Blocked Again

I just hate writer's block.  And I especially hate the kind of writer's block that occurs when you have so many things that you want to say that you can un-jumble any of them enough to get them on paper. 

Today is one of those days, again!  In fact it has kind of been one of those weeks.  I have a lot of thoughts to recap and ideas to jot down.  Unfortunately they all keep competing for the same fingers on the keyboard and they keep interrupting each other in my mind. 

Just as I want to recap the excitement of a weekend retreat with my best friend, in pops the new poem I've been working on and a poem that just wants to insert itself into the madness.  Along with these ideas comes the thought of posting a conversation about what I learned at the Weekend To Remember Marriage conference and what I wish I already knew.  Plus in all of that I want to talk about being too busy and trying to find focus.  Isn't that funny.  Maybe I should work on not being so busy and then my thoughts can unravel. 

Anyway, perhaps I'll get around to it all this week.  But here is a place holder for thoughts

1. Paige was Player of the Week in Basketball last week
2. I spent time with my best friend this weekend and it was awesome
1. We got stuck on an elevator
2. We got lost in Greenville and created some strange memories
3. New things I learned at the Weekend To Remember Conference
3. Some poems I've been working on (they are all incomplete)
4. Family Sayings captured

An awesome quote from Sunday Service

Today was confirmation Sunday at Virginia Wingard Memorial United Methodist Church.  During the service their was awesome music and a powerful dedication of new young lives to the love and care of Christ and his church.  During the message the dedication message of God's love and presence was affirmed.  I captured an awesome quote related to the omnipresence of Christ from the sermon.

A man approached a child leaving church and said, "Son I'll give you a dime if you can tell me where God is."  The little boy replied, "Sir, I'll give you a dollar if you can tell me where God ain't!"

Isn't this an awesome quote and reminder that God is everywhere, even around those who can't, don't or will not see him for who he truly is?

I love you Lord, my strength Psalm 18:1

Thanks God, I needed to hear that

Have you ever had one of those "Wow!" moments in your life?  You know the kind of moment when you have to stop and think, "Wow!  Did that just happen to me?"

Have you ever had one of those moments when you can't believe that something so good, so amazing and so unexpected happens to you?  Have you ever had one of those moments when you are just stunned and surprised by a series of occurrences?  You know the kind where you are in need of something and then out of the blue it happens for you?  Or the kind where you need to here a word of encouragement or a word of praise and then you hear it from someone or something you never expected.  You know the kind where you are struggling to make a decision and then it seems like a voice says, "Choose this one, not that one."  And you still aren't sure so a second voice says, "Yes, choose this one, not that one."  Well, if you have had this kind of experience then you will know what I am talking about.  If not, sit back and read on.

Lately, I have been in a place that I can only describe as needy.  I have been working extra hard to break through at work and be respected and appreciated.  I have been working so many hours that I come home totally exhausted and pretty much fail at every thing I want to do.  Even though I have been working super hard at work, I was feeling like a failure.  Each time I failed at work it seemed I did worse at home.  My confidence in myself was shaken.  My fears were trying to take hold of me and I was starting to believe that maybe, just maybe I wasn't good enough.  I was starting to worry that I wasn't good enough to be the husband of such a beautiful and godly woman, the father of five, the son of my parents, the brother to my siblings, the friend of my friends, and the manager of my employees.  I was even starting to fear that I was losing touch with my God given value.  I mean I knew it was there, but I was in need of a reminder.  

That's when  HE stepped in.   HE who?   HE the great and wonderful  HE; the awesome and mighty  HE; The always amazing and always on time HE.  Yes, God stepped in and he met my need.  I guess looking back it sort of started on Wednesday of this week.  Wednesday was the low point of the week of doubts and shadows b/c I was expecting a thorough grilling and beat down on why the Quality group (my group) was not finding problems before they hit the field.  As I got ready for the day, I started my morning devotional in a new book that I am reading.  In this book it reminded me that I have value, b/c God loves me and loved me enough to send his only Son.  It reminded me that I was worth it.  Of course, I just dismissed this one.  But God continued on.  Thursday night my wife, yes the woman who is worth far more than rubies and gold, said that I needed to take my problems to the one who walks on water.  And she reminded me that God loves me, wants me to be humble, and still saves guys like me and Peter when we start to sink into despair and fear.  Yep, you guessed it.  I didn't want to hear that either.

So I continued in my pity party, waiting and hoping that someone would lift me out of the well I was sinking into.  That's when it happened.  My Wow! moment.  On Saturday morning I sat down to read Proverbs 17, but got distracted by the blinking light of the kindle app on the computer.  I clicked on it and was taken back by the first words that I read.  It said, "You are already awesome!"  I thought, who is she talking about?  So I read on.  I started reading "You are already awesome" on the pages and I flipped back to find out who "you" was.  After a half hour of reading it hit me like a ton of bricks, the you was talking about me.  In God's eyes I am already awesome b/c of Christ.  "Well sure", I thought, "but I don't feel very awesome."  I closed the app and I went upstairs to veg out on some TV.

As I flipped through the channel this guy in an all white suit caught my attention.  I thought, what is up with all of these TV evangelist trying to pawn something off or sell something using the name of God.  But I stopped on that channel.  "God loves you, you are forgiven", he said.  Who is he talking about?  He kept talking and preaching from the Bible.  He talked about God loving his children, wanting them to know that even if you, were the only person on earth he would have come to save you.  No way I thought!  But he kept preaching.  God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever.  You are the whosoever when you believe in Christ.  Wow!  There it was for the umpteenth time this week.  You!  You!  You are valuable.  God loves you!  You are awesome!  God forgives you!  You are his child!  God is here for you!  You have never done more than God is able to forgive you for.  You are not a nobody!  You are awesome!  I love you!

I can't even begin to tell you with all these words on the page just how badly I needed to hear that again.  I needed to hear it again!  I needed someone to penetrate my doubt and fear and remind me of the Good News!  I have been bought with a price, the precious and priceless blood of God's only begotten Son.  I have the invitation, that whosoever!  Yes, even me.

Now, for the last kicker.  The speaker on TV was not selling something.  He said, I'm sharing the Good News so that you can be where God is.  So that you can have what God wants for your life.  So that you can realize you are loved and not condemned for those mistakes of yesterdays gone by.  Wow!.

Thanks God, I needed to hear that.  I love you too!

Number 3 and Number 4

We just had our first Elementary Basketball League game for Sydney and Paige.  Sydney wears #4 and Paige wears #3.

It is that very awesome and funny age group where some kids play well, some play defense well, some play offense well, and some just play.  It is the age were some of the kids just run up and down the court waiving to family in the stands, running jumping and spinning around.  For portions of the game, Paige was that kid.  This is the age group where there is at least one child who knows what he is doing on each team and they look like MJ compared to everyone else.  This is the age where the ball is dribbled less and passed more.  Where everyone stands and says pass it to me, even though they are only about two inches away from each other and 15 feet away from the goal.  But it can be so fun to watch when you try to just focus on them learning.

Today, Paige was sometimes in her own little world.  It was funny.  She dances and jumps and spins as she comes down the court.  She always moves like she has music down in her soul that she is dancing too.  Paige even had a moment where she just dribbled and dribbled and dribbled.... and dribbled and dribbled some more.  She kept dribbling as the coach and crowd said, "Okay Paige pass the ball."  Lucky for all of the parents, who were now shouting pass the ball, she picked up her dribble and passed it to Trey.  Later she said she couldn't make up her mind who she needed to pass it too, so she just kept dribbling.  I suspected as much.  She is a very thoughtful girl and doesn't like to offend her sister so she was conflict whether to force it to Sydney or pass to someone else.

Sydney on the other hand is more focused on playing the game of basketball.  She dribbles and passes to the open (and sometimes her favorite person), and she loves to shoot the ball.  She plays pretty good defense when she is in the post area and she is pretty good at rebounding.  Of course it could use a little work but she has already shown great potential and talent.  One thing that is funny about Sydney, she moves at her own pace.  A couple of times she just walked up the court as the offensive team raced past her.  Once she ran to her spot (area) on the court and stood there as if she was stuck on fly paper while the other team dribbled past her for an open shot.  She even took her time and gracefully (and slowly) dribbled up the court, even waiving off the other kids so she could do it.  It kind of reminds me of Ferdinand the Bull.

This was a fun game.  The girls each got a couple of turns shooting the ball, dribbling the ball and passing to one another.  Sydney scored six points and Paige had two or three steals.

I am looking forward to their continued growth and good play.  This is the age group that is just a joy to watch - but I can't imagine what it would be like to coach it.

Look out for #3 and #4 I know that they are going to be an awesome duo, whether basketball or beyond.