It’s almost the same as jumping off a high rock or bridge into a river. Ideally you’d check out to see where it is that you are going to be landing… but where’s the fun in that?

Last night Randy and I stopped by a birthday party with these guys.  It was their managers birthday and they were in town for a golf tournament or something going on today.  Originally we were just going to stop in, give our birthday wishes and be on our way, but when we got there they were all in a meeting with some folks from this place.  

While they were all meeting, Randy and I wandered off and came across this zip line thing at the back of the property.  Naturally without checking how how we were going to stop, I hopped on and brought the camera with me.  Turns out, you are supposed to have someone at the bottom there to stop you.

Later a few of the MercyMe guys went on it and I think they got some video too.  I’m sure it will end up on their blog at some point.  But for now, here’s Randy and I instantly turning into twelve year olds.

Remember my disorder that many of you admitted to sharing with me?  Well today it flared up bad and attacked me when I was vulnerable.  Here’s how lunch went down.  

First off we ended up in a very crowded Puckett’s Grocery for lunch where we juggled the three boys for fifteen minutes while waiting for a table.  Once we were seated I didn’t have much time too look at the menu and all of the sudden my stupid allergic to everything face decided to have a nose bleed again.  Neat.  Here I am in a crowded restaurant scrambling for napkins and looking around for the bathroom.

After that fiasco I got back to the table just in time for the waitress to show up and ask what I wanted.  Crap!  Now what am I supposed to do?  I looked at the menu and since Puckett’s is sort of a “meat and three” place, that’s what I said.  

“Meat and three.”

She pointed at a chalkboard across the room and asked me what kind of meat and what kind of three.  ”What? No Fair!! A second menu?!!”

I started reading the chalkboard and said the first things that I saw.

“Smoked chicken, turnip greens, mashed potatoes, and squash casserole.”

What the crap?!  Why would I ever eat any of that?  Ever since I was old enough to eat chicken I have never been able to eat meat off of a bone and this particular cooking style (smoked) made the chicken taste like it had been dropped in a campfire for ten minutes, then pulled out and then given to me on a plate.  I politely ate my mashed potatoes and then shared Kristin’s salad.  

I think we have decided that Kristin is ordering for me from now on.  I’ve had better lunch experiences.

• This week my stats sucked on Thursday as well.  To the point where I thought something was broken.
• I’m not a fan of weather that I can’t wear a sweatshirt in.  I feel like an idiot wearing a sweatshirt in the summer, but I’m going to anyway… and you can’t stop me.
• Most days I’m glad I’m not Kobe Bryant. 
• Yesterday was the first day in three years of living in the same town that this guy and I hung out in the town we live in.
• It’s almost time for Link Loved again.  That’s one of my favorite ideas.
• Phil has a really cool announcement that will be made tomorrow on his blog and it’s cool to be a part of it.
• “A Part” and “Apart” mean almost the exact opposite thing, and I like that.
• I wonder what other words are like that.
• I heard Wal-Mart is changing their logo.  I wonder if that will make me less stressed out in there.
• I bet it’s posts like this that make my stats suck on Thursday too.

What random things are on your mind today?  

We’ve had TobyMac’s albums for a while now.  The boys love them, and for high energy music it’s good to have something playing in the car that isn’t cussing every other word or talking about all sorts of sexual escapades.  

Parents, you get it.  Non-parents that think that your musical tastes don’t have to change when you have kids, just wait until your three year old utters his first chorus, and lets out a string of obscenities that you never even realized were in that song you’ve been singing for years.

Recently we picked up Toby’s new DVD and the boys like to watch it and jump around like they are on stage playing their guitar hero guitar and working on their head spins.  Tonight instead of book time before bed the boys asked if we could watch the Toby DVD.  Since mom was going out, I thought it would be fine so even now, as I am typing this the boys are singing along.

Here’s the funny part.  Even though we have had the records for a while now, I heard a part of a song that I had never heard before that literally had me stop and look up the lyrics online.  It’s from a song call “Yours”.  Here’s how the second verse goes.

Simple minded little punk
Thought I was the junk
Nobody ever told me that my doo-doo stunk
What was I out of my mind
Or was I just trippin’ on an ego
But You filled up the space and You never let me go

I’d like to take this moment to officially here on “…in case you were wondering.” let Toby, and everyone else reading, know that though I can’t confirm one hundred percent, I’m willing to go out on a limb and possibly be the first to proclaim publicly that Toby’s “doo-doo” in fact does stink.  There it is people.  Yes, I went there.  Toby’s doo-doo stinks.  

Normally I follow up my post with a question, but I think I will leave this one alone.

So some of you may have noticed my little bunny that has popped up here and there.  Well today since I have nothing really to blog about and it’s a weekend anyway, I wanted to point out that now up in my address bar I have my little bunny sitting up there too.  Randy figured it out and made it work.  

We are currently hanging out at a very loud, busy cafe’ trying to get some work done and I think my brain is being over stimulated.  It was quiet here when we got here but the lunch rush has shown up and it’s kind of freaking me out. 

In other news, check out Mr. Wickham and his two posts in one day.  He has said, with his own mouth, “it’s time to step it up with the blogging”, so expect some more awesomeness from him.  Not to mention a pretty rad announcement on Monday.

You will also note that below this post is another button directing you all to today’s 40 Day Fast post.  Make sure you take the time to click that and check out the two posts today.  I love how two very different parts of the world are represented today, Paris and India.  It really shows the point of this whole thing and how far it can reach.  

Have a great Saturday.

I have more pictures coming, but this was too good to wait.  This is fine establishment is tucked in a cool little area in downtown Gettysburg….. and I will never eat there.

Worst restaurant name ever?

Ready? Go.

I’m leaving tonight for another quick trip out with Phil.  This time we are flying in to Baltimore and driving up to a festival called “Creation East”.  Or maybe it’s just called “Creation” and there is one in the west and in the “East”  or maybe it’s just called “Creation” and the “East” is implied.  Either way I am headed there tonight.  It’s in Pennsylvania, which is “East” of here.

Because of where we are flying in and where the festival is Phil and I noticed a little place on the map right in between the two.  I have never been to Gettysburg and neither has Phil, so we thought there was no better time than now to see it.  I’ll try to make sure to get some cool pictures if I get a chance.

Also if you haven’t yet, make sure to head over to Brian’s blog and read his entry for the 40 Day Fast about the Global Food Crisis.  

I’ll try to update some this week, but I will be in a car a lot.  Maybe another trip in pictures is in order?

Anyone who has spent any amount of time with me knows that I am a complete idiot when it comes to ordering food. Typically the only thing that I consistently am able to get right is when I say “no tomatoes”. I can do that okay. The rest is a train wreck.

Here’s how it usually goes.  I will look intently at a menu, whether it be something on the wall above a Taco Bell employee or a menu in my hand.  And I will stare at this menu for a good amount of time knowing full well in the back of my mind, that I’m not really reading anything or even noticing that I am looking at something.  My mind is somewhere else and I know what’s about to happen. Everyone else that I am with will have ordered and the circle of ordering around the table stops at me.

At this point the pressure is now elevated to the point where, even if I wanted to, there’s no possible way of concentrating on what I actually want to eat.  The waiter or waitress tapping their pencil on their little pad of paper.  The annoyed Taco Bell teenager popping their gum and shifting back and forth on their feet swaying left to right.  I start to panic and scan the menu for the first picture that looks appealing and point at that, following it up with a “no tomatoes”.  Yes! Got that part right.

Here’s the problem with The Order Disorder.  You end up with something that ten minutes later you will be sitting there asking yourself, “Why did I even get this?  What made me think this would even be decent?”.  And then there’s the inevitable, “This looks nothing like the picture!”.  

You know why you’re disappointed, Brody?  Here’s why.  Because you ordered by grunting at a picture and giving no thought to what you were doing.  That’s why you have something sitting in front of you called “Lard Nar” and are flipping it around with your fork trying to come up with some part that looks edible.  But at least there are no tomatoes.

And don’t get me started on trying to ask a question about a specific menu item.  If I ask a question about it, chances are I am just going to panic and get whatever the waiter or waitress recommends.  ”Yeah, sure, that sounds fine.”  I can probably be talked in to ordering anything even if it sounds really nasty.  It’s sad really.

I know there are plenty of people reading this that have witnessed my panic when it comes to ordering.  Randy was making fun of me yesterday for it.  Anyone else out there suffer from The Order Disorder?  Maybe we should start a support group or something.

This Positive Post Tuesday is a little different for me today because it’s not a specific person that I am talking about, but rather a movement.  This morning I was flipping through some different sites and somehow ended up on the Chicago Tribune’s site reading an article called “Jesus In China”.  Here’s a few excerpts of what it had to say:

“The rise of Christianity is reshaping the officially atheist nation, its politics and the way many Chinese view the world…

Christianity — repressed, marginalized and, in many cases, illegal in China for more than half a century — is sweeping the country, overflowing churches and posing a sensitive challenge to the officially atheist Communist Party. By some estimates Christian churches, most of them underground, now have roughly 70 million members, as many as the party itself. A growing number of those Christians are in fact party members.

Christianity is thriving in part because it offers a moral framework to citizens adrift in an age of Wild West capitalism that has not only exacted a heavy toll in corruption and pollution but also harmed the global image of products “Made in China.”

At a time when Christianity in Western Europe is dwindling, China’s believers are redrawing the world’s religious map with a growing community already exceeding all the Christians in Italy. And increasing Christian clout in China has the potential to alter relations with the United States and other nations.

“Originally, we used to have a huge government that controlled everything, but now the government is gradually shrinking and civil society is growing stronger and larger,” he said. “I felt that churches should make good use of that opportunity to expand and spread the word of God.” 

The Zion Church opened its doors in May 2007 with just 20 people. Within a year its membership had surged to 350 worshipers. He preaches a non-denominational but relatively conservative brand of evangelical Christianity. Jin’s urbane services, full of contemporary references to the economy and education and pop culture, tapped a well of fervor among young, successful Chinese.

Since becoming a Christian five years ago, Zheng has launched a campaign to raise ethical awareness and revive a “system of trust” among his colleagues. “For example, we do not evade taxes,” said Zheng, who serves on the provincial government’s advisory body known as the People’s Political Consultative Congress. “We do not make fake or substandard products. We will not change the contracts and promises made to customers.”

“We are not only doing business for man,” he added. “We are doing business for heaven.”

Down a narrow market street lined with dumpling vendors and vegetable stands, a rutted road in Henan province leads to a home that echoes with what sounds like a party. Men and women in their teens and 20s are packed into a room, dancing to a live guitar, piano and drums. The boys, jumping as though in a mosh pit, shout: “It’s the power of the holy spirit! Nothing can stop it!” A banner on the wall reads “Beijing belongs to God”—a provocative sentiment in a one-party state.

After their performance, they lower their heads and clench their eyes shut. Some have tears streaming down their cheeks, and a woman prays: “China will be a Christian nation.”

Read More

Pretty impressive huh?  What’s interesting to me is just a couple months ago I posted some statistics that I read in National Geographic concerning China and it seems like some of that might be changing.  I’d say news like this is pretty positive.  You?

Now it’s your turn.  This thing keeps growing every week and that’s awesome.  Let’s make this week even bigger.  Tell your friends.  For those of you just showing up here’s how it works. It’s pretty simple. (1) Write something nice about someone, building them up, encouraging them, you know.. being nice. (2) Fill out the box below. Have fun.