Long, Crazy Weekend

Friday, July 13
Got back from Seattle - missed the family. Krista says something in or under the house smells bad. She's been through the whole house, cleaning every corner, especially in the kitchen and can't find anything. Something's rotten in the state of Manchester.

Saturday, July 14
Dragged all the crap left by previous owners out from the crawlspace under the house. Had to crawl what seemed like 20 feet in to find an 18-inch, half-melted, maggot-infested 'possum skeleton. When I showed Julianna, she told her Mommy it was a baby dragon. Actually, it does look kind of look like a baby dragon.

Sunday, July 15
Krista fell in the bathtub (happy birthday!) I think she's OK, but she's still feeling it. We left early for Chattanooga. The 3-hour trip seemed like it took 7. Krista and I never were quick travelers, but when you throw a 5-year-old and a 4-month-old in the mix, things take forever.
Sunday evening and most everything was closed, we headed over to the mall and were deciding where to go for a birthday dinner when we had a visit from God. Read more about that in my next post. We ended up at P.F. Chang's - Krista's favorite. Our server was great, and the cook even came out to share a hot sauce creation he had been working on for four days. Great food as usual.

Monday, July 16
Panera Bread, hazelnut coffee, asiago cheese bagels with cream cheese...mmm...breakfast. Checked out downtown Chattanooga and the RiverWalk. Loved Blue Skies - visit this little gift shop if you ever go to Chattanooga. Saw the carousel and let Julianna play in the fountain. Headed to Sticky Fingers for dinner. Not bad, but should have gone to Mellow Mushroom.

Tuesday, July 17
Another 3-turned 7-hour drive. Before we left, we had a late breakfast at the City Cafe Diner. The host could have been John Waters's twin. A little later, someone entered who could have been in a John Waters film - 50-something, fairly large, spilling out of her top, black eye make-up and a bowl cut. Hmmm...
Went to Candyland , a bit non-plussed (it looks way better in these pictures), then headed home, stopping by Unclaimed Baggage on the way. Picked up the original version of Vanilla Sky on DVD (a Spanish film - Abre los ojos). Skipped out on the $100 comic book statue. Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

People unclear on the concept.

License plate in Scottsboro, AL.

I never meant this to be a place where I posted pictures of my kids, but this one is too funny not to share.

I'm reading Rob Bell's _Velvet Elvis_. It's making my brain do these weird flips in my head. But it resonates with me somewhere deep down in my gut. I think he's pointing to God.

Hollywood and Religion

Hollywood has a bad habit of oversimplifying what it means to believe in God - regardless if they are trying to put a negative or positive spin on things.

I was pleasantly surprised then, when I went to see Evan Almighty recently with my family, that it really wasn't watered down.

In the movie, God tries to impress upon Evan the importance of kindness. Of the need for us to randomly commit acts of kindness to others. I'm sure there are a lot of people who follow God, and a lot who follow Jesus (or say they do) that think this might be an oversimplification, but I'm not so sure.

It was the heart of the message of Jesus. If you're familiar with the Old Testament, then you know the Jews lived by a long list of rules that God had given them. Jesus was a Jewish teacher, and those who specialized in the rules tried to trick Him at one point, asking Him which of those commands was most important. And Jesus answers directly. The first is, Love God (found in Deuteronomy). The second is, Love others (found in Leviticus). Jesus says that these are the most important rules - that all the other rules hang on these.

He said other things, like, people will know you are my follower if you love each other. Or, if someone smacks you in the side of the face, give them the other side to smack; or if someone steals your jacket, give them your shirt, too; or if someone forces you to do some work, do twice as much as they're forcing you to do.

I know I've said a lot of this before, and maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but he even said kindness - caring for people in need - was what was going to separate the people going to Heaven from the people going to Hell.

Jesus was full of crazy stuff like that. Stuff we don't like to teach in church. Stuff that we don't think is very American. Stuff that tends to be real unpopular, except maybe as a fad every once in a while, but not to be really paid attention to.

Of course, Jesus walked the walk, too. Talking to the people no one else wanted to talk to. Spending time with the losers, outcasts, and those that church people thought were bad.

Being God's ambassadors, it's just something we so often skim over, and spend very little time on - it's interesting to see that secular entertainment hits the nail on the head.

So, am I trying to say that being kind is all there is to following Jesus? No. But, then again, He's the one that said it was most important.

Ratatouille

I think Ratatouille is my favoriate Pixar film since Toy Story. Went to see it this weekend with the family and we all loved it.

Even Max. He's not quite four months old, and he sat through the whole thing, wide-eyed, watching the big screen.

Another movie buff in the family!

And now I'm hungry for some ratatouille...

Attack of the Lizards

I thought I might break my streak of camera phone shots...

I realize this thing has probably been around the internet for over a year, but someone e-mailed it to me and I watched it for the first time a couple weeks ago. The great thing about this video is that it gets funnier every time you watch it. I can watch it several times in a row, and by about the 3rd or 4th time, I'm peeing my pants. Take a look if you haven't seen it.



Now, remember laughter is the best medicine, and if you're having a bad day, watch it at least 2 or 3 more times...I promise it'll get better...

I think it's fixin' to rain and the sun is hiding behind the clouds. I'm on my way home from work.

Sunset over Decatur, Alabama. Kinda lopsided.

Kentucky sunset.

I caught this carp ten minutes ago in Lake Erie. 7 pounds, and 26 inches long.

Tennessee sunrise.

How can we pass up the Batman sunglasses?

Wednesday night sunset.

What more is there to say?