Blood Drive at church today. I was commissioned to take pictures for the church bulletin. Keep in mind that I don’t give blood. I am a big weenie when it comes to blood. I hate needles and all that. And stop that laughing.
So as I was taking pictures, I got a stern warning from the head nurse. “Don’t pictures until the blood gets started.” I later found out they really don’t like pictures of needles because it would drive people away from giving blood. So I waited until the covered the needle with the bandage.
They have special chairs with armrests for giving blood. It’s not just some flimsy deck furniture you’d see at Kmart.
You could tell the nurses had already heard all those lame bloodletting jokes. Vampires. Bad blood. Junk like that. They had heard them all.
A word about Dan Rather’s hands: They’re old and wrinkled. We’re talking hands that make him look 80 years old. I saw them when he had a close-up view of the map of Iraq. Goodness, Dan, don’t try out for any hand lotion advertisements.

Today was a good day. Andrew, our new education minister led singing during worship….and led plenty of songs. Lots of times I think we get into a rush and have to give the sermon a certain amount of minutes. Where do we cut? Number of songs per worship service. But today was good. We had about 8 songs. Excellent. Some of the best part of worship is the singing. Why are we are forced to cut back on it just because someone wants to get out at a certain time? It is asking too much to give God 75 minutes from your 168 hour week? So what if we are unable to squeeze the entire worship service into a nice little box of 60 minutes?
David used a trashcan and shovel as object lessons during his sermon. I’d like to get a picture of him slinging that shovel around with the zoom camera for church bulletin documentation. A year or so ago, he used a sheep as part of an object lesson. It helps to get the kids (and adults) with short attention spans to focus on a sermon with objects held in front of their faces.
Weblogs I read: There are a few weblogs that I have been known to read. Most of which got started directly from my suggestions.

• ye ol written word of todd a burka – long time listener; first time blogger.
• Josh’s Blogger House – Todd’s friend. Just getting started – looks to be interesting so far.
• Jesse – Live and Petal-Open – Josh’s girlfriend.
• Mrs. Williamson’s Diary – hardly ever updated. Can we declare this blog D.O.A. ?

Meanwhile….
The Dixie Chicks face more backlash on Bush comments.

I realize that many people need to be reminded to invite their non-church going friends to worship services. In reality we should be always reminded to be evangelistic about inviting friends to church. But some of us need an extra push to do this. Hence the idea of Friends’ Day. Its a time when we’ll invite our friends to a special worship service. We had “Goal Day” in the 1980s. But the term Friends’ Day has become more platable. Because it isn’t about reaching a specific number. It is about friends’ souls.
Friends Day may not be for everyone. I realize that things might be hectic. If someone is not used to crowds and prefers a smaller worship environment, this may not be the best thing for them.
Me, in inviting friends, I try to maximize my invitations. I won’t bother inviting someone who I know would never show up. But those who might be looking for somewhere to go, I try to send an invite.
During the worship service we need to have the most welcoming environment for our friends. Not only does everyone need to be welcoming toward each other, we also need some degree of familiarity. Sing songs that everyone knows. It’s not the time to learn new songs which would make someone feel out of place if they were unfamiliar with the worship songs. Amazing Grace would be a good. Devo songs are probably good.

I sent out about 8 letters to churches/ministers asking for support on my El Salvador mission trip. Basically there’s a set amount which we have to pay for ourselves. My goal has just about been reached. I am VERY grateful for the finanical support.
I had been really pondering this. I have the money in the bank for this trip. However being unemployeed I don’t exactly have money pouring in anymore. I asked alot of people about this…whether is it ok to ask for support for such a mission trip when you do have money saved up? The general feeling was that it was perfectly fine to do this. So I did.
I definitely wouldn’t have asked for support if I did have a job. I do realize that there are plenty more people more deserving than me. Yet I realize that there are church people out there looking to support mission work, yet just don’t have the time to go themselves. So I guess I’m giving them a chance to support someone they know personally.
So it is ok to do this? Am I treading on thin ice? This has all been a humbling experience. I hope I’m doing an ok thing. I realize that my money isn’t even really my money at all. It’s God’s money. And I hope my request hasn’t cost me any respect.
Then again I’ve wondered why people like me. I don’t do anything extraordinarily special that would tend to attract people. Is it specialized knowledge? Knowledge that causes someone to come up to me and start asking random internet and computer questions?
In case you haven’t realized it, when I make reference to the “Big Giant Screen” at church, it’s actually a subtle throwback to that campy sitcom “3rd Rock from the Sun.” Whenever they had a direct command from the higher ups, Harry Solomon would stand up and yell “Incoming Message from the Big Giant Head.” Ok, I’ll stop explaining myself now.
Todd implimented the Blogamp thingy on his website. So now you can see all that weird music he listens to on a regular basis. Well, it’s not that weird.

At church we have a program for the elementary and middle schoolers. The program teaches fundamentals of church stuff and tries to push leadership skills and stuff like that. We have 2 different programs – one for the boys, the other for the girls. Anyways I decided to help out with this program this time around. I’ve been to two Sunday afternoon sessions. I’ve been sitting in with the 3rd-5th graders’ class.
During today’s session we got those weird philosophical questions that you just can’t answer with one simple sentence. Stuff like this:

• “If a baby’s first word is a pottyword, does God send them to hell if they die?”
• “Do demons and ghosts still exist?”
• “Where did the Bible come from? And how was it passed down?”

Still it is good that they are asking questions like this. Shows they are paying attention. I doubt that I’m doing much. Mostly just sitting around offering meager comments. I did have an impromptu showing some of them how the big giant screen in the auditorium works. They seemed interested in it.
I managed to find an old copy of CoolEdit ’96 on the web. Nevermind that CoolEdit 2000 is out. It’s $69, while ’96 is free. And all I want to do is convert wav files to Real Audio. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what I need.
I found Blogamp….a plug-in for Winamp. FTPs a javascript to your webpage showing what songs you’ve been listening to. I probably won’t use it on my page. I may not want people knowing what songs I listen to. But I’d like to see it on others peoples. Maybe even find some cool music.

Woefully inadequate computers for what they need to do in the church office. That’s all I have to say. I’m used to upgrading my machine every few years or so. That’s me. Thankfully I got a new machine a couple of years ago and I haven’t had to upgrade since then. And for the most part (knock on wood) this computer has been adequate for my needs.
The computers in the church office are another story. Ancient. About 8 years old. It is a wonder they’re able to put out a bulletin each week.
We’ve gotten some machines donated to the church. They’re about 366Mhz with 5 gig hard drives. I’ve been surveying the church office staff to see what their needs are. What programs they use and what programs they need.
I will be glad when we get these new computers installed. Life may be a whole lot easier….or open up a new can of worms during the transition period.
So the discussion board has been dumbed down according to a colleague of mine. Where is everybody? I don’t know…. Trying to post relavent questions as to spur discussion.

El Salvador class was tonight. I definitely think there should be a seperate class for first timers. I feel so intimidated with so many veterans of past trips in the same room. Are these people here to point and laugh at my stupid questions? My ignorance is showing. Watches? Can I wear my Snoopy watch to El Salvador or will it be stolen faster than a Mr. T starter set? Time to get a cheap digital watch at Wallyworld if I am going to know what time it is while in ES.
I did a search for Usulutan – the city where we are going to. Supposedly there is a volcano there. So that will be interesting. But somehow I suspect things will be too busy dishing out medication for any siteseeing trips. And I’m aware of that. It is a work trip. Rarely do you get to interact with real people in 3rd world countries. I count myself blessed to have met some real people in China. So I guess I’ll be meeting some real people in ES.
And it will be difficult to refrain from mentioning China during the trip. I will have to bite my tongue when I arrive…wanting to say “Well in China things were like this…” That’s old news. No one wants to hear about China. It’s all foreign compared to ES. I’ve been to China? So what? Lots of people have. Phil’s been to the Holy Land, but you don’t hear him mentioning it during every other sentence.
Then again, China is the only thing I have to compare to this third world country of El Salvador. So by human nature I’m going to do it. I’ll just have to do it silently as though trying not to annoy my tripmates.
I visited Papa John’s new Hermitage location tonight. In the same building as a Blockbuster video. What a novel concept. While a pizza gets cooked, customers can go right next door and pick up a video. The 2 businesses compliment each other. Still, the old Blockbuster building looks much larger than the new building. I guess DVD’s come in slim packaging hence the slim building. Maybe people aren’t renting as much with Tivo around.
Anyways the PJ’s moved away from the shopping center which SuperWalmart will tear down to build a bigger and better SuperbionicWalmartSuperCenter/ McDonald’s/ PizzaHut/ Oil Change place/ and gynecologist all in the same building. Okay, I’m kidding. It won’t be bionic and Pizza Hut and the gynecologist will not be available in said Supercenter. But everything else will be there.

I grew up in a church (and still am part of a church) that did not celebrate Lent. So when I got to high school and some of my friends were talking about what they were giving up for Lent, the concept seems so foreign to me. According to what I’ve read about it, Lent symbolizes Jesus’ withdrawal while in the wilderness fasting for 40 days.
I think if it helps someone grow closer to God, then Lent is probably a good thing. However church leaders which push Lent should know that the concept is not found in the Bible, although the more general aspect of fasting is found in the Bible. If you try to make Lent into some requirement for salvation, then you are treading on thin ice.
In some ways I think Lent may have caused more sin. Last night in New Orleans people partied…doing who knows what….and then when the clock struck midnight….like Cinderella’s pumpkin, the partying stopped. So why is a certain part of the year considered more holier than the rest? Shouldn’t we be living 100% for God 365 days a year?
What does giving up caffeine for 40 days before Easter have to do with Jesus’ death? Instead of doing something fickle like that, why not do some real fasting; visit a shut-in; volunteer at your church. Just don’t try to make something fairly fickle like caffeine and somehow compare it to Jesus’ death on the cross.
However I’m prefacing this by saying, I’m not trying to bash someone who celebrates Lent. All I’m saying is that there is so much more you can do to grow closer to God, than by just giving up chocolate for 40 days….

Here are pictures of where I’ll be going in El Salvador. You might see some broken images. Just click on the broken thumbnail images and you’ll get a nice big unbroken image. Allright?
My thoughts: Pretty much what I was imagining. I realize that this is not exactly the same place we (they) went to last year. The first picture of the wall looks kinda neat. Seems to shout out “You’re in Latin America now!” Then there’s the Americanism in this picture. You can definitely tell that America’s influence has spread far and wide…even to this small village. “Coke Is It!” ya know? I wonder if any refreshments will be served from there during our visit.
I kinda wish there could be a somewhat better site (minus the MSN ads) to display information in regards to Latin American Missions. Perhaps “Panama Jack,” whom I’ve never met, needs to get setup with Movable Type and Gallery software. This shouldn’t be too hard to do, depending on the specs of the webserver which hosts the Latin American Missions webpage. I could do this, if asked.
The weather forecasts will not be updated until my weather data supplier becomes accessible again. It’s been down all day. So don’t hold your breath. As the crowds that read this website collectively have a sigh of disappointment, let me provide some suggestions. If you really need to find out how the weather is outside, stick your head outside the window. If it is cold, wear a heavy coat. If it is wet, take an umbrella. Don’t blame me. It’s your own dumb luck.
So this site is pretty interesting. It’s not just for Lipscomb. Plenty of other schools are listed.

“I realize random morons find me offensive.”
–Todd Burka 2/25/03

Don’t worry, Todd. I understand completely.

I felt as though I really messed up my devotional Sunday night. I got fumbled up and distracted and couldn’t get the words out the way I wanted to say it. I hate that. Being in front of so many more people – who could do it much better than me….
I don’t want sympathy. I’m just disappointed in myself right now.
Who knows if the kids will remember any of it? Who knows if I’ll be asked to do it again? Was anybody listening? Does anybody care anymore?