JONATHAN’S BLOG FROM THE SOURCE

Six States in One Day

Jonathan Mckee — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:09:28 GMT

Tomorrow my family and I fly to the East Coast where I'll be speaking at a camp all next week. If our flight goes through (don't even get me started about the reliability of the airlines lately!!!), we'll be arriving in VA tomorrow afternoon, then hitting D.C., Maryland... the edge of Delaware, and finally New Jersey within 24 hours (and that's including a night's sleep).

In California if I drove that long I would just run into... more California. So it's always a fun experience for my kids. "Hey kids, we're hitting a new state!"

"Huh? I thought we just arrived in a new state 10 minutes ago!"

"We did. But now we're entering another one. Did you enjoy Delaware?"

Once the flight is done (grumble...), I'm really looking forward to this trip. I speak a week at Long Beach island in NJ. The camp is on a huge strip of land that parallel's the shore. Beach on both sides... the kids are pretty excited.

If you think of it, pray for the week. I speak a couple times a day most of the week. I present the Gospel and do an invitation on Tuesday night (you can really pray for that), and then I teach about making Jesus a priority for the rest of the week.

When I finish up Saturday we are heading to Philly for a day to visit family, then onto the D.C. area to visit some friends. We’ll probably spend a day in the D.C. “Mall”… the monuments, museums, etc. We haven't seen the new WWII memorial so we'll probably go check that out.

It will be good fun having the family with me again on this trip.

Good times!

What Would it Be Like to Be...

Jonathan Mckee — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:24:22 GMT

I'm not big on forwards... but this video was passed to me and caught my eye.

At first I thought this video was pretty goofy (Okay... it is pretty goofy. It's pure "Saturday Morning Special" quality... so don't have high expectations at all)... but I love this subject matter.

Maybe I just liked this because I spent a whole chapter in my "Do They Run..." book talking about this kind of compassion mindset that asks, "What is it like to be....?"

This also reminds me of the subject matter of the Nickelback "Saving Me" video (which we provide a MUSIC DISCUSSION write up on our web site)... a guy who can see people's "mortality clocks" ticking away above their heads.

Good stuff.

Getting Tattoos... and Removing Tattoos

Jonathan Mckee — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:40:53 GMT

Hip Hop artist Pharrell seems to regret inking himself. What's there to say? He changed his mind. It happens. He'll be getting an expensive and painful procedure that involves applying new skin over his old body art.

"It's going to be pricey, but worth it," he says. "I got fire on my arms! I'm a grown man!" -Vogue, July 1, 2008

Almost half of all Americans under age 30 have tattoos right now, and 40 percent of adults age 26 to 40 have one (CBNNews.com, October 7, 2007) ... the question is... do they regret it later?

According to the same CBN article, 17 percent of people regret their tattoos. That's almost 1 in 5.

Johnny Depp is a famous case of this. After breaking up with girlfriend Winona Ryder, he realized that his "Winona" tattoo was probably rather silly. So rather than becoming a die-hard Winona Judd fan, he had the tattoo altered to read "Wino."

Nice.

Although some people in the church try to point to Biblical reasons for not getting inked... I think stories like Johnny Depp's and Pharrell's speak louder to this generation than any stats when considering getting inked (especially if you read the details of Pharrell's procedure. Ugh! Shudder.).

Not Ashamed of a One Night Stand

Jonathan Mckee — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:42:20 GMT

I guess energy drinks will try anything to market their product.

Not much to be said here... I'll just quote the ad word for word:

"When you wake up 'the morning after' in a strange place, don't be ashamed. Jump start your body and mind with the electrolytes and B-Vitamins in AMP Energy Relaunch..."

Wow.

The racy video ad (warning, even though this ad has no nudity, it's definitely raunchy) with it's catchy tune and downloadable lyrics has gone viral. MarketingProfs.com calls it how they see it:

By creating a funny, viral-worthy campaign to which most of us can relate, AMP has delivered a nifty piece of Marketing Inspiration.

With success of these kind of campaigns... you can bet we'll be seeing more of them.

Sigh.

A Virtual "Pick Up Joint" for Teens

Jonathan Mckee — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:45:04 GMT

A 13-year-old can't go "clubbing" on Friday night... right?

Maybe a decade ago. But now, the sky's the limit. Actually... there are very few limits at IMVU.com

Parents... brace yourselves.

I didn't know much about this web site that provides a venue for 3-D chatting, virtual making out, and prancing around in skimpy clothes that Mommy and Daddy probably wouldn't approve. I'd seen the ads for the site before, but never visited it.

After reading that IMVU has grown to 20 million users (the majority of which are teenagers), I figured it was time to check it out. Within three minutes of browsing the site, I knew we needed to write a Youth Culture Window on the subject. So that's what we did. I had David investigate the site thoroughly and write up the article.

This past week David and I both have dove into this virtual world to "gave her a spin." We were amazed with what we saw and experienced. Kids mingling with adults in ways so taboo... I can't believe Dateline isn't on the scene. In this 3-D pick up world, authenticity is nothing, looks are everything, and morals are nowhere to be found.

You'll want to definitely read David's full article here.