Houston

We arrived in Houston. The girls are pumped because the hotel has a pool. Not wanting to waste time, we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and made our way to 2115 Taft St. Cafe. It's cool to connect with the local culture and all.

In other news:

Wahba FINALLY dropped an important annoucement. You can go to his blog and get the details. In the meantime, CONGRATS to Wahba and Jodi...We will see you Monday night to celebrate.

Peace & ,love from the road.

On the road

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by sacred.

The road trip continues...We are off to Houston to hang with the Ashdowns. Its going to be good to hang with friends and relax a bit.

Corey Pellet

Call me, I erased your number :)

You have new Picture Mail!

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by sacred.

Finally I scored a fat tire :)

All Things Old Are New Again

We are hanging out at one of my favorite cafe's in Dallas-Cafe Brazil. Dallas has changed over the past few years, the downtown/midtown areas seems more hip & urban, which is good.

I'm hoping to connect with some friends today. That will be fun. It's always great to catch up and see what's going on in people lives. If you live in the Big D, and want to hang out, call me @ 919-247-7614.

We made it

We made it to Dallas...Good to see family...The girls are so happy...Now its time for bed.

Thought's from Bailey

Thought's from Bailey
Originally uploaded by sacred.

"Its not that fun sitting in the car all day,when its nice outside and you wanna go play."

On the road

We passed the mighty Mississippi and now we driving through the swamp lands of LA...Texas is near.

My schedule is filling as I try to connect with friend here in Dallas.

I can't wait to grub at the following restaurants:

Blue Goose
Cafe Brazil
Orginal Pancake House
Eatz's
Mi cocinna's
Chipolte's
and a whole lot more...

Mississippi

Mississippi
Originally uploaded by sacred.

Another state down...We cruised arond the U. Of Alabama this morning...Cool place.



I brought some Nooma videos so I could have a cool "roadtrip devotional."



I also brought some great books:



-The secret message of Jesus.

-Colossians Remixed.

-The Prophetic Imagination.

-Through painted deserts.

-The lost message of Jesus.



BTW-Tre is driving, please pray for us!



Peace & Love from the road...

Best Skylines in the World

Seattle came in at 15. I think it should have been in the top 10.
15 Best Skylines in the World

HT:Scott Hodge

Happy B-Day

to Brenda Nussbaum...Hopefully she is on a plane to Seattle. (If not this will not be a happy B-Day for her) Have agreat day and see ya soon.

Off to Dallas :)

Driscoll Says Sorry

I ripped Mark Driscoll for his recent comments. So, I wanted to give him props for doing the right thing. He is a great leaders with a strong personality, so its good to see him be humble and admit he sinned. Yes, he is able to still stand by his concerns. Good stuff.

Dirscoll Apology.

Evotions From The Road

"How did so few people, become the voice for so many?" Rob Bell from the Nooma video bullhorn.

24 Rocked

we were able to watch 24 going 75 on the freeway thanks to our tv/dvd player in the van.

I knew Audry was innocent!

Dinner in Atlanta

Dinner in Atlanta
Originally uploaded by sacred.

We are hanging in atlanta at the coolest starbucks ever. We thought of ken & brenda while we ate dinner at one of our fav dallas spots...time to hit the road...alabama here we come...!

Posting from the road on the treo.

NC is behind us...That make me happy & sad. We are happy to move forward, but the last few days, necole & I had to come to grips with how many people we will miss.

We are looking forward to a new start, living missional lives amongst a new community & a new city.

Also, I wanted to give a big shout out to the Nussbaums...Yesterday we had a bit of a crisis...But the Nussbaums helped us through it. See you guys @ pike' place :)

The Marlows are off

The Marlows are off
Originally uploaded by sacred.

Well, we made it 10 miles and then we saw a cracker barrel :)

New Tunes

Ashdown put up some new tunes on his Myspace page. Good stuff, enjoy and freaking BUY it when it comes oit post-easter.

Top Muslim clerics: Convert must die - Mar 23, 2006

Fundamentalism is lethal. I would love to hear from the Muslim community that is against killing a man because he converts to Christianity. It seems difficult to understand the Muslim culture, if someone does anything they don't like, they go nuts. Now, I hate to group all Muslims in this category. We all know plenty of Christian fundamentals who do insane things in the name of God.

How do we respond to this issue? How can we take steps for peace? How do we unite without inciting a religious war between Christians & Muslims? Who knows!

CNN.com - Top Muslim clerics: Convert must die

Some Thoughts

I just picked up Brian Mclaren's new book The Secret Message of Jesus : Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything. I DO NOT like the title. But I have a feeling that I will love the book. I'm going to read it on our trip to cali.

I'm hanging at New World Cafe this morning trying to wrap up some business issues and a billion other "small" things before we head off into the sunset. We are tired, but excited. I'm looking forward to hanging with everyone tomorrow night, but I also know its going to be hard to say goodbye. I see the tears now :)

Last but not least, I was told by the great Wahba that we could crash at his place in the desert under one condition. If Duke is playing in the NCAA championship game, we would have to depart the home so Jodi could watch in peace & silence. That's what people would do for me when the Lakers were in the championship games. They would leave the house, or stay in their rooms and hope that the Lakers would win so I would be in a good mood. I'm not sure if I'm a good friend or not to the Wahba's. I'm praying that they stay in the desert (sorry guys) and that Duke losses in the final-four so we can hang out together :) Hmm. Of course, after reading this email, maybe they will decide we should get a hotel and find some new friends :)

Peace & Love

Afghan covert could face death - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com

I thought we made some progress? Afghan covert could face death.

Friends, Family & Cars

Hung out with Wes & Diana last night. Good times for sure. We will miss those guys and we can't wait till they come hang in No Cal. Time is going fast, this Friday Ken & Brenda are throwing us a going away party. It will be nice to see so many of our friends and get a chance to say goodbye. I have a feeling a few tears will flow?

Also, this morning I was driving Bailey to school, she became sad and I asked her what was wrong. She told me her friend from school was a orphan and she had to family. She had to move and she (Bailey) was sad because she would never see her friend again. :( I was about to cry, sometimes its hard to articulate in a clear way to five year old in regards to life more difficult situation. I sometimes get sad, as I see Bailey growing up & having to deal with the realities of life-the hurt and pain, and death and poverty. It's complicated for sure. Sometimes I want to guard her from these realities, but I know that will not help.

Anyhow, I'm blogging in the waiting room from the Plymouth dealership. Thank God for technology. :)

Peace & Love!

World Water Day Is Today

World Water Day is today. I think it's nice to bring awareness to such a grave issue that is facing the world.

My Word Cloud

Below is my world cloud. What is a word cloud, well let me explain: "a word cloud is a visual depiction of content (words) used in a body of text." In my case that means my blog, below is a cloud of words that I most frequently use. Via http://www.snapshirts.com/. HT: To Dream Awakener,

Car Problems, White-trash & Jesus

So, in preparation of our long road trip, I took the family van into the shop today. Ken, recommended these boys, so I felt confident that I could trust them. As I was pulling off the freeway, I heard something snap and my van decided to go straight as opposed to turning left. I almost ran into another car, but alas I missed her just barely. I made it to the shop and of course I was fearing the worst. After about 1/2 hour the mechanic came up to me and gave me some good news, he told me my bill would only be a little more then $100. SWEET, he just had to replace a few houses that snapped. He also told me that the fuel leak that would have cost $500 bones, is covered under a recall by Plymouth. So, tomorrow I have to get that fixed.

So, I was getting ready to drive away all happy with a huge smiley face when I noticed my lights (inside & out) were not working. I spoke with the mechanic and we were all perplexed by this new predicament. 3 hours later, they still could not fix the problem. The short story is this, my alarm was triggered and we could not un-alarm the van. The van thought someone was trying to steal it. Yes, that's right, my own alarm was keeping me from driving my fan. (Dang that sucks) Well, after six hours, they finally found a solution and my van is now running fine. I'm so glad I had my Treo 650 and a book to read, because I would have wigged out under any other circumstance.

Also, I learned a lot about Jesus today from a bunch of white-trash, beer drinking, chain-smoking, cussing like sailors mechanics. More on that tomorrow.

Myspace, Necole and Tom

UPDATE:

Necole is still pissed that Tom is her friend. Off to bed!

Ok, so Necole is creating a MySpace account to be cool like the rest of us...So, she signs in for the first time and see that she has a new friend named "Tom," she gets all mad and starts yelling at the computer, "who is Tom, why does he want to be my friend," I started laughing so freaking hard :) :) :)

Cheers to the Nussbaums

This is our final week in the lovely state of NC. Looking forward to moving ahead with our lives, but really sad that we are leaving so many amazing people here in Raleigh.

Last night we had dinner with the Ken & Brenda. This was kind of our last shindig together. We had a blast, great conversation, amazing food lot of alcohol and a tremendous sense of sadness. We've done life together for close to six years. I've learned in life that it's easy to find friends, but rare to find a true community, people that you can do life with. Last night was kinda of awkward, we did not really want to talk about the reality of our upcoming separation. I think it's too hard, we would have cried and hugged and got our clothes all messed up and the girls would have screwed up their make-up and such. On the way home Ken & Brenda gave us a card, Necole was trying to read it on the way home and she couldn't...Breakdown was on the horizon.

The good news is that the Nussbaums will be just north of us, so that is cool. Plus, we get to visit Seattle which is freaking off the hook, so that's a huge plus. I'm choosing to remember the good things at this point, not the bad things; like H"hey Ken , let's roll to the cafe and smoke a cigar." Those days are over, and that is sad, but life goes on and so will our friendships, and that makes me happy. Cheers to the Nussbaums.

Moving Sale

We are having our moving sale today, so far it's going pretty well. But, we still have a lot of stuff and we have to get rid of it before next Sunday. We have sold close to 70% of our stuff thanks to ebay, moving sale and the amazing craigslist. Back to the sale :)

A Nice Box

Nice Box
Originally uploaded by sacred.

Who's That?
Originally uploaded by sacred.

Boo!
Originally uploaded by sacred.

Ta Da!!!
Originally uploaded by sacred.

eBay Seller: tellchris21: Other Art, MP3 Players Accessories items on eBay.com

I have some items on eBay that I'm trying to sell. Take a look, and if you want something and your local I can cut out the shipping :)

Peace & Love.

Halo 3

SWEET!

Microsoft Notebook: Gates leaks 'Halo 3' release date ... maybe

St Patrick Prayer

I arise today
Through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness
Through the confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth
whith his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion
with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection
with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent
for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocense of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
GOd’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to life before me,
God’s shield to protect me
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations and false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

Pictures of California - stock photography and fine art prints

This is why I'm so excited to get back to cali :)

FORTUNE: Secrets of greatness: How I work - Mar. 7, 2006

I just read FORTUNE: Secrets of greatness: How I work, this is a great read on how CEO's work. I personally could not imagine having to deal with 6-7 meetings and 200-600 emails per day, but that is why they get paid the big bucks :)

Craigslist Rocks

craigslist rocks. We've sold 6-7 items. Our house is starting to feel a little bare, which is a good thing :)

WOW

Fellow blogger and church planter Chad Canipe passed away. I've had a few online dialog's with Chad. It so surreal. Please pray for his family and community.

Everything Must Go

In preperation of our big move, we are starting to list all of our stuff on craig's list. If you are interested please let me know. I will be posting more items tomorrow.

Char-Broil Gas Grill in great working condition

Glass Office Desk- L shape in good condition

You have new Picture Mail!

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by sacred.

I'm blogging this from my treo 650...Sweet!



Anyhow, Necole loves her new laptop, and Kenzie is sleeping at the cafe...Life is good ;-)

Billy Graham

Intriguing Billy Graham article. Billy expresses his opinion on Katrina, evil and what he regrets in ministry. Enjoy!

Why The Flip-Flop? Part 1!

The cat is now out-of-the-bag, sorta speak. Maybe your asking why we decided to forgo our move to Seattle and head down to Sacramento. Well, let me do my best to explain:

First of all, Necole and I believe in accountabilty. We have spoken to many friends, family members & other pastors in both the Seattle and Sacramento area. I think it's scary when people make choices without a balnced group of folks who are helping them walk through the process.

So, here are a few reasons that we choose Sac over Seattle:

1. Family & Friends: We have a lot of family and friends in Sac. We desire our girls to be close to their family; to know their aunts, uncles, cousins etc. Basically, they have no clue how much family they have.

Also, this will help Necole and I, we were worried about community in Seattle. How could we connect? In Sac, we will have a natural connection, of course the built-in babysitters will be nice :)

2. Region: Seattle is AMAZING, but there is a huge downside for us sun-lovers, and that is the weather. In Seattle it's cloudy over 200 days per year; partly cloudy over 100 days a year, and it's sunny 70 days per year. Yes, you read that right. If Seattle had better weather the whole world would move there. However, city to city Seattle is a lot better than Sac. I think San Francisco & New York City are the only other cities in the States that are as cool as Seattle.

That being said:

I think Northen California is the best region in America. You have amazing beaches, (Santa Crus, Monterey)great cities (Oakland, San Jose & San Francisco)phenominal mountains (Lake Tahoe and the Sierra's, and of course you have the Wine country (wicked sick) It's an outdoor mecca for sure; hiking, mountaik biking, snow, water sking, sailing, etc...) And of course you have great, great, great weather. In Sac we have the what is know as the Mediterranean climate. Hot summers (no humidity, rock on; it usually runs around 90-97 degrees in the day, but it ALWYAS cools down at night, which is real nice. Like Raleigh, we have great Falls in Sac; cool, sunny, & crisp. Winter is also mild; temperature runs close to 55 in the day and somewhere around freezing at night. And spring is simply amazing. Close to Raleigh, but without the humidity.

So, as you see there, are many reason why we love Northern Califoria. On Monday I hope to share some more thoughts. Peace & Love.

The Marlow's Are Moving & Soon

Looks like the Marlow's will be leaving sooner rather then later. Below is our possible itinerary . Necole and I decided to make this trip an experience for our family. We hope to enjoy the journey and allow out kids to explore and have lots of fun. In all honestly, this will be our family vacation for 2006. Please pray for us. We will travel for close to 10 days. The total mileage for this trip will be 3500. SWEET. Can't wait. BTW, we are now moving to Sacramento as opposed to Seattle. I will update the reason why soon. Peace and Love!

Moving itinerary

Day 1
Leave Raleigh, NC
To
New Orleans



Day 2
New Orleans
To Houston
Stay in Houston (Hang with Ashdown's)

Day 3 Houston (W/Ashdown)

Day 4
Houston
To
New Mexico Border



Day 5
New Mexico
To
Phoenix
Day 6
Phoenix (With The Wahba's, Of course we need to call them & confirm :)



Day 7
Phoenix
To
Grand Canyon (Half Day)


Grand Canyon
To
Las Vegas (Hit the Strip @ Night)



Day 8
Las Vegas
To
Death Valley (Half Day)



Death Valley
To Yosemite



Day 9
Yosemite (For the Day)
To
Stockton (Back in the Ghetto)

Hello Everyone

Sorry I have been so quiet on my blog. In all honestly, Necole and I have had to make some huge decisions in regards to our future these past few weeks. Lot's of praying and conversation has taken place, which has been a good thing. So, now I feel better, because I know that God has given some directions and we are extremely peaceful about the future. Lot's of work ahead of us...And thanks to all those folks who were praying. We will need to see God provide on a big time level. Anyhow, please pray and I will drop more info soon. Peace & Love!

Water policy 'fails world's poor'

This is not good:


Water policy 'fails world's poor': "Water-borne diseases killed more than three million people in 2002"

Speaking @ Hungry

Chris Speaking
Originally uploaded by sacred.

Gore Leading Worship

Originally uploaded by sacred.

I had a blast speaking at Hungry last night. I really enjoyed the vibe & ambiance, very peaceful and spiritual. Also wanted to say thanks to those who came out and supported me. I think my speaking was ok. I did get a lot of post-speaking compliments from the crowd, so that was nice. I will upload the MP3 if they recorded the message. Peace and Love.

ABC News: 'Crash' Beats 'Brokeback,' Wins Best Picture

Sweet, I'm so glad this flick won.

Post Birthday Thoughts

I'm one day into my 33rd year of existence-FUN!

Yesterday was a great B-day for me. My girls (all 3) took care of me.

The morning got started by me heading out to the cafe to study and prepare for Sunday. Then, I met Necole at Pei Wei for some lunch. Necole confiscated my phone and replaced it with a new Treo 650,
I've been wanting this bad boy for a long time. So, I was on cloud 9, but I wanted to take advantage of a free car wash via Bunky's. Free, is always good. After the car wash I headed over to Helios to hang with Ken, who brought me a sweet box of cigars.
After enjoying the cigar and discussing life with Ken & Brenda, I headed home to hang with the family. Necole grilled some nice Angus stakes and (my all time favorite food) mashed potatoes. We topped off the dinner with a nice glass of Blackstone. Then, my father-in-law hooked me up with 5 more lovely cigars. Which is so so so sweet because my stash was ZERO, which is not healthy at all. After the girls went to bed Necole and I headed out to the $1.50 theater with Ken & Brenda to see "Fun with Dick & Jane." Good movie, lots of laughs. The worst part of my day was the Lakers losing to the lowly Trailblazers. Damn team team ruined what was almost a perfect Birthday. Thanks to everyone who called, emailed and left comments. Also, Gore called me at 11:59PM to wish me a happy birthday. Yes Gore, you made it on time and thanks for the call. Peace & love.

Nice

"I will pray no prayer, in which I'm not willing to be your solution to the problem."

Erwin Mcmanus

Birthday

Today is my B-day. I'm an old man at 33. Anyhow, I logged on to my homepage (MSN) and they have a nice image that says happy birthday Chris. I thought that was impressive. That is one way to connect to the consumer. It's funny, I will have family and best friends forget to call me or say happy b-day. ( I will also forget theirs) Yet, because of the power of technology, Microsoft did not forget. Crazy!