The ‘DDW’ List (updated TODAY)

Over the past several years the term “Bucket List” has come into play… And many of you have “Made Bucket Lists” but many years before that a group of men sat down and made the ultimate list… THE DDW LIST (Don’t Die Wonderin’)!!

You may be asking yourself, what’s the difference… Well, a bucket list is something you just want to do before you ‘kick the bucket’ but a DDW list is something you HAVE to do before you die!! I will go out of this life and into the next someday… And when I do I want folks to say: “He Didn’t Die Wonderin’”

Thus, enjoy the on going list and feel free to help me on my journey OR jump in and add some of your own in the comments!!

((P.S. I have several lined up in the near future, get pumped!!))

Things I want to do:

• Own a yellow jeep wrangle
• Read Bible from cover to cover
• Drive all of Route 66 (Chicago to LA)
• Bull Riding
• Sky Surfing/ Diving
• Tropical Snorkeling
• Own a bald eagle
• Spend 30 days alone
• Swim with Great Whites
• Extreme Mountain Biking
• Cliff dive (over 50 feet)
• Box a pro boxer
• Drive in a demolition derby
• Drive over 180 mph
• Fly a helicopter
• Hang glide
• Golf Pebble Beach &St. Andrews
• Fire walk
• Climb a major mountain
• Jump from moving boat to moving boat
• Spelunking
• East coast to west coast on $20
• Build a log cabin
• Cruise in a sub-marine
• Desert snow boarding
• Hunt polar bear
• Stay in wal-mart for at least 3 days
• Bungee Jump
• Meet a president
• Compete in a professional sporting event
• Go on a 1,000 mile bike ride
• Visit an active volcano
• Wrestle an alligator
• Hunt an animal with a knife
• Save a life
• Fly far way to just eat lunch or dinner
• African safari
• Rewalk Christ’s footsteps (Via Dolorosa)
• Fast for 40 Days
• Backpack the Grand Canyon
• Drive a swamp craft (hover craft)
• Ride a fire truck to a fire
• Backpack Scotland
• Sing in a Cathedral
• Ice Fishing
• Visit all 6 Flags locations
• Participate in a war reenactment
• Face and rappel a major mountain
• Ski in New Zealand
• Deep sea fish
• Build a tree house
• Go sailing
• Barefoot ski
• Chase a tornado
• Be on a TV show (Reality)
• Ride a ostrich
• Go on a police patrol
• Do a push-up in four states at once
• Stand on the equator line
• Visit a military facility
• Drive a Wrangler/Hummer off road
• Float using helium balloons
• Drive a semi truck with a delivery
• Look through major telescope
• Run a 5 minute mile
• Learn 3 languages
• Play organized rugby
• Mine a diamond or gold
• 1000 hours of community service
• Do a citizens arrest
• Go on a road trip by flipping a quarter
• Go to random house and eat with them
• Spend the night in Beverly Hills
• Be on David Letterman
• Watch SNL live
• Swim with dolphins
• Spend the night in a haunted house
• Surf 8 feet wave
• Watch the AFI 100 movies of all time
• Experience no gravity
• Play in professional poker tournament
• Run for mayor
• Invent and patent something
• Swing on a vine in African jungle
• White water raft level 5 waves
• Shoot a quarter from 100 yards away
• Ice skate on a pond
• Go on a cruise
• Learn 3 instruments
• Get into the Guinness book of records
• Ride a horse bareback
• Do a stunt for a scene in a movie
• Disciple 12 people
• Dog sledding in Alaska (Iditarod)
• Compete in a Triathlon
• Carve a canoe out of a tree/log
• Publish something
• Ride the top 10 Roller coaster in the world
• Become an expert marksman with a rifle

Places I want to visit:

• Visit all 50 states
• Visit all 7 continents
• Israel – Jerusalem
• Washington DC (Capital Building, Whitehouse, etc.)
• The Wallace Monument (Sterling Scotland)
• The Great Pyramid of Giza
• The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• Stonehenge
• The Colosseum
• The Great Wall of China
• The Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Mount Everest
• The Great Barrier Reef
• Victoria Falls
• The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
• The Northern Lights
• The Galapagos Islands
• The Northern Red Sea
• The Great Barrier Reef
• The Empire State Building
• The Panama Canal
• The Golden Gate Bridge
• Mount Fuji
• Mount Kilimanjaro
• Niagara Falls
• The Clock Tower (Big Ben)
• Eiffel Tower
• The Gateway Arch
• The Aswan High Dam
• Hoover Dam
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial
• Taj Mahal
• The Parthenon
• The Aztec Temple
• The Statue of Liberty
• The Mayan Temples
• The Suez Canal
• The Sydney Opera House

Top 10 Moments of 2011... (this is more for me than you but hey, I know some of you care :))

If the 'Titles' are a different color click on them and read more about that event from Court's blog!!

Honorable Mentions:
* Braveheart on Blu-Ray...

* Setting the record at CherryBerry...

* Touring the New Cowboy Stadium...

* The Warrior Dash...

* Settlers of Catan...

* Chuck Norris... Nothing happened, he just deserves to be, at least, an honorable mention!!

* Catalyst with good friends...

* GCC Next Level meeting NBC Next Level...

I know right... That was just the honorable mentions, what's in the top 10?!!

10) Prepare & Enrich Certification... That's right I'm a certified Pre & Post-Martial Mentor!!

9) Snowapocalypse-Snowklahoma-Snowmagedden... The coldest day EVER!!

8) New Schools... Bixby North was much bigger than we were used to!!

7) New House... It took a very long time but we did find the perfect house for us: We own a home!!

6) New Job... Yeah, I'm a baptist again: New Beginnings!!

5) New Friends... Though there are many, this pic was too fun to pass up!!

4) Going Back to Haiti... To see a complete set of pics click here!!

The last three are hardly the best things but they were the biggest moments of 2011 and also the hardest in my life!!

3) Leaving GCC... This was an extremely hard night, but after just under 8 years it was time to move into the next stage of our ministry (WE LOVE YOU BARTLESVILLE)!!

2) Saying Goodbye to Our First Home... If it wasn't for how hard the buyers were on signing day this would have been the #2 hardest days of 2011; we did so much LIFE and MINISTRY in that home (all three of our children were brought home here), it will always be our first home (Court says it was our second to last home :))!!

1) Pop... Philip was my step-father but I grew up in his home; he treated my mom like a queen and my family like they meant everything (it is fitting that he was here when he past but that has also made this the hardest thing I've ever faced)!! I love and miss you Pop and will continue to always put my family first, serve my wife, and play with my kids as much as you did!!

((this is the second to last pic we have of Pop (the last pic is with his "Charleigh Girl")... He past away the next afternoon working on the girls' fort with me))

P.S. So not to end it on a sad note... This was my favorite post from Court this year, I feel it gives the best glimpse of who we are: The Berg's

How do we respond to this...

ATTENTION THIS POST IS FOR YOUTHWORKERS AND PARENTS OF TEENS

My heart has been in so much angst lately... That may seem weird or even silly but I lie awake at night with a deep despair for this generation!! And it's not their fault... I'm not even saying it's our fault or the generation of leaders before us!! I actually know who is the cause and I know if left unchecked or ignored it will only get worse...

Bottom line... Students today are being bombarded by lies at every turn!! Below are a few examples of what I'm talking about:

Number One song on iTunes (as of Oct. 2011):
"Young, Wild & Free" by: Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa

The chorus is what really made me cringe:
So what we get drunk
So what we smoke weed
We’re just having fun
We don’t care who sees
So what we go out
That’s how its supposed to be
Living young and wild and free


Hugely Famous video that has been downloaded over 250 million times:
"The Lazy Song" by: Bruno Mars

I don't know what I'm more concerned with in this song... That sex is just a "hey, you're really nice...let's do it" OR that he's 25+ years old and the college degree isn't something he's doing for himself but to get 'dad' off his back (It's probably because he still lives at home like most "emerging adults" in their mid to late twenties, but that is a much longer topic for another post):
Tomorrow I'll wake up, do some P90X
Meet a really nice girl, have some really nice sex
And she's gonna scream out: 'This is Great'
(Oh my god, this is great)
Yeah

I might mess around, get my college degree
I bet my old man will be so proud of me
But sorry pops, you'll just have to wait
Oh, oh


I know, I know... Quit harping on the music!!
Fine let's look at commercials...They're not evening trying to hide 'it' anymore!!
'A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas' TV Spot
Sure... If you cut out the drugs, sex, porn and dismal vocabulary why would anyone go!!

I could complain about Axe all day long... Please stop buying their products, but if you need any reason here's two (Disclaimer: this are real commercials and in my opinion way over the line!):
'Axe 24-7'
'Axe Detailer'


Since we are on the topic of going to far... Can we not all agree that some of the things we are letting folks get away with, in the name of 'breast cancer awareness', is over the line (and ultimately insulting, since someone is obviously making a profit off being crude and probably not kicking much if any back to breast cancer research or exams)!!


Here's a story that just happened with a school that took a stand: Cheerleaders' cheeky breast cancer shirt spark controversy

PLEASE hear me... I'm not saying, breast cancer awareness isn't important or that it shouldn't have attention (though you have to admit there's a bunch right now), I'm saying this is over the line and there has to be a better way to show support AND respect (would love to hear your thoughts here)!!


In the end there were two things in our media that I experienced this week that set me down this path of anger and the feelings of hopelessness... The first was a commercial by Norton, it seemed simple enough but it was the last line that caught my ear:
'Protect Your Stuff with Norton' Commercial
The thing is, stuff happens...because what are you without your stuff, better yet, who are you?

Have we really lost our reason and purpose in this life?? Are we honestly only left with "our stuff"?? How depressing and worthless that life would and will be...


But if that didn't effect you like it did me... Then take three minutes (or eight :)) and watch the second thing I heard this week that really made me stop and think about where we are ARE (most would say 'where we are headed', I disagree, WE'RE THERE FOLKS)!!
"Last Friday Night" by: Katy Perry
*Katy Perry, by the way, has already become the ONLY female artist to have four #1 singles from one album ('Teenage Dream') and if this song continues to climb the charts, she will tie Michael Jackson (the only artist of any kind to pull off five #1 singles from one album)

Some of the lyrics in case you missed them:
Last Friday night
We went streaking in the park
Skinny dipping in the dark
Then had a ménage à trois

Last Friday night
Yeah I think we broke the law
Always say we're gonna stop
Whoa-oh-oah

This Friday night
Do it all again

This song captures the essence of what I see and hear everyday when I get the privilege of hanging, listening, and loving on teenagers around town, in schools, on facebook, at games, and yes even in church!! The question remains... Is there anything that can be done about it?

My passionate prayer is quickly becoming...'revival'!! And not the, let's put it on the calendar this summer and invite a cool band revival... I'm talking a movement of young adults with a passion for integrity, conviction and purpose!!! Will you join me in this prayer??

Bike Rides with God!!

God ALWAYS shows up when I'm on my bike... It's awesome!!
Today was no different...

As I attempted to ride to work on my bike this morning, He had me chewing on Matthew 7:13-23 and continuing to reveal more depths of the wide and narrow paths!!

Many things came to mind... Here's just a few:
- Cars blowing by me on the main roads as I struggled on a 'road less traveled'...
(You see, wide is the road that leads to destruction and most are on it, but narrow is the road that leads to life and not a lot of folks will find it... OR USE IT!!)

- The sidewalk was often grass or cracked, like no one cared to take care of it because it wasn't used much...
(The world isn't going to spend money or time on things that seem less productive or not beneficial to their progress... It's our job, God's people, to show them this way is worth it and their way clearly just isn't working anymore!!)

- Big trucks blowing by honking and getting really close to the curb, almost like they were angry I was in eyeshot...
(Many folks are going to get angry at you if you are honoring God... Sometimes because they were hurt by the church once before or maybe just because living in sin is easy and natural until someone comes along and shows you its possible without it!!)

- The many hills and wind that almost seem to punish me or get me to quit...
(Everything in this world is going to try and keep you from staying on the narrow path, to get you to quit, to defeat you... BUT Jesus says its going to be hard but oh so worth it!! We must fight the good fight, find christian brothers and sisters to encourage us, and stay focused on the prize!!!)

God is sooooo Good... I hope today you give Him a few minutes of your time to let Him speak to your heart!!
God is always: Listening, There and Ready (Matthew 7:7-12)!!!

i want it all - *ville - nov 2010

Advent Conspiracy Promo Video

My last video on the blog... at least a while!!
You guys are checking your facebook far more than my blog, thus I will start posting my videos on my facebook page

I Am Second - Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford

It's not about football, college, money... It's about JESUS!!!

The Best Halloween Prank The Fake Trick or Treater WMV V9

Wow... this is awesome!!