A Few Thoughts...

It's been awhile since I've blogged...but I think I have a pretty good reason.  On March 14th, at 10:42 am, Graham Andrew King was born into the world!  Amy and I have since been burning the candle at both ends.  I am officially "adept" at changing diapers, burping, and feeding Graham a bottle, etc.  I would say I'm a "pro," but all I have to do is watch Amy do the things listed above and I'm painfully aware that she is much more gifted in the baby department.  All that said, I was still up at 3:30 this morning giving my little buddy a bottle.  He went right back to sleep after he manhandled his usual 3 ounces.  I on the other hand, was wide awake and completely unable to go back to sleep.  Good times...Good times.

No...I didn't mispell anything.  Change is always taking place around us.  Things never stay the same.  Shift happens.

This is our HighPoint Church mission team that went to Cape Town, South Africa.  We went with about 30 other students, couples, ministers, etc. from around the U.S. and Canada to advance God's kingdom in South Africa.  I will be blogging specifically about our experiences, but this is a quick shot of our Orlando team on a peak overlooking the city (From left to right:  Amy Lo, Kyle Cocita, Shauna Kidwell, Heather and Trey Allen, and me.)

I recently saw The Incredible Hulk. After wasting 3 hours of my life on the first green mistake, I didn't carry much expectation to this movie. Edward Norton is the lead, which I must admit, quelled my hopes of a great Marvel movie, but I persisted with my low expectations so I wouldn't be disapponted. We received 2 free tickets to the premier. I have one word for that. Awesome. Being that I'm a movie junkie, The Hulk could have been lame and I still would have enjoyed myself since the tickets were free! It's amazing how the word "free" makes everything better.

We're opening the doors to our new HighPoint church home on May 4th!  Our church staff has been working day in and day out to get everything ready. One slight problem, though. The handle to the front door is basically falling off. Call me crazy, but my gut tells me that wouldn't be a great first impression for most people.

Late last week, my Mom and sister, Aimee, flew in from Nashville for a couple of days. There is just nothing like having family in town! This was the first time for Aimee to see our church, HighPoint, and also the first time she had been back to Orlando in fifteen years. It was great! The day after they arrived, we went to Disney World for the day, hitting all 4 parks in record time. Amy and I have the speed tour down pat by now and can blow through all the highlights in a day. Granted, we were dragging my family to Rockin' Roller Coaster for the final thrill in the wee hours of the night, but it was all worth it. The weather was spectacular, especially for this family shot at Epcot. I'm already looking forward to next time!

If you haven't had the pleasure of soaking in the bliss of Lost, then you are missing the best TV show in the history of mankind.  Ok...I might be exaggerating a bit, but the show is awesome and Amy and I watch it without fail.  Lost captures post-modern theology so well, creating an opportunity for viewers to fully emerge into the world of "Lost." 
    The initial hook for me was the brilliant character development through the first several seasons.  J.J. Abrams, the writer of the show, is unbelievable.  Every time you think you have someone figured out, you are allowed a flashback into someone's past that provides new insight into that person.  Jack, one of the main characters, is a surgeon with the perfect life.  Wrong.  As the show progresses, it becomes clear that Jack is obsessed with fixing things (that's why he's a doctor), but is tragically unable to fix his own life.  Not what you would expect.  Or Hurley...he's an extremely overweight guy who looks like a slob and is really funny.  Everyone knows someone like that.  Here's the twist.  Hurley is a millionaire about 100 times over.  He has more money than he knows what to do with. 
    Abrams, along with his writing staff, play on our preconceived ideas and stereotypes of people, and shatter them.  You never really know someone until you take the time to KNOW someone.  There is always a story and always a reason to every human life. 
    I'm going to continue to blog about Lost for a few weeks, but until then, check out this show!  You can catch up by watching episodes online or by watching a 2 minute trailer that brings you up to speed. 

All right...I confess...it's been way too long since my last blog. My sincerest apologies to the cyber world. Just in case you're wondering..I didn't stop because Amy and I suddenly turned into boring people with nothing to blog about. It's been quite the opposite. Life at HighPoint Church went to a "whole 'notha level" and blogging slipped down on the priority list. But I'm back!!!! There are too many great things happening that need to be blogged about. So with that said, I have re-entered the blogosphere.

This is what did it. 11 people at HighPoint just got baptised! Many of them are in our life group and have become close friends of ours in the recent months. Amy and I have sat and marveled at God's grace and his amazing power to turn someone's life around...and we've had the privilege of seeing it over and over again since moving to Orlando. The moment I saw this picture I knew I needed to blog about it and tell everyone how great God is and show you all what He is doing in the great city of Orlando, Florida.

Check these bad boys out.  I traded in the trusty Stratus for a new ride.  Truth be told, Pastor Keith has been talking smack about how small our cars are...hopefully he should be able to fit into my new monster truck outfitted with the latest Goodyear mudwhumpers.  hehehe...

All right, so maybe I'm exagerating a little bit.  Here's the real story.  I forced Amy to go with me to Ripley's Believe It Or Not and this was one of the exhibits they had.  I thought it was a bit overpriced, but I got a few good pictures out of it.  Amy said it was one of the coolest things she has ever done in the whole world.  Ask her about it...she'll tell you.

I know this is a few weeks old, but I wanted to share it with the cyber world.  Amy and I had an Elevate party recently at out house (Elevate is the name of our youth ministry at Highpoint Church).  Clint Gilstrap was there and he brought his Nintendo Wii.  Now I was a little skeptical of this latest game system by Nintendo, but I have to admit, it was unbelievable!  Clint, Pastor Keith, and I dominated the Wii until the "wee" hours of the night while filling up on pizza and wings (Clint knows how to destroy some wings!!)  Amy shot some video of us playing one of the games.  Check it out by clicking here.

Amy and I were in Winter Park for Memorial Day and were graced by the presence of some major celebrities.  We were just sitting on the park bench and BAM!!--these two people were spotted crossing the street.  Amy, being quick on the draw, snapped a quick picture and we've been hounded ever since for copies of it.  People magazine has offered top dollar for it, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to accept.  So here it is...free of charge.  Can you tell who it is?!!!?

Living in Orlando is great because we get visited by friends who are trying to escape to Disney World. In the past 2 weeks, I've had the pleasure of seeing some great family friends from St. Louis.

Steve and Dixie Baker live in St. Louis and are members at my home church there. Dixie grew up here in Winter Park, so they got a little family time in while they were here and then took there daughter, Chloe, to the Magic Kingdom. We saw them at LegoLand and Steve educated me on the physics of the lego sculptures. Apparently they are friends with one of the few master lego engineers in the world!! That's pretty cool. It was so great to see them!

Akhil, Laura, Ashley, Corinne, and Jordan Jhaveri just came into town last week. The Jhaveri's and the King's go WAY back. If you ever get the chance to meet Akhil, he's a real jokster. Here's a quick story about Akhil. He stayed at our house in St. Louis one time, while our family went on vacation. While we were away, he pretended not to speak much English and told our neighbors that he was our house boy! Can you believe that?! It was awesome seeing the Jhaveri''s. We just wish they didn't live so far away in Texas.

I have another blog, Real Relationship, that is a bit more serious if you are interested. I just finished my latest entry, Disney and Jesus, and would love for you to check it out. And don't worry...I'm not comparing Mickey to Jesus. Just click on Disney and Jesus to go to the latest entry or click on Real Relationship to see the entire blog.

And by the way, this picture is definitely me.  I thought it might grab your attention.  Although it looks like I'm trying out for a Michael Jackson video, that is apparently what I wore to school.  Thank you to Mom and Dad for that one. 

I've always wondered about the secret of great leadership and now, finally, I believe I'm on to something. I want to take this moment to encourage everyone out there who is longing for the answer as well and tell them of my findings. This is a picture of Pastor Keith's preaching podium after church. Now most people put their sermon notes or a cup of coffee on such a podium...but not Pastor Keith. The anointing flows through pepperoni pizza and Coca-Cola Classic! Our men's group at church has been reading The Barbarian Way and really trying to apply it to our lives (Click here for details on the Iron Men group). But this...this is taking it to a whole new level! Thank you Pastor Keith for challenging us as men. The next time I need some extra strength I've got just the answer. 24 ounce Coke with a large, thick crust pizza. Extra pepperoni.

That's right. This is a picture of my new shoes. I stumbled into Payless with Amy to get new sandals the other day and these bad boys practically jumped into my hands. Payless typically doesn't have much to offer guys which is painfully clear when you go there and see aisle after aisle after aisle of women's shoes. The men's section is this little corner in the back that's basically in the dark. It's a wonderful experience. Since we were there, I figured I would at least take a quick peak and see what they had and BAM! The $10 sign caught my attention. I wasn't even excited at this point because I just assumed this was priced incorreclty. But lo and behold...THEY WERE ACTUALLY $10!!!! Last time I checked, I can hardly buy a jolly rancher for $10, much less a pair of shoes. Now I'll admit these aren't the coolest shoes in the world, but for $10, they instantly become very cool. So there you go. This is my new pair of $10 shoes.  If you want to read my other blog, Jesus and My $10 Shoes, click here.

Amy and I had a baby!! Although our hair might cause you to think we're related this is actually not my child. This is Isaiah and he belongs to Jon and Kelley Owens, mentioned in the blog below this one. I wanted to give the big guy a shoutout since we had such a great time together this weekend. We watched reruns of Lost and even caught an episode of Planet Earth...he definitely knows how to party like it's 1999. In fact, he may even come down next weekend to hang. Here's to good times Isaiah. Good times.

Amy and I had a great time this weekend with Jon and Kelley Owens. We all go way back and I have to admit,...it was a bit surreal eating around our dinner table here in Orlando. Crazy where God takes us, isn't it? Jon and Kelley are worship and arts pastors at Every Nation Tallahassee and just recently added another to the dynamic duo...Isaiah David Christopher Owens. Holy cow that's a long name! By the way...Jon has an awesome worship CD which is a MUST HAVE. Click here to check it out! They weren't able to stay long (they were here for a wedding), but we're plotting to get them back for a litle Disney action. Great to have you guys here!!!!!!