• John and I just got back from Live Oak Church. Liz and Blanca shared about their trip which included Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, S. Africa, Thailand, Cambodia, Iraq, Turkey and New Zealand. Great stories of hope, friendship and the gospel! I almost cried…I hate that.
• Next Saturday is H.E.L.P.’s Launch Party. You can RSVP here. I hope to see you there.  Remember Aaron, Nate and Kyle will be performing live. And the show is FREE. 
• Yesterday I hung out with the Color Factory team. HELP’s t-shirt’s will be available tomorrow and we will be selling them at the Launch Party. If you need some shirts done call Color Factory, they do great work! 
• Really sad to hear about the bombing in Cairo. I shopped at that market 9 months ago. The locals pay a high price when stuff like this happens. Tourism goes down and the local economy suffers. All because of some cowards who throw bombs in a crowded market place. Sad for the people of Cairo and for those who lost their life and were injured. 
• I completed 3 major homework assignments-feels good!
• I’m learning that patience is a huge key to greatness. Wish it would not have taken me so long. 
• Wish I was in Seattle this week, Ken and Brenda should be having their baby.  Sucks we can’t be there. 
• I really love working with all the peeps who are making HELP become what it is. 
• Realized that Bailey will be in High School in six-years. *sigh* I MUST slow life down and enjoy every moment. 

• Sent out the first-round of support letters on Friday. This is really big for us, we have lots of vision and passion, but we literally have no cash-flow. 
• HELP is throwing a launch party at the end of the month. We also are in the works of planning some more parties in Seattle, Sac-town and Raleigh and a host of other cities. 
• We are now looking for churches to support and believe in our vision. Easier said then done, churches are stretched.
• We are also partnering with another organization for an upcoming Human Trafficking Awareness Day here in Austin. 
• I’m planning on going to this on Thursday. If you’re in Austin, you gotta go! 
• My daughter gets honors in school and NO I’m not going to put a bumper sticker on the Element. 
• Rumor has it, it could rain tomorrow in Austin. That would be amazing. 
• My Lakers had an amazing road trip. So distressed about Andrew Bynum. 
• I need to speak soon, it’s been awhile. 
• My wife’s business has been down recently. Economy is depressing. Yet, I truly believe that God is doing something that will be good for our country. It’s called simplicity. We need to embrace that. 
• We all claim to be busy, but most of our “busyness” is our own-self-doing.
• Hung out with some friends last night at a “Love Stinks” party. Fun to hang out and reconnect with some folks I have not seen in awhile. 
• Still have no church rhythm. Need to embrace something…Not sure what. 
• Pretty mellow weekend. Lot’s of school work and future-planning.

That all I got. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and thanks for reading and caring! 

Shalom

 
-Friday night we made our way to Stubbs to watch The Rocketboys. Great show and lot’s of fun with Wades and Mangums.
-Yesterday Necole and I decided to take a trip to Enchanted Rock. We drove two hours into the Texas Hill Country and then it took us about 40 minutes to hike up to the top of the rock. We had lot’s of fun, felt good to get away and hang with the family and be outdoors.
- After the hike we headed over to Fredericksburg, which is a quant little town in the Texas Hill Country. We ate at Fredericksburg Brewery. Great beer and good pizza, pretty cool little upscale country city with vineyards, b&b’s and lots of restaurants. 
- As we were heading home we wanted a coffee. However most places were already closed. We did manage to find a Christian Coffeeshop. (you knew it was Christian by the three crossed out front-sigh) But they did have a very cool house-turned-into-a-coffeeshop vibe. But truth-be-told…It was the worst latte I’ve had in years. 
-This morning we went to Austin Stone. Stew was speaking on mission and community. It’s good  to see a bunch of Vista peeps and the message was great. That church is truly doing some cool things.   
-After church we went to lunch at Zocalo with a bunch of people and then headed to Medici for a yummy latte.

Wish the weekends did not end so fast and I wish my house was not a disaster. But hey life is short and you gotta live it up…Now it’s time for dinner…girls in bed…and Jack Bauer.

• Went to Austin Stone today for the first time. Not used to going to a mega-church and I have mixed feelings. But I love Austin Stone-such a great church.
• Yesterday Scotty Wade of Studio 914 took some family pics. They look very cool. Scotty is super talented and I’m glad he is working with HELP. After the shoot me grubbed at Magnolia Cafe. Yum yum. Pics to come soon.
• I have insomnia I guess. I wake-up 5-6 times at night. I need to do something about this.
• Last few weeks have been unproductive…I need to do something about that too.
• Looking forward to a new year…Lot’s of dreams…But I’m thinking small and not big.
• Miss Africa…I’m ready to return.
• Why does college football last so long…Reminds me of the NBA playoffs.
• Not sure if I can attend church at not speak. I thought  I would enjoy the “no responsibilities Sunday’s.” I don’t.
• I’ve watched a few movies lately: Marley & Me was decent, Traitor was great , 7 pounds was awesome and What Happens in Vegas was HORRIBLE.
• Hoping Texas wins tomorrow and Oklahoma loses Thursday.
• Not sure if we’ll be living in Austin much longer. That makes me really sad.
• It was 83 yesterday and today it’s 38…Winter in Austin means you get all four seasons every seven days. I can see Jeff Ramsey laughing at me now.
• I really need to start fundraising for HELP. It takes money to run and organization.
• I really want to learn photography. I have so many talented friends, they inspire me.
• I hope the Panthers win the Super Bowl.
• Glad the Lakers beat the Celtics. Much bigger win for us then them. We needed it.
• Let me reiterate. I’m thinking small for 2009 and HELP. That is a discipline for visionaries. It takes time to create a great organization.
• Thinking small is not easy. This year is going to require a lot of faith, sacrifice and work.
• I’m starting to look for partner churches to support HELP.
• Going back to school..Sigh!
• Have you joined our cause?
• Do you follow me or HELP on Twitter? If not DO IT.

Thanks for reading and sharing life.

HT: Picture taken by Leo Chen

Yesterday our third order was delivered. I opened the package and discovered that they sent me the wrong order. I got some other companies envelopes. How depressing to know that I now have 500 envelopes that I can’t use and I had to wait two-weeks for this order. 

So of course I call Overnight Prints and explain. They were not very empathetic. They told me they could reprint our order but it would take two-weeks to deliver. So I asked a few questions:

1. Can I get a discount? No.

2. Can you provide a larger quantity of envelopes? No

3. Is there any way to expedite my order? Yes…It will still take two-weeks because of the holidays. Then they asked if I understood complexity that goes into printing envelopes?!?!

4. I asked for the phone number to the corporate office. The supervisor told me to google it. 

I requested to speak to a supervisor four-times before I finally spoke to one. She was also no help. So I asked to speak with the original supervisors supervisor! As I was being transferred the phone got disconnected. So I called back and I was told the “supervisors supervisor” does not have voicemail. They took my information and said I would get a call back yesterday; which of course did not happen. 

Needless to say I canceled my order and I doubt I will ever do business with them again. 

The question I have: “Why can’t businesses understand that they are held accountable for the work they do?”  As I told the lady yesterday, I don’t mind if you made a mistake, that is life. But please do your best to rectify the mistake and make me, the customer feel better. I don’t want to pay full-price and not get full-service. Obviously Overnight Prints does not understand that concept. 

So today I will search for a new company to work with.

In the meantime I had to watch shows like The Office, Heroes and Church via Hulu.Com.

I’m glad that KXAN & TWC hugged and made-up. However I get the feeling that they won’t be sending Christmas gifts to each other anytime soon.

This Sunday I’m kicking off a 3-week series on the Gospel. We’re going to weave this series in with our current verse-by-verse study of Luke.  Really excited about this series. I’m going to focus on how the gospel transforms the person, the community, and the world.

Today 10-12 Vista peeps are heading to Houston to do some relief work. Proud that our church has done what we can to help this tragic situation. I think we underestimate how vital the small acts-of-service can be.

Looks like I will be heading to Raleigh to hang with my Vintage 21 friends Nov 4-7th. Can’t wait to see everyone. It’s been way to long. If you’re a Raleigh blogger and want to hookup let me know.

Can’t stand Hillary Clinton. Just can’t stand her. I would vote for my dog before I voted for Hillary.

Gas prices are crazy. I’m going to have think-through my driving habits. Stay local more (too bad the coffeeshops suck where I live) and be a good steward of my resoruces.

I need a vacation. I’m getting ready to plan one. Just a few days to chill, think and pray with the wife.

Lakers tonight. This is soooo stressful. Playoffs take way to long.

Mavs, Wiz and Suns choked. I think it time for the Mavs to re-think the entire team. Kidd has brough nothing to the table in terms if leadership and tenacity.

I wonder if the Suns would rather have Marion or Shaq right now? Tough call.