Non-Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

No, not Happy Turkey Day. The only happy turkeys are...well, you can't be a happy turkey. Either you're dead or you're still a turkey. Not a great choice. The point of the day is not to celebrate turkeys, it's to celebrate thanksgiving...you know, the giving of thanks.

And it's not just the giving of thanks, but giving thanks to our Creator, our Maker, the One who provides life and all the good things we enjoy.

Like turkey (and dressing and mashed potatoes and football and the Gators and - you get the idea).

To repeat myself, we don't celebrate turkeys, we kill them.

That would also make this a good day to kill the Turkey Spirit. That would be the attitude that doesn't give thanks, that takes things for granted, that complains at everything, that is awed by nothing.

That's the intro to this clip, which is perfect for Thanksgiving, and which I may use the next time I preach about complaining.



(Honestly, this has to be one of my favorite clips ever.)

Easter with the Stanleys

Tammy, Terry, and Luke came to town for Easter. After 2nd service we came home for Trudi's fabulous subs, a relaxing afternoon, a viewing of "Enchanted", and evening pizzas.

We all had a great time. Wish the rest of family and many friends could have shared it with us.

Belated Merry Christmas

Enjoying the Christmas break with family. Heading out to see the National Treasure sequel this afternoon. We saw Enchanted while at the beach last week. Everyone enjoyed it and we would recommend it. Hopefully Disney gets this one right, too.

Picture is of Tammy, Terry, and Luke, as we sat down to Christmas dinner at mom and dad's.

Scrooge is over, now we're pooped

That title is more literal than you might guess. We finished Scrooge on Monday, with mixed results. The cast and crew got better every night, and Sunday was a great crowd, full and very responsive.

Monday was small and "appreciative". All-in-all, everything went very well.

Now it's over, and I'll be spending most of the rest of the month out of the office. Yesterday was full of several errands and about 30 minutes in the office.

Today is the "pooped" part. Our septic tank at the house has backed up. Barry the plumber - a very nice man from church - is currently trying to determine whether there is a clog or if we need our drainfield redone. ("A drainfield for Christmas for me?! Oh, you shouldn't have!")

In the meantime, I missed the opportunity yesterday to wish my brother-in-law, Terry, a very happy birthday. So, happy late birthday, TS!

List of Thanks 2007

• "God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him." (Romans 5:8, The Message). Getting what I don't deserve; not getting what I do.
• Family.
• Friends.
• A home to live in.
• (lots) of good food to eat and a wife who loves to cook it.
  
• The Gators.
• My Powerbook, iPhone, and other computer goodies.
  
• Sports on T.V.
• Holiday movies.
• Good health.
• I still have (most of) my hair.
• The sense of smell.
• 82 and sunny.

More from Trunk or Treat I

I have all of our pictures from Trunk or Treat in a Web Gallery on .Mac. You should be able to view all the pix and download your favorites!

Trunk or Treat I

We participated in our first Trunk or Treat Wednesday night. It was great. We had a big turnout. There were over 60 cars and a bunch of kids in costume. And a bunch of adults in costume, too.

Everyone seemed to have a good time. It was fun to walk around, seeing everyone at their decorated cars, passing out candy.

Of course, one of the most talked about things - or people - was the couple of Pastor and Naomi. At least, it looked a lot like them. (Sam and his friend, Adam, if you don't know. Sam has the wig.)