Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Dog Days Of Summer



Yesterday may have been the first day of Summer, but here in Central Illinois, it's felt like summer longer than that. I've had the AC running non-stop since the end of May and it doesn't look like there is any relief in sight. Now I don't mind the heat so much, it's just the humidity that kills me. When you hav dew points in the mid to upper 70's, it's a bit too much. The cool thing is we've been having a lot of pop up storms lately due to the weather, I love storms but a quite a few have been severe and we've had tornadoes to the north and south of us. As far as goings on, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, the Cubs still stink and Sunday I'm to be ordained as a Deacon!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Ronnie James Dio

Today is a sad day for me, Ronnie James Dio, the man with the powerful voice, passed away yesterday. There have been and are some great singers in the Heavy Metal/Hard Rock genre, but to me Ronnie was the best. I always loved Sabbath, but when he joined with them after leaving Rainbow, they seemed to have a much tighter sound thanks to Ronnie. My favorite song that Ronnie sang has to be "To Live For The King" on Kerry Livgren's seeds of change album. He made that song come alive and in Kerry's autobiography he said that Ronnie improvised the lines at the end. Thank You Ronnie for your music, we'll miss you.....

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Let Us Pray



Tomorrow is the National Day Of Prayer, please join with me as we pray for our country.
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." Psalm 33:12

Monday, May 03, 2010

When I Find Myself In Times Of Trouble..



No it's not "Mother Mary", but God who comes to us in those times. It's been a rough
first five months of 2010, but through it all, my faith continues to increase. Too many times at the beginning of this year I would throw myself a pity party and cry "Woe is me..". Last May I was approached and asked if I would consider becoming a Deacon in our church, I thought about it and said sure. Well fast forward to February of this year, I was asked about it again and was told their was to be a Deacon training being started and would I like to participate. My wife and I (Because a wife plays just as a vital role as the husband does according to 1 Timothy 3:11)went to the first session and I was very humbled after that first lesson, wondering how a man as myself could be called by God for such an important role. But after the six week course was through, my faith was stronger than ever. During that time, we were attacked relentlessly, My wife TWICE had two hospital stays, bills continued to pour in and it seemed at every corner disaster awaited. But through it all, I refused to blame God. Instead He gave me peace and comfort through it all. I'm reminded of the beautiful Keith Green song "Trials Turned To Gold" and Thank Him for all that He has done. Don't let anyone tell you the Christian Life is easy and just filled with blessings at every corner, so-called preachers like Joel Osteen and others with their cotton candy gospel outlook annoy me to no end. Read the first chapter of the book of James, it speaks loudly!

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Hooray For Spring....


Yes, spring is here and so is baseball, but, my goodness, what a horrible opening game for the Cubs!! A 16-5 drubbing at the hands of the Braves. It sure started off pretty darned good with Marlon Byrd hitting a three run shot in the top of the first, but it got away pretty quick after that. Supposed "ace" Zambrano looked like crap out there and had no control whatsoever, and don't even get me started on Samardzja!! I know the umps blew a call and killed what looked like a Cubs rally, but this was a crappy played game. Day off today and re-group tomorrow, hopefully with better results.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Health Care


Well, it's been a while since I blogged anything and I apologize. Late last month I had to take my wife to the E.R. because she was having chest pains. After a few days of test, they put a stint in and gave her different blood pressure mediacation. She is doing fine and is on a strict low sodium diet and she's supposed to lose weight and exercise as well since they found she also has a leaky heart valve. Our insurance covered everything and a $57,000.00 plus bill became only a $250.00 co-pay. I shudder to think what's going to happen now that Barack HUSSIEN got his wishes and his stupid health care passed.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Me and the devil Blues

Man, as of late I've been fighting off depression. The weather has a lot to do with one feeling blue, especially during Winter, but also every bill that we have, jumped up in cost. Our house payment, utilities, credit cards, sanitation, cable bill and health insurance, just to name a few, all went up in payment!! Now the bad thing is, our place of employment still has a salary freeze in effect. So while we are still being paid by 2008 standards, everything else is going up. It seems like I'm being targeted even more since I was asked by our church to take classes in Deacon training. Now to me there is now higher honor than being called and serve God, if I'm chosen I will serve with gladness. But Satan has a way of hitting you, and he's hit me pretty hard. As we struggle to make ends meet, I question God and ask where He's at and why is He not helping.
I know that God is indeed there and His timing is not as ours. I do think of the blessings that God has bestowed upon us, but when things look bleak, I seem to have short term memory. The three verses that I'm standing on now are II Timothy 1:7, James 4:7 & I Peter 5:8

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

What happened to all that "Hope & Change" crap?!?


I was reading the Hot Air blog, when I saw something that grabbed my attention, "Obama plans to kill middle-class tax credit". Hmm..what happened to this being permanent? This "Making Work Pay" tax credit wasn't very good from the get-go anyway. But slick Barry, with his words flowing from his mouth made it all sound so wonderful to his legion of minions. To find out more, go to the link..http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/79161-presidents-budget-seeks-an-end-to-tax-break-for-the-middle-class

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Snooze Fest



I'll admit that I didn't watch SNObama's "State Of The Union" address last night but I did catch the "highlights" today on the internet. And judging by our Homeland Security fashion plate, Janet Nepolitano, I didn't miss much!! Same old crap spewing from the annoited one's mouth. I'm glad to see that a few people are seeing Barry for what he is, but others are still blinded by his idol status. My Wife said a few of her co-workers were talking about His speech last night and how great he is. Oh well, some people just love that tingley feeling up their leg when he speaks.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Congratulations to The Hawk!!



Finally, Andre Dawson is enshrined in the Hall Of Fame! I've been a big fan of Andre since his playing days with the Montreal Expos. He was the guy who I dreaded seeing up to bat against the Cubs and who usually killed us. But I respected & admired him as a player. He was a true 5 tool player in his early years with the Expos. When the Cubs signed him in March of 1987, I just freaked, sure the speed wasn't there as it once was, but this man could hit & field plus he had a cannon for an arm. Needless to say, '87 was his break out year and was voted MVP that year. It was fun going to Wrigley Field in '89 and watching "The Boys of Zimmer". In this steroid induced playing era we have now, it's good to look back at someone who just used his talent to play the game. With a .279 career batting average, 438 home runs, 1,591 RBIs, 2774 career hits and 314 stolen bases, it's about time! Now if we can just get the veteran's commitee to vote in Ron Santo..

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Winter Storm Watch!



Winter has only just begun and already I'm tired of it. Winter is just a depressing season to me because you're mainly cooped up in the house with nothing to do and you feel helpless, well to me at least. Anyway, The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch here in central Illinois with the possibility of up to 5 inches of snow tonight and into tomorrow with blowing and drifting snow tomorrow afternoon. Just freakin' great! Oh well, only 73 more days till Spring.

Monday, January 04, 2010

One Down, Three To Go





Well, we made it through the first year of the Annoited One's presidency. It seems the shine is starting to fade a bit as his approval ratings dip, which proves that you can't polish a turd. I'm hoping as soon as the Obama Kool-Aid runs out that people will begin to wise up, but I kind of doubt it. As long as dingbats like Joy Behar & Rachel Maddow have their own shows on T.V. and people continue watching, there is always going to be brain dead people who believe the crap spewing from their lips. My wife and I love to watch "Iron Chef" on the Food Network but we skipped it last night due to more Obama overload, it's bad enough they are on every magazine cover monthly, but now we get subjected to them on television shows as well. I'm just trying to figure out what's weirder, Michelle Obama's dress or Chef Mario's shoes.


Friday, January 01, 2010

Happy New Year!!


Here is hoping everyone has a Happy New Year!