2012

It has been one year since my last blog post.  I can't really call myself a blogger can I?  Well, I did sit down to write several blogs during this last year.  But I never completed them.  I think some of them were really good ideas and I'm bummed that I never completed them.  I'll try to write more often in 2013.  We are currently sitting down as a family to write goals.  Maybe my personal goal will be to blog more frequently.  For now, I will use the rest of this blog to look back on my 2012.

January: The attempt to find a job and move to Florida was in full swing.  I spent many a night online submitting resumes and filling out applications.  There were several that rejected me and several that I rejected.  We knew that we wanted to move to Florida (well I had some thoughts about North Carolina).  The house repairs, painting and remodeling would soon be in full swing.

February: Working with the middle school students at The Bible Chapel was a blast.  I really love those students.  I feel like I was doing some of the best teaching that I've ever done in February and March.  I love to teach Biblical principles to youth.  The spring of 2012 really felt like a time that I was doing something that God wants me to do.

March: This was probably the most awkward month for me.  Plans to move to Florida hadn't really made any serious progress yet.  But I was starting to feel like it was a foregone conclusion.  I noticed that I started to withdraw from things in Pittsburgh.  It was a self-defense mechanism.  I didn't want the move to hurt so much.  It really was the worst month of the year for me.

April: We put our house on the Market in April.  We got an offer in 4 days.  We didn't have a job or place to live in Florida yet, but we accepted the offer anyhow.  It was a dreadfully wonderful experience to just throw logic aside and trust God with absolutely everything.

May: I got a job offer in Jacksonville Florida and headed south on May 15th after my last day at Dick's Sporting Goods.  We found a place to build our new house on the 17th and a short-term rental on the 18th and I started my new job at Stein Mart on the 21st.  The world was spinning fast in May.

June: We officially headed south with all of our belongings on June 1st, after Paige's last dance recital.  We had closed on the sale of our house 2 days earlier.  We also officially became members of our new church and jumped right into a small group.  Small group is a great bunch of guys and ladies who we really love.  I think we could spend every day with them, but they'd probably get too tired of us too quickly.

July: Perhaps the least eventful month of the year for us.  The major event was that we hosted our first visitors from up north as Tammie's brother and his family came and spent the week of the 4th of July with us.  We spent a lot of time at the beach :)  I think July is also the month that our friends, the Olsons, took us out for a day of jet skiing.  What a blast!!!!!

August: Early in August, out of the blue, I got a call from a corporate recruiter for DMEautomotive.  Normally I just let unexpected calls go straight to voice mail  but for some strange reason I answered this one.  A few short weeks later, I started my new job.  It has been a long time since I have learned this much, this fast at work.  It is both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.

September: The main event for September was a camping trip to Navarre Beach, near Pensacola Florida with our friends from up north, the Konrads (now living in Mississippi).  There they told us that their dog was soon to have puppies.  We asked if we could have the runt.

October: Perhaps the most stressful month of the year.  Our house was scheduled to be done being built by the 31st.  We didn't ever think they'd get it all done in time.  But thanks to a bunch of great guys from small group, we had a very easy move to our new place in time for Halloween.

November: Our first full month in our new house.  Lots of little things happened in November.  New furniture arrived.  I got a 60 inch HD 3D TV and DirecTV to watch the Penguins and Steelers (ok so not everything came up roses in 2012).  Thanks to friends from small group, I had my first fried turkey for Thanksgiving. YUM!

December: Perhaps the best thing in December... NO SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We picked up our dog, Cocoa.  She is easily the best puppy that I've ever had.  She is some kind of a Chocolate Lab mix.  Everyone who meets her tells us that the mix is Doberman.  I can see it in her coloring, but her sister had unmistakably German Shepherd coloring.  We may never know.

There is way too much more to write about 2012.  But you're certainly bored already.  To be sure, God is good all the time and 2012 was no exception.

Wishing you a richly blessed 2013!

2011: The Good, The Bad, the Ugly, and the Beautiful

It's New Years Eve day.  2012 is just around the corner.  I'm sitting at my computer reading FaceBook and working on my lesson on the first 31 chapters of the book of Job for church tomorrow... well, now I'm also blogging (blogging = procrastinating).

As I'm reading FaceBook, I'm saddened to see that so many of my friends and family had a crappy 2011.  As I'm reading Job, I'm encouraged in 2 ways.

First, no matter how bad your or my 2011 was, it is almost impossible to be as bad as just one day was for Job.  Job was a very blessed man.  He had fame and fortune.  He had a good family, a successful business, and  good friends who could and would see him through tough times.  He had iPads, iPhones, HD TVs (plasma, LCD, and LED - just so he could really be sure which one was the best), and all the other latest tech toys.  He drove a BMW 5 series on the odd days and a Hummer H2 on the even days.  His garage also housed  several Mercedes ragtops, a '69 Mustang GT, 3 different Harleys, and a '59 Studabaker that was currently being restored.  His bank account was larger than Bill Gates' and his 401K  was so large that they referred to it as a 4010000000K.  Then in one day, in fact, in one half hour period it was all taken away from him.  His vehicles were all stolen and taken to a chop shop.  The government issued bail out that completely devalued the dollar and sent the market into a downward spiral.  His children and their families were wiped out by a tornado.  His tech devices were all fried by unexpected solar flares that caused high levels of destructive electromagnetic radiation.  His banker funneled all his money into his own off shore account.  In short, he was ruined.  And if that wasn't enough, his body was soon to break out with the most painful and disgusting looking boils ever imagined.

Second, no matter how bad it gets, the proper response is to praise God for His goodness.  I know.  That doesn't seem to make sense.  But the reality of it is that no matter how bad you or I have had it, it could be worse.  Even in Job's case, it could've been worse; his wife could've died, he could've become blind of deaf, the list goes on.  As in Job's case, it is normal and OK to question God as to why all this has happened.  It is even normal and OK to tell God that you feel like it isn't fair.  But, like Job, we must also give glory and honor to God for the blessings that you do still have and for having had the time and opportunities with those you have lost.

So with all that in mind, I figured that I'd list my top 3 Good, Bad and Ugly thoughts from 2011.

Good:
1. We all have our health.
2. The Steelers made it to the Superbowl.
3. We had a great vacation to Disney this year.

The Bad:
1. Had to go to 2 funerals this year (2 funerals too many).
2. The Steelers lost the Superbowl.
3. Didn't spend enough time with family and friends.

The Ugly:
1. My step-brother, Amon died in November.

Thankfully, my Ugly list is limited to 1.

And finally we also have a Beautiful list to counter the Ugly list:
1. Tammie and I have a new dream that we are actively pursuing.  More to come on this later.

My prayer for you this day is that you can look back on 2011 and still give glory and honor to God for all of his goodness and that your 2012 is more like the end of Job's life.  In case you haven't read the story, Job ends up more blessed and more prosperous than ever.  To God be the glory!

It Has Been a While

It has been a busy summer of getting almost nothing done; including blogging.  The last couple of weeks have included trips to Virginia and Washington, DC, attending the Washington County Fair (almost every night), working on my resume, interviewing for new jobs (both inside DSG and outside... no good leads yet), teaching Jake how to shoot guns, helping friends move and potentially preparing to adopt (can't really say much more about this yet).

I'm behind on yard work.  We're behind on getting our house ready for sale next year.  I'm behind on continuing a conversation with a friend about buying property from him.  I'm behind on getting into better shape.  And we haven't been in the pool in weeks.

But we serve an awesome God.  We have been wrestling through several things this summer and have been trying to determine God's will for us in many areas.  The coolest part is that we are more open to anything than we have ever been in the past and that has helped us to sense God's blessing in new and different ways.

I think the next few weeks and months are shaping up to be an amazing ride for our family.  My only prayer is, "Have Your way, Jesus.  Have your way in our lives.."

Life Is Messy

Life is messy.  So is Muckfest.  I, however, don't like to be messy.  "What is Muckfest?" you ask.  It's only the most fun you can have with slime, paint, water, mud and almost 200 teenagers.

Every year our church puts on an multi-day event called Teen Madness.  The apex of the the event is Muckfest. Muckfest involves the teens painting themselves, sloshing in kiddy pools filled with slime, sliding on slip-n-slides covered in slime, sliding down a hill into a slime pit and wallowing in mud -- all contained in a giant mud pit that is being showered by local firefighters.  When all is said and done, the kids gather in the parking lot and are showered off by more firefighters.  The teens absolutely love it.

This is the 3rd year that I've helped out with Teen Madness.  Until this year I have never gotten messy at Muckfest.  I usually stand on the sidelines and escort teens to first aid when they have too much slop in their eyes.

This year started out in much the same fashion.  Then the students started coming to me all slimed up and asking for hugs.  I know they didn't really want hugs.  They really wanted to get me all slimed up too.  So I gave in and handed out hugs.

So now I'm reflecting on the events of the night.  Here's my takeaway...

Life is messy.  The people around us live messy lives.  The way I figure it, we have 2 choices.  We can stand on the sidelines and watch them wallow in the mud and slime.  Or, we can get messy with them and give them hugs.

Jesus chose to get messy.  He got right there into people's messy lives.  Philippians 2:8 says, "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!"  Jesus got messy by hanging out with the messy people of his day.  He was often hanging out with tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and other outcasts.  He comforted.  He healed.  He rebuked.  He encouraged.  And most importantly he died on the cross for their sins and ours.  Jesus got messy for them.  Jesus got messy for you and me.  Jesus got messy to make us clean.

Now, Jesus wants us to get messy to share his love with others.  I think next year, I might have to step up my messiness.

Who wants a hug?

4 Letter Words

I've had this post bouncing around in my head for a few weeks.  I even had a debate with my wife about it.

Warning: this post may make me seem a bit more liberal than I really am.  The views expressed here may not actually represent the views of the writer.  I'm just throwing thoughts out there.

Why are cuss words bad?  First, let me say that I don't cuss.  We try to shelter our kids from such language.  One time our daughter came to us and told us that she heard the "s" word on TV.  When we asked her what the "s" word was, she responded, "stupid."  We knew that we were doing our job.

Recently our kids were at a Pokemon tournament at the local library.  After the fact, we found out that the event was not chaperoned adequately.  Our kids (ages 13, 11 and 9) told us that they heard the "f" word from a few teenagers at the tournament.  Well this time they really did hear the "f" word.  Thankfully they knew it was bad, even though they didn't know what it was slang for.

Forget that I don't know why kids that age were using that word at a public library.  Why do people need to use that word at all?  I know people who use it every 3rd or 4th word.  Does it really add to the conversation that much?

But here is the question that I'm really wondering... what makes some words worse than others, even though they mean the same thing?  Why is sh-- worse than poop... pi-- worse than pee... da-- worse than darn.  One word in each of these sets is acceptable; one isn't.  Why?

I know parents who would never let their kids use the "f" word.  But these same kids use "fudge" or "freaking" in the same context in a sentence.  What's the difference?  When I hear the word "fudge" or "freaking" used in those contexts, I think of the other word, so why not just use the other word?

I also know a few good kids who post "WTF" on their FaceBook posts.  And some who will even say "what the f" in conversation.  Why is that acceptable?  Why can you allude to the word, so long as you don't actually say it... even though your hearers think and even in one sense "hear" it?

2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "[W]e take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  Words are spoken thoughts.  Can you use 4 letter words and take every thought captive?

Honda

A couple of years ago, I picked out an used 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan for my wife.  It had low miles and was at a good price.  Tammie had been wanting to get back into a van.  So I got her one.

I picked the Grand Caravan because, in my mind, they invented the minivan and none had surpassed them yet.  But I was wrong... they were no longer the king of the hill.  They had been surpassed by the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna and maybe even a few others.

She has hated that thing.  It wasn't too bad for the first year or so.  But over the last 2 years, it has been in the shop for one thing after the other.  The crazy thing... with all the trips to the shop, we tried 3 or 4 different garages... and EVERY time (I kid you not) when they found out what was wrong, they told us, "Yes, these vans are known for this."  I think the only those vans were not known for was being reliable.

The last time the van was in the shop, Tammie asked the guy which types of cars he saw the least.  His first answer was Mercedes Benz.  Well, we're not getting one of those.  His second answer was Hondas and Nissans.  Tammie soon fell in love with the Odyssey.  So today, on a whim, we stopped into South Hills Honda and looked up Ron Paree.

Now, I have to tell you, we didn't think that we would be able to work a out a deal today.  We figured that between what we still owed on the Caravan and what it was worth, given all the problems we've had with it, that we'd be too negative such that it would be cost prohibitive.

Two things happened today that shocked me.  1. Tammie said that she didn't want a minivan.  I think she's tired of the soccer mom stigma that comes from driving a minivan.  2. South Hills Honda came through.  We picked out a 2008 Honda CR-V all wheel drive with 27K miles.  I don't know how they worked out the numbers, but they were able to hit our payment and the price even included a 5 year 75K miles 100% warranty with no deductible (we didn't want to get nickle and dimed to death like the Caravan was doing to us).

So we are now a 2 Honda driving family.  If you're looking for a Honda, head over to South Hills Honda, look up Ron Paree and tell him that I sent you.  Tell him if he doesn't give you a good deal then Tammie will stop making cheesecakes for them.

Losing Me

I used to love Major League Baseball... even way back in the 80s when the Pirates were bad.  When I was in college I would jump on a bus to downtown Pittsburgh and take in a game by myself.  I watched every game on TV that I could.

Once, I even wrote a letter to the owners of the Cleveland Indians (David and Richard Jacobs) and told them to hire me as the team's manager.  At that time, the Indians were one of the worst teams in baseball year after year. My main selling point was that they couldn't do any worse.  I never heard from them.

But then 1994 happened.  1994 is the year that they played almost all of the regular season and then went on strike; ending the season and canceling the playoffs.  It was the year without a World Series.  It was also the last year I ever watched Major League Baseball.  It was at least 10 years before I ever went to another game.  Since then I have been to less than 10 games... and I haven paid to go to a single one.  Every game that I have seen was because I was given free tickets.  I haven't bought a single MLB licensed product.  Major League Baseball absolutely lost a fan in 1994.  And who knows... my kids aren't baseball fans now.  Maybe they would be if I still was.

Now there's the National Football League.  My current favorite sport.  I will spend the entire day on Sundays watching games.  Now they're on strike.  Strike/lockout I don't care what you call it.  It's a bunch of millionaires arguing with billionaires over how much they should get paid to play a game.

Keep it up NFL.  You're losing me.