Please stop saying Merry Christmas

I am deeply saddened. Non of my friends could tell me what they would do Christmas morning that would actually Celebrate the birth of Christ. This is the state of the American church? This is Christmas? I am sadden.

Merry Celebration of people expecting others to give them gifts for no apparent reason other then because it's customary to do so.

Merry Celebration of saying the name of God's son devoid of any remembrance of why it matters that he came to earth.

Merry Celebration of people feeling the massive pressure to live up to unreasonable demands of friends and family.

Merry Celebration of Santa and other fictional characters who have nothing to do with Christ.

Merry Celebration of the Winter Break.

Merry Celebration of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Merry Celebration of people who don't want us to mention Christ, well then don't take a holiday. On a side not if you don't like Abraham Lincoln then don't celebrate his birthday either because that makes just as much sense.

Merry Celebration of getting way over committed at church so we dread this time of year.

Merry Celebration of elaborate programs which totally take the place and also give us an excuse to just talk face to face with people about Christ. I know I'm crazy.

Merry Celebration of standing in line to return things because people I expected to get me gifts, got me the wrong thing. What were they thinking.

Merry Celebration of special holiday music releases by recording artist who could never be accused of knowing Christ the rest of the year.

Merry Celebration of I think I made a point here and I think I'm not the only one that feels this way.

Please stop saying Merry Christmas, and no I don't expect people at stores to say merry Christmas to me instead of Happy Holidays.....in fact I prefer that they don't unless they really want to acknowledge Christ, but really does he have anything to do with this celebration?

Jesus should sue for Copy Right infringement?

So I'm sad about it. How do you feel?

Are they like me?

Sometimes people ask me if my kids are like me. This picture should answer that question.

Change Came and It Stayed the Same

This morning I awoke to a different world. Well, that's what I've heard. The thing is that no matter how you voted you have to admit that it's kind of cool. A "wall" was shattered and that thing that was hanging over the head of America is gone. Right? That's cool. I only wish Tupac was alive to see it. In his now classic song "Changes" he makes this statement:
I see no changes all I see is racist faces
misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

We under I wonder what it takes to make this
one better place, let's erase the wasted

Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right
'cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight
and only time we chill is when we kill each other
it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other

And although it seems heaven sent
We ain't ready, to see a black President, uhh


In 1995, I'm sure that's how it felt, but things have changed.
We have lived long enough to see a black President, and now I pray we can move past the need to bring race into it at all.

Truthfully, I got up this morning like normal. Showered, shaved, got dressed, kissed my lovely wife and kids and headed out the door. Got on the scooter and grabbed some coffee before heading off to work. The truly cool thing was the sense of hope I felt through it all. Yes, I said it! I feel the hope, and I'm not ashamed to say it.

The weird thing about it is that I had the same hope yesterday, and the day before that, and the one before that. In fact I've had this hope for about 4,820 days, give or take a few with leap years and all. Many have commented that they thought I had it longer, but I'm not just talking about knowing about it but really having it. You know, "getting it".

The hope I speak of is that of Jesus Christ, and it's amazing how it has stayed constant no matter what direction the political wind blows. In fact I am amazed at how many "followers of Christ" that I speak with seem to forget that our true security is not found in the governing bodies of this world. So let me cut to it.

1. I expect the world to be the world not heaven.
2. We don't live in a Theocracy.
3. My job here is to share Christ not my political frustration.
4. Economic security is not eternal security.
5. Jesus said give unto Caesar what is Caesar, and no one were in that statement did Jesus say anything about you having to be in agreement with Caesar's economic or social policies.
6. I could go on, but......

This morning I prayed for our country, our future President and the body of Christ and as I thought about my Hope, I thought on these two verse:

Psalm 146:5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
Titus 2:13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

I suggest that everyone climb down off the ledge and meditate on God's word today. It helps, really it does. All right now, I'll climb down off my soap box.

I have time for some questions.......
yes you in the back.

Will I run for President in 2012? Well do you think this country is ready for a platform build on Eternal Hope, Eternal Change and Eternal Security? Maybe if we all start campaigning for that now, it won't matter who the president is in 2012.
Talk it up people, I think it will work.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Goodness gracious great balls of fire!!!!

What happened to September

Did I just miss a whole month....... September is over and I did not get the memo.

October is not a month I will miss. This is the birthday month. Both Zoe and Josie will celebrate b-days and we have big plans. Princess party for Zoe and the first cake for Josie. This will be fun or messy or both. I'm guessing both.

Anyway if you want to send gifts.....send money. It looks like college is going to be getting more expensive soon. Well everything looks to be getting more expensive soon. Ok everything is expensive now and playing the lottery is a most a solid investment plan at this point. Didn't the Roman empire fall this way?

I love October!

Coffee Angel

What? Do My Eyes Deceive Me!

I really think that I'm seeing things. My head cold has been dragging on and on for over a week with some interesting side effects. Josie appears to be an angel. Now I know that she isn't, but just look at this kid.

I have only come up with two reasonable explanations for this. First, it could be a side effect of my new cold medication (pictured below).
If this proves to not be the reason then I have nothing to fall back to other then the old "laughter is the best medicine". That must be the answer because this kid makes me laugh so much. She dances and she growls. She bites and hums. She smiles and my heart melts. Deep down I fear that she is secretly planning to take over the world, but that can't stop this daddy's love.

Well it finally happened, I had to make a new logo. After 8 years of DV8 we've got a new name. Welcome to the ROUNDhouse! The student ministries of the LIFEhouse Church of Rocklin, CA. just got kicked in the teeth. If you take a look at the logo you can see the tag-line, "Like a kick for your soul". So what do you think? Yes that is my boot comin at ya!!!

So what about DV8? Don't worry DV8 just became a little "d" and has moved over to the insanely active and somewhat moody Jr. High Department. It is in good hands!

So if you haven't found us yet, look us up on FACEBOOK. We want friends.

The Question

So is there any connection between my leaving Wisconsin and Brett Favre leaving the Packers? I promised Brett that I wouldn't talk about it.

Part 4- the office

So I'm starting to settle in to my new work space. Trying to fit into my new space has been tough. I'm just so confined in this 20 by 20 foot space. Take a look at these pictures and you'll see what I mean. Click on them to get a better view.

So I hope you can tell that I've been joking. This place is awesome! I just don't know where to put the swimming pool, although I have plenty of space to park my scooter.

What you didn't hear about the scooter? Well I'll talk about it next time.

part ३- fatiuge



So I've been telling people that I drove the whole way from Wisconsin and this is mostly true. I was in the drivers seat the whole time anyway. We did have one small lapse in judgment on my part. It was brought on by lack of sleep and will never happen again (at least not for 15 years or so).





Thank God no one was hurt when I passed out doing 70 on the highway. My little ones jumped into action to save the day. Jen screamed, "Jesus take the wheel" and Josie thought she said Josie, so she did take the wheel.





Zoe opted to go to prayer and ask for a hedge of protection. Jen just continued singing along to the local country music station. She loves Carry Underwood.

We are still trying to figure out how Josie got out of her car seat, but one thing for sure we will not be skipping any rest stops in the future.

PART 2
The Family Reunion Pic

This was right before the fight broke out.
From back left to right: Brian, Jenn, Darla (Mom), Phil (Dad), Zoe, Josie.
My brother Scott and his wife Carla are not in this picture. They to busy to be there. What was sooooooooooooooo important that they missed this monumental family gathering? The birth of their son.
Introducing Everett Scott Neuenschwander!! My first nephew. He's a big boy and a singer too!














So now you understand why Scott didn't back me up in that fight. He had more important things to take care of. Congratulations! I did suggest that he add Phil to his son's name. Everett Scott Phil Neuenschwander or E.S.P.N. just sounds very manly.

Settling In To Rocklin
part 1- Making the Move

Well it's been awhile since you and I last talked so let me fill you in on everything. June 15th I spoke my last sermon at Hillcrest Bible Church in Oregon, WI., following the service at 12:32pm my little family began our trek west. Driving as fast and safe as possible in our Dodge Dakota quad-cab and pulling a small u-haul trailer we drove out of Wisconsin, through Minnesota and most of the way across South Dakota (oddly enough my truck did not seam to know its way through its home state) so then we had to take a brief eight hour stop. The next day with the girls singing joyfully (or crying) in the back seat we head into Montana. Twelve very quite hours later we reached the little town of Sheridan MT. This little town was about to get a rude awakening as the Grotzke family reunion was about to begin. As the world knows our family reunions have a habit of upstaging the Sturgis Bike rally, so after the police had to break up a fight between my cousins (a disagreement on the nature of the emergent church) we made a timely exit on Thursday afternoon. We made it all the way to Winnamucca Nevada. Jen wanted to keep going, but being the loving father that I am, I insisted we give the little ones a rest. Side note: Winnamucca is neither a winner or mucky despite it's name. So we rolled on to Rocklin California, which does rock. Friday June 20th I joined on Lifehouse Church's Vision Night and I was not disappointed.
I was only in Rocklin for a day before I had to leave........

Just an update on my battle with cellulite. I am currently under 185. For those of you who wonder were this puts me on the child obesity scale , I am about at my 7th grade weight. My goal is to get down to my birth weight. Jen tells me this is impossible, but I've repeatedly told her that my mom remembers me being a huge baby.

So we are leaving Wisconsin on June 15th. If you want to check out your new church home here's the website. Remember surf responsibly!
The LIFEhouse Church

We're moving again! God said California is the place you ought to be so we're loading up the truck and movin' to North Cali!

Working With Frustration

It is very interesting to me to see people slowly slip into that state of workable frustration. What I mean by this is that point where you can still function at work (getting the job done), but are so close to the edge that you may snap at any moment. Long gone is that state of happy bliss (and I don't mean Montana. Montana will never be gone. In fact I believe that do to "global warming" (Save those penguins! You heartless jerk.), we will soon have more usable land in Montana. Once all those useless glaciers are gone (Boo ya!), but I digress).
Happy bliss at work is important. It leads to contentment and longevity. Lack of happiness leads to stress, job turnover and is one of the leading causes of shootings in the work place. The funny thing is that it doesn't have to be your on happiness to cause these problems. Working in an environment filled with unhappy, stressed out, frustrated people (or one really out spoken person) can cause your own frustration level to rise to the breaking point.
Why do I bring this up? Well, I'm starting to see things. Things like people making important decisions based only on what will get it off there plate. Or making the choice to do nothing until someone else is brought in to take care of the need. Each of these frustrate me.

Now I'm not as frustrated as I was on Black Thursday (The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Black Thursday, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full scope and longevity of its fallout. Thank you Wikipedia!) That was bad. I was, at the time, still rolling in green backs do to my recent investment in sliding windows for high rise office buildings.
Needless to say, I lost my shirt. The real problem is that when things are down it is the aggressive, fearless investors that can make money, as the old saying goes, "Real players make money when the market is down". This ranks just behind, "I'll be back", and "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" as best quote ever. So in applying this principle I held on to my Apple stock and that has paid off. Vista what?!?
I have also tried to apply this to my work. Never wanting to just ride out the low times, but to remain aggressive and push for progress. Sadly I see that this has cast me as the odd man out in a world that just wants TPS reports turned in on time. So back to frustration. I have found that in order to deal with frustration you need to have a mental escape every once in a while. Something that takes your mind to that happy place and refreshes your mental web page.
This is not a waist of time, but a vital part of office wellness. Let me suggest a few things.
10. Coffee runs
9. Slap fighting in the break room
8. Nerf guns
7. Changing the presets on your friends radio
6. Watching "The Office" on thursday night
5. Line dancing
4. Plant a tree
3. Wander around mumbling to yourself
2. Wii or Xbox party with a group of 5th graders
1. Write a blog

Well I don't know if this has help you at all, but I feel much less frustrated.

I'll be back!

GOAL!!!!!
After years of procrastination and defeat I have finally reached my goal. This last week I weighted in at under 200 pounds for the first time since 1995. Oh where has the time gone?

Why did I do it? What was different this time? What did I do?

Well I did it because I realized that I am not the strapping young man I once was, and I want to be around to play with my kids for a long time. Also my bad knee was killing me this past summer. So I had to make it happen.

The difference was that I was in the right place mentally to commit and see it through. I was sick of being where I was.

How did I do it? Well it was very complex and tricky. I ate less calories then I burned off in a day. I know crazy right? Self-control is so old school.

Anyway in honor of reaching my goal I commissioned a painting to commemorate my new lease on life. Let me know what you think. Is it to much, or just right?

Oh, don't think for one minute that I am off my healthy eating thing. I have set a new goal and when I reach that one you may not even recognize me. Maybe you don't already.

Topic: Military casualties

This was emailed to me. I am trying to find the source.
If you can help me out please comment.
______________________________________________________________________________
BET YOU DON'T KNOW THIS

Military losses for 20 years These are some rather eye-opening facts: Since the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan , the sacrifice has been enormous. In the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 through now, we have lost over 3000 military personnel to enemy action and accidents. As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics: The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006: 1980 .......... 2,392 1981 ......... 2,380 1984 .......... 1,999 1988 .......... 1,819 1989 .......... 1,636 1990 ......... 1,508 1991 .......... 1,787 1992 .......... 1,293---------------------------------------------------- 1993 .......... 1,213 1994 .......... 1,075 1995 ...........2,465 1996 ......... 2,318 Clinton years @13,417 deaths 1997 ......... 817 1998 ......... 2,252 1999 .......... 1,984 ------------------------------------------------- 2000 .......... 1,983 2001 ......... 890 2002 .......... 1,007 7 BUSH years @ 9,016 deaths 2003 .......... 1,410 2004 .......... 1,887 2005 ......... 919 2006......... 920 ------------------------ ------------------------------------ If you are confused when you look at these figures...so was I. Do these figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Mr. Clinton's presidency; when America wasn't even involved in a war? And, I was even more confused; when I read that in 1980, during the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize) Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities! These figures indicate that many of our Media & Politicians will pick and choose. They present only those "facts" which support their agenda-driven reporting. Why do so many of them march in lock-step to twist the truth. Where do so many of them get their marching-orders for their agenda? Our Mainstream Print and TV media, and many Politicians like to slant; that these brave men and women, who are losing their lives in Iraq , are mostly minorities! Wrong AGAIN--- just one more media lie! The latest census, of Americans, shows the following distribution of American citizens, by Race: European descent (White) ....... 69.12% Hispanic ................................ 12.5% Black.................................... 12.3% Asian ...................................... 3.7% Native American ..................... . 1.0% Other ..................................... 2.6% Now... here are the fatalities by Race; over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom: European descent (white) ..... 74.31% Hispanic ............................. 10.74% Black ................................... 9.67% Asian ................................. . 1.81% Native American .................... 1.09% Other .................................... . 33% You do the Math! These figures don't lie... but, Media-liars figure...and they sway public opinion! (These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and they may be confirmed by anyone at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf ) Now ask yourself these two questions: "Why does the mainstream Print and TV Media never print statistics like these?" and "Why do the mainstream media hate the web as much as they do? _____________________________________________________________________________ So what do you think? Do some research and let me know.