First…..We’re partnering with McAlister’s Deli (we do all their uniform apparel for all their restaurants nationwide) on a new charity-driven site.  McAlister’s is a major contributer to Share Our Strength – an organization who’s one goal is to see that no kid in America goes hungry.

We’ve just gone live with a new site – WWW.TEAFREAKSTSHIRT.COM – that allows anyone who loves McAlister’s sweet tea (and don’t we all?) to buy a brand new “Tea Freaks” t-shirt.  The site will stay up for about 3 months, and ALL proceeds from sale of the shirts will go directly to Share Our Strength.

(ps – you didn’t hear this from me, but if you order a shirt, you also get a coupon in your order for a free cookie at McAlister’s Deli)

Second….we recently designed a series of new UT Football t-shirt designs that the general public got to vote on at UTsports.com.  Here is the winning shirt.  Over the next couple of months, we anticipate printing about 30,000 of these and they’ll be available for purchase at area retailers, and pretty much any store that you can normally find UT apparel at.  They’ll also be available at just about every single 107.7 FM WIVK remote over the next few weeks – staffed by part time college agers with Threds.

I’m not the biggest UT or Lane Kiffin fan….but it’s still a pretty sweet shirt, huh?

About one month ago, during a Crossings series called “My Most Important Questions”, several of the people in our community gave 10-12 minute talks about their own most important question.  Trevor, a good friend, a member of my small group, and a Crossings summer intern, also spoke about his own question.  During his message, he spoke briefly about how a boss that he works for (not his Crossings boss), doesn’t believe that a person can truly be depressed, and would sometimes say to Trevor, “Man up, dude, grow some balls!”. 

Well, Trevor shared that pretty much verbatim from the stage.  After a moment of hushed laughter from the crowd, he realized his choice of words and turned it into a comedic opportunity, saying sometimes he feels guilty about things, for instance, the “fact that I just said the word balls in church.”  It was a moment of riotous laughter from the community. 

The next week, we did an opening called “The Seven Words We Never Say At Crossings.”  Mark led this, and the words included things like “sermon”, “skit”, “ushers”, “foyer”, “membership” …. then, for the last word, Mark gave the microphone to Trevor, who said…”Balls.  Never, ever say balls in chuch.”  Again, riotous laughter ensued. 

So, I decided to use the opportunity to deepen community and rib Trevor just a little bit more.  About 2 weeks ago, I emailed several people at Crossings, especially those who are normally there early every Sunday morning for set up time.  I had an idea for a shirt, and enough people got on board to make it happen.  I produced about 30 t-shirts.  Luckily, Trevor and his fiance Rachel were gone last Sunday, which provided the opportunity to distribute the shrits.  Then, yesterday morning, without Trevor knowing anything about it, about 15-20 people show up for church that morning wearing this shirt….

It was great.  Trevor was a great sport, and he and Rachel both received their own tees for keeps.  What was really great, however, was when a few of us went to lunch at Chili’s after church.  Me, Erin, and Trevor were all wearing our “balls tees” and every one we walked past stared at the shirt.  It kind of felt like being on a mission trip when your entire group is wearing neon yellow shirts.  I think Bill had worn his shirt somewhere early yesterday morning before church and somebody said, “I don’t know who Trevor his, but I agree.” 

I also agree.  But I must say it was one of the funniest moments I’ve ever experienced in church, ever.  It was great to see a geniunely good guy let his guard down, speak openly about his questions, say something a little racy for church, and then handle it so well.  And at least he didn’t say the word “hymnal”. 

On Friday night I was visiting my wife at the store where she works part time. It’s in a mini-mall shopping center. Right next door to the store is a higher-priced Mexican restaurant. It didn’t open until 7:00pm. At about 6:45pm, there were 30 people gathered outside the restaurant, and they were divided up into about 4-5 different social groups. Not a big deal, really. Friday night. Popular restaurant. People ready to eat. Some in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. So why did it catch my eye?

Because every single person was wearing flip flops or sandals.

There wasn’t a sock in the group. All 300 toes were visible. There were cheap plastic flip flops, leather flip flops, Teva sandals, Birkenstocks, flip flops (think American Eagle) that looked ratted and torn, buckle strap sandals, velcro strap sandals, you name it. Now, I’m sure at least one of these patrons was suspicious of me as I stood behind the storefront glass window and creepily counted people while starting at their feet. But that’s the cost of trying to come up with good blog ideas.

Remember growing up when having cool sneakers was a big deal? Today, EVERYONE is wearing flip flops and sandals practically all the time. Toddlers, teens, young adults, you name it. They’re worn in the workplace, at church, in restaurants, at amusement parks.

I did a little research to find out how long this trend has been around. After Googling long and hard, I found some amazing results……..They’ve been worn since the beginning of time. Yep. Adam, Eve, Moses, Abraham, David, Isaac, Solomon. All flip flop and sandal wearers. Something about the desert and sand. Apparently fashion colored leather and matching shoestrings were a little hard to come by back then. I think Jesus wore sandals too.

So really, when you boil it down, I guess we’re all just being responsible, biblically-minded individuals when we slide our beautiful feet into those $3.00 Old Navy flip flops. I wonder if it makes Jesus smile to know that we’ve all walked a mile in His shoes?