I’m deeply upset! I dropped my Treo 650 the other day and the screen cracked in half. I’m not a happy camper right now. I’m using a replacement phone right now that is a real piece of crap! Although it does say nice things when you turn it off: it says, “Be Safe and be courteous.” While I appreciate the positive sentiment, I can’t wait to get my phone back from the repair shop…

I have to tell you, since I was watching the Video Music Awards, this year was one of the weakest lineups I’ve seen. I remember the year Metallica opened the show (that was a great year) or the year Blink 182 closed things out. But this year was kind of lame. I was wondering, where were the Foo Fighters who have a new album that’s selling well; where was Jason Mraz; where was Dave Matthews; where was Switchfoot who have a new album coming out next month? I’m a hip hop fan, but this was a bit too much for … Read More

Well, in case you were wondering…we’re still alive! In fact, we didn’t even lose power. That’s not the case for some of our staff. We’ve got a couple of guys with power out and some flooding. But all in all, we’re OK. I did suffer a loss…my BBQ grill! I woke up this morning and my grill was in the lake behind my house. I guess it was a burial at sea. Perhaps the fish in the lake knew how many of their comrades had been grilled there. It is a loss we will mourn. The picture is a tree … Read More

I had a great time with my new friend Scott Hodge and his lovely wife Amanda today. We are both at the Drive conference this week and we hooked up for lunch. I am amazed at what God is doing in other churches and how he is using unique leaders to change this world. It’s awesome to be part of it. Scott is the Lead Pastor of Orchard Valley Community Church in Aurora, IL. We had a great time talking about church, movies, and Christian Heavy Metal bands. He’s a cool guy that is doing a great work reaching unchurched … Read More

Well, it’s time to go back to the office tomorrow. We finished our couple of days off with a Marlins’ game. Great game! A.J. Burnett pitched a 3-hit shutout as the Marlins won 5-0. We had a great time with our good friends Pedro and Lourdes. They planted a Calvary Chapel in Kendall, which is a great church in south west Miami. Here are a couple of pictures. What did I take those picture with? Ahhh, the subject of my next post…

After the beach, we walked around Lincoln Road for a while and stumbled into the coolest Banana Republic I’ve ever been in.  This store is actually a converted Chase Bank.  The dressing rooms are in what used to be the bank vault!  That’s just awesome!  But we walked forever and then stopped at Starbuck’s for a delicious beverage.  We did tons of stuff and carey’s blog has all the pictures that we took…

Well, I’m beginning to think my face is going to appear on the back of a milk carton since I’ve been gone for 2 weeks from the pulpit (not that I use a pulpit).  Last Sunday I had the privilege of teaching at another church, but this Sunday Carey and I decided to actually take a Sunday off. Some might think we’ve been off for the last 2 weeks, but we really only took 3 days off.  So we decided to go to South Beach and enjoy a Sunday alone.  It was great.  We figured we’d tell you about it … Read More

Stephen Hinkel had an amazing post today about Coca Cola.  While I love Coke and I believe Coke will be the official beverage of heaven, the stats that Stephen shared are no joke.  Even though I love Coke, I haven’t had one in 6 months.  Believe it or not, it’s not as hard as I thought.  But now this info should make it easier.  Read it here.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how I’ve been able, by God’s grace, to lose 70 pounds and get down to what I think is normal human size for a person of my height and build. So I’m going to give you the big secret to my weight loss: Ready? Here it is… Diet AND exercise! There was no magic shake, no anti-carb campaign; just making healthy choices with my meals and with my time. I can tell you that I have never felt better in my life. I stopped eating fast food completely, I cut out fried foods, … Read More