Heart for the Homeless...

This past Saturday, Amanda's Xtreme small group was involved in a service project with several other small groups...They were going to make bag lunches and serve them to the homeless in downtown Atlanta.

There was a great turnout of kids and adults and we ended up making about 500-600 sandwiches and lunches...

From there we headed to South Atlanta to meet up with Seven Bridges to Recovery, the ministry that this was all through...

Initially, I was merely going as protection for the girls but when I got there, God totally spun my heart around and said "You're here to serve"

The head dude of the ministry was a gnarly looking harley dude that brought the Word for all of us there in a KMart parking lot. It was real, it was raw and I loved it.

From there, we split up into two groups and headed out to feed the homeless of Atlanta.

It's always amazing to see poverty up close and personal. It's a huge problem and it's right here in our backyard of Atlanta. There are about a million reasons why...Nonetheless, it's there...

We went under bridges and left food on beds. We prayed over beds together. We talked to the homeless and prayed with them. We gave away clothes and told these unfortunate souls how much we love them.

It was faith in action.
It was real.
It was organic.
It was beautiful.
It was the way I think Jesus would want.

Fortunately, there was a photographer there capturing the day. Here's just a taste...

The sandwich making line...
Here's the entire group of Buckhead Churchies after making the lunches...
Some of our friends we met...The lady really wanted something to warm her head and one of the guys pulled off his beanie and gave it to her...
This is Pastor 7 of Seven Bridges to Recovery throwin' down the Word before we hit the streets...
A team of folks praying and encouraging...
A typical sleeping set up under the bridge...
Praying over a bed...Asking God to lift up whoever sleeps there...
Lets get involved this holiday season. Lets get our heart turned upside down. Lets get in really uncomfortable situations and serve. Lets love on people that we don't know. Lets forgot about our standard of living and care about lives.

Photo credits: Michael Martin @ www.capturedbeauty.smugmug.com

Sorry Amanda...

I know this is so 5 months ago but Amanda was going to shoot me if I didn't do this soon...

So, here you go...

A few pics from our honeymoon and the link to a whole bunch more...

How lame are pirates these days????

Seriously, what's the deal with these lame pirates?

For those that don't read or watch the news, these lame little Somalis hijack oil tankers for ransom and it's getting pretty crazy.

But let's take a look at how lame these guys are...

Lame boat...At least they are rockin' a good outboard...


Lame motive...Going after ransom money opposed to gold and treasure
No parrot on their shoulder
No eye patch
No hook hand
No peg leg
No skull and cross bones
These guys suck...
This dude sums up what a pirate should be...

Stupid Team

My team sucked this week....
Kellen - What the heck?
Lendale - Negative points? Really? Appreciate that...
Philly "D" - Way to step up...

Oh well...Onto to week 13 against Doche...In a first play tie with the Brown Man who's looking pretty strong right now...I've beat him twice though...

A few more reads for you...

After my last book review post, I got back on it and read a few more books since then. First one is The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin. For those that don't know Jeffrey, he's an analyst on CNN. I really liked him because he was rather impartial during the election. Throughout the election, he frequently spoke about the Court and how the next President is going to have a significant impact on the court because there are several justices in there 70s and 80s that most likely will be done soon.

The book itself focused on the Rehnquist Court which saw the same Justices together for over 10 years which is the longest in Court's history. I greatly enjoyed the book and learned a lot about how the Court works and how they come to their decisions. I was also interested in Sandra Day O'Connor's role in the Court as the typical swing vote. She was nominated by Ronald Reagan but was very moderate in her voting record. I dug her moderate positions and wished there were more Justices like her that don't take a right or left approach to the bench...

I also didn't know abortion shows up so much in the Court. I have opinions on this that I want to explain in another post.

Nonetheless, it was a great book and a great read...

After reading about the Supreme Court, I dove into another Brad Thor book...If you don't remember, I read another book by the same author a few months back.

I actually liked this book better than the other one I read. The main character in the book is a bad ass, arrogant, tough as nails secret service agent that doesn't mess around...Basically, the main character, Scot Harvath, is trying to track down an terrorist organization before he wrecks havoc on the US. Awesome stuff.

I'm really liking this author and am going to be digging into the rest of his books. They are quick reads and very action packed. If by chance you have any copies of this dude, please let me know. If not, hopefully they will have them at the library...

Last up is Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley...

For those observant readers, I read another book by the same author here. This one though caught my eye while waiting in a grocery store line but Amanda had me wait and gave it to me for my birthday. Buckley is a political satirist and he didn't disappoint with this one. The President in his book finally has a chance to nominate a Supreme Court Justice but he has a congress and senate that aren't too entirely stoked on him so he can't get the first two books through the Judiciary Committee. While watching TV at Camp David, he runs across a TV Court show (ie Judge Judy) and is intrigued by the witty, fiery, Texas female judge. So, he nominates her and because of her popularity, the constituents of the Judiciary Committee members are forced to say OK...You can imagine the rest of the story.

Once again, great funny quick read that was very enjoyable. If you're interested, let me know and I'll let you read it. Also, if you have any of Chris Buckley's earlier books that you're willing to let go for awhile, let me know...

Next up, NixonLand...An 800 page beast about Richard Milhous Nixon...Lovin' it so far.

Fantasy Football Week 9&10

The couple of weeks have brought successes for the team of Burns...That would be me in first place as I head into week 11...

I need the team to step up big time because the dude I am going against has some good match ups that should produce some big points. We shall see...