Shalom at Sol House 2.0

This past Wednesday our C-Group made its monthly trip to Sol House for dinner with the teens. This time they turned the tables on us. Normally we take food over and prepare dinner with the teens. This month the teens decided they wanted to cook for us. They worked together and went out and purchased all the items and put the whole thing together on their own. John Paul, who is the evening Resident Director, worked with the teens in planning the menu and organizing the shopping. When everything was said and done, we enjoyed pasta with chicken and a really cheesy alfredo sauce, broccoli, salad, and garlic bread. John Paul also made a home-made chocolate-cherry cheesecake for dessert.

One of the residents was really the one responsible for putting this together for us. He is leaving May 3rd as he is joining the army. Last month during our dinner he had the idea of the teens cooking for us as a "thank you" for us coming over to cook with them. This was important for him as this month was the last time he would be there for our monthly visit.

I also found this video from today's Pepper & Friends as I was posting my previous entry about Big Brothers. On today's Pepper & Friends, Sol House was highlighted. This video is an interview with Zack, one of the Sol House residents that we have gotten to know during the last few months. I'm unable to be specific about Sol House residents in my blog entries and I can't post any photos because of confidentiality issues. But, since Zack did this interview on KOMU it is public and it can be shared. 

We have enjoyed our time at Sol House so far and we are looking forward to our upcoming dinners there. These teens have a lot of potential and the more we can stand beside them and the more we get to know them I believe their chances of success in life are increased. 

Pepper & Friends Talks About Big Brothers

Mary Sloan from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central MO asked me a couple weeks ago to be interviewed on Pepper & Friends for the monthly Kids Corner segment that focuses on her organization. She wanted this months interview to focus on mentoring and I was honored to be chosen to represent the local mentors. 

Due to the Pepper & Friends set being remodeled at KOMU, the show has been temporarily moved to a shed (I'm not joking, it really is a shed) on the Mizzou Farm located right off Highway 63 and New Haven Road.

I had a lot of fun describing some of the experiences I've had with Jamel and when the interview was over James (the person who interviewed me) asked if Jamel and I would come be on the show sometime together. I think Jamel would have fun being on TV. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Book Review of Uncompromised Faith by S. Michael Craven

This hard-hitting book is a must read for anyone who is interested in engaging today’s culture with the gospel.  Craven pulls no punches from the very beginning.  Less than 2 ½ pages in he says:

"In comparison with past achievements, it is safe to say that evangelical Christianity is in a pathetic state of decadence and decline in the West.  It is, to a large degree, fragmented, watered down, and retreating from relevancy”

Craven then goes on to discuss some very important and even some controversial cultural and social issues including postmodernism, homosexuality, marriage and feminism.  As part of his discussion of these topics, Craven does a great job in offering solutions to the problems.  In his discussion on postmodernism he offers this advice:

“The evangelical opportunity created by postmodernism lies in the resultant desire for recovering a connectedness to other people and to spiritual meaning."

While this book can be looked at by many as controversial, I think it is a much needed call to action for Christians who are looking for a way to get out on the front lines and make a difference.  In the Epilogue, titled “What Are We To Do?, Craven offers these words:

“…retreat is not an option the Lord has given to us.  God, in His providence, has placed you and me in this very place, in this very time, and the call of Jesus Christ remains Follow me!”

If you’re looking for culturally relevant and scripturally based answers to many of today’s cultural and social issues, this book is for you.

Sorry Sir, Broadway Is Closed, You'll Have To Turn Around

Those are the words Jamel and I had to say several times yesterday while we worked as Traffic Control Volunteers for the Columbia Police Department. The big event was the Central Missouri Humane Society Zootoo Parade. It's amazing how people listen to you when you have on the orange reflective vest. We were stationed at 8th and Broadway and with the help of traffic barriers we had to keep people off Broadway for almost an hour while the parade was in progress. It was something different and Jamel had a good time. We had to meet at the police station and got a quick tour inside before getting our assignment and then hitting the street.

When that was done we went to Billiards on Broadway for a burger (which was one of the best I've ever had) and a game of pool. We both need to work on our pool shooting skills. 

Jamel asked to go see the columns downtown, so we took a walk down to 8th and Walnut and took a look at them along with the war memorials. Jamel said he was going to do some research at school to find out when the building burned down that used to be attached to the columns.

We ended the day with Andy's Frozen Custard thanks to a coupon we got when we did the Bowl For Kids' Sake event a few weeks ago. This Tuesday evening we're planning on going to KMIZ to watch the 6:00 news in the studio. It's not completely firmed up yet, but hopefully will be tomorrow.

Target Practice

I went to Paris on Saturday and got some practice in with my new Mossburg 500 12 gauge shotgun. I met up with my co-worker Heather and her husband Dave. Dave is the Sheriff of Monroe County. This video shows me shooting my first rounds from the gun. After some practice at the Monroe County Gun Club Range, we then went back to Heather and Dave's house where we shot some trap. This was the first time I had ever shot trap and I shot right around 40%. I was told that wasn't bad for the first time. After shooting around 150 rounds through my new shotgun I ended up with a nice bruise on my shoulder.

This video is me shooting the MP-5 that the Sheriff's Department owns. It is a fully automatic .40 caliber gun with a 40 round magazine. I shot the first few rounds in single-shot mode, then I moved the selector to fully automatic to finish the magazine. I was surprised this gun had almost no recoil. Later, Dave put the suppressor on this gun and I shot it without ear protection. It didn't completely silence the gun, but it made it no louder than someone clapping their hands lightly next to your ear. The Sheriff's Department uses this gun when they do drug raids.

Loaves & Fishes 2.0

Jamel and I hung out this evening with the Ballou Community Group over at Loaves & Fishes. We were able to help serve dinner and wash dishes. This is an activity we did back in January and Jamel asked me last week if we could go do it again. He once again enjoyed himself while serving other people.

Jamel did a great job working hard in the kitchen and then he was able to enjoy some of the tasty soup that the Ballou people cooked up. When we finished there we went and picked up a thank you card for Jamel to send to Roger at the Columbia Tribune thanking him for the tour he gave us last week.

Looks like we'll be going to a Mizzou Baseball game soon.

By the way, these are the first photos I've taken with my new BlackBerry Curve. So far I'm liking the new handset.

AutoText and Other BlackBerry Tips

BlackBerry AutoText

One of the greatest features on the BlackBerry is the AutoText feature. Not sure what it is? Start composing an email and try typing in the following:

cant

then press the space bar.

Did you notice the apostrophe was automatically put in there for you?

Try typing wer and press the space bar.  It should have changed to we're automatically.

So AutoText is great to help you with shortcuts when you're typing out emails. But, you can also go in and set up your own AutoText words or even whole emails.

So you may be asking, "Why would I ever need to create my own AutoText?"

Here's one that I use a lot:

Anytime I go visit a potential customer for the first time, as soon as I leave their office, I immediately want to send them an email thanking them for meeting with me. I have an AutoText set up with the word meetme. When I type meetme in the body of an email it automatically enters a pre-typed email that thanks the person for meeting with me. The email also gives them some websites to view as well as a couple of current customers contact info that I use as references.  I can usually have an email sent to the person I met within three to five minutes after leaving their office. I've even had a couple of people call me and ask how I was able to get them an email so fast. It creates another opportunity for me to talk about BlackBerry and another face to face meeting with them.

To set up your own AutoText do the following:

• Go to Options
• Go to AutoText
• Press the Menu Key
• Select New
• Fill in the "replace" and "with" fields however you wish
• Press the menu key
• Select Save

Other BlackBerry Tips

Did you know you can add up to 10 email accounts to your BlackBerry smartphone? This means you no longer have to log into your hotmail, gmail, or yahoo accounts ever again. With push technology your emails will find you and staying connected has never been easier. The phone provider you use will determine how you need to set up your email accounts on your BlackBerry. 

When scrolling through messages:

• press space to move page up

• press shift and space to move page down

When typing an alphanumeric phone number (ex.1-800-FLOWERS)

• hold down the alt key to input letters into a phone number