The Coolest Day

My birthday is Tuesday.  It should be a cool day.  I’ll be 27 though, which means that, no matter how much I contest it, I’m officially in my late 20’s.  Not really a big deal, I just thought that I’d be president by now or something.  But another cool thing is that this will be the first birthday I’ve ever celebrated without my dad.  I know that doesn’t sound cool, but I’ll explain that in a minute.

My dad passed away on September 2nd of last year. That was definitely not a cool day. When everything happened I was pretty much a wreck because he has always been my hero.  Clearly my view is biased, but he was an amazing father.  He was supportive and encouraging and loving and motivating and wise and helpful and quick to rebuke but also quick to praise.  I’m still convinced that he could do anything.  He was Superman to me.

To give a short back-story, he was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and began treatment shortly thereafter.  The chemo and radiation took care of the cancer but he had a ton of health problems afterwards due the treatment.  In March of 2009, he was in the hospital because of some of these problems.

My dad wasn’t a Christian.  My mom and I had talked to him about Jesus forever.  Other friends and family did the same.  Plenty of pastors came to talk to him at home, too.  One time I remember talking to him about Jesus and saying “Dad, I just don’t want you to go to hell.”  Maybe not the best method of evangelism…  His response was, “I won’t.”  To the point.  That was him.

Like I said, we talked to him about Jesus for years.  Well, while he was in the hospital, someone gave him a tract. A tract.  Well, Jesus used that tract to save my dad.  That’s still amazing to me.  Not because it’s cool, but because of all the things He could use, Jesus used a tract.  Anyway, I’ll never forget when he told me.  I was in Dallas and he called me and just said “Hey buddy, I gave my heart to Jesus today.”  Again, straight to the point.  I’ve honestly never been so excited in my life.  I also think that’s the only time I’ve ever cried because I was happy.  That was an amazingly cool day.

That was March 3rd, 2009.  March 2nd will be 6 months since he passed away and March 3rd would have marked 3 years since he gave his heart to Jesus.  My birthday is February 28^th.  This is the first time my dad won’t call me to tell me happy birthday.  This will be the first year that he won’t give me a birthday card telling me how proud of me he is.   All of that makes me pretty sad.  Here’s the cool part.  Even though time is pretty irrelevant in Heaven, on March 3rd,  the 3 year anniversary of when Jesus saved him, my dad will be looking Jesus in the face, and that’s incredible.

I’m sure I’ll cry at least once on my birthday (or maybe right now…).  But one day, I’ll get to celebrate with my dad again and we’ll be looking at Jesus together.  That will be a coolest day of all.

Can You Spot Me?

Sometimes God teaches me things in strange places.  His most recent teaching moment was at the gym.  Now, this isn’t a post just to let you know that I work out.  You can see that clearly enough by my Herculean physique.  But I did have one of those “ohhhh, now I get it” moments the other day when a friend and I were working out.

He was doing a set of bench presses and he told me how many repetitions he intended to do.  After about half of his intention, he couldn’t complete a full rep.  As he was struggling to push the weight up, all he could say was “help!”  I did and probably laughed at him and compared his strength to that of a 4-year old girl (my apologies to any 4-year girls who are offended).  After my ridicule of his strength, or lack thereof, Jesus reminded me of something.  I thought that if he never had tried that weight and that amount of reps, he never would have known that he couldn’t do it.

I think that’s a good lesson to learn.  I’m really good at only taking on tasks when I know I can be successful at them.  So I do something well, but I never grow.  Even in the gym, growth can never happen if you keep using the same weight over and over.

It’s the same with our lives and dreams that we pursue.  If we constantly try to avoid failure we only succeed at being mediocre.  Our goal should be to do everything terrifically, whether it’s success or failure.

I think the key to being able to take on things that are intimidating to us is to have a “spotter.”  (Of course Jesus, but I mean a spotter that is not a member of the Trinity).  Everyone needs a person.  We all need to have that one particular comrade that we can talk to about anything at any time.  It’s easy to find someone who can tell you the reasons that you’ll never fulfill your dream.  The goal is to find someone that hears your dream and then tells you it’s not big enough.

So I’ve decided that I’m going to be a better dreamer and a better spotter.  I may not accomplish all of the things that I want, but that’s okay.  I can help someone else accomplish their dreams.  Besides, it’s not about getting somewhere; it’s about the journey.  I can dream by myself, but I have to have a spotter to help me make it happen.

 

I’ll be home Christmas…if only in my dreams

It’s Christmas!!!!!!!  I love Christmas and all that it brings!  The holiday cheer, the Christmas movies, the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate at Starbucks, Frank (Sinatra, of course.  Yeah, we’re on a first-name basis) singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and the Boston Pops Orchestra playing “Sleigh Ride.”  It really is the most wonderful time of the year!!

Sadly, this is the first time (in the history of the world!!!!! – how’s that for dramatic??) that I’m not going to be home for Christmas.  It hasn’t been as saddening and heartbreaking as one might think, but today I had my first I-really-feel-sorry-for-myself moment.  All of a sudden, I got really bummed that I don’t get to be home with my family for the holidays.  And, to make it even worse, all of my friends have either left to be home with their families, or they’re leaving soon and I’m taking them to the airport! Talk about pouring salt in an open wound! 

It’s a little bit like when the previous year’s winner of the Master’s puts the Green Jacket on the current year’s winner.  It’s like saying, “Hey, you really whipped me out there on the course.  I think I’ll help you celebrate by acknowledging my loss publicly and putting the winner’s jacket on you instead of myself.”  Or it’s like being a Buffalo Bills fan from 1991-1994!!! I guess it’s not like being a Bills fan at all really, but boy, that was a bad stretch of football, huh?  I digress…

This morning, while I was feeling sorry for myself and everything, I actually thought “well, I guess I’m just not celebrating Christmas this year.”  Now, here’s a question: Have you ever said or thought something and then immediately felt like God kind of gave you the omnibenevolent stink eye?  Still lovingly, graciously, kindly and righteously…but the stink eye nonetheless. 

I’m pretty sure that’s what happened this morning.  Just for a second, I think I legitimately lost sight of why we celebrate Christmas.  I almost immediately, thanks to the Holy stink eye, thought about Philippians 2:7-8 “but (Jesus) made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  I realize that’s not really a “Christmassy” verse, but that really encapsulates the totality of Jesus’ mission. 

He wasn’t born just to give us a good story.  He left Heaven knowing that He would be the means by which we were justified to God.  He knew that our debt could only be paid for in His death.  We are reconciled to God through the finished work of Christ on the Cross.  But before the Cross, there was His birth.  And we should celebrate His birth exuberantly!

-As a brief excursus, Dr. John Piper says that “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.”  One way that I am very satisfied in God is when I’m drinking delicious eggnog, which happens to be closely related to Christmas celebration.  Therefore, I find it reasonable to think that I am bringing glory to God when I’m celebrating Christmas by drinking eggnog.  Yes and amen.-

Regardless, somehow, in the chaos of everything that was happening and all the thoughts that were running through my mind, I just forgot how incredible the story of Jesus’ birth is.  Luckily, it didn’t last long and I got to have some pretty awesome time talking to God about it, which I always consider a pretty good thing.  I still don’t get to go home for Christmas, but I do get to experience a life that is reconciled to God through Jesus.  And I have a feeling that I’m going to have a much different understanding and appreciation of Christmas this year.  (I refuse to end this post with a statement about how that is the greatest gift of all.  That’s too cliché, even for me!) 

Finally, I’ll leave you with this:  where does Santa keep his coat????  In the Santa Claus-et!!!!! 

Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad!!!

P.S. My parents sent me 3 small Christmas trees to set up in my apartment so I can still have some decorations.  That’s just one more reason why my parents are the best!

It’s a place of transition

For the last four months, I’ve spent almost every weekend visiting friends near school.  They are wonderful, fun, gracious, awesome friends that open their home to me so that I can escape the “joy” of living in a dorm, albeit ever so shortly.  I am very thankful for them.  They also save me from cafeteria food and bologna.  Have I mentioned how grateful I am for these friends? 

Anyway, they have neighbors that have an interesting habit…they sit in their garage.  I know what you’re thinking…a lot of really successful people spend or have spent large quantities of time in their garage.  Where did Caesar spend his time strategizing attacks, defenses and battle plans for his Gallic Wars?  His garage.  What was Homer’s favorite place to think while penning “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey?” His garage.  What was the room that Fonzi lived above on “Happy Days?”  The garage.  Where was Al Gore when he invented the internet?  His garage. 
So, yes, the garage has given us some pretty great moments.  But these neighbor-folk just sit there.  They have chairs, tables, a hammock, and who-knows what else in there!!  It’s where they hang out!

 For some reason, these people wind up being a topic of conversation pretty often.  It’s normally because I mention that I would like to challenge them in a game of cornhole (they would get demolished…I’m just saying).

 My friend says that he doesn’t understand why they stay in a place of transition.  That makes a lot of sense.  I mean, you park your car there and then walk in your house.  You park outside the garage and walk through it to get to your house.  You store your Christmas decorations in it so that there’s no place to walk and then you go in your house.  You normally don’t stay there.  It’s a transition point from outside to inside.  And even these people eventually (after they decide who has to bring the Coke Zero and Twizzlers the next day) go inside their home.  But what if they didn’t?  What if they decided to permanently stay in the garage…in the transition area?  I bet they would have a TV show on TLC or the Discovery Channel or something.

 I think we do this pretty often and don’t even realize it.  We tend to get really comfortable in our current situation.  Or we get too afraid to move on to something new.   Sometimes we just feel exhausted and want to rest for a while before trying a new thing, and then we wind up staying in a place of transition instead of moving on towards a new destination. 

 This happened to Abram’s (Abraham) father, Terah, in Genesis 11:27-32.  Terah had a son named Haran who died right in front of Terah.  Terah and his family were traveling to Canaan, the land of promise.  They went through an area called Haran, the same name as Terah’s deceased son.  Terah was so emotionally distraught by the loss of his son that he actually gave up on the purpose God had for him, settled in Canaan and eventually died there.  He set up permanent residence in a place that was meant to be a transition point.

What are some dreams that God has placed in your heart that you’ve given up on?  The real joy of getting to a destination (or a dream) is the journey we take to get there.  It will be full of opportunities to give up and chances to settle.  It’s our responsibility to recognize the difference between our destination and a distraction.  Keep going and take joy in the journey.

 You can take a helicopter to the top of a mountain and get there more quickly than climbing, but you’ll never know the beauty the mountainside holds.

You get a line, I’ll get a pole, honey

I a heard sermon recently that I liked mucho (I like adding in random Spanish words).  By recently, I mean sometime since August of 2008.  I’m really terrible at judging time.  Ya know who’s really good at it?  Amy Spurlock/Thomas.  If timeline-ing the past was an Olympic sport, my money would be on her any day of the week.  Hands down.  But I digress.

This sermon.  It was good.  It was preached by Pastor Jim Hennesy at Trinity Chuch in Cedar Hill, TX.  (Is that enough to avoid plagiarism accusations)??  He talked about Mark 1:17.  Everyone knows it.  It’s the part where Jesus throws out that, kinda crazy “I’m gonna make you start fishing for people” comment.  I mean, let’s be honest.  That’s a fairly odd statement if you’re not in the Christian circle.  It ranks up there with “this is my body and my blood…” right? Ok, back on topic. The whole point of the sermon was, what if we didn’t know that scripture yet?  What if we didn’t have this pre-disposal to know what Jesus would say and it was just fill-in-the-blank and we could put in whatever we thought Jesus would say?  What if we made that scripture fit our perception of Jesus?

Example: “Follow me and I will make you                               .”

Pastor of a mega church?

Worship Pastor extraordinaire?

The most successful businessman/woman since Warren Buffet?

A movie star?

Meak and lowly?

Always sick so “God can be glorified?”

Politically Powerful?

Smarter?

Better-looking?

One of those guys that plays the cool barrel-shaped-lookin’ guitar in that Mariachi band at Los Agaves?

Taller?  (I sure wish that was the case.  Or maybe if everyone else was shorter…)

Now, I’m 100% for mariachi bands, mega-church pastors, and good-looking people.  And I’m pretty sure Jesus is, too.  And for the record, I’m in favor of Christians being rich, handsome (or pretty), talented and just plain awesome.  (And I threw a couple of those things in the list because it seems like, sometimes,Christians are expected to be basically miserable.  That’s just craziness)  But sometimes, I think we lose sight of what we are actually still hanging around Earth for.

Again, this is not about whether Christians are supposed to be wealthy or poor, sick or healthy, ugly or pretty.  This is just about that one scripture.  Jesus called the  first disciples to be ”fishers of men.”  To follow Him and learn how to teach others about Him.  To be salt and light, His witnesses and tons of other things that ensure the Gospel is proclaimed. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think that whole concept has really changed.  Paul kinda had the same idea, too. (Romans 10:14)

Here’s another thing that I think is pretty legit about that verse.  Jesus told them to take what they already did, and instead, use it for His Kingdom.  He didn’t tell them that they would be tax collectors of men, or tent makers of men, or roller-derby stars of men (please tell me you haven’t wanted to do that at least once in your life.  I won’t believe you).  He wants them to just change their mission.  Here’s a fun fact: all the stuff we can do that’s ”good”….came from God (James 1:17).  I think it’s funny how a lot of times we fear that God is going to send us to some unknown country in the middle of nowhere to be a missionary, while our dreams and passions involve setting up inner-city afterschool programs.  I think a really good way to find out what “God wants us to do” is to find out what we’re good at.  There are anomalies, but in general, if you suck at something, that’s not your calling.  Err, I mean, if you don’t excel at someth-….if you’re not blessed in the art of-….if you’re not able to-….sorry, I can’t think of any other way to say it. 

Suckiness=not your ministry.

So find what you’re good at and do it so that you have a platform to do something for Christ.  Strap on your helment and skates and bash some people’s heads in for God (another roller derby reference).  Get your fishing pole out, throw a salmon egg on your hook and top it with some chartreuse Power Bait and catch you some filthy Philistines. (If anyone actually tries this, I will disavow all knowledge of said-statement).

P.S.  Pastor Jim only said the part about changing the last couple words of the scripture.  So if anything else is dumb or unscriptural, it’s from my silly noggin, not his.  He’s great.

Hola

Well, if you’re reading this, you already know.

I don’t really know how that applies, it just seemed like a good way to start. Maybe not. Maybe one day I’ll look back at my VERY FIRST BLOG and be really disappointed with the way it all began. Oh well, that’s ok, I’m a risk-taker.

So, this just seemed like a fun thing to do. I mean, I can’t imagine any reason that a person would choose to take time out of their life to read something I wrote, but, some of you will. And for that, I thank you…..and apologize.

I was thinking about Brad Paisley’s song “Online.” I thought about how I could lie a lot about myself on here. I could say that I’m really tall (like 5’9″!!!!!!!), in super awesome shape, can play violin (I kinda have a thing for strings), have a history of killing grizzly bears with my bare hands, founded Apple computers, can hit a high C without going into falsetto (don’t judge my dreams) and can dance like Usher. But then I came to my senses and realized that the only people reading this are people that already know me. And I think it would be tough to convince you that I can play violin….

So, this is it. No interesting facts to divulge here. Some of that will have to wait until next time. Or the time after that. Or the time…well you get it. Either way, I would say that the blogs will get better after that, but I can’t really guarantee that. This would be my suggestion. When reading my blogs, go into it expecting nothing. That way, if you like it, you’ll be pleased. But if it sucks, you won’t be disappointed. That’s optimistic, right? I will promise you one thing. I will do my best to avoid any and all possible grammatical and spelling errors. But again, no promises. Anyways, that’s all I can handle for now….probably you too, huh? I’m going to enjoy my homemade salmon+lettuce+onions+sunflower seeds+sweet honey catalina dressing salad.

P.S. If there is anything fun/interesting/cool/silly/pointless that you would like to see my blog about, please leave a comment. But you should know, I’ll only write about it if I think I can do it and not suck at it. So, again, no promises. kbye

(Do I need a cool sign-off????) Word to you motha!!! (does that work?)

Why Can’t I Wear My Flops?

Since the weather is warming up, the Dress Code at work has changed to “Spring Attire.”  Do you know what this means for me?  Absolutely nothing.  Ladies are now allowed, and, dare I say, encouraged to wear open-toed shoes.  In the Summer heat of Dallas, this can prove to be a very beneficial change….for the ladies (and only the ladies).  What do we do as Men?  Get out our shoe horns (does anyone even use these anymore?), put on our wool socks, and slide on our 800g-Thinsulate-with-Gore-Tex-weatherproof-waterproof-cool-air-proof hiking boots!  Am I bitter??? No, not at all…..ok, really, I’m not that bitter.  But it does bring up something very interesting in my mind. 

It seems like women have a lot of benefits when it comes to fashion and convenience.  Now, I don’t intend for this to be a rant of how men have it tough or anything like that..because, let’s just be honest…the girlies are the ones that have kids.  I’m ok with having to wear closed-toe shoes while they deal with a 9-month pregnancy.  That seems fair.  But they get to do a lot of things that a guy could never get away with.  Here are some examples:

Galoshes

In February, Dallas was hit with a freak snowstorm.  We got 13″ of snow dumped on us in about 2 days.  It’s absolutely impossible to actually get around in that much snow wearing any type of footwear that looks decent.  Any sense of fashion is thrown out the window and replaced by the boots mentioned above.  But what can women do?  Buy galoshes.  During this snowstorm, there was a pretty lady that came to visit me.  Her name is Joaquina Perez (while this is a true story, names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent).  She was prepared for “Dallas Weather.”  Ya know, shorts, tank tops, flip flops….well, maybe not quite, but you get it.  She was forced to find a pair of galoshes to wear.  Well, turns out, they were pretty popular, and even fashionable!  Here’s the thing.  What if I went and threw on a pair of bright yellow, garden galoshes?  I would be mocked for miles around.  Instead, all the fellows walked around Dallas for the weekend with cold, wet, frost-bitten feet.

Purses

Ok, I know what you’re thinking.  “Mike, you can carry a messenger bag.”  HA!  Laughable.  I realize that the “murse” (man-purse) is a very real product, but I just can’t quite become OK with a guy carrying a bag around like that.  But honestly, how convenient are purses?  Girls can keep anything they need in those suckers.  We have to keep our important things in one small wallet in our back pocket.  Have you ever seen what girls can keep in their purses?  They can keep a wallet, make up stuff (sorry for using such technical terms here), books, writing utensils, laptops, soccer balls, hockey sticks and even small animals!  Ok, maybe the last few aren’t quite accurate, but still…they can carry a lot.  And there are purses now that are too big to carry-on to an airplane.  I’ve even seen girls (a particular girl that I think is pretty awesome) be able to keep fountain drinks in their purses.  Not that this is a significant issue..just saying…don’t take your purses for granted, ladies.

So what’s the moral of this story?  I don’t know.  Just that women get some cool benefits that men don’t; but I’m 100% OK with that.  They deserve to be treated with more honor anyway.  If  letting them wear sandals to the office honors them, that’s fine with me.  Let’s just make sure this doesn’t progress into a foot-washing service.  That’s where I draw the line.  Anyway, that’s a topic for another time. 

Anything you’d like to add to the list?