Robert Pooley

Just plain odd...

Do any of you fellow bloggers ever look to see where the people visiting your blog come from?  Somebody visited my blog today via google... they were searching for this...  (where to bury a store manequin)  I'm not sure what is more disturbing...        that they are looking for a place to bury a manequin or that google decided I was one of the top options for an answer...

I'm just a rookie...

I thought I was a Starbuck's fan until I saw this...

This is Anne Jackson's Starbuck's spending pattern.  Link  via Scott

I mean.. this is some serious Starbuck's patronage.   

Rock on Anne...

Hit em where it hurts...

According to the Associated Press U.S. Aims to Ban iPod Sales to North Korea - AOL News, it appears America is putting pressure on Kim Jong Il by taking away his ipod....

Makes sense... it would sure freak me out.

I love my ipod.

Black Friday

File this under some people (me) just never learn.   Tried to go to Best Buy for their Black Friday sale.   We got there just after 3:30 AM, and there was already 1000 people or so... give or take 50... in line.

Oh well... nothing ventured, nothing gained...  Fail fast, fail forward and all that stuff.

Ahhh forget it, I'm going back to bed.

Ha!

My Friend Keith

For years, I had the great fun in playing in a Christian rock-n-roll band with a guy named Keith Shealy.  We played for years all up and down the East coast.  Here's a picture I have of Keith from years ago...    Notice, if you were to shave his head and put him in a pool hall... someone would invariably try to chalk his head... the boy was skinny.  I bet he was 140 pounds and 40 of that is hair.   

Love ya bro!!!!

A few quotes

"In Africa there is a fruit called the 'taste berry,' so called because it
changes a person's taste buds in such a way that everything eaten after it tastes sweet. Giving thanks is the 'taste berry' of Christianity. When our hearts are full of gratitude, nothing that comes our way will be
unpalatable to us. Those whose lifestyle is marked by thanksgiving will
enjoy a sweetness of life unparalleled by any other."
- Robert Strand, The Power of Thanksgiving (Evergreen Press, 2001)


The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 265 million
turkeys will be raised in the United States in 2006 - up three percent from 2005.  Together, all the turkeys produced in the United States in 2005 weighed 7.2 billion pounds and were valued at $3.2 billion.
- Source: U.S. Census Department


"You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a
mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be
satisfied if it were doubled."
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon


"Truly grateful people can't be stopped. They bubble and overflow,
refreshing others. Their habitual gratitude serves as a springboard to give a reason for the buoyant hope bouncing within them. They attract those who are stuck in the cares of this world and woo them to the eternal Good."
- Ellen Vaughn, Radical Gratitude (Zondervan, 2005)

TAKE TIME FOR THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is upon us. For most of us it's just another holiday...
Kids get off from school.
Some businesses give four-day weekends.
College football stadiums are packed.
Children visit their parents.
Retired folks visit their grandchildren.
Families gather around sumptuous meals of turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, salads and all the trimmings.
It's a fun and festive time.

Thanksgiving Day is also an opportunity for much more.

Thanksgiving Day is a time to pause from the hustle and bustle of daily life and thank God for the blessings of life, happiness, family, food, work, and shelter.

Thanksgiving Day is a day to recognize God as the great Provider. He is the One who gives life.
He is the One who provides food.
He is the One who enables us to work.
He is the One who gives us homes and families.
He is the One placing us in the midst of freedom and opportunity.
He gave us the ingenuity, strength of mind, courage, and fortitude to carve out a life in a sometimes-hostile world.

All these things are manifestations of His love.

From this week's newsletter

Thought I would take a moment to give thanks.

I am so thankful to Jesus Christ for all He has done in my life.  Just 26 years ago, things didn't look so bright for me. But Jesus came into my life and started me on this great adventure of life and things have never been the same... and I will be eternally grateful... and I mean eternally.  For the rest of my life I will speak and sing of the wonders of Christ.

I am thankful for my family... my amazing wife Vicki... You have no idea how much I have to be thankful for with her.  She is a blessing.  I am thankful for Leanna... We prayed for a child for years and God gave Leanna to us, and what a joy she has been.  I'm thankful for my parents and their love.  I'm thankful for my grandparents and for all my other relatives... stepsisters, and stepbrother.  I am a truly blessed man with a great family.

I am thankful for my church and my friends.  I am so thankful for Coast.  The people of Coast are the best... and the friendships are deep and satisfying.  I am so thankful to be a part of a body of believers who are constantly reaching out to the world.  Also, thanks for all my close friendships who are outside my local church but who are still my brothers and sisters in Christ.  You guys have made my world a better place and I am so thankful for you.

I am thankful for God's provision and God's blessing.

There are no less than millions of things that I could give thanks for on a day like today.  God is good... and I feel truly blessed... I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and please know today, how thankful I am for you.

Let's Rock the World together!

Cya Sunday,

Robert

I love their heart!!!

Quite a few showed up this morning to learn how to crochet... They are making scarfs for the homeless that we will give to them on Christmas Eve...  Also while this was going on... people were outside putting the swing set together for the children's playground...  I love it...   Here's some pics.

From this week's newsletter...

Thought I might ramble a bit this week... so here goes...

1. I will start this out with a disclaimer... I have not seen a single episode of the show I am about to discuss.   Having said that, I'm very proud of a local person who has made good.  Emmit Smith from Pensacola is the big winner on Dancing with the Stars this week.  Congrats Emmit!  After having a career where he played at the University of Florida (Hush, I'm a Seminoles fan) and then at the Dallas Cowboys... (I am a Redskin's fan)  Emmit has finally done something extraordinary...  He won dancing with the stars.  Great job!  Actually all kidding aside... even though he played for teams I didn't care for, Emmit will go down in history as an extremely gifted athlete, and he has done a lot for his hometown of Pensacola...  Great to see the local guys make it!

2.  Turns out that I am the natural predator of eyewear.  I am brutal on eye glasses.  I wear them as I read, which is a lot... but that's usually the only time... So I am constantly sticking them in my pockets without the case and scratching the lenses or sitting on them and things like that.  As I walked into Eyemasters with my mangled frames, the lady who worked behind the counter was extremely friendly... but I could see it her eyes.    She had, just for a second, that look that said, "I know your type.  You resent the fact that your perfect eyesight has declined with age and you have chosen, like a little child, to take out your displeasure on the poor unsuspecting glasses.  Shame on you!"  Maybe her eyes said that, or maybe she was just squinting.  Hard to say.

3.  I am the eternal optimist when it comes to a new year.  I always believe that each year will be fantastic.  In the last couple of years we have gone through massive hurricanes... flooding, and all kinds of other things that have made for a three year stretch of trouble.  And even though we escaped hurricane free this year (Ha... National weather center... you don't know everything), we still have felt the effects as we spent a lot of the year in recovery. 

With that said, there has been a lot in the last couple of years that have had us focused on recovery and maintenance.  Not bad things... but also, not what jazzes me.  I am excited as we move into the new year for a chance to begin to dream and grow, and build our team, and take the kingdom to the world.   I think that's what 2007 is going to be for us, and I don't just think I'm being optimistic.

4.  I used to love peanut butter... now I hardly ever eat it...   I wonder what happened?

5.  I had the opportunity to acquire as a birthday present, U2 - The Vertigo Tour - Live in Chicago.   As I watching this concert video the other night, the thought occurred to me, "Oh my... this might very well be the best rock-n-roll band of all time."  Next tour, I will have to find a way to go see them...  Let's load up the mini vans and all go...          Could be a blast!

6.   I believe in God's power to absolutely change lives.  I have seen it time and time again.  I see people who feel hopeless in their situation, and God is able to help them see their situation change.  God wants to do that, and He is looking for people who will allow that to happen in their lives.  Whatever you are going through... I am firmly convinced... God can change your life.

7.  I have been a dog lover for years.  I have always had unusual dogs... dogs like Geoffrey, a terrier...  Girl dog, a border collie... Baron, a dachshund... Taco, a Chihuahua... and many others.   When someone would ask me a if I liked cats, I would say, "Sure, they taste just like chicken."   Which brings us to the present.  I now live in a house with no dogs, and three cats.  There is Max, the mighty mouser.  Maggie, the snuggler.  And then the newest addition, Moby.  Named after the singer, not the whale.  We called him Moby because he was a skinny white boy.  Any way, my question is, how did a confirmed dog lover, cat hater wind up with three cats...  Three really cool cats...  How did that happen?

8.  My name is Joseph Robert Pooley.  I go by my middle name.  When I get a call from someone asking for Joseph, I know that they do not know me.

9.  Speaking of peanut butter.  I bet  the jar in the pantry must be several years old.

10.  I have the privilege of pastoring some of the best people in the world.  What a great group of people!  I can tell that God is definitely doing something of great magnitude in our lives.  I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Let's Rock the World together!

Cya Sunday,

Robert