Chad's Blog

Are you a Bible?

chadholtz@gmail.com — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:40:00 GMT

This was forwarded to me, so I can't take credit for it, but wanted to share. Apologies for not giving credit to anyone, but I don't know where it originated:

His name is Tim. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college.

He is brilliant. Kind of profound and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college.
Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church.. They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it..

How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor? It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy.

One day Tim decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Tim starts down the aisle looking for a seat.

The church is completely packed and he can't find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything..

Tim gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet.

By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.

About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Tim.

Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this boy,
everyone is saying to themselves that you can't blame him for what he's going to do.

The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man's cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can't even hear anyone breathing. The minister can't even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do.

And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty, he lowers himself and sits down next to Tim and worships with him so he won't be alone.

Everyone chokes up with emotion...

When the minister gains control, he says, 'What I'm about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget.

''Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will ever read!'

Wow - really?

chadholtz@gmail.com — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:14:00 GMT

I haven't posted since January 7th? Shameful.... In my defense, I was out of the country from January 15 - February 6th.....that's my excuse. I was in India - and what an adventure - that's a whole series of blog posts in itself!

Anyway - just a quick post today, a friend from high school put this song link on her Facebook page today, and some of the lyrics really hit me, so I'm posting it here. Enjoy - highlights are my addition (scroll all the way down for a link to the YouTube video if you want to hear the song):

Point Of Grace - How You Live / Turn Up The Music Lyrics

Verse 1:
Wake up to the sunlight
With your windows open
Don't hold in your anger or leave things unspoken
Wear your red dress
Use your good dishes
Make a big mess and make lots of wishes
Have what you want
But want what you have
And don't spend your life lookin' back

Chorus:
Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
You won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
Cuz it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

Verse 2:
So go to the ballgames
And go to the ballet
And go see your folks more than just on the holidays
Kiss all your children
Dance with your wife
Tell your husband you love him every night
Don't run from the truth
'Cause you can't get away
Just face it and you'll be okay

Chorus:
Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
You won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

Bridge:
Oh wherever you are and wherever you've been
Now is the time to begin

Verse 3:
So give to the needy
And pray for the grieving
E'en when you don't think that you can
'Cause all that you do is bound to come back to you
So think of your fellow man
Make peace with God and make peace with yourself
'Cause in the end there's nobody else

Chorus
Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
'Cause you won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7HFk6flUOQ

Uhm....seems obvious to me....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:26:00 GMT

Ok, I put this in the category of "headlines that make me laugh" but this doesn't make me laugh......

Mental note - if I'm ever appointed the head of Anti-Terrorism, try to act like I care if there is an attempted attack: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/07/anti-terror-official-stayed-ski-trip-learning-failed-bomb-plot/

Movies, Misery and Mayhem...

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:24:00 GMT

Back in the day, I learned the term for that....alliteration: Movies, Misery and Mayhem. Wouldn't my high school English teacher be so proud?

Movies recently seen:

Home Alone and Home Alone 2 - hey, we've been through Thanksgiving and Christmas - you have to watch Home Alone and Christmas Vacation - it's a must.

Four Christmases - ok maybe not the MOST family friendly, but we watched it as a family. Very few, I mean very few, movies have made me laugh out loud recently. This one did. Since I reverted back to my High School days with the alliteration, I'm ok admitting that the baby vomit scenes made me laugh so hard I almost had to stop the movie. Not to mention that Jon Favreau makes me laugh in most movies he's in. A-

Night at the Museum 2 - good family movie. Not quite as good as the first one, because the plot is pretty similar and been done, but still a good watch. B

Misery - the stomach issues persist. I've been trying to not get too graphic, but just imagine severe abdominal, stomach cramps, bloating, etc after almost every meal. Now throw in some chills and all over body ache - you get the idea. I've been through what seems like 5,000 tests to see what is going on. Normally, and usually, a "normal" test result is a good thing. But when you still feel like crud all the time, it's a little disappointing when they can't find the issue and "fix" it. With stomach scopes, biopsies, blood work and other unmentionable tests - the latest thought is Diverticulitis. They are starting to treat for that, and we'll see if it helps. The funny thing, look at the side effects of the prescription:

SIDE EFFECTS: This medication may cause stomach ache, flushing, problems sleeping, headache, blurred vision, drowsiness, constipation, dry mouth, dry eyes, or thirst

So....they are treating my abdominal pain with a medication that can cause a stomach ache...that's certainly interesting. But it gets even better, if I combine this medication with something as simple as, say, Benadryl, I get this fun:

The combined effects of these drugs can lead to a greater incidence of dry mouth, blurred vision, confusion, agitation, increased heart rate, palpitations, constipation, urinary retention (difficulty urinating).

If I really wanted to have some fun, I could go out for a drive in a confused state with blurry vision, get agitated because I can't pee, have increased heart rate and palpitations, wreck the car and yell at the Police, “Can you get me something to drink – this cotton mouth is killing me!”

Mayhem - Iowa weather, you've gotta love it. "If you don't like the weather in Iowa, wait 5 minutes and it will change!" We've had quite a bit of snow, ice, rain in the last month. It's like the winters I remember as a kid. But man...people who live in Iowa need to learn how to DRIVE on snow/ice. We skated to Mom's on Christmas day in the truck and the roads were not only crazy, but the other drivers were too. Youngest son and I passed time by counting the stranded vehicles in the ditch - thankfully it wasn't us.

Hope you had a Very Merry Christmas and are getting ready for the New Year!

Persevere....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:01:00 GMT

"He failed in business in '31. He was defeated for state legislator in '32. He tried another business in '33. It failed. His fiancee died in '35. He had a nervous breakdown in '36. In '43 he ran for congress and was defeated. He tried again in '48 and was defeated again. He tried running for the Senate in '55. He lost. The next year he ran for Vice President and lost. In '59 he ran for the Senate again and was defeated. In 1860, the man who signed his name A. Lincoln, was elected the 16th President of the United States. The difference between history's boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is often, simply, the diligent will to persevere."

Merry Christmas! and Happy Birthday!

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:38:00 GMT

You may recall last year about this time, I posted a mini-tirade about Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays....I'm unapologetically saying "Merry Christmas!" to everyone this year.

WOW-SA! Check this out: http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow/worst-apps-sides-and-starters?cm_mmc=DailyDoseNL-_-2009_12_23-_-HTML-_-1

This is a sad, but becoming all-too-familiar storyline: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/23/steven.tyler.pain.killers/index.html http://www.thewrap.com/article/reported-brittany-murphy-dies-cardiac-arrest-12030

Cyclones are in a bowl game in Paul Rhoads' first year! Love it! GO ISU!

"Dairy" Update - after numerous tests either being declared "normal" or "inconclusive" I still have no answers. I put "dairy" in quotes because it seems to have expanded beyond that now. I'm going in Monday for more invasive and less-fun-sounding tests...we'll see what they find.

Merry Christmas to all of you! Be safe if you are traveling, especially in the Midwest in the winter storm that is starting... Be careful! Enjoy your family time, I mean it, really enjoy the time with them.

Speaking of family - Happy Birthday to this blog! Coming up on 3 yrs old. I know this because I started it right after my Dad died, and that was December 2006. Hard to believe that 3 years have passed already. With that, go back and re-read the previous paragraph and then enjoy the Celebration of Christmas with those you love...

Dude...help a brother out....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:59:00 GMT

Ok, my last post was November 30th. For some reason, my Mom and my Wife decided to wait until THIS WEEKEND to tell me that on the last post I wrote "diary" update instead of "DAIRY" update. This proves a couple things:

1) I have very few readers, because no one pointed it out or questioned it

2) My remaining readers were having a good laugh at me thinking I fell into some teenage girl "Dear Diary" mode - thanks guys...really appreciate you watching my back!

3) Nobody noticed and, therefore, I just drew attention to my own blunder without really needing to.

So, a DAIRY update - I have a 3-hr lactose test tomorrow. From what I can tell - I plan to be fully miserable all day. Oooh...I can't wait.

Movie reviews

chadholtz@gmail.com — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:23:00 GMT

The Blind Side - I'm not going to say a whole lot about this one, except....go see it! I mean it, you need to go see it. It was so good that I forgot about how mad I was at the price to take 4 of us to go see it on a Friday night. We took both kids (17 and 10) and I didn't have a problem with them seeing any of it. Good movie, earns my first A+ for reviews.

Up - I'm not usually an animated film lover, but this one was pleasantly surprising. I really enjoyed it. Very family friendly and just good messages. A-

The Ugly Truth - NOT family friendly. Just like Will Farrell has found what he considers his niche in movies, Katherine Heigl has done the same. If you've seen "Knocked Up", you'll know what I mean. Overall it was a good movie and made me laugh several times, a little crude, but the teenage boy inside me loved it. B

Update on the ~~diary~~ DAIRY front...not much new, but it's amazing how many tests they want to put you through. Did you know there is actually a THREE HOUR test to see if you are lactose intolerant. And here's the fun part....to test you, they make you drink a highly concentrated lactose drink...this should be fun. The crew of the S.S. Minnow got shipwrecked in 3-hrs - that's a long time!

The last kid picked for the team...

chadholtz@gmail.com — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:23:00 GMT

Ok, I've mentioned before that I'm on Facebook now....part of me loves it, part of me can't believe how hard it is to keep up! No way am I going to add Twitter to the mix, a blog and a Facebook page are plenty.

Anyway, so all these people (most of them about a million years younger than me and are just my Facebook "friends" because they feel sorry for me) are all talking about Team Edward or Team Jacob. Should I care that I have no idea what they are talking about??? I did figure out it has something to do with the New Moon movie, but I really have no clue about it. Will my ignorance on this topic have any long term impacts on my life? I'm guessing no.

We're going to see "The Blind Side" tonight as a family. I'm excited. 1) We're going as a family. With busy schedules, sports, work, we don't get that a lot. 2) the movie looks really good - let's hope the previews aren't the only good parts of the movie...

Come to think of it - we'll be fighting the Team Jacob vs. Team Edward crowds at the theater tonight....that, and the sheer prices at the theater, are the only two downsides of what I hope will be a good night.

And, as a little sidenote to the whole dairy issue, who would have ever thought I'd be eating this??? http://www.wellnessgrocer.com/food-for-life-bread-white-rice-wf-p-1918.html I'm not even sure it's legal to call that bread, but they get away with it... and, I have to admit, I'm learning to tolerate it. Now that I look at that link, Michelle, did you pay that much for it?!?!?! I hope not! I think I said on this blog before, if you think it's expensive to eat healthy, try eating dairy free...you almost go broke! (I recently re-earned my right to go to the grocery store again, but maybe it just got revoked. Love you honey, and thanks for taking such good care of me...)

Sometimes being #1 is not good...

chadholtz@gmail.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:26:00 GMT

This makes me sad....Juarez is now the murder capital of the world:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125746132763632051.html

Moooooooovies

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:07:00 GMT

We watch a lot of movies as a family, it's just one of our things and I've blogged about it before. Say what you want, but with a 17yr old and a very active 10yr old, both boys, getting everyone to sit in a room together to do anything as a family, is a rare treat.

So, I've seen a lot of movies, I've seen a lot of movie trailers. Mostly, you can recognize the tricks and know if the best parts of the movie make up the trailer and that's it. Some trailers grab your attention, but mostly - you just watch them and forget them and end up renting the movie later because you seem to recall the name of it. This trailer is different - this one caught my attention in a big way, so I had to Google it and find it so I could share. I plan to see this movie - probably in the theater, which doesn't happen often because of the ridiculous price...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYC1ulLHD6Y&NR=1

I've heard the book is fantastic too. Let me know if you've read it.

So, what's up with the title of this post? Why so many oooo's in the word Movie? Because I'm trying to be cute and combine two topics - movies, and cows. Specifically dairy. I won't go into a whole lot of detail (because fankly, some of it is pretty personal and a touch gross) but I've developed quite a severe intolerance to lactose (i.e. dairy products). It's been going on for a while I think, and I've been tapering off dairy products for a while - but it's gotten really severe now. Even small small doses cause a pretty good reaction. I've never read so many labels or spent so much time in the "natural" section of the grocery store. Soy milk, soy cheese (I think I even bought something called "Tofutti"!), non-dairy butter (sorry, "whipped buttery spread"), non dairy chocolate chips (more on that in a minute), the list goes on and on.

Basically, I've had to learn a whole new way to eat. It's not easy, and can be somewhat depressing. You have to watch everything you eat. Ordering in restaurants is a whole new experience too.

In an effort to find non-dairy recipes, we stumbled on this, The Kind Diet. It's technically vegan - which in the truest sense means no animal products at all. I'm good with that, as long as I can eat meat. ha! Someone called me a Beefatarian, but I prefer the word I coined: Carniveganite.

In all seriousness - there are some good recipes in there.....hence the non-dairy chocolate chips. There are some amazing non-dairy chocolate peanut butter cups in there that my lovely wife made for me. Un-real how good they are.

Which reminds me - I need to give a shout out to my wife...again. She's been a trooper through this. When I get mad, ticked, depressed, don't feel like eating, she keeps me in line. She watches labels for me. She cooks special for me. She reminds me to "step away from the Cheezit box". She's awesome. It's no wonder I love her.

So the "dairy free" journey begins for a self-proclaimed cheese addict. This should be interesting...stay tuned.

Car Fifty FOOOOOOUR - WHERE ARRRRRRE YOOOOUUUU??

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:17:00 GMT

Holy Smokes! Did you think I'd disappeared??? Sorry about that. I'm here, I'm well, I'm busy. I used to work with a lady that called that a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious). Obviously I've been busy, which is why I haven't been posting.

I have to tell you, and I've talked about this on this blog before - I'm very careful to not complain too much about being busy at work. The alternative is certainly not a good spot to be in!

So much has happened and is going on, no way can I put it all in one blog post, so I hope to get back on track and bring you back up to speed gradually.

Let's start off with something fun...movie reviews:

Land of the Lost - maybe I'm just burned out on Will Ferrell, especially after I saw Talledega Nights a few weeks ago, but I'm just not impressed with this movie. C-

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - very predictable, but a fun movie anyway. And it's never that bad to watch Jennifer Garner for 2 hrs. Ladies - you get to watch Matthew McConaughey. B

Duplicity - talk about twists/turns and really needing to pay attention - wow. I liked this, but my wife and son weren't as thrilled. At one point my son said "I'm just watching this because it's on, I have no clue what's going on and I really don't care". HA! B

Ok, that's it for now...hopefully back on a regular posting pattern...as if anyone is reading and even cares....

Know your stuff....

chadholtz@gmail.com — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:32:00 GMT

The Five worst food scams...check it out:

http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/Marketing-Scams/index.php?cm_mmc=DoseNL-_-2009_10_05-_-HTML-_-hed#atuid-47c74118aa4954c4

What are you created for?

chadholtz@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:47:00 GMT

A friend of mine e-mails me a "daily devotion" - somedays it really makes me stop and think. Today was one of those days. I'll paste content here and take no credit for it, but since I don't know where it truly originates, I can't give credit either. So, no disrespect to original author, just want to share:

Joy in Serving

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
—Psalm 100:2-3

I want to let you in on a little secret: I think it is fun to serve God. Now, I am not saying that it isn't hard to serve Him. I am not saying that it isn't challenging. I am not saying there aren't times when it is depleting. But I am saying that I derive great joy from it. And by serving God, I don't mean preparing or delivering a message. I mean being used by God in any way that He would see fit to use me. I count it a great privilege to be called by God and to be able to represent Him. And if you have discovered this, then you know what I am talking about. There is a joy in it. And when you serve Him, you sense His blessing on you.

One of my top ten favorite films is the 1981 movie, Chariots of Fire. I loved it. It is the story, among other things, of Eric Liddell, a young runner from Scotland who was a great athlete and competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. Also a committed Christian, Liddell struggled for quite some time with the decision as to whether he should run or whether he should preach. Ultimately, he went to the mission field. But in the film, there is a scene in which his sister was pressing him to abandon his career in running and start his missionary work immediately. Liddell responded in his classic Scottish brogue, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure."

Do you feel God's pleasure in what you are doing? Are you living your life well? If not, then start today by doing what He has called—and created—you to do.

Hey meester, you wanna know what's good?

chadholtz@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:15:00 GMT

My wife is laughing hysterically right now at the title of this post. Only one other person would get it because it's an "HTBT" (Had To Be There) moment. That's ok, I'm not going to tell the story. Sometimes it's ok for a husband and wife to have inside jokes.

Anyway - so, some things that are good that I've come across recently, or have been sent to me.

1) Can you believe this? Love the story line and I'm sure every major network does too, who isn't sucked in by a story like this? I'll be watching and cheering her on tonight: http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Sep08/0,4670,TENUSOpenOudin,00.html

2) Man vs. Food is a rather fun show to watch in our house. We all try to determine if we could do (or would ever even want to attempt) that night's episode. So, this is an interesting article: http://desmoines.metromix.com/restaurants/article/man-v-food-des/1449211/content

3) Here is a good article that Mark sent me....not good because of the content, but good as a reminder and an update to the never ending violence that our friends to the South are still facing. We won't be crossing the border on our next mission trip again, which is disappointing, but it's just not safe: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico

4) And a big shout out! 4million+ meals in 4 days....simply amazing. Great job to everyone and I'm glad I got to help at least for a little while... http://www.mealsfromtheheartland.org/

5) Finally - the Sons of Anarchy season 2 premiere was beyond my expectations. Love it. And in 60 short minutes they easily set up a whole season worth of shows. Nice. Can't wait.