Your Flashforward:

My wife and I are pretty big fans of LOST.  We've watched every episode.  It all started during a tremendous weekend with our good friend the stomach flu.  When I got feeling better she came down with it and date night turned into holding the trash can while the other "evacuated".  I think it was my sister who loaned us season 1 & 2 on DVD.  With all the downtime we devoured every episode.

JJ Abrams, the creator of LOST, has a new show out (Which is chock full of ex-LOSTies).    I've been watching it with a family in our church because my wife works on Thursday nights.  The set up helps fight the loneliness and gives me a chance to build community.  On a side note, I love this family.

I also, love Flashforward, the new JJ show.  It's like LOST if LOST was a cop drama . . . and made any sense.  The premise is that for one minute and thirty-seven seconds everyone passed out and got to see what they were doing six months into the future.  Of course a lot of carnage occurred during that minute and a half, but for the most part the show is about the visions.  Some people get hopeful visions, others see their marriage ruined, but most frightening of all, some people see nothing.  The race is on to figure out why the blackouts happened.

Take the jump to read some more of my thoughts and how this show asks a question we should all want to answer.

How to see the future:

I got a chance to sit down with a couple of my high school students tonight. Originally, my plan for the evening was to eat something and fall asleep as hard and as fast as possible. I'm glad my plans changed because I got to have a really good heart to heart with them. They shared their concerns about the future and how daunting it is to feel pressured into knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life at 16. Take the jump to read my thoughts.

Also, I'll be interposing pictures of what people thought the future would look like in the 1950's. If you think they add some depth or meaning that's awesome, but I'm just doing it because they make me chuckle.

A Beautiful Thing:

There is a graduate in my youth group who has been very special to me ever since I started working at Euharlee. I've watched her grow and come out of her shell. She has endeared herself to me. I love to tell stories about the things that she does. I love to remind myself of her loving servant heart. She's a rolemodel to me and probably doesn't even know it.

I've been through some of the ups and downs of her life with her, but it seems like lately there have been a lot of "downs". Family trouble keeps popping up, money is tight and they recently suffered the loss of a loved one. Her aunt passed away yesterday after suffering from a stroke. I could tell on her face that something was bothering her. I reminded her that if she was a Christian then death was an upgrade and we'll see her again. That seemed to help her, as did the See You At The Pole event.

When we got back to the church her mom came to pick her up. Her mom, by the way, is just like her. Mom asked me if we could step inside, away from the insanity of the rest of the youth. When we got in she looked at me and said, "I just need a hug."

It was her sister who had passed away. She came to me to be consoled. I don't know why I was lucky enough to be the one she confided in, but, it was a beautiful moment as her mom wept while I hugged her. I tried to say some pastoral things, but realized pretty quickly she didn't need them, she just needed a hug.

We talked for a minute afterwords. Things are tough for them. Please pray for them. Join with me as I praise God for giving me the chance to be part of something so special.And here is the rest of it.

Sportsmanship:

The video I'm posting today seems like one of the ultimate shows of sportsmamship. Giving a young man with Downs Syndrome the chance to score a touchdown seems like the ultimate type of class, right? Why do I keep feeling like it was more pity than class? The coach will only let him play when the team is in an impossibly bad spot. He asks the other team to let him through untouched. The kid ran the play, let him say he played the game, not got babied.

All I'm saying is, is coddling the same as sportsmanship?

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And here is the rest of it.

Check it out Basebal and Sci Fi fans:

I think this is 100% real. I am not even going to try to explain how it works. I tried doing this at the Labor Day Picnic and almost threw the bat in the river. If anyone has any idea how to pull this off or can make a video of themselves doing this I'll wear a diaper out in public.

Seriously, watching this video it almost seems like a shame that he has to swing the bat for real. Apparently, he's a AAA ball player named Josh Womack. What I want to know is, why the heck is he not playing for the Rome Braves. I've been to a couple Rome Braves games and Mr. Womack doing that wackiness on the sidelines would pay for admission.

Oh, after the jump, see the rest of his tricks.






Amazing Baseball Bat Tricks Part II - Watch more Funny Videos

I'm not good at bloggin'

I saw some stuff recently that made me think, "Hey that would be something interesting for me to post on my blog." I forgot what it was. Sorry. And here is the rest of it.

I bought a house!

Yup, you heard right, it's a ridiculously nice house because of the recession. I live out in the country now, which is cool because it was so bright in our apartment at night. Everyone should visit and if you can't visit I'll put up pictures so you can tell yourself you've visited. And here is the rest of it.

Classic Jedi Mind trick:

I played capture the flag today with the youth. Andrew if you read this, it's important that you realize the temperature is 100 degrees in the shade. So, maybe day time capture the flag wasn't a good choice. Everyone still had a great time. Let me tell you about my unbelievable feat of espionage that ultimately ended badly. Take the leap.

So, I decided that I'm not going to out run anyone ever again. I might have pulled it off 40lbs ago, but not now. So, I just walked up to the other team and any time they lunged for me I threw up my hands and said, "Whoa, hey, I'm on your team." To my surprise, they were just accepting the idea of me jumping teams half way through the game. Three people came after me and I talked my way past all of them. Then I saw it, my cousin had just retrieved their ball from one of my teams attempts to steal it. He looked at me and I looked at him. As he started towards me the rest of his team said, "It's cool, he's on our team now." I was shocked.

It was at that moment I was afire with boldness. I looked at my cousin and said, "Hey, let me see the flag for a second." Without a moments pause, he just tossed it to me and ran off. I had hit the jackpot. I had to play it cool though.

I held onto it for a second as I wandered a little farther away. Then with panther like agility I hurtled myself through the woods towards our base. I'd have made it to if not for all those leaves and sticks and stuff. I lost my footing and rolled after about two steps. While recovering, still believing I had a shot, I heard the team shouting the news that maybe I wasn't really on the team. The chase was afoot.

I was back on my feet, but it wasn't another ten steps before my cheetah like cousin had caught up. I was tagged with a last gasp effort and all that force caused me to roll through the stick and down the little hill.

My wife was very sweet to have put neosporin on my back scratches.

I'd pay 1 million for the two Journey songs:

Soooo, this lady didn't settle out of court with the RIAA and she got hit with a mega fine for being involved with illegal downloads. The companies have said they're going to stop prosecuting people, so that threat is gone, I wonder if we'll see a jump in Kazaa like downloading again? I think bit torrents have taken over though, am I right?

Either way, here's the playlist that cost her 2 million bucks. Take the jump to see the CD cover.

Butt Stabbings

There are a few reasons that I've never gotten into soccer. It's a sport that is primarily running, I'm not much of a runner. It requires precise foot control, I have big feet and I fall over them. All of those pale in comparison to the reason after the jump.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8068088.stm

What is marked about the attacks is that victims are often stabbed in the buttocks. The practice even has its own slang name in the local Roman dialect - "puncicate". But why is the backside targeted?

It has it's own name.

That's Fierce:

Here's an article from ESPN dealing with the fiercification of team logo's. It all starts with the Detroit Lions, new home of former UGA QB (LOL)Matthew Stafford. Follow this link to see what other teams will be sporting this season after they've gotten a RuPaul style fiercifying. You bettah' work! And here is the rest of it.

Who names their blog something like that?

I mistyped my blogs name today. www.absolutelyspoo.blogpot.com

I didn't know there was a blogpot.com, I would have never guessed that there would be another absolutely spoo. Two spoo? What to do!

Just check it out and let the irony keep rolling around in your head. And here is the rest of it.

Dutch Protestant Atheist Pastor:

See the title of the post? Did one of those words jump out as odd? Check this out.

Hendrikse gained attention with his book published in November 2007, in which he said that it was not necessary to believe in God's existence in order to believe in "God". The Dutch title of the book translates as, "Believing in a God who does not exist: manifesto of an atheist pastor".

Also, "Hendrikse welcomed the decision not to opt for disciplinary proceedings against him." No, durrr.

That atheist pastor.

And here is the rest of it.

Oooh, hacked:

I don't usually update my youth group website over the weekend. Come to find out it was hacked. I'm not going to give the group any shout outs that did it. But, the website now plays middle eastern music and has a stupid picture on the front. I'm guessing it was some kind of attack against the evil west from a more militant Islamic hacking group. More than likely it was a group of 12 year-olds with too many cans of red bull and zero things better to do. I mean this would be no great victory for Allah, the blog gets viewed three times a month by my youth.

I run a wordpress site and if anyone has any experience with Wordpress let me know if you've been hacked before and also what you did about it. And here is the rest of it.

The Big 2-5:

No, I'm not turning 25, I'm talking about the awesome 25 Things bug that's passing through Facebook (and probably just finishing it's reign of terror as I write this). Are you a little tired of the whole thing? Well, maybe several major news organizations covering it will help you get back in the spirit.

Thanks to Gizmodo for this one. And here is the rest of it.

Modalism

While I'm not really harping on anyone, I heard a pastor use the example of the trinity as a particular man being considered a “husband” to his wife, a “father” to his children, and an “son” to his mother. Which is apparently Modalism. Which is bad. At the same time though, the Trinity is super hard to grasp with an example. So they all fail. I think we might be dealing with an issue where some examples are bad and some are better.

I don't think there is a 100% genuinely good example. What do you think? Are you a Modalist?And here is the rest of it.

Something God Sized:

I just had a discussion with someone who said they longed for something "God Sized". Which got me thinking about what makes something God size. The concern they had was that the weren't doing something so noticeable that people say, "God had a serious hand in that!", but why? Isn't every flower blooming something only God can do, ergo it is God sized. Every breath we take, is God sized. Nothing that happens occurs without God's decree, so nothing is less than God sized. I think it's a bit vain of us to assume we are doing something less than God sized.

Also, salvation, never happens, unless God does it. Salvation is the ultimate God sized thing. If we want to be a part of something God sized. If we want to know that we are living around God sized activities. Be about spending every moment of every day finding ways to see, experience, and be a part of salvation around you. And here is the rest of it.

Grandmas say the darndest things:

*Two videos in a row, I officially have nothing to say.*

I was on Vimeo and came across this video of a woman saying something super nice to a guy named Chris. I can't be sure but, I'm pretty sure she was talking about me. So, that made me feel good.

Also, my real grandmother had throat surgery yesterday please keep her in your prayers. (That's important. I recant my previous statement.) Take the jump for an adorable grandma.


Lois Honeycutt: Thoughts on Chris from Tour for the Cure on Vimeo.

We're studying character in the youth group.

For example.

And here is the rest of it.

They're coming/They're here:

Over at Kamp Krusty Brant is posting pictures of Baby Aardvarks. Which is cool and all, so I Googled "Baby Aardvark" to see if I couldn't ride on his coolness wave. Turns out I may have uncovered the most well hidden conspiracy this world has ever known.

The name Aardvark means, "Earth Pig". See where I'm going with this? There must be some reason to designate this beast an, and I quote, '"Earth" Pig' (I just broke out the double quote). There must be a space pig. Some vast pantheon of Nebular Swine have made their way to earth and the early zoologists discovered this and tried to warn us. I'm sure they've taken over local governments. Perhaps they've even been swaying the election of municipal authorities for decades.

They may even be running for the school board of your very own town.

On a side note, I just finished watching Vantage Point and Season 4 of 24. And here is the rest of it.

The Counter Reformation

I really like the humor in Pearls 'Fore Swine.  It's super sarcastic.  I thought there might be something deep trapped inside this comic strip and I might extrapolate it here on the blog to the amazement of many.  I was wrong.  Enjoy the comic.

Mustache for sale, I repeat, Mustache for sale:

I was the section leader for all of the baritones during my senior year of high school. Not all of the low brass, just the baritones, all three of us, I was their shepherd. I wasn't very good. I think my band instructor had a good bit of foresight and new that I would marry his daughter, so he threw me a bone. Andy was one of the lucky few to have been kept cool by the shadow underneath my mighty wing.

Andy was better than me at Baritone, he was also about 4 years younger. It was a long road to hoe trying to make Andy not outshine me while also attempting to make it look like I was making him better. Tough times, but I think I'm the better for it.

Andy has grown into one of the most interesting human beings alive. I had nothing to do with that. His blog is regularly hilarious. His facial hair is something even more though. I've always been a hairy person, but anyone could see the force was strong in Andy.

He's decided to share his gift and passion with the world. You can now own the lip hair of a man who played the baritone with me for a year. Let the bidding being. LET IT BEGIN! ! !

Seriously, let it begin.And here is the rest of it.

Alas! And did my savior bleed?

Alas, and did my Saviour bleed?
And did my Sov'reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

Was it for crimes that I have done,
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker, died
For man, the creature's sin.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away—
'Tis all that I can do!

By: Isaac Watts

Has your church ever done this song? I love the words. Has anyone ever heard a contemporary redux of it?And here is the rest of it.