* Grab the book nearest you. Right now. * Turn to page 56. * Find the fifth sentence. * Post that sentence along with these instructions in a Note to your Wall. * Not fair to dig for your favorite book, the trendiest or the most intellectual… Here’s mine: “Rinsing the mouth will not remove all the dirt, for the mucus is somewhat sticky and holds the dirt fast to the skin until it is rubbed off.” –Personal Hygiene by Frank Overton (1913) (A decorative book by the chair I’m sitting in at home.)

I’m streamlining some expenses and one of the things to go is my Typepad blog. It wasn’t much per month but it adds up. Why spend the money when I can blog just as easily for free at wordpress? I am able to keep my domain the same and actually have a lot of design flexibility. I also can update the blog from my iPhone. Like I’m doing right now. I recently created two new sites with wordpress for my areas of ministry at church. They look great, are easy to use and don’t cost a cent. Check them out:…

Enjoy this video from CNN about the fact that Lifeway stores are "hiding" the latest issue of Gospel Today magazine because it features women pastors. >

Calif. man tries to amputate own arm MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — Police say a man tried to cut off his own arm at a restaurant in Modesto, Calif., because he thought he had injected air into a vein while shooting cocaine and feared he would die unless he took drastic action. Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Lasiter rushed into the Denny’s restaurant late Friday and started stabbing himself in one arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a table. They say that when that knife didn’t work Lasiter took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his…

Everything around me is screaming the end of summer.  School is starting.  A new year in youth ministry is beginning.  My seniors are leaving for college.  And I’m not ready.  It has been the busiest summer.  As some of you know, I was gone for nearly four weeks in a row with back to back mission trips.  This past weekend was my last little retreat trip for the summer and I’m glad.  Don’t get me wrong – I loved all the experiences, opportunities and people I met this summer but I’m in need of some structure, some routine, some downtime. …

I returned home from Lithuania Thursday morning aroudn 5:30 am.  It was a long and tiresome journey back to the US with flight delays due to weather.  We were up for about 34 hours but I’m mostly recovered now.  Which is good because I leave in the morning on the youth mission trip to Chicago. Lithuanian was a wonderful experience.  It is beautiful country in many ways.  Although I need to keep reminding myself that I went in late June and that the cold seasons there are brutal.  At least they are to me because I’m not a fan of…

I’m actually able to post from a computer today from a computer lab in the dorm we are staying in the next few days.  Our host is LCC – Lithuania Christian College. This morning we attend City Church here in Klaipeda, Lithuania.  It was a great worship service for a new generation of Lithuanian Christians.  It resembled the contemporary services in some churches I’ve visited like The Crossing in Columbia, MO, or The Journey in St. Louis, MO.  30 – 40 minutes of praise and worship.  A teaching time followed by an offering and then a praise song or time…

  We are traveling on a bus from Kaunas to Klaipeda after a wonderful two days in Kaunas. we spent some time with about 14 youth from two Baptist churches in town.  Yesterday we drove out to the woods to camp. It was a gorgeous place with a beautiful river. we ate a delicous supper and played games.  Some of the kids swam. We had a campfire and a final challenge was given to the kids.  then it began to rain so we ran to our tents for the night. it was midnight already. with the sun not going down…

Our internet is down this afternoon and evening due to storm. We had some major rain and some light hail and the power went out in some of the church. . VBS went very well. We had 31 kids which was great! They were high energy. Tonight we went to a concert at another Baptist church. It was an acappela quartet from Latvia and they were very good. We nodded in appreciation or from sleep exhaustion! After that we stopped by a mall and got icecream. We walked awhile and then went to mcdonalds! It was yummy! Yesterday was the…