Category: Fun

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Follow Friday Fun

Follow Friday – Chillhop Music

Studies have shown that listening to music while you are working that has words in it can easily distract you from the work at hand which is why instrumental music like movie soundtracks have been a long-time go-to for me. A while back though, my wife shared the Chillhop Music YouTube channel with me and I love it.

The thing I really like about Chillhop Music is they’ve paired music that is great to work to with fun images that move just enough to be fun, but not distracting. One of my favorites is one that is currently one of their live streams that features a raccoon in his bedroom working/studying on his computer. I’ll embed it here so you can enjoy it.

I typically find myself with Chillhop Music playing on my tablet while I’m working on my computer and it makes for a very productive atmosphere.

Check them out and I hope you enjoy them!

Follow Chillhop Music: YouTube | Website

Follow Friday posts are posts where I highlight someone I follow as a way to promote and encourage other people.

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Follow Friday Fun Movies

Follow Friday – Kevin Carr

As I look back on 2020 (official lookback post coming soon), one of the things I miss is being able to go to movie theaters. My family and I were able to catch Onward right before theaters shut down in March so we did get the theater experience in 2020 but for anyone who knows me, they know I LOVE going to movies. Being an introvert, there would be times when I was single where on a Friday night I would go to the theater and buy 2 or 3 tickets and just go to back-to-back movies. I love watching movies.

Back when I got my first iPod (do you even remember those?) and first started listening to podcasts, one of the first podcasts I found was Fat Guys at the Movies among other podcasts related to movies. What I loved about these guys though was they weren’t snobby movie critics (at the time there were two guys on the podcast, thus the name). I have always disagreed with a lot of movie critics in that my goal in watching a movie has nothing to do with cinematography and the more technical aspects of a movie (as long as it’s not so bad it detracts from watching the movie), my main question is whether or not I was entertained while I was watching the movie. I put very little stock in the critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes (I usually pay more attention to the audience score if I look at it at all). What I liked about Kevin in particular was that even though he was a critic, he “got” what the typical moviegoer wanted in a movie. Plus he liked a lot of the same movies I did which helped though I don’t share his fascination with horror movies, but that’s ok.

Last year, when I started listening to podcasts again, Fat Guys at the Movies was the first podcast I added back and have loved hearing from Kevin again and have even been able to engage him and get a response around his thoughts on Inception because he does have a very strong opinion on Inception and Christopher Nolan as a filmmaker.

If you love movies like I do and are looking for a good way to keep up to date on what’s going on in the movie world, I would definitely recommend following Kevin and listening to Fat Guys at the Movies.

Follow Kevin Carr: Facebook | Twitter | Website | Podcast

Follow Friday posts are posts where I highlight someone I follow as a way to promote and encourage other people.

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Follow Friday Fun

Follow Friday – Rafael Grassetti

Raf Grassetti - TMNT
Raf Grassetti | Instagram

Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) were a large part of my childhood. I loved watching the TV show, had a bunch of the action figures, and went to my first concert to see them right around the time of the first live-action movie. I found Rafael Grassetti a few months ago on Instagram and have been following him ever since. His 3D artwork is amazing, but he took it to another level with the release of his TMNT series. I absolutely love it and have now used it as the background on all my devices.

Follow Rafael: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | ArtStation

Follow Friday posts are posts where I highlight someone I follow as a way to promote and encourage other people.

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Books Fun Non-Fiction Reviews

Book Review: Raising Passionate Jesus Followers


I didn’t quite know what to expect when I was asked to review Raising Passionate Jesus Followers by Phil & Diane Comer. The fact that the foreword was by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs of Love & Respect fame piqued my interest so I went ahead and agreed to review the book. To say that I was thoroughly impressed would be an understatement. While I was reading this book I recommended it to everyone that asked me what I was reading. The authors present a fantastic framework for raising your children. I think one of the reasons this particular book resonated with me so well is that it is in lock step with what I believe the only answer to raising kids or doing anything. As my Pastor Whit George says the only hope that people have is knowing the real Jesus. Phil and Diane to a phenomenal job of laying out a framework for raising your children that has a foundation rooted in Christ. There were several personal stories that helped me relate to the authors and see my struggles in raising my children in the scenarios they gave. There was only one part where I differed from the authors from a theological perspective. However, that one difference was in a section where the authors were relaying their personal list of the ten things you have to teach your kids. The authors share their list but encourage the reader to develop a list of their own so the theological difference is easily dismissed, not anything to throw the book away over. I do not want to spoil any of the book for you so I will end this review but strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of Raising Passionate Jesus Followers by Phil & Diane Comer.

*Note: I received a free copy of this book in order to review it and the links above may be affiliate links where I receive commissions.

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Books Fun Non-Fiction Reviews

Book Review: Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald

ordering_your_private_worldIn recent years I can only think of 2 books that made me seriously reevaluate my life and make significant changes because of that particular book. Those two books are Servolution by Dino Rizzo and Level Up Your Life by Steve Kamb. Both of these books made me sit up and take notice. There were significant changes I implemented in my life because of these two books. You might ask why I am talking about two other books in a book review about a third book. The reason is I now have 3 books in this category. Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald stopped me short and made me seriously evaluate where I was at in my walk with God to the point that though I only finished the book this week it has already had a profound effect on me and how I structure my days. It is not very often that I feel like a book reads me but the comment I put on the title page for chapter 3 was, “This chapter! WOW! has me pegged on #’s 1 & 3!” There are several dog-eared pages in my copy of this book. In my current phase of life I lead a couples small group for our church with my wife and I do not have the time to also lead a men’s small group. When that day comes though, I will be requesting that I can lead using this book. This book is a must for anyone who is a leader or aspires to be one. I won’t stop there, anyone who is a believer that wants to have a vibrant relationship with Christ needs to read this book. I don’t know what else to say other than to say, buy this book!

Full disclosure: I was given a review copy of this book and the links above are affiliate links.

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Books Fiction Fun Reviews

Book Review: Of Stillness and Storm by Michele Phoenix

Of-Stillness-and-Storm

I was very surprised at this book. I wasn’t paying attention very well apparently because the tagline for the book had me thinking this was a sci-fi/fantasy novel so when I was offered a review copy, I jumped at the chance. As I started reading, I thought I had been suckered into reading a romance novel, I was wrong again. What I found was a very compelling cautionary tale for anyone involved in full-time ministry. The character development in the story is very good and I found myself having visceral reactions to each of the three characters as I read the novel.

The book outlines the story of a family of three (including giving the background of how the husband and wife met) of a missionary family in Nepal and the struggles that full-time ministry puts on them including the sometimes drawn-out preparation process. The surprise ending really brought the author’s point home, I will not say any more because I don’t want to spoil the ending.

I’m glad I read this book, it was definitely an eye-opener. Anyone in full-time ministry should pick up of stillness and storm.

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Books Fun Non-Fiction Reviews

NIV Ragamuffin Bible: Meditations for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, & Brokenhearted

NIV Ragamuffin BibleThe NIV Ragamuffin Bible blends the wildly popular New International Version of the Bible with reflections of the late Brennan Manning (1934-2013), author of The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out. This bible contains 104 devotions, 250 reflections, & 150 quotes from the late Brennan Manning. For those who are unfamiliar with Brennan Manning, he is the author of what many would consider the best books on grace ever written, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out. I read this book over 10 years ago and still view it as one of the best Christian books ever written. The tagline on the back of this bible sums it up best: “Do you believe that God not only loves you, but that he also likes you?” This question is pivotal in our walk with Christ and the aim of this bible is to use the scriptures of the NIV and the reflections of a great man to draw you closer to God and help the reader understand how much God not only loves them, but also likes them! My plan, once my current Bible reading plan is finished is to use a year long Bible reading plan and read it in the NIV Ragamuffin Bible, stopping along the way to read the wonderful reflections, devotions, and quotes, I hope you’ll join me.

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Books Fun Non-Fiction Reviews

Ingredients for Success: 10 Best Practices for Business and Life – Joseph James Slawek

ingredients for successIngredients for Success: 10 Best Practices for Business and Life is a quick little read but packs a pretty good punch. Joseph is the CEO of FONA International an flavor company that creates flavors for the beverage, confection, grain, savory, healthcare, and dairy/dessert industries.

In his book, Joseph outlines his strategy for  business and life based on the parables of the Ten Virgins, Talents, and the Sheep and the Goats taken from Matthew 25. I will not steal his thunder and tell you what those 10 best practices are but I will say that if you were to implement those 10 best practices, you would be successful.

Overall, I thought the book was a good quick read that left me with ideas that I could implement in my life after reading it which is the aim of any writer of a book like this. Joseph has done a good job taking his experiences both working for someone else and running his own company and distilling what has made him successful down into a manageable book that just about anyone with any amount of time can read and glean insight from and does so in a way that doesn’t come across as better than thou or preachy.

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Books Fiction Fun Reviews

Fatal Tide – An East Salem Trilogy Novel by Lis Wiehl & Pete Nelson

fatal tide.cover I really have to stop picking up series in the middle to end of the series. After really liking the Heart of Ice – A Triple Threat Novel by Lis Wiehl I figured I would give her another shot and picked up Fatal Tide. I picked well. Even without the background of the first 2 books, Fatal Tide doesn’t disappoint. Fatal Tide picks up with Reese, a 17 year old student at St. Adrian’s academy being ambushed by demonic beings trying to bring about a dark prophecy and just ramps up from there. The main characters Tommy & Dani have been opposing the demonic forces since the first book and the battle culminates in Fatal Tide.

I was impressed with Heart of Ice and was also impressed with Fatal Tide. Lis Wiehl weaves together a compelling action with great spiritual overtones. I would recommend reading the other two books in The East Salem Trilogy first, but even without them, Fatal Tide does not disappoint.

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Faith Family Fitness Fun Functions Random Thoughts What's up

I don’t have birthdays, I level up!

birthday-level-upFor those of you who know me, you know that the month of October is pretty crazy for my family…we have 4 birthdays during the month of October, including mine… I have decided that I’m not going to see it as a birthday though. I loved video games growing up and my favorite one was Final Fantasy (I still have it on my Gameboy Advanced). Final Fantasy was a role playing game where your team of four Warriors of Light, each carrying an orb representing one of the four elements, travelled the world defeating the enemies that were keeping the orbs dark and thus saving the world. Like most role playing games, as your characters fought battles and beat enemies they gained experience points. When they had accumulated enough experience points, they would “level up” which would result in them becoming stronger, more intelligent, and for those with magical abilities, more magical abilities. I made a decision this year when I had my birthday, I would no longer see it as getting older. I see that every day in the new gray hairs in my beard and hair that greet me anew each morning and the hairline making that slow, painful march towards the back of my head. What I want to focus on is this, “How did I “level up” with regards to Faith, Family, Fitness, Fun, & Functions?” After thinking about it, here is what I have come up with. This year I leveled up in the following ways:

  • Faith: While I have always tried to have an active devotional life, this year, I figured out what works for me. Thanks to the Bible App, I have found plans that work for me to get a good dose of the word (almost) every morning. I have always tried the route of reading through the Bible in a year, but most of the time it just wouldn’t sink in the way I wanted it to, the chunks were too big. This year, I started with a Joyce Meyer devotional plan and a Billy Graham devotional plan that were offered within the Bible App and I love it. I get a daily dose of Word along with the opinion and insights from people I greatly respect. In addition to this, I have been listening to the Church on the Move podcast on a regular basis. A few years ago, my in-laws bought me a 160 GB iPod and I filled that sucker up…I have sermons and podcasts going back to 2009 from Church on the Move and I figured out a nifty little trick on my iPod to be able to listen to them in chronological order so what I do is just start the first sermon and the let them go while I am working, mowing, or doing other things…it is awesome!
  • Family: Our family continues to get better and better. Caleb is reading like a champ and his teacher says he is just doing amazingly. Carrie is blossoming more and more each day. Abbie is coming full force into her personality and it is amazing getting to know this little fireball that is our third child. Mandy and I are more united than we have ever been, we don’t even fight over finances anymore :-). That is huge! The interesting thing about our finances and the stress it used to cause and how we resolved it was that it was one small change that we made to how we budgeted that got us on the same page and revolutionized how we communicated about our finances. It wasn’t a huge revelation, it was tweaking the way one piece of our finances was represented on our budgeting spreadsheet that helped us see exactly where we were with our money and with that one little clarification, we got it and we were able to see things eye to eye.
  • Fitness: If you have been reading my blog or known me for any length of time, you know I struggle with my weight and have been trying to lose weight for a long time. This year I had a revelation in how to structure my workouts so that they were actually doable. Previously, I had been trying to do P90X either in my morning or in the evenings but with 3 kids and running a business on the side I was very sporadic in my workouts and wasn’t seeing the results that I wanted. I tried working out at work by running on the elliptical but the frustrating thing was it took me 45 minutes to an hour during work to get a 30 minute run in, then I remembered that our workout facility at Phillips 66 has a pool…light bulb…if I go down and swim for 20 to 30 minutes, it only takes me a minimal amount of time to get from work to the pool and from the pool back to work…bingo…and the pool is open enough in the morning that I an get there almost every day because I can almost always find 30 minutes to get down to the pool. By getting consistent with the pool workouts it took the pressure off me trying to get an hour workout at home so I was able to cut my lifting routine down to 30 minutes a night which makes it so much easier to do.
  • Fun: The big win for Mandy and I this year was that we took the kids to Disney World. While that was the highlight, we have also tried to make sure that we do something fun on a regular basis. We just recently had a staycation where we went to Incredible Pizza, the Tulsa Children’s Museum, and had a movie night. We have fun. We also like to win and right now Caleb’s soccer team (the one I coach) is one win away from being undefeated this season. Carrie started dance lessons this past summer and absolutely loved them.
  • Functions: I hit a major career milestone this year. The interesting thing about it was that it came with very little fanfare through an IM from one of my co-workers and I didn’t even realize it was that much of a goal for me until I hit it. In my side business I also have a major announcement coming very soon which will be very cool for us and become a great avenue of blessing for us in addition to my main job at Phillips 66. I need to keep quiet on these things right now but will let you know as soon as I can.

Overall, this has been a great year, I’m looking forward to how I will level up next year and what God has in store for me and my family. Sound off in the comments below with how this year has been a great year for you!