New Toys

As I have been reading other blogs, I see some of the cool things that they have. I think, "I would be so much cooler if I added something like that to my blog." Most of the time I have no clue about how to add these cool things which is why I pretty much remain uncool. But I was playing around last night and added a counter and a visitor locator. You can make me appear to be an internationally known writer by e-mailing all of your friends around the world and asking them to stop by and visit for a few moments.

I toyed with the idea of the Bush days in office countdown widget, but decided against anything that might be offensive to some. I don't want for anybody to feel unwelcome. After all, I did vote for the guy...once!

I'll continue to visit other sites with my usual blog envy and dream of the day when I can be as cool as David Stone, John Carr and all of my other blogging heroes!

John

Just for Fun

A special post for my friends that drop by from Numeric Life:

I wanted to share a fun site with you today. Grab a paper and pencil and then go to this site. Just click on the guy in the corner to move to the next screen as you follow his directions.

If you figure out this simple math trick, you'll find it to be a fun effect to use on your friends and family. Remember, the magic is in the presentation--not the effect, so ham it up! Put on your best mind-reading/concentration look before revealing the answer.

Enjoy,
John

To Boldly Go...

The deed is done. A new adventure is beginning. Today we dropped Aaron off at Columbia College, in Columbia MO, where he will pursue a degree in Forensic Science. He actually checked into his dorm Wednesday evening. We stayed at a nearby hotel and rejoined him today to buy books, check out the campus, have lunch and then watch a brief but interesting history of the college and witness a Columbia College tradition of issuing a pin to the freshman class that recognizes the commitment that the student and the college are making to each other. It was then time to say good-bye and let the students get to know each other. I'm sure that the next few days will be very exciting for Aaron, his roommate Doug, and all of the other new students at Columbia College as well as the new students just a mile or so away at the University of Missouri.

Aaron has already hooked up with a senior named Mark (a Cardinal fan) that invited him to a Thursday night volleyball/bible study on the Mizzu campus. They went there tonight after the days events and Aaron said that he will plan on joining them for church on Sunday.

Aaron's girlfriend, Jenny, accompanied us on this trip to see Aaron off. She rode up with Aaron and helped him get checked in, and then we joined them a little later in the evening. We brought her home today and she will leave for Chicago's Illinois Institute of Technology tomorrow to pursue her Engineering Degree. Both Aaron and Jenny received full scholarships from their respective colleges. We will see them again over the Labor Day Weekend. Aaron and I have tickets to one more Cardinal game--the last home game of the season. With only one exception, we've been to the last home game of the season for about ten years now. I hope that it is a father/son tradition that we can keep up for many years to come.

John

Completely at Random

Just some random notes:

I've realized that the calendar link is not working and will try to fix it soon or go back to posting coming events. For now you'll have to link to my web page and use the calendar link there.

If you noticed Bilbo on the recent reader's section, you'll want to note that I've added his blog to the "Blogs I Frequent" section as well. I think that I'd like this guy. I tend to enjoy and agree with much of what he posts. Although he is a few years older and at a different life stage, it would seem that we have grown up with the same ideals and similar beliefs about right, wrong, social etiquette, work ethics, common sense and the like. Give him a read from time to time and let me know what you think.

Also you are invite to sign in on the recent readers. If you blog, I'd enjoy dropping by.

Aaron is off to college in just a couple of days! It will be a different environment around here for sure. Keep him in your prayers!

How about those Cardinals? Just when you want to write them off for the season, they go and give you a glimmer of hope. Kind of the opposite of what Cub fans experience every year! Not to worry Cub fans, at least you have hope at some time during the season. Imagine what it would be like to be a Royals fan.

Working on a couple of new magic effects. I used Daryl's "3fly 3" for the first time the other night. Got some interesting reactions/looks too. I'll keep working on it. Also working on the effect "Torn," a torn and restored card effect.

We're still trying to work out a deal on the house/hospital purchase (but that's a whole 'nother blog).

Retirement eligible in 4 yrs, 4 mos, 23 days!

John

Another One Bites the Dust

Tomorrow morning will find me preaching at a country church that suddenly finds itself without a pastor. I don't know much about the circumstances that surround the pastoral resignation but I do know that it happens (for whatever reasons) far too often. I spent a few minutes looking through a very disorganized room for a booklet written by a fellow evangelist. In it (I believe) is the staggering statistic that 1300 pastors leave the ministry every month in the United States.

You can't help but wonder, "Why?"

I'm sure that the reasons are varied. No doubt, some of the reasons are quite similar. But for the church that finds itself without a pastor, the real question is, "What now?"

Tomorrow morning, I want to offer them some encouragement. I want to remind them that the "Church" isn't the building they meet in; it isn't about the clergy or lay leaders of their fellowship; they are the "Church." And the purpose of the "Church" goes on in spite of the vacancy in their pulpit.

There is a great story that takes place towards the end of John's Gospel. It is after Jesus has been crucified and His followers now find themselves without their Teacher. They are confused about everything that they have learned over the past three years and they don't know what to do. Peter pipes up and says, "I'm going fishing. Anybody going with me?" And so it is that several of them end up fishing throughout the night. In the morning, the resurrected Jesus appears on the shore and calls out to them. He asks if they've caught anything and then tells them to try the other side of the boat. It isn't until after the huge catch that they recognize that this is Jesus.

The conversation that follows is the one that Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. Three times Jesus asks the question. Three times Peter answers yes. In the end, Jesus says to Peter, "Follow me."

There are a three things that strike me about this story. The first is this: You can't go back to the place you were before your encounter with Jesus. Peter was a fisherman. When he didn't know what to do next, he retreated to his comfort zone, to what he did know. He went back to fishing. C. S. Lewis once said that God is unscrupulous in His pursuit of us. Like with Peter, He will hunt you down and remind you of your calling.

The second is this: The calling hasn't changed. If you look at when Jesus first called Peter out of his fishing boat, the call was..."Follow me." Three years later Jesus uses these same words, "Follow me."

This story continues with Peter questioning Jesus about one of the other disciples. Jesus tells Peter that he should only concern himself with his own responsibilities. I guess we can easily look around and ask, "Well, what about so and so?" Or we can make the excuse, "If so and so hadn't left..."

And that brings us to the third thing: We should only concern ourselves with our relationship and our calling to serve our Lord and Savior. I think that Jesus would would answer us in much the same way that He answered Peter. "What concern is it of yours how I deal with so and so. You follow me."

Since it is late on Saturday night as I finish this post, I doubt that anyone will read it before you make your way to church on Sunday morning. But I will encourage you just the same--the first chance you get, hug your pastor, tell them how much you appreciate them and offer them some words of encouragement. And then, go out and be as Jesus-like as you can be! It will be the best encouragement of all.

John

Lost and Found

I have found that this blog has served an unusual purpose. I received an interesting e-mail from the "Land Down Under." An individual that was looking for an old classmate did a "google" search on his name. As it turns out, he is a friend of mine and I have mentioned his name in a previous post. I don't know how many pages the person looked through, but there was eventually a link to this blog. The e-mail gave me a little more information and I knew that they were talking about the same person. I've made the contact , forwarded the e-mail, sent a response, and put two old friends back in touch!

So of course, it got me wondering. Now John Hill is a pretty common name. An image search for John Hill says that there are 9 MILLION+ images. I looked at page after page figuring that I would stop at 500 images. An there on the 25th page, the last page that I would look at, was an image of yours truly...and it wasn't from my blog/site! It was from Joseph's Closet!

I looked at 100 images for "John Hill, magician" and didn't find one, but under "John Hill, evangelist" it was the third image displayed! (again from Joseph's Closet) So why don't you take a few moments to "google" your name. Feel free to post your findings here. You may find yourself, or maybe an old friend.

John

Blogging by Proxy

Today's post comes by way of response to a friends blog. I hope that you will read this post and my response.

John

New Stuff

You may have noticed a couple of subtle additions to this page. In the right column there is now a link to my new web page. It's still being worked on. For now, it looks a lot like this page. But that's only because I've been using this as a substitute web page as well as a place to rant. Check it out and feel free to comment.

I've also added a place for you to leave your name as a reader. Please sign in and say, "Hi."

Under "Blogs I Frequent" I've added My friend Rich. Rich is our slightly strange, fun loving Worship Leader at Hopedale Baptist. His blog is generally entertaining, sometimes thought provoking and always fun. You won't have to read very far to understand the "slightly strange" description.

I do hope that you have taken the time to check out my favorite blogs. Some of them may become your favorites as well. If it turns out that you like any of them and book mark a site for yourself, let me know. I read The Main Bang and Numeric Life daily. The others listed post about as often as I do.

Although I haven't worked on the "Links" part of my web page yet, I think that I'm going to include a link to a young magician's site that I met a couple of years ago in St. Louis. His name is Todd Duff and he has been earning a name for himself in his area. I'm sure that you will enjoy his page and the videos of his performances. I wish that I could make it to his newest project debut in Paducah on the 17th. The best I can do for him is to wish him all the best!

Enjoy,
John

The Dog Days of Summer

It's August and it's hot in the midwest (and most other areas of the country). These days at the beginning of August have been called the "Dog Days of Summer." Try asking several people why they are called the "dog days" or even when the "dog days" are and you will get varying answers that are most often preceded by the disclaimer, "I'm not really sure but I've heard that..."

Alpha Canis Major is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (or The Big Dog). The common name for this star is Sirius and it is often called the "dog star." You may recall that the symbol for Sirius satellite radio is a dog with a star for it's eye.

Anyways the star Sirius has just come out from behind the sun and is the last star visible in the morning sky during the first week of August. Incidently, the name Sirius is Greek for burning or scorching. As with all stars and constellations, it will continue to rise about four minutes earlier every day and will soon be burning brightly in the early morning sky. See Sidereal day to understand the four minute difference between a sidereal day and a solar day.

I should mention that Sirius is also the brightest star to the planet earth (excluding our own sun, of course!)

Have fun with this one the next time you hear that "dog days" phrase. You may even have to throw it out there yourself. But have fun anyways.

John

Class dismissed.

A Day to Remember

August 3rd, 1981.

The day that PATCO, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization went on strike.

Here and here are a couple of posts that are good reading. If you read the comments that are associated with the posts, be warned: my brothers and sisters are very passionate about their careers and often express themselves with language that you wouldn't use in church! The video clip with the second article is a stark reminder that things are more the same today than they are different, and any difference is worse than it was twenty-six years ago.

Here is another article from an independent travel site that may make you write to your Congressman or reconsider your travel plans.

John
Four years, five months, three days.