Friday, August 31, 2007
one way to liven up a funeral
go around and randomly lay hands on people. it really brings things to life.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
six feet under
i'm attending a funeral in dayton, ohio, tomorrow morning at 10am. i really, really dislike going to funerals.
some of the standard funeral lines get on my nerves. we're transferring her membership from < insert church name > to the Kingdom of Heaven. or she's resting in Jesus. no, she's not resting in Jesus. she's dead.
can you tell i don't like things sugar-coated?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
the scary side of missions
SEOUL, South Korea -- Taliban militants have released 12 out of 19 South Korean hostages held in captivity in Afghanistan for more than a month.
The hostages were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross at three separate locations in central Afghanistan close to the city of Ghazni, according to The Associated Press .
They were part of an original group of 23 Christian aid workers who were abducted July 19 from a bus by Taliban militants, who later executed two of the South Koreans and freed two others -- leaving 19 in captivity...
Under the terms of the agreement, South Korea agreed to stick by its previous decision to withdraw its 200 non-combat troops from Afghanistan, which work mostly in an engineering and medical capacity.
In addition, Seoul promised to halt all Christian missionary work in Afghanistan.
while i'm so thankful that the mission team has been released, i'm disappointed to hear that south korea promised to halt all christian missionary work in afghanistan. i don't like making deals with the devil.
[ht: cnn]
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
it's like watching a train wreck
the look on mario's face at the end of this clip says it all. i don't think i could have held my composure. i'd have been busting out laughing when she said "us americans".
Monday, August 27, 2007
gotta love 'em
i was standing by the car telling lauren goodbye when my niece yells as loud as she can: "STOP KISSING MY UNCLE!"
yeah. that was awkward.
forever changed
there was a man at the jefferson mall on saturday who just went to shop with his family and eat at the food court. he didn't know that some people from nvmc would be in the food court with a few pimped out motorcycles inviting people to come to friend day.
he and his family showed up for the 9am service. he sat in his wheelchair at the end of the row listening, watching, wondering. the message of Christ was presented in a most unorthodox way and it apparently appealed to him. when pastor asked if anybody wanted to meet Jesus, he raised his hand and slowly wheeled his way to the front. i watched as he sat in his chair while an altar worker kneeled beside him and led him in the sinner's prayer. the man was crying, seemingly wiping his eyes every few seconds. his life is forever changed.
yesterday the theatrics were great. hubers farm was great. the weather was great. but seeing people accept Christ was the best thing. period.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
random thoughts v10
i got an email today stating that three pictures i'd taken while in kauai are going to be published in a kauai travel guide. they got the pictures from my flickr account. i don't get paid for them, but i get the photography credit in the travel guide. pretty cool i thought. _____
my elder nephew is now playing the trombone (as if the drums, piano, bass guitar and trumpet weren't enough.) he's on the top floor and i'm in the basement and i can hear it plain as day. pray, saints, pray. _____
one thing most of you probably don't know about me is that i'm part of a southern gospel trio. the other two members are my sister and brother-in-law. we're going to record a song and put it on our myspace accounts. just wait and listen and be amazed. we need to come up with a name for our trio though... _____
i've texted more in the past three weeks than i have in my whole entire life. _____
i was telling a friend of mine about friend day at church this coming sunday (if you're within 500 miles of louisville, kentucky, then you should definitely be there!) and was telling him about all of the things we'd be doing after church at huber farm: free lunch, putt-putt, petting zoo, horseshoes, basketball, blow-ups, etc. when i said "blow-ups" his face turned red and he said, "your church believes in that!?" i'm pretty sure i need to start describing them as bounce houses or something like that from now on...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
the ville
so church tonight was the bomb-diggity. for real.
pastor randy gave us a quick devotional and made me think about something that i hadn't given much thought to before. as mission-minded as i am, i concentrate a lot on praying for the world. china. the middle east. india. venezuela. africa. but tonight i was convicted for not praying for louisville enough.
our church's current focus is on the city in which we live, work, raise our children and have established relationships. that's what this coming sunday is all about - reaching our city for Him. so while i'm going to continue to pray for the world as much as i did before, i now see the importance of praying more for my city and i'm committed to doing just that.
open the floodgates of Heaven let it rain let it rain
i wrote this a few years ago and recently found it when i was going through some stuff. i'm glad i'm not there anymore.
uncontent not content however you want to put it
frustrated irritated aggrivated
any other ated you can think of
why?
my fault solely disobedience
but i keep on trapped can't get out
sometimes don't want to get out
my fault solely disobedience
here i go again
Saturday, August 18, 2007
top 5 sayings since i've been in cleveland
touch
you're the best potato cook. ever. i really love your potatoes.
she was gyrating in the holy spirit
i was sure you'd have a sweater
not so much
Friday, August 17, 2007
i'm a sinner
i had lunch today in the missions department of church of god international headquarters in a pair of shorts. i'm pretty sure that's a sin.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
no excuses
a ton of things have gone on this week. i've been yelled and cursed at. i've been run off the road by a trucker. i've had a headache. i've talked more than normal. i've laughed a lot. i've thought a lot. i've read a lot. but i've not blogged as much as i should have.
busy. busy. busy.
Monday, August 13, 2007
grrr
i'm pretty ticked off right now. i was looking back through some older months of my blog, re-reading them when i noticed that the vast majority of comments are - POOF! - gone.
i knew i should have gone with typepad.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
my family is a bit morbid. don't know why really, but we are. we were sitting in subway yesterday afternoon when i said, "let's go see granny and gramps." without missing a beat, my younger nephew exclaimed loudly, "they're dead!"
so we went up the road to the cemetery where my maternal grandparents are buried. for the first time it kind of bothered me that my parents all ready have a tombstone with our surname on it. maybe it's because my parents are getting older (sorry mom and dad. i know you read my blog and i'm publicly saying that you're getting older, but it's true) but seeing "NOE" on a tombstone knowing that it isn't meant for anybody else but my parents is kind of depressing.
although, it's not just "NOE" that's on the tombstones. my grandparents bought a bunch of tombstones and had everybody's names put on them. i told you were were a bit morbid.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
what i need to do is
focus. focus. focus.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
some things are worth fighting for
a herd of water buffalo is minding their own business, going to the watering hole to get something to drink. they didn't see the lions upwind, crouching in the weeds, waiting to pounce.
who do the lions attack? the baby buffalo. the poor thing is helpless in the water, being eaten alive by the lions when a crocodile surfaces and wants a piece of the action. the lions and the crocodile literally play tug-of-war with the baby buffalo. the crocodile eventually gives up and you can hear a man in the video say "the lions have won."
but that was before the herd of adult water buffalo comes back royally pissed off. nostrils are flaring. hooves are stomping. the herd surrounds the lions and fight for one of their own. they chase the lions away one by one until the baby buffalo STANDS UP and walks back into the middle of the herd.
i'm pretty sure there's a spiritual application here.
Monday, August 06, 2007
a moment to myself
i asked God a question tonight and He answered me with a response I wasn't expecting.
God, dude, could You give me a break sometimes!?
Sunday, August 05, 2007
ummm... ouch!!!
about me
we talked about life this morning at church. one of the things pastor mentioned was that lots of times when we attend the funeral of a person, we will learn something about them. to be honest, i don't want people to learn about me at my funeral. i want you to know about me now. so i'm going to follow in a tradition of a lot of bloggers and post 100 50 things you should know about me:
1) my name is clay. 2) it's actually "clayton". 3) i was named after both my grandfathers. 4) i had a great-grandfather whose name was green, as in the color. 5) i love africa. 6) i've been to kenya three times. 7) i used to be a temporary resident of south africa. 8) i enjoy adventure sports. 9) i've been skydiving. 10) i've been shark diving. 11) i've been white water rafting in a canoe. 12) i fell out several times. 13) i was run over by a ford bronco when i was seven years old. 14) it hurt. 15) a lot. 16) but He healed my body. 17) and for that i'm thankful. 18) i like sushi. 19) the last time i had it was in NYC in november. 20) i would love to live in NYC. 21) i used to live in hazard. 22) as in the dukes of hazard. 23) my dad was a pastor when i was growing up. 24) he was a good pastor. 25) we had a stripper live with us once. 26) i'm phlegmatic. 27) classically phlegmatic. 28) i like all kinds of music. 29) even bluegrass. 30) i'm morally conservative, but politically liberal. 31) i campaigned for gore/lieberman. 32) i voted for bush. 33) my hair is naturally very curly. 34) that bugs me. 35) but i'll have cute kids one day. 36) i hope. 37) missions is my passion. 38) i want to be involved in missions full-time. 39) i can convincingly speak in different accents. 40) i can leave you a voicemail in an indian accent and you won't have any idea it's me. 41) i'm quiet, but witty. 42) it takes me a while to warm up to people. 43) either i like you or i don't. 44) there's not a lot of gray with me. 45) i'm incredibly loyal. 46) i like myself. 47) most of the time. 48) i love Jesus. 49) and God. 50) y el Espiritu Santo.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
a conversation with my dad
dad: she's getting bigger every time i see her
me: she's gotten a little bigger.
dad: she's as big as the side of a building.
me: well, there ya go.
Friday, August 03, 2007
quiet
i'm in a blogging lull.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
things i learned today
1. hitting the snooze button for over an hour doesn't mean you get an extra hour of sleep. 2. you can't always trust people to do things for you. sometimes you just have to do things yourself. 3. i tend to micromanage. 4. #3 is the result of #2. 5. eating mcdonalds two days in a row isn't good for your digestive system.
