Scrambled Eggs & Corn Flakes

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people" Luke 2:9-10. I wrote this in my journal on Christmas Eve 2013 down in Florida. That evening I was thinking about the meaning of Christmas. I know what it means to me and I have seen what it means to others. For some, they bemoan the over commercialization that has come with the holiday and how it has strayed from the purpose. Others are cool with it. Some get nostalgic, remembering past Christmases with fondness and sharing warm memories. I was looking at Isaiah 9:6 tonight and came upon an interesting insight. It reads "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace". I have heard and read this passage ...

As I have stated in the past, my favorite holiday is Christmas. I love the holiday season - the attitudes of people (outside of stores on Black Friday), the Christmas specials, the excitement, and the holiday music. It used to be just after Thanksgiving, you would start to hear the first songs and carols. Now, it is not uncommon to hear the first Christmas song right after the last trick or treater leaves your house. Susan likes the music, but by December 1st, she is already done with it. Me, I enjoy the music no matter when or where and am sad when the music ends the first week of January. So, I am going to list my list of the top ten songs of Christmas. You may have differing opinions, but you would all be wrong. Just like if you say the best Christmas character is Rudolph, Frosty, or the Grinch. Everyone obviously knows the best character is Bumbles. If you don't know who he is, stop reading, watch Rudolph, and then come back and continue reading. It is easier for me to tell ...

"It's the most wonderful time of the year". I agree with that sentiment. I am a huge fan of Christmas, as my previous blogs have attested to. I get excited when I see the first decorations, the first commercials, and the first songs are played on the radio. Lots of Christmas stuff starts sooner and sooner these days. Used to be after Thanksgiving, then Halloween - now its no surprise to see ornament displays late Summer. Lots of people feel burned out by the time Christmas arrives. Tired of all the songs, specials, and commercials. Not me, I cant get enough of it. My favorite Christmas special is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. My favorite character is Bumbles the Abominable Snowman. My favorite Christmas song is Mr. Heat Miser (admit it, you're singing it now that I've mentioned it.) I also enjoy shopping for others and getting them presents. I love the look on other's faces when they get that something special they've been asking for. Christmas has al...

Christmas is my favorite time of year. The month leading up to it (now it seems like two) is also a good time. The main reasons I enjoy the holiday season is the general atmosphere (people seem to be in better spirits) and giving people gifts. I enjoy the looks on people's faces when they receive gifts. Joy fills their faces naturally. It feels good to see that happen. As you might have guessed, I tend to overdo it at Christmas, especially for Susan. The present buying starts early in the year and continues all the way to Christmas Eve. It's so bad sometimes where I buy her the same things and find out during the wrapping process. Not the exact item, but similar items. Oh well, I just save it for the following Christmas. One of the things we start doing around Christmas is to begin creating our lists. A list for what we want and one for the people we plan on buying gifts for. Usually, I try to purchase something that the other person wouldn't purchase for themselves or s...

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" Jeremiah 29:11-13 My favorite Christmas special has always been Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for a variety of reasons. Great characters (Bumbles especially), a wonderful story, and great animation for the 1960's. If you've never seen it, and shame on you if you haven't, relates the story of characters who don't necessarily fit in and feel shunned by society. There's Rudolph who has a red nose and Hermie the elf that doesn't like making toys but would rather be a dentist. They leave to find their place in society. They end up meeting a large group on the Island of Misfit Toys. It is a place for toys that don't fit in or are unloved. If you remember there were ...

Psalm 9:1 "I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell all of your wondrous deeds." Each year, I visit family for Thanksgiving. We enjoy the enormous meal of turkey, stuffing (my mom makes the best), mashed potatoes, yams, and vegetables (OK I don't eat the veggies). This is then topped off by dessert, usually pumpkin pie. We then proceed to go into turkey comas while watching the many football games that are playing on TV. I am fairly certain that scenario plays out in many households across America. Some of you may have decided to start your Christmas shopping early or camp out for stores that open at midnight. Thanksgiving has become kind of a rest-stop between Halloween and Christmas. Some of you may be reflective on all you have been thankful in the past year. We do have a lot to be thankful for. We are blessed by a God who provides in ways we don't expect and many times in ways we don't deserve. We serve an extravagant God. Sometimes, ...

I will be taking a break from doing this blog until January 2017. Lots of time being busy with work and life and after doing this almost weekly for three years and a dose of writer's block, I am going to take a break from new blogs during the holiday season. I will return in January, but until then I will be reposting some older blogs. Hopefully all of you, my readers, have a healthy and happy holiday season. See you in 2017.

Every morning, I look at the face in the mirror staring back at me. Maybe a new wrinkle, a new gray hair in the beard, perhaps another inch where my hairline has creeped further up in its race to meet the bald spot on the other side. Sometimes the face looks blurry, especially when I am not wearing my glasses. Getting older. We all face it. The hands of time slow down for no one. If you're not blessed with great genetics or have the money for plastic surgery we will all experience the effects of time and aging in our lives. For me, it has been watching the inevitable climb of my hairline up my head since my mid-20's. Being a heavy metal fan with long hair, it got discouraging watching my hair slowly go away. As time has gone by, I decided to shave my head down and not be a comb over guy. Later, being diagnosed with diabetes and needing glasses help to reinforce that, yes, I am getting older. Looking in the mirror will sometimes do that. There is sometimes dread, I have noti...

Several months ago, I was watching a video of a friend of mine from my Intervarsity days speaking at the Urbana conference. He spoke on the prodigal son story and it was a very powerful message that he gave. I love when I re-read or see a talk on something I may have known like the back of my hand and gather some new morsel I was unaware of. I found out some information about Sriram that I didn't know before regarding his background. But, the main thing I took from his talk was how dynamic and passionate he was. He kept my attention throughout the talk and you could feel his passion radiate even through the computer screen. This just wasn't words to him, this was vitally important. This was a message as important as life and death. Maybe, because it was. We, as people, can easily ferret out when someone doesn't believe what they say. They are insincere and their energy level may not equate with the message they are giving. But, if the person really believes the message t...

A compass is an instrument used for navigation and orientation that shows direction relative to the geographic "cardinal directions" or "points". Usually these directions are north, south, east, and west. This gives us a general idea of where we are going. Everyone should know what a compass looks like. A round object with the letters N, S, E, and W signifying the directions. Today, with GPS and other technologies, the compass may be less known today. Several years ago, I was writing in my journal when the thought of compasses and how they applied to the Christian life. More specifically, the directional points N, E, S, and W on the dial. That as our lives become more Christ-centered that our reactions would take us outward to different points. More like the ripples of water echoing outward in all directions from a central point. Pondering this, I came up with four points to the Christian life (I am sure there are more). But, these resonated with me and tied out...

"A lot of people remember my last match, they can remember what I wore, what moves I made and who won, they know everything about me, but they don't know me. In many ways that is how we as Christians are, we know everything about God... but we don't know Him" - Ted DiBiase, former professional wrestler & current minister. Founded Heart of David Ministry. I am a big professional wrestling fan. Have been since I was thirteen years old. I own several DVD's, own several biographies, gone to several house shows, and have even had photo ops with some wrestlers. It's one of my guilty pleasures. I've even managed to convince (some might say brainwashed) my wife to get into it. Every Monday evening, we watch it on the USA network. You may say I am a man of culture... then again maybe you won't. Every now and then in my writings, I will make references to the things I enjoy. Comic books, pro wrestling, pro sports, Ohio State, Doctor Who, and other sci-fi ...

Promises. We do make them a lot. Even if we don't have any intentions of keeping them. How many of us have promised God we would become a monk or nun if He got us out of a jam? Or, made promises to our parents to keep ourselves out of punishment? So, we do make some promises we know we won't keep. Others we do keep and others we try and fail to. When one gets married, we make promises to each other. Vows. What we will do for each other. These are typically made in front of friends and family. Love, Honor, and Cherish. Maybe, obey ;) These are promises that are not made lightly. These are serious commitments made to the one we plan on spending the rest of our lives with. As such, pretty important. We make them for public consumption and keep them in private as well. If you are married, I do hope and pray that you are doing your best to keep your vows. I try, some days better than others. There can be many distractions thrown our way. Life gets in the way sometimes. Our focus ...

The greatest comic-book superhero is Spider-Man. There is no debate, he's the best. You can argue Batman, Superman, Captain America, Green Lantern, or Iron Man - but you'd be wrong. I'm sure they all have their good qualities, but they can't match up to the awesomeness that is Spider-Man (read an issue, tell me I'm wrong). As you can tell, I am ahuge fan of the character since I was five years old and my mother bought me a Spider-Man comic. As I have stated earlier, I have a comic book collection numbering near 20,000 with a good number of them include his character. Why do I like him? First, he started as a teenager with a variety of relatable problems. Money issues, girlfriend issues, people not liking him, family medical issues, and school were just a few of the things Peter Parker faced. Until the day he was bitten by the radioactive spider and got his powers. Sure, he still had his daily problems, but he could escape them while fighting super-villains across ...

Finally, after 52 years, Cleveland sports fans had something to celebrate. The Cavaliers won the NBA Championship. It was a surreal moment, one that I am still wrapping my mind around. I still feel like it was a dream and that once the season starts, we will realize the Warriors pulled it out. This city has been conditioned to expect the worst when it comes to its sports teams (and it creeps into our thoughts about our city). The litany of sports disasters is endless. Red Right 88, The Drive, The Shot, The Fumble, Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, The Browns move, LeBron leaving. Say any of those phrases to a native Clevelander and they will nod slowly and quietly walk away. When the Cavs won, it was like a collective weight on the shoulders of this city dissipated. Grown men cried (acted like fools too), families came together, and family no longer around were thought of fondly. Got to admit, I looked skyward at the end and asked my Dad to help out while watching it at our church. Th...

Originally written back and posted in 2013: One of the things before I started posting these blogs was writing my thoughts in a journal. I have been then publishing them not in the same order as I wrote them so today's blog will contain references to stuff that I have yet to post about (politics). As an aside, I know people from other countries have read some of my blogs - are people in your countries as harshly divided about politics to the point of really despising each other because they don't share the same viewpoint? It seems that way here in the US, I would love to hear from other countries about this sometime. Maybe one day I will write some thoughts on politics, but until then here's today's scheduled blog: I am writing this journal the day after I wrote 10 pages as to my opinions on American politics back in 2012. While I felt better about getting my thoughts down on paper, I felt a little sad and depressed. I might put it online maybe to encourage debate, b...

Humility is not a strong suit of mine. Nor does it seem to be a big value here in the United States. Maybe false modesty, but not humility. The American dream tends to speak to being self-made, strong, virtuous, perseverant, and prideful. Needing assistance is considered an act of weakness. While praising and pointing out one's accomplishments to the world is success. The United States and its citizens (of which I am one) tend to carry themselves with a hint of arrogance. Maybe it comes with being a superpower or having so many luxuries that it gives us a sense of entitlement or superiority. Its a behavior that penetrates our daily lives, our politics, and even our faith. Maybe this happens in other countries, but since I don't live there I wont speak for them. We can even become arrogant with our faith. Like we possess something that others don't and therefore feel superior. I have seen that in fellow Christians towards other non-Christians or other denominations. There...

"God is angry at you" "You'll always be alone" "You are worthless" "No one wants to hear what you have to say" "You're fat & ugly" "You failed once, You'll fail again" "They're all laughing at you" "God is disappointed in you" "Nothing will ever change for you" "No one loves you" "No one cares" "God won't help you" How many times have you believed any of the above about yourself? That last one always gets to me because I can be very impatient. When I have to wait for a long period of time, such as selling my house or the adoption process, it is easy for me to believe that. Why is it so easy to believe those lies? Well we learn to lie pretty quickly in life. We do it to get out of trouble from the first moment we get into trouble. We can graduate to lying about ourselves to get ahead or get something. We lie to ourselves repeatedl...

The first time that I ever prayed on my own, outside of a church situation, was back in 1983. My mom's uncle had just suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital. I was in my bedroom listening to the radio. I don't remember what else I was doing in there (maybe reading), but I was lying on the floor and thought it would be a good idea to pray. I don't remember the specifics to my prayer, other than for him to recover. I distinctly remember two songs played on the radio 104.1 FM. (Funny that I remember such specifics thirty years later). They were "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler and "Who Loves You" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Listen to them, they're good songs. So, there I was praying on my own for the first time. My mom's uncle would pass away within the next 24 hours. Thus, began my walk with the Lord which has had ups and downs and taken me on incredible journeys. There is an incredible need in us to feel loved. W...

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" Psalm 42:1-2 Physical thirst, from what I have been told, is not a pleasant feeling. I have been thirsty in the past and is not a good place to be. The focus being on ending that thirst overtakes every thought and desire. Physically, you need to satisfy that thirst or the body will overheat and  start to break down. Think of those really hot and humid days when you were so thirsty. All you thought about was getting something cold to drink to satisfy yourself. That was it, nothing else mattered at that moment. Just your thirst and your desire to end it. It is compelling that this is the comparison used by David in this psalm. This overwhelming desire is what his soul longs for. That his soul would be so consumed to the exclusion of everything around him. This is David's focus in this passage. He is like a panting deer,...