Family/Friend Friday --- Aunt Mary Lou

This is my aunt Mary Lou (my grandma's sister) on my mom's side. Everyday my mom prints out my Blog and gives a copy to her and to my grandma. When I went for a visit in DuBois, they asked me why I never say anything about them in my posts. Most of my family/friend Friday posts deal with someone who is celebrating a birthday/anniversary/etc. and Mary Lou and my grandma had birthdays soon before I started this Blog. But since there are no birthdays this coming week, and the following week is Grandparent's Day (the perfect time to make a post about my grandma) I thought today would be a good time to introduce Mary Lou.
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Mary Lou was always my "summer babysitter" growing up. I went to her house everyday and played with my cousins Allen and Melanie. She also taught my 1st grade catechism class. Since she was a teacher, she would always pick up me, my brother, and sister every Monday night. She could tell you plenty of nightmare stories about trying to drag my brother who often refused to go without putting up a fight. Recently she called my brother her "favorite" nephew...so she is obviously losing her mind as she gets older! Don't worry...she has a great sense of humor and will find that funny.
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Anyway, when I turned 21 twelve years ago, I had no desire to go to a bar...but I couldn't wait to go to the casino! I don't care much about money, but it is the competition that I love. Mary Lou and I used to take bus trips to Atlantic City several times a year (I won on my first 7 trips which made me want to go even more!). Mary Lou would play the slot machines and I would play the table card games. She was always insistent that I knew exactly where she was and that I checked up on her often.
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So one day we take a bus trip and arrive in Atlantic City and we have to go to the bathroom. So I go into the men's room, and Mary Lou goes into the ladies room. I told her I would meet her right outside the doors. I was only in there a minute or 2 and came out to wait. Five minutes go by....then 10...then 15...and no Mary Lou! I asked one of the women going into the restroom if they could see if she was ok. The woman came out and said, "There is nobody in there named Mary Lou".
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So now I start to wonder if she did beat me out, and if so, where would she have gone? I stopped a passing security guard and said, "I lost my aunt in the bathroom" (not something you say everyday). The security guard replied, "Did you know this bathroom has a separate entrance?" Right away I was sure Mary Lou had walked out the wrong door and was on the other side of the casino probably frantically waiting. As I was walking though the casino with the guard to try and find her, I hear another security guard's voice come through on his walkie-talkie..."WE ARE LOOKING FOR A MIKE CATA...CANATA..." and I hear Mary Lou finish him off, "IT'S CATANZARITO AND I'M LOST!!!"
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Obviously we eventually found each other, and she should be very happy --- the ordeal took 15 minutes off her gambling time and probably saved her $20 that she would have lost!

Theological Thursday --- The Great Omission

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

The end of the Gospel of Matthew is known as "The Great Commission" and you will hear it in every Evangelism class, sermon on evangelism, etc. It is a challenge to us who call Christ our Savior to make disciples, baptize, and teach. At the seminary, I have an older friend I meet with several times a week, Dr. Walt Kime. He is a spiritual warrior and has taught me a lot about faith, prayer, and the Christian life. He taught me that if every Christian led just 2 people to Christ and discipled them for 2 years, and the trend continued, the Great Commission would be fulfilled in less than 30 years (although we know some will reject the message as the Bible tells us), but it does challenge us to look at how we are doing with Christ's challenge here!

This post is entitled "The Great Omission" due to some observations by Dallas Willard (a fairly well-known Christian author). He feels a huge part of Jesus' Commission is being ignored --- the discipleship and teaching people to observe God's Commands. We have instead watered down the Gospel message to make it more appealing. We ignore Jesus' words of the cost of following Him and only focus on getting people into heaven. There is a reason when we accept Christ that we aren't picked up by FEDEX and taken directly to heaven --- we are preparing ourselves for eternity (and hopefully fulfilling God's call to lead others). The main question here is, "Are we trying to get people in to heaven (it's all about you), or trying to get heaven into people (it's all about God)".

This ties into last weeks post because it is clear that heaven will not be all about us, but it will be all about God (see Isaiah 6). Some people may be in for a rude awakening when life ends and they find out its not all about them...and hopefully it won't be because we ignored God's call to not just lead people to Him, but to disciple and teach them how to live a life that glorifies God. The great paradox of the Christian life is there is nothing better for us than when we take the focus off ourselves and give all of it to God. That's how we find true fulfillment, and an even greater anticipation for eternity.

So how's your Christian walk...is it all about you, or all about Him?

What's Up Wednesday --- August 27th

1) You've probably noticed the posts this week have been very quick (and mostly videos). It is because I am in the middle of a retreat program for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at a resort about 20 miles south of here. It has been a pretty neat opportunity as many of the participants are key leaders in the organization and include ex-NFL coaches, ex-Professional Athletes, people who currently work with pro sports teams as chaplains, etc. (pictured above is the president of FCA who is at the retreat this week, Les Stekel...former head coach of the Vikings, and was the offensive coordinator of the Titans when they were in the Superbowl and lost on the last play of the game when the player missed a TD by 1 yard. He has a book about that called One Yard Short that is a great story of faith! So I've got to have some great conversations! Haven't gotten any free tickets for anything yet though.

2) We will be excited to be back and doing the church service at the County Detention Center this Sunday. We had a fill-in the past 3 weeks due to magic shows and family events. Since school started here this week, the kids will either be extra happy or extra unhappy missing the first week because of being locked up there...and it really isn't a nice place to be! I'll try and post a picture of the place one of these weeks.
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3) Many of you have asked about our friend Kristie from our class that had brain surgery to remove a tumor. The surgery went very well. She was told she would be in the hospital around 5 days, but she had the surgery Friday and was home Sunday. Last Sunday she was in class sharing a testimony of how God met her in a very powerful way.
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4) The "Ashland's Got Talent" Contest is no longer a contest. They are going to have acts perform, but no prizes (not sure why that changed). But the lady in charge called and had seen my act before and said I did not need to try-out and that I was definitely in. She asked for a full show, but I decided to just do an opening to the show since I will be doing my full show at the county fair next month. This will take place on Monday.
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5) We may get some visitors over the weekend. Jen's sister Julie and family are thinking of traveling to Ohio to visit a few families here, but haven't made any definite decision yet...maybe if they read it on this Blog it will put extra pressure on them to pull through!

Time Warp Tuesday --- Our Olympic Experience

As many of you know, Jen and I traveled to China to take part in the Olympic Games. We did our best, but took 4th place behind very talented teams from China, Russia, and Romania. With the 12 hour time difference, most of you probably missed our Rhythmic Gymnastics Routine on NBC at 3:00 in the morning. For those of you who missed out...here it is (in the next post). Didn't we deserve the gold???

Our Olympic Experience

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Magical Monday --- Juggling

At some point in elementary school I decided I would learn to juggle. I am not sure how I learned...I just remember picking up 3 balls and teaching myself. Over the years I also taught myself a lot of tricks with 3 balls...one of them is so difficult that some of the professional jugglers I've done shows with couldn't do it (and I never realized it was that hard!). Recently we've had 2 new neighbors move in below us...Nate and Sharon. They also know how to juggle, so we've decided to practice and learn some more stuff. They even do a Gospel presentation while they juggle, and I've ordered a book on it too (so maybe we can do some children's church groups in town when we polish our act). This past weekend I was determined to learn to juggle 4 balls at once. There are a lot of people that can handle 3, but hardly anyone that can do 4...and through some research found that many people would never be able to juggle 4 no matter how much they practiced (it takes a certain amount of hand/eye gifting). So by the end of the weekend, I was juggling 4 balls pretty well, although still far from perfect. You'll see it in the video, as well as a trick where I throw all 3 ball behind my back (that's the one that stumps the pros)...Nate and Sharon are also included practicing in our apartment. We invented all these tricks together....

Family/Friend Friday --- Catanzarito

Last weekend we got to spend some time with my family in DuBois. My brother and his kids also came up from North Carolina. On Sunday we celebrated my birthday, my dad's, and my niece Brooke's. Instead of telling stories about them, I will attach a family video from the weekend. You will see how tame my dad got the deer to become in his backyard. He used to have names for them...Fuzzy was his favorite and, among others, was Connie, the mean deer jokingly named after my mom. At his retirement party at work, his co-workers got him a set of sticky "Hello My Name Is" name tags so he could keep track of all his deer and their names (there are about 40 that regularly come around). I don't have much to add on Brooke from the weekend...most of her time was spent in constant text messages with her boyfriend --- not sure how she has so much to say!

Theological Thursday --- Birthdays in Heaven?

Today I am officially 33! I used to think when you turned 30, you started to get old. Now I think it is 40 (and as I approach 40 that number will change to 50...I am never getting old!). So what about heaven...am I still going to get to celebrate my birthday there? And, if so, will we celebrate my birthday here on Earth (8/21/1975), the date of my "new birth" when I accepted Christ as my Savior (7/7/1993), or the day I die and enter heaven (2/15/2062)?

One of my favorite chapters of the Bible is Revelation 21 which tells us a lot about heaven. First of all, we will no longer be constrained by time (vs. 25). There will be no more night (for God's glory will light the entire place!) and we won't walk around wondering what day of the week it is and dreading Mondays!

Second, we will no longer be contained by space. In verses 15-17 an angel takes a measuring rod (kind of like a yard stick) and measures heaven for John. Instantly, the angel gives John the dimensions of heaven at 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high (which means we can fly!). How long would it take you to measure the distance from Maine to Montana to Florida and another 1,500 miles up? In heaven we can do it in an instant!

Finally, the gates of heaven will never be shut (verse 25). Other verses speak of a gatekeeper that will allow us in and out of the gates. We will be able to explore all of God's creation and stand in awe of Him and His greatness. Much of the talk of heaven in the New Testament is similar to the Garden of Eden before man sinned...and there was a lot to do (first of which will be worshipping the King), so forget about boredom and sitting on a cloud playing your harp for eternity!

So although there will not technically be birthdays in heaven, it will sure feel like it all the time. We have a place waiting for us that: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined (1 Corinthians 2:9). But there is one flaw to this post...the assumption that heaven has birthdays would imply that heaven is all about us. But, it is going to be all about God. The great thing though is when we make it all about God, the Blessings that flow from that love and devotion give us more than we could ever want or imagine...more on that next week.

What's Up Wednesday --- August 20th

1) This is a week for birthdays! This week we celebrate mine (Aug 21), my niece Haley (Aug 22), and my dad (Aug 24). I have a video of all 3 of us I will post on Family/Friend Friday along with many other family members on my mom's side.

2) Saturday is our Fantasy Football draft. Our league consists of several family members on my side, Jen's side, as well as a couple of friends from Pittsburgh and a friend from Ashland. We have a fun time trash talking each other --- but its easy for me since I clearly have the best team every year.

3) Sunday I will be doing magic for the "Kroc Center". It is a Christian community center being built from an 18 million dollar donation from Joan Kroc --- the wife of the founder of McDonnalds. We are the only "small city" getting one (the others are Philly, San Diego, St. Louis, etc - 18 in all)...mainly because one of the people on the Kroc Center Foundation board that decides who gets the money moved to Ashland. It will contain a chapel, indoor waterpark, roller skating, laser tag, indoor soccer field, a theatre, etc. The place will officially open in April of 2009 (Sunday is a celebration of the completion of a certain phase of building)...and this is also a place that holds a possibility of a future job for me.

4) Over labor day weekend, we have a community event called, "Ashland's Got Talent"...very similar to the show America's Got Talent. I will be trying out on Sunday as well to take part in the event with one of my magic routines I created.

5) Finally...next week we begin a retreat for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. They checked out over 25 different programs from 9 different seminaries and choose my program to send all their campus ministers through. So although we have ultimately 3,000 people to touch, next week we will kick off with 30.

Time Warp Tuesday --- A Day at Camp (Part 1)

A few weeks ago I told you the story of Jen taking me to Camp Judson and how great she did leading the high school kids in Spiritual Disciplines for the entire day (see August 8th post). Although the day went great, the night before wasn't so perfect...

The evening before Jen and I were to go to camp, I had a softball game. The game ended pretty early so my former roommate Steve and his girlfriend at the time Amy (now they are married) asked if we wanted to go and play a quick 9 holes at a little par-3 course on the way home. Jen wanted me to help her do some finishing touches on her lesson, but I assured her we would be done in plenty of time for me to give her some help and convinced her to go.

When we arrived, I only had my softball spikes which they wouldn't let me wear on the course so Steve let me borrow a pair of his shoes. I threw my spikes in his trunk and off we went. Jen and Amy are not golfers so the round was taking much longer than expected. About the 7th hole Jen insisted that we leave so we had time to do the stuff for camp. I asked Steve for his keys to get my shoes, but he only had a little remote to unlock his doors and left the keys inside his car. So we decided I would get my shoes, place his car remote inside his shoes that I had borrowed, and I would hide his shoes under his car.

About 20 minutes after we got home, there was a call from Steve asking where his shoes were. I told him I placed them directly under his car but he was adamant that they were missing. He thought I was joking and hid them somewhere else, and I thought he was just trying to get me to drive back there as a joke. But when I heard Amy saying the same thing...I knew she wouldn't lie!

So I headed back to the course (Jen stayed at my place to wait...since this would only take a few minutes), and Steve's shoes had been stolen! The people who had taken them probably didn't realize the car remote was inside because on the front seat was Steve's wallet that they could have easily taken as well.

Steve has locked his keys in his car before and knew how to break in. He said we needed a "radio antenna from a GM vehicle that is from the year 2000 or older". We knew someone nearby that had that and drove and unscrewed it from their car. So just as Steve said, this antenna slid right through a crack in the door and he started pushing it up against the "unlock" button. He tried for a good 1/2 hour with no success. We decided a coat hanger might be helpful so I ran home and grabbed one. Jen was none to happy at this point as it was getting very late!

I returned with the coat hanger and we used it and the antenna together to try and unlock the car. On one of my attempts I could clearly see that the button was completely pushed down and the car was not unlocking. About 2 hours had now passed and I made an interesting discovery. Below the button we had pushing was another button that was labeled "lock/unlock". We had spent 2 hours pushing the wrong button! We were pushing the button that rolls up the window! From the beginning I assumed that since it was Steve car he knew what he was doing. Oh well, my discovery led us to quickly unlocking the car, Jen still did a great job, and I was left with a story I could tell on my Blog years later.

Magical Monday --- Watch Out!

Back in 2002 I decided I wanted to learn how to steal someone's watch. A good magician friend of mine used it as a regular part of his act and suggested a video by "Chappy Brazil" (pictured above). So I ordered the video and learned how to steal watches (for entertainment purposes of course...unless it's REALLY nice).

The video is very good and teaches how to steal every type of watch from steel clasps, to velcro, to a regular buckle. It taught a difficult way of stealing watches (just randomly taking one) and an easy way of taking watches (by holding someone's wrists as part of another magic routine). Well, believe me, the "easy" method is still FAR from easy. But I do have a rubber band trick in which I can hold someone's wrist as part of the routine...so that was my plan.

My roommate Steve used to laugh at my practice method...I had an old golf club with a pair of shorts taped to the handle to simulate someone's wrist and a watch band strapped around it. I got really good at stealing a watch from my golf club (in under a second!), but I had no clue if I was applying the right amount of pressure to actually fool someone (since my golf club didn't give me much feedback!), so I started practicing on some friends. I got to the point where they couldn't feel me taking the watch, so it was time to try this thing out!

I didn't want to press my luck with a stranger so I thought I would try it on a friend. Our Bible study group went on a Gateway Clipper Cruise together. I started showing some magic and did the rubber band trick with a girl in our group named Heidi --- and as I grabbed her wrists as part of a different trick, her watch came off just as I had practiced and I slipped it into my pocket without her noticing.

So here I was thinking I had just pulled off one of my best tricks and was ready to stun everyone that I had stolen someone's watch. I thought a funny way to produce the watch would be to ask Heidi if she knew what time it was...then she would notice her watch was gone! So I asked and Heidi looks at her wrist and says, "Oh, I guess I didn't wear my watch today". She forgot she had it on!!! So when the watch was produced from my pocket people weren't sure if I stole it off her dresser at home or what. I even had to convince Heidi that she was in fact wearing a watch that day. Oh well, so it wasn't as successful the first time as I would have liked it...but it went much better than some of my other "first attempt" tricks that I will tell you about in the future.

Family/Friend FRICKET Friday

When Jen's parents were here this past weekend, her dad and I went everywhere looking for garden stakes so I could make a game of FRICKET. We are traveling to my parent's this weekend to meet up with my brother and his family, and I know they'll love this game! We went to Joanns, Target, and Walmart with no luck. On their final day here, we walked down to Home Hardware and finally found some. After all that, we had to set it up and play so they could see what all the trouble was for!

The game of FRICKET has very few rules. The name is a cross between Frisbee and Wicket (the main parts of the game). Basically there are 2 garden stakes (called wickets) that are separated by a frisbee length + the size of your fist. Twelve yards away are 2 more stakes separated by the same distance. On top of each stake is a plastic cup. You and your teammate stand together on one end. You throw the frisbee at the opponents stakes. If you can get the frisbee through without hitting a stake, you get 3 points. If you hit one, the plastic cup will fly off. If it hits the ground you get 1 point....or if your opponents can catch it 1-handed without trapping it against their body, they get the point. Play to 21.

The video is a little distorted from the upload to YouTube. Make sure when you visit us, you ask to see the original! Jen said she hates this game, but watch her in the video and tell me she isn't having fun!!!

Theological Thursday --- Baptism

John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism...(Mark 1:4)

Most of the debate surrounding baptism within the church focuses on things like adult or child, sprinkle or dunk, forward or backward, etc. But as a student in seminary I was more interested in something that people don't really question --- where did baptism come from? In the above verse, John the Baptist is proclaiming repentance and baptism, but never really explains what it is, which led me to believe that John wasn't the first person to use the word Baptism (or in the Greek "Baptizo"). So what was going on with baptism prior to John the Baptist coming on the scene?

From ancient writings outside the Bible we find many places that water is used in purification ceremonies. Water was the mode in which you could make something or someone clean. Prior to John the Baptist, there are a few writings that mention the ceremony of "Baptizo" (which literally translates as "immerse in water" --- so that solves the sprinkle/dunk debate!). Basically, Baptism prior to John, was a Jewish ceremony used on the Gentiles who wished to become part of the Jewish community. It was a way of cleansing the non-Jews from their "non-Jewishness".

So think about how radical it was for John the Baptist to appear on the scene and point the finger at the Jews as well and that they were now the ones that also had to repent and be cleansed! It was preparation for Christ's coming and His future death that would put us all on the same level playing field before God, and proclaimed the need for repentance and symbolic cleansing from our sins. So your Baptism is, was, or will be first and foremost a public proclamation that you have accepted Christ as you Savior and have trusted in His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins. But for those who lived in the early centuries and knew what Baptism used to be...it was also a way of saying that you need Christ and are a sinner just as much as the next guy/gal and we are all now on equal standing before Christ, which continues to hold true today. What a radical message and shift that John brought to prepare them for Jesus!
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Because all of you are one in the Messiah Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female (Galatians 3:28).

What's Up Wednesday --- August 13th

1) We had a fun weekend with Jen's parents --- Hall of Fame, shopping, playing cards, Olympics, church, golf tournament, and FRICKET. If you want to know what FRICKET is, check back on Family/Friend Friday when I post a video of us playing (it's pretty comical!).
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2) Our Baptisms at the church went great. We had 35 people get Baptized for our outdoor service (normally we do Baptisms in the church every 3 months and get about 8 people). I got to Baptize 8 of the 35.
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3) Our friend and a girl from our class, Kristie, has been struggling with cancer for the past 2 years. What started as breast cancer had spread to several places and all had been cleared with the exception of 2 brain tumors. She was in a study for a new medication but was recently taken out because the tumors grew too large. Sunday night she was taken to the ER by ambulance because she didn't know where she was, who she was, etc and is currently in the Cleveland Clinic awaiting emergency brain surgery (not sure if it will be today or tomorrow). Jen and I are organizing a special prayer time for her at the church tonight...please pray for her as well as her husband and 4 young kids.
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4) This weekend we travel to DuBois to see my brother's family coming from North Carolina. I have 2 nieces...Haley and Brooke. Haley is 16 and a softball player who just recently won the state championship and hit 2 home runs! Brooke is 14 and a soccer star. She played on the high school team this year and was selected to the "all conference team" for the best high school players in the area. My brother is recently home from his 4th tour in the war zone as a major in the Marines. His wife Leslie is an alternative teacher (for the "bad" kids) down there. We will also get to celebrate 3 birthdays together (Brooke - 8/20, mine - 8/21, and my dad's - 8/24).

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Pig Farm

The last few weeks I have been talking about some of my hunting and fishing stories, and I couldn't leave this one out. I was probably 14 or 15 and we went hunting at a place referred to as "The Pig Farm". At one time it was a place where pigs were raised, but now was pretty much just a big hunting area. The Pig Farm is located right along side Interstate 80.

My uncle and a friend were going to put on a drive through the pig farm (by walking through the woods with the hope of "driving" the deer toward us). On the opposite side of the woods was a large clearing....but the brush was probably 4-foot tall. My dad stood on top of the hill and sent me to the bottom (right next to I-80). From where he stood, he could see everything happening in the woods and could see me as well. At the bottom where I stood was one path that was cleared (probably to ride 4-wheelers or something). So I stood in the middle of the path, surrounded by a wall of brush.

About 15 minutes after getting there I could hear my dad trying to yell about something. I looked up at him and he was waving, jumping up and down, and trying to get my attention. So I figured the deer must be coming! I had no idea what he was yelling...the noise of the cars flying by on I-80 drowned out what he was trying to say.

Then, I saw my dad motioning for me to come up on top of the hill with him. Maybe the deer had walked out of the woods and was standing in the field up by him? When I looked down the path I was standing on, I saw a dog in the woods running. It happened very fast as it was moving towards us and of course it wasn't going to attempt to run through the 4-foot brush, so it started running down the path I was standing on.

When it got about 40 yards away running full speed directly towards me, I realized something...this is not a dog...its a bear! I had to think fast what to do as we were going to meet head on, and very soon! Should I shoot it? Should I play dead? I certainly wasn't going to outrun the thing!

I just kind of froze for a second or two and it got probably 10 yards from me...still in an all-out sprint. At the last moment, I turned and jumped off the path and into the brush and ran for dear life. I never looked back, but apparently the bear just continued running down the path (probably just a scared as I was from our drivers). I continued to run up the hill to my dad and tried to act as though it wasn't a big deal (I figured he would be mad because I could hear what he was yelling), but we all kind of laughed about it. I can proudly say...at least I didn't pee my pants!

Magical Monday --- The Hardest Trick

One of the great ironies of magic is the better you get, the less skill you need. The tricks you start out with as a beginning magician using cards, coins, etc require far more skill than the stage magician making his or her assistant float, cutting people in half, etc. Most of the skill for the large illusions are from the assistant, and the magician gets to stand on stage, look good, and take all the credit!
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Many times people will ask me about the hardest trick I am able to perform. Without a doubt it is a trick called "prison bands" in which 2 rubber bands create the illusion of melting through each other. It took many months to perfect, and really is a great trick (David Copperfield performed it on one of his TV specials). Here is a video of me performing prison bands, the hardest trick I know...
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Family/Friend Friday --- A Day at Camp (Part 2)

OK...things are a little backwards this week...part 2 is going to come before part 1 because Jen (whose birthday we celebrated this week) is a lot more involved in the part 2 story, but it will still have some flow to it next week when the story is finished off.

Growing up Jen would always go to a 1-week Baptist camp called "Camp Judson". As she got older she spent time as a camp counselor and right after nursing school she was the "camp nurse" for all the little campers. In the summer of 2003, Jen was asked to spend a full day teaching a group of high school kids spiritual discipline. She accepted the challenge and ask me to come along with her.

It was really neat to spend a day at this camp that meant so much growing up to her (it's where she accepted Christ!). When we got there, she immediately remembered so many memories and was so excited to share all of them with me including camp songs (every once in a while I still ask her to sing the "Austrian Song" where a guy goes climbing a mountain), where they would do the polar bear swim (jumping in the water at like 6:00 in the morning), where they would have night services and sing around a camp fire, the elephant tree which was very old and looked like an elephant (which fell down this year...Jen was sad!), the places she slept, the games she played, how she would save her money for the little store they had there, and even the secret place her sister Julie ran off with some other boy counselor she liked during a game of hide-and-go-seek so they could be alone!

I am glad Jen got to experience all this and have so many memories and a place like that she can go back to. She also did an amazing job teaching! She kept the high school kids attention all day and they were really into what she was presenting. Her preparation really showed! I usually spend about 1/2 hour getting ready to share at the detention home each week and about an hour getting ready for the class I teach at church...but not Jen...I'll bet she spent at least 15-20 hours getting ready so it would be as close to perfect as could be, and God was certainly glorified that day! So if you work with youth at all --- ask Jen to teach...she'll do a great job. Just ask at least a year in advance!

All this came after a disastrous night. What happened the night before? Well, check out this blog next Friday and you'll find out.

P.S. The stories I had in mind to share today that were funny I was told I was not allowed to tell. So just keep in mind when your birthday or a big event in your life rolls around and you will be featured in Family/Friend Friday --- THREATS DO WORK (so does paying me off). How did I do Jen?

Theological Thursday --- Your Prayers Have Been Answered!

Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you (John 15:7)

That verse is quoted quite often (especially by the televangelist), but unfortunately it leaves out the key component of what the verse says prior to this promise which is:

IF you remain in me AND my words remain in you THEN ask whatever...

The promise of this verse is not that when we are connected to God we get whatever we want, but rather when we are connected to God our heart and desires begin to match God's heart and desires and we have more discernment in what we should be praying and asking for. I would be embarrassed to tell you some of the things I prayed for 15 years ago as a new Christian that were completely self-centered and far from what God desired for me (and thankfully many of those weren't fulfilled in the way I wanted!).

With that said, the point of this thread is that God does answer prayers! No matter what you pray for, God will respond in one of 4 ways. I will list each of the 4 ways, where you can find them in Scripture, and also how each has played out in my own life. So here goes:

1) NO --- What you have asked is not in God's will and His desires for you and your life...and despite a response contrary to what we had hoped for, He can and will give us peace if we turn to Him and will eventually show us why...and many times with blessings that result are far beyond what we could have imagined. Biblically, Peter asked that Jesus not be condemned to death (Matthew 16:22-23) to which he got a harsh response from Jesus and this desire of Peter's was not answered and Jesus was put to death...and as a result salvation came to Peter (and all of us!) which wouldn't have happened otherwise. In my own life my prayers now are more geared towards being used by God and following His will, but I do remember asking God to completely take away Jen's cancer without making her suffer through surgery, chemo, etc (which He certainly could have done!)...and although the healing part was definitely answered, she had to go through a lot. But as a result, we both of us grew in amazing ways that we wouldn't have otherwise.

2) SLOW --- What you are asking is God's desire for you, but it will come about in His timing and not yours. Biblically, David asked that a temple be built for God (1 Chronicles 28). David's prayer was met many years later when it was built by His son Solomon. Although David wanted to build it, because Solomon was known far beyond his kingdom due his great wisdom the temple and the gifts that were brought to Solomon would have made the temple far more glorious than David could have imagined. In my own life, I began to pray for a wife around the age of 24. It took 6 years (ok, so it's not that slow), and Jen was definitely worth the wait!

3) GROW --- What you are asking is God's desire for you, but you need to grow in your faith and maturity before it comes about. Biblically, we again see this in the life of David. God's promise that he would someday be a king took a large detour as he spent many years running from Saul. This time was a time of growth and maturity from his life as a lowly shepherd to preparation for him to be king (and his maturity shows when he had Saul nailed and left alone "God's anointed" in 1 Samuel 24:4). In my own life, I began to pray for the opportunity to go into full-time ministry and seminary when I first started teaching at age 23. Thankfully the next 7 years was a huge growing period that prepared me for this time and I was able to gain a lot more out of the experiences I've had, and also ended up in the right place at the right time.

4) GO --- What you ask God for is both His desire as well as within His perfect timing. Biblically, King Hezekiah (one of the few faithful kings) became very ill and was at the point of death and prayed that God would heal him...which God immediately answered and gave him another 15 years of life (Isaiah 38). In my own life God has answered prayers to allow me to teach (as I lead a class of 40 at church) and evangelize (to kids at the detention center every Sunday) and it is awesome to wonder how many prayers of protection, health, etc upon my family and friends are being answered on a daily basis!

So there you have it...all your prayers will fall into one of those categories and all of them will have one of those responses from God (NO, SLOW, GROW, GO). And in all things, know that His mind and will for us are far above anything we can even imagine, and despite whether or not the response we get is what our personal desire(s) were, He is worthy to be praised.

What's Up Wednesday --- August 6th

1) This past weekend, Jen finally got her birthday dinner...2 months late since we were away for a wedding on her real birthday. We went to Malabar Farm which in its hay day has hosted many famous people (senators, governors, celebrities, etc). Even though it's not really her birthday, I'll be sure to add a story about Jen this Friday!

2) This week Jen's dad and I are going to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton. They are staying the weekend with us and we are playing in the seminary golf tournament on Monday along with my friend Chris from Pittsburgh and my friend John, the business manager for our church.

3) On Sunday I will continue to teach on Colossians. It's funny to see how this particular church 2000 years ago faced the same things we face today (beliefs that Jesus isn't the only way, things are more important than God, people are more important than God, etc) and what Paul has to say to them (inspired by God of course!), and how it still applies to us.

4) On Sunday I will also do my first Baptisms since becoming licensed as a pastor. We are doing an outdoor "Jordan River Baptism" and there will be 4 of us Baptizing 30-some people. We are borrowing 10-foot pools and symbolically we got some water from the Jordan River that will be poured into each pool (it's just neat to think its the same water Jesus once stood in to be Baptized --- hopefully though it not a tube of some guy's sink water selling it on e-bay claiming it is from the Jordan!).

5) Tomorrow we get cable back. We always get it for the football season and cancel it afterwards (and get a good deal every year to do it all over again!). So we are getting 6 months for only $19.95 and are starting early this year to watch the Olympics.

I think that's it!

Time Warp Tuesday --- The Master Fisherman

Last Tuesday was about my not-so-great thing I said on a hunting adventure (although I did get the deer!) and this Tuesday is about a very successful fishing trip and another not-so-great thing that I said. When I was around 12, we went to a camp of one of my dad's friends for the first day of fishing. We got up early in the morning and headed to an area just below a dam. When fishing season officially began (8:00 am I think) we started to fish.

I was using a new hand-made lure, and on my first cast --- I caught a fish. My second cast --- I caught a fish. My third cast, same thing. I caught a fish on all 5 casts to start the day. So within 10-15 minutes I had 5 fish. The rest of the day didn't slow down much. If I remember correctly, I caught 31 fish that day and my dad and his friend were very successful as well and we caught over 70 fish between us.

In the middle of the day, I caught a huge trout (I think it was 26 inches). So from then on, the average sized fish that I kept catching wasn't as exciting anymore. So I am thinking this new lure I'm using is so small that any fish would strike it...but if I could get something bigger to use, maybe only the bigger fish would go for it.

In the midst of this remarkable day of fishing, there was a man standing directly between me and my dad that was fishing as well. As my dad and I continued to pull in fish after fish, this poor guy didn't catch a thing. As I pulled in fish #28, he was still on zero. It was around this time that I opened my big mouth and added insult to injury. I yelled over to my dad, "Hey, I am tired of catching all these fish, do we have a big lure that will only catch big fish?"

Magical Monday --- If Money Grew on Trees

If money really did grow on trees, I think I got a glimpse of what our world might be like. In 2001, I was hired (through my agent) to do a magic show at the Hyatt ballroom in the Pittsburgh airport. All I knew is that I should expect around 400 adults and 100 kids. My show was at 6:00 and I arrived around 5:15 to set up and the place was empty, with the exception of 3 other entertainers (a clown, a juggler, and a comedian) that worked for the same agent as I did. Nobody seemed to know what was going on. The serving staff that had set up for dinner were clueless as to where all the people were as well since they had rented the ballroom and said they would arrive around 4:00.

So we all sat there for another 1/2 hour or so and were about to give up and take off (I had an 8:00 show to get to) when this lady comes in and says the guests would be arriving soon. The family organizing the event was from India and we were told, "It is customary for their culture to arrive late" and we could just shorten our shows to 15 minutes each while people were having dinner. As people began to arrive, so did many other entertainers from my agent (a puppeteer, a caricature artist, a mime, etc). I also noted that the meals being served were top-of-the-line...and from our wedding planning, we knew the base price to have an event there was $55.00 per person. So as the 500 people began to show up, we all started to perform...and as we performed more and more entertainers kept showing up!

After I was done, I went to thank the host and was handed a wad of cash. Even though I only did about 1/4 of my show they gave me more in a tip than the cost of my entire show (and I later found out all the other entertainers got something similar as well). To top it all off, an announcement was made that the band they had flown in from India had arrived with all their instruments. It ended up being a 10-person band!

So to sum up what was going on at this party...my estimates would be:

1) 500 dinners at $100 each = $50,000

2) 20 entertainers at $200 each + $300 tips = $10,000

3) 10 people flown in from India = $15,000

4) 10 instruments flown in from India = $2,000

5) Accommodations for many of the guests = $10,000

6) Miscellaneous (decorations, gifts, etc) = $10,000

TOTAL = $97,000

So why would someone have a $100,000 party? I figured it had to be someones wedding reception (but I saw no bride), or a 50th anniversary (but I saw no guests of honor), or perhaps a lottery winner (but I didn't see Ed McMahon and his prize patrol). So I asked the host what the big celebration was about --- The man throwing the party was a well-known brain surgeon, and this whole thing was for their daughter's FIRST BIRTHDAY! So we must add a number seven:

7) Spending 100 grand on an event your kid will never remember: PRICELESS

Family/Friend Friday --- The Young Man and the Sea

This past week was the birthday of one of my good friends growing up...Jim. We went to elementary school together, played on the same baseball and basketball teams, and every summer for only $75 we would get a student membership at a local golf course and be able to golf together on weekdays for free (and we went pretty much everyday!). Since we were both teachers after college in the Pittsburgh area, we continued to golf several times a week during the summer and still keep in contact today.

It was our senior year of high school and the day of the prom. Our prom in DuBois was always on a Friday evening. The school told students that if we were going to the prom, and if we needed time to get ready, we could leave school that day at 1:00. Well, obviously we didn't need 5 hours to get ready, but we definitely weren't going to sit in school either! So, we took off and headed for the golf course.

This particular year Jim had his "lucky ball"...one he had been golfing with for several weeks and hadn't lost and was playing really well with. On the second hole, Jim hit his drive (and his lucky ball) directly into the center of a large pond. However, water levels were down that day and a small island was exposed in the center of the pond and when we arrived, we could see Jim's "lucky ball" sitting on the little island.

Me and Chad (another friend who was golfing with us that day) began trying to persuade Jim to go after this ball. It was probably about 40 feet to this little island. The water was so dirty that there was no way to tell how deep it was, but we convinced him since you could see land in the middle, it couldn't be more than a foot or two deep. So he reached out and measured the depth from the edge with a golf club, and sure enough it was only about a foot.

So Jim takes off his socks and shoes and starts walking through the muddy pond. As he walked, the water level went from his ankles, to his knees, to his thighs, to his waist, and by the half way point it was near his chest...but he was determined to get that ball! When he retrieved it and came back, he was completely covered in mud. He thought about heading home, but with the wet mud he didn't want to get in his car (which had been washed and cleaned for prom).

We finished our round and Jim is now covered in dry mud. He used the clubhouse hose to try and clean some off, but it wasn't coming off! By now we only had about an hour to get ready for prom, so he jumped in his car and "peeled out" to get home as fast as he could. He made it to prom that night and somehow got all the mud off.

Oh, and Jim's "lucky ball" --- he lost it on the very next hole.