When words fail....

Monday, January 25, 2010

I Got a New Attitude

A year ago I made up my mind to get in shape. 30 was looming over a year away and I wanted to feel better when I turned 30 than I did a few months before 29. I started by walking here on campus in the mornings. When summer started to roll around it just got too stinking hot and the opportunity opened up for me to join the gym with a few of my friends. Throughout the summer we were hard core, sometimes doing 2-a-days and challenging each other to be there every morning. As Summer ended and we welcomed fall and the peace and quiet that comes with the tourists going home, schedules got crazy. Our morning workouts had at some point shifted to evenings after work, but with only Monday and Thursday evenings free that didn't leave me much time to hit the gym. Then the conference season started and that really threw me off schedule. I stuck to it as much as I could, but wasn't pushing myself the way I wanted to.

He's in the business of GOOD!

As I tried to go to sleep last night I continued pondering Romans 8:28. (Read Tell Me No Lies to see my previous ponderings.) The scripture says that God works all things for good for those who love him. Some versions say, "all things work together for good." In my blog last night I likened it to fixing a messed up recipe, but it's not that God fixes the messes, instead He makes them good. I thought about this and became grateful that God doesn't just fix stuff, but He decides to make it good, or make good of it. To me fixing something is just putting it back together in it's original form. But what if the original form was broken to begin with? Then the fix won't hold.

Tell me no lies...

I've been wanting to write a New Year's blog, but not been successful in producing my thoughts about the coming year in a cohesive manner. It's not that I didn't have anything to say, I actually started a page and a half, but it wasn't right. It wasn't what I wanted to say. While getting ready for bed last night I heard God say, "I am not a man that I should lie." Of course I know God doesn't lie. I know He doesn't say things he doesn't mean, but somehow this hit me in a new way.

I'm dreaming of Di'Carlo's pizza...

I'm sure everyone who lives away from the town they grew up in has places they must eat at when they visit home. When I make it home to Wheeling, WV there are at least two must haves on my list - Di Carlo's Pizza and Coleman's Fish Sandwich. Now to the non-native neither of these may seem all that interesting, nor look all that appetizing, but that's because you aren't from the Ohio Valley! My Step Dad will eat Coleman's but will not even entertain eating Di Carlo's. I think he considers it a disgrace to pizza world-wide that it would bare the sacred name. He is also convinced that there is some sort of illegal substance in it that makes the masses crave it, especially with all you have to go through to get some. Our Toy Poodle, Dexter, even turned his nose up to it, and he LOVED pizza! That's okay... that meant more for me!

I Gotta' Feelin! Woo hoo!

September 21st Jermaine emailed me and asked me to go on a top secret mission for him. See he was, well and still is, dating my roommate Rebecca. The top secret mission was to find out Rebecca's ring size and what kind of engagement ring she wanted. Being that I love them both, and I love them together I was more than willing to accept the mission. It took me a few weeks to find the right time, but eventually, while Jermaine was in Scotland, I found an opportunity to work the critical questions into a conversation with Rebecca. Ironically we had actually talked about rings before, but I could not for the life of me remember what size she was.

Friends Are Friends Forever

I've heard it a million times - Some people come into our lives for a reason, a season and others a lifetime. Over almost 30 years of life I've seen a lot of people come and go. Maybe even more so than the average person since the two places I've lived the longest are typically known for transition. Six years in Columbus and then going on 11.5 here in Florida have been spent in places with Bible Colleges. Typically Bible College students aren't supposed to stick around forever. The intention is for them to come, be trained and then go out! There are the select few of us that find ourselves becoming more permanent fixtures. One would think living in this type of environment most of my life would leave me with lots of reasons and seasons, but few lifetimes. I'm blessed to say that is not the case.

How Do I Get There From Here

Maybe I should start a whole blog just about my view on relationships. A friend said he thinks I should write for a singles magazine. Are there singles magazines? Maybe I'll just write a book. Wait, I've already thought about that.... Anywho... here's another installment of Relationships 101 according to Kara....

What it Takes

There’s something that has been rolling around in my mind for quite sometime – pursuit. By pursuit I mean the art of a man wooing a woman with the intent of winning her heart and marrying her. Unfortunately, thanks to the feminist movement, we don’t see much of this anymore. Girls have become more aggressive and guys passive. No wonder we question so often who wears the pants in a relationship.

You and Me Goin' Fishin' in the Dark....

Okay, so this is a repost of a blog I wrote last year and posted on my Myspace. I was looking for something and found it and decided it is worth reposting. Enjoy!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Catch of the Day
Current mood: contemplative

or "You and me go fishing in the dark..." (It must be the Pastor Dan anointing that I have two titles to this blog.)

I remember as a kid going fishing with my best friend, her dad, and her brother. We would drive way out on route 80, passed Deer Haven where my grandparents lived, to a lake on the property of a friend of her father's. The goal was to catch a bass. Grant it they weren't very big, and I think the biggest one I ever caught was all of four pounds with water still in its lungs. But none the less what we didn't want was a blue gill. These fish, though more colorful than a bass were skinny and would provide no nourishment. They were "caught and released."

Amanda's Surprise Party

It's not the most beautiful cake but it sure did taste good!

Amanda got a taste of the icing.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

I'm gonna let it go!

Interesting does not even begin to describe this past week. However, with the exception of the manhunt for a fugitive running around in the woods less than 3 miles from my house, little of the upheaval of this past week has been external.

"Growing up" can mean many things. It can be the physical transformation from child to adult, or the embracing of responsibility. Recently I have found myself "growing up" more by letting go.

We all have situations, circumstances, people who have shaped who we are today. Some of that shaping for the good, some prime material to make something good with. You know, that old cliche, "When life gives you lemons make lemonade!" Around here we like to call them "issues," like belly buttons, everyone has them, but not everyone chooses to clean them!

I've found in my life issues are layered like onions and with the exposing of each new layer comes tears and some stench, but eventually, once I let God deal with them, they will be a beautiful compliment to my life. They will add flavor and spice, and make me more appetizing. (If you don't like onions just play along here....)

This past week has been a time of peeling back the layers. I was amazed at some of the things still hiding on the inside of me. God, in His mercy, decided not to ignore them, but rather to peel, peel and peel some more! Trust me there have been a lot of tears, and I've probably been pretty stinky. Sunday I thought I might die. By Monday I was just numb. Yesterday I started to feel stronger. Today I realize all hope is not lost. I'm still feeling tender and exposed, but as God has continued to pour in His healing "broth" I can tell He's making a splendid dish out of me.

So, I'm letting go of the past, letting go of hurt, letting go of bitterness and holding on to the promises of God. In some ways I feel like Hannah, holding on for dear life to the promises of God, without even words to utter, but knowing that God is faithful and will come through. His word will not return void!

Here's what I'm trying to keep in mind:

Romans 8:26-30 - Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

I'm letting go, yet holding on. It's complicated, but I know God is working! The layers are being peeled back, but He's creating something magnificent!

"Let It Go" - Tim McGraw

I've been caught sideways out here on the crossroads
Trying to buy back the pieces I lost of my soul
It's hard when the devil won't get off your back
It's like carrying around the past in a hundred pound sack

[Chorus]
Today I'm gonna keep on walking
I'm gonna hold my head up high
I'm gonna leave it all behind
Today I'm gonna stand out in the rain
Let it wash it all away Yeah wash it all away
I'm gonna let it go Oh yeah
I'm gonna let it go Oh yeah

Skeletons and Ghosts are hiding in the shadows
Threatening me with all the things that they know
Choices and mistakes, they all know my name
But I'm through holding in and holding onto all that pain

[Chorus]

I know I know I know I've been forgiven
I know I know I know I'm gonna start living

[Chorus]

Oh yeah