I pledge aledgience to the flag ...

It's been a long while since I muttered those words. In fact, I'm pretty sure it would have been the last time I was in a public school classroom - senior year, Pittsford Mendon HS, 1993.

If you have been wondering about my age, now you can do the math. Or you could have just looked at my bio (to the right with a bunch of cool links and other information.)

As Billy Self's guest, I made my first Rockwall Rotary breakfast. We opened with prayer and then said the pledge together - Rockwall's finest Rotarians in unison. On the verge of asking myself "Why am I here?" an overwhelming feeling of oneness came over me. That may sound weird but it took me back to the simple days of elementary school. The Pledge of Allegiance. A presentation of the Colin County Cold Case/Fugitive Unit by DA, John Roach. Good eats. Not a bad way to start a morning.

I have a lot to say today and no one to listen. Or is it a little to say and too many people talking to me? Something about my persona was revealed to me today. I complain about complaining. Amazingly I was not surprised.

Have you ever been in a God coma? Something wakes you out of it. Blink.

At work catching up on Google Reader, I started sifting through a post called Blink. Nothing makes you feel less manly when your tear ducts well up at work. I felt broken. Darn you, Angie Smith! Ya finally got me. I was broken. Read the post for yourself ... but I will share the beautiful conclusion:

...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you...Philippians 4:8-9

Blink. She's good.

There is a world outside of our own. We lose site of it. I have a photo memory of Boxtown. This is just a blog, but together we can open the door to change on the streets. As I approach the trek back to downtown Dallas' most desperate areas, I pray that all involved can use Angie's application of the snapshot to our local mission work.

Boxtown.

"No Reserves. No Retreats. No Regrets." ~ William Borden ... truly a great missionary.

In 2 days I will be back here to rename the blog - CLICK HERE for a recap on the renaming campaign. It will be a busy day for sure. Celebrating Dad's birthday in Plano, new blog name, friends visiting in the evening for fun and games, church on Sunday. It's shaping up to be a great weekend.

So press on, look for that Boxtown email, and enjoy these links.

• FrontBurner (way better blog than mine)
• The Hugging Lion
• The Venture Bros

Here's Rusty Venture (image on the right) - my Team at work seems to think I was the model for the character's likeness. What do you think?