Lumberjack Griffis

Ya’ll didn’t know that I was a true woodsmen. Chris Cole, DJ Howard and I cut down a couple of trees this weekend at the Howard’s house. It was a tough job, but we real men knew we could handle it. After the first one went down with Chris surfing it, the second didn’t have a chance. Big daddy Griffis was wielding the ax for it’s final farewell. If that wasn’t enough, the manliest of all tree cutting celebrations immediately followed. I even got Tyrone to replay the man celebration in slow mo at the end for you in case you miss it the first time. Thanks Gabi for the video work and commentary as well as Mr. Dennis and Mrs. Sandy, Holly Kay for the special effects and Ty for the editing! Enjoy:

Seafood and Magnetic Earrings

So, today I headed over to Randy Montalbano’s Seafood and Catering for lunch with my good buddies “Mad Fine” Brad Pine and Matt “Having a great agent MATTers” Stewart. Of course, the huge bonus is that Reynolds Leblanc, quite possibly the grooviest cat around, works there. That dude made all of our food with his left-hand and it was still better than anything else in town. Seriously, it is impossible to leave Randy Montalbano’s without a smile on your face. The food is amazing! It’s by far the best boiled crawfish in town. I insist that you check this place out!

After lunch came the real fun. Matt, Brad and I decided that since it was so awesome outside that we should go do something outside. After a thoughtful 3 seconds, the decision was made. Let’s go play putt putt! That’s right we headed out to Celebration Station. I swear the last time I went there I had a magnetic earring. OK, so I may have been there since then, but I definitely remember going in there back in ‘91 in the 8th grade with magnetic bling in the ear. How many of you remember the magnetic earring? What a great invention! My parents wouldn’t let me have an earring and I honestly didn’t want a real one, so I got the next best thing. Nothing said cool in the early 90’s like that little piece of gold in the left ear. What an era? I feel so old. 16 years removed from the 8th grade? WOW! Anyway, after two rounds of putt putt, Brad Pine emerged victorious. I came in 3rd and a good time was had by all.

Let the voting begin!

As you may know, I am a huge fan of television. Perhaps I watch a bit too much. Either way, I want to know what you 3 that read this watch. Which television shows do you prefer these days? I have submitted a few top choices for your voting pleasure by genre. Please feel free to write in your own choice if mine are not satisfactory.

Drama: Heroes, LOST, or Grey’s Anatomy? (by the way you should be watching Friday Night Lights)
Sitcom: The Office, My Name is Earl, or re-runs of old favorites.
Reality: American Idol, Amazing Race, Survivor, or you hate reality TV.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, this is a sad attempt at receiving comments. Throw me a bone here. I’ve entertained you with my videos, now entertain me with your thoughts.

Round 1: where the stupidity began

Round 1 as promised. Me vs. Tyrone:
Me hitting Ty:

Tyrone’s redemption:

Now that is some funny stuff! Thanks to Rob Gros for the footage and Jumbo JP for the high pitched hilarity!

There it is . . . . .

Last Friday after work, somebody brought in this huge paper roll. Now what could we possibly do with that? Of course, let’s hit each other as hard as we can. What else could we do? It had to be done. Thanks Bossman for participating and Dupe for the incredible video footage.

This was actually round 2 for me. There will be a video of Round 1: Tyrone “The Afrikan” and me swapping coming soon.

new blogger in the mix

What’s up everybody? OK, hey you, the one that reads this besides me, everyone needs to go check out my boy Jason Ryder’s blog. He’s in my “All My People” section: J-Dawg. If you are a worshiper, a redneck, or just looking for some insight into the mind of the financier, J-Dawg’s Blog is the place for you. But, don’t stop coming here because he’s cooler. Remember where you got this info? I thought we were friends. Hey, come back. Forget Jason, stay here. Hey where are you going. Boooooo! I’ll be here for you when you get bored. Later!

He gives and takes away

My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name. (lyrics from the bridge of Tim Hughes, “Blessed Be Your Name.”)

For those of you that don’t know, I have the amazing privilege of leading worship for the Healing Place Church campus in St. Francisville, LA (St. Franny as I like to call it). Anyway, this weekend I had the opportunity to experience the truth of those lyrics right smack in the middle of worship. We started off great and were introducing an older song that was new to the congregation, “You Are Good” by Israel Houghton. All was well and we smoothly transitioned into “Blessed Be Your Name” via “Stogie,” Steven Stogner on electric.

As we began the song, I had the urge to clear my throat and as I did, something happened. I’m not quite certain what it was, but what I am certain of is the result. Suddenly, I could barely get the words out. We made it to the instrumental bridge and it wasn’t too obvious to anyone but Tabitha, she leads worship with me, and me that something was wrong. Then came the lyrics “You give and take away, you give and take away . . .” and He just completely took away. I had nothing. It was all I could do to finish the bridge, screech out the chorus twice more and end the song. I turned to the band and cut the 3rd song that was planned and we went straight to the last song “Revelation Song” which Tab was leading. Everything went fairly smooth and life went on. I had my voice back by that evening in time to lead worship for our Refuge service . So, He gave back too!

At the time I felt my voice fading out, my first reaction was pretty much fear and embarrassment. As a singer, you are always a little freaked out when your voice goes out. Though it always does, the idea that it may never come back is completely real at least for a moment. That is one of the worst scenarios I can imagine in my selfish, small world. The irony though, was in the timing of the complete vocal loss. “You give and take away.” At that moment, my first thought was to tap out and cut the song short and move on. But as I screeched out the lyric as best I could, the reality of what I was singing became even more important. Singing and singing fairly well is one of the most valued things in my life. At that moment, God dropped the reminder in my heart that he was the giver of the gift and that that was exactly all my ability to sing was, a gift from Him. If He chose to, He could take away my voice in an instant. Following that was the question, “Would you worship me still?” It didn’t take me long to answer, the next lyric was all I needed to say, “My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name.” As we repeated the bridge a few times, it became stronger in my heart and so I sang out with all I had. Though the vocals were shot, the heart was still able to express everything that was necessary: Blessed be the name of the Lord! I challenge you with this as God challenged me this weekend: If everything you have was taken away from you, where does your heart stand with God? Would you blame Him or bless Him? Ask yourself, in your heart, is God worth it even if you feel, sound or even look foolish to all around you? If you struggle with that thought, take a gander into the life of old Job.

“²⁰ After Job heard all of those reports, he got up and tore his robe. He shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshiped the Lord. ²¹ He said,
‘I was born naked.
And I’ll leave here naked.
You have given, and you have taken away.
May your name be praised.’

²² In spite of everything, Job didn’t sin by blaming God for doing anything wrong.”

A "Penny" for Your Thoughts

First, what do you few you happy few that read this this little blog think about the new song of the month feature? It may be more of a weekly or bi-weekly thing, but I need your feedback to know what to do and what you think of the song choice.

Secondly, Penny will be back on LOST next week. It may only be in a flashback of Desmond’s but at least it will bring the Widmore family back. Also, we can look forward to the return of Cindy the flight attendant/girlfriend of the author of the “Bad Twin” (the book that Sawyer was reading the manuscript to) as well as the kidnapped kids from the tail section.

As you might have figured out, LOST came back and it did come back strong. I will give more thoughts on the recent episode in a day or so, once I know everyone has had a chance to see it. I’m glad that the weak episodes 3.3-3.6 were not an indication of the show getting watered down like I feared. There was some very interesting insight into what takes place on the island as well as a bit of “Other” history last night. Good times were had by all!

That’s all for now, don’t forget to let me know if you like the song of the month and whether it should be monthly, weekly or bi-weekly. Peace on you all!

The new phone books are here, the new phone books are here!

That’s right sir, yes you the one that read this blog once. It’s a new year and the new phone books got here a few days ago. OK, a couple of weeks ago, but I really love “The Jerk.” “I mean this is the kind of thing makes you somebody. You’re name in print!” I digress, with the new-ish year and my new commitment to blogging, comes this little tangent. Let’s see if it leads to anything:

-XLI, XLI, XLI, XLI il u? Illuminati coming through. (special thanks to SoulJunk and TobyMac) That’s right the Super Bowl has come and gone and as predicted Joseph Addai became the first LSU Tiger to win both a NCAA National Championship and a NFL Super Bowl. Not to mention that he led all NFL Rookies in rushing this year. So, Joe, since I am certain you are of the 90 to at least look at my blog, I salute you! Oh yeah, congrats to that Manning guy too, I guess.

-LOST is back tomorrow night. Sadly, that statement is only followed by a period, as opposed to the exclamation point that would normally be in order. I just hope it earns an exclamation point after the new episode. It just doesn’t make sense why they think we still care about finding out about Jack’s tattoo’s and Locke’s reason for being in a wheelchair. Locke was in a wheelchair? Exactly, I wanted to know that last season. Now, just show me the guys in the Arctic and tell me all about our friends the “good guys.” Thay really have a lot to prove these next few weeks.

-Finally, who wants to read anymore of my thoughts? Does anyone care or is this just for my benefit. Feel free to comment if you want more of this apparently narrow attempt at blogging!

“Aaaaaaaand, we’re clear! Party on Wayne and Party on Garth!”