Erin,
I owe you the world's biggest apology. I am terribly sorry and deeply embarrassed that I haven't pass on a word of thanks yet for the tea and the encouraging note. Your envelope came while I was on vacation and when I returned I was immediately immersed in a new semester at the McKendree College Baptist Collegiate Ministry and then leading the Air Mobility Command geographic information support for Hurricane Katrina. I walked into my kitchen at home last night and began shuffling papers around and uncovered your envelope. I felt terrible. I can't believe it was covered up for nearly 2 months! I guess it shows what a state of panic I have been living in lately.
Anyhow, I read the incredible note, brewed some wonderful tea, and relaxed for a few minutes last night; exactly what I needed. Praise God I have a wonderful friend like you. Please accept my apology and a heartfelt belated wish for a happy blogging birthday!
Friday, September 16, 2005
Saturday, September 10, 2005
This Week At The Gate
Thanks to all of you who came out this week to help us kick off a new year at The Gate. We appreciate the great turnout.
Wednesday Night we had a super Bible Study with Emma leading us in "Being Real With The Lord." Thanks Emma for a wonderful evening dedicated to knowing what it means to be truly broken before the Lord. It fed right into Thursday Night when Phil Nelson came and shared with us about our responsibility to make the Lord an issue in each class we take and use our lives on campus as an opportunity to tell others about our Lord. Thanks Phil for a convicting evening. I came away knowing that I haven't taken my responsibily to share Christ as seriously as I should. I let way too many opportunities to make Christ an issue slip by.
Please join us this week. Here's what we have planned:
Monday Sept 12:
Men's Bible Study at 8:00pm at Mike Cheeseman's Apartment in West
Women's Bible Study at 8:30pm at The Gate
Tuesday Sept 13:
Prayerwalk at 6:30am in the McKendree Quad
Wednesday Sept 14:
Bible Study at 7:30pm at The Gate
Thursday Sept 15:
Bible Study at 7:30pm at The Gate
Lounge Worship at 9:00pm at The Gate
The Gate is located at 225 N. Monroe St, Lebanon, Illinois. Here's a link to a Yahoo Map of the Gate. Link.
Visit our Blog located at http://opengate.blogspot.com for the latest information on meeting times, events, and news.
I hope to see you this week. God bless you all.
Rick
Wednesday Night we had a super Bible Study with Emma leading us in "Being Real With The Lord." Thanks Emma for a wonderful evening dedicated to knowing what it means to be truly broken before the Lord. It fed right into Thursday Night when Phil Nelson came and shared with us about our responsibility to make the Lord an issue in each class we take and use our lives on campus as an opportunity to tell others about our Lord. Thanks Phil for a convicting evening. I came away knowing that I haven't taken my responsibily to share Christ as seriously as I should. I let way too many opportunities to make Christ an issue slip by.
Please join us this week. Here's what we have planned:
Monday Sept 12:
Men's Bible Study at 8:00pm at Mike Cheeseman's Apartment in West
Women's Bible Study at 8:30pm at The Gate
Tuesday Sept 13:
Prayerwalk at 6:30am in the McKendree Quad
Wednesday Sept 14:
Bible Study at 7:30pm at The Gate
Thursday Sept 15:
Bible Study at 7:30pm at The Gate
Lounge Worship at 9:00pm at The Gate
The Gate is located at 225 N. Monroe St, Lebanon, Illinois. Here's a link to a Yahoo Map of the Gate. Link.
Visit our Blog located at http://opengate.blogspot.com for the latest information on meeting times, events, and news.
I hope to see you this week. God bless you all.
Rick
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Help
Hey everyone,
Below is an E-Mail from Serena Butler of the Illinois Baptist State Association to the BCM Directors. She is planning a hurricane relief trip during Christmas break. Please see the details below. Please keep this in your minds as you plan for your vacation.
God bless you
Rick Marshall
Subject: Hurricane Relief and Mission Trip
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2005 10:38
From: "Serena Butler" serenabutler@ibsa.org
To: BCM Directors
I hope that the first two weeks or so of school are going well with you. On top of regular things that students deal with at this time, they are now feeling the effects of Hurricane Katrina. I have several students from my group at ISU that have been effected by family members losing their homes and not knowing where to go for help. One student was planning to begin seminary at New Orleans in January, so his plans have changed.
Many of you may know that I took a group of students to Florida over Christmas break to help with cleanup after the hurricanes of last year. I have received several emails about a trip to the Gulf Coast this coming Christmas break and am in the process of planning such a trip. If you or your students would like to go, or would like more information, let me know. There is a strong possiblilty that we could send several teams to different places if there is enough interest.
By now you should have also received some bookmarks to help with promotion for Axiom.
If you have specific prayer requests, please let me know so that I can intercede for you.
In Him,
Serena
Below is an E-Mail from Serena Butler of the Illinois Baptist State Association to the BCM Directors. She is planning a hurricane relief trip during Christmas break. Please see the details below. Please keep this in your minds as you plan for your vacation.
God bless you
Rick Marshall
Subject: Hurricane Relief and Mission Trip
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2005 10:38
From: "Serena Butler" serenabutler@ibsa.org
To: BCM Directors
I hope that the first two weeks or so of school are going well with you. On top of regular things that students deal with at this time, they are now feeling the effects of Hurricane Katrina. I have several students from my group at ISU that have been effected by family members losing their homes and not knowing where to go for help. One student was planning to begin seminary at New Orleans in January, so his plans have changed.
Many of you may know that I took a group of students to Florida over Christmas break to help with cleanup after the hurricanes of last year. I have received several emails about a trip to the Gulf Coast this coming Christmas break and am in the process of planning such a trip. If you or your students would like to go, or would like more information, let me know. There is a strong possiblilty that we could send several teams to different places if there is enough interest.
By now you should have also received some bookmarks to help with promotion for Axiom.
If you have specific prayer requests, please let me know so that I can intercede for you.
In Him,
Serena
Friday, August 19, 2005
Thoughts on Google Earth
Well, just incase you haven't heard of it before, Google has unveiled the BETA version of its latest product Google Earth. What an incredible program. It takes us a step beyond MapQuest and Yahoo Maps. Although it doesn't provide the same level of detail as MapQuest and Yahoo for driving directions, it does provide some great information that is wonderfully designed. Instead of providing maps it provides digital imagery for those who may want to visualize the world in a little more real fashion that the static maps provided by internet mapping tools.
Google Earth is also supported by the Google Earth Community. The community provides support, news, archives, data searches, and a bulletin board. As of August 19 there are already over 83,000 members. The community can be used for posting.
Why do I like Google Earth so much? Google Earth is a very valuable visualization tool. I can describe to someone how to locate my house, and I can direct them to MapQuest or Yahoo Maps to see the street and address structure, but the best way to find my house it to provide someone with a visualization of where my house lies in relation to other things (houses, intersections, landmarks). It provides someone who is looking for my house with some situational awareness while they are out looking for my house. Google Earth does this much better than any other mapping tool I have found.
In my current job as a consultant to the US Air Force we are creating a product very similar to Google Earth, but it is designed for the Air Force to visualize its installations and the battle space. Imagine a 3-D version of Google Earth with real time aircraft traffic, weather, and installation data on it. An aircraft can depart from an Air force installation and you can follow it as it transits the world. When it comes close to its destination you can zoom in to find a deeper level of visual and annotated detail on a seamless, integrated image. That is similar to where we are headed in the next couple of years. What I do isn't Google Earth, but a similar product. It is a very powerful tool that senior commanders will use to visually remain aware of all the thousands of moving parts in the military system.
Tips for using Google Earth:
1. Remember that the imagery is static and doesn't depict real time pictures. You can't see your car parked in the parking lot right now. Most of the imagery is "flown" once or twice per year and some of the imagery can be several years old.
2. Remember that some of the annotations on the imagery may not be accurate. The annotations can be provided in an open format, so they may not have any quality control before they are posted. If John found an ATM down the street he can place the location of that ATM on Google Earth, even if he is a block or a mile off.
3. Create your own address books using the "Add Folder" and "Add Placemark" functions. You can do some really creating things with the program.
4. Google Earth is free. Don't buy the upgraded version unless you have to. Most people will never need the capability to use the tools the upgraded version contains.
5. Google now owns Google Earth and Blogger. Both are currently free programs and I can hardly wait until they have both integrated into a tool that leverages the visualization tools of Google Earth ease of blogging with Blogger. The images from Google Earth are a little too large for posting on Blogger right now. The detail on Google Earth isn't used well on Blogger.
Google Earth is also supported by the Google Earth Community. The community provides support, news, archives, data searches, and a bulletin board. As of August 19 there are already over 83,000 members. The community can be used for posting.
Why do I like Google Earth so much? Google Earth is a very valuable visualization tool. I can describe to someone how to locate my house, and I can direct them to MapQuest or Yahoo Maps to see the street and address structure, but the best way to find my house it to provide someone with a visualization of where my house lies in relation to other things (houses, intersections, landmarks). It provides someone who is looking for my house with some situational awareness while they are out looking for my house. Google Earth does this much better than any other mapping tool I have found.
In my current job as a consultant to the US Air Force we are creating a product very similar to Google Earth, but it is designed for the Air Force to visualize its installations and the battle space. Imagine a 3-D version of Google Earth with real time aircraft traffic, weather, and installation data on it. An aircraft can depart from an Air force installation and you can follow it as it transits the world. When it comes close to its destination you can zoom in to find a deeper level of visual and annotated detail on a seamless, integrated image. That is similar to where we are headed in the next couple of years. What I do isn't Google Earth, but a similar product. It is a very powerful tool that senior commanders will use to visually remain aware of all the thousands of moving parts in the military system.
Tips for using Google Earth:
1. Remember that the imagery is static and doesn't depict real time pictures. You can't see your car parked in the parking lot right now. Most of the imagery is "flown" once or twice per year and some of the imagery can be several years old.
2. Remember that some of the annotations on the imagery may not be accurate. The annotations can be provided in an open format, so they may not have any quality control before they are posted. If John found an ATM down the street he can place the location of that ATM on Google Earth, even if he is a block or a mile off.
3. Create your own address books using the "Add Folder" and "Add Placemark" functions. You can do some really creating things with the program.
4. Google Earth is free. Don't buy the upgraded version unless you have to. Most people will never need the capability to use the tools the upgraded version contains.
5. Google now owns Google Earth and Blogger. Both are currently free programs and I can hardly wait until they have both integrated into a tool that leverages the visualization tools of Google Earth ease of blogging with Blogger. The images from Google Earth are a little too large for posting on Blogger right now. The detail on Google Earth isn't used well on Blogger.
Monday, August 08, 2005
A Missional Vacation
The history for this post starts out a couple of weeks ago. We have owned a camping trailer for several years, but the trailer had bunkbeds for the kids and was getting a little small for us.
My son and daughter are growing up and the bunkbeds are no longer able to endure the stress for someone who is bigger than I am. So, my wife and I found a 9 year old motorhome for sale at a great price and headed off on a family vacation to the mountains of North Carolina.
At the last minute we decided to tow our car behind us, a decision we will never regret and never have to make again.
When we left Interstate 40 near Knoxville, Tennessee headed for Cherokee, North Carolina we understood why got such a great price on the motorhome. The transmission gave up on us and we were stranded in Sevierville. We were stuck and had to be towed into the nearest campground, the Knoxville East KOA. It was a long and very hot day and although we weren’t amused, the Lord had His hands on everything that was going on.
I called the campground to see if they had room for us and the owner said they had one nice spot left that was long enough for us to be towed into. Off we went on a tow to the campground. What a great place! The campground owners (Gary and Jane Carty) waited around for us after hours and helped us get parked at a wonderful campsite. When the motorhome was being unhooked from the wrecker Gary invited us to attend a church service they have in the KOA campground store on Sunday mornings. I told him that I was a campus minister back home in Illinois and it started an 11 day conversation that just got better and better. Gary came back and offered us a free home made pizza that the campground sells to campers and we loved it. Some of the best pizza we have ever had, and it came at a time when we were at a low spot. Thanks Gary and Jane for the help.
We noticed when we were being towed into the campground that it was located on a hillside overlooking the baseball stadium hosting the Tennessee Smokies “AA” baseball team. All the campers moved their chairs to the edge of the hill to watch the game. It was nice to relax after a difficult day and Gary and Jane and a few others came by to ask how we were doing and to give us some moral support.
Sunday morning church service at the campground was excellent! There were about 3 or 4 families who worship regularly at the campground and several other campers there. I estimate there were 25-30 people at the service. The Lord worked throughout the service. Lee led us in worship and Lenny preached the message. Gary and Lenny did a great job leading communion. They are three wonderful servants of the Lord.
Sunday night we watched another Tennessee Smokies baseball game and it followed with a “Building 429” (One of my favorite Christian bands) concert at the stadium. It was like sitting in our living room and watching it on TV. Good stuff.
On Monday we had someone look at our motorhome and they determined we needed a new transmission. The parts would take a week to get to Knoxville and they estimated it would take one day to fix. So we knew we would be around for at least a week. We studied the map and found out there was so much more to do on the Tennessee side of the mountains than the North Carolina side that we began a series of day trips to explore The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
We spend the better part of the week hiking trails in the park: Clingman’s Dome,
Laurel Falls,
The Gatlinburg Trail, and parts of the Appalachian Trail. We also saw Sivierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg.
We had an incredible time. And all week long Gary and Jane treated us like we were family. My kids bought all the candy they could eat from the campground store and I bought all the Ben and Jerry’s Double Chocolate Fudge icecream they had.
On Friday evening a camper came into the campground that had a family member with a medical emergency at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, about 30 minutes away. Gary and Jane told me about the difficult time the camper was having and we each prayed for him that day. On Saturday we were told that his family member had passed away. When we go through tough times it is so comforting to know that someone is praying for us. Gary and Jane told me this is one reason why they got into the camping business, because it gives them the opportunity to help out people in all sorts of situations. They are true servants of the Lord, and God placed them in our path when we needed some help. I didn’t hear back on the situation that the camper was in, but I know the Lord used Gary and Jane to minister to him.
The Lord provided the opportunity for me to preach in the Sunday morning service the next week. I preached from Psalm 73 on how we need to have an eternal perspective when we go through trials as Christians because the Lord has control of all our situations and we need to trust Him that His way is best. It was something the Lord has laid on my heart since the beginning of the summer. Thank you Gary, Jane, and Lennie for letting me preach. I hope the Lord used my words to reach someone.
What did I learn from vacation?
1) I learned a great lesson on missional living. I always think of vacation when I think of camping, but there are a lot of people out there who are camping because they can’t afford anything else. Gary and Jane have intentionally placed themselves in a position to help a large group of people who are struggling through life and the Lord is using them because they have answered the call (Isaiah 6:8). I have taught my students many times that we need to go to where the lost are and share Jesus with them there, not expect them to come to us. Gary, Jane, Lennie, and Lee are living that on a daily basis. Praise God for their ministry!
2) I learned that the Lord really is in control of all our situations. He can use the situations that look the bleakest to us in order to create seams of light that shine and illuminate a lost world.
3) I also learned that I shouldn’t go through life whining about my situations. The Lord gives and takes away (Job 1:21). I should be content with what the Lord has privileged me with.
4) I need to consciously place myself and my family in situations where I can help people understand that the Lord loves them and has their situations under control. Life is pretty messy some times and that is when people are most vulnerable to understanding that there is a higher being in control of whatever happens in their lives.
My son and daughter are growing up and the bunkbeds are no longer able to endure the stress for someone who is bigger than I am. So, my wife and I found a 9 year old motorhome for sale at a great price and headed off on a family vacation to the mountains of North Carolina.
At the last minute we decided to tow our car behind us, a decision we will never regret and never have to make again.
When we left Interstate 40 near Knoxville, Tennessee headed for Cherokee, North Carolina we understood why got such a great price on the motorhome. The transmission gave up on us and we were stranded in Sevierville. We were stuck and had to be towed into the nearest campground, the Knoxville East KOA. It was a long and very hot day and although we weren’t amused, the Lord had His hands on everything that was going on.
I called the campground to see if they had room for us and the owner said they had one nice spot left that was long enough for us to be towed into. Off we went on a tow to the campground. What a great place! The campground owners (Gary and Jane Carty) waited around for us after hours and helped us get parked at a wonderful campsite. When the motorhome was being unhooked from the wrecker Gary invited us to attend a church service they have in the KOA campground store on Sunday mornings. I told him that I was a campus minister back home in Illinois and it started an 11 day conversation that just got better and better. Gary came back and offered us a free home made pizza that the campground sells to campers and we loved it. Some of the best pizza we have ever had, and it came at a time when we were at a low spot. Thanks Gary and Jane for the help.
We noticed when we were being towed into the campground that it was located on a hillside overlooking the baseball stadium hosting the Tennessee Smokies “AA” baseball team. All the campers moved their chairs to the edge of the hill to watch the game. It was nice to relax after a difficult day and Gary and Jane and a few others came by to ask how we were doing and to give us some moral support.
Sunday morning church service at the campground was excellent! There were about 3 or 4 families who worship regularly at the campground and several other campers there. I estimate there were 25-30 people at the service. The Lord worked throughout the service. Lee led us in worship and Lenny preached the message. Gary and Lenny did a great job leading communion. They are three wonderful servants of the Lord.
Sunday night we watched another Tennessee Smokies baseball game and it followed with a “Building 429” (One of my favorite Christian bands) concert at the stadium. It was like sitting in our living room and watching it on TV. Good stuff.
On Monday we had someone look at our motorhome and they determined we needed a new transmission. The parts would take a week to get to Knoxville and they estimated it would take one day to fix. So we knew we would be around for at least a week. We studied the map and found out there was so much more to do on the Tennessee side of the mountains than the North Carolina side that we began a series of day trips to explore The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
We spend the better part of the week hiking trails in the park: Clingman’s Dome,
Laurel Falls,
The Gatlinburg Trail, and parts of the Appalachian Trail. We also saw Sivierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg.
We had an incredible time. And all week long Gary and Jane treated us like we were family. My kids bought all the candy they could eat from the campground store and I bought all the Ben and Jerry’s Double Chocolate Fudge icecream they had.
On Friday evening a camper came into the campground that had a family member with a medical emergency at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, about 30 minutes away. Gary and Jane told me about the difficult time the camper was having and we each prayed for him that day. On Saturday we were told that his family member had passed away. When we go through tough times it is so comforting to know that someone is praying for us. Gary and Jane told me this is one reason why they got into the camping business, because it gives them the opportunity to help out people in all sorts of situations. They are true servants of the Lord, and God placed them in our path when we needed some help. I didn’t hear back on the situation that the camper was in, but I know the Lord used Gary and Jane to minister to him.
The Lord provided the opportunity for me to preach in the Sunday morning service the next week. I preached from Psalm 73 on how we need to have an eternal perspective when we go through trials as Christians because the Lord has control of all our situations and we need to trust Him that His way is best. It was something the Lord has laid on my heart since the beginning of the summer. Thank you Gary, Jane, and Lennie for letting me preach. I hope the Lord used my words to reach someone.
What did I learn from vacation?
1) I learned a great lesson on missional living. I always think of vacation when I think of camping, but there are a lot of people out there who are camping because they can’t afford anything else. Gary and Jane have intentionally placed themselves in a position to help a large group of people who are struggling through life and the Lord is using them because they have answered the call (Isaiah 6:8). I have taught my students many times that we need to go to where the lost are and share Jesus with them there, not expect them to come to us. Gary, Jane, Lennie, and Lee are living that on a daily basis. Praise God for their ministry!
2) I learned that the Lord really is in control of all our situations. He can use the situations that look the bleakest to us in order to create seams of light that shine and illuminate a lost world.
3) I also learned that I shouldn’t go through life whining about my situations. The Lord gives and takes away (Job 1:21). I should be content with what the Lord has privileged me with.
4) I need to consciously place myself and my family in situations where I can help people understand that the Lord loves them and has their situations under control. Life is pretty messy some times and that is when people are most vulnerable to understanding that there is a higher being in control of whatever happens in their lives.
Lack of Posting
Sorry for the lack of posting lately. We were on vacation and unexpectedly broke down and were sitting in a place for 11 days that had limited, to no, internet capability. I'll be posting again soon (hopefully later today) and I have some great things to share.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Searching For God Knows What
I just finished reading Searching For God Knows What, by Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz. I really enjoyed Blue Like Jazz, but Searching For God Knows What was even better. Donald Miller has a wonderful way of telling stories that some how or other end up illuminating what it means to follow Christ in a new and deeper way.
Example:
In Chapter 10: The Gospel of Jesus: It Never Was A Formula:
Miller writes on page 153:
Each year I teach a class on the gospel and culture at a small Bible college back East. This year I asked the students to list the precepts a person would need to understand in order to become a Christian. I stoood at the white board and they called out ideas: Man was sinful by nature; sin separates us from God; Jesus died for our sins; we could accept Jesus into our hearts (after some thought, students were not able to explain exactly what they meant by this, only saying it was a kind of interaction in which a person agrees Jesus is the Son of God), and so on. Then looking at the board, I bean to ask some questions about these almost universally accepted ideas. I asked if a person could believe all these ideas were true and yet not be a Christian. I told them my friend Matt, for instance, believed all these ideas and yet would never claim to be a person who knows Jesus or much less follows Him. The students conceeded that, in fact, a person could know and even believe all the concepts on the board and yet not be a Christian....
We sat together and looked at the board for several minutes until we conceeded we eren't going to come up with the missing element. I then erased the board and asked the class a different question: What ideas would a guy need to agree with or what steps would a guy need to take in order to fall in love with a girl?
Miller then goes on to talk about how our relationship with God isn't dictated by a checklist, but rather by a love relationship with the Lord. Why do we break down salvation into 4 Spiritual Laws, or the bridge or wheel diagrams? When we do that we oversimplify a dynamic love relationship with God that follows more along the lines of a man and a woman falling in love. Miller's illustrations are brilliant and highlight the difference in belief paradigms between the emerging generations and those who preceeded them.
I'll post more examples in the following days. But, for now, I recommend you go to your bookstore and purchase Searching For God Knows What.
Example:
In Chapter 10: The Gospel of Jesus: It Never Was A Formula:
Miller writes on page 153:
Each year I teach a class on the gospel and culture at a small Bible college back East. This year I asked the students to list the precepts a person would need to understand in order to become a Christian. I stoood at the white board and they called out ideas: Man was sinful by nature; sin separates us from God; Jesus died for our sins; we could accept Jesus into our hearts (after some thought, students were not able to explain exactly what they meant by this, only saying it was a kind of interaction in which a person agrees Jesus is the Son of God), and so on. Then looking at the board, I bean to ask some questions about these almost universally accepted ideas. I asked if a person could believe all these ideas were true and yet not be a Christian. I told them my friend Matt, for instance, believed all these ideas and yet would never claim to be a person who knows Jesus or much less follows Him. The students conceeded that, in fact, a person could know and even believe all the concepts on the board and yet not be a Christian....
We sat together and looked at the board for several minutes until we conceeded we eren't going to come up with the missing element. I then erased the board and asked the class a different question: What ideas would a guy need to agree with or what steps would a guy need to take in order to fall in love with a girl?
Miller then goes on to talk about how our relationship with God isn't dictated by a checklist, but rather by a love relationship with the Lord. Why do we break down salvation into 4 Spiritual Laws, or the bridge or wheel diagrams? When we do that we oversimplify a dynamic love relationship with God that follows more along the lines of a man and a woman falling in love. Miller's illustrations are brilliant and highlight the difference in belief paradigms between the emerging generations and those who preceeded them.
I'll post more examples in the following days. But, for now, I recommend you go to your bookstore and purchase Searching For God Knows What.
Friday, July 15, 2005
On Being Gay Friendly
Thanks to Steve McCoy and his Emerging SBC Leaders Blog for linking out to this Baptist Press article. It has started a lot of discussion on his website. I like the article and the discussion it has started among my friends in the blogosphere. It brings up a lot of issues about how we show God's love to those who live lives far different from ours. In case you haven't seen it yet please read it and let me know your thoughts.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
It's All A Matter of Perspective
I received the following E-mail from a friend of mine. I thought it was good enough to copy here:
A lesson to be learned from typing the wrong email address! A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email. Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his> mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:
To: My Loving Wife> Subject: I've Arrived> Date: October 16, 2004
I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now, and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was. P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here!
Wow, what a shock!
A lesson to be learned from typing the wrong email address! A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email. Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his> mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:
To: My Loving Wife> Subject: I've Arrived> Date: October 16, 2004
I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now, and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was. P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here!
Wow, what a shock!
Sunday, July 03, 2005
StudentLife Camp
Sorry about the light posting, but I just returned from StudentLife Camp last week at Windermere Conference Center at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Camp has changed a lot since I was a camper. StudentLife has the camp process down pat. It was a grat time of spiritual growth for the 50 students we took and for each of us sponsors. It was a wonderful time to reflect, rededicate lives, and start anew on serving Christ. I made some good friendships with students and fellow sponsors and was able to teach a daily Bible Study and Prayer Gathering. The weather was unbearable hot and humid, but it cooled off for the bus ride home. To all my students out there who I had a chance to work with, Go Blue Team!
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