Man, three days and we will be in the air headed for Russia. It seemed like this trip was never going to happen. I am so excited to see my friends Dennis and Igor, as well as the rest of the people that I met the last time I was there. I am probably not going to get much of a chance to get on the internet so I am going to try the audioblogger thing. I hope it works out well. Keep checking back for some audio posts. I will try to post at least every couple of days. These pics were from our last trip. I thought I would put them up here for nastalgic purposes. What do you think Josh...bring back memories?

The XBOX 360 is here! I have played a few demos and I am very impressed! I can't wait to get mine. I think I have to wait until tax time....ugh! I will have to rely on the frequent stops to Best Buy to play their 360 demos. I can see it now. "Jennifer, I need a fix. I'm gonna run to Best Buy and play some Call of Duty."

Man, I can't even really put this weekend into words. Amazing is the closest I can come without watering it down. Alternative Edge had our annual fall retreat this weekend and I would have to say that it was one of the best that we have had yet! We walk away from it every year exhausted commenting on how God did it again and this year was no exception. I am always blown away with God's faithfulness. It makes me go "YEAH, that's why I am in youth ministry!" Snot covered floors, tears, and a heart on fire to serve our God is what it's all about.

Yes, another succesful year! I came home and slept for 12 hours. I was that tired. The game we played at 2 am probably didn't help any. Thanks to all who participated in that. 4 contestants and 20 victims...good times. Here is one of the funniest lines of the weekend..."James! James! I need your pillow man, it's do or die!

So let's do this. Comment with some memorable lines of the weekend so we can all laugh at the comedy that goes on during our stay at wonderful Camp Ohio.

I heard this on the radio this morning and I had to rant for a moment. There was a church (I don't really know where because I was half asleep when the news first came on.) But they decided they were going to purchase the pumps and pay for .50 of the gas prices for a few hours or something. The pastor's reasoning..."God cares about your everyday lives...even how much you pay for gas." Great reasoning, and this is where the rant begins. Another church in the area picketed this outreach quoting "this church is trying to market their own congregation and attempting to market Jesus" all the while holding picket sings that read "Jesus cares about your sins not gas prices."

This infuriates me! The thing that really hacks me off is that the world will see the idiots with the picket signs before they see the fact that this church was doing something good for the community. I am really tired of stupid legalistic christians that are more worried about the rules and regulations than they are about serving the Lord or reaching out to the lost. What!?...we are allowed to give the hungry food but not allowed to give the cash strapped a relief from price gouging at the pump? It makes no sense to me. I wonder how many people gave their lives to the Lord because of the picket signs...hundreds I'm sure (sarcastically speaking of course.) I could go on more but this is where I will stop. I have had it up to here with legalism. It sickens me! And that is my rant...

If anyone happens to find an article on this unfortunate christian blooper (or blunder and great attemp to make fools of themselves) please let me know. I would love to read the whole story.

I went out and hung out with some students at the skate park yesterday, and I got some great pics.













I got an itch! I busted out a board that Josh gave my son when he left. Yep, I borrowed my son's board and headed out to the park. I am definately not as nimble as I used to be. So, maybe picking up a board at 32 is suicide but it was so much fun. My tailbone still hurts. Those little kids make it look so easy. All we had when I was a kid were picnic tables and curbs...living out a piece of childhood could be quite enjoyable...or get me a trip to the emergency room.

I'm not usually one to take things from other people's blogs but I had to make an exception here. Steven posted this a couple days ago and I am still laughing. I had to get this around our circle of friends. I know you all have a warped enough sense of humor to appreciate two old guys duking it out. The fact that it is in another language makes it even funnier. If this link doesn't work, let me know. This is the first time I have tried to post a video clip.

OK, I said I would give my take on this whole moral relativism thing so here it is. I have heard some say that you can interpret the Bible to have different meanings. So somewhere along the line things got blurred and out of focus. God's word is taken to interpretation. Right and wrong gets fuzzy until we have found ourselves in a situation where we can't decipher between what is right based on God's word and what is wrong based on how we interpret God's word.

What's right for me may not be right for someone else. Let's look at Hitler. He thought that killing all of the Jew's was the right thing to do. Indem ich die Juden töte, kämpfe ich um den Herrn. Do you know what that means? "By killing the Jews, I fight for the Lord." Those very words came out of Hitler's own mouth.

Moral relativism is tolerance and tolerance is for those who believe in nothing. Am I being intolerant? YES! Because God's word is absolute truth. Commmen sense should tell us that we live by absolutes every day. My name is Larry. It was Larry yesterday and it will be Larry tomorrow, and the day after. Columbus is East of Springfield. I know this because it is on the map. It's not going to change.

And Jesus said unto his disciples, "Go into all the world, teaching all men to live any way they want, and urging each to find his own path to God. Let not any one of you make someone feel inferior or victimized because of their beliefs. Above all, be tolerasnt. Verily, verily I say unto you that what you believe and how you live do not matter, so long as you are sincere." Taken from "Be intolerant, Because Some Things Are Just Stupid." by Ryan Dobson.

I'll end with this: Moral relativism doesnt work, at least not in my eyes. It is a broken belief that contradicts itself at every turn. It just doesn't hold up to the commen sense of everyday life. And if the structure of a belief system doesn't hold up...it might come crashing down on your head. That is a simple man's viewppoint. Take it or leave it.