An interesting trip

Well hello there,

The past week or so has been quite interesting for me and the family. We had the awesome privilege of going to Owego, NY to conduct a wedding for the Shantz family. The ride was supposed to take about 6 hours. Several road construction projects and That beltway caused the trip to last about 10 hours. My kids are traveling champs and only asked "Are we there yet?" a couple of times.

The wedding was beautiful and all went well in Owego. From there it was off to the Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. I have always been enthralled with this place due to its number of roller coasters and how awesome they are. Well I was not disappointed in the park. However, I do have to tell you about my Griswold moment.

I love getting to the park early. I love being in front of the crowd. I love making the most of my day in the park. I drive my family, I don't let them take breaks, I study park maps, I plot the day, I know when the show times are going to be. I am very ambitious about rides and knowing when the best time to be there is.

So we got up on Monday morning last week, ready to go. Breakfast eaten, backpack ready, everyone into the van, and a quick turn of the key. Nada. No power, battery dead. The park opens at 10am and its 9:30.

I run into the hotel to see if anyone has jumper cables. The only guy that does is a little upset with hotel management over his room. He volunteers his cables as soon as he is donewith his discussion. The cables wouldn't stretch across the median of where my van was parked. Back to the hotel to find the guy that drives the blue Chevette. Guy found, moves his car, and jumper cable guy maneuvers his vehicle into a position that allows us to make a connection.

Fire the van up and off to Wal Mart for a battery check. I suspect it is the battery since it is the original and it has gone over 60,000 miles. New battery installed and off to the park, about 2 hours behind schedule and in the midst of the crowd. We got in a few big rides, but the crowd was huge. Guess I am not the only one that likes big roller coasters.

We did manage over the course of two days to ride some awesome stuff. The Maverick is a new smooth as silk coaster that is awesome. The Millenium Force a 300 foot drop broke a world record back in 2000, and yes very fun. I missed out on the 120mph 90 degree up and down coaster known as "Dragster". Next time I guess.

Anyways a good trip, very glad to be back to home. Glad to be back to the normal traffic. Really enjoyed Sunday, and I do hope that we all take friendships a little more seriously.

Blessings to all

Jay

Blessed

Wow, it's been a few days since my last blog. I guess I am one of those guys that resists keeping a journal, even on the Internet. Anyhow, as I reflect on the past few months I recognize I am very blessed. Blessed to see so many of our people at Horizons plugging into ministry. I am blessed that we are moving forward with the building of a permanent facility. The next step being a membership vote for approval of loan on July 1. I was blown away by the response from the Skittle pour. I keep getting comments despite that the pour happened weeks ago. I am blessed to see when people "get it". It is one of my favorite moments in ministry when people have the lightbulb moment and choose to trust God.

I am blessed to have an awesome family in Christa and the kids. I am blessed to have a great extended family in my parents and in my in-laws. In fact my in-laws were just with us for a few days. I blew it on the Sunday that they were in service at Horizons by failing to mention their visit. It was great to have them for a few days. My youngest is getting her opportunity to play the "just relax' game with Pa Pa. I am blessed to see the kids laugh, and celebrate the simple moments with family.

I am blessed to live in Stafford, and in America. I am blessed to be at Horizons. I am blessed to have a wonderful team of people to work alongside with. I am blessed as I look with excitement at the summer schedule. I am anticipating even more for the fall. Let's all be praying for that. I am blessed that even when we don't think things are good, God is there. I am blessed when things are good, and when God is very real.

Maybe you are blessed to. Watch your words - the power of life and death are in the tongue. I am watching mine. Well, that can be tough, but so worth it.

Blessed

J

Hair, Finales, and yes ice cream

Okay so did you hear the one about the guy with no hair? I now notice all the hair commercials that are on TV. I didn't before, which tells you it did not matter then, but now I notice. Speaking of hair the whole family is getting a new "doo". In fact the next time you see Christa you may not recognize her. I love it. We all need a change from time to time. Summer is upon us and its time to get ready for the warm and humid weather. A little trim a little off the length, or maybe a good ole take it to the scalp cut. It's funny how we all care for our hair.

Well the finales are happening with all the fave shows. Collectively as a staff we all agree that Heroes was the best. We got so inspired that we are going to do a message series about heroes in the fall. 24 was well, hmmm, kinda, sorta, anti climactic, maybe boring. Christa I both fell asleep in the final moments of the finale. Kinda tells you something doesn't it.

The Lost finale is Wednesday and let's hope that we get at least a few questions answered. This is the one that I have been waiting for, a showdown between good and evil, or so it seems.

I hope you all have a wonderful memorial day. Hope to see you on a Sunday soon. Take the family for some ice cream and talk about summer plans and all sorts of summer activities.

As for me, I am not worried about hair for the summer. I love that I don't need hair care products, let's me save money for ice cream at Maggie Moos, or Carl's, or Chik Fil A shakes, or Bruster's. Yes I love this season, lots of things to enjoy. Hope you do to.

J

Pictures

Hello all

I recently changed the picture that I had on this blog. I was told that I had a cheesy grin, and a stupid look. I got to wondering when is the last picture that I took that was good.? The older we get the more difficult that it becomes to be comfortable with our picture. At least it does for me. I don't really care all that much at how I look, but when I do I am rarely satisfied.

Now try taking the group picture or the family picture. That can be really tough. So I have put a new picture of my intramural football team in Bible college up. You can see me in the middle. Yes I had a full head of hair. Seems like yesterday that I owned a brush. We won the game.

I am really thinking about how much has changed and where all God has brought me. It is safe to say that our faith walk is a "Journey". Pictures tell a story and capture moments all along the journey. So make sure that you take plenty of pictures along yours. Who knows we may look back and thank God for what we did have in the past or even what we experienced, both good and bad. It did shape us.

Keep on keeping on everyone. Their is joy in the journey. Look for it. Take pictures and preserve it. We can all go forward with confidence as we preserve our past. The past is our history, learn from it, grow from it, evolve.

Hope to see you soon. New series begins this week on Spent - How will you invest your life?

J

TV cool or what or not

Hello

Wow, I love Heroes on NBC. It one of the coolest show ever. I am a nerd for saying cool? What is the lingo now for the word cool? TV has sure changed and for the better, I guess? I am not a big fan of the reality shows. However, I do love the Amazing Race, and would love to apply for that on or Survivor. However, there are some weird ones out there, I'm sure you not what I refer to. So here comes the big finale for Lost, 24, Heroes - and hopefully some answers to make us all say "wow".

I did let you all know that some of us went to Spider man 3 last Friday at 12:00am. I fell asleep in my seat while waiting as we were two hours early for the showing. Almost everyone had the Nintendo DS out. I even hear the college guys, and high schoolers talking about Pokemon. What? That is what my son watched when he was in elementary school. Wow, how time has changed.

Anyway, 3 was okay. My thoughts are that the action is great, and FX are great, but the character development lacked. Hey go see it, give them cause to make another one that will be more satisfying. The big laugh, and the big applause of the night, the preview for Shrek 3.

As I type I can see that summer is upon us. Here comes the humidity - thank God for the guy the invented AC - and summer movies. Pirates, Shrek, FF -Silver Surfer, and maybe my fave - the Bourne movie.

See you soon.

J

Soil and Seed = yield

I am not a gardener. I don't pretend to be one. I don't aspire to be one. I hate yard work. However, I did grown up in Oklahoma and have been to a farm or to. I know this one thing. Prepare soil, plant seed, pull weed, water and over time you get something a harvest.

I am on a journey with Christ. Some of the seeds that have been planted in me are ready to bloom into harvest. Some seed didn't make it where it should and it has died. Some seed found its way, but the soil wasn't cared for and it didn't make it either.

I guess you could say that the more I care for the soil, and the more selective of seed, the greater the payoff in the future. We reap what we sow. So what should we sow? What should I so? What should you so?

So time to get real from those New Years resolutions and follow through with some action. I did make a resolution and I did plant a work out seed and a better eating seed. Giving some care to those seeds - I might still make a healthy summer harvest.

PS - Me, Pastor Jim and Andy, and a few others are going to the midnight show of Spider man 3 on Thursday night/Fri morning. So seeing as we live on the east coast, we should be the first batch of folks to see it. Ha - can't wait to brag on Friday.

Jay

Where did the time go?

Hello

Here it is April 25 and I am asking where did the time go? Can you believe that we are already knocking on the door of Summer. I mean school is only 7 weeks from being done for the kids. Many are planning their summer vacation, and registration for next fall's school year has begun.

Didn't we just turn the corner on 2006 into 2007? Why as I get older do the weeks get shorter, despite the days going longer? Why do the weeks turn into months, with such a rate that finds us looking at each other and scratching our heads and saying, "Where did the time go"?

Here is the answer it didn't go anywhere, and it never changes. It is up to us to do the right thing with it. I know that being a steward or caretaker of time is something that I have to be better at. Hey I think I manage time well - but I still want more out of it. I am learning to redeem the time. How do you redeem the time?

Time - 24 hours, or 1440 minutes, or 86400 seconds. That is all we get. Everybody gets the same - let's do something with it.

Jay