God is not Advil

Dri and I have recently made a new committment to do devotions together as a couple each morning.

Today we read/talked about Joseph. The reading was talking about staying away from temptation, but as often happens with me - I got off on a new chain of thoughts, ending up somwhere quite far from the original point.

I was thinking about Joseph and about the ups and downs in his life. While I haven't been the second-in-command of a nation or thrown in prison - I'd like to think I can relate to having a roller coaster ride through life. I'm sure most people are that way. The thing that sticks out to me is that we don't see anything to indicate that Joseph's faith in God went up and down along with his fortunes. He was human, so I'm sure it happened somewhat, but...you get the point.

I'm going to jump to another train of thought, and I'll tie 'em together in a second. Dri and I don't fight much, don't have many marital issues - and are generally pretty happy with our lives together. But recently, we've been kind of stressed. Dri's finishing up her degree in Youth Ministry, and was job searching. We were having a hard time hearing God's voice on which direction to go (I think we kept talking over the top of Him).

And that brings me back to the beginning. I realized why we decided to start doing devotions together. We were going through a rough time. It woke us up. When I'm doing fine, my spiritual life suffers. He's our help in times of trouble - I don't need anyone to remind me of that. What I have a hard time remembering is that He's the provider of all the good times too. And honestly, considering that both Dri and I work in ministry-related fields, that's pretty embarrasing. How can you forget the One that you're living your life for?

By the way, Dri is now the Director of Youth Ministries at Elm Springs Methodist Church. We're real happy with the way things ended up. BUT, what remains to be seen is...can we keep the development of our spiritual lives as a high priority now that things are smooth sailing again? That's when it gets tough.

Family Force 5...

...is a trip, man.

Darn Spammers...

As I am prone to do occaisionally, I went back through some old blog posts and read them again - just for the fun of it.

But you know what I found?

Spam. Lots and lots of spam.

Apparently, in the weeks, months (and yes, years) that my blog has been idling away, collecting cobwebs on the internet, hundreds of random people (or bots) have scraped their scummy selves across my website, leaving random comments on posts that say something like:

"Great posts! Very interesting read. Have you ever tried taking mal.e en hancement pi11s?"

Oh well. At least now I have like twice as many comments as I would have legitimately.

It could be worse...

I spend a good chunk of my time watching ESPN and keeping up to date on the sports world. And there's only one thing that people have been talking about the past couple days - and that's the Oakland Raiders.

Now...I must admit that football, for me, has been pretty bleak this year. The KC Chiefs are one of the worst teams in the NFL. Kansas State isn't anywhere near as good as they used to be. And my fantasy football team, despite looking really good on paper...has failed to perform.

With the NFL in particular, I haven't really been feeling too good about this year. A lot of people thought KC had a shot at going winless this season. I watched us play the Raiders, and couldn't help but agree that it was a distinct possibility.

But in one week, everything has turned around.

Well, not everything. But enough. You see, sometimes the best thing that can happen for a fan when their teams suck is to watch rivals flounder. The Broncos, at 3-0, getting hammered by the winless Chiefs was beautiful. I didn't think anything could top it. I hate the Broncos.

But then...enters Al Davis.

The press conference after Kiffin's firing was absolutely awesome. The Raiders organization is completely dysfunctional. And when compared to the Raiders...the Broncos are like my second-favorite team.

This week I've learned. No matter how bad the Chiefs are...anything is better than being the Raiders. And that's the one thing Broncos and Chiefs alike can agree on.

{Ansen Lays It On} Version 5.0

Another redesign heralds my return to this forsaken blog!

Q: What is the chief end of "Ansen Lays It On"?

A: The chief end of "Ansen Lays it On" is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  Er...

Q: What is the other, not (quite) as chief but still (pretty darn) chief end of "Ansen Lays It On"?

A: To provide me with the history of my life.  I've spent hours going back through the things I've written here, and it brings me a lot of great (and some not so great) memories of the past.  I think it's so cool to be able to look back and see how I've grown and how I've changed.  I've resolved to start writing again, mostly for my own benefit.  

But if you're reading this, maybe there will be something here for you too.  

Then again...maybe not.

If the posts are boring, there are always the pretty colors up at the top of the screen - that's pretty neat.