Just Thinking Out Loud

This normally gets me in trouble but at the same time I find it invigorating.

• This Mike Vick thing might very well become the racial issue in Atlanta for the foreseeable future. Opinions seem to largely be along the lines of race. That's a shame.



• I am constantly amazed to find out who reads this blog. I met a friend from college last week in Nashville that said she pretty much knew everything going on in my life. She even called herself "a blog lurker". Counseling is available for that I think J.A.!



• It will be somewhere between 77 and 80 degrees here in Atlanta today...on December 11...what the???



• Today is my brother's 36th birthday. That means I'm 39 which is still not as shocking to me as him being 36. My brother is a great guy. Stop in at the Chick Fil A in Waxahachie, TX, and you'll some of what makes him a great guy.



• I am meeting in about 90 minutes with the son of the founder of one of America's most successful hotel chains about becoming a financial partner with World Wide Youth Camps. I'm kinda shaking my head wondering how a goober like me gets to meet people like him. God takes care of babies and stupid people and, well, clearly I am not a baby.



• Panera Bread offering free wifi is one thing but intentionally putting in plugs all over the restaurant so you can hook up your laptop without even leaving your seat is, as the Guinness boys would say, "Brilliant!" Long live Panera Bread (and free wifi).



• Thanks to Google I found my first boss from back when I was 16 working at the Peanut Shack. He's a preacher now actually.



• I just learned that the father of one my best friends in high school has dementia. Been there. Not fun. Still though, the Lord will reveal himself to that family in amazing and intimate ways as this journey unfolds.



• I am learning more and more to embrace and even run to the hard conversations in life. Lots of reasons for this I think. One is that they are never as bad you think they'll be. They also are best dealt with head on. The old adage you can pay me now or you can pay me later might apply too. I think just maturing as a man and as a Christian has formed this thinking more and more in me. I just don't fear the hard confrontations anymore. I rarely get nervous even. It's not me. I hope (and will humbly profess) that it is the Lord in me that makes me feel this way.

That's probably enough for now. Seeing as how I have no cut grass in well over a month I've needed a place to hash out these deep, soooooooooo deep, random thoughts of mine.

To the degree they are true...may they bless you.

Parade Day

A near have to in the Browne Christmas Routine is the Lilburn Christmas Parade. This is now all the more true since Traci's father, Tim Dunn, is a City of Lilburn Government Member. He won a seat on the city commission last month and one of the perks (maybe the only one) is getting to drive in the Lilburn Christmas Parade. One of the countless perks for having a grandfather as loving and inclusive as Tim is is that his grandsons got to ride with him in the parade and even got their names called out by the grand marshall over the loud speaker. Big dealings it was!

Anyway, here's one of my favorite shots of the day. Traci and Anna just being all girly (and cute!).