Friday, March 31, 2006

It has finally happened...


Most of my life (Typical boy) I have dreamed of little green men roaming the skys.

Me and my friend sin high school would make movies, trying to trick our non-friends that we actually got footage of an alien spacecraft (We were pretty good, conviced one of the girls on birth control in my school).

Rocky (my craziest friend on earth) told stories about aliens, UFOs, 'goon goons' (Goon Goons were his name for bigfoot-like creatures that lived near his home in Flintstone, Gerogia) and even dragons... fun times. Taken with a grain of salt.

I still catch myself watching these UFO shows on the History Channel or Discovery. Half the time I am sitting there saying "Show me REAL proof!" because the footage sucks or there is no footage at all. Ill dismiss weak lights as planes, satillites, etc...

But last night, I saw my first UFO.

And it was a UFO in the truest sense of the word. It was flying and it was unidentified. I am not saying I saw, nor am I even saying I THINK I saw an "alien piloted spacecraft"... just a UFO.

Driving down the main road to my house. 8:40pm. I see a bright light in the sky, brighter than any star in the sky, as though it were a star that was MUCH closer than the others). From the right of my windshield I see it up in the sky as I am driving 35 mph. I think "Cool, a shooting star!" I wait for it to disappear, as most shooting stars do after 2 or 3 seconds... and wait, and wait. I literally am watching it still as I have time to think "There is no tail on that shooting star... and it isnt disappearing... and there are no blinking lights, so it cant be a plane."

It stayed in the sky, moving quite fast, until I could no longer see it due to trees.

Rocky told me about the blinking light thing. And my dad confirmed it since he has his piolts license and was in teh air force. PLanes must have blinking lights. Ever since Rocky told me "If it has blinking lights, it isnt a UFO" Ill catch myself looking at planes at night, only to be disappointed that there was a blinking light on it...

Josh suggested it was a jet from an airshow in Montgomery. I still say all aircraft have lights they are required to have. If it is some top secret plane, why is it over wetumpka, and why does it have an extreemly bright white light. Sip also suggests a satallite. Though, they move slower, have dimmer lights, and the ones I have noticed are red. So he suggested a sat. reflecting the sun. Not a bad guess, but I still say itwas moving too fast. It was going about the speed of a shooting star.

Mullins suggested a helicopter, but even a quiet heli can shake windows, especially if it is moving fast and some-what low...

Dunno, but by definition, I have seen my first UFO.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Bob Weeadababyeetsaboy

Well we just got back from the ultrasound and will be having a Noah Samuel Sipper! We are very excited and he is strong and healthy.

He has been found...

A boring day at work found me the following info...

http://www.meuter.us/

tim@_NOSPAM_meuter.us (Remove _NOSPAM_)

He is alive and well, and said it was cool if I shared the email with you all.

Family Legacy



Rachel, Luke, and I were out in the "sticks" this past weekend, wisiting my parents. I fill in as a preacher sometimes at several small, country congregations in that area and had been asked to deliver the message Sunday. So, we decided to go down and make a weekend of it. While we were there, my family had what we call a "Music Making".

I've mentioned them on here before, but this was a really good one. We had 13 musicians and over 50 people there, total. There were fiddles, a banjo, guitars, my good old bass, a harmonica player, and plenty of singers. Before the music making began, my Dad, Uncle Tommy, Uncle Bob, and I were all cleaning out my Dad's woodshop. Dad's a carpenter by trade and has his shop in what we call "The Old House".

The Old House also happens to be where he and his siblings were born. While we were sweeping up the sawdust and moving the tools to the back room, my Uncle Bob and I got to talking about writing and music. Uncle Bob has written several family biographies based on stories and recordings of my granparents and other family members. He also lived in Nashville for several years, trying to break nto song writing. He has written hundreds of songs for several instruments including dobro, banjo, guitar, and of course voice.

Over the last decade and a half, though, Uncle Bob has suffered from major depression brought on by the deaths of his father and oldest brother, the birth of his little boy who has a debilitating disease, an ugly divorce, and his failure to make it in his life-long love of music. He's just now starting to rise back out of the depths and it's wonderful to see.

"Come here, Josh. I want to show you something," he said during a break in our conversation.

I followed Uncle Bob to my Dad's finishing room, expecting him to show me something Dad had built. When he opened the door to the finishing room, I saw a beautiful, cypress box, well-finished and smooth.

"I built this box to fill with all of my books, written music, and CDs of my songs. If you don't mind, I'd like to give it to you so you can pass it down to Doctor Luke (he calls my son Doctor Luke)."

All I could say was, "I'd be honored."

Uncle Bob went on to say that he knew I liked to write and make music and that he figured I was the person to pass down the treasures of our family. I plan to give the chest a special home in our house.

Years from now, when my children ask me about what the box means, I'll show them the gifts of writing and music in my life.

We all have these opportunities. Don't let them pass you by.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

"Give And Let God..."

For the past 5 or 6 months, I have bought some old things, and resold them on eBay, or gone through my house to sell some stuff on eBay, or done small computer jobs for people at work (on their home computer's).

I have saved up almost enough money all in the hopes of buying a small boat, motor, and trailer combo.

But today, in Sunday school, we were talking about Proverbs. Proverbs is a cool book to read because you have the smartest and richest man to ever have lived basically giving you free advice. Think about it; what if, say, Bill Gates came up to you and said "I've made some mistakes in life and I have had some triumps in life... want some advice from me?" We'd take it in a heartbeat. Okay, Gates may be a bad example, I was just going by his wealth.

Okay, so check out Proverbs 3:9-10...
"Give honour to the Lord with your wealth, and with the first-fruits of all your increase...
"So your store-houses will be full of grain, and your vessels overflowing with new wine..."

Back in the day, the first thing to come off your vine, the first born of your livestock, or the first fruits of your fields all went to God, no questions asked...

So that got me to thinking: Should I just up and toss all that cash in the collection plate? I mean, just to see what happens? I mean, that would be an act of faith wouldn't it? Of course, I would assume God can reward faith in different ways other than doubling what I gave in cash... He could make something happen in my life that is worth more than money...

So as I am thinking about performing this spiritual experiment I start thinking "Nah, maybe Ill just give 10% of it to the church." Which leads me to THEN think to myself "What? You don't think God is good enough for all of it?"

So what is the advice from my friends? Oh, I know it'll be easy to say "Sure! Just toss it in the basket man! God will bless you!" because it isn't your money.

A year or so ago, I had saved up alot more money than this, but I got some of in a manner that would be frowned upon by most. With that money (and some more that was honest gain) I bought a Corvette... I also made no effort to contribute any of that extra money to God. It didn't take long for (in my opinion) God to show me who is in charge... and the rest is history. So I don't care to test God anymore.

FYI, whatever I decide I won't tell any of you. That would sort of defeat the purpose of giving. I won't be doing it to "show off".

Friday, March 24, 2006

Found Him


So get this, I just talked with Stephen Elrod!

After planning our trip and searching for the yahoo for a while out of the blue I got an email from him. Using the source of his email address I track him down, find a number and call to see if he’s there. Moments later I was connected to a deadpan and classically flat “hello…”

The story goes like this. He was having some money issues because he wasn’t able to find any theater work and that put a much larger strain on him than he figured. Around a year or so ago he had a bit of a breakdown and was invited, or told to, to move in with his sister in north GA.

For a while he got pretty sick ended up losing about 70 lbs dropping to around 230ish.

He’s continued to have a rough time finding work and seemingly staying somewhat stable. Currently he’s working at the Birmingham Aids Outreach center in AL around 30 hours a week.

I can only guess where this experience has taken him, from our talk and the one thing that I’m sure of is after 30 minutes of talking to the guy I think he could use a few emails and maybe a call or two of support, prays are the required bare minimum.

He seems to be doing well for the most part but there is a current under the surface of his voice that’s very ragged and torn up.

Classic



So last night the family was getting ready to head to the store when I was pulled into the living room by the opening cords of Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi.

I hadn’t seen this video in a ages and for some reason the music sounded perfect, almost brand new. Jules and I danced around the living room with the boys laughing at us and our mommy and daddy grooviness or rather goofiness.

As asked Jules why they were playing this song instead of all the crap they usually play. What she said removed the wind from my sail. It was a preview of VH-1 Classics. When I was a kid there were old songs I remember that are now classics but Bon Freaking Jovi?! Jules reminded me that the album came out in 1986 and being twenty years old it’s now a classic.

I can see myself standing in the Woolworths on a bright beautiful day when the world was pure and warm breezes blew through my poorly cut hair without worry. I was holding this brand new album as it existed in vinyl. The notion of a CD was a fantasy and I dreamed of being able to afford a walkman. My Casio watch and it's plastic band was loose on my wrist. A Pac-Man T-shirt, the original not the faddish replicates of today, stretched too tightly over my pudgy stomach and my muscle socks reached frightenly too high. My Kangaroo's held the miniscule amount of money that could ever fit into a pocket that size and I knew that I could not stay this cool forever, times were changing and music like Bon Jovi was going to lead the way.

As they played Culture Clubs Karma Chameleon I regained the composure to dance to what I realized was a classic feel good song. Somehow this time my knees hurt and I felt I should move a bit slower.

My youth is now classic. Where’s my walker?

Sunday, March 19, 2006

A Strange Twist of Fate Part II

There is a bit of a long road leading out of our home that curves and twists just before reaching the main highway. It is a very dangerous intersection that is desperately in need of a traffic light. Leaving for our trip I noticed a city bus pulled over to the side of the road just before this intersection. The angle was a little off and I couldn’t make out if it was stopped in the road, thus blocking my way, or far enough to the side to allow me space.

As I approached, I could see that it was out of the way, and by looking underneath the bus I could see a rather damaged mini van on the other side of the bus. Realizing there must have been an accident, I approached with caution.

Riding past the bus I rubbernecked to see the damage. I wish I hadn’t. Lying just to the side of the road was a rather large person in blue sweatpants and a red t-shirt. Face down and not moving I couldn’t tell whether this person was alive or badly injured. A man and a woman were both standing near by beginning to attend to this person. Seeing that the paramedics were on there way, and knowing there was nothing I could do I drove on feeling sick and bleak towards a rough start to our trip.

Miles down the interstate I saw another accident. This time it was well after the fact, as the police and ambulances had taken care of any injured, leaving only smashed up vehicles to the side.

After our vacation we headed home Saturday evening. Somewhere in northern Alabama I gave my wife the driver’s seat so that I could get a little rest. I normally do most of the driving on our trips, but she is very helpful when I need a break and does some excellent driving.

Around 9:30 in the PM driving on I-65 in southern Tennessee with virtually no traffic about a dog ran straight in front of the car.

My wife jammed the brakes and veered sharply to the left. The anti-lock brakes locked up and we skidded sharply into the left lane, missing the dog.

My initial thoughts were there’s a dog. As the brakes locked I thought we should have just hit the dog.

The car skidded off the road into the medium between the highways. There had been a rain recently and we slid quickly through the muddy grass.

My wife excitedly cursed and called out to me.

I remained rather calm, taking the wheel while I tried to remember if you are supposed to turn into the swerve or against it. At this point I remember thinking that my wife should let her foot off the brake and pump it instead. Yet I knew that if I said anything to her it might cause her to panic even more and cause more harm.

Instead I held the wheel and kept saying that it was going to be ok.

The car fishtailed to the left and then turned 90 degrees facing our end of the interstate. We climbed the embankment and stopped just short of entering the interstate again.

A kind off duty fireman stopped to ensure we were ok. We check out the tires and checked underneath to make sure nothing was leading or broken. We drove the car back onto the interstate and made the rest of the trip a bit shaken, but unscathed.

Thinking back on my reactions I’m kind of proud of myself. I remained very calm. I wasn’t ever worried that we were going to cause serious harm to ourselves. I took the wheel and helped steer, I didn’t shout which would have cause my wife to be more nervous, but calmly spoke to her that it would be ok. The only concern I really had was that we would blow a tire, which would cause us a long delay in our return home.

We’re now home, safe and sound.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Victoria

I just found one of the funniest stories on the net I have seen in a while...

It is VERY much like the prank we pulled on Chuck back int he college days, using AOL.

This is genius, low-down, dirty, and mean, but genius....

Click here

The best part is that youll read about a phone number on a sign.. it is actually the players phone number... the handing out of the chat transcripts is just plain wrong! But funny....

Friday, March 10, 2006

The Big Gathering

So I'm about to go grocery shopping and making my list, and I think, I have no idea what we're going to be eating/serving, where and when!

When is everyone planning to arrive in Montgomery?

What are our plans for eating together? We can definitely have one big dinner here at our house, maybe grilling out burgers and such. Unless somebody else wants to do burgers, in which case we can cook something else. And if we need a place to gather for another night, like ordering pizza or something, our house is your house.

Please also post any other plans that you've got. Josh and I aren't going to be able to do the Shakespeare festival, but I'm sure there will be other opportunities for fun together.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

And Banjo was his name-o

Well, I did it. After years of pleading and waiting for the kids to be old enough, I was able to wear Matt down....we got a dog!! It was Valentines' day and he had already been the good husband and brought me flowers and candy to work...I know, pretty typical presents, but I'm a sucker for tradition.

He calls me on his way home and tells me to expect one more gift. When he got there, he walks into the living room with a copy paper box in his hands. "Sorry hunny, I had to bring some work home." Ok, I think, that's odd..he doesn't usually do that.. He places the box on the floor and Isaac runs up to it and takes the lid off...There to my suprise is a little black furball...I was soo
excited!!! Actually dumbfounded is a better word for it...Matt said that it was only timing that caused us to get the dog. Someone he works with was in the parking lot selling these dogs, who came from an accidental litter. His registered black lab got jiggy with his Chesapeake retriver. So Matt caved...


We named him Banjo, and he's doing great!! He was 6 weeks old when we got him, and has already outgrown the collar we bought. We are crate training him, which seems to be working out just fine. The accidents have been few and far between, and really easy to clean up since we have laminate flooring downstairs.

The boys are doing good with him. Isaac is warming up quite well, although he still thinks that when Banjo nips at him, he's being mean. We've tried to explain to him that is how puppies play, but I don't think he's gotten the concept yet. Caleb is mostly oblivious to the dog, unless he takes one of his toys away from him. So I guess we are the pefect nuclear family now!!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Oven Spoonful


The pregnancy thing has set off a spending spree in our house.

We have spent the past year or so saving up for some much needed things around the house. When we learned we had a little one on the way, we decided the saving had to stop and the spending needed to start, otherwise, all that saved up cash will go to diapers and legos.

So the thing I have been dreading since we moved into our home 3 or 4 years ago happened:

New oven.

Why dread a new oven? We needed one, and new appliances are so fun to use! Well, because the old one needs to be moved out. The former owners were not the cleanest cooks in the world... I'd actually put them up there with the nastiest cooks in the world. When Larissa and I cook, I am right behind her if she drops an apple peel on the floor, I am an obsesivly clean cook. If I were cooking with these folks, I'd be in a straight jacket.

Boil overs must have been the norm. The sides of the over were caked with some sort of 6 year old yellow/red sauce, and the eyes on the oven were battered with all sorts of dried foods. I could see all sort of food between the coutner and the oven, but I was too afraid to look too long, much less pull the darn thing out and clean.

When the new oven came, I had no choice... Cheez-its, pepperment candies, the occational writing utinsel, dust bunnies of all shapes and sizes (one looked like Nixon), and dried liquids on the floor and the side of the cabinets... Twas gross. One good thing was that there wasn't one single bug back there. I was so certain I was going to see cockroaches run for cover when I moved the oven... yet I didn't even see one dead one, which gave me great comfort.

I dont know why I do this, but if I see something I hate or despise, I HAVE to take a picture of it. Which is why I have a folder on my computer full of spiders I have seen in the house.

So enjoy the before and after pics on this blog... and I encourage you to clean behind, under and the sides of your oven. At the very least go to Home Depot and buy the gaurds that prevent food from falling down there...

Please note; the clean pics are clean... you see stains on the floor, but thats just from the concrete that was poured, they are indelible stains, I assure you.

Monday, March 06, 2006

A Walk In The Woods (or) Urban Sprawl (or) The Tower Hunt (or) Backyard Woods Still Exist!

Couldn't come up with a good title, so there are a few for ya!

One day, months ago, we noticed a cell phone tower going up in our neighborhood. It was just off the main road, going out of our neighborhood the "back way". Fortunately, it was an Alltel tower (Which is who my service with my work cell phone is with). Now I have "full bars" in my house when I once was in constant roam.

Shortly after that thrill wore off, my wife and I were driving home and noticed another cell phone tower. We live on a dead-end road, at the end of it. So while driving to our house it just hit us and we looked up and there it was, in front of us. We don't remember seeing it being built or anything.

This fascinated me for days. At night, there were no lights so I assumed it wasn't active. I was hoping it was a sprint tower, since that is who my wife is with. One night, we saw the lights on and checked her phone... no dice... oh well.

So I had a day off a week or two ago (Or I didn't go into work, I can't remember which.) and figured "I am going to find the base of that tower."

So I set out. My first goal was to drive to it. I mean, they didn’t just plop it in the middle of the woods, they had to have roads. So I got my GPS in hand and hipped in the truck ad drove to places in Emerald Mountain that I didn’t realize existed.

Once I found the tower, I decided to drive further past it. I instantly went into some time period about 60 years ago. I was on a dirt road, with old houses about an acre apart from each other. All owned by black farmers.

I felt unwelcome, as I am sure on this dirt road they know every person who lives down that way. So I marked the tower on the GPS and went back home.

Luckily, we have a great relationship with our next door neighbor (and their German Sheppard.) and since this tower was behind THEIR next door neighbor's home, I went into their backyard. Petted their German Sheppard, and hopped their back fence and set out.

There was no trail. The first 10 yards was spent hunched over half the time, avoiding branches. It wasn't long before I came to a very large ditch. Being a lover of fishing, my heart foolishly leapt! I though "Water! Fish!" Stupid really, it was nothing more than a drainage ditch for the area I live in. Luckily, it hadn't rained in days, otherwise, the story would stop here.

So I climbed down this ditch. Had to have been 12 feet deep. I had to climb down. I slipped, and almost lost my ability to make any more children. Getting up was easier than coming down as God planted some trees and vines in just the right place. I noted some holes in the sides of this ditch. Opossums? Beavers? Racoons? Armadillos? Who knows? All of which have been spotted in the neighborhood.

So upon climbing out from the ditch I was faced with a site that made me very glad I had my GPS (And glad I remembered to mark my home on it along with the tower. This area must have been a pine tree farm at one time. These trees were all the same size, and were planted at an angle... making everywhere I turned look the same. It was like a carnival fun house.

Looking at my GPS, I got the general direction to hike, and I set out. I couldn’t see the tower of course, too many trees. So many, in fact, that the GPS lost signal many times. I came to a small clearing, a radius of about 20 yards. You could tell deer laid here often (Another animal spotted in the neighborhood on an almost daily basis.) I took this opportunity to restart the GPS and get my location again. While I waited, I looked around and got spooked by what I saw... I saw a wooden structure... From where I stood, it looked like the side of a very old two story home. With VERY weathered wood. I thought about going to inspect it. Then thought better of the idea. Hobos man, hobos... I actually remember thinking that it might be a hidden Meth Lab and if someone is in there and they see me with a camera, they will try to kill me...

So I went for the tower again... Same deal with the trees, all alike. Yet not too much longer, a clearing came. It took me about 10 seconds to realize this was private property. The deer stands in the trees told me that. But I took a look around none-the-less. I could see the tower straight ahead of me, so I met that goal. This field was big, and there was Farm land on either side with horses, barns and all the other stuff youd find on a small farm...

I spent about 10 minutes snooping around and headed back... but not the way I came.

This new route took me closer to the wooden structure! And I was let down when I noticed it was a deer stand-hide. Then I got freaked out because I thought "People are deer hunting with rifles less than half a mile from my house?

All in all, it was a 1.5 mike hike in and out. I think I should contact the home owners assoc. about the deer stands in the woods...

Moral of the story; You can still find woods to explore. When I was a kid, I had an endless wood full of trails right in my back yard. I am glad I still have them, with the urban sprawl in this country; they are becoming a thing of the past. Of course, once Old Man deer Hunter gets the right price, he will sell all of his land and there will be homes back there instead of woods ...

Friday, March 03, 2006

Have a little talk with Jesus...

Do you know people who won't sing this song? Faulkner to-dos had a fit once when CornerStone sang this song...

I asked why once and someone looked at me as if I was a fool and said "Because we dont pray to Jesus, we pray to God." "Oh..." I said... made sense.

Wayne Jackson articel on this subject

He is a sound, conservative dude...

Me, Sam, and Tyree have had a back and forth email discussion about this... Same is a really good thinker... and he is already starting to see some "traditions" that the c of C holds on to, with no merit...

Here is an email from him I got today:

"...if there was a verse about this then there would be a contradiction in the Bible. Because they did pray to Jesus in Acts 2:24. If you haven't read that article by Wayne Jackson, take a look. He is a very conservative member of the church and he quotes some other conservative members such as Guy Woods.

We are told to pray to God, but we are also given examples where they prayed to Jesus. So it seems like we can do either. Now here is the part that I don't understand. The church of Christ says that we should try to be as close to the first century church as we can and do what they did, but we won't do this even after people see that it was done...

It seems to be a tradition to NOT pray to Jesus and that is the only reason why people don't. I also understand that many people just don't think that you can or should pray to Jesus, so if someone did then people might think it is wrong. Anything 'new'(actually it has been done for 2000 years) to any congregation should be taught first before it is introduced so everyone understands why it is right and okay to do.

One of the reasons that I think the church as a whole doesn't do it is because the denominations do. They pray the sinner's prayer to Jesus and believe they are saved. So we try to get as far away from that as possible and don't even pray to Jesus. "

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Hey Everybody, It's the Comment Game

Poking around on blogger, I found that for sometime we have been moderating our comments. What this means is we had our setting set so that anyone could make a comment, but some comments got tagged as "unknown" and were promptly thrown into a queue. These comments should have been reviewed and then either published or thrown out. Apparently no one did this. So, we had several comments pending for several months. Below you will find them in all of their unadulterated glory. Try to guess which post they were originally supposed to go.




Not that I don’t trust you guys and love you to death but I took this to the next level today. I spent over an hour talking to the preacher at Highland View and have come to some conclusions.

First of all, Jamison this guy is not the one who was there on your last visit. Curtis McClane is from MI and an excellent preacher and very knowledgeable.

Curtis was very supportive and encouraged me to understand that the people who would knit pick an eldership and music were most likely not the people who something as innovative would click with.

He made a comment that groups operate without the guidance of an eldership all over the place are very accepted within the body of the church. He had done some research on the folks at GBN and knew many of them. At one point he stated, “Matt, I wasn’t going to say anything because this was something you needed to know on your own but I don’t think you would have had a good long term experience with those guys anyway.” He further alluded to the fact that anything I did for them would be under their complete control and subject to their subjective opinions on what they think is right. This train of thought ended on the idea that the GBN guys believe that they are the ones holding the knowledge of salvation and if you don’t do it their way, you’re going to be lost.

On the subject of music Curtis recalled a recent study done through out a number of c.o.C universities. Some five colleges were surveyed on a number of topics relating to various teaching of the c.o.C, over 70% of the students polled considered instrumental music a non issue in their worship. He followed that with more signs of this attitude stating that some c.o.C’s are featuring special activities that are not part of the assembly where music is incorporated or supported. He mentioned rock bands for youth groups and functions and I thought of bluegrass pickers (wink).

WE covered a lot of topics from balancing the doctrine of the multi-faith TBN beside my own walk and how I can eventually begin directing viewers to local congregations within the c.o.C. In the end he was totally supportive of using real music and following any network that would be willing to show the program irregardless of the featured mission having an eldership to lead them.

He saw how much this whole thing was taxing me and we closed with a great supportive prayer. So Thursday morning I’ll be off to Nashville to meet with Healing Hands International. If all goes well I’ll have a tentative agreement to go somewhere and shoot something for God.

Posted by mmullinz8 to Midnight Cafe Discussions at 1/25/2006 08:58:30 PM




Did you know rock climbing was actually an exhibition sport at this year's Winter Olympics?

If that ever made it into the Olympics as a sport, it would be very cool to watch!

Every time I hear the word curling in respect to sports, I picture women sword fighting with hot curling irons. Must be residual issues I haven't worked out since burning myself as a young teenager trying to rid herself of straight hair.

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Posted by Lisa to Midnight Cafe Discussions at 2/21/2006 06:14:27 PM




You should sign up for some Rexkwando.

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Posted by Ryan F. to Midnight Cafe Discussions at 1/10/2006 11:54:18 AM




Hey Josh, Jay from WD boards, I have seen and heard this over and over again. I was born and raised in Detroit Michigan and went to mixed schools and churches.

It pains me to see that society still harbors their single mindedness when it comes to inter-racial dating/marriage.

I myself have been in several inter-racial relationships and was often asked in a very rude way, "Why her, she's not white?" this would upset me extremely.

People would look at me like i was nuts for doing it. I just can't figure out why people have to be so stupid. I believe that it's liek they say love is blind and people should let a little thing like color stop them from enjoying the sensation of Love.

With any luck society will wake up soon.

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Posted by J.A. Barnes to Midnight Cafe Discussions at 1/19/2006 05:49:44 PM




Sometimes the strongest, most persuasive preaching is done without uttering a word.

Living the fruits of the spirit are much harder than trying to get someone else to take a bite of one!

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Posted by Lisa to Midnight Cafe Discussions at 2/21/2006 06:24:02 PM




Some people are going to hate what you're doing because you're doing it via video. Others will hate it because its on TV and not just some old fart reading his Bible. No matter what you do some folks will say its rotten and even heretical.

At my folks church, years ago, a minister got slammed because he used a video in worship that had some instrumental background music. It was CofC produced and they were doing just exactly what you're talking about, but some thought it was wrong.

What exactly are you producing again? TV show right? Drama? I forget the details. With instrumental music some churches won't touch it. Many others will though. Some just for a bible class, others for help in worship once in awhile.

Use what fits best, if that includes instruments go for it. Unless its a worship show then I'd say its fine. Just out of curiosity how will you pay/obtain instrumental fill?

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Posted by midnitcafe to Midnight Cafe Discussions at 1/24/2006 07:04:02 PM