Jay Fuller’s Blog

Yesterday stunk… April 25, 2008

If I was Chandler Bing, I’d say something like “Could yesterday have BEEN any worse?”  Well, I guess it could have, but it was a pretty bad day, with the exception of the morning, which was o.k.  On my way home, I stopped by the auto parts store to buy a spark plug for my lawnmower.  I picked up my wallet to get my debit card out and it wasn’t there.  Not very unusual, because I’ll often just put it in my pocket after using it.  But then I felt my pocket and it wasn’t there.  Upon further investigation in my wallet, I noticed my OTHER debit card wasn’t there, either.  Beginning to panic, I looked on the other side of my wallet and noticed that neither of my credit cards were in there.  Now in a MAJOR panic, I drove home quickly (trying to obey all posted speed limit laws) and began the process of calling the banks and the credit card companies to cancel the cards.  Thankfully, there wasn’t any activity on any of the cards as of yesterday, so it looks like we may have dodged a bullet.  Not a good experience, you know?  What is it about me and banking problems?  I know that Dave Ramsey has been urging me to get rid of my credit cards, but I don’t think this is what he had in mind.

In other news, really looking forward to our guest speaker Sunday night.  Typically, I don’t announce when we have a guest speaker, because it always does something weird to attendance, and we don’t really need that right now.  But this Sunday night is a special deal, and I know you’ll regret it big time if you miss it.  I’ve enjoyed taking a week off from preparing a message, but it’s been a busy week with other ministry stuff. 

Really looking forward to tomorrow-Tracey and I have a lunch date, and when I say “lunch date” I mean about 4 hours without our kids (they’ll be at a birthday party).  Can’t remember the last time this happened, so you can bet that we’ll be out of the house as soon as the kids get picked up!  Headed to lunch and a little shopping, but mostly just spending time together.  Good stuff.

Yesterday stunk, but things are beginning to improve…

Brutal… April 24, 2008

Tonight’s “American Idol” could go down in history as the most brutal episode ever!  Carly goes home, and Brooke stays???  What???  Are you kidding me???  Brooke has been on the verge of having a nervous breakdown for two straight weeks now, and she butchered that song last night.  I think it’s a conspiracy.  Carly is Scottish (so people didn’t want her to be the AMERICAN idol) and she sang “Jesus Christ Superstar” which really doesn’t qualify as a “Christian” song, but it had to bring some anti-Christian backlash.  I really don’t want to watch this show anymore, but I guess I have to watch next week to see if Brooke completely falls apart on stage.  Brutal. 

Questions without answers… April 23, 2008

I love trying to answer questions, especially when they come from my kids.  Today, I was driving home with Megan and Trey.  We were talking about cars and how fast they can go when Megan asked me this question, “How come cars are made to go 120 mph when no one is allowed to drive that fast?”  In other words, “Why have 120 mph on the speedometer when you can’t go that fast?”  I really couldn’t answer the question!  In fact, I’d like to know the answer to that question!  I mean, I’m not going to be on the German autobahn anytime soon, although I might have to drive up GA 400, which is kind of the same thing.  Why don’t the car makers just put a limit of 80 or something?  Why 80?  Well, you might have to go that fast when you’re needing to get to the hospital or the airport or Publix before it closes.  Eliminating 40 mph on the speedometer would save room on the display, too.   Maybe it would make the vehicle less expensive.  It would also eliminate the desire we have to “push the limits” of our vehicle.  If you knew you could only go 80, where’s the fun in that?  So, anybody know the answer to this question?

Bible Journey continues… April 23, 2008

Finished the journey through Joshua last week.  Not much to post on the end of the chapter which was mostly composed of the distribution of the land.  Joshua’s charge to the nation of Israel, found in chapters 22-24 was very inspiring.  Still trying to figure out the “half-tribe of Manasseh” though.  Love this quote towards the end of the chapter,

“So now: Fear God.  Worship him in total commitment.  Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped on the far side of The River (the Euphrates) and in Egypt.  You, worship God.  If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve-and do it today.  Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living.  As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.”  The people answered, “We’d NEVER forsake God!  Never!  We’d never leave God to worship other gods!”  Right.

Couple of things that got my attention in these verses.  Joshua is confrontational (in a loving way) about the option to worship other gods.  He also give them several options.  He brings up the gods of the Amorites as an option and then slips in the “oh, by the way, remember that you currently occupy the land of the Amorites, so I’m guessing that their gods weren’t very effective, were they?” reference.  Sarcasm is a spiritual gift, right?

I’ll soon post on my thoughts from Matthew, which is the next book in my daily reading plan. 

Fasting April 21, 2008

Spoke yesterday on the subject of fasting, one of the most misunderstood spiritual disciplines in the Bible.  Long message-51 minutes according to one source!  Wow!  Didn’t know I had that in me!  Anyway, I challenged our church to fast for at least one meal this week (or more if they feel so led).  Tracey and I fasted for lunch today.  Each of us spent that time praying and reading the Bible, alternating so that the other one could keep up with the kids and stuff.  Enjoyed the time, didn’t really miss the “not eating” part.  I’m sure that both of us will do this again during the week.

In other news, I just wanted to thank all of the people who volunteer every week at JP.  You all do an amazing job, week in and week out!  Thanks to all for everything that you do to make JP happen!

Saturday in the park (not the 4th of July) April 20, 2008

Great weather today as the Fuller family left the house this morning and went in four different directions.  Megan went to Cheesecake Factory and Perimeter Mall with the teenagers and Tiffany and Crystal.  Trey went to a birthday party at Ci Ci’s pizza-after the party they went to the park on Mt. Carmel and played football with some kids from another party.  Tracey went out to eat, shop and hang out with a friend from church.  I ran some errands, did some yard work, studied for tomorrow’s talk and packed up all my winter clothes and got out all my summer stuff.  It’s a yearly ritual. 

Can’t wait for tomorrow’s service-I’m really psyched up about this talk as we continue the “Fit 4 the Journey” series, looking at the “in favor with God” part.  Hard to imagine Jesus growing in favor with God, but that’s exactly what happened.  The topic tomorrow night is one of the scariest, most intimidating spiritual disciplines around.  Can’t wait to dig into it!

Gotta go-we’re having a family “Sequence” tournament in a few minutes, and then it’s off to bed.

C-ya!

Dumb stuff… April 17, 2008

I have been doing a lot of dumb stuff recently.  Last night, at about 11:00, I changed a light bulb in the lamb beside our bed.  Instead of walking the seven steps to the trash can on the other side of the room, I did the carefully calculated underhand toss of the bulb towards the trash can, which probably took longer than just walking it over.  Of course, I miscalculated, and the light bulb hit the corner of the dresser and shattered.  It was like one of those slow motion moments-you knew something bad was about to happen, but were powerless to stop it.  So I was vacumming up little shards of glass last night at 11:00.  Dumb.

Today, I was in my office and had the urge to throw away an old CD.  Instead of simply tossing it in the trash can, I glanced over at my paper shredder.  I figured that if it could shred a credit card, it could shred a CD.  Well, it shredded half of it, then it got stuck in the shredder.  So I had to hit the “reverse” button and back that thing out.  It came out, but now my “auto” feature on the shredder is messed up, which means instead of simply putting a piece of paper in it and having it “automatically” shred it, I’ve got to hit the “forward” button, put the paper in and then turn it off.  It just takes the convenience out of it.

For lunch today I had a Healthy Choice dinner (Salisbury Steak) and a lemonade to drink (because it’s good for my kidneys, says the doctor).  As I type this, I’m about half way through a big bag of Chester’s Puffcorn Butter Flavored) , which I think cancels out the effectiveness of the Healthy Choice dinner.  I had actually bought the bag of Puffcorn at Publix because the kids needed it for snack tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure this bag won’t see the light of day tomorrow.

Dumb stuff.

Where to find it… April 17, 2008

For some reason, the link to the “Stuff Christians Like” blog won’t work.  So, to check this site out, go to http://stuffchristianslike.blogspot.com.  You’ll have to type this in your internet explorer thing.  If that doesn’t work, try typing it in without the “http” thing.  It’s an ongoing list of things that Christians can identify with, from “breaking up after a retreat” to “Chick-fil-A” to “horrible places to hold a youth retreat”.  It’s great content and it makes me laugh out loud.  Not many things make me do that.  Enjoy…

Bible Journey – Day 106 April 17, 2008

Joshua 16-18

• Reading through these chapters on the division of the land (not the most exciting stuff, you know) but when I came across the Zelophehad, who was the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh (who had no sons, only daughters) I noticed that one of his daughter’s names was Noah.  Why would a parent in Biblical times name a girl “Noah”?  I mean, Noah was NOAH, right?  Even though this Noah was a girl, wouldn’t she have difficulty going through life being compared to the other Noah?
• Joshua had to deal with a tribe of people who weren’t satisfied with their land alotment.  He gave them some hill country and told them to clear the trees.  I’m sensing that they weren’t happy with that, but once they cut the trees down, they had lumber, paper and firewood.  That should have been enough, right?
• There were still seven tribes who had not yet received their inheritance.  Joshua appointed a committee (bad idea, Josh) and instructed them to divide up the rest of the land.  This process took 7,000 years to complete.  I don’t know that for sure-it’s just a guess.  Actually, it was probably more like 8,000 years, because “seven” is a holy number, and committees are not holy.

Bible Journey – Day 104 April 16, 2008

Joshua 13-15

• Joshua reached retirement age, and God told him that there was still much to do.  He probably wasn’t talking about his investment portfolio, was he?  By the way, last week when Trey and I were playing golf on the real golf course, he missed a putt and said “Portfolio!” I asked him where he had heard that and he said “I don’t know, I just heard it somewhere.”  I guess he has been listening to my Dave Ramsey CD’s when I’m not around.
• Maybe I missed it, but I can’t figure out why Manasseh is two “half-tribes”.  Can someone help me?
• Can you imagine how long it took to show all of the tribes the land that they were going to get?  I can’t help but picture Joshua and the leaders of each tribe riding out in little golf carts (or a tour bus) to scope out the land. 
• Caleb got a bunch of good stuff, because he was one of the two spies who came back from the recon mission and said “Let’s take the land!”
• “The people of Judah couldn’t get rid of the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem.  The Jebusites stayed put, living alongside the people of Judah.”  Is that like a distant relative who comes to visit and stays about three days too long?