Surround

If you are anxious about something today, meditate on this:

"But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with you. For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love." (Psalm 5:11-12, NLT, emphasis mine)

Numbers

Here are some recent figures:

221 - the number of students and leaders that we had at our AWANA program last night (which is a new record)

216 - the number of students and leaders that we had at our AWANA program last week (which was a new record)

200 - the number barrier that we broke last year at the start of of AWANA

27 - The amount of first-time vistors that we've had in the first three weeks of September in Sunday school at FirstKids.

Our AWANA program is really growing. And it's growing steadily and healthily. One of the aspects that makes AWANA so great is the importance of Scripture memorization. AWANA, along with our Sunday morning Bible study groups, are laying the foundation for our children to come and know Jesus.

And it's working...

To all of our leaders who make it happen, here is a big Thank You. Also, don't forget that you are the ones doing the planting and the watering while God makes it grow. All glory goes to Him.

Google Reader - Where Have You Been All My Life?

"Allow myself to introduce...myself" - Props to those who can name that 90's classic...

Let me introduce to you...Google Reader...ta da!

I've been hearing about this program for a few months now. I also have been resisting it because I don't like new gadgets whose "becoming familiar with time" lasts longer than my 2-year old's naps. However, Google Reader is definitely worth the effort and it will only take as long to set up as your average grandfather's power nap.

Here is how it works: You simply add blogs, websites, etc. to your Google Reader page (which is very easy to do) and whenever a new blog post is published at one of your favorite sites that you stalk, er, I mean read, your Google Reader instantly updates and let's you know that you have "one unread blog post." Therefore, by checking your Google Reader a few times a day, you can read your favorite blogs as they update in an email-checking fashion. What a concept!

The only drawback is that your favorite blogs' tacky, er I mean pretty and unique designs (plus any theme music) will not shown or heard....darn.

Cha-Ching!

The long-awaited....

Greed

Here is a good description from Glenn Beck on how our economy has killed itself selling "toxic Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls" (aka - subprime mortgages)

Bible Translations

On Wednesday nights, from 6:00-6:45, I teach a Bible study aimed at parents or anyone else who is looking for somewhere to get plugged into during that time. Right now we are going through the book of Romans. After studying Romans 2:1-11 about God's righteous judgment and how believers are just as guilty of sin as non-believers, I ended the lesson. It felt like everyone was at a funeral so I said with a big smile, "Have a nice day!" They laughed at that. One parent then told me, "Well I was going to take a run outside but I'm afraid I may throw myself in front of a bus if I do." I laughed at that.

It has been my experience that when you go through bible studies there is always a subject that comes up (and in this case, keeps on coming up) that is unrelated to the study. In this case, that subject is Bible translations. Last week I struggled trying to draw on the board a spectrum where each Bible translation would fall depending on if that translation was a word-for-word or thought-for-thought translation. Well, yesterday I was milling around the bookstore, I came across this chart that lays everything out. How about divine providence! I think I will continue to spend the first 10 minutes or so of reach class speaking about translations. It is a subject with a lot of interest and it is a subject that is extremely exhaustive. If you click on the below image it should become larger.

Jackson's 2nd Birthday "Pool Party"

My son Jackson turned two years old on Friday. We thought it would be fun to rent a private room at a local restaurant so that we could have some family celebrate with us without ruining everyone else's dinner.

My wife called various places and finally settled upon Jillians in the Vista. My first thought was, "Isn't that place kind of like a pool bar?" "Yes" was the answer but my wife was assured by the restaurant employee that we would have our own room away from everything. Therefore, I thought it would be a good place to have a two-year old birthday party, being that the place will probably be noisy anyway.

So, Friday night rolls around and my family, my parents, Emily's parents, my nephew, and emily's aunt and uncle all joined the party. Well, we walked into the pool bar and told the hostesses that we were there. They said, "Ok. Your room is down the hall to the right." Easy enough, I thought, and we walked down past the pool tables and large screen televisions and found our room...a cigar room....complete with leather couches, television and pictures of cigars hanging on the wall.

Seemed pretty cool enough. We put all of Jackson's presents in the cigar room and started looking for our table....and we looked....and we looked....

Four of us went up to the hostess counter and asked about our table for ten. We got blank stares. Finally, the manager came out and opened his reservation book and said:

"Let's see...we have Emily Wallace down for the private room and two pool tables...."

Excuse me? I'm pretty sure that my wife (who was in the cigar room tending to Jackson) did not request two pool tables. She probably meant two tables where we could eat, I explained.

"Oh."

The good news is that it all got worked out and we had a large table to eat at - right next to the entrance and 200 yards away from our private room. But the food was great, the room was fun and the cigars were divine...I mean, we had a good time eating cake in the private room.

And we even got a little billiards in on the side.

My Wife

I love my wife. She's one tough ombre...a sweet, pretty ombre, but tough nonetheless.

This weekend we went to the UGA/Carolina game. We had a connection through the UGA athletic department and were supposed to get tickets to the game through them. The bad news is that we would be sitting in the UGA section. The good news is that we'd be able to go to the game.

To make a long story short, we got our tickets, but the UGA ticket people, figuring out that we weren't UGA fans, intentionally stuck us in the nosebleed section of the sun-drenched east upper deck. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but because it was 100 degrees and my wife is over 6 months pregnant, I was pretty ticked. What kind of woman (and she was a woman who was giving out tickets) would spitefully do that to someone?

Well praise the Lord that I had a scholarship card that allowed us to take the elevator to the upper deck as well as go into the scholarship lounge to cool off from the heat. We spent about half the game indoors to avoid the heat while watching the game on TV. While we were in the stands I was still awfully hot. I kept asking my wife if she was okay, and she was. How? I don't know. I was so hot I was more than willing to leave and watch the game on television, even though she seemed to be okay. Eventually we left in the fourth quarter and listened to the end on the radio. It turned out to be a good decision.

But the point of this post is to say how proud I am of my wife. It was her decision to go to the game. It was her decision to stick it out. And she is one tough ombre. And that is another reason why I love my wife.

USC/UGA Clip of the Day #2

Quincy Carter throws 5 interceptions in 2000 in a 21-10 Carolina win.

USC/UGA Clip of the Day

The following is a clip from the 1993 season-opening game. Final score: USC 23 - UGA 21

UGA Week

This week is the annual UGA/Carolina game. As the years have passed, this game has become more of a "must win" for my family than the Clemson game. I know, I know, that is a shock for some but take a look at why:

1. I am very good friends with very few Clemson fans...

2. None of my family are Clemson fans.

3. My wife was raised a Bulldawg. She is now 100% Gamecock.

4. My mother-in-law went to UGA, my father-in-law is a lifelong fan, as well are three uncles (on both sides of my wife's family) a few aunts and many cousins. Her mom's side of the family hails from Georgia as well.

5. Georgia has been a perennial Top 10 team the past 7-8 years and is a conference game.

6. The UGA game is usually played very early in the season when Carolina fans still have 'hope.'

7. One of my best friends (since 3rd grade) went to Georgia and is an avid fan.

8. Southeastern Seminary is littered with Georgia fans. I can count at least 3-4 who I am fairly good friends with. The three years I was at the seminary Carolina lost every game. I heard the Uga fight song sung to me while I was walking across campus once.

Needless to say, the beginning of the football season always means uncomfortable conversations with loved ones about the upcoming UGA/Carolina game. Add to that the fact that this year Carolina's offense is questionable so far and UGA has this guy:



Once again when asked about what I think about the game I'll just squirm and say, "We'll see..."

Howdy

Hey everyone,

Welcome to my newest blog. In the past I have had different blogs for different phases in my life. In seminary I had a blog called From the Pulpit. I left that blog and started a new one over at Wordpress (that blog has has since been deleted). A year ago I started a blog for my ministry at First Baptist Columbia. Now I have decided to consolidate things and just have a personal blog which I hopefully will have for a while. Also, I plan to update it a few times a week - even if I write just a few sentences on a post.

See you all soon!

P.S. The picture is of my 2-year old rockin' a Kenny McKinley jersey and me sportin' my granddad's old 1985ish game shirt. Cool, eh?