Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Good Morning,

   Blues skies up above, everyone's in love, up the lazy river by the old mill stream. I think that is what the Mills brothers used to croon. Well at least we have the blue skies up above. If you want to hear some real harmony grab one of their old records. The Rockets beat somebody last night. It's a miracle. Okay, it was only the Charlotte Hornets. Tonight the real test comes as they stop in San Antonio after the red eye from the east coast. Is there a legitimate center in the house? Even a round mound of rebound. Sir Charles is doing commercials for Weight Watchers. Bon Jovi is doing commercials for Aleve or Advil. The next thing you know, Michael Vick will be doing Purina commercials.  "Who Let The Dogs Out," could be the commercial's theme song. After Monday's rains everyone is complaining about the flooding. Let's see - flat land with concrete all over it and swamps - where do you plan on the water going? It's like New Orleans trying to figure out what to do when a hurricane is coming.  Every place has it's little problems. Mosquitos and monsoons - no place but Houston. Try Schenectady. You'll be back. Shoot, I'm not even sure how to spell it.

Then there's Detroit. Will the last one out, please hit the light switch? Well, have yourself a merry little Tuesday. 

   Please pray for these two families today. Brianna Mc Cormick is a young lady who is missing in Baytown. She is the second young lady to be reported missing in the last 10 days in Baytown. Brianna is a friend of the Lombrana family and is about the same age as Olga Lombrana. Also, the Linda Ladue family whose funeral will be today at 1pm and I will be helping the family with the visitation at 11am and then conducting the services at Carter's Funeral Home.

   Tonight we will not have a family meal, but we will have our continuing study of Romans and the life of Paul and prayer and praise. That all begins at 7pm. And of course the youth, children's choir and zone 56 will meet in their respective areas and times, too.

   We used to have these monthly meetings when I was with RCA and more times than not the theme was, "Service With A Smile."  How about trying that today? Make it "Life With A Smile."  Your first inclination may be the thought, "I don't have much to smile about." Double check that. I dare say you are wrong. You woke up. You are able to read. You are able to breathe. You know how to operate a computer or phone, somewhat, if you are reading this . You can afford to own one or the other or you have the ability to walk some place or drive someplace to use one. Drive? Yes, you might even own at least part of a car. When Hakeem Olajuwon came to the US he didn't know what a drinking fountain was or how to operate one. One out of three children in the world this morning will not put on shoes - they don't have any.  It is time to smile, don't you think?

   See you later, love, ken 

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Good Morning,

   That smell from the east is from the little fishes of Louisiana who experienced the red tide last night.  There is no jazz in New Orleans this morning. Pete Fountain's new name is Pete Faucet. Baton Rouge is Baton Blue. Hallelujah college football is over, bring on March Madness. There is a crazy lady in Houston who will run two marathons this Sunday. She will run the Chevron Houston Marathon backwards starting at about midnight on Sunday morning and then run it forward beginning at the 7am race time. Over 50 miles. Nuts. She is looking for somebody to run with her as she doesn't want to run alone in the middle of the night. That seems to be the least of her problems. Bless her heart. That's what us southerners say when we think somebody is totally loco but we don't want to say that because we are so nice.  Windy and cool Tuesday so enjoy it.

    Jim Peddy was sitting up in bed eating his breakfast when I left his room a few minutes ago. He is doing very well and should come home by Friday. Barbara Reppond was also doing very well. Not sitting up yet but still good and she, too, should come home by Friday. Jim is in room 1819 at St. Luke's and Barbara is in room 643 in the main building at Methodist.  Charles and Betty Anderson's daughter, Gabby, is in surgery now at Bayshore Pasadena and should come home tomorrow. She looked cute this morning in her little blue surgery cap. Dusty Bolin is in ICU at East Houston Regional after some blood pressure problems yesterday in dialysis. I will check in on her, Joyce Smith at home and Ellis Weeks at Triumph later this morning. Please pray for these folks and take some time to go see them.

   Understanding your health just got easier. That's what a sign says on the desk beside me. I didn't realize it was that complicated. Eat right, exercise often, rest appropriately, alleviate stress. drink water. I told you it was easy. Bless my heart.

   See you later, love, ken

Monday, January 09, 2012

Barbara Reppond Update:

Good Evening Again ,

Barbara Reppond's surgery did not begin until 1pm. She is still in surgery now and most likely won't be out of recovery until 6pm. All reports are good so far. keep praying. k

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Jim Peddy Update:

Good Evening,

Quack, quack. Jim Peddy is in recovery at this time. His back surgery went well according to doctor's report. Please keep praying. thanks, ken

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Good Morning,

   There is an entrepreneur pigeon on Fannin St. this morning selling snorkels, masks and fins to his fellow feathered friends. That was alliteration, if you missed it. Maybe he knows something we don't. He has a cute pigeon with a bikini carrying around a sign that says Cancun On Fannin Coming Soon. Like this afternoon. Thanks for the rain Lord, but did you have to make it thunder so much? You know I need all the beauty sleep I can possibly get. Seriously, thanks for the rain. Right beside them the sprinklers were going and it was sprinkling rain. Now who is the smart one out of this group? It seems as if the sprinkler design and installation folks could put up some kind of precipitation monitor that would shut off the sprinkler system when it is raining. But I do think we may could make a video of it and send it to the leaders of Iran as they sit in their desert. Rain and sprinklers both at the same time. That would tick them off. Maybe put a pig in the picture too.  How about those Texans? Baltimore you have a problem. Edgar Allen Poe, roll over and rename your poem. Just say no to a raven. Do we have ravens or did the British just rename a big black bird? I killed a black bird with a sling shot once. I was so proud. I snuck up on him and shot him at close range in an oak tree in our neighbor's yard and took him home to show my dad. That was a mistake. He asked me, "Why did you shoot this bird?" I could tell by his tone that any answer was going to be wrong. But stupid me I went through the entire stalking, hunting and sneaking routine that I used to kill the bird. I even threw in a "just like you taught me" a time or two in hopes of tonal change in Daddy's voice. No success. Dad's response was,"have you ever gotten this close to any other bird before?" "No sir." "Why do you think you got so close to this one?" "I was real quiet and sneaky," I said. "No you weren't," he said. "Yes, sir I  really was." "Nope. This bird is not able to fly quite yet," he said. He continued to say that he probably got out of his nest to begin to test his wings by sitting on a limb and flapping them and then you shot him as he couldn't  fly away. He added insult to injury by saying these words. "You killed a baby black bird."  It was a black day, too. May Sunday be a black day for those fancy black birds, the Ravens. Have a great rainy Monday.

   Jim Peddy went into surgery at St. Luke's a little before 8 this morning. I was able to pray with Liz around 8 and she has about a 6 hour wait until she can see Jim. Barbara Reppond will have surgery around noon today here at Methodist. Adrianna Fisher is down the street with a broken jaw and a surgically repaired leg after a Friday night auto accident. I will ease down there and check on her in a minute and then come back and check on Barbara. Please pray for these along with Des Bostick who burned his foot in a cooking accident and is home recovering. He was trying to make baked sole. Only kidding. Please pray.

   Things were rocking down here yesterday in the medical center as the Prudential Building was destroyed, bombed or whatever you call it to make way for a new building. I worked on a friends pickup truck in that parking lot back in about 1975. We put a u-joint in it in the middle of the night. It was a proud building back in the day. PETA might want to protest as I am sure there is at least one or two families of rats that are homeless this morning . Or worse yet, squashed. Rat Patrol where are you? Vic Morrow to the rescue.

   There is a sign beside me in the computer room that says PARK in big letters and below it it says - reliable, fast, worry free. Three words that describe the wishes of the world today. Everything must be fast. God can give us reliable and worry-free, right now. That's how He works. He can also give us patience, so that fast does not matter. Let Him. Today.

   See you later, love, ken

Friday, January 06, 2012

Good Morning,

   Casey Anthony is back. All blondes should file suit. Forrest was right. Stupid is as stupid does. Lohan is jealous. Texans day is Saturday. We need a slogan. Luv ya Blue. Clutch City. Maybe Terrible Texans. Something.  And a team song. I still like, Who Let The Dogs Out? I like barking in certain spots. It's like grunting. A man thing, you know. Maybe it's really a big boy thing. Remember Kip's Big Boy? There used to be one close to our house. I liked their food. The statue out front was a little weird. Was he Kip or Big Boy? They had a burger that was like a Big Mac, with secret sauce of some kind. And a salad with lots of chopped ham on it. The only thing I didn't like about it was my Oceanography teacher, Mr. Williams, used to eat there and I would have to see him. He was like the statue out front - a little weird.  He liked sea animals more than people. He never liked me as much after Arnold flipped some kind of salamander out of the aquarium onto the classroom floor and I couldn't quit laughing. You would have thought we killed the principal. Mr. Williams was really ticked. He had a slight lisp but when he got mad that day his lisp went into overdrive. I sat at the front of the room the rest of the year. Everybody in the high school science department was a little weird seems like. Too many Bunsen burner fumes, I guess. Everybody except Ms. Wuensche. She was hot. Well at least in our hormone addled 17 year old brains, anyway. Word was she had been a model before coming to teach at our school. Now, does that really make sense? From model to teaching chemistry at a high school in Pasadena, Texas. See what I mean about hormones?  She was at least younger than the rest of the science department and was female. Maybe Eddy Van Halen was in our class and I just don't remember, but one of our classmates ended up marrying her after graduation. Hot For Teacher was more than a song looks like.  Enough about science. Have a great day. I do have the formula for gunpowder and hydrogen that can both be made from items you can purchase at the drug store and feed store. Weird and science came together with me. Boom boom, out go the lights.  

   Men's breakfast and Bible study tomorrow morning at 8am.

   Ladies you too will have a breakfast at 8am but not with us, but I guess you can ride with you manly man, if you like.

   God lift my denial. Let me see the ditch in which I so often live. Let me look up to see Your fiercest anger poured out on Your Son so that I could see your mercy, Your compassions that are fresh every time I look up from the ditch, God, I know You've been quoting words written by Lewis: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain; it is His megaphone to a deaf world. Please, let me hear your voice of love whispering beneath Your paralyzing shouts. But don't stop shouting. I's still pretty deaf."   This an excerpt from Dr. Larry Crabb's book, " 66 Love Letters."  Each book of the Bible is a love letter from God to humanity.

   See you later, love, ken   

 

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Good Morning,

   Another beeyootiful day in the neighborhood. Won't you be my neighbor? Or should I say Homie, as I sit here in downtown urban/suburban Cloverleaf, Texas? Wassuppp? I would get down with my bad self but I may struggle getting back up. Mr. Perry please don't sign up for another debate unless it is in Louisiana. In Louisiana, debate is what you get before you go fishing. Denial is a river in Egypt and debrief is your drawers. Perry for Shrimp Boat Captain. Lieutenant Dan is ready to retire. Get your live shrimp, mullet, and mud minnows at Debate by Perry. Free ice if you can remember the three points of anything in this century or if you bring in a rock that looks to have some paint on it. One of Mr. Cain's girlfriends will do if you can't find a rock. Mr. Cain wants to take them fishing anyway. He has already loaded his boat with cinder blocks and rope. I'm not sure what kind of fish he is going after but he does have some Kennedy memos in his briefcase. Get on the barge, Marge. I talked to a lady in New Mexico yesterday whose name is Cricket. That's a cute name. I wonder if she is related to one of  the Carradine boys? Grasshopperrrrrr. I resisted asking her that as it was my first time to speak with her, but when I talk to her again next week...  Have a great day.

   Tonight is the night. Chick-Fil-A. 5-8pm. Spirit Night. Two wheels or four. Regular or spicy. Inside or out. Walk-up or drive thru. Kids or not. Wife or girlfriend. Oops.

   Saturday morning 8am - Men's Breakfast and Bible Study in the Fellowship Hall.

   Ladies, too, but not with us. We're manly men. You will have your breakfast in Mary O'Fallin's classroom, 8-9am. Do not come in the fellowship hall. There is manly stuff happening in there. Grunting and lying, mostly.

   Samuel H. Miller, one time dean at Harvard Divinity School, wrote this: "Believing is as much an integral factor in man as eating and sleeping. It is intrinsic to his nature. He neither gains nor loses his faith; he merely changes the object of it. One way or another, he believes, negatively or positively; if not in Heaven then in hell; if not in God, then in fate, if not in fate, then in law; if not in law, then in aimless chance."

   See you later, love, ken

  

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Good Morning,

   Where did this Santorum guy come from? Ricky stick a fork in yourself. You're done. Republicans, you might want to find your head, because the rest of your body is running around the chicken yard and Mr. Obama is grinning.  American politics. Weird. Bald - Head Bob for president. The entitlement thing could change from Air Jordans to Rogaine. Ms. Parker's "partner" was holding a Bible at the Houston mayor's inauguration yesterday. Weird, again.  Bald-Head Bob for mayor. Babe Jr. we could call him. Have you heard about Ms. Parker's flood plan for the downtown area?  It's a tacky joke. Think about it. Think Holland. The Netherlands. Wooden Shoes. Big wind mills. Land recovered from the sea. The Rockets kept me up again last night with their teasing play and then when it got almost midnite they fell apart. When will I learn. I could have went to bed at 10:00, but, oh no, they kept it close until 11:45 and then they started shooting from the third row and wondering why nothing went in. I do like "Bud" though. He kinda looks like Bird just not quite as ugly. Not quite as good either. Rudy T was there watching the game. He is looking old, but he was and is a hero of mine. He can take a punch. If you want to lose weight, watch the video of Rudy being coldcocked as he ran down the court, just before you place your order or sit down at the dining table. Saturday, the Texans see if they are real or not. No two point conversion attempts allowed, coach K. This isn't the old days where ties are like kissing your sister. You go into overtime and win the thing. And by the way, have you seen your sister, lately?  Ties are good. It's Wednesday already. These holidays have me mixed up more than usual.

   It is useless for parents to demand a moral code of their children when they themselves are unwilling to set an example - a very high example  It is also useless for parents to expect their children to act like adults when the bar has been set so low on a daily basis. It is difficult for parents to show love to their children if they don't show love to one another. The strong-willed woman who insists everything be done her way may be destroying her marriage, her husband, her children, her children's future and her future. Children act out what they have seen. Children become married adults. Many continue to act out what they have seen. It's easy - they have been practicing for years. Don't believe me ask a kid why he/she doesn't like tomatoes or tea or... Ten will get you twenty that mom or dad doesn't like them either. Minor, no problem, examples you say. Agreed. But they are sponges of all behavior models. Minor and major.

   See you tonight for Bible Study at 7pm. love, ken

 

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Good Morning,

   For all you Mayans, it's 2012. It's been really nice knowing you. Ain't skeered. For all you Texans fans. Hut 1, Hut 2, Hike, Help! The NBA has started but I'm not sure anybody cares. It's like when Cinco Ocho or whatever his new name is decided to change his name. Big deal. Wolf has been cried too many times. Have you exchanged all your Christmas gifts yet? I am going to exchange my gift cards for some fishing tackle this week. Otherwise I'm good. All the cars found their way back to the Gulf Freeway this morning. I think they brought some friends with them. How come it was easier to get up yesterday morning than this morning? The mind is a funny thing. In my case, a little funny. Is this year going to be different or the same? Your choice. You know what to do. If not, diagnose 2011. Take it's temperature - did I really care for people? Take it's blood pressure - did I really apply all God has told me? What about the heart rate?  Was it about me or Thee? How about the O2 level? Did I live in the snake belly realm of the world with my thoughts and actions? Simple questions. To be frank, all have simple answers. But we must ask the questions first. Otherwise another year will roll by and we will be the same people we were last year and continuing to blame our upbringing, our personality and our surroundings for where we come up short. Maturity is not age. Maturity is not knowing what is right. Maturity is personal honesty about personal application of God's characteristics. New Year? You can do it.

   Tomorrow night we will NOT have our family meal as I take off one more Wednesday from the kitchen. We WILL have our 7pm Bible Study on Romans along with prayer and praise. The youth will also begin their in-depth look at apologetics - Biblical truths. Young people you don't want to miss this. Parents you don't want them to miss this.

   Thursday night, 5-8pm we will be at Chick-Fil-A for Spirit Night. The weather forecast is a good one for you 2 wheel folks. How about starting the year supporting the Faith Riders Ministry and a Christian operated business.

   Men. Saturday morning we will have our breakfast at 8am along with our continuing study of Courageous.

   Thanks to all who were involved in any way with the Mission Trip. It was a great experience and children were saved in the Vacation Bible Schools and church construction projects were completed. If you would like to donate to this effort you still may do so. The next trip will be June 3-9, so mark it on your calendar.

   Ladies, your women's conference is on the schedule for late February. More details in a few days. It will be a Friday night and Saturday time of fun, fellowship, music, teaching and lady stuff at a local hotel.

   I heard a great statement on Sunday afternoon at the grand opening of the Prayer Room on Freeport St. "Christian society of this era has become very much like the homosexual society. Recruiting instead of reproducing."  Wow.

   Speaking of the Prayer Room. It is at 333 Freeport St., one block off Uvalde, across the street from the North Channel EMS building and is open 10am-7pm , Mon-Sat and 2pm-7pm on Sunday. This is open to all faiths and is the vision of James John, a devout Christian man from India, who has enlisted about 20 of us local pastors and church leaders to be part of this great community ministry. Prayer rooms have been used very effectively across the country with the most well known one being IHOP - Intentional House Of Prayer - in Kansas City. Drop by and check out the facility and the speak with Bro. James and spend some time in prayer.

   I am reading a book right now called "The Rabbit and the Elephant." I know, it sounds like a kindergarten book and you think that fits me. The latter may be true but the book is pointing us toward the fact that as God's people we are to be like rabbits, not elephants. Huh? Multiplication. Christians are to multiply. Not as married couples but as Christians. We are to see every opportunity to show someone Christ and then not just see it but pounce upon it. Elephants are happy with one offspring at a time over a very long period. You know the rabbit story. This story in the book caught my interest on page 54: One of the members of the original group(A home church group) is the wrestling coach at a Lutheran High School. He heard the Lord tell him to see his wrestling team as a  church. Each day as he listened to the Lord, he received instructions as to how to do this. And each day as the team met for practice, the coach would share what he was hearing from God. He began to teach the wrestlers how to hear from God for themselves and about the nature of church. They joked this was a church that really believed in the "laying on of hands." After the season was over, a coach from another sport remarked, "Your team is the only team in the school that is really a family. How did you do it?'

   Another member of the original home church group is an ex-police officer who lives in a rural area outside the city. One day a stray dog showed up in his yard and stayed around for several days. The owner of the dog turned out to be a registered sex offender who had become a follower of Jesus but treated as a social outcast by the community. The ex-cop heard the Lord say to him, "Invite this man and his wife for dinner." Out of this meal together grew a church with four couples. This home church has become the only place where this former sex offender and his wife have normal relationships with other people. Recently, the ex-cop was in tears as he told of how transparent and life-changing this group has been for every couple involved."

   Unusual story? Yep. What unusual things has God been telling you to do and you haven't? Trust and obey. It's time.

   See you later, love, ken.