I normally don’t post job postings on my page. However, a good friend of mine sent this out and I’m going to be here for a bit to help some people out…. Blessings…..

• Location: Hydraulic Technologies, Galion, OH
• Compensation: VERY Competetive and BOE! APPLY NOW!
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

There is a video circulating called “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus”. You can see it here….

As I watched it, I started scrolling through the comments on the You Tube page to see how different people were reacting to it. When I did I noticed two things; how many people were commenting in a quick manner and how many emotional responses there were on all sides. The simple fact is this video represents a much larger discussion that is going on today.

“Religion” is a hot button term. I get it. Some people think it’s judgmental, dead, and evil. Some responses were from people’s hurt, disgust, and boiled up from emotions from their past experiences. Others were confused because you say are a Christian but you say you are not “religious” and find that suspect. Others are angry because they cherish that “Old Time Religion” and don’t understand why we have to water things down. Then there is the uproar of Christians who applaud the message as Christ followers tired of the “religious leaders” hypocrisy and lack of love.

To be honest, the whole thing is flawed. So many people wanting to trash on the word “religion” but no one is defining it. To be part of the conversation, we can’t use a word and expect that we all define it the same.

If you define “religion” as hypocrisy and judgment then sure, we’re all in. No one champions that cause. However, that’s not the way God defines it.

This sale is closed… Thanks!

It’s always interesting when Christmas falls on a Sunday…. What does a church do? Do they still have services in the morning because that’s their tradition? Do they switch to another time feeling guilty that they are putting “family time” over “God time”? Do they cancel and do the whole service on DVD for people to watch at home losing the community feel?

I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer here. Traditions can be good but should never take priority over the Holy Spirit’s leading.

For our church, we are enjoying a weekend of worship and encouragment through our social media outlets and then having the worship come to a head Christmas night. After a weekend of special moments through emails and video, we will get together at the church at 7pm Christmas night for a Worship Gathering!

If you are looking for a Christmas night option, feel free to stop by! We will be having music, original story, drama, Advent moment, and a message that is easy to apply to life. For the kids, they will have a special moment of a couple songs themselves and then head over to the kid’s barn for half of the time for thier own lessons and fun!

(For more information on our Christmas celebration, visit www.theshepherdsfellowship.org and click on the “Hope: A Christmas Gathering” link)

It should be a great night and you are invited. At the same time, if you can not attend our Christmas night worship, look around you as many of the local churches are having special services you can tap into.

Merry Christmas!

The following is just a recount of our recent trip to Walt Disney World to help us remember all the details as time goes on. You may find some tips if you are planning a trip (especially at the end) but this is mostly for my memory =)

Timing

We planned our trip for the first full week of December which was GREAT timing! The crowds were low and the weather was great… The temperature was in the 60s and the 70s with only one short rain.

Sunday

The Surprise….

The moment finally came after church and our family was the last in the building. I set up our video camera in my office and we invited Emily in. The video reflects it all as Emily freaked out at the news and spent all her energy yelling and running in circles around the church and then outside in the parking lot.

After a quick lunch at O’Charleys, we drove down to the airport. I dropped mom and Emily off with the luggage and went to park the car. After a quick shuttle ride, we were reunited and headed through security. Emily was just as excited about flying as she was the destination and she grabbed the window seat. Mom was in the middle and dad on the isle…. the same both ways.

After landing in Orlando, we met our driver of the Towne car service we hired. He helped us grab our bags, get loaded, and started the drive to the cabins at the campgrounds of Fort Wilderness. We really enjoyed Demetrious, our driver and he had great advice. He also drove us back to our cabin after we checked in which was a great blessing.

Since it was late, we followed the recommendation of the front desk and headed for Trail’s End Restaurant for a great buffet. After a filling meal, it was back to the cabin to get some sleep before our adventures.

Special Note: Our key card for the cabin also served as our tickets and we set them up that we could charge on them, which was very convenient. You just have to be somewhat aware of what you are charging so you don’t go over the top. We did our shopping on the room card and our food on the debit card. (We did not do the meal plan, which we did not regret for our case.)

The front desk is also where Emily got her “1^st Visit” badge which was great as it starts good conversations in the parks and gets you some surprises as the week goes on.

Monday – Magic Kingdom

The first visit was to the boat that runs from the cabins to Magic Kingdom. The scenery was wonderful and the water smooth.

I won’t remember all the details so I’ll do some summery and then notes….

Emily met – Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Jasmine, Mickey and Minnie

Emily loved seeing Cinderella’s castle and we got to watch part of a show on the main stage there with multiple characters.

We rode Small World, Peter Pan, the Carousel, Snow White’s Scary Ride, Winnie the Pooh, and the PhilharMagic

For lunch, we went to Pinocchio’s Village Haus (we had no complaints with any of the restaurants we went to).

Emily had been dreaming about the fireworks at Cinderella’s castle for a long time so we went to that Monday night. The crowds were horrible and people are rude, including to little kids. I had Emily ride on my shoulders to keep her from getting beat up. The fireworks were too loud for her so she didn’t enjoy it as much as she thought.

After, it was a mess and most of the restaurants were full of having private parties (I hate that!) My patient wife found a great option while I was in a bad mood and we went to the Main Street Bakery.

Boat ride back to the cabins and nite, nite.

Tuesday – Epcot

To get to Epcot, it was a matter of a couple buses, which is not bad if you bring some patience. A matter of fact, it is blessings if you submit to it and let you slow down.

Emily had been looking to the “golf ball” building and couldn’t wait to go in it.

Emily met Daisy Duck, Stich, Chip and Dale, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Duffy. We also had a Princess Buffet breakfast at the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe and Emily got to meet Belle, Alice from Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Jasmine. Emily got to join in the Princess march and she got the autograph of our waitress, Emily from Norway =)

We rode Spaceship Earth, Maelstrom (Emily loved), Soarin’ (Grab a Fast Pass – this is awesome), and enjoyed the Seas including “Turtle Talk” which was awesome!

Emily enjoyed a half an hour nap on dad’s lap at the Seas.

We also ate Electric Umbrella and dinner at Via Napoli in Italy.

Jenni and I tend to believe we are not big fans of going the whole loop from nation to nation. It’s a great concept but doesn’t fully click for us.

They also had the Candlelight processional which looked interesting but also looked (like most special events) to be very crowded so we did a walk by but did not stop =)

Wednesday – Down day

It was time for us to slow it down a little so we enjoyed a relaxed pace.

On the way to Downtown Disney, we had to take some of the buses. While at the stop, Jenni noticed a plane doing skywriting. As we watched, we found the man was doing “Witness Writing” including the phrase “Love U Jesus” and “Jesus 4 Gives”

At Downtown Disney, we had lunch at the Rainforest Café (one of our fav restaurants). Emily also found another small carousel she wanted to ride. Then we did some shopping before calling it quits and headed back to the cabin for some naps. We were considering swimming after the naps but we got some unexpected rain so we skipped it.

So instead, we took a boat ride to the Wilderness Lodge for some dinner. We settled in at Whispering Canyon Café (which we HIGHLY recommend).

Whispering Canyon Café is a perfect fit for the Wilderness Lodge environment. The great Christmas decorating of the lodge also set the tone. The staff is fun and energetic.

Our favorite part was “I NEED KETCHUP!” When you need ketchup, that’s what your whole table yells in unison. Then whoever, needed it last, bring it to your table. Not one bottle, not even two…. but 28 bottles parade to your table and you have to keep them until you hear another table yell “WE NEED KETCHUP!” Then your family parades all 28 bottles to them and drop it off. Emily loved it and still talks about it.

A boat ride back for a walk, the end of Survivor, and some sleep.

Thursday – Animal Kingdom

This park doesn’t take as much as the previous two (we were still not done with Magic Kingdom) so we took it slow and enjoyed.

We went to a Lion King show, Tough to be a Bug, Kilimanjaro Safari (a must – we rode it twice), Finding Nemo show (mom liked), TriceraTop and the Boneyard to dig up fossils which Em and Dad enjoyed.

We ate at the Flame Tree Bar-B-Q and dinner at the Rain Forest Café that was at Epcot (so we hit both of them =)

Emily met Pocahontas, Mecco, Briar Bear, Tekk, Miss Bunny, and Flick.

Back to the cabin for prime time TV and sleep.

The only down side is Emily had very bad coughing fits this night and wasn’t sleeping well. About 4am, she was coughing and fell out of bed, hit her eye on a table, and woke up screaming. It was a long night but we all survived and entered the next day a little sleepy.

Friday – Hollywood Studios

More buses to a park that takes about as much time as Animal Kingdom.

We visited Muppet 3D and the Little Mermaid show. Emily had a BLAST at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, Mom watched as she caught up some emails on her phone, and dad took two turns on Star Tours which was AWESOME!

We ate at the Studio Catering Company for lunch.

Watched a great parade of Pixar characters and a flash mob.

We headed back for mom and Em to get a short nap. Then we got up and running and went to the “Chip and Dale’ Sing-a-long Campfire” at the camp grounds. We got the stuff to make smores over the fires and enjoyed sing-a-longs with Chuck Wagon Bill. Emily danced with Chip and Dale and had a blast.

Afterwards, we headed back to the “Trail’s End Restaurant” again before shopping at the general store and heading back to the cabin.

Saturday – Magic Kingdom

There was still a lot to do at this park so we headed over early to dig in.

We went to the Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, Aladdin spin, Pirates of the Caribbean (enjoyed the updates including three Jack Sparrow sightings), Haunted Mansion (a dad fav), Dumbo (Em and mom), Tea Party (1^st time for dad and Em), Laugh Floor, and the Buzz Lightyear Shooting Ride.

Emily met Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Cinderella, Belle, Fairy Godmother and Sleeping Beauty.

We also watched the afternoon “Celebrate” parade with many characters including Snow White seeing Emily up on the balcony and blowing a kiss to her. I’m sure Emily wearing her Snow White that day didn’t hurt.

We had lunch at Cosmic Ray’s which was a mad house but had one perk. One of the workers would do Disney designs on the windows with their cleaning spray before whipping down which mom enjoyed.

For the evening, we headed back to Hollywood Studios to see the “Osborne Family Christmas Lights” Think Columbus Zoo lights times 1,000. It was awesome and full! Disney magic even made it snow as you walk down the city streets!

For dinner, we hit the “Sci-fi Dine-in Theater” which we recommend. It was a great environment for the whole family.

Sunday – Home Again

Up early (actually, we overslept by an hour but still had good time to work with) to pack, a van took us to the office, and a town car driven by Vladimir took us back to the airport. It was a little tough to go from the 70’s to mid-30’s as we got to the airport in Columbus but all is well. Just a little case of DSA (Disney Separation Anxiety).

Suggestions

Stroller – For younger children, get a stroller! If you don’t mind carrying one around everywhere you go, bring it. However, to us, it was worth renting one. It gave shade and rest to a little girl who is pumped up.

Photopass – Get yourself set up on photopass and register on-line before you go. Wherever Disney deems you have a good photo opt, they will have a photographer. They take you pic and then you give them your card. They use it to add it to your account and then hand it back to you (do not forget to get your card back EACH time). This puts all these pics on your web-site account.

We also took pics at these sights but having it all in one place that also allows editing and special tricks you can do.

Take a cell phone picture of your card number in case you lose your card as many did.

When you get home, I suggest going into your account, have fun editing and saving pics and then order the photo CD for $150 (watch for coupons for $15 off on the site). You get all the pics and can do what you want with them. If you order them by the pic, it’s $15 each. With the photo CD, I got over 200 pics.

You only have 30 days after your trip to order so don’t forget.

Resort –

When we took Ryan to Disney a few years back, he was older and we were fine staying off site. However, with Emily being younger and needing naps, we wanted to stay on-site in case she needed naps.

We went with a cabin in Fort Wilderness because we love the woods but mostly because the cabin was one of the only options that had a separate bedroom so she could nap while we could still enjoy watching TV or relaxing on the front porch.

After staying there, we are hooked! We loved it and would stay there from now on. It was very relaxing and enjoyable. A great slow down in the midst of a busy schedule.

AAA -

If you are in the Marion, Ohio area and you are planning your trip through AAA, go the one in Marion back behind Red Lobster and ask for June. She did an AWESOME job for us!