Dylan's Prayer

Dylan's Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you God that I had a good day.
and thank you that I have a good day tomorrow.
and thank you God for the things on my windows.
and thank you God for my Spiderman pajamas, and that River did not take them.
and Thank you God for the holes in our bellies.
and for the holes in our eyes, and for the hole in the other eye.
and for the hole in our mouth, and for the hole in our bottom.
and thank you for my pinky finger, and for this finger, and this finger, and this finger, and this finger. (one eye opens and in a whisper "is that all of them?")
and Amen.

"Was that a long prayer Daddy?"

"Yes it was, but it was good, I liked it!"

Thank You Shilo

This post must start with a disclaimer. Josh, if you by some, odd, slim chance become the other person that reads this blog I want you to know that I love you man! There are things that you have done that have made an impact in my life. I think about and pray for you often. "Mini-Me, you complete me"
That being said this is a thank you note to Pastor and band from Shilo Church that came all the way to Charlotte from PA to worship with us at our FUEL event. Especially Cisco (I hope that is how you spell it) For one, you rocked the guitar that night. But most importantly your testimony that you were sharing with Josh (who was also in a motorcycle accident) and I, made a huge impact. Josh was not involved in church for years and the accident influenced him to try it again. Since that night Josh has been to several small group meetings, and tried church services out some more. Cisco, thank you, thank you, thank you. For being willing to share your testimony with a stranger. For driving 8.5 hours just for what you thought was playing guitar. And most importantly setting an example on how to Love, Value, and Connect other people to God.
I know I singled out Cisco in this, but thank you to everyone that made the trip (and those who stayed home with the kids) to worship with us. I am eternally grateful.

P.S. Jeff, please make sure this gets passed on to everyone up there in P.A.

Prep your sub-floor!

I am in the process of laying down laminate flooring. Now you must know something about me. I am a glutton for punishment. I would rather research and take the job on myself than pay someone to do it for me. Many times I say it is to save money, but many times after I buy the tools, supplies, and take off of work, it would have been cheaper to pay somebody.
So in the process of researching and getting price quotes on 520 square feet of press board with a picture of wood glued on top, I continually get asked the same questions. What kind of floor are you putting it on? Are you on a concrete slab or sub-floor? Then as I research on installing this laminate flooring, everything I find says make sure you prepare your surface well before you lay the floor down. Make sure it is clean. Make sure it is level. Make sure there are no nails that are, or will, poke out and damage the floor.
So I get to Friday night and I begin to rip up the carpet in the living room. I start tearing away the stained, and dirty carpet and padding. Come Saturday afternoon I am finally done cleaning and prepping the surface to put my floor on. In a matter of a few hours I have the new flooring down in the living room. It took me all Friday night and half of Saturday to prep. Then only half a day to install.
It got me thinking about what my sub-floor looks like. If my sub-floor is not cleaned of any dirt, nails, staples, and pits then the beautiful covering on the outside will wear out quickly. You will start to see imperfections and when it is put under stress it will begin to crack. Am I spending twice as much time on my sub-floor as I do with everything else that people see? We may look good on the outside, but if our heart is not been cleaned then we will crack quickly.
On the flip side, everything I read said that if you take the time to prep the sub-floor and install it right. Nothing beats the look and durability of laminate flooring. So spend more time on preparing our sub-floors. Then nothing will beat the result and durability of your life with Christ.
Matthew 23:27-28