daddy4ms

Happy New Year! I am finishing up 2010 on vacation. Bethany and I and the kids spent our first three days on vacation in Branson . We stayed at Grand Country Inn which has an indoor waterpark . Each day we started with time in the water. Then we headed to Silver Dollar City to see the 4 million Christmas lights. It was a spectacular sight! There was a five story Christmas LED Tree with moving lights to music. There was also a lights parade. But probably the best was the live production of "A Christmas Carol." Our kids really enjoyed it and it had very good music. The extra bonus was that it was above 40 degrees on 2 days so we were able to ride roller coasters. This is a treat for Mitchell, Megan and I. Mackenzie is more like her mom in this area and does not enjoy roller coasters. Molly is still to be determined but she loves the "cat coaster" in Grand Exposition . We enjoyed some good meals together and of course some ice cream from Andy's. We he...

On Sunday, I continued our series of messages from Advent Conspiracy. This week I preached on "Give More." I will share a few details here. I started by sharing about two young men who are a good picture of what it means to Give More. They are Austin Gutwein (www.hoopsofhope.org) & Zach Hunter (www.zachhunter.me). For more information about them, visit the website beside their names. Then I turned to the Scriptures for the morning: Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6 & 1 Peter 4:7-11 My points for the message were: Give More Presence--I started by looking at Isaiah 7:14 which talks about Immanuel (God With Us) being the greatest gift we can receive at Christmas. No money can buy what a blessing it is to know Immanuel loves us and cares for us. I then turned our focus to 1 Peter 4:7-8. These verses focus on time being short. I asked the question: Are we using our presence (our time) on earth wisely? I explained in more detail what clear minded & self-controlled means ...

I had written in a previous post titled, "Black Friday" about Molly getting the stomach flu. That was about 2 weeks ago. On Tuesday, Bethany had the "privilege" of being the next one to get the flu. As I thought about this, I hoped and prayed that I would not be next. Everyone else has had a form of it already except for Megan and I. But the flu hitting my house got me thinking about something, is sickness only physical or can it be used by Satan? Here is the reason I ask: Almost every time I am scheduled to preach, someone in my house is sick. This is not an exaggeration. I will preach 4 times this year and 3 of those someone was sick. That's 75% of the time! Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think I am this super spiritual wonderful preacher, but when I do preach, I am excited! Since I don't preach 52 weeks a year, I have sermons percolating in my mind throughout the year and then they come out on paper when there is a need for someone to...

I am back to work today after a vacation day on Tuesday. I had the great privilege of going along with my wife to do a book table in Henderson, Nebraska. It was fun to "play store" for a couple of days. I enjoyed seeing all of the hard work that goes into her job as manager at the bookstore. But most of all, it was good to get away from home and spend time together. I encourage all married couples to make a priority of getting away together as often as possible. It was a refreshing weekend to just spend time together & talk without kids. Bethany and I have great conversation in the car so it was a great use of 6 hours on the road. After the book table, we went out to Applebee's on a date. Times like these just reinforce how much I love my wife and how grateful I am to be married to her. So, when are YOU planning your next date night?

Today at Hesston MB, I preached on the topic of "Worship Fully" based on one of the themes from Advent Conspiracy. For more information about Advent Conspiracy, visit their website www.adventconspiracy.org. My message was based on Isaiah 6:1-8. My intro. started with the statement to worship fully we must understand the who, what, and why of worship. I will share a few details under each of those points. Who The baby in the manger is the who of worship. Notice what Isaiah notices in vs. 1-The Lord is seated on a throne, high & exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Too often, we let things get in the way of us worshipping fully. Things such as: sports' teams, sports, careers, family/friends, TV or movie celebrities, money, technology, video games, computer/ internet , books, or religion. We need to be careful to not place anyone or anything in the place of God. God is the Audience of One in worship. What This is the area that causes much controvers...

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving together. However, it seems to be Thanksgiving night that has changed plans the last two years. Last year, we had Thanksgiving in Wichita with Bethany's family and then drove to Yates Center. In the middle of the night, Mitchell got sick and we had to pack up all the kids and head home early even though the plan was to go to Disney on Ice. The middle girls & Bethany drove to Topeka and was able to still enjoy time with the cousins. It happened again this year. We were in Yates Center and had a good Thanksgiving meal at my Aunt Kay Jean's house. We had fun playing some card games and the cousins enjoyed playing together. Bethany had to be back to work and I wanted to work some more on my sermon so we planned to head back to Hesston on Thanksgiving night and the kids would stay in Yates Center and we would meet up with them on Saturday morning. But I got the phone call at 2 a.m. that Molly was throwing up. She was very sick and kept...

READING IN TODAY’S NEWS, One of the 29 people trapped in a New Zealand coal mine is a teenage boy who’d only been on the job for an hour when an explosion rocked the mine. Joseph Dunbar had celebrated his 17th birthday last Thursday, according to news reports from New Zealand. His mother, Philippa Timms, told the New Zealand Harold that she and her son had recently moved to the area on New Zealand’s southern island to get a fresh start in life. "We moved here for Joseph, to give him a different life, a better life," the Herald quoted her as saying. Her son’s top goal soon became getting a job at the mine, she said. Can you imagine? The boy moves to a new place to get a fresh start, and after ONE HOUR on the job, he gets trapped in a mine? Over the last year, while speaking to various audiences, I have often shared a prayer God has given me to say over my family every morning. Although it is very simple, something about this prayer has resonated in many peopl...