DeepWells

Boom! Got my taxes done!

2009-02-03T11:33:00.001-08:00

Haha! The joys of being a filing-single, low-earning American...an easy tax return! I got it done in about 20 minutes! GIVE ME MY MONEY! Better get some more too, Barack...

Been an okay week at school so far.Classes are still going well and I found out that a quiz I missed last week can be made up at the end of the semester, sweeeet! The weekend was great, my friend Laura was in town to see my roomie Smyer and we all went out to eat with Smyer and her ACU work friends. They only called me a "hopeless sinner" once so I guess things really are changing over at the C of C school! jk!

I hope today I get to sleep in my new house, wait sorry, Smyer's new house (I just rent a room). It will be nice to not sleep on a couch tonight, well...at least one that pulls out. (that's what she said)

Man did the Cardinals get screwed on Sunday or what?

whoa...i had one of those south beach diet things powders in my water and I have so much energy- look at all those exclamation points! Anyway, gotta go-have a great day all! (by all I mean Stacy cause she's the only one who reads this, har-har.)

People are dumb...including me.

2009-01-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

So, I go out with a friend last night, Jacob, to play pool and do some dancing. We are having a great time- I love to dance and with a girlfriend it is nice to just dance and not worry about trying to be smooth, which doesn't work anyway- and it started.

I danced with this girl and afterwards she comes up to me and says that a this other guy warned her about me, that I wasn't a good person. Now I know this guy, but I don't know him. I've never said more than 5 words to this guy in my life. Because I was in a different fraternity he hates me. For a good reason probably, I really wasn't a positive person the last time I was around so I prob said or did something offensive to him 4-5 YEARS ago. Now, if you know me I'm pretty laid back, but this flew all over me. It was starting again, my past in my present.

So, I walked by him and...I bumped him. Pitiful yelling and pushing ensued. How embarassing! I looked like a stupid fool, and worst of all I let this guy affect my positivity. I'm 26 years old and I almost got into a fight with a guy wearing a Ninja Turtles hat! (no shit, a F*ing Ninja Turtle hat)

And of course, first thing this morning a KS guy walks up to me and says he heard I had a little excitement last night, Holy Crap! Somethings just don't change.

So, pray for me. Pray that I let negativity out of my life and embrace positivity. I am going to look for that guy today and apologize, I hope.

Hey there country bumpkin, how's the frost out on the pumpkins?

2009-01-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

I def had some frost on my pumpkins this morning. It was 22 degrees and it drizzled all night so of course it was SUPER icy this morning. Luckily I put the cover on Trigger last night so she wouldn't be iced over this morning. Thankfully, I am staying with a good buddy who let me borrow his truck this morning, 4x4 people! I didn't even have to be at school till 9:30, (glasses pushed up, I'm stealing that Stockdale) but here I am.

It is nice to be here when it is quiet. Last Thursday, after 3 quarter of rousing women's basketball, GO Indigenious Peoples of the Americas!! (That is my PC way of rooting for the Indians) I went to a "centering prayer" service in the Chapel. This is the same kind of service that I walked in late to on the first day of school. In this service, one chooses a word(s): Love, Peace, Be Still, etc., and listens to a passage read, a gong is sounded, and you...sit in silence. You don't pray out loud and you don't pray in your head, everytime you mind wanders to a thought you simply repeat your word and "center" yourself. I have been increasingly intrigued by meditaion and its power so this was an awesome experience. You are quiet for only 20 minutes, but it seems a lot longer! I am such a loud person, which I love about myself, but it is so soothing to just be for 20 minutes. It is really neat, try it!

http://www.waitingroomministry.com/newSite/centeringPrayer.html

Otherwise, things are good in Big Country. My classes, average age: 19, are really pretty interesting. English 1320 (yes, the 2nd Fish English) is turning into my favorite class. We have a really cool prof Thompson(I've had him before), and all the things we have read so far MAKE SENSE to me now. Part of it is growing up I'm sure, but coming to class helps a lot. He is an old partier (sp?) too, so he says a joke that goes right over the 19yrold's heads and he sees me laughing and says, "Right? You know what I'm talking about!" We made the class laugh on Monday talking about the diff between men and women getting ready for a date after reading The Chysanthemums (re/read if you haven't and have a discussion about symbolism), so now I feel much more comfortable all around.

Pens, check. Book, check. Insecurity, check. :)

Oh, the cleaners. So Smoker is tonight and I took a jacket to the cleaners yesterday and forgot the pants so I went back this morning (thats what she said) and miracuously on this icy morning they were open. I tell the lady that I need to add some pants to my order and she says it might not be done until tomorrow. Why? I ask. Well he, never explained who "he" was, might not be into work today to do the clothes, he lives ALL THE WAY on the Northside. Anyone who knows Abilene knows that the Northside is 5 minutes from the Southside, I really don't know why we even have sides, but I digress... Soooo, you are telling me that all you know how to do is open the door and turn on the sign? Do your job, Madam!

So, tonight I might have a nice suit jacket, shirt and tie, and my fav pair of cargo shorts.

Happy Tuesday to all and to all a good day!

Back to School

2009-01-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

So as many of you know I have returned to Abilene to complete 16 hours to graduate in May. Still others of you know of my huge struggle just to get back into school, let alone graduate!

So I moved here last Saturday and I have to tell you, it has been positive in many wonderful ways. I drive a scooter, and it is cold in Abilene this time of year and I didn't have a good jacket. I have owned/lost several leather jackets. Well,my friend Leon had for some reason kept this old leather jacket. He gave it to me to wear...and it turned out to be my old leather jacket! Crazy karma, so now I had a great warm jacket to scoot to school in. I got to school at 7:40 (first class was at 10, excited much?) and I wanted to stop in the chapel and spend a few moments in silence to thank God for my blessings. I walked in and a sign said "enter in silence". Tim Kennedy was doing a prayer service in which you sat in silence, listen to some chimes, and he read some passages. It was exactly what I needed. So far so good. Then it got pretty weird. I was walking across campus and there a guy from one of the local TV stations, I had said good morning to him earlier, and he asked me if I wanted to talk about my first day of school! I had been in Abilene for 48 hours and already on the news!! It was pretty surreal and my family got a pretty good kick out of it. But it didn't stop there, folks. When God decides to talk to ya, it ain't a short conversation.

My first class went great, have an old professor I had my first semester at McMurry, and I go to my second class. And there he was. Now, this guy wasn't the one who punched me started a fight with the day before Coronation '04, but he was part of the whole thing. And I use to have a lot of resentment because he and the other person never got disciplined or anything. I used to have A LOT of resentment. But I looked across the table at him and felt nothing. It was truly an epiphany, to not have that in my heart anymore was just even more of a reassurance that I was where I needed to be. After class I went up to him and shook his hand and walked away.

Then I watched myself on the news at 6 and laughed so hard I cried.

BELIEVE.

A little bit older....almost.

2008-10-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

I got to celebrate a good friend's bday last week, which was a blessing! I hadn't seen the ladies for much too long and it was a treat for me to get to see them and hang out, even if I was a little hungover for work! Birthdays always get me thinking about stuff....

I got a little bit older today. Not technically, but it feels that way. My birthday isn't till Saturday, but I aged a little today.

I got glasses.

My eyes aren't that bad (20/30) and of course my LEFT eye is much better than my right (Leftys4Life!), but I have been having trouble for awhile seeing everything at night....did I just write that? "trouble seeing things at night?" Dear Lord, I AM getting older!

Although my swimsuit model days have been long behind me, I haven't felt older for a long time. Early 20's? No problem. 24 was just another year, 25 felt a little bit older, but still c'mon...I am (for another 2 1/2 days, by god) closer to 20 than 30. But with 26, wow, I really feel a little older. And not that that is all a bad thing. Some things about getting older are interesting, you realize things about life that would have never crossed your mind even a couple of years ago (and things that have been crossing your Mother's mind for years).

One thing I don't mind about getting older (and the glasses) is something I actually realized a few years ago, but hadn't thought about since then. This literally happened almost three years ago to the day. I was working in Colorado for six months, after my "break" from McM. I was working in the mountains, the leaves were changing and it was gorgeous. I was sitting in my work truck and looking around and noticed that things weren't as sharp as they could be. "I need glasses," I thought. I said just to myself and realized that I would really look more like Tony, my step dad. It is one of the great ironies of life that my step dad Tony and I look much more alike than anyone else in my family.

As I sat/sit t/here with that realization, that I'd look more like my Dad-Tony, I noticed that it didn't/doesn't bother me. I would welcome that comparison. Tony really is a very distinguished looking guy. I don't know how much more distinguished I look or anything, but I can see better! Three years it took me! Can ya say stubborn? Sometimes just getting things in focus can be a big deal.

A poem, by me. Enjoy:

2008-08-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

A Beer Never Bought

Well, the flat top is gone from his head
Replaced with long gray hair instead
and he drinks too much Jack,
and he starts thinking back
He kinda laughs at how it all began

He and his buddies weren't doin well with the college plan
So they went off to work for Uncle Sam
He gave him a gun
Took away his college fun
And sent him off to fight out it 'Nam

The Lt. calls down the order
"Men! We gotta take the hill!"
He takes one last look at his St. Christopher medal
And he goes off to kill or be killed

Everyday he wakes he thanks God
And he curses this jungle terrain
He had girl back home, she hippie now
and he's alone
He misses when life was just a game

Takin' the late night train to Midland
His tears fall on the track
He would been home to his momma earlier
But they called him a baby-killer
So he stopped in a bar and got smashed

He never wanted a parade
He'd-a-said No if you'd asked
Maybe a handshake or a thank you
Hell, a free beer wouldn't have been half bad

Forty years later he's on his barstool
When a young man walks through the door
He takes one look at him in his uniform
and his eyes fall to the floor

"Hey Tommy get this man a drink!
Aw, just put it on my tab
No need for thank-you,son
I know where ya been and what ya done
Hell...I'd take the jungle over sand"

His friends? They all made back just fine
Hell, they're still quite a team
And except for the name of Father
They are proudest to be called MARINE

So everyone raise their glass
I'm going to leave you with a thought
Think of all those carryin' a rifle tonight
And don't leave 'em with a beer never bought
don't leave 'em with a beer never bought

Have you thanked a serviceman/woman lately?

Is EVERYONE a teacher now?

2008-08-17T12:37:00.001-07:00

Yet another one of my friends became a teacher lately....and I am jealous. Not angry jealous or anything, but I remember a time where NO ONE wanted to be a teacher! I seriously have over a dozen friends who have gone into teaching in the past two years.

And don't get me wrong, I love my job. I don't know if I'm jealous of the fact that they're teachers or that they have some semblance of where their lives are going (and many of them still might not), or maybe it is because they have finished college and I am 15 stinkin' hours away and I can't seem to find the right way to finish. 3 1/2 years out of school, wow. Anyways:

I was raised by and around teachers, my mother was a PE teacher for a few years, and then worked her way into special ed consulting eventually, and most of my best friends growing up were teachers kids. I mean, I spent more time with teachers in my young life than my parents it seemed like. And I loved school. We moved 7-8 times before I was 10,so I went to a bunch of different schools and had all different types of teachers. I have always gotten along with teachers too. I wasn't a teacher's pet, but if I wasn't good, Momma found out...and quick! I think it really is the most noble profession we have in our society,next to ordained ministry and military service. I really do put it up that high and it should be.

So, pity: party of one. But I am so very proud of all my friends who are starting their first year, I can imagine the nervousness they must be feeling and I know that they will do a great job.

"Not today Monster! Not today!"

2008-08-03T06:32:00.000-07:00

Does anyone catch themselves letting their imagination run away on them? I'm glad that I still have my imagination, but it has been running rampant lately.

I swear that half the time I pick a toy gun, I think I am a crime-fightin' cop until I realize I have told everyone in the toy section at Target to "Get on the ground and spread 'em!"

Or sometimes I am walking up stairs and I swear that there is a monster that is going to grab my ankles if I don't run fast enough up them; so most of the time I get to the top of the Dart Rail Station stairs and I know people are wondering why this big guy is panting, sweating, and just SPRINTED up the stairs screaming "Not today monster! Not today!"

I started thinking about this because I got to ride some horses on Friday. And, you guessed it, I zoned out for about 10 minutes thinking about what I would do if Indians came over the horizon or how fast I would ride to save a pretty lil thang in danger.

I don't know, folks. Might need some of that professional help! I was on my own a lot as a kid I guess and had to foster my imagination much of the time.I was baby-sat by the tv a lot when I was a kid, which was fine with me and my parents for some reason thought I was big enough to stay on my own. My brother wasn't going to baby sit me and he eventually went off to school. There I was: solo. Which was okay with me cause I could do what I wanted. I watched tv in my underwear, ate food wherever the hell I wanted, and if i wanted to crank up the stereo and get out my stringless guitar and have a concert....that is exactly what I did. I think the only difference today is that my guitar has strings, haha!

As I was thinking about all of this, I started wondering, what's the lesson? Is there one? Does there HAVE to be one? I don't know. There is the obvious one of knowing which things grow with you and which things you grow out of. Or maybe I was just feeling nostalgic. We sometimes need to look at our past (not live in, mind you) and see how we got to today.

Maybe more later, but now I have to go stop crime while on horseback and save a pretty girl from the stair monster.

Things I've (re)learned over a couple of days....

2008-07-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

-My family is a fun group of folks.
-It is okay that I have no idea what I want right now, but I need to decide sooner or later.
-Graham Colton has the ability to make friends that I've know for ALMOST 8 YEARS forget the fact that they know me or associate with me in public.
-I'll never own a Graham Colton record.
-Billy Bob Thorton should stick to acting.
-Drinking makes me a stuuuuuuuuupid dude.
-I have come a long way.
-I have a long way to go.
-I'll never fall if I don't jump.
-I can sing on Sunday mornings.
-My brothers are still some the funniest people I know.

Hope you had a good weekend peeps,
pray for me; cause I'm for you.

walkin with JFK

2008-07-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

I recently took the train down the west end in Dallas. I had no idea where I was or what I might see, so I just started walking around. I love walking around cities/down towns, no matter how big or small. I was walking in the midst of all these skyscrapers and I saw what looked like an old Gothic cathedral, but the stone was red, i mean RED. I had remembered seeing it from the highway and how cool it looked so i just pointed myself in that direction. It turned out to be "Old Red", built in the 1880s. I didn't get much more info because of what I saw next.

It was just visually stunning. I walked over to the plaque. It was a "cenotaph", or open tomb, dedicated to JFK. It is open-topped box that consisted of 72 suspended concrete pillars in which it is seemingly only supported by 8 of the pillars going into the ground. A closed-in space, but with no roof so that it opens to the sky. There are only two narrow openings to walk through, unless you crawl in under the suspended pillars. And in the middle is metal "cube", shorter than a coffee table but up out of the ground, and it has JFK's full name on two sides and those are the only letters or words involved in the monument itself. It was really cool. So I'm just walking around it when Micheal walks up.

Micheal is a "tour guide". I don't know if he is a homeless guy that does this for cash or what, but he just starts talking to me about JFK and then he starts in on all the conspiracy theories and such. I mean he just launches into his "tour" and never says anything about money, and neither do I, so I just walk around with him. He is talking his head off when I suddenly realize where I am. At Houston and Elm St. This is where the President of the United States was killed. Micheal continues talking, most of which I ignore, and see the X's on the street that mark when the bullets struck him. I stood on the grassy knoll, touched the fence where the infamous second gunman would have stood. And what was amazing to me was that it was all SO CLOSE together. In the footage and in movies it seems that things are really spaced out, but the grassy knoll wasn't 20 yards from the street.

It was really cool. I stopped and thought about how many tears have been shed on this ground. How many people make the pilgrimage to come this place. I overheard all types of different languages, tourists I assumed, and saw families taking their children to the different spots around the area. But by this time, Micheal is nearing the end of his long-winded speech and earlier he handed me a newspaper type pamphlet in a clear plastic bag, which I made sure not to open because I was waiting for the catch, and he told me it cost $5. I told him I didn't have any money and handed it back to him. He rolled his eyes, and I thought about tipping him, but he interrupted my quiet walk so I didn't feel too bad. I'm sure he got some tourist to buy the pamphlet.

Overall, it was a very good day. I saw a piece of this nation's history, a very dramatic piece actually. My church secretary told me the next day that she was on Lemmon St the day JFK was shot, her birthday if you can believe it, and she had to pull over for the motorcade to pass by. She told me she got out and waived to him as he passed by. She also told that that was a day that America changed. It seemed like overnight we started locking our doors, and we became much more cynical, as she put it.

It truly is a befitting monument to a great man and a great leader. Let's hope that whoever we choose this November has just a little bit of him in them, God knows we need it today more than ever.

Just sing, who cares?

2008-07-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

As per other bloggers I read of, they have struggling with their creative outlets. I too have had a block on my creativity lately. But at camp, the directors constantly asked us adults to ask the Lord to get us out of our "box". I have never had a problem speaking or talking in front of people, but I don't sing in front of people. Which is weird because I.love.music. and I sing around my friends.."Whaaaat would you do if I sang outta tune?".. However, it is completely out of my box to sing into a mic, alone, in front of people. So many other people do it better than I do, and I make the rationalization that God just didn't give me that talent.

But He is extremely annoying sometimes about answering prayers!

So I asked God all week to tear down my box, not necessarily about singing, but put me in a place that I wasn't comfortable. So, on Friday at camp I was asked to do a devo for the whole camp. Cool, not a problem. All week long I had sung during worship and the JC in my cabin (I feel like I'm in HS talking about camp so much, but deal with it) told me constantly that I sounded good. Like everyday. What a compliment can do for our self-esteem! So I opened my devo with a prayer, and I sang the first part of it.

This prayer is very special to me because my preacher growing up sang it b-e-a-utifully (and still does).
As in so wonderfully, I look up from prayer everytime at my Mom when I'm home and say, "What a show-off." Ha-ha. It is really simple, you prob know it:

Kumbaya My Lord, Kum-ba-ya
Come by here, My Lord, Come by here
Come by here, My Lord, Come by here
Oh, Lord, Come by here

I finally had to say to myself, who cares? Who cares what it sounds like? God will love it. So when I sang it, it poured out. It was truly an amazing feeling! When we have just a little faith, what big walls will come down! It seems to me that God has awakened my faith as if I were a child again, and it is really cool.

Just sing. The sound of our voices praising God pleases Him, no matter if we hit the right notes or not.

Camp Pt 1

2008-07-20T13:01:00.001-07:00

So I got back from Bridgeport Camp on Saturday. I am still exhausted from the week, but I wouldn't take it back for anything. For those of you who have been to church camps you know how amazing they can be. I constantly think back fondly and lovingly on my days as a camper. I was a little worried going into camp though. I have been really struggling with some things lately in my faith. I don't know, I just get down sometimes for no reason. Then, I get to hang out with youth.

I was a small group leader for 9 young men and women. These kids re-opened my eyes to the glory of Jesus Christ. In each of them I saw myself and someone completely different. I had two JCs (junior counselors) and I let them pretty much run the group, which is really the spirit of BP, empowering youth to lead, and they did great. I can't imagine a wider variety of kids. From the popular flat-billed hat bros to long-haired (seemingly mad at the world) kid to Caitlyn, Caitlin, Kaitlyn, and Katie (seriously, despite the name similarities all very unique), a 6'8'' gentle giant, and a LOUD-mouth. I didn't say much the first day or so and I was worried about that. Then they just started talking and opening up about their lives and things they'd been through and had such great insight! And I was really glad I kept my mouth shut.
I wish I could write about everything that happened and that was said, but I promised to keep it confidential, but I can tell you a few of the funny things:

-first day, three of them walk in calling themselves the three amigos, they see each other only at camp, and prob live 30 min from each other all year
-We distinguish all the Caitlyns by numbers (both my JCs were Caitlyns, spelled diff tho)
-talent show night, the bros drink an entire 2 liter of Mountain Dew in 20-30 mins, one from a Coffee carafe. they then wonder why they feel sick.
-They text....all.the.time. I ask them for 20 min of no phones. One girl fervently agrees and starts to share a story....as she is texting.
-Katie loses her phone, and then finds it in her pocket.
-Last day, 2nd to last group meeting. they discover that I don't like the word tampon or anything to do with discussing menstration. I go to the bathroom and come out to see a wet (with water) tampon stuck to the window. I gag. I then decide to beat them at their own game....by taking it off the window and squeezing the water into my mouth.
I WIN. I nearly hurl, but I make them all cry laughing- totally worth it.

This is only a fraction of the greatness that was camp. More to follow.

Don't worry you'll get through it....

2008-06-27T10:33:00.001-07:00

...I'm kinda of sick of hearing that. Well, for those that don't know I was in another accident last Monday and I wrecked my truck. Worst of all it was my fault. I ran was looking in my side mirror to change lanes and thought the lady beside me was going through the light also.

She wasn't. I looked up and didn't even see the light and then I saw a Ford 500 sedan coming at me and we collided. The worst part? It was a 65 year-old grandma. Yeah, I felt like shit. Luckily everyone was okay and she had a baby seat in the back, but luckily no baby.

Another truck is dead at my hand. Needless to say I have been pretty bummed the last week. I am sure people on the bus are saying to themselves,

"Damn, that guy looks sad and pissed."

The weird thing is, I am a good driver. At least I thought I was. That got me thinking back to all the other times I should have had a wreck/died or gone to jail:

Junior (?) Year High School- My Uncle lets me have his '76 International Scout to drive. It is awesome (like the old school chevy blazers, big bastard) it was cream-cicle orange and white and had tiger print seat covers. I took the hard top off and had no roll cage or anything. I am driving down a dirt road home from a friend's and go around a tight turn, and an asshole has his brights on and I can't see and swerve of the road into a ditch, flippin this huge beast on its side, again with NO ROOF OR ROLL CAGE. The only thing that saved me from being slung through a barbed wire fence was one LAP BELT, not a shoulder one, a f-ing LAP BELT.

-Pledging 2002- the night i take people home and we pass by a house that someone had run their car into. Like into the living room. We pass it and I pull up to stop light and a cop comes up behind me. He turns his lights on and comes up to the window. I control the urge to shite and roll down the window. The cop is an ass, but obviously a dumb one because he doesn't even get me out of the car. He just says, "Slow down! We don't need anymore WEINERS driving into houses tonight." I SWEAR HE SAID WEINERS.

Pleding 2003- After a hearty night of "camping", the last thing I remember is spitting Bacardi 151 into a fire and making a fire ball, My roomie and I finally wake up and begin driving around the pledges (who are on top of scaffolding, don't ask) and taunting them. We are still very drunk. I say, " Less go get sum Allsups, Dude." And we peel out away from the pledges and I hear a loud noise, mind you I don't look in my rear view mirror, I get out of the truck and examine. Somehow, my tailgate came unhinged and I was dragging it for about 200 ft. Do we decide maybe its good we don't go into to town? Noooo, I strap the sumamabitch back on and me and Heptig go to Merkel at 7:30 in the morning, drunk and steal burritos and Snickers from Allsups.

Pledging 2005- (do we see a pattern?) As a ritual we drove pledges around with bags on their head ( I know, I know. It was Abilene, what else was there to do?), play loud music and basically make them regret for a few moments to agreeing to pledge. One night I had a lil beotch in my truck and I said to him (this has a witness):

"Reach out in front of you. You feel that handle? That's an Oh-Shit bar, you might want to grab it, it's about to be that kinda situation."

We haul ass down the street and hit a bump at about 35 mph. He rammed his head into the roof of the truck. I thought I knocked him out. I swear I saw the fear in the guy's face through the bag.

Well....those are some the stories I remember, maybe it is a good idea that my new car say "City Bus" on the side. Have a good day and.... can I have a ride?

NO! I'm not voting for McCain because Obama is black...

2008-06-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

...and if I am accused by one more person of that, I will get really pissed.

Many of my friends have jumped on the Obama wagon. Heck, for a few seconds I thought about it. I don't mind people with different opinions than me, more often than not I learn something from other people, it is called "listening" for some of you out there. I can see what they value about him. But, didn't we learn from Clinton that a great public speaker doesn't mean the best president?

But more often than not, people here McCain out of my mouth and the ears are turned off and the rhetoric is turned on.

I DON'T CARE THAT OBAMA IS BLACK!!!!

This is why I am not voting for him:

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/beyond-obamas-beauty

and if you have a problem with the email that was unknowingly circulated based on the article above which included ridiculous "biblical" references and other stupid information, read Mr. Blackwell's rebuttal to that email.

As a southern-white-male-who-played-sports-in-high-school, I am routinely put into a category of bigotry and ignorance. I, of course hate black people, right? I am not going to sit here and list all the African-American people in my life, I don't have to. But when you are preaching your sermons against bigotry and hate, please inlcude me in your arguement as someone against those ideals. As someone who disagrees with a canidate's views and not their skin color.

Little something extra....

2008-06-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

I want a woman to know how I like my eggs cooked.
I want a woman to know that she doesn't have to wear something provocative for me to think that she is attractive. Try it with your personality.
I want those few precious moments in the morning where the world outside is trying to fight its way in, and everything I need is lying right beside me.
I want a woman who reaches across the truck to unlock my door after I open hers.
I want a woman to know that she will NEVER have to ask me to dance.
I want a woman to know that in my arms, she is safe.

There is a woman out there that will be my wife, have my children, and grow old with me. I haven't met her yet, but until I do I hope God keeps her safe....and away from all my friends.

Oh yeah....I need a date first.

I saw God today.

2008-06-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

I saw God today. I showed up at church with an eased mind. I wasn't going to do much in service today. Maybe read a scripture, do some announcements; it was going to be a real easy day at the office!

I check the bulletin, and whadaya know....I'm doing the children's sermon. Arrgggh! I was obviously confused during the meeting with my pastor the last week when he asked if I wanted to do the children's sermon. I thought that I said no, but I guess I didn't! And my pastor had this look on his face that said, "Seth, you were here when we went over this...."

So, here it is, 1 1/2 hours from service and I have to come up with something. I am going online, looking through all types of sermons and it hits me, why don't you just open the bible. It IS a pretty good resource.

I looked up the scripture for service and one of them was the story of Matthew becoming a disciple. The story (Matt 9:9-13) is when Jesus walked by this tax collector, Matthew, and said to him, "Follow me." The greatest thing about that story is not the fact that Matthew dropped what he was doing and gave his life to Christ, but that Jesus would offer it in the first place! He was a tax collector, aka- someone who made a living off of other people's misery. The Pharisees saw this and began asking his disciples why their "master" would hang out with such people. I imagined their faces bore the expressions like that of my preacher this morning and they were saying,

"Jesus, you were here when we went over this...."

Jesus automatically destroyed their sense of piety with a simple analogy:

"Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick.....I desire Mercy, not sacrifice."

What a cool lesson for not only children, but everyone!

That wasn't even the best part of my day. We don't have hardly any children in our church. But a couple with two adorable little girls have started to attend, Olivia and Jillian are the girls, and they came to the front. They are both under 5 and I am a big guy so they were nervous around me the first few Sundays they came to church. But today they were so happy to come down to the front! I said my little sermon and didn't think the little one Olivia had been paying attention at all...then it happened.

I asked if they were ready to pray and Olivia's head spun around and she looked at me with her pretty blue eyes and a big smile and said, "Yeah!" Like she was just waiting for me to shut up!

Shouldn't we ALL be that excited when we pray? Our preacher made a great point today. He said Jesus told us to let the little children come to him, do not hinder them! And why do we do this? Because they are naiive? Because they don't know any better? Oh no. Because they are vulnerable. They trust. They love. I really like that adjective vulnerable. We often think we have to be such strong people for God to "see" us. But it is when we are broken, needy, and vulnerable that we realize how much we need God to hold us together and He sees us who we are.

When Jesus saw Matthew, he saw a tax collector just like everyone else, but what was so cool about Jesus was that he saw the true nature of people not just the earthly label. THAT is the God I serve. Today was a good day.

When all else fails, just ask.

2008-06-06T08:42:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Well, I tried this before but I didn't stick to it, but after reading Sweetheart's blog (along with continual persitance on her part) I decided to try and keep this up.

I will no doubt steal things from her and other bloggers as I know abosolutely nothing about it really. So here we go.

Well excuse me, but I think you got my chair....:

I recently went out with a good friend of mine for a couple of drinks. Well, we really went because he was meeting up with a girl he had been out on a few dates with. Now we had, as we usually do, a few drinks at one of our favorite establishments before we got to this place. So we were relaxed, and then my buddy said,

"Hey man, she's bringing a friend."

Probably one of the most ambiguous statements know to man. You never know what you are going to get with that sentence. Usually a good time for the ahoooga! ahooga! siren to go off in your head. She could be an absolute bat-shit crazy person, you don't know! But isn't fun when your friends enlist you to find out?

They show up and we meet them outside. First crisis avoided. Her friend is cute. NOT that is all that matters, but come on first meeting people. Cute, tall,and blonde. Right? Even though I am a brunette guy, I'm not blind. We are sitting outside, me and TallBlonde on one side and my friend and Red on the other side (I know it is a little Tucker Max, but they need monikers right?) Red brought her dog and this bar brings out water bowls for pooches on the porch, pretty cool huh? Well, we're sitting there outside enjoying our hoppy refreshment; George Strait's "The Chair" comes on. I have obviously been intaking liquid courage, because I looked at TallBlonde and said,

"You wanna dance?"

Gutsy. This, in a man's arsenal, is a very powerful or very destructive weapon. She could outright turn you down, which inhales vigourously. Or she could be the worst dancer ever and no matter how good you are, you can't salvage it. Or she could she yes. You can show that indeed you are from Texas and you listened at least once to Momma and her lessons about women.

She said yes. How about that? Coolest part was, there was no dance floor so we just danced on the sidewalk. People were walking right by us, smiling. It was a warm summer night in Texas, dancing to George Strait with a pretty woman- IN UPTOWN. Haha, it was pretty neat. The yuppies didn't know what to think.

I think that she was just surprised that I would ask. So just a lesson fellas, just ask. It more often than not works out, the prettiest women sometimes never get asked because we are afraid hear no. Life's to short for that, huh?

Alas, I was not charming enough I guess, cause no digits. But hey, dancing with pretty women can never be called a failure.