I'm a cautious driver -- to a fault, perhaps.

Last night I spent time with some friends (and some total strangers) at a birthday party. First part of the evening was just hanging out at a pizza place; still a fun time. But the second part was a series of races at RPM, down in Rancho Cordova. They offer some intense kart racing, and it was a great time for everyone.

I even enjoyed it, despite coming in last. Seriously. I was dead last in our group of 16 racers. While talking to roommate Dave (who holds the 61st spot in their Top 100 RPM charts; check it out on their website), it occurred to me that I was driving way, way, way too cautiously out on the track. In other words, I drove on the track similarly to how I drive in the real world. Of course, in the real world, I haven't had an accident since October 1989... I've never gotten a speeding ticket... and I've only been pulled over twice by cops (see here and here for more info on that).

So, the moral of this story: Next time I go back to RPM, I need to drive more intensely. Or something like that. I'll also have to bring plenty of cash, 'cause it isn't cheap (it's only real downside).

The most annoying woman on TV.

Her name is Nancy Grace. Perhaps you've heard of her. If not, congratulations. Your world is a bit less shrill, less annoying, less bizarre without her.

I miss manual odometers.

This afternoon I was out running errands, and I realized my car was about ready to hit 33,000 miles. Unfortunately, I have a digital odometer, so I have to pay close attention or I'll miss the actual "rollover" moment. Watching the odometer and watching the road at the same time -- well, it's probably riskier than driving without a hands-free device on your cell! But I did catch the actual moment this time.

It occurred to me today how much I miss having a manual odometer. I loved the sense of anticipation for the changing of a thousand or a ten-thousand mark. You see one number slowly start to roll, then the next, then the next, then the next... With a digital odometer, nothing. One moment my car had 32,999 miles on it. The next it had 33,000. Blink and you miss it. Such a shame.

My fortune-less cookie.

Just got done eating a to-go lunch from Panda Express. Of course, I save the fortune cookie until the very end. When I cracked open the cookie, much to my dismay, I discovered that there was no cookie inside. Is the absence of a message somehow a message in itself? And if so, what would that message be? Hmm...

Presidential choices.

Thinking of voting for Rudy Guiliani this year? Interesting article here from The New Yorker that raises some deep issues for me about whether he's really presidential material. I already had concerns, but I'm afraid I'd almost rather have the styles of some other candidates over a Rudy-style presidency.

On another note, I was fascinated by the results of last week's Iowa caucuses. A year ago, who would have honestly guessed Mike Huckabee would win the GOP contest, and Barack Obama would easily win on the Dems' side? Remarkable how this year's presidential election is going. There are some candidates I clearly don't like or trust, but there are some others who could turn out to be good nominees, and I pray the one who wins end up being a good president.

Volunteers need access and support.

I learned a tough ministry lesson last night, though I hope it all has a good outcome. We ran into a problem over the weekend where a key volunteer wasn't able to access all of the places and resources needed for one of our teams. It added to a sense that priorities had shifted in our church, and formerly important things weren't quite as important as before. This leader and I spoke yesterday, had a really tough heart-to-heart, and it was clear that I needed to take a bigger role in making sure things happen correctly around here.

I moved into a new role back in the fall, and I'm no longer the "cheerleader" for any specific ministry, even though I work closely and directly oversee several groups. But really, my job is to be a cheerleader for all of the church ministries -- without appearing to favor one over another. That's a tough balancing act. It also meant I had to apologize to this leader yesterday, because the buck stops with me in my new role.

I guess I'm simply praying that yesterday's conversation will help me get back on track and remember that volunteers need access, support, prayers, friendship -- whatever it takes to help them succeed!

Have you googled yourself lately?

I hadn't googled myself in quite some time, so I decided to do it, and I was surprised by the results! When I typed in "rob cunningham" in the search engine, my own blog was the first hit. Remarkable! Last time I did it, my blog was the 13th result, so apparently I'm moving up in the world...

Mountain snow.

I realize some of you are convinced I'm obsessed with Yosemite. That's not entirely true. No, I lie. It's true. Here are two pics of fresh snow up there from yesterday's storm -- and more snow on its way today!

Pick 3: Politics

So, it's a new year and I've decided to drop the "5 stories worth a read" feature, and instead offer the occasional Pick 3 -- three news articles from online sources, all relating to one theme. That means I might have more than one Pick 3 post on a given day, depending on the news articles I encounter. This round: politics.

1. Close race means California primaries may matter from sfgate.com

2. Analysis: Huckabee up, Clinton down heading to Granite State from cnn.com

3. ABC cuts 3 from presidential debates from The Associated Press (via modbee.com)

Enjoy.

Crazy weather.

Today has been wild. It's just 2PM, but we've been without power for most of the day (since around 7:45AM). We've had a huge storm moving through, and the winds have been insane. I haven't been able to check much online because of the power outages (it seems rather stable at the moment) but we've had heavy winds, lots of rain, downed trees -- wild stuff.

Here are a couple of pics from my house. No real damage to show, but a bit messy outside today!

My dad now has a blog.

As I sit here, realizing my recently abysmal blogging patterns, it's worth noting that my dad has launched his own blog in honor of the year 2008. Or something like that.

He and my stepmom live in Iowa, which today is the center of the political universe. Tomorrow, of course, no one will give a flying leap about Iowans' views on presidential candidates. But today is the day faithful voters go caucus (apparently it's a verb, not just a noun) and pick their state's nominees for both major political parties. If you care who my dad's supporting, you can visit his blog.

Anyway, it should be interesting to see how consistently my dad maintains his blog. I've done a horrible job of late, faithful reader, but perhaps I can get back on the wagon. Or off the wagon. I always get that one mixed up...

My friend and blogging inspiration Josh Griffin (seriously, he's the one who encouraged me to take up this "habit" couple years ago) recommended that I consume energy drinks like Rockstar to inspire me and my writing. But I think energy drinks are of the devil. Like dancing.

Merry Christmas Adam!

Yes, you read those words correctly! December 24th is Christmas Eve, so years ago, my brother and I decided that December 23rd should be Christmas Adam...

...because, of course, Adam came before Eve...

Hope it was a good one for you!

It's snowing in Yosemite.

I have just one word: woo-hoo!

They're fixing the sign.

Last month I noticed a funny error in a sign at our neighborhood Save Mart grocery store. Well, I was back in the store last night and noticed that they're finally addressed the mistake. Cool.

Yosemite snow.

We finally got some real weather.

It rained here yesterday -- around 2 inches of rain in 24 hours, here in Sacramento. That's really, really good news for us because we're behind our average rainfall for this time of the year. Just as importantly, the mountains got snow. The first pic is from a cam at Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park. Elevation up there is something around 9,000 feet, I believe. The second pic is from Chico yesterday, while we were loading up the donations for the homeless.

Ready to help the homeless.

Today we picked up a huge donation of military items that we'll be able to use with our street ministry to the homeless. We got boxes of coats, ponchos, boots, sleeping bags -- stuff that will be an awesome blessing to homeless folks in our communities. God is awesome!

Recovering from our robbery.

It's been a wild couple of days around the church since our break-in overnight Monday. Tuesday and today both have been filled with meetings, unexpected tasks, extra help from volunteers, additional safety measures for our buildings, and just all kinds of other "fun."

Two interesting "positives" in the midst of this. One, we had to buy some replacement monitor speakers for the platform, so we bought better ones than what we'd been using. Our stolen set really wasn't a pair of monitors; it was a pair of good speakers that were being used as monitors. Unfortunately, that sometimes created additional sound directed from the platform toward the congregation. We now have real monitors in place, which will help people on the platform AND out in the crowd.

Second, tomorrow we appear to have an opportunity to collect a large donation of clothes, coats, boots and blankets for the homeless. This will be a HUGE blessing to our street ministry, and the donation couldn't arrive at a better time: Real fall-winter weather is beginning to hit, and the homeless in our communities need more than a one-time serving of food. We're praying that this donation will be a blessing to hundreds and hundreds of people in the area.

So, even in the midst of junk, God is good!

Burglars hit our church.

Today has been a looooong day. As I pulled out of my driveway for my 8:30AM meeting with my senior pastor, I got a call from the office staff: Our church got robbed last night. I quickly changed course and headed to the church to see what got taken and what we needed to do next.

The staff already had called the sheriff's department but the deputies hadn't arrived yet. I walked through and saw where the burglars hit us: sound equipment, some drums, some speakers, some food in the kitchen and -- craziest of all -- some clothes that had been donated for the homeless!

So today has been about phone calls and meetings and missing property reports and more meetings and alarm company visits and video surveillance equipment and a CSI visit and still more meetings.

In the midst of this, several points of "good news" emerged:
1. They didn't vandalize the building or the grounds; they just took stuff
2. No one was here when it happened, so no one's safety was at risk
3. If they choose to return, we'll be ready with some new safeguards (I feel like we should have watched "Home Alone" as a staff for extra ideas)

It's past 7PM and I'm still at the office because my regular Tuesday agenda was completely thrown out the window. Oh well. God's good, even in the midst of junk like this!

Weekend wrapup.

Lots happened this weekend. Here are some highlights.

1. DOGS LIKE MY YARD
Actually, it might just be one dog with an irresponsible owner. But while raking leaves Friday, I encountered several spots where dogs mistook my front yard for a bathroom. Maybe an electric fence would help...

2. FAN OF SCREAMO? HARDLY
Hit up a local concert Friday night to support a friend from another church. It was a screamo concert, and I forgot to bring along some earplugs, just in case. His band did well, and it was fun catching up with friends at the concert. But I'm still not sure if screamo is really gonna last, or if it's just a musical/culture phase like grunge...

3. EARLY-MORNING CALLS
Last I checked, I'm no longer the youth pastor at my church. But several students thought it would be funny to call the former youth pastor early Saturday morning. As in, 4:50AM early. Funny? Maybe. But the cell was the only alarm I had set for that morning, and when I moved the phone into silent mode, I set myself up for a bad morning: missed our men's breakfast at 8, our homeless outreach at 9, several calls and text messages from other staff members wondering where I was...

4. NEW FAMILIES
We held our first new family luncheon in many months, and it was a fun, healthy, good event. It's a great time to talk with people, introduce them to some of the leaders in the congregation, and start the process of getting them connected. Great time...

5. AWESOME BAPTISM
Our youth ministry and one of our outreach teams helped a combined worship/prayer event on Sunday night and did an awesome job. This was the second attempt, and we had a stronger turnout, better organization and overall a more effective night. A highlight was a water baptism at the end of the evening for a teen guy whose dad has been coming to our church for a couple of months. The son hadn't been attending but wanted to get baptized, so our youth pastor got to do his first water baptism!