Tuesday, June 26, 2012

My Favorite Teachings...

Here is a copy of one of my recent teachings focusing on the power of influence.

Monday, June 18, 2012

InstaUpdate...

One of my favorite apps for the iPhone (hopefully the iPad here soon) is Instagram. As I like to say it gives me the opportunity to take great pictures even though I have not photography skill of my own. If you to have instagram then you can follow me at normallyindie. I currently have posted 151 photos over the past year and they range from books, to cool sites, to messages to my beautiful wife Jenny. All are unique and give me the chance to put a twist to them that make them my own. Here are a couple of my favorites over the past couple months. If you enjoy feel free to follow me. (username : normallyindie).

Jenny leading us in Worship

Our First Pice of Mail

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Seabird live @ The 86 Club

My Dad is such a Beast

Coffee Emporium on a Rainy Day

till another day,



normallyINDIE

Strike Three...

Sports are at the center of our lives for much of us at an early age. We have all grown up looking to become the next Babe Ruth or Tiger Woods or Joe Montana (whatever sports superstar you choose to look up to). Especially in our American culture we have the need to grab onto the hopes and dreams of our favorite sports teams. How do you decide your favorite sports or sports teams. Well it is a serious formula that takes years to understand, actually for a lot of us it is related to where we call home or who are family believes to be the best or favorite.

For me I was born in the great state of Missouri in St. Louis where I began my relationship with the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Rams. As I continued through my life I moved to Florida and now became a Florida Gators fanatic. My life then continues and Tiger Woods grabbed my heart with his powerful drives and exciting fist pumps. As I continued to grow and move I added two other sports to my list being the Indianapolis Colts (thanks to my beautiful wife) and Lebron James (currently the Miami Heat). All of these people seemed to grab my heart in different ways and for different reasons. Either for their underdog championships or their truimph against adversity or merely their dominance when no one else would step up to the plate.

I have become a person that seems to connect with each of these members of sports, so much that I feel like I am one of the men on that team. I connect so much that it sometimes feels like your committment to the team or player will allow them to be successful. Even though this seems to be so ridiculous when you think about it, when it comes down to it we all have our favorite jersey or our favorite hat that we all believe will have an effect on our favorite if and when we wear it. At the peak of our favorite season of sports our emotions can go up and down like a roller coaster, but their is nothing better than watching your team capture that elusive championship.

For some reason, as Americans, sports have been able to take our minds away from everything else that is happening in our lives to give us hope and joy. I am thankful for sports and their excitement, but most of all the hope and joy that it brings sometimes to a dreary day.

Thank you sports for the relationship.    


till another day,


normallyINDIE

Monday, June 4, 2012

A Growing Library...

I am so excited for what is to come, because if you know me at all you know how much I love books.  Most recently we purchased two wonderful bookcases from Target (thanks to Duane) and we were able to fill them with some great classic books and leftover decorations from our wedding.  But we had now take all of my ministry books and other books back to my office to join the rest of my collection.  It is really exciting to me to have all my books in one place.  Just in time for summer, this gives me the opportunity to hopefully finish off all of the books in my collection (only to head to Half Price Books and grab some more).  What I am most looking forward to for this summer is working through the rest of the Re:Lit series as a part of the Crossway publishing company and coordinated by Mark Driscoll.

No I am not a member of the reformation movement (most recently became a member of Groesbeck UMC), but I have found a facination with this movement and the theology that comes from it.  As well as the theology, there is a lot of passion in the words of the authors who have been a part of this book series. Most recently I have purchased Doctrine by Mark Driscoll, Gospel Centered Discipleship & Community. Summer is one of my favorite times of the year for the time I have to read.

All of my library will be here with me in my new office and the bookcases are only getting fuller.  Hopefully the fuller the bookcases the fuller my mind gets with knowledge.

If you have any other books you have found to be interesting or compelling in nature, comment below and let me know.  

till another day,


normallyINDIE

Oh, How we Change...

It is interesting to look back and see how our lives have changed over the past few years.  As many of you know I have recently graduated from college, moved to a new city, and gotten married to my beautiful wife Jennifer.  With all of these great life events comes moving into a new apartment and what is most exciting is that it is our first apartment.  We have the opportunity to create, design, and modify our apartment to make it a home.  And with this we have spent a lot of time at Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, & Target.

Earlier on in my life I spent very little time at these home improvement stores and when I did I was miserable only waiting till it is time to go home.  But now I begin to smile when we drive up to these stores and it is the most exciting time for me when I am able to create something wonderful for my beautiful wife and I to use in our beautifully designed apartment.  Currently we are working a vintage coffee table made from a door used at our wedding, framing and mounting a vintage world map, hanging 9 record frames in our music listening area, creating a headboard out of two vintage palletes, and building a drafting table.  All of these things are great and make me excited to come home at the end of the day to see how I can help my wife make our house a home.

Keep checking out this blog and if you are in the cincy area come check out our place.  Hope to see/hear from you all soon.


till another day,


normallyINDIE