Time Stands Still !!!!!!

Tonight time will STOP.

For one second 2009 will be delayed. This year we add a "leap second" As a result, we'll have an extra second added to 2008 to let a lazy old Earth catch up to super-accurate clocks. Because the planet's irregular and gradually slowing rotation, Scientists have decreed that a "Leap Second" be inserted from time to time.


Wait a second. The "leap second" is officially at the stroke of midnight on Wednesday in Greenwich, England, the home of what is popularly known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) – Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to the more technically inclined – the standard time for the planet.


So at precisely 23:59:60 in Greenwich, England time will stand still for one second. ( Check out my time clocks at the bottom of my blog page for your area. )

Have fun and enjoy the extra long year of 2008. I hope it is a safe and fun time for everyone.

Happy New Year!

* happy Silvester to Ms Skittles, Imperial Kitty, and 'K ' ( you get to celebrate Malanka also) and a happy Réveillon to Jungle Mom and Verja, "Año Nuevo, Vida Nueva" (close as I could get to your location)

I am back to blogging live. We had a great Christmas and were blessed. Our celebration was very low key this season. With the situation facing dad and with Kris catching a nasty bacterial infection that mimicked many flu-like symptoms we didn’t venture out much. So we missed several parties and dinners. I wasn’t on-line often either. In fact my many of blog posts were done via remote control.

Here are the 12 days of Christmas the way we spent them in this updated verse.

On the twelfth day of Christmas here is what I got

* Twelve days missed at work
* Eleven quarts of juice
* Ten 2 liter Sprites
* Nine naps a day
* Eight jugs of NyQuil
* Seven boxes of tissue
* Six cans of soup
* Five cans of Lysol
* Four trips to the doctor
* Three anti-biotic prescriptions
* Two bottles of hand sanitizer
* And a great big bag of cough drops

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL???

Try it without looking at the answers......

please don't look down until you do it, you'll love it I promise

GET A CALCULATOR (YOUR COMPUTER HAS ONE ON IT)

1) Pick your favorite number between 1-9

2) Multiply by 3 then

3) Add 3, then again Multiply by 3 (I'll wait while you get the calculator....)

4) You'll get a 2 or 3 digit number..

5) Add the digits together (down to one digit)

Now Scroll down ...............

Now with that number see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below:

1. Einstein

2. Nelson Mandela

3. Abraham Lincoln

4. Helen Keller

5. Bill Gates

6. Gandhi

7. George Clooney

8. Thomas Edison

9. Me .......

10. Abraham Lincoln

I know....

I just have that effect on people....

one day you too can be like me.... :-)

Believe it!

P.S.: Stop picking different numbers.

I am your idol, just deal with it!!!!

I have spent several long nights researching just how many reindeer there really are in Santa’s stables. We all know the great eight. Those wonderful reindeer made famous in the poem " The Night Before Christmas". And everyone remembers how Rudolph saved Christmas on a foggy Christmas Eve, much like tonight They are a dependable transportation system no doubt.. But surely Santa has back-up just in case.

After hours of careful research I have identified sixty-one (61) so far. Some already famous, some in training and some that are just waiting. Here is what I know

First we have the classics.

Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and Donder and Blitzen. And obviously Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Then we must add,

Pancho & Pedro : Named in the 1958 song "¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?" by Augie Rios

Fireball: Son of Blitzen, he has fiery red hair and is one of several reindeer trying out for the sleigh team

Rolf: Son of Dasher and struggles at flying but he is still very young

Clarice: Daughter of Comet although she does not try out for the team

Clyde: Who filled in for Rudolph once when Rudolph had a hip injury from doing the Twist.

Clovis, Leroy, Bruce and Marvin along with Leon, Cletus, George, Bill, Slick, Do-Right, Ace, Blackie, Queenie, Prince, Spot, and Rover: All named in the Ray Stevens song "Santa Claus is Watching You"

Chuy, Tavo, and Beto: Named in the 1971 song, "Santa Claus And His Old Lady", by Cheech & Chong

Shadrack: Employed by Santa as a pace setter in the 1974 song, "Shadrack, the Black Reindeer" by Loretta Lynn

Nico: Prancer’s Child from the 1995 video “ The Flight Before Christmas “

Lightning: In 1996 Christmas special “Elmo Saves Christmas” he was a reindeer in training

Olive: the other reindeer

Annabelle: from the 1997 video special “Annabelle's Wish” her lifelong wish was to pull Santa’s sleigh.

Blizzard, Aphrodite & Archimedes: Featured in the 1999 Movie “Blizzard”


Robbie the Reindeer: From a 1999 TV special called “Robbie the Reindeer” Has a nose for geography

Chet : A young reindeer in training from the 2002 Film “The Santa Clause 2” He saves Christmas that year.

Steven, Fluffy, Horace, Chantel, Skippy, Rainbow, Patches and Montel.: From the 2002 South Park Christmas Special "Red Sleigh Down"

Rusty: In the 2006 TV special “Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn't Happen” he is introduced as Rudolph's little brother. He works Air Traffic Control most times

Pancho, Pepe, Cuco, Beto, Chato, Chopo, Macuco, Nieto!: All named according to a poem quoted by Jungle Mom on her Blog

Can you think of any I missed?

Also just what games do Reindeer play?

I may have to make a return trip to the North Pole next spring and seek the answers directly from the source.

Merry Christmas everyone

We held our Christmas services at NewSpring Church this weekend. And we were slammed as expected. Over 14,000 people attended. And we'll never know how many will be with us via our Internet services. Most importantly 220 people that we know of became Christ Followers.

At our main location here in Anderson, we held five identical Christmas services. Two on Saturday and three on Sunday. I was proud to be on the production team for all five. It was an exhausting two FULL days, but there is no way I can express the overwhelming joy I felt seeing so many lives changed.

In one service just behind my camera position there was a whole row of teenagers accept Christ. That's twenty four young people who had their world rocked forever. You have no idea how hard it is to remained focused on camera shots when your eyes are filled with tears of joy.

We are a large church. And we have seen some amazing works of God again this year. But believe me. Seeing things like this NEVER gets old.

I am thankful to serve in a ministry that is on fire for God. A church that nothing else matters except Jesus. and to see things happen like this

Today is Underdogs day.

Lets all celebrate the little guy.

Sing along with these new takes on old caroling favorites:

- Good tidings we bring to you and your kid

- Come, froggy faithful

- You’ll tell Carol, “Be a skunk, I require”

- Sleep in heavenly peas

- Frosty the Snowman is a ferret elf, I say

- Olive, the other reindeer.

- In the meadow we can build a snowman, Then pretend that he is sparse and brown

- You’ll go down in listerine

- Oh, what fun it is to ride with one horse, soap and hay

Too Late



Incoming Rockets... No Problem. Notice the fly swatter.

Giant earth-based mirror... It is to laugh..... Sunglasses !!



Surrender !!!

The snowball war continues....Until NOW !!!

This morning at exactly Twenty-Seven before the hour of Eleven-Fifteen, my mostly brilliant crew of Radio Shack, Circuit City, Best Buy, and or Fry Electronic dwelling far-thinking Techno-speaking pals, gathered together and launched the "Charles Sat 1" into high earth orbit.

"Charles Sat One" is a video surveillance platform ( A SPY SAT) with hunter killer abilities to seek out snow forts anywhere in the civilized world ( soon in California too ) then render them into a giant slush pile.

Here is a highly classified look at the Charles Sat and it's secret weapon.

Snowball throwing people of the world shall now tremble.

The twelve Days of Christmas


On the twelfth day of Christmas,

My tulip sent to me:

Twelve drummers drumming,

Eleven pipers piping,

Ten lawyers leaving,

Nine lazy Hansons,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven warts on women,

Six geezers laying,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a cartridge in a pantry.

Silent night, holy night;

All is calm, all is bright.

Round John Virgin, margarine child;

Holy imbecile, tender and mild.
(or Holey and lint, sewed tender and mild.)

Sleep in heavenly peas;

Sleep in heavenly peace!

A friend of mine was sharing this story with me. He and his seven year old daughter were watching the movie “The Passion of the Christ” recently, when she looked at him and ask, “Why did the people want Jesus to die?”
What a great question.
You know in those days Jesus had a following, but that compared to the general population of the time the following was small. I guess you could say that Jesus’ followers were in the minority. In those days a lot of the people were still ignorant of Jesus. They had no idea who he was, and really didn’t know anything about him, other than what they had “heard”. Some people were afraid of him because of his ability to heal. Some were “worried” about their status or their influence, people like the Pharisees. Jesus had made his feeling toward the Pharisees well known. In Mathew chapter 23 he pulls no punches stating in his feelings about the Pharisees with the “seven woes”.
The Pharisees had it made. They were looked up to by the people. They were also looked at as leaders by the people and by the ruling Romans. In that time the Romans did not care what the Israelites did day to day as long as they paid their taxes and honored Caesar and the Roman government. The Romans expected the Pharisees to insure the people stayed perks and favors. In some ways to the Israelites they were treated like royalty and they were honored with gifts. Just the mention of Jesus’ name threatened this lifestyle for them. If the people followed Jesus they would lose their status and power. So Jesus was a threat that had to be done away with. The Pharisees never expected for Jesus and his name to live on through his disciples. The Pharisees were not thinking of Jesus and of the people. They were focused on their own perks, focused on themselves.
We must always be on guard that we are not putting ourselves before Jesus. Remember, we are close to Jesus we are far away from ourselves.

Chipmunks Rule !!!!

Who can guess how I spent my evening ?

The great snow debate of 2008 continues.

Over the early weekend it seemed my faithful opponent was on the edge of surrender. It could only be moments until victory would be mine. But with a valiant shout they were able to withstand their fortress bombardment and mount a smallish comeback. This counterstrike fell slightly short of the mark causing little real damage. But my HQ had to be evacuated briefly for cosmetic reasons.
In a situation briefing on Monday my generals and I agreed the time had come to employ more sophisticated weaponry.

The semi-automatic rapid-fire Whamo snowball launcher and most importantly the agile Sharper Image Storm crusher assault transport system.

The road to victory is through greater technology.

Jason Bourne is still on the run.

Looks like they are committed to a fourth Bourne film.




But it may be another year before the filming starts.

Good thing too since the late author Robert Ludlum penned only three

bestselling novels about the amnesiac secret agent.

There have been however two sequels by Eric Van Lustbader, The

Bourne Legacy and The Bourne Betrayal, but they may not form the basis for the next story.



Still the writers have time and hopefully they will come up with a worthy plot line.

As I type this it is 2:15 in the morning. I can't sleep. I am still pumped about the services earlier tonight at NewSpring.

As Pastor P said, "Heaven is a little more crowded tonight". " There is still more room"

It was an UNBELIEVABLE night of Musical Praise, Prayer and Worship...and we saw at least 30 people give their lives to Christ!

A TRULY AMAZING TIME !! And it never gets old.

The great virtual snowball battle has reached a pinnacle. Allies are forming along side in epic proportions. The final end is nearing.

Though my coalition has suffered some minor hits, we shall stay the course.

Below is a secret SPY shot sent to me by one of my many undercover operatives.

As you can see the opponent's gaggle of confederates are becoming bolder. And may be creating a "super snowball" W.M.D.









A massive " Elf" ( the Movie ) style rapid fire volley may be needed to put down this uprising.

Round THREE continues

The opponent is on the ropes. The reality of 40 hours of uninterrupted "Frosty the Snowman" video shall weaken all resistance.

My virtual snow fort is ready notwithstanding some minor technical issues ( ineptitude ...naw )

Here was the plan

It started off well



but some kink in the instructions caused it to become this.









No matter with the next volley I suspect my very worthy opponent's own snow fort shall transform from this

to a shivering pile of wet frosty slush.

Then I will emerge as the new evil dictator of all Slushyonia ( slushy ona ya ) and rule the virtual world of .....

Ok Ok Ok !!

I will be in charge of the TV clicker. A man's right guaranteed by federal and moral law since the beginning of time ( or the last five years ... whichever is shorter )

On to victory

Victory is mine..... Almost

My snow hating victim ...er ahh Friend
has returned with a strike of equal force. But with an athletic ability equaled only by Jabba the Hutt, I was able to avoid a direct hit and emerged mostly unscathed.

It's time to now rally the troops

Let the second volley fly !!!Unleash the snowballs

A nameless friend ( she knows who she is ) just commented that snow was boring.

This challenge can not be left unanswered.

Lets all band together and hit her with a giant virtual snowball to get her attention then tie her to a chair and force her to watch 40 hours of Frosty the Snowman until she relents and admits the secret joy in seeing some innocent person land on their backside, while walking down the sidewalk. (embarrassed but uninjured)

Who's In ???

Let the Snowball fly !!!

The Space Shuttle Endeavour has landed safely in California. The weather in Florida prevented a Space Center landing. Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California was the second choice



These were taken on Sunday by a friend who lives and works at the base there.

Here are a few interesting facts:
STS-126 is actually the 155th shuttle flight overall. It was the 22nd flight of Endeavour STS-126 was launched on November the 11th. This was the 31st night launchThe shuttle landed on November 30th so the mission elapsed time was 18 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes, 34 seconds.

Endeavour carried a crew of seven into orbit and returned with seven, but exchanged one crew member with the International Space Station.

Next up is STS-119 expected to launch on February 12, 2009

"A lil' Dabo do you"

Those words were uttered by a sports caster in reference to the New just named head coach of the Clemson Tigers Football program. I have to admit. I thought it was witty. I also think they made the right choice. I am a Tommy Bowden ( the former coach ) fan. Partly for his coaching on the field, but mostly for his moral, ethical stand and his strong Christian values which come through even during a game. There is more to college sports than X's and O's , wins or losses. Yes it is BIG business, but it also is a training ground for life. Tommy succeeded 100% there if not on the field. Still I think the time had come for change at Clemson. They made the right choice.


Goooo Tigers