Rear-Ended!

A little whiplash never hurt anyone, right? I found a Chevy truck in my hatchback Sunday afternoon. Now we're rolling in a Sebring for a couple weeks. Funny thing is, it wasn't even weather-related. God will pull all sorts of stunts to develop our patience. Not sure if mine is fully developed yet. At least no one got hurt folks!

A Look Inside

Take a look inside our home. It's not done yet, don't worry...

Pray for my Maris

Yesterday at about 11:00 am I took my beautiful wife to the emergency room. It was a bit scary as she was experiencing horrible pain for no apparent reason. At the ER she was checked out as thoroughly as any woman could be with the exception of a diagnostic laparoscopy. She has the privilege of experiencing the diagnostic laparoscopy this next Wednesday morning at 7:30 am. Please keep us in your prayers as we are waiting to see what exactly is going on.

Jambo Hunts Wabbits

My little girl got one...

1623 Pierre!

We're moving to 1623 Pierre on November 15th, 2007 (pending the finances work out smoothly). Come visit us. There's room for you...

My li'l brother's gotta goat!

Daniel and Emily hanging out at her new place. Can you believe it. My little brother now has a goat. Awesome! Mine's bigger though...

Dany on the Didj

Here's my didjeridoo teacher at our Bastille Day Bash. Dany's from France. Enjoy the sounds!

Xenos Summer Institute

I think Xenos means "foreigner" in Greek. So this church is going for "hospitality" when they use the word. At any rate, Maris and I are headed to this conference with others from New Hope next week. We have been thinking a great deal about our small group and the idea of a house church. I have so many thoughts on this issue. I hope to be able to write more at some point. In the meantime you can definitely check out the Xenos Summer Institute.

Cardboard Buns!

Be careful about what you eat! Check this out:
Cardboard Buns

"Flood" by Jars of Clay

Here's part of a review session for our Int'l Bible Class. We just finished studying the flood (God's judgment of the entire earth during the time of Noah). This song is about the personal floods that happen in our lives. It's a great song. Unfortunately we don't have the whole thing here so you will miss the encouraging part of the song. Many families in Kansas have recently been devastatingly flooded. May God pull us all through our floods as we look to Him (if you're not looking to Him then perhaps you should start). Enjoy the vocals of Chad and the guitar and background vocals of myself. (By the way, I'm really chewing my gum. Must be good!)

Sarah Jorosz singing Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy"

You gotta hear the original to appreciate this fully. I'm working on my own arrangement. Peace!

Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2007

Here's Crooked Still playing "Dark Hollow" at Elks Park in Telluride, CO. More to come. Perhaps you'll be inspired to enjoy more bluegrass. Keep in mind of course that creativity in humans is an indicator of the Creator God. So as you listen maybe you'll be able to worship the Living God.

Terry Von Deaver

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Happy Father's Day! Check out the card we sent my wonderful father, Terry. I have one memory of my dad that I'd like to share today. One day I was at a Chadron, NE high school football game. I think that's what it was. I was pretty young. There were two drunk and obnoxious guys sitting behind us. Many people had asked them to quiet down. They were even spitting on some people. I remember they were pretty big guys. I was scared of them and it seemed others were too. We needed a hero in that moment. So my dad turned around and said something to the affect of, "Hey guys! Give me those bottles and get out of here!" Needless to say, I was proud to be his son that day and am proud this day as well. Oh yeah, I should mention that those guys handed the bottles over and scrammed.

Ad the Rockstar

This is my good friend Ad. He's such a good musician but he's way too modest. We need to get him on the big stage somehow.

...that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

The words that keep coming to my mind during this time is found in Psalm 90. The Psalmist asks God to teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. I want to have wisdom as I traverse this fallen world. Notice he wants to gain a heart, not mind, of wisdom. He's talking about wisdom to love God and people well. Wisdom is what the writer of Proverbs says is more valuable than silver and gold. That is what I want. That is what I want for you as well. May God teach us to number our days correctly, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. To read more of Psalm 90 click here.

Jeremy's Obituary in the Kansas City Star

Jeremy Gandy
Jeremy Robert Gandy, 26, of Kansas City, Mo., passed away unexpectedly Tuesday, May 1, 2007, at home. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, May 6, 2007, at 3 p.m., at McGilley State Line Chapel, 12301 State Line Road, Kansas City, Mo. Visitation will also be Sunday prior to the service from 1 to 3 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the American Heart Association, PO Box 1653, Topeka, KS, 66601-1653, or to the Heart of American Council - Boy Scouts of America, 10210 Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64131. Jeremy was born August 22, 1980, in Sioux City, Iowa. He moved to Kansas City in 1999 from Jamestown, North Dakota. He was well known throughout the Kansas City area restaurant community. In 2003, Jeremy met Sarah, the love of his life. They were recently married on October 20, 2006. He loved a good round of golf and a great table of hold'em. Jeremy was a loving husband, son, and friend to so many. Jeremy was preceded in death by his paternal grandmother, Rosalie Gandy. He is survived by his wife, Sarah (Haster) Gandy; father, David Gandy; mother, Debra Gandy; maternal grandparents, Robert and Marilyn Smith; paternal grandparents, Larry and Uti Gandy, and many other family members and friends who love him dearly. Arrangements are by the McGilley State Line Chapel - (816) 942-6180.

Easter with Jeremy

This is one of the last time's Maris and I got to hang out with Sarah and Jeremy. It was the weekend that we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jeremy and I

This was at Jeremy and Sarah's rehearsal dinner. At the dinner (which was at the Bristol) I got a cup of coffee and liked the mug so much I asked how much it sold for. Jeremy told me to keep the one I was drinking from and he went back and grabbed another one for me. I drink from that particular coffee mug 78% of the time.

my only brother-in-law, Jeremy Gandy

My 26 year old brother-in-law, Jeremy Gandy, passed away late Tuesday night due to a massive heart attack. What a shock! No one saw it coming. Maris and I are now with her family in KC. There are so many people gathered to mourn this loss. Sarah, Jeremy's wife, Maris' sister, is having a very difficult time. The services will be held on Sunday and it's just Thursday afternoon now. We'll be in KC until late Sunday night so I have a lot of time on my hands to grieve and reflect. I hope to update some of my thoughts on this blog over the next few days. I haven't blogged for some time now. If there are any readers out there who'd like to interact with what I have to say feel free to do so.

Happy Valentine's Day!

That's right, another Valentine's Day. I just threw a surprise birthday party for my wife last Friday (she turned 26). For some reason I thought that I didn't have to plan too much for Valentine's Day because I had put some much time and effort into the birthday party. At any rate, Maris asked me yesterday what we were doing. So today I'm planning away at the last minute.

Every year during Valentine's Day I think about love. What is true love? It doesn't seem like many people really experience true love. People are always breaking up or getting divorced. We're always hurting eachother and getting hurt in one way or another. I love my wife very much but I often do or say hurtful things. It's at this point that I'm reminded to look to the thoughts about love that are in the Scriptures.

If you want to check out some thoughts from the Scriptures then go to the following links.
description of true love
Jesus' own words
the origin of love
husbands and wives
the two greatest commandments

The Information Age

Well, it's been about a month since I've posted anything. I think I tend to get a bit overwhelmed by living in the information age and trying to keep up with the Joneses. All this stuff is going on with Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Blogs, e-mails, etc. It's crazy! I want to be purposeful with how I spend my time. I often feel bad because I don't respond to folks as much as I'd like to. A bunch of my high school friends have looked me up on MySpace. Sometimes I forget to let them know that I'm really there behind the computer screen.

I haven't even mentioned the bombardment of other forms of information. We have the news to read, Christian books to read, magazines to read, our Bibles to read, Christmas letters to read, the classics to read, poetry to read, articles to read and on and on. Plus we've got to be listening to the latest sermons by the latest pillars of the Christian community. Sometimes I think I can't even think. How's that for ironic...thinking you can't think? We do live in the information age (maybe we're moving away from it I don't know).

So I've been thinking about what kind of "age" I long to live in. I know the real answer is heaven but surely there are some things that can change, some decisions to be made that will be helpful in clearing out some space so I can at least think. I've heard that President Lincoln "read less and thought more" than any man in his position. I want to be a deep thinker so I can be a deep influencer for God's Kingdom. I'm praying for wisdom in this but for now I have to go check my e-mail...

 

My good friend, Daiki, had to return to Japan in August. We've missed him greatly so Maris and I made this shirt for him. The significant thing about this shirt is that Daiki means "big hope" in Japanese. Perhaps his name is a bit prophetic. At any rate, we want to see Daiki again.

You can make any shirt at Threads in AggieVille for about $16.00.

 
As the little apple dropped at the now-famous Little Apple Drop so did my excitement for all that it promised to be. However, the company was great, Ashraham, Mom, Daniel, and my ever-beautiful wife...Happy New Year ya'll!

More Miracle Blade Video

I promise that I don't spend much time doing this but I wanted to share one more testing video with you to assure you of the quality of the Miracle Blade III Perfection Series All-Purpose Slicer. Enjoy!