Da' Nephews

Last night (friday) I went over to Yvonne's to see if I could get the boys. They weren't home. Yvonne and Hailey left so I just talked with my niece Marina. After about ten minutes the boys showed up. I was really happy about that. I took them to the St Veronica's festival. It was miserably hot and humid. I never really realized how stupid poeple act at festivals. We rode all the rides including the hammers. After a short trip to the bank we returned to do some more rides and eat. We ran into Suzie and Richie and their 3 kids ... the triplets. It was nice to see Rich. I hadn't seen him in quite some time. The Toys were playing in the band tent. They were pretty good but, it was just miserable in the tent. Tonight we are playing at Kiko's. It's one of the fancy restaurants owned by the late Frank Monreal. I guess I am breaking out all of the lights tonite. It should be interesting. I really need to sit with the system and get a hands-on session to do some programming.
Tom preached a good one last sunday. He started a new series. We're going over Daniel and the stories of Daniel, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. He talked about how they used a quiet witness. We also talked about the sermon at Community Groups thursday night. We discussed which one of the 2 camps we were in and where we draw the line. The first being the legalistic, in your face, turn or burn camp. The second being the quiet, respectful, loving type. I believe that the silent and loving witness has more validity than the "turn or burn" philosophy. While God can use either ... what is proper ? ... I went on to say that we need to be led by the spirit. There is a fine line and many times we cross it in the "name of christianity." I recall being really militant after TC. I also know that I offended a lot of people telling them that they were headed to hell if they didn't turn to Jesus. Great witness ! ... NOT ! Some would call me apathetic. Did they say the same about Daniel and his friends ? Think about it ... they were given new names in the sinful culture that they were taken too. In those days your name actually meant something ... it was "who you were." Without a bunch of backround information you can tell what they didn't do. They didn't run around with signs telling everyone that they were going to hell. They excelled in their environment and focused on themselves and their God. We all can learn a valuable lesson from them.