Random Ramblings and the occasional insightful thought

So I had a little free time over lunch and decided to read some Leviticus… just kidding..however, since I have been somewhat slacking on my Bible in a Year reading here I am…

 As I was reading Leviticus 8, verse 36 jumped out at me. It said: And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded by Moses.”  I am no theologin, but if you have read much of Leviticus at all, God commanded a whole bunch for those guys to do.  I mean he threw the kitchen sink at them (not literally, but close),  I mean they were putting entrails on unleavened bread and “waving them as a wave to the Lord”… seriously, it was a lot of stuff (get the picture??).

 As I read that, I thought…How??  How did they do all of that?? It was so tedious and every detail had to be done, didn’t they get bored?? Didn’t they say “God, what is the point here dude??”  They had to do so much more than God has ever asked of me.  Most times I can’t even keep up with my daily Bible reading (as example of getting behind on Bible in a Year) yet alone do all of the things asked of Aaron.  As I thought about it, what it boils down to is the priority of his relationship with God and doing what God is asking. He doesn’t let watching American Idol or playing Xbox get in the way of what God is asking him to do. He doesn’t make excuses (although at times he didn’t always do what was right), but he did what God wanted. In this case, he puts God and what he is asking first in his life.  He executes on the details that get lost in my hectic life.  

 All God has asked me to do is  love Him and love my neighbor…seems so simple…so why can’t I execute like Aaron and his sons did in Leviticus??

It has been an interesting weekend…both good and bad.  Clemson won a basketball game in 2 OTs. We hit a buzzer beaters in regulation and the first overtime to extend the game and then pulled away in the second OT. We would have lost that game last year. And then the very very bad..the Cowboys lost…can’t say anymore.  That was a game they should have won. I now just hope Jason Garrett is back next year as the offensive coordinator. If he leaves that is a big loss.

 But, those aren’t the point of my post. Christine was gone to visit her parents this weekend (gotta love free tickets) and while enjoyed playing Rock Band and College Football ‘08 without feeling like I was neglecting her :-), the house was oddly lonely without her there. Both Stryder (our dog) and I felt it. The first thing you have to understand is that I have lived in that house for 12 years..most of it alone, so I have been there many times by myself, but this time I felt very lonely there.    Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t a bad lonely, this was a good one.   I think sometimes when someone is around all the time, you can forget how wonderful they are (ok, maybe not everyone, but I do), well this weekend just helped confirm to me how wonderful my wife is and how, even if I am doing things I enjoy, that my life isn’t quite complete without her there…

 I think the same is true of our relationship with God…don’t we take him for granted when he is there?? And then when we push him away, we feel empty and lonely and realize how imcomplete we are without him.  As I was thinking about this, I started thinking about all of the wonderful things God is doing in my life..my wife, the baby, our wonderful church family… and it helped me appreciate how much God is doing for me..and I want to thank him and worship him for that and everything else he does..

 I am glad I got this chance to feel lonely…But, I am also glad Christine will be back tonight…

Christine and I had a fantastic Christmas and New Years break this year.  I’ll be honest, the time leading up to Christmas was very hectic and stressful this year.  With work and church and my taking some certification tests for work, it was crazy and that was after both of us decided not to participate in the Christmas play that is done by Vale every year.  We really missed all the people in the play, but have both said that we don’t think we would have survived had we said yes to that again..Proof that it is sometimes ok to say know to good stuff…

But that isn’t what this post is about..this post is about how the holidays was a perfect break from that hectic time of year.  Basically, we traveled to my parents in South Carolina and just relaxed. We slept in, we goofed off, we weren’t on any kind of schedule at all.  It was just what the Dr. ordered.  Even when we got back, we have been able to just chill out so far and continue to get our energy back for the pace of the the next few months.   It was one of the best Christmases I can remember. 

 The only negative is that when I have sunch a good holiday with my family, I realize how much I miss seeing them all the time (and I know Christine feels the same way about hers out west).  We have both been so blessed with great parents and brothers..God has indeed been very good to us.  Sometimes it just takes a break like we just had to realize how great things are…I think we just take it for granted, because that’s just the way things are..but when those people aren’t around you realize what you have..

 Do you think we do the same thing with God?? I mean, he has totally blessed us all with so many things…do we just think that is how things are or do we thank our amazing heavenly Father for all of the great things he has done??? 

 This holiday sure has made me think….

I wanted to post this a little sooner, but we have been busy here at my parents and I haven’t had much web time…Christmas Eve we went over to NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC to attend one of their Christmas services. For those who don’t know, NewSpring is one of the fastest growing churches in the US and is pastored by Perry Noble, whose blog is listed on my blogroll.  After being there, I understand why they are growing..I have to say they went all out for this service. When we got there, I thought…hmmm, this is a little strange as elves greeted us in the parking lot, but it was all in fun…they had the elve cam broadcasting in the worship center and the guy who did that was pretty entertaining. I think Christine and I settled on he was a cross between Will Ferrel and Chris Farley..very funny..

 They started the service with worship and WOW…they blew me away. The sound was incredible.  It was so crisp and clear. It was really rock concert quality sound.  Maybe the best I have ever heard in a church. On top of that, the muscians and singers were amazing. It was just what I needed..high energy, high emotion worship…I could feel God there stirring me..touching my soul..it was incredible and I haven’t felt that way in a while. I think my Sundays are so rushed sometimes, I just miss that when I get into our worship services. I really needed that.  

Then Perry came on for the sermon.  I won’t go through this point by point (you can watch the entire thing on the NewSpring website, but it was an awesome sermon. My entire family was really hit by it. My parents go to a Methodist church and it is a very different style, but I think they really liked what Perry had to say. We all left with something that hit home with us. For me it was a couple of things: First, it was his question for us about what Christmas is all about..most Christians probably say Jesus..but that is not correct (or only partially correct). Perry talked about how Jesus is so much bigger than just one day..Jesus is for every single day, every minute and every hour…Christmas is when we “amplify the celebration of Jesus”  for the whole world…how true is that..I think that gets lost in everything else going on in this season.

 The second thing that really hit home with me is that “I matter to a Savior who is great and aweseom” .  I mean this God who created everything really cares about me…I mean really cares. No matter if I have been short and snippy with Christine or I had a few very un-Christ like thoughts when driving down Veterans Parkway…he still cares for me and loves me with all of his heart.  I mean, he created this huge universe (Perry used some great video in his sermon to illustrate this) and yet, he came to earth and He TOOK ACTION on behalf of me to get me out of the mess I have created.  This God who created everything came to earth and took action for me. For me, this very flawed man, who is so undeserving…Sure I knew that, but I needed to hear that…God was talking to me, God was telling me it is ok…He loves me…as Perry prayed, I felt tears welling in my eyes as God hugged me and said I do love you….Merry Christmas…

It has been a while since my last post…the last couple of months have been extremely hectic to say the least.   Not only did we have the normal “stuff” going on (work, church, pregnancy…), I also was studying for an insurance exam.  One of eight I will be taking over the next four years or so…That was the first test I have taken since my final exam in college, close to 18 years ago.  Hmm, that is a long time between tests and my study skills(however bad they once were) have diminished and it was quite a stressful time for me.  And due to that stress, I pretty much was spending every bit of free time studying..a lot of that time had been spent working on my blog and reading everyone elses, so I hope that now that the test is over, I will get back in the swing of things.  It is surprising how much information and and growth I was experiencing in the blog world…I missed that…I am glad to be bacck…

 Oh, and if you are interested…I passed the test….

OK, so Christine and I are moderate American Idol fans, but really liked the show Rock Star, I think America’s Next Great Band, might be the show that bridges the gap for us.  I have forever criticized American Idol about being all glitz and glam and less on substance..I mean, they don’t even make them sing original songs or play instruments.  To me it is karoke on steroids…

Where America’s Next Great Band changes things (they still have the same formula with judges, Rock Star, Woman, angry guy with accent) is that even though each band does a cover, they also have to do an original next week.   And some of the best cover bands are not very good at the originals…. overall though it is a very cool show with a very wide range of musical styles from blue grass to a metal band made up of 13 year olds (they rocked out on the Elton John cover Friday)…very cool to see

The reason we got hooked is the Christian band that is on there..Denver and the Mile High Orchestra.  They are a Harry Connick Jr big band, orchestra type group and they are awesome. But beyond that, they hold special place in Christine’s and my hearts…before they were this well known, Christine and I danced the first dance at our wedding to their song, Miracle to Me..it is truly amazing song that talks about his wedding day and how his wife was God’s miracle to him. We first heard the song from Christine’s mom who had a friend who was related to someone in the band. The minute I heard it, I knew that was the song that described our wedding, God’s miracle and now with a baby on the way, I am seeing mircle #2… so we are pulling hard for Denver and his really, really awesome Mile High Orchestra…

Tune in next Friday and check them out…it is on Fox at 7 pm CST…and don’t forget to vote…

So this is the first Sunday in November and as everyone saw in KidStuf last week, our virtue this month is going to be Uniqeness.  It should be a fun month, because, if you haven’t look around our kids lately, we have a very unique bunch and that is a great thing..

Well, our story this week is a cool one and it comes from Judges 6:11–7:22. It is the story of Gideon and his battle with the Midianites (the boys are really going to love this).  Now the Midianites weren’t treting the Israelites very well, they came down to rob, pilage and plunder the Israelites cities…it was a bad scene.  The Israelites needed someone to stand up to the Midianites and free them from this oppression..well, God had a guy in mind and he was Gideon…

To make a long story short, Gideon didn’t have faith in himself that the could lead the Israelites to victory. In fact, he wondered why in the world God would choose someone from such an insignificant and unimportant family. As you all know, God can be very persuasive and he continually encouraged Gideon to convince him that he could pull this thing off.  He gave him signs and even used dreams that other people had to encourage him.  So Gideon, who has some growing confidence, has an army of 22,000 to take on the Midianites….ummm wait just a second God had another plan. Beating the Midianites with 22,000 would be too easy and maybe they would forget it was God who led them to victory, so he told Gideon, you get 300 guys…what??  You have to be kidding, but hey God can do anything right??  So God takes this guy who was totally  lacking in confidence and experience and gives him 300 men and a plan…and well, what do you think happened?? 

Exactly… the Israelites won without even lifting a sword..but we all knew that right?? We let God do that in our lives all the time don’t we??  When God calls us to do something we never have or we feel unqualified to do, we jump at that chance don’t we?? We don’t say, “I’m not qualified”, “I haven’t ever led a small group”, or ”I just don’t have time” do we??  If Gideon wouldn’t have allowed God to encourage him, well, maybe the story doesn’t end the same way..who knows. 

I can use an example from my life to illustrate..2 years ago, Christine went to Connie’s drama workshop and wanted to audition for Bah Humbug, but was nervous, so I said I would go with her, thinking I either wouldn’t get a part or would be an extra.  Well, God (and Connie) had other plans…Connie cast me as Young Adult Scrooge and told me that role had some solo and duet parts in it. I was mortified. I had never ever acted before and didn’t have a clue what to do.  But, with some encouragement, I agreed to do the part. Now, the results weren’t anywhere nearly as good as what Gideon got, but the play went on, people got saved and no one through tomatoes at me when I was singing. Some of my friends even came to church for the first time in a long time to see that…God used me to reach people…but, it gets better…if I hadn’t done that..I probably wouldn’t be doing KidStuf either…I wouldn’t have had the confidence to be Tyler and act crazy on stage like that.  God used that first opportunity to make an impact 2 years later…And I assure you, it was and still is all God…

The point of all that is not to say I can act (because I still don’t think I can), but to say that God can take anyone and use them for His purpose. It doesn’t matter how unqualified you think you are, God can make it work… and that is our Bottom Line for the Week: God can take a nobody and make him into a somebody.   We hope the kids will be able to say “Yes” to God when he wants to use their Uniqueness to do something special…

 Peace….have a great weekend…see you Sunday!!

OK, I am a slacker..I got busy last week  playing on my new computer and working on a website so Christine’s and my parents can stay up on their future grandchild and didn’t get This Week in Kingdom Kids done last week. But since I am in IT and re-use is a very efficient way of doing things…for this past Sunday, I am going to link to fellow blogger Tiffany Postin who is trying to do the same thing with her blog…

Here is a cut and paste if you can’t go to the link:

Elementary: Monthly Virtue: Respect: responding with words and actions that show others they are important.

Main Point: “Show respect to God because He’s in charge of everything.”

Bible Story: Matthew 8:5-13 The centurion went to Jesus to get help for his servant who had become paralyzed. The centurion trusted in Jesus so much, that he surprised Jesus.

Memory Verse: Show proper respect to everyone. 1 Peter 2:17

Conversation Starter: Tell your kids about a time when you realized that God really is in charge of everything What happened? How do you show respect to everyone in everyday life?

Sorry for the slackness..I am trying to get back into my pre-vacation routine…have a great day!!

OK, you can blame Jim Henry for this, because when I read his entry and his wife Christine’s, it got me thinking…so here goes:

10.  Twin Peaks

This show was just brilliant. Now I think towards the end it got a little too wierd, but that first season was a can’t miss. We used to plan our evenings around this when I was in college.

 9.  Happy Days

What boy didn’t dress up as Fonzie for Halloween??

 8.  Cosby Show

As the kids got older it became less appealing, but I still love watching the repeats. Rudy sure was cute before she went on Fear Factor wasn’t she??

 7.  SportsCenter

Enough said!

 6.  House

Not sure I want him as my doctor..hmm, or maybe I would, but this show is so intelligent and it has been very interesting watching his character evolve over the last few years.

 5.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy rules…I watched this show from Day 1 until the very end and rarely every missed an episode (before Tivo even).   The writing for this was amazing and the musical episode may still be my favorite episode of TV ever..

 4.  Family Ties

I felt like I lost a good friend when this show went off.  I want to be Alex P. Keaton…

 3.  Cheers

Such a great ensemble of characters.  Who doesn’t know a Cliff Claven???

 2.  The Office (British or American versions)

Funniest show I have ever seen. Every single episode just cracks me up. I love the original British version too, although it was cut short after 2 seasons and a 2 hour special. If you  have ever worked in an office, you know someone who identifies with almost every single character..

 1.  24

Jack Bauer for President!! Keifer has been one of my favorite actors since Lost Boys and he doesn’t disappoint in this show.  A show that takes place in real time, hmmm, what a great idea…I am just glad I got Christine out of California, because wow, that place sure does take a hit…

Do you agree or disagree?? What is your top 10??