Nice Racks

Memorial Day grillin' of two racks of pork ribs!

Close up of the ribs. They were delicious!

I bought a new flag today for the front of the house, so I could appropriately remember the meaning of this day. I am so grateful for the men and women who have given their lives so I could live free and grill ribs after swimming in my pool. I am so blessed to live in this country. On this Memorial Day, I salute the members of our armed services, and I am humbled by those who shed their blood for my freedom.

More importantly, I am humbled by the knowledge that Jesus shed His blood to provide my ternal freedom from sin. Today, I am also in a state of mourning for a dear Christian Brother who has been asked to resign from his ministry at a church that is growing numerically and spiritually, but is being "led" by a small group of men who are more interested in their own personal power than seeing the Kingdom expand. Satan is alive and well. He stinks.

Blah, blah, blah

Okay, so it's been two weeks since I last blogged, and most of my recent posts have frankly been pretty boring. Yeah, we got hail in our yard a couple of weeks ago, and I got pictures of it. Wow. It's not that there hasn't been plenty going on in our lives, it is just that I have been less-than-inclined to want to write about it. Motivation has been hard to come by lately.

This weekend, I am in the full blown effects of a sore throat, sinus infection funk. I preach tomorrow. Should be fun. I slept in until nearly 10 this morning, and feel like someone is pounding my head with a sledge hammer. Enough of the whining party.

I have had to do some serious soul seraching over the past several weeks. I have felt betrayed and ambushed. I have felt alone and abandoned. I have brought much of that on myself. In the struggle known as life, I constantly need to be reminded of the love of Christ which should motivate me even when all other motivation seems to have vanished. As Peggy constantly rmeinds me, it is God Whom I serve, and the way I am supposed to serve Him is to serve people. I have a tendancy to isolate myself when I am feeling "down" and that only further complicates matters.

So, as I reassess my life, and as I try to get re-motivated, I will gladly take the prayers of those who love me much more than I deserve. I believe that God has placed me where I am, doing what I am doing, for His purpose. If I believe that, then I must break out of the blah, blah, blah, and get back to what God wants from me: my best every single day.

All Hail Broke Loose

hailflowerbed
Originally uploaded by blountman.

I went out to pick up Emily from work at the Outlet Mall, and missed out on all the fun at the house. We had a fierce thunderstorm blow through today, and in our neighborhood, we got pelted with hail. This photo was taken with my camera phone about 20 minutes after the hail storm had passed. Emily and I experienced heavy rains coming back in from the west, but no hail on us. I have several more pictures of the hail storm on our FLICKR site so check it out.

Ian and the Prom

Ian 016
Originally uploaded by blountman.

This picture, taken at Charles Park in Vero Beach just before the VBHS Prom on April 29th, is Peggy's favorite. Ian and Amber enjoyed their time at the "Red Carpet Romance" after a heartly meal at Bono's with the rest of us 30 Hour Famine folks. I am so proud of Ian for not backing out of the Famine because of the Prom. He continues to grow in Christ, and is always willing to put Jesus first in his life. Yeah, he has his shortfalls, like the rest of us, but he is doing so much better!