Hey Hey!!!

I finally snagged a 360.
Pam and I wanted to get something special for the boys for their respective birthdays.

This, plus a trip to Great Wolf Lodge should do the trick.

They've been begging for one for months now.
I was out getting a key made in the mall & decided to ask around in GameStop & they said, "Yeah... We've got one... You want it?"

I'm like, "please?".

So 500 bucks later, Pam and I are heroes.
The boys don't know about the Great Wolf Lodge thing yet.
We're going to pick them up from school & just start driving. They'll figure it out when we get there. It's got an indoor water park and they love to swim. I'm sure they'll have a blast.

I wish I had something inspiring to say, but I'm a little tired.

I'll have more later.

Thinking of Better Times

†in His grip met last night. It was really something. We talked, laughed, I think the message really hit home for them.
I talked about what I called, "better times" when the youth group was smaller.
They all confessed they were different people back then and wanted to be those people again.

It's amazing how we can all get caught up in the idea of maturity, but the truth is, our character tends to devolve rather than evolve.

I guess that's why a lot of preachers like to recall the times of the "great revival of blah blah blah".

It seems easier to recall the good times than to embrace the bad times and move forward.
Sometimes we have to accept the fact that things aren't going our way, but keep hope that they will get better.
When we were talking, something came to me.
In Matthew 10:16, Jesus says, "You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack..."

This made me have an on-site ephiphany last night.
Jesus is saying, you are my sheep, and you're going to be among wolves... so be aware.
What I think He's also saying is the truth of the shepherd's job.

"I'll always be here to keep you safe. Just stay together where I can see you."

Sometimes we wander away from the flock and feel isolated... cuz we are.
But...
Sometimes we stray away and get nudged back with a shepherd's stick.
This is good. It reminds us that God still cares for us and is doing what He must to keep us from harm.

Maybe I'm just thinking out loud... but this sounds right to me.

How long?

In Psalm 13:1, David cries out of his very soul.
– How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?"
I've felt like this recently. To be honest, I feel like this a lot.
I'm not saying I've fallen away from God, never to be found again. Don't start up that pity train just yet.

I think there's more to this prayer than just despair.
I can't put my finger on it, but there's just something about this prayer that keeps me thinking.

The first couple of lines of this psalm sound like desperate cries, but they quickly melt away into what can only be called "uncompromised faith".

Was David bi-polar?
No. I don't think so. They didn't have PC terms like that back then.
So, if he wasn't bi-polar, what's the deal?

I think it's got something to do with the fact that David really knew where he stood in the eyes of God.
He never doubted that God loved him. He also never doubted that God would punish him when he did something stupid.
It's as if David truly knew God as a father. He did NOT see God as some unseen force in heaven waiting to slap him around if he was bad or throw gold into his pockets if he was good.

I like to do this with my boys too. They know I love them. Sometimes I'll do something for them, usually buy them a new game or toy, for no reason. Just because.
When they ask why, I just say, "Just because I wanted to do something for you".

This is the part I love. When they do something stupid, they immediately come to me and tell me what they've done. Sometimes they come to me quicker if their brother has done something wrong, but I'm working on that with them.

They come to me because they know I can help them fix it before it gets out of hand.
They also know I'm not going to kill them for what they've done.
I usually ask them why they did (or didn't do) it and then I'll help them make it right.
After it's been made right, I will divvy out counsel or punishment depending on the offense.
They willingly accept it because they know what they've done is wrong.

I think they're going to turn out alright.

God thinks that about us, you know. I can just feel it in my heart.
He knows we're going to make mistakes, but He also knows we're going to be alright.
Because He's seen it already.

I guess that's what David was saying.
This sucks right now... I don't like feeling alone when I know God is right there.
But I know I'm gonna be alright, because God told me so.

Simple enough, huh?

Why oh why?

I've come to realize that some people aren't happy unless they're mad.
Sometimes, you'll run across a person that, well, they're just always mad at someone.
The question in my mind is usually, "Well... I wonder when I'm due to be on the roster of offenders".

Why do we do that?

People try to talk to us and "make amends" for whatever it is that we're mad about, but we still choose to stay offended.
Usually, it's nothing they can control, but we stay upset nonetheless.

Here's a few general rules of thumb for ya:
- If you're upset because of something someone did, or didn't do, and you don't tell them, well, they're not going to know you're mad.
Therefore, they're not affected by your "anger". You're the only one affected.

- If you're upset with someone and you DO tell them, then they say they're sorry & try to make it right, but you still choose to be upset, well... Once again, you're the only one affected.

It's kind of amazing how our emotions work if you think about it. We think we're punishing someone by being upset with them, but we're the one with the elevated stress levels... not them.
We end up being the one isolated.

Hmm... sounds like offense is really counterproductive to our emotional well being.

An explanation of why I can't get any work done.

No time to blog right now, just wanted to let everyone know I haven't fallen off the Earth.

Will blog later.

May God's Love Be With You

I'm listening to a song called, "In the Sun" by Joseph Arthur.
I have no idea what it's about, but it's really pretty. It reminds me of sitting next to a tree and a brook.
It's nighttime and that, combined with the song, makes me feel like waxing poetic, so here we go.

Before this, there was a song in the car called, "Lost the Plot" by The Newsboys. The lyrics brought me back to North Carolina.

When I saw you for the first time you were hanging with a thief
And I knew my hands were dirty, and I dropped my gaze.
Then you said I was forgiven and you welcomed me with laughter.
I was happy ever after. I was counting the days
when you'd come back again. we'll be waiting for you
When you comin' back again? we'll be ready for you
Maybe we'll wake up when... maybe we'll wake up when you come back again.

lies. Let's be blunt.
We're a little unfaithful.
What do you want?

Are you still listening?
`Cause we're obviously not
We've forgotten our first love
We have lost the plot.

Newsboys, "Take me to your leader" was one of my first official Christian CDs. These lyrics stung my heart. It reminds me of how cavalier we are with salvation. We accept God's love and grace. We accept His forgiveness through Jesus' sacrifice, but then we go live our lives how we want to. It's like saying, "Hey God... thanks for taking my punishment, but I've got some sinning to do."
Why do we do that? Why are we so unthankful? Why are we so quick to forget what got us our forgiveness?
More than that, why are we so slow to forgive those around us? God forgave us, why is it so hard to forgive when someone scuffs our ego?

I dunno. I think I'm going to just go think on this for a while.

Insomnia...

Pretty descriptive image huh?
I love google's image search function.
There's a new (to me) google video too. It helps pass the time when I'm bored.

At midnight, I realize it's going to be one of those nights. I manage to get some sleep, but the nighttime party kitty decides to keep me from getting what she thinks is "too much sleep".

About 5am I realize it may be a lost cause.
Songs are streaming through my head, thoughts of things left undone... too much to do.

I still haven't made it to the hospital yet. A dear friend has been there for almost a week now. What kind of friend am I?
Other priorities keep pushing me away.
Is it right? no... Are my other priorities important too? Of course, but one would think I should be able to steal away a couple of hours to go visit. I guess one would be wrong then huh?

I did manage to get the new mixer installed last night. Erik and I went up to Guitar Center and picked it up. The 16 real channel mixer (it says 22 channels, but I don't know where the other 6 channels are) Maybe reading the manual will help.
At least now everyone is going into the same mixer and we have a lot more control over the sound. We also have more flexibility and expansion too.

Sorry. I just spent the last 10 minutes trying to research the new mixer. Totally forgot I was blogging. Well, its 6:38am. I guess I'll get something to eat.

Ingenuity, Innovation, Loss, and Patience...

When trying to affect change, I've found that there are four basic principles we need to embrace.
Now we could simply sit back and wait for change to happen around us. We could even wait for "the right train" and jump on board. We could then just ride the train until it stopped, then look for the next train.

But there's something inherently wrong with that philosophy for me. I don't like waiting for the train... especially when I don't know where it's going.

Therefore, those of us who decide to take personal responsibility for change are going to have to start our own train. However, with this idea, there comes some duty.
Ingenuity:
When deciding on change, one must be willing to be creative. One of my favorite sayings is, "A little revolution is good".
We can't keep doing the same things and expect new results. New ideas are paramount. Asking the tough questions like, "why do we..." is key.
Innovation:
Implementing the new ideas and testing them; studying the results, and deciding on a plan of action based on our results is the key to effective change.
New ideas, without testing and implementation, are just theories.
Put simply, they're nothing more than dreams.
Loss:
When trying out new ideas, we have to realize that some of them won't work. That's okay though. Not everything new is good, but not trying that one idea may be what's stopping you from true change and innovation. When trying to invent the light bulb, Alexander Graham Bell found many, many ways that "didn't work". It didn't dissuade him. He just needed one way for a light bulb to "work". He found it. Also, we have to understand that not everyone is going to be willing to jump on board with us when we try new things. When we experience loss, we must be willing to embrace it, learn from it, and move forward.
Patience:
Another favorite quote of mine is, "Rome wasn't built in a day".
It holds true every day. We must be willing to put in the time it takes to affect change. Just because things aren't happening as quickly as we'd like them to doesn't mean things aren't changing. Patience is the key. We must wait on inspiration, then wait on a plan, then wait on the implementation, then wait on the results, then wait for the analysis of the results.
That's a lot of waiting, but it's worth it.

So... for those of you who are willing to jump start your own train, be ready for these four things and be willing to embrace them. You'll succeed.

An Unstoppable Force

Is that what we're supposed to be?
Knowing that a group of rhinos is called a "crash"; and also knowing that they can run in excess of 30mph, but can only see 30 feet in front of them, the name "crash" seems fitting.

I said this in church a few weeks ago. A crash of rhinos doesn't really care what's 31 feet in front of them. What's 31 feet in front of the crash of rhinos needs to worry about what's coming at them.

The point.

When we're out "crashing" into people, we need to consider something.
Not everyone holds true to our belief system. Most people will start an "evangelism" speech like this:
"If you were to die tonight, are you sure you'd go to Heaven and be with God?"
Or they use the "Romans Road" approach, which is several passages within the book of Romans.

Now don't get me wrong. I believe that these approaches will work on people who already believe that God is real and that the bible is God's word.

However, what about people who don't believe either of those things?
What do we do now?
What about Buddhists or Muslims or Bahai? These are people of strong spiritual convictions, sometimes stronger convictions that Christians have. When you meet them, you'll quickly find out that they're not the "bad guys" that we've been taught they are. They're normal people who simply believe differently than we do. Now, how do we "prove" that we're right?

Sorry, that was a trick question. We don't prove that we're right.

God doesn't need us to "prove" Him to anyone. He wants us to love people and show them that God loves them too. He wants us to show them how much Jesus did for them, with His life, ministry, death, and resurection.

1st Peter 3:15b says,
"Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. "
(Message Bible)
I like the way the Message bible puts it. "Be ready... always with the utmost courtesy".
In other words, don't push, and when you are asked, don't be pushy.

Remember, we're not selling Jesus, He's not a product to be sold... Instead, we're giving hope and love because they've been given to us.

That's all I have to say about that.
(bad Forrest Gump impression)