Some shots of the mountains in Las Vegas

Pedro giving the piece sign. We got some really cool videos of cars that were left in the dust. No, mom, we were not speeding, the other cars were just going really slow.

Okay, so back to the car. I should have tucked in my pink shirt to look more like Don Johnson but I guess this was close enough. Talk about a fun day. There is nothing like driving this car. To sit in the car instantly puts you in the realm of something incredible. As soon as you hear the engine crank, blood starts flowing fast through your body. This car was not made to be driven the speed limit. I am not saying that I broke the speed limit, I am just saying that this car was made for big things and big roads, and guys with small feet whom I don't fit the build of the feet part. I think I was raced by every car you can possibly imagine. One guy even spun his car around to come back and try to race me. He was driving an Audi, which I could have easily beaten, but I chose to reframe from such childish things :) Many of you might think this is really shallow and a waste of money. So. Who cares. I have 3 small worldy dreams. 2 of them have come true. 1 was to sky dive. Check. The other was to go some cool place and rent the coolest car I could find and well...test the limits of the automobile. Don't ask about the 3rd. More like...ask my wife , if God ever sends me one of those. The funniest part about renting this car was a guy I met at the gas station. He was an older gentleman who walked up to me really sweaty. He had been walking for a long time. He asked if he could have a ride, he just needed to get a mile down the road. I told him that I could give him a ride. Then I turn around and tell him to hop into the Ferrari, he was quite excited. Well let me just say that we got to his destination really quick. I got to share the gospel with him really fast, literally. It was the quickest presentation God has ever allowed me to have. What a fun time.

Sandy and I got lost numerous places. This happened to be one place that was quite funny. What was even funnier was to watch people take pictures in front of the bronze booties.

Just a random shot from the side of the road showing the mountains. It was really pretty out there, minus the dryness :)

Pedro again, what a fun day.

This was a picture I took of Pedro, one of my coworkers/friend that flew out to meet me in Vegas. He is a car enthusiast and he loved the car also. We stopped on the side of the road and just took in the view and the gas fumes from our lil race car :)

The Italians design cars based on a funny concept. Form over Function. This was funny to me because this car looks awesome but functionally, it's tough. You cannot open the doors wide open. You have to open them enough to get your body in and then easily shut the door. I felt a little like I was on the Dukes Of Hazard.

So we rented a Ferrari for the day, this was our gas fill up. Of course...only 93 octane will do for this ride :)

Expository Preaching

I have been thinking a little lately about preaching styles and what is exactly the right way to preach...or at least the general idea of what the Bible teaches...here is a great link to listen to...might make you think....a lot!

Ponder This

I once got into a rather huge debate at Clemson over a publication
that I wrote regarding evangelism. I never wanted to have the "I was
right and you were wrong" attitude but when it comes to souls and
people, sometimes it's okay. :)

A good read:

Concerning The Four Spiritual Laws and the late Dr. Bill Bright:
(Taken from The Way Of The Master, by Ray Comfort, Chapter 10, page 78.)

Over the years that I have shared my concerns about contemporary
evangelism, I have been careful never to name names. However, many
have guessed that on occasion I have been referring to the incredibly
popular tract The Four Spiritual Laws, penned by the late Dr. Bill
Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ. More than a billion copies have
been distributed in all the major languages of the world, and his
approach has become the model for the modern gospel presentation.

In July 2002, Kirk and I were invited to Orlando, Florida, to join Dr.
Bright at his home for breakfast. After breakfast, we sat down in his
living room and heard this warm, humble, sincere man of God (then
eighty-one) confess that he had been in error. Let me use his own
words from his book Heaven or Hell - Your Ultimate Choice (published
the same year) to tell you what he said to us:

"In his approximately 42 months of public ministry, there are 33
recorded instances of Jesus speaking about hell. No doubt He warned of
hell thousands of times. The Bible refers to hell a total of 167
times. I wonder with what frequency this eternal subject is found in
today's pulpits. I confess I have failed in my ministry to declare the
reality of hell as often as I have the love of God and the benefits of
a personal relationship with Christ. But Jesus spent more of His time
warning His listeners of the impending judgement of hell than of
speaking of the joys of heaven....I have never felt the need to focus
on telling people about hell. However, as a result of a steady decline
in morals and spiritual vitality in today's culture and a growing
indifference to the afterlife, I have come to realize the need for
greater discussion of hell....I have thus come to see that silence, or
even benign neglect on these subjects, is disobedience on my part. To
be silent on the eternal destinations of souls is to be like a sentry
failing to warn his fellow soldiers of impending attack." [Bill
Bright, Heaven or Hell - Your Ultimate Choice (Orlando, Fla.: New Life
Publications, 2002), 32, 48]

Dr. Bright even took the time to use the Law lawfully, by quoting
every one of the Ten Commandments, then expounding the Law by saying,
"Breaking these commandments will take us to hell without the
intervening grace and mercy of Jesus Christ." [Ibid., 37] By admitting
that "benign neglect on these subjects is disobedience on my part,"
Dr. Bright revealed his honest humility and his genuine love of the
truth.

Please, follow Dr. Bright's example and examine your evangelism
methods in light of God's Word. At stake is the eternal salvation of
millions of people. You don't have to throw away The Four Spiritual
Laws. Simply make four important changes. First, don't tell sinners
that Jesus will improve their lives with a wonderful plan. Second,
don't make the unbiblical mistake of giving the cure before you've
convinced them of the disease. Third, take the time to follow in the
way of the Master by "opening up" (or explaining) the Ten
Commandments. And fourth, faithfully remember to include the terrible
realities of Judgement Day and hell.

Thoughts from a Jet-Lagged Man

What does it mean to stay on track?
To keep your eyes forward, hands to the plow, never looking back
To the old life lived, words spoken, thoughts awoken
Positive and negative
Regretted and encouraged
What do we do with those old thoughts and words?
Seen and unseen.
Do we save them in the boxes of our mind?
Labeled and catorgized for quick recall?
Some are probably better suited for a yard sale or junk yard.

So I'm sitting here at 1:38 in the morning struggling to get back on
eastern standard time. We arrived in on a red-eye this morning around
10. If you don't know what a red-eye is, it's basically when you
leave one city around midnight and arrive in another city the next
morning. Basically you fly all night and usually lose a few hours in
the time change. We wanted an extra night in Vegas so we took the
red-eye back to Greenville.

It's amazing how a few hours time change can really mess up your daily
routine of life. I flew out to California last Saturday and stayed in
Long Beach for a few days of work. No, I did not see Dr. Dre, Snoop
Dogg, or any of the G-Unit. I did happen to pass Michael Keaton on
the street down from the hotel, which was quite interesting. I wanted
to tell him that he played a much better Batman. Something inside me
also wanted to walk up and say, "I'm Batman!" in that really deep
whispery voice. I chose not to. He was there shooting a movie,
although I'm not sure what the name of it is going to be.

California was beautiful and it was neat to see a beach on the Left
Coast. We toured around Long Beach a little, tried to make our way to
LA on a train but soon realized that it would be passing through
Compton and decided that was not our best bet or even remotely smart.
A co-worker and I ended up renting a car and driving to LA to visit
some beaches and see the city. We drove through Beverly Hills, wow,
some nice houses and cars. We also drove down Rodeo Drive, which was
quite an experience. It's so funny how fast paced things are there.
If you do not slam the gas at a traffic light when the light turns
green, you are in trouble. Horns will start blowing and you will be
forced to drive 90. On Rodeo drive, a woman was trying to parallel
park, so I and the other traffic waited patiently for her. All of the
sudden, she just stops in the process of parallel parking and sits
there. I am trying to figure out what in the world is going on.
There are cars waiting to get by and she is just sitting there. She
reaches down and answer her cell phone. Hilarious. Instead of
parking her car, then answering her phone, she priortized the phone
before the park. Crazinesss. After Rodeo drive, we toured through
Hollywood and a few other places and then made our way back to the
airport. While we driving through LA, we heard on the radio about the
plane that had trouble with the landing gear.

I think they were circling right over our head, we saw a few airplanes circling but didn't know which one it was. Anyway, they are safe :) We made it safely to our airport in Long Beach and flew out to meet another co-worker and Sanch Gibbes for a few days in Vegas :) I will post more on Vegas later! But let me tell you, driving a Ferrari around is no easy job :)

Much Needed Break

So after a few months of intense work, I will be leaving for a mini vacation / work for a week. We are going to California to work for a few days and then hopping over to Las Vegas for a few days of fun. I have never been to either place, so I am excited. So let me tell you the plan. We will have a day extra in California, so I plan to tour around and see this and that. Yes, this and that is a great places in California :)

So after a day of fun and a few days of work, I am flying with a coworker over to Vegas where I will meet my roomie, Sanch, and another friend of mine from work. Here is the fun part. I have a few small somewhat worldly dreams if I may. One was to sky dive. Done. The other well...I can't share. But it's Godly. And one of them is.....to fly out to Vegas...rent the most pimped out ride I can find, and cruise around the city. If all goes well, this will happen this time next week :) Here is a picture of it. Yes, that is a Ferrari.

We will cruise around for a few hours, preferably in a white suit that I bought from a thrift store, but we shall see about that. We also want to play some type of theme from a show....maybe miami vice or something corny like that. It shall be a good time!

Hardees

So forgive me for not blogging after I said that I would. But this
blog must be quickly written. Daily my coworkers and I go out for
lunch. It's our bonding/fun time of the day that we look forward to.
Well...that all changed today. We decided that we had not had a
burger in a while so we decided on Hardees. We walk in the door and
the first thing we see is a small baby spread out butt naked at one of
the tables being wiped. Oh my, my my. What in the world? Do people
really believe that this is okay. There are a few things that should
be written in peoples' minds from birth:

Do not ride 40 mph in the passing lane.
Do not wipe your baby at a restaurant table.
If you use the last piece of toilet paper, replace the roll.
Do not double dip the chip.

If you abide by these small rules, many things in your life will run smoothly.

I guess I could write that you should also never date someone on the
rebound. The stats are not good in that area. High rebounds are not
good for your game.