Chris's Musings

I have been listening a lot to the new Nickelback single lately and it's gotten me thinking... new blog coming but I had to repost these thoughts :-) I just got back home from Labor Day... 4 days removed from hopping on a jet plane to head to Estonia via Amersterdam, and finally left alone to a.) prepare for the week ahead, which includes preparing for the week beyond the week ahead and b.) to start to seriously process a lot of what Don Miller (the speaker) talked about over the weekend and the happenings on the retreat. One of the ideas that we talked about was the cultural seperation that we see in today's world between what we consider "Christian" and what we consider "Secular." And in a sense, it may actually be true that Christianity in America has, in-fact, created an entire little world in which we can go through life and never have to truly interact with someone that doesn't know Jesus. I'm not sure how true this actually is IN REALITY...

I love this song... just downloaded it from iTunes last night :-) Come to the waters, you who thirst and you'll thirst no more. Come to the father, you who work and you'll work no more. And all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed: Love is here. Love is now. Love is pouring from His hands, from his brows. Love is near, it satisfies. Streams of mercy flowing from his side. Cuz love is here. Come to the treasure, you who search and you'll search no more. Come to the lover you who want and you'll want no more, no. And all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed, Love is here. Love is now. Love is pouring from his hands, from his brows. Love is near, it satisfies. Streams of mercy flowing from his side. And to the bruised and fallen, Captives, bound, and broken hearted. He is the lord He is the lord, By his stripes he's paid our ransom From his wounds we drink salvation He is the lord He is the lord Love is here. Love is now. Love is pouring fro...

Last night, I got home from spin class in time to catch The Biggest Loser, which may now be my favorite reality show of all time... getting a great workout and some "Bob the trainer" style coaching from the spin instructor that was teaching. Instead, the Presidential press conference was on.  Not that I don't think it's important to be up on what's going on with the federal budget, but I'm starting to think Barak Obama is on TV way too much to sell this stuff to the American people.  The approach is very Reagan- esque even if the programs are very Carter- esque .  Needless to say, I was informed but disappointed .   Fortunately for all of us fans, The Biggest Loser did come on after the press conference and they played the entire episode :-).  In this week's deal, each of the contestants started on their own and got to pick their trainer.  Many picked Jillian, whose workout style can probably be described as a cross between Newt Gingrich and Robert Montg...

Make your own voice heard... and attend a "tea party" in your area! Information for the Atlanta Tea Party (on 4/15) is at http://www.atlantateaparty.net/

Cooking my breakfast for myself this morning, reflecting on my instincts got me thinking about the "weird" things that we like for breakfast in different parts of the world.  You know, things that, if we lived there would be normal but to an outsider would be considered gross.  Here are a couple that I've experienced: Europe: Cereal with yogurt:  That's right, a lot of people seem to like eating wheat cereal and putting raspberry yogurt on top of it instead of milk.  Yes, it brings smiles to many faces, but it makes my stomach turn.  It was served every morning that I've been in Estonia and ask me how many times I've tried it... uh, none! Sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and cheese:  This is a pretty good treat... but, I've not ever been a huge fan of uncooked tomatoes but it seems weird to me to put them out first thing in the morning. England (and I've heard New England) Baked beans and Canadian bacon.  I actually like this deal... but some peeps think th...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/04/spending.earmarks/index.html?eref=rss_politics I was pretty happy to see this article in my news feed.  A couple of Democratic senators are now saying that they will vote against this "emergency" spending legislation with several thousand earmarks that is coming up for a vote and urging President Obama to veto it and send it back for a good scrubbing (get rid of the earmarks!!) These two guys are no suprise... Evan Bayh seems like a good guy... heck he's from Indiana, and I would have had a lot more respect for Obama's centrist talk if he was VP instead  of Joe Biden.  He shoots straight and is not really into politics as usual.  Senator Feingold is also a moderate... and willing to be bi-partisan as he worked with John McCain on the campaign finance reform stuff.  These guys have some credibility when it comes to working for solutions instead of politics as usual.   It's no surprise that on the other side Feingold's aisl...

At 5pm on Sunday, viewing the white snowy ground below from my flight, I was thinking... Wow.  Amazing.   God really can do ANYTHING.   Here's a little background on this realization... I was flying back from my ski trip to Breckenridge... having had a fantastic time with my buddy Owen and some new friends.  The snow was great.  We got a lot of it :-) and on Saturday it cleared up for a sunny day with plenty of powder on the mountain.  Below are a few pictures from this beautiful day. A view of the town below from the Horseshoe Bowl Ready to go down the steep hill Like I said, it was a really fun trip... until Sunday morning. Sunday was our travel day back home... I had planned to leave the condo around 10am Mountain Time and grab lunch in downtown Denver before catching my flight back to Atlanta before relaxing to a new day at work on Monday.  Sunday was promising to be a relaxing trip home.   That is, until I got the call that woke me...