http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way recent pleonast.com entries by user create_a_way en-us http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=598191 Hey everybody, I am asking a favor of you. I would like you to share a moment when someone encouraged you in a specia way...truly unforgettable. If you would be so kind, please share a moment when you were encouraged by somebody; what the situation was, what they did, and how it made you feel. Thanks! After it is all done, I will share with you why I am asking this of you. 2008-11-11 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=596617 If you want to see a glimpse of why I admire, trust, respect, get advice from, and love, my beautiful wife, check out her latest post. True to her Creator's design, she helps me...immensely! 2008-11-06 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=592049 Sigmund Freud is not someone I think I would hang out with were he and I peers. In fact, it seems that whenever I read something he said, wrote, or taught, I think to myself, "What??! Do people really believe this stuff???" However, there is one thing he said that is, as the Fonz would say, correctomundo. To paraphrase, he said that every human being has an inense need to be loved. He then said that no form of love even came close to meeting people's needs, except that which is found in the Bible. On that, me and Siggy can agree. Agape love was given new definition and standards when Jesus lived it for us on earth. I think one of the greatest challenges, and greatest exhilarations in life, is to model that Christ-oriented agape love in marriage. Saturday was my anniversary, and I am currently basking in the experiental joy of the interactive agape love. I love Heather dearly. If you want to see her post, and pictures of our wedding, go to her blog. Hey...why don't y... 2008-10-27 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=590009 Isn't it comforting, in the midst of American political anxiety and angst, to know that we are citizens of the Kingdom of Christ? Ahhh, let my heart sing because the laws of my kingdom will never change every 2-4 years. I find comfort in such consistancy. May my spirit rejoice in a security that is greater than Social Security. (These days, shouldn't it be called Social INsecurity?) And while the two main presidential candidates both have qualities that endear people to them, it doesn't get any better than my glorious King! In a change in thought, consider that in a country where the government exists by the the consent of the governed, let's use our collective responsibility to vote in a way that glorifies God. I have friends that are voting because they want socialized medicine, and others who are voting because tthey want tax cuts. I know that I have my own personal motivations for voting that are self-oriented. Let's deny ourself in this election and let's vote in a way t... 2008-10-21 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=589534 Sandee Smith was baptized into Christ yesterday! She is a convert who has had a rough year. Her twin brother died of a heart attack, her mom had a heart attack and almost died, and now has cancer that she is under chemotherapy for...her grandmother is struggling. (Sandee takes care of her mom and grandmother.) Then yesterday she told me that her sister's husband just had a heart attack in his sleep and died Thursday. The upside is that Sandee has been telling people about our congregation, and both her sister and her mom "have questions" for me. In some ways death is an expected by product of life, but in other ways it almost always is a heart-breaking surprise--always too soon. Different people experience a menagerie of emotions associated with death. My prayer is that God will be glorified in Sandee's family, and that all involved will be moved by the gospel in such a way as Sandee has. Please pray that the whole family will become Christians! 2008-10-20 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=588558 Hey everybody, check out this webpage. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2066207/posts What do you think about this? Can it really be, that we have a Presidential candidate who is REALLY not qualified to be President? All Obama has to do to squelch this is to provide his birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii, or at least say what hospital he was born in. I'm more than a little weirded out by this. What do you guys think??? If what his dad's family says is true, that he was born in Kenya, am I wrong in thinking that would negate his eligibility to be a candidate? The BIG question--If you were Obama, wouldn't you, like me, just produce the birth certificate??? 2008-10-17 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=587020 Meeting this weekend was a lot of fun! We had over 60 visitors between Friday and Saturday night, and without knowing the count, I would gues about the same throughout Sunday. Preached on: Biblical Manhood Marriage Responsibilities (for both the married and the single) Biblical Parenting The Need for Forgiveness The Power of Love SOOOOOOOO much fun! I just want to go for a walk through the neighborhood tonight with my beautiful wife and cute little girls. 2008-10-13 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=584759 If you are in Tampa this weekend, come on by to our gospel meeting! Details are at her blog. 2008-10-07 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=583091 Okay, she tagged me, so here goes. The following are eight things that I am pretty sure nobody knows about me. 1. Before I became a Christian at age 21, I used to be a dancer, a la MC Hammer. 2. I HATE pickles, but LOVE relish! 3. I was the first person in my high school to play varsity football and be in the fall musical at the same time. 4. Around homemade chocolate chip cookies, I am like a crackhead in a crackhouse. 5. Despite my conceptual acceptance and understanding of the grace and forgiveness God gives us, I still am sometimes plagued with guilt...even for things that may not be my fault. It can be quite burdensome. 6. The difference between how I know I should treat my wife, and how I actually treat her, is shameful. 7. I would rather hurt myself than hurt others. 8. As a non-Christian, with no church, no Bible, no encouragement whatsoever, facing ridicule from girls, my parents, friends, and my little brother(five years younger), I made it through high school witho... 2008-10-03 http://www.pleonast.com/user/create_a_way?l=5&entryID=582287 Last weekend was the father-daughter retreat. (www.FatherDaughterRetreat.com) Overall, I was overwhelmed by the response. I have been praying like crazy that God would do special things in the hearts of those in attendance, and I perceive that He answered my prayer. Now, because it was our first one, obviously there are areas I see that need improvement, or fine-tuning. However, I don't believe anything took away from the central purpose--to turn hearts of fathers and daughters more toward each other, in ways that glorify God. I am pretty swamped right now, so if you want to read more about it, go to my amazing wife's blog. We have some ideas on other things we will do in the future, and will update as they unfold. Last Sunday was a blast, as my first "official" Sunday. My first sermon was, "It's not my work, it's our work." My central text was Gen. 11:1-9, and how God observed that nothing is impossible when the people are united. Sunday evening, I preache... 2008-10-01