Taking a break

The headline says it all.  I’m taking a break from blogging for a while.  I will blog again in the future but right now I have absolutely no time.  I know, I know.  We make time for the things we love.  Well….I really like blogging but love might be going a bit far.  Right now I seem to be so busy that I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.  So to all of you fellow bloggers, sayonara for a bit.  Take care.  Talk to you later.

Tired of it….

I like to think of myself as a pretty sympathetic person.  Not to quick to judge or jump on people.  I have been know to complain a bit but that’s just because of my bloodlines.  Ha.  However, I do have to say that I am tired of something.  People who have wild animals should not be allowed to proclaim loudly that they had “NO IDEA” this sort of thing could happen.  Wild animals do not belong in neighborhoods and houses.  Tigers, lions, bears, leopards, cheetahs, Grizzlies, wildebeests, african water buffalo, wolves, snakes, chimpanzees, baboons, whales, sharks, etc are not for your pet pleasure.  These animals tend to view humans as a tasty snack, a little hors d’voures if you will.  I do have sympathy in my heart for the poor lady who had her face ripped off.  She was the neighbor, not the owner.  But isn’t that what usually happens?  Some poor child or neighbor have the misfortune of becoming  lunch for the roaring lion or ravenous tiger. 

But what really drives me nuts, I mean absolute bonkers, is the people who own the animal then go on all of the tv shows and say things like, “He was such a nice tiger.”  Or, “I could never imagine my chimp doing such a thing.”  And then of course they sob and boo hoo and get off with a light slap on the wrist.  It’s dumb.  I think they should be sued for all they are worth and then they should be slapped with something like criminal negligence. 

And please, all of you animal activists, don’t write and say something stupid.  Yes, if we go into their element then we deserve to be eaten.  This isn’t a discourse against the animals but the idiots that own them. 

Take the animals out to the jungle where they belong.

Its been a while, eh?

Trying to tap into my inner Canadian.  “Come in from oot side.  You’re going to get coold.”  Not bad, eh? 

Now that the foolishness is out of the way….ah, who are we trying to kid here?  It’s all foolishness.  There have been somethings in the news that I haven’t commented on and some thoughts banging around in the old noggin that need to come out.  Let the games begin.

Sully, you’re the man.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  I’m way late in saying this but that dude can be my pilot anytime.  I’m going to NYC in a few weeks and I’d prefer him to be the pilot just in case an enormous flock of birds….BIRDS?? comes around my plane.  Since we all now know that a seagull can tear up an engine something fierce, I propose that we have a few gun toting rednecks sit on the wings with shotguns.  All we’ll have to tell them is that they can shoot all the birds their little redneck hearts desire and they’ll be building duck blinds on the end of the wings in no time.  

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America.  400 million for STD’s?  No problem!  8 billion to make federal buildings green?  Kermit, come on down.  7 million for fish migration?  Little fishies get to swim to their hearts content!  Come on!  Is there anybody else that realizes that this bill is simply the Democrats pet projects that have been laying around for the last 8 years that they couldn’t get passed.  Sure, I’m all for building up the infrastructure of this country.  Anyone who was on that bridge in Minnesota would agree with me too.  However, stop trying to tell us that you’re trying to stimulate the economy by doing all of this.  Yeah, there are going to be a few jobs created but we all know what this is.  It’s pork at it’s finest!  Anybody who has ever taken an economics class in high school or college knows that the only proven way to stimulate true and lasting growth is to cut taxes permanently.  How long until we start calling our President the Premier?  We couldn’t even join the E.U. because our debt to GDP ratio is so high.  And we call them Socialists?

For most people February is the slowest month of the year.  Not for me.  Whew,we are busy.  Ministry Fair next Wednesday night, revival this Sunday.  Lots of great things happening at TPC.  It is so exciting to see the growth that is happening around here. 

I’m going to New York City in just a few weeks.  Excited.

The no fun police has relented and allowed me access to the blog and FaceBook while still at work so I should be able to post more frequently now.  Work?  HA! 

Just read a fantastic article on cnn.com about the farce that is Valentines Day.  It’s a must read.   The author is a former minister by the name of Roland Martin.  Check it out when you get a chance.  Guys I must say that we get hammered on V Day. 

I’m annoyed about the inequity of being off for MLK day and not getting off of work for either Washington’s or Lincoln’s birthday.  And no, President’s day is not an acceptable compromise.  That is the day we celebrate all of our Presidents.  Surely Lincoln deserves his own day!?

I used way to many exclamation points during this post and for that I will censor myself. 

Loving the weather today.  Cold, rainy with snow on the mountain peaks.  Beautiful.  We are finally getting some snow in the Sierra’s which will mean a trip to ski soon.  Just gotta find the time.

Sorry for the delay in posting

The no fun police took away my ability to blog while at work.  I usually wrote these incredible blogs during my lunch hour or whenever the mood struck me.  However, now I’m being forced to find other time to write.  Good Lord!  Don’t they know that I need my outlet while at work?

Random thoughts to begin the week

There is a story that has been getting a lot play in the media the last few days.  You may have seen it.  A lady is suing the popular networking sight, FaceBook, because they asked her to take down the pictures she had posted of her breastfeeding her child.  My first thought was, SERIOUSLY?  Why would you ever post these pictures.  I’m sure that inside of your family it’s a beautiful thing but dear God, do we really need to see these things.  Now, all things being equal, I understand her premise for suing.  She says that her pictures are no more provocative then some others posted on the sight.  I agree, but what does it say about our society that we even have to have this debate.  I don’t want or need to see pictures like this.  I also don’t want to see pictures of people in the swim suits, underwear, making out, drunk, or anything else.  Oh yeah, one more thing.  I was having my lunch at Subway the other day and all of the sudden I look to my left and there is a woman breast feeding her child, talking on the phone while the other child was running amok destroying all the napkin holders in sight.  Come on!  Do the things that are private in private.  I’m seriously annoyed at this type of thing and unfortunately it just seems to be getting more and more commonplace. 

Yesterday was a great day of victory at TPC.  I love watching new converts and seeing when the light “clicks” on.  We also had a lot of our bus kids stay over for church and come to the altar.  What a great experience to pray with them and watch the spirit of the Lord come over them!  Every where that I looked yesterday people were receiving blessings, being slain in the spirit and dancing before the Lord.  Awesome, awesome day.

I have been annoyed for a long while with the way that people name their children.  What ever happened to normal names?  Why do parents feel the need to saddle their children with these very unfortunate monikers?  I was reading a list earlier today of some of these travesties.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Girl Names: Tallula Bell, Moxie Crimefighter, Sailor Lee, Calico, Lark Song, Heavenly Hiranna Tiger Lily, Fushcia.

Boy Names: Banjo, Audio Science, Bamboo, Jermajesty, Pilot Inspektor, Messiah Ya’Majesty(hahahahahahahahaha), Indiana August.

Please, please, please!  When you name your child give them something that will stand the test of time and not subject them to massive mockery by the other children name John, Mark, Matthew and Lucy. 

A caveat to this post that will make me sound like a complete hypocrite:  I’ve always been partial to naming a girl Storm.  I know, I know.  Can’t you just imagine little Stormy Hurst!  Ah.  I love it.

I can’t think of a clever title for this…

…So here goes.  I have had a massive case of writers block lately.  Yeah, it even happens to the great ones.  Ha.  It may have something to do with the amount that I’ve been preaching lately.  Most of my intelligence, such as it is, has been directed into producing sermons and bible study thoughts.  In addition, we have started a new believers class on Sunday’s and I get to teach that class.  While we wait for our lesson books I have been preparing for those classes as well.  It has been a tremendous amount of fun.  I’m not sure how you juggle all of the things that have to be done and still find time to write on a blog. 

I am finding myself more and more amazed at the Grace that God exhibits toward us.  I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately and have read many different authors perspectives on God’s amazing grace.  In the reading I have found that there are just no adequate words to describe the grace of God.  It is truly amazing, this gift of grace.  The grace of God is one of my favorite things to preach about, talk about and think about.   Where would I be without the grace of God??  I have no idea, nor do I want to think of where I would find myself.  To be seperated from God, which we all would be if not for his grace, has to be the most terrible thing and feeling in the world.  This is why I can not believe that people would voluntarily distance their self from God and his presence!

I am loving life.  I am loving living life.  That hasn’t always been the case but it is now. 

I don’t have anything funny.  I’m sorry if you came here for humour today.  I’m always ready to post something funny but I haven’t come up with anything lately. 

I hope you are all doing fantastic.

All those things

1. Pray!  We are in the middle of severe cutbacks here at the old salt mine.  We had our first round on Friday and there are more to come every week.  I think I am ok for now.  I have never gotten a bad review from my bosses and we are understaffed at my position anyway.  But, it’s still sad and a little scary.

2.  There are an amazingly large amount of really stupid songs on the air lately.  I hear some song called “Garment of Praise” this morning and was astounded and the awesomely bad lyrics and theology.  Note to songwriters:  Three words and modulating seven times does not a good sound make. Thank you for discontinuing your assault on my ear drums. 

3. Gotta love winter in California.  Weather today:  Somewhere around 70, light breeze, no clouds.  Lovely. 

4. Great church yesterday.  I love to hear Bro. Ronnie Mullings preach.  He preached quite possibly the greatest message on giving that I have ever heard. 

I hope you all have a great week.  Enjoy the sun, go to the beach, or shovel snow (depending on where you find yourself during the brutal January.  haha).

Year in review

2008.  Good year, bad year.  Ah, for me it was the former.   I listened to a lot of people who had terrible years this past year but for me 2008 was a great year. 

January-I was officially named as the Assistant Pastor of the GREATEST CHURCH IN THE WORLD.  It has been such an honor to serve and minister to the awesome people of the The Pentecostal Church.  I look forward to many more fruitful and fantastic years.

February-Maybe the most useless months of all months.  I can’t remember anything about this month at all.

March-Played a little golf, worked, went to church, slept, ate, drank, read, etc.

April-My mother turned 50.  I can actually say that because she is not one of those women who have turned 29 for the past 30 years.  I love my mom and amazingly enough she loves me back.  Ha.  We had a great party for her with her two sisters, coincidentally my aunts (I’m not really sure how that works…) , flying into surprise her.  My dad was actually able to keep a secret for almost two months although we never told him when they were going to come into town so that way he couldn’t blow it.  It was a lot of fun.  On the 15th I filed my taxes.  Boring but fruitful a few months later when I got the biggest return I had ever received. 

May-was District Conference this month?  Can’t really remember.  May is always a good month though.  There is a holiday in there somewhere.  Lots of good golfing weather here in Northern California, which is really a misnomer of sorts since there is almost 500 miles of California north of where we live.  This year continued the trend of me absolutely hammering my golfing partner every time that we play.  It’s really starting to get sad.  However, since the bible tells us that we must honor our father and mother so that we can live for a while I won’t tell you who I play golf with.  Also, this gentleman who shall remain un-named, took great pity on me when I was a child and would let me escape to the clubhouse after about two holes for the best cheeseburger, fries and a coke that were to be found in East Texas/Southwest Arkansas.

June-My sister has a birthday during this month.  Sometime toward the end of the month I’m pretty sure.  June is also a good month.  I always have a flashback to what June meant when I was but a wee lad.  In a word, Lufkin.  In more than a word, youthcamp, fun fun fun, and the worst possible water in the United States of America.  This water is so bad that to drink it is to immediately want to regurgitate with suprising force.  There are so many great memories from spending the entire month of June in Lufkin for camps.  I added it up once upon a time with my best friend and we came to the conclusion that we have spent over 1 year of our lives in that dusty East Texas town.  Don’t let my math skills overwhelm you. 

July-Celebrated the birthday of our nation by sleeping in and then listening to my neighborhood turn into Sarajevo circa 1995 (Did you know: The siege of Sarajevo was one of the longest in the history of modern warfare lasting from April 5, 1992 until February 29, 1996?).  You have never seen a fireworks display this intense. 

August-Campmeeting 2008.  Nothing like church and dirt.  I had a great time down in the tent in Santa Maria.  I made a new year’s resolution.  I won’t be wearing my good dress shoes to camp meeting this year.  There is literally no point.

September-This month always makes me want to shout TIMBER as I say it.  You know sepTIMBER.  I know.  So weird.  We went into intense planning mode during the month of sepTIMBER.  I spent many days sifting through papers, permits, rental requests and committee worksheets.  If you are confused this will make sense as you read along.

October-Soul Winners Boot Camp.  This is when I take a break from the rapier like wit I have displayed while writing about the previous months.  Well, maybe.  We had the great privilege of hosting a boot camp this year.  It was a tremendous amount of work and planning but it was worth it all in the end.  I truly believe that it changed our church forever.  Revival is something that is abstract to a lot of churches.  After you experience a boot camp it becomes a reality.  People are incredibly hungry for God.  All you have to do is find them.  To my great delight the revival did not end when boot camp did.  It (revival) is burning even brighter today. 

November- My birthday is on the 5th.  Somehow, some way all of your cards and letters that were overflowing with cash and gift cards failed to make it to me.  Being the gracious and forgiving person that I am, I have decided to extend a one year waiver to you.  Please don’t let it happen again.  Something else happened during this month…..something small and oh yeah.  That whole Presidential election thingy they do every four years.  It was pretty cool to watch history being made the night of Nov. 4th.  We always host Thanksgiving at our house.  We did this year.  It was loud (what??  The Hurst family loud?  Perish the thought.).  It’s always a lot of fun but his year it was made even better because the Cowboys murdered the Seahawks and the looks of chagrin and pain on the faces of my Aunt Teresa and Uncle Scott were priceless.  Haha.  Classic memories.

December- The best month of the year.  The greatest music, even though I am related to the Scrooges of Christmas Music, better known as Nathan Joseph and Danelle Layne.  How can you not like Christmas music?  How in God’s green earth can you not like Christmas music?  Never the less, being the magnanimous human that I am, like we have already discussed, I still bought them a present. 

That’s all folks.  That’s my year in 1000 or so words.

Ps. I also went to TX and saw my family and friends for the first time in 4 years.  It was good to see them all.  Also, I failed to mention that sometime in August Gene, Karla, Cameron and Chad came out to San Francisco.  Fun.  There are also a couple of possible life changing moments that happened that might garner some sort of mention later on down the road.

Things that need to go away in ‘09, random New Year’s thoughts and frivolity

New Year’s Resolution ‘09: Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.”

Things that need to go away in ‘09:

1. 80’s Fashion:  Neon. Chicks and dudes alike are currently obsessed with gaudy and bright neon colored clothing.  All, clothing styles are cyclical but the neon tights have got to go. Look in the mirror before you leave the house and understand that dressing like a rodeo clown isn’t attractive and never will be.

2. Carrying dogs in over sized tote-bags: I have never understood the phenomenon of carrying a miniature dog in a purse in public places.  I have seen this act perpetrated everywhere from grocery stores and malls, to car washes and airports.  Surely the dog is happy locked up in a cage over your shoulder with poor ventilation 5 feet off the ground.  Is this a fashion statement?  Because if it is, using a dog as a fashion accessory is beyond laughable.

3. Skinny Jeans:  Nobody in the world looks good in skinny jeans.  Let me repeat.  NOBODY.  None of the rest of us have any desire to see you try and pour yourself into a pair of jeans so snug that you have to starve yourself for 32 straight days just to be able to wear them.  Besides that they make your feet look big. 

4. Bluetooth headsets:  The awful and revolting bluetooth headset has run its course. Every single person who sees you wearing this heinous piece of fashion faux pas is laughing at you behind your back.   Put your phone to your ear.  The headset is only acceptable when you are driving.  That’s it.

5. The exclamation point:  I’m one of the worst abusers of this over used punctuation mark.  If you write a decent sentence it shouldn’t need a exclamation point to convey excitement, terror or any other sort of emotion.  write a good sentence.  Don’t rely on punctuation to do your dirty work.

6. Emoticons:  The principle is the same.  Stop with the cute little smiley faces and winking semi colons and parenthesis. 

7. Killing the English language:  Every time you write one of the following: LOL, ROFL, BRB, etc. Write it out.  Here’s my beef.  I may not be the perfect example of how to speak the King’s English but I do know this, every time we take the lazy way out and use these silly, trite phrases we are killing the English language a little bit more.  Pretty soon our entire communication system will revolve around little groups of letters that are meant to convey a sentence.  If you want to say that you are laughing out loud, and really how often is that even true, then say that you are laughing out loud.  When was the last time that you actually rolled on the floor laughing?  If that is indeed the case and you are rolling around on the ground like a small child laughing hysterically then write that you are indeed rolling around on the ground like a small child laughing hysterically.   Write it out.  How much longer does it really take you?  Oh, I know that somebody is going to think they are funny and write in the comments something like this:  You are so funny!!!!! I am LOL!  No really I am ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!   Rest assured I will not find this amusing and you will be subjected to a withering look and caustic sarcasm neither of which you will find to be helpful for your already low self esteem bubble.

New Year’s Resolution #2:  Read around the fire more.

It has been brought to my attention that it was quite a long while in between posts.  Sorry about that. I have been on vacation for the last week and a half and before that we were making the mad dash to get all of our business done before the end of the year.  Also, I was spending entirely to much time in shopping malls looking for the perfect gifts for everybody on my list.  If you did not receive a present from me this year it is probably because you somehow ended up on my naughty list.  Yes indeed, I am very much like the mythical figure, Santa Claus. 

I didn’t buy myself a Christmas gift this year.  It was an unfortunate oversight that I will work all year long to remedy. 

On a more serious note, I wish you all the very best in the Year of our Lord and Saviour, 2009.   I hope and pray that you have the best year that you have ever had and that peace and prosperity will be yours this year.

Theme Music

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now.  Ok, let’s not go off on a tangent about how great it is that Than has been thinking.  Just get it out of your system.  Let’s move on!  I believe wholeheartedly that every person in the world should have their own theme music.  There’s song that is played on the opening of Colin Cowherd’s radio show on ESPN radio that I would choose for my own song!  But wait, maybe I should go with “Ride of the Valkyries”!  How cool would this be….just go with me for a minute ok?  The door to your office swings open, there you stand in all of your glory.  The music starts!  You whip off your sunglasses, shrug out of your coat and make your way down the aisle to your cube or office!  All the while, your strolling to your own theme music!  AWESOME!!!  How about this?  When you walk into anywhere your own theme music accompanies you!  Maybe if you saved a lot of money of your car insurance by switching to Geico you could afford your own band to accompany you around town.  I don’t know but I heard their commercials and there were some people saying that they had their own bands following them around.  I mean really, it only take 15 minutes! 

What would not be cool is if other people got to pick your theme music.  HA!  I have a few songs I would like to stick people with! 

Oh well, enough foolishness for the day.  Enjoy and think about your song!  Feel free to leave it in the comments section if you’re not afraid I’ll laugh until I cry!  Be a big boy or girl!!