Check it off the list.  Holy cow, we played The Opry at The Ryman last night!  And got a standing ‘O’ at the end.  There are no words.

-bart

Owen has arrived weighing 8lbs 2oz, 20 1/4″ long. Mommy and Owen are doing great. His older brother and sister are absolutely in love with him! What a great gift! Merry Christmas!
Nathan

This one is a doozy.  While recording “Coming Up To Breathe”, I had a song idea that I was especially fond of. The band was not too fond of the original idea, and looking back, I can see why.  However, while working at the studio one night, Barry saw a vision of hope within my poor little song, so we finished the song together at about 4 in the morning.  

The good news: The song turned out better than I could have ever dreamed, and we were able to record it with the London Symphony.

The bad news: it still did not make the record. It was merely an exclusive track whenever you purchased “Coming Up To Breathe” from a certain retail chain. I still love the song, and think we should have put it on the album. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Before (1)

Before (2)

After

For my contribution to “The 40 Day Fast” at InspiredToAction.com, I’d like to take another minute to talk about Imagine A Cure and JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).

One of the hardest things I have ever gone through was when my oldest son, Sam, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of two. I will never forget the day the doctor told me that my son had an incurable disease. My heart broke into a million pieces. Nothing hurts greater than when something happens to your family. I have never felt so helpless than when my son wants me to “fix” it, and all I can do is hold him and say, “I’m sorry”. Or at least I thought that was all I could do.

We have since started an organization called “Imagine A Cure” and it is my greatest desire to find a cure for my son. “Imagine A Cure” financially supports cutting edge organizations like JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) who are determined to work themselves out of a job by finding a cure. Not only are we trying to make a difference financially, but more importantly we are trying to make a difference through prayer, and we need your help. If you are able to give financially then praise God, but all of my fellow believers can pray. And that is exactly what I am asking you to do.

Pray for the hearts and minds of the scientist and doctors trying to find a cure. Pray for everyone who is experiencing this terrible disease first hand. Pray that God find greater glory through a cure. And, at the risk of sounding selfish, pray for my family. Pray for Mommy and Daddy to be patient with this “new normal.” Pray for Sam’s health. And more than anything else pray that, regardless of a cure, God be glorified through Sam’s life.

Last week I mentioned that Sam was entered in a contest to raise money for JDRF by designing the paint job for a racecar. First off thank you so much for those that have helped with Sam’s car. Your giving has left my family in awe. Also let me say that all of your messages you have left for Sam has kept me in tears. My wife has printed out every one of them knowing it is something Sam will appreciate for years to come.

All of this to say, we are so close! The top 5 cars go to Ford for them to pick the final design. As I am typing this, Sam is in 6th place. Winning the chance to be on a racecar is pretty cool, but watching the donations go up all across the board is extremely exciting! THE RACE IS ON!!!!  The contest goes until July 31st so there is still time to donate.

Regardless who wins the car design, everyone with juvenile diabetes is winning as we raise more and more money for a cure! So please, please, please consider giving for this cause today. I have said it before, and I will say it again, my greatest desire is to find a cure for my son, so forgive me for asking for your support once more, but I have a pretty good feeling that you understand.

Click on this link to help. Thank you and God bless.

-bart

Alright SLOB’s here’s the deal.  We need your help.  See that right there?  That is a terrible SLOB logo.  After all this is the “Spectacular League Of Bloggers” right?  We need something epic.  Something that says, “we are a force to be reckoned with”.  ”We are SLOBS”.

Now we know that there are plenty of talented people out there in SLOB-land so we are coming to you.  Help us design the SLOB logo.  You have been asking for shirts, but without a logo we can’t have shirts.  

So this is your challenge.  Design a “Spectacular League Of Bloggers” logo and send it to imaslob@mercyme.org.  We will take a look at all of the submissions and depending on how many we get we will choose, and put a handful of them on the blog for you all to vote on.  Make sense?  

Send your “SLOB” designs to imaslob@mercyme.org and be the one to design our official SLOB logo.

-mm

Ok the response from the pet peeve blog was awesome, so let’s keep it going. Now let us discuss our most embarassing moments. Now I am not talking about those sort of embarassing moments…no I mean those times that quite possibly alter your life. By all means let me go first!

It was my sophomore year in high school and I had just gotten my driver’s license. I was sporting a 1984 UPS brown ford escort. Needless to say…I was awesome! Well there was this girl I wanted to ask out on a date, and I finally got the nerve to do it. She said yes! Everything was going according to plan. I was not very creative so all we did was go to dinner and a movie. Dinner went fine but during the movie, things started to fall apart.

For some reason, there is this universal law that says all boys will get upset stomachs during very important dates. Man about halfway through the movie, my stomach started churning. It was so bad that I cannot even recall what movie we saw, but I do remember it feeling like 4 hours long! I got up to go the bathroom only to find out that, halfway through the late show they close the whole theater down. NO BATHROOM! Seriously, who closes the bathroom down before the movie is over? Concession stand sure, but the bathroom too?!? Welcome to Greenville,Texas. So I had to muscle through ’til the end of the movie. All I needed to do was release a little pressure if you know what I mean. Thank the Lord the movie finally ends, and they have the velvet rope that corrals us out to the parking lot.

Now’s my chance! I will simply be the gentleman and walk behind her and gradually let off a little “steam” but I can’t!!! There are too many people around, they will for sure know it was me. But being the genius that I was, I had an even better plan. I will be the ultimate gentleman and open the car door for her and take my time walking around the car doing my business. Perfect! So I let her in the car with a smile, closed the door and it was on like donkey kong!

I had so much gas I never thought it would stop! I closed her door, bent over to brush my slacks while letting it rip, kicked the tires while letting it rip, walked around to the back of the car while letting it rip, pretended to wave at friends while letting it rip and finally got to my side of the car…while letting it rip of course. Now friends and neighbors, please understand that Greenville was a place where we did not concern ourselves with locking our car doors or even rolling up our car windows. Surely you know where I am going with this.

I got in the car with a huge grin and the feeling of accomplishment only to find my date frozen in awe with her window down. DID SHE HEAR EVERYTHING?!? Not only did she hear it, but she got a front row seat.

Remember when I bent over to brush my slacks while letting it rip? That was right at her window with my back to her. It could have burned off those late ’80’s high bangs she was sporting. I did not know what to do! Was I supposed to pretend it didn’t happen? Was I supposed to saying something? Well she wasn’t saying anything, but I had to know if the window was down the whole time. So I softly asked, “Was that…” only to be interupted with a resounding, “Oh yeah it was down.” I drove her home in deafening silence. Needless to say there was not a second date…probably best. Lord knows what body functions would have shut down then.

Ok there ya go! I hope I did not cross a line with my…uh…gas. But hey I am only human. So let me here your worst moments, so I don’t feel alone like I am right now. Good luck, and God speed.

bart

“Dear God, please make the Texas Rangers good.

Amen.”

“…. but God, I do like my seats.

Amen….again”