Miscellaneous

Fours (I've Been Tagged)

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Mike Noakes tagged me.

4 Jobs I Have Had in My Life:

Landscaper > I love shoveling thousands of pounds of decorative rock next to houses.  No, not really.

Dental Technician > I created (through my cat-like speed and reflexes) dental appliances like crowns, bridges, and orthodontic retainers.

Loading Dock Grunt > I worked for Tex-Pack, which was the worlds most evil shipping company.  I worked in the Fort Worth branch where the owner weighed over 400 lbs, the manager of the facility weighed so much that he maxed out the freight scale which I think went up to 500-600 lbs or so, and a shift manager who was a self-professed hater of seminary students, which I was at the time. 

International Student Minister (University of Louisville and University of Kentucky) > I was basically a "faith" supported missionary to international students for 3 years, and I was able to pray with a Chinese student who trusted Christ at a prayer meeting on 9/11/01.

4 Goals You Set for This Year:

Seek God more
Make out with my wife more
Read with my kids more
Mountain bike more

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:

Tommy Boy > "It's called reading! Top to bottom, left to right... a group of words together is called a sentence. Take Tylenol for any headaches... Midol for any cramps."
Shaun of the Dead > "If you get cornered...[hits himself on head with cricket bat]...bash 'em in the head, that seems to work. Ow."
Training Day > "You're a long way from Starbuck's homey."
Good Will Hunting > "My boy's wicked smart."

4 Places I Have Lived:

Carbondale, IL - SIU, go Salukis!
Denver, CO - CCU
Fort Worth, TX - SWBTS
Louisville, KY - SBTS

4 TV Shows I Love To Watch:

I don't watch much TV, not even the news.  But four are required.

24 > this should be a given for anyone with a pulse, the only show I must watch
American Idol > it's fun, and my wife enjoys it and so I enjoy it with her
American Chopper > if you are a guy, you like it.  I don't like schedule watching it, but when I see it on, it's a must see.
Beauty and the Geek > man, I'm sorry.  But I have to admit there's something redemptive about this show, and it's funny.  Forgive me.

4 Places You Have Been On Vacation:

Wisconsin Dells > A great place to take my family of six for water park fun and a beautiful setting.  Wilderness is where we go, and you can watch our family video of a vacation here.

Charleston > We introduced our kids to the ocean.

Phoenix > I was able to go all expenses paid to the rainiest three days in the history of Phoenix for a golf trip.  It both rocked and sucked.

Stoughton, WI > We rented a cabin on a lake with nothing to do but enjoy our family.  It was great.

4 Websites You Visit Daily:

Bloglines
StatCounter
Sportsline
CNN

4 Of My Favorite Foods:

Orange Peel Shrimp and Lettuce Wraps from P.F. Chang's
My wife's spaghetti (homemade sauce)
Chips and salsa from Chili's
The Vito (#5, no tomato, add Dijon) from Jimmy John's

4 Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:

Somewhere alone with my wife.
Anywhere: playing with my kids.
Sipping a Grande-Skim-3 Pump-No Whip-Extra Hot-Mocha from Starbucks
Talking about Jesus with someone who doesn't know Him

 So now I'm going to tag...

  1. Joe Thorn (because he desperately needs blog topics)
  2. Kevin Cawley
  3. Richard Bailey
  4. Marty Duren (he needs a non-SBC topic)

It's GROUNDHOG DAY!

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Dsc_0054There aren't too many places to be on Groundhog Day, but I happen to live in one of them.  I'm in Woodstock, Illinois where the movie Groundhog Day was filmed (and yes, it was filmed almost completely in Woodstock).  We have all sorts of events in town around Groundhog Day, but of course the centerpiece is when Woodstock Willie emerges from his fake stump and pronounces his forecast for the duration of winter. 

Dsc_0074_2 Punxsutawney Phil, the more notable rodent, saw his shadow and predicted more winter.  But Woodstock Willie (who doesn't appear to have his own web presence) was more optimistic, to the delight of hundreds of onlookers this morning.  I had a nice chat with the glorified squirrel after the fact, and told him that he would be roadkill if he is just pulling our chain.  He assured me that his trick knee was in fact indicating the end of winter.  We'll see.

Here are some pictures I took of our Groundhog Day festivities with my daughter.

Coming Home

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I love being home.  It's home, for crying out loud.  Christmas is a good time with family, but I look forward to getting the house back to normal and moving on. 

Over the past week we have received news that the first man I ever discipled, a good guy in Colorado, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  It's looking like only months left for him.  We also found out just today that my wife's former boss in Colorado recently lost his wife in incredible circumstances.  They are both near our age and also have four kids.  She was climbing a mountain with a friend in CO, got separated from her climbing partner somehow, and went missing.  It was a massive search for her and she has yet to be found.  She went missing in September. 

Over Christmas at my parent's house we were able to visit four very old relatives, my Great Aunt, my Grandmother (mom's side) and Grandparents (father's side).  The aging process is taking a large toll on them and we always try to see them never knowing when it will be the last time.

So we have found some reasons to think about our own mortality this Christmas, which is always a good thing.  We are also praying for friends and family with renewed vigor.

We got a few nice presents, but the kids really made out like villains. It was a good time at my parent's house, good food, and I got to watch cable TV (a treat for me).

I was able to get out and take some nice pictures of barns in rural IL as well as some stuff in my hometown (Pontiac, IL).  You can see them on my Flickr page.

Merry Christmas

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We will be out of pocket and I don't know when I will post again.  Hopefully before New Year's.  I'm preaching tomorrow morning and then we are off to be with family.  Enjoy your Christmas celebrations.

Caption

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I feel like saying something.  I'm not sure why.  So I'll say this...If I were to take a picture of my day at this moment, here's what would be written in a long caption. 

"At 2:49pm Steve was drinking Coke with a generous amount of lime juice, listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, working on his sermon on John 2:1-11, coughing from a bad cold, and watching the first flakes fall in the first significant snow storm of the winter."

100,000

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As of this post my stats tell me this site has been viewed 100,104 times.  Thanks to all who read, and especially to those who interact with ideas of truth and culture here. 

It looks like hit #100,000 was someone who came to my site from a yahoo email to my video sermon post and then went to my homepage.  If that was you, then you've won lifetime access to the beautiful Joe Thorn Buddha bobble-head.  Enjoy!

Trip to North Park

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Scot McKnight (Jesus Creed) invited me to come this Monday to North Park University (Chicago), where he is a professor, to hear Dr. Donald Hagner lecture and then eat dinner with them as well as some NPU professors. 

Img_1856_600I showed up a little early for an absolutely riveting discussion on divorce (link shows short video) between Scot, Don, and Kermit Zarley (a former pro golfer who has funded the lecture series).  Then Dr. Hagner delivered part one of his lecture series on "A Positive Theology of Judaism from the New Testament."  Interesting and provocative.  Learn more about the lecture series here, and here's Scot's short post on it.

It was an enjoyable day: I learned some new things, met some good people, and ate some great Italian food at Via Veneto.

Google Hits

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I'm always intrigued by the hits I get from people doing Google searches.  Not because they find my site by searching for weird things, though that happens, but because I get so many hits from Google.  I probably get well over 100 a day.

I also think it's curious to find out when I'm the #1 Google hit for something.  For example this post made me the #1 for "Kevin Ezell."  I'm the #1 hit for "David Gray Ain't No Love" because of this post.  This here post makes me the #1 hit for "SBTS alcohol."  And I'm the #1 Google hit for "Starbucks the way I see it" because of this post.

Interesting stuff.

Worried About My Anxiety

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Gas_299_cropI was late for a meeting this morning and couldn't get gas when it was $2.79. 

Now it's $2.99.  I know the gas prices have been rising for a few years, but today was the first day I felt anxious about them.  And the last few weeks are the first time in my life I remember shifting plans because of gas prices.  Hurricane Katrina, gas prices, terrorism, Iraq war...it's a lot to think about right now. 

On top of all this, Wendy's didn't have salt packets because the manager forgot to order more.

Weathering Etherington

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I think I met Tim Etherington online through Derek Webb's discussion board, which is a good place to argue about stuff.  Somehow we found each other's blogs and have been in email contact for some time.  He is a student at TEDS and a really old guy, like in his 40's.  We have been wanting to meet up for some time and finally had a chance.

We had a great time talking for a couple of hours at a nearby Starbucks about family and ministry and the future for both of us.  We have a lot in common theologically and in ministry, and it was great to meet another blogger in person.  Read Tim's take on our meeting.

Mohler Disappointed with Frist

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At the risk of maxing out my bandwidth because of rabid commenters (kidding, sorta), I wanted to make available Al Mohler's blog post where he expresses that Senator Bill Frist's flip-flop on stem cell research is "very disappointing."  He also offers a number of helpful links on "coverage" and "responses" that make his post a helpful resource on this remarkable shift by Frist.

At one point in his speech he referred to human embryos as "nascenthuman life." Just how does he understand "nascent" in this context? How does this differ in ethical considerations from non-nascent human life? Senator Frist's shift is inconsistent and his new position is ethically untenable.

Space Shuttle Debris

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DebrisI had my kids watch the space shuttle takeoff today.  It was fun for them.  Then later the news started to talk about "debris" spotted on shuttle video during the launch.

All day something rubbed me the wrong way, and I'm not sure if I'm right on this or not.  But is "debris" the right word for spotting something falling off the shuttle or fuel tank or whatever?  I looked it up in dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster and neither gave a definition of "debris" that seemed to fit the context.  At best it's a piece of something that's been destroyed, not something that has one piece fall off.  Thoughts?