Restored....

I must be honest - I haven't been to church in a long time. And as long as were being really honest, I'll say that since March or so, I haven't been to church much at all. I can probably count the times on two hands worth of fingers. There's little point as to the 'why' of my absence - let's just say that the less you go, the easier it gets to not keep going. And compound that over several months - plus the awkward feeling you get when you do go and there are some peeps that think you are a new member or even a visitor (which in a way is prefectly accurate - I've merely been visiting Calvary Chapel for most of 2006). I forced myself to go tonight, and you know what? It was awesome, truly awesome. Oh yes, Sid made a comment (Hi, my name's Sid - you may not remember me, etc) and so did Dave and Billy Jo, but they always do, in a fun way.
The best part was Jason's teaching tonight - from 2 Corinthians. Mostly what got me was he specifically mentioned not letting Satan tell you that you're horrible for mssing church so much, so how dare you even go! It was like (and how many times does Jason do this?? lots) he was speaking straight to me and me alone, reminding me that God wasn't mad that I haven't been attending - rather, He is OVERJOYED that I wanted to spend time worshipping Him tonight. Amen - grace is pretty cool when you think about it.

Let My People Go...

...to North Dakota!

(From the Paris News)

To the Editor:

Israel is in the wrong location. Putting a Jewish county in the middle of a billion Moslems was not very wise. Moslems and Jews have been killing each other forever and will continue to do so from now on.

Israel is surrounded by Moslems who want to kill them. So, Israel needs to move.

A choice location for Israel would be North Dakota. We don't need N.D., and it would make a excellent Jewish country. There are no Moslems anywhere near N.D.

If any of the present citizens of N.D. don't want to live in a Jewish county we could pay them three times the worth of their property.

The name of North Dakota can be changed to Israel, and the capital to Jerusalem. Preachers can then say, "God's chosen people were given North Dakota."

Roy Bunch

Paris

Good ol' Roy - he's always good for a laugh.

Wild Fun Day

So today (well, yesterday by the time I finish posting this) started off as a standard Saturday - getting up early (!), changing my oil (!!), then running a few errands. Fairly banal fare, you might say. Well, afterwards I went to Sherman with Kinsey - oops, forgot to not use names... oh well - and had a rather large time there (to use a Deeism) looking for items to buy for Snickers, my fur baby, as well as items for myself. I bought her several things but myself only one - a game for my PSP, after trading in some DVD's at Gamestop. We also went 'clothes shopping' - Kinsey went around like a personal shopper, suggesting various shirts and whatnot to complete my ensemble - no, he's not gay, he just knows his colors and what goes with what.

Anyway, on the way back, we pass by Toco and the dilapidated airplane that sits out front (pics to follow). We pulled in the parking lot so I could take some pics, of course. This elderly gentleman opens the door of his ramshackle building to tell us we can look inside his airplane - so we climb in. It was hot as all get out, but interesting to see an old airplane. However, the best part was after we left the hellaciously hot airplane and went back inside to thank the old man for letting us check out the plane. The building he lived in is so run-down. It was rather depressing, to tell you the truth. I thought to make a quick thank-you and exit, but the old man (I forget his name, something Burchinal..) began to regale us with stories from his past, of flying in old movies (Mad Mad Mad World, Murphy's War, Ba Ba Black Sheep, just to name a few), and also telling us lots of local history, stuff you neverhear about. It turned out to be the most awesome thing that happened today - in a way, it was like history coming alive listening to him talk about his experiences. I'd like to take my (uhhh, I mean Dee's) videocamera back and tape him, make a documentary about Paris and the surrounding area's history, and Burchinal's story - he was just cool, for an old guy. The most awesome thing was that stopping at his place with the old airplane was just a fluke - I've driven by there so many times and never thought to check it out before...

Anyway, this just makes me think how many other stories are out there, waiting to be told, and no one to listen to them.

I ♥ Pluto - New York Times

What with all the hoopla over Pluto and 'trans-Neptunian objects' (blechh, what a horrible term) the author here makes a compelling case for the reinstatement of Pluto as a planet. Just don't mind the Goth chick....


I ♥ Pluto - New York Times

http://www.flickr.com/photos/homer4k/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/homer6k/


These are links to my photos on Flickr - nothing too spectacular (yet, ha ha) but a nice variety of pics.

I've been blogging on Xanga for more than two years now, but I've decided to make the switch to Blogger, since Google will soon own the world (if it hasn't happened already)