Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

Today, and now every day, I am more limited to the amount of time that I have to write blogs. It is good and bad. Increased security at work means little or no access to the web which means I have to fire up a laptop when I have a chance - three floors away. On the other hand, social-not-working at work was probably a bad idea anyway. This week has me thinking about lots of things. Health care, church, music, work, kids and retirement. So here is the run down. Kids should make a lot more money so their parents don't have to kick in so much, so often. I feel bad for one of mine that is up to her eyeballs in student loans, and another that is weeks away from being able to pay for her car repairs. My 6-year-old is pretty good with the dough, she spends what she has so that she doesn't have t0 "keep it clean," or put it away. She is mad at the bank because they stole her money she wanted to get a doll with. It is an interesting season for church - personally I feel like s...

I have a lot of kids in a wide range of hair colors and ages. Life was easier when I had a one of each, a blond and redhead. But then I met Mary Anne, and like most men, I wasn't thinking. She landed me upon the shores of happiness. (Read that, the altar) Like a lot of folks, she is in a blended family and well, I am not. We have little Charlotte; age 6. Then there are two more girls, one teenager - just 19 and a young adult *cough* who is now 22. We call them by their birthdays - the older one 1/22 and the younger one 2/26. That way the youngest "11/11" doesn't know who we are talking about just in case we have to use the words, "bone head" or "brat." She just thinks we're talking about Tom and Jerry. 1/22 started staying with us over the Christmas break, and 2/26 has moved in while she puts her life back together and figures out what she wants to be when she grows up. The older girls pretty much lived with their mother after the divorce (2000...

Maybe you've watched ABC's Wide World of Sports a few years - sheesh - decades back like I did. I remember seeing that ski jumper take a spill at 60+ miles per hour just before hitting the end of the jump, taking out some sort of pole and clobbering a few spectators - the agony of defeat! If you have worked with, been around, watched them on TV, are related to, or own your own teenager, then the phrase, "the agony of defeat" takes on a whole new meaning. I am sure that you are able conjure up your own thoughts of teenagers - even your own teen-aged experiences - both the ones labeled victory and defeat. 19 years ago I was at Cape Cod Hospital , and I was enjoying the "thrill of victory," as my middle daughter was born. I was working alone at a Camera store in the Falmouth Mall - a Tuesday in the late afternoon. I was scheduled to close at 9. The phone rang about 6 o'clock and it was the hospital saying that my wife had been admitted and they were go...

Today I am having a hard time not going to a few churches and turning over a some tables! For years I have attended church with my family in the hope of us growing closer to Jesus and His people. In the process of "not forsaking the gathering of believers," I have watched my family get hurt by shallow religious folks; who were for the most part, clueless. Today, I am mad about it. The lesson our kids have learned is this: If you are normal enough to fit our religious paradigm, we'll be your friend; otherwise, we can't be bothered with you. 1 Corinthians 4:15 (Amplified Bible)15 After all, though you should have ten thousand teachers (guides to direct you) in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. It is stunning to me how often "church" abandons kids to loneliness by buying into the lie that "kids will be kids;" teaching it like truth. The problem with that philosophy is that kids will become immature adults who can't take care of their own k...

Have you ever noticed that folks with kids are easy to spot-- even when the kids are not in tow? You can hear them whistling the theme songs to Winne the Pooh and Scooby Doo on the elevator and in the break-room at work. Of course they'll deny it, and try to come up with a classic rock tune just to prove you wrong. Really? Middle aged men and woman humming the opening riff to Ozzy Osborn's Crazy Train , yeah right, I am not convinced. Non-parents will not have a clue about this - and label it and you "old," with no further ado. Parents, they are usually not the best dressed in line at the grocery store either. I have studied this phenomenon on the Discovery Channel. The real clue is the amount of them that end up with Stacy and Clinton on What Not to Wear . The evolution of the species parenta nurotica is very closely related to daddytodamntired . There are some other mutations within the species including joggasaurus which developed as a defense mechanism against...

Yesterday I took my 21-year-old out to buy her first car. At this stage of the game I have arm wrestled some of the best car thieves in New England. I remember going to buy my first new car-- man they had me signing a contract so fast, I don't even remember what color the car was. Being a little melancholy, I got buyers remorse before I got home. Honestly, I had expected it to be a fun experience. I lost control of the exchange pretty fast, almost feeling guilty about not buying a car that I liked OK, but didn't really want. It took another year before I tried it again. Now that the economy is limping along, I thought they would be begging us to come in. And I was partially right. They offered me real coffee, with real half and half. They sat us down at a table in the middle of the show room-- no cubes and no desks in this place. My daughter is a typical kid and somewhat typical of a female car buyer. "I like the gray one," she says. I took my opportunity to put on th...

Do you remember when you were a teenager at the pinnacle of your lifetime intelligence curve? Those were the days when you were surrounded by the friend-trust, a pool of genetically altered humans with a perceived combined IQ of 456,789. Do you remember savoring the defeat of the parental units in your well planned attack to use the car for something other than bringing a younger sibling to school! Those were the glory days. you said, I am eighteen, I am an adult and I am independent... well except that your mom was still buying your toilet paper and washing your sheets. So what is it that we parents don't know that our kids seem so confidant about? After all, I am the one that has traveled to 15 countries, seen 42 states and 36 national parks. I have degrees in music, art, computer science and theology. I have read nearly 1,000 Christian books from Kuhlman to Lake, Wigglesworth to Nee. I have worked as a hamburger flipper, a carpenter, a music, photography and computer teacher, a ...