“how’d I get here???”

It is kind of interesting to see how people’s search engines get them to my blog… here are a few examples:

- walleye

- world series trophy

- michael scott

- fall season

- Sam Burke

- Jesus

- driving down the road of life under the…

How did you get here?

10 things you’d LOVE to say at work… but can’t

I found this list on a couple of other blogs… I found it so hilariously true that I had to repost it.  Here they are… the ten things that you’d LOVE to say at work… but you just can’t:

1. I’ll try being nicer if you try being smarter. 
2. I don’t know what your problem is, but I’ll bet its hard to pronounce. 
3. I’ll pencil that in for never. Does never work for you? 
4. I see you’ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public. 
5. It sounds like English, but I can’t understand a word you’re saying. 
6. Ahhh … I see the screw-up fairy has visited us again. 
7. I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid. 
8. I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don’t give a rip. 
9. I will always cherish the positive initial misconceptions I had about you. 
10. The fact that no one understands you doesn’t mean you are an artist.

thanksgiving traditions

around our house we have a few Thanksgiving traditions that we like to do:  

1. watch home alone to signal the beginning of Christmas season…

2. have certain foods that we LOVED on thanksgiving growing up…

3. get a Christmas tree either on Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving.

4. Start listening to Christmas music on Black Friday.

5. we usually say 1 or 2 things we are thankful for.

6. and my wife, Sarah (visit her blog here), usually has 2-3 craft things to celebrate the day.  (this year she made pilgrim hats out of marshmallows, cookies, and chocolate sauce… she also made special pilgrim napkin holders with each of our pictures on them.  They were awesome!)

What is your thanksgiving tradition?

I can feel it…

This is a video that my good friend Scott and I used to watch in college religiously.  Let’s just say we had a lot of time on our hands.  I have to say I feel a little middle schoolish for posting this… but It is soooo funny.

oldie but a goodie…

this video is a CONSTANT reminder to me to ENUNCIATE your every word when you speak and to go over my talks several times to make sure I re-word things that MIGHT come out wrong or turn into a “that’s what she said” comment.  Enjoy:

nic’s first Chuck E’ Cheese experience…

We had our little family outing last night to none other than Chuck E’ Cheese’s.  Nic couldn’t believe it that all of that fun could be under one roof!  He absolutely loved it.  He kept saying all night “OH, Chuck E Cheeses… HIGH FIVE!”  Here are some pics:

     

culturally relevant???

there is cultural relevance and then there is this:  

 

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!  HAHAHA!

what if starbucks marketed like the church…

saw this video on DC Curry’s blog… thought it was hilarious!!!  check it out:

my new home of imagination

so… I finally got my home office up and running.  I’ve always wanted to be able to do my admin stuff and leadership stuff down at my work office… and the have a quiet, tranquil place where I could do all my message prep at home!  after the internet guy came… it was just a matter of time before everything started working together!  If you didn’t know… I’m a HUGE San Francisco Giants fan. So, naturally… my home office is littered with SF Giants memorabilia.  Here is just a sample picture:

I decided to wear my hat too.  I also have like a ton of other stuff around.  When I finished getting it all decorated… I could finally have a space that felt like HOME!

my afterthoughts on what was “the Beatles concert”…

the picture above is a live shot from the song “I feel fine.”  The Beatles concert at Oakbrook Community Church was an event like no other in the city of Kokomo, Indiana.  In Kokomo, you can find factories, “Mom & Pop” shops, tons of places to eat, and over 145 churches… but the one thing that you’ll hardly ever find is a GOOD concert or a great artistic show.  Some might even go so far as to say that this town is “Arts Starved.” After living in the Bay Area of California for most of my life and going to college only 2 hours away from New York City… I must concur.  But every once in a while something comes along and you go “Hey… wait a minute… wait a minute… what is that?”  I have to say (probably with a little bias) this concert was one of those times.  My wife and I have lived in Kokomo for over 5 years and have only worked at Oakbrook Church for a little over 1 1/2 years.  We previously worked at another church in town.  Anyway, long before I worked there, we were thoroughly IMPRESSED by how Oakbrook Church brought big theatre production and the arts to a small little town like Kokomo during Christmas and Easter.  It made me think back to my high school days of going to the Orpheum theatre in San Francisco to watch “Showboat” or going to New York City to see “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway… or (more recently) going to see “Handel’s Messiah” in the Scranton civic theatre in downtown Scranton, Pa.  (yes… that’s right you office fans… I spent 3 years of my life living about 7-8 miles away from Scranton, Pa).  We LOVED going to Oakbrook… it always felt like a home away from home for us.  So, naturally… we were THRILLED when they asked us to come on staff as youth pastor.  This Beatles concert was one of those big moments… and I am so privileged that I got to be a part of it.  It was unreal.  Kokomo people usually only get excited about 2 things… little league baseball, and the county fair… BUT there was electricity in the air even before the show started.  Over 1,000 people were lined up at least 30 min. before the show started.  That in and of itself is almost unheard of in Kokomo.  They cheered, sang along, swayed (Christian dancing… hahaha) and laughed.  It was a fun night.  But all of this: the stage decor, the lights, the hours of musical preparation, the energy and the fun… it was all about one thing.  We had this crazy idea that God wanted us to leverage a huge piece of pop-culture so that maybe some people who would NEVER step foot in a church would find themselves right in the middle of it… AND LIKE IT… and hopefully… that they would want to come back and ask… what is this all about?  As Rob Bell says, “THIS really is about THAT!”