our blog

I’m running this again, with hopes that more people will listen this time….

a video we showed at church yesterday.  

pretty cool.  watch carefully.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsPBVNecOMo

From Granger.

Revisiting the Past – although this week’s big success should put some of the ugly part of Oxford’s history behind us, a video that my buddy Jeff sent me is one last reminder of what happened in 1962.

Bob Scheiffer

[The Debate] was the first time I had been back there on that campus since 1962

Of all the stories I’ve covered, including the war in Vietnam, the most terrifying experience I ever had was on that night on the campus of Ole Miss when a riot broke out.

Watch the rest of the Video here.  Make sure to stick around to the end to see all the nice things he says about our town.

Present: Debate Pictures – Here and here are some great shots from around the event.

The Future – The excitement continues this week with Palin and Biden squaring off in the first and only VP debate at Washington University in St. Louis.  A buddy of mine who worked with journalists during our debate in Oxford said that nearly 3,500 press credentials were requested.  Already, nearly 7,000 journalists have requested access to this one in St. Louis.  Should be very interesting.

I was reading my Bible the other day and I was struck by how many people God called while they were working

• Matthew at his tax booth
• Moses in the fields.
• the Disciples were fishing
• Paul “still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (looks good on a resume).
• Shepherds watching their flocks by night.

Gives new meaning to work, huh.

Matt Chandler has a great post about humility on his new blog.

In it, he mentions several heroes of the faith who realized that they played just a part in an enormous story that was being written…

• Moses spends his whole life with grumbling, whiners and dies without getting to walk into the promise land.
• Samson suicide bombs the Philistines and when the dust settles he is dead and the Philistines still rule over Israel.
• David’s son rapes his sister and leads a rebellion against David, dethroning him for a season.
• Jeremiah ends up in exile with the rest of the country after repeatedly getting beaten for preaching what God commanded him to preach.
• John the Baptist is beheaded by a pervert who gives his head to a 15-year-old stripper.
• Peter is killed, reportedly crucified upside down.
• Paul is killed in Rome but only after he spends his life (with thorn intact) being beaten, rejected, lost at sea, and consistently dealing with people coming in behind him and destroying what he built.

This is a great action shot of me and Sarah reaching across the aisle.

Yesterday afternoon, my family spent a little time at the Rock the Debate concert in the Grove on the Ole Miss campus.  We wanted to see all the hoopla over the historic event, but mostly we just wanted to see Paul Thorn.  We’re all big fans.  Mostly because my Dad was a big fan.

When Paul was beginning his career in Tupelo, Daddy would go see him play almost every time he came to Vanelli’s.  They became friends and would visit with each other on occasion.  

(more…)

My final thoughts on the Debate…

The atmosphere: Incredible.  The whole town was milling around, very excitedly.  It was almost surreal.  My family went to the Grove and enjoyed great music and even better weather.  There was a Rock The Vote guy who said the ‘F’ Word and made my grandmother make a weird face.  There was also slam poetry about being green.

The security: Tight.  Lots of guards and big trucks at both entrances to the Green Zone around the Ford Center.  We had to walk all around town to get to the Grove from the Square.

The event:  It seemed to go off without a hitch (or atleast without any more hitches).  To be honest, I was a little bored with the exchange.  Would have been a little bit more exciting if I hadn’t heard so many of their speeches on XM.  Sometimes, I felt like they were just taking turns giving their stump talk (right down to the punch lines).  I wish Lehrer would have been a little more tenacious.

Winner: Hard to say.  I thought Obama seemed the most confident and agressive (in a good way), so it was probably him.

Overall: The months of overtime and hardwork really paid off for the University and the Town.  I thought Oxford/Ole Miss looked great on the National Stage.  AND it was a great event for us locals to enjoy too.

I’m not one of those crazy Bono-roos out there, but this is a great quote.

From Reuters (via onehandclapping):

As Congress debates a White House-proposed $700 billion bailout for the worst financial crisis since the Depression of the 1930s, Bono questioned why wealthy countries had not been able to come up with enough aid for the world’s problems.

“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger,” the U2 lead singer told Clinton’s fourth annual philanthropic summit in New York. “That’s mad, that is mad.” … “Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs,” Bono said, referring to the bankruptcy declared by Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. “But this is moral bankruptcy.”

This should be fun:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/debatebingo/azc_bingo.html