Taylor’s Travelogue–Friday, June 20

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We left for our trip to Florida on Friday, June 20th after the routine old change before the trip, running to the bank, etc., etc., etc.

Here is Taylor’s journal entry for our first leg of the trip to Memphis, TN. . .

We saw Elvis’s and B.B. King’s statue. It was fun! We saw the front of the Peabody Hotel, where the ducks walk through the lobby. We didn’t get to see any ducks though, bummer!

I saw a crane. It was big!

We ate at Neely’s Bar-B-Que and a lady tripped and fell and probably sued them. The BBQ was really good because we had a long trip and were VERY tired and HUNGRY! We got back to the hotel and it was 11:00 p.m. and we went to sleep.

Here is a gallery of the photos from Day 1 of our journey to Florida ? including some B.B. King worship action and serious BBQ eating!!

Crazy week of Realtors and Tornado Warnings

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We had a really interesting week of lots of storms in Ozark. We met with our Realtor on Tuesday morning and therefore I had a LOT of work to do to get our house ready to be put on the market. We really like our realtor . . . she is a real go-getter and is going to do a good job for us!

I dodged the rainstorms and power-washed and stained our deck . . . tell me again why we make our houses look awesome BEFORE we sell them?? We are really bummed that we are having to sell our house! Getting it all shinned up really reminds us why we moved there in the first place! I’m sure someone is going to really love it just like we have over the years!

Back to the Realtors and Tornado Warnings. . .

We had a meeting to finalize the listing and papers on Thursday afternoon. While we were meeting with our realtor, the skies opened up and dumped a TON of rain and hail. Then it started blowing–REALLY HARD . . . and then in a “circular” manner! Needless to say, we turned off the Cardinals/Royals game on cable and turned in on to ol’ Ron “body bag” Hurst and the KY3 weather show. Basically, they said the tornado was right over our heads . . . and looking out the windows, I wouldn’t doubt that information. Needless to say, we were pretty freaked out by the whole situation. I guess we wouldn’t have had to finish this paperwork to SELL our house and begin some other paperwork with our insurance company after our house is hit by a TORNADO!!

Needless to say, we don’t have a storm shelter or basement . . . so David, Jenny, and our realtor are sitting in our bathroom waiting out the storm!! Man, what a sight . . . our realtor and Jenny sitting in the bathtub with big pillows all around!! Man, I wish we had our camera!!

All said and done, we got our house listed and we got all of the painting, scrubbing, and packing for vacation done and left on Friday for vacation! Yeah!

We will blog more this week as we have internet access! Actually, Taylor is going to be starting a new blog category on Stone’s Throw called “Taylor’s Travelogue.” He is keeping a journal of our journeys to Florida and our transition to Forest Park Carthage! We are really proud of our Taylor boy! He is really good at math,science and reading (much like his uncle Tad!!) but can work on his writing–this is a perfect way to do that!! We are going to be uploading some pictures of our journey as well! Enjoy!!

Financial Peace University

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What a great first session tonight! I listen to Dave Ramsey a lot on the radio and have read The Total Money Makeover, but this first session of FPU was awesome tonight. Daniel did an awesome job leading the discussion and I think everyone had a good time.

Church of Oprah

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CHURCH OF OPRAH

In his Serious Times Web site, James Emery White (a Preaching Magazine contributing editor) talks about the latest wave of Oprah influence: as America’s spiritual guide. Here is what he wrote.? Interesting stuff.

“Much of her guidance is deeply Christian and highly commendable, pulling from her Baptist upbringing. In her book, The Gospel According to Oprah, Marcia Nelson outlines some of the commendable aspects of Oprah’s spirituality, including the themes of forgiveness and generosity, self-examination, gratitude and community.

“But there’s more to her spirituality than a few broad, generic Christian themes. It increasingly reflects currents of thought embodied by such authors as Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, and most recently, Eckhart Tolle (pronounced ‘toe-lee’), whose latest book, A New Earth, has seen nearly 5 million shipped with the Oprah seal on the front thanks to a series of 10 ‘live’ Monday night Web seminars, which began on March 3 featuring Tolle and Winfrey on Oprah’s website. So popular were the webcasts the first night brought down the server when more than 500,000 people tried to log on. Now, nearly 2 million have downloaded or streamed the first class. So what are people learning?

“As Tolle writes in the foreword to his book, Stillness Speaks, his thinking ‘can be seen as a revival for the present age of the oldest form of recorded spiritual teaching: the sutras of ancient India.’

“Translation? Hinduism. Or as he packages it, an eclectic gathering of gleanings from Hinduism, Buddhism and watered-down Christianity. Result? A fresh presentation of what is commonly called the New Age Movement, which tends to have four basic ideas: Read more

Happy Birthday Taylor!!!

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Our “little boy” is SEVEN!! Wow, where has the time gone? Taylor was born 7 years ago, April 16th (Tax Day that year) and the day after Easter. What a whirlwind of activity that afternoon and evening! He was breech and our doc tried to do an external aversion (externally manipulate the baby) on Friday and were excited to see him, but he didn’t cooperate. Jenny actually went to school to teach at Clever on Monday. I went out to Clever to get something from her and she said she was having some “back pain.” Her friend Gayle started timing the “back pains” and then told me in the hall that “we are probably having a baby soon.”

Jenny called the doctors office and they wanted her to head immediately to the hospital. She called me before she left school on a land line because she didn’t have any more cell phone battery!! And then drove HERSELF into the hospital! My dad got in her vehicle to take it back to Ozark and it would barely start–she was driving on fumes!! God was really watching over her! Good times. Our lives will never be the same without him.

Happy Birthday Taylor boy!!

Mom, here are some pictures of the cake(s). The basketball was the original cake and the small baseball was leftover batter that I decided to decorate as well. He has his own brand of sporting equipment–Taylor Boy, est. 2001.

D Now–Northside Baptist Church, Neosho

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Finally got back into town from Neosho, MO around 5:45 p.m. I was the speaker for a Disciple Now at Northside Baptist Church where my lifelong friend Lyndall Jones is Music and Youth Pastor. We had a really good weekend. I haven’t done a Disciple Now weekend in any capacity since we planted Finley Crossings. I used to do several D Nows each year when I was a full time student pastor. I actually had a lot of fun talking to the students and hanging out with the band.

Something that I thought about this morning during the invitation time was the impact that these kind of events has on not just students, but the leaders. There was an awesome group of students from the BSM at University of Arkansas that were leaders at each house. There were several times during the weekend that some of those student leaders as well as other leaders from the church were at the alter praying.

I remember some of the most powerful events in my life were not “for” me, but they were for “the kids,” but the Lord had something else in mind for me. How about you? What were some of the best things in your life to help you spiritually?

Here is a video slideshow I put together to go along with the sermon on Sunday. I love the lyrics to this song! Still work to be done in this city!!

It’s Tool Time!!

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My neighbor, Kent, usually signs emails as “Wilson.” So, naturally, I have to return the favor and join in the fun by being Tim. Well, last night, our garbage disposal had finally given up the ghost and leaked all over the place and we’d had enough! So I went up to Lowe’s to get a replacement. The plumbing expert told me (and expert, mind you) that it was a simple fix and yes, “I would recommend replacing the sink flange while you were at it, just to be sure.” “It is a really simple fix . . . 20-30 minutes–tops!”

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Ozark wins tonight!!

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Both the girls and boys won their district tonight! The girls won their game going away while the boys squeaked one out in the last few seconds to win their game.

It was packed . . . so much that we stood the whole game behind the student section, so Taylor had a hard time seeing and I held Tucker the whole game (boy are my arms tired!) Tucker actually slept most of the second half. Went by the old “band hall” and showed the boys my old locker. It is really funny to see what we looked like in ’91 in all of the trophy cabinets.

The Ozark boys started the game down 11-0 and trailed 34-20 at the half. They never led the game until the final two minutes of the game. They kept on hanging around and capitalized on two consecutive missed front ends of one and one by Kickapoo. Then Ozark made their free throws down the stretch and won 60-57. One of the best high school games we’ve seen! Unbelievable!!

As you can tell, I didn’t have the heart to root against Taylor and his Tigers. I couldn’t do that to him. Plus, I don’t know any of the Kickapoo kids, but know several of the Ozark kids. Actually, we were rooting hard for Seth Arnold who was one of the “coaches” at Taylor’s summer basketball camp. Seth’s dad is a fellow pastor and church planter, so that made it even easier to root for the Tigers. Blood really is thicker than water, isn’t it?? It really is fun to go to games with the boys–especially with Taylor as he really understands the game and watches every detail–especially the announcers.

They move on to SBU in Bolivar on Wednesday. Way to go Tigers!

Difficult Decision Tonight!

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So you may or may not know that I graduated a LONG time ago in ’91 from Kickapoo High School–“The Home of the Chiefs.” My good friend Sarah (Green) Jones graduated together. Her dad is no other than Roy Green, Kickapoo’s head basketball coach. I have a feeling that I may see Sarah tonight at the District game tonight that I am taking the boys to enjoy some great basketball. . .

But I have this problem . . . and it is not that I don’t want to go back to my alma mater, or to see some old friends, or definitely not to watch high school basketball, which I love.

I have this problem . . . Taylor Quinn is all about rooting hard for his teams . . . and I think Kickapoo is one those teams because his dad went to school there.

I still have this problem . . .

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Cabin Fever Strikes!

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Well, the third straight day of being cooped up in the ol’ house lends itself to a little mayhem and craziness–and today was no different. Got a call late this morning from Jenny that Taylor and Tucker were jumping on the bed. . .

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