Ryan Started The Fire

I've been trying to not post as many videos this year. But this is just too good to pass up. For all fans of The Office...enjoy!

Checklist that Print

My Little Ponies = Awesome!

Have you seen these?

Find more by clicking HERE.

New Name

I think this blog needs a new name.  Someone once suggested "Lightly Powdered", due to the fact that I love the daily application of baby powder.

I also have a couple people willing to take some photos and possible create a new header for this page.    

I'm willing to take suggestions if you have some.

This Makes Me Laugh

Stephen King says of Stephenie Meyer (author of Twilight), 

The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn.  She's not very good.

It's funny 'cause it's true.

Read it here.

Spiritual Application

It seems that this video might have value as a quick illustration to some message or presentation.

What application would you give it?

Tweet Tweet

I've been taking a lot of photos of birds lately. I don't know why. However I feel the need to inform you all that I do not bird watch with a pair of binoculars. For some reason that seems like an awkward hobby to me. However Flight Lt. Colin Blythe, aka The Forger, from the movie The Great Escape was straight up cool. And if you remember he seemed to know a great deal about Orioles.
Anyways. That is all a bunch of blathering to show off this little friend who was singing at me this morning as I walked into work. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, so I'm going to give him/her an a-sexual name. Meet Sam.

Water Jet Pack

I'm not sure how exciting this would really be, but for some reason I think I need to do this.  Although if I am ever given a chance to fly around a lake I would insist that the music on this video must be played as I do so.

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Inner Dialogue

I had this little monologue run through my head this morning.  For some reason I thought I’d share it with you’ll.

 

Me: “I think I think too much.”

 

Me:  “Um…”

 

Me: “Ah crap I did it again didn’t I?”

 

Me: “You’re an idiot.”

 

Me: “I am an idiot, but regardless that’s no reason to share that with me.  Have a little self-esteen.”

 

Me: “You know what?  You’re right.  I apologize.”

 

Me: “That’s okay.  Hey, do you think I should blog this thought process?”

 

Me: Sighs and mumbles, “Idiot.”

Where I Get My News?

This is my current favorite news source: TweenTribune.  Well not really favorite, but I really enjoy it.  You should check it out.

Here is how they describe themselves:

Welcome to TweenTribune.com, a daily news site for tweens. Each day we post links to the day's most compelling news from a tweens perspective. Stories chosen for TweenTribune are selected by tweens working closely with professional journalists. Tweens can submit links to stories they'd like to share, submit their own stories and photos, and comment on the stories they read.

Unlike other news sites for kids, TweenTribune is easy to use, updated daily and allows tweens to participate in so many ways. But most importantly, it encourages tweens to seek out news on a daily basis. Our democracy depends upon a well-informed public, so it's important to foster a daily news-reading habit at an early age. TweenTribune does that by enticing tweens with a few offbeat stories they wouldn't find elsewhere. Only TweenTribune promotes the daily habit because its the only news site for tweens that is updated daily.

You Asked For It: Part 4

You can Click HERE to review all the questions you asked me.  This is my second attempt to

 answer some of yor inquiries.  And as always if one answer leads to follow up questions, or if you just have another questions, please feel fre

e to ask.

#44.  How many of the US States have you visited?

I am going to answer this two ways.  First the number of states I have physically been in and second how many actually visited. (Is that the right word? places that I have stayed and enjoyed, not just passed through…does that make sense?)

How many states have I physically entered? – 36 plus the territory of Guam and Washington D.C..  If I’ve been in others I have no recollection.  They are from west to east: Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, Indiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York

How many states have I actually enjoyed time in? – I’m going to say 24.  They are: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, New York.  Plus Guam and Washington D.C.  I should probably also mention that I lived in Germany and traveled throughout Europe. 

"God, what about me makes you proud?"

During a period of prayer, specifically a time of listening, this morning (and again this evening) in church we as a community corporately and individually asked God what about us makes Him proud.

I had a difficult time asking this question. I live in and know myself by my failures. So spending time in quiet anticipation of an answer from God was excruciating. Why would God see me any other way than how I see myself? And why would I want to hear that inevitable answer from the God whom I so desperately try to appease.

Instead I spent those few minutes in the service hearing from Him, and arguing with Him, about the way that He sees me. God mainly reminding me about the method by which He evaluates my worth and value is nothing like mine.

I live in my regrets. I daily see the scars I've emotionally and spiritually cut into me. I cringe whenever anyone asks why I was suspended for a week in high school. I weep when I recall the moments that led to my resignation (read termination) from my ministry in North Carolina. I know the potential for my darkness and the struggle it takes to resist.

What about me would God feel any need to even look upon me, let alone be proud of me?

So then. I head home and enjoy dinner with great friends. People I respect immensely and in no way measure up to. Their levels of commitment and service baffle me.

We eat some spaghetti. Someone opens a bottle of wine (I drink water because I'm out of Dr. Pepper). And another inserts Rob Bell's The Gods Aren't Angry tour DVD. I saw this tour live and have seen this DVD on several occasions. Each time it leaves me breathless. Broken. Better.

As Rob traces the evolution of man's understanding of our awareness of forces outside of our control and our burden of continually trying to appease those forces, he eventually reveals the "culmination of the ages". And because of Jesus' satisfactory and fulfilling sacrifice we no longer "have to live that way". (That's a very brief and limited recap of the presentation and I would suggest you watch it get the full impact.)

So tonight. I grapple with not living that way. When will I allow Christ to define me? One would think that twenty years of Christ-following would have brought me to a place of confident assurance.

Tonight's prayer as I head to bed: Rescue me from myself. Renew me to Your understandings. Revive me, making me a living sacrifice, so that I may live out Your good news of the "culmination of the ages".

My Dream Girl Makes Me Question Myself

Okay. So every Monday I have been answering questions that you readers have asked of me. One of those questions was to describe my perfect girl; answering more than my typical response, "a rich girl with low self-esteem and daddy issues" (that makes me laugh). Which at some point I will fully answer for you. Trying to answer that without sounding too shallow or too spiritual-uppity is forcing me to actually think through that response.
However as I'm thinking through the qualities, characteristics and physical appearance of the woman I want to ultimately know more intimately than anyone other person, I am forced to ask some questions of myself.
Tommy Nelson says that before you can be a good husband to your bride you must first be a good bride to your Husband (Jesus). Processing that is challenging me to evaluate my love relationship with Christ. I believe that I should be pursuing Christ with a relentless passion. I also believe that as I pursue Christ, He will reveal to me a woman who is relentlessly running after Him. And that our common pursuit will be our foundation.
So I have to ask myself; Am I pursuing Jesus with a reckless abandonment or are there some areas of my life that I need to place on an alter before God as a living sacrifice? And if there are some areas, what are they and will I truly release them?
The other questions I am currently asking are in regards to my character. Am I the person in private that the woman of my dreams deserves? Specifically are there cracks in my character that would cause or are causing regret or resentment in my relationships?
And finally, since physical appearance is important in whom I am searching for (to some degree, if I'm honest) I need to consider my own appearance and physical presentation. Am I dressing well enough? How's my hair look? Do I smell nice? Should I and how much weight should I lose?

I ask these questions of myself because I don't believe in such a thing as a perfect girl, although Pam from The Office is dog-gone close, rather I believe in a perfect love. And since I am asking God, in His will and in His timing, to give me someone to love, I can not dictate who that is. I can not choose who loves me, I can only choose how I will love her and what I can offer her to love in return.

Um...just some late Saturday night inner ramblings I thought I should share with you all.

But don't worry I won't cop out of the question I was asked. I will share with you some specific aspects I am attracted to in the ladies. Maybe not this Monday but soon.

(I am typing this on my phone and if there are more grammar errors than usual please forgive me. I have trouble proof-reading as is, but for some reason even more so on this thing.)

Have you read this?

I'm "reading" this book by Chelsea Handler and it is absolutely hysterical. Now I am certainly not recommending it, mainly because I haven't finished it yet, but it has had me laughing all day.

Inauguration From Space

This is a cool photo of yesterday's activities from space:

Praying for Baraak Obama

I'm so proud of my pastor for leading so many people in prayer for our President.  You can listen to that prayer in the video below.  And you can learn more about my pastor by visiting his website if you so choose.

I want to also express how much I appreciated the prayer at the inauguration by Pastor Rick Warren.  I appreciate not only the words he choose but the conviction with which he spoke them.  You can listen to it this this video:

Let us not fail to continue to pray for our leaders.

You Asked For It: Part 3

You can Click HERE to review all the questions you asked me. This is my second attempt to answer some of you inquiries. And as always if one answer leads to additional questions/follow up questions please feel free to ask.

7.  Do you remember the names of the people you meet?

No.  I'll try to remember names, but it typically takes some sort of experience with a person to remember their name.  

Even with people who I have known my whole life I have to work through my mental Rolodex to recall their name.  It goes something like this: "A"...no.  "B"...no.  "C"...no. "D"...um...that seems familiar..."D-a"...Danielle...no..."D-e"...Denise...no...Dolores...I don't know anyone named Dolores..."E"... And so on.

Just meeting a stranger and having the expectation of remembering their name, well, I crack under the pressure.  I can generally remember someone's name for a night, but a week later I'll have to ask that person's name all over again.  And it's honestly not because I don't care (or maybe on a deep subconscious level I don't) but I need something more than a casual introduction to carve our the precious memory space from my limited capacity.  

34.  What was your favorite band when you were a freshman?

I wouldn't call myself a huge music fan.  I know what I like and I like what I know.  So when it comes to exploring other stuff I don't give it very long.  However I am always willing to give things a second chance, or even third chances.  But I don't try and pretend to be that guy who is into all the indie bands and is "hip" with the music scene.  I'm not also that guy who pours over CD booklets memorizing ever word or tries to describe every sound.  

So saying all that.  Let's see.  When I was a freshman in high school I believe my favorite musical artist was Wes King.  It started with his song I Believe, which for a young guy, helped begin shaping my foundational beliefs about my Christian faith.  As I grew to learn his other music I began to appreciate his storytelling abilities, his incredible guitar work and the theological care in his songs.  Okay, that's what I later figured I liked about his music, but as a freshman I just liked it.  To this day I've never met another Wes King fan.

But I also would say that Rich Mullins has been a continual favorite of mine since his Winds of Heaven...Stuff of Earth album.  It was just around the time this album was being released that Rich came out to our church in South Dakota and shared a new song called Awesome God.  So I think I would have to include him in this mix.

If you are asking me who my favorite band was when I was a freshman in college I would have to say Caedmon's Call.  Their lyrics.  Their harmonies.  From the first time I heard their song Lead of Love to the haunting Center Aisle I was dedicated to this group.  It was also during my freshman year of college that Rich Mullins and Mitch McVicker were in their fatal car wreck.  I had this hole in my CD collection that would be filled with the rhythms and rhymes of other singer/songwriter types of Andrew Peterson and Bebo Normon.  I first heard these two at my first Caedmon's Call concert.

53.  Favorite recipe/dinner?

This is kind of a tough one.  When it comes to recipes I don't do a whole lot of cooking.  I've can make things in bulk, but just for myself I don't cook a lot.  But I'm proud of my salsa.  Recently I made some killer cupcakes.  And I pour an incredible bowl of cereal.  Beyond that I would have to follow directions very closely.  

When answering which is my favorite dinner, I might answer the Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Wrap at Red Robin, because I do like that.  But I don't know for certain.  On my birthday I always have hamburgers and chocolate cake.  Or my dad grills a mean steak, corn on the cob and asparagus.  

Okay now I'm hungry.

Get On Your Boots

Have you heard the latest from U2? Check it out here: http://goyb.u2.com/ from their upcoming album No line on the Horizon.

You Asked For It: Part 2

You can Click HERE to review all the questions you asked me. This is my second attempt to answer some of you inquiries. And as always if one answer leads to additional questions/follow up questions please feel free to ask.

23. What reality TV show would you like to be on?
I think it would have to be (1) The Amazing Race, followed by (2) Survivor and then (3) Cops.

29. Who was your first crush?
When we first met she was 8 years old and I was 6 years old.

45. What do you like on your Subway sandwiches?
Every time I have some Subway I order the same thing. Even after I talk myself up before entering into the doors.
I begin by asking for the wheat bread.
And then it's always the same meats: turkey and ham.
Depending on whether or not the specific Subway has Swiss cheese or not depends on my cheese choice. But generally I choose Swiss.
Then it's on to the veggies. I start with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers (because their pickles always look gross) and carrot slices (something I've started add to sandwiches I make at home too).
Finally I all their honey mustard sauce.
Delicious.

Tebow Returns

He announced today that he is coming back for his senior year.

This is significant because as a two time Heisman finalist (one time winner) and a two time national champ we may be witnessing the greatest college football player ever. Forget how he adapts to the next level. Forget that he has a slow NFL delivery on his passes (because he's not in the NFL). Forget that if he does go to the pros he is likely to be converted into a fullback or tight end. What he does right now, at this level...it's incredible. Few players have ever shown the amount of do-whatever-it-takes-to-win attitude that he has so far in his career.

And to make matters even better, this young man has continually proved himself to be a God-honoring, respectable young man.

You got to root for this guy. Maybe not the Gators, but definitely for him.