We all have our normal weekend routines...yard work Saturday, dinner out on Saturday night, Church, etc. This past weekend was a little out of the norm due to 14 inches of rain falling between Saturday and Sunday.
The rain was so bad that as we were getting ready to go to church, we received an email noting that our church services were cancelled due to flooding and loss of power. Although we weren't able to go to our church, we thought surely that we'd visit a church we had previously attended...well, guess what???? It seems that this flooding and loss of power thing was contagious.
OK, now we're still wanting to go to church and we see where a friend of ours has posted that his church was DEFINITELY meeting, so we decide to try. Now, as with most rapidly growing areas, church construction does not keep pace with population growth, meaning that new churches have to be creative about meeting space. The church we visited this weekend just happened to be attached to our youngest son's preschool (one that he enjoys attending, by the way) and rents it's space for Sunday School on the weekend. Needless to say, we were able to go into worship with clear minds knowing that we wouldn't be paged due to an unhappy toddler.
So now, we're settled in a nice new building with our youngest happily playing in familiar surroundings ready to worship...and then the rains came and then came some more...to the point that the service stopped momentarily for an announcement to reassure everyone that the weather was being monitored and that services would be stopped in the event of an emergency. Let's just say that it was a gully-washer of Biblical portions, but the music portion of worship continued uninterrupted.
Then came the flood....Only this wasn't a flood produced by any atmospheric conditions, but one of emotions that overwhelmed my soul as I heard the sermon. One of the things that I have been struggling with is being able to move on from an event in my past, specifically being able to fully forgive and move on. It was almost as if the speaker knew I was coming and directed his sermon at me as he explained the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. As I sat there and listed anew to his teaching, I realized that I was no better than this servant and that I deserved the same fate...who am I to think that I am better than God by not offering full forgiveness?
In the forty minutes or so that we were there, it was explained that we should go back to the point in our lives where we were hurt and no longer bear the pain, but turn it over to the Lord and let him take on that pain for us...it's what He wants us to do...it's what we NEED to do. I can't explain it but in the minutes of silence as I prayed at the end of the service, a flood of emotion came over me that literally washed away months of pain that I had been dealing with and opened the door to a better relationship with someone in my life.
I have never been a person who believes in things happening for a reason, but I cannot dismiss the events that led to a life change for me last Sunday. Thousands of years ago, God used a flood to make his point with Noah...Sunday morning he did the same with me.
March 19, 2010
Friday Night Lights
Last Friday night was one of those nights that will go down as one of those special nights. It was the last "official" night of winter; however, the temperature outside suggested that spring was a few hours early. A crescent moon, hanging low in the western sky, was joined by a chorus of a million stars.
To add a little bit of our own atmosphere, we lit a fire in the fire pit and for a couple of hours, the flames danced to their own orchestra as the four of us just enjoyed being a family.
Daniel, in his 8 year-old splendor, was a treasure trove of questions and comments:
"Daddy, why don't we get to go to other planets."
"Daddy, does Mars have an ozone layer."
"Daddy, can I have a new telescope so I can see if people are on Mars"
"Daddy....I love you"
Jacob, who can be as wild as a buck when he wants to be, decided that he was going to play the snuggle bug role as he spent time in both my and his mother's arms, eventually falling victim to the sand man.
Katie and I just took advantage of an uninterrupted opportunity to talk about things that are going on...nothing important, just a husband and wife spending time navigating through life.
As the boys grow up, I know that our Friday nights are going to be replaced by sports, social activities, and other things that tend to fill our calendars....almost like the movie named Friday Night Lights that highlighted how a small Texas town lived for the excitement of a football game to cap off their week.
Years from now, when I think about my Friday Night Lights, my mind is going to drift back to a backyard in Tennessee and four individuals trying their best to be a family.
To add a little bit of our own atmosphere, we lit a fire in the fire pit and for a couple of hours, the flames danced to their own orchestra as the four of us just enjoyed being a family.
Daniel, in his 8 year-old splendor, was a treasure trove of questions and comments:
"Daddy, why don't we get to go to other planets."
"Daddy, does Mars have an ozone layer."
"Daddy, can I have a new telescope so I can see if people are on Mars"
"Daddy....I love you"
Jacob, who can be as wild as a buck when he wants to be, decided that he was going to play the snuggle bug role as he spent time in both my and his mother's arms, eventually falling victim to the sand man.
Katie and I just took advantage of an uninterrupted opportunity to talk about things that are going on...nothing important, just a husband and wife spending time navigating through life.
As the boys grow up, I know that our Friday nights are going to be replaced by sports, social activities, and other things that tend to fill our calendars....almost like the movie named Friday Night Lights that highlighted how a small Texas town lived for the excitement of a football game to cap off their week.
Years from now, when I think about my Friday Night Lights, my mind is going to drift back to a backyard in Tennessee and four individuals trying their best to be a family.
March 15, 2010
Hey, Mr DJ...
Rewind to April 1, 1993, I'm a junior at the University of Alabama and it's spring break in Panama City Beach, FL. I'm there with a couple of friends from college and as was the ritual back then, a trip to PCB wouldn't be complete without a visit to Club La Vela, one of those dance clubs well known by all spring breakers. Keeping in mind that I'm the son of a Baptist minister, I was the first one suggesting, um...I mean resisting, that we make this ritualistic visit.
By chance, The University of Montevallo (you've undoubtedly heard their slogan - "Where the women are women, and the men are too!"), also happened to be on spring break that week. And, by chance, a young coed from there, named Katie, happened to be in PCB and at Club La Vela at the same time.
Somehow, thank God, our paths crossed that night. If you ask her, she'll say I stalked her until I somehow worked up the courage to ask her to dance and we've been dancing ever since. If you ask me, I'll tell you that she spotted me across a crowded room and said to herself, "I've gots to have me some of that!"
I like Katie's version of our story much better than mine. After 15 years of marriage, we're still dancing. Sometimes it feels more like break dancing than it does a slow dance; but any family with children, dual careers, and a mortgage will understand. The important thing is that the music is still playing and we're out on the floor....together.
For a couple of years now, the dance seems to have turned into a shuffle. We've always been a family that seems to know what to do and where to go, but have somehow fallen into a funk. The last two years have seen a new baby, job change, moving (twice), a new town, new church, our oldest starting school, leaving old friends and finding new friends...basically a life's worth of change in 24 months. The change has taken its toll on us, both physically and mentally...up to the point where we've both asked if it's even worth going any further. Thankfully, we've both answered that question in the affirmative.
I don't know what the future holds, but I know I want to keep on dancing.
Mr DJ, hit it....
By chance, The University of Montevallo (you've undoubtedly heard their slogan - "Where the women are women, and the men are too!"), also happened to be on spring break that week. And, by chance, a young coed from there, named Katie, happened to be in PCB and at Club La Vela at the same time.
Somehow, thank God, our paths crossed that night. If you ask her, she'll say I stalked her until I somehow worked up the courage to ask her to dance and we've been dancing ever since. If you ask me, I'll tell you that she spotted me across a crowded room and said to herself, "I've gots to have me some of that!"
I like Katie's version of our story much better than mine. After 15 years of marriage, we're still dancing. Sometimes it feels more like break dancing than it does a slow dance; but any family with children, dual careers, and a mortgage will understand. The important thing is that the music is still playing and we're out on the floor....together.
For a couple of years now, the dance seems to have turned into a shuffle. We've always been a family that seems to know what to do and where to go, but have somehow fallen into a funk. The last two years have seen a new baby, job change, moving (twice), a new town, new church, our oldest starting school, leaving old friends and finding new friends...basically a life's worth of change in 24 months. The change has taken its toll on us, both physically and mentally...up to the point where we've both asked if it's even worth going any further. Thankfully, we've both answered that question in the affirmative.
I don't know what the future holds, but I know I want to keep on dancing.
Mr DJ, hit it....
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