September 2007

Monthly Archive

Head Shots for Journal Gazette

Posted by on 30 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: my life., Town Council

I needed to send a head shot in to the Journal Gazette as part of my run for Waterloo Town Council. I had Emily take a photo of me in the morning prior to leaving for work, about 7 a.m..
Unfortunately, I found out rather quickly that I am not very photogenic at 7 a.m. in the morning. It took us nine shots to get one which got my nod of approval. One was too bad to share here, but the other eight photos I have included for your viewing pleasure…

Conversation with a Homosexual

Posted by on 29 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: my life., thoughts on life.

A recent blog by my friend Todd reminded me of the need to blog about this, and I wanted to share it with you today.

This originally appeared in the Oct 24, 2001 issue of IPFW’s The Communicator, which at the time, I was Managing Editor. Here, The story Why are you straight?it appears in its entirety:

As most of my loyal readers already know, I have an opinion about almost everything. If I don’t have an opinion, I can usually at least attempt to make up an answer to get me through.
Recently, I was asked a question that I couldn’t readily answer. After I was laughed at for not knowing the answer, I had to admit that I really didn’t know the answer.
Normally when I’m hit by a really tough question, I have an answer. I cannot recall another time when a question left me totally and utterly speechless. It was a simple question, but not a question that I knew the answer to.
The question simply asked, ‘Why are you straight?’
I had no answer or explaination for why I am straight. I tried to think of something really quickly, but the two people I was speaking with [homosexual ‘partners’] started laughing at me and said something to the effect of, ‘Don’t even tell me you’re asexual.’
Humiliated after being made fun of for my lack of reasoning, I could only say, ‘That’s the way God made me,’ which was not a good enough answer for them.
What bothered me most was not that I couldn’t answer the question, but the fact that the two guys made fun of me and laughed at me because the question left me speechless.
Is it really abnormal in this day and age to be so secure in my manhood that I have never questioned my sexuality? Why is it that it’s no longer considered normal not to question your sexuality?
Should I really have been made fun of because I have never thought about it? Is the fact that I am secure in my sexuality a basis for making fun of me and attempting to tear me down?
Is this world coming to a place where we are all expected to question and decide in our own minds if we aren’t meant to have kids or just live outside of marriage all our lives? The liberal media would like it to.
Must we be taught that sexual orientation is something you are born with? And why, if you are born with it, would you ever have to make a conscious decision on it?
If I am forced to make a conscious decision about my sexuality, I am no longer able to claim equal rights. A decision is a decision, and holds no power to equal protection.
If someone decides to be a nudist, they do not have the right to be a nudist anywhere they want. A choice does not guarantee you any rights. A choice guarantees you nothing other than the right to your own opinion.
Too often people make a decision and claim, ‘I was born that way.’
Science makes some pretty good sense. Man and woman have sex, little boy or girl comes as a result. Process repeats.
Man and man have ‘sex.’ End of story.
To the the question I was asked, ‘Why are you straight?’ I now have an answer.
‘I’ve never thought about it.’

Evening at the DeKalb County Free Fall Fair

Posted by on 29 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: my life.

This is my first post of my photo-blogging efforts. Last night Emily and I went to the DeKalb County Free Fall Fair, and here are two shots from the evening. Do you see anyone you recognize?

Driscoll on Relating to Sinners

Posted by on 28 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: churches on the ball., thoughts on god.

Driscoll on The Chick-i-fied Church

Posted by on 28 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: churches on the ball., thoughts on god.

Is today’s ‘church’ too girly?

Watch Mark Driscoll’s take on The Chick-i-fied Church:

Driscoll on Emerging vs. Emergent

Posted by on 28 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: churches on the ball., thoughts on god.

If you have ever heard of the ‘Emerging Church’, you may be interested in hearing Mark Driscoll talk about the different groupings (of which Emergent is one such group) which make up the Emerging Church as a whole.

I think Driscoll is quite balanced, and although I don’t agree with him completely doctrinally, he is very much a Biblical man, and think he’s really on the ball.

Note Driscoll is closely tied with John Piper, who is certainly not Gen-Xer.

Photo Diary

Posted by on 28 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: my life.

I have been contemplating for the past several weeks about taking more photos from my life.

I think it would be cool to have somewhat of a photo diary of my life–what I’m doing, where I’m at, who I see.

What do you think about my idea? Useful?

I’m Getting Published.

Posted by on 28 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: my life.

WritingI am in the works to ‘get published.’

It is a few months off, and my deadline is about five weeks off, but I am certainly excited about getting to write an article for publication! Woohoo!
I’ve always loved to write, and held several positions on my college newspaper, including Managing Editor, Sports Editor, Political Columnist and Sports Writer.

So when this opportunity arose, I was very happy to jump at it! Woohoo!

This will be an article appearing in a Christian magazine. I’ll be sure to give you updates as things happen, and I’ll be sure to link to the article when it gets published, too!

YouVersion is Now Public

Posted by on 27 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: Tech Stuff., thoughts on life.

YouVersion has been publicly released (beta) today. It is a cool little searchable Bible which links content with verses. It’s from our friends at LifeChurch.tv.

A few things you can do in YouVersion:
Search for scripture
Star verses and content
Tag verses and content
Contribute/associate images, videos, links and text to a verse or series of verses
See what others are sharing
Rate content

It’s pretty cool. Go check it out!

BlogRush sending me traffic

Posted by on 26 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: random., Tech Stuff.

Earlier this week, I installed BlogRush on this blog. It is a type of targeted link exchange. You can see the BlogRush widget in the sidebar column.
The cool part is I can block certain words from showing up, so that’s certainly cool! This is free, and I’m interested to see if this thing drives much traffic or if it’s just a waste, in which case you’ll find it gone rather quickly…

If you’ve got a blog and want to drive traffic to your blog, you might consider BlogRush.

Morning at BrewDaily’s, Downtown Auburn During Fair Week

Posted by on 26 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: my life.

This morning I had a morning meeting with Nathan Tatman from County Line. We met at BrewDaily’s in downtown Auburn, and I was curious how parking would be, seeing as the streets of downtown Auburn are all closed for the week’s 76th Annual DeKalb County Free Fall Fair.

Downtown Auburn is dead quiet at 7:45 in the morning! So is the fair.

I didn’t see anyone out as I arrived at BrewDaily’s, and I even wondered if they were open as I approached.

I saw Brian there, who was off-work today, and we talked for a few moments, and I also saw Paul, who I haven’t seen for a few years, but he used to be a youth worker when I was in high school. He was always in to Christian rock music, and he really helped turn me on to Christian music–and even onto rock. We talked briefly, and it was good to see him again.

Anyway, I have extra coffee in my system this morning… So I’m kinda flighty…

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