Jeff Kerr

An Open Letter To Lifetime Fitness.

To whom it may concern….

I’m concerned.  Something has to be done about the outdoor pool and pool policies.  I’m writing in response to an incident that occurred in your outdoor pool last Friday evening.  There was yet another incident of a youngster throwing up in the pool which banished us to the indoor pool for an hour.  Although at that point I was a little bummed that we couldn’t be outdoors on the beautiful Friday evening, I was comforted to know that since the ‘incident’ occurred before 6pm, we’d be back outside by 7pm with still on hour of high quality outdoor swimming time in the newly puke free chlorinated water.  I would wait patiently.

Now, before I go any further, please know that I’m not against people whose kids have accidents in the pool.  Even though my kids have never done this, I understand that these things happen.  It seems to happen a lot, just about everyday in fact.  But none the less, it happens.  I’m especially OK with it this time because it was friends of mine whose child chucked in the pool.  The dad chose to err on the side of caution and report the incident.  (err indeed)  And that was it for our family fun.  I don’t want to disclose the name of that dad.  For privacy’s sake, we’ll refer to him only as Chad H….  Wait… That’s too obvious.  We’ll refer to him as C. Helgemoe.  “C” is a conscientious dad that put the overall health of the group above my swimming interests.  Way to go “C”.

But the really offensive matter is that after an hour of chlorination, the lifeguards refused to let us back outside.  They said that since it was 7pm, they would just leave us in the indoor pool until 8pm, which was closing time.  I asked them why we couldn’t just move outside and the crack team of life saving teenagers said… “Well… Uh… the time to transition is too long… its… uh…. Not worth it.”  I stated that there was still an hour left of potential high quality swimming time left outdoors.  And they were unmoved. 

So not only am I a bit miffed that we missed out on the beautiful evening, but I’m concerned at the lethargic epidemic that has infected the life guards.  If I’m at a pool with my kids, I don’t want the slowest moving folks to be the ones in the big high chair.

Thanks for listening,

Club Member.

Summer Nights, Applebees and McGyver

It’s another really nice summer evening in Minnesota.  And I am determined to make the most of as many of these nice evenings as possible.  We got jipped out of spring and we must make up for lost time with summer.

Tonight it was a bike ride with the family around the neighborhood followed by a couple hours on the back patio reading and listening to Chris Botti play the trumpet… On my computer… Not live.  If Chris Botti were here live, that would really be something.

I resisted the urge to watch the television for yet another evening, which is not hard when you consider what is on Television these days.  Last night I watched with Lucy for a half hour and the BEST option was Celebrity Family Fued hosted by Al Roker.  Celebrity.  Family Fued. Al Roker.  Three things which individually disqualify any show from being watched by me and there they were ALL TOGETHER in one show. 

I miss the days when they’d show reruns during the summer.  I could love McGyver episodes all season long and then I could watch them all again in the summer.  That was a simple formula and it was working just fine. TV has since gone round the bend.  And coming from me, that’s something, cause I enjoy TV. 

Last evening was a trip to Applebees, which is never my favorite but it was nice being out with the family.  The reason I don’t like Applebees is because with four kids you can go there and drop 40 bucks and afterwards you reminisce about the quality of food you just ate and you wonder “40 bucks?  Is that as good as 40 bucks gets you these days… a Cowboy Burger?”  To add to the fun, my daughter Betty (3 years old) decided to push the lemon wedge down on my glass of ice water as far as it would go, thus spilling said ice water on my lap.  With 6 of us crammed in a booth there was nowhere for me to use my evasive maneuvers and thus I got a lap full of Ice Water.  Ice water that slowly soaked in.  Finding every crevice.

Thinking I may have had a spare pair of shorts in the trunk of my car, I wandered out there realizing I looked as though I had just severely peed my pants.  As I was re entering the restaurant having no luck finding replacement garments, I ran into a couple who used to attend my church.  I exchanged pleasantries with them trying to be as animated as I could with facial expressions trying to keep them from looking down at my soaked pants.  I’m sure they wandered away from that encounter scratching their head wondering “what was with Jeff?  He was acting like he was drunk, and had he really wet his pants?... No wonder we left that church, I always knew something wasn’t right with that guy”.  Had I paid more attention to childhood television, I could have crafted a pair of pants out of some loose change and a floormat.

My laptop is now playing old Imperials… that’s good stuff.  So here’s to enjoying our summer nights.  Make the most while they last, school starts in 40 days.

Turns out, Charlie wasn't the only 'chuck' in the pool.

IT happened again.  Actually it happens more often than not.  I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising all things considered.

I took the kids to the pool at Lifetime again tonight.  First of all, I want to take a minute and point out that I took the kids there by myself.  ALL of my kids.  We have four kids ranging in age from 9 months to 8 years.  I feel this is quite an accomplishment for today's suburban father.  I feel this once again puts me in the running for "Father of the Year 2008".  I was in the running last year for 'father of the year' until I blogged that I was OK with a little poop in the pool at lifetime.  That I'd prefer them remove the poop and to let us take our chances back in the pool.

Which serves as a nice segue in to the theme of tonights blog.  I was at the lifetime pool tonight with all my kids. (by myself... did I mention that?)  I was a bit nervous.  This was an experiment on behalf of Kristie and Myself to see if one parent could in fact take all four kids to the pool and have them all survive.  Things were going well as I had only misplaced one of my kids for about 6 minutes when they took an unannounced potty break. 

All of the sudden a Mom runs out of the pool, straight to a lifeguard and says rather loudly "my daughter just threw up in the pool".  Well that leads to whistle... "everybody out of the pool".  it's closed down.  and since its almost 7pm, they decide to close it down for the night rather than wait the hour and then re open.  The indoor pool usually serves as a back up for such festive occasions but it had swim classes in there, so we were out of luck.  We had to go home.  sorry kids.

On the way home of course the kids had about a thousand questions regarding the whole puke in the pool incident... "What Happened?"  "What's Puke?"  "Did one of our kids throw up?"  "Who puked?".   Betty couldn't quite grasp the whole thing and her line of questioning was both strange and irrelevant.

But the whole way home I had a thought that I couldn't shake...

I played out the scenario in my mind only this time I imagined it WAS one of my kids who threw up in the pool.  What would I do?  was my thought.  Would I run straight to the life guard and blow the whistle on my kid so they could blow theirs and thus send everyone running for the shores?  OR, would I forefit my "Father of the Year Award" for yet another year and try to cover it up?  I could probably scoop out most of it pretty quickly.  I suppose it all depends on the amount, the color and texture of the puke... but I'm just guessing that if it were to happen, I'd take more than a couple moments to weigh out the options.

Put A Sock In The Hole

I'm enjoying the afternoon, watching the US Open Golf Tournament.  I'm watching Tiger wince in pain after every shot... he's really turning it on for the TV audience.  I think he's faking it... or atleast exaggerating the pain as to set up his "Miracle US Open - Sports Story of the YEAR!". 

As I'm flipping around the channels I'm realizing there are some very annoying things in the world of sports.  Here are some:

Soccer Players:  I enjoy watching the game of soccer but I can't stand the flopping and the look of death on the faces of the players when they get knocked down... like they've been shot.

Post Game Interviews:  I'm tired of "Well we really dug deep... we never quit and we pulled it through... We gave it 110%... I always knew we had it in us".  I'd like just once to hear someone say "yah, we got really lucky on that one".

High Fives:  Men in the stands at sporting events should never high five each othere after their team does something good.  Hey High Five guys... You didn't do anything.  You stood there with your beer and watched.  There is no high five necessary.

But the MOST annoying thing in the world of sports is the scores of people who yell "GET IN THE HOLE!!" immediately after a golfer hits his shot.  It doesn't matter if its a five wood from 248 yards out... as soon as the ball is hit... "GET IN THE HOLE!!!".  This is the low point for sports fans. And friends, that is saying something.

Happy Father's Day Everyone.

Modern Song in an Old Town

I love living in Farmington.  I love the country roads and farms nearby that give you the illusion of living far away from a large metropolis.  I love the smell of the nearby farms thats wafts our way with a south-easterly wind. 

I love having our kids in sports in Farmington.  Tonight was soccer night for Charlie.  We've gotten to know quite a few other families through school and sports activites and as a result it often feels like the whole town is out on soccer night.  Incidentally, Farmington Soccer is headed up by RVC's own Ken McGlauchlan who does a great job organizing the whole thing.  Unfortunately, Ken is not organizing the 8 year old girls softball league which our daughter is a part of.  The leaders of that league decided this year to have the girls play double-headers... against the same team.  "Two games back to back against the same team?" I asked one of Lucy's coaches.  "yup" was his less than enthusiastic response.  "well isn't that like them playing a single 'two-and-a-half-hour' game?"  8 year olds don't need to play softball for two and a half hours.  But I digress...

I love Farmington.

I love downtown Farmington.  After soccer tonight, the whole family went downtown to Bugaloo's Ice Cream Shop for an assortment of brightly colored ice cream placed in various cone choices.  I chose Black Cherry in a Waffle Cone.  But the best part of Bugaloo's for Kristie and I is the small town look and feel.  It's the 100 year old building that it's located in.  It's the overall good feel of the whole experience.  It's the perfect mix of living in big metro area and feeling like you live in a small town.

On a totally separate note... The night at Bugaloo's was filled with singing from our son Charlie.  For you see, we just rented 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' and Charlie has started quoting his favorite parts.  And Charlie's favorite part is when Alvin is singing in the dishwasher.  So Charlie spent most of the night at Bugaloo's and a good portion of his soccer game singing "Don't Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls... "Don't Cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?..."

Proud moments in Farmington.

Canadian Bacon: The Truth Revealed

In my last blog post I made this statement:  "I don’t understand American Cheese.  It’s not even real cheese.  Canada is great because it doesn’t feel the need to have it’s own cheese."

I've had several people comment back saying "What about CANADIAN BACON"? The term Canadian Bacon has always bugged me.  And now since it's come up as a topic of conversation in my blogoshpere, I feel the time is now to clear up a mis-understanding.

Canadian Bacon is only referred to as "Canadian Bacon" in the USA.  In the rest of the world it's referred to as 'back bacon' or 'peameal bacon'.  Here's a snippet from Wikepedia on Canadian Bacon:

"In the United States, back bacon is called Canadian-style bacon or Canadian bacon, but this term refers usually to the lean ovoid portion.  What the U.S. terms "Canadian bacon" is actually back bacon rolled in cornmeal.  In Canada, it is called peameal bacon, whereas bacon is used generally to refer to strip bacon, which is more common to the Canadian diet."

So the term "Canadian Bacon" is an example of something that is commonplace in the USA but not anywhere else in the world.  Like the Imperial Measurement System.  Or David Hasselhoff not being famous.

This Just In: Canada Rocks

I’m a proud Canadian.  There are several reasons for my love for my homeland.

Let’s start with the overall attitude.  Canada is more laid back and relaxed.  The humor is dry, sarcastic and often self-deprecating.   Canadians are ‘understated’.  We’d rather you be pleasantly surprised by what you uncover beneath the surface.

Food is understated as well.  America has the tendency to over do it a bit, having generally a “To The Max” approach.  This applies to desserts.  Sweets are too sweet here, but in Canada, desserts are creamy, subtle-sweet.  Not unlike myself.  Canada has Coffee Crisp candy bars.  Crisp wafers, chocolate and coffee flavor.  Quite possibly the best candy bar ever.  Canada has Smarties, which are candy coated chocolate sweets like M&Ms but far superior in flavor and texture.

Canada does not feel the need to have it’s own version of everything.  For example: My first week at college in the USA I was working in the cafeteria when a fellow freshman student strolled through the food line.  Looking at the choice of cheese, he asked a question that puzzled me:  “Do you have any American Cheese?” and I said “Do I have any WHAT cheese?”.  “AMERICAN Cheese”.   “What is AMERICAN Cheese??.... It must be the best cheese ever”  and he said “You know it.” And then all the other students in line started chanting “U-S-A!... U-S-A!...”  I don’t understand American Cheese.  It’s not even real cheese.  Canada is great because it doesn’t feel the need to have it’s own cheese.

Canada is great because of The Swiss Chalet.  The Swiss Chalet is a restaurant chain in Canada that serves up chicken.  For around 7 bucks you can get a quarter chicken, the best fries you’ve ever had, a warm bun and a bowl of secret dipping sauce.  The dipping sauce is, simply put, the tastiest thing in the Universe.  After you’ve had some sauce, you crave it incessantly until you can return to the chalet.  Which for most Canadian church-goers is every Sunday afternoon.

But here is the most recent reason why Canada is awesome:  Olympic Mascots.  Vancouver is hosting the winter Olympics in 2010.  The Vancouver Olympic committee recently unveiled the mascots for the 2010 games and here’s a picture.




That’s a Thunderbird and a “sea bear” on either end, but right in the middle is Quatchi, a Sasquatch!  Canada had to come up with an Olympic Games Mascot and came up with a Sasquatch.  Wearing Ear Muffs. 

Outstanding.

All Good Things...

Here we are.  Blog number 14.  Two weeks of blogging every day.  And it's time to call it a successful exercise and hang it up for a bit.  I've had several comments from people that they'd like me to continue blogging every day.  First of all, that's very nice.  Thank You.  But second of all, that is quite naive.  How long do you think it would take for you to get sick of me?  All of you who wish for more, I dare say it would be blog number 15 and you'd think to yourself "This Jeff guy isn't that great... let's see what's on TV".  From time to time people will tell Kristie something like this:  "Oh it must be so fun to be married to Jeff..." and Kristie will smile and think "Yah it's great and all, but being around him everyday is another story".

There's something to be said for not wearing out your welcome.  Seinfeld called it quits before they got annoying.  A lesson that several other shows could have learned...  Hello 'ER' ?????  Hello 'Cosby Show' ???  So it's either time to add a cute new little kid character to this blog in a vain attempt to boost ratings... or it's time for a break.

A true artist knows when one more stroke of the brush will be one too many.  This blog is at that point.  The masterpiece is done... it took 14 strokes.

Thanks For Reading.  See You Soon.

Lucky Number 13

13 blogs in a row.  One more to go.

But this is also my 100th blog post ever.  That has to be some sort of a milestone.  It took me two and a half years to get to 100.  I’m sure Pastor Rob and other more diligent bloggers made it to 100 posts much sooner.  Coworkers of mine such as Alan or Joe will be due to hit 100 posts in about 60 years… so mark your calendars for that.

Tonight was the baby dedication for our fourth and FINAL child Dorothy.  It was great having my parents in town for the occasion and Kristie’s family in attendance as well.  We are blessed with great parents and extended families.

So I can’t think about a better way to celebrate 100 blogs than to talk about my kids.   Each time we’ve had one of our kids dedicated I am struck with several different emotions.  I recognize the importance of God’s hand of protection on my kids in a world where a lot of bad stuff can happen.  I feel the weight of parenthood realizing that much is riding on the decisions I make as a parent.  But the biggest thing I feel is anticipation.  I get excited to see how my kids turn out.  I anticipate great things and know that God has great things in store for them.

I think Lucy (8) will turn out to be a lot like her Mom.  She’ll be emotional, talented, tenderhearted and basically be spectacular.  People will be drawn to her.  I see her ministering to other women and bringing help and healing to them, and being admired and respected by so many… just like her Mom.

Charlie (6) is an interesting kid.  He’s so different than most other boys and I truly believe God has unique things in store for him.  Through his life I hope he keeps that uniqueness.  I think people will have an interesting time trying to figure him out.  He may not fit the mold, he may seem like he’s in his own world and he may have ups and downs in life but simply put, he’s going to change the world.

Betty (3) is going to captivate audiences.  She has a spark.  She will be able to walk in to a room and have everyone notice.  She’s going to be filled with spunk and sass.  She’ll be insanely talented and charismatic.  Charlie will change the world some day, but Betty will hold it in the palm of her hand.

And then there’s little Dorothy (9 mo).  Who knows?  She’s so sweet.  Her smile already lights the room.  I’m excited to see personality traits come out. 

It’s humbling to know that I’m raising these kids for God’s purpose.  It’s an honor to be their Dad, to teach them, hold them, care for them, laugh with them and watch what God does through them.

Lucky Indeed.

Enough about me.

I’m preparing to blog for the 12th day in a row.  I asked Kristie what I should blog about and she said “tell them about taking the kids to the dentist today”  and I said “blah”.  “How about getting the pool out for the kids? Or the dog?”  and I said “blah”. She gave me a couple more options and I said “blah”.   The truth is that those ideas are all fine but the last thing I feel like doing is taking a somewhat normal activity that I did today and add some sarcasm and wit in an attempt to make it clever and readable.  I’m tired of that.  I think I’m tired of ME.  And if you know me well, you know that is saying something.  Because I like me.  I’m one of my favorite people.   Eventually I tire of most people, some people sooner than later.  But today I’ve tired of myself.  And for those who are keeping score… it took 12 days.

But all things considered, 12 days is pretty good.  Here are things that I get tired of in LESS THAN 12 days:

Sensationalized weather reports.  Bad Drivers.  Mediocre Drivers.  NBC Sportscaster Jim Grey.  Rosie Odonnell.  Bluetooth headpieces and their ‘wearers’.  White running shoes with blue jeans.  Aaron Neville.  Political Commentary.  Obnoxious people.  Loud talkers.  Hyped up fear of Shark Attack.  Self Centered-ness.  Sprained Ankles.  Skim Milk.  I think that is all.  There may be one or two more.

Here are things that I like for MORE THAN 12 days in a row:

My Lord, my wife, kids and most of my family.   About 80 percent of my extended family.  About 70 percent of my wife’s family.  Cereal before bed.  Coffee.  German Cars. Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia Ice-Cream.  Music.  Authenticity.  Beaches.  Mountains.  And Coke in a tall glass filled to the top with ice.

That’s about it.  If you didn’t make either list, that means I’d probably get tired of you after precisely 12 consecutive days.  Don’t feel bad.  12 days is pretty good.  That’s as far as I made it.

You Don't Really Mean It

This is cutting it a bit close.  It's 11:30pm.  Truth be told I just want to go to bed.  In fact I had crawled in to bed, turned of the light and was ready to go to sleep when Kristie said, with more than a tinge of urgency, "Did you blog?"  and I looked at her and said "ugh".  And thus here I am.  I'm strictly doing this out of obligation. 

(If you're just joining us, I'm on day 11 of a two week challenge to blog everyday.)

So keeping with a slight tinge of crabbiness... Here now is my top 3 dislikes from today.

Number 3.  Expense Reports.  We have a new business admin at the church where I work and today he unveiled phase 1 of the changes to how we do expense reports, reimbursements and other money business type things.  Don't get me wrong.  I love the new business admin guy.  He's great.  But I don't thrive in a business admin world.  While he was explaining all the new policies I think was deflating.  I know it's all good and that we have to do it.  But I would rather write a song about expense reports than fill one out.

Number 2.  My three year old and Bubbles.  My 3 year old loves bubbles.  She takes a new plastic jar of bubble stuff outside to play with but rather than use the little plastic wand to blow bubbles, she dumps the entire contents on the patio.  She'll then come in looking for more bubbles and we keep falling for it.  This has happened probably 8 times. (we're slow learners... hence the difficulty with expense reports)  This is the opposite of the story of the Widow and the Jars of oil in 2 Kings 4 where they kept bringing empty Jars and they were miraculously filled with oil.  We keep supplying full jars of bubble stuff and Betty keeps dumping them out.

Number 1.  I don't like when my Sports Illustrated Magazine comes in the mail and has cologne ads in it.  Cologne ads in magazines are a pain.  First of all, they make my eyes burn and when reading a magazine I don't want to feel like I'm burning.  Second, the stiff cardboard page they're on makes flipping through the magazine very tricky.  Who buys cologne based on how it smells in a magazine?  I defy anyone to tell me they can tell the difference between two colognes based on what they sniffed in a magazine.

That's it.  I could do my top 3 favorite things from the day, but alas, I'm out of time.

Goodnight.

An Open Blog to All Parents of 8 Year Old Girls

Alright parents... we have to get on the same page here.  We need to create and understanding.  We need to form an alliance.  We need to stick together.

My 8 year old daughter spent the day today asking me for a cell phone.  She's asked me before and I've said 'No'.  She asks 'why?' and I say "because you're eight years old, and when I was 8 I didn't have a cell phone".  "So dad, when can I get a cell phone?"  "When you're twenty... just before you can start dating".

Now I've been holding firm, rejecting her cell phone requests, realizing there is NOBODY out there who would buy a cell phone for their 8 year old.  But during the phone conversation today, Lucy threw me a curve ball.  She stated firmly... "But Dad, one of my friends from school has a cell phone".   And of course I reply with something like "If that friend had Scurvy, would you want that too?"

As the conversation continues, I remain calm on the outside, but on the inside I'm all a-flutter.  Is there really a parent out there buying a cell phone for their 8 year old? Who is this madman or mad-woman who is  blowing it for the rest of us?  Who is out there throwing a wrench in to the ever-fine workings of raising an 8 year old girl???

Is it not tough enough out there with the email and the television and the Spears Sisters?  I'm having a hard enough time keeping my girl from wanting to drive a car, or hang out at the mall, or pose for the cover of Vanity Fair.  I don't need someone out there jumping the gun on the unspoken rule of cell phones.

Now Parents.  This is a set back.  But we haven't lost yet.  It's time to regroup. 

Google Eyes

I’d better get on with this.

It’s only 4:15pm which means I have just under 8 hours to post my daily blog as part of my “two week blog challenge” which should be no problem.  But I have Charlie’s soccer game in an hour and a half and then I have an Elder Board Meeting tonight.  So I know better than to think I’ll feel like blogging after an Elder Board Meeting.  Besides we like to go to Buffalo Wild Wings after, and eat some spicy wings, which end up keeping me awake all night, which would work for blogging but it would be after midnight and the streak would be over.  And then literally a dozen people who read my blog would be crushed.

So Let’s Get On With IT.

As the administrator of this blog, I’m able to access a list of times people have visited my blog which is kind of interesting.  But what’s slightly more interesting is that I can see links from Google which linked people to my blog.  It lets me know what somebody searched for on Google which led them to this website. 

For example somebody once did a Google search for “How early should I arrive for a Jonas Brothers Concert”  and my blog was one of the sites Google suggested, and that person then visited my blog only to realize that there was absolutely no pertinent information and probably cursed my name and vowed never to use the Internet ever again. 

Obviously the most common time Google refers to my blog is if some does a search for “Jeff Kerr”.  I’m usually the top hit for that one.  The battle for the number one hit has been between My Blog and some Real Estate Agent named Jeff Kerr from Illinois.  There’s also a prominent member of PETA named Jeff Kerr and he gets some ‘Google Love’ but I believe I’m winning the war.

So Here now is a list of some of the weird things people have done Google searches for and had my blog pop up as a search result…  In random order.

“I’m every woman”

Faith hill berating fan you tube video

Why go to church?

Weebed

drama for sermon on ten lepers

Its because of you

short bus conversion van

hannah montana tv plug -n-play activity set

who drove the bus in to kill a mockingbird?

deflating disney balloon

Wretched Todd Friel

what was the temperature on January 07, 2008 in Edmonton Alberta

Jonas and the whale

home depot jonas brothers commercial

where to order kerr pink potatoes

The eyes are the window to the neighborhood

crane machine popsicle stick

the song corn on the cob

and my personal favorite of things you can search for on Google and find my blog is….

"poop in the pool" percent.

See you tomorrow.

I'll Pick God

Joshua 5:13-15

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"  "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?"  The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

Joshua is a great book and this passage is one of my favorites.  I love the imagery here.  I love the sarcasm I can read in to this… I think I read sarcasm into scripture more than other people.  But I love picturing this encounter…Joshua stumbling across a commander in God’s Army.  Joshua’s reaction is understandable.  He’s in a time of conflict.  He’s about to attack the city of Jericho.  He simply wants to know if this guy in front of him, who happens to be carrying a sword, is on his side or the side of his enemies.

I LOVE that the Angel doesn’t say “Don’t worry Joshua, we’re on your side... We're here to help you”  I LOVE that the Angel says “Neither... I'm on God's side".  He’s essentially telling Joshua “Listen, little man… I am on God’s side.  He's in charge and you should worry about being on His side as well.  Cause He's gonna win."

I love this story because I know how easy it is for me and for others around me to become very self focused.  We like to do our thing and we like to get God into the mix as well.  If we can get God on OUR side then we’ll win.  Like we’re picking teams for a game of hockey… “I get first pick??... OK… let’s see… I’ll pick…. GOD!”

This story is a reminder that we should worry less about who is on our side and who is against us, and we should worry more about whether or not we are on God’s side.  We should focus less on our agendas and our kingdoms and focus more on the Kingdom of God and how we can serve it.

And I love Joshua’s response.  He simply falls down in reverence and awe.  I think we all need to ‘UP’ our level of respect and awe for God.  This is what it means when the Bible talks about 'the Fear of The Lord.'  I believe a high level of awe and respect and ‘fear of the Lord’ is necessary for us.  If we have a healthy fear of the Lord, our priorities change and fall in line with God’s priorities.  Our level of worship, servant-hood and devotion all get closer to where they should be.