Cool quote.

Just cruised over to see the latest blog thoughts from Kurt Johnston, the junior high guy down at Saddleback. He had a great thought in his most recent post. Check it out.

No guilt today.

It's 2:25 in the afternoon, and it's a balmy 84 degrees outside right now. That's a miracle. Typical summer weather has disappeared for a day or so, and we're allowed to enjoy some spring-like days -- just as our fireworks booth is taking off.

Not quite taking off. So far, not a single sale yet today. And I'm sitting inside working on materials for Sunday and for our missions trip (7 days until we leave) to Mexico. I should feel guilty about leaving my volunteers sitting outside in 84-degree weather, sitting under a canopy with a nice breeze, while I sit in the office with a window that doesn't open.

Nah. No guilt.

BTW, if you live in the greater Sacramento area, you're welcome to visit us at Antelope Christian Center and purchase your fireworks from us this year. Your support will allow us to offer fun, life-changing ministry to junior high and high school teens in our area.

Commercial over.

Summer snow?

I love getting these kinds of emails. We're sitting here, enduring the start of summer. Today was the first day of our seven-day fireworks booth, a wonderful fund-raiser that requires teens' greatest fans to sit out in the heat all day long. Anyway, in the midst of today's sunshinyness, I got an email from my dad. It contained a couple of photos from back in December, when I visited him and my stepmom in Iowa. At the time, Iowa was covered in many inches of snow, and I tried my hand at sledding down the hill of their backyard. It was fun.

Macs rule.

Yep, I'm a Mac guy. Quite a proud one. My dad was a computer science professor for decades, and back in the mid-1980s, he would bring home one of the little, B&W-screened, boxy units so my brother and I could play games all summer. (Those summers didn't sip, I guess.)

Alas, today we live in a backslidden, corrupted world of PCs. It reminds me of the principle John Maxwell wrote about in one of his 329 books. He reminded the dear reader that none of us seeks out restaurants that offer average service with mediocre food and merely acceptable atmosphere. We all strive for excellence.

For excellence PCs strive not.

A Mac is a work of excellence. The fact that graphic artists, newspaper designers and the most creative people use Macs should be a reminder of why Macs rule. Who uses PCs? Accountants.

'Nuf said.

For those who still doubt that Macs are the platforms of excellence, please visit this link. Now. Abandon mediocrity. Now. Do it. You know you want to. Go ahead. Do it.

Summer sips.

I hate summer.

It's nothing personal. I'm sure summer comes from a nice family. Summer's parents believe that summer can never fail, never makes mistakes, is the most talented child on the face of the earth.

But I still hate summer.

I'm ambivalent toward winter. A winter in the Sacramento area is nowhere as harsh as a winter in Missouri, where I went to college. If it hits 32 degrees here, we're certain the world is about to end.

Spring. Fall. Those are the nice seasons. They're moderate. They don't yell. They know how to control their tempers. Occasionally, they throw you a thunderstorm or a chilly morning. They might aggrevate your allergies; spring is the bigger culprit. I like spring. I'm cool with fall.

But I hate summer.

I don't care if you're talking dry heat around here; it's still 102 outside. That's hot. I don't care if you're talking just 80 degrees but with intense humidity; who wants to take 3 showers a day without a real workout or visit to the gym?

The A/C in our office building doesn't work very well, so I'm keeping a fan right next to me. I wear shorts to the office this time of year because it's hot. My semi-new car is releasing all kinds of chemicals and poisons from the plastic under the scorching sun.

Clearly, I hate summer.

But I love summer missions trips and fireworks booths and late-night dips in the pool and early-morning breezes and more time with my students and nothing significant to watch on TV and lots of sunshine hours.

So I guess I can live with summer. Even if I hate it.

Football, eh?

I was trolling through various blogs tonight. I've spent more time looking at blogs in the last 30 hours than I have in the previous 32+ years of my life. I came across some blogs referring to something happening over in Europe. Some kind of athletic competition, I guess. Apparently people are following it with deep passion. Go figure.

Lotta clutta.

My office is a mess right now. This picture gives just a glimpse of the stuff that currently surrounds me and invades my space. I really shouldn't be here on a Saturday. But I am.

Why not.

I ran across an interesting story online relating to the breakdown of community and the drop in the number of close friends most of us have. It caught my eye cause it really emphasized the value of small groups and a healthy church environment -- the fact that we all need healthy, deep, life-giving relationships.

So I figured I'd send it down to Josh Griffin, who allegedly works for Doug Fields down at Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, but seems to have all kinds of free time on his hands. (Not that I know any youth pastors who also fit into that category.) Anyway, Josh asked if I had a blog he should be linking to. I told him no. I'm too bleeding-edge to have a blog; people should just be able to read my mind and learn my thoughts that way.

But then I got thinking, and that's a scary thing to do on a Saturday morning. I'm not paid to think on Saturdays. I got thinking that perhaps it would be fun to reveal my thoughts and ideas and concepts and notions and wordplay and all the other silly stuff that goes on in my mind -- maybe it would be fun to let people read it. Online journaling. Go figure.

So, this is my start. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm really talented at starting projects; finishing has always been a challenge. Just ask all the half-read books that sit on my shelf. Actually, if you start talking to my books, I have a good shrink I can recommend.

Enjoy the day. It's supposed to be around 107 degrees here today. Good motivation to go to heaven and avoid hell.