My alarm went off at 6AM so that I could get up and go for a run. For whatever reason, I was dreaming about lasagna at that precise moment. I didn't go running.

Such is the treatment you are subjected to on your birthday when you are a student minister.

That never happens to me, when it's time for bed, I'm out. But last night was different, had some stuff on my mind. One thing was the whole deal about BCF sending me a birthday card that I wrote about 4 posts down. I never intended what I wrote to be a smack at the school, even though it may have sounded that way. On the contrary, it really really felt nice to get that card. When I said what I did about "I'm sure it's a marketing gimmick", that was a joke on myself meaning that there's no way someone would send me a card just to be nice.

About supporting the school - I understand a little bit about how difficult it is to ask for support. I know it's not an enviable position, yet I know that school wouldn't be able to operate without the sponsorship it recieves. Just this week I had already been thinking about how Audra and I could tweak our budget to give something on a regular basis, even if it isn't much. I look forward to the day when I can help support the school that supported and still supports me.

My feelings about BCF - I love it. I love the people, the place, the mission. If I didn't then I would never be so excited about the 3 students we are sending this fall, and the possible 2 more next spring. There will be more to follow, I'm sure of it. I hope to someday be back in Graceville, associated with the college. I've considered looking at the online programs to get another degree in missions, just so I could learn more from the BCF staff.

I am truly sorry to any friends I may have offended, and my post was honestly taken the wrong way even though I did a poor job in relating my message. If it was one of you guys who reads this thing on a regular basis that wrote those comments and signed the name as Tommy and Kyle, you'd better fess up to your joking around because if you don't, I'm going to look like even more of an idiot when I call them to apologize and they don't know what the heck I'm talking about.

Russian President Pockets Patriots Owner's Diamond-covered Super Bowl Ring

"Following a meeting of American business executives and Putin at Konstantinovsky Palace near St. Petersburg on Saturday, Kraft showed the ring to Putin - who tried it on, put it in his pocket and left, according to Russian news reports."

Click HERE to read the full story.

Anyone remember that song? Who sang it anyway? Whatever, take The Driving Test and post your results.

We got to go pick out our lot today, order the floorplan, and sign the contract! Now it's just up to the powers that be...

I know it was just a marketing gimmick to get me to financially support BCF, but it was still nice of them to send a card in the mail today wishing me a happy birthday, signed by several people I know. They've never done that to me before, must be a new one they recently thought up. It was nice.

As opposed to on land...yesss.

This was a question that people asked me everyday when I was a lifeguard in St. Augustine. Yes, they're out there, that's where they live. Sharks are getting so much attention now because of the 2 attatcks here in Florida. The one yesterday was right here where we live on the very beach where we were swimming on Sunday. I hate it that these 2 kids have been bitten and that the girl died, I really do hate that. But I don't think the sharks are out there looking to eat people. If that were the case, it would happen a lot more.

The girl was 100 yards off shore, on a boogie board, with baitfish all around her. First off, don't go that far out, it's not smart. Secondly, allthough it may look cool when the baitfish chum the water, never go near it. They are chumming for a reason and if you go splashing in there, you become the biggest baitfish in the school.

The boy yesterday was out there fishing. I do this often, but he had 2 things working against him, but they weren't really his fault. He had live bait and he was dragging his fish with him. When I wade out, I only use frozen bait or I leave my live shrimp on shore. If I'm keeping my fish in a basket with me, I'm only in waist deep water, which is where that guy was. He didn't really foul up, this could have happened to anyone, but I still think the shark was after the fish and shrimp, not the human.

When I was training to be a lifeguard we watched several videos taken from helicopters that showed people playing in the water with sharks swimming all around them. They're out there, but unless they are acting aggressively, they're not really a bother. If they are being aggressive, they will usually bump you once or twice to get you to leave, they don't just bite. The very last day I worked the beach one of my guards got bumped. He got out of the water and we could see that there were 2 sharks swimming with their backs arched and were very erratic. We cleared the water for the morning, the sharks left, people went back in.

That's my take on the shark thing.


A bull shark swims in the waters near visitors to Mimamar Beach, Fla. Sunday, June 25, 2005, one day after a bull shark attacked a 14-year-old girl. This sighting is less than a quarter mile from Saturday's attack site. (AP Photo/Jason C. Miller)

The Jeep is gone, sold yesterday. We shook hands on it, said our goodbyes, then I turned around and walked inside...just couldn't watch it drive away. I get way too emotionally involved with my vehicles.

I keep telling myself this truck will be better for the family, which it will. That's what I had to tell myself when I sold my 5.0 before Audra and I got married. I had a lot of money in that car and was able to get all of it back so we could start our marriage off debt free. Better for the family, it's a good reason.

I also tell myself a truck will be very useful for all the stuff I do, which it will. I really do look forward to having a truck again. That helps.

I bought it for $2,800, sold it for $3,700. I said when I bought it that I could get more out of it when I sold, that was one reason for going ahead and buying it, so it makes me feel better that I was able to do that.

It was an old retired guy who bought it, he thought it would be fun to cruise around town in the summer with his wife. I like old people, especially old people in love, so I was glad to sell to him. But deep down inside I like the fact that it wasn't some young guy with lots of money and ambition to make it into a big beast and rag it out.

I put it in my front yard on Saturday afternoon and the guy was ready to come pick it up on Sunday without even driving it. He said it looked so good he knew it must run good so he wasn't worried. Nope, no worries.

So, let's add a Jeep to the growing list of vehicles I once owned but would like to own again someday when the kids are gone and I've got the money to build it how I want it. That list also includes a 68-69 VW Beetle and an 87-93 Mustang.

So yesterday after church we're at one of our student's birthday party. After lunch Audra and I go to a room on the back side of the house to change to go out to the beach. We finish up and I open the door and right across the hall(like 5 feet from myself) is a woman in her 40s who is half way hanging out of the bathroom talking to the birthday girl's mother. I have never seen this woman before. This woman has her shorts around her knees. I should...

A. Close the door swiftly and silently, pray that she didn't see me and that I never see her again...
B. Close my eyes tightly and say audibly, "I am invisible, I am invisible, I am invisible..."
C. Run away crying...
D. Other.

The pic at the top of my blog may be changing next week.

Go ahead and click it. Basically it's the UK version of The One Campaign. Hit THIS LINK to go to their video page and watch some of them, especially the first one, "Click".

My first car is up for sale on eBay! For whatever reason I looked up old beetles and there it was! Check it out!

JonMichael got his last shot today, won't need anymore for several years. Man, I thought it was bad when he was a baby, but it's way worse the older they get. Thankfully our insurance paid for a combo shot, 2 vaccinations in 1, so he only had to have 1 shot. I don't know that I could have handled another one. I'm doing better now...oh and he's fine too.

Unless you consider that I went 3 out of 5 days on vacation without wearing deoderant. It was a liberating experience, but I don't recommend it unless you're vacationing at some large body of water where you can jump in any time you want. I also went 4 out of 5 days without fixing my hair. It was so strange to be fixing it on the last day, I almost forgot how.

I can't believe I forgot to mention that JonMichael got his first ride on a kneeboard and in a tube while we were on vacation! It was so cool to get to do that with him, next year I will hold him and ski like my dad used to do with me. I should have the pics back soon and will post them.

Got an auction I'm watching on eBay right now for a Windstar. I had planned to wait a few months to buy but this may be too good to pass up. It ends in 30 minutes so I'm sitting here, waiting until the precise moment to place my bid...unless someone passes my limit before then. This stuff is so exciting to watch, my heart speeds up and my hands actually tremble a bit! If you've never bid on anything on eBay, find something extremely cheap and go for it, it's so much fun!

So I've already said I'm doing a triathlon in September. I got to the lake last week with the intention of practicing my swimming since I don't have a place to practice around here. I could go out in the bay, but I'd be swimming on flats and mixing it with the sharks isn't my idea of a good training session. I haven't done any real swimming for distance in years so I knew it would take time. I swam island to island each day this week, the distance being about 250 yards. The trip across was fine and I felt good, but I would take a couple minutes to rest before heading back, which was a bit harder. To head across a third time would do me in. I was glad to see my technique was still good but my water endurance is gone. I'd be in trouble if I were to try a 600 yard swim, which is about what I'll be doing in my first tri. So I'm thinking I'll have to get creative on this one and come up with a way to use a small backyard pool. Swimming laps in a small pool is pretty much useless for something like this. So far my bright idea has been to find several feet of lightweight bungee chords to tie to my ankles and then tie the other end to the pool ladder. The resistance will be steady and not too strong so I won't be snapping around, yet it will still give a little with me. Hope this works, it's about my only chance to get some swim time in.

As we were travelling I saw some great things that I just had to write down. Most were church signs that will be showing up over the next few weeks, some were just church names.

One sign said "What we do in this life echoes in eternity." True, but does the pastor know that quote came from Maximus in The Gladiator?

I get excited every time I go thru Troy because I get to see the All Nations Independant Fundamental Full Gospel Fellowship Tabernacle. Ok so I messed that name up a bit, but not by much. One of those "all inclusive" fellowships.

There were 2 other churches that I saw like that, one in Opelika and one in but it's not worth writing the names since it's basically the same type of let's mix every denomination into one type of names.

Do you know what happens to sausage gravy when it's left out for a week and a half? It turns to liquid. As soon as I opened my office door this morning I realized my mistake. Stop breathing, turn around and run.

What a great week, I'm tired and sore, but isn't that how vacation is supposed to leave you feeling? I have been pulled behind a boat so much that I can barely hold a pen to write my name, and when I do it looks like I'm writing with the wrong hand. As soon as my mother in law sends us some pics I'll post them. Now it's back to the grind, but I feel good about it.

We leave after church tonight to head to Lake Martin, it's northeast of Montgomery, AL. This will be the 15th year in a row for Audra's family, my 4th with them. Sometimes the guys wake up very early to go fish the dock lights for bass, then as soon as the sun comes up we ski while the water is still slick as glass. Then we go back and after breakfast we pack our stuff and take the boats to one particular island where we set up camp for the day in true redneck fashion. Then we ski, fish, sleep, and eat all day. After a day on the island it's back to the campground for dinner, and sometimes we ski in the evenings when the water gets slick again.

We also take a trip each morning to Chimney Rock to jump off into the water. There are a couple different levels to the rock, the lower one being around 15-20 feet high and the upper level being an ungodly 80-90 feet high. I heard someone say 92 feet one time. You don't jump from that one for enjoyment alone, you do it to prove you can.

On the weekends we usually see this boat club come roaring by in $200-500,000 boats, the big huge off shore racing type of boats. They start at the north end of the lake, fly to Chimney Rock at about 90mph where they anchor and hang out for several hours, then fly back. You hear them long before you ever see them, pretty amazing stuff.

Can hardly wait, be back Monday.

I was wrong, I didn't go deep sea fishing, I went off shore fishing and yes, there is a difference. Yesterday we went about 35 miles out, but deep sea fishing is closer to 100 miles out. That's when you troll for the billfish and such, but we were fishing the bottom for grouper, amberjack, snapper and the like. Man, that was some work! We caught a lot of fish and a 15-20 pound fish will do his best to pull you into the water. The first fish I caught was an amberjack but when I got it to about 10 feet from the surface it was bitten cleanly in half by a barricuda. I didn't even feel it tug, it just flew in there, sliced my fish in half in 1 bite, and went on it's way. Very exciting stuff, you should go if you ever get the chance.

I've always dreamed of doing a triathlon but now I'm actually doing something about it. After talking with my bro, I kinda got the kick in the pants I've needed.

There are different lengths of triathlons, the shortest being the sprint. There are 4 sprints that take place in Panama City through out the year and I'm looking to compete(ok, ok, really just complete) the one in September, and hopefully even the last one in October. It will consist of a 1/3 mile swim, a 15 mile bike course, and finish with a 3.25 mile run. You can read about them HERE if you'd like. I was going to wait till the last one but I figured that 1 month wouldn't make much difference since I'm not trying to win, just finish it.

So there, now it's out. Ask me from time to time what I'm actually doing about it.

I get to go on my first deep sea fishing trip tomorrow, something I've always wanted to do. Audra and I were riding home when I got a call asking me to take the last spot, didn't take much thinking on my part. So who cares if I missed most of my work day today, and who cares if I take off all day tomorrow! We're heading off on our vacation Wednesday night after church so I'll just consider it an early vacation day, go me.

You wanna know? It's a GIRL, at least that's what the doctor thinks. I'm pretty much thrilled. Now the name selection begins. I thought we had it narrowed down, but Audra may be having second thoughts. In the running is Lydia(probably Audra's favorite), Jaylenn, or Jolenn(probably my favorite). Joe is her dad's name and a family name, Len is her brother's name, used to be her middle name, and is also a family name.

Everything is finished on my Jeep except for one part I have to replace, and wouldn't you know it, it's a dealer only item. I just called for the price on this small valve...$111. Such a rip, I could puke.

Come again another day...when I'm not in the middle of replacing all the brakes on my Jeep.

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?

Sorry, but that's all I could think of as I saw one particular story on the news this morning. It has always been the law to dim your lighting if you live on the beach during sea turtle nesting season, but now they're getting a little stricter in Panama City where the already endangered turtle's habitat is being ravaged. I'm no tree hugger but I appreciate any efforts to keep a certain species in existence, except maybe for some pestilence. Anyway, there is a certain portion of the beach that is being used as a testing area to see if a complete black out is more effective and residents are moaning and groaning about it. Their stated reasoning is that it could cause physical harm to them and their families as they engage in their night time activities on the beach. I was a lifeguard at St. Augustine beach for 2 summers and spent many nights out there locking the gates and I can tell you it's far from pitch black. One of the nicest things to do is to be on a secluded beach(if you can find one these days) at night with as little light as possible. Usually the only night time activities that I've seen on the beach is people taking walks in the dark, people playing in the bioluminescence, or people getting in trouble.

My office is tucked away upstairs, out of the way, nice and quiet. Sometimes I miss out on stuff but for the most part I like being up here by myself. There was a big funeral here today and the dinner is going on under my feet at this moment. The guys downstairs have to dress up and be on their p's and q's, but not me. Or do I? I just got a call from the office to see if I would come down and have prayer with the family. Great, prayer over dinner for a funeral of a person I don't know, nor do I know their family. And they're catholic, how do catholic's pray over their pot roast and green beans? To top it off, here I sit in a polo, shorts, and my Rainbows. Lucky thing I chose the polo today, I did have on a t-shirt before I decided to change. Thankfully some of the ladies down there who I'm pretty close with decided it wasn't proper to put me on the spot like that just to pray over fried chicken. Were I more presentable they may have gone ahead and asked me to do it...saved by a pair of flip flops.

A couple inches closer to the ground than me, about 25 pounds lighter, yet still one of the biggest men on earth. My brother has always been on a pedestal in my life. He's almost 3 years older than me so we've always been pretty close. He called Saturday night to tell me he's getting his Captain's bars on July 1st, and I think this is the grandest thing happening in the whole world. I'm trying my best to be there to see it. I've always been extremely proud of him and his military career, I feel like he's accomplished much in his 27 years. He has served 2 terms in Iraq. This weekend he competed in his first triathalon. He recently ran a 50 mile adventure race where he a 2 others on his team were given a map, a compass, and a set of check points to make. No set course for this race, take trails if you want, cut straight across country if that's your fancy. Oh yeah, it's at night. They surprised themselves and managed 2nd place, missing first by 2 minutes to a very experienced team. He hopes to compete in a 100 mile race soon, possibly out west. Last November he did his first marathon and plans to do another one this fall. He loves Christ, his family, his friends, and his country. And I love him.

I have no idea what this sign is supposed to mean either, but I saw it on a church in Crestview a couple of months ago.

Take the bad, make it good. That's how God works often times. Our whole camp experience this year proved that.

1 - We are on eastern time, but our bus showed up an hour late on central time, bad. This gave our kids time to run and grab breakfast, good.
2 - An hour into our trip, our nice new charter bus breaks down and we're stuck for 3 hours, bad. We were only a few hundred yards from an ostrich farm owned by a generous doctor who invited us to come hang out at his extremely cool place until we got a new bus, good.
3 - The bus they send us stinks like sour nursing home, bad. Ok there was nothing good to come from this.
4 - We get to camp just in time to eat dinner, good, but this makes our leaders about 15 minutes late for their first group time, bad. Since they were late, StudentLife assigned back up leaders to their groups. Most of them left when our leaders got there, but a few stayed to help our leaders who were a bit nervous about teaching, very very good.
5 - The guys dorm was at the top of a very steep hill, our whole entire church group met there at night, and it rained the whole time, bad. Because we had so many kids go we had to bring a van for the extras so we had that to get people up and down the whole time, good.
6 - We were able to rent a golf cart, good. Our cart was very wobbly and felt like it would flip at the slightest turn, bad. By the 2nd day we learned to work as a team to lean into the curves like a bobsled team to keep from flipping yet be able to take turns at a high rate of speed, good.

Be positive, setbacks aren't always the end of the world.

June 3rd was Celebrate Doughnut Day at Krispy Kreme. Audra and I went on a little date to Olive Garden and decided to make a run for some How Now's and were thrilled to be told that if we each said "It's Celebrate Doughnut Day" then we would get a free specialty doughnut. Simple pleasures are the best.

back in the saddle..errr....i mean office

Been a while but I'm back. Camp was good, glad to be back home. Yesterday was so nice as we were invited by friends to go ride wave runners and play at the beach. If JonMichael weren't born, we would have bought one last summer. We started to buy one again this summer since he's big enough to ride, but then ended up with baby #2 on the way so we scratched that one again. Looks like only a boat will do now, but that's a couple of years off still. I skied behind one of the jet skis yesterday and it reminded me of how much I don't like being towed behind one. It is very rough due to the jet and I could not cut hard at all or else I would pull the jet ski all over the place.

Speaking of the kid stuff, we go next Monday to try to find out what we're having. I'm really hoping for a girl and if it is, the name will probably be Jolenn. Joseph is her dad and brother's name, also a family name. Lenn was Audra's middle name, short for Leonard which is also her brother's name and a family name. No middle name, that way she'll keep Rogers when she gets married. A personal victory, haha. If it's a boy, the name will probably be Jackson, don't have the middle name figured out yet.

I've been looking at what it would take and cost to put the Jeep up on 33s. Don't know if it will happen, but it's still fun to dream. I could do it right for around 1K, plus tires. Since the front would be taken apart for gears, might as well put a lockrite in there, but that's optional. Considering I could get that thousand back if I sold, it's a tasty consideration.