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After much sorting and deleting, here is our vacation through a lense.

A few of my favorite pics are below.

You can see more from Stone Mountain here, more from the Georgia Aquarium here, and more from the rest of our vacation here.

(PS - There are 28 pictures below, so please be patient if it takes a minute to load)

You can rest assured than an over-abundance of pictures will be posted over the next couple of weeks, but for today, here are a few tidbits from the past week in no particular order…

• Vacation with a baby isn’t really vacation. It’s more of an exchange of one kind of work for another. This isn’t a bad thing, and I’m certainly not complaining, but just to be real, those visions of hours on a beach, sleeping and reading and swimming and sleeping and reading and swimming… not real. We made it out to the beach twice in 10 days, and each time was for about 2 hours. Sand in the diapers and salt in the eyes and too much wind made it really complicated to get a little sunburn and swallow a little salt water. But Josiah was a real trooper and we still had fun. I hope I always remember the look on his face as an unexpected wave broke drenched him and his momma: he had a huge smile!
• The Statons were awesome hosts. Those who have had small children understand that they significantly influence your schedule. In Josiah’s case, he’s up by about 7:30, nap at around 10:00, another nap around 3:00, and in bed by 8:30′ish. When he’s awake, he needs a lot of attention — both because he wants it, and because he’ll probably try to crawl up something expensive and dangerous if you take your eyes off of him for long. As parents, we’re totally used to this, and we love watching him grow. But if you’re not used to it, Josiah’s schedule can feel constricting, and leave you frustrated at how everything has to happen in windows of time. But Adrienne and Drew were serious troopers. They never complained or ever seemed annoyed at how much work it probably was to restructure their whole world for a week just so we could hang out with them. Their over-the-top cooperation was a huge reason we were able to have a good time in Florida. When we get to host someone or a family at our house, I hope we are as thoughtful and welcoming as the Statons were to us this past week!
• Never go to the Georgia Aquarium on a holiday weekend. It was absolutely shoulder-to-shoulder the entire time, and the worst sunburn I got all week was waiting in line for 90 minutes just to get in the door. We also learned that if you get people in a big enough group, they throw common courtesy right out the window. People repeatedly cut us off because they didn’t want to get stuck behind ‘the people with the stroller‘. You should also bring your credit card if you go, because parking, 2 tickets, and a light lunch will run you about a hundred even, and that doesn’t even count all the shows and ‘premium attractions’ (like petting the whales) that you have to pay extra for. Still, we knew what we were signing up for, and I’m really proud of Stephanie and Josiah. They both had great attitudes the whole time, and we were able to have a great experience. The whale shark and huge ray were 2 of my favorites. The jellyfish were also amazing, although they didn’t have the glow-in-the-dark jellyfish we saw at the aquarium in Charleston. (seriously… God made glow-in-the-dark jellyfish)
• If you’re a thrill-seeker, save the cash you’re saving up for sky-diving lessons…  just take a drive through Atlanta. Jeff Foxworthy is right: you don’t merge in Atlanta. You close your eyes, pray, and turn the wheel…
• Stone Mountain is cool, but you have to bring the right expectations. In order to get a good spot, you need to get there 90 minutes early for a 30-minute laser show. The show itself isn’t all that impressive, but it’s fun to sit on a blanket and watch some lasers and fireworks with the family. Also important is the knowledge that you can bring your own food, and they seriously punish you if you don’t. We bought a couple sandwiches and some water and it would have been a lot less for dinner at Applebees. Again, come prepared…
• Stephanie ran 6 miles.   ‘nough said…
• One day, while I was running around and exploring, I came upon a lake with a large sign that said something like “Beware of alligators, snakes, scorpions, mosquitoes, and microbial diseases. No rescue possible.” It was pretty quiet, except I think I saw Chuck Norris sunbathing. I started to go say hi, but I heard he doesn’t do hi-fives, only roundhouse kicks to the face….
• I got pretty bored driving the whole way, so I started criticizing all of the paying a lot of attention to the billboards. Some of them are pretty interesting. For example, I saw one that said something like, “Heterosexual? That’s OK. We don’t mind.” And then it gave a website for a church. I’m still not too sure what to do with that one. I also saw signs in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, all claiming to have the “World’s Largest Fireworks Store“. Isn’t it someone’s job to keep people at least somewhat honest when it comes to advertising?
• Panama City Beach had the warmest sea water I have ever experienced. Some serious peeing in the water El Nino craziness going on or something…
• Josiah was absolutely awesome. The whole time. He has to be the best baby ever. Plus he started crawling and cut two teeth while we were gone! Steph was also a super champ of a mom for sitting in the back and making an 1800-mile trip bearable for an 8-month-old.
• The wii is seriously addictive. I’m pretty sure we can never own one of those, or Josiah will need therapy for lack of attention we’ll never do anything else…
• Starbucks is cheaper in South Carolina. Seriously. I bought a grande ice coffee with milk and it was exactly 2 dollars with tax. It’s just about 2.50 in Durham. Who knew?

Hmmm… I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I’ve got for now.

What’s the best family vacation you’ve ever been on (as a kid or a parent)?

I want her to help me pick the ‘family’ pictures we post here.

In the meantime, here are a few ‘artsy’ pictures I took during the first 24 hours of our trip (there are a couple more on our Flickr page):

Now it’s time to move on to chapter 2 of Religion Saves - And Nine Other Misconceptions.

In this chapter, pastor Mark Driscoll tackles the 8th most popular question:

Why do you make jokes about Mormon missionaries, homosexuals, trench coat wearers, single men, vegans, and emo kids, and then expect these groups of people to come to know God through those sermons?

Just like last time, I’ll write up a bit on the chapter, but before I do, I want to ask you:

When you think of the Bible, do you think of humor? Why or why not?

What is your favorite example of humor in the Bible?

Ready? Go…

I heart Francis Chan.

Take 3 minutes and watch this.

(Courtesy of Mr. Vitamin Z)

But he’s behaving really well and we’re having a great time!

The 4th of July has always been a special day for Stephanie and I, because that’s the day we met!

A year ago we took the extended Independence Day weekend and went camping in Asheboro.

Steph was a solid 5 months pregnant at the time, and she was a trooper! We camped through rain and hail, woke up wet, grilled inside our tent, and walked for miles at the zoo. It was awesome!

Since we met three years ago, we have yet to take a real vacation together. We managed to sneak off for a week for our honeymoon, but even that seemed rushed, and we haven’t had anything longer than an extended weekend since.

But all that changes starting today, because we are off on our first ever Riesland family vacation!

We’ll be stopping at Stone Mountain, the Georgia Aquarium, Panama City Beach (gonna see the new home of the Statons), and Charleston (gonna see the new home of the Flaglers)!

We’ll be back next weekend, and will probably be online intermittently between now and then, so please be patient if it takes us a couple days to reply to emails.

In the meantime, have a great first week of July!

As I mentioned in the introduction, Religion Saves + And Nine Other Misconceptions addresses the top nine questions submitted and voted on by people around the country.

Each chapter is dedicated to a question and pastor Mark’s answer, and they go in backwards order.

So, chapter one addresses the ninth most popular question:

There’s no doubt the Bible says children are a blessing, but the Bible doesn’t seem to address the specific topic of birth control. Is this a black-and-white topic, or does it fall under liberties?

Last week, I asked you all to share your thoughts on this comment, and boy did you come through!

I had a great time reading up on your thoughts and opinions, and I was looking forward this weekend to writing a lengthy exposition on the topic and how pastor Mark handles it in the book.

Unfortunately, things have not gone according to plan! Our internet at home was down for most of the weekend, work has been kicked up two notches, I had 2 computers dropped off that needed urgent attention, and we’ve been scrambling to get everything lined up so that we can leave for our first vacation in a while tomorrow!

And on top of all that, I actually got up extra early Monday morning and sat down and wrote most of the post anyways, and the infallible Firefox failed on me and I lost it!

So, rather than let this post dangle any longer, I want to point you at some great resources that you can check out for yourself, and maybe I’ll get a chance to come back to this at some point this weekend!

• First of all, I’m glad to announce that the official website for the book was launched on Monday! I love how creative those Re:Lit guys are!
• Secondly, you can download the video and/or audio of the sermon upon which this chapter is based here (and yes it’s free!)
• Here’s an interview with Mark Driscoll about the book that I came across today. Notably, he says that this was the hardest chapter to write because it’s such a weighty topic.
• Randy Alcorn’s writings on the topic of birth control are heavily noted in the chapter, and you can get your hands on all of those for free here (I think this article is the most succinct)
• Desiring God has a great article (Does the Bible Permit Birth Control) and sermon (Is It Wrong To Use Birth Control) on the topic

Finally, if you have any specific questions or opinions that you’d like to bounce off me, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment, or if you’d rather keep it private, you can email me at zack_at_therieslands.com

For those of you who don’t know…Zack and I are training for the 1/2 marathon in Virginia Beach on September the 6th. That’s 13.1 miles! I know it’s crazy. Right before Zack and I got engaged he ran the 1/2 marathon in 2006. I just kept thinking, wow.. I can totally do this.  Everything in your head always seems more logical than when you’re actually doing it. So about 9 weeks ago I told Zack that I wanted to do the half marathon. I had “talked about it” numerous times. He is such a sweet and encouraging husband because he said “I’ll totally run it with you” (love him!) So I began running hard for the first couple of days, which wasn’t really a good idea because my knees started to really bother me. I didn’t have the right shoes so we ventured to 9th street to get some Brooks, which I hope will take me all the way to the race.

Training. There’s nothing more difficult for me than running outside. I’m so used to getting in the gym and knocking out an hour on the eliptical trainer… but running outside is a whole different ball of wax. The other thing is in our neighborhood it’s not flat like it will be in Virginia beach, it’s has lots and lots of hills. That’s what’s killing me. The distance perception of mine is way off too. I’m like ok this has to be like 4 miles and ends up being 2. So today I ran all the way up this hill and then I walked a little and ran. I just want to be able to finish the race.

The thing that has really hit home to me is when Paul talks about running the race. For me running is not easy in the least, but Paul knew what he was talking about. Taking the mentality of an athlete is to be conditioned and have a heart to really run the race. You have to have heart and you have to have a will to keep going. That’s one thing that I have a new appreciation for….to run the race! I’ll keep you posted each week as to how I’m doing.

One more thing. If there’s any music selection that you run to or helps get you motivated I would love to hear what you listen to. And, for all of you seasoned runners I could use all of the advice you can muster :0).

Look what came in the mail yesterday!

The awesome folks at Crossway and RE:LIT were kind enough to select our dinky little blog here for a free copy of Mark Driscoll’s newest book, Religion Saves - And Nine Other Misconceptions.

One condition: I have to review it here and tell you what I think.

This is a lot like telling a kid that he can have a piece of candy, but only if he promises to eat it, so I’m quite happy to oblige.

The first thing you notice when you pick up the book is the excellent design. It’s a sturdy hard-copy with a knurled texture containing an intriguing graphic of a family walking out of a typical-looking church building… and they appear to be on fire. Part of the flame is the provacative title of the book: Religion Saves. This, of course, is the exact opposite of the message of the book.

The book is based on a really neat idea: pastor Mark explains in the introduction that upon reading through the book of 1 Corinthians, he noticed that a significant purpose of the letter is to address questions from the church in Corinth. And the more he thought about it, the more intrigued he was by the idea of preaching a series of sermons that are answers to questions from people today — questions specific to our time and culture. So, last year, Mars Hill opened up a portion of their website for a forum called ‘Ask Anything‘. Over a series of voting cycles, people all over the world were allowed to post questions: any questions. These were then widdled down to the 9 most popular questions through a voting process. In the end, 893 questions were asked, 5,524 comments were made, and 343,203 votes were cast.

The result was nine questions, and pastor Mark preached a sermon on each one in a series by the same name as this book. You can download the video and/or audio of each of these for free here. This book is basically another form of responding to those questions, with a chapter devoted to each one.

I plan to write a short post about each chapter as I go through the book, but let me end this first post with pastor Mark’s explanation of the title (from the introduction of the book):

Before we proceed, the title “Religion Saves” merits a bit of explanation. The one thread that weaves this book together is religion; many of the questions that made the top nine are highly religius in nature. Religious people are prone to go beyond the teaching of the Bible to argue for positions that are not clearly taught in Scripture. They are further prone to go beyond the biblical principles on these issues and seek to impose their method on others, as if they alone are truly biblical. Reigious people tend to have very strong and vocal opinions about the issues we will examine. In fact, religious people were often the most devoted voters for the questions that comprised the “Religion Saves” sermon series and this book.

…

Religious people mistakenly think that they are saving people from such things as a fruitless life, sinful sex, bad relationships, unholy humor, wayward churches, evil birth control, and what they call “strange fire.” However, religion never saved anyone, and religious answers to complex questions are simply misconceptions, which is why I have titled this book, “Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions.”

So as you can see, the purpose of this book — and of these chapter reviews — is not directed so much at non-believers as at the most religious of believers. This book isn’t so much an apologetic or a call to holier living as it is a call to repentance.

And with that in mind, I hope you’ll tune in, invite your friends, and let me know what you think as we go through this together!

]]> http://www.therieslands.com/2009/06/23/religion-saves-and-nine-other-misconceptions-mark-driscoll-review-intro/feed/ http://www.therieslands.com/2009/06/23/religion-saves-and-nine-other-misconceptions-mark-driscoll-review-intro/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRieslands/~3/hnUCTgyZz_U/ http://www.therieslands.com/2009/06/22/this-weeks-desktop-background-beach-picture/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:35:49 +0000 Zack http://www.therieslands.com/?p=3630

Well, apparently my friend John has a little too much time on his hands these days, cause yesterday he sent this to me.

What can I say? It works…

Speaking of John: he’s a bona-fide video and photoshop ninja, and he’s currently feeling the pain of the recession, so if you’ve ever thought about having a video done for just about any occasion, you should cruise over to his website and see what’s up. He’ll take great care of you!

My mom hired him to make this video a couple of years back (in 2 parts - after the jump)

]]> http://www.therieslands.com/2009/06/19/friday-funny-cute-silly-baby-picture-photoshop/feed/ http://www.therieslands.com/2009/06/19/friday-funny-cute-silly-baby-picture-photoshop/