Notes from the Trail

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OK…. Here goes… I got my Griffin iTalk in yesterday and immediately recorded a first thought or two on it. There’s no significant content in it; I’m mainly trying to figure out how the whole process of recording, converting, and uploading works…!

Download 9-14-05podcast.mp3

Holy cow… I had ordered an iPod for our church, cause I saw that with the addition of a Griffin iTalk, you could record stuff. We’ve been recording our services via minidisc, but it’s a pain to import that real time into my Mac G5, and then convert it to mp3, edit and burn to CD. I figured I could simply drag the mp3 file from the iPod to my Mac and then burn away…

So I got the iPod in today (got it off Ebay…I’m an addict, I confess), and plugged it up to my Powerbook. Wow. And wow. Immediately, I see in iTunes the iPod and so I begin to drag music over to it. Seamless. Delightful. NO problems. Aaaaaaaah. I remember all over again why I’m a Mac user… No driver installation or issues.

Anyway, excuse me while I go wipe the drool of computing delight from the corners of my mouth. I then see an option (still in iTunes) to use the iPod to sync my contacts and calendar? No way. I check it… and voila… the iPod says it’s updating contacts and calendar. 45 seconds later! Bodda-bing-bodda-booom. My little iPod has my tunes, my contacts, and my calendar!

Then it came with this thing called “iTrip” which you plug into the top and supposedly you can broadcast it to your FM radio. I go test it out on the radio in the kitchen, tuning it to 88.5. Suddenly, crystal clear Christ Tomlin bursts out. I scream for Carolyn, the kids, the neighbors, and our hamster to “C’MERE!”

I believe this will suddenly be MINE… ALL MINE… (Wicked laugh). Yup. Got to buy it for myself now… Can I afford it? Nope. Dangit. But can I live without it now? Nope. Do I absolutely need it? Nope. But it’s just too cool, and I’m such a tech geek. Wow.

(Note to other impulse buyers and those struggling to get out of debt…. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!)

Gotta go and do the iTunes/iPod dance in my living room.

11:54 PM in Campfire Talk
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I was in Pasadena earlier this year for the Perspectives conference (awesome experience!), and while there Phillip and I went to Hollywood. It was my first time on the west coast, so I figured, let’s see something worth seeing…

I was struck by how trashy Holly Boulevard is.. We saw the Capitol Records building, the Hollywood sign, the Chinese Theater and a few other landmarks, but interspersed throughout this strip of American pop culture and history were lewd bookstands, storefronts, and adult video stores. I just wasn’t prepared. You see, I LOVE movies. I do the Netflix thing since our local Movie Gallery charges like $17 per movie rental (though it’s only $5, it’s still ridiculous!). So I may watch a coupla movies a week.

So I was excited about seeing Hollywood. I guess its rundown and less than glamorous condition is really indicative of all us. We all pretend to be more than we are, presenting our best sides, hiding the real us. I took this picture of two jokers dressed up as my favorite comic characters…

I realized how much their masquerade resembles our own. So many people spend their entire life working desperately to keep their real identity hidden. They’re fearful that we might like the “real them.” But just the opposite is true. There’s no need to dress up, conceal, or keep yourself hidden. We all are refreshed by those few authentic people in our lives. People who can laugh at themselves, let it all hang out, and simply enjoy LIFE without a manic need to be someone they’re not. THOSE are the kind of people that are the real heroes. No costumes needed.

Be you today. Enjoy being the persont that God made you to be. And if you haven’t yet discovered your real God-given identity, investigate the words of Jesus Christ - the ultimate “real” person. He said, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (John 10.10)

It’s our Sunday ritual… after returning from church/lunch with friends, Caro and I usually crash and just hope the kids don’t burn down the house. Sam was recently given an old iBook by my mom, and Adelyn got a Barbie laptop for her birthday on Saturday. I rolled over from my nap on the couch today to see this picture…

Rather frightening.

Sam has been obsessed with the NFL games on today. This is his first year with a fantasy football team… As soon as he saw I was awake, rather than a cheerful, “Hi, Dad! Glad you had a great nap. I’m ready to serve and obey you!” … he simply said (rather gleefully, I might add) “Dad, you’re losing.” Grrrr.

Last time I checked, I was losing in all three leagues that I have a team in. Nice way to start the season. At least our peewee football team that I’m coaching won Saturday! Here’s Sam blocking for his team “Exterminators.” (Mr. Bug is our sponsor)

Nuff said for now!

Hey everyone…

I’m new to Typepad (having used iBlog mostly, as well as Blogwave Studio) and have spent this evening copying and pasting posts from my old blog into this new blog.

Therefore, even though all the posts you see are dated today (September 10), they are all old.

I’m committing myself to blogging regularly (yea, right!), so we’ll see how that goes.

HURRICANE RELIEF
Our town of Monticello (southeast Arkansas) has been the temporary home to some incredible people from Louisiane over the last two weeks since Katrina hit. I’ve been amazed to see the outpouring of support and help for them from dozens of different avenues. However, it’s been my observation that in town after town across the south, it’s been the churches who have mobilized this most amazing relief effort.

We have less than 10,000 folks here, but the churches have united the city in their effort to serve the displaced people here. At one time, we were feeding more than 300 daily at the First Assembly of God Church and Immanuel Baptist Church.

Our church (Journey) distributed bags with laundry detergent and rolls of quarters for washing as well as helped host a catered catfish dinner at our city park.

While relief efforts and rescue has been massive in MS and LA, I almost believe the bigger story is the hundreds of towns across the south who have opened their homes, doors, kitchens, churches, closets, and wallets to serve and help our due-south neighbors.

I am confident that only a people with an ingrained Christian-ethic would operate such a massive mobilization of compassion. Think about that.