here i dwell

Sewer Backup and Personal Frustration

2011-12-15T07:57:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday morning my boys woke up and immediately went out to the backyard to pee. That night I had to load up all five kids and haul them over to the grandparent’s house to take showers. Back at home we all brushed our teeth with one person standing at ground zero (our half bath) waiting to sound the alarm should there be a repeated bubbling overflow from that toilet. The next morning, Andrea and I decided to take our chances, we showered in our own house. One stood watch while the other showered. It was not a good idea, the half bath alarm was soon sounded and soak up towels were, once again, were laid down everywhere and soon fully soaked. We had plumbing problems.

It all started Friday night as Andrea walked into the kitchen and began to hear squishy sounds coming from under the floor. She soon realized that she was standing in very suspicious looking water. We then began a cycle of soaking up suspect water, running those towels to grandparents to wash, and pretending that we were not aware that we were walking on, and in, shower, toilet, toothbrushing, hand washing, and generally disgusting water. I frequently tried to ignore the large trees in the backyard who seemed to be waving their roots at me while mocking me as they said, “Guess where are other, pipe clogging, roots are.......”.

My trees and I have a love-hate relationship.

Four years ago we were dealing with our prized, enormous, oak tree that had initially drawn us to the house. One third of the tree (roots and all) was heavily laying on our house, another third resting on the top of three of our, uninsured, neighbor’s cars, and the other third across the street. Our house became the family picture spot for many, far too bored, area residents.

We now have a new oak tree in our front yard. This one was free from the city and stands less than six feet tall. I figure that my great (or maybe great, great) grandchildren will cuss me when they are walking on squishy floors thanks to these roots. My wife and children mock my little tree so I figure that my future descendants’ pain is the fault of my kids, and wife’s, sarcastic attitude...my descendants will blame their ancestors (but not me, I merely acted out of frustration which is the best excuse to have in a “love-hate world”).

This squishy, disgusting, plumbing problem entered our lives which already included a tennis ball broken window and a really bad mattress that someone’s wife has refused to sleep on for the past two months. I have dealt with all this little problems by sticking my head in the sand and pretending they didn’t exist, Andrea deals with them by reminding me of them daily....hourly.....minutely.

This week Phil fixed the plumbing and Jordan fixed the mattress. We are still waiting on Dana to complete the fixing procedure for the window. Dana said that it would be four to six weeks, it has just been three (eight since the tennis ball incident, refer back to my “stick your head in the sand” solution for an explanation). Thanks everyone. Thanks also to the makers of Duct Tape.

Last night Andrea and I slept in the same, sleepable, bed. Isaiah was reunited with his bed, much to his celebration. This morning we were greeted by a Duct Tape window and non-squishy, yet undeniable, warped floors. I am going to deal with those things soon...well, as soon as I pull my head out of the sand.

I know that you can all tell of an equally frustrating story of living in a love-hate world. Probably, most of you have stories that would curl my toes and leave me embarrassed that I had even mentioned my trivial troubles. That is what it is like when we live in a world that we love and hate, usually all within the same moment. That is what this earthly life is, a series of frustrations, disappointments, thrown in with some misery and pain, and then occasionally, a dose of happiness and excitement.

We seldom truly see the world that others live in, or experience the struggle, until we to through something similar. Years ago my daughters Lily and Hannah were constantly complaining about their mattresses. I, being the model dad, told them to get over it and go to sleep. Then, one night one of them was sick and we traded beds, that was the most uncomfortable night of my life. Suddenly I understood their love-hate relationship with this world.

That is one of the reasons, and results, of the birth of Jesus Christ, so that God could understand our love-hate relationship with this world. God already fully comprehended love, but now He personally and physically understands the experience of living in a fallen world that often gives opportunity to hate, or at least be very frustrated.

Hebrews 4:15

New International Version (NIV)

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Christ was born in less than ideal circumstances, He lived in a family that had to struggle to survive, and He experienced rejection, temptation, happiness, and sorrow. He lived in the same world with which we often have a love-hate relationship. He can understand.

The celebration of Christmas includes a celebration of our God who understands. He understands squishy floors, faulty products, messy relationship, mean people, broken windows, as well as the beauty of life. He understands.

Here I Dwell,

Rick

Hope

2011-12-06T07:57:00.001-08:00

In the late sixties and early seventies, Jim Morrison and The Doors sang of hopelessness and dread.....anything but a happy ending. They told stories of a world, and life, without hope.

They weren’t totally wrong.

They weren’t totally right.

We are in a world that provides no hope, but we are not in a world without hope.

Samuel faced the same hopeless world, it had him paralyzed. He couldn’t get over the disappointment of King Saul, he couldn’t move forward.

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being King over Israel. I Samuel 16:1a

Samuel was grieving, his hope was gone. His hope was misplaced. God told him to get up, it was time to put his hope in the right place. It was time that he place his hope where it would not be disappointed. It was time to put his hope in God.

Where is your hope?

Here I Dwell,

Rick

Bylaws Proposal

2011-08-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Over the past three years our Lay Leadership Council has been on a journey to better understand who, and what Grace Fellowship is. This has not been a purposeful journey, it begin with a simple desire to lead this wonderful church. In the midst, we wound up learning much about ourself and why Grace Fellowship exists. In learning and realizing who we are, it permits us a better understanding of what God is leading, and not leading, us to be and do.

In response to this journey, the council has made the following proposal to our bylaws:

Currently the Mission and Vision section of our bylaws reads as follow:

1.3 Vision Statement

Our vision is to be a Christ-centered family of believers striving to transform our world.

1.4 Mission Statement

Our mission is to strengthen our lives and community through Christ, His love, and His grace.

The Lay Leadership proposes the following changes:

1.3 Who We Are

We are a body of believers standing on the truth of the Father, meeting the world with the embrace of the Son, always depending on the transformational work of the Spirit.

1.4 Our Purpose

We aim to be an avenue of healing and hope in the midst of a fallen and falling world.

On Sunday morning, September 4 I will share the message "Our DNA" and then on Sunday, September 11 "Our Drive". Both of these messages will provide better insight into the meaning of these two proposed statements.

On Sunday, September 11, at 6pm we will gather for a potluck dinner and a time of discussion and vote in regard to this proposal. We will provide activities for the youth and children following the meal while the adults discuss and vote. I encourage you to be in prayer prior to and then, on September 11, be present as we begin this next phase of the journey that is Grace Fellowship.

Here I Dwell,

Rick

Thanks....again!

2011-07-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

We had another amazing week with the youth of Grace Fellowship. This is truly an outstanding group of young people and it has been a joy to watch so many of them grow up from toddlers, or younger. Thanks to the kids, the sponsors, and our youth director, Keri, for a fantastic week.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Thanks

2011-06-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

I cannot express how incredible our mission trip to New Orleans was last week. We truly have an amazing group of young people and adults who never wavered in the purpose of the week. We were permitted to impact that area, and even greater, God greatly impacted each of us. Thanks for your prayers and support.
Here I Dwell,
Rick

Afterthoughts - Keeping God at a Distance

2011-05-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

When my kids, especially my girls, began Middle School they gave me a brutally blunt, and unsolicited, education on my new boundaries. One of them said, “Dad, you know how you always have gone on our field trips and things?....Well, you aren’t going to be doing that anymore. Basically I was told that certain times and aspects of our father/daughter relationship would now be lived out from a distance. “It will be better for everyone if you remember this,” the instruction concluded, at which time I was dismissed.

In the years since, I have done a pretty good job at sticking with my new role and guidelines. I have also learned that, at the same time, I am expected to pick up on subtle clues and hints as to the appropriate times that I am to intervene and cross those boundaries. While not as yet perfect at picking up on the subtle eye signals or the “Dad, did you need me to leave early and come home now?”, I am doing fairly well at cluing in on the times that I am invited to cross boundaries. I have figured out that sometimes I am to remain at a distance, and sometimes I am to serve as the embarrassing dad who crosses his designated boundaries in the fashion of a rhinoceros.

The Israelites gave these same boundaries to God. In Exodus 20:19 they told Moses that they would follow God but that they wanted Him to keep His distance. The told Moses to talk to God and then tell them, they didn’t want to talk to Him themselves. Their surface motivation for such boundaries was death, but more than likely it was due to their fear that He would get too intimate. The relationship with God would get too personal.

That is what religion is all about, making sure that God keeps His boundaries. Making sure that He keeps at a distance and does not get too personal, too close, too involved. Religion allows us to call on God when we need something, but keeps Him at a safe distance when it would be too messy or embarrassing to have Him near.

We still do this. We say that we follow Jesus. We are thankful for His sinless life, we believe His work on the cross, we accept the eternal nature of His sacrifice, we rejoice at the empty grave, then we sigh a sigh of relief when we think of His ascension. It was a great accomplishment, we are happy with the results in how they pertain to us, and we are ready to get on with life. We go to church, we hear what we are supposed to do to keep God happy, and then we go on with life....with God at a distance.

This is also why we have so little recognition of God the Spirit. The Spirit is way too personal. We dismiss the Spirit due to the controversies of evidential doctrines of certain denominations without ever truly recognizing the amazing transformation of those who received the Spirit into their lives. Suddenly there were none that were hungry or in need, suddenly self-centeredness was gone from the followers (Acts 4:31-34).

Not only do we dismiss the Spirit because of the intrusion on our lives, we also do this because of the state of our lives. We know that, in order to be filled, we first must empty our lives. We fill our lives with everything else when God says that we are to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). There is much in our lives we resist taking to the dump.

Imagine if believers allowed the Spirit to fill them. Imagine if followers emptied themselves of all that was not the Spirit so that they could be filled with the Spirit. Imagine if churches were filled with individuals who were filled with the Spirit. Imagine a world full of Spirit filled human beings. Imagine a world that resembled Acts 4. Imagine.

Here I Dwell,

Rick

Afterthoughts - Rescue, Your Choice

2011-04-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

The cross was not the first time that God rescued mankind, it was the final. God's rescue began in the garden when man made the choice to become his own God. God removed man from the garden before an un-redeemable, an un-rescueable, choice was made. God is the God of rescue, the God of Choice, the God of Your Choice.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Fantasy Faith

2011-04-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

As Christ entered Jerusalem, the week before He was crucified, the crowds greeted their fantasy Messiah. Even though they had listened to Him teach, seen His miracles, and heard God proclaim His Sonship, they still had no clue who He truly was. They wanted an earthly King that would save their earthly situation, they wanted a genie in a bottle.

The religious leaders had already determined that Jesus did not meet the specifications for their Messiah, He did not live up to their fantasy so they had rejected Him. The people in the crowd, however, were holding on to their fantasy. They were holding onto hope that this would be the moment that He would make everything perfect, or at least perfect according to their definition of perfect, perfect for their lives.

As Christ entered the city, the fantasy of the crowd began to disintegrate. He was entirely too human, too much like them, not royal and distant enough. His feet were in the dirt, His donkey’s feet were in the dirt. This was not Kingly, not the type of King that was going to succeed in giving them the life of a royalty. They threw leaves and cloaks on the ground to keep His feet, or the feet of His donkey, from getting dirty. Kings don’t get dirty, they just take care of our problems, they just make our earthly condition better. They clean up the dirt so we don’t have to walk in it, they don’t get in it them self. Kings keep our fantasy intact. Jesus was not fulfilling the fantasy.

By the end of the week the crowd had joined the religious leaders in giving up on Jesus. He cleansed the temple instead of bringing in more business. He was arrested by the oppressive rulers instead of overthrowing them. He confronted the religious elite instead of validating them. He did not do anything right; He did not do anything according to their fantasy. Their earthly situation was no better, it had the potential of getting worse. They had to find a new fantasy; they chose a murderer.

We still try to keep Jesus on the palm leaves and cloaks. We still try to keep Him out of the same dirt we are walking on. We still try to keep Jesus at a distance. We still find that He does not live up, or down, to our fantasy. We still try to recreate Him because the only option we see is to give up on Him, or our fantasy of Him, and chose a murderer.

Jesus became human to identify with us, to understand us, to walk in the dirt with us. He did all this without ever turning from God, this allowed Him to then die for us.

Jesus wants to be the center of our lives, that was His message, that was His purpose. That is where He can change us. We don’t want to be changed.

As we approach Easter Sunday, I find it interesting that the people that Christ engaged post resurrection, were those that understood that He had dirty feet. They knew that He knew them, truly knew them. Not a dressed up, religious talking, bumper sticker on their car version of them He knew what was inside their hearts and inside their heads. He knew them because they had let Him know them. They had fallen asleep when He asked them to stay awake, they had denied Him when things got scary, they had argued about who He liked best. He knew their flaws, He knew their needs. He knew that they knew they had no hope, on their own, which is why they followed Him. They knew He knew them beneath their Sunday clothes, their religious talk, and what was on their bumper. There was nothing hidden. They were following Him because He was the Messiah, not because He fulfilled their fantasy.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Afterthoughts - Looking in all the Wrong Places

2011-04-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

My parents, especially my dad, have immersed themselves into putting together puzzles recently. What began with small 100 to 200 piece puzzles has progressed to 5,000 piece puzzles that take weeks to complete. They must be placed on a large board that will allow the work in progress to be moved on Sunday afternoons for lunch. They are huge. Oftentimes, dad will hardly look up when we come over due to the fact that he is so entrenched in the puzzle.

Sometimes they will be close to finishing a puzzle, only a couple of pieces away from completion, when it will become obvious that they are missing a piece. There will be a space which none of the remaining pieces will fit. Mom and Dad will look frantically all over, lifting up the puzzle board, laying underneath the table, and even pulling the box back out to see if it possibly had gotten stuck inside. At this point, they have learned to wait until the grandkids come over. One of the kids will get down on the carpet underneath the table, and spend a good amount of time covering it visually and then we will hear, "I found it!" All it takes is a new set of eyes looking at it a little differently, not blinded by the areas of carpet that supposedly have been covered repeatedly. Looking without ruling out possibilities makes all the difference; looking with an indiscriminate eye makes finding possible.

We, as believers, miss a lot of the pieces of our life puzzle. We miss the opportunities all around us to serve and glorify Him. We miss because we have already eliminated certain areas as "finding" areas. We have already decided where we can find, who and what it is we will find, and even when we can find. In not finding, we miss the pieces that God has laid out right in front of us.

We miss or pieces when we judge others, when we judge ourself, when we judge God. We miss others, we miss self, we miss God.

Keep looking.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Afterthoughts - Jesus Loves Me This I Know

2011-03-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

Possibly one of the most amazing and revealing passages is found in Mark 10:21.

The situation is a man asking Jesus what he needs to do to receive eternal life. The man’s focus is on what he, himself, needs to do. Christ goes to the man’s personal point of reference, himself. “What must I do?” the man asks. He is not depending on or trusting in Christ, he is only trusting in himself. Christ recognizes and starts where he is, himself. Christ tells him all the things that he can do, which he is already doing, which the man realizes is not enough. He needs Christ to tell him to do more stuff. Christ then takes the man to what total commitment would look like. He needed to sell all his stuff and follow Christ. He needed to let go of control, he needed to realize that he could not do it. He had to realize that only Christ could do it. In the end the man walked away, he could not trust Christ. He could not follow Christ. He could not let go of control.

What is amazing in Mark 10:21 is that we see the nature of God...Love. Christ, even in the midst of rejection by the man, looked at the man and Loved Him. It is an amazing insight into the nature of Christ, and therefore of God. He loves us no matter what our choice. Even when our choice is to reject God, He still loves us.

In the end the love of God is consistent. In the end God’s love does not determine our choice, God’s love endures despite our choice.

Here I Dwell,

Rick

Afterthoughts - Looking Down the Road

2011-03-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

The elder brother, in the story of the Prodigal Son, if most usually disregarded as bitter and without any real merit The elder brother witnesses the unfolding events, the prodigal brother gets to go live the wild life, taste the forbidden fruit, and then come back home to a welcoming and compassionate father. Then, the elder brother has to endure a celebration that had never been observed in response to his own diligence and obedience. From the perspective of the elder brother, a great injustice has occurred and the victim is himself. He has been ignored and it isn’t fair.

In a way I have to agree with him. I don’t agree with his perspective of the story or his bitterness toward the father and brother. I do agree, however, with his feeling that he should not be ignored. The problem with our usual look at the story is that we ignore the elder brother, probably because most of us are the older brother. The truth of the elder brother is a little close to home and much easier to disregard.

What do I mean? Let’s look at the life of the and inner workings of the elder brother. First of all, he is the good son. He does what he is supposed to do and does not alter from what he has been told to do. Even he, in the story, points out to the dad all that “I have done.” He also is very aware of the road off the farm, he has probably looked down it many times. When younger brother has the audacity to actually take that road and leave, the elder brother is not short on judgmental opinions about his little brother. You have to wonder if he was not also somewhat jealous of his younger sibling. You have to wonder if it is possible his judgmental attitude and bitterness is not truly loyalty to dad as much as it is a desire to take that road himself. You have to wonder if it is possible that he was just going through the motions of doing what he was supposed to do until old dad dies and the farm becomes his. You have to wonder if he had, long before, turned his back on the relationship with dad in the same, while less obvious, way that the younger brother did.

The problem for the elder brother was that he did not have an eye opening moment that permitted him to realize the love of the father. He did not have an experience that allowed him to realize that his relationship with dad was not really about money or property or stuff, but about love. He did not come a point of realization that his relationship with his father was much deeper than an inheritance and obedience.

While the younger brother was going to always have the temptation of the life he led down the road, the elder brother was not going to ever understand the love of his father. His relationship was a matter of doing in order to get. He followed orders in order that he would get to eventually give the orders.

I am afraid most followers of Christ have a great deal more in common with the elder brother than the younger brother. Most in the church are doing what they are supposed to do, going through their religious motions, in order to get their inheritance. They strive to keep God happy in order that they will get heaven, or blessings, or stuff, or....whatever. Most are doing without ever truly experiencing the joy of relationship with God. They look down the road and live in judgement and condemnation of those who have taken that path. They possibly long to take that road themself, which only works to enhance their bitterness at those who have actually taken that road. They occasionally may take a sneak down the road, running home in guilt and the commitment to “do more”. They “do for God” in order to “get from God” without truly “knowing God”. They live on the farm without ever realizing that they are living with Dad.

It has been the problem from the beginning. Adam and Eve were living in relationship with the Father, while longing for a road out. Once they took the road they began to comprehend the relationship they had, and had lost.

While the answer is not to go down the road, nor is the answer to go through the motions. The answer is to realize that we are already living on the farm...with our Father. So, whatever the motions, Church, Bible Study, Prayer, Fellowship, Community Action, Family, Job, School....we do it in the midst of our relationship with the Father.

Here I Dwell,

Rick

Afterthoughts - Treasure and Treasure

2011-03-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we looked at treasure. The passage was Luke 12:13-40 which is a series of Christ’s teachings to His followers dealing with the most basic of basics - “The core motivator of our existence.” It is a passage chalked full of classics such as “Where your treasure is there your heart is also,” and “To whom much is given, much is expected.” How can a preacher go wrong with such great material?!

During the message preparation it began to go wrong. It began to get personal, very personal.

I have not yet mastered, and hopefully never will, the ability to separate myself from the messages that the Holy Spirit leads me share. I do not seem to be able to preach “at” someone else without there first being a personal recognition of how it applies to me. Sometimes I wish I could do this, I wish I could preach total trust regardless of the circumstances. Without a second thought to my panic I had experienced the week before as I looked at my bank account. I wish I could preach about the unconditional embrace of Christ without remembering how I had, the week prior, turned down a different hall at the kid’s school to avoid a long drawn out complaint discussion with a fellow parent. I wish I could preach truth to others without it becoming personal to me. That has not happened and I feel certain that, as long as I have an ounce of sensitivity to the Spirit, it is not ever going to happen.

The Luke passage is a series of teachings that all beautifully tie together. It begins with Christ giving an illustration of a farmer who is very successful at growing grain. It dawns on the farmer that he could grow enough grain to allow him a worry free future. He tears down his existing barns in order to build bigger barns, barns that have enough capacity to hold this immense amount of grain that will last a lifetime. The problem is that the farmer does not realize how short his lifetime is. He has invested all that he has, all that he is, in growing and saving this grain, that in the end, cannot save him. His entire focus has been on getting enough grain. He sacrificed relationships, he sacrificed everything. He placed all his hopes on this one treasure that was going to sustain him for life. A life that ended very abruptly due to the fact that his treasure could do nothing to actually save his life. In the end he lie in the grave and his treasure rotted away in his huge barns. In the end his treasure did nothing for him.

As I thought on this, the Spirit led me to think on my personal treasure. It was not money, it was not things, it was not stuff, that would have been easy to deal with and confront. I realized that my treasure is the treasured people in my life. I thought about my wife, my kids, and all of those that are so dear to me. I thought of Abraham and Sarah picking up everything they had and leaving their treasure, their family, to follow God. I did not like the direction this was going.

A few weeks ago I had led our Sunday night small group though the Francis Chan series that deals with following Jesus. It had caused me the same “Abraham and Sarah” type of realization. What if following was going to mean packing Andrea and the kids up and going to a land far away? What if it meant something far worse? It was a very uneasy moment .

The same uneasy moment came as the Spirit led me to really think about my treasure. I did some arguing with God, pointing out the fact that He had given me my family and my love for my family. I addressed the fact that I was sure it could not be wrong to love and treasure the very thing that He had given me to love and treasure. He smiled.

I had flashbacks to last summer as my daughter Grace lay in a hospital bed. I remembered wondering if we would ever get to bring her home. I wondered if she would ever be anything but the lifeless figure laying in that hospital bed. I remembered the very carefully thought through prayers that I delivered to God. I remembered realizing that my perception may not be God’s best. I remembered thinking that I could lose my daughter, my treasure.

Sunday morning came, I had my preparation points made up, I was ready. I was going to preach at our folks even though the Spirit was still preaching to me. I was still holding to my argument that my treasure was very different that the farmer’s grain treasure. The Spirit would not give me a break. The Spirit is that way; the Spirit is sometimes very annoying and even more inconvenient.

About midway through the morning it began to be clear. Actually it was midway through the message; treasure began to make sense. An hour earlier, during Gracefocus, the study I lead prior to worship, one of our members gave an illustration that the Spirit used to bring everything into focus. She told of a young man in the military who was preparing his new home for deployment. He had a wife and young son who he was going to be leaving behind. The thought of leaving them was torture to him. He was making sure that every aspect of the house was ready for his absence. He was preparing to leave his family, his treasure. He was not, however, preparing to leave his focus, his mission, his......treasure?

In worship, that illustration came back to me, annoyingly in the middle of my message. There, as I stood before my church family, it finally made sense. On the stage, with eyes on me and a microphone clipped to my sweater, I understood. I can have treasure without it being my treasure. It would have been perfectly alright for the farmer to build a bigger barn to house all of his grain, his treasure, if only his treasure had not been his treasure. If the grain, which he treasured, had not become his focus and mission; if it had not become his treasure.

My family can be my treasure without being my treasure. I can treasure my wife and kids without them being my treasure. I can treasure them without letting go of God, my treasure. They can be my treasure without being my guiding force, my focus, my mission. This truth opened up everything.

In the middle of preaching about treasure, the Spirit made treasure, and treasure, clear to me.

In the middle of preaching I finally began to understand it.

Here I Dwell,

Rick

2010 Anthony Family Top Ten

2011-01-14T22:54:00.000-08:00

For years, it has been our family tradition to put together a Christmas letter as a part of our Christmas card. As the kids got old enough, we began to have them put together their own top ten list which would then be the letter. Last year, we found resistance, or all out mutiny, when we called for the list, so we just did a family list. This year, there seemed to be zero interest in compiling the list from anyone except Lily. She took it on herself to go to each sibling, eventually negotiating it to a top five after experiencing the non-cooperative attitudes of her dear brothers and sisters. After she completed the list she gave it to me to put together for mailing out to our friends and family. A few days later, when I finally got around to the list, I discovered that it was no longer sitting where Lily had left it. I searched around, and asked the kids, but the list was nowhere to be found. Lily claimed that it had been trashed by sister Grace who had been the most opposed to making the list. No evidence could be found of Lily’s accusation, although a less than sincere denial of the charges by Grace has led to a continued rumbling of her guilt. I told Lily that I would do it with her help but it never got done. On January 13, I cleaned out my brief case of items dating back to a year ago, and there I found the missing list (I have not admitted my guilt to anyone...except you...knowing that my family never reads, or is even aware of my blog, assures my secret within the family). As far as anyone around our house knows....Gracie did it!

As we approached Christmas, my “constantly analyzing” therapist wife, began to try to understand the reason we had been so resistant and reluctant to making the list this year. She allowed me to discuss this analyzing process with her for quite some time....these analyzing marathons always miss making my top ten by just one number (or more). We finally came to the conclusion that it has been an unusual and tough year for the Anthony family and, somewhere deep inside, we just did not want to revisit the year.

Nevertheless, it was a good year, even if it did contain some tough circumstances and situations. So, I am going to attempt to make the list before the year ends.

It was a year of pivotal transitions as Lily finished Monroe Elementary and entered Alcott Middle School, Isaiah began our final year at Monroe (that will make twelve years total, seventeen if you include my time there as a child), Grace finished Alcott and began High School.
Caleb began driving. He is doing great, Mom and Dad are surviving..sometimes better than others. Due to the fact that we were two months late in getting his permit, it will be February before he is truly free on the road.
Caleb lettered in tennis his freshman year and made the team again for 2011, Grace lettered in cross country her freshman year and made the tennis team for 2011, Hannah made the seventh and eighth grade basketball teams as well as the Middle School Cross Country team and continues to love the game of golf, Lily made the Middle School Cross Country team and has taken up tennis with a vengeance, and Isaiah finally got to play tackle football ending the season thinking it may be his last, possibly trading the pads for a tennis racket. Andrea continues on the High School PTA board and Rick is on the Tennis Booster Club board as well as serving his final year as a WatchDOG at Monroe.
Lily and Isaiah were elected to office on the Monroe Student Council, Hannah and Grace served in leadership at Alcott, and Caleb joined the Latin Club because mom and dad said he had to join something (not sure he has gone to any meetings since he paid his dues the second week of school..we have yet to see a t-shirt that says E pluribus unum).
We continue to be eternally grateful for the most wonderful church ever, Grace Fellowship.
We did an analysis of the health care system in the southeastern part of the United States. We compared and contrasted the Emergency Rooms in Alabama and Florida as well as private doctors and pharmacists on our “vacation” to Orlando and Santa Rosa Beach. Discovered that Alabama has the unique ability to stir up Hannah’s asthma beginning at the state line (she has not had an asthma attack for years, but on our "vacation" it lasted until after we were home) and Florida sand provides the perfect condition to permit Caleb to break his foot..and dad to discover just how far he can carry his teenage son.
Survived the most traumatic and, in the end, most affirming experience of our life. Grace spent eleven days in Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City after developing the rare Stevens Johnson Syndrome due to a random and rare reaction to medication. It is defined as “fatal” on most of the web sites which led us to understand why the Internet is not always the most helpful or encouraging source of information. It was an extremely scary time for all of us and we could not have made it without the amazing support, love, encouragement, and prayers of our family, our church, our friends, and our God. We also watched and prayed as Aunt Anita had to have surgery followed by aggressive chemotherapy and radiation for a rare breast cancer. She is finished and doing well but continues to be regularly tested and screened.
Near the end of 2010, God, very naturally, provided Andrea a job as a Title One Reading Teacher at Alcott. It is a grant position and is currently only funded for this school year but it will hopefully continue. She is giving up her Oklahoma University Intercession class, but is keeping her private practice, seeing clients a couple of evenings a week.
Enjoying, more each year, watching God grow the kids into the unique and special persons they are. Looking forward to the future as it continues to reveal these wonderful gifts and blessings.
We have seen God work in our lives, growing us up and building our relationship with Him and each other in ways we never imagined possible

Looking forward to 2011!

Here I Dwell,

Rick

Unbelievable

2010-08-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

The kids are back in school tomorrow....unbelievable.

It has been a summer that was .....unbelievable.

This summer began with a week at camp. Andrea and I did not plan on attending as sponsors but, at the last minute, we were needed. At the end of the week with the kids, by my count my 50th week of attending youth camp as a worker or a sponsor, we were both very tired but glad that we had the unbelievable experience.

The rest of the summer is an unbelievable blur. We had planned a three week, four Sunday, vacation. I had never taken that amount of time off from Grace Fellowship, or any church. We headed to Florida for a week at the Orlando amusements, a week at Santa Rosa beach, and then a week back in Oklahoma relaxing. What was not in the plans were emergency room visits, doctor visits as well as new pharmacy friends, all in both Alabama and Florida. We came home with a set of crutches as well as bottles of antibiotics and painkillers. Once home we were still visiting doctors where more antibiotics were prescribed. These antibiotics, or a case of pneumonia, caused one of our dear children to be admitted to the hospital with the often fatal Stevens Johnson Syndrome. Eleven days later, Andrea and I along with our entire family and our wonderful church family and friends, were overjoyed, and eternally thankful to God, for the homecoming of our ailing child.

A final shock of summer was when I cancelled our Vacation Bible School, something I never thought possible. Then something even more unexpected, our oldest child got his driver's permit. Unbelievable.

We say goodbye to a summer that taught us many lessons and left us with much to be thankful for.....including the end of this summer.

Unbelievable.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Selfless Celebration

2010-08-13T00:07:00.000-07:00

Again this year, Lily chose to celebrate her birthday with her family. Last year she took her siblings to Andy Alligators, a local amusement attraction. Unbeknown to us, she had researched the best place to go, finding out that Andy Alligators had a two-for-one game night on Wednesdays, a factor she knew would give dad a reason to be in a celebratory mood. So on Wednesday she loaded us all up and directed me to take a long route to the attraction so it would be a surprise to her siblings. You would have thought the entire event was about her siblings instead of being for her birthday. She could have had many friends, but she chose to celebrate with her siblings. Friends bring store bought gifts or store gift cards; her siblings make cards out of paper and markers at the last minute, or they grab unwanted toys from their room, also at the last minute. Sometimes brother Caleb quickly grabs something off the coffee table and sticks it in a gift bag...often times that coffee table item actually belonged to Lily already. Sometimes sister Grace puts all the Pretzel M&Ms that were not her favorite color, given to her while in the hospital, into a sandwich bag and gives that as a gift. Lily just smiles and says "Thank You." She doesn't care. Last night, on her actual birthday, on an actual Wednesday, she did the same. Dad got discounted games and Lily's siblings got a fun evening. Lily got to celebrate with her family. Once again I took a confusing route there but in the end we celebrated. This year she was excited to add grandma and cousin Brian to the mix who was in town.

After the go carts and arcade games we returned home for a 10:00pm birthday dinner. Her dinner choice was roast, potatoes, gravy, and butter beans, with a dessert of smores. We had to use the range top for melting the marshmallows since the grill has gone on a grilling season long strike in opposition to all forms of heat. The dinner included our traditional "go around the table sharing a special memory and what we like best about Lily." Andrea had already spent part of the day going through her baby book with Lily.

Happy Birthday Lily!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

PS....to keep me out of trouble with her siblings, at least for a few minutes, I need to point out that Hannah and Grace actually got Lily a store bought gift - an Ugly Doll which sounds bad but is actually a very popular item, at least for the present time. Isaiah, along with his bag of unwanted toys, threw in two dollars. Caleb held everyone's marshmallow loaded fork over the range top so no one got burnt. This was in addition to the last minute hand made cards.

Two Weeks

2010-08-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

Two weeks is all it takes to discover a lot, a lot more than you ever wanted to know. Two weeks is all it takes to find out all that you need to know. Two weeks is all it takes to find out how valuable your family is, how amazing your church is, how wonderful your friends are, and how surprising many new friends are. Two weeks is all I needed.

It all started on Wednesday, July 21 with this text:

"It is serious."

Andrea was texting me from the doctor's office where she had taken Grace that morning. Grace had developed a rash, in her mouth and on her lips, in reaction to medication she had been given on Monday, two days earlier.

The next text read.

"Google Stevens Johnson Syndrome."

Then, I did the most stupid thing I have ever done - I googled Stevens Johnson Syndrome. My first click revealed this image:

Then I read this word:

FATAL

My heart began to race and panic began to set in.

The final text read:

"We are to take her straight to Children's Hospital."

I called my mom to come get the kids. I quickly gave an unscary synopsis of what was going on to them. Texted the cancellation of my Leadership Council meeting set for that night. Went to our garage to head to the doctors office. There I found that my van was tightly blocked in by Caleb's car. Next I found that Andrea had the only key to Caleb's car. I attempted to maneuver the van out but realized that, short of driving through the back of the house, I was stuck. So, I did the next most appropriate and helpful thing, I began to pace in a circle in the 107 plus degree garage. I heard Mrs. Ray drive up next door and considered running over and asking her to take me to the doctor, but then my mom drove up. I told the kids that grandma would soon be back and then jumped in her vehicle.

Mom drove me to the doctor's office. I was trying to be cool but she knew. She attempted to hide her own panic as she tried to calm my nerves, but I knew.

On the way to the hospital Andrea and I both tried to be calm so Grace would not be concerned, Grace knew. It was serious.

By the time we arrived at the Children's Hospital in OKC, Grace had already become somewhat lifeless. As she climbed into her bed I did second most stupid thing ever - I turned on the television. As soon as Grace looked up a very loud commercial came on advertising legal action for those who have experienced death or blindness from Stevens Johnson Syndrome. We could not find the remote in time to turn off the television before the damage was done. Now, none of us was calm, we all knew. It was serious.

The following hours are still a blur. The nurses came in one after another attempting to place an IV in Grace. It was impossible, she was dehydrated and her veins were collapsing. They then called to have a pic line put in. As they prepared to place the pic line in her arm they began telling us all the risks, they had to, it was required. Grace began to listen which served to compound her panic that had been fueled already by the wonder of commercial television.

They called in Lori, the child development expert. She began to lead Grace in a Visual Imagery exercise. Gace is not a Visual Imagery type of person, even when her body is lifeless and she is deeply concerned about people that are poking needles in her arm that will end with a tube going just over her heart that could cause death. Later that evening, as Grace attempted to remember the events of the day, the only thing she remembered was that lady that "tried to make me pretend I was at the ocean!" Grace had no real patience for Lori or her attempts to take Grace to the ocean. This was evident the next day when Lori entered the room and Grace suddenly did an Academy Award worthy performance of hospital patient sleeping. Or, later in our stay, when Grace and I were walking the halls and she suddenly jerked me into a vacant room, "Lori is coming our way!" she explained.

As calm finally set in, Grace asked me to sit in the bed with her and watch the movie Blindside. She leaned her head on my shoulder and fell asleep. It was serious, Grace is not a cuddler or a leaner.

While the depth of concern was a new experience for Andrea and I, the next eleven days provided another new experience...the love of family and friends. By the end of our first day we were overwhelmed by the expressions of love, concern, compassion, and prayer that were sent our way. Andrea and I both had tears in our eyes the next day as we learned of a prayer gathering organized by folks at our church. Our family went over and above with their support and our friends attempted to find even more ways they could show their love. Grace received balloons, stuffed animals, baskets of food and goodies, gift cards, and tons of cards expressing love and prayers. Teachers from her grade school, which she has not been to in three years, arrived with a basket of goodies from former teachers and staff as well as families from the school. A dear friend brought breakfast each morning for whichever one of us stayed with Grace the night before.

We prayed. We also were very aware that we trusted God to know the best answer to our prayers. We hoped and prayed that the best answer would be what we felt was the best answer. We did not want to ask for the grace to handle any other type of answer. We prayed in our insecurity and fear. We prayed.

So many folks were wanting an update I began posting a daily log of Grace's progress (as word spread on FaceBook the prayers only escalated):

Keep our daughter Grace in your prayers. Doctor sent us straight to Children's Hospital this morning for pneumonia and possibly something else, waiting for blood tests. Pray for Andrea as she sleeps in the room with Grace tonight. Will probably be in for at least four days. Thanks.
July 22 at 12:12am

Thank you to everyone for the expressions of love and concern....and especially the prayers. Grace is about the same, we are now waiting on tests results which will probably not be here til Monday. July 22 at 7:17pm via Facebook for BlackBerry

We thank you for your prayers and ask you to continue praying for Gracie. July 25 at 12:25am via Facebook for BlackBerry

Sitting in bed next to sleeping daughter,Grace, with her head on my shoulder and her hand holding my arm....wish it wasn't a hospital bed. Continue to be grateful for your prayers. Please continue, still have long way to go. July 26 at 1:08am via Facebook for BlackBerry

Grace does have Steven Johnson Syndrome in addition to Pneumonia. Please continue to pray as it looks like a long road ahead. Thanks. July 26 at 2:06pm

No real change with Grace. It is Steven Johnson Syndrome in addition to Pneumonia. Doctor has told us it will be about another four to five days before we can even consider the possibility of returning home. Grace is sticking in here even during the worst parts of each day without any complaining or whining. Thanks... to everyone for your amazing love and prayers. Please continue to pray. Thanks! July 27 at 1:41am

Good day, Grace showed much improvement today. Walked halls twice and only one high fever, not high enough for another blood test. Found itch medicine that works even longer than prescribed. Working to reduce some medications. Thanks again for the prayers! July 27 at 6:50pm

Grace continues to progress. They are still attempting to adjust medications which is giving the doctors some difficulty. Doctor is saying we may get to bring her home this weekend. We know she still has a long road to complete recovery but know with all the prayers and love she will get there. Words cannot express our appreciation of each of you. July 28 at 2:28pm

Another encouraging day. Grace managed to meet her goals for today and was off oxygen most of day. Still trying to figure out medications. My night at hospital, Andrea home after two nights here. Continue to appreciate your prayers. July 29 at 9:42pm via Facebook for BlackBerry

Grace had to go back on oxygen last night so is still at hospital tonight, if all goes well she is home tomorrow. Much recovery to go, but she will at least be home. Attempting to just use Tylenol for pain, wanted to get her off the narcotics, so far it is working well. Waiting for her full return, personality and all. So thankful for your prayers and love. So thankful to our God of great Grace and who loves our Gracie. July 30 at 11:15pm

Grace is home where she belongs! Thankful for great friends and an even greater God.
July 31 at 11:42am via Facebook for BlackBerry

and finally.....

Welcome Home Grace banner made by her siblings.
July 31 at 2:34pm via Facebook for BlackBerry® smartphones

Great to have Grace home and recovering. Our dog Slinky finally slept the entire night without whining and crying all night since Grace has been gone. Wonderful to get back with fantastic church family of Grace Fellowship. Got in a much enjoyed nap. Thanks again for all your prayers and love expressed over the past two weeks! August 1 at 7:47pm

I close with an enormous "Thank You" to all of you who carried us through this crisis and carried our concerns before God. We cannot begin to even imagine how we would have made it had it not been for our family, our church, our friends, the doctors, nurses, and staff of Children's Hospital, Dr. Fields who was quick to recognise and diagnose Stevens Johnson, to Carrie and the staff of Doctor's Park who explained medicines to us, to Dr. Wise and Dr. Gilliam who all helped us at home.

Thank you God for two weeks we will never forget.

Here I Dwell,

Rick

After Thoughts - Sometimes We Just Need A Sandwich

2010-07-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we just need a sandwich.

Yesterday I led the folks at Grace Fellowship to look at Elijah as he was on the run from King Ahab, his wife Jezebel, and their goons (I Kings 19). It was a lowpoint in the life of Elijah as suddenly nothing made sense. He had followed God's instructions even to the point of putting his own life in peril; he had seen God do some miraculous and amazing stuff; but still, he was now on the run for his life. He told God to just let him die. Nothing made sense, everything was going wrong, he gave up.

God is a God who is the master of "I give up" moments. God mastered Elijah's "I give up" moment.

"You need to eat," is what God's messenger told him. And, after Elijah ate, God had him eat again. God enabled him to better handle the situation of the moment and to prepare him for the circumstances yet to come. Elijah needed to eat.

Often times we need to take care of the physical in order to properly, and in the right mindset, face the immediate not to mention the future. An empty stomach is no way to approach anything, let alone the problems of this world like a crazy King and his vindictive wife. Sometimes you just need a sandwich.

Our sandwiches may be food, but they can also be correcting relationships. In the new testament Christ teaches that we must correct our relationship before we can fully and sincerely approach God with our offerings (Matthew 5:24). Sometimes corrected relationships are our sandwich.

Sometimes we just need a sandwich to face the trials of today and tomorrow. Is hunger distracting you from noticing God?

What type of sandwich do your need to fix today?

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Final Day (Vacation Day Twenty Three)

2010-07-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

Today started at 3:00am with Isaiah burning a hole in my side. I woke up with him next to me...hot. He was running a high fever, which seems to be a very symbolic and appropriate way to end our vacation. It looks like he has the same sinus infection that Hannah had. Caleb woke up later, much later, with the same fever and symptoms. We will start the week off with yet another trip to our doctor.

Hannah, Grace, and I got up late so the only worship service available was the 11:30am worship at Tulsa Life Church. It is always fun to visit other churches and experience their style and practice of worship. They are in the midst of a movie sermon series and the movie today was Blindside, it made us all want to see that movie again. It also made me a bit concerned that my daughters will now forever find my preaching boring. I also enjoyed watching the people attending and how much they enjoy being there. Ultimately, it made me ready to be back with our church family of Grace Fellowship.

Speaking of Grace, I once again heard wonderful reports about my replacement for this week. Thanks Ryan for sharing this morning. Thanks to everyone who made it possible for us to be gone for his time.

Enjoyed every minute of this time out....already looking forward to the next opportunity.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Final Saturday (Vacation Day Twenty Two)

2010-07-10T19:37:00.001-07:00

I dealt firmly with our curfew violation problem of Caleb's by moving his video game playing curfew from midnight to 2:00am.... I will be much stricter with grandchildren. I did have a valid reason however, if he is going to take care of our Zombie problem he needs more time after dark. Everyone knows that Zombies are not out during the daytime. I assume the same holds true for Nazis and evil religious figures.

Andrea and her mother decided to hit some stores this afternoon so the kids and I decided to hit a movie. Actually we ended up having to hit "movies" since we could come to no agreement on which movie. Lily and I went to Toy Story 3 (which is very good), Grace, Hannah, and Isaiah went to Grown Ups (I could not even get myself to pretend that I could sit through that one), and our wonderful Papa, sat through Predators with Caleb (another one I hope to never see). My first trip to the Johnson household, after Andrea and I had married, I discovered that this quiet and calm family had a large collection of movies that mainly consisted of Predator, and Die Hard types of movies (I would watch with them but from around the corner...not a fan ever since I had to sit through Jamie Lee Curtis scream in the seventies). Another couple hours sitting watching aliens hunt down humans was a no brainer for Papa. Prior to going to the movie this afternoon I secured promises from Grace and Hannah regarding watching little brother Isaiah, they assured me that he would be alright. I was a little concerned as we entered the movie and realized that he had been left in the van in the parking lot (he was actually locked in it unable to unlock the doors). Later the two girls could not understand why I kept texting them to make sure they still had him.

Lily and Isaiah both won toys in the claw grabbing game forever ruining my "it is a waste of money" claim.

My girls have decided that we cannot miss church another Sunday so we have been looking at web sites trying to decide where to attend. I have been looking for the church with the latest morning worship time available. They have been looking for a church that has a youth service separate from the worship where dad will be. We have no solid commitment from Isaiah or Andrea but Caleb is holding firm to his "need a break" stand.

I did manage to accomplish setting up our scripture schedule for Grace Fellowship through the end of this calendar year. Very excited to say that we will finish the Old Testament by December 19. We started last September so this is a big deal. This also means that we will be able to complete our chronological journey through the entire Bible by a year from now at the latest. Very cool!

Head home tomorrow and back to permanent reality....at least for a while.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Final Friday (Vacation Day Twenty One)

2010-07-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty uneventful Final Friday of Vacation. It actually began at 1:07 am when I went to remind Caleb of his midnight curfew. He was playing video games and, of course did not know what time it was. This would have been more believable had there not been an oversize digital illuminated clock sitting on the television stand in front of the television. He had to look around it to kill Nazis, Zombies, or major religious figures. He continued to hold to his ignorance claim when he got up at 1:07 pm. Andrea suggested that he needs a haircut to enable him to see clock. He felt that this was in incorrect solution. I attempted to sleep late but my bed partner, Isaiah, demanded an answer to "Why are you still in bed?!" I helped my in-laws find a new cell phone and cell phone plan. After visiting three stores I accepted defeat and handed the task off to my sister-in-law. Ate a wonderful meal at PF Chang and then had an even more wonderful surprise as the stores at Utica Square began closing just minutes after I began to accompany girls shopping...spent NOTHING! Now back at home where mother-in-law is making guacamole, a big mistake for my digestive system right before bed, but I am on vacation.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

The Road Again, Again (Vacation Day Twenty)

2010-07-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

We hit the road again today heading to Tulsa to see if son Isaiah remembers us. Since we last saw him on Monday he has been taken to two movies, out to eat numerous times, and purchased an array of toys that usually get the "no" response from mom and dad. When we finally arrived in Tulsa, eager to see and embrace him, he managed to pull himself up off the couch with the endearing greeting, "Did you bring my wand?" Our hearts were warmed.

I did get by the church building before we left to check on the mail and cleaning. The folks that clean each week called me on Friday to let me know that they would be on vacation this week and unable to clean. This is what you want to hear when you are in Florida. They clean in exchange for using our pasture for their horses which leads to a rather casual arrangement. Our leadership team has been doing all the building prep each week so I didn't want to add to their tasks. My wonderful daughters volunteered to help me empty trash and check for basic cleanliness. The folks at Grace have been pretty tidy while we've been gone so it was not a tough job.

While I was there it hit me that I am ready to get back to it. One more Sunday gone is going to be more than enough. Three weeks and four Sundays away has definitely been refreshing and a treat which Andrea and I are very thankful for, however, it is time. We are all ready to return to our dear family of Grace Fellowship.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Memory Picture: Two weeks ago, as we were attempting to head to our third park at Orlando, we thought everyone was ready to walk out the door and walked in and found this. Sisters were not happy.

UnRepaired (Vacation Day Nineteen)

2010-07-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today we awoke to a torn up bathroom doorway. Yesterday, in a moment of extreme productiveness, I decided to get the pocket door in our bathroom repaired....I should not get anything repaired no matter how productive I feel. I called a contractor friend of mine to see if he could tell me what to do about "one of those doors that slide out of the wall" since ours is broken and Lily recently got locked into the bathroom. It was then that I learned that they are called "Pocket Doors". I learned this by my friend's reply of "Oh the joys of Pocket Doors...." He continued by recommending that I contact Dale. Dale got right over to the house where he proceeded to tear the frame off the door to fix our "Pocket Door." About an hour later, at the time when I had begun adding up the possible cost of this "repair", Dale came into the living room with a worried look on his face. "I cannot fix it," he began. This is a phrase I am used to hearing, but it is usually said by me not by a person who actually knows how to fix stuff. It turned out that pocket door manufacturers no longer make our type of door, or any of the parts for the door or tracking. It also turned out that our door had been installed prior to the installation of the sheetrock which means that the only way to get the pocket door out is to take out the wall. Dale did not let me pay him for his hour plus of work so I did not ask him to put the framing back up. We now have a bathroom with a frameless door. The framing is leaning up against the bathroom wall complete with dangerous nails sticking out to grab you early in the morning when you are only half awake....or anytime of day when you are only half-witted.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Reality (Vacation ? Day Eighteen)

2010-07-06T20:50:00.001-07:00

Reality hit like a sledgehammer this morning with my dear wife, Andrea, waking me up at 7:30am (yes....am) for a walk. I spent the first mile of the walk reminiscing about the days when I did not know the world existed prior to noon (last week). After I got my mind back to reality, where people have to open their eyes prior to noon, the walk with Andrea was very nice.

We got home and Andrea told me that she would schedule the doctor appointments if I wanted to get started on the lawn. I never really want to "get started on the lawn," but I did. Two broken lawnmowers later I gave up. Mrs. Ray, our next door neighbor, told me last night about a guy she is going to try on her lawn so we got his number. Andrea gave Jose a call and he said he would be right over, he must have sensed the panic in her voice. Jose did come and did an amazing, beyond amazing, job. Our lawn has never looked so good, I am hoping to have broken lawnmowers again in a couple of weeks

The reality of the day also included Hannah's doctor appointment. We learned that the Dr. Morgan, in Alabama, and Dr. Bow Wow, in Florida, did good with Hannah. We also met with the foot doctor for Caleb where we learned that the ER in Florida had also done a good job. It was, with medication, at least a couple of hundred dollar medical day. In addtion to this, we took the van in for repairs where Shawn ask us what we "hit"; he was amazed we had made it back. We never knew about "hitting" anything but apparently we messed up, or broke, the tie rod. We have been amazed that we made it back as well but we were unaware of this reason. We will get the van back tomorrow after another three hundred plus.

I fixed the gate. The gate has not worked for over a year. I have had it fixed up to this point by stacking bricks in front of it since duct tape would not work. Turns out I just had to move two screws and it works...at least until tomorrow.

We met Grandma and Papa for dinner at Cracker Barrel. We got a table and waited for them, finally calling them when they did not show up. It turned out that they also had a table, only their table already had appetizers sitting on it....at Boomerang. We apologized to the folks at Cracker Barrel and got up from our "no appetizer" table and headed to Boomerang. Lily and Grace had made the plans with Grandma earlier in the day. We are going to start working on our cross-generational communication skills this next year.

Grace went to Physical Therapy for her knee where we learned that she needs new orthodicts. Orthodicts are not covered by our insurance but are essential when most of your family is flat footed. Our orthodicts have helped our podiatrist pay for his office and probably a new house.

Isaiah is in Tulsa being spoiled beyond repair by Grammy and Papa. I figure that he may refuse to come home later in the week.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Home Sweet Home (Vacation Day Seventeen)

2010-07-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

We are home, vacation is not officially over, but for a few days we are home. Officially I am off until next Monday but Andrea had a couple of days of appointments so we came back for a few days.

Isaiah remained in Tulsa for a Harry Potter Marathon during which he will be describing every painstaking detail to his Grammy. She is a patient woman. He texted us a few hours ago wondering if we had his Harry Potter Wizard Wand which he had purchased at Universal Studios. He needed the wand to assist with his explanation to Grammy. Isaiah can talk without breathing for a couple of days at a time so I can only imagine Grammy already sitting with glazed over eyes. To be honest, however, she does share the blame as she told him she needed him to explain Potter to her. We are planning to go back over to get him as soon as she totally understands "He who is not to be named", the Tri-Wizards Tournament, Cyrus, as well as Ron and Hermione; as soon as it is safe. Hopefully that will be on Wednesday or Thursday.

I will spend the next couple or days attempting to tame our yard, get repairs made on the van, take Caleb and Hannah to doctors, Grace to tennis, and whatever Lily tells me to do (this is, of course, all in addition to whatever Andrea tells me to do....Lily and her sisters, have learned well from their mom). In addition I hope to get scripture mapped out for the coming months and a few other minor projects at the church. Basically, life as I know it minus Isaiah. This reveals my true dorkdom; I am already a bit lost without Isaiah and we have just been home for five hours. When any of the kids are absent I get this way, I am going to be in so much trouble once they start leaving the nest.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Mormon Children (Vacation Day Sixteen)

2010-07-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

We arrived back in Tulsa tonight at 11:00pm after a long drive from Birmingham. We were entertained our last few hours with various fireworks displays taking place in all the small towns throughout Arkansas and Oklahoma.

We managed to go through the remainder of Alabama, as well as venturing through Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas without any need of doctors or emergency rooms. I cannot list Oklahoma since we have to take Caleb and Hannah back for medical attention as soon as possible this week. Caleb's leg did not miraculously receive healing in the course of our car ride the last two days; instead, Hannah's cough returned with a vengeance.

This morning began with a great compliment to our family and a possible slam to our faith. As we had finished packing up the van at the hotel I was returning to check out the room shortly behind the kids who had gone before me. Andrea had remained with the van. As I entered the hotel, a man sitting on the hotel front porch commented on how impressed he was with our family. He pointed out how pleasant and calmly Andrea and I spoke to the kids, and how respectful and thoughtful the kids were to us and each other. He had noticed how they helped with the packing and saw to their temporarily crippled brother. I was standing there a proud daddy. "Are you all Mormons?" he continued. "No," I responded not sure how my time to shine had taken this turn. "Well," he explained, "I have found that all families that behave like your family are Mormon." "We are not Mormon," I continued to explain. He continued to attempt to find some connection between our family and Mormons in order to permit him to hold to his "Good Families Are Mormon Families" theory. I finally realized that he was determined so I helped out by explaining that we do live near the Mormon church and have several Mormon friends. "Well, they must have been a good influence on you and your kids," he concluded. I agreed, it is the Mormons. He then shared his own faith, which is not Mormon, and shared that he was sitting on the porch because his wife needed a break from him. I was thinking that he needed some Mormon friends to influence his family. At this point I remembered that all five of my Mormon behaving children were alone in our room. I began to fear that they may have ceased to behave like Mormons and instead had begun to behave like their Baptist/Methodist ancestors. I excused myself. I found the kids, who were behaving like Mormons, I thanked God.....and Joseph Smith.

Our trip home was pretty uneventful. Caleb and Isaiah bought a James Bond movie at a truck stop so now Isaiah is walking around saying, "Bond, James Bond." I am now waiting for him to take up "Shaken, not stirred."

Once again I received wonderful reports of my preaching replacement today. Thanks Darrell for sharing and doing a great job. Ryan will fill in for me next Sunday and probably seal my "unnecessary status"....oh well, I am blessed and thankful to have such a great group. I am also blessed and thankful to have had this opportunity with my family.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

On the Road Again (Vacation Day Fifteen)

2010-07-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

We got away from the beach this morning with great regret. We had a wonderful time in Florida and none of us were ready to leave. Packing was a great challenge with the added items including a beach chair and a pair of crutches. With a very full packed van we said goodbye with one final stop at Seaside before heading for Alabama.

By the way, today was a perfect beach day, no clouds, mild temperature, and a continuation of the oil spill coverup. We, were in the van....not on the beach.

Oh, the reality of getting up before noon hit all of us hard.

We are spending the night in Birmingham once again where we got to meet up with my dear friends Jim and Deanna Barnett and their daughter Hannah. I met Jim and Deanna at the same time they met each other when we all served on staff of Centrifuge in 1984. The last time I saw them both was at their wedding which was twenty-three years ago. Jim is now a professor at Samford and serves as the teaching pastor of Brookwood Baptist Church and Deanna is a fifth grade teacher. It was great to see them and catch up and I am so grateful that they did not tell too many stories about me from our summer together.....my children already live with enough embarrassment caused by dad. Thanks Barnettes for a great time together!

Earlier in the day we took a tour of Samford University. We have met many great young people that have served on Student Life staff who attend Samford. Having kids who are not far from College age, even though I still will not admit it, Andrea is trying to expose the kids to as many colleges as possible. We did find the tennis courts and Caleb discovered how tough it is to navigate the campus built on the side of a hill while hobbling on crutches.

Tomorrow the plan is to make it all the way back to Tulsa. It is a long drive and will be a long time with Caleb's foot not up. It is pretty swollen tonight after our half day drive today and tomorrow will be double that. Who knows where the Anthonys will be tomorrow night.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Doctors, ERs, and Mass Oil Spills Cover Ups (Vacation Day Fourteen)

2010-07-02T20:42:00.001-07:00

This day began with all the markings of a great show for the SyFi network. After last night’s oil sighting we were sure to find a gloomy day and closed beaches. As we awoke, at the early hour of 11:00am (tomorrow is going to be tough), we found sunshine and the largest crowds yet stretched out across the very open beaches. It made us think of disappearing flying saucers the morning after in Roswell, NM.

As it was our last full day at the beach we decided to just accept it and move on.

Andrea and the girls headed for Seaside Beach Community to purchase their final items they had decided upon. The boys and I walked across 30-A for a final time on the waves. The girls were going to meet up with us at the beach once their money ran out….something I felt for sure would have already taken place since my money seemed to disappearing unusually speedy.

We got our umbrella set up and ready for a great day at the beach, there was not a hint of oil to be found. The Walton Beach web site continued its claim that only a few tar balls had surfaced but nothing else. We chose to accept the memory eraser that had gripped the area and headed out into the water. It wasn’t long until Isaiah pointed out that Caleb was lying on the beach looking like he was in immense pain. I soon found out that he had taken a fall on the sand and done something to his foot. After waiting the obligatory amount of time until a dad is supposed to panic I began packing everything up. I called Andrea to meet us at the condo and the three of us attempted to walk to the stairs. Caleb could not make it very far and I was soon carrying him. During the carry I informed him that I now expect no complaining on his part when he has to carry me to the bathroom in a couple of years. He didn’t laugh. I called Andrea again informing her that I was not going to be able to get him to the condo and that she would have to pick us up on the highway which she did.

I called my friend Dr. Bow Wow, who actually took the time to talk to me personally, he told me to go ahead and take Caleb to the hospital where X-Rays could be performed. I thanked him….we are close.

While we were waiting on the van, biting ants began to go after Isaiah. By the time Andrea arrived we not only had a crippled fifteen year old but our ten year old had swelling welts on one leg. It was the best way to start off the Fourth of July holiday and to end our time at the beach. We left Isaiah at the condo in the care of his sisters and Andrea drove Caleb and me to the hospital. Once at the hospital she returned to the condo to see to Isaiah and his swelling ant bites.

Andrea went to talk to our new friends at the pharmacy about Isaiah. She thanked them for their help….they are close.

Once I got into the hospital, and Andrea had driven off, I realized that I had left my glasses and my phone in the car. Once you enter an emergency room, glasses are a handy item to have if you have any trouble seeing. When you are ready to leave a hospital a phone is a handy thing to have. They have a great deal of paperwork they want you to complete and without glasses this is tough. The retired volunteers at the front desk attempted to help me but their sight was not much better even though they had glasses. The records lady finally came out and had me just come and complete the paperwork verbally. This resulted in Caleb now spelling his name “Kaleb” which I hope Blue Cross/Blue Shield finds as humorous as we did. I also had to put on a hospital bracelet labeled “Kaleb’s Dad”.

In triage we had Dr. McDreamy, I know this because everyone of the female nurses, and maybe a male nurse, that came by had to make sure that McDreamy noticed them. He also called me “Sir” the whole time which has nothing to do with his dreamy status only it accelerated my elderly decline. Dr. L.L. Cool J was the doctor that worked with us in the exam room. He also was the center of all the females attention, even some patients. He helped them all have a better day by poking them in the side when he walked by them. They all giggled and smiled signaling that their lives were now complete. His exam consisted of sticking his head in our room and saying “We are going to X-Ray you now,” and “It is broken.” Caleb was given a boot cast; they do not hard cast anyone because it would “just swell up here in Florida and we would just have to cut it off,” and trained him to use pair of crutches. Caleb will have to visit a doctor once we are back in Norman to decide the ultimate treatment (yeah…another doctor). Once we were done, we had no ride and no phone, so the sweet lady at the desk let me use her phone even though it was a long distance call.

On the way home we had to call Kerri at Doctor’s Park Pharmacy in Norman, to get all of official numbers again since we still do not have our pharmacy card. Then we had to go visit our new friends at the Santa Rosa Pharmacy one last time for pain medication for “Kaleb”. I asked if they had anything for vacationing parents, they recommended I visit “The Naked Grape” bar located next to the pharmacy.

After dinner, and after another thunderstorm had begun and ended, we headed over for one last stroll on the beach. We saw a group of folks get ticketed for setting off fireworks; saw a sunset wedding, and then Lily found the best sea shell EVER. Caleb hobbled home and the rest of us followed.

Over the course of the past two weeks we have spent time in two Emergency Rooms in two states, seen four doctors, also in two states, been rejected by one doctor in one state, made new friends at two new pharmacies, also in two states, and been in frequent conversation with our friends at our home pharmacy and our doctor’s office in our state. I am a bit apprehensive about venturing back into any additional states….or possibly it is just something about Florida and Alabama.

Tomorrow we head back to Oklahoma, a little curious what has yet to happen.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Oil (Vacation Day Thirteen)

2010-07-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Today we awoke, once again, to the rain. The difference is that today’s rain was much more persistent and never ending. Today’s rain was the worst so far, the lake outside our condo is filling up and the flag colors on the beach were irrelevant as no persons were about to venture out into the ocean. We once again went shopping. We hit all our favorite communities along 30-A ….again. The Anthony girls still have some money in their pockets and are itching to get it spent. Apparently, it will no longer have any value once we cross the Florida state line.

The shopping was not our first association with the outside world however. I was awakened by a pounding on our door at the ungodly hour of 9:30am by the fire sprinkler maintenance men. They wanted to check our fire sprinklers. I was not sure if this meant that they would actually turn them on and get everything wet or not. I said “sure, but my whole family is still in bed “. The second of the two men looked at me and then said to the other man, “we will just come back” in a disgusted tone. It was then that I realized that I was standing there in my underwear, a sight guaranteed to run off any fire sprinkler maintenance men.

The boys, once again, chose to skip the afternoon of shopping and return to killing Zombies, or Nazis, or Religious Leaders, I didn’t even ask. Mid way through the shopping the rain stopped and I hurried the girls to finish shopping so we could get back and hit the beach. We have not been to the beach since Tuesday due to Alex and his, or her, annoying rains. By the time we got back to the condo the heavy rains had resumed so we fixed and ate dinner determined to go for a sunset beach stroll regardless of the rain.

After dinner the rain had actually let up and we put on swim suits just in case swimming conditions presented themselves. As soon as we got to the sand we took a nice family picture thanks to the nice man from Georgia who was looking out at the ocean with a very concerned look. After the picture I joined him in looking at the sea where I saw his reason for concern. There are now large patches of brownish black pools floating between the waves. We discussed the whether it was algae or oil. He, with his strong southern accent, sounded much cooler and credible during the discussion than I did. A little later as we walked up the beach we came upon one of the patches of brownish black pools which had made it to shore. It was, without a doubt, an enormous pool of oil. It was very sad. It was also a probable signal of the end of our time in the water. The reality of this devastation hit Andrea and I as we realized what this meant.

The power of God’s creation combined with the carelessness of human beings is a lethal mix. This should not surprise any of us as we see it in different forms every day. Humans abuse humans and every aspect of God’s creation so it should shock no one that we also abuse the world He created.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Doctors, Outlet Malls, and Money in the Bank (Vacation Day Twelve)

2010-06-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Alex is hitting the gulf side of Mexico and sending heavy rains to the everyone along Scenic Highway 30-A. It was a total loss of a day as far as hitting the beach but that does not mean we had a boring day.

It is hopefully the day that my dear fifteen year old son Caleb, actually takes a shower and does not just pretend to take one. I can’t be sure as he has locked the doors as during the required bathing, but the plan is to have soap hit his body after a five day hiatus. He almost pulled his plan off last night with the wet hair as he exited the bathroom but one of his siblings, who is now in the witness protection program, ratted him out.

Last night I shared a bed with Isaiah who greeted me this morning with unusually rank breath. Isaiah always has breath that could take down a building in the morning, he considers it his super power. This morning his breath was especially potent. I asked if he had truly brushed his teeth last night as he had told me. Finally, after much thought, he realized that not only had he not brushed this last night but it had possibly been couple of days since his teeth had seen a toothbrush or toothpaste. I think he has been on Caleb’s timetable for personal hygiene. So glad I have boys.

Since the beach was totally out of the question, even for the craziest of vacationers, we headed to the outlet mall in Destin. The outlet mall is a destination for an entirely different type of crazy vacationers. An outlet mall in Destin means Nike Products that have never been seen in America for just a few bucks more than at Academy in Norman. It also means the presence of less costly products at Gap and Banana Republic which just somehow seem “off”. There were shirts and other items at stores such as Lacoste that seemed alright but a seasoned skeptic, who is also aware of the limited luggage space, cannot accept. The girls slowly hit the stores of the very large shopping center while the boys and I managed to walk the entire complex in a matter of minutes (including actually entering Bose and Sony to hear the value of refurbished computers and speaker systems).

Shortly into our venture Linda, from Dr. Field’s office in Norman, called to see how Hannah is doing. When she heard about the persistent cough, and conferenced with Glen, she encouraged us to go see an area physician to assure that this had not developed into pneumonia. I called my new friends at the Santa Rosa Pharmacy to get a doctor suggestion. They gave me many names including one that does not accept insurance. I eliminated the “no insurance” doctor and decided to call Dr. Bawa (if you say it with a strong southern accent it comes out “Bow Wow” although he is middle eastern). His nurse said to “get that girl right over here” although it would be at least a thirty minute drive (not accounting for the funeral processional on Highway 98 or the heavy rain). We dropped the boys off at the condo knowing that leaving them in their already bored and annoying state with Andrea and the other girls at an outlet mall full of boring clothes was a recipe for disaster. I also knew that they were not in proper mood to sit in the Dr. Bow Wow’s waiting room. Caleb promised he would call me on his cell phone once he and Isaiah got locked in the condo. Later, when I did not hear from him, I called him. While waiting for him to pick up the phone I heard it ringing from the seat behind me reminding me how glad I am that we pay $250.00 a month for cell phones.

When we arrived at Dr. Bow Wow’s office the lady at the desk was very friendly and welcomed us right in. As we sat in the waiting room we heard a continuous video advertizing Navigenics. This is a DNA test you can have done from the privacy of your own home that allows you to find out your genetic predisposition to just about any illness or disease you might possibly get at some time in your life. One man had a 25% chance of heart disease and didn’t even know about it until he did the testing. He changed his diet and changed his life. Once we got into an exam room there was a shelf full of health supplements with names such a “Brain Calm”. There have been many professors and others in my life that testify to the fact that my brain needs to be anything but calmer. Dr. Bow Wow turned out to be very helpful and, like Dr. Morgan, gave us a free sample of the inhaler he switched Hannah to. He also sold us some cough medicine which was not on our pharmacy plan which didn’t really matter since I left my pharmacy card at home. It turns out that in addition to the Sinus Infection we are now dealing with an asthma situation. Since we still have not seen a doctor in Mississippi or Arkansas I am sure we will have something else come up before we get home.

After we were finished at the doctor we rushed back by the boys, who could not be reached by phone, to make sure they and the condo were still standing. Then back to the outlet mall to pick up the others before they spent any more money. Andrea’s intercession check was deposited today which means we do have some money to spend. We have had to be very careful up to now which has probably been a good experience as the kids have helped us keep track of every dime. We went to the store the first night to get food for meals and they were very excited to see that we stayed under budget. Last night, on another store run, they were counting it all down to the penny (which we had thirty seven left over).

With the money in the bank, and a disregard for the July mortgage payment, we were able to do our one vacation restaurant dinner tonight. We hit La Cocina at Rosemary Beach. We are now home hoping to get to hit the waves tomorrow…..if not, there may be some hitting each other.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Rainy Days and the Pope (Vacation Day Eleven)

2010-06-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

Today began with a light rain and is now ending with a very heavy rain (apparently Alex has turned into a Hurricane). I am wondering if this will be posted tonight as I have to go to Ms. Lucille’s Gossip Parlor each night to get Internet access. The parlor, which I walk to a couple of blocks away, is closed by the time I get there each night causing me to miss out on any juicy gossip, I also have to sit outside which causes me to miss all shelter from the rain.

Since it was raining this morning, and by morning I mean noon as no one in condo 212 has managed to get out of bed before 10:30am or even 11:00am recently (reality is going to be tough), we decided to head out in the van again. Andrea, Grace, and Hannah wanted to hit the one remaining beach side community they have yet covered and the boys wanted to stay at the condo killing Zombies, Nazis and now an evil rogue Pope. I questioned the properness of killing such a significant religious leader but discovered that this particular Pope is not only evil and rogue but he has organized a group of, also evil and rogue, men who are out to do some very “unchristian and inhumane” things. If I understand right, this evil rogue Pope and his evil rogue accomplices are out to do such evil as to ruin the lives of millions and, in the end, will cause the death of thousands. Once again I have as hard of a time arguing against the killing of such an evil abuser of his religious position as I do the killing of Nazis and Zombies. Maybe I am wrong, but do we really have any other option? So, that left Lily and me with the awful decision of shopping or killing Nazis, Zombies, and an evil Pope. We weighed our options and decided to jump in the van, it was the right choice.

We ended up at Rosemary Beach, a community built to resemble an alpine community in Switzerland. Lily and I found a candy shop that actually sold ice cream for less than two bucks a scoop and the others found….I actually don’t know what they found. Later they wanted what we had found so we had to take them to the candy/ice cream shop called the “Sugar Shack”. We all ventured down to the beach entrance and then headed back home. The boys were ready for a break from killing Nazis, Zombies, and major religious figures, so we cooked up the leftovers for lunch and headed to the beach. It was another red flag day which meant very high waves and today we had the return of algae and seaweed. While I did see more tar balls today there were no “Qualified Clean-Up Crew” workers to be seen.

We did a great deal of body surfing and I discovered that Grace has my skills at riding the waves which means that she made it a couple of feet at best. Isaiah proved to possibly have the ability of sister Lily making it into the shore several times. Caleb made his obligatory inappropriate sand sculpture, Andrea continued her reading, and Hannah accidentally caught a fish when helping Lily find shells. After dinner we went for a sunset walk on the beach for which we had perfect temperature and weather.

We did have an interesting discussion opportunity as we passed two college aged boys walking down the beach holding hands. Thankful for any chance God gives us to reveal to our kids how to have a Christ centered belief without being judgmental or hateful.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Red Flag Days (Vacation Day Ten)

2010-06-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a rainy day, a perfect day for sleeping late….which we did!

The beach flags were on red today, almost the highest warning (double red flag is the highest). The waves were very high, extremely gnarly. Tropical storm Alex is hitting Mexico and the U.S. today which is bringing storms to our area. The radio says to expect this same weather the remainder of the week. On the upside, this has calmed down the algae (which does not make sense), it was pretty thick yesterday. It also has brought very pleasant temperatures.

We decided to take advantage of the rain excuse and go see the other communities on 30-A. The girls would go look at the stores and the boys would go walk the beaches…at least this was the plan. The boys actually were unable to just walk along the water and ended up in the water. They totally disregarded the red flags which I continually pointed out to them. Then, Lily got very tired of her sisters and mom who spent way too much time looking at way too many things at way too many stores. She finally called me for a quick rescue. She joined the boys and also had a disregard for the red flags.

We visited Grayton Beach, Water Color Beach, and finally Seaside Beach. At Seaside Beach we went to what I thought was an ordinary ice cream shop. It turned out to be a “Gelato” shop which in English means “give them a third the ordinary size and then charge them triple so you can get thirty bucks for six small scoops.” Say it with an Italian accent and it will sound very authentic. By the way, Andrea was the only one who looked at the prices prior to ordering, keeping the bill from being thirty-five dollars.

After dinner we went back to the beach to catch the very high waves and run from the very fast crabs until dark.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Gnarly Waves and Tarballs (Vacation Day Nine)

2010-06-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

Today is our second Sunday in a row to not attend corporate worship. Whereas last Sunday my girls were horrified, you will remember that Isaiah chose to read his Bible and Caleb chose to take a “needed” church break, today no one even realized what day it was. How quickly good habits are forgotten. I was not permitted to forget; I received many notes from the dear folks at Grace Fellowship informing what a great job that Mitch did in my absence. After two weeks of such notes of acclaim regarding my replacements, I am expecting that “go ahead a take a couple of more weeks off” call from the church anytime now.

We were able to sleep a little later this morning and then forced the kids to go on a drive before hitting the beach. By the time we had eaten an early lunch the temperature was already high enough, not to mention the humidity, that Andrea and I thought the air conditioned van sounded wonderful. We drove the extent of Scenic Highway 30-A which goes along the beach almost to Panama City. While it was a time of extreme torture for the boys in the back, Andrea and the girls enjoyed all the different beach communities and potential shopping areas. Andrea was directing me to pull into some of these areas when all out revolt broke out from the back seat…the gig was over and we knew we had to hit the beach.

Somehow, Andrea managed to never actually get in the water. She used the excuse that she “needed to read through the books she was considering for the women’s study this fall.” I noticed that she is on her fourth book since she began using this excuse and every book seems to be “wonderful”. I however was the point man for propelling the boogie board with every coming wave as Isaiah was attempting to find the perfect “gnarly pounder”. Again this year, Lily seems to have the most aerodynamic body for body surfing, making it to shore on every wave.

Caleb and Isaiah thought that they were enough of a force to “take the old man down” out in the waves. However, the “old man” proved to have more power than they imagined. Isaiah finally proclaimed that “ordinarily, I don’t hit women but in your case I will make an exception.” Don’t worry ladies, the “old man” made him pay for his gender insensitivity.

Hannah lost her sunglasses in the surf. We went to the store to purchase some new ones but it was there that the “old man” saw the cost and felt for sure that we “will find the others washed up on the beach tomorrow.” Hannah gave a disgusted teenage daughter sigh and walked off.

Grace fixed lunches for everyone again today…yeah Grace!

We saw a group of dolphins swimming and jumping fairly close to where we were swimming. It was pretty amazing. They swam and jumped as good as the dolphins at Sea World, probably related. I can only imagine what they could do with proper choreography, orchestration, and a mouth full of frozen fish every couple of minutes.

We also saw “Qualified Beach Clean Up Crews” walking up and down the beach throughout the day. Every once and a while they would put on their rubber gloves and bend over and pick something up and put in their bucket. Earlier in the day, on our drive, we had seen "Inmates working on Beach" signs. We chose to forget this notice as the crews walked continuously past us throughout the day.

After one such crew passed by, I walked out of the water and saw something and reached down, without rubber gloves, and picked it up. It is my own souvenir tar ball! I have probably exposed myself to some type of contamination but I have a souvenir. Andrea pointed out to all of us the reality that this came from so far below the ocean which is pretty amazing. I don’t think all the business owners along the coast see as amazing however.

As I saw the tar ball and have been reflecting on events in the gulf coast, three thoughts have continually come to mind:
1. God’s instruction to Adam to take care of the creation (Genesis 2:15).
2. God’s pattern of finally permitting mankind to suffer the consequences of his own sin in order to finally learn a lesson.
3. Man’s call to “Drill baby Drill” at the most recent Republican National Convention alongside BP’s admitted shortcuts with the Deep Water Horizon Drilling Rig.

Something to think about.....

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Oil and Tarballs (Vacation Day Eight)

2010-06-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Our official greeting as we arrived at our Santa Rosa Beach condo today.

Did not make it to beach until sunset. Isaiah was sure he had oil all over his feet....turned out that he just needs to wash his feet more thoroughly.

We will see tomorrow.....

Here I Dwell,

Rick

ET, Jaws, Shrek, and Nazi Zombies (Vacation Day Seven)

2010-06-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight the boys are not killing Zombies; they have made a life self-correction. They are now killing Nazis which sounds even more appropriate than killing Zombies. Apparently, though, the dead Nazis do come back as Zombies who then need to also be killed once again. This aspect of history was somehow left out of all my studies as well as any and all World War II movies I have seen. But, to be totally honest, I was never very attentive during history classes, or during World War II movies for that manner. I actually missed Baptist History in Seminary quite often as I naively took it as an 8:00am class…..so, if there are any Zombies in Baptist history, during any historical time period, I missed them. This is too bad; imagine the illustrations that Baptist Zombies would have provided for sermons. Nevertheless, I do feel better knowing that the youth of today are taking as much time to kill World War II Nazis and Zombies as they are killing space aliens (or is killing space aliens a thing of the past?).

Today was our last full day in Orlando which was spent at Universal Studios….well, after we finally got out of bed (it was tough). Hannah was up most of the night with a high fever which broke around 4:00am. This permitted her to go this entire day without a temperature. She still has a nagging cough which Caleb, her often less than sensitive brother, loves to mimic and belittle.

Today involved time spent with Shrek, ET, Jimmy Neutron, MIB, Disaster Movies, Jaws (which caused Isaiah to almost jump out of the boat), the Terminator, as well as the Simpsons. I rode on a roller coaster on which I got to make my own selection of rock music to listen to on my own personal stereo, which was built into my seat, during the ride. I would tell you the music I selected but I have already forgotten.

There is a Caste System in process at each of the parks we have visited. They have “Express” or “Quick Quache” tickets which allow you to go to the head of the line. They also have “Express Plus”, “VIP”, and “VIP Elite” tickets which give you further privileges. It is all dependent upon how much money you have or how much money you are willing to give up. Those with the money are the ones with the most privileges. It kind of reminds me of our days in competitive soccer. We scoffed at the fact that we didn’t care for those people allowed to go in front of us in line but secretly we admitted that we wouldn’t mind being those people. It is all a matter of your perspective. Of course, in the end we all got to ride the ride and in the meantime I got to stand and enjoy my kids, so maybe I was the one with the greatest privilege. Like I said, it is all a matter of perspective. It kind of reminds me of our days in competitive soccer.

Tomorrow we head to Santa Rosa Beach where we hope to find clear waters void of any oil or tar balls. That is if we can get out of bed.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Zombies (Vacation Day Six)

2010-06-24T21:47:00.001-07:00

Isaiah, between killing Zombies with brother Caleb prior to going to bed, has been giving me ideas for what to write about in this blog. Yes, both of my boys are killing Zombies here in Florida with their friends who are still in Norman. Yes, I know that it is probably inappropriate and that possibly it should be included in the “don’t play” games such as Grand Theft Auto (which they have actually never asked to play). Yes, I know that I have probably doomed myself from ever being invited to join the staff of Focus on the Family or even to serve on any board or panel they may put together. I also realize that my two boys are having a great time sitting on the hotel bed together killing Zombies. After all, do any of us really have any other choice when it comes to Zombies?

Here are the majors of the day spent at Sea World Orlando, many of which were contributed by Isaiah. We had a tough time getting up this morning, all the Anthonys were still trying to recover from Universal Islands of Adventure. Sea World has a completely different policy regarding what you are allowed to bring in than Universal Studios. You can bring in the small, hard side, cooler (not permitted at Universal) but not the bag like cooler (which is permitted at Universal). We had left the small hard sided cooler at the hotel. Not being permitted to bring in the cooler bag, the very nice and helpful folks at the front of the park offered to give us a bunch of grocery type plastic bags, in which we could pack all the stuff from our big cooler bag and take into the park. We just decided instead to go to the picnic area and eat our lunch really quickly. Shamu was waiting and you don’t want to keep a Killer Whale waiting too long. I sat in the only seat on Journey to Atlantis that is guaranteed to get you completely wet, it did. I sat next to Isaiah on the Kraken roller coaster many times, each time with my hand on his knee, at his request (just in case the restraint system failed). I experienced a different roller coaster from the position of lying on my stomach. I held on to the sides of said roller coaster just in case that restraint system failed. After dark, I listened to Rock and Roll while watching Killer Whales swam, jumped, and splashed. I saw a fireworks and water show. I watched many extremely overweight people riding motorized wheelchairs while eating things like nachos and funnel cakes. I tried really hard not to be judgmental; found it impossible when I also saw them smoking. They quickly got their revenge as five came barreling around a corner and almost knocked me down. I saw funny sea lions, amazing dolphins and acrobats, even more amazing whales, and very beautiful birds. I saw aspects of God’s creation that I seldom see in the middle of Oklahoma. I saw my five kids, and wonderful wife, together and having a great time. It was a good day.

I mentioned, again, to the man at the front desk, that the elevator next to our room is very loud all night. He said that he is sorry. I told him that we had turned our air conditioner fan to “on” to help drown out some of the constant noise of the elevator. He said that was a good idea, I imagine he will start recommending it to everyone who is in room 807. I told him that it didn’t really work. He said, again, that he is sorry. Tonight, the elevator seems to have added a moaning sound much like the sounds the sound that Shamu and his friends made today. Maybe it is my imagination. I am pretty sure that my friend at the front desk is sorry about the whale sounds.

Hannah still is having fever problems during the heat of the day. She, again, waited until later in the day to ride rides which seems to work. It works out well since Andrea cannot ride many of the rides and now she has someone to sit and drink ice coffee with while people watching. Hannah spends most of the night coughing. I know this because I am in the same room with her and all the family. I hear the coughing between hearing the elevator whale. I am on vacation.

Caleb and Isaiah just killed the witch while killing Zombies. I would have thought this was a good thing but, judging from their reactions, this is not. I never even knew that witches and Zombies mixed, who knew? All I know is that there are dead and bloody Zombies everywhere. Grace cannot believe I let them play this game and repeatedly has voiced her opinion regarding my shortcoming as a parent in this particular area. Since she has, everyday, fixed our lunches I will listen to her criticism with an open mind and shape my worth as a parent according. Her kids will not be permitted to play video games at all.

I am really questioning if I should be capitalizing “Zombies”.

Isaiah bought a snow globe (he has a collection) and Lily picked out a shirt. Andrea added to her magnet collection. I am collecting Debit Card receipts.

Tomorrow we head for the other park at Universal Studios.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Standing in Line (Vacation Day Five)

2010-06-23T23:04:00.001-07:00

Let me start by giving you a few hints if you should make a trip to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Orlando this year. Do not go straight to the new attraction, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, when you arrive at the park in the morning. If you do, you will end up standing in line for two hours just to get into Potter area of the park, you will then have more long lines for the rides. If you do decide to ignore my sage advice and venture into Hogsmeade and Hogwarts do not go the way the park officials direct you to go. Go the back way, through Seuss Land, by Poseidon and Sinbad, entering Hogsmeade through the back gate.

I have a ten year old son who felt the only reason for the entire Orlando excursion of our vacation was for the purpose of seeing Harry’s new attractions at the park. We went straight to the exhibit and had the opportunity of standing in a winding line that began at the front gate of the park and extended all the way to the far back corner where Harry, Ron and Hermione have set up shop. Enough said.

I also have to take a second to give hero of the day award to daughter Grace who took the time last night to prepare lunches, per each individual request, for us today. This permitted us to stay on budget and even be able to purchase our family picture that was taken as we entered the park. It also gave Isaiah and I justification to purchase a couple of Butterbeers, even though we had no idea what Butterbeer tasted like. For the record, Isaiah loved it and I did not.

Back to my Potter advice, if you wait until later in the day there is no wait to get into the section of the park. You will still find a crowd that resembles Norman High School hallways at passing time once you enter the new area but it is worth it. They have done an unbelievable job of building the entire section down to the smallest detail. You will be amazed even if you are not a Harry Potter fan.

Hannah was sick most of the day until the sun began to set and the temperature began to fall. She is still fighting a high temp and we really have to stay on top of her medication. She did a lot of watching the others ride the rides until nighttime when she came to life. She kept a wonderful attitude even though she did not feel well. I would have been whining the entire time.

At about 7:00pm we all huddled to decide our priorities for our final three hours. Isaiah and I decided to return to the Potter Forbidden Journey ride, which we had not ridden due to the crowds, while the others opted to hit multiple Dragon Challenge roller coaster runs and then to Seuss Land.

It was with Isaiah that I had my ah-ha moment for the day. The ride takes place in the Hogwarts castle which is an amazing experience. We were told, at the entrance, that it would be a ninety minute wait. It turned out to be more like one hundred and fifty minutes, but I think this was for my benefit. After we had stood in line for about an hour the announcer began to say, in a proper British accent, that they were “sorry for the delay and were working to remedy the situation.” All of us in line were unaware of a “situation” since the line had continued to move, and still moved even as the announcement was repeated several times. Finally, as we were about to enter the castle, after having been in the outside section of the line for an hour, we all stopped moving. Pretty soon people were very calmly sitting down and visiting with each other and their new friends around them.

I started thinking about the behavior I was seeing and had seen all day. It hit me that except for one time, which was two older ladies, I did not see anyone cutting in line all day. There had also been a situation with a young man and woman standing behind us, earlier in the day, where the woman was uttering the worst of the worst profanities every third word from her mouth. I finally turned around and explained that I had my family with me and asked that they tone down their language. Their immediate response was to apologize, I was very impressed. Anyway, as we stood at a standstill in the Potter line I started thinking about the nature of man. Calvin holds to a theory of Total Depravity of man in which he states that man is incapable of making a positive eternal choice apart from the touch of the Holy Spirit. I have hold to his stance but, at the same time, wonder about the goodness or depravity of man in an earthly sense. I have always had a hang up with the fact that God “hardened” Pharaoh’s heart when he was approached by Moses. “If he had to harden his heart, then it must have been somewhat soft to begin with,” I have reasoned. I also believe that scripture is completely relevant to our lives and the world we live in, meaning we can sensibly make the truth of scripture match up with the reality of our world. I don’t believe that much writing, preaching and teaching that takes place today is truly relevant to the world of the listener. So, there I stood looking at thousands of people who were not acting out in anarchy but instead behaving politely, respectfully and peaceful.

I have frequently told our church that we are a group of people who do not belong together. I have also said that I think one of the biggest and most dangerous trends going on in churches today is the tendency to design our programming and worship to fit a certain, same, type of people. You can see it when you drive by many church parking lots; all the cars are even somewhat similar. I tell our people that we do not share common interests in most areas of life, we do not all share political outlooks, we don’t all share parenting philosophy, we have many differences in the minors of scripture and Christ’s teachings; we are very different in most ways. Still, every week, this “unsame” group of people do whatever they can do to be together. The thing that brings us together is the thing that can cause us to overlook our difference, that “thing” is Christ and the dependence each of us has on His life and His work. So, as I looked at this very “unsame” crowd tonight, all behaving politely, respectfully and respectful, I couldn’t help but wonder what brought them all together. Obviously it was the ride, but still what kept them from jumping in front of each other and acting in an impatient and overall rude manner? At one point I actually felt that God told me that the ride would not restart until I figured this out…that is alot of pressure…I didn’t tell anyone in line the holdup was my fault. It didn’t take me long to figure it out, it also brought Pharaoh into my understanding. Mankind has a basic earthly goodness that is intrinsic to our nature. This is not to say that there is not a pressure from those around to behave, but there is a basic something within each of us, or most of us, to want to be “good”. This would also explain why so many people automatically think that this is the expectation from God toward us. I stick with the belief that mankind cannot make a decision to follow God without the touch of the Holy Spirit (which I believe is offered to each human until they harden their heart to such an extent that a Holy Spirit touch becomes futile) but I also believe there is an inherent desire within us to be “good”. Sometime we become very out of touch with this desire, and sometimes our heart becomes so hardened that “good” is not even a possibility. Still, the desire is at sometime in our life, present.

Because this is a human, earthly desire, it can come and go with the moment and situation. As Isaiah and I stood in line, trying to decide whether or not to give up, the doors suddenly opened and we began to move. The crowd began to clap and cheer. Everyone got up off the ground, gave knuckles congratulations to their new friends, and began to move with the line. Then, a few minutes later, the announcer once again voiced an apology and said that they were “working on the problem” which they hope to have fixed soon. The crowd was suddenly not so sweet or understanding. Loud “boos” were heard from all over. I think, if the line had not begun to move soon, we could have had some unpleasant situations. As I saw this I realized that I have seen this same thing happen in churches. I have seen pastors and members act in ugly, disrespectful, impolite, unpeaceful and very unChristian ways when things don’t go their way. I figured it out tonight, the reason is that these people had come together for the same reason the other people in line came together. They came together for an earthly cause. Tonight they came together to get to ride a very cool ride (and it was a very cool ride). In church they come together for a building program, or a budget, or a ministry, or a moral or political cause, or any number of earthly causes or agendas.

They, often even in churches, are not together based on their relationship with and their need for Christ. It is only when that, the person and work of Christ, is the central unifying center that situations and other factors are incapable of pulling and tearing them apart.

I am going to stop….for now. In the meantime, you may not want to be in a line with me when God is trying to teach me something.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

ER to Orlando (Vacation Day Four)

2010-06-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

This morning started off at 7:00 with Hannah and me visiting the MedHelp Minor Emergency Clinic in Homewood, Alabama (outside of Birmingham). She was still running 102 degree temperature. Actually, by the end of our time there I am not sure that I would call it a visit or if we had taken up residence. I learned that there was a reason for Dr. “I Don’t See Thirteen Year Olds” to have been on duty last night, it caused us to have to wait until this morning when we got to see Dr. Morgan. Dr. Morgan just came back to work at MedHelp and could well be anyone’s grandmother. She gave us a ton of free samples for Hannah’s sinus infection, told her how beautiful she was then gave her a hug. Then, we had to go to the pharmacy to get the three medicines that were not available as samples. The real fun began when I realized that I did not have my pharmacy insurance card. Thankfully Kerri, of Doctors’ Pharmacy in Norman, was able to help the very nice pharmacy people in Homewood to get all our information. Thanks to everyone Hannah and I survived.

The rest of the day involved us sitting in the car traveling to Orlando. Pretty uneventful.

We finally got checked into our hotel in Orlando at 10:00pm. Hannah immediately blessed our room with Oklahoma throw up. Caleb and Isaiah found a television show which included pretty much every four letter word that I am aware of as well as some others I didn’t previously know. Grace, Lily, and I walked to the grocery store to get dinner, breakfast, and lunch stuff. Andrea stayed with Hannah to speed the healing process….Harry Potter won’t wait for us in the morning.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

On the Road (Vacation Day Three)

2010-06-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

We managed to hit the road at 7:15 this morning which was just fifteen minutes later than scheduled, an all time best for the Anthonys. Caleb and Isaiah managed to stay out of sisters’ hair, and off mom and dad’s nerves, thanks to the inverter the twelve year guys at the Shack sold us yesterday. What the guys failed to mention is that after about forty five minutes there would be a series of beeps, then a loud pop, and the inverter would cease to invert. At this time I also discovered that the plug in was very hot. We devised a plan to play for thirty to forty minutes or until the plug got too hot (it was my job to drive and constantly check the “hotness” of the plug) then take a break. Break was code word for “time to drive sisters up the wall.”

A bathroom break was not needed until Alma, Arkansas, where all bladders were full and ready to be emptied. While in the little store I made a new friend; she was yelling for someone to help. It should have served as some type of signal to me that everyone else was ignoring her, but I was uncharacteristically slow. She began to explain, with a tone of great duress, that she needed an inhaler and could not find one. “Are you talking about an inhaler for asthma?” I asked. “Yes,” she replied with a look indicating that she had figured out that I was an ignorant Okie. “Do you mean like a steroid inhaler?” I asked, “Do they sell those over the counter in Arkansas?” virtually assuring a place in the “stupid” hall of fame. “Yes,” she replied with even more disgust. I then took her to the counter to see if the thirteen year old clerk could help us. Evidently you have to be at least thirteen in Arkansas to sell cigarettes and beer, unlike the required age of twelve to sell electronics and inverters in Oklahoma. “Do you sell steroid inhalers?” I asked him. I could tell by the look on his face that they did not sell steroid inhalers at this particular gas station leaving the possibility of other Arkansas gas stations selling inhalers. “I talked to Thelma on the phone and she said that you do sell them,” my new friend broke in. “We have never sold inhalers and we don’t have anyone named Thelma working here,” the clerk explained with total disgust. My new friend made a beeline out the door as if she has just robbed the adolescent clerk of $13.50 leaving me to take the rap. I then looked back at the clerk and asked, “Do they sell steroid inhalers over the counter in Arkansas?” “No,” he said as if I had just asked him to take out the trash, “We don’t sell any types of inhalers and we also don’t have anyone named Thelma working here. Your new little friend has Alzheimer’s and comes in here every day looking for an inhaler and Thema.” I started to ask if he works the morning shift when the Alma Middle School is in session and if he gets school credit but instead just asked if I could still buy a payday candy bar. He took my money and nodded for me to head to the door, which I did.

A few miles down the road there was a sign boldly proclaiming “Don’t Spare the Rod and Do Save your Child.” Then, a few miles later there was a Supersize Adult Video Store. This pattern continued with a Bible reference billboard then a “Super” adult video store. Still not sure which came first, the billboard or the video stores.

Later we passed out the Peanut Butter sandwiches which Grace made last night at Grammy’s. Before the trip I had realized that the Universal tickets had taken us way over the budget. “We are going to have to live like the Waltons,” I told them. They didn’t have any clue who the Waltons are so I substituted the Duggars. By the kids’ reaction I knew that this caused some concerns until I qualified that the girls would not have to grow their hair to their waste or wear long dresses and that the boys would be able to wear shorts and show their thighs. No one was really sure where the thigh was so I just said that we were going to have to be careful with money. They asked why I didn’t just say that in the beginning.

About an hour and half outside of Birmingham we found that there are actually places not on the un-updated Garmin, such as the road we were on. The Garmin could not find the newly opened road and was about to slap me in the face for not make a U-Turn. About forty minutes outside of Birmingham, Hannah began to cough. When we finally go to the hotel we discovered that she had a 102 degree temperature.

While there is a Minor Emergency Clinic on most every corner in Norman, there seems to be only one such clinic in Birmingham. It also just happens to be on the same street as our hotel only a mile away. While this would seem like good luck, the only clinic in town, which is just a mile from our hotel, the doctor on duty tonight does not like to see thirteen year olds. I don’t either but I still do when I have to. The receptionist suggested that we go to the Children’s Hospital emergency room.

The Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, although not new, is also not on our Garmin. Not only does their Children’s Hospital not show up on the Garmin, Birmingham has also designed a unique street system which has numbered streets that go east and west as well as north and south. When Hannah and I finally reached the Emergency Room we had to go through a security check which was basically the same system as an airport. I did keep to my shirt on however. Then, when we entered the waiting room where we saw hundreds of sick kids…the kind of sick you realize that you just caught every sickness in the room just because you are within a mile radius. When I explained our situation to the nurse I could tell she thought it would be safer, health wise, to go home and get over it. She couldn’t say it officially but you could see that her eyes kept trying to let me see how many people were in front of us. We decided to leave and see how we feel in the morning.

On the way home, just as we were passing the famous Sixteenth Avenue Baptist Church, Hannah asked why we were the only white people in the Emergency Room. I then attempted to explain how far we have come, or have not come, since 1963.

Tomorrow, as long as health permits, we are on our way to Orlando.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Two Shirts (Vacation Day Two)

2010-06-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Today I overslept and missed church. I have not said that, or experienced that, since 1982. Hannah came into my room after it was much too late to make it to church and said that she did not wake me up because I seemed to be so deep in sleep. I am pretty sure that she had come to horror of her sister Grace’s realization of dad sitting with her at the youth worship. I realized that she purposely let me oversleep. I considered being offended. I got over it.

In the early afternoon I began to experience a great deal of pain from my armpits which I attributed to my Old Spice. I shared my immense suffering with Andrea who got a great, unnecessarily long, laugh. Later she got a splinter in her foot which had to be removed by her mother. I did not laugh. My skin may not be able to handle it but I am an Old Spice guy and Old Spice guys don't make fun of women in despair, no matter how much they deserve it.

Caleb and I spent the afternoon trying to get his television and Xbox ready for the trip. We ventured to Wal-Mart to get the less than twenty dollar device (according to Caleb) that would make it all possible. At Wal-Mart the less than twenty dollar device cost over fifty dollars. The lady at the automobile counter asked if I needed an inverter. I said that I did not know what an inverter was but that I needed a thing that would make the television and Xbox work in the car therefore possibly assuring that Caleb and Isaiah would not drive their sisters crazy the next two days and twenty hours of driving. She told me that her inverter could operate her four thousand dollar computer while she was sitting in her Kenworth. I don’t have a four thousand dollar computer, and I am not sure what a Kenworth is, but I did know the value of keeping my daughters’ brothers busy on a long trip. She told me to keep the receipt. I did.

Caleb and I attempted to get everything hooked up in the van. We discovered that only one of the three outlets in the van work. This presented an obvious problem as I knew we would need the Garmin, even if the maps are outdated, in addition to the television and Xbox. It didn’t matter because the Wal-Mart inverter didn’t seem to work. We went to Radio Shack where the sixth graders behind the counter were very quick to help. They even came out to the car to see if their inverter would work and it did. High fives were given all around. It was a slow day at “the Shack”. Their inverter was a 350 Watt while the Wal-Mart inverter was a 400 Watt. The Shack inverter was sixty dollars. I guess the difference had to do with Kenworths and expensive computers. I asked the boys at the shack if I should buy a splitter that would create a double outlet opportunity in the van. They said I could but it might blow the van up. I quickly envisioned the family sitting next a blown up van on the side of a Florida road and decided that we would just stick with the one plug. The boys at the Shack suggested that we just plug in the television and Xbox when we are on long strips of road where the Garmin is not necessary….or when we hit a new stretch of road that is probably not on the un-updated Garmin.

During the day I got many emails and texts from people telling me what a great job Renee did preaching this morning at Grace Fellowship in my absence. Last Sunday I introduced Renee, Mitch, Darrell, and Ryan, our four preachers for my break. I told the people that if these four communicated even half of what they had planned everyone would be blessed, if they communicated seventy-five percent the people in the church would call and suggest that I take another couple of weeks off, and if they managed to do one hundred percent I would probably find a packed moving van in my driveway when I returned. After receiving many more messages telling me what a great job Renee did I began to think that I possibly should have enlisted a Jehovah Witness to preach in my absence. I know that our people could probably forgive the obvious theological problems with the message but would not be so willing to overlook the fact that the Methodist beat them to Applebees.

Tonight Caleb helped me pack up the van so that it will be ready in the morning for an early start. We packed and unpacked several times until we got it all in. The door closed but the lights would not go off. I repacked again, and again the lights would not go off. We decided that something was wrong with the lights and I just turned the switch to “off”. I assume that there are Toyota garages in Florida. By this time my shirt was once again dripping with sweat..the Anthony men are heavy sweaters, we were designed to work in an air conditioned place like a museum or a smoothie shop.

Since all my non-gross, non-sweaty, shirts are packed in the van I am wearing a shirt loaned to me by my mother-in-law. On the back of the shirt it says, “Our Hoes are Complimentary.” I don’t even want to know.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Four Shirts (Vacation Day One)

2010-06-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

It took four different shirts but we finally hit the road for the first official day of vacation. Day one had tough start but I should have seen it coming. Yesterday went entirely too easy, it may have been my most productive day ever. I was able to get everything done at church in preparation for my four Sunday absence. I got the bulletins for all four Sundays prepared and printed, the computer ready for the video for each of the four Sundays, and was able to get instructions emailed to all my preachers, praise leaders, building prep teams, and our sound and video techs (all of these make up a wonderful group without whom a vacation would be impossible). When I finally got home I found out that Caleb and Grace had managed to mow the lawn so I could mark that off my list….except for the side yard which is when the lawnmower had decided to go on strike (it made this same decision the last time I mowed the lawn, so this area of the lawn was now teetering on having a City of Norman “Mow” sign posted for all the world to see). We even managed to make it to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner which was supposed to include Aunt Anita, Uncle John and Cousin Brian from Texas but they had gotten stuck in traffic and were now just passing through Ardmore. We had to get to Lily’s tournament softball game so we ate alone.

Anyhow, about the shirts, I started off the day ready to tackle the side lawn hoping that the Lawnmower union had straightened out the details so our mower would be back on the job. I changed shoes and my shirt, ready to get messy. The mower started up masterfully. I managed to get two passes mowed when the mower got word of a union slowdown strike. The lawnmower quit. I began to do everything I know to do to get it working again; everything I know is actually very little. Don, who fixes our lawnmower, attempted to educate me last time I had to get lawnmower maintenance work done. He asked if I had cleaned the filter, I didn’t know there was a filter. He asked if I used pure gas, I didn’t know that there was impure gas. He smiled a very patient smile and told me he would fix the mower which he did. Today I decided that I needed to clean out the wet grass from under the mower, this is why I had to make the next shirt change. The mower did not choose to restart so I decided to head over and borrow Papa’s mower. I had wiped my wet grass hands on my shirt which made the shirt inappropriate for Grandma’s house.

When I got to their house I found out that everyone was getting ready to head out to a golf tournament. They said that I had been told but I didn’t remember. I also had not been asked to participate in the tournament which is ok because I don’t have the right shirt for golf tournaments. Mom said that Anita was really nauseous and probably shouldn’t be playing but she was going to play anyway. I wondered to myself, “What good is going through chemo if you can’t use it as an excuse to get out of playing golf.” The night before Anita had tried to get Caleb to carry her chair by saying “I am in chemo” but he had just replied with “Oh”. She said “what good is chemo if it can’t get out of carrying a chair.” He said, “Oh.” I am sure that if I were taking chemo, and believe me I don’t think I would make it past the first day; I would use it as an excuse to get out of playing golf. I have never enjoyed golf. You have to have a lot of patience to play golf. I play once a year in a church golf tournament and am tired of it by the end of the second hole, I don’t have a lot of patience. This year I got involved in a league, I have forfeited all but one week so far. When I was in my late twenties I decided that I needed to get serious about golf since most pastors I knew played golf on their day off each week. I went to a driving range and bought a bucket of balls to practice hitting for my next day off when I would join the other pastors for golf and deep theological discussion. After hitting less than ten balls I looked at the basket and panicked when I realized how many balls were still waiting to be hit. A month later there was a drive by shooting at that golf range, I was jealous that they got a no-fail excuse to quit before they finished their entire bucket. I decided that I was going to have to find some other pastors that did something else with their day off…..instead I got married and now just do what I am told to do on my day off, and all other days. I got the mower and headed home, in my clean shirt.

Once I got the mowing finished I had messed up the second shirt and headed inside to shower and put on yet another shirt.

During all of this Andrea was attempting to get all the packing done. She went in to check on Isaiah who had packed his own suitcase which she found consisted of a swimsuit, one sock and his Bible. He couldn’t believe that we will not be in church for four Sundays. Tonight, I asked him if he wanted to go to church in Tulsa, he said no, he had decided to just read from his Bible instead. Caleb quickly chimed in that he was going to read with Isaiah and that he needed a “break”….from church. Nothing warms a pastor’s heart than to hear his son say “I need a break from church.” Although she applauded his Bible decision, Andrea enlisted Hannah to help Isaiah find a few more items of clothing to get him through the next three weeks.

After the shower, and shirt number three, I threw my clothes into my suitcase and began to load up the car. I realized that we had a far greater number of suitcases than we have people. As I accounted for many of these extras I discovered that Caleb was holding a television in his lap and that four of the suitcases were his. He had devised a plan that involves a television, an Xbox, and the ability to persevere the upcoming long days of driving (which must be brutal, sitting in the air conditioned backseat with a video playing and the constant opportunity to nap). As I made my disgusted face at the ever intruding video games into my life, Isaiah came to the now, fully packed (actually over packed, with some items still on the garage floor) van, with his very large boogie board to take to the beach. The girls then noted that my shirt was drenched in sweat and much too gross to be seen in public. They ordered me (yes, they “ordered” me, I will not even begin to discuss your “whipped” thoughts and comments because they are all true) to go in and change shirts. I began to wonder why, when I am melting in Oklahoma, I am going to Florida. I go into the house to change shirts as ordered.

We hit the road, the gas tank was on empty, but my shirt was clean and without any sweat spots. Our tank is empty and the Garmin is saying we need to update the maps but we are almost on the road. We swing by Papa’s house to leave him a Father’s Day card, we gas up the van, and we hit the road, even though we will undoubtedly go down many wrong and possibly non-existent roads. I have on a clean shirt and I am on the road. I stop in Moore for a coke, yes it violates my three week old “no cokes” attempt but I am on shirt number four; if that does not deserve a coke, nothing does.

We are now in Tulsa spending a couple of nights with Grammy and Papa before hitting the road for Florida. Fox news said that tarballs have hit Panama City. I quickly went to my computer to find out how close Santa Rosa is to Panama City, it is too close. I then went to the Walton Beach website and where I learned that there have been some tarballs but that the beaches are still open. Fox news also said that President Obama has played golf twelve times since the gulf leak began and that former President Bush had quit playing golf after the war had begun, out of respect to the families of the soldiers. I wonder why Obama is playing golf, surely being President would be a good excuse to get you out of playing golf. I think that Bush just realized the opportunity and took advantage of the option to not play golf. We don’t have Fox news at home and so I had forgotten how evil everyone but the Tea Party people are. Papa shared that they are paying the people $300 a day to clean up. Caleb asked if he can work while we are there. I reminded him that he won’t be able to play video games or make inappropriate sand sculptures if he is cleaning the beach. “Plus,” I tell him, “You will have to go to a training session which is a lot like sitting in church and listening to a sermon (preached by your father).” He decided not to get a job on the beach during our vacation. I begin to wonder if the Two billion set aside by BP for disaster relief will cover the cost of our condo if we cannot use the beach. Fox news then tells us that the president of BP may have been yachting today, or at least it was someone that looked like him and wore sunglasses and a life jacket. I am pretty sure that the president of BP wears sunglasses and a life jacket. I joined the entire nation, or at least half of it, in outrage at the possible yacht riding, oil dumping, vacation ruining, BP president.

Tonight the girls decided they want to go to Grammy and Papa’s church in the morning. They have a casual service that is mainly targeted at youth. It is also the only service where our wardrobe options are acceptable since we did not pack for church. Grace realizes that this means dad, me, will be sitting with her in this worship service full of young people. She gently attempts to let me know that I may be uncomfortable, I don’t catch on. She decides not to go. It looks like only Hannah and I will be attending, she has already given me instructions on my wardrobe, behavior, shirts, and sweating. Caleb won’t be going because he needs a break, Isaiah will be reading his Bible instead, Grace is too embarrassed of dad (on Father’s Day) and not ashamed to admit it, and Lily sees no point in making up a reason. I am not sure what Andrea’s excuse is.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Summer Nights

2010-05-14T03:22:00.000-07:00

Summer Nights

Summer lovin' had me a blast
Summer lovin', happened so fast
I met a girl crazy for me
I met a boy, cute as can be

Summer days driftin' away,
To uh-oh those summer nights
Tell me more, tell me more,
Did you get very far?
Tell me more, tell me more,
Like, does he have a car?

She swam by me, she got a cramp
He went by me, got my suit damp
I saved her life, she nearly drowned
He showed off, splashing around
Summer sun, something's begun,
But uh-oh those summer nights

Tell me more, tell me more,
Was it love at first sight?
Tell me more, tell me more,
Did she put up a fight?
Took her bowlin' in the Arcade
We went strollin', drank lemonade
We made out under the dock
we stayed up until ten o'clock

Summer fling don't mean a thing,
But uh-oh those summer nights
Tell me more, tell me more,
But you don't gotta brag
Tell me more, tell me more,
Cause he sounds like a drag

He got friendly, holdin' my hand
Well she got friendly, down in the sand
He was sweet, just turned eighteen
Well she was good, you know what I mean

Summer heat, boy and girl meet,
But uh-oh those summer nights
Tell me more, tell me more,
How much dough did he spend?
Tell me more, tell me more,
Could she get me a friend?

It turned colder, that's where it ends
So I told her we'd still be friends
Then we made our true love vow
Wonder what she's doin' now

Summer dreams ripped at the seams,
But oh, those summer nights

I remember when the movie Grease came out at the end of my senior year in high school. I remember seeing the movie with my friends and then enjoying the songs that made it on the top forty from the movie. I don’t remember having any hesitation about the music.

That all changed last night.

Last night was Hannah’s middle school spring concert. One of the selections the seventh grade choir sang was “Summer Nights”. Suddenly, certain phrases such as “Did you get very far?” and “Did she put up a fight?” sang by my seventh grade daughter and her peers, were not so lyrical.

While I am still laughing, I am hoping that Meatloaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” does not turn up on the program for next year.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

God Told Me To...

2010-04-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

“Why do people always say, ‘God told me to’ when they decide to do something,” Hannah asked me on our way home from track workout today.

We had been discussing a pastor’s family we know who has a parent living in another state due to a new job while the rest of the family remains here to sell their house. She asked me if we would ever do something like that and I had responded “If your mom and I really felt like that was what God was leading us to do that we probably would.”

“But dad,” she continued, “When someone says that, doesn’t it usually just mean they want to do something else? Isn’t that just an excuse so they can do something different?”

I had to agree with her.

“That is why your mom and I seldom say ‘God told us” about anything,” I said.

“I’m glad you don’t, because almost every time I have heard someone say that, it wasn’t true. They were just saying that to make it seem ok that they were quitting or leaving.”

Again, I had to agree with her, it is usually an excuse.

We discussed how God can give this type of leadership but that the truth is that it is usually an excuse used to justify an action or decision.

“Why don’t people just say they ‘want to do it’” she continued her questioning, “instead of using God that way? If they want to quit something or change something why don’t they just say so?”

And again, I had to agree.

Clean Feet

2010-03-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

This afternoon our oldest son, Caleb, spent the afternoon with his siblings playing football in the backyard of his grandparents. Somehow his feet, not his shoes or his socks but his feet, got extremely dirty. Since he takes his showers in the mornings Andrea told him that he needed to wash his feet before bed. Later, as Andrea and I were getting in to bed She asked if Caleb had washed his feet and an afterthought hit.......

This morning my Palm Sunday message focused on the people laying down of palm leaves as Jesus enter the city. This was something they did for royalty, something they would do for a King. Something they would do for someone that was above it all, and especially above them. They wanted a Messiah who did not get His feet dirty. It was the same as the Israelites wanting a King instead of God in the time of Samuel. It is a lot easier to have a King than a relationship with God. A King tells you what to do and you obey. A God who has dirty feet is going to want to relate which will expose your dirty feet to Him. We want to stay unexposed, we don't want our King, or our God, to know about our dirty feet.

When God gave His Son to be human, to get His feet dirty, He moved from a throne in a palace to the same dirt where we live. The people were not ready for a God who understood and knew of the dirt where we live. The people were not prepared for a God who got His feet ready. The people were not ready for Jesus.

So, on that day they threw Palm Leaves on the road and they threw their cloaks in front of Him so that His feet, or even the feet of the colt on which He rode, would not touch the ground. They did not want His feet dirty. If His feet were to be dirty then surely He would realize that their feet were also dirty and stained.

Christ came and experienced the full human experience. He experienced heartache, He experienced temptation, He experienced it all, He got His feet dirty. He did this all without ever choosing to live in the dirt, He did not let it change His heart. He got His feet dirty, He lived in the dirt, but somehow He managed to not get dirty.

The people could not handle this so they tried to force Jesus to be above the dirt. A few days later, days when He was suddenly suffering in the dirt they gave up on Him. They quit yelling "Hosanna" and instead began to yell "Crucify Him." They moved on to find a better Savior, someone who did not get their feet dirty.

One interesting thing did take place between the Palms and the Cross.....more feet. He gathered His disciples together. At this final gathering, prior to the cross, Christ knelt down and washed off their feet. He washed the dirt from their feet! This was what He was all about, this is why He got His feet dirty, this is why He was the only one who remained undirty even though He had walked in the dirt. He was all about washing the dirt of this world off all of us who would let Him take hold of our feet.

Preaching Refinement

2010-03-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about preaching used to be my wife's affirming comments each Sunday afternoon. She would tell me how much she got from the message and then wait until Thursday to give me "helpful" comments on how to preach better the following Sunday.

Those were the days, the days before I had a house full of teenagers. Now I don't look so forward to a time of affirmation as I do to the moment I have officially survived my Sunday roast.

Following the message today, in the car on the way home from church, I discovered that I:

1. Spend entirely too much time on point one....apparently I do this every week as confirmed by my dear teens and lovely wife.
2. Need to take a breath more often as I speed up midway through the message.
3. Begin to talk in a higher pitch of voice as I speed up midway through the message.
4. Lift my arms too much and too high as I speed up and begin to talk like a little girl (their words).
5. Pray too long as I am finished waving my arms, talking too fast and like a little girl, and preaching the message (this is a common roasting complaint in addition to the too frequent use of my hands and words as I pray "Dad, God does not need you to explain everything, He is God, He already knows!").

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Happy Birthday!

2010-03-21T17:31:00.001-07:00

Although I am a week late (exactly one week late), Happy Birthday to my wonderful daughter Grace....while I am on the topic Happy Birthday (exactly on time) to another wonderful daughter Hannah. Happy Birthday girls! Three teenager...including two teenage daughter under one roof...joy!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

A Healthy Marriage Relationship

2010-03-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we looked at the life of Hannah. We saw how she was unable to have a child and therefore had become the object of scorn and ridicule from her husband's other wife Peninnah. We did not, however, have time to look at a totally unique aspect of the story, the aspect of her relationship with her husband Elkanah. Elkanah held a special affection for Hannah, which may have added to the hostility directed at her from his other wife Peninnah.

Laying aside all the cultural aspects that we have little ability to understand, what really stands out about this relationship is the aspect of equality. An equality that is built upon a foundation of mutual respect. It is an aspect that does not so blatantly appear in other Biblical relationship accounts nor does it appear in the majority of relationship teaching we find today.

Hannah asks God for a child and promises to give the child to God. When Hannah is blessed with a child she sticks with her promise to give the child back to God. What makes this story amazing is that husband Elkanah does not argue or protest this action. He tells Hannah to "do what seems best to you," (I Samuel 1:23). It is obvious that he trusts her and considers her worthy and capable of making family decisions alongside of him.

It is a relationship of trust and respect. It is probably one of the few healthy marriage relationships seen in scripture. It is a marriage relationship that the Christian "experts" would probably do good to spend a little bit of time considering.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Sucky Day

2010-03-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights ago my fifteen year old asked me what was my "suckiest" day ever. It did not take me long to remember a series of days that took place thirteen years ago this month. While it is easy to recount the events and the feelings of those days, what really shocks me is to see the work that God has done in the years since. A work that I would not trade for anything. A work that I do not think would have been possible had it not been for those miserable days.

While I would rather not face any more sucky days, I am thankful for God's work in the midst of those days past. I am thankful for the blessings that came out of those sucky days.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Feel Good Christianity

2010-03-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

Sociologist Steve Bruce has observed that Western spirituality is "Buddhist by Default": that Westerners, even Christians, are obsessed with what goes on inside, with spiritual experience. We don't usually welcome any external testing of our thoughts or actions. Subjectivity takes the ethical and doctrinal teeth out every religion. Doctine can help us think.

Bruce does not mean that we are actually Buddhists. We don't practice its asceticism. Instead we prefer a pallid, easy Buddhism, a series of fee good statements supposedly culled from the Buddha. Our culture does this with all religions, Bruce says. It boils them down to one basic principle: Do what makes you feel good about yourself, and preferably in 10 minutes or less. As religious consumers, we warp every tradition by subjecting it to our needs. The Christian West's consumer needs, he notes, have by and large led us to abandon traditional Christianity, and the Eastern spirituality we adopt is actually the vapid form of Christianity created by modernity. This is a Christianity of self-experience.

In this sense, Western Christians are children of Friedrich Schleiermacher, the 19th-century Enlightenment thinker who built his theological system on the foundation of spiritual experience. In many cases, we find his influence unwittingly embedded in our church leadership, our seminaries, and our theological faculties. A theology grounded in experience ultimately fades into soft moral ism, humanism, or, in the unique case of American Christianity, a civic religion wherein God and country are easily confused.

The Mind Under Grace, Why Theology is an Essential Nutrient for Spiritual Growth, by Darren C. Marks, Christianity Today, March 2010, page 24

Eden Thinking

2010-03-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

Today I was shocked as I opened up our local newspaper to see another arrest of a man who had been extremely inappropriate with young boys. Sadly, this type of situation in itself is not shocking, we see it happening far too often. What was shocking is that this was the second instance of this same situation that has occurred in that last 9 months involving someone I am acquainted with.

The first instance, a man named Pete Newman, had been a director at Kanakuk Kamps, a Christian Athletics Camp our children have frequently attended. I knew him because Caleb and I attended a Father/Son Retreat which he led in Colorado in the fall of 2007. I was very impressed with Pete and his ability to communicate. My son Caleb had been very impressed, or I should say surprised and dismayed, at how the fathers and sons at the retreat clamoured for Pete's attention. After learning of what Pete had been doing behind the scenes I wondered (which I have written about previously) why so many parents had been willing to hand their sons over to this man. I came to the conclusion that these parents were victims of Garden of Eden thinking. They wanted desperately to find a perfect and flawless person/situation in which they could entrust their children with. Their hope was to find this perfect person/situation which would then give them a hope of perfection for their child. The problem is that we do not find our hope in a person or a situation, but only in Christ. It is impossible to find perfection anywhere else. We will not, and cannot, find a perfect Garden of Eden person or situation here on earth. When we live our lives without this realization we far too easily let our guard down and give up our choice, just like Adam and Eve did in the Garden.

Even in the Garden our guard must be up. Even in the Garden we are still responsible for our choices. Even in the Garden there is a serpent slithering around.

This most recent revelation provided another aspect of the Garden of Eden problem. The man from today's allegations was a leader at a former church where I served on ministerial staff. His wife went to college with my wife. They live around the corner from us. He apparently had issues which could not be dealt with or honestly addressed in his life because of Garden of Eden thinking. Not only do parents fall in the Garden of Eden trap, hoping to take care of their children, but churches end up in the same predicament. Churches, in general, have an inability to live in a non-black or white world; a non-Garden world. Our Garden worlds are shaped by the scriptures we see that address issues directly such as homosexuality and even indirectly such as abortion and drug use. When the church is actually then hit with these issues we retreat into our Garden of Eden world where there is no room for gray. We think we can instantly and miraculously eliminate these problems instead of dealing with them in an honest and open manner. The only solution we know is to deny the work of the serpent; the choices being offered by the serpent. We refuse to accept that fact that we are in a world with a serpent that offers many choices of forbidden fruit. Instead of helping each other in our encounters with these choices we choose to crucify those who have been approached by the serpent. The result is that those facing tough choices and tough encounters do not feel the freedom to ask for help. The outcome is that they let the serpent dictate the choices that are made.

When we live and minister in this manner, those who are facing the serpent are unable or hesitant to call out for help.

The thing that makes this even more tragic is that research has proven that most men, like these two I have mentioned, are repeating an abuse that they them self suffered. They suffered because someone was not able to be open and get help, now they have perpetuated this abuse.

Yes, it was their choice, and yes, there is no excuse...but what if their choice could have been different. What if their faith community could have been more a well of help rather than a place to deny and hide.

The crazy thing is that Jesus seem to have no problem living in a grey world...a non-Garden world. He was able to live in a reality which was very non-Garden like, very grey. He lived on earth in physical form without hatefulness, without arrogance, without rejecting others, and without personal compromise. He loved, He reached out to the hurting, He reached out to those who were victims of the serpent, and He accepted all who came to Him. He was able to live a black and white life, a life of truth, in a very grey world without sequestering or isolating Himself for fear of getting dirty.

I think this was only possible because He had an honest, non-Garden, understanding and approach to this world. I think this happened because He was not an Eden thinker.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Tragic Focus

2010-02-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

Today I preached from a passage I hope to never have to visit again, at least not again in front of my, or any, congregation. We were finishing up Judges 19-21 and hit the perverted and immoral actions of the men of Gibeah. It was a story not just about the horrific actions of the men, but of an entire society that permitted itself to forget that they were living under the promise even though they were living in the Land of Promise. The people had lost their focus and had forgotten God.

The people were doing whatever was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6).

One thing that continues to stand out, and continues to trouble me, about this story is that we are not talking about the foreigners. This was Israelites, supposed followers of God, doing this to other Israelites, supposed followers of God. They had so lost their focus, for so long, that they could not even do what was right. This is, of course, nothing new, we see it addressed even in the New Testament; Romans 8 just to note on instance. The truth is that the disturbing thing about this story is that it was not only relevant in the New Testament but that it is also relevant now. I am not just speaking to the immorality of the story but in regard to the response of the Benjamites who refused to turn over the guilty men. The other tribes demanded justice for the actions of the men who were from the tribe of Benjamin but the Benjamites refused to hand them over. The Benjamites were more loyal to their tribe than to the Israelites and the God of the Israelites.

This confusion of allegiance, this confusion of focus, led the other tribes to take actions they soon regretted. They acted out of their emotions and lost their focus in an equal manner. In the end, everyone in the story took actions that were not in line with the leadership of God. In the end they all suffered the consequences and lived in regret.

I have not been able to let go of the present day pertinence to this story. Today we have lost our focus. Our allegiance to political agendas and country, our allegiance to people, our allegiance even to our churches has happened due to our failure to keep our focus on God. Our churches are divided politically, our aim has become changing the behavior of the world instead of the heart of the world, our efforts have become about self.

We have lost focus. We have lost our true source our hope.

Porcelain God

2010-02-14T21:53:00.000-08:00

I have probably been guilty throughout my life of having a porcelain God. A God who is always presentable, always pleasant, always encouraging, always upbeat, always positive, always emotionally in control, always.....well, always God. He is the type of God who would be best suited sitting in the Precious Moments Chapel located in Missouri near Branson. A God who was perfect, not only universally and eternally perfect but perfect in my mind and in mind of others (or at least what I assumed was the mind of others).

Having a Porcelain God causes you to often have to clean Him up. I have been having quite a time keeping God clean as I have been leading our church on a chronological journey through the Bible. God, beginning in Genesis has had some problems keeping His shine. First there was the fact that He seemed to let Cain off the hook for murdering his brother and then He wipes everyone out except for Noah and his family. Next, He gives Abraham a pass after he gives away his wife to protect own skin yet later we see over five thousand killed when they honestly answer that they do not choose to follow God. Don't even get me started on all the killing of the natives in the Promise Land!

I have finally had to let my God get a little dirty. I have had to let my God have some of the same reactions and frustrations that I experience. I have had to realize that the fact that I am made in the image of God does not mean that He does not have those same qualities that I sometimes have a difficult time dealing with. I have also had to realize that some of my sanitization of my porcelain God is unnatural, unrealistic, and in the end harmful to my image of God and my understanding of the nature of God.

This morning I continued to lead us through the book of Judges. Judges is a tough book, it is tough to grasp and even tougher to stomach. It is a tough book to keep God clean. The full comprehension and understanding of the reality of the choices made by the Israelites has been a challenge. It has also proved to be one of the greatest moments of enlightenment I have ever experienced.

We looked at Judges 10 in which we see the story of God's anger and frustration with the Israelites and their sinful choices. Yes, we see God angry and frustrated, both are traits that a Porcelain God would never have. God finally says that He is through with the Israelites and that He will help them no more (Judges 10:6-15). Back when I used to clean God up before presentation, I would have had to excuse God's anger and frustration but not today. Today I rolled out the angry and frustrated God for all to see. I did this because I really do think He was both of those things. I also think that God was fully serious in His intentions to be finished with the hopeless Israelites.

Amazingly, being honest about this not-so-clean God helped me, and hopefully the church, to better understand God, the real God!

God was through with the people, He was serious. This was not like I do sometimes with my kids, making threats without any real intention of carry through. No, God was really through with them; they were done.

That is when we see the reality of God. That is where we see a God who is not made of porcelain but of materials that last and endure. Materials that are not going to break when accidentally pushed off the shelf. Materials that you can stick in your pocket and take Him wherever you go without fear of breaking God.

In the second half of Judges 10:16 we see the most amazing thing:
"God could no longer bear to see the Israel suffer."

Amazing, God in His less than porcelain anger and frustration said He was done and He meant it. He made up His mind and they were not going to have another chance. but then something happened...the people began to turn back to God. They had no assurance that God would receive them, in fact He had just said that He would not. They returned back to God because they finally realized that nothing else worked. The gods of the land did nothing for them, the lifestyle of the people was not satisfying or fulfilling, nothing was right. Only God. They turned back to God because it was right; they turned and faced God.

And God's irrepressible mercy could not be held down any longer. God had said He would show them no more mercy, but even He could not keep it down. He is a merciful God and the moment they turned back to Him the mercy began to bubble up. He could stand it no longer!

I don't think that this would be near as amazing with a porcelain God.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Stir Crazy

2010-02-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today is our sixth straight day of the kids not being in school.

Not much else to say.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Happy Birthday

2010-01-16T18:55:00.000-08:00

Thursday was Andrea's 39th birthday. When she said that she was old the kids quickly told her that she was not old, "Dad is OLD!" Gotta' love those kids! Once again we had a wonderful time at dinner sharing our thankful thoughts about Andrea. Love you Andrea!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

TMI

2010-01-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

Spent the day wondering why so many women updated their facebook pages with colors. Later discovered that they were all giving the color of their bra. Now wishing that I did not have so many of the women from church as facebook friends. TMI for their Pastor.

Spirituality of Corporal Punishment

2010-01-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

I listened to a debate regarding the Death Penalty earlier this week. I got in on the conversation in the middle of the opposition viewpoint. The lady was very articulate and presented her opinions and statistics in a very compelling manner. Her backup evidence was based on research and evaluation. Then the moderator came to the podium to introduce the speaker who was speaking "for" the use of the death penalty. I was very surprised when the Senior Pastor of Grace Church in Tulsa was named as the expert. I immediately thought through my surprise and made the decision he was just as acceptable as anyone else. When he began to speak I changed my mind. While he was very articulate as well, I was bewildered that his primary source was the Bible. Yes, I personally use the Bible as a primary source but am not so sure that it is a persuasive tool for those who do not accept its authority nor are influenced by the working of the Holy Spirit.

All I could think of was Jim and Tammy Baker trying to convince the world of their innocence by quoting scripture on Nightline.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Lessons Along the Way

2009-12-21T09:46:00.000-08:00

Last night my two oldest daughters sat me down to have a talk with me. They explained that my sermons are going ok but that my prayers have gotten way out of hand. I asked for examples and they were quick to provide illustration. First they mentioned my Offering prayer from yesterday. I attempted to explain that I had prolonged that prayer as I had felt led by God to spend some time praying for our folks that are facing illness and family problems. They marginally accepted this explanation but countered with their feelings that God just needed the facts and did not need me to explain everything to Him. Then they addressed the prayer I did at the close of my message. I, again, offered an explanation that I was needing to make sure that the praise team was in place and ready to begin the praise. They developed a plan where I glance up at Hannah and she would give me a signal when I could say “Amen”. Next they moved on to my new and improved, or so I thought, hand motions (they have actually unintentionally come out of nowhere). Evidently, these too have gotten way out of hand. I could only promise to try to calm these down. We closed this time of lessons with me a bit more enlightened but they walked away highly doubtful that there would be any marked improvement. Lesson learned.

This morning I jokingly told Isaiah that we have decided to cancel the gift giving portion of Christmas this year. He then proceeded to explain to me that if we do not give gifts then we do not love Jesus. He continued my lesson by attempting to help me understand that we are to mimic the Wiseman in giving three gifts. I then questioned how them giving Jesus gifts is the same as us giving each other, particularly Isaiah Anthony, gifts. He continued my lesson by educating me on the “fact” that we are all “Jesus”. I took particular theological disagreement with this statement and he finally gave in that this was possibly a bit Universalistic but refused to give in on the Biblical mandate for gifts, mainly for gifts to him. Lesson learned…or at least accepted.

This morning Andrea began her intersession class at OU. In the middle of the class she found out that her spring class has been cancelled which means that she will not be teaching a class. Due to budget cuts, the Dean is cutting all classes that are under a certain enrollment. Her class is an upper level discussion type of class which cannot be too large so it is an automatic cut. This class had already been moved to nighttime in a building which would be largely dark and vacant so I had not been all that comfortable with it anyway. Must admit that I am a bit uncomfortable with the loss in income but also know that God can and does provide. Lesson being learned.

Finally, last Friday was Andrea' and my sixteenth anniversary. I must say that my last sixteen years have been one long AP course in life! A wonderful extended lesson that I would not trade. I figure I have a mid C so far but keep requesting extra credit. Lesson continually being learned!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Happy Birthday

2009-12-16T20:13:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to our oldest son Caleb. It is tough to believe that he has hit the big 15! While it has been a wonderful 15 years I am finding myself looking to the future with a bit of fear and trepidation. In 6 months, a countdown he has already begun, Caleb will be entering the world of driving. This means that Andrea and I will enter the world of paying for learner's insurance. I have not even yet begun to consider the sitting in the passenger's seat!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Waking Up

2009-12-10T10:05:00.001-08:00

Andrea volunteered to take Hannah to her 6:30am Basketball practice since I had taken her all week, that was very sweet as it allowed me to stay in bed a few more minutes. I didn’t realize that it actually was because yesterday I had committed to take Lily to her 9:30am doctor appointment for a booster shot. Andrea taking Hannah to practice was meant to permit me the opportunity to get in the shower before getting Isaiah in the shower at 6:40am . Isaiah had to get to the Manyawi before school Christmas party (or I probably should say “Holiday Party” since it is a multi-cultural music program). I didn’t get in the shower. When Isaiah did get out of his shower he informed me that he had a stomach and headache. Being a compassionate parent, I asked him to call me from school if he were to throw up and, if he were to throw up, could he please do it in a trashcan or toilet so school custodian Gordon would not have to clean it up. In the meantime I got Lily and Caleb up and in the showers and began the process of awakening Grace. Next, Andrea was able to get in a vacant shower as I began transporting everyone to school, in separate trips (we are not telling the Global Summit in Copenhagen about our less than green School Taxi service) . When I got back home from the Caleb dropoff, the final morning school drop off, Lily asked who was taking her to the doctor. Andrea, who was getting ready in the bathroom said “Your Father” just as I said “Your mother”. I reminded Andrea that I couldn’t take her because I had to get in the shower since I had to meet with the High School Principal at 10:30am to discuss one of Caleb’s Teacher’s revolutionary new teaching methods which don’t seem to be revolutionizing our son’s academic career. The High School appointment was to be followed by the Eye Surgeon appointment which was to determine if I can have an approaching surgery before my patient portion increases to 20% from 10% at the end of the year. After that I was scheduled to volunteer at our gradeschool as a WatchDog and then hopefully hit the office for a little bit of, heaven forbid, work. My excuses were trumped by Andrea’s revelation that I had evidently agreed yesterday to take Lily to get her shot at the doctor which would surely need to be followed by the apologetic “I’m sorry you had to get a shot” sugar treat. Andrea, being her usual sweet selfless self, quickly finished getting ready and took Lily while I got in the shower.

Getting ready in the morning does not take me much time anymore since I have adopted my new carefree approach to grooming. I get out of the shower and do not comb my hair, I just let it fall where It will. My hair had this cool frontal 80s flip thing going on yesterday which caused wife and at least one daughter to inform me that I do need to put a little more effort into my appearance. I am still debating my response. I do have a new pair of socks, given to me by my mother-in-law, that are so comfortable that I am seeing how long I can wear them without having to take them off…currently on day five and no one has been visibly wincing when around me.

I have not written in a while as life has been its usual busy daily routine. We did finally get to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree last Sunday afternoon. This year there were no Anthony children staging an Anti-Real Christmas tree rebellion in the parking lot although trauma still broke out as each child had a different “perfect” tree for our home. Many of the choices were easily eliminated as we reminded the kids that we do not have a twenty foot ceiling. We also determined that if the price ribbon was too high up to read that it was probably too high up to afford. Decorating the tree provided more drama as the correct way to string lights could not be agreed upon, war almost broke out. Ornaments are still sitting on the Dining Room table awaiting hanging. Thankfully the speaking Harry Potter ornament is hanging on the tree…..the true sign of the Christmas Season.

Yesterday provided more adventure as I picked up Caleb and Grace to take them to tennis practice. Grace asked the definition of oral sex (she is currently in 8th grade sex education). Caleb quickly capitalized on this opportunity to be an obnoxious and loud teenager. Grace became gross out by my explanation and my refusal to take a personal stance on the practice. This was followed by my lecture of how “it is ok to ask about sex but we must always be respectful about sex” which usually follows any discussion of sex at the Anthony household.

This week has also provided an attempt to get Christmas gifts purchased. Gift buying came to a halt this morning when I discovered that we had a sum total of 47 cents in our combined bank accounts with much more than 47 cents ready to be withdrawn from our combined bank accounts. The color red in the “transactions” section of our on-line banking does not provide the holiday feelings that red and green are intended to provide. At least we were able to finally able to locate the exact UGG boots that Hannah has requested which turned out to almost equal the monthly mortgage payment on my first home. They are about as costly as the Lego Building Kit that has been requested by Isaiah which will probably take him a couple of hours to complete…..at least that will keep him busy on Christmas day. Wondering if the gifts of the wise men would have covered the expense of our kids gifts now days….wondering if they had a clear enough understanding of Christmas that made it not an issue.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Animoto.com

2009-12-02T16:16:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas Greetings from the Anthonys.

Preparing to Die/Planning to Live

2009-11-26T21:19:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, the day prior to Thanksgiving Day, I received a phone call. The call was to inform me of a successful surgery performed on a dear friend of mine, our family, and our church family. We had the privilege of meeting Mrs. Barton about ten years ago when she brought her grandchildren to our Vacation Bible School. Our VBS was later in the summer than most churches and by that time she had run out of things to entertain her grandchildren. She had such a great time that she continued to bring them to our VBS every summer thereafter even when it conflicted with programming at her church. It didn't take long until we were putting Mrs. Barton to work each summer as if she was a member of our church. In the meantime we became better acquainted as her grandchildren ended up at the same school with our kids and shared many sports teams including most that I coached.

A couple of years ago we all began to notice that Mrs. Barton's health was quickly diminishing. She assured us that the doctors were checking on her and attempting to figure out what was going wrong, but in the meantime she was not going to slow down. A little more than a month ago we found out that the doctors had finally made a diagnosis, Pancreatic Cancer. In usual Mrs. Barton fashion she began to make plans. The doctors wanted to do the surgery right away but she had many things to do, just in case she were to die in the surgery, so she held off the surgery for a month. In that time she finished a quilt, made and passed out pies, and talked with her grandchildren about the possibility of her dying. One day I got a call asking if I would talk with her grandson following her death because she and this fourth grade boy had decided that he would need to talk to a "big" person if he were to lose grandma.

She talked with me about all that she had to do in case she were to die even though she was sure that she was going to live. I told her that I was trying to figure out a way to be there during her surgery but that it was going to be difficult since I would be out of town for Thanksgiving. She scolded me at the thought of my returning during the break and said that she would kick my rear if I were to do such a thing. She actually did not say this but her response was about the same.....and if Mrs. Barton were to threaten to kick my rear I would live in mortal fear that she actually would kick my rear.

This past Sunday, the Sunday before her surgery, she showed up at our church. She is a faithful member of another church in town but that morning she chose to come to Grace Fellowship. She brought her family, some friends, and a handful of her grandson's friends that "needed to be in church". We prayed for her as a congregation which we have been doing for sometime now. It was an honor to have her, and her family and friends, with us on such a significant day.

The call yesterday was from her son letting me know that her surgery had been a textbook success. Everything had gone much better than anticipated and that they had great hope.

As I look at Mrs. Barton's life I really cannot see a big difference in how she has lived the last month and how her life has always been lived out. She has always been preparing to Die while at the same time planning to Live.

What a way to live....and to die!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Garden of Eden People

2009-09-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago news came to Andrea and I that was devastating. A key leader in a youth ministry program out of Missouri that we have always greatly respected and been involved with was charged with inappropriate actions with minors. We had known he had resigned his position last spring but had not known the reason for his exit till we received this news. It really hit both of us hard and it really perplexed me as to why this was having such an effect. This was not my first experience with someone making a horribly bad and sinful choice but for some reason this one seemed to have a greater impact. Andrea and I talked through this attempting to process the news. Being the therapist, I usually depend upon her to help me work through these type of events. She was little help as she was stuck in the same processing quagmire.

I knew that this was probably more painful as I had not seen this one coming. I had great respect for this guy and had been very impressed with his relating and communicating skills. Caleb and I had attended a Father/Son Retreat in Colorado during the month of September 2007 which had been led by this guy. He was good....apparently he used this "good" trait to lure many families and then their sons under the age of fifteen to abusive immorality. What added to this was the fact that he had used the cover of faith to do this. On top of all of this was the realization that the young boys that he abused were the ages of some of my children. It was tough to work through.

As I continued to work on this I also was working on my message for the coming Sunday which was on the story of Noah. Noah had already caused me many practical type questions but as I looked at it in the light of this new present day revelation something hit me. When God made the choice to destroy most of His creation He was not destroying evil. Evil is, and will always be, with us this side of the eternity. Even though God destroyed the humans that were making bad and evil choices, and that had truly turned their backs on God, evil was not destroyed. Evil was invited in the world in the garden and cannot be removed without Christ. Humans cannot remove evil. We see this proven as it was not long until Noah and his family had come out of the ark that evil once again reveals itself. A son of Noah quickly revealed that sin had been on the ark all along.

I was also preparing the message for the next week about this same time where we were looking at the Tower of Babel. The people were making a tower to "make a name for themselves". The people were getting along and were attempting to build a Utopia.....basically they were striving to recreate the Garden of Eden minus God. That is our world, constantly trying to recreate Eden but without God, the problem is that we are out of the Garden, out of Eden. It is essential that we are aware that we live in a world of sin. On top of that it is even more essential to understand that the reason we are out of the Garden is that we had decided that we could live without God.....being put out of the Garden was God's graceful way of showing us our need for Him.

Even Christians are constantly hoping and searching for a recreated Eden. We want to change our world to be and behave as God meant. We spend more time attempting to change the behavior of the world to match what we assume is most similar to the Garden. The reality is that the only hope we ever have is to have changed hearts. It is only through Christ that we will ever experience even a hint of the Garden this side of eternity and this can only happen when hearts are changed. We cannot change the world by simply focusing on the behavior of the world. Sadly, the church has a reputation of focusing on the actions of those outside of the church much more than a focus on changing the hearts of those in the church.

How does this apply to our situation with the young man accused of horrific actions with minors? I think the shock was that we had decided that he, and others like him, are our hope for Garden of Eden People this side of eternity. I am afraid this may be why some parents were much too trusting with their minor children with this man. I think we all do this, attempt to find Garden of Eden People. People who will not let us down or ever make mistakes. We do this we faith leaders, with politicians, with celebrities, even with our friends. We also do this with institutions like churches, schools, governments, and other organizations. Then, when they do reveal their Non-GardenofEdeness (my own created word) then we are devastated and sometime we want to give up on it all or we refuse to accept and deal with it. While, if we were to have a more honest assessment and guarded approach we would not be caught off guard so easily.

We want a Garden where we can let our guard down, we want to be able to not have to be cautious. The truth is that such a place does not exist. Even in the garden Adam and Eve should have had their guard up, they should have been thinking and not let someone else think for them. God had given them the ability to think and choose but they handed someone else that responsibility. Then they attempted to hand someone else the blame.

We cannot afford to do either.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Locked Out

2009-09-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

Recently we had a pastor, in a nearby town, brutally slain on the stage, near the pulpit, of her church. She was stabbed at least five times, her body left naked and possibly in a crucifix position. The killer had also brought some chemicals which were sprayed around the body to remove any DNA evidence of the killer. The killing seems to be very calculated, vicious, and possibly a blatant message.

Our church is out on the edge of town surrounded by cow pastures and wheat fields. Until a year or so ago I had always left the doors locked when I was there alone, recently, however, I had begun to leave the front door unlocked. Following the recent murder my Dad has become increasingly concerned about my safety at the building. He gave me an ultimatum that I would either start locking the doors or he was going to come out and sit whenever I am out there.

I imagine that there are not many, almost fifty year old pastors, who have to be chaperoned by their Dad at the church building. That actually gives me a great sermon title......anyway, I chose to start locking the doors.

Yesterday, as I was out at the building, with the doors locked, I remembered something outside that needed to be addressed. I chose to exit the building out the side of the building instead of the front and as I left the door automatically locked. I then went to the front of the building where I remembered that I had obediently, and wisely, locked the front doors. I then also realized that I had placed my keys next to a notebook so that I would not forget to take the notebook home...the notebook that was on the floor of my office....my office inside the locked building....the building that I was now locked out of. I began to evaluate the situation. Andrea was with consecutive clients for the next four hours, my parents were in transit with the kids to various practices for the next half hour. I realized that I was destined to now sit outside on the steps of the church for at least another hour.

As I sat there I could not help but think of the irony of attempting to lock myself inside the church to be safe but instead ending up locking myself out of the church. I wondered, and still wonder, how often do we protect and isolate ourselves in the church to such an extent that we actually miss out on what the church is all about.

“When we read the Bible but are not able to read the world,

we risk reducing the gospel to either a weapon or a toy."
Bryan Stone, Faith and Film

I wonder if this is because we have locked ourselves in the church and not met the world and therefore have missed out on the purpose and power of the church.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Survival

2009-08-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

We made it through our first day of school. Three schools, four once Andrea starts teaching at OU next week, and six drop offs! Today was an extra challenge as Andrea was on her own since it was my day to serve as the WatchDOG at Monroe. However, we did survive.

What was really a challenge today was starting Caleb in High School. He did great, mom and dad had a much tougher time.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Women

2009-08-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

I mentioned Wade Burleson's message last week in my Friday blog. It was the phenomenal message concerning the discrimination toward women, especially in the SBC. It is now posted and available to watch, you have to get through all the program that preceded him and the video takes a while to load but it is worth it. Wade is the final speaker so it takes a while.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1945235

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Surprise

2009-08-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, daughter Lily turned eleven years old. Tonight she chose to have a party, not with her friends, but for her family. She wanted to take her siblings, plus mommy and daddy, out for a night of fun. She asked us a couple of days ago if we could spend the birthday party money on a family night out instead of a party with friends. She got on the internet and found the place that would be fun and a good deal for daddy's billfold. We found out late that she chose tonight because the place she decided to take us, Andy Alligators, had two for one games on Wednesday nights. She also wanted it to be a surprise for her siblings so we were not allowed to tell them all day, something that about drove them crazy. I had many opportunities to make some extra cash as bribes were offered. Then, tonight as we loaded up the car, she pulled me aside and requested that I take a weird route to get there so they would not be able to figure it all out. They didn't and were very surprised and excited, Lily was thrilled. It was a fun surprise that the birthday girl gave to her family. It was possibly the nicest and most surprising surprise party I have ever attended.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

Today is daughter Lily's birthday. She has been a joy and a delight for her entire eleven years. Happy Birthday Lily!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Progress

2009-08-07T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today I attended the sessions of Midwest Regional Meeting of the New Baptist Covenant again. This afternoon we heard from former President Jimmy Carter in addition to our Governor Brad Henry along with his home pastor. All were very good. President Carter was inspirational to hear. Tonight we heard from Wade Burleson, the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid. I have known Wade for sometime as he is the son of Paul Burleson who was my pastor when I was on staff at Trinity Baptist here in Norman. Wade did a fantastic job, one which is going to get him in more hot water with most of his fellow Southern Baptist. Wade is no stranger to criticism and attacks from Southern Baptists as he has been challenging the status quo for some time. Challenges that have been needed and he is the right person for the job.

Tonight his challenge was the treatment of women, especially in Southern Baptist life. It was everything that I have felt for a long time, only he was able to articulate it in a masterful way. Being at Grace Fellowship I sometimes forget that the backwards thinking towards women still exists. The only person we have ever ordained at Grace Fellowship was a woman. Women are an equal part of our leadership team and until this past weekend half of our pastoral team was female. But, Andrea and I have long been troubled by the attitude toward women in the Southern Baptist Convention. We have heard about the discriminatory attitudes and practices toward women, especially at the SBC seminaries, and been horrified. Having daughters has made me even more sensitive to the subject.

Wade said that he recently did an NPR interview where he told of his thoughts toward the future of women in the SBC. Later, Richard Land, said that Wade was dreaming. Wade said that he had decided that he was indeed dreaming; "I have a dream..." he began. He related the treatment of women in the present to the unaddressed maltreatment of slaves in the early history of our country.

Here is to hoping that dreams do come true!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Updates

2009-08-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Today and tomorrow I am attending the Midwest Regional Meeting of the New Baptist Covenant. I have not been to any type of Baptist meeting in a long time, so far it is going o.k. There are a lot more suits and ties than I am used to seeing. Me and all the under thirty year olds (the ones that could conceivably be my children) are just wearing slacks and appropriate shirts. Tomorrow, President Jimmy Carter is speaking which should be interesting.

Toady's session dealt primarily with the issue of race. J.C. Watts spoke and the documentary "Beneath the Skin: Baptist and Racism" was shown. While the both were very good I was really struck when, during the documentary, Henlee Barnett was acclaimed for his work with race relations. He had brought Martin Luther King Jr. to speak at Southern Seminary during the Civil Rights Movement among other things. Later, Dr. Barnett was a victim of the ugliness of the Fundamentalist Takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention during the Eighties and Nineties. In 1984, around Christmas time, I spent the night at the home of Henlee Barnett, who was then an ethics professor at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY. I was, and am, a friend of his son Jim and had traveled there for a visit. At the time I knew nothing about Dr. Barnett and had no appreciation for who he was. All I knew was that he, and his wife, were very nice and hospitable to me during me visit. Later, his mother called me angelic...I had not been called that before or since. It was a thrill to learn of the significance of Dr. Barnett in the struggle for racial reconciliation in this country.

Midway through the afternoon conference (around 3:00pm I have to mention as it is significant) Andrea texted me that I needed to check Isaiah's (our youngest son) update on Facebook. I did and found that it said: Dad at work, mom and sister in the city, Caleb in bed. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not sure that all updates are needed.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Goodbye

2009-08-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had our official farewell for Andrew and Jaimie Mercer. In the fall of 2002 I received a letter and a resume from Jaimie shortly after our then Senior Pastor had suffered a major heart attack. I was sitting in my office one day, trying to figure out how to do two jobs (mine and the Pastor's while he was out) when I remember the resume. I contacted Jaimie and explained our situation and the fact that we would not be able to pay but that we had plenty of ministry opportunities with children, which was her calling. I didn't really expect to ever see her but that Sunday there sat two young, very young, adults. They never left. They both soon were putting in major volunteer hours, eventually we actually gave her the position of children's minister, still no pay. Finally, a couple of years ago we were able to put her on part time payroll. Having Jaimie as an employee meant having equal hours invested by Andrew. A couple of years ago we had the privilege of ordaining her causing her to be our official children's pastor.

Jaimie and Andrew have not only become a part of our church family but have also captured the hearts of my family. We have watched them have their first child, Andrew receive his doctorate, and all of them reveal their giving hearts. They have been a joy. So, tonight was hard to see them go but we feel confident that they are following God's leadership. Thanks Mercers!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Playing Pharaoh

2009-07-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight I played the part of Pharaoh, yes the mean old guy who kept telling Moses and the Israelites "No". This was the second night of VBS where our story looks at Moses all week. Last night we saw the burning bush, a project tht kept me up til 3:00am before....not that it helped as it didn't work quite as well at the church building. Today we looked at the Plagues, the first nine, we are hitting Passover tomorrow night. Last night when I asked the kids what they already knew about Moses and my youngest, Isaiah, shouted out "Crossover". I couldn't think of what he meant so when I asked him about it he loudly said, "You're the pastor, you should know!" Later I figured out he meant to say Passover.

This is the last week for our Children's Pastor, Jaimie Mercer, so I think she is totally unconcerned about what she does to me. Jaimie's husband is joining the staff of the Mississippi State University in the fall......by the way, we all now officially hate Mississippi, it does not matter it is the coolest word my children have learned to spell, we still hate them. Her last day with us is this Sunday and she, and her husband Andrew, will be missed more than any of us can imagine.

So, with no fear in her heart, Jaimie assigned me the part of Pharaoh. I was Pharaoh, I went through the first nine plagues suffering the abuse of the VBS kids. I was pelted with hail stones, attacked by gnats and flies, I had to smell the dead fish due to the river being changed to blood, I had locusts all over me as well as blisters and boils, all my livestock died, and I ended up in total darkness. With each group I met with it seemed that their aggressive plagues seem to get rougher, the younger the group's age, the more the plagues began to sting. It was a tough evening to be the man in power.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Great Parenting/Great Relating

2009-07-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today we returned from a fantastic week at Student Life For Kids camp at Austin College in Sherman, Texas to a bubbling controversy on the fourth grade football front. Isaiah, and even Lily one year, has had the same two football coaches over the years that he has played since first grade. Coach David and Coach Matt have been wonderfully teaching and affirming coaches all these years. I really doubt that Isaiah would have any desire to play if it were not for these two men. They are both very passionate, Coach Dave was kicked out of one game this year for yelling at the refs. They jump up and down, scream, and still constantly encourage and teach the boys (and Lily). Every year we find out if they are coaching again before we choose to sign up for the next season.

The season that begins this fall is a bit of a transition year. The boys in the fourth grade have the opportunity to choose if they want to play one last year of flag or if they want to go ahead and begin tackle. Coach David had told us at the end of last season that he was leaving it up to his son as to which league he would be coaching this season (Coach Matt is David's brother-in-law and only has an infant son but has coached with David every year).

This week Coach David sent out his decision to coach one last season of flag football. This caused quite a stir and apparently many of the parents had complained this past year about the fourth graders still playing flag that had an unfair size and maturity advantage over the third graders. I guess this was quite the source of conversation in the parents' circles but, of course, Andrea and I were once again out of the loop (we prefer it that way) and were unaware. I do not know that this was an issue to the boys as Isaiah never mentioned it....I am sure that some of the boys took on their parent's complaints. When we got home today and checked our email we were surprised at the back and forth emails between the entire group of parents, most were upset at Coach David. Most of the parents that voiced a concern felt that this was going to make them be what they had complained about last year....fourth graders playing flag instead of tackle. Some also felt that the kids needed to be pushed into tackle now to better prepare them for the future.

As we read all the emails we were wondering what exactly would be David's response. We were hoping that he was not disheartened by this. Late in the day he finally responded in a way that I have never seen. The way he related to the other parents and the reflection on his parenting and family priorities was possibly the most amazing statement I have ever seen.

I requested his permission to share and use what he wrote and he said yes, so here it is:

I appreciate everyone's responses. My email was not to sway you to play flag if you intended to play tackle, but to let you know what I would be coaching. Everything you said is right and true. However, I feel if your child, (and/or mine) has even the slightest reservation about playing tackle, then they should not play. They have to be ready in their brain. You can not make them ready, you can not make them "man up" because once they get tackled or hit and I mean REALLY tackled, or hit, it is going to make it worse for them, not better. Every injury I have ever had, every stitch and broken bone has been from playing football. I have even suffered injuries from playing flag football as an adult Some of the boys are definitely ready to play tackle football and although it pains me that we will be splitting up the team, ultimately I am signing up to coach my son Carson. I have coached many of these boys since the 1st grade, and have loved every minute of it. Every time I have made the decision for Carson in sports, it has been the wrong choice, I am letting him decide what he is ready for. I will miss any of you that decide to move on to tackle and will respect your decision to do so. Hopefully we will reunite the team after this season. Thanks, David

I pray that I can think, relate, and respond with such skill and wisdom.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Thirteen

2009-07-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

It is officially over and the vacation went out with a blustering hot and humid day. I got this phase of the yardwork completed and we took the kids for a snowcone. It was a good day. Tomorrow it is back to the office which I am truly up for.

Thank you God and family for a wonderful two weeks of vacation!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Twelve

2009-07-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

We are now officially home but the vacation is not yet officially over, the best and most fun is yet to come. I have been forbidden from going out to the church building until Saturday because tomorrow I get to finish the front flower beds which I began weeks ago. This is probably best as there has been a growing possibility that a neighborhood lynch mob is going to hit if something is not done. Maybe I will buy some time with the flower beds till I can try to get some grass planted this fall when it is cool enough. The really exciting thing about working outside in the garden tomorrow is that Gary England, local weatherman legend, said it is going to be 102 degrees with a heat index of 105 degrees, I guess I get to consider the joy of humidity on top of that. Where is my 70's at the beach of a week ago?

Caleb and Grace, and Slinky, stayed in Tulsa with Grammy and Papa since we are heading to children's camp on Sunday following church with Lily and Isaiah. Uncle Steven and Aunt Karen have promised them some time at the lake with the boat and Grammy and Papa have the ever present pool and food (without consideration of Jillian and her endocrinologist). Hannah decided to come home and stay with Grandma and Papa because she didn't want to miss anymore golf or cross country. Cool, cross country is at 6:45am in the morning! That beach is seeming to be further with every passing moment.

We went and vacuumed the sand out of Papa's car before returning it and visited with them and cousin Maggie for awhile. Then we went to the P.O. Box to find how many bills are due... due yesterday. Then to the store where Jillian and her endocrinologist were the main factor in everything we were allowed to purchase and ultimately consume. Not sure that eating that sand sounds so bad right now.

We have never taken our family on a vacation such as we did these past two weeks. We have been privileged to go on one trips with family including with my in-laws to Walt Disney World and then last summer my folks took us all to the beach at Galveston, both time they were wonderful experiences. However, this is the first time we have ever been gone this long or have just been with our immediate family. It was nice to see that we survived and had a good time. We said a prayer of thanks to God for permitting us to have such a neat time with the kids.

Now, I need to check the bank account to see if we are going to need to move in with some of the aforementioned family members for...ever.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Eleven

2009-07-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

Up at eleven, substituted waffles and bacon for the usual frosted flakes because they were cooked and sitting on the counter, saw My Sister's Keeper (good except, of course, for required teen sex scene) with two kids while papa took other three to Night at the Museum and mom and grammy were shopping, watched kids swim, checked bank account, remembered mom and grammy shopping, checked bank account again, thought about fact that I am about to lose my remaining ministry staff, ate and played at Dave and Busters, swimming, looked at flaking feet, missed beach, considered going to bed early......tough life.

I am on vacation.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Ten

2009-07-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Got up early today after a rough night of sleeplessness. One of the kids could not sleep because of a scary movie commercial that had been seen just before bed time....you will see later that my expert parenting was to take children to a scary movie this afternoon. Went back to sleep for a little while and then got up to eat more of the Frosted Flakes that are still in the cupboard. Miraculously, this morning the original box was joined by a second box! It is a carbohydrate and sugar miracle. Confessed to Andrea, after I finished eating, that I just realized I forgot to bring my cholesterol medicine on trip so it has not been taken in some time.....got health and life endurance lecture from Andrea who is still reading her latest health book (thanks Jillian Michaels for giving my life such a new enjoyable twist, I shall think of you in a special way each time I am not allowed to drink out of a plastic bottle or partake of caffeine after lunch, or the many other things that you, and your dear endocrinologist, have taught my dear Andrea). Ate leftovers for lunch which was just fine with me as we had roast and gravy last night. Checked the bank account many times to see if we could still afford gas money for the trip home or food for the remainder of the month.

Thought about the proof I never did receive from the printer for our offering envelopes and considered how many I should have printed. Got a call from the printer that the envelopes had been printed and were ready for pick-up. Decided that I didn't have to worry about the proof or printing quantity anymore.

This afternoon Andrea went to get my glasses which had to go to California for a second time this summer for repair. She sent me, and papa, with all the kids to see Transformers II. Regardless of what all the critics have said, it was a fun action packed movie, an adventure the whole time. In addition to the action, you had all the sex references and foul language that reminded me of the Spielberg movies from the eighties, I was so glad to put those into Isaiah's vocabulary and ideas. Caleb, and even Isaiah, were not really worried about any of that as long as they got to see plenty of Meagan Fox, which they did. She has also been the topic of conversation since the movie, I could be in a great deal of trouble. Caleb is not concerned by her tattoos or language, Isaiah plans on reforming her....I just asked that she not use the "F" word when they have her over for dinner, Caleb assures me that I am not going to hear anything she says.

Came home from movie to rainstorm which meant no swimming which caused a bit of complaining, something that makes a vacation all the more enjoyable. Then, went to eat Mexican food, too much Mexican food. Now sitting by the pool, fighting with mosquitoes while the kids finally get to swim...life is good.

Andrea saw a bumper sticker from our Florida beach, she is now in mourning. My feet are peeling which is causing me to be in mourning.

Have not paid for a meal, or driven a mile on a highway for the last two days......I am on vacation.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Nine

2009-07-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today I did not get in a vehicle the entire day, I did not go anywhere the entire day. Andrea has told me that I will be going on a walk later tonight but still, it has been a nice break. I slept until 10:30am, and ate Frosted Flakes, something that I am not normally allowed to eat but since they were in the cupboard at my in-laws I felt that it would be an insult to them if I didn't. I sat on the patio while some of the kids swam. I read the paper to find out that the world is still a mess, I read magazines that were on the table to discover that Jen has a new boyfriend, Angelina is pregnant which may save her marriage, I learned that Jon changed and that Kate feels like a failure while both feel that the kids are their priority. I read one of my favorite authors, Donald Miller, and felt affirmed in much of my own journey. I heard from Grace and Andrea that Isaiah had not brushed his teeth in two days, I then heard from Isaiah that he had been brushing with my toothbrush all week because he had not wanted to go out to the car to get his toothbrush. I had slinky sleeping on my belly while I took a nap with one ear open in case there was a swimming pool emergency. I considered defriending some Facebook friends who seem to be using it as a business tool only, as well as others I am still not sure I actually know, I decided that it would be a good future project as it sounded like actual work right now. I took a cell phone call from Jerry's Water asking if they could come out to the church and do maintenance on our well water treatment system. I checked our bank account to see the best way to minimize the rippling effects of vacation. I emailed Jaimie, our children's pastor, about children's camp which begins this Sunday. I checked the church voicemail to discover that the alarm had gone off the night before due the glass breakage, this in spite of the fact that I had the alarm company disconnect the glass breakage sensor twice in the past year due to the 3:00am phone calls....I learned that the police were called which means that Officer Teddy had to make a trip out to the flats. The voice mail also alerted me to a damaged door, a Beth Moore Conference (a thought that exhausts me immediately), a touring music artist, a boat load of fax attempts, and a million other things.....I answered a few messages and then got back into vacation mode before Andrea ever knew that I had violated vacation rules.

I am on vacation.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Eight

2009-07-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

This entry will be short as it is 12:20am and we just arrived in Tulsa after driving in from Nashville, TN. We would have been here earlier but we made a stop in Memphis, TN to tour the Civil Rights Museum and see the Lorraine Hotel where Martin King Jr. was shot. It was very interesting and another chilling moment being at the motel and seeing the famous balcony. I remember, as an eight year old, seeing the news and that balcony after the shooting had taken place. I remember my dad pointing it out to me and the significance of it. I am glad that we stopped and glad that our kids saw the museum. It is about the entire struggle for civil rights in America and not just about Martin Luther King. It was all the more interesting as we had just seen the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and The Hermitage in Nashville.

There was a protester outside the museum complaining about the "gentrification" of either Martin Luther King Jr. or the entire subject of the civil rights struggle. I plan on studying this complaint further as I am not real sure that I have a grasp on what the protester meant....plus I just finished a ten hour drive so my mind is a bit mushy (or more than usual at least).

Andrea and the kids are now laughing loudly, poor Papa who goes to bed before 9:00pm and trying to sleep now, with stories about the trip which are things that I had completely forgotten. Stories about me falling on the snorkeling boat because Andrea was wearing my water shoes after swimming to shore in her dress, and about her getting sicker on the dock because of the fishermen gutting their fish right off the boats.

It reminds me of our first day in the water when I was sure that I had found a severed human head floating past me. I chased after the head with full intentions of picking it up, something that now concerns me, all the while thinking that this was going to make a very interesting post on my blog....a fact that concerns me even more. It turned out to be a baseball style hat carrying the logo for "Paradise Farms (or Ranch)" in Texas on it. I had plans to keep it and wear it as a cool souvenir, Andrea and Grace thought otherwise and threw it away without my knowledge. Although it concerns me that my first thought was the entertainment value, you have to admit it would have been a story of a lifetime.

Our money has run out so the remainder of our vacation will be spent at Grammy and Papa's. I am sure that the irony is not lost on them that our vacation will mean more work for them. But, I am still on vacation, only now it will mean a lot less driving.....cool!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Seven

2009-07-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

We are definitely not at the beach anymore! Arrived in Nashville early afternoon today to find that life is definitely still going on and the crowds are still wherever country music and all-you-can-eat buffets exist. We checked into the hotel where we soon found a totally new version of a bed which is not a single but nowhere near a queen or even a double....on this I will be sleeping with 360 turnaround boy Isaiah....I could be an interesting night. The only consolation is that they are SelectComfort beds which Isaiah has already set on the softest setting which means we are sunk in like a taco so neither of us will be able to move all night....I have a feeling that my back will be locked into the taco position for sometime to come.

This afternoon we toured the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's plantation home. While in the house I stepped off the carpet and onto the original wood floors. This is a "no-no" according to daughter Hannah who quickly came over and corrected me. The authentically dressed tour guide then chose to go on break since her job was being done better by this twelve year old girl.

Andrew Jackson was a very interesting guy who married a lady who was still married to another man. People made fun of them as a couple since he was tall and skinny and she was short and stout. He was for the little guy unless that little guy was a slave, a native American, or a female. He adopted a son of a relative allowing him to have an heir since he and his wife had no children of his own. He was an interesting guy who worked to keep the Union together, but not quite willing to get the Union to the moral place it needed to be.

Tonight we attended the Grand Ole Opry. It is a something that I thought my kids needed to see at least once and am surprised that they are wanting to go again in the future. None of their favorite county singers were on the bill tonight but they were still entertained. I must admit I am still trying to figure out what I thought of Little Jimmy Dickens singing a serious and very sad song to and with a Raggedy Ann doll. At one point he was holding the doll to his face and singing of how the doll helped his daughter get through the death of his wife and then him to survive the death of his daughter. Tonight being the Fourth of July gave cause for many patriotic songs to be in the program but otherwise I now realize that most country songs are directly or indirectly about sex.

Tomorrow we will decide if we continue the vacation or head to Tulsa to spend a few days with Grammy and Papa. The kids are split on their opinions of what we need to do...I just looked at the bank account and am wondering if we can afford gas to get home.

I am on vacation.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Six

2009-07-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

This morning we said a sad goodbye to the beach and headed out after first stopping and adding our final contribution to the Walton Beach tax base by buying souvenirs.

Garmin once again chose to take us on the smallest roads possible through Florida and Alabama to Fulltondale which is just outside Birmingham. We stopped for gas in Brantley, Alabama where gas is 25 cents higher than either of the towns ten miles before or after Brantley. The gas station doubled as a fireworks stand but the monumental attribute of this station, and possibly the town was their unique approach to bathroom facilities. Upon entering the station/fireworks stand you see the prominent sign pointing you to the bathrooms. I was very glad to see this sign as I greatly needed to go to the bathroom following the multiple cokes I had consumed at Boogey's in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. I was less sure about the whole endeavor when I realized that the men's bathroom was actually a urinal posted on the wall in the back hall, there was a partial partition which still permitted everyone up front buying groceries, or fireworks, to clearly see you at work. I debated just how full my bladder was, quickly analyzed the possibility of this town having an actual private bathroom, and then went ahead and put aside all modesty. Also in the hall/bathroom of the gas station/fireworks stand was a doorway with a sign that said "Danger, Do not Open this Door", directly below the sign was another sign that said "If you open this door you are Stupid!". I stood there really wanting to know what was behind this dangerous door but also not wanting the world, who had just watched me go to the bathroom, to know that I was indeed stupid. I chose to retain a bit of dignity and did not open the door, a decision I somewhat regret as I am writing this blog. On the way out of the gas station/fireworks stand there was a canister on the counter that had yet another sign on it that said "Donations for bathroom supplies". I was going to the ask the lady behind the counter exactly what "supplies" the donations went for since I had seen no supplies in the hallway/bathroom, or if the "supplies" include an actual door but when I looked at her I was filled with great fear so I chose to pay for my 25cent higher gasoline and an individual bag of M&Ms...it was the largest bag of individual M&Ms I have ever seen possibly giving Brantley, Alabama yet another claim to fame.

We finally arrived in Fulltondale and checked into our hotel, thanks to Grandma for giving up all your final reward points to pay for hotels in Louisiana and Alabama! In the elevator going up to our third floor room we were joined by Alma from South Carolina who was sharing with her husband that she heard that someone had pooped in the pool. "They really let it rip!" she said. I am not sure what bothered me more, the fact that there may have been poop in the pool or that almost 70 year old Alma from South Carolina said "let it rip".

We then headed to dinner choosing to try to stick with our "local" restaurants theme we have had throughout the trip so we passed Chic-Fil-A and headed to a "world famous" resturant that turned out to be Cajun themed in a building that looked like a former Braums (I realize that they do not have Braums in Alabama....or at least none that we saw). We did not realize until entering that this was a Louisiana Cajun restaurant which had everyone giving looks when the notebook size menus were thrown on the table. The kids chose the authentic Cajun dishes of Pizza, Fries, and Grilled Chicken with a dessert of Ice Cream. Andrea and I had to stick with our "You need to try new things" lectures so I ate probably the one type of food I have never been drawn to.....yes, Jaimie and Andrew, I ate your Louisiana food and I am still alive. I asked the waitress what "Dirty Rice" is, a question I thought was totally appropriate since it was on the menu, and she told me that every morning the cook comes in and puts all the rice on the ground and walks around on it and then puts it in the oven. I ate the Dirty Rice proving to the kids that I will even eat food from a state where the preparation involves putting it on the floor.

As all the Dirty Rice and Shrimp Creole was almost gone from my plate, or at least pushed around so it looked eaten, we began to talk with the waitress and the other customers in the restaurant who all seemed to be related to the waitress. I was asking about attractions we should see in the area and all anyone could think of was the IMAX. Realizing that I was in a Louisiana Cajun restaurant in Alabama I could not help but see how this group of southern white folks felt about the civil rights significance of their area. I asked about 16th Street Baptist Church (where the four girls died in the early sixties after the KKK placed 19 sticks of dynamite under the auditorium) and the Civil Rights Institute and Museum in Birmingham. There was a quick pause and the conversation changed, it was very obvious. "I think there is an art museum down there also," was her response. It was very interesting.

Not sure that we will have time tomorrow before heading to Nashville we went ahead and drove downtown by the church. It was the most ordinary site you could imagine, making it all the more chilling. Our kids got the speech, the kids defined it as a lecture, about labeling people and taking on hate. We talked about Hitler, minorities, gays, etc stressing that the labels can come from anywhere including people that we respect and admire.

When we got back to the hotel we went ahead and took a chance on the possibility of poop in the pool allowing the kids to suit up. I grabbed my new Donald Miller book and Andrea grabbed her latest health book, we may never get to eat anything tasty again. We sat down by the pool while the kids got in.....there was no poop anywhere to be found.

Tomorrow we head to Nashville where we are going to go to the Grand Ole Opry tomorrow night, unsure what is next.....I am on vacation.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Five

2009-07-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

Our last full day at the beach, we have fallen in love with Santa Rosa at Walton Beach, Florida. Andrea, the kids, and I have all signed on, hopefully, for a repeat next year.

It was a pretty uneventful day, spent mostly at the beach except for a couple of hours this afternoon when we had to get out of the approaching storm. Made us appreciate what a hurricane must be like. Ate dinner at Amore's and dessert at Lucille's and then back to the beach until dark. Caleb buried Isaiah twice, once giving him a female body complete with anatomically correct, although quite inappropriate, body parts, the second burying was with Isaiah's ideal male body, ripped abs, etc. this also with anatomically correct, still inappropriate, body parts. Isaiah wanted a picture for his face book page, I insisted that the questionable body parts be surgically removed prior to the picture....we have learned much from cousin Drew's facebook picture postings.

After Isaiah dug himself out of the sand he began to tell me of his other life long dreams, in addition to the ideal body. These included going on a cruise, something he has wanted to do his "whole" life, eating the world's largest sloppy joe and then eating the world's smallest sloppy joe (he doesn't like sloppy joes by the way)....then we got sidetracked by a spotting of the worlds largest crab swimming around or feet. By this time I looked up and saw that Caleb had now buried himself and had somehow managed to give himself anatomically correct, yet still inappropriate, body parts....at least we have hope that he will do well in biology this year in high school.

Kids are now in taking showers, it came to our attention that two of the Anthony children, male children to be specific, have not bathed since Louisiana (maybe Oklahoma). Since we are about to sit in a vehicle together for the next couple of days it was decided by the females in our group that they would shower with soap. They protested but were outvoted....their argument that they have been in the ocean and the pool did not carry much weight......my testimony regarding them using the bathroom in the ocean seemed to seal the deal for the girls argument.

Speaking of argument, I have been spending the time this week prior to going to sleep reading the Justification argument going on between theologians N.T. Wright and John Piper. Evidently this argument has been going on for over a year, with both men writing a complete book since it began. Even though I am a year behind I am finding it fascinating, not just that they are on this topic but that this past year this has been the same journey God has taken me on in my time in the Word. I find much of what both men say insightful and interesting and find myself encouraged that this discussion, especially the idea that our lives show fruit if we are truly justified, taking place not just among theologians but pastors and lay people.

Well, the rain is hitting hard again and I need to get off the patio. Tomorrow we head to Birmingham, Alabama where I hope to get to take the kids on a visit helping them better understand the battle for equality that has taken place in this country.

I am on vacation!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Four

2009-07-01T20:35:00.000-07:00

We got around early this morning, 9:30am (remember, we are on vacation), and headed to Destin to meet the Pelican Adventures boat which was going to take us snorkeling and dolphin watching. We got lost, but after calling Vern, the Pelican Adventures lady, we discovered that we were actually lost in the parking lot of Pelican Adventures....we were now "The Stragglers" according to Vern, I started to share with her my Native American heritage but thought that getting lost may not be a trait of that heritage. Andrea also feels that Earl was wrong and that the only thing Native American about me is that I was birthed in Oklahoma against my will.

We got on the boat after preparing Andrea with a double dose of nausea medicine and after the rules were reviewed which included "Please tip the captain and crew after the boat ride for their hard work". Andrea had chosen not to wear her swimsuit because her fantasy plan for the day included her not getting sick (I brought a plastic bag just in case), the captain gently taking her up to the shore where, upon the gentle arrival, she would have a lounge chair waiting under a palm tree where she would read her latest health book. The captain was only able to get a ways off the shore which involved all of us jumping from the boat with our snorkeling gear and swimming to the best fish viewing location. The captain did not seem to understand the plans of Andrea even when she later shared them with him. After sitting on the boat with the captain, the snack shop lady and the passenger with a infant for about an hour, and after the waves began to shatter the one final part of the fantasy (Andrea will not get sick) she chose to go ashore. The captain still did not feel that he could bring the boat to the shore, nor did he seem to understand the whole palm tree, lounge chair, and book plan, so Andrea jumped off the boat in her sun dress and swam over to us. Once the snorkeling was over and we got back on the boat the captain, still not understanding any part of the fantasy especially the "not get sick" part headed out of the bay to see the dolphins. Two dolphins began swimming in front of the boat which led the captain (still forgetting the fantasy) to chase them up and down over the waves. Andrea had now begun a new fantasy which included as few people as possible being hit by her seasick expression. Once back on the dock, still no seasick expression, Andrea made it to the car, looking worse than any hospital patient I have ever seen, where she vividly expressed her seasickness.

She took more medicine, she emptied her stomach, she took more medicine. She began to not care.

When we arrived back at our condo all five kids were forced to endure a hell greater than any they have endured thus far in their lives....they had to wait, before heading to the beach, for mom and dad to take a nap. Dad had to sleep off the fact that he is almost 100 years old, Mom had to sleep off her mega dose of "I don't care if I am seasick pills".

At 5:30pm we finally headed out. By this time all fantasies had been set aside and the kids were now in complete control. Andrea stayed by the pool with Hannah and Grace, who were tired of the beach, and I headed to the beach with Isaiah, Lily, and Caleb. At about 7:00pm, as the sun was beginning to set, Andrea and the two girls joined us at the beach. We dug giant holes, we buried siblings, we took care of that pesty shell problem the ocean has, we quickly got out of the water when we saw a stingray....I looked up and Andrea was sitting on a straw mat (no palm tree) reading her health book without a hint of sickness. After the sun had set and it began to be dark we headed back to the condo where we got in the pool....I looked up and there was Andrea, sitting on her lounge chair and under a palm tree, reading her health book. Fantasies just take a while.

Later we decided to do a reverse dinner and go for dessert and then return for a sandwich dinner. We walked to the nearby restaurants just as they were shutting down for the night. So, we loaded up the car and ended up at a Karaoke Bar and Grill where we ended up eating dinner and listening to 15 year old Ashley sing "I Do Dirty Things Cheap", and Slim sing "Wild Thing", and Bud and his father-in-law sing "You Don't Have to Call Me Darlin, Darlin." They did not serve dessert, apparently dessert does not go with Karoake, so we ate appetizers and other non dessert items. We finished eating at 10:15pm just as the DJ announced that it was the end of the Jr. Karaoke time, we were not real sure how much more unjunior you could get than "I Do Dirty Things Cheap" so we decided that it was time to head out.

We are now home, I checked our bank account and we can still buy gas for the trip home, the ducks are still loud, and I have no idea of tonight's sleeping plans.....I am on vacation.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Three

2009-06-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day as we spent most of it at the beach after sleeping in....well as much sleeping in as is possible when five kids are itching to get to the beach. I managed to not get in trouble once by kids or wife....this truly is a vacation (of course we were many feet from anyone who could witness my true dorkiness so that may be the key). I put on SPF 50 sunscreen at least five times throughout the day which means, with my Anthony, Miller, Stansfield, and Leamaster blood, I am a slight red on most parts of my body. The kids put on even more sunscreen but they have the additional blood of the Johnsons, Tuckers, Bonds, and Benningfields, which means we may as well go ahead and get the butter sauce ready to go with their lobster skin.

I did learn that I am, at least part, native American. Pick yourself up Ruby! This is according to Earl, who has a vacation house here after falling in love with the beach when he used to race greyhounds at the track here but actually lives elsewhere in Florida and is a Creek Indian, complete with all the knowledge of the Creek tribe including their association with at least one Randy Jackson song and how all the Creeks that were at least 1/16 were forced to move to Oklahoma but most of them claimed to be Scottish (or Irish....I was having to tell Caleb to not throw sand at his sisters during this part of the story) so they would not have to move to Oklahoma which is why most of the Floridans who claim to be Scottish (or Irish...thanks Caleb and your blasted hand of sand and ornery plans) are actually Creek Indians. Earl says that I have the undeniable facial features of a Creek Indian. I woke up a hopeless traveler and am going to bed a man with a proud heritage! Andrea is wanting to know if this could help us pay for college.

The topper of the day was after eating dinner in Grayton Beach, and adding further to the tax base of Walton Beach, we decided to drive down and check out the community at Grayton. All the University of Alabama boys that were buying their beer at the market next to the restaurant made us wonder if it might be a neat place to stay. With all the beer they were buying it is possible they will still be here passed out the next time we visit. Grayton is a laid back area with a great deal of sand, a great deal...enough sand to get a vehicle stuck. Luckily a very nice man in a jeep, who Lily is convinced was an angel because he appeared out of nowhere and drove off into the dark and was dressed very nice, stopped and helped us out of the sand. You may see the video on YouTube soon that Grace made while we were getting it unstuck including her yelling "Push, Push, it is going to blow up!" over and over. She also said several folks sitting on a nearby porch were yelling as well. I started to be humiliated but then remember the University of Alabama boys and realized that no one, except for my kids, the angel, and everyone who watches the video on YouTube is going to remember anything in the morning that took place tonight.

One other thing we discovered today is that Lily has the perfect aerodynamic body for boogie boarding. While Isaiah had been able to consecutively go the furthest with the waves all of his records were blown out of the water as Lily went at least double the distance over and over. Go Lily...Isaiah is filling an official protest which he outlined at dinner.

So, we are back at the condo, Jessica, wonderful Jessica from Republic bank, once again corrected our mistakes so our bank account is now back in order (at least until they get the debit for dinner), the ducks are still loud, and I am ready for a nice night of rest.....last night we had a major bedding shift as Hannah and Lily decided they did not like sleeping near the front door which meant that once again I did not get to sleep with Andrea...tonight, I just found out, there has been another bedding shift and Isaiah has been kicked out of the bunk beds and into my bed....it may not be the best night of sleep ever (Isaiah practices full body spinning in his sleep)...but I am on vacation.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day Two

2009-06-29T20:45:00.001-07:00

We are here, I am now sitting on the balcony of our condominium which has a gulf view...however, the gulf view of the neighbors is greatly disrupting our gulf view, but still, we are here. Here is Santa Rosa on Walton Beach, Florida which is right next to Destin, Florida.

The remainder of our trip here was basically uneventful. I made my usual "count of kids" every twenty five minutes to make sure we had all the kids even though no one had been out of the car for the past two and a half hours, a fact that my dear daughter Hannah reminded me of....every twenty five minutes She finally told me that she would be in charge of counting Anthony kids and would let me know when someone was gone....I still asked and I still got in trouble.

The trip went pretty smooth until the last hour when, like clockwork, we revealed that we are not the Duggars. An argument erupted from the back row which caused the second row to chime in, I soon saw feet in the air when I glanced in the rear view mirror. I was assured that all seat belts were still buckled and that I still had five kids in the vehicle. I inquired if all the kids still had all their limbs and other body parts, I received no assurances.

It was raining pretty heavy when we arrived much to the chagrin of the kids who didn't understand why lightening was keeping us from walking over to the beach. I soon succumbed to the pressure and we walked across to the beach with the promise from all five Anthony children, including Isaiah, that we would only wade and not get our body's wet. At the beach I soon recognized the feet that I had seen in the rear view mirror earlier and had to send Caleb into the surf to retrieve his submerged and upside down brother. The girls, who were grabbing shells before the crabs dug into the sand, soon pointed out that my shorts were wet from the surf and why was I allowed to get wet and not them. I then stupidly pointed out the situation with their brothers which only served to add weight to their argument. I, once again, lost, everyone but mom was now in the water, she was sitting comfortably, not wet, in a rental beach chair that we had not paid for.

Later we found a place to eat and then a Walmart to prepare for tomorrow. At both places we made up for the money we did not pay for the beach chair. Walton Beach tax base is greatly benefiting from the Anthony visit.

It is 11:00pm and I am on vacation. I hear the kids running around inside the condo but the downstairs neighbors have not yet complained (if I counted right they have eleven kids down there so we may remain off their radar), I just found a mistake on our bank account which has caused insufficient funds to develop, and we have some ducks around here that are louder than a train. It is 11:00pm and I am on vacation......Cool!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Vacation - Day One

2009-06-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Perhaps taking a vacation the week after a major church youth trip in Texas was not the best idea. An even worse idea may have been to attend a family reunion in Stillwater yesterday. To add to this, our plans to board Slinky fell through late Friday night so Andrea had to drop four of the kids and me off at the reunion and then turn around with Caleb and take Slinky to stay with her parents in Tulsa. The reunion was to end at 6pm so we felt that we had plenty of time for her to go and return, this was until I realized that all family members were pretty much finished reuniting by 4:45 which is when I saw people began to clean up. Andrea was still over an hour away, I quickly hitched a ride for four kids and myself (not that easy of a task). I say this may not have been the best ideas for two reasons, the first being that we were totally not ready for the alarm to go off this morning at 7:00am, and then again at 7:09am, then again at 7:18am, then again at 7:27am, then again…I have to stop here due to my poor math skills. The second reason is that Slinky is living the life of luxury at my in-laws, they had a heating pad ready for him to sleep on and sat and pet him for hours his first night. I feel certain he is going to laugh at the thought of returning to our mad house where he has to share attention with “those” five kids. So, at 7:something Andrea and I finally pulled our exhausted bodies out of bed.

It was clear that our departure goal of 8:00am was not going to work since I had not even packed yet, but we shot ahead anyway. Things were going smoothly until I went out and opened up the back of my dad’s SUV which we borrowed for the trip only to discover that the luggage room had somehow disappeared. Mom and Dad coyly mentioned this to me last night as I took the car but, having never seen the car with the seats all up, I felt that it would be fine. This morning, as I stood there with a stack of suitcases I began to doubt my confidence.

As I began the harrowing process Isaiah comes out carrying his toothbrush in hand, “Do I need to bring this?”

Near completion I had to go inquire if Andrea was really serious about going on vacation with us since we could really use her seat for luggage….she said I would have to buy her an airline ticket, I looked at our bank account and quickly found room for all the luggage and her. At least I thought it was all the luggage, as four of the kids were in the car in their claimed seats, I see Grace come out of the house pulling a suitcase….Isaiah’s suitcase.

“Oh, yeah,” he said from the back, “I meant to bring that.” He then returned to his DS.

Finally we were in the car and on the road, “Wait a minute,” Isaiah shouted from the back of the car, “Do you mean we are not going to church? I thought we were going to church first.” We then attempted to explain the entire Florida vacation plan, “Oh, yeah,” he commented and then returned again to his DS.

We chose to rely on the Garmin to direct us on the trip; Gar has never failed us thus far. What we did not know was that Gar has some prejudice against the major roads in Texas; we now are intimately acquainted with the small towns of northeast Texas. Particularly Bonham, Texas which is where we stopped for lunch, we knew it was time for lunch as it was at this point that Isaiah began to torment his sister Hannah, that was a point of no return…food was the only solution, that and sitting at separate tables. Gar led us to a downtown Mexican restaurant which was very good but apparently has no concern for speed; we were now over an hour behind schedule.

Because the clean bathrooms at the Mexican restaurant were not good enough we soon had to stop for a potty break. This was possibly our biggest mistake. As we approached the outside bathrooms of the Shell Station in somewhere, Texas, the manager came running out with a light bulb.

“You will need this,” he began, “ and you won’t want to use the men’s room since it has been stopped up since this morning, darn (I am using my pastoral censorship here) teenagers, that is why we are installing an inside entrance so we can keep an eye on what goes on in those. They stuffed an entire roll of paper towels in the toilet yesterday and I am the only person in town that can do plumbing!” He then began to walk back into the store where we later discovered that he is also the corndog and ribs cook as well, “You will need to have someone stand outside the door because it does not shut all the way.” I soon saw the look of horror in Hannah and Grace’s eyes. I went in first and attempted make it suitable for a princess, paper towels on the seats and all trash put in the can. It didn’t work and they soon yelled at me to come in and help them with it…this was not completely understood by the locals who were also standing in line for what must have been the only working toilet in town.

“We will just wait,” the girls said as they left the bathroom.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. We are saying that a large area of east Texas smells very bad since no one admitted responsibility for the odor. The bridge over the Mississippi gave the girls quite a scare as they were not sure it was properly engineered, a fear that I do not think is a reflection on Louisiana engineers, just my girls life of doubt in…well, just about everyone and everything.

So here we are, at the Fairfield Inn in Baton Rouge getting ready to get a good night’s sleep before we head to Destin, Florida tomorrow morning.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

We are watching “Ice Road Trucker” so I think I will be ready for just about anything on the road tomorrow.

Saved by the Diet

2009-06-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

Last night was another rushed evening at the Anthony household. I barely got to sit down and eat dinner with Andrea and the kids before I had to hurry Lily and Hannah to batting practice prior to their final tournament game of the season. So, all during the game I looked forward to getting home and eating a hearty helping of spaghetti, my real dinner, which Andrea had assured me was awaiting me in the fridge. We lost the game, which is why I said "final" earlier, and which is why many of the parents, after sitting in the heat night after night, seemed to be leaving the game with a smile on their face. After the game we hit Maggie Moos for an end of season celebration and then home and then back to family video to return the four videos and two games which were due by midnight but purchased with our report card "A's". Finally, we were home and I prepared for my awaiting spaghetti. I got into my pajamas, I took off my glasses, and stuck the plate in the microwave. Once it was finished I decided that it would be nice to add some Parmesan cheese to the top. I looked around in the fridge, without my glasses, and finally found a different looking container in the door that didn't look exactly like cheese but it was closer than anything else in the fridge. I started to sprinkle some on my spaghetti when I remembered my anti-salt diet and made the right choice, I put the "cheese" back in the fridge unused.

I made a good choice.

This morning I pulled Hunter, Isaiah's anole, out of his cage in order to clean his habitat. We are getting ready to head to Dallas for a church youth trip so Grandma or cousin Maggie will be taking care of Hunter and we felt a cleaner container may make the entire process a bit less revolting. Once I had his home clean enough for an anole I put him back it and sprayed some water on the sides (anoles are apparently very picky about how they receive their liquids). Then I thought that it would be nice to feed him so I began to look for the crickets which were no where to be found. Before giving up I remembered that Andrea and I both had visited every pet store in the area yesterday only to find no one had crickets but that everyone expected a delivery soon, much like my Christmas search for Wii Fit. Andrea had decided to substitute meal worms for the crickets since it had been a few days since we had fed Hunter and his color was quick changing to a funeral black. I searched the house only to find that the meal worms were as evasive as Hunter would like to be. I then remembered my Parmesan cheese. I remembered that it didn't look like Parmesan cheese, it didn't smell like Parmesan cheese, it had absolutely no resemblance to Parmesan cheese. I put on my glasses only to find that it was not Parmesan cheese but meal worms.

The meal worms were none to happy about my discovery but Hunter and my stomach were more than grateful!

Thank goodness for my God forsaken low salt diet.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

All Things to All Men

2009-06-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

I was just listening the "The Story" on NPR which is one of my favorite radio shows. The radio story was about a couple who got a new land line telephone number which they soon discovered had previously been a prayer hotline. They could not convince the callers that this was no longer the prayer line and soon found themselves immersed in the problems and concerns of complete strangers.

It reminded me of an experience I had with my grandma Bill when I went to visit her after I had moved to Colorado. We were visiting when her phone rang which she went to answer. I could not help but eavesdrop as I heard her say, "OK, so that will be two large pepperoni pizzas, now what is your name and address?" She then hung up the phone and walked back over to me and proceeded to pick up the conversation where we had left off.

My curiosity finally got the best of me and I asked her about the call. She then shared that the local Pizza Hut had recently put out a flier to the students on campus and mistakenly listed her home phone number. She told me that she had notified Pizza Hut who had corrected the mistake but not before there had been hundreds, or more, fliers distributed. As the calls had begun to come in she attempted to explain to the callers of the mistake but they seemed resistant to accepting the information. So, she had just given in and started taking their orders. I am sure that as complaints began to arrive about pizzas not being delivered Pizza Hut determined to never make this mistake again.

I will never forget the image of my grandmother taking pizza orders without any hint of a smile or guilt.

I wonder if this is what the apostle Paul was talking about in I Corinthians 9:19-23....

Here I Dwell,
Rick

A Full Day

2009-06-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had to preach in a drug store pair of reading glasses. My glasses had to go to California to be fixed in order to keep them from jumping off of my face. I think that this was just a ploy for them to go to Hollywood and see movie stars but that is just speculation. Anyway, the drug store glasses are only for reading and not tri-focal like my real glasses. The reading glasses mean that I can see to read but cannot see far without falling over or throwing up. I thought through the entire situation on Saturday night as I prepared for the next morning, I blew up my message outline to a size 20 font and then placed the two large print pages visibly on the stage table Sunday morning. The only hitch was that at the last minute I added a scripture which meant I had to put my glasses on twice during the message. While preaching it hit me that I could leave the glasses on between scripture readings and just tilt them up.

Evidently, the tilting up did not look too good. I was made aware of this fact as we sat at Sunday lunch and my extreme goofy look quickly became the topic of discussion. I think my mother even joined in on the conversation in agreement…I know my own wife did not even attempt to come to my defense. Apparently, Grace, my eighth grade daughter had spent a great deal of the sermon attempting to get my attention to “dedork” my classes. My seventh grade daughter Hannah had joined in and then most of our youth girls had also tried to rescue me for dorkland. Andrea and ninth grade son Caleb did not join in the frantic hand motions during the sermon but did confess to unsuccessfully holding back laughter. Lily and Isaiah shared that they were glad that they were in children’s’ class during the message so they did not have to witness the horror that took place in worship.

I actually had fun sitting and laughing at myself with my family. I have had lots of practice; I have given them plenty of reason to laugh.

That evening I was headed to Pei Wei for Andrea and my Sunday night stay at home date when a Captain Kangaroo lookalike in a red convertible Mazda impatiently passed me as soon as he could. Although I was not excessively speeding I am sure that I was going the speed limit or a little higher but I found that I was not going fast enough for the Captain. As I caught up to him he waved his fist at me, an act that I did not remember ever seeing outside of black and white movies.

“I could have made this light,” he shouted.

“Yeah,” I responded in a pastorally mature voice, “I’m sure that it was really important to get wherever you are going.”

I sat there, still being the mature pastor, unable to let it go, “I have five kids,” I said as I turned to him, “they go up and down this street frequently.”

I was both proud that I thought to use the kids yet underwhelmed that I did so in such a minimalistic fashion. I waited for his equally mature response but he had none. I saw him consider what I said and then say nothing. I wanted to revel in triumph but I could not get over the fact that he said nothing. We had plenty of time as we waited for the light to change and he said nothing.

When I got home I wanted to make fun of him as I told Andrea but I had a tough time getting over the fact that he said nothing.

As I ended the day I was happy that I had laughed with my kids and glad that I had seen the example of the Captain. It was a full day!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Watching People

2009-06-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I remember my Uncle Jim always wanting my cousins and I to go downtown Stillwater with him to watch people. I don't remember ever going but do remember him coming home laughing about all the different people he had seen. He would just go sit on a bench on main street for hours enjoying watching people. I thought he was crazy. How could anyone enjoy spending hours sitting on main street when there was acres of pasture land and creeks to explore. In his later years, while he was still able to leave the house, he moved his people watching to Wal-Mart. Every time I would go visit him he would say, "Ricky, you are not going to believe what I saw at Wal-Mart the other day!" He died last year, I wonder what type of people give him reason to wonder and laugh in heaven.

Being married to a psychology person has caused me to have a greater appreciation for watching people. She loves to watch and analyze why people do what they do. She has helped me to a better understanding of others which has really permitted me to be far slower to become angry, annoyed, or aggravated by the actions of others. Attempting to figure out the "why" of behavior allows me to be much more gracious and patient with others. It also has given me ample opportunity to look at many of my own actions and the underlying reasons.

While I think Uncle Jim just enjoyed the actions themselves I have a feeling he would have had a great time discussing the "why" with Andrea. They would have had many actions to look at and analyze in this world.

The past eight days have provided me with an abundance of interesting people to watch and consider. A couple of weeks ago Caleb, Hannah, Andrea and I were asked to be "people in the diner" along with other scenes in a movie being shot here in Oklahoma. Andrea was unable since our shoot day was last Friday, a day that Andrea was teaching an intercession class at OU. My sister Beth was then cast as my wife which my brother-in-law and my son Isaiah both agreed was creepy. Usually Caleb is up for these type of projects but his one had a major hitch - he would have to get a haircut fifties style. Caleb has very thick and long hair that is full of body causing it to stick up and out in every direction you can imagine. Although I am not a fan of long hair on guys I have come to appreciate his hair as it allows me to spot him a half mile away on the soccer fields or on his school grounds at lunch when I drive by. The casting agent needed to know that day if we agreed to do the project so I picked Caleb up from school that day. Even though the scene would be basically just us and the two "A" list actors, neither really impressed him. What did impress him enough to agreement however was the fact that it would be a possible twelve hour day which, even at minimum wage, would be a big contribution to his XBox fund. He spent the days leading up to last Friday googling "fifties hair cuts" to see what he had agreed to. You would have thought he was going into major surgery. On Friday, as we sat in the makeup room and watched the pile of hair on the floor grow to a massive height he began to look like a totally different kid. I have to admit, that day, with the fifties clothes he was wearing I was not too excited but I am now liking this new look alot....he continues to ask me why, after an entire week, his hair has not yet grown back. We did use this haircut to convince Isaiah to get his hair cut which I was a miracle.

Anyway, back to people watching, it was very interesting to watch these famous actors and all the people around them.

I also had opportunity to people watch as I took our church young people to Student Life Camp at Windermere in Missouri. First I have to say that this was possibly the most exceptionally planned and executed camp I have ever experienced and that is saying alot since I worked on traveling staff of Centrifuge for two plus years and have been taking kids to camps since the early eighties. The staff, speakers, and musicians were all not only exceptional at what they did but they were also great examples of servanthood and humility. I am taking a group of elementary children to another Student Life Camp in July and looking forward to it very much. There was, however, a very ugly acting church group attending the camp as well. The adults in this group were possibly the most hateful people I have ever seen (not just at a camp but truly anywhere) and in turn their young people were equally hateful. Thankfully our youth were not impacted much by this group so it did not diminish our kids experience.

What was interesting to watch about this group and the celebrities at the movie shoot was that they all seemed to be acting out of the same place. They all seemed to have a need to impress or tear someone down, they all appeared to reveal a certain level of insecurity.

On the other hand there was the junior high age boys that came with our group which included my son. I loved listening to their discussion and watching them interact. One had a girlfriend by the end of camp, while the others found most every girl there annoying. What I especially enjoyed watching about them was the fact that their behavior was not defined by anyone. While I would watch so many others in worship raising their hands or dancing around, often watching what others were doing, my junior high boys stood their with arms crossed calmly singing along. They weren't being a distraction but they also had no need to fit in with the crowd. It did not bother them at all if they were not doing what everyone else was doing nor did it bother them that others were acting the way that they were. When worship was over they moved on to the next thing which was often catching crawdads in the creek. There was this immense sincerity that I believe came out of an inexplicable security, which is all the more amazing considering their ages. They didn't need to impress nor did they need to tear anyone else down. Amazingly I found these junior high boys the most enjoyable to watch and analyze, it is seldom you get to see people just being who they are and ok with it.

It is amazing what confidence does for you and how you act.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Aging Accidents

2009-05-12T21:06:00.001-07:00

I spent a great deal of time this afternoon trying to catch the two crickets that got loose in the kitchen when Isaiah I were attempting to feed his new Anole. He came home yesterday after "winning" one of the class Anoles. Mrs. Costa, along with all the other third grade teachers are now home laughing and probably counting their kickback money from Petsmart. Anyway, we did catch the crickets and gave the Anole the extra treat for today. He will either die from overeating or live to be 100. I best not say what I am pulling for.

Anyway, this is not my point, I am actually writing to try to document my latest suspicions about Andrea. As I have said in previous posts, I have been quickly showing my age. My sight has been failing, my hearing diminishing, pain in my arms and knees, and quite frequently an inability to remember....anything. I now have reason to suspect that I am not actually showing my age but am being framed in a Hitchcockian type manner. This afternoon Andrea and I were both at the house when we each had a moment between appointments. She had to leave before me to see a client. Then, as I got ready to leave I could not find my keys. I went to the place where I was sure that I had left them only to discover they were not there. I searched the house finally deciding that I once again was having age related memory lapses.

After I had accepted the fact that I was now home bound and extremely old, Andrea called. I am sure that she called out of guilt, but she admitted to me that she had "accidentally" taken my keys.

Please remember this when I "happen" to go missing and am found living under a bridge in northern Idaho.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Two Questions

2009-05-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went with Andrea to help her as she ordered the 8th grade graduation t-shirts. The sales rep at the t-shirt shop is married to a former pro-baseball player who is now a pro scout. I found this incredibly interesting and pursued the subject with many questions. I later found out that I pursued with too many questions.

When we got in the car Andrea informed me that from now on I am only permitted to ask people two questions. I attempted to explain to her that it was showing an interest. She attempted to explain to me that it came across as nosey, intrusive, and obnoxious.

She won.

She then attempted to understand how I survived 33 years without her.....I frequently ask the same question.

I can now only ask two questions.

Today I have chosen my questions carefully.

So, don't be offended if I come across as uninterested, it is just that I may have already used my allotted questions.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Working for a Living

2009-04-28T05:40:00.001-07:00

Sunday night I went in to kiss my youngest son, Isaiah, goodnight and to say our prayers. After he had prayed I lay beside him and began to ask him about his weekend.

"Did you get married," I asked, "or get a job?"

"No," the eight year old disgustedly replied.

"Well, when are you going to get a job?" I continued, "When are you going to start paying your own way?"

"Dad, you don't even have a job," he replied with even more disgust.

"I have a job," I responded with equal disgust.

"What is your job?

"I work at the church?"

"That preaching thing," he asked with a certain sound of shock, "they pay you for that?!"

At this I realized how glad I am that my son is not on the church leadership council come payroll decision time.

When I told Andrea of the experience she jumped into supportive wife mode, "It is because you made it all look so natural and easy." I could tell by the look on her face and tone of her voice that I needed to be thankful that she was not on leadership council as well.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Trash Time

2009-04-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

Andrea has bags of books , picture frames, and other assumed abandoned items in our garage. She is going to have a garage sale. Bags of discarded items on the garage floor or near the trash always scare me. Shortly after Andrea and I were married I began going through the trash each day before going in the house after I got home from work. I would have to save items that Andrea had deemed unnecessary in the Anthony household. I am a keeper, Andrea is a throwitallouter.

As I was secretly going through the most recent stack of soon to be rejected Anthony heirlooms I came across a stack of discipleship books. My first thought was that I had to save these never used books. The reason....I had written a recommendation on the back cover of each of the books. The publisher I was writing for at the time had asked me to write the rec and being flattered at the offered I agreed. I am not sure that I ever actually read the books but I made them sound good on the cover. I think the publisher just sent me an overview and I based my words on this summary. Ironically, this same publisher had just rejected a proposal I had made for a discipleship series.

So, all these years later we still have this stack of books which have never been used. They have never assisted anyone in their walk with Christ, they have just sat on our shelf or in our garage. They have made it through at least one house move and yet never used, never opened. They have been saved because they have my name on the back cover. They have been kept, not for what is inside, but for my ego.

It is time we get rid of them, Andrea will be so proud.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Lessons from Pajama Days

2009-03-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

When Caleb was in sixth grade, his first delicate year of middle school, his mother, my wife, insisted that he take part in his middle school spirit week. He begrudgingly agreed and trusted her to dictate to him the daily spirit week attire. That was the last week that Caleb participated in spirit week, it may have also been the last time Caleb trusted his mother to dictate anything to him. The week included crazy sock day, purple pride day, and pajama day, that was the day that caused the problem. It was while fully dressed in his pajamas that Andrea drove him up in the oval for drop-off that he, and his spirited mother, noticed that most everyone seemed to be dressed in purple and almost no one, except Caleb, was dressed in their pajamas. Caleb, being the trooper that he is, stayed at school even as a repentant mother offered to run him home to change to purple. He survived a day in his completely non-purple pajamas on purple pride, and not pajama, day.

Today was my unintentional pajama day. Last Friday Caleb was scheduled to participate in a jr. high tennis tournament in Edmond but with the approaching ice and snow storm the event was moved to Monday. Yesterday we received a quick phone call giving us instructions regarding the tournament scheduled for today which included the transportation details. So, this morning the alarm went off at 6:00am and I went to wake Caleb to get ready so we could meet his ride at 7:00am. I then returned to bed for what I assumed would be an additional forty minutes of sleep. I had forgotten the extremely strong "be there early" gene which is passed down from Papa Bob. I was awakened at 6:25am with instructions that it was time to go. I slowly rolled out of bed and pulled my coat over my sleeping clothes (that is what an almost 49 year old man calls his pajamas....especially when they consist of a torn up, and holey, old long sleeve t-shirt and too short and weird pants). I assumed that I would soon be back home to bathe and dress (I had squeezed in tooth brushing thankfully), I assumed wrong. We arrived at the tennis court at least 15 minutes early thanks to Papa and his strong genes. We sat in the parking lot all alone for fifteen minutes wondering if anyone else would show up. At 7:00am Caleb's doubles partner showed up but no one else. Finally at 7:20am we reached someone on the phone who we thought would know something but found that he actually knew nothing, including what had happened to the ride. So, at 7:20am I put the car in drive and headed for a forty minute plus drive attempting to get there by 8:00am. We stopped by grandma's house for her GPS, since I had no idea where I was going, then darted north soon hitting a major accident backup on the highway and finally arriving at the tournament where it was obvious that I would not be able to escape back home. What made things even better was that Caleb and his partner had a win which prolonged my pajama day. It got hot and I was in a heavy coat, a coat that could not come off due to a manly sleeping shirt being what was beneath the jacket. I survived my pajama day with hopes that it will be my last.

I learned a couple of things thanks to pajama day:
1. Always brush your teeth and put on your shoes when you leave the house. I actually did this today but there are days that I drop off the kids ...at least without shoes.
2. Put on a public approved shirt before going anywhere, unless you want to look "scary tough" or at least "scary".....or are willing to stay in a heavy coat in Oklahoma spring temperatures.
3. Take something to do while you are not at home taking a shower and dressing. I did learn that Oklahoma has the top five worst hunger rate, a top divorce rate, and that Julia Sweeney had a revelation from God that helped her survive a messy breakup leading her to a renewal of faith and then she read the Bible and was disillusioned by the answers her priest gave her about the parts of the Bible she didn't like and then she read Deepak Chopra who led her to science and so she is now an atheist who explains her revelation from God as a mere work of her frontal globes thanks to her new found knowledge of science.....oh, I also learned that Barak made the CEO of GMC resign and told the folks at Chrysler they had to make a deal with Fiat.
4. Always make the transportation plans for your kids yourself.

Here I Dwell, showered and dressed,
Rick

Celebration Lesson

2009-03-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are having our twelve year anniversary celebration of Grace Fellowship. The church first officially met on the first Sunday of March 1997, but it was the last Sunday of that month that Andrea and I joined the church as Associate Pastor. It has been an amazing ride which I would not trade for the world. Our third child had just been born less than two weeks before that Sunday; tomorrow we will celebrate with a total of five children, two of which are teens. (talk about a ride!). I also made the transition to Senior Pastor November of 2006 which is a position I never expected or desired. I think that is one of the the greatest lessons I have learned from being a part of Grace Fellowship. God brings the most unexpected things into our lives at the times we are most ready for them to be a normal reality of our lives.

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Happy Birthday

2009-03-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Today Andrea and I become parents of two teenagers, we are very afraid! Happy Birthday Gracie!!

Here I Dwell,
Rick

Finished Missing Out

2009-03-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

I heard from a Willem “Bart” Ebbink this week, he is an old friend from High School. Willem was one of the jewels in the drama group at our high school, always playing the funny and inevitably scene stealing roles in all the productions. I was the hack in the speech and drama that ended up there because it looked like they were having fun. The pros like Bart were very patient and kind to the folks like me who appeared to have made a wrong turn on the way to Remedial Math. As I heard from Bart he told me that he is now living in Amsterdam, still involved in drama and managing a bistro, and spends his free time on the canals of the historic parts of his city enjoying the laid back life. As we emailed back and forth he reminded me that his parents were from that region of the world and that he had made a decision to reestablish his dual citizenship after living in New York and England.

I immediately was struck with the realization that I do not think I ever knew that I was in High School with a cool international. Actually, it hit me that all I ever knew was that we called him Bart, I never knew that I had a friend with such an exotic name as “Willem”. It also reminded me of an incident ten years ago that involved my 21^st class reunion. My high school reunions always seem to be at the ten plus one year mark. This may explain my own tendency to procrastinate….I really have no right to say anything since I have not lifted a finger to help with any of the three reunions since my high school days. Thanks to Cheryl and Wally and their teams that are putting together our 31^st reunion planned for this summer. Anyway, after that 21^st reunion, which I failed to attend, the planners sent out a class directory detailing everything going on with my classmates. I immediately glanced through it to find out the scoop on my old buddies from high school. One such friend was a young lady that was in my “group”. We, including this girl, were all pretty much connected at the hip from seventh grade through high school, yet in her bio in the directory she talked about meeting her future husband while in high school. She talked about how she had known they were meant to be from the moment she met him her junior year and that the two had dated throughout high school. I was surprised since I had thought I knew this person very well. I was shocked to find out that I had missed so much about someone I assumed I knew.

In looking back at this it hit me that I have missed a lot in life, largely due to a life lived with a limited focus. This took me to think of Christ who lived a life with no limits on his focus. He didn’t miss out on a little man watching him from atop a tree or a needy woman touching him in the midst of a crowd. He didn’t miss strong friendships nor did he withdraw due to the reality of enemies. He didn’t limit where he traveled because of cultural prejudices nor did he restrict who he related to due to unspoken, or spoken, taboos. His entire goal of becoming human was to experience the entirety of the human experience. As He experienced the cross He did so with a full understanding and appreciation of the human experience.

I look at my own life and can quickly identify many things that I have missed. I missed out on history from my grandmother, a history spanning two different centuries, a history that defined my ancestry. I lived in Colorado for six years and daily would stare at the beauty of the mountains yet seldom climbed up to the top. I spent little time dancing and celebrating and now have a lack of appreciation for either. I missed much because I was either focused mostly on myself or because I had placed unneeded and unnecessary restrictions and boundaries on myself.

A couple of weeks ago the doctor gave me an intense steroid shot for tennis elbow. He said that I might experience “minor discomfort” later in the day. For the next two days I was hoping that I would find someone who would just shoot me and put me out of my misery. While my wife was experiencing what it was like to be married to a big baby I suddenly understood what a lady in our church was going through who had to have steroid shots in her back and neck. Experience often permits us to understand and empathize with others, much in the way Christ did and does because of His earthly and subsequently painful experience.

I don’t want to miss out anymore. I want to know when I have a friend in Amsterdam and when my good friend is in love. I want to understand.

Today, at 3:30pm I have a massage appointment. I did not make the appointment; my wife did after getting a coupon in the mail for a new place that only does massages. I told her that I have seen these types of places on the crime shows on television and that I am not really big on strangers touching my body. She told me that I am going to have this experience. I am going to do it because I am finished missing out.

I also hate camping, I have spoken of this many times. I hate sleeping in the dirt, I hate being so far from a shower, I hate being uncomfortable. In two weeks I am taking my boys on an overnight camping trip with the men of our church. I couldn’t be dreading anything more but I don’t want my boys to miss it. I don’t want to miss out on it.

Eventually I am going to learn to dance and celebrate. I want to enjoy my kids’ weddings and not embarrass my daughters. I don’t want to miss out.

Here I Dwell,
Rick