be jealous.

i’ve never done this before leading up to my birthday but i wondered this weekend if there were any notable events that happened on my birthday. so, i went to the source of knowledge for all things – google.

turns out, June 3 had a lot of interesting things happen that day. for instance:

in 1539, explorer Hernando de Soto claims the territory of Florida for Spain and just one year later in 1540, de Soto becomes the first European to cross the Appalachian Mountain. on June 3, 1875, Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone voice transmission. in 1946, the United States Supreme Court ruled on June 3 that segregation on buses is unconstitutional. also in 1946, the first bikini was displayed in Paris. the first United States Air Force Academy graduation was held on June 3, 1959 and in 1964, the Rolling Stones began their first US tour. in 1976 Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” goes gold while the US receives the oldest known copy of the Magna Carta.

4 Nobel Prize winners share my birthday as well as some other pretty notable people:

1808 – Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America
1956 – Brad Nessler, American Sports Broadcaster
1967 – Anderson Cooper, American reporter, journalist and anchorman
1976 – Jamie McMurray, American NASCAR driver 
1977 – Az-Zahir Hakim, American football player
1977 – Travis Hafner, American baseball player
1986 – Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
1986 – Al Horford, American basketball player 

and for those of you who’ve always wanted your birthday to be a holiday, celebrate with me. Confederate Memorial Day - only observed in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana on June 3.

Solar Hat

Gotta Go Briefcase

Multimedia Remote Control Wrangler

June 3. 

i sent an email to my wife this morning with a clever hint as to what i’m thinking i want. ready? here it is.

seriously. 

it’s perfect. it’s a mix between sunglasses, earphones, and you iPod. i don’t know how it works or if it does, but i think i could put that thing to use. they’ve even got a pair that will make you look like Levar Burton in Star Trek.

1. University of Miami (football) – i think the ‘Canes are going to surprise a lot of people in 2009. i think Jacory Harris will step up and be the leader that Robert Marve couldn’t be. do i think Jacory will struggle? yeah. do i think the ‘Canes are still really young? yeah. do i think they’ll do better than the 7-6 record from last season? yeah. there’s a lot of questions surrounding Miami this year but from everything i read that’s coming out of Coral Gables, it seems like the team, the coaches and the school is ready and primed for a season that will turn some heads. the first game is against FSU so they’ve got to be ready right out of the gate. i don’t expect them to beat Oklahoma this year, but i expect a better game against Oklahoma than we played against Florida last year (remember, it was 10-3 at the end of the 3rd quarter against UF). i expect Miami to win at least 7 games this season. hopefully, they’ll get an 8th win somewhere and be better than last year.

2. Atlanta Hawks (basketball) – congrats. the Atlanta Hawks – laughingstock of the NBA for the past 10 years – were swept by Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavalliers last night in the 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs. (the Cavs will probably end up winning the Championship, by the way) i am not a huge professional sports fan and i don’t even pretend to be a professional basketball fan, but i have to applaud the Hawks. they have turned the team, a city, and a lot of fans around and made them appreciate basketball in a new way in the ATL. i remember just a few years ago when the Hawks and Phillips Arena were basically giving away seat at Hawks’ games. now, radio stations across the city were giving away playoff tickets and hundreds of people were calling in to win. well done Hawks.

3. Atlanta Braves (baseball) – honestly, haven’t really kept up with them. i know they beat the Mets last night (which is always good) but haven’t really watched a lot of games. i guess buying and moving into your first house and getting everything settled takes up a lot of your time. (is it still ok to use that excuse? because if it is, i’m using it.)

4. Georgia Bulldogs (football) – yeah, yeah, yeah, Stafford and Moreno are gone. how about this plan? move on. you  knew this was coming. you’re only allowed 4, maybe 5 or 6, years of eligibility to play collegiate football. you knew that eventually they were going to be gone. you’ve recruited the best possible classes you could have recruited. now, practice hard and play like champions. i think the dawgs will be mediocre this season. i only expect the dawgs to win 7 games this season. that’s not to say they’ll lose the other 5 – i’m just saying i expect 7 wins.

5. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (football) – dang. Paul Johnson’s offense is impressive. and guess what? they’re returning 9 starters on offense. you know what that means? new wrinkles in the offensive scheme. that sucks for opponents. big time. they’re also returning 8 starters on defense. these guys are the essence of “reloading”. Dwyer is a stud. all i’m sayin’. however, they do have line issues. they’ll need to replace 3 NFL draft picks on the d-line and get healthy on the o-line. if the o-line stays healthy, i could see Tech winning at least 8 games this season.

6. Atlanta Falcons (football) – again, i’m not a big professional sports fan, but i love the Falcons. Matty Ice and the crew did a great job last year and reclaimed a lot of fans who left the Falcons for dead after the whole Mike Vick thing. Making the playoffs with a rookie quarterback and rookie head coach is no easy task. but the Falcons did it. now, in year 2 under Mike Smith, i think the Falcons are poised for a late postseason run. Thomas Dimitroff is a freakin genius. how Arthur Blank got him to leave the New England Patriots dynasty, we’ll probably never know. but one thing is for sure, since Dimitroff’s arrival in the ATL, the Falcons have gotten much better. i admit that picking wins and losses for professional teams is a lot harder than college football, so i’m not going to try. i think Atlanta is poised for another play-off run in 2009.

i have a document on my computer called “Million Dollar Plan.” It’s what [name of church] would do if someone gave us $1 Million today.

i thought to myself, “what a great idea”. the “Million Dollar Plan” shows great vision and leadership. it shows that you have thought out an idea and given the circumstances, how you would act. i think i’m going to create a “Million Dollar Plan” for my life. 

how about you? what would you do with a cool mil?

“dream big.”

it’s kind of like his life mission statement. i like it because i can remember it and it’s short and succinct. some really old guy said it this way:

“shoot for the moon and if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” 

that’s an ok saying but I like the way Kanye West puts it:

“reach for the stars, so if you fall you’ll land on the clouds
(jump in the crowd, spark your lighters, wave ‘em around
if you don’t know by now I’m talkin ’bout Chi-town)”

sorry. got a little carried away. (any time you can reference Kanye West in a blog post is a good time)

anyway, about 2 or 3 years ago, my former student pastor and a group of my friends all decided that we could act on our big dreams and see if God would allow us to do something great for him. well, sadly, the timing wasn’t right. and I don’t think God wanted us to do it the way that we wanted to do it. however, I still think God was pleased with our idea. I think he planted it inside of us for a reason.

for a little while now, i’ve had the urge to get back into student ministry somehow. i also really enjoy planning environments and worship experiences and putting the people in place to make those things happen. and now, i feel like God maybe calling me to resurrect our big dreams of a few years ago and see what he can do through me. 

i’m not entirely sure how it will all work out but my prayer is that God would take my life and the things that he has taught me and let me be a catalyst for change in the lives of students. i want him to make me more creative. i want him to make me have a burden to see students change the world. i want him to give me a passion to empower students to overcome their situations and circumstances. i want students to dream big dreams and acheive God-sized goals that they can only accomplish through his power.

again, like i said, i really don’t know how it’s all going to work out and i’ve only been thinking about this for a few days, but i know that God has a plan and he will jack me up in all kinds of ways to make his plan work. and i hope he does!

let me explain a little. for a very long time, i have wanted to work in church ministry. ever since i was in maybe 10th grade. i have always loved church and i’ve always been a part of church and i have always been doing stuff in church. even when i was younger in elementary school, i would get to children’s choir early before any one else was there (even the director) and straighten up the chairs in the room. i’ve never once desired any recognition for it but i’ve always been doing stuff behind the scenes and sometimes in the spotlight at church. i’ve taught Sunday School. i’ve lead worship. i’ve sung in the choir. i’ve played in the band. i’ve cleaned the toilets. i’ve moved rocks. i’ve mowed the grass. i’ve pulled weeds. i’ve done just about every job you can imagine in a church. and i’ve loved it.

however, most of that time i’ve worked another job as well. i’ve either been in school and worked at church (for free) or i’ve had another full-time, good paying job with benefits and i’ve worked at church (for free). that, my friends, leads to burnout. i am well aware of the burnout effect.

so, my struggle is waiting on God to give me what i want. i want to work at a church, full-time, and get paid for working there and not having to work two full-time jobs and only get paid for one of them. 

however, God (through Perry) kicked me in the teeth today. by realizing his struggle and sharing what God taught him through the time that Perry had to wait and be patient, i realize that God is preparing something for me that is going to be better than my dreams can comprehend. God is developing me and preparing me for something that he is preparing for me. 

i need to get on the ball and listen to what he is telling me to do.

regardless, i was thinking (about 27 seconds ago) what if there was a social network where people could be listed by what they are good at and other users could search for someone by what they are good at?

example: i have a friend who just finished making a CD. last night, we were hanging out with some mutual friends of ours and he was trying to find a company that could duplicate his CD and print the album art and make it look good for low-cost. what if there was a social network of people who were really good at duplicating CD’s?

a network of people who were really good at fixing computers?
a network of people who were really good at editing video?
a network of people who were really good at leading worship?
a network of people who were really good at playing guitar?
a network of people who were really good at something and had something to offer other people? i’m just in the beginning stages of this thing but i could see it being more than just Twitter – or maybe Twitter with a purpose.

what do you guys think? great idea? dumb? give honest feedback – expand on the idea. make it your own. own it!