Woahh- is that Mike Seaver

Ahh the 1980's. Great shows like "Growing Pains" allowed us to see a family deal with the struggles of juggling all of life's responsibilites. The star was Kirk Cameron. As a young person, Kirk was an atheist. Years later, after studying and investigating Christianity, he become a Christian.

Kirk and a friend have teamed up and they have a website: http://www.wayofthemaster.com/. There are some great videos of him and his friend witnessing to others. One of them is even in a pretty rough area. If Kirk can stand up for Jesus and face persecution and ridicule from the Hollywood establishment, maybe I can share the gospel, stand up for what is right, reach out to a hurting person who needs to hear about true love and hope.

Check out the website listed above. You may not agree 100% with Kirk, but you will see 1 way of witnessing to others. Kirk isn't doing this for fame or money. He cares about people.

Kirk leads with talking about the 10 commandments and how that person has broken some of them. Then he goes into the problem and the solution.

What way(s) do you find to be the best strategy for witnessing to someone?

Great Expectations- map for Disaster

As many of you know, I am a father of 3 great kids. Occassionally our 2 year old will choose to challenge the dictatorship I have established. A week ago, our family (me, the wife and 3 kids) all went swimming. We didn't set a time limit and ended up staying there for 1 and 1/2 hours. We got out of the pool around 12:30pm which meant we still had to do lunch.

Jen decided we should walk to the pool. So we walked home from the pool with the older kids whining from hunger and our 2 yr old screaming and kicking. I was very ticked off. I told the 2 yr old that she was in trouble and she was going to sit in the corner when we got home..... and go to bed early.... and not have her teddy bear.

Do you think I was realistic to expect my 2 yr old to be patient?????? We spent too much time at the pool. And, we got home after their normal lunch time. I reacted to a situation by focusing on how I wanted things to be. I wasn't realistic. I would like to drop 30 lbs in 6 weeks, have a wildly successful business, a perfect marriage, God-fearing-talented-caring children, friends who agree with me all the time, the ability to build a deck in a weekend.... Being realistic is not being negative. We can all learn, grow and set goals, and work towards them. God gives each one a gift. Maybe we would like someone else's gift. That may be our expectation- that God will give us a different gift. Maybe a gift that someone in the church with popularity has. I will never probably be able to preach like James Nored, but I can grow in my communication skills. I can learn to teach and lead small groups. Each part of the body is valuable.

Does some of the stress in our lives come from unrealistic expectations of how our life "should" be? Or our marriages,etc...