Parents eagerly wait for the day their children will walk and talk. Then they tell them to sit down and shut up.

Huh?

Picked up my bike today. The bottom bracket was trashed. Parts & Labor. When I went to pick it up I had them check the chain. They have a gauge that measures free play at 90 degrees to the chain's straight line and mine was off the chart. Total slop. Parts & Labor.
Nice guy, who gave me lots of good info, including that Google now has a bike route feature on their map page. He also told me he could turn my headset upside down and give me a better riding position...no charge. So I had him do that. I'm eager to go for a ride now. Unfortunately, first I have to go back and get my computer, which he forgot to reinstall after he flipped the headset. Drat!

But pretty much a representative sample of my day. Uffdah. But I'll spare you the details.

Al's appetite is almost back to normal and he seems to have a little more energy. The vet said the prednisone would do that - increase appetite and decrease pain. But the side effects are nasty; it messes up the body's chemistry. So after a pill a day for three days we now go to one pill every other day, and hold it at that level for another 10 days. I'm interested to see how he does after he goes off the prednisone. The hope is that by then the antifungal med will have had sufficient effect that he can hold that improvement.

Two days ago I got a fancy promo piece addressed to me as pastor of Pathway Bible Church. It measures 9" tall by about 5" wide and has six double-sided pages printed on card stock in 4-color. This was an expensive piece!

The return address is "Woodlands Church" in The Woodlands, Texas. (Yes, the city is called The Woodlands.) The founders and Sr. Pastors at Woodlands Church are Kerry and Chris Shook. Photos of the two of them are a prominent feature of this piece, and I can see why. They look to be in their late 30's, are both very attractive and have great teeth. They have a program they call Love at Last Sight, a "30-day challenge certain to impact your community like you've never seen before." This seems to be a program for pastors to buy and use in their church. The kit includes a small group DVD, interactive guides, a testimonial DVD, posters and other promo pieces and a 4-week series of sermons with illustrations!

But wait! There's more!
This fall we'll also have the opportunity to join over 4,000 churches in the One Month to Live challenge, with a kit that includes similar materials.

I don't know what this costs because I don't see that info in the ad piece. There's an (800) number I can call to get more info. But I am told that for $89 I can get "All Access" that gets me exclusive conference calls on selected dates with Pastor Kerry, morning text messages from Pastor Kerry, 20% off Kerry Shook products for one year and a couple of other bene's.

As I read through the piece, all 12 pages, I was struck by what was and what wasn't said.

This program will "Double your small groups and Sunday school classes." It will "Bring your church exponential growth" (page 3). I can join "thousands nationwide" (page 4). The Shooks started their church with eight people in 1993 and the church has grown to 18,000 in attendance. It won the "prestigious Church Health Award presented by Saddleback Church" (page 7). This program has brought "over a 30% attendance growth" at Daniel Floyd's church and "600 additional people" at Steve Robinson's church (page 10).
Rick Warren says the "One Month to Live" challenge (the one available to me this fall) gave Saddleback "absolutely outstanding results!" (page 8).

What isn't said?
There is no mention anywhere in the piece of God. No reference to God, to Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit. I don't know that he exists from reading this mailer. Nor is there any mention of the Bible. The word "Bible" doesn't occur nor any of its synonyms, like Scripture or God's Word. There is no quote of any Scripture passage - not a verse, not even an allusion to a verse. No mention of the Gospel, either.

You're lookin' good and stylin', Kerry and Chris Shook. Untucked button down shirt, Chris' wind-blown hair, bright white smiles. But I think I'll pass on your program. Color me old fashioned and un-cool, but I'm going to stick with God's Word as empowered by the Holy Spirit. If God sees fit to give us numerical growth I'll be happy, but I'll also know it came from him, not from a well-packaged 30-day program.

Oh, and my people will get real food, the bread of life.