Fixing things......again

I recently waxed philosophic on my proclivity to "fix" things.

My lovely bride this afternoon asked me to help her do something. I quickly donned my knight in shining armor gear, and leapt into action.

I now have a boot with no heel to show for it. And she giggled at me. Then I got a hammer. What she needed help with is fixed.

Now I need to fix my boot.

Life with Jake

Jake is blogging now. Or something like that. Maybe it is the goofy looking human in the picture, or someone who is not in the picture ....... I'm sure it will be interesting none the less.

Lessons learned from the 3 Stooges - Part 1ne

On June 22nd, several people from at least 5 churches will be heading to the Dominican Republic to help with a school of ministry or two. We (Jeff and I) met with them on Wednesday and Thursday. It was an amazing trip.

We met Fred Harris in Phoenix, and he went with us to Yuma. He is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Winslow, AZ. If I remember correctly, they stand on a corner...... Fred is an amazing guy, even if he says "Stink" a lot and talks about Jewish bears.

Jason (pastor) and Bob (youth group - the entire youth group) met with us. They are from Yuma Community Church. Jason started the church last Easter and this Easter Sunday, they had 100 attending services!!!! Sounds like he is doing an amazing job planting that church. Yuma Community is located less than a mile away from Stone Ridge Church.

Sam is the pastor of Stone Ridge Church.and they are the sponsoring church for this trip to the D.R. Sam and Jason are not in competition with each other, as a matter of fact, they pray for the success of the other church. Imagine that, churches of different beliefs cooperating rather than competing. Think this might be an idea that needs to spread to other places? I do.

Stone Ridge has a Missions Team that operates better than any team I have ever encountered. I used to teach teams how to operate, helped them begin, facilitated them when I was playing Engineer. This team taught me several things! And they call themselves the Three Stooges! Not Larry, Curly, and Moe, but Mark, José, and Ron.

Mark is the Team Leader. He is a relationship kind of guy. Likes to make sure people get to do what they need to be doing. Mark plays guitar professionally, and is self-employed to make a living. The lovely Lindsay is the one who makes sure the teams get to the D.R. and back. She loves the challenge of getting the best price for airline tickets. They are a good team, maybe that's why they are married......

José is an administrator / people person. Good combination of skills and passion. He was born in the States, lived in Mexico until he was 12, then came back to the States. He's been a beliver for a little over 5 years. Sounds like he is Sam's translater in the D.R. (does that make him a Designated Speaker?) Laura is an amazing cook. We hung out in their patio and ate, talked, and ate some more on Wednesday afternoon.

Didn't have an opportunity to meet Ron this trip. He is the administrator / fund-raiser. Heard part of his story, can't wait to meet him and look in his eyes to see the rest of it.

Their work has influenced many and will influence many more people before they are done. All three of these guys work full time jobs. Sam says they spend at least 20 hours a week in ministry for the church and the passion that God has given them. If you are around them for more than 5 minutes, their passion gives them away. Wouldn't surprise me if they bleed missions, reaching people, and serving Christ when they get cut.

That's all for now. My mind still hasn't gotten a handle on what happened. Not to mention what will happen as a result of this week. Good stuff.

I'm off.....again

Headed to Phoenix today to attend another eTeam meeting. Sounds like we haven't had a great deal of response to our questions yet.

Tomorrow - Yuma. Meeting with folks from 4 or 5 churches who will be heading to the Dominican Republic for 10 days or so. Gonna do some planning.

Back to Phoenix on Thursday afternoon. Get to spend time with another friend and his family. Maybe do some planning to fix some things that need fixing.

Will let you know how things went.

The Discipline of Lent

Adam gave up coffee for Lent. For most of us Protestants, we don't even think about Lent. Adam did and decided to try giving something up - coffee.

Many who give something up give up the thing that is furthest away from them. Not Adam, he works in a coffee shop - and he gave up drinking coffee for 40 days. In that period of time, he began to learn how to roast coffee, read books on coffee (even hosted a contest about coffee), and reflected often (look at the bottom of the post for a listing) about the process.

He finished his coffee fast today - with pics!!

I'm not sure I could handle giving up something that I was around like that. Especially when I enjoy coffee as much as I do.

Good job Adam!

Mr. FixIt .... and humility

I like to fix things. Take them apart, figure them out, put them back together, improve them etc. My first degree is in Mechanical Engineering - crammed my 4 years into 5 at New Mexico State University. I have rebuilt a 392 International V-8 engine, replaced the cab on my 1972 International dump truck, fixed multiple car / truck engine problems and numerous other projects.

Some of them worked well. I can replace parts on most vehicles pretty easy. Somebody tells me what is wrong, and I can change the parts out. Most of the time doing those kinds of repairs are relatively easy. Except for the engine rebuild. It worked really good, lots of power, smooth running, etc. until something in the bottom end let loose and it didn't have so much power, or run so smooth, etc. When I replaced the cab on the dump truck, the wiring harness was different and I didn't know it until the burning smell alerted me that something was definitely not right. Not too much damage - a couple of days later, everything was Ok again.

I'm no longer messing with dump trucks. My wife is extremely happy that she doesn't have to pray that the truck would start each morning at 4:30 am for some strange reason.

My latest fix it thing is computers. I am building my supply of parts rapidly.

A couple of years ago, I had a laptop (still have it - parts.....) It developed a problem with its keyboard. Rick let me borrow one of his spare laptops for the rest of the semester - thanks Rick!! After the semester was over, I decided to "fix" my laptop. Found just the right keyboard (I thought) until I opened the box and immediately found out it was NOT the right one. No problem - less than $20. Found another one - the right one this time, and it had a CD drive with it for around $20, maybe a little more. I needed the CD drive too, because the laptop originally had a 3.5" drive. Keyboard worked fine, CD drive worked fine. Come to find out, the battery had died in the meantime, so updating the BIOS was a problem without a fully charged battery. Reliable batteries are not the cheapest........

My desktop died a couple of months ago - no problem. Troubleshot it, found out that it was NOT several things. Talked to tech support, they wanted me to send it in so they could work on it - right..... as if I can't fix it myself. Talked with a couple of friends of mine - Rick, & Dante. Both of them thought it sounded like the motherboard. I'd never replaced a motherboard before, sounded like fun. $43 and 4 days later, I had a new, upgraded motherboard.

Put it all together, double checked everything, and surprise, surprise, it booted, first time!!! I was all kinds of excited. Miah and Annie saw their dear old dad do the Happy Dance.

Had to shut down to hook up to the net to update a few things - again, no problem. Noticed that when it shut down, the lights on the keyboard were very bright, but it didn't quite sink in - yet.

Hooked it up to the net, and it refused to boot - just like it had refused to boot prior to the replacement of the motherboard, and the keyboard lights were brighter than I had ever seen them, and the optical mouse glowed like never before. I was a bit discouraged.

Found out the next morning when I tried to boot the machine I borrowed the keyboard and mouse from that they didn't want to work. It now appears that I have 2 fried motherboards, 2 dead keyboards, and 1 blind optical mouse.

Just prior to me getting the bright idea of "fixing" my desktop, our inkjet printer (an all-in-one jobby) decided to get cranky. Being the fix-it kinda guy I am, I decided to find out why it was leaving ink drops the size of a small cookie on paper left in the tray too long. So, I opened it up, found out how to take it apart. Spent quite a bit of time one evening cleaning it up. Put it all back together, lo and behold, it does not do what it used to do - PRINT!!!! In spite of several attempts to fix what wasn't really broken, it still functions as an expensive paperweight - and we don't have a device that will put our words on paper.

To recap, I now have one laptop (with a dead battery, but a new CD drive), a desktop (with 2 fried motherboards, 2 dead keyboards, and 1 blind optical mouse), and a previously Ok inkjet printer on my hands, or laying around the house in various locations for storage.

So, how does humility come into play? I'm glad you asked. I have always prided myself on being able to fix pretty much anything that comes along. Give me the manuals, and I can figure it out (or so I used to think.) I'm not so sure anymore - at least about computers.

C.J. Mahaney wrote a book recently about humility. I have not read the book, but have it on my list of books to get someday. He published a PDF list of things that he does to encourage his humility. (It used to be found on the Sovereign Grace website, but I couldn't find it) Some of the things he lists should be on my list too - such as laugh at myself often, but I'm thinking that adding the title "Computer Repairman" to my list of my "talents" should not even be considered. Maybe I need to take these electronic devices to someone who is trained and capable of repairing them correctly the first time rather than spending way too much time, effort, money, and emotional distress on them.

In the meantime, Miah tells me last night that her laptop had quit talking to the wireless network at home. I tried to fix it. Good thing for her we had to go to church last night for Worship Team practice. She made it work this morning - guess that is one less thing for me to "fix."

Continuing comments about the 12

I'm continuing my whirlwind tour through "The Training of the Twelve" by A.B. Bruce. I started it last summer and have found it difficult to read much at a time. Not because it is a difficult book, but due to my ability (or lack thereof) to digest the concepts. It continually challenges my thinking, offering chunks for me to mull over, consider, argue with, etc.

Read a sobering one last night here (found toward the end of the chapater) that I quote below:

Stern fact sternly announced; but however stern, Jesus is not afraid to look it in the face. His heart is in perfect peace, for He has two great consolations. He has a good conscience: He can say, "I have overcome the world." He has held fast His moral integrity against incessant temptation. The prince of this world has found none of his spirit in Him, and for that very reason is going to crucify Him. But by that proceeding Satan will not nullify, but rather seal, His victory. Outward defeat by worldly power will be but the index and measure of His spiritual conquest. The world itself knows well that putting Him to death is but the second best way of overcoming Him. His enemies would have been much better pleased if they had succeeded in intimidating or bribing Him into compromise. The ungodly powers of the world always prefer corruption to persecution as a means of getting rid of truth and righteousness; only after failing in attempts to debauch conscience, and make men venal, do they have recourse to violence.

In context, Bruce is describing Jesus' final hours and the conversations he had with his disciples. This quote is sobering in that the tactics of the Enemy have not changed. We (Christ-followers) still have to watch our every step, to make sure our integrity is not compromised, in spite of being under constant surveilance. Jesus himself said in John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (NASB)

More to come ..... someday.

Easter's on it's way.....

Next Sunday is Easter and we get to watch a baptism!!!!! Olivia's Mom and Dad talked to me this morning about talking with Olivia. I asked them where they thought Olivia was since they have a better sense of her spiritual life than I. They thought she was ready, so we talked after services this morning.

She asked Jesus to come into her heart a while back. Mom and Dad have done a great job talking to her, clarifying, making sure she understands what happened, is happening, etc.

We talked about being baptized. She's ready! I asked her why she wanted to be baptized. Her response - "Because I asked Jesus to come into my heart." Simple faith.

Does she understand everything that everyone thinks she should understand before making a "decision for Christ?" Probably not, but then again, I doubt very seriously that anyone understands everything everyone else thinks they need to know...... I don't have many of the answers either.

So, next week, Easter Sunday, we get to celebrate as Dad baptizes Olivia!!!!! I can hardly wait.

Reminders..........

Kiki has ended her blogging fast with two excellent posts.

The first is one every woman, and the men who love them, need to read. It is a reminder..........

The second is from Guest Blogger Brandee Littlefield. She presents a writing that resulted from a dream she had that was recorded in her journal. It too, is a reminder..........

Blogging is contagious

Shemiah has started blogging!!! She's been at it for a little while. She has written poetry for a long time and most of it is outstanding (and I'm not biased in the least....)

She posted a poem that was written some time ago here. The poem is good, but the comments from her uncle and cousin make it all the better. The man mentioned in the comment from Neil is Shemiah's granddad. He's one of my heros too.

Reflections on a previous life

Spent some time with a friend of mine this past week. He recently went through an unexpected job change. He was, and still is, self-employed, but now really self-employed. Was with a couple of partners and now is not.

Had the opportunity to see how his was doing spiritually, how he was dealing with life, his outlook, family, church, etc. Having been in a similar situation of a business failure of sorts, it was nice to see him working through many of the same issues that we dealt with several years ago.

We talked about how many people don't get it when we say "It's not about the money" or "Money is not the issue." Especially when they are very concerned about how you will pay the bills, feed the family, etc. The real issue comes down to faith. Will God do what He has promised that He will do for one of His, or will He not?

I'm glad we are no longer self-employed in the same sense. I'm glad that our business supported us for as long as it did. I'm also glad that it failed. Without the failure, I would not have the faith in the Father that I do now, hope in the work that Christ has done, or the comfort that the Comforter provides.