Pizza delivery man robbed at gunpoint - this happened to me 18 years ago

On November 1, 1990 I was delivering pizzas in Chattanooga, TN when I was held up at gunpoint. What the two men did after this was life-changing to say the least. The two thugs put me in my own car in the backseat and then they jumped in the front seat and off we went for a wild ride.

Needless to say, they eventually let me go unharmed.

When I saw this article today it made me think of that day.

MIRAMAR, Fla. – Police say a pizza delivery man fought back with the one weapon he had handy when a gun was pulled on him in a stickup: A large, hot pepperoni pizza.

Delivery man Eric Lopez Devictoria, 40, flung the steaming pie at the gunman, buying time as he ran for safety, police said.

At least one shot was fired as Devictoria fled, but the deliveryman wasn't hurt and was able to quickly call police, according to authorities.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

What happens when an ambidextrous pitcher pitches to a switch hitter?

Click here to read a true, yet humorous story about what happens when a switch hitter comes up against a switch pitcher. This one is worth the read.

Epic Flood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa 2008 - part five

New Covenant Bible Church has been asked by the city to man one of our bottled water sites at Sam's Club on Blairs Ferry Road. It is truly amazing to see our city coming together to help meet the needs of people who have been wiped out by this devastation.

Water restriction - our water plant is now at 50% and we are allowed to take brief showers and do laundry every other day depending on your house number. We are still trying to be wise in our water usage.

Flood waters are receding - but the big concern now is the very unsafe conditions that the flood has left. Raw sewage is everywhere and people are being warned to get a free tetanus shot if you get cut.

Zone Checkpoint Pastors - our area pastors have been asked to be at the eleven checkpoints where people are being taken to their homes to assess damage. I will be serving as one today.

Please continue to pray for our city. This is going to take a long, long time to recover. Tye out.

Epic Flood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa 2008 - part four

Parkview E-Free Church in Iowa City

A good friend of mine, John Carlson, sent some pics of their church under about four feet of water. Please pray for this church in Iowa City ( 20 miles south of us) as they attempt to recover from this incredible disaster.

Click here for more pics. Tye out.

Epic Flood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa 2008 - part three

Here is some video footage of downtown Cedar Rapids:



For information on the Flood of 2008, I suggest you go The Gazette Online or KCRG.

Please pray for our community. This is going to be a long haul. Also, please know that we are safe and sound for those of you who have called and emailed. We can still get supplies at the grocery store and gasoline. Tye out.

Epic Flood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa 2008 - part two

(Dairy Queen before and after flood. The water is up to the bottom of the sign at this point and to the roof)

Wednesday night I hopped on my bike and headed downtown to see the flood with my own eyes. At that point it was a little over 20 feet and was supposed to go to 24.5. As I rode out onto the First Avenue bridge I was sobered by the rush of the water and the thought that in just hours the place where I was standing would have water. At that time I had no idea that the water would be 10 feet higher! Man.

As I rode around you could see all the sandbags around the buildings, again set up for a flood stage of 22.5. Crews were loading sandbags and some were taking pictures, sheepishly I might say.

The mood was sober and the atmosphere ominous. Usually people talk to you, smile, nod, and exchange pleasantries. There was none of that. It was like attending a funeral. No chit chat, nothing. Tears came to my eyes several times and just as I typed that they did again. Tye, down, but not out.

Epic Flood in Cedar Rapids Iowa 2008 - part one

(Pictured above - Mays Island, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Notice the three bridges that are now under water.)


I have already received calls and emails from friends in Cleveland Ohio so I thought it was time to do a blog post on the unbelievable events of this week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The river started rising the first of the week and was predicted to go 10 feet over the flood stage of 12 feet - 22.5 feet. They said that they had never ever seen water that high in Cedar Rapids.

It crested this morning at 10 AM at 31.12 feet.

Click here for a slideshow. (I did NOT take these pictures)
Click here for a link to the local paper that has many, many pictures.

Our water treatment plant is operating at only 25% normal capacity and we are being told to do only one thing with water - drink it. No showers, no dishes, no laundry. The REALLY bad part about this is they don't expect to see a change for at least a week. ouch.

Worse, 8300 people have been evacuated including many of our own personal friends. The entire downtown area is flooded, including all but one bridge over the Cedar River. One of the two hospitals in our town is under water and being evacuated as I write.

We are being cautioned that this is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. The good news is we are talking about hardworking, hearty, Iowans. We will come back. Tye out.

EF5 Tornado rips through Eastern Iowa

No words can describe what happened to a city just west of Waterloo, Iowa. Two of our church members have parents that live in Parkersburg, Iowa. Sarah Barcz attends our church and her parents were interviewed on TV and it is an amazing story. Click here to watch the story. (It does NOT work in Firefox.) Please say a prayer for them.

This is just 60 miles north of where we live. A sobered Tye out.

9/11

Yesterday was a sad day for me. I very clearly remember sitting in my office when one of the admin's came in to tell me that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. I didn't think too much of it because it is a tall building and the potential of a small airplane hitting it would be rather high if the pilot was having trouble. That was not the case.

I was then standing in my pastor's office watching CNN when the 2nd plane drove into the other tower. In that moment I knew our world had changed and would never, ever be the same.

Then at 10 AM I stood before 44 ninth and tenth grade students in Bible class (I was an adjunct teacher) and told them what had happened and I said these words:

The world, as we know it, will never be the same.

It's true. Air travel is WAY different. Men and women have lost their lives in an attempt to stop those evil people who wreaked havoc on thousands and thousands of innocent people. And the threat of another act of terror is always looming.

Then there were the brave firefighters, rescue people, and normal people who arose to the occasion to help others who never returned to their families.

Alan Jackson performed a song he wrote just for the occasion. Click here to watch it.

We know that there will never be peace until the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ returns to the planet and sets everything right.

21:1 Then¹ I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist,² and the sea existed no more. 21:2 And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence³ of God is among human beings.⁴ He⁵ will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.⁶ 21:4 He⁷ will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more – or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist." Revelation 21 NET Bible

Posting your kids pics online

I read a news article today on Yahoo! News that caused me to think - which is always a good thing for me! I have been careful about putting full names of my children online so that searches would not bring up any blog posts about them. This also goes for pictures as well. In fact, I don't typically name photos that I post online for this reason of anyone.

You can use a script (robots.txt) to turn search engines away. If you can do this, let me know how!

The article recommends three things to protect your privacy online regarding pictures you want to share:

1. Privacy settings - in Flickr you can make photos private so that only people you have invited to see them can.

2. Private photo and video sharing - "To share videos with family members and friends, try Motionbox, which has a private setting, and One True Media, which allows you to share videos on a personal TiVo channel."

Click here to read the entire article and please let me know what you think. Tye out.

Virginia Tech - the blame game

Tragedy struck a college campus yesterday when a lone gun man killed 33 people and wounded 26, the worst in US history. Our hearts go out to the families of those who have lost loved ones, including one eastern Iowan.

And the blame game has ensued. First, the blame was directed at school officials for not acting soon enough to warn students. Then, there was talk about the security at the school. And even though we haven't heard it yet, the whole "outlaw guns" thing, although they did make mention on the news tonight about the fact that the guns were legal and registered. The blame game has ensued.

This is not about a student who snapped. I believe that this student had been prepared during his entire life for this moment. We live in a culture that has devalued life. An unborn child can be aborted at will, legally. They have been trying to get euthanasia legalized for quite some time now. It is ok to kill before they are born, and then choose who can live and who can die at the end of life.

In Columbus Ohio a school bus driver is told not to say "Merry Christmas" because it might offend someone. The ten commandments are no longer welcome and Christmas and Easter breaks have been replaced with a more political correct name. It is sad that Christians are seen as extreme with dangerous teachings. As a follower of Christ and the teachings of the Bible, I wholeheartedly and categorically reject the taking of innocent life.

If you ask me, I think we are blaming the wrong people. God's word provides us an answer to this evil act. Man is sinful, horribly so. Without God, we are all hopeless and in the end are capable or even diabolical acts of evil. This is the clear and plain teachings of the Bible. (Romans 1)

Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins so that we could have eternal life. I wish that the student who did this would have known Jesus and his love.

Please join me in saying a prayer for the families of those who lost loved ones, those who were wounded, and the survivors who will be heading to class where so much pain was inflicted.

Dear Jesus, Comfort the bereaved, honor the memory of the deceased, and challenge the living that life is worth living, even in painful circumstances. Please help those affected to seek to forgive this troubled student and to move on with their lives knowing that our lives are in your hands. In Jesus name, Amen.

Zanny Update

I've noticed that I get hits every day from someone searching for Zanny Henseler updates and I wanted to let you know that I have not heard anything. Last I heard she was trying to come up with $25k for the tax bill on her lime-green Cadilac Escalade she won on Deal or No Deal.

Zanny actually left a comment on my blog. (Click here to read it) Rob and Amy, regular readers of tyesjazz.com who go to her church, have left comments on my blog and kinda kept us posted on the progress. They know Zanny's mom so I'm really depending on Rob and Amy to keep me posted and I haven't heard from them in a while.

BTW - A girl who was in my youth group (I think she was old enough back then) was on Deal or No Deal - Josie Butkovic. You can do a search and find out how she did. Congrats Josie for even making the show!!!

So, Zanny, we're dying to know how it's going. If you get a minute between can collecting please leave a comment or email me! Tye out.

Secret Santa in Spokane

I've got a couple hours before the next service starts at 3:30, so I thought I would share with you a story I saw online this morning. On Thursday in Spokane, Washington a lady was reported as boarding buses and passing out Christmas cards with a $50 bill in each envelope.

My blog entry on Free Hugs was about people who decided to give away free hugs and when you see the video it is quite moving.

This article entitled Bus Riders Gets Gifts from Secret Santa was about some unknown person giving away free 50 dollar bills. This story sounds a little familiar to me...

2000 years ago Jesus Christ took on the form of a man and was born in a stable in a little town called Bethlehem. He lived a perfect life and died a horrible, disgusting, death on a Roman cross and 3 days later came alive from the dead. He did all this so that you and I could receive a free gift - the free gift of eternal life.

And how do you receive this gift? Just like those people on the bus - you reach out and accept it. That's it! If you could earn it then it wouldn't be a gift! Why not accept Christ's offer of eternal life right now? Tye out.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16NIV

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9NIV

Digital family dinners

I was just getting ready to head on down to New Covenant for Christmas Eve services, all four of them, because I am playing in the band today when I decided to check the news online and I saw on Yahoo! News an article about digital family dinners. The concept is simple; you have a camera and microphone in your dining room and you can enjoy dinners with your relatives that are at a distance.

This sounds really good especially for those who cannot get out and be with other people very often. I was even thinking that we could be with our families this Christmas without the 8.5 hour drive! And when things get out of hand, you could just hit "mute!" HA! (just kidding there!)

But there is a downside to all this. People need the personal touch of other human beings: A hug, a kiss, a touch on the shoulder, a holding of hands, etc. If you don't believe this, click here to watch this video from a previous post. People need healthy touch and interaction.

Today, on this Eve of Christmas, why not reach out and touch someone (remember the old phone commercials!) literally. Share a smile, a handshake, a hug or some other healthy physical interaction that lets the other person know that they are valued! Tye out.

Book a Hollywood Celeb for New Years - or not

I ran across this article today and it got me to thinking a little. But first, read this artice.

Have a few extra hundred thousand dollars hanging around your house? Are you dying to cut open that mattress and spend wildly on unnecessary things? Well, have I got the list for you! Us Magazine polled event planners and got the low down on celebrity bookings.

Mariah Carey private performance - $1,000,000
Usher private performance - $1,000,000
Dr. Phil speech - $750,000 - $1,000,000
Nicole Kidman party apperance - $500,000 + jet
Jessica Simpson private performance - $400,000
Scarlett Johansson party apperance - $200,000
Demi Moore party apperance - $200,000
Nick Lachey party apperance - $100,000 (negotiable)
Pam Anderson party apperance - $75,000 - $250,000
Adrian Grenier private performance with band - $35,000

Well, have I got a deal for you! Instead, why not come on over to New Covenant Bible Church on New Year's Eve (8, 9:20, 11 Am or 5 PM) and I will appear for FREE!!! That's right, since the budget was tight this year at NCBC, they couldn't afford anyone else, so they got me for free.

However, I might show up for your private party with my saxophone for around $10k. I know this sounds expensive, but look at how much money you will be saving by NOT getting one of the people listed above. : ) (I'm cracking myself up here!) Tye out.