But by now most people know about the tragic accident where Steven Curtis Chapman’s youngest daughter, Maria, was hit by a vehicle in the driveway of their home yesterday evening. The vehicle was driven by an older brother, and the girl had just turned five years old less than two weeks ago.

I ache for the parents who are missing a child now. I cannot wrap myself around what they must be going through as they miss their little girl. But I ache too for the older brother who is experiencing a heaviness of life that is immeasurable. And then again for Steven and Mary Beth as they are their for their son. It hurts both my head and my heart to try and comprehend the range of emotions and thoughts that are happening inside the family. So pray for them.

And then I try to figure out God some more and the questions I read of “Did God do this?” or “Did God allow this?” or countless others. One day, I hope to understand.

The Chapman’s had six children. The youngest three were adopted girls from China. Here are a couple of videos of Steven and his youngest girls:

Maria Sue Chapman, adopted and youngest daughter to Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman, was killed Wednesday night in a tragic accident in the family driveway on Wednesday evening. She was LifeFlighted to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital but for only reasons God can explain she went home to Him… not to Franklin as we all so desperately wanted.

Your prayers are needed for all in the Chapman family. This is a family who has so generously loved and given to so many. Just hours before this close knit family was celebrating the engagement of the oldest daughter Emily Chapman, and were just hours away from a graduation party marking Caleb Chapman’s completion of high school. Now, they are preparing to bury a child who blew out 5 candles on a birthday cake less than 10 days ago. These words are unthinkable to type. And yet we trust in a God who was not surprised by this and because of Jesus I am certain through faith in Him we will see Maria again. – Jim Houser (Manager)

From http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

Quite funny and cute.

I remember my senior year in high school some goofy guy with a mullet singing about his heart might blow up and it would kill him. That was Billy Ray Cyrus. Around that time he had a daughter.

Now, years later, his daughter is arguably one of the biggest stars in the world. Miley Cyrus exploded on the scene as the character Hannah Montana. She quickly became Disney’s biggest money maker with a hit tv show, tons of cd’s sold, a movie, and a sold out tour. And now she’s crossing over in to being herself and performing as Miley Cyrus.

But she’s recently gotten into trouble with some pictures she took herself and somehow got onto the internet. They were a little racy. But then the famed photo shoot with Vanity Fair magazine and Annie Liebovitz that were pretty risque in nature, especially when held up against her image of Hannah Montana on Disney.

Some fault her. Some point fingers at her parents. Some say it’s just the industry she’s in and was inevitable. But she was in various states of undress holding a blanket or sheet to cover what were are not supposed to see. All over the place, people blasted her saying, “She’s only 15! She’s a child!”

Now while I completely agree that a 15 year old has no business what so ever in taking “sexy” pictures for a national magazine [or really at all], it’s really the world that most 15 year olds live in. I know that there are plenty of “regular/normal” 15 year old girls who would [sadly] love to have a photo shoot like Miley did w/ Leibowitz. Teen girls today and what our culture and media blitz them with all the time tells them that they need to grow up quickly and be more adult like in as many ways as they can.

And in turn, they try to mimic what they read, see, and watch. [Remember, MTV is watched by a TON of teens, both boys and girls]. And Miley is afforded more opportunities than most 15 year old girls. Now I would never allow my own daughters to do something like that if I could help it. But I have to wonder if Miley is just representative of a lot of other girls these days….? Fifteen years old today is not the same as fifteen years old when I was in school.

Oh, and now Hugh Hefner has offered Miley a full center spread in his magazine (Playboy) for when she turns 18.

I first heard of drop.io on a podcast by Tony Steward and Who Are These Guys? podcast. It sounded cool. Basically a free service to be able to upload files of whatever kind for someone to be able to download. So, you have an audio file you want to share w/ a friend? Have a group of pictures? A document? Anything? Just upload it, create a url for it, and then share that URL w/ your friends.

But then I found a great review of it. A stinking great review by Ben Stewart. So here is his review. Make sure you go and give a little love to Ben.

Drop.io calls itself “simple private exchange.” Basically it is an easy way to share files online. On the surface it’s as simple as choosing a name for your “drop” (or using the random default name provided for you) and then choosing a file to upload to your “drop.” Then all you have to do is email anyone in the world the URL to your newly created “drop” and they have access to whatever file(s) you uploaded.

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However, Drop.io goes beyond simple file uploading. First of all, it allows you to configure some basic settings while creating your drop. If you want everything in your drop to stay private and you want more security than just the randomness of your chosen URL then you can set a password for your drop. With a password set, anyone who wants to view your drop must know the password to gain access. You can also select how long your drop should be available to the world. You can even select what you want other to be able to do with the contents of your drop. People can either view files, view and add files, or view, add and delete files.

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But it doesn’t stop there. Once your drop has been created you are asked if you want to Continue reading

I’m not a huge fan of his. But this made me laugh.

So right now I’m sitting at home with the three kids. Actually they are crawling on me [2 of them are] making it difficult to type. But the Lakers are getting beat (so?) and Rowan is asleep.

Pat is away on vacation today. So he’s letting the crazy folks run the asylum while he’s away. Things went well this morning though. D preached. Matthew played. Jason played. And I welcomed, announced, said bye, and ran ProPresenter. Things went pretty smooth. It’s good to know that things don’t fall apart if Pat’s not there. But it’s always good to have him there too.

Pat is away on vacation. I’ll get a Twitter update from him saying he’s riding bikes next to the beach or going snorkeling or listening to jazz music in Florida. I have to compare that to what the weather has been like here. Sun, then rain, then tornadoes. [I’d rather be snorkeling in Florida too!]

Today was the first Sunday since school is out for UMiss. There was a noticeable drop in attendance. I miss the college kids. We’ll see what difference it makes tonight.