"Oh winter, how I won't miss you"



 It's the end of February, and I have just one question.  Where exactly did the winter go!?  At the risk jinxing it, I think we can almost say...far, far away. 

  This picture was taken a few weeks ago, when it would still be cold out on a normal year.  Not this year.  This year has been the year of a "less than dramatic" winter here in Georgia, and this born and raised boy is not complaining.  Especially after last years fiasco of being cooped inside for an entire week, due to a few inches of snow. 

  I welcome this weather with open arms!  This is the kind of winter a state that has no snow plows to speak of could really get used to!  There was maybe, one week that was tough to be outside working, because it was so cold. 

  I have found myself turning off  the heater, and air more than once this winter, and opening the windows, and turning on the fans.  I love it!  I'm sitting here typing this blog, office window open, birds chirping, and Lola passed out at my feet from the 30 minutes prior we spent out time playing fetch.  Good times. 

 

  I guess it is not really to shocking that its nice out, with the first day of spring being March 20, I guess, to me, it feels that winter flew by!  Again...not complaining.

  Lots to look forward to in the coming months.  Busy days/more hours at work for me.  Braves baseball starting up(which is ALWAYS nice when there's nothing else on TV), golf, lake, pool, beach weather.  trees and flowers in bloom.  Yes sir, I do love me some spring! 

That "One Thing"

 Curly:  Do you know what the secret of life is?

 Mitch:  No, what?

 Curly: This. ( Holds up one finger)

 Mitch: Your finger?

 Curly: One thing. Just one thing.  You stick to that and everything else don't mean (squat).

 Mitch: That's great, but what's the one thing?

 Curly: That's what you've got to figure out.

This is a dialouge line from the classic comedy City Slickers, with Billy Crystal & Jack Palance.

I've never thought about my answer to that question until Andy Stanley did a sermon called "The one thing".  Now these are similar in the sense that Andy, and Curly both asked what is your one thing? However, they receive different answers also. 

Curly's "One thing" was simply what is your thought for you being on this earth? Whats your purpuse?

Mine is my family. 

Andy's one thing had to do with what was keeping you up on your "wall"  Like Nehemiah in the Bible.  What is the "great work" you would like to accomplish this year?  He then listed categories the one thing could fall under:

• A habit you must break
• A goal you must accomplish
• A project you must complete
• A relationship you must restore-or end
• a debt you must rid yourself of

The scripture comes from Nehemiah 6:3 "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down.  Why should the work cease while I leave it, and go down to you"?

This got me to thinking about my one thing.  What have I tried to do in the past, but always gotten distracted, and went back to my old ways.  Then it came to me.  Caffeine addiction.  This was already in my head for reasons I wont bore you with here, and that I hope to never have to repeat, but what an (for lack of a better word) interesting way for God to tell me that was what he wanted for me?  Just another sign that all he does is for the good.  I feel like I could have many other great things to do while on my wall, but this is the most important at the moment. 

Another blogger that I follow Did a blog about that sermon as well.  They mentioned their wall was  Facebook, or social media.  I could see that being another one of mine as well. 

It was a great sermon, and I recommend everyone to watch it when they have a free hour. 
http://www.northpoint.org/messages/this-one-thing

A New Year...

...A new 365 days.  A new 12 months. A new time period to "do things" you didn't do the previous year...or 7.  A time to put a "bad year" behind you and start fresh. Or if you're fortunate enough, to continue the previous great year into the next. (there i go with the rhyming again.  I now know how the poor Grinch felt) 

  A big tradition, aside from staying up past midnight to welcome the new year, is to make resolutions for the up and coming year.

A New Year's resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit. A key element to a New Year's Resolution that sets it apart from other resolutions is that it is made in anticipation of the New Year and new beginnings. People committing themselves to a New Year's resolution generally plan to do so for the whole following year.
Compliments of Wikipedia.(if its on the Internet, it must be true right?)

  More times than not, a resolution is made...and kept for 3 months tops. (Don't believe me?  Walk into a gym today, and then that same gym in 12 weeks.  Just sayin')  I am no stranger to this.  I have made, and dropped my fair share in March.  This year though I have a few that I have control over, and some I don't have as much control over.  I have made the resolution this year to consistently shoot golf rounds in the 90's, and to break 90, at least once.  Now lets be honest with myself.  It likely will not happen, but it is something I am going to strive for in the new year.  A resolution that I have more control of however is *keeping up with this blog, Exercising more regularly, etc. 
   Given my statement above, I am more likely to keep up with the blog than the other.  However, I did get a new bike for Christmas, and have been riding it around the neighborhood the past 2 days.  Check back on that come summer...when its hot.  I have others that I wont bore you with here. 
   My point is, some you can have more control over than others.  It's keeping tabs on the ones you do have control over that may just make the "less controlled ones" fall into place.  (i.e. If I exercise regulalrly, I will get stronger, thus being able to drive a golf ball further, thus improving my score...maybe)  See where I'm going with this?? 
  
What is your new years resolution? 

*I mentioned keeping up with this blog.  I was on a few weeks hiatus there with Christmas, New years, and thinking my computer had a virus.  Sick computer aside...no more excuses.  Its a reselution...so I have to do it right??*

Christmas Week!!

It's almost here!!  Just a few 144 hours away, it will finally be, Christmas day!!!

"Oh, NO!  I'M SPEAKING IN RHYME"!

   What a great time of year.  The music. The movies.  The shopping.  The family time together.  The celebration of a Savior's birth.....oh yeah, and the gifts.

   Below are a few reasons people love this holiday. 

• If it's the radio stations playing the Christmas Carols 24/7 from the day after Thanksgiving-Christmas day. 
• All of the classic movies just happening to be Christmas movies. (I am sure I will quote a few in this post.  Props to anyone that can tell all movies they're from).                                                                
• The mad-houses that we call the malls this time of year, and all the folks that go out at 12am or later on "black friday"  to get the deals. (I dont mind folks who do it.  More power to them, but you will never see me out in that mess.  way to crowded for me)

"I guess it wouldnt be the Christmas shopping season, if the stores were any less hoot--hotter than they are"

• The great time spent with family. The one you've had your entire life, and new. 
• Of course growing up the gifts were the reason for the "Christmas countdowns", the 5am ringing of the house phone, from the house phone, and the many sleepless Christmas eve nights I experienced.  
• The main reason for the season though is the birth of Jesus.  Celebrating his coming to this earth for us. 

  Until I got older, Christmas was all about the gifts. I mean I knew the reason we celebrated, but the real "cake taker" for me was countdown the days until presents. "sitting through" church on Christmas eve, never really listening to the message.
  I am disappointed to say that it took me longer than it should have to understand the true meaning, and to take a look at the bigger picture, and see how blessed I am to have each of these true gifts that people love during this season.  I love it all.  It truly is "The most wonderful time of the year" 

What is your favorite part of Christmas?

    

Tebow Time!

***Disclaimer**** mostly for all the haters on Tim Tebow. (Mainly all the SEC fans who read my Blog) This will be a post about him. You have been forewarned.

There has been alot of talk about Tim Tebow in the sports media lately. It is mostly due to his recent success leading his Denver Broncos team to unheard of, crazy, come-back wins. Just this past week he brought his team back from a 10-0 deficit with about 4 minutes left in the game, and pulled out the victory 13-10 for an overtime victory against the Chicago Bears.


With all the news of his sparked success he has been mentioned on ESPN, message boards where the teams mascot was not a gator, and even an entire website dedicated to his "tebowing" after games. Basically a sight with pictures of everyday people mimicking his post game ritual of taking a knee in prayer http://www.tebowing.com/ CRAZY RIGHT?!

While most are giving him props for leading his team, others are just waiting for him to fail. some people are actually waiting for, hoping this guy slips up!(by this I don't mean lose. I mean as a Christian, or a human being. They're waiting for him to impregnate a woman out of wed-lock, They're waiting on him to drop an F-Bomb in front of the camera. Why? He is the first real, decent roll model for kids, and their parents are waiting for him to prove society right?! That a professional football player cannot be anything but thuggish, and bad news? This seems silly to me, and shame on society! I have read other places that peg Tebow as the Antichrist. This I think is just silly, and clearly the people who think this....seriously think this....don't read the Bible to often.

When I started this post it was before the game against the New England Patriots, and was going to go in the direction of "Does he have enough in him to pull that one off? Well, "Life as I knew it" was right. He couldn't.

Now I pose the question "Does he have enough to put this team into the playoffs, and win 1 or 2" while still not fading into the sin of society?? "Life as I know it" says "Yes"!

I am on the "Tebowing bandwagon"!!

God exists

This is a very controversial topic around the world. Does God exist? Does he not? Life as I know it: He most certainly does!

This seems so much like a no-brainer, that it baffles me. I have a difficult time wrapping my head around why people feel otherwise. To me, The evidence is all there. With articles I've read, people Ive talked to, and people I have even surveyed, It saddens me to have learned that it is not so crystal clear to everyone else.

You cannot see God: Okay, fair enough. Have you ever seen $1,000,000? Have you ever seen the wind. To quote Charlie from "The Santa Clause" "just because you cant see something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist".

Lets tackle the things that people cant see but they still believe exist. $1,000,000 & the wind. What makes people believe in these unseen realities? "You can see the effects of the wind blowing." "You can see a millionaire"(or the effects of $1,000,000), but I'd argue if you put 10 people in a room together, 9 of them would never have actually seen $1,000,000. You see where I'm going here??

Lots who choose not to believe in this, chalk the effects of God up to coincidence. When God helps a man who is paralyzed from the waist down "walk again" even when the Doctor's said there was a 100% chance that man would never walk again...non-believers usually reply with "who's to say the doctor didn't know what he was talking about when he said the man would never walk again?" How about the fact that he's a doctor sir!

God's voice has diminished over the years: "Back in the times of the Bible there were tons of normal every-day people that had conversations with God all the time." Why does God no longer talk to people the way he did Moses, Abraham, and Jesus?

My answer to that simply is: "He does." a lot of people just don't know it. It may not seem as audible as talking to you through a burning bush, or telling you how to heal a man with Leprosy.(both of which could be thrown into the first argument as well.) It is my belief that God talks to us now more discretely. Why this is, I don't know. Instead of using a bush, He'll use your Bible study leader. Instead of writing it on tablets, He'll have men write it in the Bible. Instead of talking audibly like he did to Abraham, and Noah, He'll speak to you through the Holy Spirit(I feel this is the same as my conscience) It took me 20+ years to figure this out.

Bottom line, as far as I am concerned, God most certainly does exist. It breaks my heart for people who don't see it. I research all the time to try to figure out how I would try to help people in my life(and strangers/celebrities) that I may one day meet. What I have learned about God and his existence. How to help them see it. I pray about it.

Putting it to "paper" was something I felt God pushing me to do. Thats why I started blogging. Also to use it as a form of expression. Things he has done in my life. Things he has blessed me with. People he has blessed me with. Just things in general.

That's sort of how I came up with the premise for this blog. I thought about the greatest things God has blessed me with. great families (all 3 of them), a blessed life, a great comfort in Him, and blessings, that like the ocean in the picture, stretch as far as my eyes can see.

A Beautiful Start....

Look at that picture. How beautiful is that?! This picture was taken at Bald Head Island on a family beach trip in 2002. It is just one of the many breathtaking landscapes our amazing God paints. You can see to infinity...and beyond...

As you may have guessed, this picture discribes what I plan for this blog to be about.

Family: My wife, Dog & I(and eventual children), Etc.

Religion: God, Jesus, The Bible, Everything that goes with it(including my perceptions.)

...And Beyond...

Please leave comments, and feedback often. Enjoy!