Global warming.  Happening?  Not happening?  Here are the latest findings from the robots who traverse the oceans to gauge water temperatures. 

They say the results are puzzling.  I have a different word for it.  Crap.  If you actually read this article (and I can’t blame you if you don’t) you will see that it is incredibly easy to spin these results as you wish.  Sea levels up?  Glaciers are melting.  Sea level down?  The water temperatures are cooler.  But wait…if the water temperatures are cooler, doesn’t that hurt the global warming argument?  Of course not.  More Kool-Aid, sir?

I am reading a book right now called “Liberal Fascism:  The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.”  Pick up your copytoday.  I am only through about 100 pages (NOT a light read) and I have had to go back and re-read parts that have melted my brain.  This book provides great historical insight into where we are as a country and where we are headed unless things change.  And I sure don’t mean Barack Obama change.  “Change” in his campaign slogan is code for “let’s just go down the path we are headed faster.” 

On a lighter note, Jesus is enough.

I hope everybody is safe and sound today as one of the negative aspects of spring rears it’s ugly head.  There are tornadoes popping up all across metro Atlanta and just when you think everything is calm, another super cell comes through.

Per my last post, I have been struggling with the old blog lately.  I can’t pinpoint it, but I can say that the thought of sitting down and laying something out here has been similar to the feeling I get when I think about some of the home projects I have been meaning to get around to.    No desire at all.  I am forcing this one, hoping that the pump may be primed and the words will flow once again.  Time will tell.  Chip posted a masterful blog laying out the different stages of blogging.  Absolutely one of the best posts I have ever read.  However, it did make me a bit uncomfortable as my beautiful wife will tell you I can’t stand all the Viagra, Propecia, Cialis, etc. ads on tv.  I think they bother me on two fronts:  1) I must be old enough for them to be hitting their target advertising audience during the shows I am watching, and 2) if you needed these pharmaceuticals, wouldn’t you go find them on their own?  Okay, there are three things.  I just thought of one more.  I can’t take the looks on the men’s faces after they have “done the deed.”  I can’t take this paragraph any farther without getting filtered by the Internets.  I would hate for my blog to get flagged.  Moving on.

My little boy is growing up quickly.  We are having a “come stay in our storm shelter celebrate Levi’s birthday party early” day with Nan’s family.  He will be freaking 7 (SEVEN) on March 20.  Next Thursday.  Wow.  I can remember so much about his life in great detail; when he was an infant, his first steps, first word, words, sentences, discussions (I am blessed with an inquisitive little guy), potty training, first day of school, etc.  He is an amazing young man with an incredible heart for the Lord and for people.  He is sensitive, yet he will put you on your azz if you cross him.  Not really, but he is tough.  He has a focus and intensity that I didn’t have and I can thank my beautiful wife for some good genetics in that department.  Thanks, baby.  He is what I have always prayed for.

Do remember the robot cake?  Well, Nan outdid herself this time and made a Sanford stadium replica cake for this birthday.  I will get pics up later.  She rules.  Not literally, but you know what I mean.

Did anybody check out Jason Morant after I blogged about him a while back?  You are missing out if you didn’t.  Check.  Him.  Out.

and that is a good thing.  Another good thing is Matteo’s “10 Things” blog that only me and Annie have read because Matteo has fallen of the face of the earth and we seem to have forgotten about him.  Well, Matt, I will never forget you or your blog and now at least two more people will read your list.  Well done, buddy.   Everybody do yourself a favor and go read the best 10 I have seen yet.

Bill sent me a link to an interesting-looking movie.  Check out the trailer at www.expelledthemovie.com.  This is right up my alley and I feel that Christians should go see this and examine how free speech isn’t really free for all anymore.

That’s all I got.  Blogging has been really low on the desire list.  Maybe that will change, maybe it won’t.  I was all geared up to hit the ground running with the new site and all, but it hasn’t been as inspiring as I thought.  Que sera, sera.

I am not afraid to admit that I crawl inside the TV to “escape the harsh realities of everyday life.”  I wait until after the kids go to bed, of course, and my faithful wife and I disappear into our favorite shows.  After we have read the Bible, prayed on our knees for hours and gone door-to-door, witnessing to our neighbors.  THEN we sit down and do something for ourselves.  Most of you know I am a huge fan of American Idol.  I won’t comment on the show at this time, but will definitely do so in the future.  I think the reason I like the show so much is it leads me out of winter into spring.  January until spring is the worst time of year for me.  No college football.  The NBA is going on.  Cold.  Thankfully rainy lately.  Yech.  But fear not!  Help is on the way!  Here it comes!    

I think I am looking most forward to seeing Creed Bratton on “The Office.”

I am optimistic about the shows coming back and being entertaining.  If you happened to catch Saturday Night Live this past weekend, you would have seen that the writer’s strike did nothing but help them to freshen up their act.  It was one of the best SNL’s I can remember.  It sucked for the last 10 minutes, like usual, but the stuff leading up to that point was pretty good.  Some even hilarious.  Having the always funny Tina Fey hosting didn’t hurt.

I was pretty disappointed when I found that “24″ wouldn’t be airing until next year.  Upon further reflection, though, I am actually relieved.  Last season was the most implausible of all the implausible seasons that have taken place so far.  I hope the writers of that show have been eating some brain food during their time off. 

I guarantee this will be the last of the posts today.  I started political, threw in some entertainment and will end politically after reading this article (*editor’s note: article was removed from site, discovered on 2/27) on Evan Coyne Maloney’s awesome site. It is unbelievable the stuff that is taking place on college campuses in the name of political correctness.   And the double standards are sick.  Basically you can promote any religion other than Christianity.  Hmmm…..do you think there is evil at work in the world today?   People are being deceived and people that may have an interest in finding out who Jesus is may be dissuaded from searching for fear of being outcast.  Well, Jesus was the ultimate outcast.  People were afraid of Him and they didn’t want Him in their midst.  I pray that this oppressive spirit over our colleges and young people will be broken in Jesus’ name.  Every knee.  Every tongue.  One day. 

When I first heard Leeland’s debut CD, I was amazed at the depth of the lyrics.  The music was great, as well, but the lyrics were the kind that you actually listen to.  When I found out Leeland Mooring, the guy who wrote the songs was 16 and 17 when he wrote them, the CD got even better.  

Today Leeland’s new CD was released and thanks to my trusty subscription to Rhapsody, I have already had the chance to listen to it.  All I can say is, WOW.  Mat Kearney has a song where he talks about how as a musician you have your entire life to write the songs that will be on your debut record (freshman LP’s).  Then you have about two years to repeat the process and are expected to do better on your sophomore effort than you did on the first.  Leeland has completely busted the sophomore slump that so often happens in music:  artist puts out a great album, everybody buys/loves said album and then, POOF.  They are gone.  The landscape is littered with the remnants of once great bands who are no longer relevant.  I think it was the philosopher Chris Rock who once said about the fickle nature of the music business, “Here today, gone TODAY.”  

 

If you haven’t ever listened to Leeland, give them a shot.  If you have and like their work, take a listen to the new record.  It is amazing. 

I came across this great article this morning and wanted to pass it along.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0310/019.html

My new MacBook Pro arrived last Friday and I must say, it is sweet little maching.  There are many news areas to explore, many new tricks to learn.  But it is amazing and I am glad I bought it.

We were awakened by an amazing thunderstorm this morning.  You probably were, too, it you are in metro Atlanta.  I actually love thunderstorms but worry about tornadic activity when they are going on.  This morning the lightning was like a strobe light.  I am constantly amazed by the intensity of the rainfall and the speed at which it accumulates and forms rivers and streams where rivers and streams normally aren’t.  During these storms, my thoughts always turn to the amazing power of the Lord. 

Has anybody seen any of the movies that were nominated for an Oscar (best picture, to be specific)?  I haven’t.  Let me know if anything is any good.  I have heard Daniel Day Lewis is amazing in “There Will be Blood” but the movie is nearly unwatchable.  We have “Michael Clayton” here to watch but haven’t had time yet.  I don’t know if it was up for best picture, but I know people associated with it were. 

I know you skipped that global warming article above.  Go back and read it. 

Well, I have been tagged by H so I will give you a random 10 list.  Some of this stuff you may already know if you read the Time Magazine Man of the Year article about me.  I kept some stuff from them just for you.

1) I wasn’t Time Magazine’s Man of the Year.  Or anything.

2) I love to play WWII games on my PC. 

3) I read every night before going to bed.

4) I used to power lift back in the day and my personal drug-free best on the bench press was 465 pounds.  On drugs I benched eleventy billion pounds.

5) This one time, at beach retreat, a girl on the trip broke the rules and rented a Moped.  And promptly wiped out.  We let her stay but I had to literally carry her in my arms the rest of the week much like a groom would carry his bride over the threshold.  Everywhere we went. 

6) I have Hall and Oates greatest hits on my MP3 player.

7) I am putting off getting my wisdom teeth pulled and I know I shouldn’t.  Put off getting them pulled, that is.

My first car was a 1985 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer.  It was brown and my dad had kind of ragged it out before he gave it to me.  I called it the brown hornet.  I laugh thinking of how funny it would be to be driving it today.  It seemed large at the time, but it wasn’t.  I just posted this and the #8 is a smiley face.  I had nothing to do with that.  That would be number 11.  I hate those smiley faces and other faces that indicate your mood.

9) I hate it that we, as a society, tend to wait until something is right on us before addressing it.  A little foresight would be nice.  Example: when growth is coming to an area, you should beef up your infrastructure to accommodate it.  Same with your water reservoirs.

10) I cut my own hair every two weeks like clockwork.  I used to cut Levi’s, too, but we are growing it out a bit and my talent at hair cutting stops when the clippers and guard won’t do the job.

I tag Matt the Lone Bull.  Because a) I want to hear from him, and 2) I think everybody else has been tagged.  If not, JBloggs, get hopping.

Much love to all the bloggers who came to B2F3 last night.  I personally had a great evening and want to shout out on these here Internets how thankful I am for Caroline opening her home to us and  cooking such a wonderful meal.  It was delicious. 

 It is always interesting to chat with people about different issues, events and what have you.  Our group spans a good age range and the thoughts shared and topics discussed have even opened doors of conversation for me today. 

It isn’t on your calendar, but today is a very important day for me.  Today is “Doughnuts with Dad” day at Levi’s school.  This is a very sacred ritual(!) event that brings out the best in men, their children and sugar loaded breakfasts.  We arrive at the school a little before class begins and sit down and get to eating.  They provide the doughnuts and recoup the costs by charging a buck a head at the door.  We are exempt from the charge because of the peanut allergy Levi has.  It’s BYOD for us (Entenmann’s, of course).  The money stays right where it belongs…in my wallet. 

It is a fun time for us but I am sure it is even more than that for the other dad’s who probably don’t get to see their children as much as I do.  We ended in a sweet time of prayer and I thanked the Lord that I am so blessed to be able to hang with my kids so much and prayed that other dad’s would find/make time for that as well. 

Switching gears here, but do you see the impact the destruction of the family has had on our country and the world?  There is so much bad stuff going on that can be traced back to the family’s breakup.  Fathers aren’t around to help raise their children and the numbers of kids who haven’t had a dad in their home (but may have had many strange men in their homes) is staggering.  I feel there is a lost generation out there floating aimlessly.  Is this something that can be fixed?  I hate to ask if we can go back to the way it was because I don’t think that’s possible.  But something has to be done to raise up strong, complete families.  Couples look to divorce as the first option in many cases when tensions arise and that shouldn’t be. 

It was awesome to see so many kids huddled under the protective arms of their fathers this morning, receiving prayer and being interceded for.  It gave me some serious hope.

Well, welcome to the new blog.  I have been suffering a bit creatively and thought a new start was in order.  I am an avid reader of another person’s WordPress blog and thought I would check it out for myself.  It’s free and hopefully will start some creative juices flowing.  I feel much blogging coming on and I felt this change was due.  I hope you will follow me and check back often.  I will link this new URL on my Blogger site and redirect people here.  If you have my linked on your current site, that’s cool.  Folks can check out the other stuff I had there and hopefully jump over to this new one.  The real reason is that I have always wanted to do this:  cheeseburgercheeseburgercheeseburger.  Now I am happy.  I’ll try not to abuse that button.

Check back often!