a friend of mine was very recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. they operated but could not remove the tumor because of its location. they can't do anything except chemotherapy, but they're not hopeful. it looks bad. really bad.
please pray.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
you've gotta fight for your right to party
at church this morning we had 2000 balloons. 25 buckets of confetti. silly string. kazoo's. Footloose video clips. a 3 foot disco ball. beach balls flying through the air.
as great and fun and crazy as all that stuff is, it's not what i remember most about today.
i was walking down an aisle and i didn't recognize ONE PERSON who was also walking through the aisle. not one. not even a little bit. THAT ROCKS! we're trying to reach the unreachable and i think we're succeeding. things like 25 gallons of confetti and Footloose video clips help reach those folks. it's church like they've never seen.
we're fighting for our right (and their right) to party.
Friday, April 27, 2007
quote of the day
from my father to my sister and me:
"you all smoke pot."
we can feel the love.
rise and shine and blog
one of the first things i do every morning is check out these sites. you should check them out too. often.
noefool - just because i like to. sunburned - this is the blog of a friend of mine who is a childrens pastor in brooklyn, new york. this week alone, a guy was shot in the neck across from their offices, three people were killed across from her apartment and a bunch of other stuff. go read about it. ragamuffin soul - this is the rad blog of carlos, the music pastor of sandals church: real with ourselves, others and God. i want my blog to be cool like his. david boggs - this is my pastor's blog. he's relatively new to the blogging world but is catching on pretty quickly. it's the daily story of a growing church. we've gone from about 200 to about 2000 in about 2 years. pretty cool stuff. travis johnson - i used to live across from travis and his wife when i was in college. they pastor a multicultural church just outside of miami, florida, that is doing some really good things in their community. white african - if you're interested in africa and/or technological development, then this is the blog for you.
of course i check my myspace too. who doesn't!?
Thursday, April 26, 2007
nextel sucks (maybe not)
if you've followed my blog for very long, then you know how i feel about nextel. i think they suck. or i thought they sucked until monday.
sunday night i did a hard-reset on my phone. it wouldn't come back on except to say "JVM ERROR 203". that's it. nada. zilcho. nothing else. put a fork in it and call it done.
i went to the nextel repair store in v(d)a beach on monday morning knowing that i didn't have insurance on my dumbberry. they said they could repair or replace the phone for $35. so i agreed. i figured if worse came to worse, they would give me a used one for $35. when i returned to the store after lunch, they had me a brand-spankin-new phone waiting for me. they even gave me the box with all the accessories that are new. i got a $349.99 phone for $36.50.
that one experience with them on monday turned me into a now-i-don't-hate-you-customer. i'm not quite a loyal customer yet, but i'm closer.
need. sleep.
i was awake for 21 continuous hours yesterday. first time since college actually. yesterday morning i had to be at the airport at 4:30ish. i'm not a morning person either. from v(d)a beach, i flew to detroit, then from detroit to nashvegas. who was on my flight from detroit to nashvegas? karen clark sheard. that was pretty cool.
landed. got my luggage. went to the hotel. went to rainforest cafe. went back to the hotel. went to the grand ole opry for the dove awards. my brother-in-law was nominated for an award for an israel houghton choral project on which he worked. (he and the other nominees lost to brooklyn tabernacle. bullies.)
the best part of the night was when the media guy rolled a video not once, but twice while dino was saying one of his lines. they had to stop the show. roll tape again (and again). it was pretty funny. i felt sorry for the guy. he just kept looking around at everyone while they were fixing the teleprompter and the video.
after the show, we went to eat again. then back to the hotel that didn't have electricity. can you use your electronic keys when there's no electricity? no. and who had to use the bathroom very badly? me.
joy.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
you know you're at the airport too early when
Starbucks isn't even open yet.
Monday, April 23, 2007
just me and uncle pat
so i'm sitting in the library at regent university right now. not quite exactly where i expected to be, but...
Sunday, April 22, 2007
v(d)a beach
this is where we went yesterday. this is where we're going today after church. this is where we're going tomorrow.
it's been rough, but i think i can make it.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
a salaam aleikom
so i was sitting at louisville's airport earlier today (actually yesterday since it's after 2am) when two arab men come and sat next me. i didn't think anything of it until one of them started singing very loudly in arabic. suddenly i was afraid. my mind shot back to the morning of 9/11. i started wondering if i should go say something to the airline representative or not. part of me thought, ok this is just a dude singing in his own language. the other part of me thought, what if he's praying to allah before he takes our plane down!?
were those racist thoughts i had or is that just part of post-9/11 life? i honestly don't know the answer to that question. it's something i'll have to reconcile for myself. i have arab friends, muslim friends but i'm not scared of them. what was it that made me so afraid of these two guys?
i'm gonna have to pray about this.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
leavin' on a jet plane
ahhhhh.... i'm getting away for a few days for some much needed r&r.
much. needed. r&r.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
conviction
the virginia tech gunman has (had) some issues. major issues. i wonder if anybody ever invited him to church. or shared the love of Jesus with him. or anything.
makes me think about who all i'm not reaching.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
why is it so hard to ask people to come to church?
Monday, April 16, 2007
a horrible crisis
what do you do when you're going through a crisis?
i watched a video today that was inspiring and disturbing and scary and at times funny. it was a video of a pastor announcing to his congregation that one of the other pastors and the business administrator of the church had admitted to an affair. both parties immediately resigned from their positions at the church. you could literally hear the members of the congretation gasp when it was announced. the pastor delivering the message did a remarkable job - no doubt about it. but what a hard message to deliver.
how's this church going to go through this crisis? the pastor proposed this: they're going to hurt. they're going to guard. they're going to rally.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
chicken noodle soup
ok, so let me preface this video. the video feature of my digital camera obviously sucks. the sounds is bad and the quality is bad, but you'll get the drift.
magic motion
so we went yesterday to watch my uncle ride in a show at the kentucky horse park. my two nephews weren't scared of the horses at all, but my niece on the other hand... well... let's just say that she isn't quite ready to saddle up yet.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
ho's gone to the big luau in the sky
tiny bubbles in the wine make me feel happy, make me feel fine
tiny bubbles make me warm all over with the feeling that i'm gonna love you 'til the end of time
ouch!
crocodile bites off vet's arm. the best shot is around 0:03 of this clip.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
1..2..3... JUMP!
i. am. so. stressed. out.
i looked down today and realized i had eaten a whole hershey bar. not a regular one. but the mumbo-jumbo-monster-king-size hershey bar. the whole thing. it was like 3000 calories. not healthy.
so i'm taking off on friday. no work for me. gonna have to do something fun.
who wants to go skydiving!?
love this song
because of who You are i give You glory because of who You are i give You praise because of who You are i will lift my voice and say Lord, i worship You because of who You are Lord, i worship You because of who You are
Jehovah Jireh, my provider Jehovah Nissi, Lord You reign in victory Jehovah Shalom, my Prince of Peace and i worship You because of who You are
"...if you're going through hell don't stop..."
i have to go through something today that i don't want to go through. but i have to.
yuck.
Monday, April 09, 2007
random thoughs v9
so i've been reading my blog archives lately. wow. i've said some pretty interesting things. i've been embarrassed. i've laughed out loud. i've been sad. i've been thankful i'm not in the same situation anymore. one thing i noticed was that around this time last year i was pretty pissed off. i was bitter and depressed. yuck. not fun. glad i'm not there anymore. _____
my niece and younger nephew aren't in town this week. they're with my aunt and uncle in western kentucky for spring break. it's SO QUIET around here. _____
my dad made a random comment tonight. we're all sitting around talking, folding laundry, watching tv when he spurts out "we'll have to stop eating corn." we were like huh? what? turns out he had tuned all of us out and was watching the news about corn and alternative fuels. _____
24 comes on tonight. i want to be jack bauer. _____
my sister reminds me of a watermelon today. she went to the tanning bed and is bright red. she has on this green shirt too. makes her look like a watermelon. _____
one of the pastors at the best church ever sent me a pretty cool email today. he was thanking me for some stuff i'd done and went into a "i feel impressed to tell you..." spiel. it was a good spiel though, not a bad one. he ended the email with this verse: "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." hebrews 10:35
"One guy even asked where the best spot was to see the girls! LOL..."
motley crue always works
today was great. plain and simple. nvmc saw over 50 people accept Christ this weekend with over 2000 in attendance! however, the "girls gone wild" theme didn't come without a lot of resistance from the saducees of this area.
to be honest with you, i kind of expected my father not to be very open to the whole "girls gone wild" theme. dad's old school pentecostal. when we were growing up, we couldn't go to movies. couldn't play cards. couldn't go mixed bathing. (how many of you know what that means!?) my sister couldn't wear pants, make-up or jewelry. old school pentecostal. however, he proved me quite wrong today. while we were in the truck on the way to dinner tonight, he was talking about how much the pastors who complained about the series got on his nerves. he said, "they just don't understand" and he's right. so what's he going to do about it? he's planning on calling our administrative bishop tomorrow to brag on the church and on our pastor. he's going to brag about girls going wild. amazing.
i think it was motley crue's GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS song that was played at church this morning that sold him.
EDIT: so according to my family i don't remember my own childhood very well. they said my sister did wear jewelry and pants. i don't believe them. i couldn't find any family photos to prove me wrong. but they were insistent that i edit this post. edit.
what today's all about
"Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."
Friday, April 06, 2007
billy g instead of billy d
Thursday, April 05, 2007
shock your mama!
these adverts rock! they're at the food court entrance of jefferson mall. they're advertising the big push nvmc is having on easter sunday.
this isn't all either. more are coming up in the near future i believe.
but what's the best part? there were people actually stopping to READ the adverts and LOOK at the pictures while i was there. black people. white people. asian people.
so cool.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
on going to hell...
my younger nephew came downstairs just a few minutes ago with tears streaming down his face. he was making that horrible cry noise that nobody likes to hear.
"my bwuthur said people who lie go to h-e-double-hockey-sticks. i've told lies befow. that means i'm going to h-e-double-hockey-sticks."
this kid sleeps with me almost every night. and has for the past several weeks. i'm pretty sure he's gonna have some bad dreams tonight. he doesn't handle bad dreams very well. he kicks. he screams. he kicks. he screams. then he kicks some more.
