For anyone that might be interested...

I have recently launched a new blog that gets all of my attention right now.  If you are interested, you can jump over by clicking here.

Still Alive

Just letting you all know that I'm still alive and am planning to relaunch my blog on September 1. I've got some ideas, but still want to hear from a few of you. Let me know why you come to 4three4 and how it could be more beneficial to you. Thanks for checking it out.

This Is Just Cool...

Extraordinary Artist - More amazing video clips are a click away

Discerning Purpose for Year Three

Well, it's been almost a month since my last post. We are getting ready this week for another Thumpin' Thursday with our kids and if we see another birth at this one, I'll be worried since we are going to the bowling alley!

A couple of big things have happened since I last posted. Rhonda and I celebrated our 17th Anniversary. We attended her 20-year high school reunion (more to come on that later). I filed the papers and officially opened Gart Graphics for business - which means a little more attention in that direction is on it's way. We have had some crazy Sunday gatherings at the Y with the Springs and I missed my first gathering yesterday - even though I got a call at 8:30 from Justin regarding set-up.

I have been blogging now for two years. It's been a little work, a little fun, a little therapy and a little confusing. When I first started out, I read a book and the author challenged me to answer two questions - Who is the audience? What is the purpose? Over the two years, my audience may have shifted a little. I started with our little church being the audience, and it has grown to friends from all over the place, literally. I have new friends, old friends and friends I don't know yet. While the early blogs focused more on casting vision for our little faith community, the more recent blogs have tended to be much more personal. A critic of pastoral blogs once wrote something like this, "I don't want to hear another sermon when I read your blog, I want to hear something about you." In so doing, my goal has always been to explore the life of a Christ-follower in real, everyday situations. Nothing is off limits - at least I didn't plan for them to be. This got me in some hot water with some people during the election process last year, but it also deepened some other friendships. In any case, I want to be able to be honest - honest about questions I have and honest about my feelings toward the things I experience on a daily basis.

That all said, I am rethinking my third year of blogging. If you are reading this, you've probably visited before. I'd like your input. What have you liked about the blog, what have you disliked? Is there anything I could write about that would help you in your faith journey? I'd like to hear from you, but I realize that many of you don't like to post, so go ahead and email me at bgartman@me.com. I'll take whatever you want to pass along.

Anyway, thank you for being part of my little blogosphere. I'm looking forward to Year Three.

An Experience They Will Remember

All of us that work with children long for those memorable moments. We plan a big trip and we want them to remember it. Yesterday was a pretty cool day for us. To help out with the summer heat, we've created "Thumpin' Thursdays" for our elementary kids. One Thursday per month, we will provide our kids with a Thumpin' Good Time. Yesterday was our first one. We took the kids out to Bayou Wildlife Park - 86 acres of exotic animals. We took a tram ride and fed the animals, took pony rides and had a great lunch. After lunch, our plan was to go to the "petting zoo" and then start packing up to go home. We had a little over an hour to kill at the zoo.

Well, the "petting zoo" consisted of about 20 goats and 1 big fat pig asleep in the corner. The kids were having a fine time, but there was no way we were going to make this stretch to an hour. As the kids played with the goats, some workers came in to check on the pregnant goat. Honestly several of them looked like they could be about to give birth (one in particular looked like it was about to pop, then we found out she was a "he"!). They located the suspicious goat and said it could be about an hour. We were told we could stay in the pen if we just gave her space and if she had the baby, not to touch it. God was providing us an hour of anticipation!

Well, it didn't take an hour and our kids got a front row seat for the birth of baby "Springs," as they called the new goat. Had God really provided us with this incredible experience? I'm not sure all of the parents thought so last night as their kids asked questions like "How did that baby goat come out of the momma's bottom?" It's no surprise that the experience was the highlight of the day for all the kids...and us too. I'm not sure how we are going to top this first Thumpin' Thursday, but I have already vetoed a trip to the hospital.