When I hear the word "maverick" I think of "loose cannon" and "shoot from the hip" and "shoot first, ask questions later." In other words, the kind of irresponsible leadership of the last 8 years. Barack Obama seems to me to be the candidate more likely to surround himself with the best and brightest people (contrast the VP nominees) and then be smart enough to listen to them, ask good questions, weigh options, consider ramifications, and then make sound decisions.
We've been severely damaged by the renegade, half-cocked, "go ahead punk, make my day" approach of the Bush administration. Change is long overdue. But these changes need to be made by a logical and broad thinker. That is what has swayed my vote to Barack Obama.
The truth is that we worship a timeless God. That statement conveys both the utmost expression of hope and the greatest mystery of the human existence. Everything that we experience has a start and a finish. We wake up and we go to sleep. Class begins and class ends. We’re born and we die. But worshipping a timeless God means that death isn’t the end. Rather, it’s the beginning of endlessness.
I just got a Christmas card from my youth pastor. We keep in touch. He likes to hear all about the awesome things that are happening here and I like to remind him that I was a member of his youth group almost 25 years ago! My grandmother used to say, "What goes around comes around," and I know that in a couple decades, I'll be getting calls from our kids who will reminisce about youth group before pointing out that I'm older than dirt. I know I'll be excited to hear about the things going on at their local churches, too.
It's true. I haven't updated my blog all summer. But I have several good excuses!
The beginning of the summer was just crazy--first with Appalachia Service Project and then with Youth 2007. (I'll try to get some pictures from that stuff up soon.)
For the rest of the summer, all my free time was spent hanging out with the family in the new camper...
It's a Kodiak 23-BH. It's called an expandable. On the front and back, there are panels that open up, allowing a tent-like dome to fold open with queen-sized mattresses. The wall on the left side slides out about 18", opening up a lot of living room space inside. We spent several weekends at the campground in Thomaston. I also had it to Maine with my friend Dwayne and we took it to New Jersey with the Burnsides. There's plenty of room. Aside from the tents, there are two bunk beds and the couch and dining table fold into sleeping space. It can sleep 8 comfortably. We've been having a very good time with it.
Our family spent last weekend in Pennsylvania celebrating Camden's first birthday. We had a family get-together at Fairlawn Church, featuring pizza and snacks and Camden's first taste of cake! He's not scared of making a mess, and he finished off the cake in pretty short order. I put together this little video of the event:
Why doesn't Swiffer make baby clothes? Dress him up, let him crawl around for a while, reverse the clothes, let him crawl around some more, throw out the clothes.
Since we know that men do not stop to ask for directions and fully believe that women can't read maps, why are men in love with GPS systems that feature a female voice giving them directions?
The insurance company says that the camper is a total loss. We're actually quite happy with the settlement Geico has offered. They have been fast to respond and easy to work with. And--maybe even best of all--they are sending somebody to get it out of the driveway.
On Wednesday, at about 3:40, Dackerie, Camden, and I were driving to the church because I had some work to do there. The wind was blowing the leaves inside-out and I pointed this out to Dackerie saying that meant we were about to have a storm. I didn't know at the time how much of an understatement my forecast was.
It was quite an impressive storm. Ali Burnside, the kids, and I watched from the second floor of the Carriage House as the church spire was hit with lightning and some trees around campus lost some limbs. The power flickered but didn't go out. We really couldn't tell at that point how bad the storm has been. Angela left work at 5:00 but didn't get to the church--maybe a mile away--until 5:30. She was telling of trees down and roads closed all over town.
My cell phone soon started ringing with calls and text messages asking if that evening's ASP meeting was still on. It became clear that power was out to most of the town. Angela left for home saying that if we were without power, she wanted to get candles and things around while it was still light out. It took here a little over an hour to make the three mile trip.
When she got home, she called me with this question: "Do we have insurance on the camper?"
Behind the house, there used to be a beautiful 100-foot tree, until it fell on what used to be our camper. This tree is massive. It took down three others with it. The whole mess came down on the camper and blocked the driveway. Thankfully, it missed the house--by barely 15 feet! I'm also thankful that the cars weren't in the driveway. And, frankly, I'm thankful we weren't home when it happened. Driving home and finding it sure seems less scary than being home when it happened.
More than 80 roads in the town were blocked with trees. 70% of the town had no power. School was canceled Thursday and Friday.
We were fortunate in that our power came back on at 3:30 Thursday morning. Crews have been working around the clock. We woke up at 3:25 this morning to the sounds of crews working in front of the house--another had fallen and was on the service lines between the pole and our house.
Thursday, a whole crew came over to clear the driveway and pull the trees off the camper: Linda Krause, Anna Jones, Barbara and Ali Burnside--with Bill's chainsaw, Dave Sigworth, Carl Ullman, Jenni, Heather, Tori, Lindsay, David, and Scott Mason, and Mark Rohde helped to clear the mess. Church trustees Earl Meyers and Sandy Carpenter were by to check on things and help out. Good friends!
Geico came yesterday to look at the camper. The roof has been smashed in, but there isn't a lot of crumpling. The jack stand is bent and the hitch has hit the driveway, but the frame seems to be OK. The air conditioner unit seems to be smashed up and there is a gash on the side of the camper. It'll be a few days before we know if it'll be fixed or totaled.
There are pictures in the gallery and here is some video:
In Sacramento, there is an amusement park called the Scandia Family Fun Center. The park recently added a new ride called "The Screamer." It's a 16-story tall attraction which rotates like a windmill and rushes riders at 60 mph. This, of course, induces the expected blood-curdling screams, making the name apropos, indeed. But it turns out, the neighbors aren't thrilled by the thrill ride.
According to Yahoo! News, complaints by residents in a neighboring subdivision have been some numerous and boisterous that the park has enacted a "no noise" rule for the ride.
As passengers are strapped into the two metal baskets, the operator recites this warning: "We are required to remove you from this ride if you make any noise. If you feel you might make a noise, please cover your mouth tightly with you hand, like this (The operator then covers mouth with hand). If we hear any noise through your hand, we will remove you from the ride. So please remain silent and enjoy the screamer."
Are you kidding me? By the way, there is a 12-lane highway between the park and the subdivision. I don't know which was there first, the park or the highway, but is this the neighborhood you look to buy in if you're looking for serenity?
It's been in the works for a couple of months now...the biggest hold up is that I don't know how to program FLASH...but on Easter Sunday, Jesse Lee Youth will launch an all-new website.
The current design is what I put together soon after being hired, almost 5 years ago. It has proven to be a great informational tool, if it isn't just a little tired looking. I am not a designer...I'll code all day, but I don't really have the gift of making it look awesome. Anyway, it was time for a new design...
The site will be FLASH-based. The home page will include news headlines, information on upcoming events, a list of birthdays, and other featured items. Interior pages will include daily devotions, more in-depth new stories, a more complete schedule of events, and contact information. Users who do not have FLASH installed will be automatically directed to the current site.
The new site will be go live on Easter Sunday. But, this wouldn't be a big-time event unless some "sensitive" information were leaked in advance! So, if you would like a sneak peek at JesseLeeYouth.com 2.0, just click here. (Gasp! Scandal!)
I caught this on Yahoo! News. Apparently, when 45-year-old Debbie Parkhurst, of Calvert, Maryland, began choking on a piece of apple she was eating, she tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself to no avail. That's when Toby, her 2-year-old golden retriever got involved:
"The next thing I know, Toby's up on his hind feet and he's got his front paws on my shoulders," she recalled. "He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest."
That's when the apple dislodged and Toby started licking her face to keep her from passing out, she said.
"I literally have pawprint-shaped bruises on my chest. I'm still a little hoarse, but otherwise, I'm OK," Parkhurst said.
Ms. Parkhurst also has an iguana that knows CPR and a parrot that can dial 911 with it's beak.
I had the honor of writing the Easter issue of LinC. Here is an excerpt from the manuscript I submitted:
A quick review of the Garden of Eden story reveals God’s intentions for us. God would stroll through the garden and have casual conversations with Adam and Eve. They were living in a paradise where all their needs were met. They would have lived there forever since they had access to the Tree of Life. But when sin entered the picture, they were banished from the garden. The results of sin were separation from God and death.
However, God still desires to be in community with us and will not allow sin to be victorious. Jesus has promised us that he has gone to prepare a place for us in God’s house and will return to take us there. Through his resurrection, we know that he has power over death and is able to fulfill these promises. Therefore, our eternal futures are secure through our faith in Jesus Christ.
Today was the day--that first day in spring where it's nice enough outside to be able to leave the doors open and allow the breeze to come through the house. Spring finally sprang...ah...sprung....ah....arrived today, and it's wonderful!
I've been excited about the progress that's been made on DailyDevos.org. Ever since I started writing the devos for our youth group in September of '05, I've been wanting a way to get them into some wider distribution. They have been appearing each day on JesseLeeYouth.com, and will continue to do so. But the DailyDevos.org domain name should allow for some broader appeal.
Recently, we unveiled some added functionality, such as the ability to print and email the devos, along with the "view yesterday's devo" feature.
Today, we have moved forward on something that I have been hoping for for a year or so. You can now hear the devo. For the moment, it's just me reading, but now that the infrastructure is in place, I hope to add readers from my youth group soon.
If you wouldn't mind clicking over to www.DailyDevos.org and testing it out...especially if you have a MAC or are using a browser other than IE7...and let me know if you see anything glitchy.
When I hear the word "maverick" I think of "loose cannon" and "shoot from the hip" and "shoot first, ask questions later." In other words, the kind of irresponsible leadership of the last 8 years. Barack Obama seems to me to be the candidate more likely to surround himself with the best and brightest people (contrast the VP nominees) and then be smart enough to listen to them, ask good questions, weigh options, consider ramifications, and then make sound decisions.