No other gods

No other gods

No other gods is the four and centerpiece of the T.R.I.N.I.T.Y. prayer acronym (see earlier posts).
This is the time where we commit to only serving the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We want to purge all other gods.  We want to throw them in the trash.  It may be my iPhone, pornography, a TV show, financial data, news, a person, my personality, or a thousand other things.  What in my life am I paying a lot of attention to?  My dogs look to me for their next move, always following me around waiting for me to act.  Am I that devoted to Christ, always yearning to see his next move and being in readiness to act with him.  What is it that is getting in the way?  This could be something bad or something not bad - it might even be something great, like the Bible!  Don't be afraid to ask God what is getting in the way of your relationship with Him.


Your idea:  make a list of the top ten idols historically in your life, and ask God to purge you from worshiping them, and if need be, destroy them.  Write your one idol on a piece of paper and burn the paper.  If it fits, burn the idol.  Please do not burn the idol if the idol is a person or an animal.

Don't Answer the Phone

Don't answer the phone.  Don't look at the text.  Don't check to see if your friend put up a facebook status or liked your facebook status.  Don't check your e-mail.  Don't answer your door.  Don't look when someone says, "Come here." 
So many things and people want your time.  You have 24 hours in each day, and if you answer every text, page, voice mail, and every person who knocks on your door, you could be running into a hurricane, and you may not survive. 
Who runs your day?  If someone says "Jump,"  do you always jump?  Do you run your day?  Does facbook run your day?  Does your blog run your day?  (oops, did I type that?) 

An idea:  before answering your phone, ask your Lord Jesus Christ if, out of all the things you could be doing, if he wants you to answer the call.  It may be that you have to let it go to voice mail and call them back if he so directs you.  In this way you are taking steps to let the Lord Jesus Christ run your day.  He is our master, and technology is not our master. 

Used Car No Nos

Here are a few things not to do when buying a used car.  I have not figured out what to do yet, but here are a few things not to do.
1.  Don't give out your credit card number, social security number, or banking account number to people on the internet.
2.  Don't pay money when the title will not be in your name.
3.  Don't wire money to someone else's bank account.
4.  Don't agree to buy the car until you know the title will be in your name.
5.  Don't buy a car on e-bay from someone in North Korea - shipping is crazy expensive!
6.  Don't buy a car that you don't want.
7.  Don't buy a car that is worse than the one you have.
8.  Don't buy a car from the Dread Pirate Roberts - he is immune to iocane powder.
9.  Don't buy a car for a lot of money when it is only a highly detailed matchbox car, even if it has a flip down dvd movie screen (7millimeter).
10.  Don't spend more that 21 hours a day researching cars.com, ebay, craigslist, usedcars.com, autotrader, kelly blue book, consumer reports, edmunds, etc.

Letting Jesus be your handyman

I really do not like handyman work, like fixing a leaky faucet or putting up drywall.  Because I am a homeowner, sometimes I am backed against a wall to do this.  Sometimes I go into a project thinking I can do it.  Sometimes I go into a project thinking I can't.  But for me, I almost always have a mental breakdown in the middle of my handyman project.  Why? - you ask.  Because I want the project to be done, to finish it.  This is almost always hindered by something seemingly small, like a certain kind of fitting that I don't have or a certain kind of screwdriver that would fit this certain project.
It all goes downhill for me when I go to the hardware store, or should I say it goes downhill when I get back from the hardware store for the third time and the thingy that I bought still doesn't work.
So here is my idea that I think Jesus is giving me, not that I have figured this out yet.
"Hey Danny, why don't you let me be your handyman?"
"Because you save people's souls, marriages, and spiritual lives, but you don't really fix people's sinks - only Lowes does that."
"Really Danny, you think I can't fix a sink, you think that is too hard for me."
"I really do not want to let go of this yet, Jesus."
"I know."

So my idea is to let Jesus be my handyman.  I have still not really figured this out at all.  Maybe you have.  I just know that when I am the handyman I get really mad.

Pizza Cutter

Did you know that a pizza cutter has many uses?  If you have a pizza cutter you may not be using it in all the ways you can.  Let me share with you my top ten list of the best uses for a pizza cutter.

10.  Point A to Point B – it is a wheel if you are desperate.  If you have two pizza cutters that is even better.

9.  Cutting a sandwich.

8.  Cutting French Toast for breakfast.

7.  Edge mowing.

6.  Cutting drywall.

5.  Implementing a new form of massage, called Cutco Massage.

4.  Cutting your kids prime rib (then you realize it is a dream), and wake up.

3.  Cutting pancakes for breakfast.

2. Re-cutting the pizza place’s pizza because they did not cut it all the way through, because they were trying to remember if they washed their hands or not.

1.  Cutting a lot of Tostino’s Pizzas for family movie and pizza night.

So what are your ideas for a pizza cutter?  Share your ideas with all of us.

Danny Macaskill

Danny Macaskill April 2009

My wife’s cousin shared a link on facebook about someone who was one with his bike.  Since opening up that you tube video, “Danny Macaskill April 2009” I have since watched it about 100 times.  What I say to people when I share this video with them is that they will want to immediately watch it again.  It is not just a guy doing tricks on his bike.  In fact there may be people out there more talented than Danny Macaskill (I doubt very many).  The genius of this video is that whoever put it together made it match up to the song so beautifully, so perfectly.  This video is kid friendly, and he even wears a helmet.  Though you may not want your kids to try the tricks that he does on his bike, it is good for children to see something of high quality.  This is why I want my kids to watch LeBron James take it to the hole, read Leo Tolstoy, listen to Beethoven, and rock out to Sweet child of mine.  Watching this video is watching something of a very high quality, and watching it may inspire you and/or your children to do something of high quality.  The Song is Funeral by Band of Horses.  I vote this best music video of this millennium.

Throwing my cell phone in the lake

When my wife and I moved to Kenya we got our first cell phone, and we loved it.  What a great thing to be able to talk to people from home.  Today we have two cell phones.  As I am writing this blog I shut my cell phone off and was going to try to turn it back on.  My cell phone reminds me of my car, and my computer.  One day I love them, and the next day I want to throw them in the lake.  Why?  Because I get frustrated with these pieces of technology messing with me.  So I want to mess with them.  And I thought people who treated dogs like humans are bad.  I am treating a cell phone like it is a human, but a human I want to throw in the lake nonetheless.  You may be saying that this is a crazy Christian family idea.  Yes, and I even a bad one.  I agree, and I have many more where that came from.