Deeper Blogging

So just an observation...

A lot of people write some really profound things on blogs. And they do it in some really compelling ways. There really are some great writers out there.

Writing has never been my strength... so I'm sorry I'm not more profound and deep at times. But as part of my New Years Resolutions, I have decided to be more profound. So again, I just want to apologize to you all for my years of surfacey posting.

This is the turkey I deep fried on New Years Day. I'm not a vegetarian, but there is something about working with raw poultry that could make anyone swear off meat for a lifetime. Cleaning a turkey (if you have never done it) is not an enjoyable experience. And... quite honestly... the whole thing is pretty undignified for the turkey. I mean they shove its head up its...

But this picture makes me think of people who donate their bodies to science... medical schools, etc. I, for one, am glad that there are people secure enough out there to do this... I am not one of them. One of my best friends in High School was a nurse. And where she SAID they always respected the cadaver they were working on... I heard some stories.

But I digress... back to the turkey. First you clean it, then dry it well, put the turkey on this rack, you annoint it with spices (getting it ready for its final demise). Then you drop it in hot oil and cook it. Then you pull it out... and it does not always look that great... again, pretty degrading for this poor turkey.

So, of course, I took a picture of it.

Deep fried Turkey is good. You can cook one in 45 minutes and, surprisingly, it's not as bad for you as you might think at first (especially if you don't eat the skin, but then again...)

The nutritional information is as follows; 3.5 ounces of deep fried turkey has approximately 190 calories and 11 grams of fat, while the same size portion of regular roasted turkey breast typically contains about 165 calories and 7 grams of fat. So an extra 25 calories... about the same as a serving of brussle sprouts. And I ask you...which would you rather have?


Frying a turkey is not rocket science. It basically involved a big pot, a heat source, 3 gallons of peanut oil (my oil of choice), an electronic meat thermometer, and a love for pyrotechnics. Fortunately, I have always had the latter, and my in-laws gave me the former for Christmas.

You got to love a meal that you can blow up things while cooking it.

Pretty profound post, eh?

ouch

My 2 year-old daughter just beat me at Candy Land. And bad.

See that yellow piece at the end? That is the 2-year old.

See that blue piece that is remarkably close to the starting line? That is the 39-year-old with a Master's Degree.

Is it any wonder I'm intimidated?

This was taken by Matt Eich. He sent this to me (I'm not making this up) as I was writing the blog post just below this one.





You know... the post is about me being less intimidated about showing my pictures despite being surrounded by such great photograpers.

yea, right... so much for that.

Anyone want to buy a camera?

The year in pictures, part 2

One of the lessons I have learned this year (actually the last 6 months) is that a "good picture" is one I like. Yea, I know... light, exposure, depth of field, framing, multiple layers, bla bla bla. But as an amateur, it is really easy to get so intimidated that I just stop shooting. Which is what happened. If you don't know... I run in circles of really good photographers. I was just thinking the other day: Bruce, Rick, Sarah, Katie, Denise, Matt (all professionals or headed that way...) and then we have Jared, Jeff, Maria, Beth... amateurs who know what they are doing and produce some good images. So it is easy for me to not show my work because it pales in comparison to the work of my friends.

I already wrote that this spring I took a photography class. The funny thing (that my wife pointed out to me) is that during the class, and for about 2 months afterward, I basically didn't shoot a lot. I think I was just too worried about the "outcome."

But the truth is, I really like taking pictures. Yes, I like it because it captures a moment that is important to me. I like it because I really do looking at the images I produce. But I also like it because I like the physical act of shooting pictures. (Is that strange?) I find it relaxing, stimulating; it allows me to be creative.

I like the person I am with a camera.

Final confession: as much as I like the "instant gratification" of shooting digital, I kind of miss my old Nikon N65 film camera. I sort of miss shooting and not knowing how it comes out... if it comes out. And don't laugh at me, one morning a couple of years ago, I didn't have any film... but I just went out and "shot" pictures anyway. I'm such a nerd.

Better keep my day job...

Psychic Test and Quiz - Test your Psychic Powers.

Are you psychic? Do you have psychic powers? Here's the classic test to find out. You will be tested on the cards 10 times to see how well you do at predicting which will come up. Be sure to do all 10 rounds to get a true estimation of your psychic abilities!

My results are below:

You got 2 out of 10 cards correct.

You only got 2 right - something powerful is working against you.

Quote of the Week

"There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a pride [sic?] fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up."

Mark Driscoll
From "Relevant Magazine"

profit... I mean, prophet.

"I have a relatively good track record," he said. "Sometimes I miss."

Miss?

"But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak... that prophet shall die. And you may say in your heart, `How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously."

Deut 18:20-22

Beth Encore

Okay... so my first photo shoot with Beth produced a lot of images... I guess I want to share a couple more!

Beth's project was amazing. It was called, "In his shoes" and was a tribute to a friend of hers who is missing in action. She had these strips of white cloth with silhouettes of life images silk-screened onto them. Images of life he is missing. It was quite moving and quite beautiful.

But for me, it was a photographic nightmare! Let me see: bright white lights, in a very dark room, with white strips of cloth, with black figures on them... and my model dressed in black... and me shooting on manual mode. Arg!

But honestly, I wanted to do it because I like a challenge!

I like the look of black and white photography. And this shoot was almost black and white without it being shot in black and white, if that makes any sense. What I struggled with was not "blowing out" the light areas (the room lights were really bright) without losing detail. I also really liked trying to create the same silhouette-type images in the pictures that Beth created on her strips of cloth.

Again, Beth was really patient with me.

As was Bruce.

It is interesting to watch a pro shoot. Bruce has so much confidence... he knows pretty much what he wants and is able to communicate it well. He also thought of ideas that never crossed my mind. The image Bruce was taking on the right turned out really well... I wish I had a picture of it... but I took a picture of him taking the picture... and I really like it.

I like the silhouette of Bruce... but I like how the silhouetts of Beth's prints pop in this shot... despite the very bright light.


This is one of those pictures that I just like... I don't care if it is "good."

Okay, so I have no idea why I just blogged about these pictures... hope you enjoyed them and it wasn't a total waste of your time. :O)

Happy New Year!

So I get really reflective this time of year. Although I do a lot of personal and professional reflection, I thought it would be fun to look through my pictures and pick out of few that were memorable to me.

These are not my best pictures... I'm not even sure they are all favorites. But they are significant steps for me... mostly in photography... a little in life... sometimes in both.

In January I went on Good Works' "Walk for the Homeless." It was a powerful experience for me as I had been reading a lot about minimum wage issues and so I choose to do the walk to Wendy's. Ever since I had a child I have been thinking a lot of what it means to earn a "living wage." The walk was insightful in that it put flesh on those thoughts.

As a photographer, this was my first photojournalism-type shoot (although I was not asked to be a photographer, I just showed up with my camera and took pictures!) My friend, Jared, went on the same walk with me... and it was great to shoot with him. After the walk we compared pictures and talked about what worked and what didn't. It was fun.

In the Spring I took a photography class from the university. A friend and fellow Centralite, Sarah, taught the class and it was incredible just to sit and learn from her. One of the projects was to do a portrait that captures a hobby or passion of the person you are shooting. A friend and media guru, Beth, was doing an art show and she agreed to be my model.

This was the first time I did a photo shoot with a person other than my daughter or wife. And to be honest, it was a bit nerve wracking. I didn't realize how "intimate" taking pictures would be. There is this sense where you enter into the personal (and psychological) space of another. When I shoot, I usually focus on the eyes... so there is all this eye contact (remember, I'm an introvert!). I am also trying to engage the model's brain, so I'm talking. And, oh yea, I have been shooting pictures on manual settings for a total of 3 weeks... so I'm all caught up in the technical aspects of the picture as well.

I must have shot 100 pictures of Beth! She was an excellent model and very patient with me, but by the end of the shoot I felt like I ran a marathon. But I learned a TON that night. Later another friend, Bruce, (who is a professional photographer) came over with me and Beth volunteered to model again for both of us. Afterward, Bruce and I went to Donkey and did a mini-photo clinic. What an amazing gift both Bruce and Beth gave me in that experience.

This picture is significant to me in that this is from my first "shoot" approaching a total stranger. I was at an event with my wife and this guy and his daughter were there. I was struck by all his tattoos... contrasted with the unblemished arm of this little girl. And so I just went up to him and asked if I could take some pictures. This is not the best or even the most engaging, but it is my favorite...

Jared and Tobias asked me to take pictures of them creating their movie for a contest they were entering. This was really fun for me as it was the first time I had ever been invited to be a photographer for an event. Therefore, I felt like I had full reign and could do whatever I wanted in terms of getting in people's faces, etc. Doing this shoot taught me that it is much easier to take pictures of an event when you have been asked to do so and people expect you to be the "photographer" not just an annoying guy with a camera. Now, if I were being paid, I would have been VERY nervous... but fortunately (or unfortunately) I was not!

Okay, more later... but now it is time to hang out with my family some more!

Blessings and Happy New Year!

It's 1:58 am on a Saturday!

Now, to most of my readers, this is no big deal. But given my job, for me to be up this late on a Saturday is a rare thing. I had a game night tonight to celebrate that I didn't have to be fully awake tomorrow... and I won't be. And to be honest, I am actually somewhat bothered by that. I believe God deserves my worship... and that I should gather with my community of faith ready to give God my best worship. And I mean that. So... this is rare for me on a couple of levels.

But it is still pretty cool to not have to work tomorrow.

Okay, so you can learn a lot about people by playing games with them. For one, I have found that I'm an honest person who can't lie in a game to save my life (my mom warned me years ago not to play poker.) But I also found that most of my friends lie quite well. And that Patrick is, well, just pure evil.

And I still can't figure out mdog...

To my friends... thanks for coming over. I really love having you in my life. I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world. And if I ever have to kill you to keep safe the town of sleepy nod, or sleepy hollow... or whatever the heck Tobias kept calling us... know that I will kill you with great grief... and the love of Jesus in my heart.

Home

There was something pretty surreal about watching my two-year-old walk the same hallways I did when I was two. It seems nothing has changed. Because my parents no longer live there, the house is pretty much the same as when I left 20 years ago: same wallpaper, same carpet... it is amazing. Like stepping back in time.

Home has always been a secure place... and it's almost like time stops when I'm there. But this year I was very much aware of the passing of time. Generations moving on. I have a daughter, my parents are aging. Stores that were there when I was younger, now long gone. And yet it all seems so familiar.

I wonder if heaven will seem familiar? I wonder if it will be totally different, and yet feel so comfortable... like we lived there before. Like everything is as it has always been... or at least should be.

Merry Christmas.

Happy Blog Birthday to me!

Two years ago today I started this blog.




What was I thinking!




I need a life. :O)

Friends

There is nothing like an expected phone call from a good friend to brighten your day!

We miss you both.

.

And to another friend, thanks for dropping by and making cookies. That was just way too cool.

Calls, cookies, and Key Lime pie.

I'm blessed.

I'm just not sure...

So I'm curious: What do my readers think of this? Whereas I think it is good that people get convicted of sin and confess... and I think it is good that leadership be walking the talk... something about this final paragraph bugs me.

"New Life Church leadership requests, again, that, if anyone has factual, first-hand information regarding the spiritual health of this Church, its ministers or ministries, they should report directly to the Overseers through the means provided on the Church's website."

Or am I being defensive?

_________________________

From Monday Morning Insight: A Second New Life Church Leader Resigns

I continue to be impressed by the way that New Life Church is dealing with the Ted Haggard situation. It has lead to another staff member resigning over sexual issues. This is the press release from the church.Check out the pro-activeness of this release. It is clear, concise, and direct (and written by Carol Haggard, a close relative of Ted, who is in charge of media relations at New Life. It reads...

On November 4, 2006, an external Board of Overseers for New Life Church ("Church") permanently removed Rev. Ted Haggard from any position of leadership due to his admitted sexual immorality. The following day, Rev. Haggard advised the Church congregation by letter that he was a "deceiver and a liar" and that he had been warring with a "darkness" his whole adult life.

Immediately after this event, Acting Senior Pastor, Ross Parsley, asked the Overseers to further assist the Church to ensure that its ministers and ministries are rightly ordered as the Church moves forward. As a result, the Overseers interviewed many members of the pastoral staff beginning with the senior leaders.

This process is continuing. The Overseers thereafter invited, through the Church website and other means, any person who had any concerns about the Church's ministers or ministries to contact them. A second group, including independent outside professionals, has interviewed other persons. The Church leadership took this action to make sure that any secondary effects of Rev. Haggard's disordered moral life would not be partof the Church's future.

On Friday, December 8, 2006, the Director of New Life Church's 24/7 ministryresigned his position, and the Church accepted his resignation. The 24/7ministry is a young adult leadership training program. This Director resigned because, in meeting with the Overseers, it became apparent that he had displayed poor judgment in several decisions throughout his tenure. This poor judgment included one instance of consensual sexual contact with another unmarried adult several years ago.

Pastoral work and personnel decisions are, by necessity, often confidential. Throughout the events in the wake of Rev. Haggard's termination, the Church has tried to be open about its disciplinary processes consistent with respect for the privacy of others. It, therefore, plans to make no additional statement about this matter than those contained in this pressrelease.

New Life Church leadership requests, again, that, if anyone has factual, first-hand information regarding the spiritual health of this Church, its ministers or ministries, they should report directly to the Overseers through the means provided on the Church's website.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Okay...

Seriously...at least for Mdog's sake... Merry Christmas.

Yummmmmm

Thanks mdog.

A break from the seriousness of this thread....

And I thought Jeff (the friend who loves cars) had some great answering machine messages. Wouldn't you just love to do this?.

Journal Entry: Friday, December 1

Wow, what a difference a single day makes. Honestly, I'm still not crazy about the idea of running into creepy crawlers in my bed, but this place grows on you quickly.

Today, we began working at Montana De Luz property. We broke into two teams and worked on two different projects, but we were all working in the same area, which was great. The group I was not a part of dug up these square sewer thingys (That is the technical name).

So let me begin by saying that Larry J. is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. I don't know for sure, but I think he is around 70. He looks MUCH younger and acts even younger than he looks. Every day, he was the first to start working and the last to leave. And the man works hard. I thought he was a great witness to the Honduran workers.

My group worked on replacing and "cleaning" playground sand. Basically, we shoveled the sand from the sandbox, put it in wheelbarrows, wheeled it around to the back of a building, dumped it, and wheeled the wheelbarrows back... this time with kids! The children were on break, so they spent a lot of time with us, which was fantastic.

Life here is simpler, although their lives are more complex. The kids all are HIV positive, and have a daily medical routine and regular doctor visits. There is so much more to worry about here, but they seem to worry less. Does that make sense? The kids just have a freedom that comes... I guess from just being a kid. But I'm glad they have at least that.

Poverty

I have no pictures of the drive from the airport to Montana De Luz. I wish I could say it was for artistic reasons (fear of blurring scenes, an inability to frame a shot, etc). The blunt, honest truth is that I was just too overwhelmed with what I saw to take any pictures of it.

I have never seen as much poverty as I saw in Honduras. It is pervasive. From the moment we got in the van until the moment we arrived in Montana De Luz, we saw conditions that were deplorable: everything from concrete block houses with dirt floors, to quite literally, a piece of tin held up with 4 sticks. My words seem inadequate to describe the scene.

Even the "nice" houses are below what most of us would feel a reasonable standard living. One of the houses to the right is one of the Montana De Luz volunteer houses in the town Nueva Esperanza. The town was built after the hurricane largely to give housing to displaced families. Some of the Montana staff live there as well. Again, for Honduran standards, the houses are nice. But it was just a reminder to me how high our standard of living really is in the US.

Here is where I most wrestle as a Christian: What do I do? In my mind, (before the trip) I thought I would come back to the US and just get rid of stuff. "Live simply so that others may simply live" and all those wonderful bumper stickers. But that just doesn't seem to cut it. I'm not even sure it is an income issue. Governments are corrupt, the country is in debt, the is no infrastructure to speak of (roads can help an economy, I have heard)... but that DO have a damn nice statue of "Big Jesus."

"Big Jesus" (or his official name: "Jesus Christ in El Picacho") is a 2,500 ton, 100 foot tall statue of Jesus that was built in 1998 to the tune of Lps. 8 million (which isn't bad for such a hunk of rock!) The protestant pastors loudly opposed it, not because they would have used that money to... oh, I don't know, maybe feed people or build roads... but they opposed it because it is a "Catholic" Jesus. Whatever that means.

Former President Reina, along with his cabinet and a number of prominent Tegucigalpa businessmen set up a special foundation with the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa to raise funds for the project. The business sector responded immediately with a flood of donations and each of the cabinet members pledged a full month's salary.

Read that last sentence again... go ahead, I will wait.

[waiting]

Yes, the cabinet members pledged a FULL MONTH'S SALARY.

Now, go back up and read the second paragraph again. Go ahead... I'll wait again.

Yep. That is right. They gave a month's salary for a hunk of rock and yet there is so much poverty. Is there something wrong with this picture?

What do you do with so much poverty? Is it an issue? Do we embrace communism so that there is more equality? Is that the answer? Will that change anything?

And here are some questions: Is my quality of life all that better just because I live in a nicer house? Am I REALLY more blessed? Am I closer to God because of my wealth or does that wealth get in the way? Does my wealth really add anything tangible?

Looking at his disciples, [Jesus] said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Journal Entry: Thursday, November 30

"As I write this I'm in Honduras with a team of folks from Central: Larry and Mary Tracy, Maru, Jared, Tina, Wendy, Karen and myself. So far, I hate it. I'm ashamed to say that... but quite honestly I have a lot of fear at this point. I can't put my finger on it. I have fear of all kinds of stuff: getting sick, finding 'things' in my room, getting hurt... I fear facing the truth of my life and all the privilege in which I currently live. And I hate that I'm fearful. I just am.

Montana De Luz is nice enough, although it is way below the standard of living in which most Americans are used to: it is more like a summer camp. But how many summer camp staff tell you: "Make sure you check your bed for scorpions before you get in..." (and then tell you a story of someone who didn't and regretted it!).

What would it be like to live like this all the time? Or worse? Actually, the accommodations here are much better than the vast amount of Honduras. The water is safe to drink. There is a roof over our heads. There is a certain level of sanitation as all the kids have HIV and compromised immune systems. So in a sense, we are very pampered. But right now... I'm not feeling very pampered."

Spiders should not have hair: Reflections on a week in Honduras, part 2

Thursday, November 30

Our flight left Thursday morning, so our group decided to go to Columbus the night before and stay at a hotel so we could be up early. As I laid in bed Wednesday night/Thursday morning, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn't bring my camera bag and that was really stupid thing to neglect. I could not sleep, so I actually thought about driving back to Athens to get it. I laid there thinking, "Okay, it's midnight. If I leave right now I can be back in Athens by 1:30 am and back here by 3:30 am." Must have been the Malaria medication talking. Fortunately, Jared talked me out of it.

We had to be at the airport Thursday morning by 5 am, so we were up by 4 am. The hotel bus to take us to the airport was late... really late... and so we got to the airport by 5:45 am with our flight leaving at 6:20 am. Other than Tina sacrificing her 3.5 oz of Applesauce to the security folks (if they had only been 3 oz packages!), security was pretty normal.

Our flight connected through Texas and there was a "storm a brewin'," so we were delayed on the runway for 1.5 hours. Yes, you read that right... 1.5 hours on the runway; smelling jet fumes... waiting to take off. Now, BECAUSE we were on the runway for 1.5 hours waiting to take off, when we finally DID take off and fly to Honduras, we had to cut our trip short and land in San Pedro... as... yep... we were running low on fuel. So we landed at the San Pedro airport (I use that term very generously), got some fuel, and we were off to Tegucigalpa.

Now, the runway in Tegucigalpa is... well... miniscule. It is the shortest runway I have ever seen. To add to the challenge, Tegucigalpa is surrounded by mountains (notice those big black things just beyond the short runway?). So for a plane to land, it has to first drop out of the sky once it clears the mountains. It is a world of fun.

Upon arrival in Tegucigalpa (after dropping out of the sky to land on the world's shortest runway), the following images stick in my mind:

The money exchanger holding wads of cash... probably thousands of dollars. They don't bother with banks in Honduras apparently, there are these guys who just walk around with HUGE wads of cash and change your money.

The realization that I have no luggage. Yes, the airlines decided to break my run of dozens of fights without ever losing a piece of luggage. I think this was the most appropriate place to lose luggage though...seeing that I would be working in the heat, sweating like a pig (yes, I know that pigs don't sweat!) and having only brought one extra shirt in my carry on. More on the lost luggage later.

The young kids who met us on the street asking for money as we walked to the car. There is something even more compelling about kids begging in Honduras... but we were given very clear instructions about not giving money... which alleviated some of the guilt.

Our team met our driver (a Montana staff person who spoke only Spanish) and then loaded into a red van for the hour-long drive to Montana De Luz on the main road (I use that word, "road" very generously). Driving in Honduras is... well... an adventure. There are no rules. Heck, there are no lanes. The attitude is basically, "Hey, there is some open space between these two cars (mountains, etc) I think I will wedge my car in there!" Passing on a blind curve going up hill? Not a problem! Although this usually would bug me and make me tense, I have to admit I laughed about it more than I worried about it. Mostly, because I was so struck by all the poverty.

To be continued.

An aside... everyone sing along!

"Jesus is mad, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones make him insane.
When He comes, He'll bring the pain.

Yes, Jesus is mad.
Yes, Jesus is mad.
Yes, Jesus is mad.
The Bible tells me so."

Spiders should not have hair: Reflections on a week in Honduras, part 1

So I think I could blog about this past week for the next several months. To be honest, I have been a bit hesitant to post as I think I'm still processing it all.

I think it is safe to say that the Thursday I showed up in Honduras, I was ready to leave, vowing never to return. The very next day I met the kids of Montana De Luz. Wow.

Let me say, I really don't like kids all that much. I feel pretty uncomfortable around them. Granted, some of that has changed with me having my own... but I still am not a kid person. But these kids won my heart pretty early.



There is a lot of pain around Honduras. To be honest, to me the most overwhelming thing was all the poverty. If you have never been to an underdeveloped country, you can't really understand what it is like. The drive from the airport to Montana de Luz was one of the most confusing/painful/eye-opening/terrifying times of my life. The poverty is staggering. And, in time, I will reflect on that.

But, in the midst of all that pain, there is a lot of joy. In the midst of conditions that I have never experienced before, these kids live. Fully live. Don't get me wrong, they are kids. They fight, and cry, and sometimes want things their way. But these same kids, all HIV positive, all living in conditions which any of my readers will probably never experience, make and sell jewelry to raise money for "less fortunate" kids. All together now.... wow.

So to Kevin, Wendy (both of them!), Omar... to all the kids of Montana de Luz... thanks for showing me life. I will hold you in my heart forever.

Back...

And changed.

Gingerbread House

The other day my wife and daughter made a gingerbread house. Well, my wife did... my daughter basically just watched (and bit the head off the gingerbread man at the appropriate time).

She watched in amazement as my wife's hands built the frame of the house and carefully placed each piece of candy. A very new sight for her.

I think she was proud of her mommy.



Sometimes it is great to get the chance to re-live your childhood as an adult.

I'm so proud, not that I had anything to do with it.

Matt Eich was voted "College Photographer of the Year."

Matt is a great guy and has more photography talent in the fingernail of his left-hand pinky that I will never dream of having in my whole (rather large) body. Matt and I went through his portfolio at Donkey a couple of months ago... I almost sold my camera that very night.

Behold.

I would love to shoot like that.

About to fly...

Items prohibited from aircraft cabins:

The following items will not be allowed through the security checkpoint. Please note that this list is not all-inclusive. In addition to items specifically listed here other items that may be deemed to present a potential threat may also be prohibited.

Ammunition
Automatic weapons
Axes
Baseball bats
BB guns
Billy clubs
Blackjacks
Blasting caps
Bows and arrows
Box cutters
Brass knuckles
Bull whips
Cattle prods
Compressed air guns
Corkscrews
Cricket bats
Crow bars
Disabling chemicals or gases
Dog repellent spray
Dynamite
Fire extinguishers
Flare pistols
Golf clubs
Gun lighters
Gunpowder
Hammers
Hand grenades
Hatchets
Hockey sticks
Hunting knives
Ice axe/Ice pick
Knives (any length)
Kubatons
Large heavy tools (such as wrenches pliers etc.)
Mace
Martial arts devices
Meat cleavers
Metal scissors with pointed tips
Numchucks
Pellet guns
Pen knives
Pepper spray
Pistols
Plastic explosives
Pool cues
Portable power drills
Portable power saws
Razor blades (not in a cartridge)
Religious knives
Replica weapons
Revolvers
Rifles
Road flares
SCUBA knives
Sabers
Screwdrivers
Shot guns
Ski poles
Spear guns
Starter pistols
Straight razors
Stun guns/shocking devices
Swords
Tear gas
Throwing stars
Toy transformer robots (this toy forms a toy gun)
Toy weapons

I'm really glad they listed some of these... I was about to take my bull whip and throwing stars on the plane with me.

Damn.

Welcome to the annual, "protect our goats from idiot hunters," painting party!

My friend likes his goats. The title of this post says it all, but here is the story:

My friend told me that several years ago some idiot, either from Columbus or Cleveland, shot some guy's prize stud billy goat, tagged it, and brought it to the local deer station/carryout. (The farmer who owned the goat happened to be there eating breakfast at the time --oops! This little incident cost the hunter $1000 dollars for that error in judgement.)

So every year, for thanksgiving, my friend and his kids spray-paint their goats to protect them during hunting season. (Animal lovers, don't worry, it's the same stuff kids use to dye their hair for halloween.)

And what do they paint to keep these goats safe from stupid hunters?

Play

So I was looking over some old posts... reminiscing I guess... and I came across this one. And I decided that I wanted to host a night where we play tag, or hide and seek, or kick the can, or do a scavenger hunt. I used to do this stuff all the time when I was in youth ministry... I see no need to quit just because I'm not. Truth is, there is no reason an "adult" can't play games. Although there are not a whole lot of 39 year olds playing hide and seek in our neighborhood.

But maybe there should be.

Create a Caption Contest, part 2

I love it

When they publish this in English, I'm all over it.

I'm not sure people are picking up the humor... or was it meant to be serious?

Election Fallout Apparent*

Election 2006 fallout: Evangelicals Stock Up on Bottled Water, Pork Rinds

HOUSTON, Texas (NN) -- In the wake of a Democratic takeover of the US Congress, Evangelical Republicans are bracing for what could very well be the beginning of the great tribulation spoken of in the book of Revelation.

One could almost hear the angels blowing the trumpets of the apocalypse as baby-killers, gay-rights fanatics and godless liberal Democrats won control of the US Congress. Fourteen years of Republican control of Congress along with six years of a Bible-believing, born-again president failed to bring about the millennial rule of Christ; leaving more than enough time for the forces of evil to regroup and once again deceive the nation.

Not since Y2K have evangelicals been so earnest about stocking up on nonperishable foods, bottled water, and ammunition. Some despondent Republicans were aimlessly wandering the streets of Southwest Houston, while others donned sackcloth and ashes - visibly shaken and fully expecting the imminent judgment of God to fall upon America.

Evangelical leaders immediately called their followers to ‘get on their faces’ before God and repent of their pride and arrogance. Time will tell whether evangelical Republicans see the error of their ways, or whether they simply hunker down and await the days of the Beast.

*From Monday Morning Insight

Halloween

What is Halloween without fog?

And lights... don't forget the lights.

ROCKY!

Adapted from "Monday Morning Insight" for pastors:

Headline: Sylvester Stallone's Conference Call with Pastors

Recently pastors were invited to take part in an unusual phone conference call: with 'Sylvester Stallone (as in, “Rocky”).

An email that went out to pastors: "Sylvester Stallone cordially invites you, as a leader in the faith and family community, to JOIN HIM ON THE PHONE LIVE this Friday. Sly would like to take some time to talk to you about the faith and values that run through the Rocky films, and share with you about his upcoming movie, Rocky Balboa, the final chapter in the Rocky story."

Question: Why is Sylvester Stallone doing a conference call with pastors?

The company behind this promotion is called, "Motive Marketing." Motive is taking advantage of the syncretistic state of American Evangelical “Christianity” by using Christians and churches to promote movies. They encourage pastors to preach sermons based on their movies and encourage churches to have events based on the movies -- with the goal of the studio selling lots of tickets and making lots of money.

Motive is very proud of their success marketing the Passion of the Christ (about the Bible) and Chronicles of Narnia (based on the Bible). So now they are going to go ahead try the same “let’s make the Christians do our work” method for a movie that makes no claim to have a Biblical basis.

Does this bother anybody?

I got a call from a friend of mine who lives in Florida. She is a photographer and was invited to a "sneak peek" of Narnia last year. She called me repulsed. She said it was a good movie... but she felt so manipulated. Later, I got packets of material on how to use the movie to create a sermon series. (Complete with sermon outlines!)

Okay, maybe.

But Rocky? (Yo! Magdalene!)

The thing is, this campaign will probably be successful. And I will not be at all surprised to get a packet of sermon outlines and glossy postcard from a church advertising their new 4-week series: “Rocky: The Heart of a Champion.”

But....

What are your thoughts?

When do we "use" culture and when does culture use us?

When a pastor falls, part 1

The recent revelations about Ted Haggard have me thinking once again about the topic I have struggled with the past year... so many of collegues and friends falling into sexual sin. I know I need to preach on this, but have been trying to wait until it was less of an emotional issue for me. The Haggard thing just tore open the wound again... maybe I need to "bleed" before Central.

Here are the final letters that were written by Ted and his wife Gail that were read to his congregation. I find them profoundly honest and full of hope...

I am going to talk about this with Central... most likely sooner than later, but I wonder if any of you have thoughts?

Welcome to my world

I wish I could say that stuff like this is not common. In fact, it is a somewhat common part of my world. What is "amusing" is when people call and criticize but do it couched in spiritual language or, almost as bad, in the midst of a complement (when you know that they called not to complement you but to criticize.)

As bad as this stuff is as a phone message (and yes, I have gotten several calls very similar to this), it's worse as an email. I think email is cowardly and should be outlawed as a means of serious communication.

But that is just me.

First Kiss

So, it's your first kiss and several questions might come to mind:

Is it the right time?

Is anyone watching?

Does your partner even want to?

Is your breath fresh?

Then you lean in and just go for it!

Love Thy Neighbor

City councilman, Mark Easton, lives in a neighborhood in Utah surrounded by mountains. He had a beautiful view of the east mountains...until a new neighbor purchased the lot below his house and built, thus obstucting Mark's view.

Apparently, the new home was 18 inches higher than the ordinances would allow, so Mark, mad about his lost view, went to the city to make sure they enforced the lower roof line ordinance. Mark and his new neighbor had some great arguments about this, as you can imagine — not great feelings. The new neighbor had to drop the roof line — no doubt at great expense.

Recently, Mark called the city and informed them that his new neighbor had installed some vents on the side of his home. Mark didn't like the look of these vents and asked the city to investigate. When they went to Mark's home to see the vent view, this is what they found...

Great Band Competition

Today, mdog and I went to see the Athens Band Invitational. Wow. It was a stunning display of passing out trophies.

Thanks mdog.

Breakfast Club

I had forgotton how much I loved this movie.