Why I love college football

The past two days have been a great example of the reason I love college football:
Unranked Colorado beats #3 Oklahoma
Unranked Auburn beats #4 Florida (no comment, just know I'm a Gator hater!)
#18 South Florida beats #5 West Virginia (representin' FLA!)
Unranked Kansas St. beats #7 Texas
Unranked Maryland beats #10 Rutgers
Unranked Georgia Tech beats #13 Clemson
Unranked Illinois beats #21 Penn State
Two other games of significance: My UM Canes struggled against a pathetic Duke squad (but they won and are 4-1) and Notre Dame lost again. They are 0 wins and 5 loses. That is enough to make my day, week, year. Can't stand those losin' Irish! How'd your school fare? Any upsets your way?

The Office: Season 4 Premiere

Well the anticipation is over. Season 4 Episode 1 is in the can and it did not disappoint.

Classic line: "Jan fixed me breakfast this morning. Well, she bought the milk for the cereal".

Pam and Jim: liked the covert relationship deal, and the camreas busting them. I wonder when they will break up to add more twists. It's just a matter of time.

Dwight: he took care of Angela's cat alright. Did you see his homemade t-shirt?

Andy: bleeding nipples during the race. Very fitting.

Michael: refusing to drink water but eating too much fettuccine alfredo before the 5k race. The puke dripping down his chin. Nasty. Also nasty was the Pam getting an accidental peek at Michael's junk.

Meredith: her face as Michael hits her with his car.

Creed and Stanley: catching a cab, grabbing some drinks at the outdoor cafe while everyone else is running the charity race.

I'm sure there is more, but I'm tired. Cant wait for Episode 2!

Crazy Day

Another day in the life of me. Crazy. Up at the butt crack of dawn, quiet time, off to campus #1 (middle school club), to church office, off to campus #2 (high school lunch), back to office, back to campus #1 again (meet with campus police), quick lunch at BK, home to eat, off to campus #3 (pre-game meal with football team, prayer), home. Now I await 8 PM Smallville season 7 premiere and most importantly The Office season 4 premiere, 9 PM. I'm giddy. Jumpin' for joy. I will post after the episode. Peace.

The perils of being portable......

We are into our 10th year of being a portable church, so when it comes to frustration, I understand all of the frustrations that come with a portable church, I have been at Calvary for 7 of of those years. Any way, a couple of weeks ago we lost storage at our Sunday location (Jupiter High School). It was very fun scrambling to find more space for all of our equipment (besides that which is stored on cube trucks). Well that same week the principal from our Wednesday night venue (Independence Middle School) told us we lost our storage there too! What a dilemma. We have a Student Ministry cube truck, but it has been out of commission for about a year and a half. There were some serious axle bearing issues and we decided to hold of on repairs. Well hold off no more! We have gotten the truck fixed and ready to fill as we have been inconvenienced again and will have to move all of our boxes, etc. from outside to inside instead of from the nice, convenient storage that sat on stage. I know our band is disappointed as well as our worship leader (Jeff) and me. The countdown is on to the completion of our new facility! Are you part of a portable church? What are your frustrations? Have you had any surprises lately?

The 10 Most Disastrous Saturday Morning Cartoon Adaptations

Have you thought about some of the stupid, ridiculous cartoons that ruined Saturday mornings in the '70's and '80's? Cracked Magazine online nails it here! I knew I wasn't going crazy when I recalled the Rubik's Cube cartoon! Here is the corny intro to the the lousy cartoon. I remembered the song, isn't that sad? "He's colorful, magical, wonderful!" Any cartoons you remember growing up?



Watch Here

Life Groups

A few weeks ago we launched our new small group format for the church, Life Groups. As a Student Ministry we joined the movement and launched 4 Life Groups. Each group has 2 leaders and is broken into gender/age (Middle School Guys, High School Guys, etc..). I really believe that this is the most important part of our ministry, giving our students the opportunity to build community with each other in a safe, smaller environment and get to know Jesus in a more in-depth way. Our leaders are all top notch and completely committed to the work of God in our church. We have seen a great turn out, as it has increased over the weeks and I'm sure will continue to do so. The material that our teachers are using is the StudentLife Bible Study. It's wonderful and we all love the fact that it is web-based. We look forward to the continued growth depth wise (spiritually) in this smaller environment as well as width growth (numerically) in our Wednesday environment (MERGE). Does your church have small groups? What material do you use? What about the student ministry at your church, do they have a small group ministry?

iPhone pimped out!

I have officially pimped out my iPhone. I have added LOTS of applications and created my own look via Installer.



Production App's include: VNotes (digital voice recorder), Chat (duh), Navizon (GPS emulator), Text Edit, To Do List, iShare (access online storage), Send Song (you can send any song from your iPhone to anyone via e-mail; also, set any song on your phone as a ringtone!).

Customising App's include: Customize (customize your dock, header, and all other iPhone icons), rSBT (customize your Spring Board, or iPhone desktop. Put icons in any order wherever you want on the phone), SummerBoard (basically the premiere iPhone pimper, you do what you want to the look of your phone).

Gaming App's include: Sketches (pretty much Etch-A-Sketch for you iPhone. Write, shake, it disappears!), TTR (Tap Tap Revolution is very similar to Guitar Hero. Pick a song off of your iPhone and go at it!), Lights Off (an addictive game based on Lights Out), Tetris (HECK YEAH!), iBlackjack (duh).

If you own an iPhone this is the best way to get your phone looking the way you want it, running the 3rd party apps you want! For a list of Apps go here. Nice list of developed apps for the iPhone.

Watch Here!

ATTENTION iPhone peeps....

You MUST watch this video. It will unleash the inner-beast of the iPhone. I can now play games (Tetris, Tap Tap Revolution, which is more like Guitar Hero for your iPhone than DDR). You can pimp out your phone with all different app's and it's simple. A little disclaimer for the video. There is an unnecessary little deal that you can't miss on the video. Other than that a very simple tutorial on the how to install all the app's on your iPhone. Screen shots to come!!!

3:10 to Yuma

3:10 to Yuma, the title is enough to get my attention and the stars of the film hooked me the first time I saw the trailer, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. I had the honor and privilege of going to the local theater with a few manly men and watching this western. We all sat center theater, a space a part from each other, and took it all in. There was no disappointment here. Without giving away the story or any of the surprises, I will tell you my thoughts on this western.

Acting - superb. Crowe of course, is sick as the villain. It's amazing how likable he becomes yet he's a despicable person. Through out the whole movie I was going back in forth in my head I like him, I hate him. He finally wins me over. At the end (no spoiler here) he just makes you like him in spite of him. Christian Bale plays the good guy. Bale is becoming one of my acting fav's. He plays the convincing role of a man trying to provide for his family and get approval from his 14 year old son.

Cinematography - this is the first western I have ever seen use the roaming camera effect. Made famous by Saving Private Ryan years ago, this technique is now a staple in action films where blood splatter occasionally becomes a character on the camera lens. It worked well in this movie as it brings a relatively calm, cool and collect genre' of film to life, a different feel from the normal western.

Sets - I felt like the film was a historical documentary at times, taking you back to the wild west as no film has been able to depict before. The towns were realistic. Not too much color and just enough people on the streets of the western towns to make the town seem alive. The town set's were all characters in the film. Someone did their homework, instead of watching another western and putting together similar props and towns, they looked at historical pictures and created from there.

All in all a great movie that represents the genre' well. We all know that there is about 1 western every 5 years that has any significance. This one is significant. Go see it if the wild, wild west is intriguing to you.

Some Thoughts....

I went to my last day of physical therapy today (most likely). My therapist said I need to find out from my doc if he wants me to continue or not because my insurance only allowed for 62 days. Today was the 62nd day.

Last week I preached 5 different messages. By Sunday I was running on fumes, but that's when God uses you most, when weakest. Today was a nice day of chillin' with my wife.

I'm convinced that Miami football is dead ("Canes and Dolphins). I remember the days when the Miami teams would score at will and even had a chance to win every week. I'm no quitter or switcher, but man it stinks to watch other schools and team win all the time.

I used the $100 Apple credit from my iPhone. Put it this way, Penny is happy.

This time of year here in South Florida just sucks. It's still 90 degrees and wicked humid. When I lived in places where there was actual season change, this time of year was my favorite. The cooler weather, apple cider, pumpkins and stuff.

I just got Kelly Clarksons latest release. It's actually really good. I don't know what people were thinking when they said it wasn't very good. That chick can sing and this release lets her shine!

I'm really not excited about the whole 2008 Presidential Election. The only guy that I think is an actual leader of the bunch(es) is Rudy. We'll see.

I saw some Navy guys in the mall today. I walked up to them and thanked them for what they do. They looked at me with a kind of "huh?" look. Then thanked me for thanking them.

Have you been following the happenings in Russia? Crazy stuff.

Speaking of the mall, I had Chic-Fil-A. Wow. So good. Love them fries.

The Office, House and Smallville get their new seasons kicked off soon. Can't wait for new episodes!

MERGE

You have to watch this video. One of our ministry partners put this video together. You can get an idea of what we do on Wednesday nights.



Watch here

Crazy week....

Posts have been hard to come by this week. After prepping for 4 messages, I got a call from Dan (my pastor/boss) and he asked if I was ready to go this Sunday. That means, you gotta' message? He taught me a long time ago to always "have one in the hopper". So of course my answer was yes. So again, I ask for your prayers as I prepare another message for this Sunday. I know what I will be teaching/preaching, I just have to refine it and of course know it. It's quite an honor to be able to fill in for Dan. Big shoes that I cant fill, but I will do the best with the gifts that God has given. Messages this week: Who is God? (Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent), Connect (our third Student Ministry Core Value) and now Decision Making.

If you you think about it....

Pray for a brotha'. I am speaking at a local Christian school for their spiritual emphasis week as well as my normal Wednesday gig. Pray that God will use me and that He would prepare the hearts of those listening.I will be doing a 3 part series entitled "Who is God?". Kind of a simple theology lesson of the power, wisdom and presence of our big God that should lead us to respond to Him in a big way. Please, pray.

Football Weekend

It wasn't a very good football weekend in south Florida. First on Saturday my U Miami 'Canes played Oklahoma in in Norman, Oklahoma. They got a serious beat down! A lot of homers were saying Miami could hang with Oklahoma. Not a chance, Miami 13, Oklahoma 51. Then on Sunday, the Dolphins opened up their season against the Washington Redskins. What a sloppy game. They go into overtime and the Miami defense looked like a group of Pop-Warner midget league kids playing. Washington moved the ball into field goal zone, and they sealed the deal. Miami 13, Washington 16. What's up with 13 points by both teams? How did your team(s) do this weekend? Any winners out there?

U2charists? What the heck?

I watched this video from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. I couldn't help but cringe, the WHOLE TIME! How hip and cool, play eighties music in church.

Sick funny.

Props to Dustin for posting this. It's unusual to see something so original in pop-Christianity (is there such a thing?). Enjoy!

Movie Trivia

How much do you know about movies from the last 25 years?

66%The Movie Quiz

FilmCritic.com - Movie Reviews

Thanks Steve!

Dear Chris,

...we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple's website next week. Stay tuned.

We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.

Steve Jobs
Apple CEO



....I'll take it!

Student Ministry Confessional: 9/6

Please forgive me for the lack of pizazz. I'm tired.



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Adoption Road Trip

When I was single I used to go on random road trips. I remember going to Key West on a whim and going to North Carolina, Virginia and Nash-Vegas at different times for random reasons; I'm sure there were others. Well this week Penny and I took an "out of the blue" trip to our states capital. Here goes the scenario: as many of you know we have been doing the whole paper work pregnancy thing for our Russian adoption. Last week was a big week for us in that we were told we could get in the first batch of September referrals if we had certain paperwork ready. Ready means notarized and apostiled (a notary of the notary). We got our doc's notarized and sent them to Tallahassee to be apotiled. With much anticipation we received the documents from Tallahassee but with out the needed apostiles. We contacted our agency to find out what to do next. We were told because of the circumstance we may lose our spot and may have to wait till the second batch of referrals (who knows when that may be!). For us this was not an option. We waited for the weekend to pass, then Labor Day. On Tuesday we found out the if we sent our docs of to Tallahassee it would take another week of FedEx waiting till we would get the docs sent to Russia who wouldn't receive the docs until September 20th or so. With the encouragement of my boss and pastor, we decided to take a quick road trip north to Orlando first to pick up the fixed notarized docs then transported to them further north to our state capitol. We left Jupiter at 4:30 PM, arrived in Orlando at 6:45 and then on to a 10 PM arrival in Tallahassee. We delivered the docs to the Division of Corporation for apostiling (is that a word?) and then to FedEx-Kinkos for copying and sending. The docs are due to arrive in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on Monday. We arrived back in Jupiter at 3:30 PM this afternoon. Now that's a road trip. 816 miles, 8 documents apostiled, all with-in a 23 hour period. Beat that!

Penny posted some pictures here

Some Thoughts....

The school year is in full swing and it's good to be back on campus! God has opened up some really great opportunities for me and our Student Ministry, stay tuned....

I have been listening to the latest Rooney release. WOW! The first 10 tracks are so killer. If you aren't familiar with Rooney you should definitely check them out if you are into Brit-pop-rock with an American twist.

We got one of those new Apple keyboards for the old iMac. Absolutely love it!

So when are some of my peeps out there who work at churches going to send me some pics of your facilities? I'm getting to the point where I feel like I'm begging........

Just a couple of weeks until The Office and House start back up! What TV shows are you looking forward to for the upcoming season?

We watched Distubia the other night. Good movie with a couple of cool twists. David Morse is the new "it guy" when it comes to guys you love to hate in movies or TV. He looks just like a guy I worked with at Costco years ago.....

For all of those iPhone owners out there: check out this app that gives you the power to make ANY audio a ringtone. It's free for 30 days (you can keep all of the ringtones you create!). My ringtone is now the tune from the It's just like a mini-mall commercial made famous on YouTube.

On the adoption front things still continue to drag out. You can read more here.

Go Canes!

My boys won their first game of the year with ease against Marshall. I was most impressed with the defense (4 turnovers) and the running game (almost 2 100 yard runners). Now it's on to a big game in Norman, Oklahoma, against those Sooners. This is the first time the two teams have played since 1988 and there is a buzz about this game. Meanwhile, on the recruiting front, things are looking good. It looks like the U is back to recruiting the most important recruiting spot in America, South Florida. Check out the screen shots from ESPNU (click to see better).......

Friday Night....

Last night was kind of an eventful night for Penny and I. After a crazy full week of life and ministry we were invited to attend a Starbucks "Family & Friends Night" for a new store opening. I must say it was an honor to have been invited to such an occasion. I felt like I was a VIP or something, kind of a red carpet type of feel. Our DJ friend was spinning some music and some other friends who are Starbucks employees were there to greet us. They we giving away everything from bags of coffee to drinks and mugs. I got a free Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino and Penny got a Chai. Very cool stuff I must say. I can now say that I am very special to Starbucks, as I have attended a pre-opening employee celebration! When finished we drove down the street to Jupiter High School to watch the season opener for our JHS Warriors football team. They got smoked. It was hard to watch the guys try so hard and put forth such a valiant effort yet get nothing in return. They moved the ball well until they could smell the end-zone. I believe they could have won (as every homer says) but ended up taking a loss, 34-10. At the game I saw a lot of students who attend our ministry environments and felt it was a good opportunity to be visible and available. How was your Friday night? Do you get to go to a Starbucks Party? High school football game?