jayhardwick.com

Tuesday Ten

No Friday Five last week and no post yesterday means you get the Tuesday Ten today...

1. Had what may have been the worst migraine I have ever had yesterday. You know it's bad when a Venti Red Eye, 6 glasses of water, 2 Exedrin, and a Venti Doubleshot don't knock it out!
2. Battling major writer's block these days. I have a couple of writing projects to do and lots of good ideas for here and the Awaken blog...but it's not happening like I want it to right now.  Might be because of number 3...
3. If all goes well, we close on our house a week from today. CRAZY! This has been such a God-thing...we KNOW we are supposed to live in this house, in this neighborhood, and that the time is right. But when you live off of raised support, it's a bit of a leap! Pray this through with us, please! 
4. 37 days until GAMECOCK FOOTBALL baby! Yeah!
5. Had the last three Sundays off from preaching...good break, but I'm ready to roll again. So, this Sunday, it's on the road again to Center Grove Church in Winston-Salem, NC.
6. Never posted to let you know how it went leading worship at my brother in-law's church, Generation Church, two Sundays ago. Had a blast, the people sang their guts out, and my fingers were mad at me for a few days afterwards. :-) Well worth it though... Set list = Salvation is Here, Enough, Take My Life (Passion Hymns version), and God of this City/Our God Reigns/Salvation is Here medley to close.
7. Eating lunch with Northeast Columbia area pastors today. So cool to see the number of pastors who are locking arms and sharing resources to see Columbia transformed. Honored to be a part of it...the collaboration and the chinese food lunch!
8. Re-reading Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders and it is kicking my tail for the third or fourth time. It is a MUST READ for anyone who wants to lead in a way that represents and honors the heart of God.
9. Yesterday, I drove through the neighborhood where I grew up and past our old house. The mailbox still had our name on it.  My parents moved from there 3 years ago...weird.
10. I miss golf. Maybe one day... 

 There you have it...the first ever Tuesday Ten. Hope you are not dumber for having read it...:-) 

Tuesday Quick Hits

I've been digging out of email %$##, returning phone calls, and working on some calendar stuff all day today.  A few things rolling around my mind as I plow through...

• Stoked about the soon to be released ESV Study Bible.  Mark Driscoll says, "The ESV Study Bible is the most important resource that has been given to the emerging generation of Bible students and teachers."  Looking forward to its release in October.
• Read The Starfish and the Spider over the weekend - should have read it months ago. Started reading The Rise of Christianity as soon as I finished.  The connections are striking...I predict a series of posts will come out of this.
• My great friend Rhett Burns had some nice things to say about my talk yesterday at North Greenville and the conversations a group of us had afterwards.  His processing questions are excellent.  The only problem with Rhett is that he prefers gas station coffee to Starbucks...seriously.  He uses even more graphic language in his post...good thing I liked him before yesterday!
• God made some very cool connections happen for us on Sunday with some people here in Columbia.  Meeting with some people Thursday afternoon to see what God is up to...would appreciate your prayers.
• This question is rolling around in my brain: "What if Columbia was transformed by the gospel and no one could point to a singular church as the reason?" What does that look like? How do you do it? Just something I'm chewing on...

Yes, We're in the South...WOOO!

If you give professional wrestlers a key to the city...you might be in the Dirty South.

The Nature Boy Ric Flair styled and profiled today in Columbia as Mayor Bob Coble presented him with a key to the city and heralded March 24, 2008 as Ric Flair Day.

Anybody willing to admit you were...or still are...a professional wrestling fan? If so, who was your favorite?

Mine = Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson...the Rock 'N Roll Express...kings of the double drop kick, baby!

You?

Monday Quick Hits

A few random quick hits...

• Excited to come alongside my good friend Ben Arment to be a part of the greatness that is and will be The Whiteboard Sessions.  1 day, 8 top voices, 1 idea each, 30 minutes each.  Not registered yet...what the bleep is wrong with you?  Get on board now!
• If the 8 speakers weren't enough reason to go, Lashey & Joyner will clinch it.  Been listening to their album, Hymns, all morning and loving it!  Can't wait to worship with them at WiBo!
• I can't hear out of my left ear...which is good in one way and not so good in another.  Good = I can easily block out noise.  Not good = Lara Beth needs to get in the house yesterday afternoon and I am asleep laying on my good ear.  After a few minutes of her pounding the door, I woke up.  I have an ear infection...talk about piling on. :-)
• Our contract is up with Verizon...which means we could switch to AT&T and get a you know what.  Man, I want to, but the bank account won't allow it.  So, what to do - re-up with Verizon or switch to AT&T and hope that one day I can afford to play in the iPhone sandbox?
• I think it is beyond Jack Johnson to make an uncool album.  Sleep Through the Static is fantastic and couldn't be named more appropriately.
• If you're looking for a deal on some sprung buildings for your growing church, ministry or organization to use, I know of a church that is getting rid of some.  Email me and I'll hook you up.
• I've been a reading machine this year...now the challenge is retaining ideas.  I've done well to this point...better than usual at least.  How do you retain ideas you read?
• Got word last week that I'll be attending the Exponential Conference with a group of church planters from South Carolina.  Looking forward to the conference and time with guys who bleed for every man, woman, and child in our state to follow Jesus!
• I'm working on booking speaking dates for the summer and fall.  Let me know if I can help you out on a "fill-in" Sunday, a student camp or retreat, or other environment. We rely on outside speaking engagements for a portion of our income, which is great to have the chance to meet people and experience different environments.  It's a big challenge because we're totally trusting God to provide opportunities.
• Thank goodness the end is near for Gamecock basketball - I think they quit caring about two weeks ago.  Sad for Dave Odom to go out like that.  Equally thankful that baseball is underway and the Gamecocks are off to a solid start - hey, we even swept the Taters, I mean Tigers, last weekend. :-)
• God's timing is always perfect.  Rich could not have called at a better time...thanks for the words of encouragement and prayers!
• Dirty Chai @ Starbucks...sounds dangerous...and it is...dangerously fantastic!

I'm Fired

COLUMBIA, SC - The Spurs 'n Feathers of the Fantasy Football League announced the firing of Head Coach and General Manager Jay Hardwick after the team's abysmal performance in the 1st round of the playoffs.

Defying all good logic, Hardwick started Derek Anderson at quarterback over perennial fantasy wonder QB Peyton Manning. In another bizarre move, he started Ron Dayne at runningback over the player with the most 100 yard games in the NFL this season, Willie Parker.

All Manning did was score 33 points and Parker added 22...and the SNF's lost by 11. Clearly, without Hardwick's ignorance, their improbable run to the Super Bowl would have continued.

After hearing the news, Hardwick had this to say: "I'm an idiot."

Hello World, Meet Red Velvet

Oh my...Oh my...Oh my. Look what someone made and left for me last night at Center Grove. Can't hide it...I attacked that thing as soon as I got back to my hotel.

Praise God from whom all Red Velvet cake flows.

RSS Issues?

Those of you reading this via RSS feed...is something messed up with my feed? I've had a few emails saying something is wrong, but i can't seem to figure it out. If your reader is saying I have an inordinate number of new posts or if there is HTML code in post content or other issues, let me know, please.

If you know what the fix is for the above problems, that's even better!

Help: New Music Needed

Thanks to some very generous friends, I have $75 of iTunes gift cards.  I haven't bought any new music in at least 3 months as there are bigger priorities for us these days. :-)  So, I am like a kid in a candy store right now...and there is so much candy!

Here's where I need your help...what music are you digging right now?

I'm looking for some fresh worship albums, music you can chill out with, music that makes you sing as loud as you can in your car, music that grooves...

I'm not too picky about genres, but I will say that my ear for country is slowly but surely closing up.

Leave me your recommendations and I'll let you know what I wind up doing.

Peyton Better MAN-Up

Fantasy Football Draft 07 took place last night.  I joined in via instant messenger, which didn't quite have the same feel as being there.  Maybe that's why I broke form and drafted in a way I never have before.  I drafted 8th in a 12 team league.  Here's my team:

QB: Peyton Manning; David Garrard

RB: Willie Parker; Deuce McAllister; Marion Barber III; DeAngelo Williams; Ladell Betts

WR: Lee Evans; Joey Galloway; Deion Branch; Jerricho Cotchery; Jerry Porter

TE: Ben Watson

K: Josh Scobee

D/ST: Vikings

I broke my own cardinal rule and did not draft a RB in the first round - I took Peyton.  Might regret that in a few weeks, but I did it.  Season starts tonight...can't wait!

Good Grief

Is it me, or does Apple introduce something new every 1.3 nanoseconds?

No wonder they gave me a free Nano when I bought my MacBook last month...they knew the new one was on the way!

And a touch screen iPod, too...and don't miss this, but they improved the "classic" iPod as well.

Why don't these people ever quit so people like me can feel edgy and cool for longer than two weeks?!