Early Birthday Present

It is 2 weeks before my birthday, and today I received an early birthday present. We went down to Guitar Center to pick out a starter Electric Guitar set for our son Matthew. We found him a Fender Squire Strat starter set that includes the guitar, amp, strings, instruction booklet, and most importantly, headphones so we don't have to hear him practice. It was offered at a good price. It was such a good deal that after we picked out a set for him I picked out a Fender Squire Bass Guitar starter set for myself. I have played the Acoustic Guitar off and on for about 30 years, but have always wanted to learn the Bass Guitar. Happy Birthday Rick! I promise I'll learn how to play quickly. I promise!

Youth Encounter 2006

Wow! Marilyn, Matthew, Bethany, and I all attended Youth Encounter last Thursday and Friday in Springfield, Illinois. We went with our church's Youth Group. There were about 3,000 High School and Jr High School kids at Youth Encounter and aroound 200 came to know the Lord personally there. The speakers and the bands were all top quality.

The speaker was Doug Herman of Vertical Ministries and PureRevolution. What a great testimony Doug has. In addition to his testimony we was a very polished and captivating speaker. He had the youth riveted to and listening for every word. Very motivational and convicting.

The worship leader was Joel Engle. I've heard Joel a couple of times at our church, and thought he was good, but he was fantastic at YE. He truely is a gifted worship leader and his testimony had our youth talking late into the night.

Other music playing at YE were very good also:

Inhabited kicked things off and played again on Friday. I thought they were extremely talented, but our kids wished they had more audience interaction. Music was great!

The Afters closed things down on Thursday night with an hour concert. I thought the music from Inhabited was a little better, but our kids liked The Afters a lot more because of the way they interacted with the audience.

KJ-52 finsihed off YE on Friday afternoon. Although I am not a rap music fan he did a great job getting the crowd involved and building excitement. My daughter was part of the mosh pit and she couldn't quit jumping up and down all day. By far KJ-52 was the kids favorite act of the conference.

All in all the Illinois Baptist State Association put on a top quality event that provided entertainment for our High School and Jr High School youth and at the same time gave them an avenue to think about purity and loving God.

Good job Charles Campbell for putting on such a great event.

Christmas Movie Marathon

We spent a good part of this last weekend watching movies that had a Christmas theme. I think we may had OD'd on Christmas movies. Almost all of the one's we watched were made in the last 20 years or so. I can't believe how many movies are out there that are made in the last 20 years that have a Christmas setting. Here's a list of the ones we watched this weekend:

- Home Alone! 1
- Home Alone! 2
- Christmas With the Kranks
- The Santa Claus 1
- The Santa Claus 2
- Christmas Vacation
- Miracle on 34th Street
- Jingle All The Way
- Its a Wonderful Christmas, Charlie Brown
- The Grinch
- Elf!

My favorite Christmas movie of all time: Christmas Vacation

The Christmas movie that surprised me the most: Chrtistmas with the Kranks. I didn't think I would like it, but it is a great movie and it was a lot of fun to watch.

The Christmas movie that I don't care to see again: Jingle All The Way.

I still have not seen It's a Wonderful Life and I don't plan to. If our paths cross I will watch it, but whenever they run it on TV it seems like we are too busy to watch it.

What are your favorite Christmas movies?

A Great Sunday

I had a wonderful Sunday today. I am still on a business trip to New Jersey and I was a little homesick and missing my family. So, I thought I would make the best of it and drive a couple of hours south to join Adam and Kim Feldman and worship with them in their new church plant Metanoia in Ellicott City, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. It was an anointed time and just what I needed. The music was passionate and the message was inspired. And the children playing were beautiful. They have created a great sense of community within the Metanoia family and in the local community. It was exactly what I needed this morning. Keep up the good work and God bless you both.

I took a long detour back to New Jersey and stopped by my family's old home in Dover, Delaware to take some pictures. Marilyn, Matthew, Bethany, and I lived there from 1991 through 1995. Matthew and Bethany were both born in Dover, and we loved living there for what seemed like a very short 4 years. We feel at home now in the St Louis area after living here for 11 years, but it took a long time to feel that way because we had a deep attachment to Dover as home. The last 11 years has been kind to Dover as the town has grown substantially, but it still has a small town feel and looks wonderful. We really miss the Easter egg hunts, 4th of July fireworks, and Christmas caroling at the Governor's House, the great beaches, and the warm people.

I still miss my own family terribly, but meeting the family at Metanoia and seeing our old town looking so good makes me feel a little bit better. Hopefully I'll make it back on Thanksgiving Eve and get to spend a long weekend at home.

Game of the Century, Part II?

Well, the Ohio State/Michigan football game was almost as good as the hype. It may have been the game of the year, but it is still too early in the century to bill it as the "Game of the Century". Time will tell.

Game of the Century?

I'm sitting in my hotel room waiting for the Ohio State/Michigan football game and I am tired of all the hype. All week we have heard a bout how this will be the game of the century, but I am tired of hearing about it. First of all wait until the game is over to see how good of a game it was. Second, wait until a little later in the century to label this one the game of the century. Ohio State and Michigan are good teams, but they play in a weak conference (Aside from Ohio State and Michigan the Big 10 is a flop this year) which helps them pad their stats. This year, just like all the others, screams for a playoff system to determine the national championship. I have believed for many years that Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Miami have been the recipients of an East Coast media bias that makes them sound better than they are. A playoff is the only way to determine the true national champion.

Saying all this, I will watch the game and if I have to eat my words I will. But, I don't see this as the game of the century. I see it as a game between two better than average teams that live in a weak conference.

2 Weeks in New Jersey

I spent the last week at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey attending the Expeditinary Site Survey Process Course in the Air Mobility Warfare Center. The electronic mapping portion of the course is part of the program I manage at Air Mobility Command. I'll be here one more week helping to re-write the course syllabus and curriculum to make it more realistic, and to update the curriculum to incorporate changes in the way we do business today. I have wanted to take the course for the last couple of years and it is good to finally get here. I hope I can help with the re-write next week.

I always enjoy coming to central New Jersey. Growing up on the West Coast I thought New Jersey was just suburbs for New York and Philadelphia, but this part of central New Jersey, the area around Wrightstown, is very rural and beautiful. We drove down to southern New Jersey on Thursday for our course practicum (surveying the municipal airport in Millville), and it was beautiful and very rural also. I could retire here and be happy.

Tomorrow I plan to drive to Baltimore to attend Metanoia, Adam Feldman's new church plant. I met Adam through blogging, but haven't met him in person yet. I am very excited to finally have an opportunity to meet him and worship with him and his new church. From Metanoia I then plan to go on down across the Chesapeake Bay to Dover, Delaware to see all the changes that have happened since we moved to Illinois from there in 1995. We loved living in Dover and really hated to move. I have heard that I won't even recognize Dover any longer because it is growing so fast. So, I can hardly wait to poke around and re-explore my old stomping grounds.

It should be a fun week, although I don't look forward to the mad rush to get back home on Thanksgiving eve. I have a 4:05pm departure out of Philly on the busiest travel day in America. It will be a pain of a day to fly, but I will be happy to get home and be with my family for the holiday.

We're Number 1

What a terrible way to follow up a World Series win. Yahoo has an article on St Louis being the most dangerous town in the US. The article is located here. Link. On this same subject, my project manager at work had her purse stolen out of her car during the World Series win celebration in downtown St Louis on Friday night. Downtown is a mess.

It's A Winner!

The Cardinals did the unexpected last night and finished off the Detroit Tigers to become the World Series Champions for 2006. Major League Baseball chose David Eckstein as the World Series Most Valuable Player. It was a good choice, but if they could have given him the award my choice would have been Tony LaRussa. I have believed for the last 10 eyars or so that LaRussa is the best manager in baseball. This year proved it. He did a masterful job with a team that was less talented than the last two years when the Cardinals had the best record in baseball. Tony, you're the man! As the late Cardinal broadcaster Jack Buck would say, "It's a winner!"

So, today officially begins my baseball vacation. But the Nebraska Cornhuskers play against Oklahoma State on TV at 2:30 and I will be glued to the set for the entire game. So long "Field of Dreams" and hello "Remember the Titans"

Slip Sliding Away

The World Series seems to be slipping away from the Detroit Tigers grasp. The Cardinals haven't been doing anything outrageous, but have been playing solid, mistake free, baseball while the Tigers have been making mistakes in every game. It was just enough to give the Cardinals a 5-4 victory last night. My gut feeling is that the series will close out tonight (if the weather cooperates) with the Cardinals winning in 5 games.

The weather forecast for tonight's game: Showers early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low around 40F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Looks like about a 50/50 chance of playing.

Go Cards!