The Life of Brian

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-15T17:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!
(If you don't know the TRUE meaning of Christmas, just listen to Linus....)

Haha

2011-06-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

This image is funny, but the situation it parodies (Rob Bell's falling away from orthodox Christian doctrine) is very sad indeed...

Random

2011-05-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

This is kinda fruity, but I thought it was funny. Sad thing is, I remember most of this stuff. Ah, memories...

The Humility of Christ

2011-03-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

Check out this absolutely amazing (and biblical) Christian hip-hop song by Timothy Brindle, called "The Humility of Christ". Not only are the rhymes incredible, but he does a great job of capturing the multitude of ways Christ was required to humble himself, in order to come to earth as a man and save us from our sins. Praise Him!

"How can one man, in a matter of hours, drain the cup of God's wrath, that would have taken an eternity to pour out on me? How can that be?"

Who'd assume that this could be?
Who'd assume that this could be?
Who'd assume that this could be? (God became a man)
Who'd assume that this could be?

Forever, before the creation, or there was Satan
The Son was with the Spirit and Father in glorification
Before worship, or fine angels above
The Trinity was in the perfect triangle of love.
Chilled with no-one else, no need for others
'Cause God is self-sufficient, fulfilled within himself.
And we can only guess the conversation,
But the Son agreed to rescue those the Father gave Him.
And although this Lord should be worshiped
He volunteered to take upon the form of a Servant
The Father commanded yet asked Him to come
So now let's examine the fashion it was done...
Let me ask you if you seem confused with this:
God passed through His own creature's uterus.
I admit this is odd, yet the Bible can persuade me:
An omnipotent God, crying as a baby?
No doctors around, no spot could be found
To give birth to a child, the only option in town
Was to be born in a feeding trough with breeding cows
And feces piles, the scene was foul
It wasn't fancy but raunchy
How the Son of God was born next to camels and donkeys
What an awesome feat, to drop so deep
And cop His sheep, He then stepped down
He took a quantum leap.
And I'm amazed how God, infinite in wealth,
Put aside His fame and limited himself
To time and space with eyes and legs
He died to save a violent race
Whose sin would bring Him hell.

Who'd assume that this could be,
God became a man penetrating into human history
But He did it completely opposite than people thought He would
So unbelievers' mockin' it.
Who'd assume that this could be,
You became a man penetrating into human history
But You did it completely opposite than I thought You would
So I was mockin' it.

The promised Messiah didn't come in the honor of sire
But humbly rockin' some modest attire
So people missed it, to be specific
The legalistic thought the King would be the richest
And we know we like commodities
But the possessor of all riches chose a life of poverty.
Wait, it's not the descendant of David, is this?
Yes, and He's descended the greatest distance
He chilled with sinners and tax robbers
Amongst His creatures who, to Him, were grasshoppers
He dwelt with the lower class, lowly men
And those known as trash were His chosen kin
And the unbelieving Jews were sick of Him
They said, "He runs with a team of stupid fishermen,
And speaks to Samaritans and barbarians."
Pharisees stared at Him with harsh arrogance
Its shown when the Savior took notice of beggars,
Healed the blind and sick, and those with lowest of wages
He even touched those with leprosy
Which was seen as the most disgusting known infection, see?
Wait, are you kidding me?
Watch Jesus go low and wash Peter's toes, what great humility!
See the second person of the Trinity
Came down to rescue workers of iniquity
Check His earthly ministry, He didn't make a bed
He had no place to lay His head.
But He became bound to His own law, but we found no flaw
Was from a rugged town, so wrong!
Slumbered and slept, hungered and wept and sweated
Plunged to our depth, and some of our depth's pathetic.
The humblest yet, the humblest death that's dreaded
The Son is our rest, come under Him, get His credit.

No question that He's G-O-D
But He laid aside the full expression of His deity
And surfed the chasm no words can fathom
How God walked this earth which is cursed from Adam
No question that You're G-O-D
But You laid aside the full expression of Your deity
And surfed the chasm no words can fathom
How You walked this wicked earth...

He was falsely condemned by Jews and filthy pagans
Now the cross, the peak of His humiliation
No discussion, sure they'd best remove Him
He got the most disgusting form of execution.
He who sits upon the throne and rules
Was kicked and stomped and spit upon by Roman fools
Despised by Israel, tried by simple souls
But was silent when struck by violent imbeciles
And Jesus was able to call down legions of angels
But He was too faithful
Gracious and patient was Him,
Yet he was hated and forsaken by men.
Like Jews they hated his soul, Judas betrayed Him for gold
When it was tough his crew was afraid so they rolled
Suckers, they murked Him, the suffering servant
Was beat up and looked like He was cut by a surgeon
Slaughtered, bleeding, gushing, oozing blood
The Father pleased to crush Him whom He loved
So He probably didn't even feel the crown and nails
He had to suffer more than that to bring down the veil
Our eyes are haughty and our lies are naughty
The Holy Christ bore our sins inside His body
Yeah, his veins they burst, but no one's pain was worse
'Cause the One who made the earth became a curse
And He was one with the Father's essence
But on the cross the God of heaven's cut off His presence
So I can't share any language
That can rightly describe the Christ's despair and his anguish
So forever will I tell,
In three hours Christ suffered more than any sinner ever will in hell
He who had infinite joy and pleasure
Became a Man of Sorrows so we can join forever.

He took a cosmic plunge, put on some lungs,
On the cross became to God a sponge
To soak up His wrath
So the wicked wouldn't be sifted and blown into chaff...

Cataloochee

2011-02-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

Zach, Sarah, and I had a wonderful ski weekend at Cataloochee (near Maggie Valley NC, Megan's old stomping ground). Unfortunately, Cathy was feeling sick just before and was not able to go.

But other than that, we had a wonderful time, and both Zach and Sarah did very well with their "ski skills". Sarah, who had only been skiing once, got bored with the "bunny slope" after about ten minutes, and spent the rest of the weekend cruising down the main slopes like a pro.

Here are some videos (sorry that two of them are portrait instead of landscape...):

Fun in the Snow

2011-01-11T18:47:00.001-08:00

Cathy and I had some serious fun yesterday involving Zach, Sarah, sleds, and a snowy hill at the park... Enjoy.

Snow!

2011-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

While today's snowstorm wasn't the historic event that was predicted, it was a great snow nonetheless. Cathy and I measured between five and six inches of snow, but it seemed like more.

One of my favorite historic photographs of Simpsonville was taken on a similar snowy day, probably sometime before World War II. It is a photo of folks (grownups!) playing in the snow in front of the old Simpsonville train depot. Unlike many old photos, this one captures a brief moment of fun back in the days when times were tougher, and there were fewer moments available for play.

These days, that same Simpsonville train depot is a thriving ice cream shop, one which owes no small part of its success to our family's patronage! And today, myself and three other grownups (you know who you are!) definitely took some time to act like kids and have fun playing in the snow. As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In any case, here's a couple photos of the same snowy scene, separated only by time...

Beach

2010-07-08T19:11:00.001-07:00

I think it is safe to say the the entire "extended Baker family" is looking forward to our upcoming beach vacation!

I, for one, am tired, spent, burnt out, fatigued, stressed, and generally in need of a week away with my favorite peeps in the world!

So, I bring to you my top ten favorite family beach trip traditions:

10. Indoor beachball - Not sure how this tradition got started, but basically it involves everyone sitting around the condo living room, hitting a a multicolored beachball, and trying to keep it from touching the floor by any means possible (hitting, kicking, karate, etc). I know, it sounds really dull, but we have had some crazy hilarious moments over the years, and I can attest that we have never broken any lamps or windows (but we have come awfully close!).

9. Cheapo Skeeball prizes - One night each year, early in the week, we head down to the Garden City arcade, blow a crazy amount of quarters in the Skeeball machines in order to acquire precious TICKETS, which in turn allow us to purchase the cheapest plastic Chinese toys available on this planet. Yes, its a ripoff, except for the fact that we discovered two cheapo toys which provide tremendous entertainment value: parachute men, and bow/arrow kits. The parachute men, which we purchase by the dozens with our Skeeball tickets, are traditionally launched from the 12th floor of the condo, to see if they will sail on the billowing winds, all the way to Conway. (Usually, they end up dropping like a stone and adorning the parking lot below...). A more recent discovery are the bow and arrow kits. These consist of a plastic bow and four suction-cup arrows. Normally, I am convinced to stand against the glass sliding window, while Brandon and Zach attempt to shoot an apple (or other object) off the top of my head. Somehow I get the idea that they are usually NOT aiming at my head... I seem to recall that Brandon is particularly dangerous in this respect.

8. Taboo - Taboo is the game where you try and get your partner to guess a word, by giving them hints which do NOT include any of the words on a list. For example, the word might be "dog", but you cannot say "bark", "pet", "bone", or "fetch". We have had some hilarious games over the years, particularly when Sherri's sister Anita was playing. And, I do recall Sarah and I teaming up to put a hurtin on our opponents... Sarah, who shall we wup up on this year?

7. Swimming in the ocean - Although I am big fan of swimming pools, alas, we will not have one available this year at our rental house. However, I personally prefer the REAL surf, the big blue Atlantic. Although I may appear not so manly in terms of getting INTO the ocean (yes, it takes me ten minutes to get used to the freezing water), once I get used to the water I love it. Our traditions include such classics as "see who can last longest without moving their feet off the bottom", "chickenfights", "seaweed in the swim trunks", and "throwing sand at Zach's head when he comes up for a breath." Hopefully, we won't be kept out of the water by, say, a huge oil slick moving up from the Gulf!

6. Golf with the guys - Although I play golf about as well as Larry King runs the Boston Marathon, I always look forward to getting to spend four or five hours with "the guys": Brandon, Zach, and Pop. Pop and Brandon have always golfed pretty well, and Zach is coming on strong, whereas I...well, I enjoy being out there! Suffice it to say, I keep score not by number of strokes, but by the number of golf balls I have lost in the woods or the water! Looking forward to long drives, straight putts, good laughs, and my once-a-year cigar!

5. Yum Yum shop - If you really know Garden City beach, you know the Yum Yum shop. You know the flavors - Superman, Birthday Cake, Moose Tracks, cookies n cream, cookie dough, mint chocolate chip.... Start saving room in the ole tummy NOW, because diets go out the window on Yum Yum night(s).

4. Crossword puzzles - OK, I realize this is a luxury that only Sherry and I seem to enjoy... Sherry starts collecting crossword puzzles from the Greenville News a month in advance, but we always seem to burn through them all in just a few days. Cryptoquotes and all! Darn we're good!

3. Honey buns - Most of us try and eat healthy all year long, but for seven days every summer, we completely fall off the wagon due to the presence of...Kroger Honey Buns! Oh my goodness, these things have got to be 2000 calories each, and made of sugar-crusted sugar, but wow... Pop one of these puppies in the microwave for a few seconds, and my goodness.... Shame on us!!! ha

2. Setback tournaments - The arrival of nightfall at the beach means one thing to the Scott family... Get out those cards, start talkin smack, and team up for some Setback! We have some great family memories of setback games past... Uncle Bill yelling "Cha CHANG", a young Zachary bidding six on every hand (and generally making it), bad results from husband/wife teamings, and Pop saying "ah, its just a little ole game...". Open up some new decks, clear the table off, and let's get started!

1. Sara J's - After a long day in the sun and surf, there's nothing like a good shower, putting on some decent clothes, and heading down to Sara J's for the "senior combination plate"! Shrimp- shrimp-shrimp, with hushpuppies and a loaded baked potato, if you know what I mean. (Here's hoping and praying that BP didn't mess up the shrimp part!) Eating out as a family doesn't get much better than that. Besides, what other restaurant that you know of sports an oil painting of a sweaty monkey in a Sunday dress? (Also, we get the free entertainment of watching Brandon stuff his shorts pockets full of those Sara J's green mints!).

So there you have it, just a few of the reasons I am looking forward to our beach vacation. No doubt we will relive some of these family traditions this year, and probably create some new ones.

Surfs up!

Rare, Random Post

2010-02-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

Hah, I snuck a blog post when no one was looking! (Yes, it has been a while!!!)

In tonight's rare, completely random post, I gotta vent a bit on things I currently LOVE and HATE (or at least severly dislike, for those of you who are of the "we don't use the word HATE" variety).

"HATE":

- Cold weather. That's right, I ain't diggin it. Not a big fan of coldness in general, but after three or four months of winter, it gets REALLY OLD and I'm jonesin for some warmth, know what I'm sayin? Now, I realize Brandon and Megan are not gonna have much pity on me, since they are still shoveling snow, but nonetheless I feel I must express my great disapproval for the fact that it is not warm and sunny.

- Lame TV commercials. Right now there is a weight loss commercial with some really creepy skinny guy in a way-too-tight tee shirt. Not a good look for him. Also, there's a Greenville-area spokesmodel with a really high-pitched, annoying voice. She appears on a number of different commercials, during which Cathy or I will instinctively push the "mute" button...problem solved! And how about those horrible "local" car dealership ads (you know what I'm talking about).

- Being sick. As in, get sick, tough it out for ten days, decide its not going away on its own, see doctor, get Z-Pack, finish Z-Pack with no apparent results, decide I'll just get used to feeling blah. *Sigh*

LOVE:

- Chilling at home. After a busy last few months (wedding, Christx, two weeks in France during January, etc), it is so nice just to be able to chill out at home a bit. Cathy and I (and Rupert) have our little daily routines, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Life is good.

- Pickin and grinnin. My band is back in the recording studio (WhiteStone Studios on downtown Greenville), working on our second studio CD. We put in two 10-hour days this weekend (!) and managed to lay down all the instrumental tracks for 8 songs. This coming weekend, we should finish the music for the remaining 4 songs, and start on vocals. Recording is sort of "musical drudgery", but the end product should be worth all the effort.

- Fun with family. Last night, Zach and Sarah invited Cathy and I over to their apartment for dinner. A good time was had by all! First, a killer dinner consisting of Sarah Gilliam's fine home-cooked chili and cornbread. Oh, and Blue Bell cherry cheesecake ice cream for dessert! An old friend from Temple Baptist (Heath Burns) was able to join us as well. We topped the evening off by playing a little Guitar Hero, complete with drums, guitar, and vocals. My favorite song? Gotta be our rendition of Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer", with Miss Gilliam on the stratospheric vocals and my little woman on the screamin electric guitar. We had a great time...thanks Zach and Sarah!

- Beach. I gotta admit that I am spending some amount of time daydreaming about our beach vacation this summer. Cathy has rented a condo near the Garden City pier, and I think its going to be a blast. Hopefully, the whole gang will be able to come (Zach and Sarah, Brandon and Megan, Bob & Sherry, me and Cathy, and Rupert of course!). I'll start saving up my quarters for the Skee Ball machine!

Oh well, thanks for reading. Hopefully I will have another post before too many days go by!

Rant

2009-09-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

What day is today?

September 11th.

Does that ring a bell? Is there anything special about September 11th, anything that stands out in your mind? Is there any significance to this date???

Apparently, Google.com does not think so. Good ole Google, everyone's favorite search engine. You know, the one that changes its "Google" logo on important days, such as holidays or famous people's birth/death dates?

Well, I suppose 9/11 doesn't mean much to the folks at Google, for today their homepage logo is curiously unadorned by any references TO THE SINGULAR MOST HISTORICAL DATE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

While I'd like to believe that this omission represented some gross forgetfulness on their part (a mistake that even a first grader wouldn't make if you asked them about 9/11), common sense tells me that perhaps the folks at Google have some sort of agenda or worldview that wants to downplay the significance of 9/11.

Given that fact that Google has also failed to change their logo on other patriotic days such as Veteran's Day and Memorial Day, I can't help but wonder if my suspicions about their political leanings are true.

Shame on you, Google.

Fancy B

2009-05-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

OK, this is sort of a calligraphy project, sort of a drawing project. Not sure what inspired it, but it was fun.

Basically, a ridiculously fancy capital B, copied freehand from an 1883 book of ornate lettering...

Bargain

2009-04-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

OK, my wife and I went to some antique stores up in the mountains, and I bought...

...a Parker 51 special desk set. Onyx base, black pen with chrome tip. Nib seems to be a medium, and lays down a good thick line.

The price? $16, BUT she said that entire booth was 50% off, so I got it for $8. Shweeet!

I like buying pens, but I LOVE buying pens at ridiculously good prices!

Blood

2009-04-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a little calligraphy project, reflecting on the agony Jesus suffered in the garden of Gesthemene. I cannot imagine the battle raging inside him, the temptation to avoid the cross, to call down legions of angels to save himself...

What a Savior we have!

Flex

2009-04-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

OK, here's a rule: don't try and write with a flex-nib fountain pen in one hand, while trying to film the action with your cell phone in the other hand!

Not the best video quality (grainy, low light, subject not centered, etc) but I think it gets the idea across!

Techie details:

Pen = 100-year old A.A. Waterman eyedropper fountain pen with gold semi-flex nib
Paper = Clairefontaine 90 g/cm2 Seyes-ruled (bought in Clermont-Ferrand)
Ink = Private Reserve Dakota Red.

Drums

2009-04-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

OK, as a Mr. Bean fan and ex-drummer, I gotta post this one...

Turquoise

2009-03-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

Here's another little calligraphy project...

Pen: 1915-ish Arthur A Waterman eyedropper flex-nib fountain pen
Ink: Pelikan Turquoise
Paper: Clairefontaine Seyes-ruled
Quote: Christian missionary Jim Elliot, who gave his life for the cause of the Gospel

Artsy

2009-03-22T12:18:00.001-07:00

Well, the long dull days of winter seem to over (finally!)...

Over the last few months, I've been on sort of an artsy kick, experimenting a bit with watercolor painting and lately with flex-nib calligraphy...

Watercolor-wise, I have done four paintings over the last month or so...three for Cathy and one for me! Cathy's paintings are all garden and flower related: a pink rose, a blue hydrangea, and a garden-y cottage:

Last week, I painted something for me - its a closeup of the hood of a 1940's Pontiac, complete with the Indian hood ornament. Painting shiny chrome is very challenging, especially with watercolor, but I think it came out pretty well...

On the calligraphy front, yesterday I bought another old flex-nib fountain pen, an A.A. Waterman. Got a steal on it, only $15. These pens are what people used about 100 years ago, and using them you can get some wonderful calligraphy effects, varying thin and thick lines. Maybe I'll do something that combines the watercolor with the calligraphy... Any ideas?

Music

2009-03-10T17:10:00.001-07:00

My talented and lovely wife Cathy put up a great blog post, about how songs are so amazing at being able to bring back memories, both good and bad...

I liked her post, and thought I'd post a few random ones from my childhood...

"Like a Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell - I have a distant memory of being in the car with my Dad at night, coming back from some random shopping trip in the nearby town Fairfax. This song was playing on the AM radio, and I remember Dad humming along, tapping out the snare drum on 2 and 4 with his wedding ring against the steering wheel. Its one of those tiny, warm, happy memories.
"Ebony Eyes" by Bob Welch - Another Dad memory. The year is 1976, and one of the big fads that year is beer can collecting. My brother David and I were really into it, and were always trying to figure out how to get cans from other parts of the US, and from other countries. A bar in DC (Brickskeller) boasted having over 500 kinds of beer. So, David and I talked Dad into going into DC and buying a case of beer, with 24 different brands. We drove there on a Saturday, and this song came on the radio. Another good (although sort of bizarre) memory of Dad!
"Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent - I remember going on a church youth group event in junior high school (to a roller rink in Sterling VA?) and this playing on the radio. Sort of a big contrast, there, don'tcha think?
"Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan - Mid 70s, long car ride in the Green Machine (1971 Ford Ranch Wagon station wagon) to Wisconsin, two adults and 3 kids (no Angela yet), bright sunny day, radio playing. Good times.
"Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder - This is a great memory. I think I was about 12, and I came down with something and was in the bed for a number of days. Couldn't do much but lay there. My Dad bought me a red Panasonic portable AM radio, just out of the blue, as a gift. It had a little white earphone (one ear only) so I could listen to it at night without bothering my brother, who shared the room. On this little radio, I remember listening to Casey Kasem's Top 40 countdown, laying there in my bed. Someone sent out this song as a "special dedication", and for some reason I remember that moment. That little radio was my introduction to pop music, and (part of) the start of a lifelong love of music. Probably my favorite gift anyone has ever given me. :) Still have that radio (see picture).

Anyhow, isn't it amazing how our mind associates songs with events in our lives, no matter how trivial or important?

Like Cathy, I will probably do another post on Christian music which has played a big role in my life...

Ciao!

Ambigrams

2009-03-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

You know those blog posts that you read and say, "Wow, I wish I could write meaningful, moving, uplifting posts like that!" ?

Well, this isn't one of those!

In my long tradition of bizarre, random post topics that continue to confound and baffle my lovely wife (as in, "where on earth did you come up with that?"), I present to you "ambigrams".

Ambigrams are words that are written in a "font" such that the same word can be read when you turn it upside down. I first saw this on an album cover long ago, and since I am into calligraphy and lettering and such, I thought it was cool...

Here's an example (be sure and turn your head or your screen upside down and test it!):

(That's the word "Revelation", in case you had trouble reading it...)

Or, sometimes it reads as one word right-side up, and another word upside-down, like this one (Life/Death):

Kinda neat, IMHO.

Anyhow, here's my first attempt, using my own name...

Want your name done this way? Drop me a note on the blog, and I'll take a shot at your name!

In The Zone

2009-02-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

OK, I'll start off with the usual "sorry I haven't blogged in so long, been busy, yada yada..."

Yesterday was pretty cool. My band, Last Road Bluegrass, drove up to Spindale NC and recorded a "live in-studio" session for WNCW.

WNCW is an "eclectic" radio station in western NC, that plays good music from every genre (blues, jazz, rock, celtic, bluegrass, etc etc). For 15+ years, I have been tuning in on Saturdays to listen to their all-bluegrass show, "Going Across The Mountain." It is one of the highest-rated bluegrass radio shows in the country, and is heard every week in northern GA, western NC, southwestern VA, and eastern TN.

So, it was really cool that our band was asked to come and do an in-studio "show"! We played five songs live (as in, one take, no edits!) and were interviewed by the show's host, Dennis Jones. For those of you who might like to tune in, the show will air next Saturday, 28 Feb, at 11 AM on 88.7 FM.

We were a bit nervous about the "one take only" thing...if you mess up a song, that's what gets broadcast! So, you pretty much have to nail it on the first take. Fortunately, things went very well. The picking was solid, the vocals were on pitch with tight phrasing, the tempos were right, and there was a good "vibe" on all the songs. You could say we were "in the zone".

It was a good time. All the hours of practice, re-working vocal arrangements, and working on breaks paid off. Dennis says that on the average Saturday, up to 25,000 people tune in to Going Across the Mountain. That's a lot of people that will hear the gospel message through our original songs like "Set A Place At The Table" and "There Is A Promised Land"!

Now, fast forward to this morning. Cathy and I have started a new Sunday School class at First Baptist Simpsonville, and are in our third week of it. Things are going well -- we have about 12 or 13 people who have come each week! That's a great start.

It has been a pleasure for me to be able to once again sit under Cathy's teaching. In the same way that God uniquely equipped me to play music (bluegrass and otherwise!), God made Cathy to teach the Word of God. When she is teaching, you can tell that she is "in her zone" -- doing exactly what God has uniquely created her to do. It is an awesome thing, seeing people who have discovered their "zone" and are pouring their time/efforts into honing their craft for God's glory.

Mind you, Cathy would want me to point out that she does not want the glory for this, it should all go to God. It is He who has given us our abilities and talents, He who has given us the time and good health to be able to serve Him. Nonetheless, it has been wonderful for me to see, over the past three weeks, my wonderful wife serving Christ in the exact area he has gifted her for. You go girl!

Do you know what God uniquely created you to do, for Him? Have you ever experienced the peace and satisfaction that comes from knowing that you are doing what you were made to do?

SDS

2009-02-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

My good buddy Jeff Craddock is an incredible electric guitar player, and plays in the contemporary praise band at First Baptist Simpsonville. His favorite modern Christian band is Seventh Day Slumber, and their lead singer's name is Joseph Rojas.

Check out Joseph's awesome testimony...

...and this song which tries to reach out to hurting teens...

Spoof?

2009-01-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

I thought this was a spoof, but turns out this was a real Christian pop band from the 1980's called "Sonseed"... Wow, Contemporary Christian music sure has changed! (thank you, Lord)...

Fun

2009-01-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

Never doubt what white paper, scissors, glue, a little creativity, and a ridonculous amount of time can do...

The Big Picture

2009-01-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

Y'all know what Thursday night means...yes, a brand new episode of The Office! We are at commercial break, and Michael has just ungracefully broken it to Andy that his fiancee, Angela, is having an affair with Dwight. Ouch!

Earlier in the show, Michael had a good line...(well, one of many actually). He related to the camera that the CEO had asked to meet with him to discuss some "big picture" issues. Michael admitted that he had no idea at all what that meant, but that it was probably bad!

I am a firm believer in the importance of stepping back and looking at the big picture. At work, this is an important concept no matter what line of work you are in. If I do this, what will be the ramifications? What are the larger implications of this action or decision, five or ten years from now? What is REALLY important? (Of course, this is what managers like Michael are supposed to be good at!)

When Brandon and Zach were little, we would frequently have conversations similar to this:

Brian: Why are you playing Nintendo?
B/Z: Why not?
Brian: Because I told you to finish your homework! It's important that you finish your homework...
B/Z: Why?
Brian: Because if you don't, you'll get a bad grade.
B/Z: So?
Brian: So, it is important to do well in school.
B/Z: Why?
Brian: So you can get into a good college.
B/Z: Why does that matter?
Brian: So you can get a degree, and then get a good job.
B/Z: Who cares about that?
Brian: You'll care, that's who, when you're digging ditches instead of.... yada yada yada

You get the idea. Of course, I was trying to help the guys see the "bigger picture" instead of just focusing on what was easy or fun at the moment.

But it is amazing to me how many people in life fail to keep asking these kinds of questions, which seem to come so naturally to children... Once we "grow up" and get a job and have a family, we relax and think that we have discovered all that there is.

I am thankful that at age 23, God created within me a curiousity to keep asking the "bigger picture" questions... Who am I, really? Why do I exist? What happens when I die? Is this life all that there is? Why does it matter to be "good"? What did God uniquely create me to do? What should I be doing with my life? What we believe regarding the answers to these questions will in large part determine how we live out the remainder of our lives. God's answers to these questions certainly changed the course of my life.

With 2009 starting, instead of just making New Years resolutions this year, why not step back, and consider the "bigger picture" questions?

Interesting...

2008-12-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen magicians Penn and Teller?

They run perhaps the biggest magic show in Vegas... Penn Gillette is a big, brash, talkative guy, and Teller is a smaller, meek looking guy that never says anything. Does that ring a bell?

Anyhow, Penn Gillette has a pretty well-known case of potty-mouth, and is a well-known athiest, so I was surprised to see this on YouTube...

Should make us believers think about how we are doing in the area of evangelism...

Figgy Pudding?

2008-12-19T16:58:00.000-08:00

Finally, Friday is here!

Cathy and I are just relaxing this evening, with no where to go (fortunately). So we're listening to the "holiday classics" music channel, and this guy is singing "Oh, bring me some figgy pudding, oh bring me some figgy pudding..."

Really?

Man, times must have been rough back in the day, if people were hoping to receive figgy pudding for Christmas! Now that's a lame gift.

I have some great childhood memories of Christmas gifts long ago... To be sure, little Brian Baker wasn't asking for any nasty pudding...no, this was the early 1970's, and toy companies like Mattel and Kenner were in full swing. My sibs (David, Teresa, Angela) and I got some cool toys from Santa over the years:

Board games: Monopoly, Life, Scrabble, Clue, Risk, Yahtzee, Mouse Trap, Battleship, Stratego, Game of the States, Mad Marbles, Gnip Gnop, Facts in Five, Trouble, Super Sandwich
Construction toys: Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Erector set, wooden building blocks...
Cars, cars, cars!: Matchbox cars, Hot Wheels (the original 1970 ones with the redline tires!), SST cars (with the serrated T-handles and rubber flywheel), Smash-Up Derby SST cars (when they hit each other, the doors and hoods would fly off, and then you'd snap them back on), yellow metal Tonka dump truck & crane. Also, cool Hot Wheels tracks (orange track with purple connectors...) with loop-de-loops!
Other: Superball, Whizzers (I remember spinning one up and sticking it in Teresa's hair...sorry!), Pick up Stix, Rubik's Cube, Mattel Basketball handheld "video game" (red LED lights, and when you scored it made the buh-DEE sound!), pop guns, Schwinn Caliente 10-speed bikes

Oddly enough, my Mom still lives in the home we all grew up in, and almost all these 1970's toys are still exactly where we left them (in the finished basement). Sometimes when I get together with the sibs at holidays, we'll break out a vintage game or two....

As fun as it was to receive these cool gifts, one of my most memorable Christmases was one where I learned to enjoy the GIVING more than the GETTING.

When Angela, my kid sister, was 3 years old, I bought her a Play-Doh Fuzzy Pumper for Christmas. This playset looked like a miniature barbershop, complete with plastic barber chairs, scissors, and little shavers. Here's how it worked: first, you would fill the barber chair with Play Doh. Second, you would take these little plastic people with holes all over their heads, and place them in the barber chair. Third, you would turn a crank, and little streams of Play Do hair would squish out of their heads. Finally, you would take your scissors and give them a haircut!

Angela loved this toy, and I loved seeing the happiness in her little eyes. It was a wonderful Christmas.

I look forward to the upcoming Christmas break (I'll be on vacation for a week and a half, woo hoo!). I look forward to spending time with my lovely wife, as well as Zach and Sarah. (Brandon and Megan, I'll miss you guys!) I hope the gifts I give bring more joy than any gifts I may receive... And I look forward to getting to see my sibs up in Virginia when I visit Mom.

Speaking of giving, I'd better get to bed...big shopping day tomorrow...

Busy

2008-12-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

OK, I have perfectionist tendencies.

For hobbies and such, this is a good thing - it drives me toward doing things well. But for blogging, this is a bad thing - if I only have a few minutes available to blog, I end up NOT blogging, because I feel like I don't have enough time to write something worthwhile, something of substance...

Unfortunately for you, the reader, this is a day where I have decided to blog anyway, even though I don't have enough time to write something deep (I probably shouldn't have admitted that!).

So, just a few brief updates on life over the past few weeks:

I've gotten the ole trumpet back out, and have been playing every week with the orchestra at church. There are some great players in this group, especially brass players. I had forgotten how much I enjoy traditional, classical music. I'll be playing in two of the three performances of our Christmas pageant, the first one in a few hours... The 100-member choir and 30-member orchestra are soundin pretty good, I must say!
Went to Greensboro NC a few days ago to see a Yes concert. They are my favorite band of all time, and this year marks their 40th year of making music. True, they are old geezers now, but still some of the best musicians (and music) I have ever heard. Someone posted clips of the show on YouTube here and here...
Went Christmas shopping today. Everywhere was packed and very busy, but I took my time and actually enjoyed it. (Not as much as I enjoy internet shopping though!). My sweet Cathy is kinda hard to shop for, but I think she will be pleased with today's purchases...
Zach and Sarah are home from NGU, and I am looking forward to spending some time hanging out with them. (I missed the big shindig last night with Zach, Sarah, Dustin, and Chris due to a bluegrass gig at Table Rock state park...rats)
Work has been crazy busy. All the IT software projects are due at the end of the year, so it is a mad scramble to finish the work. This week was one of the busiest I can remember. But soon, oh so soon, will be Christmas vacation...that will be nice.

Well, gotta run, I have about an hour to put up Christmas decorations before donning the black suit and bowtie and heading to church.

Have a nice day.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

I may have already mentioned this, but...I love Thanksgiving!

Why, you ask? Let me count the ways...

Good times with family. Cathy and I had a great Thanksgiving Day with Bob & Sherry, and Zach & Sarah. Plenty of laughter and memories for later years...
Good food. At the Baker household, we are ham people. Its not that we don't like turkey, its just that...well...a spiral cut honey ham is just hard to beat. Especially with Cathy's Crock Pot mac & cheese, and a good pumpkin pie. (Have mercy, I'm gonna have to heat up some more leftovers soon!)
Good fun. From family games (Michigan Rummy, Scrabble, Cranium) to the Baker holiday tradition (for Brandon, Zach and I) of multiplayer first-person shooter video games (as Cathy says, "Are y'all shooting each other AGAIN?"), I always enjoy the holiday weekends.

But, there is one thing I sort of dread about Thanksgiving, and that is the day AFTER Thanksgiving. Why? Because it usually means getting all the Christmas stuff down from the attic (we have LOTS of Christmas boxes), buying and setting up the "real tree" (lots of sap and needles), and setting up the "fake-O" artificial tree (takes forever). I mean, shouldn't this time be reserved for, say, watching the Hokies perform their yearly stomping of the UVA Wahoos?

Well, for some reason, this year the dreaded day was...well, enjoyable! Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, because my traditional "day-after" whining is not what it used to be. Yesterday, Cathy and I went and bought our real tree at Lowe's, and the cutting and setup actually went well (for once)! And even better, we are going to wait until later this week to put up the fake-O tree. So, this has all added up to a rather relaxing & enjoyable weekend.

I am excited about hanging out with Brandon and Megan tomorrow, who will be stopping by after their visit to Megan's family in Waynesville NC. I hope we can have one of our, shall we say, "memorable" family dinner/game nights... Can anyone say "Dr. Ruth"?

lol

Thankful

2008-11-27T07:20:00.000-08:00

All right, it's Thanksgiving Day!

Regardless of our circumstances, we all have a lot to thank God for. I feel particularly blessed this Thanksgiving...God has given me so much, I don't know where to begin.

I am thankful for...

A God who "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Who created the universe and all its wonders, yet cared for Brian Baker enough to call me to himself, that cold Sunday in January 1991. Who by His grace is willing and able to forgive my ever-increasing mountain of sin (and in fact has already done so!) Amazing.
A wife who loves me unconditionally, who puts up with my annoying habits, who serves me in so many little ways that usually go unmentioned. A truly godly Proverbs 31 type woman, who loves God and other people with all her heart. She is my soul mate, my only true love, my best friend, my inspiration and role model. She is truly a gift from God. Cathy, I love you!
Two of the finest stepsons a guy could ask for. My boys, by and large, have steered clear of the vices that drag down many a young man, and instead have kept on the narrow path. My boys serve God according to the talents and abilities He has given them, and I couldn't ask for more. They are funny, talented, well-mannered, honest, and hard-working. Guys, I love you too.
"My girls", Megan and Sarah. You two are truly answers to my prayer that God would send our boys women who put Him first, who see the "big picture", who serve and love others selflessly. Love you guys...er, gals!
A wonderful career at Michelin. I am thankful to work for a conservative company that focuses on long-term success, not short-term gain. I'm also thankful for a great bunch of co-workers that I have the pleasure of working with daily. God has truly provided for me (and my family) through this great job.
A great home. I am thankful for a warm, happy home. Every day after work, I look forward to getting home to see Cathy (and Rupert, ha!). Rupert's "Daddy's home!" routine is truly something to behold (just ask Cathy, she'll tell you). These are truly the "good times" that everyone dreams of...I thank God for every day like this that He gives me.
A great extended family (Mom, David & Cindy& Russell, Teresa & Mike & McKenzie, Angela & Mike & girls). I only get to see Mom & the sibs once or twice a year, but we always have a blast together. I am thankful for a Mom and Dad who gave me a great childhood, one of laughter, security, and memories. I am also thankful for a supportive and loving bunch of in-laws: Bob & Sherry, Fran & Steve...you all have done so much for Cathy and I over the years!
My country, the great US of A. I am thankful to be a citizen of the greatest country in the world, a country that despite its many flaws, is still the best example of freedom, liberty, and democracy in the entire world. I'm thankful for the founding fathers, whose God-given wisdom has given us 200+ years of stability, strength, and prosperity. I'm thankful for the sacrifices made by our servicemen so that we can continue to experience freedom.
The gift of music, which God has used to touch my soul in ways that words never could. I am thankful for the musical abilities He has given me, and I intend to use them for His glory. From bluegrass to baroque, rock to reggae, swing to salsa, metal to mariachi -- if it's music, I love it! I am especially thankful for my Christian band-mates (Dave, Benji, Mike), who make "gigging" a blast!

I'm sure there are many more things I'm gonna realize I left out, but these are the biggies. It has been a great year, and I have a LOT to be thankful for.

Remember the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers in Luke 17?

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Well, I want to be the one guy that takes the time to stop, turn around, and thank God for what He has done for me.

Don't you?

Update

2008-11-17T17:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, its been a while... Lots going on this fall, to wit:

Cathy and I (for some reason) have gotten into watching these new-style crime shows (NCIS, Law and Order, Law and Order Criminal Intent, CSI, CSI-NY, CSI-Miami, etc). Only problem is, Cathy usually guesses the plot way early in the show. I'm don't get upset that she spoiled the plot...I get upset that I have to keep admitting she was right!

First Baptist Simpsonville is gradually starting to feel more like home. We had a great fellowship time with our Sunday School class at Cracker Barrell this past Friday. This Sunday, we went to the traditional service (8:45 AM) and...really enjoyed it. Good to hear the old hymns again, and also the choir/orchestra. Also, I'm going to play trumpet with the orchestra for the Christmas musical. I think at has been four years or so since I last played the horn...time to blow the dust out.
Looking forward to Thanksgiving, and getting the chance to see the kids (B/M/Z/S) again... I'm looking forward to: eating a big meal with the whole group, saying the blessing (ha), party games afterward, and exhilirating discussions (oh mercy). Also, Thanksgiving means pumpkin pie, and Rupert and I have been practicing our pie-eating this week! yeah buddy.
Been playing a lot of bluegrass gigs lately. What a great hobby: go play my favorite music, get out of doing yardwork, and get paid to boot! Seriously, my band mates are a great bunch of Christian guys, really fun to hang out with.
It's been getting pretty cold here in Sville lately (hate it). Those of us who hate being cold (you know who you are) start to dread this time of year. But, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to fight ole Jack Frost: large hot chocolates, king-size heated blanket, ceramic heater for the bathroom, heavy lined corduroy shirts, thick hunting socks, wool pea coat, Hand Warmers. Wow, after making that list, winter doesn't seem so threatening...bring it on!

Oh well, that's my cheesy update... I hope to resume more frequent blogging during the dreary (but warm!) winter months.

Later tater.

Dole

2008-11-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

The year was 1993, and the place was Simpsonville SC (more specifically West Georgia Road, and even more specifically the passenger seat of Jim Frady's car).

My trusty daily driver, a 1966 Pontiac Lemans, was in the shop for repairs, and I was carpooling with a good friend and co-worker. Jim came every morning that week, picked me up at home on Pliney Circle, and drove me on to MARC where we both worked (and still do!). Each day as we drove to and from work, behind our conversation I could hear some really, er, different music coming from his cassette tape player.

Asking Jim what kind of music that was, he said it was bluegrass. More specifically, he had a tape of the Dillards (aka the Darling Family from the Andy Griffith show) and another tape of a band called Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Now, Jim hails from Waynesville NC, and he said this kind of music was quite popular up in the mountains of North Carolina. I remember he and I chuckling at a Doyle song called "Stormy Waters", where the bass singer seemed to go so low it made the speakers rumble..."Tis the rock of ages, cleft for MEEEEEEEEEE." I also got a kick when Jim told me that the proper mountain pronunciation was "Dole", not "Doy-le" (silent y!)

I recall deciding that I liked that kind of music - it was upbeat, with great vocal harmonies, intricate picking, and lots of gospel-related content. Over the next year, I bought a bunch of bluegrass CDs from Horizon Records, the best store in Greenville for bluegrass. I took a particular liking to Doyle Lawson's music, and ended up with at least half a dozen of his CDs.

Shortly thereafter, I decided I wanted to learn to play this style of music. I bought a banjo (sorry Cathy) and started trying to teach myself how to "pick". I played those CDs over and over, singing along and trying to pick the banjo that fast (forgive me, Cathy!)

Fast forward 10+ years to 2008, specifically yesterday afternoon.

My band, Last Road, was honored to be able to open for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver at Greenville's Peace Center! Now just so you understand, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver is probably one of the top two bluegrass groups in existence today (the other being Del McCoury). Their live shows are so polished, they sound identical to their studio CDs -- perfect playing, perfect vocals. They have won the IBMA award for "Best Bluegrass Vocals" seven years in a row. Doyle is considered a bluegrass legend in his own right, having gotten his start in the original Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys (the band from which bluegrass got its name).

So to put this in terms for the average person, this is the equivalent of a budding actor being asked to co-star in a movie with Harrison Ford, or a fledgling basketballer getting the opportunity to go one-on-one with MJ. What a blessing!

It felt surreal, standing backstage looking out at the beautiful three-tiered Peace Center auditorium, and watching as Doyle and his band members ran a sound check. They rolled through a couple numbers, checking microphone levels and mix. Then, they put their instruments down, stepped up to their mics, and launched into a flawless acapella version of...Stormy Waters!

I instantly thought of that moment in Jim's car, and realized that a dream of mine had come true.

Once again, and this can't be understated...God is good!

Bummed?

2008-11-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

I'm bummed. And not for the reason you think.

I'm bummed because my sweetheart is sick, and I can't do anything to speed her recovery. Hopefully, after a few days of bed rest and taking it easy, Cathy will feel good as new. Oh, and a heaping bowl of Breyer's mint chocolate chip should help the healing process, too! ha

I am NOT bummed about the election. Sure, the election did not go the way I wanted it to, and I am disappointed. But although I think Obama's positions on economics, abortion, and foreign policy will in the long run be harmful to the country I love, I am not going to mope and despair. God is still in control, and He is still busy accomplishing His purposes through His Word, preached to the lost by His people. Our hope is not in the political process, nor either political party; it must remain in Christ, and in Christ alone.

So as Christians, we can go forward with our chins up, knowing that nothing eternal changed yesterday: God is still God, He is still in the business of saving lost souls, He still wants us to press on with the unique tasks He has given each of us, and He still wants our focus to be on Him.

And as a conservative, the same applies. I need not change my principles and values just because they are not in vogue at the moment. We need to stick to our guns (literally and figuratively, ha), speak the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.

To borrow from Republican blogstress Michele Malkin:

There is no time to lick wounds, point fingers, and wallow in post-election mud.

I’m getting a lot of moan-y, sad-face “What do we do now, Michelle?” e-mails.

What do we do now? We do what we’ve always done.

We stand up for our principles, as we always have — through Democrat administrations and Republican administrations, in bear markets or bull markets, in peacetime and wartime.

We stay positive and focused.

We keep the faith.

We do not apologize for our beliefs. We do not re-brand them, re-form them, or relinquish them. We defend them.

We pay respect to the office of the presidency. We count our blessings and recommit ourselves to our constitutional republic.

We gird our loins, to borrow a phrase from our Vice President-elect.

We lock and load our ideological ammunition.

We fight.

So, the nonstop worship of the Obamessiah doesn't get me down...I have my own mission and my own tasks, and I'm gonna keep my focus.

Good day!

Countdown

2008-10-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, ya just gotta love the internet... enjoy this!

Obama, Yomama

2008-10-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well, all the anniversary/birthday festivities have passed, and I need to try and get back into some sort of blogging flow... The last few months have been pretty sad in terms of blog production here at the ole "Life of Brian" blog.

But, before getting to the main topic, one quick thing to get off my mind.

This is actually for Sarah. Ok, I gotta give Andrew Peterson some well-deserved props. Cathy and I were listening to some tunes on the way up to Saluda this past weekend, including AP's "Deliver Us". Wow - I'd have to give that song about a 99 on a scale of 100, a near-perfect tune. Absolutely incredible. (It almost is enough to make up for "Tools"...ha!) A couple more of those, and he'll be in Chris Rice territory! :D

Ok, on to the main rant.

Just some comments on the upcoming election. It will not be a surprise for most of you when I say that I am supporting McCain/Palin, not Obama/Biden. While I agree that Obama will bring change, I am convinced that much of it will be change in the wrong direction for our country.

Socially, as a Christian, I cannot in good conscience support Obama, who is strongly pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marriage, and likely to appoint a large number of liberals to the courts. Fiscally, I am sure an Obama presidency will result in higher taxes for all Americans, not just the wealthy (who by the way pay more than their fair share of taxes already...the top 1% of Americans pay 40% of the taxes, and the bottom 50% pay only 3%...is that fair?). And regarding foreign policy, I prefer the strong Reaganesque stance of war hero John McCain to Obama's "negotiate with terrorists" plans.

But beyond this, I am concerned over the way the majority of the media has given "the Messiah" a free pass, by neglecting to put a number of issues under the spotlight (Obama's relationship with Acorn, his relationships with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and anti-American pastor Reverend Wright, etc).

If you have the time, read these two great articles about Obama, one from Focus on the Family's James Dobson, and the other from NewsMax. They basically sum up how I feel about Obama. And oh, this picture speaks volumes:

Senator Obama would be the one NOT holding his hand over his heart during the national anthem...

Having said that, I'm not a huge McCain fan, but he (and Palin) are a far better team to lead our nation, IMHO, than Obama/Biden.

Regardless of the outcome, we must remember that God is in control, and that America's TRUE need is a spiritual renewal, not a political one...

Oh well, rant over. Have a great week!

Happy

2008-10-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

Here's wishing Cathy (and myself) a happy 18th anniversary!

And what an absolutely wonderful 18 years it has been -- God is good, indeed.

It seems like yesterday that Cathy and I were dating... I was a young engineer at Michelin, she was working at Staubli in Spartanburg. I would drive up to Spartanburg after work, pick up some Maurice's BBQ, and stop by for a visit at the duplex off Anderson Mill Road where Cathy and the boys lived. She loved me from the moment she met me (ha!).

Of course, there is no such thing as chance -- God was orchestrating things from the beginning, as always.

You see, my late teens and early twenties were years of rebellion for me, against my parents and against God. I was expected to attend church growing up, and as a form of rebellion against my parents, I vowed I would never go again once I left for college. At Virginia Tech, and after graduation, I had nothing to do with church, and nothing to do with God.

That is, until 1989. I had come to realize that the "wild" life just wasn't for me. I wasn't particularly good at it, and it really wasn't a match for me anyhow. What I really wanted was someone to love me as I was, someone to share life with, to start a family with. I realize that's maybe not "normal" for a 23-yr old guy, but I was finally being honest with myself.

For the first I could remember time since high school, I prayed to God. I don't actually remember exactly what I prayed, but I basically asked Him to take away the loneliness, to give me a soul mate. I vowed that if He would hold up His end of the bargain, I would be faithful, til death do us part.

Shortly after this prayer is when I met Cathy, shortly after that we were married, and shortly after that I accepted Christ (thanks to her example). Here we are 18 years later, and I'm happier with my soul mate than I ever thought I could be.

God gave me so much more than I even asked for...doesn't He always?

Happy

2008-10-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the world's laziest blogger!

Here's a few reasons why I'm feeling good today:

1. Going out of town this weekend to celebrate my 18th anniversary of marriage to the world's best woman. Where to? The mountains, of course... Cool breeze, pretty leaves, Direct TV (Cathy's happy about that), and a good book (Thunder Run by David Zucchino). Of course, we're taking the Rubinator...

2. We joined First Baptist Simpsonville this past Sunday, and I am excited to see what opportunities God is going to open up there. It is great to be back on "solid ground" in terms of hearing sound doctrine! Also, I was fortunate to be able to play bass with the praise band a couple weeks ago... Fun.

3. Speaking of bass guitar...we have a new family member! It's a 1980 Peavey T-40 bass. In a nutshell, it is an incredible bass for a really low price (thanks, Craiglist!). Check out the raving reviews here. I am self-taught on bass, and picked up some bad fretting habits, so I plan on re-learning some technique. (Cathy, is there room for a bass and amp in the car for this weekend???) And yes, I will be selling my old electric bass, a cheapo Fender Squire I've had for about 10 years. Not gonna mourn that one!

4. The weather is just absolutely beautiful the last couple weeks. Love it, love it, love it. Are there actually people whose favorite season is something other than fall?

Have a great day, thank God for all that He has given you, and smile...life is good.

Brian

Trip

2008-09-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I promised to post some pix of my trip to France, but they are all on my work PC, and here I am on my home PC, so pix will be on the next post...

Here's a quick review of some of the great things from my big trip a couple weeks ago:

Wedding - The first stop on my trip was Harrisburg PA, where I had the pleasure of attending my sister Teresa's wedding. In a wonderful ceremony, Teresa was wed to Mike McElroy, who has been just wonderful for her. Great rehearsal dinner, great ceremony, great reception. It was great getting to see the whole family: Mom, David, Cindy, baby Russell, Angela, Mike, Julianne & Audrey, Aunt Ermine, cousins Matthew & Eddie McGee, and of course Teresa & Mike!
Cycling Clermont - On my first day in Clermont-Ferrand, I rented a city bike from this place and rode all over the city. The weather was nice, high 60s, and I covered a lot of cobblestone streets over the course of 3 or 4 hours. And it only cost 2 euro (about $3 US)!!!
Puy de Dome - Clermont-Ferrand sits in a valley beneath a chain of dormant volcanos, the largest of which is called "Puy de Dome". On the weekend, I drove out to the base of the mountain, and took a shuttle bus to the top. In addition to the INCREDIBLE view, I got to check out the ruins of a 1st century A.D. Roman temple to Mercury, built at the top of the mountain. Now THAT is history!
Shopping - Saturday in France was overcast and a bit rainy, so I just had a chilled out day walking around the city checking out various stores and shops. My favorite finds? French fountain pens and paper, of course. Bought a couple fun fountain pens, a few Clairefontaine notebooks, and some cool inks (J. Herbin). Cathy likes her pink/purple pen and matching ink!
Flood - On the last day, I stopped by a supermarket on the way to the airport. While in the store, it started pouring outside. Not just pouring, but big hailstones as well! It rained so hard for so long, I was worried I would miss my flight. Finally, it let up, and I ran to the car. After leaving the parking lot, I took a wrong turn and ended up on a road which was flooded with water. At first it was just a few inches deep, but before I knew it I was driving through water about a foot deep! I could see water gushing up from the manhole cover holes... Long story short, I made it through the flood, but was really worried I would stall the car and have to wade through the deep water. Yikes, that was a close one! The Lord was with me, though, and I got to the airport on time...
Visits with Brandon and Megan - Fortunately, I flew Delta, and one of Delta's hubs is Cincinatti! So, I was able to have breakfast with Brandon and Megan at the airport on the way to France. And thanks to a 4+ hour layover on the way back, I was able to check out their house in Lebanon and visit for about an hour. Megan and Brandon, it was great to see your new home! It looks great, and I am so glad you guys are doing well in so many ways. I love you guys, and am very proud of you both.

Oh well, those are some of the highlights of my trip. Other than that, it was long work days, and really tasty dinners at fancy French restaurants!

Its a rough job, but someone's got to do it, ha!

Back

2008-09-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it's good to be back!

Back from two weeks in France, that is, and a few days in Pennsylvania before that.

Why is it that when things are going normally, and we're following our daily routines, that we crave something different -- a vacation, a weekend road trip, or maybe just a quick trip to the store? Then, after going away for a while, all we can think about is getting back home? Human nature, I suppose, never satisfied with what we have...

Not sure why that is, but it really is good to be home. Regarding business trips to France, I came up with the "rule of two". For some reason, a week in France seems like two, and two weeks there seem like four. Not sure why, but it is true. So, it feels really great to be back home, with my lovely wife, my cute but annoying dog, and my normal routines.

Having said that, I had a great time at Teresa's wedding, and also in France. Over the next few days, I'm gonna share a bit of those trips with you on this blog.

So, stay tuned, more to come...

Ten

2008-08-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm a copycat.

Megan and Cathy and Sarah, I stole this idea from y'all. But it was a good idea, so it's worth stealing!

OK, here goes: 10 Things You May Not Know About Me

When NBA pro basketball player Grant Hill was a kid, he was in "my" class. I was in 9th grade, and got a summer job working as a teacher's assistant for a summer computer class (around 1980). Grant Hill was in 3rd grade, and a student in the class. All I remember is that he refused to do his work, and would frequently say "My dad is Calvin Hill, he's on the Redskins!"
I've only been taken to hospital once. Second grade, broke my arm falling from a tree. The only other times I've been to the hospital were when Cathy went, and I almost passed out from that!
My favorite color is blue. My favorite color combo is blue and yellow.
When I was a kid, I wanted to name my future kid "Murphy". (Maybe this is why God organized it to where I never got to name anyone!!!) You see, one of my favorite books as a kid was Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day" (see picture), and in that book there was a dog policeman named Murphy, which is where I got the idea. When Cathy and I got married, and lived in a rental house in Spartanburg, we bought a yellow lab puppy and I named him Murphy. (No, he didn't become a policeman).
When I was a kid, I wanted to be either a helicopter pilot or an NFL TV cameraman.
My first summer jobs were: soccer referree (FIFA-certified!), McDonald's (10th grade...1982, the year Chicken McNuggets came out), drugstore clerk (Dart Drug), highway paving crew inspector (I was the the guy with no asphalt on his boots).
I once saved a man's life. Sort of. As a kid, we vacationed in Wisconsin every other summer. The family and relatives went to a man-made lake (no ocean nearby!), and I went in the water with Uncle Albert. We got into about 3-ft deep water, and ole Uncle Albert started splashing around alot. I figured he was just a bad swimmer, but after a bit he looked at me and said "Grab my arm and pull me out!". I shrugged, took his hand, and hauled him back out onto shore. Turns out he had vertigo due to an inner ear problem, and the whole family raved about how "Brian saved Uncle Albert! He could have drowned!" Have mercy... I didn't know what all the fuss was about, I just thought Uncle Al was about the worst swimmer I'd ever seen.
OK, this one's embarrassing. My brother David and I used to play Dungeons and Dragons. We were in junior high school, and rather geeky I might add. No, I will NOT post pictures from that era.
Most ball caps don't fit me because I have a ridiculously huge dome. When I was a kid, I would try and take turtlenecks off and they would get stuck on my head. Cathy, stop laughing!
Right after I accepted Christ, I went to a Billy Mayo crusade. He convinced my that all my rock albums (I had two wooden crates full) were of Satan. So, I went home and threw them all out. Do I regret it? Yes, and no. I gotta admit I'd love to have some of them back, but I think God was putting me through a cleansing process, and I don't regret having obeyed what I felt was His leading...

OK, there you have it! Hope you learned something, or at least had a good laugh!

Update

2008-08-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

Greetings, earthlings. Sorry I haven't posted for so long. Busy busy, I suppose.

Here are some of the things that have happened since I last posted...

Family vacation to a cabin in the mountains near Saluda...
On the first day of the vacation, did the Bakery Ride with Zach and Heath. Hit a muddy patch and crashed my "new" road bike. Bruised a rib and got a pancake-sized bruise on my hip. No pain, no gain.
Every time I have laughed for the past few weeks, I have had to hold my rib to reduce the pain. But that looks ridiculous, and makes me laugh all the harder.
Helped get Brandon and Megan packed up and sent off to their new home in Ohio. It is cool to see them following God's leading (but we'll miss them!!!).
Got Zach packed up and sent off to NGU for his senior year. Cathy, you're my only bike buddy now...get that Townie dusted off!
Went to Cherokee Bluegrass Festival this past Saturday with a friend. We've been going every year in August since 1994. Good stuff.
Been watching a lot of Olympics lately. Likes: cycling, soccer, swimming, track events, sychronized diving. Dislikes: synchronized swimming (sorry, this has got to be the cheesiest sport ever).
Cathy and I are digging Craigslist...sorta like eBay but MUCH more convenient. It's fun converting junk into cashola. Attic, here I come.
We've been visiting First Baptist Simpsonville a lot lately. This church is doing a lot of things well, but in particular they have a thriving Sunday School. There are those who might turn their nose up at Sunday School as being old-fashioned, but to me it is an effective discipleship mechanism that guarantees that the majority of attendees are getting solid, deep, structured Bible teaching on a weekly basis. I realize now that I've really missed that.

Well, that's all for now. Hope to have more posts soon. Ciao.

Bikes

2008-07-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was a punk kid, I have loved bicycles.

When I was a wee lad, in the early 1970s, the cool bike for young boys was a Schwinn Stingray, complete with banana seat, chopper-style handlebars, and knob gear shifter. But, Mom and Dad unfortunately were big Consumer Reports readers, and they deemed this design to be hazardous. So, the first bikes for David and I were matching Schwinn Typhoon coaster-brake single-speed bikes. They were red, and looked a lot like the one shown to the right. Kinda retro looking now, but definitely not what a kid wanted when Stingrays were all the rage...

When we got older, Mom and Dad upgraded us to matching copper-colored Schwinn Calientes (just like the green one shown). These were the classic, "10-speed" bikes, with front and rear derailleurs, drop handlebars, the whole nine yards. Despite the fact that the steel frame weighed probably 35 pounds (that's a lot), I put many a mile on my old Caliente before getting my driver's license. Back then, a bicycle represented freedom, my only means of getting more than a couple miles from home.

David and I used to enjoy riding on this rails to trails path, which went from Washington DC all the way to the Blue Ridge mountains, and passed through our hometown of Vienna Va.

Fast forward to adulthood. In 1988, when I moved to Greenville, I bought a blue/white Nishiki Prestige sport-touring 14-speed from Sunshine Cycle Shop on Pleasantburg Dr. This was my first truly decent bike. Although at the time I didn't know what "Tange 2 double-butted seamless Chro-Moly lugged frame" meant, the guy at the store told me it was a good frame. So I bought it, and put probably less than 50 miles on it in the first ten years I had it.

Around the year 2000, some guys at work introduced my to real "road riding". I bought a helmet, clipless pedals, "fruity bike clothes", and a bike computer. Since then, I have put over 1,000 miles on the ole Nishiki.

I also got into mountain biking somewhat, and bought a Trek 3700... I'll do another post sometime about my various mountain biking adventures...!

This year, my son Zach got into road riding, and bought a sweet steel-frame Lemond bike. This bike made me realize that my 20-yr old Nishiki, though a great bike, was getting a bit dated. So, after hunting around a bit on Craigslist, this week I bought a "new to me" road bike!

The new ride is a 2007 Felt F75. Check out the glowing review here. For you tech geeks: 58 cm aluminum frame with Wolf TT carbon aero fork, carbon seat stays, Ultegra rear derailleur, 105 front derailleur and brifters, Shimano 600 compact crank 175mm, Shimano R500 wheelset, 12-27 Ultegra cassette, Felt racing saddle.

[Reality check - I'm 200 pounds, so the lightweight nature of this bike would mean more if I were to drop a few pounds!]

Anyhow, rode it for the first time this morning with Zach, on a brief 10 mile loop. Survey says: awesome! The frame felt light and responsive, but not "stiff" as I feared it would compared to the forgiving steel frame of the ole Nishiki. And the biggest difference: fingertip shifting!!! Oh my, it will be hard to go back to downtube shifters...

So in summary, this has been a great cycling week for the family... Last week of the Tour de France, new bikes for Brian and Cathy (check out her new Townie!), and a great group ride with Sarah and Zach this morning.

Life is good!

Answers

2008-07-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

OK, here are the answers to the Simpsonville SC historic architecture/buildings quiz!

Old building, corner of Main & Curtis
The Elegant Gourmet, corner of Church St. and College St.
Original First Baptist Simpsonville church building
Old gas station, now Teal Automotive
Woodside Mill chimney
Stone house across from First Baptist, on East Curtis St.
Woodside Mills baseball park, W. Curtis St.
Simpsonville Seniors Center, W. Curtis St.
Hunter House, College St.
Wade Fowler House, E. Curtis St.
Temple Baptist Church, W. Curtis St.
New First Baptist Simpsonville sancutary, Church St.
Three Generations Boutique, Main St.
Old Simpsonville Elementary school building
Old Simpsonville library, Academy St.
Cannon Memorial Chapel, W. Curtis St.
Old house, corner of W. Curtis St. and Maple St.
Old Burdette building, corner of Main St. and Curtis St.

Quiz

2008-07-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

OK, today's blog is just for fun...

As you know, I like old houses, old buildings, architecture, and Simpsonville history. So, today I went all over Simpsonville, taking closeup photos of some historic Simpsonville buildings and structures.

So, see how many of these buildings you can recognize from the closeups!

(PS - True story: when I got back to our house, I got "detained" by one of Simpsonville's finest, who had received a phone complaint about some strange man riding around town on a bicycle, taking pictures! Guess they thought I might be a terrorist, ha!)

House

2008-06-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

We love our house.

Ever since the early days of our marriage, Cathy and I knew we were "old house people". We're the type who slow down and gawk when driving through the old section of any town we travel through. And its why we are completely delighted with the 96-year old house we live in.

So today, I thought I'd give you a little history of our old house.

Our house was built by Wade Dexter Fowler. Wade was born on July 1, 1863, and grew up in Laurens County. He married Mamie Jones, but she died in 1899. At some point, he remarried, to Nannie Hunter Stewart. In 1911, he bought the plot of land on which our house sits. We assume, although we're not sure, that he built our house sometime shortly afterward.

From the old documents shown in this post, we know that Wade Fowler was the president of the Bank of Simpsonville, and also was president of Simpsonville Realty Co. When the Great Depression came, the Bank of Simpsonville went under. (The other bank in town, Farmer's Bank, was reportedly one of the few banks in the country that did not lose any money, and stayed open). Wade died on May 31, 1931. I always wonder if the stress of losing his bank (and all his clients' money) had anything to do with it!

Wade's second wife, Nannie, lived in the house as a widower until her death in 1949. I believe it was at that point the house went to the Todd family. Clara Mae "Macie" Todd lived in the house for the next 50+ years. Her nephew, Sammy Todd, lived with her in the 1990's. Sammy used to sit out on our front wraparound porch in his pajamas, waving to traffic (not sure why, but that was his thing!).

Macie passed away in Feb 2003 at the age of 87, leaving Sammy as the sole occupant of the house. Sammy had a medical condition which required him to wear an oxygen mask, but he also smoked cigarettes. One day, his cigarette ignited the oxygen line and blew up the tank. This started a fire, which was quickly put out by the Simpsonville Fire Department, whose fire station is about 500 feet from the house! Sammy survived the incident, but died a couple months later in the hospital (not sure if it was due to complications of smoke inhalation or not).

The house was bought by a Todd family member and her husband, who actually lived on Pliney Circle near the house where we raised the boys (and where Brandon and Megan are now!). This couple renovated the house to repair the smoke damage. This renovation included replacing the plumbing, wiring, heating and air conditioning, and windows. Some of the plaster walls were taken out and replaced with drywall, and others were patched. Instead of trying to clean the smoke and soot off the original beadboard ceiling, they put in new drywall ceilings throughout. On one side of the house, some walls were moved and reconfigured to make a master suite: bedroom, walk in closet (room), and master bathroom with attached laundry room. The original trim was re-installed, and the heart pine floors were refinished.

Before the house officially went on the market, we bought it from this couple, and have been continuing the renovations. I have tried to find out more information about Dr. Fowler (as he is sometimes listed in old documents), but it is certainly hard to find. Our neighbor, Frances Barnett, was kind enough to give us an old photograph of Wade and Nannie (and some other ladies) sitting on the back porch of the house. Since Wade died in 1931, I assume this picture was from the 1920s...

In any case, we are thankful that the Lord gives us so much more than we deserve. This is our "dream house", and we don't plan on moving again, unless the Lord has different plans!

CD

2008-06-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo!

Big news this week. My band Last Road's CD project, which took most of the winter and spring, is finally done. This week, our first shipment of CD's arrived, hot off the presses from these guys in Nashville Tennessee!

Our new CD is called "Highway 81", and contains 13 original songs, all written by band members Benji Merritt and Dave Snyder. You can listen to some sound clips here.

Here's a summary of the tunes:

Gospel tunes

Get Away From Me
There Is A Promised Land
Did I Please You Today Lord
This Thing Called Sin
Set A Place At The Table

Hard-charging bluegrass numbers

Made In The Shade
I Don't Like Cold Rain
Grandpa's banjo
Ansley

Medium and slow tempo ballads

One Foot In The Mill
Bluegrass Broken Heart
Knoxville
Highway 81

We sent some promo copies of the CD to some bluegrass-friendly radio stations, including WNCW in Spindale NC. Every Saturday, for 8 straight hours, WNCW plays bluegrass music on their show, Going Across The Mountain. Today, they played at least 4 cuts from the CD on the show, about one per hour!!! I've been listening to this radio program since getting into bluegrass 15 years ago, and it was really cool to hear my own band getting airplay along side the "big bands" of the genre.

If you are of the bluegrass persuasion, and like traditional bluegrass with strong vocal harmonies and good songwriting, give our CD a shot. If you are interested in getting a copy, leave me a comment and I will get in touch with you.

I guess its true - hard work pays off!

Science?

2008-06-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

Science!

For most people, that word brings back bad memories of stinky high school chemistry labs, impossibly difficult physics tests, and nerd-boys with taped horn-rimmed glasses. (For some people, like me, it actually reminds me more of a 1980's Thomas Dolby tune..."she blinded me....with science!" But I digress.)

I have a lot of respect for science, scientists, and the scientific process. Scientific breakthroughs are responsible for a great deal of the modern comforts we enjoy. Science helps us understand the huge world around us, and make sense of our physical world.

However, science has its limitations. Science, like anything else, is good at what its good at, and not very useful when used outside its limits. Wikipedia describes the scientific method this way:

Scientific method refers to the body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.^[1] A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.^[2]

The key words there are observable and measurable. Science is your tool if you are wanting to measure the temperature at which Dr. Pepper boils, for example. Or the stress-strain curve for Silly Putty. Or the chemical composition of the plastic keys on my laptop. If it is measurable and repeatable, science can help you understand it.

However, science is NOT an appropriate tool for all areas of knowledge. For example, I love my wife, Cathy. I am 100% sure of this, and there is evidence to prove it (I hope!). However, there is no scientific method for measuring how much I love her. It is a real, emotional quantity, but science measures the physical not the emotional. In the same way, science cannot measure the spiritual (faith, hope, love) or the historical (origin of mankind, the world, etc).

This last point, using science to tell us about our historical distant past, is a great problem among scientists today. I believe that a lot of the work going on today that is passed off as "science" involves scientists attempting to use science to "prove" things it can never prove.

Take the evolution-creation debate. Believers in evolution claim that science is on their side, since a majority of scientists today believe the (ever-changing) theory of evolution to be "scientific fact". In fact, all we can do today is measure and study physical clues and phenomena (rock strata, levels of chemicals in the atmosphere, etc) and then make guesses (hypotheses) about what happened in the past to cause what we see today. Evolution and creation are two hypotheses about what happened long ago to cause the evidence we see and measure today.

For example, an evolutionist and a creationist look at the same data, say rock layers in the Grand Canyon, and each comes to a different conclusion. The evolutionist would say that these layers were deposited over many millions of years, very gradually. The creationist might argue that these layers were deposited suddenly, in a massive global weather event (flood, perhaps?). Same observations, different conclusions.

The reason two people can look at the same thing and come to radically different conclusions is based on their worldview. A worldview is like a lens through which you see the world; it colors everything you see, based on the lens. The evolutionist has a secular worldview: there is no God, there is no supernatural (only the natural), and so science can be used to explain everything. The creationist has a Biblical worldview: there is a God, He operates in both the natural and supernatural realms, science can be used to measure the natural world, but only God can open our eyes to see the supernatural world.

I read a news article the other day that really floored me. It was one of the best examples of sloppy, non-scientific "science" that I've seen in a long time. As in, "I believe X, and I'd like to prove X, so I'll set out to find evidence of X, I really think I'll find some...whoah, look, here's evidence of X!" But since this post is so long, I'll give you the details another day...

Peace out.

Computer

2008-06-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

I like my computer again.

Those of you who know me know that over the last few months, I have been MASSIVELY frustrated with my Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop computer. And I do mean MASSIVELY frustrated.

It's not a bad computer. In its former life, it served Brandon faithfully for his first few years in college. When he upgraded to some ridiculously modern Mac, I bought the old laptop, thus eliminating the conflict between Cathy and I, who were having to share one desktop between the two of us.

When I first started using it, things were great. It was fast, wireless, and ALL MINE! No sharing, no begging. Cathy and I were both happy with the arrangement. Really, it ran well for a couple years.

But, over the last few months, two problems have cropped up that have driven me NUTS. First, the wireless card has become flaky. I'd be on the internet one minute, and off the next. Sometimes it would reconnect by itself, but other times (many times) I had to reboot. And rebooting this computer is about a 15 minute process...

The other problem cropped up when I "upgraded" my antivirus software from Norton 2006 to Norton 360. In short, Norton 360 is the worst software I've ever used. It completely slowed my machine down to a standstill, worse than any virus I ever had! Its biggest problem was that it would decide, on its own, to run a virus scan in the background, WHILE I WAS USING THE COMPUTER. Not at midnight, not after detecting 30 minutes of non-use... And to make it worse, there is no way to change the settings to prevent these background scans. After reading literally hundreds of negative reviews of N360 on the internet, I decided I had had enough.

So, Sunday, I made two changes. First, I ran a wire under the house from the router in the bedroom to "my seat" on the couch, where I keep my laptop. Is my laptop wireless now? No, its wired. Is it faster and more reliable connecting to the internet? YEAH BABY! One down, one to go.

The second big change involved completely uninstalling Norton 360 (even though it is paid for through next year), and installing the highly-rated, free anti-virus program "Avast!". Avast is much much much easier on system resources than Norton 360 ever thought about being.

The overall result of these two changes is that my old Dell is faster and more reliable than it has been in many months. The internet is fast, always connected, and rebooting doesn't take 15 minutes (and actually isn't required very often now). Needless to say, I'm a pretty happy camper!

So, no excuses now for not blogging!!!

Update

2008-06-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hello, world!

It's been a while since I've blogged (again). Different reason this time... There is a topic I have been wanting to blog about, an important topic, but my perfectionist tendencies are preventing progress. In fear of not writing something perfectly, I don't write it at all.

So, I'm gonna delay the important topic until the mood feels right, and just get back to blogging about whatever hits me.

We have been busy lately, of course. In the last month, Cathy and I have finished up the outdoor spring tasks (build and paint picket fence, lay down landscaping fabric, plant shrubs & such (Cathy), and spread mulch...LOTS of mulch). Then, over the last couple weeks, we painted our bedroom. What was formerly a bright, cheery yellow is now a cool, soothing lavender. Much better for a bedroom, IMHO.

So summer is here, and I'm loving it. The A/C went out on Sunday, and I had a brief taste of what life was like in the days before air conditioning. I actually kinda liked it! Well, not totally, but I liked it a lot better than freezing to death. Megan will back me up on this one (and Cathy will agree to disagree!!!)

Last Road has been busy as well. A couple weeks ago, we played three weekday gigs in the same week! Monday was a fundraiser for Lindsey Graham (sigh) at the new baseball stadium downtown, then Thursday was a corporate party, and Friday was a wedding rehearsal dinner. In addition to the gigs, we sent our new studio CD off to Nashville for printing...first copies should arrive this week! I'll do a blog post on it later.

Oh, one more thing. This past weekend, Cathy and I scooted up to Hendersonville for an outdoor antique fair. We found a couple things we liked - read all about them here. All in all, I enjoyed getting to spend some great quality time with my awesome wife.

Anyhoo, it feels good to get the ole fingers flyin' once again on the computer. More posts to follow!

Brass

2008-05-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Until my late teen years, I had a pretty rocky relationship with my Dad.

The combination of my rebellious nature and his Irish temper was a recipe for disaster! During my teen years, Dad and I went round and round. After doing a little growing up, and coming to Christ in my early twenties, we patched up our relationship, and things were fine after that. Ah, what a difference a few years can make!

Anyhow, I saw a lot of sides of my Dad before he passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease in 1999. There was the soccer game Dad, smoking a cigar and shouting, shall we say, inspirational suggestions to David and I from the sidelines. There was the comedian Dad, making funny faces into the camera when Mom wanted a serious picture, and "playing the martyr" when something little went wrong. And there was the tired-from-work Dad, relaxing on a couch with the paper and nodding off just as the Redskins game got to the good part. Mostly, though, Dad was a pretty reserved man, holding his thoughts and feelings fairly close, and not revealing much.

But my Mom tells a story of a different side of my Dad, a side I never really saw but am intrigued by. According to her, they used to go see the symphony frequently when they were dating in D.C. in the early 1960's. She said on one particular occasion, as the orchestra played a particularly moving passage, she looked over and saw a tear rolling down Dad's cheek. She said he always had a great love for music, and she never really realized how deep it was until that day at the concert.

Just like Dad, I have always been moved by powerful music. Tonight, Cathy and I went to a King's Brass concert in Simpsonville, and I was reminded of how great a gift we have in music. There is something glorious about the sound of a large pipe organ, accompanied by trained blasts of brass instruments, and topped off by a hundred voices singing a classic hymn in unison before God, that makes me think this is what we'll be hearing in heaven! Absolutely awesome. Ear candy, to be sure.

Dad has gone on, but every so often, as a rare musical moment makes my eyes well up, I feel like I know him a little better.

Writing

2008-05-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

Writing. There's something about it...

Something refreshing, something freeing. I suppose its the emotional release we feel when we put onto paper (e-paper?) our deep thoughts, our core values, our pointed opinions...

Although I haven't been particularly productive lately, I have enjoyed the blogging process since starting it about six months ago. I've had some pretty lame, shallow posts, but I also feel like I've had a few successes, a few home runs. You know, the kind of post that writes itself, where the right words come to mind so fast I can hardly type them out quick enough. The kind where, when you've finished, you feel like you've added something real to the blogosphere, not just more e-gibberish.

As in any hobby, I have heros. In the bluegrass world, I aspire to be a Sam Bush on mandolin, or a Tony Rice on vocals. On the bicycle, I'd like the power and endurance of Lance, with the heart and spunk of Tyler Hamilton (but not the doping scandals!). As a soccer playing wannnabe, I'd like the skills of Ronaldinho, the experience of Pele, and the looks of Beckham (on the latter, I feel I'm getting close...ha).

In the same way, there are certain writers who have a God-given ability to express themselves clearly, succinctly, and powerfully. I don't consider myself well-read, but I can think of a few favorite writers who can say so much with so few, well-crafted words...

In the world of Christian books, Max Lucado has this gift, bigtime. For example:

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior.

Or these one-sentence wonders:

Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

Wow, that's good stuff. So much meaning, so few words. Another master of the pen was the great American, Mark Twain. Consider these one-liners from over 100 years ago:

To my mind Judas Iscariot was nothing but a low, mean, premature, Congressman.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Seems trivial, but trying on purpose to write something concise and witty, well, its not as easy as it looks.

Lately, I have discovered a blog by another phenomenally gifted writer. His name is Bill Whittle, and his blog is called Eject! Eject! Eject!. Mr. Whittle is a TV producer, an aviation enthusiast, and most of all a patriot. He has written an absolutely AMAZING series of essays (too long to be called blog posts) on a variety of topics such as Honor, Freedom, Empire, War, Power, Responsibility, Victory, History, etc.

Why do I love Bill's posts? That's easy. Bill combines his core values (optimism, patriotism, conservatism) with a healthy dose of rational thought and a one-in-a-million gift for writing, to produce some of the best essays on the American spirit that I've ever read. Such a contrast to the negative, whiny, America-hating, Bush-blaming, self-loathing posts on such trashy liberal blogs as HuffPo or DailyKOS.

Here's a sample of Bill's genius, talking about liberal Noam Chomsky:

This is how you lie by telling the truth. You tell the big lie by carefully selecting only the small, isolated truths, linking them in such a way that they advance the bigger lie by painting a picture inside the viewer's head. The Ascended High Master of this Dark Art is Noam Chomsky.

I have long admired Noam Chomsky. It must be absolutely intoxicating to be able to write so free of any ethical constraints. Chomsky flitters and darts through the vast expanse of human experience, unerringly searching out those few, isolated data points that run contrary to the unimaginably vast ocean of facts crashing ashore in the opposite direction.

Here's a Noam Chomsky moment for those of you without enough duct tape to wrap around your heads to keep your brains from exploding while you actually read his works:

Let's say we stand overlooking the ocean along Pacific Coast Highway. From high atop the cliffs, we look down to the waves and the sand below. I ask you what color the beach is. You reply, reasonably enough, that it is sandy white. And you are exactly right.

However, there are people who cannot see the beach for themselves because they are not standing with us on this very spot. This is where Noam earns his liberal sainthood. Noam takes a small pail to the beach and sits down in the sand.

If you've ever run sand through your fingers, you know that for all of the thousands upon thousands of white or clear grains, there are a few dark ones here and there, falling through your fingers. With a jewelers loupe and an EXCEEDINGLY fine pair of tweezers, you carefully and methodically pluck all of the dark grains you can find - and only the dark grains - and carefully place them, one by one, into your trusty bucket.

It will take you a long time - it has taken Chomsky decades - to fill this bucket, but with enough sand and enough time, you will eventually do so. And then, when you do, you can make a career touring colleges through the world, giving speeches about the ebony-black beaches of Malibu, and you can pour your black sand onto the lectern and state, without fear of contradiction, that this sand was taken from those very beaches.

And what you say will be accurate, it will be factually based, and you will be lying like the most pernicious son of a gun that ever lived.

Finally, this clip from a blog post on the 2004 Bush vs. Kerry debates:

Watching the Presidential debates of September 30th, and the subsequent reactions to them, has left me once again with the sad realization that there are many millions of people who prefer a man who says the wrong things well over one who says the right things badly - and in the case of the first debates we are talking about saying very, very stupid things well and intelligent things very, very badly.
Now I don't mean stupid in a bad way. I fully credit John Kerry with the intelligence needed to analyze, dissect, and evaluate a position, and without mechanical aid, quickly and accurately use advanced trigonomic functions to determine the most popular position on a wide range of complex issues - a feat that requires a very quick mind indeed.

So it's not dumb stupid, those statements he made in the first debate. It's more of an entirely understandable, eminently defensible, very common fossilized kind of stupid that we saw from the Senator. It was the stupid of a man claiming to have new ideas and new plans based on shared assumptions and models that no longer apply to reality.

President Bush seemed stupid in comparison because he seems to only know three things in all the world - and it is our great good fortune that he is right about all three.

In a moment, we'll look at what both men said, and through a very specific filter: not their Aggregate Presidentiality, or their respective Molar Charm Ratio. We're going to look at what both men believe in respect to deterrence: whether their positions increase or decrease the likelihood of further attacks on the US.

That's it. That's all. That's the sum total of this election for me. We've survived boobs and crooks and idiots and charlatans of all stripes and colors, struggled through booms and recessions, surpluses and deficits, and wars on poverty and drugs and crime and General Public Lasciviousness and come through just fine, and we will again.

But the nuclear destruction of the heart of Manhattan, or Long Beach Harbor, or the Capital mall - these things are serious business and as Sam Johnson once said, the prospect of being hanged in the morning tends to focus the mind.

These are perhaps not the best clips from a vast amount of Mr. Whittle's work, but I hope it may have caught your interested and perhaps inspired you to go back here, sit down with a cup of coffee, and read a few essays for yourself.

You won't regret it.

Google

2008-05-28T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually one to copy the types of posts everyone else is doing, but in the interest of time today, I'll make an exception.

Got this from my lovely wife, who got it from someone else...

If one does a Google search for "Brian Baker", here's what you get:

Brian Baker (musician), an American guitarist for punk bands Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, and Bad Religion, among others.
Brian Baker (actor), an American actor and former Sprint spokesman.
Brian Baker (tennis), an American professional tennis player.
Brian Baker, a police officer on the HBO drama 'The Wire.
Brian Baker (NASCAR driver), an American NASCAR driver.
Brian Baker (Australia), an Australian singer for The Makers and others.
Brian Baker (football), a defensive line coach for the St. Louis Rams.
Brian Baker (graphic design), an American graphic designer.
Brian Baker (diplomat), a former Canadian diplomat and Ambassador to Denmark
Brian Baker (politician), an American politician and Missouri State Representative
Brian Baker (producer), an American engineer and producer for bands including Blue October "The Answers"

Used to be, if you went to www.brianbaker.com, you got the website of a guy that made collectible ceramic Christmas figurines...

Weird, wacky stuff. You gotta love having fairly common first and last names.

Oh well, hope you enjoyed that rather lighthearted post. Have a great day!

Seeing

2008-05-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well, today was one of the first days where my life felt like it was starting to return to "normal".

As you know, my blog posts have been few and far between during the last two months. In fact, I would not be surprised if I have had only two or three posts during that time. This is, of course, due to a variety of factors that made the last few months very difficult.

But, behind every cloud is a silver lining. Things are starting to settle down a bit, and I am finally able to "catch my breath". So, hopefully, inspiration and creativity will replace stress and busy-ness, and I will once again start cranking out blog posts.

So today, I decided to do something a little different than usual. No frisbee golf tonight...instead, I thought I'd take a walk down to the clock tower and back, and check out some of the recent changes. These changes include the new First Baptist Simpsonville building, and the new "fancier" look of downtown Simpsonville. And, I took along the digital camera.

My goal for the walk was to slow down, and see if I could notice the "little things" that usually go unnoticed. Things like spider webs, cool textures/surfaces, and out-of-the way details that I am usually too busy to see.

So here are some photos from my "seeing tour" of downtown Simpsonville:

OK, I'm no professional photographer, but I found the experience to be really fun! It was a whole new way of looking at the same old stuff I've looked at for years. Same stuff, different focus.

Sometimes in life we whizz right past the things God wants us to see. We are too busy, too focused, too stuck in the daily routine, too whatever.

Other times, there are things we see but don't really want to see, so we choose not to see them. This was the case for Cathy and I at Crossroads over the last couple years. We were seeing a charismatic shift in the direction of the church, which we didn't agree with scripturally, but we "chose" not to see it for a long time. We overlooked it, ignored it, and rationalized that it wasn't really happening. Finally, circumstances changed to where we "snapped out of it", and could no longer overlook what was happening.

Sometimes, change is so gradual, we are unable to see clearly that change is taking place. We are blinded by our proximity to the thing that is changing. Often, only those who go away and come back are able to see the changes. We have some Crossroads friends who moved away for a few years, and recently returned and began attending again. They were struck with how different the tone and direction of the church was...it was clear as crystal to them, because they were not immersed in the change itself on a weekly basis.

Over the past few weeks, Cathy and I have visited some other churches, and have enjoyed getting to "see" the way some other congregations "do church". I am excited about where God is leading us next...I believe great things are on the horizon!

Lord, give me eyes to see.

Back

2008-05-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hello, blogosphere, I am back!

My sincerest apologies for my complete and utter lack of blog posts over the last 30 days or so... No excuses, except that it has one of the busiest and most stressful months I can remember.

In the last 45 days, I:

Went to France for a week on business
Went to Virginia for a weekend to see my nephew Russell get baptized
Made the decision to leave my church (due to unfortunate doctrinal differences...more on this later)
Built a picket fence for Cathy
Finished recording and mixing my band's studio CD project at OMG studios

The combined stress of all these things completely sapped my energy and creativity, and the blogging muse left me for a while. But, as there is a season for all things, I feel the blog jones returning...

So, stay tuned, all three or four of you who actually read this blog (ha), because BB's back!

Sigh

2008-04-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days? One of those days where you can't seem to get caught up, get ahead of things?

Well, I've had one of those every day for the past two weeks! I feel like Hillary looks in the picture - worn out!

I'm not complaining, just stating facts... Work has been busy: deadlines, meetings, rush rush items, French visitors, etc. Home has been busy: doing taxes, recording studio session with my band, planning for our next backyard project, etc. And, church has been busy: well, just trust me on that one...!

Besides sapping the energy our of me, the busy schedule has seemed to sap the creativity out of me as well. Thus, no blog posts for the past couple weeks. :(

Hopefully, things will settle down fairly soon, and I'll be back to my normal blogging self. Until then, I'll leave you with this video of our band in the recording studio...

Starbucks

2008-03-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while!

I've been busy with:

- Bluegrass gigs. My band's schedule is finally kicking off, and we had two gigs this weekend. Both were churches, and both were a blessing.

- Backyard project. Cathy and I have been talking a lot about making some improvements to the backyard, near our "parking pad". We are weighing a number of options (re-pave driveway and parking pad, or just parking pad) and materials (asphalt vs. concrete vs. brick pavers vs. pea gravel). Unfortunately, costs will be a driving factor, so we may have to do some things on the cheap, or wait until later. We'll keep you posted.

I'm not really sure what else has been keeping me busy, but I seem to be busy nonetheless!

One cool anecdote... I now know why Starbucks is the phenomenon it is, and I don't even drink coffee. Check this out.

This weekend, I was in Target, and I stopped by their Starbucks coffee bar to get Cathy a Grande Vanilla Latte. Some loud woman was in front of me, with an even louder, obnoxious pre-teen daughter. The daughter was spoiled beyond belief, and the two of them were loudly arguing with each other for all the world to hear. All the while, I'm waiting for them to actually order and move along, so I can make my order.

Finally I order, and to try and get away from the mother-daughter spectacle, I go and sit down at a table. Well, the barista girl ends up making their coffees, and forgets that I'm sitting there waiting for my order. No big deal. When she sees me maybe 10 seconds later, she says "Oh, I'm so sorry!" and hands me two of these:

That's right, two free "any drink you want" coupons. All because she caused me an extra few seconds wait, which was not even her fault (it was more the blabbing customers before me, not her). So Starbucks made $5 off me, and sent me out with $10 of free drinks, for a net loss of $5. The company was willing to take a loss to ensure that we remain happy customers into the future.

Now THAT's what customer service is all about. All other companies in the world should take notes on this one...

Wonka

2008-03-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

Do you love movies as much as I do? If you're like me, there's nothing like escaping reality for a couple hours, and immersing yourself in someone else's adventure. This post is about my favorite children's movie of all time...

That's right, the 1971 classic "Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory", starring Gene Wilder.

I absolutely love this movie, and have since I was a kid. Although I own the DVD, it was on TV this past weekend, and I watched it (of course). As I watched, it occurred to me that the story is a metaphor for the Christian gospel. After doing some googling, I discovered that other folks (like this guy and this guy) feel the same way. See what you think of these parallels:

Willie Wonka = God. Wonka, the ultimate "candy man", controls the one thing all the world wants: candy. Consider these lines from the song at the beginning of the movie: “The candy man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good. And the world tastes good 'cause the candy man thinks it should."”
The Chocolate Factory = Heaven. The Wonka factory is an mysterious idyllic wonderland, a land flowing with milk and honey (and chocolate!) Also, only a select few will be allowed in its gates, and entry is considered a great reward.
Slugworth = Satan. Slugworth tries to temp the ticket holders into betraying Wonka, by selling him an Everlasting Gobstopper. Satan tries to tempt us to betray our Lord, and "sell" our souls to him.
Spoiled children = unrepentant sinners. Augustus Gloop represents gluttony, and his fate is to be sucked up a tube and sent to the boiler room (a metaphor for hell). Veruca Salt ("Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa NOW!) is the personification of greed. She is put on the egg scale, found to be a "bad egg", and sent to the trash (another hell analogy). The other two kids also have bad behavior, although they are not considered "sins". Mike Teevee watches too much violent TV, and Violet Beauregard chews gum 24/7. Both meet bizarre fates in the movie...
Charlie = repentant sinner. Although Charlie only broke one of Wonka's rules (yes, he drank the Fizzy Lifting drink without permission), he is still guilty and unable to inherit the factory. In my favorite scene of the movie, Wonka confronts Charlie with his "sin", informs him that he now cannot win the contest, and orders him to leave. Charlie has a repentant heart, and demonstrates this by returning his Gobstopper (instead of giving it to Slugworth, as his grandfather tempts him to do...). Based on this act of repentance, Wonka forgives Charlie, and announces that Charlie will be allowed to inherit not only the chocolate, but the whole factory. This is a picture of Christian salvation, in which we are made "heirs to the Kingdom" and are allowed to be with God in heaven forever.

Now, granted, there are a lot of things in the movie that don't seem to fit the Christian analogy... Maybe you can help me out with these:

Oompa Loompas? (Angels?)
Wonka's dark, disturbing side (remember the freaky ferry ride? "There's no way of knowing, which way we are going, or where the river is flowing...")
Golden tickets?
Charlie's family getting invited to live in the factory too (based on Charlie's repentance...)?
Wonkavator?

Anyhow, its a great movie with a great message for kids for adults as well. A true classic.

Drop me a comment if you're a Wonka fan too!

Takamine

2008-03-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

Ever see God turn a bad thing into a good thing?

Yesterday, my bandmates and I travelled to Hartsville SC to enter the 2008 Renofest bluegrass band contest. There were six bands that entered - mostly from SC and NC, with one as far away as Pennsylvania. In this contest, the winning band takes home $1500 (but the other five bands get $0...not even gas money!) To make a long story short, we didn't win. Actually, we didn't even make the first cut. Very humbling!

We were pretty bummed driving home - it was a long way to travel to lose that badly. We decided to stop by a music store in Columbia that has a Friday night bluegrass jam session. We had a good time jamming, and played a few tunes onstage during an open-mike time. We were very well received, so that helped us feel a little better!

In the lobby of the store, our guitar player Benji and I got to chatting with a stocky 12-yr old boy. He was a neat kid - he told us he LOVES bluegrass, especially gospel bluegrass. He said he loves singing songs about the Lord (and he even sang us a few...good voice!) I asked him what instrument he plays, and he said guitar.

He went on to tell us that he had recently broken his only guitar, a Takamine cutaway acoustic. We asked him how that happened. He said an older lady had lost her husband of many years, and had asked him to sing a gospel tune during the funeral service. At the funeral, the boy accidentally tipped over his guitar, and the headstock broke off of the neck. He even showed me pictures on his cell phone!

I asked him if he was going to get it repaired, and he said he had taken it to the shop, but the repairman said the repairs would cost more than the guitar was worth. When I asked him if he was going to buy a new guitar, he said he didn't have enough money, and that he and his Dad had been praying about getting a new guitar.

Here's the cool part.

Benji tells the kid that the first guitar he ever got was a Takamine cutaway acoustic, and that he still has it, but never plays it now that he has two Martins. Benji tells the kid to call him tomorrow, and he'll meet him in Laurens and give him the guitar...sort of a gift from God.

Isn't that how God works? This kid and his Dad have been praying that God would help them find a new guitar, and Benji (who has been growing a lot in his Christian faith over the last couple years) makes himself available to God to unselfishly answer the need. The boy learns that God answers his prayers, and Benji experiences the joy of selfless giving and the thrill of obedience to the Lord.

Who knows, maybe the whole reason our band went to Hartsville and lost the contest was so that, on the way back, God could match up Benji's unused Takamine cutaway acoustic (and his generous heart) with a young boy's need (expressed to God in prayer).

Well, my all-time favorite movie is on TV (Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the original 1971 version), and I must go watch it. Hope you have a great Easter...

He is risen!

Roadtrip

2008-03-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well, this weekend I get to take a little break from the usual work week, and go on a roadtrip.

My bluegrass band is going to compete in a bluegrass band contest at "Renofest" in Hartsville SC. I'm not too sure where Hartsville is, but I think it's about 3+ hrs away, northeast of Columbia.

Seven bands will be competing for the first prize of $1500. Actually, that's the only prize, so if we don't win we're out a few bucks for gas. But, it should be fun anyway. I think its a big "town festival" type atmosphere, so it should be a good time.

Also, I'm looking forward to the Easter services at Crossroads -- should be an awesome celebration.

Peace out!

Tree

2008-03-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

I saw something sad today.

One of the things Cathy and I like best about our old house is its location. Our house sits directly across the street from a wonderful park, namely Simpsonville City Park. When we sit on our front porch, we have a great view of the entire park. But my favorite part of the view is an incredible decades-old oak tree, which sits front-and-center across from our house.

Ever seen the movie "Shawshank Redemption"? You know the huge old tree under which Morgan Freeman finds the hidden package? Well, the tree across from our house looks like that one.

At least, it did until this morning.

Today, a tree crew performed a "pruning" on this incredible old tree. To me, it was more of a hack job, a butchery, a defacing of public property. They took something beautiful that took years to develop its shape and size, and reduced it to a mockery of its former self, all in just a few short hours.

Now, I don't mean to get overly dramatic about a tree. Perhaps I have exaggerated a bit. But I suppose its just one more reminder of how rapidly things change. Since we moved to our house about three years ago, I've witnessed the destruction of five historic houses within a quarter mile (the Cannon house, where part of the disc golf course has now moved, and a whole street of pre-1910 houses across from First Baptist). Now it seems the old trees are next in line for destruction.

I realize change is inevitable, but it carries a certain sadness with it. Cathy and I love old things: old furniture, old cars, old light fixtures, old houses, old fountain pens, etc. I guess we're intrigued by things that were around long before we were ever born. There's something nostalgic about antiques, something that speaks to times and ways of life long forgotten. As time passes, though, items which were once loved fall into disrepair, and are eventually thrown away or destroyed. I guess that's why Matthew 6:19 says this.

In any case, I hope the old tree will bounce back from its rather severe pruning. I hope it will soon regain its former size and stature. I hope that until then, I'll learn to appreciate its new look. Who knows, maybe the pruning is just what it needed. But deep down, I really wish the City had just left the tree alone.

Sigh.

Sorry

2008-03-17T18:40:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted for so long...

The last couple weeks have been really busy, both at work at at home. Tonight I took a quick power nap that turned out two be a couple hours long! Didn't realize I was that tired.

Now it's 9:41, and I gotta be in bed by 10 (to get up at 5:45, my "new" schedule...)

Hope to post tomorrow...thanks for checking back!

Forest

2008-03-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

One weekend a few years back, when I was in France on business, a buddy and I bought some food from a street vendor, packed it in the car, and drove about a half hour west of Clermont-Ferrand. We drove up a scenic road into the hills, and ate lunch at a picnic shelter in a large wooded area. The road sign said we were in a "foret" (forest), similar to what we would call a "National Park".

Some of the French guys I worked with pointed out that forests are rare in France, since most of their land is farmed. When the French visit the USA, they are absolutely amazed about how much wooded land we have. As I flew home that week, I looked down out of the airplane window, and could see a couple lone "forests" here and there, mixed in amongst acres and acres of brown and amber farmland.

What I experienced that week was the literal version of the old saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees." When you are in the woods, all you see is a bunch of individual trees, stretching as far as the eye can see. Its not until you move back, way back, that you can see the size and shape of the forest.

In life, the ability to see the "forest", i.e. the big picture, is considered a valuable skill. In business, particularly, we pay big bucks to people who are able to step back and consider the whole, not just the sum of the parts. Economic analysts, political strategists, and retirement planners are all examples of jobs where this ability is crucial.

In my own job, I have improved in this skill over the years. When I hired on at Michelin as a 21-year old mechanical engineer, I was given smaller tasks and projects to accomplish. As the years progressed, I have been given greater responsibilities, which require greater vision. In my role now, I must oversee portfolios of projects, ensuring that all move forward to accomplish a larger business objective. In short, my job is to see the big picture.

In so many areas of our lives, we recognize the wisdom of considering the whole, the big picture, the long-term vision. When we raise our kids, we try and make decisions based on what is best for them in the long run. When we save for retirement, we invest our money in mutual funds that have the best overall performance, the best long-term outlook.

Although most of us are making smart choices in these areas of our lives, many times we fail to ponder the "even bigger picture." We plan our lives to a certain extent: do well in high school, get into a big-name college, get a job at a good company, get promoted, live a big lifestyle, sock a lot away for retirement, retire in style, enjoy our golden years.

Well, then what?

How many of us, in the busy day-to-day activity, stop and consider what comes after this life? Do we think about why we are here, where we came from, where we are going, if there is an afterlife? Does God exist? If so, is He the God of the Bible? Was Jesus Christ a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord?

Some folks have studied and pondered these questions and have concluded that there is no afterlife, or that they don't believe in God. I would strongly disagree with them, but at least they have spent some time considering these major issues. But so many, it seems, go through life without stopping and reflecting.

A hundred years from now, our diplomas, portfolios, retirement activities won't matter a bit. What will matter are the answers we found to the important questions.

If you haven't done so lately, why not take some time to get up above the trees and look at "the big picture"?

Peeves

2008-03-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

You know what really bugs me?

Well, a lot of things, actually...

Some are serious things, like drug-dealing thugs murdering college class presidents, warlords preventing food shipments from reaching starving children in Africa, and politicians saying what we want to hear but never intending to do any of it.

But this post isn't about those serious things. No, we've had too many serious posts lately.

So, today we'll have a series of mini-rants on some of the little things in life that I can't stand, my "pet peeves". Ready? Here we go.

"Fitness water" - Oh my goodness. I can't believe people actually pay money for water, to begin with. (Although we buy it by the crate, like everyone else...) What would your great-grandfather have said if you told him you were going to start a business selling WATER. That's right, he'd tell you you're a dang fool! Maybe I'm just upset that I wasn't the guy that figured out how to market it... And what the heck is with "fitness water" and "flavored water"? To me, it tastes like the Kool-aid your little sister tried to make, but didn't use near enough sugar. Blecch!
Grunge music - OK, I'm sure this is a generational thing, but... Why on earth is grunge rock so doggone DEPRESSING! Did all grungers get up on the wrong side of the bed every day of their life? Why would anyone want to listen to such dreary, woe-is-me music? Do we have it that tough, living in modern suburban America? What a bunch of whiners. As my Dad used to say, "I'll give you something to be upset about!" Wow. I feel better now. And yes, I realize that I sound like all old people, giving the standard rant about music that came along after they stopped being young!
Bluetooth headsets - These are those little "ear pods" that you see people wearing in public, when it looks like they're talking to an invisible friend. I realize they are convenient for hands-free talking (like when you're in a car), but why must we wear them around all day? Maybe to say, hey look at me, I've got the latest cool cell phone device? True story: I'm in Books-a-Million, looking at the magazine racks, and a guy walks up beside me, also facing the magazine racks. "Hey, how's it goin?" he says. "Good, how 'bout you?" I reply. Except he continues talking into his Bluetooth headset, which I failed to notice. So I feel like an idiot, when in fact the guy with the space-age egg in his ear OUGHT to be the one feeling stupid! (My apologies to Gran...I did NOT knock your Bluetooth headset off on purpose that time when I hugged you. For real.)
Self-absorbed people - Do you know people who will talk on and on and on about themselves? (Yes, sort of like I'm doing in this blog...) But I mean people who will walk up to you and start a "conversation", and ten minutes later they're still going strong, and you haven't gotten a word in edgewise. I think these people gravitate toward "nice Christian folks", who generally are too nice to be rude and cut them off. I have two or three of these at my workplace, and two or three more outside of work. A similar personality type is what pastor Steve Keyes calls VNP's: Very Needy People. These folks always have multiple major problems in their lives - health, emotional, etc. They can sap all the energy out of you within five minutes. As Christians, we are certainly called to love the self-absorbed and the VNPs. But that doesn't mean I have to like them! Just kidding, but you know exactly what I mean...
Sanjaya - Enough said.
Hackers - Now, I realize that 15 year old geeky boys need something to do with their time, but can't they just stick to X-Box? Why do they have to go the extra mile to invent thousands of malicious little computer programs that threaten to ruin my computer? Hackers forced me into buying Norton Anti-virus. And I'm really not sure which is worse: Norton or the viruses. I mean, how many computer viruses would it take to slow my laptop down more than Norton does? Is it just me? Can anyone relate? Anyone?

These are just a few of the many thousands of things that irk me to no end (just ask Cathy, ha!). Somehow, I feel a little bit better now after my little mini-rants. I'll try and go back to being my generally positive self.

Thanks for listening, doc - send me the bill.

Marty

2008-03-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Three cheers for Marty Moore!

Marty is a big fan of bluegrass music in general, of Last Road Bluegrass band in specific, and just an all-around nice guy. I met him last year when our band played at Rholetter's Apple Valley bluegrass festival in Westminster, and was struck with what an enthusiastic, outgoing guy he was. Marty just LOVES bluegrass music.

Well, there's more. Marty is also an esophogeal cancer survivor who has lately been undergoing another round of chemo. Marty had been kicking around the idea of having a bluegrass benefit concert, with the proceeds going toward the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. After some encouragement, Marty organized it, promoted it, and...

Last night, Marty's benefit concert became a reality, and it was a big success. It was held at Gettys Middle School in Easley, and featured two local bands (Wooden Nickel and Last Road), as well as national touring bluegrass act Kenny & Amanda Smith. There were a few hundred people in attendance, and everyone had a good time. It was great to see Marty so excited, so enthusiastic about the fundraiser.

Marty is a wonderful example of an upbeat Christ follower who is looking to the Lord for his strength, as he battles this terrible disease. At my own church, I know of at least two people who are in various stages of battling cancer. Sue is a wonderful, energetic Christian missionary whose cancer has been in remission for a number of years now. Shari is another great example of a believer whose walk has been intensified since her diagnosis a year or two ago. She shared in our Life Group meeting last week that she considers her cancer diagnosis to have been a blessing in that it has brought her so much closer to her Lord.

It's been said that nothing focuses the mind like the diagnosis of cancer. Finding out you may only have a few years or months to live makes us ask some important questions, questions that we might otherwise ignore or put off until later.

For a non-believer, these questions might be: Is there really a God? Was Jesus just a man, or were his claims true? If Christianity is true, where do I stand? How can I have a relationship with God? Where will I go when I die?

For a Christian believer, the questions might be: What is God's unique purpose for my life? In the time I have left, what do I want to get done? What does God want me to get done? What do I want people to remember me for? Am I living the way God wants me to be living?

One of the two coolest questions I've ever heard asked is this: "If you were diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, and had only a few weeks or months to live, what would you do differently in your daily life?"

Your answer to that question reveals your true values. It forces you to look at the "big picture" of your life, and decide what is truly important.

The other coolest question relates to your answers from the first question: "Why not start doing these things today?"

Is there something in your life that you know you need to give up? Or something you've always wanted to do, but never got started? A natural talent or skill you've neglected? A person you've never reconciled with?

Well, why not live like there's not much time left, and do these things now?

That's the way Marty's living, and it's an awesome thing to see.

Technology

2008-03-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever stopped and thought about what an incredible time we live in? It really is amazing how quickly technology is advancing.

About eight or nine years ago, Zach and I went up to Virginia to visit my parents. During the trip, Zach and I joined my Dad on a trip into Washington DC to do the museums. At the Museum of American History, we went through an exhibit that showed the history of the computer. As we walked through the exhibit, we saw room-sized pieces of the first modern electronic computer, called Eniac. In the next room, they had some huge IBM mainframe computers from the 1960's (they were bigger than a car!)

I remember my Dad commenting that when he started working for the Naval Research & Development center (he retired after 40 years there), those were the computers he remembers using. I was pretty amazed...some of the older PCs looked familiar to me, but the stuff my Dad remembered seemed ancient: big, clunky, awkward machines with vacuum tubes and wires going everywhere...

It occurred to me then, and again today at work, how quickly technology is changing before our eyes. I'm only 41 years old (only?), but its still pretty cool to think about how much things have changed since I was a kid.

Here are some examples you may be able to relate to, if you are 40 or older. (You 25-and-unders, just sympathize with me here...):

Telephones: When I was a kid, our house had two wall-mounted rotary-dial phones. It used to take forever to dial a simple 7-digit number! Those were eventually replaced with wall-mounted pushbutton phones (with the same curly cords), and then by wireless phones. Those first "cordless" phones were HUGE by today's standards...if you're ever watching Seinfeld, look for the cordless phone he uses, it looks "ginormous"! Of course, today the tiny cell phone has taken over, and phones are now associated with people, not with locations. In the olden days, we would call and ask "Who is this?" Now we call and ask, "Where are you?"
Music: I got into music when I was about 12, and joined the Columbia Record Club. I'll never forget the day my 7 "free" 12" vinyl LP records arrived...woo hoo! (No, I never did 8-track tapes.) I had amassed a pretty large record collection when everything started changing to cassette tapes. Cassettes were cool - you could play them in your car or on a portable "boom box"! I re-recorded most of my records onto cassettes, and then CD's came out. Aaargh! They were a big improvement: no more records skipping, no more cassette "hiss" noise. But I pretty much had to re-buy all my albums, but on CD. Now, of course, music has gone digital. If we buy a CD, we rip it onto our iPods immediately, but more often than not we download straight from iTunes... My 80GB iPod contains every song on every CD I ever bought, and still is only about 1/3 full! Absolutely amazing progression in about 25 years.
Writing: I learned to type on my mother's 1950's vintage Royal typewriter. This thing had a black cast-iron frame, shiny round black keys that were really hard to push down, and a carriage return lever that would go "ding!" when you "hit return". You really had to peck the keys, or your letters would turn out faint grey (and you'd get a bad grade!) In the 1980's, Mom bought a IBM Selectric II typewriter. This thing was touch-sensitive: just barely touch the key, and the typewriter would do the hard work of typing the letter on the paper. And it had a "correction" button that would print a white patch over the last letter you typed, so you could type the correct letter over the top of that! This was all replaced by word processor programs on the personal computer, of course. Volkswriter, Word Perfect, then Microsoft Word. I still recall trying to explain to my Mom that the words I was typing were "in the computer", and that I wouldn't PRINT them until I had everything fixed just right "in the computer". She was used to composing her thoughts directly to paper...it was a real mind-blowing change for her. And of course now, we don't even need to create a "document" at all - we publish directly to the internet, like with this blog. Awesome.
Computers: Probably the biggest progress has been made with the personal computer (PC). I can say that in my lifetime, I have personally experienced the birth of the PC! In high-school (1980-84), we used Atari 800 computers, which had amazing graphics for back in the day. This was about the time the first IBM PC came out, the first computer to really "take off" on a big scale. I went off to Virginia Tech as a freshman engineering student in 1984, with my new IBM "PC portable". This "portable" was really heavy, and about the size of a suitcase, so we nicknamed it the "luggable". It had two 5.25" floppy disk drives, a monochrome screen, and no hard drive (!). All your programs were on floppies, and all the documents you created were on floppies. (For you Mac types, my roomate had an original Apple Macintosh...we played a lot of this which was considered an awesome game in 1986.) I started at Michelin in 1988, and witnessed a lot of technology advances: hard drives (mid 80s), Microsoft Windows 3.1 (1990, first time we used a mouse!), first laptops (early 1990s). In 1993, Cathy and I signed up with America Online, which we would connect to with a 28kbps modem (SLOW!!!). AOL at the time was sort of like the internet, but not all self-contained. We eventually got a 56k modem, bagged AOL for Concentric(an ISP), and connected to the internet for the first time (late 90's). It was cool, but still slow. Today, we take wireless broadband internet for granted, but sometimes I forget how incredible it is compared to before! I'm sitting comfortably on my couch, with a wireless laptop, publishing to the internet, where this post will be available for anyone in the world to read. Wow!

Just as I was amazed at the wide range of technological improvements my Dad had seen in his lifetime, it occurred to me that I will likely see much more progress than he ever did. And you young folks will live (God willing) to see even more change than I ever will.

Will all these changes make our world a better place? More convenient, yes, more comfortable, yes, but probably not "better". Human nature has not changed -- we are still sinners living in a fallen world. Each of us still must choose whether we will do good or evil, but whatever we choose, technology is enabling us to do more of it, faster, and more easily than ever before.

Well, my brain hurts from just thinking about it, so I'm off to the refrigerator for a little non-technological time.

Thank goodness ice-cream sandwiches are still the same!

50

2008-03-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

You ever watch Seinfeld, and it's one of those "100th episode" type shows? You know, where they take the best clips from all the shows up to that point?

Well, this is my 50th blog post!!!

So, I thought I'd hit some of the highlights of my brief (but productive) blogging career... Since my first post in October 2007 (trivia: its my only post with a title of more than one word), I have covered a variety of topics...

Family: Anniversary trip with Cathy, Brandon & Megan buying house on Pliney Circle, Christmas memories, my Dad's old watch, my awesome sons, my dog, why I love working with kids.

Hobbies: My bluegrass band Last Road playing for President Bush, a new mandolin, playing disc golf, a new iPod, restoring our old house, a reawakening in me for drawing and calligraphy, a-pickin and a-grinnin in Nashville, my take on this whole blogging thing, my strange attraction to fountain pens.

Serious stuff: my 2008 New Years resolutions, the real meaning of success, beauty, the Gospel, specific ways God blessed me in 2007, our country's greatest shame, the origin of the species, 41 blessings, true friendship, how I know God exists.

Random stuff: Favorite Twilight Zone episodes, negative people, the threat of snow in Greenville (gasp!), Dr. Seuss book.

If you missed some of these, or are a new reader of this blog, feel free to go back and check them out!

If you have time, please post a comment, I'd love to hear from you...

Here's to 50 more posts, Lord willing!

Kids

2008-03-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

Its Sunday afternoon, and I'm exhausted. But in a good way.

This morning at church I taught 16 3rd-5th grade boys about God (or tried to!). Every week in KidZone at Crossroads Community Church, I work with these young boys and try to share my excitement about our awesome God. It's not easy to keep their attention, but I try my best to think and communicate on their level. (Cathy tells me I act like a 5th grader most of the time, so I think I must be serving in the right ministry!)

I love working with children, and always have. I think a lot of this came from my own family situation when I was growing up... I was the second of three children born within three years of each other (David is a year older than me, Teresa two years younger). About ten years later, my parents had a fourth child, a girl named Angela.

To us older siblings, Angela was our "kid sister", and we had a lot of fun teaching her things and keeping her entertained. I remember that we would make up games for Angela to play: homemade board games, puppet shows, fun "homework" that she would complete and we would grade, etc. Angela loved the attention, and we enjoyed coming up with new stuff that she hadn't seen before. (This was before the days of video games, and my parents limited the amount of TV we watched, so we had to do SOMETHING.)

Fast forward ten or so years... After graduating college and moving to Greenville, it wasn't too long before I met Cathy and the boys, in 1989. The boys and I hit it off well, mainly because I was only 22 and still had a lot of "kid" left in me. The first day I met Brandon, he was sitting in the living room of Cathy's duplex in Spartanburg, playing Mario Brothers on his brand new Nintendo system he had gotten for Christmas. I loved video games too, so Brandon and I spent long hours working our way through the levels of that game.

Cathy and I were married the next year, and I became the boys' official step-dad. We had a lot of fun together in those years. I remember some highlights:

One day, I took the boys to Dorman High School (the old one) in my old 1966 Pontiac. We played football for a bit, then got bored and decided to roll down a steep grassy hill, again and again. We had a ball.
Playing "horsie" with Zachary in the living room of the duplex. This is one of the rare photos of Zach when he was not dressed in his Superman outfit (PJ's with cape), or sporting his favorite combination of plastic goggles with pacifier. (We'll get those pics posted here in a few days...)
Going on the ferris wheel at the "redneck carnival" when it came through Simpsonville.
At Myrtle Beach, a thunderstorm came up, and started pouring hot rain in sheets. The boys and I decided it would be cool to experience the storm first-hand on the porch, in our bathing suits...

Here's the proof I'm not making this stuff up! (Click pictures to zoom...)

When the boys got older, I missed having little kids to entertain, so I began volunteering to work with the kids at church. Since my talents lie mainly in the area of entertaining kids, I would always volunteer to do games during Vacation Bible School at Temple Baptist, and later at CRCC. A couple years ago, God helped me to realize that I have a special gift for working with kids, and that's where he wants me to be.

As long as I have breath in me, I intend to do just that. I'm looking forward very much to having some grandkids in a few years, who I can pour into as I tried to do with Angela, Brandon, Zach, and the kids at church. Children are such a blessing to me, and God frequently uses them to teach me lessons about humility, innocence, trust, and love.

I guess in a lot of ways I am just a big kid...and that suits me just fine.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
(Mark 10:13-16 ESV)

Esterbrook

2008-03-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

Today, Cathy and I went to the local antique store, looking for bargains. She looks for her favorite things (old pictures, antique furniture, lamps, etc), and I look for mine (antique watches, advertising signs, instruments, etc).

Lately, I've been renewing my interest in drawing, handwriting, Moleskines, and fountain pens (hereafter referred to as "FPs"). So while we walked the aisles today, I had my eyes peeled for vintage FPs. And sure enough, I found a bargain - an old FP with a beautiful copper finish & nickel and black accents, in great condition, for $19.99! I talked the guy down to $15 and walked out with my prized find.

After coming home and doing a little internet research here, I determined that my find was a 1950's vintage Esterbrook J model. I found out that Esterbrooks have quite a following among FP collectors. They were not high-end pens in their day, but more of a solidly-built, well made pen for the masses. They are not rare, but are well-respected for their tendency to write perfectly even after sitting for decades.

After a little cleaning and flushing with water, I filled the old Esterbrook up with some copper-colored ink, and gave it a test run. Perfect! To say this pen writes smoothly would be like saying Jordan was "pretty good" at basketball. It is amazing: woo-hoo! Don't you just love when you get something great for a bargain price? (These Esterbrooks typically sell on the internet for $30-$50.)

For those of you who have never used a FP, you need to try one, now. (That means you, Rich Butler.) You'll never be able to go back to a 49-cent Bic again, trust me! Here are some reasons I love FPs:

Smooth feel - FPs require almost no pressure - they write effortlessly. This means you can hold the pen lightly, and write for much longer without your hand hurting.
Crisp line - FPs lay down a smooth, wet line of ink, that looks great on the page. No light lines like a ballpoint, no gooey mess like a gel pen.
Ink colors - You can get inks for FPs in all kinds of cool colors: check this out.
Not messy - The stories of people getting big ink spots on their shirt pockets and spilling ink jars are not generally the case, unless you're a klutz. Most modern FPs use ink cartridges, which snap in place and don't leak.
Environmentally friendly - Buy a FP, and refill with ink when it runs out. Stop littering the landfills with worn-out cheap-o pens, and "recycle"!
Well made - Quality FPs are made to last many years, versus "disposable" pens. Who ever said pens should be "throwaway" items?
Cool looking - FPs are available in every color you can think of, and generally have silver or gold metal accents.
Vintage - Old FPs take us back to an older time, the time of our grandparents, when people weren't so rushed...when they had time to fill a pen with ink, and carefully put their thoughts on paper...

If you are reading this and have never tried a fountain pen, you owe it to yourself to find a buddy who has one and try it. You may never go back.

But be careful, you may get addicted!

Patience

2008-02-28T15:34:00.000-08:00

I've never really been a patient person.

Just ask my sons Brandon and Zach about my parenting style, they'll tell you! Ha! I'm significantly more patient now than I was 25, it's true, but I still have a long way to go.

Why all this talk about patience, you ask? Well, ten minutes ago I came really close to throwing my laptop on the floor and stomping the screen. No, not figuratively, literally.

You see, my laptop is pretty old, and has one of those wireless cards you stick in the side of it. Normally it works well, but every so often it has spells where it just doesn't want to work. It will connect to the internet for say, five minutes, and then disconnect, and not let you reconnect. Very annoying if you are wanting to do something NOW, like make a blog post. This is exactly what happened to me ten minutes ago.

I finally had to reboot the computer in order for it to recognize the wireless card again. Problem is, this computer takes about ten minutes to start up, load the bloated "Norton Antivirus", and get to the point where the hourglass goes away and you can actually do something. When it finally came up, I knew exactly what I was going to blog about -- what a (*#&$@ hunk of junk this laptop is! Sure, I realized I should probably not blog to vent my frustrations, but I had reached my limit. I was gonna tell everyone just what was what, how unjust it was that I should have such a crummy PC, etc.

Just before going to blogger.com to start my rant, I decided to read Part 2 of Brandon's latest post about his Mac laptop. Which I did.

And something happened.

Brandon's post is really a God thing. You see, Brandon recently went through a big ordeal with his Mac laptop, and was real close to writing a blog post blasting the seller for all the hassle he had to go through. But after some thought (and prayer no doubt), Brandon did the adult thing, the mature thing, the Christlike thing. He showed restraint, and instead wrote about the situation in a way that did not tear anyone down. Did not name names. Did not trash a reputation, though it might actually deserve it.

After reading Brandon's post and letting it sink in, the urge to write a whiny blog post about how slow my laptop is just sorta left me, if you know what I'm saying. In fact, I am thankful for this laptop, because 95% of the time it works really well, and has been a blessing. Plus, I hate hearing other people whine about insignificant stuff, when so many people are fighting cancer, starving, homeless, etc. So shame on me!

It's cool to know that all those lectures and speeches I gave Brandon must have sank in. It's even cooler to be able to learn learn lessons about proper behavior from your children.

Can I come out of my room now?

Rupert

2008-02-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it had to happen eventually.

Of all the parts and pieces of my life to blog about, I knew I would eventually make a post regarding our dog, Rupert. Those of you who know Cathy and I well have probably "met" Rupert and have gotten to experience his, shall we say, unique personality traits. For those of you who know not of what I speak, I'll try and describe the little fluffball, both pro and con.

First, a brief history. A few years back around Thanksgiving, Cathy started begging me for a dog. Now, this has been a fairly common thing with Cathy over the years, so I thought it would pass. And I thought it had passed, at least until Christmas eve.

Cathy had fallen asleep before me, and I went in to fill her Christmas stocking. When I returned, she rolled over and WHILE SLEEPING mumbled, "Did you buy me a puppy?"

At that moment, I realized how much she really wanted a dog in her life. I also realized that she was expecting a puppy for Christmas, and I hadn't bought her one!

A few days after Christmas, we went to the pet store and looked at puppies. Now, all puppies are cute, as we all know. But Lhasa Apso puppies...mercy. Men, don't take your wives or children to pet stores that have Lhasa Apso puppies, or you WILL be bringing one home. Needless to say, we spent a few minutes with the little white-and-cream colored Lhasa, and I knew we'd need to find some way to scrounge up the money for the little guy.

Here's a couple shots of Rupert as a puppy (not much bigger than a cell phone!)...

Rupert is a little over three years old now, and in general he has been a great cure for "empty nest syndrome." Here are some of Rupert's best traits:

Awesome lap dog - Not a good thing when you're wanting to use your laptop!
Loves his people - Rupert absolutely loves me, Cathy, Brandon, Zach, Megan, and Sarah. Anyone else, look out!
Expressive - He's lucky he's so doggone cute, or he'd have been gone long ago (see bad traits below!)
Smart - Lhasas are extremely smart. This can be good (potty training) or bad (stubborn as a mule). We have to spell out certain words, like C-A-R, or he'll recognize it and go ballistic.
Non-shedding - Brandon and Megan know that this is a good feature for a dog!
Perfect size - Not too small and yippy, but not a big dog either
Minimal exercise - Lhasas don't require daily walks...which is a good thing for him, given our hectic schedules.
Playful - I love watching Cathy "play rough" with Rupert. He loves the attention, and Cathy transforms to be like a little girl playing with her first dog. Love it.

However, Rupert has developed some bad habits. Most of them, I admit, are not Rupert's fault, but probably due to poor training on mine & Cathy's part... But they are oh, so annoying nonetheless. Here are some of his less desirable traits:

Hyper when people arrive - For goodness sakes Rupert, stop biting Sarah's feet! And stop barking!
Unsure about new people - Rupert has trouble getting used to new people (pretty much anyone other than our family)
Weird new couch issue - Rupert has started going under the couch, pushing up on it repeatedly with his back, and growling... What's with that?
Picky eater - Some people say, "My dog is fussy, he'll only eat Purina!" Oh yeah? Child's play... Rupert won't even eat dog food unless there's nothing else around (he thinks it's beneath him?). Not just that, he won't eat McDonald's hamburgers (he prefers BK). And he won't eat generic brand peanut butter, it has to be Jif. Good thing we haven't gone too far and SPOILED him...

In all, Rupert's good traits far outweigh the bad. And even if they didn't, he's part of the family now. (Zach, stop rolling your eyes.) Of all the animals we've had over the years, he has worked out the best by a long shot.

As I type this, Rupert is curled up next to me, sleeping. As I like to say, he's my "pretty good animal."

God is good!

Handwriting

2008-02-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

Do you remember your grades in elementary school? The only two I can seem to remember are the worst two.

In first grade, I got a "U" (unsatisfactory, like an "F") in music. Why? Well, our old-lady teacher made us stand in a circle, boy-girl-boy-girl, and skip in a circle to some fruity old-fashioned music. I wasn't real big on holding hands with girls in first grade, so while skipping I gave the girl in front of me a good soccer kick in the posterior. That earned me a trip to the principal's office, a good spanking at home, and a U for the class that quarter.

The other bad grade I remember in elementary school was a "C" in handwriting. Try as I might, in third grade I just could not get my pencil to make letters that looked like the ones on that chart above the chalkboard. My cursive back then was kind of ugly, and it never got a whole lot better.

Well, thirty some years later, I have decided I'd like to improve my penmanship. Practically speaking, this makes absolutely no sense. After all, in our modern computer age, the skill of writing by hand has paled in comparison to the skill of typing on a keyboard. Penmanship was a valued skill in our grandparents' day, but no more.

Maybe its the "art" phase I'm gonig through. Maybe its a throwback to my calligraphy skills I tried to learn as a kid. Maybe its somehow related to my fondness for fountain pens. I don't know what it is, but I'm inspired.

Here's the story of my handwriting:

And now...

And there you have it. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Hopefully soon my writing will look like this or even this!

Horton

2008-02-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Cathy bought me a gift at Kohl's. No, not a shirt, not a pair of pants. No, not a watch, not a pair of shoes.

No, Cathy bought me a light blue stuffed elephant.

Scarier still, I loved it.

You see, the light blue stuffed elephant is a plush version of Horton the elephant, from the Dr. Seuss book "Horton Hears a Who". And I, I am a Dr. Seuss fan, and not ashamed to admit it.

Who wouldn't like Dr. Seuss' books? You remember them, with their quirky illustrations, bizarre characters, and sing-songy rhymes. You can probably recite some classic Seuss lines, like "I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, ____ ___ ____. That's right, "Sam I am." You're a Dr. Seuss fan too, whether or not you want to admit it!

As a kid, I loved listening to Seuss' fanciful stories, whether they were in book form or as animated series made for television. Here are some of his stories I remember:

The Lorax
Horton Hears a Who
How the Grinch Saved Christmas
The Sneetches
Green Eggs and Ham
The Cat in the Hat
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Hop On Pop
The Zax

As I got older, I realized that many of Dr. Seuss's stories were deeper than just cute children's stories. They were commentaries which spoke to some of the shortcomings of our society, or of our human nature.

Remember the Sneetches? Some had stars on their bellies, some did not. A man comes to town with a machine that can apply stars to non-star Sneetches, or remove stars from starry Sneetches. Jealousy leads to chaos, and we are left with an effective lesson on discrimination.

How about the Zax? In this story, a South-going Zax meets head-on with a North-going Zax, and neither is willing to budge. They remain unmoved for so long that a highway overpass is built over them. The lesson? Stubbornness, perhaps.

Another of my favorites was The Lorax. In this story, a creature called the Once-ler comes upon a beautiful forest of Truffala trees, and realizes he can use the trees to make "Thneeds", a garment he says "everyone needs." After cutting down the first tree to make a Thneed, out pops the Lorax, a creature who pleads with the Once-ler to stop before the forest is ruined, and all its creatures have nowhere to live. Of course, the Once-ler ignores his pleading, destroys the forest, and pollutes the region with his many factories. Written in 1971, it is an early commentary on saving the environment.

My favorite of all Dr. Seuss' stories, though, is Horton Hears a Who. More so than the story, I remember the animated TV version, which came out when I was 3 years old. Here's the Wikipedia description of the plot:

The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant who, on the fifteenth of May in the Jungle of Nool, hears a small speck of dust talking to him. It turns out the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet, home to a city called "Who-ville", inhabited by microscopic-sized inhabitants known as Whos.

The Whos ask Horton (who, though he cannot see them, is able to hear them quite well) to protect them from harm, to which Horton happily obliges, proclaiming throughout the book that "a person's a person, no matter how small". In doing so he is ridiculed and forced into a cage by the other animals in the jungle for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. His chief tormentors are Vlad Vladikoff, the Wickersham Brothers and the Sour Kangaroo, and the small kangaroo in her pouch. Horton tells the Whos that they needed to make themselves heard to the other animals, lest they end up as part of "beezlenut stew", which they finally accomplish. The Whos finally make themselves heard by ensuring that all members of their society play their part. In the end it is the smallest Who of all, Jo-Jo, who provides the last volume lift to be heard, thus reinforcing the moral of "a person's a person no matter how small".

"A person's a person no matter how small."

What a great line! The moral of this Seuss story, the fundamental value of life, is the same message we find in Psalm 139:13-15: "You did form my inward parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb...you knew me right well; my frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret..." God creates life, and no matter how small it may be, whether it is in the womb or out, it is still a person created in the image of God.

Did Dr. Seuss realize he had created a wonderful pro-life message when he wrote this story? Probably not. And in fact, Dr. Seuss later attempted to sue some pro-life organizations who used this story's moral as their motto (sad...). Nevertheless, it is a wonderful story, with a wonderful tag line and a wonderful message.

On March 14th 2008, a full-length computer-animated movie version of "Horton Hears a Who" is set to hit the big screens. I'm going to see it for sure, and I hope it will win the hearts of its viewers with its simple, pro-life message.

I'll think of it every time I look at my light blue stuffed elephant.

Art

2008-02-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a kid, I have enjoyed art - drawing, sketching, cartooning, painting, etc.

I remember going through phases, where I would obsess on drawing certain things. I went through a "car phase" where I drew monster-looking hotrods like Big Daddy Roth's "Rat Fink" art, which was real popular with young boys in the early '70s. I had a "perspective phase" where I drew long tree-lined streets disappearing into the distance at a vanishing point. I had an "architecture phase" where I drew Monticello, the Capitol building, cathedrals, etc. I even had a "monsters phase" where I would draw various other-worldly creatures like those in Dungeons and Dragons (can you say young geek?).

My attempts at art were mainly centered around pencil sketching as a kid, but I also recall experimenting with painting (watercolor and acrylic) as a young adult. Just before I met Cathy (probably 1988 or 1989), I painted a watercolor of an tropical island at sunset, based on a photo I had taken on a sailing trip to the Bahamas that year. I gave the painting to my Dad as a gift when he was in the hospital for surgery. When he got home, he hung the painting in his bedroom, where it remains to this day. After Dad passed from Lou Gehrig's disease in 1999 , Mom told me how much he had always loved that painting...

Right around the time I met Cathy, I was in an acrylic painting phase, and was cranking out paintings for different folks. I made paintings for Cathy (snowy footprints with "The Road Less Traveled" poem), Cathy's mom (sand castle with some sort of saying or poem), and Cathy's grandmother (snow-covered pine forest)...basically if you were a female related to Cathy, you got a painting, whether or not you really wanted one!

When we got married, the hustle and bustle of raising two boys (church, scouts, sports, etc) really put a damper on the art hobby. I can recall only a few projects over the last 15 years. For one of the boys (Zach?), I painted a cougar mascot for his scout group. For our family, I made a pen-and-ink "Declaration of Dependence" piece that now hangs in our dining room. And for a Michelin art contest, I made a pen-and-ink montage of historical Michelin Man artwork. But other than that, pretty much nada.

I guess there are many reasons I haven't done much artwork over the last several years. First, I really don't think I have a great talent for it. I do OK if I'm copying from a reference photo, but not so hot just drawing whatever I "see in my mind". Second, I have other hobbies that have taken precedence (music, etc). Third, I really haven't seen the value in doing it, unless someone asks me to do something specific.

But recently, this all changed. Last month I read a book called "A Whole New Mind", which ignited in me a desire to reconnect with my "right brain" self, the part of me which is artistic, graphical, etc. It made me realize that I have spent the last 40 years developing the logical, deductive reasoning part of my brain, but much less on the visual, artistic side.

So, what have I done about it?

Well, a few things. First, I went and bought a Moleskine. A Moleskine is a little leather-bound notebook that artsy types use to record their doodles, rough sketches, storyboards, cartoons, whatever. I keep it next to my "easy chair" at home, and try and doodle in it frequently. Some things I have doodled include ideas for blog headers (mine, Cathy's), cartoon characters, custom fonts, logos, and tattoos (Brandon & Megan's).

Second, I have subscribed to three blogs related to art and graphic design. Check them out: xBlog, moleskinerie, and Drawn!. These blogs link to some really awesome websites by artists, graphic designers, cartoonists, animated film makers, Photoshop gurus, etc. I check them daily, and I'm lovin it.

Finally, since I am now getting up and getting to work an hour earlier as part of my New Year's resolution, after my morning devotion I spend 5-10 minutes sketching. That's not much time, but at least it is something. And over the course of the last month or so, I actually completed a pencil sketch (of a pair of day lilies). It's not much in terms of quality, but to me it is significant because it represents my effort to re-connect with the artsy side of myself, which has been mostly dormant for the last 15 years.

Is there a talent that God has given you which you have been neglecting? Why not work at it for 5-10 minutes a day, and see what you can come up with a month from now!

Resonance

2008-02-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had deja vu? You know, that strange feeling that comes over you, where you feel like you've passed through that same moment in time, that same thought, once before? It's a really odd, other-worldly feeling.

Like deja vu, and equally intriguing, are moments I have experienced that I can only describe as "glimpses of God". Perhaps you have experienced these moments too.

Let me explain, first by making an analogy.

Remember physics class? Not a favorite topic for many folks, I realize -- so please bear with me for just a minute. Anyhow, one of the concepts we learned in physics was that of "resonance." Every object has a certain mass (think weight), and also a certain resonant frequency. The resonant frequency is the rate at which a particular object prefers to vibrate. A light object, like a leaf, prefers to vibrate at a different frequency than something heavier, like a bowling ball. If you wiggle an object (force it to vibrate) at its resonant frequency, it will vibrate wildly, almost out of control, compared to any other frequency of vibration you subject it to.

A good real-world example of this is the Tacoma Narrows bridge. On November 7, 1940, this suspension bridge was hit by exceptionally strong gusts of wind, which in turn caused a vibration in the bridge at the bridge's resonant frequency. At first the roadway on the bridge started waving like a ribbon in the wind, and eventually it shook so wildly it actually broke apart and fell into the river below. Check out this amazing actual video.

In our lives, there are certain times when something we've seen, heard, or experienced strikes a chord in our heart, and causes our emotions to resonate wildly out of control. Something that makes your heart well up and your tears flow, and you're not quite sure why.

Have you ever experienced these moments?

I believe these moments are common to all people, believers and non-believers alike. Why? Because God created all of us in his image, and those things which are part of His character naturally resonate in our hearts: things like love, honor, bravery, compassion, honesty, humor, loyalty, and beauty.

I also believe these experiences are given to us by God as a means to point us toward him. To a musician, a triumphant symphony approaches sonic perfection, and perhaps makes him wonder who wrote the "rules" that make music work, and why these sounds make him feel so good inside. To a nature lover, perfection is found staring up at the stars through a moonlit virgin forest with awe, and it might cause her to wonder how a such an incredible setting could be just a product of random chance.

When we read a story or see a movie that perfectly captures the concept of true love (Sense & Sensibility), or forgiveness (Les Miserables), or hope (Shawshank Redemption), or bravery (Saving Private Ryan), or wonder (The Velveteen Rabbit), or selflessness (Le Cadeau de Temps), we are intensely experiencing certain aspects of God's character. And those moments resonate in our hearts, for we are designed in his image.

In today's busy world, these moments are few and far between. But every so often, without warning, something comes along and makes me feel alive, full of wonder. It helps me catch a glimpse "through a glass, darkly"...

A glimpse of God.

Blogosphere

2008-02-12T17:24:00.001-08:00

Blogosphere.

Now that's a cool word!

I don't know who coined the term or when (actually, you can read about it here), but the old blogosphere is growing by leaps and bounds every day. There are lots of folks, myself included, who never thought they would find themselves committing their thoughts to paper (silicon? ether?), but now find themselves doing it regularly. It's fun, it's addictive, it's strangely comforting...

For me, blogging is a release, a way of expressing things that need expressing. When I started my blog, I really didn't think anyone would read it, and frankly that doesn't matter so much to me. If I knew for a fact no one would ever read these posts, I'd probably blog anyway. If it blesses someone else, or brightens their day, that is an added bonus. For me, it is a way of documenting my journey through life, and recording how God is working in my life.

In the same way that I have joined the blogosphere within the last few months, many of my favorite people in this world have done the same...

The most recent splash in the b-sphere was made yesterday by none other than my beautiful and talented wife, Cathy. Cathy works for Crossroads as our communication director, and has a real knack for expressing how God is working in her life. In the past, this knack has taken many forms: teaching, writing newsletters, writing devotions, etc. Now, she has her own blog, and it'll be top-notch (like everything she puts her efforts into). Love you, Catherine.
The first in the family to blog was my son and family trendsetter, Brandon. Just between us (and anyone on the internet who reads this!), Brandon wasn't big into writing when he was in school. He was the kid who triple-spaced his essays and narrowed the margins so he could reach the required number of pages. But sometime between then and now, something changed, and now Brandon authors one of the funniest, most compelling blogs around. He, too, has the knack...for a good read, check out his blog.
Brandon's wife, Megan, started blogging shortly after I did, and also has a wonderful writing style. I've enjoyed learning more about my new daughter-in-law via her blog, called "Life of Growing". Megan, keep up the good work!!! Also, I'm digging the new "grass" header...
Zach's girlfriend, Sarah Slice, is also a fairly recent addition to the blogosphere. Although Sarah's first post was just before Christmas, she has really hit her stride and is cranking out some really deep, though-provoking posts. You go girl. Check out Sarah: Plain and Tall here.

Second son Zach has not yet graced us with a blog, but I'm sure it is because he wants to devote his every waking moment to his studies at NGU. Zach, if that's not accurate, don't burst my bubble. ;)

Technology really is changing our lives, mostly for the best (I hope). Blogs provide us with glimpses of feelings, thoughts, and emotions we might not otherwise get to see in our daily interactions with people. They are a permanent testament to what God is working in our lives, and how much he has blessed our days.

One day I will go on to be with my Lord, but I hope that my blog posts will live on, allowing my grandchildren and their grandchildren to understand a bit of what motivated me, what I loved, and who I was.

Blog on!

Pyrite

2008-02-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Pyrite. You remember it from geology 101. Fool's gold. A common, less valuable imitation of the real thing.

Today's post is about...well, about something I learned recently. Something important, something I should have known already but must have forgotten. Something about fool's gold.

Instead of telling you the whole boring story, I'll boil it down to the basics, to the point where it sounds almost silly:

I've been friends with a certain guy for many years. This guy is a Christian. He is also a very humble, unassuming kind of person: not flashy, never problematic, never obnoxious.
I've become friends with some new guys. They are also Christians. They are a bit more lively, fun, and crazy, but also a bit more self-focused, I found out.
I hang out in a certain social group with the old friend, and in another with the new friends.
Recently, I invited the old friend to come along to an event with myself and the new friends. (Like George Costanza's "worlds colliding"!)
At this event, I found myself (for various reasons) wanting to hang out with the new friends more than the old friend. I knew it didn't make any sense, knew it was not right, but I felt it nonetheless.
Long story short, the new friends ended up pulling a stunt that really humiliated me. They promised to include the old friend and me in something, but ended up leaving us out. They were focused on making themselves look good, at our expense.

I learned three really important lessons from this:

If you've been friends with someone for a long time, don't take it for granted. A relationship like that is a treasure, and though it may not look as good as the "new thing", you should guard it like gold.
Things that are newer and flashier are many times not as good as they appear - be cautious. My "new friends" are still friends, and I still enjoy hanging out with them, but I learned that they have a long way to go to earn the level of respect and admiration I have for my "old friend".
If your heart is telling you that something is wrong, it probably is. Stick with what (and who) you know to be true.

I felt a bit ashamed that it took this episode for God to remind me of these obvious things, but I am a bit thick-headed sometimes. I come away from it with a new outlook on my old friendship, and a commitment not to neglect it for a poor substitute.

I come away realizing that the flashy, new friends were simply not a substitute for the "real thing".

Like fool's gold.

SPBGMA

2008-02-04T16:25:00.000-08:00

SPBGMA 2008 is officially over, and it was awesome!

SPBGMA (pronounced "spigma") stands for the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America. Every year, SPBGMA puts on a convention at the Nashville Sheraton, and it has become THE destination for bluegrass pickers across the country.

Here are some of the highlights of my SPBGMA experience:

Jamming - This is what we all come for...hours and hours of great bluegrass jamming, with old friends and new ones as well. People I jammed with this year: Dave Snyder, Benji Merritt, James Howard, Perry Woodie, Sim Daley, Missy Daley, Josh Hicks, Jim Clark, Jim Wingate, Justin Nunez (21-tr old guitar player from south Mississippi), Morgan Knowland, and other folks whose names I don't recall. Check out this video clip of one of our jams...
Hatch Show Print - On Saturday, we stopped by a nondescript storefront on Music Row in downtown Nashvegas to visit one of the coolest businesses around, Hatch Show Print. Since the late 1800's, they have been printing showbills and posters for the top musical acts in the country. They still use the original printing methods and typesetting like in the olden days... Check out these examples of their cool artwork.
Daley mandolin workshop - On Friday afternoon, we were invited by Sim Daley to visit his workshop where he builds Daley mandolins and guitars. Daley mandolins are the hottest mandolins going right now, and are played by Adam Steffey, Dan Tyminski, and a lot of other big name mando monsters.
Gruhns Guitars - Saturday afternoon, we also stopped by Gruhn's Guitars, one of the biggest dealers of vintage acoustic instruments in the country. This place was incredible. Dozens of old Martin guitars, mandolins of all types, banjos, dobros, fiddles... No cheesy Chinese imports here - if its the good stuff, they have it.
Western wear - We stopped in a western wear store just for kicks. Result: I confirmed that I look hilarious in a big black Stetson!
Gibson Showcase - Like last year, we paid a visit to the Gibson Showcase, which is THE coolest store I've ever been in. The outside of the store looks like a huge F5 mandolin headstock, and the inside contains the entire line of Gibson bluegrass instruments. Just be sure to bring a BIG checkbook along...their top-of-the-line mandolin (distressed Master Model) had a price tag of $25,500!

Despite the huge blister I got from playing bass so loud for so long, it was a great weekend. Thanks, Cathy, for the great birthday present!

Once again, God is good.

News

2008-01-29T14:31:00.001-08:00

When I was in third grade, everyone knew the Good News Bad News joke. It went something like this:

Dusty, the Crop Duster was sitting on the bench outside the General Store when a friend came by and sat next to him. "You're looking kind of banged up, Dusty, what happened?" "Well," answered Dusty rather slowly, "I was doing the field east of town when my engine gave out." "That's bad!" "Thankfully I had my parachute on and jumped out." "That's good!" "But my parachute didn't open." "That's bad!" "There was a large haystack right below me." "That's good!" "There was a pitchfork in the middle of the haystack." "That's bad!" "I missed the pitchfork." "That's good!" "No, that's bad - I missed the haystack!"

Here's a brief life update in "good news / bad news" format:

Good news - Our Crossroads Life Group is starting up again, after the winter break. It will be good to see our "empty nest" friends again, and share life together. Leader Steve Prout does an awesome job...
Bad news - Today marks the 11th day of my cold (sinus infection). Yesterday, I went to the doc and got a Z-Pack, which I started on last night. But instead of feeling better, I felt worse today than ever. Must have blown my nose well over 100 times today (TMI?). Anyhow, I want so badly to feel normal again...
Good news - This weekend, I'm going to SPBGMA (pronounced "spigma"). SPBGMA is a massive bluegrass event at the Nashville Hilton, and is one of the two biggest yearly events for pickers and grinners. Picture a huge hotel where the lobby, hallways, and rooms are packed with people jamming round the clock. There's also an auditorium where all the "big name" national bands are playing (all day), and a room with all the top-name luthiers and instrument builders. I went last year, and it was a blast. I just hope I am well by then...I'm praying for healing!!!
Bad news - Lots of car problems lately. New muffler for Zach's Accord, new front brakes for my truck, new thermostat for Cathy's CRV... But, it beats car payments! (Oh yeah, I still have one...bummer).

Good news - My bluegrass band, Last Road, may have found a replacement banjo player. We've been auditioning guys for the last month or so, and we're ready to get someone on board before we start up with spring gigs. Sounds like an easy task, but it is tough to find someone who is compatible musically, spiritually, and personality-wise...

Proud

2008-01-27T16:54:00.001-08:00

There are two kinds of pride...

The first is the bad one, the one the Bible speaks of so often, the one which creeps in as the most subtle of sins. You know, the self-centered self-focused kind of pride. The "look at me, I'm all that" type of pride. As Mirriam-Webster dictionary defines it, "an inordinate self-esteem." You know it when you see it.

The second is more benign -- it is the great feeling of well-being you get when you've done something well, or when you have accomplished something you never thought you could. It is the warmth you feel inside for a job well done, for being "best in class". It is the pride of a beaming parent.

Well, this weekend, I had two occasions to well up with pride - the good kind!

The first of these occurred Saturday morning. Cathy and I drove up to North Greenville University to watch our son Zach play in an ultimate frisbee tournament. His team, the NGU Ninja Geese, played seven or eight games Saturday in the chilly weather, and it was a lot of fun to watch. Good athleticism on display, as well as good sportsmanship. The Geese are really a class act.

As I watched the game, I realized I was proud of Zach for a number of reasons. I was proud that Zach had selected such a great Christian university to attend. I was proud that he is knocking the spots off his schoolwork, with all A's and B's (and straight A's last semester!). I was proud that he has surrounded himself with a great group of Christian buddies, the kind that make lifelong friends.

But I was particularly proud to see Zach acting in a leadership role, as captain of his ultimate team. He played this role well, finding the balance between challenging his teammates, encouraging them, pushing them to higher levels of performance, keeping his cool during tense moments, etc. It's hard to lead others and gain their respect, but I saw Zach doing just that, and boy did it make me proud. Zach, you're the MAN.

The second event took place exactly 24 hours later, on Sunday morning. This morning at church, David Walker was out of town, and our other son Brandon led worship at Crossroads. Not just led it, but really LED it. It was an awesome thing to watch.

As with Zach, Brandon has made me proud in so many ways over the past few years. I'm proud that Brandon graduated with good marks from North Greenville. I'm proud that he is a hard worker, working two jobs faithfully, day in and day out. I'm proud that he has worked and worked and worked to improve his musical skills, AND his spiritual walk, to the point where he leads worship as well as -- get this -- as well as Aaron Keyes and David Walker, who were his mentors. I'm proud to point out to people in the congregation, "That's my son, leading worship today." I'm proud that he trusted God to find him the perfect companion, and waited until the Lord brought him Megan. Brandon, you're the MAN too.

I realize of course that it's God (not me) who is working all things in our lives for His purposes... It is not my mastery of parenting skills that has brought Zach and Brandon to this point, oh no! I think we can all agree on that one, lol! It has been God working on them, shaping and molding them, building them into clay vessels for his use.

Is it wrong for me to feel such great pride as a parent? I don't think so. In today's world, with all the temptations and pitfalls out there, and with so many young people falling to them, I think I have every reason to be proud.

In fact, I'm sure of it.

God is good!

41

2008-01-25T18:48:00.000-08:00

Woo-hoo! Today's my B-day! I'm 41 years young...

Today I was reading an article, and it had a suggestion I really liked. It said that once a year, on your birthday, you should make a list of things you are thankful for. The number of items on your list should equal the number of years old you are. It makes sense - the older you get, the more you have to be thankful for...

So here it goes: 41 things I am thankful for (not necessarily in order of importance!)

My wife, Cathy
Thick socks
Heated blankets
Our king-sized bed
My dog, Rupert
Running water
Indoor heating & AC
Clean towels
Hoodies
Wireless broadband
Jesus' obedience to the Father
The written Word, translated in modern English
Men who put up vinyl siding (shout out to Zach!)
My job at Michelin
My office window (great view)
Funny family stories (peanut butter, Community Cash, Zach & Betty, etc)
Christmas
Easter
My siblings - David, Teresa, Angela
iPods
cell phones
Music
Children, in general
My sons, Brandon and Zach
My daughter-in-law, Megan (and Sarah too!)
Heath bars
Butterscotch haystacks
My bluegrass band, Last Road
Police officers
My country
The Constitution
My extended family (Bob, Sherry, Fran, Steve, Mama, etc)
Guitar Hero
Family game nights
Rupert's snaggle tooth
Megan's apple pies
My salvation
My daily routine
Good Christian role models
Billy Graham
Our 1911 house

Obviously, some of these are more important than others in the big scheme of things... But I have so much to be thankful for.

God is good!

Cold

2008-01-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

Cold is an appropriate title for today's post.

Not only is it really cold outside...but I have come down with my twice-a-year cold.

Regular as clockwork, I seem to get an "upper respiratory infection" twice a year, once in the summer and once in the winter. Nothing too awful, just runny nose and sinus/chest congestion that lasts about ten days, no matter what medicines I take. And that awful energy-drained "blah" feeling.

This time, the "magic cure" was Mucinex. Someone at work told me it was the bomb, so I bought some ($10) and after seven hours, I'm not too impressed. In fact, I don't think it has done much at all. Oh well, live and learn.

As Brandon's post today stated so well, we take our good health for granted until the Lord removes it from us for a while. Our bad days should make us all the more thankful for the good days...

Well, the brain is tired too, so no deep thoughts for today. Stay healthy.

Anyone?

2008-01-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

Today, a buddy emailed me a link to the trailer for a movie coming out this February...

The movie is called "Expelled", and it's a documentary-style movie which exposes the fear and loathing of the established scientific community toward anyone who would dare question Darwinistic evolution. This intriguing flick is the work of none other than Ben Stein.

Now, Ben Stein is one interesting character!

If you are familiar with the name, you probably know him from one of three main appearances:

He was the boring economics teacher in "Ferris Beuler's Day Off"... You know, "Beuler? Beuler? Anyone?"
He is the guy on the Murine Clear Eyes commercials..."dry eyes, red eyes, clear eyes..."
He had his own game show on Comedy Central a few years back, "Win Ben Stein's Money"

But in addition to being a popular actor and TV personality, check out some of the rest of his resume:

Graduated with honors from Columbia University with a degree in economics (1966)
Graduated as Valedictorian from Yale Law School, 1970
Speechwriter for Presidents Nixon and Ford
Professor of political science and law at American University, U Cal, Pepperdine University
Trial lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission
Author of 27 books (7 fiction, 20 nonfiction)

Basically, Ben Stein a pretty sharp cookie, intellectually!

Ben's latest passion is the Creationism vs. Darwinism debate. He is convinced, as I am, that the scientific establishment (i.e. most major universities, science journalists, etc) tries its best to squelch any opposition to its theories of neo-Darwinism and natural selection. Since this flies in the face of scientific method (which should encourage honest intellectual debate and challenges to existing theories), Ben has addressed it with this movie.

One interesting point made by Stein (who is Jewish) is the connection between the Holocaust and Darwinism. The Nazis took Darwinism to its ultimate end: "If we are just animals who are evolving toward a more perfect state, what is wrong with speeding up the process by eliminating the weak, the sick, the imperfect? Isn't it just part of the natural selection process?" This is sure to infuriate Darwinists, but it is a historical fact. For more info, see this and this.

Will this movie be as entertaining as Pirates of the Carribean 3? Probably not. But if you have bought into the theory of evolution, and are convinced it is fact because "all the scientist pretty much agree on it", then you might be challenged by hearing what Ben has to say...

Anyone?

Change

2008-01-19T19:07:00.000-08:00

There's a book that's popular in the corporate world called "Who Moved My Cheese?" The story tells about two mice with different attitudes, who react differently when someone moves their cheese to a new location within their maze.

One mouse is set in his ways, used to his daily habit, and inflexible. The other mouse likes a challenge, is optimistic and highly flexible. As expected, the former mouse doesn't even try and go look to see where his cheese has gone, but the latter mouse sets out immediately to find it (and does).

The point of the analogy? Everything changes, and if you get stuck in the past, or even in the present, the world will pass you by. We must be flexible and constantly expecting change.

This is certainly true in the work world. Typewriter salesmen aren't making much money these days due to the the rise of the personal computer. Blockbuster is declining, Netflix is on the rise. AOL was huge in the early 90's, but almost nobody uses AOL anymore. Land-line phones are going away, replaced by cell phones. The world is changing rapidly, and we must be flexible enough to change with it or be left behind...

There's another similar book I've been reading at work which has really fascinated me. The premise of this book goes something like this (hang with me here...).

In the 1800's, the Industrial Revolution gave rise to the "factory worker", who spent long hours doing repetitive blue-collar work making things in factories. The result of this hard labor was a higher standard of living for most folks, who could now buy a variety of well-made stuff much more cheaply (think 1906 Sears catalog).

Over time, America's prosperity brought about new change. After WWII, much of the grueling factory work was sent overseas, to be done more cheaply in Japan. This gave rise to the white-collar "knowledge worker". This worker did well on the SAT test, went to college, studied hard, and landed an office job applying what he had learned as an engineer, lawyer, doctor, etc. The folks that succeeded at this were good at left-brained thinking, i.e. logical reasoning, cause and effect, mathematics, etc. These thinkers further raised the standard of living in America to the incredible level we enjoy today.

This is the America I grew up in. But, the author claims, another big change is just around the bend.

We are already seeing that, like blue-collar work 50 years ago, white-collar jobs are now being sent to low-cost countries like India and China. Many large corporations, like the one I work for, are sending their computer programming work overseas, to be done by well-educated Indian programmers earning less than a tenth of their American counterparts. It will not be enough anymore to be able to think logically and deductively -- there are people in third-world countries now who can do the same for much cheaper. Not to mention computers, which are replacing many repetitive "thinking" jobs.

So what will the successful worker of the 21st century look like?

This author claims that it will be those people who can do what the 3rd world workers and computers can't do: dream, create, and invent. The best jobs of the future will belong to those who have been looked down on during most of our generation: the artists, the musicians, the writers, the creators.

The future belongs to the dreamers, who thanks to technology are no longer limited by thoughts of "but how would I do that?" For example, PC software will make it possible for the least technical of us to create movies, produce music videos, create your own animated cartoons, etc. The technical side will no longer be the problem; we will only be limited by our own imaginations, our own creativity.

Soooo... what is the point of all this?

Well, for me, it has re-awakened in me the importance of creativity, of exercising the right side of my brain. I have decided to take some steps to re-awaken some of the creativity in me, the stuff we all thrived at when we were kids. Last week, I wrote a song (lyrics and music) for my band to play, and hope to continue to improve songwriting. Today at Target I bought a little sketch book, to try and get back into doing some drawing and sketching (which I have really neglected over the past ten years).

And last but not least, I did a little redesign of this blog page (in case you hadn't noticed). The images in the header all represent some of the things that interest me... sort of a visual representation of some of the things that make me...me.

Are you creating? Dreaming? Thinking about what could be? I hope so!

Album

2008-01-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

The CD Album Cover Game

After yesterday's fairly heavy post, I thought we needed something a little lighter...

“1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Save and edit the album picture, add the band name and album name in the fonts of your choice, and upload the final product to the flickr group “CD Cover Meme”

Go ahead and try it, you know you want to.

Murderers

2008-01-17T16:06:00.000-08:00

It's tough to turn on the news these days without hearing the horrible news that someone is missing, only to find a few days later that their body was found in the woods somewhere. I realize that it's not too uplifting of a topic, but today's blog post is about...mass murderers.

Berkowitz. Dahmer. Bundy.

We have grown to equate these names with pure evil. Some of our nation's most infamous killers, this trio was responsible for the slayings of dozens people. David Berkowitz, known as the Son of Sam, killed 7 people and wounded seven others in the course of eight shootings in NYC between 1976 and 1977. Jeffrey Dahmer tortured, killed, and cannibalized 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. And Ted Bundy confessed to 29 murders of young women across the United States, between 1974 and 1978.

These men were truly monsters, the worst of the worst. But what if I told you that a man had been discovered, right here in Greenville, who had murdered more people than all of these serial killers combined? Would it not be the story of the decade, the #1 news item on CNN, NBC, and Fox News?

Further, what if it was found that this man killed 100 victims over the past year alone? And that all of his victims were children under the age of 10? Can you imagine the outrage, the sheer horror we would feel? People would demand justice, pushing the police forces of the nation to put the capture of this child-killer as a #1 priority.

More time passes, and the police release another bombshell. It is true that all the victims were under age 10, but it is announced that in fact they were all infants less than a year old. Utter shock - a serial killer who targeted babies. Could it get any worse?

Yes, it could.

What if it came out that there were four other men in Greenville who committed the same horrible acts last year also...for a total of 500 innocent deaths? What if I told you that every city and town in the US has men like this, who are creating new massacres every day? What if I told you that the police, and in fact the public, have known the identities and locations of these men all along, and have done nothing about it? No criminal charges, no efforts to stop the insanity.

Well, every word of it is true. But it's OK, because we've made a nice word for it, to hide the horror.

Abortion.

Oh, that's not a fair analogy, you say. Abortion is LEGAL. Well, let me ask you this. Did Dahmer's victims ask to be torn apart? Did Berkowitz's victims beg to be shot? No, they were innocent victims of murder. In the same way, the killing of unborn babies is murder. They are defenseless, innocent victims of slaughter. Just because the mother, out of distress or desperation or selfishness, allows it to happen, it does not lessen the horror of what has happened - the murder of an innocent victim.

I personally believe that abortion is not just another "political issue" like immigration or the flat tax. No, it is far greater. It is a blight upon our nation, a shame so great that it affects the very heart of who we are as a people. Think about the numbers - a million murdered babies in the USA every year since 1973 - more than 30 million dead.

Some will say, "Oh, you're one of those one-issue voters." To that I say this. If my 1911 house were to catch fire in the middle of the night, do you think I would be concerned with the loose front porch railing? The unpainted trim in Zach's room? The drywall repair needed in the master bath? No, I would be a "one-issue" homeowner, running away from the flames. The magnitude of the one issue outweighs all the others.

And so, this Saturday I will go to the polls to vote for a person who I think would be the best to lead our country into the future. A person who realizes the vast horror that is occurring every day, every hour, in every corner of our great land. A person who will do everything in their power to plug the moral leak in the soul of our nation.

Will your vote help stop the horror, or perpetuate it?

Snow

2008-01-16T16:12:00.000-08:00

Greenville SC is currently under a Winter Storm Warning. Not a Winter Storm Alert, mind you, a Warning.

Buy your milk and bread now!!!

Cathy and I are all huddled up in our cozy living room, hoping it will snow. You see, we don't get a lot of snow here in SC. Cold rain, yes, sleet, yes, freezing rain, yes, ice storms, yes, snow, not so much.

I have some great memories of snowstorms, though.

Here in SC, the memories are few, but sweet. Back in 1993, South Carolina got a freak snowstorm in March, with over a foot of snow! Of course, I took a day of vacation, and the boys and I did the standard snow stuff: snow angels, snowball fights, snowman. In fact, the snowman we built was one of the better ones I can recall -- traditional shape, carrot, rocks for eyes, etc. Unfortunately, our dog at the time (stray Pomeranian mix named Pookie) didn't think as much of the snow man, and hiked his leg on it...

Then, there were a few good snow storms during the years we were at Pliney circle. One time, we had a late-night snowball war. We must have been outside until midnight, lobbing snow bombs over the house and having a general blast in the amber light of the street lamp. I remember Brandon and I hiding in the woods next to the house, waiting until someone (Zach and friend?) walked by, and then ambushing them with armfuls of ice balls. Seems I recall the victims didn't think it was as funny...

Cathy wasn't much for the snowball wars, but did make a mean snow cream! We would gather snow in those stainless steel mixing bowls, and then she would add in sugar, vanilla, and milk. Mmmmmmmm!

As a kid, I grew up in the Washington DC suburbs, where snow was pretty common in the winter. I have a lot of good memories of building igloos & snow fortresses, sledding on my Flexible Flyer with 20+ other neighborhood kids, and watching the snowplow go down our street. Once, I remember walking through 2-foot deep snow with my Dad to the 7-11 to buy milk -- that was a workout!

Why is it that everyone likes snow so much? I suppose the kids like it because it means no school and a day of play. And I suppose the grocery stores like it because bread and milk sales go through the roof. For the rest of us, I guess it brings a little bit of excitement and uncertainty into an otherwise drab winter. And those white, snow-covered days, where no cars are out and about sure are peaceful.

If I were a betting man, I'd be betting on freezing rain. But in my heart, I'm hoping and praying for snow!

Winter

2008-01-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

Winter + Cold + Windy + Freezing + Drafty + Sleet + Freezing Rain = Hate it.

Hot Chocolate + Wool + Layers + Scarf + Hot Showers + Space Heater + Flannel Sheets + Thick Socks + Fleece + Big Comforters + I Don't Live Up North = Thank you, Lord!

"George"

2008-01-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

Have you every met someone filled with joy? Someone who brightens your day every time you see them? The kind of person where you always feel better after being with them than before? I think we all know people like this.

On the other hand, have you ever me someone exactly opposite this? Someone who is perpetually negative, who can find fault with the most beautiful song, the prettiest flower, the best situation? A person who never fails to sap all the joy and energy out of you?

Well, I met one of those negative people yesterday. In fact, I meet him once a month.

For the sake of this blog post, we'll call him "George." George is my barber.

As a barber, he is great. Excellent attention to detail, very thorough, never knicks my ear with the scissors, etc. But, George is one of the most negative people I have ever met. He has "no use" for most things that normal people enjoy. As you can imagine, this makes for an extremely awkward half hour in the barber chair!

Our conversation yesterday went something like this:

Brian: Hey, George, how have you been!
George: All right.

[Brian sits in barber chair, followed by three minutes of awkward silence.]

Brian: So, did you have a good Christmas, George?
George: Survived it. Glad its over.
Brian: Did you have your kids and grandkids over?
George: No. They've got their own families. We've got ours.

[Five minutes of awkward silence.]

Brian: Say, George, do you ever go to downtown Greenville? They've really got it looking nice...
George: No reason to. Nothing they have down there I can't get here at home. Except crowds & traffic.

[More awkward silence...]

Brian: So, um, has business been pretty good?
George: Same as always. Work six days a week, standing up all day. Prices go up, but my pay never goes up. ...

Well, you get the idea.

I've given some thought to my encounters with George, and here's what I've come up with:

1. When I get older, I do not want to be a negative, grumpy person. Life is too short! I want to be the positive, joyful, edifying person, the one who makes peoples lives better. Negativity breed more and more negativity, and the result is...well, George.

2. Despite his demeanor, Jesus died for George. Even thought it is very difficult for me to LIKE George, much less LOVE him, scriptures command me to love him. I need to show Christ's love to him. Even if he never changes, I need to be a positive Christian example to him, once a month. Maybe God will even use me to change him...

3. I don't know what George has gone through. Maybe George has suffered a variety of things that, through God's grace, I've never had to endure. It's easy for me to judge, to say "look at what a great person I am compared to this negative man." But maybe God just wants me to offer friendship and encouragement, and not judge his character.

So, if you are the praying type, pray that God will give me the ability to be consistently positive, joyful, and Christlike every month when I go see George. Pray that George will come to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior, that God would change him from the inside out. Pray that Christ will plant a seed of joy in George's heart, and that it will grow wildly and uncontrollably, covering every dry and dusty clump of negativity in his soul.

God is good - let's live that way!

Construction

2008-01-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

I'm a creature of habit -- aren't we all?

Every day, I drive back and forth to my job, taking the same route. And on that route, there are two construction projects.

The first project is just a few hundred yards from my house. First Baptist Simpsonville is building a new worship facility to replace the current one, built in the 70s or 80s (which replaced the original sanctuary, built around 1910!). It is an impressive structure, with classic stone and brick exterior, and stadium seating inside. Everything on the exterior has gone up since fall, and all it lacks outside is the steeple and a few shingles.

The second project is the entrance to my workplace, MARC. As part of a site beautification project, they are renovating the main entrance. Out with the old barbed wire fence and guard shack, in with a professionally landscaped gateway. The new entrance will boast an arbor, lots of shrubs/trees/plants, concrete & brick walkways, and an outdoor cafe area for employees to eat lunch.

In each of these cases, the price of the "new thing" was the destruction of the "old thing".

In the case of First Baptist, clearing the construction site meant tearing down four wonderful old houses. Those houses were all built around 1905-1910, by the same man who built our house. Since Cathy and I are "old house people", it broke our hearts to see these awesome houses bulldozed. Fortunately, we were able to work out a deal with the salvage company, and I managed to get some great parts and pieces to use in the restoration of our house.

In the case of the MARC entrance, demolition crews had to tear down fences, guard shacks, and gates, and dig up sidewalks and asphalt roadways. Plants were uprooted and thrown away, and even the huge flagpole got the heave-ho!

The reason these construction projects stand out to me is that my life is currently "under construction". I am a little past a week into 2008, and the New Years resolutions I made are going well. I have been getting to bed and to work an hour earlier, working through a great Bible study on David, and working out daily at the Michelin fitness center.

Just like real construction projects require tearing out the old, outdated things in order to make place for the new, so it has been in my life. For years, I have been all about one concept: "I am not a morning person". This was my mantra, which I would repeat to anyone who challenged me on it. No matter what, I just wasn't going to get up early.

It wasn't until this New Year's that I asked myself the classic Dr. Phil question - how's that been working for you?

The truth was, it hadn't been working too well. There were things that, year after year, needed improvement in my life, and my old solutions just weren't working. So after some prayer, I came to the conclusion that I was going to need to make some big changes, and prayed that God would help me rip out old habits and create brand new ones in their place.

So far, so good!

Come spring, I hope to see three new things in my daily routine: the towering steeple of the new First Baptist sanctuary, a professionally landscaped MARC entrance, and a new "me" (outside and inside).

Time

2008-01-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

This Christmas, I got a great present from my father.

Which sounds strange, since Dad passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) several years ago... Let me explain.

First, some background. Last year, the cheapie $1 Timex watch I bought at Goodwill finally gave out. The little LCD numbers would fade in and out, and eventually were more "out" than "in", to the point where I couldn't see any numbers at all. Time for a new watch.

Now, I've always been a bit of a "frugal shopper" when it comes to watches: $25 for a Timex LCD at Walmart, and I'm good to go for the next few years. But recently, a guy I work with introduced me to the concept of "automatic" watches. Automatic watches don't use batteries like quartz watches, and they don't require winding either like antique watches did. Instead, they have a tiny little rotating weight in them which winds the watch "automatically" as your arm moves back and forth during the day. Cool, huh?

So, this fall, I bought a beautiful Seiko 5 automatic watch from a guy in Singapore off of eBay. It has been great -- stainless steel case, deep blue dial, glow in the dark hands and markers, etc. And this has led to an interest in older, non-quartz watches.

Fast-forward a few months. Christmas 2007, and I'm up in Virginia visiting my Mom. I seemed to recall that my Dad had a couple older wristwatches, so I asked her if she had kept any. She looked in his bureau, and found an old gold wristwatch buried under a bunch of stuff. It wasn't running, and I asked her if I could restore it and wear it. She said I could have it, so I brought it home.

After a bit of research, here's what I found. The watch is a swiss Wittnauer automatic from the late '50s or early '60s, with a 10k gold-filled case. It was made by the Longines-Wittnauer company, which is a well-respected make in watch collector circles. These watches were well-designed, and should run for many years without much maintenance...

Looking at the whole situation, I'm not quite sure where my recent interest in watches has come from. I do know that in 2007, more than ever before, I have become acutely aware of the rapid passage of time. The boys are grown, I'm getting a few gray hairs, the possibility of grandchildren exists in the not-too-far future, and I'm praying about what God has in store for me in the next phase of my life.

Ephesians 5:15-16 says, "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." It is my desire to use my time more wisely, to use the gift of time for God's glory.

So, I hope that soon, Dad's fine Swiss watch will be repaired, restored, and worn proudly on my wrist. I hope that every time I glance at it, it will remind me of my Dad, who I miss.

But more importantly, I hope that God will use it as a regular reminder that each day is a gift from Him, to be used wisely for His purposes.

Eve

2007-12-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

It's New Year's eve... and you know what that means.

No, not partying, not champagne, not streamers, not Dick Clark. No, in the Baker home, New Year's Eve means only one thing...

Twilight Zone marathon on Sci-Fi channel!

OK, I realize this marks me as an old geezer who just sits home and watches TV when he should be out on the town. But for some reason, I just love the old TZ episodes. Could it have something to do with the fact that, compared with most of today's TV shows, they actually had a PLOT? Granted, many of the plots were pretty much the same, to the point where you can almost guess what's going to happen. But I love 'em anyway, and so does Cathy for that matter.

Here are some of our favorite episodes w/ summaries. Do you remember any of them?

Kick the Can (on now!) - Old man discovers the secret to staying young
A Stop At Willoughby - Overworked business man dreams of escaping to picturesque old town, finally does
The Masks - Dying millionaire makes his greedy kids wear masks that mimic their personalities
The Eye of the Beholder - Episode is shot from point of view of "ugly" girl having gauze removed from face
Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up? - Stranded bus passengers meet in a diner, try to discover which one among them is an alien
To Serve Man - Alien race comes to earth promising much, but ending has a twist
Five Characters In Search Of An Exit - Five people are stuck in a gray room, trying to figure out where they are and how to get out
Living Doll - Telly Savalas (Kojak) is a father who gives his daughter a hatefull doll named Talking Tina
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet - Classic over-acting by a young William Shatner, who sees a monster on the airplane
Hocus Pocus and Frisby - Aliens abduct Mr. Frisby, a tall tale teller, thinking he's the smartest man on earth
Time Enough At Last - A hen-pecked bookworm survives a nuclear blast and finds time to read
The Obsolete Man - An Orwellian state in the future declares that a man is "obsolete" and must be destroyed
It's A Good Life - A young boy can do anything by just thinking it,with disastrous results
A Most Unusual Camera - Some folks stumble upon a camera that takes pictures of events that haven't happened yet

Rod Serling, the show's writer, certainly had an active imagination. If you too are a TZ fan, check out this cool website, that groups the episodes according to categories.

Oh well, have a great New Year's Day, and a great 2008!

2007

2007-12-30T16:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a rainy Sunday night, and the second-to-last day of the year. Not a bad time to look back at 2007.

God truly has blessed our family in 2007. These are the "good old days" that everyone talks about! Here are few of the many good things God gave me in 2007:

Continued good health

My 40th birthday (January)
No cavities!
No major or even minor health problems - I need to make good use of these healthy years!

Great times with my great family

Brandon and Megan's wedding (July)
Best wife in the world, Cathy
Game nights with Brandon, Megan, Zach, and Sarah (Scrabble words - oh mercy!)
Summer grilling nights with new Weber grill - mmmmmmm
Anniversary trip to Hendersonville with Cathy (great) and Rupert (not so great)
Our first grand-dog, Maya (ha!)

Musical fullfillment

Three fun days picking bluegrass at SPBGMA convention in Nashville (January)
34 shows with my bluegrass band, Last Road
Awesome 3-part harmonizing with Dave & Benji!
Sharing the gospel in a non-threatening way through our original bluegrass gospel tunes
Progress learning to play the mandolin - loving my Steffey F5!

Spiritual blessings

Another year of incredible worship services at Crossroads Community Church (www.crccsc.org)
Three seasons of friendship, fun, and spiritual growth with our Crossroads Life Group, led by the Prouts.

The privilege of serving as a teacher for my KidZone class of 3rd to 5th grade boys for another year
More introspection this year -- God has been allowing me to understand more and more about myself, pro and con, this year. This is helping me to tear down the tower of self-reliance in my life, and to finally begin to rely on Him.

Other

Progress on our old house - renovated the guest bathroom, new kitchen flooring, lots of landscaping
New iPod (love it!)
Another year of great joy (and great frustration) with our dog, Rupert!

I'm sure there's a lot I've missed, but suffice it to say that God has richly blessed me this past year. These are the years when I need to be investing my life in others, and setting out to acheive the tasks that God has created me to achieve.

I'm looking forward to a great 2008.

Plan

2007-12-26T16:25:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

I haven't made a blog post in a while, what with the Christmas season busy-ness and all. I'm looking forward to getting back into my blogging once the new year hits.

Speaking of which...

I've never been much into the whole "new year's resolution" thing. I suppose its because I don't like making promises I generally don't seem to be able to keep. But this year, for some reason, is different. I am actually excited about making a "plan" for the upcoming year. Certain ideas have been bouncing around in my head over the past few weeks, and I'm going to attempt (in this blog post) to capture them and get them down in writing.

There are two areas in my life that I know need improving, and which I want to address by rearranging my daily routines.

First, I was very disappointed in 2007 at my own track record of daily devotions. I simply have not, for whatever reason, carved out a good time/place combination to regularly meet with God on a daily basis. This, of course, has led to my failing to meet a variety of spiritual goals, as well a general "blah" feeling in my Christian walk. So, I want to do a better job in 2008 of having meaningful, regular devotional times.

Second, I didn't do very well in 2007 in the area of personal health and fitness. I should be eating well and exercising, but last year I did neither. As a result, there's MORE of me to love than ever before! Ha! More and more, I am aware of the fact that I am aging, and that life really is short. I want to be around for my grandkids, and so I need to start taking better care of myself.

So, here's my plan for 2008...

- Go to bed an hour earlier (10 PM instead of 11 PM), and get up an hour earlier (6 AM instead of 7 AM).

This will enable me to...

- Get to work an hour earlier (7 AM instead of 8 AM)

This will enable me to...

- Have a half-hour devotion (7-7:30 AM, when I'm alert and things at the office are quiet).

AND

- Work out at the fitness center for a half-hour (walk/run three days a week, lift weights 2 days/week)

In addition, I am planning to:

- Eat healthier (no french fries, no sodas on work days, one soda per day on weekends, minimal sweets/desserts, more fruits/veggies)

- Walk in the park after work with Cathy when she is available/willing (and the weather cooperates)

These are some pretty big changes for me. The going to bed earlier will cut into my "free time" at night, but most of that is wasted on silly web-surfing anyway. The getting up earlier will be tough, as I am NOT a morning person.

But I think I can make these changes, and stick with them. I'm looking forward to the results: less physical Brian, more spiritual Brian.

Sounds like a plan, huh?

Christmas

2007-12-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas!

Probably all of us love Christmas, I suppose. Whether its the secular Christmas (presents, shopping, Santa, reindeers, elves, etc) or the true Christian holiday (Luke 2, Advent, the coming of the Messiah, Mary Did You Know?, etc), there's something truly special about this time of year.

I have some great memories of Christmas as a kid. I remember David and I getting matching "laser machine guns", the kind that make the obnoxious "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" noise when you pull the trigger. I remember Santa stopping by our house the week before Christmas and giving me a Dymo Labelmaker. I think I labelled everything in my room that year!

When I got a little older, and Angela came on the scene, I started to learn that joy could be found in GIVING gifts, not just RECEIVING gifts. One of my favorite gifts I ever gave was the Play-Doh Fuzzy Pumper I gave Angela when she was maybe 5 or 6. Basically, you packed Play-Doh into a little barber chair and inserted a little figurine with a bald head with holes in it. Then, when you pushed a button or lever, the Play-Doh would come squirting out the head holes like hair! You then gave haircuts using the little plastic scissors. Angela loved that toy, and I loved seeing the joy on her face when she played with it.

Fast forward ten or so years, and I found myself in the role of a stepparent with two young Christmas-loving boys. Now, Christmas at our house had RULES. For example, if one boy received a large gift, the other boy better darn well have a large gift or he was going to be upset! If one boy got, say, 10 gifts, the other boy better not end up with only 9!

Brandon and Zach's favorite gifts for a number of years were those little GI Joe action figures. Each figure came with a few weapons (little plastic knives, guns, flamethrowers, etc), but the boys generally dumped the weapons out on the floor and just took out the GI Joe. I have fond memories of walking around in my bare feet on Christmas morning and feeling a small plastic dagger insert itself into the tender area between my toes! Ouch!

Another memory is the year I bought the boys one of those electric slot car tracks. Not because they wanted, it, mind you. They had no idea what slot cars were...I wanted it because it was one of the presents I wanted but never got when I was a kid! I think they played with it twice, and I sat there for hours using it. Cathy just rolled her eyes (at least one of her "boys" was happy!).

This year, the boys are grown and there are no small children around. The "magic" of Christmas will be found not in the exaggerated expressions of delighted children, but instead in the still quiet voice that whispers the real meaning of Christmas. In Luke Chapter 2, in the eyes of the awestruck shepherds, in the wondering eyes of a young Mary, in the joy on the old lined face of Simeon as he proclaimed:

"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

May you have a blessed Christmas -- God is with us!

Linus

2007-11-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight, Cathy and I watched my favorite Christmas program of all time.

The Charlie Brown Christmas special.

Made in 1966, a year before I was born, this Christmas special gets better every year I watch it. It could very well be the perfect Christmas presentation, IMHO. It was Charles Schultz's masterpiece.

First, the music. From the classic Peanuts piano jazz intro, to the "loo-loo-loo" version of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", to the relaxing swishy snare drum brushes... Just one minute in to this show, the music has taken me back 35 years. Awesome.

Second, the dance scene. Come on, you know you love it. You can picture all the dancers in your head... The twin smiley girls swishing their hair from side to side... The guy doing the running man in the back... The guy doing the shoulder-shrug dance... PigPen thumping the upright bass...

Third, and most importantly, the message. At the beginning, Charlie Brown expresses to psychiatrist Lucy his feelings of alienation and confusion. What is Christmas really about? Lucy tells him he needs "involvement", so he signs up to direct the Christmas play. But involvement doesn't bring him any happiness - the other kids continually tear him down and label him a loser. Even Snoopy has given in to materialism, with his neon-glowing doghouse.

In perhaps my favorite TV scene of all-time, Charlie Brown asks Linus if there is anyone who knows what Christmas is really all about. Linus says calmly, "I'll tell you what Christmas is about, Charlie Brown."

And for the next minute, Linus gives the complete account of Christ's birth from Luke Chapter 2. And from that point on, Charlie Brown realizes what Christmas is all about, and leaves with a completely changed attitude.

That scene always brings a tear to my eye. It is such a beautiful, simple, non-threatening, childlike presentation of the greatest news ever told. It occurred to me that this scene may be the ONLY presentation of the gospel message that some people will ever really hear. I mean, when was the last time you heard a Bible account on prime-time TV?

My Christmas wish this year? I hope that as the years go by, the TV executives will still choose to air this wonderful Christmas special. I hope that millions will watch it, hear the simple message of Luke 2, and come away changed like Charlie Brown.

Kudos, Mr. Schultz.

Update

2007-11-25T17:43:00.001-08:00

Wow, one month until Christmas!

Some random things going on over the last several days:

Last Road - We started recording our first "studio" CD last Saturday, at OMG Studios in downtown Greenville. It was a long, tiring process, but exciting as well. Unfortunately, of the 12 songs we hope to record, we only laid down the music to 3 songs that day! We may end up having to charge $50 per CD in order to re-coup our investment! Ha!
Mandolin - Went to Owings jam session last night, and enjoyed getting to play the mandolin a bit. My 2002 Gibson Adam Steffey F5 is an awesome instrument -- low action, easy to play, huge volume and tone. God is good!
Christmas trees - Put up our fake-o tree Friday...bought and put up an 8-ft real tree on Saturday...helped Brandon and Megan put up their real tree from NC on Saturday as well. Look like a forest in here!
Christmas music - Charter cable has a great music channel with traditional Christmas music (Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Sinatra, etc). The channel is called Showcase, and its #924 for us. Every year, I begin to appreciate the crooners a little more.... I must be getting old.
Work - For the last four or five months, I have been in transition between jobs (within Michelin). I've been doing 50% of my time in each job (feels like 80% in each!). Anyhow, I officially become full-time at the new position on December 10th.
Fun - Zach and I have a tradition of playing 2-player, tactical shooter games (in co-op mode) during the holidays. Worked through some levels of Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six this weekend...good fun.

I'm really tired, and the four-day weekend is officially over, so I'll post again sometime this week.

Later!

Rivendell

2007-11-20T19:12:00.000-08:00

There's a scene in the movie "Lord of the Rings" where Frodo Baggins travels to the elven outpost called Rivendell. In the movie, Rivendell is portrayed as an unbelievably beautiful city, carved of stone in the the sides of a steep and majestic valley. Frodo's arrival coincides with the autumn, and Rivendell's trees are alive with color: rich brown, fiery orange, bright yellow, and royal burgundy...

Well, this week Simpsonville has the appearance of Rivendell!

I must be getting older, because every year I am taking more and more notice of the beauty that God has surrounded us with. As a kid and young adult, I never took much notice of the fall colors. I mean, sure they were there, but what's the big deal, right?

Every day this week, as I drove home from work, I was amazed at the absolute beauty of the fall colors. It occurred to me that in many areas of life, God has provided incredible surroundings in our lives, and we often are blind to them. Like the fall colors that I am finally beginning to see, what other things in my life have been there all along, yet I have failed to see them and thank God for them?

As Thanksgiving approaches, I'm praying that God will open my eyes to ALL the blessings I'm missing in my life, so that I can give Him back the thanks he wants and deserves!

Success

2007-11-15T19:03:00.001-08:00

Today, driving home from work, I somehow got thinking about success.

What is success? Am I successful now? When my life is over, will people consider my life to have been successful? Will God?

Back when I was 23, and had just become a true Christ-follower, I read a book called "Man In The Mirror". The author talked about success, as defined by the world versus as defined by Christ. I decided then and there that I would not get caught up in the rat race, trying to be successful by the world's standards: money, fame, power, position, material possessions. Instead, I would define success in my life as God defines it: putting Christ first, treating others well, giving, serving, loving, bearing fruit for His kingdom.

Since then, 17 years have passed, and it occurred to me today that in many ways my life so far has been a success, according my own definition. Though far from perfect (ask Cathy), I have been a faithful husband t0 my wife. We raised our two sons in a Christian household, and they have grown up to be fine young men who are following Christ and actively serving Him. Of course, we must give Jesus full credit for these successes, for it was His strengths in us (not our weaknesses) that produced these good things.

In some other ways, I feel I really have not hit the mark: putting Christ first, growing in my relationship with Him, learning the Word, prayer. And I realize that these are some of the most important things Christ wants me to be successful in.

So driving home today, looking at the beautiful fall colors, it hit me that as a 40-year old empty nester, I really need to evaluate how I will use the years I have left. As the old question goes, if I found out I had incurable cancer and had six months to live, what would I do differently today? This week? By the end of the month?

Then why not do these things now???

I'm beginning to give some thought, in the back of my mind, to what God wants me to do in the next five or ten years. A couple things have bubbled to the surface, and I am praying about them.

Stay tuned -- when the Holy Spirit is done revealing them, I'll let you in on it.

God is good.

Lint

2007-11-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

Ahh, the joys of old-house ownership! The latest recently-discovered problem with our old house?

Lint.

It seems that the folks who started restoring our 1911 house neglected to run the dryer vent to the outside of the house. Instead, I found a length of flexible tubing hanging in the crawlspace, with a big pile of dryer lint under it!

This would not be a big issue, except for the fact that dryer lint is quite flammable. In fact, when my boys were in Cub Scouts, our den leader had the boys bring Ziploc bags of dryer lint to the Webelos Wild campout, because it makes such good tinder for starting fires!

So, tonight, I crawled around the crawlspace (thus the name?) and collected big wads of dryer lint. Fairly soon, I'll need to install some vent piping to the outside of the house.

You know, like normal houses have. :)

Classic

2007-11-09T18:26:00.001-08:00

I've had my 40GB third-generation iPod for about three years now, and it has seen some serious use. I'm talking, many hours a day, many days per year use. So lately, the battery has been wearing down, to the point where I only get about 45 minutes or an hour of play before the thing goes dead.

So, I says to myself, it's time for a new iPod!

After all, it has been a few years, and much has changed in the iPod world since then. There's the new iPod Touch, which is basically a iPhone with no phone capability (!?!). But alas, it only holds 16GB max, and I have about 25 GB of music. The iPod Nanos are also flash-memory based and only go up to 8 or 16 GB.

But, there is a new hard-drive iPod in town, the new iPod Classic. The classic comes in 80 GB and 160 GB models (!!!). I don't need that much room, but I need more than 16 GB, so the Classic was my only option. The Classic is basically the same as the iPod Video (5th generation), but has an slimmer all-aluminum case. Also, the software has the flashy (but not super useful) "Cover Flow" mode, where you can scroll through all your album covers.

Anyhow, I broke down and bought a silver 80GB iPod classic, and I'm loving it. In fact, I'm blasting some tunes on it as I write this! The battery life is rated at 30 hours, but if I get a consistent 10+ for a couple years, I'll be delighted.

Who would have thought that I could take my entire (huge) CD collection with me wherever I go, and it would fit in my shirt pocket? Ain't technology great? God is good.