Our Sunday School teacher used a wonderful analogy this past week. This has been in the forefront of my mind since then.

God owns everything and provides for me and entrusts me with all that he provides. God expects me to give back 10 percent (the tithe) and above that I should use other things he gives me to further His kingdom on earth; my house, my car, my talents.

I take the money I get and put it in the bank where I entrust them to keep that money safe for me until I decide to use it and then they pay the people with that money to whom I write checks.

So what if the bank ( the stewards of my money) decided they wanted to use my money for something they thought was a better cause or just for their own selfish interest? Would I be hurt, upset, angry, incensed and take my business elsewhere? Or, would I be gracious and forgiving and entrust the bank more of my money?

I just ask.

I want to thank everyone that supported me by casting a “cheer” (vote) for me in the recent song competition. The official results are out and I did not win the competition, but I am a winner in so many other ways. I could not ask for better friends and family.

A special thanks to Michelle and the entire crew at Sonoma for putting on such a cool event.

Cheers to all of you.

We have four people from our church, Eastdale Baptist, going to Esquel, Argentina on October 19th. Our church is going with members from Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile. Please be in prayer for this trip and in particular, be in prayer for J.T, Dianne, Michael and Becky.

I have entered a song I wrote into a contest called RiffRumble IV. I am ask you to help me win by voting for my song entitled ‘Walking 2′.

To hear and vote for my song, click here
http://www.sonomawireworks.com/riffrumbleIV/post.php?/129
then click Add to add a comment which is how the vote is cast.

Rules:
The voting begins on September 28 and ends October 5 at 11:59PM Pacific Standard Time.

Vote by simply adding a comment to the song of your choice. The comment doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. Just a simple ‘good luck’ will do.

Vote only once. Submitting more than one vote could get me disqualified.

If previous competitions are any indication it will take more than 150 votes to win. Thanks for your vote and please email everyone you know and ask them to vote for my song.

Thank you and God bless.

I enjoy reading the many different church signs around town. Sometimes those few words speak a profound truth. I ran across this neat little site that has a collection of real church signs that people around the country have photographed and submitted. But, the times they are a changing and many church signs are going digital, so I guess we should preserve these images.

You can even create your own church sign here.

What church sign have you seen that made you think, laugh or maybe just pause to pray?

I am just curious if you have had some deep passion for something, that is no longer a part of your life.

I was talking with a friend about how I used to have a passion for fishing. It was so strong that if I couldn’t make it to the lake or river due to time constraints, I would seek out any ditch, creek, or slough where I could wet a hook. I LOVED fishing. I was consumed by it. It was a passion of mine. I stress was.

What happened? I rarely even think about it any more. No longer do I sit at work while my mind drifts off to great fishing spot. No longer am I preoccupied with the planning of a fishing trip, changing the line on my fishing reels, sharping hooks or re-supplying and organizing the tackle box. For many years I wanted a boat and finally was blessed to able to purchase one. I kept it for three years and put it in the water once.

Many things have happened in my life that has changed the way I look at things and my passions and priorities have changed. Maybe the passion was a surrogate for something missing in my life. Now that my focus is more on eternal things, many of the earthly passions are gone. I praise God for the life I have and how he has blessed me with so very much.

Axegrinder blog was born one year ago today. One year and 15 days ago I had no idea how to “do” a blog. Today their may be those that will say I still don’t know how to “do” a blog. Thanks to my friend David Russell for teaching me how to set this stuff up.