Life in the Big Potato

It could be worse. I could live in GUANGZHOU, China http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326687,00.html My favorite quote from this article: "If this happened in America, it would have been cleared up much faster," said textile factory worker He Mingtong, 48, as he waited for his train beneath a pedestrian bridge near the station. "America has the equipment, the trucks, to clear away the snow." I hope the government doesn't get mad about Mr. Mingtong's remarks. Here people have been complaining about spotty mail service in some places. I'm not complaining. I don't even want to go get the mail, so how can I blame the post man for not wanting to deliver it? I guess stories like this one are a blow to Global Warming Doom-sayers. There are a lot of us in the Northwest and Northeast (and China) that would appreciate some Global Warming right now. Maybe we've finally turned things around. I stopped using aerosol hairspray years ago and I always t...

Driving home from church... Can you find the road in this picture? Jana took this picture out the side window. That's really what it looked like. We have over two feet of snow in our yard. This is the grill from the video I posted a few days ago. I took the Lipton Plunge.

Please don't listen to this just to make fun of me. Constructive criticism only! This is from Jan. 20. And you can download the Jan. 13 sermon here.

Here where winter does not relent we have to find ways to entertain ourselves. The other day I found a balloon of the variety often called "water". So I filled it up and placed it outside on the snow. At first all that happened was that it melted through the snow and was soon barely visible. A few days later when the outdoor temperature was 20 degrees I remembered my little experiment and retrieved it from its little nest in the snow. The following pictures show what I found:

This is video I took a few hours ago from my back yard. Don't worry, I was inside and quite warm.

Well, it has been 5 Sundays now that NorthStar has been without a senior pastor. Two of those weeks Jana and I were out of town visiting family. To those of you who have been praying for us: THANKS!! Please keep it up. God is definitely listening. So far everyone seems to be in good spirits even after losing a pastor that was so well-loved. We are looking forward expectantly to what God wants to do at NorthStar and staying busy with what He's already given us to do. At our church the Life Groups rotate cleaning and greeting responsibilities. (There is no church custodian) I think at first, groups saw this as a chore. More and more I hear stories about people showing up early and volunteering for the worst cleaning duties, namely the toilets. That may seem like an insignificant fact, but the truth is people, even people who are relatively new, are really starting to feel like this is "their church." Another example is in how we relate to guests. After the servi...

This is amazing and inspiring to me. Lots of organizations set goals, take up money and pledges, then report the huge numbers that were given and promised. Here passion has set goals not for number's sake but for impact sake. They not only reported their goal and how much they raised, they tracked the money and people and reported the actual impact it is having. It is too easy to give and forget. Way to go Louie.

"When the water splashed around her stomach she let out an irrepressible shriek, which mixed with the painful cries of around 1,000 other winter swimmers who hit the water at the strike of noon on New Year's Day for the Polar Bear Plunge." That is a quote from this article in the Coeur d'Alene Press. (Warning! If you follow the link to the article there is a slightly disturbing picture of a guy in an Speedo.) There is a quote from Doug Thompson who is one of our Overseers at NorthStar. For the past five years, since before we were officially a church, NorthStar has been serving the community by showing up at the Polar Plunge with hot coffee and cocoa. This year we had around 30 volunteers to help. That's almost half our regular Sunday attendance! What could your church do if half of the people were willing to serve early on New Years day in freezing temperatures? If you want to participate make plans to be here next year. We'll give you some hot chocol...

We made it across the country once again back to the frozen paradise of Idaho. Luckily some snow fairys came and removed the snow from our drive. Unfortunately it has already snowed 6 or so inches since we've been home. Sometimes we just have to make sacrifices to serve God. Christmas was wonderful for Jana and I. We saw all of our families and spent time in Houston, Petal, Lucedale, and Hattiesburg. We even got to meet with David and Sarah of Globe Outreach. There are more stories from the past two weeks than you'd care to hear. Just know that God is good. Well okay, I'll tell you a little, but only in summation form. At the airport we told my parents that Jana is pregnant. We drove to the hospital to be with my sister and her sick baby. We spent one night in the hospital. The baby is cleared to come home on Christmas Eve. Also on Christmas eve, we went and picked up my brother-in-law who came in from Iraq on leave to see his newborn son for the first time. Fr...