On Saturday we went to Lansing for my nephew Gabe's birthday party . With my family, even a little kid's birthday is a good time. Will was there (hitting on my mom as usual) - at least I got a little cuddle time in with him. Will is like an adopted brother in our family, with all of the privileges and responsibilities that go along with that, including attending little kids birthday parties. The pictures don't quite capture the sarcasm and mockery that go on at these parties. Kevin's (my brother in-law) family was there as well, and I think they just sit back and shake their heads sometimes at these parties, though they're probably used to it by now.

On Sunday, we had Paintball, at the futureball course in Whitmore Lake. We had about 50 people total and it was a great time. They have a new urban assault course that involves a simulated village, with houses and cars. I thought I'd be aggressive on that one, and ended up getting the crap kicked out of me, lit up about 20 times in the face and back.

There's a a new sixth grader in Fusion who I really like. He's pretty young for his age, and pretty hesitant to connect in. He's hyperactive, but he's just the kind of kid I love to pour into. We don't have a ton of sixth grade guys this year, so he's going to join my Pyros small group.

If you get a chance, e-mail Will and tell him to update his blog. He hasn't touched the thing in over a month. Encourage him to either kill the thing, or keep it current. He'd especially like it you mention that he only started a blog because I did.

I've been thinking for a while about getting another tattoo - probably on the back of my calf. Here are the two that I've been thinking about.

Cool way to kill time with this Games Site

Just read this artcle on Holy Sex by Phillip Yancey discussing the spiritual nature of our sexuality. It's easy to find articles that point out how "The World" (Which last time I checked, we're a part of) has distorted God's version of sexuality. This article addresses how the church's response to "The World's" version of sexuality has distorted the world's view of sex further:

I dwell on the church's severe attitude toward sex because I believe we Christians bear heavy responsibility for the counter reaction so evident in modern society. Jesus treated those who had fallen into sexual sins with compassion and forgiveness, and reserved his harshest words for the hidden sins of hypocrisy, pride, greed, and legalism. How is it that we who follow him use the word "immoral" to signify sexual sins almost exclusively, and reserve church discipline for those who fail sexually?

Here are the pictures of my project team at Park University (the project I've been working on in Missouri for the past year). In the back row is the project team, and in the front row is Dorla - our project sponsor, Dr. Bev - the President of Park University and Anne Mulcahy - the President and CEO of Xerox. The other picture is of me sharing a whitty moment with the team. I'm sure I was saying something profound.

Now this is the kind of research I'm willing to put my hard earned money behind.

I've started reading the book Fearless Faith by John Fischer. A friend of mine, Ken Buck, reccomended this book to me. It does a great job articulating the case against the separatist christian subculture that exists, that I've been guilty of being apart of, and like to rail against. The book deals with the idea of how Christians will isolate themselves from the world around them in order to be "set apart". Christians have tried to create their own clothing lines, music, videos and more, believing that it will protect them from the outside world.

I was sitting in the Mobile airport yesterday having my shoes shined, and started talking to woman next to me about the Flora-bama (The bar I went to down on the Alabama/Florida border Wednesday night). She mentioned what a great place it was, and told me that one of the first times she was there, the singer sounded and looked just like Jimmy Buffett. Turns out it was him, and that he shows up there fairly often to play impromptu sets. Might not mean much to you, but Buffett is one of the people I'd love to sit down and have a beer with before I die.

I was in Florida and Alabama today. After finishing up at the customer site, Greg, Glenn and I headed down to the Gulf Shores for dinner. It was about an hour drive from Mobile, AL, but it was worth ever minute. The beaches are beautiful, the water was warm, and it was very scenic. We headed over to the Florida border, to a bar called the Flora-bama. Glen's an Alabama native, but Greg and I were a little hesitant. When you first walk into the place, you walk through a liquor store, into the bar itself. The place had great character, and it turns out, this is a place that Jimmy Buffett mentions in his book, and the song Ragtop Days and in his book Tales from Margaritaville. Buffett grew up in the Gulf Shores/Mobile area, and he mentions it in a lot of his songs. I want to come back here with Cathie - what a great place to kick-back, relax, and enjoy the weather.

I'm finishing up earlier tomorrow that I originally thought. That means I get to fly out tomorrow at 10:40 AM, getting into Detroit by 4:00 PM as opposed to 8:15 PM! Big survivor party tomorrow night at my place. Be there or be square.

Next week should be my last week of travel for a little while. I have a day trip to Kansas City on the 14th, but that's all that's out there for a while.... Lately, it seems that every time I tell Cathie that I'll hope for a while, something else pops up. We've got a potential project in Washington D.C. coming up - part of me wants to run with it, part of me wants to stay home and have some down time for a while. It's the tension of balancing my job and family, doing what I love and am comitted to at work, verses making sure I keep my family as my number one priority. It could be worse, I could be thrashing over not having a job at all.

For some reason, I woke up about 5:00 am. I lay there for a few, but eventually, headed downstairs to the gym and exercised for a while, before coming back up to my room to get ready. I'm back working as an expert witness on a lawsuit down in Mobile with two of my co-workers, Greg and Glen.

I was listening to a song from a while back called This World by Caedmon's Call. It's got some great lyrics that really strke me:

This world has nothing for me
And this world has everything
All that I could want
And nothing that I need

On a daily basis, I check out a site called techbargains.com and see great deals on stuff that I really have no need for, but love to own. I'll buy something, desparately wait for it to arrive, and then move on to my next acquisition. Irrational as it is, there's a part of me that really believes that these things will give me life, complete me. I guess as I look at my life over the past 10 years, at least I'm pursuing things that are a little healthier, I don't do it as frequently, and I at least recognize that it's a pattern in my life. That's growth, right?

I'm in my hotel room flipping between news channels, and the CIA leak is the only thing anyone wants to talk about. Oh for Ben and J-Lo to be back in the news...

Four states in one day. I flew into Kansas City this morning to meet with the president and CEO of Xerox, Anne Mulcahy. What a great woman, a great leader. Very down to earth and very personable - she did a great job focusing on others and thanking our team for the work that we've done out there. To coincide with Anne's visit, we had a press release put out today on the project I've been working on for the past year.

I left Kansas City today at 3, and from there flew to Memphis, and from Memphis to Mobile, Alabama. I spent way too much time in airports, and on airplanes today. My hotel has a beautiful view of the bay in Mobile, looking out into the gulf and the ship-yards, but I'm stuck with dial-up access. Could be worse - at least it's 80 degrees here.

Jason taught today in the main service, and did an amazing job. He did a 10 minute talk on how easy it is for Christians to get into an "Us vs. Them" additude, and was very honest about his own journey in that area. I was really proud to see him up there doing so well, I'm just so glad he's a part of this church, in the exact role he's in. You can listen to Jason's teaching by clicking here.

Today was our fifty annual Mud Bowl. Jason did all of the setup and hard work to make it happen, since I've been out of town the fast few weeks. The weather looked like it was really gonna suck. We always do it at the end of September like this, and it's always cold or raining - UNTIL the mudbowl begins. Amazingly enough, the moment the mudbowl starts, the sun comes out right until it's over and the last person has left, at which point it rains. I'm not sure why it amazes me so much that God would change the weather just for OUR event. It seems silly to think that I wouldn't question the fact that he'd send his son to DIE on the cross for me, but I'd wonder whether he'd really change the weather for the mud bowl. We had a great time. About forty kids, most in the mud, some sat on the sidelines at which point their friends decided to help them get covered in mud. The pictures are awesome check them out. The South Lyon Herald was there again taking pictures. Erik, the photographer, actually won a national award for the pictures he took at last year's mud bowl.

This article annoyed me. More his self-righteous additude than the content itself. I can see where people who are on the pre-destination side of things are coming from, but so often I see this additude on this this issue that pisses me off. Frankly, I see the idea of predestination as a very gray area, and people can easily take either side. It just pisses me off when the other "side" points fingers, calls names and does the whole "nah-nah-nah-nah" thing. I know I'm not perfect, and I'm guilty of the same kind of additudes on other issues, but it's a lot more fun to poke fun at the wanker who wrote this article.

While working out this morning, I was listening to the tune "Hold Me Now" by Jennifer Knapp. This song just continues to hit me hard... I normally stumble across this song at a time when I need a reminder of who I am to God. I love the biblical pictures that this song uses of Jesus's interaction with Mary (Matthew 26:7-13) and the woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11). Jesus bestowed value and grace on both of them. God, how I need that on such a regular basis. To know that even though I weak, poor and broken, I'm still God's beloved child. From there, it's a lot easier to be able to look at how God is transforming me, slowly but surely, to be less self-centered, more loving, more grace-filled. Yeah, I can still be an asshole, but less and less all the time, as God is working in me.

Check the lyrics out, and listen to the song as well:

From glass alabaster she poured out the depth of her soul
O foot of Christ would you wait if her harlotries known?
Falls a tear to darken the dirt
Of humblest offerings to forgive the hurt
She is strong enough to stand in your love
I can hear her say....
I'm weak
I'm poor
I'm broken, Lord
But I'm yours
Hold me now, hold me now
Let he without sin cast the first stone if you will
To say that my bride isn't worth half the blood that I've spilled
Point your finger and laugh if you choose
To say my beloved is borrowed and used
She is strong enough to stand in My love
I can hear her say....

My small group started back up tonight. This isn't just any small group - this is a rag-tag band of guys who are as different as any 9 guys could be - some are Christians, others are on the journey toward Jesus. Either way - it's an amazing group of guys. With that said, I didn't want to be there. I was tapped, I'd been traveling, and I wanted to be home with my family - and frankly, I was feeling sorry for myself over stuff going on at work. I was pretty focused on me. Cathie, in her infinite wisdom, recognized this and said "Sometimes when you hear where others are at, it can take the focus off of you". So I went. We had a new guy start in our group tonight, and it was great. We spent tonight telling our stories, about who we are and where we've been in life. I got the chance to hear guys talk about how they've progressed in their walk with Jesus. I've got guys in this group who came in not sure what they wanted to do with their faith who are now pursuing Christ fervently. I really love this group of guys - they're guys who'd do whatever it takes for any of the others.

I spent the last 24 hours thrasing on something that in the big picture wasn't worth it. I learned things about myself, but I am physically and emotionally beat from the whole experience. I don't mind conflict, but I like to move through it quickly and not have it linger on. Conflict at it's worst for me is when it's personal, and I take most conflict very personally, even in work situations. I have pretty close relationships with many of the people I work with - on a project, I'll spend 60 hours in a week with some of them for months at a time. So anyways, in this particular situation I felt like I'd been hung out to dry by people that I consider friends, and a person I really respect in our company. I was pissed off, I was sad, and I was angry. Luckily, my boss (Bill Belanger) happens to also be a good friend of mine, and he did an amazing job coaching me through a lot of this. He knows me better than most people do, and he understands how I process things and how I can respond, for better or for worse. Bill is a guy who I've worked with for almost 9 years in different capacities, and has been instrumental in getting to where I'm at today in the company. One by one, I've been talking one-on-one with the people involved, trying to gain some understanding and resolution to things. As I do that, it's like a weight is slowly lifted off my shoulders.