Weekend Thoughts

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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Just random notes...

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

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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Family Matters--a continuation...

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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Family Matters

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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Random Notes...

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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Am I really an enigma or a conundrum?

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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Honor Flight

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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Service Perks

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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A Little on Our Incredible Design

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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Looking Ahead

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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Mid-June Notes

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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Happy Birthday!

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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Notes from 2013 Kids' Camp

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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June 3; a quick note

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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June 2

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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June 1

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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A Personal Tribute

It has been several days since I've posted. Everyday I think I should write something but rarely feel like sitting long enough to formulate my thoughts into words and then put them in some kind of cohesive order that will make sense to anybody that might stop by to read them.

Today is a little bit different.
Today, I feel like I need to force myself to write.
Today, I feel like I owe it to this man that I write about.

Last Sunday morning, my Uncle "Spud" passed away. He was 89 years old.

I just want to share a few thoughts about my uncle. I know that most of you don't know him, but you probably know somebody that has some of his characteristics.

As kids, we spent a lot of Sunday afternoons at their house. Even as a little kid, I could tell that my dad really looked up to his big sister. The guy that she married affirmed his thoughts that she was a pretty bright lady. I believe that Spud has been one of my dad's closest friends for far more than half a century. In spite of the fact that my uncle always threatened to take up a collection to send my mom back to the Philippines, I think that it was his constant joking with her (and everybody else) that made her feel welcome in her new home and with her new family.

Until my aunt died more than twenty years ago, I always thought that she was the real joker in the Rohman family. Since then, I'm not so sure. And God help us all because they raised their five kids to have the sense of humor that could only come from such a devilish combination!

Our Sunday afternoons where spent playing outside (what kids did back in the day) while the big guys played cards. The game of choice was usually pinochle, but I think that other games made their way onto the table from time to time.

I was never "John" to my uncle; I was Julius. "There's old Julius," he would say when I walked in. Julius Jackson Johnson Jones if you need to know the full name he had given me. After a while, I began to wonder if he knew that Julius wasn't really my name.

He took me to a ballgame at Wrigley when I spent a week there in the summertime. He also took me golfing with his buddies. That day, I provided the humor as it was my first time golfing.

These few words cannot come close to describing my uncle. The simple reality is that pages of words could not do it. I wish that you all could have known him; could have experienced him. I'm pretty sure that you would have walked away from such an experience with a smile on your face and a happy feeling on the inside.

I know that many of my evangelical friends hold fast to the belief that each person has to come to know Jesus as Savior in the the manner that they did--a moment in time when they asked Jesus to forgive their sins and received him as their Savior. In Paul's letter to the Church in Rome, he writes that if you can confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. He goes on to explain that it is with the heart that we believe and are justified, but it is with the mouth that we profess it and are saved.

I know that Spud believed that Jesus died for his sin and confessed Him as Lord. I know that he believed that God raised him from the dead. And I know that there will be many Catholics (much to the surprise of some of my Baptist friends) that will be in heaven, never having prayed "the sinners prayer" or walked an aisle during a revival meeting.

I know that for those of us that share this belief, there is a grand reunion awaiting! When this life--this human life--comes to an end, we will see Jesus face to face. We will stand with those that have gone before us and together we will honor Him as Lord and Savior. The hope that we have is not a "wish for" kind of hope. It is the hope of a person that looks forward to an expected future--a future with Jesus in heaven.

While I do write this to pay a small tribute to Bertram "Spud" Rohman, I also have to ask--Who is Jesus to you?
How will you enter into the life after death?
What is there at the end of this life?

If these are not things that you've thought about, I encourage you to do so. As always, if you have questions or need to discuss these matters you can contact me.

To my parents, my cousins and all of the family that shares my sorrow, I wish you peace and comfort...

...and hope.

Julius Jackson Johnson Jones <><

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Moved by their generosity...

Maybe I'm just getting a little bit sentimental or soft as I age, but tonight I was fighting back tears as the generosity of the people of Hopedale overwhelmed me.

It was a simple event; a fund raiser for our kids' camp. Last year we held our first ever "pie auction" and had our most successful fund raiser ever. This year's event (dessert auction) was so much better! I was especially moved by our senior adults that greatly supported our kids and their families by spending hundreds of dollars on cakes and pies! I know that several families bought desserts that they will end up giving away. One woman offered me a piece of pie that they bought for $90 (I think) because it was made with sugar and they can't eat it! Another man out bid our pastor for a cake by topping a $90 bid and then gave the cake to him! These are just a couple of the stories from the evening.

All-in-all, 43 desserts brought over $2000 to help pay the way for our adult volunteers and reduce the cost for kids and their friends to go to camp.

I wonder if these generous people realize the eternal implications of their giving. Every year, there are kids and adults that have their lives changed by events at camp. Over the past decade+, I've had the opportunity to serve as camp pastor at a number of camps. I've also attended many camps for a one night event.
Yes, I know that I am from Hopedale and little bit biased. Even so, I believe that Hopedale does children's camp better than anybody else.

Do we have better programs? Not necessarily.
Better worship time? Maybe; Maybe not.
Do our kids have more fun? Probably, but that doesn't make our camp better.
Do we love our kids more than other camps? We do love our kids; and God loves our kids, but He loves your kids, too. And I know that all of the camps love their kids.

So what is the difference?

I believe that our people--the people working at camp, the parents that send their kids to camp, the church that prays for camp, and the generous people that support our camp--all have a faithful expectation of the Holy Spirit of God moving at our camp.

We all know that it is not by our efforts that life changing decisions are made. Though we prepare for camp and for each day's events, it is only by Divine intervention that our lives and the lives of our young charges can be changed.

Why do have great camps with great results?
Because we fully expect God to show up and glorify His name through His Son Jesus.

To everybody that brought a dessert; to everybody that bought a dessert; and to all of the people that helped during the evening -- THANK YOU!

Thanks from me, from the camp staff and from all of the kids and parents! You are the best.
May God bless you greatly for your service.

John <><

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Rats! I'm becoming one of those people...

I'm afraid that my recent neglect of blogging has been in part due to my new toy -- a smart phone.

I have been skipping time with the laptop and getting online info from my phone. Unfortunately, posting to my blog from my phone is not a pleasant experience. I'm either going to have to go back to bringing my laptop to work for my breaks or just deciding to spend the time to sit down and write.

The good news is that I am still able to follow all of you other bloggers and keep up with your regular posts.

I am going to have to make the effort to not become a person that is so attached to the world through his phone that it becomes on of those gotta have at all times kind of things. So far it's not too bad. Recently, I found myself on an airplane and realized that I hadn't even downloaded any games that I could play without an internet link! Smart phones apparently work better for smart people!

I have corrected that oversight and downloaded a few other apps, as well. I have to say that one of my favorites is the YouVersion bible app. A few months ago, Pastor Terry mentioned that there really is no good reason for most of us to not be reading our bibles daily; that with smart phones and tablets, we can have our daily bible reading at any time. Pick your plan, pick your translation, read daily!

I (of course) have the social media apps a few games and several that were on the phone that I don't use.

What are your favorite apps? What apps would make my life easier? Which ones will make me smarter?
I know that I am greatly under-utilizing the technology that my phone offers--and I'm okay with that. I'm certain that I'll learn as I go and as others share their experiences and knowledge with me. Until then, I'm going to be cautious about over-using my phone and becoming dependent on AT&T for all of life's most recent updates.

John <><

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