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Well, I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day. Ours was good at the Mullikin household. Here’s what’s up.
1. Karen and I watched the first movie we ever saw together again…The American President. I’d have to say that Michael Douglas’ speech at the end is one of my top 5 movie scenes. We also had our favorite meal, chicken with homemade texas pete dip and broccoli and cheese. Haven’t had it since we moved up north.
2. We found Remember the Titans on tv Wednesday afternoon and had to watch it. It’s one of those movies that never gets old. This is the type of movie that should win awards which leads me to…
3. The Oscars are next weekend and I don’t know anything about them. The Academy is more concerned with the art than entertainment and are thus out of step with movie going audiences. Occasionally, they get it right, but the past few years has been horrible. I have no interest because I haven’t seen any of the nominees. Neither has anyone else, but that won’t stop them from having their little award show with swipes at the Bush administration included.
4. Drake takes about 1 step a day now. All the kids are on anti-biotics now so keep them in your prayers.
5. Not sure if I’m gonna watch the Daytona 500 or NBA all-star game. Will watch the dunk contest Saturday night though. Watch out for Jamario Moon.
6. I’ll be preaching around a kitchen table in the sanctuary this weekend. And if you want to hear the Eros sermon you can check it out at www.chiunited.org.
Gotta cut this post short due to lots of work to do. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Dude, we had an ice storm here that would’ve shut SC down for a week. Of course, here they get the roads cleared quickly although I was out yesterday when it hit and things got bad before I made it home. I almost hit the church mailbox and then a car on the way home(you know most accidents happen within 2 miles of home and our new place is .2 miles from the church). Anyway, here we go..
1. Because of various situations, some real and some pranked, I freak out when I see a police car. Now, last Friday, I picked up Mike and Bob at the church at 4 am to take them to the airport for the Haiti mission trip. We took a short cut behind Wal-Mart when Mike noted that I was getting pulled over. I saw one set of lights, then two, then three. So, I know my tag is not visible(looong story), but I didn’t even know there were 3 cops on duty in Upper Chichester at 4 am. Anyway, the church’s neighbors had called because the night before someone was snooping behind their house. So, we identified ourselves and all was well. My heart pounded for a good 4 hours. Then, on Monday night our burglar alarm started beeping. I tried to shut it off, but instead(unknowingly) armed it. So, a minute later, it really starts going off and LOUD. I went over and told the landlord and he came over and fixed it and showed me what I had done wrong. 10 minutes later, yep you guessed it, 3 cops arrived at the house. Fortunately, I didn’t know until they were gone. Thanks Greg and Wes, you have scarred me for life.
2. Another cop story…we got caught in traffic one day on the way to Philly. I thought there was a bad wreck ahead because of the number of police cars I saw with lights flashing. As we got closer, I noticed there were about 10 patrol cars, but I couldn’t spot the cars from the accident. People were rubber necking which was causing the traffic delay. What were they looking at? Not a wreck, but the 10 officers were detaining…1 person. There car was pulled over, but there was only one perp. Don’t know what he did, but apparently it took 10 cops to take care of it…3 to watch him, while the other 7 were spread out having various conversations.
3. Think Indiana would like to have Bobby Knight back now?
4. I know I’m a geek but…Jeff Hardy deserves a world title run.
5. Still can’t access Facebook and Myspace.
6. Does anyone else think that Hillary Clinton’s head is going to explode sometime soon? I also think it’s only a matter of time before Chris Matthews asks Barack Obama out on a date.
7. Rudy Guiliani’s next book…”How to blow your shot at being president”
8. I’m glad our politicians have time to investigate steroids in baseball. Good to know they have that national debt thing solved, we’re energy independent, Al-Queda is defunct, the fair tax is enacted, and our border is secure.
9. If you’re in ministry buy the simply strategic series. These books are rocking my world and changing the way I think about how we do church.
10. I’m going 0ut to face the ice…hopefully, it’s not vanilla.

Well, I was pleased with my sermon Sunday on the difficult topic of “Eros”. People responded well to it. This week I’m talking “storge” or family love. I’m almost finished with my prep and excited about some creative stuff I’m going to try. We took all the kids to the doctor yesterday(Monday) and Drake is at the end of his illness while Charis and Milena are both very sick. It’s some sort of virus(kinda like streep throat but not) so they’re both on antibiotics. Karen and I are very tired because it seems we haven’t gotten a full nights sleep since Thanksgiving. Since Charis was coughing most of the night I tried to stay awake too since it’s not fair for me to sleep while my 4 year old is suffering. Eventually, we got her coughing stopped, but here’s what I was thinking before we both drifted off to sleep.
1. Is it just me, or is there a lot of irony in a a singer named Amy Winehouse being released from rehab so she can perform on the Grammys(that’s what I heard but I’m not sure since no one watched the show) and wins an award for her song “Rehab” and gives a shout out to her lover who is in jail? Maybe it’s just me.
2. I had a political epiphany last night. To me, Barack Obama is really the only Presidential candidate offering change because, let’s face it, he has hardly any Washington experience. He is not an insider like McCain and Clinton. I think that’s what a lot of people are attracted to: the hope that things would be different under his administration. Now, I’ve often thought about running for political office and the issues that I would champion. However, it finally hit me last night that the government may be able to influence people’s circumstances(programs, tax breaks, and assistance) but it can’t change people. These politicians are speaking of government being the hope of the people and if so, we are in BIG trouble. In all societies since the beginning of time, true change has never started at the top but rather at the grass roots. That’s where the church comes in. Government programs are just band aids. The church, through Christ, can offer true transformation. The problems our nation faces are ultimately about people and sadly, the poor or greedy choices we make. Yes, it’s a problem when a company cuts employee wages to increase CEO and board pay, but it’s also sad when that employee spends their decreased wages on a plasma TV instead of milk, bread, and diapers. They then spend their time watching crap TV instead of teaching their kids to read or better yet making sure they’re not doing drugs or sleeping around. The people in our communities are in financial, emotional, spiritual, and physical debt and are looking to the government for hope and solutions because the church has been too busy worrying about stuff that only affects the 40-50 people in their congregation. Basically, the church has let the government do our job. We have turned our backs on widows and orphans because they have Medicare and Medicaid. Acts 2 said that when the early church was working right that no one was in need. I shouldn’t need a politician to raise my awareness about poverty. I should be on the front lines fighting it. I think it’s about time the church reclaimed it’s place in culture and society again by dealing relevantly to the issues of the day. If we don’t then in a few generations our churches will be the same as many in Europe…museums.

Someone asked me the other day if I was growing a beard. Frankly, it’s just a by product of me hating to shave. If I can make it through the next few days then I think I’ll keep it for a while. It’s the maintenance that wears me down usually. Yup, it’s a slow day. Here ya go…
1. Now all the kiddies are sick. If only more cowbell cured real fevers. They are sleeping a lot. No appetites though. We’ll make it through.
2. We are doing a 5 week series on love called “the heart of the matter” at our church. Adam had week 1, Mike weeks 2 and 5, and me weeks 3 and 4. I got stuck with the “Eros” sermon. Actually, I may have volunteered. Anyway, I view my preaching opportunities here as a way to push the envelope and be as creative as possible. I am pumped for this message and hope God uses it to expose some things in our lives.
3. I was looking at my summer schedule today…whoa. Out of 12 weeks I have 5 week long events from Kids’ Camp, Penn Jersey Youth Camp, speaking at NC East Sr. High Camp, VBS, and the Yes Ministries Philly trip.
4. Did you notice that the states Mike Huckabee won in the south were “Bible-belt” states, but that distinction wasn’t made about the same Southern States that Barack Obama won? Speaking of Mike Huckabee, here’s a pic of him holding a t-shirt Matt designed that came from my brain. Also includes a pic of a SWU student with Chuck Norris. Amazing!
5. I think I caught up on my sleep last night. Of course, I have to take two friends to the airport at 4 am tomorrow for a missions trip to Haiti. The fun never stops.

Sorry, I have been out of commision for a few days. We haven’t got internet set up at our new apartment yet and as you’ll see, it’s been a busy few days.
1. Got moved into our new apartment which is very close to the church. Close enough to walk in fact which I still need to do to fulfill my failure to pick the correct Super Bowl winner. I have good excuses why I haven’t completed this “challenge” yet. One being…
2. We had to take Drake to the ER on Monday morning at 5:30 with a very high fever(104.9 in fact, kinda ironic being that was my favorite radio station in SC). We haven’t slept much this week because he has a cold and is teething. It is a double whammy. It’s nothing serious, but there’s also nothing they can really do to help. It just has to run it’s course. Then I had the bright idea to…
3. Go to New York City with Dan Smith and Sarah Macey(2 HUGE Giants fans from our church) to see the victory parade for the Super Bowl champs. Dan was nice enough to let me borrow a jersey which wasn’t as bad for me(I am a lifelong Cowboy’s fan) as the “Boston Sucks” chants(being that I am a Red Sox fan since 1988). It was complete pandemonium. You could tell that no one there thought that the Giants had a shot when the playoffs began or even when the season began. Everyone was in shock. Ever wonder where all the confetti comes from in a ticker tape parade…people throwing shredded paper out of windows, which is still littering in most places. We were at the end of the parade route and got to see all the stars. During the actual rally, it started to rain with Tom Coughlin was speaking so we headed home. It was a fun experience. Best sign I saw-19-doh! Hey, I was pulling for the Patriots. I discovered also that native NYers do use a certain word every other breath. It’s not just the movies. Let’s just say it’s a “F”oul word.

4. Yesterday was Super Tuesday and because we got back so late from NYC I was unable to vote in the primary. I am registered as a Republican and I’ll just say my vote would have been cast for someone who placed in the top 3. I thought Huckabee’s showing yesterday was remarkable considering that all the conversative voices on radio were urging him to drop out. If Huckabee had pulled off a Missouri(why did everyone pronounce it with an “a” on the end last night) then it would have been borderline historic. Regardless, I don’t think Romney would have faired any better had Huck pulled out. What’s wrong with a three person race? Isn’t this America? If an unemployed man can run on the Democratic side(John Edwards) then why can’t someone stay in the race as long as they want to on the Republican side. It’s a process that should be allowed to play out to the end. The Party is divided right now. If anything I think Romney staying in hurts Huckabee. I also believe that if Romney were an Evangelical Christian instead of a Mormon then this race would be over. That is my personal opinion. A lot of people just can’t get past his religion. And now I will get on my soap box…I like Sean Hannity, but his act is growing tiresome. All he has is a laundry list for everyone that he pulls out. When there’s a race issue, he pulls out the Al Sharpton list. Now, he has his McCain list and personally, I think he(Hannity) is starting to sound like a broken record. Because of this, I think people are starting to tune him out. Now I also like Rush and think his role in a lot of what’s happening has been overblown. I, for one, don’t wait on either of these guys to tell me who to vote for. I do like their takes on the issues and think Rush has tried to stay true to his cause instead of a political party. I can respect that. I’m interested to see if there’s any fallout for him if and when McCain gets the nomination. In case you’re wondering about the outcome of the general election, the Republican party is using the 1996 playbook so just look that up to see how well it worked for them then. On the Democratic side, I almost believe a Hillary-Obama(or Obama-Hillary) ticket would be almost unbeatable. But I thought the Patriots were too.

PS-We have new internet software at the church so I am unable to post on Facebook or Myspace. I will respond to everyone as soon as I can.

Wow, I am so tired. We have been moving boxes all day to storage and to our new apartment. I can’t say enough how much of a blessing Pat and Colleen are being to us by making this “in-law suite” available and affordable to us. They are great people. Lots of drive time today so time to think about…
1. God is really stirring some things in my heart. BIG things. Vision things. So, I have to ask myself where it all fits in to what He’s doing. I am very nervous to share these things with certain people. Especially, since I feel led to do it in the next few days. God is working.
2. For me, there don’t seem to be any BIG ideas coming from the presidential candidates. I love Huckabee’s Fairtax. Of course, that’s not original with him. Hillary and Obama are pushing universal healthcare. Have you noticed that our government is the only entity that can increase spending while already at a deficit? We need another government program like I need another Batman figurine. I’m just not excited anymore. For all the talk of change, we’re facing more of the same.
3. I’m looking forward to some great movies this year: Jumpers, Vantage Point, Iron Man, Indiana Jones 4, Hulk, and of course…The Dark Knight.
4. Whoever is picking Jessica Alba’s roles for her should be fired. The Eye…are you kidding me?
5. My summer is going to be slammed but amazing. Kids’ Camp, Philly missions trip, NC East camp, Penn Jersey Youth Camp, VBS, and the Red Sox in Philly. Can’t wait. Lots of work to do ahead of time such as…
6. Going into Philly next week to make some plans for our missions team. Excited to work with some great organizations that make a difference every day.
7. Have you noticed that they are restarting all the old horror movies…first Halloween, and now Jason and Freddy are both getting a revamp. I never got into the horror movies much. I’m a scaredy cat.
8. After moving most of our stuff today, I can honestly tell you that if our house caught on fire and all of my family were out and safe…there’s nothing I would go back in for. It’s just stuff. I can take more pictures, I can buy more movies, I’ve got plenty of Bibles…One day my kids are just going to toss it anyway.
9. Pray for good moving weather the next 2 days. We’re supposed to get a wintry mix. Who came up with that term? It’s slush man, just call it that.
10. I may have mentioned this before, but I’m running for President in 2016. Just so you know.