@JeffRodgers Yes, Tweetdeck is quite nice.I like the groups & searches you can have set up in different columns & I replied on Fbook longer in reply to JeffRodgers#
Just finished half a day with Jack Bauer in Season 4. #
Went on my first run of 2009. Took Addie with me. She had a lot more energy than I expected. 7 year olds have lots of energy. #
@aepolsgrove Indeed, it was good. You should have brought your new camera. Meant to tell you Bev read that Manning book you’re now reading. in reply to aepolsgrove#
My 4 year old is watching the Rose Bowl like it is Veggie Tales. Lots of questions. I like it. #
“Don’t get caught watching the paint dry!” : Shooter. #
@justinhjones There is tweetdeck and twhirl; both pretty cool. There are a few others as well, but I’ve settled on T’deck for now. Or web. in reply to justinhjones#
@willrambo Would you hire Coach Taylor to be on staff at MSU? Let me know when you’re done w/ S1. I gotta evangelize w/ it again. in reply to willrambo#
@abedis Throw some Ed Young Jr and Craig Grochell in there too. Maybe mix in some Steven Furtick for spice. in reply to abedis#
Buying Christmas wrapping paper at Walmart at a substantial discount. 11.5 months early. #
Friday Night Lights to air on Friday this fall makes me think that NBC doesn’t care if it succeeds. That stinks [I think]. #
@AdamCGore Ahhh. I meant this spring. Either way, bad decision on NBC’s part I believe. Might be the best show around. Do you watch? in reply to AdamCGore#
So two nights ago I had a dream. I was at this place where a friend worked. I could tell it was that place in my dream, though it really didn’t match it in real life (if that makes any sense…as much as dreams don’t make sense anyhow.) I was carrying around this backpack jammed with stuff. Some stuff was needed, some stuff was just heavy and I didn’t need anytime soon. My friend was there and about to go somewhere. I was going to go with him. But my pack was heavy.
So I started taking stuff out of it. The heavy stuff at least. I removed probably about three things from it. And there was some clinking around in there. My friend asks, “What is that?” So I pull out a bottle of Jones Soda that had been rolling around in some coins that were down in my pack. It’s the Green Apple flavor. I’d opened it already and drank some, but most of it was still there.
My friend says, “Hey, that’s good stuff. I like that!” I meant to give him some. But he got busy with something and I got thirsty so I drank the rest before he got any. Random, right?
Well yesterday I was in WalMart and see my friend. I tell him, “Hey, I had a dream with you in it last night.” He gives the compulsory “Oh, that scares me” reply that people usually do. He asked what it was about. But I ask him, “Do you like Jones Soda?” He said that he sure did. And my next question was going to be how did he like the flavor green apple when he speaks up and says, “Green Apple is my favorite flavor of it…” I told him that’s what he said in my dream.
Strange, huh?
Have you had any weird dream experiences like that lately?
A year ago today I started my work at The Orchard in Oxford. It was a pretty large change for the life of my family. We’d spent just over three years in Clinton working in the youth ministry of FUMC. We liked it there. Wasn’t looking for any reason at all to move. But when Pat spoke to me one day about possibly coming to help plant the church in Oxford…it just seemed right.
Yes, even Oxford felt right. Not the red and blue aspects of it. But what I would be doing and who I would be doing it with. And at the time I didn’t realize that I’d be living in my dad’s basement for five months or that gas prices would get so crazy. Nor did I anticipate the chore of finding a house in Oxford. But after looking back on that first day here in Oxford lots has happened.
As I said in the last post, I’m going to put together a few ”
I think I’ve learned quite a bit the last 12 months. But I realize how much more I need to learn, study, and apply myself. I see where God has worked, but I see lots of opportunities to partner even more deeply with God in serving Oxford and Lafayette County.
Well, it’s another year. I woke up and didn’t really feel any different. I still wondered if Jack Bauer was going to find Habib in time (watching season 4 right now). I didn’t feel any older or wiser. I was still as inflexible as I was yesterday. But I decided to do a little something about my inactivity over the past year.
While living in Clinton I went to the YMCA at least now and then. But I was no stranger to the place. And I ran some now and then around the neighborhood too. Even ran a few races here and then. But since moving to Oxford in late May I’ve been a sloth. And I’ve noticed a difference the past few days. So I’m not one into resolutions and all, but I realize something needed to change. So I decided I’d wait til January 1 to start running again. And I did.
I didn’t run very far. But I took Addison with me so I wouldn’t have to make an excuse for going short and slow. But she impressed me. She looked like she was going to get tired, so i told her if she ran alllllllll the way to the next stop sign w/o stopping she would earn $2. I didn’t think she’s make it, but she made the corner. There was no stop sign there, but I assured her she’d get the two bucks. But as we were walking the rest of the way home catching our breath (she seemed to be racing me to the corner) she all of a sudden said “I’ll beat you home!” and took off. Wow!
I caught her and ran with her all the while encouraging her. I want her to see some things that she can enjoy and be good at. I don’t know if she likes running or just beating me at something, but I let her do both. Funny thing is she almost didn’t go running at all because we made her wear her sweat suit in the cold wind. She thought her clothes looked silly and thought people would be watching out of their windows at her running. But I convinced her to drop that concern and RUN!
So as 2009 starts I realize that I need to just go forward with some things and not worry about if anyone is watching or if they think I’m silly or goofy…but if there’s something I want to do are feel called to do… then GO FOR IT. There are bucket fulls of cliches I could give to try to spur me on, but safe to say I know I should.
So, there are a few specific things I might reveal soon that I want to get better at in the coming days. Also a few “best of ‘08″ posts as well. But safe to say that blogging more regularly is something I want to get better at as well.
Twitter is interesting. I signed up and didn’t get it at first. I posted maybe once every 2 months. But then once I moved to Oxford I started really getting into the swing of it. It helps when you have people you know in “real life” using it as well. So when Pat (@tapdraw) started using it too, we both seemed to explode with it. If you don’t twitter yet, you should. It’s easy. Fun. Informative. And makes you cooler (right?)
Anyhow, I saw Pat did this, so I figured I’d give it a try. But it was really hard to cull down my twitter posts from 2008. So I’ll not put them all on the first page. But here are some highlights of my Twitter posts from 2008 [taken from about 34 pages of twitters (or 717 updates)].
This past week or so I’ve had a few conversations and read a few blogs (1 & 2)about whether I/we should tell our kids that Santa Clause is real or not. Early on, before our first kid was old enough to even talk I’d heard the idea that telling kids that Santa is real, that he’s always watching, that he has super natural powers, and will bring good gifts to us if we are nice instead of naughty can be damaging. Damaging if you line it up next to telling children that Jesus is real, always watching, loves us, and gives His grace and mercy even though we’re undeserving.
But what happens to a kid’s mind when they grow older and realize that the whole Santa thing has been a ruse and that their parents had been pulling their leg about this guy? Will they start to question the validity of the Jesus guy as well if the Santa guy reality is blown out of the water? On one hand it makes sense, but then again, I know plenty of people who love and believe in Jesus, but thought Santa was real earlier too. So I don’t know.
But the perceived dilemma was solved for us when our oldest was deathly afraid of Santa early on. Now she knows he’s not real. And she doesn’t try to tell other kids that he’s not real. I’m not sure where our 2nd one is on Santa. She’s never asked either way. But we’ve decided not to “lie” to our kids by telling them that Santa is real. A lot of people will probably think we’re scrooges for that. Especially family.
But I was surprised by a few conversations where I found similar thinking. And then I saw a series of blog posts called “Giftless Christmas” by Shaun Groves. Really eye opening. Counter culture. And cool at the same time. I know that Christmas Eve might not be the time to sit down and read through four posts, but I encourage you to read it at some point if you have children.
So after a tumultuous season of Fantasy Football things are now over. And I would congratulate whoever won, but I can’t do it now. Because how self centered would it be if I were to congratulate MYSELF for winning the the whole thing? I mean, I won the Orchard Oxford 2008 Fantasy Football League.
And it would be like tooting my own horn or something if I were to say, “Congratulations, Blake!” Plus it would also seem weird if I started talking to myself in 3rd person. My wife would give me a sideways glance but the people I work with might start questioning my sanity. And how lame would it be on top of all that? I mean, it’s just fantasy football, right?
So, since I am not able to congratulate the winner of the 2008 Fantasy Football season here with The Orchard, I’ll just post a small screen cap of the winners.
Hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. Only 6 more days. I think most of the pre-Christmas errands are done. Only one or two quick trips to make to tie up a few loose ends. This year The Wife and I bought each other a dining room table for Christmas. I like it a lot, but I don’t think it will play any XBox 360 games or double as a HDTV. But we’ll see.
We haven’t really gotten Rowan anything. He’ll only be 9 months at Christmas. He’s a baby; what does he care? Some people think that’s a horrible way to think. But we never really got any of the kids anything for their first Christmas. Actually Addison was only 6 months old and Ella was barely a month old. And of course the grandparents took up any slack. But before your first birthday you are much more interested in the wrapping paper than what is actually inside the box.
But along those same lines, I think it’s much easier to buy a gift for a 7 year old than a 4 year old. Personality and preferences have developed much more by then, so my seven year old can tell me more of what she wants. I’ll ask my four year old and she’ll offer up one or two suggestions, and then start telling what she wants for other people to have. In some ways I see that frustrating grandparents because they want to “get her something” that she’ll like. But I think it is sort of refreshing that she doesn’t have this huge list of things that she wants. She’s just happy to play with what she’s got. In fact, whatever her big sister wants is what she wants. Because she really would like to be like her big sister. And Christmas shouldn’t be about what we get anyhow, right?
Christmas this year will be different. We live a lot closer to all the family. So instead of driving 3+ hours from Clinton to make a North Mississippi Tour, we’re only 35 min away at the closest and 75 at the furthest. So that means I’ll be able to sleep in my own bedeachnight. But even when we drove longer distances I always made it a point to have my family in our beds on Christmas Eve. Some disagreed with me, but I felt it was important.
A tradition we’ve had the past few years might get tested. In years past since we were in Clinton on Christmas Eve because of attending church services, we’d always get some Pizza Hut carryout for our Christmas Eve supper. Not sure what will happen this time though. Might be back to LASAGNA at my grandmothers.
But a new year. A new routine. But hopefully not a loss of what Christmas is all about.
A few months back I saw mention of Phil Wickham on Brody’s blog. They were friends and Brody was telling folks that Phil was an awesome singer/songwriter ontop of being an awesome guy. Then a bit later Brody helped release Singalong, Phil’s free live worship album. I downloaded it back in August.
But just recently I spent time listening to it. And then when figured out that I had it all out of order in iTunes it made a big difference (it’s a live cd recorded at a worship meeting.) Anyhow, one of his songs is my new favorite. It’s called BEAUTIFUL. Last night it gave me chills as I really listened to the lyrics. That doesn’t happen often. So I figured I’d share it with you. Listen to it up above and tell me what you think.
The cd is a masterful mix of originals, traditional hymns, and a great blend of Phil’s voice, his guitar, and crowd singing along.
Anyhow, give it a listen. You can get the cd yourself for free from his website. It’s really good.
Hope your holidays have gone well so far. Let me know how you are. (lyrics are below)
Yes, life has kept me on my toes with a few Christmas parties and family duties. But the main thing that has seemed to be on my mind was the coaching search at MSU. And after the “resigning” of Coach Croom the Satruday after Thanksgiving, the whole Bulldog Nation has been astir. But two days ago it seems we finally put the rumors and speculation to rest in the hire of Dan Mullen.
So maybe now my life can go back to semi-normal. I won’t have to be checking the message board and blogs and twitter feeds quite as religiously. It seemed I was a hawk for information, and a purveyor of it as well. I’d have people telling and asking info a lot. Now I guess we just figure out who the rest of the coaching staff and signees will be!
But that was partly to blame for the absence. The other parts were just staying busy with a family of five in the midst of holidays. Fun stuff. But I’m really looking forward to it. The tree is up, gifts are under the tree, some more gifts need to be bought, and weight is being put on I think.
But I’m back to blogging again. My wife checks here often and tells me “When are you going to post something new!?! (she asks the same of Pat’s blog too), so I expect to flex the blogging muscles as we plow through the holidays and into a new year.
So I’m sitting in my living room listening to the carrots boil on the stove. Everything else in here is quiet. But I can hear the pandemonium that is coming from the back of the house. My brave wife decided to take all three kids to try to get cleaned off at once. Even she got a bath out of the time back there. But it’s been loud and crazy. I’m sure there’s a lot of water on the floor too. And the carrots continue to roll around in the boiling water (we’re going to mash them up to feed to Rowan… not eat our selves).
Last night was Art With Santa for our church. It’s our 2nd annual event that happens right before the Oxford Christmas parade. Kids come in and make Christmas art projects and get to sit on Santa’s lap if they’d like to. I don’t know exactly how many showed up. But it was pretty full in The Powerhouse for about two hours. And Pat said it was at least three or four times as many people who came last year. [a few pice below].
Then afterward we walked the parade route handing out signs for kids to hold up that said “SANTA, I’VE BEEN GOOD THIS YEAR!!!” The cool thing was that on the back side was our church name and info. So hopefully we’ll have a few more people hearing of us and maybe coming by.
We’re about to eat a little supper, and then decorate the tree. We were afraid it might not fit in our house because the house in Clinton had higher ceilings. The tree is a 9 footer. But it made it barely.
So I started taking stuff out of it. The heavy stuff at least. I removed probably about three things from it. And there was some clinking around in there. My friend asks, “What is that?” So I pull out a bottle of 
This past week or so I’ve had a few conversations and read a few blogs (
Hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. Only 6 more days. I think most of the pre-Christmas errands are done. Only one or two quick trips to make to tie up a few loose ends. This year The Wife and I bought each other a dining room table for Christmas. I like it a lot, but I don’t think it will play any XBox 360 games or double as a HDTV. But we’ll see.
The cd is a masterful mix of originals, traditional hymns, and a great blend of Phil’s voice, his guitar, and crowd singing along.
