Lunch Buddies

Two Dollar Fridays…It draws a HUGE crowd. But that’s because it is all-you-can-eat for $2.00 if you are faculty or staff. Today I ate with two ladies from another office and three from our office and a friend of one of the staff. I would say that the average age at that table is easily mid-to-late 30s just because there are four ladies that are in their 50s (or more) and there were only three people under 30 y/o. Anyway…the conversation was absolutely boring, as usual. Two of them talked about this campus event that goes on this weekend. I personally think that it is one of the dumbest things EVER, but I just chalk it up to it being my opinion. One of the ladies was trying to describe part of the choreography of the events last night. She said, “You know, it’s where you bend down and then you ‘pop up’ (hand motions were included) and jump in the air…one at a time…I can’t think of what that’s called…hmmm?” Another lady (much older) said, “Popcorn!!!” “Yeah, that’s it…Popcorn!!!” Me and the two younger ladies just tried not to choke on our food from laughing at these old hens that are trying to make it sound like they know what they are talking about.

After that there was a SOLID 15 minutes that passed by that NO ONE SAID ANYTHING!!! A few minutes later, the “popcorn” lady stands up and (genuinely) states, “Oh, I had the best time…It was great ya’ll. I can’t wait until next Friday.”

hmmm? It wasn’t that great. I think I’ll just take my mp3 player and sit by myself for the next weeks until I start my new job.

Sorry to gripe. I actually thought it was funny…

Wake up call….

I have tried caffiene via coffee and Diet MD…

I have tried a few Valentine’s Day chocolates…

I have tried slicing my ring finger open…(just a paper cut, but they hurt so badly)

I have tried stabbing my eye with my finger (not the one with a paper cut)

I have practically broken my toe…at least some of my toe nail and flesh…

I have even crunched some pretzels to wake up…

Nothing is working…I think I’m down for the count.

The only thing that might work would be to go and play some guitar….

THAT’S IT!!! But wait, I have to wait till I get home…

Oh well, I’ll just doze till then…z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z

Gelatin

Monday night at my guitar class I wasn’t quite up to my normal operating capacity. You see, Wednesday and Thursday of last week I was basically passed out due to an ultra-bad sinus infection and fever. (And no, it wasn’t the flu…) Back to the story…Monday night, I was stumbling over words. I couldn’t think of ANY descriptive words. I was covering the great subject of Accidentals and the mixture of chords and scales that is the goal of guitar playing. I kept trying to come up a words that would explain what I meant …couldn’t think of anything that brilliant. All of a sudden, it slipped out…”Incorporate!! Ah, Ha!!! That’s it!!” But then I just stumbled over the next word. I RACKED MY BRAIN!!! The students were laughing out loud. They thought it was SO funny. I laughed it off and blamed it on the sinus pressure and the fact that it felt like my head was in a jar when I talked. All of a sudden, my brain got a whiff of a word and just spit it out random-like. The word that bumbled out??? Modge Podge!!! I mentioned that Modge was going to be the word for Tuesday.

Then for some reason a few minutes later the term “in cahoots” came up. So that is today’s word.

So, to my guitar class…I hope you learned something on Monday night…well, other than how to make a sick man feel REALLY DUMB!!!

home…

Home-life is pretty, honkin’ grand these days. I mean, I got home yesterday and as I was walking up the stairs to our front door, I noticed there were loads of dried beans on the ground. I wondered what it was about. Were they bad beans? What could be the explanation of some of our most precious staples being tossed about? Later I found out that Lovely and Lil Bear had some school outside on the “front porch.” This week, Lil Bear is learning to say and sign the letter A…and some words that start with A. We are also counting to 3 and have learned a few colors including blue, black, green, yellow and red. She is also learning to clean up a room before she goes to destroy another.

These are interesting times, my friends. Why? Well, Lil Bear just turned 16 months yesterday.

In addition to Lil Bear, we have Lovely that is in her first Tri-mester exhaustion and then me, working like usual. I’ll be thankful for the new job at the Village since I’ll mostly work from home. I will be able to see the fam a lot more than I do now. (and sure, there is the whole hard distinction of a home-worker being at home and then in another room and being at work…I got that)

I’m just ready to start making that difference. I sincerely try where I am. People notice the difference, but everyone around me is “saved” already. And even though I currently work at a Baptist University, I can’t preach to the students while talking to them about their loans or when I teach the guitar classes. Sad, isn’t it.

I’m just grateful for where I am today. God woke me up this morning. God put breath in me and my heart was pumping blood. I walked around. I bathed and have eaten. I have a job to go to and earn money. I woke up laying right next to a beautiful woman (my wife) and spent a few moments with my children…(it’s never too early to talk to the belly). I don’t want to take anything for granted today.

Thank you, Father, for giving me a life that is abundant in You. Sure, when the world looks at my life I don’t have anything, but I do. I have life eternal, a God who saves, a King who fights for me and gives me hope, and a Holy Spirit that comes along side to comfort and guide me. Who really cares about the rest? God, you are the greatest Father. Thank you for adopting me as a son and making me an heir as Christ. Jesus, thank you for your life-gift. Thank you for drinking the cup and not passing it along. Thank you for giving your life to give us life. Thank you for your example and the my brothers and sisters who have gone ahead of me. Thank you for what you do and have done in order to make a place for us and to send us the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us. May you receive all of the honor, respect, glory, and praise due your
name. Amen.

Me, My Buddy, My Guitar, and the Gov.

So this weekend was action packed!!! I had a lot for the time that was allotted for “the weekend.” None of it was dull….

So one of my college buddies had sent me a message over Facebook about a month ago. Said he needed a tutorial on some guitar electronics and also a fresh approach to playing guitar. (Skip to Friday…) He picked me up from work and we jetted over to the church for a glance at his new effects processor, a Line6 PodXT pedal board. I must confess, I did like it. After only a few moments, it was fairly easy to navigate. We spent a couple hours on programming and trying sounds that he would need for his upcoming “gig”. Afterwards, we trailed back to the CityView Loft to grab some MEAN grub (that my awesome and fantastically super Lovely cooked up for us) and some ZZZs. Saturday was a 2.5 hour guitar lesson that began with a Mountain Dew, some Reese Cups, and a Coke and ended with loud guitars and one dead voice…mine. We thanked each other and he drove off back to his homestead.

Soon it was time to get ready to go to the Gov’s house for the quarterly birthday dinner. (It’s a long story, but a brief glimpse at this confusing epic…I, by marriage, and now related to a former Governor of Alabama. Our collective family is so HUGE that we get together 4 times each year in order to make sure that we don’t miss anyone’s birthday.) So Saturday was the Birthday Dinner for the Jan., Feb, and March birthdays (mine included). I had never played my guitar and sung before for that side of the family in the nearly 5 years that I’ve been married to Lovely. So I promised that I would play. Within a song or two, I had nearly 20 people singing Lynard Skynard’s Freebird with a couple of the kids holding their cell phones up like they were at a concert. In between songs, I played bits and pieces of requested tunes like the intro to “Stairway to Heaven” and “On the Road Again.” Also there was a generous amount of songs played by James Taylor and also a requested “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe. After this, my voice was shot. We had a BLAST!!!

On to Sunday, we had an awesome time at church with a challenging message based on Mark 6 and Luke 4 and respect and honor to God and the blood of Christ. There was also the heart-felt worship time. (Downloads of sermons will be uploaded soon. Click here to link to download page.) I’ll divulge into my thoughts on the sermon a little later…another blog entry perhaps…

This weekend was fantastic and wonderful gift. I was surrounded by all of the things that push me and encourage me. I had plenty of time with Lovely and Lil’ Bear and loved on them. Old friendships updated, family gatherings, and plenty of playing music.

Testing is complete!!!!

~Not the Testing and Approving (that I should be doing)…

~Not a microphone test (that I would like to be doing)…

~Not even a breath test (that I probably wouldn’t pass right now)…

A pregnancy test…We passed with flying PINK colors!!!!!!! That’s right!!! We are pregnant again!!! Baby Number 3 (a.k.a. “Pumpkin Seed”) will be born in October. I would like to take a minute or two and thank God for creating this little one in Lovely’s womb.

God, You have blessed us beyond what we deserve. We are honored and humbled that
You have formed this little one and pray that this baby would serve You mightily
and bring You glory with all of his or her little life. I thank You that we are
all in Your mighty hand and are constantly surrounded by Your presence. I pray
that we would live our lives in accordance to Your will and nothing else…no
variations!!!

Okay, people! Just to make sure that you know…We are not going to find out the gender of the baby until he/she is born. Oh, and like last time, we’ll call everyone AFTER the baby is born!!!

Thanks in advance for all of your prayers and support.

What say you?!?!?

So I’m trying to figure out a few things that go along with the past few blog entries…

What it all boils down to (as it was revealed a few nights ago) is that my past issues are still issues. Now sure, people go through things…some difficult, some traumatic and they have a choice…they can work through their pain and overcome it with their hope in Christ OR they can let it affect them as long as they breathe. I have, for the most part, chosen the latter of these two.

Everyone I see has the face or voice of someone that has caused me pain in the past. This is unfair to the ones closest to me. The ones that want to call me friend and brother. They are pushed away when they get too close. Friends try to draw close to my heart and as soon as I realize it or they get too comfortable I run off with some “TO DO” list or just don’t answer their calls. OR I blame them for something that they didn’t even do. Whatever will allow me to put distance between my heart and theirs. Same goes with my emotions. DON’T ASK ME HOW I FEEL!!! Cause it might make me weak and then I would have to rely on someone else to pat me on the back and help my emotions off of the ground. I come by it honestly, I suppose? It was typically the example growing up. When things get rough I was shown to either withdraw and hide, punish my self, and/or survive by keeping everything secret… Someone hurts you once and from then on just don’t let ANYONE get close…not even your family. Let’s just let our conversations be surface and not allow time to really dig into the heart or discuss what our feelings really are.

I will say this, my brother and I have worked through some messy times from our youth. Now, we have talked through this, repented when repentance was needed, and forgiveness given where it was needed. My brother is the only exception to the above. I know that I can tell him anything and he would love me anyway…and vice versa. I think it is because we both know that we are flawed by our sinful nature, but that we are man enough (at least to each other) to “just tell it like it is.” When I’m angry or whatever I can call him and chat. I know that he would drive the 1 1/2 hours to hang out and talk through stuff. He’s done it before. I know that he knows that he can call me and I would do the same. I love to just call him up and say something stupid…he gets it and knows what kind of mood I’m in. Maybe it is because we come from the same up-bringing and scars. Maybe it is that brotherly kinship that most people never really tap into. Maybe I just like him because he is, in a lot of ways, like me. That is not the case with everyone else.

So will I let this emotional childishness go on? Will I consistantly run away from close friends because they might change into the “Boogie Man?” No!!!

I must realize that if I continue to push people away, then I won’t ever grow up. If iron sharpens iron and I don’t let people get close to me and brush up against me then I will never become the husband and father that I need to be…or that Lovely and Little Bear need for me to be.

God, won’t you reveal my heart for what I really am. Afraid. Show me that while you told us that we are to be like the little children, you call us to be “mature, not lacking anything.” Please, show me my obedience and let my heart be reminded constantly that you are my strength and my hope as well as my Father, who chastens whom he loves.

The Village…A City within the City

That’s right…the program has started. Man, I’m so excited. Some of the guys have already moved in and are get aquainted with the program’s day-to-day.

I won’t divulge TOO much info, but I will say that I can truly see the opportunity for God to be glorified SO MUCH by this ministry/program.

The website is still being set-up, but you can click on this link to keep checking the status. It is supposed to be up and running by February 1.

www.welcometothevillage.net

Just stay tuned for some pics and some more Village info.

Here is the Turtle Video again just in case you missed the first part of the fun!!!!