Yogi Berra quote of the week

Here's your Yogi Berra quote for the week:

"It gets late early out there."

(Yogi's comment on the glare of the sun in left field at Yankee Stadium during the 1961 World Series against the Reds.)

Men's Tailgate Party was AWESOME!!!

The New Covenant Bible Church Men's Ministry sponsored a tailgate party this past Tuesday night and it was awesome! Steaks, brauts, chicken and other grillable items were burning on the grill while guys tossed football, frisbee, and the ever popular corn hole. As always, you can click on the pic for a slideshow.

Emergency Landing was the featured band and they were absolutely rockin"! As the sun began to set, and our food too, Matt Thede challenged the men to get involved in Men's Fraternity starting September 18/19. I have already heard of one man that made the decision to attend in three weeks! I spoke to several others who were planning to attend for the first time!

Thanks to Steve Morris for giving this event leadership and the entire team! Thanks!!!

Tye out.

A 3500 year old timeless blessing

I started reading through the NET Bible earlier this month and I think it is safe to say this will be my new Bible. It is a free download! I've used the NIV now for about six years and I am confident that this translation will endure for a long time much like the KJV did. The good news is that today's believers are more open to various translations and since language is always changing this is a good thing. So...

This morning I entered the book of Numbers and in chapter six God tells Aaron and his sons how they are supposed to bless Israel.

So today I would like to share a blessing with you that God shared with Aaron about 3500 years ago:

The Lord spoke to Moses: 6:23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

“The Lord bless you and protectyou;
The Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.”’
So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Numbers 6:22-27 NET Bible

Be blessed! Tye out.

HELP!!!!

As you can tell from my last post, Blogger ain't doing to good on the spacing thing. I went to the help forum and noticed that others have had this issue but no help was offered.

Anyone want to help me out? Tye out.

Where is the world is Tye?

I am currently in a very busy season of life! (understatement of the century!) This is the first time in years that I can remember being this busy. So, here's a quick update on what is going on in the life of Tye Male.

This weekend started Thursday night with band practice for the church worship band. I was on keyboards (Hammond XK-3) and wound up playing some tenor sax as well. I love it when the band is rockin' and God is being glorified at the same time.

Friday night I played lead alto on the D. Anthony Swing Street Express in Iowa City at the Old Brick. About 100 dancers came out to do that cool ballroom dancer thing and the band was hot - yes it's true. I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

Saturday morning was Men's Ministry leadership meeting and then Leadership Community with our leaders at NCBC. There were around 100 in attendance. I played in the worship band for LC.

Sunday morning started at 7 AM at the church for sound check and then four services, three in the morning and one in the evening. The band was cooking and God was being glorified! (a great combo!) Click here to listen. In between services I spent time with folks at our Impact table where we are signing up HOSTS and participants for our fall small group launch. We are praying for 100 groups!!!

Yesterday was a busy day getting ready for HOST Orientation this Sunday and also some last minute details on the Tailgate Party for the men tonight.

We are remodeling the basement and I spent all total about 8 hours on that last week, and will be down there tomorrow night, and then tiling the bathroom on Saturday. The drywall is almost done and then we will begin the taping process. I have to order a new window and get that here so we can finish the bedroom.

Whew! It's all good, just a lot. Once the basement project is completed I will be able to take a breath again. That will be a relief! Just in time for hunting season! Tye out.

Judy's first day of school

Welp, it's been a long time in coming and the day was finally here yesterday. Judy headed out to Kirkwood for the first day of her clinical training toward becoming an RN.

Over the next year and about 4 months she will be learning how to care for patients, give shots, and everything else nurses do.

I am so proud of her! We are all pulling for you Judy and it is obvious that this is your true passion in life and God created you to do this! What a cool thing! I love you sweetheart. Tye out.

Allyson purchases her first car

Today was an exciting day. When Allyson turned 12 she started babysitting in our neighborhood and before long she had racked up quite a savings account. Her goal all along has been to buy her own car and tonight she pulled out her checkbook and paid cash for her car. (I could only wish....) Click on the pic for a slideshow.

Congrats Allyson! May you have many happy miles with your new car! Drive safe sweetheart! Dad out.

Yogi Berra quote of the week

"No, ma'am, it's not even carbonated." (Yogi's answer when asked if the word Yoo-Hoo was hyphenated.)

Where is Tye again?

Wow, it has been one of the busiest summers of my life, and the funny thing is I don't know why. But as I sit here in Peoria, Illinois in the breakfast knook of our hotel (I am attending Willow Creek's Leadership Summit) I feel quite content. Judy starts her clinicals in a week and a half. The kids go back to school at the same time. There's still time to ride my bike - yee-haw. We are starting Men's Fraternity in a month and we are adding a Tuesday night group. We have also spent the summer working with other churches in the area who are starting Men's Fraternity groups. In fact, we are going from three churches to almost ten this year.

The summer started off with a trip to Cincy to play with the high school rock band I played with 30 years ago. We just got back from a 9 day road trip visiting family and friends. There were several band gigs and I even got to lead the worship band one Sunday this summer.

Maybe that's why this summer has blown by. hmmm. Tye out.

Yogi Berra quote for the week

Since Barry Bonds hit some historic home run (which I am ignoring due to his steroid use), I decided to give you this Yogi quote for the week.

"That's his style of hitting. If you can't imitate him, don't copy him." Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra quote of the week

Today I am going to start a weekly quote from Yogi Berra, or bi-weekly, or even monthly, whatever. : ) Here's the first one from a cool website I found. Click here to check it out.

"If the guy was poor, I would give it back." (Yogi's response when asked what he would do if he found a million dollars.)

Observations on Servant Leadership from the Bible

I am wrapping up my second read-through of the Bible (NIV) and each time different things stand out to me. This time I noticed several mentions of servant leadership that I bookmarked and would like to share with you.

Servant leadership has almost become a passion for me because for years I was more of a self-serving leader. I enjoy serving other people but I must say that most of the leaders that I knew - ones who were very successful - were more top-down, authoritarian leaders who were quite self-serving.

The Bible gives us ample insights into the life of many leaders. The first servant leader I noted in my read-through is Moses:

Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. Numbers 12:3 NIV

The irony of this is that a few chapters later Korah (who led a rebellion against Moses' leadership) accused Moses and Aaron of being self-serving:

Why do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly? Numbers 16:3 NIV

The fact is that God chose Moses and Aaron, and God had to do some convincing to get Moses to agree to lead Israel. You see, servant leaders often do not see themselves as some kind of great leader and they typically shun publicity. Here we see Moses being attacked simply because he said yes to God (reluctantly) and was serving God's people.

Another passage I noticed was in 2 Samuel 7:18-21 where God tells David that his son would build the temple. His response was typical of a servant leader:

7:18 King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you should have brought me to this point? 7:19 And you didn’t stop there, O Lord God! You have also spoken about the future of your servant’s family. Is this your usual way of dealing with men, O Lord God? 7:20 What more can David say to you? You have given your servant special recognition, O Lord God! 7:21 For the sake of your promise and according to your purpose you have done this great thing in order to reveal it to your servant. 2 Samuel 7:18-21 NET

Did you see how many times David referred to himself as a servant? KING David! He was truly a servant and his reaction to God speaks to this. A self-serving leader would have called a meeting, sent a memo out, and demanded to be treated with respect, even citing past accomplishments or levels of education. Not King David.

Finally, this morning as I was reading I noticed in 3 John 9 this morning and unfortunately it is in the negative. John the apostle writes:

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. 3 John 9 NIV

Self-serving leaders love to have their names in lights and desire position and prominence. John goes on to say that he will call attention to this fact and warns the believers about him.

I don't know about you, but I want to lead like Jesus who was the ultimate servant leader. Tye out.

Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.... Philippians 2:6-7 NIV

Happy Anniversary Judy!!!

Today my wife and I are celebrating our 22nd anniversary, although we actually had the celebration part Wed-Thu in Walnut Creek, Ohio. See previous post.

As I look back over our 22 years together there have been some really cool times and some really difficult times. We were married while still in College - not the best idea! But I was looking at six years of school to get a four year degree - i rn't tu smart - and waiting another four years didn't seem like the right thing to do.

In our early days of marriage I was very self-serving and much of the difficulty was because of this. Years later I would take Eph 5:25 seriously and begin loving my wife unconditionally.

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.... Ephesians 5:25 (NET Bible)

I am most certainly not the husband I want to be, but by God's grace and with his strength I am trying to become the servant-leader, loving husband my wife needs from me.

Happy 22nd sweetheart! I love you so much and thank God for you daily! Tye out.

Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers. 1 Peter 3:7 (NET Bible)

Celebrating 22 years of marriage!

August 3, 2007 will mark our 22nd wedding anniversary and to celebrate we had the opportunity to travel to our fave hotel in Holmes County, Ohio. In fact, I was fortunate enough to be able to get the honeymoon suite at The Carlisle Inn in beautiful Walnut Creek, Ohio. Click here for pics!

Holmes County is home to the largest Amish settlement in the world. (check out Wikkipedia or VisitAmishCountry.com) There are lots of shops and plenty to do there, or plenty not to do!

Judy and I headed down around noon after a visit to the nail salon - her first ever visit! (and certainly not her last) It is about an hour drive from where we are staying in the Cleveland/Akron area. We went to Berlin to eat lunch and do a little window shopping. Then there was the homemade ice cream - wow! Click here to see a picture of the John Deere powered ice cream churn available at Lehman's Hardware, another great place to visit when staying in Holmes County.

About 3 o'clock we checked into our room - the honeymoon suite- which was a total surprise to Judy!. Click here to see pictures if you haven't already.

We had supper at the world-famous Der Dutchman Restaurant with a beautiful view of the valley. Then we did a little window shopping across the street and then back to our room to sit on our private balcony and watch the sunset. I feel so blessed!

It was an awesome 24 hours to spend time together. I have been blessed with a wonderful wife and mother to our children...more on this Friday on our actual anniversary. Tye out.

Funny blonde joke

This one made me laugh. Probably because I'm kinda dense too! : )

A few days ago I was having some work done at my local garage. A blonde came in and asked for a seven-hundred-ten. We all looked at each other and another customer asked, "What is a seven-hundred-ten?" She replied, "You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine, I have lost it and need a new one.." She replied that she did not know exactly what it was, but this piece had always been there. The mechanic gave her a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like. She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710. He then took her over to another car which had its hood up and asked "is there a 710 on this car?" She pointed and said, "Of course, its right there." If you're not sure what a 710 is Click Here

Tye out.