Bella’s first beach trip.  She LOVED the sand.  More pics to come…

Mom went to the movies. We made a LEGO® Robot. I’m sure the ponies and princesses will come someday, but for now…

Then the Robot faced Bella’s wrath…

The end.

Well, friends, it’s been a good 3 1/2 year run. I’ll never see my 5th year at MortgageDocs.com, nor will I see SignSTAT v.3.0 that has been in the works since I got hired. I’ll miss my friends, my paycheck, and most importantly, grandslamderby.com. Go ahead, create a team.  And if you happen to see ‘briandavis4′ logged in as well, challenge him! And make sure your people are there to see it!  Cause you might get embarrassed.

Oh the memories…  kitty cannon… double wires… cat with a bow…  and lest I forget, LINE RIDER. Good times.

On to bigger and better things… like going to the coast next week and staying home with Isabella!

I feel like I have to highlight the new links on my blogroll because these blogs are so good.

First, the White Pages. Randy and Tina White have been mentors, heroes and friends to Gia and I for the past 5 years or so. I’m sure most of you who read this blog know who they are, but Randy and Tina live in the Lowell Neighborhood, which, although there has been great progress, is still one of Fresno’s lowest income communities. Randy and Tina have given the past 15 years of their lives to help empower the people in Lowell, as well as motivate, equip and encourage others to do the same. So far Randy’s journey has led him from pastor to IV staff worker to Director of IV’s Urban Projects nationwide, and now, he’s taking an assignment with Bakke Graduate University, effectively taking over for one of his mentors and heroes, Ray Bakke. I share in Randy’s joy to teach at BGU, and also his grief for passing the Wise Old Owl torch to another. I’ll never forget the joy on Tina’s face when I told her Gia was pregnant–in fact, Tina could see the joy on my face and proclaimed, “you’re pregnant!!” before I could even get the entire sentence out of my mouth. So READ the White Pages and keep up on the lives of Randy and Tina.

Now go read the personal blog of Scott Bessenecker. Scott is Director of Global Projects for IV and author of The New Friars, which is also the name of his blog. I first met Scott at the Pink House when he and other IV workers were touring inner-city ministries in Fresno with Randy. My 2nd interaction with him came through email when I was begging and pleading with him to ignore that my application to the Global Urban Trek was late and allow me to go with one of the teams heading overseas. He graciously accepted my plea and sent my application to the Calcutta directors, which in turn completely altered the course of my life. I recently found out Scott is blogging and am very excited when he writes a new post. He has an incredible gift to take what may seem like the most mundane everyday task or encounter (such as spousal miscommunication or a hair cut) and find incredible biblical insight and application.

You’ll now find the White Pages and The New Friars on the Trio’s blogroll. Read them and be glad. Whenever you visit my blog make sure to give them some love, or better yet, add their subscriptions to Google Reader.

A few people have been asking me how my quest for a free iphone is going, so I figured it’s time to give a quick update. My initial post on how to get an iphone (that it is NOT some sort of scam) through yourfreeiphone.com has continued to drive traffic my way through search engines. Maybe I should be writing more posts on SEO optimization.

Last update, I only had three people who had signed up through my referral. Today? ELEVEN! That’s the good news, but the bad news is not a single referral has filled out an offer yet. So I guess this is testament to the fact that people will sign up using your referral link, but it’s probably going to take even more time than I thought to get the iPhone. BUT, considering how much time (a few minutes) and effort (very little) I’ve put into this so far, I’d probably say it’s worth it.

In other news, the iPhone will now be sold for as little as $199 now. Since the price of the iPhone has gone down, the number of referrals needed should also, but I signed up for the cash reward for 11 referrals through yourfreeiphone.com anyway.

SIGN UP HERE to start on your!

If you’re thinking about getting a scooter, DO IT. I bought this beast for $1,000 straight up. It’s going to save me $40 a month in insurance and probably about $60 a month in gas. So if it have this for 10 months it will pay for itself, not to mention the cash I’ll get from selling my car. Boom. Anyone interested in a ‘97 Honda Accord?

I’ll just leave it up to Jose Canseco to prove for me. From an interview with the highly prestigious Inside Edition — on the foreclosure of his home:

“You know my life, this financial thing, is a very complicated issue. Obviously, when you make all that money, people think, ‘OK, let’s assume it is $35 million.’ People have to understand that $35 million, you’re paying the government 41 percent. That leaves you with about $17 or $18 million, not even. Then you’re taking care of your whole family.”

Taking care of your entire family with only $17 or $18 million must be rough.

They have some slammin’ deals. And their marketing technique is incredible — I’m always checking their site to see what the next deal is. Like I said, whiskeymilitia has me addicted.

Check out steepandcheap.com too.

I’ve been reading a series by Greg Boyd about the “violent strand” of God in the Old Testament. I recommend the series — although I’m sure it will make conservatives a little nervous. I agree with a lot, and disagree with some, but have found most of it to be pretty insightful. I haven’t read all of it yet, but my favorite quote so far:

If any Christian leader is going to appeal to the Old Testament to legitimize their nation’s warfare, they must commit to fighting the way the Israelites were commanded to fight. They must be certain that Yahweh himself has told them to enter into this war and must do so without any consideration of whether or not it meets someone’s criteria of a “just war.” They must refuse to take any practical or pragmatic issues into consideration and must place no trust in their military might or wisdom. And they must refuse to benefit in any way from their victory.

It has always been funny troubling to me when some Christians use the “God uses America as an instrument of His justice” rationale for America entering war or bombing terrorists. I think Greg’s quote shows us why. He goes further and contends that nobody since the time of Joshua has entered into war on the sole basis that God simply told them to do so. I think we need to stop using OT war and violence to justify America’s wars and violence.

What I appreciate the most about this series so far is the length Greg goes to explain how no matter what your thoughts are about the violent strands of God in the OT, it can not change your view of Jesus as being the incarnate God of the universe who sacrificed himself for you. If you are having trouble with the violence in the Old Testament (like I do sometimes), take heart, because Jesus is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” Do you want to know what God is like? LOOK AT JESUS.

“In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col. 2:9)

• I’m finding out, at least for me, it’s easier to say “God is good” when I’m healthy.
• I seem to pray more when I’m sick; mostly for healing.
• I’ve never doubted God can heal; but found out today I doubt whether He actually wants to heal.
• I’m not sure which presents a greater theological problem…
• I’m also not sure what makes me feel worse — my sickness, or my daughters.
• Actually, I don’t know why I just wrote that — it’s my daughters sickness, easily.
• I feel so awful already, but the things I’d be willing to do (such as take on even more pain) to alleviate the sickness of my daughter have no measure.
• I begin to understand what kind of love it took for God to willfully bear my sickness for me on his body.
• Most of all, I begin to understand the sickness God bore for me had no measure…
• And for that, whether sick or healthy, I can easily say… God is good.