Always fun to talk to people about our ministry!

This morning Jesse and I rode over to my office at FBC Doraville to meet up with Bob Ashman and his Pastor Bill Kontyko from Northside Independent Methodist Church.

They are interested in reaching into the community around them in Sandy Springs. We have a lot of work in that area and we certainly need help! I look forward to helping this church get mobilized.

After lunch, J and I went over to Open Table Church, which is now the new occupant of where Northwoods Baptist Church used to be.  We went to visit Ruthie North at her new office. It’s always great to visit with her and hear all the great things she’s got going on!

Then back to my office to meet up with Keith Tillman who is the Pastor of Clinch River Baptist Church in Nashville, TN. He’s served with us before and now he’s the Senior Pastor of his congregation and wants his folks to come minister with us here in Atlanta.

I showed him around the International Village and then we went to Azalea to help the kids with their homework. I sure was glad he was there because we had a lot of kids to help.

Good day!

While we were at my office we heard these odd bird calls. I ran outside to see over 100 cranes flying overhead in V formations. Cool!

Got about a 1/2″ of rain last night and early this morning.

I had a great meeting with some of my partners in Chamblee today!

We met at Cross Cultural Ministries mission at Pearl Lane. I’m going to have some of my partners from Texas help her do some painting and fixing up around the place.

Always good to see comrades in arms!

Jesse and I went by Best Buy to pick up some ear buds and look at equipment. Also to Staples to get more printer ink. Always something.

Then to Willow Branch to teach guitar. I work with Aziz teaching him intermediate guitar and some basic music skills. Today I taught him to read tempos. Four quarter notes per measure and how you strum the notes in time with the written notation. You sound like a musician when you say, “Play the third measure of the second line of music.”

Came home and enjoyed watching some TV with Kathy.

Back to Admin work. I have teams coming into town soon. Always last minute details with that.

Got word that a basement area that we’ll be remodeling soon for a new mission has some major leaks.

That’s never good. Better to happen now that after it’s fixed up!

For those keeping score, I went over 65,000 Twitter followers yesterday. Doesn’t that sound like a lot?

If you’re interested in what I write, check out

GREAT morning today!

Kathy and I went to one of my favorite churches: Dunwoody Baptist!

They’ve been great supporters of our ministry from the very beginning of our work.

My partner Bayo Otiti was commissioned by the church along with his wife Marjorie.

It was a special time for me as a team leader.

And my friend Mark Paul baptized his son Jonah. Mark is my treasurer Jon Paul’s son and is the Youth Director at DBC. Awesome to see generations of Christians!

I love the whole Paul family!

Beautiful grandkids!

I have some great partners at DBC including Barb Newman and Mike Whelchel, a man I’ve known for nearly 20 years!

I thought Pastor Mack Hannah did an awesome job of preaching on service in our community!

My partner Tom Frost is a great man of God and a big supporter of our ministry with Bayo.

Had a restful afternoon and enjoyed watching TV with Kathy this evening.

Took care of admin work. Setting up Outreach events for a mission conference in Conyers. Working on getting my partner Jeff Anefils to Haiti with some other friends of mine.

Mighty cold start for the day. Frosty windshield.

Ashley and I rode out to RUMC for their Missions Conference.

Ashley was one of the two speakers for the whole group!

She wowed them! She just keeps getting better and better. Never too much Ashley!

We like to look at antiques. Here are some of the favorite things I saw.

This note was in the bathroom. There were two copies.

We checked out a store that had great craft stuff. The owner’s husband was an audiologist. I talked to him about Jesse. He only has partial hearing in his left ear. I’d liked to get him checked out. A hearing aid might really help him.
Some of them are really small.

We also went to North Point Mall to hang out and do lunch. I liked this cake that a family had for their daughter’s birthday.

Cool chocolate fur!

We came on home and it was such a gorgeous day that I went for a 2 mile run. Haven’t been exercising much lately. Don’t dig the cold weather.

Watched District 9 on DVD. Really liked that movie. It was shot in S. Africa. We lived in Johannesburg for about 5 months. It was fun to see the sites again, including Soweto.

Went to Stone Mountain this evening to shoot some video and pictures.

Beautiful out there!

I thought Egyptian religions were long gone. Guess not!

Woke up about 6:30am after a very restless night of sleep.

I had to drink the other half of this jug of stuff. It wasn’t horrible, but 2 liters is a lot.

Kathy took me over for the procedure and I was out of there in about an hour!

They put an IV in my hand and one shot later, boom. I was out.

Propofol is a powerful drug. The doctor told me, “It’s the closest thing we have to turning the brain off and on.” I told him, “Just make sure you turn me back on!”

You may recall that Propofol is what killed Michael Jackson. I think I kind of freaked out Kathy. She asked me, “Are you nervous?” I told her, “Whenever I’m being put out I always wonder if I’ll wake up. I’ve had a good life. I’ve brought something positive to the world.”

Never can tell when your last day will come.

They did find one small polyp (The doctor said it was the size of a ladybug. Where did that comparison come from?) It was sent off for biopsy.

Hopefully everything will be fine and I’ll be ok for another 10 years.

I had a great hamburger at Red Robin. It was better to eat it than just watch Jesse eat his like yesterday!

Also treated myself to ice cream. Excellent!

Rested the rest of the afternoon.

Had a good talk with my Mom tonight. She’s having her colonoscopy next Wednesday. I was glad to be able to tell her it was no big deal.

Watched Burn Notice that I recorded with Kathy this evening. Smooth is smooth, baby!

Now admin work before crashing out.

The day I’ve been eagerly anticipating (NOT) has arrived!

No solid food for the day. And I don’t get to eat until after my procedure Friday afternoon. The colonoscopy is scheduled for 12pm. Should go in around 12:30pm. Please pray for me!

Spent a couple of hours early this morning listening to Telemundo. That’s my language lab. I’m making progress! They speak super fast, but I’m getting more of it every day.

I went to the pharmacy to pick up this Colyte stuff that I have to drink. She put down this huge bag on the counter. Holy Moly! That’s a lot of stuff to drink!

I start with that this evening at 7pm. Then I have to drink the second half of it Friday morning around 7am. Wonderful.

I took Jesse out to eat a hamburger at Red Robin.

We love the Banzai Burger–teriyaki and a slice of pineapple. It wasn’t too bad watching him eat.

We spent some time at the bookstore. I’m always researching Costa Rica.

Then over to Best Buy. Ashley had an accident with her camera. I took it to BB to be repaired. It’s still under warranty. She’ll probably end up using my old SD880 camera, but I figured I had the warranty might as well use it!

I’m also checking out video projectors. It sure would be helpful to have one of those when I do presentations, but they’re kind of pricey so I haven’t decided whether it’s worth it yet.

Came on home to drop Jesse off. He and Ashley went to Azalea to help the kids. I’m just laying around the house. Don’t really feel up to my usual Tiger Tank self.

Kathy just cooked me up some chicken broth. Hardly hearty.

When I was at Red Robin, I saw a bunch of robins. That’s cool, but I also saw Cedar Wax Wings which I don’t see very often.

I liked this bumper sticker.

How exactly does food make you go insane?

J and I went to Chamblee this morning for our Chamblee-Doraville Property Manager’s Association meeting.

Overall, kind of a sad meeting. Crime is back on the increase, particularly violent gang related problems.

On the way to the meeting I made some phone calls. One situation in particular has me really upset. One of my partners has left his wife, shacked up with a woman and is now saying he’s not even a Christian any more. He was a strong church leader and missionary for years. It’s heart breaking. We’re left trying to pick up the pieces of shattered lives. With small children and infants involved it’s particularly sad.

I found out that one of the kids that came to our mission at Azalea from time to time was killed last weekend. He was caught in a shooting that was supposed to be for his older brother, a known gang banger.

Really shook up the kids at the mission. Chris was only in 6 grade. What a bummer. Man, what a day.

After our meeting in Chamblee, we went to Lawrenceville to meet up with a new partner from 12 Stone Church.

I took Emily over to Olde Salem to introduce her to the manager there and show her around the property.

I’m very excited that some wonderful ministry will start because of that meeting!

Then back to Chamblee to help the kids with their homework and a couple of the mom’s with their English.

Working on admin tasks now.

It’s a little after midnight now. I’m not supposed to have any solid food at all until noon on Friday. That’s when I’m scheduled for my colonoscopy procedure.

I think the prep is going to be worse than the procedure.

I’ve had a lot of headaches lately. I’m not looking forward to dealing with no food plus headache. Please pray for me.

I liked this glasses case of one of the mom’s I help with English.

Man! It was cold this morning! 22 outside.

I’m not an early morning guy, so getting up at 6:20am wasn’t my idea of fun. But it sure was a beautiful sunrise!

I picked up Bayo and we went to Perimeter for a meeting with the other ministry partners on the team.

I’m not much on meetings, but I always enjoy seeing my partners and everything Perimeter does is first class.

I always learn something!

Chip and Deborah are two of my favorites!

I liked this logo.

The conference went from 8am to 4:30pm. I took Bayo back to Huntington Terraces and helped him hook up his computer. His new computer got fried. Georgia Power had a transformer blow up that ruined all the electronics in 140 apartments! Bahd luck.

Ashley’s camera died this weekend, so I spent all my reward coupons and discount coupons from Best Buy to get my new camera a Canon S90. It’s truly a wonderful camera! I’m really looking forward to firing it up tomorrow! I’m getting it all charged up this evening and reading through the instruction manual.

Working on admin stuff now. I’m tired from my early morning. Kathy’s not feeling well. She threw up and left early from the mission today. I’m glad Jesse was there to help them!

Ever seen a license plate from Guam? First one today! Know where Guam is?

Kathy and I had a great weekend away! We sure did need it!

The weather was beautiful.

Snowed enough to make everything white, but not so much that it felt out of control dangerous.

We stayed at Alpine Lodge on Raccoon Mountain.

Shot a lot of pictures at Reflection Riding.

Practiced a lot with the new video equipment. It’s shooting awesome!

Did some shopping this weekend. Finally got me some boots.

My feet have been wet and freezing. Nice now!

Kathy also bought me some new cologne. She liked this big vault.

I got her a big balloon. She’s not much on getting gifts.

We liked this big chandelier.

Glad to be back home. I kept up with most of my work thanks to my iPhone.

Didn’t do my blog, as you could tell. Back in the saddle now.

Super busy week coming up, including my colonoscopy procedure on Friday.

Gotta be tough!

Reminds me of me.

Looks like this could be a cold seat!

Another cold morning. Frozen bird baths. Frozen water in the rain guage!

Notice anything unusual about the bird bath ice?

Woke up with a terrible headache. Bahd luck. Took some tylenol and laid back down, closed my eyes and listened to Telemundo for two hours.

Went back to Stone Mountain to shoot more video.

It’s all about practicing with your equipment: speed in set up, smooth zooms, pans, tilts and combination moves. I have a really great system with camera/tripod/remote control. Here’s some video I shot from a couple of days ago.

Just getting to know the camera. I didn’t edit the video. Just added a music track. Sort of reminds me of a station I get that’s called Sunrise Earth. No narration, just natural sound over long shots of beautiful scenes.

I like these shots from today. The clouds are beautiful with the sun behind them.

This evening Kathy and I went to the Women on Missions group meeting at McDonough Road Baptist Church. They were a lively group!

I enjoyed taking them to Cambodia and leading them on a guided visualization to share with Jesus in person!

After my presentation, I taught some of the ladies how to make balloon animals.

It was about an hour trip one way. About 140 miles on the car today. Long distance missions!

Please keep praying for my friend Fred Sorrells as he works in Haiti with the disaster victims.

I thought these con trails looked supa coo.