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Today is my anniversary!

August 5, 2011 in Family, Life with 5 Comments

I remember being in the car with my dad in the morning of August 5, 2000, just a couple of hours before I would stand in front of the woman that I love and commit to being her husband. It started raining. I freaked out. The wedding went just fine, but little did I know that this would be the first, and smallest, of many storms we would go through together, holding tightly to God, and to each other.

Over the past 11 years, I have grown to love Jill more and more. I have seen her grow into a wonderful and beautiful woman. She is incredibly talented, extremely generous, deeply loving, and so patient.
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Commitment

January 28, 2011 in Life with 4 Comments

Have you seen this video yet? It’s from American Idol season 10, and the story is all over the internet.

Chris Medina is young man who is engaged to Juliana. Two months before they were supposed to be married, Juliana was in a terrible car accident, and as Chris puts it “everything changed”. Since that time, Chris and Juli’s mom have been her primary caretakers. I don’t know Chris. I did meet Juli a few times when she was in high school. Several of her friends were involved in our ministry in Illinois. I’ve known about this story for some time, and it’s about time the whole world did too.

As I have said, I don’t know Chris, and I don’t know what his spiritual beliefs are. One thing I do know is that he has shown commitment that very few today do. We live in a culture that says “if they get fat”, “don’t like what you like”, or “you are just different people now”, you should kick them to the curb and find someone new. But Chris has demonstrated the kind of commitment that Christians should be known for. When most people wouldn’t fault him for walking away, he has held on to the vows he was about to make.

I’m moved and challenged by this type of commitment. I think we all should be.

Time

November 11, 2009 in Life with 0 Comments

I recently asked the question on Twitter, “What would you do if there was more than 24 hours in a day?” I got responses like “sleep”, “eat”, “spend time with my wife”, and my favorite – “complain about not having enough time”. I asked this because I have been wondering how I should be spending my time. Then this question came to me. What if there were less than 24 hours in a day, what would I do? Time would be at a premium, so what is most important? I’m still trying to figure this out, but how would you answer this question?

Football Season

September 15, 2009 in Life with 0 Comments

81705538SL014_CHICAGO_BEARSSo the football season is upon us and I couldn’t be happier (isn’t that what we say). I love football. I love playing football. I love watching football played at all levels. It is just something that I truly enjoy. This year is different. Not that I won’t watch games, or get excited about great plays, but I have a different “outlook” on the football season this year. The reason is that I have chosen not to play fantasy football at all this year. This will mark the first time in a great many years that I haven’t played. I am usually in at least one league with a bunch of other youth pastors and friends from Moody (I have won this league 3 times). We never played for money, just for pride. I have also been in pick-em leagues and this year I am not.

I don’t have any great spiritual reason that I am not playing fantasy football. I just wanted to return to enjoying a game without having to check to see how my fantasy team is doing. I want to watch football to watch football. I don’t want to have to cheer for guys to have a good game and hope they lose because I hate their team, but they are an important player on my fantasy team. I want to enjoy the game. Pure football.

Of course I make this choice the year Yahoo introduces an app for my iPhone that would allow me to control my team better. Oh well. Let’s go Bears!

10 things this fat guy wished skinny people knew

August 18, 2009 in Life with 0 Comments

Okay, I have always been a “husky” boy. I thought I would give skinny people a glimpse into things they should know when they deal with their fat friends.

  1. Never let your fat friend wear a solid purple shirt. It only makes them look like Grimace.
  2. Don’t stand behind me without letting me know you are there. Turning around or backing up could be dangerous to you if I don’t know you are there.
  3. I know you can’t catch me if I fall. Don’t pretend you can.
  4. Don’t make me sit in the middle of a row. Let me have the end. It will be best for everyone.
  5. I don’t always want the food you don’t finish. Okay, sometimes I do, but you don’t have to assume I do.
  6. It’s okay to laugh when I make a fat joke.
  7. Please let us continue to believe that black clothes and vertical stripes make us look slimmer.
  8. Don’t make me sit on flimsy chairs. I’ll just stand.
  9. No, I have never put an all-you-can-eat buffet out of business. Thanks for asking.
  10. If I’m wearing a red shirt, “Hey Kool-Aid” gets old really fast!

Do you have any others to add to this list?
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