Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! (music by sick puppies)

I just caught wind of this video today. Apparently it has been around for a while. But still quite inspiring. I’d like to think of trying something like this around here in our area.

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Wow, it’s 11:30 here in Grandville, MI, just outside of Grand Rapids. And, yes, it’s cold. But not at all unbearable. I have not even been here 24 hours yet, but it feels like we’ve been here about three days. We left Jackson Sunday afternoon around 5:30 and didn’t get to our hotel in Grandville until close to 1:00am. But then after check in and getting settled in, I seriously think it was after 2:30 when we finally got to sleep. Then we got up at 6:30 because we had to do some early registration stuff. So today has been a long day and not a lot of rest.  I really, really plan to do more details, but here’s a quick overview of the last 30ish hours.

• Brister carried John, Stevie, and me to the airport. We got there in plenty of time. Time enough to watch the Saints get beat and our plane delayed because it had to wait on another plane that was late. So we spent about two hours waiting in that Jxn Airport. Good times.
• I had a double seat to myself somehow. Had two two month old babies in front of me. But they traveled well. Thankfully.
• Quick stop in Detroit’s airport. Possibly the nicest airport I’ve ever been in.
• De-icing of our plane on the runway took about an hour. We didn’t take off until after we were supposed to have landed!
• A taxi ride from Grand Rapids to Grandville with a crazy driver. Nuff said
• Hotel said no check-in’s after midnight. As we were standing at the door at 12:28. But she let us in anyhow.
• No wifi though. But that was our first hotel. We got one night there because it was across the parking lot from Mars Hill.

But I’m about to fall asleep, so I’ll leave it at this for now.

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I’m pumped about going to Mars Hill in a couple of days. But I’m curious as to how I’m going to handle the weather. I’ve always done fairly well in Colorado. Yes, it’s cold. But it’s never really felt as cold as here in Mississippi when you compare the temperatures. But I’m not so sure the Grand Rapids area is going to be as dry as Colorado and the Rockies are.

Highs are about 30 degrees with the lows in the mid 20’s. But w/ the wind chill, you’d probably take about 10 degrees off of that. There will definitely be some snow while we’re there.

I keep going back to what it said in the FAQ of the conference…something about the weather in West Michigan in January not being for sissies. For that I might try to walk around in a tshirt and nylon breaker!

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A couple of weeks ago I began looking through the folders on my office PC trying to find the video from the mission trip to Costa Rica. Couldn’t find them anywhere. After looking off and on and trying to find them throughout the network, I came to the conclusion that they were gone. How so, I dunno. But non existent anymore.

Thankfully I saved the actual tapes from way back when. I found those and started importing them to the MacBook Pro yesterday. I watched them off and on as I did it….and I’m convinced that I would leave tomorrow if i could to go back. The place is beautiful, yes. But it is full of beautiful people. People that welcome you w/ a love that’s bigger than ourselves and you worship and work and play along side each other. Plus the memories that we made with the people from our church here in Clinton is pretty amazing too.

I know not to count any chickens before they hatch, but I really hope and plan to go back this next summer.

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Sad, but funny. But the term “Croomed” has made it’s way into the vault of information that is Wikipedia.

Here’s an excerpt:

“To be croomed is defined as the act of being fired as head football coach of a Division 1-A football program after losing to Mississippi State University. Mississippi State is currently coached by third-year coach Sylvester Croom.”

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Tonight Mississippi State’s basketball team will take on the Wildcats of Kentucky. Most would chalk that up as a loss. And while most times it probably would be, for some reason I think we have a shot at it. Our guys are super athletic and can really stroke the ball when the energy is right. But their Achilles is the free throw shooting. If it comes down to FT shots…we need to have one of our two freshmen on the line.

But I remember in 1995 (holy cow, 12 years ago) watching freshman Marcus Bullard knock down FT’s to seal a win in Rupp Arena. It was on Valentine’s Day….we called it the Valentine’s Day Massacre.

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As I’m reading through my new Bible reading plan, a few things have jumped out at me through the first few chapters of Genesis.

• Apparently snakes used to have legs or something before the serpent tempted Adam and Eve. (Gen 3:14)
• God was about to wipe out the entire population of humans. He was really ticked at everyone, but then Noah found favor w/ him. (Gen 6:7)
• Noah got drunk and his son mistakenly stumbled in on him, but was cursed to serve his brothers from there out. Silly mistake. Bad timing it seems. (Gen 9:20-25)
• What was so wrong about Cain’s offering? (Gen 4:5)
  
• Still pretty unsure what “the son’s of God” refers to and them having “relations’ with the beautiful human women. Strange. (Gen 6:4)
  

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I’m not one that’s really been into New Year’s resolutions. But there are changes I’d like to see in my life over the next year. So call it what you may, but here are a few things that I’d like to be different.

Reading: Primarily Bible reading, but reading in general too. I’m on a Bible reading plan now, inspired by Tony Morgan’s plan. It’s easy to get behind a little in it, but they have catch up days too. But I’m realizing more and more the vital need that Scripture has in my life (bout time, huh?) But I want to read more regular books too. But I find it difficult to carve out time to fit everything in, and sadly reading has gotten the brunt for a while….and it needs to change. I have a few new books I got for Christmas and a few olds ones I’ve not completed (started?) that need some attention.

Focused time w/ The Wife and The Girls: I have gotten into the habit of telling Addie “I’ll get to it in a minute” and repeating that all week for a simple task that wouldn’t take long at all to jump in and finish. I want my girls to respect my word…so I have to be much more careful with it and how I give it.

General Health upkeep: I didn’t want to call this “exercise” or “working out” or “diet”, but all of those things factor in. But I want to be more mindful of what I’m putting in my body and how I’m exercising it too.

Visit schools more: Very beneficial for keeping up w/ students and can conquer a few fears too. I have to admit I still get that desperate feeling when I walk into the high school cafeteria and try not to look as if I’m searching for someone from my church to go up and say hi to….even though I really am.

More prayer: Prayer for my fam, focused prayer on the student ministry and the kids there, more prayer for friends and issues. I think I’ve tended to pray as I’m running out of other options instead of as the first point of concern.

More focus on MST: I think it’s got potential galore. But it needs some time spent on it to realize it. I need to start budgeting my time to spend an allotted amount w/ general forum maintenance, but some major time spent in developing and writing stories. New stories on a consistent basis will be awesome for it. I know it.

So those are a few tweaks I know my life needs to have administered to it these next twelve months. Do you have any?

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I don’t think it’s my phone model, just my phone that sucks so bad. It gets decent reception most places, but at my house, it’s horrible. Like works 15% of the time. And to get good reception I have to go sit on my front porch. So I’m in the market for a new phone. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I’m on Cingular…

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I heard about this while listening to the “Blessed are the Peacemakers” sermon series from Rob Bell. But just heard it in passing. But then the very next day a friend mentioned it and wondered if I wanted to go. For whatever reason it didn’t seem to be possible.

But soon after looking at it more, and hearing that our pastor is going and a few small things were going to be able to make the way easier….I’M GOING!

So we’ll be heading up to Grandville, MI later this month for a conference at Mars Hill Bible Church w/ teaching and Q&A w/ Rob Bell and the staff of the church. It should be quite awesome, and I’m looking forward to being with the people I’m up there with.

Here are a few interesting things from the FAQ on the site:

Q: Who is this seminar for?
A: Pastors, Youth Pastors, small group Pastors, Worship leaders, seminary students, college students, elders, board members, church volunteers, church planters, church staff members…etc.
Q: Will I be receiving a packet of information in the mail prior to the seminar?
A: You will receive an immediate email response at the time of your registration confirming your registration. There will be no literature sent to you about the seminar, the content of Rob’s teachings, nor any of the discussion groups previous to your arrival.
Q: What will the weather be like in Grand Rapids, MI during the seminar in January?
A: The weather will be cold, with a high probability of snow, wind, and bitter rain that makes you wish you were somewhere else. This is not a seminar for the faint of heart. Grand Rapids is not for sissies.

Not for sissies, huh? There’s no way my wife would make that trip then. She hates cool weather.

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