Back in March the phones at the church got wiped out from lightning. For a variety of factors out of our control, it took about four months to get the phones working again. Just last week they were finally up and working again. Within the first few hours of them being repaired I realized how much I enjoyed them being out. Already the telemarketer calls have started. Various companies calling and telling me how they can save me so much time in ministry preparation by purchasing and using their products.

I would just like to state that I normally have enough time for ministry preparation, provided I don't have to waste too much time trying to extract myself from telemarketer calls.

I sort of miss the phones being knocked out.


(For full disclosure, I have nothing against Christian businesses producing materials for church use. I just prefer to go looking for them when I actually need them)

My little two year old boy loves his mommy. He unashamedly loves her. As for me, the love is conditional. If he's in a good mood I might get an "I love you." But let that mood turn bad through tiredness or a host of other factors and he quickly becomes a lover of mommy only. This past Sunday he was riding with me to get our weekly Taco Bell lunch. He loves the ride as he gets to point out where all the fast food restaurants are located. That's scary in and of itself but thats not the focus of this post. As we were riding, I thought I'd test him.

"Hey little guy, do you love daddy?"

With that sweet smile he replied, "yeah, I love mommy."

"No, I asked if you love daddy?"

"Yeah, I love mommy."

This went on for several moments until I realized that I wasn't going to get a response concerning his love for me. Later that afternoon as I lay on the couch, I thought I'd try again.

"Do you love daddy?"

"I love mommy."

Again after several attempts I quit my pointless endeavor. However, before he walked away I had him look me in the eye for one moment and I told him something very simple. I told him I would love him even if he never loved me. Now granted, I comprehend that my little two year old doesn't have a full understanding of love. I even know that he does love me even though he swears undying allegiance to his mommy. Yet, I wanted him to know that my love would always be there whether his love was or not. Perhaps I said it more for myself as I look toward the future.

As I lay there watching him play I was quickly reminded of another father that chose to love even though his children refused to love him back. I was reminded that the Father loved us enough to allow his son to die in our place, even while we were living in open rebellion and hatred against Him. He loves for God is love. I can only speak for myself, but I'm grateful that the Father chose to continue to love me even through the times of my life where I didn't have love for Him. Only by His love was I brought back to a place of loving Him and experiencing His incredible love.

Back from vacation and I was thrown right into preaching last Sunday (I did volunteer before I left), running a youth group overnighter, and then finalizing the preparation for a wedding ceremony that I'm conducting in a few hours. Shoulder is still bothering me and I've just been swamped. Now that I have all the excuses firmly in place, it's time to reveal my fabulous weight gain. I'm up 4.6 pounds which officially puts me back at 244.4. Not proud of that but it is what it is. I have this wedding reception to make it through then my schedule is fairly clear so I should be able to buckle down and get working on this healthy change again.

In my quest to get healthy, I've started to do something once unthinkable. At least in my mind. I was getting up early and heading out to ride my bike. I got two days in then had to take a couple days off because my wife was away. No problem. I was planning on getting back on my bike starting this morning. Now the however.

However, on Saturday I took my youth group tubing at the lake. It was a great day, until my last run. Our driver tried to kill me. I love him but I promise it's true. The final turn had us whipping across the water, and then the tube flipped. Found myself skipping across the water. No big deal, but by Sunday morning I struggled to lift my left arm. Spent all day Sunday in considerable pain. Today has been painful, but thankfully I'm regaining mobility.

So anyway, my great plans to continue my bike quest has been temporarily placed on hold until my arm is healed enough to get back out there.

Just a quick update as I run out the door. I lost two pounds this past week. Broke back under 240.

It's both a sad and a happy day. Sad that I allowed myself to climb all the way back up to where I am. Happy that I'm at least headd back in the right direction again. Well, that's about it for right now.

Okay, I've promised myself that I would once again take up the weekly accountability of posting my weight on my blog. Just so we're all clear, I started using sparkpeople.com about three weeks ago. My starting weight on this journey was 247 pounds.

The scale graphic to the right shows my current weight. Additionally, it also shows whether that is a loss or a gain from the previous week. Green means I lost and red means I gained. So without further ado, this past week I lost 2.2 pounds and now I'm officially at 241.8 pounds. That was as of Friday morning. Kelly and I went away overnight and I wasn't great. I have six days to work like crazy to negate that bad two days.

What does the future hold? I have absolutely no clue. I don't know what the next minute will hold let alone what tomorrow may hold. That is the amazing thing about following Christ. Tomorrow is a mystery to me, but not to my savior. There's amazing peace in that. I will plan for the future the best that I can, but ultimately I place all my plans into His hands.

This blog has been extremely quit. Too quiet. The reason is simple. I've started blogging somewhere else. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I've recently joined sparkpeople.com. It's an online community to help people get healthy. I track my calories, exercise, and several other things on the site. It's free so that's a plus. Anyway, they encourage you to blog there. These past two weeks I've been trying to get my mind back into the mental game of wanting to get healthy so I've been focusing my time there. Plus, while I don't mind posting updates here on my success or lack of it, I didn't want this blog to become a place were I vent about my lack of willpower and the amazing power of a doughnut to tempt me. That's what my other blog is for. So if you've been worried where I've gone, I'm going to do my best to be back here more frequently. The scarier part is that I don't think people have probably been all that worried.

As I use to do in the past, I going to publicly be posting my weight and hopefully loss of weight on Fridays. Come by to chuckle or encourage me.

As humbling as it is for me, I have started dieting (yes, healthy lifestyle change) again. I'm still doing calories, but I'm using the site Spark People. It adds a a social component that I probably need. It really helps to know that some people are checking what you eat and encouraging you. Anyway, that's were life has me. I'm shooting for that 180 mark again and will reevaluate from there. That's 67 pounds to reevaluation so I have some time. First weigh in is Friday. Not looking forward to it.

Today's book review is for "The Last Christian" by David Gregory .

My Thoughts
I enjoy a good science fiction book. And while I enjoy glimpses into the far future, I think my favorite type of science fiction is "next step" stories. This is my phrase to describe stories that are set in the near future. Stories where Google has branched out into building fully automated cars or where Facebook has acquired more information on each one of us then the NSA. Stories, from a technology view, that are completely plausible. David Gregory not only does this, but throws in the thought provoking idea of Christianity completely dying out in America and one missionaries calling to revive it.

This book impressed me. As a technology nut I found his vision of the near future completely believable. Especially the leap to complete virtual reality through implanted hardware within the body. To me, what makes these things believable are his bringing into the story the in-between hardware pieces that made these steps possible. Abigail, coming out of the jungle, does not have the implants. During the course of the story, we have descriptors of the helmet and devices she wore to enter into that virtual reality that others so free entered without. Technology builds on top of technology and that was present. Okay, enough geeking out.

Beyond the technology, the story was enjoyable. There was a nice blend of mystery, danger, and the thoughts of "wow this really could happen in America."

I guess to make a simple summary, let me just say I liked it. It was fast paced, held my interest, and gave me some things to ponder when it was all done. Definitely worth reading if you get a chance.

Publisher's Info
In the future, it’s possible to live forever—but at what cost?

A.D. 2088.

Missionary daughter Abigail Caldwell emerges from the jungle for the first time in her thirty-four years, the sole survivor of a mysterious disease that killed her village. Abby goes to America, only to discover a nation where Christianity has completely died out. A curious message from her grandfather assigns her a surprising mission: re-introduce the Christian faith in America, no matter how insurmountable the odds.

But a larger threat looms. The world's leading artificial intelligence industrialist has perfected a technique for downloading the human brain into a silicon form. Brain transplants have begun, and with them comes the potential of eliminating physical death altogether—but at what expense?

As Abby navigates a society grown more addicted to stimulating the body than nurturing the soul, she and Creighton Daniels, a historian troubled by his father's unexpected death, become unwitting targets of powerful men who will stop at nothing to further their nefarious goals. Hanging in the balance—the spiritual future of all humanity.

In this fast-paced thriller, startling near-future science collides with thought-provoking religious themes to create a spell-binding "what-if?" novel.

Author Bio
David Gregory is the coauthor of two nonfiction books and a frequent conference speaker. After a ten-year business career, he returned to school to study religion and communications, earning two master's degrees. David lives in Texas, where he works for a nonprofit organization.

My favorite place to buy books is Amazon and you can find the book there. Or of you are inclined, you can click here to go directly to the Multnomah web site where you will be able to download the first chapter for preview, read an author interview, or even watch a promo video.

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah, a division of Random House.

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