Stay persistent

Today was the day that I gave in.
I've been asked 4,072 times.
It's made sense every time.
It makes no sense that I haven't done it yet.
Every time I tell them...I know...I know.

Today I registered my Starbucks card.
I get a tall black bold coffee almost every day...$1.50...don't judge me :)
This will give me free refills and free coffee on occasion.
Makes sense. It's not rocket science.
I think I'm addicted to the ritual of pulling $2 out of my pocket and always walking around with 50 cents. I'm weird.

Moral of the story. Don't give up. Stay persistent. You never know the day that something will click for someone. Keep asking. Keep knocking. Keep seeking. Keep scratching and clawing. One day it will happen. Be encouraged!
Thanks Starbucks. You have my heart for life :)

Hat guy

I've been looking for one of these hats that would fit my dome for a long time. Tonight I found one. When you're bald you are faced with the reality of head accessories. Especially when you have basil cell carcinomas cut out of your nugget!
So I've rocked the short bill Fidel Castro hat, the cowboy hat, the fedora, and the full wrap around flip cap, your standard run of the mill flex fit baseball hat. Adding something new to your arsenal can always be scary...so I'm wondering...can I pull off being this guy??? The Irish cab driver meets Tiny Tim. Let me have it.

The good ol' days

Prepare yourself for a nauseating trip down memory lane...Don't worry, I don't do this very often!

Everything in my life right now costs a lot of money.
- I'm overseeing a 2 million dollar project at the Stirring, getting us into our new space.
- I'm building teams for a 5K run and walk fundraiser that we are looking to raise $50,000.
- I have a monthly grocery bill that's inching toward $500.
- I just spent $30 on a haircut for a dog that I don't even like.
- I own a aqua blue Toyota Echo that has a salvaged title :)

I just found myself reliving the days that we would put $2 of gas in Aaron's bug and drive to Newport for the day...eat a budget meal at Bakers for $2 and go see the Prayer Chain that night for $3. Seems like a long time ago. Livin' in my parents garage, eating all their food, mowing lawns so I could scrape together enough money to go to shows and buy crappy guitar gear.

Now I have 2 mortgages and 9 columns in a ledger for my savings account (thanks mom).
Just a different time in life.
Trying to enjoy every season!

Moths and Rust

Today we had another garage sale. Crazy that we accumulate enough junk to constitute one of these a year!
The last post in my blog before I started it back up a couple weeks ago was on Sept. 26, 2009 and it was about our last garage sale. Here's what I posted:

There's somethin' about garage sales that always brings you back to reality.
You're giving away a driveway full of crap for quarters...and these are items that had great value to you at one point in time.
Today we made $75 and baked in the sun for hours as we watched our treasures slowly make their way into the back of pickups and minivans.
We should all have garage sales to remind ourselves that it's all just stuff...and at some point a weird guy with a fanny pack is gonna bargain you down to $1.50 for an item that you paid $100 for five years ago!
Here's to moths and rust.

First Impressions

So if you read one of my last tweets you heard about my interaction with some kids at Zeke's school. I went to pick up Zeke at the playground and a kid pointed at me and said to his friend..."look, it's a hobo!"
I thought it was amazing and laughed harder than I have in a long time but it got me thinking about a few things. What parents talk to their 2nd graders about "hobos?" It's not like I was carrying a stick over my shoulder with a bandanna tied around it with my 3 earthly possessions inside of it. Hobo...hilarious...who uses that word.
Then I started thinking about first impressions and what the world sees when they see homeless people. If a kid on a playground can look at me with my amazing facial hair and think I'm homeless I can only imagine the looks and stares a person on the street gets every day. Not things you think about all the time but it definitely got me thinking.
There's a person made in the image of God with a story and a family behind every sign and probably deserves more than a finger point and a snap judgment....
Or it could just be your short bald pastor with tattoos with a beard that a squirrel could live in!
You never know.

Garage sales

There's somethin' about garage sales that always brings you back to reality.
You're giving away a driveway full of crap for quarters...and these are items that had great value to you at one point in time.
Today we made $75 and baked in the sun for hours as we watched our treasures slowly make their way into the back of pickups and minivans.
We should all have garage sales to remind ourselves that it's all just stuff...and at some point a weird guy with a fanny pack is gonna bargain you down to $1.50 for an item that you paid $100 for five years ago!
Here's to moths and rust.

Lawn mower

Got a new mower today.
It' electric.
You can hear yourself think when you're mowing...it's awesome.
We had someone give us a mower which was a huge blessing but it only had one height setting and our yard grows like it's taking steroids.
I'm learning how to maneuver the whole chord thing but I like it.

Yellow shirt Mondays

Mondays are my Sabbath.
If you ever run into me on a Monday (and most Saturdays) you'll see me in a yellow shirt.
I have this one: The 2001 Jog-o-thon shirt, with kids standing in a row with shirts that spell Jesus loves you.
And I have a yellow Walk your talk walk shirt that was raising money for adoption.
I just came to this revelation this morning. I have no idea why I do this but these weird shirts bring a sense of normalcy to my life...something I can count on.
The only time I switch it up is with the red CUSH shirt that I've had since 1999. Steve and I still sport this shirt whenever possible.
I'm a pretty simple dude...
Mondays...yellow shirts...
Coffee...gray flannel sweats...and my 10 year old moccasins that you can smell 2 minutes before I arrive.
Do you guys have any weird habitual outfits?
Am I the only one?

why...

do I stay up till 2am every night at conferences?
it's the one time a year I can actually get some sleep.
I get less sleep then when my son is screaming through the night.
I'm not very smart.
I should go to bed.
Maybe I'll check my google reader.
I'm not very smart.
Did I say that already?

Social Networking

So I broke down today and got a Facebook account.
I haven't had a myspace for about a year, and I was desperately longing for cyber friends.
We'll see what happens. If it takes more than 3 minutes out of my day it probably wont be worth it. Come find me and make me feel like we're really close even though I haven't seen you in 13 years :)
I do like finding people from high school. Found a couple of my baseball buddies from back in the day.
Is Facebook worth it?
It seems pretty cool.
Is it going to suck my will to live?
So many questions.

Too much

My mind is being blown on a regular basis these days.
I always want to have the posture of a learner.
That makes things interesting when part of your job entails teaching others.
God is so good and he is teaching me so much about his story and how I enter into it.
At some points I feel like it's too much.
Mind has been blown too many times.
So many holes in my mind, that it can't hold everything.
It's all spilling out.
I need brain band-aids.
Do they have those at Rite-Aid?

My black Friday purchase

I got Zeke a bell for his bike. $2.99 at Target. His other one broke. Can you believe 3 people died today trying to shop for something that no one will care about in 3 days like this bell. We live in a very confusing place.

Did someone steal my banner?

No idea what happened to it.
Can you view it because it looks like a big black box to me.

You've officially been pimped...

Adam needed some love to tell the world that his blog has moved. Go give him a blog hi-five.
In exchange for blog love I'm getting some tech love in setting up my wireless connection.
We totally need to move back to a bartering society...that would be awesome.
The only problem is my skill set kind of sucks.
I could pray for you.
Sing you a song.
Teach you how to be mediocre in golf.
Preach at you.
Give you advice that doesn't work in raising kids.
Pick paint colors for your house.
Pimp your blog.
That's all I got!
I'd probably go hungry in that kind of society...bummer.
I need to get good at a hobby or something.
Would anyone trade goods and services with me? Whatcha got?

How to cap a long day

Come home from a long day at work...
Meet your wife in the driveway with the kids loaded in the car...
Jump out of your car to join them and go look at potential houses...
Have your kids freak out inside potential houses...
Drive home while kids freak out in the car...
Get home and realize something sounds weird...
Look over and realize that your other car is running...
Look in the window and realize you locked your car...
With your car running...
Realize you don't have a spare key...
Realize your car has been running with the doors locked for two hours...
Realize Life Group is at your house in an hour...
Call oldest friend in the world who used to be a lock smith...Thanks Aaron...
He tells you to call someone with triple A...
Call Nate...Thanks dude...I owe you...That's worth at least 14 iced caramel macciato's...
Get car opened as people are walking into my house for Life Group...
Can you tell my mind is a little mushy right now...
Lesson...
Turn your car off when you get out and take the keys out of the ignition before you lock doors!
Long day.

The 777th post

The perfect number...
I need to write the perfect post...
Too much pressure...
I'm not sure Jesus cares about my blog...
My posts have sucked for a couple weeks...I apologize
Hang in there till after October 12th...
The church plant has officially turned my brain to oatmeal...with raisins...and slices of banana.
If Kirk Cameron was a ghost writer for my blog he would write an amazing 777th post...
Speaking of amazing acting...
Does anyone have The Omega Code II on Blue Ray?
I hear it will blow your mind in HD!
Thus ends the perfect post.

Caught the last five minutes of David Blane tonight...

Dumbest thing I've ever seen.
Anyone else see it?
There's no way I can get that five minutes of my life back.
Bummer.

My stairs

I just turned the corner to go up stairs and started crackin' up. I wonder if it's possible to have something strewn on every step!

Starbucks Vivanno = colon cleanse

I love me some Vivanno but has anyone else discovered the instant after effects. I've had enough now to know that the scoop of fiber they put in that bad boy is pretty potent. Mix one with an Americano and you have a deadly combination...so I've heard!

before...after

Just got my new license. Makes me feel a little better about not quite being 175 yet! I look pretty stoked in the top pic. I had probably just eaten a twinky or something! The bottom picture was last week and she snapped it half a second after I stepped on the line. I wasn't even looking in the right direction.