The comments option has now been enabled.  It was just strange not really knowing if anybody was really reading or benefiting from any of this except for the few who have told me personally.  Anyway comment away and let's see what happens.

Let's see just to make this entry worth something you might like to know that in a few months my wife will turn 50.  That is amazing in that she does not look or act like she is anywhere near 50. 

Dave Barry is one of my favorite writers and here is what he had to say about people turning 50: "I turned 50, which is really not so old.  A lot of very famous people accomplished great things after 50. For example, it was during the post-50 phase of his life that the brilliant physicist Albert Einstien produced the vast majority of his drool."

There are many good reasons why we should start a new church but one of the best has to do with the growth of our area.  From 2006-2007 DFW the population in DFW grew by 162,000 people.  That is the largest numerical growth of any metropolitan area in the U.S.

How many churches would there be in a city of 162,000 people?  My guess is that there could be as many as 350 (this is very conservative).  If so, we could start a church virtually everyday of the year and we would just be keeping up with the population growth.

In his book The American Church Crisis author David Olson interviews a young mother who lived across the street from a new church. For several weeks she would get dressed for church on Sunday but would not have the courage to walk across the street.  One week she finally had enough courage to visit.  She began to attend regularly and eventually became a Christ-follower.

When interviewed she said, “God knew I would never attend a church on my own, but he loved me so much he started a church across the street from where I lived.  He knew that was the only way I could find my way to him.”

Why start a new church, - because there are a lot more people out there like this woman.

This cpatures who I want us to be at FOTP Grapevine. - Charles 

I stand by the door.
I neither go to far in, nor stay to far out.
The door is the most important door in the world -
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands,
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it.
So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door - the door to God.
The most important thing that any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands
And put it on the latch - the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man's own touch.

Men die outside the door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter.
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live on the other side of it - live because they have not found it.

Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him.
So I stand by the door.

Go in great saints; go all the way in -
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
And way up into the spacious attics.
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in.
Sometimes venture in a little farther,
But my place seems closer to the opening.
So I stand by the door.

There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia
And want to get out. 'Let me out!' they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiled.
For the old life, they have seen too much:
One taste of God and nothing but God will do any more.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving - preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door
But would like to run away. So for them too,
I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door.
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply and stay in too long
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there too.

Where? Outside the door -
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
But - more important for me -
One of them, two of them, ten of them.
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.

'I had rather be a door-keeper
So I stand by the door.

Here are some great quotes about teenagers: If you want to recapture your youth, just cut off his allowance.  ~Al Bernstein

The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires.  ~Dorothy Parker

Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.  ~Erma Bombeck

In order to know whether a human being is young or old, offer it food of different kinds at short intervals.  If young, it will eat anything at any hour of the day or night.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

The invention of the teenager was a mistake.  Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes - naturally, no one wants to live any other way.  ~Judith Martin

Adolescence is a period of rapid changes.  Between the ages of 12 and 17, for example, a parent ages as much as 20 years.  ~Author Unknown

None of these quotes are in this book but it is full of good, practical advice for parents of teens.  Pat and I read this book when our son became a teenager and it was a huge help. So why am I putting it on my blog now – because I noticed I only had one book for parents.  Trust me, there are many more to come.

You will learn the difference between helicopter parents and drill sergeant parents.  We were definitely helicopter parents. In reading, we learned how to balance love and logic.  Love is giving your teens the opportunity to be responsible and empowering them to make wise decisions.  Logic means allowing your teen to experience the natural consequences of their actions. We could have done a better job I am sure but both of our older kids are off at college now.  Pat and I are so proud of the choices they are making and the maturity they demonstrate.  Raising Teens with Love and Logic helped make it happen.

Well, let me begin by saying that when you are 54 you really shouldn’t be reading any book written for young men.  The fact is the authors of this book, Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker also wrote Every Man’s Battle.  I should have read that version but my son had the other one in his room so I read it.

I had intended to read this book for some time but just now got around to it.  That was a mistake.  The authors do a great job of hitting the problem of sexual temptation head on.  More importantly, they offer workable, biblical strategies for achieving sexual purity.  The reader will learn how to train his eyes, his mind and how to clean up his thought life. 

This is one of those “every man should read this” type of book.  The reason is simple every man struggles to some degree in this area of his life as we live out our lives in a world where we are surrounded by sexual images.

In one of the best books I’ve read lately, I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt, Vince Antonucci shares about a time in his life when he studied monks.  He came to the conclusion that they got some things right like total dedication to the Lord but that they had to separate themselves from the world to experience it.  He wants to have the same focus but remain in the world in order to reach others. 

Along the way he came up with some slogans to help Monks in the area of marketing:

“If silence is golden, we’ve hit the jackpot.”

“What happens at the monastery, stays at the monastery.”

“We don’t wear anything under these robes.”

“Putting the ‘Monk’ in ‘Monkey Busyness”

Vince is a great author who has a way of looking at things that can make you think and laugh at the same time.

Over 26 years ago my sister invited me to an Easter service at her church.  I stopped in on my way to an afternoon Rangers game.  What to her probably seemed like a very casual attempt on my part to express my almost non-existent spiritual passion turned out to be a very pivotal point in my life.

I still can see the pastor as he preached and while I do not remember the message, I remember his zeal and authenticity. I remember some of the people I met that day and in particular a 16 year old girl who seemed to have a much better grip on life than I did.  I knew she and the others I met had something I did not.

A few months later my sister shared the good news of the gospel with me – that I could be forgiven and have a second chance at life.  A few weeks later I experienced a grace explosion in my heart and life has never been the same.

Invite a friend to Easter services with you.

"The biggest fact about Joseph's tomb was that it wasn't a tomb at all - it was a room for a transient. Jesus just stopped there...on His way back to glory."  (Herbert Booth Smith)

What would you do if you were a high school football player whose coach sent in a play, which called for you to run the ball to your opponent’s end zone and score for the other team? It has happened.  With seven seconds left in a game, Tishimingo High School was leading Faulkner High School, 16 – 14.  At stakes was a birth in Mississippi’s 1988 state class 1A playoffs.  Tishimingo had the ball on Faulkner’s 40 yard line.  All they had to do to win the game was run out the clock. 

Coach Dave Herbert, who had Lou Gehrig’s disease and coached from the back of a pick up truck, sent in a play to his son, the team’s quarterback.  They play called for him to hand off the ball to Shane Hill and for him to run to the other team’s end zone as the clock expired.  “Your daddy must be crazy!” protested one of the offensive linemen. So while the argument went on in the team’s huddle, a delay of game penalty was called on Tishimingo.  Finally, the team lined up, the ball was handed to the tailback, and he ran 55 yards in the wrong direction.  The result was a two point safety that tied the game, 16-16.

Was the coach crazy?  Was he out of his mind for calling such a play?  Absolutely not.  You see in order for his team to reach the playoffs Coach Herbert knew that his team had to win by at least 4 points.  Faced with the fact that he did not have anyone to kick a field goal from the distance they faced and he felt his chances of completing “Hail Mary” pass were equally dismal, he decided that they should go the “wrong” way.  What was the result of the coach’s play?  Tishimingo won in overtime 22-16, on a third down, two yard run by Shane Hill.  Hill ended the game with a negative 29 yards rushing, but his team made it to the playoffs and Coach Herbert looked like a genius.

The story sounds a little bit like the cross to me.  God became a man, was pushed around by his enemies, and executed as a criminal.  I have to believe that the disciples must have seen the crucifixion of Christ as a bad call, the wrong play headed in the wrong direction.  Everything changed on Sunday morning when they began to realize that the whole thing was a part of God’s plan that led to the ultimate victory.  The fact is the disciples got so excited about the whole thing that they began to tell the story to anyone who would listen.

The next time something happens in your life that appears to be a 65 yard safety for the opposing team just be reminded that like Dave Herbert, the play caller hasn’t lost his mind.  In fact, you can know that ultimately you will get to be a part of a great victory celebration.

Context, both physical and mental, plays a role in information recall and creativity. In one experiment, scuba divers were asked to learn a list of words on dry land and another underwater.  Researchers found that recall was higher in the context in which the words were learned.  If they learned words underwater their recall was higher underwater.  The same was true for the words learned on dry land.

This is the reason detectives often take victims back to the scene of the crime.  It is also a good reason for a student who has missed a test to take the test in the classroom where the information was learned rather than taking the test in the teacher’s office.

We can also see why sometimes to stimulate creativity, it is best to go to a new environment.  You will be more creative when the old memories associated with the old context do not get in the way.

I love this stuff!

I have not finished this book written by Andrew Razeghi but already have gleaned some very helpful information.  Like many books I read this one affirms some of what I have already learned and gives me additional insight.

I have read much in the last few years on the subject of creativity.  One of the things I had learned and observed is that sleep is a time when our minds are very creative.  Our subconscious mind continues to work during the night and that is the reason that we often wake up with the solution to a problem. 

Razeghi points out that our brains do more “sideways thinking” (connecting information) when we are asleep.  Many people such as Ernest Hemingway would take advantage of this concept.  For instance, Hemingway would write a line about a character in one of his books such as “He entered the room and found…”.  Then he would go to sleep and finish the story the next day.

I have found this to be very helpful in preparing to speak.  Right before I go to bed I will look at the topic I will be speaking on and maybe read some information pertaining to the topic.  Many times when I wake up the next day the outline is there in my mind.

This is only one concept that I found helpful.  Another was that there are different types of creativity – Artistic creativity (inventing unique things of beauty or of attraction) Scientific creativity (discovering truths and laws of science)  and Conceptual creativity (solving problems or finding solutions).

Often when we think of creativity, we think exclusively in terms of artistic creativity but many people who are not artisitcly creative conceptually creative.  They don’t dress funny or have beards or anything we might associate with artistic creativity.  Some of them are the most successful business men in world.

He does a great job of explaining the right brain and left brain role in creativity.  It was fascinating to hear about the study of Albert Einstein’s brain.  He was probably partially dyslexic but this led to unusual connectivity and thus creativity.

Another interesting concept is that many conceptually creative people are simply good at connecting ideas rather than coming up with new ideas.  Henry Ford simply took the process he saw in a meat packing plant and the concept of interchangeable parts used by Eli Whitney in the production of fire arms for the military and combined them to come up with assembly line production of automobiles.

I could go on for hours, reflecting on things that I learned from this book.  Here is the confession, I am three quarters of the way through and getting bogged down in some of the more technical aspects of how the brain works.  If I stopped reading today (and I may) it would be worth it.