Rick Nier...Woo!

I have a couple more days in this Best Of series. Today I bring one on a favorite topic of mine...space, the final frontier. Oh...and how small we are. I have new stuff coming back on January 2.  How Big Do You Think You Are? Last Friday, as a way of celebrating one last night of freedom before school started, my wife decided we no longer needed comfort. So we went way out...to our back yard and set up the tent. The kids loved the idea. I brought my laptop. I was checking the weather to see if we needed to put the cover up on our tent when I found that a meteor shower was expected. I looked up and saw a lot of clouds. But the children looked anyway for meteors that we wouldn't see. It led us to talk about space, a favorite topic of mine. I used the laptop to search pictures of space. I stumbled upon pictures of the size of Earth, like this one to the left. This was no big deal, as they've seen pictures of Earth before. But then I showed them this one. Now I had them intrigued...

I am doing a best of series this week while taking a break. Today I am featuring the most popular book review I've posted. I review lots of books, but the author, Jonathan McKee, was paying attention to this one and drove some traffic my way. This also became known as the most exciting Wednesday I've had on this blog.  Oh, and it's still a good book that I would recommend to parents of teenagers.  Candid Confessions of An Imperfect Parent When I listen to sports talk radio, I sometimes forget I don't like commercials and listen to a promo for adopting teenagers. The voice tells me that if I ruin the punch line of jokes, make runny eggs, or wear stripes with polka dots, I could make a great parent for a teenager who needs a family. That's probably true, which means I must be a super parent because I tell great jokes, make great eggs and I can rock those polka dots and stripes like nobody's business. But if you're looking for someone to be a bit more hon...

I'm posting some of the best of my blog from the past few years. This post came in second and I have no idea why. But since seeing the popularity I am hoping to get a patent on this idea and cash in on my kid's golden idea.  My Son: The Toymaker! I don't know what you talk about around the family dinner table, but topics at my house have a wide range. From discussing why southerners have an accent to how it would be if Phineas and Ferb lived with us we pretty much cover it all. So it shouldn't have surprised me when conversation turned to baby dolls and why some of them have ugly faces. After all, some real babies have ugly faces. (Tell me I'm wrong!) My son, always quick to offer a solution, though not always a great one, offered this. "What if the baby doll smiled when you picked it up to look at it?" Can't you see the possibilities here? How could you put back a baby that smiled when you chose it? And what if the baby had some pre-recorded...

I've been blogging for a few years now and so I thought it might be time for a best of series. I've had some surprises looking back, seeing which posts got the most hits. But, it's not about me, so I'm re-gifting some of the best of for the next week. This first best post is more than double the next and I can only assume it's because of the title garnering Google search hits.  New stuff will begin again on January 2.  Enjoy!  Always Be Prepared Always be prepared. It's a lot more than just a slogan for the Boy Scouts. It's great advice for anyone hoping not to get caught off guard. Hey, it's even a command given by the Apostle Peter when he tells us to always be ready with an answer for the hope that we have. My senior pastor was prepared this past Sunday when he discussed being prepared. It would have just been ironic if he hadn't been prepared. But thankfully he was as he discussed the many ways that God prepared Mary for being the mot...

There are lots of comments being made in regards to last week's tragedy. I would not want my name anywhere near most of them. But this, this I would be okay with. We need more people making sense.

This is part 4 of my God First, Man Second: Christmas Editions. You can find the other 3 here , here  and here . No matter what you do at Christmas time, no matter what your traditions, I hope that you will take some time to remember why we even get to celebrate this season. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” ~Luke 2:14 This is what it all comes down to. The whole heavenly host come out just to sing it. Glory is given to God. This is right, because God is deserving of our glory. In fact, God is the only One deserving. What do we get? Peace. This is beyond our undertanding. We can think we understand it. But we know, deep down, we don't. See, we come to this God-man relationship offering nothing. I could sugar-coat that for you since it's the holidays and all, but let's be honest. We're in a big heap of trouble and we have no actual solution. But God, planning as only He can, prepares and foretells and gi...

Let me give you a typical conversation at the Nier household. Jennifer will be cooking supper and I will be calling the children to wash up, an activity that resembles herding kittens. I will go to our 4-year-old and say that it is time for supper. She will respond, 'I don't want anything icky.' The amount of trust that our children give us is mind-numbing. But since I know which foods get defined as icky and which foods get eaten, I measure my response. I will explain to her that she should trust that her parents will only give her good food to eat, but she has seen too much broccoli to believe that. She has her own version of truth and will not allow my perception to warp her reality. Such is the case with Jesus and some Jews that we're told 'had believed him' (John 8:31). The conversation starts out innocently, with Jesus offering them freedom. Jesus breaks it down for them, even telling them why they are ready to kill Him. 'You have no room for my word...