Lousiana Thoughts...

For the most part, all is well in the world. I ate a plethora of catfish last night from easily the best eating establishment on the planet...Mike's Catfish House. Hanging out with the family. The only negative was watching the beloved New Orleans Saints likely see their playoff chances go down the drain with a loss to Philly. Oh well. Some observations from Louisiana:

*Had a friend recently tell me how amazed he was at the # of carts in the parking lot of the local Wal-Mart...and thusly NOT in the shopping cart return area. Amazing. I counted 6 in the cart return area last night and 25...count em 25 in various places over the parking lot. Insanity! There's got to be some sociological conclusion from this.

*A "cold front" moved through last night and "plummeted" the temperature to a high of 52 degrees today. I saw a kid in the store today wearing a hoodie with a Texas Longhorn sweatshirt...he seemed to be freezing...and strangely none of that seemed to surprise me in light of the sweatshirt:}

*I'm 1/5 of the way through the standard Oak Grove Louisiana food "extravaganza". This includes...catfish from Mike's....chicken from the Chicken Basket....pizza from Johnny's....Boiled Peanuts (yes I'm serious and yes they're phenomenal) from the market...and last but not least the best ice cream in the world at Mer Rouge Louisiana. If I get 3 of 5...it's an average trip. If I get 5 of 5 (done this only once) then it's a record breaker. We'll see.

*Jon Green turned me onto the "Advent Conspiracy" (www.adventconspiracy.org). Great, great stuff. We delved a bit into it at DC. We live in a society of excess. I've found myself being more and more frustrated with having to think of things to put on the list of "Things I Want for Christmas". Advent Conspiracy is an idea that suggests we should give gifts that build community and give 10-20 % less gifts so that we can give to support an organization or a person that really needs the help. I challenged the crew at DC to do this and share the stories when we reconvene on January 9. Really simple but revolutionary idea. Could be an e-mail. Could mean forgiving. Could mean giving money to (fill in the blank) charity. Could mean giving money or gifts to (fill in the blank) family or person to enhance their season. We live in a very consumeristic culture (you don't realize how much that's true until you've been overseas) and I'm coming to believe the message of Jesus is very counter-culture. That's all I've got for now. Looking forward to tackling the chicken front tonight!