Just had the Concert of Praise tonight. What an awesome hour and a half. It could probably be longer... but, who am I to determine something like that. Its great to see an enormous number of people praising God at the same time in one voice. Makes on e really wonder what Heaven will be like... Its gonna be so cool.. I cant wait!
If I read it right, from the Backyard Bible Clubs, and the GO trips... 868 people accepted Christ. Talk about a party in Heaven. Whew! Thats gonna be good!
Shortest post on the planet... but one thats really exciting!
8.09.2009
7.20.2009
You know it... but you dont realize it until it happens
I had an absolutely amazing team for Backyard Bible Clubs this year. It was truly wonderful to watch God work through 4 highschoolers to two groups of kids. I just thought I'd share something that I learned during this week of driving them around and listening to what was going on with them as they experienced this.
On Wednesday night, Erin shared the Gospel with the kids. She did really well. Afterward, back at the church, we were talking and I told her that I thought she did well. To that, she said, "It was God, not me!" Even though she felt she had done well, she knew that God had worked through her. Talk about awesome!
The big night was Thursday, Erin did the Gospel again... but didn't feel as if she did very well at it. It didnt go as well as it did the night before. However, I thought she did just fine. So, I told her that afterward again. She was still feeling badly.
The point was... God doesnt change. He still used Erin, even if she didnt feel like it. God had said exactly what he wanted said. The Holy Spirit was still able to work through Erin on both days as much as He wanted to work.
You know God is cool! It just hits ya harder when he works when we dont feel like it!
7.08.2009
Spurred back into Blogging
I know it has been forever since I last wrote a personal blog entry (My "Professional" blog entry is at http://www.rogerawebb.com), but I was up watching an infomercial at 2am a few days ago... and an ad came on during it that really put a burr under my saddle. I figured I would share my frustration and get the world (Hi Mom!) equally as frustrated along side of me.
The spokesman for this product is Lee Majors. While Mr. Majors has been in numerous TV shows, the most notable was "The Six Million Dollar Man" (at least to me). "The Fall Guy" was good.. but come on... SMDM was SO much more fun to watch! This product was playing off him being the Six Million Dollar Man. He even talks about it in the Commerical (Video on the site below).
The Product is "The Bionic Rechargable Hearing Aid". In the commercial found on the site (which is the same on TV) he talks about Bionics and his Role on SMDM.
Of course.. If you havent noticed the OBVIOUS error in this whole concept... You apparently werent a fan of SMDM. The bionic ear was in THE BIONIC WOMAN... not the bionic man! The Six Million Dollar Man had a bionic EYE.
Shouldnt this product have been endorsed by Lindsey Wagner ... The bionic woman.. she had the bionic ear. If you remember she had to move the hair off her ear to use it ... whihc ..why the bionic ear couldnt hear through her hair... but could hear miles away... is another blog entry for another time. Maybe Ms. Wagner couldnt get out of her sleepnumber bed contract. I dunno.
I guess its all about Marketing! I'm just saying...
The spokesman for this product is Lee Majors. While Mr. Majors has been in numerous TV shows, the most notable was "The Six Million Dollar Man" (at least to me). "The Fall Guy" was good.. but come on... SMDM was SO much more fun to watch! This product was playing off him being the Six Million Dollar Man. He even talks about it in the Commerical (Video on the site below).
The Product is "The Bionic Rechargable Hearing Aid". In the commercial found on the site (which is the same on TV) he talks about Bionics and his Role on SMDM.
Of course.. If you havent noticed the OBVIOUS error in this whole concept... You apparently werent a fan of SMDM. The bionic ear was in THE BIONIC WOMAN... not the bionic man! The Six Million Dollar Man had a bionic EYE.
Shouldnt this product have been endorsed by Lindsey Wagner ... The bionic woman.. she had the bionic ear. If you remember she had to move the hair off her ear to use it ... whihc ..why the bionic ear couldnt hear through her hair... but could hear miles away... is another blog entry for another time. Maybe Ms. Wagner couldnt get out of her sleepnumber bed contract. I dunno.
I guess its all about Marketing! I'm just saying...
1.28.2007
I, Roger, was WRONG!
There, I have admitted it. Thats the first step. However before y'all think "Which one was it this time?", I will explain myself.
I hate cats... but I love my wife! Shortly after I got married, My wife talked me into getting a kitten. Now, if there are any girls reading this... they probably just all thought "Awe.. how cute." And well, I have to say... Buddy was a cute kitten. He was the runt of the litter that we found in a cardboard box outside a grocery store on the way to church one Sunday morning. Still being within the first six months of being married, I couldn't say no to Caty, so I said... "Ok. But I'm not taking care of it."
Buddy was a good kitten. It only took knocking him across the room a couple of times to learn not to get up on the kitchen counter, or the bed.. or the couch. It only took once for him to learn not to sleep in my shoe. Of course, he also quickly learned not to get under my foot as I was putting it down on the floor. (The last one, Caty heard him learn from across the apartment. I stepped fully on his little 4 month old body. And, you know my foot, so I looked down and didnt even see him.)
Buddy lived (despite my efforts) a relatively short life. He lived to be 9 years old. He died of kidney failure. While I still say I hate cats... I tolerated Buddy. He learned well, but he was still considered to be stupid.
2006 was the year I was proved to be incorrect in my thinking. Yes. I was wrong. You see, once again... My wife talked me into getting another cat. It wasnt like it was the first ones she (and the kids... now that she had reinforcements) asked to get. Each time I had resisted. Well, She talked me into getting another one. And this one.. well, she caught me at work while I was thinking about other things entirely. I actually gave her the option. Inside, I remember thinking, well, it couldnt be as stupid as Buddy was.
Well, Like I said, I was Wrong. Root Beer is the absolute stupidest cat on the planet. Yes, thats right.... THE PLANET! Even though Buddy is technically still on the planet.. hes under ground at our old house in Lakeway... Im talking alive. However, in the few months that we have had Root Beer, I have come to terms that... Buddy was the absolute smartest cat that has ever lived. Buddy was Amazing.
I used to think that Buddy was worthless and had no point to him. Seeing Root Beer, I realize that Buddy was much more than I could comprehend at the time.
Buddy was a genius before his time! And I didnt see it until later.
While I'm sure there is a lesson that can be learned from all this.... I would hope it is more than.... "Roger was wrong for the first time." But, if that is the only thing that can come out of this... I dont mind... we can't all be perfect. But, I still hate cats!
I hate cats... but I love my wife! Shortly after I got married, My wife talked me into getting a kitten. Now, if there are any girls reading this... they probably just all thought "Awe.. how cute." And well, I have to say... Buddy was a cute kitten. He was the runt of the litter that we found in a cardboard box outside a grocery store on the way to church one Sunday morning. Still being within the first six months of being married, I couldn't say no to Caty, so I said... "Ok. But I'm not taking care of it."
Buddy was a good kitten. It only took knocking him across the room a couple of times to learn not to get up on the kitchen counter, or the bed.. or the couch. It only took once for him to learn not to sleep in my shoe. Of course, he also quickly learned not to get under my foot as I was putting it down on the floor. (The last one, Caty heard him learn from across the apartment. I stepped fully on his little 4 month old body. And, you know my foot, so I looked down and didnt even see him.)
Buddy lived (despite my efforts) a relatively short life. He lived to be 9 years old. He died of kidney failure. While I still say I hate cats... I tolerated Buddy. He learned well, but he was still considered to be stupid.
2006 was the year I was proved to be incorrect in my thinking. Yes. I was wrong. You see, once again... My wife talked me into getting another cat. It wasnt like it was the first ones she (and the kids... now that she had reinforcements) asked to get. Each time I had resisted. Well, She talked me into getting another one. And this one.. well, she caught me at work while I was thinking about other things entirely. I actually gave her the option. Inside, I remember thinking, well, it couldnt be as stupid as Buddy was.
Well, Like I said, I was Wrong. Root Beer is the absolute stupidest cat on the planet. Yes, thats right.... THE PLANET! Even though Buddy is technically still on the planet.. hes under ground at our old house in Lakeway... Im talking alive. However, in the few months that we have had Root Beer, I have come to terms that... Buddy was the absolute smartest cat that has ever lived. Buddy was Amazing.
I used to think that Buddy was worthless and had no point to him. Seeing Root Beer, I realize that Buddy was much more than I could comprehend at the time.
Buddy was a genius before his time! And I didnt see it until later.
While I'm sure there is a lesson that can be learned from all this.... I would hope it is more than.... "Roger was wrong for the first time." But, if that is the only thing that can come out of this... I dont mind... we can't all be perfect. But, I still hate cats!
1.16.2007
Game called on account of snow.
Yes.. I havent written my blog in a while. I was trying to create dramatic tension. A whole whisper conversation of "What's Roger gonna throw at us next?" Well, I didnt mean to make it what 3 or 4 weeks of whispering... However, the time has come to end it... Today is that day!
So what to write about. Well, I have the day off today because of the snow and Ice. I figure that all the people from up north are laughing hysterically at our entire city. Almost everything is shut down. I do have to go to HEB tonight.. But we are closing the store at 10pm instead of 1am!
But the real story today.. is that the highly anticipated Tuesday Ping Pong game between The Box and me. Yes.. it got cancelled. As Box said on the phone... "This may be the first ping pong game in history to be called on account of snow and ice." But alas, to everyone's dismay, there are no ping pong scores today. Im sorry to tally disappoint you all.
I guess The Box got lucky this week. For I have no proff that today was going to be my day! Thats ok.... I have too much fun just playing it.
So what to write about. Well, I have the day off today because of the snow and Ice. I figure that all the people from up north are laughing hysterically at our entire city. Almost everything is shut down. I do have to go to HEB tonight.. But we are closing the store at 10pm instead of 1am!
But the real story today.. is that the highly anticipated Tuesday Ping Pong game between The Box and me. Yes.. it got cancelled. As Box said on the phone... "This may be the first ping pong game in history to be called on account of snow and ice." But alas, to everyone's dismay, there are no ping pong scores today. Im sorry to tally disappoint you all.
I guess The Box got lucky this week. For I have no proff that today was going to be my day! Thats ok.... I have too much fun just playing it.
12.20.2006
The Depressing Side of Youth Work...
Interesting Title huh? Well, I was reminded of it again this morning. Yes, there is a depressing side of youth work... And I'm not talking about the fact that Box beat me in ping pong again this week. That wasnt really depressing... It was fun! I had a blast losing to him.
With the formalities out of the way.. let me explain what Im talking about. Articles about youth work/workers put the average time that a youth leader spends at a particular church's youth group is 18 months. Personally, I think its a bit longer...maybe 3-4 years. In a Jr High setting 3 years is 2 full classes and 2 partial. Thats not bad. You get them through 7th and 8th grade...and they go on to the highschool group. While the 8th grade graduation Sunday was always a bit on the sad side.. I dont think this is the most depressing part...
In college, I was a short lived volunteer for Wild Life (The Jr high version of Young Life). But, back then .. college life was too important to me to be able to really build up relationships in the group. So, like I said, it was short lived. However, after I married Caty (The secondary Education teacher to-be). When we moved to Texas in Feb 1994, I talked to her about doing the Jr High group at the new church. She was all for it... So March of 1994, we became volunteer leaders. And the streak begun. Yes, it has been a long time, but thats not the depressing part either.
Having been doing this since 1994, I have a pretty .... unique take on Jr Highers. Simply because I had to, I could tell you all kinds of things about the Power Rangers (A cheap ripoff of the much better VOLTRON!). Hey, it was a big thing 10 years ago! Now, things are different ...and like computers.... everything really does change quite often. But, thats not the depressing part either.
What IS the depressing part? I know thats what you are asking... or at least my one reader (Hi Mom!) is asking by now. (Im sure you are baited now... I think thats some sort of speaking idea. Bait them in on the edge of their seats to make em listen! :) ) Well, I'm going to tell you... But, I have to tell you by what made me think of it this morning.
Needless to say, after almost 13 years of playing with Jr Highers, you tend to form ALOT of relationships. Its wierd to have "Jr Highers" with kids the same age as Marion. But, they do grow up .. go to high school...and college... and yeah..even get married. *Ugh I'm old!* My first youth group we worked with at Westlake Bible Church... when we started in 1994... on a Wednesday Night, we had 5 leaders... and 2 kids. It was in the process of ramping up with a great guy (Who I happen to have grown up with in Arizona) named David Sunukjian. Small World. He was there for 4 or 5 years... and was an awesome speaker like his dad, the Senior Pastor. Then he went off to seminary out in California (after he married one of the youth leaders.... Youth work does have its up-sides too!) Anyway, we grew to about 10 leaders (We were a pretty close group!) and about 80 Jr Highers. For two years, I had one group of guys that eventually became known as the RSS. Roger's Secret Service... it was said that they would take a bullet for me! LOL! I taught them to play Foosball and we played alot of Doom II Deathmatch at midnight. There are some stories there that are probably left for another blog. There were also quite a few gals that liked to hang out with me (I dunno why). One of my closest gals actually married one of my closest guys last December. (Happy One Year!) I've even been through one Jr Higher (that I was actually friends with long before Jr high cause she had older siblings) that died when she was 13.
What can I say.. I ramble. Anyway... so today I was getting on the computer and I pulled up my browser. I pulled down my favorites list... and saw one of my old Jr highers "MySpace" links. I havent talked to her in a couple of months... so I went there to get caught up in what she is doing. Sure enough, shes updated it since I last went there. Its amazing how much of a person's life goes by in two months when shes 18.
So now you know what the depressing part of Youth work is... Its a revolving door of friendships. Thats not as easy as it sounds like. Just imagine... the people you hang out with change completely every 2 years. The closest ones do stick around longer. Which can be good. The last time one of the RSS was in town, we did play a days worth of AOE II and some Doom II .. just for old times sake. But, for every one that keeps up with ya, 10 or more drop off.
I cant wait to get to Heaven and find out what they all went off and did.
With the formalities out of the way.. let me explain what Im talking about. Articles about youth work/workers put the average time that a youth leader spends at a particular church's youth group is 18 months. Personally, I think its a bit longer...maybe 3-4 years. In a Jr High setting 3 years is 2 full classes and 2 partial. Thats not bad. You get them through 7th and 8th grade...and they go on to the highschool group. While the 8th grade graduation Sunday was always a bit on the sad side.. I dont think this is the most depressing part...
In college, I was a short lived volunteer for Wild Life (The Jr high version of Young Life). But, back then .. college life was too important to me to be able to really build up relationships in the group. So, like I said, it was short lived. However, after I married Caty (The secondary Education teacher to-be). When we moved to Texas in Feb 1994, I talked to her about doing the Jr High group at the new church. She was all for it... So March of 1994, we became volunteer leaders. And the streak begun. Yes, it has been a long time, but thats not the depressing part either.
Having been doing this since 1994, I have a pretty .... unique take on Jr Highers. Simply because I had to, I could tell you all kinds of things about the Power Rangers (A cheap ripoff of the much better VOLTRON!). Hey, it was a big thing 10 years ago! Now, things are different ...and like computers.... everything really does change quite often. But, thats not the depressing part either.
What IS the depressing part? I know thats what you are asking... or at least my one reader (Hi Mom!) is asking by now. (Im sure you are baited now... I think thats some sort of speaking idea. Bait them in on the edge of their seats to make em listen! :) ) Well, I'm going to tell you... But, I have to tell you by what made me think of it this morning.
Needless to say, after almost 13 years of playing with Jr Highers, you tend to form ALOT of relationships. Its wierd to have "Jr Highers" with kids the same age as Marion. But, they do grow up .. go to high school...and college... and yeah..even get married. *Ugh I'm old!* My first youth group we worked with at Westlake Bible Church... when we started in 1994... on a Wednesday Night, we had 5 leaders... and 2 kids. It was in the process of ramping up with a great guy (Who I happen to have grown up with in Arizona) named David Sunukjian. Small World. He was there for 4 or 5 years... and was an awesome speaker like his dad, the Senior Pastor. Then he went off to seminary out in California (after he married one of the youth leaders.... Youth work does have its up-sides too!) Anyway, we grew to about 10 leaders (We were a pretty close group!) and about 80 Jr Highers. For two years, I had one group of guys that eventually became known as the RSS. Roger's Secret Service... it was said that they would take a bullet for me! LOL! I taught them to play Foosball and we played alot of Doom II Deathmatch at midnight. There are some stories there that are probably left for another blog. There were also quite a few gals that liked to hang out with me (I dunno why). One of my closest gals actually married one of my closest guys last December. (Happy One Year!) I've even been through one Jr Higher (that I was actually friends with long before Jr high cause she had older siblings) that died when she was 13.
What can I say.. I ramble. Anyway... so today I was getting on the computer and I pulled up my browser. I pulled down my favorites list... and saw one of my old Jr highers "MySpace" links. I havent talked to her in a couple of months... so I went there to get caught up in what she is doing. Sure enough, shes updated it since I last went there. Its amazing how much of a person's life goes by in two months when shes 18.
So now you know what the depressing part of Youth work is... Its a revolving door of friendships. Thats not as easy as it sounds like. Just imagine... the people you hang out with change completely every 2 years. The closest ones do stick around longer. Which can be good. The last time one of the RSS was in town, we did play a days worth of AOE II and some Doom II .. just for old times sake. But, for every one that keeps up with ya, 10 or more drop off.
I cant wait to get to Heaven and find out what they all went off and did.
12.11.2006
Bedrooms vs. Gamerooms
I had a dream Sunday night and actually remembered it today so I figured I'd tell you about it. What a better medium to tell it to you... than in one that you cant interrupt me in. :) I've heard it said that you can only dream about things you have actually seen. So if you think something is made up... its not really.. its just your mind dealing with having to insert something into a "movie" (or "filmstrip" if you are as old as me!) that it can make it into what your brain is trying to say.
As the memory of my dream begins, I'm walking into one of those mega-churches. Im a mega church kid from my youth. You know the type.. Youth groups of 400... Sanctuaries that seat 5000 per service...and the church runs 3 services. You know.. like the North West Mothership. Anyway, I walked in to the sanctuary which really resembled a stadium seating movie theater.
My brain took off out of this setting for a moment and went to my memory of designing my current house. I can remember when I was thinking about the size of each of the rooms... I thought, "Benjamin's bedroom doesnt need to be big, because hes just going to be sleeping there." While he got lucky and got more than a closet, we didnt make an overly large room to hold all of his toys in every way he might want to play with them. We made a descent sized room, that he could keep his stuff in, and them made a large game room that he and his siblings could do the playing in.
When I flipped back to the sermon, I was sitting in the middle and the pastor was describing how the life we live in is like the bedroom of our house. The Gameroom of the house, is the life that God designed for us to live in. When we accept Christ into our lives, God shows us that there is more to life than our beds and a little floorspace to push a car around on. There's a room that big enough for a pool table... or enough room to have friends over and not be cramped.
Bedrooms are safe. People generally knock before entering. Siblings generally stay out of your room. You can do your homework in your own little world. Gamerooms are rowdy and loud. Stuff ends up everywhere.
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. -- John 10:10b (NASB)
or
I came that they may have life, and live it out in the gameroom. -- John 10:10b (Roger's unauthorized version)
Our lives are comfortable in our own little world of our bedroom. Fairly controlled and peaceful. Christ came so that we can experince life through the door of our room. The gameroom that God designed already has the ping pong table, the foosball table, and the bigscreen televisions each for the inferior gaming systems that we all know about. Its loud and the walls are a bit more solid to be able to handle rougher play. (And, Im sure that there is a pink girls version of the game room too... but I cant think of what would be in it!) Either way, its uncomfortable in some respects. But, thats why Christ is with us... to have fun and shake us up so we can really enjoy what he has to offer.
At that point, I think I woke up. For those of you that know me.. 1) Im not the easiest person to wake up and 2) The air up there is awefully thin in the morning. I walked out into the gameroom and well... mine has all kinds of toys everywhere. My gameroom is filled with the effects of Chaos, Mayhem, and Entropy... I mean... Benjamin, Marion, and Zachary.
If thats the gameroom that *I* created (and my children repeatedly destroy)... the one God has designed for me ... well, I cant imagine! But, daily, I have to get up and let Christ lead me out into a rowdy, loud, and "abundant" life.
As the memory of my dream begins, I'm walking into one of those mega-churches. Im a mega church kid from my youth. You know the type.. Youth groups of 400... Sanctuaries that seat 5000 per service...and the church runs 3 services. You know.. like the North West Mothership. Anyway, I walked in to the sanctuary which really resembled a stadium seating movie theater.
My brain took off out of this setting for a moment and went to my memory of designing my current house. I can remember when I was thinking about the size of each of the rooms... I thought, "Benjamin's bedroom doesnt need to be big, because hes just going to be sleeping there." While he got lucky and got more than a closet, we didnt make an overly large room to hold all of his toys in every way he might want to play with them. We made a descent sized room, that he could keep his stuff in, and them made a large game room that he and his siblings could do the playing in.
When I flipped back to the sermon, I was sitting in the middle and the pastor was describing how the life we live in is like the bedroom of our house. The Gameroom of the house, is the life that God designed for us to live in. When we accept Christ into our lives, God shows us that there is more to life than our beds and a little floorspace to push a car around on. There's a room that big enough for a pool table... or enough room to have friends over and not be cramped.
Bedrooms are safe. People generally knock before entering. Siblings generally stay out of your room. You can do your homework in your own little world. Gamerooms are rowdy and loud. Stuff ends up everywhere.
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. -- John 10:10b (NASB)
or
I came that they may have life, and live it out in the gameroom. -- John 10:10b (Roger's unauthorized version)
Our lives are comfortable in our own little world of our bedroom. Fairly controlled and peaceful. Christ came so that we can experince life through the door of our room. The gameroom that God designed already has the ping pong table, the foosball table, and the bigscreen televisions each for the inferior gaming systems that we all know about. Its loud and the walls are a bit more solid to be able to handle rougher play. (And, Im sure that there is a pink girls version of the game room too... but I cant think of what would be in it!) Either way, its uncomfortable in some respects. But, thats why Christ is with us... to have fun and shake us up so we can really enjoy what he has to offer.
At that point, I think I woke up. For those of you that know me.. 1) Im not the easiest person to wake up and 2) The air up there is awefully thin in the morning. I walked out into the gameroom and well... mine has all kinds of toys everywhere. My gameroom is filled with the effects of Chaos, Mayhem, and Entropy... I mean... Benjamin, Marion, and Zachary.
If thats the gameroom that *I* created (and my children repeatedly destroy)... the one God has designed for me ... well, I cant imagine! But, daily, I have to get up and let Christ lead me out into a rowdy, loud, and "abundant" life.
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