MY DAUGHTER HITS THE BIG SCREEN

This is my daughter Kaitlin kicking off our Sunday night student worship last night.

THE END OF AN ERA

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that the Ponchot family has reached the end of an era. Our family dog of nearly 13 years, Toby, is no longer with us. Yes, the "geriatric arthritic episode" ridden dog is no more. Last Thursday, we had him put down. It was a tough decision but one that needed to be made. He had been suffering for quite a while and it was clearly time. You should know that even though I have often spoken ill against that stupid dog, I do indeed miss him...a little...very little. I did, however, make every effort to make his last day on this earth a good one. It started off with a nice walk on a nature trail. He loved it. He had a great time smelling all the dog droppings, weeds, dead animals, and all the other smells that only a dog could love. He started off strong but began to struggle towards the end (arthritis). The walk was followed by a trip through McDonald's drive through for a double cheeseburger. I really don't know if he enjoyed it or not because he would eat anything (and often did) . All in all, he seemed very content and I'm glad to have had him as our pet. Memorials for Toby may be sent to the Ponchot Pool Resurfacing Fund (more on our pool mess later).

WHAT'S GOING ON?

I have started to realize a couple of "blogging truths" about myself: #1) When not much is going on, I tend to post very frequently (I'm good at sharing random thoughts). #2) When I have a lot going on, the blogging is the first thing to go. You would think that it would be the opposite. The more going on the more you have to say. Evidently, not for me. Anyway, much has been going on over the last few weeks. Two weeks ago, we held our student overnight retreat. It was really cool. The title for the weekend was RENOVATE and the theme was focused on finding out: who you really are, where you are, and what God wants you to be. It was kind of the wrap up of a series that we have been doing for the winter season in the student ministry. This retreat was different that others we have done in the past. We really tried to make this one personal for the students. Sure they spent time together in worship, in small groups, but also in time alone with God. I really think that the kids got a chance to allow God to do some renovation in their lives.

It was also a great opportunity to spend some hang time with a great group of teens. We had a big time. I am so lucky to serve at a church will such a great group. I truly love them all. As great as our teens are, I also serve with a phenomenal group of adult volunteers. Huge thanks to Doran, Didi, Angi, Tamara, Rhonda, Chip, Jen, John, Aaron, and Julie. You guys are awesome. The only tough thing about the weekend was the lack of sleep. I must be getting old.

Last weekend, another overnight event at church. I had the privilege of taking a group of 3rd-5th graders to an event called Super Start. I don't usually spend a lot of time with that age group but it was a real treat. I used to think that the loudest sound on earth was the sound of a 7th grade girl screaming. I think that I might have to change my opinion. It might be a 4th grade boy. Crazy. Anyway, it was good to be with them and I was so proud of our LCC kids. They really know how to worship. Probably the best things for me about the weekend was that my son, Jacob, was one of the kids that went with us. He is one of the funniest people I know and he really loves the Lord (see video below). Anyway, that is what's going on right now, more later.

BUMMER

I was so excited. After months of making my office computer do more than it should be able to do, I was on my way to a more suitable replacement. My good buddy Chip was in the process of updating himself and graciously offered to give me his slightly used desktop. Although used to him, it had everything that I needed to make things go much easier for me (more ram, 10xbetter video processor, and on and on). It was going to be great! I picked it up from Chips house last night, place the CPU behind my seat and went on to a coffee meeting at about 7:30pm. I returned home at about 8:30pm, parked in the garage and went inside for the night. I woke up this morning at about 6:30am and went to get in my car. Nothing out of the ordinary except that the garage door had been left open. Not really a huge deal so off I went. When I arrived at the office, I made one trip inside and then went back out to bring in my "new" computer. It was gone. I quickly went back through the previous 12 hours in my mind. It hit me at once. Someone had come into my garage, opened the back door of my car, and taken the computer (along with video editing software I had just purchased...it was so sweet). The police came and filled out a report. Turns out I was number five over the last few days in our area. The policeman said that I was lucky. Most of the other people had car windows broken out. Crazy stuff. Anyway, I guess the moral of the story is: 1) Close your garage door 2)lock your car doors 3)keep lots of lights on 4)get a lap top...you can keep it with you.

MARCH MADNESS?

Well it's March 20th and to millions of Americans that means one thing, the first round of the Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament. For the last 15 years, it has been one of my favorite things on this earth. I love college basketball. Last week was unbelievable. For those of you you don't know, last week was when all of the conference tournaments were played. I must have watched about 25 games in about four days. I have a problem. What's even worse is that today, the day of the first round, I am scheduled off work. I should be in paradise. But there is something weird about today and I can't seen to put my finger on exactly what it is. There is something wrong with me. Maybe I burned myself out last week, or maybe I feel guilty for wasting so much time last week watching for hours on end. Whatever it is, as I sit here typing this, my beloved wife Julie is in the other room watching my beloved Xavier Musketeers play Georgia. I'm not. Another oddity is that I have not filled out a single bracket. Usually I fill out many. Some online, some in the office, some with friends, but this year.....not one. What is wrong with me? Am I sick? Am I having a pity party because of something else? Am I finally coming to my senses? Have I gone mad? I really don't know. This is a strange phenomenon that I need to research. Well I guess that's it. I'm going off to.....read a book? Weird.

Chips Anyone?

I HATE SNOW

I hate snow. Really, I do.

Why I Like Xavier Basketball (part 1)

If you are a UC fan, watch the whole thing. It might make you feel better.

WEEKEND AT BELIEVE

What a great weekend! This past Friday, it was my pleasure to take a great group of Jr High kids to an overnight conference called BELIEVE. It was neat on so many levels. First of all, it was cool to spend some time getting to know some of the kids that just started this fall in my ministry. For some of them, it was their first time being in a hotel without their parents. It was funny because they would ask me questions like "Can I really eat this whole bag of candy?" My theory on that is that the quicker that they get hyped up eating their "Sams Club" size bags of pop rocks, candy bars and bubble tape and drinking three bottles of Mountain Dew... the quicker they CRASH. This year was a record. The the guys were asleep by 2:45am. On a more serious note, time in the hotel is also a time for some real relationship building and ministry. All of the guys in my room were great! They cracked me up all night! I think I heard the jingle "F-R-E-E that spells free, credit report dot come baby" about 4,682 times( you now will be singing that all day). The conference itself was really good this year. A little different than past years but really good. The theme was CONNECT, as in connecting to God. Junior high kids are at a point in their life when they really start to take their faith seriously and on a more personal level. The BELIEVE program did a really good job at helping the kids begin to take their connection with God to a deeper level. It was also BIG, they had just under 5,000 6th, 7th, and 8th graders there. My ears are still ringing, not from the music but from the sound of so many Jr High girls (and some boys) screaming at the top of their lungs. You have to experience it to understand. Anyway, the conferenc was great and our kids (and sponsors) were fantastic! I was so proud of them. They were polite, kind, and helpful to each other and to everyone they came in contact with. What a great group. My weekend finished with a great night at IMPACT (sunday night student worship). The night included Frosted Flakes, worship, and cutouts of various teens in our ministry. I was excited to see a few new faces and everyone was in a crazy mood. That's always a good combination. I am now looking forward to the 1st weekend in April for our RENOVATE 2008 WEEKEND. It's really coming together and should be really cool.

"F-R-E-E that spells free, credit report dot com baby" (your welcome).

YOU ARE INVITED!!!

If you have a computer in your home, this is a must attend. The evening will be divided into two sessions. The first session (at 7:00pm) is designed for kids third grade and above along with their parents. The second session will feature a live demonstration and will include a parental warning. Please make plans to attend!!!

For more information, please contact Brian Richard at brichard@lovedtolove.org

Another Super Sunday

What a great night! We had food, fun, laughing, some football, and the best part, no commercial interruptions. Have I lost my mind? No commercials? Aren't the commercials the best part? I guess I should clarify. Our student ministry meets on Sunday nights for teen worship. And last night, like many others, we had our normal program. What a great time. Goofing off with the Jr and Sr High folks is always fun and worship was really neat. As part of our worship time last night I showed a clip from the movie "Facing the Giants"(I told you we had football) (clip is below). After the clip we looked at 1 Samuel and the story of David and Goliath. You see we all have "Giants" in our lives. We all have things the we feel are too big to overcome. Our teens (and adult sponsors) then took part in an experience where we idetified our giants and asked God to help us overcome them. Some of the "giants" that were identified were: selfishness,fighting, unpure thoughts, schedules, stealing, nicotine addiction, and many others. Heavy duty stuff. A lot of times we (I said we because me too) give a half hearted effort at facing our "giants" and something really interesting happens.....nothing. We simply sell ourselves short. We defeat ourselves long before we find out that God has given us all the ability to face (AND DEFEAT) our "giants". The movie clip does a great job as an illustration of what God can do for us. I can just see/hear Him on His hands and knees right beside us as we crawl along, pleading with us not to give up, not to quit, and to work through the pain! The problem is we tend to look around, start listening to our bodies and then our "giants" deal a death blow. If we would all just concentrate on God's voice, listen to Him, we could all face our "giants" and start to be the people that God would have us to be. Anyway, it was cool. I must say, I wasn't sure what to think going into last night. All morning yesterday, I literally had parent after parent and student after student tell me that they were not coming to the Sunday night student service. I got the feeling that people thought I was nuts to have a student thing on such a "super" night or that I should have just had a party and watched the game. I'm glad that we did what we did. It was good for me and I think that is was good for everyone else. I had some "giants" that I needed to face and I now know that with God...I can do it...and so can you. In case you were wondering...I was home by the middle of the third quarter. Evidently, I didn't miss anything.

Great Moments In High School Athletics (part one)

Getting To Know You 2008 vol.1

THE DOG STORY FROM LAST TUESDAY

I am writing this for no other reason than to finish a story that I was telling to a couple of friends at church this last week. If you find this story offensive...I'm sorry. Remember that the thoughts conveyed on this blog are my own alone. Also, if you are one of my kids, stop reading this and go do your home work, clean your room or something. To start the story, I'm going to give a little background. I have a wonderful family that includes a wife, a boy, another boy and a little girl. They are the "wind beneath my wings". You know...when you think about that statement...What is that supposed to mean....wings?....I don't have wings....anyway, they are great so back to the story. Along with my wonderful family, I have...a dog. His name is Toby and he is a black lab. Toby is eleven years old. I guess some would call him a good family dog and he has been good with people over the years but that fact of the matter is...he has been a lot of trouble to me. Over the last eleven years, he has eaten shoes, leather jackets, wreaths (long story), entire loafs of bread, steaks (and other people food), toys, balls, and just about anything else that you can think of. He also sheds, tracks in mud, digs for moles, swims in our pool (yes, dogs shed in the pool), sleeps in our bed (wife's fault), is deaf (big problems) and is always under my feet at the worst times. On top of that, over his long (and I mean long) life (he's like 80 in dog years), Toby has cost me literally thousands in vet and food bills. With all that...I'm ready for him to go to doggy heaven(I don't really believe that pets go to heaven but it is a nice way to say that I want him to die). Anyway, last Tuesday, I thought that I had my wish. We were eating dinner and Toby was in our sun room (you can't have him in the room while food is out or it's gone). After dinner I went down into the family room to relax. A couple of minutes later, Julie (the wife) came to me and said, "you need to come into the sun room, Toby is in some kind of distress". Immediately, a smile broke over my face, Julie knew what I was thinking and she urged me not to show my feelings in front of the kids. Into the sun room I went (I was skipping). The scene was indeed sad. Toby could not stand up and his back legs seemed "locked" underneath him. He was also shaking terribly. I felt sorry for him. I may want him to move on but I don't want him to suffer in any way. So I called the vet. Of course, our vet was closed but they connected me to the Emergency Vet Hospital on red bank road (I have been there a few times, very expensive but they do great work). Of course they told me to bring him in as soon as possible. So I picked him up (85lbs of squirming crying dog) and put him in my car. It was pouring down rain on the way down but I was going to get him there as soon as I could. All the way there, he didn't make a sound...he just laid silent in the back seat. While he was laying there, I was preparing myself for what was coming. What was I going to say to the vet if the news was bad? What was I going to tell the kids? No smile on my face anymore. This was truly sad. I got there and went right in to tell them that I was here and probably needed something or someone to help get him out of the car. The lady at the desk replied, "Really? You would be surprised at what the ride here can do." What was she talking about? Ride here? Didn't she understand that my stupid dog was on his death bed? She then pointed out the window to my car. Toby was no longer laying quietly in the back dying but was sitting up in the driver seat fogging up the windshield. I trudged out to the car (still raining) and opened the door. Toby hopped down and walked right into the hospital. Now...I was mad. He had got me...again. The vet said that he had some kind of "geriatric arthritic episode". WHAT? But I was ready....I had my talk all planned out...GERIATRIC ARTHRITIC EPISODE? The vet even commented on how healthy he was for his age....gee thanks. Anyway, so $120.00 later, me and my geriatric dog went home to break the good news to the family...Toby is going to be a round for a loooong time.

How's Your New Years Resolution Going?

So.....Did you make a new years resolution? If you did, you are not alone. Millions of people each year begin the year with a promise to do something (or not do something) that they did (or didn't do) the previous year. Some resolutions are very "high and lofty" and outward focused like, "This year I am going to be nicer to people" or "This year I resolve to make the world a better place". You know, the nice sounding, unmeasurable types. Others go the route of self improvement. They might be education related "I'm going to learn a foreign language", or hygiene related ; "I going to quite picking my nose". But the one that trumps them all is the resolution to lose weight. Maybe you made that one for this year. If you did, I'm here to help!!!
Take a look below at the latest weight loss tool that is sweeping the nation!!!

MY NEW BEST FRIEND

I would like to introduce you to my new best friend. I know that you might think that referring to a plumbing fixture as my best friend might might seem a little odd but believe me, it's true. You see when you spend such a large amount of quality time with a fixture such as this, you kind of form a bond. This weekend, my family got a visit from the stomach flu. It was a bad one. It started Friday night when I was holding my sweet little girl in my arms while she proceeded to throw up all over me. Nice, I know. She continued all through the night and into Saturday morning. This is also the weekend that Julie had a six hour class on Saturday and then a four hour woman's dinner thing after that. I was holding it all together until Nathan (my middle child) started Saturday evening. Oh what fun! So my little girl was hanging on me while I was introducing Nathan to our new "family friend". I must say that Nathan was a trooper about it and was very good at getting to our "friends house" in time. Kaitlin...not so much. It was getting to be about 8:30pm when I noticed that I had not really eaten anything all day. Why wasn't I even hungry (a rarity for me)? A few hours later, I got my answer. I was literally up all night. At about 3:30am Sunday morning (while I was taking a few moments away from my friend), I realized that I had big problem. Our Worship Arts Minister at our church(Jared) is off this week and I was supposed to lead three worship services for him. I started to think of my options Lead remotely from the bathroom? Port-o-let on the stage? It was then that I drifted off to sleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up, I decided to just try to make it happen, so into the shower and off to church. The ride to church was rough. I was starting to think that this wasn't such a good idea. When I got to my office I broke down and called Jared with my sob story. To make a long (and gross) story short, Jared (whom to me is the "Citizen of The Day), said no problem, he would cover for me. So back home I went to spend some more quality time with my new "best friend". I think that we are now pretty much through the woods. Thanks to everyone that helped out in my absence and allowed me to rest. Don't forget to wash your hands after reading this, I don't what to be responsible for introducing you to a new "friend".

PONCHOT THANKSGIVING

Sorry for the long time since my last post but our family has just returned from down south. As we do most years, the Ponchot family (Dan, Julie, Jacob, Nathan, and Kaitlin) spent our "Traditional" Thanksgiving with Julie's mom and dad down in Florida. What a great week! We have never had such perfect weather. Thanksgiving day was a balmy 80 degrees and we spent most of it down on the beach. (above is the view from the back deck of our condo) The kids really enjoyed the ocean. They spent hours splashing around and making sand castles. Is was really nice to see them playing together so well for so long. Usually when they are together for extended periods of time, it ends up sounding like world war III. It is definitely safe to say that a good time was had by all. I think that my favorite thing about our trip was just spending time with Julie and the kids. God has blessed me with a great family. I really don't deserve them. But I guess that's how God works, He gives us many things that we don't deserve. How awesome!!! Anyway, enough of the sappy stuff. To sum it all up, we had a great vacation. I basically did nothing but sit on the beach, eat, golf (Thanks Bud and Peggy), and be with the family. Here are some more pictures.

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Yesterday.....I was caught in the act. I have been in turmoil today trying to decide weather or not to share the events of yesterday with the blog world and until this time, I was pretty sure I would take this major embarrassment with me to my grave. So in the interest in the greater good of all mankind, here it goes. Yesterday, I was driving to lunch when I got caught at a stop light here in town. Minding my own business I hear a horn make a short blast to my left. Next to me was a police officer with his window down trying to get my attention. Being the fine outstanding citizen that I am, I quickly rolled down my window. The officer said, "You know, I could give you a ticket for that". Immediately, I started to freak out. I checked my seat belt. It was on and secure. I checked the volume on my radio, fine. I did a quick check of windows, but everything seemed fine. So I glanced back to the officer and said, "Excuse me?". Again, he said (now laughing) "You know, I could give you a ticket for that". Now I was totally at a loss so I replied "A ticket....for what?" By now this fine officer was really cracking up and said, " I could give you a ticket for picking your nose like that in public". Evidently, I had mindlessly been doing some serious mining of mineral resources (booger nuggets). I must say that I really don't embarrass that easily, but this was a whole new level for me. By this time, the guy was laughing pretty hard so I started to chuckle myself. What else can you do when you are caught in the act.
So enough of my embarrassing moments, what about you? Leave a comment on this post revealing one of your most embarrassing moments. I will be good to finally get it off of your chest(and it might make me feel better about myself by laughing at you).

COMING SOON TO LCC STUDENT MINISTRY!

Decompressing Dan

Every once in a while, I have to go somewhere to... decompress. Now many people often feel this need and so they decompress in their own ways. Some go to movies(too expensive), some go golfing (not something that helps me decompress but actually puts me into a mini-rage), some people scrapbook(hmmmm.....no), some people sleep(boring), and others just veg out in front of the TV (I can't sit still that long). While all of those ways are fine to me(except the scrapbook thing), I prefer the simpler things. I like doing things that do not involve a lot of deep thinking, that involve the possibility that someone might get injured (ask Brad about that one), and that involve getting so filthy dirty that you basically throw away the clothes that you are wearing when you are finished. Riding four wheelers gets the job done. Yesterday, me and Hosehead(Brad) went four wheeling. Brad's dad owns a couple and was nice enough to let us borrow them. What a great time. I was especially excited to go because of all of the rain the past few days. Mud+Four Wheeler=Fun. Believe it or not, the ground was fairly dry. I must admit that I was a little disappointed. Trailing through Brad's G-Ma's woods was fun but where was the mud? Eventually... we found it(see picture above). It was good to decompress.