Do you know your US presidents?

Take this quiz on naming US presidents. You have 10 minutes once you select the link (the page contains a timer). No prepping! Select the link and start. You must type in the president's last name in the text field next to "Enter a President's last name:"and if you enter correctly, say "Washington", it automatically enters the name in the slot of his presidency. Once you are done, post your results in the comment section of this post. I already gave you one answer, see if you can beat my score. I got 34 out of 43 on the first try. The pre-Civil War and Reconstruction presidents were hard, mostly because they were terrible presidents and not worth remembering.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/presidents.php

Speaker of the Day - Walter Nusbaum

Walter was a very influential person in my spiritual development. His strength was Christian apologetics and philosophy, but he was very solid Biblically as well. Along with some other men, I did a book club led by him for about 9 months where we read a variety of books of Christian thinking. Out of about the 30 men who started with Walter in the club, I was probably in the bottom 2 or 3 in terms of knowledge in apologetics and strength in critical thinking. As you would expect, I made lots of dumb comments out of my ignorance. But I hung in there. At the end, there was about 8 of us left and I never missed a single meeting nor a reading assignment. I grew a great deal through it, and it taught me to look a my faith in a rational dimension which I had never done before.

To this day, I would say Walter is probably the best teacher/communicator I have heard. If I had to pick one person to teach a Bible study or Christian class, I would choose Walter over anyone. I mean over Andy Stanley or Tony Evans or anyone else you can name. When it comes to communicating Christian thoughts, few are better than Walter. His breadth of knowledge, his charisma, his passion and his humor are so well orchestrated and focused around the ideas he is trying to get across that you get drawn in. Put it this way, when Prestonwood add a Saturday night church service, we had Bible Study Fellowships (a.k.a Sunday School) at 4:45 and 7:30 around the 6:00 PM service. It almost impossible to get 20ish singles to come on Saturday at 7:30, but it was even worse at 4:45. So, they stuck Walter at that spot and soon he was averaging over 100. Yes, a 100 single people in their 20s were coming regularly at 4:45 on Saturdays to hear him. Once Walter left, they left. My friend Greg and I called them Walter-zombies. They would follow Walter but that is it.

Now that I have so built him up, you will likely be let down when you hear him. But, I know you will enjoy him. He is just too good. Here is a sermon Walter gave at Ron Holton's church, who is my old Singles minister. It is called "Why I am Convinced of the Christian Worldview."

A Look Back at Jacob - 10 months

My Life as a Play: Jacob and the Giant Cookie

Setting: Jacob is sitting in Daddy's lap, and they are watching Little Einsteins on Disney early one morning. One of the characters, June, catches a big stack of pancakes.

Jacob: I want pancakes. Fix me pancakes.
Daddy: Do you want pancakes Jacob?
Jacob: Yea, I want some pancakes.
Daddy: Are you sure you want to eat pancakes?
Jacob: Yea, I am sure. I want to eat pancakes.

Daddy and Jacob go into the kitchen. Jacob sees a box containing a giant cookie cake on the counter which Daddy and Mommy had gotten the night before. Jacob stops dead in his tracks and stares at the box.

Jacob: I don't want pancakes. I want the cookie.

Buncha Crunch - I will miss you

You never forget your first kiss, your first job, your first love or, in my case, your first all-time greatest candy. As a kid, I really liked Nestle Crunch Bar. The mixture of chocolate and crisped rice was a delight to my palate. But when I tried their Buncha Crunch, I fell in love. It was the perfect candy. To me, it took what was great about the Nestle Crunch Bar and heightened it.  It was a pretty common item at the movie snack bars, but if I found it on the shelf at the grocery store, I would buy as many as I could.

But while it was the perfect candy for my younger self, I am now older and I must take into account different considerations. Namely, my health and my stomach size and my life expectancy. Looking at the box and its nutrition facts, its calories per serving are 180. That is not too bad until you look and see that the number of servings per container is 2.5. The box is not that big, and it is obviously meant to be eaten in one setting. That is 450 calories per box. Throw in a soft drink and we are well over 600 calories.

Last week, I decided I must leave my all-time favorite candy. I figured every additional box would probably take a day off my life expectancy, and when you buy 10 at a time, that is not good. So farewell O wonderful box of chocolate and crisped rice delight. I will never find another like you. I have written a haiku for you. Remember me as I remember you.

O so tasty good
But my belly grows too large
Buncha Crunch Bye

My Life as a Play: Jacob's Bedtime Delay

Setting: Mommy, Jacob and Daddy have finished playing together on the stairs. It has been a very fun time, but now it is time for bath and bed. Mommy and Daddy are at the foot of the stairs and Jacob is at the top.

Mommy: Jacob, time for your bath.
Jacob looks down at his formerly white t-shirt and then looks back up at Mommy, shaking his head.
Jacob: I am fine. I am not really dirty.
Daddy: Jacob, it is time to come down and take our bath.
Jacob: I don't need a bath. I am clean.
Jacob folds his arms.
Jacob: I am not coming down the stairs.
Daddy [in a more serious tone]: Jacob, come down.

Jacob reluctantly and slowly comes down the steps. However, he is quickly thinking of another means to delay the inevitable. Jacob began spinning around.
Jacob: My house is dizzy.
Mommy: You are full of funny lines tonight.
Daddy: But you are still taking a bath.

Scene fades with a pouting little boy reluctantly walking to the bath.

Vote my hometown as the home of the Simpsons

Shannon and I live in Springfield, TN which is just north of Nashville. With the upcoming "The Simpsons" movie, USA Today is holding a contest with the different “Springfields” across the US to find the “real” Springfield for the Simpsons. Competing towns submit a video of their claim as the real home of Homer, Bart and the gang. Votes are tabulated by the viewing public. The town with the most votes gets a movie premier of "The Simpsons". The link is below for the voting and the videos. I know several people in the video as well as those who produced it. I beseech thee to vote for our humble town. If for no other reason than that the premier would be at the world’s absolute worst theater. Our little 1 screen theater is in poor, poor condition so it fits the Simpsons Springfield perfectly.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/simpsons-contest.htm