Charles Barkley's Fave Five...

Have you seen the cell phone commercials with Charles Barkley and Dwane Wade??? Basically Wade is trying to figure our ways to get Barkely to put Wade in his fave five. He offers to let him wear his championship ring, he sits in Barkley's TV room and watches highlights of Barkley's playing days etc...

Well this is my attempt to keep up my blog to get back on Doug Gregg's list of Bloggers.

I'm tryin...Come on Doug...Please!!!

This is Hard!

It is hard to keep up with a blog. I want to, but I just don't think to do it...Hopefully I will get better.

Sunday is Julia and my 1 year anniversary. We are going to PF Changs tonight to celebrate, that was the site of our first date (except we were in Columbus, OH).

Anyways...hope everyone is doing well out there in blogger world.

I will try to have more life changing info next time I blog...

Victory!!!

For those who don't know, Julia and I are now in Clinton, Oklahoma full-time. Things are going great. We are working on our new (very old) house, and have been getting to know our church and the town really well.

We had a record 50 attend Sunday morning services a few weeks ago, and had a record 90 at our Awana kickoff 3 weeks ago (70 of those kids). So far so good.

We hosted a 5th Sunday singing this past Sunday and had several churches attend. We had around 125 people there, so it was very crowded and exciting. It made me want to see the church that full every week.

I hope to blog at least every other week, from here on out, to keep everyone updated on everything at Victory.

Long time no Blog

Nobody is probably going to read this. It was been 3 months since my last blog so I am sure everyone has stopped checking.

Lots has been going on, so I am sorry (for those that care).

Check out my next blog for an update.

Yard Work

Today I worked for about 3 hours in my front yard. It wasn't too hot, but it was muggy. I guess it was worth it...it looks a lot better. I wasn't planning on working in the yard, just came home and decided to do it...then I couldn't stop...it was almost adicting. Sure it will be the last time yard work feels adicting.

Settle down.

I used to long to settle down. Get married, buy a house find a long term job, etc, etc, etc. Everything is great, not settled, but great. Maybe I will feel settled when I retire.

Oh, and I am going in view of a call at Victory Missionary Baptist Church in Clinton, OK on June 17th, prayers would be appreciated.

What's wrong with kids today...

In the wake of the VT tragedy everybody seems to have a lot to say about guns and the crazy people who use them for such senseless reasons, but I want to say something about our schools and what they show me.

For the last 2 months I have been working in an inner city school just North of MWC, OK. I have seen about 7 or 8 fist fights just between the 23 3rd graders in my class. I have watched a 5th grade student solicate students change at the vending machines and noone even argue with him because of how scared they are of him and his gang banger older brother who is at a MWC highschool. I have witnessed a teacher quit with less than two months of classes left because "it just wasn't worth it"...I have been harrased by 5th grade students who only respond to phone calls home to mom or dad (because their parents hate to be bothered, so they spank the tar out of their children if they get a phone call). This school has a room just for In School Suspension and a principal just for discipline. All of us teachers carry cell phones because students won't leave our classrooms when they are sent to the principal and often have to be escorted. I have seen 4 or 5 seperate 3rd grade students so filled with rage that they have flipped desks over. I could go on...

Now this school is an extreme situation, but I believe it could be a window into the future. The issue isn't spanking children vs. alternate forms of discipline, I would even argue that it isn't completely about God being taken out of school (as many claim it is)...I say the issue is love. Most of the children I see on a day to day basis are not being loved enough...Some are not loved at all...some are only loved when they are good...some only get attention when they are bad.

Schools are not the problem today. Myself and my fellow teachers didn't make these kids this way, their parents did. I hear all the time how schools are failing our children, the truth is that the world needs to wake up and see that parents are failing their children. When did it become the schools responsiblity to teach discipline, morals, self respect, character, etc...

Sure schools have always helped parents foster these ideas, but schools can't initiate these ideas. We have these kids 8 hours a day for less that 9 months out of the year. That is a lot of time, but not nearly enough time to undue the harm that has been done to them, and not nearly enough time to love them as much as the need.