There are charities on every corner (sometimes literally!) during the holiday season. We want to give to them all, but when finances are tight, what can we do? Why not do what you are already doing... just maybe a little better! Organizations like the Raleigh Rescue Mission are able to help you plan your holiday travel and you can give to your favorite charity every time you shop at the supermarket! Check out this great link for 11 more ideas like these. Plus, don't forget the His Radio Blanket Bundles event (canned food and blanket drive) on Saturday, November 14th!
http://http://www.newsobserver.com/business/local_state/story/155733.html
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
And the Winners Are...
... The Deep Fried Snickers AND the Deep Fried HoHo! (I can't believe I ate the whole thing.) I thoroughly enjoyed eating the foods that you selected for me to eat at the State Fair. The Deep Fried Snickers and Deep Fried Ho Ho ended up tying as the foods you wanted me to try at the fair, so between the four members of my family we HAPPILY polished them off.
My personal favorite was the Snickers with yummy, melt-y, carmel-y, chocolate, plus the texture the peanuts provided. The HoHo had a nice cake-y structure surrounded by the deep fried batter, however the white filling was MIA. It appeared to have been baked out (or baked in.)
Thanks for your votes and thanks for the fun!
My personal favorite was the Snickers with yummy, melt-y, carmel-y, chocolate, plus the texture the peanuts provided. The HoHo had a nice cake-y structure surrounded by the deep fried batter, however the white filling was MIA. It appeared to have been baked out (or baked in.)
Thanks for your votes and thanks for the fun!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Deep Fried Suggestions- Vote for State Fair Food I Should Eat
If it can be skewered and fried, you'll find it for sale at the North Carolina State Fair. The latest delight on a stick: the deep fried HoHo (to go with its close cousin the deep fried Twinkie.) From deep fried candy bars to deep fried macaroni and cheese there is something for everyone.
I tend to be the funnel cake type, but I'd like to branch out and try something new. I will try the State Fair food that receives the most votes (comments) here prior to Friday's Jeremy Camp concert. (I'll even be sure to get a pic of me eating "His Radio's Best Loved [Fried] State Fair Food.")
Have you been to the State Fair this year? Tell me what fried food you'd recommend.
I tend to be the funnel cake type, but I'd like to branch out and try something new. I will try the State Fair food that receives the most votes (comments) here prior to Friday's Jeremy Camp concert. (I'll even be sure to get a pic of me eating "His Radio's Best Loved [Fried] State Fair Food.")
Have you been to the State Fair this year? Tell me what fried food you'd recommend.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Confessions of a "No guy"
Earlier today I received an urgent email from an organization whose goal is to unite one million people who will at a moment's notice fight to defend the traditional definition of marriage. I often send my appropriate emails to the right congressmen and hope and pray they make a difference. I receive probably three or four of these types of emails a week from this organization and others desiring my action. Protect babies, defend marriage, stand for strong families. Worthy causes that deserve my time and my money.
I go through times, probably like you, when I am battle weary. I am weary because for as long as I can remember I have fought (losing) battles. Growing up listening to programs which encouraged my parents to "write their congressmen" and "call the White House switchboard" I learned the importance of being an active citizen and defending what is Biblically right with the freedom offered voters in our country.
I'm the "No guy." Saying "no" to everything from "pro-choice" to "sexual freedom" and this language makes me feel like the bad guy in this battle of verbiage. "Defending the faith" is a statement we commonly use, but perhaps the reason we lose so often in the marketplace is because we are on the defense and not on the offense.
It's widely known that Christians in music, books, and media are primarily imitators. We see something that works in the secular world and we simply shift the marketing to suit the Christian public. We are often six months too late and unoriginal. (If you need an example just look at knock offs like the "Sunday School Musical" DVD or "Conservapedia" which is claims to be more Christian-friendly than Wikipedia.) How would the world be different today if a Christian had originated either "High School Musical" or Wikipedia?
Not to downplay the validity of the putting out moral fires as they come, but what if we anticipated fires in advance and assembled an army when there is a moral consensus? Child pornography is a battle Americans who care about children have a general agreement about- it is horribly wrong. Why not mobilize on this issue NOW instead of in 10 years? This is a war where we can win by being on the OFFENSIVE. This beats putting out last minute fires, winning a few battles and losing the war.
So how about becoming Christian innovators and changing the face of technology? How about fighting a winning battle together and celebrating the chance to be "Yes Men!"
I go through times, probably like you, when I am battle weary. I am weary because for as long as I can remember I have fought (losing) battles. Growing up listening to programs which encouraged my parents to "write their congressmen" and "call the White House switchboard" I learned the importance of being an active citizen and defending what is Biblically right with the freedom offered voters in our country.
I'm the "No guy." Saying "no" to everything from "pro-choice" to "sexual freedom" and this language makes me feel like the bad guy in this battle of verbiage. "Defending the faith" is a statement we commonly use, but perhaps the reason we lose so often in the marketplace is because we are on the defense and not on the offense.
It's widely known that Christians in music, books, and media are primarily imitators. We see something that works in the secular world and we simply shift the marketing to suit the Christian public. We are often six months too late and unoriginal. (If you need an example just look at knock offs like the "Sunday School Musical" DVD or "Conservapedia" which is claims to be more Christian-friendly than Wikipedia.) How would the world be different today if a Christian had originated either "High School Musical" or Wikipedia?
Not to downplay the validity of the putting out moral fires as they come, but what if we anticipated fires in advance and assembled an army when there is a moral consensus? Child pornography is a battle Americans who care about children have a general agreement about- it is horribly wrong. Why not mobilize on this issue NOW instead of in 10 years? This is a war where we can win by being on the OFFENSIVE. This beats putting out last minute fires, winning a few battles and losing the war.
So how about becoming Christian innovators and changing the face of technology? How about fighting a winning battle together and celebrating the chance to be "Yes Men!"
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Power of Tears
Back in the day... I mean WAY back in the day, when Jesus walked the Earth, young people just starting out didn't flip signs behind their backs along the roadside (or flip burgers for that matter.) No, an entrepreneurial-type might go into the "crying" business. Since there were always people passing away (and not enough true friends with real tears) they'd send in actors who could work up tears at a moment's notice.
Even today professional mourners call up funeral directors and offer their services, for a price. I understand one professional mourner who garnered a large sum ($50,000!) actually tore out chunks of her hair as she mourned during Marilyn Monroe's funeral.
I know for me when I am at a funeral I find it so refreshing to be with someone who is moved to tears. It is both contagious and freeing. One person's expression seems to give the group permission to let down their guard emotionally.
"Jesus wept." John 11:35
The shortest verse in the Bible struck me in a new way this week. Those two little words tell us that Jesus was willing to be vulnerable, and for a moment "feel" instead of "fix." His friend Lazarus (who he would later raise from the dead!) had just passed away and his emotions welled up. He felt sorry for the crowd and Lazarus's sisters Mary and Martha. He did what the book of Romans calls, "mourning with those who mourn."
A few friends who get probably the worst rap in the Bible are Job's friends who provide him nearly 40 chapters of bad advice. (Not much different than mid-afternoon TV!) Anyway, in Job's friends' defense, when Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar heard that Job had lost his possessions, his children, and was physically sick they "met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. (Job 2:11) The three men wept alound and sat with Job in silence and tears for seven days. Seven days! (How many women could be quiet for seven days?!) These are rare friends!
In our crazy lives it is easy for us each to become too busy to take on each other's pain. The impending divorce... The lost job... The wayward teen... But as Jesus showed us, being a true friend means being willing to shed real tears because of love for the hurting.
When I think about my own funeral someday I don't want plastic, paid-off mourners but true friends who are both thankful for my home-going and heart-sick. Emotion at the end of life begins with emotional investment in others now.
Even today professional mourners call up funeral directors and offer their services, for a price. I understand one professional mourner who garnered a large sum ($50,000!) actually tore out chunks of her hair as she mourned during Marilyn Monroe's funeral.
I know for me when I am at a funeral I find it so refreshing to be with someone who is moved to tears. It is both contagious and freeing. One person's expression seems to give the group permission to let down their guard emotionally.
"Jesus wept." John 11:35
The shortest verse in the Bible struck me in a new way this week. Those two little words tell us that Jesus was willing to be vulnerable, and for a moment "feel" instead of "fix." His friend Lazarus (who he would later raise from the dead!) had just passed away and his emotions welled up. He felt sorry for the crowd and Lazarus's sisters Mary and Martha. He did what the book of Romans calls, "mourning with those who mourn."
A few friends who get probably the worst rap in the Bible are Job's friends who provide him nearly 40 chapters of bad advice. (Not much different than mid-afternoon TV!) Anyway, in Job's friends' defense, when Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar heard that Job had lost his possessions, his children, and was physically sick they "met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. (Job 2:11) The three men wept alound and sat with Job in silence and tears for seven days. Seven days! (How many women could be quiet for seven days?!) These are rare friends!
In our crazy lives it is easy for us each to become too busy to take on each other's pain. The impending divorce... The lost job... The wayward teen... But as Jesus showed us, being a true friend means being willing to shed real tears because of love for the hurting.
When I think about my own funeral someday I don't want plastic, paid-off mourners but true friends who are both thankful for my home-going and heart-sick. Emotion at the end of life begins with emotional investment in others now.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
$20 House?
Nearly 4,000 square feet for $20? It sounds too good to be true, but one former North Carolina family is raffling off their dream home because trying to sell it has proven ineffective. After building their home in 2001 the Peterson family took a job in Montana and the real estate market collapsed. They are now selling raffle tickets, with $19 going toward the Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center in Montana. Read more about it (and check out pictures of the house) at
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6009013/
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6009013/
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
"The Flood" Remembered
If you lived in North Carolina 10 years ago, most likely you don't even like to hear the name "Floyd." "Floyd" is more than just the name of somebody's uncle, it conjures up memories you'd rather forget. When our family moved to North Carolina about three years ago we heard plenty of stories from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest) students (and their families) who had to move in with off-campus families because they had no electricity.
Flooded homes and flooded cars...even lost lives. According to www.noaa.gov, "Damages are estimated to be $1.6 billion in Pitt County, North Carolina alone, and total storm damages have surpassed the $6 billion caused by Hurricane Fran in 1996."
But even as Hurricane Floyd brought devastating loss, it also brought North Carolinians together. Looking back at your own experience during Hurricane Floyd, how did someone go above and beyond to reach out to you? I'd love to hear your story!
Flooded homes and flooded cars...even lost lives. According to www.noaa.gov, "Damages are estimated to be $1.6 billion in Pitt County, North Carolina alone, and total storm damages have surpassed the $6 billion caused by Hurricane Fran in 1996."
But even as Hurricane Floyd brought devastating loss, it also brought North Carolinians together. Looking back at your own experience during Hurricane Floyd, how did someone go above and beyond to reach out to you? I'd love to hear your story!
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