Churches Closed On Christmas?

One of the dumbest things in the world happened on Sunday simply because Christmas fell on a Sunday. There were churches that actually called off their services. How stupid is that? The entire "reason for the season" is that Jesus was born. The entire reason for the church is that Jesus was born. Shouldn't that be a HUGE day for churches? How about calling off church on Easter, too? It falls on a Sunday. How ridiculous!

My dad was pretty disappointed last weekend with church leaders he knows. There were some on TV even trying to explain their reason for calling off services on Sunday. One idiot made the comment that he hopes there are lots of little services in people's homes instead. What a moron! Closing a church on the birthday of the person responsible for you even having a church?

Oh, and the idiot decisions don't stop there. What about all the members who stayed home instead of attending services? What about the idiots who thought that going to some Saturday service would make up for missing church on Sunday? How in the world do they justify these things?

I know that going to church isn't the main thrust of being a Christian. Being a Christian is all about living a lifestyle and making choices in accordance with Jesus' wishes. That does include gathering with other Christians whether at home or someplace like a church. Sunday is the first day of the week and the day the early church gathered on. They did this since Jesus rose on the first day of the week. Being a part of a church is part of living the Christian lifestyle and gathering this way helps strengthen our walk through education and support.

What kind of example are you setting and what does it say for your personal Christian walk if you aren't in church on the recognized birthday of your Lord and Savior? I hope churches don't make this a habit and get back to reality the next time Christmas falls on a Sunday. What a disappointment some churches were this year...

Christmas Details

I had an awesome Christmas and couldn't have planned it much better! I saw old (yes, they are old - hehe) friends, my family, and have some special memories. It makes me want to plan more of these types of things even without a holiday.

I was able to leave at about 8:20AM Thursday morning. I'd hoped to leave by 8AM, but ran a tad late getting everything packed. I wanted to pick up my daughters by 10AM, which is when the ex said I could pick them up. I don't like to waste a minute of the time I get to see my girls. I did make great time, but about 9AM I realized that I had left all of the hanging clothes at home. This meant my nice clothes for church and a few shirts for the girls. I arrived at my daughters' home just a few minutes after 10AM, so I was doing good at getting back on track. I packed up their things and it turns out that they had a portable DVD player with them. This was great for them on the long drive.

I had planned on a stop in KC along the way for fuel, food, and an exit next to Arrowhead Stadium since Brittany is my little Chief. We pulled off there and they were craning their necks to see a better view of the Stadium since their best view was either passing it on the highway or on TV. They were fascinated, actually, by the sheer size. We got fuel and then hit the nearby Subway for some light sandwiches. I didn't want them to fill up so I brought some light snacks and figured supper would be their big dinner. We also made a stop in Blue Springs at Wal-Mart. I was determined to get a Chiefs hat and something else that said Chiefs while in the KC area. I was able to pick up a hat and T-shirt for Brittany.

We signed in at my lil bro's job site at 2:45PM in Columbia. We had been making great time and arrived for the tour a bit earlier than planned, but my lil bro was up for it and gave us a grand tour of the new building his employer built. They have such a sweet building and the best setup I've ever seen. They use VoIP for their phone system, touch screens, big screens, digital projectors, white boards that double as screens, and about any other technological advance you can think of. Even programmed shades to cover the windows and LCD lights that light up their skylight area. They are still working on parts of it, but it's the type of building I wish my employer had set up for us. We stayed until about 5pm since we had dinner plans scheduled for 5:15PM.

We arrived at Steak And Shake two minutes early even after I took a wrong turn. We waited, patiently, for Patti and SB to show up. Fashionably late, whatever that means, Patti and her two daughters arrived to join us for dinner. SB was much later, but did show up for some fun. I told the girls they could have anything they wanted to eat there since I'm a Steak And Shake fan. We all had dinner and the girls were intrigued by some samples of jewelry that Patti brought. Patti was gracious enough to let them each choose a piece as a gift and they wore what they chose all weekend. Brittany got a beautiful necklace and Paige picked out a great ring. I had fun meeting Patti's kids and we had a lot of laughs. I did get to hear a nice compliment from Patti about my girls. She told her daughters that they should take a cue from my girls and behave themselves. It was hilarious and great to hear. Patti's girls are great and her oldest is outgoing so there was lots of fun conversation that she got in on with us "old folks". When SB arrived we had some more laughs and didn't leave the place until about 7:45. I had hoped to be at my parents' by then, but we had a lot of fun and weren't that late. We took a few pictures before we left and I hope to be able to post them here! I also had a few extra CD's from my collection that were duplicates so I took those down for Patti and SB. I made sure they knew it wasn't as a Christmas gift, but that they were just sitting here and I thought they could use them.

We got to my parents' home before 8:30PM since I was really booking it, but still slower than most traffic. Mom fixed us some popcorn and we watched Herbie The Love Bug. It was a great way to relax after the traveling and fun we had that day.

Friday kicked off the first of 3 full days at my parents' home. We slept in a bit and had a light breakfast. My mom went with the girls and me into Warrenton to do our last bit of shopping. We had to get my parents each a gift and something for my lil bro and his wife. Mom gave us some great ideas while we were looking around so we made our purchases. We also stopped at the local Wal-Mart for some other things we needed. Paige quickly becomes Grandma's Girl when we are there so if we split up, she went with Grandma. We headed back in time for a light lunch. On the way back we saw a full size truck that had gone off road in the median. Thankfully, the traffic wasn't too backed up so we did ok getting back. After a light lunch, we just hung out for a while relaxing and goofing off. Paige and Brittany were playing some video games on one of the computers and I even napped a bit. The girls were also very helpful to Mom. Lil bro and his wife showed up late in the afternoon and we had a very full dinner that evening. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (my dad makes the best!), and everything else that seemed like a Thanksgiving dinner minus the cranberries. It was great! After dinner we opened a few presents and then played some games in the kitchen. Our family is big on fun and we were making jokes and generally laughing a lot all evening. The gifts were mostly with lil bro and his wife, but the girls got to open a few things that were clothing related. I also let them each open one of the gifts I had gotten them. Paige opened up the CD's that I got her and her CD opener and Brittany opened up the Chiefs hat. She didn't let the hat get away from her all weekend.

I really slept in on Saturday. I got up at 8AM for breakfast and then went back to bed and slept another 2 hours. That's unusual for me, but I had stayed up late the previous night letting supper settle. Saturday was mostly a relaxing day just watching football and the girls played games and helped Grandma. They made chocolate covered pretzels and casserole cookies. I got to try some while I was watching the Rams get beat. We left in the late afternoon for the Christmas program at Dad's church. The girls wore their nice outfits and looked great! They even sang Away In A Manger for the Christmas program with the kids from the church. It was a great program and there was a decent turnout that night.

Sunday we got up for church early and the girls looked great again in their nice outfits. They had fun in Sunday School and showed a lot of restraint not opening their gift from church until the afternoon. Dad's sermon about Christmas was from the Book of John. Of course, this isn't the most obvious Gospel to do the Christmas story from, but it was a great way to offer a new look at Christmas. I was able to see some of the people who were at the church when I attended there as a child. It's always great seeing them and catching up a bit. Some were adults who influenced my life in some way and some were my age that I went to school with. It was great.

After church we hurried home to get dinner ready. This was the BIG Christmas meal. We had roast, potatoes, corn, and for dessert two kinds of pie. I had more than I usually would, but it was great. As we were finishing up dessert, we got a call from my middle bro. He and his family were traveling from their home to Joplin and were just about to St. Louis. We had found out when we arrived on Thursday night that there was a possibility that we'd get to see them. The call meant we had to get on the road since they were ahead of schedule. We met them in Fenton and it was great to see all of their kids and let all the "cousins" get together. They had some gifts for us, too, and my girls had made them some cards. It was great catching up with them and seeing how big their kids are. The cousins love to play together and got to do quite a bit of that in the restaurant. We were a bit noisy, but not so bad we were trouble. We hung out for quite a while and then had to say our goodbyes as they needed to hit the road. We then went to a nearby nursing home to see my mom's aunt and then to Santa's Magical Kingdom. This was a park next door to 6 Flags that had more lights than I've ever seen set up in one place. It was great. We drove through and they had over 2 million lights in this place. I would have guessed even more. It's hard to describe, but there were lights everywhere.

We got back to my parents' about 7:15PM and I was a bit anxious at that time to give the girls the rest of their gifts. Lil bro read the Christmas story and at certain parts of it he stopped. The girls had name tags on some of the gifts that had pictures for certain parts of the story. When the reading stopped, they had to search the house for the gifts. This was a fun and interactive way to get them involved in the story. They had a lot of fun searching for some of their presents. After that they opened the ones I got them. Brittany enjoyed her CD and CD opener, but her favorites were the Chiefs shirt and her new CD/MP3 boom box. Paige enjoyed her lip gloss set, but her favorites were obviously her pink hat that matches her winter coat and her BellaDancerella Pop Star. This has a working headset microphone so she will have a blast using it. We then played some more games until it was time to call it a night.

Monday morning saw the biggest breakfast I've had in quite some time. Biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage, and pancakes all hit my plate. Especially, the biscuits and gravy. I knew it might be my only meal all day with the way I was eating. We said our goodbyes and hit the road at 10AM. The girls were a bit teary as they had been the night before since we'd had such a great time and it's always hard to leave family knowing it will be a while before seeing them again. We made two fueling stops along the way and I had the girls home at 2:45PM. It was hard heading back home alone, but I have some great memories and we had a great time.

I got to spend 5 very full and fun days with my babies. It's great to know that I got them some gifts that they love. They had fun with my family. They had fun with my friends. It was a very Merry Christmas indeed!

For Your Listening Pleasure

Here are some CD's I must recommend.

Adriangale - Crunch
Jamie Rowe from Guardian sang for this band. They broke up after this CD, but what a way to go out. Great melodic rock with some interesting arrangements. It's from 2004, but carries itself like it could have been recorded in the late 80's or early 90's. Good guitar work and great rock vocals. It's probably been on the car stereo the most out of everything mentioned here.

INXS - Switch
The first CD with new vocalist JD Fortune who gets 3 songwriting credits here. It has that classic INXS sound throughout. I'm probably more of a fan now than I ever used to be. These guys are moving on and even taking their sound to some diverse areas.

The Darkness - One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back
I haven't heard a better nod to Queen and the diverse, yet classic sound of the 70's ever! These guys know their history and know how to make it sound original. There was a lot of thought put into the songwriting and arranging of this CD. It has some AC/DC crunch, the falsetto vocals, some orchestration, and an all out rock feel. You won't get bored listening to this CD and you will find more in it with repeated listens.

Soul Doctor - Fistful Of Dollars
This is a band I had never heard of before. I went through a stack of CD's I had, but hadn't listened to, and this is a pure gem. The vocals remind you of Axl in some spots and Brian Johnson in others. The guy can sing. The band can play. And they sure write some solid tunes. This brand of rock could fit along side Cry Of Love or any other great band from the 70's. There is some solid guitar on here that would take you back to the days of guitarists playing with feel. Soul it is!

I've had some other CD's on by bands I haven't heard of before. Sven Gali tries real hard to be progressive in the pop metal style, but doesn't really stand out. Cherry Bomb sounds like a garage punk band recording a demo. Cherry Bang sounds like an unexceptional Sunset Strip band from the 80's. Adrenaline Sky is a band I really tried to like because Dan Reed sang for them. They are a combination of Dan Reed Network, who I love, and 90's grunge, which I can barely stand. It's not a good mix since the instruments really don't stand out from each other in that grungy sound, but you can tell that Dan is trying to get the Dan Reed sound through. It just doesn't work very well.

I also listened to Ozzy's Under Cover. My question is simply "Why?". Most of the songs are not very well known and the ones that are just sound like his typical sound in doing them. There isn't anything that stands out and you can tell he is just getting worse as a singer. Ozzy has never been a great singer and the mumbling really is starting to show on some of these cuts. I hope he records one more CD that blows everything he's ever done away and then retires. I'd really like to see Ozzy go out on top as the madman he is, or was, than the sitcom star he's become. Ozzy, my advice is to get Zakk Wylde to help you write some killer tunes and then go enjoy an island somewhere in retirement. No more adult contemporary, stick to the hard edge tunes.

Purple Fingers

It just keeps getting better and better in Iraq. Those people have a taste of freedom and they love it! They are turning out in bigger numbers than we do for their elections. It's just incredible what has gone on there since we took Saddam out for them. There are women voting and being educated, which is new to the area. They are at 97% of their oil production, which will help their economy keep getting better. Iraqis are at a much faster pace than most countries at getting their country together under a new government. Most of their country is excited about and ready to enjoy freedom.

With all of the great things going on, it's amazing to hear many in our newspapers and on TV and even elected officials try to tear down all of the great things going on there. I've heard and read so many demoralizing things that could really affect the great Americans assisting in the Iraqi cause. I keep hearing and reading about how America is the bad guy for helping this country gain access to freedom. "Pull out" they say. "We shouldn't have been there to begin with" they say. "It's not our business" they say. They lie about the motives of going to Iraq saying it was all about 9/11 or getting their oil. They lie about what is happening on the ground and how much the Iraqi people want and need us to assist them. There are American lawyers helping defend Saddam in his trial. This is disgusting behavior by these people.

I challenge any and all of these negative people to do their research. Go find all of the great things happening there. Compare the rule under Saddam to the freedom the people are enjoying now. Find every single positive thing you can and dwell on it. I don't care if you like the leaders involved or if you agree with their politics, just find all of the great things going on in Iraq. It's the holiday season and you shouldn't be so negative anyway. Compare the truth with the negative fiction being reported and you will see what a wonderful thing we are doing and the real reason we are doing it. Freedom is the greatest gift anyone can be given. Check out all of those purple fingers!

Life and Death

Cowards or morons? I'm not sure which it is. It could be both. Are those words extreme? Well, let's discuss this. I guess it's been on my mind since Tookie is going to die.

First, are people afraid of death for logical reasons? Death is part of the cycle of life, so it's something that is expected. Many people have theories about death. Some say you are just done and return to dirt. Some believe you are reincarnated according to how you lived. Some believe in a Heaven/Hell afterlife. Some believe you will travel on a passing comet. So with all of these philosophies and ideas beyond what I have listed, why does anyone fear death? If you believe you just return to dust, then you really don't have anything to live for anyway and you should have no fear of death since living doesn't matter when you expire. If you believe in reincarnation, then you believe in living eternally and constantly coming back as some sort of life form, so what is there to fear about death? You could come back in another life and do it all again and maybe differently. If you believe in a reward/punishment afterlife, then you do have something to live for and probably a bit of fear of death depending on how you are living according to what you believe. If you are living as you believe, though, how can you fear death if you are getting a reward that is greater than what you are experiencing in this life? As for believing you will travel with some sort of comet, I guess the fear would be in crashing into something else, but then what happens to you? I'm stumped there. In other words, no matter your belief about death, why is there fear among so many people about dying? Are you afraid you're going to miss out on something or are you scared you aren't living up to what you believe in? Or are you simply a coward who is scared of the unknown?

Second, we have a death penalty debate that has been ongoing for years. The death penalty has been around since our first written laws according to any history book you read. (Read history books. They are very educational and can be found at any library. I used to work in one so I know this. :) ) Simply put, the death penalty is a punishment for an atrocious crime. It usually involves the murder of an innocent person. That makes the killer a guilty person. A civilized society has to make decisions like this when making laws. Some people claim that the death penalty isn't civilized, but they are missing the point. The point of a death penalty is punishment. When you do something that society has deemed bad, there is a punishment to it. The punishment has to somehow fit the crime committed. If you kill someone, expect to be put to death. Some try to claim this is a deterrent to others and in some ways it is, but that is still missing the point. Some people claim that we need to rehabilitate these types of criminals so that they can become productive in society. Realistically, this is a dangerous and expensive concept. Dangerous meaning that depending on the rehab process or the time involved, it can give someone another opportunity to commit the same crime. Expensive in the sense that there is a lot of cost in asking tax payers to pay for these types of criminals for the rest of their lives. (There are some who argue the cost of the death penalty, but that is another discussion. Yes, it should be done quicker and cheaper. Nobody will disagree with making things cheaper.) If a person is put to death, they obviously can't commit any more crimes against humanity.

So believing what you believe about death, why would anyone be afraid to make the judgment of death in the case of a murderer convicted by a jury of their peers? Would they be afraid that making this decision affects their belief system in the afterlife? Are they afraid of someone taking retribution on them for making this decision? Do they believe that all life is sacred, even that of a convicted murderer? Do they believe there is a more permanent punishment than death? Are they cruel and would rather a convicted murderer be in a cage for the rest of their life just to stew forever on the crime they committed? Are they cruel to the families of the victims so the family can worry if this criminal will ever get out or get their friends to take retribution on the families? What is this argument for not putting a convicted murderer to death as punishment for their crimes? What are they afraid of?

Or are the opponents just stupid? Do they not know how to logically go through this thought process to determine a non-conflicting opinion on this subject? For people who believe in God, are they unknowing or unwilling to accept that God introduced the death penalty? Are these people not very well read in the history of mankind? Are they just taking the side of criminals instead of the innocent to be argumentative? Do they really think they are better than those who do believe in the death penalty because they feel they are superior and more high minded? Do they realize that it's a lack of education that will drive them to oppose the death penalty?

If you are an opponent of the death penalty, then logically spell out the argument. Leave your emotions out of it and spell it out. Don't compare the cost of life in prison over that of the death penalty, because we already know that is a reform issue of the process, not part of the real debate. Logic rules here.

Now, for something of a different topic...I did up date the pictures and have the pics up of Petra!! I also have some of Brittany playing her sax! Great stuff!! Oh, and new concerts are coming... It's going to be quite the new year!

Happy Birthday To Me

Yes, I just turned 37. It's slightly depressing in the sense that I'm actually heading toward 40. Of course, they say that 40 is the new 30. I wish... At least I have my kids here for my birthday and that's cool. I got to hear Brittany play the alto sax for the first time last night. She is playing in a Christmas program today so she gave me a preview. She's only been playing for about 2 months in her 5th grade band and I'm impressed at how much she is learning. Any time the girls take an interest in music I get excited about it.

We were looking for my old recorder yesterday. The recorder was the first musical instrument I played in school. I'd already been learning piano at age 5 so I picked up the recorder quite easily. Brittany started on the recorder and Paige is playing it now. I couldn't find it, so I'm a little worried about what has happened to it or where I may have put it. I have a couple more places to look.

During our search, we looked through an old keepsakes box that my mom had put together for me. It has some of the literature and books she got while pregnant with me and has some things up through part of junior high. My first 3 yearbooks are in there, too. The girls got a kick out of seeing how I looked then. I was the cutest boy in my classes! HAHA!! Of course, they saw pictures of my first girlfriend and other girls I had childhood crushes on. They also saw my Lex Luthor, too. HAHA!! Oh, the days of youth...

The girls fixed me a chocolate fudge cake with vanilla frosting and decorated it with blue and purple flowers and the words Happy Birthday. They did this all by themselves! I fixed my favorite dinner. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and corn. I make the greatest meatloaf. The trick is to keep it simple and not put unusual things in it. I've heard of people putting a layer of ham in it or vegetables and that's just insane. It's not supposed to be the fruitcake of meats. It's supposed to be tasty! Everyone that has tried it likes my meatloaf the best. My mom taught me great!

I got some good news about Christmas vacation the other day. I was planning on picking up the girls on the evening of the 22nd after work, but am now able to pick them up at 10am that day. That will allow us to use daylight for our travel to see my parents. We will get back the following Monday. I always get worried about the extra time due to past actions of the ex. She tends to try to control everything and makes it sound like it's a big deal to add extra time in seeing my girls. She usually turns out to be flexible about it, but tries to flex her supposed power if I ask to pick up the girls a day early or bring them back a day later than usual.

I've seen some good movies lately. We went to see Zathura yesterday and that is a very good family movie. My roommate rented Christmas With The Kranks and that was fun to watch, too. I stayed up late last night to watch The Devil's Rejects. Rob Zombie has been impressive in both of his movies and I like this one even better than the first. Derek also rented Herbie Fully Loaded (fun Disney movie and I love the old ones), Election (I convinced Derek to rent this classic since he'd never seen it before.), and National Lampoons Gold Diggers (horrible movie). I also watched Liar Liar again. I just love that movie.

I've also heard some great CD's lately. I bought The Darkness' One Way Ticket To Hell And Back the day it came out along with INXS' Switch. The Darkness has so many elements of Queen and they are certainly making a serious nod to their musical influences. There are still critics that believe that since the singer uses a lot of falsetto that this is some sort of joke band, but they are serious and rockin'! This is a great CD! INXS put together a very solid effort with their new singer, JD Fortune. He has 3 songwriting credits on the CD and each tune he assisted on is fantastic and very much INXS. The opening track The Devil's Party kicks things off followed by Pretty Vegas. One of the most beautiful melodies is in Afterglow. Hot Girls has a great melody line for JD to sing and kicks into some real sexy rock. The disc ends with God's Top Ten, which is another great song. There are several strong tunes on here and maybe only one or two that would be considered album tracks or filler. I've always liked INXS, but have never been a huge fan. This is a great solid first outing, I hope, with JD. I'm anxious to see if they really gel as a band on the next effor.

The most surprising CD I started listening to this week is one that was put out a year ago by the band Adriangale. Their singer is Jamie Rowe from Christian rockers Guardian. The disc is called Crunch and it does just that. There isn't a weak song on this CD and I'm surprised that it has taken me so long to get around to listening to this CD. It's a newer disc by a band that could have come straight our of the 80's or early 90's. They are unabashedly melodic rock and they are unafraid to play solos. I played this disc for a guy at work and he freaked out that there was a band putting out this strong of an effort in recent years that he hadn't heard of. He started asking if the band was touring and doing shows. I'm not certain of that, yet, but I sure hope they end up on some tour package that hits Des Moines!

Firehouse will be in Des Moines twice this month. They are joining LA Guns and Bad Company's Brian Howe for a New Year's Eve party this year. We are having a New Year's Eve party at the house so I'm not sure if I'll be able to make that show. I also have the girls next weekend so I definitely won't be hitting the Firehouse show at Keysters. This means I could end the year with only 19 concerts. New Year's Eve would be a good oppportunity to see Brian Howe, which I have never done before, and could round the year out at an even 20 concerts, though. I love LA Guns and Firehouse, so this is a tempting show. We'll see...

We lost a family friend last week. An elder in the church I mainly grew up in passed away after some recent health problems. I grew up with his kids and this man and his wife were a great example of a loving marriage. They have been in my prayers.

Derek has been kicking my backside at darts this last week. He won 5 out of 9 one night followed by 2 out of 3 the next. The last two games of those 9 were my wins by SHUTOUT!! I also hit 3 bullseyes for the 4th time. I only needed the first one, but threw the remaining two darts in my hand to accomplish this. The third night, he won the first 3 games quite easily. I went upstairs to watch The Donald fire 2 of his final 4 and then went back downstairs to beat Derek 3 in a row. At least I ended on a roll. Darts has been such great fun and it's great playing with someone on a similar skill level. We rock out to his Sirius radio account and do a lot of kidding around while playing darts so the actual playing is surprising to each of us as we really aren't that good.

Now if I can only get an exercise bike for Christmas and then start getting in shape to do some singing, this will end the year on a fun note and kick off the next year with some hope at another great year! My last time I see the girls in the year 2005 will be a wonderful Christmas at my parents' home, so there is no better way to close out this year and look forward to 2006!