Fashion Alert! V-belts are back in!!!

Well I got the v-belt set up back on the car today. I ran into a probelm because the radiator hose that came on the car was in the way of this new flex fan I got. Napa had a replacement that solved the problem. I also got the throttle cable installed. It seemd to fit pretty well. It was a little long in the engine compartment, but otherwise good.

We're getting closer!

He tricked me again!

God has an incredible ability to get done whatever he wants with or without my help.
We went to Denver this last weekend for a friend's wedding. My wife was going to sing in the wedding. The timing could have been better for us, I mean we just moved to Omaha. I don't have a job yet even. We're not exactly swimming in xtra cash, but these are the things you do for friends and they were picking up the Hotel! So we drive for 8 hours with our 6yo, 2yo, & 3mo. I decided to chill out about setting land speed records and we had a good trip out stopped to pee every 10 minutes or so, bought candy at the truck stops, you know all that stuff that totally rocks when you're 6. We get there Saturday, my wife leaves us at the hotel to go to the rehearsal. Me and the kids go swimming, get ice cream, and some mini-pepsis. She comes and gets us for the rehearsal dinner. We are about an hour late to the dinner and get to say about 5 words to the bride and groom. Next day we get up and go to the park, the kids play on a playground and my wife and I and the baby sit in the shade and read and relax. AWESOME! We go to the store, swim again, and leisurely start getting ready for the wedding. Time comes and we get in the van and drive to the church. When we arrive some wierd guy is carrying the wedding presents out to his van. What kind of wierdo loads up the wedding presents before the wedding is even started? As we walk across the parkinglot to the church the bride's sister comes out and asks "Are you OK?" Oh $#!+ WE MISSED THE WEDDING! These kind friends buy us hotel rooms so we can come be a part of their most important day and where are we sitting in our underwear on the hotel bed watching reruns of reruns of fear factor. We went ahead and went to the reception and had a good time. They could have cared less, our mistake wasn't going to ruin their special day. It was right around then I realized why we were in Denver. We were not in Denver for this wedding. We were in Denver because God knew our family needed some R&R together and we were too stupid to take it. He tricked me again!
Thank you God it was just what the doctor ordered.
On the Pinto front I was able to get the throttle cable I needed from Napa for about $50 new. The Pinto one was 24" and the Mustang one was 31" long. Otherwise they are very nearly exactly the same. I haven't installed it yet though. Maybe tomorrow.
Till next time...

Who Am I?

Rough nite last nite. Really started to question my purpose. What am I doing here? Not having a job feels like it has stripped me of my identity. I could preach all day long on why it is harmful to find your identity in work or much else but Jesus Christ, and yet now that I have become unemployed I realize that my identity was still very strongly tied to my work.
In addition, I have only heard back from one of the plethora of employers I sent resumes out to. I know that I could go get a job at a thousand different places here in Omaha and make each place better. It makes me realize a small part of what it must feel like to be a minority and know that you could do a job and yet be overlooked because of race or education or experience or whatever. IT SUCKS! It makes me realize how uncompassionate I am when I mutter under my breath "Why don't you go get a job" when I see a homeless person.
Anyway I think what God really wants me to focus on is being a loving person, to my kids, to my wife, to everyone God brings across my path. I think that is what he desires from me more than creating a new church or whatever "great, important" thing I might try to do for him. That's just so much less tangible though.

On the Pinto I cut the bracket down today and am in the middle of repainting it and the water pump pulley. I'll post a picture once I get the v-belt system set back together.

God help me to be gracious, loving, and compassionate towards the people you put around me. Help me to find my identity in living out the kind of love that you modeled to us through Jesus. Please give me focus in regard to what job would best suit what we are trying to do here. I love you Lord and ask for your blessing on all those back in Central City.

Tempted by the serpent

I finally gave up on the serpentine belt system of the Thunderbird that my turbo 2.3 came out of and am switching back to the V-belt system of the Pinto. With the serpentine belt I had no accesories and jury rigged a setup using a "grooved" pulley on the tensioner and running a shorter belt just around the crank, water pump and T-bird alternator (Pictured here).

The Serpentine belt contacted the radiator though and I still wasn't sure how to integrate the T-bird alternator into the Pinto wiring. Now with the v-belt, I'll use the Pinto alternator and thus not have to figure out how to wire the T-bird alternator into my system.
Important points:
-the T-bird 2.3 and Pinto 2.3 have different sized ends on the water pump to accept the pulley. The T-bird end is smaller and will not accept the Pinto v-belt pulley.
-The Pinto upper alternator bracket looks like it has to be cut down a smidge as it contacts the T-bird EFI intake manifold. I'm going to cut that down and repaint it tomorrow.

My wife helped me realize today how critical I am of her. I really want to change that. I want to be more gracious and understanding toward her and others. For me I think that will mean not being so quick to speak. Thinking about what I am going to say more.

Lord, help me to consider my words more carefully especially toward my wife and children. Thank you for helping me to be big enough to call and talk to people at our last church and thank you that those conversations went so well. Thank you for so many nice neighbors. Help me to be a good daddy tomorrow as I watch the kids.

Another bread crumb

Well I felt like we received another bread crumb from God today. We visited a church today that really felt like a good fit for us for now and could potentially contain some people heading in the same directions as us, so we'll see what happens.
The wedding went great and I think God really used it and the 3rd chapter of "The relentless tenderness of Jesus" to show me that I should put my irritations about things that happened at the church aside and continue to love and support them rather than writing them off. Why do I decide to replay disappointing things people say and do over and over in my head? Love overlooks a wrong.
I'm going to try to get back to the Pinto tomorrow. Did some salvage yard searches for the throttle cable from an 88-93 EFI 2.3 Mustang and found out that it is too old and nobody has them anymore. The dealer doesn't carry the Mustang throttle cable anymore either. I realized I've been thinking in too linear of a way about the throttle cable. The important thing about the throttle cable I need isn't that it came out of a EFI 2.3 Mustang but rather it is that it has the same ends as the present cable and is about 6 inchs longer. I'm going to remove the stock one and take it over to the parts department at the local Ford dealer and I'm sure 100 other throttle cables that they do have in stock will work.
I'm sure this linear road block in my thinking is causing other road blocks in the church planting areas of my life too.
Started listening to a great book on CD, "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. He looks at the world from a more generous standpoint than I do. I'd like to get there.

God,
Help me not to get impatient about what is to come. As we talked about at church today help me to remember you are all around me and within me all day long. Help me notice you and help me not to gag you when I'm embarrased by what you say. Help us to be good neighbors and friends to Dan & Sally. Help me to love when I want to hate. Bless Aaron & Michelle and Ken & Greta for the great kindness they have shown us, and Bless the anonymous person who keeps sending us restaurant gift cards. I love you and trust you.

Day 1

This blog will be for the purpose of helping me figure out my screwed up life, recording our journey as we try to figure out if God really wants us to start a post modern church in Omaha, NE, and to record the building of my turbocharged Pinto.
My wife and I have been in Omaha for a couple weeks now. She has a good paying job in the medical field and I am still unemployed. It seems to me in this next religious venture that I would like to be bi-vocational, that is hold down a paying job and then do pastoral work for free. I have seen a lot of guys including myself compromise their integrity as a pastor because they, and I, were afraid to lose a paycheck. I don't like that and want to be free to express my faith in ways that make sense to me.
My big dilemma is whether to work part-time or full-time. In another life I was a law enforcement officer and so I can feel a slight pull towards that line of work again, but I don't know if I will have much energy left for "pastoring" after putting in a full day. Of course I don't really know how pastoring might look different in this new kind of church I feel called to start. At any rate law enforcement takes a while to get into so in the mean time I put in an application at an auto parts store. Sound fun, might be a good destraction and place to meet people. I might learn more about mechanicing too.
Today I'm heading back to my last church to perform a wedding.

God, help me to perform a wedding ceremony that is meaningful to the couple. Please give me clarity about the future, and help me find a throttle cable out of a 2.3 EFI Mustang for my Pinto. Emma & Simon say Hi!