What’s up world? I’m not going to write a post about why I haven’t written but I will fill you in what’s going on.

My new job is great. My co-workers are all enthusiastic, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. I learn something every day and I enjoy the interactions with the customers. The leadership is encouraging and available.

I love this hot weather. I love to go outside for an hour and just lay there. I’m going with Dr. Mercola on this one. He says exposure to sunlight is good and is the best source of vitamin D. Of course you can get overexposed and that’s bad.

Thinking about going on high protein days for a while. This is a diet I learned as a personal trainer. By limiting your carbohydrate intake you force the body to use fat as an energy source. I did it 3 years ago and it does work but it’s not easy. As someone who loves carbs it requires some discipline but the results speak for themselves.

I’ve jammed a few times with @85lives, playing drums. His music is a mixture of noise rock, garage band and punk.

Morning Lights recorded some new demos. We set up and recorded at MR’s place in Peoplestown. It sounds good for a 001.

Small group is going well. This is the most diverse small group I’ve been in and every guy is enthusiastic about the group. It’s a big commitment but the group helps me stay on track.

My heart hurt when I heard about Michael Jackson. His life was tragic. He never truly got to live his own life. Sure he loved performing and making music but he was robbed of his childhood. I remember when I was 11 everyone had Thriller. Everyone knew all the songs, all the words, all the dance moves. Jackson truly was like Elvis. I’m not sure we can even have another star that big again.

And lastly I’m dating again. There are some strong contenders right now. I’m excited to see what will happen. That’s all I’ll say for now.

Hope you’re all well.

I was thinking about that last post. I thought an example was warranted. So here it goes, an example of a tweet that would make me squirm.

“I can haz Holy Taco? The best fish tacos in town! So tired though will go to bed afterward. le sigh.”

Certain Tweets are like nails on a chalkboard. Allow me to vent please.

These are Tweets about:

Saying you’re tired.

Announcing you’re going to bed.

How great this restaurant Holy Taco is. It’s the most overrated, overpriced, mediocre, bland restaurant in town and for some reason people love it. Just because you have a patio does not make you a good restaurant.

Or Tweets using:

The words sigh or le sigh at the end of a statement.

LOLCATS.

I’m aware that by sharing this information with you I set myself up for more of these type of Tweets. Honestly I’m numb to it now, just like I’m numb to the way some people from the midwest laugh.

I loved Kenya and I want to go back some day. Cambodia affected me in a much different way. The country reached down in my soul and stirred up a lot of questions and misgivings about America, or more specifically Atlanta. I just don’t want to be here. I don’t know where I want to be anymore. For so long I’ve talked about southern California. Maybe that’s where I’m supposed to be? What about Cambodia or even Singapore?

What I’m experiencing is normal. It happened when I returned from Kenya last summer. You come back to America and see the wealth, complacency, entitlement and the fast pace of life. You feel out of place and wonder if those around you realize how good they have it living here. You feel like you need to make big changes in your life. After a while you slip quietly into your old routines. You live by the clock and your calendar. Then you lose it, that feeling of grace and appreciation. Nobody wants to lose it but it happens.

Our Cambodia team leader John talked a lot about purpose leading up to the trip. He said, “Once you’ve tasted purpose it’s hard to go back to meaningless living,” or something like that. I’m experiencing that too. The past few days I’ve been fixing my laptop. It works. My phone is broken but I’ll fix it today. It seems so pointless. I love movies but I can’t justify sitting on my butt for 2 hours when I could be doing something else. Reading the news reinforces the soul-sucking purpose of the media.

Don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer. I know I’m painting with wide strokes and meandering a bit. This is where I am. I’m confused. The main thing keeping me in Atlanta is the house my brother and I have. It’s for sale. I’m not leaving until it’s sold. I want to be free and clear from any responsibilities here when/if I leave. The other things keeping me here are my friends and my extraordinary church.

I am reminded of the main point in Experiencing God, which is join God where He is already working. Is God working here in Atlanta? Absolutely. That doesn’t mean that my heart isn’t yearning for something new, for a new adventure. However, have I finished what God has planned for me in Atlanta? I don’t know. I guess no since this house is not sold.

Am I being a little hard on America? Maybe. Am I coming down from a mountain top experience? Most definitely. I’ve tasted purpose though. I worked with Cambodian orphans who taught me more about love and affection in 5 days than in my entire life. I will see them again. There is no doubt I want to return to Battambang and experience the love of Christ.

Feeling a little bittersweet about being home. It’s great to lay down on the bed and take a shower.

I’m not sure whose idea it was to place that obnoxious welcome video in Customs at the Airport. Why is it necessary to have this music with blasting horns and sweeping camera shots of the plains? This is how you want to welcome folks to America?

Anyway here are a few observations on Cambodia.

Cambodian Women
They are beautiful. Everywhere you go you see beautiful women. Not only that, they seem to dig me. One 24 year old woman, who works at the orphanage when she’s not in college, said I was handsome.

Smack
Cambodian people smack loud when they eat. Men and women eat with their mouths open. One day at lunch you you could hear the next table over smacking. I’m not sure if my brother could handle it.

Weather
Cambodia is hot and very humid. If you know me you know I sweat a lot. If I was outside I was sweating. Granted when we were working everyone was sweating a lot. We drank so much water. Which by the way is $0.92 a case in Cambodia. There are 2 seasons, wet and dry.

Traffic and Transportation
There are virtually no stop lights. At intersections people yield but never completely stop, never. You drive on the right side like in America. However that doesn’t mean that you won’t see someone driving the same direction as you in the left lane. Horns are what keep things moving. People honk horns constantly and always when passing. The speed limit is about 30 km/h. There are mopeds everywhere. If you need gas, you can get it at a roadside shack which line the streets everywhere. They sell it glass Coke bottles. Overall traffic laws are merely a suggestion in Cambodia.

There are no street signs anywhere. I have no idea how you know where you are. I didn’t see a street sign anywhere in the whole country. There are a few big Interstate type signs saying Phnon Penh this way with arrows. How you’d find those I don’t know.

TukTuks are very cheap taxis. They’re 4 person wagons attached to the back of a moped. You can go anywhere you want for $2 or $3. It’s exciting to be in the mix of the traffic, to feel the breeze and smell the air.

Food
Most Khmer food falls into the rice food group. I like rice but we had it practically every meal, white rice and fried rice. There’s lots of hot spices. We had our best meals at the orphanage. They prepared lunch for us every day which consisted of fried chicken, fried rice with vegetables, omelets and fresh, delicious mango.

For some reason restaurants in Battambang couldn’t get service right. Our dinners took at least 2 hours, sometimes 3. It’s not like that everywhere. In Siem Reap, the tourist part of Cambodia, you’d get your food in a reasonable time.

Language
Khmer is an intriguing language, well to this American. The older kids at the orphanage spoke English well but the younger kids knew very little. It was hard to hold back tears when these younger kids said, “I love you so much,” on the last day. Seriously the manliest man couldn’t withstand that.

Hey everybody.

Hopefully you’re following me in Cambodia on Twitter and at our team blog. The links are in the post below.

There is so much to process and think about already in the short time we’ve been here. I think it’s safe to say that everyone on this team is getting wrecked by these kids.

I just wrote a post about how these kids shower us with affection all day long. Go check that out and see what the other team members have written as well.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers. More to come.

It’s about 16 hours until our plane takes off for Seoul, South Korea. It’s a 15 hour flight. We have a 2 hour lay over and then board a 5 and a half hour flight to Phnom Penh. Hopefully someone will be there to pick us up. I’m kidding, well sort of.

From there we have a bus ride to Battdambang. Depending on the weather it could take 3 hours, it could take 7 hours. It depends on the conditions of the roads and if there is a road at all.

I’m almost packed. All the batteries in the cameras are charged. All the cables are packed. Got a stack of books to read. However I’ll probably watch more movies on the plane than I’ll read.

I’ve reviewed some Khmer phrases. It’s a challenging language and hopefully the native speakers will teach me a few things.

This will be the longest journey I’ve ever taken, 20 hours on a plane, literally halfway around the world. I’m so excited the time is here.

Our leader said there are a few Internet cafes. If all goes well there will be daily updates. You can follow the trip on: http://cambodiamaytrip.blogspot.com/ and
http://twitter.com/jamsmooth.

If you’re my friend on Facebook you can follow there as well. I’m going to install the Twitter app so everything is synced.

Thanks to all who contributed with money and prayers. You’re on this trip with us. Without you this wouldn’t be possible. I’m thrilled to be given such an extraordinary opportunity to serve.

Admittedly I’m not well-versed in CCM (Contemporary Christian Music). I rejoined the church 3 years ago this month and my exposure has been limited to what is played at our church. I don’t know much about The News Boys, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Third Day or DC Talk, but they’ve got a ton of music out there.

This past Saturday I led worship with Michael Ruddell, a friend of JB. JB is leading our team going to Cambodia. We had one last meeting before we leave for Cambodia on Thursday. Michael sang this Casting Crowns song accapella and the lyrics and melody just struck me. Such a great song expressing what it’s like to be in a relationship with Christ.

Hey everybody. I made this short video introducing our team. Isn’t the quality of the Flip Mino outstanding? You can tell I’ve been at Buckhead Church for a while because the video is influenced by their production style. I’m getting better but I’m happy with how it turned out.

I’m so excited to be going to Cambodia. Thanks to all who have contributed and prayed.

What’s up world? I’m still here, in case you were wondering.

I’ve become a huge fan of Battlestar Galactica, the one that just ended. I know I’m about 5 years behind on that one. I’m midway through season 3 and the series is totally addictive. The characters, special effects and plots are all remarkable. I highly recommend checking that out.

A second interview is on the horizon. That’s all I’ll say about it. For those that will, please pray for me because it’s a stellar opportunity.

My attendance at the gym is excellent lately. Been exercising 5 to 7 times a week. I’m still not where I want to be but hopefully I’m making progress. I must be because one of the trainers at the gym told me I was looking buff. It’s hard to notice your own progress unless you take photos, which I haven’t done lately.

I need your help to raise the remaining funds for the Cambodia trip. The deadline will be here soon, within the next 2 weeks. So please consider partnering with me. We will be doing construction at New Life Orphanage in Batdambang. Details on how you can give are here. We are leaving May 7th so it’s less an month away!

We’ve also got the Atlanta Metblog back to life. Go here to check it out. We’re doing a series right now on songs about Atlanta.

Tomorrow is Good Friday and I’m excited about the service at Buckhead Church. Last year’s service left many of us speechless. They’ve put in a lot of work this year so I’m certain this year will prove great as well. I love that our church makes a big deal about Easter. Easter is the core of our faith as followers of Christ.

One last thing. If you live in Atlanta your help is needed on an urgent issue. MARTA was denied access to its own funds due to an inept state legislature. Go here to read Thomas Wheatley’s excellent coverage of the story. Please go here for info on how you can act.