When It Rains, It Pours For Cowboys

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So you think you’ve had “one of those days?”? Take heart, my friend!

Seems that when things couldn’t get much worse for the Dallas Cowboys after their horrible loss last night, the “hits just keep on comin’!” The problem wasn’t on the field, or on the sidelines, or up in the coaching booth…although there are many problems in all three of these places.

The problem comes with their website domain registration. Sounds like someone was asleep at the wheel in more places than just Wade’s office!

How ’bout them Cowboys!?!

Great Commission 2020

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Check out this “live” picture of the advance of the Gospel around the world!? Pretty amazing stuff!

I just spent several minutes praying for each person that popped up on the map; whether it be a believer logging on to see the progress or a report of a new believer in Christ.? What a powerful way to leverage technology for the cause of the Great Commission!

Global Media Outreach is a global ministry formed to present the good news of Jesus Christ over the Internet. Our staff of 60 is located in Silicon Valley (San Jose) California, Orlando, Florida and Houston, Texas. We have more than 5,000 online missionaries who respond to emails coming in from gospel and discipleship websites.

Our goal is to stay on the cutting edge of emerging technologies and use these technologies to reach the world for Christ. People need Christ all over the world. For many people, it is difficult to find a church, or they may not feel comfortable connecting in person. Each day, millions of searches are done on the Internet for spiritual terms. ?I need God???Who is Jesus? ??prayer?? people are searching around the world. Every day, thousands of people come to one of our websites. Many are searching for God; some have specific questions; others just want to know more. We present the gospel in over 100 languages. In many languages, we have online missionaries available to respond to those who e-mail us. Our goal is to help those who contact us find Christ and then to help them grow in their Christian faith and perhaps become connected to a local church. For more information, visit us at http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com.

Great Commission 2020.

iPad fills all our spiritual longing??

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Ran across this blog of a guy writing as Steve Jobs. ?Pretty funny stuff. ?However, there is some pretty sad stuff in there…like the idea that there is something “spiritual” about owning an iPad…

But let?s get back to you people who are waiting in line. I mean it?s not like you?re in Bolivia and there?s just been an earthquake and you need to line up to get food and clean water. It?s not like you?ve time-traveled back into the Depression and you?re waiting in line at a soup kitchen. And yet, in fact, that?s exactly what you?re doing. Spiritually speaking, we are living in the Great Depression, and you are waiting in line for sustenance.?. . .

The truth is, this is all about spiritual emptiness. That is why you?re standing in line. . . .

The truth is, all over the world, across every culture, there exists a sense of yearning. A kind of malaise. An emptiness. At the risk of sounding like Dr. Seuss: There is a hole in your soul. That is what we?re addressing at Apple. That is the hole we aim to fill. Sadly, as you may have begun to suspect, that hole can never really be filled. The truth is that modernity, the condition of living in our modern world, has inflicted terrible wounds on your inner self. These wounds can never be healed. They can only be treated. At best we provide palliative care. Not a cure. Because, my dear fellow human beings, there is no cure for what ails you. The products we create provide only temporary relief. Their magic eventually wears off. The sense of childlike wonder they impart will, over time, begin to fade. And then you need a new product.

Convicting as a believer, isn’t it? ?What might it be like if we tried to fill that hole with something much more meaningful than a piece of technology?

Then there is the final line that I have to keep thinking to myself to not rush out and buy the iPad with Professional Expense account monies. . .

Hold your iPad. Gaze at it. Pray to it. Let it transform you. And do it soon, because before you know it we are going to release version 2, which will make this one look like a total piece of crap.

So true. ?So very true.

Check out the entire “open letter to the people of the world here.

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : An open letter to the people of the world.

Apple’s iPad…Killed my Kindle??

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Wow, the iPad is coming soon and it does a TON of amazing things that your iPhone, Macbook, and my Kindle does…all in a way that only Apple can produce. ?Going to have to save up my pennies for one of these!

So is it good for Amazon or not? Here is a good article by David Camoy that might shed some light on this new war that Jobs is waging against Amazon’s eBook empire.

Apple – iPad – The best way to experience the web, email, & photos.

Google Wave for our leadership team

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GoogleWaveI am really excited about getting my “invite” to Google Wave!? Check out the demo video–short version (they had a 1 hour 20 + minute LOOOONNNNGG explanation video as well) to see what it is all about.

Aaron Stockton, Kevin, and myself were doing some brainstorming the other day on Google Docs and love the whole real time experience.? When one person writes a sentence, it shows up on the other two people’s screen—amazing!!? Well, from what I can tell, Google Wave is like Google Docs on steroids!! It is also similar to some of the applications our staff has tried before at 37signals.com like Basecamp. We loved Basecamp, but it was a pay service and we are a ministry.? Any time we can save money on administrative costs, we can use that money in the ministry or for missions–for the Kingdom.? I am looking forward to experimenting and implementing Google Wave with our team.? Now off to look at the LOOONNGG Version.? You can check out the short overview in the meantime!

YouTube – Google Wave Overview.

Does this make me look fat…or gray?

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Just found a new program that is A-Mazing!!? It is called Evernote.? You can go check it out at Evernote.com.? Basically, it is the Holy Grail of notes software that I have been looking for both my desktop and iPhone. I use Notes on my iPhone quite a bit, but it was a pain to sync and I know have three of the same entry, for example, in my Mail program.

What is great about it is the fact that you can dump just about any medium into Evernote and it helps you keep everything organized.? You can clip from the web, cut and paste text, email to Evernote, or even Tweet to @myEN and it will place the Twitter tweet in your notes!

Funny thing happened while I was looking over the program…it has a button that opens the iSight camera (on my MacBook Pro) to take a picture or video note.? I haven’t looked at myself in the ol’ iSight camera in quite some time…and I must say…that thing must add 30 lbs. to my face.? I’ve got a pretty hot looking double chin going!? Then, as I turn to the side…I get a look at what Ronnie calls my “white walls.”? I have “a touch of gray” in my hair these days.? Really, I think it isn’t as bad as the picture would make you believe…probably just really bad lighting in my office!!? I actually don’t mind it because I have always had such a baby face.? Pretty nice, huh?

Got me thinking.? Isn’t it funny how we always are concerned about outward appearances?? @KStratt and I were talking on the way back from a pastor’s deal this afternoon about this.? He is a whole lot more secure in himself than I am, because he is able to not worry at all what people think of him.? I am such a wuss when it comes to that kind of stuff.? I always want to be looked upon as someone who is pretty sharp and has it all together.

My graying hair is kind of ironic.? I really wanted to look older when I was in my twenties.? Especially being a student pastor (they are always the knucklehead/screwballs that are immature in every way), I have always wanted to be looked upon as a guy with purpose and a good leader.? Gray hair was one of those milestones that I had this crazy thought in my head that would help me to “arrive.” Now that I am 36 and turning a little bit gray, I am wanting to look young again.

Anyway, isn’t it funny how we are always caught up on what other people think rather than God? I mean, if I were really honest, sometimes I am more driven by people of quite a loss less significance than the creator of the universe.? I am much more concerned about what a colleague or church member thinks of me than my Savior.? Pretty crazy.? That is not to say that we should just do our own thing all of the time and not worry about how we act, but what we should be concerned about, above all, is the love and acceptance of our Savior.

So, does this iSight make me look fat?? Yeah, probably.? And graying? Yep.? But that shouldn’t make a difference in how I feel about myself.? Easy to say or write, but more difficult to actually put into practice in my life.? I am working on it though.? Kind of like the old SNL skit…”I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog gone it; people like me!”? I guess it is more realistic to say “irregardless of whether other people like me…dog gone it, my Savior loves me!”? And that is enough.

How about you??

Spinning drills bits can create square holes? – Holy Kaw!

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Ran across this random post and “tweet” the other day at holykaw.com, Guy Kawasaki’s blog.

It reminds me so much of my grandfather. ?He was a carpenter for a living. ?Specifically, he made church furniture and delivered it all over the country. ?He was one of my heroes…of course, most kids have grandfathers or someone else in their life that are bigger than life and a hero. ?I used to think that he could make anything out of wood!

I remember spending weeks in the summers at my grandparents house in Cabool, MO, where my grandpa had his shop. ?(If you have ever been to a Cabool High School football game, then you have seen his shop. ?It is the little shop that backs up to the end zone of the stadium. ?They bought the old “general store” and converted it into a house and built his little shop “out back.”)

I used to love to go out in his shop and play in what seemed like an endless pile of sawdust and shavings! ?He would show me what each of the machines did…it was facinating!

One of his favorite machines/tools was one of these…a drill that would make square holes…to make joints, etc.

I know that two of my cousins, Ben and Tim, have really followed in my grandpa’s footsteps and work a lot with wood. ?Tim actually works with wood for a living and Ben has a degree in Wood Technology and is a Campus Director for the BSU at Purdue.

Thanks to Twitter, I was able to walk down memory lane…and think and pray for my cousins as well today!

Here are some pics of Tim helping Taylor make an airplane in his shop at our family reunion. ?I think Ben is in the pics as well. ?Good stuff!

Spinning drills bits can create square holes? – Holy Kaw!.

New look for stonesthrowblog.com!

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For those of you who read blogs on a reader, like I do, you could care less about “how” my blog looks. You simply pull up your Google Reader, for example, and read my post (which happens on average once every two weeks!) I am going to try to work on the extreme length between posts.

I am a perfectionist (I know that seems like a load of rubish if you have seen my office, or garage). But I can’t seem to work unless everything is working properly and in its place. I don’t like to clean up my office, for example, because I can’t ever “do it right.” This blog is kind of like that…I simply don’t have time to keep tweeking and making it “just right.” The problem is that I get into a funk and don’t want to write anything because I want to say it “just right” and it needs to look “just right.” I can’t tell you how many drafts I have sitting ready to be published but haven’t been because I don’t have it just right.

Ok, so I am turning over a new leaf. (I say this about every three months…but I really mean it…at least until midnight or so!!) No, I really am turning over a new leaf…I am revamping the ol’ blog and making a commitment to do a better job of communicating what is going on in our lives and on my heart as a pastor. I am making a commitment to post more often and post entries that aren’t “totally cooked.” This might be a dangerous thing…especially to you English majors and teachers.

It may be a few weeks before everything is up and going smoothly, but I am working on it. I won’t be able to work on it much this weekend as we have SEVEN kids staying with us on Friday and Saturday nights! Taylor’s friend, Dakota is staying the night on Friday and our friends, the Clements have a funeral and their four are staying with us on Friday and Saturday night! That is a HUGE prayer request there my friends–seven kids and three dogs! Bright side=good blog-worthy stuff to write about, I bet!

P.S.–My mom has already voted against “all the changes.” She was very frustrated to have the Twitter feed on the “wrong side,” for starters. Then the colors, it is hard to see, etc., etc. etc. My dad laughed and said, “we love change…I mean, we’re Baptists…we love change–within reason!”

Hopefully a CHANGE for the BETTER!

David

Louie Giglio Twitter Press Conference

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I really love Louie Giglio’s sense of humor! ?I am a huge fan of Louie…just ask any student that was in my student ministries. ?We seemed to always “luck into” have him be the camp pastor wherever we went–ETBU, Baylor, La Tech, Covenant, and the list goes on. ?I did, however, later on in my youth ministry leadership days decide that I needed to give my students a little more varied diet of communicators at camp and conferences. ?I still loved to go and take students to the Passion conferences over the years as well.

Here is a “very serious” press conference regarding Passion and Twitter. ?Enjoy!