Last night I spoke and entertained about 400 folks at the historic First Baptist Church of Columbia. Founded in 1809, it is one of the oldest churches I’ve spoken at. It was an exhilarated group to say the least, ready to go as soon as the program started. From there, I headed for Hurricane, West Virginia.
On the way, I made a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina to see a former ministry mate and his wife. Greg Hunter and I served together at Westview Christian in the late 90’s. While I was only there for a year, he and I had a synergy that I haven’t experienced since. While my current pastor, Richard Clark has always been a mentor and someone who I respect like a father, Greg and I were like brothers. Brothers who would always try to get in trouble together! It is a time I look back on with great fondness. He and his wife, LeighAnn, took me to downtown Belmont to a little eatery called Sammy’s Deli & Neighborhood Pub.
Food was outstanding. While web reviews are fair at best, I will be adding it to my list of favorite dives to be sure. The Italian Burger with mushrooms and onions – excellent. It was great day and, to make life greater, after two shows in West Virginia tomorrow I get to go home and see my wife and girls.
Tonight I played at Southern Christian Home in Morrilton, Arkansas near Conway. That’s a half an hour east of Little Rock for the geographically challenged. There was a good crowd and despite some technical difficulties we had a great night. SCH is an awesome place that cares for, keeps, trains, and educates orphan children. It used to be Harding College, until Southern took over the grounds in 1936. Anyways, I’m off to another Upward event tomorrow in South Carolina – thought I’d blog at the Exxon in Themiddleofnowhere, Arkansas. Have a good night.
Two nights of tour are done. Last night I spoke at the Upward Awards Night at Temple Baptist Church. There were about 500 folks in attendance. I didn’t know it until after the program, but Louisiana Tech’s Head Football Coach, Derek Dooley, was in the audience and apparently got a good laugh when I asked, “Do we have any LSU Tigers here tonight?” There were a few but there were a lot more boos. But when I asked, “Are there any Bulldogs in the house?” the place when bananas and Coach Dooley was happy. Today Casey Williams and some of the church staff took me to the Dawg House, which is an awesome bar and grill. I had what may have been the best hamburger I have ever had anywhere. Southwest Burger complete with a spicy, sweet BBQ sauce, cheedar cheese and Jalapeno and Cheese bread. If you ever find yourself in northwestern Louisiana, you need to check it out (http://dawghousesportsgrill.com/). I spent the afternoon walking around the Louisiana Tech campus. It had an old, historic feel and people were extremely polite. Tonight I led worship, played a few parodies and spoke in the student center. The Spirit is alive and present at Temple; what an encouragement. Tomorrow I head to Conway, Arkansas.
Adrienne is my 20-month old daughter. She is saying more things every single day. When she tickles me she says “Ticka ticka, ticka, ticka” faster than any other human can despite being less than two years old. She’s like that rapper from Fushnikins. When I ask her where something is, she points to it and says with frustration “over dair!” When she gets ice cream or other sweets, she usually says, “Mmmm, dat goood!” like a little cajun. Tonight she outdid herself. Katie was in her bedroom, Brooklyn was in the bathroom, and Laura, Adrienne and I were in the loft. We asked her who was in the bathroom. Adrienne pointed and said “Keeet” (which is how she says “Kate”). We said, “No, no honey. Keet is in there,” pointing to her bedroom. “Who is in the bathroom Adrienne?” we asked. Just then Brooke steps out of the bathroom and Adrienne points to her and says, plain as day, “JESUS!” It was adorable and hilarious at the same time.
Sitting here watching the NBA All-Star game, I couldn’t help but think back to the days when the NBA was great. Sure we currently have D Wade, LeBron, Dwight Howard, KG and Kobe but this is not even close to what we had “back in the day.” I remember when the All-Star game meant fierce competition between Dr. J, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Isaiah Thomas, Moses Malone, Dominique Wilkins, George Gervin and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (all in the same year). Those guys fought hard, especially in the All-Star game. These guys play no defense and just stand around letting each other dunk uncontested. I can remember when guys like Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman, Charles Barkley and Kurt Rambis would patrol the paint. They would shove their own mothers into the stands before they’d let her score uncontested. Guys these days want a foul each time someone gives them a light hand check. 
My favorite was always Julius Erving. 6′6 with a 48 inch vertical. The legend of Julius placing a quarter on the top of the backboard was not legend at all. When MJ dunked from the foul line in 85, people remembered when the Doctor did it first; they just forgot how much more effortless it was for him. Erving had such great hang time, body control and grace. At the same time, his power was explosive. Notice the picture to the left. That’s not the second string center for the Clippers … that’s the Chief (Robert Parrish of the Celtics) that Doc is dunking on. It didn’t matter if it was Kareem, Bill Walton or Tree Rollins – Erving dunked on everyone. My favorite thing about the Doctor was how he effected the players around him. He made everyone better. He would steal a pass and throw it down on two or three helpless, awestruck defenders. Then the crowd would go nuts and the other four players on the court with him would fill up with energy and intensity. It was amazing.
Today was my big doctors appointment. For those who may not know, I found a small bump on my chest while showering last week. I’ve never had a sick day in my life, so I was a bit freaked out by it. I went immediately to the doctors and was told there was a 95% chance that it was just a syst and nothing to worry about. However, to be sure they referred me to a specialist and surgeon today. He examined it and told me that it was, in fact, a syst and that it had been resting on a nerve and gotten infected. He proceeded to tell me that I was healthy as a horse and not to worry. To celebrate my impending life to live, I drove up the street and had some Skyline Chili (a mile from the hospital). Came home and made cupcakes with my wife and girls and tonight I have a comedy show at Central. Life is good!!!
