Monthly Archives: July 2007

Photo Friday – The Man Boy

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So, over our vacation we had the opportunity to hang out with my good friend Matthew. Now, Matthew owns a concrete company and thus had many cool man toys to play with. We’re talking 4 wheelers, excavators, tractors, 4×4 trucks… the list goes on. So, during our visit, our man child Asher got to have his way with some of these… here are some pics (click to enlarge):

Drive

Here Asher is driving his first vehicle… no, not a car… it was this:

drive 2

“This” happens to be the biggest machine that JBC makes… That’s my boy.

jbc

Here the man boy is digging his first trench… later in the day I got to use this beast for helping matthew to rid his front yard of a stump.

mud

Ahhh, what trip to south Georgia wouldn’t be complete with some mud boggin!

happy

He’s saying cheese… I’d say he had a good time.

Cool Church Stuff

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I love to see how churches run. I’m a nerd like that. So, this morning, Organic Peru Norte coffee in hand, I began to peruse a document released by the elders at Mars Hill in Seattle.

The document describes how their many thousand people, multi campus, church is going to reorganize in order to better glorify God and care for his people. It was really fascinating… and while I could write about the document itself and how cool their approach and transition is… the thing that kept ringing in my head was, “how many of the church members are going to read this whole thing and how many really care?”

I mean, the funny thing is that some guy 2400 miles away is reading it and thinking, “wow, this is a great transition process and I really think it might make this church function better for the glory of God and the Joy of his people.” But the document wasn’t written for me… per-se.

So, here is the question for all you church member’s out there. When you church has a business meeting (family meeting, special service, or whatever your church calls it)… and they had out some document outlining what all is happening in the church, “Do you read it?”

Seriously, post your answers. Just click the word “comment” down there / and let me know your thoughts. I know a lot of our readers are church folk, so drop your two cents.

$25 Tasty Mistake

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So, tonight Jennifer and I wanted a special treat to celebrate an important event that happened today (to be blogged about later). Anyway, I decided we’d have one of our nicer bottles of wine this evening.

Now, for us, a nicer bottle is one that costs more than $10. Basically anything under $10 is a “daily drinker” and if its over $10 it is for more special occasions. Anyway, I looked in our cellar tracker to see what we had and I saw what looked to be a very nice $15 Cabernet Sauvignon. So, we popped it open, decanted, at let breathe for about an thirty minutes. Upon tasting I was REALLY happy. It was great. Great mid-pallet, good flavor, smooth finish… Ahhhhh.

Later this evening I was waiting for a client to get back to me about a website I was editing and decided to look at the bottle online. I googled it only to find out that the bottle was actually about $25 more than I had recorded in my software. Granted, I entered the price a year and a half ago, but $25 increase in 1 year… not bad. So, while the bottle was far more special than we intended… I sit here blogging and sipping on the last little bit of it. Mmmmmm

A tasty mistake indeed.

Oh, if you were wondering:
2002 Geyser Peak Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – Alexander Valley

You thought you could slip that one by…

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Word for word conversation with asher on monday (after getting back from vacation where we visited a number of people who have dogs):

Asher: Mamma?

Me: Yes Asher?

Asher: We just need to get our dog back

Me: We don’t have a dog, so there is no dog to get back

Asher: Yes we do, she’s at the Clinch’s house

We gave our dog to Nic & Megan Clinch last fall & haven’t talked about Anna (the dog) in quite a few months…thought perhaps he had forgotten that we ever had a dog. Nice try….but no. He will probably remember for the rest of his life that we gave away the dog. Even though it happened before he was 2 & when we gave her away he was very hostile toward her & did not want her near him.

Flylight Zone

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It drives me crazy when ryan forgets to tell me events that are going on. The most recent one is that there is apparently a fly convention meeting in our house today that he failed to tell me about.

Ok, so maybe he didn’t know about it either. Surely someone did though. Since 11am, I have killed 15 flies & currently have 3 buzzing around my head & 2 that I am aware of that are currently buzzing around the living room upstairs. Where did they all come from? The REALLY weird thing is that i have noticed flies on the OUTSIDE of the windows buzzing like they’re trying to find a way in.

Very creepy. & irritating.

Why Church Planting

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(Subtitle – Why I Want to Church Plant)

Drew Goodmanson posted a video that compiled some of the common stats used in the discussion on the need to plant churches. Since I assume that most of you won’t go to his site and sit through the whole thing, here are some of the highlights:

  • Between 1991 and 2004 the number of unchurched people in the US almost doubled
  • In 1900 there were 28 churches for every 10,000 people in the US… In 2004 there were 11
  • From 1900 to 2000 the US population increased by 269 percent. The number of churches increased by only 65% in the same time period
  • 3,500 to 4,000 churches close every year in the US
  • 1/2 of all churches in the US saw NO growth thru conversion
  • In the US there are 98 million people under the age of 25. Those under the age of 25 are the least likely to attend church
  • Between 2000 and 2004 every state experienced a decline in people attending church except Hawaii
  • The increase in the number of churches in the US is only about 1/4 what it needs to be to keep up with population growth
  • “Dozens of denominational studies have confirmed that the average new church gains most of its new members (60-80%) from the ranks of people who are not attending any worshipping body, while churches over 10- 15 years of age gain 80-90% of new members by transfer from other congregations. This means that the average new congregation will bring 6-8 times more new people into the life of the Body of Christ than an older congregation of the same size.” Why Plant Churches – Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church
  • “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven.” C. Peter Wagner

The stats are sobering… at least for me they are. What do you think?

Home

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We’re home and it feels GREAT. In fact, it feels mildly euphoric.

After I broke into my house last night (yeah, we didn’t take a house key with us) we put the kids in bed and I went and surveyed my domain. It was a strange and fulfilling feeling. To look around my house and see that all was in order and as I had left it. It seemed like we had been gone for months. Now, I sit back at my desk… drinking my coffee… enjoying the peace and quiet of my home…

Ahhhh… home sweet home…

Now, to check my 156 emails.

Almost 1000

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… that’s how many miles we’ve driven so far this vacation. I’d say we are almost to the halfway point in our miles. I think we might tip 2k before it is all said and done.

While there is a lot of driving, it has been a fun trip. We’ve seen lots of family and the kids have had a good time.

Today we head off to see my grandparents and then drive down to Savannah GA where we’ll visit some friends. Then, on Sunday, we’ll head to the final destination… the beach!

So, not sure if/when we’ll post again over the next few days, but check in from time to time to see. If you’re really looking for something to do, why don’t you check out the archives on the left there… or go read one of those books on the right…

later…