The picture says it all folks. LOL... I will be flying Delta Airlines to Houston and NOT this carrier... My friend Dawn Higdon sent me this picture amongst many I will share later... 

My friend and sister in Christ Deelyght Jagessar in Bonnyville Alberta Canada. Bill Berry and I met her and her husband back in 1995 on a ministry conference we hosted.... 

An incredible war time picture of a helicopter off loading or picking up soldiers in Iraq. This was no small feat... 

A dear friend of mine, Bill Berry from Central Church in Tennesse. Bill is a friend and long time online ministry partner at Battle Plan Ministries and Jesus Connect Ministries.  

This is Jeremy receiving an award for being the Year Book Editor at Terry High School.  

Jeremy and his date Kacee at the 2004 Prom....  

Awesome picture of Jeremy at 2004 Prom. Gosh, he IS good looking aye?? 

I am not sure what THIS look is all about nevertheless I am PROUD of my boy!! 

Another good picture of Jeremy in front of water fall Sesquicentennial Park downtown Houston Texas 

Jeremy Graduation picture Terry High School Richmond Texas 

Jeremy Moffitt Terry High School Graduate May 27, 2004 

Walking walking walking walking

I am now walking approximately 4 out of 7 days per week 1.6 miles in 30 minutes in our neighborhood. That is better than what I was doing 6 weeks ago which was not much. The other day I was at the Pastor's house helping them with some computer issues when his wife and daughter made mention that I was losing some weight. I know that I have probably not lost much but I do know from the way my pants are fitting me looser that I am atleast toning up a bit even if the weight loss is very gradual. I am also feeling much better and I have more energy than before. That energy level increasing has given me more self confidence and the ability to suck it up and go for that proverbial walk even when my body wants to be lazy in the morning.

I am having more luck with the increased exercise than I have been with my diet. I need to find the same will power and tenacity when it comes to sticking less calories into my head. The BEST way to lose weight is to EAT LESS and EXERCISE MORE. Repeat this after me.

EAT LESS
EXERCISE MORE

Yes, I know, easier said than done. :) It seems as if the body has a mind of its own. No pun intended.....
Maybe the body (flesh) KNOWS that I am planning something silly with regards to denying it of what IT wants and it preemptively shuts down all the logic and will power circuits in my mind and takes over from there by opening my mind and starting the hand to mouth reflex problems....

Have you noticed how many people in your community have mad cow disease? No, I, we are not alone. Lets face it, us Americans are just down right obese. Someone said the other day that there is no shortage of food therefore we do not need to eat EVERYTHING in sight and that we just have access to way too much food to begin with. I never really thought about it that way but whoever said it is right. We do have access to way too much food.


Ok, enough said about mad cow disease. I am going to take my mind (and yours) off of the calorie counting madness and diving off into one of my favorite hobbies which would be photography. If you have know us (me) for long you had access to our www.fototime.com picture archive in which we had almost 1500 photos online. I took those photos in the space of the last 3 years. I guess you could say that I am a shutterbug at heart. I hate being on the business end of the camera but I LOVE being on the other end. The other day I noticed that there was a Canon AE1 35mm camera with a 50mm lens for sale at Goodwill. The price was 19.95 with 50% off which brought the grand total to 9.95. Yes, you guessed it, I am providing a new home for this camera. I was also told that someone saw a zoom lens for it lying around but I was unable to find it. So, with that in mind we now have another means of taking photos other than our digital camera or 8mm camcorder. Tomorrow I will be burning the first roll of film at Kristina's awards ceremony in the hopes that it will take some decent pictures. The proof will be in the negatives per sa... LOL....

If the pictures turn out I will take the camera with me to Houston and use it to take some pics there during the graduation as well as some of the sights there. I think that I saw something about Photoblogging over on Blogger.com. Gosh, imagine that, driveling through pics.... LOL...

The fun thing about using the Canon AE1 is that there is nothing automatic about it. With the advent of the technology age we live in everything is digital and automatic. Just point and click and the electronics does all of the work for you. Not so with the Canon AE1. You have to know HOW to use the different settings and I am embarrased to say that I have fallen victim to the technical simplicity of things and I have forgotten almost everything I ever learned about photography using this type of camera. With that said, it took me several moments to figure out HOW to open the back of the camera to load film. Just today I figured out how to remove the 50mm lens but it took me much longer to figure out HOW to put the silly thing back on.

Once I know that I know that the camera is still fully functional and I can figure out all of the different settings then I will begin the search for some CHEAP accessories for this camera. I will be needing a auto winder, zoom lenses and a flash unit and camera bag. I will be keeping my eyeballs peeled (ouch) over at Goodwill to snag any more good camera deals that come along in the near future.

School ending & Summer Beginning

Our children are growing up before our very eyes. Just the other day we registered our kids for the 2004 school year and now that year has flown right past our eyes. Kristina and Justin both managed to survive the year and even came out of the experience by learning some valuable lessons and gaining some awards and acknowledgement from their peers and teachers. I am going to have to build a shrine (book case) for Kristina's bedroom to hold all of the awards, trophies and such. Kristina was on the A B honor roll this year and had perfect attendance. Tomorrow we will be going to the awards ceremony at her school at 8:30 am. Today Katy went to Justin's school and ate lunch with him and attended his awards ceremony in which he received the "Best Author" award and "Best Otter" award as well. Justin went from struggling with his reading and speech skills to bringing his level up to the grade level he was in this year which is a HUGE accomplishment for him. Gosh, I am so proud of my children. Lets not forget my son Jeremy. Jeremy is graduating from High School this coming Thursday and thanks to Happy Days and Special Times I will be able to be there to watch him walk across the podium and take his certificate. Jeremy will be going on to college thanks to some Band scholorships and the help of his parents. I wish that I could take more credit for Jeremy's accomplishments but I can not. Jeremy has turned out to be quite a young man that makes me very proud. Jeremy has overcome some pretty big hurdles in his life and has shown me and others that he is capable of doing what he puts his mind to. Jeremy will be going to community collge next year and then going on to a university setting the following year.


It has been almost 3 years since our Jessica graduated from this world into the presence of God. I can not imagine the experiences our girl has lived in the last several years being in the presence of God. I ask God almost every day to hug our Jessica and let her know that her daddy will never forget her. I know that I spend more time in my blog bragging and talking about the children that are here on this earth as we know it but that does not mean that Jessica has left my mind or my thoughts. Jessica is still very much a part of our family and even though she is not here to share in the scholastic achievements of her brothers and sisters we know that her spirit lives on forever and that we will see her again one day when the Lord calls us home.

Katy has her very own BLOG!!

Ok sports fans, my wife has her very own BLOG located at http://katymoffitt.blogspot.com
So, with that in mind, add it to your favorites and check it out. I believe that there is one post there already from May 16th 2004. I also added Katy to our main Blog so she can post there as well.

God bless

Good morning Folks!!

In two weeks I will be flying to Houston to spend time with my son
Jeremy and other friends for four days. I am so ready to take 4
days off in a row. I have not had two days off in a row since the
end of March when I started working part time for Goodwill. I was
speaking to a friend of mine (ex employer) who told me via IM the
other day that he is going to provide me with a hotel room for the 4
days that I am there so that is a HUGE Praise the Lord. That means
that I will have my own bed to sleep in and some privacy when I need
it. :)

I was thinking the other day about how good God is to me and my
family. With regards to this "need" or "desire" I never petitioned
God for it. I never prayed and asked God to provide this for me.
Apparently someone in this group did and thanks be unto God he moved
on the hearts of several people and now I am going to Houston. How
wonderful is that? It just goes to show ME that God IS interested
in every detail of my life. I thank God every day for his provision
for our family. He continues to provide us with our needs and some
of our wants every single day.

Summer break is almost upon us folks. YIPES!! That also means Camp
Happy Days is almost upon us. Kristina and Justin are counting the
minutes for this event. :) Isn't that amazing? In this world when
you lose a loved one after the funeral everyone goes away and life
is supposed to go back to normal for everyone and you and your
family are left to deal with the grief pretty much on your own.
Thanks to the loving support of HDST we are never alone. We are all
part of one big family. All we have to do is stand up and holler
about whatever it is that we need to holler about and someone will
respond in some way. I am so thankful that my children have Camp
Happy Days to attend each year and that they are going to witness
and be a part of such a wonderful organization and the annual event
that takes place for kids with cancer and their siblings.

On a different note personally I have been trying to watch how much
I eat, what I eat and getting more exercise. This week I walked 1.6
miles 4 times or 6.4 miles. I have a path that I walk in the
mornings. I drove my car around and found it was approximately 1.6
miles and I usually walk it in about 30 minutes. The first couple
of times were tough. Now that I have done it for several weeks in a
row I have gotten to where I miss doing it. I have found that I have
more energy during the day and it helps me to deal with the stress
of life as well. I spend this time walking down the country roads
in my neighborhood and talking to God. I also try to shut up and
listen to HIM and I don't spend the whole time asking God to meet
this need or that. don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with
asking God to meet our needs or asking for a particular want.
However it is good practice to spend time quietly at HIS feet and
try to listen for HIM to instruct us and to encourage us in our
daily journey. Prayer is very powerful and I can say for a fact
that if I did not have quiet time with my Lord through prayer ,
reading of His word and fellowship with other believers that I would
be in dire trouble. These morning walks have enabled me to draw
closer to him and to separate myself temporarily from the garbage of
this world. So, with that in mind pray that I
will continue to walk as often as possible and to NOT stick so much
junk into my face. I need to excercise more and eat less. A simple
concept that is hard to do when you are so used to having the habit
of doing just the opposite.

Katy is studying for her exam that she will take in June. I will let
her tell you all the gory details but basically she will be able to
get her emergency teachers certificate in SC if she passes. The
test has been paid for (thank you Jesus) and the study materials
purchased. Pray that Katy will be able to retain this information
well enough to pass the exam.

On next Thursday I am going by GSP off of Rivers Avenue. It stands
for Good Source (P???). LOL, whatever. Anyway, this is a training
facility implemented by Goodwill industries. They offer all sorts of
technology training. They have a 5 week PC repair course. They have
all sorts of software application training, A+ certification and
MCSE certification training. I spoke to the office manager about my
needing to pursue my MCSE so that I can find a BETTER job in this
current market and she told me that my cost as an employee of
Goodwill would be around 1000.00. Currently the cost of an MCSE
cetification IF you go to a classroom setting is around 4k. So, the
fact that they offer it for 2k or 50% less than most training
facilities is awesome. The fact that I can get 50% off of that is
even more awesome. Then again, having 1000.00 might as well be my
having 1 million at this point in the game. Nevertheless I am going
to go check out the facility and see about financial options and how
I might be able to get some sort of funding to get this badly needed
certification. I have 15 years of experience in this field and now
I cant find a job partly because of no certification. Yes, this is
a need and a prayer request so please pray for this. :)

Well, enough babbling from James. I need to get away from this desk
and go for my walk. I did not walk yesterday so I need to go this
morning before church. :)

Spreading the LOVE.....

Have I told you how much I LOVE retail customers? If I have not please allow me to share some of the LOVE... LOL

Do not get me wrong, customers are NOT an interruption to my day, they are the REASON I am here. Customers are usually ALWAYS right no matter how WRONG they might be. As you can imagine, that thought process can always mire you down in a lot of silliness pretty quickly...

This morning I was reminded of why I prefer to work in the service department vs the sales room. Guess who reminded me of this fact? You got it, a customer.... I walked into the sales room because one of my employees told me that he needed help because he was too busy. So , I walk in and offer to sell a customer with their comptuer selection. I was told that they did not want me to help them but that they would rather wait on my employee to help them instead. I graciously asked them if I could assist them since my employee was assisting another customer and they told me pointedly that they did not need my assistance and that they would be happy to wait.

Gosh, I felt loved and appreciated after that comment. LOL... NOT




James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

Blogrolling

So you are asking, "what the heck is blogrolling?"

I am just now learning myself so be patient while I make a weak and slightly ignorant attempt at explaining this.
I have had our Blog now for almost 2.5 years. Our Blog is listed in several Blog databases that are searchable.
The problem is this. Even though our Blog url is listed in the database and is searchable it does not do me much good if no one knows that I am alive and that they can search for me.

So, with that in mind the next step is to take this Blog thing to the next level. Technorati is in the Beta stages of tracking over 2 MILLION Blogs. Once their Web Spider comes to my Blog url and verifies that I am who I say I am ( the author of the Blog) then they will validate my Blog Authorship and put me in their Technorati database and in turn I can keep track of whomever adds my Blog url to their Links Page.

Is that clear as mud yet? LOL.... Like I admitted earlier, I am still learning about Blogrolling and how it will give me some sort of advantage. Once the web spiders have done their thing you can click on the Technorati Profile link above the Contributors Text on the right side and it will take you to my custom Technorati Profile on their web site.
What that will do for me is beyond my comprehension at this point. What I do know is that I have fulfilled all the prerequisites that I needed to do in order to have a membership with their service. The FREE service does not allow me to have all the "bells and whistles" but its a start.

As I learn more you will hear about it.

Happy Blogging folks!!!

Blogger received a face lift!!!

My goodness, I posted something to my blog from work this afternoon and was forced to use the web interface at blogger.com and was pleasantly surprised by the NEW LOOK. Wow, I am VERY impressed with what Blogger has done with the new web site and user interface for us Blogger junkies. :)

I selected a NEW template and I turned on comments for new comments. That means I "expect" for you to say something back to me. LOL... Keep it clean and try to be nice because I will have the ability to (cough) delete any nasties someone might try to leave. Please forgive me, my lawyers made me put that little disclaimer in should one of your comments wind up in the recycle bin. :)

Anyway, nice stuff. The only thing I do not understand is why my picture is not showing up next to our "Contributors" section on the right hand side. I will have to mess with that functionality some more until I have success. I also noticed that the pics from Kristina and Jeremy REALLY messed up the template formatting and shoved all my archive and contributor information all the way to the bottom. For now I just put links to the pictures on our server. That way folks can just open up a new browser window and look at the pictures there.

Wahooooo Thanks Blogger!!

Through the rain!!

I have received this before in e-mail and it is so good that I wanted to put it on my blog. When is the last time you ran through the rain and just enjoyed getting wet?? I think that the next time it rains that I am going to try it out with my kids and see if they pass out. LOL...


A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Wal-Mart.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in "Mom, let's run through the rain," she said.

"What?" Mom asked.

"Let 's run through the rain!" She repeated.

"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain,"

"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.

"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes.

Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything
there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

A friend sent this to me to remind me of life. Hope you enjoy it.

I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Send this to the people you'll never forget and remember to also send it to the person who sent it to you. It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them.

If you don't send it to anyone, it means you're in a hurry.

Take the time to live!!!

Keep in touch with your friends, you never know when you'll need each other -- and don't forget to run in the rain!


God makes everything but unbreakable hearts.






James Moffitt
http://www.jesus-connect.net/jcmoffitt
moffittj@bellsouth.net

Possums, Bluetooth, Anniversaries, walking , meditation and whatever else comes to mind....

I like to write when I am inspired to say something. When I do not write does that mean that I am not inspired or that I just don't have time to capture my thoughts and share them with you my reading audience? Maybe a little bit of both. Can you tell that I struggled with the "title" of todays drivel? LOL.... I always ask myself, "ok, what is the title for todays thoughts??". Today I just gave up and put keywords that I will probably write about and left it at that.

Today marks day two in which I got off my lazy behind and did something other than sit in front of my 21" NEC monitor and fight pop up ads and dodge the other myriad of marketing ads that assail me each day. I wonder if the marketing geniuses will ever figure out that we really do not care to KNOW about ALL of their products nor do we care to give up every single red cent that we work hard for just so we can say that we have this and that. I am sure that marketing is a numbers game and the more you get the message in front of US the more chances that we will open up our check book or give out our credit card numbers online. I guess I just get tired of the constant marketing blather. I am quite happy with how long or short my body parts are or are not. LOL... Really people, I understand that this is the age of coming out of the closet but I still think there are things that still belong there. KWIM?? There are things that REALLY ought not be a part of normal conversation between friends. Some things are just too private. Those things are to be dealt with between myself, God and perhaps the family doctor on occasion. No one else needs to know about it. The folks that create television ads and the sponsors that pay millions of dollars annually to talk about it during prime time TV are still clueless. Do we really want to hear a conversation between two grown adults about how they have overcome the stresses and trials of having genital herpes? I for one do not...

Anyway, I just chased a huge rabbit around the room and finally down the hole from whence it came from. :) Back to the exercise comment at the top of that paragraph. Yes, I walked with my wife yesterday and then I got up this morning at 7 am and walked again. Two days in a row and 3.2 miles later I managed to torture my body and forced it to do some exercise. In the war of overcoming obesity I understand that two days of victory does not mean that I have won the war. What it does mean is that for two days straight I have been victorious in the battle for two days to do what is right. The goal is less food intake and MORE exercise. Preferably aerobic exercise but for now the morning walks will have to do. I have not checked my pulse rate and I am not sure it goes up to 120 bpm but I am sure that it is much higher than what it would be if I was sitting here in front of the computer playing High Stakes Poker on Pogo.com. Runt ro, I just let it slip. Yes, I love to play poker on pogo.com. Play money folks, just play money for those of you that are wondering how in the world I can afford that. LOL... Everything is FREE other than the high speed Internet connection. No, that is not going anywhere if I can help it. Thus far today I ate honey nut cheerios and a banana for breakfast along with 2 cups of decaf coffee and for lunch Katy and I had a cup of rice and chicken soup and a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. For supper I will have a can of Slimfast and a Slimfast bar.

I have found that walking and driving are excellent times for prayer and meditation and talking to God. It is also a wonderful time to listen for God to talk back and communicate to me something back. It is so easy to make demands and be greedy during prayer. It is yet another thing to take time to shut up and to listen for the voice of God. When you are driving your prayers are always interrupted by a need to ask God to protect you from the rest of the maniacs driving all around you. KWIM?? During my morning walks all I have to contend with is the messages being sent from my knees, ankles and feet and the sound of mother nature all around me. When was the last time you took the time to admire the leaves in a tree, the sounds of the different birds or the antics of frolicking squirrels?
We live such a high impact, high stress , task filled life. There are more things to do and demands on our time that we fail to take time for the things in life that are more important. The peace that passes all understanding and the Joy of the Lord does not happen when you are running at mach 2 with your hair on fire. The only way that we will enjoy or experience Joy or Peace is by taking the time to reconnect to Abba Father. You can do that in the 30 minutes that it takes to walk around the block or run on the tread mill. Maybe you ride a bicycle or go swimming. Whatever it is that you do that gives you an opportunity to connect with your creator I would suggest you try doing it on a regular basis. God will bless you by making himself known to you in the still quietness of your heart and He will bless you by manifesting himself all around you. When you tap into the power of God and His purposes for your life all of your task lists will diminish greatly and all of a sudden you will wonder why you have been allowing the junk of life to stress you out.

Today as I walked off of Riverside Drive onto Old Backriver Rd I encountered a possum. This particular possum did not make the nocturnal trip from one side of the road to the other. I am not sure what distracted him but it is obvious by the look on his face that he had something meet him in the middle of the road that he was not expecting.
This surprise encounter happened to end his life. I stood in the middle of the road for a few moments with my hands on my hips and took in the scene. I was reminded that life is but a season. Our lives are but a vapor. We are here today and gone tomorrow. I was also reminded that sometimes on the road of life we find ourselves just like the possum, this mornings road kill. We stand in the middle of the road with our mouths open and our eyes affixed on something we should not be looking at or thinking absent mindlessly about something that is not even important. I guess you could say that we are either running headlong into danger or we are sitting in neutral when we should be doing the exact opposite.

Life is full of road blocks. Life is full of pot holes and land mines that will do nothing more than to blow off your toes or wreck your little red wagon. How we navigate, how fast we navigate and how skillfully we navigate will determine our level of pain and success in crossing the road. I can see some of the possum in me. Only by the grace of God has God picked me up and closed my mouth and gotten my attention and put me back on the straight path. God has a way of focusing our minds on those things that are important and showing us how frivolous the tiny things of life really are. Things and entertainment are not what is important to God. God owns all the things and we all have more of those then we can manage already. God does not mind our being entertained from time to time but he certainly did not create us for the purpose of being mindlessly entertained. God created us for a purpose and that purpose is to worship Him in all that we do and say. Have you heard that our life is Gods gift to us and what we do with our life is our gift back to God? Think about the many opportunities we get during a day to give back to God and his creation all around us.

Tomorrow marks 14 glorious years of marriage to my wife Katy. It is hard to believe that through it all we are still together despite the challenges, trials and tribulations that we have endured. It is evident to me that Jesus must be in the center of our marriage because if it were up to me or Katy this marriage probably would have blown apart years ago. The power of God in our lives individually and as a family corporately is the glue that has held us together.
I thank God daily for my family. They are such a wonderful blessing to me. I would not want to imagine what life would be without them surrounding me. They increase the quality and quantity of my life exponentially. Thank you Jesus for my family and for my life that you have given me.