Acts 2:38

An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of Church services when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and yelled, "Stop! Acts 2:38!" (Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.) The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, "Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture to you." "Scripture?" replied the burglar. "She said she had an Ax and Two 38's!"

Hope you got a chuckle out of this like I did. Have a great day!
Joe

Acts 2:38

Prayer Rock.

Things are not always as they appear. There is a hidden picture here. To see it either turn you head to the left a little or pick up your computer and turn it sideways to the right. Once you see it you will never look at this picture the same again.
Have fun and God bless,
Joe

Prayer Rock.

So what do yall think?

Well, what do yall think? I had Shara and Steve over at Web Divas help me with a new look for my blog. I think they did a great job! Please tell me what you like and/or dislike. Shara said she could help me make any changes if I needed it.
I figured since I was using this site as an outreach, I thought it would be a good idea to make it a little more eye catching. Maybe some people would hang around for longer than 30 seconds and read something that may change there lives. (Plus, I got tired of getting my butt kicked in the Battle of the Blogs. lol)
So, please look this over and let me know if I need to make any changes.
God bless, Joe

So what do yall think?

I hate going to the doctor.

I hate going to the doctor. I have an appointment Friday to see my doctor, not for surgery or anything like that, just a follow up visit. I have been fighting a small illness for over a year now, taking antibiotics for most of that time. It really stinks. I told my doctor that I am sick and tired of being sick and tired all of the time. So he told me to come in for ANOTHER follow up. Maybe I need to go online and go to FINDANOTHERDOCTOR.COM.

Oh well, like I said before and I will say it again, "Don't tell God how big your storms are, tell the storms how big your God is."

God bless, Joe

I hate going to the doctor.

You are here!

Did you ever have one of those days? Weeks? I have been working out of town all week, I thought I was going to get to go home yesterday and see the family but that was put in the null and void column. It now looks like I will be here all weekend. Hey, at least I have a job.

You are here!

What a weekend!

Well, the end of an era is close at hand. At the end of the summer I am stepping down as the 10th grade Sunday school teacher. I have held this responsibility for the past five years and it is been such a blessing. Our church is growing by leaps and bounds. The problem with that is it is hard to teach 20 to 30 kids all by yourself. So while I am stepping down as the tenth grade Sunday school teacher, I am stepping up to be an 11th grade Sunday school co-teacher. I am stoked! I will be working with Vicki, she is a very talented teacher, and where I lack on extra after church activities, she is a genius. She can plan and make any event successful. I am lucky to remember to send out fliers to let people know we are going to do something. But what I like most about Vicki is she hates to lose and she has a devious mind just like me. In other words, I have met my match when it comes to pranks, games and all around foolishness, especially when it comes to our Sunday school kids. My wife and kids love her and they were excited for me when they found out we were going to be teaching this upcoming year.

This weekend was our first official Sunday school class event together. Vicki plans this big weekend trip of camping, funyaking, swimming, eating, jumping off of bridges, fireworks, and so-on and so-forth. Oh yeah I forgot, volleyball, how could I forget that. Vicki's team 0 wins, Joe's team 5 wins! Not that I am rubbing it in or anything. (Remember, Vicki hates to lose.) So Vicki planned this whole extravaganza and all I have to do is drive a van and eat. How cool is that!

There were a lot of highlights this past weekend. I jumped off of a forty foot train trestle into a freezing rain swollen river, TWICE. Almost got bit by a snake. Tried to go down a set of rapids in my funyak backwards and was tossed out into the freezing rain swollen river. Drove in a van with eleven eleventh graders for four hours, each way, while they yelling, singing, putting sweaty head bands into peoples mouth, and just plain being cool teenagers.

But there was one highlight I would really like to share with you guys. Sunday morning around, oh I guess it was 4, I heard people talking. I know who it was right away because these guys have very distinguishable voices. And these guys aren't whispering, they are talking loudly. Not to mention their tent is only five foot from my tent. And for those of you who have never slept in a tent, you can hear EVERYTHING for miles when you sleep in a tent. After about an hour of listening to them in my half asleep state I decide to get up and tell them to go to sleep. Here is how the conversation goes:

Tyler: (Yelling) "What in the world is that?"

Dusty: "ARGGGG! Dang it Joe you scared us."

I was just standing outside their tent.

Dusty: "Joe, stick your head in here for a minute."

A few thoughts went through my mind. Like, "Oops, sorry Joe we didn't see you standing there when we threw out our cup of water. Or "Joe, while you have your head in our tent can you take our pet snake out for a walk." Or my all time favorite, "Joe, can you take a sniff and guess what we had for dinner." I wasn't falling for any of it. I wasn't born yesterday.

Joe: "NO!"

Dusty: "Joe, man, you have got you hear this."

Joe "NO!"

Dusty: "I am serious, you have got to hear Tyler's story."

Joe: "OK" Bending down covering my face in case paint balls come hurling out of the opening of the tent.

Tyler: "Dude, I know there is a God. Just look around at all the different beauties, tastes and sounds. I also know I am here this weekend for a reason. My girlfriend called me early this morning and told me they were going to Savannah unexpectedly. If she would have stayed home I never would have taken Dusty up on his invitation to join you guys."

Seth: Half asleep. "Me sweepy."

Tyler: "Then I got mad at Dusty about something he was saying earlier this afternoon and when he tried to get into the tent tonight I fought it. But he got in anyway. Then we started talking about it and we got things straighten out. If he hadn't done that we would have never started talking about other things. Like I said, I know there is a God and I also know I am not living for Him like I should. So, Dusty and I decided to take a walk."

Joe: Thinking to himself. "These guys left the camp site without letting anyone know, after lights out. I am going to kill them but I want to see where this story is going." So I didn't say anything.

Tyler: "I told Dusty I was ready to make a decision but I didn't know what to do. Dusty talked to me and I accepted Christ as my savior."

Dusty: "How cool is that!"

Joe: "That's pretty dang cool guys"

Seth: "Has anyone seen my blanky?"

Dusty: "Sorry about all of the talking but we are pretty excited right now."

Joe: "I guess so! "

Dusty: "I have always been nervous about talking to people about Jesus, but tonight it all just came together like someone was telling me what to say. I know God was really working today."

Joe: "Guys, I am so excited for you. Let's try to get some rest and we will talk some more in the morning."

I went and crawled back into my tent and laid on my slow leaking air mattress. I was laying there listening to the guys still talking. I thanked God for letting me be a part of a great weekend. As the sounds of crickets started taking over the sounds of two young men's conversation. I heard one final thought.

Dusty: "God, this is awesome!"

(I tried to write this conversation down word for word, but remember it was 4 in the morning and I can't remember what happened 10 minutes ago let alone a few days ago.)

The Bible says that the angels rejoice whenever someone makes a decision to follow Jesus. They had two people joining them that night. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night.

I did nothing this past weekend but drive a van and cut up with a bunch of teenagers. All Vicki did was put together a camping trip (actually it was a little more than that, but you catch my drift.) All Dusty did was invited a friend and listen when he had questions. Then did his best to answer those questions. And I know there are other people in Tyler's life who had an impact on him making this big decision. Tyler is a good friend of our pastor's son, Charles. Tyler has spent the night at the pastor's house and has been around the whole family at any given time. God has been preping Tyler's heart for this night for a while.

My point, you don't have to be an evangelist to lead people to the Lord. Just be willing to do SOMETHING. Whether it is taking some kids camping, inviting someone to church or a church event, driving a van, taking someone some food, or just listening to a friend when he or she has something to say. As my brother always says, if you do what God asks you to do, He will bless your socks off!

You know what? I never did get on to those guys for leaving the camp site. I think I will let them slide this time.

Rememeber, Don't tell God how big your storms are, tell the storms how big your God is!

God bless, Joe

What a weekend!

High school and College photos!

This really is amazing! Check it out. They actually have photographs of almost every school in the world. Unless you went to School when cameras weren't invented, you will find a photo of yourself or at least your classmates.

Click on my title and it will redirect you to the sight.

Maybe some of you can give the name of you high school so we can all go view YOUR photo too.

God bless, Joe

Link High school and College photos!

I can't even dig a hole in the sand.

A few weeks ago my family and I went to the beach. I tried to help my youngest son build a sand castle. I was so bad at it I decided to just dig a hole, I couldn't even do that right. It kept falling in on me. But check out what this guy can do. Chuck Ritchey Sr. of Ocean City, Maryland does a little bit better job than I do. He uses his talent as a ministry since many people view his art everyday. Think about it, this guy is playing in the sand to further God's kingdom. So, what can you do for God?

God bless, Joe

I can't even dig a hole in the sand.

I love making short films.

I just love making short videos. The Student Minister at my church got my involved in making short videos for our students and I have been hooked ever since. I really like to do all the behind scenes, the writing , directing, set design (that pretty much consists of borrowing some silly props and hanging some curtains), and yelling, "Cut!" I love that part. I don't like getting in front of the camera much, I have a very noticeable southern accent and it is twice as bad on screen. Not saying a southern accent is bad just MY southern accent is bad.

Anyway, a few months ago I was reading a post that Layla over at Well Woman posted. It was about how she is affiliated with the Damah Film Festival. Damah is a non-profit organization which hosts an annual spiritual film festival. (Layla, correct me if I am wrong.) I left a comment on Layla's blog and she helped me get a DVD of some of the films. A lot of these short films have a dark story line and a few of them the plot is over my head and I do not understand what they are trying to say.

Light of Darkness, a film by Michael Cargil, is one short that was on the DVD. I mention this film because it was a simple little film with a lot of meaning. It was about a lady driving down a dark lonely road, getting low on gas. It starts out just like an 80's horror movie, you know, the music with a lot of violins and such. Well, you guessed it, she ran out of gas. Seeing how it was set in the late 70's early 80's, cell phones were not around yet. So instead of walking, she locks the doors and goes to sleep right there in the car. Just like every horror movie, along comes a sinister looking guy in a hooded sweatshirt. He stands by her window, she wakes up and it scares her. She starts screaming for the man to leave and eventually he does but minutes later shows up again and starts beating on her window. She is screaming more now, telling him to leave. We find out through all of this that the man can not speak. Finally, you think the guy is going to leave but what he is doing is walking down the road to pick up a big rock. He smashes the window. Then starts pulling the woman from the car. She is screaming and clawing at anything she can to stay in the car. It is getting more and more intense. Then through all the fighting and screaming the man gets the woman from the car just as the train smashes into it. Wow, what a mix of emotions.

I showed this film to my Sunday school. I asked my students what they thought that we as Christians have in common with the woman. Here is my favorite response. Once we become Christians or even later in life it is hard to give up worldly things. It could be a number of things, TV, internet, a job, or even a boyfriend or girlfriend. We hold on with all our might, sometimes kicking and screaming, and all God wants is to save us from a world of hurt. If there is something out there that is holding you back from God's blessing, pray about it and give with you are holding on to to God. Not too bad for a bunch of tenth grade teenagers. Maybe we can all learn a lesson from these guys.

Remember, don't tell God how big your storms are, tell the storms how big your God is!

God bless, Joe

I love making short films.

HAppy 4th of July!

HAppy 4th of July!

I have started my diet this week, now I need to find some place to workout. Can anyone tell me WHERE this place is?