You may ask yourself from time-to-time, "Why would anyone be awake at 4am?". I find myself asking myself that very question this morning. I have actually been awake for about half an hour, but I have already taken the ime to clean out and organize my inbox. What else do people do at this time of the day (err... night?). Oh yeah, sleep. Well, I tried that one, but it didn't work out so well for me.

Since I am awake, I thought I would catch you up on what I have been up to.

I started reading a new book, The Irresistible Revolution, and I can't stop reading it. Well, that's not completely true. Of course, I can stop reading it. I just find myself not wanting to. It is by Shane Claiborne1, and is autobiographical in nature. It is hard to explain why I find it so great, but it rocks my soul. Sometimes I read it and think, "That's what I think." Then, I read something he did, and I think, "That's what I think." See the difference? If you have ever found yourself tired of hearing about church or annoyed by Christians, you may want to check out this book. It is not about some religiosity, but it's about being what he calls an ordinary radical.

Remind me to tell you the story of the Prodigal Cat.

Recently, I've been spending time with my... err... brother? Brian. The hesitation is due mostly to the difference in the definition of the word brother and the connotation that it carries. Brian and I have the same father, but different mothers. By definition that makes us half-brothers. However, we are a little over six years apart in age, didn't grow up to togeteher, and barely know one another. I grew up with my older (whole?) sister Constance and my younger half-sister Leslie, but though Leslie and I share a mother and a dad, but not a father2, she has never been my "half" sister. You say half-sister and people immediately think, "Oh, I get it. She's not your real sister." Which couldn't be farther from the truth. So, by definition Brian and I are half-brothers, but it's easier when introducing him to say, "This is my brother, Brian." But, then you get blank stares from people that sort of know you, but don't know the whole story because they are thinking, "I never knew you had a brother?!?"3 But, then, the people that don't know you that well hear you call him your brother, and that carries the certain assumptions with it 4. You see, it's complicated. Maybe this is one of the reasons why God isn't a big fan of divorce?!? The point is that Brian and I have been hanging out lately, and though it may occasionally be awkward, all-in-all it's not a bad thing.

Most of you know that I'm also preparing to become a father, and hopefully a dad (see note 2). Every day I get more excited about the baby. Kim's belly keeps growing, which she sometimes gets concerned about, but I think it's amazing. But, I'm not the one that has to carry around an extra 25% of my body weight, and deal with my back hurting. I've seen this baby on the ultrasound, and I've felt it move, and I want to say that I am ready for it to emerge into this world, but I am not sure I will ever truly be ready for it. I'm not sure how this works, but I find myself already feeling like I love our baby. That seems weird to me for some reason. Can I love someone I have never met? Can I love someone knowing that when we do meet, they are going to scream at me and make demands that take away from what I want to do? Logically, it doesn't make sense.

Well, it is late/early so I am going back to bed. I hope you all have a great day.

Side Notes: (Which are in fact different than footnotes.)
Chris Sexton bought a bus. Incredible!
Today is my birthday.

1. ↩You may have just thought, "Oh, no, he di-int put a foot note in his blog." Oh, yes, I did. Shane Claiborne has some of the funniest footnotes in his book, but I didn't add footnotes in an attempt to copy him.


2. ↩That's another story, but if you know me, you probably get it. You might get it even if you don't know me. FYI... I wanted to put this aside in the my blog without bogging down the post. This is where the idea of footnotes in my blog was born.


3. ↩Some of them actually say it, and that is always a bit awkward.


4. ↩Like maybe you know when each others birthdays are.
   Okay, maybe I am taking the footnote thing to far. I think I am going to make this the last one for this post.

Labels: baby, books, family

This weekend was a good one.

Kim and I have recently been making an effort to hang out with people that are outside of our typical group. It's not that we don't like the people that we usually hang out with. It's just that there are so many people the we see around, but have not taken the time to really invest in there lives. The past three Fridays we have hung out with my sister and brother-in-law, the Hathaways, and the Pritchetts. Daniel labeled it New Friend Friday. So, this past Friday we hung out with the Pritchetts. We didn't do anything special. Katie grilled up some quesadillas. Then, we sat around. We talked and watched a little TV. It was great.

Saturday was a good day, as well. I played basketball in the morning. I was productive around the house in the afternoon. Saturday night Kim and I had dinner with my little sister and my mom. Dinner was awesome. I should be spending more time with my family.

Sunday was another good day. We did baptisms at visio dei for the first time. Jeff's message was on point, again. A friend of mine said, "Man, Jeff has been on fire recently." My brother Brian was baptized. He seems to really be connecting to what we are doing. It is great to see someone that wants to be involved so much that they are willing to drive an hour to be a part of a community. Brad Wynne posted about the baptisms. You can find that here. Sunday afternoon I took a nap. Then, I watched Lost. Then, the Smiths came over and we hung out.

All in all, there wasn't much to complain about.

The most amazing thing that happened this weekend was, I got kicked in the face.

Kim told me she read something on one of her pregnancy web sites that said I should be able to place my ear to her stomach and her the baby's heartbeat. Well, those people are liars. I have been listening to her stomach, and I have yet to hear any heart beat. I have heard plenty of other rumblings and grumblings.

Well, I was listening to her stomach on Friday night. Again, I could not hear any heartbeat, but something else happened. The kid kicked me. The first time, I wasn't sure what it was then it happened again. The second time I knew it was the baby moving. That was awesome. It was awesome in all sense of the word.

I can't wait until this baby gets here.

Labels: baby

Did anyone else notice that Chris Sligh was wearing a ONE band last night on American Idol?

Chris said last night that he works for a Marketing Blah Blah Company. I do not remember exactly what he said, but he is also on the worship team at a church plant in Greenville, SC.

Here is the pastor's blog from the church community where he rocks out.

Labels: activism, entertainment

Just to keep you posted, this was on the one blog on Wednesday...

The Senate just passed the 2007 continuing resolution - 81 to 15!

You can send your Senators a thank you email by going here.

And, today someone posted this...

The 2007 continuing resolution was signed into law by President Bush last night.

If you are wondering what this is all about, you should read the article in the first link.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

Labels: activism, blogosphere, politics

Only two weeks in and they already have me wanting more.

I had low expectations coming into this most recent series of Lost episodes. After the first new show since the Fall, I was not all that impressed. However, after watching this week's episode, I want to see more. I was a bit disappointed to see the preview. I think I am more annoyed than interested in the Jack on teh other island plot line.

What did you think?

And by the way, I have continued to keep up with 24, but it has been more of a waste of my time than anything else.

Labels: entertainment

Labels: baby, family

I realize that I fall far short of Prince Charming, Casanova, Don Juan, and Romeo. I'm not what you would call eager to spend money frivolously on flowers, candy, balloons, knick-knacks, paddy-whacks, or cows that jump over the moon. And, you know that I am about as close to romantic as Michael Scott is to couth. I know I'm not the perfect husband, and I never will be.

But... I am your husband. I am your husband that loves you more than you will ever know, or I could remotely come close to expressing. I am your husband that looks forward to spending the coming decades, and, who knows with the advances in technology, maybe even centuries, with you. I am your husband that is blessed to be the father of your children. I am your husband that will be by your side when you succeed and when you fail; who will love you all the same in both cases. I am your husband that doesn't need some made up holiday to tell you haw much he loves and cherishes you, but is willing to tell you on that day to make sure you do not feel left out.

Thank you for letting me be your husband. Thanks for putting up with me. Thanks for loving me.

I love you.

-me

Labels: indiscriminate

Today is the day when traditionally lovers exchanges tokens of their affections in remembrance of Saint Valentine, or at least by using his name. These tokens range from homemade cards cut roughly in the shape of what we call a heart which in all reality looks not very much like a heart, real hearts are much less pointy at the bottom, to expensive flowers, which are a near perfect example of material possessions, here today and gone tomorrow or at least in a few days, depending on the amount of water you give them. Some people go beyond that to give gifts made of precious metals or stones, like rings, of both the finger and ear variety, necklaces, broaches, okay maybe not broaches, watches, trophies, Olympic medals from the 1980 Summer Games, and potentially a tiara or two. I, however, choose not to participate in the giving of things for the sake of it being a day in the middle of the second month of the Gregorian calendar.

Does this indicate that I love my wife less those people that do choose to participate?

I think not. More later.

Labels: indiscriminate

On Wednesday, we got to see our bundle of joy for the first time. Well, sort of. We had our comprehensive ultrasound. This is where they check out the parasite to make sure it has all of its limbs and innards, heart, stomach, bladder, kidneys, etc.

Note: The host, i.e. the Mom, i.e. Kim, would like to make it clear that she is not in favor of calling the child a parasite.

Me: Kim, what would you think if I refer to the baby as a parasite?
Kim: No! You can't call it a parasite. Parasite has a negative connotation.
Me: But, by definition, that is what it is.
Kim: You just make sure people know that I do not agree with it.

You read the definition and tell me if it is not a parasite, but when you do, leave all your connotations at the door.

Here's a picture of the "baby". I can't wait to meet it.



Also, congrats to Corey and Danielle. Welcome Shiloah.

Labels: baby, family

Looking back, this past weekend was, for lack of a better term, rad.

Let's see, starting with leaving work on Friday...
I talked to Corey for about half an hour about the non-profit he is starting. We talked about his short term goals, long term goals, plans, and dreams. I am excited to see what the future holds for Hope Athletics - Raleigh, and I am pumped to be a part of it. I have already started to see God at work for the success of it.

Kim and I hung out on Friday night. It was fun to just hang out at the house. We had dinner and caught up on our TV from the week, just the two of us. We watched Earl, the Office, Grey's, and a few Nothing But Trailers. I really enjoyed our night.

Saturday was eventful.

I played basketball in the morning, but not until ten. It was nice to be able to sleep until I woke up, and still be able to make it to the gym. Afterward, Matt came over and we cleaned up some leftovers for lunch. We made it over to the Ramsey/Gore house (I need to come up with a better way to reference this dwelling.) just in time to unload the last five items from the truck.

We did actually do a little work. Matt and I went with Jeff in "the original U-haul truck" back to his house to get all the stuff from around the yard. Jeff had a lot of fun driving the huge U-Haul. I think he is already planning a sabbatical where he plans to take a job driving a truck across the country delivering various freight for a month.

We got back to the new house just in time to see the Wolfpack do the unthinkable. Way to go guys. Great Win. I guess we bought the wrong mini-pack. I saw this article linked on the Mitchell's blog. It is somewhat humorous.

Saturday night we had people over. The boys played football on the xbox and the girls watched TV and talked about what ever it is that girls talk about.

Jeff's talk on Sunday morning was great. It was about defining who in your neighbor. He used the story of the good Samaritan. Something he mentioned that stuck with me was how we have gone from a big front porch society to a big back deck society. If you get the chance you should listen to the podcast, but first someone needs to work on getting the recent ones up on the site.

Sunday afternoon I took a nap at the Smith's house while watching some DiscoveryHD. Did you know that it takes years to build a Destroyer? There is a lot of welding involved. I guess it takes a long time to get 200 tons of metal to float.

Sunday night we went to the house for a Super Bowl party. The pig was excellent, the game was great, the commercials did not disappoint, but the best part was the people. There were over fifty people hanging out eating together, laughing together, and staring at a box made of plastic that magically displays moving pictures together, if that is possible.

It was a really good weekend.

Labels: church, entertainment, sports

First off, I apologize for the length of this post. Personally, I am not a fan of the long post. So, I understand if you do not read this, but as the author I encourage you to do so.

I had a great conversation with my wife last night. We got on the subject of politics and AIDS. This is something that I have been doing a lot looking into recently. HIV/AIDS is a huge problem. Most of us do not really see it in our daily lives. So, it's not a pressing issue. I mean, I don't have HIV, and no one I know has HIV, at least I do not think I know anyone with HIV. So, it is kind of remote from me.

We were talking about my recent blog posts, the ones about calling your representatives. She was saying that she does not look at politics as something that she is a part of. Something along the lines of, "I know that I have a voice and I vote for these people and they represent me and my voice, but beyond that I don't feel like a part of the system." That is definitely a paraphrase, and it may be more of what I heard and less of what she actually said. Sorry honey if I misrepresent you.

Anyway, I go off on this harangue about how politicians are to represent their constituent's interests, but if they do not know what it is that their constituency is concerned about then, they are just going on what they think.

So, what difference can one person make? I'm sure they can make some sort of difference. I mean, I call my Senator and tell them I want them to vote for something and they may just say "Okay, crazy." But, if say fifty people call and say the same thing, maybe they start to listen. Or, if fifty people call and all say the same thing, but also say they are calling on behalf of the ONE campaign, maybe they really listen. The ONE campaign at last count has 2,430,750 people signed on including several celebrities. (not that being a celebrity makes you any more special, it just gives you a little more influence because you are on TV more often than the average human) So, maybe you call and say you are calling on behalf of 2.4 million people and someone at least thinks about what you say.

While talking to her, it sort of hit me that maybe I really do care about all this. Initially, I started looking into it because I had heard a few things about how "HIV/AIDS is the leprosy of our age" or that "HIV/AIDS is the single, most important issue on the planet". Those are pretty big statements. All I really knew about AIDS is what I learned in health class. So, I started listening to people talk, and started reading things. The more I heard, the bigger the problem got.

A few years ago South East Asia was hit by a terrible tsunami. Roughly two hundred eighty-three thousand people died. The world gasped. Then, the world responded. Well, imagine if one of those tsunamis happened every month. That would suck.

NOTE: If you do not like the word suck, you can sub in your favorite word or phrase for when something is not good, e.g. stink, be bad, be like getting kicked in the face by a horse with cleats on, etc.

So, daily tsunamis are not all that realistic, but that's about the number of people that die from HIV/AIDS every month. That's about 300,000 people every month. Or, about one person every 8-10 seconds.

At some point, it becomes overwhelming. You may start to think, I can't do anything about this. You may even get to the point where you ask yourself if you really believe God is bigger than HIV. It may seem heretical to say, but if you take a look into the enormity of the problem you begin to wonder if this thing can be beaten.

The answer has to be a resounding yes. We have to go from "I can't do anything about this", to "I can't do nothing about this."
Please excuse the double negative.

We are the people that can do something about this.
Better yet, We are the people that can change the world.
Better yet, We are the people that are going to change the world.

Do I really believe that? If so, how does that effect the way I live my life?

Labels: activism, politics

My loyal readers will remember my post about multi-words. Well, I ran across another one today: nowadays.

Labels: indiscriminate

04:00 PM Jan 31, 2007

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives just voted 286-140 to pass the 2007 continuing resolution!!

If the bill also passes in the Senate before Feb. 14 then instead of AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and refugee programs receiving no increases from 2006 to 2007, they will receive an increase of $1.45 billion. The difference will add up to hundreds of thousands of lives.

Click on the title to go to the original post on the ONE blog to see how your representative voted. Congressman Bob Etheridge of the second district of North Carolina, i.e. my representative, came through with an Aye. If you are unsure who your rep is you can find out by entering your zip code on this page.

If your rep voted aye, now would be a good time to call them and tell them thanks. It is also a good time to call or write your Senators to ask them to vote for this resolution.

Thanks for all you do.
Peace.

Labels: activism