The Threads Blog

I heard about this great new brand of shoes called TOMS a few months ago. The basic idea goes something like this - You buy a pair of cool shoes for yourself and they give a pair to a child in Argentine that has no shoes. In addition to being a great concept you can actually go see photos of the shoe drop they did in 06. Another great thing, they make the shoes in Argentina to benefit their economy. I just bought my first pair. Go check out TOMS shoes and let me know what you think.

Well, last night, my fortune cookie surprised me a bit. Again, I don’t pay a lot of attention to this stuffing inside my golden treat, but I am aware enough to recognize a general theme that exists among fortune cookie messages. They usually include a series of lucky numbers on one side and words of faux wisdom or prophecy on the other. They usually make ridiculous but innocent statements like, “Your ability to juggle many tasks will take you far” and “a plucked goose doesn’t lay golden eggs.” But, last night that changed.

No longer was I reading harmless advice with little impact on an interested (and desperate) reader. My message read as follows…

It was a relatively quiet night at ESL. I credit the genius craft idea- it goes something like this - glue anything to paper. We are all happily making our yarn pictures when out of the quiet comes Mary J. Blige bellowing “Be Without You Baby.”

Already wanted to see this movie, but now I’m even MORE interested! I’ll be going with the young professionals group from my church…

• Evan Almighty Encourages Respecting the Planet

On April 1st, I set out to read the Bible cover-to-cover in 90 days. I started the experience with much vigor and excitement. I’ve tried my hardest to take in the words on the page and comprehend what they mean and how they affect life.

I’ve discovered some awesome things… did you know God likes the smell of cinnamon? He makes the smell a part of the anointing oil in Exodus 30:23. The realization that God might prefer some smells to others is simply fascinating to me. Knowing the rules put forth in the early books of the Old Testament adds such depth to the culture and stories in the later books. And, of course, there’s something special about reading God’s passionate conversation with Job.

So, at what point did this become hard for me?

I had a birthday recently. It seems like as each year passes these days become more and more reflective - looking back over where I’ve been and who I’ve become. It seems like life is shifting into higher gears the older I get, and the days are beginning to blur a little as I stick my head out the window and enjoy the flurry of the wind as it speeds on by.

So next week is the actual Southern Baptist Convention, and I’m going.

This is actually the third time I’ll have gone to the Convention… but it’s always been in relation to work. What’s strange to me is that here is this denomination, this group of people who I am a part of and is so very important to me… but I’m very ignorant of the politics and issues and people that will happen this weekend.

So I know where to look for gadget news, comic books and research on future trends… but finding out where the pertinent SBC information is was a bit harder. I’d like to have some kind of preparation to know what the hot issues are going in are…

My wife and I are moving to a new home so that, of course, means getting this house cleaned out and ready to sell. And so, today, I began to work through the little drawer in the corner of my office; the one that holds notes and cards, pictures and papers. The one little place where my memories live on, frozen in time.

How do you choose what memories to throw away?