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.

family from far away

... well, if you consider wisconsin far away. It is for us as we hadn't seen our neice, and she was born almost 3 years ago (though we did see a few of her siblings last summer). Joanna's side of the family was in full force at her parent's house the first weekend in August. Here are the many pictures we took during this time in Powder Springs, GA.

Top Row - From Left to Right: Nicholas, Zachariah, Tatyanna, Justin
Bottom Row - From Left to Right: Kaitlyn, Aiden, Gabrielle

[There would be a few more here, but I can't figure out how to place pictures under one another, rather than having them all jumbled up... any suggestions?]

Kentucky is Interesting

[Many more pictures of these two outings are on the upper right side of my blog]
After the wonderful cookout the previous day, my family traveled to Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park, which is the site of the last battle of the Revolutionary War (Daniel Boone's son was killed there) and a museum holding mastadon bones and information about this battle. I am holding a mastadon tooth next to my head in this picture.


After this, we traveled to Shaker Village and took a ride down the Kentucky River on the Dixie Belle. Lots of fun!

cookout w/ parents and logan's

Due to some technical issues with Blogger, I haven't been able to update every day like I wanted to, but rest assured, I am back on track [and even have an extra days worth of pictures now...].
On July 27, my parents came into town and we invited Chris and Liz Logan (and Aurora) to come over and meet, eat, and play. Thanks to the Vodicka's, we were also able to enjoy the weather outside by playing ladder toss bolo! We had a great time. You can view many more pictures from the evening in the upper right corner of my blog. [this will be true of each of my picture updates for the next week]

And don't mess with me, or I'll put you down!

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.

Hebrew Translation

For the first installment of the Underwood Standard Version (USV), I present Gen. 22:1-3. I start this off jokingly because I have a much greater respect for the teams and committees who have worked hard to present faithful translations of the Scriptures. While I think I have done a great job on these three verses, please do not take my word as gospel (haha)... Enjoy my "final project" from my Hebrew class!

Now it was following these things God tested* Abraham and said to him, “Abraham.” And he said “Here I am!”

And he said, “Now, you take your son your only one, Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and cause him to be led up there for a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you!”

Now Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took his two young men with him and his son Isaac and he split wood for the sacrifice and he stood and he went to the place which God said to him.

*According to my word study on "nasah" ("to test"), this verb carries a deeper meaning: to actively test the quality of someone’s faith [not "tempt with evil," not just "to examine closely," and not "to attempt or try something."]

pics from our move

We have some great (& crazy) friends! (and a pretty cool new living space)

the worst videos ever

We moved from our apartment last weekend into a duplex across town (Wilmore, KY). Here's a look at our new place.

So go ahead and turn the audio on your speakers off, because there is none. This is basically for geeks like me who just wanted to see what our apartment would look like. They won't be on YouTube getting any awards, so this is the only place you can see movies this bad.

sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't

Change.
Two important things have come about this week for Joanna and myself:
1- we will have to move from our apartment complex because it will be torn down sometime after October 1. We've found a nice duplex to move into (it actually has a kitchen and a coat closet). Unfortunately, the rent will be more and we will certainly miss our Broadhurst friends. We'll post before and after photos as we make the move July 12.
2- As of yesterday, we are officially debt-free!!!!! That's right Dave Ramsey, eat my dust! Seriously, we have been working towards this goal since we got married, and it is an immense relief to finally not owe anybody money. All our sacrifices have been worth it.

looking to heaven

I've had a fairly crisis-free life. I'm not saying I haven't experienced pain or death of people close to me, I have. But, most, if not all were due to "normal life experiences." This has led to a "here and now" type of thinking, because of the prominantly good life. Lately, I have noticed some small and large things that have changed this thinking to an anticipation of heaven. Some of these were just hearing a story about a child finding a gun, playing with it, and shooting themselves (what a unnecessary tragedy)... a person from my church back home committed suicide this week (I haven't even had a chance to talk to the family yet, since I just found out about midnight last night... but I know their hearts are broken)... there are others, but this is sufficient. So, I've found myself praying this prayer lately: "Come, Lord Jesus... Come Quickly!"
Do you pray this prayer, find yourselves weary of this world and its pain, or have other insights into situations like these for me?

rebels with a cause

During the break of my UM Theology class today, a classmate and I stole the couch from the hallway and replaced it for 3 of the desks in the back of our classroom. This brought a little laughter and jesting before we jumped back into the discussion for the language of God ("he," "she," "mother," "father," etc).
Is it sad that this is the extent of my rebellion in life? But, we are comfortable... I might even take a nap ;)
What are simple ways that you rebel?

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.)

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...

Couples Retreat

Our seminary put on a couples retreat this weekend that was amazing! It was held at the DoubleTree Hilton Guest Suites Lexington (it had a whirlpool style tub, fridge, and everything!!). We began the retreat by eating out with three other couples at Carraba's. Then, we had ballroom dancing lessons, where we re-learned the basic steps of the swing and the waltz. At the end of the lessons, the instructor grabbed Joanna and I and another couple to have a dance off. While it was a "tie," I feel like we won just by the fact that I did not run off the floor crying like a girl as I would have done up until 3 years ago when we began some dance lessons. Afterwards, The Metrognomes (a live "Big Band") showed up to provide the music for 2 1/2 hours of ballroom dancing, where Joanna and I showed off our smooth moves (see pics below). The next morning, we ate breakfast with all the other couples in the courtyard (which was inside, thank goodness- as it was snowing outside), then had two seminars on marriage based on CS Lewis' "The 4 Loves." We ended by rewriting our marriage vows to reflect the years and experience of our individual marriages (what would you say to your spouse now, if you were marrying them today...) and serving each other communion afterwards. It was powerful and emotional and refreshing.

So, what would your vows to your spouse look like if you wrote them today? (I'll post mine, and possibly Joanna's if she allows me, later after you have a chance to respond.)

#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)

hunk of wood

I've never thought I've been too attached to things, but as I have just sold my second love (see pictures below) I feel a little bit of loss. My first words to Joanna after it walked out the door, was that I needed a little alone time (I was only half-joking). When I finalized the deal through email last night, I had this "uh-oh" moment where I briefly felt I had done something stupid. I still have Joanna's trusty Alvarez, so I'll make it through this tough period somehow. That and knowing we are that much closer to being debt free is well worth it.

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?

the cups of Jesus

Usually, I celebrate the [Christian] season of Lent. However, this year it began sooner than I expected and I didn't think through how I wanted to observe this meaningful and special time of the Christian Year. So, instead of doing something half-cocked, I have been asking myself the following question each morning: "How do I need to die to myself today?" (Colossians 3:5) Adding to my thinking about my earthly/spiritual mortality are the passages in Matthew about the cups of Jesus (I just finished reading through this gospel).
I'm going to place them out of chronological order because this is the way they affected my thinking:


Matthew 26:27 - Drink this cup (communion). Most of us want a relationship with Jesus.
Matthew 26:39 - Father, take this cup from me... but not my will, Yours! Jesus though shows that the relationship is more than just a normal, good-feeling relationship. It is about sacrifice according to the will of our Heavenly Father.

• The following are two other verses that are worth exploring, but not my primary focus.


• Matthew 10:42 - give a cup of cold water to "little ones" and you will not lose reward


• Matthew 23:25-26 - Woe to those who clean the outside of the cup, but are greedy and indulgent on the inside. Clean the inside and the outside will be clean also.
  

Finally:

Matthew 20:22-23 - Jesus: Can you drink from the same cup I am about to drink (i.e. see all the above)? Disciples: Yes. Jesus: You are correct.


I think Jesus is asking me/us: Can you drink from the same cup as me? What will my answer be? I'm a little scared (what will this actually mean) to say yes, but I'm pressing forward.




So, how, if at all, are you observing lent?