Coming Alive

5.  Spider Man 3

4.  Beowulf

3.  Heartbreak Kid

2.  Fantastic Four – Silver Surfer

1.  National Treasure

This is a May 07 to May 08 list of the best movies I saw.  Here is last years list.

10.  The Bourne Ultimatum

9.  I Am Legend (alternate ending) – If you haven’t seen the alternate ending yet go check it out.  It’s much more satisfying.

8.  The Kingdom

7.  Rocket Science – Great soundtrack!

6.  Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – By far the most fun I had at a movie all year.

5.  Once

4.  No Country For Old Men

3.  Cloverfield

2.  Juno

1.  Gone Baby Gone

So far our Drive In Movie event is shaping up to be the biggest thing we have done as a church!  We sent an evite out and the flyers are being distributed as I type.  If the response to the evite is any indication of the response to the mailers we are in for something huge!! 

So I heard something funny today.  I was talking to a neighbor about our drive in movie coming up in June when she relayed a question her daughter had for her.  Apparently last night, when they were checking out our evite, my neighbors young daughter asked her mom…

“So, do Mike and Kristan, like, own Reedy Fork?”

I guess I will take that as a compliment.

Every May I declare my “album of the year”.  Cheesy?  Perhaps, but its a tradition and I love it.  Usually the award goes to what has spent the most time in my cd player over the last 12 months.  Also, just so you know, it doesnt have to be a new release.  It could be from the 80’s (although that would never happen – I hate 80’s music) as long as it is new to me.

The recap:
94-95: Counting Crows “August and Everything After”
95-96: Dave Matthews Band “Under the Table and Dreaming”
96-97: Robert Earl Keen “Live Dinner #2″
97-98: Good Will Hunting Soundtrack
98-99: Counting Crows “Recovering the Satellites”
99-00: Train “Untitled”
00-01: Caedmon’s Call “40 Acres”
01-02: Weezer “The Green One”
02-03: Ben Folds “Rocking the Suburbs”
03-04: Derek Webb “She Must and Shall Go Free”
04-05: Caedmon’s Call “Share the Well”
05-06: Jack Johnson “In Between Dreams”/Derek Webb “Mockingbird”
06-07: Keane “Under the Iron Sea”

This year: Second tie in 3 years!  Are you as excited as I am?

07-08: “Once” Soundtrack to the major motion picture

- Nolan did awesome on the flight to and from Houston…we were VERY concerned
- My grandparents were doing much better than we expected physically
- The first night with Nolan was insane.  We didn’t have a crib so he had to sleep with us…We only got 4 hours of sleep that night.
- Caught a baseball game with my dad.  First one with him in a long long time
- Hunter Pence hit a grand slam.  Astros won 4-2
- Cubs suck
- My family really blessed Kristan and I financially while we were there.  Trips are a lot better when you don’t have to worry about money.
- I remembered Houston being hot.  I didn’t remember how humid it was.
- Houston drivers are better: they wave when you let them in, they always let you merge, everyone goes a respectable speed
- Houston traffic is worse. 
- Kristan recieved an Astros jersey for her birthday…I kinda felt like I was giving her a present I wanted hoping she would just give it back to me.  She liked it though
- Nolan got some Astros gear too!  Yep, I’m one of those dads…but who else would he root for?  The Grasshoppers?

This August will be ten years that I have lived in NC.  Crazy!  Going back to Houston and seeing old friends reminds me of a life I used to have, but man am I thankful that God brought me to Greensboro.  All the best things in my life have happened here. 

Ok, about a week ago I read a review of “There Will Be Blood” with Daniel Day Lewis (Last of the Mohican’s) and it got me really excited.  The movie critic hailed the film as not only the years best, but one of THE BEST EVER!  Normally I wouldn’t put a lot of stock into that, but I had really trusted this person’s reviews. 

So last night (around midnight) I kicked off what I thought would be 2 1/2 hours of life changing cinematic bliss.

Instead I labored through the most boring flick I have seen in a LONG time.  Once, I sat through “My Dinner With Andre” which took place completely in a restaraunt and was comprised solely of 2 men’s dialogue over a meal.  3 camera angles for the entire movie.  Brilliant…but boring.

There Will Be Blood was right up there with that.  The only thing worse would be if the two guys in My Dinner With Andre talked about the plot of There Will be Blood. 

We knocked out a couple of yards today.  Hal and I tag-teamed my next door neighbors grass, and Will got the front yard of a house across the street.  The great thing about this is how much of a blessing it is to these two ladies who would have a hard time doing it themselves. 

As necessary as ministries like Welcome Team and Set-up team are with churches we can go overboard really quickly.  Before we know it our schedules fill up on all the “teams” that we are on…all of which require meetings to get ready to “serve”.  I would love to say nothing is wrong with that, but I think there is…something wrong with it I mean:

1.  We are too busy serving our church that we fail to serve the community we are called to minister to and reach.
2.  We get this false feeling of servanthood when the truth is we sacrifice our time for about an hour or two a month. 

I do things like Welcome and Set-up each week, and I’m not at all worried about getting “burned out” with either.  There are things I can see people getting burned out on, but not either of these two things (especially at The Patio).  To me, Set-up isn’t ministry; it’s worship.  Same with Welcome.  When I hear of someone burned out on a Welcome team I hear someone who gets burned out on being friendly…which is pretty crazy. 

This upcoming summer I will have lived in North Carolina for a decade.  10 freakin years!  I met my wife in North Carolina.  We started a family here.  We started a church here.  I began following Jesus here.  Pretty much every great thing in my life came out of that decision to come here for college. 

However…

I’m a Texan. 

So, in honor of our trip here is a list of my favorite things about Texas:
1.  Music – There is a profound difference between country and Texas Country.  Robert Earl Keen, Pat Green, etc
2.  BBQ – Oh man.  I would describe it to you, but too many people are relocating to Texas already
3.  Mexican Food – I’ve had Mexican food in NC and I’ve had Mexican food in Mexico.  Heck, I’ve had Mexican food in Australia!  Tex-Mex is where it’s at.
4.  The Rodeo – Back in college I went to a few faux Rodeos with my friend Dawn.  It was like the go karts at Celebration Station compared to Nascar.
5.  Baseball – Sorry Carolinians, the Braves are not your team.  You don’t have a team. 
6.  Pro Franchise Markets – Same as number 5.  Bobcats are not a team…go watch a college sport or something.
7.  No Tar Heel fans – Listen guys, it’s not a rivalry if there are never any fans of the other team around (Duke).  I’ve been here 10 years and I don’t think I have met a single Blue Devil fan or someone who went to Duke, yet Carolina fans are always making fun of them…seems pretty insecure to me.
8.  Texas Pride – There is something comforting about knowing that if all the states got into a big fight your state would come out on top.  Yea, California would have a chance, but remember, Texas beat up a country.

See ya!

This Sunday Will Anderson is speaking at The Patio.  I’ve heard him run through his message and, yea, it’s going to be very good!  He is really kicking off our new series right.

This is my first Sunday off since our launch (actually well before that).  I don’t really know what to do with myself besides prepare for next weeks message.  However, I do want to take advantage of this time and relax a little too.  20 extra hours in my week is a lot to figure out something to do.

Then, this Sunday, the Reeve family is heading to Texas for a few days!  It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been down there so I’m pretty excited.