The final countdown...

Let the countdown begin....

We have two full days until departure for Nicaragua.  Thanks to my wonderful wife, H, I think I have most of the things I need.  She has been great to get most of the stuff.  The most important buy was today.  She bought me the cool "Bono" hat that I have been thinking about...straw cowboy hat.  I may (will) get beat up.

Our sleeping arrangement has become a small point of contention.  The nine-bed "hotel" that was arranged is, apparently, not the safest location for 20 gringo's.  I have supreme confidence that the one security guard (who is actually a large part of their marketing description) is well-trained and at-ready to defend us.  Also, I am a ninja...

We will be arriving at the airport on Sat at 4 AM to prepare for international departure.  Although it will be early, I know we will all be anxious to get it started.  I am hoping to blog the trip until I completely lose my phone (yes, iPhone) signal.   I have spotted an internet cafe in Leon which I may try to sneak to at some point.  It has four PC's. Otherwise, the on-ground blogging will be limited.

Check back soon and often!

Oh yeah, my Civil Procedure prof is talking about something right now.  I wonder if it is important....

Great author/speaker/pastor

A friend turned me onto a great speaker/pastor named Tim Keller. Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Church in NYC. He has the usual background (lots of letters following his name) and was a prof at Westminster Seminary. He and his wife founded an incredibly cool church in NYC that is growing like crazy.

The wild thing is he is NOT cool at all (sorry emerging church people. By the way, I am convinced that "emerging church" is just an excuse to shop at Buckle and use more hair product than the law allows.) I am accustomed to most of the sharp new speakers/pastors being formed in the cool mold. Keller breaks that one for sure...

He looks like a grandfather, always wears a sports coat and, I am fairly confident, drives an Altima. (I can't back up that last one with fact.) His church is reaching NYC in amazing ways, and they are a fairly traditional church. Ultimately, his claims to fame are great teaching, and he is an incredible apologist. The link below has a few talks he has given at Google, Berkley and some other cool sounding places.

http://www.stevekmccoy.com/reformissionary/2005/07/tim_keller_arti.html

His strongest premise, in my opinion, is that belief in God is not only logical, but it is illogical (or improbable) to NOT believe in a creator. He is way smarter than 100% of me, but I am looking forward to reading his book, A Reason for God, on my trip to Nicaragua.

Good night,
Shawn

Yeah for Saturday (that rhymes, btw....)

My boy, Ethan, took a big step today. Ethan finally joined us on the practice field on Mon, and he stepped up big today at our game. He started off with tears and wailing (it promised to be a long 32 minutes for H.) BUT, after the first quarter, he came slowly walking on to the field in typical Ethan fashion. He asked no "can I come in" or "what do I do" questions....he just jumped out of the wagon and walked on the field. Rock on, E....you are the man!

I am about to take this team pro. Seriously, we have been kicking some tail on field #3. We do not keep score (we do keep score,) but we locked them down with a shut out today while scoring, at least, ten goals. Bloodbath is an understatement. (Also, a dog showed up during our game and half of my team ran away. OK, we do have some things to work on...)

My flight arrived back in Nashville at 1:30 AM last night. The Chicago conference was good, but the trip back was NO fun.

The countdown to Nicaragua has begun. We depart on Sat (6 days and counting,) and it will be an interesting lead up. Thanks again to everyone that contributed. It has made a huge difference in getting me past my goal to contribute towards the actual construction costs.

Unrelated somewhat neurotic point of interest....I have always wanted a "stand up" desk for work. I hate sitting behind a desk all day and have always been intrigued by the stand up situation (ironically, that is "stand up sit" in short) I re-arranged my office at the beginning of last week and stood for the three days I was in office. It is GREAT because I have a good, open space to walk in the middle of my office. I am a "pacer" and this is perfect. I may bail on this soon but who knows....

Long night ahead...

Why do I look so angry? I've got a long night ahead of me. I am
currently riding on the train in Chicago. My flight is already bumped
back, and my friend/co-worker, Brian, is already an hour behind
schedule. Unfortunately, his flight was suppose to depart almost two
hours ago.

My 10PM flight is going to take all night. I've got a soccer game
tomorrow morning. Its gonna be a long night.....

Blue Man Group

I am in Chicago for two days for a business conference. It is mainly meetings, meet/greets, meetings, coffees, meals, meetings, etc.

We did a dinner and then all had tickets to a very cool show....The Blue Man Group. H and I have seen Cirque de Soleil several times, and this is very close. They are incredible. From start to finish, you are hooked. The show is bizarre!

The ending was one of the most intense experiences I have had in a long time. These three blue "aliens" go to the back of the auditorium and unleash these huge rolls of, basically, toilet paper. For about five minutes, crazy strobe lights flash on and off with pumping music, psychedelic lights, etc. Huge paper rolls flow down for what seems like forever.

I'm a proud Dad...

I had a glorious moment this afternoon. Thank you, God. (Seriously, I have prayed for this for several weeks.)

While I am the coach of the Forest Green, Team D, Covenant Lawnscapers, 'Scapers -- my son, Ethan, has yet to take the field in a game. Better yet, he has only taken the field in practice twice. (That ain't good....) Ethan is a passionate little fellow, and, when he is nervous or unwanting of soccer, he is VERY clear about his feelings. (Insert weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth here.)

Make no mistake, we have spanked, threatened, bribed, tricked, etc....to no avail. He is nervous about the whole experience of playing soccer with the other kiddos, and he has not been interested despite the Spankapalooza of 2008. Until today.... :)

Practice started as usual -- A few kiddos coming onto the field to say hey to Coach Shawn and Ethan freaking out. Normal day, you say? Aha, enter Ethan the Golden Child! After about 15 minutes of practice, Ethan came onto the field unsolicited to play a "shark" in one of our games which I will not explain. I am sure I beamed like a proud Dad, and the stupid grin on my face won't wear off for days. He practiced the rest of the day with us and had a great time.

Say what you want, but I really wanted him to, at least, come try it out. (Also, I am the freakin' coach. Coach's son should not be the problem child.) I am super proud of that kiddo for trying something new. It was on his terms, but I can live with that for now!

PS - Also, I had bought a Wii for the fam this morning so it was perfectly timed. We told him that we got the Wii partly because of his good attitude. That was Heather. She is a huge liar....

PPS - Unrelated, we bought a Wii today, and I have a big Property test tomorrow. Setting up Wii's is fun. Studying for Property tests is not fun. You do the math....it is 12:02 AM, and my studies begin....doh!

Mia is Five! :)

Today is one of those great and dreaded days mixed together....Mia turned five this afternoon. H and I have both been dreading this day for quite a while. I am not sure why five is the magic number, but it seems so grown up. (And, she seems so grown up lately as well.)

Anyway, God has greatly blessed us with a wonderful little kiddo. She has a great heart and is a real trooper. Through extensive therapy, drawn blood, tests, etc, she has always been a tough cookie.

I am very proud of her, and, Yes, I did cry again today. (yes, again....)

Go Scapers!

We won! We won! We won!

The Forest Green, Team D, Covenant Lawnscape, 'Scapers rocked in their first official outing. We had a few kiddos that could do nothing but score....awesome!

Ethan participated from the van. I think he may have watched 60 seconds of the game. This was his view of the epic win....

Whatever pouting he did in the van must have been exhausting because he fell asleep on the five minute ride back home.


Mia's 5 year old birthday party was at 1 PM today. I will post some pics tomorrow for two reasons:
1) I am posting at 11:30 after wrapping up studies and do NOT feel like importing the pics.
2) I am NOT ready for my little kiddo to be 5 and will promptly start crying again (yes, again) if I see the pics.

Two Miles...No Walkie....Yeah!

I made my first goal! Since TB and I started running (early on, more walking than running), I had a goal of running two miles with no walks. For those of you long distance runners who think that two miles is a joke, suck it....

The map above is my route (TB takes a somewhat longer, more circuitous route but curiously ends up back at the stop point at the same time.) Since my world record setting run, I have eaten 4 donut holes, 2 cake donuts, 2 Strouds' bbq sandwiches and 2 cups of coffee. I hope I don't die....

By the way, I am bug free today. I think the rain scared them back to their hellish dens, but they are probably using the time to create even more devious plots to attack innocent, yuppie runners.

Its Gametime, Baby

My new favorite phrase, "Its Gametime, Baby", means absolute nothing. It does cue my body that I am about to have to run until I puke, uhm, realize the joys of exploring God's creation by foot. I finally made my two mile run with almost no walking (I cheated for about a 30 second walk to reacquaint my legs with feeling.) I was pretty pumped about the run. Next up, three miles and then back to the 5k's. (I would post a picture of my triumphant run, but I looked so hot that it would stall the internet...)

Nerd update: (Heather, look the other way) I watched the Tivo'ed season premiere of BSG last night, and it was (Will Ferrell voice) "awesome". Some good things are happening on the SciFi channel. I keep preaching the gospel to H, but she keeps shooting me down. She insists that it is nerdville. Why do she hate the playa and not the game? (I really do NOT know what that means.) I am thinking about making some costumes by hand and going to a Star Trek convention. I need help....


Last but not least...as I ran today, a bug hit me in my windshield (eye.) This was no normal bug. This was a World War II, Japanese kamikaze, I'm-Gonna-Get-You-Sucka bug. IT HIT ME IN THE FREAKING EYE! I almost stopped, dropped and rolled. Any drivers/pedestrians on Cool Springs Blvd at noon today were privy to an interesting little girl dance by Shawn. I do not care. I hardcore do not care. Anyway....two hours later, while sitting at my desk, I pulled half the bug's carcass from my eye. (And threw up a little in my mouth.) I promptly showed it to all in the office who would appreciate such matters. If you ever have the option, do NOT do that to yourself.

Good night,
Shawn

The Obama Girl

I have never been a fan of Oprah. After having watched upwards of two minutes of her show in my life, I thought she was too touchy/feely. Granted, her show is geared towards women, and I took the fact that I did not dig her show as a postivie re-affirmation of my heterosexuality.

When all the dirt started flying last week, it was largely lost on me. I had seen part of "the video" but not given it much time. I was already in the camp of those assuming that Oprah had morphed her Christian beliefs into some "we can do this together as one people" craziness.

Man, I had NO idea where she had landed. Pastor Tom showed "the" five minute video today in church in which she:

1) plainly stated that there was many avenues to God
2) explained that believing in God was useless
3) affirm the hobbit guy that is her new Guy I Will Push for a While Because He Has Greatly Impacted My Life when he said that there is NO afterlife
4) asserted some wacko new-age philosophy that we should all "feel" ourselves to "God"
(At this point, you have to excuse my incessant quoting, but I wanted to make the point that these were her words. I promise to not use a bunch of air quotes the next time we speak in person.)

Here is the video. I know it will be tough for many people to take, but Oprah's reign as America's sweetheart is over. As this continues to trickle down, I imagine that a whiplash from the Christian community will be strong. Ladies, in the meantime, try re-runs of Battlestar Gallactica or Airwolf. No one admonishes you to feel yourself to deity level. They just kill each other with lasers.....

1998 Toyota Shawn

My trusty steed (ie: 1998 Toyota Camry) recently hit the 150,000 mile mark. Forest green, tan (some potentially leather) interior, 28.2 MPG, sunroof and fake gold emblems.....she's got it all.

Well done, Toyota. This car is trustworthy & steady, and I hope to get another 150,000 without car payments.

I find that I am often described in much the same way (steady, unflinching, etc), and I take no offense. Recently, a friend shared with me some negative news in his life, but then said, "it wouldn't affect you. Nothing affects you. You are always Mr. Steady for better or worse. Your persona never changes." My first thought was, "well, that sucks." But, then I slowly came around to taking it as a compliment. I am Mr. Steady. I am NOT high energy or a cheerleader. It has its advantages and disadvantages.

If I am put on a straight line, I typically stay on that straight line. Spiritually, if my relationship with Christ is strong, I typically continue that direction. But, when I begin to decline, it is easy to stay the course (bad thing.) I have learned the hard way that I must consciously make myself take changes and re-directions to heart. Otherwise, my steadiness will kick in and continue the course.

The wacky, crazy, high-energy folks typically get the most attention, but I truly believe that it is us low-key, steady peep's that keep the world turning.

Pimp-ride 1998 Toyota Camry....cheers to you. (with non-alcoholic beverages because of the baptist stuff)

I sinneth not....

I really like The Fray. They are a great band with some original sounding music. But, they are not on a Christian record label and do not do knock-off worship songs.

Then something amazing happened....they played one of their songs on Way-FM (local Christian station for those non-Nashvegas types.) Yahoo! Now, I can listen to their entire record without being a sinner. Also, now I know where to go to hear The Fray's one quasi-Christian song or Jars of Clay's Flood....

I realized recently that I have been trained over the years to look for ways to add the christian label to almost everything. I could have made a small fortune selling U2 posters on the campuses of Christian universities in the 90's. While Bono freaked girls on stage and partied hard, the vast number of youth groups would fight to the death over their Christian-ness. (Whatever that means...)

Does everything that touches a Christian's life have to be labeled "christian"? Is it good or bad that we have our own shirts, TV networks, lobbyist, production companies, music, etc? I don't know where the line stops but doesn't God ask us to be out there in the mix?

Hopefully, I will not get struck by lightning, but Jesus seemed like a fun guy. While he was very straight-forward about what he knew to be true (God), he did not back down from a fun party. Some of the scariest stuff that Jesus said was directed at the current religious leaders for being jerks. Did Jesus create lifestyle evangelism?

I am no theologian but it seems like the whole "be a Christian" process gets flipped on its head. Is it "be a Christian" or "you ARE a Christian"? I dunno....

PS - The Fray rocks....

Requested edits

After my post yesterday, H promptly told me to remove the sitter's name. Upon the advice of counsel, it has been removed. You sitter-stealers know who you are, and I KNOW you troll blogs looking for good sitters. H is one up on you...

Haha, sucka!