Flight Confidential

Driving a van full of players to a game two hours away provided an inside glimpse into the team, unlike I had before.

Top story: Kevin plays much older and taller than his 8th-grade frame should allow, battling hard inside for rebounds and putback points. Not only is he a solid contributor for the JVs, but he also dresses out for the Varsity. On the drive down he let his teammates in on a secret: “You know the famous statue, Michelangelo’s David, supposedly the model for the perfect male physique? I look just like that statue…I even have a balloon butt, and the statue even has my big nose!” I’ll trust Kevin on that one.

Jonathan’s dad noted his in-line skating son had put in 350 training laps Friday night. I asked him about the recent Sports Illustrated article on the speed skating teen whose father had injected with HGH and steroids. Mr. Blair knew the kid, had noted the changes in his physique, and thought he would’ve been successful without the “help.” Mr. Blair had emailed the boy after his dad’s trial, offering help and support.

Jonathan has had much success competed against older, world-class skaters. He recently finished seventh overall in a 26 mile skate down in Tampa. The first six finishers were older, top-ranked skaters.

We found out why Josh arrived late to the game. He recently obtained his learner’s permit, and drove to the game himself. We passed him on the way home, safely observing the speed limit.

Will’s grandparents drove over from Macon to see their first Flight game, and must have been quite the social butterflies in the crowd. Grandmother discovered she went to the same high school as Carol’s mom and aunt, and Grandfather worked at Proctor & Gamble with Maryalice.

Flight Jayvee Road Win

Saturday the Flight boys traveled down I-85 to LaGrange for a rematch with tough Sound Doctrine Academy. The Jayvees had lost a close game in Atlanta, but came into the game playing well. Flight had suffered a down note when Conner arrived at the Friday afternoon practice on crutches, and his status for the game was uncertain. The game also started without big man Josh, so things didn’t look good for Flight.

Sound Doctrine started off by feeding the ball inside to their older and larger big men, but most all of their close shots failed to fall. This allowed Flight to stake an early 13 – 2 lead. Then Sound Doctrine hit four straight three-pointers, including three by the little guard nicknamed Peanut, and Sound Doctrine led 17 – 15 at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter proved to be the crucial period of the game. Sound Doctrine’s shooting went even colder, as they only scored three points the entire quarter. They also fell deeper into foul trouble, particularly their Shaq look-alike center, who racked up three fouls in the first half.

Flight’s offense continued to run smoothly, and they grabbed their share of rebounds against their taller opponents. DJ tallied four first-half assists, and finished with five to go with his game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Flight led 32 – 20 at the half, holding a comfortable lead most of the second quarter. Josh finally showed up and took over for Holt, crashing the boards and adding an assist of his own. Max also saw extended PT in the second, grabbing a rebound and assist.

Sound Doctrine wasn’t able to make much headway in the third quarter. Holt had a nice blocked shot. Will played several minutes and grabbed two rebounds, and also made a nice strong baseline pass inside to Josh early in the fourth quarter. DJ and Conner ran the offense and worked minutes off the clock. Conner showed no effects from his hurt ankle, scoring 19 points to go with 4 rebounds and a steal. The third quarter ended with the score 39 – 29, an eight point Flight lead.

The big Sound Doctrine center committed a fourth foul and was pulled from the game, so they could better employ a full-court press. In the fourth quarter Flight had less and less success breaking the press, but Sound Doctrine continued to foul. Flight had struggled all year making foul shots, but connected on enough down the stretch to hold onto the lead. Josh and Kevin made key foul shots, and Conner especially found his stroke at the line. Flight won a satisfying 53 – 44 victory.

Josh played the second and fourth quarters and had 5 points and 10 rebounds, with an assist and steal. Holt played well inside in the first and third, scoring a basket, grabbing 3 boards and 4 steals. Kevin also played big inside, scoring 3 points and adding 5 boards, despite giving up lots in size.

Jonathan started and scored two points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 2 steals. Isaac contributed as well. Only Joel didn’t get in the game.

Flight Jayvees Beat the Barons

Last Tuesday the Flight Jayvees beat the Greater Gwinnett Barons 52 – 34. Flight played perhaps their best game of the year, particularly in the first quarter. They outscored the taller and older Barons in each quarter.

DJ once again led the way, hitting three long three-pointers to stake Flight to a 15 – 9 first-quarter lead. He finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and an assist.

Josh also played well, but got into early foul trouble. He scored 8 points and added one rebound, despite missing time in the fourth quarter when an errant elbow bloodied his nose. Holt was also a force inside, playing his best game in a month, scoring 6, rebounding 8, and stealing one.

Flight extended their lead to 9 points at the half (25 – 16) and 12 after the third quarter (36 – 24). Conner was also playing a good game when he sprained his ankle chasing a ball on a fastbreak. Play continued down to the other end of the court. Conner has just gotten back on his feet when DJ passed him the ball, not realizing Conner was hurting. Conner was able to make the basket, and timeout was finally called. He missed the rest of the game, after scoring 8 points, rebounding one, and grabbing 2 steals.

The Barons kept playing hard in the fourth quarter, but Flight continued to counter. Kevin grabbed three steals in the fourth quarter alone, and finished with four. He also had a basket and an assist, to go with 7 rebounds. Isaac replaced Conner and provided a late game spark, scoring a basket and stealing the ball twice.

Jonathan hit a few foul shots down the stretch to increase the lead, and finished as Flight’s second leading scorer with nine, to go with 2 rebounds and a steal. Jordan got into the game late, and grabbed a rebound. The game ended with Flight holding their biggest lead of the night, 18 points.

Super Bowl Commercials

Liked:

Coke – James Carville and Bill Frist

CarMax – used to be ShipMax.

Bridgestone – swerving to miss deer, Alice Cooper, Richard Simmons

Bud Light – Will Ferrell in basketball uniform

Shaq as a jockey

Cars.com – head shrinker

Bridgestone – animals hollering

Pepsi – game announcers Joe Buck & Troy Aikman

Didn’t Like: Budweiser – cavemen saying the wheel sucked.

A Very Bad Flu

Picked up the kids Thursday night after work at a friend’s house. They called not long after we got home…they have a friend at JFBC whose 2-year old son died. The boy had the flu, and the mom decided to wait til after the nap to take him to the doctor. He threw up in his sleep and couldn’t breathe. They have three other sons, who had played ball at Mt. Paran…now they’re in the hospital with the same flu. Ceil had met them at a home school function. Friday women were in the Publix across the street just crying. The funeral is today, and in the midst of their grief the government is investigating the death.

Late last week the AJC had a couple of articles about this deadly children’s flu, that’s worsened by a staph infection. Thursday night Matthew had been grouchy, and Friday he woke up sick. He stayed in bad all day, throwing up once and not eating or drinking much. Ceil hovered over him, and they stayed home from small group. Saturday morning he seemed better, but got worse after I had with Will for basketball. By the time Ceil had him at the hospital he was doing better, so they turned around.

Ceil had cared for him all day, and Saturday night he felt good enough to eat at Moes, where we knew he’s eat a bunch. We even knocked out some homework afterwards, before he curled up and went to sleep (a rare occurrence). Sunday morning he first said he felt too bad to go to church, then decided he wanted to go at the last minute…sitting in the service with Ceil and I, enjoying Andy’s stories about their shedding dog and text-messaging. Matthew continued to have a temperature the rest of the day, though he played outside. Musinex kept his cough in check.

Matthew was heart-broken to miss the Hurt Super Bowl Party. I stayed home with him. Margaret and her family had just come home from the hospital that afternoon, but Mary wanted to have the party go on since Haley enjoys it so much. The Marshes and Normans were there…Willis especially wanted to see the Marshes.

Catherine had come home this weekend to run the house while Becky went on a retreat, though Willis admitted none of the kids are great cooks. Catherine’s wrist was in a cast, thanks to a dodgeball injury.

Stuff From Late Last Week

We didn’t get heavy into Pocahontas or Mulan, or that animated mermaid movie. We all enjoyed The Emperors New Groove, with David Spade, John Goodman, and that mechanic from Seinfeld. It was on Thursday night, and Matthew reminded me that the mechanic was actually in Underdog. Some celebrities make lots of animated movies, like Zellwinger and Ratzenburger. Sunday while talking about the Blues Brothers the animated movies came up again…James Belushi was in Underdog as well.

At the end of the year I was trying to redeem all my MyCokeRewards points, when they were ending on 1-31-08. I had noticed there weren’t many good prizes, so I figured I’d better jump on what was left. Got those adidas sunglasses, which were nice, but not great for me…Ceil has been wearing them. Nice case. Just as I cashed in 350 points on a Sports Illustrated subscription, I noticed they had extended the program. The SI extension worked out well, I’m considering doing that again. I have just gotten to the point where there’s not too many caps lying around any more. They blocked the site here at work.

Sometimes traffic can jam up pretty good in the Dunwoody/Perimeter area.

Young Charles is playing Mt. Paran baseball for the first time, but he should do just fine. Older David is also playing baseball for the first time in a while, playing with the other Flight basketball players, the team Will wants to play on. They practiced again last Thursday night.

I know that sometimes during things like computer conversions you’ve just got to roll up your sleeves and put the time in. I found out it our IT department here in Norcross that requested the delay. It actually might work out ok for our family…as the kids are getting older, the SC cousins are into different things. All the families that usually go to the beach in July are now having scheduling difficulties. Ceil likes to go to honor her parents. Ceil’s mom was still concerned about the Christmas Day incident, knowing that Matthew was provoked by his cousins.

They do take me to the limit. Ceil’s two cousins were like brothers, growing up right next door. They are all-right and fun to be with, as are their wives. Everyone has their own condo (we’re in a 3-bedroom condo with Ceil’s parents), but there’s a lot of visiting. Ceil’s brother and sister-in-law stay mostly in their condo (to his parent’s chagrin). Their kids stay over too late, then in the morning slam the door coming in, waking our kids. Ceil’s dad does all the cooking and keeps the fridge well stocked, so the eating is good. I hang out down at the beach most of the time, and keep Matthew busy, since there’s not a male cousin his age. Perhaps a solution would be to let him take a friend from Atlanta.

We need to have a garage sale ourselves.

Lang’s dad’s church choir sang at the quarterly multi-racial Baptist gathering last night, attended by 10,000. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter were in the front row. See John Edwards kicked back at the UNC/BC game Thursday night?

We didn’t see as many Mexican places in SF, but we may have been looking in the wrong places.

Big Road Win

Saturday the Flight boys traveled down I-85 to Lafayette for a rematch with the tough Sound Doctrine Academy. The Jayvees had lost a close game in Atlanta, but came into the game playing well. On a down note, Conner had arrived at the Friday afternoon practice on crutches, and his status for the game was uncertain. The game started without big man Josh, so things didn’t look good for Flight.

Sound Doctrine started off by feeding the ball inside to their superior big men, but most all of their close shots failed to fall. This allowed Flight to stake an early 13 – 2 lead. Then Sound Doctrine hit four straight three-pointers, including three by the little guard nicknamed Peanut. The quarter ended with Sound Doctrine leading 17 – 15.

The second quarter proved to be the crucial period of the game. Sound Doctrine’s shooting went even colder, as they only scored three the whole quarter. They also fell deeper into foul trouble, led by their Shaq look-alike center.

Meanwhile Flight’s offense continued to run well, as well as grab their share of rebounds against another taller opponent. DJ added four first-half assists, and finished with five, to go with his game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Flight led 32 – 20 at the half, holding a comfortable lead most of the second quarter. Josh arrived late and took over for Holt, crashing the boards and adding an assist of his own. Max also saw extended PT in the second, grabbing a rebound and assist.

Sound Doctrine was not able to make much headway in the third quarter. Holt had a nice blocked shot. Will played several minutes and grabbed two rebounds, and also made a nice strong baseline pass inside to Josh early in the fourth quarter. DJ and Conner ran the offense and worked minutes off the clock. Conner showed no effects from his hurt ankle, and scored 19 points, to go with 4 rebounds and a steal. The third quarter ended with the score 39 – 29, an eight point Flight lead.

The big Sound Doctrine center committed his fourth foul, and was pulled from the game so they could employ a full-court press. In the fourth quarter Flight had less and less success breaking the press, but Sound Doctrine continued to foul. DJ himself foulded out with 52 seconds remaining, with the game still on the line. Flight had struggled all year shooting foul shots, but made enough down the stretch to hold on to the lead. Josh and Kevin made key foul shots, and Conner especially found his stroke at the line. Flight won a satisfying victory, winning 53 – 44.

Josh played the second and fourth quarters and had 5 points, 10 rebounds, and an assist and steal. Hold played inside the entire first and third quarters, scoring a basket and grabbing 3 boards and 4 steals. Kevin also played big inside, scoring 3 points and adding 5 boards, despite giving up lots in size.

Jonathan started and scored two points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 2 steals. Isaac played contributed as well. Only Joel didn’t get in the game.

Flight JV's Beat the Barons

Last Tuesday the Flight JayVees beat the Greater Gwinnett Barons 52 – 34. Flight played perhaps their best game of the year, particularly in the first quarter. They outscored the taller and older Barons in each quarter.

DJ once again led the way, hitting three long first-quarter three-pointers to stake Flight to a 15 – 9 lead. He finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and an assist.

Josh also played well, but got into early foul trouble. He scored 8 points and added one rebound. He missed time in the fourth quarter when he got a bloody nose. Holt was also a force inside, playing his best game in a month, scoring 6, rebounding 8, and stealing one.

Flight extended their lead to 9 points at the half (25 – 16) and 12 after the third quarter (36 – 24). Conner was also playing a good game, when he sprained his ankle chasing a ball on a fastbreak. Play continued down to the other end of the court. Conner has just gotten back to his feet when DJ passed him the ball, not realizing Conner was hurt. Conner was able to make a basket, and a time out was finally called. Conner missed the rest of the game, after scoring 8 points, rebounding one, and grabbing 2 steals.

The Barons kept playing hard in the fourth quarter, but Flight continued to counter. Kevin grabbed three steals in the fourth quarter alone, and finished with four. He also had a basket and an assist, and 7 rebounds. Isaac replaced Conner had provided a spark, scoring a basket and stealing the ball twice.

Jonathan hit a few foul shots down the stretch to increase the lead, and finished as Flight’s second leading scorer with nine, to go with 2 rebounds and a steal. Jordan got into the game late, and grabbed a rebound. The game ended with Flight holding their biggest lead of the night, 18 points.

Nike Keystone White

Looking for a pair of white cleats for Matthew. These on Eastbay are too big.

Matthew wore these for two years, loving them. Everyone else was wearing black at the time.

Baseball Parks I've Experienced

Today’s doodle turned out to be stadiums…

MLB Parks I’ve Visited, by Preference:

Fenway Park, Boston...historic

Wrigley Field, Chicago...also historic, where Ruth called his shot

Old Comminsky Park, Chicago

AT&T Park, San Francisco

MinuteMaid Park, Houston

New Arlington Stadium, Dallas

Turner Field, Atlanta

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg FL

Old Busch Stadium, St. Louis

Shea Stadium, Queens, New York

RFK Stadium, Washington

Atlanta Fulton County Stadium

MLB Parks I’ve ventured past:

Anaheim Stadium

Old Arlington Stadium, Dallas

The Astrodome, Houston

Candlestick Park, San Francisco

New Comminsky Park, Chicago

Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

Los Angeles Coliseum

Kauffman Stadium, KC MO

Mile High Stadium, Denver

Oakland Coliseum

Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati

Tiger Stadium, Detroit

Minor League Parks:

Engel Field, Chattanooga

Greensboro NC downtown stadium

Greenville Braves stadium

Hohocam Stadium, Mesa AZ

International Stadium, Richmond

Luther Williams Field, Macon

Rome Braves stadium

Football Stadiums I've Visited

Football stadiums (not mentioned as baseball)…

UNA’s Braly Stadium, Florence AL

Georgia Dome, Atlanta

Grant Field, Atlanta

Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn

Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill

Legion Field, Birmingham

Memorial Stadium, Clemson, SC

Neyland Stadium, Knoxville

Orange Bowl Stadium, Miami

Sanford Stadium, Athens

The Superdome, New Orleans

Texas Stadium, Dallas

Ventured Past…

Appalachian State stadium Brevard

Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

Baltimore Ravens stadium

Bank of America Stadium Charlotte

Boston College stadium

Citrus Bowl Stadium, Orlando

Commonwealth Stadium Lexington

Fiesta Bowl Stadium, Phoenix

Gator Bowl Stadium, Jacksonville

Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis

Paulson Stadium, Statesboro GA

Purdue stadium, Lafayette

Reliant Stadium, Houston

Rose Bowl, Pasadena

Soldier Field, Chicago

Southern Miss stadium

Tampa Bay Buccaneers stadium

Williams Bryce Stadium Columbia

Commuting Blues

Happy with your commute? I’m not. After years of going home the same way (Spaulding to Holcomb Bridge), the backup on both roads continues to get worse. I’ve started crossing the river on Medlock Bridge, then taking Old Alabama to Haynes Bridge to Mansell. Less creeping, but it isn’t improving the overall time. Plus, it takes me right by places I like to stop, which isn’t good either.

The AJC loves that mega-church out in Gwinnett…here’s another story today…they’re giving away cars!

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/01/29/cars_0130.html

Busy month-end at work…Matthew has a bunch of catching up to do at his new school. Anna is doing great. Ceil has a focus group tomorrow night, so I’m trying to get everything done ahead of time, with varying success.

The new computer system training just got pushed back from April-May to May June. Our new boss is saying no one can take vacation one month BEFORE and AFTER these two months because of all the work and training that must be done. That could very mean I wouldn’t be able to go to the beach at all! Will could have a June Florida tourney, now there’s no way I can swing that. Ceil had thought we could all go to Destin, but I doubt she’d go by herself. This week there are a lot of unhappy people around the Southeast…we’re trying to see if we can change this.

Will won his game last night…it was a tough game and he got to play a decent amount. Matthew and Anna were hard at work on last minute homework assignments…the computer and printer were acting up, slowing everyone down.

POTUS (President)…I still haven’t been able to saturate myself into the primaries, but people seem to be dropping out left and right (wing). It’s still January! Guess everyone wants a hand in the decision-making process.

The Mets getting Santana can’t be good, but it’s not the end of the world. It’ll have offsetting payroll ramifications. Sure wish it had been the Yanks or Sox instead. They trade prospects, who can be replaced through free agency.

I’ve started emailing blog entries directly to my blogger account, instead of copying and pasting what I’d written. It’s working out well, though I’m rarely getting online at home to post them – so several hit at the same time.

More on Church

I do sometimes wonder if North Point would turn to just appealing to an older audience. They do continue to say they’d rather not have people who attend for years and years without becoming involved or inviting people. They want to make sure they have “open seats” available in opportune times available for visitors. When the new building north of Cumming opened, there was a big push to recruit workers not only for that building, but to replace all the workers in Alpharetta who were moving up there.

Besides to college gathering they have down at the Biltmore, for years they’ve had a Tuesday night Singles service. These gatherings are much more tailored for younger age groups, that 18 – 30 group. I doubt these would appeal much to me.

NP treats “Sunday School” workers very well, and they don’t try and overwork them with extra meetings and time commitments. They consider these expenses worthy investments. One thing I like is how teachers move up each year with the class, so a child has the same teacher for years and years. Will’s teacher stayed involved with the same group of boys, even coming to see Will’s baseball games.

Besides supporting many ministries around the world, NP thinks it important to send out many (+/-50!?) overseas mission trips every year. Besides helping the overseas missions, it is of course an experience that brings each person that goes closer to God.The trips are costly, but they make a point to get those who don’t go involved by contributing financially.

This November for the first time NP partnered with many area ministries to ramp up involvement, to help with the increased needs of the Christmas season. People could donate time, food, clothing, or money. All the ministry time slots were filled, two large truckloads of food were gathered, and over $250,000 was raised as well. They did admit “worry” that such a campaign during the traditional big year-end giving time could make them not make budget, but they did make it. Andy says one of the advantages of NP’s size and generosity is they’re able to move quickly to help needs. Yesterday he did say he felt pretty dumb for calling off Sunday church so early on Saturday, when Sunday turned out to be so pretty and dry.

Yesterday Andy preached part two of his two-part “Just Ask” series. Said that most sermons he preaches can be broken down into three groups:

1. The Law of God
2. The Love of God
3. The Resurrection of Christ

He un-characteristically mentioned how much of the election rhetoric focused on taxes and tax cuts, and little on how decreasing morality plays such a large part in increasing poverty…and how God’s Law, Love, and Resurrection can make a difference. Andy attended a conference to hear a speaker who’d written several books against the mega-church movement. Andy was able to have dinner with the guy, as both had many questions for each other. This began an e-mail correspondence. The guy asked what good it would be if everyone in the USA attended a church like North Point. Good question, said Andy, who discussed it with the NP staff. His answer was that the more people can learn and apply the above truths, the less immorality and poverty we’d have, and the more people would be making wiser decisions…like using God’s money and resources more wisely could’ve had an impact on the current mortgage foreclosure crisis. (Hey! I’m certainly going from memory on this…I should’ve taken notes!)

Personally, while it is refreshing for me and my family to experience such quality, Christ-centered environments, I understand the difference between Andy’s applicable Bible-based messages and the more traditional sermons preached in evangelical churches, more focused on the passage with an application. I may be missing expert Biblical teaching, but I can be involved in an environment God is using to attract those not in relationship with Him. The neighborhood small groups fill most of the Bible Study need, requiring more study and preparation than I ever did for any Sunday School class. Relationship development opportunities are more focused in small groups as well.

The children’s programs are of highest quality as well. They stick to basics here as well, with Bible Study focused on implanting children with three things: God made me, God loves me, and God wants a relationship with me. It is interesting that my children aren’t super crazy about the great programs, for one huge reason: their close friends aren’t there. So this would be a reason why we’d change churches.

These are of course my own ramblings. I loved SPdL for the family atmosphere and Biblical preaching/teaching. You know my experience, becoming involved in college in the youth and choir, developing relationships with families, then after graduation serving in those same ministries I had earlier benefited from. The Singles ministry wasn’t top tier, but the leaders were great and God worked great things there as well. After teaching in the youth department for years with many great people, I was disappointed to join an adult Sunday School class where people were of a different mindset. I suppose most churches are the same way (even North Point) – made up of one group that serves and another group that attends for more social reasons. Now that I’m older I realize everyone’s not in the same station in life; they serve elsewhere, or are overwhelmed with children, finances, or other things…they’re not at a place in life to serve.

Of Shorts in Church, and Black Socks

At least the music at NP is tons better than most other places. Many Sundays I’ll look around at old people to see how they’re liking it. I probably like the music better than Ceil, though she and her friends like Todd Fields and some of those other younger guys. I like that Eddie Kirkland guy, the one Andy is always making fun of.

A co-worker went, a MBA but generally an ok guy. Called North Point “Disneyland”

I just can’t wear shorts because I’m always so cold. To me sneakers are much warmer than dress shoes. You always know the visitors/first timers for the suits they wear. Johnson Ferry has gotten more casual, but they still look at you funny if you go too casual…not that I care.

Tuesday after work I picked up Anna at a friends because Ceil and Matthew were in Douglasville for Will’s game. I took Anna to Moe’s for a rare father/daughter evening. The closest Moes was the one at JF & Shallowford, not our usual Moes. But when we went in, the Coleys were just sitting down to eat, so we ate with them. Didn’t get to talk that much to Brian.

His church softball script is out being read in Hollywood, he has to re-write it for Foxworthy’s personality. Brian still says he wants me to read it. Guess it would be beyond his control to let us be in the softball sequences.

I forgot if Will won. He made one basket and one foul shot, and made a nice pass. A few players on the team wear black socks, and the trend is growing, particularly on the JV team. Will borrowed a pair of my black FootJoy crew socks and wore them. Since the barely go much higher than his ankle braces, and the backs of his Nike high-tops are mostly navy, it doesn’t look too bad.

Some of the boys pull their black socks relatively high, and it looks terrible to an old-school guy like me. Willis looks especially bad. For a tall guy he has a nice soft shot, and is one of the better foul shooters. Brother Joel’s black socks look bad as well.

I promised Matthew I’d get him another pair of white cleats, but it may be a tough task to find some. Haven’t been to Dick’s yet, but Eastbay didn’t have any that small. Got Anna a pair of brown low-cut Chuck Taylors that she wanted, but they’re too big.

Because of Average Cost I’m having to be careful to make sure everything’s correct before updating stuff. I’ve found lots of errors, and today it resulted in some office fireworks between some folks (not me).

North Point Thinking

There are many Sundays that I have to remind myself that I’m there more for the applicable preaching than the rock music. Every January Andy Stanley preaches a ‘why we are here’ sermon. A couple of weeks ago he said that nationally the church as a whole has lost the 18 – 30 year old age group, mainly because they see the church as judgmental, homophobic, and not relevant. He said that NP’s focus was aimed directly at that age group. You can certainly tell that by the music, as well as the musicians. It could why NP no longer has dramas, though sometimes they do have humorous skits on video.

Sometimes it seems like what’s going on at is almost offensive, particularly to older people. But it’s usually because that focus is toward people younger than me. Andy even wears jeans some Sunday mornings (I do as well, mainly for warmth in the winter). Some adults wear shorts in the summer, but I’d never go that far (I’m the guy wearing long-sleeves in July because the AC is so cold).

Last year NP hired a research firm to conduct a study of people who had just started visiting for one to four weeks, about why they had come and why they hadn’t been involved in church before, etc. Broken down by age, etc. One of the most interesting findings was what Andy centered his talk around; that the main reason people first visited was because someone asked them to come. When discussing this, the NP staff all agreed that while they all talked to non-attenders about coming to church in general terms, most never specifically asked people to come on a specific time and day.

NP wants to make every part of attending be so good (parking, traffic, child-care, music, available seating, etc) that there’ll be no hassles and newcomers can focus on the message…and want to come back – even if they didn’t necessarily agree with the entire message. The research seemed to bear that out even in the 18 – 30 group, which was encouraging. They’re starting programs closer to wear the younger age groups live and congregate, like a college service held down at the Biltmore near Tech.

Andy also said that due to his age (48) and the great amount of speaking he’s done over the years, that it’s beginning to wear on his voice. To compensate, on Sundays he’s only going to preach at one or two services instead of all three. He’ll always preach at 9:00, and then later services will be shown on tape.

See this week’s AJC article on the mega-church they just built out in Gwinnett County? Everything has a fancy name, lots of technology, nice architecture, even an actual Starbucks inside. I was thinking while reading it that it mostly boils down to the message whether people are really reached. NP tries to build boxy buildings because they’re cheaper to build, so more money is left for ministry.

Sometimes Ceil and I consider attending a closer church, mainly for the kids. We do have plenty of friends at close by churches, but wonder if our relationships would really be deeper just by seeing them more often. We could always listen to NP sermons on line.

The Burpinator 3000

Matthew got a little toy from Christmas that burps…the “Burpinator 3000”. The other day he was wearing it out, burping his ABCs. The next time he laid it down I snuck it into my sock drawer. This morning, as usual, I was hunting clean socks in the dark…and set off the Burpinator.

More on the Moires

Yep, these are some of those iPod shoes. We have two iPods in the family, and Ceil is chomping to get one. I’d have to get the little shoe chip insert …the shoes are just built with the little compartment in the sole where the chip goes.

Like the crazy silver color? Looks like the silver part won’t show dirt, but it’s kinda out there for an old dude like me. I’m worried about the lack of toe room, but the more I wear them, the better they feel (I’ve been wearing them at night when I’m upstairs on the carpet, making sure they feel good enough to keep). Will could always wear them. They do match my Krypto nickmane.

The Hurt’s Super Bowl party is coming up…it’s the one time of year we see our old SPdL crowd. Mark and Leah will be there with their daughters. They live out in Smyrna or Austell, but I think they still drive in to Buckhead Church. Sometimes Bob and Myra show up, and Jim should come, along with some of his kids.

Whack Hyder Says Hello

This weekend OK State was on TV and they had Eddie Sutton’s name on the court. Every game I saw had a coach’s name on the court, and they were all from the 80’s/90’s…also Coach K, Cremins, Syracuse. What about Whack Hyder?

For years my Grandmother lived on North Stratford near Lenox. My mom grew up in the house on the corner of Stratford and Peachtree, and graduated from North Fulton. The house later became the Church of Christ Scientist…now all that remains is the little reading room on the corner. By the time I came along my grandmother had moved down North Stratford. Even in the late 60’s/early 70’s there was talk about GA 400, and she finally moved to a condo off Pharr Court, behind what is now Brio. Many houses still stand on North Stratford. My grandmother’s is gone, but the front yard still remains.

My grandmother worked in the registrar’s office at Tech, for years and years…retiring before I arrived in 1977. She got to know Whack Hyder, who often came by to check on the status of recruits and players. My first quarter at Tech I took a PE course called “aerobics” and all we did was run. We ran different distances for half the class, then played football or basketball for the second half. It get an A you had to run a mile and a half in twelve minutes. Hyder was the teacher, and he remembered my grandmother. For years afterward I would see him at Tech basketball games, and he’d always speak to me.

Will was at the Normans last Wednesday when it snowed, and they had a big time. Willis would use his long arms to stretch out and grab all the snow off a car, making a huge snowball. Anna and Matthew also had fun at our house. Saturday Anna had a big time, because she was at a friend’s house on a hill. We went shoe shopping for her on the way home, taking away valuable snow time. Then Ceil took her and Matthew ice skating with friends. Most of the snow was gone by the time they got home!

Church was cancelled, so I took Matthew to get a haircut…then we ate at Moes. We had thought two other churches were closed as well, but I heard Johnson Ferry had services. Later we all went to see the 5 pm Gameplan at the Picture Show. I’d forgotten how “cute” it was, but I suffered through it for a second time. Then I watched the end of the exciting NYG/GB game.

Work has been busy this week. Last night I went from work to get Will, and we didn’t get home til 8:15. Ceil is taking him to Douglasville for this afternoon’s game, while I pick up Anna after ballet. Tomorrow Will has baseball, and Matthew has tryouts Saturday. It just gets busier and busier.