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Your results:
You are Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor 71% Dr. Doom 56% Apocalypse 48% Kingpin 47% Mr. Freeze 39% Magneto 36% Green Goblin 28% The Joker 26% Juggernaut 24% Catwoman 21% Riddler 18% Dark Phoenix 18% Poison Ivy 18% Venom 18% Mystique 4% Two-Face 0%

A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!

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Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 90% The Flash 75% Superman 65% Hulk 45% Spider-Man 40% Supergirl 40% Robin 30% Wonder Woman 30% Iron Man 30% Batman 15% Catwoman 0%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

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Stoneybrook West Golf Club

Well my week of golfing has come to an end. Today, I feel like I ended with my favorite of the week. I went out to Winter Garden to Stoneybrook West Golf Club.

This course took me about 40 minutes to get there, but it was worth the drive. I had a blast out there. I was able to tee off by 8 AM, so there was not a lot of traffic. The four groups ahead of me all let me play through. I ended up playing my round in less than 2 1/2 hours.

The greens were super fast. There was plenty of water and sand. It offered a little bit of everything. I ended up golfing a 94, and did not lose any new balls (A few old ones though).

The week of golf is over and there was something I really liked at every course. I liked the family friendly atmosphere at St. Cloud. I loved the caddy service and regal feel of the Ritz Carlton. I liked the wildlife with the gators and snakes and such at Ridgewood Lakes. I loved the scramble with other pastors at Mystic Dunes. I enjoyed the young fella that they paired me with at Grande Pines. I truly loved the course this morning at Stoneybrook West. If I ever get to come to Orlando golfing again, I'll push hard to revisit the Ritz Carlton and Stoneybrook West.

It's been a fun week, but back to reality tomorrow...

Grande Pines Golf Club

I went out today to the Grande Pines Golf Club in Orlando. Let me tell you what, this was the hardest course that I have ever played on in my life!

Every hole had plenty of big a DEEP sand traps. some of the traps were so deep that you had to crawl in and then out of them.

Honestly, on two holes I finally gave up and threw my ball onto the green! I shot a 103, but I took several mulligans. I only lost two balls, and found about five or six.

I wasn't thoroughly impressed. I don't think I would be interested in playing the course again... If you are looking for a challenge, you might give it a whirl...

Mystic Dunes Golf Club

Today for my golfing adventure was the annual pastor's golf outing. We went to the Mystic Dunes Golf Club in Orlando. It was another fun time of fellowship. I heard that there were more than 75 of us in the tournament. We finished in the middle of the pack in a four man scramble with a one under score of 70.

This was a fun course, and I think that we would do better if we could play again. It is a weird and challenging layout. Many of the greens were multi-tiered. There was a TON of sand. I lost two more of my golf balls too.

This little bug flies in hoards in central Florida. It is called the Love Bug. There are jillions of them down here. They are a pain in the neck, but I don't think they bite. Pretty bothersome though.

The conference starts in a couple of hours...

Ridgewood Lakes Golf Club

Ok, so today I played 36 holes. I am having a blast. I also found time to do a little swimming in the hotel pool. Over all, it was an awesome day!

This afternoon I played at the Ridgewood Lakes Golf Club in Davenport. Of the three courses I have played so far, I liked this one the least.

The greens were way fast. The sand was unkept. Lots of areas that had not been mowed for a while. I golfed a 103 with only one par and three triple bogeys. I did not lose any (good) balls this afternoon.

Also, I was tired from the long day, so that may have been a part of it. I did see several more alligators. In fact, Brian, I almost stepped on a three foot gator! I was playing fast and caught up to a two-some in front of me, so I took out my handy extendo-arm to check out the pond. I stepped between two bushes and this little fella was lying on the other side sunning himself. He quickly splashed in the water, and I screamed like a woman! Needless to say, that was the end of my ball hunting!

Tomorrow is the pastor's outing and then tomorrow night the conference starts!!!

The Ritz Carlton

Uff-da! What an awesome golfing experience that I had this morning! I golfed at the Ritz Carlton in Orlando. It was by (WAY) far the best course that I have ever golfed on.

I was very intimidated starting out. In fact, I had a 12 on hole #1. I then settled down to put up a solid 100. I am very happy all things considered!

The course gives you a caddie to help you along. My young man's name was Dave. He knew the course very well, and he helped me a bunch! I got onto the course via EZLinks.com and got a deal on the day. I paid $40 for the round, plus I tipped Dave $20. It was worth every single penny.

We did see a couple of alligators on the course. They were a lot small than this one, but they were both at least four feet long. We heard that a female caddie got snapped at last week, but she was ok.

I did birdie #9, and had four pars. Unfortunately I had three quads to go along with it, and lost ((( 6 ))) golf balls, and yes Cindy, three were the new Juice Nike's.

It was a lot of fun this morning, and this afternoon I will get on another course...

The Royal St. Cloud

I started my week of golf today at the Royal St. Cloud Golf Club. It was a great time. I ended up with a 48-48-96 round.

I saw this corn snake on the back nine. It was pretty cool.

Each hole had it's own name. Hole #12 is a par 3 with the name of Grand Deception. It had my number. I had a triple bogey there. I ended up with two triple bogeys and four pars.

Number 15 was my favorite. It is a par five with the name of double eagle. It is long, but very reachable in two. I ended up with a par, but missed a birdie by inches!

The course was in nice shape, and I played 18 in about 2 1/2 hours. The price for a late Sunday afternoon was under $30.

Sunny Orlando

I made it into my hotel about 2:30 this morning. I was a little afraid of this hotel because of the publicity it had gotten on the internet. Let me tell you, for what I paid (42 per night), this is an excellent hotel.

I am here in Orlando for our C&MA Council that will take place this week. I came a little early, as I have to be home on Friday for Zach's graduation that takes place on Saturday.

I have planned to visit six separate golf courses in the next five days. I'll try to write each day and give an update and description of where I am golfing! I'll also be going to the meetings as well!

I really needed this R&R. I'm so thankful to Cornerstone for providing it.

More later...

Thinking of Mom this week...

I guess that it figures since last Sunday was Mother's Day that I would spend a lot of time remembering my mother. I miss her so much. She has been gone now for about a year and a half. It seems like forever.

It is weird though, being a pastor and living away from home for so many years, sometimes it would be close to a year since we would see each other. We depended on the telephone and emails back and forth a lot.

This picture was taken the Christmas before we lost mom. She is sitting on my grandmother's lap. It is one of my favorite pictures.

My grandmother (I call her Nanny) is coming to Boone next week for Zach's graduation. It will be nice to have family close for his special day. He is pretty confident that they will pass him. He has a lot of great plans for the upcoming days. He wants to be a camp counselor this summer, and then plans to go to my alma mater Taylor University in Fort Wayne for college. We are very proud of him.

Vacation is coming, tra la, tra la...

I am so excited! Vacation is coming in just ((( 9 ))) days... I have not really taken any time to myself since I came to Boone more than nine months ago. My denominations Annual Council is coming up and it will take place in Orlando. Guess what I am taking along...

I know of a website called ezlinks.com and they sell discount greens fees. Take a peek at the course I am playing on while I am there. This place looks awesome. I am even given a caddie to carry and clean my clubs! This round is worth like a couple of hundred dollars and I got it for $40!

Of course there will be much business and many meeting, but just getting away is a thrilling adventure for me. I doubt I will do the ocean thing or hit Disney. The family cannot come along and I think that would not be as fun by yourself to do. Besides, I'd feel really guilty doing Disney without the family.

Worship Yesterday!

Worship yesterday was absolutely awesome! We had, get this, 162 for our morning worship service. If you remember from previous posts, we were 65 people just nine months ago! We have had at least 140 the last five weeks! God is on the move in Boone!

As a part of our worship service, we baptized six individuals. The picture is of a young man who is a freshman at Boone High School who accepted Christ at our Easter service.

To top this awesome day off, we were given a (fairly) new 24 channel sound board from a sister church in the Quad Cities! Our old sound board was just that, old. It was on its' last leg , and needed to be replaced badly!

Hallelujah, God is bringing revival to Boone, IA!

Our new car

I bought a used (new to us) car this week. It is a 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. A fella from church saw that it was for sale and I went and got it. They were originally asking $800 for it, and I got it for, get this, $150! This is not the car I bought, but very similar with the exception that we have a small stripe of silver along the bottom of the body.

The guy just wanted to get rid of it. The only thing really wrong with it is that the heater is locked on. We had it checked and there is a sensor that will need to be replaced. It will cost us virtually nothing to fix.

It also has a drivers side seat belt that needs to be replaced and the passenger side window has a bad switch. We also put a new battery in it. Over all it is a great deal. When everything is said and done I will have less than $500 in this!

I am pretty happy about this, as Cindy just took a job in Ames and will be commuting back and forth every day. This car has a six cylinder and it should do tons better with gas than my Suburban!

I hope my boys don't take it from me...

Thoughts from Boone

Our little church in Boone is growing like wildfire. On Easter Sunday we had 240 people with 15 first time decisions for Christ. The last three weeks since then we have had 142, 152, and 158. It is absolutely amazing. God has started a revival.

This is so weird, I walk down the street and people stop me and tell me that they hear what we are doing and are planning to attend... Then they do! The next week, they come back and bring their neighbor. I have talked to a real estate guy, a banker, my dentist and his receptionist all this week and they have basically now said the same thing.

We are working through assimilation. I have found a neat resource in Nelson Searcy with Journey Church in Manhattan. The plan seems to be working.

I am sending out an email on Sunday afternoon to thank the visitors for coming and asking for some feedback. Then later in the week we send a letter in the mail thanking them, along with a $5 gas card telling them that the next trip to church is on us. What an amazing idea, and what great response!

Thanks for praying for Cornerstone!