Earlier this week my back was killing me. Like to the point I felt like an old man when I tried to get out of bed or out of my truck. Like I’d have to use my hands to swing my legs out of truck and basically “fall” out of the truck instead of stepping out like normal. It got bad enough that I decided to do something I’d only thought about earlier in life. I went to a chiropractor.

The first visit on Wednesday he took a couple of X-rays and hooked me up to a machine that gave me “electrical pulses”. I don’t know if it worked or not, but my back did feel better the next few house. Maybe it was the pulses, maybe it was the ibuprofen. Or the planks I did earlier that day. But my back did feel better. And also yesterday.

Today it was still feeling better, but I could tell it was still a bit stiff. But it wasn’t hurting like it was before. But he showed me my crooked back on the X-rays and my lumbar bones. Then he “adjusted” me. I laid on my side and he shove/twisted me to where sounded like someone was eating peanut brittle. And I’m all good. Or better.

He still told me to hold off on running til our next visit. But I should be back running next week. Which needs to happen fast because I have to get ready for the Double Decker. But I also knew I’d be getting ready for a Men’s Retreat with The Orchard  this weekend. And if I was going to be out in the woods with a bunch of dudes doing whatever dudes do, I didn’t need to be saying, “Yall go ahead. I’m going to hang out here and tend the fire and make sure no one carries these rocking chairs away.”

But I’m really looking forward to the retreat. We’ll have quite a few guys from our church and their friends together for some great hang out time and some great discussions about God’s work in our lives. And it will be a unique setting as there will be no kids or wives around either. We love or wives and kids. But this will be a good night/morning.

Plus, we’re meeting at Camp Lake Stephens which is one of my favorite places on earth. And interesting note is that we’ll have the retreat in the woods. At a camp. By a lake. On FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH. I really think that’s quite awesome as well.

So now I have to go pack and make sure I can find a decent flashlight for the weekend.

Today was the Missional Community Labs here at the Verge Conference. It was from 8:30am – 5:00pm. The day had six different time slots with about five options per time slot. Sometimes it was an easy decision of which to attend, but other times I had to make a tough choice and expect to get an audio download later of a few I missed.

I won’t type out my entire notes from each session but some key points from each.

A – The Future Of The Church: Panel of Mike Stewart (director of the Verge Conference), Jeff Vanderstelt, Hugh Halter, Neil Cole, Alan Hirsch, Felicity Dale: It was a time for Stew to ask a few questions of the panel and they gave some insight and observations about the church. This was meant to prime the pump for the rest of the day.

• FD: In the first reformation the Bible was placed in the people’s hands. In the second reformation we’re seeing the church being placed into their hands.
• JV: We can’t accomplish what God has called us to without the power of the Holy Spirit.
• NC: Is the Holy Spirit evident in our lives? It’s not the gifts of the Spirit that should be so important, but the fruit. We need the spirit filled life that bears the fruit.
• AH: What type of church do you hope your children are one day a part of? How are you helping to build that church?
• HH: The Kingdom will always be good news. Our task is to make it tangible.

Break Out 1 – How Missional Communities Make and Multiply Disciples: Jeff Vanderstelt & Caesar Kalinowski

• Everything we do is a form of discipleship. Everything we do counts. We’re showing the world what life in submission to Christ looks like.
• The goal is never discipline, but discipleship. Discipline w/o Christ can lead to self-righteousness.
• Discipleship happens through Life on Life, Life in Community, and Life on Mission.
• Those three parallel with knowing, believing, and doing.
• Most groups seem to focus on knowing but need to work on the being/doing.
• Life on Life – How is your life being exposed to those in your community? Where is your life visible/vulnerable? Access points into our lives for others to witness.
• Life in Community – We are in a context of living the life together.
• Life on Mission – The mission God calls us on will reveal our deep need for God in our lives.

BO 2 – Practical Tools for Moving Small Group sot Missional Communities – Hugh Halter

• Hugh basically laid out the differences between traditional small groups and the “next level” that missional communities are taken too. They take more buy in, more time/life investment, and more transparancy. He likened them to be a part of the Navy (anyone can join) to being a Navy Seal (specialized calling).
• He explained the differences between the “modalic” structure and the “sodalic”.
• To make the transition he recommends starting a pilot group that you do not go public with. He recommends 10% of congregation to begin to grow MC’s.

BO 3 – Gospel on Mission – Jonathan Dodson

• What is the gospel? The good/true story that Jesus has defeated sin/death/evil through his own death/resurrection to make all things new.
• How do we go on mission w/ the gospel? Know people, love people, speak the gospel.
• Non Christians know when you see them as a project. They should be objects of love instead of projects of evangelism.
• Discipleship isn’t inviting people to an event but into your life.

BO 4 – Discipling Children in Gospel Communities – Jeff Vanderstelt

• If you can teach something to kids then you can probably teach it to anyone
• You can’t effectively make disciples w/ Sunday only church. MC’s are the primary vehicle for disciple making.
• Mom/Dad are primary ministers to kids. And we should equip them.
• Shift from being a director to an equipper.
• The family is the greatest influencer of kids’ lives. Or lack there of.
• Where/how do you want your kids to end up as an adult? Then train for tha tnow. Is ther ean expectation for that’s what htey’ll become? And make sure they have experiential time.
• All kids go through The Story of God at least once a year.
• If we don’t take seriously the discipleship of kids, then the parents won’t either.

BO 5 – How To Use The Story Of God in Making Disciples – Ceasar Kalinowski

• We live in story. We are born aural leaners. Most people are good story tellers.
• More and more of society is functionally illiterate.
• Will one more good sermon save our land? No.
• People engage more and retain more w/ a story narrative.
• We have to help people find their story in the story of God. What does it mean for them to live w/in God’s story?
• God is always the hero in Biblical narratives.
• You can’t teach the NT w/o first knowing the OT.

It was a full day of sessions. But they kept us supplied w/ snacks, water, sweet tea, and lunch. It was a great way to kick off the Verge Conference. And I walked around the city some and enjoy Austin. I hope to get me a UT shirt this week. And maybe a BU shirt as well.

And here is my friend Logan’s take on his first day at Verge Conference.

Well we made it to Austin last night for The Verge. Remember when I posted about it a few months ago? Well I won a free ticket!  And now my first day is done. And I don’t know how to effectively get things out of my head in a way that will make perfect sense. I guess I could wait until we’re back and take a day to sit and process it all, or I can do a brain dump and then go back through it later to polish things up. So here are a few observations:

From the 700+ drive here:

• My sixth month old was a freaking champ during the ride. He didn’t get that upset much.
• When he did get upset he really let us know.
• Shreveport, LA is bigger than I remember.
• Driving across LA and TX into the setting sun is horrible w/o sunglasses.
• In Texas there are two lane rural roads where the speed limit is 70mph. I shudder to think of people living alongside that road having to pull out of their driveways into 70mph traffic.
• So that means on some Texas interstates the speed limit is 75mph.
• I like the Texas custom of people moving over into a wide shoulder so I can pass on the left.
• After the sun went down and I wasn’t looking into the sun the drive was much more pleasant.
• Driving through Waco I saw a lot of nice looking buildings next to the interstate. That was Baylor University. Looked nice during the drive by.

My impression of Austin so far:

• I came to the first two Passion conference in the late 90′s. But I remember nothing of Austin except for going to REI once with some friends.
• Austin is a big city with lots going on. I don’t know how much of the city I’ll get to see, but I hope to take as much in as possible.
• More tattoo’s in Austin than in Oxford.
• Lots of construction going on downtown in Austin.
• I think I like this place.
• I’m hoping to see the famous Austin bats. I am close to the bridge.
• But the free wifi at the hotel isn’t the best.

And the Pre-Conference Labs:

• I went to the Missional Community pre-lab today at St. Davids.
• It was informative and the speakers were approachable
• I’ll give a few bullet points of each breakout in the next post.

A year or so ago I heard of the Verge conference while perusing twitter. I started paying attention and heard some new things. Things about being “missional” and “missional communities” and some really good speakers. I listened to some of it live stream while I was painting the bonus room.

But this coming February, Verge 2012 is back in Austin and I’m really wanting to go. For the past few months I’ve been chewing on and digesting what it means to live “on mission”. The Verge Network‘s website has been a steady stream of information from some of the top thinkers in this field. You may remember the video from Soma Communities I posted about recently. I’m continually intrigued by this way of life. It seems so fresh, yet is not really anything new.

A couple of months back there was a GCM Conference (The Gospel/Community/Mission Collective) in Huntsville. I was hoping to be a part until a wedding conflicted with the timing. Now I hope to be able to make it to Austin this Spring again. When I read this following description, it makes me wonder what is possible within my own church:

VERGE is a four-day experience for anyone pursuing the mission of God, in community, whatever the context, for the sake of the Gospel – everyday leaders, students, entrepreneurs, artists, urban innovators, business leaders, community development specialists, non-profit leaders, church planters and church leaders.

Verge will resource you to make disciples who make disciples in every sphere and domain of society, advocate for the poor and oppressed, mobilize urban and global mission leaders, and champion movements of gospel-centered missional communities.

I want to be able to know more, to experience more, and to be able to cast the vision of what it means to live on mission in all areas of our lives. I want to see The Orchard be infused with the gospel and the realization that each of us is a missionary, each of us is called to bear witness to greatness of who God is. And I know that I need help in figuring out how to practically lead our current community group ministries into understanding the heart of Missional Communities. I think I get the end goal, but how to get from where we are to where we end up isn’t always that clear.

Here is a short video that fills you in just a little bit more:

Is anyone else going? Has anyone else been before?

Okay, picture this situation. You need to get out of the house/office/dorm room and think it’s a good idea to head to the local coffee shop because you still have some stuff to do. Maybe you’re writing a paper, or Christmas shopping online, or tweaking your fantasy football team, or Facebook stalking, or reading blogs, trying to get to Inbox Zero, or whatever.

But as the minutes pass by and you drink more coffee (or tea or Coke Zero) you start to feel the need to go to the restroom. So then you’re faced with the conundrum: What do you do with your laptop?

Assuming you’re there by yourself, do you

1. Close it up and carry it in the restroom with you?
2. Close it, pick up the cord, put it all in the backpack and carry it in the restroom with you?
3. Do you make eye contact with someone and say, “Would you mind watching my stuff?” all the while hoping they don’t run out with your computer as soon as you lock the restroom door?
4. Do you just hope that everyone is as nice as you and would never steal a computer in a coffee shop?

But the subject of the video is beautiful as well. It moves me. Now this sort of missional community really IS desirable. Sure, it takes effort and intention and vulnerability. But hearing about it. Watching it. Something deep within me resonates with it as well. Is it just me?

Take a watch and then answer me two questions:
1. Would you be willing to engage life with others in this sort of community?
2. What would be your biggest hesitations about being a part of a missional community like Soma?

My kids each have a pair of TOMS shoes. They think they’re cool. I had a pair for a few days before I returned the gift to the store. Just didn’t seem my style. I’d rather have a pair of running shoes. Or maybe get some Vibram Five Fingers.

But that said, the concept of TOMS seems pretty cool. Buy a pair of their shoes here in the States and an impoverished child in Africa gets a free pair of shoes. Great system, right? Some think so, but some disagree. Here’s a push back below from David Stupay. He says:

“Of course giving a free pair of shoes to children in the developing world is a good thing, isn’t it? Maybe not.

What people at the bottom of the economic pyramid need is not only free products dumped into their communities, but also low-cost products that are sold to that sustain them and their local economies.

Development is tricky business, and there is always the potential for collateral damage.”

He also left a comment on Dave Ferguson’s blog that said:

“This may not be as great of an idea as it is marketed to be. While they are doing good by putting shoes on the feet of needy children in impoverished countries, this type of aid does more harm than good.

The shoes are distributed in 24 countries, are only made in 3 countries. That means that 21 of the countries where the gifted shoes are delivered receive no economic benefit from the distribution of free shoes, and local shoe merchants and manufacturers (or potential manufacturers) are actually discouraged from doing business in these countries.

It is easiest to see the hit to local merchants that distribute shoes in impoverished countries. As COMMUNITY participated in the Stuff for the Poor shoe drive, you know that used shoes are often shipped from the US and other Western countries to Africa and other parts of the developing world. This is big business for the shippers, brokers, and the local merchants. Local shoe stores in developing countries generate solid cash flow and above average profit margins. When shoes are distributed in communities for free from TOMS and other programs, these local merchants miss out on much needed sales opportunities. While not all the children that receive donated shoes from TOMS could afford to buy shoes from these local merchants, a hit even as low as 10% of their customer base would be enough to put many of these small merchants out of business.

An even greater impact of this type of program is that it discourages manufacturing in developing countries. Manufacturing is the reason that SE Asia has been able to lift so many people out of poverty in a way that Africa has not. Africa has yet to see strong manufacturing based economies emerge, thereby leaving many of their people in extreme poverty. Ideas like this discourage investors and entrepreneurs from competing in this arena, and contribute to the poverty trap in Africa. TOMS is a direct threat to manufacturers that are currently, or are considering in the future, competing in the African shoe market. What developing countries really need are local manufacturing companies that create low cost products for sale in developing countries. This would create assembly, management, distribution, and sales positions for shoes, and would develop an economy that isn’t dependent upon foreign aid.”

So what’s your take? Are the efforts of TOMS shoes that are helping kids to have shoes on their feet and protect them from sores and dangerous parasites a bigger concern than the potential local economic shakeup?

There is a wedding happening this weekend. And I’m a part of it. I’m honored to be a part of of the wedding because I think a whole lot of the two people getting married. They are each former members of my old youth group. Now they’re college grads. A nurse and a soccer coach. Ready to live life together and follow hard after God.

Bev and I actually have been doing some pre-marital counseling with them. And now, as the weekend approaches, we get ready to see them joined together before family and friends. And that means I have get to wear a suit on Saturday.

I had to find my suit. It’s really been forever since I wore it. And when I found it, it was only halfway found. It was the jacket only. So then I had to hunt for the pants. The jacket fit well. The pants? Well, lets say I’ve had the suit a while and haven’t worn it in a while. I got the pants fastened. But didn’t have a shirt tucked in. I may need to do a colon cleanse before the weekend, huh?

But it got me to thinking again about eating well, exercising right, and making healthy choices. I try not to think through these things in terms of vanity or hoping to impress anyone. But I really do want to be healthier, make wiser choices, and take better care of my body so I can be around to enjoy my children and future grandchildren. And the way I eat sometimes, I could make Twix bars be their own food group.

Here are a few sites I’ve been checking in on now and then that I think will help me make a few new choices about how I live.

Nerd Fitness: I recently came across this site. But want to eat it up. He talks about eating clean, exercising with simple movements, and setting goals to smash with a victorious shout. Check it out. You’ll like it. Plus it has a great forum too.
Marks Daily Apple: Mark Sisson lives by what he calls the “Primal Blueprint”. Basically eat/move/rest like our early, early ancestors. He lays it all out here, but his whole site is interesting and has an active forum.
The Paleo Solution: Robb Wolf knows his stuff. I’ve read his book. Now if I’d only put it into practice. But he eats Paleo style. And I really wish I could would as well. Peruse his FAQ. What do you think? [Oh, and he has a forum too]

If I followed the advice and lifestyle of these sites/books, I’m sure I’d have no trouble at all fitting into that suit of mine. And my Saturday would be much more comfortable while I’m actually “IN” the suit.

What sorts of changes do you want to make?

Yesterday marked my new baby’s fourth week of existence. Come Friday he’ll be exactly one month old. And I really assumed that being the fourth time I’ve brought a baby home from the hospital I’d be really used to things. But you really do forget some of the rougher parts of having a baby. I think your mind purposefully forgets some things as a coping mechanism.

Now don’t get me wrong. Having a baby is awesome. I mean, I’ve not birthed one myself, but welcoming a new child into the family…words can’t describe.

But after one month or so of having him home here are some things I’ve [re]learned:

• People will tell you your baby is beautiful even if they only see a blurry picture from your phone on the internet. People think they must say it no matter what. But who can really tell? My friend Jeremy says they all look like aliens [but I didn't know he'd seen an alien.]
• When a diaper is really messy, the pooh seems to find every crevice/wrinkle it can to seep into. You can use a lot of baby wipes in a single diaper change.
• A warm baby seems to think a room temperature babywipe is like a sloppy wet kiss from an arctic glacier breeze.
• Sometimes a baby would rather sit in your lap in a darkened living room at 3:31 a.m. than lie in his own bed under a really soft blanket.
• A wet belch can be the most  beautiful and eagerly anticipated sound of the day.
• I don’t like close talkers in my space. And I don’t like close baby talkers in my kids space either. Especially when I’m holding him and they are in our space.
• Babies fool you the first few days. They let you think they’ll be awesome sleepers through the night. In reality, they’re awesome sleepers all around at first. Then they have no clue what time it is and don’t care what you think about sleep cycles either.
• Wet diapers have a weird smell.
• Your wife nursing your baby is lots different than mixing formula and cleaning bottles.
• Having older kids makes having a baby both easier and harder. Easier: they can help out in a number of ways. Harder: they still have needs for you to attend to, and sometimes you tend them with one arm while holding a [hopefully] sleeping baby in the other.
• I’m still not sure if you can or cannot spoil a baby by holding him too much. Looks like we’ll find out.
• I’m finally over being scared to break him. At first he seemed tiny. Changing a diaper or shirt was a big deal. Didn’t want to dislocate a hip or shoulder.
• What worked to calm him down five minutes ago might not work again for another five days. SMH.

Now I did mention it over here. Actually set up a new blog for my wife (and I) to use for more family centric things. It started off with a bang but it has suffered from lots of ideas for posts but not as much execution.

But anyway, here’s where we are now. My wife and I have adopted a biracial boy. He is awesome. He sleeps a lot, eats a pretty good bit, and cries and poops. His brother and sisters absolutely adore him. They’re big helps. And sometimes minor annoyances. But it’s all in love. I know that. And I’m glad of that.

Having a new baby changes things. Especially coming at a time when things are getting busy: soccer games started up this week for our girls, small groups start up this week for us, Oxford gets full and busy in the fall, college football (GO DOGS!) starts up this week, and Fantasy Football is gearing up as well. Lots going on with time, work, schedules, and life. But I really wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s been a joy so far to see the impact this little boy has had on our family.

Adoption. There was a time in my life when I never would have considered it. At all. And now, here we are. We encourage others to think about it, pray about it, consider it, and see where God leads.

I’m looking forward to the fall. And to the changes in life. And writing about it here.

In the middle of the night Wednesday Ella woke up with a sore throat. After a second time waking up she ended up in bed with us. You know it goes, sometimes it’s gone by morning. Sometimes not. This was one of the “not” times.

Still hurting in the morning and a fever. So we went to the doctor and turns out it’s THE FLU! The dreaded flu!!!!

But she got a bit of medicine, threw up once last night, and now seems to be doing much better today. Has energy back to near normal. Eyes are bright again. But still the sore throat. So though we seem on the upswing with her, our prayer is that the other two kids do not end up with it.

Sometimes I almost want to give them all a big cup to share so they’d all get something at once and get it over with. Otherwise, if it does make the rounds through the family, then it could get spread out over a few weeks instead of just a handful of days.

It was four days of deep teaching, powerful worship, meaningful conversations, relationship building, and lots of walking. It wasn’t much in the way of getting much sleep though. Our hotel rooms were pretty suite too (pun intended) but it was a hassle to check in and check out of them. I saw lots of people I knew from different times in my life. I even saw people that were in my youth group as middle schoolers now actually leading college groups. Maybe that should make me feel old, but it doesn’t!

It was a fantastic experience to hear teaching from Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, and John Piper. But it was almost too much to ingest in a short four day period. I plan to spend some time over the next week or so digesting it all. And in the mean time I’ll post some thoughts and reflections on them. But it seems that after I got back I got a little head cold that has zapped me of any/all energy. I’m almost over it now and on the upswing. So all is (almost) well.

]]> http://blakethompson.net/2011/01/07/back-to-life-back-to-reality/feed/ 0 http://blakethompson.net/2011/01/07/back-to-life-back-to-reality/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blakethompson/~3/S0vefqAWnpM/ http://blakethompson.net/2010/12/31/passion-2011/#comments Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:33:03 +0000 Blake http://blakethompson.net/?p=1519

Back in 1996 my girlfriend asked me if I wanted to go to a college conference with her campus ministry. It was over in Austin, TX and was called Passion. Some guy named Louie Giglio had put it together and Dave Busby was going to be speaking. So was John Piper. I had no idea who these guys were. But I did see that a band named Caedmon’s Call was going to be playing. So I said, “Sure, why not.” and signed up.

Those four days really shaped my life. I was just starting my first full time ministry job in January of 1997 and this trip was January 1-4. And I’ve been a huge respecter of Louie Giglio and his ministries ever since. Beverly and I went to the first three Passion conferences (97, 98, 99) and to OneDay 2000. While in Clinton I carried a group to Nashville for Passion 2006 and tomorrow we leave with a group of college students headed to Atlanta for Passion 2011.

If you’re not that familiar with Passion or Louie Giglio, then you should be. Louie is one of my favorite communicators of God’s truths. He does it in a casual way, but will sometimes punch you right in the gut (or face) with exactly what you needed to hear. His heart beats most for college aged people to see how much they mean to God and the ways He can move through them to make a difference in the world.

I plan to tweet and blog a little while in Atlanta about Passion and our time there. We’ll get to listen to Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, Davie Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Redmon, Charlie Hall, Christie Nockles, and more. But I hope that our group really catches fire for seeing God’s glory made known back here in Oxford and beyond. Pray for us while we’re away.

Anyone else going to be at Passion?

But she says, “I don’t know who half of these are from. It just shows me their number but not their name. So I must not have their number in my phone, right?” I smile, tell her “Yes, you are right.” and hatch a plan in my mind.

Five minutes later I sent her a text message using a number I know she won’t recognize: “Hey, Merry Christmas! I can’t wait to see you in a little while. I should be to your house soon. Do you have the hot cider ready?!?” Her phone dings and she starts laughing. “Here’s another message. And this person is going to be disappointed because I’m not there. But I have NO idea who this is!” But she’s laughing about it. I think it’s genius

About twenty minutes later I leave the room and  send her this one: “Hey, no one came to the door. You must be running a quick errand. Is it okay if I let myself in?” He phone dings. I am glad I left the room because now she starts getting a little worried. So she calls my brother in law who was still back home and asked him if anyone had been by the house or knocke on the door. He says no, and the she tells him she’s been getting strange text messages about someone coming by.

I’m in the next room doubled up laughing about it all. I’d told Addie about it and she told Bev, so Bev didn’t let me continue the joke any longer. I had about three other messages already planned to send. But Bev ended up telling her mom it was me all along. Annette thought it was funny too. She was a bit relieved. She thought it might have been a thief trying to case her place.

We sit down for breakfast and then I purpose to send my brother in law a text. Annette is all for it. I sent: “Hey, you mom said it was okay if I let myself in. Just wanted to make sure you were dressed. About a minute away from your house!!!” I clicked send, and her phone started ringing about five seconds later. “Did you tell anyone they could come on in the house!!!???!!!” Annette tried to keep her composure but she broke when he was talking about “reporting” the texts to someone.

So, two good jokes that were over before they should have been. But fun while they lasted.

Friday we went to Amory to spend the day at my mom’s. We exchanged gifts with her, hung out for a while, and then went to my grandmother’s house to eat supper with all the uncles/aunts/cousins and then open a few presents there. It’s always a lively bunch. And a crazy bunch.

We left late that night, found a gas station still open after 10pm on Christmas Eve, and drove home. The kids went right to bed and Bev and I got everything set up for the next morning by the tree. The kids were not expecting Santa Clause to come. They’ve never been big Santa kids, but they still look forward to Christmas morning to get presents.

The next morning I woke up at 7:55 a.m. On Christmas morning. And I woke up on my own. No kids waking me up. I was amazed. They were all still asleep! But with in three minutes Addie comes running in telling me it’d snowed! And indeed it had. Supposedly the first snow in Oxford on Christmas day since 1913. Oh, and my mother in law hadn’t showed up yet! Now, I don’t mind her coming over on Christmas…quite the contrary. But last year she called a six-something in the morning asking if we were awake yet. I said, “nope”. I thought she was about to leave Tupelo to head our direction. Turns out she was about to turn into our neighborhood!

Anyhow, she came over for a late breakfast and stayed til early afternoon. Then my dad and step-mom came by later that day too. So the day was filled with more family and a few more presents and lots of candy being eaten. The kids had a blast, and we only had about two real times where they were about to fight over toys! It seems that six year old girls and two year old boys can be quite opinionated and possessive at times.

I know in times past I’ve bemoaned that Christmas time doesn’t seem like the same feeling I used to have. But maybe I’ve gotten past that. Or maybe I’ve gotten more involved with my kids at Christmas instead of the “cultural” feeling of Christmas. Or maybe I’ve realized ….I don’t know. Maybe it’s that it is what you make it, and now that I’m a big boy it’s up to me to put more effort into it. And I still don’t want to let myself or our kids fall into an idea of Christmas being about gifts and decorations and candy/food and everything.

I don’t think we do, necessarily. And you can ask our kids what Christmas is about and they’ll tell you straight up. Rowan even went around singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jesus for a few days. But when I look back over the last week and month, I realize that we, as a family, didn’t spend enough time discussing, praying about, and looking towards Christmas and the coming of the Christ Child.

Next year, that will change.

Two of my favorite memories from Christmas: one was when the kids ran from their room to see their gifts out by the tree (we left most unwrapped (we’re strange like that )) they were really excited. But as they sat side by side infront of their gifts, Addie, our oldest, kept talking to her brother and sister about all the cool things they got. She was so excited for them. It was awesome. Then she moved on to take a closer look at her gifts as well. But seeing her excitement and encouragement for her sister and brother was heart warming.

And another was how I punked my mother in law on Christmas morning. I’ll post about it next!

Turns out Addie has strep throat. Sunday afternoon she was acting really tired and said her head hurt. Yesterday it turned into a headache and sore throat. And fever. But just a little. It never hit triple digits.

But this morning she woke up still feeling bad. Head still hurt and throat sore. So I took her temp and it was 101.6. Nothing to be alarmed about, but with how she felt yesterday too we decided to take her to the pediatrician. And it’s strep.

She had a choice of taking medicine for a few days and it feeling better in a couple of days. Or taking this big, thick shot and being better tomorrow. Surprisingly she chose the shot.

So depending on how she feels in the next few days, we may be sticking around Oxford for Thanksgiving.

But JT was on Fallon’s show and they presented a little history of rap. Enjoy:

Did you recognize each of the songs? Seems it would have been pretty cool to have been in the audience for this show, huh?

The next morning we turned the air up and all was silent. But as it would turn on/off in the day I noticed the sound changed to more of a metal on metal, sheering sound. Like “I could start shrieking any minute” sound. A “but I still like to rumble a lot too!” sound. As it got worse/louder I decided to call an AC guy. It was Friday afternoon and he had three more stops to make. So he told me what to look for. So I’m in my 140 degree attic taking off panels and reaching around in blower wheels and motors and stuff. I’m afraid I’m about to lose a few fingers or my hand now and then. But after repeated calls and “what is a squirrel trap? where is the ‘set pin’? Are you sure you can’t come look” questions I decided to wait it out. I mean, it was loud. But it was cooling things off.

But it got louder and louder. So I called another AC guy. He came (it was now after 5pm. So “weekend rates apply”) and quickly surmised that my blower motor was shot. Wouldn’t last the weekend. But wouldn’t hurt to run it til it died. But I left it off thinking I’d save a few bucks to try and buy this blower motor that I’m sure is expensive.

It’s been a warm weekend too. But not unbearable inside. We’ve not run the AC at all since Friday afternoon even in 95 degree weather. But it’s actually cool at night. I did try to turn it on a few minutes ago just to see. But when I flipped the switch  it sounded like I’d released a few Transformers into my attic and they were about to bust through the ceiling. As cool as that might sound, I turned it off.

Oh, and guess what? Yesterday my wife’s van decided to quit working. She was in town. And we were going to meet her. But when we came back, I had to drive her van home. It had gone dead on her, but never did for me. But the “O/D Off” light was blinking. And every time the transmission shifted it felt like a Transformer was kicking the front of the van. But I made it home.

After looking around Google a bit I determined it was either a busted transmission or a solenoid something or other. Probably anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a four digit number I don’t want to consider right now. But it still ran, right? So I was going to drive it to church this morning. But I only got about 30 yards out of my subdivision before it went dead. And then… it. would. not. crank!

Finally it did. And I thought I was going to have to leave it on the side of the street. Ella was with me and kept asking a dozen questions a minute: “Dad, why are you hollering at the car?” It took me about 10 minutes to get my van back home (about a half mile?) and got a ride to church. But tomorrow I get to find a way for the van to make it to a shop. But a auto mechanic or a transmission shop? Who knows?

The joys of house/car ownership!

MSU has some improving to do. And I still am confident they can. But I’m still saying I’m really happy with a 6-6 season. We HAVE to steal a game from either LSU or Georgia in these next two. We’ll see.

But how I watched the game was pretty amazing. A friend with family connections had some primo tickets. He drove up from Mobile, AL and I met him at the game. Now I knew “club level” seats were nicer and all that. But I really had no idea.

To start off, you have really big tickets. You even put them around your neck on a lanyard. I don’t know if this is to show everyone how good your seats are or what, but anyway… So we went on into the stadium and got in line for the elevator to take us up to the upper levels. After a few minutes an event staff person walks up and asks us if we’re going to the Club Level. After we not he tells us we can go to this other elevator. No wait at all (it was still a little ways before kickoff, but the line was for the people going to the upper deck).

So we get up to the top and there’s another checkpoint to pass through. A lady scans our ticket and then gives us a wrist band. Hmm. That’s new to me. But it gives you access to everything up there.

So we walk on through and I notice how nice everything is. Classy decorated. Lots of whites, maroon, and wood. There are even rows and rows of wooden lockers. What are lockers for up here? Interesting.

And then there are leather chairs and big screen televisions and tables and tables of food. So even though I had cash in my pocket to buy overpriced hotdogs and candy, I could grab a plate, walk through the line, and get pasta or salisbury steak or shrimp/crab dip served to me. Since I’m not always good with decisions, I got a bit of each. Then there were the unlimited fountain drinks of Coke Zero. I mean, won’t they have Coke Zero in heaven?

And then there was the mountain of chocolate chip cookies as big as a pancake. I ate six of them. Yes, really. And there was fruit and cheese and there was still the regular hotdogs too (but you had to get them yourself instead of someone serving them to you.)

The seats were great. Only about 8 or 9 rows probably of seats up there. So in a time out you could go to the bathroom, wash your hands, refill your Coke Zero, grab another cookie, and be back to your seat before the game started back. Or you could have stayed inside in the air conditioning and watched a little of the Vikings/Saints game or the US Open or just watched the MSU game on ESPN…while eating more cookies. You could also sit at one of the tables inside and still watch the MSU game on the field live. I came in to make a phone call and was able to hear my call and watch the game quite easily. (Oh, and those lockers I mentioned, that is where people keep their “special beverages” that they’ll add to their Cokes.)

So, the game experience from Club Level spoiled me. It will never be the same. Though I’ll go watch a game at Scott Field from just about any seat if given the opportunity.