Friday, October 22, 2010

Help me raise $500 for our babies with a click of a button (won't cost you anything)

I am in this video competition. The theme was high school spirit so I thought it would be fun to do a twist on A Christmas Carol. It was fun putting together. For the first round you have to go here and then click "like" below the video. The first place video gets $500 and another $500 goes to the school of their choice.

Make sure you "like" the video called "High School Spirit" by Erik w/a "k" Williams. Thanx so much for your help! Spread the love would ya?

Click here to watch and vote!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Sitting on the Beach Reflecting

I am not technically sitting on the beach, but I am really close. I am sitting in my car looking at the dunes and listening to the wind and the waves crash. This weekend is our high school fall retreat. The theme is "identity." This is always a great theme for high schoolers. These are people who are constantly trying to figure out who they are. At times that is still me too, but I have found more and more who I am and am pretty secure in who I am.

As I feel the warm sun on my face and remember conversations at this place from the years past, I know that there are many who will come this weekend who will wrestle with who they are. Tonight I am speaking about labels. Everyone puts labels on other people and on themselves. I am asking students to choose 3 labels that they most identify with (there will be a list of a whole bunch of different labels hanging up all around the room).

In high school I was a bit of a label chameleon. Not the kind that changes just to fit in, but the kind that changes so that they can identify better with the group of people they were with. I was in the "brain" classes and played sports, so I hung out with the jocks. During lunch I would often play hacky sack with the "pot heads." (even though I was a bit naive and didn't realize they were actually smoking pot). I was in the band, marching band and jazz ensemble. I was on the bowling team and also was in the ski club. There was hardly a "people group" I didn't spend time with. I loved that.

I felt like one of my calls in life was to love people, no matter what label they may carry or others had put on them. I still feel that is the case. Obviously there are always close circles of friends you connect with better than others. I had a really special group of friends in high school that I loved being with. They were people I wanted to spend time with. People I laughed with and learned with and still stay connected to. They are the people I longed to hang out with at our 10 year and 20 year reunion. And, because of Facebook and other wonders of the internet, I am still able to connect with them. Not as much as I would like, but that is OK. We are able to pick up at any time.

So I think about these students coming this weekend. We all want to fit in. We all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We all want to be known. We all want to be loved. I try REALLY hard to learn people's names so that I can say their names (the sweetest word in our own language) and know them a little bit. Perhaps my saying, "Hi Cory. How are you? How did you do on that big final you told me about last week?" might be the thing that causes someone to realize that life is not so bad. It's not a major deal for me to remember their name and what is going on in their life. BUT, it is a major deal to them to know someone cares and remembers them.

After talking about what labels they put on themselves I am going to look at labels that God puts on us. They are pretty incredible. If you look at the Bible and read what God thinks about you it is AMAZING. He cares about you. He thinks about you. He loves you. AND He likes you! Check out these verses that have been put together by the Freedom in Christ Ministries (they found these verses in the Bible and put them together in this list).

The three categories they talk about are:
IN Christ you are - accepted, secure and significant.

I would love it if you looked at that list and then commented below as to which one is most significant to you. Who are you?

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Chris Tomlin in a Rap Video?

The other day a tweet popped up from Carlos Whittaker. He had been speaking at the Catalyst conference and mentioned the Catalyst Backstage site. During this conference they did interviews with people backstage. It's a really fun idea for people who couldn't be there. These two guys, Tripp and Tyler, were on with the guy who headed up the conference. I gather that they are the funny/comic relief for the conference. They came on with bowlcut haircuts. They were pretty funny actually. They talked about their rap video they had just done, so I popped over to their website and checked it out.

If you don't know who Chris Tomlin is you should check him out. He is one of my favorite worship songwriters and singers. I LOVE his stuff! I have sat with him a couple of times poolside at a couple of conferences and he is a pretty quiet, gentle guy. This video gave me a totally different perspective of him and I love it! 

Check out this video.



What is the worst style you have ever had that you actually thought was cool?

Friday, October 08, 2010

3 is a Magic Number

Today we have been on the waiting list to adopt our 2 precious babies for 3 months! I wonder if this will be the month. If the average person waits 4-6 months, it probably won't happen. Although almost every part of our process has gone quicker than the average, I am not holding my breath. As soon as I realized we were hitting month 3 I thought of the song, "3 is a Magic Number." I first heard Jack Johnson sing it on the Curious George album, but could not find it on youtube. I did find this version though...not as good, but the lyrics are there.

Friday, October 01, 2010

Sometimes Magic Happens...I'm Inspired

Every now and then I see something and it moves me to want to create. This was the case when Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake got together the other night.I am convinced that JT is a musical genius. There is plenty of his stuff I think is junk, but when it comes to music and comedy, he is amazing!



Check out what he did at the ESPYs. I can't believe how he can go through all those genres and keep it all together. The hours and hours that must have gone into making that happen has to be huge.

(if you are reading this on facebook you need to go here to see the videos)
What inspires you?
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