Soakin' Up Life . . . at a 100 MPH!

Today is Christmas Eve - the day before the birth of the Christ-child. It's the day children are waiting to end and adults are using to buy that last gift, especially us husbands. Christmas Eve ushered in the birth of our Savior. It proclaimed the coming of the Messiah. It prepared the world for Immanuel - God with us in flesh. Who would have thought that God would have done it this way? I wouldn't have. I'm too "bigger-is-better." I would have been like many of the Jews in that day, looking for a rescuer to come riding in from the mountains like Conan the Barbarian or with a might army like William Wallace ready to fight for my freeeeddddoooommmmmm!!!! Ok, that was probably a little over the top, but you get what I'm saying. Only the Lord God would have thought of sending us a Savior, the payment for the penalty of mankind's sin through the birth and life of a child. Christmas Eve was also special to a young Jewish couple. Mary - was about to ...

Guys, lets just admit it. . .we are just plain sorry sometimes when it comes to getting our wives gifts. Here are some guys we all can relate to. . . DON'T END UP IN THE DOGHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mike

I've now lived in two areas where the weather tends to create what one could call natural disasters. Living in the Mobile area we had to face hurricanes and now living in Gresham we are living with the ice. But here's my question, why do natives of these areas wait until the last minute to get things they need. Case in point. . . Hurricane Katrina - I filled up the Passat and my truck with gas, ran water in my bathtub, prepared my house, made sure I had groceries, and took care of 3 dogs and 2 cats. After the hurricane there was a run at Wal-Mart and the gas stations. Some waited hours to get gas. These are the same people who had Auburn University and Roll Tide stickers on their cars and trucks. So it's not like this was a strange occurance. It's not like this was a once in a lifetime event. Hurricane Ivan had ripped through there just a couple of years earlier! What were they thinking?!!! Snow/Ice Storm of 2008 - We just had a snow storm with high winds thi...

I love Christmas. I love the season (it's snowing as I type), the atmosphere, the attitudes of people (attitudes seem to be better than the rest of the year, except for the guy who got mad at me yesterday and the guy who tried to rip me off), and I really love the music. One of my favorite songs to sing is O Come, O Come Immanuel . One of the verses says O come, O come Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel The other morning we were singing it during worship. And for some unexplainable reason it finally hit me that I'm Israel. It is me who Emmanuel came ransom. . .to ransom from the captivity of sin. He came to set me free from the bondage of Satan, world, and self. AND. . .it is only Emmanuel who can save me. I can't save myself. I can't set myself free. My parents, as much as they love me, can't rescue me. My wife, as much as she would sacrifice for me, would not be able to snatch me from grasp of my sin. Thinking of it in these terms encourages me to sing ...

Here are a couple of pictures I too last Sunday as I was getting ready to leave church and head home to hunker down for the day. You may have seen the pics Cindy posted of the house, but that was after the major droppage. These are of what I was working in while we were clearing sidewalks and taking care of business before, during, and after worship and Bible study. All this started - slowly, I might add - around 5:00 am. It really started coming down around 7:30-8:00. This is the back of the offices. I drove through here several times, but because the snow was falling at a pretty good rate, tracks were covered up pretty rapidly. This one is looking across the street. Those houses are about 100 yards or less from where I was standing. Can't see them? Neither could I. Between the wind and the snow it was pretty difficult. Oh! Guess what? It's supposed to start coming down again tomorrow!! YIPPPEEE!!!! Stay Warm, Mike

The long hallway after you enter the house. Closet to the right, half bath on the right, garage door on the left. The half bath. The hallway looking back at the from door. Notice the towels at the door. Helps keep the windy draft down and stops the whistling sound through the door. Yes, it gets VERY windy here. 20-30 mph on many occasions. The kitchen. We bought the cart to go in the middle to break up the space. It was all one big open space. Kitchen, breakfast area, and living room. Mike showing the door that will go on the cabinet we bought at IKEA. a.k.a Pantry. We didn't have any cabinets left after putting in our dishes and things. Living room from the Kitchen view. A 360 degree view of the downstairs from the breakfast table. View from the fireplace. Master bedroom Master bathroom. 2 sinks! woohoo! Guest room Guest bathroom Mike's new desk......under the boxes and stuff. Office hope you enjoyed your tour! Cindy

Let me introduce you to frozen Toyota Corolla and frozen Toyota Tundra. Weather on Sunday: snowy, very windy, and 26 degrees at 12:00 after church. Our house is the furthest one on the right. All the other ones are vacant right now because these are brand new. We are the first ones. Our street, NE Linden Ave. The other view looking down our street. Blessings, Cindy

Here are some random pictures of our road trip move from Alabama to Oregon a week before Thanksgiving. They are not in any order. I will do my best to describe. But we moved from the deep South to the Pacific Northwest so you can pretty much describe when they were upon our journey. Blessings, Cindy Shipp A typical scene. Lucy and I snuggled up taking a nap and trying to stay warm. You can see Lucy right below the pillow. We had an oppourtunity to have dinner with my cousins family who lives in Boise, ID of whom I haven't seen in about 10 years or so. This is Luke (15), their eldest of 6. He made us dinner and dessert all from scratch. Here, he is holding a bag of caramel popcorn for dessert. Yes, he made the caramel from scratch.........everything. Here is my cousin Jeff and his wife Anisa and the whole Shaffer family. This is one of their sons, Mike. We found out that Mike Shipp and Mike Shaffer share the same birthday, November 8th. Mike and Mike thought that was cool! Here we a...

Here is a copy of one of my favorite stories. I love to use this story when sharing about missions or in just sharing in general. I remember when I first heard this story. I was in First Baptist North Mobile Choir in Mobile, AL. We were in between worship leaders at the time, and Heather Messick, the Adult Education Pastor's wife, stepped in to help lead. Before choir rehearsal started, she shared a little testimony and shared this story. I never forgot it. It is applicable in Missions and so many areas of our life and we live for Him. I recalled it again when our class in church and our pastor in worship discussed sharing the light to a dark world. Enjoy and remember what God has called us all to do! Blessings, Cindy Shipp Jeremiah 17:7 The Cave People Long ago, or maybe not so long ago, there was a tribe in a dark, cold cavern. The cavern dwellers would huddle together and cry against the chill. Loud and Long they wailed. It was all they did. It was all they knew to do. The s...

Mark Batterson at National Community Church in DC posted this about a new idea on a Christmas catalog. Way to go guys!!

Todd Rhoades has a great web site for churches and church leaders. He does a masterful job at keeping in the loop of church life, leaders, and issues facing both. It's a combination of blog, updates, thoughts, promos, and the like. You can catch up with him at Monday Morning Insight . He even offers a newsletter full of feeds to tease you...Darn you Todd! :) Mike

This past weekend we had a garage sale. The weather was perfect , though it was conducive to a morning run - it was 31 degrees at 7:00 am with no wind. I learned a thing about garage sales here, don't plan on seeing anyone until, at least, 9:00 am. In the south they're banging on the door before you can get up. Not here. I will need to remember that next time. I definitely wont be up so early! Great worship times Saturday and Sunday. Keith's message focused on the shepherds in the birth of Christ. He pointed out that the shepherds, after having seeing the living Christ, went back to their everyday lives praising God. They didn't go on tour, or hit the talk shows, or even thumb their noses at the religious elite. They didn't even go oversees on missions. They began sharing their story with others, who were amazed,then went back to their families...their friends...their sheep...their jobs. That got me to thinking...what have I done after spending time wit...

Today is my day off and we have to decide what to do. We could. . . Do some things around the house - unpack more boxes, hang out Go to Cafe Delirium and get some coffee and hang out Go get a new TV - ours finally gave way, did you know you can't buy tv's with tubes in them anymore? Man they were so much cheaper! Go to Clackamas Town Center - got lots of shops there, even an REI store! and possibly see Quantum of Solace ??????? We'll decide and let you know! Later 'Gator, Mike

Today was my first day as Pastor of Discipleship and Administration at Greater Gresham Baptist Church. I've had a lot of firsts in my life, but I was really looking forward to this one. I don't know why. Maybe it was because I was, and am, overwhelmed by the fact that God would allow me to sever on a church staff once again. I like leading ManHeart Ministries and am will continue to be involved in helping guys become the men God designed and desires them to be. I, for some reason, missed being on a church staff. I love the encouragement I receive along with the challenges of ministry. I love the people and the staff I get to serve alongside. I am ecstatic when I get to see, hear, or be part of life change. It's hard to understand. It's a been there, done that sort of thing. I was a little nervous about today. Can't exactly put my finger on it. But Cindy prayed an incredible prayer for me last night. What a blessing to be prayed for and over by a godly wi...