Shoes, Restrooms and Uncomfortable Moments

We had a great weekend with concerts at three new churches where we hadn't been before. We always love to meet new friends and met a bunch. Best of all, we were invited back to all three churches!!

On the way home Sunday night, we stopped at a gas station for some iced tea and a bathroom break. (I'll try not to give too much info here, but you need to picture the scene.) I buzzed into the room of rest where there were two sit downs and two stand ups. I was standing there doing my business when suddenly I heard this voice from the stall next to me say, "What kind of shoes are those?" Apparently my next door potty neighbor could see my feet from under the dividing wall.

OK folks, I think we all know that talking in the restroom is uncomfortable at best, and conversation with an unseen stranger doing "serious" business is just unheard of. What was I to do?

To be polite, I answered, "I don't know, I got them on the internet."

"They just slip on, that's pretty cool."

Oh no, now we are actually having a conversation - and I can hear the sounds of him doing his business in there. Gross.

"Yeah, I think life should be as easy as possible."

"That's good, especially since tomorrow's Monday."

Oh man, he's changed to a whole new subject. By now I'm rushing to wash my hands and make my escape, But it's my turn to talk and I can't just leave without saying something, that would be rude.

"Have a good evening."

I think he answered, but I was out the door as quick as possible. I passed another fellow going in as I was coming out and thought, "Good luck, buddy. Hope you like to chat."

I love people and love to visit with them, but if you are a guy and ever see a pair of white slip-on tennis shoes from under a bathroom divider wall, just store up those thoughts and send me an e-mail.

We're on FIRE!

Happy Monday all!

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Just Do It!

I took the family to see the new movie by the FACING THE GIANTS folks this afternoon. Another fine Christian film, go see it. Excellent, except for the upcoming movie previews shown at our local theatre. There were several times I wanted to cover my kids eyes and ears. I guess that just shows how much a wholesome movie like FIREPROOF is needed today. It is time we Christians let our dollars show Hollywood that there is a market for quality, clean and moral entertainment.

This is opening weekend, which really counts in the movie business, so if possible go see this movie and let your voice be heard. Oh yeah, don't forget to take your hankie!

Part 3

Last Saturday I mentioned three bloggable moments and have only done two. Here's part three!

Last Friday we had the privilege of opening a concert for our dear friend Chris Filer. What a wonderful night as Chris introduced his two new CDs. One is a more of a straight forward positive country album and the other is more gospel focused. Great songs, great music, and what a voice!!! If you are like me and tired of the same old stuff that Christian radio keeps dishing out, you'll love these projects. But don't take my word for it (does this sound like an informercial?), check it out for yourself! You can download the projects at www.nimbitmusic.com/chrisfiler. You can also purchase the physical CDs by e-mailing "kfiler@embarqmail.com"

Get both, you'll love them. And tell 'em Phil sent ya!

Revelation

Last night at men's bible study I had one of those a-ha moments, a revelation. We are studying about "respectable sins," and how in God's eyes sin is sin, no matter the size. We discussed the way that sin is rarely mentioned in the world today. I brought up that the same thing has happened in the church. We used to sing hymns that were filled with references to sin and human depravity. We sang our praise of how great God is in response to admitting our base humanity and need for a savior. Now we sing a lot of songs about how great God is with no mention of us. Look at the middle verse of the classic hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul" -

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Now that's something to get excited about! Remember, grace isn't all that amazing unless you understand that a "wretch like me" is unworthy to receive it. I can't just point a finger at the church, I used to write a bunch of songs on this topic, but I haven't been lately. I think the general trend of society has rubbed off on me and I didn't even realize it.

But no more! I know what I must do. It's time to write more songs about sinning! (OK, that doesn't sound quite right, but you know what I mean.)

Ouch!!

Saturday I installed a new screen/storm door on my mom's house. My youngest daughter was my assistant for this undertaking, and she was a huge help. She read all the instructions, (at least the ones in English), dug through bags of parts, and retrieved the multitude of screws I kept dropping. Dexterity on musical instruments does not necessarily translate to power tools, bummer.

We had a great time working together with only one slight mishap. Once Alisha bent down to pick up something at the same time I turned around and I whacked her in the head with my cordless screwdriver. Fortunately she is tough and it wasn't the pointy part, but she does have a nice bruise on her cheek. Oops!

I know it's not good to teach your kids to lie, but I told her if anybody asked about her bruise, it probably wasn't a good idea to say her dad hit her in the head with an electric drill.

Name That Tune

OK, yesterday's blog title was a line from a popular song. When my wife read it, she didn't get the reference. Are my references too obscure? Let's find out!

Send me an e-mail with the song title and composer (to Phil@PhilandPamMorgan.com) and I'll send you a Free mp3 song from our latest CD, "You Move Me." I know some people get behind in their blog reading, so I'll run this contest through the end of September 2008.

I can't wait to hear from you!!!

... as High as an Elephant's Eye

I had three blogable moments today, but I'll post them one per day so you don't get blog fatigue.

Tonight I took my girls and one friend each to the huge corn maze in Liberty, MO. This is an annual tradition for us, but I think this was the best year ever. The maze was a tribute to the Kansas City Zoo and featured several animals. (For an aerial view of the maze, check out www.libertycornmaze.com) The abundance of rain this year must have been very good for the corn crop, because the corn was about ten feet tall - literally. Here is a photo of Kayla and her friend Rachael who are both about 5' 7". (Why is Rachael wearing a pink tutu? I find it better not to ask these things.)

In three hours we successfully navigated the 150 miles of maze, (it's probably closer to ten miles, but it seemed like a bunch more.) We found all 24 check points and only got hopelessly lost once! Fun times.

Chinese Roman Numerals

Pam and I bought a huge wall clock on eBay for the wall above the stairs to our basement. After I finally got it hung on the wall and we were staring in admiration, I noticed something strange. The numbers on the clock are in large Roman numerals, but instead IV for 4, it reads IIII.

I grabbed the instructions and checked. Sure enough - made in China. I guess Chinese Romans count a little different.

Chris Filer CD Release Celebration

I mentioned this on our ministry news blog (pnpupdate.blogspot.com), but here it is again in case you haven't been to the other site in a while.

Our dear friend, Chris Filer, has recorded two new CDs and is launching a solo ministry. Join us September, 19 2008 at The Farm - 28710 S. Hwy 7, Garden City, Missouri. There will be free hot dogs, chips, & drinks from 6:30 to 7:30, then we will do a few songs to open the evening. After that we'll sit back and enjoy a great evening of music. Mark your calendars and be there!!

Our friendship goes back before our ministry began when Phil played piano for a country music show run by Chris and his family. Chris, his wife Kelly, and brother Bill formed "The Filers" and recorded Phil's song "Laughing All The Way To The Bank" on their debut CD. Chris and Kelly were our additional vocalists on our "Gospel Favorites Live" CD. They are all wonderful people and we are so excited to see Chris back on the stage again. By the way, we've heard some tunes from the new CDs and they are EXCELLENT!!!

Feedback

We had a couple of great concerts yesterday. First stop was Bethel Church in Boone, Iowa where we helped celebrate the church's 100th anniversary. We've been with these folks enough times that we feel like family. What an honor to be invited to share their special day.

The evening found us in Des Moines at Highland Park Church of the Nazarene. This was our first time at this church and we loved them! The spirit was strong throughout the evening we could tell that the song really ministered. Probably the most memorable part for me was at the end of the concert. Before everyone was dismissed, the pastor asked if anyone would like to share how they had been blessed by the evening. Several folks stood to their feet and shared current trials in their lives and how our testimony had been an encouragement to them. We had just finished singing "Give Out The Blessing" and the blessing came right back to us. What a humbling reminder of how awesome it is to be used by God!!

Now That's Service

Last night I stopped by my favorite Chinese place for some take home takeout. I placed my order at the speaker box and pulled around to the pickup window where I was cheerfully greeted by one of the sisters (this restaurant appears to be run by a family and the daughters/sisters always work the counter.) As an after thought, I asked if they had any iced tea made and ordered a glass. She handed me out a big styrofoam cup and I popped of the top, grabbed some sweetener from my car stash and dumped in a couple packets. She rushed back to the window and said, "Oh no, I already sweetened! Two Sweet-n-Low, way you like?"

I was impressed! She remembered the way I drink my iced tea and fixed it for me. What service!! We don't come here that often and the last time had to be at least a couple of weeks ago. There have been a ton of people come and go since then. I felt so special!!

Of course, it could be I look so memorably weird that people say, "Oh, there's that iced tea guy again."