My sister Becca got to ride, er, sit on a pony recently. Bareback no less! The lady who owned the ponies said it takes a real woman to ride a horse bareback in a dress! 

Huh???

I noticed a peculiar item in a local newspaper today. It appeared to be an obituary for Jesus Christ! Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an advertisement for a Good Friday service at a local church. A picture of Jesus was at the top, and the paragraphs below had statements like, "Jesus is survived by his mother, Mary, and several brothers. He is mourned by countless followers. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in the form of lives committed to him." At first I thought it was sort of clever, but as I considered it, something seemed awfully warped. The notice seemed to dishonor Christ by making him out to be just like us. More importantly than that, we are not to mourn his death because it was the way we obtained salvation. Christ's death should sober us and humble us, but not make us mourn. Best of all, Christ conquered death when he rose again. His death was certainly not the end of the story, and that's why this Easter season, we should be full of gratitude, hope, and joy. HE IS RISEN INDEED!!

Money-making Tip

How about this article? Because of an alaming population decline, this town is now paying women to have a third child. What an interesting example of what happens when we start thinking we know better than God how to live our lives.

A Different Breed

I spent yesterday at a seminar, a luncheon, and a CE class for work, and so was surrounded by groups of insurance agents all day. Now, there's something a little repulsive about most insurance agents. They usually seem like they're putting on a show or looking for a way to take advantage of the situation. In fact, I don't really like telling people I'm an insurance agent because there's a used-car-salesman sort of stereotype about them. On the other hand, I guess it's my chance to display integrity in a vicious business. By the way, here's a fun cartoon about insurance.

It's a Conspiracy!

I just read this excellent article in the best news magazine out there. It's an interesting observation on the marketing tricks that threaten to catch us all.

Swanky Light

Our last Czech dance performance was at a super fancy cultural center. I just had to take a picture of this chandelier. Wow! Yes, I am easily impressed.

Honorary Czechs!!

Here we are in our folk dance costumes! We've had a blast learning lots of new dances and performing them at various events. We're off to San Antonio this weekend for another festival. Yay!

Hot Chocolate

It's a quiet afternoon at the office, and cold and wet outside. The temperature has dropped about twenty degrees since I got up this morning. It's at times like this that thoughts turn to hot chocolate. Sweet, warm, smooth, and satisfying. Ahhhhhhhh. With that recharge of warmth and energy, I'm now curious about the history of hot chocolate. Hmmm, interesting. I'm not quite sure I believe the part about Cortes, but who knows.

New Inspirations

I went to a terrific conference this weekend. I learned a lot and was really inspired in several areas of my Christian life. I also ended up very stiff from sitting, but it was definitely worth it! The conference was through Worldview Weekend, an organization I can now wholeheartedly recommend. The speakers were excellent, and spoke on a variety of topics including creation, Christian apologetics, the Biblical founding of our country, and evangelism.

The speakers who talked about evangelism were Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort of The Way of the Master. They were both dynamic speakers with very inspiring messages. They talked about how important it is for every believer to be actively sharing his faith. They also pointed out how to avoid some of the pitfalls of many modern evangelism methods. It's extremely hard for me to go up and start talking to strangers about anything, much less the gospel, but I've decided to at least try to start giving away tracts. I guess it's a start!

A side note: It was fun to see a movie actor in real life! It was a little hard to not think of him as Buck Williams of the Left Behind movies rather than Kirk Cameron, ordinary guy except for being famous!