It’s funny how you start one of these things just for kicks, not expecting it to last long or have anyone read it and then reach a point where someone asks “why haven’t you blogged today/yesterday/lately?” OK, it’s only funny to me so in my own introverted way want to say, thanks for the laughs.

Now that I’ve quit amusing myself, I’m reading a book called The Cell by Stephen King. I’ve never read his books before but wanted something different and something that would let my brain rest. I’ll try not to give it away but the premise is based on cell phones being used to transmit an electronic wave that makes people do bad stuff. Science-fiction, right? I wonder, with all of our technological advances, how open we are for that technology to come back and bite us. We see it more and more from terrorists using it to send messages around the world to identity theft and on and on. It’s amazing but also a little scary to think about what can be done with technology.

Now that I’ve brought you down and made you look at your computer like you were looking at a mass murderer, I’ll change directions. In the midst of whatever problems we face in this world, I know I have a family around me that is confident that we face a better life in the future. We are walking towards a life of beauty, of peace, of joy. There will be no stress because Jesus has taken our burdens. There will be no debt because He has already paid on our account. There will be no hatred because love will rule. My family lifts me up. My family reminds me of what awaits me. My family shares my hope. There are good things happening in Decatur, Texas that are leading to great things that will happen in Heaven. I thank God for His blessings.

The title of a popular book about handling change relates to some mice and “little people” who have to change their way of thinking and acting to keep finding their cheese. I don’t know many people who get excited about change and even when there is some level of excitement, there is some level of trepidation also. We can convince ourselves that the rut we live in is better than the smooth road we could be on because we have to go over some bumps to get there.

Yesterday was one of those days for me. I was preparing for some changes, excited by the prospects of what will come with it but also dealing with some level of concern, some level of fear even, about what I have to do to get to the point I’m excited about. There’s some comfort in doing what I’ve always done.

Our lives are like that. Physically, mentally, spiritually…change can cause us to hesitate, to worry, to see the negative. Not all change is good and not all things should be changed. There is some level of study or maybe common sense that goes into a decision to make a change but when it is something that will be good for you, why the hesitation? We get comfortable with our life, with our relationships, with God. We get comfortable and we too often fail to see that something better is out there. We overlook what can be exciting in our life, we overlook the specialness of our relationships and we overlook how much closer we can be to God.

In all the changes I go through, I will pray that the Lord walks with me, that He will encourage me and that He will comfort me.

I just figured out how to put a titile on a blog. There’s always some obscure setting in the background and the title function was turned off on my blog. I may leave it off because I’m not sure coming up with a title is a productive use of my time (as if blogging were) but I’ll give it a go.

I was in Tyler last week and attended church with my parents. So much has changed there since I grew up that it doesn’t really seem like the congregation I knew as a youth. The building is different and most of the people are different. When I was in college, I would go back and see friends and people I knew. I was the person returning home to people I knew. Now, I am the visitor, the guy people see and introduce themselves to not knowing that I spent 18 formative years there. Still, there are things about it that remind me so much of my early years. The preacher is the same man that was there when I moved away. My parents friends and even a couple of my old friends are still there. Yet, there is always a memory of one person who is not there anymore but who is emblazoned in my mind and in my heart.

I used this story for a communion thought once and will probably use it again. Hillard was my youth minister, my basketball coach, my best friend’s dad, a cut-up extraordinare and a friend. He baptized me, he helped raise me and train me. He convinced me to preach during a youth-led Sunday night service when I was in Junior High. Hillard was a lively, encouraging man who had a profoundly positive impact on many, many people.

Hillard passed away suddenly a few years ago. He was coaching one of his grandchildren’s youth basketball games when he passed out. They rushed him to the hospital but there was nothing the doctor’s could do. He had been to the hospital earlier in the week, not feeling well, but he was checked out and sent home. Just days later, he was gone.

I got the church bulletin about the same time as the funeral for Hillard. The bulletin, referring to his first hospital visit, stated that “Hillard is feeling better and has gone home.” The statement was just as true the day I read it as the day it was written. Hillard was feeling better and had gone home.

While I miss seeing Hillard and know his family misses him greatly, Hillard knew what we all know – that Heaven awaits us and that we do look forward to the day we are feeling better and get to go home. Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us that assurance. Jesus paid a horrible price for us just so we could one day feel better and go home.

It’s Wednesday so that means Mexican food at my favorite local spot with the family along with a couple of friends of ours. It has become a routine that we follow each week and one that I look forward to. I enjoy the conversation and the laughs. I enjoy building the relationships and getting to know everyone there a little better. Afterwards, we will go to church and start over with a larger group but basically doing the same thing. We’ll be spiritually filled instead of physically and we will build relationships. We will talk, we will study, we will laugh, we may cry and we will pray for and with each other. I love building these relationships. I love building the connections with my brothers and sisters and with God. Tonight will be a good night.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for me. Thank you for all the prayers that I know you have prayed for me. Thank you for nurturing me, teaching me, preparing me and challenging me. You have been a true blessing in my life and I love you.

Is it OK to gamble with play money? Last night, I attended a Casino Night event put on by one of our vendors. Luck was with me for awhile and then the tide turned and in a blink of an eye, $4,000 in play money was gone. Poof! Nada. Zilch. Goose-egg. Now, the devastating thing about it is that the big prize I wanted were two seats at the Final 4 this year in the vendor’s suite. If I could have turned 4-grand in funny money into prime seats at the Final 4, I’d be walking on air today. I hope people who do have gambling addictions get help. It was amazing how fast that money can disappear.

I have been impressed with the messages our new preacher has delivered since coming to our church. One that has really stuck with me was the message to pray boldly to God; to ask boldly for what we want. People close to me have cancer, people I care about are having marriage problems, people I know are dealing with emotions that are hurting them, people close to me are dealing with problems. I am boldly asking God to heal those diseases, heal the hurt, heal the wounds. I have a running battle with Satan daily. It’s not an easy battle so I pray boldly every morning that God will push Satan out of my way today, that He will crush the devil’s spirit in trying to get to me and that He will give me the strength to crush Satan when Satan is in my path.

I know God hears me. I know He may not answer my bold prayers in the way I want but I trust He will answer them the way He knows is best. I hope that my boldness will never cease, that my heart will always be open to His will and that my ways will be His ways. Yet, I remain ever so thankful that I can boldly approach God, that I can ask for exactly what I want and that He will hear me. An incredible Master is one who will hear those subject to Him. An incredible Lord is one who will do what is best in my life because He knows me so well. An incredible Savior is one who will love me when I fall. I have all 3.

I’m having one of those days where it feels like it should be a couple of days later and I can’t seem to finish a thought or idea. That does not bode well for blogging so I will just mention a few random thoughts from the morning so far.

1. Have you seen a video clip of the Nebraska meat packers that won $15.5 million each from the lottery. They were really funny. I hope they use the money well.
2. Is it just me or does anyone else find themselves wanting both rain and sunshine this week? The weather we are having is dreary.
3. I’m going to Tyler this weekend and will get to watch my dad coach a girls basketball team. I trust it will be fun and hope he doesn’t disagree with a referee like he did in one of my games many years ago. Memories can make you laugh and cry. This particular one really makes me laugh.
4. Baseball season is fixing to start for my son and my daughter is going to give volleyball a whirl this year. I look forward to watching them but wish gas was $1.50 again (back when we thought it was expensive).
5. My basketball team finished 4-2. We should have been 6-0. Just goes to show what a couple of off days can do to you. Still, it was a great group of kids and a fun year. I’m already planning for next year.
6. I have been off-and-on with the Olympics. I keep hearing about the low ratings and just wonder why the lack of interest seems to be growing.
7. I keep hearing about the lady who is on trial for cutting off the arms of her baby and killing her. Her attorney is using the insanity defense but a lot of the testimony seems to hinge around her pastor and religious teaching. I can’t imagine any sane person would do something like that but I worry, if the reports are true, about what this guy is out teaching to other people.
8. Last night at church was another study on the life of David. He did things that we look back on and think “how stupid” and then I look back on things I’ve done in my life and think, “hey, that was really stupid too.” I read the Psalms and hear some of my pleas to God, only more eloquent. I see David return to God time and time again and know I can do the same. Whenever I make a mess of my life, God is there for me.
9. Kids are funny. Employees are mentally challenging. One good reason to be a coach.

I hope you have a great day! I’m going to try and get my brain engaged.

I wish I had a quarter for every time I heard while growing up, “just wait until you have kids and then you’ll understand.” If I had all that money, I’d be able to hire a nanny! Raising children is an awesome responsibility and an incredibly eye-opening job. I think of things much differently now that I have my own kids. All the while, I continue to realize my parents weren’t as crazy as I thought they were at the time (although, watching them with grandkids, they have become people I never knew growing up).

I am blessed to be able to drive the kids to school almost every morning. It’s a short ride but often entertaining and/or enlightening. Sometimes I can get a glimpse into their world, their thoughts, their worries, their joy. It’s those brief moments that I love and I am thankful I have them.

Last night at a basketball game, I listened to some young men sitting behind us talking and it seemed they found it hard to go more than two or three words without adding a cussword. I wondered if that’s the way they talk at work or around their parents. I wondered if they ever thought about what they were saying. I wondered how they would change or if they would as they grow and mature. I wondered what my kids will do when they are on their own, away from mom and dad.

No parents are perfect and I certainly make my fair share of mistakes with my kids but I know their mother and I are trying to train them for the world that awaits them. I know they will do some things they shouldn’t but I hope we will do our part to give them all they need to make the better choice.

Children are precious jewels. If you are a parent, you understand. If not, “just wait until you have kids…”

There are mean people in the world. I read an article today on the Internet about a “Reverend” that goes around spewing hatred towards homosexuals (the pictures in the article and the interview I heard with him on the radio once pretty well confirm that hatred is accurate). My kids tell me about other kids at school who say mean things. We see meanness exhibited between people so often.

I wonder why. What makes people act that way? Why do they think being mean and showing hatred to others will make things right?

In a conversation I had with my daughter on the way to school, the song that goes “…this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…” popped into my head. What happens when we are light to others? How do we feel when we are light to others? If you have ever had that feeling, would you ever want anything else? To be light, to help others see the path to God is a gift He gives us. Talk about your warm-fuzzies. Be light today. Help someone see the path to God today.

Many of you surprise me. I keep thinking I write this blog in relative obscurity, something to do just for the fun of writing, yet I receive comments from people who mention I haven’t written in a couple of days or that they agreed with something I said recently (for those of you who disagree, thanks for not saying so!).

Last night, I had to teach a class on why God let’s us experience pain. It’s a tough class because the question is always out there. Why does God let a 10 year old have cancer? Why does God allow a tsunami wipe out thousands of people? Why does God let a 90+ year old hang on even when quality of life is gone?

Who said God let any of this happen? I find it odd that most people would not want God to control their lives yet they expect Him to control the things they don’t like. Why is it that too often, the things we should be thankful for are the things we forget to thank God for but when something bad happens, people turn around and want to know where God is. Why did God let this happen? Why did God do this?

Pain can be good. Pain can provide healing. Pain often turns us to God yet we must be the one to make the choice to accuse Him or seek Him. God will not chase us down. He will not make us come to Him but He will always accept us, He will always open His arms to us, He will always hear us. When God asked Adam and Eve “Where are you?” after they had eaten from the tree they were not supposed to, He knew where they were but He wanted them to want to seek Him. When He asked “Why did you do this?” He didn’t want their excuses that someone else made them do it. He wanted them to want to seek Him.

We have to seek God, in good times and bad. He doesn’t cause our pain and hurts but He is always there to help us heal.