We all know from personal experience that life is an expensive sport. Going to college is expensive. Getting married is expensive. Having a baby is expensive. Buying and insuring a car is expensive. Medical insurance is expensive. Buying a home is expensive. Owning a smart phone with the monthly data plan is expensive.

Have you ever refinanced your home? When you do that you have to go through the process of adding up all your assets and all your liabilities and coming up with your net worth. You have to list how much you owe on your cars and on your credit cards and on your school loans and on your equity line and on your mortgage; you have to specify how much you pay each year in property taxes and in insurance. It can be a little depressing, frankly, to sit down and tabulate your debt. It can make you wonder whether you will ever be able to pay it all off.

We all know from personal experience that life is an expensive sport. Going to college is expensive. Getting married is expensive. Having a baby is expensive. Buying and insuring a car is expensive. Medical insurance is expensive. Buying a home is expensive. Owning a smart phone with the monthly data plan is expensive.

Have you ever refinanced your home? When you do that you have to go through the process of adding up all your assets and all your liabilities and coming up with your net worth. You have to list how much you owe on your cars and on your credit cards and on your school loans and on your equity line and on your mortgage; you have to specify how much you pay each year in property taxes and in insurance. It can be a little depressing, frankly, to sit down and tabulate your debt. It can make you wonder whether you will ever be able to pay it all off.

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, Dad?" "Well son, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him, so we got palm branches at church today." The little boy replied, "Aw, shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!"

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, Dad?" "Well son, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him, so we got palm branches at church today." The little boy replied, "Aw, shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!"

I don't know if any of you ever watch Jon Stewart, the host of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. According to a number of pollsters, even though he's primarily a comedian, Jon Stewart is the most trusted newsperson on television. Sometimes "The Daily Show" is just plain silly, but I've also found that from time to time Jon Stewart's humor makes a pretty compelling point.

I don't know if any of you ever watch Jon Stewart, the host of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. According to a number of pollsters, even though he's primarily a comedian, Jon Stewart is the most trusted newsperson on television. Sometimes "The Daily Show" is just plain silly, but I've also found that from time to time Jon Stewart's humor makes a pretty compelling point.

Well good morning I am privileged to have the opportunity to fill in for Pastor Craig this week as he is off visiting with his mother in Minnesota. I hope to fill his shoes quite nicely.

Now you may be aware that our beloved pastor has a particular phobia of the winged creatures and just so you felt comfortable with me this morning I thought I would share a phobia that I had as a child. I was terrified of vacuum cleaners. It all started with the movie "Mr. Mom" with Michael Keaton and that vacuum cleaner that chases the kids around the house with a seemingly endless chord, seriously is a vacuum cord really that long? My mom, who is in attendance this morning, discovered this phobia of mine while I did the potty dance at the beginning of the hallway because I was so scared of the vacuum cleaner in between me and the bathroom. She was vacuuming the hallway when the phone rang and she stopped to get it. Me being the happy-go-lucky kid I was came in from playing outside to use the bathroom and there I saw it, the horror filled my little body and I was frozen. My mom finished her conversation just in time and came to my rescue by removing the vacuum cleaner and averting a disastrous situation. Whew… what a story of heroism on the part of my mother. Now that we got that out of the way I hope you feel a little more comfortable this morning having me filled in for Craig.

Well good morning I am privileged to have the opportunity to fill in for Pastor Craig this week as he is off visiting with his mother in Minnesota. I hope to fill his shoes quite nicely.

Now you may be aware that our beloved pastor has a particular phobia of the winged creatures and just so you felt comfortable with me this morning I thought I would share a phobia that I had as a child. I was terrified of vacuum cleaners. It all started with the movie "Mr. Mom" with Michael Keaton and that vacuum cleaner that chases the kids around the house with a seemingly endless chord, seriously is a vacuum cord really that long? My mom, who is in attendance this morning, discovered this phobia of mine while I did the potty dance at the beginning of the hallway because I was so scared of the vacuum cleaner in between me and the bathroom. She was vacuuming the hallway when the phone rang and she stopped to get it. Me being the happy-go-lucky kid I was came in from playing outside to use the bathroom and there I saw it, the horror filled my little body and I was frozen. My mom finished her conversation just in time and came to my rescue by removing the vacuum cleaner and averting a disastrous situation. Whew… what a story of heroism on the part of my mother. Now that we got that out of the way I hope you feel a little more comfortable this morning having me filled in for Craig.

In my 15 years working as a lawyer, one of my job duties that I particularly enjoyed was interviewing law students who were looking for their first job out of law school. Most interviews lasted about half an hour, and part of that time required me to give a little sales pitch for our firm, but for most of those 30 minutes I got to sit back and ask the recruit questions about his or her background. Before the interview I would get a copy of the recruit's resume, so I would have some information to help shape my questions, but I really liked to hear it all from the recruit. Where did you grow up? What schools did you go to? Why did you pick those schools? What were your favorite classes? What kind of summer jobs have you had? What people have been the biggest influences in your life?

In my 15 years working as a lawyer, one of my job duties that I particularly enjoyed was interviewing law students who were looking for their first job out of law school. Most interviews lasted about half an hour, and part of that time required me to give a little sales pitch for our firm, but for most of those 30 minutes I got to sit back and ask the recruit questions about his or her background. Before the interview I would get a copy of the recruit's resume, so I would have some information to help shape my questions, but I really liked to hear it all from the recruit. Where did you grow up? What schools did you go to? Why did you pick those schools? What were your favorite classes? What kind of summer jobs have you had? What people have been the biggest influences in your life?