santa claus in lego star wars II

on decmber 22nd lucasarts reveals that santa claus is playale in lego star wars II: the original trilogy. the mix of star wars and christmas; what could be better? directions on how to do it can be found at ign. time to spread some of the christmas spirit with a light saber.

merry christmas!

it is almost here. one more day until christmas. we are heading out tonight for a tour of the state of florida. we will be visiting tonay's family, seeing my sister and her family, then going to my father's for a two nights. have a merry christmas!

ice!

we went and saw ice at the gaylord palms yesterday. it was an exceptionally cool exhibition. here's some of the pics from it.

if only i could

12/20/06 first anniversary

on our first we went to watch the sunrise. truly beautiful.

new pancoast

the newest pancoast. the little one not big one in the picture. elliot noel.

looking good

things are looking good slopeside. 30 trails are now open.

guitar at its best

LED's lighting the world's architecture

wired magazine's photo blogs displays pictures of the world's architecture lit up by LED's (light emitting diodes). great shots of towers, bridges and offices from across the globe.

words of a three year old

"have you seen mr. boot?"

"no i haven't. what does he look like?"

"he's got a big round head, ears, and a big belly. he's not like us."

Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the Shelf

"A new study by The Barna Group (Ventura, California) shows that despite strong levels of spiritual activity during the teen years, most twentysomethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years – and often beyond that. In total, six out of ten twentysomethings were involved in a church during their teen years, but have failed to translate that into active spirituality during their early adulthood."

-we see this in our own churches. we should work at discovering ways to encourage young people to get better engaged into church life.

excerpts from an email

So here's another thought to explain how I feel about sin as a whole. It is not our job to judge. While we are told what is sinful in the scriptures, we are also told not to judge others for that sin. In our relationships to others, especially those who are cast out on a high level, such as homosexuals, our job, I believe is to err on the side of love and compassion. We then continue to love the lord our god with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. We also are then able to love our neighbors (all others) as our selves. When we do this, we show others what god is like, and we allow god to do his job. And don't step on god's toes. And of course as with anyone, as we build relationships with others we may have the opportunity to help them move from sinful things to a deeper relationship with Christ. We cannot do that without getting to know, getting to know their story, spending time with them. However, I am not able nor do I think I would ever want to be able to judge. I feel like our role as Christians is to help draw others near to god. God is here and available to all despite our sinful nature or sinful acts. Christ paid the price for us and homosexuals, prostitutes, pre-marriage sexual acting people, and everyone else just the same. It is hard for us to accept god's ability to love all people the same. It is great when we know that we are loved, but it is difficult to understand that the rapists or the sexual offenders who were on the board at the park on Sunday are loved by god just the same. We have a job to not let people hurt others however, I do believe that hell is full of people that god loves. I also think that god is willing to redeem all people. Can we grasp to fullness of that? Not likely in our limited ability to love and our conditional ways of loving. We must make an effort to love all people, no matter what walk of life they come from. It is easy to love our friends and those we agree with and those who think like we do and those who are like us. But the scriptures call that fake, if we don't love our enemies too. Now, don't mistake kindness for weakness or tolerance. However, first and before anything else we must love.

never knew...

angel decoy

just in time for christmas

more photos from charlotte - performers

skit guys
lost and found
shane and shane
starfield
leeland

photo highlights of the national youth workers convention

parting shot
my wife and i
the exhibit hall
charlotte at night
the view from the westin
the westin

on our way there




more to come...

met chauncey billups

while we were in charlotte for the national youth worker's convention, we were able to attend a charlotte vs. detroit nba game. we found out the pistons were staying in our hotel. how could you miss them? at 7 feet tall, you take notice. anyways, chauncey billups, point guard for detroit, was kind enough to take a picture with me. very cool.