The 100 Coolest Things of 2008... 20 thru 11

The Super Bowl was awesome this year... scroll down or click here to read the annual running diary...

One more note... if you are on Facebook, the numerous videos are not going to show up. Click on over to Clouds in My Coffee, then bookmark the page. Then check it daily. You never know what might pop up.

The Introduction and Recap
The 100th thru 91st Coolest Things of 2008
The 90th thru 81st Coolest Things of 2008
The 80th thru 71st Coolest Things of 2008
The 70th thru 61st Coolest Things of 2008
The 60th thru 51st Coolest Things of 2008
The 50th thru 41st Coolest Things of 2008
The 40th thru 31st Coolest Things of 2008
The 30th thru 21st Coolest Things of 2008

20. Rhett Barnette
He's this guy I know in KidStuf, the children's theater program at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship). He's married to Amarylis, he's got a daughter named Catalina, and Rhett, without going on and on, gets the title for Funniest. Guy. Of the Year.

He's dry, he's a hick kinda guy, he's just hilarious in a room. He's the kind of guy that, when watching The Jesus Painter, stood and made quiet jokes about the program while many were in deep worship. Seriously, funniest guy of the year.


And somehow, this picture fits him perfectly

19. ESPN's Pardon the Interruption Podcast
Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon... Tony... the Celtics just won the world champion over the Lakers! How hard did party and who did you party with?

Oh, I partied alone... unless you count that tryist with Bea Arthur!

So begins an episode of ESPN's PTI, via podcast. Typically, the hosts--Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser--start off bantering back and forth on the hot topics of the day, mostly sports but sometimes will dive off into other topics of the day. They will spend about 1:30 on each one, but may go over or under. The topics are listed on a scroll on the side of the screen.


Mike and Tony, discussing the woman who tried to use a fake One Million Dollar Bill at Wal-Mart

Next, they'll usually do "Five Good Minutes" with a guest, or they'll just keep talking sports, but in the middle of the show is my favorite. They'll do various bits weekly, sometimes Over/Under (they predict the over/under of a certain number like "Over/Under on the number of home runs Pujols will hit this season") or they'll do Oddsmakers (guessing the percentages of a certain event happening, like "chances that Roger Federer will win two or more Grand Slams before he retires") or my personal favorite, Role Play... they'll play a few beats of what can only be described as "porn music" and one will assume the role of a sports figure--Mike will "be Aaron Rodgers" and Tony will say, "Aaron, how mad are you that you were booed off the field this week at Lambeau?"

I downloaded it every day, missing very few episodes, and would sometimes go back and listen to a day or so old episode in case I missed something. You can get it on iTunes via a podcast... in fact, I very seldom every actually watch the show. Its always on iTunes.

18. "The Dark Knight"
Much to the dismay of my friend Lori Land, there are a couple of films I hold in higher regard than this one, but finishing the 18th coolest thing of 2008 is not too bad.

This was an amazing movie. You've heard the hype, you've heard about Heath Ledger's performance, and you've probably heard the mystique surrounding the film. And I am here to say... its all true and its all deserved.



"Batman Begins" was a re-start of the Batman franchise that succeeded on so many levels, and so the anticipation for "The Dark Knight" was only building to crazy heights. When Heath Ledger died in January of 2008, it only further fueled the anticipation for the movie. And the entire time, I was enthralled by what I was watching.

Ledger's portrayal of The Joker is absolutely brilliant. No attempt is made to really discover where he came from, he's just The Joker, a super villain to Batman. If I had any complaints about the movie at all, it is first that I think the Harvey Dent-into-Two-Face story was rushed... I think he would have been a great villain alone, but he did compliment The Joker well. Secondly, that Rachel Dawes met the fate she met. I mean, its Maggie Gyllenhaal... she's awesome!


Maggie rocks

Did you know that Katie Holmes was set to reprise the role of Rachel, a role she did well in in "Batman Begins"... but she dropped out to make... "Mad Money" with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah. Yes, Katie, how'd that work out for ya?

Anyway, I'm going on the assumption that just about everyone reading this has seen the movie, so I don't much to add to it, other than it was a slambang awesome film, and Ledger is an incredible Joker.

17. FaceBook Connections
I wrote about this not too long ago.. well, it was July of last year... and I said simply, "So, on Facebook, somehow I've managed to find almost everyone that I ever met. Well, actually, I've met a ton of people, so the 508 people whom I call friend on Facebook probably doesn't come close to the amount of people I've met in real life."

Well, since that time, 508 has turned into 774 friends, and just when I think that there can't be many more, another one sends me a friend request. I have now decided that I just don't send friend requests anymore, they can find me...

Over the year, as mentioned in the note from July, I've managed to find The Official Clouds in My Coffee Troy State Crush Tiffany Abbott, The Angel (click to read The Angel Mud Boxer Story), Blair Andress, Dixon Brock, Dayla Ellison, Spring Tolson (also click to read The Spring Tolson Moment) and even more, and though the bigger "friend" news lately is the addition of The Official Clouds in My Coffee Samson High School Crush Julie Wise, that didn't happen until about a week or so ago, so it will be mentioned on The Coolest Things of 2009.

But there's more than that. This seemed to be the year Facebook just exploded, at least to me, from my perspective. More local friends joined--Cindy Warner, Melissa Clark, Emmy & Jason Turnbow--and more Troy friends joined--Amanda Hawkins Casey for one--and more Samson Friends joined--Claudia Sorrells, Jennifer Lambert... Jennifer Herdon--and then there was the Great Rejection of 2008, that being Angiejay, who told me after knowing me for 20 years, "I can't accept your friend request, because I don't know you very well". But I'm not bitter.

However, therein lies the danger, as mentioned last week... I will have to make some slight changes to some previous posts, as now I'm aware of who's on the site.

Also have to say a big hello to Mindy D'A, this incredibly cute and at the time unapproachable Alpha Delta Pi at Troy State, who I had spoken about two words to ever... and now she's a Coffee Drinker. Who knew?

17A. The Official Clouds in My Coffee Troy State Crush Tiffany Abbott McCauley
She rocks. Through Facebook, not only have I been able to chat with The Official Clouds in My Coffee Troy State Crush Tiffany Abbott, we were able to have lunch a couple of times as she came through town. She's just as short as I remember, just as cute as I remember, and just another reminder of Garth Brooks' "Unanswered Prayers" song. Anyway, she was worth mentioning. Hope to see you again soon, one day to meet The Lovely Steph Leann.


Found this adorable pic of The Official Clouds In My Coffee Troy State Crush Tiffany Abbott, though it was before I really knew her.

16. ESPN's College Football Podcast
Like the PTI podcast mentioned at #19, this was also one I listened to daily. A 30 minute show hosted by Andy Gresh, it gave a rundown of the college football headlines and news to know after a weekend's worth of games, and leading up to more games the next weekend.

The show would start with "The Playbook", which was a report from different ESPN bloggers, each giving news of the six major BCS conferences--SEC, Big XII, Big 10, Pac 10, Big East and ACC--and one blogger, Graham Watson, talking about The Independents & More, which mostly, at least this season, gave news on the sorry state of Notre Dame football and the rise of the Mountain West's Utah, BYU and TCU's programs.

Andy Gresh would have different guests on certain days, like Bruce Feldman on Mondays, Ivan Maisel on Tuesdays, Todd McShay on Thursdays and Mel Kiper Jr on Fridays. On Wednesdays, the show would be hosted by Ivan Maisel and would feature the Dean of College Football, Beano Cook. Personally, though I enjoy Ivan and Beano's take on the games and appreciate their love of the history of the games, I liked Andy hosting much better.

It makes me sad, though, that Andy Gresh left the podcast after this past season and will join Sirius Radio's NFL channel for a new show. You will be missed.

The podcast continues even in the off season--it is available for download every other Wednesday all the way through the spring and summer, to pick back up for daily podcasts in August--presumably with a new host. I'm rooting for Todd McShay.

15. Rush Limbaugh
Ya know, I'm not going to do into detail on this one. I don't feel like defending him. I know he's right, and I agree with about 98% of what he says. He's critical of just as many Republicans as he is Democrats. He plays the audio of who you need to hear, he gives you the resources to listen to the entire bite, and honestly, listening to three minutes of his show isn't enough. You've got to listen to it regularly. Only then will you get the humor, only then will you understand what conservatism is, only then will you figure out that really, liberalism fails.

And then you'll be free. You won't be a mind numbed, believe everything the media tells you, if its written in the NYTime or if Keith Olbermann says it it must be true, robot. You'll get it. And we need as many people to "get it" as possible.

14. WalkAbout Dinner Theater
During the 2006-2007 season, I was highly disappointed that the dinner theater we had planned for that June. I was losing talent like Courtney Maddox and Jess Heckman, and I felt not only defeated, but like a failure.

By that time, I had been doing middle school drama for about 8 years, and we had pulled off 5 dinner theater performances. The reason we didn't do the other 3 years is because either I couldn't, or was not doing drama that summer. Some of the kids grumbled, some of the kids understood, but either way, I had no confidence in our team. We cancelled it because really, many of the kids didn't learn their lines on time.

So, when the new team came around, my "seniors" this time were Hannah Robillard, J Pinky, Grace Mintz, Erin Taliaferro, Davis Reynolds, Grant Adams and Emily Griner... one of the strongest line ups we've had since the murderer's row of Scotty Latta, Jana Blackwell, Laura Posey and the like.

We had a great year, and planned for our dinner theater, entitled "By Faith", in July. And it was masterful. It was a one-night-only affair, done in our middle school area known as "the Big Room", and we had a completely sold out audience. Some of our drama moms, including WalkAbout Mom of the Year Melissa Robillard, helped put dinner together, while the WalkAbout Asst Director and Mom of the Year in 2007, Paula Maddox, helped get the show done.

Awesome. Grace Mintz did this monologue called "Unafraid", and brought the audience to tears, but strangely, I think the skit of the show was a little ditty called "Debbie Gibson & the Foolish Chick", based on the parable of building your house on rock and sand. Starring Kimmy Hasha, Hannah, Emily and a special appearance by Matt McG and Algore, it brought the house down.

14A. Paula Maddox
She's was given the 20th Coolest of 2007 rank last year, and I went back and forth as to whether have her appear on this list or not... after all, she did get a rank last year. She was on the list of possible nominees for a Hannah Pruitt Cool Award as well, but I went differently with that.


Here's Paula, singing with a very waxy Celine

Anyway, she's awesome. She was totally my lean-on during the WalkAbout season, and my venting post as well (as she vented to me her own thoughts). I'm proud to call Paula my friend and if WalkAbout opens up to high school as well, as we are discussing, I am excited that she'll be back to help out. Well, she and Melissa Robillard.

13. "American Girl" by Estelle, feat. Kanye West
Take me on a trip I'd like to go someday... take me to New York I'd love to see LA... I really want to come kick it with you, you'll be my American Boy, American Boy.

I really don't care for Kanye West all that much... and whoever Estelle is, I'm not really sure I'll dig on her music all the much either. But this song? Love it? Got played a ton on my iPod this year, and its just cool. Here's the Wiki on it.

12. "Ironman"
Yes, yes, I thought "The Dark Knight" was great. But I am a Marvel fan through and through, so when I found out that Tony Stark would be played by Robert Downey Jr, I was sold. I was eagerly anticipating the film, and was not disappointed at all.

Its got a perfect mix of humor and action, with a great story and effects, and never gets dark and brooding like "The Dark Knight" was. As a matter of fact, I think I liked just about everything about this movie.


In case you didn't stick around after the credits, here's what you missed. Any comic book fan will be elated at this 35 second scene.

Haven't seen the movie? Here's the rundown...
Tony Stark gambles at a Las Vegas casino, leaving his deceased father's friend and business partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) to accept a prestigious award for him. As Stark leaves the casino with his entourage, he is approached by reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), whom he charms into a one-night stand at his Malibu house. When she awakens the next morning, she is asked to leave by Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark's personal assistant.

Stark flies off to Afghanistan with his friend and company military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard), for a demonstration of Stark Industries' new weapon, the "Jericho" cluster missile. On the way back, however, his military convoy is attacked. In the ensuing firefight, his escort is wiped out and Stark himself is knocked unconscious by one of his own company's bombs.

Waking up hours later in an Afghan cave, he discovers an electromagnet embedded in his chest, placed there by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub). It is powered by a car battery and keeps shrapnel from working its way to his heart and killing him. Stark has been captured by a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings, whose leader orders him to build a Jericho missile for him.

Instead, during the three months of his captivity, he and Yinsen begin secretly building a crude suit of power armor, powered by a miniature "arc reactor" invented by Tony's father, Howard. Finally, the terrorists grow impatient and give Stark 24 hours to finish. Unfortunately, the armor isn't quite activated when the deadline expires, so Yinsen makes a suicidal attack in a desperate bid to buy time. Once the armor is ready, Stark charges through the caves. Near the entrance, he comes across a dying Yinsen, who tells him not to waste his life. Forever grateful to Yinsen, Stark burns all the munitions the terrorists have accumulated and then flies away, only to crash in the desert. Stark survives, but his suit is in pieces. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark declares at a press conference that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Stane tells him shortly thereafter that his decision is being blocked by the board of directors of Stark Industries.

Stark focuses his energies on building an improved version of his power suit, while making an improved arc reactor for his chest. Potts gives Stark a gift: his first miniature reactor encased in glass and bearing the inscription, "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart". (courtesy of the interweb)

See this movie!

11. Joining the VCM
Way back in the day, Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) had an awesome college ministry. It was called Common Ground, and there were, on any given Sunday morning or a typical Monday Bible study night, anywhere from 25 to 40, maybe more, college and career minded folks. This is the place where I met some of my best friends and most cherish people, like McQ, Valdmanis, Shawn Sharp, Jenn Adams, The Good Doctor Earl, Amy McL and so on...

But over time, and a few various events, things happened here, things happened there, and Common Ground was no more. The subsequent attempt at the college ministry following Common Ground wasn't successful, and for years, our church languished without it. You could go all the way through preschool, grade, middle and high school and have a ton of groups and activities to be involved in. When you are in your 20s and single, or "young married" or beyond, you have tons of things to do. But the gap between high school graduation and your single mid-20s, nothing.

So it was exciting when Philip and Jill Waters, Jillip, was going to re-start the college ministry. The Lovely Steph Leann and I had been reading in our church bulletin that it might be starting up, so in service, I looked over and asked her, "Do you want to help? Should we get involved?"

Sometimes, The Lovely Steph Leann gets excited, sometimes she doesn't, but usually when she is excited, it usually involves choir or singing. Imagine my surprise when she says, "Yes. I think we should go!"

We walked down to the new college ministry room, and were excited a few of the kids there already, along with Jillip, who expressed excitement that we were there.

The Lovely Steph Leann and I talked with the group, and just told how much the ministry had impacted our lives--heck, we met there--and how we wanted it to impact their lives too. Over Christmas, we saw attendence leap up to over 20 per Sunday, and the word was spreading of the fact that Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) had invested in the college groups.

And so The Lovely Steph Leann and I are here now, in the VCM (Valleydale College Ministry). Its a little sad that we have left the Turnbow class on Sunday mornings, because of how many people there we just love, but we're happy to at least be helping in something that we know is going to grow and make a huge impact! Yay God!

So that leaves 10 more spots. And several events that rank among them... find out the Top 10 Coolest Things of 2008...

The Mission Statement III: The Final Chapter (today)

What an absolutely insane 2 hours.

At 10am, I was standing at the post office. I wrote checks totaling almost $300 for my passport, passport expidition (to get it faster) and for 300 stamps for support letters. Then, I stepped back to the work counter to organized Steph's passport renewal stuff, which would be another $127. Stephanie called me, telling me to call Bob Waters, the leader of the East Asia trip. Apparently there was a hitch.

Boy howdy was there.

Because we had signed up so late, the airline ticket prices were going to be more. Much more, in fact, like, $500 or more in additional costs. I told him about Stephanie, and he was excited that she was willing, and he stressed how important he thought it was for married couples to spend time on the mission field. Then he expressed to me some thoughts about the trip, and asked me to consider Steph and I going on next years trip. We both agreed that with raising support, it would be important to be good stewards of other peoples money & donations, and with an additional $1000 (or more) needed just for plane tickets, that might not be the best use of the money. I agreed, and made the decision for both Steph and I to step back and consider next year's trip. Disappointed, yes. At peace, yes. Happy that Stephanie was willing to go? Definately.

I called Stephanie, told her the news, which she was fine with. I mentioned that perhaps we could go to New York together this year, and she made a statement that made me smile... "Honey, if we are going to East Asia next year, I'll need to save my vacation and roll it over." Not "let's talk about it" or "we'll see" but almost a declaration of "well, we'll go next year. let's plan for it." Perhaps she was just speaking off the cuff, but I truly think she meant it.
And then I figured it out. This whole past week, with considerations for East Asia, with the prayer and conversations that came with it... it drew us closer spiritually, but more importantly, she now has a willing spirit towards missions, something she was hesitant to even discuss before. This whole thing with me and East Asia... was all for her.

When you make the statement "You never know what God is going to do", do you ever try and think of all the possible scenarios that could happen, if only to mentally prepare for them all? During the last five days, I've tried to think of everything... but from last night to this morning, I hadn't thought of any of this, much less prepared for any of it. And I love God for it.

And you know what? I think I'm going back to New York City this summer.

ps... big props to our friends, who have been nothing but supportive and extremely helpful in everything we've talked about, and almost seemed to be going to East Asia vicariously thorugh Steph and I. You guys are the best, and we love you.

pps... I went back to the Post Office and reclaimed all of our checks I had written, and even returned the stamps.

ppps... in a completely unrelated note, check out Dave's Sport Sites, which has (or will in about fifteen minutes) Scott Latta's Rammer Jammer blog.

NYC Entry #11: Reflections of a Memory Bliss

Just for a point of reference... this blog will continue. This just happens to be my last entry about New York City...

Today, I turn 30... actually, about an hour or so ago. How's about that? No longer am I in my 20s... I'm a 30something now.

Things feel different... perhaps it will wear off soon enough, much like the tears of most teenagers at most Christian summer camps, but then again, it was the same way when I came home from NYC in 2002. And things remain different then when I went. But this is a different "different", a better "different"... a good feeling "different".

Let me first give some mad props and awards and feel goody moments to the team--these are of course from me, so others may agree or disagree, but its my site, so there....

The "White Boy Thug Leadership Award" goes to Philip. Phil to the Wat to the E-R-S. Few times have I laughed like I did when you did the big pimpin' stance. And beyond that, you led well. Even in the more unpopular decisions (leaving at 730am on Saturday morning?!?!) you led very well. Thanks for putting this trip together. And props to the wife for the notebook.

The "Tall Guy I Didnt Know But Ended Up Being Pretty Cool Award" goes to Colby. Didn't have a clue who this guy was, but he was quite fun to be around. Very solid guy. Enjoyed you being there.

The "Most Likely To Be the Team Mom in the Event of an Emergency Award" goes to Geryl. Happy birthday to you. You brought an incredibly gentle and sweet spirit to the team, and I thank you for that. Nothing against you, Philip or Paula, but had I contracted lyme disease or something, I probably would have called on Geryl.

The "Will Be Breakin' Hearts While Daddy Loads His Shotgun in Seven Years Award" goes to little Anna Lynn. You've got a great head on your shoulders, kid. Keep it up and you'll definately be a Barlow Girl. And with those big blue eyes, you'll have to be to keep the boys away.

The "Hippychick Award" goes to Staci. If you were to have grown up in the 60s, I can totally see the flowers and beads on you. Stac, leading the dribbling session was, seriously, awesome, and I just enjoyed being around you to hear you giggle at your husband and call him "big 'un."

The "Playa to Playa, Pimp to Pimp Award" goes to little Brandon. Though I wasn't there, he apparently was playing basketball with some of the Big G's, even though he's a lowercase g, and someone yelled out "Throw it to the black guy!", to which he responded "Which one?" That's classic. You know, you could have gone either way... either really annoying, or really cool on a trip like this, and you were the latter. Mad props. Enjoy your kabuki mask.

The "Big Sister Award" goes to Paula. I figured it out this morning... you weren't a team mom, you were a big sister. Thanks for your sleeve to dry on and your willingness to be there. You made a difference. Plus, you were just fun to be around, and that says an awful lot.

The "Holy Mother of Pearl Award" goes to Big Josh. You rock. I'm happy that this trip allowed me to hang out with you some, and get to know what a cool guy that Mark said you weren't. Even when you felt like crap, you kept it rollin', which is very admirable. Oh, and you can't beat the comedy when it comes to Big Josh, who shared a bed with Little Josh, paying said Josh $10 just to sleep on the floor one night.

The "We Gonna Make It Do What It Do Baby Award" goes out to Little Josh Blackburn. You my cracka. You were a definate source of comic relief, even when Jordy slipped past you grabbing basketballs because you were stuffing your face with a sno cone. Oh... stick your tongue out and wiggle it. Thats what I'm doing right now. And laughing. Funniest moment for me: Josh, Mark, Brandon and I are sitting in one of the rooms, me next to Josh. Philip comes in and says, "Hey Josh, I need you to give your videocamera to David for filming tomorrow." Josh, with all the sincerity in the world, says, "David who?"

The "Pied Piper Award" goes to Tim. Big man had kids flocking behind him all the time, like they were moons and they were orbiting around the Planet Tim. Truly, though, in my mind, he was the heart and soul of the team--besides God, of course. His passion for the kids, and his "i'm friggin' pumped!!!" attitude was just inspiring, and the bling provided mucho laugho.

The "Did I Just See That? Award" goes to Larry Long. Funny story... he said he was in the bathroom, getting ready for bed (or for the day--either way, he was sweating) and he looked out, and across the way, about 30 feet away in the next building, was a woman standing in a t-shirt and her underlings, and she was cutting a watermelon. He says, "Its like a train wreck... you dont want to look, but yet, you think 'did i just see that?' so you have to look." Larry was the man when it came to the older kids, which for some, the fact that there were no knife fights and gangsta leans meant it was a successful week. He was also a good, quiet, non-snoring roommate.

The "Least Annoying Rugrat Award" goes to Daniel McCammon. Good kid. Great source of entertainment. And also, good knock-knock joke teller.

The "Big Daddy Award" goes to Chuck McCammon. He's a good dad, too. And a great guy... you can see why he's the children's pastor. From what i've been told, he's not good at basketball, but hey, who needs Upward when we're already Home? Thanks Chuck, for being cool, and I'm glad you and I got to spend a little more time around each other.

The "Snugglebunny Techno Geek Award" goes to Mark. I didnt sleep in their room, but he had to share a bed with Josh B a few nights, and Brandon a few nights... and from what I gathered, both boys liked to wiggle and spread out. Mark is a big kid--and I hope to be such when I get 37, which is what he turned this past week... I'm only 7 years back. And he is also a master when it comes to children, and it showed this week. He's on KidStuf with me, and I'm better for it that he is.

The "Dave and Nat, BFF Award" goes to Natalie. Not sure about the "B", or the second "F", but I do know the "F" in the middle makes me smile. She was like my sister-in-arms on the trip (I think I really connect with people who are my age, so that might have something to do with it) and she provided much laughter (even when she didnt think stuff was funny). In leui of my lovely wife not going, Natalie made a decent date. =)

I also have to give props to the Williams Grocery store for their 50 cent water, Twin Mountain Springs, and no-tax 20 oz soft drinks. And their flypaper ridden bathroom. You may hit a swarm going in, but once inside the bathroom no flies for you.

Props to the sno-cone guy, for actually heeding our calls and coming back later in the day instead of right in the middle of our camps. Leche was the popular flavor, though I enjoyed the coconut cream.

Props to Duane Reede, not too shabby of a drug store, open late.

Best cheesecake? Carnagie Deli, definately--of course, I only had that, and cheesecake at Henry's, and the latter wasnt very good.

Best meal? Carnagie Deli's five inch high roast beef sandwich. It was awesome. I wish I had gluttoned myself to eat it all.

Best Moment for Me on the 2005 NYC Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) Trip That Did Not Include Prayer, Salvation or Anything Important Like That? The Coney Island Cyclone rides. I'll do it again, too, one day. Perhaps not in the back car, though.

Hardest Part? The Infernal Stairs at PS 63. If given a choice between no fan for the week and not climbing the stairs, it would be a tough decision to make.

My final thoughts really... God is amazing. God uses who He wants, when He knows it will glorify Himself the best. Who knows, had this trip been two weeks later, perhaps Cindy would have come and not Mark, or Colby not coming and both Philip and Jill would have come... but God ordained this trip for this week for His purpose, and I love Him for His plans.

Those kids are amazing... they just want love. Even Gaby. Even Jason. They want someone to make them feel important, they want someone to let them know that someone cares, and I think for a week, we did just that. Would I have liked to stayed longer? Only to build stronger relationships with them... but thats not what He wanted. Our job was to plant seeds, it will be someone else's job to lead Jordy to Christ. To lead Darrin ("Bob") to Christ. As someone said, Christians are not in the business of sales, we are in the business of advertising.

I hope we go back next year, and I selfishly hope that its in God's purpose for me to do so. I also hope The Lovely Steph Leann comes with me too. Thanks to all of you who went--I can't imagine it being any different, and I can't say that I'd want it to be. Even with AC.

And that's all I have to say about New York City for 2005.

Dave

NYC Entry #10: Finality

Well this is it. The final morning. No subway rides, no trips to West Way Cafe for some french toast, no adventures at Crotona Park, nothing. God seemed to bless us a little extra after a long week, as when I woke up, I was only partially covered in sweat, not completely, due to the breeze slightly blowing through the open window.

The time was 5am, and we were to be outside with our luggage at 545, so we could catch the bus. I had cleaned up most of the room last night, but Larry picked up a few things I didnt get. We had about seven half filled water bottles just laying around the room, so I poured those out the window, and dumped them in our garbage bag. He got a quick shower, then I did right after. The last time to use the cubby hole shower stall... didnt feel bad about it. The water was actually kind of cold, and it felt really good.

I put on my ESPNZone shirt and threw on my backpack, put my drivers license in my pocket, grabbed my celly and was ready to go. Just a sidebar: When doing missions anywhere there will be heavy walking, like NYC, take luggage that has a handle on it. Not a 'pick up' handle, but one you can roll the suitcase with. Learned this lesson the hard way. Just a tip from your ol' Uncle Dave.

Larry was sitting outside when I came out with my luggage. I told him I was going to walk up and find a 24 hour drug store or something for something to nibble on, but when I did, there was nothing open. The City that Never Sleeps, my booty. When I came back, standing outside was Terry (he introduced himself), smoking a cigerette and drinking a beer. Mind you, this was in fact 530 in the morning. Mark was out there as well, and we talked to him for a little while... Terry, and his pal Keith that joined him soon after, were from Dublin, Ireland, and they played soccer. They had to end up in LA in two months, but until then, they were going to see the sights of the USA. Mark mentioned to me that he was thirsty, and I relayed my fruitless search for beverage, but Terry came through with a solution. "You guys wan a coupla birs? I can git them for ya if yuh'd like et" in thick Irish. We both decline, saying that we dont drink this early. Or ever.

Had a black dude come up and say "So, I see you guys are drinking early in the morning! I got one thing to say about that..." and then he began to rap some jibberish that ended with (paraphrasing) "I ain't got no money, I'm hungry, can you spare a buck?" Terry gave him a few bucks, and Tim, who had just come out trying to pawn off some extra food, gave Rapper J (as he called himself) a big bag of BBQ chips. (You cah't fult tha guy fer tryin, Terry would say when Rapper J walked away).

A cab then pulled up, and another guy got out... and I promise, be it my magic or immaculate beer conception, Terry immediately materlized a beer out of thin air and it was in the new guy's hands before he fully was out of the cab. It happened in about 1.25 seconds. This new guy was Trevor. They all stood talking to us for a minute, dropping the "f" bomb a few times--Terry said cursing was so normal in Dublin no one thought about it. Daniel and Chuck were out there by now, and everytime the "F" word came out, he'd turn to Daniel and Chuck and say "oh, I'm sorry", then continue on. "So, my and my boys ur travelin the stits, and for f*$&--oh, i'm sorry--goodness seck, we try to f$&%--oh, sorry mate--do what we kin to..." and it cracked me up.

Terry said he and his guys would love to visit Alabama, so I gave him the number to Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) and told him to call and try to contact someone on the NY trip. Really, I just wanted to envision Lori or Donna Land taking that call--that thought alone amuses me to the point where it would be worth it, but if they actually do call, thats a 100 out of 100 on the unintentional comedy scale. Finally, the time came to walk away from The Palace. Sadly, no more un-airconditioned rooms, no more jacked up showers, no more money hungry internet computers that barely work... of course, the sweat was still there. We went a block out of the way to our stop, which was okay for everyone with handled roller bags, but me carrying my suitcase by its handle.... not good times. Bad times.

Our team was the only one on the bus for a while, though by the time it passed Shea Stadium, it was pretty full--our luggage probably took up 1/3 of the bus room alone. We unloaded off the bus, got in line at the Delta desk at La Guardia (where Mark swears he saw Jake Gyllenhaal a few people behind us in line. Natalie and Paula disagreed. I was torn.)

I had a breakfast combo at the airport Burger King that cost me $6, when in B'ham it cost me $3.02 (joke of the week... what does Jackie Chan order at BK? a Whah-Pah! Do hand chopping motion for full humorous effect). Then I bought a $4 Sports Illustrated and a $3.50 People Magazine. Thats really it. Then what happened?

We came home.

Nothing more to tell, really. The flight was uneventful, and I got to sit next to Natalie again. Neither of us really said a word to each other or anyone else on the way back, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence--it was more of a "hey, you're tired, i'm tired, we're friends enough now that we won't bother each other" which was good. The plane lifted off, then two hours later, landed in Birmingham, Alabama. After a week in the big city, our town seemed small and definately different.

Ken Mackey (Paula's hubby) was there to pick us up, along with another guy (Dave Harris?) that I dont really know... Philip's wife was there to get him, as was Colby's wife. Everyone else got off at the church, just in time for the 11am service. When we got to the church, everyone grabbed their luggage and went different ways--we'll say our "thanks" and "see yas" another time, I'm sure, because I didnt see anyone else after I went inside.

And up in the choir was my love, Stephanie, singing. I could tell when she spotted me, because a big smile came on her face, and it was sooooooo good to see her.

Well, thats all she wrote. Our New York City mission trip has been blogged, and is over with. I know I've written a lot (trust me, my extra money was pinched for it), and I appreciate you reading even some of it.

I'll have one final blog for NYC to write, which will be more of my thoughts and reflections on the trip, but this blog site will continue on, so don't forget about me. I plan to continue doing thoughts, prayers, movie reviews, encouragement and other fun things here... check back in a day or so for NYC Entry #11--The Conclusion.

NYC Entry #9: The Bling of Jesus

Welcome to Saturday, the last full day of NYC-dom. Started early, this time meeting at 7am for breakfast... of course, I was wrong in thinking of the departure time. I thought it was 745, it was actually at 730, so I learned of this when Mark banged on the bathroom door. The shower I had used all week was in use by someone else, so I walked around the the other shower on the floor, one that some of other team had used. Let me just tell you how jacked up this shower is... the faucet is on the left side of the shower, where the showerhead is located. The drain, however, is on the right side of the shower. So, as you turn on the water to get it just the right temperature before you turn on the shower, the hot scalding water is draining around your feet, burning you. Or freezing you if you start with the cold water instead.

Made it to the West Way Cafe, where this time, Larry and I were joined by Colby, Geryl, Daniel & Chuck, Mark and Philip--so even though we were supposed to leave at 730a, Philip the fearless leader was with us, so it was okay. Most of us got the Belgian Waffle, which looking back, I liked the french toast better.

Our plans were to travel down to Ground Zero, do some touristy type things, then meet back at Crotona Park by 3pm to set up for the Block Party that was being thrown.

Oh, come to find out, the man who was murdered while we were in the Bronx was a cabdriver from Senegal. It seems a homeless man walked up, and asked the cabbie to buy him a cigar. When the cabbie refused, the man pulled out a knife and simply slit his throat... then just walked away. The cabbie was DOA at the hospital. Very sad and scary... we've been approached probably a dozen times collectively for money, usually without incident even with rejection, but to know that something like that could have happened makes me shiver.

At Ground Zero, they have put up a new memorial fence around the entire area, with pictures, plaques and timelines in various places. GZ is very difficult for me. The last time I came, I knelt in front of the make-shift memorial fence at St Paul's Cathedral and prayed until I cried. This time, I walked down the fence a few times, and read and observed the things that had been placed on the fence. Two stood out at me... a picture of Chris Amoroso, a Port Authority Police officer, and Moira Smith, a NYPD officer. Both pictures showed them with people who appeared to be hurt, and both captions had basically the same text--officers who helped people, and went back inside the towers and never came out. After a little while, while other team members were taking pictures and reading, I had to walk away before I cried. I couldn't help it... it just tears my heart to read and see what happened here, though I personally think we should all be reminded of what happened on a regular basis. Four years later, much of the country has forgotten that yes, we were in fact attacked unprovoked.

Okay, I'll stop before I get on a rant, and this isnt the time nor place for it.

So, we moved on as a group, walking down to Wall Street, seeing the financial exchange building, the Trump Building (making me wonder if thats where the Apprentices get fired--though that could be just a movie set), and other various and assundried money-related building type things. From there, we walked on down to Battery Park. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the NYC area, let me see if I can draw it out for you...

New York has five boroughs, or sections. Coney Island is a part of Brooklyn, on the right lower section--its huge. On the left is Manhattan, it is a long "Florida without the panhandle" looking section. To the southwest of that is Staten Island. Right above Brooklyn is Queens, and right above Manhattan (and next to Queens) is The Bronx. Looking at Manhattan, Central Park's southern border is pretty much right in the middle of the Manhattan island. Of course, it extends up for 60 something blocks, so it ends close to The Bronx border. We were staying close to the upper west side, only a few blocks from Central Park, and from the Hudson River on the other side. Funny story--Paula was so jazzed she went to Central Park, only to find out, she actually had visited Riverside Park, which is right on the beach of the Hudson River.

At the bottom of Manhattan is Battery Park, and you can catch a ferry here to go down to Staten Island, past the Ellis Island location of the Statue of Liberty. Right above Battery Park is the Financial District, where you'd find Wall Street, Trump and the World Trade Center, not to mention the big hole in the ground that is currently the former WTC Tower site.

Geography lesson over.

As we walked to Battery, we met a gentleman sitting with his suitcase on the corner, selling his wares--bootleg dvds. The Dukes of Hazzard was one (which had actually hit theaters yesterday, August 5th), and Lil Josh bought it. Bigger Josh bought Batman Begins, but he had a number of dvds for sale. Mark and I both agreed that we didnt want a dvd that might not play in our player, or would have the back of someone's head in the picture.

We entered Battery Park and we were bombarded by guys selling three things... dvds, watches and sunglasses. Oh, there were purse salesmen too but mostly "Hey, we got Oakleys!" and "You need a Rolex!" and "come and see my movies for sale!". Our team went to wheelin' and dealin', and Tim ended up buying a silver Mercedes logo pendant on a large silver chain for $10. I'm not sure what is funnier, Big Tim with this Mercedes hood ornament hanging off of his neck, or all the really white people on our team using the word "bling" over and over again, like it was a common white word like "Condo" or "Volvo". Geryl negotiated with one guy for something, got him down to $5, then walked away because she was annoyed. I think had she kept going, the man would have paid her a few bucks to take it.

One guy had the little bottle caps with some paper under it, hiding the paper and sliding the caps all over the table, wanting money to gamble to see where it was. We watched for a minute, and one lady there kept winning. A couple of times he turned to me, held out a few hundreds and said "if you got a hundred, you can make it five" or some crap like that. I kept expecting him to say "hey, i am a Nigerian prince with millions in the bank, and all I need is a bank account number to transfer it over--can i have yours, and you can have half!" I told him no over and over, though he kept holding his money out for me to play. We just walked away. Though I think that the winning woman was in on the hustle, this con man was a God blessing, as you'll read later.

Everyone walked down and took pictures of the Statue of Liberty that you could see in the distance, though personally, I would have loved just taking a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. Here's the thing... I've been here already, I've seen this stuff before. I have seen Chinatown, Little Italy, Central Park, FAO Schwartz, The ESB and so on and so forth... really, what I wanted to do was go to Midtown Comics and maybe take in an afternoon at the Metro Museum. However--this wasn't about me. This whole trip wasn't about me, it was about Him. And many people going had never seen this stuff, so hanging out with them made it fun.

Philip and Josh told everyone that we could all split up, go in smaller groups and such, and visit, just be back in Crotona for the Block Party set-up by 3pm. I decided to go with Paula, Josh, Brandon, the Herringtons because they were headed to Chinatown, and also with Natalie, because, well, she's my homegirl. =)

Everyone departed their own way, going to various places and such, so we took the train up to Canal Street where Chinatown was located. We got above ground from the subway station and found it was packed out. A little while later, Geryl, Tim and Anna Lynn decided they would meet us at the Park, because keeping up with all of us was too difficult with the swarms of tourists and Chinese selling their wares.

Josh B had a just a little bit of money, and wanted some cologne. He wanted a big bottle of Ralph Lauren Polo Blue, retailing for $50, but the vendor wanted $18. He said "how mucha you got?" and Josh said "I have ten dollars" and the guy replied "Issa eight-teen dolla!". From out of nowhere, Paula firmly said, "Ten." The guy looked at her, looked at Josh, and defeated, said "Gimme ten". Josh handed the last of his money over, and he got his cologne.

We were all getting hungry, but let me say I don't dig on chinese. Actually, I don't dig dog and cat, so I tend to stay away from the oriental food (Japanese I can handle sometimes) which presents a problem for Steph, because she loves chinese food. However, being the selfless guy I am, I told Paula, the B-Boys and Nat that I would go and sit wherever they wanted to eat. They chose the Hon Wong Restaurant, and to me, it was pretty sketch. I ordered a Coke, and got a can with a big hair on top of it. Needless to say, I drank it with a straw.

After lunch, we walked through C'town, and they ended up buying various things there and here. I bought a pair of NYC Socks for The Lovely Steph Leann (she loves decorative socks) but that was all for me. Natalie got her a Louis Vitton purse, while Paula bought some random stuff as well. We strolled on over to Little Italy from there, where I went in and had some not-very-tasty-for-the-twelve-bucks-i-spent spaghetti at some hole in the wall "authentic" Italian joint while everyone else shopped.

And finally, it came time to head to The Bronx. Our plan was to get on the subway at 2pm, so we'd have a full hour to travel to Crotona Park, but none of us figured into our brilliance that we were on the bottom of Manhattan, and Crotona was on the other side of the top of Manhattan. Didn't help that we got on the wrong platform waiting for the wrong train. When we finally got on the right one, it was 230pm and we had 14 stops to make before arriving at 174th Street station, where we needed to be. Yeah, we walked off the platform at 174th around 310pm. I called Josh & Staci, who were already there, and told them we were almost there. After a quick stop at the Williams Grocery, for some 50 cent water and other assorted items, we walked up to the park.

Philip and Colby to meet us to walk us to the Block Party location, which seemed strange to me until I discovered that not only were we on the other side of the fairly large park, the block party we were to tend to was being held on the same day that the neighborhood did their monthly block party, complete with dental screenings, doctor check up booths and other needed things. "Hmm.. popcorn maker, check. Cotton candy machine, check. Lots of drinks, check. A day when nothing like the monthly neighborhood party is planned... hmmm." Just my thoughts. Didn't feel bad being there at 320 either... Geryl, Tim and Anna Lynn got lost, as did Mark, Chuck & Daniel, on the subways, and the entire group wasn't there until at least 4 or 415pm.

Fluid, baby, fluid--pardon my cynicism. It worked out, though.

The block party was being thrown in conjunction with a local church, Lighthouse (which Pastor Kitchens headed up) one guy said it best: "Pastor Kitchens is a great man. I just wish his congregation was like him." That is to say, there werent a whole lot of Lighthouse people there. The other church that was working on it was Hepsibah Baptist from South Carolina, who was just beginning a five day mission trip in the area, where they'd be doing VBS and Bible camps on a different side of the park.

Josh C started working on the sno cone machine, I took a hold of the popcorn machine, and Satci did the cotton candy, until she decided to be with Josh on sno-cones, which was good, because that was definately a two person job. Nat took over cotton candy then. Slowly but surely, kids and parents came. There were hot dogs and chips available, as well as games and one of those big blow up inflatable jumper-mabobs. Mark ended up doing that with Leslie, one of the mission directors, and became an Inflatables Bouncer. So many kids wanted in that thing they had to let them in depending on size for a few moments at a time. I saw one kid go running and diving in the opening, but before he could get through, Mark grabbed his legs, yanked him out and dropped him on the ground. Quite priceless.

Some of the kids we had worked with all week showed up to help, and before long, we had kids taking our places on sno-cones, popcorn and cotton candy, which was fine with us. I wandered down, got a hotdog, had a cheap (re: free) dinner and then got to watch three girls throwing down on some double dutch jump rope. They told me how, but when I did it, I managed to get in about four hops before the rope (which was a long piece of phone cord, I noticed. Had I money, I would have immediately gone and bought them a proper rope) tangled around my legs. I think Staci got in about six jumps, but neither Josh did much.

Kendall showed up a little while later. I also noticed Tim sitting with another little girl, Vernalisa, whom I recognized from camp. It was her 11th birthday, and turned out to be another birthday as well... her first spiritual one. She accepted Christ right there in the park, and it was awesome. She was the cutest darn thing. Later, Kendall got to pray with another little girl, Arelis, who was probably about eight, maybe younger, to recieve Christ. I only envy that they got to pray with the kids, but I think its AWESOME!

I have to tell you this part though... the coconut shells. Some of the games were set up around the food, and I dont mind telling you, they were a wee bit cheesy. Throw the hackeysack into the hole in the wood, and toss the plastic ring on the plastic dolphin... no, I dont know that I could have come up with better stuff, given the time constraints, but its my site, so I can say that yes, they were cheesy.

Anna Lynn was running one booth that I can only call "Guess Where the Shell the Ball is". It was like the street hustle game we saw in Battery Park, only the small object to find was a blue foam ball, and the cups were plastic coconut shell cups, the kind you'd slap a lid and a crazy straw on, sipping pina colada in a hammock, kicking back, enjoying the... wait. Lords work. So, she was having a hard time with this, and finally asked me to do it because she was tired. Not really wanting to, I stepped in and said "Sure."

My mad skillz at doing such a game, moving the upside down shells around quickly so people lose track of the ball, aren't so much skillz as, well, incompetence. I learned quickly, however, that you dont have any problems guessing when there are price tag stickers on the bottom of the cups, all placed in different places. No wonder they were killing Anna Lynn. "The ball is in the cup with the sticker in the corner. Hmm, I will just pick that one." So I peeled off the stickers, and went to work. I'm a show-off, really, so thats what I did. I started flipping the cups, moving them around quickly, I'd pick them up while moving the cups in a circular motion so as to keep the ball in the cup, I'd pick up two of them together, move the ball between the two then slam the cups down, still moving them... yes, this might sound impressive, but I dropped the ball half the time, or the ball would fall out of the cup when I slammed it down. Still, it made for a good show, and the kids all enjoyed it. One kid was talking smack, and I burned him seven straight times. Felt good. =)

When we were about to leave, I suddenly announced that my time was up, I took a bow, and left the cups... only I had to come back, because one little girl starting crying, saying "I dinna get to do it!". So I did an encore performance, cutting my right hand middle finger in the process somehow. Bleedin' for Jesus.

A few minutes later, Arelis joined the faith family via Kendall's lead, and we all began to walk back to the 174th Street Station. We walked by the Williams Grocery store, and I shook the attendants hand and told him we were gone for good. He looked and smiled and said "see you tomorrow?" and I replied, "no, we're heading back to Alabama." I dont think he understood anything I said. That's allright, though. He was a blessing to us all with his 1/2 a dollar water and no tax 20 oz Cokes and for Colby, cheap pecan spinwheels.

Tim still had his bling on, and I was still getting a kick out of hearing white-bread Paula and white-bread Geryl saying the word "bling" all the time. As we stood awaiting the train, Josh B put Tim's bling on Philip, and made him turn his hat cockeyed... Philip then did this rapper pose that was simply priceless... you can't make this stuff up. Hence, P-Wat, or as I call him, P to the Wat to the E, R, S was born.

And finally, we said our goodbyes to Kendall on the train and walked away. Staci, Josh and Mark all headed back to Times Square for a few more purchases, while we were just too tired to do anything else. I went back and began to pack my junk, finding it strange how I had more stuff than I came with, when all I did was flippin' eat while I was there. Larry and I encouraged each other in that we only had one more night of sweaty backs and wet mattresses to endure for the Glory. We kept wondering if we'd see The Naked French Guy, or if I'd get one more chance to turn my head from Foreign Chick in a Towel, but it didnt happen.

So the plan is to be outside with our luggage by 545am, so we can catch the M60 bus to La Guardia by 6am. Early, once again.

I've got one more day... or morning, rather, to blog, and I'll tell you about Trevor, Terry and Keith, the Irishmen at the Palace, and also about the ride home. Then I think I'll relay to you my thoughts of the trip, my favorite moments and wrap it up. Thats coming Wednesday, so stay tuned.

NYC Entry #8: Fluid

Can you believe its Friday? Okay, its actually Saturday night, but bear with me here. I'm going to tell you all about Friday... it seemed like a normal day--or normal for us in NYC--but we learned about one word this day, and this week: Fluid. Not just being flexible... being fluid. Ready to go with the flow, because we know as Christ followers that most things never work out as we planned them. John Lennon once said "Life is what happens when you plan". Nice man. Shot in the back, very sad.

We woke up early Friday morning, Larry and I, dripping in sweat again. My thing now is in the middle of the night, I change pillows. One pillow becomes too saturated with persperation to continue its purpose, so I swap it out for another pillow I have on standby to get me through night. Not so with the mattress, which is damp with Davesweat by 3am.

Larry, Chuck, Daniel and I headed out to the West Way Cafe to see Beatrice, our waitress, and have our regular breakfast meals. Tomorrow is Belgian Waffle day, and I think its on our list of "things to look forward too".

Once again, as always, we met up with the gang in the lobby of the West Side Inn, and prepared to lug off to the 103rd Street Sub Terminal. This day, however, proved to be a little different, as we got word that the #2 train, the train we always take up to 174th Street in the Bronx, was temporarily out of service. This posed a problem as we didnt plan on this at all... but we quickly regrouped, and Philip, our fearless leader, worked with Josh Caldwell to come up with a plan. So, we took another numbered train up to another location (I dont remember what it was... something like 145th Street, or something), and when we got off, we had to get on a bus. I called it a "flexi-bus" because its like they chopped off the front of one bus, chopped off the back of another, and connected them with the accordian type material that makes it easier to take corners.

We got on the flexi-bus (which took us by Yankee Stadium! Go O's!), got off at another stop, got onto another bus and arrived at the park at 850am... about 30 to 45 minutes after we had planned to do so. Oh, fun fact. Kendall beat us there because the #2 was working a little after we'd make the decision to go another route.

Fluid.

Josh C had planned a little different schedule this time around, with more scrimmaging and games, with the devotion and the sharing of the gospel in there closer to the beginning. Plus, all the kids got free basketballs today, so we had to be prepared for anything.

Many kids came today, but not the hordes of kids we thought might come. Again, we want what God wants us to have, be it 4 kids or 376 kids... though somewhere in the middle was the selfish preference of all of us, I think. We probably had about 70 or so, most of which we knew, and knew us. Many returns today, like Jason, and Coach of the World Ray, and Juan, and ball hungry Jordan, and helper Mehlaydy and helper Jenny and a number of other kids.

Steve from Montgomery gave the gospel, and unlike the day before, there weren't as many distractions. Staci had misplaced her bible the day before and was frantic to find it, while Paula and Natalie had misplaced the grey folder that held much of the Upward info we needed, plus info about the block party on Saturday at Crotona.

Come to find out, Coach of the World Ray had picked it both up on Thursday, saying he didnt want anything to happen to them. From what Josh said, we might have still been around, but either way, I was picked to go with Ray to his house and retrieve said items. Sure, I replied. So Coach of the World Ray and Dave head down the streets of the Bronx to an unknown-to-me destination. Ray tells me how he's from the area, but he visits Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Mexico several times per year to visit family. We get to a 15 or 20 story complex, take the elevator up several flights, and I follow Ray into the hallway. Very nice and air conditioned, to be honest with you. Also being honest, I was little timid, because I had no idea where I was going, who I was going to see, and what to do if anything happens. Paranoia, of course.

CotW Ray knocks on a door, and it opens to see his uncle there... was that Phito? I dont even know, I can't remember his name. We go in to a very cold apartment--which is AWESOME--and I get a look around, and really, it looks quite nice... the layout would be something Steph and I would approve of for our own apartment down in B'ham.

Ray runs down the hall, through a door, and reappears a minute later with the folder, Staci's Bible inside. I say bye to Uncle Phito, and we're off. Back to camp, without incident, and Ray hands the folder to Paula, grabbing the Bible to run off and give it to Staci.

The camp went without a hitch, really, and at the end, we worked out a pretty good system of giving out basketballs to each kid. We stopped giving out wristbands at 1130a, ensuring no one would walk up at the last minute to register just to get a ball, and when they got their ball, we cut their wristband off, to ensure that no kid would double back to get another one. We also wrote their names on the balls, and made the point of saying "if you lose this, you dont get another one". I dont even think anyone lost theirs.

I saw Gaby at the end as well. He rode up on his bike and I walked up and smiled, "Hey dog, we missed you this morning." He just shrugged. I replied, "Shoulda been here, you could have gotten the basketball." He smirked and said "I've got 13 of them at my house." Quickly, I added, "Really? From camp last week?" He nodded and I asked, "Well, did you learn anything?" He shook his head and said "No, I aint learned nothing". I said, "Thats because you didnt listen, man. You spend too much time trying to be cool and front for your friends." He then got defensive and said, "I listen. I'm good at listening. Man, I listen better than anyone in this park." I replied, "Not sure about that, but I..." before I could finish, he rode off on his bike.

Lunchtime came, and Geryl had organized us getting sandwiches from a local place (the guy at the cafe didnt speak lick of English, but Juan would translate for us). Before I got over there, though, the sno cone guy was up. Everyone got theirs, and Mark even bought mine, a few others and a couple of kids he didnt even know. So , I had a couple of bucks in my pocket, and when Manny came up, I bought his (he looked surprised, almost touched over a sno-cone. I thought it strange, but I dont know his story). Then Jason came up, and I bought his too. The popular flavor is "leche" (sp?), which is some sort of creme/cinnamon concoction. Over ice. Bleeech. I had some of Natalies, and needless to say, I stuck with my coconut. A few other kids came up, and asked me to buy them a sno cone... well, not really asked, more like told. "Hey man, buy me a sno cone!" "I aint got no money, man, gimme one!" Mind you, these werent kids I had seen or even knew their names. I said "No more money, guys, sorry". They called me names. I walked and smiled.

Fluid.

We had lunch, and then the nine of us--Colby, Philip, Tim, Larry, Mark, Staci, Natalie, Josh C and myself headed to PS 63, via the bus stop that Juan had pointed us to the day before.

Song playing right now as I type this... "Be My Glory" by FFH. You oh Lord are a shield about me, You, oh Lord are my refuge. You, oh Lord, are a shield about me, You, oh Lord, lift up my head, be my Glory. Be my Glory. I dunno... I just felt like typing it. Sometimes i go on rabbit trails, good and bad, and I just felt like someone could use it right now.

On the way to PS 63, a man got on the bus, seemingly very upset, talking to the driver about something or other that I couldn't understand. Tim got it, though, and as we got off, he shared with me the man's story.It seems that the man, Sandy, was a cab driver, and a fellow cab driver had been murdered there at a local gas station hours earlier... that being, the same time we were having camp, at a location barely a mile from where we were doing Upward. We knew that God's protection over us was there, but when you sit and think about how there could have been drive-bys, or we could have made one of the kids just mad enough to do something stupid, or any number of unthinkable possibilites, we have been soooo lucky this week that its gone without incident. We haven't even had any fights to speak of.

We made it to PS 63, ready for the final day of The Infernal Steps. Up the flights we went, huffing, puffing and blowing our lungs in. Before we began, we said a prayer for the cabdriver and his family, and a few other things, and afterwards, Jimmy came in and said that the asbestos crew was gone, and that he wanted us to prep and paint that room in the corner, the one that Philip, Colby and Tim had started.

I stayed for a minute in the room that I, Josh C and Larry, with major help from Caulking Tim, had finished to put on a second coat on a border, while Mark and Staci went to their room to clean up a little. Everyone else headed to the other room. When I got in there about 30 minutes later, major prepping had already been done, and some painting had begun. I sat and rolled plastic over stuff, and we worked until about 4pm... and we got the darn room done, save for a few trims spots. We rocked the hizzouse. Off the chain. Jimmy prayed for us before we left, and we headed back down...

You know, after spending so much typing time on camp, I wish I could say more about the school painting, but really, there isnt much to tell.. we just worked our tails off, hard labor, trying to "make it look good, its the Lords work". So there's the reason you dont see a lot of painting stories. Um.. Staci cut her leg slightly. We had cold water in ice (we had sorta cold water on Thursday). We had paint all over us. Priming is crap. Larry and I rolled the heater pipes, while we, plus Natalie, did chalkboards. Boring you, aren't I?

Fluid.

The plan upon returning back to The Palace, or the West Side Inn as its commonly known, was the showers we all needed, then head out for the church office where Kendall would meet us with a couple of ladies to do some praise and worship. After that, whatever time, we would head to Times Square and eat at ESPNZone (boo yah).

We took the train downtown, turning left instead of right this time, and made it to the office (Its also a church, Mandarin Chinese I think, and a few other things, not to mention the fact that Kendall lives on the sixth floor for the summer). She came down, and with her came two ladies she had spoke of...

...let me set up. Kendall was traveling through the subway one day not too long ago and came upon a trio of black women singing some gospel music that blew her away. She immediately approached them and found out one of the ministries of these women was to just go down into the subway and sing about Jesus. Kendall asked if they would be willing ot come and worship with us on this very Friday night, and they agreed to do so.

And here they were. The third sister couldn't make it, but Tamika and Nikki did. They began to tell their stories, and let me just say that though she was little loud in talking, Tamkia has one of the most gentle voices I've ever heard. She spoke of horrible things that had happened to her in the past, including a severe battle with depression and losing children along the way, but she spoke softly of her Jesus, and how her Jesus loves her, and loves us, and by the end of her speaking, we were all in silence and I know I was secretly praying for these two women that God would just bless them beyond measure. They are in a group called New Generation (with some other people) and they said that from singing in various places, they've gotten to do things like sing at Carnagie Hall, and open for Mary, Mary. Kendall, please correct me if I've missed any of this, since I know you are reading this.

And while we are on Kendall... I wish you people back home had the chance to meet her. She's got this huge heart and this huge passion and this big smile and this great desire for doing God's will and you just know when you look at her that God is doing something special in and through her, and though I know that God's timing is perfect, and all of us crossed paths with her at just the right Time, I still wish I had met her before, because I just know that Steph and I would love to have known her since before Sunday. Alrighty, done with that.

Nikki also talked a little bit, and she too had a strong, yet gentle voice, and after a while, they both got up to sing. The room was filled wit the Spirit as I felt like God was ushered into our hearts fully and we prayed and we sang along and we were so encouraged just by the 30 minutes we were there. They were truly amazing.

After Nikki and Tamika left, with hugs and encouragement from all of us, Kendall sat to discuss with us the week. She told us of Manny, and his struggles (of which I wont go into here, but just know he's leading worship at a brand new church, and he and his wife are struggling with jobs and such...) and then told us of another camp that she had done this week in Brooklyn. She told us of one kid that was simply a troubled child, and how he told her that when he acts up, the pastor tells his grandfather who then takes him home and literally bangs the kid's head against a glass wall. Another kid didnt know what to think of the gospel of Jesus, as he mentioned that we all came from monkeys.

As she spoke, I saw myself in her words. She spoke of how easy it can be to get discouraged here... in Birmingham, or in Mississippi where she's from, its easier to wrap our minds around the size of the city, and the enormity of the task of winning souls. Yes, Hoover and Vestavia and Homewood are big places... but we have an idea of size, of population and of values there. Wrapping your mind and heart around the city of New York City, with its five boroughs is almost incomprehensible. But the same grace that saved me and you saves one person at a time here just like anywhere.

I think this is why I have such a heart for NYC... I can understand it, ot a point. So many lost people, so many unloved people, so many people misguided, apethetic, or whatever... just heartbreaking.

I looked down and realized I have 12 minutes left, and no more money, so I'll get through this as quickly as possible...

We prayed for Kendall, and said our goodbyes, as she was headed off to a "buh-bye" dinner with other summer missionaries (though she said she would join us at the block party) we agreed to go to dinner. We took the subway to Times Square, which is just enormously different at night than in the daytime.

It would take a while to get our table, so we all split up into different groups to kill the time. Josh B, Brandon and I made like little boys and headed for the third floor game room, though my joy was killed when I saw how it worked. You buy a card, the cheapest being $5, and it has points on it. The $5 had 15 points, but the $15 had 60 points, and the points went up more and more as you bought more. The games--though all looking high tech--cost different points amounts. Some games cost 4, some cost 21. There was an actual mini bowling alley that let you bowl... 16 points. I had $10 in quarters, but I just held onto it.

We went down to the first floor gift shop, and there I saw my shirt... this crazy looking smooth shirt filled with ESPN logos and such, and I found out it was onsale. Now, two years ago--even maybe a year ago, I'd have bought that puppy in a second, with the "i'll figure it out later" attitude. Not now, though. When the salesman asked me if I wanted it, I told him I'd think about it, and I spend about ten minutes thinking "okay ,where is this coming from? starbucks money? clothing money? okay, if i deposit this, then we can move that and..." as I ran scenarios in my head over and over. I decided to think about it over dinner.

I walked outside and looked around at hustle and flow of the city life there in Times Square, and called my best buddy Wookiee to tell him where I was. Got a voicemail. Called Reverend Ty to see how his stressfilled day went. He had to take another call. Called Tebe. Voicemail. There was no one to brag to. I was disappointed.

Got into ESPNZone after about a paltry 30 minute wait, and though we thought to get seated, we'd have to sits in 2s and 3s and 4s all around the restaurant, she actually seated us all together. The bathrooms rocked... they had small, flatscreen tvs above the urinals and in the bathroom stalls (at one point, Josh B suddenly turned to me, as if awakened by a epiphany and said "Wait... you mean I can sit on the toilet and watch the XGames (what was on currently)? I'm doing it! Not cause I have to, but because I want to!" and he ran off towards the lavatory.)

I had a simple cheeseburger and some fries, and then this wicked toll-house giant cookie sundae. I actually planned my meal around that sundae, so I wouldnt eat too much. Josh C and Mark sat eating, but torn because of a $32 ultimate tailgate appitizer tray that had every appitizer on it. After dinner, I ran inside the gift shop and picked up my $36 ESPN logo shirt. It rocks. This also solves the problem of what exactly I was going to wear home, because my count, everything I had brought was going to be a) dirty, b) funky, c) dirtyfunky.

It was getting late, and some of us were ready to head back while others still played on the 3rd floor game room. Natalie, Josh B, Geryl, Tim and AnnaLynn and myself all caught the subway train back to The Palace known as the West Side Inn. On the way back, as we usually did, we staggered the line a bit... as in, I would be leading with Josh, and about ten feet back, there is Tim and Anna Lynn, and then a few more feet back there would be Natalie and Geryl chatting. Well, along the way, a guy who looked to be in his 30s or so stopped Josh and I, saying, "Can you please help me, I just need some money for a trip back to Jersey." Usually, I dont give money straight-up to people who beg, I'd much rather buy him a meal and send him on his way, not knowing what he'd do with the money I gave.

He said his name was Ed, and he told us that he wasn't a bum (said it several times to make sure we understood he wasn't). Josh gave him a few bucks, and I told him at first that I didnt have any to spare. But something told me to keep on with him, so as he started to walk away, I put my hand on his shoulder. I asked, "So Ed, tell me man, quickly, whats your story? How can we pray for you?" He had a funny look on his face, and said, "Pray for me? You want to pray for me?" I said, "Yes, we do. Josh and myself are up here on a mission trip with some other friends, doing some work in the Bronx, and I want to be able to tell them about you, and how we can lift up your name."

He had a puzzled look on his face, and said,"You're Christians?" I smiled and said, "Yes. Well, I'd like to say we're Christ Followers. The word 'Christian', its bandied about so much that sometimes it doesnt carry the proper meaning." He told us that he was also a believer, and that he lived in New Jersey, and that he was a vet of the Gulf War who just had some struggles. He was hoping to collect $10 to take the train home.

I said, "Man, let me pray for you." So Josh and I did. After we said, "Amen", I started to shake his hand and continue on, but he put his hand on my shoulder and he prayed for both of us, and our team. He invoked Jesus' blessing on us, and God's name several times (I say that because someone later asked me about his prayer, making sure he wasn't praying for The Earth Spirit or some junk like that). I handed Ed a ten dollar bill when we were finished, and he had a surprised look, and I told him we'd pray he makes it, and may God bless him. I was glad Josh was there too, because he seemed to enjoy the whole moment.

Fluid.

After Ed walked away--hopefully not to buy beer (though his pickins were slim because The City that Never Sleeps apparently has nothing open after midnight) we walked back towards The Palace. Tim, Geryl, Anna Lynn and Natalie were waiting on the corner for us, and we relayed our story, which pumped Tim up.

We returned to the Palace, and all climbed in our beds, ready for one more early day... in the lobby at 745am was what I understood, and don't forget... at the West Way Cafe, tomorrow is Belgian Waffle Day!

NYC Entry #7: Cyclone Salvation and My Favorite Valentine

Lots to tell, but only 32 minutes to do it in. So lets dive in...

Early morning again--545am simply is crap. Back home, my clock actually skips 1am to 6am, and goes directly to 7am, so having an alarm (this morning it was California Dreamin') that early is just ghastly.

Breakfast at the West Way Cafe, this time with both Joshes and the rest of the regular crew. They serve belgian waffles on the weekend, so guess where we'll be eating on Saturday?

Typical morning, we all met again at the lobby of the West Side Inn, and headed out to the 103rd street station to taek a ride up to 174th street in the Bronx. This time Josh B got off at the right stop. We all stopped into our favorite $1 20 oz coke & 50 cent water place, Williams Grocery, though someone commented that they didnt think there were too many Williams in there. Maybe a few Juans, or some Chavezes.

27 minutes left. My problem is that i have to stop and correct typos, b ecause i just cant stand the thought of you people thinking i cant spell correctly. Plus, this computer is really slow. It took me 1 minute & 9 seconds to type that last sentence.

Kendall showed up a few minutes later and we began to set up for Upward, day three. We didnt expect a huge crowd today (though tomorrow we may see 150 kids, all wanting their free basketball) and we were ready to scrimmage twice, especially to get the big kids to do something besides mess with the smaller kids. Little by little, they trickled in, many more older kids than we had seen before. Jason came in again, and Gaby, the "F" word kid, came back. Ray, the proclaimed "coach of the world" because he like to steal our clipboards and draw up random, ridiculous plays, showed up for a third day, and there were some kids actually waiting for us when we got there, including Mylady, Jenny and our own Spanish translator, Juan. All three of the latter kids were huge helps over the course of the morning.

The day began running smoothly enough, with your typical problems from some kids... there is this one kid named Jordan--I was actually asking myself that "If i promise to repent later, is it bad to shoot a kid in the butt with a bb gun for mere enjoyment?" This kid is about 11, maybe 12, and everytime I turned around, he was going for the basketball pile. We learned after the first day to round up the balls between drills, devotions and other times they werent necessary.

(there is this foreign chick staying in the room next to where the computers are located, and this is the third night this week shes come out in nothing but a t-shirt to go to the showers. She seems a bit hairy, so the thought of looking doesnt really cross my mind, but i find it strange. I only mention it because she just came out again... in just a towel. Between her and the naked french guy, its like we are staying in the Cinemax hotel. And i have 16 minutes left)

Jordan... so, anyway, this kid is always leaving his coach and running to the balls to try to get one. I've stopped him everytime, and so he's resorted to anything he can think of, leading to this exchange today:
Jordan: "Gimme a ball!"
Me: "Jordan, I told you... you cant have a ball. All you will do is shoot hoops and not be in your group"
Jordan (pointing): "But I brought that ball there!"
Me: "Dude, that ball says 'Upward' on it, in ink"
Jordan: "But... um... coach told me to get a ball!"
Me: "Who's your coach?"
Jordan: "I dont know his name"
Me: "Right. Go back to your group before i give you a wedgie, man."

Okay, I have 7 minutes left, and I have to tell you about two things before I go...

I walked up to Jason, and shook his hand, and said "Hey, Jason. I want you to know that right now in Alabama, there are about 100 people you've never heard of praying for you right now, by name."
I understand that by saying "100", I am grossly overestimating the popularity of this site, but bear with me...
He looked funny, and said, "They know my name?"
And I said "Yeah man. They are all lifting your name up to God."
He said nothing for a second, and then for the first time, I saw him smile. He simply said, "Cool". The first time I saw him smile... cool indeed.

One minute.

Pray for:
Eric who prayed to receive Christ today... his story later...
Tomorrow, and the crazy day it will be...
TO BE CONTINUED!!

(Everything you read from here until the end of this post, Im writing on friday afternoon, after camp and our last day painting... before i tell you about it, though, i really want to finish thursday...)

Where was I? Okay, let's pick up about the middle of camp. Everyone has come together, and Josh is presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right smack in the middle is Gaby, and "Bob", who's really named Darrin. And during the presentation of the gospel, they did everything they could to distract Josh, the other kids and basically get some attention. Oh, there were other kids too, but these two stood out. Really irritated me that they didnt have enough respect to sit for five minutes, or even just leave... I know, they mimic what they are taught, either in the home or on the streets, but that didnt make it any less irritating. At one point, Gaby even called me a few names, mostly in Spanish (one of which meant"white boy", which makes me think young Gaby ain't too bright... after a week in the sun, I'm darker than many of these black kids, including Gaby). Anyway, Josh prayed at the end, and a few made a few jokes at his, and our expense. When finished, he walked away seemingly very frustrated.
The kids broke up in their teams to play basketball (of which I had the aforementioned short conversation with Jason) and I noticed Tim talking to one guy who looked in his late teens. Shortly after, camp was over, kids got thier t-shirts, and most went home. Juan stayed to help clean-up, when Tim came over and said that they guy he was just talking too was named Eric, he is 18, and a few short moments ago, Eric accepted Christ. After Josh's talk, Eric and Tim ended up talking, Eric asked questions, Tim answered them with Truth, and Eric took the next step. We were all pretty excited about it, to say the least.

We had our lunch, and then Juan walked us to the bus stop--we had looked for it the day before, and ended up at a stop several blocks down, waiting for a bus that never came... we missed the stop we were supposed to be at, because the sidewalk was covered in high scaffolding, and the bus stop sign was beyond it. Juan was the man.

(so now the time is 536p, on friday, EST, and we are headed out in 45 minutes... this post will be finished tonight, I promise!!)

(Now its 1238 on Saturday morning... I'm going to do my best to get through the rest of Thursday and all of Friday, though Friday is a long post with lots to tell... so bear with me. And thanks for reading!)

Where were we? Ah yes, we had just finished with camp, and was leaving Crotona Park. We caught the bus at the bus stop where we were supposed to be, and then rode over to our other stop, which was about 50 yards from PS 63.

We got up to the school, and began to long walk up The Infernal Stairs. 26 stairs per flight... 4 flights... you do the math (because I'm too tired to). When we get to the top, everyone just plops on the floor for a minute, legs quivering, eyes bulging, all short of breath. The stairs are evil in concrete form, there is no disputing that.

Jimmy came in, and let us know that the asbestos room still had asbestos in it, so we should finish up what we were doing. So, Tim, Larry, Josh C and I started to finish the room we were in by painting and doing trim work, while Colby, Philip, Staci, Natalie and Mark continued prepping their room and getting ready to paint it. Within an hour or so, we were both almost finished... and then something we had not heard since we'd been in Alabama. Thunder.

It began to rain. Then it began to monsoon. Then the winds picked up, rain starting coming through the open windows, which we promptly shut making it extremely hot in there. By the bathroom, there was a cage over the window, and the window was open, allowing for rain to flood in. At one point, the rain started coming down completely horizontal, and for a few minutes it was very ugly. Tim swore it was a tornado, and though i have my doubts here in NYC, I can imagine winds like that in trailer-park filled Alabama.

We finished up the rooms, and cleaned up after ourselves. The nine of us trundled down the steps around 345p, over an hour earlier than we had planned to leave, and out into the rain, which had slacked up considerably. We hiked to the bus stop, standing under a few awnings, and got on when our bus arrived. Everyone was thinking of what the plans were for their different groups, and knowing how wonderful this extra hour was going to be.

Oh, how the silly dream.

The bus took a detour from the street we usually go down, because for some reason, that street was closed. And we hit traffic. Colby said "so is this what a New York traffic jam is like?" Slowly but surely, we inched down to our stop, but by the time we got on our train, our extra hour had vanished. It was decided that this time, we would all just hit the showers and get with whatever group was going.

Chuck had managed to procure cheap Broadway tickets for Beauty & The Beast, and that was the plan for he, Daniel and Larry. Larry commented later that it was worth the price of admission just to sit in an AC filled room for three hours and not have to walk anywhere.

Philip, Colby, Mark, Josh C and Staci were headed to Carmine's, apparently a very good Italian place that Josh had been too before and was salivating about on the bus.

It was Geryl's birthday (happy 32nd!) so she and her husband Tim went out for a nice evening of dinner and dessert at Carne's, just down the street.

Me, however... CONEY ISLAND. And I took Paula, Josh B, Brandon, Natalie and Anna Lynn with me. I cant remember if I told you this or not, but lets just say that when I was in NYC in 2002 doing missions, I had a chance to ride the Cyclone, which is the old rickety wooden coaster there on the Boardwalk of Coney, next to Astroland. Astroland is basically NYC's version of Miracle Strip Amusement Park...

And can I briefly rabbit trail and say that it bothers me that Miracle Strip is gone? I mean, come on... it didnt cost THAT much to keep it running, did it? The Starlighter Coaster alone was worth the price!

...and anyway, I was going to ride it. However, I gave up that chance to do something for Him, so I missed my chance, and for three long years, that coaster has haunted me. Its called to me. Its spoken to me. It wants me to come to it.

And as we boarded the train to ride to Coney Island, I was almost giddy. Of course, in my glee, I read the subway map a little wrong, and instead of taking the same train all the way down there, I thought I would be quicker and have us transfer to another train... turns out, once we transferred, I realized my mistake. We didnt have to backtrack, and it was about the same time to get there (just a different track) but we had to get up, sit down, get up and sit down again.

We got to Coney, and we decided to eat at Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs there on the beach. Natalie went to the ATM machine, and discovered that her ATM card was jacked up, so I let her have money for food. Though she is my friend and I wouldnt change a thing, this would come back to haunt me later...

Anyway, we all ate hot dogs and fries, and Anna Lynn had a 2nd dog, and after dinner , we took a stroll on the Coney Island Boardwalk. You know that song "under the boardwalk, we'll be falling in love, under the boardwalk, blah blah blah blah..." Yeah, this the Boardwalk that its from. (hate that song), Incidentally, there will be no falling in love under the boardwalk anymore, because several years ago, they boarded up the bottom of the boardwalk because so many homeless people lived there.

Let me tell you about Coney Island. I met a man in 2002 who had lived there on Coney for about 35 years. All his life he did the same thing... he collected aluminum cans and galss bottles off the beach in shopping carts, turning in the cans for money and taking that money to buy beer and food with. The next day, he did the same thing. He lived under the walkway for a long time, and when they shut that down, he "moved" into an old, abandon building. This is his whole life... no purpose, no meaning... no knowledge of God or even a caring attitude about it. Very sad. Coney is a very "the poor is poor and the rich come and visit, then go home to be rich" kind of place. Paula said later that she felt very out of place there, and that something about the place just bothered her. I can understand it, but I think Coney Island is where I would want to minister if I lived here full time. Thats not a hint, God, so please dont take it as such. The Lovely Steph Leann gets cold in 92 degree weather, so she wouldnt like it.

The park, Astroland, is a basic "pay per ride" kind of place. You buy your tickets, and then go on the ride you want. Anna Lynn wanted to ride the go-carts, which cost $5 to ride, and Josh and Brandon were going to go with her, while Nat and Paula found a bathroom (which, they learned, cost 25 cents to use). The go-cart guy looked at Anna Lynn and said "You're too showt... (looked at Brandon) you even showta... (looks at Josh) You wanna ride et?" Josh said no, and we left.

We ended up riding this 3-D virtual reality similator thing, one of those deals that rocks and moves while you sit in it. It was a roller coaster ride, and we all got on (Natalie, with no cash, was my date for the night, so I bought hers) except for Paula. The ride was crap. Thats all I got to say about that.

Finally... it was time. Years of waiting had come to this. I was going to ride the Coney Island Cyclone. I had heard that if you ride it over and over, the rides get cheaper, so I was ready. I was even preparing myself for the slight chance that, at 9pm, it wasn't open... no matter, I told myself, I would have ridden it, and thats the point. Though I would have been crushed.

Brandon was too short (again) and Anna Lynn actually made it (though it was the heels she was wearing) through... Josh paid for his, and I bought mine and Natalie's again. And we made our way up the ramp to the coaster. I couldnt wipe the grin off my face for anything in the world. The coaster looked beautiful, this grand concoction of metal and wood, the tracks lined with old boards, chipped white paint and lights that would have flashed "CYCLONE" if they all worked at the same time. Someone was in the front car... no matter. Josh and I got in the second row, while Anna Lynn and Natalie got in the row behind us.

A simple padded bar would keep us in our seats, though if the coaster collapsed like I thought it might, no padded bar would have saved us. But please, I prayed, dont let it collapse until I've ridden it once. And the guy didnt even pushed a button... no... this guy had a big red lever he pushed from one side to the other. And we were off.

I was on the Cyclone, and I closed my eyes and couldnt think of anything I would rather be doing. Perhaps my beautiful wife beside me instead of Josh would have made it better, but there wasn't much room for improvement from where I was at the time. The coaster hit the top of the first drop, and then plunged.

The ride was great... it was one of the longer coasters I've ever been on, and I was giggling like Stephanie was the day I asked her out the whole way. When the train pulled into the station, the sign said "ride again for 4 bucks", so as Anna Lynn made her way to the exit, Josh and I both jumped in and headed for the back car.

I dont know how much you know about roller coasters, particularly wooden ones, particularly wooden OLD coasters, but the back row tends to have some "whip appeal" to it. Think of the Georgia Cyclone... that Cyclone is a tricycle ride around the Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) parking lot compared to this Cyclone. This ride was rough. Very, very rough. And when we got done, they said "Two people ride for $5!". And I would have done it... except I had one dollar in my pocket, because Natalie and I had shared the evening's expenses. Josh had none either, so we made our way to the exit.

Anna Lynn actually rode it again by herself, while we waiting. There I was, covered in sweat and dripping with the joy that can only come in third to Stephanie's Love (2nd) and Christ's Love (1st... duh), the joy that is a three year anticipation of a roller coaster that has reached finality. I love my life.

Its 124am, and I'm going to write up Friday's blog tomorrow, because frankly, there is too much to tell...

So tune in tomorrow night, when you'll read about:
--The New Generation with Tamika and Nichole
--Kendell's prayers
--Manny's story
--The final day of camp
--Ed
and finally... being fluid.

ps... The Lovely Steph Leann... I love you, baby, and cant wait to see you in a few days. Get your long PJs out, however, because we are cranking the AC down to about 65 for the night when I get home.