I spoke at church on Wednesday night about coveting, contentment, and Nintendo. If you want to listen and giggle at my lisp like a little girl, then don’t bother clicking the link. I really don’t appreciate you making fun of me.

However, if you’d like to marvel at my oration skills and my cold-induced masculine voice, you have my permission to listen. Here’s the link:

Learning to Be Content

I’m still looking to book a couple more speaking engagements in 2010, so if you’re interested in bringing me in to communicate with your church, youth group, college group, or men’s group, check out the speaking page or shoot me an email (bryanallain-at-gmail.com) and we can make it happen.

Erica and I are headed southbound this morning as I’ll be speaking at a Youth Retreat in North Carolina for the next 3 days. So excited to spend time with some high school students, inspiring them to wake up to the journey God has them on.

If you think of us this weekend (or right now), say a little prayer for safe travels, that my words are clear, and that God’s spirit is there transforming hearts and minds. And that I don’t get forced into climbing a rock wall. I despise rock walls.

Oh and as an added bonus, we’ll be visiting with my sister Steph and her husband Michael today…so we’ll get to meet my new niece Adah. Very cool!

Have a great weekend wherever you’re at, more nonsense coming next week.

ps…if you’re thinking about booking a speaker for an event next year, shoot me an email – bryanallain(at)gmail – and we can talk about making it happen.

pps…Tyler gave me a shout-out in his guest post at Stuff Christians Like today. check it out, he’s a funny dude.

Had a great weekend these past few days. So great that it deserves it’s own blog post.

Friday Night hung out with our friends Lauren and Jon. We crushed 8 sushi rolls (even Lauren tried a piece!) from Aoki in Exton and the Red Sox won. Kylie went to the movies with her friend Chan to see “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”. All in all, a great night.

Saturday morning I ran 5 miles at a 9:12 pace, which nearly killed me, but thankfully didn’t. Parker had a soccer game later in the morning. His team lost 7-3 but he scored 2 goals, so that was exciting. Erica worked at the pretzel store Saturday afternoon/evening, so the kids played with their cousins and I got some writing done on my book in between helping out with laundry and cutting the grass.

(Family time AND writing. Have I mentioned I love Saturdays? Well, I do.)

Sunday morning I spoke at the 9am and 11am services at FLCC because our pastor (and my good friend) Sam and his wife Michele had their 5th child on Saturday morning. I spoke on what the Bible says about rebounding from failure, and really the chance to share. Thanks again Sam for the opportunity! (I think the mp3 is here if you’re so inclined, or you can subscribe to the Freedom Life Podcast in iTunes and get it there.)

Sunday afternoon I enjoyed copious amounts of football ( I’m 12-3 against the spread so far this week…good enough to secure a Week 2 win in my picks league!), then we met with the young adult ministry that we help facilitate, and that went great.

Oh and as you can see, my amazing wife Erica was profiled in the paper this weekend! The “Who’s Cooking” article on page G10 of your Lancaster Sunday News, as written by Jeannette Scott. You can click here to read the whole thing, and to get the recipe, which seriously is probably the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten in my life, and I’m not exaggerating, though I am writing a really long run-on sentence.

Hope you’re weekend went great as well!

Here’s 5 random things for a random Wednesday in August…and a caption please

1. I’m getting beaten pretty bad by Tyler Stanton right now in our race to 1000 Twitter followers. At the moment he’s got a 741-603 lead on me. If you’re on Twitter, follow me and I’ll follow you back. It’s a great way to keep tabs on each other. If you’re not on Twitter, consider this your personal invitation to join the party. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you’re a sellout for joining. It’s as cool as smoking cigs in junior high, only without the lung cancer.

2. Over at RELEVANTMagazine.com you’ll find a “Best Books of 2009 (so far)” article I contributed to. A bunch of Burnsiders tag teamed on the piece, and my blurb on Jason Boyett’s “Pocket Guide to the Afterlife” wound up at #6 on the list. (funny that those who wrote the article didn’t rank the books, that was done by the editor I guess)

3. In case you’re too lazy to click over and read it, here’s what I wrote about PGTTA:

In Pocket Guide to the Afterlife, Jason Boyett applies his tried and tested formula of equal parts knowledge, snark and authenticity to create another winner in his enjoyable line of pocket-sized books. While his guides to the Bible and the Apocalypse are entertaining reads, the format is never stronger than it is in Afterlife.  The reason for the success, no doubt, is the vast array of religious traditions and zany historical anecdotes that Boyett had to draw from in crafting the book. And while the strength of the guide lies in its captivating subject material, it’s the author’s signature blend of humor and intelligence that keep you laughing while turning one page after another. Whether you come for the knowledge or the laughs, you’re guaranteed to walk away from the book with ample doses of both. Is Pocket Guide to the Afterlife worthy of a spot in your casket when you die? Maybe not. But is it worthy of a spot on your Must Read List for 2009? You bet your (after)life.

4. Excited to speak in New Jersey on Saturday at Bodinestock II. I’m scheduled to speak at 2:30pm and 7:30pm and have to fill over an hour combined. A bit daunting, but it should go well. My first session is going to be lighter, as I’ll be weaving a bunch of amish pictures from the blog into some thoughts about being in the world but not of it. The evening session will be a little more inspirational and challenging for the kids. If you think of me on Saturday, say a prayer that it goes well.

5. Two weeks ago the Young Adult Ministry we help lead at our church helped some friends of ours move into a new house. The girls helped unpack boxes and set up rooms. The guys helped build temporary railings for the front and back steps so the house passed inspection. Yes, I helped put the railings on. Yes, I had no idea what I was doing. In fact, Caleb snapped this picture of me, which, for those of you who enjoy poking fun at me (and why wouldn’t you?), is definitely worthy of a caption.