Once upon a time there was a young man who was clueless about certain aspects of reality. He's the old guy on the right surrounded by a family that is way more awesome than he deserves. He thought (can you believe it) that he would be "happier" if he followed his plan for his life rather than God's plan. So even though God had made it really quite clear that he should be in ministry, he said "forget that" and tried just about everything BUT ministry... how do you think that worked out? Well, how many of YOU have ever made a good living selling lightbulbs door to door? He even had a couple of his "dream jobs" at times including being in possession of the keys to Howard Hughes Spruce Goose airplane (I'm not kidding). But did he find Peace with God, Joy in Life? Nope. But God is patient, his wife was patient, a lot of water passed under the bridge... and even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while (he's a farm kid, so it's ok to talk about hogs) and he eventually came to realize that fighting a battle of wills with the Almighty is pretty much a bad idea.

Anyway, he finally said, "I give up, God... what was it you wanted me to do?" This led him to (in order) Seminary, a Hardware Store, Germany, N. California and now to Springfield. He seems to have found that Pastoring is, after all, what God made him to do and he is, at times, quite silly with joy over the whole thing. Oh, by the way, he really does have too many hobbies, just so you are aware. Things like slalom skiing, snow skiing, snowboarding, volleyball, strange old cars, vintage airplanes and "old school" car audio. Oh, and he talks too fast (and that's even though he NEVER drinks coffee) but he DOES love Jesus and wants to affect lives for the Kingdom of God the Father, so he's got that going for him. (and yes, he wrote this himself... who ELSE would write this kind of stuff about him, errr... me)