Brady Quinn

Brady Quinn is the quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, my favorite football team. He has just completed his 2nd season in the NFL. Unfortunately, it was a season that ended early with an injury.

What I really like about Brady Quinn, is that not only is he a great football player, but he is also not afraid to share his faith with others. Not a press conference goes by that he doesn't thank God for giving him the ability to play football and for being a part of his life.

So, yes, I will always root for Brady Quinn because he is a Cleveland Brown. But, and even more importantly, I will root for him because he is a follower of Christ and isn't afraid to let the world know. (By the way, my son Slade's middle name is Brady in honor of Brady Quinn)

I hate broccoli

I really, really dislike broccoli. Maybe you could even say I hate it. I found this video on youtube.com that truly represents how I feel about it. In fact, I dislike it so much I did a sermon on hating broccoli.

The sermon was basically about praising God even in those "broccoli" times in our lives. Those times where life serves you a big plate of broccoli, but you would rather be eating a plate of brownies with sprinkles. To this day, I still get people coming up to me talking about the "broccoli" talk I did. Hopefully they remember it more for the point of the talk rather then just that I hate broccoli.

Life is like that sometimes. We go along enjoying things, where life is good, and yet we fail to give God the praise. Then, as we fail to praise God when life is great, it makes it almost impossible to praise him when life gives us a plate of broccoli. When we praise God in the good times, it helps us to be able to still praise him in the tough times. God is in control and He will bring us out of those broccoli moments. Let's make sure to always praise him for the good times and it will be easier to still praise him for being by our side through the hard times.

Snow Days II (with pictures)

In my post yesterday I said I "can't wait for the next snow day!" Little did I know that the next snow day would come so soon. On Wednesday, we had a bunch more snow piled on top of the old snow and a layer of ice. So, of course we decided to go play in the snow again! Not only did we sled for a bit, but we made a snow castle and Selleck made a snow angel. This time we even remembered to take some pictures.

Sarah doesn't care to go out in the snow, so Selleck and I got to go out together again. I love this time to just hang out with Selleck and have some father/son time. I am looking forward to the day that Slade can join us on the sledding hill. For now he is content watching out the window. Here are the pictures:

Snow Days

It seems the older I get, the more I don't like snow. When I was younger, I would love the snow because, if we got enough, we could stay home from school and play in the snow. As an adult, snow on the ground just makes it harder to get to work and can make the roads dangerous.

On Tuesday, though, I was reminded just how cool a snow day can be. Monday night and into Tuesday morning it snowed about 5 inches. Of course, all the schools in the area closed including the preschool my wife is the director of and my boys attend. So, they were all home from school. It just so happens that I work a late night on Tuesdays, so I was home in the morning as well.

So, what do you do when everyone is home on a snow day? You go sledding, of course! This morning my oldest son, Selleck, and I took our sled and spent about an hour going up and down the hill in our backyard. We would stop every so often to throw snow balls at each other. It was so much fun.

After this last snow day, I have had a change of heart. I once again love the snow and can't wait for the next snow day!

My real first blog post (Jelly Belly)

(Below is actually the first blog post I had ever written. It was posted on my wife's blog, The Tallest Blade of Grass. It was a topic I enjoyed writing about, so I wanted to post it here.)

I will admit that this is my very first blog entry (It also could be my last depending on how I do). It’s a funny thing to sit down and try to decide what to write on a blog. Just knowing that thousands of people will be reading this, what I say may make a difference in their lives. Do I write about my political views? No, you can get that anywhere. Do I write about sports and the upcoming football season? No, that wouldn’t go over very well with the loyal reader base of this blog. Then what do I write about? I know, jelly beans.

I have lived most of my life being a so-so liker of jelly beans. Sure, I would eat my fair share of jelly beans every Easter season, but never really had a true passion for the candy. But, that all changed with my discovery of Jelly Belly gourmet jelly beans. Not only are their flavors so much better then the standard jelly bean, but they have invented what may be the greatest candy invention of my lifetime, the Jelly Belly bean recipes. If you don’t know what this is, you are truly missing out. You see The Jelly Belly Company has devised a recipe book that takes your jelly bean eating experience to the next level. Never again will you be stuck just eating a strawberry or lemon jelly bean. Oh no! Now, you can enjoy the experience of tasting a blueberry muffin by combining 2 blueberry and 1 buttered popcorn Jelly Belly in your mouth. It doesn’t stop there. You can put together 2 cappuccinos, 1 A&W cream soda and 1 chocolate pudding and all of a sudden you are enjoying Tiramisu. The possibilities are endless. In conclusion, let me just encourage you, the loyal readers of Sarah’s blog, to step out of your normal jelly bean pattern and take a chance with Jelly Bellies. Once you combine 1 top banana, 1 chocolate pudding, 1 crushed pineapple, 1 strawberry jam, 1 very cherry and 1 French vanilla, and have yourself a Jelly Belly banana split, you will never be the same!

Slade is 1 year old today!

Today is my son Slade's one year birthday. Wow, time sure goes by quickly. In one sense it seems like it was just a few weeks ago he was born. In another, it seems like he has always been around. It is hard to remember life without him. He has truly been a blessing to our family. He is always smiling and laughing. And, it is cool that he is entering the stage where he is getting ready to walk. He moves all around the house and pulls up on everything. He is a lot of fun. It will be exciting to watch him and his brother grow up. I pray for God's wisdom for Sarah and me as we try to raise them in God's will.

Happy Birthday Slade! I Love you.

Kurt Warner

The Super Bowl is 1 week away. Normally, when my team is out of the picture, I don't have a rooting interest in who wins. This year, however, I do. I am rooting for the Arizona Cardinals for 2 reasons. 1) I don't care for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Being a Cleveland Browns fan, I can't, in good faith, root for the Steelers. 2) There is a player on the Cardinals team that I think is worthy to be rooted for. That player is quarterback Kurt Warner.

I can root for Kurt Warner, not only because he is a very good quarterback, but because he is a Christian trying to make a difference in the world. He uses his fame to help others. His organization, "First things first", strives to make a difference as I believe God wants all Christ followers to do.

So, next Sunday, When I am in front of my t.v. watching the Super Bowl, I will be rooting for Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals. Next year, I hope to be rooting for the Cleveland Browns in the Super Bowl, but that is another blog for another day.

Mom and Dad

As I was growing up, I played all kinds of sports. Whatever it was, I played it. Every season brought a new sport, but the one thing that stayed the same was my parents. No matter what I was playing, my parents were there to watch me. Whether it was a baseball game on a blazing hot day or a basketball game in a stuffy gym or a bowling match in a stinky bowling alley, they were there. It meant a lot to me to look up from whatever sport I was playing and see my parents. Now, being a parent myself, I want to take their example and always be there for my boys. And, I bet when I am there watching my boys play whatever sport it is, right there beside me will by my parents, supporting their grandboys.

Selleck

Selleck is my oldest son. He turns 3 in February. Selleck is a very cool kid with, what I believe to be a very cool name.

When Sarah was first pregnant, She decided we should give all of our children first names that started with S. That way we would all have the initials SB. (Thus the name of my blog. SB to the 5th represents my wife, our two boys, the third child that we are seriously thinking about trying for and me. SB to the 5th power). With this in mind, Sarah's dad was online and ran across Tom Selleck. He suggested the name Selleck and we loved it. So, we decided to name our first son Selleck.

I have looked at several census and other reports and, from what I can tell, our Selleck is the only person in America with the first name of Selleck. Pretty cool!

I have a belief, though, that someday the name Selleck will be as common a first name as Emma or Logan or Dillon are today. Whenever someone asks his name, they always respond with "cool name". So, each time someone sees our cool son and hears his cool name, a seed is planted. When that person has children or someone they know is having children, their mind will reflect back to the cool name they heard, Selleck. So, when you take your child or grandchild to school and their class consists of 6 Selleck's, 3 Emma's, 2 Logan's, and 2 Dillon's, you can thank our Selleck for his part in that.

Drive-Thru windows

My wife Sarah left a comment on one of my posts a while back that suggested that every place have a drive-thru window. It really got me thinking. Life would be so much easier, if every place you went had a drive-thru.

My suggestions on places to add a drive-thru window: Movie rental stores, Clothing stores (guys don't try on things anyway), Dentist (With your window down the dentist should have plenty of room to work), Church (who wouldn't like to put the pedal to the metal when the Pastor gets long winded)

Places a drive-thru window might be a bad idea: Funeral home, Operating room, Tanning Bed (unless it is the spray tan), Gun shop (just seems like a bad idea)

Curveballs

Sometimes life throws me a curveball. Things seem to be going well, then all of a sudden, something I think is going in a straight line, all of a sudden curves away from me. I often have difficulties with these times in life. My problem is that I sometimes find it hard to discern if I am getting this curveball because it is Satan picking on me or if it is God letting me know it is time to change course. When I am not in the will of God and I know it, I can easily see the curveball as God's way of telling me I need to change my path. But, when I truly believe I am in the will of God and feel that I am prayerfully following his guide, and I get a curveball, it is hard to know who the pitcher is. Is it God telling me he has something else for me or Satan trying to throw me one high and tight and knock me out of the batter's box?

Right now in my life, I am being thrown a curveball. I pray God's discernment as to whether I need to stay in the batters box or bail out so I am not hit by the pitch.

Praying Child

This last Sunday, our Pastor's wife, Jill, told Sarah about something that happened in Gravity's children's ministry the Sunday before. She said that it was time to pray and Selleck, our soon to be 3 year old, lead the class in prayer. She said it was cute. He prayed that his Mommy would have a good day among other things. She said she imagined it to be what he probably prays before he goes to bed at night. When Sarah told me about Selleck praying, I almost cried.

I often wonder if Sarah and I are good parents. I like to think we are and we try really hard to be, but you never know. When I heard about Selleck leading in prayer, it made me take a step back and look at how we're bringing up our boys. We try to teach them a lot of things, but most importantly we try to teach them about God. So, I know that we are far from perfect, but I think we are doing a pretty good job.

Our new house

In May, we moved into our new house in Monroe, Ohio. We really are enjoying living here. However, the path we followed to get to our new house was a bit of a challenging time in our lives.

In order for us to be able to move to Monroe (close to our church and Sarah's job), we had to sell our old house and build a new one. Of course, we couldn't start the building of our new house until we sold our old house. With the housing market the way it was, we couldn't risk being stuck paying two mortgages. So, where did we live from the time we sold our first house to when we moved into our new house? We lived in a very, very small, two bedroom apartment on the third floor in Northern Kentucky.

Did I mention that Sarah was pregnant at the time? Not only were we in these tiny living quarters that every time you moved you would bump into someone or something, but we were also welcoming our new son into the apartment. With a new baby that didn't yet sleep through the night and a 2 year old with more energy then a Duracell battery, just living a normal life was a challenge. Every cry or every sound would wake up everyone. It seemed that the luxury of sleep and just living what we had known as a normal life before the apartment would never return. So, in May, when we moved into our new house, we were ecstatic, to say the least. We would have appreciated the new house anyway, but after living in that old apartment, it just made our new house even sweeter.

It seems like life can be that way. Sometimes God allows us to go through some tough times and maybe get out of our comfort zone so that we can have a greater respect for, and enjoyment of, the great times in our lives. If we never experienced the hard times, we wouldn't know the sweetness of the great times.

Where's the men's room?

Yesterday, we took my son, Slade, to the mall to get his picture taken. We had just finished with taking his pictures when my older son, Selleck, told me he had to go to the bathroom. As you may know, when a soon to be 3 year old tells you they have to go, you have a ticking time bomb on your hands. So, time is of the essence.

First we try to go to the bathroom at the "Picture People". No luck. Their bathroom is out of order. I knew Macy's department store was just around the corner, so I grabbed Selleck's hand and off we went.

As soon as we walk in Macy's, I see a sign that says "Restrooms" and has a big arrow pointing left. So, we start to make a b-line to the bathroom. As we get to the bathroom, I notice there are 2 doors. One says "Women's", the other "Family". I start to go toward the "Family" bathroom only to have a guy tell me, "Somebody's in there". I asked him if he happened to know where a men's room was, to which he informed me that he couldn't find one either. I thought that sounded crazy and surely Macy's had a men's room somewhere. As the time tick, tick, ticked away, Selleck and I rushed to find a men's room. The floor we were on had no men's room to be found. So, we jumped on the escalator to try the next floor. On the next floor I looked up to check for a sign, and to my dismay, the only sign I could find said "ladies room" with a big arrow. "Are you kidding me?" In our haste, we passed 3 bathrooms, and they were all women's. In a panic, I decided it would be better to just rush back to the Picture People and pass him off to Sarah so she could take him to the women's room. Luckily, when the manager at the Picture People heard me passing Selleck to Sarah, she said if all he had to do was, as they say, go #1, then he could use their bathroom. We made it in the nick of time.

Come on Macy's, what are you doing to me? I know the demographics show that men don't shop their that often. But, not even 1 men's room anywhere to be found. The least you could do is have a closet with a bucket somewhere for us guys to go. I have learned my lesson. From now on I will limit my shopping to sporting goods stores. I know they will have a place for me and my boys!

Those are the brakes

Just recently I had problems with the brakes on my car. As I have always done, since I have been able to drive and had car issues, I called my grandpa. My grandpa is a wiz when it comes to fixing anything, especially cars. When I would bring my car to him, he would always take the time to show me how to do whatever it was he was doing. When I was younger, I didn't really pay attention and just wanted to get it fixed. But, as I got older, I started listening and watching what my grandpa was doing. I have since been able to do a little of my own car work. And, I am proud to say that this time I was able to do one side of my car's brakes pretty much on my own. For me, that was no small task.

My grandpa has taught me many things in my life. Sure he has taught me about fixing stuff, but he has taught me so much more. I thank God for him and the fact that he cared enough to teach me things even when I didn't care to be taught. I just pray that I can have as much positive impact on my son's lives as my grandpa has had on mine.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

I am blessed. I am blessed because I have such an awesome wife. Before my wife, Sarah, and I met, I would often pray that God would send across my path the woman that he would have me share my life with. Even though I had full faith in God that he would deliver, that didn't stop me from putting in a few requests. I asked God that she would be a Christ follower. Check. She would be smart. Check. She would have a good sense of humor. Check. She would be fun to be with. Check. And, of course, she would be nice to look at. Check and double check (Come on, I'm a guy). God answered my prayers.

And, the cool thing is now that we have been married for a few years, I have found out that God gave me far more then I had even asked for. Sarah is not only an awesome wife, but she is an amazing mom to our boys. Being a dad, it is cool when I hear people say great things about my boys. And, I know my boys are who they are in large part because they have a great mom that cares so much for them.

Sarah, you are the best. It is my honor to be your husband. I Love You!

A church plant no more

Our church, Gravity Church, has always been known as a church plant. We are a little over 4 years old, but a couple of those years were as a small Bible study in someones home. The label of church plant can sometimes be a bad thing. I am not saying that planting a church or being a church plant is a bad thing. They are actually great things. What I am saying is that always referring to our church as a "church plant" can have some downside to it. When you are a "church plant", it is easy to excuse things as "well, we are only a church plant." Excuses like "we are small" or "we don't have the finances that other churches have" or "we don't have the people to do things" are just that, excuses.

At Gravity Church we have decided to stop looking at ourselves as a "church plant" and start referring to ourselves as a "church". I know this may just seem like semantics, but to us, changing from being a "church plant" to a "church" is a significant step in the life of our church. We will no longer let our church size or finances or any other notion associated with a "church plant" be a deterrent from following God's plan for us.

My father-in-law and Waters Edge Church

I had to share this video for three reasons. 1) I think it is very funny. 2) It contains my father-in-law. 3) I am a big fan of the church that made this video.

Yes, that is my father-in-law in the video. I'm sure I will share more about him in my upcoming posts. He is an actor and just a cool guy. I have been blessed by marrying into a great family. More on that later.

The Church that produced this video, Waters Edge Church in Yorktown, Virginia, is a great model of what a church plant should strive to be. God has blessed their hard work. They do so many cool things while still sharing the Gospel. Being part of a church plant, I can truly appreciate how much work goes into producing an awesome worship experience where Jesus is the focus and presenting it in a way that today's culture can relate to.

My first blog entry

As this is my first blog entry, I guess the thing to do is to tell why I have decided to blog. I have enjoyed reading the blogs of others for a while now. Some I enjoy because they are funny, others are insightful, and still others are informative. I am not sure my blog will be any of those. I just want to have a record of the thoughts that go through my head. Too often something comes to my mind that I would like to retain, but just as quickly I forget it. Hopefully this blog will help me keep track of those random thoughts.

I plan to just blog on whatever comes to mind. I have an awesome wife and 2 incredible boys. I am certain they will be talked about in many of my posts. I am the Executive Pastor at a small church plant and I am sure I will blog about the struggles and triumphs that we, as a church, experience. I love sports, t.v. shows, and food, all of which go through my mind and thus will go on my blog. So, if you are reading this and have a thought, idea or comment please share it. Wish me luck on my new blog!