Coca Cola was originally green

Click to enlarge. 'cause it's BIG. It's a hotel/office building under construction in Dubai. Scary.

Mama said there'd be days like this. Uff-dah.

This clip, too, is not for the faint of heart.
Exotic Cars Before/After

Seems NBC doesn't like the idea of Olympics video clips showing up on YouTube. So if you got a "blocked" message when you tried to watch the weightlifting clip from last night...blame the suits at NBC.
Meanwhile, the Chinese have apparently pulled off another one. Olympic rules stipulate that competitors be at least 16 years old. In an article published by the official Chinese news agency nine months ago they said that He Kexin was 13 years old. Amazing how she's now 16!
The IOC verifies an athlete's age by their passport, and we know who prints up passports - the government of each country. (And Jake the Snake down on 5th Street and Thomas.)
How could you test for age? X-rays of growth plates?

American swimmer Eric Shanteau has finished his events without winning any medals. Now he returns to the States to begin treatment for testicular cancer that was diagnosed shortly before he left for China. In an interview he said, "I have cancer, it doesn't have me."
Good line. Good attitude.

I did 24 miles this morning and most of it was painful. Why?? I've been doing my stretching!
I'm considering another hypothesis.
To release my foot from the clipless pedals I swing my heel out. (Clipless pedals work a lot like ski bindings.) I've noticed that when I ride the alignment of my right foot is off; my toe points inward. I think that's a result of repeatedly kicking my heel outward - the cleat has shifted in its mounting holes. Could riding with my right leg in a pigeon-toed position create an unnatural rotation in my hip that irritates a nerve or tendon or something?
So tonight I repositioned that cleat as far as it would go and we'll see what happens tomorrow.

One of the issues that faces a church start-up is how quickly to create infrastructure - boards, committees and the like.
One tendency is to create them very early. It creates a sense of being a real church even with a handful of people. Nothing says "legitimate" like a slate of committees. This approach comes at a price, however. Creating committees for the sake of having committees means there isn't really enough work to justify its existence. The people end up serving the structure instead of the other way around. And did you ever hear of a committee being disbanded?
Note that this dynamic isn't peculiar to start-ups. Churches of any age can be top heavy with the same result. In older churches too much structure also produces organizational paralysis. Nothing of significance happens because layers of boards and committees must first approve it.

Just as risky is waiting too long to create structure. If the church grows but an organizational skeleton isn't created to support it several things can go wrong. The pastor or other key individual becomes the "Decision Maker," which puts too much authority in one person's hands, resulting in an autocracy or burn-out or both. And key tasks will go undone, putting the church at risk of implosion.
Pathway is growing, especially some parts of the ministry. We have over a dozen kids under the age of six. That's enough little ones to require some structure if we're going to avoid problems. Food allergies at snack time? Other special needs? What about having enough staff so that a tyke in the midst of potty training gets escorted to the bathroom without leaving the rest of the group without adequate supervision?
I am committee averse. My inclination is to have the absolute minimum of structure. It is so easy for people to serve organizations instead of the other way around. And the Body of Christ is about people. Find the verse that ordains worship committees or an educational committee.
But we need to create some structure for our kids program. Keep It Simple Stupid. So at our executive committee meeting next week (our only committee to date) we'll talk about creating some structure for our kids.