For you gamers out there

What will video games be like in 10 years?

Wow.

Surreal. Amazing. Epic. Mind blowing.

What other words can be used to describe the pictures from the Hubble? (click here).

My Friend Stan

I took the men on my staff team on a little outing on Wednesday and Thursday. One of the guys on my team is Stan. 

If you've never met a redneck, or don't know what people mean when they use that term, let me introduce you to my friend Stan.

This is how Stan rolls on the golf course...

Iowa rednecks can do anything. Because they grew up in a small town, they had to play every sport. Stan drives the ball 250+ yards (accurately) with a pitching wedge.

Below: Stan cooked for us while we were away. It was all stuff he killed. He asked, "Anyone up for breakfast sausage?" I said, "Stan what separates this as breakfast pork, and not just pork?" He said, "Because we're going to eat it in the morning."

A grill is not a foreign instrument to Stan. He pretty much has one ready to go in his truck at all times. 

Stan has 3 secret weapons...

"Accent" boasts on the front, "60% less sodium." On the back you'll find one ingredient: Monosodium Glutamate" (aka: MSG). The dude uses this in everything. China thinks Stan overuses MSG.

For Stan, "Just add water" is synonymous with "Just add Hee-Haw".  Our pancakes did taste a little better than usual.

Stan caught this fish using the chicken heart that he ripped out of the chicken he was cooking. He judges fish size by how well his fist fits into it.

I can be standing right next to Stan using the same lures, and he gets the fish. Natural selection must've taught them how to detect a worm guided by a city boy.
Below: When Stan sees a wild animal, in this case an Otter, he runs after it, not away from it. Here he is seen chasing the poor thing and trying to snag it with his fishing hook.

In the next two pictures, you'll see his resourcefulness. Here he uses a stick as a stringer.
Here his hat to hold our worms. If you see Stan, walk up close to his head, sniff, then ask, "You been fishin'? Your hair smells like worm."
[Not pictured]: When Stan thinks of what to bring on a _______ (you can fill in the blank, but in this case it was "retreat"), his first thoughts are "gun, football and frisbee"

[Not pictured]: For his discipleship with his freshmen guys, he takes them on a retreat called, "Hog Wild." He gets a hog, cuts it loose, and makes them catch it, kill it, and cook it. I'm sure if Jesus weren't Jewish he would've done the same.

All of this said, make fun of rednecks and hicks as much as you want (in this case, "as much as I want"), but if you are familiar with any great WW2 stories, you are bound to come across stories of Iowa/Midwest boys who won the war for us. 

Being around Stan I can see why. 

They are resourceful, bold as a lion, tough, know how to kill stuff, reliable, know how to do everything, have cave man instincts, intolerance for ideas and methods that don't work (a sort of fierce pragmatism), and a "Git'r'done" mentality.

If I'm on a landing craft staring down Normandy beach, there's no one I would rather be next to than Stan. That's one reason he's on my team.

God bless the rednecks.

Mother's Day and Weekend Review

Of all the sacrifices made by people in the world, I have to say one of the most overlooked is the sacrifice of mothers. Tragically, our culture is even making moms feel bad for aspiring to be a mom, and especially one who stays home to raise her kid(s). 

For the record: if you're a mom who is staying home to raise your family- you are to be praised. There is no job or status on earth that can be considered a greater success. May God bless you, beyond just today, with a sense of the honor and joy that is truly yours. 

If you're a mom with a bunch of little kids, your day was probably not much different than Leatha's. Her mothers day gift came late last night... Makai woke up screaming with a fever and shortness of breath. She held him until about 1:30 a.m., then I laid with him until he fell asleep. Despite my pep talk to the kids this morning, "It's mother's day, which means- no fighting, ask mom how you can help her, let mom do what she wants to do, and be good." We still had 3 fights, 2 fits, an unquantifiable number of whining, complaining, and bad attitudes.

So much for my pep talk. Apparently it wasn't enough to change their hearts. 

Below is a picture of the baby dedications in one of the Cornerstone services. Our church averages one baby born a week. 

I think you know you have a lot of kids if every baby dedication causes you to have this conversation with your spouse, 

Mark [in the foyer walking into auditorium, realizing it's baby dedication night]: "Crap, Leatha, did we ever dedicate Makai?" 

Leatha: "I'm not sure. I know we did Ava, Cameron, and..."

Mark: "Did we dedicate Beck?"

Leatha: "I think. But I'm pretty sure Makai hasn't been dedicated yet."

Mark: "Dangit."

I can't decide if we should take a loss on Makai, or if we should get Makai and the next one dedicated at the same time. Good thing we're not paedobaptists.

On with the weekend...

Here you will see Makai happily eating the Thai cabbage concoction that I often make on Saturdays. Leatha and I observed that if you start kids early, you can get them to eat anything. For a study in contrast, click here (we started Beck a little late...)

If we have a sixth child, this is how we'll roll...
Cub Foods sucks.
We saw this sign out earlier in the week, and we did what every big family does when they see free donuts, juice, and who knew what other good stuff they might have at "customer appreciation"... We went to be appreciated!

First of all, a little note to Cub... 

If you're trying to survive in the capitalism war (the new Fareway down the street is kicking their butt), is this the best you can do?

You owe it to us, loyal customers (we're not really that loyal- but that's beside the point), to at least specify... free donut holes. There is a big difference between donuts and donut holes. Donut holes are the part of the donut they almost throw away after making the donut. Donut holes don't come in sprinkles with a variety of frostings. Not to mention there's no hope for a filling. It's pretty much the scraps from the bakery. Seriously. Here's my point: Don't use "donut" and "donut hole" interchangeably. They are not the same thing. 

We love Fareway.

Above: The boys enjoying their juice.

Below: Amazingly, only one donut hole was lost in action.

Wind of God, Blow!

This is yet another reason I read Ed Noble's blog... click here. 

I'm often left wanting more God.

Parenting Quiz

After looking at the picture below, this may seem like an easy one. At first glance, you may think to yourself, "You don't have to be Ted Tripp to figure this out...child uses the door as a white board...duh..."

But when you come near this child to discipline him,  you realize there's a problem. The poopy diaper creates a much more complicated situation.

As a parent, do you:

A. Ignore the fact that he just used a marker to write on the door; change the diaper and go on with the day.

B. Change the diaper, then spank

C. Spank, then change the diaper

D. Slap the hand, then change the diaper

E. Time out, while making him sit in his own poop for further punishment.

F. Change the diaper, then make him sit in a timeout. 

G. Comfort him, realizing that he already feels remorse for his actions (Just look at the poor guy, he's already crying and broken over his infraction...)

When our kids are teenagers, I'm sure we'll look back and wish for the days when these were our biggest parenting issues.

I chose B.