It's like looking into a mirror....

The resemblance is amazing.....

It's Been Awhile

Hello my Blog.... It's been awhile. How have you been? Yeah, I've been good too. Well, good seeing you. Talk to you later....

What's Really Going On Here?!?

So I'm not one to get over anxious about many things but has anyone been reading the news lately? By that I mean this whole thing about the stuff going on in North Korea and their nuclear arms program. They say, "Hey world (okay, just the US but they have to be diplomatic), look at what the little guy has.... I'm not so little anymore. I've got bigger ballox then all the rest of you and I'm at war with the world (again, just the US)." So what do we do.... We go and talk with all the other nations in China (happening as I'm writing this). But the good people at Vandenburg Air Force Base here on the California coast just tested our own ballistic missiles last night. Didn't get much news coverage but then again most of that stuff doesn't normally. So isn't it convenient that the talks with North Korea started today and last night we had a ballistic missile test of our own. Granted it was not a nuclear test but all the same.... Talk is cheap right? Just something to watch... Not that anything like this has ever happened before (something about the Bay of Pigs....). So where are we going and how did we get in this hand basket?

Coulrophobia is a real!

Coulrophobia is a real thing and it is very serious. Please visit this website and take the assessment test to see which treatment is right for you! here!

"It's good to give and have only God know about it." - St. Nicholas

Eat. Spit. Be Happy.

So Stephen and I are driving up to Tahoe for the weekend and we are munching away at some David Sunflower Seeds. I ask Steve, "where do you think they get their sunflower seeds from?"

We look at the package, have no clue, so what do we do? What any other guy on a roadtrip with too much time on his hands would do: call the 1-800 number on the back of the package. The company is called ConAgra Foods and they are located in Omaha, Nebraska.

I got a pleasant lady on the phone and politely ask, "where are your sunflower seeds grown?" She wanted to make sure she understood me so I repeated myself.

The confused receptionist said, "I do not have that information available. Please hold while I get that information for you."

After a few minutes of holding she comes back to the phone.

"They come from the United States."

"Yes but do you know which state they come from?"

"No. What is the product number on your package please?"

"21776207DDJ," I replied. Here I am thinking she will tell me where they are from.

"Thank you." -click-

No answer to my question. No one knows where they get the sunflower seeds. Just somewhere in the US.

On the package it not only tells you how to eat the product (Eat. Spit. Be Happy), but has safety hazard information making sure you don't choke on their product. Oh, they also inform you that if you eat their product you are called a "seeder!" This is what the back of the package describes a seeder to be:

Seeders are unique. They're cool, confident, independent, active, and hard working. They know that eating David Sunflower Seeds make what they do more enjoyable. Things are better with David because they're a snack and an activity. Experience SNACKTIVITY.™

They trademarked "Snakctivity." So I'm sorry you can't use it. So what can be learned from a package of sunflower seeds?!?

"Eat. Spit. Be Happy!" and don't ask questions.

Velvet Elvis

So I started reading a new book today. It is called Velvet Elvis and it is by Rob Bell. So far, I have been entranced. He talks in his first chapter of trying to understand God. He makes the point that God has no boundaries, edges, or units. When Moses asked God for his name he replied, "I am." Moses was looking for something he could rap his mind around. Later Moses asks God to reveal himself, which in a way was asking to see God in a tangible way. Here is a quote from the book because Rob Bell says it better then I can:

"God's response? He tells Moses to go stand on a rock, because he's going to pass by. He explains to Moses that no one can see him and live, so he'll cover Moses with his hand (God's hand?) as he passes by, and then he says, "I will remove my hand and you will see my back."

"The ancient rabbis had all sorts of things to say about this passage, but one of the most fascinating things they picked up on is the part about God's back. They argued that in the original Hebrew language, the word back should be understood as a euphemism for "where I just was."

"It is as if God is saying, "The best you're going to do, the most you are capable of, is seeing where I . . . just . . . was."

"That's the closest you are going to get."

God is so beyond our thinking that we even have a hard time understanding where he has just been. We are called to follow a God that is so far above and beyond us. We are not serving something we made up, but something outside of our control. I'm sure this book will inspire more blogs to come. I recommend the book to anyone. Christian or non-Christian. His purpose in writing the book is to repaint the Christian faith. To take a fresh look at Jesus and what it means to live the kind of life he teaches us to live. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell; check the book out.