Been a while.

Gosh, I can't remember the last time I posted on this blog. A couple of weeks ago I think. I am probably as bad as my friend Michael about posting on a blog. I honestly don't always see the point as I am probably the only person who will ever read this stuff. Maybe if I had a few thousand followers I would feel more inclined to write something down each day for them to think about but when it is just me I would rather meditate on the Lord, read my bible, or listen to some good music.

Lately I have been so busy preparing for ministry that I am jealous of any "free" time I get my hands on. I am very involved in the current church I attend, I have a busy job at The Mission Society, and I am planning to plant a church somewhere in the state of Georgia in less than two years so I have plenty to keep me busy. Two years sounds like a long time away but I know from experience it can sneak up on you and be there before you know it so I can't afford to sit around and let opportunities pass me by when they are available. I recently attended a free 2 hour seminar on Fund Raising with a member of my prayer team and that was very interesting. It made me really think about asking people to contribute to your cause. I will be attending another half day seminar next week that will cover things like "Selecting a prayer team", "Building a Board", "Administration", etc. Sometimes it is hard to sit through those things but they are necessary. When you have a calling that burns inside you just want to go out and "make it happen". God will find a way to get it done. We are anointed and appointed and ready to go out and tear up the world. Unfortunately we all too often overlook the preparation steps and time needed to develop the character and skills to really accomplish what God has called us to do. I have seen too many truly anointed and called people fail and not return to ministry because they refused to cooperate with the preparation period of their ministry. I have always used the "premature baby" idea of ministry to help them see the necessity of prep time. Anything that is born prematurely always needs extra care, extra expenses, extra time, etc, and some don't survive. Ministry is no different. If you get out of Gods incubator too soon you are almost doomed to fail. There is not that much force of personality and none of us are that good. So I am trying to patiently work though the prep time, develop the skills and character I need and learn the necessary steps I need to take to get there. Pray for me when you think of me. Thanks.

Ron

The Election of 2008

Well we are only a few days away from electing the next president of the United States of America and either way it goes it will be historic. We will either have a bi-racial president or a female Vice President. I'll get the big question out of the way early in this post and tell you that I am going to be voting for McCain/Palin. Not necessarily because I think they are the best people to be leading the country but because I fear the socialist government we would have under Barack Obama and a Democratic majority in the House and Senate. Although there are a lot of things I could say that cause me to disagree with Obama the biggest issue for me is money. I believe his record is clear that he means to use the power of the government to take money away from those who have it and give it to those who are too lazy to get it for themselves. Can you say wealth redistribution? I thought you could. Are there legitimate needy people who need some help? Absolutely, but there are also way too many people in this country who could and should be working but who are using my money to pay their bills. And Obama wants to give them more of it. I personally would like to keep more of the money I spend my blood, sweat, and tears on. Obviously there are many more components to this election and to both sets of candidates and I am not a political analyst nor do I want to be one. My conscience tells me that the best vote I can cast this election is for McCain/Palin. I wish there were other choices but Neal Boortz and Shawn Hannity aren't running. Dang.

Outer Banks Vacation

Well we've been here in Duck, NC since this time last week and I have to say it has been a great vacation. We have traveled all the way from up above Corolla all the way to Ocracoke. To get to the are above Corolla you need a 4 wheel drive. We went on one of the wild horse tours of the area and it was well worth the money. I could not believe how many people live in that area past the paved roads. I'm sure many of them are semi-retired folk who don't have to drive it every day, but some of them commute to work from there every day, which means having to drive on the beach for a period of time to get to the paved road access. Some as far as 10/12 miles. Of course that is a much better traffic jam than the ones I have to deal with near Atlanta. And we got to see a lot of wild horse activity while up there so that is a great area. To get to Ocracoke you have to go to the end of Hatteras and take the ferry over. It is about a 40 minute trip then a 13 mile drive into town. I really like Ocracoke and hope they can keep the authentic fishing village feel of the area with all of the big corporations trying to move in and demolish the old homes to build condo's and rental properties. I'm not sure what the total mileage is between Corolla and Ocracoke but there is lots to see between the two and it really is not a one day trip. It can be done in a day but you would miss so much. From Corolla you have the Currituck Lighthouse. Then you pass by the Bodie Island lighthouse on Highway 12 on the way. Coquina Beach is just across the road from the lighthouse and is an interesting beach. You cross the Pea Island bridge and there is an old abandoned life saving station there that is interesting to look at. Then you travel on through Rodanthe and other villages to Hatteras where of course the Hatteras lighthouse is located. Then a ferry ride and a short drive puts you in Ocracoke. That way you could actually see 4 of the 5 lighthouses stationed up and down the barrier islands off the coast of NC. I think I like the Ocracoke one the best but I'm not sure why.

Currituck Lighthouse

Well yesterday we climbed up Currituck Lighthouse in Currituck, NC. I wish I could give you the historical facts but I didn't take time to jot them down. It is an old lighthouse that is on the historical register now I do believe. It is a pretty good climb up to the top. I was here 3 years ago and we would not even attempt it but we have been working on getting in better shape lately and made it with relative ease. I could have done it several times. That was after walking a 5K in the morning so we are in much better shape now than then. Still have a lot of work to do though. The view was phenomenal. You could see for miles out over the ocean and Currituck Sound. This is a beautiful place and if you ever get the chance to come you should do so. I won't post a long one today, the golf course is calling and it will be fishing from the pier tomorrow so it will be short also.

Having fun in the sun.

Ron

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

Well we finally arrived in Duck. What a great place to take a vacation. It was really windy last night but this morning it seems to be calmer. It is a little cooler now than I like it but it is nice. I am sitting up on the third floor having my morning coffee and looking at the surf crashing in on the ocean side of the island. There is a high surf warning out so the waves are hitting pretty hard. High tide happens about 12:30 today so I think I'll take a walk out about then and check it out. Then I'll go back afterward to shell hunt. Ah what a vacation. I have a few good books, my bible to read, some things I need to study for a class I taking, and lots to pray about. And I may actually do some of those things at some point in time. But right now it is coffee and the surf. I love the ocean.

Vacation Time

My wife and I have not been on a true vacation for about three years now so we have decided to take one. A group of our family members takes a vacation together on the Outer Banks or NC each year, and we are always invited to that but have not been able to in recent years. So this year we are going. Hallelujah, and it is just 4 days around the corner. The vacation lasts from Saturday to Saturday and is in a small town called Duck, NC. Duck is on the barrier islands off the coast of NC and is a beautiful place to vacation. There are not a lot of neon signs and carnival rides in or near Duck but there are lots of beautiful beaches and lighthouses up and down the coast line there. There is also the Wright Brothers museum in nearby Kitty Hawk to visit. If you haven't been there I recommend it. It is a neat view of some of the history that was made off the coast of NC in years past. The Wright brothers apparently chose that location due to the constant winds that blow. This time of year it is very economical to vacation there. Rental prices drop by two-thirds in some cases making it very affordable. We rent a large house and divide the cost between family members and that really makes it nice. Duck is a great place to relax, read, recharge, and get ready to head back to the real world and work again. There are ferries to some of the other islands and locations nearby if you want to take them over. There are neat towns up and down the island itself that all have history of their own to explore, and I love the lighthouses. But the main thing I plan to do is sit and read. There is a nice little reading area on the third floor of the house we are staying. You can see both coast lines of the island from that viewpoint and there are some comfortable reading chairs there. I plan to read some, look some, examine the inside of my eyeballs some, and generally rest for about 7 days before returning back to the grind. I will post updates and images to my Facebook page during that time but I don't know if I will blog very much at all. Too much sand, surf, food, and fun to be had to be spending too much time on a computer. 4 more days to go. YeeHaw.

Blogging kills me

Well here it is October 10th and I haven't blogged since the 2nd. I am not really against blogging, I just don't know how you find time and material to blog daily unless you are getting paid to do it. Obviously since no one else is reading this material I am not interesting enough for anyone to pay me to do it, so I am not sure why there is such a huge amount of blogging going on. Perhaps I need to read more about blogging before attempting to do one. Or maybe blogging is really just a way to replace the old method of pen and paper journaling. Lot of folks used to keep journals and diaries on a daily basis. I guess a journal differs from a diary in some respects, mostly that a journal is recording things you are probably OK with someone else reading and a diary is a more personal, private means of keeping up with what is going on in your life. You might not be too disturbed if your parents found your journal (depending on what you are keeping up with in it) but you definitely didn't want them to find your diary. Your diary contained all of your secrets that you didn't want anyone to find out about. I wonder if anyone has done a study on why, if you didn't want anyone to find out about it, did you write it down in the first place. It's not like you really weren't intelligent enough to know that anyone who really wanted to could pick that little cheap lock and get in your diary.
Anyway, I am beginning to think that I a failure at blogging since I don't really write anything here everyday. I could make all kinds of excuses as to why. I am very busy doing things in the real world that don't leave me a great deal of time to spend in the cyber world, but that probably sounds cliche' so maybe I won't use that excuse. Maybe it is that there are other things that have priority for my time over blogging. Yeah, that's the ticket, I think I'll use that one. Oops, the real world is calling, gotta get back to it. Can you write more than one post to a blog in a day? Maybe I'll find out later. Seeya.