catalyst...

wow... i'm still reeling from our experience in atlanta, ga, last week. our day started off on wednesday morning with getting the girls to school, cindy having scheduled doc appointments, and getting on the road to meed doug and lana page to go on a journey.

if it wasn't for mom, dad, and amy, we would not have gotten to go and take part in the catalyst conference, which is geared toward young church leaders, basically 20's and 30's.

this first picture is of my knees against the chair in front of ours on AIR TRAN... yes, i used capital letters. we had a much better experience on the way back. but on the way there we were in the row in front of the emergency row. the row is smaller and the chairs don't recline. i didn't complain, but i did ask if there were other seats available... and that was negatory. so, i slept and survived, and hope i never have to do that one again. i'm sure we've all had those experiences - very uncomfortable, but just for 1:45 hrs.

also, shane claiborne was at the conference. incredible. his book has given me a new perspective to look at the world through. the deal is, he doesn't just look at it differently, he's living differently. incredible challenge. check out his website or buy and read his book "irresistible revolution".

one of the big blessings i've had the past two years of attending catalyst is getting to spend time with the browne family. rob and i were close prayer partners in abilene during grad school, i was roommates with his brother phil (owner operator of the chick-fil-a in waxahatchie, tx), and my wife and traci hung out some in abilene. this year i got to know nancy - aka "nan". that was an awesome experience. that's rob and phil's mom. here we are after eating at mexican restaurant on thursday night (yes it was good, it's in a shopping center with at least one store closed and vacated).

here we are infront of the gwinnett county colosseum (ok, i don't know what the official name is). we both had a cold or alergies going into the trip, and something kept irritating cindy's eye, too. but it was incredible. the speakers, the worship, and the friends we were with.i was standing outside with cindy, doug, lana, nan, jennifer cook, and all of a sudden i recognized someone standing right beside me... it was eric albright. one of my interns from the summer of 2003. eric is awesome. he makes me smile and laugh and love God more. it bought back lot's of memories and i was extremely excited to see him, and "little e" seemed excited to see us, too.on friday night we went out and i had a steak (rib eye, medium well - no pink). it was awesome. we ate at "longhorns". it was doug & lana page, jennifer, and nan and us. it was a blast. but doug wasn't finished. he had to celebrate ... so we went for ice cream. it was so much fun.

we ihop-ed on saturday morning after doug and i went for a jog. dude, it's "hill-y" in atlanta! but the morning was capped off by nan praying for us in the parking lot, as she prayed for our marriages, our families, and our churches. she's awesome.

here's nan's house. cindy and lana are in front of "the cottage in the woods". we had a great time. we just got some more sono pics of diego... so i'll get those up soon.
if you are in need some good worship music, steve fee is one of the worship leaders at the conference. this is him last year leading one of my favorites. glorious one - click here. you can also youtube the catalyst conference and other steve fee worship. some of the conference stuff is crazy, then the preview stuff is really good, too. it was awesome.