Jesusgreek

The following is my final list of the books I read in '06. I had set a goal of reading 24 books and came up just short at 23. You can read which wee my top ten in one of my previous post. - Auschwitz: A Doctor's Story: Lucie Adelsberger - Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church: Mark Driscoll - Generous Orthodoxy: Brian McLaren - House: Frank Peretti & Ted Dekker - Into the Wild: Jon Krakauer - Into Thin Air: Jon Krakauer - It Came From Within: Andy Stanley - Left for Dead: Beck Weathers - Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia: Book 4): C.S. Lewis - Radical Reformission: Mark Driscoll - Seven Principles of Effective Ministry: Andy Stanley - Stop Dating the Church: Joshua Harris (re-read) - The Judge Who Stole Christmas: Randy Singer - The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of WWII's Most Decorated Platoon: Alex Kershaw - The Naked Christian: Craig Borlase - The Unquenchable Worshipper: Matt Redman - The W...

For the next few weeks, I will be giving you my "Top (insert number)" list for a variety of things. From books, to movies, to trips, to music, I will list my personal favorites from 2006. The following are some of the places I traveled to in '06. Some were vacation, some conferences, some youth trips, and some missions related. So here are my top 8 place I traveled to in 2006: 1) Chicago, IL (vacation) 2) Williamsburg, VA (vacation) 3) Estes Park, CO (conference) 4) Magnolia / Dover, DE (mission) 5) Garden City, SC (vacation) 6) Alpharetta, GA (conference) 7) Elizabeth City, NC (mission) 8) Atlanta, GA (youth trip)

For the next few weeks, I will be giving you my "Top (insert number)" list for a variety of things. From books, to movies, to trips, to music, I will list my personal favorites from 2006. The following movies are ones which I watched for the first time this past year. Some were fresh and new at the theater while others were older movies I picked up on DVD. To qualify for this list, these movies all received at least 3 stars from me. Here are my top 14 movies of 2006: 1) The Prestige 2) The Lady In The Water 3) Superman 4) Rocky Balboa 5) V For Vendetta 6) Munich 7) X-Men 3 8) Cars 9) Capote 10) Sling Blade 11) Friday Night Lights 12) Kill Bill Vol. 1&2 13) Flags Of Our Fathers 14) Good Night And Good Luck

For the next few weeks, I will be giving you my "Top (insert number)" list for a variety of things. From books, to movies, to trips, to music, I will list my personal favorites from 2006. I've probably listen to the least amount of music this year as ever mostly due to my fixation on our local sports talk station. When I do switch over from talk radio to music it's usually comes while driving around town or an a date with Sasha. Here are my top 7 CD's (why 7? why not?) that I purchased this year: 1) James Taylor "Live" 2) Charlie hall "Flying into daybreak" 3) The Beatles "1967-1970" 4) Johnny Cash "The Legend of Johnny Cash" 5) Matt Redman "Blessed be your name: Songs of Matt Redman" 6) Jars Of Clay "Good Monsters" 7) Michael Buble "It's time"

Today I treated myself to a pre-Christmas present of the newest (and last) installment of the very popular "Rocky" franchise. I'm a huge "Rocky" fan and I've been eagerly awaiting the opening of this film for some time. Most people I know have just rolled their eyes at a thought of yet another 'Rocky" movie (#6 if you're counting). To me the last 5 break down this way: I & II are epics, III & IV are action movies, and V is a drama. This newest combines all three genres into one great movie. It doesn't necessarily matter if you missed the first five movies because writer-director Stallone gives us a recap, but it certainly helps knowing the history as this whole movie revolves around his past. Rocky gives us flashbacks of previous films, showing us important places he shared with Adrian (Talia Shire, his wife that died). This time Rocky's reason for wanting to get back in the ring is to remove the pain in his soul from losing Adri...

Working at a major hospital has it's privileges. A few weeks ago Beth learned that Santa would be arriving at 10:00am on her hospital Air Care helicopter on the 18th. The plan was to take Jacob up to meet beth and see all the action. Although I held it in pretty well, I was more excited then him. As Jacob and I arrived yesterday for the big landing, I heard the sound of a chopper above us as I drove up the parking garage. My heart begin to race as I just knew we were missing the landing. I stepped on the gas and Jacob asked, "Why are you driving so fast?". I simply explained that Santa waited for no one. Fortunately when we arrived on top of the parking deck next to the helicopter pad they were taking off to go get the big guy, not bringing him him. As I sighed a breath of relief, Jacob and I found a place next to the landing pad ready for optimal viewing conditions. Before long we heard the sound of a helicopter propeller in the distance. Then the moment arrived. Santa m...

Occasionally I run across a blog and I think, "man, I wish I had written that". Yesterday was one of those days. My friend Ryan posted the following on his blog page and I thought is was worth passing along. This is "His Story"... "It was a fairly pedestrian day in Lower Archdale. At least nothing ostensibly out of the ordinary. This was the true up to the point I left the local Food Lion. I was encountered by something that I would have never anticipated. "Hey would you like to buy a cell phone?" said the man from across the way, "it has a camera and text messaging." In my mind I didn't know what to think. First of all, I thought it strange that someone would go to this length to make a sale. In support of this theory, the man was wearing a heavy work coat, and had a thick grey beard. So I moved to the next logical answer, he had stolen it. Now I'm a very defensive person. It's in my DNA. My father warns me about everything, all...

At this time I'm deep into my fantasy football playoffs. After a long a grueling season, all three of my football teams made the playoffs. My regular season finishes were 1st, 2nd, and 4th. This week will be the semi-finals for each league. I have been lucky enough to still be alive in each. can a triple crown be possible? Could I win the championship in all three leagues? A feat of such magnitude would but me along side the all-time greats: Jordan, Tiger, Brady, Jeter, and Ric Flair. I have to admit that when began the season, I was a little worried that playing in three leagues was a bit much. Then my friend told me was was playing in 10. So I guess if he's a "fantaholic" then I'd just be a casual player. Whatever you want to call me, I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to fantasy sports, I have a problem. I'm a very, very competitive person by nature. I want to win at everything. And If I don't win, I'll try harder next time. I also se...

For the next few weeks, I will be giving you my "Top (insert number)" list for a variety of things. From books, to movies, to trips, to purchases, I will list my personal favorites from 2006. I've never been a big reader but for some reason this year it has become a new habit of mine. I've tried to read a diverse collection of books so not to get to burned out on one particular style or genre. I set a pretty ambitious goal (ambitious for me, maybe not for some) to read 24 books. I ended up reading 23, which still exceeds my total book count for my life up to this point. The following list are my "Top Ten" books of '06: #1 "Into The Wild" by Jon Krakauer #2 "Confessions of a Reformission Rev." by Mark Driscoll #3 "The Longest Winter: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of WWII's Most Decorated Platoon" by Alex Kershaw #4 "To Own A Dragon" by Donald Miller #5 "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer #5 ...

Waiting for anything stinks. Waiting in line. Waiting in traffic. Waiting to be seated at a restaurant. Waiting for hell to freeze over so you can cash in all those promises from various people you've met in life. Let's face it, we hate to wait for anything or anyone at anytime at any place. What makes it harder is when it's God telling you to wait. I've been drawn to two passages of scripture lately that I needed to hear but don't want to apply. The first comes from Psalms 27:14: "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." I guess God felt like there was no way I'd listen so he repeated Himself. There are times, like now, that I want to jump ahead of God or just jump period. I've done this many times in the past and each time my next prayer after jumping is "HELP!!". So I started to ask myself why am I so anxious for change. What is it that I'm wanting God to hurry up and do? What do I feel I'm having to ...

This is one of my favorite clips from "Scrubs". The scenario is a woman that is waiting on a heart transplant being perfectly comfortable with death. She says she imagines death being like a Broadway musical (which sets up this final scene)I guess I relate to this because whatever happens next for me, I'm really comfortable with. Here are the compete lyrics from the song. It's "waiting for my real life to begin" by Colin hay. Any minute now, my ship is coming in I'll keep checking the horizon I'll stand on the bow, feel the waves come crashing Come crashing down down down, on me And you say, be still my love Open up your heart Let the light shine in But don't you understand I already have a plan I'm waiting for my real life to begin When I awoke today, suddenly nothing happened But in my dreams, I slew the dragon And down this beaten path, and up this cobbled lane I'm walking in my old footsteps, once again And you say, just be here now F...

"Nacho Libre" My initial thought when I first saw this movie advertised was, "that movie's gonna suck". But then I learned it was loosely based on a true story so it begin to intrigue me. Not enough to see in the theaters but enough to rent. So last weekend I made the trip down to the local video store and picked it up. After the kids went to bed, Beth and I begin watching it. She was asleep in 15 min. I wasn't even tired and it was all I could do to stay awake. The premise is about a guy who becomes a pro wrestler by night to earn extra money to make better food for kids at an orphanage. It was made by the same guy who did "Napoleon Dynamite" which is 100x better then "Nacho". The movie never really took off because the jokes were the same all the way through. I thought the best parts were the strange sub-characters and weird camera angles ala "Dynamite". 1 Star "Click" I've always been a huge Adam Sandler fan sin...

A couple of months ago I posted a blog about what a "potentially" good season Wake Forest might have in football this season. I changed the colors of my blog to help with the "karma" of what might be something special. The something special just happened as Wake Forest won the 2006 ACC Championship!!! This is only their 2nd ever football championship (1970 was their last). They were led by the ACC coach of the year in Jim Grobe and the ACC freshman of the year in Riley Skinner. Congratulations on a great season and I was proud to do my part, karma and all!