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.

Friends in Cleveland

me, Judy, Julie, and Dave

Saturday we (me, Judy, Allyson, and Mackenzie) left Cedar Rapids for Cleveland and arrived here in the evening, but not before stopping off at our fave ice cream shop Honey Hut. I had my fave chocolate chocolate chip and chocolate peanut butter. Judy enjoyed the mint chocolate chip. Andrew could not come due to work and Morgan is on her 7-8th grade trip. As always, you can click on the pic for a slide show of some pics. Enjoy!

We are staying at the Christopher's house and it is like a resort. We have our own room and bathroom and since they have 6 kids still living at home we made slight dent into their lifestyle. Also, they just put in a pool so I have been out at poolside a lot!

Sunday afternoon I was able to go bike riding with Dan Gibson and then Sunday night Bill and Barb Cunningham came over and we spent the evening grilling and enjoying some great time together. We dropped Allyson off at the Lanasa's house and we'll get her Thursday. Have a nice time sweetie!

Monday morning and afternoon Judy spent the day with a friend going through a terrible divorce. Then in the evening we went to see dear friends, the Cerveny's. It was great time reconnecting and seeing how much the kids have grown. And of course there was coffee, cherry cobbler, and ice cream just like we used to do!

Today I spent some time reading the word and catching up, then some blogging. I'm going to head on out and get some rays this afternoon. Tye out.

To Medina County Court of Medina, Ohio

Dear Medina County Court,

I am confused about something. How can a man who has neglected his wife for several years, not been around for his children (and most recently has been physically abusive with one daughter) leave his wife for another woman and turn around and sue for divorce and in one fell swoop have her kicked out of her own home and restrained from seeing the children she gave birth to - for 9 weeks.

Then she was found to be unstable and not have the ability to raise her kids. What mother wouldn't be emotionally distraught when she is kicked out of her house and told to ordered to stay away from the kids by a man who was rarely there to begin with. And all this knowing that she did not have a job or a place to go. How could this happen?

You then decided to have the father live in the house with the kids one week, then the mother moves back in and lives there a week and so on - week after week. What psychological study endorses this decision? How in the world can this be construed to even be close to a healthy situation? Could you please help me understand this?

Yesterday the attorney's strong armed this woman into signing away her kids (2 weeks with him, one week with her) saying that if it went to hearing she would lose the kids all together and never see them again. How can this be? (her lack of funds resulted in her having inadequate representation)

Is she a drug addict? No. Has she been a bad mother? No. She is guilty of caring for and loving her kids something that could never be said of the father - just ask the children. The court appointed guardian (I don't know her name) made her recommendations having observed our friend for 15 minutes. How can this be allowed to happen?

The father? He set this whole thing up, treated her like the enemy and caused her unbelievable emotional stress. Then he stole the house and kids away because she was emotionally stressed. And he did this with his money keeping it all away from the mother.

We drove here from Iowa to speak to the character of our friend (the mom) and what a wonderful mother she is and we were even denied the opportunity to do this. I'm not mad about this - we still would have come to support her no matter what.

Medina County Court, how can you let this happen? There is something terribly wrong here and I hope to God (and I have prayed a lot about this terrible situation) that this injustice is exposed and the truth wins out. Tye out.

___________________________________________

To anyone reading this blog: can you help me know what a logical next step would be for this woman? She needs a good attorney but has no funds. She is truly trapped. Please email me and let me know if you can help: tye.male@yahoo.com

Divorce Court

WARNING - this is a rant. Nothing less. I am pretty heated up on something so if you don't like rants you should probably stop reading. Consider yourself warned.

Monday a good friend, neighbor, and best friend of my daughter Mackenzie was in divorce court which explains the reason we are in Cleveland Ohio right now. I'm going to leave out the real names but everything within me wants to expose this individual for the real person he is and how angry I feel right now.

We arrived at court on Monday morning to help support our friend to find that her husband together with his attorney and court appointed guardian of the children have made a case that she is emotionally unstable (she is NOT) in spite of the fact that she has numerous people who can vouch for her abilities as a wife AND mother. argh!!!!

The husband/father was able to gain custody of the children and also won the house to live in. Essentially, the wife/mother was kicked out of the house and her children taken away from her. He gets the kids for two week and and she gets them for one week.

There are so many issues here, but I want to deal with just one: husbands are called by God to love their wives unconditionally. Men are supposed to love and protect their wives (and women in general!) and this man did none of the above.

I am so angry right now. How can a man (who claims to be a believer and his work involves churches) have an affair (uncontested fact), sue his wife for a divorce, kick her out of the house and take the children away from her. She had no income at the time and could not afford a "high-power" attorney like her husband could - did I tell you he kept the family finances away from her and when her food allowance ran out she was on her own - for years? Then, make a case that she is emotionally unstable? DUH!!!!

This man (the evil one who is treating his wife like dirt and then claiming that she is emotionally unstable) - I forgot what I was going to say. argh!!!!



Back to my one point. What part of "husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave..." don't you undersand? My job as a husband is to love my wife - period. Man I'm hot. Tye out.

Where has Tye been?

Wow - I've been gone for a while. Sorry if I let you down. Here's a few quick highlights of what's up in my life and ministry right now.

1. Remodeling the basement - I am finally motivated to work on the basement project and it is going pretty well. We have one more session (4 hours) to go and the bedroom and family room will be drywalled. yippee.

2. Coaching - I am taking a course that teaches you how to be a life coach. Part of this involves me being coached. My coach Dan Mattson has been working with me on organization of our home office, files, and finances. I have made incredible strides already! More later.

3. Ministry stuff - I am the team leader for our small group ministry and we are getting ready to launch our fall Impact. There is a lot of behind the scenes work involved and we have been busy getting ready for the launch in September. We are also launching a Tuesday evening Men's Fraternity group September 18 and the team has been working on this as well.

4. Extra-curricular - I am still working at Panera on Friday's and that has been going well. Bike riding? Not too much, and now I have a toasted rear wheel - $150 bucks and I'm not sure what to do. anyone have an old racing bike laying around from 1988 and on?

Needless to say I have been very busy. I'm actually on vacation (well, sort of) this week visiting friends, reading, and blogging. More on my week later! Tye out.

Mackenzie at VBS @ Saint Mark's this week

We are so thankful for St. Mark's Lutheran church just around the corner. She really enjoyed herself yesterday and was quite anxious to tell us all that she learned about Jericho, Rahab, and the spies! Good stuff! Hats off to everyone there for doing such a great job! Tye out.

P.S. I have a special affinity for St. Mark's because I have had the privilege of starting a Small Groups Pastor's Network and their small group's Pastor Jana Swenson and Mary Morton meets with me and a group once a month. Thanks Jana and Mary!