Little Bit of Fun

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#LaughOutLoud#Enjoy!!

Sunday, March 15th, 2020

I just had to post this.  One of the folks in the church has a daughter who has Lyme disease, a bad case of it.  Her immune system is already compromised so they dare not bring her out where she could be exposed to the virus. At this point, Katherine is doing well (Praise God her mom says) and her immune system is doing a good job of fighting for her.  But it is risky for her to get out. So she asked about Tami doing the service live via FB. Since I am technologically-challenged and definitely FB illiterate, I told her to contact Tami. She did and voila! The Anderson family was able to watch it live. Come to find out a whole bunch of our folks did also.

After it was over Becca Anderson (Katherine’s mom) sent me this photo.

I busted a gut, but it can’t possibly be me. One, he doesn’t have a goatee. Two, he has more head hair than I do. Third, wrong nationality.  The big reason?  Reason number four: he is wearing a suit and tie. This boy doesn’t wear one of those silly things on Sunday morning.  Not for Easter. Not for Christmas. Not for Mother’s Day. Nada. Never. Weddings and funerals only. And only if it “required” by the bride and groom, and since the corpse can’t speak, the survivor.  🙂

Anyway, I thought it was funny. Have a laugh.  And if you are interested in watching the sermon, you can email Tami at zephan3.17@juno.com to find out how to get the link. Otherwise, you can listen online to the church’s podcast (ovcf.org).

Posted in Little Bit of Fun, Opinion, Pick me Up | 1 Response »

#Valentine#Valentine’sDay#Love

Friday, February 14th, 2020

Okay, so in order not be to shot, filleted, hung upside down by my toenails, or any other violent act you can think of, I thought it would be wise to talk about my valentine. Strangely enough, it would not be her who would do all the above-said violence. She is a very non-violent person (except if I come to bed with cold hands). I just don’t understand how her love turns so deadly when I come in and want to hold her hand or put my hand across her body so it doesn’t hang in the air at a weird angle while I’m laying on my side. Sheesh! You’d think I put my hands in the freezer before I came to bed. Come to think of it I am pretty sure she thinks I do.

We have been married 46+ years…47 in June. We had our first vacation away from anyone who knew us just 3 years ago (2017) thanks to the graciousness of a couple who had a timeshare and gifted us with a week.  And we had the vacation of a lifetime last September when the folks from the church sent us on a cruise to Alaska. (I would go back in a heartbeat but I wonder if she got tired of me. She doesn’t want to go back this year).  Well, Lord willing, maybe 2021. I hope, I hope, I hope.  Our almost 47 years have not all been smooth sailing but one word never escaped our lips. Not it wasn’t Love silly; it was the “D” word.  Never an option.

She blessed me with two wonderful daughters who have turned into wonderful young ladies, both of whom I am totally stoked about and so proud of my buttons pop (and no it is not from weight gain).  Their lives have not been easy from the start. I mean, a Pastor’s Kid? How radical is that? It is like they have targets on their backs. They have gone on to college and done well in spite of the tests that come from growing up (and growing older). Ha. And they think I’m old.

But Jo has stuck with me through all the ups and downs of ministry life. At times there were far more downs than there were ups.  We have laughed together (if she could roll her eyes she would do that often). We have cried together. We have lamented together. We have hurt for others together. There is one thing we won’t do together…play games. She thinks I cheat at Backgammon or Scrabble. I don’t but she doesn’t like me putting her in the middle in Backgammon or using words she doesn’t know in Scrabble.

But there is one thing we will do together. (Get your mind out of the gutter people!)  We will continue to love each other for as many years as God gives us together.  🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day Honey! I love you.

Now if I can just her to read this I will have won another year of life without buying flowers.

Posted in Family, Little Bit of Fun, Love, Love/Marriage, Story | 12 Responses »

#Birthday#LoveofmyLife

Thursday, January 30th, 2020

This will be really short today. Today, January 30th, is Jo’s ___ birthday. No…I am not stupid enough to put 69th in the blank. What do you take me for? A glutton for punishment? Someone who wants to be strung up and beat with a wet noodle? Someone who considers his life on this earth very short?

She is going to get pampered today. She already knows it. Braden recently said, “Mamaw, you have the best life ever.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can sleep as late as you want. You can watch TV all day. You can play on your phone sitting on the couch for as long as you want.  Do you even cook?”

(Jo chuckling) “Only when I have to.”

“See! You have the best life ever!”

(Where does this kid come up with stuff like this?)

I tell her she is a kept woman. Today I will make her a blessed woman. After a short stint at the office (while she sleep as long as she wants), I will be spending the rest of the day with her- doing whatever she wants to do. I can GUARANTEE it will mean one thing: we. will. eat. out. for. lunch.  🙂  That is, perhaps, her favorite thing to do (next to spending time with Braden).

All that to say I will be absent from here until later this afternoon. We have some place to be tonight unless she decides she doesn’t want to go (it is not required to be there). That, like the rest of the day, will be entirely up to her.

Meanwhile, have a great day!

Posted in Family, Little Bit of Fun, Love/Marriage | 13 Responses »

#AnnualSong#Countdown

Tuesday, December 31st, 2019

Ever since I started this blog back in 2008 I have concluded the year and begun the new year with a song.  I know. I know. I should find a new one.  I had planned on doing that this year but you know what they say: “time flies when you are having fun.” Well…time flew. Like a supersonic airliner. Probably in the next post or two I will do a little wrap up of my year.

BUT UNTIL THEN!!!

Enjoy this one from 2011.

Enjoy this one from their heyday when big hair was king and tenor voices were all the rage.

And here is one from a few years ago. Man, the dude still has the pipes. But he sure isn’t as high as he used to be. Very few can keep that range as they age. Michael Sweet from Stryper comes awful close with more depth to his voice.

Okay, so call me a heathen. I have wide shoulders. 🙂 🙂  I also like 80s rock and big hair. My favorite? Stryper. Maybe I’ll find something by them for my next post.

We know the final countdown officially began when Jesus ascended.  But who knows when the bell will ring (or is it that shout will come?)  Have a safe beginning to 2020.

Posted in Little Bit of Fun, Miscellaneous, Music video, Opinion | 5 Responses »

#ChristmasChallenge#Post1

Sunday, December 1st, 2019

I’m going to try something I did several years ago. It was a good exercise for me in that it kept me focused. My plan is to post a new Christmas thought each day for this month. It could be a poem. It could be a song. It could be a written thought. It could be a spiritual thought or it could be one that is not spiritual in nature but has a focus on Christmas.

Since today is December 1 it calls for a post that will focus us on the importance of the season. The past few days I have listened to some random Christmas music and heard this song for the first time. Unfortunately there is no video with lyrics so I am unable to show that. However, the song is beautiful and clear.

Enjoy listening to it here.

Would anyone else like to join me in this challenge? I’d love to share links with each other.

Posted in Christmas, Little Bit of Fun, Pick me Up, Story | 8 Responses »

#Whirlwind#FunTime

Monday, June 10th, 2019

As I mentioned in my one and only post from last week I would be absent from this blog. It was a whirlwind week. We left Sunday after church for Ohio where we promptly got detoured in Indianapolis which took us out of our way.  The state bird of Indiana (the orange barrels used for construction) was clearly evident. They took us about 20-30 miles out of the way.  Monday we took off for PA and enjoyed a great time (Rob did an excellent grille job) with 2 of my younger brothers (I have 3). We laughed a lot. Tami rolled her eyes a lot as she watched the 3 brothers “show off” their humorous tendencies.  Tuesday we drove to my old hometown and saw the house I grew up in, the high school I attended  (which has totally changed), the “projects” where I spent the first 12 1/2 years of my life, where my grandparents lived, and where my mother was living when she went to see Jesus.  What Tommy James sang about in his song Smokey Roads is true. Braden was not impressed at all.  I guess I should have expected that. What 12 1/2 year old boy wants to spend time in a truck looking at relics?  🙂  The house I moved to in the middle of 7th grade and graduated from high school living in. My mom lived here for a few years after my dad left her and now my brother, Garry and his wife and daughter live there.

Eventually we got to our destination after some other stops along the way.  Here is one of our stops. It is called Mount Washington and it overlooks the Three Rivers area.

Finally, our destination.

The Pirates lost 12-5 but we were not there to see the end. After the Braves were ahead in the 8th inning Tami was content to leave. She was bummed, I think, because she missed the Freddie Freeman Home Run in the top of the 9th. I’m glad they won for her birthday present. The Pirates won the next two.  🙂  She left PNC park a happy girl.  I made her ride hooked to my bike rack on the way back to Rob’s.  J/K.  We did make national TV though.

We drove back to Ohio on Wednesday, stayed the night, then drove to Sandusky for the less thrilling part of our trip. Jo’s sister was in the hospital so that is never fun. But we saw she was taken care of and returned on Friday about 7:00.  I was ready for bed for sure!

Our “adventure” in Sandusky isn’t over because there is so much to do now that she is in a long-term facility. So my next few weeks are up in the air. Your prayers would be much appreciated.

 

Posted in Family, Little Bit of Fun, Miscellaneous | 6 Responses »

#GoodFeeling

Monday, May 6th, 2019

I don’t know about you but seldom does a good feeling or contentment hit like it does when I have done something for someone else. But this post is not about me; it is about others.

Ever since 2009, the church I pastor (OVCF) has been having what I call a Day of Service (DoS). We started simple with one in the Fall of 2009. The church was struggling. We had gone through an ugly staff dismissal. We had seen our youth group drop like a rock due to kids graduating and going to college. We had experienced what every church hates: a small group use their time together to kick someone in the teeth (that would be me). I chose not to respond and we lost that whole group except for the elder and his wife who chose to stand up for me. Our attendance had fallen from close to 200 to about 120-130. I chose to challenge our people to take our eyes of ourselves and reach out. We had a phenomenal day.

Ever since then we have chosen to a DoS to people in our community. We expanded by asking another church to join us. Except for a few minor doctrinal points (they are Calvinists and I am not), we get along well. They also wanted to do something so we joined forces. We expanded the DoS to twice a year (Spring and Fall) with an emphasis on different projects. The Spring projects are larger involving small businesses like Horse Angels (a horse rescue place), Humane Society, a rescue dog kennel, as well local people who need help. In the Fall we change oil for those who need it free of charge. We also do the bulk of our local work for the people during this DoS.  Last year in the Spring we invited the Chamber of Commerce to join us. They also helped with the Fall event and then this Spring’s event.

That event was yesterday (Sunday). We were a bit more energetic in our approach. Our list included Horse Angels, the Cunningham dog rescue kennels; Humane Society, MyPath (a local effort to get a walking path going), Uplands Peak (a vegan farm animal rescue work); Roadside clean up; Spencer lawn and home help; and Gosport (a local town) clean-up.  We had some good cooperation from both churches and the Chamber. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, especially considering we have had nothing but rain the past year. (Okay slight exaggeration but close).  🙂

I was really proud of the 40+ people who represented OVCF during that 3 hour period. I drove around and they were working hard. Cleaning out dog pens. Mucking long overdue horse stall (and yes, the smell was as bad as you can imagine). Helping mulch. Entertain animals. Clean up litter from the side of roads. (Why can’t people throw things away, but not outside?).

All in all it was a good day. Thanks to all who helped make this a good DoS. And most of all, I pray Jesus was glorified.

Posted in Church, Little Bit of Fun, OVCF bullets, Pick me Up, Story | 7 Responses »

#Poppingbuttons

Sunday, April 28th, 2019

Last week Jo and I took off on Tuesday morning for Ohio. We had received word from our daughter, Janna, that our favorite grandson was going to be receiving an award but that neither she nor Jason were going to be able to go. So we begrudgingly drove over to be at his award ceremony.  The catcher of this is that he did not know so we simply told him we wanted to see them all…which was true! We just didn’t tell him the whole story.  Tuesday night we all went out to Texas Roadhouse, which is typical when we do go.  He didn’t know we were celebrating him.

Anyway, the next morning we made our way to his school, signed in, got our visitor tag and sat and waited. He did not know we were there until I had to scratch my head and he saw the movement. So I smiled, wiggled my fingers underneath my chin, and watched him smirk.

Here is his award:

We were so proud of him, hence the #poppingbuttons title. He was excited about receiving it (can’t you tell?).

He may have not been too excited about receiving the award but we were!!  Here are two more pictures from his award day. One when his principle was taking his picture and let me horn in on it and the other with his mamaw (and yes, he is getting taller and getting close to her).  🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a whirlwind trip. We came back Wednesday right after the ceremony. But it was well worth it.  Now you know what we did for two days last week. I love this boy…er soon-to-be-teenager…er young man. And he really is my favorite grandson!

Posted in Family, Little Bit of Fun, Story | 9 Responses »

Surprise!!

Monday, April 8th, 2019

This past Sunday the church I have pastored since November of 2005 surprised me and Jo. The picture which follows will tell the story.

Yeah…you’re seeing that right. It has been a bucket list of mine for a long time. Jo’s bucket list got lighter almost two years ago when someone gifted us with a week’s stay at a Timeshare in Daytona Beach. She has always wanted to go to the beach. They felt after my two bike accidents and major back surgery as a result that time away was a good thing. We agreed. 🙂 🙂

The back story to this trip is several months ago I asked Jo what she thought about a a cruise to Alaska. We contacted an old friend who had renewed her travel agent license (and whom I also think was in on this “deception”)  but after getting prices to the cruise and flights to Seattle we decided to back off and save for another year. We were okay with that. We would just take little junkets to Ohio and other places to get away which didn’t require a lot of money.  Combine that with the need for a new roof this summer and a new driveway and some needed house repairs and you have a recipe for waiting.

Fast forward to yesterday. It has been a really emotional week and weekend (see my other blog for April 8), even several months, so this could not have come at a better time. We were both stunned when Ryan put two chairs down where I stand to preach and asked us to come to the front. He started by asking me how long I have been doing this (being a pastor) and I said 45+ years. He then asked Kris, a lady whose family is going to Alaska this summer and close friends to the agent in Florida, to come forward. Kris presented us with the bucket and an all-expenses paid trip to Alaska, including air fare.  Can someone say, “Knock me over with a feather?” Jo & I were both so stunned we didn’t even cry.  In all my years as a pastor I have NEVER been treated by a church to something this magnanimous.  It looks like we are going to shoot for the first of September when they have an opening rather than wait until next year.

I thought I would share my/our surprise with you. We are blessed. And this is just a small part of the heart of these people. I have never felt so loved as I have here.  This is just a minor reason why. And I can honestly say that even without something this generous, I love these people.

Posted in Church, Friendship, Little Bit of Fun, Pick me Up, Story | 12 Responses »

Appreciation

Sunday, March 24th, 2019

Tonight is one of my favorite nights of the year.

IT IS VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION NIGHT!

Once a year Ryan, Diana and I give a night to honor our volunteers.  In the past we have done skits; shown videos of Tim Hawkins and other Christian comedians; provided a full-course mean (catered not cooked by either of us); given away prizes and just had a general all-around good night. I like to spend the night personally thanking each volunteer for making things go this past year.

Last year we switched things up a bit by renting our local Tivoli theater and showed The Incredibles. We gave each volunteer a ticket for free popcorn and a drink, gave away prizes, and had a great time. We decided to do the same thing this year. Good thing because all three of us have been swamped with life and this takes a bit less effort than doing skits, finding and paying for a catered meal, setting up tables and chairs and clean-up. This year we will be giving each volunteer a ticket for a free popcorn and drink and also have some door prizes to give away. What are we showing this year? The movie I consider one of, if not THE best animated movie ever made. CARS. A movie with a message about cooperation, pride, teamwork and getting along. All essentials for any team-volunteer or paid- to be successful.

If you are from OVCF and have volunteered and happen to be reading this, strap on your seat belt, grab some popcorn and a drink, and enjoy the ride with us! By the way, we never turn anyone away who wants to join us. I’d like to invite you to come join us if you are reading this from somewhere else on the planet but you may find that hard to do. Come virtually. About 6:00 pop in CARS in your DVD player, make some popcorn and grab a pop or water and join us. Sorry we can’t share our door prizes with you. The M&Ms might get melted or old (or eaten) by the time they reach you. 🙂

Posted in Church, Friendship, Leadership, Little Bit of Fun, Pick me Up | 6 Responses »

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