Seth is going to college

Today we went to the University of North Texas' Family Weekend to see where our niece, April, is going to school and to see her dorm room. When we got there Seth was full of all sorts of questions. First he wanted to know why "April isn't living with Uncle Chris anymore." We explained that she was going to college. When we got on campus we told Seth this was college and it was a big school.

Later in the day after getting home Seth declared, "When I get older, I'm going to college."

That is good news to hear...

Who Doesn't Want Freedom?

You don't have to read my blog for long to understand what side of the political isle I sit on. I also have several friends who sit on the opposite side and one of them is a friend of my wife, Jana. In this recent post
the comments turned into a debate over the war in Iraq and how the U.S. are the bad guys according to Jana and many of her readers.

Despite a multitude of things I disagree with, Jana made one comment that just floored me. In response to a comment about the U.S. trying to spread freedom through the world, she said some people don't want freedom. What? Jana is very intelligent and I believe her feelings are shared by many on the left. They don't feel freedom is something people really need or deserve. They really would like to move to more of a socialist society where the government controls our lives.

Our nature is to be free. God created us to be free and it is because sin came into the world that freedom is denied to some not because it is a better way to live.

This is good news to me.

Your Chances of Being a Multimillionaire: 64%

You have a good chance of being a multimillionaire. Better than most people. You simply have a natural knack for money and the personality for success.

Will You Be a Multimillionaire?

How Did We Ever Cook Hotdogs without a Microwave?

For some reason the other day I was thinking about Shelley's Grandmother who is in her 90's now and all of the technology changes she has seen. She grew up to see automobile travel, airplane travel, TV, man on the moon, the internet just to name a few. Will I see such significant changes? Well, here is a list of a few things that I didn't have when I was kid in no specific order.

1. The internet
2. Email
3. Cell phones
4. Text messaging
5. VCR/DVD player (we got our first VCR when I was a freshman in colleg)
6. Microwave (we got our first microwave when I was 13 or so) How did we ever make hotdogs or popcorn?
7. Answering machine
8. Call waiting - Does anyone remember what it was like to call and get a busy signal?
9. Cable TV/Satelite TV - I didn't get cable until I was 24 years old.
10. Home computers.
11. Digital cameras
12. ATM Machines
13. MP3 players

What technologies did we not have when you were a kid?

The NIE Report

Since we are approaching November elections I will probably start having more political post.

And since we are talking politics, I have to address the recently "leaked" NIE report and the conclusions that are being reported by the report. I would challenge anyone to try and not say that the reporting of this five month old report is anything but political.

If you listen only to the main stream media you would be led to believe that the only conclusion that this report had was that the war in Iraq is being used by terrorists as a means of recruiting. I'm not so sure why everyone is shocked by this statement but does it mean we don't need to be fighting the war, I don't think so. I actually think it confirms more the reason to continue with the fight.

Also, what isn't being reported is other statements in the NIE report like "United States led counterterrorism efforts have seriously damaged the leadership of al-Qaida and disrupted its operations.

The NIE report outlines a series of successes and failures in the war on terrorism but all you hear about are the failures.

Also, the main stream media can't have it both ways. The 2002 NIE report stated "Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of UN restrictions; if left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade."

So, we wrong to make decisions based on the NIE report in 2002 but now in 2006 it is clear that this report has a clear understanding of the situation.

You can read report after report, analysis after analysis but in the end the only thing that matters is results. And to me, the most important result is that since 2001 there has not been a successful terrorists attack against the United States. But, prior we saw act of terrorism after another, including the bombing of the World Trade Center, the destruction of US embassies in Africa and the attack on the US Cole.

Chicks Carrying Guns and Kicking Tail

I found this list of stories of woman defending themselves on John Lott's blog.

My favorite quote is from a Texas woman who was being robbed and she pulled her gun and said "Are you really sure you want to do whatever you're going to do?"

Read all of the stories here.

More Dallas Cowboys' Stadium Information

The plans for the new Cowboys' stadium have not been made public yet but The Fort Worth Star Telegram has published some information they have gotten from inside sources.

One thing I am glad to hear is that the "Hole in the Roof" will remain but will have a retractable cover that can be opened or closed. The stadium will have a more modern appearance made of steel and glass and look like a "spaceship". Other features identified are:

About 75,000 seats split among eight levels, called the Event Level, the Hall of Fame Level, Main Concourse, Mid-Concourse, Silver Level, Ring of Honor Level, Star Level and Upper Concourse.

Quarter-mile-long steel arches running end zone to end zone.

Large outdoor digital video screens that are similar to the 96-by-27-foot south end-zone scoreboard in the Arizona Cardinals' new stadium.

No end-zone seating above ground, allowing people to "see through" the stadium from the parking lot.

Read the article here.

The Gun Show

I took both boys to their first gun show this weekend and we had a great time. When I first asked Seth if he wanted to go to the gun show he replied, "yay, we are going to the gun show. (pause) What is a gun show?"

Well, he found out and he says he wants to go back. I think he was more interested in some of the non-gun related booths like the guy that had the stuffed armadillos laying on their backs holding beer bottles, or the guy with the old toys that included trains, or the Texas Rangers' (law enforcement, not baseball team)booth that gave each boys a sticker making them Junior Texas Rangers.

Chase also seemed to have a good time or at least he didn't voice any complaints.

Marathon Training Update

I just completed my fifth week of training and I have eleven more to go. This week was very hard because I have been very tired and I haven't felt well all week. This training I am doing is considerably harder than I have ever done and I just hope I can make it through it. This is all in attempt to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon. As an example, in the first 5 weeks of one of my previous training sessions, I ran 114 miles. I have run 146 miles during these first five weeks or the equivalent of an entire extra week. Next week I am scheduled to run 40 miles so things aren't going to get any easier.

Seth's Second Soccer Game

Seth's second soccer game was rain out today.

Israel Trip Update

Our church as decided not to go so the trip has been cancelled. I am very disappointed but also relieved a little. The cost of the trip had really been weighing on me lately. I know our church will be going sometime in the future, I just hope the circumstances work out so we can go.

Specific Prayers Update

In this post I talked about how I was being led to pray more specifically but I wasn't sure how to do it.

Shelley came up with the idea of creating a prayer journal where we could share our prayers with each other and start practicing praying more specifically. Well, we created a shared journal using Writely. We have been journaling our prayers for the last week and it is amazing to see God work. We have had some very specific prayers and God has answered.

If you aren't doing this then I encourage you to try it.

A Good Sports Weekend

It was a good sports weekend. My three teams, the Cowboys, TCU and my fantasy team, The Loansharks, all won.

The Cowboys won a big game against Washington to make their record 1-1. The downside is that T.O. broke his finger and is out 2-4 weeks. But, I would be willing to bet he plays against Philadelphia in 4 weeks.

TCU beat Texas Tech to move to 3-0 and extend the country's longest winning streak to 13 straight games. Also, this will definately move them up the Top 20 rankings.

Finally The Loansharks beat the Hawgstickers to move to 2-0. This was a big win for The Loansharks because it was a big Intraoffice rivalry.

The Joys of Fatherhood #21

Another Joy of Fatherhood is sitting in bed with two little boys on rainy Sunday, eating popcorn and watching football.

Seth's First Soccer Game

Soccer season is upon us and Seth had his first game today. They only had one practice prior to the game today so I was a little concerned about how it would go. Fortunately, Seth has two really good coaches that already know all of the kids names and really work hard to make it fun.

Seth did a really good job. He listened to the coaches and did what the coaches asked him. Now, at times he was the star of his own movie and was more interested in trying to entertain the crowd they playing soccer. I think he saw the field as his own private stage.

Also, as usual Chase wanted to be part of the action and to be with the big boys. He was constantly making his way to the playing field and I think if we let him go he would have been right out there in the middle of the scrum.

Dallas Cowboys' New Stadium #3

Still not much to see.














Here is a different angle. This picture is from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

September 11 2001 - What We Saw

This video is a different view of the World Trade Center on September 11th. It is long though.

And as always if you are reading this through Bloglines or something similar, then come to my blog to view the video.

Patience

I have been struggling with patience all my life but right now I am having a really hard time. There are several things that I am looking for a resolution to but it is taking a long time. I know in Romans it says "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope," but I struggle with the feeling of inactivity. I know it is my desire for control so I am really trying to turn it over to God.

There are a lot of versus in the Bible that deal with patience so I know God is aware that it is a struggle for us.

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Romans 8:25.

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say on the Lord! Psalm 27:14

I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined me and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

I'm a Pack Rat

I have always had trouble throwing things out. As I ponder throwing something away, the thought always races through my head, "I may need this someday." Now don't misunderstand me I don't have a garage full of old newspapers or drawers crammed with rubber bands. I also have a conflicting need for organization and order so I have this constant internal battle raging. I know my counselor would ask me "when was the first time I felt this way" but I don't feel like going that deep at this time.

Well, yesterday Shelley decided to call the Salvation Army to come pick up a few things and she wanted to give away some clothes so she asked me to go through my closet and pick out some things. In the past, this might result in a half a dozen shirts or so because we all know that I might need that t-shirt I got at the 5K race 5 years ago.

Last night I attacked this project though with a new sense of resolve. When all was said and done I had a stack of clothes well over 2 feet high laying in our bathroom floor. I was pretty proud of myself and I still managed to keep a few of those 5K t-shirts.

I Have Not Forgotten

Specific Prayers

This past weekend I seemed to be getting reminded that God wants us to pray specifically. Our counselor told Shelley that we need to pray specifically and that God wants us to pray this way so that we know it is him who has answered our prayers.

Our pastor told us in his message this weekend that we needed to pray specifically as well.

Here is the problem, I don't know how to pray specifically. So, I think my first prayer is "God, this week help me learn how to pray specifically."

Week 1 - 17 - 24 Loss

The Cowboys lost their season opener 24 - 17 to Jacksonville and it left me with a few questions. First, where was that all world defense we had been hearing about? They gave up 307 yards of offense, 3 touchdowns, and only had 1 sack.

Second, where were all of these weapons we were suppose to have on offense? Julios Jones rushed for only 72 yards, Bledson was only 16 of 33 and had 3 interceptions and Terry Glen only caught 4 passes for 80 yards. The only one who really did anything was the one we have all been talking about and that was T.O. who caught 6 passes and had 1 touchdown.

Third question, how long before we see Romo starting? Another performance like this from Bledsoe and I predict he will start week 4.

Kicker? It is the same old same old with being only 1 for 2 on field goes. Granted, Mike Vanderjagt didn't play but is he going to be any better?

If they don't improve it will be another long and disappointing season and I will bet it will be Bill Parcells last season.

Vacation

My 2nd post, Vacation, on Dadbloggers is now available. Read it here.

Faith Day

I hope this catches on. Read the whole story here.

ATLANTA – After the final at-bat of Thursday's game between the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins, the stadium seats will turn into pews.

That's because it's "Faith Day" at Atlanta's Turner Field. No, the hot-dog vendors won't preach John 3:16. But churchgoing fans - with, promoters hope, their non-Christian friends in tow - will assemble after the game to hear Braves star pitcher John Smoltz share how his life changed by believing in Christ.

Minor league teams from Buffalo, N.Y., to Huntsville, Ala., are holding similar promotions. The effect on ticket-sales is often dramatic. Faith Nights in Nashville regularly increase ticket sales by 60 percent. The Las Vegas Gladiators, the arena football team, had its highest Sunday attendance ever during a Faith Day event this spring.

Results like those captured the attention of big-league promoters, who are determined to bring the phenomenon - without the flashiness of camo Bibles - to "The Show." After the Braves hold their major league-first Faith Day Thursday - which includes a post-game Christian music concert - the Arizona Diamondbacks will hold its first Faith Day later this season. The Florida Marlins will try one next season.

WANTED: Mentor/Life Coach

Position Available: Looking for a Mentor/Life Coach and accountability partner who can help me advance in my walk with Christ and achieve some of my personal goals. Must be a Christian, Entrepeneur, and good listener. Must be willing to listen and share their life secrets.

Location - Dallas/Fort Worth but telecommuniting available for the right candidate.
Compensation - The occasional lunch and the fullfillment of helping a fellow Christian.

Interested candidates can email me or post a comment.

This has had me up at night

Two Fox News journalists were taken captive several weeks ago and recently released. During their ordeal Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig were forced to convert to Islam at gun point.

This has had me asking myself, "what would I do?"

I have been thinking about the Apostles and how they all died when they refused to denounce their faith or Jesus. Paul was beheaded, Simon Peter was crucified upside down and James Alpheus was stoned to death to just name a few.

I would like to think that my faith would be strong enough but I have to admit I am not sure. I think I might just view it as "temporary" and that God would know what is truly in my heart. As I run this scenerio through my head the faces of Shelley, Seth and Chase continue to pop in my mind as I ponder this decision. But, then I begin thinking about being "forced" to convert to a religion that the only way it can get converts is at gun point and I think I actually might refuse.

What would you do?

Armed Citizen #11

From www.nra.org.

Seventy-four-year-old Willie Brown had shrugged off the noises downstairs as typical bumps in the night. But then, a man holding a knife appeared in his bedroom doorway. Brown described the ensuing events to a local reporter: “He said, ‘Don’t move, I got a knife.’ I said, ‘You got a knife, huh?’ He said ‘Yeah’ … I reached under my pillow and came up firing my .38 Smith and Wesson. He said, ‘Oops’ and turned and ran down the steps.” An officer later spotted the wounded suspect driving erratically at high speeds and arrested him. “I might be old, but I am not slow,” said Brown. “I think [the intruder] might be through breaking in people’s houses for a while.” (Belleville News Democrat, Belleville, IL, 06/16/06)

Marathon Training Update

I have finished my first 2 weeks of my marathon training and am fairly pleased with my progress so far. Last week I ran 27 miles and this week I ran 30 miles with my longest run so far being 10 miles. This morning I ran my first training race, The Breakfast Bash 5 Mile. I finished the race in 39 minutes and 19 seconds which is a 7 minute 51 second mile pace. My goal marathon pace is 7 minutes 38 seconds so I was close to running my marathon goal pace but it was just 5 miles. So, along with increasing my endurance I need to increase my speed as well.

Why ?

Click on the image for a larger view.