Beezer & Christmas Gifts

The past couple of days Bryan had been BEGGING to open up his Christmas gifts...during lunch yesterday he said, "Could I open them up at 12:01am, 'cause technically that's Christmas Eve??" Okay...

So last night that's what we did...and he was pumped! He got some new clothes (and yes, he is into the clothes scene and he actually wanted them!)But his last gift was the crème-de-le crème...and we of course sent him on a bit of a scavenger hunt to find it.

It stated with an envelope…”go to the freezer”…another clue, “go to…” you get the idea?? One clue led him to go to his e-mail to find the next one! So after about 6-7 clues and still no “present” the last clue simply said, “Go to your room!”

So Bryan is sitting in his room…the next thing you hear is the Cingular jingle (cell phone!) It’s hidden in a box…he sees the phone and answers it…and I said “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” He didn’t realize that the phone was his! It was awesome! He was completely surprised and we caught part of it on the camera.

I love my son…I love watching his excitement. I’m grateful that this Christmas he is healthy and healed from all the junk that was going on with him last year!

Tonight we’ll go to our Christmas Eve service at church…it’s always a warm service filled with scripture reading and singing. Afterwards we’ll be making the trek back up to the ‘Ville to spend a few days with family.

I LOVE Christmas time! I love every part of it…the lights, sounds, and smells…I love simply being with my family and friends. I love the fact that God loved me so much that He sent His son Jesus so that I could live with Him forever. That story never gets old…it’s my life…it’s the reason why I live. Merry Christmas everybody!

New blogger on the map

If you didn't know, my lovely wife Hollybird has started blogging...you can go here to check it out.


She's pretty awesome! Merry Christmas!

Hollybird's B-day and Holiday Weekend

This past Sunday, December 16th was the day of birth of the LOVE of my life. Holly turned the ripe ole' age of 35. Yep, I "robbed" the cradle just a bit (I'm almost 40). Instead of just one day of celebration, we made it the entire weekend.

Friday night Bryan and I took Bird to Yamamoto (a great hibachi grill). We filled up on veggies, rice, shrimp, chicken, etc. Mmmmmmmmm....

Afterward we braved the Fayette Mall...and you know it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We finished out our Christmas shopping and just enjoyed walking around.

A new tradition that we started several years ago was to go look at the lights at the Kentucky Horse Park. Not only do they have some cool lights, but a petting zoo, some very narley train displays.

One particular train set just mesmerized all of us...it was new to us. It was one of those displays that just made you feel good. We stood there for at least 30-minutes playing "I Spy." Pics are below!

UnChristian

Have you ever read a book that really challenges you...I mean one that shakes you up and causes the beginning of a paradigm shift in your life?? I've finally finished reading UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. I'm not a real fast reader like my wife Holly...it may take me months to get through a book (like this one!). But for some reason while reading this book I found myself doing a lot of cross referencing of scripture passages and reading other articles about certain chapters. I've found myself engaging in conversations with others about the main crux of this book...What a new generation thinks about Christianity.

The next couple of blogs, I'm going to jot down some quotes that really struck me upside my head:

-One obvious reason why Christians acquire a hypocritical image in America...our lives don't match our beliefs. Our lifestyles and perspectives are no different from those of anyone around us.

-Among outsiders (those looking at Christianity from the outside in), 84% say they personally know at least one committed Christian. Yet 15% thought the lifestyles of those Christ followers were significantly different from the norm. This gap speaks volumes.

-Living with integrity starts with being transparent.

-The perception of hypocrisy also emerges when we start fighting the "culture war" - meaning we attack people's behavioral patterns rather than love them as people.

-Young people are also more likely to believe one can live a meaningful life without accepting Jesus Christ.

-We often seem like spiritual headhunters!

Any thoughts?? Anyone else read this book??

Benedict Petrino?

This is the actual letter that Bobby Petrino left in the locker to let his team know that he was leaving. NO CLASS...what a way to leave.

Revenge!

A year ago this weekend, Holly and I awoke from a very refreshing night of sleep, ready to spend the day in celebration of her day of birth. It was a cold Saturday morning; Bryan was with my in-laws, so Holly and I had the entire day for just us.

As a walked into the kitchen I noticed something white whipping around our deck outside...as I looked closer, I saw that we had been TP'd. So then I'm thinking...if that's in the back, there's no telling what the front looks like! I open the front door and my eyes beheld an array of pranking on our new home. At least 20-25 rolls of toilet paper were used...about 150 forks were firmly planted in our yard. Our cars were wrapped tightly as well. Not only was it cold, but it had rained just enough to make everything extra messy! Urrgghhhhhh...I thought to myself.

Being a youth minister for 18 years, I've had my fair share of being pranked and believe me it's a strange way of your youth (or youth leaders!) letting you know how much you are loved. And this particular "trashing" of the house was done very well! My neighbor was dumbfounded as to why people would do such a thing...as I was trying explain everything to him...he did loan me his ladder because I had to get up on my ROOF to take down the TP.

This past Wednesday night I took revenge on one of the culprits...I'd been saving these packing peanuts for about 4 months. Ahhhh it was sweet! I think one of my better "get backs." Kudos to b-rose for being a good sport (you still owe me a pair of shoes...New Balance size 11 please)...thanks to "others" who had helped!

And by the way...Adam, you are next (when you arrive home from serving God overseas...I'm showing you grace for now!)

I'll have some fun with this!

Fellow Star Wars GEEKS...this one is for us! Ever wondered what R2D2 was saying?? Wanna hear your name or for that matter any phrase said by the little 'twerp droid'?

Go here and may the force be with you.

Stoked!

I'm stoked about this movie coming out next year! Anybody have any favorite "quotes" from the previous three??

-"Snakes, why did it have to be snakes."

Million Dollar Talent...Nickel Head!

As you know I'm a big fan of the Louisville Cardinals. I grew up in Louisville and have always been a fan. I try to be a faithful fan through thick and thin...believe me there's been plenty of 'tough' years!

Lots of talented players have come and gone...every now and then you get a player that has incredible God given talent, but totally waste it. Enter in Derrick Character! Rick Pitino has been quoted saying that this guy is one of the most talented players he's ever seen...problem...he's got a nickel head! All because he doesn't want to follow the rules...simple rules like a curfew! The story is here...it's sad and frustrating. Glad to hear that the entire team agrees with the punishment even though it could punish them as a team.

Come on Derrick...get with it!

PS...Michael Vick would get the 20 million dollar talent...nickel head award too!

Dad and Lad Night

Tonight Holly is going to Shelbyville to speak to a womens ministry...so that leaves us men to fin for ourselves tonight. So that means it's going to be a DAD and LAD night.

"Dad and Lad" night/days started back when Bryan was in Kindergarten. He went half days...so every Friday (which is my day off) I would pick him up from school, and we would go doing something together...thus the name 'dad and lad'.

This tradition still carries on today, even with him being eleven. The things we do have changed over the years, but believe me, it's all about the time together. Here are a few things that we've done over the years:
-Gatti Town & video games (LOTS of these!)
-Lowes to look at tools, weed eaters, and lawn mowers
-movies
-restaurants (Moe's, McDonalds, Chinese to name a few)
-Barnes and Noble bookstore (our haven!)
-concerts (last year went to Evansville to see Toby Mac)
-Video game nights at the house
-Dicks Sporting Goods
-Circuit City to look at the tv's and play the video games
-Malls

So tonight we are planning on dinner at Moe's...and then on to Barnes and Noble to look at books and listen to music. We'll probably get something at Starbucks while we are there!

I love Bryan...he brings us much joy in life, just because he's Bryan.

What is up with college football?

DANG!! What a crazy year in college football. It all started with Michigan getting beat by Appy State...throughout the year anyone who was #1 or in the the top ten were getting dinked! USC, Florida, Kentucky beating LS-who?, West Virginia coughing up the Big East title game to Pittsburgh last night. What is in the water on college campuses???

Okay...little trivia...what was the BIGGEST upset this year in college football?? Sorry to say it's not Appalachian State beating Michigan!! SO what is it??

wisdom...

I read several blogs throughout the week...I've got my favorites that I read everyday. There are some that are really inspiring and helpful for me. Here's a recent post from Craig Groeschel, who is the pastor of LifeChurch.tv...pretty profoud I thought:

Let’s review yesterday’s thought:

You are not what you did, what you do, or what you are going to do. You are who Christ says you are.

When you are doing ministry, try to remember:

* What you do is a result of who you are in Christ.
* What you do doesn’t define who you are.
* Don’t confuse the “who” with the “do.”

You are not successful because:

* Your kids’ ministry grew 10% this year.
* Three people got saved last week.
* Your budget increased by 5%.
* The parents of your student ministry like you.
* Your church is bigger this year than this time last year.

You are successful because of who you are in Christ. You please God by obeying him, not performing up to your personal expectations.

Are you doing ministry to get worth, feel successful or to find your identity? Or are you doing ministry to please, to resemble, to delight in Christ and bring people to Him?

I need to be reminded so many times about who I am in Christ. It's sad, but sometimes in the "church" world, you can lose focus on why you serve. I really struggle with some of the present day church success indicators...and with people who really believe in them. They really fire me up!

Savor the Holidays

Had a great Thanksgiving holiday with my family. As always I stuffed myself and swore I wouldn't eat for a week, only to have dinner three hours later. We spent some time that night playing rummy. Now you have to understand that we take our rummy very serious...we even have a trophy that the winner keeps until we get together for another "sanctioned" game. My lovely wife Holly has recently started blogging, you can go here to check out some specifics of our rummy.

So now it's officially the Christmas season...and I love it! Every year I try to really savor every moment of the holiday and not wish it away. I'm not a huge fan of shopping in a crowded mall, but I sure do enjoy it around during Christmas time...even if I am just window shopping. I want to savor all the people that we'll be with...savor all the different celebrations...savor all the times of worship that we'll experience here at our church...and I especially want to savor time with Holly and Bryan.

Make sure you do the same! Savor the Holidays...it's all about Jesus.

T-day is coming

Tomorrow morning we'll pack up the truck and head to the Ville for some Thanksgiving time with my family. It's a long time tradition to have T-Day celebration at my mom's house, we've been doing it for years. Sadly, this is the last one that we will share in her present home. Mom along with my sis and her family have been building a new home and should be moving in sometime soon. So this will be the last T-day at 3816 Baymeadow Dr. (that's kinda sad to think about!)

Here's the low down of the day tomorrow:
-Eat breakfast with Holly's parents in Lexington (Cracker Barrel)
-Go to Louisville
-Catch up with all my uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.
-Eat gobs of food
-Watch some football
-Eat more food
-Play some guitar with uncles and cousins (bluegrass??)
-Eat more food
-Play our annual rummy game (we're playing for the mouse!)
-Eat food while we are playing!
-Go to bed...

Tough day I know...but I'll do my best to survive!

Saturday, Christmas Trees and Ollies

I love Saturdays like today. Holly and I had a breakfast date together at Cracker Barrel, we then traveled over to Winchester to drop off 'da deer' to get him all processed so we could start snacking on him. We got home and decided to put the Christmas tree up and we got an early start. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas...the whole back-to-back holiday celebration is something I have always loved...just some really great family time, reflecting on the past year, etc.

Here in about 30 minutes we are going to watch the Cards play some football...South Florida, at South Florida...it could be really ugly!

By the way our son Bryan has been shredding up the skateboard stuff...notice I'm using some of the hip skateboarding lingo! (I still got it in me!) After he got his cast off several weeks ago, he's been non-stop on his board. Here are a few pics that we took tonight...I love my son...he's pretty awesome.

Successful Hunt

This past Saturday morning, we (my hunting buds) woke up at 5am and got ready for opening day of the modern rifle deer season. Dang, that's early, but it's almost like the night before Christmas as a kid...you can't sleep, it consumes your thoughts, you can't wait until the morning, know what I mean?

I got into my stand about 6:25am, it was dark and very still. I love watching the woods come to life when I go hunting, it's really a spectacular thing. I'd been in the stand for maybe an hour or so and I turned to my left, and I saw this buck heading my way. I've been hunting for almost 10 years now and in all those years I have shot 2 deer. My first deer was a spike buck...little guy, but a buck. Two years ago I got a small nine pointer...a pretty small rack, but hey it's a nine pointer. As I looked through my scope on Saturday I saw that the buck coming my way was a pretty decent size. As this buck was headed my way, I found my heart was pounding something fierce...it was like my heart was in my throat! I pulled the safety off, waited until the deer was in a clearing...and BAM!! The deer was harvested.

**The official term for killing a deer is to "harvest" a deer...I find that funny. Some other alternative terms...to 'bag' a buck, to 'cap' a deer, to 'lay a deer down', to 'smoke' a deer...I think any of those terms are better than 'harvest.'

So it was officially an eight point buck...I'm having him mounted at a local taxidermist (talk about a creepy looking place!)...I ought to have it sometime in January.

We had a great time...I'd call our camping experience "semi-roughing it". As you can see in some of the pics, the old bus we stay in is kinda cozy! We didn't see many more deer after Saturday...deer are smart and know when they are being hunted. So it's kinda like a waiting game...got to be consistent in the hunt! I came home on Tuesday morning, the rest of the guys continued to hunt and my father-in-law called last night and said one of the other guys 'harvested' an eight pointer as well. Until next year!!

to the hunt!

I'm preparing to hit the road this morning and head towards the western part of the state. My first stop will be at Hillvue Heights in Bowling Green. There I'll be hanging out with a dear ole friend Jamie Ward...just spending some time picking his brain a bit. Jamie is on staff there at Hillvue...their church is doing some really innovated ideas to reach people for Christ. I've been looking forward to getting up with him and again, just picking his brain.

Tonight I'll be watching the UL / West Virginia game...ought to be a doozy! It's in Morgantown, so that alone will be tough. The Cards are coming off a bye week, so hopefully they'll be fresh and pumped. After the Cards beat WVA last year, I'm sure they'll be out for some blood.

Friday morning officially begins some off time...more important it's about some serious deer hunting. I'll be with my father-n-law and a handful of other fellas. It's nothing but hunting, eating, playing cards...in that order for about 5-6 days. I hope I can bag a monstrous BUCK. That's always the plan...if I don't see any bucks by Tuesday...look out Bambi!

No blogging will occur until I return...I'll try to take some pics so you can capture the moment with me while sitting in a tree stand.

UnChristian

I'm about middle way through Dan Kinnaman's book unchristian. Dan is the president of The Barna Group, they are the George Gallup in the Church arena. I blogged several weeks ago when this book first hit the shelves...I picked up a copy at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. One of the sessions that I attended was Dan and several others who contributed to this book lead a panel discussion about the premise of UnChristian.

The ideal behind the book and research is what a this generation really thinks about Christianity...and let me tell you from what I've read, we better listen up, because we, the church, need to address this in some form or fashion.

Kinnaman has researched and looked at several key words and phrases that people use to describe present-day Christianity. One of those words is HYPOCRITICAL (saying one thing, doing another) Here's a quote that really struck me hard in the "hypocritical" chapter...of the pool of unchristian people polled:

"84% say they personally know at least one committed Christian. Yet just 15% thought the lifestyles of those Christ followers were significantly different from the norm. This gap speaks volumes."

Dang, that hurts!

"I am not trying to hammer born-again believers; it deeply troubles me that our witness - including my own - waters down the image of Jesus."

That perception smacks me upside my head! It challenges me...Jesus sums it all up when it comes to this idea of hypocrisy.

"Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are filthy - full of greed and self-indulgence." Matthew 23

I'd encourage anyone who is a follower of Christ to pick this book up and read it...then react.

Good weekend...good friends

This past weekend some very dear friends to my family came up from Chattanooga...Geron, Lydia and Cora. We've known the Browns for about 8 years now...we were all members at FBC together, Lydia played piano...Geron was on staff with us at FBC as an intern (the Intern of all Interns!) Just good ole friends!

We didn't have a real set agenda, just hung out...some good late night conversations, dined at a couple good restaurants (You can't come to Richmond without eating at Casa Cafe'), and played some cards. And not just any card game...I'm talking some 'Hand n Foot' A great game they taught us some time ago...usually we play guys vs gals...they (the gals) KILLED us on Friday night, but we sought our revenge on Saturday night.

Geron and I spent some time tweaking the blog site. He's a computer savvy kind of a guy...so we took some pics...toasted them up on Photoshop, and made some changes. By the way the sunset pic was taken from the front of our house...we've got a great view out here!

We are blessed to have good buds like the Browns...always a good time when we get together...let's get together soon guys!

a new look

going for a new look...i'll share more later

Trunk or Treat

Last night our church hosted a "trunk-n-treat" for kiddos in our community. Bunches and bunches of kids came through...ministerially speaking at least 1200! Kids were racking up on the candy without having to walk fifty miles in the neighborhoods.

Bryan did some trick-or-treating on Tuesday night (that's when us richmond folk celebrate halloween...Oct. 30th...didn't get that decision from our city council) he brought home all kinds of good stuff. I reminisced back to my younger days of hitting the neighborhoods with friends...and then I found this picture...this was so me after a night of trick-or-treating! I was a bit of a neat freak/gotta have order about certain things in life...this was one of them.

Life Lesson from my parents...

Growing up I've had many "life lessons" from my parents...some were learned the easy way, others the hard way.

One lesson I distinctly remember was never to play with matches...this just came through the headlines in the news...I am bummin' for this kid.

Good game on Saturday & random stuff...

-Saturday's UofL game was a good one...they beat Pittsburgh 23-13. Holly and I scored two tickets to the game...drove up Friday night and spent the night with mom. She made some of her famous chili for dinner and then we played some rummy.

-PERFECT football weather on Saturday...kinda cold with a slight breeze every-now-and-then. I LOVE the atmosphere of a college football game...it's kinda hard to describe if you've never been. You just feel so part of the game! We're hoping to go to the Louiville / Rutgers game after Thanksgiving.

-Friday morning myself and four other buddies went to Old Silo to play some golf. What a great time we had...started off with some breakfast at good ole Cracker Barrel. Old Silo is a tough course, last time I played it...it ate my lunch. On Friday, it ate my lunch and dinner!

-However, the highlight of the day was playing with a good friend who just got back from Iraq. I cannot imagine being gone from my family for 15 months and then to come home and pick things up where you left. Believe me the golf was secondary...it was just good to have our friend Marty home...back in the US and safe. Thanks Marty for serving the way you did! Let's play some more golf soon...on second thought...how about Frisbee golf instead?

-The hunting season is just around the corner...and I am getting stoked! Six days of being in the woods...hunting all day, eating and playing cards at night. Not a bad way to spend a week! I've been getting myself pumped up by watching some of my hunting DVD's. These things crack me up, but they do get me stoked! I'll make sure and take some pics while in the tree stand, so you can feel excited.

Be prayer warriors for us...

Some exciting news within the Prosser household...for sometime now we have talked and prayed about adoption. We have talked and waited for the right timing...we knew that we wanted to wait until Bryan was 100% healthy...and now that he is, we are ready to TAKE THE LEAP OF FAITH!

Tonight Holly and I had a meeting with an adoption agency in Danville, we wanted to sit and talk out some questions...and hear some wisdom. So now we are taking the first steps into the world of adoption. We are excited and stoked about what lies ahead...so I wanted to ask that you pray along with us in that everything will begin to come to fruition.

Fair Catch!!

fair catch:
when a kick returner decides only to catch a punt or kickoff and not advance it, protecting himself from being hit by an opponent; he signals for a fair catch by raising one hand in the air and waving it.

If you watched the Louisville / UCONN game on Friday night, you saw TWO HORRIBLE blown calls by the referees. One of those calls was where UL was kicking off to UCONN...the receiver CLEARLY calls for a fair catch...the Louisville defense eases up because of the fair catch, but the receiver begins to run down the sideline all the way in for a touchdown.

For some reason the play could not be reviewed, because fair catches can't be reviewed...that's STUPID...anyhow, the Cards lost another tough game. That makes them 4-4 with a huge game against Pittsburgh next Saturday.

Ughhhhhh....I love college football, but I can't stand a blatant lousy call...oh well Go Cards...I'm still loyal!

random-ness

-Crazy weather here...it's mid-October and it's been like 80 degrees. I'm a 'summer time' guy, but this is ridiculous...I'm even ready for some cooler weather.

-Bryan got his cast off this past Monday. His arm didn't look all that bad after being wrapped up for almost five weeks. The doc said he still needs to take it easy on any heavy activity for at least three more weeks.

-What is going on in the world of college football?? Everyone is getting beat! Anybody see South Florida get knocked off by Rutgers? This gives my Cards a chance at the Big East title...if they win out from here.

-This Sunday I'll be leading our college Bible study. In my new role, this ministry is one of my new responsibilities...and I'm really stoked about teaching again. We've taken a different approach to trying to meet our college students needs. We encourage them to sleep in on Sunday's...come to our 11am worship...following that we have lunch and a time of bible study with them. So not a bad deal!

-I'm still 'transitioning' into my new role at FBC...still working behind-the-scenes with our youth ministry. We've got a youth interim, whose doing an outstanding job, while our search team had been looking. Keep on praying for our search team...they've received about 100 resumes so far! But I'm really enjoying a wide variety of areas of ministry in this new role...I'm definitely being stretched spiritually.

-Been reading some really good books lately...I'll blog about one in particular sometime soon. It's pretty eye opening for anyone who is a follower of Christ. The book is called "UnChristian"...I just started it, so I'll share some thoughts about it soon.

-It's been a long, but good week. I'm really looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow (my day off) will consist of the following:
*Coffee and newspaper at Starbucks (after dropping Bryan off at school)
*Driving range...gotta work on the short game a bit (if it doesn't rain)
*Work in the yard...planting some grass seed! (if it doesn't rain!)
*Play some guitar hero with B
*Watch the Cards vs UCONN at 8pm (espn!)

Top five list...

Last week as Bryan I were driving home from somewhere...he asked me, "Alright dad...what's your top five favorite songs of all time, in no particular order" (he actually said that too!) So after much thought we both shared our songs and who performed them. Here's my top five (in no particular order!)

1. "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds (This is song came out in 80's...it was featured in the movie "The Breakfast Club." The song just takes me back to highschool.)

2. "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 (I'm a huge fan...incredible experience to see them perform this live back in 1987 at Rupp...gives you goose bumps. And...I remember some great memories back in the college days, of my good buddy Alan Creech and I traveling on Old Richmond Road cranking this song up as loud as his stereo could handle...I think that was in the blue Honda Accord?? is that right Alan??)

3. "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel (again, featured in the movie with John Cusack, Say Anything"...remember him holding up the 'jam box' over his head in front of the girls house??)

4. "Jesus Freak" by dcTalk (just a stinking rockin' song that spells it out)

5. "Sweet Home Alabama" by Skinny Lynrd, I mean Lynyrd Skynyrd (in my book one of the best 'crank it up loud while you are driving' songs EVER!)

Okay what are your top five favorite songs of ALL times? Share them with everyone...and remember, in no particular order (my son cracks me up!)