Why Am I Not Tired

I've been up since 3 A.M.

I think I've slept 5 hours in the last 3 days.

The new Hillsongs album kicks my butt.

Speaking of Hillsongs....I'm back from the Philippines and I'm 30. I was taking a survey online today for Nooma and when it came to age I had to check 30's and I thought wow.

Anyway, the Philippines was a really great trip. I will not lie, it was not my favorite ever. However it taught me a lot, it was a lot of fun, the guys were awesome, it was cool to celebrate my birthday in a different way--in fact I'd been up for quite a while and it wasn't unitl Wilson told me happy birthday that I realized it was. That's wierd. No mid life crisis here.

I read a great book called Ghost Soldiers, the latest Harry Potter book, and almost finished My Life by Clinton. Quite a wierd collection but good nonetheless.

Other randoms of the trip. I preached both sunday's once in a house church of 17 and the next week in a church of 800. I had the best calamari of my life, the finest steak of my life, laughed till it hurt, saw some stuff I'll never forget and realized how blessed I am to have a job where I can have email and phone conversations with my family whenever.

So all in all it was a great trip. I can't say there was some huge insight God taught to only me that you need to hear that will change you forever. I just think it was good for me. I learned a lot about missions, philosophy of those things and my leadership and it was really good. In an amazing act, I actually have pictures. I'll try to post some when I can.

ESPN and Christ and Church

In my ever ongoing mission of explaining to the world why ESPN is not only amazing but also important to civilization, I came across a facinating interview on the radio last night as I was driving home. The interview was on the Dan Patrick show and the guest was Michael Irvin, a former wide reciever for the Dallas Cowboys. The discussion was on steroids and human growth hormones (HGH).

Quick background: Michael Irvin was a great player but also a cocaine addict. He's different now I guess, very outspoken, arrogant would be an understatement and I guess somewhere in there is a little theology or something.

Basically the discussion was on how these professional athletes today are taking "legal" drugs to succeed. Anything from roids to creatine to HGH to uppers to anti-inflamatory stuff to whatever. Finally, after much discussion on the ethics of it all (if they don't test for it and you do it and "cheat" is it wrong?) DP asked the question that shocked me.

DP: So Michael, if you had to do it over again and you were a 23 year old kid out of college, would you rather have a long mediocre at best career, more of the starving artist type, or would you rather use substances and have a standout career, make a ton of money but be dead at 27?

MI: Be marginal or make a ton of money for my family and be dead at 27?

DP: Yeah, long life or money and early death.

MI: Dead at 27.

DP: Really?

MI: Yeah, I mean not to push some theology or something on you but the Bible says that we're supposed to love our family and provide for them like Christ loves the church. My Bible says Christ died for the church to provide for it so I'd be dead at 27 so my family could have a nice lifestyle rather than force them to starve with me for many, many years.

Regardless of your opinion of sports/ESPN/God, I'm hoping the rough relay of the interview at least causes you to think for a bit. I've tried to figure out how I would have responded to Irvin's answer. Of course I'm a selfish only child too. So in addition to the worthless sports stats and anecdotes I memorized on my drive home I was left with a facinating question and an even more facinating answer. Happy thinking.

P.S. I killed a squirrel driving to the office today. On purpose. I wonder if he was 27...

The White Picket Fence and Everything

So today (the day after my lovely wife's birthday) was the big day. We loaded up in the car, headed to the doctors office and with much excitement awaited the news of what our new little one will be. Carter has fluxuated back and forth between a boy or a girl but always the same name-Josh. First the important news, everything looks good, baby is growing and everything is healthy. Due date is still late January which gives us a little over 4 months to decide on a name for our little girl! Yep, we would have been happy either way but we are certainly very, very happy!

I can't say it came as much of a suprise for us. We were pretty convined, however you're always a little nervous. Fortunately the tech only asked Carter what he wanted (today he wanted a boy). You play the mind games of being happy no matter what etc but deep down we were both praying there would be an invasion of pink after the first of the year. So now one list of names is out the window--probably good since nobody spent much time thinking about them anyway.

So late January will be the first girl Gilchrist born to my family in 3 generations. It will also signal the first Gilchrist family with more than one child in 3 generations. And it means we have to buy new everything. Something tells me that part will be a little exciting for the beautiful woman who's lived with 2 boys and a boy dog for the past 3+ years. Now if only she could find some folks who could help her shop.......