Green with Envy?

Okay. I'm gonna say it. This glorified golfcart has some kind of appeal to me.

Okay. There. I said it. Are you happy?

Signed- the owner of 2 - 4X4 SUVs.

So what do you think of the car?

Signs of the Times

I went to the hospital tonight to see a friend and as I am leaving I see one the guys on the left approaching and to my dismay as I am driving away I notice his flashing strobe light comes on and he proceeds to. . . you guessed it, pull me over! I got stopped by policeman on a segway.

Can you believe it? I felt like I was in a dream and it was the year 2095 and I was being stopped for still driving a car that used petroluem instead of the much more eco-friendly fusion car.

And why did he stop me?

Just to tell me how to get out of the parking lot. "It's dark and it's hard to see the arrows to exit." he said. And just for clarification, it was only a security guard, but certainly looked like a cop.

Ready? Set. Okay, GO!

Thanks to my friend Jessica, I can share with you some fun moments from LifePoint! Thanks Jess for the link!

Ordering 101

Burger King, Earlier Today...

Cashier: Welcome to Burger King. This is Norman. Can I take your order please?

Me: Hi Norman! My nam..., will take a number 1 please.

Rachel: "HA, ha,ha,ha,ahha,ha,ha,ha,- You tried ha, ha, to tell him, ha ha ha, your name! Ha,ha,ha,ha,aaaahhah,ah,ha,ha"

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She's had about 5 hours now to get home. She should be home soon.

My Crazy Wife

What you don't see is her cape. Nor can you see how crazy hyper she was on this day!

I love my wife! She brings such joy and wisdom to my life!

Love you babe!

Here we go again!

Which one is the real one?

I'm Not Above A Middle School Game

Okay, I'll play the game. (Although this feels like something that should be done as a 12 year old at a slumber party at 3:00am when even the sound of the wall clock ticking is simply hilarious.)

7 Random:

1) I killed a squirrel in my backyard one day - by throwing a battery at it. Duracell, size D. It crawled at a rapid pace over to the small creek by our house and simply dropped its head in the water and drowned himself. I felt like I was the most evil person alive. I thought for sure I would miss him. I didn't. I had better aim than I thought.

2) I witnessed a car wreck one night, from start to finish. I saw an 18 wheeler enter the intersection in front of me. I was in the left turn lane and both lights turned green. I couldn't go -the truck was in the way, but in my rear view mirror I saw a car coming and not slowing down and that car had a green light. I told my dad who was with me, "Oh no dad, there's about to be a bad wreck!" Seconds later this car runs right into the cab of the truck at about 50mph. It was loud, very close and sad. The lady was on her way home from the hospital with her 80 year old father. Everyone, was okay in the end. But it was scarey.

3) Random experience both job and non-job related that I have been taught over the years.

• welding


• plumbing


• cabinet-making


• cattle raising


• chicken farming (60K chickens for 4 years in college) (That's some smart chickens!)


• installing ceramic tile - (Lance Burch taught me)


• tractor, front-end loader, and manlift operator


• bioreactors - (microbes for wastewater treatment plants)


• sound system set-up/repair


• computer repair and networking


• limited graphic & web design


• archery


• pastoring/preaching*


• cross-stitch

*This of course has the greatest gravity on my life.

4) I've never had an alcoholic beverage. Ever.

5) I was President of the German Club while in high school only so I could get a free meal at the local German restaurant. I didn't know any German then and still don't now.



6) One of my eyes is two different colors.










7) I once walked from the playground at my elementary school all the way to the cafeteria with both of my middle fingers screaming the "old man" to any who saw. My principal saw me out of his office window. It's possibly the longest flip-off in the history of elementary flip-offs.

Goatfarmer Concern.

I recently saw some news located at my mother in law's blog that shows concern for her son the goatfarmer and his lack of comments on her site. While this is a concern and certainly needs attention, I think there should be something said for the fact that goatfarmer is very selfish. Now I understand that this is a serious charge, however it is warranted due to the understanding that goatfarmer is using blogspot as a foxhole to lob comment grenades like "yankee" or "ever come and visit" when indeed the goatfarmer doesn't even have a blog for others to respond.

Remedy? I think that goatfarmer needs to come out and fight like a man! Get a blog! Become a voice instead of an echo! Make a stand! Release the check-valve. Come away from the foxhole!

"Olly olly oxen free" Come Out! Come Out! Whereever you are!!

Who is with me?

Lovin' Adobe Illustrator!

Rachel and I went out to RVR (That's River Valley Ranch for the non-marylanders) and visited with some of our good friends Chad and Erin Bonawitz. While we were there we took a few picts for the upcoming Ride of Passage in July. I used my bike as a prop and Chad held it until last minute for the "suspension shot." It was a great day driving around RVR and a great visit with Chad & Erin.

We took a moment for Erin to snap a picture of Rachel and I in the Jeep while we there.

I'm in the beginning stages of trying to talk myself into selling the Jeep. I need to, but don't want to.

Fore!!!

Well, I can't believe it, but it's true. I must admit that I like golf. I know, I know, I have made fun of this recreation passtime for many years often explaining how golfing is wasting valuable fishing time, but truth is, I enjoy my time out there. I'm not obsessed yet or anything. However, I did golf in a tournament with Bert, my paw-in-law on Thursday. It was fun. We came in dead last. And now I have another Tee-time scheduled for tomorrow morning with a friend of my sister-in-law, Matt. It should be fun.

We're having a great time in Oregon! Jessica, Rachel and I went out to the coast yesterday to Newport and went to the tidal pools. It was pretty cool seeing the starfish and shellfish that get trapped in the tidal pools when the tide goes out. While we were there we saw 3 gray whales! It was very cool to see them.

We ended the day at Camp 18. It's a restraunt located close to the coast that is an old logging camp. It's a great place and I love to eat there. It's quite rustic and rich with character. I will post some picts of some past projects I was working on last week just before leaving MD.

Reality Vs. Imagination

I really love mountain biking! It's so much fun. I feel like I'm actually riding a 74Z Speeder bike. You know, when the Stormtroopers were chasing Luke and the Ewoks on the Forrest Moon of Endor. Man I always wanted to ride one. Now, I feel as though I get to every week!

Status Update

Status update: Attempting to find something to wear. Clothes that are remotely as cool as Robert Conn or Adam Workman is impossible to find in my closet. No hope in site. I must settle for the normal frumpy Jason clothes. Sigh.

Double Trouble

Lance and I were coming back from mountain biking on Wednesday night. We pulled up to an intersection and found a car disabled. A man in a tie was on his cell phone, presumably calling help. While Lance was on the phone, I decided to ask the man if he needed help. He said no and told me his girlfriend was on her way. I took him at his word and proceeded to go around him. Next, he says, "Do you mind helping me get out of the intersection and over to the other side of the road." I complied and ran the jeep up on the grass over a curb and jumped out to help push the car. When I got to him, I saw another car in front of the stalled car and I heard a strange sound. It was a car trying to start! While I was walking to help push the car, another car had gone in front of the stalled car and stalled! Now I can't push the stalled car because there is a stalled car in front of the stalled car! Who'd ever guessed it? It was pretty funny actually. The car finally started and then we pushed the 1st stalled car to safety.

Information Technology: Day 1

Costin' Lots of Dolla$$

Absolutely Crazy! Is your gas bill high too?

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Got my bike & a Sonic DP

What in the world is this about?

Go to the US Postal Service website and try and figure out why our fed tax dollars are being spent marketing Star Wars to well, us. We are marketing to ourselves. I'm not sure how much it cost, but it is cool and I'm just not sure it is worth it.

YouTube Survival Guide

I know. I know. It's like it comes in waves. I never blog and then there's two. Sorry. this is for my tech friends. (Both of them.)

I present two websites that have made my distaste for YouTube lessen by many points within the last few weeks.

I have not liked YouTube since Flash 9 came out. Flash 9 does not allow a YouTube video to load fully ( at least on my computers) and it has caused me great grief.

Until NOW! I present two fun solutions to YouTube.

1) Speedbit Accelerator: It streams down the video in double time and avoids the hiccups or freezes that I kept getting constantly! Yeah. And! it's free!

2). I hated the fact that YouTube was not downloadable. I would love to have been able to download a youtube and use it in a sermon or whatever. Well guess what!!! I give you vixy.net!!
Download a youtube video in multiple formats for off-line use. Yeah!!!! And! it's free!

The two picts below are links - just click the pict! ( and don't forget to see the blog below this one if you missed it!)

A Toast To Todd Wright

I'm never ahead of Todd. Todd is way ahead of me at almost every juncture in life. He knows every artist and every song. He knows if it's good or bad. He knows why it's good or bad. He knows if their motivation for being an artist, or writing a particular song is good or bad; legitmate or propped up.

Todd can take a subject, (usually one I know nothing about) and make it 3 demensional and High-Def. I do good to get a signal equivalent to analog via rabbit ears on a rainy day.

If you have read much of Todd's writings or listened to his songs, you will see that he is not just an artist, but a theologian with conviction and like a skilled ER nurse, the ability to track the very heartbeat of a culture without aid of specialized equipment.

I decided to sing the internal thoughts of my longing to be as culturally literate and (to steal a line from Neil McClendon) "to be a voice in a world full of echoes" as that of one Todd Wright. Carry on Mr. Wright. I stand in the bleachers cheering with the rest.

In honor of Todd, I give you Thunderstruck.org a website that shows the melding of culture and faith in a way that seems worthy of Todd's critique and respect.

So come on fans of Todd - sing the praises to the God of the universe for the fingerprint He left on Todd!

Had No Idea!

Am I the only one? I had no idea this was going on. I think it's pretty cool!

Thoughts?

Web Future!

This site is crazy. Where will web development be in 10 years, if this is where it is now? Thoughts?

Ditto Ditto

Yesterday it started snowing. Still snowing today!

Rach has had two days off!!!

Beautiful Day!

It's beautiful here!

Headlines, Update, and a Recap

For the past few weeks I have been contemplating several things. For the most part they have been spritiual, the rest temporary. I did have one thought that was worth sharing perhaps, so I will give it a whirl.

I was thinking about circumstance and perspective. Both of which we particpate in everyday. We have good circumstances and bad ones and we always face our circumstances from some vantage point and that brings me to my point.

Where circumstance intersects perspective - emotions are produced. Yeah, I know not rocket science, but it is clear. I can have a bad cirumstance with a good perspective and feel awesome; like it was an incredible experience.

I went camping this last summer with a group from church. It rained most of the time we were there. In fact, at one point we decided to outrun the storm that was approaching so we drove for 10 hours or so through the night to avoid it. After the long drive, we still found ourselves in the rain. It didn't take long to realize that we were short one tent pole, cold, and very sleepy from the long drive. Bad circumstance, but ahhhh great perspective. Rach and I were with some great friends that had great perspective. We were all glad to be together and everything became joke or a story. It was one of the top 10 trips ever! Wouldn't trade it for nothing!

So what's the point? I think we have to compensate bad circumstance with perspective. Granted, I think it's much easier to say than do, but it is necessary. When we face things that are not exactly pleasing, or worse, painful, then our perspective must change to that of gratitude and complete dependence on Christ and looking at our circumstance from His perpective. Afterall, when we look at any circumstance from His perspective we certainly can realize that God can use anything for His good and ours!

Romans 8:28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

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Get Up and Go Weekend Recap

We went to WhiteTail Ski Resort this past weekend and skied for 2 days with middle school students. It was a great weekend and a great time for the students to hear God's Word in regard to actually doing something tangible for God. Robert Conn came up as our retreat speaker and Jonathan Martin came up and lead our worship in song time. It was a great weekend to spend wiht the students, friends and skiing. We had so much fun listening to the students stories, catching up on old times and making new memories.









After spending more time with two great friends, I just can say enough good about them. They trully love God with all their heart. And they are an absolute blast to be around!






















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Rundown Since the Weekend:

1. Monday I was tortured to have to spend another 3 hours with Robert just talking and laughing before I had to take him to the airport.
2. Monday I was again tortured to have to take Jonathan to eat at a Baja Fresh where they have the most disgusting quesadillas! Of course then we had to walk two doors down and force ourselves to drink a Starbucks coffee (thanks Danielle) and talk for another 2 hours! We were miserable, sitting there in Starbucks softchairs drinking coffee and discussing dreams... terrible.
3. Of course the day is not over and now I have to finish it with Rachel and I meeting the Burches at Don Pablo's Mexican Restaurant where we spent time talking and laughing and remembering fun stories of the ski weekend. It was terrible having to see their girls and listen to Chloe and her antics. It was just horrible spending the day with friends sharing meals and coffee. Absolutely horrible day! Ahhh!! Never again.
4. Tuesday, Meetings and arrangments for my next event coming Wednesday - "Wildside" ALG Kickoff. Student ministry staff meeting and then off to the house to do the taxes that took no less than 6 hours - just to install!
5. Prepare for WildSide and work on some website applications for the church web page. Meet 45 students at the Underground for a huge celebration of small groups. The night included an Animal theme including 2 games + one game called Spaghetti-0-Mania utilizing the A to Z brand so they could spell words. Then gave a 23 minute talk. Went home and did taxes until 3:30am. Finally finished them.
6. Thursday, Staff meeting and followup on ALG and finished up a few website tasks. My smallgroup tonight. Installed new DVR in the Underground.
7. Rachel has a girls night at the house Friday to which I must vacate the premises. That's okay I still haven't got my lesson ready for Elevate and Sunday's coming quickly.
8. Going with the staff to another church to view their weekend service. We are all riding together. It will be fun and we will probably get home kinda late.
9. Elevate and a little Football Party @ the underground.
10. Monday - sleep, sleep, and sleep.

Other than that, nothing happening!

Later friends!

Curly VS. Waffle?

No offense to Todd Wright or to his followship, but I could not stand by and watch the great fry debate go unchallenged by the great and mighty waffle fry. Say what you want about curly, say what you want about straight - but come on people of the potato, Waffle fries are king! Who's with me?

iphone

Okay. I think that I have found what I am looking for in a new cell phone. I think that it is more than reasonably priced considering everything it does and the fact that it is a video ipod/pda/wifi enabled web-browser and a cell phone. Not to mention it has been collaborated with google and yahoo to completely run seemlessly with the services they offer including google maps.

Question: Why does this device make me feel so wealthy/guilty? I don't even own one!

Available June 2007.

I can hear Ross King playing in the background "I put a knife to my throat so that I do not give in, to temptation."

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WEDNESDAY @ PASSION: About to start the AM session - Piper! Heading home tomorrow!

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TUESDAY @ PASSION: This is just a random volunteer making an announcement before Shawn McDonald sings.

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On our way to register!

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Sunday AM: Found the metro! w/ free parking! Headed to Coca-Cola World! I'll start intros. In the pict is Gary & Jess!

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Just finished the ceremony. It was great! Still recovering from the trip down.

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The rehearsal dinner after a 14 hour drive! Made it. Whew!

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Passion07! Road Trip has begun!

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In DC

Merry Christmas To All

Merry! Merry! Merry!

Moblogability

I think it is safe to say that you will see an increase in blogging activity from me in the coming year. I have discovered Moblogs. Mobile blogging is way to go! It's fast, easy and it took me no less than 9 hours to set up! It's not supposed to take that long, but it did me. Anyways, have fun you techno friends, come on in to the world of Moblogs!

Lance, don't feel as though you have to comply with the invitation above. I will be glad if you would only embrace the wonderful world of Text messaging. (Ha!) Okay, maybe in 6 more years. I'm patient!

A Cemetery With A View

A piece-full internment?

Bass Pro About 2 Months Ago

Me like Mike.

Vacation Update:

1). Monday, I went to DC and saw some of the oldest known bibles, including Numbers and Deuteronomy. It was quite an experience to see them. I must go back. The exhibit will close Jan. 7th.

2) Tuesday, I went to Whitetail Ski Resort and learned to Snowboard. It was enjoyable, but hard work. I figure, "Why should I work this hard when I could be skiing?" I will do it again, but only after I have been skiing abit.

3) Wednesday: Went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Adam Workman, (Small groups pastor) and "tore up" some .50Cent chicken legs! Honey BBQ sauce was awesome. Was stuffed all for only $5.67. What a deal! Later I went to a fun ALG (Authentic Life Group) Christmas party! Them middleschoolers can party now!

4) Thursday: Went to lunch with the staff for a staff meeting (even though I was on vacation) simply because they are fun people to hang out with!

5). Friday: Stayed uplate making Chili for Rachel to carry with her to school. Will sleep late today and then go over to some friend's house for a late lunch.

Observations:

1) I remember thinking "Man, that will never happen until like the year 2000."- It's nearly 2007.
2) Having a list of things you want to accomplish while your on vacation is useless. So be sure and put all the fun stuff at the beginning.
3) I take friends for granted sometimes. I don't always realize that I have the greatest friends in the world, but I do. I would name you all here, but then it would read like the section of "begats" in 1 Chronicles 1 and you would skip it.
4) Reading is a dicipline
5) I love my wife.

Need a new twist on searching? It's not google, but it is somewhat entertaining.

www.msdewey.com

Perspectives In Motion

I was watching ER the other night and I got a completely new perspective on forgiveness. I’m watching as a 35-year-old homeless lady is taken back home to her parents whom she hasn’t seen in over 10 years. It’s one of those scenes where there is no dialogue between characters, only a song being sung over the video of different story lines. They come to the part where the woman steps out of the vehicle and faces the house of her parents. She is clean, sober and of course it’s Christmas. She walks to the door and the front porch light comes on and the front door opens. A tired older gentleman and an aging woman exit the front door bewildered by the sight a lost daughter.

What was incredibly new to me was how good forgiveness could feel. I could see in each of their eyes so much relief, gratitude, humility, and life.

My perspective is now stretched to include something that I haven’t noticed. I now see each of these available to me (and to anyone who believes) as a by-product of forgiveness. How genius is it to offer forgiveness as a provisory of relief and gratitude. How incredibly scandalous is it that Christ conquers pride with forgiveness and offers hope, all at the same time.

I can’t get over how intense it was to see a father welcome home a lost child, and watch the two, as their regret began to melt. This earthly father failures began to fade, and the daughter’s bad decisions were seemingly erased by forgiveness. I think the older I get, the clearer it is to see forgiveness as a treasure and pride as an enemy. After all, forgiveness can only come when we value Christ more than ourselves. I think there are so many people that are looking for forgiveness and just can’t find it. Therefore they continue to dull the pain that only forgiveness can relieve. No wonder they call(ed) it Good News.

This is not a joke.

Okay folks. It's true. There is such a site as christianshoes.com

I know for a fact that shoes can't be christian. Therefore, what is a christian shoe?

When did we trade the word christian from an adjective to a noun? and who did it?

Thoughts?

Go Romo Go!

Five (5) Touchdowns and 306 yards equals 59.90 fantasy points! Absolutely beautiful!

Do you smell that? I think somebody's cooking up some playoffs! And it smells good!

Coming Soon!

Coming to a LifePoint Church Near You!

Whatdoesthissay?Cananyoneelsereadit?

The Hunt 2

The Hunt 2 is only two weeks out! We are very busy getting ready for the Hunt, Sullivan's Flaw, and our move into our new building. The Hunt is coming together, but it looks like a whole lot of videos have to be made. That means all night video editing!

A Maryland fall

Fall is here and Maryland is surrendering once again to the paintbrush of a creative God with an awesome eye for beauty. The leaves are changing colors as everyone talks about the winter forecast, questioning how cold it will get this winter. Harvest is here and signs of it are everywhere. Corn that has been tall for some 3 or 4 months is now disappearing at an incredible rate. The sights and sounds around are fun and exciting. It's as if everything is embracing a change. I for one have been rather mournful at the loss of summer. I had a great summer and hate to see it go. However, there is something rather significant about the passing of a season and the onset of another.


I don't mean to make everything an analogy, but it is quite interesting to see all the leaves change colors. Anyone I talk to down in Texas asks me about the leaves. The weathermen on TV are always talking about it and are even trying to predict the peak of the color change. The interesting thought I have been pondering over for the last few days has left me hopeful, so I thought I would share it. What do you think of this? Leaves don't necessarly "change color;" they simply allow the Chlorphyll to exit the leaf and the true original color is unveiled. I can't help but think about our lives as believers and how much we forget about our true identity. Sometimes our lives are sin-filled and our true colors are covered. Unfortunatley, it's all to easy to forget our true idenitity and become satisfied with our latest vice, forgetting how awesome we trully look without sin.

I heard a Ross King song today, posing the question as to why we continue to work so hard at fighting sin, when indeed Christ said, "Go and sin no more."
I'm glad Christ didn't tell that lady "go and try harder this time." I think the point is this: Go and sin no more can be translated into "Believe in me more for your satisfaction more than you believe in anything else." That's why addictions/stealing/coveting are sin. It's the same old sin of unbelief. I like to think about my true identity: believer.

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These picts are a few I snapped this past Monday. Just a few I thought I would share. Hope everyone is doing well!

My Friend Clay

Check out Clay's new site. I was surfing around and wanted to see if that new-fangled church of his would even recognize that they hired a new guy. Guess what? They noticed! Hope things are going well for you down there, Clay! Happy Birthday!

Update

My life over the past 3 weeks:

Launched Authentic Life Groups
Started Mountain Biking
Created a segment in Elevate called Elevate News Beak w/ Sting Wingman (a chicken)
Created the Poster for the Hunt 2
Went Kayaking with Rachel.
Started Reading Ten Minutes from Normal by Karen Hughes
Started Reading From Beholding To Becoming by Kim Coleman Healy
Jumped in a lake in order to save a couple of students out in a boat. Sounds heroic – looked pretty dumb. Turns out it was only spiders, 6 to be exact (not bees or snakes) in the boat.
Went swimming for the last time this year probably – great diving board.
Held a snake that little Rachel gave me to hold.
Seen probably over 50 deer.
Went fishing- caught nothing.
Watched TV all day on 9-11 and cried when I saw this video.
Joined a peer community group.
Pressure washed the back of the whole house and deck.
Played a rousing game of Corn Hole – (think pitching washers with bean bags.)
Baptized two students.
Watched a whole episode of Trading Spaces, and my wife was not even home. I have no excuse either. Sorry.