TheDeSocios.com

We have decided we can’t keep Cesar, he was aggressive to David today when he came home. We just don’t know what to do with him now.

Pray for us.

Cesar bit our mom’s dog today and we are worried that we will have to put him down.

The Pittsburgh Public School District is developing a massive scholarship program for all their High School graduates. The plan would give each student $5,000 each year toward college, until 2010 when that sum could be raised to $10,000 a year if students passed the state graduation test.
The catch is that you have to be in school 90% of the days (days missed are counted from unexcused absences, and suspensions) and you need to be in the district for all 4 years of High School. The schools that are acceptable are all state schools and most colleges and trade school in Allegheny county. For frame of reference Pitt costs about $13,000 a year for students in Pennsylvania.
The really cool part is that even if your are on a full scholarship you can still be eligible for up to $1,000 a year.
It seems like a pretty sweet deal. Lets see if its around in 2020 when my kids are in school.

A few days before my birthday I got my new tat.
Its only half done, and it hurt a lot. Its taken a while for it to heal so I’ve been holding off on putting any pictures up.
Here it is:

Its from Revelation Chapter 21, where God is finally reconciled to his people in the new Jerusalem.
God says to John in this passage:
“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”

I’m betting that some of you have some questions for me about my tattoo or why I have any tattoos.
Feel free to drop me a comment or a question.

I have heard a few people state that they are uninterested in my recent wishlist posts, probably because these folks don’t want to buy me any of the things on my list.

Here is the deal with these lists, I have like a dozen people asking me what I want for Christmas, so I thought I would make it easy for everyone.

Here is the problem, some of my readers don’t care, and the people who do care about my list, can’t find out who bought what.

So here is the solution that will please everyone= boxedup.com. This is a program that allows you to create a wishlist that you can put up on your site, and people can access you wishlist page, on boxedup.com, and reserve a product from the list, so people don’t get duplicates.

for those of you who don’t care about my Christmas list, you will still want to check out this site, its a really cool idea.

We are currently in Louisville, The City of bourbon. Snoke, and I are having a great time.

Last night we went to the release performance for Ben Sollee’s new album at the 21c Museum.

Today we went to the 11, and 7pm worship gatherings at Sojourn Community Church.
I got to thinking about what was the same and what was different.

So, here are some of the differences and similarities between City Reformed and Sojourn Community.
Differences:
1. Louder – A drum set, and a electric guitar means a louder service, with a bit more of a punch. Though the 7pm service was a bit more mellow than the 10am.
2. People – Its funny, I’m guessing that the average age in the 10am was actually older than our service. I think they have more long-term residents than we do, even if they are in the 20′s and 30′s.
3. Size – There were probably 300 people in the 10am and 80 in the 7pm, so they are bigger.
4. Building – The 930, though not simply a church building, is definitely nicer than the Frick Academy.
5. The Atmosphere – Most of the people were dressed more casually than CR, and the lighting in the building was a bit more stirring than the halogen gems that we rock.
6. Standing for the Bible Reading – I had thought about this before, and I really liked it.
7. Communion – Weekly (Let the gasps of utter horror from the “4 times a year because its special” folks begin.)

Similarities:
1. The “elements” – Call to Worship , Singing, Prayer, Bible Reading, Confession of sin, Assurance of Pardon, and a benediction.
2. Both Church leaders explain the service, and doesn’t assume that everyone is a part of the church subculture.
3. Deep sermons – you can tell that, both Matt, and Daniel are men that love the Bible.
4. Contextualized – Both CR and Sojourn are trying to take an ancient truth and make it as accessible as possible with out changing that truth.
5. Keller – North or South, Baptist or Presby. Tim Keller has a wide sphere of influence.

Now to the good stuff…

Who has the better facial hair?

Matt Koerber

Daniel Montgomery

Winner: Matt Koerber

Just check out that beard. Though a bit scarier in his picture, Matt clearly wins by the fact that he could stop a bullet with that facestache, and thus prevent a stray bullet from hitting a member of his church (talk about laying ones life down).