to my pacifist friends:

I'm sorry.

I went to a shooting range last night with my friend Michael. And I enjoyed it.

I shot off a number of rounds with a glock 9mm. I don't even know what "glock 9mm" means. They could have told me the type gun was a "snicker-doodle 88" and I would have said, "Ooo...sounds cool."

Michael teaches a martial arts class which includes fire arm training. Now, I'm not sure what form of martial arts it is...but I'm guessing it is pretty effective one. More effective than nunchucks, I would think.

He was giving tactical lessons to a couple of his students, and invited me to come and learn basic target shooting. He has a fake gun that is identical to the one we used. So he taught me everything I needed to know before we even left the house; from loading and unloading, to safely handling it, to how to aim. I thought I felt pretty comfortable with it.

Then we got to the shooting range and, between two guys loudly firing away, I loaded the real gun. It was a bit surreal, and scary. I was not raised around guns and can't remember ever having held a loaded one. But I think I did okay.

I closed my eyes real tight (just kidding) and fired away.

Immediately, I felt my chest hair begin to grow. No, that's not true. But it was a lot of fun...like darts, only harder to aim. And well, deadly. But Michael is a very good teacher and instills a profound respect for fire arms in his students.

I will admit that it felt a little like I was cheating on my pacifist friends, though. I know they would not approve. Honestly, I go back and forth on the whole gun thing myself. I don't know what I believe. So, I left my philosophical questions at the door. As I said, I'm not smart enough to know where I stand on that issue. But I am smart enough to aim a gun at a paper target and shoot.

So I did that instead.

buechner or bust...

...that was my mantra this morning as I rolled out of bed and brewed an extra strong cup of coffee.

At 7:45am, I and five friends squeezed into a minivan and made the two hour trek to King College in Bristol, TN to be a part of the inauguration of their Buechner Institute.

The writings of Frederick Buechner have made a significant impact on my journey of faith the last few years. To be here today is...well, for a lack of better words...pretty stinking cool.

It started at 10:00am with a ceremony in which he received an honorary doctorate. He then read a few short stories from his book "Yellow Leaves", which is set to be released later this spring. After that, I got a couple books signed and, thanks to Greg and his iphone, had my picture taken with Mr. Buechner (I will post those pictures soon).

Right now, I'm sitting in the library between lectures. So, unfortunately, I can't type for long. But the good news is, we made it here...to Buechner.

Which means I did not bust.

patriot rain

As is obvious by my last post, I'm not real excited about the Super Bowl this year. I'm certain I will watch, but I really don't know if I'll watch it with other people. Which, in this country, is like saying, "Yeah...I'm going to stay home and not celebrate Christmas with anyone else this year." Its almost sacrilege. But the simple truth is, I want full control over how much of the game I see.

If the Patriots are blowing them out, I'm not watching. Period.

If Tom Brady is having an MVP-like game, I'm not watching. If Bill Belichick goes for it on 4th down early in the game and gets it, I'm not watching. If they continue to get lucky breaks and crap calls from the refs, I'm not watching. If Rodney Harrison misses an easy interception and acts like he hasn't dropped every ball thrown his way the last two seasons, I'm not watching (that guy is way past his prime, by the way. When was the last time he actually held on to an interception? I'm guessing it was before he got busted for using steroids).

The thing is, I'm not even really rooting for the Giants. I'm just rooting for the Patriots to lose. No, scratch that. I'm rooting for the Patriots to get injured. A lot of them.

I know, I know...that isn't very Christ-like. But Christ didn't have to put up with Tom Brady's chiseled good looks and gaudy statistics. Even Jesus would root against that guy.

Especially since we all know Jesus is a Peyton fan.

Either way, the undefeated Patriots have rained on the whole NFL parade for me this season. I guess, its only fitting that they would end it by ruining my favorite national holiday as well, the Super Bowl.

well...

Go Giants! I guess.

shocking photos

I have worked with Mark Nelson for almost a year and half now. We share a small office, sitting within a couple feet of one another day after day. We have spent countless hours in cars, on disc golf courses and at Panera's. I have learned much about this man the past 15 months.

But there is one fact about Mark Nelson that apparently eluded me.

Mark has baptized many, many people during the course of his life. One might concluded, based on that, that his senses may have been dulled to the excitement of the sacred event. However, while going through pictures of Crossings' October baptism celebration, in preparation of putting them on our website, I found that this certainly is NOT the case.

Below I have proof that Mark Nelson is most definitely not numb to the excitement surrounding baptisms. However, he does not appear to be happy or sentimental either.

No, judging by the pictures below, the overriding emotion that Mark feels upon baptizing someone into Christ is...shock.

I don't know why. He is the one who pushes them under and he is the one who pulls them back up. I'm not sure what exactly is catching him of guard here. But whatever it is, it is clear...the guy is absolutely shocked. Every time.

after weeks of waiting...

The new American Gladiators finally premiered last night.


For those who were as excited about this as I was, I'm curious...what did you think?