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Well, we are officially less than 24 hours away from my 30th birthday.  That’s crazy!  I don’t feel old enough to be 30!  (We all know I don’t act it.)  I have been told that your body doesn’t build new muscles after 30.  I’m not sure I believe that, but I guess I better do a lot of sit-ups and pushups today just in case!  My 20s were great.  I had a blast.  A lot happened in the past decade.  These are just a few of the highlights.

• Did the college thing.  Well, most of the college thing.  For longer than most do the college thing.
• Moved to Texas and solidified the fact that I am not a Texan.
• Became a pastor.
• Bought a Jeep Wrangler.
• Switched from Windows to Mac.  Never looking back.
• Met the girl of my dreams.  Broke up with her.
• Re-met the girl of my dreams.  Got a 2nd chance.
• Married her.
• Moved to California.
• Lived at the beach.
• Had Jessika Kaye James.

Like I said there are many more.  But now I have to start looking forward.  I apparently have to be an adult.  But now that I am about to be over the hill, I will have to come up with new things to accomplish.  I’m thinking things like the following:

• Bingo
• Reading The Newspaper
• Getting confused with this new-fangled cellular phone
• Hip replacement
• Dentures
• Daily Crosswords
• Pick out a headstone and start carving my eugoogoly

That seems like a good list to get started on.  But I think I’ll wait to start on it until after I’ve had my morning coffee and senior citizen discounted grandslam breakfast from Denny’s at 4:15 AM.  So until then I guess I’ll enjoy the last day of my 20s.

PS – for those of you that are planning on calling me on my birthday, please do it earlier in the day.  I will be switching to my new “old man” bedtime of 6:25 PM starting Day 1 as well as adopting my new speed limit so don’t expect me early!

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Change your mind

Last night I had the opportunity to start a tradition with my little girl (and give mommy a break).  I expect we will make this a weekly thing (as it should be!)  As soon as I got home from work, me and the little one took off for a night on the town.  Granted she is only 5 months old so for a while we will be a tad limited on our options for what she will enjoy so for now we walk and talk and bounce and play peek-a-boo and fly and such.  Good times for sure!  Thought you might enjoy a couple pictures from our night at the beach.  (PS – They are all of her.  I’m not good at the self portrait thing.  Plus she is WAY cuter!)

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Change your mind

I heard a requote of a quote (what boils down to a RT of a tweet if you prefer Twitter speak) the other day.  The original quote (as far as I know it was the original) was from Billy Graham several years ago.

It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love.

It just stuck with me all day.  How often do I spend my time trying to do the job of the Holy Spirit and God?  It is not a crazy thing for me to think I need to make them see how they are wrong or have judgmental thoughts or actions towards someone.  What is crazy is that I for some reason act like it is up to me.  Don’t worry, brookjames will let you know when you have screwed up.

I need to take the advice that I believe Billy would give.  It is your job to love.  Love my friends.  Love my enemies.  Love the girl that cut me off for no apparent reason and then flipped me off because she was a bad driver.  Love the waiter that has a terrible attitude and poor service.  Love the homeless guy that sits on the bench downtown with his laptop.  Love them all.

I need God to give me strength to love.  That’s my job.  Maybe I should do my job.

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Change your mind

Remember back in the day when the phonebooks were used for more than booster seats and for the Power Team to rip in two?  When your answering machine message said “sorry I couldn’t get to the phone in time” and it made sense?  Back when Prodigy was the predecessor to AOL?  When the modem was annoying because it took up the phone line AND sounded like demons were trying to escape the 7 levels of hell?  Before Al Gore invented the Internet?  There was no such thing as Facebook, Myspace, online dating, church online or highspeed Internet.  Roadrunner was still the cartoon bird.  Email still had a hyphen in it.  That was then.

Now times have changed.  If you still have AOL people look at you funny.  Most people don’t know what a modem is anymore because of wireless.  Phonebooks are a huge waste of paper, space and time because Google knows all.  You can go to church online.  You can even go to small groups online.  Twitter and Facebook have become the best way to reach someone leaving Email hoping to stay alive.  Times definitely have changed.  Millions of people are using the Internet to find community instead of the old fashion ways.  I read a statistic that said in the past year about 40% of the adult American population use online dating services.  Now you don’t have to bump into someone on accident on the street corner or hit on a girl in the bar or marry someone from your high school.

Recently I had the amazing opportunity to hang out in person with several people from the online community I am a part of.  There were only three people of over 20 that I had ever actually seen in real life before.  I love that it is possible to have real supportive, loving, caring and fun community using the Internet!  I had such an amazing time getting to “meet” so many of my friends.  Yes, there are drawbacks, but they are still there for me.  They are connected with the things going on in my life.

I know there are doubters out there.  I know some people just can’t wrap their minds around having a real relationship with people that are only on the Internet.  Maybe for them that doesn’t work, but I am a firm believer that if you are truly seeking it out, it is there for you.  The other night was proof of that in my own life.

What about you?  Do you have real community online?  What do you use to stay in touch with them?

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Change your mind

One of my all time favorite worship bands is Shane & Shane.  They are a Texas based band and a few of my friends have played with them over the years.  Their tunes are always chalked full of amazing lyrics, many times pulled straight out of the Scriptures.  I have played most all of their songs over the years in one capacity or another although I have never been able to master the super high vocals and turbo strumming!  If you haven’t listened to these guys, check out their Web site now!  This video is of The Answer and it is one of my favorites!

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Change your mind