Bathroom chats

i’ll get right to it…


i walked in to the men’s bathroom at the Village warehouse (also the location of the Village offices). I was just washing my hands and brushing my teeth after lunch (to try and keep my pearly whites more pearly white for longer, ya know), and one of the Village guys is in the bathroom washing up his uniform hat. We exchange our “How dos” and I start to brush.

Well, just as soon as the toothbrush makes a couple of passes on my molars, he comes out with this question…

“Uhm…hey, mike. can I ask you a question?” I jokingly said, “You just did.” he smiled.

He tries again…”How do I go about getting baptized?”

I pause…spit…rinse…and say…

Well, I would then assume that you have been saved, accepting Christ as your Savior and submitting your will to His, right?

he says…”Yes.” (I smile)

Just tell AJ…I’ll tell him too. It may not be this weekend, but it’ll be pretty soon, okay?

“I CAN’T WAIT! THANKS”

it’s days like today that makes it worth it.

On the edge of something new…

I have a meeting in just a bit…I don't know what it is about. In one sense I feel like I have to have my guards up and skin as tough as kevlar. On the other side of it, I don't want to close out what I have coming my way.

You see, I have this tendancy to toughen up when I think I might come under opposition. I always feel that I am ill-prepared for any confrontation. I can blame that on a whole host of places, but the truth is that there is no one to blame but myself. I haven't allowed God to prepare my heart and make me battle-ready. The bible says that we as Christians should be willing and able to give an account of our faith. That I can do. As for the rest of life, I am unarmed.

Here is where I am today…My heart is broken. I can't help but hold the kids I have and not mourn the loss of Tobias Mikal and Jonah Miriam that God has. I know…God has a plan and He is taking care of them better than I ever could. I know this as truth to my very core. In the same way, I can't help be feel my arms being a little more empty than they should be. I never got to hear them cry or call my name. Never got to have them hold on to my finger with all of their hand. Those sweet and unforgetable moments that I see happen with other parents and they just toss those moments away. A chance to hold them, even if life is crazy and you might not get everything done on your agenda/to do list.

I know that God was there with us when Tobias and Jonah were born. It was bloody. Something that will always cut to the core of my heart. I can't think about it without coming unglued (including now). I held Tobias for a moment…just before the nurse said, “Well, its just a yolk sack…there's no baby in there.” and tossed him in the trash marked biological. Jonah Miriam was born at home. Raygen doesn't even know this. The miscarriage had been going on for a few days (seemed like weeks) and I hear a cry from the bathroom as she was getting out of the bath. I carried Jonah to the kitchen…you could see a formation of cells. She was about the size of a jellybean. I wept and cried out to God that this would be the end of it all. I tossed her in the trash, bagged it up and placed her on the road. She was about 6-8 weeks into her gestational period. Those moments never leave. Some nights they haunt my dreams. Some days it consumes my thoughts.

I have never told this before. I know this is public. I know that millions will read this. That is not my concern. I know that at the end of today, I will go home and will hold my sweet Bonnie and baby Matthias and weep over them out of the gratefulness that I have. At the end of the day, I still know that God gives us breath to breathe and sustains our life. I will not question His decision.

So the edge of something new?

God's call. It isn't really new, but it is newly realized. Though I only have two children here, my quiver has 4 arrows. As my family moves forward toward the call I will allow god too strengthen, encourage, and equip.

Thank you God for Your goodness to all who serve You. Your plan is perfect though I don't see it all in the scheme of things.

Thoughts on thoughts

I think this is absolutely stupid. I had a Twitter account and would post as often as I had something that I wanted to say. (Of course, that is the same as Facebook updates and even blogs for that matter).

The catch is that my Twitter was attached (somehow) to the place that I work. When I mention some of the crap (just as other people have that work there) I get chastised for it. I just chose to delete my account. As I mentioned on my last tweet, Christians today are too worried that the world is encroaching on their little heads…IT IS!!! What is it about living in the world, but not being of it makes ANYONE think that the world isn’t right outside their door. STUPID!

If “Christians” were actually honest about what is going on with them or what they are thinking or dealing with (James 5:16) that we would actually GROW. What a concept. THEN maybe more people that are unsaved would actually see that you don’t have to have your act together before you accept Jesus.

I digress.

It is just like I said this a.m. to the guys at Limestone Correctional…if you aren’t honest with yourself, then you are living a lie…God cannot be around your (read “our”) crappy sin.

Until next blog (because there WILL be another blog).