Buttercups

Tomorrow, I’ll snap a picture of our backyard and show you what, to me, is one of the most beautiful things in my year.

Buttercups.

We inherited the buttercups in our yard. They were here when we arrived. We bought our home in July – so we had no idea that they were even there. Then, that first February as the winter faded, the backyard became covered with buttercups. They’re the old-fashioned kind – deep, green stems and bright yellow flowers.

It’s something to see. It’s good – all good. The buttercups make me smile.

Oh Well…

The Vols were #1 for about 30 hours. Technically, they’re still #1 today – but the blossom is off the rose.

So, my good buddy in Chicago implores me to write something positive about last night’s game. I can. Here you go. Basketball polls only come out once a week.

The Tennessee Vols are #1.

#1 vs. #2

OK – I try to write about things that are universally good. I think truly good things are completely good. If something is good for you but hurts someone else, it isn’t completely good.

At the same time, I believe some things are good for a smaller circle of people, yet have no real impact on the larger society. They are, therefore, good. And one of those things is the #2 Tennessee Volunteers journeying into Memphis, Tennessee tonight to take on the #1 Memphis Tigers for the top ranking in all of the national college basketball polls.

Now, in a perfect world, this would be front page in every newspaper. This is big stuff. Memphis has never been #1. Tennessee has never been anywhere close to #2. Two teams in the same state ranked at the top of the polls playing in a game for #1. Best of all, the state is not North Carolina! I have to say – I haven’t been completely silent around my friends who have crowed incessantly about ACC basketball all the years I’ve lived here. North Carolina and Duke are ranked, I think…somewhere down there.

But tonight, for at least one night, we’re at the top of the basketball world. We’re not used to breathing the air up here. For 100 years, we’ve played another sport with a modicum of success. But now, all of a sudden, we’re a basketball school. Seems a little odd to me. I’m used to thinking that 3 points is a letdown, that lowering your shoulder and leveling someone on the other team is a good thing, and that a final score of 48-35 is high-scoring.

Don’t call between 9:00 and 11:00. I’ll be busy. Go Vols!

Valentine’s Day

How can you top going to Knoxville and a University of Tennessee ballgame? Well, a trip to Gatlinburg, of course. At least if you’re the Joneses.

Two nights in Gatlinburg in February. Aprill and I grew up going to Gatlinburg. For you Carolinians, think “Myrtle Beach” and you know what Gatlinburg means to Tennesseans.

As crazy as Gatlinburg can be, we love it. We love the main strip with the space needle and the t-shirt shops. We love to get a block of fudge (or Karmelkorn). And we absolutely love the Pancake Pantry. In a way, our entire trip last week was built around arriving at the Pancake Pantry for a Valentine’s day breakfast.

Gatlinburg has a fascination with pancakes. Almost every restaurant not only serves pancakes, but promotes them extensively. And no one does pancakes better than the Pantry. In the summer, the line is long, stretching down the street. They have complimentary coffee while you wait. It was really cold Thursday morning – and there was no line, even though I kinda wanted a short line to enjoy a cup of coffee while my anticipation built.

We were lucky. We were seated with no wait – and we could contemplate what kind of pancakes we wanted. Strawberry? Boysenberry? Buckwheat? Or maybe Swedish pancakes with apricots and cherries? Cinnamon and spice?  There are so many choices – and you don’t want to make a bad one because you aren’t in Gatlinburg every day.

We made two good choices. Aprill got blueberry (with a blueberry compote syrup). I went with the tried and true Pigs in a Blanket. I loved them, but Aprill definitely made the best choice. (I hate it when that happens.) The blueberry compote was the bomb.

Next time…

The Eclipse

I’m not sure why lunar eclipses don’t get more press.

Last night, we were able to enjoy a full lunar eclipse in Charlotte. It was spectacular – nothing less. And it was perfect.

I had heard about it earlier in the week – but had forgotten it was Wednesday night. We finished rehearsal at church, and my friend Bill (one of the guys in the band) called me from his car and said, “you can’t miss it if you look up – but don’t forget about the eclipse tonight.” When I saw it, it was about 80% to full. By the time I got home it was 90%. Aprill and I put on coats and hats, went out on the patio, pulled up a couple of chairs and just watched.

The moon slowly disappears behind the veil of the earth. Once the eclipse is complete, it takes on a reddish glow. (How does it still have any light? We didn’t know.) We watched it, looked through binoculars at it, and even talked with our neighbor Stan for awhile when he came out to see.

Of all the things in the world and the universe that points me to God as our creator, it is an eclipse. The earth is the perfect size to cast a shadow across a moon that is 250,000 miles away from a light source that is 93,000,000 miles away. Then, that same moon is the perfect size to block the sun’s light and return the favor. That is amazing to me.

(For Aprill, her proof is that we don’t just fly off the earth with it spinning so fast

The University of Tennessee

Need I say more? How ’bout them Vols? Aprill and I travelled to Knoxville on Wednesday and saw the men’s basketball team play for the first time on campus in (in deference to my wife) quite a long time.

Aprill and I love going back to campus. It’s not really like we are back in school again – we passed that phase already. But it’s fun nonetheless. There is an excitement about a college campus that is not present anywhere else. It’s magic. There are young people starting their lives, older people reliving their parts of their youth, parents with children.

Surrounding an athletic event, it takes on a festive atmosphere. Everyone loves their school most – that’s a fact. And I love UT. For me, there’s nothing like it anywhere.

And the men won – Big!. Demolished Arkansas. Sweet. Go Vols!

A Surprisingly Good Sunday

Today was Youth Weekend at church. We only have two “special” weekends a year – Youth Weekend, and Senior Weekend. (They’re weekends now because we have 5:21 Saturday!) What makes them special is essentially a 5-minute presentation within the context of the service.

But one of the things that I’ve committed to is giving our youth worship team the platform in the Cafe on Youth and Senior Weekends. I always play the role of lead worshiper to keep the flow, manage the transitions, etc. Since this was only my third time doing it since becoming worship pastor, I had moderate expectations. They’re always zealous, but not always focused.

This year, big difference. I really, really enjoyed myself. The team was amazing. These kids led one of the best worship services that I’ve ever been a part of. The vocals were stellar. The musicianship was professional. These were 16- and 17-year-olds, and the music was spot on.

For any of you who have the chance to work with the next generation’s leaders, I encourage you to do so. I don’t do it enough. But here’s what I see when I look into the future. I see adults like me sitting around a restaurant talking about things, and one of them says, “when I was a kid, we tried to have a worship team in our youth group…” Then, he or she will say one of two things. 1)”…but no one really seemed to care. We didn’t get any encouragement.” or 2)”…and there was this guy named Chuck Jones, and he really encouraged us and helped us.”

I don’t always make it – but I sure want that conversation to end in #2. If you have the chance, make sure yours is #2, too.

I’ll try to post an mp3 of a song from today. To Brad, Brian, Hannah, Madeline, Julie, Anthony and Daniel, it was incredible.

Henry in Agility

Inaugural DOGSWALK Against Cancer 6-9-07 MetroPaws-CanineCafe-8 082

Originally uploaded by chuckandaprill

Henry takes the 3-foot jump with ease.

Agility

This morning I took Henry to his agility training class. Awesome.

Henry is so funny in his class. He loves it. Truly loves it. Aprill and I call him “the deputy.” The first part of class is just socialization and play time from whenever you arrive until 9:30 AM (when the class starts). Henry spends that time checking every dog out. He doesn’t play a lot – just runs around and greets each new dog who enters the area. He’s just keeping the peace.

Then comes the class. That’s when things get fun. He’s been at it long enough now that he does all of it off leash. We walk around, pass the other dogs, sit, stay, come, all the basic commands. We take another play break – then comes the agility.

Agility is Henry’s strong suit. There’s the A-frame, the jumps and the tunnels. I have no idea which one he loves the best – but it’s between the jumps and the tunnels. He gets so pumped up going through the tunnel that he usually goes BACK through the other way (which would be a definite deduction in agility trials). The jumps? He just nails the jumps. He can take the 4-foot jump without a hitch.

And we’re surrounded by some great dogs and happy dog people. There are golden retrievers, doberman pinschers, stafordshire terriers, labradoodles, boxers and lots of mutts.

Great dog. Great time.

A Couple of Days Off

Some of you will know this already – in 2007, I worked. A lot. I took my job with Church at Charlotte in October, 2006. But I didn’t quit my job with Chuck Jones Direct Response. I just kept going.

I was able to arrange my schedule at church in a way that enabled me to work my days off with my primary client, Erwin-Penland, in Greenville. 5 days a week at the church. 2 days a week in Greenville. Do the math.

At the end of December, I chose to discontinue my work in Greenville and refocus my efforts on the church and in helping Aprill reconstitute CJDR into a business that better suited her interests and talents. All of that is going very well.

I am loving being home more, off the road. And I love having a couple of days off a week. A little breathing room. It seems like a vacation, really. I had almost forgotten what it was like to run at a normal pace. It’s good. Really good.