Happy Kwanzaa?

I'm no expert on Kwanzaa. I certainly haven't read a book about it like my friend, Lerah. But it did peak my interest when I read that our president was singing its praises. So here' a side of Kwanzaa I was unaware of...Ann Coulter on Kwanzaa or if you don't trust Ann you check it out at the unbiased, Wikipedia.

So I guess any celebration of the birth of a man named Jesus must be referred to by the generic, 'holiday' but any holiday founded by a 1960's era communist rebel can be called by it's proper title. Happy Kwanzaa everybody.



tags: Kwanzaa Bush

Where's the Warning?

The photographer who took this picture saw it coming. Why didn't he warn the guy? He thought pictures of an accident would go further in prompting the government to fix the cities potholes.

I guess there is a time to warn and a time to let someone learn the hard way.

A Year's Worth of Blogging

Taking a page from Blognell it is interesting to look back at last years blogs and see how things change... and stay the same.

A year ago Laurie almost decapitated Kirk by breaking a window on his head (So I Married an Axe Murderer)

Now a year removed Kirk was once again at the house. This time he was replacing the front windows. We were able to do them all with no head injuries.

Also, a year ago Calyn was decapitating my mail box. (It all started with a flash). Calyn did stop by tonight but I think she managed to avoid any vehicular destruction of property.

Calyn was actually over with Lori tonight to say goodbye because Lori leaves for Ukraine tomorrow. This leads me to something I pray for my self and for each of you in ‘2006 ...Being in the center of God's will. Lori is leaving Tallahassee, friends, family, and comfort to go to a place that is foreign, cold, uncomfortable and uncertain. But, she's excited about it. What a great place to be...not Ukraine necessarily...but in the center of God's will. Switchfoot may say Happy is a Yuppie Word but it is also a word that describes what it feels like to know You are doing what God has placed you on earth to do. And I sense that in Lori. Have a great year Lori. We look forward to hearing all that God does in Ukraine because you are obeying Him! And we hope we have some good things to tell you about as well.

Thanks, Bank of America!

Wow do I feel secure. Bank of America's security department is on top of their game. They called this morning (Laurie answered the phone) to report some 'unusual activity' on our credit card. What was the unusual activity? Are you ready? The unusual activity was frequent use of the card on 12/23/2005. Imagine that, using your credit card at several different stores two days before Christmas. Of course the only way to get to the bottom of the situation was to go through the list of every place the card had been used and how much had been spent at each location. No worries, Laurie still has no clue what on earth I may have spent exactly $25 on at Old Navy. Thanks Bank of America. I can sleep tonight knowing no one has stolen my card and is now running a bill up at the Hallmark shop!

Some Things Are Just Hard to Understand

James Dungy on the Sidelines with his dad, head coach Tony Dungy

James, son of Tony Dungy, apparently committed suicide yesterday. James was only 18. Pray for the Dungys. While your at it pray for every teenager that comes to your mind. Suicide is way to common among those who are young. And if you get a chance...hang out with one and remind them that life is good...tough...but worth it.

tags: suicide Dungy

Finally, It feels like Christmas

Yankees Steal One From Boston

tags: Yankees MLB Red_Sox Boston

Mercy Me on Leno

Mercy Me will appear on Leno tomorrow night (Wednesday, Dec 21st). Apparently the plan is for them to sing, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". Good for them. Maybe this can be a stepping stone for them and one day they can hit the big time and get on Letterman.

Yea God!

Funny qoute of the day
"Chris, are you chatting with chickens?"
Drew as Chris is doing something on Josh's computer.

Scary quote of the day
"Christian is my hero" ... Drew

Case Closed, Yea?

King Kong - A Real Life Story

I've never understood the concept of women falling in love with big dumb apes. But sadly enough we've all seen it over and over again.


tags: King Kong

Making Fun or Celebrating the Difference?

I feel like a teenager screaming at my parents, "You just don't understand me!". There is a huge difference between making fun, correcting, insisting that everyone look, act & talk the same verses taking note of differences in people and celebrating those differences. If you point out uniqueness in a person as an attempt to degrade or make a person feel bad...Shame on you! If you point out that difference in order to edify and celebrate the uniqueness with which that person has been created and shaped by God than that is awesome.

Now, I recognize there is a perception issue. Despite our best intentions people may perceive us to be 'teasing'. So we must be careful that the result of our words always build up (Eph 4:29). The command in Eph 4:29 is not to have proper motivation. The command is for the results of our words to have the effect of building up.

All that to say if I every say anything that makes you feel torn down rather than built up...Tell me...I'll stop. At least I'll try. Some habits are hard to break.

Great Logos

tags: logos

My Dream - Survivor

I'm not sure if this counts or not because this dream took place during the snooze alarm period of sleep but it at least it is back on the positive side of things.

I dreamt I was a contestant on Survivor. The show had just ended and my brother and his wife arrived at the camp to help me unload the......RV. That's right - I spent my Survivor experience living in an RV. Oh, and what were unpacking...all the left over food. Yes, I had so much food for my Survivor experience I could not eat it all. We were unloading boxes and boxes of barbeque chicken and corn dogs. That's the way to live in the jungle for 39 days. I guess I won because I was the only one left in the RV when they arrived to help unload it. I never even met any of the other contestants.

tags: Survivor Dream

My Dream: VIII

I wish my streak of nights with memorable dreams ended at four. It didn't. Last night I had the most horrible dream I have had...ever. This dream is not for the tender hearted so if you are emotional you may want to surf over to This Page and find out what's happening in only 53 short days!

VIII. THIS WAS A DREAM. This did NOT happen.

So for some strange reason I am standing in the front yard of my childhood yard. It still looks exactly as it did when I lived there. There are three well worn dirt spots on the front yard - One for home, first, second, and third base. I am no longer a child though. As a matter of fact my sons Josh & Drew are with me. Josh for some unknown reason decides to walk across the street to neighbor's house. This is a small road (Carrin Dr. off of Appalachee Parkway) so we are not concerned about traffic. A car is coming but it is far enough off that Josh crosses the road without incident.

There were two things that we didn't notice. First, that Drew was following Josh across the street and two that there was a neon green car flying right behind the one that Josh avoided.

To my horror what I witnessed next left me shaken. The neon green car saw Drew at the last minute. He could have avoided him but he panicked and swerved right into him. As he struck him, Drew went flying onto the hood, rolled up onto the windshield and flew off the side of the car. I began to call 911. As I'm running toward Drew and listening to the phone ring I begin to scream over and over, "Jesus, you have got to save him. I have got to have that boy!". At this point I woke up.

After waking up from a dream like this I was obviously a little overwhelmed. I got out of bed immediately and began to write down some thoughts on what I had just, 'experienced'. This being my fifth straight dream I asked God to show me if He was trying to tell me something. Following are some of the thoughts I jotted down.

(1) The car had hit Drew lost control. As much as our kids may be a priority to us that is not the case with the rest of the population. We have a responsibility to protect our kids from people who don't consider their best interest on a daily basis as parents do.

(2) Drew followed Josh. This is not a reflection on Josh...But human behavior in general. Josh was doing something he was perfectly capable of handling. He was crossing a small street. What he didn't consider was that someone was following him who could not handle the same responsibility. Don't assume that because you can do something that you should do something. You are influencing people. You have a responsibility to consider them which may mean sacrificing some things you feel like you can handle without harm.

(3) At 1:45am I am dreaming that I am screaming, "Jesus, you have got to save him. I have got to have that boy!" At 8:15 I am doing a Bible study at Northwoods on Genesis 22 in which Abraham is tested by God to see if He is willing to trust God even to the point of sacrificing his son. I think I failed the test - At least in dreamland.

(4) I'm not sure what this means but I found it interesting. In the midst of the chaos and tragedy of what is happening I remember a glimmer of positive emotion. I'm running toward Drew, listening to the phone ring, screaming at Jesus and yet I look at Josh and see he hasn't even turned around. He is still walking toward the house with no clue any of this has happened. I feel good for him that at least for a few more minutes he has avoided what the emotional turmoil the rest of us find ourselves in.



tags: dream

My Dreams: IV, V, VI, VII

The streak continues. Actually, last night I had four dreams that I can remember. I'm sure there were more but I can't recall.


IV. I was a chorographical consultant for the Georgia Tech marching band. Apparently they wanted to spunk up their image. They were tired of being known as the stiff engineer band and wanted to add a FAMU type flair to their routine. So they brought in...me. So just imagine me in front of 200 engineering students teaching them to dance hip-hop and you get the picture.


V. Than there was the Ice Cream shop. I was driving coolest car to the ice cream shop. It was a mini. Like a very mini. Go-cart size but it was fast and fancy like a sports car. So as I'm parking my mini and as I'm getting out I hear this guy speaking in a very strange voice. The kind of voice that makes you wonder... Anyway, I looked at something on his car which made me realize he was French. Don't ask me it's just a dream. Anyway I get out and see this other French guy who is dressed like the old guy from Karate Kid and he utters something about killing me with his bare hands. I tell him to have a nice day and get back into my mini. I decide to drive my mini into the ice cream shop. I told you it was a mini. Anyway, when I go inside I see a Godby football player sitting with his girlfriend. They are both wearing Godby football jackets, as am I, as a matter of fact. He asks me, 'Pastor Todd, why does coach Cruise wait until the end of the year to give us our jackets. We only to get wear them one game.' I say, 'If you guys wouldn't have lost in the first round of the playoffs you would have gotten to wear them for more than one game.' He said, 'oh, yea'. That was the end of that one.

VI. Calyn comes up to me and says, "Todd, I've got a ton of homework. Is it alright if I miss ROC this week?" I say, "Absolutely not Calyn. We need you to be here. What's more important than ministering to students?" She cries and walks away. Side note: maybe I'm intimidating in my dreams, yea?

VII. This is one of those half awake half asleep dreams. I woke up around 6:45am and as I'm going back to sleep I'm telling myself...'You need to write down those dreams before you forget'. So I close my eyes and dream that I'm writing down the dreams. As soon as I'm done dreaming that I'm writing down the dreams I hop up as you would if you sat down at a counter to jot something down and hoped up when you were done. When I realized I hadn't really written them down but only dreamed I wrote them down I went and wrote them down.

I'm still hoping to get in the game at some point.

Quote of the day: I said to Drew, "Drew we're awesome at carpet ball. We should take our game on the road"

He said, "No dad, cars might break it. Let's just play at Rachel's house"

tags: dreams

My Dreams III: Who Knows?

I'm on a roll recently for remembering my dreams. This is very uncommon for me but I have to say its fun.

In last night's dream I came to the church Sunday morning and had some things to set up. When I arrived a man began following me around and talking with an exaggerated old man's voice (not his own but as if mocking) and saying how helpless and useless he was because he was 'just an old man'. He'd say things like, "don't worry about me Todd. I'll turn on that light. You know I can't see. I'm just an old man". So he followed me around throughout the morning with this strange self pity thing going on.

So I picked up a cooler that I was carrying up to the Alpha building. It was a Chik-fil-a cooler so I'm guessing it had chicken biscuits in it. Whatever it had I remember it being heavy. The strange part is as I'm carrying it throughout the church people are punching me in the ribs. There is nothing I can do because I am carrying this cooler with both hands.

Finally I arrive at the Alpha building and set down the cooler. That's all I remember.

I'm hoping to be president tonight. I've always wondered what that must be like. Sorry Kenley, I may beat you to it.

P.S. Thank goodness for spell checker. I know some of you would have been ruthless had I left 'biscuit' spelled, 'bisket'. Or maybe that's just the new EuroEnglish spelling.


tags: dreams

My Dream II: Death Wish?

Alright so I didn't get in the game last night either. As a matter of fact I left the game altogether. Here's last night's dream...


I was a medical conference with several other of our pastors in a hospital somewhere. Don't ask me why. I began to feel very ill and mentioned it to the doctor leading the conference. He said, 'well we are in a hospital let's check your blood'. After checking my blood he called me into his office and told me I had a very bad blood disorder. I asked him how bad and he let me know I had no more than 14 months of life left on earth. The really strange part occurred when the other pastors were told and how they handled it. 'Just have faith'. 'Just believe'. 'God can heal you'. My thought was, 'I certainly believe that God CAN heal me. My question is WILL he heal me. I've seen it go both ways.

I think I preferred being Barry Bonds for a night to seeing the end of my days.

tags: dreams death healing

My Dream: Becoming Barry Bonds

Literally, it was a dream. No, I do not want to become Barry Bonds but last night in my dream I did. It seems Barry was going back on the DL (that's disabled list, Jenshka) but they wanted to keep it on the DL (that's down low Jenshka) so rather than send him down they brought me up. That's right. The San Francisco Giants called me and asked if I would dress out and be Barry Bonds for a few games. How could I decline? It was a blast. I put on his uniform and headed out to the game. It was hard work being Barry. Fortunately it was in San Fran so the fans actually liked me. No telling what I would have gone through had my contract extended to any road games. I was a little disappointed that I never got in the game but I guess they didn't want to make it too obvious that I wasn't Barry Bonds. Being part of the team, going through warm ups and signing endless autographs was enough excitement for one night. Maybe tonight I'll get in the game.

Starting Over is No Fun - but it beats not starting over

After I got done with a 4 mile run Josh says, "Dad, how did you run a 13 mile race when you are so tired after only 4?" "Great question Josh. Now go to bed with no dinner!" The answer is the 13 mile race was last February and I haven't had an event to train for since Red Hills last March.

The truth is since I found out my vacation schedule conflicts with the Red Hills Triathlon this year I haven't really had anything driving me to train. Now I do. I spoke with Bucky and we're shooting for the Tallahassee Marathon in February '07. I'm sure I'll do some smaller races before than to keep me motivated but the Marathon is the goal. Anybody who wants to join us we'll be running together the last Saturday of every month. We'll start with short runs because we're both in the 'starting over mode'. The more the merrier!

Anyway thinking about that reminded me that whenever I get away from doing something I should have been doing all along it is hard to get back into the routine. But getting back into the routine sure beats drifting further away from where we know I should be. Even if it does feel like starting over.

tags: triathlon marathon running

Jeff Bowden: Record Breaker

Alright all you Jeff Bowden critics out there. Consider all of the ACC Championship game records that were broken in Saturday night's game...

1. Points Scored in a game: 27 - Florida State
2. Most rushing yards by a single runner: 31 yrds by Lorenzo Booker
3. Most rushing yards in a game: 47 by Florida State
4. All Purpose Yards: 210 by Willie Reid
5. Most points in a quarter: 24
6. Longest opening play from scrimmage: 11 yrds (Wetherford to Carr)

Oprah Does a Pretty Good Calyn, yea?

tags: Letterman Oprah

Letterman vs. Leno

Leno has funny material. Letterman is a funny person. That is the basic difference. Watching Leno you leave with the feeling...those are funny jokes. Watching Letterman you think...that's a funny guy.

By the way if you saw Letterman and Oprah last night you know Letterman does not do 'serious' very well. He should stick with funny. Case in point - I saw a stat somewhere showing that Letterman gives huge amounts of money to political causes. The odd thing is he gives almost equally to liberal and conservative causes. He referenced his inferiority to Leno several times last night just to further make the case that he's not a guy that takes himself too seriously. Never mind that he also called last night's show 'the television event of the decade'.

Oh, and by the way. Oprah did a great Calyn imitation last night. If you didn't catch it I've got the video. I may post it sometime if anybody's interested.

tags: Letterman Leno

New English for the European Union

Thanks to Alan Lloyd for the following info.

European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the re moval of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

Tough Questions

Do I Love God or Love Forgiveness? I heard John Piper challenge people with that question on the radio today.

He followed with...

"I fear that most people could go to heaven with all of their comforts and earthly relationships and be completely content even if God was not there". He said it a lot better than that but that was the jist. I said, 'ouch'. I hope it's not true of me. Do I love God or love the gifts He gives me? Do I love God or love the purpose He adds to my life? Tough questions. Remind me not to listen to Piper anymore.


tags: God