Yesterday, along with the Thurmans, Lauren and I had the pleasure of getting to tour the forthcoming home for Buckhead Church. Like any other North Point/Buckhead event, the polish and attention to detail on the event itself was top notch. We got to see each of the four floors of the building, as well as the main worship area.

Some interesting tidbits:

Below the 1st floor is a parking lot that holds as many spots as the current main parking lot holds — this lot is reserved for Waumba Land / KidStuff families.

Better still, to get to this special parking lot, you actually drive your car/VAN through a tunnel that cuts into building for easy child drop-off. (It is very cool).

There’s an escalator system and stairwells & elevators designed just for children (to ensure their safety, etc.)

The building is 200,000 Sq. ft. That means it is really big.

The worship auditorium holds 3-4 times as many attendees as the current one does. The “upper-deck” seating area alone holds as many as the current in itself.

Beyond these, I can’t remember all the other really creative ways they solved certain problems with trying to fit a church in such a place and meet the needs of various groups.

Finally, what is more impressive to me was Jeff Henderson’s (Pastor) 15min. talk he gave to us at the end of the tour. What stuck out is that in all the planning and fund raising that has gone into the church, they remain cognizant (as we must be) of the fact that the building remains temporal. He noted that “every church has a closing day” and that one day in the future the building will be sold, abandoned or demoed. So with that in mind, we must use the space in a great way and to the best of our ability through Jesus. I thought this was all really forward thinking and very wise. It made Lauren and I extremely proud of what Buckhead church is doing and how the vision that God has given the leaders there remains laser focused on reaching unbelievers. Sidenote: Jeff also remarked how well the Atlantic Station service went earlier in the day — this is where they’ve rented a Regal Cinema screen for the morning to beam the service to. Apparently they packed out every seat (even having to turn away 50 people). But next week they’re going to reserve TWO theater screens for the same thing. Pretty exciting. Below are some photos of the worship auditorium in construction.

Above: A view from the upper seating level.

Above: A lateral view across the upper seating level. Curves rule this building’s design to beautiful effect.

Lauren and I from the top level.

A forewarning: Based upon this post’s title, you are probably thinking this will be yet another classic Lauren anecdote. Well actually, this is a Josh post. And yes, it takes place at a fabric store. Finally, there is a discussion of Project Runway — season spoiler ALERT.

Yesterday, Lauren became inspired with some ideas for decorating the apartment for the changing season and wanted to make a run to Jo-Ann fabric store. I obliged after being fed well at Quizno’s. So off we went…

I dropped her off at the door so she could get a head start, but immediately upon doing so, I realized that I’d be the lone male soldier walking into the store all by myself — uncharted territory. I had a slight panic attack, but it graciously receded quickly. I think the panic was due to the fact that I thought I was doing a very efficient (albeit typical male) shopping exercise, only to have the reality of entering the store alone thrown back in my face.

Slight side note: Next to Jo-Ann (can’t stand that hyphen in their name, btw), is a golf store on one side (all husbands, males rejoice!) and another feminine-type craft store. 2 to 1, ladies win.

As I walked in the store I tried to convince myself that I was both Michael Knight and Jeffery Sebelia from Project Runway; manly and confident, yet in touch with his creative, problem solving side. I couldn’t BELIEVE the lines in the place. They wound throughout the store — multiple lines, in fact. A line to get your fabric cut to size, and another winding line to check out. We later found out it was part of the Halloween preparations. I find Lauren and she has a handfull of items already handy, but the main thing she was after was red fabric that matched other items in our decor. She was about to call it quits before I said we needed to check out a promising looking corner of the store. There it was. The winning piece. With boosted confidence, I found myself shooting across to other aisles to find complimenting fabrics. I went over the edge. Tiffany, you would have been so, so proud.

Project Runway. Aren’t we all a little depressed that Jeffery won? Sure, he was the most consistent and innovative throughout the season, but one area in which he wasn’t innovative was his little attitude problem. As Lauren might say to that statement, “Hmph!” It really annoyed me that here he is, doing some really interesting work, but had nothing but the typical artist chip on his shoulder and attitude to give back to other people. Even upon winning, his demeanor persisted. Just had to get that rant out there . . . any other observations on the season? We wanted Uli to win, darnit!

Hello faithful readers:

Just wanted to let you in on the latest addition in the sidebar over to the right. We’ve added a “Recent Comments” area so you can follow comment dialogue in a much easier fashion. Of course, if you want to continue to check comment updates in your own way, that is still possible. Thanks again for reading, even though our posts have become a bit more erratic. We’re working to improve that. =)

This post is also an attempt to get that beautiful toilet photograph further down and ultimately off the front page.

Well we hope your Saturday was better than Lauren and mine’s. We attended a funeral of Nemo sized proportions. My Beta fish “Final Candidate” died today after an attempt to clean his water vase home. I cleaned his murky water bowl, attempted to feed him and noticed he was acting very strange since I placed him back in his home. He was swimming upside-down, sideways, and anyway but the right way. We’re afraid it might have been brain damage due to lack of oxgen in the transfer from dirty bowl to clean bowl. So sad.

He’d get to the water’s surface, only to be dragged back down to the little pebbles below moments later. We left him to get lunch and told him he could die in peace without anyone to watch him . . . he did just that. Gone is my lively desktop friend.

Here is a photo from the funeral we held for Final Candidate. He lived a good, faithful life. Farewell, friend.