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On Saturday February 19, 2011 I am jumping into Percy Priest Lake, no matter how low the temperature gets or how much snow is on the ground.

Am I crazy? Probably. But sometimes you’re allowed to be crazy for a good cause.

The reason I’m jumping into potentially icy water is to raise money and support for the Special Olympics (Tennessee) as part of the 2011 Polar Bear Plunge (Nashville).

Many of you know the Special Olympics is an incredible organization that provides sports and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. However, as a non-for-profit organization that receives no government funding, it relies on funding from individuals, corporate sponsors, special events, and grants.

By taking part in this plunge, I have been asked to raise $50 for the Special Olympics. I have also been asked to encourage people to donate, rather than simply pay the $50 out of my own pocket.

The team I am a part of is the High Hopes Team, formed by those at High Hopes Inclusive Preschool in Brentwood, TN. For those of you that know her, this is the school where Katie Peterson teaches.

If you would be interested in donating, you can click the link at the bottom of this post. Even $5 would go a long way! If just 10 people donated $5 each, the goal would be met, but I’d love to see the donations go even higher.

Since people wear crazy outfits for this, I’ve even considered allowing a donor of $30+ to choose what I wear (within reason). Still debating that one though…I have some pretty messed up friends!

So if you’d like to donate, here’s the link to the donation website:

http://www.firstgiving.com/2011-polar-bear-plunge-nashville-174516

Since all of money raised by High Hopes is collected on this page, feel free to leave me some kind of comment so I know who you are.

Thanks for all of you that help out! If you know someone who might be interested in donating to this cause, please pass on this link, RT this on Twitter, share this on Facebook, etc. Also, feel free to pray that the temperature is in the single digits. The colder the better!

[Photo source: http://bit.ly/f3cCuc]

Looking for a good way to spend your Wednesday nights?

A few months ago, several friends introduced me to a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I had heard about the book, but didn’t know much about it. However, my friends told me it was life-changing and turned their lives upside down.

One of the friends that told me about the book, Eric Puschmann, told me about a small group study he wanted to start with the book. It sounded pretty awesome to me.

 On Wednesday, I was really excited to see this has become a reality. Beginning June 3, Eric will be starting a group study of Crazy Love on Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM at Cofer’s Chapel in Nashville, Tennessee.  

This is open for anyone. Eric, being the awesome guy he is, can actually get the books for us for only $10 each. That’s a saving of like $65 off the cover price (not really). Now, this is not a gimmick or ploy to steal you away from your local church. If you’re involved with your church on Wednesday night, stay faithful to that. But, there are many people out there looking for some way to get involved with something like this.

If you’re interested, you can get more info or even sign up at Eric’s blog: www.pastorpusch.com

Friday night I attended a concert in Nashville, TN. It did not start out well! Not the concert, but the travel. What should have been a 15 minute drive turned into a 2 hour drive. We parked 15 blocks from the arena, and walked through the freezing cold. Apparently Nashville organizes don’t understand you can’t plan 2 concerts, a parade, and shut down the main road in Nashville (Broadway) all at the same time. Chaos!!!

If you’ve ever been to a concert with classical music, you know there are certain rules of etiquette. For example, it is rude to clap in between the different movements of a piece. You should wait until the end of the piece to clap.

Well, during Friday night’s concert (Tobymac, Relient K, etc) I noticed some rules of etiquette should be put in place for all other types of concerts as well:

- If you don’t know the band’s old songs, don’t claim to be their biggest fan. Sure you can sing-a-long with the latest radio hit, but you’re gonna look kinda weird when you’re stone faced because they’re playing a hit from 2002.

- Do NOT go nuts playing air guitar on lead solos. You couldn’t play it if you had a real guitar in your hand, so leave the riff to the real musician.

- If you’re going to get in the mosh pit and jump around, don’t come out crying if someone elbows you or steps on your foot.

- Act like your parents let you out of the house every once in awhile. There’s no need to scream randomly.

- If you wouldn’t scream when your parent says it, don’t scream when the artist says it. [Lead singer: "We went to Subway today..."] [You: "Yeah!!!!! I love Subway!!!! Woooohoooo!!!!"]

- If your tickets are on the floor, no sitting allowed.

- When it’s completely quiet and the artist is talking about children who are dying in Africa, don’t yell “I love you!”

- Wear clothes that fit…seriously.

- If you don’t have a cell phone to hold up during a slow song, don’t use your PSP instead.

- If you’re 6’4, don’t pick your hair into a fro before the concert. The people behind you won’t be too happy.

- Don’t try to act hardcore if your mom brought you to the concert in her mini-van. 

- If you’re at a Christian concert and you want to raise your hands in worship, that’s fine. But it’s not worship if you only raise them cause the camera pans over to you. 

- If you have a 4 month old baby, do not attach him to yourself with a harness, put earplugs in his ears, and stand in the mosh pit 5 feet from the stage (Yes, I saw this Friday night!)

- If you have a 3 year old, do not die his hair red and put it in a mohawk (Yes, I saw this Friday night…from the same family that had the baby!)

If you live in Nashville, this is not a new story to you. Apparently some type of “gas crisis” hit Nashville today and there is almost no gas left in the city. 

If you’ve never lived in Nashville, let me explain the city to you: When anything remotely negative occurs, no matter how small it might be, people freak out! Read more…