We had a blast, and I even managed to snap a couple shots.

He has so many expressions:

A couple days ago, my little sister wrote on my facebook wall, “Have you have to see the new episode of The Office. It reminds me of you and Steph.”

So last night, Stephanie and I watched the “baby” episode of The Office.

We laughed so much. I won’t go into details just in case you haven’t seen in yet and you are planning to watch. But let me tell you, we could relate to ALMOST everything. (I don’t think Steph ever accidentally breast-fed someone else’s baby, but I can totally see how that could have happened in the semi-conscious state we were both in)

I think in a way, though, it was a little euphoric. It feels like forever ago that I pulled the car around to the front of Rex hospital and checked the car seat one more time before we drove home as… parents.

This morning, I got to looking back at some of our blog posts from this time last year.

That’s where I found the photo above.

I also noticed this post from Steph, called “Musings of a new momma”

Parenting has changed so much since then! I’m so excited that we have another little “jelly bean” coming this summer.

I can’t wait to do it all over again!

Yesterday, I was killing some time while waiting for something at work, and I read this great article from the “Digital Photography School” website called “4 Easy Photoshop Techniques To Make Your Pictures Pop“.

One of the tips looked especially cool: take a photo you like, and then layer a blurred version of it over top and play with the transparency a little bit.

The photo above is the result.

The photo below is what I started with:

Got any cool photoshop tricks?

That means I came home to an empty house last night.

I miss my angels….

Piper taught for an hour on what he has learned from C.S. Lewis over the course of his life.

Almost every single sentence is quotable and I STRONGLY encourage you to go download it or watch it (for free, of course).

But if you only have five minutes, watch this clip, where Piper explains how a sense of duty in the christian faith is not only a waste of time — it’s just about the OPPOSITE of the Gospel:

Warning: The next photo is graphic hilarious and may significantly hurt your eyes. We were bored and I was intoxicated trying to entertain my family, and Stephanie threatened to blackmail me dared me to post the photo here, so… keep scrolling at your own risk:

Check out this video from Lecrae.

I won’t lie -- I teared up a little bit while watching it.

Just because the media quit caring about what’s going on in Haiti doesn’t mean that anything has changed there. It’s still going to take YEARS to get that country back on their feet.

You can go here and buy the video and/or the .mp3 file and all proceeds go to ChurchesHelpingChurches, which is a ministry bringing relief to churches in Haiti.

Happy anniversary honey!

You’re the best gift God ever gave me (besides Himself)!

(If the embedded video doesn’t work, you should be able to watch it here)

Pastor J.D. lived for a couple of years in a Muslim country in the pacific rim of Asia, and also got his PHD in Islamic studies. “Breaking The Islamic Code” is his attempt at helping us ‘westernized Americans’ better understand Islam, Muslims, and the huge gaps in culture and communication that often exist.

Having lived in a ‘Muslim’ country myself, and hoping to possibly plant a church in a Muslim context some day, I look forward to seeing what he has to say!

In this part of North Carolina, there are usually a couple times every winter when the weather man forecasts a ‘BIG’ snow event.

This usually results in considerable chaos — everybody freaking out:

-buying all the bread and milk in sight

-crashing local news websites by re-loading the weather page every 20 seconds

-impulsively buying kerosene heaters and snow chains for their car tires…

I completely blame the media around here. They show the weather every 10 minutes and the weather people totally soak it up.

A few of years ago, this happened. They forecast ELEVEN inches of snow, so our local airport preemptively canceled all flights for the following day. In the end, we didn’t see one flake, and mom and dad missed the first (and only, so far) cruise of their lives because their flight was canceled.

So, all that to say, this weekend we actually got some snow!

We probably got around 7 inches here, and about 20 miles north, mom and dad got a good foot and so did our mom and dad in Virginia.

Part of the reason that a good snow around here is so exciting is that it pretty much mandates staying at home and just relaxing.

I’ve read that the entire NC DOT budget for clearing roads is usually whiped out in one morning after we have a good snow. I believe it, ’cause it’s been 5 days and our road is still an ice skating rink.

But on the up side, we had a good time doing not much of anything this weekend!

We took Josiah out to play and he had a blast.

He looked like the kid in “A Christmas Story” who has so many layers on that he can’t move his arms. It was really cute, but even with all the layers, his nose started running like a faucet about 5 minutes after we got him out there, so we didn’t stay very long.

His favorite part was when I would throw snowballs. He would say, “Ball! Ball!”

He also got a kick out of the ice scraper, which he decided must be a spoon (”poo-nah”).

The kicker is that they’re forecasting lots more snow for this coming weekend, so we’ll see what happens!

…but I won’t hold my breath

Remember this series of posts from several months ago?

I wrote about the book “Religion Saves (and 9 other misconceptions)” by Mark Driscoll, head pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.

The book is based on the sermon series by the same name (which you can watch, listen to, or download for free).

Well, this month, like every month, ChristianAudio.com is giving away an audio book, and this month it’s the audio version of ‘Religion Saves’! It’s completely free!

Just follow this link during the  month of February, and you can download the book in mp3 form!

I especially recommend the book for those who consider themselves to be skeptics or opponents of Christianity. I think the book does a great job of clearing up several common misconceptions about the teaching of the Bible.

If you get it, please let me know what you think of it!

That means I found some time to use my computer for something besides work and I’m actually posting a couple of videos for the first time in months!

Enjoy:

He can only take about 5 steps before he gets scared and collapses, but it won’t be long now!

Well, I guess it wasn’t new. Let’s say I was reminded of a good lesson recently.

Since it involves a moment of personal vulnerability in someone else’s life, I’m going to leave out lots of details that would probably make it a better story and just cut to the chase. If we ever get the chance to sit down and chat, you can ask me for the long version :0)

Here goes:

A couple of weeks ago I sat with a handful of brothers in a friend’s dining room.

We were sharing prayer requests and praying for each other, and a new friend of mine shared a short story.

You probably can’t fully appreciate his story without knowing him a lot better than it’s my place to help you here, but we’re talking about a guy who seems to really have it together. At a glance, he appears to fit nicely into lots of stereotypes, several of which us hypocrites love to judge.

You also need to know that he has been jobless for quite a while, although, pulling up in his driveway, you would never guess that the man who owns the house hasn’t had a consistent paycheck in over a year.

OK. So with that tiny snapshot, here’s what he shared:

He said that the previous week, his wife had been out of town visiting family for the holidays, so, with nobody in need of his attention, he decided to seize the opportunity to catch up on a couple of movies he had been wanting to see.

One of the movies was the Russell Crowe film “Cinderella Man“, which is based on the true story of Jim Braddock.

He said it was strange that he decided to watch it, because he had already seen it in the past, and he never watches a movie twice.

Nevertheless, he put it in late one night after staying busy all day.

If you haven’t seen the film or read the story of Braddock, the crux is that he couldn’t find work during the great depression, so he became a boxer in a desperate effort to keep food on his family’s table. The movie is very deep – the cinematography is kind of gray, representative of the period in American history that it represents. And you get a glimpse into this guy’s daily grind of getting up early and doing whatever it takes to keep his wife and kid warm and fed, even when this means literally taking a beating in the boxing ring.

My friend vulnerably shared that while watching that movie, he cried for the first time in ten years.

He said that he looked at a man who was desperate to provide for his family — desperate to be able to look into his wife’s eyes and see respect and admiration.

He said that after a year of spending all day, every day looking for full-time work, he knows exactly how that feels.

He said that what has been especially hard for the last year is that when you have a full-time job, there is a clear calendar of when to work and when to rest. There are weekends and vacations and holidays. But when you don’t have a job, and your job is to look for a job, there are no weekends, no holidays, no vacations. You are always scrambling to try and figure out how you’re going to land a salary — and with it, some sort of stability.

He said that though he hasn’t been boxing, he knows the feeling of emotional and mental exhaustion of the character in the movie.

This wasn’t some sort of tear-filled, heart-wrenching, lay-hands-and-pray-for-me moment. It lasted for 2 minutes and he wash just sharing the way that he would like for us to be praying for him.

But it was a wealth of an education for me.

So far, by God’s grace, I haven’t had to experience what it feels like to be unemployed while being responsible for a family.

And I never in a million years would have guessed that this friend was wrestling with the weight he carries on his shoulders.

Never.

You could fit my house in his living room. He seems to be playing a different ball game.

But at the end of the day, a man is a man. Whether he’s hunting in a field, or boxing in a ring, or filling out endless job applications and networking with everyone he’s ever known, he’s really just trying to be a provider.

In the end, my jump to conclusions where a great hindrance to my ability to effectively love this brother.

Who are you doing that to in your life right now?