Almost Here - UFC 86

We are 5 nights away from what could be the fight of the year, UFC 86, Quniton "Rampage" Jackson Vs. Forrest Griffin. This is going to be a battle and I believe that many people will be very surprised by the outcome.

Watching these two on this season TUF was a real treat. Seeing these guy's personalities outside the octagon makes me even more excited for this fight. These two are very equally matched with Forrest holding a 2" height advantage. Jackson comes into the fight as the UFC Light Heavyweight (205 lbs) Champion with a record of 27-6. Griffin comes into the fight with a record of 15-4.

The rest of the card is as follows,

Patrick "The Predator" Cote (13-4-0) Vs. Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida (9-2-0)

Joe "Daddy" Stevenson (33-8-0) Vs. Gleison Tibau (27-4-0)

Josh "Kos" Koscheck (13-2-0) Vs. Chris "Lights Out" Lytle (35-15-4)

Tyson Griffin (11-1-0) Vs. Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio (14-5-0)

Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga (8-3-0) Vs. Justin "The Insane 1" McCully (8-3-2)

Jorge Gurgel (16-3-0) Vs. Cole "Magrino" Miller (13-3-0)

Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard (39-8-3) Vs. Dennis Siver (11-5-0)

Corey "The Real Deal" Hill (2-0-0) Vs. Justin Buchholz (8-2-0)

So who are your picks to win the fights? Who will have the Fight/Knockout/Submission of the night? Post your predictions in the comments. I will be posting my predictions along with Will's (If he makes any) by Friday night.

Also, if anyone reading this is in the Metro Atlanta area on Saturday night, come out and join Me, Will, a bunch of our friends and all of our wives at the Buffalo Wild Wings at Stonecrest mall.

So lets hear those predictions!

RagamuffinTop Slacker

I am a slacker. I am well aware of this aspect of myself. I will come right out and admit that the last two weeks I have done a great job at finding other things to keep me busy instead of my workouts. But all is not bad. Faith and I have made a commitment to eat healthier and we have been able to stick to that pretty well. Groceries have become more of an expense due to us purchasing more fresh fruits, veggies, and meats instead of living on processed foods.

So after two weeks of being a slacker, here I am calling myself out. Can I get back on the wagon? We will have to see.

Where are you a slacker?

Boy am I tired

I am really dragging tail today. Oh well, I guess thats what happens when you are at the church with your friends doing the things you love until 2am. What were we doing? You will have to wait till Sunday to see. But I will say that I am very proud of everyone who was there yesterday. We all learned together, we worshiped together, we had fun together. It was an awesome night.

Know Sweat

I might just be insane.

As some of my readers may know, I was the middle school boys youth sponsor for Ignite Student Ministry last year. Working with theses boys was an awesome although sometimes very challenging experience. They are all great kids and I have really missed them since I made the choice to step down as their sponsor at the beginning of my school year. We attended the Believe conference at the Gwinnett Civic Center in 2007 and just had a great time and we all really bonded. Later that year the kids all attended Know Sweat, a middle school retreat that focuses on being a Godly servant to those in need. Due to work, I was not able to make this trip and I heard that I really missed out on a great time. Well, I am making up for it this year.

Tonight I committed to attending Know Sweat in Memphis TN with 18 middle schoolers. I may have lost my mind, but honestly I am really looking forward to a week with these kids. I can't wait to get to know the kids that are new since my departure and to get reacquainted with the ones I already know. But more so, I cannot wait to be a part of what God is going to do through this program. I can't wait to help teach these kids about being servants for God, but more so, I know that they have a few lessons to teach me.

Bad Day!

It's been a bad day. A REAL bad day. I spent all day with mom at the hospital, I didn't go to the gym, and I ate bad, bad, food. On top of it all, there are some legal issues coming up. I am struggling today. I am angry, I feel it stirring inside me. I need to pray.

What a Sunday!

What an amazing Sunday! I was really worried about how things were going to come off today, but God moved in amazing ways and I got to witness it all.

Worship this morning was top notch. Jay and Jake put together a great service and it was very inspiring. The band sounded great, and for one of the first times, I was really able to put aside all my distractions and worship. It was great.

I preached my first sermon at Central and from what I hear, it was good. I was a little concerned with my delivery and me knowing my message well enough but I got a lot of very positive remarks from many people that I have never even spoken with before, and others whose opinions I value deeply. All in all, it was a great experience. I never felt so much like I was following God's path for me as when I was preaching this morning. Hopefully the opportunity will come around again sometime soon.

This evening Faith and I attended Buckhead Church's 6 PM service. It was great as usual. The more I attend there, the more I start to notice little things that they do that really sets them apart from other churches. And these are not things that require a million dollar budget.

After we got home, I was standing outside talking to my neighbor. In an unexpected moment, he showed me that God is acting in my life and when I just have faith, He makes a way for things to work out. God is truly amazing.

I really hope all of you out there had a Sunday that was as awesome and God-touched as mine.

RagamuffinTop Challenge Week 1 Results

Today completes my first week in the RagamuffinTop Challenge and so far I am happy with the results. After weighing in last week on a questionable scale at 300 lbs, I weigh in today at 293.5 lbs on a brand new digital scale.

A weight loss of 6.5 pounds by my best guess. Not to bad given that I have not been great this week. I have been to the gym 3 times and have focused heavily on upper body after doing my Andy Stanley Cardio (I go on the treadmill or cross trainer as hard as I can for the duration of an Andy sermon). Food wise, this week has been horrible. 2 Braves games = 1 Chick-Fil-A sandwich, 2 hamburgers (homemade), 2 hot dogs (from home also) and 2 cokes. Other than that, I have eaten at home every day, Not the healthiest food, but its what we have here. some changes will be made on the next shopping trip. Well on to week 2. I want to lose a minimum of 3 pounds but I would really like to get to 290 lbs. Here we go.

Its the weekend

I have been a little light on blogging this week, all I can say is that it has been busy. Went to the gym and then a Braves game Monday night (thanks Sean). I spent Tuesday working on my sermon for this Sunday. Grilled burgers and hot dogs and went to the Braves game on Wednesday afternoon (thanks again Sean), and then came home and crashed on the couch. Went to the gym again yesterday, went to Publix and Target, and then made some REALLY good home made (and baked) buffalo wings and watched the Braves on TV with Faith.

As for today, I am going to go hit the gym, and after my shower, I think I am going to go put out a few job applications. (school's out for summer and I really need to get another job). once I am done with that, its time to pick up my son, Will, and figure out whats for dinner.

Tomorrow, I work here on campus from 7am-3pm and then its off to Lawrenceville so Will can see his grandparents. I would like to be able to see the UFC fight Saturday night, but do to an oversight, we are yet again in the poor house for the next week (why does this always seem to happen). I will probably spend Saturday night going over my sermon again.

Sunday, I preach, and then try to spend some time with Will (I don't get enough, and having to run around so much on the weekends does not help). We are going to the 6pm service at Buckhead Church (Los, I still want a tour of the facilites), and then it's time to take Will home and for me to go to work on campus again, this time from 10pm till 4am.

I thought weekends were a time of rest.

The Top 100 Christian Guitar Songs

After Rolling Stone's list of the Top 100 Guitar Songs came out, I decided to survey the guys and gals over on Bwack's Forum to compile a list of the Top 100 Christian Guitar Songs. Well, the list is currently at 52 entries. Feel free to make any suggestions here in my comments and spread the word.

This list is arranged in alphabetical order by song.

1. 40 - U2
2. After The Music Fades - Shaun Groves
3. All to You - Lincoln Brewster
4. Amazing Grace
5. Be My Escape - Relient K - MMHMM
6. Beautiful - Phil Wickham
7. Beautiful One - Jeremy Camp
8. Bring Me Down - Pillar - Where Do We Go From Here
9. Dare You To Move - Switchfoot
10. Dear Honesty - Edison Glass
11. Devastation and Reform - Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago
12. Empire - As Cities Burn
13. Everlasting God - Lincoln Brewster
14. Everything Glorious - David Crowder Band - Remedy
15. Everything We Have - Ornan's Floor
16. Filled With Your Glory - Starfield
17. Flood - Jars of Clay
18. Foreverandever Etc... - David Crowder Band - A Collision
19. Get Down - Audio Adrenaline
20. Godspeed - Anberlin
21. Great is the Lord - Starfield
22. Heaven Let Your Light Shine Down - Collective Soul
23. Hosanna - Hillsong United
24. How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin
25. I'm Not Who I Was - Brandon Heath
26. Let Everything Else Go - Phil Keaggy
27. Let the Praises Ring - Lincoln Brewster
28. Life After Death And Taxes - Relient K - MMHMM
29. Meant to Live - Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
30. Oh, Praise Him - David Crowder Band
31. Open Skies - David Crowder Band - Illuminate
32. Paperthin Hymn - Anberlin
33. Pressing On - Relient K - The Anatomy of the Tongue In Cheek
34. Rain Down - David Crowder Band - Remedy
35. Sanctuary
36. So Cold I Could See My Breath - Emery
37. Solution - Hillsong United
38. Someone Else's Arms - Mae
39. Staring At The Light - The Wedding
40. Stars - Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound
41. The Answer - Shane & Shane - Simply Groovy
42. The One I'm Waiting For - Relient K - MMHMM
43. True Love - Phil Wickham
44. Typical - MuteMath
45. Unashamed - Starfield
46. We Are Yours - Ornan's Floor
47. We Won't Be Quiet - David Crowder Band - Remedy
48. Wholly Yours - David Crowder Band
49. With Arms Wide Open - Creed
50. Writing On The Walls - Underoath
51. You Are My Joy - David Crowder Band - A Collision
52. Your Grace is Enough - Matt Maher

RagamuffinTop Challenge

I have been inspired. A couple weeks ago I started the personal quest to get into better shape and drop some weight. My buddy Jay has decided to take up the RagamuffinTop Challenge, and after reading Carlos' posts and a few other blogs, I have decided to go for it also. My personal goal for right now is to lose 50 pounds. I am going to have to actually invest in a scale this week since the one in the weight room here on campus is broken, but If pressed I would say I am coming in right around the 300lb mark previous to starting my workouts last week.

I look forward to this challenge and I need all the accountability I can get. Lets Go!

I guess this also means that I need to get my hands on a new SD card for my camera too.