Who's Down With STD?

I just finished up a week of teaching publik skool Jr. High students about sexual abstinence. It's always fun to talk with kids that age about STDs and the consequences of their sexual decisions. The funniest thing is some of their misconceptions about sex. Here are some actual statements and questions I heard this week.

• Sex makes you fat.
• Sex helps you lose weight.
• It's good to have sex with pregnant girls because a dude's semen is actually good for the baby.
• Is it safer if I put on several condoms?
• Why doesn't God like sex?
• You can't get pregnant if you do it in a hot tub.
• If I get an STD and find a girlfriend with an STD, can we go ahead and have as much sex as we want?

Whitney Houston sang:

I believe the children are our future - Teach them well and let them lead the way...

I think she was probably on crack when she wrote it.

New Storm Coming

We are still continuing our disaster relief efforts here in Lebanon, MO. There are still thousands of people without power. We don't have power restored at our house, but we are operating with a generator - so we're OK. There are still 500-600 people living in shelters in Lebanon. Our church ladies have been awesome. We've been cooking about 300 meals a day for the Red Cross. The guys have been busy clearing downed branches and trees for people and hooking up generators. We're looking at the possibility of having a worship service tomorrow at the Civic Center for all those who are sheltered there.

Thanks to my friend, Jay Burns, who brought me a great souvenir from all of this last night -- beer water! I have my very own can of Anheuser Busch Disaster Relief Drinking Water. Jay's on staff at KJEL and they have done a fantastic job of keeping the community informed through this ordeal.

Pray for us, though, there's a new storm coming in today. More ice and up to 6 inches of snow. As great as everyone in the town has been, people are really on edge. We had a murder night before last. This is unheard of in Lebanon. It escalated from a domestic dispute. The jails are completely full, partly because people with outstanding warrants are actually turning themselves in so they have a warm place to stay and a hot meal!

Winter Nightmare

We stayed so busy in California that we didn't watch the news even once. Tuesday night we flew into St. Louis and drove back to Lebanon. It was quite cold, but the roads were dry and clear. It wasn't until we started down our street that we noticed the devestation here. A huge ice storm hit right after we left to go to CA. Our street had no power and half the trees were toppled by the weight of the ice. We almost couldn't get into our driveway because of all the debris. Our house was ice-cold and had no power. We tried to get into a motel room but every room in town was taken. Since it was after midnight and we didn't want to wake anyone, we ended up driving to the church and sleeping on the pews (the church had power). Our town is devestated. There are hundreds still without power (us included). Some guys from the church hooked up a generator for us last night, so we were finally able to go home. Pray for our church as we seek to minister to the community during this hard time. The clean-up and recovery will probably take months. I snapped a couple of pics from the church porch a few minutes ago.

Goin' Back to Cali, Cali, Cali...

We had a fantastic visit to the SF Bay Area. It was great seeing all of our friends whom we love and miss so much. Don & Britney MacGill's wedding was sweet and we were so honored to be treated like the rest of the family for everything. My other buddy, Craig Teegarden is also engaged to a great gal, Michelle. It was fun getting to know her better. I preached Sunday morning at our old church, Bay Hills Community Church in El Sobrante. My sermon was about Jonah. It was also good to see Terrence & Bekah Green, Michael & Kristi Ent, Dave & Sandy Fasold, Charlie & Joanie Erickson (and crew), Scott & Missi Cliatt, Kathy Bradley & Jackie Casten and all of our Bay Hills family. There were so many more people we wanted to see, but just didn't have the time. I hope they forgive us. Here are a few pics from the trip.

Mollie's excited she finally gets to visit her Cali friends.

Nice view of the Golden Gate bridge from the wharf.

Jackie Casten and Jamie during a visit to S.F.

Fisherman's Wharf from Pier 39.

Our family with the Ents at the Pier 39 Aquarium. (Thanks, Michelle, for the free tickets!)

Watch out for that trollie-car!

Pics from Panama!

My mission trip to Panama was great! The country is beautiful, the people are fun, the food is great, the coffee is strong, our missionaries were inspiring, and God really blessed and refreshed me. Here are some pics I took.