This Sunday, CSF's Catalyst Community is gathering to dream and plan for the fall kick-off at UIS and LLCC....I'm so excited to hear what God's been putting on peoples hearts, and already have been hearing about how several who have been in different parts of the WORLD this summer have all been hearing the same things from God in regards to UIS!!

So, in addition to getting some spiritual focus, planning some great events, and eating lots of food, we are preparing for both the singing and the playing of this.

remembering...

Neighborhood kid: "I have to be home at 11:30"

Todd: "You want me to remember that for you?"

Neighborhood kid: "Yeah"

Me: "Todd, you want me to remember that for you?"

Todd: "Yeah"

Sophia's Birthday

Okay, I promise not to go overboard with posting videos here, but yesterday was Sophia's 6th birthday, and she had a Suzuki Violin Concert at the Christian Women's Club in Springfield. She's in the flowered dress...for those of you not familiar with violin, one important thing to notice is that her bow is going the same way as the other kids....she told me before the performance that she didn't want to play the violin anymore, but today she's decided she'll play just until she's 7.

So I just realized that I could use You Tube to put videos on here....something I had wanted to do when some of the Moore grandchildren had a near-death experience with a tornado warning, while waiting in the scary basement....so this is a test.....


It seems to have trouble keeping the sound and the picture together....hmmmmm

A sophia moment

I had a great Sophia moment that I want to try to hang on to....She and I were alone in the swimming pool, and I decided to try to sit on top of the innertube...which is not an easy task.

After a few tries I thought I had it...when suddenly I flipped completely over backwards. When I came out of the water I heard the sweetest, purest, most joyful laugh from Sophia...I don't really know how to adequately describe it....but it just made me think that I'd like to do more things with her just to hear that laugh and see the look on her face when she's laughing like that.

Death by Suburbs

How do you know that you are being poisoned by your environment? Maybe when you make yourself believe you need a new 32" HD flat screen tv.....after all, the hand-me-down big screen projection tv we had is busted....and we can't watch the Steelers play on the 19 inch tv we have upstairs....it's a ministry tool - we watch Beth Moore videos on it.....

But then we got this thing home and every time I walked by it, I felt stupid.

Stupid because we spent so much money on a tv - even with the bargain hunting and comparison shopping, it was alot of money. Stupid because for the amount of money we spent, the sound and the picture quality were pretty disappointing. Stupid because we've got a car with 175,000 miles on it and can't figure out how we'll afford to replace it one day....yet we have this monsterous tv. Stupid because it represents our mixed up priorities.

So, the tv is going back. They told us we've got 30 days to change our minds and we did.

And then I read this article in Christianity Today and wondered how we can keep ourselves from being influenced by our environment? The author suggests that we don't need to do anything too extreme, and that we can learn to "be in the world, but not of the world", but I'm wondering, what if your tv causes you to stumble? Take it back! What if your neighbors make you think you need to drive a newer/bigger/nicer car? Maybe we should get new neighbors? Maybe....I don't know the answer....but I thought they were good questions our family probably needs to be asking...

Catalyst

Is anyone else planning to go to the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta this October?