no ranting, just raving

I'm realizing that much of what I "blog" about is often my little soapboxes and things that quasi set me off. But not tonight. Not because everything is just going so well--we still have no power and I still don't have my teaching for tomorrow night all together--oh well. The reason, not tonight, is because I have been given the coolest gift ever...my daughter. I've included another pic, as if you haven't seen any before. Two quick anecdotes and then I'll shut up. She was in her little contraption/toy thing we put her in to stand and have sensory overload just hanging out and having a good ol' time. Then I came home from work and once I started talking, even though she couldn't see me, Heather said she just started going crazy, smiling and kicking her little legs. I'm a sap. Anecdote number two. Similar theme. Heather and I are leaving for "date night" and Sydnie is playing on the floor and as Heather is saying good bye to her parents she is just following Heather's every move. I guess I'm just amazed at how aware she is already. Granted, she doesn't cry when we leave, so she must not really miss us all that much. Oh well. There's my comment for the day. Good night. May the peace of the Lord be with you.

Hurricane Jeanne

Camping out at the Kroen's in preparation for hurricane number three. What in the world? Oh well. I'll keep you all posted. I'm lobbying for another "hurricane newscast" but my wiser-half says that may not be the smartest thing to do in 100 mph winds. She's probably right. I'm an idiot. Talk to you all later!

best baby purchase ever

By my own admission, I have not been the most excited with purchasing baby paraphernalia. Not to say I'm not excited about my little Sydnie (she's the best), but I have left the buying to others. However, all that changed today. In preparation for our jaunt to the beautiful mountains of Boone, North Carolina next week I got to buy the Kelty Kid Pack! Hiking with the baby! Can't wait. Fall colors. Cool weather. Family. Not only that, Sydnie absolutely loved being paraded around Travel Country Outdoors as were trying this thing out. Our little granola baby in the making! Sweet.

Real Community v. Suburban Community

There is a place, literally on the "other side of the tracks" in Winter Park that is referred to as the Hannibal Square district. The surrounding area is almost exclusively black/African-American (not sure which is the pc thing to say these days). Drive through the area and you see people grilling out, hanging with their neighbors, sitting on the front porch, or walking to the non-chain grocery store. It's real community. There is real belonging. People are known. This picture would seem a beautiful thing, except for the fact that "Winter Park Whitey" wants to destroy it. Case in point.

One used to be able to drive past the little park in the area and see old, black men sitting, chatting, smoking their pipes and playing checkers. It was their place. That is until the white community realized that the old building across from the park were prime real estate. So in the name of "progress", restaurants and shops were put in, and in order to keep everything looking nice the park was remodeled. It was billed as beneficial to all--"all" apparently meaning the white people. The tables were taken away--apparently too much loitering with the tables. Yeah, you'd hate to have people just hanging out in the park. So now the old guys have no place to play checkers. Now when I drive by, I see rich white people sipping their wine at their outdoor cafe' overlooking the park. To my chagrin, but the satisfaction of many, no more old black guys in the park. Contrast that type of community which exists, but is in danger of being destroyed with what I came across the other day in "suburban land".

Driving down the street, a street not too far from my home, is a rather familiar sight, with a slight exception. At the end of the driveway is the big, green city garbage can. However, the proud owner of this particular garbage can had taken the time to spray paint in big white letters, DO NOT LEAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DRIVEWAY. What in the world? Who the heck has time to spray paint their freakin' garbage cans? A better question is why did they spray paint their garbage can? Here's my cynical answer...if the garbage can is left in the driveway then Mr. or Mrs. Suburbia may actually have to get out of their Suburban SUV without being able to sneak quickly into their garage. They may actually have to run the risk of seeing one of their neighbors. They may actually have to talk. They may have to take some time that isn't programmed into their PDA. What a tragedy that would be. To actually have to talk. To actually have to engage with those in the neighborhood.

I hope this last vestige of real community in Winter Park, being the "black" neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks is not destroyed in the name of white progress. We could learn much from how they live. How they connect. How they belong.

back from Michigan

Howdy to whoever it is that actually reads these here incessant ramblings--though my ego is boosted everytime I check the "site usage" stats--do people really like me or are people just really bored? I have to wonder. Anyway, I have several "blogs" in the works, but have been away from my trusty mac for a few days as we were in Michigan for my cousin's wedding. Blogs are forthcoming. In the meantime, if you're bored, you can check out the following link to view pics of the trip. http://digitalcakeproductions.com/sydniesnapshots.html

ramblings concerning the past week

So I had this great, or seemingly great blog written the other night, and then being the moron that I am, I closed the window without saving it first. Yeah, I'm an idiot. Oh well. So I've got some definite catching up to do. I'm not sure how far back to go...I guess I'll start with last wednesday night.

Wednesday night @ The Grove with the high school students was great! Kirsten and Brian were Barista's extraordinaire--Ryan did a great job with worship--Earl and Eamon are getting more and more plugged in and are kicking off their small groups soonp--yahoo! I really feel like we've had a great start to the school year. I am excited about many things and feel blessed in many regards. One of those great blessings has been to have Jenn on staff as our new Female Student Ministries Director. Jenn spoke on Wednesday and shared her story--it was quite powerful! The students were very responsive to what she had to say. All in all a very good night. Plus, my wonderful wife Heather was there being her great self and hanging out with the students. All good.

Saturday was a fun, yet exhausting night as we took 50+ middle schoolers to Rock the Universe. The positives...the students had a great time and it was fun hanging out with them. The Mummy was quite cool--Hannah was right! But man, I've got some serious issues that come to the surface when I am in the environment that is the "Christian sub-culture." It's freaky. Bad Christian t-shirts--2 of my favorite/worst...I Love Shane & Shane but...I Love Jesus More. Ugh. The other was...Looking For a Good Christian Guy...might have been funny if a guy was wearing it, but it was being worn by many a desperate girl. Then there's Toby Mac--white, Christian, rapper extraordinaire. If I hear his backup singers sing "Toby, Toby" one more time I think I'm going to shoot myself. Oh well. I have definite issues. The real kicker was that I didn't get to see the David Crowder Band--the only one's I wanted to see, and the venue was full.

Sunday night...OCM @ the DMAC. Turned out to be a really enjoyable night. God was very good--trite, overused Christian phrase, but it is true. We were late getting started. Couldn't get the sound system in on time, and had to just go acoustic. Had a much smaller group than two weeks ago--stupid Frances. These were the things I was getting hung up on and yet God worked despite those things. Worship was great. Just being able to circle up, with fellow believers/journeyers and sing praises to God in an upstairs theatre in downtown Orlando was awesome. It was great to be able to spend some time in the coffeehouse afterwards with those that came out--if you weren't there you missed free latte's! Better luck next time. I am optimistic that this new ministry will flourish--not because of anything I can do, but because I feel like God is at work.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

Download hurricane_frances_medium.mov

In honor of all those reporters who seemingly "risk" their lives to bring us the latest hurricane news, we have added our own little "hurricane report." You will need the Quicktime player to view it, which is availabe as a free download at http://apple.com/quicktime/download

Enjoy!