love lusters at the cross

Mark Driscoll in Athens

2011-09-23T16:04:00.001-04:00

Oct 8th go get your tickets ASAP!

http://www.gotothehub.com/liveevents/lovelife-2011/

9 things for 9 years

2011-09-21T00:03:00.001-04:00

9 years ago today 'me' became a 'we' and I thought I would share 9 things for 9 years:

I still feel extremely lucky that she said yes.
My failures in loving and honoring my bride have not defined our marriage, Grace has.
She still makes me laugh harder and more regularly than anyone I know.
I knew she would be a great mom but she has surpassed my expectations BY FAR!
I still like to hold her hand.
She is always the 1^st person I want to talk to when something good or bad happens.
She is an incredible friend to her friends!
Somehow she is still my biggest fan.
She is more beautiful today than day I met her.

33 things in 33 years

2011-08-13T23:54:00.000-04:00

1^st thanks for all the birthday wishes on facebook, text message or phone call. I thought I would write a few things that I feel like I have learned in the past 33 years.

my character is found only in Christ. In my life I haveI thought I had strong character because of what I could do. It was never true. The older I get the more immaturity I see in my life and my need for the character of Jesus to stand in front of me.
I can grab a baseball across the seams correctly every time I pick one up. An I wasn’t a great ball player after 13:)
I still suck at spelling
Since I am dyslexic and ADD, having the internet read the bible to me has changed my life.
Money can’t fix everything but money sure can make it more fun.
All dads should wear a cup when wrestling with you kids.
It’s always better to order a side of avocado than guac. They typically give you more.
Sonic has the best Coke.
HD tv is really that much better
The minivan wins.
If I could afford it I would have a massage every morning when I wake up.
I love being a dad as much as I thought I would.
I can learn a song pretty fast. I can lead most songs with a chord chart after hearing it a couple of times.
I love live concerts.
I still am thankful Camille said yes. Love her more than I show her. That’s sad.
Always open your dates car door. Always let your date walk in front of you when you are in public. Unless your not proud to be with her. Instead of letting her walk in front of you, break up with her. If you don’t like someone enough to show her off as you walk in, get out. She deserves more.
It is crazy hard not to let your failures define you.
Most people that get incredible results, work incredibly hard.
If you don’t learn how you work best you will end up wasting most of the time you are supposed to be “working”.
I see things differently than most people. I look at broken things and tech things differently. It’s a blessing and a curse. It’s a curse when I get frustrated when folks don’t see things the same way I do. Again my character blows.
I love espn.
Not much makes me happier than laughing with my kids.
My favorite dessert is banana pudding. Which my bride made me tonight.
Friends can work together. I can work with my best friend because of Gospel conversations. They are hard but can make it possible.
I really enjoy leading music with my friends. Over the past 10 years I have made some great friends and led some incredible music that made much of Jesus.
Rural Pond and friends does excellent wedding music.
I have a heart for our city. My friend Andy and I are coaching our boys again. Trying to plug into this community.
When you move into a house you MUST know what to do if a water pipe breaks.
Kids toys take up way to much space.
Working with younger guys can be one of the most rewarding and frustrating things ever. I can’t imaging how Mike, Cyndi, Collins, Keith, Paul, David, Asa, Bubeck, and MANY more put up with my arrogance and immaturity.
I am a late night person. I prefer to stay up much later than I do. BUT I have to wake up every morning because we have kidos. I miss sleeping in.
I am trying to encourage my friends and verbalize my love for them.
I don’t deserve for people to love me and say some of the stuff they have today. I have failed many of them and many others. If not for Jesus everyone would have been done with me a long time ago. Thank you to everyone for loving me.

Full Heart

2011-07-12T22:14:00.003-04:00

it's been a while. probably not here for long but here for today. here we go.

Today I played music for the funeral of a friend of mine. We were not best friends BUT i feel like I knew Stewart Hay and that he knew me. I love his son Alastair Hay and his wife Lexis. I don't know his other 3 kids as well. I have led worship with Al, MANY times and Lexis provided the food for many of the retreat we did at FPC and I had many great talks with her on those retreats. One thing stood out about Stewart Hay: people he loved knew that he loved them. I want to be like that. I'm not like that.

I was very honored to play a small role in the funeral honoring his life today. And the Hay family is in my prayers. I remember the feeling of loosing my dad. It's HARD.(old post) I love you guys. I am thankful for the life of Stewart Hay.

I was able to have lunch before the funeral with one of my favorite people in the world, Les Saunders. Les is one of the many reasons that I am who I am today. He pushed me musically and was never afraid to tell me i was off or wrong. After lunch we set up our guitars and mics and played music. It had been 4 years since we had played together but it literally felt like yesterday we hung out and played together. we played well today. We sang well. it was good for my heart to play music with one of my great friends. If we have jobs in heaven and if I find my self making music, I want you in my band Les or I want to be in yours.

After the funeral I had to jet kind of fast in order to make it to Perimeter to lead worship for the Camp All American Staff. One of my roommates from college is a director of CAA and we were able to go have dinner before I led. Again Brent Curl(earlier post) is one of the people that has made me who I am today. He makes having real conversations easy, he always has. Thanks for being someone that lives out the Gospel as well as anyone I know.

Then I was able to see Andy Nelson, a former member at our church, now Youth Pastor in Boca FLA. I miss him and want him and his bride to move back to Athens one day. I am glad to call him friend.

My final thought of the day is this: It took a ton of people to love me and help me get where I am today. I failed A LOT along the way. I hurt people, I failed people, disappointed people and most of all didn't really know myself. Now at almost 33 I see that I have really needed people to love me through my immaturity and poor/irresponsible choices. Brent and Les (the full list is WAY to long) are a couple of the people that did that for me.

Tonight my heart is full because of great memories and people that helped me in the growing up and becoming a man.

"clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."-coach taylor

How I became a guy that leads people in musical worship of Jesus pt. 2:

2010-03-06T22:10:00.004-05:00

If this is your first time reading this check out part 1 first.

That retreat I mentioned would easily be one of my most embarrassing moments EVER if there was video from the music I played. I probably only had 8 songs to play that weekend and I remember them asking me to play a couple of well known songs like “I’ve got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart”, “I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N” or “MILK MILK MILK DRINK THE WORD WORD WORD” and I didn’t know any of them! I made up chords. Somehow they didn’t think I was a joke. No clue how. Regardless how bad the songs were the weekend was incredible. I was hooked on FPC and I think they were hooked on me. I interned there that summer, worked part time during my last year of school and after I graduated I went to work there full time. My last year of school was probably the most beneficial for me. I played a lot of guitar that year. I had a handful of folks that taught me nuggets of guitar and really helped me. Those folks were: Dad, Brent Curl, Bethany Sherrill Mason, Les Saunders and Kai Bassett. All of these people gave me some tools to make me the guitar player I am today. I started to put together a couple of pieces to my puzzle and to explain them I have to go back in time a bit.

-I spent 4 summers working at a summer camp in Servilleville(sp?) Tennessee growing up. One of my friends (Mark Miller)was a few years older and he was getting a degree in classical guitar and he would lead all of the music for the camp. I remember singing one night out by the camp fire. I remember something stirring inside of me during our singing that summer.

-my forth year of school there was a tour that came through Berry called “road to one day” I had no idea what it was I just knew I liked singing. To set the stage I was between a girl I had once dated and a girl I had a bit of an awkward friendship with. I started to shake because of the weirdness and somehow forgot they were there. At one point I opened my eyes to realize that I was standing on my tip toes with both hands reaching to the sky. I immediately sat down and asked my self “what in the crap are you doing?” As I wrestled with this for a minute I finally decided they didn’t matter this was a genuine expression of what my heart wanted to say.

-Shane Barnards record “rocks cry out” has a live section of worship songs. I still love that section. I remember listening to it and saying this is how I want to lead worship. To me it was more than just leading his songs and walking off stage. His songs all blended together and basically told a story. That is what I wanted to do. I wanted to tell a story that connected to the deepest parts of people. So what better story to tell than the story of Jesus.

I was not and still am not the best guitarist but even from from my camp days I have always felt something inside me towards music and how it connects me to God.

What’s next ? me realizing I don’t suck any more.

hope this might be helpful for someone out there.

How I became a guy that leads people in musical worship of Jesus pt. 1:

2009-11-26T22:33:00.002-05:00

So, I have been thinking about a blog post I have been wanting to write concerning my job and this is the first one.

I come from a long line of men that played guitar. My grandfather played in many bands and toured with a band (playing upright bass) that toured with Johnny Cash and was jam buddies with Buddy Holly. My dad was also a great musician. Dad learned guitar from my grandmother and became a great musician. He played saxophone as well and played electric bass for Jerry Lee Lewis. Dad also played music in the church at some point. Dad could really play the guitar!

Somehow I wasn’t destined to follow in the family footsteps musically, at least that’s what most of my life said. I learned how to play a G chord my third year of college when I was 20. I would hold a G chord and play songs. Strumming came naturally but I didn’t pursue the guitar. The next year (in June) I heard a song called ‘I will not forget you’ and I said to one of my roommates, “that would be fun to play”. He said it was only four chords and that I could play it. I was hooked after that. I sat in front of the TV and went from G-D-Em-C over and over again. Most of the time I wasn’t even strumming. I was now about to turn 22 and decided to learn to play acoustic guitar.

I had a pretty big issue that summer. I sucked at playing guitar. I was confident in strumming but it started to be bad. I was living with my grandfather and working at camp all-american. The guitar just wasn’t happening. I couldn’t even play ‘Light The Fire’. Sitting by the pond behind my grandfather’s house I had a come to Jesus meeting with Jesus (these usually don’t go well). I said “God if I am not better in a month I am quitting. You have 4 weeks to make me at least be able to play ‘light the fire’ well. If you deliver I promise I will make much of you with this instrument.” A few of things you need to know here: 1) I have never tested God like this 2) I wouldn’t recommend it 3) I am physically pained by not keeping promises 4) I am not uber spiritual 5) I have no clue why God delivered, but he did. After four weeks I was able to play ‘light the fire’.

In the next month I was a completely different guitar player! In October I led music for BSU at Truett McConnell. I knew three songs well. That night was the 1^st time I closed my eyes and played guitar. I remember finishing that song and thinking “THAT JUST HAPPENED”. It was a big day for me. The next Feb. I led a retreat for FPC Marietta and after that retreat I started to pursue figuring out what it meant to lead people in musical worship.

More of my story to come but this was the start of my journey of becoming someone that leads God’s people in musical worship.

The rant of the last 6 weeks.

2009-10-20T00:53:00.002-04:00

1) my girl is six weeks tomorrow and I haven’t blogged since she was born so I figured it was time.

2) After having bay # 2 I think I have a realer(if that’s a word) sense of real friends.

3) I think our community group is pretty awesome. They have been an incredible help to us.

4) My fantasy football team has more I juries than you could imagine. I had 6 guys on the bench, 5 were injured and 1 had a one guy on my starting line up on a bye week. It sucked.

5) My boy is crazy sweet to his baby sister.

6) We put up our 1^st tent in the back yard. It was fun. But the amount of time L played in it didn’t match his excitement about putting it up.

7) I am excited about oct 24^th

8) I have enjoyed watching flashforward

9) I love making music with our band at church

10) One day I will record again. Not sure what but I think the day is coming sooner than later

11) My buddy Les and his bride are having their 1^st baby this Friday, pray for them

12) The next few are very selfish wants of mine

13) I desperately want an iphone. The new droid phones give me some hope that Verizon can compete. We will see at the beginning of next month when they release them.

14) I also really want to add on to our house or some how have someone buy us a bigger house. We need a bit more room for kids and hosting folks. Praying for this one.

15) Praying that in the next year God will provide another car for us. We are doing well with just one car but I think its almost time for us to have 2 cars again.

16) I want our church to have our own building. Seriously praying for this.

17) I really need to go to bed because L keeps waking me up early to go to the bathroom. So I have more to say but I am off to night.

Bella Grace Slaten

2009-09-08T07:45:00.002-04:00

So today we have a baby girl in our family. I am writing this a few days before her birth, which makes this a bit strange since I haven’t even met this girl who I am writing about.

Her name is Bella Grace Slaten.

Let me explain where her name came from. One night we were in bed trying to figure out what we were going to name this baby and I threw out the name “Bella.” Camille said, “I saw that name today. I like that but didn’t think you would like it. It means ‘my God is a vow’.” I responded, “I like it, is that her name?” After that we prayed about it and we knew that this was the name of our daughter.

In Hebrew Bella means ‘my God is a vow’ and Grace is Camille’s maiden name and it means ‘the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners.’

For us, Bella is a visual reminder that God has made a vow with His children. She is not the fulfillment of that promise she is merely a reminder that God gives us what we need. Not what we want or think we deserve but what we need and what we need is salvation through Jesus. Our prayer is that her life would point people to that end. That she would live a life proclaiming that Christ is the win, not things, houses, cars, having kids, new jobs, marriage and even us as parents. Jesus is the win and he alone is the giver of life and love to us.

Yesterday I turned 31 and some things in life are just different.

2009-08-21T23:09:00.000-04:00

(I started this blog on the 14th and finished it tonight)

Well, I had a birthday yesterday. I was good. I was able to spend the morning with my bride and son. They got me a chickfila biscuit and an ESV study bible. If you read the bible you need the ESV study bible. Then I worked till 5, had preschool orientation then band practice. Got home at about 9:45 from band practice and ate dinner. So the day wasn’t crazy special but it was nice to hear happy birthday from so many friends.

It was a different birthday for a couple of different reasons:

1) this was my 1^st birthday with out hearing from my dad. 30 years of hearing “happy birthday baby boy!” I missed that.

2) This is my last birthday with just one kid. L made me a great card with dinosaurs and rhinos on it. It will be different with a little girl around here. I am excited about her so please don’t hear me saying that I am not excited, life is about to change that’s all I am thinking.

3) Our band practice went really well. I hope we can duplicate the sound Sunday.

4) I played basketball last Wed. night like always and wow I felt old. My body hurts a bit more than it used to when I play ball with college guys.

5) I will be waking up earlier this semester. I will see the # 6 and early 7 more regularly than ever in my life.

6) Jumping on a trampoline hurts my head now for some reason.

7) The first day of preschool was harder on me than my boy.

8) I thought by now I would like yard work. BUT NO.

9) I am much more handy than I would have thought I would be at this age.

10) I feel like I love my bride more today than I did when we 1^st were married.

11) Parenting is scarier than I thought it would be, I knew it would be hard just didn’t expect the fear.

So I am 31 and kind of feel like it will be a great year.

more blogs to come

2009-08-09T14:54:00.003-04:00

I started this blog a couple of weeks ago, and i am just now getting it online. so some of it is old. but i am going to post it anyway.

Today was my 1^st day back in the saddle. I have been off for the past 2 weeks. They were incredible. I had a blast spending some great time w/ my bride and my boy. It was so much fun. There are a handful of things I thought I would share with the blog world.

To start; my boy got his first set of golf clubs. Our first night in St. Simons Eli told L “you can have my red golf clubs. I am too big for them.” That kind gesture might have changed our world forever. We hit balls in our yard for at least 30 minutes a day. It’s really cool that we have tons of land for him to hit. He has a couple more years before he can out hit our yard. We went to the park while in Marietta and he hit a ball 68 yards. Really amazing. I love to watch him swing. I love being his dad.

Next: I want to talk a bit about adoption. Strange jump I know. But our friends down in St. Simons are soon to adopt some kids from Ghana. I am so excited for them. Check out their blog here. Also, my brother and sister in-law are adopting a girl from China. This adoption process will be a while but my heart leaps at the thought of God blessing them with a beautiful Chinese girl. I personally think that adoption is the clearest picture of the Gospel. There will be a moment in time when these Ghanaian kids and Chinese girl will gain all the rights of their new family. This sweet Chinese girl will be a Grace and have every right that comes with that name. A home, a mom and dad, a great big sister, she will be loved, fed, held, dressed, played with, really anything you can imagine that comes with a loving family. At that moment these Ghanaian kids will gain brothers, a house miles from the beach, a trampoline, a dad that will dote over her, these kids Ghanaians will be totally loved. I remember hearing that they were going to adopt, as I imagined seeing them come up the escaladers at the airport I cried. I cried because I love the picture of Jesus rescuing me. I can’t wait to see my niece and these Ghanaian kids!

Fear is next in line: watching L play with the Fritchy boys freaked me out. Watching him try and keep up with an almost 7 year old and 8 year old boy is frightening. L really is growing up and I am learning daily that he is not my kid but God’s kid.

Next up: Fight Club 09 http://www.fightclub09.com/ I helped lead the music for this and it was a great time. It’s was a packed house and fun. 350 men making much of Jesus good times.

5 Reflections on being a dad…

2009-07-11T00:13:00.001-04:00

I have been a dad for 3 years now and I have spent a few minutes tonight thinking and so I come here to share.

1) I didn’t realize how much time you give up to have a kid. When a kid comes along you basically make a choice: either to be a dad or be THAT dad who is a dad when it’s convenient for you. Video games: exist only when he is asleep. Guitar playing: I always have a playing buddy, which is both good and bad. TV watching: I watch more Disney crap than I normally would. (yes, I say normally because I randomly watch Disney crap). It’s just a funny thing to see how much life changes when your have a kid.

2) I am a guy that enjoys playing sports outside but I have never been the guy that just loves being hot outside just to be outside. I am that guy now. I find myself walking in from work, putting on shorts and going right outside. I sweat through my shirt at least 3 times a week from playing outside.

3) I laugh crazy regularly at our boy. Tonight we were at our favorite Chick-Fil-A and the cow was walking around, L was calling the cow “hey tow, tome here, tome here tow” slaps his leg and makes kissing noise like calling a dog “tow over here, he not see me. Mooo, Oh oh oh here he is”. My bride and I laughed SO HARD at our boy. We just love that kid.

4) Vacations are out the window. At the beach all I do is play on the beach and swim in the pool. No break until he goes to bed or takes a nap.

5) The hopes I have for my boy’s life are things I have to give to Jesus every day. I know that my heart can make him more in my life than he should be and so I fight hard to not allow this sweet boy to be an ultimate thing in my life.

Tonight our family of 4,yes I included our dog, were all sitting on L’s bed and I thought to myself: “this won’t happen again after September when our baby girl comes.” Honestly, it was a bit sad. Listen I know I will love this girl and we of course will LOVE her being a part of our family. But tonight our night was great and the knowledge of that changing is hard. So tonight I blog just to say I love my family. My bride is the love of my life. My boy is so precious to me. We play together sometimes and I tear up with joy of being his dad and a husband. Today we had a picnic, I couldn’t have asked for much of a better meal. My bride sitting there eating here sandwich and chips, my boy chomping on cracker sandwiches, our dog resting on the blanket and I thought to myself: this is the perfect family picture. Love it!

I’m a dad and I love it. I am excited about this baby girl and know that the Gospel is greater than all of my fears of being a dad to a girl.

So all of you dads out there, let’s step up to the plate and be dads. Love your brides, care for your children, BE THERE. We don’t want our kids to grow up and feel like they don’t know their dads.

Here We Go

2009-07-08T00:00:00.004-04:00

So I abandoned my blog.
I let this thing grow mildew and dust all over it.
And now I finally feel like I have crap to say.
And you will now hear that crap I have to say.

I have struggled to write for some reason ever since my dad died. Its isn’t like he gave me inspiration to write, I think from the crap I have written, you can tell I haven’t had anything really inspire me, I just wrote. (nice run on huh?)
I will now crank this bad boy up again with a Rant.

1) I am looking forward to helping lead musical worship for fight club 09. If you’re a guy in the ATL area you should be there. I am excited about getting to sing and make much of Jesus with a bunch of men.
2) The Red Mountain guys are working on a new record…looking forward to that. We have done one that I hope makes the record “All things new” by Clint Wells. I really like it. I have played it twice in the past 3 weeks.
3) I am off for a couple of weeks starting this Monday. Looking forward to it.
4) Watched slumdog…liked it but didn’t love it. Good story, just didn’t change my life like it seemed to change everyone else’s life.
5) Could anyone explain the Jonas Brothers phenomenon to me?
6) I am enjoying a new record, new to me atleast, the civil wars. Check them out.
7) I still hate the Yankees.
8) I am really excited about our band being back together on a regular basis in 4 weeks. This fall we will bring some THUNDER.
9) I am an "on the border" addict. Seriously. I love that stuff.
10) I am so glad we have summer interns this summer.
11) I get that MJ was a person that really changed music. But if almost ANYONE else in the world would have paid 20 million to make a child sexual assault case disappear, we wouldn’t be celebrating like this. Please don’t comment about this part of my rant. I am not questioning anything about MJ’s impact on music. So seriously don’t comment about this. I am deeply saddened for his family and kids. Loosing your dad sucks.
12) The Gibson might make its way on stage for fight club 09.
13) I have been enjoying the xbox and wii again recently.
14) we have a baby girl coming in September. We are not telling her name, so get excited about hearing about her.
15) We had a great time on the 4th. It was a small party that turned LARGE. 14 adults and 9 kids. It was so much more fun than going to Bishop Park like we had planned.
16) I am listening to a ton of Matt Chandler to much right now. really enjoying him as a communicator.
17) I thought I was going to be in bed before 11 tonight…didn’t happen.

Goodnight.

great song

2009-04-14T15:32:00.001-04:00

2009-04-10T23:49:00.001-04:00

Tonight I went to a joint Good Friday service with another local PCA church in town. The service went fine but during it I had this thought: how do I age and care more about the Gospel than my preference.

Nothing in the actual service started this thought. I saw an older couple walk into the sanctuary and thought about what I would be like when I am their age. A large part of me really wanted to have my band with me tonight and I thought there is no way that couple would like that. Then I thought: am I going to be 70 hating whatever new stuff the young folks are doing. My hope is that I would care more about reaching and investing in a younger generation.

Do you think you will care more about the Gospel than your preference of music or instrumentation? Now I in NO WAY think you can sacrifice solid lyrics for catchy tunes. We must sing songs that tell the great story of Jesus’ redemptive love. I pray heartfelt prayers to be the person who cares less about my preference or how I have always done it: and care more about the Jesus in those songs.

On a side not I watched Mars Hill Seattle’s Good Friday service….WOW is all I can say.
http://www.marshillchurch.org/live

Set list for Saturday night

2009-03-24T10:03:00.002-04:00

This is whats been my world. I figured i would post this for folks if they want to purchase some of what we will be doing Saturday. (all through itunes)
1st here is whats going on on Saturday: church blog
2nd these are not all exactly the versions we are doing but close.
3rd here are the songs:
Deliver Us
Streams of Water
why should i fear?
It is finished Pt 2
God Of My Life
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

Vision of You
Come and Welcome
Our Great God
Come Thou Fount
Immortal Invisible

There Is A Peace
None But Jesus
Before The Throne
Mighty To Save
Help My Unbelief
Jesus Is Our Great Salvation
God Of This City

No Sweeter Subject

Time Magazine Names New Calvinism 3rd Most Powerful Idea

2009-03-17T14:53:00.004-04:00

Four Ways 'New Calvinism' is So Powerful

1)Old Calvinism was fundamental or liberal and separated from or syncretized with culture. New Calvinism is missional and seeks to create and redeem culture.
2) Old Calvinism fled from the cities. New Calvinism is flooding into cities.
3) Old Calvinism was cessationistic and fearful of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. New Calvinism is continuationist and joyful in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
4)Old Calvinism was fearful and suspicious of other Christians and burned bridges. New Calvinism loves all Christians and builds bridges between them.

i have decided...

2009-03-17T14:48:00.003-04:00

I am going to blog again.

So maybe the 4 of you will be excited and I will rock your worlds.

I have a lovely rant coming.

Here i come world, i am trying to walk out of this fog.

still not sure

2009-02-16T01:04:00.002-05:00

so i still am not sure if i am leaving but here are a few things i thoght i would rant about.
1) http://jimspages.com/States.htm this is fun and harder than you think.
2) I really enjoyed the song our great God this morning.
3) i would have loved to watch the red sea fall in on the egyptians. not to watch them die but to see my God do something like that to save me.
4) i really enjoy our community group. i hope they like it as much as we do.
5) i had a brilliant time with Brent the other night at YHC.
6) Rev really loved and invested into his students. YHC will miss you
7) it was kinda funny to see some of the folks that showed up for Revs last chapel.
8) we are doing v-day tomorrow night.
9) i enjoyed ryans new pedals this morning.
10) finally got my ipod setup and updated(1 year later) using an external is the way to go!
11) i don't sleep enough these days.
12) my new favorite words "fank you for shoootin wit me daddy"

off to sleep now....maybe.

Have i left the blog world?

2009-01-24T23:00:00.002-05:00

maybe.
Since my dad died, i have stopped reading blogs. Not really because of any particular reason, just because i have no desire to read other blogs or write one.

so here is my small attempt to share my life with the 5 people who read this.

a rant if you will:

1) i need a shower. tomorrow morning it would have been 3 days since i have showered. gross i know. i take fridays off usually and don't shower until after lunch. but this friday i had to go into the office for a couple of hours. so i missed my window to shower, then i was to sleepy when it was time for bed. today i didn't want to shower until after i worked on sound stuff. Mark and i spent about 3.5 hours on sound stuff and i would i would be sweating so i didn't shower again. so i will shower and shave in the morning. sorry if thats to much and gross for some of you.

2) i love building fires with my little man. he is such a big help. he really, is going to big at that type of stuff.

3) I will be going to California in a couple weeks. Very last minute, SUS is getting married and none of my brides friends are making the trip and I didn't want her to have to go alone. my boss worked with me on my schedule:) i have never been to cali, maybe i will like it, who knows.

4) we are excited about gro's wedding.

5) I miss my dad. i have stopped aching i just miss him, especially his voice.

6) I am excited to see our band keep getting better.

7) i talked to my friend Ericka the other day, we had such a good friendship in school, and she married a guy that loves her to pieces. i couldn't be more excited for her, that she has Jon and Waylan their dog.

8) i need sleep. so i am going to get some sleep now.

maybe i will leave the blog world, not sure.

night.

oh and i am not proofing this so if there are a million errors in it, deal with it.

Homeless folks in Athens

2009-01-13T22:29:00.002-05:00

a buddy of mine made this documentary on the homelessness in Athens, check it out.

nice job dan.
-a

Words that wont leave my head

2009-01-08T15:28:00.001-05:00

These lyrics are from the song "o love that will not let me go"

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

how i have loved these words the past 3 weeks.

This is all I can do…

2008-12-24T23:40:00.008-05:00

We all bring different things to the table. Me, well sometimes I question if I actually offer anything. Well if you have missed my last couple of days read this because you don't know my dad died 3 days ago. Honestly it feels like at least a week. I feel like it was forever ago when I felt his foot on my forearm as I helped the funeral home get the gurney down the steep steps of his house. Tonight our church had its Christmas Eve gathering. My close friend and pastor told me it was cool if I wanted to not play tonight. Honestly I didn’t think it was going to be possible for me to sing tonight, then I thought about it some more. See I really think I am blessed to have gotten the best qualities from both of my parents and one that I got from my dad is that I don’t suck at music. (My dad was good)I really don’t think I am a great musician but I enjoy it. I have always said what I lack in talent I make up for in passion.

Well tonight I played. I got a text from a very kind friend that said if I was going to play then I needed to “play my f-ing ass off.” (I didn’t type out the f bomb because I think some moms that might read this might feel strange reading that on my blog.) That’s what I did. I have 4 guitars. One of those guitars is a 1962 small-bodied Gibson. The sound is a bit tinny and strings can get lost in each other while strumming with any kind of force. I have only led with that guitar twice. Once was when I broke a string and the other was I wanted a more tinny sound for a song. That Gibson has played with Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash when it belonged to my grandfather. It was passed down to my dad and now to me. What a great thing to have passed down, huh? Last night I decided what I was going to play for the prelude. I played the song ‘deliver us’ written by Andrew Peterson. So, tonight instead of playing my other guitars I picked up the small-bodied Gibson and took the stage. Just before walking on to the stage I said to Mark my sound guy “be ready Mark, I am yelling on the prelude.” He looked at me and smiled and said “I know, I heard you practicing in the room over there”.

The sound clip below is the recording of tonight. It is rough and right out of the board. This was me honoring my dad by doing my best to honor God with the Gifts that we shared. So here is me being vulnerable with the world. This is me playing my f-ing ass off. You can tell as I strum harder and harder as the song goes on.
For you dad…This is all I can do…

Click here for 'Deliver Us'

The longest day of my life…

2008-12-22T22:05:00.005-05:00

At 9 am this morning my heart broke. I heard these words “Aaron your daddy died.” Yeah at that moment I think my heart stopped in disbelief. At 9:10 I found my self in the car heading to my dads house to help take care of stuff. I wept. I wept, screamed, moaned and wept some more the entire drive down there. I got to my dads house and with a great amount of disbelief I walked in the door. We all hugged and wept some more. Then I went and said goodbye to my dad.

Here is a bit about me and my daddy:
My dad always answered the phone with excitement “hey baby boy!” I loved that! I can hear him say it now and ache that its just in my head.
My dad really loved me. he didn’t have to tell me that all the time I knew it in how he talked to me and how listened.
My dad was crazy handy. He really could fix anything.
We used to listen to James Taylor. I probably listened to his greatest hits 1000+ times over the summers we spent on the lake. It was the only tape on the boat so that’s what we listened to.
He thought I was funny. Maybe that’s not a big deal to you but I love to laugh and my dad and me always laughed. Our sense of humor was always similar.
My dad loved my boy. He lit up when he saw my little man. I loved seeing them play together.
I love the smell of pipes even more now since dad is gone. Dad smoked a pipe in my 1st car before I got it and every time I cleaned it would smell like his pipes.
My dad loved hearing me play guitar. He always said I was better than him, which was CRAZY! He was very good at guitar until diabetes stole that from him.

So, I stood over my dad today weeping. I didn’t know what to say. I said a bunch of different things. But before I walked out I said in a whispering scream about 10 time “may my daddy rest with Jesus today.” It wasn’t to be super spiritual I really said it out of complete desperation. See, I don’t have much else to hold on to. Some how in my head I think Jesus is the only hope I have to deal with this.

I will probably write some more at one point or another but tonight I write to say: I ache, I weep, I long for my dad, I scream and I really really miss my daddy.

Check this out

2008-12-22T00:15:00.002-05:00

We have a great friend that has started a new business. They make handmade jewelry and honestly it's incredible. So this is me publicizing her stuff. Check out Katie Gro's (soon to be Katie McDaniel) stuff here.

I will see this in May

2008-12-12T22:06:00.002-05:00

I will probably see this with Matt, Camille wont be to interested.

Do you need Africa?

2008-12-01T12:40:00.008-05:00

So i still haven't followed through on blogging about my last month. seriously i will be doing that soon.
i wrote last week about Africa, and what the mocha club is trying to do. below is some stuff they have asked me to throw up concerning Africa.

When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child soldiers. Genocide. Sex slaves. Orphans. ( For me, Aaron, its Gro with Bueni, Ryan and a mango tree meeting church, orphans singing and dancing, stories of taking kids to the doctor to find out they have aid, Jason playing drums in a village, ryan and chris on a safari, kids in an orphanage needing clean water, and honestly my list can go on and i haven't even been there) From there, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference. “I am needed here,” I think. “They have so little, and I have so much.” It’s true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa everyday. There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe. But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in the people. It’s a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom, not within the framework that has been my life to this day.[read more]

Honestly, what breaks my heart about this is that 450 BILLION dollars is spent of Christmas in America alone. that averages out to about 900 bucks per family. if we all cut our Christmas budgets in half we could change this world forever. so my question to you is can we really change on our own?
NO WE CAN'T.
we need the power of a risen King to do that. My pryer is that this Christmas God will make a change in us. one that will last a lifetime. one that isn't motivated by pity but the grace and compassion that we have received.

I need Africa more than Africa needs me

2008-11-23T22:03:00.002-05:00

I was asked by Mocha Club to write about the concept of why ‘I need Africa more than Africa needs me.' Mocha Club (www.mochaclub.org)is a community-based website where members can start a team and invite friends to join them in giving $7 a month – the cost of 2 mochas – to support a project in Africa. Mocha Club's vision is to provide a way for people who don't have hundreds or thousands of dollars to make a difference in Africa.

So when I say 'I need Africa more than Africa needs me' really pushes me to think about how much I need to change some things in my life. To be honest I don’t even drink coffee and I wouldn’t know a mocha if I tasted it. But I do know what is like to have 7 dollars that I could stop spending somewhere else and give it to other people. But here is the issue: I don’t know how much I care about other people. I do know one thing: I want to love people more than I do today. I want my family to make changes that can impact the world. I want us to live in a way that is counter cultural, which to me means leveraging all that we have for the good of others.

Maybe you would be so kind and share your thoughts in my comments, and even blog about it yourself. Join in the worthwhile cause of recasting the damaging images that force pity over partnership. Come back Dec 1st to see what Mocha Club is doing about reforming that image.

OH SNAP

2008-11-23T22:01:00.002-05:00

ok so i have not posted in one month. i have started 1 blog already and will have 2 more coming.
But 1st check this out...

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,

2008-10-24T20:33:00.003-04:00

Well it is obviously not Christmas yet and if your like me you don’t know what your getting anyone for Christmas or even what your doing for any of the upcoming holidays.

But the one thing that I have started to think about is Christmas music. I play music, and soon I will be playing Christmas music. I often buy Christmas music to see if there is anything we can do at church. Well, so far I have two new Christmas records.

The first one was Shane and Shane’s new Record. This displays like everyone of their records, a SICK ability to harmonize and do different things on the guitar. The record is much more broken down/less produced than most of their albums. One of my favs is the like in one of their songs “He was born to die”. What a line in a song. The thought that from day one God watched his son on earth knowing he was born to die. Ugh. What a humbling thought. They rock O holy Night, Shane E is pretty UNGODLY on that one. (it is great even though it starts out like John Mayer’s ‘No Such Thing’) this is a really good record that I totally recommend getting.

The other new record I have purchased is Red Mountains: Silent Night. I have talked about this to you 4 readers before but now that I have it I figured I would share one last time. This is probably one of my favorite Christmas records period. I am not just saying that because these guys are my friends (BTM and Clint if your read this, I am not writing this to stroke your egos). The first thing that needs to be stated is that they really do have the best vocalist singing for them. Her name is Ashley Spurling. She doesn’t stand out to be anything crazy spectacular but she is. (her voice does the lyrics she sings perfect justice) She is flawless when she sings. What a gift. The record is full of songs we all know and love combined with great musicianship. To me this record is one that you want to put on while your or your family puts up your Christmas decorations and drink hot chocolate. (I will probably not drink hot chocolate this year, I am a hot tea man, Glover Park by tea traditions is my favorite. Annie the tea I drink and the teapot I use was from your moms place) My favorite song is probably 'Come thou Long expected Jesus'. So order this sucker soon.

As you get ready for the Christmas season, my hope is that your Christmas would be about the one that was “born to die’ to bring “joy to the world.”

So, Merry Christmas, in October.

To God the Only Wise

2008-10-19T21:47:00.002-04:00

Here is a song we did this morning. I wrote most of the music, Kevin helped with the chorus and Mary sang the lyric to this rhythm. I think we did a nice job this morning. The recording is rough. Not enough drums or bass. but we did this for the prelude.
Click here to hear it.

Rant of the week

2008-10-17T00:10:00.004-04:00

So this has been gone for a while but its back:

1) one of the guys in our band at church asked me if we were a red mountain cover band( we played 3 RMC tunes this past Sunday)…maybe so, if we are I hope we do those guys justice.
2) I am SO freaking excited about the gas prices falling.
3) Looking forward to seeing Red and Rach soon.
4) We are working hard to save $, we have even started using coupons. And it takes more work than I thought it would.
5) I am very excited about the Fall Festival this weekend. Its always a great time.
6) I am enjoying Matthew Smiths new record. A friend, Clint, wrote 3 songs on that record and did a great job.
7) I like half frosted flakes and half honey bunches of oats.
8) Did you know the NHL was playing again, I KNOW….WHO CARES.
9) Christmas is coming soon. That’s crazy!
10) I have been having crazy back issues, if anyone is a massage therapist hala at your boy and come see me.
11) You need to check out Jon Black. He has a new album, very good. Here is a video of the show I saw the other night…clint is actually playing electric guitar.
12) This will be the 1st weekend in 4 that we wont somehow be with the Cains.
13) The last night I made 7 threes in a row, to bad it was before the game started.
14) I am actually looking forward to playing some Christmas songs.
15) I am typing this while the movie ‘Mannequin’ is on, yes I somehow always turn to this movie if its on TV. I was 9 when it was made., crazy.
16) Voting, I will be doing it in a couple weeks. I honestly think there isn’t a good option. I think both will raise taxes and neither will save us financially.
17) I am looking forward to going to Dallas in 5 weeks. I might get to meet Mark Driscoll and Matt Chandler. John and I will try and get a picture for his lady love Caroline.

That’s enough for tonight.
Night.

Healer

2008-10-14T11:05:00.002-04:00

For those of you who don’t know me well, which is probably no one that would read this, part of what I do for a living is sing songs with friends. That probably seems strange to folks that haven’t really been around me for the past 7-9 years. I started playing this instrument called a guitar and did something like singing while I played and then I got asked to lead some songs.
Songs have always been something I enjoy singing and listening to. I ran across this song awhile back and recently came back to it. Its called ‘Helaer’.

You hold my every moment You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire And heal all my disease

I trust in You

I believe You're my Healer I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my Portion I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need

Nothing is impossible for You

In short: those words were written by a guy that had lied about having cancer. SO in turn the Christian community pulls this song off the shelf, reprints cd’s and dvd’s so that this song is not being purchased anymore.
Ok here is my issue. We as the church say we all need Jesus and the He is our only hope. Well, what is this song saying?
This song, to me, has even more meaning since the writer is a lying manipulative guy. WHY? Because he is just like we are. Do you know anything about guys who wrote some of the hymns we sing? If not I need to write about some of the depressed, pompous, angry and hurtful men that wrote our beloved hymns that many church sing today.

And sometimes we need to sing songs we don’t believe, in hopes that one day God will give us the longings of our heart. And that longing is to see Jesus as our healer, our portion, our needs met, our comforter in hard times and most importantly the super hero of this thing we call life.

Few things for you

2008-10-07T14:52:00.006-04:00

1) L played his 1st nine holes this weekend. great times. And we went to a wedding in Macon. it was a great weekend of ok golf, friends and good conversations. here are some highlights:

What a SICK setup

my smoking bride

2) Thursday night i went to Jon Black's CD release show in athens with my friends kevin and ryan. I went to see a friend Clint play some electric with him. it was a great show. Jon is a great singer songwritter and Clint is a sick guitarist. the only thing that would have made the show better would have been is BTM wasn't going to ITALLY and would have played that show as well. Hope Jon comes back to Athens and BTM and Clint come and play with him. If you haven't listened to Jon go buy his new CD.

3) this is a big one!

if you read this blog and don't buy this CD we are no longer friends. Red Mountain Music is releasing their Christmas CD. I have had the chance to hear a couple of songs from this record and WOW. I loved it. Ashley Spruling shows that she is still the best female vocalist singing church music. yeah i said it and i mean it. Brian T Murphy and Clint Wells did a great Job producing this record. I look forward to our family putting up our Christmas tree while listening to these traditional songs with an innovative vibe.
Go here to buy the album
Go hear to listen.

The beach

2008-09-19T00:34:00.007-04:00

This past week was easily the best week we have had as a family. Why you ask? Well L slept like a champ…for the most part.
We lived it up in Destin FL at a good friends condo. My favorite thing about vacation is always that I really love having nothing on my plate and I can really just enjoy C and L.

Here are a couple of pictures.
he grabbed my face for a kiss.

i mean could she be more beautiful? and could he be more cute?

This is why you go to the beach.

The next few weeks are crazy busy for us. On Sunday C and I will be married for 6 years. Who’d of thought…I WOULD HAVE!!!. I never understand that statement from people. Now if we are looking at 75 years then I might say that just cause we will be wicked old but I anticipate being with this lovely lady for many more years to come.
We have friends coming to the UGA game, a wedding, fall festival and we are soon to go to ARKY to watch some football…I mean to see our great friends Red and Rach.
I love the fall,, football and the weather are perfect.
I have to cut grass tomorrow, bummer.

The final thing: SOON I will have a sample of the must buy Christmas CD of the year. Red Mountain has put some songs together and I love what I have heard. Ashley Spurling gives her perfect vocals to the CD and BTM and Clint did a great job with the music and the mixing. I can’t wait to share it with everyone. Looking forward to seeing those guys in Athens next month.

Why I love vacation

2008-09-15T22:34:00.002-04:00

We had a flipping blast!
I will write more later.

HECK YES

2008-09-06T23:58:00.005-04:00

So, some of you know that one of my best friends lives in Arkadelphia Arkansas. He is the Offensive coordinator for a HSU. Tonight they one their 1st game of the season. Red had a ROUGH year last year, winning wise, with the team he was coaching for. This year 2nd game in he got his 1st W. HSU 34-UAPB 0. they had 450+yards of Offense. (468 to be exact)
I am so proud of my friend. I remember watching him run out of the tunnel at GT and almost crying because a dream he had was being fulfilled and i was there for it. We can't wait to go visit him and his sweet bride.
Here is a picture of them from the game tonight. (Rach I stole it from your blog thanks).
So proud of you Red.

I REALLY love being a dad

2008-08-31T23:44:00.002-04:00

Here are a few highlights from my world.

1) I was sitting outside the bathroom, while my boy was trying go to the bathroom. I walked in and said, “did you go potty?” his response “NO, Daddy, out, Rosie out, close the door, I poopt some more.”(yes he adds a ‘t’ at the end of poop, I know some of you just thought it was a normal jacked spelling by me)

2) after church today C set him on the stage and he ran up and hugged me, pretty awesome.

3) I was sitting on th couch and he walked up to me, handed me a guitar pick, ran over and got his guitar and said “daddy play itar”. Itar is toddler for guitar.

4) We sing a song every night while I brush his teeth. Its awesome when he yells friend, end, fun, man to man, son to son, and best friend. Its so funny. Here is the song. It happens to be on Rob and Bigs intro. My dad used to sing this to me as well.

5) I will stop here. My bride was out one afternoon and I was keeping L while she was gone. We ate lunch, and were about to take a nap. He is in the bathroom alone again and I hear “daddy dirty”. Yup there was poop on his hand. Awesome. Nothing like being a dad.

6) ok one more. when you ask L who loves him most, he responds “God loves me most”. I hope one day he really knows that.

There are 6 small reasons why I love being a dad..

if you want my body, and you think i'm sexy, come on baby let me know

2008-08-29T22:47:00.005-04:00

This is my fav!

this one is ok

this one is not bad

the day has come

2008-08-12T23:54:00.003-04:00

By the time this is posted I will be posted i will be 30 years old. what do I have to say about that? Age seems a bit overrated. I had a nice night tonight. My bride had our staff come over for pizza and cake. It was a nice surprise. I defiantly married up in so many ways. It is a great feeling that our staff can all hang out and like each other. I am sorry for you guys that are on staff somewhere that you barely like half the people you work with. the grass is greener on my side of the fence.
hope you have a good wednesday.

Happy Birthday to my bride!

2008-08-02T22:42:00.003-04:00

Here are just a few reasons I love my Bride (in no order):
1) She is an incredible mom.
2) She is the best kisser. And she was from our 1st kiss. Seriously, as soon as our 1st kiss was over I knew kissing couldn’t get better than this.
3) She makes me gut laugh. Not many folks can do that.
4) She really is one of the kindest people I have ever known.
5) She is beautiful!
6) I love the look on her face when she does something that she thinks is funny.
7) She likes movies and TV like I do.
8) She is my biggest fan. I am not sure why but some how I convinced her love me.
9) She thinks I am funny. I mean I am but she really laughs at me.
10) When something funny/sad/bad/good happens she is the 1st person I want to tell.
11) She throws a football better than most guys. AND THAT’S LEGIT. I would put my bride up against almost any guy reading this post.
12) She loves college football.
13) If we had tons of money she would want to give a ton of it away.
14) She loves Jesus.
15) Everything is better with her.

Finally, life just wouldn’t be the same with out her. I love my bride. And today I celebrate her being brought into this world. Happy birthday to my beautiful bride!

I am not a part of a cover band

2008-07-29T23:36:00.003-04:00

1st I will say: Molly this is me being serious as you say.

Here is my soapbox for the day: Churches that find the need to be a cover band. I play about 7 songs per week at church on Sunday morning. We play a gathering song (which is often a hymn/song about Jesus that isn’t a great congregational song. Sometimes we just play an instrumental as a band), we corporately sing 5 songs (mostly hymns, some newer songs, we sing red mountain songs, IG songs and passion stuff, small bit of hillsongs), we sing or play an instrumental during communion (often slower and fits the vibe of communion). One thing we do not do is fit in songs that are on pop radio into our gatherings. Why you ask? What does the song Glamorous by Fergie have to do with Jesus? In my mind my job is to use music to help people express their feelings/hopes/fears/joys/shame/longings to a God that often feels far away. It is not my job to show people that Jesus is my homeboy. Or that I am cool because I can play songs you have heard on the radio. Maybe it’s cool to your teenager that I listen to and can play some Nickelback or U2? A friend of mine said “it's just a bunch of bullshit and bad art and games.” Is that what church has become? We would probably all agree that we serve the ultimate Creator of art. Most pictures in people’s homes are attempts at capturing the art that God created. So why then do we try and pass off sub par art like cover songs in Church as gimmicks to attract people to Jesus? The reality is yes I think I could pull of some covers. I could do “My Best Was Never Good Enough” by Bruce Springsteen, ‘Waiting on the World to Change’ by John Mayer or ‘say it to me now’ by my boy Glen Hansard. Ok, he is not my boy. I don’t know him. I just love him. I can pull those off…but it’s not mine. And honestly I guess the song Amazing Grace isn’t mine either. BUT here is the difference, when I sing words like

Come boldly to the throne of grace,
Though lost, and blind, and lame;
Jehovah is the sinner's Friend,
And ever was the same.

Or words like:

Come, every soul by sin oppressed;
There’s mercy with the Lord
And He will surely give you rest
By trusting in His Word.

These words speak of truths that I need to hear, that I need and want to sing. I would say there are songs not about Jesus that we identify with. That’s what is so magical about music. I just don’t see the need to be a cover band in a church environment. Let cover bands rock out with their bad selves in the local venues and pubs. I hope anyone reading this would hear my heart. We have enough original art out there that is better than any cover art that we as the church can copy, so lets stick to what we can do, make much of Jesus with the gifts we have. Stop trying to dress up Jesus in a pretty dress and make people feel good about themselves. You can take cultural things(like music) and try and claim them as your own but you become the butt of many jokes, which makes me the butt of many jokes since we both call ourselves Christians. If I want to see a band go to www.ticketmaster.com. Our church is not the church for you if you want a cover band because I am not a part of a cover band. If you want to be a part of a movement find a Bible preaching church that sings more songs about Jesus and the reality of the ups and downs of the Christian life.

That's the story of Genesis

2008-07-22T00:34:00.001-04:00

This is part of the ending of Matt's sermon from sunday. I love this ending. He did a great job of showing how the bible is one story. enjoy. Click here.

2 things

2008-07-14T23:16:00.003-04:00

1) our friend SUS is ENGAGED!!!!! we are so excited for her! you can see her ring in the picture.

2) my boy is a golfer, musician and now an artist.

this guy is alive

2008-07-07T17:36:00.003-04:00

So, the other night when we were at bishop park, there was a guy handing out "christian tracks." I overheard him say "do you believe in judgment? do you believe in judgment day?" I walked off after hearing that because I really wanted to ask him "do you really think this will convert these nice Hispanic men who barely speak english(i could be wrong but his yes didn't sound like a guy that spoke great english)?" Here is a picture i snuck in so you can beware of this man.

Happy 4th to ya

2008-07-04T23:55:00.006-04:00

Happy 4th from the Slaten clan.
we hung out with some friends at bishop park tonight. here are a couple picts.
athens does a great job with July 4th.
my boy playing chase.

me and my beautiful bride. love her!

playing golf before we left.

All boy

2008-07-03T23:26:00.007-04:00

so some of you have heard me describe my boy as "all boy" well here is digital proof.
we are playing in the yard and he figures this out.

thats my boy. no help getting up that fence. he is more fun than i thought he could be!

on a side note. i have a good friend moving to Tanzania to work with a safari company. he will be gone for 6 months. his name is chris. if you pray, pray for safety in his travel and while he is hunting in the bush.

My Favorite things

2008-06-24T00:11:00.005-04:00

1) d’addario strings EXP, I have left my long relationship with Elixr strings. Elixr strings may hold their sound longer but it doesn’t matter when they BREAK.
2) Breedlove guitars. Shocker.
3) Chocolate Milk. I have always loved this stuff and probably always will. this is my favorite kind: click here
4) Playing golf with my little man.

getting ready to hit

just hit the ball

5) The movie Toy Story. It’s a good one
6) The movie Cars. I think it was even better than Toy Story.
7) Playing golf in general. I have the bug to play but not the budget.

8) Enjoying UGA baseball. Hope they win.
9) Beachwood Chic-Fil-A.
10) $6.40 pizza. Tuesday Papa Johns has a great sale!
11) Excited about fantasy football

That’s enough for now.

life is hard

2008-06-13T13:29:00.005-04:00

my boy is 2 and i am not sure if he is just acting 2 or if the steroids are still in him. its been a hard week.
and life is hard on my feet as well. my feet have just recouped from this:

this is from my few days at Pinehurst. I tossed my shoes and got new ones.
that picture was for the girl we will call molly.

Night

2008-06-06T00:17:00.002-04:00

The night is one of those things that plays tricks on you. But before we get to night a bit of back story. I am the father to a boy. (if you regularly read my blog you know that.) He is one of the cutest most awesome boy in the world. Most little boys have tons of crap (toys not literal crap) and we tend to find his stuff all over the place. He also tends to put random stuff no where near where it should go. So I walked out the front door to take out Rosie and there in the grass was one of my little mans basketballs.

I took the ball and did what most guys would do, I took the ball and shot pretend shots into the air. One other fun fact about me is that I live in the country. I live in a neighborhood but still have 2 acres of land. I see more stars in the average night than I would in an entire year in Marietta. (I have more lights here but they have SO many more restaurants). Anyway, I shot the ball into the air, and got kind of dizzy. That may sound strange but everytime that ball went high up in the ball it seemed to stand still and the sky seemed to move/spin. I held the ball and looked at the sky. It made me think “there is something that I just love about night” here are my reasons.
1) I like dark. I tend to turn all the lights off in the house. Right now there is just a TV and 1 light on in the room. I just prefer dark.
2) its cooler. The day is SO FREAKING HOTTTT right now. And its killing me.
3) I like to walk at night, we don’t really get to do that since L usually is asleep by the time we could walk.
4) I am a night owl. I just like the night.

So why share this…I am not sure. I just think I saw the sky kind of spin and I was a bit overwhelmed at how huge the universe is. Pretty nuts. There ya go for tonight.

here it is.

2008-05-30T23:08:00.008-04:00

Well I promised a blog and waited basically 2 weeks to write it. So, hold on sit down this could be a long one.

To start I will talk about a fun trip we took to Marietta last week. 9 guys that I have known since they were in the 5th grade were graduating high school and we went down to a party they all through together. It was great to get to see everyone. Usually we just see one family when we visit, because if we see more we tend to not have any real conversations with folks. BUT since this was a drop in party we saw a bunch of folks and had some good conversations. ONE STANDS out. I will change her name to protect the innocent. Lets call her…Molly. I mean who knows a Molly? We laughed a lot getting to see ‘molly’ and her husband. About 2 years ago C and I went to see ‘molly’ get married. A couple weeks after the wedding I called her. 1.5 years later I got a call back that starts like this “hey Aaron I know its been over a years since I have called don’t hate me”. Very funny. The only shock of the night with ‘molly’ was that she didn’t have on her favorite shirt from the Varsity. I will move on from the blog stalker I am calling ‘molly’.

We also had some great time with one of my favorite people in the world Carrie. She is literally the kindest person I know. We had Lunch with Collins who was/is defiantly one of my best friends in Marietta. She is a sweet friend.

The week following we went for an incredible trip to Pinehurst NC. On the way up there we stopped for some good pizza in Greenville, SC with my mom. And visited my favorite store in Greenville. It is called ‘mast general store’ I love that place. I can’t really explain it, just trust me its cool. Then we finished the trek to Pinehurst and prepared for some SICK golf. Pinehurst has 8 courses total. The 1st day we played #8 and #5. I loved them both. I played golf over thanksgiving and SUCKED it up. so my goal was to shoot under 120. On #8 I shot a 109 and then on #5 I shot a 94. I was very pleased with the 94. It was probably the best I have ever hit the ball in my life. The next day we played #2. #2 is a very historic course. I may never play a course that is a bigger deal than #2 again in my life. I shot a 113 that day which I was pleased with considering that the greens were by far the hardest I have ever hit on. The ladies got a massage, facial, pedicure, and manicure while we played golf. I really hope I can go back there some day. It was a blast.

So here are a couple of picts of the weekend and of the courses.
driving range

Tee box on #2 hole 1

one of my many sand shots

tee shot from hole 18 on #2

me and my boy looking from the green of 18 on #2

me and my bride before a nice dinner

the blog to come

2008-05-17T18:37:00.004-04:00

so I went to a party last night for a bunch of friends and i have a friend that inspired a blog i will write tomorrow.
here is a hint:

you know who you are. yeah, i am writing the blog i said was to coming.

yet another cool reasons MACs kill PCs

2008-05-12T20:39:00.000-04:00

Rant o the day

2008-05-05T21:37:00.003-04:00

1) My boy is a BA. He and his friend were pushing lawn mowers around the yard this afternoon and he cut his toe some how. Not sure how I just know it was bleeding. He then proceeded to play for about another 30 min before we noticed it and got a chance to clean it up.
2) Happy cinco de mayo. Jorge probably loves this holiday. We celebrated with sub par homemade strawberry daiquiri. It was a good try. I used fresh hand picked strawberries that we picked the other day, they were just sub par.
3) I am soon to go play a few of the golf courses at Pinehurst and I am excited.
4) Its Crazy that Matt’s boy is already born it seems like so long ago that Linz got pregnant.
5) I like playing basketball, I am just a bit old. Not to old just older than I used to be and that makes me play slower.
6) Last week was a pretty fast and hectic week. Sunday seemed like the longest day every. I think I left at 1. And we didn’t even take down the mains. Crazy.
7) I really miss the Drivers, Prusa’s and Bluster. I wish you guys and gals still lived here.
8) Sleep. I have been sleeping great lately.
9) I am currently listening to a band called ‘Foals’ courtesy of BTM, I like them. Not as much as the other stuff he has introduced me to but I like this.
10) I have enjoyed the latest episodes of ‘the office’
11) I love the NBA playoffs. I know its strange but they are good for real.
12) Does any one know or care that the NHL playoffs are going on right now? Because I don’t I hate hockey, much more than soccer.
13) I haven’t watched 1 baseball game from start to finish yet.
14) I think that gas sucks. I desperately want a Prius.
15) Still no takers on my car. I guess I am stuck with buddy.
16) I really think that High School is so overrated. Primarily because if I saty down with any of the folks I went to school with (excluding 2 folks, Joel and Chris) no one knows anything about. Well if they do know it because random folks have passed along how incredibly not lame my life is.
17) I am curious what we are doing as the church. And I don’t mean Christ community church I mean the church universal. I think we are feeding the beast or doing small things to make us look good. I think its going to bite us in the butt is 10 years. We care more about people coming to us with stuff figured out that we ignore what we are called here to do.
18) I have the best dog. For real, she is great.
19) I love it when L looks across he room and laughs out loud at me.
20) we have re done our lighting with the church i like it.
21) i am going to bed early. night.
head up

here he is

2008-05-03T23:14:00.006-04:00

the new little Adair

here is daddy and boy

me, and the adair boys minus J who is playing cars with L while picture is being taken

my boy with matts boy super sweet.

We are excited about the new addition to the Adair family. if you want a bit more info check out Matts blog. here.

William Alan

2008-05-03T08:05:00.001-04:00

was born last night at 10:38. He was 8 pounds, 3 ounces. I will throw a picture up later on today.

today there will be a new Adair in the world

2008-05-02T09:53:00.003-04:00

If you know Matt and Linz pray for them today as they welcome a addition to their family. (even if you don't know them pray for them. And if you aren't someone that prays do it this time. Pray for the delivery and the health/safety for Linz and baby.
thanks.
I will update later

2 years

2008-04-23T23:57:00.003-04:00

So, 2 years ago my boy was born. That is really incredible. It feels like yesterday that we drove away from the hospital and curious why someone would allow us to leave a hospital with a baby. It has defiantly gotten more normal to be a dad, but sometimes i still look and L and ask "are you really mine?" I usually just looks at me and smiles and says something about balls or trains.

so i wanted to say that on April 24th 2006 God answered a prayer of mine. I became a dad to a boy. Today will not be much different from yesterday but like everyday will tell my boy how proud i am to be his dad, tell him how much i love him and I will give him a big hug and kiss.

even though you obviously can't read this "happy birthday buddy".

if you are out in blog world and want to buy my boy something, here is what to get him....a Fender Tele. His dad will use it to lead worship for a bit then pass it down. there ya go.

somtimes you just have to stop

2008-04-15T23:54:00.005-04:00

So I was sitting my office the other day working and I had Bruce Springsteen, The Ghost Of Tom Joad album (thanks BTM) playing. I have this thing that I often just have music on and don’t really listen. Well something happened that day in my office. Nothing magical just something. I heard him playing and felt it. See I wrote before about music moving us. Check it out here. I have never been much of a Springsteen fan but this album sounds nothing like what I have always thought he sounds like. This is a raw mostly guitar album that feels mysterious and comfortable. I asked BTM for front porch music and that’s what it is. Its music that fits a sun set in our country little town of Watkinsville. So I was listening probably for the 1st time in a while I think I was feeling music. I love that. I turned off Bruce, picked up my guitar and made music. It was not what I expected, but it was interesting. All I will say is that the song took on the title ‘liar’ about a girl I once knew. Here is a taste of the lyric:
I am nothing like
Hope I’ll never be
I see you as a liar
How do you see me

I may actually clean the song up and put it on my myspace one of these days.

But here is what I am trying to say: sometimes we just have to stop and listen. Sometimes to feel the emotion of the moment we have to be in the moment. I am a guy that lives for the next moment instead of living and loving where I am.
So what is my new goal you ask…live in the moment and feel music. How could I not live in the moment or feel music when this boy does both better than anyone else I have ever known.

one of the biggest new churches in america

2008-04-10T23:13:00.002-04:00

oh wait thats just american idol trying to look like grander community church and all the other churches out there being cover bands. american idol covers the church like many churches try and cover...i guess you would call them non church songs.

i don't remember the last time i sang this song and honestly i may never sing it again just because of this.

what the deuce?

2008-04-09T17:14:00.000-04:00

what the deuce is Axl wearing?

The rant is back!

2008-04-08T00:46:00.002-04:00

1) I am bummed that one iof my drummer is getting married (currently a freshman in college) and the other works late nights at Trapeze. That makes having a consistent drummer hard.
2) My boy turns 2 in a few weeks. That’s really nuts.
3) I still want an electric guitar. So I throw it out there in case someone has one that you would be willing to give to a worship leader in Watkinsville. i am not to picky.
4) My yard is huge. I road my tractor for 50 min today and only got through about 1/3 of it.
5) I might be addicted to the internet. I am having to make my self stop some
6) I really feel like I am getting older. I find myself remembering when life was easier and things were much cheaper. Yup I am about to turn 30.
7) Here are a couple of goals for the coming year. Change how a strum more bluegrass hold of the pick and less attack, play 1 song on the piano in public.
8) I might pay off student loans this year…have to sell my car for this to happen. C has been great sticking to the budget to give this even a chance of happening.
9) I played the snare and a cymbal this Sunday in church and it wasn’t embarrassing.
10) L has started to dribble a ball. I know he isn’t even 2 is that possible? He can get 2 or 3 bounces. We will start making sure he can use both hands to dribble soon.
11) I still think Ophra is leading the #1 cult in America
12) Just read Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll and liked it a lot.
13) My favorite season is winter, because I like to wear jackets Auzell and I are in agreement here.
14) Tomorrow I might be making my 1st patch bay
15) I miss C and me talking to SUS on ichat.
16) I need to be able to sleep better. My mind runs like crazy and its hard to catch.
17) Rosie is not obeying as well as she used to. Rosie is our dog incase you didn’t know.
18) I know the names of WAY to many Thomas Trains.
19) BTM is introducing me to some new music. 1st on the list Sun Kil Moon. Check them out.
Ok I am off to bed. Night.

things make me cry

2008-04-04T23:27:00.004-04:00

one thing my lady thinks is really funny is that fact that i consider myself a crier. i feel like i cry very easily. most things i cry about have to do with things concerning my boy. see i really want to be a great dad. i want live out the gospel to him. i want him to know that i hope for him to know Jesus more than i hope for his purity, sobriety, or for him to like me. i know i have no control over that but i want to be old and look at my son and know that i did my best to live out the gospel to him. and all i am saying there is that i want to love him regardless of who he becomes and be ok with the process. this all came to my mind tonight because i read a blog that had the tribute page from a new book by bob kauflin. its says:

"to my grandsons (then states their names)
may you be among those who lead your generation to encounter the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit."
Psalm 71:18
and that says
"So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.

i read that and thought (kind of cried), that’s it. i pray that my boy will lead his generation to encounter the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
that is my new prayer for him. what a task. only by Gods strength, power and work can i live a life that reflects Jesus and only through the same power can L lead his generation to encounter the greatness of God.

below is a picture of the tribute page of Bob's book.

Good weekend

2008-03-30T16:06:00.002-04:00

Well this weekend has really been a pretty busy weekend. At church we hosted a concert of red mountain music. Some of you reading this may not know of them or their music (not sure who might be reading this that wouldn't know of them, because I think the only folks that read this thing are folks that I have at least shared their music with). If you do not know who they are here is a brief summary. These folks take obscure text (mostly hymns) and put updated and good music to them. Their music often deals with doubt, fears and pain. These are all subjects that most contemporary songs/choruses do not deal with. For the past few years I have really enjoyed red mountains music and jumped at the chance to have them come in and play at our church.

1st I want to say the girl that sings for them is probably my favorite female vocalist ever. Yeah that’s a big statement but seriously she is SICK. Her voice is piercing. It pierces through the instruments and stands out unlike most female vocalist. So for those of you who want to know what I am talking about listen to this. I told C that I have a crush on her voice. She is cool with that because she has a crush on Shane E’s voice.

The band was great and easy to work with. Except for BTM he was so anal about his monitor. Very much the diva….just kidding. The entire band was great to mix and hang out with. At dinner last night Clint said something that I think most Christian ‘artist’ miss when it come to gifts that God has given them. He said and I paraphrase “I feel like I was created to play music. And I express my worship through music.” I feel like Christians often recognize the gifts they have but do not use their gifts to edify the body of believers. So thanks guys and Ashley for sharing your God given gifts to edify. I really enjoyed you guys and your music. Oh and if you read this, thanks for letting me sing with you guys, I enjoyed it.

One other great thing from this weekend was that we worked out some more kinks in our system. We will be building a patch bay this week hopefully and then we will officially have a really clean set up. I enjoyed running sound. It was nice to be on that side to really get a feel for what our system sounds like now with all of the new stuff we have gotten. Mark was a HUGE help and has done a great job building a rack and putting up with as we work through this.

I literally saw my lady for 20 min total yesterday she had a shower to throw, then I had to set up for concert, then we had community lunch today, got home at 2, she and L are napping now and we have community group at 6 tonight. Very busy weekend.

If you don’t own red mountain cd’s you should. We play a ton of their stuff.

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T22:37:00.005-04:00

my incredible family

me and my boy

this weekend has absolutely drained me! I feel like i have been hit by a truck. we had friends stay with us on friday, easter egg hunt in Athens and in our yard and finally an Easter service to be ready for. I am off to bed right after i post this. I hope Jesus has shown himself to your hope today.
night.

Article

2008-03-22T14:36:00.003-04:00

I grew up loving ThirdDay. I got to meet a eat with the lead singer Mac, a few years back. He is one of the sincere guys i have ever met. Well, my good buddy Phillip wrote a good article about the band for a local paper here in town call the Flag Pole. check it out here.

i am so glad

2008-03-18T23:26:00.002-04:00

"I am so glad i gotta God who knows what it is to be a poor black man..."
"Jesus taught me how to love the hell outa my enemies.
is this church or a political rally? wow.

My list of favorite foods and who makes them

2008-03-14T23:33:00.000-04:00

in order of how they came to my mind:

Banana Pudding-grandma Pats
Chicken and Dressing- Mom
Pizza- MPC
Hamburger- Five Guys
French Fries- McDonald’s-I mean, it can’t get better than their fries, J Alexander’s are 2nd
Lasagna- my bride
Turkey- Wade
BBQ- Mark S. elder at our church, my dads used to be really good..long time since he made me some.
Steak- Chops-legit!!!
Corn on the cob- Me
Cream Corn- Carole
Milkshake- wow this one is hard- Steak and Shake or Johnny Rockets
Fast food restaurant- Taco Bell-some may find this sick, but I can’t help but love it
Chips and Salsa- On The Border
Coke- Sonic
Cheese Cake- Cristina, my Romanian Girl Friend-ok not really my girl friend.
Corn bread-Grandma Jimmie
Cinnamon Rolls- lady from the camp I used to go to, she made them FRESH
Boiled Peanuts-does anyone make these things poorly
Cookies-Chocolate Chip someone from Church the other week, no clue who made them
Cookies- I had to do 2, cinnamon toast from a place in downtown Athens
Cheese Biscuits-
Chinese- PF CHANGS

Stopping now.

i wish i could have seen this!

2008-03-04T00:45:00.001-05:00

Over 200 Improv Everywhere Agents froze in place at the exact same second for five minutes in the Main Concourse of Grand Central Station. Over 500,000 people rush through Grand Central every day, but today, things slowed down just a bit as commuters and tourists alike stopped to notice what was happening around them. Enjoy the video.

brilliant pictures

2008-02-26T14:40:00.004-05:00

My bride took this awesome shots of our little man. He loves to fly in the air.

Falling Slowly, WON

2008-02-25T00:48:00.000-05:00

So pleased for these two.

Last weekend

2008-02-22T21:30:00.004-05:00

The past week has been a good fast week. I am going to let some pictures tell the story.
Well to start the story, we went to see our friend Gro in her final Step Sing last weekend. There is NO way that I can put in to words what Step Sing is, so unless you went there or have heard of it all you get is the name of the event. We had a great time hanging out with Gro and her boyfriend Grant. We are very excited that God put Gro and Grant together and we are also glad that we like being around them together. Here is Gro and Grant together.

This is a picture of Grant and his secret lover.

We also got to hang out with our friend Christine and made a new friend with her man Austin. Again we found ourselves excited about the guy that God has put in one of our close friends. Austin seems to be a great fit for Christine.

Here is a shot of them and us with Christine.

We got to eat lunch at a pretty good place called ‘Jacksons’ and I had a good breakfast pizza. I enjoyed it a lot. Here is me and my bride after lunch.

It was a great weekend away. I always love it when C and I get away for a bit, just the 2 of us.

Finally I close with this. My boy is swinging left handed!!!! How awesome is that! My uncle Tim was a great baseball player and he threw right and would bat lefty. So, I am hoping L will be doing the same. Who knows? This is a picture of L swinging a short stick at a golf ball. Well actually I am not going to post the picture because one of the blog C and I read had perverts download pictures of her boys in diapers. I will get a clothed picture of him up soon.

so its today

2008-02-14T10:32:00.000-05:00

Me

2008-02-13T00:40:00.002-05:00

So I figured I would share a few things that probably most of you don’t know about me.

My guilty pleasures or just random things about me:

1) I always stop to watch churches when I see one on TV
2) I also tend to stop and watch Disney movies.
3) Watching online church services is fun for me.
4) I dip my PBJ in chicken noodle soup.
5) My mom and dad call me bud. Not sure why but they do. I call my boy buddy.
6) The fear of failure is a motivator for me.
7) If I could go anywhere on vacation I would go to Fiji, not sure why tho.
8) I hate when you hold hands to pray and my hands start to sweat. I hate that.
9) I would like a Tattoo but there isn’t one I would love to have forever.
10) I am almost 30 and I still love video games.
11) I bowled a 288 on wii bowling
12) L loves watching the Wii.
13) I love music award shows. I always have. When I was little I used to record them and watch them over and over again. I still watch them…just not over and over again.
14) I have a bunch of friends that are sick right now…I guess I don’t need to make out with friends…wait, one of those friends lives in long beach and the other in Marietta.
15) Microsoft Windows is, um how do I say it kindly, lame.
16) I still miss playing baseball. Seeing a nice baseball field still gives me a strange feeling in my stomach.
17) Some of my favorite memories growing up came from my summers at Smoky Mountain Church Camp now called Bridgemont Camp.
18) Phil Vandermeer is still one of the funniest guys I know.
19) When my boy grows up I hope he gives his life away to people.
20) I love being on a team. Its just great to be on a team that everyone is rowing the same direction.
21) I love it when my bride makes me laugh. Which happens often.
22) My boy's smile.
23) YHC, suite 13 was one of the best living arrangements ever.
24) Adam and Ryan were great roommates…I wish I would have spent more time with you guys…freaking girls.
25) I wish we had the cash to go to Chops for v-day.

That’s enough for now.

Song of the week

2008-02-06T00:17:00.000-05:00

Why should I fear? by Red Mountain Music.
I love this song. We are doing it this Sunday.
I really think if you don't own a Red Mountain CD and you think you know the best church music, you are mistaken. Go buy all 3 Gadsby cds and consider your self enlightened.

The day is over

2008-02-05T23:56:00.000-05:00

Well no one is totally well in my house still. I am the best off, C is the worst of and L is somewhere in the middle. on with the blog.
So I am playing electric again this week. How do you feel about that? I mean I am an acoustic rhythm guy. And this week I am trying to be Clint Wells. Well honestly most people who read my blog probably don’t know who Clint is. He is the main guitarist on for red Mountain Music. He is great. I haven’t actually met him though. I check in on his blog, swapped some email and will finally meet him in late march. My friends the Drivers are coming back in town to sing and play with us. We are playing “why should I fear?” this week and I am playing electric on the song. I am learning a lot about tone and how to get different sounds out of an electric. I am barrowing Ryan Kecks G&L guitar, it kind of looks like the one below.

I think I could be ok at this electric thing.
If I have $ to go buy one now I would probably buy a Telecaster and a Fender Amp. Probably like the ones below. It wouold cost me about $1500 to get what I want. I could get a bit lower end for abut $800.

So if anyone has $ or a guitar/amp/pedals you want to to give me, HALA atcha boy. Some may say beggars can't be choosers, well i am not begging so please don't give me a guitar that my almost 2 year old would know is crap.Oh and I am not going to list all the pedals I want because I seriously doubt someone is going to give me any of this.

That’s all for tonight.

Hardest thing about being a parent

2008-02-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

Being sick when your kid is sick. Its not easy when he is healthy and your sick but when he is sick and you are as well, HOLY CRAP its hard.

C and I have been dying these past couple of days. If you know me, you know I am pretty hot natured. Like I am that guy that hate spending the night at houses who don’t use AC to is best abilities. I mean who likes to sweat while they sleep? And that’s when I am sleeping in boxers with NO covers. Now the Adairs is the only house I have stayed in that I have been cold. Lindz keeps that place like a meat locker. I can’t imagine how cold Matt is since they are expecting baby #2. Anyway
I laid in bed Wednesday night in sleeping paints, 2-tshirts, sweat shirt, ski socks, and a toboggan. I go from extreme hot moments and cold periods. On top of that I feel like I am wearing ear plugs. My ears are clogged with crap as well. It has not been fun.

So what now? Do have anything else to talk about besides how crappy everyone in my house feels? Yup I have some new rants, so enjoy:

-Santana is not worth 150.76 over 6 years, NO ONE IS!
-I actually feel bad for Amy Winehouse.
-Blockbuster online went up on its prices and honestly its not worth it unless you watch movies every day.
-We have been reading a blog about a guy with a wife that has cystic Fibrosis. They just recently had a baby born 15+ weeks early. This blog is life changing. The latest video he has made is the 1st time he has been able to hold their baby. Its SO moving.
www.confessionsofacfhusband.com/
-I am actually watching some of the political debates. Man I feel old. Why do I think politics are for old people?
-I have grown out my 3 nails. They have never grown out on their own and now they are. I am pretty shocked. They really help my cocaine habit. Just kidding I play the guitar if you didn’t know.
-Writers strike, I am even MORE over this strike.
-Sleep, for some reason I can’t go to bed early, nor am I taking naps. And if I am sick you would think I would sleep a lot.
-Annie, I think its strange but I check your blog every day. I barley know you and I read your blog every day.
-BTM your new camera takes some great pictures.
-I love my church. We really want to be a place for the broken and bruised, mistreated and abused. Why? Because that’s who we are.

There ya go. Some thoughts.

Flu Fighters Don't Exist

2008-02-01T15:33:00.000-05:00

These things don't work.

Well, now L is sick. AWESOME.
Lets just say our house is not the fun place to be right now.

Flu Fighter

2008-01-31T13:24:00.000-05:00

Now i have the flu. L is the lone flu fighter.
FYI the flu sucks. I don't think i have ever felt like this in my life. I hurt all over.

Flu Fighters

2008-01-30T22:01:00.000-05:00

That is what me and L are. We are Flu fighters. C has the flu and we are fighting not to get it. I have played doctor all day and Mr Mom. I will say this, i admire C's work as a mom even more. L is a lot of kid. C is incredible. I did go sing with this girl that might be attending our church. she has a great voice. she come courtesy of Meredith Bluster. Everyone knows bluster can freaking sing and i am grateful for her thinking of her church family in Watkinsville.

please pray that C gets better, and L and I don't get it.

You MUST see this.

2008-01-29T00:26:00.000-05:00

Seriously stop what your doing, go to www.u23dmovie.com, and find a theater that U2 in 3D is showing near you. Matt and I went to see this concert today and WOW. It is the best set list and the 3D made me feel like i was there. It was absolutely incredible. treat yourself to a rocking, passionate hour and twenty minutes. you wont regret it. did

Baby...

2008-01-27T21:21:00.000-05:00

well, anyone who reads this might know that my boy doesn't speak English. He speaks a mixture of Italian, Romanian and French. Well tonight was a big night in our house, not our house but the Hunt's house. My boy L said "I want pizza please". ok not really. But tonight as we were hanging out with our community group at dinner. C asked L what was on the wrapper of yo-baby. he didn't respond. She then said "its a baby, can you say baby". he looked at her and said "baby". it was cool.
then Adam who has asked since L was 6 months for him to say "adam" asked him to repeat his name. he never has. Well Adam is dating a girl named Amy. As Adam was asking L to say "Adam", C asked L to say "Amy"and HE DID. that ended the fun night of repeating words but 2 words not to shabby.

this is not a picture of the actual saying of the new words. this is us sharing a turkey sandwich. 1st and only one he has eaten.

Random list of my opinion:

2008-01-25T22:08:00.000-05:00

Worst Character of all time in a movie:
Jar Jar Binks
This was the absolutely the most horrendous character ever in a movie. I hated this character and made me dislike Star Wars I. This is the only thing on this list that is not up for discussion.

Best character in a movie:
William Wallace.
I mean this guy literally is what every guy wants to be. He is passionately in love with his lady and can/will kill any man that messes with him or anyone who he loves.

BA of the all time:
Maximus Decimus Meridius
I love this guy! He is the man of men.

Funniest show on TV
The Office- b4 the writers strike

Stupidest song:
My Humps by Black eyed peas- it doesn’t deserve a link

Best song (I have heard lately):
Falling Slowly-her voice with his passion makes this song.

Best restaurants in Athens;
I hate to say this but Chic-Fil-A. The beachwood restaurant is superior to every other Chic-Fil-A in the southeast.

Worste advice given to me before I got married:
“Prepare to be a yes mam husband.” That doesn’t happen and nor should it. ALL MEN READ THIS.

Least favorite sports team:
THE FREAKING YANKEES.

Surprise:
I do find myself becoming more of a UGA fan the longer I live here/.

lyric that punched me in the face:
You bid me rise and shine
Please bid me rise and shine
-ryan kennedy

most annoying things:
Someone pulling my shirt collar, or slapping the bill of my cap down.

Best thing of my day:
Seeing my bride and son. Maybe some of you think this is cheesy but I really love both of them.

I am WAY over:
Boy humor in movies. I feel like it’s the easy gross joke, so folks use it. Its like a 5 year old that loves farting but its not really that funny. I am over stupid jokes about sex.

Game I love:
Bowling on the Wii.

Something new:
I will more than likely be leading worship next week with an electric. Probably for 3 or 4 songs. Thanks to Ryan Keck letting me barrow his guitar.

So yeah I am not sure where this list cam from but here it is.

So now I decide what to do with this blog?

2008-01-21T23:35:00.000-05:00

I am at a road crossing. The problem is that I have no idea what to do with my blog. I basically feel like I need to decide if this blog will continue to exist.

So here are my thoughts of why and why not have a blog:

Why not:
It takes time
Not that many folks read it
I really don’t think I am that engaging, which is probably the reason for #2

Why:
Good way to keep my thoughts down somewhere
Makes me think I am important enough to have a blog

So there ya go. I am going to keep writing on this blog. Why you ask…not really because you don’t care. But the reason why is because I am actually going to post. 3 times per week. For 4 weeks. That is my goal. So here we go. Brace yourself.

BYE BYE to 2007

2008-01-14T23:48:00.000-05:00

Sorry this took so long to get up...if anyone cares.
The new days of 2008 started with a bunch of wrestling matches.

So we have officially said Adios to 2007 and Aloha to 2008. I have seen many blogs do a list of top music, top memories, or top trips of 2007. Well I have decided to do a blend of all of that. Here we go (obviously not in any type of order):

Things I am excited about in 2008:
1) the Wii I got for Christmas. Thanks in-laws. It is a lot of fun for me and C and L to play together.
2) Paying off student loans, well this one is a hope to more that a will do. I chose to go to 2 private schools and had to take out loans to go to them. So after I graduated in 2001, I started paying for my school.
3) L continuing to grow.
4) Watching God continue to move in our church.
5) Getting better at picking on the guitar
6) Recording a couple of songs I have written

Music TV shows and Movies I liked in 2007 (some not released in 2007)
1) The Office- Bears Beats Battle Star Galactica
2) Once- SICKLY good. I enjoyed this even more that I thought I would.
3) New Indelible Grace CD- musically the best IG album so far
4) Mindy Smith-her voice is beautifully haunting.
5) Bourne Ultimatum

New things I came to love in 2007
1) TransMetropolitan is my favorite Pizza in Athens
2) Caesar Salad in a bag. SO GOOD and easy.
3) The Bass. If you have a good bassist your sound can really be different.
4) Guitar Hero

The things I would love to have in 2008 all these will not happen unless someone else buys them for me:
1) A Toyota Prius. I really am DONE with bad gas mileage. But this one REALLY won’t change unless someone reading this wants to buy me a Prius
2) New Imac for work, for projection and recording.
3) Room added to our house.

Things I have grown to hate in 2007
1) Motorola Razor. I HATE my phone. I hope to have a new one this week.
2) Email forwards, I still don’t like or read them but I some how keep getting them
3) Taxes, we need some help our taxes here in Watkinsville.
4) Yankees, still hate these guys as well.
5) Hockey not new but a drum I still want to beat, is the NHL still in existence?

New things already for us in 2008:
1) we are going to sell my car and go down to one vehicle to save $ and pay off student loans.
2) budget summit of 2008. We are crunching in 2008.
3) Thought my laptop was fried.
4) Thought Camille's ring was lost.
5) According to L a sheep is the loudest animal out there it screams BAAAAH
6) Playing basketball weekly and RANDOMLY I am making 3 pointers, and if you know me i am not a three shooting guy.
7) I am now a hot tea drinker. Ryan started it and Carrie hooked me up with a tea pot and loose tea for Christmas. Side note: WE LOVE YOU CARRIE!
8) Once is my new fav. movie.
9) I am looking forward to 2008
10) I have a new phone thanks to my cousin April

So goodbye to 2007 and here are my opening words for 2008: we live in a depraved world with mean and hurtful people. It is easy to loose hope. It is easy to allow life to weaken and wear you down. I want to say 2 things to all of us who live in this world. There is hope. And love.

long post coming

2008-01-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

well i started a LONG post about 07 and now 08 but my screen messed up on my lap top and i had to take it to be repaired. so i will not be posting until late next week. BUT when i do it will be worth reading and it will be followed by many more post.
later.
this is me and my boy Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T22:50:00.001-05:00

We hope you have a great Christmas.

I get this

2007-12-17T09:54:00.000-05:00

I have been places, seem faces, hugged necks, cried with, helped out, and clothed people who have changed me. I saw this video and i remembered. There was a boy in an orphanage in Romania, Yorge, that the 1st day in the orphanage he stood in front of me holding a small toy and looked up at me. I didn't know at that point that I would have a son nor did I know that those eyes gazing at me would live with me for the rest of my life. L looks at me just like that sometimes. Seeing Yorge/Romania changed me, his need changed how I live and what I hope for and dream for.
Maybe this doesn't make sense but i saw this video and now i and crying about the fact that L is having a great Christmas and loves life and Yorge is somewhere in Romania, in a foster house, and probably still hasn't developed much more because of the lack of interaction that he has not received his entire life. take a second to watch this video of singer song writer Sarah Groves. Everyone i know that has met her LOVES her.
I hope something in your life moves you enough that you are changed.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-14T23:42:00.001-05:00

this is me and my boy setting up our tree...well, he didn't do that much.
I love this kid!
this Christmas our whole family is getting Toms Shoes. anyone else?

Free Rice and more things for this season.

2007-12-06T14:20:00.001-05:00

Ok so I am blogging about things that we all can do different for Christmas.

1) buy toms shoes. why? when you buy a pair of shoes they give a pair of shoes away.
2) freerice.com for every vocabulary word you get right they give 20 grains of rice through the United Nations. The rice is donated through the United Nations World Food Program. So far since October they have donated 6 billion grains of rice.
3) Heifer Project. Check out this site. you can buy animals for families to help build them income and possibly change their world.
4) World Vision and Compassion International. Two organizations to sponsor kids in third world countries and provide food, education and some type sunday school.
5) Living Water. give $ to build water wells for people with out clean water.

i am asking us all to do some different things with our Christmas.

I loved college

2007-11-24T23:14:00.000-05:00

Seriously. I loved College. Today we were at YHC for a bit to take some pictures with me and L. I walked around thinking “man I love this place”. There is something about it. The air is fresh, the sky is blue and the sound of cars does not pollute the air. So many folks go to college and go crazy. I wasn’t on of those. I have 1 glass of wine before I was in college before I was 21. I never did any drugs that folks did up there. I just had GREAT friends and we all loved each other and stayed way to busy playing sports and doing random crap. I would love to have the chance to relive my college years, specifically the two I spent at YHC. I would only wish to change about 3 things in my time there:
1) girl #1 2) time 3) girl #2

In my time there I learned how to be independent. I figured out how to make some wise and not so wise choices. YHC was a place where I found me. Some of you reading this probably think I am just your typical Christian guy that thinks he is better than people because he didn’t do the “big/outward” sins. I am not saying that.

See I did grow up the typical Christian kid. My mom kept me involved in church and sports. I loved Christian music. Not because I was sheltered from other music, I just liked it. I was that 11th grade guy that met with his girl friend to pray and read the bible before school. We listened to Ray Boltz on our 1st date. Every roommate I have ever had is a believer. I have never dated a non-Christian….even though one I would question (yes I am being judgmental, but if you knew the story, whoa). I always loved things dealing with Jesus. My 2 years showed me so many things about me, here are 3.

3 main things YHC showed me
1) I love being around people and I am pretty extroverted.
2) Jesus has gifted me in some specific areas.
3) Alter Ego-sorry I can’t elaborate on this one.

So today as L and I walked around (C was there as well) I thought about how much Christ has changed me since the days I walked on that campus. I still love Jesus, actually probably more. I get the fact that I do not deserve anything in this world and for some strange reason he has called me out of darkness into light. The hard thing is the walk into the light. I am still in so many ways the typical “Christian guy” (and I am ok with that) I am now the typical Christian guy that gets that I, like you, am a process.

I am not sure if this made sense but it is what is on my mind tonight.
Here are some picts of me and my boy from YHC.

walking to the fountain, Rosie Cotton got to go with us.

the fixed up the walkway through the middle of campus.

the Spat fountain. The Pineapple for the Late Papa Rich. what a great man!

very long

2007-11-09T23:15:00.000-05:00

So it has been a while since I have posted an actual post about life. We went on vacation a few weeks ago. It was great I did mention that in an earlier post. Last week was a very busy week. Because I had to have everything completely done for Sunday on Thursday. So I busted my butt to get it all done. This past weekend I led worship for FPC’s d-now for their high school students. For those of you that don’t know, I used to be on staff at FPC.

The strange thing is that D-NOW was my last retreat that I did before moving to Watkinsville. So just being honest I was a bit nervous to see everyone again. Ya know how the memory can often be better than reality. So naturally I didn’t want folks to go “man he sucks now…what happened.”

Well, I thought it was a great weekend. It was great to be around my folks from Marietta and only a couple of times did I feel like I had been gone for a while. I really miss a bunch of them. The band I played was pretty sick. Jason Laiche is like an octopus on the drums, Lester is like my soul mate on guitar, Justmann is the sick bassist and Meredith is the best female vocalist I have every had the pleasure to sing with. I loved leading with them!!! I wish we could have recorded it. One of my fav songs was “jesus is our great salvation” by Red mountain music and we went to the chorus of “we love you jesus” Shane and Shane. I also loved singing Glorious.

Kevin, Dan and I got home about 1:45 am Sunday morning and then were at church at 8. We had a great Sunday. I love my church. Why you ask, let me share. I love the fact that my pastor cares more about the Gospel than he does about himself, money, members, people’s feelings and the list could go on. I love the fact that our leadership is all on the same page. Our college students are plugging in. I love our music and it just keeps getting better. I just feel at home in our church. Watkinsville/Athens continues to grow on us and is binging to feel more like home.

I guess I will share what I feel like God is teaching me lately. I look at the world we live in and ask: why can we all not see the we are not the most important things in the world? I was in downtown Atlanta with a group of friends and handed out bread in the ghetto. Now I thought I had been to the ghetto but I hadn’t. Some of you are reading this thinking I am just a suburban guy that doesn’t know how the rest of the world lives. Well, I have shared cokes with a family in their card board box home (who I was later a part of a group that built them a house), I have cleaned out a rat infested trailer for a family that were evicted and I have hugged and kissed on really filthy orphans and gypsy’s. I know there is poverty in the world and I am not living in a bubble. BUT I just forget. I forget that there are millions of people that don’t turn their lights on to save electricity because they can’t afford it. People that live on streets that drug dealers haunt every corner. I forget how lucky my family is. We have food, a computer to type this on, I mean the freaking list is endless.

I am someone that believes that Jesus is in complete control. That’s hard to believe and hold on to some days. But I find it scarier to think I am in control of anything here on earth. Because I think if you are honest, like am trying to be now, we would all say “If I were in control, life would be perfect. For me.” I am trying to give my life away to the people I am around. It’s hard. It’s hard to feel like we don’t stop some weeks. But we are trying to be open to what God is doing in our lives. So yeah, that’s a long post. If you read it thanks and I hope it made some sense. If you didn’t read it and just came for picts here are a few of them.

me and matt and our boys.

He's a golfer

and a musician.

If anyone reading this has an extra snare drum you would like to give to my boy i would GLADY take it. thanks.

we're back

2007-10-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

So this past week was great. I pretty much didn’t talk on my cell at all. Didn’t do emails(ok I did like 4). I really love the place we stayed. It is one of those places that makes us feel at home. We slept a lot, played around the condos, went to Fairhope, the outlets, and we went to the zoo. Really the bottom line is I love having down time with my lady and boy. Here are a couple of shots from our great time away.

Bay
fountain
zoo
zoo 2
bay 2

Sitting on the sofa and I can barely breath.

2007-10-24T16:15:00.001-04:00

That is the story of vacation for me so far, Well kind of. For those who don’t know I am on vacation in Orange Beach. We are staying in some friends condo. I honestly think this condo has more sq. feet than our house. We love this place. It almost feels like home. L has slept GREAT which is different than last vacation and the Adairs can tell you that if anger can make someone loose their salvation I would have lost mine the 1st 3 days of last vacation: ) Its been nice to live away from my cell phone and not living on email. I am really sick. This is the 1st time I have been really sick since L was born. I am enjoying my time relaxing with the family. The main thing I am loving is that I am getting a lot of sleep. I need to get more at home as well. Next weekend me and a bunch of friends will be going on a retreat that I am really excited about. It will be a blast.
Ok off to nap. Nice week, even if I am sick.

The Osteen Train

2007-10-23T22:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I am not on the Joel Osteen train. I have seen him speak a few times. I must say he is really doing a great job selling the world on prosperity gospel. I am posting a video from Mars Hill in Washington. I really respect this guy Mark Driscoll, why you ask: because he is about Jesus.
here is a clip about Joel.

if you are a Joel Osteen lover i must say i am sorry that this will hit you in th gut but i hope you really can listen to what Joel says. At one point he says "you are not the sick well, you are the well not wanting to get sick." wow. I will just leave it there.

Dark days keep coming

2007-10-11T22:24:00.001-04:00

I feel like i am living in a dark cloud. Tonight I got some news that breaks my heart. Camille and I have some good friends had a very bad day. So with out writing this all down. i ask again, if you are the praying type, pray for our sweet friends. And if this is you reading this: we love you guys and we are willing to do what ever you need us to do.

yup

2007-10-09T01:09:00.000-04:00

So the last time I posted life really sucked. Well I am not saying its any better, I am feeling some hope. But people still suck.

I went to Marietta to plan for d-now in a few weeks. It was a good time of hanging out with old friends and got to eat some MPC. Then I spent time sitting, listening, crying, praying and sitting and listening. I mean I had conversations with 3 different families struggling with totally different things and honestly I was/am broken. My buddy showed me a video of John Piper talking about the Gospel. He says “through the deepest possible pain, he is good, he will take care of us; he will satisfy us; he will get us through this. He is our treasure. Whom have I in heaven but you? And on earth there is nothing that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart and my little girl fail but you are my strength and my portion forever. THAT makes God Glorious”

So I say that knowing 1st hand life is hard. I am not saying it is easy to say any of what Piper said above. I am saying that only Jesus can allow any of us to say any of this. So my prayer for all of my friends hurting is:find Jesus as your portion. I am not sure how that happens or what that looks like in your situations but I pray Jesus can make that happen.

I also had a trip to the big MO. That’s Missouri for those of you who don’t know. My buddy Robby is the offensive Coordinator at Southwest Baptist University. They lost again but Robby’s offense put up 702 total yards of Offense. For those of you who don’t know football that’s a lot of yards. here are some stats to compare his stats to the SEC. the top passing QB in the SEC has 1,536 yards passing and Robby’s QB has 1,909 yards. His leading receiver has 67 catches for 629 and the SEC’s leader has 24 catches for 534. So basically I am saying his offense is flipping awesome. I am proud of my boy. Maybe one of these days we will see him on ESPN coaching a big dog team and I will be going nuts in the crowd.

I came home to the cutest boy on the planet and the greatest bride in the world. Tonight we went to dinner at Chic-Fila and it was kids club night at the greatest Chic-Fila in the world. We didn’t know it was going on but it was good for L. He painted a pumpkin and loved it. I just love this boy of mine. He is so much freaking fun.

So here is my final thought of the day. Life is really hard. People really let you down. Somehow you have to find a way to move on and fight through the pain. And that takes time. We are all a work in process and some times it takes a long time to heal. Wherever this post finds you I say this to you: there is hope and I pray you can see/know its there. Hold on, your community is here , let them love you.

This World Sucks

2007-10-03T23:13:00.000-04:00

So i really can't blog all the details right now but I will say this.
I have had 2 extremely hard conversations today with friends that remind me how much life can suck in this world.
People make this world hard to live in.
So what now. I have to hope. I can't sit here and feel this...confused all weekend.
I leave for MO this weekend, I can't wait to see Red and watch him coach.
I will blog more when i get back.
please pray for my friends, and if you are someone who prays, pray for Jesus to come soon.

song of the week

2007-10-01T14:12:00.000-04:00

the strong, the tempted, & the weak

In union with the Lamb
from condemnation free
the saints from everlasting were
and shall for ever be

in covenant from of old
the sons of God they were
the feeblest lamb in Jesus’ fold
was blessed in Jesus there

its bonds shall never break
though earth’s old columns bow
the strong, the tempted, & the weak
are one in Jesus now

when storms or tempests rise
or sins your peace assail
your hope in Jesus never dies
‘tis cast within the veil

here let the weary rest
who love the Savior’s name
though with no sweet enjoyments blessed
this covenant stands the same

Long week.

2007-09-27T23:56:00.000-04:00

This week has really seemed super long, but long in a good way. I feel like I haven’t stopped all week. I have had a lunch with someone everyday this week. I usually only have 1 maybe 2 per week for those of you who don't know or care. I love getting to have lunch with folks. It was great chatting about dating A, music with K, parents and girls with T and work with P. (I didn’t put names because there is no need to point fingers) I really just love getting to hang out with folks. So thanks guy for hanging out with me. hopefully you like to hang out with me as much as I do with you guys.

I have also loved getting to hang out with my boy. I work hard to make my schedule work so that I get to see him when he is up. This morning we went to the park. He enjoyed the slide. He honestly would prefer to just sit in the parking lot and play with gravel. This face just makes you smile.

And tomorrow is Friday morning chicken biscuits and then Camille and I celebrate our anniversary. Here is last Friday morning.

Have a good weekend.

5 Years

2007-09-22T00:59:00.000-04:00

my bride and i celebrated 5 years of marriage today, well i guess its yesterday now.
i couldn't be more in love. maybe thats cheesy to some but i got lucky. i really married my best friend.
here is a small list of my favorite things about my bride:
1) she makes me really laugh, like gut laugh.
2) she, for some reason, really believes in me
3) she is an incredibly selfless mom
4) she has this cute look when she thinks she said something funny. its this face that says "you know that was funny/cute" and that face is usually right.
5) she is very loyal
6) we dislike the same foods, maybe this is lame to some of you but when you are as picky as i can be, you can only dream of find someone that likes the same foods you do.
7) she loves college football.
8) she shows me the Gospel daily. i don't deserve her.

this is a picture my beautiful bride with our boy a few months ago.