I’m not one for video games, usually… Simply because I know myself well enough to know that I’d get addicted and thusly neglect my family and my professional responsibilities.

But our friend Shannon brought her Wii over Saturday night and introduced us. Uh-oh.

Annette and I are pretty darn competitive with one another. [This has its up-sides and its downsides.] Soooo, about 5 minutes into our first Wii experience we were hooked.

After a little Dance Dance Revolution, tennis, bowling, & boxing, the Parrises are officially longing for their own Wii system.

We hear that there are some great games for the tots that would be fun to play with Kenni.

So if you have one sitting around…maybe you’re too busy to play it, or you’ve grounded the kids for life or something, let’s talk.

[Sidenote: You've got to read Annette's recollection of our Wiivening. I almost woke up the girls laughing at it.]

Don’t get me wrong… I love following folks who are interesting (like @loswhit [of ragamuffinsoul.com fame), or long lost friends who are tweeting (like @TimAMay). But when it comes to the folks I see regularly, they’re still not getting it. They say they’re too busy.

So I’ll invite them to a big party, get them locked inside the house, and set up a few computer kiosks. No one leaves ’til they’re twittering constantly.

Whatcha think? How do you think it’ll shake down?

Winner: David Archuleta
Runner-up: David Cook
3rd: Syesha
Going Home This Week: Jason

• Does David Archuleta stand in front of the mirror practicing how to look surprised when he’s told he’s ‘safe’ for the week? Come on. I don’t think he’s going to win… But he’s got 3 weeks left.
• Natasha Bedingfield is a great singer and songwriter.
• I think Natasha was kinda serious when she said she’d go to Archuleta’s prom. THAT would be some seriously good promo.
• Neil Diamond has big ears…what lobes. Well, actually, it’s just his right ear. Very big lobe. You’re rich, Neil. You could fix that.
• I never knew I was such a fan of Neil’s songs… Did you know he’s written over 32-million songs?
• What’s with the performing legends coming on and completely ruining our opinions of them by singing poorly… (Dolly Parton, Neil Diamond)
• Which leads me to this: What’s with the performing legends coming on and singing terribly lame religious songs. I mean, doesn’t God deserve really good songs that weren’t written and performed just ‘to appeal to the Christian masses?’ “Jesus and Gravity“?!?! Girl, gravity ain’t the only thing holding you down.
• Which leads me to this: The “Shout to the Lord” thing from Idol Gives Back. It creeped me out. Yes, I know it’s great that millions of people heard a great song about Christ. But it was just weird to me to hear people who may not know Him singing that particular song as if they really believe it. I dunno. Jury’s still out for me.
• I got this and next week backwards, but I still think I’ll stick with my prediction for the final 3 weeks.
• Brooke White is the kind of person you know would never win, but you kinda wish she could. She’s the most authentic and likable person to ever compete for the title.
• Local news is hilarious… Atlanta viewers got to see a transition immediately after the show teasing a special report on “Animals…Left Behind.” Annette and I laughed outloud.

G’night!

I’m not super confident about my picks for 3rd through 5th. But the top two are a no-brainer (unless one of them completely bombs confesses to a history of pedophilia).

So as I pack up a bunch of camping gear into the bed of my crew cab (McKenna’s putting her shoes on right now to help), I am thinking about one of the wins. What is it? Simple… My team.

God has surrounded me with some of the most non-self-promoting, capable, servant-hearted team-members in the world. They range in age from seniors in high school to senior-citizens. They’re creative. They’re consistent. They’re loyal. And they absolutely love serving God behind the scenes.

I’m trying to turn off the machine for a few days. So far…so so. I just finished my last ‘official’ to-do item in prep for tomorrow’s services, but then I’m setting up the auto-responder and disappearing to a non-disclosed location with my wife and my two daughters. And in my place, I leave a team that can do my job better than I can. It’s a MAJOR leap from 6 years ago when I was having to take phone calls at 6:45am on any given Sunday that I took off. Man, those were the days. The major malfunction in that span of history was big ol’ me, myself, and I. Your team is only as good as you allow them to be. And if you try to do everything your way on your schedule, you’ll forever be ‘unreplaceable.’ (And not for the reasons you’d hope to be unreplaceable.)

Kenni couldn’t be more excited about camping. She won’t let me pack her new Disney princess sleeping bag until tomorrow. And she’s talking about s’mores, fishing, campfires, tents… I’m lovin’ it. Tomorrow begins with me slipping down to Vinings Lake Community Church to lead worship with my friend Paul Richardson who will be teaching. VL’s sent several from their team on an exciting short-term mission trip, so Paul and I will be filling in. Then Annette and the girls are going to swoop in with my loaded pickup, and then we hit the road.

First family vacation since June, 2006. Hallelujah. Only 4 days, but I’ll take it. Especially when the weather forecast for our destination looks like it does!

But several months ago, something began to change in me. I don’t love the outdoors any less, and I don’t love my couch any more. But when Georgia started drying up like stale bread last summer, I began to wonder if we were all just one gubernatorial decree away from buying Dasani out of the back of an Impala.

What changed? The short of it: I’ve become a recovering rain hater. I still get annoyed when I find out the hard way that my wife has ‘borrowed’ my umbrella…again. But when the rain falls these days, there’s something in me that says a quick “thank You.”

While I was braving the rain to grab something from my truck today, McKenna followed me out the garage door in nothing but her T-shirt and ‘big girl panties.’ She said she wanted to ‘play in the sogginess.’ I have no clue where she adopted that terminology. In short order, she was carelessly splashing around in the puddles. Then she looked up into the clouds and blinked repeatedly as the drops hit her eyes. I think ‘the sogginess’ has always been what I liked least about rainy, wet days like today. But the last few times we’ve seen some good soakers these last couple of months, I’ve felt more like she did today than I care to admit.

I’m starting to like the rain again.