Laugh. Love. Learn.

Katelynn hit a homerun tonight!!! We are so proud of her; she has been practicing for hours with her daddy. Her team’s still the opposite of undefeated, but they always go down fighting. She thought you’d be more convinced of her softball skills if she posed with all of her equipment:

And here she is, demonstrating how she hit her to-the-fence, in-the-park homerun:

Go, K-dawg!!! Yeay!!!

I overheard an interesting conversation tonight. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop; they were just talking excessively loud. I heard the word “Bible,” and my ears perked up. A group of guys were discussing church, and then one of them said something so disturbing I stopped and wrote it down:

“Man, I do want to change my life and make it better, but I haven’t done that yet so I can’t go to church.”

That’s devastating. Hopeless. He’ll never be able to change without Jesus. The more I know Jesus the more I realize how much I need mercy and grace and forgiveness. “Changing” isn’t just about watching your tongue, refusing a drink, donating some money, or showing up at church. I mean, those are good things, but what about your heart? What are your motivations? Your thought-life? Do you always view situations and people through God’s eyes? Is your first instinct compassion? Do you have enough self-control that you can pause and respond instead of reacting to situations? The more my outside changes, the more I realize my inside needs to change.

I wanted so badly to interrupt the conversation and proclaim that Jesus loved that guy right now, just how he was. How do Christians project such an image of self-righteousness that people feel the need to “fix themselves” before they can be a part of a body of Christ? Could that misconception be changed if we displayed greater humility, transparency, authenticity, and compassion? How do you explain to a non-Christ-follower what inward transformation is like? Once you start to follow Him, Jesus just changes your desires and your ways of thinking and rocks your life.
But you’ve got to find Him first.

I don’t think my eavesdropping experience was accidental. God is breaking my heart for people who need Him and don’t even know it. A sense of urgency is building about finding people who are hurting (whether they’re aware of it or not) and loving them, serving them, telling them about Jesus, and hopefully bringing them to The Vine. I pray the Lord continues to change me from the inside, that people will be attracted to Jesus in me, and that He’ll put people who need Him in my path.

Stop what you’re doing, go to Amazon.com, and buy this book. I had the chance to review it, which was awesome, as discussed here and here.

I think a lot of us know how we do things at our churches, but Tim articulates WHY it’s so important to leverage culture for Christ. I’m convinced that a lot of the traditional vs. contemporary “fighting” that exists in churches today would subside if everyone read this book and understood the principles this book details. Rather than an us-versus-them mentality, wouldn’t it be great if people understood each other and agreed there was no one “right” way to do church?

In addition to being laugh-out-loud funny at times, Tim explains Jesus’ use of parables and pop vocabulary (i.e. hypocrite) to reach people, about how the intended audience of the gospels and the rest of the new testament was different, and about the dangers of accidentally worshipping culture over Christ.

I spend my life modeling, encouraging, organizing, and inspiring the how. Tim explains the why. We aren’t implementing culture for the sake of being cool, and though you probably know that generally, reading this book will make all the bits and pieces of truth you’ve heard fit together. This kind of knowledge will further your passions for teaching people about Jesus…through culture!

This book will leave you with the excited, overwhelmed, hopeful, inspired, can’t-stop-talking-about-it effect one experiences after leaving an Innovate conference for the first time…and we can’t all afford to go to Innovate, but you can probably swing $11.53. It’s a quick read. I think you’ll love it. And I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you need further convincing, check out Tim’s exceptionally cool website.
I love the photography. And I love old church pews. It reminds me of the little chapel at Prospect UMC, where I fell completely in love with Jesus.

wow. i hadn’t ever thought of this.

“God’s plan is not always efficiency.”
How does this apply to you?
Could it be that your current situation is part of a redemptive plan for your life?

hey guys — Mother’s Day is a little over 2 weeks away, and I know just what your mama (or your baby’s mama) would like — a giftcard to Classy Nails & Tan in Braselton or in Snellville! it’d give them a well-deserved chance to relax, and their toes can be as pretty as mine! do ittttt. be Classy. show your favorite ladies some love.

before my Gran passed away, i used to hang out with her a lot. she was cool. very cool. and one of the cool things i noticed about her what that she always thanked Jesus for little things. we’d get the first parking place at the grocery store and she’d say, “thank you Jesus for all small blessings!” she was just as serious as she could be.

i have been thinking about this post for a long time now. one of the things tim mentioned was, “I really believe that God blesses those who tithe. I think he keeps the car running longer, the roof from leaking as soon as it would have, and He loves to sprinkle you with raises and added cash you didn’t expect.” interesting perspective, huh? instead of wishing i had a newer car, i’ve found myself thinking, ‘Lord, i’m thankful for this car. it totally provides for all my needs. please make it keep running!’

i wonder how often we miss blessings like that because we fail to notice, or because we’re wishing we had bigger or better things?
i want to notice.

here’s how i noticed this week:

when i walked in the door at publix, there just happened to be 3 packages of diapers, Tanner’s size, sitting in the clearance buggy for $7.00 a package. that made 3 packages (210 diapers) cost $21.00, saving me $36.00! so, as i thank Jesus for provision on that one, i encourage you to look around and see how He’s giving you the hook-up, and thank Him for it.

i have the best friends in the world. seriously, i’m not easy to surprise, but this weekend some of my favorite people got all ace of cakes on me. normal people might think, “eh, a cake,” but you’re talking to someone mesmerized by the Food Network, so…it’s a big deal. when a surprise involves smoked critters and rockstar cakes, my excitement is difficult to contain! check this out. i love pastel M&Ms… (but i didn’t know anyone realized that!!! )

mmm beefy. isn’t that gorgeous? notice the caramelization on the edges…

Tanner stuck her fingers in my cake! sneaky fox. how can you say no to those eyes?

i’m just so blessed to have such loving, generous, thoughtful people to do life with…
*thank you*

that included dinner with the fam.
the brother —

the parents — (um…idk why we match)

katelynn hanging out with matt’s non-costa-rican friend from costa rica, larson —
please notice katelynn’s earrings…
if i didn’t know better i’d think this fashionista was morgan’s child.

and the night ended with some of this chocolate amazingness —

yum.

Birthdays should be for moms, so I thought I’d give mine a shout-out.

1. Thanks for consoling me when I turned 1 and stuck my finger in the candle on my cake.
2. Thanks for keeping me when I turned 2, knocked a pound of Reese’s Pieces out of your hands, and ate them by the fistfuls.
3. Thanks for that amazing train birthday cake you made me…I don’t remember it, but it looks awesome in the pictures!
4. Thanks for giving me a brother when I was 4. I love him.
5. Thanks for coming to watch me play softball when I was 5. Well, actually, thanks for letting me go to the concession stand. They had fountain Cheerwine, which is the only redeemable part of me playing a sport.
6. You get props for year 6 because I had those kickin’ yellow pants with the yellow striped shirt and yellow suspenders. That was the bomb.
7. I think year 7 was my first trip to Dollywood. Gosh I loved Dollywood.
8. Thanks for not giving me up for adoption when I was 8. I’m not sure how you made it.
9. Thanks for not allowing me to be a 9-year-old drop out, even though my 3rd grade teacher was terrible. You also let me decorate my own cookie-cakes that year, which was the beginning of a life-long passion.
10. Thanks for letting me start tap dancing. I know y’all really couldn’t afford that and I appreciate it now.
11. Thanks for letting me go on that overnight field-trip to EarthShine Camp when I was 11. I know you really didn’t want to let me go off with strangers.
12. Do you remember my 12-year-old birthday party when you rented that cabin and all my friends came to hang out and eat pizza? Yeah, that was the bomb.
13. Thanks for letting my dance friends spend the night at 13. I’m sorry we were so loud you tried to sleep in the van in the garage.
14. Thanks for allowing me to get a job. Why a 14-year-old wanted to work so bad I don’t know, but I sure did enjoy my $4.25 an hour for bagging groceries.
15. Thanks for letting me go with the church to Panama City for Spring Break in 9th & 10th grade. I now understand why PCB freaks parents out.
16. Thanks for making me choose between dance and a car. You and dad were so wise! And that car was pimp. I also remember you taking my friends & I to Red Lobster for lunch. I’m sure that was expensive. But it sure was yummy.
17. Thanks for keeping me when I painted three of my walls Central yellow and the fourth wall Home Depot orange…while you were out of town. That was the coolest room EVER.
18. See number 8, and apply it to 18.
19. Thanks for sharing your debit card. And so began my enthusiastic participation in a sport I’m great at: Recreational Grocery Shopping.
20. Thanks for occasionally giving me $5 on the way out the door to Athens…Nick and I could share either 2 hotdogs from the hotdog man on Baldwin Street… or 3 tacos from Taco Stand…and that was way better than packing a lunch!
21. Thank you for the 1st annual Bruster’s cake, completely covered in pastel M&Ms. Something about the combination of textures when you layer ice cream and icing…simply amazing. I look forward to it every year!
22. Thanks for everything you did to help me graduate from college…I can’t believe I pulled that off in 4 years…and, clearly, it was because I had so much support.
23. Thanks for helping me plant a gazillion flowers when we bought our first house. I love azaleas and hydrangeas…but I don’t love digging holes or getting my hands dirty.
24. Thank you for always asking if I have any ironing you can take home when you come to visit. I hope I’ll find it in me to do that for the girls when they’re grown-ups…because that is QUITE the sacrifice! And I love creases in my pants.
25. 25 was my favorite birthday ever. It was Easter Sunday. You & Dad came to watch Danielle get baptized and then we ate like rockstars at Gran’s house…complete with No Name Pie.
26. Thanks for bringing me rice krispie treats (but made with Multigrain Cheerios…just how i like them) and a Publix sub right after Tanner was born. I’d been dreaming of carbohydrates for 5 months.
27. Thanks for loving my girls. Grandmothers are awesome. Especially when it involves reasoning with 8-year-olds over the phone at 7 o’clock in the morning.

And thank you for loving me…for 27 years and 9 months.

Does anyone have a good Tiramisu recipe without raw eggs in it? I love Tiramisu. I do not love serving people recipes containing raw eggs. Advice?