"We are the two most careful people in the world.....How many emergency vehicles can you see in one weekend? 34 or more probably" -Totally out of context

  So I realized I did something this weekend that I hadn't done since August. I had some me time, and it was really good. I didn't have family obligations to attend to, I didn't have work to deal with, I just spent the weekend with a good friend.

   I drove up to Ohio on Friday and found myself driving into a snow-something. I don't know if it was a storm or not, all I know is there was this white wall that I drove into that made everything difficult to see. It was the first time my car had ever been exposed to such things, and I am sure it prefers the sunny weather in the south, but sometimes you must brave these elements. I did find that a mint tin from Caribou Coffee makes an excellent emergency ice scraper if needed.

   Sometimes climbing walls is a race, and sometimes you are just trying to get to the top to see what's on the other side, to see if the wall should be crawled over or not. I guess that is just the way life is. We don't always have to like it, but it is nice to know that God's plans are good, no matter what they may be.

   When I left Ohio and said goodbye to a friend, it started snowing again. Whatever the symbolism may have been, I am still unsure. I do however recommend that if you are ever driving I-75 south just north of Chattanooga that you stop at the scenic overlook and watch the sunset. It's pretty amazing as it sets behind the mountains. Oh, and if you have someone drive a few hours ahead of you, it's good to give them a call to see if there are any police on the roads. Not that you would speed or anything.

   I am glad for friends that you can be honest with, that you can paint black and white pictures with, and that will tell you the truth even if you don't want to hear it.  As for now, I don't know what the future holds, but I do think I am going to take a nap.  Naps are definitely a plus in life.

This morning in staff devotions we talked about Tozer's quote that refers to a generation of push button Christians. Here are a few thoughts....

• To grow a crop takes a lot of work; so does growing a life
• You don't plant a crop one day and expect it to produce the next
• If you want an intense relationship with God, it will take work and discipline
• Jesus didn't quit because it got tough; where would we be if He had?
• Life is not where we start from, but where we finish
• We want things right now, and often won't work to get them. We want them given to us.

Just some things to think about.

#1 again. Nothing else needs to be said.

Last night I was pretty beat. I slept about 16 hours. Haven't done that in a while.

Gators are up for a repeat tonight. I just want to remind people I have been vying for this for a while

I had a really good conversation on Saturday night until almost 12:30 am. I value our friendship.

I'm on my way north this weekend.

Spring break for the schools in Atlanta this week. Most of the office staff is out.

Ok I'm out for a meeting.

Spring in the south is not really a temperature event. You go from cold to hot almost immediately. What it lacks in gentle breezes it makes up for in brilliant colors. It seems that every color of the rainbow streams across the Earth to make things that appeared dead for a season come alive. The is something beautiful and majestic about nature waking from it's sleep to face another year, to bloom and grow, to  give birth to new life, and to eventually fade back in to a winters sleep.

The spring also brings pollen. Darn pollen. It covers everything that sits still for longer than a few moments with a yellowish haze that reaks havoc on the sinuses, and is a pain to clean off everything. Yes I know there is a reason for it. It creates life. Sometimes I think it is a good illustration for us.

I seem to go through phases, seasons if you will, where things will lie dormant for a time. Then my mind will be bombarded from every direction and it seems that there is no quiet place to take refuge. Everything is a haze of grey where you find no direction, for every direction looks the same. It's not as though we are abandoned in these times, but they are times of growth. I think if we keep in mind that there is another season coming, there is One who plants all things and harvests the fruit in the right time, then we will do fine. Sometimes we have to go through the pollen season for anything that is in us to come alive. Otherwise we would just lay domant and pass through life never growing up to the fullness of what was meant to be.

Ok yes it's a cheesy illustration, but it works.

Today I helped some people get out of the city. Atlanta is a big place to try and walk out of. It's cool to meet people younger than me with more of an adventureous spirit than I have. 3 kids who walked from Buffalo on their way to Pensacola just happened to cross the path of one of our guys who insisted they call us. Funny how that works out.

Tonight I was given a verse by a friend. I thought I would share..."Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to the one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help."

So yesterday I went and got some potatoes. Now you ask yourself why this is noteworthy news. Well it was 119 bags of potatoes. Again, that's a lot of potatoes, but why the news? Well, they were 50 lb. bags. So that's right at 6,000 lbs. of potatoes.  That's a whole frickin lot potatoes. My idea? Well, I say we get a few potato guns and take over the world. With 6,000 lbs. of potatoes, ain't nobody gonna stand in our way. Except maybe the crickets.

Oh, and go Gators.

   "The cross is not controversial for any other reason than it demands those who embrace it to enter death". These words have been resonating through my thoughts the last few days. I believe I was taught grace before I was taught the cross, and the danger there is I never learned grace. I learned an idea, a thought process, a word that has long since been distorted to mean something far less than the great thing that it is.

   I find the message of the cross to be one that is no longer given much thought. Only in the cross do we find that we must enter into the death of Christ to be children of God and new creations. It is hear that we find the faith God has given us come to life. Here we make the choice to either discount what He has said, or to truly believe that "If any man" would follow Him, he must take up his cross. It is not so much a call to die, as it is a call to realize those in Christ have already died, and they are to remember this death by daily taking up their cross. In this beginning they find life, and find it more abundantly.

  I believe the cross is nothing more than love, and nothing less than God's greatest gift. We find the demonstration of His love in the death of His son, and if we would embrace it we find the meaning of laying down our lives for our friends. Love does not demand this, but the nature of one who loves does demand the sacrifice of laying down your life. It is a compulsion that cries out and refuses to be silenced.

   It is only after you experience the cross that your faith is made alive. Only in faith can the love of God transcend your understanding so that you enter into the reality of said love. And only when you have entered the reality of God's love will begin to see the truth of God's grace.

  I cannot say how each person recognizes His death with Christ, for the Father deals with all of His children justly yet differently. All I can say is that each child must come to that place where they find that the cross of Christ was not only His death, but their own, and the resurrection of Christ was not only His, but all of God's children to a new life hidden in the resurrected Jesus.

  Take it for what you will.

I probably will post something meaningful, thought-provoking, and deep soon. This is just my reminder to do so. Sorry I haven't felt like it lately. Stupid feelings

I see my friends from Vermont found me  Welcome to my world