Several items to go over

Back to the 70 hour load. A few things.

1) Rob Bugh was preaching Sunday, for the first time since his wife died last month. The series is the Ten Commandments, and he focused on number one "You shall have no other Gods before me." He mentioned some things I didn't initially want to hear, but needed to hear about the causes and roots of anger and stress. He explained the hardest part of being a senior pastor, a single parent, is putting God first. And it is hard.

But I have noticed when God is in the forefront of your thoughts and priorities, the world seems a little different. There is certain extra confidence and peace of mind you walk around with. That doesn't mean circumstances always go how you want, which is what some people interpret as God liking them. It's that you have something unchangeable and unshakable to fall back on during the rough times. Because situations change. People change. God doesn't change.

Rob also mentioned marriage stats. 1 out of 2 marriages end in divorce. Weddings held in a church, that stat drops to 1 in 50. If the couple continues to pray together, study Scripture, and have an active Christian church life, the rate drops to 1 in 1,205. I think if I get married, I'm going to spend some time praying and reading with my wife.

2) OK, let's keep going. Last night at Ecclesia, Ted talked about community and the need for real community. After the message, we had a pot luck dinner. Now my job was to prepare salad. I knew the other salad people would do Caesar, a basic house, and maybe some potato salad. If you know anything about me, I don't just settle, especially when it comes to preparing food. So I went on the Food Network website and looked under salad. I was trying to find something with an international flavor, whether it be Mexican, Asian, Mediterranean, whatever looked good. After 10 minutes of searching, I came to Emeril Lagasse's Potluck dinner show that he did once. And I saw a recipe for an Antipasto salad. Enough said.

Emeril + potluck + antipasto = end of search.

So I prepared it for the first time (Pasta, cold cuts, sun-dried tomatoes, sharp provolone, fresh herbs, etc) and it went over huge. I admit as people walked by me, I looked at their plates trying to see if they had my salad. My friend Davia didn't know what was mine, but when she was setting the plates on the buffet table before the meal, as she later admitted to me "I actually took some right there!" So I think I will make it again.

I had my haircut at Sportclips and as always, I got the MVP package. MVP stands for Metrosexuals very privileged. OK, I made the last part up, but anyway, for 20 bucks I got a cut, shampoo, conditioner (and they massage your scalp too), steamed towel on my face, and a full back and shoulder massage. And man it feels good when you're done.