Sermons

Travis Cardwell has been preaching through the book of Acts at our church and it has been so encouraging to dive into this book. All of his sermons have been tasty meals for my soul and I would encourage you to go here to check them out.

If you only have time to listen to one sermon check out his most recent sermon on Acts 2:37-41 entitled "How Can I Be Saved?" Travis lays down the full Gospel message which is powerful, truthful, confrontational, and full of life and hope. Whether you are not clear on the Gospel or it is something you rejoice in a lot this sermon is worth your time.

Eight = Phelps

Like most of America I was scrambling to get in front of my TV to watch Michael Phelps increase his net worth in gold over this past week. I'll be honest before the 2008 Beijing Olympics I had no idea who this guys was. I saw the initial "Quest for 8" before the games began and was semi-intrigued and as I read more articles the excitement started to grow. But I also thought to myself, "Eight gold medals is quite a task . . . I don't know about this." I started to faintly believe in the possibility more after he won the 400-meter IM in world-record time. The next race was the "already an ESPN classic" 4x100 free relay in which the French had already began to talk smack. Now being a former smack talker (or should I say "an occasional" . . . maybe you should ask this guy) these types of things really get me going. I was now locked in. The race began and as it looked like they were going to lose I started getting a little frustrated. Then Jason Lezak did his "that can only happen in a Disney movie" move and came back in the final leg for an amazing victory. By this point I was sold. I was on the Michael Phelps bandwagon. He had to win all eight. He did win all eight.

Thus in honor of Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals I would like to start a trend that we replace the word "eight" with "Phelps." It's pretty easy actually. All you do is say "Phelps" when you normally would say "eight." Nothing more. Nothing less. For example, when I begin to teach my son Will to count I will say "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, Phelps, nine, ten."

You with me. Hey, he won Phelps gold medals. That is one more than the seven that Spitz won.

Here are some other examples to help get you going:

• I knew I was about to lose in pool as Brandon lined up to hit the Phelps ball in the corner pocket.
• "Hey Caleb, that spider has Phelps legs!"
• Lenny really showed his age when he talked about how he used to enjoy listening to his Phelps-track.
• I was a bit disappointed at the gym yesterday when I could only do Phelps pull-ups.
• The Astros are leading the Brewers 5-2 in the Phelps inning.
• My son Will was born two weeks ago on the Phelps 1, 200Phelps. (Yes, Phelps can replace anything in the "eight realm". So August (the 8th month) becomes Phelps, too)
• Ten lords a'leaping, nine ladies dancing, Phelps maids a'milking . . .
• That truck is pretty stout. It must have a V-Phelps.
• I love drinking orange juice or grape juice, but it's painful to drink a VPhelps.
• Hunter felt a twinge of frustration as he looked on the lineup card and saw he was batting Phelps.
• Stephenie and I love watching the O'Reilly Factor on channel thirty Phelps.
• Jason Kates once devoured Phelps donuts and Phelps cokes in less than Phelps minutes.
• If you want to learn a little about Lane Frost go watch Phelps Seconds.
• Travis Cardwell really set the tone for our series on Acts as he preached on Acts 1:Phelps.
• Jim Hamilton reads about Phelps books a day. He is a genius.
• David Hamilton set a modern day record by having Phelps different jobs the one year he lived in Houston!

On a side note, I'm aiming to post a more serious blog later this week. My co-laborer and good friend, Travis, encouraged this blog so if you are disappointed with my content please let him know. In the mean time, go about your day and let's help replace "eight" with "Phelps!

Unless you played baseball at Klein Forest in the mid-90's you will have no interest in this blog . . .

My good friend Jim "I hit the ball harder than Josh Hamilton" Russell sent me an email prediction that I wrote in early 2007 this morning and I thought, "hey, I spent a lot of time on that email and I need a new blog" so here goes. There had been some emails going back and forth between my High School buddies and I in regards to our annual alumni baseball game back then and what follows is my prediction on what was at the time an upcoming game.

For the homerun derby Jim Russell will rip a few to the fence before finally getting one over. His one homerun looks to stand as the rest of the guys fail to reach the warning track. (Yes, Matt Mertins included) As Brett Murphey takes his ten cuts he gets a little frustrated that his first eight cuts result in popping up straight into the batters cage the hangs over his head. He feels a little better as he rips the next one over the scoreboard to tie Jim, but gets a little cocky and completely misses the next pitch. Brandon Clarke forgets to take his ten swings because he is too busy arguing with Jim Kretlow that Mitt Romney is a better Republican candidate than John McCain. No one really challenges Jim's of Brett's total of one homerun, until Mike Lateur strolls to the plate and hits the first two pitches out of the park. Mike refuses his other eight cuts and proceeds to Mrs. Rutchi to collect his $20 gift certificate to Mr. Subz. (He's happy until the next day when he realizes Mr. Subz closed in 1997) As the game begins Brandon and Brett get into an argument about who gets to bat first only to realize that Matt Mertins has snuck behind him and is already in the batters box. It doesn't seem to matter because Jim Kretlow strikes out Matt, Brandon, and Brett in the first frame on nine pitches. Jim Russell throws a water cooler in disgust, partially due to the fact that no one got on and he's in the clean-spot and partially because Jeff Sanford has still not shown up. Mertins strolls to the mound and pumps in some 68 mph heaters and surprisingly gets out of the inning with no runs scored. Coach Ray then announces the winner of the first door prize, a $20 gift certificate to Pancho's, and a 2005 graduate gladly accepts the prize. Jim Russell tears down a shelf in the dugout in disgust. As the second inning begins Brett Murphey decides to strip down to just his sliding shorts and heads to the booth and promptly turns on the PA system. He remains there the rest of the game. Jim Russell hits Kretlow's first pitch over the right field wall and as he enters the dugout he breaks his TPX over his knee as the excitement overcomes him. Valerie Murphey captures the moment on her digital camera as she hangs from the backstop with one arm. Wayne Horak then steps to the plate and hits a shot to third where Brian Horak fields the groundball and fires one to first where Patrick Horak makes a nice scoop. Mr. Horak is sitting in his lawn chair over by the chain link fence and he nods his head a few times in approval of all three of his sons. Ed Bailey then steps to the plate and smashes one up the middle, but as he rounds first he pulls up limping. He calls for a pinch runner and heads to the dugout with an icepack. He remains laid up on the bench for the remainder of the game. Brandon Clarke asks for a replacement because he has now entered into a conversation with one of the High School players (whose required to be there) about his pursuit of one of the vacancies in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The High School student doesn't know what to say as Brandon discusses President Bush's conservative dominance in the 4th Circuit so Brandon switches the conversation to how good of a college ball player he was until he blew out his knee. Not too much happens in the game except for Jim Russell hitting homeruns and breaking things. The game ends and everyone proceeds to eat sloppy joes, homemade cookies, and fritos and Coach Ray continues to hand out gear and uniforms from the 70's.

William Samuel has arrived!

William Samuel Newhouse aka Will arrived on August 1, 2008 weighing in at 7 lbs. and 3 oz and is 21.5 inches long. Stephenie was a true champ and did a great job on the delivery and has been taking great strides to the Mother of the Year award already. We thank God for this precious gift and praise Him for his mercy!