I wear plaid. I'm a blogger.

I signed up to run the Flying Pig Marathon this past week. Several friends have cautioned that in order to be ready to start training, I need to be logging 9 miles or so weekly to prepare my body for the pounding it will receive this coming winter. I don't know about you, but when it comes to waking up 60 minutes earlier in order to exert 30 more minutes of cardiovascular activity that you wouldn't otherwise spend, I have a difficult time motivating myself to both make and follow-through with plans to put in that time. I know it would be good for me and I am well aware that 60 minutes isn't the difference between feeling rested or not if you are aware of your wake up time the night before. \ And yet I lack the discipline to roll out of bed and go do it. I keep telling myself, "I'll start training on Monday," or "after the time change," or "the first of November," and on and on the excuses go. Well this morning I did it. Isaiah had a rou...

I once had a dream of becoming famous. It was somewhere between the ages of 8-14 that I wanted to be a major league baseball player (well, let's be honest, I still have the dream). Of course I wanted to be a major leaguer because it would be cool to get paid to play baseball everyday, but I also liked the idea of being famous. People would know my name. They would want my autograph. Kids would try to be just like me. How cool would that life be?! Well, as it turns out, I'm not alone. A recent study surveying 3000 children ages 5-11 showed that " They want to become celebrities, pop or sports stars in particular, mostly by the model they see on television."  What is that causes this generation of kids to want to aspire to celebrity status instead of establishing a well-renowned career as a doctor, teacher, or physician? Michael Smith wrote an article surveying three studies that all point to reality TV as a big fault to this generation's celebrity hype.  Th...

                I was reading through an article shared by Rhonda Headley titled “Is Music the Key to Success?” , in which the author, Joanne Lipman, suggests that music making ­helps the average person become a higher achiever. Lipman says that music promotes such qualities as: collaboration, creativity, discipline and the capacity to reconcile conflicting ideas. “All are qualities notably absent from public life. Music may not make you a genius, or rich, or even a better person. But it helps train you to think differently, to process different points of view — and most important, to take pleasure in listening.” Throughout the article Lipman makes a point of stating that practicing music on a regular basis—despite one’s own lack of talent on that instrument—can promote other areas of life skills. It is essential for wind instrumentalists to rehearse their discipline daily in order to keep up their embouchure much less their ability...

Today's subject header brought to you by Lou Rawls. Check it out. Good music. I just read a beautiful email by a friend of the family who was carefully wording the terrible end of the passing of the patriarch of the family. As I sat and prayed for the family I had several thoughts race through my brain. I need to pass this along the prayer chain and get everyone praying for this need. Everyone already has a need similar to this in their own network of friends/family. Everyone has other needs as well; what makes cancer such a terrible enemy? Particularly, what makes cancer such a terrible enemy to both Christians and non-Christians alike?  I think I have come to a partial answer. Everyone would agree that cancer is a terrible enemy because we have yet to find a successful foolproof way of battling it and winning every time. Happily there are many people who face the sickness of cancer and come out stronger and more full of life than ever before, but make no mistake--cancer is ...