foolishnotions.net

new web cam… hours of entertainment….

good times.

“jones sausage road. what a stupid name for a road. i mean, is his sausage really that great that we have to name a road after it? i really don’t want to know about his sausage.”

i smiled as i listened to my honey’s guy banter flow freely. all of the sudden i saw his eyes get huge as he glanced in the rear view mirror. before i could turn around to see what he was so startled by, i was thrust to the front of the car and my full cup of hot coffee which had been nestled safely in it’s cup holder was flying through the air. the rear end of our car was lifted completely up in the air and slammed back to the pavement fishing and swerving.

before i could fully process what had just happened i heard ernie say, “are you ok? i think the other driver is passed out!” we both looked to our left to see her fully awake and driving by us like nothing at all had happened.

“she’s awake - but she’s not stopping.” ernie said as he sped up beside her to try to convince her she should pull over. he stepped on the gas and our little car grinded forward like a lawnmower with a rake caught in it’s blade. he honked the horn to get her attention. she sped forward, ignoring us all together. i fumbled all over to find a pen to write down her plate number. but my hands were shaking violently and nothing in the car was where it once was. i finally found a pen and my phone underneath the driver side seat. i wrote down her license plate number and called 911.

the rest was like something straight out of cops…

“911, what’s your emergency.”

“we are headed west on i-40 and have just been rearended. the driver did not stop.”

“where are you now?”

“we are following her!”

“ma’am, you need to pull over.”

i obediently passed along her suggestion to ernie fully knowing there was no way that was going to happen. i could see it in his eyes. he was determined to catch her.

“there’s no way. if she gets away - we have to pay for this!” he gripped the steering wheel at 10 and 2 and stayed right with her as i coached our 911 operator as to our location. she was going to just have to send the police to us.

the brand new burgundy ford with 30 day tags exited on south saunder’s street in raleigh. she proceeded to try to loose us through town. she was not driving exceedingly recklessly (well, except for the fact that she had just rear ended us at 90 miles an hour) - but she sure wasn’t going to stop.

“we’re headed north on s. saunders, i can see the bb&t building. now we’re turning left on dawson. turning left on (? can’t remember). she’s headed back toward garner.” (there were at least a dozen intersections but i won’t bore you with the long list of street names that i can’t remember)

we were stopped at a stop light when ernie jumped out of the car to try to stop her.

“ma’am he needs to stay in the car. he could be charged.” (she doesn’t know ernie at all - not his most brilliant moment, though - i have to admit.) before he got to her she pulled off and ran the red light.

“she just ran a red light,” i told the operator. ernie jumped back in the car to continue the pursuit.

“ma’am can you see the turner and craft building on your right?”

“yes, we’re right in front of it.”

“look for the police, they should be coming up on you.”

“she’s getting ready to turn left. she’s getting back on the beltway. we’re stopped at the light getting ready to turn back on 440 south.”

just then i looked to my right to see 3 police cars sitting at the light.

“the police are here,” i told the operator. “we see the police.”

ernie and i started waving our hands around and pointing to the car and front of us to get their attention. the blue lights flashed and our light turned green.

…to be continued…

wendy’s signage:  “nothing says merry christmas like something hot and juicy.”

ernie: [matter-of-factly] “that’s right.”

(hit and run post to come soon.  first, i have to go christmas shopping… again.   ~fa la la la la)

imagine christmas photos here… millie holloman photography.  millie - you are awesome.  this one is my favorite of melanie haulman.  melanie is the artistic director at glory academy of fine arts.

i have that weird, post big project-feel like i’m forgetting something-can’t sit still-i don’t really know what to do with myself -know the church is a mess and waiting for me-haven’t done graphics for the next series, feeling.  finding it a little hard to relax. went to bed at 2 slept till 9.  planning on going to do a little christmas shopping.  only a week before christmas - - wow.

cam just left with grandma to go snow tubing in the mountains and spend some quality time with her. they are such buds - i love it.
imagine christmas was incredible.  i have lots to blog about, and will a little later.  can’t wait to see the rest of mill’s pics.

left my phone by the sound board last night… i think that might have been sub-consciously on purpose.  just kidding. ;-D  i’ll go by and pick it up soon (i have a massage i have to schedule).  email me if you need me at my gmail account or any of the various other ways to catch up with me - ya’ll know how to find me. 

makes me want to me a better leader.

they completely overwhelm me consistently with their heart for god and their selflessness.

imagine christmas tomorrow.

don’t miss.

good night.

here’s an excerpt from C.S. Lewis’ fictional work, The Screwtape Letters for your contemplation…
(so you will know what’s going on…)
writer= Screwtape (a demon)
to= Wormwood (his apprentice)
patient= a human
the enemy= God
our father= the devil

“You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of Humility. Let him think of it not as self-forgetfulness but as a certain kind of opinion (namely, a low opinion) of his own talents and character. Some talents, I gather, he really has. Fix in his mind the idea that humility consists in trying to believe those talents to be less valuable than he believes them to be. No doubt they are in fact less valuable than he believes, but that is not the point. The great thing is to make him value an opinion for some quality other than truth, thus introducing an element of dishonesty and make-believe into the heart of what otherwise threatens to become a virtue. By this method thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools. And since what they are trying to believe may, in some cases, be manifest nonsense, they cannot succeed in believing it and we have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves in an effort to achieve the impossible. To anticipate the Enemy’s strategy, we must consider His aims. The Enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another.

The Enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favour that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbour’s talents – or in a sunrise, an elephant, or a waterfall. He wants each man, in the long run, to be able to recognize all creatures (even himself) as glorious and excellent things. He wants to kill their animal self-love as soon as possible; but it is His long-term policy, I fear, to restore to them a new kind of self-love – a charity and gratitude for all selves, including their own; when they have really learned to love their neighbours as themselves, they will be allowed to love themselves as their neighbours. For we must never forget what is the most repellent and inexplicable trait in our Enemy; He really loves the hairless bipeds He has created and always gives back to them with His right hand what He has taken away with His left.”

– C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

i so love how mr. lewis has painted such a beautiful picture of true humility here, and more importantly how our enemy tries to distort it. i’m a little tired of being ashamed of myself for something that i did or i am that is good.

it’s all about the heart…. i’ll try to remember that.

here’s an excerpt from C.S. Lewis’ fictional work, The Screwtape Letters for your contemplation…
(so you will know what’s going on…)
writer= Screwtape (a demon)
to= Wormwood (his apprentice)
patient= a human
the enemy= God
our father= the devil

“You are much more likely to make your man a sound drunkard by pressing drink on him as an anodyne when he is dull and weary then by encouraging him to use it as a means of merriment among his friends when he is happy and expansive. Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground. Although we have won many a soul through pleasure, all the same, it is His invention, not ours. The Enemy made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, in incorrect ways, or in an excessive obsessive way. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. To get the man’s soul and give him nothing in return - that is what really gladdens our Father’s heart.”

– C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

hmmmmm…. interesting. i’ve heard some that would disagree with mr. c.s. lewis on some points of this theory. what do you think?

i could try to impress you with huge web stats from therockchristmas.com featuring digits in the thousands position… i have them and they look pretty cool. but i much rather show you the stats that count. since november 4th we have had 283 “unique new visitors” from our area. i like that google analytics describes them this way. they are unique. uniquely created. and a visitor to be welcomed. Look closely - on average they are looking at at least 3.19 pages during their visit and staying for 3:03 minutes. now, those are good stats. can you imagine if all those “unique new visitors” came on december 16th?

now, i have found some people get a little squirrelly when churches get caught up in the “numbers”. they seem to get the impression we’re just about counting heads so we can impress people with our popularity. i have something to say about that…

are we counting heads? absolutely, there are hearts located below and to the left of those heads that need to beat strongly for their creator. and, i guarantee you god is counting. he seems to have a thing about numbers. if the number of hairs on our head and grains of sand on the shore are accounted for don’t you think he might have a pretty good idea how many are coming to stay with him for eternity and how many are currently not?

yes, the stats count. not the numbers filled with puffery and hype, but the ones that represent a opportunity for redemption. bring on the numbers.

ya’ll keep spreading the word. i just got in a new batch of invitation cards and brand new fliers will be available to pick up at the information desk on sunday. only 11 days till imagine christmas!

spam comments make me laugh sometimes. they obviously thought i cared an awful lot about six pack abs since i have so many links to abs of steel. …they’re dorks.