Done with this blog. Look for another page somewhere else some other time.

Love everyone.

Long Time, No Blog

I may have used that title before but it works. I want to make this blog thing happen but have yet to find the consistency. I have too many major things going on in my life right now.

I will come back. I will make this work. I want a new look and a fresh start. Hang around.

I'm Glad God's With Us

Sometimes it's difficult to tell. At times seeing God seems a lot like looking at the road through a frozen windshield that you didn't scrape off very well. Too many things, bad things, get in the way.

Some are scratching there heads after yesterday's tragic events at Virginia Tech. God? You around?

Though it may seem impossible, he is. And I'm glad. Today, because evil broke in for a while, people will need God's comfort. Families will need hope. Friends will need compassion. And lives will need direction.

And, as he always is, God will be around.

Ever don't know what to do?

Decisions to make.

Choices presented.

Pros and cons.

Sometimes I throw my hands in the air in frustration, pulling at my hair in distress, because I can't figure out what to do. One moment I have it, and in the next breath it slips through my fingers. The right choice. The correct decision. It leaves and misses me like the hope of the Texas Rangers making the playoffs.

I wait on God but grow impatient too often. I wonder, what is he really going to do? Will he show up and tell me? I realize that in my haste I've ventured the wrong direction on many of my decisions. And I also know that I've not mastered the art of deciding correctly. It just seems that at times all options appear viable, worth pursuing. And, unfortunately, my flesh chimes in on occasion.

What happens if I choose wrong? What will come of it? Well...I just don't know, maybe something bad or something worse. But I have decided to lean on this: if I love God and pursue him in all decisions, all things will work out for good. He'll clean up my mess. He'll mop up my spills (Romans 8:28).

Good thing too...I can sure make a mess at times.

Boldness Brings Change...Not Time

I love the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter from the Birmingham Jail to a group of church leaders critical of his tactics: “I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.” His point, we can’t wait until the time is right to fight for right. He believed that true change happens at the intentional decision and commitment of people to take bold action.

And we know the change he brought about through his peaceful, but bold, initiatives. He campaigned and lost his life on the fundamental basis that time would not heal the racial wounds suffered in America.

My kids have quickly figured out that when I say “wait” it usually means “no.” They understand that nothing will happen as long as my answer stays in wait mode. Yes, life moves along, sometimes slowly. The Christian walk often mirrors a limp or a crawl. The process creeps along. But we cannot sit in wait mode. God is on the move.

Don’t wait to join God in the change he wants to make through you. Often, time alone makes no difference. Decide to act; to jump in and meet God in his work of recreation and reconciliation. When it comes to initiating change in the lives of people God seeks to make-over we have a “legitimate and unavoidable impatience.”

Study Partners

I have a lot of people I learn from everyday. The World Wide Web makes this possible for me. It’s like going to school every morning when I fire up my computer. I have instant access to countless ideas and thoughts. I love it!

It has programmed me to think, to question, to probe the voices of others. I have found the courage to put myself out there and face critique. Learning happens. Knowledge swells. Life changes.

People I’ve never met personally have become my friends and teachers. I know that to form relationships in a virtual world leaves doesn’t fill the void of true relationship. That’s the challenge—to move beyond and take the lessons and live them; to bring the virtual world into my world.

I aim to develop more intimate and edifying relationships with a people I can see, touch, smell and hear. But I don’t plan on dumping those teachers I’ve come to respect who teach me from the screen of my computer or that speak from the speakers of my sound system. They’ve grown into wonderful study partners.

Well, I thought things had settled...

As soon as all of the fuss over the house had settled Spring Break rolled in. Along with it, the passing of my wife's great-grandmother and 12 days later, her son, my wife's grandpa. It's been a tough few weeks.

Traveling.

Grieving.

Hurting.

But I've learned a lot and have new insights to life. I hope to kick this thing and get it going again. Stay tuned.