Two Year Anniversary

Two years ago I tricked Erin into going out with me. So in honor of that glorious day here are a few reasons why I love her......













Her big, beautiful smile that lights up a room or an Mac computer monitor.










That look she gives me when I do something stupid. (Which is quite often.)













The way she can be just as goofy as me.










The way she gave up her allegiance to Northern and became a Riverside fan. It's no longer "knight time."













And finally, the fact that she would be smokin' hot no matter what year she was born.

I love you Erin, even though you are probably going to kill me after you see this. Happy 2 years.

Every Christian a Missionary?

Preface: This is not coming from an expert or someone who is the best at this topic. We can all do better, especially me.

Yesterday I was bored and decided to look up some of my professors on www.ratemyprofessors.com. I had heard about the site before but have never had an interest in using it until my sociology professor pulled the site up on the first day of class and showed us his profile. He then rated himself and left a comment. After I read through all of his comments I decided to check out some of my professors from Southeastern. Looking through the list of professors I saw a well known professor's name, who I had heard many good things about, on the list. So I checked out all of the comments. Surprisingly, there were quite a few people that left some quite critical comments. However, one comment stuck in my mind. The disgruntled student said that he was tired of being told that he should be a missionary and that every Christian should be a missionary. For those of you who have never been to Southeastern in Wake Forest, NC, there is a huge emphasis on missions. There are special days in chapel to focus on missions, there are missions classes, there's a missions center, there's numerous opportunities to go on mission trips during breaks, and there are even missions majors where you get a degree and then go serve on the missions field for two or three years. No one can spend a good amount of time on Southeastern's campus without seeing or hearing something about missions. Back to the comment left on this professor's profile. Should every Christian be a missionary? According to this guy, whom I'm assuming was at Southeastern to become a head pastor at his church back at home, no. In his thinking some Christians should just be pastors, some Sunday school teachers, some choir members, and some missionaries. So who is right? Should every Christian be a missionary or should only a select few that are brave enough and "called" to go be missionaries?

Every Christian should be a missionary. However, I am not saying that every Christian should go live in a foreign country for a year or two. I believe we have the wrong idea about missions. Missions is not just going overseas. Missions can be done in our everyday lives at work, next door, at school, etc.. Every Christian should live missional lives. I first learned about this concept from Mark Driscoll, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. He points out how many times Jesus uses the word "sent" in the Gospel of John. Jesus always said that he was "sent" to earth for a purpose/mission. He didn't just come here to chill and go to Sunday school. If we call ourselves Christians, we should be trying to be like Jesus since that's what the word Christian means. Since Jesus was "sent" on a mission, we are "sent" on a mission too. What exactly is that mission? To make disciples as Jesus says in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He also gives us the same command in Acts right before he ascended back into Heaven. The command to make disciples was his last message to His disciples, so I'm pretty sure its is of the utmost importance. So to the guy who was upset that he was told to be a missionary, I'm sorry but it's not just the professors at seminaries who are saying this. Jesus said it. No you don't have to go overseas but you can be a missionary any where you go. Jesus was and we should be striving to be like Him.

Michael Phelps

Did anyone see Saturday Night Live with Michael Phelps last Saturday? If yes, I'm sorry. If no, don't bother. Hey Mikie, here's a little advice: stay in the pool and swim. Don't do anymore acting. You aren't funny. Yes, you captured the eye of the entire world this summer by winning 8 gold medals and by making everyone else drink your wake but please stay in the water. I was expecting you to be funny but I'm sorry you need to work on your personality. Take some lessons from Peyton Manning, he's funny. Any way, I was thoroughly disappointed Saturday night. To start things off the USC vs. Ohio State game wasn't a game and to make things worse SNL and Michael Phelps wasn't funny, except for the opening scene with Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. Whoever did Palin, good job. You are the only one with talent on SNL anymore. They should just show reruns instead of new episodes. They could save a lot of money by not paying bad actors. Wow, is that mean to say? Anyways Michael Phelps you are the man but only in the water and SNL you need to get new people or bring back the old ones.

Constitution Day

How many of you knew there was a day set aside to recognize the Constitution? I didn't until yesterday. I guess you learn new stuff in college and since I am in a American Politics and Government class and a Criminal Justice class, the Constitution is eventually going to come up. I was just thinking though...what if you hated the Constitution and wanted to protest the Constitution on Constitution Day? Instead of protesting it you would actually be celebrating it because the Constitution gives you permission to do that. Funny how things work out. So, I guess if you don't like the Constitution and you want to do something about it the only thing you can do with out celebrating it...is not do anything at all. Weird.

Oh yea for the two of you that actually read this I apologize that I am boring and lazy and rarely post. I just got a good idea today so maybe I'll have something inspiring and life changing to post soon. But I have to face the facts...I will never be as opinionated and interesting as The Michael Wilson.

September 11, 2001

It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in my 8th grade English class at Brogden when I found out about the attacks on the World Trade Centers. During lunch I kept hearing that people were going home because the world was coming to an end or something like that but I didn't think anything of it. I just thought some people were scared since our school had its second bomb threat in a week that day. Weird that we had a bomb threat on the same day as the worst attack on American soil happened. I can still remember my teacher telling us what had happened and none of it really sank in with me. It didn't really hit home until I got home and started watching the news with my mom and brother. I was almost sick to stomach. I couldn't believe that there were people out there sick enough to do this. Even though that was a horrible day, I believe that it showed the best of America. There were men and women risking their lives for complete strangers. Some of which paid the ultimate price with their lives. Americans were united that day. We put aside our differences and stood tall. We showed the rest of the world how resilient we can be and that we will not let other people's hatred for us bring us down. Why can't we always be like that? It seems so ironic to call this place the United States of America now because we are so divided. And the leaders and especially the future leaders (cough cough presidential nominees) are not helping. All of this mud slinging is really making me sick. I wish they spent more time putting action behind their words rather than writing jokes about the other person to get laughs at their respective National Conventions. Grow up. We are better than that and I expect better from people who are trying to become the President of this country. But enough about politics. Remember what happened seven years ago and how triumphant this country came out of that situation. Thank you to all who risked their lives that day for other people. Thank you to all of those who are still serving this country and risk their lives everyday for people you don't know. We should all learn a lesson from these people and put others before ourselves. Just like Jesus said, if you want to be first you have to be last and if you want to be great you must become a servant.

That's a NoNo all you PoPo

College football season is here. Instead of seeing my Appalachian State Mountaineers crush Jacksonville by a final score of 56-7, I went with my friend and his family to see ECU destroy West Virginia. Amazing game and it would have been an amazing celebration if it weren't for the Police. When your football team starts the season off by beating the #18 team and then dominates the #8 team in the nation, you should be allowed to storm the field when you are not used to that kind of success. Instead, the cops were tackling students, throwing punches, and just being complete jerks. I mean come on, do you really think 30 something officers can hold back a couple thousand students? Security was informed that if the students tried to rush the field that law enforcement should try to deter them by making themselves visible and if that failed they were to just back off and let it happen. I guess making yourself visible means throwing punches at someone who is already on the ground as you will see here. Let the students celebrate. Here's another video for your viewing pleasure.

"I wanted to do Hood Rat stuff with my friends."

No words can describe this. Just watch.

Better Late Than Never

Forgive me for being so inconsistent with my postings. I should take some lessons from The Michael Wilson. Any way, earlier this month my big bro brought his family to North Cackalacky for the first time. Pretty fun and eventful with 5 extra people in the house. During the week we ventured down to Carolina Beach. Here are some pictures:

My brother Chris, his wife Toni, and their Boys.

My nephew Simon. No we are not holding him over the balcony like Michael Jackson did to his kid.
Grandma and Grandson.

Father and Son.
I watched the sunrise for the first time. One of the coolest things I've ever seen.
Crab hunting with my nephews Noah and Ben.

Who would have thought that alligator tastes like sausage.

One thing I learned during this week: I am no where near ready to be a parent. I am content with being the cool uncle who gets to play with the kids and then give them back to the parents when the kids aren't happy. Kudos to all you parents out there. Don't let anyone tell you your job is easy.