Last Friday, we went on our annual family Christmas tree expedition. Dan, Kris and the kids couldn’t make it because Andrew was sick, but I’m guessing the cold drizzle probably had something to with it as well. We got to the tree farm, where we rode the tractor out and found the perfect tree to chop down. Even with the crummy weather, it was fun.

We're doing our standard double-whammy Thanksgiving. Today we headed to my Mom and Dad's in Okemos, where my Mom lays out an amazing spread! We had a deep-fried turkey, which was by far the best Turkey I've ever had. We have three complete tables - one for the adults, and two for the kids. My Mom goes way beyond just maknig great food, she sets up the kdis tables complete with cloth napkins, nape-placards and wine glasses. After a couple of hours of watching football and hanging out, my Mom brings out no less than seven desserts. Beth, Jon and Dad's birthdays all fall during November, so we sing the Kurt family Birthday dirge. It's the saddest, most off-key version of happy birthday you've ever heard. Occasionally one of the kids breaks out crynig - no kidding. My mom welcomes everyone at our Thanksgiving, anyone who doesn't have a place to go is welcome - she called to make sure that Jack Bowden (Janet's husband), Jess (our roommate) and Jason all had places to go for Thanksgiving. Speaking of vagabonds, Will stopped by later on for after dinner drinks. Check out the pictures here.

From there we headed over to Cathie's parents in Dewitt, where we spend the night, and do dinner again. The other part of the Kurt tradition is to go Christmas Tree hunting our at the Tannenbaum tree farm in Mason, MI. More detail on this later.

I just got back from seeing the movie Elf with Will. That's two hours of my life and $8.50 that are gone forever. We were going to the movie largely based on Jason's reccomendation. It would have been alright if I had taken my kids, with the expectation that this was a cheezy christmas movie. Just about the only funny part of the whole movie was seeing the character who played "old Blue" in the mailroom. Even that's not so funny. Jason hates the Matrix:Revolutions, loves Elf. Go figure.

Elizabeth Taylor says Michael Jackson's innocent... Enough said. You can read Michael's denial here.

I just read an article in U.S. News and World Report that Herrings communicate out their butt through their flatulence. Much like some people I know. Is that considered a spiritual gift?

Odd links from Noel:

• Dancing Badgers being chased by snakes trying to eat mushrooms - All with a funky beat you can dance to.


• I'm not sure if the guy is serious or not...

Maddie's doing a little better. On Saturday, she'd told Cathie that she'd gotten all the tears out of her and mostly just had happy thoughts about Janet. She saw Jack in church on Sunday and ran up to him and gave him a great big hug, it was cool to see. She'd even worn her special skirt that her and Janet had picked out last time the two of them had gone out together shopping. . On Sunday, she told Cath that her heart was feeling "a little bit sad still". I wish I came out of this whole thing with some great parenting wisdom or advice, but all we did was hold her and love her while we let her cry and we gave her room to be sad. Not sure I could write a parenting book based on that.

Went to the gym this morning, early, and worked out with Kirk. Kirk's got some crazy stuff at his gym, and I made the mistake of asking him what a this crazy gizmo was. He gets this evil grin on his face, and next think I know I'm strapping this wheel on my feel and pulling myself around the gym like a parapalegic dog.

We went out with Mark and Jen last night. We went out to eat in Northville at Border Cantina, which I hadn't been to in about 8 years. I used to eat there 2 or 3 times a week when I lived and worked down teh street from it. Great Mexican food. From there we stopped by to see Jess at Starbucks and then on to the Salvation Army thrift store in Whitmore Lake. It's a great store, and we played the "pick an out for the other person" game (if that really is a game...). Jen and I picked out outfits for each other, and Mark and Cathie did. Cathie found Mark a nice lime green sweater vest and Mark found Cathie a crop top with a Janet Jackson reminescent jacket - complete with epilets. I had a beautiful matching crop top and space-age polymer vest and I found Jen a shirt that looked like a pack of juicy fruit gum. We had a great time with them - lots of laughing. We've known Mark and Jen for about ten years - they were the first people we got to know at Crossraods, and they went out of their way to help us connect in to church.

I spent tonight with the pyros (my junior high guys small group). We watched the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings - Two Towers - all 3 hours and 43 minutes. We ordered pizza and each kid had their own two liter of Mountain Dew. One of them commented how after drinking 2/3rds of the bottle that they'd stopped blinking. We cheered through the battle scenes and had a great time together. Half way through the movie, we went on a candy run. I feel bad for the parents that I sent them home to. About 9:00, the guys figured out what huge amounts of caffine does to the digestive system - as they all lined up for the bathroom. Lots of air freshener used that night.

Cathie and I went to the visitation tonight for Janet. Cathie put together some pictures that we had of Janet and Madeline and we gave them to Jack, Janet's husband. We shared with Jack just how much Janet meant to Madeline, and told him about some of the memories Madeline has of Janet. It was so painful to see Jack break down sobbing, crying out abou thow much it hurt, how it sucked, how it wasn't fair. Cathie just held him in a hug as he cried. Death sucks.

After lots of careful research and bargaining with Verizon, I bought the Samsung i600 phone and sold my Dell Axim Pocket PC to Jon. The phone allows me to receive all of my work e-mail, contacts and calendar information on the fly right to my cell phone, which will be nice - but maybe a little overkill for most. It has a full web browser on it, mp3 player and video player as well - it's amazing how you can actually watch pre-recorded tv shows on such a small screen with such clarity. We'll see how long it takes for me to get bored with this toy and move on to the next thing that will bring me life....

Another rough morning for Madeline.... She spent the first hour this morning with Cathie holding her while she sobbed. This sucks. Cathie and Madeline are going up to have some copies made of the pictures of Maddie and Janet to give to Jack, Janet's husband, at the wake today. I'm on conference calls all morning, and Maddie's sitting down here in my office, on my lap, cuddling with me, occasionally crying.

A friend of mine Bill (who happens to be my boss) made this video for work. Bill will be mocked heavily for this. He's been kind enough to forward these kind of things out to my friends and co-workers, and I'm just returning the favor. I'm trying to get my hands on the outtakes, which should be gold for future blackmail.

When I got home from the airport last night, Cathie and I told Madeline about Janet's death. We didn't know what to expect. Madeline broke down and we held her in our arms for an hour while she sobbed. She would stop for a minute and ask some amazing, insightful questions about when she would see Janet, or why God wouldn't protect her. It broke our hearts and we were crying too. This was one of those times where words just didn't do any good - a lot of holding Maddie and loving her. A little while later I went and told Nate what had happened, and he came in, put his arm around his sister and did an amazing job of comforting her, telling her that it was okay to be sad, and that Janet was in heaven with Jesus. The rest of the evening, she would cry here and there. She talked about Janet a little more throughout the evening, still very sad. This is one of those kind of hurts you want to protect your kids from - to take the pain from them.
I wonder if God feels this way about us when we hurt? I sometimes wonder if in his infinite knowledge is God able to rationalize our pain away because he has the big picture view of life? Does God weep when his kids hurt? When I became a dad, I thought I'd gained a new understanding of how God feels about his kids - and now I'm not so sure.

I just got done reading Psalm 18. It’s a song of David that he sung after God rescued him from his enemies. He paints this clear great of God as our protector using pictures like a rock, fortress and shield. David sings about how God will go to these great lengths to rescue his people, protects them and gives them strength. David uses the picture of God guiding him sure-footedly along a precarious mountain path. I’m trying to reconcile these images with three things. I’m reading Job, and I’m at the part where his buddies are giving him lots of bad advice, and Job is pretty bitter about God – trying to understand how David’s picture of God and Job’s dealings with God line-up. Secondly, I’m trying to understand why I’m so willing in my sin to walk away from a God who takes care of me and wants what’s best for me to the degree that Psalm 18 talks about. Third, I’m trying to understand all this to be able to justify in my mind this same caring God as I have to talk to my five-year about losing her friend in a freak car accident two days ago. I know there are lots of great biblical answers to all this, and my mind can rationalize all of them, but in my gut, they don’t line up right now

I screwed up when I set the time on the alarm clock in my hotel room last night. I meant to set it for Central Standard Time instead of Eastern Standard Time. I woke up at 4:30 AM, wide awake, and figured, no big deal, It's really 5:30 - I'll get up, work out and get some work done. I got to the hotel gym and figured out that it was actually 3:30 AM CST. That blew.

I got a call from Cathie when my plane landed in Kansas City yesterday and I immediately wanted to fly home. She was pretty emotional, and told me that a friend of ours from church, Janet Bowden, had died Monday night in a car accident. Cathie and I were not super close to Janet or her husband Jack, but our five year old daughter Madeline was. Janet was like an Aunt to Madeline. Janet and Madeline connected a couple of years ago – both red-heads, both with fiery personalities. It was the coolest thing at church – most Sundays, Janet and Madeline would see each other from across the hall and run towards each other and Janet would scoop Madeline up in her arms and yell, “How’s my girl!” She made Maddie feel like the most important little girl in the world. When Madeline was having a tough time going into her Promiseland class, Janet could drop her off pick her up no problem. Janet and Madeline would go on their special “dates”. Her and Maddie would go shopping together to lunch, and other fun “girl places”. A month or so ago, Janet took the day off and took Maddie to the Toledo zoo, after which they went out to eat, ran errands and didn’t get home until late that night. Cathie and I haven’t told Madeline yet about Janet’s death. We’re been pretty unsure of how to do it. I called a number of my friends with kids for advice and most of them had no idea what to do. Cathie and I did decide that we should both be there to have the conversation with her. I fly back this afternoon. We have no idea how she’ll respond, and it’s been tough with Cathie and I knowing and Madeline not knowing. Maddie was talking with Cathie last night off-handedly about role models, and mentioned how Janet was her role-model. In the same conversation she was talking with Cathie about death, and how sad it makes her when animals and people die. She’s been raised to understand heaven, and we’ve tried to teach her the happy and sad sides of death for followers of Jesus, but we have no idea how she’ll take this. I remember pretty vividly when I was five and my Grandpa Smith died. I want to be able to protect my little girl from the crap life throws at her, and I feel pretty helpless here. I want to take the pain for her and can’t. Cathie and I are trying to figure out what closure and grieving look like for a five year old – is it drawing pictures to remember Janet or is it attending the visitation or funeral to say goodbye? Most of it, we’re going to play by ear – but with me being away, it makes it harder to have to mull it over and over in our minds instead of being able to sit down and deal with it.

Will and Jason read my blog today where I pointed out Noel's review of 'the Matrix Revolutions' and I surmissed that they would change their tune regarding their own reviews to line up with Noel and myself. I was right. They now think the Matrix Revolutions was amazing and can't wait to see it again. They feel that if this thing doesn't take the Oscars in every category including best costume, screenplay, best foreign film, animated, drama, comedy they would be shocked. They had no idea how wrong they could be. What fools they've been! Sometimes they need insight beyond themsleves and luckily Noel and I are on the same page, and now they are too.

I just about passed out working out today. Kirk, Dan and I worked legs today - and didn't do it in a real typical way. One guy had a large rubber band hooked to him via a harness, and the other end was hooked to the guy behind you. We'd then run 40 yard sprints with the other person acting as an anchor behind you. We did 6 sets of 40 yard sprints in each direction - first 6 forward - and then 6 running backwards. I was hating it while doing it, but felt great afterwards. After the first set of sprints, I started hyperventilating and got dizzy. Dan found out the hard way not to eat cinnamon toast crunch right before working out. Kirk a great trainer - and knows just how far he can push you, and how to get the most out of you. There's enough trash talking going on at the same time to keep everyone competitive, but there's a fair amount of grace cut as long as you're working to the best of your ability.

Check out Noel's Tuesday, November 11, 2003 Post in his blog, reviewing the Matrix: Revolutions movie. After seeing that Noel liked the movie, I'm guessing Jason and Will will change their tunes.

Will's soul has been recently disclosed.
Jason's soul has not been doing much journeying lately.
Mark's mind has been stirring recently.

Noel turned me on to this site dedicated to theologically questionable church signs.

My brother Jon and his wife Beth came to visit on Saturday. The whole time they were with us, Jon kept trying to say intellingent things, and pose for pictures, hoping he'd make it into my blog somehow. Jon and Beth hung out with us during the day, and we went out Saturday night. I know there are a lot of families that aren't this way, but we have a blast getting together with my brothers/sister and their spouses. My brother Jon and I have always been great friends, since we were little. He's a couple years younger than me, and he was the best man in my wedding, and I was the best man in his. Jon is one of the most generous guys I know, and if there was a masters degree in spotting holes in others that are fun to poke at, it'd be him. Somehow growing up, Jon was able to get away with just about anything by sitting around quietly after the fact until people forgot he was there. Jon being in a room completely changes the dynamic - especially in a family situation - typically for the better. Some of Jon's best work is when he's able to say something to my Mom, and I get yelled at for him. Jon is able to tease his nieces and nephews to the point that either they'll chew him out, or their parents will. My sister-in-law Beth is a Doctor - pursuing a fellowship in hematology and oncology. She's brilliant yet humble about it. The kids love her - she's they're "Aunt Bethie". My favorite line from Jon during his visit while talking about Jess (our roommate) was "Do you look through her stuff when she's gone? 'Cause you know she's looking through your stuff when you leave." Classic Jon

Periodically, I like to check and see how people came across my blog. The blogger software will let you see the site that referred someone to mine - whether they typed it in directly or came across it via a search engine. To date, here are some of the oddest search criteria that led people to my site:

• Dave Matthews Wife Pictures


• anne frank's thoughts about margret


• special ops and famous pictures


• guy who looks just like dave matthews


• Bullying Qoute


• where can i find pictures of abused homosexuals


• analyzing margaritaville lyrics


• why did xerox company choose Anne Mulcahy, how is she better


• jessica simpson swimming with dolphins pictures


• "this world has nothing for me" next world everything lyrics

I just finished watching a video of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe - part of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. When I read the books as a kid, I never saw past the story line to any larger story. Each time I read it or watch it, I'm amazed at how C.S. Lewis retold the core elements of the Gospel in these books - especially in this first book. After watching the video with my kids today, I sat down and started reading it again. Reading through the part of the book where Aslan makes a deal with the Witch to die in Edmund's place opens up a part of the gospel I'd never though of before - it really shows the the majesty of the savior and the humilty of his death. I guess it may sound silly that it takes a kids book to point these things out to me. Oh well.

I'm home tonight. I'm back here in beautiful Kansas City next Wednesday night, and home during the entire week of Thanksgiving. After next week's flight, I hit my NorthWest Gold Elite status. It may not sound like a big deal, but the perks are nice - including early boarding, extra luggage and automatic first class upgrades. Working in an industry where most of the people travel heavily, people can recite the various plans and tiers to achieve them for just about every hotel and airline out there, and people weare them as a badge of honor. I've made this flight between Detroit and K.C. so many times that I know the guy who works at the metal detector at the K.C. airport by name.

Interesting Relevant article on Matrix:Revolutions, but it doesn't really touch on the fact that in spite of these flaws, it was still an entertaining movie. Interesting discorse at the end of the article, worth reading. My favorite comment is:
Why do so many people hate the matrix? My top 3 suggestions:
1. They didn't understand it (eg. the writer of this review), and feel the need to vent their frustration.
2. They read a negative review, and then went and saw the movie. Inevitably they noticed all the negative things pointed out by the review, and failed to appreciate the work as a whole.
3. They expected installments 2 and 3 to be exactly the same as the first movie, only different.

"I had mixed reactions to Revolutions in general. I was disappointed to see the “theory” of the Matrix completely drop off in Revolutions. For example, The Architect comes in at the end to become this grandfatherly twin of the Oracle who is necessary to preserve the balance between good and evil. Duh! Come on, where’s The Architect in his masochistic evil glory? The exclusion of The Architect was sourly disappointing, because along with him the theory of the Matrix was nowhere in sight.

I'm in Kansas City and I feel like crap. My head is full of flem and I'm in meeting all day, hooped up on cold medicine. I have a couple of presentations to do tomorrow, but I can barely think straight let alone present before a large group.

Good article on the quality comeback of the Simpsons over the past years. Probably only of interest to true Simpsons aficionados. Plus, it uses the phrase Jump the Shark.

My wife's cousin sent these pictures of the Southern California fire that were taken by one of the guys in her neighborhood. Everyone was safe, and the houses weren't harmed.

My wife likes to forward these things to me because she knows how they annoy me. This e-mail chain is one of the finest examples of shame and manipulation in the name of Jesus that I've seen. Man, these annoy me:
~Jesus Test~

This is an easy test, you score 100 or zero. It's your choice. If you aren't
ashamed to do this, please follow the directions.

Jesus said, "if you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my
Father."
Not ashamed - Pass this on . . . only if you mean it.
Yes, I do Love God.
He is my source of existence and Savior.
He keeps me functioning each and everyday.
Without Him, I will be nothing.
Without Him, I am nothing but with Him I can do all things through Christ
that strengthens me.
Phil 4:13
_____
This is the simplest test . . . ! If you Love God, and are not ashamed of all
the marvelous things he has done for you.
Send this to ten people and the person who sent it to you!

What a cool site! Check out the Wake Boarding game. This is a huge potential time-waster.

There's a Mom at my church who is a constant source of encouragement to me. Over the past few years, Cathie and I receive regular notes and e-mails encouraging and thanking me for my time with their boys, and Cathie for supporting me in what I do. Especially with Jr. High youth ministry, you can't rely on the kids themselves to give much back short-term - you've got to look waaaay in the future, so every little bit helps. Here's an excerpt from her e-mail regarding our small group last night:
Just a quick thank you. The boys had such a great time last night. Nick loved it and wants to come every time. Zach was so happy that Nick loved it. We all feel great when we have a place to share our faith experience and it is well received. Thanks for loving kids. Thanks to Cathie for holding down the fort.

Had a great Sanctuary (church for the rest of us - targeted at 6 - 12th grade) last night teaching about Worship. J did an amazing job coordinating the whole experience - starting with some phoneomenal teaching and then some well put together "experiental" time to go off and chew on some of what we'd just talked about. The crux of the message was about worship not being a time, but a lifestyle. J teaches from the heart and with such a great vulternability about him, the kids really connected with what he was saying. I've got a pretty good idea most of the time where he's headed with his talks - but when he was playing clip from dashboard confessional confessional unplugged doing The Best Deceptions. In this clip, there's a group of 50 or so 20-something's sitting around Chris Carrabba (the only guy in the band) singing along to an acoustic version of the song - singing out of key, singing passionately. The kids came to the conclusion that the passion in their singing was because the song probably meant something to them - maybe they'd lived through a breakup and they had a connection to the song. J then took us through a couple of songs and the meanings behind them, and then we sang - like the kids in the video - passionately, fervently. It made for great worship that really struck me. Sanctuary just keeps getting better each time - we're drawing new kids in, and getting the old ones back. J really seems to be getting into his groove on this, and it shows.

Last night in my Pyros (Jr. High Guys) small group, we talked about what it means to be a godly man. After they got done with some of the standard answers (Joe, Jason, nice, good, etc) I asked them if they'd rather be Tony Hawk or a Godly man. None of them chose being a Godly man - and here's where some great truth came out. They said that a Godly men were boring and nice. We then talked about Aragorn, from the Lord of the Rings - across the board - they thought he was cool - because he was dangerous, a leader, he came through, he was loyal, he stood up for the little guy, smoked the bad guy, etc. Most of them didn't see Jesus this way. We then watched the battle of Helm's Deep from the Two Towers where Aragorn prepares and leads the people against Saruman and Lord Saron's forces. We finished it up with a great discussion of what Traits Jesus has in common with Aragorn, both compassion and danger all wrapped into one - that Jesus could be Mother Teresa to the hurting, but Aragorn to the Pharisees. This is such a great group of guys - and the fact that they're bringing their friends to the group tells me a lot about how it's going.

It's about that time for me to begin looking at new cell phones, the Treo 600, Samsung i600 and Motorola MPX200. It's embaressing the amount of time I've put into researching these phones. Because of work, I'm on my cell as much as 3 or 4 hours a day, and because I'm a nerd, I want to have the latest/greatest technology. The thing these three phones have in common is the built in PDA. The Samsung and the Motorola both run the Mobile PocketPC operating system and the Treo runs the Palm OS. I'd prefer PocketPC because it's a little sexier, with a little cleaner syncronization and integration into Microsoft Applications. The cool thing with the Treo is that it has a thumb key-pad that allows you to receive and send e-mails on the fly, as well as Instant Message from your cell fairly easily. The downside to the phone is that it's a little bigger, and Sprint coverage seems to blows in the Metro Detroit area. The Motorola phone is tiny - about the same size as my current T720, but AT&T's plans are pretty expenseive - I'd rather stick with Verizon. The Samsung i600 is a little larger, but I've heard good things about it and I'm hoping to get a chance to play with it this week. I work with a fairly geeky crowd (go figure in the computer industry?) that drool over the latest phones and could give you a pro/con list a mile long for each model phone out there. If you're looking for the latest/greatest information on cell phones, or if you want to see just how consumed people are with them - check out Howard Forums.

I'm easily amused.

Great article in RELEVANT magazine on the Christian Subculture: “What makes the stuff so half-assed, so thin, so weak and cumulatively so demoralizing … has nothing to do with faith. The problem is lack of faith. [The Christian subculture] is a bad Xerox of the mainstream, not a truly distinctive or separate achievement. Without the courage to lead, it numbly follows, picking up the major media’s scraps and gluing them back together with a cross on top.”

It's been great being in town all week. I'm out of town next week - again - back down in Kansas City for a couple of days. I leave Tuesday night and come back Thursday night - in time for the big Survivor bash.

We had performance training day at the gym today. This is where Kirk Vickers, Brad Jeffrey, Dan Reynolds myself and occasionally Joe Muzzi get together and go through workouts that will make you vomit - from the effort involved. We had one exercise that involved laying down with a 25lb medicine ball, sitting up and throwing it in front of a guy sitting about 20 feet away. The ball rolls to you, you pull it up over your head, lay back, sit up with the ball over your head and throw it back. Sounds fun? Not if you have ADD. I lost focus for a second, and had my testicles crushed when Brad threw it and I didn't catch it before it rolled straight between my legs. Painful.

One of the guys working out with us was a pro football player, a quarterback who was out while trying to rehab his shoulder and play again. The guy clearly loves football, everything about it. He talked about how his world is having to find a new center now that football is not at the center of his orbit. What makes it hard is that no matter how hard he works, no matter how much he wants it, he may never get his shoulder back into playing shape, and it's rocking his world. Whether it's a woman, a job, money, your body - whatever - they're all too small of stories to live in. Reminds me of the Switchfoot lyrics from Meant to Live - "We were meant to live for so much more - have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside".

Some wonderfully deep thoughts:

• Somebody told me it was frightening how much topsoil we are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire and nobody got scared.


• Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff


• Whenever someone asks me to define love, I usually think for a minute, then I spin around and pin the guy's arm behind his back. NOW who's asking the questions?


• Why do the caterpillar and the ant have to be enemies? One eats leaves, and the other eats caterpillars. Oh, I see now.


• It's too bad that whole families have to be torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs.


• I wish I had a dollar for every time I spent a dollar, because then, yahoo!, I'd have all my money back.


• If I had a mine shaft, I don't think I would just abandon it. There's got to be a better way.


• I saw on this nature show how the male elk douses himself with urine to smell sweeter to the opposite sex. What a coincidence!

Gosh I haven't wanted to read the bible lately.... Haven't really wanted to spend any time with God. Not sure why - nothing major that I'm running from, I'm not sure if it's because it seems dull, because I'm in a rut, or what. Haven't really had much to say here as of late. No deep and dull thoughts.

I saw the Matrix Revolutions yesterday and I'll be one of the few people you'll hear say that they enjoyed it. It was anti climatic, especially after the original movie. It didn't do a good job capitalizing on some of the theories that the architect put forth in the second movie, and there was some major cheese in this in terms of lines and endings. This movie was much less cerebral than the first and second, much more action oriented that thought provoking. What I loved was the climactic battle throughout the movie. There's a battle going on that looks uninvolved - a small group of humans against overwhelming odds, continually getting the crap kicked out of them by the machines. It looks like it's just a matter of time until they're destroyed. While all this is going on, there's a small group that has hope, faith that Neo, the messiah, the One will come through in the end. It's this hope that keeps many of them fighting, and without this hope some trudge through the battle - and despair. Pretty good metaphor for the world we live in, battling evil against an unbeatable enemies - death and sin. Without a messiah, it's hopeless.

Jason turned me on to the latest David Crowder CD - Illuminate. Christianity Today gave it an interesting review that's worth reading, but the album is excellent musically, with very deep, soulful lyrics.

I worked out today with a guy named Adam who's a professional Tennis player. Interesting guy. We were talking about loving what you do for a living, and how much he loves to play Tennis. He was telling me about his traveling around for tournaments, and that pretty much when he's not playing, he's practicing. He said that by the time a lot of guys get to the highest levels, it's no longer their passion, it's a job. Right now, I really love my job. I don't think there's anything else I'd rather be doing. My job's not perfect, but I still love it. A while back, I wrestled with the idea of quitting my job and doing full time youth ministry, but came to the conclusion that it wasn't where God was pulling me. How many people have a job they love, that pays them well, with people they enjoy working with, that gives them some degree of flexability in their lives? I'm thankful.

I've worked with a guy out of Cleveland over the past 4 years or so. We work pretty closely together, and have been on a few projects together. He's doesn't seem like a guy that's overly intersted in spiritual stuff, but we've had some great conversations about the the importance of developing ourselves spiritually as well as professionally, enough so that he went out and read the book Wild At Heart. He and I were talking about our the fact that we both have a tough time cutting people grace either personally or professionally. I talked to him about the book I'd read a while ago called What's so Amazing about Grace, but that I still haven't got this one figured out. We decided that we're going to read the book - a chapter a week, and set up a time each week to talk about it. I'm really excited about this.

We had a big 'ol house full of people this weekend for Holloween. We carved pumpkins and Emliy got to wear her costume for her dance class (I'm not sure whether Miss Tara was dressing up for the dads or the kids).

Susan, Kevin, Gabe and Ali came up on Friday along with Ken and Cathy Buck and Cathie's parents. The guys took the kids trick-or-treating while the girls hung back and passed out candy. Cathy and Jess dressed up as Black Eyed Peas and could easily have passed for 8th graders. The cousins had a blast hanging out, and Saturday morning, Kevin and I took the kids to the Park to play. The guys in my small group got together over at Brad's on Saturday to watch a disappointing loss by State. The highlight was the giant clifford battle that went on. Brad got a set of about 40 small clifford beanie-baby dolls as a vetretnarian promotion. One or two started getting chucked around, trying to hit each other in the crotch. Before you know it a full blown battle was going on with these things being thrown around with no quarter being given.

I POKE BADGERS WITH SPOONS

I'm not sure what this means, but I want a t-shirt with this on it. My brother Jon called me lat night and told me he'd just ordered one. He'd seen it on a bumper sticker, entered it into google, and next thing he knew, he had a t-shirt. Gotta love capitalism when mixed in with a little google.