since my last post…

I spent 4 days in Elkhart, Indiana on a work trip.  Felt amazement at the vast expanse of corn fields along the interstate.  And partook of an almost live pig while there.

Went on a “stay-cation” in Pigeon Forge with Erin & Eli in early August for 4 days.

Took a 2 day golfing trip to Richmond, Kentucky with a great friend of mine who I had not seen in three years.

Saw Eli off to his first days of Kindergarten.  He’s doing rather well, I think.  Most days, his favorite part of the day is getting to choose what he wants to eat for lunch.  The choice is the key.  When I was growing up, they served what they served.  But he gets to choose between two main dishes, and can pick 3 of 5 side items.  Heaven for a 5 year old who loves eating.

Began shaving my head again.  I can’t help it.  It’s who I am.  I like it this way.

Saw our first ever sunflowers grow to be 6 – 12 feet tall.  Soon after, they got too top heavy for their own good and began to fall over.

Went tubing down the Pigeon River twice, once with 3 guys from small group, and once with Erin and our great friends Reid and Sarah.  I nearly broke my finger swinging from an old rickety rope swing on the side of the river.

Joined my first ever fantasy sports league of any kind.  And won my first matchup.

Celebrated my 5-year anniversary with Threds (today, in fact).  The longest I’ve ever been at one job in my life.

Saw my guys small group nearly double to at least 16 guys, maybe 18.  Sadly – and happily – we’ll soon be “reproducing” into two separate groups.

Heard the loudest singing from our community at Crossings that I’ve ever heard in my over-2 years of being there.  Tear jerking.

Rearranged my office at work.  Come visit me sometime.  You can see.

Spent 3 days in Charlotte, NC at the annual Salsarita’s franchisee convention.

Went camping for 2 1/2 days in Cades Cove with my good friend Chris.  My first time camping in about 10 years.  We saw 4 deer walking through the campground, saw 3 bears while driving the Cades Cove loop, did a 5 mile round trip hike to Abrams Falls, ate 4 fire roasted hot dogs each, and went through an entire bag of marshmallows.

Helped a new friend from small group move to a new apartment just days after he had a terrible motorcycle accident, broke his pelvis, busted his hip, and tore his leg up pretty good.  I’m so grateful to be in community with guys who are ready and willing to help.

Was thrilled to see my wife, Erin, be awarded the Golden BVD award at the last Crossings Leadership Community.  Congrats, honey!

Have thought often about the future direction of this blog.  I’ll get into that more at another time.  For now, please enjoy a sampling of pictures that help encapsulate some things I’ve just mentioned in this post.

haiku

Too busy at work
To write anything at all
On this silly blog

Twelve minute lunch break
Can’t stand to leave my office
Or I’ll get behind

Need a vacation
But those things require money
Money me no have

Back to the grind now
Maybe I’ll opine again
In a day or five

favorite things

This is actually copied and pasted from one of my pages at the top, but I don’t think anyone ever reads them, so I thought I’d post it.  There are a few updates from the page.  Enjoy.

Favorite Food – Hamburgers

Favorite Movie (All Time) - Braveheart

Favorite Movie (Current) – Slumdog Millionaire

Favorite TV Show (All Time) - The West Wing

Favorite TV Show (Current) - The Office

Favorite TV Show You May Have Never Watched – Sports Night

Favorite Article of Clothing - Shoes With No Laces

Favorite Sports Team – Tiger Woods

Favorite Athelte – Tiger Woods

Favorite Person With an Animal’s Name – Tiger Woods

Favorite Retirement Dream – Traveling all over the world to all the most beautiful, spectacular natural environments … Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, The Great Barrier Reef, Alaska, Montana, Mayan and Incan Ruins, etc.

Favorite All-Time Music Artist – Michael Jackson

Favorite All-Time Music Group – DC Talk

Favorite Way to Spend a Quarter – 2 pieces of Laffy Taffy

Favorite Drink – (tie) Coke / Sweet Tea

Favorite Restaurant – Cracker Barrell…you always know what to expect, and you always know it’s gonna be good.

Favorite Extra Curricular Activities – Movies, Church, Darts, Reading, Frisbee, Tennis, Enjoying Nature

Favorite Thing About President Obama – Seems to connect with the “common man”

Least Favorite Thing About President Obama – When doing tv interviews, he often comes across as scowling and a little snippy.

Favorite Cereal – Wow, what a tough question.  All time, I would have to say Apple Jacks.

Favorite Worship Song (All Time) – Lord I Lift Your Name on High

Favorite Worship Song (Current) – Jesus Paid It All – updated version from the Everything Glorious Album

Favorite Worship Song That I’ve Rarely Heard Sung in Church – Ancient of Days

Favorite Soap – Irish Spring

Favorite Shampoo – Pert Plus

Favorite Hair Cut – high and tight

Favorite Book (All Time) – Lord of the Flies

Favorite Book (Current) - Blue Like Jazz

Favorite Talk Show – Ellen

Favorite Reality TV Show – (tie) Extreme Home Makeover / So You Think You Can Dance

Favorite Place I’ve Actually Been – Barbados

Favorite Place I’ve Never Been – Idaho

Favorite Bachelor Food – Manwich

Favorite Car (All Time) – Honda CRX

Favorite Car (Current) – Honda Element

Favorite Thing About God – He is Constant, Never Changing

Favorite Slang Word – “sick”

Favorite Place to Eat Wings – Quaker Steak & Lube

Favorite Sandwich – Buffalo Chicken

Favorite Video Game (current) – Tiger Woods Golf, X-Box

Favorite Video Game (all time) – NBA Jam, Sega

Favorite All-Time Tennis Player – Andre Agassi

Favorite Sandwich Bread – Honey Wheat

Favorite Non-Sandwich Bread – Banana Nut

Favorite Character on The Office – Jim Halpert

Favorite TV Show I Hardly Ever Watch – Scrubs

Favorite All Time Baseball Player – Will Clark

Favorite List – Favorite Things

wanna go mad?

Feel like driving yourself raving mad this weekend?  Play this online game:

Escape From The Crimson Room – http://www.fasco-csc.com/index_e.php

It’s an escape room game – you’re trapped in a room.  You have to get out.  Use your mouse to find clues to help you escape.  Holy crap.

da, da da da, da da, da da da da

Ever since posting the video games list earlier this week, I’ve been humming the theme music to “Legend of Zelda” every day. I can’t get it out of my head.

high scores

sad

This story is one of the saddest I think I’ve ever read in my life.

Holy Crap – The Juice

Holy crap, crap, crap.  I cannot believe it.  OJ Simpson just received 9 years in prison.  No parole eligibility for at least 5 years.  Wow.  Next week, I’ll tell you the story of “what I was doing when OJ Simpson got chased by the police” back in ‘94.  *update* – actually, looks like he’ll have to do a minimum of 8 – 9 years before being eligible for release.

i called …

the phone number listed on one side of the “turn or burn” truck yesterday afternoon.  I called it four times.  Each time, a computerized voice told me the number was not valid, and to please try my call again.  Bummer.

"practice?"

Remember this? It’s still hilarious 6 years later.

if i can remember

If I can remember to bring my camera to work tomorrow, I promise to have a new post. I just stuck a post it note in my pocket as a reminder. There’s something I’ve been wanting to post on here for a few weeks, I just cannot for the life of me remember to bring my camera. I wonder if Jesus was ever forgetful?

how i would ring in the new year if i had real cahones…

Yes, he jumped an entire football field on a motorcycle. On New Years Eve.
Ridiculous.

Topic #12 – New Year’s Resolutions

I love the idea of New Year’s Resolutions. A fresh start. A new beginning. A chance to try something new. A motivation to acccomplish something difficult. An opportunity to mold your life in a new and better direction.

I just don’t really like coming up with them, writing them down, and then following through.

However, they have become almost as necessary in our society as washing your underwear and engaging in small talk with other humans – things which many men only began doing in the last couple of decades.

So, with the suffocating pressure of society upon me, here are my resolutions:

1. Hike a trail in the Smoky Mountains that I’ve never hiked before…minimum 2 miles.
2. Throw darts at Spicy’s on Emory road at least twice a month
3. Reduce my “soda” consumption to no more than one beverage each day
4. Begin walking/jogging 2 miles at least twice a week
5. Commit to the previous two resolutions, or commit to actually buying a larger size of pants
6. Floss my teeth…um, at least once…each month?
7. Try my best to make the most smart-assed comments on all the blogs I read. As of now, sometimes I only have the 2nd or 3rd most smart-assed comments. And that blows.
8. Stop eating anything by Chef Boyardee. Period. For some reason, about twice a year Spaghetti-O’s sound really good to me. Then I eat them. Then I barf.
9. Listen to more worship music and less rap music. This has been a long time struggle.
10. Pray less while laying on my back half asleep in bed…and pray more when I’m fully awake, on my knees, and actually focused on having a conversation with God.

They’re not extraordinary, I know. But they’re real. And they’re attainable. And that’s what counts.

Have you made resolutions? Are they real and attainable? Are they important enough to follow through on? Feel free to share them. I’ve been told it helps to have accountability in these types of things. And if you’ll take time to comment, I’ll be sure to put forth my best effort in regards to my 7th resolution.

Happy New Year!

yes, i keep changing the way this thing looks…sorry….just trying to make it easier to read, harmony of colors, contrasts, all that good stuff. i promise i won’t keep changing it.

again, the randomness of life.

Topic #5 – Chuck Norris

I don’t know much about Chuck Norris. I’m not sure if I’ve ever watched any of his movies from beginning to end. “Walker, Texas Ranger” was a pretty boring show. And his workout, product promo tv stuff if terribly lame.

But I freaking LOVE Chuck Norris facts. I laugh everytime I hear them, read them, or make them up in my head.

I especially like this one: “If you spell Chuck Norris in Scrabble, you win. Forever.”

Check out a bunch of good ones here.

a 5 week topical series

I want to prepare you for what’s to come. From now until the end of the year, I’m going to be posting blogs on various topics. Some will be decidedly biblical topics, others may not be, most could go either way. My post title will simply be the topic for that day. Plain and simple.

Then, I’ll simply write my thoughts on that topic. I may or may not use biblical references, since I’m not really offering this as a Bible study or platform to preach. I’ll write honestly about each topic. Some things could possibly be R-rated. My words may be a little rough on some points, more refined on others.

I’m not really looking for any debate. Not looking “stir things up” in any way. But I’ll be totally open to all comments you may have, either about the topics or my thoughts on them. You should know this about me…in most areas of thought or debate, I’m pretty open to all sides of the issues. This is true of my faith as well.

There are very very few things to me which are DECIDEDLY firm (Jesus is God’s Son, God created everything, Christ died to save us, etc). On the other hand, most biblical or spirtual topics – especially those which cause so many arguments and divisions (tongues, steps of salvation, worship, gifts of the Spirit, etc) – I have always had a very open mind about. In some respects, I really don’t even care. I hope you’ll see what I mean by that over the next month.

So, that’s the deal. From now to December 31st, all my posts will follow this set up. I hope you’ll read, ponder, and share freely as you see fit. If you agree or disagree with things I have to say, that’s okay either way. I simply hope you’ll join me.

a deadly middle name…

Just a suggestion for any readers who might be having kids anytime in the future. When contemplating middle-names for your child, do not pick the name Wayne. You may thank me for it.

Wanna know why?

Check out this site.

yes, i did..

just change the background color of this blog. Frankly, the previous color was starting to look a little bit too “purpley” for me. Don’t be suprised if it changes again. I’m crazy like that. If you’re interested, the color is Grey Hex #212121. Very dark grey, but not black.

Thanks so much for stopping by…please continue reading…

universal texting language….revealed!

I have a question for you. And it’s not are you a snot nosed egotistical rude teenager. An unpleasant visual, I know. No really. Do you understand texting? I don’t. I’m confused. It’s a world where great phrases like “see you later alligator” get downsized into one word. Remember when you used to write notes on paper? As a matter of fact, I still keep shoeboxes full of old letters. To be honest, I enjoy moments of happy crying when I read those letters. They were meaningful. With messages like, “have a nice day”, “love ya”, “best of luck”, and “best friends for life”, these notes were great because they required effort. You had to work a little to write one. In my humble opinion, turning I Love You into ILY, or reducing the art of getting to know someone into age/sex/location and where are you from simply leaves me scratching my head in disbelief. In fact, it stinks. Just for fun, I thought it might have me bursting with laughter to create this texting post. For real though, I’m feeling like an egghead.

Let me know what you think about this post. Your responses could range from big deal to bored out of my skull to smiling from ear to ear. It’s your choice. Be honest. Just fill in the blank. That would be fine by me. Please reply quickly though, or I’ll go straight evil on you. Thanks for reading. Good luck deciphering. Just to let you know, this message will be revealed in full. Just don’t quote me on this. Because, frankly, I couldn’t care less. Giggling my butt off….your brother in Christ…Jason

i’m a little behind

Sorry I haven’t said much in the last week. I’ve been pretty good at posting regularly. However, I’ve been totally swamped. I’ve got more to do at work than I can even stomach thinking about. On top of that, I started getting sick on Monday. I worked late Monday, and 3 times before I left work, I was hugging the toilet trying to puke. When I’m sick, I usually feel better if I puke. But nothing…just a bunch of dry heaving. The whole way driving home I was praying that I wouldn’t have to pull over to the side of the road. Thanks God. Missed work yesterday sick. Did nothing but lay in bed and on the couch from 7:00pm Monday night until 4:00pm Tuesday afternoon. Now back at work….and even more behind. Hence the lack of posting. And the lack of constructive thought.

Tomorrow after work, I’m heading out with some guys from church on a little 2 day disc golf trip through east Tennessee. I’m siked up, but I’m already preparing for the fact that my arm might practically fall off before we get back. I’m definitely packing lots of Ibuprofen. Wish me luck.

moving on…

Moving On. Our vacation was great. It was the first time since 2000 that either Erin or I had been to the ocean. We look forward to taking Eli on our next beach trip. Every time we saw other couples with kids on the beach, we missed him that much more.

Charleston, SC is a great place to go if you want to go to the beach, but don’t really want to spend all day there. Downtown “historic” Charleston is basically a place you can walk around for 2-3 hours and get a glimpse of what colonial city living looked like 250 years ago. Some of the homes have literally existed that long. A downtown church that was commissioned in the 1750’s actually has a cemetary in which two original signers of the Declaration of Independence were buried…and the original tombstones are still there. The folks who live in Charleston seem committed to keeping their city historic and beatifully asthetic.

Although the beach was great, I’m really still more of an outdoors/nature type of person. I hope in the years to come to visit Yellowstone, Alaska, Canada, Grand Canyon, Montana, Vermont in the fall, Niagra, etc. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

erin & i love to dance

Erin & I love to dance. Mostly spontaneously around the living room….and well, mostly just me. However, on a recent trip to Mexico, we learned to do the cucaracha. What a blast that was! Thought you guys might like to see us in action. Enjoy.

outta here…

I’m outta here for 2 days…heading to Nashville for a national promotional products show. Seminars, networking, and checking out 1000’s of new products available to the industry.

Has everyone seen this x-games skateboard fall from last week? Unreal. The guy freakin walked away. Wow.

Freedom Weekend

My weekend…

Friday night: Went out to eat with Erin at Chili’s. She ordered me some type of Jamaican drink that was okay. I got a little buzz from one drink, and I was done. Went to see the Michael Moore movie Sicko. Sometime this week I’ll probably expand more on this movie. For now, let me just say that I believe you should all go see it. It’s incredibly eye-opening. Got home around 1:00am.

Saturday: Erin had to work. Took Eli to Big Ridge State Park and played in the sand, on the playground, and drove around looking at the camping areas. Next we went to Norris Dam state park and walked in a creek and did some sightseeing. After returning home and napping, we met mom and went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner…what a crazy, hectic place! Then, before it was dark, we went to Victor Ashe park and had some more playground fun.

Sunday: Church in the morning at Crossings. While loading up the trailers after the service, some type of block of wood fell off of a cart and popped me on the top of my head. The wound BLED LIKE CRAZY. My face looked like some guy at the end of an Ultimate Fighting Championship match. The whole left side of my face was covered in blood, my hands were completely red, there are droplets all over the sidewalk outside of the theater where we meet. It was unbelievable. Thanks to Dustin, Stephanie, Betsy, and anyone else I didn’t get to see who immediately rushed to help me. I’m okay now, although there’s a pretty good “boo boo” on my head. My son has been so concerned with my boo boo, it almost makes me cry. Anyways…later that afternoon I took him to another park/playground close to where we live. Watched the movie Shooter. Decent movie.

Watch later this week for my Sicko review.

4 Days To Freedom

Hell Week is almost half way over. Yesterday, I arrived at Crossings at 7:00am to help set up for the service. We were set up by about 9:30am. Stayed for about half the service – which was great. I really love hearing how loud and joyous the people there worship. It’s such a rush. Left halfway through to go to Sea Ray. Was there with 4 other co-workers setting up our merchandise room until 7:00pm. LONG day.

Good news is I’m only 4 days away from freedom…in more ways than one. I’ll explain more in a few days.

Until then, I’m off to begin another 12 hour work day.

Be Good (Rich Mullins once signed a hat for me with those words…I miss him).

Vacations and Sparklers

I just found out this week that I’ll be going on my first actual vacation in over 7 years. Truly exciting! This is not to say I haven’t had “vacation days” to enjoy in that time, just that I’ve not actually taken a full week of vacation and gone somewhere special since 2000. Crazy, huh?

My wife and I have both taken off the week of Labor Day in September. We’re going to Folly Island (about 20 minutes from Charleston, SC) for about 5 days and using her dad’s Holiday Inn reward points to stay for FREE. Her parents will be keeping Eli for us. This will actually be Erin and mine’s first actual trip together of any kind (other than Gatlinburg … which doesn’t count) since we were married….call it our belated honeymoon if you will. I’m pretty pumped up. The rest of our days off that week will be spent doing stuff with Eli – we’ll probably go to Dollywood, IMAX in Chattanooga, the Zoo, stuff like that.

Eli held a lighted sparkler last night for the first time and totally loved it. You know, when you’re 3 years old and about 38″ tall, a flaming sparkler can be pretty darn scary, ya know? I’m not even crazy about holding them at 31 yrs and 70″ tall. Those stupid sparks always land on my arm and freak me out. That’s a reasonable price for celebrating freedom, I guess.

Is There Anybody Out There?

Does anyone still listen to the band Burlap to Cashmere? To my knowledge, they released one full length album about 8 years ago, and that’s it. The album was great! I actually got to see them live in Nashville at a convention….incredible live performance!!

Then, they were gone. I haven’t heard about them since. One of their hit songs off this lone album was entitled “Is There Anybody Out There?”. It’s pretty self explanatory. They ask is anyone out there? Can anybody see? Is there really someone looking over someone like me?

Well, this is my first blog entry ever. The first time I even began reading other people’s blogs was about 1 month ago. I’m definitely a newbie. But man is it addictive! Everyone is connected to everyone else. You keep going from blog to blog to blog and an hour has gone by before you know it. I’m actually wondering right now whether anyone out there will even read this entry. The idea of blogging seems pretty cool, and possibly quite therapeutic, but I fully realize the possiblity that this could end up being more of a diary than a real blog. We’ll see. I’ll try to be faithful nonetheless.

In regards to my blogspot title….I’ve been through a time in my life where all seemed lost. Down the road, I may expand more on this. But for now, let me just say that a few short years ago I experienced a time in my life that felt much like “hell on earth.” I wondered what life could possibly have to offer in the future. I never once considered taking my life, but I did consider the possiblity of packing my suitcase and taking off to who knows where and trying to disappear. Thankfully, God has seen me through. I am now beginning to experience “Life Recaptured”, and it’s great. I’m actually excited again to see where the road ahead may lead. If I’m lucky, maybe a few of you out there will be able to experience it with me.