If Jesus were born in 2010

It is really amazing to place the Bible on top of history to see God's perfect timing for the birth of the Messiah (Jesus). There are lists of reasons why just 100 years earlier or 100 years later would have been completely different based on culture, governmental powers, etc, etc, etc and wouldn't have had the same story (so thank God for His timing and not ours!). But that's not what this post is about --- this is the curiosity of what would be different if Jesus were born in 2010 rather than 2000+ years ago. May look something like this...

Your Sins are Forgiven!

Mark is one of my favorite books of the Bible (full of action!)...I teach at a "Community Bible Study" once a week in DuBois, and we are going verse-by-verse through Mark. After 8 weeks, we are just starting chapter 2, and one of the stories I love about Jesus.

In chapter 2, so many people come to listen and to see Jesus at a house He is staying, that the place overflows. Four men want to place a paralytic at His feet, but can't get through the door so they lower him down through the roof to place Him at the feet of Jesus (quite a step of faith and courage considering Levitical law punished people even for accidental destruction of property!). But when Jesus sees the man at His feet, rather than physically healing the man, He makes the statement, "Son, your sins are forgiven" (vs. 5).

Now I know as you go through the chapter and the parallels in Matthew and Luke, there is a strong theme of Jesus' pronouncement of His divinity since only God (Psalm 103:3) could forgive sins (and very strong indeed...Jewish teachings did not believe the Messiah would have the ability to forgive sins so this would have been an earth-shattering proclamation!). But, I think, Jesus providing a spiritual touch before a physical one is also a pronouncement that spiritual need is the deepest human need and FAR outweighs our physical needs.

Which brings me to my point/conviction: Why when someone begins to suffer physically or emotionally (find out they have a disease, lose their job, lose a loved one, etc) our hearts break and we reach out with cards, gifts, acts of service, etc, etc, etc...but when we are surrounded by people who are suffering spiritually and who need Christ (the deepest spiritual need) why are we not broken? At least not in the same way. Jesus was driven to meet spiritual needs far more than physical/emotional. As Christians/Christ Followers, shouldn't my/our brokenness and convictions for those without Christ be stronger than those who are going through a hard time? Does my/our time and energy reflect that? Thoughts?

A Tribute To My Leaves

A good portion of my day today was dedicated to getting rid of the leaves in our yard...

Of course it is time consuming, so I had the opportunity to create "A Tribute To My Leaves" while I worked. Hope you enjoy...

A Tribute To My Leaves

Why oh why do you have to fall in my yard just like rain? Surely it's got to be enough to drive me insane! Every time I clean one up - 4 more seem to drop. Will this cycle go on forever? - PLEASE make it stop!!!

Why oh why does the wind always blow from the east to the west? So I get you from my neighbor's too and never get a rest! They taught their dog to fetch a stick or a rubber ball...but why didn't they teach her to fetch you instead when it turns to fall!?!

Why oh why did we buy a house with so many trees? Now I know why the dog chooses them, when it goes and pees! All this frustration you cause - it just isn't fair! So I am praying you turn into dollar bills so we'll be billionaires!

Meholick Reunion

This weekend we had a family reunion (my mom's side). Here is a video of my family...there are a lot of people missing as most out-of-town relatives were here last weekend for my cousin's wedding instead.

Theology of Healing

A few weeks ago we celebrated Jen's 5 year remission from cancer! God has truly blessed us during this time...but why? While Jen battled her cancer, there were 2 other young ladies (30's) that battled with the same disease --- one of them passed away and one is still fighting on a daily basis. So why was Jen healed and not the others? Was it her faith? Her strength? God's strength? A combination?

Before I get into specifics, I want to make a side note that God has blessed each of us with amazing minds, and science is discovering daily more and more about the awesome qualities we possess and the power God has granted us with our minds. Research again and again shows that when people who are suffering can use their minds to develop a positive outlook will (in general) heal quicker, heal more completely, etc. When we do the opposite (and drown ourselves in despair) many times the opposite occurs. The Bible talks in many places about the importance of hope --- specifically in Him (even when we've lost all else including our health)...and when we lose our hope in Him, of course it is going to impact us physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, etc and it is no wonder that people who are battling a disease face more obstacles when they fall into that trap.

But some people take what's mentioned above and use the line, "If you just have enough faith you will be healed". But is that true? I believe the answer comes from Acts 3:1-8...

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. A man who had been lame since his birth was being carried along and was sat down at the gate called Beautiful every day to beg for money from those entering the temple...when Peter and John were entering the temple, the man began asking them for money...Peter and John responded, "Look at us"...the man expected to receive money...Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ, walk!"...immediately his legs and ankles were straightened and he got up and walked.

IMPORTANT QUESTION --- What kind of faith did this man have that he would be healed? NONE! He was at the temple, during the "hour of prayer" (3:00 and busiest time of day for the temple) at sat at the busiest gate. He went there in hopes of receiving money as he did every single day of his life. Even when he saw Peter and John, he was begging for money...the fact that God could heal him through them didn't even cross his mind (and its not a stretch to say he had probably given up on that long ago).

So what does that tell about healing today? It doesn't depend on our faith or the minds we've been blessed with (although those things can help)...but it depends solely on the sovereignty of a loving God. He chooses who He heals and who He doesn't (and who better to make that decision than the One who sees the "whole picture"?). So Jen's healing isn't based on her awesome faith (although she had that) or her positive attitude and outlook (although she had that too), but on the awesome power of God...and His sovereign mercy upon Jen when she was suffering. ALL the glory for healing should go to Him as it is not by our power, but His! And we thank Him everyday for the healing He has done in Jen's life.

Birthday AND Anniversary

Well, this is certainly a week for celebration. Tomorrow (June 7th) is Jen's birthday! She was able to celebrate with her parents who came for a visit this past weekend, and my parents as well. She is pretty proud that for the first time ever, she has more birthday/Christmas money than I do, but my birthday is just around the corner too, so if you have any money burning holes in your pocket, you know where to send it come August!

For her birthday, Jen wants to take a trip back to Pittsburgh (where we met). One of her favorite things to do there was Saturday night Swing Dancing in Squirrel Hill. So we'll head down to one of her favorite restaurants, do some shopping, visit some friends, go back to our old church, and maybe catch a Pirates Game (I won 2 free tickets when we were there a few weeks ago!).

But more important than Jen's birthday (well, maybe equally important) is her anniversary. Tuesday (June 8th) will be her 5 year anniversary of being cancer free! The 5th anniversary is the most important as it puts her back in the "normal risk" category and will save us a trip to Cleveland every year! God has blessed us so much over the past 5 years, but has also given us a prospective that everything we have is God's and can be taken away at any moment. It has helped us focus on the Blessings and see each day as a gift. I hope to post this week as well as to why (from a Biblical perspective) Jen was healed from her cancer. But now is the time for celebration! I know Jen checks here a lot, so feel free to leave your "Happy Birthdays" and special thoughts as a comment on here, or feel free to e-mail her at jen@magicmikeshow.com

Enjoy the wife you married as a young man! Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose. Never quit taking delight in her! (Proverbs 5:19-20) Love you Jen!

Heat Pump

Another Weekend Away

Last weekend we traveled east again to visit family and fulfill a promise to one of our Hershey girls (I'll call her "Amanda" as we aren't supposed to use their real names on the Internet) to take her with us for an entire weekend. On Friday we stopped in Hershey to pick up one of our favorite (well at least mine...Jen says she doesn't have favorites) girls "Amanda" and spent some time there visiting the other girls as well. Jen, Amanda, and I headed down to Maryland and had dinner with my aunt and uncle and all my cousins. Friday night was performing magic with my uncle at his house and refusing to take home all his stuff (he always tries to give all his stuff away).

On Saturday, Jen headed to Reading to go to a woman's conference at her sister's church and to visit her sister and family. I went with my aunt, uncle, and Amanda to a magic convention featuring Harry Anderson (the judge from the old sitcom Night Court). We all had a great time, although it was a very long 12-hour day that Amanda and I had to escape to the playground a few times. Jen had a great time spending time with her family!

On Sunday we went to my cousin's church in Maryland and then to the Cracker Barrel for lunch where Amanda put on a show for everyone of all the new things she had learned. On the way home I asked her the favorite part of the weekend expecting to hear something about Harry Anderson, or one of the new tricks she learned, etc...but was very touched when she said, "My favorite part of the whole weekend was when you played soccer in the yard with me Friday after dinner and when we got to go play on the playground just you and me". When I asked, "Didn't you like the magic convention", she responded..."Yeah, I loved it! I just loved those other things even more".

Hope all is well with everyone!

Anniversary Weekend

This past weekend was our 6th anniversary. We started with a magic show for a "day away" for people 55 and older in New Holland, PA (there were about 150 people there):

We also got to celebrate (a few days late) our niece's birthday and got to take all the kids (except the youngest) to iHop for breakfast and to the museum to see the Bob the Builder exhibit:

Finally we celebrated with a night away at the Annville Inn Bed and Breakfast.

Give Me Your Eyes For Just One Second...

As many of you already know, I am currently working with children that have emotional and/or behavioral problems. During the day I supervise therapeutic support staff (wrap-arounds) in several of the surrounding school districts, and do family counseling in the evenings. Currently I work with 12 children and their families. Behaviors can be anything from daily physical aggression, running away, uncontrollable emotional breakdowns, etc, etc, etc. It was a little overwhelming when I started as my Masters in Pastoral Counseling focused on adult issues, marriage, finances, spiritual issues, etc --- and I learned very little about counseling children.
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The beginning of January I was getting a little frustrated being around kids making bad choices and falling into bad habits over and over again. To make matters worse, I did some research on the type of work I do, and study after study came back to the conclusion that pretty much says "it doesn't work" and no matter what I did was not going to be of much benefit to these kids or their families.
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That wasn't good enough --- I began to pray God would help me with these families to really make a difference. Driving to work one day a song came on the radio that really changed my perspective on how I approached these children and their families. The song is called "Give Me Your Eyes" and it's a prayer for God to allow you to see people the way He sees them. Some of the lyrics are:
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All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I've been missing
Give me your eyes for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see...
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Since that has become my daily focus and prayer (trying to see people the way God sees them), I have seen an incredible difference! Every kid I have right now loves working with me (because they know I don't look at them as the "bad kid" or the "messed up kid" that everyone else sees). For some of these kids I am the only one they will talk to. Just last week I discharged 3 kids because of the incredible progress they had made in just the past 2 months (and 5 more are very close and will be discharged in the next month or two!). It is also being noticed by our other Master's level counselors and psychologist as I was asked to do a training on building relationships for all our staff later this year. All from someone who really doesn't know much about counseling kids --- but God does!
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Here is the song...hope you make it your prayer too!

The Mean Husband

Decided to play a little practical joke on Jen today with a classic. In the video, she thinks she is showing off all our new appliances (that's what I told her to do), slowly building up to the fun part!

The Polka

My great-grandma (Bub) and and that side of the family was always into dancing the Polka. Growing up, we watched the "Polka Hour" at my grandma's house on Friday nights on PBS. When I was in college I had to take a "teaching dance" class as part of my requirements for physical education. My great aunt Mary Lou and I decided it was the perfect time for the two of us to go to one of the dances on "Polka Hour" and get ourselves on TV! So we called PBS and their response was, "That show has been canceled for over 10 years...its just re-runs". Oh well, so my Polka never made it on PBS but it made it to this blog! This is from my great-grandma's 80th birthday party in May 1984 (that makes me 8-years-old). Check me out with my shirt, tie, and sweat pants hahaha...

What if Men Got Pregnant?

Ever wonder what a pregnant man might be like? Back when I did stage hypnosis shows, I've made over 100 men believe they were pregnant and had them try and explain how they got pregnant and what it felt like. Believe me...I've heard some great stories!!! Below is a video from an old show (I am just learning how to transfer VHS tapes to the computer...just wait until I can post some of the videos from the 80's when I was back in elementary school!). Check it out...

Riddle of the Weekend

ANSWER IS NOW LISTED BELOW...

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In the middle of the night last night, I invented a riddle. Think about it over the weekend and take a shot at it! I'll post the solution (who knows...maybe there is more than 1 answer and ya'll will come up with something) on Monday. Comments will be hidden until then. Here it is...

Dave and his 5 friends are stranded on a desert island. Nobody has any money and there is no money on the island other than the five, $1.00 bills Dave has in his wallet (no more, no less). Dave decides to give each of his friends on the island $1.00. After he gives each of his friends a $1.00 bill, amazingly there is still $1.00 left in the wallet! How is that possible?

Good Luck!

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Not much success with this one...got a few responses by e-mail, but nobody correct...

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Dave had 5 friends and 5, $1.00 bills in his wallet. After each friend got a $1.00 bill there was still $1.00 left in the wallet. The answer is - he gave the wallet to one of his friends as well. So it took out 4, $1.00 bills and gave them to 4 of his 5 friends, and the last friend he gave the wallet to with the $1.00 bill still in it. So now all 5 friends have $1.00 and the wallet has $1.00 left inside as well!

Back to Magic

This past weekend, Jen and I got to go on a visit to see her sister and brother-in-law in Eastern Pennsylvania. We had a great time during our short visit playing Nintendo Wii, Bend-a-Roos (spelling?), Horsey Rides, Strawberry Shortcake, Cars, Trains, etc, etc, etc. We got there about 4:00...I was exhausted by 5:30.
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The following day I performed an Outreach Magic Show for New Love in Christ Church in Harrisburg. It is a smaller church of about 100 people, but there were about 200 people that came out for the show --- the biggest crowd they ever had for their "Family Fun Night"! As part of the show, I presented the Gospel Message, so pray that lives have been changed by Him! It is awesome to have time to do more shows now...I have another scheduled in Harrisburg in just a few weeks, and several more in the works.
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We also had the privilege of taking out 3 of our girls from Milton Hershey. They are my 3 favorite girls (Jen will say she doesn't have any favorites...but she does!) and we had a great time together going out for Ice Cream, talking, and all of them helped out and were part of the magic show. A couple of them got permission for us to take them for an entire weekend this year, so we are excited and are thinking of ideas for the spring to make it special for them.

Where in the World Are We?

Well, we finally have internet access at home! No more running to the library and waiting an hour to get 20-minutes of computer time. A lot has changed over the past few months and I am sure it will take several posts to get everyone up to date...but I figure the best place to start is where we are living.

Jen and I moved back just outside of my hometown of DuBois, PA. We are living in a resort area called Treasure Lake (http://www.treasurelakepoa.com/). Treasure Lake is the resort where I first got started into magic as I worked there as a magician for the time-share section of Treasure Lake from the end of high school through college.

Most of Treasure Lake has a speed limit of 25 MPH or less. One day while working I was late going from one show to the next, and I was in quite a hurry. Of all days, Treasure Lake security was hiding with their radar gun along one of the back roads and they pulled me over going 57 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. When I explained I was the resort magician and was running late for a show he asked me to show him a trick as proof. So I showed him a trick and his only response was, "follow me in your car"...no "wow", "I'm impressed", "cool trick", etc.

So I am completely paranoid as to where we are going and what he plans to do with me since I was going more than twice the speed limit! We wind our way all through the entire resort and to the security station at the entrance to Treasure Lake. We get out of our cars and walk into the security station where there were a few more guards. I waiting to see if I am going to be finger printed, arrested, or what when the guy who pulled me over says to the other guards, "Hey guys, watch this...this is the coolest trick you'll ever see...show them". I spent the next 30 minutes entertaining resort security.

There never was any further mention of my speeding...no ticket, no warnings, nothing! However, I was too late for my show and they canceled it. I probably would have been better off just getting a ticket and making it to my show. Oh well, just like everything else I was left with a story I could tell years later on my blog!

So we are very happy to be back home in western PA close to family and friends (although we certainly miss the Ohio and Hershey people)! Check back soon so I can fill you all in on our house, jobs, family updates, etc!