sms

SMS (OK, Ihave to admit I can't figure out what the acronym means) is a cool thing. I'm sitting watching bands in nowhere Pennsylvania and taking part of a running conversation with Brad on SMS. Weird and fun. Kinda cool to just shoot a message to someone when you think of them. All wireless and easy.

Supposedly I can blog by phone as well...I gotta figure that out.

vacation ramblings

It's Thursday, that means we're in Pennsylvania. The trip has been great. Monday was Cedar Point in Ohio, the biggest coaster park in the world. The kids did awesome and were more and more daring...which means that I got to go on a handful of coasters.

Creation started last night...David Crowder Band, RelientK and Switchfoot. Excellent music. The best part is meeting people from all over the country, seeing the kids make friendships with kids from all over, and knowing that they're making lifelong memories. All 4 kids are doing great (Justin Clouse is with us). It's stinkin hot and humid, but fun nonetheless (thanking God for a generator and AC in the camper!!).

We're here until late Saturday or early Sunday. I'll check in later. Today, we'll see Tait, TobyMac (OK, those are the kid's favorites) and I think Casting Crowns. And a bunch more inbetween.

Crosswords

Early Yucatan people: Inca.

Part of QED: erat.

I love crossword puzzles. Sometimes my wife gets bugged when I do them because they are supposedly a waste of time. And yet, we sometimes sit in bed and do the puzzle together.

Studies show that crosswords are powerful stimulants to certain parts of the human brain and can boost memory and cognitive vitality. Cool.

Do you know that the New York Times puzzle is easiest on Mondays, then a bit harder on Tuesdays, etc., and it hits its pinnacle on Sunday? The Sunday NYT...that's the granddaddy of them. Andrea and I did a whole Sunday one once. It took us until Friday that week...

Time to go do the puzzle.

in the weeds

My son Josh and I just took a quick camping trip to SE Minnesota. What a great experience that was. We biked 37 miles on a state trail on Monday, and then fished that evening. We ended up taking home 10 rainbow trout (the state possession limit is 10--we could have brought home 20 because we were just pulling them out left and right).

Josh and I were fishing a stocked trout pond right in the middle of a little Minnesota town. A church chimed out a hymn every hour, on the hour. A bald eagle swooped in looking for dead fish a couple times. The fish were plentiful and the bugs scarce. It was idyllic; the best part for me was hearing Josh say (about 5 times): "Dad, this is the funnest day I've ever had."

As we fished, I kept trying to get Josh to move closer to me, away from the weeds that were bunched up at the south end of the pond. But he liked fishing there--it was where he pulled out the first trout of the day and of his life. So, he insisted on fishing there. Silly, it seemed. He spent as much time fishing as clearing weeds from his lure. Meantime, I fished the cleaner areas of the pond.

For as much as my way of fishing made sense to me, Josh ended up catching as many fish as me, possibly more. We quit counting after we had our limit. For the benefit of his burgeoning masculinity, he has been told that he aced his dad out by catching one more than me...

Then there were others fishing at the pond. A class of fly fisherpeople who were trying to do this for the first time ever. And they caught fish--they kept every single fish they caught, no matter the size. And a retired couple, sagged by the weight of the years, who sat patiently, using corn as bait. They took home a bunch of trout. Several families came and went, pulling out their share, too.

God calls us all to fish. We all use different bait, different styles. Some use flashy spinners, some good old fashioned corn. Some catch fish easily and naturally and others are trying hard to learn. Some of us have to spend a lot of time clearing weeds, but with patience, we'll get just as many as anyone else out there. I hope and pray that you are wetting a line every day, using what you can to catch who you can...God has stocked your pond, now it's time to fish. Fish as a family! Fish alone! Fish as a couple! Take a class on fishing! And keep every single fish you get--God wastes none.

touch

I took Josh, my oldest son, out for a few errands this afternoon...we're going camping for a couple days and we needed a few things, including his very first pocketknife. We were driving and I put my hand on his knee and squeezed it some. He got a little hacked--"Dad, you know I don't like it when you tickle me like that..." I stopped tickling, but kept touching, wanting him to know that his dad loves him. I tell him daily, but I want him to remember rides in the car with a dad who is loving enough to touch his grubby, grass stained knee...

Later, I thought: "Do I reject God's hand when He reaches into my life and wants to play?"

enter here

I'm new to this...and will be taking my time doing this. If you have found your way here, welcome. I'm gonna play with this a bit. You can look around, post a response or whatever. I will be sharing my thoughts from time to time, particularly about my ministry, my family and my church, The Journey at Rush Creek, in Maple Grove, MN. Enjoy. Don't stick around too long, or you'll start to think like me... ;-)