Dacing with the STARS!!

Did you miss this one??

Jeff

So my Brother was on leave this weekend. He flew in at 2am on Saturday morning. Saturday night we had a cookout at Moms and then on Sunday my Dad, brother, and I went out to lunch and to the movies together.
This was the only quick picture I got of him this weekend. He was actually getting ready to leave to go back to base and then he's going to Afghanistan in 2 weeks. He will be in Afghanistan while Sarah and I get married. Originally we pushed the wedding back so that he could be the Best Man. Then his deployment was pushed back even further past the wedding again. I talked with him this weekend and we are having our wedding on April 18th, and he will remain the best man even though he won't be there.
I'm glad I got to spend time with him this weekend. I know that it will be probably another 6-8 months before I get to see him again.


If you have any family or friends in the military now.. let us know.

-Patrick Bell

Letter from Honduras

I received a letter from Mavericks Dad in the mail this week. Maverick is a child that I'm sponsoring through Compassion International. The picture is some of Mavericks artwork that was done on the back of his Dad's letter. His Dad told me that Maverick is having so much fun in school and that Maverick just got back from a short camping trip with one of his classes.
This little guy is awesome and I can't wait to send him a something soon.

To visit the first post about Maverick go here.

Do you sponsor a child? Tell us

-Patrick John

I need a Break!!

So lots of stuff has gone down, is going down, and will go down within the present few weeks.
1. Ever present stress with the numerous group projects for school
2. Last night Sarah left her purse at subway. We went back to get it and found out that some other woman had already been there to pick it up. We are guessing that she saw someone give the subway worker a purse that they found and decided that she could claim it later.. It worked. She made some purchases before we were able to cancel all the cards. (see Sarah's blog for more)
3. Huge group presentation in front of a possible 500 people tomorrow night.
4. Struggling to maintain my focus and prayer to God in the middle of everything.

If you pray.... remember me please... Thanks

-Patrick John

Give me something to pray about.

Metro Live!!

Ok so those who know me know that I used to play in a worship band for a College ministry called Metro Cross Seekers. Well my good friend Gerald Malloy, who is the worship leader, has made it possible to watch Metro Live! So, every Wednesday night at 8:30 you can watch.
Just go here to www.mogulus.com/themindofmalloy
You MUST go and check it out!

-Patrick Bell

"The Exodus is about the oppressed-slaves-being rescued. Less than two hundred years ago in our country, people in churches owned slaves. Exodus would have been an awkward story to tell in those settings, because after all, the Pharoah character is the bad guy. Needy people talk about Exodus. Jesus said it. It’s hard to enter the kingdom of heaven when you’re content with the kingdom you already have. If we aren’t talking about Exodus it’s because we aren’t looking for one." - Rob Bell

Read the rest of the article HERE ....

Do you talk about Exodus? Should we be talking about it? Are you too content with your own kingdom?

What does this part mean to you?

-Patrick John

Chuck

Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability. Shortly after the transaction was finalized, Chuck roundhouse-kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn't stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month.

Chuck fact I read today.. it made me laugh

-Patrick John

Something Fresh

David Berkeley.
I've been listening to his music for a few weeks..
You can check out more of his stuff at www.davidberkeley.com

Book - The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point is a book that I have finished for one of my classes. The Author is Malcolm Gladwell. If you're someone who is always trying to do things that impact your community, trying to evoke change, start trends, or even just getting a word out, this is an awesome read. The Tipping Point focuses and explains those key elements, the tipping points, that turn small things into HUGE things. Learn and Apply.

-Patrick John

Antoine Dofour

I play guitar and love watching others create on the guitar. This guy is pretty sweet awesome if you ask me. I've watched this video probably 30 times over the past few years. You can check out Candy Rat Records @ www.candyrat.com for more of his music.

-Patrick John

Friday Night!!

Sarah and I spent almost 4 hours in bed bath and beyond! Normally that would have killed me, but we were registering for the wedding and for some reason picking out gifts didn't bother me that much. I was actually surprised how helpful the staff were.
We were told to have between 250-300 items on our list. After almost 4 hours.. we had 29. Why only 29 items? ... I have a problem choosing an item when I have a choice of many similar items. But for me, that only applies to food. I'm always the last one to order at the restaurant, I spend 15 minutes in the gas station trying to decide what kind of snack I want, and people hate being behind me at vending machines. Sarah is pretty quick at choosing food because she always picks the same thing every time. BUT, when it comes to things like silverware or shower curtains... Sarah takes HOURS. She usually doesn't know exactly what she likes or wants until I give my opinion. I hardly ever make the final choice, but I choose a few things that I like and Sarah will pick from those, unless she finds something she absolutely loves.. then there's no stopping her. Overall, Sarah and I had a fun night.
We also saw Ghost Town at Regal.... Good Movie

-Patrick John

They said WHAT?!

Ok, so I'm sure many of us watched the Vice Presidential Debate last night. We all heard a lot of big numbers and voting records all thrown around and I think I have a website that can help sort it all out. FactCheck.org seems to be a pretty good source of info that critically checks everything the VP nominies have said. They also have a great list of sources that you can check yourself if you want to learn more. So go find out the facts!

www.factcheck.org

-Patrick John

Thursday Morning Thoughts

purpose |ˈpərpəs|
noun

• the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists
  

• a person's sense of resolve or determination

Purpose is the cognitive awareness in cause and effect linking for achieving a goal in a given system, whether human or machine. Its most general sense is the anticipated result which guides decision making in choosing appropriate actions within a range of strategies in the process (a conceptual scheme) based on varying degrees of ambiguity about the knowledge that creates the contextualisation for the action. Purpose serves to change the state of conditions in a given environment, usually to one with a perceived better set of conditions or parameters from the previous state. This change is the motivation that serves the locus of control and goal orientation. - Taken from Wikipedia. Rest of the article here


This Thursday, what is your purpose? When you wake up in the morning, what is your purpose? What do you see as the overall purpose of life? Are you motivated?

Great question to ask yourself once in a while. You can use it on any scale. What is my purpose in life, work, my relationships, friends, kids, at the gym... pretty much anything you do.

Tell us your purpose as you see it.

In order to reach our goals, there MUST be ACTION.

ARE YOU HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?

Bored @ Work

So I got to work pretty early today. I couldn't clock in yet and I was alone in the phone room so guess what..... Photo Shoot!!

Which one do you like best?

- Patrick John

Do I know you?

If anyone checking out my blog does not know me personally, why don't you leave a comment and let me know who you are. Let me know if you have your own blogs or websites that I can check out myself.

Go Comment HERE

-Patrick John