HARMLESS THOUGHTS

If you hadn't noticed, I have a few other blogs. One of my favorites is called Let Me Not Wander. I have a button for it on my sidebar, that looks like this: It is a daily Bible reading blog. I post a verse a day, Monday through Friday. I try to keep the commentary on that verse simple. If you would like to read a full explanation of that blog, read here . And if you would like an explanation of the name of that blog, read here . I have really enjoyed this blog since I started it, but from the very beginning, I have known that it would be a difficult project, so I have been looking for another writer, to help with the load. And I think that I have finally found the person... My Sister! If you have never checked this blog out, I would like to strongly encourage it. Especially if you aren't currently in the Word every day, this would be a great way to start. Swing on by and check it out.

"...those who have a natural talent for calculation are generally quick-witted at every other kind of knowledge; and even the dull, if they have had an arithmetical training, although they may derive no other advantage from it, always become much quicker than they would have been." ~ Plato ~ (Being a math teacher, I couldn't resist posting this quote. Dang, I want this guy's beard!)

My church had a team down along the gulf coast. They were helping at a church, and doing several other things while they were down there. We were also going to send another team down this weekend. They were going to leave last night. My wife was very excited because she was going to go on this trip. Unfortunately, because of Hurricane Rita, the fire dept. of that city was going around encouraging people to evacuate. The team that is currently down there is packing up their stuff and heading back. I do think that there is a family that they are bringing back with them. We had decided, as a church, that in addition to any supplies and work that we could bring to the gulf, we also wanted to help at least one family completely relocate. So, a couple of weeks ago, we had an impromptu offering and collected $25,000 (in one offering). Needless to say, we were all stunned. So, we are going to use that money to help a family, that lost absolutely everything, to relocate to Greenville. I still c...

My sister has become quite the photographer. The last few pictures that I have posted on here have been taken by her. Maybe I am biased, but I think that they are very good. She just scanned this one and sent it to me the other day, so I thought that I would share it with you. I love this one because this is exactly what Sam likes to do. He likes to swing, and I think that he could literally swing for hours. If I am working outside, I usually make him go out there with me, and he will usually hop on the swing and within a few moments, he has himself flying through the skies. Can you remember when it was like that? Life was so simple then wasn't it?

If you have been reading my blog lately, you may have noticed that I was able to take a trip to Pascagoula, MS. It was absolutely amazing. It was really hard work, but I was filled with joy every step of the way. Well, my church has decided that they want to finish strong with this endeavor. They do not want to start something up, and then after a few months we have no involvement with those who are in need. It will take years to get this area back to normal, so we want to be a part of this for as long as we can. Because of this mind-set, there is more than one way that we are trying to help. This was never meant to be a one time trip down there. This was also a scouting party. We went looking for needs, and man did we find them. We have already adopted a family that lost everything during the storm and helping them relocate. We have lined up housing, job interviews, and have started purchasing all of the necessities of life. Everything from the kitchen table to living room furniture t...

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. Proverbs 12:1 (NIV) This is one of my all-time favorite verses. It has been for quite some time. But I had forgotten about it until yesterday. My pastor, who is currently preaching through the book of Hebrews, mentioned this verse, in correlation with the passage that we were studying. I originally liked this verse as a teacher. It came in quite handy when I was trying to correct a student. There are always those students who just don't handle being corrected as well as other students. So when one of them got a little testy, I would break out the Bible and have them read this verse. Now, if you didn't know this already, when someone is being corrected and they are handling that correction poorly and then they are asked to read this verse, their reaction can be quite interesting. Mostly because of that one word... stupid . Notice that it doesn't say that there were stupid actions taking place, ...

Thanks to the people at Google, there is now a brand new messenger out there. And I must say, I really like it. I have even had a few voice conversations with my mom, who lives about 12 hours away, and she is still using a modem. But the conversation sounds good. But I would also like to thank the people over at HotRecorder... They have an application that will work with Google Talk and several other Voip applications. It has a recorder, player, and even a voice mail feature. Today, I recorded my first Google Talk Voice Mail Message. And this is one unique voice mail, because I used my newly acquired guitar and guitar skills (both thanks to my sister) to compose a voice mail song. Click here to listen to my new voice mail message .

I am typing this post in Microsoft Word. Blogger recently released an add-on for Word, so that you can type your Blogger posts in Word, and publish them from there. I can definitely see the benefits to this, but I don’t know if I will actually do this. If you would like to try it out for yourself, then simply go here .

(To see a large version of the picture, just click on the thumbnail.) Here is a picture taken at the donation site. My wife, who really wanted to go on this trip, but was unable to, ended up being one of the major contributing factors in making the trip a success. In front of the church there were mounds of clothes that had been donated. Just try to imagine losing everything that you own... That is what those people are in need of. They were also pumping free gas out in front of the church. We talked to people who had been waiting in line for over 2 hours for free gas. One lady's car died right when she was the next one up. When I popped the hood to take a look, there was mud up around the engine. Many of the cars in the city had been flooded. The Church parking lot had 4 feet of water at one point. This is where we set up to prepare the food. Over the course of the day we fed nearly 1000 people. We brought meals and lemonade to the people in the line for the free gas. We also took...

Man, I am so far behind, that it's not even funny! I am so glad that I was able to go on this trip, but now I am paying for it. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely worth it, but I have spent the rest of the week trying to catch up. Hopefully after the weekend I will be all back to normal. Which for me is only a little bit behind.

I am back home. But already, as I sit here, I am thinking about all of the people that I met in the last few days that don't have a home to go to. I am specifically thinking about the people at the church where we were helping. Some of them had lost everything and there they were with a smile on their face, dedicating all of their time to the church. Amazing.

(Click to listen to the audio post.)

(Click to listen to the audio post.)

(Click to listen to the audio post.)

(Click to listen to the audio post.)

Even though in the last two weeks the school where I teach has put together over 300 shoe boxes of toiletries for the victims of the hurricane, and even though they have had bake sales to raise money, and even though they have had "t-shirt day" fund raisers, and even though they only had two days' notice... They still wanted to help with the trip that I am getting ready to go on. They called each other on Wednesday night and then they promoted it in their classes on Thursday. And by the end of the day today, the highschool had donated over 80 cases of water. Thank you Shannon Forest!

Here is where we are going:

Well, after much distress and trial, we have a truck. Cardinal Moving and Storage has graciously donated the truck and they are also going to pay for the fuel. It took them a little while to find a truck that wasn't already scheduled for something, but they pulled through. Also, I thought that I would mention the ministry that is working on supplying the food. It is called Food for Life ministries . Paul Blumer, who is the head of that organization is working with the pastor of my church to organize this effort. As far as I know, the town that we are going to was hit pretty hard, and I don't think that they have been given any type of aid from anyone else yet. The whole thing is pretty exciting. Mostly because I feel like God has used me in some small way. And there just isn't anything better than being used by God! I will keep you informed on how it goes. By the way, if you live in Greenville, or know anyone who lives in Greenville, and would like to donate to the ca...

During the summer I am a mover. I work for Cardinal Moving & Storage , a North American Van Lines agent. So, today I called my boss and asked him if he would be willing to donate the use of one of his moving trucks and the cost of fuel, so that I could go down to the New Orleans area with a shipment of supplies. Now, I don't actually have any supplies, but I just wanted to ask. My boss said that he would love to do that, but I still needed some stuff. So then I called the Red Cross. I think that they are a little overwhelmed with donations and help, and they said that they really appreciated the offer, but they didn't have anything that needed shipping, that wasn't already being taken care of. So, truck... but no stuff. Then I called my church, North Hills Community Church , and sure enough, there was a guy that was organizing supplies for a town. He had a truck that was going to be used, but the offer kept falling through. So he had stuff but no truck. You might be wo...

Are you ready for some more sightseeing?!? Here we have the Golden Gate bridge, located in San Francisco, CA. This shot is a little closer. You can even see the cars.

Literally... I know that it seems like being a teacher, you get all of these days off. All of the holidays, and special observances, but it only seems that way. In reality, as a teacher, I stop looking at these three day weekends as a short vacation, and start looking at them as a chance to get caught up. My whole life I have been about one step behind where I need to be. Always having at least one more thing to do before I was completely able to relax. So, being a teacher, this has only been heightened. Every night I bring home about 3 or 4 things that I really need to get done, and I think to myself, "If I could just get these few things done, I would be completely caught up." But it never happens! I get home and I want to see the kids, and I want to chat with my wife, and there is this errand to run, etc. So, when an extra day comes along I think to myself, "...an extra day! Man, I can get caught up!" Unfortunately, in my house, I am the only one who thinks of ...

I have been using Flickr to host all of my pictures since I started blogging. I have never had anything to say against them. They have always treated my well, until today! For some reason they have changed the way they host pictures, so now, all of my pictures have the wrong name, so they aren't showing up on the blog. This is very frustrating.

I pretty much like about everything that Google does. They do cool stuff. One of my favorite new programs that Google has come up with is called Google Earth . To the right I have added a picture of Google's Earth. I know that it may not seem that impressive at first glance, but then you start to zoom. All of the images are real satellite images. And you can really zoom in. It is awesome! Find your house, find your school. But then, I really got to thinking about this. I could see the sites! I could visit (via Google's satellite imagery) some of the wonders of the world! So I have started a trek, and I would like to share it with you. I decided to start with one of the oldest, and most impressive ancient wonders. The great pyramids. I looked along the Nile River, and there... right where they were supposed to be... The pyramids! Of course, I could only see them from the top, but it was still awesome! I was looking at THE pyramids. And the coolest part about it is that this pic...