Month: July 2007

  • Vacation Bible School

    I love VBS. It's one of my favorite church activities of the year. This year our theme is Sonforce Kids - not really a secret agent theme, but something sort of like that. We've got a cool ongoing skit featuring my precious wife Bev as Ms. Newton and Kaitie as the bad guy Emma Clair Felton. Bad Kaitie!

    Bev also plays the Space Federation Ambassador. We video her speaking into the camera as if she's talking on a video conference, pausing at appropriate times for the characters on stage to speak back to her. What's funny is that at one point she asks her character on screen if they've ever met since the Ambassador looks so familiar.

    This is the first year I've had to be Mr. VBS Director. It's very challenging keeping everything running smoothly. Our staff this year is great. Super attitudes and really wonderful teamwork. I appreciate that a lot, and thank the Lord for it. All of our teens that are in town are helping this year, as they normally do.

    Do you have any special VBS memories, either as a student or a worker? I had a life changing experience before my ninth grade year, but that's a story for another day. 

  • One time in 8th grade ...

    Well, apparently no one but Trish wants to talk about birth control pills harming the environment, but that did remind me of a funny story from Jr. High. I hope no one minds, but I've been a youth pastor and the father of teenagers (and a nurse!) for a long time so this stuff doesn't bother me.

    We were doing current events during 8th grade history class. This one guy Keith brought an article about some problems that employees at a plant that manufactured birth control pills were having. Somehow exposure to the hormones (in the air? I don't know - I think that was probably the point of the article.) was causing men to develop breasts and women to have irregular menstrual bleeding, among other issues.

    That in itself wasn't all that funny, but Keith didn't know what "menstrual bleeding" meant, so he raised his hand and asked the teacher. That of course scandalized the class, or at least made most of the kids chuckle. Mr. Ginder (I think that was the teacher's name) wrote him a hall pass and told him go ask the health teacher.

    Class goes on and Keith returns to class. When it was his turn to read his article, he gets to that part and flops the article down and says, "Does anybody else want to know what that is." So some other guy says, "Sure, I do" and then Keith has to explain the whole thing to the class. Turns out that he told the health teacher and the health class that Mr. Ginder wanted to know what menstrual bleeding was.

    Ok, maybe you had to be there. But it was kind of funny at the time.

  • Could Birth Control Pills Harm the Environment?

    This is an interesting article. Could hormonal contraceptives actually harm the environment?

    I'm not taking a side at this time on contraception, but I hadn't heard anything about this at all before.

    I'd really like to hear some thoughts or have some discussion about this.

    http://wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56623

  • The Answers!

    Now for ... The Answers

    1. TRUE - I originally didn't mind wearing glasses, because I didn't need to wear them very much. I'd use them for driving and for church and such. A couple of years ago I noticed that I needed to wear them all the time. Then they started to bother me more. I started wearing contacts over a year ago, and they're great. I've always liked sunglasses though and wear them almost any time I'm outside before nightfall. As a matter of fact, I bought two pairs this weekend ($2.99 each!) to add to the other pair I own, plus the other pair that I can't currently find, making 4 pairs in all! (plus when I find the other pair).
    2. LIE - I started wearing glasses in my twenties, but it was my early twenties. I forget where the money came from, but we got some sort of windfall and so trekked to Pearl Vision Center to buy my first set with big plastic frames!
    3. TRUE - I really needed to get glasses in high school, and during my senior year had an eye doctor appointment to do so. Unfortunately for me, I forgot until the afternoon I was supposed to be there, but by then it was too late. It took me over four years to get around to getting my glasses! Sigh.

    So congratulations to ... wildflowerwendy, narellew, ninochka, and lian06liz! Good job, guys!

    And by the way, nobody noticed the unintentional pun in the last post (the one with the quiz). What's up with that?

  • It's time once again for ...

    Two Truths and a Lie

    This time we will focus on eyewear. Which of the following three statements is a false?

    1. I hate wearing glasses but I love wearing sun glasses.
    2. I was in my late twenties when I started wearing glasses.
    3. I once forgot to go to an eye doctor appointment, delaying getting my first pair of glasses for several years.

    I have a feeling this won't be too hard.

  • AZDaisy, one of the best bloggers around, had one of the funniest lines on her site the other day. Maybe I only find it so funny because I'm  a pastor.

    I don't know why some people change churches; what difference does it make which one you stay home from?