Cake and ice cream - YUM!

Mitch: Yo Steve, what’s going on? You going to be in town for Bible study on Wednesday night? We’re having a special guest, maybe Pastor Jeff or someone like that.

SteveO: I don’t know, Ill try to be there.

Yea that’s what I told SteveO the other day. I was ready for Bible study and I was telling everyone about it, including my family. I had no idea who it was going to be. I just knew it was going to be fun.

Wednesday night rolled around and I went to church as usual. The plans were all set. I was going to go Routman’s house and then go pester some girls at Starbucks. I got to the house and saw no cars in the driveway which was weird. It wasnt't until I got to the door that I realized something was going on. I heard a lot of talking – girls talking – which is not allowed at Men’s Bible study. I walked in the door and SURPRISE! What a cool thing to do.

I hate being the center of attention. I think a lot of people do, but surprises are great. All your friends go through all that trouble to keep it quiet, make sure you don’t know and throw a good party. It makes you feel special. It celebrates all the friendships that you have. All the people that you care about and likewise care about you are there to have fun, laugh and of course EAT. So at the end of the night spending time with my friends is always better than listening to some special guest.

I thank you all for a great night. It was a lot of fun. Just remember, though, that you have a birthday coming soon too. Don’t think I’ll forget about it. So be ready for a big SURPRISE!

Listen to The Box…

Ok, so lately I have been doing a lot of work with kids. This ranges from coaching the junior high golf team, substitute teaching for the elementary kids, helping out at the middle school group and coaching church league soccer teams. I love working with the kids but they can be a humongous pain sometimes. They don’t listen. They are kids so what can you expect. We were all kids at one point. Some of us are still kids but that’s beside the point. No matter what you do they just won’t listen.

You raise your voice and they get louder.
You threaten them but they aren’t scared.
You split them up but they’ll find someone else to make trouble with.
You make them run but they don’t care, practice will still be over at 6:30.
You tell them to stop doing something and they listen for about 5 minutes and then start it again.

Kids just don’t listen. That’s why I had to get some advice from a friend. He created The Box. I use this whenever I substitute teach and it works pretty good. Its like a time-out without putting the kids in the corner. I draw a box on the board and obviously title it THE BOX. Any kid that is out of line throughout the class will get their name put in The Box. I then explain that you do not want your name in The Box or you will be dealt with when the teacher gets back. Scary, isn’t it?

Once a kid gets put in The Box, you now have their attention. If they are quiet the rest of class, they will get their name removed from The Box. If they are still being a distraction, their name will remain and they will face the consequences.

Oftentimes in our own lives, we don’t listen. We go through the busyness of our own lives and never stop and listen. How many times have we missed hearing something because we were talking, we were doing something else or we weren’t expecting to have to listen? Our ears weren’t open.

We have three options as we go throughout life.

1. Clear our mind, open our ears and listen to God.
2. Get put in The Box where He will have our attention or Else.
3. Not listen at all; become deaf.

I wouldn't encourage the third option.
It’s not until we actually make Him our primary focus that we can actually hear what He is trying to speak to us. Sometimes I don't listen. I get put in The Box and that’s uncomfortable. It’s no fun to be in time-out.

You can’t play,
You can’t talk,
You can’t live.

When I get put in time-out, it’s a place where it’s just me and God. One on One with Him. He talks and I listen. I can choose to not listen but why would I want to do that? He knows everything about me. He knows what I’m going to do tomorrow, what I did yesterday and what I’m going to do when I finish writing this blog. A time-out with God then isn’t such a bad thing but you still have the option to not listen. Why be stuck in time-out when you can always be in that relationship outside of The Box?

Don’t make God put you in The Box to get your attention. Let Him have your attention all the time. It’s what He desires.

He talks and I listen – I talk and He listens. It's a good relationship.

Game night has been moved to Monday afternoon

Let’s have a little fun. I learned about the game Mad Gab a couple weeks ago and was completely stumped. That’s not a normal thing to happen to Mr. IQ (see Indian Rocks yearbook 2001). Back to Mad Gab – it is a game where you read the words from a card and your teammate has to figure out what you are saying. We played that you had a minute to guess as many as you could. Sometimes we would get 3 or 4, sometimes 6 and then the occasional goose egg. They get tough alright! Here are some examples:

Jewelry Robbers – Julia Roberts
He Sledge Her – Heath Ledger

Not too hard right? Well I have gathered a list of 15 Mad Gab clues for you to take a stab at. The answers will be in the comments section of the blog. No cheating! Good luck with them and let me know how you do.

1. May Cuss Suck Jest Chin
2. Gnome Ore Deers
3. Weigh Cup Toothy Fax
4. Dawned Hutch Mi
5. Mash Who Sun Tide
6. Date Roy Pea Stuns
7. Who Why Inn Sir Fur
8. Toe Beam Hack Wire
9. Lie Finch Urine Spa Less He
10. Hairy Putter Randy Saucer Is Tone
11. Up Arrow Tin Issues
12. Hype Bleed Dinner Scen
13. Hefty Chew Fit Swear Hit
14. Bick Ma Nun Cam Puss
15. Wide Own Shoe Seamy Hen Amour

More Mad Gab fun online - http://www.playmadgabonline.com/

SWM seeking SWF

This is a fictitious opening question. Please do not think my best friend has a girlfriend or is even close to having one. Don’t hate me for saying that weave.

Why does my best friend have a girlfriend and I can’t even get a date? Don’t worry, you’ll find one soon. The right one will eventually come around. These are common responses. Do you know this for sure? Am I magically going to meet the girl of my dreams one day or are you just saying that to make me feel better so you can go have fun with your girlfriend? I do appreciate the positive attitude about my situation but let’s be honest with ourselves – we have no idea when, where, who or how so why bother acting like you do.

There has been a lot of talk lately about relationships.

Who’s dating who?
Who likes who?
Who’s pregnant? JK

My eyes were opened up this very week about the simple, little things that girls talk about and even sometimes worry about. Everybody wants to settle down, get married, have kids and share a life with someone special. Everybody! (Maybe not the kid’s part, but you do want to spend your life with someone). Sounds simple enough right?

Your Mission should you choose to accept it, Inspector Gadget – find one single, yes I said single, guy or girl to spend your entire life with.

How hard can it be? We oftentimes make it hard on ourselves. We make excuses. Bad excuses.

Well what if she doesn’t like me like that?
Why would she like me? Why not so and so?
What if the timing isn’t right?
What excuse is she going to throw at me?
What's her history?
What if she’s a psycho that I don’t know about?

Everybody needs a relationship. Guys want it just as bad as girls, although we sometimes don’t admit that or act like it. But we do desire relationships too.

This leads me into my main thought. I believe you only need one good relationship to work and that is your relationship with God. The other day I was asked why I didn’t have a girlfriend which was a fair question. My response was something like I’m just working on my relationship with God. I probably tried to say something sarcastic like I’m just hanging with God, I don’t know. You get the point. My friend thought that was a good excuse but it was the truth. If I can’t get my relationship with Him right, how the heck am I going to get one with a girl right? You girls are…I won’t even go there. Haha

When we were first created, we were created in the perfection of God. We had everything we could possibly have imagined until Adam and Eve messed it up. Thanks guys. We became disconnected at that point. Nowadays, when a baby like you or me is born, what is the first thing we do? We cry. We come to life and we have immediate feelings of disconnection.

We need someone to love us.
We need someone to take care of us.
We need someone to nurture us.
We need someone to be there with us.
We need someone to be there for us.

We go through life searching and searching for that love - whether it's in drugs, sex, alcohol, money, possessions, multiple relationships - but it always seems to slip through our grasp and we can never fully taste or feel the true love that we need.

This whole time that we’ve been searching, there has been someone sitting and waiting patiently for us to call on Him and get that true love that we most desperately need.

Some have it and need to fine-tune it.
Some have it but need to continue to work on it.
Some need it but haven’t found it yet.
Some just don’t want it.

Whatever your case may be, everyone needs that love. I John 4:8 says, “…God is love.” If you’re running from God and searching for love, you’ll never find it. You can’t go away from God and expect to find love. It just doesn’t work that way. If God is love, you have to go to Him for it. The relationship with Him is the only relationship we need.

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

He knows all. He has a plan for each one of us. He has someone picked out for you already. Someone that will perfectly complement the person you already are. Scary I know. I strive to continually work and improve my relationship with God, because I know he has a purpose and a plan for my life. In the event that a woman gets sent my way – awesome – but if not, I know that I have the true love of the Father, always.

For all the USF fans...

I had to put this picture up for the girls. I hope you can actually make it past the picture and into the good stuff.

This is for all the USF fans out there. I’ll admit that I like seeing you guys win. It hasn’t happened much but it is a good thing to be part of a winning community. Saying that I am anxiously awaiting the War on I-4 showdown on October 13th when UCF rolls into town. Should be a great game.

Anyways, let’s get to the point. The past couple of weeks I have noticed the USF fans with this hand motion. The one like Matthew McConaughey and Mack Brown are doing in the above picture. PLEASE STOP DOING IT. The University of Texas has been doing this for years. In fact, they have been doing it since 1955. If you want to read more about the tradition that someone is already doing – go here.

I love that USF is winning. Keep on doing it. It brings excitement and electricity to Tampa. However, in between classes and partying think of some other hand motion to call your own. Don’t steal Texas’ long standing tradition.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I spend my Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons on the golf course. How lucky right? I am very lucky to do that but more importantly, it is who I am with. Accompanying me on the course are 11 junior high golfers. Some of these kids have never played golf before and some have been playing their whole lives and it shows.

After warming up on the putting green, the kids come over for their usual pep talk. This is when I get real nasty with them, tell them everything they do wrong, everything they need to work on and what’s going to happen if they don’t fix it. I wish I did that. It might spark a little fire under them. Instead we talk and joke around and just enjoy the company of each other. We then proceed to the tee box where I tell them who will be on who’s team. They love finding out who they get to play with and who they get to possibly beat that day.

Before we get going for the day of golf, I always ask one of the kids to pray. I wish you could be there to listen to some of their prayers. They are so innocent and to the point.

“Please don’t let us get struck by lightning today.”

“Please don’t let us get hit by a golf ball or a golf club.”

“Please don’t let us hit our balls in the water and let us play good.”

“Please don’t let us get mad if we don’t do good.”

My kids are great. When they say these prayers, they truly mean them. They say it with their whole heart knowing that they will be taken care of by God. Sometimes we pray things but don’t necessarily believe they will happen or ever come true. Or we pray and we aren’t specific with our prayers. Learn from my boys – be specific and believe because God does hear them and He will take care of it.