As I was driving down the road the other day, I witnessed one of the creative ways people are trying to make money in these difficult ecomonic times:

Unfortunately, I saw this on a Sunday, but I think it’s so creative that I will probably go back this weekend and spend the $4.  Wouldn’t it be great if people saw this obscure blog posting and decided to take a ride in the country to support a local farm?  If you’re so inclined, you’ll find the baby lamb at Big Timber Road and U.S. Route 20 near Hampshire, IL.

I have not won a little statue or otherwise recognized by my peers for some achievement, but never the less, tonight I am thankful.  As we go through this particular phase of our journey, I am amazed almost on a daily basis the amount of people thinking of and praying for us and encouraging us along the way.  The list is too long, and I’ll never get all the names out before the orchestra starts playing me off, but be assured that we are so very thankful for each any every person who has offered their encouragement to us.

God bless each and every one of you.

I haven’t read it yet, but I’m anxious to check out Anthony Coppedge’s new eBook, “The Reason Your Church Must Twitter”, which just came out today.

Someone asked me today what value Twitter might have to a smaller church, especially one who’s congregation might struggle with the Twitter vision.  I think that’s an excellent question, and as I pondered it, I thought about the shepherd analogy that has been used for centuries in the church.  Our pastors are the ‘shepherds’ of the local church.

When Jesus was with his disciples, we see a true example of shepherding.  Just as a shepherd eats and sleeps with his flock, so too did Jesus and his disciples spend their time together.  He was there every day teaching them and guiding them in the direction he wished for them.

It seems our modern model for shepherding is to meet with the sheep for about an hour once a week to encourage them in the direction they should go.  As a parent, I think about how hard it is to shepherd a toddler through the grocery store.  It seems success comes only with constant vigilance, sort of like the constant vigilance Jesus had with his disciples, and even then it seems that the disciples didn’t always get the message.

If constancy is key to successful shepherding, it would seem that using tools such as Twitter may help our local shepherds be more successful in building guiding relationships with their flocks.

Our Oldest brought home a writing assignment from school yesterday.  She had to complete the sentence and write a story about it:

If Rudolf Ate Our Front Door Wreath…

He would have to barf…so he did.  When my mom came out and saw that her wreath was gone…and the she saw the barf!  And she screamed!  And the dog came with my dad [we don't have a dog -ed.] and he was sad a little.  And then my dog came and like the barf!  And my sister came an she like some too!  And then she said, “Yummy it tasted like pickles and olives!” (She like pickles and olives)  But I do not.  So my mom and me went to the mall to buy a new wreath.  It was a nice one too.  And it never happened again.

The end.

I’m a little worried about the facination with barf, but at least her spelling was quite excellent.

I saw this sign briefly on NBC’s broadcast of the Winter Classic yesterday. What I didn’t realize at the time was that it’s our great friends Butch and Kim holding the sign! It seems they came up with the right catch phrase, as their sign was mentioned in the AP wire story, and picked up by news sites across the country.

I’m glad I recorded it!