I saw this big truck on the way to the mission. That’s a LOT of coffee!

Had a good briefing with my groups from Mississippi and Texas. Took them for a field trip to Plaza Fiesta–an amazing Latino experience.

I liked these angels at the Botanica.

I liked this representation of the Trinity.

Lots of crosses.

Never could figure out exactly why everything needed destroying.

Santa Muerte, always a bit shocking.


I liked the sound of “African Powers.”

I liked Moses in this soap.

Will this candy live up to its name?

When’s the last time you saw this in a local store?

This always makes me laugh.

I found this balloon somewhat scary.

But not as scary as THIS!

Over the top boots

Enjoyed a fun lunch with the Trek Xers. They’re young adults who help lead the groups from Mobilizing Students.

Met up with my folks from Texas Southern University and took them to their service project locations. We enjoyed eating at the mall.

They made the mission look great!

Laid down for a few minutes on my air mattress in my office.

Checked on the group at Shallowford Gardens. They kids came yelling up to them so excited. It looked like the van had Justin Beiber in it.

They did a great job!

Worked with the kids at Azalea with Ashley and Miles.

Always good to see the kids. This may sound jealous, but I prefer to be there when the teams aren’t there. I just get a lot more attention from my kids.

It was the symphony night for the kids at Huntley Hills elementary. Ashley, Miles and I had fun watching our kids play their instruments.

For a guy like me, a musician, gotta admit sometimes it sounded really bad to me. I have a hard time listening to things that are flat. And some of those notes were REALLY flat.

Anyway. I proud of the kids!

Had a fun day taking my teams to see Madina. It’s one of my favorite N. African grocery stores. It also has a small prayer room for the Muslim folks who to there.

Then to Global Mall to check out the Hindu Temple.


I always find that visit interesting.

The teams finished up most of their service projects.

I also went by Chamblee City Hall to offer some help to the Parks and Rec department since I have a bunch of man power coming in next week.

Then over to work with the kids at the mission.

Admin duties and working on logistics for Jesse and my to Amsterdam and London in April. Looking forward to spending extended time with J!

Love these pink azaleas!

And clouds!

Had a fun day with my teams from Texas and Mississippi today!

Showed them around the store that sells Buddhist idols, the Chinese pharmacy and the Guatemalan grocery store. We always enjoy eating quesedillas there.

Then the teams worked on their service projects. Getting a lot of great work done.

Finished off the day having fun with the kids. Don’t get no better.

Ashley and Miles also helped the kids with their homework. THANKS!

Took Miles and Ashley out to eat then over to the Buford Highway Farmers Market to buy his Lithuanian bosses some goodies from their country.

I’m sure they’ll enjoy the honey cake and cookies!

Miles liked this.

Silly son.

Always odd things to see there.

Admin duties now.

Fantastic, powerful clouds and weather today.

Had a great first day with my teams from Texas Southern University and Crosspoint Church, Starkville, Mississippi!

Gave them the “Take the Church, To the People!” briefing. Then over to the Buford Highway Farmers Market for a tour. Always fun!

I thought these teas were unusual!

After lunch the teams worked on cleaning and organizing the missions. Tomorrow they’ll begin painting.


Also had a team work at Sequoyah Middle School!

Then the teams worked at five locations around Chamblee and Doraville!

Enjoyed eating supper with Ashley.

And watching 50/50 movie with Kathy this evening.

Admin duties now. Yeah, baby!

The time change threw me for a loop. Woke up really late.

Went to Marietta to see the coin show. I like to look at the old Roman coins. Holding something that’s nearly 2,000 years old is amazing!


I was glad to have Kathy with me. She always makes every trip better.

She went with me to the coin show and then over to look at my favorite antique store in the area. Lots of cool stuff.






Never too many geiger counters.

I may need to go back for this.

Watched “The Big Year” with Kathy this evening. I’m a birder so I really enjoyed it.

Admin duties and an early morning tomorrow as my 2nd and 3rd teams roll into motion.

Today was the first day I’ve had off in about three weeks. GREAT to rest!

Put some new little apples on my car. My old one got messed up. Just not right to have a messed up apple sticker.

Had a fun day with Kathy.

Ate some delicious Chinese food then off to Stone Mountain. I saw this cool three wheeler in the parking lot.

Went shopping for groceries.

J’aime parler francaise avec vous!

I liked this sticker.

Try and say this three times fast.

It was a beautiful day for a hike. I love the cool plants I see on Stone Mountain.

Steel driving man!

I liked this little tendril.

Never too many shots of reflection trees.

I liked this old machine. Never seen it before.

Close ups are cool.

What does this say about the driver?

This evening K and I watched Project Nim about teaching sign language to a chimpanzee back in the 70s. It was interesting and kind of sad.

Ended up watching a couple of episodes of Big Bang Theory to cheer us up. THANKS, Sheldon!

Beautiful sunset last night!

Got about 1/4″ of rain last night.

Had a fun time with two new partners from Gateway Baptist Church in Columbia SC today!

Enjoyed a delicious lunch at Penang Malasian food.

Then off for a whirlwind tour of the International Village!

Always interesting things to see there!








Also visited Enigmas.


Bit creepy.

Couldn’t believe this one!

At CD Tower where Buddhists buy idols.

The Davis family used to live in Japan. Sean is the director of the Japanese section of the Farmer’s Market.

Came home to rest and spend time with Kathy.

Admin duties now.

Had a short night.

Stayed up with a burning desire to talk. So I recorded a new podcast!

One of my favorite things to do!

I really like this one. It’s called “Believe and Receive!” Perhaps the most powerful podcast I’ve ever recorded. Life is amazing. Get out there and enjoy it!

Got up early because of my broken tooth. I imagined pretty much the worst case scenario. Completely having to redo the crown. Hundreds if not thousand plus dollars. Blood. Pain. You get the picture.

Got to my dentist as it opened. The assured me that the dentist could see me. GREAT! It felt like I had a jagged piece of glass that was scraping against the base of my tongue. Not a good thing when you talk for a living!

They took x-rays of my molar. Dentist comes in and says, “Crown looks fine, we just need to grind off the rough edge.” AWESOME, baby!

In a matter of a few minutes my tongue was at peace. (Although it still hurts from where it’d been cut up.)

And amazingly the did it for NO CHARGE! What?!

I know I’ve talked about my dentist being amazing before on this blog. I do it again now. If you’re in the market for a dentist, give mine a try!

Went from the dentist to meet up with one of my best friends, Chip Sweeney!

I really don’t have many people that I’ve worked with since the very beginning of my ministry here in Atlanta. Chip is one of those people. We had a great time catching up on news and having fellowship.

Of course a big part of what we talk about is related to missions. I love that about him!

I thought the Thai food was beautiful.

After lunch, I went to my office, blew up my air mattress and crashed for about an hour. I was super tired.

Then up and at ’em with the final day with the team from Virginia Tech. What a great group! And the first official team of 2012.

Looking forward to hanging out with Kathy and enjoying her company.

And of course admin duties!

QT has this sign over the urinal in the bathroom. I couldn’t help myself. I had to modify it.

Talk about a team mascot that strikes fear into the heart of their opponent.

I always call Guatemala with my WOW card.

I liked this shirt.

The heavens opened wide!

Had a fun lunch and meeting with one of my favorite pastors today, Ben Lehman. He’s a fired up, man of God and I always really enjoy his company.

We hope to do missions together during the Summer.

Met up with my team from VA Tech around 3pm and enjoyed working with them at the mission. They’d been painting at FBC Doraville in the morning.

Home now working on admin duties and looking forward to time with Kathy.

I’m really tired. I’m going to try and walk in at the dentist tomorrow at 9am. We’ll see how that goes. Broken teeth are no joke. ; (

Had a great time with my team from Virginia Tech today! Kathy reminded me that they’re the first team of the year. AMEN!

Took them for a visit of the International Village. They loved it.

Sadly, while we were eating lunch, I broke the edge off of a back molar. It’s left a sharp edge that’s really irritating to my tongue. Hate that. But I’ll get it fixed!

The group also had fun at Plaza Fiesta Mall and then over to the mission to help the kids.

Came home by way of Clarkston to drop off some documents for Ashley that I worked on last night.

Then home to spend time with Kathy. We’ve really enjoyed watching five or six episodes at a time of Big Bang Theory. It’s one of of new favorite shows!

Was working on my admin duties and got a call from Jesse. He’d told me of a TED talk (if you haven’t visited TED.com to watch the best presentations in the WORLD, you’re really missing out!) he’d just watched that was super powerful by a man named Diamantis. THEN he tells me he’s on his way to Stanford to hear the guy speak! WOW!

I wrote him an email telling him to make sure and meet these guys. Just like I put out the effort to go meet the guys in the band Dr. Dog. I’d just hit the send button and I noticed that a picture had popped up on my phone. It’s a picture of Jesse and Dr. Diamantis! That’s my boy!

We talked on the phone for over two hours. It’s about 1:30am now. Told him I needed to finish up the blog and rest. We sure do enjoy each others company. I reckon that’s one reason why we’re ok with him being in California. We still keep in touch and that makes ALL the difference!

Finishing up my admin duties and resting soon.