showing cancer. He’ll go next Tuesday to have some other tests to determine whether the cancer is localized or spreading, and to determine what course of treatment will be best.

If you get a minute, would you lift up a prayer or two for my friend, Mr. Know-It-All, Warren? And you might lift up a couple for Mrs. Know-It-All and their three grown kids, too.

Thanks…

This happens a lot around here, but apparently it’s a mighty big deal in the home of Starbucks.

Check the first comment from one of the baristas…

This is a regular occurrence at our DT. We’ve had mornings when one person will start it and it just spreads all the way down the line–sometimes for hours. It’s a lot of fun. In my town it’s been popularized by pastors of a local church who are some of our best regulars.

Pretty cool, and you really will be amazed at how it touches people at Starbucks and other places, too. Try it!

OK, right on the heels of Gary’s post, Marty Duren steps up on the tee box. Good shot, Marty!

My buddy, Gary Lamb, tees it up, takes aim, and hits it 500 yards down straight down the fairway, when he talks about “the vision thing.”

Same friend, different issues. Things of which my friend’s afraid, and which are really paralyzing my friend’s life…

• That there won’t be enough of God’s provision to sustain my friend and my friend’s family in a time of deep need and crisis.
• That once my friend’s wasted an opportunity, there is never another chance.
• That God does for others but not for my friend.
• That age is a limit to usefulness and fruitfulness.
• That there is no hope, no future, no point.

Since yesterday, I’ve been a sounding board of sorts for a friend, someone pretty close, who’s asking questions and looking for good answers. Questions like…

• It says at least twice in the Bible that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Does this mean that everything that seems right to me is in reality the wrong thing? If I’m torn between two courses of action, and one seems right, is the other one automatically the correct choice – no matter how impractical or imprudent it may be?
• In light of the Gideon story, is it ever legitimate to ask for confirmation with a “fleece?” In what types of situations is such confirmation advisable or acceptable?

Now, first to worst…that’s an accomplishment!

I don’t think the Atlanta Braves will ever win another game!