Not Quite Music Of The Season

Okay, I am sorry to say that I am watching the Today Show this morning as I type this and you would not believe what they are talking about!  And I cannot believe I posted this picture on my blog!

 

Growing up in the 80’s I was subjected to all kinds of music and some of it was actually pretty good…  Some of you remember the big hair, the brightly colored clothes and the artists.. they ranged from REO Speedwagon, Areosmith, my favorite Def Leopard, U2 and Styx, to Devo, Men Without Hats, and yes the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.  And if you were like me, I listened to a little of everything…

 

Now I got a little wigged out when a few years ago stations started having all 80’s weekends.  That made me feel old, but today on the Today Show, they are celebrating the 25^th anniversary of Thriller!  Yes 25 years old, released December 1, 1982 (I was 12 by the way) exceeding worldwide sales of 104 million copies, it is ranked in the top 200 of the greatest albums ever.  I remember when it came out and all the play it got on the radio stations!  I remember partly because it is so creepy, but also because Michael was huge at that point.

 

So today people are revitalizing the song, and if you remember the dance that all the ghouls would do as backup to Michael, you can imagine how much worse it has gotten!  People are dancing to it in weddings, in offices, and in penitentiaries!  Just when you thought it was safe to put your past behind you!

 

Here is to all the things we did in our youth, or you to what you younger people are still doing, that could come back to haunt you later in life!  I wish I knew then how all the decision I made would stick with me the rest of my life.  I would have treated so many people differently, and would have made some completely different decisions.  I always get a kick out of meeting people that knew me in high school and college, because when they find out that I am a pastor now it usually takes them completely off guard.  That is one of the best things about doing what I do though, I can explain that everyone can start completely over, and although a lot of the consequences remain from bad decisions, I don’t have to continue to do things that I know aren’t right or don’t make me feel good about myself.  Again and again, I can turn back to God and He still loves me.  He always takes me back, no matter what I did in the past.

 

What a thrill(er) to know that we can put our past behind us and move on, unless it is music from the King of Pop… 

 

PS… I hear the Jackson’s are getting back together, including Michael and maybe even Janet, so we can anticipate some more great music out of that family in the near future!  Please don’t put that on my Christmas wish list!

Great Christmas Gift

Yesterday Fed Ex showed up on my doorstep with a couple little boxes.  I love getting things, but these were not for me.  These boxes contained some things that are going to make my Wife VERY HAPPY for Christmas.  I love giving gifts too… especially when they are good gifts – not having to be expensive, but the kind that fill a person’s heart with joy!  Now, I tried to intercept these boxes to keep the whole maneuver a secret; because I am terrible at keeping secrets I need all the cards in my favor, but she knows that these boxes arrived.  Now she is full of curiosity and intrigue.  She is asking all kinds of questions and I can barely stand it.  I hope I can keep these things a secret until she opens them Christmas morning!

 

My bet is that you like to get gifts too.  And my hope for you this holiday season is that you would find something that brings you incredible joy this season.  Remembering that not all that comes under the tree in boxes with receipts is what this season is all about, but that Someone wants you to know He loves you more than you will ever know, and sent the GREATEST GIFT to earth for us.  So as this season of gift giving approaches, watch for His incredible gifts to you as He hopes to fill your life with joy, peace, love, mercy and grace.

 

Antidote To A Busy Life

We have way too much going on this week.  With the all day meeting in Denver on Monday it put me behind quite a bit.  My “to do” (Mac DoIt) list is getting longer and longer and I am running out of time to get it all done.  I have to take my son to practice after school, help a friend prepare a garage sale tomorrow, and did I tell you my wife and I are throwing a 40^th wedding anniversary party for my parents and 27 of their closest friends Saturday? 

 

Yes my week is getting more and more hectic, and with the early mornings I have had the past couple days, I have missed my routine time with God.  I find it incredible satisfying when I can read about Him and it seems to center my day.  I know some of you may find that weird, but I would suggest to you that if you can take a few minutes every day to quiet yourself, think about life, and even pray a little, you would find it very helpful.    Praying is not hard, but may be a little akward at first.  Just try it for a week and see what happens, don’t give up on it right away.  At first it may be like trying to start small talk with a stranger, but that is okay, and if God is really who He says He is, he already knows you by name!

 

See if it helps you the way it helps me…

I Have To Pee!

Have you ever had to pee so badly that it hurt?

Can you do bladder damage by waiting too long? 

Do you ever feel like a little kid bouncing your leg or doing a little dance because you have to go so bad? 

Me too…  And it drives me crazy.  I drink a lot of coffee and Diet Coke, and I am in a lot of meetings during the day, so between the two things there are times when I wind up in a bad predicament!  I took my son to Lacrosse practice a few weeks ago, outside at a field, after a bottle of Diet Coke and guess what… No bathrooms in sight!  I hurried home right after.

Yesterday I didn’t post anything because I was in a meeting all day long in Denver… what happens there?  I drink two big cups of coffee, one at the house getting ready and one on the road, stuck in traffic and guess what…  

Then in the meetings yesterday… you guessed it, more Coffee and Coke, and the next thing I know I am excusing myself in the middle of a meeting because – I feel about five years old doing the potty dance! 

Even this morning, after meeting with friends and drinking tons of coffee, I found myself speeding home…  Why didn’t I just go at the restaurant? How about you?  

What is your worst “I gotta go” experience? 

No One Abnormal Here?

I can tell from the posts that either everyone stopped reading my blog, or none of you have anything to share… of corse there is the possibility that most of you are out shopping today, with it being Black Monday and all…  Since I know a lot of you that read this blog, I also know you are not completely normal!  Don’t be shy, let me know what you do that we might think is “endearing” of you! I will give you another example.  I have a friend that is a germaphobe.   Every time he visits a public restroom he has a hand washing routine that he goes through…  First he dispenses the paper towels from the machine, yes he does that first, then he washes his hands with the soap, grabs the paper towels, dries his hands, uses the paper towel to shut off the water, and then uses the paper towel to open the door on his way out… If the trash can is close enough to the door to put the triple used towel in by this point, he tosses it, however if the trash can is way back by the sink instead of the door, the used towel lands on the floor behind the door!  all this to keep other people’s germs off his hands…  (i understand completely when you figure 70% of men don’t wash their hands after using the restroom!) okay, so you get the idea!!! We could learn a lot from your quirkiness! 

Quirky for the Weekend

Today is Thanksgiving, so I imagine there will be a lot of people spending more time eating than reading blogs, which I agree with wholeheartedly!   Enjoy your day with friends, family and good food.   Remember to post your Quirky things to the Quirky post, I would love to hear what you do that is different! 

Quirky Things You Do

I am running late today and almost didnt write anything at all, but I stumbled accross this idea on Mark Batterson’s blog and I have been thinking about it since yesterday.  I even checked his comments twice yesterday to see how people responded!   Here it is, what do you do that is quirky and weird.  Some of the people on his site set their clocks at odd times, I have set my alarm clock forward at various intervals (you know you push the time forward button and just let it go for a second or two) so when it goes off I have to get out of bed so I am not late.   I have a routine to get ready that if I get out of order on, I completely forget to do things, like put contacts in… So what do you all do that is quirky?  Please respond below… I promise no one will hold it over your head…  I will respond to these posts throughout the rest of the week, as it is a nice holiday weekend it will be fun to look at the posts and comments instead of the heavy stuff! 

Vince Young Is In Fact Human

I actually got to watch a Monday Night Football game last night. The Broncos played the Titans, and luckily I didn’t have to battle for the remote. Dancing with the Stars is a big hit in my house with the three girls, but since the Broncos were on, I actually talked them into letting me watch the game on the upstairs T.V.! So I am watching and listening, and the most interesting conversation started among the announcers. It surprised me not because of the subject matter so much as the genuine shock it seemed to produce in the announcers.

Apparently Vince Young (the quarterback for the Titans) was being interviewed before the game and started talking about his relationship with his dad. His dad is getting out of prison, and he is dealing with how that will change his life. It apparently was pretty emotional, I haven’t seen it yet and cannot find a posting on it. The thing that struck me was some of the commentary about it… These start athletes have personal problems that actually make them human! The assumption is that if you are a super star athlete, you have riches, talent and status that keeps you about the fray of people that actually have dead beat dads, drug abusing spouses, and kids that go off the deep end. Now I know I am judging them a little harshly, but here is what I loved about what Vince did… He spoke out of genuineness in his life; on the spur of the moment he was real with the reporter. How refreshing is that. If this guy who is a super star athlete is willing to say that he struggles with something big, like an estranged dad, it makes him human again. It brings humanity back to the place it needs to be, all of us working hard to get through this life with some dignity.

We all struggle, even the super star athletes. We know that in our heads, but forget it in our hearts. We believe the lie that if we have enough money, fame or talent nothing else matters, but I bet Vince would be happy to give away some of his money to have a better relationship with his dad. It is time to join with Vince in the authentic and genuine approach to life. Lets all be real with each other and let down the pretenses we put up to try to convince people that we are doing better than we are. Let’s agree that this is an okay place to admit weakness, pain, and struggle. That stuff does not define us, it is part of life that we all have to deal with. Lets share it and accept that our lives are messy, and since we are all in this mess together, lets help each other clean it up.

This instance with a Monday Night Football game was a great reminder that we are human, no matter our tax bracket or talent.

Home Improvement, Lowes, and the Birds That Live There!

I went to one of my all time favorite stores this weekend. It is so funny to me how a couple minutes of shopping with my wife and daughters in a busy store can wig me out for the entire day, yet I can wander aimlessly through Lowes or Home Depot for hours, swimming upstream against the heavy traffic flow of the isles on a weekend and LOVE IT! I found myself in such a situation recently, and oh, the joy!

As I was wandering and looking at all the power tools, conduit, plywood, snow blowers, and lighting fixtures – non of which I needed, but it was so fun to look – I was lost deep in the thoughts of “what needs to be fixed at home to give me an excuse to buy something” and I heard an interesting noise… Birds chirping. There were many of them, and they were just singing away, much like I would be if I got to hang out at Lowes all day. They were everywhere. You could watch them fly from “Plumbing” to “Hardware” without a care in the world. If they needed a little wood glue for their nest, all they would have to do was swoop down and pick it up! A great life for a bird I would think…

We had a bird in our garage in Texas once. It really freaked my wife out, she views small birds like mice with wings I think. I tried and tried to get the bird out of the garage, and it actually took a long time! If it wasn’t hiding behind a box in the corner it would fly up high and be above the garage door. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to try to get it out of a space with a door about 20 feet wide and 8 feet tall! Then it hit me. What if all these birds in Lowes didn’t really want to be there. They were stuck! The ceilings in Lowes are really high, and the doors relative to the space inside are miniscule! Plus they are all on motion sensors, so triggering the door to open as you fly through may be quite a feat for a little bird! It started to make me sad. They were trapped, and I don’t think anyone in the store cared that it had become a storehouse not only for household items, but for creatures as well.

It occurred to me as I was driving away, that we do the exact same things… we go about our business without a care in the world and fly through a door. It looks good inside, its warm, safe from the storms that can blow our nests out of trees, there are no predators inside Lowes, and it is big enough to keep us happy for a while. But before long, we realize that the decision to fly into this building is pretty restrictive… the food is hard to find, one can only fly so long before hitting a wall. The skylights let us see what is out there but not experience it. All the good things about being in this place are outweighed by the bad things of not being free. Even if all our friends are there, eventually we want more. We were made for more.

So we, as humans, build walls around ourselves, put a roof on our life and become satisfied with the same old thing day after day. It started as a simple routine; it turns into a lifestyle that keeps us from soaring on to new heights. We are safer in our walled in life, for sure, but that is not all we were made for. We make a way for our friends to be in our space with us, but once they are in, then we keep everyone else out. We are just like these birds… And when we finally get up the courage to try something new, we sometimes just hit our heads on the door! Do that enough times and you stop trying. So we throw water on that desire that wells up inside of us to be something outside the box we have created, and we forget our dreams, our desires, and our need to be free. We die a little every time we stop talking about the life we were created for. We settle and compromise for something much less than we are capable of. It can be really scary to try to get out the door; it may even bring back memories of past hurts when we hit the door really hard. But there are other people that want to help you get out! There are friends you have to encourage you on your journey! There are people that will hold the door for you, that desperately want you to make it in this world… Look around and you will see them…

In the mean time, if you see a bird flying at the door – open it for them! It may be you that needs someone to get the door next time!

Families Benifit from Technology

Have you ever looked around at kids today? Some of them are so disrespectful and difficult. Much more than I remember being as a kid… I worked with kids for about 6 years and can tell you there is a big difference in today’s kids. They have a lot more to entertain them, and they have a lot more opportunities to get into trouble too. Kids are finding drugs, sex, porn, alcohol and all that stuff at much younger ages than ever before.

I think the thing that makes the biggest difference in good kids and bad is the time they get with their parents. I have noticed that families that eat dinner together at least one time a week are stronger than those that don’t. I have seen families that are involved in each other’s lives – sporting events, music recitals, or hobbies, are the one that have the deepest connections. It all comes down to spending time and showing interest. When we are involved in life with our kids, they benefit from it and a mutual respect ensues that is healthy and good for everyone.

This is where the technology advances kick in. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy escaping in a good story. I like coming home and after helping with homework and eating dinner I look forward to plopping down in front of the TV and watching a great drama unfold. I like Grey’s Anatomy, Big Shots, and Brothers and Sisters. What is cracking me up lately is that my older two girls, who are early teenagers, seem to be requiring much more conversation time at the end of the evening. I had heard that teen’s circadian rhythms cause them to become night owls, and I am seeing the evidence right in front of me. This means I am faced with a dilemma of shushing my kids to watch the “must see TV” or figuring out something else…

This used to be much more difficult… who of you parents out there don’t remember hurrying off the kids to bed to catch your favorite show? Now, thanks to technology, the family is safe once again! I can fire up my laptop and watch any show I want on line! I can go to ABC, NBC, or CBS and pick up anything they broadcast for FREE! What a luxury! And I can stay up as late as I want trudging through the Middle School Drama with my twin teens and not worry a thing about talking as long as they need it to…

Priorities can be straightened again! We can put our kids first again! No longer are the American people required by their need to see what happens to their favorite character, or who said what to whom, to hurry back home after Lacrosse practice at a break neck pace! We no longer need to sit in the stands thinking, “if this doesn’t end soon I will have to hear about what happened from Suzy at work tomorrow, and I hate to miss seeing what happens!” No – you can take your time, invest in relationships again, you need not be in a hurry!

Take back your family – turn off your TV! Watch you show later – your kids need you now! They, and you, will be better because of it!