my favorite chef: a random wednesday

-yesterday the kids had a snow day.  shannon made them some kind of spaghetti-o's or something and while shoveling them down, jackson lovingly and sincerely stated that chef boyardee is his favorite chef. 
-thanks to all of you for the traffic on my blog the last few months.  it's been amazing to see that so many of you are checking in and seeing what's going on.  now if i could just get you to comment and start some discussion, that'd be fantastic. 

-i did a funeral yesterday.  there were about 70 or so people here at the church for the funeral.  there were about 5 or 6 folks sitting together that i took to be mennonites, or something of that ilk, wearing the kind of traditional dress associated with them.  i took particular notice of them, and noted that they were locked-in on me during the service, studying my every move.  i felt analyzed, but i know how i am when i attend another church, so turnabout is fair play.  whatever.  but then there's this:  as i was about 3 sentences away from the conclusion of my message, one of their cell phones rang - a high-pitched and violently loud ring.  he seemed to turn it off and show the appropriate embarassment, but then it rang again a few seconds later. 

really?  if i had to guess who's cell phone would ring during the service, i wouldn't have guessed it to be the mennonite dude.  you never know.

-we had ice everywhere yesterday.  i had to wait until the afternoon to start to remove it from our driveway and sidewalks, and by then, someone had apparently glued it all down with industrial strength glue.  my snow shovel folded up like joe flacco at the prospect of facing that ice.  so i had to go around with a sledge hammer breaking up the ice before using the shovel to remove all that ice and throw it into the yard.  i guess it was over 90-minutes later that i finally collapsed in the warm living room.  seriously, whoever glued that ice down, i'm looking at you. 

-actually, the location of my collapse wasn't the living room, it was the mancave, where i've been spending alot more time lately.  it's like my little steelers oasis in a world of ice and loud cell phones. 

-speaking of the steelers (i tried to get all the way through this random post without mentioning the steelers, but i knew it would never happen), how great has this season been?  with ben suspended for the first four games, and with all the significant injuries they've sustained, i never thought that the steelers would be playing in the afc championship game in heinz field.  i'm predicting the steelers beat the jets sunday, but no matter what happens on sunday, i'm going to be thankful for a great season. 

-we stopped at goodwill the other day and bought a 1,000 piece puzzle of the united states for 97 cents.  best 97 cents we ever spent.  we've been having a blast as a family sorting through the pieces and putting it together. 

-i hope everyone's having a great wednesday, and that, if it's as gray outside where you are as it is where i am, i hope you find ways to discover the unseen color of life, lurking below everything, the Spirit and the essence of it all, the great scarlet coursing blood of life; the deep blue throbbing echo of deep calling to deep.  may you be reminded on this day that there is more to it all than what your eyes can see. 
grace|peace,
greg.