Photography

Nope… no attempt at stupid humor with this one. I have a pit in my stomach that I am using as inspiration to pray for those in the path of Gustav (not forgetting the victims already across Cuba and the Caribbean.)

I will be using this post as a hub for information. Please help me out by posting links in the comments to news stories, videos, humanitarian aid, bloggers … anything you think is interesting to note and helpful information and/or relief oriented. Also, if you click on the picture it will take you to the Weather Channel’s log of updates.

The Red Cross is all over the place too and always a sure bet to get your money where it is needed most.

• The blogosphere: Red Cross Chat, Good News Blog, Red Cross Youth * Flickr: American Red Cross photo pool * YouTube: American Red Cross channel * Facebook: American Red Cross Group, Cause , and Page * Twitter: Red Cross disaster information

May the Lord bless our neighbors with safety, peace, resilience and miraculous deliverance from devastation. I will be praying that those traumatized by Katrina will not be re-traumatized by this and will instead be blessed beyond anything they could imagine or think.

Again, add any links or information you think is useful in the comments. I will update this post as well. The updates will appear after the jump.

[click to continue...]

This is my Uncle Roy. He is my bio Dad’s brother. My Mom believes this was taken in World War II. I love this picture. He signed it, “To Mom and Family, Love Roy.” I love this because while I never really knew Uncle Roy it shows me that valor was present on my Dad’s side of the family. I also know that Uncle Roy is a Christian.

So this is an open thread … what’s on your mind? Humor, concerns, rants, prayer requests … whatever. If you need statistical inspiration y’all are only 400 and something away from 7,000 comments on this blog.

See ya’ in the comments :).

Apparently these are some of my Great to Great Great somethings from my Dad’s side of the family. On the back of the picture I think my Meemaw (grandmother) wrote: “… Mom, Aunt Ola, Aunt Nora, Dad Scruggs, (confusing label) … Hubert.” Now, with the women in dresses and the men in overalls, Hubert not wearing shoes, and that all of my extended family (paternal and maternal) is from Middle Tennessee … they were bona fide hillbillies. Other than this picture, I know nothing about them and that is sad.

I have no idea how old this picture is but it has to be very very old.

Submitted to PhotoFriday’s theme “Old Fashioned.“

I got my good looks from Mom and yes, those are Superman glasses (emblem on the side of the ear piece.)

This was the picture of my Mom and I when we joined Radnor Baptist Church in Nashville. I was in sixth grade. It was my only time in church growing up (about six months.) I was Baptized but didn’t know what it all meant. I did not have a saving knowledge of Christ and don’t remember how it all transpired even. But … I remember the day *very* clearly. More on that in a minute.

At this church one of the funny memories is when my brother and I were making noises, loud noises that sounded like “barking tree spiders” if you know what I mean. Brother Paul, the preacher, made my brother and I sit on the mini-thrones behind him on stage. My brother seemed to love it. I was terrified.

My brother and I gave the elders a run for their money though. We rode the church bus to Sunday school and then would hide in the construction site (expanding the sanctuary) after Sunday School before “big church.” Most of the time the elders would find one of the two of us and the other would come out of hiding to not leave the other alone to suffer through the sermon without company. One elder, a balding red headed man, was very good at finding us. It took him a while but he usually was the one to find us.

[click to continue...]

For the next month I have asked Mike to do the Friday Q & A. You can read his first one here. I will still blog about questions and serious things that come my way during the next 30 days.  Even so, I am working on some personal offline goals and needed to hand off a few of my regularly scheduled things.

Today Mike and I had a great lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (pictured above.) I had Chipotle Chicken and he had Pear Gorgonzola. Can you tell who the native Texan and the native Californian are?

Hmm. Now to the other stuff …

[click to continue...]

My Aunt J. is really good at sending me strange and surprising things. Yesterday she sent me some glass flowers. I can honestly say that is a first :). She also sent a couple of other items that I will post at a different time. The above pictures, of course, are of them and I was playing around with my camera and iPhoto.

Love you Aunt J! Thank you!

This picture is actually from Sunday. Today is gorgeous but *very* busy with meetings, interviews, people arriving by the droves … it’s very fun but it has been difficult to sit down much less blog.

BUT, I will later on in more detail.  I just wanted to post something quick and share that I just had a very good interview with the local channel 13 station and tonight I have another interview with print publication.

Things are a hoppin’!

Four states in nine hours and no … I did not eat healthy … at all.

It was so good.

I listened to music and talk radio the whole way. I was also hoping that I would get some more inspiration for my keynote a week from Sunday. It is the closing talk of the conference. I already knew what I wanted to talk about but still working out the framework. I think I got it today. So that was the good news.

I also have a new girlfriend in Nowhere, Georgia. I pulled up to a completely deserted gas station in Nowhere and she was standing at the door and it was obvious she liked my car. She did the whole Egyptian head roll from side to side with pursed lips making her weave bounce.

She ended up a total flirt! She even batted her eyes. I love the South.

Got to Ridgecrest and the rooming situation … horrible. I was/am disappointed. Which is even more disappointing because I have a very good friend who works here. I am not going to go into specifics on the blog but … I have to spend the next three nights in … a bad room.

It’s just bad … like … not good … just bad.

The good news is they are trying to do everything to correct the situation. Hopefully it won’t last long.

It didn’t … all fixed and ready to go :).  Yay Ridgecrest!

Anyway, click here for more pictures from today.

Amy K. sent this to me just to send it to me. Thanks Amy.

But I must confess … I have to practice my pensive man-look. Also, the title, “HE-MOTIONS” … it made me laugh … just a little. Get it? He + emotions = HE-MOTIONS ?

::: manly chuckle :::

It’s hard to be pensive while chuckling. I love Christian marketing sometimes.

Not sure when I will be able to listen to the “The Message” from “The Popular Tour” but hopefully it will be soon after the conference is over. I am interested to see what Bishop Jakes has to say.

Thanks again Amy