Little Bit of Fun

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Nostalgia

Sunday, September 2nd, 2018

I’m feeling nostalgic for some reason. I didn’t post a song last week because I know my style of music is not most of my reader’s style. But lately, even as I drive and workout or cut grass, Spotify has been on several of my “oldies” lists. So I decided to wax nostalgic for a few weeks. Over the next 5 weeks I’m going to post my Top 5 favorite songs of all time. I don’t know if you have ever done this but I do rankings in my mind a lot. I’m going to start from Top to bottom as opposed to bottom to top.

The ’60s was an age of upheaval and sometimes strange music. A war that seemed to have no beginning; no rhyme or reason; no ending dominated the airwaves. Campus unrest was the norm. Long hair on guys became more common than short hair. Many women went with the long, straight look. Clothes were definitely a different look than the ’50s more prim and proper suit with the straight leg pants.

But the music! The music! Once dominated by doo-wop and lounge-type singers and Elvis suddenly turned 360 degrees. Strange sounds were coming out the guitars. Long guitar and drum solos. Loud music. Songs which talked more openly about sex and drugs were pretty much across the board.  It was during this time I was in my teen years. Jimi Hendrix. Led Zepplin. Vanilla Fudge. Grand Funk Railroad. Even the Beatles were still slightly in the mix (although I never was much of a fan).

Into this mix came my favorite group. Psychedelic they were not. Not by a long shot. I was in Junior High when they hit it big with one song dug out of a bin by a DJ in Pittsburgh. Hanky Panky became a song which launched Tommy James and the Shondells into the atmosphere.  But in time even they were influenced by the music of the Woodstock generation and they released Crimson and Clover. (I always liked the longer version).  But while I like that song, it was the next one which was released that caught my attention and is still today my #1 song of all time. Tommy says it was inspired by his reading of the Bible. He was searching for meaning to life and an escape from the drugs which had begun to take over his life. He read the Bible. His book tells how he accepted Christ but still struggled with his demons. I believe he has put them behind him now. His voice today has lost some of its upper register (as is typical) but it is still rich and soothing.  And yes, I still listen to him…a lot.

So to start out this Top 5 series, here is my #1 song of all time.

From 1969

From a live concert at the Bitter End.

Hope you enjoy!

Posted in Little Bit of Fun, Music video, Opinion, Pick me Up, Story | 12 Responses »

Miscellaneous

Thursday, August 23rd, 2018

I’ve been somewhat absent here this week. Life has a way of doing that you know? Tuesday afternoon I made an hour trip to Greenwood to visit someone in the hospital. Cancer is an ugly disease and what he has is especially vicious.  Please pray for Billy & Becky as they pray for God’s healing or His will. He has fought for two years with an incredible will to live.  This is where I wish I was Jesus…I could speak the word and he would be instantly healed. But I’m not. I just believe in the power of prayer, but also the reality of God’s sovereign will.

Today is my daughter Janna’s birthday. I will not tell her age but simply say she is less than 40. Just less than. 🙂 God blessed me and Jo with two beautiful girls-Tami & Janna. I am proud of both of them.  But this is Janna’s birthday and a tribute to her. I am so thankful God blessed us with her. She and Tami were so-o-o-o different. Where Tami would sit for long periods of time with me and let me read to her (and eventually turning that around), Janna would have nothing to do with that.  Her learning curve was different. “You won’t teach me how to put those little shape things in that box. I’ll do it myself at my own speed.” “I’ll learn to read when I’m good and ready to read.” (She did). I am thankful God gave her to us. I am thankful for the woman, wife, and mother she has become. (Both those latter ones she was not interested in for awhile). I am thankful she still loves her dad (and mom), even though we are getting old. And I’m thankful she loves Jesus. I don’t have a song from 1979 that I liked. It was the disco era and…well you know…  But I did find the song we danced to at her wedding. She was a Stryper fan as was I so this is the song she chose. Yeah, I know…the hair.  🙂 🙂 🙂  Happy Birthday Janna!

Today I get to meet a camera crew. The folks from RoadID are coming to film me for a promotion video.  For those who may not know: I was hit while riding my bike by a hit-n-run driver on November 7, 2016. I was pretty much recovered from that when I had a more devastating wreck while going downhill on February 17, 2017. I broke my collarbone, 3 ribs, did a face plant, split my helmet in 3 places and had other abrasions. When the squad came I pointed to my RoadID for them to get contact and medical information. Click on the sidebar to find out more information. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Hope you have a great day.

Posted in Cycling, Family, Jesus, Little Bit of Fun, Music video, Opinion, Story | 3 Responses »

AdditionUpdate

Tuesday, July 17th, 2018

Okay…so we have been working on a building addition for over a year now.  Let me rephrase that: we have been physically working on the building addition for over a year. We have been working (translated: saving) on this addition for probably close to 3 or 4 years. We made a commitment we would not borrow money for it. We saved until we had enough to put it all under roof. We then continued as we had the money. Funny: work never stopped. God was so-o-o-o-o faithful and so were His people.  Three Sunday’s ago the Preschool class meet in their room because of the need to renovate the check in room and what will become Ryan’s office. This past week the Elementary kids made the transition. I thought I’d have a little fun with this post and show you what was and what is now.  My computer crashed several months ago and I lost everything, including pictures. So I painstakingly went back in time (where is Doc Brown’s DeLorean when I need it?) to find the post where I showed some early inside photos. You can see that here:

https://billgrandi.ovcf.org/wordpress/?p=14180

Below are some photos I took today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From top left to right: (1) What the room looks like as you walk down the short entry hall past the bathrooms.  (2) Inside Jo’s classroom from the door. it is the door on the right in the first picture.  (3) Middle left: Another look inside Jo’s classroom.  She chose to have vinyl flooring laid for ease of movement and cleaning. Each classroom has a TV (Wifi accessible) and a white board. (4)  The stage area (which is not quite done yet. (5) Looking across the from Jo’s classroom. Classroom on right. Mechanical/storage on left. (6) Girl’s bathroom.

Pictures don’t tell the whole story but if you take a look at what was and what now is, we have come a long way. God has been so faithful and so good! I honestly believe He honored our “no borrowing money” policy. We were the recipients of some anonymous gifts which greatly blessed us. A lady left some money so we took 10% for missions; paid off the remaining mortgage; and put the rest toward the addition. It allowed us to start construction. The folks at OVCF were so faithful in their giving and even in offering some physical labor but, to be honest, we went with professionals to do most of the work. In the long run, it saved time and money.

I’m going to share some more pictures of renovation we are doing in my next post.  Hope you enjoy rejoicing with us.

Posted in Church, God, Little Bit of Fun, Miscellaneous, Story | 9 Responses »

4th

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018

Happy 4th of July!

Not much is planned on this end. Jo is not “feeling” a cookout so we will be doing something else. After an early morning bike (I hope) for me (while she sleeps), we will be heading down to our church camp to visit some campers. Every week there are campers, either Ryan or I make a trip to camp to visit them. Two weeks ago Ryan was a co-dean for a Senior High Wilderness week. After a week at home, he and his family headed back to camp for a Middle School/Jr. High wilderness week. Yes…you are reading that right.

He is a glutton for punishment. He’s also a whole lot younger than me. He and Hope are younger than both of our girls! AAAAAAH!! (cue in MacCauley Caulkin in Home Alone after putting on after shave).  So anyway, we are heading down to visit them.

After that I have to go to Menards in Columbus, In. We are doing renovation and remodeling to the church building and the Menards in Bloomington did not have enough wainscoting. But Columbus had enough so I will combine two birds with one stone.

Jo gets a treat out of it. She gets a meal out. Yeah…she likes to keep me company. Do you think it might be for some other reason than my charming personality?  I do.

Something for me (an early morning ride).  Something for the campers (me!! 🙂 ). Something for Jo and Tami (who likes to tag along when we are eating out).

Have a remarkable 4th remembering what we all need…Freedom. I’ll encourage you to visit my friend, Martha, for her excellent post. She says it better than I can.

Posted in Family, Little Bit of Fun, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized | 4 Responses »

Shock

Sunday, June 17th, 2018

It is the afternoon of Father’s Day. I’m in la-la land (translated: my eyes are glassy and my mind is in a fog). But I wanted to write something. But all I’m having at this moment is random thoughts. So I thought I would share them with you and you can take them or leave them. 🙂

I received a FD card from my oldest daughter, Tami.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She thought it was funny. I told her not to quit her day job. Actually, none of that is true. It is true I got the card from her. It is true she thought it fit and was funny. What is not true is the conversation. I laughed. I did tell her via text: “I’m honored you think I’m a bit weird. You wouldn’t want all normal people. How boring is that?”  Being a father to Tami and Janna and a grandfather to Braden is one of the highlights of my life.

I was in the chiropractor’s office and picked up a Men’s Health magazine to read and ran across a page called “THE (Above) AVERAGE GUY.” I asked them to make a copy for me. Here is a bit what it said:

$89,420 average cost for four years of college now. $372,397 average projected cost in 2033, when your 3-year old today heads off to college. That’ll scare the heeby-jeebies out of ya’!

37% of kids say they wish no parents would watch them play.  (Could it be they know something we don’t? Like it matters more to parents than their kids and kids want to have fun?)

Tony Hawk, arguably the world’s greatest skateboarder. Coolest dad ever? His kids on him turning 50.

  • His 9-year old: “He hasn’t finished Mario Odyssey, and he can’t dance!”
  • His 15 year old: “He steals your food.”
  • His 18 year old: “He’s in bed by 9 p.m.”

There you have it. Wisdom for the ages. 🙂

And since I’m in the shock mode: here is a song solidly based on Scripture. It is long but epic. I’m sure it is probably not most of your cup of tea but I like Theocracy and love this song.  Just for fun I asked the lady who signs our services if she would do this.  🙂

Hope you had a good Sunday-father or not.

Posted in Family, God, Jesus, Just a Quote, Little Bit of Fun, Music video, Pick me Up, Sunday Meanderings | 6 Responses »

Back

Thursday, June 7th, 2018

We are back from vacation. We had a good time away but as always it was too short. Actually, it was a good thing we were coming home yesterday. I was flossing Tuesday night and broke off a cap on my front tooth. The dentist was willing to see me late in the afternoon as his last patient if I could drive to his other office (about 35 minutes away).  Since we were already on our way home I easily made the time but it sort of threw us out of the return plans we had.

We had a good time watching Braden play baseball. He had two regularly scheduled games on Saturday and then had two makeup games on Sunday. We got cooked even though we did our best to stay in the shade.

I had an opportunity to see an old friend I have not seen since the late 70s. David is the pastor of a church in Worthington, OH and since Janna’s church starts late and we would have missed the whole first game, we decided to try a different one with an earlier service. Jo found out David was in Worthington.  My last recollection of him was when he pastored a church in Cincinnati. It was good to see him after 30+ years. And no…he didn’t recognize me. I have a lot less hair now. 🙂 🙂

And eat? Oh man, did I eat! And not all the right stuff either. You can’t visit Sandusky, OH and not eat Toft’s ice cream. Twice. Big helpings. Braden sure liked it.  He went from a Small to a Kids size. I went from a Medium to a Small. Gives you an idea of the amount of ice cream in a cup. I beat him at miniature golf. I beat him by 3 strokes but that is not counting the 8 mulligans his mamaw gave him on one hole. Golf is not his game; baseball is.

I came in for a few hours today since I have a wedding on Saturday. The rest of today and all day tomorrow is going to be spent with Jo as we finish out what is left of our vacation. There is a strong possibility there will be a two or three day bicycle vacation in July with a friend.  Jo will follow and we will ride. That’s MY idea of a vacation. Jo has other ideas. In the long run, I guess she wins. (Least I tell her that).

Hope you kept up on the Scripture reading I left you with each day.

Posted in Family, Little Bit of Fun, Miscellaneous, Story, Vacation | 2 Responses »

Visibility

Sunday, May 6th, 2018

I shook things up a bit last week with a podcast of me and the guys at The Connection-a local church here in the community. Today is our Day of Service and I plan to post a summary sometime this week. They are calling for rain this afternoon so I am praying for it to hold off until at least 4:00 (our scheduled stopping time).

So I decided to shake things up again. Today is music video day. Now…I could go calm but that might put you and me both to sleep. Not good. I could go country…but that ain’t going to happen! I could go with a worship song but that would be the normal thing to do. Or I could go wild and blow your doors (ears) off. Not today.

One of my favorite arena rock groups was Kansas. Their makeup included two followers of Christ. One, Kerry Livgren, was the writer behind their monster hits Carry on Wayward Son and Dust in the Wind, both written before he came to faith in Christ. Both still had meaningful lyrics. Kerry has since suffered a stroke that has limited his guitar-playing ability, but not his mind and his heart for Jesus. Like many groups, as members age or grow tired of the grind, Kansas has changed much of their personnel. Steve Walsh has retired, his voice breaking down as well as his health. A new lead singer has taken his place. I tend to think he is every bit as good as Steve on some things.  He sounds, at times, like Greg X. Volz, the former lead singer for Petra before John Schlitt.

The song I’m featuring is NOT a religious song, although it certainly has some application to the religious world. It is not meant to be a political statement on my part either, although I am against dictators and madmen. I am also against religious hucksters who promise the world but have no way to deliver. Followers of health/wealth prosperity teachers (I will refrain from naming names at this point) take note. Followers of Bill Johnson, Bethel Redding, and anyone involved in the New Apostolic Reformation take note.  Here is the song by the group now known as Kansas.

Hope you enjoy it but more importantly, catch its message.  And please, don’t shoot me for my choice of music. 🙂 You might incur the wrath of Jo. Then again…

Posted in Christian living, Church, Doctrine, Leadership, Little Bit of Fun, Music video, Opinion, Story | 4 Responses »

Different

Sunday, April 29th, 2018

I’m taking a different tack this post. It has been my practice since the first of this year to post a song and often a video of that song to help you start your week out right and hopefully give you something to sing along the way. I’m doing something different this week.

This past Thursday I was the guest of The Connection-A Community Church and their two pastors, Charles Townsend and James Owens, on their podcast. The Connection is only a couple of years old and we have become friends. I see them as very dear friends and also great allies in the desire to see Spencer come to know Jesus. Except for a few minor details (they are Calvinists and I am not)  🙂  we are brothers in this battle.

I’d like to invite you to join in listening to the podcast. Many of you have wanted to know more about me (and some could care less… 🙂 ) and this podcast will give you a good insight into me and my heart. We laugh a lot so don’t expect a totally serious listen. Just an informative one.  Here is the link to the podcast.  When/if you listen would you mind  coming back to comment and let me know what you think? James also gives their website for you to comment.

Oh…thanks for listening.

Posted in Christian living, Doctrine, Guest post, Little Bit of Fun, Miscellaneous, Monday "I Needed That" Moment, Opinion, Pick me Up | 4 Responses »

Meanderings

Sunday, April 1st, 2018

This is a Sunday meandering post. So many thoughts going through my head I don’t know what to do with them all.

It all started out on Friday when I visited the hospital on my day off to see an older lady whose husband went to be with Jesus about a week or so before Christmas. They would have celebrated 50 years this Spring. She has been extremely lonely but continued to go on. Until last Sunday night when she found herself in the ER and ultimately admitted (I will withhold medical condition). Surgery Monday didn’t tell them much (translated: nothing). She has been in and out of Progressive/Critical Care all week long. Saturday (yesterday) I was in the hospital visiting a very sick woman and her family.

I also visited another man whose condition has worsened over the past couple weeks. The good thing? I was able to lead him to salvation. The interesting thing is he is stone deaf and his hearing aids weren’t working. I tried three times to talk to him but he could not hear me. So, one morning as I prayed, I asked God how I could reach him. I typed it out and left it with him. After having it read to him, he had his wife sign on the line (he could not grip a pen).  Yay!!

Saturday was a day of interruptions…all day. Long story short: I was unable to sync with the sermon so I decided to do my New Morning Mercies for Sunday a night earlier. Pay dirt! As I journaled it was liked God was saying, “Here is your sermon for Sunday.” So I got up at 3:15, came to the office, and wrote a sermon. Although it is somewhat unsettling, I have learned not to argue with God. He was there today.

Our Resurrection Sunday service went well. We had 296, but more than that, we had a good spirit.  So many thanks have to go around. WOW!  People came early to help set up.  Abram Farm Event Venue had a wedding until 12:00 last night so we could not set up until this morning. But in about an hour all chairs, tables, and things were ready to go. The Worship Team was excellent! Everyone who could helped clean up. It was a great day to be part of OVCF and part of the church. I even think the sermon went okay (so I’m told).  Out of the music set was the song I want to feature this week. I am not a fan of Hillsong but I do like Brooke (Frazier) Ligertwood. Here is her leading worship with the song.  Brooke is a real popular pop singer in Australia.  Here is one of my favorites by her.

Well…I sure was long-winded. That’s what happens when you meander. 🙂 Have a great week!!

Posted in Easter, Little Bit of Fun, Miscellaneous, Music video, Sunday Meanderings | 12 Responses »

Appreciation

Sunday, March 4th, 2018

I am writing this ahead of time….with anticipation of showing appreciation.

For the past 4 or 5 years the staff (Diana, Ryan and I) have shown our appreciation for our volunteers of the past year by having a celebration in their honor. Our modus operandi has been to have a catered meal; an evening of fun and hilarity; I walk around during the meal telling each volunteer how much they are appreciated; give away door prizes; and just have a general evening of fun and relaxation. Our volunteers are honored.

So this year we have decided to mix things up a bit. No catered meal. No church building. The rest will stay the same. We decided to go to our local theater for our appreciation night. We will still have the door prizes and giveaways…with a twist. We will be showing a movie: The Incredibles. Why? Because we think our volunteers are incredible! The best on the planet! Instead of a catered meal we are providing every person a ticket for a free popcorn and soda.  As I mentioned we will still have the door prizes and giveaways, but as they leave they will receive one more thing of appreciation.  I can tell what it is since it is a surprise, but I’m not posting this until the night starts. It is a specially baked cookie of The Incredibles logo. Just one last thing to remember the evening by.

Image result for the incredibles logo

Every organization, especially every church, relies on volunteers to get things done. I guarantee the things which get done around here would not get done if it were not for our volunteers. It is so much bigger than any 3 people co0uld pull off.  So, if you are reading this as part of OVCF, thanks for volunteering. If you are reading this from elsewhere, I thank you for volunteering in your church or organization.

How do you volunteer?

Posted in Church, Just Wondering, Little Bit of Fun, Miscellaneous, Sunday Meanderings | 4 Responses »

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