Gas Prices

Today I filled my truck up and the pump cut off before it was filled. There was a $50 limit on the pump. I had heard about people with large SUV's and work trucks experiencing this phenomenon. However, with a 16 gallon tank I had never reached such a limit before. There is a first time for everything and today was that day.

Everyone seems to be sitting around waiting for the government to do something. Are u kidding me? It ain't gonna happen. We have to change ourselves first. Nothing of note in this world ever begins with legislation or for that matter from the top down. True change must be grassroots!

So stop filling up so much! U ask, how? Maybe walk more, carpool, take your bike, minimize your need to go out, use public transportation, etc... 

If you can by a hybrid, if not then buy a vehicle for what you use it for. To many soccer moms have SUV's with 4 wheel drive frames when they could do the same hauling with a Mini Van or Station Wagon for less miles per gallon. Don't forget guys like me! Stop compensating! Our big trucks, V8 engines and mud tires. Give me a break! Your a man already! We get it! All of those things are gasoline guzzlers. A few years back I bought a new truck. I wanted a V8, etc... I was raised in Georgia it might be a birth right to own a large, loud truck. Anyway, I didn't buy one, I bought the smallest truck possible with the smallest engine that has 4 wheel drive for the few times each year I need it for off road hobbies. 

I wanted the big truck, but it was wrong to buy it. Why? Our choices matter. They matter to our community, to our world, both economically and ecologically. THEY MATTER!

Lets stop whining about gas prices and start making decisions which will help us to become a part of the solution.

24 hr News Media

When I was a kid I remember the big deal CNN made about being a 24 hour news source. In retrospect what a mistake. Has news turned from news into entertainment? News sources now own other companies or other companies own news sources. Ratings, money, etc…these are the stories they are truly after.

 

Was it always like this? I watch the nightly Democratic Presidential nomination race and ponder…Am I watching news coverage? Or a scripted drama where our politicians play their part?

 

Whatever the case I am pretty sure the news makes the news, they don’t cover it any more. MSNBC, FOX NEWS, CNN...Shame on us for letting you do it!

Questions

i will have to say, the last few weeks and the support we have sensed from Winter Park, friends, family members and even people i don't really know, well it has blown us away. a midst all the uncertainty of what we are doing God already has a group in place to love and care for us in the coming years. 

i must simply say, praise God. 

i really don't know what i expected, but i could never have predicted God's blessings. 

this week i mainly have questions.

with all of this support, how do we bottle it? take it with us?

does this mean it is going to be extremely difficult in the future? that scares me...

will other things fall into place just as naturally? has God already prepared those initial people to partner with us in billings? 

if so, who are they? what are they like? how will we meet? 

for some people questions are a bad thing, something to be feared. for me they are an opportunity to experience an adventure. the journey of seeking answers to questions is something to be cherished!

Prayer Request:

Pray we are able to sell our house

Pray for the childcare situation in Billings

Pray for us to be aware of what God is doing in Billings and join Him, the other people will already be there working

Final Four

The tournament of upsets...or is it? Four the last eleven years my wife and I have made out brackets and competed against each other in the NCAA Final Four. For the first several years she won most years. I realized about three years ago she was winning because about 99% of the time she chose the higher seeded team. 

So I adjusted my strategy and began to pick chalk. I have won two years in a row and with a little luck this weekend I'll win again. However, I don't enjoy picking my brackets anymore. I am bored with only choosing the higher seeds. I miss trying to figure out the upsets. 

Why is it that the NCAA tournament has an elusion of upsets? Life is that way isn't it...sometimes we have an elusion of reality, but the truth is actually chalk. 

There are 64 games each year during the NCAA tournament and only about 3 or 4 upsets actually occur. I do not consider a 7 over a 10 an upset. Despite my desire to beat my wife, I may go back to picking the crazy upsets again next year. Every so often I get one right, I never remember all the times I picked upsets wrong. And it feels good when you get one right. I picked the Zag's (before the Zags were considered a good team) over Duke in 2002. Man, that felt good! I hate Duke!

Life is about perspective, I would rather risk taking a flyer and getting it wrong than never knowing the thrill of being a part of something no other person expects.