the coolest city

Austin is easily one of the coolest cities in America. There is tons of crap to do here.

Of course it probably helps that I met some really cool guys (and their wives... see ladies I didn't leave you out) at the church planting conference I was at. We all would grab some dinner somewhere that Craig told us was good at night.

Oh yeah. . . Vince talked Craig into paying at Stubbs. I think that proves that Vince is one of the greatest communicators in the world today. LOL

Anyhow. Had a good time in the "weird" city.

The Gathering

ok ok ok ok. I know that I said I would be posting more this month and now its near the end and I realize it's been not so much.

Anyhow. That's the best my apologies get, sorry (that's the second best.)

I have been spending the last few and next few days in Austin, Tx at a church planting conference by E.L.I. (http://www.elichurchplanting.com/) called the Gathering.

Now let's be clear "The Gathering" is a scary name. I think of either a cult gathering where John tries to get us to drink the "kool aid" or a sequel to the horror movie "The Ring." But let me assure you it's not. Well at least not exactly anyhow (they did offer coffee instead of kool aid.)

Vince Antonucci (http://www.vinceantonucci.com/) is the guy I am going to intern with at Verve (http://www.vivalaverve.org/) in Las Vegas. (man there are a lot of links in this post, whatever go check them out!) He is speaking here this week. His first dealio was this morning and it was really good, what I heard anyway. Let me explain. He told a story and started talking about how God sees people who are far from Him and His heart for them. I tried to stay in there and listen (because he was doing really good) but I had to leave.

I barely got into the bathroom and found a stall (that wasn't gross) before I completely lost it. I sat on the toilet (with my pants on just in case you were wondering... I know my wife will tell me to delete that sentence lol) and just wept. Actually to say wept falls short. I bawled my eyes out. Like drooling and snot streams and all. It was pretty yucky.

I have been praying for about a year for Jesus to give me His heart for people far from Him and see them as He sees them. In fact I pray this with my son, Brodie, every night I tuck him in for bed. And Jesus has certainly been faithful and I keep getting small glimpses from Him and I felt I was getting a hold on it. Until today.

Most of you know that on November 4th 2008 my wife and I received the horrible news that we lost the baby my wife was pregnant with at the time (17 weeks). Of course that was the most painful thing we have ever faced. However, my wife and I have found that God has been using our pain to relate to others who are hurting. Today God tore that scab off again and gave me a clear picture of His heart for those far from Him. He impressed on my heart that the pain I felt of losing our child is a small glimpse of the pain He feels every time a unbeliever dies and is separated forever from Him.

This was nearly more than I could handle. I sobbed for ten minutes straight sitting in a bathroom for those with out Christ and thanking God for bringing a clearer reason for the pain I have felt and seeing His heart. I renewed my commitment to Him to go wherever, do whatever to reach whoever. Guess this is why it makes sense to me to move to the other side of the nation to reach people for Christ.

Thanks God and thanks Vince (but I still hate that you keep making me cry.)

attach urself to Jesus like Pat!

"Pat" the hammer




Ok, here is one way God teaches me about Him... watching my son, Brodie, who is 2 years old. He has this little "Pat" the hammer from Handy Manny that he got from his Grandaddy. Brodie carried this thing around nonstop for about 3 months. If you saw Brodie you saw Pat. If you didn't see Brodie he was probably looking for Pat. If you saw Pat and no Brodie, you can be sure Brodie was looking for Pat at that very moment. He slept, played, and ate with Pat. In fact the only time we could get Brodie to let go of Pat was in the bathtub because I told him hammers rust in the bathtub. As you can see from the Picture above that Pat is pretty worn. His light blue paint on his handle is worn through at spot, his silver ring that is supposed to be around the middle is all but gone and he has plenty of nicks and bumps that go along with being the hammer of a 2 year old.



It's kind of funny to see the attachment he had to a silly plastic hammer. Then I got to thinking about it and thought what if we were more like Brodie and we saw Jesus more like Pat. What if we carried our Jesus around everywhere? What if when people saw us they would see our Jesus? What would our lives look like? Would there be a difference? I would venture to say there would. Instead of us looking so worn down, like old Pat above, we would probably shine out the love we experience from Jesus to others. Is this not what Jesus told us to do anyhow?

However, I often think carrying Jesus around will be pretty time consuming and perhaps even interfere with my life too much. Sure I don't articulate this to people but it is broad casted to Jesus every time I choose not to carry Him with me. Brodie, seemed to be able to play with 4 separate toys and hold Pat at the same time and not notice too much. Pat did not interfere with his playing at all. He got used to the cumbersomeness (if that is a word) of Pat and just adjusted. I wish I could just love my Jesus so much that I didn't view Him as a cumbersome task to carry around and He just became part of my life.



Instead we carry other "stuff" around. Make no mistake about it you carry stuff around, so do I, we all do. And in some strange way we do it while juggling everything else in life but we cay we can't carry Jesus and do other stuff. hmmm... sounds a bit wrong right?



My prayer for myself and for you all is that we would attach ourselves to Jesus like Pat! I dare you to see if you can wear Him out? doubt it.





By the way just in case you are wondering what Brodie is up to now.... it's "Leo" from Little Einsteins! (hmmm.... attach urself to Jesus like Leo???? maybe next time!)

NEW SITE

Ok everyone, there is no way I can keep up with two blogsites. Soooo, for now on go to... (drumroll please, even though most of you already know)


www.tommyaltman.com


THANKS!!

HURRY!!!!!

So far the "No Beards" have it.

Ok so I knooooow there must be a ton of people out there who reeeaaallllyyy like the beard. Where are you? You're killin me here smalls. How in the world will I convince my wife to let me grow the Bin Laden beard if no one votes for it? Oh well.

At any rate I figured out that my posting list is off for the Bible readings. I will get it corrected as soon as I can. Proverbas and Psalms is supposed to be on the weekend. Sorry. Hopefully you are still doing it. If not, then you suck. Can I say that? Of course I can, it's MY blog. I know my wife will give me the "mommy" look for that (you know the one ur mom used to give u if u did something "not nice"... yeah she got that look after having Brodie, guess it comes with mommyhood lol) --- I should write a new dictionary with these words.

At any rate READ UR BIBLE!!! and post ur thoughts.

BEARD OR NO BEARD

BEFORE

AFTER


VOTE BEARD or NO BEARD PLEASE!!!

(i say beard!)

our trip to vegas

My beautiful wife, Krystal, and I before we boarded the plane in Norfolk, VA to Vegas!

(btw take note of the awesome man beard here... she got me to shave when I got home)

















Us on the plane... note K is sad about leaving Brodie... but she got better and he did fine.

We did miss him lots though.

Our view of Vegas wen we landed. There are more homes in this view then in all of Chesapeake, VA. There are so many people living in Vegas (like 2 million!)








Our first look at the Strip. The planes land almost on the Strip it's actually kinda nuts.

The FIRST thing u see wen u get off the plane in thte airport!

NICE

Ok so that was from the plane and I will post a slide show on the side bar of all the Casino pics we took in the "Veg". (don't know if anyone else calls Vegas this but i think it's kinda funny)

Perhaps I will post another blog on our trip. If I can get this thing to upload pics faster anyhow!

Vegas first night.

Hey everyone! I know that I have not been on here in a few days but we have been in Vegas. So I plan to update you on everything but it is waaaay to crazy here. So here are a few pics of what we have seen so far.

Krystal and I on Fremont St. our first night here.

Classic Old School Vegas

who doesn't love the cowboy and cowgirl

seriously?

Of course it is... why wouldn't it be?

Even the cards want to kiss. lol

Pics from our trip so far.

Hey guys sorry I have not been posting. We are just so busy here and the time change is nutz. However, here are a couple pics of what we have been doin so far and I will update more details later.

Us on Freemont.

Classic dude.

Just a random shot of the Strip during the day.

Ok enough for now since my blog takes FOREVER to load.

the game

oh well. almost had it by 3 for the Cards.

great game!!

Why is it that any team I pull for loses??? Something is just not right about that. I guess it's God's way of making sure I don't get in too deep with any bookies. lol

Oh yeah... go get a Twitter account. it's pretty fun.

SUPERBOWL

I am going with the CARDINALS by 7!

I know it's a long shot but I like 'em for it.

Feb's readings!

Ok everyone here you go. This is the list of daily readings for February. It's time to get serious. I plan, God willing, to post everyday and write about what God reveals to me. I hope to see what you guys are learning as well. Feel free to post in the comment section of each day I actually post, and if I am not talking about the readings you are welcome to still post your thoughts.

So here's the list and I pray that the God of all creation will open our minds to learn more about Him!

February 2009

1- 1 Peter 3
2- 1 Peter 4
3- 1 Peter 5
4- Proverbs 5
5- Psalms 13, 14, and 15
6- 2 Peter 1
7- 2 Peter 2
8- 2 Peter 3
9- Luke 1
10- Luke 2
11- Proverbs 6
12- Psalms 16 and 17
13- Luke 3
14- Luke 4
15- Luke 5
16- Luke 6
17- Luke 7
18- Proverbs 7
19- Psalms 18
20- Luke 8
21- Luke 9
22- Luke 10
23- Luke 11
24- Luke 12
25- Proverbs 8
26- Psalms 19 and 20
27- Luke 13
28- Luke 14

READ your Bible because not this! lol