Life with Lonnie

Lessons from learning along the way....

2012-01-10T14:12:00.000-05:00

I was listening today to one of the Vista Cafe (c) segments from Incubator Creative Group. They started talking about John Wesley (one of my favorites!) and the reason people came to watch him was that he asked God to "Set him on fire" and people came to watch him burn. That moved to the "burning bush" which Moses encountered. At that point my mind begain thinking and here's what came next...
In my mind I moved ahead to Moses and the Children of Israel in the desert. The burning bush was where Moses got his call. The plan was to liberate the Hebrews and take them to the promised land. But it took 40 years for them to get there. Did it have to? Maybe, maybe not. (but is was based on their obedience and trust or lack of that) Then I began to make it personal.

Some of us feel like we've been wondering for 40 years in the "desert" waiting to get to where we are going to. (just had an 'ah ha!' at this point) The desert for the Children of Israel wasn't that they were not going anywhere, because God was testing them to see if they would be faithful. There's always a process, a kind of desert to go through. Incubator has an Application Process which can be confused for: "why did you drag us into the desert to die" feel. ;) But it really is a "testing" time of sorts. Amazingly biblical. So many of us (artists) think that we arrive at the promise land when we get to do our first concert or have enough of a following that we can record our first album/CD/professional digital audio recording or have an "official" tour. (I'm kind of running out of 'what would come next kind of stuff') Everyone wants to get to the Promised Land, not everyone wants to go through the desert of testing. It is in the desert that we learn patience and endurance. We learn to keep plodding and growing. We learn not to just stand and watch because the sands of time will just bury us there. We learn to trust and be obedient. We learn that what we've come through prepares us for what's ahead. We learn in the desert. We apply all of that learning in the Promised Land. What is your Promised Land? Are you trying to dodge the desert? Don't. Ask God to continue to lead you, just as He did when He took them by the hand and provided for them and prepared them for their destination.

Following a new path...

2011-11-16T22:51:00.001-05:00

Today I invested in the future of people I haven't met yet. I started down a road that I've never been on, to reach people who will be in need of the words and songs that I bring and sing. There are places where I've never traveled. I'll go because the hand of God wants to reach out to heal and restore them. There are churches that will need to remember they are the Bride of Christ. There is a wedding feast ahead and they need to be ready! There is a Groom (Christ) who they need to fall passionately in love with! The expression of their love, their "Living Expressions" need to be seen in the places where they live, work and shop. I know that God wants to use me for greater purposes than to change out magazines and books! LOL
That's why I began a journey to pursue a music ministry... emphasis on the ministry part. The Incubator Creative Group is a management company that helps "hatch" new music ministries. With a proven plan and track record, they help to shape the artist and the ministry. It is a process that begins with the discovery of the great gift that God has placed inside of us. It's in sharing that 'gift' of experiences, including failures and pain, with individuals and groups of people, that I'll develop a niche' of people that will want to partner with me. Just to clarify something... I'm really buying Incubators vision about music ministry. They are not about me creating music so that I can make a CD and book concerts, maybe sell a few t-shirts and posters. They are about using the music as a means of placing me where I can minister to/with people. The music is a business... small one at that(!), but the ministry is always free. I know someone is scratching their head about this. This isn't the Nashville model of the music business. This is a different model, that has at the heart, ministry that takes place with individuals not only after a concert, but between concerts, in various forms. My heart is not to write songs and perform them so that the world can say what a wonderful person I am. My heart is to write and share music that says how wonderful God is! My heart is to be transparent about where I've been and what I've been through, to encourage and begin to point others to where they can have hope and healing in Christ!
I know that not everyone will jump on board, and I'm just fine with that. But I know that there are people who have believed in what God has been doing in me far longer than I have believe it myself. You are the friends and family that will partner with me. I so look forward to what God will do in and through us together!

For His Glory alone... Lonnie

Memory lane and Apple along the way...

2011-10-12T05:05:00.000-04:00

As I started Junior High, the school added a computer lab. A thing called an Apple II computer captured my young imagination. (they also had "knock offs" we called "Black Apples" that we used...). To my vocabulary was added "diskette", "boot" and a game called "Parachute." Along with that came an infatuation with this technology. Before school started, and after it was over, you'd find me and a handful of kids, sitting and playing... some were actually programing. I started to write simple programs. I learned "IF / THEN" statements. Something like "RUN" and later "BRUN". It was new and exciting. As the tech grew we went from II to IIe and C... As I began high school I was introduced to a guy in a wheelchair. As I remember he was that way from a High School football accident. He had limited mobility and couldn't type with both hands, but by placing something on his hand, with a pencil in, it he would type. I was amazed at how this Apple computer could help him. I was at his house frequently and, at times, wondered if I wore out my welcome. Still, when he was willing I would come visit him and use his computer to play games and write programs. One of our favorite games was the "Eamon" text games. It was kind of like a pre Dungeons and Dragons thing. I laugh as I remember things from it like, "You've been attacked by a rabid rabbit!" Somehow a friend figured out how to make your character invincible by changing the programing... it came in handy when you were trying to beat something like a Minotaur! Moving in the game came from your responses to what the details of the room were... with no joystick, just text, basic questions and directions of N-E-W-S... you would find your way through the game. On those Apple computers we also played a Star Wars text game. As you were saving Princess Lea you would have to swing across from doorway to doorway (just like in the movie...). Because of the programing, it would have a "Random" chance to break the rope. When it happened you would read, "EGAD the rope broke!" Funny, when things would go bad you might occasionally hear me utter those words. Amazed at how I could sit and play for hours...
In High School we had computer class. The first day of class the teachers says, "If you have any questions ask Steve, Mike or Lonnie." Needless to say I was helping a lot during class and doing my work after school! The Apple computer was here and our lives were changing. As I graduated and went to college the Personal Computer (PC) was brought into the mainstream. About the same time Steve Jobs and Apple introduced the Macintosh, or Mac for short. It was about then that I began to think that Apple was about to disappear. Apple and Steve Jobs had decided that he didn't want "knock off" Mac's being sold. PC's, on the other hand, were made by IBM and others, which flooded the market with cheaper computers. As I remember, Apple's share was really dwindling. About the only place an Apple would be found was in Academia... and a few hardcore believers homes... I found a family that were hardcore Apple people... they allowed me to type a few papers for college with it... I vaguely remember having the paper nearly finished and then having it shutoff... Oh the thoughts I had about Apple... bad Apple... From that experience I moved on, so I thought, from Apple. I played around with a Commodore 64 for a while and then on a friends IBM PC... got my own PC, and then another, and another... as years passed I watched the Apple product line change. Their stuff became more "all-in-one" and then thinner, lighter... always less buggy, less hassle... or so I kept hearing. My reintroduction with Apple came as my wife won an iPod music player with Tim Horton's "Roll up the rim to win". I was amazed at the fact that in my hand was the same processing and greater storage than the Apple II's I grew up using. A couple years after that I purchased my first iPod Touch... 3rd generation... yes it took me that long! But since then, I've logged plenty of hours on it playing a game or checking e-mail, surfing the web and writing notes to remind me of things I need to do, or a song that "just came to me". There are days I wonder what I did without it. I think one of the more amazing things is that it has a touch screen... no mouse or clunky keyboard to attach, just pinch and swipe your way around. We just got my youngest his own iPod Touch 4... I can't wait to use the "Facetime" feature with it. The built in camera has already gotten lots of use. Funny, to me how this is the only Apple my boys have known...
So what does this trip down memory lane mean? How about... One life can change culture, vocabulary and even direction. Steve Jobs had the creative imagination to suggest, "What if..." and then he surrounded himself with people that could help make that happen, and they did. They pushed the boundaries of what was and began to shape a world. His other lesson might be... Capitalism is not inherently evil. Capitalism allowed him the room to innovate... Jobs created jobs (excuse the pun...)! His achievements represents the best part of that economic view point. To imagine... a 19 yr old getting off his butt and doing something to change his world for the better. Steve Jobs is probably upgrading the tables that God gave Moses even now...

Labor Day thoughts

2011-09-05T21:51:00.001-04:00

Labor Day is almost over and tomorrow starts a new work week for me and a new school year for my boys. (YEA!) But before the day is gone I wanted to put up a couple thoughts about working or laboring. You see I'm married to one of the hardest working people I know. In the past couple weeks I've really gotten to see that up close, and see some of the fruit of that. Amy's an RN... not just someone who wipes butts and takes the brunt of verbal abuse by people who feel that they need to use their colorful vocabulary, but I digress... Though that does happen in her line of work, she tries, with great patience, to keep smiling and working. What sets Amy apart is the fact that she goes above and beyond her call of duty. She uses humor like "Patch Adams" as an RN to help her patients relax and know that they will get her best care. Even though she always will give you her best, there are people that she really feels a connection with. Recently that happened. He was her patient, a guy with a larger than life personality. He had married a gem of a gal. (so I gathered as Amy talked about them and our experience at the wake). Amy was like an angel that God sent for them. When something was not right they called Amy at home and she immediately called to give assistance. One story Amy told me about them was so touching... he was 'out of it' most of the time but one day was 'with it' enough that Amy asked him, "you had enough of me yet?" He said, "Yes" She replied, "Oh no you didn't!" He beamed a smile back. Then she proceeded to move him over in the bed giving his wife instructions to "get in there with him!". She got the wife's cell phone and took pictures of the two of them smiling at each other. They didn't know how many days they had left together, but that day was going to be memorable, and it was.
At the wake we were greeted by person after person who was up there and gushed about what kind of help my wife and another nurse gave them. We were ushered up to meet the wife, passing about 45 people in a line that never seemed to shrink. My wife had our boys each give her a single white rose with red highlights. We were kissed and hugged and reminded what a treasure we had in Amy. That day we saw the effect of being excellent at our work.
Recently my wife found out that she was written up for Nurse of the Year and twice was written up for Nurse of the Month.
If there was a holiday that exemplified her it is Labor Day. She's the real deal. As a Christian there is no better way to open a door than to work with excellence. I'm very proud of her! The world would be much better filled with people who worked that hard, with that much passion!

Reflections on Kingdom Bound 2011

2011-08-05T17:11:00.007-04:00

I was so excited to be able to go to KB 2011 with my family. I've been there before with my wife, before the kids came, but not since the boys were born, with her. My kids will not forget the water rides and kiddie rides. My oldest commented last night that his favorite part of being there (outside the rides) was "being with friends and family." We certainly loved being with our friends and having some family time. But as I look back there are a few things that were highlights. First off, it was a real honor to meet some of my twitter friends at KB. It wasn't like a marathon sit down and catch up kind of thing... it was more of, "Oh, so that's who you are!" Placing in our minds the actual people whose faces we've come to see next to their tweets. Had to laugh when Brenton Brown realized I was "life with Lonnie". (the picture at first is Brenton) I didn't think I'd meet Brenton because they tend to move everyone off the stage quickly and into the back, but when I came back by the tent I saw him talking with @Dan_Gross and then I got to shake Mr. Brown's (notice how respectful I am...) hand not once, but twice! When I told my family, who had been waiting for me at the laser light show, they were all excited too! As a worship pastor I've done a lot of Brenton's music (and Paul Baloche). I've been singing as I've worked in my basement Paul Baloche's songs and Brenton's also. "Our God is Near" and "Adoration" are on shuffle on my iTouch. Brenton's latest release had two songs that have really spoken to me." All For You " is that moment, as a worship pastor/leader, when it's just you and Jesus. It's a reminder that it isn't about us, but God, and for His glory. The other song "Our God Is Mercy" is just a great reminder that we can come to the Lord in our time of need because God desires to flood our lives with His overwhelming love. Needless to say there are a lot of songs that he's written or co-written that have, at some point, ministered to me or helped me to minister God's grace in it's various forms to others. So I was pretty pumped to meet Brenton and pray that our paths will cross another day. [and I'll have intelligible words to say. ;) ]

My last reflection is of Paul Baloche (pictured above). Paul was amazing... actually, it was amazing what God did through Paul the two days I saw him! While playing his set at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) he talked about how his dad (96) was really close to being with Jesus. (His mom and dad just celebrated 63 years of marriage!) You could see that it was tearing him up, but God was gracious and helped him lead. Afterward I tweeted to Paul "Thanks for leading out of your brokenness today." He responded with, "sometimes we have to, eh?" I tweeted back: "yes sometimes we have to... But then the Lord is most near and His strength lifts us. Amen?!" The next morning God used Paul to lead us to the very presence of God. Loved his openness and humility. Love the "Horton Hears a Who" thought of us 'little people' calling out to the Lord, "Hear our joyful sound here at Kingdom Bound" ... also the song he wrote inspired from,"Psalm 60 something"... "as morning dawns and evening fades..." I sensed God's presence so deeply that it moved me to tears more than once. (not just Paul but when Brenton played too) I took away from this that all of the practice is necessary for these times when we can barely keep it together. God takes all of the work we've put in and our times of personal worship, then in our brokenness shows up in ways that we could never hope to manufacture in our strength. Out of this I've found myself practicing and playing a bit more. I'm finding some new songs breathed into my heart that I hope I will be able to share. It was good to be with God's people at Kingdom Bound 2011!

Tangled... revisited... and more!

2011-07-31T00:36:00.004-04:00

Shortly after I posted the last entry I seriously thought about the character of the "mother" and how she so mimicked the picture of the devil that the Bible speaks of. Jesus said in the book of John: "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy." In so many ways that's exactly what she was doing... she stole Rapunzel, attempted to kill her "boyfriend" and at every turn she tried to destroy any hope that Rapunzel had. The Bible says that the devil is the "Father of lies". This "mother" claimed to "know best" but lied about who she was and lied and deceived to manipulate the people around her. As I watched that movie it just angered me that she would do that... How could she trap the girl? How could she pretend to be something she wasn't?! How could she manipulate the people around her to help her perpetuate her facade? Then it hit me that is exactly how the devil works. He tries to paint Christians as "extremists" who are "dangerous". He wants to kill any hope that arises when one person places their faith in Jesus Christ. He wants to destroy marriages and have pastors caught in sins of all types to degrade any thought that Jesus' words are true and "work". It seems to me that the movie "Tangled" really brings out some interesting thoughts. What's your response?

Tangled, more than a review.

2011-04-06T22:28:00.003-04:00

I'm a person who tends to see more than what's in the movie. Take the movie Tangled. As I see it it's more than another long hair story. The gospel story is woven into it. So you've seen the movie? Where is the gospel story? Movie: Girl is kidnapped from the palace and raised as a child of someone else. The gospel story: Sin entered the world and our identity as children of God was stolen. Movie: Every year on her birthday she would see lights floating in the sky and think to herself that somehow those were meant for her. Also she saw the picture of the sun flower and in her tower she saw the sun flower. The gospel story: God has placed eternity in the heart of man. God has given witness to us through nature that He is there. He calls to us by the Spirit of God. Are you keeping up? Movie: She realizes who she is and longs to return home. To get there a sacrifice is made, a man dies and is raised back to life. The gospel: In order for us to "return home" and claim our identity as children of God, Jesus dies and is raised back to life (the character is hardly Jesus, or sinless, but dies and is brought back) The movie: She returns home to a mother and father who have desperately missed her. The scene is quite moving... what was lost is found! A party ensues! The gospel: Just that, what was lost is found. Our return home is celebrated by heaven throwing a party!
For me personally, when the father and mother were reunited with the daughter, I was transported in my thoughts to the day that I see Jesus face to face. The joy that fills my heart.
I liked Tangled for the story line, humor and the fact that the bad lady loses (oh... another biblical factoid: the devil loses!)
So there you have it. Tangled, more than a review. THE Message within the media.

At the crossroads...

2011-04-01T23:38:00.003-04:00

I'm reminded in this season of my life of the words of Jeremiah 6:16 "This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’"
What I see here is that God invites us to stand at the crossroads and look. We need to be observant. God then says, "Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is..." God calls us to pray, to seek and listen. Do you know where you are going... standing at the crossroads... wondering what's next. God wants to reveal things to us... to show us His path, but He says, "Walk in it..." We have to determine the course and then stay the course! It's easy to read the bible and then say, "Well, I don't know if I agree with that." But that is exactly what God calls us to do... agree with HIM that His path is the right one. You know when you have gotten on the wrong path? When you lack peace. God's promise is that as we pray and go that we will find rest for our souls. We will find peace in the midst of anything happening because we are where He wants us. The question is "will you"? Sadly many have said, "We will not walk in it." Choose to discover and "walk in it"!

stuff that's swimming in my head...

2011-02-11T22:20:00.003-05:00

Tonight I went to see Ps100, a group of guys that sing some very tight Christian Rock (and praise & worship). Most of their music is original. It is definitely worth a listen! My connection with them is through their drummer. Back in the day when I was leading worship in Akron NY he was on the team. God has brought Mike so far (and through things I had no idea about before tonight... believing that God's healing his wife of that cancer!) Tonight I came with a head full and heart broken. There's just been so much going on lately that it's been overwhelming. Trying to carry the burdens of others while carrying your own is quite a task. Tonight I was reminded that "Your grace is enough". We are not guaranteed by God a life without any heartache, physical illness, relational tension, poverty (or riches) etc. But we are guaranteed that as we place our faith in Jesus Christ to cover our sins, God runs to us, picks us up and carries us. Sometimes, I believe, He just holds us like children that have had the worst nightmare and we just can't shake it. It is in our brokenness that he floods his love through the cracks of our heart. Healing us. Mending us. Giving us a hope that many, honestly, can't comprehend. That is the hope of eternal life. Not that we keep this life, or by some form of cosmic cruelty, to return again and again until we 'get it right'. No. The bible says all this 'stuff' is temporary. Eventually it will all "burn". Jesus said he was preparing a place for us to come back and take us to. This is our hope. Jesus endured the darkest hour of his life knowing the joy to come.
As Brenton Brown (singer/songwriter) wrote in the song OUR GOD IS MERCY: "The Kingdom of our God is near, lift your eyes, lift your eyes! The hope of heaven drawing near, lift your eyes! Lift your eyes!" If we first seek God's Kingdom then everything else will be taken care of (rough paraphrase!). This is just some of the stuff that's been swimming in my head recently...

DanesSong

2011-01-30T23:59:00.000-05:00

A new year. New challenges!

2011-01-03T21:46:00.002-05:00

I'm finding that my greatest challenge recently is parenting. It's not a problem, it's a challenge. The challenge is to uniquely raise my boys to best be who they are in Christ. To do that I have to be like the guy from the kids movie: "How To Train Your Dragon" What did he do? Became a student. He used observation to see what would happen. It's a challenge to do the same with my boys. At every age level there is something new or a different quirk to them. One year they love mac-n-cheese, the next it's an abomination to their taste buds! One kid loves omelets while the other won't eat an egg unless it's for supper (on rare occasion). One kid is so tender that I have to be careful not to crush his spirit by sarcasm. The other kid is so demanding that I have to be careful not to crush his spirit by always saying "NO!". :)
I'm always learning "on the job" as a parent. I keep hearing, "Enjoy those days. They will soon be over." I know that and am trying to enjoy them. I also realize that as I seek to shape their lives I know that my life is being changed too. And it's ALL good. :)

Praying with Thanksgiving

2010-12-04T22:39:00.003-05:00

Some of my friends and family haven't had a chance to see me speak recently so I've put on YouTube my message from Nov. 28th, 2010. It's in 2 parts because I spoke for about 27 minutes. You can't post anything longer than 15 minutes. :*(
Never the less... The first part is up at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lnAJQurGx0
At the top of the YouTube page says that I have X entries. (Presently it's 5 to choose from). You can choose PT2 and finish out the message. For those who have wrestled with their conversations with God in prayer... maybe the answers don't seem to be coming... this is a pretty good message. That's not me tooting my own horn, it's the majority of the feedback from the people of Niagara Alliance Church. (Including the Head Elder!)
To God be the glory!

What began on Twitter last night...

2010-11-04T20:47:00.003-04:00

I'm not the "normal" follower of Christ, in that, I spend the time before I go to sleep reading my bible. Devotions, they call it. Most pastors I've heard suggest that you start the day devoting yourself to God in reading the bible and praying (even journaling). I find that I never really could get going in the morning, but still have steadily walked with God for 32 years.
Last night I read Acts 3 and 4. But as I came to a specific verse, Acts 3:16, something just hit me. It's the story about Peter and James going to the temple for prayer. As they go they encounter a man that was lame, he could not walk. We know that he'd been that way 40ish years. Peter looks at the man and says in essence: "Look, I don't have money, but I do have the knowledge that Jesus wants to heal you now. So get up!" The man gets up. People are immediately drawn to the situation where Peter finds an impromptu opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus. In doing so he says something that got my head and fingers going last night:

(Holman Christian Standard Bible) Acts3:16 By faith in His name, His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Him has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

Let me expand a bit on what I said.
Considering that the disciples had been with Jesus watching Him heal, that they had witnessed what was happening when Jesus made a decision, they should be acquainted with what Jesus wanted to do. However, until the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was fully poured out, they lacked the ability to do what they had seen done. They learned to listen (prayer) leading up to Pentecost and with the Holy Spirit on them it was instant connection and understanding of what they should do in that moment. As I looked at Acts 3:16 it hit me: Peter was saying that Jesus wanted to heal the man. Peter was also saying that he nor 'faith' (in an abstract form) healed the man, it was Jesus.
That's pretty bold trust. To look at someone and say, "God has healed you." This should be normal for the follower of Christ. I'm not trying to be all weird, I'm just saying that it all happens out of relationship. Just as me telling my son to tell someone else something I've said. It all begins with the assumption of Acts 2:39 - repentance of sin & filling of the Holy Spirit. There is no connection w/o repentance of sin. And to take a phone analogy a bit further...
You have no 'dial tone' without the Holy Spirit. Always 'answer' when Jesus is speaking, He will tell you what He wants... Then DO IT!

The problem of just being connected and choosing not to listen and obey, is that it creates a 'form of religion' but 'denies the power'. Jesus wants to impact our world through us! What I've noticed, from observation, is that, in general, people these days have lost faith in the church because the people in the church don't express God's ability to transform lives! So many in the church look and act the same as people in the world. The fruit of their lives doesn't show they they are different. Some of that is due to a misunderstanding that knowledge is maturity. IT ISN'T. The application of the knowledge of God's Word, the Bible, leads us to a deeper understanding of who we are in Christ and what we have. We live out of relationship with the Son of God who gave Himself up for us. It is in the intimate moments (morning, evening or whenever) that we begin to cultivate the ability to hear from God and do what He says. God wants us to get the "easy" stuff first. To walk in obedience and love God and others. I remember nights when I would be out on the bleachers during college praying for an hour or two and wondering "God are you listening?" Over the years I've learned that God is asking me, "Are YOU listening?" ;)
I've spent plenty of time wondering from the time I was a Junior in High School, "God, where are are the healings that Jesus performed? Why did He say we would do greater things than what He did?" I have friends that God has healed, of lukemia and carpel tunnel. I have a pastor friend that saw God raise a woman from the dead, before his eyes! So I knew that God could heal and have watched plenty of people laying hands on others for healing. For myself the journey took a turn when I saw again a saying, "Faith is not believing that God can. It is believing that He WILL." So many times I've watched as a person is prayed for, "God, if it is your will... we don't want to assume..." I sat one Sunday watching a woman and God said to me, "She's healed." It startled me. I really didn't want to say anything. I did. She had been healed. A friend recently asked for prayer for a job. Immediately I got, "Done deal." God knew he was going to get that job. He did. This is beginning to be the "norm" for me. Amazingly, it was the "norm" for the early church. The only thing that has passed is time.
The point? The whole church thing isn't a game. It isn't about how good we look (or bad). It's about connecting with God. Connecting with others and Connecting others with God. (borrowed from the sign in front of Niagara Alliance Church ;D ) If you have a good connection with Christ, the Holy Spirit will speak and use you. You will grow in your relationship with God and He will tell you what he wants in a situation. There's more that I could say. But for now let me just return to the original thought...
Ask Jesus what He wants to do. Peter did and then told the man and his life was transformed forever. God is in the business of transforming lives!

Two more songs on YouTube...

2010-11-04T20:36:00.003-04:00

As I post this blog the first song I put on YouTube is sitting at 69 views. My wife reminds me that this is a God thing not a Lonnie thing. The reason I started to post any songs on YouTube in the first place came out of my conversation with Jim Drew, a fellow musician / worship leader and passionate follower of Christ. Jim's words to me were and encouragement to allow God to use me by placing the song(s) out there. I am thankful for those who have been so kind. I haven't had any negative feedback, just a one person cheer squad in Nora, who I led to Christ years ago.
I've placed the song "Macedonia" and "My Everything" on. I trust that as you listen you will begin to understand the depth of God's love for us and those who have yet to place their full trust in Him.
The link to Macedonia will also let you view the other videos.
God bless!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99TspuSOn28

When you realize you're lost

2010-10-23T00:05:00.003-04:00

Tonight we went to the school Halloween party. A large room filled with parents and lots of screaming, yelling, running, and jumping children. Oh, and one child that suddenly realized he was lost. The moment my little guy realized he was lost the panic button was hit. He desperately sought to find us. He did.
I have wondered to myself, "How long does it take to realize you are lost?" I mean 'lost' in the biblical way illustrated in Luke 15. The coin and most likely, the sheep, have no real thought of being lost. But the two boys and their father understood 'lost'. The father, I would assume, understood the 'lostness' of each son. The youngest was lost before he left with his worldly possessions. It took him a dead end job and an empty stomach to realize he was 'lost'. His 'lostness' caused him to evaluate his situation and execute a plan to be found. His greatest hope was that he'd at least be considered a slave of the father, what he found was the restoration of what he lost when he left.
The oldest lived oblivious of his state of 'lostness'. He never left but he never knew the joy of being found. He couldn't grasp the lostness of his situation. The father explained the truth to him. But we don't know what his response was. What if Jesus had continued the story? Maybe he oldest son would have grasped his lostness and found his place. I dunno. What I do know is that I see a lot of people working and buying and living that haven't had the "I'm lost" light bulb go off. I'm praying for those people to come to that knowledge sooner than later. And like the younger son I pray they evaluate the situation and execute the plan which has them confessing their need to be found by the Lord Jesus Christ and forgiven of all sin. In response our God has said He will adopt us into His family, never to be lost again.
It's a terrifying situation to realize you are lost and helpless. It's a comforting place to be, when you realize that you have been found and will never be let go.
You're comments are always welcome. :)

Wash Your Feet - My song

2010-10-17T23:17:00.003-04:00

A year or so ago I was asked to share a song that I had written called Wash Your Feet. It's a prayer of mine and reflects my hearts desire to be the person that Jesus wants me to be. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c9NrYxR30c

Enjoy!
Lonnie

I'm a "Mack" too... burp...

2010-10-16T21:50:00.003-04:00

Friday I was the Mystery Reader at my son's school and in deciding what to read I came back to Dr. Seuss. I find that his books are not only funny but also are filled with lessons. The story that I read was: Yertle the Turtle. Quite a powerful story actually. Unfamiliar with it? Need a refresher? Here's the scoop: Yertle the Turtle is the king of the turtles. He decides that he wants to sit on a throne bigger than just a rock and begins to command the turtles to come and he stacks them. (Even though the turtles don't like it they still come and help) From his vantage point he's decided that he's the king of all he can see. But it's never enough and so keeps adding turtles. Along comes Mack who begins to politely express how painful it is that the king is making these decisions. He's hurting, and yet, the king shouts him down. Time and again Mack warns the king that it's too much and the king decides to add more so that he can build his kingdom to the heavens. When Mack has had enough he lets out a 'burp'. It shakes the tower of turtles and it all collapses. It ends with Yertle the turtle king being king of the mud.

Wow, I thought, as I read it again. How amazing that this story dovetails the political landscape in our country. The people in power (as of this writing it's the Democrats with Obama filling the role of president) are seeking to build their kingdom. The people have tried to politely say, "We've had enough, you can stop now." We're like Mack in the story. We've tried to speak our peace and multiple polls have suggested we are not in favor of the present "Change" that has come upon the USA. Some in my state (NY) would agree with Carl Paladino they they are "Mad as..." well you know. They are 'Macks', the guys at the bottom trying to hold it all together. The little guy whose voice is being ignored and drowned out. (What do you mean you don't want healthcare reform? What do you mean you don't support of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"?! What do you mean you don't like us treating Israel like a step-child?! What do you mean you don't want to pay more taxes?! What do you mean the Stimulus isn't working?! What do you mean we have to create jobs... we gave extensions for people who are unemployed!)
Across the nation people are, like Mack, ready to "burp". November 2nd is about the little guys saying, "ENOUGH!" It isn't going to be about Independent, Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative... It's going to be about people with common sense voting their "Change and Hope" into office. And if that doesn't work they'll "burp" again. There are those who are seeking to build their kingdom upon the back of "Macks", but like Yertle the Turtle, they will find themselves ruling over the mud.

I'm a "Mack" and I approve of this message. ;)

Been thinkin'... again!

2010-09-28T03:26:00.004-04:00

I was thinking about the times I've been at Myrtle Beach and been playing in the waves. I know where we placed our things on the beach and intend to stay near that spot, however, inevitably as we face the waves coming in we seem to drift. It's not that we try to drift, it just seems that we get carried along in the moments and suddenly stop to get our bearings. When we realize where we are supposed to be we start walking back that direction.
How many times in life do we know where we are supposed to be and we are carried along by life as it ebbs and flows? Sometimes the drift is in our vision of where we see ourselves being. Maybe it's a direction more than a goal and we know that we have to take corrective steps to get back in the right direction. For a company or church the drift can happen at good and bad times. We can get carried along in directions by dealing with all the good options and without stopping to be headed in the best option direction. It can be that we get caught in a "riptide" and are carried away by the bad... could be economy, decisions, personality conflicts. At times we have to stop and gain perspective. We have to remember where we were and where we intended to be and take steps to get there.
Being a pastor this thought takes deeper meaning. Personal relationships can have drift. The marriage relationship is one that is easy to have drift and there's always a need to have both people stop and consider where they were headed together and then take steps to get there!
Still, deeper still, is the relationship with have with God. Sin can be as subtle as innocently drifting. How many times I've stopped to examine my life and thought, "When did I get here?!" With a word of repentance I express my sin and begin the directional change to get where I know I need to be... headed toward Jesus!
I would venture that we all have moments where we allow ourselves to drift. But we also need to build into our lives moments to stop and reflect to see where we are. Instead of asking "why or how" we need to refocus our minds and ask God to lead us where He would take us. "Help us God to see what opportunities this allows us as we venture back toward and to You." Amen.

Speaking August 1st

2010-07-28T00:12:00.003-04:00

By the way... I'll be speaking August 1st at Niagara Alliance Church (niagaraalliance.org)! My message is about Worship as a lifestyle not just Sunday service. Hope to see my friends and family there!

Lonnie

Not Abandoned... Thoughts on the book of Eli

2010-07-27T23:51:00.003-04:00

I didn't forget that I have this blog! I have found myself doing more on Twitter and Facebook as of January. But I'm back.
Tonight I watched "The Book of Eli" with my wife. I didn't care for the swearing, or the cat on a spit (as supper... YUCK). I'm guessing that they had to go with the religious zealot stereotype in some form, alas. In worldly terms at least the guy could kick butt. :)
I did find this an interesting movie. The ending reminded me of the verse: Heaven and earth will pass away but my word will never pass away. - Jesus
I liked the teacher / disciple relationship that formed and loved the ending where she was going back "home" armed with the knowledge of the bible.
I found it funny that the Bible was blamed on "the war" which caused desolation and was to be destroyed. Only later it was sought after by "a bad guy" because he wanted to use it to manipulate people and build his kingdom. In the end the bible was found to have significance on which to build society. Intentional or not it placed the bible in a positive light. So good for them. I'm guessing that quite a few people wouldn't watch a movie about saving the bible, but with some guns and knives they probably picked up a few more people. ;)
I found it quite heartwarming at the end where it showed Eli's grave and the Apostle Paul's words "I have fought the good fight... I have finished the race..." May that be said of all who follow Christ to the end.

Get out of your bubble!

2010-01-11T23:31:00.003-05:00

Sunday I was listening to Ken Hill speak. It was his first time, but he did great. There was one thought that he threw out... Get out of your bubble!
With that my mind immediately went to the Sprint(tm) commercial about getting out of your bubble of local friends so you can call anyone on any network. Well... it just hit me that so many times we get stuck in our church bubble or our circle of friends bubble. We need to get out of the bubble! It's pretty easy to stay comfortable. To be around people who act like the good people we like. Last Friday (January 8th, 2010) I was with Amy at her work party. There was some swearing and someone asked me if that was a problem since I was a pastor. I told them it wasn't a problem. I just didn't tell them why. Jesus spent a lot of time with people who didn't have their stuff together. They mean well and some actually want to do well, but they have a few walls that have to come down first. They need to know that you are not judging them. Honestly, I am not the Judge and will not be the One they stand before and give an account of to. So I can just be me and do what Jesus would do and say what Jesus would say.

Speaking on Sunday October 18th!

2009-10-15T21:22:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to give a heads up to those that follow my blog that I'm speaking at Niagara Alliance Church in Wheatfield, NY on Sunday October 18th at the 10:30am service. The message is part of a series that started the week before on: "How to get what you want... God's way!" It's from the book of Proverbs and I'll be speaking about Prosperity. Hope to see you there!

Lonnie

Observations from "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs"

2009-09-25T23:57:00.002-04:00

Got home from "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" with the family. The 3D glasses are so somebody's 1967 version of having fun with the crowd. (you'd have to see them... maybe I'll post a pic later...) Anyhow... so Here's my observations of themes that I saw in the movie:
1. We all need someone to believe in us (mom, dad, teacher, etc... God already does... sometimes we just need God with "skin on" to understand that)
2. Be yourself... I had to laugh at the guy who had to find his identity again... and the girl who thought she needed to be something else before people would accept her. (God made you and He doesn't make mistakes!)
3. Sometimes it's difficult for us to explain how much our Father loves us to others. (closing scene where the dad gets the 'universal translator' put on him to explain how much he loves his son, because communicating with fishing analogies don't seem to work) This is probably where my passion lies... I really want people to know and to understand how much God loves them. Unfortunately what I've seen in many churches does little to help people understand that. It's like "fishing analogies" to so many and they just don't get it, and even wonder if God doesn't just hate them because of what they are going through. We do a serious injustice to God when we cannot clearly and lovingly communicate His love story... how He has lavishly loved us in Jesus Christ.
I know that some will go to see the movie and think, '"Where did Lonnie see THAT in the movie!?!?" It's a gift, I don't talk about it much... :)

OH yea...Tomorrow

2009-09-07T18:04:00.002-04:00

So as I looked back I saw that we had just begun summer and now we are hours away from Joel starting Universal Pre-K and Caleb starting 1st Grade. It's also my sister's birthday (how could I forget!) So much happening this summer. Seems that I just couldn't keep up. Maybe with the kids in school it will get easier... YEA RIGHT!

Anyhow...

Recent stuff I'm thinking about...

2009-09-07T17:40:00.002-04:00

So I realize it's been quite some time since I posted. I added the Twitter posts but haven't kept up on that well. I haven't posted much because some of what was going through my mind was post worthy... and also not the forum to be placing my thoughts for everyone to see. But recently I had a few thoughts run through that may be worth thinking about.

We found out that we had some serious bee issues just outside the back door. I tried using some spray to kill them, but it didn't work. They were nesting in the ground. More than a few people suggested another remedy.
Well, I tried it. I asked one guy, "How much do I need to put in the hole?" He responded, "Until it's full!" I began pouring and then was told, "STOP!" I did.
The next morning (cause I did the deed at night while they were back in the nest) I saw them again. I had a couple thoughts immediately after that. The bees are like sin nesting in our lives. God knows what needs addressing in our lives and will help us to address the issue(s). It may seem that it's all gone, but in the moments when we see the issues flare up (like anger, jealousy, greed...) we come back to the application of the Blood of Jesus which wipes away the sin. We deal with the issue and move on. Confident in the work of Christ in our life.

Another thought came... as we went and picked up a love seat. We were led to believe the condition of the thing and color would be exactly what we were looking for. However it wasn't. We have had a sofa given to us when we first came to NY that WAS exactly what we were looking for. So my thought... when people enter our church(es) are they getting exactly what was described to them? Is it better?! My prayer is that who we are and WHOM we represent will be better than advertised. We aught to have quality services and be the quality people God calls us to be.

Last thought came from my pastor message on Sunday.

He was speaking about evangelism. I know that for some the word evangelism conjures really bad images... both for those who are "expected" to share the Good News of Jesus and those who are trying to be reached with that Good News.
My own experience has led me to be myself first. God doesn't ask us to be someone or do something that is out of our character. I've tried some of those things and they are not me, so I don't do them. But I do take time to share as God opens the doors. (here's where the pastor's message came in...) We never know who will respond to the message but there needs to be repeated opportunities to relay the Good News. Kind of like at bats in baseball. (My thoughts here...) In baseball not every at bat goes well. But with persistence "good hitters" continue to get better. Yea, I know that it's not up to us to "save" anyone. But we are God's Ambassadors as if Christ was making His appeal through us. The more times we share the more comfortable we are. There will be times when the Gospel "scores" and other times we just help move people around the bases, so to speak... to give them repeated opportunities to hear and see the Gospel presented.

SO there... Any thoughts? Reactions? Interactions?
Till next time...

Added my Twitter posts

2009-07-17T10:21:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to say that I've added my Twitter posts to my blog page. The "tweets" are much more up to date and sometimes, up to the minute!

Thanks for following me!
Lonnie

Vaction Post part 2

2009-07-05T21:31:00.002-04:00

So I left off with Amy a bit shaky because of the ride in the sand dunes. Well... the next day Caleb and Joel got to go out. Caleb started with two thumbs up and came back with two thumbs down! No surprise there. Joel left with a scowl on his face and returned with a smile a mile wide. Not surprised about him enjoying that either. However on the way back the sand rail was stalling... so my brother-in-law, Joe, went to try and figure out what was wrong. With about half the day gone he was able to get it started and running again. So I went out with him. Man what a rush! I only wish the vehicle was bigger. I said before I left, "Big boys in a little toy!" And that's the truth. Joe tried his best to really shake me up, but I played it cool. Got a feel for how he liked to drive. Got air borne a few times. Not bad, but I know that it isn't the thing I'd do every time I visit. After I got off Amy's mom got in. We thought from how she described the whole trip that she'd been on it before. Nope. First time. I said, "Linda, better strap on your depends for this one!" She came back none worse for wear. Got to hand it to her, she stepped up and took her medicine! Then Amy got back in and went out with Joe. It was about 30 minutes later that Joe came back to camp. The sand rail had died and the oil cap gone off... oil spewing out. Not good. So Amy was left to sit with the sand rail. Meanwhile, Joe tries to get his Chevy 4 x4 truck to start. It wouldn't. He tried and tried for about another 30 minutes. Finally he gave up on it and decided to take his two wheel Dodge truck through the sand dunes to try and tow his sand rail back. So being the helpful guy I am, I tagged along. We went flying back into the dunes. I kept thinking, "Ya know God, this isn't how I expected to go." We went up and over and down... straight down a dune. Bent the front bumper and lost what I thought was the bumper. Instead of throwing it back into the vehicle we kept going. Up and down and around and then trying to get up one hill on the sand highway we got to mile marker 16 and were stuck. I mean there was no amount of "try" that we had that would allow us to even go in reverse. After a few tries some riders came up to see if we needed help. Then a 4 x 4 t ruck with a guy and two girls in it came and helped tow us back far enough that we had a down hill to get momentum and head the truck back to the beach camp. The guy and girls headed out to check on Amy and we went back to the camp. Once there Joe hopped onto his 4 wheeler and took a tow strap to get Amy and the sand rail. 15 minutes later they made it back. Amy was so cold she was shaking. The sun was going down and the marine layer was cooling things down quickly. She honestly wasn't sure what was going to happen! The whole time she was out there waiting she kept thinking she might have to pull out some moves to kick butt if someone were to try something, but thankfully nothing happened. And she did have they guy and two girls find her and offer to help. Amazing. That was it for the sand rail rides. The next day we had to pack up to go.
Thankfully a guy helped tow the truck and camper to a place where AAA could tow the truck. He then towed the camper for us to the dealer where they fixed the vehicle. God was good to us. Even through the "stuff" things turned out pretty good!

I did learn a lesson through all of this. If you buy something on the cheap because you believe you can fix it, you may be just adding to your troubles and subtracting from your pocket book...

On Vacation but had to post

2009-06-30T19:40:00.002-04:00

My last post talked about "knowing" that God was answering prayers, even when things may not look like they are going to work out.

My vacation started out looking like we were not going to make a flight to LA on the same day. Our initial plane was delayed due to storm damage at the Cleveland Airport. That meant that we would not catch our connecting flight to LAX in time. The rep from Continental kept trying to figure out a way for us to get to LA. I'm thinking it was something close to half an hour before she said, "The only route I have now is you flying to Cleveland this morning at 8:30am and then waiting till 6pm there to catch a plane to Houston and then connect there to LA." The whole process up to that I wasn't sure that we were going to fly, and honestly, I really didn't want to. But I would have missed out. We were alerted that a second flight to LA would be leaving at 12:45pm, and when we got to Cleveland to see the rep at the counter there. So we did. At that point, about 9:15am she was able to confirm seats for my family of four and put my mother-in-law on standby. Our seats were scattered through the plane at that point. An hour passed and she found us waiting at out gate for the LA flight. She had been able to change our seats so that I was sitting with Joel and Amy was across the isle from Caleb... still close. At 12:10pm we started boarding our plane. As we got on one person willingly traded spots with my son Caleb so he could sit by Amy, my wife. The plane was rapidly filling up, but the seat next to Joel in the isle still was open. I saw a girl we had been talking to and my Mother-in-law walk on the plane. The girl walked past to her seat and my Mother-in-law found she was in the same row as Joel and I, so she sat next to Joel. Before we started to leave the seat next to where my mother-in-law would have been seated was in question as it was double booked. Amazingly it was straightened out and we were on our way.

It would seem that the drama for our trip would be over with that.

Things went fairly smoothly after we landed, were picked up and went to the Santa Monica Pier where Joel was facinated by the two guys with face paint and a mouth whistle that were dancing. It was going smoothly on our way to the Oceano Beach Park (Pismol Beach). We found our place on the beach and Amy got the ride the sand rail with her brother Joe. She was shaking when she came back as the sudden drops on the dunes at dusk, with a misty marine layer of fog was decending, didn't allow her senses to process what was happening.

I'll have to post more later as I have to pack. But it gets interesting! Stay tuned!

Prayer: God's Ability vs. God's Action

2009-06-18T09:13:00.004-04:00

We've had a little plaque hanging on our kitchen wall my mother-in-law gave us. It says, "Faith is not believing that God can, it's believing He will."
I just didn't "get it" for the longest time. There is the intellectual assumption that God is able to do whatever He wants in response to prayer. So in church we break out the anointing oil and follow the patter set out in the Bible in James 5:14-16 when we pray for the sick person. Now I've done this more than a few times and seen people walk away in the same condition and wondered, "What do we need to do differently?!" Isn't God big enough?! Isn't He all powerful?! YES and YES! However it isn't believing that God is that. It's believing that He just did that (whatever "that" would be). A few weeks ago it really hit me. I mean, I think I finally "GOT IT!" Let me illustrate with a couple stories...

I was asked to pray about a job that was opening up for my mom. I told her, "You got the job." Now she had no idea if she was going to get that position or not. She only "hoped" that she might get that position. A few days later (which happened to be June 9th) I got a call from her that she got the position! Not only was God ABLE to supply, but He DID supply that need.

A few years ago some friends were embarking to Paupa New Guinea as missionaries. They sent out a frantic e-mail that they needed their passports to make their flight and leave. I believe they had about one day to have them in hand. I sensed in my spirit that God was delivering the passports even then. I wrote, "Done deal!" I got an e-mail that said the passports had arrived just in time. Another more recent event had them in the Philippines as they were adopting their second son. They all needed to be on the plane and there was limited seating (if my memory serves me correctly). They asked for prayer. I knew that God was going to have seats for all of them. Shortly after that they sent an e-mail that God was indeed good and had made the seats available for all of the family to fly together!
Faith is believing that God will do it, because He can!

I have a friend that knows God has a specific path for him to walk. And to be honest, it's not been an easy one, yet God doesn't call us all to "easy." He calls us to take a long obedient walk in the same direction with Him. My friend will have all of His needs met. I don't have to know how that will happen. I just know that it will.

"How do you know that God will?" How do you know He won't?! If God is everything we read in our Bibles, and I believe He is and more than what we can imagine... and if Jesus said in Matthew 7:10, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

I put a caution here... I don't believe God is asking us to believe that we're going to move into a mansion and drive whatever vehicle around we want and eat in luxury. Far from that. I believe that real needs are being taken care of. That real opportunities are opening up (like with my Church... Niagara Gospel Rescue Mission).

One last thought...
What I realize more every day is that we need people who will believe for us for things we can't begin to imagine God wants to do for us and in us and through us.
Do you find that to be true?!

Got a 'redneck' church?

2009-05-26T22:53:00.004-04:00

With the onset of warmer weather comes the inevitable, "I forgot to put sun screen on and got a burn." Which left me with a red neck. As I was driving today I thought about the 'redneck' jokes that I've heard (maybe you know a few) and then it turned to the realities behind those jokes. And that led me to think about what a 'redneck' worship service and message might sound like. Then a semi profound thought hit me. How many people attend a 'redneck' church without realizing it? (DISCLAIMER: I'm generalizing this thought to quite a few churches I've been in, not necessarily the church I serve in right now!) I'm not just talking about a style of music like country or blue grass... but the question begs... How inwardly focused are people? Do that they think they are friendly folk in a friendly congregation when they won't approach a guest at the door to greet them (or want to tag them like deer to identify them)? How oblivious to their building and surroundings are they? Does it even phase them that people from the outside might be scared off from the deterioration they see (be it in the bathroom or the 70's paint color or the small lake that appears in the parking lot, etc.) Muisc is a whole other issue altogether!

So many questions need to be asked and reasked to drill down and get answers. In doing so it will allow them to answer the question, "Why we do what we do?", "Do we need to change?", and "Are we willing to do it?"!

I imagine in some parts of our country there are "redneck" churches complete with a guy playing spoons! But the question remains... Got a 'redneck' church?

Twittering and a Blog suggestion

2009-05-21T22:15:00.004-04:00

I really enjoy having the chance to blog because I'm not limited to 140 characters as someone who is Twittering. I enjoy Facebook and find that I'm on that just a few times each week now that the "newness" has worn off. But as of yesterday (May 20th) I joined the Twitter revolution. A good friend of mine, Alan Chandler from Church Doctor Ministries, sent me a link to a Time article about using Twitter in church. Yes, people were actually Tweeting in church. It got me to thinking of the practical application of that in a church service. You have a question that comes to mind while the pastor is speaking on a subject and with Twitter you have the opportunity to express that and possibly get instant clarification. I could see it as a way to voice prayers and thoughts of worship to God. That thought got me thinking that God handles all our requests before we even voice them or think them. He's never overwhelmed with volume of petitions and won't go down or be down for maintenance. It's really amazing how great and awesome God is. So... you can follow me in between posts on twitter at twitter.com\lifewithlonnie

And while you are at it please take a moment to check out my friend Alan's blog. www.churchdoctalk.com
The work he and others do at Church Doctor Ministries is invaluable to the Body of Christ. Doctors diagnose and suggest treatment. They provide patient follow-up. These people are the real deal. Thanks for checking the blog! Feel free to post your thoughts on that blog page too!

Thanks and until next time... check my Twitter page!

Tooth Fairy Visit

2009-03-23T22:34:00.002-04:00

Caleb officially got a tooth fairy visit tonight. He's been working on a loose tooth for a while, but was scared to pull it out. Amy did the honors with a damp washcloth and her skillful hands. He cried a bit but then realized after a while that it didn't hurt. The tooth had to go anyhow because another can be seen growing in right where it was!

Oh... what did he get from the Tooth Fairy?!?! A dollar in quarters, a Spiderman toothbrush and strawberry flavor toothpaste. :+D

Two quick stories...

2009-03-18T23:49:00.002-04:00

Last Sunday (March 15th) I was told a story... I'd led the song "How Great Is Our God" by Chris Tomlin in Church a few weeks earlier. A granddaughter of one of our members told her grandma that she really loved the song. So they looked up the song on the internet and listened to it. The grandma found a picture of Chris Tomlin and told her that he was the guy that did the song. The granddaughter later said, "Grandma, he looked better in person when he sang at church."

Today my son Joel (3yrs) was laying down for a nap. He really has been wanting to visit "GoGo" his Aunt Jodie. But lately she's been sick and we know that Joel will pick up whatever bug seems to be near... So as he again asked me to go I told him that we needed to pray that she would be healed of her sickness before we could go. Joel started to pray! (first time ever!) "God, I love you. GoGo needs to be better now so that we can go eat smarshmellows, and pick berries and swim and have a bonfire." I was so moved. I explained to Joel that God is more likely to answer a prayer that gives Him all the credit, praise and glory... not just a prayer because we get something out of it. Even so I was so blessed.

My "Biggest Loser" Wife

2009-03-07T15:58:00.002-05:00

After four months of working out and eating better my wife smoked the competition at work during their "Biggest Loser" competition! I am so proud of her! The picture is of her from February 2009. This is the only picture she would let me post. Enjoy!

Playing Chicken and ending up a McNugget (TM)

2009-02-09T23:44:00.004-05:00

Well, it seems that my company has decide to play chicken. Unfortunately for us it looks like we've ended up a McNugget (tm)... battered and fried and set with a side of DIPping sauce. If you know what I mean. This is not a good time to be part of my company. It looks as if we may loose one major account and another secondary account... which accounts to more than half of the hours I work in a week. Honestly, I'm really more concerned about the merchandisers who have done this most of their lives and have nothing to fall back on. Some will be picked up by another company, but some won't because of their work ethic. Still they are people who will need a job. Unfortunately they don't have many other skills and so any Stimulus package that would employ someone to fix bridges or repair roads is not going to help them. Giving money for pet projects probably won't help either. If our President really wants to get people working he'll need more than slick big government ideas and payback to the people who helped elect him. It will take small business owners getting some breaks for hiring people they wouldn't normally be able to. That will allow them to expand and their workers will have money to spend. And spend they must! Along the way a hard and serious return to some "old fashioned values" that were discarded a few years ago would be a good way to help reign in the greed and corruption that has spread like gangrene. That and keeping our oil prices in check so that we can actually afford to work will go a long way to turning this ship around. Just a few thoughts. By the way you won't find me playing 'chicken' any time soon. I don't want to end up a McNugget (tm).

Quick Update

2009-02-03T22:40:00.002-05:00

I'm finding that I don't have nearly the time I had before to update my blog and facebook! But it's a good thing! I'm really enjoying my position at Niagara Alliance Church as "the music guy". We've started stepping forward with some newer songs, or at least "new to you" kind of songs. Our new challenges are in the form of projection and sound. The Lord can sell a few of "the cattle on a thousand hills" that He owns so that we can get speakers on the ceiling which would help with being able to see the projected music on the wall. Yea, we're on the wall. Or is that off the wall??? Any way... I've gotten some good feedback about me so far. I was completely taken back when I got a hug and was told, "You are a special one." That made me think back to The Shack. Worship leading is more than just instrument proficiency it's being able to move beyond the details and focus on bringing people into the presence of God. I've been told that "you can't worship and lead." I would disagree with that and say the opposite. Unless you are worshiping you really are not leading. It's nearly impossible to take people where we have not been personally. But I digress...

The last time I spoke was January 4th and from that opportunity has come one chance to share Christ and to see one person respond and to be in a position to pray for others who were listening and whom God is speaking to. I'm pretty excited about that!
With that in mind I know my speaking schedule for the next couple months! These are all at Niagara Alliance Church (the website is all of that without spaces and a dot com)

February 15th
April 26th
May 17th and May 31st

Thanks for all those of you who read this and pray. We've had some challenges in the recent days... terrible threes with Joel, bullying of Caleb on the school bus, and vehicle stuff... news from my merchandising job... and health issues for Amy. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Keep praying! And thanks for checking in on this blog. We appreciate our friends, family and other folks that are "just friends we haven't met yet!"
God bless you!
Lonnie

"The Shack"

2009-01-04T23:24:00.004-05:00

I just finished reading the #1 NY Times Bestseller for Trade Paperback books. I know why this book has been flying off the shelves in the stores that I merchandised. It's filled with a treasure. I can't tell you exactly how it will affect you or is that effect you... I do know that if you take the time to actually read the book, not skim it, it will speak to you. All I know is that I'll never recover from reading this. You can find more information about this book at: theShackBook.com

Speaking January 4th at Niagara Alliance Church!

2008-12-31T00:09:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot to mention that I'll be speaking at Niagara Alliance Church January 4th. I had thought about a message this summer that I wanted to give... The God Question. I'm changing the title to: The Christ Question and running with it. I know that some of our friends will be there, and some of Amy's co-workers have been invited to come too. I believe God is going to use this message in a very wonderful way. If you are in the neighborhood come visit!

Peace!

Lonnie

Happy New Year and stuff...

2008-12-31T00:00:00.003-05:00

I can believe it has been almost a month since I posted anything! After starting at Niagara Alliance Church (see it on the web: niagaraalliance.com ) it's been nothing but full speed ahead! I'm beginning to settle in and really felt for the first time last Sunday that my feet were beginning to get under me! Last Sunday, Dec. 28th I was closing the service, since our pastor is on vacation, and was tying in the message about having an extravagant love for Christ. As I was closing the service I was talking about us climbing into our Fathers lap and letting Him hold us. Just at that moment my son Joel (3 yrs) ran up the isle and up onto the platform. He says loudly, "Daddy I need you!" I picked him up and held him. A collective "Ahh" came across the congregation. Tears were filling my eyes as I considered what a perfect illustration God had supplied for me and all there were there.
I'm reading "The Shack" and found it to be a breath of fresh air for my soul. Joel's sudden appearance at church and me picking him up was just a continuation of what I have been getting as I've read this book. I realize that difficult time and things happen to us, but the love of our Papa never fades... He's always there.

Sassy but funny...

2008-12-03T23:18:00.000-05:00

I asked Caleb to scrape his supper into the garbage bag. Before he thought to open it he started scraping. I asked him to "hold on a second! You have to open the bag first!" Caleb replies, "Do I look like I have three hands?!'

I have no idea where he heard that! But I was laughing.

Thanksgiving Workout

2008-11-27T22:11:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family!

It seemed funny tonight that we would gather and eat like pigs and then workout, but I admit, I saw it coming. My beautiful wife, Amy, is doing a "Biggest Loser" thing at work. And being the driven person that she is, I was guessing that she would come from work, eat the Thanksgiving meal and then get on the recumbent bike. Any doubts that this day of feasting and thanks giving would include 30 minutes to burn a couple calories were erased while I was eating my second plate of food. "I'm going to get on the bike after this." I heard. Crazy thing... After watching my bride pull off 30 minutes (and would have done more... if not for the need to do a flute lesson with our niece and then leave...), I sat at the seat to "give it a try". My try went 10 minutes. That's pretty good considering that I could only pull 6 + minutes on our elliptical machine. However I still managed to burn a good 100 calories myself. And when I thought I would pass out from the exertion, I was at least seated for a crash landing, should that occur... unlike our elliptical where I would have done a header into the boys toy box or face plant into the computer monitor. So I have reason to be thankful that we were able to "have our pie and eat it too" to change the quote. And hopefully from this tidbit a chuckle of laughter might be heard bounding from your throat. Possible a wry smile.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night...

The New Assistant Pastor of Worship!

2008-11-23T22:53:00.000-05:00

It's official today! They announced at Niagara Alliance Church that I was coming and will start December 1st to be ready for our first Sunday December 7th!

In fact at the website: niagaraalliance.com in the staff section Pastor Mark has already included me. :~D

Thank you for your prayers as we have been discerning God's plan for our lives and the direction He wants us to go. Please pray for out church as we begin the necessary task of transforming our worship experience (especially the music) to help us target a new generation for Christ, with out alienating the present generations!

Faith Factor

2008-11-19T22:31:00.000-05:00

As I was reading my devotions this past week the topic of faith came up. Pastor David Jeremiah (Turning Point Ministries and Shadow Mountain Community Church El Cajon, CA) pointed out how Jesus didn't do many miracles in one location. Why? Because of their faith. They just didn't believe Jesus was who He claimed to be or was able to do what He said he could do. What about today? Is it possible that we do not receive because we, as "People of faith", don't have faith?!

This hit pretty close to home. I've been trusting God to open doors, or so I've tried to convince myself. I'd been a bit anxious that this might not happen. But why? The whole Candidating process has gone well. The feedback I got was very possitive. My interaction with the Pastor has been great. But thinking that it was about 99% done had me thinking about the 1%. The 1% chance that the church will not have the funds or the Elder Board will embrace the thought they don't need to change. That's when I was challenged to believe that God covers the 1%. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and is more than able to provide. God moves the hearts of leadership. God is soverign. God is able... to do more than I could ask or imagine.

That is the faith factor. He can when I can't!

Seeing God's Favor

2008-11-11T16:15:00.000-05:00

I've prayed a prayer for some time that includes "Father, give me wisdom, understanding, discernment and favor with You and the right other people." It may seem like a funny thing to pray for favor with 'the right other people', but on Monday it was no coincidence that I got the right help.
It started for me when I couldn't get the cap off my tire stem to see if I could add some air into the tire. I pulled into Mr. Tire on Military Rd. in Niagara Falls, NY. They were busy enough but took the time to see if they could take a look at the tire for me. After pulling the tire off they noticed what looked like a drill bit (yea, I couldn't believe it!) in the sidewall of the tire. That renders the tire unrepairable. So after I explained that I would be able to replace my tire at another place they willingly took my spare tire from under the back of my KIA and placed it on the front and put the other tire in the back of the vehicle to get fixed. Now this doesn't seem astounding other than the fact that I didn't owe them anything for it. It was free. I have to say I am thankful for God's constant favor.

Now you can see why we're worn out!

2008-11-02T22:46:00.001-05:00

We've had so much going on recently it was nice to just catch a few winks. Funny thing was that as Amy was taking pictures I knew it and just laid there. :!) Another side note... after I saw the picture I was reminded of one in which I was half of Joel's size and was sound asleep on my dad's chest! Dad's are a safe haven for their kids, just ask Joel. Thank God for Dads!

You probably noticed that this is my fifth post for the same day. We really have been that busy! Glad to have the opportunity to put something up to show how the boys are growing and what we've been up to as of late.
Enjoy family and friends!

Look daddy... Joel with pineaple slices

2008-11-02T22:41:00.000-05:00

So while we were eating recently Joel picks up the pineapple slices and make them look like glasses, then he takes one and puts it over his head... "Daddy don't I look like an angel?!" We laughed... God certainly has a sense of humor so send us this extremely active boy!

Enjoy!

Update on me.

2008-11-02T22:36:00.000-05:00

I can officially say that I'm Candidating at Niagara Alliance Church on Nov. 15th and 16th. It's all a new thing for me because in the Free Methodist Church there was an interview and you either got it or didn't! This is much more like dating, then being engaged (Candidating) before saying, "I do."

I know that I'll be leading the music that Sunday and will be singing a solo and should find out more information soon. The 15th will be a 'meet-n-greet' with the congregation. Should be a good time! Thanks everyone for your prayers and support.
God bless you one and all!

Lonnie

Spiderman

2008-11-02T22:31:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we traveled to Letchworth State Park for a craft show. We never found the things Amy wanted, but Caleb got his face painted... Joel chickened out. So here's Spiderman!!!!
You might wonder what clown did this to my son. I honestly can't remember her name. :~)

Halloween Prize Kids!

2008-11-02T22:24:00.000-05:00

Grammy (Amy's mom) makes the costumes and then gets the satisfaction of saying, "Yea, I'm that good." This year Caleb, the Rhinestone Cowboy, got a 1st at his school and at the Ransomville Firehall. Joel, the skunk with flowers, got a 2nd at the Firehall. We have enough candy now that I should be in a sugar comma any day now...

Enjoy the pictures!

Verbal Spontaneous Prayer

2008-10-23T23:56:00.000-04:00

Caleb tonight started to follow my pattern of prayer.... which is that I just pray and thank God for things and ask for help along the way. Basically it's a verbal spontaneous prayer. I'm having an ongoing conversation where I include God. SO... tonight I'm sitting at the computer and I hear Caleb talking, "God help me to get through Mario level 8 please..." I asked him if he was praying and he said, "Yea Dad. I need God to help me win this." I responded that I wasn't sure if God was into answering prayers exactly like that, but I was pleased that he was praying. I trust the depth of Calebs prayers will grow as he places his faith in Jesus and walks humbly with Jesus through this life. I also realize that God even cares about the little things that we care about. Like trying to get through Mario level 8 or being the example that little people can follow. I know I'm being watched.

just struck me funny...

2008-09-16T22:51:00.000-04:00

So with Caleb in school all day now I have Joel all to myself on Tuesdays. Today we stopped in Tops to pick up some supper and as we were walking Joel says, "Dad, are you thinking what I'm thinking?!" I said, "Probably not. What are you thinking?!" His eyes had zeroed in on some cupcakes and that was what he was thinking. That certainly wasn't what I was thinking... the donuts were trying to get my attention at that moment. Thankfully we were able to escape the temptation before it became too much.

Seriously... how many 2 year olds say, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?!"

Cast your vote here...

Misc. Stuff

2008-09-08T21:26:00.002-04:00

As the saying goes much water has passed under the bridge... and in some locations that water has taken out a bride or two... just not where I live. But I digress...

I'm thankful for the opportunities that I've gotten to lead worship at my church through Sept. 7th. I know our Worship Leader was needing a bit of a break and it worked out well.

So we've been busy this summer with all of these wonderful opportunities and I have gratefully offered them up to the Lord as an offering. I believe God has been honored and is pleased to receive the worship due his Name.

This past week Caleb started Kindergarten. We did the usual photos and video of him getting on the bus. What we didn't anticipate was the response of Joel, our almost 3 year old. Joel was ready to run after the bus to either get Caleb back or go with him! There were tears as I held him and then he went back in the house with Amy (mommy). I drove to the school to drop off Caleb's supplies and meet him at the bus as he got off. He was so surprised but very pleased to see me. We got to his room and got him all settled in. I left to take the camera back to Amy to show the pictures and video that I'd taken before heading to work.
So far things have gone well. We're only 4 days in, but it's been a good ride so far. (knock on wood...)

We are anticipating taking care of some home projects that have become an issue as of this past week. Thankfully my dad will be flying in to help with them the first part of October. I always learn more every time I work with him. I look forward to that time even though it will be a bit busy.

Lastly I trust that God will open a door of opportunity for me soon. I have been completely overwhelmed by the responses I've gotten about the speaking and music. In fact, Linda from my church said to me, "I've come to the conclusion that you need your own church to pastor!" All I know is that all things are in God's timing. My prayer is reflected in the lyrics by Charlie Hall "let your sovereign providential hand lead me."

Worship on the Water and such...

2008-08-12T02:58:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday (August 10th) was my last time to speak at the Worship on the Water event. Being able to have three opportunities to speak and lead worship was tremendous! In reflecting on the times I've spoken this Summer and in the past 4 years I can say that these have been good and growth filled. It's humbling when you finish the service and hear people applaud. It's humbling because I know that the gifts are all from God. Anything good that happens is from God and the glory belongs to Him. That said, humanly speaking, it reaffirms the Calling of God on my life and the purposes that I said, "YES" to years ago. And the feedback that I've gotten has been encouraging. One comment this past week centered on how I've really improved in my delivery from the first time I spoke 4 summers ago until that day. The question I have to answer is, "Am I growing or staying stagnant?!" It's easy to just pull out an old message and polish it up, and I did that Sunday, but I also started a second message before that which I intend to finish! Given the opportunity to speak. I will do so. It's entitled , "The God Question".
It's a question that we all have to answer at some point, and one that deepens with every "yes".

Getting back to the original thought... as much as the people who came to hear me were blessed I would say that I've been just as blessed and encouraged. It affirms that God uses His people from his "catholic... universal" church. My church family has been so supportive also, but having people that are not directly related saying the same thing has to be a God thing. I've had people tell me that I need a church or that I should start a new work. We'll see what God has planned. As He opens the doors I'm going through!

Peace to you...

"Where is Jesus?"

2008-08-12T02:45:00.000-04:00

Today I was having a small skirmish with my 5 year old about not bringing a toy into the grocery store. It was not going well. As I helped him out of the vehicle my 2 year old, Joel, suddenly asks, "Where is Jesus?'
I was immediately checked in my spirit about the bout I was finishing and then replied, "He's right here with us."

We might be asking the same question... "where is Jesus?" as we got news that my wife has an additional heart condition called Ventricular Tachycardia. It's a completely different part of the heart and explained why Amy was feeling pretty lousy in the past year with episodes of pressure coming up into her neck and feeling like she would black out. The condition can be fatal, but the doctor felt that as long as her heart was strong it would break out of the bad rhythm. Still it was a shock. In all of this I was reminded that Jesus is still right here. Nothing has essentially changed except that we know we must lean more heavily on Jesus than we have in the past. Faith isn't faith till it's exercised, and we are working those faith muscles right now. We trust that whatever happens that God will have His hand in it to bring good through the bad. He never wastes an opportunity to grow us into the image of Jesus.

Thanks for your prayers!
Lonnie

Added to schedule!

2008-07-31T23:12:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update for August.

I will be speaking at the Worship on the Water Sunday at 8:45am as well as speaking at my church at the 10am service!

Also, I will be leading worship at my church (Cornerstone Community Church: see website: cornerstoneoncapen.com) August 17th and 24th! I hear the messages will be "wet" and hopefully 'whet' some appetites!

Thank you all for praying! God is doing things even now that we cannot see...

Oh... And we got pictures taken too!

2008-07-25T00:28:00.000-04:00

Go to:

michaelalanphoto.net

You'll see that he has a blog and other information listed. In his blog he placed 4 pictures of us that he took on Tuesday July 22nd. There will be more coming, but for now it's a taste of what we experienced as we had our photo shoot at the Japanese Garden in Buffalo, NY.

ENJOY!
Lonnie

The message: God Love You: As You Are, Where You Are!

2008-07-25T00:06:00.000-04:00

God Loves You: As you are, where you are

Rev. Lonnie Thoms

July 20, 2008

Speaking at: Worship on the Water & Cornerstone Community Church

I recently saw a sign on Niagara Falls Boulevard that read: “We finance your future, not your past.”

I found it quite intriguing… In a small way they are suggesting that what you did in the past isn’t being held against you. It’s not about past mistakes, it’s about the present and future.

The unfortunate thing as we get older is that we get more skeptical about whether a person can change. We hear rhetorical statements like: “Can a leopard change its spots?”; “Can a tiger change its stripes?”

Even people who “get religion” are looked at suspiciously. They just wait for them to mess up to point a finger at and say, “See, I told you it doesn’t work!”

What they are suggesting is that suddenly the person should have sprouted wings and a halo and begun to live like a saint, perfect in all aspects of their life. That’s a myth, and it isn’t what the bible teaches. The bible teaches that everyone has messed up, ( Romans 3:23 for all have sinned…) but that through Jesus Christ, God made a way for us to be forgiven and start again (Acts 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ) . It tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

There is a definite work that is begun in the heart of the person. The bible tells us in Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” It’s going to take time.

I’m not an expert on restoring classic cars by any stretch of my imagination, but I know that it takes time and care to make that pile of metal into something you can take to the car show. One man sees a pile of junk and another sees a classic waiting to become what it was meant to be. There in lies the difference.

Someone here needs to know that God loves you as you are, where you are. He thinks you are valuable enough that He’s going to put time and energy into you. He wants to adopt you into His family (Ephesians 1:5 he decided beforehand (predestined) that we should be adopted as his children…).

Speaking of adoption, I read a touching story on Sunday July 13^th from MSNBC about Emma Grace.

AP story: EMMA’S GRACE:

You see, Emma was given up not once, but twice — once by her 23-year-old birth mother, a drug user who knew she could never care for the baby, and then by a 48-year-old adoptive mother who backed out when she learned of Emma's heart condition. When Daniel & Elizabeth Monroe heard about this little girl they knew that God had answered their prayers. Unphased by the heart condition they considered her worth taking home and keeping and loving. It’s truly a wonderful story. (Picture by: Wilfredo Lee / AP)

It illustrates a great truth about how God sees you and I. It doesn’t matter the condition of our heart or the cost to care for us, to adopt us into His family, God was willing to take care of everything. And in Jesus Christ he did. The bible says in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Verse 17 continues “God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” God sent Jesus to redeem us, to buy us back. And anyone who believes in Jesus, not just about Jesus, but place their faith in Jesus, would have everlasting life.

The world believes in reinventing ourselves. The God of the Bible believes in reconstruction from the inside out. It’s not about outward tattoos, piercing, or hair products, it’s about the God of the universe living in us and changing us moment by moment, day by day, with His Holy Spirit. You can see the damage that unholy spirits cause, imagine the power of the Holy Spirit living and working in you and I!

Someone here just can’t. Can’t wrap their head and heart around the idea.

That’s because you’ve never met people like my friend Darrell, who was in bondage to drugs and alcohol when God got a hold of Him and changed his life. Darrell is a pastor today in Wisconsin because God can change the life of anyone.

You don’t know Hanson. A former card carrying Atheist. Yes, I said former. You see as much as she didn’t want to intellectually believe that Jesus Christ was real, she came into contact with people who have been changed by God, and ultimately she couldn’t run from God. I remember the day she burst into my office. She said, “Pastor, I have to talk with you NOW!” “I was minding my own business headed to class when all of a sudden I hear this, ‘Hanson do you believe in me?’. And before I could say, ‘no’ I said, “Yes, Jesus I believe in you.” “I couldn’t deny that Jesus was God at that moment!” Needless to say, she was pretty animated and the profanity was flying and I was telling myself, “WOW God got a hold of Hanson!” She was in a bit of a quandary because she was on her way to have lunch with three of the top women atheists in Iowa City, IA. She asked, “Do I go?” And I said, “YEA! You go and tell them what just happened.” So she did and came back to me telling me how venomous their attack was when she explained that she had come to believe in Jesus Christ. She’s got an amazing story.

God loves you, as you are, where you are.

It’s hard to believe that sometimes when you come into contact with people who call themselves Christians and yet stand in judgment on you. Giving you the look. Acting all self-righteous and all. I apologize for them and ask that you look in the bible at how God sees you and how Jesus interacted with others. Two quick real stories from the bible… they happen to involve two women. (I actually summarized the two passages and encouraged everyone to actually read it to see if I was telling the truth!)

John 4 (New International Version)

1 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

17 "I have no husband," she replied.

Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."

32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"

34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

John 8 (New International Version)

1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

CLOSING for Worship on the Water:

You see God loves you, as you are, where you are. But because He loves you He doesn’t want to leave you in the sin and the mess but wants to clean you up inside out.

Someone is saying to themselves… “That’s nice, but I’ll come to God when I get my act together.” You don’t get cleaned up to take a bath do you?! That’s crazy! But that’s what we you suggest… I can pull myself together. Truth be told we can’t keep it together that long. Maybe 3 months before we get sucked back in. God knows we can’t do it. He gave the 10 commandments to show us that apart from Him we can’t live all that out either. Summed up (Luke 10:27) Jesus said those commandments meant to love God and others. And you know that it’s pretty difficult to forgive another person when they wrong you. That’s why we need God. Because His power working in us makes us what we aught to be, and deep down, what we really long to be.

Today is your day if you have never placed your faith in Jesus. You can make up all the excuses but the truth is your beef isn’t with me, it’s with God. He’s got the final say according to the Bible. This isn’t a condemnation, it’s an encouragement. God does love you, as you are, where you are. Today will you love Him back, as you are, where you are?

I’m not a high powered pressure salesman, so if you need some time I’ll understand. I have a business card that you can take to contact me later, or if you attend a church that really does believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be, your pastor can have that conversation with you. I just encourage you to do it soon.

Thanks for listening. I pray that you never recover from today.

(Church Closing)

Our encouragement as a Church is to show the kindness and love of Christ to others. You’ve probably heard the saying, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Remember the kids? I tried this once before… wrap your arms around yourself. Now try to hug someone. It doesn’t work does it?! That’s because we have to open ourselves up. You have to embrace the other person. I’m not suggesting that we take on the other persons habits and hang ups… I’m saying that we have to walk with them a while to gain their trust, and to keep it, we have to continually come back to the biblical model of relationship which involves loving others unconditionally… no strings attached. There are people that rub us the wrong way, but even the bible tells us in 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

May the Lord make us a community of unity.

I was watching the movie 10,000 BC and toward the end a conversation started about the kind of people there are out there. Some have a circle only big enough for themselves. Others enlarge their circle to include a few more. Still others enlarge their circle so much that they can encompass more people.

What kind of church are we? What kind of church do we want to be? Who we impact will determine the size of circle that we are willing to create together. As a point of reference, God’s circle included everyone. God loves them as they are, where they are. Will we?

God's Pottery

2008-07-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

I really enjoy watching comedy. Cleaner the better. And when I turned on Last Comic Standing I saw two guys that made me at first wonder, "Are they for real or are they just mocking Christians?"
All I know is that they are funny and have a great thing going with the L & L... Laugh and Learn.
Check out their website at:
God's Pottery

I think you'll be walking around with a song stuck in your head too! "Who loves Jesus more than anyone else?! You say, "I love Jesus more than anyone else." You say, "Who loves Jesus more than anyone else?!" I say, "I love Jesus more than anyone else." Team Jesus... Get on it!

Applause for a Sermon?!?!

2008-07-24T23:37:00.001-04:00

Sunday was an amazing day. I got to speak at the Worship on the Water event and then go to my church and speak again. The message was entitled: God Loves You: As You Are, Where You Are!
And because of the differing crowds I had alternate endings and a bit different slant that I used. As I finished the message at the Worship On The Water they applauded! I was concerned that they were GLAD I had finished! But the comments from people afterwards were warm and very encouraging. I heard some say they were looking forward to hearing me speak again on August 10th! I don't do this for the money (because there is none!) or applause but to communicate the truth of God to people who need to hear it!

We finished, we, as in I and my boys, and headed off to services. After the music and announcements I had the children's moment. God had given me a thought to consider while in Iowa about how receptive we are to others in the form of a hug. I got plenty of hugs from my boys as they pledged to help me, and then I asked my son Caleb to wrap his arms around himself and I did the same. Then I said, "OK, hug me!" Of course we really couldn't! It seemed silly and absurd, but the truth is that to embrace others we have to have our arm open.

Moving into the message my emphasis wasn't to convert the converted, but to convince the converted that our church will only get as large as we are willing to allow it. In other words, friendliness has to look and feel friendly, not fake or forced. People need to have a genuine feeling that they belong here too. God loves them as they are, where they are and wants to change their lives for the good. So that's basically how I ended the message. As I closed the service I was prompted to talk about myself and my testimony of living a clean cut life, but still needing Christ. After the service I was approached and told that our 98 year old member would be so blessed to hear this message. Then another person said, "That was great!" Another said, "I don't remember such a natural invitation to follow Christ. It flowed so perfectly." All I know is that it was God working through me. I sat down and hammered out 3/4 of the message the Monday night before. It just flowed onto the page. I am humbled that God would use me. I'll post the message with the alternate endings in another blog for those who want to read it. All Glory to God!
Lonnie

Wedding Thoughts...

2008-07-14T23:47:00.000-04:00

The wedding I officiated recently was at Terrapin Point right next to Niagara Falls, as in, you can hear and see the water flowing over the falls. Being where it is, there are other guests that are actually tourists from across the country and world. What made the ceremony interesting was the end. You have 50 invited guests along with about 100 uninvited tourist guests that have been shooting footage of this wondrous occasion, and then the announcement comes, “Please join us at the Top of the Falls Restaurant for the reception to follow.” Uh Oh!

Immediately I think, “Hey, I have to say INVITED guests only!”

And then it hits me... the similarities between Jesus story about the wedding and those invited. In Matthew 22:14 it says, “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” You could say that because we were in a very public place there were extra guests, but only those that received an invitation, those that were chosen to be there could be part of the reception. Interestingly enough we actually had someone follow the Wedding party up to the top only to be told, “you can't be part of this”.

In this day and age so many people have begun to believe that everyone is going to heaven. That God isn't going to exclude anyone. The bible doesn't teach that. And this wedding experience pointed that out to me. Was the wedding open to everyone? Sure it was. Were all those people chosen to be part of the celebration afterward? No. We we trying to be mean and exclusive? No, but there were people we didn't know. Likewise on the day Jesus returns those who have not a personal relationship with Him will not be counted among His own.

How do you get chosen? How do you get to go? The bible says there is only ONE way, and it is through Jesus. Begin by confessing your sin and agreeing (repenting) that God's way is the right and only way to be saved from sin and for heaven. Without repentance there is no relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Just being a good person doesn't cut it. It is my grace through faith that you are saved. God shows mercy to you by not giving you what you deserve... hell and eternal separation from Him. And He shows grace to you by giving you what you could never earn, unmerited favor with Him... a personal relationship, being declared right in His sight.

If you want to know more contact me, I'm more than glad to answer questions and dialog.

God bless! Lonnie

Updated Speaking List!

2008-07-01T20:09:00.000-04:00

Here's the newest list of when and where I'll be speaking this Summer!

Cornerstone Community Church - for directions check the website: cornerstoneoncapen.com
July 20th at 10 am
August 3rd at 10 am

Worship on the Water at Longs Homestead in Tonawanda, NY by the Erie Canal
July 20th at 8:45 am (yea I know... I'll be making a quick exit that day!)
August 10th at 8:45 am

I will probably have more dates posted in the near future!

Thanks and God bless!
Lonnie

Speaking Dates So far...

2008-06-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

Just to let everyone know, I'll be speaking and doing the music for the "Worship On The Water" services at Longs Homestead by the Canal in Tonawanda, NY on July 20 and August 10th. It starts at 8:45am. Come on out and have a great time!

Lonnie

Didn't forget you...

2008-06-15T23:24:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it was May20th on my last post! SORRY!
Well... we've been busy. Finally nailed the whole claim thing down on the prize which helped us to take a very needed vacation! My pictures are on Facebook if you are interested in seeing some.
We had a great time and to be honest I think I could move down there in a heart beat and be just fine. Of course Amy reminded me that we wouldn't have the $$ to live by the ocean... that popped my dream bubble... oh well...

We had a Pre-K graduation and today was Father's Day. I was asked to play just yesterday for Church leading the second service. I'm pretty sure that I won't do that again! I felt so unprepared. None the less, it wasn't bad for what it was. The best part of the day was having my boys sit and sing during the first service. They actually stayed in the seats... this was a drastic improvement from three weeks earlier when I spoke... they were up at the altar with their hot wheels cars... Today we got "cute" as they sat and hugged each other and Joel gave Caleb his big brother kisses. They participated in the Children's moment by helping to sing the "12 Spies Song"... 12 spies went to spy on Canaan 10 were bad and 2 were good... of course their version was a bit different... but the boys were great... Joel kept doing the 'looking' sign through the last time through. After talking about having courage the kids were headed down stairs. I asked Joel if he was ready to go and got the normal yes head nod. Then he turns back and says, "Daddy I need you to go with me." So with his hand in mine we head down to Sunday School where he lets go and races for the rocking horse on the springs... the teacher says they are ready and he walks right in and I walk right up to listen to the message. I keep thinking to myself about how many times I've been told to cherish these moments... the times where Joel turns and says he needs me. Or the few times now that Caleb says, "that's a daddy project!" I'm sure that in the next 16 years I'll have plenty of "Daddy Projects" to help complete. And I'll cherish those times.

our latest news

2008-05-20T00:53:00.000-04:00

We've been busy here. Still waiting to get the prize from the contest... all forms have been filed, so now it's a waiting game.

Caleb finally got to ride the bike he got for Christmas from "Santa". Amy took him around the block and said, "he's a natural!" I think I'd be too with training wheels. (see picture)

Joel is healing up after his climbing accident. A cut under his nose and above his top lip for his efforts. He still didn't learn the lesson about climbing... he cried out, "HELP DADDY I'M STUCK!" I found him attempting to get a movie down from my book shelf in the basement. Thankfully that shelf is firmly attached!

Also... If you in the Buffalo area Sunday I'm speaking! for directions and times check out: cornerstoneoncapen.com that's the website for Cornerstone Community church.

We know what we won!!!!

2008-05-07T23:32:00.000-04:00

We just found out today!!! Seems that they had my last name spelled wrong as Thorns instead of Thoms (you could see how someone might make that mistake). As well, they missed a 9 in our 999 address. SO... the stuff that was supposedly sent by mail showed up two days later at our door step by Fed Ex. But before the Fed Ex guy came they e-mailed us with what we won.

The suspense must be killing you...

We won the Family Portrait Package which includes:

-A family portrait session with a professional photographer in the town where you reside
-Custom framing
-$5,000.000 spending money
-One (1) $500.00 NickShop.com Gift Card

They explained that it was all random. And it was worth $6,500.00.

We can't begin to say thanks again for all your help. Thanks to your votes there are two boys that are ecstatic with joy! Please know that we could never pay each and everyone back, but we know that God will bless each of you in ways that you may not see coming. Thank you all again!

Lonnie, Amy, Caleb and Joel.
Thanks.

Still waiting...

2008-04-29T22:00:00.002-04:00

We received an e-mail on Monday congratulating us for being winners. It told us that another company would be "shortly" contacting us to tell us what prize we have won. It also said that all prizes would be awarded "randomly"... so we have no idea what we'll be getting! Hopefully we'll be contacted tomorrow. Stay tuned for more information as we know it!

Lonnie

The boys video thank you!

2008-04-26T14:04:00.003-04:00

here's an extra thank you from the boys!

Thank you and dance!

2008-04-26T13:48:00.003-04:00

As you know we ended up 111 votes short, but still, 2nd place is pretty impressive! We were the "pace car" for most of this contest and will know exactly what we've won on Monday after they e-mail us the "official" results. I could say we smelled something 'fowl' going on and wouldn't you know it was that turkey! Thank you for helping us run a great race!

Here's the dancing video from the boys:

Finishing the race!

2008-04-18T23:50:00.002-04:00

As you can see at chryslerjimmyadventures.com we have an unbelievable lead! We got out and got our neighbors voting. We got the Rite Aid people voting. We got Pizza Hut on Grand Island voting. We pulled people from College and High School that I graduated with and they are voting!

We know that there is no way we would be in this position without you guys. THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!

Look out for that turkey!

2008-04-06T16:11:00.003-04:00

If you've been following our march to win the chryslerjimmyadventures.com contest then you've probably noticed that there is a turkey gaining on us! I'm not talking about the cute little girl, I'm talking about the Thanksgiving Turkey behind her!
They picked up 463 votes yesterday. We picked up 373. I figure that if we average 400 (as we have this past week) and they continue to get at least that many votes they will over take us in 7 days. SO... friends, family, co-workers, friends of our friends, cyber voyeurs... WE NEED YOUR VOTE!
We can't make any hollow promises about how your grass will look greener or how whiter your teeth will be, but we can promise to post plenty of pictures here on this blog and send out sincere THANK YOUS to everyone.
I don't know if it will change the world, but I do know that two little boys will look back at this point in their history and be in awe at how they were supported and cheered on!

Thanks again for voting... Vote for caleb and joel

Glitch fixed contest extended to April 25th!

2008-03-21T22:03:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! They fixed the glitch! Unfortunately all the votes before today (3/21) were not added in. So everyone started at zero for the day. Because of this they extended the contest till 4/25/08. We so appreciate you our friends and family being part of this with us. Right now as of this moment we have 79 votes and are in 2nd place. The first place is at 88. It trails off after us with 57 and 55 votes respectively. The system refreshes the vote total every two hours so this may not be all of the votes yet for the day.

Thanks again for being part of this fun contest!

Lonnie, Amy, Caleb, Joel and (Jimmy Neutron!)

THE LINK IF YOU MISSED IT: Vote Chrysler Jimmy Adventures

Voting Glitches being fixed...

2008-03-20T23:41:00.002-04:00

We've gotten word that even though people are voting they are having a problem with the tabulation being correctly displayed. They assured us that all votes are being counted and by morning on March 21st they should have the glitch fixed.

Thank you everyone for your support! Keep those votes coming!!!

Lonnie

VOTE - VOTE - VOTE

2008-03-18T23:22:00.003-04:00

Hey friends, family and people who just want to see what we are doing...

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! We're in the finals of the Chrysler Jimmy Adventures contest. The top 6 vote getters from March 18th to April 22nd get grand prizes!

To vote you need to go to: Vote Chrysler Jimmy Adventures

Once there you have to sign up for an account. Once you have an account you can return each day and vote. Our picture looks like this one. No names are attached to any of the photos, so hopefully our picture will help you find our boys!

Thanks so much for your help!

It did snow!

2008-03-10T18:26:00.003-04:00

I ended my last post with "let it snow..." And it did! We had officially 22 inches from Friday about 9am to Sunday morning 7am. And that was with two breaks in the snow!
Since we had the snow we thought it might be nice to get out and do something with it... TODAY

Enjoy the pictures!

If you don't like the weather just wait a day...

2008-03-05T03:12:00.002-05:00

Sunday we were sledding. Monday we were grilling with 63 degree weather and mostly sunny skies! Tuesday we watched as the clouds came back and brought sleet and freezing rain, enough for ice skating... As I write it's finally turned to all snow again. They are telling us that there is a "possibility" not "probability" of serious accumulating snows on Friday night into Saturday. So.. mom in Wisconsin, we may get that snow dumped on us yet! But thanks for the offer and the books for the boys. Amy sat down with Caleb tonight and had him sound out words. She said, "His face just lit up when he realized that he was reading!" We register him for school March 18-20th. He won't actually start till the end of August or beginning of September. I can't believe my baby is going to start Kindergarten in the Fall.

Oh well... let it snow...

Sledding Fun!

2008-03-02T19:47:00.004-05:00

So we finally got some snow and it was actually warm enough to enjoy it too... note: not 9 degrees and then 38 and melted away...

Any how, we all got to have fun. I got to do most of the pulling up the hill. Caleb asked me, "Why did you push us so hard?" And to be honest we didn't push all that hard it was just steep enough and the boys were just heavy enough together that they picked up some good speed. Lots of fun in a 30 minutes work out.

So in other fun facts this week... Joel decided to take his PJ pants off and slide down the stairs in his diaper. Upon reaching half way I heard a, "Oh... OH!!!!!!!!!" Yea, he had two light red patches on the back of his legs. He said, "I'm wounded!" So we put some Desitin on it and by morning he was good to go.

That's about all for now that I can post. We'll let you know when they post the picture of the boys on the web site for the Chrysler Jimmy Adventures thing on March 18th!!!

Peace to you all!
Lonnie

Good news!

2008-02-10T11:02:00.000-05:00

While we were all sitting at home trying to get over some nasty bug that has had us ALL down for over a week now... (ARGH!) watching the movie "The Gameplan" (I laughed, I cried, it moved me...) The doorbell rang and there was a pounding at the back door. Caleb sprung up and flew to the door, opening it. Normally that isn't a good thing, however, it was the FedEx guy. Caleb retrieved the package and handed it to me. It was from, "Meredith Corporation" (I think magazines... Better Homes and Gardens, Renovation Style, etc..) I knew exactly what it was!

We had entered an online contest that Meredith Corporation sponsors. Chrysler Jimmy (Neutron) Adventures. To enter we took a cutout of Jimmy Neutron standing next to a Chrysler Van and had Joel hold the picture out as we took a picture of he and Caleb. The picture had to be about a memorable time and we decided that we'd visit our good friends Tim and Amy Newman at the City of Tonawanda Fire Department Headquarters for a tour and picture adventure. The last picture we took of Caleb and Joel, they were wearing their "Fire Chief" hats and standing by a fire truck... Joel held out the Jimmy picture and Caleb held a fire hose. PERFECT!

We went online and submitted it along with our description of why it was memorable and... now we are one of 20 finalists (at least that's the number they were picking from all the entries). From the final 20 there are 6 grand prize winners. Each of the prizes is worth an estimated $6,500.00. They range from a trip to Orlando, FL to the Nick theme hotel (with spending money, car rental, etc) to a $5,000.00 Best Buy Card and a $1,000 Nick Store card.

OK... so we have signed and had our papers notarized and they are being sent back even now.
The next step of choosing the 6 Grand Prize winners comes March 18th to April 22nd. (unless they change something.) YOUR votes will help determine the winner of the contest! So when we know something more we will post it here.

We are sooooooo excited here about this. God is good!

Lonnie

When you wonder...

2008-01-27T22:50:00.000-05:00

Every day it seems I hear about someone with cancer for the first time, or coming out of remission like my friend Jeffery in Indianapolis whose wife has brain cancer (PLEASE PRAYER FOR MELISSA). Other times it is the most unbelievable things that happen to someone. Like my wife's co-worker that had been attacked and beaten in the head left for dead. Amy tells me a few months ago that he was in the hospital and she didn't think he'd make it. Probably be a 'vegetable'. A few months later Amy tells me that he was up and visited their floor at the hospital. But he was acting like a little child. I started to pray for Him that God would restore all that was taken from him, health wise. It was so unjust what had happened to him. There is more to his story, but suffice it to say, he definitely got the wrong end of the stick this past year.
Time passes and I wonder if anything has happened and if God was listening and going to act on his behalf... this past week I picked up a piece of paper with his name and phone number on it. I asked Amy, "Hey, what's this?!" She proceeds to tell me that amazingly enough one day he woke up and had unbelievable pain in his head. The doctors didn't just medicate him for the pain, but let him continue to heal up. Long story short... it's as if he's never missed a beat mentally. He tested out to come back to work as a nurse and it's almost like he's completely back to normal.

New story... some missionary friends were headed back to the mission field after some time off. They made a stop in the Phillippines to adopt another little boy (#2). They had two big issues. 1. to get back to their home having only 3 confirmed seats and needing a 4th. 2. Their work visa's would expire at the end of the month.
They sent an e-mail to ask for prayer. The flight they needed was only weekly and no stand by passengers were able to go in the past few weeks... besides the flights were booked through February. One option which the airlines allowed, was for them to buy a stand by ticket and allow the mom and two boys to have the confirmed seats. The dad would have to wait to see if a seat would open.
Long story short, again, as he waited they called his name and he was allowed to board and sit WITH HIS FAMILY!

I post this because at times in our lives we wonder "God with all this junk going on are you still there? Do you still answer prayer?"
I have two requests that were answered here. My mom told me of another lady who had cancer and the treatments were not working... when she visited the Doctor he was able to tell her that the cancer was gone. She's going for a second opinion. I like the first one! But I'm believing that God will give her the same results.
I'm reminded that God, "never slumbers or sleeps." He's never off duty and even when I see something it's not all that is going on in this world.
If you are going through "it", what every "it" may be, know that God is actively looking to work in the lives of people who will seek Him.
Oh, and if I can help pray and see God's hand moved on your behalf then let me know. I guarantee that God will be glorified, not me. This isn't about me. It's about God who is still working in our world healing people and changing lives.

When you wonder... remember the truth: God is there and He loves you more than you or I can ever imagine.
A friend in Jesus,
Lonnie

Caleb's questions

2008-01-15T21:57:00.000-05:00

As a dad I get asked plenty of questions. Yesterday the conversation started when Caleb asked me: "Daddy, do you like girls?" I replied that I did. Then I asked him if he liked girls. He said no. I then asked him, "What about mommy? She's a girl." Caleb says, "Yea, I like mommy, but I'm under control." I still don't know exactly what he means there but it seemed like a funny one.

Tonight I asked Caleb again if he like girls and he said, "not all of them, just a few." And then he named three girls from "school" (day care) that he likes. Speaking of which... on Saturday January 12th we were at a birthday party for Carson, who is in Caleb's class at "school". I asked Caleb about one of the girls. He tells me her name and then says, "Yea, were married, I just don't have a ring on my finger." Thankfully he's 5 years old or I think I would have had a heart attack and fell over dead.

I'll post again when I have another spare moment. Life is really picking up and if you are a person of prayer would you fire a few toward heaven? Thanks!

Visiting Family in Indiana!

2008-01-01T22:26:00.000-05:00

We were so pleased to get the chance to drive to Indiana to see my sister and her family as well as "Papa Larry and Grandma Donna". It was the first time my sister was able to meet Joel our 2 year old and our first chance to see their new home (aka, "nice bed and breakfast ya got here" the house was twice our house size...). The boys had a great time and we were all so thankful to be able to be together if even for just a couple days. You'll notice the rare picture of my sister, dad and I. Also you see for the first time in a photo my sister's girls and my boys with Papa Larry and Grandma Donna. We certainly treasure these memories.
Enjoy our pictures!
Lonnie

Caleb's Santa Sighting

2008-01-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

Live from our living room Christmas morning Caleb gave us the scoop on his Santa sighting. Enjoy the video!

Merry Christmas! (the holiday that I celebrate...)

2007-12-25T00:54:00.000-05:00

I laugh when I hear "Happy Holidays". I know that for the better part of my life the only "holidays" were Christmas and New Year's. It's funny to hear people explain why they say "holidays" instead of "Christmas"... "I didn't want to offend anyone by saying Christmas"... I'm offended that you didn't say Christmas. Which holiday were you celebrating? Kawanza? I'm not that ethnicity. I'm not actually Jewish, but I do serve the Jewish King of kings and Lord of lord's. I celebrate Christmas... Thanks for reading my mini rant... now for what I wanted to say...

Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas! So many of you have sent cards or pictures and encouraged us to do the same. We intend to after the 1st of January... but receive from us a warm and genuine "THANK YOU!". We so appreciate your friendship and for so many, the prayers, that you've lifted for us.
We still need your prayers. I'm at a cross roads of sorts and will need to see what God would have us do. Some interesting things have come to light and more than anything I want to hear God's voice and be obedient to it. I've been reminded that if I seek first His Kingdom that He'll take care of the rest. So I'm seeking the Great One who became flesh and pitched his tent under our skies that we would have hope.

God bless you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Love,
Lonnie, Amy, Caleb and Joel

Caleb turns 5!

2007-12-25T00:28:00.000-05:00

It just seems like yesterday when I, a new dazed and confused dad, followed a little 9 lb 2 oz baby to the nursery. I remember the next morning when they brought him in and we saw him struggling to breathe that it seemed our joy would be dashed upon the rocks of tragedy. Later we learned his lung was punctured and he would need to be in an oxygen tent for a few days while it healed up, as well he would be put on antibiotics for 10 days... Amazingly enough after that speed bump he's been fairly healthy since (other than an occasional cold or flu).
In the picture Caleb's excited about his 3rd remote control car. (Yea it's #3... Joel likes this one because it has wheels that light up, so maybe Caleb can share.) In the other picture Caleb's standing in his new Larryboy PJ's (he likes them, but said "Spiderman is better." Sorry Veggie Tales...) next to the Thomas the Tank cake... not Buzz Lightyear (another favorite), but it did the job, this year... better not make that mistake next year or I may be disowned... Nah!!!! I'm still his favorite . I can't believe it's been 5 years now, but it has and I'm trying to enjoy these moments. Hopefully ya'll are enjoying them with me. God has been so good to us... we didn't even know if we would have any kids...
I pray every night with Caleb and for Caleb (Joel too...) I know that his future is shaped by the faith he sees lived out. I believe God has amazing things planned for this little boy, if you don't believe, as my mom says, "you just hide and watch!".

Gala Ball then snow...

2007-12-16T22:00:00.000-05:00

We are officially on the march toward Christmas with 7 days till Caleb's birthday and Christmas at 9 days... Being that time of year we started our Christmas (note that is the 'holiday' I celebrate) season with Aunt Jodie's (affectionately called GoGo) Gala Ball. Here are a few of the pictures of the boys and Amy and I. We all had a good time watching the boys dance and visit with Santa, etc. Enjoy the pictures!
Lonnie

TSO Christmas Concert HSBC Arena

2007-11-25T22:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight Amy and I took Caleb to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We sat with Amy's sister, Tracy, her boyfriend Chris and cousins; Tori, Justin and Calli (Amy's sister, Jodie's daughter).

Amy and I went to see TSO two years ago with my Dad and his wife Donna... we all had a great time. We decided that when we thought Caleb was old enough that we'd take him. So, we did. The great thing about being a dad is that you get a first hand look at the reactions. This was Caleb's 1st TSO concert, and probably not his last. They started and it was full on lights, music, smoke effects... and Caleb's mouth was wide open. Shortly after that his hands were on his ears as it was all a bit too loud with the tubes in his ears working perfectly. But, he adjusted and just soaked it all in. We asked him what he liked best and he said, "THE WHOLE THING!" Yea, he thought the pyro was cool with colors changing from red to white to yellow/green. He thought that the raging guitars was cool... along with the drums and everyone else playing on stage. He was enamored with the lazer lights and the use of smoke and "snow" that the lights hit. You could see him pointing toward the top of the arena at the points where the lazers pointed to... it was an amazing thing to him. A night he won't forget.

Personally, I loved the first part of their concert. It's their story that they weave narrative with music and song and lighting and "snow" to communicate the Good News of Jesus in a way that is almost non-detectable. For me, the music to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" was so moving as I recalled the words... "let nothing you dismay... remember Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day... to save us all from Satan's power when we had gone astray..." Tears filled my eyes, just as it had the first time I heard this in their concert. It's like 'going to church' at times though that first part of the concert. A great message of hope is communicated in a most modern and captivating way. Contrast with the second half and well... I like the music, but it was more about "hey we're a great group of musicians and look at us...". I could have left after the first half and been quite satisfied. The second half was like the feeling you get when you've gotten way past the "full" point on Thanksgiving... too much.

So as I walk away from that event I say to myself (again) there should be a way to use this technology in a way that communicates the Good News of Jesus all year long. I've seen the Blue Man Group twice and now TSO twice. I am amazed at what can be done with the mediums of our day to communicate a message. I would love to see that message be about Jesus.

Birthday party at Rollie Pollies

2007-11-25T22:18:00.000-05:00

Caleb and Joel were invited to Luke's 2nd birthday party at Rollie Pollies in East Amherst, NY. Luke is the son of Michelle, Amy's co-worker at ECMC.

Here's our boys having fun there! Enjoy!

"Most beautiful song I ever heard!" -Caleb

2007-11-09T23:45:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night on TV we watch Kid Nation together. This past week I had to work late so I missed the show. Amy calls me up on Thursday to tell me about what happened and Caleb's response. On Kids Nation they had a talent show and when it was over they asked about hidden talents. A girl got up to sing. Amy said, "She didn't look like much, but, MAN could that girl sing!" What she sang had Caleb's complete attention, jaw open, staring at the TV... Amazing Grace. At the end of the song Caleb said, "Mom, that's the most beautiful song I ever heard!" Amy was having a hard time holding tears back. When she told me the story I was working and trying not to cry myself. To further clarify what Caleb meant she asked him later at bed time. He said, "The words. Those words were beautiful."

Maybe as you are reading this you are trying to remember the words or maybe even singing the tune... Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see.

Do you hear the sound of "I forgive you"? Do you realize you were missing? Are you now seeing?
The view for me is getting better.

Birthday party at Kidzplay

2007-11-04T22:17:00.001-05:00

Birthdays are a big deal and we wanted to include the kids of Amy's co-workers and yet not mortgage the house... so we went to Kidzplay for Caleb and Joel's birthday party. They had a blast and got tired out from all the activity. We were really impressed with how smoothly the two hours went.
Enjoy the pictures... (oh yea cousins, Calli Jo, Tori and Justin were there too!)
Check out the cake too... Quite original... it's supposed to be Caleb and Joel in a ball pit after sliding down. We got a lot of comments about the cake!
Joel was 2 on October 6th and Caleb will be 5 on December 23rd. The November party is pretty close to being in the middle of their birthdays. It was also a chance for Caleb to have a somewhat "normal" birthday since his is so close to Christmas. They were very thankful for everything they got... including a TON of clothes. (well, they like the clothes and LOVED the toys... as a parent we were THRILLED with the clothes, especially the PJ's... Caleb came down in the middle of the night and said, "Daddy my toes hurt." His footsie Pj's were more than a bit tight on his toes and he had a light 'brush burn' on his big toes, which I fixed with triple antibiotic and band aids... oh, and PJ's without feet.)

Vacation Pictues!

2007-10-27T22:15:00.001-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip. We are still talking about it!
We were there with my Dad and his wife Donna from Iowa... so you'll see a picture of the boys with them here too. They had a great time also. We definitely picked the right time of year to go down there... good food, open beaches and wonderful weather! Enjoy!

We hit the ground running...

2007-10-24T23:53:00.000-04:00

We made it safely back from our trip to Myrtle Beach (actually it was Surfside Beach). The place was wonderful and the weather was pretty nice too! I'll post some pictures in a couple days as I've been running since I got back.... In between servicing my stores today we got a chance to meet with Tim and Amy Newman, who helped hook us up with our Condo (they allowed us to use their week. A big "Thank you" again to them. It's great to have such good friends.

One quick funny from our trip... Caleb and Joel kept calling Grandma Donna Thoms, Grandma Bundy... They must have thought that our most generous Grandma Bundy (my mom), who sends books, DVD's and such... it had to be her because she came with a bag of toys and a Veggie Tale movie for them to watch.

The boys became pretty attached. Joel and Caleb frequented "Pappa and Grandma's" room and both warmed up to them, so much so, that after they left to return to Iowa, Joel thought he saw "pappa" while shopping and called out to him (a perfect stranger). It was cute. Caleb even was crying because he missed them too.

I said a quick story... Guess I better stop for now. Check back in a few days and I should have a few pictures.

Lonnie

Lake Ontario

2007-09-30T22:11:00.000-04:00

We took advantage of some, warmer than what were were experiencing, weather and went to Wilson Tuscarora State Park to take in Lake Ontario. Enjoy the picture.

"Power!"

2007-09-11T22:32:00.000-04:00

We're at that fun stage of development with Joel. He loves to sing. Sunday I heard him singing one of our songs from Sunday service... "oh no you never let go, through the calm and through the storm..." As a dad I just have to smile. The latest song he keeps requesting (Caleb too!) is "Power! Daddy. Power!" Selah is a group that reworked the classic hymn, "There is Power in the Blood". We put that CD on in the Kia Sorento and both boys are yelling "POWER! POWER!". (they keep asking for it in the Ford Focus, but I don't have a CD player in it) I put the CD on our iPod that we won (another story in itself) and plugged the iPod into my speakers in the kitchen. Suddenly the kitchen was 'God's Groove Central'... both boys were running and dancing, and singing. For the record they also like "Esango", also on the CD 'Hiding Place'.
All of this reminded me of Psalm 8:2 (New Century Version) With praises from children and from tiny infants, you have built a fortress. It makes your enemies silent, and all who turn against you are left speechless.
The more familiar version of NIV says,"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise..."

And right now I'm getting an ear and eye full... (grin!)

Boat Ride!

2007-09-03T21:32:00.000-04:00

Caleb kept telling me that he wanted to go on a boat every time we went to the "Worship on the Water". He didn't understand that if there wasn't someone in the boat that you couldn't just walk up and go for a ride. Thankfully Wally Freck, who hosts the "Worship on the Water" with his wife, had a boat. We just had to coordinate schedules and well... we got to go last week on Wednesday! We spent 2 hours out on the water and the boys just loved it. Caleb was a bit scared at first but really began to enjoy it. Wally even let me behind the wheel to drive it. The only casualty was Joel's Pooh hat (see picture). We were moving along at a good clip and approaching the Grand Island Bridge (Buffalo /Tonawanda side) and the wind was picking up and... whoosh! there went the hat! The boys thanked Wally for such a great time.

Take me to the river...

2007-08-22T22:31:00.001-04:00

Sunday after speaking at the Worship on the Water in Tonawanda at Long's Homestead, Caleb, Joel and I grabbed some breakfast and went to a park by the river. We had a great time walking and seeing the sights. They loved the boats, RC airplane, and the cute dog... the dog walked with a 'hop' in its step. The owner said the front right leg was broken when it was a pup and after it healed the dog just walked like that. It reminded me of Joel's skip / run. Very cute. Unfortunately the fun turned to bummer as Caleb caught the virus Joel had... Both are well now, but it was pretty uncomfortable for both boys for a couple days. As you can see below, it's time to go... Joel's waving 'bye, bye!"

Worship on the Water July 15

2007-07-15T10:53:00.000-04:00

Hey friends!
We had a great morning, a bit cool, but at least there wasn't any rain! I'm thankful that God provides exactly what we need... I needed someone to help keep an eye on the boys while I sang and then spoke... there was a couple from the Presbyterian church that brings the coffee and donuts... they were just enamored with my boys, especially Joel. It was as if they found a couple grandkids they didn't know existed. The music went well and my testimony was well received. I used the wordless book again, and was asked where to get one immediately following the service. I knew that God was working as I saw tears in the eyes on one lady as I spoke. Later she asked me "How do you forgive someone who had hurt you deeply?" I answered, "only God can help us forgive and love others that way." I can't say that was the best answer, but without going into details, it was the best place for her to start.
It made me think of Colossians 3:13 "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
It's difficult to do that sometimes, but that's why we have to come back to God. God forgave us, we also should forgive each other. We don't tend to forget what happened, but God can bring healing to our wounds. I was reminded again of 1 John 4:20
"If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."
This verse really hits home. because I do love God, but I know that I've held onto my share of resentment and anger. It is only by the grace of God that I have been learning to let it go and trust God to take care of the circumstances that I can't control. I realize that anger, bitterness and unforgiveness can chain my and your soul and keep us from loving God and others as God would have us to. That's why it's so important to live at peace with everyone, as far as it is possible with us. I'm sure this isn't a new revelation to anyone, but in truth I'm sure it's something that we all have struggles with at one time or another.
"God, place in our hearts the love that breaks the chains that keeps us from loving You and others the way you have called us to. Amen"

god is not GREAT (WHAT?!?!?)

2007-07-12T00:07:00.000-04:00

Life right now is kind of an 'out of body experience'... my body is Merchandising (books and magazines), but my mind and soul are thinking about God and His Kingdom and how I presently fit into that, and where I will fit in the future. (and if I have a future in pastoral ministry), but I digress.
Two weeks ago my company shipped a book to one of my stores with the title: "god is not GREAT" with the sub title, 'How religion is wrecking everything." Mind you, I don't have time to read a lot and so my impressions about this book are superficial, but I immediately thought: "Hey, why don't you just entitle it, 'I had a bad experience with religion and I really discourage people to believe there is a god, because if we just ignore Him, maybe He'll go away.' " Then I started to think a bit deeper about how the author spelled God with a lower case g... and how he sub titled it... religion is wrecking... I coupled that with a statement I read online from the new pope about how the Catholic church was the only "true church" because of "apostolic succession" and then I got to thinking... religious games are played in churches and denominations (include Protestant and Catholic) and in the name of god people have done some pretty nasty stuff... and, well, I suppose one could get the idea that all religions have contributed to 'wrecking everything'., and the god that they serve is not GREAT.
On the other hand, history has shown that people who have a deep relationship with Christ do make a difference, because the GREAT GOD they serve is mightily working and moving and driving them. I think about the stories of John Wesley, Charles Finney, and George Whitfield (that's my correction of John Whitehead), just to name a few. I think of the impact that the Gospel of Christ has had on communities to better them and create a climate of care and compassion. I believe it was DL Moody who heard from Henry Varley the famous quote, "The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him." Moody has been quoted as saying, "By God’s help, I aim to be that man."
Some times I forget how GREAT God is. I forget what He's done for others and me. I remember times in the past that I've prayed and seen God move. I don't know about you, but I'm in that place once again. I want to be a Living Expression of Christ, showing others our GREAT GOD. My prayer is that the testimony of others will be about me and the Church that I so love, "how God is making a difference in countries, communities and citizens like you and I".

Trusting in our GREAT GOD!
Lonnie

What a Weekend!

2007-07-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

This weekend has been a blast! Friday after work we drove to Camp Hickory Hill near Warsaw, NY. I was privileged to speak to the Father and Son camp. But before speaking at the campfire that night we got a tour and a chance to use the climbing wall / tower. Actually my 4yr old and my 21 mo. old did the climbing. What a sight! All harnessed up my 4 yr old looked like an old pro as he worked his way half way before deciding that he'd had enough. My 'little guy' , Joel, held on to some of the footholds as they pulled him about 10 feet off the ground. The grin on his face was priceless. It was something that I'll never forget. We didn't have time to do much else before I was to speak, but we felt like we'd come back in a heart beat to do some of the other great activities they had there.
At the campfire we sang and saw some really funny skits about "what I learned from my dad". Then another song and I was up. I basically gave my testimony. My parents were divorced when I was 5... I didn't have a lot of time with my dad growing up... I still looked up to my dad... made a scrapbook with newspaper articles my mom had given me about my dad who was the Iowa State Discus champ in 1964 and 1965, as well as his wrestling abilities... (forgot to mention 1st team Football 1965 as a Tackle from Waverly, IA) I had written next to the "Athlete of the Week" heading, "and Father of the Year'... After moving and feeling like I didn't have any friends, at age 10 I responded to the invitation of a pastor, "Jesus will be your friend. He will never leave you or forsake you." I needed that friend and asked Jesus to lead me. At age 15 my youth group took the Sunday service and I gave my testimony of about Jesus coming to be my friend... I had people in my church asking me if I had ever thought of being a pastor. I hadn't. I thought the real money would be in computers and spent considerable time using the Apple II's in school. None the less, that summer at Family Camp in Birmingham, IA I responded to the invitation to come forward, " if you feel God is calling you to some form of full time ministry." So I knew exactly where I was headed... I shared some about my dad and how I had prayed for him about 16 years before I saw that he had gone back to Church. Since I got married my relationship with my dad has become what I'd hoped it would have been years ago. Now I have two little guys, Caleb 4 yrs and Joel 21mo.. We, Amy and I, were told that we couldn't have kids and 8 years after being married, God brought Caleb Noah into our lives. Both of my boys are very special. I have prayed for both of them so much... I've asked God, "Give them wisdom, and understanding, discernment to make right choices, and favor with Him and others, specifically the right people". Along with that prayer I ask that they might know God personally. I had an opportunity to share with Caleb the "Wordless Book". If you don't know what it is, it's a book with just colors. First black. It's the condition of our hearts... the Bible tells us that ALL have sinned, that everyone has blown it and come short of GOD's standard. I tried to communicate to Caleb Black means bad, like "ba, ba, ba, bad to the bone". He didn't quite get it... he says, "Black means bone"... But we continued on. Red represented the blood that Jesus gave to pay the penalty for our sin and allow us to be made right with God. White is the color of a new start, like a whiteboard that get's scribbled on and then completely cleaned to begin a new. The new start comes as we confess to God that we need what Jesus did for us to make us friends with God. The next color was gold. The bible tells us that Heaven's streets are gold and that we will be there with Jesus in heaven if we have asked Jesus to be our friend and savior. It's like the other side of the finish line... when the runner gets to the other side of the finish line there are cheers and congradulations, etc... that's what Heaven will be like for those that know Jesus, or should I say, who Jesus KNOWS! The last color was green. Which means we have to grow. Just as Caleb knows mommy and daddy he can come to know Jesus too. God wants to have a relationship with us if we will ask Him to.
My son Caleb hasn't immediately grasped all these concepts as I think he's a bit young, but the seed has been planted for him to know God. I know that others will come along and help water that seed, and down the road he'll follow Jesus...
Shortly after that I finished. I had many approach me and thank me for the message and tell me how it has affected them. I am truely thankful for the opportunity to have spoken there. I don't know the immediate impact, but I'm sure to find out. We never really know how much of an impact the things we say and do will make down the road.
Satuday started out a bit lazy... Caleb and I got hair cuts, I showered then did my walk through for work at Wegmans in Niagara Falls, then quickly to Burger King for some chicken fries for all of us and home to grab everyone and drive to a birthday party. The parties are a great time for the kids. Enough said.
Sunday we got up and went to church at Cornerstone Community in Buffalo, NY and then drove downtown to the Taste of Buffalo. The food was terrific, the crowds, like a raging sea, the music, off the charts. My oldest son, Caleb, was crying as we decided to leave, he had a great time. But as all things must come to an end, we left to crash at home and try to recover for the week ahead.
Now to bed to start the hamster wheel again this week.
What's ahead for me besides work?
Next Sunday July, 15th, I lead music and speak at "Worship on the Water" at Long's Homestead in Tonawanda.... 8:45am. The service is an "ecumenical" one in which different churches host different weeks. I'll be doing this again on August 19th with the Tonawanda Free Methodist Church and their worship band.
In between I'll be speaking July 22 and 29th at my church, Cornerstone Community Church at the corner of Capen Blvd and Kenmore Ave.. just a block from Route 5 and the UB south campus.

Peace to you all!