Well, I think I’m glad I’m not in West Texas today. Sounds like the weather is terrible with ice and snow and wind, course if I was there we’d make it a good day. I spect I’d spend a lot of the day in a coffee shop shoot’n the bull with the guys. I’m positive we could solve most the countries problems if someone would just listen to us. If Radical happened there, he and I could go a round or two over whether or not everything was the democrats fault or the republicans. Course I’d win, I always did.

After take’n in all the coffee and second hand smoke I could handle I’d end up at the gin office. Most likely a few of the farmers would show up for more coffee, and to increase the likelihood of lung cancer for themselves and me. There’s a good probability a nice game of Moon would break out, or now a day’s maybe it would be Hold’em. Come lunch time we’d all end up at the same hole-in the-wall café where one or two of the guys would treat the rest of us to a nice cigarette between the salad and meal.  After leaving the eating establishment with a refill of Coke in hand, we’d head back to the office to kill the afternoon the same way we had knocked off the morning.

Sounds lovely doesn’t it? Well to tell you the truth is was. I could still enjoy those days, and it might even be more fun now than it was eleven years ago. I know a few of the guys have stopped smoking. That’s a plus. If we were playing Moon, Sheep Dip wouldn’t hang around long. He hates dominoes. Says he’d rather watch paint dry. Cuervo would do a lot of laughing as he applied another hickey to someone. (Calm down now, hickey is a Moon term that has no relation to what you just thought.)Grande Patron would keep score. He was the official score keeper no matter the game. Moon or Golf, he’s the man with the pencil. …Come to think of though Cuervo did keep score when we played Moon.  I seem to remember how much he enjoyed adding up the burrito’s he’d collected. Now that I think about it that laugh of his always did have undertones of mocking delight. That dog!

Well, I didn’t set down to write what I just wrote. I had intended to tell you about a bad weather day when I was in High School, but I guess I’ll save that one for another day. Now that I’ve sat here and thought about what’s most likely go’n on back home I wish I was in the ice, rain and wind of West Texas. I’d think the weather was miserable, I’d wish my second hand smoke head ache would go away, and I’d be hoping some liver lilied sap sucker didn’t come into the office expecting me do something for him. Bad weather days are just that, they are days to kill with good friends, not days to work for some inconsiderate so-n-so who thinks he has to have something that I think he could live without, especially if what they wanted involved being outside.  LOL. Sorry to say friends, that was me back in the day. I spect that’s why they called me Little Caesar.

Till next time,

Grump

Well, Jennifer Nettles, from the country duo Sugarland, has done it again. She has written another Country song that has a very deep meaning, and thought I’d make sure you knew the words. The song is titled: Very Last Country Song. The verses paint a picture of how things have changed, or gone wrong, and then the chorus brings it all home.

But if life stayed the way it was

And lovers never fell out of love

If memories didn’t last so long

If nobody did nobody wrong

If we knew what we had before it was gone

If every road led back home

This would be

The very last country song

We all know that life doesn’t stay the same. Babies are born, people die, wars are fought, and nature wreaks havoc. Couples fall out of love, and they remember what it used to be like, but then make no effort to relight the flame of love. Deals are struck and success celebrated, deals are made and then failure follows, and both carry memories that last a life time.

It seems even the most serving and loving among us has the ability to do someone wrong, and that kind of thing always has a lasting effect on everyone involved. We have come to forget how blessed we are until we are suddenly reminded by a loss or a tragedy, and then the road we chose to gain recovery doesn’t end where we expected it too.

Yes, we need country songs, we need music, we need words, and we need close friends and closer families to help us through life. Success, failure, birth, death, love, hate, close relationships, and dark loneliness are all a part of life, and we do need help. We look to a lot of people, and things to help us through, and I pray that we look to God before all of those other things.

Till next time,

Grump

It’s another special day in the Stephen Kent Smith family. Ranger Lee Johnston was born into our family one year ago today. Our world has been brighter ever since God sent us this little man, and we know that he will continue to bring us joy over the course of our lives.

Ranger Roo is the son of Chad and Miranda Johnston. Their first child. He has his daddy’s eyes, and his mother’s mouth. He has his daddy’s mischievousness, and his mother’s heart. He has his daddy’s energy, and his mother’s determination. His overall personality is a combination of both Chad and Miranda, which means he has the ability to melt even the coldest heart. Roo has more facial expressions than any kid I have ever known, and even though we are a ways from carrying on a conversation with the little guy we seem to always know what he is saying just by the look on his face. It is easy to see that he already has the ability to call bologna on his full of prunes dad.

I have no idea what Mr. Ranger will become in life. Will he be an Olympic gymnast, or a minister? Will he lead the country or even a corporation with his God given leadership ability? Will he be an humble man of service, or an over the top sales rep? Only God knows. What I do believe is that he will love people, care about people, and help people every chance he gets, because that is what he will see modeled by his parents. Miranda is a people person, a people pleaser. Chad is a servant, a helper, a doer for other folks. If you need either of them to help you all you have to do is ask, and they will be there for you. Miranda has such a heart for others that it upsets her to see someone eating alone at a restaurant, and the repeated refrain in praise of Chad is, “If you need help all you have to do is ask Chad, and he will be there. “

Nonnie and I will be having supper with the Roo tonight to celebrate his first birthday. We will have a wonderful evening laughing at his amazing personality, and we will talk on our way home about how wonderful he is, and what he means to us. Our prayer tonight will be that he grows up in service to, and love for, the Lord. We will close our words to God by asking Him to bless our little man, and to guard him from Satan.

Friends, I’m not over the top in love enough to believe that you will feel the same way about Ranger that I do. In fact I expect that there may be some folks who have stopped reading this post by now because I realize that I can be rather obnoxious when it comes to my kids. However, most of you have your own children and grandchildren, and I pray that they have you wrapped around their little finger. I pray that they are the most important thing in your life, and I pray that you will lead them by your example into a life of love and service to God, and others.

Ranger Lee Johnston turns one year old today, and I know he has no idea what he means to Nonnie and me, so I want to put it into words. I want to write it down in black and white because I have no way of knowing if I’ll be around to tell him when he is old enough to understand. Ranger, we love you very much. You have been, and will always be very special to us. You are a very important part of the light that warms us each day. That light is you, Milla, Major, Mary Alice, your mom and dad, and your Uncle Joshua, and Aunt Amber, with God in the center of it all.

In case tomorrow never comes, I want you to know, I love you Ranger Roo.

Till next time,

Grump

My man is a competitor no doubt about it. He had his hands full on Saturday guarding the big man from the opposing team, but he was up for the task. The tale of the tape, four foot three inches guarding the opposing teams four foot six inch big man. Both players are participants of the Burleson, Texas, Upwards Basketball League. It was plain to see that both of the star players from the opposing teams are Dallas Maverick fans, or at least NBA enthusiast. Each player knew the delicate art of blocking out for a rebound, or guarding your opponent. Each was adept at the hold’em if you can move. Both players had perfected the fine art of using their elbows and forearms to do whatever damage was necessary to keep the other guy from catching, shooting, or dribbling the ball. Both had practiced and perfected the ability to take up to five steps without dribbling the basketball and still not be called for walking.

We have no idea who won the game. They don’t keep score in this league. It is clear that the two players are destined to face off many more times over the years to come and I’m sure their relationship will develop into a love hate kind of thing. I expect they will each grow to appreciate one another’s athletic ability as they meet as competitors over the coming years, and they may even look forward to the contest they will compete in. As for the four foot three man; he was glad the beating was over with at the end of the game Saturday. He was tired, and sore, yet he was upbeat about his play. He was even awarded the most hustle award by the coach after the contest. When Nonnie mentioned that he and the other guy had given one another quite a pounding he said “Yes, I was glad he got hurt late in the game, I was getting tired of getting beat up.”  Who knows, maybe these guys will end up being team mates one of these days and the lessons they’ve each learned taking on one another will come in handy in winning a really big game for their school. Time will tell, these boys are only five years old. Lord willing they may compete against one another, or with one another for the next twelve or thirteen years.  

Those of you who know me, know how much I am looking forward to watching my latest “main man” play and succeed. My life was so blessed by my being a part of my kids’ athletic and academic progress, and now the blessings just continue. Mary Alice is in her third year of basketball, Major is in his first year, and I have two other young’uns coming along behind them. Lord willing I will grow old watching them all accomplish great things, at least in my mind, whether athletic, or academic.

Till next time,

Grump

I know it must have driven her crazy, and I really don’t know why she kept submitting herself to the frustration, but I’m glad she did. Mrs. Payne stuck with me every year even though she knew I’d do it again. I guess she knew that in the end I’d once again rise to the occasion, but looking back I have always ask myself how much better things could have been had I not been so…I don’t know, so selfish I guess.

Mrs. Payne was my high school English teacher. Please don’t hold my writing and grammar against her as you read my blogs, and things she did the best she could with what I gave her.  She was also the drama teacher so every year for the UIL Competition she was the One Act Play director. I was in three One Act Plays, and a Three Act Play my class performed our junior year. In all four of those productions I had the leading male role, and in all four of those productions I was the same old me. Being the same old me meant that she had to have faith that I would shine on the stage when the curtain was drawn, because I never really gave her everything I had during practice. I wasn’t good at practice. I would listen to her instruction and critique, and I would do it the way she thought best, but I just didn’t practice well.  

I later realized that the entire production could have been much better if I’d only practiced with as much intensity as I gave during the live performance. Had I practiced like I should have everyone else could have been better. They would have all known what I was going to do, and how I was going to do it, and I believe that could have enhanced our final product. Mr. Calfee even pointed this out to me on more than one occasion, but I just never changed the way I did things. I think I have always been and still am too independent. It’s not that I don’t take instruction; it’s that once I hear that instruction I will implement it and move on. I have always been the kind of person who just wants you to tell me what you want me to do, and then get out of my way I’ll take it from there. If I don’t know how to do what you want I’ll ask how, but once I know how I want you go about your business and just let me do what you have asked me to do.

I guess you could say I am just too independent. I like to do things my way. I like to be in charge. In group situations I really have to make myself take a step back and let the group dynamic work. When I do this it seems to always work out for the best. I may still end up in charge, but it is a position I earned not took.  You know I see the same thing happen in my Christianity. I struggle to allow God to be in control. I know what He wants, and true to my character I take it from there. I don’t allow Him to guide me. I don’t listen to His instruction. I just try to live Christianity the way I think it should be lived, instead of asking Him to show me the way. I know it must frustrate Him to see me struggle with my weakness. I know He must be saying “Kent let me help.” but instead, I continue to remain weak in some areas of temptation because I just want to take care of it myself.

My heart, my mind, my body, my soul

I give to You, take control

I give my body a living sacrifice.

Lord, take control, take control.

(Author Unknown)

Till next time,

Grump

Member when people invited people to their house for dinner after church? Member when families got together in the evening to visit or play games? Wonder what happened to those times? When Paula and I first moved to the Fourway Gin house between Seagraves and Denver City, we started going to church in DC. I remember that we visited the congregation on Sunday morning, and Tuesday evening of that very week we were visited by a couple as part of their visitation program. The group came together each week, passed out names of folks that needed to be visited and then went to make those visits. Paula and I accepted our visitors with a hug, and then loaded up and followed them to town to join the group which all got together for refreshments after their evening of visits.

We instantly became a part of that group, and in fact grew friendships that are still strong after all these years. I guess in was inevitable that we should fit in so easily, because all four of the women were expecting. Talk about having things in common, not only were all four couples expecting, all four couples already had a child, and those four kids were roughly the same age. Suffice it to say we spent a lot of time together over the course of the next eighteen years. We shared lots of meals, and played a lot of 42.  Seems things like that just don’t happen much anymore.

Well, Sunday morning Mark challenged us to ask someone to dinner after church next Sunday. He even made a nice schedule to follow. This week the members of the congregation with last names starting with the letters A thru KLA are to invite families with last names starting with the letters KLE thru Z, to lunch either at a restaurant, or better still, in their home, the Sunday after that the inviting is to be reversed with the latter group doing the inviting. Here is the thing that makes this a special event. We were also told that we were to invite folks who we had not visited with before. In other words your best friends don’t count; you need to get to know other families.

Last night I received a phone call from Lee Henry. He and his wife Robin invited us to their house for dinner next Sunday, and I accepted. The Henrys are fairly new to our congregation. I have visited with them a few times between worship and Bible class, but that doesn’t mean I know them. This coming Sunday Paula and I will start getting to know Lee, Robin, and their kids, and this same thing will be happening all over our congregation. I believe, as Mark does, that this effort will make us stronger as a family in God. The church of Christ on McDermott had almost nine hundred-fifty people worshiping God last Sunday morning in two services. The size of our building will not allow us to all meet at the same time, so the next two weeks should help the congregation as a whole become closer and stronger.

I think Mark hit on a great deal here friends, and I just wanted to do my part in passing this simple strategy along. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Lord’s people everywhere grew closer, and became stronger just by getting to know one another better?  Why not introduce this idea to your congregation, and let’s all get to know one another better. To God be the Glory!

Till next time,

Grump

Well we have almost officially arrived at my most dreaded time of the year. The football season is almost over, and baseball is still ten weeks away. I wish I could get into basketball, but I just have a hard time watching all the walking, ball carrying, and fouling that goes on in both college and pro basketball.  I guess I may be a little different, but I guess I prefer to watch college football most of all. It just seems more passionate than the pros. After that I would have to say pro football is my next favorite followed by pro baseball.

The really nice thing about baseball is that I can have the game on and keep up with it very well with the sound down as I read or work. Of course all sports are easier to watch now that I have a DVR. If I am reading and realize that I missed something, I love the fact that I can just go back and watch it. Whoever invented that device deserves a bonus. Please keep the bonus thing quiet, we don’t want the Pres. to find out that capitalism is involved. He might tax the poor soul who enhanced our viewing pleasure.

Back to this being my least favorite time of the year in terms of sports and TV viewing; let’s face it, without sports we are left with regular TV. That means a week full of killing, healing by Doctors and nurses with the serious problem of perpetual arousal for anything that walks, or “comedy” that involves male bashing, stupid people in authority, and a need for a condom machine in every room in every building. Oh yes, one other thing, every show either drama or comedy must have at least one gay person.

That brings me to my next favorite type of TV program. Reality TV. Yes friends I watch dumb reality shows. I enjoy Survivor, and The Amazing Race, I wish they would bring back The Mole, and I love American Idol once they get to Hollywood. I don’t enjoy the early shows where they show the bad singers who are willing to make fools of themselves. To be honest I have built a reputation as a writer and speaker based on self deprecation, but I hate to be portrayed as a fool.  Anyway it seems to me that Reality TV at least gets away from all the sex and killing that has taken over the broadcast.

I hadn’t intended to get on my soap box this morning, but it seems that’s where I’m headed so I won’t fight it. I have to ask why we have allowed things to get to where they are in TV land. My grandkids are not allowed to watch much TV, and what they do watch needs to be recorded. Let’s face it; it is difficult to explain erectile dysfunction to a five year old. Pay attention to the NFL advertising next weekend and you will see that if we didn’t need cars to drive, beer to drink, and help with getting it up, there would be little advertising. Today’s boys get an endless supply of women dancing around in their underwear, and everyone is inundated with idea that sex is to be enjoyed by anyone who wants it with anyone they want it with. Take a look at the cartons your kids are watching. Whatever happened to Tom & Jerry, or Yogi Bear? Bugs Bunny and The Road Runner were good too. They were always chasing each other around wanting to do harm but nothing bad ever happened. Now days all the children’s entertainment has do with a dark evil that must be taken care of by a hero.    

Let me wrap this up before I really go off.   I think I have two boys, well ok their both thirty give a year to one and take a year from the other, who could win The Amazing Race. These guys are athletic, analytical, level headed, very competitive, and built like rocks. I would love to see them compete in the race. I am even sure they would be picked as competitors because of the following criteria. They are from Dallas, which seems to carry a lot weight in TV land. As I stated before they are put together very well which plays well, the ladies would enjoy watching them doing all the daring and dumb things that are required during their race around the world. Not only are they built, there would be no need for them to wear a bag over their head because they are both very good looking, which is no surprise since one of them came from me. They are in the health care industry too and that always seem important. When was the last time you saw a reality show without a pharmaceutical sales rep? I got that in my son-in-law, he sales dental supplies. The producer also knows that a heart throb Doctor never hurt in the ratings department. I got that too, my son is a Dentist.  So you see these guys have three of the four main criteria for being cast on a reality show. They are from Dallas, they are good looking and well built, and they are in the medical industry. Now if I can only convince them to claim one falsehood. If they were to claim to be Gay, brother-in-laws from Dallas who were in the medical field, and just happened to be good looking hunks to boot, they would be shoe-ins. That brings that to an end, the boys would never agree to that, thankfully.

Wait, I may have another way to get them on the show. Hollywood loves to have Bible thumpers on their shows, you know, guys they portray as “Christian” so they can somehow set them up to look bad some time during the race. I can promise there would be plenty of footage of the two reading, studying, and praying as they made their way around the world.

Till next time,

Grump

My plan was simple, and I thought it would be effective, however there was one small bit of information I was missing. What was I to do once I discovered that the drive way only offered one real choice? Simple, I saw what I wanted to see instead of what was really there.

I think I’ve told you before that I didn’t do much dating in high school. Part of the reason was my fear of rejection, and part of the reason is my blindness to the possibilities. I was a mix of cute, confidence, success, and doubt, pessimism, and fear, does that make any kind of since to you? Rejection was then and still is my greatest fear. I equate being rejected as failure, and the best defense against rejection is to never offer myself.  

Anyway, just a few weeks before I put my plan into motion I was presented with the reason I needed the plan in the first place. I had worked up the courage to ask a girl from Seagraves out, and she had accepted. Things were going my way, and I was excited as I headed out for the nine mile drive to her house. I made the block so that I would be approaching her house in the proper parking direction which put the passenger side of the car closest to the front door of her house. Now, most of the cars in the dark ages had a bench seat in the front not he bucket seats that most cars have today. This was a very nice arrangement because it meant that the girl would sit next to the guy without the obstacle of the console in between.  I had known this girl and her family for many years so I went into her house and visited with her folks for a few minutes before we left. When we did finally leave she went to the passenger side of the car. WAIT! That’s not the way this was supposed to happen. She was supposed to come around to the driver’s side of the car slide under the steering wheel and stop in the middle so she could sit right next to me. Ok, I thought after I had opened the passenger side door for her, after she gets in she will slide across to the middle and sit next to me. NOT!!!

Now you are up to speed, and can easily see why I had developed my current plan. I had determined to always park so that the driver’s side of the car was closest to the door of the girls house. Huh, huh, are you with me here? Am I a genius or what? She would almost have to get in on my side of the car. So here I was about to pull into the country drive of a girl I had watched from afar for over a year. She was the prettiest girl our rival school had to offer. She was a cheerleader, one of their best athletes, and she appeared to carry herself with grace and confidence. I have no idea how I ever worked up the nerve to ask her out in the first place, she was soooo out of my league.   

I suffered through the whole parent’s introduction thing, and we were on our way to the car. Yes! My plan worked to perfection, she walked straight to my side of the car and gracefully slid under the steering wheel stopping in the middle so she could sit next to me. I be knowing at this point that things were going to go much better with this girl than they had been with the last one. Yup, I thought I’d done died and gone to heaven until she ask, “Why did you park in the yard instead of in the driveway?”

So there you have it friends, I was so set on my plan, so committed to its success that I had envisioned a driveway that wasn’t even there. I remember as I turned off of the black top, and headed to the house that the drive clearly went to the left, but I was sure that I also saw I light set of tracks that veered to the right.  I saw what I wanted to see instead of what was really there. I saw what would serve my purpose instead of what was clearly the best choice, the right choice. This all serves as a reminder for me today in my study of God’s word. I continually ask myself if what I am seeing is really God’s will, or a mirage that suits my carefully designed plan.

Till next time,

Grump

I’ve been told that dad only spanked me two times in my life, and that I didn’t deserve one of those. I can honestly say I don’t remember either one of the whippings because they happened when I was very young. That’s not to say Dad didn’t discipline me, he did, he did it in his own special way. I’m sure I got away with a few things I shouldn’t have, but at the same time I always wanted to please him, and do what he wanted me to do.

Dad had taken care of things quiet well in terms of calling me on the carpet. He handled the whole deck of cards things with a few words and a “You better not do something like that again.” I think I told you about that incident, but I’ll go ahead and give you the high points of the event. The junior high and high school students were taken by the school to the South Plains Fair, in Lubbock, every year.   On the way to Lubbock that day I was seated in the second row of the yellow dog directly behind Mr. Mac the school superintendent.  About half way through the trip someone behind me tapped me on the shoulder and then handed me a deck of cards. I won’t lie to you; I rather enjoyed the deck of cards because each card had a different, very pretty, topless girl on its back side. Now at this point I be knowing one thang, and that was that I didn’t need to get caught with these attractive fifty-two cards in my hands, so I quickly tried to send them back from whence they came. (Thought I’d throw in a little King James language for you.) Suffice it to say, I got caught with the cards, and when Dad found out about it he took care of the situation without laying a hand on my backside.

This brings me to the story of the one time he did tell me he would whip me if…

Paula and I had been married a few years and were living on the Fourway Gin property outside of Seagraves, Texas. I had been encouraging Paula to plan a holiday party of some sort, maybe a Memorial Day, or Labor Day party, so she did. I don’t remember which day it was but she invited a few friends from church along with her parents and my parents.  We were going to grill burgers and such, you know, the whole ten yards of back yard entertaining. Now on each holiday the Yoakum County Golf Club had a tournament. It was always a scramble with four person teams, and I was going to play in that tournament. It would be my first so I really didn’t know what to expect, but it had a start time of 9:00am so I never dreamed that wouldn’t be home by around 3:00pm. Well such are the plans of mice and men. At the turn we suspended play for lunch, and then there was this thing I had never heard of called a Calcutta. It amounts to the scores of each team being posted at the half way point of the event, and then teams could place their bets, or buy the team they thought would win their respective flight.

Well, now it was easy for me to see that I wasn’t going to make it home by 3:00 so I called Paula and told her I would be a little late…er than I had originally thought. We began the back nine and all was well, until on the last hole when I chipped in from off of the green. Now this would seem to be a good thing, but the chip-in had busted us out of our flight and into a tie for the lead in the next flight. I soon found out that since money was being waged in the Calcutta we would have to play off the event. With much trepidation I called Paula and told her that I would be home a later. Seems that we already had guest, and she wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear about my possible win in the tournament. Priorities and commitments girl, I can’t abandon my team in the middle of a round of golf!   

We began our play off with an actual gallery. Now let me be perfectly clear. When you have the golfing ability that I have, a gallery following you around is a pretty heady experience. I have no idea how many holes we played before the match was over. I know it was several, and I know it took a loooonnnngggg time. In the end my wonderful chip-in on the last hole of regulation not only kept us from winning our flight, it also knocked us out of the money all together, because we didn’t win the playoff. I got to the club house and called home again to report that the match was over and that I would be headed home soon. Paula was short and curt, and I knew that things were not going swimmingly well at home.

When I pulled up at the house I noticed that not many folks had come to the party. I fact there was only one car there. It belonged to my parents. As I opened the door of the pickup and stepped out I saw Dad coming out of the house. He met me before I had taken my second step and said “Son if you ever do that to that girl again I’ll whip your (we are going King James Version again) ass.” With that He and mom got in the car and drove off. All of the invited guest had been to the party, including Paula’s parents who had driven seventy miles to get there. I was so late to my own party that I missed the whole things.

You may be surprised to learn that Paula and I did not have a fight that evening. There was no argument, there were no harsh words. I went in apologizing, knowing that I had messed up royally, and that was that. I had hurt Paula deeply, and I made a determination that I would do my best to never do it again. I know I have failed in that department. I know I have hurt her a few times, but it was never because I failed to show up at our own party again.

As for Dad? Well let’s just say that he has always been a man of his word. He had spanked me twice as a child, and there was no question in mind that he would whip my ___ if I ever did something like that to his beautiful girl again.

Till next time,

Grump

Here are a few of things that are on my mind this morning.

I owe Wade Phillips an atta-boy. To tell you the truth I just didn’t think he had it in him, but the Boys are looking good, and think they will take it to the purple and gold this weekend.

I know looking in from the outside it is easy to make judgments about the whole Tech v Leach thing, but we must remember we are looking in from the outside, and don’t have all the information. Having said that, I am very happy with the selection of TT to coach @ TT, and I think Tommy Tuberville will do a great job!

I have to give props to a man named Mark Bryson. Most of you may not know Mark, so let me tell you he has been a gift from God to the McDermott Road church of Christ for the past two years.  He has done an absolute awesome job as our fill in preaching minister. He is on staff as our family life minister, but he was pressed into duty as a preaching minister when we lost our PM around eighteen months ago, and I must say he has proven worthy of the task. It was announced yesterday at church that a new man has been hired for the position and will be moving here in June, so Mark will be preaching for another five or six months, and I just wanted to go out on a limb and tell you all how thankful I am that God has used Mark to serve us.

Under the, “completely eat up with a case of the stupids” category, I have done messed up again. I got hold of a logo designed by my friend John Hendry. The logo is IBTJ and stands for I Belong To Jesus. The font is rough looking and the T is actually a cross. It is a very attractive design. Well I had it my mind that it would catch on and become a must have for Christians everywhere. Now here is where I was eat up with a case of stupids, I was unable to obtain the .com address for IBTJ so I had to use .net. I was so set on making sure people knew that they could find the Tee shirts, sweat shirts, and caps at IBTJ.net that I put that address across the back of the shirts. WHAT WAS I THINKING???!!! Anyway, I now have a watucy load of useless IBTJ Tee shirts. Remember I said I thought everyone would want one so I made sure my initial order had enough sizes to meet the demand…I just never thought that three would be the extent of the demand. Thanks Runt. Here’s the thing. Please go to www.IBTJ.net and have a look at the logo. If you like it, the caps, and hooded sweat shirts do not have the hideous address on them, and I know from experience that people will ask you what the logo stands for.  One final request, if you like the logo and the idea of proudly letting the world know that you belong to Jesus, please let me know and I can set up an order of nice products like tee shirts, and even button down shirts etc.   Otherwise does anybody know where I could ditch a hunnard money wasting, ill-advised, (Wait a minute, I didn’t get any advice.) Does any one where I could ditch a hunnard money wasting “what was I thinking” Tee Shirts?   

Till next time,

Grump