**Mustard Seed Distributed**

After this weekend, I have a great appreciation for the folks that trekked across America (or any other continent wherever) before things like roads and vehicles were produced and utilized. To give the superstar a Christmas break that is so well deserved, mg and I took our kids up to his dad's cabin this weekend. We have done this a couple of times, and it has always been great. The cabin actually sits in the middle of nowhere, literally. You have to park your vehicle, and go down a hill, over a very large creek, then up a hill, then about a half mile into the woods to get to it. No electricity. Woodstove for heat. Usually this is not that much work, as mg has a Kawasaki Mule. You park at the end of the road, load your things into the mule, then drive back to the cabin. But when we got there, the road was blocked about a mile before the place you usually park with snow. No problem, we'll take the mule. No. We'll get the mule stuck. Then try to pull it out with ...

  The greatest Christmas present I ever (or evar) received came 2000 years ago, before any of my predecessors were even born. Thank you God for being the Creator of the Universe, and humbling yourself to human form in order to come here to earth and provide us a route to Salvation. What a prize you have given us. Thanks to shoeless mike for helping me to realize the great joy I get to experience by living free during this Christmas season. Thanks to all who provided hope in many ways, shapes, and forms to people that I have come to love in the D. Thanks to my wife for loving me so and for my God giving me the gift of breath and the gift of free grace through his Son, which is the reason we even have Christmas. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. God bless us everyone. Thank you Jesus, for loving me still, and for loving me even when I don't deserve it. Thank you to all my incredible friends and family that have supported the kkft over the last year and a half ...

Jesus was very great friends with Martha and Mary, and their brother Lazarus. So close, that Jesus indeed loved them. Perhaps one of the shortest verses in the bible hit me this morning as I ponder my journey with Christ in me. John 11:35- "Jesus wept." This is what happened when Jesus went to Bethany, as he already knew Lazarus was dead, and that he would go there to raise him from the dead in order to glorify God the father. No one else knew that, but Jesus did. So they go there, and Jesus meets with Mary and Martha, and Jesus sees Martha 'weeping', and the other Jews that had come along are 'also weeping'. What happens? 'He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.' So they take him to see where Lazarus was laid four days ago upon his death and then: "JESUS WEPT." At times, I am overwhelmed with the love of God in this life. Ask cdubs, at times I can weep at the drop of a pin if the right thing tugs at my heart. I think this is...

Christmas is near. If you sit quiet and still, you can hear it. It starts way off in the distance, and you think to yourself-what is that noise? Then you realize it is the quiet hum of Christmas Carols, and as Christmas nears, it gets louder, and more well defined. It brings joy to your heart as you gain insight into Christmas past, revel in the Christmas present, and look forward to the Christmases of the future. Yesterday, I experienced all three of these. I use this analogy because I had the fortune of spending an evening with my nephew-jojo-on Thursday night. It was his birthday present to spend an evening out with 'Uncle T$'. It always sounds nice when you tell them it is their gift, but really for the last several years, those evenings with my nephews have been gifts to me. Pickle Head and Spanky have raised beautiful young men and ladies in their quest to 'teach them in the ways of the Lord'. What an honor it is for me to be able to spend time with any a...

I don't recall who, but I think it was sick mother, sick pete, my adida and I having a conversation at the park in the D last month. Sick mother mentioned the 100 bibles they had. We talked about doing something special for Christmas for the inordinate amount of men (most homeless) that come to our monthly gatherings for food and friendship. In one way or another, we came up with the 'bags of hope' idea. Include a bible, pants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, shoes, gloves, hat, whatever. Call it a bag of hope. Even last week, I thought, this just isn't going to come together. This being the last week of school, I was jammed with my schedule, and couldn't do any organizing, etc. But the kkft did get to do some shopping together and put 10 bags together. I got a post on my facebook yesterday from shoeless mike that with our 10 bags, we are up over 100. I doubted we would get fifty. Heck, I doubted we would get to 30! But I did learn something. To lean on ...

Today I received an email from the Chair of my Dissertation Committee. Doesn't seem like that is monumental in any way, shape, or form, but it is. The email basically said you are at a point that is very good for the most part, and we will go to the committee. That means a meeting in early January to basically get feedback and move on in submitting my proposal to Human Subjects. That is a rubber stamp situation, and after that happens, I will be able to complete my doctoral study in the spring. That is HUGE. I started in the fall of 2003 down this road, and God has given me courage and strength to move to where I am now. It sucks many days sitting in front of a computer screen, or an article, or a dissertation, or a book alone and sometimes for many hours in a row. But the light is now at the end of the tunnel, and I am starting to see it and can't wait to get out into the beautiful fervent valley of doctorhood where my studies are completed for a long time. There is a...

Superstar coordinated everything for our dinner Friday, and mattsy t and tracy t took the girls for a big sleepover party at their house with Colin, you can see and read more here . So the star and I went shopping. We didn't need to buy anything for our family (although we may have bought a couple things :)), but we did get to go out and buy a bunch of stuff for a family that is much in need in Detroit. The funds came from some men that I am doing life with, and their generous hearts and pocketbooks. I have never enjoyed Christmas shopping so much in my life. Even buying things for my own kids I don't think was that much fun. It was really cool getting things for people that you know can't get things. Really cool. And I got to do it with the superstar at my side. Very cool. Then we got to go to one of our favorite restaurants in LO-thanks gerdies-to eat some of our favorite things. Fish tacos rule. Then this morning, I was the superstar that got to be the Grinch...