Some Thoughts....

Stevie Wonder is one of my all time favorites. As everyone else, I have always known Stevie is incredibly talented, but this video is over the top. Watch it and be amazed.

I have started my physical therapy for my knee. I have made tremendous progress. My goal: to get rid of the crutches and start walking by Friday. That will be amazing!

I still love my iPhone.

Summer TV stinks, especially when you just have the major networks and couple of really bad Christian channels. We watched "Psych" for the first time last year, it was an iTunes freebie. The second season just started and boy is it quirky. Thanks to torrents!

I still like the Geico caveman commercials.

The more I study the Bible and the nature and attributes of God, the less I know. This just reassures me that the God of this universe deserves all of me. (Thanks Romans 8-9)

We ended our Student Ministry summer tour on Wednesday. It was amazing! We had a great group of students show up for a night of worship. Our band was wicked and off the chain.

If you are a youth pastor or know a youth worker who blogs, please let me know. I would like to continue pooling as many youth workers as possible. It so was interesting watching Bobby's Student Ministry Confessional and hope more yp's will do so.

This weekend I slipped on a grease spot (and water) at Wendy's. I go to my doctor this morning to find out if I damaged my knee any more (what a nightmare!)

Here's a good band for you: Lost Ocean. I cant get enough of this band lately. Someone gave me an EP and I like it so much I used my iTunes credit to buy the whole album. Melodic electronica would describe it.

Airports

This day and age we all travel. It's amazing how open the world is now, no place is un-travelable (is that a word?). When I go to travel I always enjoy scoping out the airport of my destination. Whether it stinks or is wicked nice I enjoy a gander. Anyway, Matt Doan had a cool post listing his best and worst airports. Here is my list:

The Best
1. Lima, Peru -new, with really good food.
2. San Diego - wow!
3. Amsterdam - modern, clean, spacious
4. Raleigh, NC - just nice, plus they have sweet tea.
5. West Palm Beach - easy in, easy out; you can fly any where and I only live a few minutes away!

The Worst
1. Miami - too many lines and too much hustle bustle.
2. San Jose, Costa Rica - old, yuck.
3. Nassau, Bahamas - Small, scary. Small, scary.
4. Pucalppa, Peru - its a stinkin' barn!
5. Chicago-Midway - small, old, too busy.

So what does your list of best and worst airports look like? I know some you have some interesting destinations to share......

Michael Vick

No decription needed.
ht: chris hill

Calling ALL Student Pastors!

I would like to put together a comprehensive link list of student pastors, youth pastors, family pastors or whatever you call us. I really enjoy peeking into the life of peeps who are involved in the same ministry I'm involved with and I know others do as well. So if your student pastor blogs, or you know someone who knows someone who has a friend who is a youth pastor, just leave a comment with your student pastors blog address and I'll do this rest.

Stuck in my car

As I was driving home this evening there were menacing clouds all around. I saw lightning strikes and dark clouds, knowing I must get home before the deluge begins. Well, unfortunately the heavens let loose and I was just around the corner from home. When I pulled in the drive way I called Penny, we both agreed that it would be best that I stay in the car while this storm was around. Think about it, I have 2 metal sticks under my arms in the middle of a nasty electrical storm in the so-called lightning capital of the world. I made the most of my stay in my Impala, I read from Romans 8. I finally made it in.

John Mayer and Mute Math

Check out what John Mayer has to say about Mute Math, a favorite of mine for some time now. It's about time these guys start to get credit for great music making. If you haven't heard them just go here and listen, you won't regret it. Not bad for a couple of home school dudes from Louisiana.

People in the News

Michael Vick - aka Ron Mexico, NFL quarterback, has been indicted for his involvement with dog fighting (basically he ran the operation). My question: where is Jesse and Al? They wouldn't touch this one with a ten foot pole, would they?

Barry Bonds - the juiced one is about to break Henry Aaron's all time home run record and the only news being reported is the Commissioner of the league isn't going to be around for his last record breaking homers, or is he?

Drew Carey - The horned rimmed glasses comedian, as I speak is announcing his new position as host of "The Price is Right" on the "Letterman Show". Good choice, way better than Rosie or Mario Lopez. How will Drew change the show that we have all grown up on?

Tim Donaghy - NBA referee who the FBI is investigating allegations that he bet on basketball games he officiated over the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons. Not good for an already struggling league image. What will League Commish David Stern do now?

Christian T-Shirts?

A while back I posted on bad Christian t-shirts, and boy were they bad......Well almost 2 years later I think I have found the WORST t-shirt ever! There is absolutely NOTHING good about this shirt, nothing! Have you ever worn and seen a really bad Christian t-shirt (confession time)? Please share.

Student Ministry Confessional: 7/20

A little bit of a summer version of a Student Ministry Confessional, enjoy!

Bike Parade

Wednesday I took a bunch of students to West Palm Beach for a night on the town (pizza, music, ice cream) and we were all surprised at the spontaneous "Bike Parade" that broke out on the streets of this wonderful metropolis. As the bikes were going by (there had to be 200-300 of them) I said to some people, I guarantee you I will know someone in this parade, sure enough a guy I graduated high school with was dressed in drag riding down the street in his modified Schwinn. I loved the Pope Mobile bike (pictured).

Good Adoption News!

Penny has some really GOOD news regarding our adoption of 2 Russian children. Please read here.

I love freebies!

Last year I was in the market for a new Bible. I had the same NIV Study Bible since 1989 and I thought that it might be time to get one of the "premium" Bible that publishers have been producing. So I found the one I liked, a wide margin Cambridge bound NIV. It was sweet, calf skin (sorry girls!) nice wide margins for notes. The only problem was I had to keep bringing it back to the store for a replacement because of a defect. Well, I had one last defective Bible! I brought it to the store where I bought it and the manager cut out a couple pages and said "Keep it and you also have a store credit of $150"! So I proceeded to grab the Bible that is pictured. It is a premium calf skin English Standard Version. Very nice. The only way I can describe it as soft, smells great and perfectly bound. I'm not one of these guys that tries to act like he knows about the best English interpretation (I prefer the NIV) but the ESV people produce the best packaged Bibles. They are keepsakes. This Bible is perfectly crafted and should last a lifetime!

And the winner is...

Thanks to those who did give me some input on the banner picture. I most appreciated Pete's suggestion of rotating them per visit. Hopefully I can figure that out in Blogger as it is not as easy to tweek some things as Word Press is. Thanks again for all of your input.

Summer Stuff....

This summer has been very different for me. As you all know I have had my share of difficulty (knee surgery) but I haven't really given a lot of info about the ministry happenings. Our Student Ministry has continued to meet as small groups weekly and our Summer Tour. We are using StudentLife Bible Study for our small groups. Fantastic, Bible-centric. They really have done a good job putting together a web-based study that is user friendly. Our Summer Tour has gone pretty well. We have had a couple of bbq's, visited another student ministry and had a massive scavenger hunt at a half dozen 7-Eleven stores. Over all it has been very good for our students to stay connected through the summer. It's typical to watch some students go off the deep end a little bit and the summer of 2007 has been no different. It is always hard to watch students make bad decisions and squander some of the ministry that has been built into them.

"All I can do is trust God that His Word will not return void and that He is in control. So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void"

Are you involved in ministry? How has your summer of ministry been? What type of ministry do you participate in?

The Church Office

I knew it was a matter of time before someone would do this.......
ht: tim schmoyer

Episode 1



Episode 2

Which banner do you like?

If you havent noticed I have been tweeking Life & Times look an aweful lot lately. Most noticeable is the banner. Other tweeks have been the changing of the font, font size, side bar (various aspects include customized picture and such). What do you think? When looking at a blog or website what are the most important elements when it comes to the look? What are your priorities for your blog? How often do you change: your banner, photo, links, etc? Which of my banners above do YOU like most? Help a brother out and comment!

Some Thoughts....

The iPhone is all it has been hyped up to. For the haters out there: you don't know what your talking about.

On my iPhone:
Proverb, "A Common Mans Opus". If you are into hip-hop, the real boom bap stuff, this album is for you. Proverb brings very thoughtful lyrics to simple yet, hard hitting beats. Fans of KRS One, Rakim or Common this is up your alley. Key tracks: "True Love Song","Get At It"
Lifehouse, "Who We Are". I believe Lifehouse is a band that will define a decade or maybe even longer. They consistently pump out quality music with a staple sound. This album is a must in every music fans collection.
"The Office" - Season 1 "Healthcare", "Basketball"; Season 2 "Halloween", "The Injury", "Dwight's Speech"
"Looney Tunes" - 14 episodes (all Bugs Bunny)

I'm a big dark chocolate fan. Forget the milky stuff, bring it dark baby! In German dark chocolate is translated into English as "men's chocolate". Nuff said.

My knee is heinous. It looks like I have a cantaloupe growing underneath the skin. I'd appreciate your prayers for a quicker recovery.

It has been wicked hot down here. At least we have been getting rain so my grass is green!

Our church building project is moving along. We had the foundation poured today and we look forward to having the walls and roof up in the next couple/few weeks.

I got a hammock from my family for my birthday this week. I cant wait till I'm a little bit more mobile so I can plop down in it with a book. Hopefully those days are soon!

Adoption news! Finally. I will keep you posted .

Yuck!

From last nights 11 PM local news. 87 degrees at 11:12 PM! Beat that!

Barry Bonds.

I remember when Barry Bonds first started playing in Major League Baseball. He was supposed to be the next great center fielder of baseball. 7 MVP's later, he has more than surpassed that. As much as a jerk as Barry has been to the media, and as juiced as he his, I still think he has been the most dominating sports figure outside of one MJ. I hate to see Hank Aaron's home run record fall to a dirt bag of a public figure as Barry, he will do it, and I think he has done it legit.

Career Statistics
Runs - 2198
Hits - 2902
Doubles - 597
Home Runs - 751
Runs Batted In - 1972
Stolen Bases - 514
Batting Average - .299

Did you know the iPhone could do this?

ht: Scott Hodge

Adoption Update

We received some more good news concerning our adoption of 2 Russian children. My wife posted the info here. Please pray.

Now thats the guy I voted for....

This is the guy I voted for, twice. If you are at all interested in politics or the War on Terror watch this. President Bush can handle himself. Do you sense the frustration with this Irish journalist? I wonder if she knew what she was getting into with this interview.

Today...

Happy birthday Donald Rumsfeld, Bon Scott (AC/DC, RIP), John Tesh, Tom Hanks, Courtney Love , Jack White (The White Stripes}, Fred Savage (The Wonder Years) and of course OJ Simpson! Oh yeah, I was born this day in 1972. I don't thnk I like sharing the same date of birth as OJ and Courtney.

South Florida Crime Solution

This week I have been exhausted by all of the crime reports here in Palm Beach County. It seems like it's out of control. We again made the news, this time of the International variety. Palm Beach County is beginning to resemble the high crime cocaine cowboy days of Miami in the '80's. Everyday there are 3-4 life threatening crimes committed in this county and they are are all typically drug or gang related. I am concerned but I think there is a solution. Pay attention police departments and sheriff. The city of Boston has gone old school and has hit the streets by foot. Thats right foot patrol. It's a fascinating result:

"For the first six months of the year, homicides were down 14 percent. Robberies were down 12 percent. And shootings were down 31 percent. Until this year, murders had been on the rise for the past decade."

This says something to the affectiveness of officers rubbing shoulders with the people of the community that they are serving as opposed to officers patroling from their vehicles. I believe that the Boston PD is showing Americas crime riddled cities what it takes to fight crime. Read the whole article and watch the video here. How is your city on crime? Do you feel safe when you go out?

Has this happened yet?

ht: kushmama

......and after.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you a picture of my knee bone before the surgery. Well, here are the after surgery pics. Here is a progression of photos from todays post-op appointment with my surgeon.

From left to right:
(1)cracking open the cast
(2)pulling out the staples
(3)bandaged up and ready to go!

Double 0 Seven

This picture is of Sean Connery from the 1974 sci-fi movie Zardoz. My wife thinks he is a distinguised gentleman. Gag.

ht: beanplasmator

Evening News?

Tonight I had NBC Nightly News on the tube for the first time in many years. The lead story:

"Tonight on Nightly News we are going to drill down beyond the latest airline flight delay statistics. By themselves they are bad — the worst in 13 years. But those numbers only tell part of the story."

Just another reason to never watch this waste of the air waves again. With all of the crap going on in the world and they choose this as the opening story?
When was the last time you watched any network nightly news?

One Issue Voters: Part 2

By Life & Times guest blogger Tony Taylor

WARNING! This will step on your toes!

I don’t have a problem with Giuliani, many of my Christian friends think he is unthinkable because of his stance on abortion. Well, I don’t really know what my stance on abortion should be and I consider myself a believer. This is not to say I do not abhor the act. I would never consider it for a woman I had gotten pregnant and try to dissuade anyone considering such an action. However, I wonder if that’s enough. I just cannot get to the point where I feel the need to HINGE all my political and social conclusions on other individuals by their ideas on that ONE issue. I saw a movie called “Saved!” a few years ago and it is set at a Evangelical Christian School and the characters played by Macaulay Culkin and Eva Amurri are sitting at a café having coffee and see a girl from their school go into an abortion clinic wearing a trench coat and sunglasses and Eva says “There’s only one reason Christian Girls go into abortion clinics.” To which, Macaulay Culkin exclaims “She’s planting a pipe bomb?” “Ok, two reasons,” retorts Eva. It was a classic one liner. My point is I just cannot see myself being that appalled at abortion that I let it govern my entire voting process and ideology. Although I personally would never encourage it, but aside from my alleged morality on the issue, there is a pragmatic side of me that thinks it would be such a social upheaval in this country that legally—I’d rather just leave the issue as is and move on. Does this make me a sell out as a Christian? Does this taint every other aspect of my faith, my salvation, and relationship with my Lord? Am I sellout like Ice Cube going from NWA preaching about racism and the evil of the L.A. police to doing Disney movies like “Are We There Yet?”
I once had an Economics Professor tell me he felt it wasn’t an issue to take on legally, but economically. He said if eliminated the need for abortion from a demand side, rather than supply side both sides of the issue would feel better resolve. His Keynesian idea was basically If we simply found enough adoptive homes and enough financial resources for these mothers to live and raise these children would that sway them and thereby palliate both opposing sides of the issue.
This same brilliant Professor also told me “As long as there isn’t a war or any major catastrophes going on, it really doesn’t matter who is elected as President. “’Just watch the Federal Reserve my boy,” He’d say. Watch what they do to affect monetary supply and rates. He’d also tell me to watch the Congress to see what went on. The President was a minor role to my third favorite economist. It reminded me a great deal of Billy Murray’s great speech in Meatballs entitled “It Just Doesn’t Matter.” Well, I’ve written far more than I intended, but I was listening to The Who’s “Who’s Next” while I did it and it just finished the entire cd. “Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss,” my friends.

Read One Issue Voters: Part 1 here

Adoption News?

Penny and I have been in the process of adopting 2 kiddies from Russia for 23 months. Here is the latest from our adoption agency. Seems like there may be some good news coming out of Russia. Please pray.

A Lame Life.

The title of this post is deceptive. My life isn't lame in a sense that there's not a lot of good going on, but in the handicapped way. I've gotten to the point of frustration after only 1 week of being completely dependent on others (mostly my unbelievable wife). I have this horrible black cast thing, it's more like a splint. It has this plastic tubing that runs through it that can connect to this cooler pump contraption. It's nice alternative to the old school casts (remember the plaster casts?) it can be nice and cool when plugged in. The only problem is you are tethered to this cooler and you can't move. When I do decide to disconnect from the cooler, I can last very little time stumbling around on my "sticks" (athletic vernacular for crutches). I have come to the conclusion that I don't like being confound to a couch and dependent on everyone else in order for me to live. I like my freedoms, in particular my freedom to stand up, walk to the fridge, grab a bottled water or other beverage I desire. The freedom to drive. I can't drive. It stinks. I like to get in my car and go where I need to. I can't right now. Anyway, just a little vent here. Pray for this bro as I heal up. I look forward to the upcoming days of freedom. Till then, I'll be lame and dependent.

Anatomy of a knee surgery.

Here's the procedures that I had done to my poor, mending left knee bone:

One Issue Voters: Part 1

By Life & Times guest blogger Tony Taylor

WARNING! This might step on your toes!

In Life & Times a few weeks back, Chris had made mention of something that really got me thinking a great deal. He pointed out that Fred Thompson would make a good President, but also pointed out that so would any of the other candidates. To me, that statement was a full bodied cabernet of intelligent thought. I have been a huge Who fan my entire life and began listening to The Who when I was 4 years old and my father bought me the LP for “Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy". I’m now 32 and am really beginning to realize how utterly brilliant Pete Townsend was when he uttered the phrase “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” (from the song entitled “Won’t Get Fooled Again”)
I wanted to use this post to “think out loud” about some thoughts I have been posturing lately about the role of President, the media, and Christianity. Now, after spending most of the last year in New York, Rudy Giuliani has gotten more positive media coverage regionally for me than any other candidate. Since getting to Florida three days ago, 5 people I have been having conversations with have mentioned that they like Fred Thompson because he’s a “good ole’ boy” from Tennessee. I think it’s a regional thing, but I like Fred Thompson because he was a fellow at the American Free Enterprise Institute and because he has a “hot trophy wife.” All my years of working on Palm Beach really jaded me on the wife front. I remember one day at The Breakers when I met a 67 year old guest with a 26 year old model of wife and asked him aside “guy style.” “How’d you do it man?” And he replied “Son, if you play your cards right in life and make enough money, your wife hasn’t even been born yet.” After our high five, I ruminated on the glory of the words he had given me as if this man that owned 90% of the trailer parks in the “Mayberry Triangle” of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida Panhandle was Tolstoy. As far as my earlier Pete Townsend Quote, Thompson seems to scream that quote to me after growing up during the Reagan era, but Thompson I think is far more brilliant of a guy.

Any thoughts?