Dead or Alive!?!

Found this on Fox news . . . A Dublin hospital apologized Thursday for telling a family their relative was dead, only to discover he was still alive when the morticians arrived.

Oooooooooops!

Evel Knievel Takes a Leap of Faith

Last night, while visiting at my parents, my mother excitedly told me about watching the "Hour of Power" on TV a few weeks ago. On the particular morning she watched, Robert "Evel" Knievel gave his testimony. I know a lot of you don't even know who "Evel" Knievel is. I remember coming in early to watch him on TV jump this or that on his motorcycle. I remember people talking about how he had broken every bone in his body at one time or another (that may be a slight exaggeration). He was the dare devil everyone wanted to watch.

Well, my mother was so moved about this testimony. You could see it in her expressions as she told how he had come to know Christ personally and wanted everyone to know Him as well. As she talked, I knew I had to look this up for myself. Even though I believed her, I needed to read more about it. Now I admit that up until about a year ago, I would not have thought of the "Hour of Power" as being very evangelistic. However, I am glad kept my opinion to myself. About a year ago I was able to visit the Crystal Cathedral and hear Robert Shuler. He spoke to a group from the Beeson Institute which I was attending. From the things he talked about there, the website, and this conversation with my mother, I believe my assumptions were wrong. This just goes to prove that you have to look at the inside of things before you really know all about them.

Check out the video on "Evel" Knievel from the "Hour of Power" website.

Welcome to the Family, Isaac!

I would like to introduce to you my newest nephew, Isaac Ronald Ebright. My sister, Michele, and her husband Dave have adopted this little guy and are excited to be Issac's parents. Even though Isaac has been living in Michele and Dave's home since the middle of March, this morning at 12:00 AM Issac will forevermore be their son. Because of the the laws, etc. concerning adoption, up until four months after Issac was born the birth mother could have still taken responsibility and kept him for her own. Since that didn't happen, Isaac will ALWAYS stay with his new parents.

I think this has been the coolest thing. It is just like God adopting us as his own. Just like Issac is loved by his parents, I am loved as God's child. Also, like Issac, God will never give me up. What a great example this is for us.

Isaac . . . welcome into this family. I will be praying for you that you will also come to know Christ personally and in turn know what it is like to have God be your heavenly father.

Over Half of the States Are In!

This has been a great week, I think, for getting visitors to the blog! Last Friday we had 11 states This week we added another 15 states, plus the District of Columbia, on our trek for at least one visitor from every state. The new states are Iowa, Oregon, Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Nebraska, Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, Georgia, New Jersey, South Carolina, and New York. That makes the total 26 states and Washington, D.C. If you aren't good in math, there are 24 states to go. If you know anyone across the country, please send them a link to the blog.

Also this week, there were visitors from the following countries: Senegal, Switzerland, South Africa, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Netherlands, Italy and Portugal.

Come back next Friday to see how close we are to all 50 states.

Welcome to everyone and I hope you check back often!

I'm Not Smarter Than a 5th Grader

Maybe you have seen this? If so, sorry to waste your time. For those of you who haven't, take the quiz. I missed 5 answers :( See if you are smarter than a 5th grader.

Let a comment and tell me how you did - if you are not too ashamed.

Bob White's Wreck Sequence

I posted earlier about my friend Bob White and wreck while racing "midget" sprint cars at Southern National Raceway in North Carolina. The track has posted the wreck sequence online. Check it out here.

Stevy Z. Hits for the Cycle

Today I get to brag on my nephew. Stephen was playing his "A" team baseball game last night and batted 5 times. He hit safely at every at bat. In fact, he hit for the cycle. He had two singles, a double, triple and a Home Run - over the fence! I know his mother was proud and, even though I wasn't able to see it, his uncle was pleased to hear it as well.

DUH!!!

According to FoxNews.com, religion is good for kids. Here's a taste.

The kids whose parents regularly attended religious services — especially when both parents did so frequently — and talked with their kids about religion were rated by both parents and teachers as having better self-control, social skills and approaches to learning than kids with non-religious parents.

Crash on the Asphalt

A friend of mine from church, Bob White, races "Midgets" on the asphalt (opposed to the dirt tracks around Central PA) and was racing in North Carolina over the weekend. I got a phone call at about 11:45 PM on Saturday night that he was in a bad wreck and taken to the hospital. Here's the Newspaper report.

The Ford Focus Midgets had an evening that could best be summed up as interesting, to say the least. The 35 lap race was marred by a horrific wreck that saw the 7 of Bob White catch another driver�s tire, shoot up the fence and roll four times along the retaining fence before bounding down the turn three embankment and coming to a stop against the infield wall. Remarkably, White was alright after being checked out at a local hospital.

I talked with him in person yesterday and today. Thank God that he was alright. He looked fine, but said he was pretty sore.

Bank Robber's Picture

According to the Lewistown Sentinel . . .
A bank employee snapped this photograph of the man who robbed the Richfield Branch of the Juniata Valley Bank Monday morning at about 9 a.m. The man is about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, is between 25-30 years old, has a medium build and brown hair. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact the police.

See the Sentinel Article here.

I Need Your Help

Today I downloaded Google Apps, including Fire Fox, Desktop, and Spyware Doctor. Would anyone be willing to comment on any of these - good or bad? My computer seems to run slower now. I would seriously like to know more about them. I feel so outdated.

Our Bank Was Robbed!

Our bank was robbed! We think, anyway. They were closed this morning with police cars outside. There was a police helecpoter in the air as well this morning. For those of you throughout the U.S. who have been invited by friends to check out this blog, I live in a small rural town in Central PA. This is the only bank for at least 7 miles. This is BIG! This would be the fourth or fifth time that I can remember that the bank was robbed. Two of those times my mother was a teller at the bank and one of those times, the robber came to her window! Also, one of those times, the robber came on a bicycle and escaped by taking the bank manager and making him drive him where where he wanted to go. They have caught some, and I thinkk others are still at large. No one has ever been hurt, but, it seems to be a dangerous place. More later . . . maybe.

American Idol, Conan O'Brian, David Letterman, Terry Bradshaw and Josh Griffin

I was reading Josh Griffin's blog about American Idol and David Letterman's "Top Ten". I happen to be more of a Conan fan (since I happen to have been on his show with our mechanical bull) and remembered a bit they do called "If They Mated". Here is an example.

Bruce Willis was recently seen with Courtney Love. What if these two had a child?

Looks a little like a transsexual Terry Bradshaw.

Then, sure enough, I found this. . .

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline recently finalized their divorce. If they ever hooked up again, what would the child of these two singers with limited musical ability look like?

Sanjaya!

Perry Noble dot com

I have found a great blog by Perry Noble. If you are in ministry, paid or volunteer, you NEED to read his passionate and encouraging posts. I have added him as a "Blog I Frequent". Thanks Perry.

Chasing Turkeys

You've-got-to-be-kidding-me

Six States Added! All 50 Is The Goal.

I am planning to update each Friday on my quest to get at least one visitor from every state to my blog. We started with 5 states. As of Lunchtime (eastern) today we have added Florida (thanks Tom), Texas, Utah, Missouri, Ohio, and Virginia! So cool. Only 39 states to go. Tell your friends. ALSO . . . We have had one visit from Ontario, Canada and one from the United Kingdom!! I can now say my blog is Global! I am really enjoying this.

Okay, lunch is over. Back to work (Well, some people don't think I ever work).

Joel

Cocky or Confident

I have been dialoging (I am not sure it is a word but you know what I mean), actually joking with one of the football players about whether he is cocky or not. I found this. . . blog? ? ? ? at http://dpvball.tripod.com/scottsong/cocky_vs_confident.htm I thought it was well put. Here's the article. Sorry that it is rather long.

1) DOES HE HAVE INTEGRITY? Confident men are also men of integrity. When you look at guys like Maximus from "Gladiator", it was his integrity that added onto his confidence. Integrity is needed because confidence is one of those qualities that cannot be associated with "immoral things", for a truly confident individual would never need to resort to stooping low. Because integrity is so important, all the manwhores, he-sluts, drug addicts, and car thieves cannot be men of confidence. If they were so confident, they wouldn't need to rely on drugs, women, or fancy
cars to make them feel important.

2) CAN YOU MAKE FUN OF HIM? A truly confident man is able to take a joke. In other words, you should be able to make fun of him or tease him about his weaknesses and he should be able to laugh with you. A cocky guy tries to hide his insecurities and therefore will either get defensive when you tease him, or he will play it off as if it was no big deal but then dwell upon it later. Cocky guys don't know how to take a joke.

3) WHO SETS HIS STANDARDS? Confident men set their own standards, whereas cocky guys set their standards according to how others are doing. In other words, a confident man will aim for goals that he placed for himself, whereas a cocky guy just wants to be better than the people around him. So a confident man might say, "Yeah, I can do that." But a cocky guy will use comparisons and might say something like "Yeah, I'm the BEST at that" or "I am BETTER than him at that". Cocky guys need to compare in order to feed their insecurities and show that they are better than the next guy.

4) DOES HE LIFT OTHERS UP? Confident men enjoy making other people feel good about themselves, too. They can spot the strengths of another guy and praise them for it. A cocky guy only seeks praise for himself and will constantly compare his strengths to another man's weaknesses. Confident men are secure enough to acknowledge that some people are actually better than them in something.

5) IS HE TEACHABLE? Confident men love to learn. They know that there are still many things that need improvement in their lives and therefore are eager to learn from others, whether it deals with sports, hobbies, or even how to interact with other people. Cocky guys, on the other hand, are not as teachable because they have the mindset that they do not need improvement and are fine the way they are. They lack wisdom and are not open to taking advice. To them, their way is the right way, and
even when they know that their way is wrong, they find a way to justify it. They are complacent and don't feel the need to expand their minds. See, confident guys are strong IN SPITE of their weaknesses, but cocky guys are strong BECAUSE OF their strengths. See the difference?

Everybody has insecurities, but not everyone is insecure. You can have weaknesses without being weak. Insecurity drives the cocky man, but humility drives the confident man.

Where the posies is?

"Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the posies is?" My great aunt, Thelma, used to say that soon after the first day of Spring. However, this Sunday will be one month since spring has sprung and I am getting a little impatient with how quickly God is allowing the warm weather to show up. The posies aren't popping out of the groud. I know He knows what He is doing, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I guess that I am just anxious to get to football - only 116 more days! www.tigerfootball.cc

Turbo Tax Woes and Possibly Good News

The last five years I have filed my taxes with Turbo Tax without a problem. This year was different. I won't go into a lot of details, but each time I tried to e-file the past two days, nothing would happen. I tried five times yesterday alone. I guess we Turbo Taxers all waited to e-file at the same time. Even though I haven't heard officially, a friend told me they heard on the news that the IRS was not going to punish people who had problems. That better be the case. See the story on Fox News for more information.

Visitors from Every State!

In the past two days I have visitors on the blog from the states of Alaska(1), California(3), Maryland(2), North Carolina(1) and of course PA. Thanks to Josh, Jana and Blogger.com for their referrals! I would love to see visits from every state in the nation! Maybe you could help make that happen. If you know someone from anther state, would you be willing to have them check out a "Bunch of Stuff"? Let's see how long it takes.

What Are You Too Busy For?

Watch the video. Then go to the original article from the Washington Post. I thought it was interesting. The article is a bit long but well written. Here is a taste. . .

Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.

By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10

HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play.

What a Way to Go!!

This is great!

I tried this today.

1. go to www.google.com
2. click on “maps”
3. click on “get directions”
4. type “New York” in the first box (the “from” box)
5. type “London” in the second box (the “to” box)
6. scroll down to step #23

Also, check out how long google says it takes to get there.

Joel

Thanks to Jayson Curlee's blog for this.

www.joelsnyder.net

I took the plunge and bought a new web domain with my name on it. I did it to help direct people here to my blog. You can now type www.joelsnyder.net and be directed here! To the few people who have subscribed to my blog so far, it won't matter. But, hopefully it will be easier for others to remember www.joelsnyder.net than www.everyoneelsebutjoel.blogspot.com.

Joel

World's Record Number of Snow Angels

I thought this was appropriate to blog about after my last post. The USA Today said it is official - over 8900 people dive into the snow to set a new snow angel record. I love the cross.

The Mother of Alll Storms!?!

Diane wanted me to check the weather for this weekend and according to Henry at www.accuweather.com, we in Central PA could get "pounded" - perfectness!! Check it out.

Just Pos

Here is a video about Paul "Pos" Posluszny, linebacker from Penn State.

My Morning at Pre-School

Well, today was the day that I got to go to pre-school. I was there for my friend Paris, who is the oldest daughter of my friend and head football coach. He wasn't able to go and, as I wrote in an earlier blog, I was privileged to have been asked to be the "male" for the morning. I am not sure how I would enjoy working with pre-school kids in general. It was very interesting. The oddest part of the day was during circle time. The odd part was that they used a record player for the song they sang. I didn't know ANYONE used a record player anymore!?! I was really surprised. As for the rest of the day . . . It went really well. I got there around 9:30 and had to leave at 11. I watched circle time and then we ate breakfast - I didn't know how good Life Cereal is. After we ate, cleaned up and brushed our teeth, there was free time where we built a tower with blocks, drew a growing flower, found dinosaurs in the sand and I read two books to her. Seriously, I hated to leave. I wanted to see the volcano. She seemed pleased that I was there, which made me happy.

Roadkill for Dessert?

I found this on Jana Grant's Blog

This is Perfectness!!!

Here are Jana's thoughts.

Only in Central PA would someone be crazy enough to do something quite as gross as this... and crazy as I am I am allowing this adult male to come on a retreat this weekend with 25 middle school students! WOW!! I must be crazy... but really about this appetizing display...Saturday was a sportsman's dinner at a local Mennonite church so a guy (we will keep him anonymous for now) decided that he would create a place to be displayed on the table along with all the other foods that we to be eaten that night at the meal. I was assured it was fresh roadkill - but is there really such a thing??? So yeah it was funny until some children started to go up to the plate and eat the crackers that were so nicely displayed on the plate...needless to say the plate was removed from the table, thank goodness! This was too funny not to post!

Awesome Opportunity

I was surprised last evening when I answered my cell phone to hear a cute little female friend talk to me. She asked me if I could meet this week. She sounded a little embarrassed and yet excited to be asking me. Now before those of you who want to see me married get all crazy, you should know that that this invitation was to spend time with her at her . . . pre-school. I guess Thursday is "Take a male to pre-school Day" and her daddy has to work and she asked if I could come. Her daddy is a good friend and I have spent time with the family. He is the head coach of the football team I help to coach. I obviously agreed to go and look forward to the opportunity and count it a privilege to be there. Look for a blog later this week, and maybe a picture, about my time in pre-school.

Joel

Internet Evangelism Resources

Internet Evangelism Resources
Websites offer us incredible power to share the Good News. But to make use of this potential, we must understand these six issues:

The nature of the Internet
It is a pull [www.web-evangelism.com/medium.php] medium. There is no automatic audience for any website. There are only three ways that someone will find a site:
using a search engine
following a link from another website
by a personal recommendation – in an email, on a contact card, in print, TV/radio etc.

Church Sign?

This picture was taken by a member of the youth at my church when her family was in Florida. The sign says "Jesus got His ass to church on Palm Sunday u can 2"

She also says "Then three days later they changed it and it said "If you thought the sign was funny, come join our fun"
Interesting huh.

I thought it was very interesting.

Joel

115 year old Easter Egg!

Believe it or not . . . my mother has a 115 year old Easter egg. It was decorated in 1882 by her grandfather. It has been in my mother's family ever since. Yesterday the local paper, the Daily Item, in Sunbury, PA ran an article with two pictures about it. However, I can't seem to find a link for this. I will do my best to get either the link or get a picture of this egg. It is in an old sugar bowl in my parents' cubboard. Every Easter she gets this thing out to show the grandchildren.

Joel

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter

Found this on Jim Clarks Blog. Funny Stuff.



Joel

24 . . . Did You Know?

I really enjoy the show "24". I have ever since I watch the entire first season all day on FX a couple of years ago. I haven't missed an episode this year, YET, even though I have only watch about 3 shows live on Monday nights. Here is why I haven't missed an episode.

As you can see by my NEW blog here, I have really tried to get into or should I say "stay current" with the technological world. Sooooo, I created a myspace page. In doing so, through a long series of events, I found that the show "24" has a myspace page as well. AND. . . they have this years episodes on - the next day they air! Amazing!! Now I don't have to worry about getting home to watch the show. I can watch it on my computer, whenever I want to.

Joel

Snow ? ? ? In April? ? ?

I love snow - when it is supposed to snow! I love all of the seasons! However, it should be hot in summer, colorful and cool in the fall, cold and white in the winter and warm and wet in the spring.

It is, as I type, snowing and "laying" on the grass! What is up with that. I guess God knows what he is doing.

Joel

130 Days til Official

There are only 130 days left until we can officially begin football season once again! I really enjoy the game. In the meantime, check out www.tigerfootball.cc.

Joel

RC Racing in Richfield!

RC in the FLC! Our part time ministry assistant, Aaron, enjoys RC racing and has bought and made an rc track in our Family Life Center. He seems to have a pretty good number of guys (and a few girls) interested in this stuff. Check out the video.

Joel

Tiger Football

I have been busy lately working on the www.tigerfootball.cc website. I was up til 12:30 AM last night and came in a little early today to get some done. I think you should check it out. Last night I posted pictures of the donkey basketball game and hope to put more pics up this week as well. This morning I updated the 2007 schedule for both the varsity and JV teams. I am really looking forward to this season, hoping it will be successful.

Joel

Phone Tree

I have to go teach Diane (secretary) to send out a Phone Tree message for some prayer requests. This Phone Tree device has been really good for getting announcements and prayer requests out to people. You record your message and the phone tree sends out your message. It could be sent via the two phone lines the church has or sent via internet, for a small fee, to everyone. The former takes much longer while the latter takes very little time. Either way it has been good stuff for us at RMC.

My first blog

Here it is, my first blog. Good deal . . . or maybe not?!? I will be mostly posting on my life and what other people think. Right now I have nothing else to say, but I hope to blog often.

Joel