Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

Back in January I posted a video from the first work night The Orchard had in the new building. That work night was on January 20th. And we’ve come a long way since then.

Last weekend Pat made the call to call it a 95% chance that we’d have church today (March 7th) in the new building. And I think that pushed us to get as much done as we could in the next six days. And there were lots of folks in and out of the doors. There was still painting, carpeting, putting together 200 chairs, hanging televisions, putting together children’s ministry furniture, setting lights, running sound system cable, building a stage, changing light fixtures, replacing facia board, getting the Fire Marshall to approve us, getting fire extinguishers, hanging posters, and probably a dozen other things. And all fo that was just this past week.

But there have been many, many people who have put in many hours to get the building to where we are. And today felt good. And one of the coolest things is that now we don’t need to spend near as much time before and after a service setting up things and then taking them right back down. We have had some great volunteers give their time and strength to that. We have been blessed. But now we get to reorient their efforts/focus to other ministry areas.

The new building still needs some more attention. There’s a punch list we’ll still need to knock out (did you see the bathrooms?). But it’s great to be in a building of our own. But we have to be careful that we don’t allow a building to define us. Sure, it opens up many opportunities and should also make other things easier. But it’s not an end all solution. Our heart, as a church, still needs to be focused on Jesus. And our passions need to be the same as His passions.

So while we’re quite excited about the building, we’re more excited about the opportunities it provides for The Orchard to impact Oxford for God’s Kingdom.

[I wish I had a few photos from this morning. Maybe next week.]

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It seems that when our kids are really young my wife and I think that it can’t be too hard to cut a kids hair. And we end up messing it up. And then we give it a few attempts to “fix” it. And it only makes it worse. I’ll try to find some old pictures of Ella. Her hair looked horrible. She had a really bad “boy’s haircut” for a few months when she was two.

But I had to run get a tire fixed this morning and decided to take Rowan to get his haircut afterwards. We were thinking of trying to wait until he turned two later this month for a haircut. But he was shaggy. You couldn’t see his ears. I’m not sure he could see anything through his bangs. And he was sporting a serious mullet too!

So after Walmart (and an emergency diaper change which included me having to buy diapers, wipes, and a new pair of pants!) we headed to get him all cut up. Here are a few pics below.

This was at Walmart before we left. His hair was CRAZY!

Still @ Walmart

He sat really, really still.

Bev showed up to watch from behind.

He was still, but paid strict attention in the mirror.

Almost done. He's getting a quick clean up

The finished product. But he couldn't be still.

He's cutting up. But his bangs aren't so severe now.

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Not too long ago Bev and I had a few friends over for supper. You know how that usually goes. Some people are on time. Some are a touch late. But everybody makes it eventually. And then everyone eats at the table or the barstools or standing around in the kitchen. And then the guys end up in a clump while talking about sports or tv shows or how they would probably make up a good Curling team in the next Olympics. And on the other hand the ladies clump up and  talk about their kids or how lame it is that their husbands watch Curling.

So this time Bev wanted to go with a theme for dinner. And for some reason she chose a Wedding Theme. So everyone wore something from their wedding or brought something from their wedding and wedding pictures and all that fun stuff. It was quite fun. But we also played a game. We called it “The Not So Newlywed Game.”

It is played like the classic Bob Eubanks version I guess. But we had five questions each. It provided quite a bit of laughs and insight as we talked through the ten questions. Here’s what they were:

Questions for the Ladies

1. The saying “opposites attract must be true because my husband and I couldn’t be any more different when it comes to _________?
2. Every wedding has something to go wrong. What detail at your wedding didn’t go as planned?
3. Where did you share your first kiss?
4. What is your husband’s most irritating habit?
5. If your husband won $5000, what would he want to spend it on?

Questions for the guys

1. If your wife could have unlimited access to any store, what store would she choose?
2. If your wife could send you to the body shop for a tuneup, which body part of yours would she want worked on?
3. What is your wife’s favorite comfort food?
4. If you could have a second honeymoon, where would your wife want you to take her?
5. If you wife was married to a tv/movie star instead of you, who would she want to be married to?

As I said, it was a great time. And I meant to mention that my wife actually wore her wedding dress from nearly 11 years ago for a while. She’s a trooper!

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I’ve now been working here with The Orchard in Oxford for two years. And in those two years we’ve never had our own space. We started out meeting at The Powerhouse which is the Community Arts Council building. The building is used. A lot….A WHOLE lot. So it’s not uncommon for us to show up early on a Sunday morning to set up for church and there was HUUUUGE party the night before, or wedding reception, or gala, or “She got a donk” contest (whatever that is) with some crazy DJ and all of the stuff from the night before is still up. Or a play is set up for a few weeks for rehearsal and performance, and we’re have to work around each other.

Last May we moved into one of the local movie theaters to have church. We got in early on Sunday morning, set up, and then took everything down before the Sunday matinees started. But in September the theater closed down. Oxford wasn’t big enough to support two movie theaters it seemed. So we returned to The Powerhouse. And I’ll say up front that the folks with the Arts Council/Powerhouse have been very gracious.

BUT…we’ve found our own place. We don’t “own” it, but we have a two year lease. And we’re tearing out walls and building walls. Ripping out old carpet. Painting things afresh. Making it “ours”. Etc. The building has been a number of things. A night club. A restaurant. And most recently…a funeral home. But our goal is to make it as “un-funeral homey” as possible.

But we look forward to the stability having our that having own place will provide us as a church. And we look forward to being able to use the building as a way to impact the local community for Christ in ways that extend far beyond just a weekly church service.

But below is a video from one of our workdays. We’ve had a few since, and it is already looking way different.

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I guess that’s part of being in a town centered around a university. But things ebb and flow here. But I have to admin I like the changing of the seasons. And in some ways it’s almost a changing of the cultures. The city has approx 20k folks, but then you have about 16k college students that come in and out of the city it makes a difference. Plus there’s another 50 or so thousand that like to come to football games, it makes Oxford interesting.

But school started back for Ole Miss this week. And that means that parking places on The Square are now at a premium again. Restaurants are crowded. And coffee shops are lively. Right now I’m sitting in High Point Coffee (drinking a Vitamin Water (coffee…blech)) and I see quite a group of varied people.

• A table with five middle eastern women and their baby.
• A table with a 60ish year old man in a three piece suit reading the paper.
• A few tables of college girls looking over notebooks
• A dad and son have been waiting on their daughter/sis to get here. She just did.
• Various guys and ladies hunkered over their laptops.
• People come in with strollers to greet people, grab a cup of something, and then leave again.
• Books are being read.
• Scones are being ordered.
• The grinder is grinding constantly.
• Someone is wearing a coat and a toboggan on their head even though it is 64 degrees
• And over the sound system I have heard Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and other poppy songs from about 10 years ago. I don’t know who’s working today, but their style of music is different from what it usually is.

But it’s good to be back, experiencing the busyness. Soon baseball will start up and crowds will return. And the Rebel Baseball team will probably under achieve once again (hope so!) But it feels good. Maybe it just feels good because I can wear short sleeves right now, but it was about 14 degrees less than two weeks ago!

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Looking back on the archives I brought over I realize there were times when I would post quite often. And it’d be about pretty much whatever. I didn’t have to have anything big or grand to post about. Maybe it was about being in downtown Jackson and my brakes not working. Maybe it was an old Friday’s Feast. Maybe it was just about my sleep habits.  But what ever it was, I just posted.

But somewhere along the way I started almost worrying about what I’d write. Would it be interesting? Would anyone care? Would it get a comment? So I’d get stuck in over analyzing things and try to think of the right thing to write about or say. And that would basically freeze me into inactivity. And I’d not post. And then since it had been a while since my last post, I thought I needed a “really good one” for my come back. So then I’d over analyze the next “really good” post. And then I’d still just think, “I should write something tomorrow…”

So no promises, but I intend just to write. And if no one reads it, well, so what? It should be fun, right? I mean, sure, still put some thought and effort into things. Each post shouldn’t just be a stream of conscious. But it doesn’t have to be the next award winning writing either.

I remember when I posted my first real post I ended with these words:

What sort of voice will the blog have? Will it focus on specific things, or anything goes? How personal will it be? Well, it’s still little more than an embryo…so it has lots of growing and maturing to do before it develops a recognizable personality. I hope you hang around with me to see how things go.

And while I know it’s no longer an embryo, I think maybe my blog is going through puberty. It’s experiencing some changes. And is trying to figure out it’s place. There was a time when I thought I’d blog mainly about MSU sports, or Christian culture, or what happened to me and my family today, or what tech stuff I wish I could own or whatever else. But instead of trying to find a niche and impress anyone in particular, I think I’m just going to write what’s on my mind. We’ll see how it goes.

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There was a time I’d never heard of the word “blog”. That time ended back in 2002 when I came across this thread at Site Point Forums. Hmm, an online journal of sorts. So I tried out Blogger.com that people were recommending. I posted a few times, but it didn’t stick. And I wanted my own domain name.

So I bought statedog.com. It was name I started using in ESPN’s College Basketball Chat back in 1996 when Miss State went to the Final Four. Then I started using it on message boards. So it seemed like a good fit. I didn’t know what script to use, but I went with MovableType. It seemed like the stud at the time. I read some other blogs by now that were using MovableType. And it was free. But a bugger to install (it was Perl based back then.)

But to shorten the story, I set up a blog StateDOG.com using MovableType. I ended up running into some issues with MT. And tons of spam too. I converted to a new script called WordPress and loved it. But for a few various reasons I ended up stopping blogging. But I still had the itch. I picked it back up at ASmallTwist.com. I was able to acquire my own name as a .net so figured I must use it. So BlakeThompson.net started up as my blog. Lots of bouncing around for all my blogging, right? There were probably about five or six hosts too.

But this past week I was able to get everything together. I combined all my old blogs with my current blog. It took a few days of mistakes, broken databases, import issues, and upgrades, but I was able to finally get all the old stuff, ever way back to my first post on my own domain, here in the archives. Sadly the comments didn’t make the trip from 2003 to 2010. But I got the meat of the old blog. There are probably some broken links here and there. I know there are some missing pictures. And a lot of what used to be linked to might not even be in existence these days (blogs come and go, you know).

But sit back and look through some of the history. I know there have been some starts and stops. But my intent is to be here to stay. And I’d like for you to be here with me. So, is anyone still reading this thing?

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…it’s a new life…for me!

That is a quote from a Nina Simone song. I think I first heard it in a movie, but I’ve heard it now and then since. But it’s a pretty cool song. But the phrase repeated often is, “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me. And I’m feeling good.”

As we move into 2010 (do you say twenty-ten or two-thousand-ten?) I think there’s reason to be feeling good. I know everyone looks towards the new year as a time to make resolutions and changes and drop big mile markers on their life’s roadmap. I’ve never been big on resolutions. But maybe I can list out some intentions. Maybe that’s a softer way of saying things. But if I’m honest I do realize changes I need and/or want to make in my life.  So here they are, in no particular order:

• Read more. Now it starts with me being in The Word more. I really have no excuse. And You Version now has over 20 reading plans that I can download and print, read online, or read right on the iPhone. No excuse, right? But I know it should be my base in life. But I also want to read to my kids more; both the Bible and other stuff. Addie is a voracious reader on her own, but she really likes for me to read with her too. Ella is still putting together how to read, but has grown in her interest lately. And little Rowan, not yet 2, will go get a book and crawl up on the couch and call you over to him. So all of our kids like books.
• But I want to read for fun too. Good fiction books can really carry me away sometimes. But not only fiction but non fiction too. I want to learn more though books, and from that learning put that knowledge into life experiences.
• I intend to blog more. I always miss blogging. And I’ve not done it much at all lately. But I always mean too. And then I’ll go back and read some of my older stuff and really get the big again. Especially if I go back a few years. I need to figure out how to get my way older stuff imported into here. I think I have to juggle some old mysql databases and all. We’ll see. But in blogging more also comes more interactions with other blogs.
• I want to take more pictures. Whenever we look back at old pictures we always wish we had taken more pictures more often. I got a nice camera a year or so ago, but I’ve been hamstrung with out getting a good lens to go with it. Time to eliminate that excuse.
• I intend to eat cleaner. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I think I’ve probably got enough toxicity in my body right now that eating “clean” would benefit me in a whole host of ways.
• With eating better also comes exercise. I don’t want to try to be on any magazine cover. But to gain some cardiovascular endurance, a little muscle, and a lot of flexibility is where I want to go. I’ve got three small kids. I want to be around for their kids…and not just watch them from the recliner either. Without a doubt I need to work on core strength and flexibility.
• See growth and depth occur in the body of The Orchard. It’s been a great two years, but I think now that we’ve found a place (building) to call our own, we’re about to see lots of potential become realized. It’s going to take work and effort and prayer. But it’s exciting.
• Serve more. We’ve talked about it as a family, but we want to teach our kids what it means to serve and give of ourselves.  There are many opportunities around Oxford for serving too.
• Put some work into MissSportsTalk.com. It’s a good site, but it has lots of potential to be a great site. I’ve even considered starting up a podcast for it. I think there are plenty of people who would be willing to help out. And there’s a base of people already there who would listen I think. But articles and interviews for the site as well.
• Have real conversations with more people. Reconnect with old friends. But use the phone or the email or the coffee shop or whatever to connect with more people.
• Take my wife on a vacation: just the two of us.
• Take my kids on dates, just one of them and me, from time to time.

So there’s a quick mind dump. I know I wasn’t very specific with some of them. Instead of “exercise more” I could have said, “Run a half marathon in 2010″, but I didn’t.  Like I said, these are just some intentions. But hopefully they become reality.

But either way, it’s a new dawn…it’s a new day…it’s a new life for me.

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Over the last two years I got to know Steven Bush though his blog and photography. I would email him and ask a ton of questions, and he was more than gracious to reply and give me patient answers.  He was living in Nashville while also part of a band called Spur58. Since that time he and his wife, along w/ their bandmates, have moved to Austin, TX to be a part of a church called The Austin Stone. But I’ve continued to check his blog as he’s gone though an adoption process and expanded his photography business.

The lead singer of the band and now worship pastor at Austin Stone is a guy by the name of Aaron Ivey. I first heard of him through Bush’s blog because of pictures Bush took of Aaron’s family. As I looked as his and his wife Jamie’s blogs I saw they too had a heart for adoption and missions. And as a country they have a heart for Haiti specifically.

So, when I take time to peruse a blog here and there, I’d looked at these guys’ blogs, showed a few pics or stories or videos to my wife or shared them with friends.

But then yesterday Bev shows me the DM and asked if I knew anything about this: there was an add saying that Aaron Ivey was playing a concert that night. In Oxford. At….(get this)…Chick-fil-A. What? How did I miss that? And why did they plan it or the same night I had Community Group?

So the concert starts at 6pm. Group starts at 6:30. But it was a casual night of just soup and hanging out with another group. So I’d miss a little at the front of group and get to see the concert and meet the guys. I sent Steven and Aaron a msg on twitter and said I’d be looking for them.

I make it to Chick-fil-A thinking I’m going to be late, they’ll be starting up and not able to talk, and then I’ll have to leave and basically miss out. But they were behind schedule because of some weather issues. I was able to talk to Bush just a bit before sound check. I saw Aaron setting sound under the tent. Something he doesn’t usually do. He was stressing. I said hey, but could tell his mind was in about 47 other places and had no time for any talk, small or big.

I stuck around for a few songs, but had to get to the Heckel’s house for some good soup with some good people. We talked Friday Night Lights, and football, and website hosting, and mission trips. We talked of Haiti a bit because of the video from Austin Stone I sent out to our group. We talked of maybe trying to plan a trip soon that was similar.

I felt torn. I was enjoying the conversations with everyone, but wanted to catch the guys after the show, so close to 8pm I headed back up to Chick-fil-A. The stage area was being torn down, equipment packed up, and the band was being treated to free chicken and a tour of the inner sanctum that is the Chick-fil-A kitchen.

I got to sit down and talk with them as they enjoyed their free chicken (a friend of mine calls Chick-fil-A the Gospel Bird!). But this post is getting long enough. I’ll continue w/ the rest tomorrow.

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I’m still a little numb today from yesterdays loss to LSU. Normally I’d be happy we hung with them. But we should have beaten them. We had first and goal down only six. I thought about it all afternoon. I thought about it when I went to bed. I thought about it in the shower this morning. It’s amazing how much the results of a football game can consume my thoughts and emotions.

Now I wasn’t a total recluse after the game and make the rest of the day with my wife miserable. On the contrary. We actually had a full evening planned. A good friend of ours is the Executive Director of Memphis’ branch of Bethany Christian Services. The organization specializes in adoption services and ministry to orphans and single moms. There was a fund raising gala last night and we went as guests. And even though there was conversation with friends about the game, talk of how close MSU was to pulling it off, and a few woulda-coulda-shoulda comments, I was convicted by the night’s end.

There were videos, testimonies, pictures, and even a sermon about the good that Bethany is doing. But also about the needs that are still there. The atrocious conditions many motherless and fatherless children are living in both locally and globally, and the various ways we can extend both grace and mercy to them. What we experienced made for a long conversation on the return trip home. Beverly and I both felt called to do something. But what? We don’t know.

Help support Bethany Christian Services financially? Provide foster care? Adopt domestically or internationally? I’ve no clue. On one hand it seems scary. So life changing. But on the other….it seems….like something Jesus is asking lots of us to do. Especially in light of James 1:27.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

So as I contemplate the important things…like SEC football and orphans, I have to ask myself which are the really important things. And why don’t they keep me awake on a Saturday night?

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Woohoo!

When I was exploring the move to Oxford, I asked Pat, “Is there a Chick-Fil-A in Oxford?” It was that important of a factor. But I guess not ultimately important because I came anyway. But early in the spring it was announced that Oxford would be getting a Chick-Fil-A. I was ecstatic. Well, last Thursday it opened. I wasn’t one of the ones to camp out all day/night Wednesday in order to get free chicken for a year.

BUT I did take the kids to eat supper there Thursday evening. Me and half of Lafayette County. But it turned out to be  the best customer service I’ve ever experienced!

We pull up and we’re in line. A nice lady came to my window to ask if we were dining in or driving through. She assured me that our wait would not be long inside. So we parked and walked in (after further assurances that she would help us exit our parking space which could be blocked by the drive thru line.)

It’s just me and my three kids. Somehow my wife missed this trip. But we walk up to the restaurant and a lady opens the door for us greets us by giving the children each a little Chick-Fil-A cow toy. I start dropping some “Thank You’s” so they all say “My Pleasure.” We walk in and things seem crazy but organized. We find a spot in line and we’re only two deep. Then a lady comes up and asks me if I’d like for her to reserve a table close to the play area. Huh? Are you serious? Sure, why not. So she goes and gets a high chair and all for Rowan and gets a placemat that sticks to the table for him too.

I order my food. She reappears and tells me where my table is. I start to let Addie hold Rowan and send her and Ella to the table. The lady asks if I want her to walk my kids to their table. Sure! Then she tells me I can go ahead to the table if I want, and she’ll bring my food to me. Wow. Ok. Why not?

So then as we start to eat a trey gets pushed on the table and Ella’s bottle of chocolate milk falls off the table, down my leg, and then onto the floor. So someone appears out of no where and cleans it up with a towel. And brings us a new bottle of chocolate milk. Then people bring us balloons, ranch dipping sauce, and ketchup. And napkins.

So we eat our chicken and enjoy things. But as we’re finishing up the girls want to go into the play area. So I send them on their way and then scarf down a bit more chicken while my son finishes his fruit cup. As we’re cleaning up and all, a man comes to help. So I’m thinking, this is awesome! These folks are really wanting me to come back. Everyone was so helpful.

Well I go to get the girls from the playroom Ella is distressed. I see that a small scab from a previous booboo got hit and was bleeding on her leg. So I’m holding Rowan trying to find some napkins. I worker sees me and tells me to sit tight while she goes to get something for her foot. She comes back w/ an antiseptic wipe and a band-aid. I thank her and was about to clean up Ella. But she says, “Sit her here and I’ll fix her up.” She then proceeds to clean all the blood off of Ella’s ankle and foot, and then puts the band-aid on gently and asks Ella if everything is okay.

So this was far and beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. Now I know that Chick-Fil-A brought in some “professional restaurant openers” for the first week or so. But I was in awe. I’ll be back. A lot.

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It’s been a bit of time since the last bullets. But here goes:

• Going to Orange Beach was a blast for vacation. That’s when the blog break began. But I might have a story or two to bring back from that trip.
• I participated in some osteoporosis study at Ole Miss. The were studying bones and such. I barely made it into the age range but had a bone scan done. Turns out I have the hips and spine of a 20 year old. But at least that lets me know that something else is wrong instead of just my bone hardness. I think it’s flexibility. But I credit my eating ice cream and lasagna for my strong bones.
• The test also told me my body fat percentage and Body Mass Index. It was no surprise. Not overweight, but not ideal weight either.
• I’ve been meaning to exercise more. Run around my neighborhood some. Maybe join a gym. I realized I’ve not lifted a weight in a gym since I started working here in Oxford. Only a few pushups now and then. That needs to change.
• I heard about CrossFit from Matt Chandler. Then after reading up some and watching some videos, I’m intrigued. It looks both easy and really hard at the same time. It’s aim is for total body fitness instead of any specification. I might give some of it a whirl. But I’m (currently) inexperienced in any Olympic style lifts.
• Pat and I started a new podcast. It’s called Everything and Nothing. Catchy title, huh? You can listen at the blog or download it from iTunes. And if you tell all your friends about it you’ll feel good about yourself.
• I’m still digging the iphone.
• The Orchard had a news piece done on it last weekend. Here’s the video.
• Speaking of The Orchard, we might just start having two morning services soon.

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