The second best male artist in the Springer family tree

Tonight, I was on the phone with my brother. I usually do one of two things when I am on the phone, I walk around or draw on a piece of paper. Most of the time it is walking, I will pace around the house or wherever I am, but tonight I was sitting when he called and there just happened to be a piece of paper handy. I started to make a small circle which then grew these kind of wings to the sides. That turned into what looked like to me a bowtie which reminded me of my brother who I was on the phone with. The rest is history, it ended up being a picture of my brother. I tried to shadow a few things in a then just ended up coloring in the coat. I had to erase the hands because I cannot draw hands very well at all. It looked better without them.

My wife is talking to the Dog, and she is amazing.

I have a quick comment for the night. As I type, I am watching Sarah play with Maple. She is extremely funny, as she talks to Maple about how she is going to see her sister Molly this weekend. When she mentions Molly's name, Maple's ear perk up. It is rather amusing to watch. This makes me think of how really neat it is to watch Sarah relate to people. I know that I am branching off of her talking to our dog, but it all makes sense in my head. She is very gifted in loving people etc. I just feel very blessed to be around someone with that ability to love others specifically. She looks at people through a lens that sees people for the beauty that they are. I think that is a wonderful gift, that speaks volumes for who she is. Well I am off to bed, I bet Sarah is going to be embarrassed when she reads this. Night Night everyone.

Ol' Franklin

I was reading the other day about Benjamin Franklin. That guy did a lot in his lifetime. He also had this thing where he would have a list of virtues he wanted to work on as a person. Taking one virtue at a time, he would work on one for a few weeks and really pay attention to it in his daily life. He cycled through this list throughout his life. Here is some of the list; his words not mine to follow, Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation, avoid trifling conversation, justice, orderly, resolute, frugal, industrious, sincere, humility, etc. etc. The list went on for a while. He added humility at the end because a Quaker friend of his told him he had the most problems with that. Franklin said about humility, "I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it."

That stirred something in me as I read. I started to think about times when I thought I was being humble. Which as I thought about them, I realized pretty quickly that I was not very humble in those times at all due to the rapid fire of things I could remember. This challenged me with a question. Do I work hard to appear humble, or is it part of who I am. I think we all possess this trait, but where the balance lies I am not sure. Am I more humble towards certain things, and for others does the balance shift to appearance. Working for a ministry, I think Franklin's thoughts on humility really pushed me to really ponder this one. Being humble pops up a good bit in ministry, it is a pretty sought after virtue and in many cases their is a lot of opportunities to be challenged in humility.

One other Franklin quote for the evening, that I will Blog about later, I just could not wait.

"to know all, is to forgive all"

King of the Kennel

Sarah and I were over at our friends the Wilson's apartment tonight. Maple's friend Bear is their dog. They love each other and play like crazy together. Tonight though, Maple had a new plan. She set up shop in Bear's Kennel. Then set up her defense to make ready for a battle. When Bear decided that he wanted to join Maple in the Kennel, it was on like Donkey Kong. Maple would not let him in. No matter what approach Bear tried, Maple blocked, bite, pawed, elbow dropped and body blocked. It was pretty impressive to watch, she totally dominated. Although to Bears credit, he kicks her butt in a sprint competition.

God is Love and I am a little iffy about it

"God is love and he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him" 1 John 4:16

I read this today in "Experiencing God". "Understand this (God's Love) in its full dimensions will set you free to enjoy all that is yours as a "christian". But you must accept that God loves you." It then talks about if you grew up in a unconditional loving family that it might be easier for you to accept, but if love was void for you, it might be a little harder. "God loves you, not because you deserve, His love, but because, his nature is love. The only way he will ever relate to you is in love. His love for you gives you an inherent worth that nothing can diminish". That right there is enough to get the hamster wheels turning. This caught me off guard rather abruptly. I am not sure that I handle God's love this way, actually I know I do not handle God's love this way. I am sometimes, ashamed to take it because of who I am, not who God is. It goes on to mention that if you cannot accept the truth of God's love, then you are limiting your relationship with him. It puts us in a position that I have come to find pretty common in my life. That if God, disciplines, or say's no, or opens one door but not the other I tend to resent him for it, think he does not care about me. But in reality God is caring, and loving me with those decisions. His love is directing the life he wants for me, sometimes not the life that I lead. It also discussed that accepting God's love will in turn help you be able to love God and others with that same love. I question my nature when it comes to these ideas. It makes me wonder what is the hurt or pain that I have pinned between God and myself that blocks me from the true acceptance of love. What view of myself or skewed perception do I have, that I would be able to fight this perfect love. I think that understanding God's love and accepting God's love are very different things. Its a matter of the heart not the mind.

I hope those thoughts are clear. It is a very sobering issue I think. As always, I would love anyone's thoughts. I think sometimes when on an island, you would like to know that others are on an island somewhere else. It is amazing that when the God of the universe is knocking on the door, we have the audacity to stand behind walls.

Also, looks like the debate will go on. I think that they should scrap the questions, (which they may or may not really answer) and put on those big sumo suits and battle it out. I think that would make for good television. Obama V.S. McCain in Human Sumo.

My left eye quit on the right one

First off, let me go ahead and say sorry for the shortness of the last few blogs that I have written. I feel like the quality that I am shooting for, has been somewhat compromised in the past few days with some short entries, that are not bad... but yet no the detail that I am looking for. By this I am only applying the statement to the last two days, the Babies Post is wonderful and beautiful, just like my new niece and nephew. Which by the way they went home today and are doing great. Speaking of babies, how about a side order of babies with two friends of ours having babies today/anytime now. That is a lot of babies floating around here. So as for the title of todays blog, as I write this one eye will fall asleep and not tell the other eye what it's doing. Then the other will do the same and I will get mad and tell them both to wake up and no one is going to bed just yet, but they continue to go to sleep without telling me. So as for tonight, I go to sleep, but I will pay close attention tomorrow and have a good original post for you. Night Night.

Dan in Real Life

I just watched this movie. I have anxiety issues with romantic comedies. I cannot handle the awkward love moments. Something about the unknown and worry about what is about to happen in the next scene just gets me going and I cannot handle it. I am unsure what about my wiring when it comes to that, it just makes me laugh. I know this is short. I just finished watching and Sarah and I were laughing about my problem with Lovey movies.

Office pens and paper

I got home last night from football and poker and my wife had me a gift waiting on the table. It was Dwight Schrute pens and a "thats what she said" sticky note pad. I mean seriously, how cool can a wife be. When you click the top of the pen, a new Dwight quote pops up on the side from, "the schrute's produce very thirsty babies" to "will you form an alliance with me". It was a sweet gift.

I am an Uncle again!!!

Wow, what a great day. Will and Ruby were born this morning and are beautiful. What you see there is a picture of Will up close and below that, a picture of the two of them. They are absolutely beautiful. I cannot say enough for those little boogers. Tonight I have something to share that is about will and ruby. I was looking at a picture of them before I left the office today to go home and my eyes became filled with water or something of that nature. I have felt tears in my eyes before. Usually it has come along with hurt or pain or sadness. I have rarely cried from pure joy and happiness. I looked at those babies and baaam there it was, I was overcome with a joy that lead to tears. It was awesome. What a moment.

Freakishly Large Sea Animals on Land

I have been sitting her at work tonight hosting for a group that is in. I was at my desk doing some busy work and stopped to look at the screen savers that came up. These two large creatures where in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Youngs and the Springers went to DB for a few days before a conference for Young Life last January. Anyways, it was a really cool trip, with fun times and memories that were made. One of the nights we were there, we were walking down the strip and came across these bad boys. Giant Sea Creatures, yeap, Giant Sea Creatures. What a perfect picture oppurtunity. It was pretty funny. Next time you see me ask me about the tee shirt.

Self fulfilled Prophecy

I am going to be rather quick tonight, as it is late and I ready for bed. I let this night get away from me. Sometimes, I would like a stop watch on time so I could stop it for a few hours and catch up with myself. I have a quick thought for tonight. I have been thinking about the idea of the "self fulfilled prophecy" toady and the last few days, weeks or so. As people, we are always trying to grow into what we desire to become. This involves battling things that we do not like about ourselves or growing out of "bad habits" or ways of life we have grown accustom to. This could be anything for anyone. It is funny to me though, that when we recognize something that we need to work on or "fix" that has become a part of who we are in the past years, it becomes kind of a battle between self and what we want to be. We are all aware of the things we are working on but we are also aware of how hard it is to change, grow, etc. That is where the "self fulfilled prophecy" comes in. I think that we are our own worst enemy in this battle because we know our tendencies to fail. Victory can be close but we often fold with the fear of success. Being comfortable in who we are is a huge struggle of mine. Comfort does not have to mean that we are in a good place, it can also mean that we are afraid to see what the "other" life could look like and what that would mean to us.

I hope that makes sense. If not that is okay too. It is what is in the ol noggin tonight. Until tomorrow. Go Wolfpack, seriously did ya'll see that game. Clap for the wolfman. (clap, clap, clap)

Maple's sister Molly

My brother sent me an email today that I wanted to share with everyone. Maples' sister Molly is an exact replica of Maple. They are so alike it is crazy. When they sit down beside each other they both hit the ground at the same time and then once settled, they kick their right back legs out together at the same time. They have the same mannerisms. Every time they get together they just play and play for hours. Two peas in a pod. Anyways back to the email. Preston sent me a photo of Molly after he read the post about Maple and her duck. I was unaware of Molly's duck. This is just another way they are alike.

The worst Oatmeal I have ever had.

I went to a local dive this morning for some breakfast with my friend David Puffer (who is the man by the way). We go eat breakfast together every week. Each week I think about trying something different from the good ol bacon egg and cheese and muffin. But then I think why change when it is not broken. Well this morning I had a weak moment. I decided to go with the Oatmeal. The description on the menu was awesome, spices and brown sugar and raisins and all kinds of goodness. I waited with anticipation. I could see the kitchen from where I was sitting. I noticed above the grill was a tub of Oats. Plain regular run of the mill OATMEAL. I thought, "this could not be the spices, and raisins and sugars and goodness that was coming my way. I mean they make their own granola for Goodness Sakes, you would imagine that the oatmeal would fall into a similar category. Soon after that, the plate arrived. I have one bowl of off colored pale plain oatmeal sitting in front of me. I was not dissuaded, I thought, "all the goodness must be at the bottom." It wasn't. I also noticed a black saucer sitting next to the bowl with something in it. There in the little black saucer was a small block of brown sugar, and 8 raisins. Ah yes, the spices, sugar, and raisins. This oatmeal sucked big time. It was not worth the 3.35 that I was charged. I bet confederate soldiers ate better oatmeal than this.

Always check for crappy oatmeal before you order.

Maple got a duck

It's been a while since a Maple Blog. Tonight we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some food for Maple. We were in the pet isle and saw a Mallard. It did not have a squeaker in it but yet a duck call sounding thing. I could not resist myself. Sarah was on board so we bought it. When we got home, I said, "Maple you want a new toy?". She freaked. I made the duck quack, made a gun shot noise and threw the duck. She took off and man she has had a field day with that duck for about 30 minutes now. She has been taking laps around the apartment with her new toy. Its funny to watch. That is one happy pup. She also has a bone that she loves, now with the duck in the mix, she will go get the bone chew on it while the duck rests under her paw.

Bear with me here

So I want to talk about a song. I will not go line by line here but I wanted to share what I saw in a song tonight called "getting into you" by Reliant K.

Reliant K:

When I made up my mind
and my heart along with that
to live not for myself
but yet for God
somebody said,
Do you know what you are are getting yourself into

Brad: I think this is a simple and amazing few words here. The choice to live for God is not just your run of the mill journey. I love the question, do you know what you are getting yourself into? Its like saying get ready for this, you have no idea.

Reliant K:

I'm getting into you
because you got to me
in a way words can not describe
I'm getting into you
because I've got to be
your essential to survive
I'm going to love you with my life

That was the chorus, the next verse follows:

When he looked at me and said
I kind of view you as a son
and the second our eyes met
and I met that with a question
do you know what you are getting yourself into?

Brad:

God looks at us and says, I view you as a son/daughter. From the moment when our eyes met, it is like nothing else. Truth, freedom. I love that when God says, I view you as a son, the persons response is, Do you know what you are getting yourself into. I think we look at God and think that he is not ready to bear our load. To take on the burden of "Brad", all the while God is saying bring it on I Love You. I wait sometimes on the fringe with God because I am unsure he is ready for what I have to bear. Tonight as I learned this song on the guitar it brought me to a teary eyed state. I hold myself back from God because I am not sure he is ready to see me for the reality that is me. Sad really, I think I have this backwards, maybe sometimes I am afraid to see God for what he really is because we as people are not used to this kind of love. We generally feel unworthy of such a pure love, I know that I struggle with that. God wants to call me "son" but yet I fight him on that with the idea that he should shop around somewhere else for a more ironed out "son". I think this brings me to a point where I honestly need to get over myself and let God swoop me up in his arms and hold me. As I write this, I sit here and say to myself, Brad that is truth right there, but yet so scary. Not hiding from God is very vulnerable and uneasy.

Well I hope I have made sense of whats in the ol noggin tonight. Until tomorrow, Cheers (that is dedicated to Charlie Hiser he always says, "cheers")

Spilt water take three

okay so I am going to try this for the last time. I have this problem
With sleep walking and talking. The other night around 2 in the morning
I woke up sitting up with a glass of water in my hand. I always go to sleep
With a glass of water by my bed. While I was sitting there I noticed my pillow
was soaking wet. Then I noticed that all around me was wet. I do not know
if I poured it out or just missed my mouth. About this time Sarah woke up and
ask what I was doing, I said I was sitting in a puddle of water. I put a sleeping bag over it
and went back to bed. That is my story.

Jesus Loves me, this I am pretty sure.

Sometimes, I think that it is about what I can accomplish etc. that will make God happier with me. I know that the majority of us know that to be false. But don't we walk around the world like we believe it to be true. God doesn't care about what we do, or our success. His glory is going to fine without us. I am not saying don't try or don't go out there and be successful etc. But I do think we need to be aware of the idea of "success" and who it is for. That is all I am saying. God loves us right now the same as he did ten years ago and will ten years from now. (I wish that was a personal quote, but I heard that on a podcast) So if that is the case, do you think God is concerned with performance or accomplishments to base anything on. Now, with all this said, I do think that we all have gifts and talents that God has blessed us with to go out into the world and use. We are all special and talented in many different ways. I do not mean that we should not go use them. I just think we should be very aware of the things around us as we climb that "ladder" of life. We are a success driven culture, period. I do not care what you do, ministry, business, teacher, you name it. Inside all companies, non-profits, schools there is a success path that we are heading down. I just think we need to be on our guards as to not slip away from "doing it for God" to "doing it for me". I do not think any job is outside of this spectrum by the way.

By the way, I justed added this "people who read my blog" on the side bar here. I think it might let you know when a new post is and what not. Even if it does not, it would be cool to see who is out there reading. With that said, if no one signs up, I am going to still pretend that people do and are shy. The show must go on.

Tired and Kellogs

So I am going to be quick as my body is shutting down as we speak. Today, I rode in my first Metric Century on my bike. It was a hefty 62 miles. I finished in 3:59:35. It was a long ride with a lot of excitement, dogs chasing me, etc. Later tonight, I went to a concert with Gabe Dixon, and Stephan Kellogg. So to say the least it was a long busy busy day Brad is sleepy.

Derrick and Donald

I would like to share one of those thoughts that can be discussed forever. I was listening to an interview today of Donald Miller (Author) and Derrick Webb (Songwriter). They were on a conference call with one guy who would ask them both questions. I would highly recommend getting this podcast of Donald Miller's. It has some good stuff so far. Anyways, one of the questions that was asked nudged them to talk about war etc. The interviewer asked about if we, America as a "Christian" nation had a responsibility to go help say, country in Africa where people are in the middle of a genocide. He referenced a few others but you get the idea. Derrick spoke up first. It was what he said next that I thought was very intriguing. First, he pointed out that we as America are not a Christian nation. I know we could talk about that for a while, but that is not what I want to point out. Next he commented on the fight/war part. Derrick said that their was no question about whether or not we should fight. We should always fight. The question is whether or not we should kill. At first while I was listening, I paused for a second. Of course we should kill I thought, justice must be served, you get what you deserve, kill or be killed in war, these are some of the thoughts that came to mind. Derrick, made a few references to some missionaries that had gone to a village somewhere in the world (I forgot) and decided that no matter what happened they would not use violence even to save their own lives. When they got to the village, they were killed shortly there after. Years later, the families of these men who were killed came back to that same village with the same message of Jesus and they all came to know the Lord. Hmm. He also mentioned all the disciples of Jesus, they all died. They fought the "fight" but they did not go to violence or killing, they were all killed. I think this is a interesting topic to look at. By no means do I think it is an easy one to wrap your hands around, but one that produces a lot of challenging thoughts.

We should always Fight, that is never a question. I think those are good words Mr. Webb. I hope this has made you think and challenged you liked it has challenged me. I am always up for a good thinking session.

Bodie and the Shoes

So, I have already typed this twice on my Iphone because my Internet SUCKS!! So if this is short I am sorry I am tired and ready for bed.

So I went to a baby shower tonight for some friends of ours. One of our friends has a son named Bodie. He was upstairs playing with some of the other kids and decided he need to come tell us something. His mom Susan was talking and was unable to talk to him at the moment. So, Trey his dad looked up at Bodie on the stairs and said can you tell me? Bodie, looked at him and said, "No". We looked at each other and laughed a good bit and Bodie continued to wait for his mom. She was available soon there after and asked Bodie what he needed. He looked at her and said, "I took my shoes off". This was amazing. I looked at Trey who was already laughing a good bit. It was a moment for the ages. Bodie, is the man. When I have a kid one day I hope they are like Bodie.

Segway

Today I got to live a dream. I rode a Segway. Yes you read it right a SEGWAY!!! It was awesome, he let me cruise around camp for about 15 minutes and I am going to take another ride tomorrow. I understand why people would Segway instead of walking. I mean seriously a SEGWAY BABY!!!

Cleaning my first Bird with Kyle

Today, I was thinking about a buddy of mine who I worked with up at Lake Champion. We would go goose/duck/deer hunting together all the time in New York. I was thinking about when we would go float on the Delaware River. We had a bunch of great times together on that river. I remember one of the first times that we went, we killed five birds and took them back to camp to clean them. At this point in life, sad as it is to admit, I had never cleaned, gutted anything. I have always hunted and enjoyed it at that. I have had issues with cutting open an animal and getting out the meat etc. So we set up an area to clean the birds and I was a little nervous. Kyle, jumped right in and started cleaning, I hesitated for a second. He looked over at me with a confused look, as to say, "what the crap? start cleanin". So I took a deep breath and stated plucking and cutting and began to clean my first bird. It wasn't that bad. So I cleaned another. That night we cooked it up with our wives. It was a great meal, there is something special about providing dinner and knowing it was straight from the river. (no fridge time) That was a good day. I can think back to many times with Kyle on the river. I have never laughed so hard in my life watching... well that is another story that I will tell later, or you can ask me in person. Just thought I would share a fond memory with ya'll today.

Make My Day

I needed to share this photo with the world. This is my friend Jacob. We took this picture for a project that we were working on at work, making some baseball cards of the staff. This picture screams, Total BadAss, but philosophical thinker at the same time. So many different worlds portrayed in one photo. Don't mess with me or I will shoot you, but at the same time I will explain some of Plato's greatest works to you as well. Deep .... Deep (PS. the guns are not real, or are they, but they are not, but could they be, maybe, or maybe not)

PDA

I went to the Aquarium in Atlanta today with Sarah and her Parents. It was a fun time and we saw a bunch of neat animals, and fish. I found out that otters are friendly to people and try to bite them for fun. Beluga whales can hold their breath for 25 minutes, and people from other countries kiss in public too much. I would like to expand on the last one for a brief moment. I walked up to look at some fish at one of the tanks. Without going into too much detail, there was a couple standing in front of me with their faces about six inches apart. They were not looking at the fish like me and the other 30 people standing there. At that moment they started to passionately kiss each other. What the CRAP? This went on for about twenty seconds, I tried to look past them and concentrate on the fish. I was too stubborn to let some stupid PDAers ruin my time looking at the crazy fish that live in the sand with half their bodies and the other half in water. Much too cool to walk away (I am talking about the fish). I was awe stuck by the fact that they did this. NO SHAME, NO SHAME at all. Crazy foreigners, I bet they were from Holland.

Vin Diesel as an actor

I went and saw the new movie with Vin Diesel tonight. It is called Babylon. It sucked pretty bad. I did not expect much to begin with. We went because it was a drive in and it was fun to go. We took Sarah's Parents and we all sat in the back of the truck. It was a beautiful night, stars, cool, it was great. But the end of the movie left us, well confused. We were not sure what happened. After some deliberation we figured a few things out. He again did a great monotone, badass character. I do not have much more to say about it. Speechless.

Left Hand and the Right foot

I have been at it again. Looking around on the internet at the church world we live in today. I have also been doing a good bit of thinking about some issues that we have at hand here in the post modern church culture that we live in today. I have decided after much thought and consideration what I consider to be the problem with the majority of churches. Lets say we have the really far right churches, the ubber conservatives and the far left liberal churches. (I hope that we all have noticed the dripping sarcasm right there) I think this is how the far extents tend to view each other. This is not about politics, let me make that clear. I also want to note that their is the vast majority that fall into the spectrum somewhere between the two. I just see this as a clear picture of the idea. The church as a whole share the "basic truths". But, amongst the basic truths we have so many different avenues to get there. I was thinking about the Christian figure heads today again. Rob Bell came to mind, man people get fired up when his name is mentioned. He has made some "questioning" statements over the years, but does it make him a heretic? He is someone who has questions who happens to be in the spotlight. If everything I have ever said about God or questioned was broad casted to the world, they would chase me down with pitch forks and flaming sticks and dogs that shoot bees out of their mouths when they bark. I think what it comes down to is we have issues with the delivery of the message. I know there are some churches out there that think that the loud worship and electric guitars, banners, projectors, lights, and dramas are way off the mark. That they are so lost and have assimilated to the modern culture and have lost the values and message of the church. On the other side, I know their are some churches out there that would say that the sit down, stand up, hymn, preach, talk in unison, don't drink, or cuss church is off the mark and has lost touch with the world around them. I am speaking very stereotypical here, but I think their is some truth in this. But what I struggle with is the battle that was wage on each other for the delivery and approach. The church fighting itself. I think what I am trying to ask here is where do we meet? If the problem is culture related, then dialog needs to begin. I find that Christ isn't lost in most churches. Communication between believers is. I find good across the spectrum, but why spend our time worrying about the other churches, preachers, etc. Why not move together, within the different worlds we participate.

Decisions and Beliefs

I have been challenged recently in two areas of my life. I would like to comment on both of them briefly. I am interested in thoughts, but understand the fear of the comment post.

First, Decisions. I was listening to a podcast the other day while I was riding my bike. It talked about how the power of a decision has been lost in our present day. If you think about it, a decision is a very powerful thing. The power to say, I decide this, and I am going to stick to that answer. The power of yes or no, very blunt choices. An example was someone who says, "I am going to quit, etc." (Smoking, Swearing, Spending, whatever you want to plug in there) The decision here is, I am going to quit. I am deciding from this moment on, I will not do x anymore. When a decision is made, the thought of doing x should not even be an option anymore, that is a powerful thing. I think about how many times, I sway from making a direct decision. For years I have said to numerous things, I am not going to do that again, but fail over and over. The decision is lost. The decision is fake. But if you think about the power of a true decision, it is crazy. The ability to say, I am going to do this, or not do this is a huge deal that comes with huge rewards. I do not want this to seam that I am speaking only to quitting things, but this can be applied to your everyday life.

Second, Beliefs. I was looking around the google world today, looking up some prominent christian people of today. (Rob Bell, Andy Stanley, etc.) I do not know a great deal about many of these people past a scrap of the surface. I have recently been curious to seek out some info on these guys to find out what the are about. I began to look around at their different church sites and blogs etc. and started to read. I quickly found a great division amongst many believers who were posting to these blogs and sites about these faith leaders. I was very amazed by the division amongst believers and why they were divided. Some people brought great points to the table and some people brought anger, frustration, pure speculation and many other varying ideas and points. I felt like people disagreed about everything, at least in some way shape or form. It made me think about how I approach things like this. I am so quick sometimes to give my thoughts on different ideas, people, stances etc. I am quick to share what I think, but I confess, rarely do I go look to see why I think the way I do, past the basic truths. I feel like sometime I take these basic truths I know and assume my opinions from them. This really has hit me hard. We as people are always engaged in conversations that contain big topics and ideas. I, sadly engage in these without looking at things first to make sure that I am not sharing the theology of Brad, but yet seeking out the theology of Jesus.

Sarah, Maple and Handstands

I have another Maple moment to share. So we were all hanging out in the apartment the other day and Sarah was being funny and did a handstand will saying, "Maple". We did not expect what happened next. Maple freaked out. She would run circles around her and try to bite Sarah's ears. Sarah would stop and Maple would just sit there and look at her. Then run back and forth around the coffee table for a bit and then look back at Sarah. Then another handstand and so forth it was pretty funny.

Thrift Store time

I went to the thrift store today with Sarah. I am amazed about these places. I mainly spend my time looking through books and see if they have any nice bags or jackets. Sarah told me that sometimes people will line up at this store and when the doors open at ten, they will rush through the doors to get the first look. The funny thing is these are mainly old women who are 70 and up. They are also scrappy women who will push, shove and snatch things out from under your hands. It is a funny sight to see. Sarah has been robbed of things before and cut off by the old crazies. That makes me laugh, those women are crazy about some good deals.

Altars

In the past few days, I have been doing a lot of driving. I went to visit my family in North Carolina for the weekend which is 4 hours each way and earlier in the week we went to Nashville to visit some friends. With this being said, I have had a bunch of thinking time in the car. Years ago, I was reading the Old Testament for a class I was taking in school. We learned about the altars people would build when God would do something great. They would build these so when people passed them they would know God did something great there before. Since then, I have always tried to be aware in my life of my "altars". It is usually easier to see these in hind sight. With all this time in the car to think about life and what not, it got me to remember some of these Altars and thank God for them. Thinking back through college and the past few years, I can see God taking care of me. What are your Altars? I want to challenge everyone who is reading this, believer or not to think about where you have seen Altars in your lives. It was a neat thing for me to just look back and take in where I have been and where I have come.

On another note, to everyone who got to hunt Doves today, I salute you. I was with you all there in spirit. Jon, Patrick, Preston, Dad, Tom, Blake and everyone else, I again salute you. As for the picture, nothing to do with the story. Just wanted to have a picture up there. That is Jon, Bradley and me in New York City. (It was a good time)