Getting Whole

I haven't blogged here in like...forever,  but God is so good, it's not even funny.  I'll give you more details later.

2013 the Story

Looking forward to learning more about my story in God's story.  Reading, "The Story" with my church family.  Very interesting read.

Rest

You don't think about rest until you need it. Not just physical rest, but emotional and spiritual rest, too. I'm at a point where I'm taking a Sabbatical from serving in a ministry at my church and it was called for. I'm feeling a little weird, but I'm going to stay the course and not worry about anything when it comes to planning and/or communicating ideas to the group. I'm looking forward to having people serve me for a change and I don't mean this in a selfish way whatsoever. Resting in the Lord is going to be tough, but this gives me the chance to get people in my church to know me instead of about me.

A New Day

This is a new day for me. I'm excited and looking forward to see what God has in store for me.

March Madness...Living up to Its Name

The title of this post says it all. This year's version of March Madness is living up to its name. The tournament's overall #1 seed is gone, higher seeds are in the Sweet Sixteen, and a team from the Ivy League not named Yale, Harvard, or Princeton(Cornell is the Ivy League school still playing) is still playing as the tourney enters week 2. Brackets have been basically shot(unless you have Northern Iowa or Saint Mary's advancing), mine was definitely. Thank goodness there's a game called Second Chance Pick'Em, tourney edition. Peace.

Community 2010 edition

I have experienced community once again. Not bad for someone who is single and in his late 30s. I went to a party prior to Who Dat? nation winning the Super Bowl and I am enjoying my church family. Whether it's the singles ministry or my LIFE group. Blessings, don't you just love them?

Community

Hello again. I'm writing to learn about living in community(no, I'm not talking about the TV show). I'm a single male in his mid, soon-to-be late 30s, struggling with maintaining relationships with other people. If anyone has some ideas, please let me know. I need all of the advice I can get.

Halloween

Happy Halloween members of the blogosphere. Hopefully you'll enjoy plenty of treats and no tricks.

Decorum, revisited

Hello again visitors of the Blogosphere. I wrote a recent blog about decorum, or the lack thereof. Well, here is a good book that you should read besides the Bible. It's called, The Power of Respect by Deborah Norville, anchor of the syndicated news magazine show, Inside Edition. It's definitely a must read.

Aggie uniformity

I know it's been a while since I've last posted a message in cyberspace; however, I've been so busy with other things, blogging has kind of taken a back seat, until now. With that being said, I wanted to give you a take on a team I don't normally talk about: Texas A&M football. I have many friends and acquaintances that are Aggies and I saw the game against Arkansas last Saturday night at Jerry's Palace(a.k.a. Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX). The one thing that shocked me besides the final score(Arkansas 47, A&M 19) was the uniforms that A&M wore the other night. All white with the white helmets. I'll admit, I did not like it. I know I'm not the uniform police, but surely, the Aggies would have worn their maroon pants and the helmets instead of all white. I just wasn't feeling it Saturday night. Now before you start chucking your laptops and other computer based equipment through the monitor at me, please note that the statements listed in this blog are my own. That's my take. Peace.

Decorum...Where has it gone?

Hello everyone in the blogosphere. I want to preface the following blog post by saying the views/opinions/rants expressed are my own. With that out of the way, I ask you this question? What is up with the lack of decorum in public? First, Rep. Joe Wilson(R-Ohio) interrupts the President of the U.S.A. during a speech to a joint session of Congress by calling him a liar. Next, you have Serena Williams. Great tennis player, multiple Grand Slam Singles champion, going nuclear on a line judge during a U.S. Open semifinal match causing the match to end in controversy. Then, just when you thought the etiquette police would not have to be called out, here come Kanye West. All he does is mess up a terrific moment for 19 year old music sensation Taylor Swift. What do all of these incidents that I have just mentioned have in common? Two words: poor decorum(if you want a definition, Google it). Have things gotten so heated and out of control in this country that decorum has taken a back seat? Rep. Wilson, I'm going to leave alone because he did apologize to the President. As far as Serena goes, she lost it. The match and her mind when she used some choice words to the line judge for a controversial "foot fault". If you want to see the video, check out YouTube. After the match, she did not answer the question about what was said after the incident. Stay tuned because this promises to be very interesting. Now to my man, Kanye West. Kanye opened his mouth and inserted his foot/microphone at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards(VMAs). First of all Kanye, do yourself a favor, back away from the Henessey(over 21 beverage. Do an Internet search). MTV, what were you thinking about having a bar prior to an awards show? Your show's producers should not serve alcohol of any kind prior to an awards show. Period. Next, Kanye, what were you thinking messing up a moment like that for Taylor Swift. This comes on the heals of you publicly dissing George W. Bush's handling of Katrina. There is a time and place for that and unfortunately, national television is not the time or place, nor is it the platform. Thankfully, my girl, Beyonce, showed some class and gave Taylor her moment back. Rep. Wilson, Kanye, Serena, I'm praying for you all. I'm praying that someone will show you how to practice decorum and to, in the words of the Hon. Judge Joe Brown, "conduct yourself accordingly." That's my rant. I want to hear what you think. Holla at a brother. Out.

Community

I'm sorry I have not blogged in a while. I have been very busy. I hope you will like the following. It's not easy being me. I live alone about most of the time, and there are times that I love that; however, there are other times where I do not like being alone. It's weird how God has wired us to be in community. I realize that in difficult times, I realize how important it is to be in community. I love community. I need community. I crave for fellowship and community. I can't wait for LIFE groups and being with my friends. Please pray that God will open my heart to not only experience community, but be a part of community. To learn more about what community is and what community is not, visit the following site: http://www.bammel.org/media.html. Click on the sermon message titled, "Living in Community".

a lot of stuff

Well, well, well. Where do I start? I'm just amazed by how children can teach you something. I coached my church's high school drama team at the annual Leadership Training for Christ convention, LTC for short. The theme this year was, "Light, Life, Word" based on the Gospel of John. I was concerned about our timing and everything, but all in all, God was glorified and our team received a silver for their efforts. Sometimes I wonder why I do what I do, and there are times after the convention that I get my answer. To God be the Glory! Next up the BP MS 150 bike tour from Houston to Austin, not this year. Mother nature had other ideas. It rained so much and so hard, that the Lone Star Chapter of the National multiple sclerosis Society decided to shorten the distance from La Grange, TX to Austin. It turned out to be good. The majority of our team, Traveling Light Christian cycling Team rode into the capital of Texas together. That was so cool and with the exception of two, everyone came in unscathed. I'm beginning to like this Jesus servant mentality thing. It's cool to be a Christ follower/disciple. Peace.

Rite of Spring

One of my favorite rites of Spring, besides Easter, is the annual MS 150 Bike Tour from Houston to Austin. The following is about one of the riders of our team/ministry: Traveling Light Christian Cycling Team. Enjoy. Here is the link: http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2009/04/05/woodlands_villager/news/wv-n_ms_150_biker.txt

Spritual Surrogates

It's been a while since I last talked to you all via the blog, but this is just too good. For the past five or six years, I was given an assignment a la Mission: Impossible style. My brother, seeing how much I was very active and involved in my church, asked me if I could start taking his girls to church and get them involved as well since two of them are starting to enter adolescence, a scary age for any father, but especially since he is raising these girls on his own. I accepted this mission; however, I was afraid because I did not know what I was getting myself into, plus, "How can these girls look up to me?" That was the question I asked myself because here I am a single man living his own life and then being able to do this for my big brother. I've been doing this for the last five or six years and I've seen so much growth in both, and now all three girls, that they love going to church. One of the greatest thrills of my life was to see the fruit that was being bron when Jennifer was baptized into Jesus Christ last summer. I can reflect on this because I witnessed a friend of mine get her "spiritual surrogate" brother get baptized into Christ last Sunday. I'm amazed that God can use surrogates like us to affect the live of others who are watching us. The Bible says we, the church(not the building, but the people who makes Christ's body), are to carry out the Great Commission. It doesn't matter, how it gets done, but I'm just glad to do my part. I hope that this blog entry blesses you. Peace.

Disconnected

Have you ever felt disconnected? No, I'm not talking about losing your utilities(water, natural gas, or electricity), phone service(land line or cellular), or cable/satellite TV. I'm talking about being disconnected from friends. I felt that way for a few days now and it wasn't until tonight that I finally decided to vent/open up about that. In a way, that's good because in the past, I used to keep things bottled up inside because I really don't have any one person per se that I can open up to. Well, I do, but I don't want to be a burden on anyone if something comes up like problems. I realize what it's like to be in community. While the Internet is a good tool for communicating, there is just no substitute for one on one face to face interaction. I need community and I need more interaction with you guys. Please give a brother some community.
Thanks.

COWBOY UP: Rodeo Night in Houston 2009

Howdy and top o' the morning to you. I went to my annual pilgrimage to Reliant Stadium for the 2009 edition of Rodeo Houston. I had to wait for about 45 minutes as my friends did more eating and talking than actually watching the action in the stadium(well, not all of them). Anyway, I had a lot of fun as always, but I did stay away from some of the fried stuff that is starting to become commonplace at major events like the rodeo and/or a fair(i.e. Fried oreos, Twinkies, and overpriced stadium food). Of course this year I went to the rodeo on St. Patrick's Day and I wanted to consider going in a green cowboy hat as a theme, but I didn't think it would work. A little different to say the least. That just might be an idea for next year. Anyway I got indoctrinated in country music kiwi style courtesy of Keith Urban. He sounded alright for a New Zealand er. He sang a lot of songs; however, I did not sing any because I don't listen to a lot of country music but I can tell that there were a lot of Urban fans of the female variety and they sang along. I also received a lighted grill(a.k.a. a mouth guard) that lights up. All in all I got Urban-ized and grilled in one night. It's a shame that this is the last week for the rodeo because I love coming to it and I can't wait for next year. Peace, love, a pot o' gold and Lucky Charms to all. Out.

Daylight Saving Time

Is it me, or does it seem that the older I get, the more I am beginning to loathe Daylight Saving Time. Don't get me wrong, I like the longer evenings, but I don't like the setting the clocks ahead one hour. I also don't like the fact that for the first month of DST, sunrise is at 7:30 in the morning. I kind of liked the DST the way it was before W.(George W. Bush, the former president of the U.S.) changed it to start on the second Sunday in March. Abolish DST and just use standard time like parts of Indiana, all of Arizona, and Hawaii(do an Internet search).

Happy Anniversary to the WEb

I just found out that today, March 13, 2009, marked the 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web. You know, that little thing the goes www.(insertInternetsitehere).com. It's amazing that one little device that changed the way we get information nowadays, turned 20. To read more about this newfangled thing that former V.P. Al Gore claimed to invent, click on the following link: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/128271. Happy anniversary www. Peace.

I'm Rollin!

My car is fixed and I'm rollin' once again.