Well, as many of you know, we had some pretty bad storms come through our way yesterday afternoon. Luckily, I was working out of the office, so I was here when they hit. It started around 2-2:30pm. Our power went out about 2:30pm & didn't come on again until 5:30pm. We were all camped out downstairs with the games closet cleared out enough to take shelter just in case we needed to. It never got that bad, though. Somehow we missed the major hail (baseball-size in some parts) and only got hit with rain a couple of times.

This morning's paper showed where tornados had hit - claiming 11 deaths so far. Looks like they blew past us to the north. The closest one was in Hendersonville, just over the lake from where we live. It takes a good 20 minutes to drive there because you have to drive around the lake, but it's about a 3 mile straight shot from our home. Click the picture to see how close it was.

Reminds us that we've had close calls almost every year for the last few years. First was in Coffeyville on the day Emerie was born. Second was when we first moved to Edmond, OK, and had that terrible July of storms - one tornado moving close to us to the north again. And now one here in TN. Hopefully our tornado quota is full!

I know people were probably looking at us weird when we went out before the storm hit & moved our lawn furniture under the deck, laid chairs down on their sides, moved the grill close to the house, etc. One radio DJ said it best when he was discussing similar storms that were blowing through KS. He said, "If you're in Kansas you're probably just thinking this is Spring as usual. Around here, though, it doesn't happen very often."

Well, it's official... I'm not alone in the Gladeville blogosphere! Craig Webb, our Minister of Discipleship, just launched his blog this morning. You can check it out at blogs.gladevillechurch.org/craigwebb.(EDIT: Sorry, we've taken the Gladeville blogs down :-()

Loved his first post: "Good and Bad Ideas for Fasting" in recognition of the start of our 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting at Gladeville. Favorite suggestion:

Good idea: One or our staff members and his wife are giving up Television for 40 days
Bad idea: Only watching live TV – no Tivo or DVR usage

Sorry - not giving up TiVo for a month (man, that would be hard!). Check out his full post here (EDIT: Sorry, we've taken the Gladeville blogs down :-().

Okay, nothing spiritual here, just something that I am totally excited about! TIOTI (otherwise known as Tape It Off The Internet) started out last Fall as a gag, of sorts. Someone threw together this really cool looking website and posted it on Digg.com, a must bookmark for any tech-fans out there. Seems people thought the idea sounded cool, they put the word out for any prospective developers & investors - and lo, and behold, it worked! Development started and now they are looking to go into Beta sometime later this month!

Here's the link: http://www.tioti.com

The concept is an online hub/community where you can keep up with your favorite TV shows - all found & downloaded directly from the Internet, get connected with others who share common show interests, etc. The concept is cool because the technologies have all been there for some time. I've been downloading episodes of some of my favorite TV shows for probably 4-5 years now. It just has never been very user-friendly to be able to find shows & know how to download them.

Bit torrent arrived & rescued the masses - enabling quick downloads via 'bits' of files (in this case TV shows) from multiple people who had the files on their computer. So, I request a show, my torrent program finds anybody who is out there sharing that episode and begins downloading bits & pieces from everyone it finds. The more people who have the show, the faster the download goes. The software pieces the bits together again when it has finished downloading all of them.

TIOTI.com allows you (or will allow you, I should say) to find episodes of your favorite shows, download them and meet others who are Internet TV savvy as well. Not sure how long it will stay up - especially since TV networks are starting to distribute shows on their own via iTunes or other download services. Who knows, they might just get bought out by somebody wanting to make their own forray into Internet T V. In any case, it is an interesting prospect and one that just signals, yet again, that TV as we know it is changing!

I'm excited about this new conversation we just began this morning in our Sunday morning small group. We're looking at some of the basics about the Holy Spirit & His role in our lives. I think that because this is such a foundationally important topic, coupled with the fact that the majority of our group were raised in faith traditions and churches where the Holy Spirit was majorly under-emphasized, will lend itself to some really good discussion and growth! Next week we take a look at some of the common questions people have about the Holy Spirit. Then we'll conclude on Easter Sunday morning by taking a look at the crucial role that the Holy Spirit played in the life of Jesus - including His death and resurrection.

I think this is one of those areas that God has truly grown me more in the last couple of years and one that I'm excited to see Him work in the lives of our group as well.

We'll be using "Life in the Spirit" by Robertson McQuilkin to fuel a lot of the conversation. This is such a great book! If you've ever wanted to learn more about Who the Holy Spirit is, this is the book for you! Not to spoil the ending, but I love this story that he uses to conclude the discussion in the book with. He has just finished talking about Heaven as the final resting place for the Holy Spirit's work in our lives - the moment of final culmination. Enjoy!...

Continue reading "All About the Holy Spirit" »