Poison Gas Clouds and Stuff

I should have known. Weird stuff follows us. For instance:
*Kristin and I lad lived in Seymour for six months. They'd never had a tornado. We go to the church to be safe from a possible tornado, only to miss being in the gym when one actually hit by about 30 seconds.
*Six months before we left Seymour, softball sized hail turned the entire town into a disaster area. Every home in town got a new roof, but we missed the worst. Still, Kristin and I huddled in the hallway with the girls as God dribbled basketballs on our roof for about 15 minutes.
*This past November, College Station got about 3-4 inches of snow, most in twenty years according to some.

So last blog was about the "tornado." That was about a week and half ago. Then around noon yesterday, a chemical plant caught fire in southwest Bryan, about 4 miles from where I work. As the afternoon progressed, an acrid, poisonous smoke started to filter into the downtown area. Itchy eyes and irritated throats soon popped up in my office and evacuation orders started flowing. See the chemical was ammonium nitrate, and they couldn't put the fire out because ammonium nitrate + H20= BOOM. Instead, we had to get out. So, our house was safe and (for the time) out of the path of the prevailing winds, so I headed there and made a call to Wally, because we were supposed to have Conversations ( our small group) at his house, which was now Poison Cloud's destination. Since we didn't want to hang out with him, we moved it to our house. Kristin and I set about cleaning when I get a call from Wally- some of his co-workers needed to find a place to crash while the smoke cleared- literally.
Before the evac orders lifted around 8, we had 16 people (including 5 kids 4 and under)in our house, we'd put off the Bible Study, and devoured 60 tenders from Wings-N-More.
So the moral is: If you don't like weird weather and disaster stuff to happen around you- don't ask the Lehrmann family to live near you.

Tornados and Movies

Monday started out just like any other Monday. We had gotten some rain the night before and the Gate stood on the porch of Hurricane Harry's and watched the sheets of rain blow in and the beer bottle boats float by on the rapids of runoff. The hope of more rain hung in the air Monday, but as we watched the 6 o'clock news, we were informed that, no, in fact there would be no rain that night.
Twenty minutes later, we heard thunder. Then, around seven, we saw the red Tornado Warning appear on the TV. So we opened our secret storage room in preparation. Yes, we have a secret room, and no, I won't tell you where it is. Unless you come visit, because we tell everyone who comes to visit, its that cool.
We waited to empty it, as it is where the Gate's sound system lives. But around 7:15, the TV connection went out and my mom called to say that the Waco station was warning south College Station residents to take cover. We emptied the room, and ushered the kids in, and after some coaxing, Missy the dog as well. Missy smells.
We kept an eye on the TV and watched as they warned of funnel cloud sightings, some as close as the Wal-Mart 1/2 a mile away. We got some more rain, but avoided any damage. The Best part of the night, was Leslie telling us a ghost story. A little girl went for a walk and was followed by a ghost. Who was in turn followed by a bear. Then she and Kenna took turns making scary faces with the flashlight.
So much for a refreshing Monday night.
Tuesday, we decided to watch a movie, and in preparation for Sunday's message, we watched Field of Dreams. Its been awhile since I saw it, but its message of doing something crazy on faith and the fact that it is not a baseball movie as much as it is a relationship movie make it a must see for Church Planters. Lots of people think we're crazy, too.

Anniversary

Yesterday was our 7th Anniversary. It is so hard to believe it has been 7 years, 2 kids, 3 moves, and 3 churches since we stood up in front of everyone and exchanged vows. Here is what we did to celebrate:
Friday, we ditched the kids with Kristin's mom for the weekend. Then we realized we had nothing to do. So we drove around a bit and just talked, kind of like when we first started dating. It was fun, but gas prices are soooo much higher, so we had to cut that short.
Saturday, we had a wedding to go to in the Woodlands, and we joined up with Wally and Crissy Wellborn for the trip. We also got to see a lot of college friends ( I almost typed "old" in front of college, but decided people might get the wrong idea.) The trip home was filled with exhausted Karaoke-ing with the radio. Be glad you weren't there. Sunday we picked the girls up and then went to the Gate to talk about how the church has lost the passion for Christ in the analogy of the Church being the bride of Christ. I didn't think about this series falling at the same time as our anniversary, so I had to clarify that Kristin and I were just fine. Monday, I took a half day and we all went for ice cream.
No, it wasn't the most exciting Anniversary event (that's later when we go to Colorado for a week in August), but it was so great getting to spend time with Kristin kind of like it was before we had kids. And after 7 years we still love each other. A whole bunch.

The World has cracked in two, now our top story, Michael Jackson's funeral.

Two weeks ago, Michael Jackson died. An event, to be sure, as he was a huge cultural icon. But since that time, he has been the top story almost everyday. Since he died, here is what else has happened: Iran's unrest continued, US troops pulled out of major Iraqi cities, the stock market started to decline, Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska, North Korea started shooting missiles again, and Honduras exiled their president- among other events as well. Outside of the Palin thing, there was no real coverage of any of these other things, other than a brief anecdote. Honduras in particular bothers me. The President there broke the law by taking an armed militia to break in to a secure location to get ballots for an illegal referendum he wanted that were printed in Venezuela (dictator Hugo Chavez's home). The Supreme Court and Congress of Honduras (led by the President's own party, no less) ordered him arrested for violating the country's Constitution. Now the world, including the US government, condemns the actions not of the exiled President, but of the people of Honduras. Those same Honduran people are now crying out (almost solely through the Wall Street Journal, it seems) wondering why the world seems to be against them at best and completely ignoring them at worst. Our response seems to be, "We're too busy trying to deal with the crisis that is 'What will we do without Michael?'"

Do you have the time, to listen to me...pray?

Prayer time in our house has gotten a lot longer of late. A few months back, Leslie decided she wanted to start praying at meal time. Her prayers always start out, "Lord, thank you for this wonderful food, keep us all healthy and strong....Amen" (At night, she'll substitute 'wonderful day' instead of food). Then, pretty soon, Kenna wanted in on this thing. She'd bow her head, say, "Dear Lord..." the rest becomes a mumble, or sometimes just silence, before we hear, victoriously, "The End!" Then they decided that everyone should pray. Prayer time for a meal is sometimes 5 minutes or more long.
I wish I could say I thought this was awesome that our kids were super spiritual at 2 and 4, but truth be told, I get annoyed. Time is wasting, and food is getting cold and I have these pleasing odors wafting up into my nose begging me to eat, but I can't because we have to pray. Like its some sort of painful obligation.
I don't think I'm terribly different than most Christians these days, prayer is some formality we get out of the way before dinner or bed. And that's whats wrong with us. We don't desire to spend time with God like He was friend, but like a harsh teacher we have to obey. That's not God, and that's certainly not why he came here- for us to grudgingly spend time talking to Him.
So tonight, if the girls want to pray for a long time, I will stop my nose up so I can't smell the wonderful dinner Kristin has prepared, and I will talk with God with excitement, just as my 2 and 4 year old are teaching me.