Sign The Apocolypse Is Upon Us #2

Taylor Swift stormed the airwaves with her song “Tim McGraw.”  A great song that ended up being a big hit that led to her instant fame.  That is okay.  What isn’t okay is this guy named Tyler Dean trying to do the same thing with his song “Taylor Swift.”  Here are a portion of the lyrics:

“Maybe she’s just a little too pretty
Outta reach and way too busy
What can I do when the honest truth is
I want a girl… I want a girl
I want a girl like Taylor Swift

Call her agent call her lawyer too
Hey Mr Swift I need to talk to you
Hey Mr DJ why don’t you send it on through

Cause she might be listenin
Maybe she’s listening
Please be listening”

Dear Mr. Dean . . . NO ONE IS LISTENING.  The only thing worse than the lyrics is the song itself.

Top Ten Restaurants in Georgetown

This is a pretty meaningless list if you are browsing thorough the world wide web, but maybe you are going to stop in Georgetown, Texas, in the near future and you don’t even know it.  Then you’ll remember to come back here to decide on where to eat.

10. Burger King – I know this may seem ridiculous, but until you have had the Coke Icee Float . . . don’t judge.  It might be the greatest creation ever.  Found it on the menu in San Antonio and it’s not on the menu here,  so you have to specifically order it.  Half Coke Icee/Half ice cream.

9. Casa Ole – Chain restaurant (but most of the homegrown places in Georgetown are less than ideal).  Fajita burrito is excellent

8. County Seat – This is the place to go for breakfast (you can also do IHOP, but County Set wins out since it is local). 

7. The Loading Dock – Pizza is really good, but the fried pickles are from another planet.

6. Mama Fu’s – Tried several things before I settled in on the Thai Basil Noodles.

5. Fish City Grill – Fish tacos . . . but everything I’ve ever had there is great.

4. Ichiban/Hayashi tie – They are our only two sushi options.  The are about the same price and Hayashi is made to order and a little bit better, BUT Ichiban is all you can eat so you get to try a lot of different stuff (plus they have Chinese for your friends who don’t like sushi).

3. El Patron – Pretty new place, but definitely one of the best Mexican food places in the area.

2. Dos Salsas – I know this is heresy for some people, but the Dos got knocked out of the #1 spot after a seven year reign as “Best Place To Eat.”

1. Genghis Grill – How does a chain (granted a small one) get to be #1?  It’s a dream come true of making your own bowl of meat and noodles!

Our Changing World

How was life different twenty years ago? Just think about the technological changes.

• Video cameras were carried on your shoulder and recorded on to VHS tapes that weren’t edited. Now your video camera fits in your pocket, records to a 1/4 inch card, and edits into movie quality on your computer. The ability to video is so accessible that 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
• Speaking of home computers . . . remember the green screen monitor?
• Twenty years ago the internet wasn’t on the average person’s radar. Today, I registered my Genghis Grill card online over an internet page on someone’s cell phone.
• Cell phones weighed 37 pounds and cost $18 a minute (that’s an exaggeration, but it’s pretty close to the truth)

What’s next? Who knows, but currently IBM is working on several projects. They say . . .

• We’ll be able to access healthcare remotely from just about anywhere in the world.
• Real-time speech translation – once a vision only in science fiction – will become the norm.
• There will be a 3-D internet
• Technologies the size of a few atoms will address areas of environmental importance
• Our mobile phones will come close to reading our minds.

Some of that stuff seems overwhelming. Change is great, but it can leave us scrambling to keep up. If you feel overwhelmed this week, remember that the eternal, UNCHANGABLE, and indescribable God is present. He’s waiting to spend time with you and bring the hectic pace to a sensible rest.

Sign The Apocalypse Is Upon Us #1

Texas Law: Rodeo

After returning from the final night of the Austin Rodeo where we went to see Kevin Fowler, it led me to a new law for this great state/soon to be country. 

It is illegal to to wear a helmet and/or face mask when riding a bull in the rodeo. 

I understand that football players and baseball players wear helmets . . . but you are  a cowboy.  Cowboys have to keep the image of toughness and grit as a part of the Texas legend.  Out of respect for all the real bull riders, I did “boo” the guys wearing helmets.  On a side note . . . how did bull riding get invented?  That had to start with a couple of guys sitting out on the ranch after drinking way too much.

Old People Say Cool Things

Taken from the TXT3 blog at www.txt3.tv

“It is one of the ironies of the ministry that the very man who works in God’s name is often hardest put to find time for God. The parents of Jesus lost Him at church, and they were not the last ones to lose Him there.” – Vance Havner (American preacher, born 1901)

 That just might sum up the “Blurry” series!  How often do we get caught up in “doing church” that we forget to connect to Jesus in minute by minute worship.  We are more concerned with high attendance week in Sunday School then we are applying the Bible study to our life.  We go to church to get instead of investing in people around us.  We talk about our church rather than Jesus.  We join a church based on the ministries our family can receive rather than the ministries our families can get involved in.

 We get so good at church (and maybe a ministry like Havner said) that we leave Jesus and his purpose for our life out out of the equation.

 P.S. I know you’ve been wondering and yes, that is Vance Havner in the picture

1,401 miles away

According to Yahoo maps, that’s how far away we are from you, but it also takes you to Georgetown via San Antonio and that makes no sense!  Several of our TXT3 students and adults flew to Oceanside, California, to serve Jesus and Generation Church.  So far we have gutted an entire house (EVERYTHING was taken out of the house), pulled all the floors up, built a retaining wall, tore down and rebuilt a chain link fence, passed out over 200 flyers, and played with kids at an after school program.  That was just today!  Needless to say we are exhausted, but God is doing some good stuff.

Crisp, Bloods, MS-13 . . . and the church!

You’ve probably never thought about what gangs and the church have in common, huh?  Hopefully the number of answers are few and far between, but there is one element that should be shared, and unfortunately gangs do a better job at it.

It’s community.  Why do people join gangs?  Some are in it for the money, but most are in it for the security and belonging.  Your average gang member probably wouldn’t use those exact words, but there is a lot of truth to it. 

It can be a cruel world.  No one wants to face that alone.  Give me some other people who will walk with me.  Surround me with some people who’ve got my back when I’m in trouble.  I want some people that I can share life with and have a sense of belonging.

Am I describing a gang member or the average person’s desire?  The answer . . . both!

When the church begins to care for people like Jesus does, we might just pass gangs as the place to connect and find life!

Texas Law: Making Music

Music Law 1 – If you cannot make your own music (i.e Cascada) and are only going to remake other people’s music, you cannot be on the radio waves in Texas. Remaking a song is great, but not if that is all you do.

Music Law 2 – If you cannot make a song on your own (i.e. every rapper today) then you will not be to keep recording music

Music Law 3 – The Dixie Chicks will not be allowed back into the Country of Texas for their blatant disrespect for the great people of Texas. This makes me really sad because they are extremely talented . . . but we have to have principles. If they apologize, then they can come home.

One Step At A Time

Blogging every week for TXT3.  You can check it out here.

http://txt3.tv/category/blog/