It’s that feeling you get when you get some sleep, yet you feel as though you haven’t gotten enough sleep. I’m pretty tired. Slept from 7:30AM til 1PM, but I don’t recall ever getting into that deep sleep that revigorates you.
So the lock-in went well. The kids let me listen to Lightning 100 when driving the van and I was happy. They didn’t understand Lightning 100, but then again no one does. I’ve heard anything from Willie Nelson to Newsboys on there. Here is just a small sampling of songs I heard last night:

• Counting Crows – “Big Yellow Taxi” – Cover of that Joni Mitchell tune. The funny thing is that it is a hidden track on their latest album. Yet it’s become a hit for them. Imagine that. A song which was sorta an afterthought for their album, becomes the biggests hit from the album.
• Jars of Clay – “Unforgetful You” – I had heard this song before, but never actually realized that it was Jars. I like Jars. I like them despite their participation in Winterfest. They do preach Christian themes without getting too preachy….not shoving the Gospel down my throat.
• Ben Folds Five – “Battle of Who Could Care Less” Good song. It was a semi-hit way back when. That’s what makes Lightning 100 different from 107.5 The River. While the River handicaps itself by playing ONLY top 40 junk, Lightning 100 is still cool enough to pull a hit from 1995 and play it.

At one point the kids did change the radio to 102.9 The Buzz, Nashville’s Angry Young Man station (actually the correct label genre is “Modern Rock.”) Plays stuff like System of a Down and Nine Inch Nails. The NIN I can take. The rest of the songs I haven’t heard of. I felt lost listening to that. Still it was better than any of the junk the River plays.
Anyways back to the lock-in. After Lipscombland we went skating in Brentwood. Author’s note: Has skating and Brentwood ever been used in the same sentence? But I digress. Skating was good. Carpet on the walls to prevent bruises. “I can’t skate” was the cry of many of our people. But they DID skate and had a good time.
I found refuge in a “party room” nearby. Amongst the party hats and birthday favors, was a bench to lie down on. The room was dark. That was enough. I could have done without the DJ and his sound system urging everyone to do the hokey pokey. But otherwise I did get some rest.
At 4AM we left and went to a bowling alley “Strike and a Spare,” in Bellevue somewhere. It was more than a bowling alley. It was part of some kinda a Circus World arcade. Made bowling fun. They had cool little computer animation for spares, splits, and strikes. And it told the speed of the ball traveling down the lane (fastest ball I saw was 20MPH – thrown by Phil). Anyways they turned on the blacklight and everything glowed. Everyone was happy.
I was too tired to bowl. All I wanted to do was sit around and watch the sideline TV show “Bosom Buddies” – a topic which aludes many of our youth. “Tom Hanks!” I scream from the comfort of my sideline chair. This was his first big break. Kinda like seeing George Clooney on “Facts of Life” or Leo on “Growing Pains.” Kids don’t understand this. Kids haven’t heard of Bosom Buddies. I soon grew tired of saying “See that guy in the pink dress, well he’s the guy in “Saving Private Ryan.”
They played Nelly’s “Hot in Here” over the speaker system. At that point I had to ask myself if it was hypocritical for us to allow them to play what is obviously a sexual song when we had just preached against. Whoever picked that song made a mistake, whether it was the bowling alley staff or someone from within our own group.
Anyways Crieve folks were nice and friendly. I thanked Tim for allowing us to tag along on their activity. Well organized. Everyone knew that they were doing and did it. There wasn’t too much confusion about it.
It has been raining seemlingly for days now. Flood watches are everywhere. On my way back from getting lunch I saw a guy with a sign in front of the local Wal-Mart. The sign advertised Kmart’s going out of business sale. It was raining pretty steadily, yet the guy did have on a poncho. I feel pretty sorry for this guy. What a miserable job.
Anyways I decided to come up with a list rain inspired songs for floor watches.

• Led Zeppelin – “When the Levee Breaks”
• Jars of Clay – “Flood” – and yes, I did realize this is the 2nd time I’ve mentioned JoC in this entry.
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Who’ll Stop the Rain?”

There are tons more.
Well that’s it for now. Bye bye kiddies.