Jesusgreek

A few years ago a group of friends and I created our own holiday called "Heorte" (pronounced Hay-or-tay). Heorte is the Greek word for festival. Heorte began one weekend when Beth was out of town, so it was like one big guys only party, full of hot wings, golf, Rook, and anything else we felt we had the freedom to do with no women around. Ever since then, every time Beth (and now the kids) are out of town, we celebrate "Heorte". This past Friday was one of those occasions. Beth and the kids left early in the day to head up to her parents house where they planned on spending the night. I made my usual calls to let the guys know that "Heorte" was on but to my disappointment, every one of them were going to be out of town. So with the whole day to myself, I celebrated the first ever, "Meorte" (Greek for - "my-festival). "Meorte" started about 1:00pm, when after finishing all my assigned duties Beth had left for me at the house, I deci...

There's an old song called "Big Rock Candy Mountain" that was written back in the 1920's and tells in detail of a hobo's dream home. I think as Christians, we too have our on "Big Rock Candy Mountain". We have our ideal family, home, church, car, job, income, health, problems, and life. When we don't get our "mountain" then we lash out at God and others. We feel life isn't fair because it's not easy. I spoke at a youth camp last summer and had a great experience all week long. At the end of the week the camp director was debriefing with the councelors. He made the statement that he thought the past week was the best all summer. The staff disagreed because in their opinion it was a hard week. He told them something I'll never forget. He said, " Good doesn't always equal easy . In fact more times then not, it's the hard times that end up being the best times." I think that's why God doesn't give us our ...

I was at the infamous "Food Lion" yesterday when I was part of another one-sided conversation (see previous post). The only exception this time was that instead of hearing about something I really didn't care too, I left pondering the events that just took place and how I am looked upon. It began when I stepped into line behind a man (30's) and someone he was with that could have been his grandmother (80's). He had helped her collect her groceries and was now helping her check out. On the surface this seemed like a great act of service by a loving grandson. As the checkout proceeded, I noticed the gentleman was getting more and more frustrated with his grandmothers lack of understanding, constant questions, and methodical search through her coupons and money. Basically the guy was a real jerk. When they left, the cashier asked if I saw what just happened. Not having a clue what she was talking about, I gave my usual, "yep" answer, hoping that would end t...

There's a local Bar-B-Q joint in town that has a daily trivia question. If you get the question right, you win a free banana pudding. I don't want to brag, ok I will, I get them right at least 50% of the time. And their pretty tough to. But with my vast knowledge of all things irrelevant, I have pretty good luck with them. Today was no exception. My father-in-law dropped by the office today and offered to take me out to lunch. So being the good son-in-law that I am, I obliged. We chose Prissy Polly's, the above mentioned Bar-B-Q place. I guess since it's the NBA playoffs, they wanted to toss out a basketball question. The trivia was this: "Which college did San Antonio Spur Robert Horry play for?". You have got to be kidding me. I'm sure they thought this was a tough question by the way the cashier looked at me when I dropped the answer on her, but little did she know that yours truly has a No. 25 Robert Horry Houston Rockets jersey hanging in my closet. R...

It's 8:01pm and the season finale of "24" is now on. So why am I blogging instead of watching the best show on TV? Because of you, my loyal readers. I love you so much that I feel so dedicated to you all that only..... Oh who am I kidding. I don't care about you. The only reason my fat behind isn't in bed watching Jack Bauer kick some terroist butt is because Beth has her book club tonight. Why does that effect what I watch? If you have to ask that question then obviously you aren't married. We have to watch certain shows as a couple. Or at least that's what she tells me. So I'm taping "24", yes I said taping as in VCR. We just got high speed internet a two months ago, do you really think we're in the "DVR" generation yet? I told Beth she had to stay up tonight and watch all 2 hours of the finale before she could go to bed. She tried to give me the "Some of us have to work tomorrow line" until I reminded her that I inv...

After the movie on Friday night, 5:30am came really early on Saturday. I needed to be up at the church by 6:00am to start pulling out stuff for the church yard sale. After a week of nothing but a clear and sunny forecast for Saturday, I drove to church in the rain. Aaron and Jeremy were there at 6:00 too, so since we couldn't set things out in the rain, we just sat around and ran our mouths. Good times. By 6:45 the rain had stopped and a few more people showed up so we started setting up. The yard sale lasted until 1:00pm and there was very few slow periods during the six hour sale. We made pretty good money and everyone that helped seem to have a good time. Saturday night I was exhausted and really didn't feel like cooking, so Beth and I called in an order of Japanese food. I gave them my order and last name then headed off. When I got to the restaurant, the Japanese lady the rung me up asked if I was from Indianapolis. I kindly said no then she explained she was just wonderin...

Jeremy, Matt, Brandon, Kristie, Beth, and myself went to the opening of "The DaVinci Code" last night. There was one lone protester outside holding up a sign with a cheesy picture of Jesus on it that read, "I love Jesus. Reject the Da Vinci Code."I wanted to tell him that I love Jesus too and was also a pastor, but he was up on the main road and you couldn't even see him from the theater I I decided not to. I figured I was probably the only pastor in the theater. Ok, enough intro, on to the review.... I felt the movie was good but not great. The first 1/3 of the movie went so fast and left out so much from the book that I don't know how someone not familiar with the story could have kept up. For example, in the book, the first 1/4 of the story takes place in the Louvre but in the movie that part might be 15 min long. And considering this is a 2 1/2 hour movie, you can see what I mean by a hurried story line. The movie finally slows down a little about mid wa...

This week has felt like I've been working 2 jobs. My mom (who usually watches my kids during the week) is on vactaion so I was left with kid duty. I would do the normal "house husband" type duties during the day (watch the kids, clean, laundry, grocery shop, etc) and then work on my church stuff at night or anytime I had afree minute. Kirsten was great and kept the kids for a couple of hours on Tuesday & Thursday so I could actually go into the office and get some stuff done. That leads me to today, my "day off". My day off consist of getting up and fixing breakfast for everyone, going to church to finish up some last minute yard sale details for tomorrow, going home and mowing the yard, then taking the kids to Beth's parents so we can have a much needed date night. We're going to see the Da Vinci Code. We both really enjoyed the book so I'm hoping the movie doesn't suck. We don't get to go to the movies that often anymore so when we do,...

I never lose anything, well except for my hair, money, mind, dignity, and virginity, but all of that can be blamed on my wife. So I was very upset when I lost my phone on Tuesday. I've tore my house apart looking for it but still no luck. I know I had it last at home because Beth called my on her way home from work. I've tried calling it but it's either dead or on silent. I'm pleased with the final 2 on American Idol. I've pulled for Taylor all season just because his sound and style is so unique. I'm also happy that Katherine is in the finals if for no other reason then to rub it in the face of all the "Kat" haters & Chris fans. Two season finales down, two to go. The Office and Scrubs were terrific season enders with great cliff-hangers. Next week is the finales of 24 and Lost. I can't wait. Speaking of "Scrubs", I picked up season 3 this past week so I guess we'll start on it tonight. Beth and I have started playing "Chess...

My son Jacob is almost 3, and for the life of me I have no idea where he picks up some of the things he says. Yesterday, I was in the process of fixing him his favorite lunch time meal, PB&J, when I noticed he had dumped almost all of the toys from his toy box in the living room floor. I went over and pushed them together in a pile next to the box and asked him to please pick them up and put everything back in the box before lunch. You would have thought I asked him to move our house. He started screaming and crying saying, "You help me, you help me". I reminded him I was fixing lunch and he was a big boy and could do it by his self. That's when he dropped the, "But it's HARD WORK daddy" line on me. I was like, "did he just say it was hard work"? How in the world does he even know what that means. He must have noticed it caught me of guard because he kept repeating it over and over. "But it's hard work, it's hard work". He Kep...

** Note: No fish were harmed...err..killed in the making of this blog. When Beth and I were first married, we lived in a tiny apartment in Winston-Salem. Knowing Beth's love for pets and my disdain for them, we compromised and got a 10 gallon fish aquarium. I didn't mind fish since I had always had some sort of goldfish growing up. Beth had never had a fish tank so this was a new experience for her. At first, our fish aquarium was wonderful. We bought some really strong fish, you know the kind that you don't really have to take care of but somehow they still manage to live, and before long we had a budding fish community. Our fish did so well that they started having babies. We would get up each morning and have more and more "Black Molly's" swimming around. When we got to over 50 baby Molly's, we said enough was enough and took all the babies along with the male Molly to a local pet store. I thought about just flushing them but I didn't have the heart...

As I was finishing up my "Seinfeld" season 6 DVD's this past weekend, I thought about how many GREAT quotes have come from that show. So I've decided to compile a list of my favorites. This is just the beginning as I plan to add a new one to this list every couple of days. Enjoy! George Costanza : Why are you home? You're supposed to be out on your route, and getting my calzones for Steinbrenner. Newman : Well, I saw that it's raining outside, so I called in sick. I don't work in the rain. George Costanza : But... you're a mailman! 'Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow... ' It's the first one Newman : I've never been much for credos. Elaine : Hey, Kramer, listen, you've seen The Omen right? What exactly was that kid? Cosmo Kramer : Who, Damien? Nothing, just a mischievous, rambunctious kid. Jackie Chiles : [speaking at a rapid clip, about one sentence per second] You put the balm on? Who told you to put the balm on? I didn't tell y...

I've just finished reading three books. So here is my take on each one: "It came from within" by Andy Stanley I picked this newest Stanley book up at "Thirsty" a couple of months back if not for any other reason then I've read everything else by him so I wanted to keep the streak alive. All of his previous books have been really strong and this one was no exception. I won't bore you with the details of what it's about but I will say he does another remarkable job of making the obvious seem so profound. My only problem with this book (and it's the same I have with all his books) is that he makes the bible and our walk with Christ to textbook. What I mean is he states the problem, tells why the problem is bad, then goes through a series of steps to solve the problem. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong but I don't think God's word and our lives can be simplified into an equation format. If you do X and Y then Z will happen. Maybe he's...

So I wake up Friday bright and early at 5:15am to head off to my second day of volunteering at WBFJ's 2006 Share-A-Thon. The mood was a little more tense then on Wednesday. Maybe it was because it was the last day and everyone was tired, or maybe it was the fact that entering the last day they still had over $200,000 to go in order to meet their goal of $575,000. It would take the biggest share-a-thon day of WBFJ's 11 year history to reach that mark. They said it would take a miracle for us to reach it. As the volunteers worked hard answering the phones, we had bagels provided by Panera and then Mid-Town Cafe brought by eggs, bacon, and pancakes for everyone. To me, this was the beginning of a miracle. When I left at 9:00am, we had raised $30,000 (give or take) but they still had around $190,000 to go. I wished them luck and headed out. I got home and Beth and I loaded up the kids for our now annual spring trip to the NC Zoo. The weather was perfect and all but the Rhino exhibi...

Before I get into this post, let me clear up a question from my last one. I was asked, "What is a CD opener?". From what I can gather, (I have not used it yet), it's a round piece of plastic that fits perfectly over any side of your CD case. You then take this CD opener and run it across the CD's side to cut the plastic protective wrap that can be so darn hard to get off. I will try to get a picture to post on here for the future. Now onto my thoughts for the day. I'm not a huge TV watcher (no matter what my wife may say). I have 4 shows that I make sure I watch each week and two that I have really cooled on. It just so happens that the 4 shows I watch come on in consecutive nights so it seems I'm always watching TV when in reality, I only watch an hour or so of TV a day. 24: Monday Night By far the best action/drama in television show in history. No show has ever griped you more and had so many unexpected twist then this. Jack Bauer has become a TV icon and a...

For the past 7 or 8 years, I have volunteered some of my time at a local Christain radio station called WBFJ. It's one of these listener supported, no commercial deals. I usually help with their October Dixie Classic Fair booth / concert (which this year will be Jars of Clay & Cindy Johnson), various concerts that may come around the Traid area, and their big pledge campaign called "Share-A-Thon". Share-a-thon goes on for 3 days each May. During this time, listeners can call in and make pledges to help keep the station running. I really like Bonnie, the lady who is the volunteer cordinator, so I have a hard time saying no to her. So every year I end up working 2 out of the 3 days and as always, I get "asked" to do the early morning shift. How early you may ask? The 6:00am-9:00am shift. That means I have to wake up at 5:15am to get there in time. The ironic thing to me is I don't even listen to the station anymore. Don't get me wrong, it's a great...

Stop throwing a fit. You need to share. Put that back. Leave that alone. Don't touch that. It will be ok, you don't have to cry, I'll fix it. If you've had the joy of being a parent, then you know those lines all to well. I have a son that will soon be three years old and those above mentioned statements come from his mother's and my mouth almost constantly. So as we have been battling the "terrible two's", I have asked my self time and time again, "Why does my son act that way? Why can't he just behave? Why can't I get away with acting like that?" Then it hit me, we spend our entire lives trying to control behaviors, our own and others, and we never really address why we behave the way we do. I get angry, just like my son. The only difference is that I have learned to control myself instead of throwing a tantrum in the middle of the aisle at the local grocery store. ( Although I did attempt that once when my wife wouldn't let me ...

Yesterday marked our 1 year anniversary of our Refinery student Ministry. We celebrated by having a girls vs guys photo scavenger hunt. Now back in the old days this would have been done with Polaroid cameras (or in Bob Grants youth days a stone tablet and a chisel) But now that it's 2006, we have advanced to using digital cameras. The rules were simple and photo hunt items were as follows: Rules: - The adult in your group takes the pictures - Everyone else in your group must be in the picture - Pictures will be judged on accuracy - Team with the most points wins - If there is a tie, then team with the best unique photo wins (this will come into play later) Scavenger Hunt Pictures: Bagging groceries 2pts In a shopping cart 4pts In a restaurant 5pts On a Tractor 8pts On a play ground 8pts Walking through a drive thru window 8pts On a Fire Truck 10pts With a law enforcement officer 12pts With a man in a suite 15pts On a church pew (must be in a church) 20pts Unique Picture up to 30pt...

I know this movie is like 10 years old but for whatever reason I had never gotten around to watching it until this past weekend. I have a group of friends that do nothing but quote this movie verbatim, so after years of hearing the dialog from this film, I figured I might as well put some pictures into my brain to go along with all the movie lines. I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it was a sad movie and it was on some levels. I'm not a big fan of Billy Bob Thorton but did a remarkable job playing Karl Childers, a simple man hospitalized since his childhood murder of his mother and her lover. He is released and returns to his childhood town and although being mentally handicapped, gets a job fixing small motors at a local repair shop. Karl befriends a young boy, Frank, and is soon invited by Frank's mother, Linda, to move into the family's garage. As a strong relationship develops between Karl and Frank, a confrontation builds with Linda's abusive and sometimes v...

"The Office" was awesome this past week!! Maybe one of the best episodes of the year. As I was hearing about all the ways Jim torments Dwight, it brought back memories of my early years before I was in full time ministry when I worked at the Clerk of Courts office in Greensboro. My friend David and I had a few folks we picked on pretty hard. Hearing all those great jokes made me wish I could go back in time and try a few of them out. Please allow me to vent on this past weeks elections. NC had the lowest voter turn out in it's history on Tuesday. Was I there? Heck yeah. Just like every other election I've been able to vote in since the day I turned 18. What makes me mad aren't the results of the elections but the lack of interest our country has for the whole voting process. The same people who moan and complain about our government and elected officials are the same ones who won't get off their lazy butts and go spend 2 min casting a vote. If you don't vo...

I've never been much of a reader. ( Well except for sports magazines and comic books) I've always been the, "Why read when you can watch it on TV" kind of guy. That was until I married Beth. I think she has made it her life goal to get me to read more and watch TV & movies less. After almost eight years of marriage I guess it's finally working. When Aaron and I were at the Thirsty Conference a few weeks ago, one of the speakers said he made a goal this year to read 30 books. I was like, "Wow! I've not read 30 books in my life". So when I got home I started thinking of how many books I've read this year alone and to be honest, the number really surprised me. Below is the list of the books I have read or I'm currently reading in '06: 1) Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell 2) Visioneering - Andy Stanley 3) Through Painted Desserts - Donald Miller 4) Three - Ted Dekker 5) Seven Principles of Effective Ministry - Andy Stanley 6) The Naked Christian - ...

Beth and I thought we should blog a his side / her side point of view about our recent vacation. So when you finish this, skip over to Beths page to see her take on it. The following are actual events from our weekend trip to Williamsburg, VA. Day One: The trip there After Beth got off work, we dropped the kids off at my parents house and were on the road headed to Williamsburg by 4:00pm. Now much like George Constanza, I love to make great time. Map quest said the trip should take 4 ½ hours, so that is my time to beat. We arrived at our hotel at 8:30pm. Thats 4 ½ hours for those of you who are time challenged. But that included stopping to eat at Cracker Barrel, so our actually the driving time was around 3 hours and 45 min. I had made great time!!!! It was really nice to ride, talk, and eat with Beth without having to concentrate so much of our time on the kids. We stayed at a place in colonial Williamsburg called the Governors Inn. I figured if it was nice enough for the governor th...