Christian, but not conservative Thursday, April 09, 2009

This piece I just found on CNN is so important. It's exactly what I feel about where I'm at politically. I heard Frank Schaeffer on NPR a few months ago, talking about his book, "Crazy for God", and how he and his father (regrettably) were some of the original voices of right-wing politics that are so frustrating to me. It's inspiring to see how Mr. Schaeffer has had such a significant change in view point as he has gotten older. Has anyone read that book?

The Last of 2008 Thursday, January 15, 2009

Some of my favorite things about 2008:

1. New community and involvement with Christ Community Church
2. Our travels in EUROPE
3. Rootclip officially launched, and was featured in the Traverse City Film Festival
4. I officially started Grad School full-time, working toward my Nurse Practitioner Degree
5. Ran my 1st 1/2 Marathon
6. President-elect Barack Obama - hopeful future for our country
7. Many of our friends brought new little lives into this world in '08, plus a few via adoption!
8. Erik and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary

I'm sure there are many, many more awesome and amazing things that God allowed me to experience in 2008, but these were just the highlights.

The last few weeks of December were filled with visits from friends and family - much laughter and love all around. Here's a link to our photos chronicling all of the fun :)

Be a tourist in your own town Monday, November 03, 2008

Saturday, we decided to explore downtown Knoxville by bicycle. We love downtown, but we rarely do "touristy" things. There is this thing called the Sunsphere. It's leftover from when Knoxville hosted the World's Fair in 1982. Too awesome. There's an observation deck, so we went up for a look-see. It was a beautiful fall day, and we needed a break from our ridiculous week, so Erik slapped some new tires on his bike, and we were off. We had never been to the UT gardens (off of Neyland Dr.), it was great. Here's a photo log of our day...

University of Tennessee gardens.

View from a swing in the gardens.

ha ha, I caught the yawn!

Walking towards the Sunsphere.

Observation Deck

Local printing press, Yee Haw Industries shows support for Obama.

I love to pick up the weekly Metro Pulse.

Biking on the campus of UT. Lots of HILLS. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, the trees exploded with color this weekend. We thought it was going to be a brown fall. Not so!

Our church is actually in Oak Ridge, but I love the sign! We have loved being a part of this church since January. It's a warm place filled with people who love Jesus and who are constantly seeking out ways to serve others. It's great.

Jesus loves you...even when you look like a _____! [fill in the blank] Friday, September 12, 2008

Wow! What else can I say? Check out these interesting videos that I found on YouTube. Surely, God still appreciates this kind of worship...even if it's hard for me to watch. Hahah!

Though he reminds me of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, I can't help but see this guy being in one of my all-time favorite movies Breakin'? Pay attention at 1:58.

On this next one, note the phrases at 0:55 and 1:50. Classic!

Politics, Theology and The Daily Show Thursday, September 04, 2008

Interesting bit on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart about how some GOP pundits are changing their stories since Sarah Palin has come onto the scene.

I'm saying this to myself as much as all of you, please think about where you stand on the issues at hand in this election and don't assume that any specific news channel or political talking head has all of the facts. I'm often tempted to repeat what I hear somebody on the television/radio saying about politics because it think its clever or interesting, but often times, I haven't done all of my research and come off just being a mockingbird who doesn't know what he's really talking about.

For this election, I'm going to overlay each issue with my theologies and see how they stack up against what I believe about God, His people and the world in which He has allowed us to live and serve Him. I hope that you will do the same and not just ride the coattails of any specific party without knowing where they're going.

Wow, who knew you could mix faith and politics in one blog post?!

-Erik

1304 Candlewick Road Monday, February 19, 2007

Contrary to popular belief, Erik and I will NOT be homeless as of February 27th! We found this most awesome house last week, our offer was accepted, and it has passed inspection (a very rigorous one, I might add). Praise be to God. It's so obvious He didn't want us in that other house. Our prayer is that this be God's house. May he use it for his Kingdom, and may we always remember we are merely the caretakers.

We won't be able to move in until the middle of March, so you can find us at the "Bryant Hotel" starting Feb. 27th. Bill and Kathy Bryant are dear friends from church who so graciously allow people in transition to stay in their wicked awesome basement! Thank you all so much for praying for us during this process. Check out more photos of the house by clicking the picture (it will take you to our flickr site).

Here Comes Debbie Downer Friday, February 09, 2007

Well, after the home inspection, we have decided to walk away from the deal on the house below. I guess I got a little over-excited when we had gotten the contract signed and wanted to tell everyone about it. Turns out, the house had some termite damage, standing water on the roof and structural damage in the garage, just to name a few problems.

We hate that we're back at square one, but stand confident that God has a much better plan for us, even if we have to be homeless for a while (we're still selling our condo and the closing is set for the 27th of this month). He is faithful and has always provided for us in abundance. Please pray that everything will work out smooth over these next few weeks and that God will guide us in our decisions on where He wants us.

If you're unfamiliar with Debbie Downer, get a clue!! Actually, it's a SNL skit played by Rachel Dratch. Check out one of the skits here.

A Weekend in the Smoky Mountains Monday, November 13, 2006

I love living in East Tennessee! These mountains have become part of my soul...I never get tired of visiting them and marveling at the beauty of God's creation. Erik and I spent last weekend in a cabin with some friends from church. It rained ALL day Saturday, but I took these pics before the clouds rolled in. This was the view off our balconey.

Good thing the guys were feeling photogenic, because the ladies definitely were NOT! This was the last morning we were there, 3 of the couples had already left, so these were the lucky ones to make it into the photo (sorry it's so dark).

This was the cabin we stayed in. Oops, is that a trash bag under the stairs?!

Derek Webb In Concert Monday, November 06, 2006

This past Friday night I went to the New City Cafe with Kevin and Chris to see Derek Webb. It was an incredible show! Even Sean McConnell, the opening act was amazing. I just wish we would have arrived a little earlier to see more of him.

Derek played a bunch of songs from his new album, Mockingbird, as well as some old stuff from the Caedmon's Call album 40 Acres. He has a lot to say about how we should live if we truly want to live like Christ has called us to. His lyrics, though sometimes cynical, really strike at the heart of what it means to be a Christ follower and not just a Christian in name only.

After the show, I got the opportunity to meet Derek and I must say, he was extremely kind and I was impressed at how he seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to each person that came up to him after the show. After everybody was done talking with him, I approached him and told him about how his music has had a lasting effect on me, but even more so on my brother, Mark. He once told me about how Derek's music made such a profound impact on his life and how it was a conduit in helping him come to a faith and love for Jesus that he hadn't yet known. I just wanted Derek to know that God was using him, through his music, to bring people to Jesus. He was quite humbled and very appreciative of the comment. Here's a picture that Kevin took with my cell phone. Sorry for the poor quality and the crazy guy in the background!

Speed Blog #2 - Men's Gathering Monday, October 23, 2006

I spent this past weekend at Moon Shadow Lodge, in the Smoky Mountains for a men's gathering. At our church, we call them "gatherings" instead of "retreats", since men aren't supposed to retreat. Heheh! Anyways, we had an amazing time and God showed up in a major way. Lives were changed and hearts were turned towards God. The picture above is from the back porch of the lodge and the picture below is just some of the guys eating dinner.

Here's a picture with a few guys before we left on Sunday morning. This was right after Danny (red & black jacket) became my brother in Christ by accepting Jesus into his life. It was an incredible weekend and God had been doing some major work in Danny for the past couple of weeks and he realized his need for Jesus after this weekend. His story was powerful and he was such an encouragement to many of the other guys at the gathering. I also snapped a shot of his baptism at church that morning. Praise God for the hearts that he is turning towards Him and the work that is being done to bring more people into a love relationship with Jesus.

Zoe Conference Weekend Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Long overdue, is this post. On the first weekend of October Sonya and I went to the ZOE conference in Nashville with a bunch of peeps from Farragut. This has been a highlight of our year for the past three times that we've been. The Conference has 2 parts to it; Leadership and Worship. The worship part of the conference is coordinated and led by The ZOE Group, from the Otter Creek Church. It was an incredible conference and God is doing some incredible things through His church.

Below, is a picture of a painting that was done during one of the speaker's presentations. It depicts the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel. In this story, Jacob's name is changed to Israel, because he has fought with God and men and had won. He names the place Peniel, which translates to "Face of God", because he saw the face of God and lived. (*Pictures were taken from the ZOE Group blog as ours were accidentally deleted.)


This sculpture was created by Jack Maxwell, the same artist that painted the above picture. The sculpture is called "Jacob's Dream" and was inspired by the story of the same name from Genesis 28. This is actually only a model of the massive sculpture that was erected this past year. Find out more about the sculpture here.


After the conference, Sony and I traveled to West Nashville to spend the afternoon with our dear friends Elijah and Andrea Manor. They have a beautiful little girl, Abby. This was the first time we had met her and we had a wonderful time. The Manor's were very close friends at Harding and we sort-of lost touch over the years as we moved to Michigan, then Tennessee and they moved from Arkansas to Tennessee. Now, we're only separated by about 3 hours of road and we look forward to seeing more of them. Here's a picture of us on their front porch.

Free Derek Webb Tuesday, October 03, 2006

WARNING...Read This First before you continue.

Alright...so, in case you haven't heard, Derek Webb (singer for Caedmon's Call) has a new CD out.  And guess what...it's FREE!  Oh yeah...you heard me.  Well...it's not totally free.  You see, you have to provide 5 of your friend's Email addresses in order to download it.  Thanks for the heads-up, Curtis!  Click on the album artwork below to visit his site and download the album.

I'm not a big fan of MySpace, but Sara Groves keeps a blog on there that we get updates on.  She had a post a little while back about Derek Web and this album, which is where I first heard of it.  Check out her blog here.  Also, read this to learn why Derek is giving away this album.

Once you download it and give it a serious listening to, let me know what your favorite song is.  I don't want to sway your pick, but my favorite is Rich Young Ruler, which I believe is track #5.

Not "goodbye"...more like "see you later" Monday, August 21, 2006

I was blessed to be with Brett, April and Caden Emerson this weekend as their church had a mission send-off Sunday. They have committed 5 years to working with a mission team that is already established in Africa. It's always so great to see them. The Emerson's are so full of life and truly are an example of what it means to live "sold out" for Christ.

Their church threw a party with TONS of delicious, home-cooked, Southern food. They also had a video with blessings and sentiments from their church family as well as their real-deal family. That night the guys hung out and just talked under the stars at The Waters, where Brett's brother Chad lives. Mike Baur and Chad Hicks, two other great friends from Harding, were also there for the celebration. It's truly a blessing to have Christian friends. There's nothing like it. I know I'll stay in touch with all of these people for a long time.

Ed and Gene Welch, a family from the Emerson's church, allowed us to stay with them and they were wonderful hosts. They even had cookies and milk waiting for us when we got in after midnight. Thanks again, guys!

Sunday morning was a rollercoaster of emotions. I thought that I would be more sad than I was, but I kept getting this overwhelming feeling of joy for them and I know that God is going to do some amazing things with their servant hearts.

Brett and April's parents were also there along with a bunch of extended family to show their love and support for the work that the Emerson's are going to be a part of in Togo. It was a wonderful thing to behold such a lineage of believers who all loved God more than anything in this world. Seeing this, I was convicted to lead my family in truth and to point them to Christ. This will become even more important when we have children.

Please pray for the Brett, April and Caden Emerson and their work in Togo, West Africa. They leave tomorrow for France, where they will study language, then move to Togo after a few months. Also, pray for the Kabiye (Kah-bee-yay) people of Togo, with whom they will be living with and witnessing to. Check out their blog below.

http://emersonstogo.blogspot.com