I don’t mind air travel too much – it’s convenient – but the down side is the lack of photo opportunities. Can’t just pull off and snap a couple of pictures. Yet, due to Frontier Airlines onloading system, I got a couple in. You actually walk on the tarmac. This one is in San Jose read more
As Rowland and I drove across the country, we saw thousands of rabbits. Some the size of coyotes. They are everywhere in the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico and Nevada. Could this be the solution? It probaly tastes like chicken, right? The biggest problem is transporting the rabbits to where there is hunger and read more
Great article/read from marko about 30 to 40 year-olds who act/dress/think like 20 year olds.
We drove to Muir National Park and the Wharf area of San Francisco. There is something mystical and deep about standing next to a redwood. They are huge, their bark is over 12 inches thick, they stand over 200 feet tall. They can get to 22 feet in diameter. Most live to over 2,000 years read more
I thought San Fran was gorgeous. It’s a dump compared to Santa Cruz. High cliffs, the ocean, Boardwalk, more garlic fries, seafood, college town (home of the Banana Slugs) and a beach. We took off after church and drove down – 33 miles from Rowland’s house. Here are some of my favorite pics. For more, read more
The people here are so nice. Check this out as we walked in the game! Okay…photoshop helped a little.
The day didn’t go liked planned but that’s okay. We’re going to try to do Alcatraz and Muir National Park on Monday. Here’s what we did do…. Drive to downtown San Fran. Holy Cow…..you could really get turned around – Chinatown, Japantown, Mission District, Wharf Area….crazy. This is City Hall where all the gays got read more
Seems that the Buck post is generating a little heat!! hahaha… Allow me to clear up the code language…. What Grace has been wrestling with is by and large what most churches are wrestling with right now in the Western culture. In leadership, do you want one guy who has ‘trump card’ final authority. We read more
I’ve been listening to this discussion without much comment. Before I dive back in the middle of it, I want to brag on 3 of guys that are commenting. None of them are theorists, they are all practioners. Which is odd – because you’ve got 2 engineers and a psychologist. That’s just a recipe for read more
A couple of observations about California. I know why people love to live out here in spite of the ridiculous housing market. The weather is obviously gorgeous. The time zone is incredible. This morning, I rolled over at 6.45 am and it was wonderful. A youth guy getting up that early? And liking it?? I read more
Remember this conversation? Yeah, well, we roll into Bishop, California around 10 PM. It’s a small town of 15,000 but we are noticing tons of trucks and lots of no vacancy signs. What the heck? It’s Mule Days. Some annual rite of passage that swells Bishop to the size of 25,000. That’s pretty ridiculous…especially if read more
So we eat dinner in Las Vegas and a guy comes up to Rowland and says “Hey – he looks like Taylor!” To which Rowland says – “No, he looks like me.” Quite funny. It’s questionable if the guy was sober enough to catch the humor. Next begins the most bizarre part of the trip. read more
Albuquerque, 6.28 AM – I’m up. Mountain Time Zone is awesome. Why the heck did they have to name the city this? It’s freakin’ hard to spell. Here was the view as we left town around 7.04 AM. (We’re men. We don’t need an hour to get pretty.) Minor, insignificant conversation the night before with read more
We left Little Rock at 8.30….here are some pics…tomorrow is the big day – Vegas, Hoover Dam, a Ghost Town, Death Valley. Today…Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico….whooo-hoooo. Try to stay awake reading this post. Windmills in Oklahoma. Just like MI-3 but without the helicopters and gunfire and excitement. They are huge. Who changes the little read more
Here’s the first one… Wayne asked this… How many un-gifted, un-called, and un-qualified folks are in positions they shouldn’t be in but have gotten there? And to what degree (if any) does this worsen the condition? Is there a way to truly redeem this worldwide? Or is the Body not really the Body? Are we read more
Look very carefully at that picture. It’s 1 AM. Amy and I just got done spending the last hour cleaning up because of that thing. Look back at the picture. She’s tiny. She might weigh 30 pounds soaking wet in clothes. Never underestimate the cargo hold of 3 year-old. She walks into the bedroom, says read more
I shot lights out today. I was Tiger-Tiger-Tiger Woods, ya’ll. Here are the rules – in case you want to play at home… We divided into two teams – me and Aaron against Derek, Noel, and Garret. The first 9 we played best individual score on the hole. The back 9 we did best ball. read more
So Val(erie) drives up to Little Rock and she just shows up on her best friend’s door step without calling her!! That’s Carrie Platner and they had a blast! I thought this is a cool way to surprise a friend….or even a enemy.
I had three conversations yesterday concerning church polity. Here’s how it started…. “We have to have somebody that stops the buck. We have to have a man (and it’s always a man) who can make the hard decisions.” To that I say – what Bible did you pick that up in? My exact words in read more
Tomorrow is the Derek/Noel Invitational Golf Tournament. It’s an Invitational, not an Open – so you know what that means? That’s right – you gotta be invited to go. By Derek and Noel. I’ve posted on Noel before and Derek is a regular reader and commenter here. Took ‘em both to Brazil with me so read more
I wrote this to our wonderful niece who just turned 13 yesterday. Here is her dad’s blog. Happy Late Birthday – Amy just reminded me that you are already in bed. Just as well. You’re 13 – that magical age when you’re no longer a kid. It’s awesome. The truth of the matter is that read more
Barry Bonds tied Babe Ruth on the home run list this past weekend….and who really cares? The whole thing is sad and disgusting. Major League Baseball is a joke, thanks to the steriods, HGH, the Player’s Association that protects the cheaters, the Owners who are to scared to do anything about it, and the fans read more
So we had a crazy fun day – went to a Travelers game. They lost in the 9th inning. They had a 7 run lead, 1 more out to get and then the wheels fell off the wagon. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a team meltdown like that. Pretty sad. 11-10 Springfield read more
My sister-in-law from Budapest is here!! She and Trent drove up from Abilene, Texas to stay a few days with us. We are pumped…we’ll take some pics tomorrow for the transplanted family! It’s the Greek Food Festival this weekend…so plenty to do!
I’m listening to TRY! by the John Mayer Trio right now as I work. Holy freak, that guy can play the guitar. He plays these ridiculous leads and sings at the same time. I’ve got his other albums but I like this one the best. Just a three-piece band, bluesy live disc. I like listening read more
We are reading Searching for God Knows What as a staff. The big theme in chapter 1 is God’s relationship with us is story more than formula. We took a poll. I was the only one that had a history with formula. The others had come to love Jesus later in their life and it read more
Camber at dinner last night… “So you met Mom at college?” G: “Yes.” “How?” G: “She was on the volleyball team – ” “During recess?” I’m too busy laughing so Amy chimes in “No, they don’t have recess at college.” In horrific dismay – “THEY DON’T HAVE RECESS AT COLLEGE!!!!!” What a gal…
Here’s the latest – Miami signs Marcus Vick as a free agent. (ht rob) That gives Miami 3 quarterbacks all with a question marks in the character/head case column. Daunte Culpepper with his knee and party boat baggage, Joey Harrington with his malcontent issues, and Marcus Vick with his affinity for shiny blue lights. All read more
In terms of amount of time known – they are newbies. Blog-met a few months back, then actually went over to their house over spring break. In terms of amount of teasing, harassing, reading, and encouraging – we’ve known each other since middle school. I’m talking of course about Paul and “Catbird” Martin. (Cathy doesn’t read more
Oswald Chambers came calling this morning… July 28th entry: God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees read more
So my sermon this morning was “If you ever find yourself naked in the cemetery at night…” and to start off the sermon I used the intros to two of my favorite shows – Deadliest Catch and Dog, the Bounty Hunter. Now before you think I’m completely off my rocker – check out Mark 4 read more
We just finished the Run for Their Lives 5k family ‘fun’ run. (Pause for laughter) And we forgot our camera. Cooper did awesome. We went with the Singletons and Robert Upshaw and his kids. It was in fact fun, lots of laughing and screaming and running and sweating. I did my exercise for the month. read more
I’ve had a more than a few questions thrown at me concerning this post. Basically – how do you do implement change in a church beyond the mental paradigm shift. First of all, thank you for your misplace confidence in my insight. Here’s my long-winded but thought out answer. You don’t. Before you call me read more
Cooper was in the top 10 readers of his grade. As a reward, they took those kids to eat lunch at McDonalds….in a limo. How cool is that? Here’s a look….
Last weekend we went to Springfield and had some cool time with my parents – 3 hours in Bass Pro Shops. Their museum was awesome! I’m serious. If you are ever there and you’ve got kids – pay the $10 and do the Museum. Here some pics…thanks Nana and Poppy for a great weekend! This read more
I want a links page. I have tons of links I want to preach about. I hate the standard template for WordPress. And the Links Page I used to use doesn’t work in 2.0 even though everyone is telling me that it does. AGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Any ideas? [tags]wordpress, plugins, links page, shoot myself in head[/tags]
How do you make changes in the church to reach lost people with out leaving out other segments of the church? The question was hanging over the table. We were sitting in a fast food place that offered free wi-fi and free refills. I come here alot. The workers generally are smiling and friendly. They read more
What a long day yesterday – but it was awesome. We drove in from Springfield straight to the Senior Banquet. Our Senior Banquet is a bit different. Instead of hearing from the graduates as to what their plans are (which by the way, hardly every come to fruition), they hear from us. They hear us read more
I’ve been asked this…more than once…what is it? What would it be? Here’s what I’m learning about me. I don’t fit in any one pigeon hole. I got into ministry because I loved teenagers and college students. I still do – don’t get me wrong. But I love other things as well. I love seeing read more
Exhibit 1 – the Dallas Cowboys. Bill Parcells thinks that the circus around Terrell Owens was a wee bit exaggerated. You’re kidding, right? It’s too early to start arguing now anyway. TO always gives one outstanding year in a place, it’s the second year when the wheels come off. Exhibit 2 – Ashley Lelie, Denver read more
Okay, since I made this post about ‘signatures’, I’ve been making some notes. Len gave us his….and you know Len…it’s not terrible. (Is that a compliment? I hope so because I really do love everything else you write.) I actually ran across one that made me gag… “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,” Now – I read more
We’ve changed our iTunes address and RSS feed for the podcast at Grace Church. They are updated on the sidebar now. [tags]podcast, Grace Church [/tags]
For some reason the other night we (my parents and Amy) started talking about marriages and folks that we knew that were no longer together. It got depressing pretty quick. Amy and I quickly counted the number of minister families that had been cratered by divorce. I started thinking about guys who were out of read more
I got out to a big lead, but couldn’t hold it. 6 to 7 Row shuts the door on the derby and ends it with an 11 fish lead. My dad put 4 in the boat – good job. Rowland wants to give me a second shot except this time on the west coast. We read more
I’m about to finish the fishing derby final with Rowland today. I’m 10 fish behind. Not good. I’ve got my dad with me. Could be good, could be disastrous. Will keep you posted later…because I know my mom cares. I love my mommy.
Thanks to the human dictionary known as Cathy to correct my spelling on my About Page. How embarrasing is that? How completely…..well…it’s par for me. But I have a more pressing question…I’ve met Cathy and Paul – great people. BUT when speaking about other people on the web, do you call them by their real read more
The About page is now ready for public consumption. Why do we even bother with an about page? I guess it does give a snapshot of the author of a blog. But as I was writing mine I was going…man, who gives a rip? If you know me at all this is all old stuff. read more
One of my dreams is to one day meet Doug Savage. I think he’s quite funny. Plus, you can’t do student ministry without chickens.
I was listening to Doug Fields’ podcast last week and they made a passing ‘insult’ to how most professional ministers sign off their emails. In Him, Consumed by the Call, Acquired the Fire, Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease, It was quite funny. Even though I’ve used (and at times still use) some of these sign read more
Our speaker at Grace dove into John 2 yesterday. It’s not fair to only have 30-40 minutes with that passage. There is a lot there. God takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary was the big push…and that’s true…but I think there is something much more stunning going on in John 2. The Hebrew symbol read more
Why in the world are Monday’s so depressing? The only pastor I’ve ever worked with that had a great solution to this was Al Areheart of 12th Avenue Baptist Church. He wouldn’t let any one take Monday off. “If you are going to feel that bad and be that down, you might as well work. read more
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