Time To Dance

Asking a group to do "The Chicken Dance" during an offering time is a fun experience to witness from the front.

There were prizes for most creative additions to the dance for both male and female.

I'm glad I didn't have to judge and only had to show people the standard chicken dance moves.

The Wrong Kind of Jelly Beans

Can you believe it? They don't make chicken flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans.

How can you have flavors like "pencil shavings" and "baby wipes" (yes they really have these flavors) and not have chicken?

They would have made some definite money from me if they made chicken flavored ones as i would have used them to promote our ministry offering for Chickens being sent to Asia.

I'm disappointed Jelly Belly, so much so that Starburst Jelly Beans have now become my all-time favorite, dethroning your "buttered popcorn" flavor.

I'm Done With It

February can end now. I'm done with it.

This being a mucus fountain thing is exactly as appealing as it sounds.

I'm ready for the height of the college basketball season, preaching the Sunday morning services, and staying above freezing for a lengthier time period.

I've got my eyes set on March.

Ice Dancing

Can't say that I understand most of what they are doing, or why they picked the wardrobe or music choices that they did.

But was glad to see that one pair picked a Linkin Park song. The commentators said it was to "relate to the younger audiences."

I liked them before their routine started just because of the music, so I guess it worked.

Also excited that I watched it in my own, warm, house. Never fun to have to get repairs done, but nice to have the furnace working again.

Edit #1: I published this post, and then in the end of their routine, she lifted the guy instead of vice versa. I like them even more now. Suppose now I'll learn what country they're from. (Great Britain).

Some Things Never Fail

We paid our car loan off completely just over a week ago.

That almost always means it is time for something to go wrong. It happens to be our furnace.

They are coming to look at it tomorrow morning. I suppose we will find out the damage then. A cheap repair would be nice, but the gut says we'll probably have to go a more expensive route.

Time to Let the Brain Rest

It feels like it has been going non-stop for a long time.

It needs to veg on the couch. Hopefully, the conversations I have on Friday will be of low enough caliber that my brain doesn't feel taxed to produce a whole bunch.

I just need to turn it off for a while.

The Things I Dream About

A couple of nights ago I had a dream that I was preaching a sermon.

This particular dream included a weird twist to the sermon...everyone could here my thoughts while I was preaching.

I have since been figuring out what kind of planning/work it would take to get some pre-recorded audio that would mesh well with me while I am speaking so that I can make this dream a reality.

I've even been evaluating what kinds of sermons it would go best with, how I would need to pause for the thoughts to be heard, what kind of physical acting would need to go on, and what voice manipulation would be necessary to distinguish more easily between thoughts and live words.

These are the things I dream about.

No "WE" in BINGO

There is no "we" in BINGO, but there is an "I."

Tonight, we went out for pizza and Bingo with a friend. I won one round and posted a positive return on the night. Overall for the night, BINGO cost us $6.

But there is no "we" in Bingo, just an "I."

Watching The Olympics

Thoughts: Some skiers go really fast. They then fall hard.

Snowboard cross looks like it would be a lot of fun.

I could have made better ice for the 500m speed skating.

Not enough men dress like men in figure skating.

It is hard to tell the difference in the jumps in figure skating if you don't know them.

Many announcers seemingly got the job without first needing to be insightful or interesting.

I don't really care who wins any of the events, I just want to see cool things.

I can't grasp the scoring system for most things that aren't races.

I secretly root for people to fall sometimes.

I would rather watch sports I know nothing about than the NBA or MLB.

It isn't because of the sports, as I love college basketball and the little league world series.

Tuning into the Olympics feels mandatory, summer or winter.

I'm more excited about the World Cup than any other sporting event.

Busy Fun Weekend

With out of town family in town, late night (10 p.m. - 3 a.m) snowboarding, best friend's engagement, food with family, food with other side of family, friends over for V-day, it was a busy, but very fun weekend.

Tomorrow: more work on the house. May not be as fun, but the sense of accomplishment should show up.

Day of Fun

Had lots of fun today.

Mirror project went well. Got to preach on my favorite subject to preach on ever.

Found out I'll be preaching the Sunday Morning Services again soon.

If you are in the area on March 14th, I'll be doing both services at Grace Fellowship in Brooklyn Park.

Overall, it was a really fun day of work for me.

Something Enjoyable

It seems that at some point every year I find strange satisfaction in a particular basketball game.

Duke and North Carolina play each other. I enjoy this particular game because it means that one of these two programs has to lose. A guaranteed loss for one of these programs always makes UK fans happy.

This year, UNC has gone on enough of a slide that I was hoping it would have been Duke that would have lost tonight, but regardless, a loss for UNC is a win for UK.

Writing on the Wall

Does anyone know if normal white board "dry-erase markers" will work on mirrors or if I need some other kind of marker for writing on mirrors?

I've got to make sure my visual aid will work for Thursday, but don't want to ruin a mirror in the process.

Looking forward to speaking about naming and identities this week as we discuss how we prepare ourselves to be in proper relationships with others.

Silverware

I don't like washing silverware. It makes my hands pruny.

I like hot tubs and baths...which make my hands pruny.

Simple math shows that pruny isn't what I dislike, it must be the silverware or the washing.

I don't mind washing myself in the bath. It remains that I must not like silverware.

I believe this logic is flawless.

Bummer

I'm just bummed the Colts lost.

Hopefully next year.

Can't decide on commercials between Doritos good showing and Punxatony Poamalu.

Chilling With My Friends

Tonight at Beyond was fun for me.

I enjoy experimenting and wanted to offer a different experience tonight than we have in the past.

I left the room cold, like heat in the low 50s, and took out all the chair.

Simple blankets and sleeping bags on the floor, and no sound system.

Those leading worship played with their backs to a wall, and a guitar case set in front of them accepting "tips."

We talked about people who need to beg for food, drinks, clothing, shelter and such; thus we went with the homeless on the streets feel.

We ended up taking an offering in the guitar case to help feed impoverished people in other countries.

I enjoyed the experiment and look forward to offering other "experiences" that help make a point to the teaching. Don't know that this one came across as well as I wanted it to, but enjoyed the effort.

Next week: mirrors.

Near the Top of My List

Everytime I eat a certain food, I am reminded how much it is one of my often overlooked favorites.

I'm pretty sure I can eat fried rice by the wok full. I'm always excited to eat a good fried rice, and usually equally as excited to even eat mediocre or sub-par fried rice.

It is near the top of my food list for sure, but I often forget it in conversation about such things.

Development Time

Tomorrow is another development day.

I have 3 books in the cue to read, hoping to get through one of them tomorrow, as well as to do some study/research for a teaching on Thursday.

I find that a lot of the methods I'm using for development involve books. Curious what other ways I can/should explore to think about how I can better myself professionally and as a person.

Opinions welcome.

Caught Up or Not?

I've made it to the place where I am all caught up on Lost episodes before tomorrow night's premier. Now I just need to decide if it is worth getting caught up in the weekly viewing of the show, or wait to watch the entire season at my frantic pace later.

24 ended up being one I couldn't stand to watch when not able to view it at my pace, but don't know what to do with Lost yet.

Regardless, there is a high likelihood that I will go to a premier party, as much for the company as the show, but am curious what I will do in the following weeks.

Are any of you caught up in the final season of Lost?