I'm Calling The Cops!

I knew it! I always joked around with my friends that it's not a party till the cops come! Mission accomplished! It started July 27th at 9:00pm. My brother in law Seth came up to his parents in Foxboro. I met up with him and stayed the night there. We were pondering what to do. He told me he had tons of fireworks in his car and it would be awesome to prank someone. This has been our tradition for the last 2 years. But we both decided that a drive from the country into the city was to much. Then the lights came on in our heads. Brad, my brother just moved out there with his girlfriend and kids! Perfect. So we drive out to his house. We duck Seth's car down at our friend Matt's house, he lives no more than 2 blocks from Brad. With the Team assembled we move out to Brads house. The time is now 9:30pm.I made a scouting run toward his picture window and saw him and his girl watching TV. We hide by Brads garage,use light and noise discipline and maneuver a flanking run towards the west side of his house. When we accomplished this we lit a brick of black cats in the front of his home. We heard Brad start yelling (* clean version) "What the Heck!". We started laughing..I mean to the point we cried. Then proceeded to make another flanking run to his tree line in the back of the home, then lit off another brick. We heard Brad again this time he opened the window and said (*clean version) "Listen you little punks, I'm calling the cops their on the way!" We looked at each other and thought about running, I mean county cops take 40 mins to get any where. When they hear shots fired they just go slow and bring body bags, depending on budget cuts it may be Hefty bags. So I told the guys I'll go see whats up. I knock on the door and Brad has sweat dripping from his head, he might have peed himself. I said did you really call the cops? He looked at me and said "you suck that's not funny, yes I called them!" he thought someone got gangster on his home and freaked! So he had to call them back and tell them that it was me. I mean come on! I told him haven't you known me for 30 years? You didn't call first? He said "well mom and dad said you were out here.....OH....Heeeheee" Long story short, the Rev and his crew escaped the long arm of the law. Brad is now the ultimate sinner! Rev.Rugg

The Rev gets a lesson from his mentor on SUPERVISION!

My great friend Darrell is Pastor/Reverend/Pontiff of Superior Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. This is the church Rev.Rugg accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I called Darrell shortly afterwards and asked him to teach me all he knows, after some discipleship I felt the call to minister, That's how I got to this point. He has been my mentor and has taught me a lot. It came to no surprise that when I came back up he had some things to teach me, I love receiving wisdom from "Big D" (His nickname). Open ears I listened. He taught me this: When you become a Pastor there are proper ways to handle the "youth pastor". The youth pastor so happens to be a great friend of mine as well, also my accountability partner. His name is Josh! Big D tells me to watch...I await....D grabs a chair and says we are going outside then looks at Josh and says "Go outside and change the board". The board is where worship times and messages are for those driving by". Josh grabs the letters in boxes: and begins

Big D puts his chair on the sidewalk and says alright I'm going to supervise. So I thought "wow I think I can do that". Then he said alright lets harass him (Josh). We proceeded to tell him that he couldn't spell and began to mock his technique and bashed the college he's attending. Big D and I are CIU men..Josh is...um..Crown (BOOOO). After 50 minutes or so we felt we did our job. Josh felt ganged up on and we felt great. Lesson of the day: Rev Rugg will now make the youth pastors life completely difficult. If he wont listen to me, he will get this:

The pile of rocks I save to throw at sinners!

Rev. Rugg

The REV has arrived!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I have been getting my bearings. I am now officaly in Superior,WI. Of course the first thing I noticed when I got out of my buddy Keiths truck was the aroma of Murphy Oil..good times. I wish I could swim...because if I could I would have prefered to swim here and not have flown. The airplane ride was horrible. I flew out of Augusta,GA to Dallas (YEEEEHAW)TX. On that flight I was placed right by the bathroom. Great if you need to pee, bad if everyone else on the plane needs to pee. I could'nt take a nap, it was like everyones bladder just happened to be full or there was a drinking contest not to earlier in the day. The second flight from Dallas to The Cities was the worst. 2 year old crying the whole 2 hours, hispanic lady dropped her seat back and knocked my soda over. Needless to say I HATE FLYING. I am having a good time despite missing Melissa like crazy. Keep droping in, Im going to post crazy stories like crazy..some with photos! Till Tommorow! peace out yall! Rev.Rugg

About time....Red sauce!

Brothers and Sisters you have no idea how happy I am to share this with you. Pull up what ever you are sitting on and let the Rev tell you the story. I am a huge fan of all things grilled and BBQ. Seriously, ask any red blooded man on the planet if any food over an open flame tastes good and you be overwhelmed with a deafening...YES! So picture it, January 2009, My wife and I arrived to South Carolina. Now if you watch any food network show dealing with BBQ the south will always have a mention as being BBQ capital of the world. So when our feet hit southern soil I was ready to be blown away. Taste buds working in overtime and a river of drool flowing ,I started a journey to seek out this legendary BBQ. Well, the day came. I found BBQ. This is the day the dreams of good BBQ ended. The Rev found this: Brothers and Sisters, what you see is YELLOW BBQ SAUCE!...my taste buds died! It's mustard based. Picture Frenches Mustard watered down and poured over your BBQ. This injustice to BBQ kills the taste of all it comes across. I thought "maybe this is a joke, where's the camera at?" but then I thought "this can't be a joke, it's a crime to tamper with BBQ this way...Famous Dave would be ticked if he saw this, probably the reason he made devil spit because this sauce needs to suffer in the flames." I asked a friend who's name will be withheld for his protection from angry red sauce loving northerners (who have very right to angry). We will call him..Matt, I said "Matt does anyone have red sauce here?" he replied "Naw, we have mustard sauce, we don't like that red stuff". At that point I heard the sounds of banjos playing and rednecks slapping their knees with straw in there mouth mocking me. My dreams....my hopes....I cried out...NOOOOOOO..then softly wept. Then the day came. My wife wanted to go for BBQ, so I pulled myself up by my boot straps to take my girl out...for BBQ(if you can call it that). We went to Hudson Smokehouse. We sit down...Melissa says "J.R. Look! with green eyes glistening". I look and a light from heaven hit my plate: RED SAUCE! I heard angels singing Amazing Grace. I put this sauce on my pork and BAM..I was back in BBQ heaven. Attention southern Brothers and Sisters: This is how you do BBQ sauce. Red not yellow. Now to my northern Brothers and Sisters, when traveling south B.Y.O.BBQ.S (Bring your own BBQ sauce) or better yet, go to Hudson's Smokehouse! Beware when you watch the food network, this is not the BBQ capital...but when you watch Paula Dean..the food is that greasy and to that..Amen! I hope this prepares you for future culinary delights or just made you laugh. Rev.Rugg

What if love was a law?

I have been overwhelmed with just how much hate is in the world. Even more overwhelmed and concerned that most of the negativity and slander I hear comes from brothers and sisters who claim to know and love the Lord. I have seen people look in disgust at the man/women in need of food, seen co-workers tear down each other to the point of tears and gossip over flow from the lips of believers. It makes my heart break knowing that this happens day after day. I thought to myself, I wonder what the world would look like if love was a law. I prayed and read the word and came across Romans 13:10: "Love does no harm to it neighbor, Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law". To understand love seems rather complicated but in reality has a simple answer. To understand love one simply has to turn to the cross. This is where love was born for us, beat for us..bleed for us...died for us! Everything Jesus did on earth was bound in love, when is lips spoke love poured out, when he walked to a village to preach love came forth, when he helped others by forgiving their sins and healing them love flowed from his touch. When the toll of our sins was upon His shoulders and His back was scourged and nails were driven in His hands...He bleed love. We are to love ALL as Christ loved us. This is difficult because no one can love us as much as He did or do as much to show it. But we are called to. In Matthew Chapter 22, Jesus' disciples asked "Lord what is the greatest commandment?" the Lord replied "Love the Lord God with all your heart and soul. This is the first and greatest commandment, the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself"(Matt 22:34-39). We are commanded to Love God because He is our Lord and maker. We serve him and worship Him, but through this love we love others as our self, not because the Lord wants to feel fuzzy inside but because others will see that love and recognize it not from man but from God, to whom the glory goes to. When we chose not to love, we chose not to glorify God. If love was a law the world would be a wonderful place to live because hate would be without a home! We need to make love a law again in our lives. If love was placed on hour hearts our motives would seek to match the Lords. If love was placed on our tongues and lips, slander, hate and negativity would be silenced. Brothers and Sisters we are called to love others as He loves us. As we close the work week let us reflect on our actions and our words. Ask: Did I radiate Christ's love to those I came across this week? Did I seek love or did I seek hate? If you didn't go to Him, seek forgiveness. He will be there waiting to forgive you..and love you! Let me pray for us: Lord, you commanded us to love each other. Sometimes Lord love is difficult to do. We are treated unfairly sometimes, sometimes we are victims of those who spread hate and it simply feels easy to do the same back, but Lord you call us to holiness. Let us love everyone we come across despite what we receive in return. Lord, allow our actions to be loving so those who don't know you will see that love and come to know you. Forgive us for not being as loving as we should. Give us strength to love in the face of adversity. Lord, thank you for you gift of salvation and freeing us from the chains of sin. We love you and praise you. It is this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen Have a great week Brothers and Sisters! Be safe! In Him, Rev.Rugg

The Reverends Wife Spoke and....I listened!

Hello Brothers and Sisters! Just a quick update. Melissa gave me her opinion about my blog, which is welcome. Mrs.Reverend Rugg said it was everything she hoped and dreamed of...in reality she said she liked it,but...the site was bland! Agreed! That black back ground and red print was sinful. So I have revamped the site. I also added more to keep the site balanced, which was my original intent for the blog. If you notice now there is a news ticker on the side. Please! If you feel lead, read those and pray over them. There is a lot of horrible things happening to our Brothers and Sisters in Christ in other parts of the world. Other the the obvious change in scenery, the site will continue to make you laugh,think and meditate on you daily walk in the Lord. Be Safe and God Bless, Rev.Rugg

My Plea to Fox Sports!

Brothers! and yes my Sisters! Football season is approaching! Soon the tables will be full of chips and dip, boneless wings and everything else heart clogging. To many Sunday is the ultimate sabbath day. We get to go to church and worship God which is always a blessing, then off to the TV to watch the game. I believe that for pastors(and future pastors wink,wink), noon is the most life threatening time. The congregation is on edge , looking at their watches and thinking "Boy if Pastor Johnson doesn't shut up we will be here past 12". Then they look at each other and you can see it coming "We have numbers on our side, lets rush him, you grab a bible and I'll hit him with the communion cup". Friends! Just be patient and endure, football awaiteth you soon! Love the pastor do not beat him. I digress... I love football, I am a HUGE Dallas Cowboys fan..do not be filled with hate! Repent sinners!(Packer Fans). I enjoy yelling at my team(or TV) and cheering them on. Sometimes I am called away from my TV and spend the Holidays with friends and family. This is where my plea comes in... Thanksgiving of 2009, Melissa and I went to some friends house for..drumroll..Thanksgiving. This meant no TV for Rev.Rugg. Thanksgiving the Cowboys always play a game. So I was faced with the only option I had..Tape it. So I put in a blank tape, grab the 10 tons of food Melissa cooked (which rocked) then headed to our friends house. We had a great time, I made like a turkey and got stuffed. But while I was there my mind was occupied. "Cowboys better be kicking some butt" and "I wonder what the score is?". After we ate, we enjoyed dessert. After you eat dessert is always the best time to bail out because the prescribed nap time enters. NO, not this time. Somebody suggested a movie...grrrrrrr. So we watched this dull movie and got home late. I was overcome with joy! My tape! So I get ready, break out the cowboys helmet and i'm ready to get rowdy! Then it happened...my world fell apart. I play the tape and fox played FIGURE SKATING!!! I have a tape of 6 hours of junk, by junk I mean figure skating. Men prancing and twirling wearing tights! Ladies leaping and spinning! NOT FOOTBALL. I could not believe it. Who in the world thought this was acceptable, who says, "man i'm so full I could explode, guys lets go in the living room and watch figure skating" or "Hun, could you pick up some wings and soda, the guys and I are going to watch figure skating" then walks in Jim wearing a tutu screaming "WOOOOO this is going to rock!!!!" no, we watch football, we wear jerseys (and our food we spilled). So Fox sports, PLEASE do not wreck our sabbath or Holidays, give us football, do not play figure skating! Yours Truly, Rev.Rugg

Mr. & Mrs. Pontiff defeat death.

Let me first give glory to God that we are fine and we can now laugh about it...now to the story! Melissa and I went to the lake yesterday to swim and attempt to tan. We had a good time and splashed around in the water for about an hour when some cloud cover came in. Since tanning was now out of the question we decided to leave shortly after. The lake is about a 30 minute drive from the house and along the way it stormed hard! Rain was coming down so hard the roads became rivers and we pretty much hydroplaned home. We got home safe, turned the tv on and the news said that the stretch of road we were on had been hit hard and trees were down. So after dinner we returned a red box movie and went back out that way. We saw maybe 2 trees down and just decided to keep driving to areas we have not been to. Along the way I was driving at 53mph in Winnsboro at night when the road seemed to split..so i went straight..not knowing that i was in a turn lane...at this point Melissa screamed JR! I found myself heading in the field between the highway at 53mph! The last stretch of pavement I had I slammed on the breaks and the car went into a slight swerve but the Lord kept the rubber on the road. I looked at Melissa and her Jaw was wide open...I thought I wet myself but was good. Before the Lord called me to a Pastor I used to be a firefighter, and from experience that was a situation that always ends up in disaster. But God is Good and we just laughed about it 3 minutes later. I made us cookies and cream shakes when we got home to calm our nerves and went to bed. Just other day for Rev Rugg.

Communion Bread

This topic should be talked about more often but many people may have fears of speaking out. Fear not brothers and sisters Rev Rugg is on top of this. Since I have come to know the Lord in 2005 I have had the privilege of visiting many different churches outside of my home church. Time after time I have participated in communion. Communion is an awesome way to remember what the Lord Jesus did for us sinners on the cross, we do this by participating as a body of believers in breaking of bread and drinking "wine" (grape juice). These symbolize the body of our Lord being broken and His blood shed for our sins. Well I feel that through my visits in the past many churches have either been confused or have just plain forgot some facts. Let me give an example. Have you ever been to a church where you have received "The Cracker". The cracker is the most difficult to eat because of its unheard of type of dryness. The cracker if placed in a large body of water will absorb all but the fish, but in the process will turn them to jerky. When one places the cracker in his/her mouth you have no spit for a week. You feel helpless after you eat it. You have two options, 1. Run out of the pew and push an innocent child off the fountain or 2. Wait for the communion cup. If you wait for the cup you run the risk of gulping its entire contents, this shows the congregation that you either have a strong appreciation for the blood of Christ or you have a heavy drinking problem. If you run to the fountain some may think you either have bathroom issues or you have become possessed. The only method one can use to be prepared so you do not have to use either option is bringing bottled water to church with you. This will keep you in good shape when you tackle the dessert beast known as "The Cracker". The last example is "Styrofoam Wafer". This will be an experience you will never forget. The Styrofoam wafer is a perfect circle and is white with a cross shape on it. When placed in the mouth two or three chews later confusion sets in. "what is in my mouth? Is this really Bread?" Brothers and sisters BE CALM! The next natural response will be scraping it off your tongue. I speak from experience this feeling will pass. It wont taste better but it will pass. The Styrofoam wafer when I had it made me ponder if they were packing foam smashed in a patty. After this unique experience I grabbed my Bible and did a quick study. I turned to Matthew 26:26 which states: "While they were eating, Jesus took BREAD, gave thanks and broke it." I was thinking about this while I was searching for communion bread recipes. I tell Melissa all the time "when i'm done with school and the lord shows me where to preach, I want to make communion bread for my congregation" I want to not only pour my heart and soul into the preaching part of my ministry but all areas. That includes making communion bread to be good servant of the Lord. When searching for these recipes I came across "southern communion bread"! I about fell out of my office chair in laughter. This bread of all breads had 2 sticks of butter, 1/4 of the Dead Sea's salt content and ....Drum roll........CHICKEN GREASE! Yes chicken grease. Nothing like making this and sharing it with the congregation. "Lets bow our heads and take of the bread, before we do the elders will share with you a disclaimer" the elders come to the microphone. "Before eating the bread we must give you the side effects which are, heart attack, stroke, drowsiness, constipation and you may hallucinate." Then we eat after this is shared. The bright side is at least you will see the lord sooner. Communion is great. I hope where ever you go to church you remember what it is truly all about. Through "The Cracker,Styrofoam Wafer or Southern communion Bread" may you reflect on Gods gift of Salvation. May the Lord Bless you and your family! Rev. Rugg

YES! The Pontiff Speaks!

First, I must apologize. I should have been cracking on this a while ago but I have been occupied preparing for a sermon which I will be preaching when I come back up to beautiful (Lol) Superior. Attention fellow sinners! The dates will be July 20th through August 10th. I hope to be able to kick it with you when I get up and party it up church style. Those who have my cell # give the Rev a call, do not forget to bow when you call(JK). My first true entry will probably come tonight, so be watchful. I have many funny stories to share from day 1 when we arrived. My hopes are that you will find this blog to be balanced between laughing loudly and also being able to be spiritually fed. Stay tuned Brothers and Sisters! It's going to be an awesome ride. In Him, Reverend Rugg