Salvation, Restoration, Redemption and Santa Fe, Tx

A couple of years ago I wrote a paper on Salvation.. a part of that paper is as follows..

Salvation as I stated before is a process. People may be immediately granted membership to the “Body of Christ” when they repent and believe. I also believe people will have eternity with their creator, but probably have not received salvation from all of the “issues” that block them from having a rich and full life. Christ said that he came so that “they may have life and have it to the full”. People will still struggle with issues once they become a Christian therefore I believe they must work through their salvation regarding those issues. Not that I think they are lost or their eternity is in question but true salvation is to be cut free of all those issues. Over time individuals can work through and with the love of community and guidance of the Holy Spirit can be freed of more and more issues over time.

I hope I haven't lost all of you starting you off this way but I have to share with you something very important...that's why I'm back here at my blog that I have pretty much abandoned since falling in love with fb and twitter.

We moved to Alta Loma when I was 5 years old...a part of the white flight of America when schools began desegregating. Can't desegregate a school district that's all white. (mind you I did not understand all of this until much later in life.. I was just living in a world my parents were creating around me)..

Now once we got to Alta Loma and I started in to the Santa Fe Schools...pretty much all I heard was how I was not given an even break because I was not a part of the "clique" or kin to the right people or whatever. Failed accomplishments by me were reasoned away by my dad because I wasn't part of the right group.

That stuff stuck with me. From not making the sale at the county fair to not making all stars in baseball to not getting an offensive lineman award were all laid at the feet of the fact that I just didn't belong in this community.

So...I had a negative feeling about the place I grew up. I felt like I had been shorted by people I grew up around. I just didn't know what to do with this feeling.. I enjoyed those folks I was around but in the back of my mind was this seed that had been planted about my town, my school and the people that were a part it all.

I then grew older and up and graduated and moved on. For many years I was really kind of happy to shake the dust of that town off my shoes and leave it behind. I did go back for a reunion in 88 and I was going through some transformations during that time that did not allow for that reunion to be that fun for me. Everyone was who they were but I had an arrogant feeling about myself and just didn't feel like I fit in.....still.

I heard about later reunions but easily passed on attending because I just didn't want to be a part of all of that. Sometimes it was for reasons of my new-found role as a Christian..

I don't know why I had this idea in my head that I had to give up certain things to be a Christian but it was what it was. I had a very fundamental ideal that I was striving for as I finally made the decision to be a follower of Jesus. I gave up drinking, cursing was dropped easily (and I still try to avoid it as I do not find it attractive as a representative of Christ in the world) and other things that were things that were important for me to do for me to truly believe I was making the sacrifice to follow my savior. Taking up my cross so to speak.

Hence the beginning statements from my paper. I had received salvation from my savior but I had not received salvation from myself. A friend I met years later taught me the redemption available in Christ. Finding God in all things. Loving God's creation. Loving all people...period.

Time went on and I began to find God in a good slice of pizza and a wonderful bottle of Shiner Bock. I had forgotten how great it was to sip gin and tonic....and with all these things many of my self imposed barriers to my home town and my school began to disappear.

I yearned for restoration to my people.. my people from my little community of Santa Fe Texas. Then came the gift of facebook. I began to find my peeps on there and what a joy it was. I was able to communicate with them and it was so great to be a part of their lives again. I watched in envy (forgive me Lord) as the class of 79 had their 30 year class reunion....wishing I could have been a part of mine..if there was one.


Then a long lost friend (won't say old..thanks Janet) throws a party and I get to go..

All I can say is my heart is full..nothing else explains how I feel.

Thank you Connie for your hospitality and your heart.
Thank you Cory for helping me in my redemption and restoration..
Thank you Donna for loving me for a long time through all my phases.
God Bless every one of you.. and those of you Fe'ers that were not there..I look forward to seeing you some day soon too.

Peace

a short sabbatical from twitter/facebook etc...

First.. a little catching up.

I put new strings on my guitar before church Sunday morning.

I was really tired and it was tough getting up for church Sunday morning... but church was great. Wow, the congregation was singing big time..more than usual.. and we had such a small team Sunday morning too. 2 acoustics and and electric..2 female vocals and myself.. I was really planning to speak to my congregation about why the students could sing so loud at camp but we couldn't/wouldn't in church... but I had nothing to say..they sang out..I don't know why but they were awesome!

Did laundry Sunday afternoon and napped.

Worked Monday and Tuesday at the Ex but mostly catch up from being off last week while at camp... made progress on a couple of things like processing a new hire.. Yay!!

Napped at night..good grief.. it is so hard for me to recover from camp this year. I think part of it is because my allergies are driving me crazy.. I'm also older.. been doing crazy things like playing softball and beach vollyball way before I should (I was making some good progress with my daily walking and was feeling very good but I pushed too much too fast and am now fighting a lot of pain..)

Stayed on my diet pretty well most of camp week until all we had to eat was sandwiches and pizza.. oh well. I've been bad the last couple of days too... Haven't stepped on a scale but my belt notch has not changed...that's a good thing.

I pretty much forgot to twitter Sunday and Monday just because I was too tired and to busy at work to mess with it. Tuesday I realized it and decided to make it another day just so I can say I did. It's been 3 days and no facebook or twitter (besides a couple of replies that I would not ignore..I'm not a jerk).

I'm about to hit the sack and I will get up tomorrow..pack, head to Ft Worth with Donna and Hannah and go through orientation at TCU. We'll stop in Athens on the way and get coffee..

If you are ever traveling through or near Athens Tx and need a coffee go to the Flying Gato.. They have the best coffee I have ever tasted anywhere.. I'm not a coffee snob like Cory but of all the local shops I've tried in Tx and New York as well as the Starbucks I've been to the Gato is the best.. Give it a try some time.

I'll be back on twitter tomorrow..I think I've caught up on my sleep now and hope my allergies are calming down..

If you want to see some vids of camp last week check out Romack's youtube.. camp was great. I love playing with those guys and the kids were awesome. Thanks Cory and the NEA reps for giving us the opportunity to lead worship there. Donna also posted a bunch of pics and vids on her skydrive.. check them out here.. a great week!!!

Ok.. going to sleep now.. Peace out!!

Catching you up...

I hope I don't make this too long but here's what's been up lately..

Friday Octoboer 17th.. drive to Conroe to do some work around my in-laws house.. almost hit a deer and scared the crap out of everyone.

Saturday October 18th.. Clean out my wife's aunt's house and get stuff for the 2nd "Send Hannah to Rome" garage sale (see pic of truck for our spoils).

Sunday October 19th.. Breif worship confessional..

Rain Down

To Every Nation

You Never Let Go

Communion-Come Ye Sinners

Went home, ate lunch, took a nap, drove to Fort Worth...Hannah did most of the driving on this trip..


, ate at Uncle Julio's with Donna, Hannah and Katie Anderson.. yeah. a table full of Andersons... but not all mine.

Monday October 20th.. Spent the morning hanging out with Katie on the TCU campus as she showed us around. Ate Lunch at Fuzzies and saw Nikolee Beyers (our super awesome student intern from last summer).

Saw Aaron Marez that morning too and he did our orientation meeting.. that was cool.

Hung out around the college of communications that afternoon and took a tour and saw Brittany Brookshire Adams.. she gave us all big hugs and we hugged her back and she introduced Hannah to her class.. that was cool. Also looked around the radio, TV, film department and that's where Hannah would like to study.. heck so would I.. looked pretty fun.

Drove back to Lufkin then drove (by myself) to Waco to do Fortune 100 transportation work.. hit a deer east of Marlin. No one hurt.. including the deer I think.. the PT Cruiser got a little damage though.

Tuesday Oct 21st.. Worked in Waco, age at Rudy's that night. Stopped at Sonic and got a sonic blast.. shot the last needed video I have to do to complete my half of the Todd and Artie eats video.. now if I could just get time to put it all on a CD and ship it to you.

Wednesday Oct 22nd.. worked in Waco that morning and drove back to rehearse for drug court entertainment.

Thursday Oct 23rd.. Worked that day then did entertainment for Judge White's drug court and drug court graduation at our Fellowship Hall. We did:

Unclouded Day

I'll Fly Away

Everything (Caraway, Anderson, et. al.)

The Road to Recovery (Muchow)

Friday Oct 24th Worked and went to the first half of the LP/University Park game (the half with no score).

Saturday Oct 25th Learned "Audience of One" by Big Daddy Weave and "Give me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath. Cleaned House..moved all of Hannah's garage sale stuff out of the guest room in to the "media room" (that's a future name for what is now a junk room). Did laundry, practiced Audience of One with Shawn Reith. Hung out with Cory Glover and many of his friends who came in for his Ordination that occured Sunday night. Tell him he needs to blog. Went home early because I had to get up early for church..

Sunday Oct 26th.. video worship confessional and more..

Yes.. our wallpaper is coming off the wall in our bedroom... we'll be fixing that some day soon.

And that's a PBJ..yes I ate it right after shooting that vid.

Oh and by the way. We had myself on Acoustic Guitar and Amanda Hutchinson on bass..that was our whole band.. We had several singers and thank you Scott Skelton, Tara Watson, Bill Malnar and Tina Peavey for being there along with Amanda..

You can see the video of Cory's ordination here.

Monday Oct 27th..worked that day and vegged that night..watched some dvr'd shows and ate and skipped bible study.. I was too worn out. Forgive me.

Tuesday Oct 28th..worked at you know where that day and that night planned, scanned and e-mailed music for the next couple of weeks. I have even updated my sidebar here on my blog with the music that is planned for the next few weeks. I also went to the Goodiers to get more garage sale stuff for Hannah. I plan to head to the Tyson's Thursday and get their offerings to the Rome trip.

OK, my hands are cramping.. I think that's enough.

Gospel Fest..on video

My friend Don sent this email out...
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For those who were not able to attend Bonita UMC's Gospel fest this year, it can be viewed and heard at the following link:

www.bonitaumc.org

At the bottom left of that page, click on <1> under "Gospel Fest Video"

There are 3 parts. Part <2> will be uploaded and available by Thursday and then Part <3> on Friday.

There was wide diversity in the musical styles and among those in atttendence -- but there was unity in the Spirit.

DeColores
Don Clark

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I haven't had a chance to look at it yet..can't do that from work but I hope to later tonight.

Gospel Fest

A few members or our praise team and myself ventured to Bonita United Methodist Church today and participated in their annual Gospel Fest. My friend Don Clark and others have organized this for a few years now and I've gone every year. This is the first time I've brought church family with me.

It's a great time with all kinds of gospel music performed from CCM (that would be us) to black gospel and even secular tunes with a spiritual message.

Wonderful people from the church also make or bring great food (especially the desserts) and an offering is taken up to help Love Inc.

I tried to take those that were there on a little bit of a spiritual journey with God from our first understanding of a great and wonderful God that we don't understand..to the coming of our messiah to the fact that we are saved and it is time for us to respond.. The set list was..

God of Wonders (Byrd/Hindalong)
Forever (Tomlin)
Rain Down (Crowder)
Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel (a la Sufjan Stevens)
A Beautiful Collision (Crowder)
Jesus Messiah (Tomlin)
How Great Thou Art ( a la Baloche)
All Creatures (a la Crowder on Illuminate)
Surely We Can Change (Crowder).

It was a great time.. some of the gospel groups we heard and worshiped were phenomenal. We received great feedback regarding our presentation as well. It's always a great time to hang out with loving Godly people and worship with them.

Survivor's guilt....

Ike certainly played havoc with many people's lives.. even before he got here many were dealing with a lot of stress and relocating and finding places to eat, sleep, clean up, etc...

Well we're suffering from something that Donna has coined as "Survivor's guilt"

We have been blessed.. and I don't mean blessed because we only lost power or the tree fell away from the house like so many others have declared.

We have fared better than most through this crazy ordeal.

I've already told you about our Brookshire Brothers experience.. amazing.

Well then Ike finally makes his way on to land. Donna hates that the storm is going to hit us while we're asleep. But when we go to bed it's a little breezy with a slight overcast. No big deal.

The storm hits in the early morning and we start watching the weather channel. I get on my computer and start watching the progress of the storm and the path it is taking. I'm watching on line broadcasts from Houston and Beaumont..

I feel so bad for all those folks in Houston and the golden triangle, I hope my brothers are ok (and they are) as well as cousins etc. (they are).

The wind kicks up.. harder gusts and as time goes on the lights flicker... and stay on. Later I hear some big noise on the roof.. I go outside to see what's going on. There is a small limb on the roof. There are a couple of larger limbs down but the trees are all standing secure.. the next gust blows through and scares the heck out of me.. I go inside.

A few hours later we start checking on people and listening to the radio. Seems everyone we talk to has lost power.. Friends tell us that if we have power we're the only people in Lufkin with power.. I know she's wrong because I can see the TV on in the house across the street. Outside that I really don't know.

I'm also checking twitter throughout the day and find that people well north of me have lost power like Jinx but he has twitter up on his BB so I keep him posted on what's up and the storm center and direction and speed and cool stuff like that...

We ride the entire storm out and never lose lights, satellite (which we usually lose when a front comes through), or internet. Amazing. We invite friends over that are in the dark and play some games and watch the USC/Ohio State game.

We have a very well attended casual communion service at church the next morning. It is a beautiful service. Cory, we need to pray like that more often..

Anyway.. I then do fortune 500 transportation company stuff the rest of the day.

No power at work but really it just makes life a little simpler there for a while. I have to say I'm kind of enjoying it..

Donna puts the word out to friends that we have freezer space for those that don't want to lose their food..they can store it with us.

One of Donna's friends offers us some meat that she says she won't eat. Just eat it, don't worry about freezing it for her.

I find out it's meat from the Grand Champion Steer from the Houston Livestock show and Rodeo.






I do not know if this is the actual steer but it could be...

Ok, those steers don't go cheap so I go check this out here. If the steer weights out at around 2000 lbs and dresses around 1400 lbs..going for $300,000 means I was eating meat worth about $214/lb... so that filet I had was worth somewhere around $160..and we got it free.

Wow..

I'm buying a lottery ticket tomorrow.

If I win..I'll feel even more guilty but I will then be a full time minister too...

Lufkin Panther Football is missed

Since we were not able to watch the Lufkin Panthers play this week due to Hurricane Ike.. I thought I would share some video from the nail biting ending of the Lufkin Panther game against John Tyler last week. We barely won 13-12.. everyone was galvanized to the game. Fan excitement was high!!!

Beer Tasting...

When I was in college.. well by my senior year.. I had begun to explore the world of imported beer. My friend Warren and I would venture over to the Deluxe Burger Bar across from my dorm at A&M and try a different beer each week. We would treat it like it was a fine wine, slurping it back to the back of our pallet, swishing it around in our mouth to get the full flavor and also testing if it was a "bottle" beer or a "glass" beer.



Some beers are made.. in fact all are probably are made this way.. to release certain chemicals when it is poured in to the glass and it changes the flavor of the beer. Hopefully to make it taste better. I prefer some beers poured in to a glass .. others I find to be more tasty straight from the bottle. We usually just stuck to one type of beer each time. Wasn't one to mix my beers.



Well last Friday night.. we performed beer tasting a la Cory Glover.. I'd link his blog but it hasn't changed since the last time you looked at it so don't worry about that...



We would each select a beer..then pour a little of our beer in to a friends glass and taste it.. then share with another and perform the same type of tasting again... finally we would finish our selection. It was a fun time. Jeff had cooked some kind of awesome grilled chicken breasts and Polly had supplied some great potatoes and this sinful dessert.



We laughed and ate and talked and watched Olympics and talked and had a great night... take a look at the selection..
Nice huh?

My Friday...

Today I unplugged.... I have been feeling a little apart from my creator as of late and I needed to get back in rhythm with God.

Cory Glover and I started out kinda early.. well real early for him but not so early for me... I met him at his house at 8 this morning and we loaded up a couple of kayaks, some food and shared some awesome coffee that he made in his French press and headed out to Ratcliff. My blackberry was sitting on my dresser at home.. Now that doesn't happen very often.



















I spent most of my morning in prayer. A lot of "The Jesus Prayer".. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me, a sinner. I used some Mardi Gras beads we got when we went on a mission trip to New Orleans last summer to aid in this prayer.

Also prayed over my Emmaus team and the pilgrims. I then had some free and open discussion with my creator.

Read some new testament..Matthew and Mark. Ate some lunch then read some more.

Picked up my guitar and sang some praises to my God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Then we took a little trip around the lake in the kayaks.

First time in a kayak for me. Wasn't sure how my svelte build was going to handle that little piece of plastic with the hole in it. Except for some understandable awkwardness in handling at first, it was really cool. We did that for a while and then back to the truck and headed home.

Got cleaned up and rested a little then went to Jeff Goodier's house for a little beer tasting. Cory had brought back some local beers from Colorado when he went on vacation and some that were from the Pac NW. We enjoyed some good food, good beer and good conversation as we sampled the different offerings Mr. Glover brought.

Now I'm back home and ready to hit the sack.. a beautiful day with God today. God is good!

Indy Jones and that Crystal Skull movie

I went and saw this movie with my kids Saturday afternoon. Todd and Chris have already posted many of my own thoughts on the movie. I just want you to know that I'll go see it again. For 2 reasons.. Donna hasn't seen it yet and I'll take her when she gets through working on the living room painting project or when she gets tired of painting, and because I liked it. I liked the first, the third and this one. Raiders is still my fav but this one was fun and I enjoyed seeing Karen Allen back in the story. I've had a secret crush on her since I saw her in Animal House.

Spend your money and enjoy! There will be things that you will have issues with just like I did but overall it was a well spent couple of hours.

I

In resopnse to this
i am: Large
i think: I'm not to old to be what I want to be.
i know: so little
i want: a cooper, a new guitar, a more energy efficient house, peace and oh yeah, contentment.
i have: more than I can say grace over
i wish: the best for my children in their lives
i hate: nothing right now.
i miss: mom
i fear: snakes and lizards
i feel: fat
i hear: the printer whirring and Keith talking
i smell: air freshener
i crave: big soft sweet pastries with chocolate milk
i search: for acceptance
i wonder: when God will call me away from FedEx
i regret: nothing
i love: my family
i ache: when I sit too long
i care: what you think most of the time
i always: over eat
i am not: a great guitar player
i believe: we are called to do God's will on earth as it is in heaven
i dance: Not.. any more.
i sing: a lot
i don't always: do what I should
i fight: hatred
i write: horribly
i win: at fantasy sports....sometimes
i lose: at guitar hero
i never: eat liver
i confuse: people I work with for my own entertainment
i listen: to contemporary christian music..on CD's and pop music on the radio to try and stay in tune with my kids
i can usually be found: at Fedex or First Christian Church
i am scared: sometimes
i need: a Shiner Bock now and then.
i am happy about: my life

and now what...

This is always what I have been anxious about. I know no one is really looking at this except maybe Sam because he put me on his friends list but now there is this looming expectation to produce... What is expected on something like this?

My friend Cory even invited me to mobblog his (re)blog. I hold my friend Cory in high esteem. He is a brilliant young man, has a great memory and has really helped me to stretch the boundaries of my theology and has encouraged me to continue down a path I felt I was going...he just made me run when I was wanting to crawl...

Anyway..Cory had this awesome blog when he moved to Lufkin, massive, great pics, super content, and he, I believe has a reputation based on that.

Now as I said before he invited me to be a participant on his blog (it's on my list..please check it out. You will be challenged!! Especially if you automatically write off people like Obama or Rev Wright.) Me? I seldom watch the news much less get in to such high level muckity muck. I'm a pretty basic guy and I really don't see my blogging exploits even entering the same stratosphere as Mr. Glover's. We have much in common but I look to Mr. Glover for insight, guidance, and comfort. He is my pastor.. No doubt, Mike is my pastor too, but when I was looking for a place to "be", to heal, he opened doors for me to serve but still just "be" and worship..not a lot of expended effort on my part to play 3 or 4 songs on a Sunday night. Great time for healing and I know he saw that... healing comes along and he moves me forward in my thought processes challenging my fundamentalist theology and beliefs... and remains my friend and confidant. I still remember him saying that I must think he's just a young kid that doesn't know anything but I hardly ever missed youth because I learned so much from him.

His (re)blog has been on hold for a while because he has been attending Bright Seminary at TCU but he completes that very soon so the (re)blog is getting resurrected.

I really don't know if my simple musings would fit in with Glover's... what do you think? Yes even you Cory if you happen to read this...