Life Without Internet Access?

While on vacation, I have been experiencing life without readily available Internet access. I can only come to the conclusion that I am spoiled - both at work and at home. I'm having a great time with family and friends, but I miss being able to get online and read my favorite blogs, check email regularly, and post something to a blog. Neither my parents, nor my in-laws have decent Internet access (slow dial-up is the best I can get at those places). I've had to journey to Chick-fil-A in Waco to find high-speed Wi-Fi. Amazing, isn't it? How did we survive before high-speed Internet access?!?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, friends and family! We're enjoying our time in Texas. We'll be heading to a Christmas Eve service in several hours and then we'll enjoy a great Christmas Dinner prepared by my mother-in-law, Pam. Enjoy these pictures and a very special Christmas greeting from us to you!

This is our family Christmas picture that we sent out this year. We decided to go with a 'Christmas morning' motif - hence, the pajamas.

Here, the girls are holding their 'babies.'

This is the picture we should have sent out with our Christmas cards, right?

Annie and Allison decorated the tree this year. Isn't it beautiful?

A special greeting from us to you - Merry Christmas!


Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Advent Devotions

This Advent season, I'm using three resources for my Advent devotions:

First, I am using the devotional guide put together by our church. Randa and I each contributed a devotion.

Second, I am using the Following The Star online devotional. It was created and is produced by Passport, Inc., a student ministry organization focused on creating meaningful experiences and resources for students.

It has been an interesting experience to read devotions from several contributors who were students at Truett when I first started as a seminary student.

The final resource I am using this year is a book, Setting the Christmas Stage by John Indermark.

It is a unique resource in that it does not have daily readings, but four readings per week. It also uses the metaphor of a play to present the themes of Advent. As someone who is not gifted in the dramatic arts at all, it has been a stretching and encouraging resource. There are also great family, small group, and congregational ideas to use with the book as a part of the journey.

Another thing that has helped with my Advent journey this year happened last night. A few of our youth, a college student, a few youth workers, and I attended Convergence's Jazz at the Vespers Christmas service. It was a beautiful service with wonderful music, scripture readings, and the freedom to experience God in a stress-free setting. Todd and Lisa and the rest of the leadership over at Convergence are doing a great job following the call of Christ in their lives to be a creative community of faith. Check Convergence out if you get a chance and support them in any way you can!

The Real Meaning of Christmas?

There's an excellent article in today's USA Today On Religion weekly column that is titled, "The real meaning of Christmas?" The author, Tom Krattenmaker, opens with the notion that the holiday season has become for many of us something to dread. But, as Krattenmaker says, "If there's any larger trend to be divined from people such as Marcus Borg and organizations such as the Advent Conspiracy and Christmas for the Needy, there is reason to be optimistic that Christmas might become more fully an occasion for renewal and hope — for religious as well as secular citizens — and ever less a venue for culture war and credit-card debt." The thrust of the Gospels' Christmas message, Borg and John Dominic Crossan write in their new book about the Bible's Christmas stories, The First Christmas, "is the possibility heralded by Jesus of a world in which power and violence no longer reign, in which peace and compassion finally prevail." If only that would be the world in which we would find ourselves. What is keeping us from that world?

Blogroll Roundup

Some good reading if you have the time...

Merriam-Webster picks its 2007 Word of the Year. So, what does 'w00t' mean?

Tim Challies has a great post about blogging. It deals with new or prospective bloggers, but we can all benefit from the tips he shares.

After the shootings in Colorado, I read several posts about safety at church. Andrew Zirschky offers the best one; it touches on church safety in general and then offers ten tips specifically for youth ministry.

After recently reading about and hearing first-hand reports of how good Phyllis Tickle was at the NYWC in Atlanta, I came across a link to this post over at Out of Ur. The post is an interview with Tickle and is titled "The Future of the Emerging Church." The subtitle is "Are we experiencing the next Reformation of Christianity?"

HT: Christine A. Scheller

Scot McKnight had a few posts that really caught my eye. One was about the EGens (emergent adulthood) and the other was a link to what he says may be "the best piece I’ve seen all year long on the Internet." If you've ever read anything on Scot's blog, that title just begs for a click.

Jonny Baker links to some Advent movies that you can download for free.

Lilly Lewin has a great post about waiting and an Advent service she curated.

Carol Howard Merritt has a interesting post about the flags in church and the whole God vs. country debate. I immediately thought of two of my friends when I read it - Terry Goodnight and Josh Hayden.

Loose Ends and Other Minutiae

Randa and I enjoyed a date night last Saturday at Convergence. We attended Harp 46's Sanctuarium CD release concert. There was also some amazing art from Nancy Lynch on display as well. We got to hang out with some friends, see some cool art, and listen to great music. What an awesome night! Buy the CD here! Here's some pictures I stole from Todd's blog. The first one is Harp 46. The second one is the audience. if you look real close, you can see me on the far right side of the picture. Unfortunately, Randa sat to my left and didn't make the picture.

Josh's wife transcends cool and apparently Josh doesn't come close, unless he gets a Mac.

Why, you might ask, is there a picture of an Advent wreath with all the candles lit? Our Faith Builders children and I just concluded our Advent Study this past Wednesday night. Because of our church's Wednesday night schedule, we had to begin our study back in November and conclude it just as we, as a church, are participating in Advent on Sunday mornings. It was interesting to do it this way, but I think it may help make the Advent season more memorable and meaningful to us because of our participation in the study. You can see our focus words for the study on the board. I pray that the season of Advent is a reminder to you and me of God's wonderful heart of love towards us.

Some fall pictures. The first is from our church. The second is in our front yard. The final fall picture is the view from our back porch. Driving on Old Keene Mill Road is best done in the fall - God has an amazing paintbrush!

SNOW! The first snow of the season occurred on Wednesday, December 5. What is it about snowing on Wednesdays and Sundays? Interesting tidbit from the weatherman - it has snowed in the greater D.C. area on December 5 in four of the past six years. The first two pictures are of our church's courtyard. The final picture is a night picture (of not so great quality) of our front yard.

One detail not explained in the story in my last post was why I chose to propose on December 5. After all, it was a busy day. Looking ahead on the calendar to June 5, 1999 reveals that six months separated the day we got engaged until the day we got married. Seemed like good symmetry at the time!

There was a great post by Steve Argue a few weeks ago on the Intersect Community's AlreadyNotYet blog. It deals with life after conferences. I think it is partially the reason why I haven't blogged my thoughts/reactions to the NYWC yet - I'm still reflecting. Check it out and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Marko had a great post right after Thanksgiving that linked to an article in the New York Magazine that discussed the effect lack of sleep has on children/teens and their cognitive abilities. It's worth the read.

Chuck Norris Approved! This is just too fun!

There are other (serious) videos of Chuck Norris and Mike Huckabee that can be found on Huckabee's website.

Here's another cool video I've wanted to post, but just didn't get around to until now. Enjoy!

What's So Special About December 5th?

I haven't been able to write for awhile now. I had things I wanted to write about, but just didn't feel like I could get them down in words. I probably should have just written anyway because I do really want to write more regularly and that means I should probably write even when the words don't come so easily.

Today is December 5th, a very important day in my life. Why is it important? Let me tell you a story.

On December 5, 1998, I had a very busy day. First, Randa (who was my girlfriend at the time) and I went to a brunch hosted at the home of my pastor at Bellmead FBC. His wife was a wonderful hostess and everyone had an enjoyable time. After the brunch, we headed to the library at Baylor so I could work on a seminary project. After that it was off to the Waco Zoo for a date with Randa. The zoo is where we went as a part of our first official date. (Our first date was a blind lunch date at Applebee's in Waco with mutual friends, but it was more like an extended introduction.) We had to rush our time at the zoo because the zoo was going to be closing soon. When we got to the bench in front of the elephants we sat down. It was at that moment that I proposed to Randa. And she said 'yes'! Randa knew something was up, mainly because we rushed to get to that particular bench. Why there? Because elephants are my favorite zoo animal. I was nervous (even though we both pretty much knew we were going to be married some day) and was actually having trouble getting the ring out of my pocket. I had a zoo map in my hand and it blew out of my hand. That was the moment I needed. I retrieved the map and in the process of doing so was able to get the ring out of my pocket. When I returned to the bench I handed Randa the map and when she took it there was the ring and those immortal words, "Randa, will you marry me?" After she said yes, there was some kissing and some picture taking. When we got to my house, we called our families. Of course, nobody was home. Don't you just love having great news to share, but no one to share it with (we wanted family to know first)!?! To pass the time we watched the end of the Big 12 Championship Game in which my Texas A&M Aggies defeated #1 Kansas State for the title. Gig 'Em Aggies! We finally got in touch with family and shared our news with them and then our friends. What a great day! The rest of course is history and today I celebrate the 9th anniversary of the day I proposed to my lovely wife!