Little Sumpin' Sumpin'

Just a thought...or Two

#1 I'm no genius, but here's a thought. Why don't we appoint all our legislators to some cabinet position so that we can find out how much tax they owe and let that improve our economy?

Better yet, why not make the same vetting process for cabinet positions apply to all legislators?















#2 "Hey, AT&T! YOU'RE NOT NEW ANYMORE! My fear is that instead of moving the name change campaign to drop "The new" they will create a new by-line. "AT&T: the Old Cingular"

In Limbo

So what do you think? this a good idea? I'm thinking it could come in handy...I'm just sayin'...













Thanks Charlie!

Don't Hate Me

Okay, so don't hate me. It occurred to me the other day that alot of people may actually like the apps that are available in Facebook. That means that some of you have been very kind and decided to even include me in the fun of Facebook's application world, and for that I would like to extend a real "thank you."

If you have sent me and ap invitation, I probably owe you an apology, because I probably didn't accept your invitation. Now you may be wondering why I chose not to accept your invitation to become part of a worthy cause, or join you in a fun game, or perhaps work hard at discovering my true top friend, but the truth is, I'm in a dilemma. I find some of the apps overwhelming, some useful, some fun and some of them mind numbing (but probably not the one you sent.)

How does one solve such a dilemma? Easy. You do nothing at all. Therefore they collect into one location. Currently I have received somewhere over 216. I hope I haven't offended you by not responding & I certainly hope you understand. I figure there are some things in life you have to say no to, and so far, Facebook Apps are it. Who knows, I may add a few one day.

So for fun, how many Facebook applications do you have?

Day Late and $ blah blah.....

Tonight I decided that I wanted to go look for an Andy Gullahorn concert to see if he was going to be close to Maryland any time soon. Robert introduced me to his music at the beginning of this year, and I really like his stuff, so I thought it would be fun to hear him live.

Today was September 10th, and I went to the site and looked for the schedule and found the following:

AndyGullahorn.com
The Official Site For Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Andy GullahornClick HERE for more information on booking shows and house concerts

September 6, 2008 Lancaster, PA
with Andrew Peterson
Lancaster Bible College
7 PM

September 7, 2008 Phoenixville, PA
with Andrew Peterson
Faith Baptist Church

September 13, 2008 Jonesboro, GA
with Andrew Peterson
First Christian Church
7:30 PM

September 14, 2008 Lindale, GA
with Andrew Peterson
First Baptist Church

September 21, 2008 Nashville, TN
Square Peg Alliance Show
with Jill Phillips, Andrew Osenga, Ben Shive and Eric Peters
12th and Porter
7:00 PM

October 4, 2008 Albany, GA
with Jill Phillips and Andrew Peterson
Porterfield United Methodist Church
The Rock Fest 2008
7:30 PM

Can you believe it!!!!?? Lancaster is maybe and 1.5hrs away, and I missed it by 3 stinkin days! I thought about looking about 3 weeks ago and I just got to it and look what happened...

O well, I'll try and catch him next time around. Sorry Andy. It would've been fun.

Community

Sure do miss these people:


Congratulations on Carley's arrival!

Water- logged

Jodie, Rach and I decided to kick off summer with a fun excursion through the beautiful landscape of Maryland by floating the Gunpowder Falls River. Mind you none of us had floated it before, but it was a hot day and we were looking for an adventure. Earlier this year I discovered a few tubers, while we were running on the NCR Trail North Central Railroad Trail) They were coming out of the water with there tubes and it reminded me of my Guadalupe floating days in Texas.

With that in mind, it seemed to be a great solution to our adventurous appetite. Well, I'm careful, so I asked around and found a friend, Chad, who had canoed it 4 or 5 times and he assured me of the route we were planning and said it was about a 2-3 hour canoe trip.

Saturday, I bring up the idea of floating after church with a little bit of excitement we kinda tabled the idea. However, after church on Sunday, I had already had it in mind to bring it up again. It was supposed to sunny and 85 for the high. We brought the idea back up as an option and I decided it was time to start checking barriers to the adventure, afterall, we didn't even have any innertubes yet.

One phonecall later, we had innertubes and an assured dropoff and pickup location.
All we had to do now was go. Of course, there was a little concern since know one could tell me how long it takes to tube it, but I figured we should try anyway. The only thing I had to remember was that once we traveled about 6 miles via the river we were going to start cris-crossing the NCR trail and at anytime we could get out and walk the NCR to the take-out spot. Well, it didn't work quite as planned.

We gathered the tubes, made it to the take-out spot, dropped the Jeep off there. Took Jodie's car to the put-in spot and then moment of truth hits us. Jodie's key is electronic, meaning, it can't get wet. It must be locked in the car! Once you do that then there's no turning back and mind you it's now 4:30pm. We're about to venture out on and 11 mile river journey with no idea of how long it will take and if we can even make it to the NCR before dark.

Well, it's an adventure right? So we lock the doors and head for the river. We get to the river and see a bunch of people floating, only there floating towards us and get out where we're about to start. We get in the water and it's only warm enough to keep from being ice! I mean cold! Anyways we're good, right? Well kinda. I float for about 3 minutes when I discover some bubbles whistling from my tube. I have a pinhole in my tube and we are still 1/2 mile from the car. At this point I notice a bunch of fishermen ahead and that the water is very shallow, so I stand up in search of deeper water. I find it, but meanwhile begin wondering if shallow water will prevail most of the trip or if this was going to truly be a river float and not a river walk.

Well, I decided the leak was a pinhole and that it should last a while. Yeah, risky. Anyway, we float for awhile and I'm basically just trying to keep track of where we are in my mind, how long we've been floating, where we are, will I see a snake, will we survive this adventure or will I go down in history as the man who took a risky adventure and failed.

I come across a few more fisherman and ask them about a landmark ahead, to which he replied, "oh, Interstate 83, well, that's quite a ways." Great. Just what I wanted to hear. So at this point we I begin to relax a little, simply because we're commited to this, we'd passed the point of return. About 45 minutes later we find the landmark. I'm relieved that we've made some ground, but still looking at an 11 mile float, a roughly 3 mile landmark, wasn't that comforting in light of the 8 miles ahead. Shallow water provided us ample walking opportunity, which was somewhat tiring, however, the watermelon slices and Dr. Pepper that we brought in two small igloo coolers provided a wonderful mile or two of blissful floating and refreshment.

Meanwhile, we make our way down the river and begin a wildlife count somewhere along the way. Twenty-four vultures, 4 full-grown beavers (you know the kind that Rachel screams like a wild badger at. Especially when they're swimming towards her.) 3 deer, and 1 snake (that I didn't tell the girls about) and a couple of fish; a great count I think, for any adventure.

Well, as sun falls so does the water temperature. I begin asking every person I saw, "How much further is it to the NCR?" I figured this was a valid question. It's quite a landmark that everyone living around there should know. Well, they didn't. It didn't matter who asked, they would say, "I don't know where that is." That was not comforting. Finally, we come across another landmark. That was more comforting, but remember, we have maybe an hour to 1.5 hours of light left and my fear was that we were only half way.

We rocked on along, and let me tell you I do mean ROCKed-ON along. There were rocks everywhere and we were constantly hitting them. It didn't make the trip bad or even miserable, just a constant reminder that maybe a tube with bottom might be good next time, if of couse we survive this time.

We finally come to a bridge. I'm up front so I get out and run up to the road to look around and see if I can see the NCR. Well, I find some people walking to their car, and they basically get in there car and drive away as if to ignore me. I get back the bridge and not knowing anything about where we are, I decide that we should just get back in the water and keep floating. I know that the more we float the closer we get and we were losing daylight. Off we go, I find a person about 200 yards from the bridge we just left, fishing, and guess what. NCR? They don't know. I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I mean, I can see a long way down the river and there's nothing ahead. We keep floating. Like for another hour. It's getting dark, had to be 8:30 by now. I'm thinking, "okay. I'm looking for any sign of civilization at this point. Trail. Sign. Road. Power line. Sounds of cars. Anything. I find nothing. Just water and logs.

Ironically, somewhere along the way the water did warm up. I don't know exactly why, but we passed this waterway that was coming into the river and the water was warm. That was encouraging. I still was prefering to see a bridge that said "NCR HERE." The terrain seemed to change at one point. Jodie pointed out that it looked like the NCR and we all agreed we thought we were getting close, but how close was the question.

About 20 minutes later, I spot a clearing on the right. I had seen that before when running on the trail. Then after a much anticipated wait, I see path coming down to the water. I had looked for anything resembling that for quite some time and now it was finally here. I got out and ran up the path and to my relief, the NCR. It had to be 9o'clock. It was late. I figured we were about a mile from the car. We carried the tubes and walked for just a bit and noticed a landmark on the NCR. We had made it! We had gotten just what we wanted, an adventure. All was well and we even had the key for the Jeep still with us. All in all a great adventrous trip, heavy on the adventure.

Bubble Game...Politics

I had an idea to every now and then post a picture with a bubble and let readers comment to fill it in, so here we go! Let's come up with the best lines for the guy in the background. How would you fill the bubble?

Note: Please keep it clean, politically correct (as in no slander or bad mouthing a certain party) and remember, the guy is supposed to be a supporter right?

*Jason Fullen does not necessarily endorse all comments replying to this post and reserves the right to delete any questionable comment.

Yep, it's my birthday!

Okay, it's been forever since I've blogged, so instead of hiding on my birthday, I will just own up to it. I know it sounds conceited to blog about your birthday, but come on it was pretty conceited of me 33 years ago as well. I mean, I made quite a fuss back then with all the attention I was demanding. At least I'm not demanding attention this time, barging in and expecting everyone to answer to my beckon call! (Wow, was I rude when I was born.) I mean, I expected so many people to drop whatever plans they had and come see me, and then there's my mom and dad, who gave up so much just to make me happy. Wow! Do I owe them alot! Thanks mom and dad for giving me such a firm foundation of family and a genuine love for Christ!

So on this birthday, I turn this whole thing around. Not Happy Birthday to me, but thank you to everyone else! I know it sounds trite, but I really am thankful to so many that have invested in me over the years, and now I'm grateful for those that have settled down to call themselves friends! You people are great! Not everyone has friends, but I do and so for that I say "thank you for being a friend."

I turn 33 today. That's roughly the same age that Jesus was crucified. Me being a pastor makes me look at Jesus and His ministry in a new light considering my new age. It makes me think of something weird. Jesus completed his ministry in 3/3.5 years. It makes me wonder about what God has in store for me in the future in regard to influencing people for eternity. I want to make everyday count. Toward that end, I've decided to change a few things. Rachel and I are running more. Notice the Nike+ pic up top. Yep, it says 8 miles. We did 6 the week before. That seems crazy. I know it's not "ministry," but I sure enjoy spending that time with Rach. I've also vowed to read more. I've even taken the extra step of rearranging furniture so I have a "reading chair." We'll see out it goes. I'm looking at this birth day as a wake up to guard against insignificance. No, I haven't lost purpose, vision, hope or am I even depressed. I just want to start finishing strong, whether I'm a 1/3 to the finish or over 1/2, and there's no better place to start again than on a birthday.

Thanks friends!

President Clinton Visits Nourishing Mother

Stephen F Austin is my Alma Mater. Alma Mater in latin is "Nourishing Mother." I thought this was funny. If your in the Nacogdoches area, you may want to drop by just for the heck of it.

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SFA Home / Public Affairs / News Releases / February 2008

Former President Clinton to speak at SFA Friday afternoon
Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to talk Friday afternoon in the Grand Ballroom of the Baker Pattillo Student Center. Doors will open for the event at 6 p.m.

The former president will be speaking to Nacogdoches-area supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a daylong, East Texas tour that will include Texarkana, Longview, Tyler and Lufkin.

Random Blog Thoughts

We just got back from Vertical Weekend 2008 at Whitetail Mountain. It was a great time. Jonathan Taylor Martin came up with a friend, Patrick Lockwood to lead us in worship. They did a great job. I had a friend from Grace Fellowship (Columbia), Jamie Schaad, come and teach the retreat. He did an amazing job. It was a great time. You can check out a few picts over to the right. (It's also some picts from my awesome trip with Rob's group to CO.)

P.S. I love my students and leaders! They were/are awesome!

Randominity:

- the shadow at the bottom of the picture is me.
- rach and I just purchased 1/4 of a steer (freezer beef) totalling 158 #s. I truly am from Texas.
- rach downloaded Eye of the Tiger from itunes; it reminded me of getting ready for church on Sunday mornings as a child. I would always get ready early and go listen to Dallas Holm's song Rise Again, and promptly after that I would play, mind you it was a record, Eye of the Tiger. Nothing like worship prep!
-I started watching LOST, but only the 1st 3 episodes on DVD. Long way to go but i'm hooked.
-I really love my wife. We seem to get along very well - and we've been married 12.5 years now.
-I'm already trying to figure out how to go skiing again before too long. Pitiful.

ok. done.