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The Day Is [Nearly] Done:

09/17/2008 / Blake

Well after finally getting into the room and cranking the AC up, I caught up on some email, took a shower to wash the air travel off of me, and took a nap. I had a headache. My alarm went off and I got up read to go to the Journey Bible Class at Granger. The headache was still there. And all I’d had to eat for the day was a muffin at 4:30am and cheese & crackers with Reese’s Pbutter cups at the airport. But I found some popcorn in the lobby as I left.

Without any wheels yet, I walked to the church. It is only a half mile. I kept looking for a BIG church building I’d see from a distance. But I didn’t. Which was cool. But the parking lot was filling and people were all filing in towards the front door. As I got there, immediately on my right was Connection Cafe, a little coffee bar and then some seating on the right as well. A nice lady w/ a nametag was saying to everyone at once, “I know it doesn’t look normal, but adults are taking the kids to their rooms!” I don’t think I looked lost, but anyway.

There were lots of people w/o being crowded.

I went to Bob Laurent‘s class he was teaching. It was on The Radical Jesus [I’ll post the notes in the next entry]. At first I didn’t clue into who Bob Laurent is. But he spoke at a youth weekend I was a part of back in 1990. I liked him a lot back then, and 18 years later I still liked his teaching. He’s pretty passionate. And there were LOTS of people there. Bob said 900. And I think with a big shift in what Granger’s mid week events used to be, that’s a pretty significant number.

But first impressions of Granger Community Church was A+. Now I can’t wait for Innovate tomorrow. I’m back in the hotel after stopping by Target for some toiletries and by Moe’s for some supper! Now I’m full and typing while watching John and Kate plus 8.

Well, I made it to Mishawaka

09/17/2008 / Blake

I’m sitting in the lobby of the hotel. I can’t get in just yet. The guy behind the counter says he sees the rooms blocked out for us, but can’t view the individual reservations. Merissa who made the reservations isn’t here yet, but I called her and she won’t have any different info for him because she doesn’t have the confirmation number. So, I’m sitting in the lobby. Wondering if I should try to walk over to Notre Dame vs paying $12 for a taxi ride there.

Granger Community Church is just about a half mile down the road, so I could walk down there and check it out. There are actually some going on tonight. I might give one of those a go to check out some of the changes that GCC is undergoing. Or I might go to bed early since I probably got 3 hours of sleep and have been on planes or rushing to them all day.

I got up at 4. Showered. Ate a muffin. Left for Tupelo. Flew to Memphis for a 37 minute layover. That means I rushed around to my next gate. Then I flew to Detroit. There I had another 37 minute layover. Interesting. But then I flew to South Bend and got a taxi to this hotel. So I could use some time on a bed infront of ESPN or something like that. And you can’t beat this wifi either.

But I know I won’t do that. I’m travelling, baby! Can’t be still for too long.

OH, and if things look different now and then, it’s because I’m trying out some new themes around the ole blog.

Edit: A 3:45 I got into my room

A few new pics from my 40D

09/17/2008 / Blake

Yesterday I finally got all the pics out of the camera onto the hard drive. Some wifi issues kept me from getting a lot uploaded, but here are a few. All straight out of the camera with no post processing. I’ll clean them up a little later.

A battle of two pastors

09/15/2008 / Blake

This NFL season we at The Orchard here in Oxford decided to form a Fantasy Football League. The draft was lots of fun and the first week was surprising. Here’s a picture of part of the first weeks standings.

Now the thing is, both of those guys, the top two ranked teams, are the PASTORS of The Orchard. Yep, funny how that happened. That’s Pat and me atop the week one standings. Of course you can’t go on just one week. I know that. Heck, the Patriots won every game but their final one last season. And all people talk about are the Giants.

Week Two is almost in the books. And as fate would have it Pat and I are matched up. We still have Monday Night football to go. He’s got Brian Westbrook playing and I have Jason Whitten. But here’s the score total heading into tonight.

Truth be known, which ever of us loses will probably have the 2nd or 3rd highest point total for the league, but be 1-1. I plan to be 2-0!

My Sunday Afternoon List

09/14/2008 / Blake

It’s time for a list again:

We got some rain this morning from Ike. Came through and left. I hope things stay away as I fly on small planes this week.
We started putting the old fort back together. I built it in our backyard in Clinton. We disassembled it and brought it to Oxford. It was in lots of pieces since we moved. Now it’s in fewer pieces. And the girls can climb/slide a little now. More to come.
My and my over analysis is making we wonder if I should sell my new Canon 40D for the new Nikon D90. I’m always looking over the fence.
Last night Mississippi State played the #9 team in the country. We only lost by one point. The score was 3-2. Yep, 3-2. That seems like a hockey or soccer score.
Church this morning was really full. Now we will see what our evening service looks like. This weekend was “Parents Weekend” at UMiss. So that probably had something to do with it.
I think I need a new theme. Quickly
I saw South Panola play football at their newly installed $750,000 field. Was impressive. So was the new pressbox. And everyone there was really nice and helpful as I taped the game against Grenada. It was a terrible game. SP had 500 yards offense. Grenada had -7. Ouch.

Innovate Oh Ate! Here I come!

09/11/2008 / Blake

I’m pumped.

Next week I’m heading out to Indiana. I’ll fly into South Bend and then hitch a ride over to Granger, IN. I’ll be attending the Innovate 08 conference at Granger Community Church.

I had a friend that went last year and raved about it. And I read a few blogs of folks who had attended, and they said it was exceptional. My friend actually said, “It’s better than anything I’ve been to at Northpoint…” Those were some big words there.

So what am I looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to hearing Mark Beeson teach. He’s a gifted communicator and has pushed his church in so many creative ways. [I still find it interesting that he’s in a very “innovative” church, yet still preaches with a coat and tie each week. But hey, seems to be working for him!]
I’m looking forward to hearing Shawn Wood talk of their creative process of finding the sweet spot of who God created his church to be and who they are not. That way they are not trying to be a huge buffet of ministries, but being dang good at what they’re created to do.
Getting to hear Tim Stevens speak about recognizing and using culture to communicate the life changing truths of Jesus.
Maybe meeting Kem Meyer and Tim Stevens both.
Attending the Granger Film Festival where churches bring their best vids from the last year or so for a competition.
Hearing Rob Wegner speak his heart about missions and how to impact the local community for The Kingdom.
To be able to hear Kathy Guy speak on the small group strategies of GCC and how it makes a difference in their people. Might even get to grab lunch w/ her at some point.
Steven Furtick will tell the stories of how his church has had a wild growth as it’s barely 2 years old. And the struggles and processes they’ve gone trough. And I want to see his weird hair in person.
Plus, I hope to be able to walk around the campus of Notre Dame while I’m there too.
And there will be some good companions from The Orchard in Tupelo to be with.

I will have frequent updates and maybe some pics/video of stuff while I’m there. I’ll “take you along” so to speak.

Right now?

09/11/2008 / Blake

Right now I’m in High Point Coffee near the square. Doing some reading. Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claibourne. It’s not that crowded in here. But the people who have a computer out, 3 of the 4 are Macbooks. Impressive. Strong wifi signal from someone’s Belkin router too.

On the tv is silent but showing news about remembering 9.11 with public officials talking over the hot spots. And also hurricane Ike is barreling across the gulf. I tried something new. The hot chai energy tea. Said to ener’chaize’ you. The barista said if I didn’t like it I could go back with the old stuff. I traded my cup in for the old. I know that I’m supposed to drink coffee. That’s what everyone else does, right? But I went w/ the Chai instead.

Oxford is gearing up for the Prez Debate in about 2 weeks. Still pretty amazing that an event of that magnitude is coming to small town Mississippi. But Oxford is unique. I told Bev yesterday, “Is it strange that Clinton is larger than Oxford, and it has a weekly paper. Yet Oxford has a paper that comes out every week day?” She just replied, “lots more happening in Oxford.” And she’s right.

Pat and I were talking yesterday about Oxford. How for Mississippi it’s unique. I mean, in such a huge way, it IS Mississippi. But then it’s a lot of other stuff too. The university brings a lot of diversity, there is a political hotbed here even before and beyond the debate this month. We were trying to decide if Oxford was probably the most cosmopolitan city in the state. I’d guess it might be. You could argue for Hattiesburg or maybe the Gulfport/Biloxi area.

But Oxford has stereotypes of the “Ole Miss brand“. And there are lots of reasons why that stereotype is there. LOTS! But there are lots more types of people here than just frat boys, sorority girls, and lawyers. There are plenty of rednecks, blue collar workers, soccer moms, a varied “artsy” crowd, lots of people who wear vintage clothes, tight jeans and thick framed glasses. There are minorities and internationals. There are people on many sides of the political and moral spectrum. There is a music scene here that if it isn’t vibrant [and many would argue that it is] it’s consistent And God wants them all to taste of His love and grace…and see that He is good.

Wow, I didn’t know where this entry was going. But it’s where we ended up. So I’m going to go back to my tea and my book. I’m going to watch the people walk by on the sidewalk. And I’m going to listen for that still small voice of God…

What are you doing right now?

Interesting numbers about 9-11

09/11/2008 / Blake

I saw this on Pat’s blog earlier this morning. It’s an interesting perspective on what gets attention and publicity. All of these things are important to think about…and do something about. What’s your take?

* Total number of deaths during 9/11 attacks (excluding the terrorists): 2,973
* Total number of people who will die on 9/11/08: 150,835
* Total number of people who will die on 9/11/08 from hunger/starvation: ~24,000
* Total number of children under the age of 5 who will die from hunger/starvation on 9/11/08: ~18,000
* Total number of people who will die of HIV/AIDS on 9/11/08: 5,479
* According to a recent Cornell University study, number of people who will die of causes directly related to water, air and soil pollution on 9/11/08: 60,334
* Total number of people who will not be allowed to live, due to their inconvenience to others, on 9/11/08: 126,027
* Total number of people who will survive on less than $2.50 on 9/11/08: ~3,000,000,000
* Total number of people who will survive on less than $1.00 on 9/11/08: ~1,300,000,000
* Total number of children of primary school age who will not be able to attend a school on 9/11/08: ~72,000,000
* Percentage of money spent on weapons required to put all 72,000,000 of those children in school: <1%

My How Things Have Changed – MSU Style

09/10/2008 / Blake

From my former youth group in Clinton there were quite a few graduating seniors that went to Mississippi State. It made me smile a little because that’s where I graduated from too. I absoutely loved my time there. Sometimes I wish I could do it again. I was only there for 4 semesters. I don’t know that I’d want to give up my previous 5 semesters at Northeast CC and USM, but to think of a full 4.5 year experience at MSU makes me smile. Heck, it might not have taken 4.5!

But lots of things have changed. I was telling one of these freshman about it the other day. Here are a few notable things I told her:

Online homework? I wonder how that works? When I was at good ole MSU there were no such things as WiFi. Or high speed internet. I had to go to a computer lab on campus to get on the web. My roommate had a computer a home and we could check email though. And it was all text based. The world wide web did start to come about. I was amazed.
Cell phones? I only knew one guy who had a cell phone. He thought he was cool. He was rich because he inherited a lot of money and spent it unwisely to try to feel good I think. We went to a basketball game really early because Kentucky was coming to town. [We actually went to a women’s game before the men’s game to get good seats. And had to wait for the women’s game to start!] He ordered pizza from The Hump on his cell. He thought he was cool. I gave him a thumbs up and ate some pizza.
There was a bowling alley in the bottom of the Union. And a Taco Bell. And a Wendy’s. But no ChikFilA. I used to do homework in the union between classes sometimes. I remember gathering with a few hundred students between classes to see the OJ Simpson verdict on the tvs there. And watching football games on a Saturday eating a steak burrito supreme before walking to watch the Bulldogs get beat [happened a lot while I was there.]
Malfunction Junction was still there. Don’t worry. You wouldn’t miss it.
Jackie Sherrill was there. Some people miss him. Most don’t. I saw him at the movie theater in Starkville once. I was going to see Bad Boys. I think he and his wife had gone to the previous showing. He was dressed in all black.
SouthFarm was South Farm, not a bunch of intramural fields by the vet school. You could go relax or throw the frizz or camp out or whatever.
And the Wesley Foundation was as amazing as ever. Loved it and the people there. Some were just like me. Some were way different. But it was all good. I miss it.

I miss it all. And I’m slightly jealous of you, but super excited for you. Soak it all in. Write it down somewhere. Filter it all through God’s grace and mercy. And it will be some of the best times of your life. And it will pass quickly, so make the most.

Two Cover Tuesday

09/09/2008 / Blake

Sorry that I missed last week. Not sure what happened. But it was missed. Here we go:

The first one is a song I first heard while in high school. Didn’t realize it was a cover and loved it. But it’s the Indigo Girls cover of Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits.

This song has so much raw emotion in it. I liked it a lot. But you can see the original as well by Dire Straits here.

And then Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah is amazing. Simply amazing. It was originally done by Leonard Cohen.
http://vimeo.com/2702155
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah.