Father's Day

it was a good day for this father. actually, it was a pretty good weekend. i got to spend friday evening and most of saturday with my dad (and mom). they came up for megan's graduation from washington state community college on friday and spent the night with us. they haven't been up to our house for a while so it was good to have them here. i got home from lexington around 5 and susan had dinner already cooked. we got a new grill so she fixed hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the fixin's. the blakes and pauleys were here, plus jon (megan's) and aaron (susan's nephew). it was fun having everybody here. then on saturday afternoon we went over to church to a 50th wedding celebration for a couple in our church.
on sunday, father's day, i got a special treat. drew and i played guitar together and sang for special music during sunday morning service. we sang a big tent revival song, "faith of a little seed." i think that's the first time we've done that and we both really enjoyed it. the response was good too -- so we'll probably do it again. what a great father's day gift!
when i was in junior high my church youth group had a newsletter that was published periodically. each issue featured a "spotlight" on one of the youth group members. in one of the issues i was interviewed for the spotlight -- i think jane crouch (riffle) was the interviewer. anyway, i remember her asking me, "who is your hero?" my answer -- my dad. i've always looked up to my dad and have always wanted to be a man like him. he was, and still is, a tough, kind, loving, godly, passionate, opinionated, gentle, generous, loyal, faithful (i could go on) man -- and i mean man. he is still my hero and i still want to be a man like him.

Old Friends

i was in lexington, ky last week for some job training -- actually it was the third of three weeks of training for my position as lean six sigma champion for our plant. the training is/was very good but the treat last week was meeting up with an old friend from my teenage years -- Paul Sisk. paul's dad, ted, was the pastor of my home church -- got to see him too and his wife ginny. i knew paul is the pastor of anchor baptist church there in lexington so i contacted him about meeting while i was there for the training. i attended their wednesday evening service and afterwards went out to eat with paul and his wife. as i was preparing that evening to go to the church i started thinking about how long it had been since i'd seen paul. then it hit me -- it had been almost 40 years. now i realize i'm over 50 years old but in my mind i don't normally dwell on that fact. so when a realization of significant time passing comes up like that it kind of shocks me for a moment. then i started thinking -- ok, this is a little weird to meet up with a person i haven't seen for that long. we were 13 or 14 years old when his family moved to lexington. we've essentially lived our lives not in contact over the following years so the question came to my mind -- what in the world would we find in common to talk about? i was pleasantly surprised how much we do have in common -- family stuff, golf, trials of life, (did i mention golf?), and theology. it was really fun to spend some time with paul and i wish i'd had the time in the previous two weeks of my training to meet with him too. maybe i'll look for more training i can attend in lexington so that meeting can be arranged -- and definitely we'll play some golf too!

And now for something completely different

Ok Leith Ann, where's that line from?

And now for something completely different (not humorous).

A friend of mine passed away suddenly last week. Steve was 52 when he died of a heart attack in his own front yard. He was someone I'd known for about 12 years or so because one of his sons and my son Drew are the same age and in the same grade and went to the same schools and played in the same bands in jr. high....etc. For the last several years Steve was in the Sunday School class I teach. He was obviously knowledgeable of the Scriptures and I believe we held many of the same doctrinal positions. I believe this based on his responses to some of the subjects that came up that were somewhat controversial -- but we never explored them together because we were not covering those particular topics at the time. We'll get to those one of these days we would say to the class and Steve would smile knowingly and in anticipation of some lively discussion we would have. Just the Sunday before he died we had talked about all the questions we have about the true interpretation of some of these doctrines and how there's only one true interpretation -- that of the author, God's Holy Spirit. We found that we agree on the belief that when we do get to heaven (some day) that we won't have these questions anymore, in fact we agreed that when we do get to heaven (some day) that there will be no questions because we will know the truth then. The truth is a person and in His presence all questions will cease. "Some day" for Steve was last Tuesday in the afternoon in his front yard. I'll miss Steve and those discussions we were going to have one say.

That was completely different.

In my mind I'm... in Carolina

not sure where this musical theme is coming from.

here i am in south carolina on a golf vacation. first time i've ever done this type of trip. it's kind of cool but kind of weird too. i'm enjoying the golf and the guys in the group are good guys -- a couple of pretty good golfers and some occasional players. the weird part is being on vacation without my family. it was a last minute opportunity -- a friend at work mentioned an open spot on a trip he was making this week. so, here i am.

we're staying/playing in the florence, sc area. i've enjoyed the golf -- 18 thursday, 36 yesterday, 18 today. today was cold and windy or we would have played another 18. tomorrow is supposed to be cold and maybe some rain. we're scheduled to play over near columbia, sc then head home. this will end up being a nice warm up for our golf league which starts tuesday night.

still, kind of weird to not have my family with me.

"Often is a word I seldom use"

ok drew, figure out who wrote that lyric.

figured i better write something since it's been a while since the last entry. don't forget -- i said it would not be a regularly updated blog.

just yesterday i was playing golf and today it's snowing here. as a friend of mine says, "it's a good thing i ate when i did because now i'm not hungry" -- but with a golf twist. it was nice to get out and play especially since i got to try out my new driver and hybrids. hit the hybrids well but the driver will take some practice. the golf league starts april 1 so i better get it figured out by then.

so, how's your bracket going? who did you pick to win it all? i picked ucla in my bracket (but i'd really rather see unc win it all).

healthy living (so i'm told)

green tea.
red yeast rice.
oatmeal.
these are a few of my...
current dietary items.

green tea is probably the most cool one of these. my new boss worked in china at one time. they send him green tea from china. we were talking about green tea today and this afternoon he walked in my office and gave me a small bag of green tea leaves. the leaves are dried and vacuum packed. they are little balls of dry leaves that you put in hot water to steep. when they hydrate they open up like little sea monkeys. actually the flavor is pretty good -- smooth in fact. supposedly the antioxidants in the tea prevent cancer.

red yeast rice -- big pills to prevent high cholesterol. 4 pills a day.

oatmeal -- the cereal from your childhood that you ate at your grandmother's house. the quaker man helps lower your cholesterol.

this is only the beginning i suppose. i do like the green tea though.

random love thoughts

i love coffee. i can drink coffee anytime of the day. coffee does not seem to keep me from sleeping. i like starbucks coffee, but i also like mcdonald's coffee.

i love girl scout cookies. in particular i like do-si-dos and #2 would be samoas. they can keep the rest. however, my favorite cookies are homemade -- mom's chocolate chips and susan's peanut butter.

i love golf. it's my favorite sport to play. i have a new driver and two new hybrid irons. today was almost nice enough to play but it was too soggy. our plant golf league plays a scramble on Good Friday. that may be my first time out this year.

i love my kids being in huntington (mostly). i'd still love for them to be home but it's nice for them to be around family in a non-visiting sort of way. it's cool for them to be there for the normal day-to-day stuff families do. they haven't had that living 2 hours away in parkersburg.

that's it for now. hadn't blogged for a few days so i thought i'd put something out there for all my faithful readers -- all 4 of them.

Hello. Is there anybody in there?

the title is borrowed from the lyrics of "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd from the album "The Wall." used to listen to that group quite a bit in my younger days -- not so much anymore. can't think of any person, group, or genre that i usually listen to these days or prefer. i have an ipod nano that is loaded up with both christian and secular music. i usually put it on shuffle and listen to whatever comes up. i'm happy that my son likes a lot of the music that i like and listened to over the last 30 years or so. my daughter likes country which is ok in my view. before i could drive and my dad drove us everywhere i listened to country, actually he listened to country and i (we) had no choice. now, don't get me wrong -- i'm not complaining. it's kind of cool to watch those infomercials for the country music "classics" and know the artists and songs. i like to listen to classic rock on the radio. don't you think there should be a classic country station too? maybe there is on xm or sirius radio. my new vehicle will have that feature -- whenever i get one.

back to the title of this blog entry. the question is -- is anybody reading this blog (other than my sister)? If you don't mind please let me know who you are, where you are, and do i know you? just curious. i know my wife susan viewed my blog the other day and she's happy to report that there are no surprises in my blog -- at least surprises to her. that's a good thing.

"His steadfast love endures forever"

it is no small thing this truth that God loves us. this was the subject of our pastor's sermon this morning. he preached from Romans 8:35-39 but the verses that stuck with me were 35 and 36. the Scripture says here that even though it looks to us and the world that everything is going wrong -- God loves us. that's some pretty terrible stuff Paul describes in vs. 35. in verse 36 Paul quotes from Psalm 44:22 but actually the entire Psalm 44 is a testimony to God's love for his people. the Psalmist is imploring God to awake and restore His faithful people "for the sake of your steadfast love." the writer of the Psalm and Paul have the same knowledge of God's unchanging love. He loves us, period. He loves us when He blesses us, period. He loves us when He withholds His blessing, period. He loves us, period. my feable little rambling here does not do this truth justice. i'm amazed at this truth. such a simple thing to say but such an amazing thing to ponder. praise God!

my fourth favorite subject

that would be "food."

i like to cook (sometimes). better yet, i like eating. there are some foods that i consider to be essential. i always joke with my wife that there are three basic food groups: pizza, cheeseburgers, and popcorn. i might have to add a fourth -- barbecue. i like to watch the food network show "diners, drive-ins, and dives" because usually there's a burger place and/or a bbq place in the lineup. i think it would be fun to take a vacation trip to some of the towns around the country that are highlighted in that show and visit some of the burger or bbq places.

burgers are pretty simple, at least i like the ones prepared simply. with barbecue i'm interested in the dry rub recipes. i've experimented a couple times with a dry rub recipe for ribs that i got from the alton brown show -- second time was better after tweaking the rub recipe. i've also done a beef brisket with dry rub that turned out pretty well.

here's my question. do you have a favorite dry rub recipe for a particular meat/cut? or do you have a favorite dry rub recipe that works with any meat/cut? do you mind sharing with a fellow (sometimes) cook?

my first blog post

ok, i'm venturing into yet another cyber communication method. i now have a myspace, facebook, gmail account, xanga -- and a blog. looks like i'll do anything to avoid face-to-face or voice-to-voice communication. but i guess that's just the way it is in our electronic world, right?

ok, i'll admit that i'm not the best at maintaining "normal" communication with family or friends. can i get an amen from the family? maybe this will work out better. we'll see.