just thots johnratz.info

Never underestimate the power of great wife!

Here's my hero!

Canada, defined by an American

As one of the segments shown during NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Tom Brokaw explains the northern neighbors of the USA.

New Look

Every now and then you've just got to clean things up. Started cleaning, it lead to new look and feel, and that led to... check out the new (90% done) look. Love to hear from you!

The Summer Slump

So the summer and vacation schedules have hammered my routines for the last number of weeks. I now will be making an intentional effort to get with the blogging program. As a means of getting back into it, I figured the summer slump in church finances, not to mention the current economic times may be the easy path in... apparently more than the protestants are experiencing the tightening of the fiscal belts:

Dad, I’m bored.

Yesterday we were part of the Northeast that got hit by the storm and ended up with a snow day. Now, I've lived in areas that see far more snow and it gets much colder than it does in Philly, but I can enjoy a snow day as much as my kids. In today's world of computers, working from home is even easier than working at the office, and I did. There is, however, a different tone to working at home during a snow day and it has nothing to do with the video games going on over my shoulder.

Midway through the day, it occurred to me that a snow day is the gift of margin from God. A bit for me and Joanna, but primarily for my children. Far too often, despite our best intentions as we have earnestly tried to teach our children guidelines to guard their schedules, the kids run a rather hectic pace. Gone are the days of church-going families going home for dinner on Sunday and then having a restful afternoon and evening. The Sabbath isn't a valued part of the weekly routine anymore.

Well, I for one would like to thank God for the Snow Day, not because the office closed, not because the schools were closed, but because I was able to see God provide a Sabbath for my children! I got to hear my son say, "Dad, I'm bored."