Saturday and Santa

This weekend we officially began the Christmas season. I know Thanksgiving hasn’t happened yet, but it is what it is. We went to a Wake Up Santa event at Opry Mills. Macie had breakfast while a bunch of children between the ages of 3 and 12 played the violin. One violin looked plastic so I am not quite sure what to make of their “performance.” After the breakfast and music Mrs. Clause read a story and then the kids yelled really loud and Santa woke up. He better get busy if we are all going to get our presents. Here is my favorite picture from our day out:

I chose this one over me sitting on Santa’s lap, although that one is pretty nice. One look at this picture and you can see what I am thankful for this time of year, and there’s one more on the way. Me in a house of girls, gonna be crazy!

What we do in small group

I have had some questions lately about what our small group is like, so last week I grabbed my video camera and put this little tape together. I am hoping that by sharing this our small group will grow. I just love how Erik leads us in song each week. Enjoy!

Friday Video Fun

First, we have a video of Ed Stetzer talking about his friend AL.

Next we have a video that depicts life if Starbucks were a church. I wish it didn’t depict churches so accurately. Good video and introduces a good blog as well.

From one soldier to all of us

I love hearing from soldiers about their experiences in Iraq. I know many of them have different views and different experiences but I would rather hear from them than from a reporter. So this video caught my eye this morning. This is also a political video and the timing is pretty good to discuss these issues. I read a little about this guy and this is not a McCain paid advertisement. So check it out and let me know what you think.

Baby Jordan #2 has been identified!

Yesterday we had our doctor’s visit to find out how Baby #2 was doing and if Macie will have a little sister or brother. According to her, and this was coming straight from God, it was going to be a sister. At the time she was telling me this I just assumed she was playing around, but yesterday it was confirmed. Baby #2 is a girl and Macie knew it! Now maybe her and God can have a little chat about the Lotto #’s or something! You can check out a few pictures on Amy’s blog.

The Zoo is spooky at night!

Not really, but last night there was some spooky activity at the Nashville Zoo. There were fairies, bats, ghouls, princesses, and a various assortment of other costumed characters running around is search of treats. We headed over there around 4:30 with Erik and family as well as several other Journey folk. Macie had a blast and you can see some pics here. Here are my thoughts on the night:

1. The treats were not worth the effort put in. There were stations set up all around the zoo and with the exception of the Krispy Kreme station, the treats were more plastic trinkety than sweet and chocolatey. We did allow Macie to have a few treats and she was hyped all night!

2. Parents need not wear costumes to kids events! If you are going to an adult party then be cool and dress up. Otherwise, dress the kids and have fun! I saw a Cleopatra, Wonder Woman and even a guy dressed like a king that looked more like Burger King than King Arthur. Some costumes looked they were purchased at the Lion’s Den, a shady store we passed on the way to the zoo. 

3. Kids dancing to Halloween music is great fun. Adults dancing to the same music is not. When guys are watching the ladies dancing rather than their own children, it is not good. This one comes back to the event being for the kids, adults do not need any attention at these events. Macie and Caleb had a blast dancing. It is funny watching a Tinker Bell and a Bat doing the Hokey Pokey.

4. When you are with good people, you will have a good time. The pursuit of the treat stations placed all around the Zoo was not fun. Searching for them with a small army of friends was a blast. Dancing to a cheesy DJ was not fun, watching your daughter and friends being silly and having fun was a blast. Community is fun!

After everything was done, we had one tired little Tinker Bell. She had no problem going to sleep last night!

Movement, a new passion statement

My brother is currently working on planting a church in the downtown Richmond, VA area. He is working with a group in Arkansas that helps plant churches. Recently I have been helping him craft a short statement describing what Movement is all about. Movement is what he is probably going to call this new plant. Here is what we have come up with, what do you think? You can also check out his site by going to www.moverichmond.org. 

“Why Movement? The easy answer is God is a mover. Moving planets, moving stars, and moving people. He is constantly setting people in motion, defining His followers by forward progress rather than stationary comfort. From the beginning of time, God has been causing movement. The nation of Israel was constantly in motion and people never encountered Christ without being sent in some new direction. 

If we take our DNA in this new life from God, and God is a mover, we must also be in motion. Constantly moving, changing, bringing, going , and causing motion to happen to happen in the lives of others. Forward motion in the areas that truly matter – spiritual poverty, physical poverty, compassion, love and lostness.

 The beauty of movement is it never arrives. It never finishes. Movement is a journey much like transformation. Our lives are to be like Christ and that is a life long pursuit. In much the same way beauty can’t be defined as well as it can be recognized, this movement will be recognized by a few factors. Chief among them are seeing disciples made and unleashing them into the world around us. Equipping those disciples to realize their God given pursuits and passions and engage a lost culture with the Gospel of Christ. In creating disciples our desire is to see people pursuing God’s presence, seeing the world with His perspective and living out His purposes.

 True community is another recognizable feature of this movement. Within the building of this community people will be encouraged to live lives of transparency. Getting involved in the messy areas of life and loving all people as Christ loved. This is not a self contained community but one that is constantly looking to serve outside itself and looking to bring others in. An unleashing into the world not for the sake of one church but for the sake of the Church.

 God’s movement toward redemption is happening all around us everyday. We will not be starting anything new, but rather joining in something very old. Our desire is to change and impact where we are and unleash others to do the same. As we link arms with others looking to change the world, it is our prayer that God would be glorified and His movement fleshed out both locally and globally.” 

What do you think? What would your Passion statement be? What about your church?

Macie is talking to God now

Macie has started the funniest thing lately. She will literally have a conversation with God while looking off in the distance and slightly up toward the sky. This happened on Saturday and Amy has done a wonderful job of recording the story on her blog, so click here to read it.

Maybe I don’t want my dreams to come true!

I am not sure where you were on Saturday night, but if you were like me you were watching the ridiculous Elite XC fight on CBS. I wish something better would have been on because all in all, it was a terrible waste of time. But, like many others, I wanted to see Kimbo Slice and the circus that he is. I was also hoping for a few entertaining fights but everything from the fights to the announcing was lame. I am not sure where they found their announcers but this was hopefully the last MMA broadcast they will be doing.

The pre-fight interviews were ridiculous. At one point the female interviewer, not sure of her name, was talking to Gina Carano. She said, “I just know that sometimes women want to open a can.” That coming from her was absolutely hysterical. Reminded me of some early day WWF interviews. 

Then when Kimbo, street brawler turned hype machine, came out the announcing took a turn for the worse. Watch the video but let it load for a minute or two. The first 5 minutes are opening announcements and introductions. Listen to the announcer once the fight is over. He labels it the most incredible victory in the history of MMA. This all happens at about the 5:20 mark. Another announcer says, “This is what MMA is all about. If you have a dream and you are willing to step into a cage and fight for your life you can be anything you want.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? 

That kind of sealed the deal for me, no more Elite XC fights. It’s UFC or nothing. The other guys simply can’t put the whole event together. I watched the Affliction fight several weeks ago and they kept cutting to Mega Death in between fights. Seriously, Mega Death? Hey guys, stop trying and wasting your millions and my minutes. Send the millions you are wasting to Africa and buy food for people or something.

Go here to view the video of Kimbo Slice.

Monday Inspiration

After being out all last week on vacation visiting the vacation mecca of the known world, Disney World, I needed something extra to get going this morning and this video was there waiting for me. I will post about the vacation later but this video is priceless and kinda like Pringles, once you pop you can’t stop. Seriously, try to watch it just once, you can’t. You have to watch it at least twice and by then its too late, the song is stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Enjoy!

Hey Robbie, can we try this one Sunday?