Ramblin Man... this month...

This month... or at least the month of March... is the month of the "Ramblin Man." (If you aren't familiar with the Allman Brothers Band classic, shame on you...)

But today starts a month of travels.

I'm about to walk out of Starbucks (where I'm getting a little coffee, Internet and time with my wife) to head to Columbus for the weekend for the National Youth Ministry Convention. I'll be live-blogging from there this weekend... so look for more posts about that, what I'm thinking and learning and rolling around.

Then March 9th - 13th I'll be on the road as a professor's assistant for Dr. Rea's annual Restoration trip to visit all of the Restoration sites (i.e.: Cane Ridge, Bethany, etc).

And finally, March 27 - April 4 I will be in the Dominican Republic with 6 high school students serving the people there.

So it will be the month on the road, living out of a suitcase and sporadic blogging.

Now... it's time to hit the road...

Look for live blog posts coming soon from NYMC!!!

Jim

D.R. Update

Over the weekend, we had two incredibly articulate members of our D.R. trip team speak to the FVCC congregation. Both Paige and Elisabeth did an incredible job sharing some of their heart and excitement over the upcoming trip.

In the course of Paige's talk, she mentioned her blog. I just wanted to link it in case some from FVCC or others were hunting for it. So, you can find it HERE.

Jim

Coldplay - Life In Technicolor video

I saw this video today... It cracked me up.

Now, this is the way to do a puppet ministry...

Jim


Check it out HERE.(all you iPhone and iPod touch readers...)

TobyMac's... Lose My Soul video...

I was just checking out TobyMac's new video... Lose My Soul. (The video is a little choppy... but this is the first time that I've seen the video out anywhere...)

It's pretty sweet. Check it out HERE.



Jim

Pandora Radio

Those of you who have been around here for a while know that I love technology (don't get me started singing... you won't like it... but I will sing from Napoleon Dynamite...). But I really do. I love my laptop... I love my iPhone... I love finding new things that work and are cool.

Right now, I'm sitting in Starbucks (the one my wife works at). Starbucks, in my opinion, is notorious for having some pretty crappy music (most of the time). But I'm listening to Pandora Radio right now instead.

Basically, if you've never heard of it before... and I've been listening to it off and on over the last couple of months... it is an internet radio station. You tell it a band, artist, song, genre, etc and it live steams music for you. It starts with what you suggest and then builds a playlist of similar items. If at some point you don't like their choice, you can "vote" a song down (meaning that they won't play any more like that) or if you like it, you can "vote" for a song (meaning that they will play more like that). You even have the option of buying songs that you like directly from iTunes or Amazon.com.

It's great.
And they have a mobile version that I listen to on my iPhone all the time. (App HERE.) In fact, the app is so strong that it works well over the "edge network" and even in places where signal is low.

If you've never heard of Pandora, it's worth checking out. By the way... I'm not getting paid for this recommendation... I use it, I like it and I thought maybe you would too. Check it out!

Jim

Just posted...

... a new blog entry over at the PDYM Community blog.

Check it out HERE.

Jim

Blogging dryspell

I'm really having a blogging dryspell...
And it's actually making me feel a bit guilty. Tonight, I've got some time and I'm sitting in front of my computer thinking, "I should really blog... since I haven't since Valentine's Day."

But honestly, I've got nothing.
No incredible thoughts...
No funny YouTube videos to post... (I looked already)
No insightful humor...

It's kinda weird.

But one thing of note, I did meet one of my unknown-to-me-blog-readers today. I attended a local youth workers gathering at Willow Creek Community Church today. And in conversation with a local (to me) youth worker, he said, "Oh yeah, I read your blog." It kinda caught me off guard. It is always interesting to me how my blog gets around to different people in different places and most of the time I don't even realize it. (Maybe that's what's making me feel guilty right now... I know that I have an audience out there.)

So I guess... keep reading readers...
And I'll keep trying to think of something interesting, insightful or humorous to post for you...

Jim

Happy Valentine's Day!!

It is, of course, Valentine's Day.



(If you didn't know that, glad that you just woke up from whatever it was that you were sleeping in...)



I just didn't want the day to pass without a good wish to you and your Valentine.


Jim

National Youth Ministry Conference

I just registered for this great convention in Columbus, OH!!!

It's the National Youth Ministry Conference.

It is Feb 27 - March 2 at the Great Columbus Convention Center. Which is great for me for a couple of reasons. First, I can drive. That's gonna save me some money. Second, I have family in the area... that's gonna save me some more money.

But it is a great, great weekend conference. Plus some of my friends at Simply Youth Ministry and Saddleback will be there. It's always great to see some friends.

If you are planning to be there, throw a comment on the blog. It would be cool to meet up.

Last year there was a contest here on this blog. Hopefully there will be again. I'm looking forward to this weekend!!! Hope to see you there!

Jim

Man... My blogging...

is struggling right now.

My apologies to those of you who live and die by what and how often I post here on my blog. If you're living by how often I post, there's a good chance that you aren't reading any longer (or living for that matter). Lately, I haven't been blogging much. My apologies.

There really is no good excuse. I just haven't. Not having Internet at home (still) isn't helping. But that's not the only reason. (But we have been talking about it and hopefully will be able to get it after we get our taxes filed... that would greatly increase the blogging... for sure!)

But I promise that I will try harder.

Jim

This looks like fun...

Somehow I missed this during the Super Bowl.

But it sure does look like fun...



Jim

A Game Of Hope

I saw THIS over on MercyMe's blog...

It's pretty incredible.


Jim