It's 1, 2, 3 strikes you're out...

When I was about 12 years old, my parents took my brother and I to Atlanta for a mid-summer getaway. We spent a day at the Six Flags theme park, then the next day attended the Braves-Cardinals baseball game at the old (then new) Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. The Braves won 7-5 in 13 innings, and my experience was capped off by seeing my hero, Henry Aaron, hit a home run. All those memories came rushing back last week when I got the chance to take my kids to a Braves game for the first time, courtesy of a friend who is a Braves employee. Obviously The Hammer doesn't play any longer (some guy named "Chipper" is the star of the team - he had a bad night too, booted a grounder and made a wild throw to first later in the game), and the stadium has been replaced with a newer model. Nonetheless we had a fabulous time. We did the "Chop" (keeping time with the Chick-fil-A cow in left field) and enjoyed $1 hot dog night. The Braves lost to the Phillies 4-3, but who cares? Baseball is great! Let's go Red Sox!

Our new church website will be live next week, look for an announcement and the link from my blog. This past week we had a staff photo day for the website pictures and some of us decided to have a little fun in the playground afterward. Leave it to the old man to do the hanging crunches and smile about it!

We've Been Pounded

We've been pounded! (It didn't hurt near as much as I thought it might.) During our first week in the new house, our church family brought over dinner each night so that we would have time to unpack the kitchen and dining room boxes and wouldn't have to worry about cooking. The best part about that was that the folks brought over so much food that we also had enough left over for lunches. The day after the last meal was delivered, the church gave us a "pounding". Each person brought us canned goods, cleaning supplies and other household items. For example, according to Cindy's calculations, we received 30 pounds of sugar, 25 pounds of flower and 5 pounds of corn meal. The timing was perfect, and this week we started cooking our own meals. In addition to hall the kitchen pantry items we also received several gift cards to local stores so that we would have help in buying other items that we may discover that we need.

Our family at Kennesaw First Baptist Church has been incredible. They have really taken us in and accepted us. The love they have demonstrated to us has been awesome!

We've made a list of "fix-it" items around the inside of the house and will start on that today. We're also becoming experts in lawn care (we've got some great neighbors who have beautiful lawns, they have offered some great pointers). We don't want a "boo-boo" letter from the HOA! There are also some things we need to fix up around the exterior of the house, but nothing pressing (we'll have a list for that, too). As you can tell from the photo of Snickers having breakfast today, at least one of us has settled in!!

Who's In The House?

Well, we made it one week in the new house!! We have boxes stacked floor-to-ceiling in several rooms, but we are slowly getting settled. Everyone at KFBC has been so nice to our family in helping us with the transition. Families from the church have been bringing meals to us each night for the past week, and this Sunday night the church is having a "pounding" for our family. Most importantly, folks have sent us cards and letters, called us on the phone and stopped by my office to let us know that they pray for us and our new ministry each day. People have really stepped up to make us feel like a part of the family. We will always miss our hometown, but we really love Kennesaw and Kennesaw First Baptist Church. God is so good, all the time!

We had a busy week. Between all the unpacking, Cindy and I got our Georgia driver's licenses. We also got our tv, phone and internet services established. The next big thing is to get our new tags for our cars. Yesterday we took the cars in for emissions testing, so now that we have those certifications we can go to the county tag office.

We're also getting involved a little in the community. Last night we worked with a group of volunteers running the concessions at the Kennesaw Mountain High School football game. If I do say so myself, I cook a mean batch of fries. We didn't see any of the game, but they tell me the home team beat South Cobb High School 13 - 0.

The running schedule is also slowly returning to normal. There are several places to run near us. Because of the move, we won't be competing at the Cape Cod Marathon this fall, but the Atlanta Marathon is in November and there are other races close by. One of our welcoming gifts from the church was a copy of the Atlanta Running Guide, so off we go...

Well, time to unpack more boxes!!!

Georgia On My Mind

It has been over a month since our last post, and a lot has happened. When last we posted, we were in Kennesaw, GA, for the weekend. So now that the cat is out of the bag, we can say that the reason we were there is because I have accepted a full time staff position at Kennesaw First Baptist Church as the Equipping Pastor of Worship and Administration! We are very excited.






I've just completed my second full week on the job. We have sold our house in Fort Mill and purchased one in Kennesaw. I sold my old Civic and purchased a newer Corolla. At the end of August, we will finally all be together again and this crazy 4-hour weekly commute can stop.












Everything has been such a whirlwind, and I'm sure that once we get settled I'll have time to really think about the amazing ways that God has answered our prayers over the past few months. I'll also start scheduling time weekly to update the blog so that we can keep everyone in the loop. I truly believe that in this situation, my hearing was and is as perpetual as the music. I have no doubt that KFBC is exactly where God wants me to be in this season of my life. My heart is at peace. We will miss our Fort Mill family and friends very much, but the exciting part is that we will have new relationships that will grow over time.



A special note of thanks to Rev Jeff Bedwell and Rev Benny Wade of FBC Fort Mill for loving us, teaching us and pouring their lives into us for so many years. Thank you to the Nuts for head hunting. Last but not least, a special word of thanks to David and Lisa Klausman for praying for us every day since mid-March.
We love you all!!

View From The Summit

We are in Kennesaw, GA, for the weekend. As this is the first week of training for the Cape Cod Marathon, our long run today was at the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield National Park. We got out at sunrise and had a wonderful run amid the history and natural beauty that comes with one of our national parks. I must confess, we did as much sight-seeing as running, Cindy had her camera-phone, and we got a few pictures.

Here is a survey marker at the summit. This one's for you, Uncle Chris...


Inscription on the monument at the foot of the mountain.

The view to the north from the summit. It was so quiet this morning, you could close your eyes and almost here the cannon and musket fire.

Sunrise at the summit. I can't think of a better way to start the day with the most beautiful woman in the world!!

The Average Johnson Band

Ok, so it's been a month since I posted. I was just waiting on some inspiration, and boy, did I find it!!

Becky is one of the singers in the FBC Band. She has a beautiful heart and such a sweet, sweet spirit. She also has two children worthy of the YouTube Hall Of Fame. I am convinced that Grayson and Victoria will be the next generation of worship leaders in the Church. After viewing this latest video, I'm sure you'll agree.

Check this out !!!

Thank you, Becky, for encouraging your children to worship God and for sharing this peek into their precious lives!!

Old People Working Here

A couple of years ago, I received my first pair of transitional lenses, aka bifocals. I first noticed the deterioration of my near vision because when I sat down in the evening to read my Bible, the letters were fuzzy and I ended up taking off my glasses and holding the book up close to my nose. Cindy got a real kick out of that.

I was recently fitted for a new pair of transitional lenses, and trust me, these are more "transitional" than the first pair. I'm beginning to notice many things that most of us take for granted like reading labels in the grocery store, and I've also learned that the term "transitional" applies more to my age than my lenses. That last point is demonstrated by the following episode from the workplace.

Friday of last week I was testing some software on one of the test PCs that we have for our project team. Since my previous visit to that PC, someone (likely 20 years younger) had changed the display settings from 1024x768 pixels to 1280x800 pixels (really tiny characters). I suppose that I complained loudly enough for all in the next county to hear, because when I arrived at work on Monday, I found the following sign posted on the PC in question:


Just double-click the image to get the full effect. I love my co-workers. I really do...