this pic just really means a lot to me

those of you who know her know why. one day i'll post some more about her, but for now, i guess this post is more for me than for anyone.

levi

my favorite seven-year-old nephew (i'm safe - vaughn's still six for a few more weeks - then i'll have to have a tie)

levi is someone that i believe God has been bragging about up in heaven. he's one cool dude. he's my sister's boy - and has lived in africa most of his life now.

love ya, levi.

jay miller - never quit dreaming

jay miller and my son lincoln

there's an awesome story developing you should read on jay miller's blog. in short, this friend of mine who pastors a slammin' church in lafayette, louisiana - he's 38 - and he's playing in his first year of organized tackle football on a semi-pro team that is two games from getting championship rings from the southwest football association.

yeah, he's nuts.

but for every single one of us who are in that late-thirties early-forties age range that ever wondered if we could do something we're too old to do, jay is a huge inspiration. if you ever dreamed of doing something but you think it's too late to go for it, you gotta read his blog. it'll fire you up.

i took my boy jd and reggie (one of his friends) and lincoln and ty van rensburg to their playoff game last night and watched them trounce the new orleans bulldogs. my 7-year-old asked jay for an autograph (lincoln is quite the autograph collector) and jay signed it and put "never quit dreaming" at the bottom.

what a great message to give my kid. what a great message for all of us.

jay - thanks for the message your life is giving me and my family.

two games to ring time.

fear the chicken

greg surratt (pastor of a really awesome church over in the carolinas, seacoast church) speaking to healing place church this morning: "on september 22, get ready. fear the chicken. south carolina gamecocks are coming here to baton rouge."

oooh i'm afraid. very afraid. i guess when your team mascot is non-flying corn-eating poultry, you have to talk big.

geaux tigers.

love ya greg. wish you coulda been here geoff. sorry you had to go to hawaii instead to do some "consulting." yeah, right.

great reminder as we head towards father's day...

i pulled this from a post over at richardexley.typepad.com - a really great writer - not just a blogger, but a real-deal writer. you should read the whole post, but if you're too lazy to click the link, here's the part that really made me think:

It is said of James Boswell, the famous biographer of Samuel Johnson, that he often referred to a special day in his childhood when his father took him fishing. The day was fixed in his mind, and he often reflected upon many of the things his father had taught him in the course of their fishing experience together.

After having heard of that particular excursion so often, it occurred to someone much later to check the journal that Boswell's father kept to see what he had said about the fishing trip. Turning to that date, the reader found only one sentence: "Gone fishing today with my son; a day wasted."

For the elder Boswell, it seemed a day wasted. For his son, it was a day to be remembered, one that shaped him for the rest of his life!

The younger Boswell's experience reminds us that life's most valuable lessons are seldom learned in the times of formal training. Rather, they are passed from one generation to the next during a shared experience, a mutual project, or a special camping trip. At the time we are seldom aware that anything rare or lasting has happened. It is only later, when we look back, that we realize that something of real significance has occurred.

In light of that, let me encourage you to take time to do fun things with your children. Remember many of life's most profound experiences are unplanned. They are simply the product of time spent together in an atmosphere of love and trust.

oof. that's so true - not just for parenting (as terrifically applicable as it is) - it works for relationships of all kinds i believe. whether in at home, at church, at work, at school - how you relate to your work, to your responsibilities, to your walk with God - all of it. much more is learned and taught in the day-to-day than in the classroom.

they said it can't be done

i actually watched a pot of water come to a boil today.

new childrenscup.org is live

The new home of Children's Cup on the web just went live a couple hours ago. We've tried to make the information on our site more accessible by moving to this new format. Much of the information has been updated for you, and one of the benefits of the new format is that we'll be able to keep things up-to-date much more easily than ever before.

Be sure to check out the media gallery. We're uploading pictures into our picture gallery like crazy right now. We've also added a ton of information about our CarePoints - with updates on them going live as soon as they are available.

We also want to welcome some new members to the team. Christy Merrill is just about a month away from joining the team in Swaziland, and Sandra Chesterman will be heading out in September. Then Lad and Crystal Chapman and their boys will be joining us in January.

Praise God for the new great things He is doing. We've been praying for an increase in our capacity on the ground in Africa and God has provided these fantastic people to help carry the load.



Please help us spread the word about the new CHILDRENSCUP.ORG. If you're willing to post a banner on your blog or website or in your emails, here is a link to a graphic you can use. Email us at info@childrenscup.org if you have questions.

Be sure to stay tuned to this site for frequent updates about Children's Cup.

A special huge thank you goes out to David Song for his hard work creating the new site for us - thanks, David!

wanna get close to Jesus?

you may have already seen this, but i just saw it again tonight. worth reading again and again.

The poor are where God lives.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house.

God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered.

God is with the mother who has infected her child with the virus that will take both their lives.

God is under the rubble and the cries we hear during war time.

God, my friends, is with the poor.

And God is with us, if we are with them.

-Bono

Wanna get close to Jesus? Go help the poor and hurting.

children's cup t-shirts are finally in

$20 gets you looking like me. (okay, you'll need to eat a lot more food a lot more often and carry a diet coke or coke zero everywhere you go, too, but the shirt is part of the look, too.)

here's how to order yours: we are working on getting set up to take orders online, but for now, just email us here and let us know you want one and we'll take care of getting you squared away by email.

plus, you'll be happy to know you're helping a very worthwhile cause - children's cup. (duh)

here's the children's cup website post about the shirts - click here.

tweez got a nose job

i love this dude.