vacation 2009

Sorry for the delay in posts lately…  part of the reason was being out on vacation for a week.  I went to Louisville, Kentucky, to the National Quartet Convention.  It was a great time.  Everyone who likes Southern Gospel music should try to go at least once.  Not only was there a lot of great singing and there was the chance to meet some of the artists, but God spoke to me through some of songs and testimonies.  I left the convention closer to God and wanting to keep growing.  So it was definitely worth the trip.

The convention was also awesome because of the incredible talent.  It featured some of the best singers in the world today, and when you have several of these talented singers together, it’s hard to describe how great it is.  There’s some something about hearing pure voices and tight harmonies put to well-written songs about God.

The rest of the vacation wasn’t planned — we just did what seemed interesting as we came across it.  I don’t know if any of you reading this care, but here’s a short synopsis.

I visited the Louisville Slugger Museum and manufacturing plant.  Being a big baseball fan, it was very interesting to see bats from legendary hitters of the past, and to compare their bats with what current players use.  There was also a closed off batting cage that simulated how fast a major league pitch is.  If that was accurate, I don’t see how pro players can determine what the pitch is and hit it reliably.  (And I played high school baseball, but this was so far beyond that!)  In the tour of the manufacturing plant, I got to hold bats for Derek Jeter and Dustin Pedroia and Ken Griffey Jr., among others.  I wish I could’ve hit a few balls with their bats, but that wasn’t an option.

I also visited the National Corvette Museum, which is next to the manufacturing plant where all Corvettes are made.  There were a lot of classic cars in there.  I wish there had been a place where I could’ve driven one, but that wasn’t an option.  (Supposedly such places do exist, but I’ve never been to one.)

There were other things we did (particularly eating), but I won’t keep rambling on about that.  It’s not good blogging strategy to bore your regular readers, and I’m probably on the verge of that (if I haven’t went way beyond it already).  So until next time… 

the smells of mowing

I’ve written before about how I sometimes enjoy mowing, and Monday was my first time to mow this year.  There was the smell of freshly cut grass, the occasional whiff of gasoline, and the smell of… steaks?!?  My neighbor across the street decided to grill steaks in his driveway while I was mowing my front yard.  I’ve written before how I try not to lead my neighbors into jealousy with my grilling, and I wish they had given me the same courtesy! 

If I would’ve had any meat thawed out, I would’ve been grilling that night…

Later, while still mowing, one of my other neighbors was standing outside, smoking a cigarette.  Unfortunately, I could smell it, and that smell really bothers me.  Was I complaining about smelling steaks?   Never mind!

weeping during a concert

Last weekend I went to one of the Gaither Homecoming concerts.  They really put on a great show.  They sing a lot of great songs (both modern and older), there’s incredible talent, and they make you laugh a lot.  It’s worth the price of admission just for all that.  But what was best about the concert was the times I felt the presence of God as I worshipped along with the singing.

I had a few moments where I started to tear up, because God is so awesome and wonderful.  But I don’t care too much about crying in front of people (or anytime, really).  Some of my family and my wife’s family were there, so I thought of that.   But I remembered a post I had written recently: “Do you welcome intimacy with God at any time?“.  Obviously there is still some pride and self-consciousness I need to deal with.  But at least I’m making progress, because I realized this and at the concert I quit thinking about what other people might think, so I could enjoy the presence of God.  There’s nothing like getting “lost” in God’s presence.   And by lost, I mean forgetting about everything else that’s going on, to the point it seems like it’s just you and Him there.

And on a related note, ideally we would get “lost” in God’s presence during praise and worship at church, particularly at altar times, when there’s less of a “schedule” and thus more time.  I’m sure we all know this, but sometimes we need to remind ourselves to not pay attention to what’s going on, so we can focus fully on God.

making the most of time with family

Sometimes we (unconsciously) assume that we and our family will keep living for a while longer, that things will continue going as they have been.  But the reality is that we never know how long we have or how long our loved ones have on this earth.

This past weekend, I went to a big birthday party for my granddad — it was his 90th.  Some of the people who put the party together joked that this is the kind of party for a 100th birthday, but that you never know.   Even though my granddad was in great health for his age, you never know.

The party was on Sunday, and I had thought about leaving immediately after it was over to get back in time for evening church service.   I don’t like to miss church.  I’m involved on the praise team, and it’s a great ministry, and it’s so awesome when God shows up.  So I rarely miss services.  But I thought that I don’t get to spend enough time with family, so I missed the evening service.  My uncle decided to have a fish fry at his house for the family, so we had an extended time of good fellowship.  I made it a point to spend some extra time with my granddad and to get a picture taken with him.

Now, I’m really thankful that I took that extra time to be with my family, because my granddad just passed away.  I’m very sad, of course, but it helps a lot that I got to spend some quality time with him before he graduated to Heaven.

My point is, we never know how long we have with our family, so we should make the most of our time.  Don’t take them for granted or assume that they will be around forever.   I realize we’re all incredibly busy these days, but let’s be sure to remind ourselves of what our priorities should be.

a 21-day fast

Yesterday my pastor at church challenged us all to start a 21-day fast.  And it’s supposed to involve food, not things like TV (although that’s not a bad thing to occasionally fast from also).  He gave us three options: a complete fast with just fruit juice and water; fasting one or two meals per day; or eating only fruits and vegetables.

Normally this kind of thing would scare me, because I really like to eat.  And sometimes I’ve gotten headaches from skipping meals, so there’s that concern.  But this time I’m actually looking forward to fasting.  I’m even excited about it.  So now you may be wondering why I would say something so crazy… 

This past few days I’ve been thinking about the fasting challenge and my relationship with God, and I’ve realized that I haven’t been as close to God lately as I used to be.  That is, I haven’t been as consistent.  There’s been too many ups-and-downs lately, and I want to be closer to God.

To me, this 21-day fast represents a time of renewed commitment, as well as accountability.  I don’t have to answer to anyone but God and myself on it, but I’ve made a commitment to it, and I’m going to keep it.  This isn’t some broad, general ideal, like if you say you want to know God more or you want to pray more.  We can say those things all the time, but often we don’t do much about it.  This 21-day fast is a bite-sized goal, meaning that there’s an end in sight, so it’s easier to start and see to completion.  And I’m expecting that the increased closeness to God will remind me how awesome it is to dwell in God’s presence regularly, and thus I’ll continue pushing in.

There’s a burning deep within that reminds me there should be a whole lot more to Christianity than just living “good” and doing some ministry and following the “rules”.  We can be close friends with God, and be a man after His own heart.  And we can be anointed to do miraculous things and to change the lives of the people around us.  I know most everyone in church would agree with that, but it’s quite another thing to actually live it, to go beyond what is normal in Christianity these days.  Have you ever wondered how Jesus would live if He was in your shoes?  Do you ever consider the verse that says we can do greater miracles than He did?

I’m not sure how well I’m conveying my thoughts here, because it’s difficult to put this hunger into words.  But hopefully you know what I mean and can relate to it (and are also doing something about it).