G8 GT

I want a new car. I don't want you to think that I don't love my current car because I do. I am just at the point where enough stuff doesn't work on it that I am looking around. I have only had one car in the 10 years I have been driving, so it is going to be a hard separation. I have no clue when this purchase MAY come but we are definitely excited about it. This is what we want...

R.I.P

Have you ever flushed $120 down the toilet.....I did this morning.

Something Else I Really Do Not Like

Tailgaters
No, I'm not talking about pre-game celebrations. I am all for the Brats, Root Beer, and trash talking. What I don't like are the people that drive their cars on top of me like Urlacher on Sorgi/Manning. (reference wk. 1, 2008) or like any of these.
I have noticed recently that people are really bad with this driving habit. I was looking on the Internet at some ways to get people to back off.

• Slow waaaaaaayyy dooooowwwwnnnnn.
• Slam on breaks thus forcing the other person to rear end you.
• Install a extended trailer hitch to your vehicle so if you get rear ended it pierces deep into the vehicle.
• One of the new ideas I read was to carry a paintball gun with you. Allow the car to pass you then open fire on the car and if you're lucky the windows will be down.
• I thought of this one today. I think it is best because it doesn't slow you down from getting to your destination and you are not risking permanent damage to the other persons vehicle. I think that you should slow to the speed limit and if they don't catch the drift, then start using your windshield washer fluid on them. It is really just an annoyance like they are to you. Don't use it all at once, just use it for a few seconds, allowing them to turn theirs on to clean off the splatter. Then repeat as desired. They will either: back off, pass you, or follow you until you reach your destination and beat you up. Either way, you are perfectly legal in everything you do.

Be safe, and annoy tailgaters.

Things I Can't Stand

Blackouts
I really dislike it when professional sports teams blackout their event because they "didn't sell out the event. It doesn't make sense to me. They are punishing the potential customers by not allowing them to see the event that they want them to attend. When I go to a place that I love like ... Cold Stone Creamery... They let me see their product before I buy it. They display it proudly (and deliciously?) as if they are really trying to get me to purchase it. They are really trying to make me, the customer, happy. They even go the extra step to make sure that I like it before I buy it. They offer me a mini scoop to try...brilliant.
Also, about these pro sport people. I understand that they do this to try and get people to attend the games instead of watching them on T.V. Well, there might be a reason why the average family man doesn't attend many games.
Current cost of the cheapest seats at Chicago Bears Soldier Field -$68
Current available seating at any cost (mostly higher) - 61,500
Total income from 1 game if every ticket was $61 (tickets only) = $4,182,000.00
Total home games = 8
Total 1 season income = $33,456,000.00

Here is the cost for attending a game at Soldier Field. (2 Adults, 2 children)

Tickets = $272
Parking = $20
Food (5 hot dogs 3 drinks (kids share) = $32.50(prices based on recent Cincinnati Reds game)
Gas - 3.70
Miles-114x2
MPG-19
Gas Cost = $44.00
Total Cost for attending the game = $368.50

Well, I can definitely see why people choose to stay home and watch the game on cable that they are paying for anyway. That's what I'll be doing. Go Bears.

Don't Scuff My Shoes

So, we won Fairway Follies again this year. I think that everyone had a good time. It was awesome that my whole team drove 2 1/2 hours to play golf with me. I especially enjoyed playing with my dad. He came out of a 5+ year retirement to play with me and that was nice.

Tough Questions

The Bible points out that we are all ambassadors for Christ. So no matter what your vocation, you have a God given responsibility to be actively winning people to Christ.

Here is the tough question. You can answer on here or to yourself:

What are you doing in your everyday life to try and ACTIVELY win people to Christ?

Disputable

I finished my reading of Romans. For me it was a hard read. I am a self diagnosed ADHD victim and when the writer starts repeating himself more than media personnel at a Brett Farve press conference I start to get lazy in my reading. There were a few things in the end of the book that I find interesting.
I struggle with knowing what to put up with around me. I mean, if I'm eating lunch with a non-Christian and he/she is gossipping what are my options?

A. Get up and leave and not participate in the gossip.

B. Reprimand that person for gossipping when I clearly have no authority over them whatsoever.

C. Sit there and listen to it and to stay out of it as much as possible.

I think that the answer for me is "C." What good does it do to leave the person? You immediately insult them, and pass judgement turning them off to a possible guiding opportunity later in your relationship.

Just because you sit there and listen to them doesn't mean you have to participate in the gossip. I think that you can try to change the subject, or anything that you can find that may switch the focus of the conversation.

This whole thought process was started by Romans 14:1-12 If you have never read it, take a quick read right here.

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother?

For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.

It is written:" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

I am struggling in my life to find out what the disputable matters are. Not so that I can cut corners, but because I want to be as open as I can towards people. I do not think it's fair to expect more out of them than they have been charged by God to do.

It's important to find the difference between the disputables and non-disputables. The reason is this. Later in Romans we are warned not to give in to the non-disputables.

Romans 16:17-18

I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.

We will see where God leads me in the future. Either way God will be there to lead me and guide me in His ways and according to His will.

Fantastic Contraption

So I have become extremely interested (addicted) in playing a game called Fantastic Contraption. It is a game where you are given an object in one area and you have to move it to a different area on the screen. It can be a ball, a box, or a rectangle. You move it by a system of wheels and rods. I like it because it makes me think. There is something very frustrating about the game though. It is very sensitive. If you move the slightest thing you can throw off the balance of the whole structure. I am constantly moving things just the slightest bit to see if that will make the contraption work the way I want it to.

I mentioned in a previous blog that God did some wonderful act in me at district assembly. I am doing ok I think. I have started reading my Bible before bed. Which is hard because when Kimber goes to be, she is ready to watch Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor. But I can usually keep her calm long enough to finish my reading.

I am going through Romans. I read a chapter a night, which is enough to get some depth, but also not too much to process. I am learning a lot from Romans. In my past I would make excuses to do, or not do, certain things in my life which were not pleasing to God. I have had conviction on me over things that I have been doing for years. It amazes me how patient God is to make sure I am following Him. I have ran from certain attitude issues and other issues in my life for so long that it was a relief to let it go. Notice it wasn't easy, just a relief. As I read through Romans I have developed a deeper appreciation for the holiness tradition.
Romans 6:1-4

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

God is tweaking me just like I do my contraptions online. My prayer is that he will light my path so that I may never walk in a self deceptive darkness again. Thanks be to God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord!

DH

I am ready for football season. There is not many things that can make me as excited as I am at kick-off time on Sunday. I watch every play as if DVR doesn't exist. It is just so exciting for me.


During the off season this year I have passed my time playing a game called Goal Line Blitz. It is a mmorpg. It is great, you create a player and join a team and try to win the 'ship. The most impressive part this that people own the teams and the goal as an owner is to have an entirely human controlled team. My "friend" :) Joe is an owner and he so kindly allows me to GM. If you would like to sign up use my referal code http://goallineblitz.com/game/signup.pl?ref=9440740