One in Fifty US Children Homeless

March 10, 2009 By nick 3 Comments

homeless-child

I saw this story today…

One of every 50 American children experiences homelessness, according to a new report that says most states have inadequate plans to address the worsening and often-overlooked problem.

The report being released Tuesday by the National Center on Family Homelessness gives Connecticut the best ranking. Texas is at the bottom.

“These kids are the innocent victims, yet it seems somehow or other they get left out,” said the center’s president, Dr. Ellen Bassuk. “Why are they America’s outcasts?” [Read Entire Story Here]

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Its Not Reality TV…Its Marketing TV

March 5, 2009 By nick Leave a Comment

tatiana-and-jason

I’ve heard a lot of chatter this morning on Twitter and some blogs about the outrage that the judges on American Idol brough Tatiana Del Torro back onto the show. It was just a few days ago the chatter on Twitter and the blogs was about the outrage that Jason Mesnick was allowed to dump his fincee Melissa on the Bachelor. After all, she was the girl he selected as his fiancee when he dumped Molly, who is the girl he reunited with as soon as he dumped Melissa. What single guy would not love to be on this show? Really? You get to select from like 25 ladies, make out with them, get an all expense paid vacation to date these girls, and then you get to dump them and watch them cry, but oh wait, if you make the wrong choice, the show will help you get the one you let slip away back.

Tatiana on the other hand is one of the most annoying contestans that has ever been on American Idol. She was not voted by the fans to remain on the show, but apparently American Idol felt we got it wrong, so what did they do? They allowed the judges to do one of those “bring an idol back” sessions (which they have not done consistantly) to bring miss Drama queen back into our living rooms. Haha! And you thought this was reality tv!

No, this is Marketing TV, and part of that is to make you believe you are in control, but you’re not. I am convinced that the Bachelor had to cover their poor video editing, which a normal person caught. It was just a few weeks ago when Twitter and You Tube blew up over a video where someone discovered that Jason was going to select Melissa. See, Melissa wore a pinky ring and in the final shot (where it shows Jason proposing) you cannot see the girl’s face, but you can see her pinky ring. I believe this killed the ratings for the final show. Sure it could have boosted the ratings, but the whole ordeal went a little too far. The reunion show with Jason and Molly was too staged.

Finally, you have Tatiana Del Torro, oh yeah, and Nick Mitchell on American Idol. They define two of the horrible selections made by the judges this season. Of course there is also the swimsuit girl who didn’t get in on musical talent. The problem with American Idol and Tatiana and Nick is the fact that this is American Idol. The fans agree they are not “American Idols” even if they can sing a little. They have preached for years that an American Idol is a complete package. Who knows, maybe they have been wrong this entire time since only about 3 American Idols have ended up being American Idols and there was that guy who lost and made it bigger than the other 4 duds combined. So just remember when you are calling in to cast your vote, most of these people did not just walk in off the street, the show knows a lot more about them than you and I will ever know. Most of the final contestants have been doing music for years! The first few rounds are just to filter out the extra noise the judges allow through for ‘show’ and in this particular horrible season if you don’t have Drama (Tatiana and Nick), you don’t have much of a show.

Join the Conversation: What’s Your Thoughts?

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Octo-Mom versus Grandma: Who’s Right?

February 24, 2009 By nick 4 Comments

octomom-video-image

Here is a portion of the video where Octo-mom, Nadya Suleman, gets into a heated argument with her mom, Angela from an interview on Radaronline.com (Click to View Video).

This is post is not an issues or argument about abortion or the killing and preservation of the embryos from Nadya. I want to focus on the attitude of both ladies.

I am shocked and amazed at Nadya’s attitude and tone towards her mom. For those who do not know all of the story, Nadya, and her previous 6 children were already living with Grandma Angela, and now Nadya has added 8 additional children (octuplets). I agree with Nadya that once she had the embryos implanted, it was too late, they were fertilized and were lives living within her, however, I don’t believe she was right by having the procedure done in the first place. She has no job, she has no home, she has no husband, and she has a ton of debt that she is now, basically asking for a bailout on. The procedure for the delivery of the 8 children cost tax payers well over $1 Million Dollars. Personally, I believe she has brought 8 children into a situation that is unhealthy, to provide a temporary fix for her control issues, and she has altered the lives of many others in between, including that of her mother, Grandma Angela.

With every interview, if it is edited, we only hear what we are given, so it is hard to understand the issue in context, however, I am amazed at Nadya’s attitude towards her mom, who provides for her and her now 14 children without any financial assistance from her daughter on behalf of her children. I do not hear an ounce of thankfulness from the part of Nadya. It really is a big mess. Once again, without getting into the issues of Abortion and preserving the Embryos (because that is not the isse) Join the Conversation and tell us who should be more upset and considered “justified” in their frustrations. Octo-mom, Nadya or Grandma Angela?

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What Holds You Back?

February 20, 2009 By nick 3 Comments

chainedI was at a church training event this past weekend. One of the pastors at the event gave a great morning devotion. He opened by talking about some of the things that hold him back from fully obeying God or fulfilling the call that God has placed on his life. One of the reasons he listed was simply that he knew how messed up he really was. I have to agree with him. Someone can tell me how they think I am going to be successful at an upcoming endeavor and I appreciate the encouraging words, but too often I find myself wanting to hold back and to sit still versus progressing because I get to looking at how messed up I am. After all, I know the thoughts I thought or the attitude towards other people that I had…the people saying the encouraging things don’t see the junk, they only see the shining parts of my life. In the end, I know I have to step out fully trusting that God knows what he is doing by leading me to do anything, but its not always easy!

Join the Conversation: What do you let hold you back?

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Sex and Alcohol

February 4, 2009 By nick 1 Comment

beer

After reading this article by Newsmax, I’m wondering if I should rethink my choice not to drink alcohol. Maybe this is why my alcoholic Grandpa (mom’s dad) was a womanizer?

Rather than damaging a man’s sexual performance, a good, stiff drink actually improves a man’s sexual prowess in the bedroom. Australian researchers found that men who drink report as many as 30 percent fewer problems than those who didn’t drink at all.

Dr. Kew-Kim Chew, of Western Australia’s Keogh Institute for Medical Research told London’s Sunday Telegraph that men who drank within safe, moderate guidelines seemed to have the best erectile function. In Chew’s study of 1,580 Australian men, even binge drinkers functioned better sexually than those who never drank.

“We found that, compared to those who have never touched alcohol, many people do benefit from some alcohol, including some people who drink outside the guidelines,” Chew said.

The study found that low risk drinkers (those who consumed up to twenty drinks a week spread over five days) had the fewest sexual problems. Those who drank on weekends only and those who were binge drinkers suffered lower rates of erectile dysfunction than those who drank only one day a week or drank none at all. Men who performed the poorest were heavy drinkers who had stopped drinking and those who smoked or had heart disease.

I think I’ll take my chances. I’ve seen Alcohol destroy too many lives in our family, so I’ll stick to the soft stuff, plus my wife would tell you I don’t need alcohol to…okay, I’ll just leave it there. :) What’s your thoughts?

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Conditioned

January 27, 2009 By nick 4 Comments

football-training

I have a battle that wars within me constantly. Its a battle between desiring to be the Christian that Christ wants me to be and to do Christianity the way I was taught to do it.

I believe football has more conditioning and training drills than any other sport. I’ve played all of the major sports in school; football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. I missed out on underwater basket weaving. Football has so many positions and each position has a different function depending on the play, so the training is extensive. If you are an offensive lineman, one play may call for you to run block while the next requires a pass block, then an entire new play may require that you perform a pull block to open a bigger hole for your running back. This process of training is often referred to as “Conditioning.”

When I got out of High School, I held several jobs. One of my greatest closing lines when interviewing was to assure the company that I had the skills to perform the job, but because I had never worked in the specific position or for a competitor, I would do the job exactly the way they trained me to do it, unlike career employees, I was not conditioned in any other method of doing the job, basically I was a blank slate. I was communicating that I had not been programmed to do it any other way, rather I would perform the job only in the manner that they conditioned me or trained me to do it in.

I struggle with this in Christianity. I grew up being programmed that a lot of Christianity was a duty instead of a relationship. Even though I know better, I find myself reverting back to this approach in my faith walk. Don’t get me wrong, some of my Christian conditioning was good for me, and I use the skills all the time, but then there are some areas that are toxic to my relationship with Christ. I don’t want to do Christianity, I don’t want to have a checklist to make sure I am not making God mad. I fight against some of the opinions that were taught to me as ‘fact’ and as ‘the Gospel’. I’m left questioning a lot, is this (particular issue) a non-negotiable or is it a mere opinion of a righteous individual? In the end, I guess God uses this struggle to keep me reliant on him during the times I have this war raging within me. Join the Conversation: Have you been conditioned?

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My New Favorite Song

January 22, 2009 By nick 1 Comment

I heard this song, Angels on the Moon, by Thriving Ivory on Jimmy Kemmel Live last night…

I guess I wok up at just the right time from falling asleep watching LOST.

Clayton’s hair is not that great in this video, but it was awesome on Kimmel last night, and oh yeah, I wish I could sing like Clayton.

Join the Conversation, What’s a new song or new artist/group you’ve discovered lately that the world needs to know about?


thriving-ivory

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Transitions

January 5, 2009 By nick 3 Comments

butterfly

2009 is going to bring some exciting things! I can see some major transitions that will be taking place in the coming months and then I know there are transitions that will surprise me that I do not see coming. Some of the changes and new directions are HUGE and many details still have to be worked out before I can even talk about them with clarity. So today, I’m wondering, when you’ve had a specific upcomign transition, how did you approach it, or how do you approach it? Or, what is something valuable you have learned through a major transition in your life? Maybe it was a change of career, or a major move, a bigger step in leadership, an addition to your family, etc…Join the Conversation, today I want to learn from you…I’m all ears!

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2009

January 1, 2009 By nick 5 Comments

2009

Happy New Year! I am thankful that I have been blessed to live life for another day and hopefully for another year. I am thankful for a healthy and happy family.

I resoluted not to  do New Year Resolutions a couple of years ago and that is the only resolution I’ve ever fulfilled, so in keeping with my new found tradition, I will not be making any New Year Resolutions, however I can say that 2009 is going to bring some big things, definitely some changes in the life of my family, and though I cannot share it all now, I am excited about some stuff that is going to be happening later this year…I’ll be talking about it soon, until then, here are a few 2009 goals that I’ve set…I really haven’t thought much about this, but these were on my mind yesterday:

  1. I want to know my Jesus more
  2. I want to know my family more
  3. I want to be more of a blessing to people in need
  4. I want to create more memories with and for my kids
  5. I want to keep my 49 pounds off that I lost between late 2007 and 2008
  6. I want to grow as a leader

Join the Conversation: What are some of your resolutions or goals for 2009?

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Can God Trust You & Your Church?

December 21, 2008 By nick 4 Comments

moneyI must confess, I have an issue with the so-called prosperity preachers and Christians. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to set myself up as a “judge and jury” against anyone, but my view of Christianity is a life of giving away and serving others rather than a life of obtaining and prospering. Jesus himself said, He did not come to be served, rather He came to earth to serve.

I really feel like Christmas came early this year. Nicki and I are not getting each other anything for Christmas. Honestly, we don’t need anything, and if we did there is a good chance we will get it as we need it throughout the year. However, our church did something different last month, I know some other churches that have done a similar project, but there are none in our area that I have heard of. During our “Bling” series we started the “Bless Back Campaign” where our church handed out free money to everyone in the congregation. The church took the equivilant amount to what we receive in a week in tithes and they divvied it up in envelopes, some people got $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, and even $500. Now I have heard of churches that did a similar project, but the goal was for people to multiply the money and bring it back to the church for a building campaign or similar, but our goal at TCAG is to redefine church, so we simply gave it to people and asked them to bless someone else. Someone could simply take a single mom for coffee or help buy someone groceries, the ideas were totally left up to the individuals. (You can read the stories HERE under the “Celebrate” section). (Keep Reading its worth it…)

Our Community Group put our money together. It ended up being around $700 total. My mother-in-law knows a lady that fosters kids, and the one’s that she currently has have never had a Christmas. The lady picked up a second job just to try and earn enough to buy them some presents. So yesterday, the ladies in our group took the lady the $700 in cash and in a gift card plus a Wii and controllers that another family wanted to pitch in to help. That made my Christmas. These kids have had horrible lives up until their current Foster Home. A 6 year old girl has cigarette burns down her neck and  back (Shane wants to adopt her and is trying to convince Diana to pursue it), a 7 year old boy is considered “un-adoptable” because he has to take 5 insulin shots a day (His name is Tristan and I want to adopt him…I never thought I would say I want to adopt a child so soon after Hailey, but how can you say someone is un-adoptable? Plus he would be a great playmate for Gavin), that’s just 2 of the 12 children in this home. Sure $700 won’t go real far with 12 kids, but at least they will have more of a Christmas than they would have. Just to hear the stories from our wives when they got home got me more excited than opening a gift for myself this Christmas. All day, I felt like I had experienced Christmas…and…Christianity for what it really is…giving away, not obtaining and not prospering because I named something and claimed it. (Keep going just a little more…)

I wish you could see what has happened in our church within the last 2 months. Our students did a 2 weeks of sacrifice and raised enough money (along with matching gifts) to buy right at 6 clean water wells with Blood Water Mission. Our church committed to purchasing 25 of 61 meals for Christmas through a local ministry center, our people bought over 40 of the 61 meals needed, and to cap it off, we adopted 4 families in our county who would not have a Christmas with gifts unless someone were to help them, and our church stepped up to the plate big time providing gifts for each family member plus enough food for a Christmas dinner. Here’s what gets me though, two of the families we helped lived in a city that is growing by the thousands, Grovetown, GA. God is going to be doing some awesome stuff in Grovetown in the coming months, but…One of those families was living right next door to a church. These people live in what was described to me as “filth.” They are just dirt poor, yet a church who claims to follow Christ, has done nothing to assist this family, and probably any of the other families around them. It just leaves me to wonder, what kind of Christianity is this? Am I saying that every church has to do a Bless Back Campaign like our church did? No, but can God even trust us or trust our churches to do what Hes already told us to do? Some churches may look at what we as a church did and say its extreme, but I would say, its really just us doing what we’ve been called to do, but American Christianity has become so shallow it makes genuine obedience look “extreme.”

So, Join the Conversation, Can God really trust us or trust our churches to live life trying to serve and to give rather than to obtain and prosper? What are your thoughts?

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