Everyone needs to check out this website. Looks like a very worth while charity and something that we as Christians need to do more of.

Okay, I’m sitting here checking my email, when I come across the AFA newsletter I usually get asking me to boycott something or contact my Senator. Well, I’ve learned when to take Mr. Don Wildmon seriously and when to see through a lot of the smoke. I’m not calling him a liar, I’m just saying that I feel that he sometimes resembles a Pharasiee more than he resembles a Christian. But hey, we all have our moments. But we all don’t also have an international organization. But I digress. Anyway, here’s the email:
EMAIL BEGINS HERE:

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Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire email list of family and friends.
Since I’m not a fan of movies, I nearly skipped seeing ‘Facing the Giants’. I’m so glad I didn’t. It is one of the best movies I have ever seen!
Dear Robert, I am not a movie fan. I haven’t been to five movies in the past 10 years. When “Facing the Giants” came out, I was urged by several of my employees to go see the movie. I went, more to please them than to expect anything on the screen. I am glad I did. Because if I had not, I would have missed one of the best movies I have ever seen! As I sat through “Facing the Giants,” I cried and I laughed. I was entertained, and I was inspired. “Facing the Giants” is what movies can and should be. Let me say it again. It was one of the best movies I have ever seen! If we could see movies like this all the time, I wouldn’t mind paying the more than $7 to see them. I wish everyone could see the movie. I want you to see it. No cursing. No sex. No violence. Just a great heartwarming, wholesome movie that made me feel good when I walked out of the theater. I was so moved by the movie that I wanted to offer it to you. So we approached the distributors of the movie and worked out an arrangement to offer it to you! I hope you will watch it. If you have children eight years old or above, I hope they will watch it. I hope they will invite their friends to watch it. I could write four more pages praising the movie, but I’m out of space. Don’t make the mistake I nearly made by skipping this one. Let me say it again, this is one of the best movies I have seen. Order a copy, invite friends over to your house, pop some corn and break out the soft drinks. Then sit back and get ready to laugh, cry and be inspired! It’s that good — and better.Click here to order “Facing the Giants.” Your order will be shipped within one week.Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and ChairmanAmerican Family AssociationP.S. Please forward this e-mail message to your family and friends!

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EMAIL ENDS HERE:

Okay, now you may be saying, “So what?” Well, I felt compelled to respond to this. Here’s my follow up email:

Mr. Wildmon

Just a bit of advice. I wouldn’t start out a movie review by saying that you “haven’t been to five movies in the past 10 years.” It kills all credibility for everything that follows. Not going to the movies is completely up to you, but you might want to leave off the fact that you haven’t seen much in the past 10 years. “How can you really have anything to compare it to?” was the first thing I thought of when I read that sentence in your email. I understand the approach that you are trying to take. The “don’t make the same mistake I almost made” approach, but it would, in my opinion, come across a little better if you had said something like, “Normally, I don’t care for what comes out in the theaters, but ….” That way, it gives you some credibility with the reader. No one is going to take movie advice from someone who hasn’t seen anything recently. I’m not trying to berate you or speak ill of you. This is just a bit of constructive criticism. Who knows, I may be the only one who thought of this.

Anyway, I agree that it is a great movie, especially seeing that it was produced by a church! Most Christian films have a tendency to “preach to the choir,” which is good for some, seeings how not everyone in the choir is saved. But, to compete with Hollywood and mainstream films, you have to present the Gospel in a way that is not “banging them over the head” with the Gospel. I believe Christian filmmakers will be a lot more effective if they just let the Message speak for itself. After all, we aren’t the ones that do the saving, that’s God’s job. We just plant the seeds, or water them, whichever God puts us in the position to do. When I share the Gospel with someone, I have been more effective when a conversation is started by someone else. Say, when someone comes to ask me a question about Christianity. How do they know I’m a Christian you may ask? Easy. Because I live my life trying to do what Christ taught us: love. So, when a person questions me about the Gospel, it is then easier to share the Gospel, because they approached me. At anytime, if they feel I am pushing my religion on them, I can always say, “Hey, that was not my intention. I was just answering your questions.” So, if we can get filmmakers to create films that will leave the non-believers in the audience asking their Christian friends or co-workers about Christ, I feel we will have a greater impact than going out on the town square telling people they are all gonna go to hell. (People used to do that in my home town.)

I will say that I wasn’t expecting much out of Facing the Giants to begin with, but I was pleasantly surprised. Just goes to show what God can do.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and may God bless you and your ministry.
Robert Kennedy
How much you wanna bet that he singles me out Tuesday on his radio show, Today’s Issues, and calls me a moron in a nice Christian way? The reason I say Tuesday is because I will have to resend my response. Their mailbox was already maxed out. Maybe I’m not the only one who had something to say.

P.S. I hate WordPress more than you could ever know.

Hey everyone. Well, I’m working up to longer distances on my run. I’m training for the Little Rock Marathon: Half-Marathon Relay. I’m running it with my friend Matt, so, I’ll have to run 6.5 miles. While training this weekend, I ran 7.3 miles. It was awesome. I have never gone that far in my life! And, I felt like I could’ve kept going. Anyway, I woke up Sunday with a really sore right leg and knee. I’ll have to start taking it easy and just try to maintain 6.5 miles.

Iliana was sick all weekend and Amy is still having to stay home with her. She’s finally starting to get better. We thought she was okay yesterday, but it turned out she had a viral infection and an ear infection. Poor kid. It hurts me when she is sick.

Not a lot else going on. I started as a full-time Blue Cross employee Monday. So now I get benefits. Other than that, all is well.

We had about an inch of snow this past week. As usual, the state shut down. Gotta love Arkansas. Anyway, take care.

P.S. I’ll give the first person who can tell me the name of the movie my title is from a big imaginary hug.

Well, I held out as long as I could. I finally broke down and got a MySpace account. I had been following a few blogs on there and decided, what the heck, and got an account. Funny thing is, about 4 people from my small group got accounts around the same time without the others knowing. Kinda random. Anyway, you can go to my page by clicking here. It’s actually pretty neat. I’ve been able to hook up with a bunch of people from high school and college.

Let me know what ya think…

Take a look and form your own opinion. I believe cops gave him ample opportunity to cooperate, you may disagree.

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Not a whole lot going on here in Arkansas. Still going to work everyday in North Little Rock. Amy’s still at the Bible House. We long for the day that Amy can stay home with Iliana. Maybe I can invent some crazy thing that will change life itself. That should make me some money.

Anyway, Iliana is still growing like a weed. It’s fun watching her grow and start to develop her own personality. She loves playing with her Play-Doh and her markers and crayons.

We are supposed to go to Fayetteville this weekend to visit Amy’s parents. While we’re there, Amy and I are supposed to go to the Arkansas-Tennessee game. It should be fun since a group of our friends are going too. I just found out earlier today that ESPN Game Day is supposed to be there. So, that should make it interesting. Nothing like a bunch of Rednecks representing our fine state and “Callin’ the Hogs!” It’s gonna be fun though because all of our friends are Tennessee fans and we will be sitting in the TN section. Amy and I, mostly me, will be the only person wearing red in a sea of orange.

That’s about it. Not a lot of exciting things going on here. After all, it’s Arkansas…but it’s home.

Dusty

P.S. You should check out this site, Momentum Church. It’s a great church and they’re lessons are really good.

Me, Amy, and Iliana just got back yesterday afternoon from a family reunion weekend in Uncertain, TX. It was pretty good as far as family reunions go. We left Thursday night after I got off work and went to Ruston, LA to stay with my grandmother. I’d like to take this time to give a shout out to my Granny; love ya and thanks fo’ the time. Anyway, we got there at about 9:30 Thursday night and visited for a little while. Iliana slept for about 2 1/2 hours on the trip and did not want to go to sleep when we got to Granny’s. She has a chow named Butterscotch. Iliana chased her all over the house; poor dog. Anyway the next morning we had Granny’s famous cinnamon rolls for breakfast and visited with my Great-Great Aunt Ina. Iliana played the piano for the first time. It was fun.

Then we had to get on the road for TX. Fortunately, we were only about an hour and a half away from Uncertain. Not much happened on the way there, but we did notice that the closer we got to Shreveport, LA, all the gas stations had casinos. Not just the little video poker or lotto machines, but actual casinos. So you can fill up your tank and play a few hands of blackjack while you wait. Only in LA…

Once we got to Uncertain, we had a good time. Amy’s cousin, Tracy, organized everything and did a great job. The lodge was right on the edge of Caddo Lake and all the fishermen in the family had a blast fishing and all of us that enjoyed lounging around in the air conditioning (me) enjoyed that. We watched Arkansas upset Auburn on Saturday. Awesome game! I have to admit. I was certain that Auburn would win, but the Hogs pulled it out! We also spent time riding around the lake. Amy took some great pictures of a boat trip we took. Once I get them, I’ll have to post them on the picture site.
All in all the trip was a success. There were no fights. And we all know that that can happen when you get 19 family members together for 3 days. The trip back home was quicker than I thought it would be. Now it’s back to the grind. I have to work 10 hour days this week to make up for missing yesterday.

Wow!! I can’t believe it! I actually did it. I finished the race. I was praying pretty much the whole time, but I finished. My unofficial time is 1:39:50. It was the most intense thing I have ever done. Also, the hardest thing I have ever done. It was all worth it though and I’m hooked. I’ve already started searching for other triathlons. Now, I just need to get a bike of my own now. I think I’ll rest up this week and start over again on training.

The scariest part of the race was the beginning: the swim. One guy said it best when he said, “It’s like swimming in a washing machine.” I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it. People were running into me, I was running into them, and it was crazy! Once I finished, I was a lot more wore out than I thought I would be…and I still had to bike 14 miles and run 3.2!

The bike was fairly easy…compared the rest of the race. I was able to rest up a little and get my breath back. I got passed a lot, but also passed a few people myself. Mostly on the downhill. That was the only time that being fat helped me out…I go a little further and faster with the help of gravity. Once I got to the transitition point out of the bike, I thought I was gonna fall over!

The run was the hardest part. I came out of the transitition and one guy that was running beside me said, “Hey, only 3 more mile to run, and we’re done.” I was thinking, “ONLY!?!?!” It was the toughest run I have ever done, but I ran the whole way. I kept telling myself, “Just keep running. Don’t stop. You can do it.” That combined with a lot of prayer. I have never been so happy to see the end of something as I was to see the finish line. When I came to the last stretch, I heard Amy and some friends calling my name and telling me to push it out and finish strong. So I reached down and pulled everything I had left and ran for the finish line. It was awesome.
I can truly say that God got me through this race, because there is no way I could have finished it on my own. I almost started crying when Amy and I were packing up and going to the truck. I can’t believe that I made it. It was awesome being able to set a goal and then attain it. I am now a triathlete!

Well, as we all sit here at work, it seems like we are waiting on a firing squad. We found out Friday at 3:00 that we did not get a contract that we desparately needed. More than likely, today will be the last day for a lot of us. So…Amy and I will more than likely be out of a job by the end of the day. With that in mind, please pray for us and the other families that will be affected by this layoff. There’s not very many options for me in Searcy. If God allows us to stay here, I will more than likely have to find work in Little Rock or other surrounding areas. I’ve already submitted my resume for a couple of things online and will probably continue to do that.

Needless to say, the triathlon is on hold and we will probably not do it. I’m glad that I never registered…