RECENT BLOG POSTS

My timing is uncanny…

Posted on: 07/15/08 5:54 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Okay… this is trippy.

For years I’ve used a short talk where I tell a modern day version of “The House on the Rock” story from Matthew chapter seven. I talk about two guys building a house off the coast of Florida, soon to be visited by a hurricane… and the aftereffects. This story was one of the talks I included in my new book 10-Minute Talks.

I wrote that story about two years ago, turning in the draft of this entire book to my editor about a year and a half ago. The book finally printed last month and I just received a shipment of copies fresh off the printer- so my people who pre-ordered the books priority mail will be seeing their copies in the next week.

So what’s so bizarre? I was just speaking on the New Jersey coast and we heard warning that the effects of Hurricane Bertha might move up there later this week. When I first heard this… I stopped dead in my tracks. “Hurricane who?!!”

Turn with me in your copies of 10-Minute Talks to page 164 (I’m sure you’ll be keeping it right next to your Bible). 🙂

Yeah… I wrote that two years ago. And people will be getting their copies in the next week!

LOL.

Don’t worry… I’m not going to get weird on ya and try to start predicting catastrophic events now. I just think that was a pretty funny coincidence. The timing of this whole thing was uncanny!

Posted in Books, Humor, News | | Leave A Comment

The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Posted on: 07/14/08 6:56 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I always like to keep my eye on what teenagers are watching. And right now the show creating the most buzz is “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.”

Yesterday I just saw a poster (with the image to the right) for the show all over the mall by my Virginia hotel. The timing can’t be better for this “Juno-esque” marketed program hitting the ABC Family channel. It’s launch was a raging success. Media-Life Magazine detailed its success:

ABC Family’s “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” Tuesday 8 p.m. The series premiere averaged 2.8 million total viewers, making it the most-watched original series premiere in network history. It was also the highest-rated original series telecast in network history in households, adults 18-34, 18-49s and 12-34s.

Curious about the content of the show? Check out our own David R. Smith’s incitefull new Youth Culture Window article giving us a glimpse into the porthole of this “Secret Life…”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Sexuality, TV, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Snake-handling Pastor Arrested

Posted on: 07/13/08 12:05 PM | by Jonathan McKee

No wonder people think Christians are weird!

A “snake-handling” pastor in Kentucky was one of 10 people arrested in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade. CNN reports…

More than 100 snakes, many of them deadly, were confiscated in the undercover sting after Thursday’s arrests, said Col. Bob Milligan, director of law enforcement for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Most were taken from the Middlesboro home of Gregory James Coots, including 42 copperheads, 11 timber rattlesnakes, three cottonmouth water moccasins, a western diamondback rattlesnake, two cobras and a puff adder.

Sigh.

Click here for the entire article.

Posted in Humor, News | | Leave A Comment

Death by Hide-a-Bed

Posted on: 07/11/08 9:49 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I’m traveling with my family this week and we’ve opened up a hide-a-bed almost every night of our trip so far. My kids will attest to the fact that I’ve been known to fold up the bed while they’re still in it! (Yes, I’m careful… my 10 year old loves it!) So I found this story particularly funny… uh… disturbing… er… I don’t know. But classic!

A Russian woman in St Petersburg killed her drunk husband with a folding couch, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

St Petersburg’s Channel Five said the man’s wife, upset with her husband for being drunk and refusing to get up, kicked a handle after an argument, activating a mechanism that folds the couch up against a wall.

The couch, which doubles as a bed, folds up automatically in order to save space. The man fell between the mattress and the back of the couch, Channel Five quoted emergency workers as saying.

The woman then walked out of the room and returned three hours later to check on what she thought was an unusually quiet sleeping husband.

Police refused to comment. (Reuters)

So will I. 🙂

Posted in Family, Humor, News | | Leave A Comment

Robbery Attempt Ends When Victim Offers Iced Tea

Posted on: 07/10/08 4:24 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Ever notice how much people will open up and talk if you can create an atmosphere of acceptance and just listen? I guess this works in the most unusual circumstances…

A mother and her 6-month old girl escaped unhurt after she calmed down a knife-wielding robber with a glass of iced tea and a chat, Tokyo police said Wednesday.

The 30-year-old housewife was in the hallway of her apartment building Monday when a man pressed a knife to her back and demanded money, police said.

When the woman said she did not have any cash on her, the man pushed her and her baby into her apartment.

To buy herself time to escape, the woman gave the robber a cup of iced wheat tea to calm him down on what was a hot summer day, police said.

The 43-year-old man put away his knife and began to tell her how he lost money gambling and its effect on his life and family. (CNN, July 10, 2008)

Wow. There’s a lesson on the effectiveness of a soft answer and the willingness to listen.

Hmmmm.

Posted in News | | Leave A Comment

Surfing in NJ

Posted on: 07/8/08 11:58 AM | by Jonathan McKee

As most of you know, I’m on the East Coast speaking at a camp at the NJ shore. When we arrived at the camp and were at the front desk checking in, a surf instructor walked by to check who had signed up for free lessons (provided for the kids at the camp). Only two kids had signed up, so he asked my son Alec if he would like to try it. Alec hesitated for a second.

That same morning Alec had been bugging me about wanting to surf. So when the instructor asked him… I looked at him and said, “Don’t hesitate… now’s your chance!”

So 10 minutes later Alec’s on the water taking lessons, and 45 minutes after that he’s catching waves (small waves… but still waves nonetheless) on the Atlantic.

Pretty cool! (Some of you remember me blogging about Lori and I taking lessons last December)

When he came in it was nothing but, “Dad! I’ve gotta get a surf board! I love it! I totally want to live where I could surf all the time…”

🙂

Posted in Family, Personal | | Leave A Comment

Six States in One Day

Posted on: 07/5/08 9:09 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Tomorrow my family and I fly to the East Coast where I’ll be speaking at a camp all next week. If our flight goes through (don’t even get me started about the reliability of the airlines lately!!!), we’ll be arriving in VA tomorrow afternoon, then hitting D.C., Maryland… the edge of Delaware, and finally New Jersey within 24 hours (and that’s including a night’s sleep).

In California if I drove that long I would just run into… more California. So it’s always a fun experience for my kids. “Hey kids, we’re hitting a new state!”

“Huh? I thought we just arrived in a new state 10 minutes ago!”

“We did. But now we’re entering another one. Did you enjoy Delaware?”

Once the flight is done (grumble…), I’m really looking forward to this trip. I speak a week at Long Beach island in NJ. The camp is on a huge strip of land that parallel’s the shore. Beach on both sides… the kids are pretty excited.

If you think of it, pray for the week. I speak a couple times a day most of the week. I present the Gospel and do an invitation on Tuesday night (you can really pray for that), and then I teach about making Jesus a priority for the rest of the week.

When I finish up Saturday we are heading to Philly for a day to visit family, then onto the D.C. area to visit some friends. We’ll probably spend a day in the D.C. “Mall”… the monuments, museums, etc. We haven’t seen the new WWII memorial so we’ll probably go check that out.

It will be good fun having the family with me again on this trip.

Good times!

Posted in Family, Personal, Prayer, Travel | | Leave A Comment

What Would it Be Like to Be…

Posted on: 07/4/08 9:24 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I’m not big on forwards… but this video was passed to me and caught my eye.

At first I thought this video was pretty goofy (Okay… it is pretty goofy. It’s pure “Saturday Morning Special” quality… so don’t have high expectations at all)… but I love this subject matter.

Maybe I just liked this because I spent a whole chapter in my “Do They Run…” book talking about this kind of compassion mindset that asks, “What is it like to be….?”

This also reminds me of the subject matter of the Nickelback “Saving Me” video (which we provide a MUSIC DISCUSSION write up on our web site)… a guy who can see people’s “mortality clocks” ticking away above their heads.

Good stuff.

Posted in Evangelism, Faith | | Leave A Comment

Getting Tattoos… and Removing Tattoos

Posted on: 07/2/08 12:40 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Hip Hop artist Pharrell seems to regret inking himself. What’s there to say? He changed his mind. It happens. He’ll be getting an expensive and painful procedure that involves applying new skin over his old body art.

“It’s going to be pricey, but worth it,” he says. “I got fire on my arms! I’m a grown man!” –Vogue, July 1, 2008

Almost half of all Americans under age 30 have tattoos right now, and 40 percent of adults age 26 to 40 have one (CBNNews.com, October 7, 2007) … the question is… do they regret it later?

According to the same CBN article, 17 percent of people regret their tattoos. That’s almost 1 in 5.

Johnny Depp is a famous case of this. After breaking up with girlfriend Winona Ryder, he realized that his “Winona” tattoo was probably rather silly. So rather than becoming a die-hard Winona Judd fan, he had the tattoo altered to read “Wino.”

Nice.

Although some people in the church try to point to Biblical reasons for not getting inked… I think stories like Johnny Depp’s and Pharrell’s speak louder to this generation than any stats when considering getting inked (especially if you read the details of Pharrell’s procedure. Ugh! Shudder.).

Posted in Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Not Ashamed of a One Night Stand

Posted on: 06/30/08 1:42 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I guess energy drinks will try anything to market their product.

Not much to be said here… I’ll just quote the ad word for word:

“When you wake up ‘the morning after’ in a strange place, don’t be ashamed. Jump start your body and mind with the electrolytes and B-Vitamins in AMP Energy Relaunch…”

Wow.

The racy video ad (warning, even though this ad has no nudity, it’s definitely raunchy) with it’s catchy tune and downloadable lyrics has gone viral. MarketingProfs.com calls it how they see it:

By creating a funny, viral-worthy campaign to which most of us can relate, AMP has delivered a nifty piece of Marketing Inspiration.

With success of these kind of campaigns… you can bet we’ll be seeing more of them.

Sigh.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Jonathan's Rant, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment