Travel Log: We officially left for Myrtle!

Last night Aaron, Jen (his wife), Sondra and I went to Cleveland to the everything is spiritual tour with Rob Bell that benefits Water Aid. Aaron and I talked before how awkward and kind of strange it was to explain to others that we were going to a tour.... a speaking tour. But if your familiar with Rob Bell you'd understand. Rob is probably the single greatest informed, intelligent, artistic, communicator and thinker in the church today. Well at least as far as I can tell. He uses complex science, beautiful study of poetry and art, simple yet profound visuals, his own humor and culture references, OT and NT scripture, theorist and philosophers, and popular literature to convey G-d's truths.

Rob came out to a huge white board which covered from the left side of the stage to the right. He was not announced, no big production, just walked out and grinned (like only Rob can do) at everyone and said "in the beginning G-d created the earth" and started their. I'm not going to attempt to sum up his message up because one it was 2 hrs long and two I'll won't do it justice. As soon as we got up Aaron said, "when someone asks me about what he talked about, I'll just have to say 'it was amazing'". I concur. The thing that has always drawn me to Rob is that he's him.... meaning you can just tell he was wired to teach and he actually believes what he teaches and has a strong desire to live it out. For a while now I've always seen Rob as my teacher and I still feel that way.

My only regret is that I didn't take a few friends who would of really learned that the spiritual/physical met when G-d created mankind and that separating the to is impossible. Let me leave you with a final thought that Rob left with. In this life you will find whatever you are looking for; if your looking to be a pessimist you find things to be pessimistic about, if your looking to be a skeptic you'll find plenty of things to be skeptical of, if your looking for.... and if you look for hope you find things to be hopeful of, if you look for freedom you'll find things that are freeing. -Thanks Rob

If you experienced the everything spiritual tour... I'd love to hear your thoughts

I decided to start some daily wanderings. When I don't have anything to blog about I'll just put some interesting links to news articles, interesting blogs, websites etc.

• Do you know where your wedding customs came from? - Since I'm getting married soon I was wondering how and why things came about. I found a very interesting blog post on wedding customs.
• America's Got Talent? - It's questionable, now I'm not saying that these aren't talents, but I fear that our culture has lost all sensibility when it comes to what to watch on TV. What I mean is that not all entertainment is intriguing when it's put on tv. Although I like the theater, circus performers, and (for lack of a better word) freaks, they are only enjoyable when in their given environment. Last night I caught the last 5 mins of the show... pretty stupid. If this is the #1 rated show in America, I'm still glad I do not own a TV.
• Rick Warren BLOG - it's true, Rick Warren is now blogging. He's talking about his travel while doing Purpose Driven Life all over the world. Kinda makes me sick, but still G-d's using Rick for the kingdom. I need to not be so negative.
• Would you like a Ford Tauras with that? - Medcentral College of Nursing, where Sondra goes to college, got some free pubicty when a Ford Tauras window of a local TGIF. Crazy, you'll have to check the video out yourself for more details.
• Front lines in the middle east - I have always wanted to visit Israel and other middle east countries, maybe even live there. I almost had Sondra convinced it was fairly safe, but now that the Lebanese/Israel con Have you ever wonder what it's like to be in Lebanon or Israel during war? Now thanks to the internet we can not only see, but also contact people living via blogs, email, audio/video conference, etc. ABC News BLOG, TheWorldNewser, has an post that links to civilians in these areas. My heart goes out to these people and the people who are inflicting this evil upon one another. Pray for peace and love to prosper and for a way that we can be a positive force during this conflict. Here is a cartoonist/artist blog who lives in Beirut.
• Jeopardy Drama - Ken Jennings, who won 2 million dollars or so has been blogging about Jeopardy. Poking fun at the show and it's host Alex Trebec. Ken goes on to day the original Alex was killed and they made a robot to fill in for him. The show and other news show put some pressure on him that he was ungrateful. So he fired back an apology, saying that Alex is not a robot.... instead he is a cyborg that they had to rebuild using small canadian children. Hilarious.
• Be A Superhero - Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman, has a reality show called "Who Wants To Be A Superhero?". I have nothing else to say, just check it out. Also in other good superhero news, the USPS is coming out with stamps featuring many different superheros. It's exciting.

 Back To School, then Vacation.

Well it's amazing how fast the summer has come and mainly, went.  I'm back at Dalton working at the school.  It's very different transition to a desk job again, yet very excited to get back to work, but not to long.  Next week Sondra and I head to Myrtle Beach to meet up with Sondra's family on a much needed vacation.  It will be the quiet before the storm with wedding coming up.  We do however plan on spending sometime planning the actual ceremony and reading, To Become One: After "I Do," The Real Journey Begins.  We have been stalled a bit on reading this as of late and we believe this will be a great jump start.  What other books out there are good books on marriage, Christian or non-Christian? It doesn't matter to me.

Above are some pictures that Sondra took of Myrtle beach the last time she was there.

B Collision, Crowder Band's newest Remix CD is amazing. B stands for Banjo if you ask me. They really featured it and proved how beautiful of an instrument it can be. As Stewie says when speaking of the banjo, "What are those dulcet tones? Why this is the music of the angels?"

A BEAUTIFUL COLLISION
by DAVID CROWER* BAND

The breaking makes a sound
I never knew could be
So beautiful and loud
Fury filled and we collide

So courageous until now
Fumbling and scared
So afraid You'll find me out,
Alone here with my doubt

Here it comes, a beautiful collision
Is happening now.
There seems no end
to where You begin
and there I am now
You and I collide

Something circling inside,
Spaciously you fly
Infinite and wide,
Like the moon and sky
Collide

Here it comes, a beautiful collision
Is happening now.
There seems no end to where you begin
and there I am now
You and I, collide

Yeah Yeah Yeah

Here it comes...

Smith Family Reunion

Last Sunday was our Smith Family Reunion.  It was a nice, I always loved the Smith side of my family.  We were always close because my great grandma Smith lived so long and made use come together forever holiday of the year.  When my Uncle Bill prayed he thanked our ancestors.  I truley resinated with this thought because it is why I get so excited about the OT and the early church.  Even the traditional, contemporary and seeker-sensitive church, they have all paved a way for new life to flurish in G-d's kingdom.  In the same way I thank my family for allowing me to flurish Sondra and I are so blessed to have such loving and humble parents, grandparent's, aunt's, and uncles.  In my prayer I will praise G-d for them.  Here are some picture of the Smith Reunion festivities.

One day your a healthy young man....

C R A Z Y !


I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that phase.
Even your emotions have an echo
in so much space

And when you're out there
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy
Does that make me crazy
Does that make me crazy

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice
That's my only advice

Come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are
Ha ha ha bless your soul
You really think you're in control

Well, I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
Just like me

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember Is thinking, I want to be like them

Ever since I was little, ever since I was little oh it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done

But maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably