Out of My Hat

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Monday, 26 August 2013

Tell Your Story

Posted on 07:24 by Unknown
In reading through the Gospels,, we find stories of a people that had unusual encounters with Jesus. They were unusual in that Jesus was able to do what no one had ever done before. He healed lepers of their dreaded disease. He caused the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the mute to speak and the crippled to walk. He even caused the dead to come back to life!

Pretty incredible stuff!

The people that were touched by His miraculous ministry couldn't help but tell others about it. The crowds followed after him seeking more great signs and to listen to his teaching; to see for themselves if this was the expected Messiah.

As one who has had a spiritual encounter with Jesus, shouldn't I (and you, too, if you have had such an encounter) be telling my story? I know that not everybody has a fantastic "saved from the gutters of life" kind of story. Thankfully, most of us don't have a "prison salvation" or near death kind of salvation story. You may even think that you have a boring story.

How can an encounter with the God of the universe be boring?

Perhaps we've become too familiar with our God. I am so thankful that He allows us this wonderful relationship that the sons and daughters of God can come before Him as...well, as sons and daughters. We don't have to wait while the masses vie for His attention; we can walk right to the front of the line and speak with our Heavenly Father. We are the adopted brothers of His Son, Jesus.

It's a pretty big deal!

Even if your grew up in a home that knew Jesus; even if you first encountered Him at a young age--you have a story to tell. And our stories must go beyond that first encounter. What of the daily encounters with Our Lord and Savior. Have these become so common that we no longer value them? Have we taken for granted that we are lost and condemned without Him? Have we forgotten that spiritually speaking, we all have "saved from the gutter" stories? Have we become so puffed up with ourselves that we think that we deserve a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus?

If it's been a while since you've shared your story, share it with somebody--today!

You can use me as an excuse if you need one. Just say, "A blog I read was encouraging believers to share their conversion stories. I really haven't done that in a while. Can I practice on you?"

When you've finished (keep it brief if you can), you might ask them to share their story. If they don't have a story, you may have an opportunity to tell them about God's great love and how He desires to have a personal relationship with them through Jesus!

Knowing Jesus is a big deal!
Tell your story.

John <><
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Saturday, 24 August 2013

Thoughts on Community

Posted on 09:27 by Unknown
This weekend is little bit less active than the past few have been. Chris is working today (one of those few Saturdays that she gets scheduled to work) and I'm hoping that she can get an early shove.

I did manage a quick trip into the farmer's market in Springfield, a fill up on the del Sol (39.9 mpg) and a few errands. Now to spend some time finishing tomorrow's sermon notes.

It's been a little while since I've been to Charity Baptist is Springfield. I'm looking forward to being there again, although it does mean that I'll miss the concert at Hopedale tomorrow night.

This past week seems to have flown by. I guess that's a good thing. One of the things that I'm realizing is that I have a very small community of people in my life. I'm not sure that I can call the people that I work with a part of my community. Sure we are co-workers and serve a common purpose for a few hours each day, but I really have nothing else in common with them. They are not a vital part of my life (the job--well, the pay is) and I am not a vital part of their lives. I actually fell a greater "community" sense with a pastor that I just met than with the people I have worked with for years.

Is it that the shared ministry is more important to me than the shared mission of separating airplanes? Is there a greater sense of brotherhood with a fellow laborer in ministry than with other air traffic controllers? Although I get along with my co-workers, I can't say that I really look forward to seeing them everyday. For the most part, they are just a part of the job. That is not the case when it comes to ministry work.

Strangely enough, church life and work life share a lot of similarities. While I love my church and enjoy going there to worship and serve, in many ways the social atmosphere isn't very different from work. I'm not sure that I can call the people at church a part of my community. Other than sharing a few hours a week, I really have very little in common with most of them. They are not a vital part of my life and I am not a vital part of their lives.

I'm really not sure where this rant is going. I just started writing and this is what has turned up on the page. In rereading what I've written, one might get the idea that I feel lonely in ministry or am dissatisfied with work, church or life in general. Neither is really true. Perhaps it is just a realization that I know very little about the people that I come in contact with every day. Maybe I need to find a way to expand my "community" by being better about connecting with people outside of the areas that define our relationships. Maybe my life is too segregated--work is work, church is church, family is family, etc.

Is that what we've become as a society? Are we different pieces of different puzzles as we wander through the week and find ourselves in different places and different roles? Is it okay that I see you everyday and know nothing about you? Do I care if you you know anything about me? Have we become so narcissistic that other people just don't matter?

I'm going to have to think on this some more. Any thoughts...?

John <><






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Monday, 19 August 2013

Weekend Thoughts

Posted on 08:03 by Unknown
It's nice to be able to sit on the deck with my coffee and computer and reminisce about the weekend. I really enjoyed my return to Zion Baptist Church (ZBC) in Cainsville MO. We were trying to figure out how long it had been since my last visit; I was thinking around eight years. One of the members said that he knew exactly how long it had been because I visited his wife in the hospital after the birth of their little girl--she is 6.

Although this was only my third trip to ZBC, it really does feel like a sort of homecoming. It is a small congregation with a huge heart for serving the community in the name of Jesus. I really love their pastor. He is a simple, hard working man that runs his business and pastors a rural church. He loves his Lord, loves his flock and loves serving others. Not surprisingly, the church has taken on the heart attitudes of loving God, loving each other and serving the community.

It's a pretty sweet fellowship.

There are so many thoughts running through my head this morning about the weekend that it is very hard to organize them into any orderly post. I think I'm going to just write them out in bullet form and expound on them as the thoughts come to mind.

*This was the thirteenth year of the Zion Gospel Jubilee.
Several music groups from the area (and some individuals) come to sing on an outdoor stage under a big tent. The event normally begins around 1pm on Saturday and lasted until around 10:30 at night with a break for an awesome dinner. (They smoked about 200 pounds of beef brisket and pork butts.) Sunday morning had an outdoor service under the tent followed by lunch and more music. This year, they added the Friday night session with music and magic--my part in the weekend. I also shared twice on Saturday (once in the afternoon, once in the evening) and preached the message on Sunday morning.

*The groups that come to sing look forward to this event.
This year's groups had all been to the Jubilee before. The event is well advertised and people come from some distance to enjoy the music. There was great talent singing praise to our God.

*Life isn't always what we've bargained for.
When you get in a mix of God's people, you find that there are a lot of suffering Christians. It's a myth that those that follow Jesus have great lives. We do have eternal life, but often times our earthly journey can be difficult and lonely. There were times that my heart hurt for the stories of struggle that were shared.

*We are family.
One of the things that always amazes me is the instant bond of fellowship with believers from another congregation. At a family reunion, you can often tell that the people there are apart of your family clan by certain physical characteristics. When meeting with fellow followers of Jesus, there are also characteristics that lead you to believe that we are of the same family.

*Other contacts.
I also had the opportunity to visit with some old friends that lived in the area (by in the area, I mean about 40 minutes away). I enjoyed getting to visit with them in their home and also saw a few other people that I have shared ministry with in the past.

*Blessings of service.
I'll be on a bit of a high for a few days. The blessings of service are grand. I know that this weekend will carry me into the week with a grand feeling and positive attitude. I have another program tomorrow night and am preaching on Sunday in Springfield. It sounds really busy and like I'm doing a lot of work, but the truth is that it's too much fun to be considered work.

*Random thought--
If it turns out that I'm going to keep the del Sol much longer, I'm going to have to put some work into it to make it more serviceable and more comfortable for long trips.

*Final thought (for now)--
There are a lot of hurting people out there. Some suffer in silence and in secret while others are more open about their pain. They need a bit of encouragement and love today. If you know of somebody that is carrying a burden, lend them a hand today. Call them. Offer them a time of rest or a moment that they can set aside their troubles and enjoy a short time of peace with a friend.
For those that suffer in silence, take care to be kind to everybody you encounter. Be a positive influence at work or school. Be kind and courteous to strangers. Smile often. Speak words of encouragement. Show the love of God in all you do.

God loves you.
Jesus died for you.

John <><



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Friday, 16 August 2013

Just random notes...

Posted on 06:57 by Unknown
It's a rare Friday morning that I get to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee. On most Fridays, I'm just getting off of work after a mid shift and ready to take a 3+ hour snooze. I used a day of leave and didn't work the mid last night. After a day of moving Hannah back to Columbia for her senior year of college and with travel for a weekend event ahead of me, I figured a good night's sleep was in order.

So now I am getting ready to get things going for the day and really don't have the time to be on the blog and sitting with my coffee, but...

Sometimes it's good to slow down--even if only for a few minutes.

I'll be spending a good portion of the next couple of days on the highway and won't have the time to read the posts that I normally follow, keep up on Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites and may have some limited cell coverage--all a part of travelling in rural Missouri.

Enjoy your weekend, friends! I'll catch up with you next week.

John <><
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Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Livin' the Good Life

Posted on 23:02 by Unknown
I have a pretty good  great life.
You probably have a pretty good life, too; maybe even a great life.

However, I have found that I can take my great life and turn it into a crappy life by changing nothing more than my outlook. I don't have to give up any of the things that make my life grand. I don't have to work at a harder job, nor do I have to lose the job that I have. I don't have to give up my health (which isn't perfect but free from anything major) and I don't have to worry about a daily food provision--as a matter of fact, I still get to eat some pretty tasty (if not so healthy) foods pretty much as I choose.

I get to keep my modest home and my beater car. I get to keep all of my friends (both of you guys) and I still get to enjoy a great family.

All I have to do to turn my otherwise great life into something that is unbearable and crappy is to start thinking about all of the things that I don't have (whether or not I need or want them) and all of the things that others have (again, whether or not I want, need or have earned them) and all of a sudden, I am burdened with life's woes and am a miserable person to be around.

I can complain about the government and how "the Man" is oppressing me. I can complain about my job and how management doesn't care about my needs. I can complain about my weight and my health as I shovel in another fast food burger or junk food snack. I can complain about pretty much anything I feel like as long as I can think of a way that my own little world would be better if I had or didn't have whatever it is that would make life better.

I can envy those that have larger, fancier homes even though they may have worked very hard to acquire their wealth. I can complain about the young people that drive nicer vehicles even though I've chosen to drive the no car payment beater.

I can complain about my neighbors or the people that I work with that care more about themselves and their needs than they do about me and my needs--in my world, it's okay if it's all about me.

I hope you get the idea.

We can choose to be negative.
We can choose to ignore our blessings and find fault with every situation.
We can choose to be miserable.
We can choose to be victims of a cruel world.
We can choose to have a crappy life.

Or not.

We can also choose to acknowledge our blessings.
We can choose to value the people around us.
We can choose to appreciate our freedoms.
We can choose to be positive.
We can choose to be a blessing to others.

We can decide that in spite of whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, we will be grateful for the people and the things that we have.

I hope that today is a good great day for you.
I hope that somebody offers you a word of encouragement today.
I hope that you will choose to be a blessing to somebody today.

A smile
A kind word
A kind act
It could be enough to change somebody's day--to change somebody's life.

Blessings to you,
John <><


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Monday, 12 August 2013

Trust Issues...

Posted on 11:56 by Unknown
Most of you have heard of or experienced the "trust fall" where one person falls backwards, trusting another person or persons to catch them. We did a few different exercises to demonstrate trust this past weekend at our youth retreat.

It got me thinking about trust--Who we trust? Why we trust? What does it take to earn our trust? Am I trustworthy?

On the surface, most of us would say that it's better to trust an honest person or one that always does the right thing: but is that really the case?

What if somebody does something that is wrong--anything from spreading gossip to taking something that doesn't belong to them? Do they really trust an honest person or somebody that always does the right thing to keep their misdeed a secret? Wouldn't they be more likely to trust somebody that has the same values (or lack of them) as they have?

I suppose there are many different levels of trust as well as different areas of trust. I may trust a coworker to have my back in a difficult session of air traffic control, but not really trust them in other areas of life. A person might trust another person to be honest about fixing their car but not feel like they would leave them to care for their children. Things like these are based on experiences and knowledge of situations as well as people.

So how does somebody earn your trust?
By keeping their mouth shut?
Or by telling the truth?
By doing what's right?
Or by doing what you need them to do?

Is an honest person really the kind of person that you want to trust?
Or would you rather trust a person that has pretty much the same level of dishonesty as you have?

Is there honor among thieves? Do we count on the bad deeds of others to keep them silent about our own bad deeds?

Are these really the kinds of things that we want to base our "trust" of others upon and are those really the kinds of people that we want to trust?

Hmmm...

Just thinking.

John <><
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Tuesday, 6 August 2013

Tell Your Story

Posted on 09:03 by Unknown
Last Sunday, I once again issued the challenge to tell somebody that needs to know Jesus as Savior that God loves them and Jesus died for them.

Sometimes the conversations can take different turns. When you begin to talk about your own personal relationship with Jesus, you also find out about other people's personal relationship with Jesus. I like this. It helps me to get to know my brothers and sisters in Jesus and it helps all of us to get more comfortable in telling our story.

Have you told your story lately?

It is your story.

Not every story has to be a "saved from a life of drugs" kind of testimony. There should be no shame in telling your ordinary "grew up in a church family" story. You should be proud to share your blessing of having grown up in a family that was dedicated to following Jesus and sharing their faith with their kids of grand-kids. It is a great story.

But the story doesn't stop there. It begins there. What is Jesus doing for you now? How is He working in your life and in your family's life today? It is still your story; you're still living it; and you should still be telling it.

God loves you.
Jesus died for you.

Tell your story.

John <><
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Sunday, 4 August 2013

Quiet Homes and Dysfunctional Families

Posted on 20:41 by Unknown
Have you ever had that experience of family coming to visit--it could be grown kids coming home, parents coming to visit, siblings or other relatives--and then experiencing the quiet and almost lonely feeling when they are gone?

I'm talking about people that you really love and really miss and really don't want them to go--or you don't want to have to go.

I realize that there are families that don't get along. Families that rarely, if ever, keep in touch with one another. When they do call or visit, it's more out of a sense of guilt or obligation than out of love for one another.

I wonder if that's how God feels on Monday mornings. The kids have all gone about their own busy lives and won't be back again until next week--makes for a kind of lonely and quiet week. They may gather together once or twice during the week, but they don't really plan on including Him in their mid-week get-togethers. There will be no conversations during the week--unless we need something. We'll drop by on the weekend because we're expected to; not because it's what we really want to do. There are other things--more important things--that we would rather be doing. Things like being with our kids for sporting activities or a day at the lake. Surely God would understand our need for family time, right? Maybe we'll just skip our visit for this week...and maybe for next week, too. After all, what's the big deal with going to church? Isn't God everywhere?

The problem is that we don't acknowledge God everywhere. In fact, we pretty much ignore Him everywhere. He's like an old parent that is troublesome to acknowledge before our friends. We would rather that they didn't know that we belong to Him.

Weird thoughts, I know.
Just wondering...

John <><


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Saturday, 3 August 2013

Walking the Walk

Posted on 08:32 by Unknown
As a follower of Jesus, how does your walk draw people to Jesus? Do the things that you (we) do and say help or hurt the advancement of the kingdom?

Shouldn't the belief of a Christian (that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone) compel us to share the gospel with urgency? Shouldn't a follower of Jesus be a student of the things that He teaches in The Word? Didn't Jesus say that we can know a tree by its fruit?

Just things running through my mind this morning...

John <><
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Friday, 2 August 2013

Self Assessment: It's not all it's cracked up to be

Posted on 13:48 by Unknown
I spent some time reading some of my past posts the other day. It started as a project of finding some past information that I've posted and ran into a hour or more of just enjoying some of my past reads. In one post from last month I linked to four previous posts that are about me. In re-reading them, I noticed that I'm a pretty good guy. Feel free to go read them. There is a lot of good stuff there. There is also plenty of stuff missing.

Truthfully, I'm not all that grand. We seldom come clean about our dark tendencies in self evaluation. If given an anonymous opportunity to point out my faults, I'm pretty certain my friends and family could come up with a list that would be long. If not long, at least emphatic about the negative traits on a shorter list.

It's not too difficult to be a nice guy at church. There is a certain expectation that people at church be...well, nice. And since we're only around church people for a couple of hours per week, how hard is it to throw on a fake "nice" persona for a couple of hours? Piece of cake, right?

What about work? Work is a little bit different in that some people appear to want to be jerks at work. I'd say that it's a pretty easy environment to be a jerk and a not so easy environment to be a nice person if being nice is still an act. It's more difficult to be nice because there are people that are not nice. At church, at least everyone is either nice or pretending to be nice. At work, there is more of the survival of the fittest, dog eat dog mentality that gives us permission to act without regard to others. Some meanness is in response to a previous act of meanness and will, of course, demand an additional mean response until everybody acknowledges mutual hatred for one another and agrees to live in relatively peaceful hatred with only an occasional jerk action to remind everybody that the contempt still exists.

Yeah, sometimes it reminds me of kids on the playground where bullies get away with bullying because everybody knows that nobody is going to do anything.  In any case, our work personas can be our work personas and they don't necessarily mean that we are like that outside of the work place. If it's an act, it does require us to be a better actor than the church actor because we're at work more than we are at church. Our work personality is probably a better indicator of who we really are than our church personality.

Not too long ago, a co-worker said that I was a nice person. The truth is that I have to work very hard at just not being a jerk. Of course, the comment came from one of the "nice" people and nice people are easier to be nice to and more forgiving when you are not.

I think there are a lot of bad actors out there--both at church and at work. It may be that I am one of them. It's pretty easy to write a post that inflates good qualities and claim them as the real you for readers that don't really know you and never interact with you outside of the blogosphere. It's not too difficult to fool a few people for a few hours a week at church. It's certainly possible to shield coworkers from your true personality and keep them outside of your life away from the work place. It's pretty impossible to fool the people that you live with.

Unfortunately, the people we love the most are also the people that get to see our ugliness the most. If there were ever people that could testify to the poor qualities of character that are mine, it would be my family. Sorry, guys. I'm still a jerk--working on it, but still a jerk.

Maybe it would be easier if everybody just realized it. Most people are self-centered jerks. Most people really don't care about our lives and only pretend to be interested in our stories about our kids/family/hobbies/whatever, so that they can tell you about there meaningless lives--which you probably don't care about, either.

Are there really people that are "nice people" in the world?
Yes! I believe there are.
And I believe that I know many genuinely nice people.
I believe there are also a great number of people that really want to be nice people--people (like me) that have to work very hard at not being a jerk all of the time.

I think that these are the people that make me smile. Maybe it's because there is a sort of kinship with them. Maybe knowing their struggle makes it easier to forgive their transgressions. Maybe seeing their "niceness" gives me hope that the good guys are holding their own in a world full of jerks that are waiting to help them fail and then laugh as they struggle to regain lost ground.

These are my people. We are jerks, but we don't like it. We are working on being nicer people. Please have patience with us. I realize that we don't deserve your patience and we haven't cut you any breaks in the past. But remember, you're better that we are. You are the nice people.

Recovering jerk, apprentice "nice" guy,
John <><
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Thursday, 1 August 2013

Walk a Mile...

Posted on 02:26 by Unknown
Given that I've been working on getting a little bit of exercise lately (and I want to emphasize the little bit part of that), one might think that this is going to be a post about the health benefits of walking...
...it's not.

It's a post about the adage of not criticizing somebody until you have walked a mile in their shoes.

Perhaps it's age, or perhaps it's being more aware of people around me that are finding themselves in situations that they once criticized others for being in. In any case, I seem to have encountered several recent instances of people having eye-opening experiences that have helped them to see people in a different light and to help me see people differently, as well.

I saw this picture posted on Facebook recently:



I think there are some good rules here--numbers 2 and 4 really jump out for me.

2) What others think of you is none of your business.

I don't buy into that completely, but I do understand that I don't need to be obsessed by what others think of me. Often, their thoughts are more about how I fit into their experiences than about what I might actually be experiencing. Number 4 turns it around and reminds me that I may not have the information to make an accurate judgment of somebody else.

4) Don't compare your life to others, and don't judge them. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

I hear a lot about people that are receiving some kind of social assistance--welfare, unemployment, disability payments, WIC--you get the idea. Often times, such recipients are looked down upon or thought to be too lazy to take care of themselves. Many times they appear to be able bodied persons and so we think that maybe they just don't want to work or are too lazy to find a job.

I do not doubt that there are wide abuses in programs that are designed to help people that are in need. But it is also true that there are real needs. There really are people that are terribly under-employed or are working without much needed health benefits. There really are people that have lost their jobs (through no fault of their own) and find themselves desperately needing help to feed their families. There really are people that appear to be perfectly healthy but are suffering from chronic pain or are unable to concentrate or use extremities because of an injury or illness.

And there really is such a negative stigma attached to getting help that the people in need are often humiliated and made to feel like second class citizens when they apply for the assistance.

If a person that we know to be on welfare or disability has a nice phone, expensive camera, nice clothes, nice car, whatever; it's not okay for us to make negative assumptions about their character. They could be gifts. They could be possessions from before a life changing event. They could be from a settlement that came from an injuring party. The thing is--we don't know.

In churches, we might look down on somebody that has been divorced. We don't know if it was an abusive relationship. We don't know if a spouse was unfaithful. We don't know if every effort was made to save the marriage. We just know that somebody is divorced and that must mean--well, it must mean something! Right?

What about an unmarried single parent? Now that's a situation that we can make a judgment on, right?
No. It's not.

Rather than continuing to go on ranting, let me just say that I think these are some good rules to follow.
Here's a quote I like that is attributed to several different people:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

John <><



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Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Happy Families

Posted on 07:31 by Unknown
"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."  --Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina

John <><
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Monday, 29 July 2013

Family Matters--a continuation...

Posted on 08:16 by Unknown
It was a really good weekend!
Other than the initial drive of about eight hours in various states of rainy weather, it was a grand weekend of seeing the whole family! We got things started with a casual get together on Friday night.

One of the newest members to join our group is expecting the first great-grandchild in the Jerry and Leticia family. Naturally, somebody came up with the idea of a surprise baby shower! After eating sandwiches, chips, fruit and what-not, we gathered together and put Justin and Tiffany on the spot! I think that Justin was a bit surprised by the event. Tiffany, on the other hand, was a little more than shocked! It seemed that there were a couple of moments when she was struggling not to get emotional. Who wants to start crying in front of a bunch of people that you've just met?

I don't know what kind of family background Tiffany has, but I know that in this family, she is going to be loved on, teased, made fun of, protected, defended and made to feel welcome and a part of something that ought to define family.

In addition to Tiffany, Justin's older brother Jason introduced us to his fiancee, Jess, and my brother Steve brought his girlfriend, Michelle. I think that Michelle had managed to meet much of the family already, but a first for being with the whole gang of us.

I was thinking of how overwhelming such an encounter might be.

On the other hand, with such a large and diverse group of people, it would be difficult not to connect with somebody that has a similar job, hobby or other interest. Whether you own your own business, work for the government, serve in the military, work retail, health service, labor sector, banking, engineering, computers or a host of other occupations--or have made a career of being a stay at home mom; there is somebody here that can relate.

Figuring out how you're going to keep to your vegetarian diet at this gathering? No problem, we have vegans as a part of this family. We have people ranging from couch-potatoes to marathon runners; readers and non readers; sports nuts and those that really don't care for sports. We have those that excel in music (vocal and instruments) and those that can barely manage to select a genre on Pandora. Whether you are far right or far left on the political spectrum, we have someone that shares your views. We run the religious gamut from non-believers to preachers. We have connoisseurs of coffee and craft beer. We love hot and spicy...or not. We live in the rural Midwest and in large cities.

And we love each other.

The seventeen grandkids range from 35 years old down to eight...and they all get along. They played "Capture the Flag" until dark on Friday night and each side laughingly declared that the other side cheated. They played soccer on Saturday afternoon with the oldest declaring that he had earned the right to be the "lame cousin" and sitting the game out.

It has been so cool to hear what the kids have to say. Here are a few of the things I've heard or read:
"Hill family reunions are just the best!"
"My cousins are the very best"
"If I know you're visiting, I will have Starbucks." Grandmas are the best.
"This is a really cool family."

And my favorite from Friday night:
Mom (looking at the gathering of people): Jerry, look what we've started!
Dad: What are you blaming me for?!

Joining us for the day were all of the kids from my dad's sister's family with most of their kids and grandkids, and my dad's brother with his wife and one of their kids. I would echo the sentiments of my niece in saying that "My cousins are the very best!" It pains me that my kids don't get to see their cousins as often as I got to see mine, but I do rejoice in the way the get along when they do. The big kids are still the heroes and the little ones feel important every time somebody pays attention to their stories or plays their games.

Here are Mom and Dad with their grandkids and the women that their oldest grandsons have chosen:



And here is the whole gang minus Chris that couldn't be there.



John <><




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Saturday, 27 July 2013

Family Matters

Posted on 06:08 by Unknown
Blogging on the road this morning...

I'm enjoying coffee and oatmeal in the hotel breakfast area as the kids sleep in for a while. Today is the Hill Family reunion.

We all arrived in central Illinois yesterday and had a great evening together. Today's outdoor gathering looks like we will be blessed with sunny skies and temps in the mid 70s!

Only Chris is missing from the gathering as she has to deal with one of those jobs that is a 24/7 kind of deal.

Dad, Mom, six kids with their spouses/significant others, seventeen grandkids from 35yrs down to 8, three young women that have claimed the three oldest grandsons and one great-grand one the way! It was quite a gathering last night.

Today, we expect some of our cousins to join us so it will be an even larger gathering. There are plans for some of us to take in a baseball game tonight as the Cardinals' A team takes on the Cubs' A team.

I am looking forward to a grand day!
I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and wish that you all could come join us for lunch this afternoon!

John <><
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Thursday, 25 July 2013

Happy Anniversary!

Posted on 02:14 by Unknown
In the Blogosphere, we say Happy Blogoversary!

It was seven years ago that Out of My Hat made its first post! This is my 857th post.

Over the past seven years I've had my streaks of writing and not writing. I've posted rants of things that drive me crazy and shared things that I hold dear. I've written things that are funny and things that I find interesting. I've told my readers about me and the things that are important to me and written posts just as an exercise in writing.

The most incredible thing that I've found through writing Out of My Hat, is that I've made a great number of friends in the ever growing blogosphere. Sometimes I mourn a little bit over the blogs that have wandered off the virtual highway and disappeared into the great internet wasteland. I rarely search for random blogs to read as I once did, but do find new blogs by reading through the lists of blogs to which my readers subscribe.

There are only a few professional blogs that I read on a regular basis. Most of them are written by bloggers that are just regular people that have taken a little bit of the electronic world and use it for the purpose of making their voice heard.

Out of My Hat has gone from only a few friends as followers, to many readers from many countries and back to a few friends as followers. Although I check to see if anybody is reading, the truth is that I write to write, write to rant and will write as long as I feel like writing rather than write as long as people feel like reading. I've thought about using advertisements on my post but figured that I'd feel like I had to write to get readers rather than just write for fun.

I think it's funny (in the sad sort of way, not the ha-ha sort of way) that I've lost friends over things I've written because we have become a society that hates people that voice differing opinions. I think it's great that I've made friends over things that I've written--not because we agree on everything, but because we enjoy the differences and embrace the dialogue that helps us to grow in our knowledge of one another.

Some times I'm disappointed that the social networking has seemed to cost me more "friends" that it has gained readers, but then again--we all get to choose what we read, who we like, who we don't like and who we want to hate. Whatever!

Today I could have written about any number of world events. I could have written about on political party's latest scandal or about a great injustice taking place in one corner of the world or another. I could have written something uplifting and inspiring or I could have gone on another rant about something that is ticking me off.

But , no...
Today I choose a little shameless self-indulgence.
Happy Blogoversary, Out of My Hat!

John <><


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Monday, 22 July 2013

The Rise of the Christian Left and the Fall of Christian Conservatives

Posted on 07:35 by Unknown
Recently I have read several articles that are about a study that shows a decline in conservative Christianity and a rise in the Christian Left. Here is one. I think that there is a blending of definitions that creates a great misunderstanding between the difference in conservative politics and conservative Christianity. 

I am a conservative Christian. I believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God; that it is in his death, burial and resurrection that we have the hope of eternal life. I believe that the Holy Spirit of God lives in those that proclaim Jesus as Lord and guides us as we strive to follow our Lord. I believe that we are called on to share the Good News of salvation so that others may be drawn into the Kingdom of God.

I am not a political conservative--at least not as defined by today's standard. Most would say I am a social liberal. I believe that we have an obligation--both as Christians and as fellow citizens--to help those in need. I am not a political proponent, nor am I a political opponent of issues like abortion, birth-control, gay rights or other issues that seem to be so divisive between the politically conservative Christians and ... well, everybody else. I believe that any argument on legislation of social issues that begins with "the Bible says," is a poor argument. It's not a poor argument because the Bible is right or wrong about a subject, it's a poor argument because I don't want the Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Tripitaka or any other holy book or religious belief to be the sole reason that we make the laws to govern all of our citizens.

I don't think that I really fit into the character of "The Christian Left." There are enough issues that I am uncomfortable with to keep me from identifying with them completely. Nor do I believe that the people that believe in the core theological beliefs of the Bible are in decline. If fact, I would say that they are on the increase. I would say that many new followers of Jesus are abandoning the judgment and the politics of "The Christian Right" and working to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus by sharing His love and compassion rather than condemning the behavior of those outside of the faith. Just because they are not followers of the Tea Party or any of their spokespersons, doesn't mean that they are not conservative in their Christian beliefs.

I welcome those that would share Jesus with others. I welcome those that share his love by taking care of those that are in need. And I welcome those that share the Hope of eternal life found in Jesus. I welcome those that are living out their faith and not just going to church on Sunday. It may be okay for outsiders to label us as Christian Right and Christian Left. However, inside the family of Christianity, shouldn't we just call one another brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus?

John <><


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Saturday, 20 July 2013

Random Notes...

Posted on 08:55 by Unknown
It's Saturday morning and I figured that I should throw something out there. Writing this morning is a bit of an exercise in forced writing since I don't necessarily feel like writing or have anything that I want to write about.  It's as good excuse as any to continue to sit on the deck and finish another cup of coffee before getting around to doing anything meaningful.

Another work week has come to an end and I find myself thinking more and more about retirement--still working out the fiscal numbers to make that work without handing over a large amount to the IRS. Chris found a house that she really liked and we made an offer last week. The owner countered, we counter-countered and haven't heard anything so I'm guessing that's a no-go. Retiring in Missouri might not be the best idea given the graphic in this article. I don't like MO falling into the lowest healthy life expectancy at age 65. Maybe there's still hope for a beach retirement...

I have a great job...and I still enjoy working. But there is usually at least one place that I can think of everyday that I would rather be. Most days, it's a list. I am looking forward to doing more ministry things when the time comes. Even though I don't particularly like being around kids that much, I recognize that God has gifted me to talk to them in ways that they can better understand His Word and His love. Maybe it's just that I appreciate and embrace the simplicity of His love for us. I've found that the deeper I go into studying the Bible; His plan, His love becomes more clear because of its simplicity--not because of its complexity. Reading books by scholars and theologians confirms the simplicity of what I already hold to be true.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to tell the kids at Hopedale's Vacation Bible School (VBS) about how much God loves them and how he has demonstrated that love. Ten kids made professions of faith, proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior and eight others are candidates for baptism.
That's some pretty awesome stuff!

This week I'll share some magic with kids in the Springfield Parks summer program and also with some families at Hopedale during an evening celebration of a week of work by a team of youth workers that will be here from Houston TX.

It's cool that I've already booked a couple of events for 2014. I'm glad that there are people that are planning that far in advance. If you are a planner for summer camps, VBS events, or even just a pastor that is planning a vacation and needs to fill the pulpit for a weekend; now is the time to schedule your speakers/entertainers/preachers.

Next month we'll be bidding our days off for 2014, followed by bidding for vacation leave. Even though I'm retirement eligible, I'm still about halfway down the seniority list. I believe that a Saturday/Sunday days off line will still be available to me. Fortunately, many of the more senior people like the additional pay for working Sundays and leave the weekends to lower seniority people.

I get to see my sisters tomorrow (briefly) and the whole family will be together the following weekend. I hope that you have the opportunity to be with the ones that you love. If not, give them a call, send them a text, make a contact. Life is too short to let the opportunities of a digital age pass you by.

John <><
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Friday, 12 July 2013

Time to Get Busy

Posted on 00:10 by Unknown
I will be busy for the rest of the summer!

It has been a little while since I updated the Coming Events section of the right-hand column. Mostly because I really haven't had anything to update about. Although, I've done a few things, none of them really had to do with preaching or magic, but it does appear that the rest of the summer will be pretty busy.

When it's been several weeks  (or months) since I've done a magic show, it does take a little bit of time to work on the old effects and get ready for another performance. When it's been a little while since I've been in the pulpit preaching, it also takes some time to prepare for that.

Of all of the coming events, the one that I'm really looking forward to is the one that will require the most prep work--the weekend youth retreat. For that event I'll be teaching two sessions on apologetics. I'm pretty stoked about it but I need to get busy getting the material together and organizing it into a couple of good lessons.

In addition to the "working" events, I've been trying to be more regular about getting some exercise. It is mostly walking or riding a stationary bicycle, but I've started to add a little bit of running into my walks. I'm currently toying with the idea of a 5K run in the fall--no commitment to it yet, but it's in my head and I'm looking into some of the training programs that are available to get a fat boy in shape to pull it off without being hauled away in an ambulance at the finish line.

Though I am an advocate of the diet for weight loss, exercise for health philosophy of healthful living, I'm sure that the physical activity is having its effect on weight loss as well. Better dietary habits have helped me to lose 13+ pounds since the beginning of June and that is a pretty strong motivator to keep it up. I'm certain that dropping a few more pounds will make the whole running thing less taxing on my joints and my knees will thank me for every pound that I manage to shed. I still haven't wrapped my head around the idea of running the 3.1 miles, but I'll start working up the running distance for now and see what happens with the knee pain, lung burn, fatigue and all of the other negatives of physical punishment that running causes.

I hope that the weekend is good to you and yours.

John <><
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Wednesday, 10 July 2013

Mind Your Own Business!

Posted on 23:06 by Unknown
Tonight I'm wondering just how often a younger, more arrogant John managed to look like a real jerk by offering an opinion that was neither requested nor welcome on a subject that he knew little about.

 I see that happening fairly often--in the work place, at social gatherings, even church groups. It seems that some people always feel the need to appear to have some special insight about matters that don't concern them and they are completely ignorant about.

Is it just something about youth and immaturity that causes us to want to appear to be more knowledgeable than we are? It embarrasses me to think of times that a person must have been thinking, "What an ass!" as I was the one butting in on a conversation where I had no business being involved. 

It's not often that I appreciate the aging/maturing that I am experiencing, but I'm glad that I'm less embarrassed by ignorance and more willing to say that I don't know anything about something rather than talking out of my butt and just rambling on to hear my own voice. It seems that the less people know, the louder and more belligerent they are about their misguided opinions. 

I'm appalled at the lack of simple courtesy in our society today. I'd call it "common" courtesy, but unfortunately it's become an uncommon way of treating one another. Have we become so narcissistic that we completely disregard the impact that our words and actions have on others? Do we think that it is okay to be a jerk because that's just the way we are?

I wonder if I owe them their time to be the immature jerk that I once was; or should I save them some future embarrassment and gently tell them that they need to mind their own business? 

Maybe their maturing process is none of my business. In all likelihood, they're just repeating the behavior that has been modeled for them by our professional politicians and outrageous news media.

In any case, I'm becoming more curmudgeonly about bad manners and poor behavior. Some days I really want to call on "Ugly John" and set some people straight. Fortunately for everyone, "Ugly John" has been banished to a far away place.

The kind curmudgeon,
John <><
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What would happen if...?

Posted on 03:02 by Unknown
A recent political conversation has me wondering...

Given the number of conservative GOP governors that were once very much against ObamaCare but now embrace it because of the money it brings to their states and their states' economies;

And given the number of times the Republican controlled House has voted to repeal it, knowing that it will never pass in the Democratic controlled Senate;

What would happen if just enough Democratic senators voted in favor of repeal that it would take every Republican senator's vote to pass?

Would it pass?

Or what if the Senate passed its own bill and sent it to the House? Would a Democrat proposal be able to pass in the House?

When it comes down to the monies for healthcare providers and the benefits for their citizens, it would appear that the once vocal opponents have seen the light. If it appeared that repeal actually had a chance of passing, would they now lobby their Congressional representatives to oppose a repeal?

Would the House quit playing games that appeal to a shrinking base?
Could we expect them to...I don't know...start governing?

Just wondering...

John
<><
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Saturday, 6 July 2013

Am I really an enigma or a conundrum?

Posted on 08:20 by Unknown
Dictionary.com defines an enigma as: a person of puzzling or contradictory character.
And conundrum as: anything that puzzles.

I've been called both of these in the past. While I understand that I fit into few boxes, I find it interesting that so many of us still try to put people into a nice, neat, descriptive box. I say us because I am also sometimes guilty of making broad assumptions based on little information about a person.

I can sort of understand why many of my religiously conservative friends would assume that I hold their same political views, but find it interesting that my none of my politically liberal friends expect me to have any particular religious views and aren't at all surprised that I am a Bible-believing, born-again Christian.

I appreciate those that are able to simply shake their heads and say that I am an enigma or that they find my beliefs puzzling and do not judge me but talk to me about how I can agree with them on many issues and disagree on others that they feel are tied together. For those that are willing to talk to me (rather than just disagree with me) I think that I have been able to share what I believe and how I think in a way that they can understand me a little bit better.

However, the comments that birthed the idea behind this post were not rooted in political ideologies nor religious philosophies. It was simply people that were surprised at certain "likes" that didn't fit their idea of John. It actually makes me smile sometimes.

For example: one person (not the first) seemed shocked that I was a UFC fan and am looking forward to going to the Hometown Throw-down in Milwaukee with my son. Chris says that it's a redneck sport like NASCAR. I think that's an insult to both (but figure that she probably meant it that way!).

Another "I never knew that about you" thing that I get has to do with my love for peanut butter. I'll put peanut butter on just about anything. I have to admit that my latest greatest peanut butter combination wasn't my idea. I like to think that I was the inspiration behind the idea, though. A co-worker brought me a sample of his creation, knowing that I was going to love it. He was right. And everybody that has been brave enough to try it has liked or loved it!

On our recent missions trip, I was with the ladies that went to the store for food and grabbed a handful of jalapeno peppers. Back at our base, I cut a couple in half, cleaned out the seeds and filled them with peanut butter. Soon I was preparing the rest of them and the few peppers were gone in no time! A day later, one of the women presented me with another small bag of peppers. When I brought them into the lunch room, it was one of the guys that really liked the peanut butter peppers that took the knife and went to work preparing the whole bunch of them. I think I had one!


If you haven't been following Out of My Hat since the beginning and haven't read some of the posts that give more information into my puzzling character, you can check out these past posts:
Who Am I, Who Am I (again), Facebook and Random Things, and finally Ten Honest Things About John.
And of course, if you want to know me, just peruse any of my past ramblings. I am the guy the writes this stuff. They come out of the character of John.

John<><


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Thursday, 4 July 2013

Honor Flight

Posted on 05:32 by Unknown
I suppose that I should be posting something about today being the day that we (in the US) celebrate the anniversary of our independence. Since I'm certain that there will be numerous patriotic post to read about that, I'll take a little different patriotic path.

Several weeks ago, my dad made his way to Washington DC as a part of the Greater Peoria Honor Flight that pays tribute to those that have worn the uniform and served our great country. A part of the tribute is a mail call that allows for family and friends to write letters that are presented to the veterans on their return flight. (I know that this is supposed to be a surprise, but since the Honor Flights have been taking place for several years, I really don't think that it's a secret anymore.)

As one that often gets caught up in the busyness of my own life, I managed to let the deadline for my letter to be included pass. Even a feeble late attempt to include a letter failed. So this mornings post is to write my letter as an open letter to my Dad. It's fitting that it is on the Fourth of July--not because it's Independence Day, but because it is his birthday.

Dear Dad,

I'm sorry that this comes to you so much later than all of the other letters of thanks and appreciation. I know that your days as a young man were far different than mine and from the days of your grandkids. In a very real way, I think that our country has suffered from the fact that so few of our people now serve in the military forces. Perhaps our sense of entitlement would be greatly curbed if we all learned the discipline and honor code of our military forces.

I know that you are very proud that two of your kids did choose the military way of life, one retired National Guard and one serving as career Navy.

To say that your choice of serving in the Navy had a lasting impact on our family is an understatement. You must have been quite the young sailor to lure a young Filipina girl away from her family and everything she knew to marry you and move to the US as your wife!

So thank you for serving your country. Thank you for finding Mom and marrying her (good choice, by the way). And thank you for serving your family, as well. In spite of all of our quirks, faults and differences--I think that we've got an awesome family. Your kids are raising incredible kids. I can't wait to see everybody in a few weeks. You have a lot to be proud of.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We will celebrate it with our kids and probably shoot off a firework or two. We'll eat some burgers or dogs and have a small helping of homemade ice cream. And while we're at it, we'll remember our freedom in the US of A and salute our country, as well.

Signed,
Your ever procrastinating son
John <><
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Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Service Perks

Posted on 07:41 by Unknown
As is often the case in ministry, the ones that are serving are also richly blessed. This was true for me (and those that were with me) on our recent trip into the coal mining area around Harlan County KY.

One of those unexpected blessings came from getting to know the members of my own church family a little bit better. Even though I knew them as members of my church, I really only knew them in that context. Travelling, dining and working with them allowed me to get to know them as the people that they are and not just as the one that sits a few rows behind me on Sunday morning.

We made the trip in a convoy of vehicles. I initially rode with a husband and wife team that has been at Hopedale for a number of years. I really didn't know much about them other than their names and which kids were theirs. I really enjoyed hearing about their jobs; the work that they do and the people that they work with. I also found out about his hobbies. One might think that riding for several hours with people that you don't know is something to be apprehensive about. I found it to be very interesting and without any awkward silences.

From Lexington to Cumberland I rode in a different vehicle--a mother travelling with her 11 yr old son and her sister. The mom invited me along to show Jack some magic. So we played in the back and participated in the conversation in the front. The sister is not a member of our church and I enjoyed getting to know her. I'll have more to say about these ladies in another post.

The mom in that car later called me a car-hopper and said I was a fickle passenger since I rode home with yet another group. (Apparently nobody else was swapping from one vehicle to another.) This carload left several hours ahead of the rest of the convoy and dropped off a couple of passengers in the boot-heel area of southeast Missouri. Once again there were no quiet moments as we talked, laughed and shared the adventures of the week and the stories of our lives.

When you eat meals together for a week, work hard and get sweaty as a team, sleep in bunkhouse type lodging--you get to see one another at that early morning/late at night wouldn't be seen in public level of personal appearance. It really doesn't take a week to begin to think of this group of men, women and kids as something more that fellow workers on a mission. I was a little bit surprised at church on Sunday morning when two of the women on the trip greeted me with a hug. I've seen them at church every week for years and never been greeted that way. It didn't seem awkward or artificial. It seemed like a very natural way to greet somebody with whom you've shared an experience that changes who you are and how you look at things.

I'm pretty sure that I'll be working with these people again. Perhaps these shared experiences will bring us together for other activities, as well.

Then again, maybe we'll all just go back to doing what we were (or weren't) doing before and life will go on as it always has...

...but I doubt it.

The blessings and the lessons were too real to ignore. We have to be changed to embrace them. One would have to completely ignore or dismiss all of the people and activities of the week to remain unchanged.

For those of our trip that read this, thank you for your service to the kingdom. Thank you for faithfulness to our Lord. And thank you for your friendship.

John <><
the car hopping, fickle passenger
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Sunday, 30 June 2013

Christmas in June

Posted on 14:12 by Unknown
I hardly know where to begin to share the many stories that took place on our mission trip last week. We were in small groups that worked at different sites through most of the week. Many of the stories are stories that belong to the other members of the team and I can only share them as I remember having heard them. I guess I should just start with my own stories and experiences.

As an unskilled laborer in the areas that involve construction and remodeling, I knew that I was going to be more of a gopher-boy than anything else. My jobs mostly involved things like fetching lumber for one project (we had a car and the lumber source was about five or six blocks away--downhill to the lumber, uphill when I was carrying it), cleaning up, sorting clothes at a second-hand store, working with kids at the school and wrapping Christmas presents.

Yes, I said wrapping Christmas presents.

I spent one morning at the home of Muggins and Naomi. For the last 32 years, they have been providing meals and gifts to families that would otherwise be without. Muggins told us that in December of 1980 he was laid off from working in the coal mine. He knew that they would be getting unemployment benefits and food stamps and that they would survive okay. He worried about the people that were going to have a difficult time and the families that would struggle to provide at Christmas time. He contacted some of the other miners that were laid off and had a little time on their hands. That first year they provided Christmas dinner for 15 families and managed to collect one box of presents.

The following year, even though he was back to work, he worried that there would be families that were in need during the Christmas season and went back to those miners to see if they would help him for a second year. Even though nobody wanted to continue the Christmas charity, Muggins and his wife have faithfully provided gifts and food every year since then. Last year they provided meals for more than 600 families and gave away more than 3,000 presents. A church group from Louisville has been bringing some food and teams of people to help pack and deliver the meals and the presents for several years. The food package (a ham, a bag of potatoes, flour, canned goods, etc.) weighs about 25 lbs.  Each child gets two presents to open.

Naomi still works a full day at a local nursing home, comes home for a shower and dinner and then wraps presents until bedtime. This is the first year that she has had help wrapping the donated toys! Muggins is on oxygen and said he gets pneumonia several times a year. I assume that has to do with a career of working in the coal mines.

The truly amazing thing about this story is that up until last year, Christmas was a holiday that Muggins celebrated as a day to have dinner as a family and exchange some presents. About a year ago, Muggins made the profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Last Christmas was the first time in all of the years of his giving, that he celebrated the birth of his Lord and Savior!

Right now, we have plans to return to Cumberland KY next year. I have a feeling that we'll be bringing some wrapped presents with us and providing people to wrap presents everyday.

I imagine that there is poverty or need right where each of us lives. I know that poverty knows no season. Maybe there is something that you could do this week that will make a difference for somebody--donate to a food pantry, work in a homeless shelter, provide fans in the summer heat (or blankets and coats in the winter). You get the idea. If one laid off miner can make a difference to 15 families (and now to hundreds of families and thousands of kids), what could we do?

Merry Christmas!
John <><
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Friday, 28 June 2013

On Mission: Day...whatever

Posted on 04:21 by Unknown
I know that I've missed posting for a couple of days. It's not because of having nothing to report. It's more about limited access with my phone and limited time to write.

There have been some great moments this week that I'll share when I'm able to sit at a full keyboard. I'm really looking forward to sharing stories of the people we've met and the blessings we've received.

I'd better get some breakfast before it's gone.

Have a great weekend!

John <><
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Tuesday, 25 June 2013

On Mission: Day 3

Posted on 14:13 by Unknown
I'm back to our base a little early today.
Today I went with the team that is working at the middle school.

In both cases (yesterday and today), I find myself way out of my own comfort and calling. While I expected to be doing exactly what we are doing, the evangelist in me wants to put down the tools and the sporting equipment and start telling people about God's great love for them and how He has demonstrated his love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I'm looking forward to hearing what the other teams have accomplished today. I know that we are meeting real needs in the area.  I am needing to trust God on this. He is using us to meet physical needs. There will be others to meet spiritual needs.

John <><
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Monday, 24 June 2013

On Mission; Day 2

Posted on 19:32 by Unknown
Though today was our second day in Cumberland, it was our first day on the job. An old carport with a rotting roof was taken down and rebuilt. A huge project that involved the demolition and rebuilding of a porch is underway. A bathroom project is almost completed and a kitchen pantry is being rebuilt. These projects took place in neighboring Lynch.

In addition to our building work, we have a group working at the Cumberland Middle School during their summer school.

It was a busy day and plenty of work was done. Tomorrow will be another work filled day. We are all looking forward to seeing how God works through us during the coming days.

John <><
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Sunday, 23 June 2013

On Mission

Posted on 20:05 by Unknown
Today we arrived at our destination, set up our rooms, prepared and had our first meal together, went to evening worship and received our work assignments for tomorrow.

There are a couple of other mission teams that are also working with us or along side of us.

Cell coverage is limited and WiFi is available in our boarding facility near the office.

I'll try to post when I can and offer apologies in advance for the typos that go with phone blogging.

John <><
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Friday, 21 June 2013

A Little on Our Incredible Design

Posted on 14:00 by Unknown
It's pretty amazing. Our bodies are designed with the incredible ability to adapt to the challenges and invasions of living in a dangerous world. While many of the assaults on our bodies come from outside, there are dangers that come from within.

We can often (knowingly and unknowingly) aid these internal attacks through the lifestyle choices we make and chemicals that we add to our bodies through diet and exposure. Sometimes, our bodies can turn on ourselves through auto-immune diseases or some other form of self-destructive attack from within.

Sometimes the dangers lie silently in wait, striking without warning. Such can be the case in the event of a stroke.

I've listened to this ad several times on the radio. After listening to a friend that experienced a stroke on Wednesday night, it sounds as if the ad is right on target. She knew that she was having a stroke, but was unable to communicate that to the person in front of her.

The night of the stroke was pretty freaky. It was obvious that she could hear and understand us. It was equally obvious that she was growing frustrated with herself for not being able to respond to us or accomplish some of the simple tasks that were given to her. After finding and removing an offending clot in her blood stream, the recovery began immediately.

Each passing hour demonstrated how her brain was re-growing or re-establishing the neuro-pathways for physical activity and speech. Today she is walking well, speaking better and progressing better than expected.

As adaptable as our bodies are, they are also extremely fragile.

I recently posted (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) this little bit of info:

Did you know...while only 2% in weight, the human brain requires 15% of the body's heart work, 20% of oxygen and 25% of all glucose?

If our brains are deprived of any of these critical elements, affected areas begin to shut down. After only moments, it can cause permanent damage or even death. Such is the case with stroke.

It would appear that my friend will make a good recovery. I don't know if there will be any permanent damage or not. We are thankful for a design that many would attribute to mere chance. I give God full credit for our miraculous design.

John <><
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Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Accentuate the Positive

Posted on 06:12 by Unknown
I hesitate to write the following words that condemn actions and attitudes that I have been guilty of in the past. As I have grown older, it would appear that I have accidentally matured to the point that I no longer want to be the negative, hateful, complaining person of the past. Oh, I still have my moments to be sure; I just no longer want to live that miserable life in general.

And I don't want to be around it, either.

How do you protect yourself from the negative people that worm their way into your life? Some of them are hard to avoid. Some may be your neighbors, co-workers, friends and even family. Avoiding their presence is not possible. Is avoiding the joy draining negativity possible? How do you deal with it/confront it/eliminate it from your day?

Does a positive attitude and disposition shine a little light into the gloom of their life or does the gloom eclipse the light?

My problem is that is so easy for me to get caught up in that negativity; to find fault in people, things, work, life. I have to work pretty hard at being a nice guy. The natural John is kind of a jerk. He's the kind of person that I try to avoid--and really don't want to be.

So...
How about a little bit of help from my readers? Tell me how you maintain your positive attitude in the presence of such people.

John <><





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Monday, 17 June 2013

Looking Ahead

Posted on 07:09 by Unknown
Next weekend will find two groups of Hopedale members (around 50 in all) in the fields of services. One group will be headed back to Nicaragua with Project Hope and one group will be headed to Harlan County, KY in the Appalachian Mts. I'll be with the latter group.

Harlan County is one of the poorest counties in the country with a per capita income of less than $12,000/yr. (that's less than half of the per capita income of my home Christian County, MO). The 2000 census had the median household income at  $18,665.

The work that we'll be doing in and around Lynch, KY, will include clean up and minor home repairs for homes that have been identified by a local team. We will be bringing or buying the necessary materials and tools needed and providing the labor to get the job done. At this point, I have no idea of what I'll be doing. I bring no skills to the table other than a willingness to serve as directed. I imagine that I'll fall into the category of general labor, taking on the role of toting barges and lifting bales or whatever general laborers do.

I might pack a few magic effects to share in the moments that allow for such diversions, we'll see.

For myself, for my friends, and for those that we'll be serving in Kentucky and in Nicaragua, we covet your prayers. If I have time to update here, I will. Otherwise, updates can be found on Facebook or Twitter.

John <><
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Saturday, 15 June 2013

Google+ Comments have been disabled

Posted on 22:15 by Unknown
Well it's one of those things that happen when a not so computer savvy guy tries to do something new with anything that has to do with computers.

In tying my blogs to my other Google accounts, I also failed to check the box that would allow non Google+ people to comment. I think that problem has been fixed.

If you've tried to leave a comment over the past few weeks and were unable, please accept the apologies of a bumbling blogger. Also, please go back and make whatever comments you may have--other than the obvious--"You're a bumbling idiot and shouldn't be on the internet" kinds of comments.

And of course, you could get a Google+ account or comment via Facebook or Twitter. (I haven't messed those up that I'm aware of!)

John
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An Apple a Day...

Posted on 13:33 by Unknown
I like apples. Growing up it was mostly Red Delicious. I think that apples were mostly divided into eating apples and baking apples. As a kid, there were red apples and green apples. I'm note sure how old I was when I realized that some apple were always green. I thought it was just the ones that weren't quite ripe.

Today there are many new varieties of apples. Several years ago, I read an article that talked about the genetic engineering of red delicious apples and how they had managed to produce a larger, redder, more crisp apple, but in the process had lost the flavor that also had made it the once king of apples.

I'm thinking about this now because one of my co-workers (actually a supervisor) brings her apple of choice to work every day-- a Jazz apple. I decided to try one. It was a good apple--crisp, not too sweet, tasty. Generally speaking, I usually choose a Gala or Fuji. It may be that they are common, popular and available. Or it could be that I would choose them because I like the flavor. I think that the Honey Crisp are too sweet so I don't usually choose them.

Here is a link to a site that lists many apple varieties, their characteristics and the time of year that they are at their best.

All of this has been to ask--What is your apple of choice? And Why?

I'm thinking that I will need to conduct a taste test of sorts--several slices of a variety of apples. Maybe I'll use my co-workers as guinea pigs or maybe I'll just conduct it for myself and trust myself to not to be prejudice based on my pre-test preferences.

So...
Any takers?
What is your favorite apple?
What do you like about it?

John <><
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Mid-June Notes

Posted on 08:15 by Unknown
Saturday morning, the 15th of June.

I figured that I'd write a quick update on how the "new John" is progressing.
On June 1st I weighed in at 258# and (once again) decided that something has to be done to get some of this weight off. Since I recently shaved the grey beard and mustache off, I have a daily reminder as I look into the mirror and see a fat, round face staring back at me.

I'm not trying to overdo the weight loss by hitting it with a quick loss--been there, done that in the past. I am trying to develop some good habits around eating and exercise. Other than the weekend at kids' camp, I've managed to eat much healthier foods (it helps that Chris is also eating healthier) and in generally smaller portions. I haven't really made the decision to cut anything out, but am pretty aware of the impact any "bad" foods will have on my progress and have managed to talk myself out of the occasional candy bar or ice cream snack.

Since my family has a few regular runner/cyclists that post their daily exercise habits via RunKeeper, I've joined them in doing the same. Too bad I haven't figured a way to document stair climbing on it. The app even bugs you if you haven't done anything in a couple of days!

I also have the advantage of a brother that keeps encouraging me to keep up with it by checking up on me and sharing his own progress and struggles. All-in-all, after the first 14 days of June I weighed in at 250#. I am pleased with the 8# loss for the first two weeks, but don't expect it to continue to come off at that rate. I would really like to see another 12# come off in the next six weeks so that I could make our end of July family reunion at -20# and on the low side of the 240 mark.

I don't know that I have an end goal in mind. I'm sure that I would feel good at 230, but realistically still need to drop another 20#. 228 would make it an even 30# loss which is a good number if I decide to "set a goal." In the end, I think I'll be happy with the weight that healthy diet and exercise places me.

Today's scheduled exercise will be mowing the yard and some less strenuous hanging out at a friend's pool. I'm pretty sure that I'll manage some time on the exercise bike as I watch the UFC fights later tonight.

I'd better get out there and attack the yard before it gets too hot (or starts raining)!
Enjoy your weekend!

John <><
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Thursday, 13 June 2013

Happy Birthday!

Posted on 16:06 by Unknown
Well I have successfully managed to put another year in the history books--not that anything historical happened, it's just that I am another year older.

For those of you that are Facebook friends, thank you for all of the birthday wishes that I received. For those of you that are not, you can find me here or on Twitter, here.

I have celebrated the passing of another year by: sleeping about 3 hours after working the mid, watching an afternoon Cardinals' baseball game, spending about an hour on the phone talking to my kids, wasting the afternoon so that I wouldn't have to mow the lawn (it'll be there tomorrow and who wants to do that on their birthday?), putting in 40 minutes on the exercise bike and now waiting to go out to dinner with Chris and some friends before catching a brief nap and heading in for another midnight shift!

I guess you could say that I'm not much of a party animal.

Tomorrow I'll start my 54th trip around the sun by cutting the lawn and getting on with my extremely blessed life. Earlier this week, I made the comment to somebody that had asked about Children's camp that I've been doing Hopedale's kids' camp for about 15 years and we have never been rained out--not even for a day! I said that I think that we are His favorites! That's not to say that we won't get rained on next year or that we will no longer be God's favorite. It's just the overall attitude of the camp staff is that God is going to show up and manifest Himself in the lives of the kids and the workers in a way that is unmistakably God.

I pretty much feel that way about my life, too. I know that God loves you--that He loves all of His children, but I really feel like I'm his favorite! Though not a man of great wealth, I have been blessed with more than I need. Though not a man of great education or knowledge, I have been blessed with understanding and an ability to share His Word. Though not a man of influence, I have been given the opportunities to witness the work of the Holy Spirit of God change hearts and lives through the words He has given to me.

I have no idea what this next trip around our sun will hold for me. Nevertheless, you are invited to drop by Out of My Hat often to find out what God is up to in the life of a favored servant. Feel free to follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook. Thanks for checking up on me.

John <><


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Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Notes from 2013 Kids' Camp

Posted on 09:01 by Unknown
Our weekend Children's Camp is now history--and a life changing history for some of the kids and adults that were there.

Every year that I've been blessed to be a part of Hopedale's camp, there have been kids that have made professions of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. This year was no different. I frequently tell people the main reason for our success in this endeavor is that we arrive at camp fully expecting God to be with us, to work through us, and to accomplish great things.

This year's camp was a little bit different in a couple of ways.
For one thing, we were at an unfamiliar camp ground. A new location carries its own challenges as we scope out the areas for our activities and try to work with an unfamiliar staff. In the end, it was the camp logistics and staff that brought the greatest challenge to our having a successful weekend.
Another thing was that it was our first time at doing camp with another church. While we were very familiar with the camp director from the other church, the kids and other adult workers were all new. And it was their first time doing camp the "Hopedale" way. In the end, this brought some of the greatest blessings of the weekend.

While many camps are professional camps that host dozens of groups at a time and thousands of kids throughout the summer, ours is just us. Professional camps have their own activities staff, musicians, speakers/preachers, curriculum, cooking and cleaning staff, the whole range of people necessary for the week or weekend. We have us.
At a professional camp, the adult leaders of a church are mostly responsible for getting kids to and from activities and then leading through the small group curriculum. At our camp, they are responsible for pretty much everything. They plan all of the lessons, the activities, the meals, the worship, even the free time so that each activity is supervised. They pack the trailer with the food (this year's camp did have its own cooks so we didn't do meals), with all of the necessary equipment for our games and everything for lessons and worship. We assemble all of the packages for the kids with their T-shirts, team bandanna, study material and pens and we make all of the teams, cabin assignments and small groups. Our leaders are very much a part of the kids' weekend. It is a working weekend for the adults.

As this was different from most camps, I think it was a little unexpected from some of the adults from the other church. BUT, it was very cool to watch them catch on and begin to really serve the kids. As they became the servant leaders, they began to reap the blessings of interacting with the campers and seeing the experience through their young eyes. One leader was able to talk to a child (friend of his daughter) as she made her profession of faith in Jesus. He was so blessed and so excited to be a part of that. I didn't think that anything could have topped his true joy until he came to tell me that he had another experience with one of their boys making that life changing declaration of trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior!

Sometimes, knowing ourselves and our ways can be a downer. He shared that his fear was that he was going to get home and go back to his old ways and forget the joy of sharing Jesus with others. "I don't want to do that," he told me. I gave him my card and told him to stay in touch so that we could encourage one another. I hope that he does.

We had one of our youngest campers raise her hand during worship, indicating that she wanted to talk to somebody  about professing Jesus as savior. I asked one of our ladies to talk to her and received back a great testimony of a tender heart inside of the tough exterior of this little girl. The woman told me that the little girl understood very well and made a genuine acceptance of Jesus.

I found out that the guy that was doing all of the video (from the other church) was a professional videographer that had a ministry of doing videos for missionary organizations around the world. I don't know what that would normally cost for a weekend, but he gave of his time and professional skill to provide that to our churches for free. I'm really looking forward to seeing the end product.

In spite of the great blessings of the weekend, this was really the first time that I began to think that I'm getting too old for this. I often fear that one of the reasons that I get asked to pastor children's camp is that somebody is afraid that my feelings will be hurt if they ask somebody else. I know that there is a different John that stands before the kids during the message time. I know that God has given me an ability to speak to children in a way that they can really grasp the concept of how much He loves them. I don't know why He chose me. (As I've said before, "I don't even like being around kids that much.") And I know that I will continue to serve as I am called to serve. I just hope that when the time comes to call another person as camp pastor, we can all recognize that it is that time.

For today--I'm rejoicing! There are new members in the family of God! There are new workers in the kingdom! God continues to shower this servant with blessings that I do not deserve, could never earn and can never repay.

John <><

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1


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Friday, 7 June 2013

A Couple of Oldies

Posted on 00:45 by Unknown
Hopedale's Children's Camp begins in a few hours. As I am finishing up preparing for my part of the weekend, I was once again thinking about how I ended up as camp pastor for the past decade+ of a children's camp. For those of you that haven't been following Out of My Hat since its beginning, here is a post from seven years ago (just after I started blogging) about how I feel about working with kids. If you are a parent of one of the kids going to camp this year, you might want to wait until next week to read it.

The post that followed was also a pretty good one, so I'll give it an encore link as well.

Pray for me.
In a few hours I'll be with 85 (or so) kids from 2nd to 6th grade.
Pray for them, too.

John <><
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Thursday, 6 June 2013

Too Busy to Write

Posted on 14:57 by Unknown
In spite of my desire to write each day, I find that I'm too busy to write here. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm not writing; just that you're not seeing it.

On the blog list for next week: Dad's Honor Flight, children's camp (both pre-camp and camp stuff), fitness goals (again), and of course any other random thought that comes to mind.

Camp starts tomorrow.

John <><
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Monday, 3 June 2013

June 3; a quick note

Posted on 07:33 by Unknown
Two nights of three of poor sleep. A rare occurrence in my world. I know that Friday night was my own fault and was due to too much evening caffeine. Last night was mostly due to allergies that kept interrupting my rest. The good news is that I feel rested enough and since I didn't have to get up for anything (either morning), sleep in a little later worked out well.

Now, on with the day (and week).

Most of what would normally be free time (breaks at work, baseball watching time at home) will be devoted to getting ready for Kids' Camp. Messages are outlined, some written, but some with work to be done.
And the rest of life goes on as well...grass to be cut, walks to be taken (my new daily exercise), etc., etc.
Busy week.

So, in keeping with a small resolve to write, I've written. Now to finish my coffee and attack the lawn before heading into the tower for another day of ATC.

John <><
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Sunday, 2 June 2013

June 2

Posted on 06:32 by Unknown
Sunday mornings always provide a few quiet moments to read my favorite blogs and make a check on Facebook. I'm usually able to enjoy a nice cup of coffee, review my Sunday School lesson and keep up with my daily Bible reading.

This morning I'm also taking a little time to force myself to to write--even if it's only for a brief moment.

After returning from a vacation in Mexico, I shaved off my beard and mustache. I was going to shave it before we left, but opted to wait since my passport photo (and every other photo for the past decade+) has facial hair and I already seem to get "randomized" more than usual by TSA.

I've been asked why I decided to go clean shaven and have avoided sharing the vanity of the truthful answer. A month ago I had an encounter with an old family friend that I hadn't seen in quite some time. The comment was made about how much white was in my beard.

I've always known that the white was there, and that it did make me look older than I feel. I've thought about shaving it off before but always hesitated because I felt like the beard tended to hide an otherwise fat face. So now the facial hair is gone, the fat face looks back at me from the mirror and I have an added incentive to  get a little exercise and eat a little less to drop some of this weight.

So, along with writing more often, I'm also going to make the time to get a little bit of exercise everyday--a walk, the stairs, the exercise bike, something. I even bought a new pair of walking/running shoes even though it appears that the running part will be somewhat down the road (so to speak).

Have a great Sunday!
I'm off to meet with my church family at Hopedale. You're invited to come and worship with us!

John <><


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Saturday, 1 June 2013

June 1

Posted on 07:10 by Unknown
June first seems like as a good a day as any to get back to blogging.
Truthfully, I think about writing often, but usually just don't feel like taking the time to think out a good post. I need to get back to my original intent of this blog and just write to write. It's much easier to write for self and share than to try to write what others might want to read.

Since Out of My Hat began about seven years ago, I've followed a number of blogs that have faded into oblivion. I know how life circumstance, desires and demands change and alter our daily habits. I've never been a regular writer that sticks to a disciplined schedule of time at the keyboard, but I'm not ready to give it up yet, either.

Maybe it's time to be more disciplined about writing. I have to admit that I've tried that from time to time and only stick to it for a short time. I'm not really a very disciplined person.

While I'm not ready to quit blogging, neither am I ready to commit to a daily habit of posting. Over the past few weeks, even my daily reading of the blogs I follow has become irregular. I think I need to re-evaluate some of the many blogs that find their way into my reader. There are a few that I no longer read even when they post; I just skip ahead to the ones that I look forward to reading as often as they might post.

Somehow, I think that the step up to a smart phone has played a part in my blogging less. I am easily able to access and read the blogs I follow by phone, yet I don't really care to write and post via phone. That translates into not using my computer as often as I used to and less time on the computer equals less time for blogging.

I'll apologize in advance if this turns into more of a diary of life events and less of what you are used to seeing here. That may not be much of a change, but it may be enough to push a few readers to move Out of My Hat from their regular blog feed. So be it.

John <><
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Thursday, 2 May 2013

Quick Note...

Posted on 06:52 by Unknown
I've been working on spending less time on the computer or online via my phone.  I am keeping up with fewer blogs and reading less in the way of polarizing news stories. I am continuing to read educational articles and articles that are of interest to me.

And I've also been writing less. Of course, the writing less is more a lack of discipline rather than by design. This week's morning computer time has been given over to preparation for Sunday morning's message.

I am really looking forward to Sunday. If you are in the area, I invite you to come and worship with us at Hopedale at 8:30 or 11. If you are not in the area or are unable to attend, you can worship with us via our online feed at Hopedale.org for the 11 o'clock (1600 UTC for my overseas friends) service. (I'd link for you but I'm on my phone and haven't figured that out yet.)

I hope that you'll join us.

For tonight, I'm looking forward to meeting Aaron for the Blues hockey game.

I have a good life. God has blessed me greatly.

John <><


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Saturday, 27 April 2013

Some will win, some will lose...

Posted on 10:12 by Unknown
...some were born to sing the blues.

These lyrics from Journey's Don't Stop Believing are going to prove true for all of the government agencies and for all of the people that are affected by the sequester cuts.

After the week of delays that resulted from the FAA cuts that caused air traffic controllers to be furloughed, our Congress has instructed the Department of Transportation (DOT) to find the money someplace else. So here's the deal in a nut shell. The FAA cuts it programs back as far as it can and still needs to furlough ATC one day per pay period (original talks were one day per week). They've cut back training (for new hires in the system), placed a freeze on hiring (in spite of nearly half of the current controller workforce being eligible to retire), and scaled back on the upgrades to the National Airspace System (NAS).

The short term impact (delays) is felt immediately but isn't even the real danger in the "across the board" cuts of sequestration. The long term consequences will have a far greater impact. But to take care of the immediate pain, Congress has instructed the DOT to find the money (from other areas) to put the controllers back to work. One Congressman said that the bill is unnecessary because the DOT already had that authority. I say it's unnecessary because Congress has the authority and responsibility to fund the FAA.

And I wonder--where are they getting the money? Are other programs being gutted (think other transportation programs)? Are other employees being laid off?

This band-aid fix might address the immediate pain, but it really doesn't do anything to address the irresponsibility of "across the board" cuts and non-management of our nation's funds or to address the gradual replacement of an aging workforce. If a third of the eligible controllers retired, the impact would be far greater than the 10% furlough that we've been facing; but we're still in a hiring freeze and the Academy is still shut down for training.

Sure, I want to go back to work. But where is the outrage over the other programs that are being cut? Is Congress only going to address the cuts that create massive social and corporate outrage? And what of the bogus fix that tells the DOT to rob one of the other agencies to keep air traffic on the job? What can you do with a Congress that refuses to govern and with an electorate that keeps putting them back in office?

AARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!

That's it for today's rant.
(Ugly John is wanting out.)

John
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