Glad to know that the government realizes the importance of energy drinks and is willing to pay for them as long as they are labeled a certain way. Priorities, right?
Self-Deflating Watermelons
Who knew watermelons have a built-in self-destruct feature? Apparently, when a watermelon goes bad, it deflates itself. Seems like a pretty handy feature and it’s kind of surprising the watermelon industry doesn’t promote it more.
How Do Seedless Fruits Reproduce?
How in the world do they keep growing all these seedless fruits? I see seedless watermelons, grapes, and oranges all the time, but haven’t figured out how they are able to reproduce them without using seeds. Is there a limited supply or are they creating them in a laboratory somewhere? And where did the first one of each type of fruit come from?
**UPDATE** – I think I finally figured out how seedless oranges reproduce! There’s no need to plant new orange trees…they just give birth to baby oranges!
See ya…later…bye!
I’m terrible at ending phone conversations…is saying “bye” really necessary if I’ve already said “later” or “see ya”? Seems a little redundant to say “See ya…bye” doesn’t it? What’s really bad is that I’ll even go as far as saying “See ya later…bye.” I guess I just really want there to be no doubt as to whether the conversation is over. Or perhaps it’s just another example of me overthinking really insignificant things that don’t deserve this much thought.
Prepaid Phone Purchasers
Is it bad that I assume every person I see buying a prepaid phone with cash is up to no good? Who else but drug dealers and hitmen would buy untraceable phones? Maybe I’ve watched too many episodes of crime dramas and police shows.
Plastic vs. Styrofoam Cups
I think pop tastes better in plastic cups, but I prefer the sweatlessness of styrofoam better. One of these days someone will invent a sweatless plastic cup…and that person will be my hero.
When Your Church Leaves You Spiritually Unfulfilled
It can be tough to find a good church. The worship services at many churches are either completely irrelevant and old-fashioned or are too much like a show – flashy, loud, and overproduced. Even if we do find a place where we can really worship, it can be hard to really connect with people, build relationships, and be fed spiritually. Sometimes it seems like churches just don’t get it
Or maybe we are focusing on the wrong thing.
The style of worship and culture of our churches isn’t the problem. We tend to focus too much on finding a church that we can “connect with” or that offers what we are looking for and then blame the Church for being out of touch or irrelevant when we can’t find anything that satisfies us or leaves us feeling fulfilled.The problem isn’t the Church or local churches – it’s us. So many of us are too distracted and lazy to read, study, worship, and build relationships on our own, but unwilling to accept responsibility for our lack of spiritual growth. Everything that takes place at churches should be happening every day, but when it only takes place one day a week, of course we’ll feel unfulfilled.
The focus of a worship service isn’t for us to feel connected and satisfied, it’s to worship God together as one body. We feel frustrated and unfulfilled because of our lack of commitment and inability to accept responsibility – not because the Church isn’t doing a good enough job.
So the next time you are feeling unfulfilled or dissatisfied, don’t blame your church – take a look at yourself and the effort that you are putting in. Until we are willing to take responsibility for our own spiritual growth and stop expecting other people to facilitate it for us, we will always feel frustrated and unfulfilled. Until we are willing to study, worship, pray and build relationships on our own throughout the rest of the week, the study, worship, prayer, and relationships we participate in at church will never be enough.
There is a huge difference between going to church and being the Church. Expecting something we do for 1-2 hours out of a 168 hour week to satisfy all our spiritual needs is like expecting a multivitamin to supply all our dietary needs. When we expect a supplement to supply the majority of what we need to be healthy, we end up feeling weak, sick, and vulnerable. We need to stop whining about not being fed and start feeding ourselves. Only when we have a well-balanced diet will we ever be healthy, growing, and able to reach our full potential.
No One Can Take Your Place
“Don’t you see how impossible it is that anyone should ever take your place? Don’t you see that you have a place in the world – a place that is yours because God put you in it, just as truly as He put the mountains, the seas, the stars in their places? And don’t you see why you must feel that you have a right to your own life-place, and that you must hold it, no matter what others say, or do, or think, because of its great value to God and to the world?”
Harold Bell Wright – “The Calling Of Dan Matthews”
The Next Bubba Watson?
A few photos from Jadon’s first week as a golfer…
Jadon and I went and picked out his first real golf clubs and glove. We also picked up some plastic golf balls and a fake hole for him to practice inside with.
Jadon lining up his shot…maybe standing directly in front of a five year old with a golf club isn’t the wisest move.
Jadon’s first time on the driving range…he had to make sure all the balls were lined up perfectly in the holes on the mat. Apparently he was so good that the president decided to fly over and check it out.
We went and played mini-golf as a family. Jadon came in second out of three people…I’ll let you guess who came in first and who came in third.
Jadon helped me out by being the flag. Unfortunately, no flag could have helped me much on this hole.
Not a bad first week as a golfer for Jadon – he beat one of his parents at mini-golf and had the president of the United States fly over to watch him on the driving range. If he keeps up the amount of practice he’s been putting in, he may beat me by the end of the summer.
There Has To Be A Better Way
Underwear. Everybody needs it. Everyone knows that everyone else needs it and wears it. Yet, for some reason, no man wants to go out and buy it. I’m sure we’ve all heard the old joke about men wearing their underwear until it falls apart…incredibly gross, yes, but also frighteningly true for many men. I have often wondered (as I’m sure you have too) why many men so dread buying new underwear…until recently when I had an epiphany. It’s not buying the underwear that is so embarrassing – it’s the process of shopping for and picking out new underwear that turns otherwise confident men sheepish and willing to wear crusty, raggedy undies rather than a pair of new, comfy underwear.
What’s so horrible about shopping for new underwear, you ask? It’s all in the packaging (no pun intended…or was it? I’ll let you decide)
It’s bad enough admitting that your underwear is on the brink of disintegration and then having to go to the store, carry a package with a half-naked guy on it through the store, hand your selection to a random stranger, and pay them for the experience. But some person along the way decided that the whole experience needed to be just a bit more demeaning.
It’s bad enough trying to decide which one is going to fit without ever being able to try them on, even though your entire body has probably changed shapes and proportions multiple times since the last time you suffered through this ritual. Then you are forced to stand there, staring at packages with male models on them, trying to imagine how the underwear they are wearing is going to look on you. I don’t care how the underwear I am about to buy looks on a model – have you seen me? I look nothing like that, so find a way to tell me how it’s going to fit me. Are pictures of half-naked dudes really supposed to get me to buy your product?
I can honestly say that I have never bought underwear based on the package. In fact, it often makes me want to swear off underwear altogether. Or invent a new kind of one-size-fits-all underwear that never wears out.
Heck, at this point, I’d settle for some generic packaging with a brief description. “Kinda stretchy, but not too stretchy – for someone with a slightly smaller to average size build whose weight fluctuates from day-to-day depending on what he’s eaten and the number of trips he’s made to the bathroom.” Sounds great! I’d buy those every time! But I guess they can’t please everybody. If they started packaging underwear the way I want, it would just make it difficult for all the male models buying their underwear at Walmart and Target. Guess I’ll just have to hope my most recent purchase doesn’t fall apart anytime soon.
TIM PAYNE 