House Hunting

Jess and I have been on the hunt for a house for the past few weeks now. I have to say that it has been really fun! We are in a great situation where we have been renting and therefore have nothing to sell and are in one of the best "buyers market" in recent history.
I'll admit it has become a little bit of an obsession for me. I have been looking at houses on-line, in magazines, and driving around town during my free time. I'm searching all over to find best house at the best price. I'm determined not to settle for less than the absolute best!

I wish I had this much passion and determination in every area of my life...

ps- let me know if you know of any good deals on a house :)

Chipotle Church

Today I ate lunch at one of my favorite places, Chipotle. Almost always a line in that place but it's well worth it. I love a burrito bowl with rice, pinto beans, chicken, fajita veggies, corn salsa, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, and topped off with some smoked chipotle sauce! It doesn't get much better than that.
I've been thinking about what makes Chipotle so good, besides the burrito bowl. I've narrowed it down to a few things (values) in no particular order.

1. Simplistic: They keep it simple. Their menu is basic, they offer a few things, and they focus on their main thing, the burrito.

2. Environment: I love the look, the feel, and the overall aesthetics of the restaurant. I hope to have a student center cafe that will resemble it one day.

3. Fast: Customers are important, and they want to get their product to them as quick as possible. Being quick and efficient is the most over looked marketing strategy. People's time is valuable. Getting QUALITY, QUICK, is important!

4. Excellence: They do things right and they do it right consistently. That alone keeps me coming back.


If we can incorporate these values into our churches, maybe people would wait in line to get what we offer. We need more Chipotle Churches!

Losing

19-18 was the final score of our softball game tonight and for the first time all season we were on the losing end. I guess the old saying goes, "You win some and you lose some." So I guess everyone has to lose every now and then and losing is just a part of life, but I still hate it!

Losing stinks!

Different...

I just finished watching American Idol, go David Archuleta!, and it is down to the final four contestants. The thing I like about this season of Idol is that all of them are very different. One is a rocker, another is R&B, another folk, and another pop. It's great to see such a blended group of talented people all coming from different genres. Millions of people vote on their favorite Idol every week and their are millions of crazy girls in love with David Archuleta. But if he was the guy that sat next to them in class, would they love him as much? Would they scream for his attention everyday?

Growing up in middle school and high school DIFFERENT was bad. The "different" people didn't get to hang out in the "cool" and popular crowd. They didn't get to sit at the "right" lunch table. They didn't have a lot of friends. They didn't wear all the right clothes. They usually were mistreated and out casted just because they weren't like everyone else. The sad thing is that things haven't changed much since I was in school 10 years ago. What a shame!

Now, just to clarify, I wasn't very different growing up. Looking back I wish I were. I tried to blend in and be one of the crowd. I was a follower and not a leader, and I did it all for the sake of popularity. I now know I was created to be different. Paul tells us in I Corinthians that God has given us all a unique gifting and we all play a different and specific role in life.

You're different, God made you that way. Show it off!

Kickin' the Bucket

Tonight Jess (my wife) and I went to the Palace Theatre, the cheap $2.50 theatre : ), to see the Bucket List. This movie was in the main theatre's a few months ago and starred Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The movie is about two men who find out they are terminally ill with cancer and only have 6 months to a year to live. They then create the "bucket" list of things they want to do before they "kick the bucket" and die. One of the men is a billionaire and they can literally do everything and anything they want. They climbed the pyramids of Egypt, sky dived, went to the Himalayas, and many other things. However, after 3 months they realized it was the simple things in life like family, friends, joy, love, and faith that really mattered.

How often do we take advantage of the little things? Today, call a friend you haven't talked to for a long time, hold the hand of a loved one, laugh until you cry, and share/show the love that God has placed in each one of us.

Don't wait to live. Live everyday like you're dying!

It's a Game of Inches

Today I played with some friends in the AGTS Golf Tournament. It was a beautiful day (very windy) but a great day to play a great game and enjoy the company of friends. As we were playing I was reminded how tough golf is and how just the slightest mistake can make all the difference. Golf really is a game of inches. If your club is off just the least bit when it connects with the ball, the ball will not go the direction you intend it to go. If your alignment is off just a hair to the right the ball will not go in the hole. To be successful you really need all aspects of your game in line down to the last inch.

In life, if we compromise just a little bit, even just an inch, it WILL make all the difference.