NO ICE CREAM!

You know... i really love hangin' out with people that i love... take for instance the staff of the church where i serve... several of us had the chance to spend last week in Orlando, Florida at a conference. The conference was called Exponential... it was all about planting or starting (and in some cases re-starting) new churches.

The speakers were top-notch, the music was powerful, the workshop we led together was a blast and the time away with my partners... well let's just say they had a great time at my expense :)

Ever been to Midway Airport... or any airport for that matter? If your answer is yes... then you know that to buy a 1/4 pound bag of pecans can run you about $12.56.

Anyway, after our group of six guys arrived and had a quick bit to eat in the little food court... i happened to notice the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream about the same time that Pastor Amado mentioned that he was still hungry and could go for some dessert. Now if you know me one of my biggest weaknesses is ice cream and Ben & Jerry's is about as good as ice cream can get... relatively speaking. The thing that jumped out to me was the price for a single scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone at this Ben & Jerry's... $7.95!!??!!
I then proceeded to let the group know how stupid a person would have to be to buy a scoop of ice cream for almost eight dollars!

That was a mistake.

For the remainder of our time away, i was essentially known as the ice cream nazi...

Everyone in our group took great pleasure of mocking me because i wouldn't let them buy ice cream.

Whenever they had the chance, my cohorts would take the opportunity to make reference to my "Grinch" like manner when it came to ice cream... to the point where someone in our group lied to our server in a restaurant behind my back (actually to my face... i just wasn't paying attention) about it being my birthday and asking the wait staff to sing some fake Happy Birthday song and bring a scoop of ice cream to me*.... it was actually pretty funny when some complete stranger who happened to be in the restaurant at the same time, then stood up and sang the real Happy Birthday... especially since my birthday is really in January!

The funny thing is, i don't think there is another group of guys i'd rather be with than those guys last week and even though they mocked me relentlessly... it was actually pretty funny.








*The server totally misunderstood and brought a chocolate muffin with a single lit candle instead... it took some of the edge off of the joke at that point.