Jesus Planet

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80557663221527678622011-04-21T18:46:49.362-04:00Jesus PlanetShanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-77204322211705599842008-11-02T19:45:00.001-05:002008-11-02T21:43:15.330-05:00Rice and Beans: Recipes

It has begun. After a nice breakfast this morning of eggs, ham and scones lovingly prepared by sweet Ann, I've shifted to eating only rice and beans. Several Commonway folks are also eating rice and beans. Maybe you are. Maybe you're wondering how to prepare them. This is the place to post some recipes that work for you. Just go to comments and drop in your favorites. If your favorite bean recipe

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-66305451457385413162008-10-27T08:27:00.000-04:002008-11-02T19:40:21.721-05:00a little bit of rice and beans

Personally, I love to eat. I wouldn't say I'm grossly overweight, but my enjoyment of a variety of foods in sometimes less-than-moderate quantities does adversely affect my ability to be svelte. In that regard I'm probably like many Americans. And unlike many people around the planet who hardly get enough food to rebuild or replace their current cells. And for variety? Well, for many there's very

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-6347242977773115052008-10-08T22:02:00.000-04:002008-10-08T23:18:21.315-04:00John Adams: What a Man

Ann and I are nearing the conclusion of part seven of HBO's John Adams. You know that feeling of impending sadness as you near the end of a really good book? I'm feeling it big time. What a fascinating story. What an amazing man. The fear John Adams expresses repeatedly in this film has certainly been proved true in my life. the icons of the Revolution in my mind have always been Washington,

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-85484787479127309532008-09-24T10:58:00.000-04:002008-09-24T11:30:08.825-04:00Guest post from my brother, Joel

My Dad, my hero. . .. Joel Bennett, Ridin' Shotgun, http://ridinshotgun.blogspot.com/Dad passed away last night. He heroically battled cancer for over a year. Now my dad is a Christian so I have full confidence that I'll see him again in heaven.And if you'll indulge me, I want to share a few memories...this is for me...feel free to read or not.My dad always provided for our needs...not always our

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-69652402665330610002008-08-24T22:06:00.000-04:002008-08-24T22:48:55.339-04:00And then some. . .

I was challenged at church today. Our pastor spoke about how to do well at your job and enjoy it at the same time. Along the way (I say "along the way" because I really don't remember the context!) he said that three words make the difference between just getting by with our work and really knocking it out of the park: And then some. Most workers do what it takes. Excellent workers do what it

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-4546388675020733132008-08-07T22:07:00.000-04:002008-08-07T22:23:26.067-04:00Yeah, well, I've got a wish. . .

We celebrated Ann's 12th birthday this evening with friends, presents, and cake. At a lull in the action, I posed a question, "Got any birthday wishes? Any wishes for your twelfth year?"Check out the video (low bandwidth folks read below): Anna says she has no wishes. Well, I have a wish for her: My dear, never grow older than twelve.

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-47699279900753108912008-08-03T22:50:00.000-04:002008-08-03T23:05:01.294-04:00Ladderball

We tried out a new game during our recent staff day at the lake: Ladderball. You may know it as Hillbilly Golf or an even less flattering moniker. Since it was pretty fun and I'd found a bag of old golf balls left by the previous owners of our house, I thought it would be fun to make one today. A quick trip to Lowes, just under $20, two hours of time and we're playing ladderball in our front yard

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-43887897500843506252008-08-02T20:23:00.000-04:002008-08-03T22:47:42.033-04:00Queen of Jumping

Once a year our pastor opens his lake cottage to the staff for a big time party day. God smiled on the event with gorgeous weather. The water was fine, the fellowship warm, and the enjoyment the kids had was worth the price of admission. Abigail, who's six, demonstrated admirable bravery and jumped off the top level of the dock. The twelve foot plunge was scarier for me than I like to admit the

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-57623468835934607322008-07-27T23:12:00.000-04:002008-07-27T23:34:33.573-04:00Sermon hat trick

I heard three sermons today. So, as you might imagine, I’m feeling pretty holy.This wasn't one of the three preachers I heard today, but it is cool that he has two microphones!Pastor Matt and I took our interns to a Lutheran church as part of our effort to introduce them to different styles of following Jesus. That service, which featured real, but nasty, wine, ended just after nine am. This gave

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-87634020008476777832008-07-18T22:39:00.000-04:002008-07-18T23:48:27.013-04:00Looking for God's Kingdom in Louisville

I’m writing this afternoon from Louisville, KY. The family is on a bit of a pilgrimage with some friends to sit in on two meetings with evangelist Todd Bentley. We’re in line right now at 3.30 pm, waiting for the doors to open at 5.30. Both the temperature and the humidity are right around 100, and I’m wondering if I’m nuts. In spite of the heat, people are singing, crying and praying for the

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-34439040106391493502008-07-10T23:25:00.000-04:002008-07-10T23:46:26.537-04:00Yurt Snoozin'

I’m blogging tonight from the yurt. I’d rather be sleeping right now, but two things are keeping me from it: 1. How often do you get the chance to say you’re blogging from a yurt? And 2. My yurt-mates, Emily, Alia, and Abigail are still in chat and chuckle mode. (This is fake sleeping below!)We’re hanging in the yurt tonight because ten of our friends are in Kazakhstan and we want to remember

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-90118387124438449822008-06-30T23:40:00.000-04:002008-07-02T21:17:28.399-04:00Punch the button, not the attendant

My friend Matt and I were on our way to breakfast recently. Matt's claim to fame is that he nearly died on a Tibetan mountain pass when his car broke down one time. He, his wife and son were saved by the thoughtful actions of their driver. He pointed the disabled car toward the fading sunlight and, using the hood, redirected sufficient rays to thaw the frozen line. Matt has other claims to fame,

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-87730239960870012212008-06-30T23:07:00.000-04:002008-06-30T23:27:59.656-04:00I love orange shirts

I recently attended a conference at Wheaton College. I'd been to the school before, but didn't really know where anything was. My friend Matt and I parked within a dozen yards of a banner denoting our conference. But it turned out that was mostly a good place to hang a banner, not really the main place where the meeting was being held.As we walked up toward the banner we were met by a couple

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-53902662797486662312008-06-26T11:00:00.000-04:002008-06-26T11:00:47.049-04:00Lessons in Influence from the Book of Esther

Last Saturday I had a cool opportunity to sit with a few others, listening to our senior pastor Gregg Parris talk about what it means to be a leader. He spoke briefly about some of his success as a leader. He also spoke in depth about several of his devastating failures. I’ll blog some of those stories in coming days.*Drawing from the book of Esther in the Bible, Gregg presented us with eight

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-85087969382450449882008-06-24T22:55:00.000-04:002008-06-24T23:00:02.212-04:00Grateful for God's provision

Here’s something I’m thankful for today: Food. Yummy food in ample quantity. Many people around the world do not have ample food, tasty or otherwise. If there’s food to buy, they lay awake at night wondering how they’ll afford to get it for their kids. Other people can’t enjoy food right now like my friend who struggles with anorexia and my dad who finds little or no appeal in food as he battles

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-11422328881648360722008-06-19T22:58:00.000-04:002008-06-19T23:10:47.504-04:00Come on baby light my fire. . .

Ann and I added a new house rehab skill to our toolbox tonight. We installed a flexible gas line from the propane tap in the basement up, down, around and through the floor to a gas stove.I don’t know about you, but Ann way prefers cooking with gas. Switching from electric will make her happy, which in turn makes the rest of us happy! My Dad should be happy to know that we used pipe dope instead

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-76509675637938997522008-06-16T09:21:00.000-04:002008-06-16T09:21:00.915-04:00Un-cool car in a cool place

I got off the plane feeling pretty cool with life: Got car reserved, a cheap hotel room waiting, and a presumably nice drive in the morning through a part of the US I’d never visited. Like a good vibe black hole, the rental car agent sucked all that joy away in a moment.“We’re out of compacts, so I’m putting you in a Town and Country.” Somehow, my mind heard that as a bigger, nicer car than what

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-42772176566724238082008-06-13T17:46:00.000-04:002008-06-14T01:26:09.606-04:00Teaching that works for adults

I participated in a helpful workshop yesterday about dialogue education based on the ideas of an apparently very bright woman named Jane Vella. I want to learn more and more how to help people capture and apply valuable information. A good sermon still packs a punch, a powerful speech builds vision, inspires passion and catalyzes action, and well written articles (and blogs?) extend the range of

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-31673577562743649582008-06-12T23:40:00.000-04:002008-06-12T23:40:08.119-04:00Link Chat: Will You Be My Buffalo?

I had a chance recently to talk to forty or fifty kids at our church. I don’t often talk to kids other than my own, so I was a bit nervous. I felt some pressure to be cool, but not to look like I felt pressure to be cool or was in any way responding to that sort of pressure. So I wore a decidedly dopey seer sucker shirt and sandals. I doubt any of the kids thought as I walked forward, “Wow, that’

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-6597974661368177982008-06-09T09:19:00.000-04:002008-06-09T09:19:04.223-04:00Another candidate for "God's country"

Sometimes it’s hard to believe I get to do this job. I’m writing this post from a ferry in the Puget Sound, going from a Perspectives class last night to my final Perspectives class of the spring tonight.This part of the U.S. is unbelievable. I'm a hazard driving around, my head swinging back and forth as I try to drink in all the beauty. I can’t figure out why we don’t all live here. Sure it’s

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-79599999649479214432008-06-08T14:45:00.000-04:002008-06-08T18:00:21.782-04:00Poor turtles

On the way to church today we passed two dead turtles about fifty yards apart, run over and lying on the shoulder of the road. Not cuff link sized pets that you might see in a small fishbowl, these were hub cap size snappers.This isn't one of the turtles we saw. This lucky snapper made it across the road!How do you hit a turtle driving in your car? The second turtle I can understand. It got run

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8055766322152767862.post-22256574219968127132008-06-06T14:16:00.000-04:002008-06-06T14:18:46.269-04:00Big Time Fun this Summer

The coming summer promises to hold some fun and productive times for our family. Today was the first full day of summer school break for the kids and Ann. It was a little bumpy, resulting in the following challenge from the Mom and teacher: “Tomorrow will see improved behavior and a higher percentage of chores done or we go right back to school!”Should that not happen, the kids have some fun

Shanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12542390961995973981noreply@blogger.com1