Lord of the Rings! YES! All-day?? NO!!

Ok, who's the guy who decided to run all three LOTR movies back to back in one sitting?

Grrr. Ok. It was me.

So obviously a long day tomorrow. Er, today.

Am sitting here listening to some Phil Keaggy and looking to slow my brain down so I can go in and sleep. I had some guy ask me tonight my five favorite bands of all time. I picked from rock stuff only and the list is interesting.

1. Pink Floyd
2. Smashing Pumpkins
3. Waterdeep
4. Toad the Wet Sprocket
5. Neil Young

If I were to add other kinds of music, the list would include:

- Miles Davis
- Albert Collins
- Keith Jarrett
- Phil Keaggy
- John Coltrane
- Thelonious Monk

Frankly, the only kind of music I truly hate is country. I tend to think that it all sounds the same. I know, I know - it doesn't (and my friends say jazz and blues all sound the same, but WE know that's not true, right?).

Wow. Phil's mellow sounds are wearing me down. I'm out.

Christmas, cookies, and snow.

Christmas was good this year. Nothing incredibly exciting but a good visit with Lise's family up in Toledo. When we were driving back to Cincinnati I kept thinking to myself how nice it would be if all the snow on our driveway magically disappeared while we were gone. Reality bites sometimes. :-)

Tonight was cookies n milk night at youth group - fun and crazy. Lots of cookies (we've got 3 bags of them still out in the car), gallons of milk, some crazy games and the best youth group on the planet.

We're starting a series on God At The Movies, similar to what Brian McLaren does every year. May even do a couple of the same movies he looked at, but with a different focus. Next week we're looking at the Lord of the Rings (so many themes to choose from - good & evil, inner struggles, the cost of following, the results of deviant obsessions). We could go on for weeks about this movie, but want to limit it to one movie a week for a couple of weeks, then do something different.

We've begun planning for our summer serving program (Serving Up Thursdays) and a tentative spring break service project or two. Ideas? Comments? Questions?

Snow Snow Snow oh gosh too much snow

we've been hammered with enough snow to last me the rest of my natural life. we're effectively stuck in the house (which ain't all that bad, really) and just chillin' out. it's nice to have a couple days with no real responsibilities, a great woman to stay warm with, plenty of chow to eat, and nice toasty blankets.

we're supposed to be leaving tomorrow morning for Toledo (lise's family) but i'm inclined to wait and see how things look then before deciding.

i've gone to hit the delete key 6 times since starting this. i mean, who cares?

i've been listening to a lot of speakers online over the last couple of months. Rob Bell. Brian McLaren. Andy Stanley. three very different guys who speak in very different ways, yet each has a profound message that has really be challenging me recently. challenging the way i live, the way i teach, the way i speak. give them a listen when you have a minute.

Welcome?

Seems I may be the only person in North America without a blog. Why remedy this situation? I'm still not sure yet. We'll see if this ends up being a waste of space or some kind of theraputic bucket to vomit out all the junk stuck in my brain.

My big question?

Why should anyone care what a 36 year old youth pastor has to say?