Inspirational Sportsmanship

Growing up my main sport was Church league softball. My dad was my coach for most of my life. He was the best teacher when it came to sportsmanship and he was a superb coach! He always emphasized good sportsmanship and fair play. We were never to goad the other team or boast about our successes. If you did anything like this, you were removed from the game. We won three league championships with him at the helm. This video inspirationally illustrates great sportsman ship. We certainly could use more of this in the sports world today!
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Leg Dropped for Jesus

This is one of the funniest clips I have seen in a long time! This dude has a totally original approach to healing than I have ever seen before. I don't think I would care to be down at the altar at one of his meetings. I don't want to be leg-dropped for Jesus!
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The Grocery Game

I heard about this on the news last night. This looks like a great service! You can sign up for a 4 week trial for only $1. You enter your zip code and choose the store(s) you shop at and they generate a shopping list for you. It is color coded according to the best deals and even tells you how many to buy. All you have to do is spend about 20-30 minutes clipping coupons from your Sunday paper, pick up the in-store coupons, print the list and go shopping. The story I saw showed two different people with identical lists going shopping. The one who just went shopping without this process paid $177.00. The person using this process bought twice as many items and paid only $43.00! Seems to me to be worth a try! Check it out for yourself by following this link--http://www.thegrocerygame.com/
Let me know what you think. If you try it out, put me down as the one who referred you and let me know what your experience was like. I'm curious to know how it will actually work. We will try it out and keep you updated. Read more!

SOAP Devotional for May 17th

There was some sort of glitch in sending yesterday’s SOAP and it was marked as spam. So I am resending it from another computer in hopes that it will work correctly this time. I was also remiss in not thanking you all for your prayers, visits, rides, babysitting, calls, cards and so much more, regarding my recent stay at Brandon Regional Hospital. Everything is fine with my heart (PRAISE GOD!). We know it is nothing critical, so we will start looking for the cause of the chest pain that sent me to the hospital to begin with, but we know that it is something far less serious than my heart. The cardiologist said that I have the arteries of a 20 year old and that I have great heart function. Thanks again…you are the best!

Pastor Matt



May 17, 2008

Read Genesis 28—to read this click on the following link or paste the address into your browser http:/www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis 28&version=51

There was some sort of glitch in sending yesterday’s SOAP and it was marked as spam. So I am resending it from another computer in hopes that it will work correctly this time. I was also remiss in not thanking you all for your prayers, visits, rides, babysitting, calls, cards and so much more, regarding my recent stay at Brandon Regional Hospital. Everything is fine with my heart (PRAISE GOD!). We know it is nothing critical, so we will start looking for the cause of the chest pain that sent me to the hospital to begin with, but we know that it is something far less serious than my heart. The cardiologist said that I have the arteries of a 20 year old and that I have great heart function. Thanks again…you are the best!

Pastor Matt



May 17, 2008

Read Genesis 28—to read this click on the following link or paste the address into your browser http:/www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis 28&version=51



Scripture- Genesis 28:20-22—“Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”



Observation- This chapter begins with Isaac’s blessing over Jacob. The time had come for Jacob to take a wife in order for God’s blessing over Abraham to continue (that God would bless him and make a mighty nation out of his descendents). Isaac marks the passing of this important occasion by pronouncing a blessing over Jacob. Soon after this, Jacob has his familiar dream of the stairway (older translations used “ladder”), where God blesses him and promises to fulfill the desires indicated in Isaac’s previous blessing over him. Jacob marks the place where this happened with a monument and calls it Bethel, which means “house of God.” Then he makes a vow. He says that if God is faithful to him on his current journey, then he will serve God for the rest of his life. He marks that vow with a sign of his commitment—offering God a tenth (or a “tithe”) of everything God gives to him. This indicates a continuous action on Jacob’s part, not simply a one time event.



Application-There is so much in this chapter that jumps out at me—and it all begins with a father’s blessing, moves to the Heavenly Father’s blessing and is culminated in Jacob’s vow. This shows the importance of marking life events with our children through blessing them with rites of passage. We have a little family tradition. When each of our children turns 13, they get something big to mark the occasion—a trip alone with dad, or a huge new privilege. When they turn 16, we mark that event with another rite of passage that I borrowed from a seminary professor. We go on a trip where we hike for the better part of a day and use walking sticks. That night, we have a fire and the newly 16 year old throws their walking stick into the fire and is presented with a new one that has their name carved into it and certain symbols that characterize their personality and strengths. This represents the passing of their childhood (the old stick that is burned) and the beginning of their lives as adults (the new stick) and we pray a prayer of blessing over them. I hope this is as powerful of a moment as Jacob’s was with Isaac. We need to mark those moments in our children’s lives so that they have the chance to hear us bless them more deeply than each time they sneeze. This blessing resulted eventually in Jacob’s making a vow to serve God for the rest of his life! This wasn’t just lip service, either. Jacob was willing to follow through on his vow in a way that indicated his trust in God—giving a tithe (or a tenth). What a wonderful gift!



Prayer-God, help us to remember how important it is to bless our children in meaningful ways. Help me to follow through on my commitments and responsibilities in ways that will honor You and bless You. Help me to be a good steward of all You have entrusted to me—the most precious being stewardship over our children, not only my biological children, but all of the children of FUMC Brandon. Thank You for Your faithfulness that endures forever!



If God had a refrigerator your picture would be on it!

Pastor Matt

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Really cool artist!

This is really cool stuff! I think the van is made out of Cypress, but I'm not sure. He said it is from Florida and the grain makes me think it is because Cypress has such a rich grain. If that van is made from Cypress, then it is massively heavy! I made some speaker boxes for my Plymouth Horizon in high school (the ultimate competition for the VW Rabbit) out of Cypress (because it was free) and it was very hard and heavy.
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Something Every Parent Should Read

This is a link to a powerful and personal story told by a reporter who was raped 20 years ago. It is a series of articles about the experience, life after, and the perpetrator's story. It is very graphic, but worth reading if you can bear it.
http://www.cleveland.com/beyondrape/
And here is the rest of it. Read more!

Ideas to Save Gas and Improve Mileage-

Here is a link to a site about Hypermiling. This is an approach that uses altered driving techniques to dramatically improve gas mileage. The first link is to a site on the topic in general. The second link takes you to a description of an experiment that was done that improves, not only mileage, but the actual traffic conditions in traffic jams and slow downs.

http://hypermiling.com/

http://amasci.com/amateur/traffic/trafexp.html Read more!

Thurs, May 1 SOAP Devotional

Read Genesis 11
To read this text go to: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2011&version=51



Scripture- Genesis 11:4-7 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”

Observations- Everyone could speak the same language at this time and they agreed to settle down together in the same area. They made an advance in technology (making bricks instead of using stone) and decided to build a massive project that would make them famous and keep them united together. The problem with this would be that they were united together by pride, rather than their worship and devotion to God. God saw what was happening and knew the creative potential that He created within them. They were told to spread out and populate the earth not congregate in cities, but instead they chose to stay together and settle in this area. They counted the cost of the project by settling on making bricks because of the lack of stone in the area. They worked together to overcome obstacles that stood in their way. All of these are good qualities when turned in the right direction, but here they indicate the intensity of their determination to pursue this rebellious action. They could not conceive that blessing could come from the obedience of splitting up and spreading out, so they were determined to stay together. They believed that their security lay in staying together and building a city—they believed more in bricks and mortar and the works of their hands than they did in God.

Application- The same temptations are all around us today. It is so much easier to rely on what we can see rather than trusting in God and God’s provisions for us. We are always blessed when we act in obedience to God. They thought that they knew better than God and were unwilling to give God even a chance at coming through for them. They were in for a surprise. God came down and scattered them by confusing their languages. They couldn’t understand each other anymore and had no choice but to move along. This just proves that our plans cannot thwart God’s purposes. God, and not the works of our hands, is the only thing worthy of our faith. While unity, having a common purpose and working together to overcome obstacles are certainly great qualities, we must always remember that these are only useful when they are directed toward glorifying God and serving God’s purposes and Kingdom. When we choose to go our own way rather than acting in obedience to what we understand God wants us to do, much of that is a monument to our insecurity. Jesus promised us in Matthew 6 that we are more important to Him than sparrows and flowers and God takes care of them, so we should always keep in mind the reality of His care and provision for our lives.

Prayer- Lord, help me to see the value in trusting you with my whole life. When I think I know better than You, please do whatever is necessary to get my attention and teach me that trusting You is always the right thing to do. It is easier to trust what I can observe with my senses, so help me to develop my spiritual senses in a way that will help me to see that what I can’t see is more real than what I can see. You know how much I love You and want to trust you. Help me to grow ever stronger in trusting You. Amen

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,

Pastor Matt
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