Romeo member Bob Carter and his ipod repair business, The Pod Drop, are appearing on NBC 4 tonight.
Very cool stuff. I think he’ll be on in the morning as well.
Update: I just watched the segment on the 11:00 PM news, awesome job. The hidden camera investigation “caught” Bob’s people fixing an ipod perfectly for $45 in about 20 minutes. That’s the kind of thing Bob wants his people getting caught doing all the time!
Here’s the story on Channel 4’s website.
Last night we treated our kids to a “nice restaurant” as we took them to Olive Garden. While our kids have been well versed in how to act at McDonald’s, Chilis, Buffalo Wild Wings, and every local eatery in Romeo they weren’t quite sure what to do at a place with opera music and cloth napkins.
Quick sidenote: Paul slept through the entire experience. He fell asleep in the car, which typically means he wakes up when he smells food… but not this time.
So we got Megan settled in, she got to coloring and generally proceeded as normal through the meal. The cloth napkin was new to her but she made sure to keep it on her lap as she enjoyed her spaghetti. Kristen and I were having a fun conversation about traveling and books we’ve been reading when Kristen started to chuckle.
“You have a mimic.”
I glanced over at my 6 year old. The apple of my eye was turned her head towards me as I turned my head towards her. She was sitting with her hands folded exactly like mine. I smile, she smiled. On and on it went. When I laughed she laughed. I said “I’m a boy” and she boldly said “I’m a boy.” It was a riot.
The time came for the check and she copied my every move. As I was signing the bill her hand went to sign a pretend bill. That’s when I handed her a pen and slid the real check close to hers. She was able to copy my math on the lines and sign her name to the bottom. Where I signed my name she proudly wrote “Megan McLane.”
It’s good to see the apple doesn’t fall too far from the cart.
Last week I made a new friend because of the blog. Blogs are funny like that. As I talked to this person on the phone she told me she loved my quote on the top of my header. It says “Crazy enough to want to change the world.”
The quote is personal to me. Before coming to Romeo, we served at a church in California. The church really wasn’t my style but Kristen and I thought… maybe God could use us there? My mission (as agreed to) in getting hired there was two-fold. First, disciple the Christian kids in the church. And second, reach the lost students of that community.
The experience there was a nightmare. At one key meeting an elder scowled at me and said something like, “You know what the problem with you is? You are naive and stupid enough to think you can change the world. You walk around here as if the things you do really matter.” Later, as the meeting ended I said something like, “I am stupid and crazy enough to want to change the world. I believe with every core of my being that I was created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Reaching the lost of this community is a good work. It is crazy and it is stupid to think that one person could change the world, I’m OK with that. I’d rather be labeled crazy and lead people to reach the lost than sit here and do nothing.”
In that moment, my mind was made up. The journey to Romeo was underway.
When I told that story to my new friend, she was shocked. Later she sent me this quote:
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently–they’re not fond of rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.”
It’s my hope that I’m helping to create a generation of people in this community that are crazy enough to think they can change the world around them.
What about you? Are you crazy enough to want to change your world?
Let’s just say the picture is an exaggeration. But we’ve had a very good Al Gore inspired winter in Michigan.
It started in November and it has stayed until now. Non-stop cold, lots of snow, few warm weather breaks, and a lot of storms.
I love winter. I love snow. I really like driving around after a fresh heavy snow. I love everything about it.
For the last several years lifelong Michigan resident have told us, “These winters aren’t like we used to have.” Well, those same people are now saying, this is just like we used to have.
I want to give perspective on the snow to people outside Romeo. We’ve got about 18 inches of snow in our yard and on the roof of our house. Along our driveway, where we’ve piled up snow from shoveling it’s about chest high. (3-4 feet?) As the snow was melting today with the warm temperatures I was out digging out the downspouts out of the ice and snow. The main one was buried under 5-6 feet of slushy snow… I never found it.
We love winter weather. And we’re happy to be surviving a “real Michigan winter” here in Romeo.
This is insane. There is a ton of ice out there so we’ve been forced to cancel our 9:00 AM service.
Update: We’re canceling all services for the day. There’s a first time for everything.
My basement is a fan of Blue Man Group right now. Hanging from the rafters are tons of chunks of metal with a fresh coat of blue enamel on them… drip drying.
I spent about half of my week making a video for Sunday’s service.
We called in some favors this week to get some “wow” stuff.
Jimmy has learned a brand new song just for this service. It’s amazing.
Bob is completely jazzed about his message.
Why all the fuss? This week’s service will be unmissable. Seriously, I know they are calling for ice and rain tonight… but you need to know this service will be worth ice skating, snowshoeing, or whatever it takes to get there.
I’ve been at Romeo almost 5 years. And I’ve gotten fired up about some Sunday’s. This one ranks right up there. The word all week we’ve used is “Killer.” I think this service will be killer.
If you’ve never joined us at Romeo: This is going to be the perfect jumping in point. If you come Sunday, you’ll leave knowing exactly who we are, what we’re all about, and why we do what we do.
Relevant Church in Tampa, Florida has certainly attracted some media attention. Check out this challenge.
- “An openly edgy Christian church is launching what they’re calling a 30-Day Sex Challenge to help members improve their relationships and rediscover themselves.”
- “Single folks are to abstain from sex for 30 days…Married folks, on the other hand, are supposed to have sex every day for 30 days.”
- “Relevant Church leaders know the campaign may shock, even disgust, some people in and outside the church. But that was the idea. Create a buzz about a topic a lot of people don’t like to talk about.”
What do you think? (No debate here this is pretty close to what the Bible teaches about sex.) Is this too far ? Not far enough? Are right on with the culture?
HT to Tim Stevens
Yep, it’s that day again. You know, the day of the year when men frantically run to Hallmark on their lunch hours to pick up that ultra-special card that expresses deep love in a shallow world.
Here’s a rant I posted 3 years ago today about Valentines Day.
Today is slightly more subdued. The kids are excited because we gave them the Valentine’s Limited Edition Webkinz Love Frog. His name is Valentine.
For those who are like me and do not appreciate Valentine’s Day. Just a reminder that we should take a few minutes to commemorate the massacre. Just makes me want to watch The Godfather tonight.
I know a lot of people who are a part of my life don’t really know anything about “the other” part of my life. That is, my role at Youth Ministry Exchange. I say, “it’s an online community for youth workers” and I recognize that it doesn’t mean anything.
Well, our friends at Gospel.com were nice enough to create this video about YMX. It is awesome!
If you want to explain to others what YMX, how it works, and what it’s all about… here is the code to embed this video.