They ruined another of my favorite children's shows

When I was a young one (too many years ago) I watched Thunderbirds. It was about a family that ran International Rescue, an organization that saved the world from destruction at least once a week. It was unique because it was a pupet show. They would do it so well that for me at age 10 I suspended my belief quite easily. One character that I identified with was Brains. Not a member of the family but a hired hand, who created all their gadgets that they needed. Today we would call him a nerd or a geek. Well, look what they did to him:





Why must they ruin my childhood???


For those who do not remember the show, here is a clip from the opening. Watch at the end when they blow up the complex of buildings.

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Cinderella will not get to go to the ball

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 5-year-old daughter of contemporary Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother, authorities said.
The girl, Maria, was hit in a driveway on the family residence Wednesday afternoon by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother, said Laura McPherson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
McPherson said no charges are expected."It looks like a tragic accident," she said.

FOXNews.com - Daughter of Gospel Star Steven Curtis Chapman Hit, Killed by Car - | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment

Our prayers are with you and all of the Chapman family. Thanks for sharing her and your special relationship in your song.



She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I'm sittin' here wearin' the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"
So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I'd approve of a dress
She says "Dad, the prom is just one week away, And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"
So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh,
I will dance with Cinderella I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone She will be gone.

Well, she came home today With a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says "Dad, the wedding's due six months away And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy please!"
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh,
I will dance with Cinderella I don't wanna miss even one song, (even one song)
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone

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On A Dime

Did you know that God can turn a situation around on a dime. The question is, whose dime? Yours or His? My notes from Associate Pastor at Grace church when he gave the sermon 'On A Dime".

Bad Weather

I had an interesting night last night. As I write this we have had a serious evening of storms in the greater Tulsa area. It is kind of interesting that God puts people where they need to be to do the most good sometimes. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I have not had a chance to go to Wednesday night service in months because of my working evenings. Earlier this week my co-worker came back from surgery. He needed to go to physical therapy several days a week, so we switched shifts so he could go in the mornings and not have to burn a lot of sick time. Since I had Wednesday night off now I decided that I would go to church. There had been tornatoes reported in Oklahoma City but that was 120 miles away. I did not think much of it. At 7:00 I got to church and as I was heading into the building I thought I heard the sirens, but was not sure. Dropped Annie off for her group and I went over to 'big people' church as the kids and I call it. While praise and worship was going on, the senior pastor on staff got up and said for us to head over to the Children's Building. The children had already been moved and there were storms in the area that were dangerous. Quietly and in prayer we moved.

Now the area was not chaos, but it was not normal either. Children were in one area, adults were in another but we did not know where. There was a trust that all was OK. As I was sitting their in a long hallway that lead to a stairwell the Children's pastor came down and announced that the children were in the stairwell (which I had not gotten to because of the amount of people, and if we had children, we should get them as many of the kids were scarred. I went over and checked for Annie. When I found her she was just like I thought she would be. Someone had grabbed a couple of balloons and she a few kids were bouncing them around amongst themselves.

Since I knew Annie was safe I looked around and saw the Associate Children's pastor moving around a lot between a bunch of grade school kids. Since I work with this age group, even though I did not have the ministry t-shirt on, I got down and sat with the kids and started talking with them. Most of them recognized me and I could see that they had a little bit of fear in their eyes. They knew they were safe, and they knew their parents were safe, but they were out of the normal way of doing things. To see a face they knew helped a lot. We talked about a lot of things and made sure they were OK. We played Rock, Paper, Scissors, and sang some songs. There was a lot of rumbling and they asked me about it. Now I would not have been there if things had been normal, but I was their because of it and they were.

As we got ready to leave, after all the kids got picked up, I stopped to listen to the radio on the way home. I found out from the radio that Rhema Church in Broken Arrow, not far from where we were at Grace Church, had been hit fairly hard. The image here shows some of the damage. It is from KOTV.com

I looked up in Google Earth how close we were to the church that got hit. As the crow flies it is 4 miles almost due NE. And the storms were moving in a NE direction. In other words, the storm went right over my head.

I thank God that I was with those kids and able to keep them calm. I was able to take a bit of stress of the Children's ministers. It was not something that I pride myself on, it was the fact that God put me where He needed me to be. and I was able to do what He needed.

Wonder why no one wants to sign him?

Jeff Borris, the agent for Bonds, said, "No team has made me an offer for any amount at any time since Barry became a free agent."

ESPN - Free agents Bonds, Lofton key parts of MLBPA investigation - MLB

I wonder if the reason that no one has offered a job to Bonds is that the do not want the question of illegal steroid use in their clubhouse. Also, Baseball is a young man's sport. Bonds is at the age when he needs to think about being a manager. Just my $.02 worth at least.

Clinton wants to go Fast

Clinton makes Speedway stop to visit Fisher's garage - Auto Racing - CBSSports.com: "INDIANAPOLIS -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway garage of driver Sarah Fisher on Tuesday as she awaited results from her own race in Indiana's primary."

I think she made a mistake. She is supposed to be getting the vote of the NASCAR dads, not the Indy Car woman drivers. There are more of us NASCAR dads.

NASCAR.COM - Economic difficulties felt in garage, seen in the stands - May 2, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. -- Morgan Shepherd's goal for Friday night's Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway was easy -- run the entire event. Sounds simple enough, modest at best. But for Shepherd, that tops any goal he's had this season.

Richmond was Shepherd's ninth start in 11 Nationwide events this season. He retired early in the first seven events for the same reason -- handling. Only at Phoenix did he run more than 50 laps.

But at Talladega last weekend, Shepherd finished 13th in the race, completing all 117 laps. It was the first time he had finished a race since a 2004 Cup event at Daytona, and it was his first Nationwide Series finish since 2003.

The reason he was able to finish the race -- he only had to change tires once.

Running his team from his own pocket, from his own garage in Conover, N.C., racing isn't the most economic-friendly business for Shepherd. His Web site lists 10 employees, if you include his dog, Charger.

So this week, the initial plan was much the same: Qualify for the race, start the race, run until the tires went out, then go home. But that plan changed.

"A good friend of mine, Tony Stewart, decided to buy our tires so we plan to run the whole race," Shepherd said before he qualified Friday night. "I hate going out and running and having to retire because of handling, because when your tires go out you don't have handling.

"Stewart hated to see it, too.

"Just felt like doing it," Stewart said. "Morgan is a great guy. There are a lot of people in the stands that don't realize who Morgan Shepherd is. They think he's just some guy who drives a green racecar that says 'Racing with Jesus' every week. They don't understand that years ago he used to be one of the top guys in the Cup Series.

"Shepherd's heyday in Cup was during the 1980s and '90s, when single-car teams could succeed and did. Shepherd won four races in his Cup career all while driving for single-car teams. Now as a single-car operator himself, he's trying to overcome the failing economic crunch that has a firm grip on a vast majority of the nation.

NASCAR.COM - Economic difficulties felt in garage, seen in the stands - May 2, 2008



Thanks Tony.  I was so glad to see him finish the race last week and tonight.

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Fenway Park Like you have never seen it....

One Day At Fenway - Letus Extreme Film - Time Lapse - HDTV from Tom Guilmette on Vimeo.

Facinating piece of footage. And not just because I am a Red Sox fan.

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You can do it, Tony can help

NASCAR Silly Season is officially underway.  It gets earlier and earlier each year.  I guess we could say that this is just a lot of smoke!

(For you non-NASCAR fans, Tony's nickname is Smoke)

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Michael Moore endorses Obama, chides Clinton (AP)

AP - Michael Moore wants voters in Pennsylvania to cast their ballots for Barack Obama.

View Original Article

Now I know that I could NEVER votes for Obama.

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Congress To Probe Bowl Championship Series, Bipartisan Trifecta Wants To Examine College Football's Championship Series Constitutes A Racket - CBS News

Reps. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, are introducing a resolution rejecting the oft-criticized bowl system as an illegal restriction on trade because only the largest universities compete in most of the major bowl games. The resolution would require Justice's antitrust division to investigate whether the system violates federal law.

You know, I think that the Government has a lot better things to do with their time and my tax money than to investigate the NCAA.  I wonder what brought this on....

Abercrombie said the matter is worthy of federal review because college football is big business with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.

"It's money. That's what this is all about," he said.

But it's no coincidence that all three lawmakers have home-state schools with recent beefs against the bowl system.

The University of Hawaii and Boise State University in Idaho each had an undefeated season in recent years, but were denied a shot at the championship. And Westmoreland said he is still smarting about his University of Georgia Bulldogs being passed over for the national championship game last year.

Ahhhhh.... it all becomes so much clearer now.  It is money that bothers the Reps.  Gee.  Can you spend less of mine while you are at it?

Congress To Probe Bowl Championship Series, Bipartisan Trifecta Wants To Examine College Football's Championship Series Constitutes A Racket - CBS News

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American Idol and Christian Music

I do not watch American Idol, I work evenings, if I did not then I would be at church when it is on. That being said, on the way home from work one night I heard on the local Christian music station a song identified as American Idol Contestants that clearly was a praise and worship song that I heard many times before. I could swear that night the the name of Jesus was in the song. I did not think much of it till I came across this video at ThinkChristian.net



If this is from the show, and I have no reason to believe it is not, why did I hear one version from the radio and another from the show. I am shocked that they took Jesus out and put the word Shepard in. Yes, the Lord is my Shepard, but by taking the name of Jesus out they just watered it down so as to say, the Lord is who you want it to be.

I am happy that a great song made it to a secular show like that, but I wonder of the motives, especially when they changed the words.

EDIT AFTER ORIGINAL POST

Ok so on further inspection they did the song again the next night:


At least they got the words right this time, and that may be what I heard on the radio. It is hard to say. It still feels weird a show trying to glorify some new talent singing about the only one that should be glorified.

Facebook test

Testing a new aplication in my Facebook account called Blog it. If you are looking for me on facebook my profile is at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=542691486

Understanding the Anointing

From my pastor, Bob Yandian, a sermon on understanding the two types of anointing and why we need them

Man jailed for fake Viagra sales | Oddly Enough | Reuters

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The general manager of a Shanghai chemical company was jailed for two years on Thursday for selling fake tablets of the male impotence drug Viagra on the Internet, the official Xinhua news agency reported.Yu Bohuai made a profit of over 60,000 yuan ($8,585) in 2006 and 2007 by selling 14,030 fake tablets to clients abroad and in Shanghai. He was arrested last July.

Man jailed for fake Viagra sales | Oddly Enough | Reuters


One down, 9,999,999 left to go......

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Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

NEW YORK -- A construction worker's bid to curse the New York Yankees by planting a Boston Red Sox jersey in their new stadium was foiled Sunday when the home team removed the offending shirt from its burial spot.

After locating the shirt in a service corridor behind what will be a restaurant in the new Yankee Stadium, construction workers jackhammered through the concrete Sunday and pulled it out.

We really did not need the curse to beat those Yankee's anyway.  The article goes on to say the shirt and a Yankee's shirt will be sent to the Jimmy Fund, an organization to fight cancer in children so they can auction them off.  Congratulations Yankee's staff, you did well. 

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Sermon notes - Suffering

New sermon on the sermon notes page on suffering. Mike Goolsbay, who used to be the Youth Pastor at Grace spoke one night in January. I distilled the essence of the sermon from what he said because a lot of it was personal experiences that would be known to the people of Grace Church and him.
Suffering comes in four basic types and Mike focuses on suffering for a promotion.

ESPN - Report: Worker tries to jinx Yanks with buried Red Sox shirt - MLB

Boston Red Sox fans know more than a little about superstitions -- and one apparently decided to share the anxiety with Boston's biggest rival.

A construction worker and Boston fan working on the concrete crew at
the $1.3 billion new Yankee Stadium buried a Red Sox shirt in with the
concrete foundation under what will become the visitors' clubhouse, in
the hopes of jinxing the New York Yankees' new home, the New York Post reported.

Two construction workers told the newspaper about the stunt on conditon of anonymity.

"In
August, a Red Sox T-shirt was poured in a slab in the visitor's
clubhouse. It's the curse of the Yankees," one worker told the Post.
"Nobody knows about it. It's in the floors, it's buried."

ESPN - Report: Worker tries to jinx Yanks with buried Red Sox shirt - MLB

While I love the story, do you really think it is going to make a difference to the Red Sox.  I mean, they are just going to trounce the Yankees this year anyway....

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Sermon Notes - Discernment

Another set of notes up on my sermon notes page. Discernment, or knowledge, is not something that we are born with, it has to be taught. Many Christians think it comes just be hanging around the Church. Check out my sermon notes on this sermon by my Pastor, Bob Yandian.

Walking In the Light

A new sermon notes is posted at my sermon notes blog. It is about how God wants us to walk in the light and not sin. But we can only walk in the light that we have, not that we do not have.