Bradjward

What a great devotional. I’m several weeks in (couldn’t wait until the new year to start!) and it really does get each day started right. Each day starts with a bible verse, followed with a story that relates to the Word. Following this is a prayer to wrap up the daily devotional.

Graham is a highly respected individual and I look forward to digging into his thoughts and a piece of the word each day. The only thing holding this from 5 stars is adding more scripture to each day, and the fact that they can be quite generic. If you’re looking for help in a certain area of your life, look for a more specific devotional. Otherwise, this is a great book!

I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program.

**UPDATE – WIN AN XBOX360!!! See below for details.**

“What can you do with this dollar?” That was the charge, in a nutshell, from Paul a few weeks ago as he wrapped up another great sermon at Genesis Church. It’s not every day you go to church and GET money, but the plates came around and everyone in the congregation received $1. The dollar symbolizes a lot of things, especially during this consumerism-plagued time of the year. Genesis Church gave us each $1 and encouraged us to give one gift of compassion this month.

After having this dollar in my wallet for a week, I decided it was time to start doing something with it. I’m going to see how far/high I can ‘trade up’ my dollar and donate the proceeds (or final item) to an organization or family in need in the greater Indianapolis area. What and who will depend a lot on where this ends up. Maybe it won’t be a house. But what if we get to a used car, or a space heater for a family in need. Winter coats for a family. A college scholarship for a worthy student who’s in a tough patch of life. Who knows where this can and might go. But let’s see what we can do.

1. $1 from Genesis Church – Traded to @jim_brown! Thanks for getting us started!
2. $160 Voucher to Jillian’s Indianapolis - Traded to @douglaskarr from @dknewmedia! Wow!
3. XBOX 360 4GB with Kinect Console – FOR YOU TO WIN!!

Are you ready to win the XBOX 360? If you’ve said to yourself “I have nothing better than that to trade”, here’s your chance to help out.

I’ve partnered with Jump For Joel to offer the XBox 360 with Kinect as a raffle prize.  It’s pretty simple. Here’s how you enter.

1) Click here to donate $10 to J4J

That’s it! For every $10 you donate, we’ll add your name to the raffle ($50 = 5 names in drawing). We’ll announce the winner on Monday, December 20th.

For updates on the raffle and Jump for Joel’s work in Africa, follow them on Twitter (@jumpforjoel).

I just wrapped up my 2010 travel back in mid-October. Using the amazing FlightMemory.com, I was able to take a look at the past two years since BlueFuego started in January 2009. All I can say is… wow.  And one number definitely caught my eye… total miles flown.  303,303. Neat.

(As a quick follow up to my Delta Rollover Miles post, it worked great. I was Platinum by March, Diamond by early summer, and this year I’m rolling over 123,000 miles to 2012 status.  So after 1 flight I’ll be Diamond through February 2013. )

2009
Flight Segments: 125
Flight Miles: 129,453
Earth Circumnavigation: 5.20x
Distance to the Moon: .542x
Hours in flight: 337h, 29m
Days in flight: 14.1 (2 weeks of 2009 in air!)
Longest Flight: LAX-SYD, 7502 mi, 15h 02m (4 times)
Average Flight: 1,036mi, 2h 42m

Total Airports: 45
Total Airlines: 11
Total Routes: 88
Total Countries: 9
Total Continents: 4

2010
Flight Segments: 109
Flight Miles: 145,484
Earth Circumnavigation: 5.84x
Distance to the Moon: .609x
Hours in flight: 363h, 30m
Days in flight: 15.1 (2 weeks of 2009 in air!)
Longest Flight: LAX-SYD, 7502 mi, 15h 02m (6 times)
Average Flight: 1,335mi, 3h 20m

Total Airports: 45
Total Airlines: 13

Total Routes: 80
Total Countries: 12
Total Continents: 4

Lifetime Travel

Flight Segments: 270 [217 domestic (80%), 53 international (20%)]
Flight Miles: 303,303
Earth Circumnavigation: 12.18x
Distance to the Moon: 1.270x
Distance to the Sun: .0033x
Hours in flight: 780h, 49m
Days in flight: 32.5
Months in flight: 1.08

Total Airports: 75
Total Airlines: 20

Total Routes: 165
Total Countries: 15
Total Continents: 5

Most northern airport: AMS, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Most southern airport: MEL, Melbourne, Australia
Most eastern airport: OOL, Gold Coast, Australia
Most western Airport: SEA, Seattle, USA

Where do you want to go next?

The key themes of this story that can be used as teaching moments are that God has a plan for us, and that we are all equal to him Set in a time of history where Richard Kelly is used to segregation, he has two choices: go to jail or join an all-white seminary. Forgoing jail, his friends turn on him and his new classmates are hesitant to accept him as well. Race is a key theme throughout, but when an unexpected friend comes alongside to help him with his goals, Richard sees the way to success and works hard for his goals.

Overall, it was a pretty slow and boring movie and i’m not sure how clear the main themes came through. I don’t think I’d recommend it to others.

*Thanks to Booksneeze.com for providing a copy of this DVD for me to review.

It’s no secret that I’m a Delta mileage fiend.  I’ll fly an extra segment here and there to accumulate the miles, I’ll fly into Dallas and drive 3 hours to Abilene rather than take American Airlines.   It’s a game to me.

This year, Delta is starting Rollover Miles.  Anything over a tier that you accumulate is “credited” to your status for the following year.  And it’s working out quite well for me.

Here are Delta’s tiers:

• Silver – 25,000 miles
• Gold – 50,000 miles
• Platinum – 75,000 miles
• Diamond – 125,000 miles (*New in 2010!*)

I reallllllllllly wanted to hit Diamond last year, and could have, but I decided to play around a little.  I stopped at 115,000 miles on Delta, leaving me 10K short of Diamond BUT 40,000 ahead of Platinum.

My current Platinum status is good through February 28, 2011.  So I’ve got many free upgrades in my future.  Rather than go to Diamond and then risk having nothing beyond ( I did 5 international trips in 2009, and don’t think I’ll do as many in the coming years), I decided to pull up short and use rollover miles to extend my elite status days.

So here’s the math: 115,158 – 75,000 = 40,158 “rollover miles” credited towards my 2010 accumulation. I’ve flown 1,632 miles this year on 3 segments, putting me at 41,790 qualification miles YTD.

After next week, I’ll have flown 10,000 miles in January.  So I’ll be Gold Status already (50K), which would cover me from March 1, 2011 – Feb 28, 2012.  Then after my international trip in February, I’ll accumulate 25,000 miles and be to Platinum status by the middle of the month, giving me my current Platinum status through Feb 28, 2012.

So to reach Diamond Status (which begins as soon as you hit the tier and carries through Feb 28, 2012), I’ll just need to fly 50K more miles in 2010.  No problem.

So there are 2 scenarios:

1. Fly 10,000 extra miles in 2009, get to 125,000 and have Diamond status until Feb 2011. Start from 0 miles and hopefully fly 75,000 miles to get Platinum through Feb 2012.
2. Stop at 115K, take the rollover miles, use it as a bounce to headstart for 2010. Potentially have Diamond starting by June 2010 and through Feb 2012.  Use Rollover miles over 125K towards 2013.

I chose #2.