Monday, April 30, 2007

guacamole live


When we were visiting Pat's folks (Lon [Grandy] & Jeanne [Nana] Mohundro) recently we went out to South of the Border for lunch. They had an interesting appetizer called Guacamole Live. The server actually came to your table with avocados and various extras (cilantro, jalapeƱos, tomatoes, onions, lime, etc,) and mixed up the guacamole right there while you watched. You of course got to control what all went in but what a treat (that is if you love guacamole). So Loni and I decided to have guacamole live at our house tonight. Pat planned to have tacos for dinner, so Loni bought avocados and other goodies and we made guacamole (pictured above). Instead of frying corn tortillas (we usually do them soft and not crispy) we had flour tortillas (fajitas style). It was great. Now anyone want to share a guacamole recipe? Loni and I are looking to expand our taste bud horizons.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Bob's First Golf Tournament

Since not many of you appreciated my sense of humor with the last post I will move on to golf. Yesterday I got to play in a golf tournament (Trey are you jealous? That's Trey my son not Trey Morgan). It was a fund raiser for Central Florida Bible Camp (click here). The tournament was a scramble type. For those of you like me who are not as up on golf terminology, a scramble tournament means that you play as a team (foursome). When the team tees off, the team decides which tee shot is the best. All the team members then place their balls within a club length's of the ball. They continue that process to the flag. The first putt made counts for the whole team as well. So the whole team ends up with the same score. Our team shot an 82, 10 over par. Not bad for my third game ever and my first tournament ever. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Of course my score is due to my team members (Doug Horton, Eddie Stillwell, and Ricky Brown). I had two tee shots that were the best of my team and a couple of putts that went in first as well. Each team started at a designated hole and we just happen to start at #1. We shot a 43 for the first nine and 39 for the back nine. We shot par on only 2 holes in the first nine and six on the last nine. I had so much fun. It turns out the Bible School here has a couple of fund raising tournaments a year and I plan on playing in them as well. Plus several men in the congregation here are serious players and want me to play a round with them. I guess after all these years, I'm going to have to take up golf.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Top Ten Ways You Can Tell Someone Near You Is Only Using 1 Square Of Toilet Paper Per Visit

I'm sure you have heard Sheryl Crow's suggestion that we all do our part in helping to be more environmentally conscious by using only one square of toilet paper per visit. I thought I would help you identify those close to you might be actually taking Ms. Crow's suggestion seriously. I'm sure most would not discuss such delicate matters in public so you might need to know the signs of those who are "green" when it comes to toilet paper. So here are the Top Ten Ways To Identify Someone Close To You Who Is Using Only 1 Square Of Toilet Paper Per Visit.

10.
They are constantly running comparison tests at home trying to decide which toilet paper is the thickest and most absorbent.
9. They ask restaurant managers how many plies the toilet paper in the restrooms have.
8. They run comparisons tests at home to see which toilet paper is the thickest and most absorbent.
7. They have a new gig - doing commercials for the toilet paper company that claims to have the thickest and most absorbent paper.
6. They're getting fatter - saved money from toilet paper goes for more food.
5. No one shakes hands with them.
4. People are seen running away from them holding their noses.
3. Their hands have turned a funky color.
2. They've dumped their stock in toilet paper and purchased Clean Butt's Bidetspa stock.
1. They've put photovaltaic cells on their roof to power their new Clean Butt's Bidetspa and save electricity.


Thursday, April 19, 2007

Jack Bauer & Battery Life

We are currently trying to upgrade our cell phones. We've been pouring over the specs to see which ones are the best. One of the specs that is important to us is talk time or to put it another way, battery life. Most of the phones we've looked at are rated at somewhere between 3 hours and 4 hours of talk time. Standby time (no talking just waiting) is somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 plus hours (some as high as 16 days or 384 hours). So if no one calls you, your battery can last up to 16 days without recharging (yea right). But if someone (or several someones) does call you have at most 4 hours or so before you need to recharge.

So how does Jack Bauer talk on his cell phone during the 24 hour crisis he faces each season? I have yet to see him charging his phone in his car or at CTU. Maybe he carries around extra batteries (at least 6, 6 batteries X 4 hours of talk time = 24 hours). He carries around ammo clips so why not batteries? I have yet to see him change a battery. Maybe he does it while he's off the camera and we are seeing another scene.

Then again I have never timed how much time he spends on his cell phone. Maybe if we timed it he doesn't use his cell phone for more than 4 hours. You know that would be an interesting feat for someone, timing how much Jack Bauer uses his cell phone on 24. I can just see it now on Trivial Pursuit under the "Entertainment" category - How much time does Jack Bauer actually spend on his cell phone during the season of 24?

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Christians as Victims

I was reading in World Magazine about an incident that took place in my former home state of New Jersey. Indeed the incident took place in the very county where we lived for 10 years, Burlington. It seems that Burlington Township High School on March 22 of this year staged a terrorist drill to help prepare the school in the event of a terrorist attack. Two police officers stormed the school masquerading as the terrorists. So far so good. The problem came when the local residents discovered the script for the scenario. It seems that the masquerading police officers were pretending to be members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called "The New Crusaders" who don't believe in separation of church and state. In the script a daughter of one of the members was expelled from the school for praying before class. The attack was in retribution for the expelling. Details of the script leaked and all ----broke loose! (how about all heaven broke loose?)

Anyway, local and national Christian leaders demanded a formal apology from the police department and the school. Legal action is being considered. It seems they felt that blaming conservative Christians is not only "inappropriate but outrageous, and raises serious constitutional questions as well." (quoted from World Magazine, April 21, 2007; p.28) Our religious tenor today has approached the victimology used by other groups. If everyone else is doing it, hey, why don't we?

Contrast this approach with the Apostles in Acts 5:40-41. The apostles had been arrested and while the Council was debating what to do with them Gamaliel warned them to take care because if the actions of the Apostles were of God they could not stop the Apostles. The Council decided to flog the Apostles and then ordered them not to speak in Jesus' name. The Apostles went away rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. Oh for us to return to that kind of an attitude.

It is a shame that our country was founded on principles from the Christian-Judeo heritage and that now our society seems to be doing everything possible to stop us from having any political influence. Certain ones in our society want to lower the moral standards that we find in the Bible. It appears to me that there is a concerted effort underway to undermine Christian teaching and influence in the public arena. Maybe instead of responding to these outrageous insults with surprise, shock, and threats of lawsuits, we should take to the streets with prayer, rejoicing that God has found us worthy to suffer for His name. Maybe we should thank those that attack our faith. Maybe we should claim James 1:2. What kind of response from the media would that create? I dont think they would know what to do with us.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Where's Bob?

I am currently in Christiansburg, VA visiting Dan, Lisa, Nathan, Jeremy, and Derek. I haven't been keeping up with my blog or your blogs. I'm having a grand time playing with the boys, helping Dan assemble a ping pong table, getting beat by said son-in-law at ping pong, getting up early with the grandsons, and talking with my other darling daughter (the other darling daughter I get to see daily) whom I haven't seen in a while. So I'll catch up with ya'all later on.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

What do these stones mean?



Across from the building where the Mt. Dora congregation meets is a funeral home. The owner and manager are members at the congregation. When I first arrived I told them both that if they ever had a family that didn't have someone to do a funeral for them to please feel free to call on me. In Northern New Jersey I became friendly with a funeral director near our building and he asked one day if I would do a funeral for a family. Of course I said yes and from then on the director would call on occasion. Within two months of arriving here in Mt. Dora they called for me to do a funeral.

His name is Kirby. His late wife is Anita. She had a Ph. D. in some education field. She has written a couple of books in her field. She was 20 years older than Kirby. They had been married for 23 years. I met with Kirby for about 10 minutes before the funeral. I did the service there at the funeral. Then we went to the cemetery which is just about across the street (it's actually right next door to our building). After the services I invited Kirby to come to our worship services. He promised.

About a month later Kirby showed up one Sunday. He had been visiting his wife's grave and met one of our members whose wife was also buried in the same cemetery. Ed is in his late 70s or early 80s. He's one of our more active members. He and Kirby talked for a while and Ed also invited him to our services. With two invites Kirby decided to come.

Kirby has been coming on and off since that time. I've given him a DVD from World Video Bible School to view in order to learn more about us. He doesn't have much of a church background (maybe none at all) so I haven't pushed much. He's come to several of our activities. He's getting to know some of the folks here in the congregation. He's making progress but slowly. That's okay.

A couple of months ago he made an unusual request. The headstone for his wife's grave would be done soon, would I come to the cemetery and bless it when it was finished. I of course said yes. This past week he called late in the week to say it would be up on Friday, would I come on Saturday to bless it. I had a wedding at 2 PM on Saturday and he said no problem he thought 12:30 PM would be okay.

So his wife's sister, his wife's daughter, and two friends gathered to see the headstone. I used the text from Joshua 4. God told Joshua that the stones would cause their children to ask why are they here and what do they mean. Then they could explain the history of Israel. I told Kirby and those gathered that this headstone was there to mark the history of Anita. Not many people would ask about why it was there, they already knew. But they could come and remember the life of their friend, mother, and wife. Of course my talk and blessing lasted longer this this short paragraph. Then I said a prayer and ask God's blessing on this gathering and this headstone.

I don't know if Kirby will stay on this spiritual journey with us. He's still coming. But the more I live and the more I do ministry, the more interesting the journey has become.