Superbowl

It's that time of year again. Hopefully there won't be the "wardrobe malfunction" like last year. I also just realized that next years Super Bowl is going to be Super Bowl XL. At least I think thats how 40 is denoted in Roman numerals. It's gonna be super sized!!!

Chipotle & Luke

Last night I stopped by Chipotle in Plano. I like the place. It serves fresh food, reasonably healthy, and cheap. But I was shocked to learn they are actually owned by the McDonalds Corporation. Who would've thought?

BTW, my bud Luke dropped by Chipotle after getting frustrated with traffic on the way to Guitar Center in Plano. It was cold and raining, so traffic was rough. We hung out for a few minutes while he got his wife Kim some dinner. He's not feeling well at all, so if you're reading this Lukey Boy, hang in there bubba. It'll get better soon, and let me know if you need anything!

Don't slip!

Today for lunch Charles and I took the train to downtown to the Plaza of the Americas. Since it was raining, I took my umbrella with me. Once inside the building, right inside the doors, there was a stand with clear plastic baggies to put your umbrella in. I have never seen such a thing. I guess the custodial crew doesn't want you messing up their nice, white, marble floors...and the insurance company doesn't want you to sue them in case you happen to slip on those wet floors. What a riot!!

Directors with ADD

I finished watching Man on Fire on DVD last night and I enjoyed it (although it was far-fetched, to say the least). The thing that bothered me is that Tony Scott (the director) can't seem to keep the camera still or stay with one shot for more than 2 seconds. Cut-cut-cut. It's like a bad MTV video. Have our attention spans become that short?

Time to get a job at Google?

According to the latest issue of Wired Magazine, the toilets at Google have heated seats AND bidet "functions". I'll leave the witty comments to you.

Not in my job description

I have a very nice office on the 3oth floor in a high-rise downtown here in Big-D. Today the company gardeners (yes, we have them here) came and pruned the massive tree I have in here. So now, I can see out my east windows as well as the south windows. What freaked me out was the window washers outside this afternoon. I'm not sure if you could pay me enough to do that job. Something about being 400 feet up in the air standing in a bucket that just doesn't appeal to me very much...ya know?

But my lips hurt real bad

The cold weather over the last few days, coupled with all the singing we've been doing with the new Extension service in, has left my lips a little chapped. Guess I need to up the water intake and apply the Chapstick!

PS. For those who didn't know, the subject title from this entry is a quote from Napoleon Dynamite...a very funny (and clean) movie. Check it out!

"Everybody's working for the weekend..."

Now just try getting that song out of your head over the next couple hours. Good luck!

It's Friday, and the weekend is here! Lately however, my weekends seem busier than my weekdays. This evening I have to jet home (or train home to be precise since that is my mode of transport) wait for my friend Craig to arrive, then head over to Valley Ranch for dinner and a movie with the guys from church.

Saturday is sheer craziness. I have an appointment in Denton (30 miles away...and my hometown) to get my hair cut at 10am, then I have to drive 30 miles southwest to Grapevine to pick up my contacts from the eye doc before noon, then it's 15 miles east to Little Elm by 1pm to meet up with Charles and canvass the neighborhoods with flyers for the new extension service. That goes til 4pm. I look forward to that since I haven't seen my baby girl Mica (Charles & Michelle's baby) in a couple weeks. Then at 5pm, I have to meet for rehearsal with the rest of the extension service praise team at the new church site. That lasts til 7pm, then it's dinner afterwards with the team. Then bright and early I have to wake up at 6am Sunday to get ready for the new service, then small group that evening. WHEW!!!!! It's a wonder I make it through sometimes, but it's all for a higher purpose!!

Soon I will learn how to post pics here...I promise!!

A bout with doubt

I had a long conversation with a friend of mine on Tuesday. He said he used to be a Christian but it 'sorta fell through'. He felt like God had let him down...disappointed him. I wanted to write this blog entry today for him, and thought you might have friends in the same situation, so I'm passing it on to you, too.

When you believe in Christ and it seems like it's sorta fallen through - hold on. God isn't finished yet. If you're still breathing, God isn't done with you.

Salvation is of God. After King David had committed adultery and murder, he repented in Psalm 51. In that Psalm, he did not ask for his salvation to be restored. He asked for his fellowship to be restored. He said, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." The old boy lost his joy.
Isn't that the way sin is? 'No Jesus ... no joy. Know Jesus ... know joy.' (Please excuse that blatant cliché.) The only thing more miserable than someone who doesn't know Jesus at all is someone who knows Jesus but isn't trying to walk with Him.

Let me ask you a question. If you are a parent, is there anything your children could do that would make you stop loving them? Is there anything that could make you disown your child? If you're a normal, loving parent (and haven't made an appearance on Jerry Springer), you would say, "NO!" Well, whoever gave you the idea that God would give up on you? Is your love for your children stronger than God's love is for His? God IS Love. Do you actually think you could do anything to make Him stop loving you, or disown you? He promised that what He started in us, He will finish. His son's death will not be in vain.

He's paid too much for you to give up on you now! He may take you out to the woodshed and beat the tar out of you ... I think the Bible calls it 'chastisement'. The Bible does say He chastises all of His children. But the good thing about God, He never spanks us one lick too many. It's always out of love and for our protection.

Am I saying salvation is a free gift but if you keep it, it's up to you? Back in my singing days right after college, I sang a song, several years ago, called We Shall Wear A Robe And Crown. It's a nice song. But it had a line in it that said, "When I get to Heaven, I'll tell King Jesus how I made it over." I told our group's director that I'm not singing that line. When I get to Heaven, I'm not gonna tell King Jesus how I made it over. He's gonna tell me how He brought me over! I can't make it to Heaven if He doesn't bring me. I don't know where Heaven is. The smartest minds on earth sent a toy car to Saturn this last week ... How are we gonna find Heaven? He's got to save us; He's got to keep us saved; He's got to take us home ... or we're not going.

We say we believe salvation is a free gift, unmerited favor - it can't be earned to receive it. But, then, we act like we have to earn it to keep it. You can't earn it to get it, and you can't be good enough to keep it.

Remember the Pharisees? They kept all the law (they thought). They were better than the 'scum-of-the-earth normal people' they had to deal with every day (they thought). But Jesus said, [my paraphrase here] "You boys haven't read the fine print ... You think if you commit adultery, you have sinned ... I say 'If you even think about it in your heart, you've committed it already'."

In the Old Testament, they wanted ten per cent of your income. Jesus told the rich, young ruler to 'sell it all, give it to the poor and follow Him'. Jesus didn't destroy the law. He fulfilled it ... because we can't. We couldn't back then and we still can't today. If we could be good enough, there would've been no need for Calvary.

I have another friend who doesn't believe in God. When I first met her, I told her that I wouldn't believe in God either if I had enough faith. It takes a lot more faith to not believe in God than it does to believe in Him. To believe all this order in the universe evolved from some gaseous, cosmic-belch? Mmmm...I don't think so. I have just enough faith to believe Someone bigger, wiser, smarter and more powerful than I put it all together. I told her with her kind of faith, if she ever did become a Christian, she would be able to throw mountains into the ocean right and left!

Believing in Christ is more than an experience to me. It's a choice. You know, growing up Baptist, we didn't get many 'signs and wonders'. (We allowed the Holy Spirit to work as long as He fit in with the Sunday morning bulletin.) I've had enough 'signs and wonders' to get my attention. But let me tell you, I believe because I have chosen to believe! I'll believe if I never see another sign or wonder.

I believe Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life (by making right choices for 33 years), drank the cup and became all my sin and, then, died on a cross to pay for all my sin. And three days later, He kicked the lid off that tomb to prove He knew what He was doing! And, to top it all off, He said He'd take my sin and I could have His righteousness ... for FREE! I have believed because I know a good deal when I see one.

The bottom line is this: God wants a relationship with us. He wants to be our friend. He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. And, if there's a problem with the friendship, it's us - not Him. We may not be spending enough time with Him; talking to Him; reading His letter to us ... basically, just hanging with Him. How do you build a strong relationship with anyone if you don't spend time with them?

So, to my disheartened friend who spoke with me, you may give up on God, but He hasn't given up on you! And if one of us has to give up, it'd better be you than Him. He made this promise: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Now either He meant it, or He's a liar. And I've chosen to believe He meant it.

- Keith
P.S. Here's a book suggestion: The Grace Awakening by Chuck Swindoll. It's incredible!

Cell phones

I often get many requests from family and friends to help them decide what cell phone to choose from. I have T-Mobile service (which is awesome, you can't find better rate plans) and have done tons of research on which are the best phones. Since May-04 I myself have been using the Nokia 6610. I have yet to find another cell phone that can come close to matching this one in terms of RF (ability to find and maintain signal) call quality (how well I can be heard and how well I can hear) and battery life. Plus, there's tons of other useful features like an alarm clock, FM radio (love listening to it while on the train) and a rock solid speaker phone. I don't think I have ever dropped a call with this phone either.

I'm not a huge techie freak, so I'm not sure how many more features I could handle (or understand for that matter). In general though, if you are looking for a solid phone brand that will never leave you hanging, I would always stick with a Nokia. They are known for their great signal strength, battery life, and ease of use. A Samsung would be my 2nd choice. I would avoid anything Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG, Panasonic.

This is just my opinion after using several...ok, MANY cell phones.

Conversations

Today I spent some time talking with a good friend. We talked for what seemed like hours. We talked about life, our failures, dreams, regrets. I walked away from that conversation with the assurance that if we spend our lives believing only in the practical, we may never see the miraculous.

Moon Days

Yesterday afternoon after church, as I was on my way to lunch, I saw the most peculiar thing. It was a bright and sunny day (albeit cold!) and I looked up into the sky and saw the moon. It hit me so strange and I thought that's how we feel sometimes, out of sync. In the struggle of daily life there's a constant battle of wrong vs. right. People are always trying to find a balance in life, and it seems as if the darkness is always attempting to push out the light... but I know that no matter what, the light of God shines brighter than any moon ever will.

The Feed Bag

Having my office in the area that it is in (the Uptown area of Dallas) is a real treat when it comes to the various options that I have for lunch. There is a plethora of unique and exciting restaraunts all over. From the West Village to the West End, the number of dining spots is truly staggering. That being said, where do you think Charles and I had lunch today??? The Feed Bag. The Best Burgers in Town (according to its advertising). I of course had the turkey burger....yum!!

Funky weather

There is an old saying that if you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a day, it will change. Man, that statement has never rung truer. Yesterday afternoon it was 72 degrees, warm, partly sunny, and an all around red letter day. Then at about 6pm, thunderstorms complete with golf-ball-sized hail hit and blew through downtown Dallas literally in less than an hour. This morning I wake up, it's clear skies and a frigid 32 degrees! That's January in Texas folks!

Weird noises

I live in Dallas, and have the luxury of riding the DART train into my office every day...that is at least until I move to the beautiful suburb of Grapevine this spring. Anyway, as I was getting off the train this morning and heading up the escalators into my office building, over the loudspeakers in the train station came this horrible and gut wrenching scream...several of them. It shocked everyone in the station so much that for about 10 seconds no one moved. After that, people went on their way. Very, very strange...

BTW, the Dr visit was a success yesterday and my ears are clear again. WooHoo!!

Back to the Doc

Well, after 5 days of anti-biotics, the congestion is gone, no more coughing, and I can breathe fine. All that's left is this ridiculous ear blockage. I've been putting drops in my ear twice a day since Thursday, but it does not seem to be doing the trick. So I have another appointment with my Dr. at 2:30 this afternoon to have my ears flushed out. I had this done about a year ago, and it was such a relief.

One more thing...it's 75 degrees outside, and it's Janaury!! Geez!!

Sickness

I have been fighting a sinus infection since the second week of December. The worst one I can ever remember having. I thought I had it under control the week before Christmas, but the day after it came back with a vengenance. I finally went to the Dr last week and got a prescription for some anti-biotics. They've worked well, but now, my ears are completely clogged up. I've been putting ear drops in for the last day and a half, and my right ear is still blocked. I may have to head back to the Dr again if it doesn't clear up in the next day or two. Grrrr!!!

Ummm...is this thing on?

Greetings!! As one of my New Year's resolutions, I have decided to chronicle my interesting (or un-interesting) day-to-day life adventures in a blog. My older brother (Todd) is in the process of getting me a new notebook so the blogging will be easier from home in another few weeks. I'm not sure what lies ahead for 2005, but I'm hoping for the best. It'll be hard to top 2004 with my trip to Australia, but we shall see!!