I plan to post something significant about my last times in Santa Clarita, the going away party, my new place, life in Dallas, and seminary. But that is for a later time. This will be the official road trip recap. We quickly learned that the governor on our Penske was set at 90mph. We learned this from reading the manual. I promise. To end the suspense, the rooster made it to the beautiful city of Ludlow, California. It was there that he breathed his last, however as you can see in the picture his legs were still firmly attached to the roof when we arrived in Grapevine. The strange part is, about 15 minutes before he left us, we herd a very loud, very distinctive rooster clucking sound coming from above us. Apparently he didn’t approve of the harsh hand that life dealt him.

In this next picture, you can see the ridiculous price we paid for gas in Needles, CA. You know how sometimes if you have a big car the pump shuts off before your tank is full because you hit a certain dollar amount? Well that happened here – only it didn’t shut off until $100. And we didn’t get our full tank. However, I was VERY happy to pay the exorbitant price. Why you ask? Good question. To finish Jeff’s first leg of driving, we ran out of gas in the no man’s land before Needles. This is the hard part to believe – we coasted over 8 miles to the gas station. Go ahead and read that again. Yes, 8 miles. It was crazy, and we have video to prove it. It was mostly down hill, but at one incline we got down to 2mph and almost stopped, but by God’s grace and some creative body momentum, we made it to the next downhill and onto the home of the $3.29 gas.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful – we stopped for dinner and Starbucks in Flagstaff, then drove through the snow all night in New Mexico, then had breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Amarillo before heading down deep in the heart of Texas. That last leg of the trip was pretty fun, we shouted country music lyrics as we drove through the small towns of north Texas, and I had my first encounter with the Texas State Troopers. Which is not the same as the Texas Rangers, and they don’t like it when you call them “Walker”. I got off with a warning though, and honestly I was surprised I even got pulled over because I was only doing about 4 mph over the speed limit. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come.

The last few days have been pretty crazy getting everything unpacked and the house set up. Our new place is sweet, I’ll post some pictures for everyone (and by everyone I mostly mean mom) to ogle this weekend. Monday night I got to go out to dinner with all the Zellers and my friend Chris Pryor, then last night I had dinner with the Ochoas. I’m already so thankful for the friends the Lord has provided me here. It was really tough moving to Alabama without knowing anybody, and I’m glad I don’t have to go through that whole ordeal again.

A little car news – my Nova is officially sold as of Monday night. I got a price I’m happy with, but I’m really going to miss working on that car. Good times. But now on to new things. Speaking of new things, I went and looked at this car today. I think it may be mine sometime next week. I’ll keep you posted. I’d better get to bed, my first day of school activity is tomorrow. It’s test day. From 9 to 3:30. Should be fun.

Its been a while since our last post here and we make no excuses. The last few weeks have been pretty eventful for the staff of powellblog.com. We now have four less wisdom teeth, one less job, one new school, and soon, hopefully, one less car.

First among the events of said time line was the extraction of wisdom teeth. While this wasn’t, and I expect never will be, a pleasant experience, it wasn’t that bad. Which is kind of like saying, “I got beat up the other day, but it wasn’t that bad. I’ve seen other people get beat up waaaay worse.” Not fun, but not nearly as painful as the experience was for some of my friends. For that I am very thankful. I’ve learned three main things from the ordeal: 1. When your diet consists entirely of low-carb ice cream and stout antibiotics, your stomach does not approve 2. Vicodin has just about zero effect on me, which is another reason I’m thankful the pain wasn’t unbearable 3. It’s utterly amazing how much food can get stuck in your tooth sockets as they are healing. Very gross. If you, dear reader, find yourself needing this procedure, I highly recommend Baywood Dental. While it did take a while to actually get my appointment started, I was in and out of the operation in 20 minutes. Pretty impressive.

Second on the time line is my finding out that I will soon be leaving my place of employment, Beldin Technologies. December first, which oddly enough will be my three year anniversary with the company, will be my last day working with Charlie at BT. Thankfully, because I’ve been with the company for three full years, I’ll be receiving four months salary and a new Cadillac upon my retirement. Thanks Charlie! Seriously though, these last three years working there have been BY FAR the best employment experience I’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure as far as the software industry goes I couldn’t have worked for a better boss or a better company and I’m very thankful for these last three years. I’ll be very sad to leave next Friday, but excited to see what direction the business takes over the next few years.

Which leads to point C, or III, or 3 – the new school. As you probably already figured out from my not so subtle graphic at the top of this post, that school is Dallas Theological Semiary, aka DTS. I found out this morning that I’ve been accepted to the Master of Arts in Christian Education program. I’ll be moving in January to study under some of the top professors in the country, taking classes like “Theological Education in Intercultural Contexts” and “Designing Biblical Instruction”. I’m really excited to start working through my 65 units. Indeed, I have much to be thankful for this holiday.

And finally, speaking of being thankful, the time has come for me to sell my Nova. After almost two years, and hundreds of hours of work, and more dollars than I care to admit, it is time for me to wave goodbye. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a buyer within the next month, which could be somewhat difficult. The car is basically done, with the exception of body and paint, which usually makes a car like this much harder to sell. Most people who are willing to spend money on this type of car either want it totally finished, or not yet begun. So if you happen to know anybody who wants a great deal on an awesome 66 Nova that they can paint whatever color they want, be sure to give them my email address.

One final note, I got a new CD today, actually a box set, that I highly recommend. It’s called Songs For Christmas and it’s a 5 disc set from your favorite eclectic folk singer and mine, Sufjan Stevens (see review below). I broke the cardinal rule of Christmas music by listening to it a whole day before Thanksgiving, but I did it for you. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.

While I was gone several significant things took place outside of Dallas. First, and quite sadly, Steve Irwin (a.k.a. the crocodile hunter) passed away. If you missed this, you must be living in a cave, and let me be the first to say, “Welcome back to civilization!” This news has been everywhere and its a good reminder of how much an extraordinary life of risk-taking causes the world to take notice. Scott Zeller, Scott Burns, and many Australians will be mourning for days to come, so be sure to send them a note of encouragement if you think about it. And oddly enough he died from being stabbed directly in the heart by a stingray, which coincidentally is the same way I’ve always hoped to go.

Speaking of people who wrestle reptiles, Switchfoot has an on-line magazine called lowercase people. If you’ve never heard of it, mosey on over here and check out their third issue for some stylish, trendy, and thought provoking articles. The music section features a band called Mae, which I will be seeing next week at the Music Box, and in the art section there’s an interesting conversation with your favorite documentarian and mine, Bobby Bailey.

And speaking of documentarians, Derek Webb just released his latest album for free download. Very cool idea. Way to go Derek, I applaud you.

And speaking of webs, everyone’s favorite theological blog will soon have a new member. I’ve heard his initials are AP, so be sure to keep checking for his inaugural post. So that’s 18 links in one post – happy clicking.

1. One book that changed your life: George Muller of Bristol by A.T. Pierson

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76

4. One book that made you laugh: Deepest Thoughts: So Deep They Squeak by Jack Handey

5. One book that made you cry: Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War by Jimmie Briggs

6. One book you wish had been written: The Three E’s by Bob Childress and Biblical Radical Politics by Gregg Frazer

7. One book you wish had never been written: The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

8. One book you’re currently reading: Praise Habit by David Crowder

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: Good News About Injustice by Gary Haugen

This is the part where I’m supposed to say who else I want to answer these questions, but instead I’ll point you to those who have already done it, like Sam, Gunner, and Scott. You totally want to do it now don’t you? If you’re cool you will.

A huge thanks to all who came out to Uganda Discovery Night on Sunday! Here’s the video for those who weren’t able to make it.

As you probably know, Adam Powell, Eric Margrave & Jeff Lewis went to Uganda in June and discovered more than they expected! Come, hear, and see their life-affecting discoveries through video, testimony and Q&A!

WHERE: Church of the Canyons 28050 Sand Canyon Rd, Canyon Country 91387
WHEN: Sunday August 27th at 6:30-7:30pm

Please join us and feel free to invite anyone that you think might be interested in learning about this country, this people, and the God who cares for them!