A few months ago I decided I wanted to learn how to play Texas Holdem. The recent WSOP and WPT shows have inspired me to give it a shot. I've always liked playing poker, but it's been years since I've indulged. I've been playing on the internet and have actually graduated from being a "fish" to being a decent player.

Here are a few lessons I've learned that may, or may not apply to the rest of life:

1. You can play your hand right and still lose.

2. Consistent good-decisions pay off in the long run even if you take a couple of bad beats now and then.

3. Good things can happen to bad players, but players who depend on luck eventually lose their shirt.

4. Intimidation can be worth more than good cards in your hand.

5. If you don't know who the "fish" at the table is, YOU ARE IT!

I've been doing some job hunting on the internet and I came across this job title:

Erection Foreman

Hmmm....maybe its working for Pfizer, the company that makes Viagra?

I'm getting tired of my own whining lately! But, things have been a little strange around the Hiduk home the past few weeks..... Trish has her gallbladder removed, she tears some tendons stepping off of curb, and now a truck runs her off the road in the rain. We have no medical insurance, and the kicker is, the insurance of the truck driver doesnt want to pay because there was no "point of contact", although it was clearly the truck drivers fault.

If life gets any better I don't know if I can stand it! Maybe the Cardinals will win tonight.....

Greg and Rebecca Sparks came to our church today. What great musicians and all around great folks! Hey, they're from Pittsburgh, they can't be all bad. Right, George? I highly recommend their music!

We went out to lunch with them and had a great talk about ministry, music, leadership etc. They have a different point of view about the institutional church than we do, but they have great hearts. It was funny, because when we got home we were made aware of another "controversy" we are in the middle of....of course, we are the last to know....

One of my criticisms of the institutional church has been that it sets up leaders to be criticized by people who have no relationship with them. Motives are assumed, assumptions are made, and gossip is started with incomplete information, from a distance, usually behind the leader's back. It would be great if church attenders could just be adult about such things, lets not even talk about being Biblical or Christian! It's like you get up on stage and paint a target on your back. I'm really saddened by this kind of immaturity, but I guess I shouldn't expect anything more....

So, to the folks who are reading through my blog hunting for information to use....Good hunting and God bless you....and here are few things to think about:

1Tim 1:5-8
The whole point of what we're urging is simply love--love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven't the remotest idea of what they're holding forth with such imposing eloquence. It's true that moral guidance and counsel need to be given, but the way you say it and to whom you say it are as important as what you say. (The Message)

Pro 11:12
Mean-spirited slander is heartless; quiet discretion accompanies good sense. (The Message)

I hope Andy doesnt mind me posting the lyrics to this song. Thanks for turning us on to the tunes Eddie!

White Flag
by Andy Squyres

Make way bow down
Give up surrender everything you’ve known
You’re about to lose everything you have
Here comes the devastation we were warned about

It’s a mystery it’s a bloody mess
It only requires everything and nothing less
But if we die we will surely live
If we just give up the only thing that we can give

Oh I am waving I am waving my white flag
In the air and I’m to the point even though I lose
I just don’t care as long as you are there

Can’t run, we can’t hide
From the desperation that we feel inside
But there is hope and there is truth
The love of God will never stop pursuing me and you

©2003 Andy Squyres - All Rights Reserved.

Some days I really enjoy my kids, but lately those days have been few and far between. My oldest is getting old enough to get a major attitude, my youngest is whining like a mama's boy, and my middle daughter is the instigator of a lot of the trouble. There is way to much yelling around our house, me included. Add to that the pressure I am feeling regarding getting a job and feeling generally worthless in the job-market. We sacrificed a lot for me to finish college and, unless God directly intervenes, I'm going to wind up in a corporate job I don't particularly like anyway. Right back where I started from...Add to that Trish wanting to be at home, and you've got relative chaos in the Hiduk home.

I'll admit it. My attitude sucks right now. I'm looking around and not particularly liking my life....and I'm not sure what to do about it right now. I'm not sure there is much to do but remain faithful and ask God to help me with my attitude.....and ask y'all for prayer....

More Reasons...

Found this on Kevin's blog, who got it from Laura's blog.... What a great summation of what we are doing, and where we are going!

"In conversion you are not attached primarily to an order, nor to an institution, nor a movement, nor a set of beliefs, nor a code of action--you are attached primarily to a Person, and secondarily to these other things...You are not called to get to heaven, to do good, or to be good--you are called to belong to Jesus Christ. The doing good, the being good, and the getting to heaven, are the by-products of that belonging. The center of conversion is the belonging of a person to a Person."
--E. Stanley Jones

For those who may not understand our decision, I came across a few quotes while surfing the blogworld that may help explain. See if these statements hold true in your exerience of organized religion:

One more thing. I spoke with a friend recently with whom I’d shared home group life until I moved away some years ago. They used to have lots of friends and how they’ve lost touch with everyone. We talked about how much work time he’d invested in friendships in the last few years and he admitted it was little. Work, commuting and home responsibilities crowded out the time they used to devote to building friendships. Having Jesus-centered friendship is an investment. If we don’t take time to build relationships we’ll find ourselves alone. That’s no way to live. We serve a relational God and I am convinced that almost everything Jesus does he does through relationships, not programs, models or works. Who is God putting on your heart today? Whether they be believer or unbeliever, invest some time cultivating a relationship with them and see where it goes. You’ll be amazed at what God will do. I find for every 20 or 30 relationships I give myself to, maybe 2 or 3 of those become great friends over time. If you’re not casting the net out there, the fish aren’t going to jump in it by themselves.
Wayne Jacobsen

"In my experience "mini projects" defines really well the way people in the church often interact and understand friendships. Too many people want to take a quick 5/10 minutes to "catch up" with what's going on, rather than investing something of themselves into your life. Being there when things aren't going so well. Living in the dark parts of your life. Does the church see friendship as something that needs to be strategic and pre-meditated instead of spontaneous and natural?"

"Some things I have noticed or felt are:
People make a lot less effort with you; after all they need to invest their time and energy into spending time with people already in their church community. If you're not in, you'll be left out."
Paul Fromont

So it begins....

We met with the pastor of the church we attend last night and resigned from being paid staff. This has been a long time coming for us. Much prayer and thought has gone into our decision. God is leading us in a different direction. An almost opposite direction if the truth be known. We won't be leaving the church totally right now though (For those of you that are worried about that). There are to many people we love and are journeying with to quit gathering with them. But, I believe we will be more authentic and effective under the radar, and without the obligations and expectations that weighs on paid staff.

So, the dream officially dies. We moved to Highland for me to finish my music degree and become a paid worship leader. My, how a couple of years can change your life. God has been rewiring our thought processes about church, discipleship, spirituality etc. for awhile, and to be honest, its been painful.

To be honest, there is some uncertainty involved in our decision. People wonder what we are going to do when we leave the IC. We really can't give them a satisfactory answer....follow God? Meet with other people that love God too? They answer, "Oh..." with a look in their face that portrays they think we are crazy. And to those who have no clue what we are talking about, we are...

Super Size Me

I've been on a few health food kicks in my life. I've read books, and we've tried to eat healthy, usually lasts a couple of months. Last night we watched "Super Size Me." If you haven't seen it, you need to. It's about a guy who decides to eat nothing but McDonald's for a whole month to see what it does to his body. He has to eat everything on the menu at least once, and every time he is asked if he wants to Supersize, he does. (Especially check out the bonus french fry test. 5 weeks in a jar and the fries don't even grow mold! What the hell are they made of!)

Prior to the experiment all the tests show that he is extremely healthy. Needless to say the diet has some seriously adverse effects.... But there is a good message contained in this movie about the power of advertising, corporate and individual responsibility, and greed.

One of the scariest scenes is when the guy is showing school children pictures of people to see if they recognize them. All of the them know who Ronald McDonald is, and get excited seeing him. He then starts showing them a picture hidden from us and none of the kids know who this guy is....he turns the picture around to reveal a picture of Jesus. Yea, yea, I know what you are going to say, but the branding of our kids is happening...

• The average child sees 10,000 TV advertisements per year
• McDonald's distributes more toys per year than Toys-R-Us
• Before most children can speak they can recognize McDonald's
• McDonald's represents 43% of total U.S. fast food market
  

I believe in holistic Christianity. Every part of my life matters. So, where does what we eat fit in to our theology? Should it? Does my diet effect my relationship with God and others?

The movie makes a good point that it is socially acceptable to berate people about smoking. It's unhealthy, it effects others.... But, isn't that true for most of our diets too? Especially, when in the coming few years obesity will be the number one fatal disease that is preventable...

What if part of our alternative Christian lifestyle had to do with treating our bodies well in this fast food culture?

1Co 6:12 Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims.
1Co 6:13 You know the old saying, "First you eat to live, and then you live to eat"? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that's no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body!
1Co 6:14 God honored the Master's body by raising it from the grave. He'll treat yours with the same resurrection power.
1Co 6:19 Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you.
1Co 6:20 God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.
(The Message)

School's out for summer! In the immortal words of Alice Cooper. I have one first aid class to take to earn a bogus credit, then I am an official graduate of Greenville College. Now I have to look for a job and/or figure out if I am going for some more school....decisions, decisions.....

We had a bonfire out at a friends house last night, and we're goint to the HS football game with them tonight. Will be starting a poker night soon....