Thanks for Watching

For the two readers who remain watching this blog - I appreciate your support. Please know, it isn't you, it's me.

I just don't know what to share anymore. I am pressed for time. I have so many good projects going on. I am trying to reinvigorate a church - they are already what I would call "vitalized" so I am trying to add some vigor...imagine taking warm water and pushing it to boiling. I am raising my child, and trying to be a good husband to my wife, and the mother of my child. I am organizing my sermons plans for the coming three years, as well as the worship content that can be expanded and explored along with it.

I still plan to blog as I find the need to outlet by way of journaling from time to time, and have some thoughts that just express well. I realize that in failing to blog "regularly" (daily, weekly or even habitually) I am just going to lose readership. I am willing to take that risk. I was never blogging for the readership, though it has made my day on occasion to see the kinds of remarks I gather. I put stuff here to hold a place for my thoughts and to generate ideas in the collective hive mind.

May God bless you if you venture off from here never to return. Should you decide to check in every now and then, or keep me on your blogroll, well, I am grateful that you have decided to keep the conversation going with me. Thank you.

More from Mikey

Mikey's Funnies offered this today

BIG GOD

One day on the way home from church a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the preacher's sermon this morning confused me."

The mother said, "Oh! Why is that?

The girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?"

"Yes, that's true," the mother replied.

"He also said that God lives within us. Is that true too?"

Again the mother replied, "Yes."

"Well," said the girl. "If God is bigger than us and he lives in us, wouldn't He show through?"

Stupid Sports

Someone made a comment in something I paid attention to for a brief moment earlier today. I was watching Bones, and there was a questions asked by Hodgins whether the best Islamic team would beat the best Christian team. It followed a question about Celtics and Lakers, so I went to the basketball world immediately.

It got me thinking about whether a team made up of Christians or Muslims might have the advantage in a basketball all-star game. I immediately came up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Chris Jackson, and figured off-hand that Sharif Abdur-Rahim might fit the bill too.

Using Wikipedia and some other resources I came up with the following:

Muslim Team

NBA

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Converted to Islam from Catholicism in 1971.
• Tariq Abdul-Wahad - Former French player, and formerly name was Olivier Saint-Jean (converted in 1997)
• Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf - Former player for Denver Nuggets (converted in 1991, formerly Chris Jackson)
• Shareef Abdur-Rahim - Retired player, named NBA All-Star in 2001-02 season
• Larry Johnson - Retired player, played for the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks
• Nazr Mohammed - Player for the Charlotte Bobcats, devout Muslim
• Mehmet Okur - Turkish player of the Utah Jazz
• Shaquille O'Neal - Player for the Phoenix Suns, also a rapper and actor
• Hakeem Olajuwon - retired Houston Rockets
• Rasheed Wallace - Center/power forward of the Detroit Pistons
• Baron Davis - Player for the LA Clippers
• Hidayet Türkoğlu - Turkish player for the Orlando Magic
• Rajon Rondo - Player for the Boston Celtics
• Jamaal Wilkes - LA Lakers

• Alaa Abdelnaby - retired Houston Rockets

Christian Team

NBA

• Dwight Howard - Orlando Magic
• David Robinson - San Antonio Spurs
• A.C. Green - LA Lakers
• Bobby Jones - Philadelphia 76ers
• Avery Johnson - Spurs
• Allan Houston - Knicks
• Michael Redd - Milwaukee Bucks
• Chris Paul - New Orleans
• David Thompson - Denver Nuggets
• Mark Price - Cleveland Cavaliers
• Charlie Ward - Knicks
• Luke Ridnour - Milwaukee Bucks
• Hubert Davis - Knicks
• Lenny Wilkens - Cleveland Cavaliers

Not sure who I give the nod to. Looks like the Islamic Community the edge at Center, though Howard and Robinson can hold their own and have the awards to prove it. PG lends the lead to Chris Paul, though the Muslim players have the depth to compete. Shooting guard, with Redd and Houston, as well as Mark Price gets the lead to the Christian team. I must give a clear assertion that Jamaal Wilkes, and Hedo definitely show some real strength. Power Forward goes to the Muslim players with the likes of Wallace, and Hakeem Olajuwon. Which brings the whole shooting match down to Small Forward with the players I have listed. Alaa Abdelnaby and Abdur-Rahim, with Larry Johnson stand up against Bobby Jones and AC Green. Bobby Jones is as great as they come, and AC Green had longevity that the others cannot even approach. Depth goes the other way - although Abdelnaby was less than stellar. Player/Coach Lenny Wilkens give the Christian players a definite edge, although Kareem is showing himself to be quite adept at the coaching side too.

In the end I say it goes to overtime, and the fitness of the Centers, on the Christian team, wins out. 120-115OT

Peace,

Innovation

My dear child, the Bug, has decided to fuse two of the great fads of my time. Wearing clocks and Grillz.

She has taken to eating my wife's watch.

This creates a Grillz effect that bears the front teeth, with a watch face for all to view. I dare say this is far more effective than Flava Flav's pairing of the two.

Laggy

As you may have noticed with the lag in posts I am feeling a little slow and sluggish.

This one is a bit different from the kinds of depression I have had in the past, but it does not preclude the possibility that this is the front end of such a depression. I share this not for an outcry of help, but to name it for myself.

Then again, it is October and I know that I regularly have a slump in October. Sometimes this has to do with a more drastic change in daylight, or the onset of winter pollens/allergies. Sometimes it has to do with making it through the summer, and now into a fall let-down.

There is just so much that happens in the summer. And now I find myself just having to get through piece by piece. The initial rush of starting a new church is now settling into the routines, and the schedules, and trying to slog through the things that could not be gotten through quickly and easily, even in the honeymoon period.

So, I guess it is time to find the next good project and to follow my brain, which craves interaction and stimulation - which means as one friend put it "CEUs" and being challenged with new thoughts and possibilities.

Peace,

From Mikey

'Cause I got nuthin'

http://www.mikeysFunnies.com/

FAMILY TREE OF VINCENT VAN GOGH

His dizzy aunt ----------------------------------------------- Verti Gogh
The brother who ate prunes------------------------------------ Gotta Gogh
The brother who worked at a convenience store --------------- Stop N Gogh
The grandfather from Yugoslavia ---------------------------------- U Gogh
His magician uncle ------------------------------------- Where-diddy Gogh
The nephew who drove a stage coach ----------------------- Wells-far Gogh
The constipated uncle ---------------------------------------- Can't Gogh
The ballroom dancing aunt ------------------------------------- Tang Gogh
The bird lover uncle ---------------------------------------- Flamin Gogh
The fruit-loving cousin ---------------------------------------- Man Gogh
An aunt who taught positive thinking ------------------------ Way-to-Gogh
The little bouncy nephew --------------------------------------- Poe Gogh
A sister who loved disco ---------------------------------------- Go Gogh
And his niece who travels the country in an RV ---------- Winnie Bay Gogh

Men +1

Off to the Men's Fellowship Group at St. Andrew UMC for breakfast this morning. I am taking my daughter, so in one sense she represents the +1 in the title.

For years this group has focused on fellowship. I have no complaint with fellowship, as there is much that can happen by way of fellowship. In this particular instance, I want fellowship to be helping people more explicitly direct their walk with Jesus Christ.

To this end, I am excited because one of the best ways to get to know the people of the Men's Fellowship is to hear the story of faith that each of them brings. Very rarely do men have this type of forum to gather and share so deeply.

I have been thankful for my years in the Men's Fellowship at Bishop FUMC. They decided along the way to become a Chartered United Methodist Men's Group. The thing is that they focused on a Book study - scripture, tradition, and reason. The bulk of time though was directed to Experience. These men could relate, and they could lay out their own faith and its struggles more clearly working with other materials.

My hope is that our Testimony time with Men's Breakfast will continue to grow. I am grateful to Carl Gerber for introducing this method of fellowship to me. It works. I use the title Men +1, to echo Carl's sentiment, that there is always room for one more.

Men's Breakfast is the First Saturday of each month. The cost is per your sense of donation, and breakfast usually lasts about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Youth Group

The Youth Group at St. Andrew UMC in Santa Maria is making a comeback.

This Sunday at 5PM, until 6:30PM, local youth are invited to St. Andrew UMC, in the Youth area (the far side of the building, across from the Sanctuary) for a selection from Combos, Vol. 2 on "God Man".

We will be discussing Jesus and both God and Man, fully Human, fully Divine.

I look forward to seeing you there, as I begin leading this series, and using it as a time to train adults and youth about leading this amazing gathering for our Youth in Orcutt and Santa Maria.