Bill Clinton Joins World View Challange

Wow....I don't exactly know what to say. I am not sure if I am more suprised that Slick Willy joined the challange or that I got beat by him. I do have an excuse....I took it at about 2 am this morning while I was on call. I was, um, distracted by my patients...yeah, that sounds good.

Congrats to Grant. Looks like he is the "Smartest Player" today. Let me know how you guys are liking this. I can gear the questions more towards one subject, make them harder, etc. Just let me know.

Sandman Wins

Here is the rank order list for yesterday's winners:
Name Points # Correct Seconds Total Score
1. Sandman + 6 pts 10 82 918
2. vsteger + 5 pts 10 121 879
3. jlo + 5 pts 10 122 878
4. jtnelso + 5 pts 10 160 840
5. i want it all + 4 pts 8 93 707
6. NtnlVelvet + 4 pts 8 95 705

Time is a factor in this game, but so is getting them correct. That was an easy round, I am going to start making them harder. Let me know what topics you want to cover. I am going to have to work faster because I got beat by a girl...strong work Virginia.

World View Daily Challange

OK, we have had the Nerd score and a How Smart Are You test, now comes the real thing. A daily tournament to see who among us on a consistant basis has the knowledge. Trivia categories will vary as will the difficulty level. The site you are being directed to will keep a running score of who is on top. We will see who can stay on top the longest, who can defeat the masterminds of the blog-ring (Grant, Nelson, Wayne?).

I think this will be lots of fun. I will make a link on my site so you can find it on the side bar on a daily basis. Click HERE to get started. Good Luck.

Rock Climbing

I was able to take advantage of the beautiful weather (somewhat) this weekend and went Rock Climbing with Aaron Claar, Cindy, Polly and Eric at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch this weekend. I had not been climbing in a while, I had not been outside in the woods for a while when I think of it. It was good. No, it was awesome.

There is something about climbing up the face of what seems to be an impossible climb and to see others doing it also. We first tried to climb what looked like an easy route, that was until I got to the "flat" spot. I couldn't get past it on my first try, got a little frustrated. It wasn't until Eric showed us the way that I tried again and made it. I really did not think it was possible, but when I put my thumb in the little crack and placed my elbow just right and stretched my leg out in ways I did not realize I could, the climb was not all that hard.

I think rock climbing in a lot of ways reflects what community is supposed to look like in the church. People helping others through the difficult places in life. When you are climbing, especially if you are new like myself, you need someone telling you where to put a foot, where to grab a hold, etc. They still can't do it for you, but you have to trust what they say to do and do it. They have been there before and accomplished the task. Eric told me he knew I could do this and I did not. But he showed me how and after trying again, I did it. Same thing for Aaron. He tried several times and did not think he could accomplish the task either. After seeing both Eric and I make the route, Aaron did it and made it look easy.

Another thing in climbing that reminds me of what community should look like is the belay person. This is the person who has the rope ready to catch you when you slip. We are supposed to carry one another's burdens. Galations 6:2 says "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." The person on belay is there to help us when we slip, just as we should be there to help others. At Camp Ozark, we called this our "life line". It was a reminder that God is there to support us, to catch us when we fall. Psalm 37:23-24 says "If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand. "

North Mississippi All Stars

Don't miss this show! I promise you will not be disappointed. It is worth the drive from Little Rock to hear these guys. I have seen them twice now and I am a BIG fan of theirs. They play a kind of blues-rock style. Get there early b/c the place will be packed. They are playing gigs in some big cities (NYC, Kansas City, etc) and some how we keep getting them in lil ole Fayetteville.

Click here to get a sample. Grant, you and Ro really have to come up for this show.
Other samples:
All Night Long
Be So Glad
51 Phantom

The Itch

It has started again. Seems to happen every year about this time. We get a blast of warm weather during February and it starts. No, I am not talking about my skin or allergies, I am talking about FISHING! I can't wait to wet a line. My life this year has not allowed for very much down time, but my job is playing out to make for some nice weekends this spring.

I love to fish. I love to go out on a small river or creek and either wade, kayak, or canoe and fish. Just to be alone with God. To enjoy his creation. To not talk and to just think and to allow God to speak to me. It is refreshing and reviving to my soul. I can feel it, it's coming. I am getting excited.

Still wouldn't mind one more GOOD snow first, though. Then, bring on the spring weather. I do have one prediction for this spring. Snow. Why, because we haven't got our usually dose in NWA this winter yet. Just wait and see. By the way, the above picture was taken on a creek the is to the Left just before you get to the cliffs by Kyle's Landing on the Buffalo. Don't know the name, but it had some awesome cascades on it if you walked up stream.

Baby "81"

It is cool to see that our advances in science are once again able to be used for saving another life. You may have heard about the infant in Sri Lanka who was being claimed by more than one couple as being "their" baby. DNA to the rescue. Wasn't God brilliant in designing our genetic code, something that is so specific that each one of us are unique. It took almost 2000 years since the birth of Christ to figure this out. Just makes me wonder how much more there is to know that we haven't even touched.

"The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." John 10:3

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb" Psalm 139:13

If God created our "inmost being" and the genetic code (DNA) is what makes us who we are, I would say science pretty much confirms what the Bible says. Not that we need any.

How Smart Are You?

Grant recently had a post which helped us determine what our nerd level was (mine was a 12). So, I am slightly nerdier than Grant. This made some people feel, well, made fun of. Nobody likes being called a nerd. So, I have a test that tells us how SMART we are. A little slant. Tell me how you did (on the first go around).

Stuttgart Sunrise

"The path of righteousness is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day" Pr. 4:18

Super Bowl Sunday

I wish I could say this was mine, but it is not. Thanks to Arvest (via Virginia) our community group plus the Miller/Kelley (needs a blog) community group is getting together for Food + Fellowship + Football. I will post pics from the big event next week, including my famous BBQ chicken. If things work out right, we will be showing Super Bowl XXXIX on a projector on one of my walls. Should be pretty sweet.

If you don't have a place to go on Sunday, come on over. We should have plenty of food. Drop a post if you don't know where I live.

Hand Washing

We had a noon conference the other day by one of the infectious disease specialists titled "An Ounce of Prevention, A Pound of Protection". He made a big emphasis on hand washing and had several slides showing how much time, money, and even lives could be saved by hand washing alone. There are actually bacteria in the hospital that are not found in many places outside the hospital and hence the reason we try to treat and get patients out as quickly as we can. If a patient stays in the hospital too long, chances are they will get an infection they would not have gotten otherwise. Most of these infections, though, could be prevented by proper hand washing.
This is the case with many of the "stomach bugs" that we have all had, including myself.

I thought about this title and how it relates to us spiritually as well. An "ounce" of time in the word or in prayer before each day or throughout the day will result in "pounds" of protection for our soul. Washing our hands of sin in accountability with others often results in pounds of change in our lives.

Psalm 24:3-5 says "3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false. [a]
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior"

I don't think this verse was talking about those of us who use antibacterial soap. We sing "give us clean hands, give us pure hearts". What exactly are we singing about and what is the Bible referring to if not literally talking about washing with soap? How do we clean our hands? We can't do it on our own. We need to continually seek Jesus in this. We need to seek his guideance in the Word, in prayer, in confessing our sins to both God and others, in fellowship, etc. When we mess up, we don't dwell in the mess we made. We repent, which means we "change direction". We turn to Jesus, often the last thing we want to do because of shame. We wash our hands in His blood, freeing us to approach his throne of grace with confidence.

I have noticed the days I slip up the most often are days when I am physically tired and because of that, may not have spent time in prayer or in the Word that morning. My defenses are down and I don't depend on the Lords strength. I know that in these moments I need to stop what I am doing, spend a few moments in prayer, and stand up to the test in God's strength. Just those few moments in prayer produce the protection I need to keep my hands clean.

By the way, the best thing you can do to literally keep your hands free from germs is use the alcohol based hand soaps that don't require water.

Gmail

I got some more Gmail invites if anybody wants one. Post a reply. I am really liking the layout and set up of it.

Snow Day

My back yard this morning. Since Fayetteville schools are cancelled, that means no work for me today, except that I do need to take advantage of this time and go see my nursing home patients.

Grant, SOTO? I wish, I am on call tonight. So lets take a poll. Who thinks the hospital will be busy tonight? Will people stay home or will they brave the icey conditions?

Love of Christ

I have not faced anything more challanging to my faith than being on call and seeing patients in the ER. The fact that the E in ER stands for Emergency and yet we see so many people with coughs, runny noses, upset stomachs, drug addictions, etc can make one very cynical if they are not careful. Many of the people seen in the ER are abusing the system, which makes it even more difficult.

I have found myself at times not having a Christ-like attitude and it bothers me. I have found that if I don't pray and ask for God to work through me that night, to help me have the love of Christ and to be His hands and feet, that I most often will have a "bad" night. My last few calls have kept me up until 3 and 4 in the morning (it is currently 2 am). But by approaching call with Christ's love in mind, I have found it to be much more enjoyable.

I once lived with a group of guys and my job gave me a lot more free time than they had. I approached doing small tasks such as the dishes and cleaning up as a way to serve them and found that I enjoyed doing these things. I wish I could say it has been that way since, but I can truely say that approaching these tasks with the right attitude and right motives made all the difference.

I think we can apply this to all areas of life. I believe if we take the Colosians 3:23 approach to all things in life our day will be much simpler and more enjoyable. If our focus is on Christ, in being His hands and feet, so that we look to the interest of others before ourself, then we will find joys in this life not yet known. Try it, I dare you.