Video Week, Part 3

A "Legend"-ary Bachelor Party

To celebrate Shannon Blosser's upcoming wedding, we decided to head out to Applebee's Park to watch the Lexington Legends take on the Savannah Sand Gnats. During the game we embarrassed Shannon and ourselves thoroughly, won $50 in a three-legged race, took in a fireworks show, and had a great time. Congrats Shannon!

this is disconcerting...

70%

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I-75 fun

After a fun time at my in-laws, we traveled down to Warner Robins to visit my side of the family for a couple days. However, as we were approaching mile marker 186, shortly after Exit 185 ("to Gray"), I had to hang up on my dad because an awful noise and rumbling scared us to death. Apparantly, after 5 years, all tires are considered "in need of being replaced" because the body of the tire (i.e. not the tread) is cracked and will separate on Georgia pavement where the temperatures reach up to 130 degrees. Our tire had unraveled and we could see pieces of it flying off behind us along I-75. I was so focused on getting the tire changed, I didn't even realize that Joanna had taken pictures of me until I was looking through our pictures later that night. We ended up getting a nice new set of tires and a speeding ticket on our way back up to Kentucky (FYI: I-75/I-40 in Knoxville is 55, not 65). First speeding ticket ever! What a fun driving experience.

too many days

Since I have been very busy with Hebrew, work, traveling to GA to see family, and in general doing many things... I have neglected the faithful readers of my blog. For the next week, I will be posting pictures every day (6 days, the 7th is rest) to let you know what has been going on in my life. First up, Joanna and I had our anniversary at the end of last month (July 27th) and we celebrated on Friday night, the 25th. She arranged a little fun with balloons. In each there were options for what we could do to celebrate (bowling and swing dancing were two of the options).

Can I just say that I HATE popping balloons. It scares the crap out of me, even if I know it's coming and am doing it myself. The last picture was an attempt that failed because I prematurely flinched when stabbing at the balloon. Upon finally busting the balloons, I ended up choosing ballroom dancing at the Franklin Cottrell Dance Center. We enjoyed meeting some new people and doing some dances like swing, waltz, viennese waltz, tango, foxtrot, and more.

the wonderful world of being a janitor

Did you know...

The average janitor uses an estimated 28 gallons of chemicals per year, weighing
234 pounds. Hazardous ingredients comprise about 25% of the total, or 58
pounds. The cost for these products is estimated as $250 per worker, which
is only about 1% of the annual salary of $20,000 typically earned by that same
worker. [Church Risk Management Journal, May 2008]

Two points:

• I definitely don't earn $20,000 a year...
• holy cow, I use way too many hazardous chemicals...

And according to this same journal, lightning is the #2 weather killer in the US, more than hurricanes and tornadoes combined. Florida leads the US in lightning deaths, injuries, and casualties... I think I'll stay away from Florida for a while.

This is some of the fun reading I've had that was non-class related over the past week.

coolness for dullness

don't judge the following by my lame title...

UPDATE 06/21/08: I forgot to say - ht Jake for this!

Here's a great way to turn something not fun into something... well, fun!

Wordle - It creates a word cloud from any set of words you put in. I chose my final essay* from my UM Theology class. From this set of words, it creates an image like the one below, of which the words increase in size based on their usage within the set.

*If you're a UM nerd like myself, I'd be happy to pass on this paper for feedback from you. It covers the 5 characteristics that have endured throughout Methodism, strengths and weaknesses of Methodism, and formula for renewal in the UM church.

sister tharpe is my "guitar hero"

It's like watching your grandma play with Chuck Berry! She rocks!!!

my own funeral

One of the group assignments for my Doctrine class is to make a short video about "The Destiny of the Unevangelized" (there are four different views that we must present creatively). Our group decided to create a cheesy soap-opera alled "Destiny," which centers around a dead guy. Somehow, I got volunteered for the fun role of being in the coffin. They actually closed it up on me and it's too small for me, my head kept it from closing all the way (I guess I do have a big head). So, what do you think is the fate of those who have never heard the name of Christ? Are they precluded from salvation?

(These pictures were taken with my new Motorolla Q9h.)

speed trap

Thought this was just odd enough to be worthy of a picture post on my blog! (watch your speed out there...)

[See more pics from my natural bridge trip with my parents on my flickr badge on the right side-bar!]

like riding a bike

I was given this idiom as advice from several people for leading worship (1st time in over 2 years). Good advice, but my experience was more like riding a tricycle on the interstate going in the wrong direction. There were some sudden stops and loud noises and bad-words-going-through-my-head.

Musically (both voice and guitar), things went well. The set-list was: You Never Let Go (Matt Redman), Hope To Carry On (Caedmon’s Call) [this is a stand-by for me that is easy to teach and sing without music], and Marvelous Light (Charlie Hall). The songs flowed well together and even went with the theme of the evening: Spring is representative of the change Christ works in our lives (especially “Marvelous Light”). The youth group I was playing for was a small crowd (5 kids and 5 adults – it was Spring Break, so numbers were low), but they were welcoming, involved in singing and worshipping, and even kind in clapping for me at the end of my set. I accidentally cut them off to transition through prayer as I was not expecting such a small crowd to be involved in any way.

However, about half-way through the first song the Hispanic service worship team began practicing in the sanctuary. For this to be of any meaning to you, you must understand the set-up of the facility. It is a warehouse, not a traditional church building. There are subdivisions for rooms, offices, and sanctuary, but the walls do not reach all the way to the ceiling and also do not keep out any sound at all. As there are limited resources for the small youth ministry, I was playing acoustically and without any amplification. The worship team however, decided to plug into the sound system and pump their volume up pretty high. So much so that I was playing and singing at one volume throughout – really loud – just to be heard. There was no intonation or natural rising and falling throughout the songs. Then during the pause between the 2nd and 3rd song, the volume of the praise band raised to a new level with very fast percussion beats. I could barely hear myself playing the guitar much less get the correct rhythm in my head. Eventually, I was able to start by singing a little, catching up with the correct tempo on the guitar and then getting my voice at the correct pitch. Not the best, but it worked.

So, all in all, it was a fun experience. I didn’t come away crying but getting a new perspective on “space” issues (it’s more than just square footage). I will be playing again at either of the two upcoming meetings (there will be a band at the other one).

Help me keep laughing at this situation by sharing a story (or two) that tells of a time when you were leading something and outside forces just made your efforts laughable. Keep it light.

a little premature

I received this in the mail last week. Notice the "title" before my name. Now, I do hope to have that in the near future (2 years), but I'm not there yet. Just wanting to clear the air. However, it was a little exciting...

#1 Book?

My wife is trying to compile a list of the best books ever written (classics and more recent ones) and read those she has not read before. What would you recommend? What are those high school books that really stuck out in your mind? And what would you say is the #1 book of all time? (pretend "The Bible" doesn't count)

Too many Dan's running around

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 357 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

And statistically, Daniel is the 16th most common name in America... cool.

indulging in tv

My two favorite times of the year combine for about a month...
Baseball
College Hoops

Are there times of the year that you get excited about? Why?

our christmas tree

It's a Christmas Easter Lily (created out of space necessity, not out of design). Interesting to put two different "birth" symbols of Christ together... wish I could claim it as foresight.

Broadhurst Christmas Party

Hanging out with a small group of fellow apartment people after our Christmas "Apartment Tour" Party. I was really full afterwards (i.e. no pic of me).
Kelly, Brandon, Leanne, & Kel








Danessa & Corey









Ben, Melissa, Brian & Melanie

This is pretty funny (if you're a seminary nerd like me anyway):
Top Twenty Theological Pickup Lines Not to Use
Here's a small preview:

20. ”I am not overweight. The word ‘glory’ in Hebrew is kabod which
according to HALOT literally means ‘heaviness.’ The Bible also says that we
are to reflect God’s glory. Therefore, I am just doing what the Bible says.”

blog level

Hahaha. Someone sure made a mistake. How about Sesame Street level?

Get a Cash Advance

A funny thing happened on the way to the time change

Joanna and I arrived at church on Sunday right on time. Heard the music coming from the sanctuary and walked on in. We stopped to talk to some friends right outside the sanctuary and they asked us: "Why are you here so early?" I answered, "It's 9:30am" (which is the time the service begins). All I heard in response was laughing and pointing. After Joanna drop-kicked all of them (little embellishment here), we found out that we were actually an hour early becuase of daylight savings time. Luckily, there was a ministry group that invited us to join them and we had a grand ol' time. (For those of you paying attention to details, the music in the sanctuary was the praise band practicing.)

A friend and I were talking about the time-change and decided that what needs to happen is that we don't change anything for 24 years and then either "add" or "drop" a whole day. Wouldn't that be easier? Of course, there's probably some stupid math thing involved that wouldn't make that possible, like 1+1=2. I hate math.