:. Rachael's New Look

Rachael just got her hair cut yesterday afternoon. She came home and announced that she wanted a haircut. Then she went and found her sister. She came back a few minutes later with 14 inches of her hair gone.

It was surprising how long her hair had gotten. We both really like her new haircut. It'll be cooler for when we get to Tucson. She hasn't had her hair cut this short since before our wedding. It's really cute.

This morning we went to the early showing of Nacho Libre, with Rachael's sister Sarah and Sarah's husband Patrick.

We all enjoyed it quite a bit, but the preview choice really bothered me. All the previews were for kids’ flicks (How to Eat Fried Worms, a cartoon where a pet rat gets flushed down the toilet, a cartoon where the animals on the farm act like humans when no one is looking) except for the very first one. In a theatre full of parents and their young children, we cringed through a preview of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the beginning.

It was a completely inappropriate choice for the movie and other previews it was paired with. As we looked around us at parents covering their children's eyes and ears, we were horrified that it was part of this movie experience.

We sat on the front row of the upper section and right before the movie Rachael put her feet up on the wall in front of us and noticed that she was wearing shoes from two different pairs.

After the movie, we went to Panera for lunch, where we also bought a loaf of sourdough bread. Last night we watched an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown describes how to make the perfect French toast (his secret: stale bread and half & half). We'll be leaving our loaf of sourdough out overnight for a breakfast treat tomorrow.

:. Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my birthday and I had a great time (other than that whole teaching thing - but elementary kids are way better then middle school, so I guess it was a happy birthday to me after all).

When I arrived home, Rachael had chased the rest of the family out of the Kitchen and we had the place to ourselves for a while. She made dinner - an awesome white lasagne with chicken &crab, fresh vegetables, and garlic bread.

She couldn't wait to give me my present so she gave it to me yesterday. She bought me an acoustic/electric Ibanez guitar - and she picked it out herself! She did a great job. It's got a built in tumer and both 1/4" and XLR outputs. It even takes 2 AA instead of a 9volt , so I can use the rechargable battery packs we bought earlier this summer.

I love it. Rachael did a great job picking it out. It sounds beautiful and it is fun to play. I've been practicing more lately anyway, but now I really will be up to the level I want to be by the time we move.

:. Last Chance

We hope you all will be able to make it. This is the same place whrere we had our wedding. Please call for directions if needed. 816.805.3268.

If you can't make it this weekend, we hope to see you at either of our other activities before we leave (Bomb Night or Send-off Lunch).

:. Government Offices

I had to get a copy of my birth certificate this morning because I realized that my driver's license was going to expire Wednesday. Yes, my timing's perfect - I have to renew my Missouri license just one month before I become an Arizona resident and have to get and Arizona license.

Getting the birth certificate from the Health Department took all morning. (Driving + construction + drivers talking on cell phones + long lines + long waits = all morning) Getting my license renewed was a breeze in comparison. (Closer to the house and a more comfortable waiting room)

I'm preparing for a large mailing to churches to raise support for our moving expenses. I need and head home soon to get ready for a support presentation tonight.

A few more envelopes to stuff and I’m off.

:. Almost There

Everything went fine this morning playing bass (I even had the courage to throw a few fillss in there). I'm playing again next Sunday.
I didn't realize how much I miss playing. I definately want to get a group going in Tucson. Either get Ryan and Dave together again as UT or start something new.
We've got a support presentation for another small group tomorrow night. I need to have $10,000 in committed yearly support before we leave. We're at just more than $6000 right now. Please toss up a prayer that we'll be able to find supporters over these last few weeks in Missouri.

:. Shopping

Today is about shopping. We spent the afternoon at a used car dealer in Independence. We both got sunburnt and then came home to browse their cars stock online. We found a couple of possibilities.
Tonight we're going shopping for clothes and then it's our week to buy groceries.
We also just discovered the USA show "The 4400". It's very interesting. The third season premeres tomorrow night.

:. Wait, You Play Bass, Right?

I dusted off my old bass a couple of days ago. The regular bass player at Cornerstone is gone this week and Ethan asked me to fill in. I drug out my amp from the basement, plugged in, turned it up and nothing happened.

I spent the afternoon rewiring and sodering the leads for my bass. Eventually, I was able to get it all put back together and my first foray into the world of electronics seemed successful.

It's been a while since I've played, but it came back pretty quick. I ran through a couple of old Until Tomorrow bass lines for a sound check and away we went. Although the drummer had to work and the pianist couldn't make it, we ran through all the music and spend the rest of practice shooting each other with "finger blasters" (foam darts with rubberbands attached that are all the rage among the Cornerstone youth).

Here's hoping Sunday will come off without a hitch.

:. Father Hurts Best

So, my father's dentist took him to visit an oral surgeon today. This is the latest in a seemingly unending string of complications from the radiation Dad received as part of his treatment for cancer 2 years ago.

Here's what he found out today:
When you radiate your mouth, it changes the nature of your teeth, which can make your teeth crumble. This explains why Dad has been spitting out tiny pieces of his teeth for the last few weeks.

The other thing that occurs when you radiate your mouth is your blood vessels shrink and eventually die away. So it's not only that Dad's saliva glands were taken out, but that his blood vessels are shrinking which means that his jaw is dying. Yep, his jaw bone is slowly dying and needs to be replaced.

The worst part of the whole thing is that any one of the doctors before or after his radiation could have warned him that this would happen, or told him about what signs to look for, but not a single one did - even when Dad complained about the very symptoms that would point to this. And apparently this is a run of the mill occurrence for someone who's been through radiation.

So, what now? Well, beginning Monday Dad will drive down to St. Luke's and spend 2 hours in a hyperbolic chamber. He will do this every day for 20 days and then will have surgery to replace his jaw. They've talked about taking a piece of his hip to replace it or getting a donated one, or a synthetic one.

Why the hyperbolic chamber? Well, the hyperbolic chamber forces oxygen into your body which forces your body to create new blood vessels. These blood vessels are not as large, strong or good as the original ones were, but there will be more of them.

So the hope is that these blood vessels will be up and going before all of Dad's original ones finish dying and that these new ones will be able to take over. If they do, then the surgery should go off without a hitch and my Dad will be the proud owner of a new jaw and complete set of dentures.

Does this make any kind of sense? Has anyone ever heard anything about radiation causing this kind of thing before? This is just nuts.

:. Surprise, Surprise

I was back in the classroom today (and will return Thursday and Friday as well) teaching summer school at Truman Elementary. Today I taught science for a blended 2nd & 3rd grade classroom. tomorrow and Friday I will be filling in for the MR room teacher.

It came as a bit of a surprise. I thought I was done subbing. It will be noce to get one more paycheck before we go from the district.

I'm sending letters to churches to raise money for the move. Our moving estimate came in just under $3000. I've got a lot to do.

:. Packing Up & a Legacy Continues

When we moved from Kirksville, we moved a lot of stuff that we "couldn't live without.” After a year of living without 90% of it (as it was packed up in the garage, basement and attic) we decided to revisit our stuff.

Now, we have three categories: 1 - Take to Tucson (the essentials), 2 - Leave in the Clouse house attic (the somedays - mostly kids books and books Rachael will need when she becomes a prof), and 3 - Sell & give away (the organ we used as a headboard in K'ville, about 400 books).

We're making progress, but it's getting stressful and sad. Neither of us likes moving. Everything about it stresses us out. Especially this time.

We're selling the car (anyone interested?) and planned on retiring the van, until it got a last minute reprieve.

That's right, for all of you who decried the end of the van; you may rest assured that it will live on in its unstoppable glory as we pass it on to my brother-in-law Jarred. All he has to do is get his license, learn the "put it in neutral and coast, while turning it off and back on" trick to fix the transmission when it's not working, remember the combination to open the doors and learn how to gauge his speed by the traffic around him ('cause the broken speedometer certainly won't help).

And the kicker - according to Blue Book, it's still worth twice as much as the car! (Even in the shape it’s in!)

I'll admit it - I'm going to miss it.

That’ll do van, that’ll do.

:. Playing with Fire

Rachael and I spend part of the recent holiday weekend camping with friends from Lakeland.

Jason and Twila Lahey invited us for an evening of guitar playing, song singing, and fire breathing fun.

It was a warm night at Lake Jacomo, but a fun time was had by all.

Jason's sister brought her boyfriend with her to visit the family and together they delighted the campground (if not the authorities) with a performance of their fire breathing and fire dancing skill.

It was an awesome display and sparked the interest of other campers who joined us to watch.

As they performed they explained how they learned their techniques and what safety precautions they were taking.

They capped the performance off by teaching Jason how to breathe fire. While he wasn't as accomplished as our professionals, he did manage to get the hang of it rather quickly.

As Jason has a new trick in his repertoire, we're sure this will somehow work its way into a Lakeland youth event in the future.

:. End of the School Year

Well,
It’s the end of the school year and I’m sitting in a classroom at Smith-Hale Junior High School for what might be the last time. I’m so excited.

It’s been a long year and over the next 6 weeks Rachael and I have a lot to get done. We’ll be selling both of our vehicles (yes, the van will be no more), buying a new one, having a huge garage sale, repacking our things and saying goodbye to friends and family.

We’ll be leaving KC on July 5th in our new vehicle and fly back after finding a place to live a week later. We’ll then pack our moving truck & trailer and make the trip again.

We’re still looking for more support during this time so if you’re reading this, support what we do and waste $10 ore more a month on things you don’t really need. Please consider supporting this ministry each month and help us get a new church off the ground that will reach people in Tucson.

E-mail me at timsuddarth@yahoo.com and I will be happy to send you all the information you need to join our support team.

:. Keep the Internet Free

"What? The Net's not free (unless I can find a hot spot). I have to drop my $20 every month for access. And my parent's are paying more than that for dial-up. The Net's never been free (except for those freeridin' days of college) - what are you talking about?"

Well, I'm talking about a little thing called net neutrality. Jeffery Chester explains what's at stake in his article Save the Internet:

Will the internet in the United States become, in the words of AT&T (SBC) CEO, their company's private "pipes"? Or will it remain, as the Supreme Court cited in 1997, "the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed"? These two very different perspectives reflect what's at stake in the growing fight now in Congress over the internet's future.

The basic question: Should Internet service providers be allowed to charge extra for preferential treatment of web pages? (i.e. ABC.com loads way faster than Craig's List because ABC pays SBC/Yahoo DSL [or whoever] more money to carry it's website faster) Congress is just beginning to debate this as they start the process of overhauling telecommunicaation regulations for the first time since 1996.

Alyssa Milano (yes, that Alyssa Milano) paints a picture of what it might be like without net nuetrality:

Imagine, wanting to donate money to a charity and not being able to open the nonprofit's web page because of the charity's inability to afford the dominant internet provider's fees required to make the page efficient? Imagine the millions of life-saving dollars these charities will lose if lobbyists get their way? What if your child is sick, and you can't gain access to a support group's page because the support group can't afford the fees? Or even scarier, imagine not gaining speedy access to a politician's views because the specific provider is against his or her ideology?

In an L. A. Times article, Jim Puzzanghera explains the motivation for internet service providers to push for an end to net neutrality:

As more people use the Internet for data-heavy applications like video and music, the copper wires and fiber-optic lines that whisk information from computer to computer can get crowded. Big ... companies led by AT&T Inc. want to charge extra to guarantee fast and reliable delivery.

Simply put, the internet will change completely for us if congress passes the proposed telecom bill. This would be a bad thing. We didn't let telephone companies charge a premium and provide more reliable service to those who paid as that technology spread across the country and we shouldn't let ISPs do it with the internet.

In an article for the New Yorker, James Surowiecki describes what it might have been like if we'd allowed telephone companies to act in the way ISPs are pushing for today:

In the first decades of the twentieth century, as a national telephone network spread across the United States, A.T. & T. adopted a policy of “tiered access” for businesses. Companies that paid an extra fee got better service: their customers’ calls went through immediately, were rarely disconnected, and sounded crystal-clear. Those who didn’t pony up had a harder time making calls out, and people calling them sometimes got an “all circuits busy” response. Over time, customers gravitated toward the higher-tier companies and away from the ones that were more difficult to reach. In effect, A.T. & T.’s policy turned it into a corporate kingmaker.

If you’ve never heard about this bit of business history, there’s a good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T. had to abide by a “common carriage” rule: it provided the same quality of service to all, and could not favor one customer over another.

Take just a moment and go to Save The Internet and sign the petition to speak out against this abuse of the internet.

:. In Defense of a Standard

Truman Considers Dropping ACT Requirement

What is going on at Truman State University these days? It seems that in the last year things have picked up steam rolling downhill. Truman is supposed to be a University that isn't for everyone, that's unapologetically pursuing the best and brightest students across the nation and around the world.

Why the change to a "let's let everyone experience Truman, whether they cut it or not" mentality?

Without a set standard, there are no standards. This sounds like the "reward people who don't measure up" idea that permeates (and eventually erodes) society in Ann Rand's Atlas Shrugged and should have no place at Truman State.

:. Film & Theology Presents: SAVED!

Rachael and I are sponsoring a new KC Film & Theology Event tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit (501 N. Missouri – just off Douglas).

We’ll be watching and discussing the movie SAVED! After a brief introduction, we’ll view the movie and have a short discussion about the issues it raises. Childcare will be provided.

Movie Description: Mary Cummings introduces herself as a born-again Christian who has been following Jesus since the age of three. She lives with her mother and is just about to start her final year at American Eagle Christian High School, which is run by Pastor Skip. She is happy with her lot: she has Jesus at the centre of her life, is a member of a group of friends at school called the Christian Jewels, and has a perfect Christian boyfriend, Dean. All seems to be going well for Mary.
That is, however, until she and Dean are in the swimming pool one day. They play a game which involves telling each other secrets while underwater. Dean tells Mary that he thinks he is gay. Shocked, Mary shoots up to the surface but hits her head on her ascent, and has what she believes is a vision of Jesus telling her to help Dean and cure him of his homosexual tendencies. Mary decides that the best way to do this is to seduce him and so they sleep together. Soon afterwards, Dean’s parents send him away to Mercy House to undergo a process of ‘de-gayification’. Mary is very confused about her faith and what she has done – and becomes even more so when she discovers she is pregnant.
Mary is ostracized by her old friends and so strikes up friendships with Cassandra – the school’s only Jewish girl who has been allowed into the school so that she can be saved, and Roland, Hilary Faye’s cynical, wheelchair-bound brother who has been ostracized by his sister and others at the school because of his disability. Mary also attracts the attention of Pastor Skip’s son Patrick.

Saved! has been steeped in controversy since its premier at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. It is an all-American high school movie with a difference – it is set in a Christian high school and seems to be a parody of such Christian institutions. This film has offended Christian and non-Christian critics alike, although a few have found its satire funny and accurate.
Saved! is director and co-writer Brian Danelly's first feature film. He was born in Germany, and moved to the US when he was 11, attending a Catholic elementary school, a Jewish summer camp and a Baptist high school. He says, ‘The biggest lesson I learned from my experience became a line in the script: “They can’t all be wrong and they can’t all be right.’ He studied visual arts in college before becoming a directing fellow at the American Film Institute. The producer of the film is REM's singer/songwriter Michael Stipe.

How does the world view Christians? What stereotypes do Christians feed into and what things should change in our discussion of tolerance?

Come join us for an evening of cinema and discussion.

:. A Fruitful Trip

I just returned from a trip to Arizona. I had the opportunity to meet some cool new people with Mission to the Americas and Damascus Road, plan a ministry conference, spend time with family and hang out with friends.

All in all, a great time.

My trip began with a mother trying to hook me up with her daughter on the plane. After we hit the flight deck, I pulled out my PowerBook and began working on a project for church. Nancy (the mom) noticed it from across the aisle and asked me if it had wireless. this began a conversation about her daughter’s (Allie) iBook and the problems they’d had trying to get it wireless.

Throughout the conversation Nancy kept throwing the ball to Allie to explain things about how she used her computer or to ask me other things. After about 5 – 10 minutes, Allie turned to her mother and said, “Mom, leave him alone – he’s married.”

She then turned to me and said, “I’m sorry about this, my mom really wants me to find a guy and get married.”

Nancy blushed and tut-tuted Allie’s comment and would have gone on, but for the beverage cart moving between us. When we landed we walked together through security and wished each other well.

My first few days in Arizona were spent planning the Campus Ambassadors Staff Forum for MTTA. We worked on the overall plan and started hashing out details. It's going to be June 10 – 15, 2007 in Oregon. I think our approach will be a lot of fun and provide ample opportunity to learn from each other. It was wonderful seeing Val & Jackie again and awesome getting to know Ben & Jeff.

Next, I had the chance to spend the day with my sister Connie and her husband Tim (yes, Tim) in Phoenix. They showed me around town and we had a fun evening hanging out with their neighbors Matt & Kerri. Matt & Kerri both teach autistic children and we swapped stories of breakthroughs and letdowns over dinner and then spent the rest of the evening in an intense game of Scategories.

In this picture of their living room, you can see a set of paintings Tim painted specifically for the space hanging over Connie's inpulse purchase couch and chair.

The next morning Connie and Tim introduced me to their pastor Jim Bauer at Mesa Baptist Church. It’s quite a ways from their house, but it’s worth the drive. After church they drove me down to Tucson where I met up with Ryan & Liz Miller.

After the normal catching up, the Damascus Road Steering Team met for the first time all in one state (web cams, IM and cell phone just aren’t the same). After a good meeting, we headed to worship.

DR meets for worship Sunday evenings at Espresso Art, a coffeehouse right next to the main entrance to the U of A campus. Liz’s brother Chris led worship and Ryan spoke on recognizing and using your gifts. The service started with a clip from the Worst of American Idol DVD (not recognizing and using your gifts) and ended with a clip from American Inventor (recognizing and using your gifts to help others). It was a good night.

The space is free for groups to use, as long as you buy drinks or food from Espresso Art. One thing that was kind of different was the featured artist Yoni whose art was displayed around the room. Her show featured black and white pictures of pregnant women and their families. It was the kind of art that my wife loves.

The next day brought great conversation with Ryan and Colin over lunch and the ride to the airport and a longer than necessary (layovers – Come On!) flight back to KC.

:. Drug Smuggling

Sounds like someone's been watching LOST.

:. Desaparecido

I came across information on this ad campaign on a Brazilian blog that tracks Latin American and South American advertising trends. I thought it was a pretty cool idea and I look forward to using a version of it for events in Tucson in the years to come.

Desaparecido (missing person) is a new ad campaign in Brazil (created by the Publicis agency of São Paulo) promoting the second season of Lost.

The campaign spread photocopied posters of "missing people" with profiles on characters from the show, with info on where they can be found (the local TV affiliate).

Postings appeared throughout the city on telephone poles, signs, buildings and in bathrooms and bars.

What I found most interesting is that some of the posters use the actor's name and some use the character's name. Either way, it's pretty cool. I really like the way that they plastered the posters all over town and that they really are pretty interesting to look at and would probably catch people's attention, even though they are relatively "low tech" in their approach.

Leave a comment for me and let me know if you've seen any cool advertising or leave a suggestion on how we can use this idea to promote a ministry event.

:. Real Life Simpsons Intro

Wow, this is cool, but what a huge amount of time to film all of it.

:. Ministry Display

Here's the promised pic of
our ministry display from Cornerstone's ministry fair this weekend.

We made it out of $1-a-yard material and copper pipe.

Those of you who were at the send-off for Ryan & Liz in Kirksville might remember the wood pieces with pictures of Tucson on them.

:. You've Restored My Faith in Marriage

A trip back to Kirksville gave us a chance to spend time with friends we hadn’t seen for a while.

A birthday party was the convenient excuse to see each other and one friend graciously offered up her pad for all to chill.

After a revealing game of I’ve Never, she pulled us aside.
She said, “I’ve always thought of marriage as the end of your life. That you are happy and carefree and enjoy life, then you get married.

“Seeing the two of you together,” she continued, “makes me think that’s not the case. You’ve restored my faith in marriage ... er, I mean, maybe marriage isn’t the end of the world after all.”

It turns out that we were the first married couple She's come across who actually enjoy being married to each other.

It is wonderful to share our lives with our friends and discover they are changed by our discussions and friendships.

:. Time Well Spent

We spent the last week-ish with my parents in Troy. It was really great getting to spend so much time with them. We watched movies, played games (my mom loves Settlers of Cataan!) and just got a lot of time to talk. Mom and Dad are planning a new business, looking for land to house that business and designing a new house.

On the first day of spring it snowed about 6 inches. Rachael and I had a good time walking in the woods and taking pictures.

We bought a bunch of copper pipe and pipe fittings to make a display for this Sunday. We're starting to support raise at Cornerstone Baptist Church (we're we've been going while in KC) and this sunday is the 'introduction of our ministry to the church'.

It's exciting to get the chance to start talking with everyone we've been meeting and working with over the last 10 months about what we'll be doing when we move in July. Every time we get a new supporter, it helps encourage us and excite us all over again. Shout outs to Sarah, Amanda, and Dave - thanks for joining our support team.
We'll have a new newsletter done this weekend and it should be e-mail out to everyone by Monday.
Blessings.

:. Film & Theology Presents: I, Robot

Rachael and I are sponsoring a new KC Film & Theology Event this Friday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. We’ll be meeting at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit (501 N. Missouri – just off Douglas).

We’ll be watching and discussing I, Robot (Directed by Alex Proyas, rated PG-13) and discussing the question: Have we been made for a purpose? After a brief introduction, we’ll view the movie and have a short discussion about the issues it raises.

Childcare will be provided and the event will last about two hours.

In the year 2035, robots are an everyday household item, and everyone trusts them, except one, slightly paranoid detective (Will Smith) investigating what he alone believes is a crime perpetrated by a robot. The case leads him to discover a far more frightening threat to the human race. Inspired by the classic short story collection by Isaac Asimov.

How far can mankind come technologically in a 30 year period in history?

:. Chef’s Voice has Left the Building

Isaac Hayes recently announced that he would no longer be working on the popular animated satire “South Park.” Hayes citied the show's treatment of religion as his main reason for ending his tenure as Chef the school cook and master of romance.

"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," said Hayes. South park co-creator Matt Stone responded bitingly, saying that Hayes’ behavior shows intolerance.

Check out the AP article here and share your take on the issue with a comment.

:. Not a Good Time

I was sick last week - afraid to move for fear of instigating more dry heaves kind of sick.

After a day or two I started noticing a few weird things that were definately new to me.

First, tiny red dots appeared around my eyes. Now, every once in a while during college I'd get a couple of small red dots under my eyes (where most people get 'circles') after extended periods without much sleep, but this time they were underand around my eyes, on my eyelids, forehead, and cheeks.

Then I noticed a red spot in my eye. It started very small at the bottom of my eye and within a few hours extended to the edge of my iris.

The best guess around the house is that I burst blood vessels around and in my eye from the strain of the dry heaves. (One set did last for about 25 minutes) Is this even possible? If it is, it sure doesn't sound safe to me.

Anyone have any other explanations?

:. Another Fine Mess ...

Just when you think Christianity can’t get a worse name, along comes someone with a harebrained idea that misses the whole point of both what Jesus taught and how our country works.

House Concurrent Resolution 13, currently pending in Jeff City would name Christianity as Missouri’s official "majority" religion. State representative David Sater of Cassville in southwestern Missouri, sponsored the resolution, but he has refused to talk about it on camera or over the phone.

The resolution would recognize "a Christian god," and it would not protect minority religions, but "protect the majority's right to express their religious beliefs. The resolution also recognizes that, "a greater power exists," and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, "justified recognition."

Every time I hear of something like this, I cringe. It signals yet another round of conversations on the horizon where I have to explain that people like Pat Robertson don’t speak for all Christians.

Oh boy.

:. She's Been Accepted!

We just found out that Rachael has been accepted into the University of Arizona's Speech & Hearing Sciences PhD program!

The acting department head will be her advisor and Rachael has been hired as a research assistant. This comes with a out-of-state tuition waiver and an assistantship that will cover the cost of school plus some. Awesome!

Our next step is finding a three or six-month lease on an apartment so we can be in town for a bit before we buy a house.
She celebrates here with Santa, because Christmas came twice this year.

:. Autistic Team Manager Amazes Crowd

Thanks to the Thinklings for bringing this one to my attention.

Jason McElwain is a student at Greece Athena high school, and served as the team’s manager for his entire high school career. He was a gofer, he kept track of the team statistics and made sure everyone was supplied with Gatorade. Until the last home game of his senior season.

The 17-year-old, who is autistic and usually sits on the bench in a white shirt and black tie, put on a uniform and entered the game with his team way ahead. McElwain proceeded to hit six 3-point shots, finished with 20 points and was carried off the court on his teammates’ shoulders.

Watch the last few moments of the game or read more about it.

:. RFID: Should We Worry?

So, I'm home sick for a second day and there's not much to do but check out what's happening online. I came across an article in Wired's online news pages that highlights a new book by Katherine Albrecht in which she argues that RFIDs will develop into the mark of the beast.

Her detractors say that people have freaked every time we have something new from the printing press to social security numbers to credit cards, but there are RFIDs designed to be implanted under the skin of one's hand. These seem a little more likely than other technologies.

Thoughts?

A Pair of Busy Weekends

Rachael and I spent last weekend on the road, traveling to Jefferson City to speak at a conference and then to Kirksville for a birthday party. In Jeff city, we spoke at the MO BSU Leadership Development Conference, and event that Gene Austin (our campus minister from Truman) runs.

Rachael's sessions were on how to develop a comprehensive women's ministry. I presented resources to use in ministry and how to take inspiration from resources to create new ministry tools. Both of us enjoyed the conference main speaker, Alex McManus. He shared a number of interesting ideas for ministry many of which incorporated arts and technology. Check out his blog(or xanga) or his world music band.

We also liked getting the chance to see some of our friends from Kirksville, even if it wasn't for very long.

After our part of LDC was over on Saturday, we drove up to Kirksville, where we met up with other Truman alum to celebrate the founding of The Bulldog Party (an organization Rachael ran while in school). We had a great time. A number of times people asked about ministry and we had the chance to share. We also talked about marriage with some of our friends who had a dim view of marriage. One told us that seeing us made her think that maybe marriage isn't the end of all life and that we gave her hope that one day it might be something to consider.

This weekend looks to be another whirlwind of activity. Tonight we are doing our Film & Theology night, showing The Story of Us. Tomorrow we are attending a Children's ministry conference, and Sunday morning I am speaking to the youth at Cornerstone during Sunday School about God's will, ministry and the future. We'll end the weekend with part two of our small group's Got Niche? study on spiritual gifts (by far the best spiritual gifts material we've ever seen).

What happened?

Writer Rob Borsellino posted an interesting opinion piece for USA Today called "What has happened to America's Jesus?" that is an interesting conversation starter. What do you think about it?

I'm Sick

I have a cold. Not one of those I cough a bit colds. No, this is one of those can't breathe without assistance colds. I've been stuck in bed for most of the week so far.

Except, of course for our first volleyball game of the spring session, which we won (myself, 'hopped up' on cold medicine). This time around our team's returning players are myself, Rachael, my father-in-law Paul and Russ (who works with Paul). Joining us are Ricky & Lacey Meads (Lacey's father teaches Sunday School with Rachael's mother).

This weekend Rachael and I will both be teaching sessions at the BSU State Leadership Development Conference in Jeff City, MO. Rachael's session will be on creating women's ministries that create Proverbs 31 women and mine will be how to discover resources that sharpen your focus in ministry.

Then next Friday night will be our second KC Film & Theology event. All the details are below and everyone who reads this should come join us.

:. Film & Theology Presents: The Story of Us

Vows. They're like New Year's resolutions- easy to make and really hard to live up to.

Rachael and I are sponsoring a new KC Film & Theology Event on Friday, February 24 at 6:30 p.m. We’ll be meeting at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit (501 N. Missouri – just off Douglas).

We’ll be watching and discussing Rob Reiner’s “The Story of Us” and discussing the question: What if God designed marriage to make us holy, more than happy? After a brief introduction, we’ll view the movie and have a short discussion about the issues it raises. Childcare will be provided and will include a children’s movie dealing with love. We hope this will spark family discussions about love and marriage.

Movie Description: The Story of Us, starring BRUCE WILLIS and MICHELLE PFEIFFER, is the very real and humorous examination of Ben and Katie Jordan's marriage. After 15 years, the couple is wrestling with the universal paradox: why are the qualities that made them fall in love in the first place now the very things pulling them apart? Emotionally drained from their relationship, the Jordans attempt a trial separation while their children, Josh, 12, and Erin, 10, are away at summer camp. For both Ben and Katie, fighting has lately become the condition rather than the exception, and they believe that their only option is a silent retreat to neutral corners. During their time apart, both Ben and Katie reflect on the value of their shared history -- the dance, perfected over time, that has made them an "us."

How can these qualities that were once so endearing become so infuriating that you lose sight of what is important? At what point do you forget that without the other person you are incomplete? Where do we get the idea that marriage is supposed to make us "happy ever after?"

Come join us for an evening of cinema and discussion.