TEN TOP TENS FOR 2010: part 8

And I quote...

10. "These people better not get a divorce or I'm gonna be so mad!" - Zac George at a wedding we sang for after a 16 hour drive ... after a 3 1/2 week Brazilian tour ... after a really long summer ... before a long trip back home via Nashville ... on a bus that broke down in Nashville ... after the air conditioner broke down ... in August.

9. "If I can't whoop 'em, I don't want 'em." - Steph speaking of other people's children

8. "Lil' girl, you can take your attitude elsewhere 'cause I ain't the one you need to mess with today." - Me at school ... 'nuff said.

7. Courtney Fowler to her son: "Brock, would you bring me my house shoes, por favor?"
Brock, after running to get the shoes: "Por favor is back!"

6. "Everybody ought to love sweet potatoes!" - Papa J telling the story of how he tried to bribe Dad to keep him from tattling when they were kids

5. "Aaaaaand ... there's water coming into the van." - Anthony Lancaster as we baptized our van

4. Gabby: "Are you gonna wear those shoes with that dress?"
Steph: "Are you gonna wear that face with that dress?"

3. "I'ma pray for you ... a lot!" - Me

2. "Lots of laughin', lots of lovin', lots of exercise; that's what's gonna make life fun!" - Steph

1. "I love you, Son." - Dad

End quote. What are some of your favorites from 2010?

Peace, Love, and Good Quotes

TEN TOP TENS FOR 2010: part 2

Today's top ten list is dedicated to sports - the ten greatest team/school mascots. Some are serious, some are funny, all are the real deal. This ought to be fun! Here we go:

10. University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane

9. Oklahoma City Thunder

8. Muleshoe High School Mules (note: Why are they the Mules?)

7. Mustang High School Broncos (note: Why are they not the Mustangs?)

6. University of South Carolina Gamecocks

5. Dumas High School Demons

4. Stanford University Cardinal (note: Cardinal is singular)

3. Odessa Jackalopes

2. Texas Christian University Horned Frogs

1. Montgomery Biscuits

Gimme some more good ones!

Peace, Love, and Great Sports

AND I QUOTE...

"Every other day, I’ll rev that sucker up to twelve miles an hour and do three five-minute intervals. Running at that speed for that duration doesn’t come naturally to anyone-it’s hideous, absolutely horrible. But by pushing past the pain, you become progressively tougher. You prove to yourself that pain is just that, pain. You can walk away from it afterward knowing that you surpassed a barrier that makes most humans curl into the fetal position and weep for Jesus."

- UFC fighter Forrest Griffin
via Daniel Wright, Biggest Loser Season 8

Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

I FORGOT WHAT I WAS GOING TO WRITE ABOUT

At one point today I had a really interesting topic to write about. Over the course of my busy day, though, I forgot what it was. I cannot, for the life of me, remember what I was going to write about. Sure, I might remember later on. It may take a few days, and I may forget that I had been thinking of it in the first place, but I'll probably get it back someday.

I mentioned it to my wife and she said, "You were gonna write about cuddling me."

Guess I have some cuddling to do. :) G'nite!

Don't you hate it when you forget what you were going to say?





Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

MAGIC MUSIC TIME

My bride showed me this video last night and I had to share it with blog-world!



You're welcome.
Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

I WONDER...

Your thoughts?

Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

I WANTED TO PUNCH A KID IN THE FACE

(Disclaimer: I DID NOT punch anyone in the face...or anywhere else.)

We were standing in the check-out line at the grocery store today and quite possibly the single most rude child I've ever seen was standing in front of us with his mother. This little boy, maybe age 12 or so, had short blond hair, iPod earbuds in one ear, and an attrocious attitude. The entire time we were in line behind them, he was yelling (literally yelling) at his mom about how stupid she was - how she wasn't using the self-check-out machine correctly, how she was so slow, how she didn't sign her name on the credit card reader. I stared the kid down the entire time, but he never looked at me. I soooo wanted to walk up to him, punch him in the mouth, and say, "Do you know who this woman is? She's the woman who brought you into this world, provided food, clothing, and shelter for you, gave you all kinds of nice things, like that iPod you have jammed in your head like a fool, and this is how you repay her? I ought to beat some Jesus into you myself, but I'll let her do that for me. You had best learn some respect, and quickly, before you mess around and get yourself killed!"

But I didn't.

Steph wouldn't let me. She loves me too much to see me go to jail for beating up a child. If she hadn't been standing between him and me, though, things just might have been different...

And what was worse, the mom just stood there and took it! I wanted to tell her to beat her child! That's the problem with parents these days: they are so afraid of getting in trouble, and the government is so deep into the parents' business, that parents have lost their backbones. Stephanie was about to go Madea on both the mom and the kid: "You wanna call CPS? I'll call 'em myself!" I really wish she would have... it would've been awesome!

The moral of the story is three-fold:

1. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Eph. 6:1

2. "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Prov. 22:6

3. "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." Prov. 13:24 (or, in the paraphrase of "Pops" from Tyler Perry's House of Payne, "Get the rod, whoop the child!")

Seen any kids acting a fool lately?

Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

FIRE!!!

There was an enormous fire in our apartment tonight!
We were making dinner and some of the marshmallows from the sweet potato casserole bubbled over and landed on the floor of the oven. Then they caught on fire. It was crazy! There was smoke all over the place. I couldn't even see the casserole dish for all the smoke.

Instinctively, I panicked. I didn't know what to do, so I did the only logical thing I could think of.

I blew it out.

Turns out it wasn't a big fire at all.
There was hardly even any smoke.

But my family thinks I'm all brave now. Totally worth it!





Had you going for a second, didn't I?

Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

TWO GUYS, ONE BIG DEAL

 This guy likes cows...

  

So does this guy...

This guy likes to hang around with this kid named Schad...

So does this guy...

This guy likes to sing...

So does this guy...

So what's the big deal about these two guys?

THEY'RE BOTH A YEAR OLDER!!!

Anthony Lancaster

Birthdate: January 29, 1988

Wes McKinzie

Birthdate: January 6, 1970

Happy Birthday, Boys!!!!

Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

Grace Defined

Maybe this sketch will help explain the concept of grace a little better than I can. Although this video is almost ten minutes long, it's totally worth every second.

You're welcome.

Peace, Love, and Dark Chocolate

Come On, Get Happy!

First off, let me say thanks to all four of you who have been reading my blog! It really does mean a lot to me. Let me know what you think from time to time.

I appreciate the comments I've received lately regarding singing. Like I said before, I'm still trying to learn the truth about the Bible and all it has to teach us.

One thing I have noticed lately is the way many churches sang for a long time (and a lot of them still do). Even though there will probably always be the debate on instrumental/non-instrumental music in worship services, let us not forget that we have been encouraged to sing to God with our hearts with thanksgiving like we mean it (Eph 5:19-20). If we are rejoicing for being blessed the way we have, we should sing as such in worship. It's probably not the best idea to sing like this:


I'm just sayin'...

Peace, Love, and Chocolate

Dad Is Great

Sometimes you just need a little chocolate cake for breakfast. You're welcome.


Peace, Love, and Chocolate

I Need To Laugh Today

It's been one of those days.

I set my alarm for 5:15 AM (unfortunately, that's not a typo) so I could be ready to leave for my first day on the new job by 6:00. I'm noticing the older I get, the more I have to get up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break (ain't it messed up that some of us have to take breaks from sleeping?!). This morning's break happened at about 3:15. It wasn't a big deal except for the fact that I never got back to sleep. Thank you, Insomnia. So, I get up and go to work. It wasn't bad. I'm learning what all I need to accomplish with the kiddos.

Anyway, I come home and pass all the way out for an hour or so...until I have to take another break! I go back to bed and wake up to the news that there was money taken from our bank account without our permission. So, I get up and deal with that, which is a headache and a half.

Now that that's all supposedly settled, I'm cranky! I need a laugh today, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. The following clip is just what we need right now. I hope you laugh as much as (or more than) I did.



Laugh today. Just don't be "that guy!"

Peace, Love, and Chocolate

The Tenth Arbor-versary

September 1, 1999.
What a day.
I don't remember much of what happened that day, but I do remember this:

It was Wednesday, the third day of classes, three days before the first football game, and my first time to be drum major for the band. For some reason, I had missed about half of my advanced music theory class in the library, but I was determined to redeem the rest of my day and play well in the upcoming wind ensemble rehearsal. When I left the library, I decided to walk across the back lawn between a small grove of trees because it would get me to the Fine Arts Building faster, and I needed to be on time.

As I was walking across the back lawn of the library, between the trees, I heard something that sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies (snap, crackle, pop!). I didn't know where the sound was coming from so I thought to myself, "Maybe I should walk a little faster."

So I did.

Maybe that wasn't the best move. The noise got louder and louder until it hit me, "That's the sound of a tree limb falling..." Then it really did hit me! I ducked and covered my head with my hand just in time for the large branch to land on my hand... and my head! It was so heavy that the weight of the rest of the limb swung down and landed on my left leg, knocking me down into a concrete ravine next to the bottom floor of the library.

This joker was huge! It was so big that it knocked my hat, sunglasses, and the backpack that I had on both shoulders completely off! It was so big that I thought it had broken my femur! It was so big that I had to be strapped to a hard board and rushed to the emergency room to make sure it hadn't done permanent damage!

I found out later that the limb was close to 2 feet in diameter, 20 feet long, and fell from about 25 feet up in the air!!! I also found out that if I hadn't ducked and covered like I did, it probably would have broken my neck and killed me... so there's that.

When I went to marching band rehearsal the next day, barely able to walk, wrapped up in bandages, the guys in the band were very encouraging and supportive. They went out of their way to make me feel welcomed back to the land of the living. It's true. They called me George of the Jungle and threw small branches at me while yelling, "Watch out for that tree!" Isn't that sweet?

All in all, it was a memorable experience. I mean, it's been ten years today and I still remember it like it was... well... ten years ago!

Peace, Love, and Chocolate

Soon And Very Soon

Hey Kids! I just wanted to take a minute to apologize for not having written lately. We are in the process of moving and I simply haven't had the time to even think about writing, much less actually writing. So, until I get settled in and refocused, I'll leave you with this little gem.



Peace, Love, and Chocolate

Interview With The Enemy

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (New International Version)

Peace, Love, and Chocolate

"One, Two, Five..."

Since this is post number 125, I thought it extremely appropriate to post this clip from one of the greatest comedies of all time,
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.



Have you ever noticed the counting sequence only takes three seconds?
Pure genius. You're welcome.

Peace, Love, and Chocolate

How (Not) To Worship

I'm so glad we don't worship this way (he said with tongue planted firmly in cheek)!

Lord, forgive us for who we worship and help us to remember Who we were made to worship.

Peace, Love, and Chocolate

Mmmm... Cake!

Do you ever have days when you really wanna do this? I know I do!



Peace, Love, and Chocolate

Meanwhile, back at the Acappella concert...

Since I haven't blogged about Acappella concerts in quite a while, I figured it would be appropriate to share this nugget that happened recently in Aca-world.

We were doing an intimate concert for about 150 people in a small meeting room of a nice lodge / hotel. The concert was going great. Everyone was really into the music and the message. We were all having a wonderful time. We got toward the end of the concert and I asked the audience to "stand up and join us while we sing about our new home" (which, if you have been to an Acappella concert recently, you know that means we're about to sing "Holy City." And if you haven't been to an Acappella concert recently, maybe it's time you came to one!).

As I was hyping the crowd for the song, a couple of older gentlemen in the back of the room became overwhelmed with the Spirit and started to jump and shout! It was amazing to see God moving through these sixty-somethings. I had not seen anything quite like it at an Acappella concert before.

Well, just as we started to sing, one of the older men tripped and fell on top of the man next to him. We stopped to see if they were okay. They weren't. All I could hear was groaning and a woman screaming. The man who was fallen upon found the strength to speak up and say that his hip was broken. The man who did the falling had a broken collar bone and femur. Everyone was in shock and no one was moving, so I yelled into my microphone to call 911. I then ran out of the room toward the front desk to get help since I didn't have my phone with me on stage. The hallway seemed like it went on forever. I ended up sliding down the railing of a long flight of stairs. It looked like I wasn't going to make the landing.

Then I woke up.

Can you imagine that really happening?

Peace, Love, and Chocolate