18 Cans Later

2 1/2 days and 18 cans of slimfast later i can say that i've never looked forward to a can of soup like i do now. my doctor told me that i could start eating very soft foods today and i plan on starting with this....

though i've never had this particular flavor of soup i can hardly describe how anxious i am to try it. i've tasted most of the other flavors of campbell's chunky soups and i will vouch for their wholesome flavor. i can feel the saliva building in my mouth as i write about it. only 4 hours to go before i will be at home eating my wonderful bowl of soup.

it's only been 55 hours since my last chewable meal and i'm having to fight off some serious cravings. the manager of my team at work just told us that we are invited to partake in a spread that another team is having for a lady that is leaving our department. not cool, not cool at all. i new a kid in high school that had a broken jaw and lived off of ensure for over a month. i can only imagine how bad he wanted some real food. personally this isn't the longest i've had to go without real food. when i had my wisdom teeth removed i made it 4 whole days without solid foods, but i also had pain to discourage me from chewing anything. this all i'm working on is will power. thank God i have smidgen of it.

Thanksgiving Break 2005

i could probably write at least five post from my thanksgiving break, but out of lack of time i will try and condense it to one. which is going to be hard to do in light of the fact that this was probably the most fun t-giving break i have ever had.

it all started wednesday night after work. i met up with christy and the gang at two rows for some good ol' dollar pints and conversation. following that i made it out to a bar in addison for a couple hours of karaoke where i sang elvis' "heart break hotel" and chris cagle's "chicks dig it". i was a bit disappointed that i didn't get to sing bon jovi's "dead or alive".

thanksgiving day i packed some clothes and headed for burkburnett, tx for some great food and even better family. after eating around 1pm we sat down to watch the cowboys game followed by a nap. later that evening i met up with my cousin audrey, the karaoke queen, to go sing at a karaoke bar that has karaoke 7 days a week. it was fun singing with my cousin the karaoke queen. the reason i call her the karaoke queen is because she has won money singing in karaoke contest. i'm happy to say that i got to sing "dead or alive" this time out.

me, audrey, and my brother chad

friday i spent most of my day building a communion table for my church. this was the first table i have ever built so i solicited the help and tool of my dad and grandpa. it was awesome having three generations working together. their help and company was greatly appreciated. it saved me losts of time and a few mistakes. not to mention a couple of improvements to my fabrication plans. i'll write more about the table when i finish later this week.

friday night i met my friends adam and dj along with each of their girlfriends for some pool at our normal hangout. after a couple of hours of pool adam and i went to another friends party at said friends newly purchased house. three hours, lots of stories, some guitar playing, and video gaming later i went home to my grandparents house, where i normally sleep while back home, to get some rest.

four hours later i met up with adam and we went to breakfast with dj and his dad. i love eating a good country breakfast. it's half of what i look forward to when i go to visit my family. though this breakfast wasn't made by grandma it was still good stuff. following breakfast adam and i messed around until about 1 pm at which time i went to hangout with my friend traci who i had seen for the first time in 7 years just a couple of weeks ago. i spent 5 hours over at her house chatting, fixing her families scanner, playing with her daughter, and taking pictures with my snazzy camera that is equipped with a 10 second delay that allows me to take pictures such as this.

don't get the wrong idea now. i realize this photo makes us look more like a couple than a couple of friends, but friends are all we are. besides, she has a boy friend and lives two hours away. i'm not into stealing girl friends or long distance relationships anyways. after chillin' with traci i met up with adam and his cousin jessica for some dinner at fazzoli's. followed by an excellent movie, "walking the line". all i have to say it that it is a must see.

sunday morning i got up and ate yet another country breakfast. this time courtesy of grandma. i not only love her cooking, but i love eating breakfast with my grandparents every chance i get. oh, and i can't leave out the brer rabbit syrup! this stuff is so good. my grandpa soaks a slab of butter in it, mashes it up, and eats it with his biscuit. where as i put butter on my biscuit and pour the syrup over it in a decorative fashion. it is so good. believe it or not i cannot find this syrup in the dfw area. i have to get it in my home town. i would think i could at least find it in a health food store since it is all natural? for real, i'm not kidding! it only has two ingredients. molasses and corn syrup. after breakfast i went to spend the next couple of hours at my dad's place. he has a nice home on five acres of land out in the county. the only problem with that is the wind. which was blowing at an unbelievable speed that day. the weather man said there were gust of wind as fast as 61 mph, and there wasn't even a storm people! craziness i tell.

finally, as always, i hesitantly left my hometown for the big city. normally i leave on sunday nights, but i needed to be back in time to do some book keeping for my church before the service started. i was greatly surprised at church when my friend ronnie handed me the rich mullins cd that he said he would make me and several other people a couple of months ago. i told him he had a great memory. he said it was more like a lot of guilt. at least he has a conscious.

Calling In Sick After Four Days Off

today i was going to write about my happenings over the thanksgiving holiday, but quite unexpectedly i got to add another day to my thanksgiving break. while taking a shower this morning i bent over to wash my left leg and i felt an abnormal tightness in my lower left abdominal area. so i proceed to press on my abdomen to investigate this further. i did notice that it was a bit firm and shortly after pressing on my abdomen i felt light headed and nauseous. i'm thankful to say that i didn't pass out or vomit, but this did raise a serious red flag.

after getting out of the shower and getting dressed i called into work and left my boss a voice mail saying that i would be late to work because i'm going to the doctor the get my stomach checked out. at 7:00 am i left to visit the doctor. i find it quite convenient that my doctor works in a clinic that doesn't require an appointment, but if you don't want to wait forever you need to get there early. evidently i was too early. i only live 5 minutes away and turns out that they office doesn't open until 8 am. so i turned around and went home to take a nap before they opened. 45 minutes later i drove back to the doctor's office and was third in line for the day. nothing to complain about i must say.

after an approximate 20 minute wait it was my turn. the nurse listened to me tell my symptoms as she took my temperature, blood pressure and weight. she told me that she thought she knew what I had and that i saved myself a lot of pain by catching it early. though she didn’t feel to inclined to tell me what she thought that i had. following the normal stuff she had me give a urine sample, which for once was easy since i need pee anyways. next i waited in my own little room with a curtain for a door. why they shut the curtain i don't know? i even tried to leave it open and the nurse came by and shut it. i don't care if someone sees me sitting on the table twiddling my thumbs. after a 10 minute wait the doc came in and had me tell my story again and asked me a few additional questions. then he proceeded to tell me that my urine contained a small amount of blood and he would need for my abdomen to be x-rayed to give me a diagnoses.

so i hop on over to the x-ray room where the tech tell me to take of my cloths and put on a gown. i've only worn a hospital gown one other time. i must say that this gown was much easier to put on due to the strings coming together on my side rather than the back of me. after having radiation shot through my body i got to go wait in my private room again. where once again the nurse shut my curtain after i intentionally left it open. this wait must have been 20 minutes. i'm not exactly sure since i took a small nap on the table.

finally the good doctor game to give me the news. he told me that i didn't have a kidney stone which was good, but he believes that i have an infection in my colon (colon shown above), but he won't know for sure until he gets my urine test back from the lab. he went ahead and gave me a prescription for an infection in my colon and told me i had to have a liquid diet for a couple of days and then progress over another couple days from soft foods to the normal stuff. also he wanted me to increase my fiber intake. i told him that was ironic because a week ago i bought two new cereals that have a large amount of fiber. he graciously endorsed my actions and told me to keep it up.

at 10:45 i left the doctors office to go get my prescription filled. i was going to do some grocery shopping tonight, but instead i went to sam's club and bought 54 cans of slim fast for my temporary liquid diet. yes, 54 cans is a few more than i need, but it's sam's people. what do you expect? I bought the slim fast there to save money. turns out that my membership expired at the first of november and i would have to renew it to buy anything in the store. thus, making it feel like i got gauged on the drinks rather than a deal.

Rattlin' Shoes

for a while now one of my stylish brown dress shoes have been rattling when i walk. it doesn't rattle at a very noticeable volume, but when i walk in a quiet area i can hear it. for the longest time i just figured it was my gel heal insert, but this morning i decided that i have had enough of the rattling. so i took the gel insert out of my shoe and proceeded to shake my shoe, but to my dismay it was still making noise?! so i thought that maybe a pebble had gotten under the inside sole of my shoe. that idea was shot down when i found out that it was glued into my shoe. i continued shaking my shoe next to my ear until i figured out where in the shoe the noise was coming from. finally i narrowed it down to the heal, but where? i then decided to look at the bottom of my shoe despite all the logic that told me that this was absurd. like most all shoe the rubber on the bottom of my shoe was slowly wearing out from the mileage i put on it. Come to find out the bottom of my shoe isn't make of solid rubber. it was formed in a honey comb fashion and then covered with a thin solid layer of rubber. evidently the heal of my shoe wore to a point that a couple of pebbles punctured it and got stuck inside two of the combs. this morning i dug them out and now have rattle free shoes. i probably should start thinking about buying another pair of shoes, but that’s all I will do for now. i’m to cost conscious to buy new shoes while the tops of them still look good.

The Pinata & The Ninjas

once upon a time there was a pinata.
it was the biggest and baddest pinata in all
the land. because of this it had an ego problem.
an ego problem that had to be taken care of.

so the people had a meeting to
decide how to handle the situation.

the people decided that they would have to
ask the king permission to call on his ninjas to
take care of the pinata, but the king could have
cared less. for he was not affected by the pinata.

the people were distressed about the king's
reaction and they new that something had to be
done about the pinata. so the decide to do the
unthinkable and bypass the king by going
straight to dale the grand ninja.

the grand ninja agreed with the people.
he felt that something should be done
about the pinata. even though he did not
feel threatened by the pinata. due to this he
sent out his youngest and least experience
ninja, emily, to take care of the situation.

unfortunately the grand ninja underestimated
the his new foe and his young ninja was defeated.
when this information got back to the grand ninja
he decided to send michael, a more seasoned
ninja to handle the pinata.

he too was defeated. so was ninja scott.

despite ninja paul's extra meditation and prayer.

he too was defeated.

come to find out the young ninja michael was
corrupt and was aiding the pinata in it's victories.

this made the ninja zuriel angry,

but even the great zuriel, one of
the grand ninja's best students,
was unable to take down the pinata.

this left only one ninja. the greatest
student of the grand ninja, ninja teri.

the battle between the pinata
and ninja teri was a grueling battle.

but in the end ninja teri was victorious,

and all in the land where filled with joy.

Milestone

my church has a milestone wall. when some goes through a time in their life that they want to document and share with the community they create a milestone to hang on the wall. a couple of weeks ago my friend allison decided that she wanted to have a milestone created for our church. the milestone was to document that we were a community led church for nine months. i must say that allison gave a great speech about the milestone last night and did an excellent job thanking everyone who was a part of the journey.

i'm honored and thankful that i was elected to create the milestone. even though i've decided to be a financial advisor. i alway enjoy the opportunity to use the skills i aquired while getting my degree in graphic arts. working with allison reminded me of when i use to work with clients as a designer. taking their ideas and meshing them with your own to create a piece that the client, in this case allison, is happy with. like a lot of clients allison wasn't sure of what she wanted the milestone to look like, or at least they can't put into words. to solve this problem all i do is create what i think would be awesome and they will quickly tell you what they don't like about it. from there you can narrow down your concepts to a more client friendly version above. for a look at my original concept click here.

onto the milestone.....in october of 2004 our pastor announced that he was going to step down as pastor of our church in order to pursue a career as a counselor. most churches would have gone through the appropriate channels to have substitute pastors fill in until they found a pastor to fill the vacancy, but our church decided to have community members lead our talk times and take on pastoral roles in our church until a new pastor was found. little did we know that God had placed individuals in our church that had a desire to stand and teach from God's word. from november 7, 2004 to august 7, 2005 we went through times of good and bad, some extreme ups and downs. at first things were a bit bumpy. members stepped up and carried the responsibility that was put on them as others decided that their lives didn't have room for anymore responsibility and decided step away from the situation. there was great shift in leadership within the church. about half way through the nine months things started to smooth out and i'm proud to say that we as a community operated very well during our time without a pastor.

everyone was joyful the day of august 7, 2005. the day that danielle became our pastor. danielle was an intern pastor for a year when journey was first founded in june of 1999. only God could have timed events they way the unfolded. danielle had moved to new jersey in 2000 to complete her seminary degree. in 2005 danielle and her husband dan had decided that they wanted to move back to the dfw area to be closer to family and dan started looking for a new job in dallas. shortly after our church announced our pastoral vacancy we found out that danielle was moving back to dallas and that she was interested in the opportunity to be our pastor. after several months of considering different candidates, we as a community decided that danielle would be the one. i, being one of the few that new danielle before she left for jersey, was excited to hear that she was a candidate and was filled with joy when she accepted our offer to make her our pastor.

i have never been a part of a church with a woman pastor. i suspect very few people have. i don't know how many churches are led by women, but i can only guess the percentage is a single digit that is closer to 1 than 10, or 5 for that matter. i'm happy that our church was open to having a female pastor and i know that danielle and her joyous personality will bring many blessings into our lives as she leads us in the direction that God calls her to.

Six O'Clock Blessings

i think it is wonderful how God blessing are so unpredictable. at six o'clock this morning God surprised me with a knock at my door. it was my neighbor from across the hall. she had gone out to start her car so that i could warm up before she carried her baby out to it. she said that as she shut her car door she told herself not to lock her keys in the car. to bad our mind works faster than our body because in an instant it happened. her keys where locked in her running car with no spare to be found. all she wanted when she knocked on my door was to borrow a flash light. so i handed her my mag-light flash light and completed the last five minutes of my morning ritual.

some mornings i wake up earlier than others so that i can catch the bus that goes from carrollton to downtown dallas. luckily this was one of them. so i had plenty of time to help my neighbor break into her own car before leaving for work. doing so would only mean that i would have to drive all the way to work as opposed to riding the bus. thus costing me $5 extra dollars between gas and parking.

my neighbor is fortunate in that she drives a late model dodge neon, shown above. this is because the first generation dodge neon has a door similar to the door of a convertible. when you roll up the window it sticks up all by itself as opposed to being guided into the top arch of a door that you would typically find on a hard top car. when i got out to her car she had pried back her window enough to stick a cloths hanger into the car. she was having some trouble holding the flash light and move the hanger at the same time so i offered to hold the light for her. i would have offered to work with the hanger but she said that she had done this before. thus, she had a bit more experience than i at doing this. after about twenty minutes of holding the flash light, watching her unsuccessful attempts, and thinking about what i owned that might work better, the light bulb above my head finally lit up. it was at this time that i excused myself by telling my neighbor that i might have a tool that would do the trick. a minute later i came back out to the car with a "T" square. 30 seconds later i had her door open and a smile on her face. i find that i'm constantly learning something new. In fact, almost every day, and at 6:25 this morning i learned how to break into a first generation dodge neon without breaking or scratching anything.

i love helping others. i find it to be joyfully rewarding. i believe that feeling is a blessing from God. since i left for work for later than i normally would and the sky was free of clouds. i was able to catch a golden texas sunrise. i was already feeling good about helping my neighbor. so when i saw that sunrise it was ecstasy. all of a sudden i felt warm inside of my cold car. i felt a sense of calm as i gazed into the orange and blue skyline. for a moment i was at peace with the world around me.

Canadian Bacon & Pineapple

last night, after a meeting with a client, i went to wal-mart to buy groceries. for some reason their produce was really limited and in poor quality. so i decided to venture across the highway to super target. target is a nicer store in my opinion, but i'm typically a penny pincher who will make some sacrifices to save money, but i have my limits. i generally buy a couple of frozen pizzas a month. i typically buy the three meat pizza from freshetta or digiorno, which ever is cheaper. last night as i made it to the pizza section i found heaven. i didn't care which brand cost less. i was totally fixated on my pizza from heaven. my eye were wide open and a cheesy smile stretched across my face as i opened the refrigerator door. i was like homer simpson reaching for donuts. what was i so drawn too you ask? freshetta's new canadian bacon & pineapple pizza! inside, i was jumping for joy because canadian bacon & pineapple pizza, hands down, is my absolute favorite flavor of pizza. i've waited a decade for one of the big two to come out with a pizza with such divine toppings. i am so eager to cook my heavenly pizza, but i'm afraid i'll have to wait a whole four days before my taste buds can experience bliss. the wait is almost unbearable.

My Home Town

thursday after work i left the the expansive dfw area to go back to my hometown to visit with my family and long time friends. i will admit that i do enjoy living in the drw area. i love my church and the friends that i've made. i enjoy the never ending entertainment options and the business opportunities are considerably better than what i might find near my hometown. but, i would have no trouble moving back home to burkburnett, population 11k, just outside of wichita falls, population 105k. i'm very comfortable in my hometown. i'm loved and liked by many people. people who are always glad to see me. people who aren't in such a hurry to get through life. i guess i'm that way too. i can't remember the last time i was accused of rushing to get somewhere or get something done. my blonde, but not bimbo, friend probably hit the nail on the head when she said this....

"how delightful. seriously, you seem to have very pleasant and productive days. it's like you're in the 1950's, and that’s not at all a bad thing. like i picture you going about all this stuff whistling and with a smile on your face." link

my dad and my grand parents live out in the country. after living in dfw for six years, i have really grown to appreciate the calm that surrounds their homes. where the noise of traffic is replaced by the sounds of birds, cows, and horses. instead of the night lights of the city there are stars of plenty, and the city skyline is replaced by a never ending horizon. i'm not sure i can express in words how joyful it makes me feel.

friday afternoon i went up to my old high school to say to my aunt and take a stroll through the new additions that where added the year after i graduated. i was surprised at how comfortable i felt there. maybe it's because i wouldn't mind teaching high school students someday, or maybe it is because i don't have any ill feelings or bad memories of my high school days. more than likely a combination of both. later in the evening i went and visited with my friend traci who i hadn't seen in 6 1/2 years. it was great visiting with her and playing with her 3 year old daughter. traci is just as fun as i remember and i'm really glad she is back in my life.

saturday morning i drove to wichita falls to shop for wood to make a communion table out of. after quite a bit of browsing i found just the right wood. i'm going to make the table out of solid oak. though the wood was quite expensive, in the end it will have cost three times less than buying it from a furniture store. after buying the wood for the table i met up with my friend adam to check out new guitars with him. following our drooling session i ate dinner with all of my family that lives in and around burkburnett. we had some home cooked brisket, and man was it good. you can't beat grandma's cookin'. following my home cooked meal i met up with my friends lindsey, amber, and traci for lindsey's birthday. i caught up with them while they were shopping and we goofed off until the movie that we were going to watch started. we watched "elizabeth town", and it was okay. a bit slow in some parts. slow enough to cause me to fall asleep once or twice and long enough for the girls to notice and laugh at me.

sunday i went to church and said hi to everyone. besides the new people and the kids that keep getting bigger, it almost feels like i never left. as if a part of me is always there. that afternoon i got to go trail riding, with adam, for the first time in my life. i think i've found a new hobby. all i have to say is that it was awesome and i can't wait to do it again soon. adam says that i was lucky not to wreck my bike at least once. i did have one close call though, i could have sworn i was a goner. wrecking your bike is part of trail riding, but i hope to avoid it as much as i can. i had borrowed my dad's ford ranger to take mine and adam's bike out to the trail. after dropping adam off at home i was on my way back to my dad's to get my car back and i got a flat. due to my dad using his spare to replace a tire with a slow leak earlier that week, i was stuck. so i called my dad and he brought out the tire that had the slow leak and put it on the truck so we could get it home. that night, as always, i hesitantly left town. every time i leave i wish i had more time to stay. maybe someday i will.

Brain Foods

1. Blueberries
2. Dark Leafy Greens
3. Salmon, Sardines, and Herring
4. Spinach
5. Red Wine, or, better yet, Grape Juice
6. Whole Grains and Brown Rice
7. Hot Cocoa
8. Nuts, Notably Almonds and Walnuts
9. Olive Oil
10. Garlic

click this link to find out what each one does for your brain.

Cute Girl, Vacuum Cleaners, & Free Coke

today i have a couple of topics that i feel i could blog about, but i don't want to stretch it out over a couple of days. so i'm just going to ramble a bit today.

yesterday after work i drove to the post office to pick up my vacuum cleaner part because i had gotten a notice in my mail box the day before stating that it had arrived. i thought that the not said that my package was at the post office, but due to the postman's poor hand writing i was mislead. the nice man at the post office informed me that my package was actually at my apartments office. this was no big deal since my apartment office didn't close for another hour.

from the post office i drove to get gas at a gas station that was selling gas for $2.03 per gallon. i found this gas station thanks to CT who blogged about this useful website. after getting gas i drove to a lumber yard to see if i could find some wood for a communion table that i'm making for my church. turns out the size of the board that i need is a specialty wood and i will have to find a specialty wood shop that sells it. so i don't think i'll be able to build the table this weekend as i had hoped.

after arriving at my apartment and picking up my package i took it back to my apartment. while walking up to my apartment i saw a girl, who moved in about a month ago, washing the brake dust off of her car's wheels. as i walked into my apartment i decided that i should go and introduce myself to her. i had a couple of motives for this. one being that i have only met two other people in my complex over the last 18 months. neither of which i have seen again. two, she is new and people should get to know their new neighbors. three, for my business i need to meet new people that i can help with their finances or at least people that can introduce me to other new people. last but not least, she was cute and i'm single. said cute girl is named darlene. after talking to her from about 10 minutes i came to the conclusion that she is cool and i think we would get along quite well, but she isn't dating material. at least not for me. the reason she moved to my complex is that her and her now ex-boyfriend broke up. leading me to believe that our moral values are a bit different. still, she would make a great friend so i exchanged numbers with her and look forward to hanging out.

following my meet and greet with darlene i went back into my apartment to fix the vacuum cleaner that i salvaged a couple weeks ago. i have good news ladies and gentlemen. the vacuum cleaner has been healed and works great! i vacuumed my whole apartment with it and i am starting to wonder if i want to keep it and sell my new vacuum cleaner that i bought a 6 months ago instead.

this morning i woke up 30 minutes early to pack for my three day vacation to my home town. it' s been four months since i last visited my family. my longest stint ever. i debated on driving to the bus stop or all the way to work. finally at the last minute i decided to ride the bus. i'm glad i did because after getting off the bus and crossing the street i found a bottle cap on the ground that says "you win 1-liter coke product", and that is totally sweet.

Put Another Brick In The Wall

yesterday voters in texas hit the poles to vote on proposition two. which would constitutionally ban gay marriages in texas. according to the majority of those who voted we should not allow gay marriage in the state of texas. all if not the majority of the those who are opposed to gay marriage are professing christians. i know why they voted to approve the amendment. they feel that by allowing gay marriage that they are contributing to the demise of our society. that they are supporting that which is against God.

personally i feel that they are acting very selfishly, and i don't think this is how God wants them to act. they voted against gay marriage to protect themselves. at the same time they are pushing away those who they should be showing unconditional love to. we have learned throughout history that shoving your beliefs down someone else’s throat is not the way to win them to your side, but out of our selfishness we forget this and do it anyway. it saddens me to think that we christians continue to build walls between us and those who don't believe what we believe. why do we continue to build walls that Jesus worked so hard to tear down? Why?!

there will be many conservatives happy today that gay marriages have been banned in the state of texas. many who will claim victory. when actuality they lost another battle. yes, you might be right and they might be wrong, but when we point our fingers at someone they become defensive and defensive people are not open your beliefs, feelings, or opinions. just as your not open to theirs.

Photo Blog

i have decided to start a photo blog. i enjoy photography quite a bit and would love to share photos i've taken with others. also i would appreciate any praise or criticism that anyone might have towards a photo i've taken. please only complement a photo when you feel compelled to and if you feel the need to critique a photo, please, don't hold back. just click the link titled J-Lay Photagraphy at the top of my links section.

The Eye

are you standing in the eye, the calm, of the hurricane. for the most part is your life the same day in and day out? like a hurricane, someone can be in the middle of a powerful moment, an opportunity, or life changing event, and because they have become content in their own complacency they are standing there not seeing the potential for their life. are you standing in the eye of a hurricane, or are you seeking the potential in and around you. the potential to make a difference with your life?

Ode To Paul

paul rhymes with ball
and even the word wall.
he's more fun than a mall
and won't ever go bald.
his birthday is in the fall
and he has a mean bird call.
he can walk on a wall
and not even fall.
paul's not very tall
he hates airplanes that stall.
if you see him in the hall
say how ya doin' paul.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL!

Nickelback - All The Right Reasons

this past weekend i bought the newest nickelback cd "all the right reasons". after listening to it a few times i feel confident in saying that this cd is their best yet. my two favorite songs on the album are "photograph", a song about memories from growing up, and "if everyone cared", a song about the love the world is lacking. two other songs worth mentioning are "savin' me" and "far away".

Tao of Gump

last night, for the third time in my life, i watch the movie "forest gump". it had been a long time since i had seen the movie, about five years or so. long enough to forget a lot of it to say the least. it is such an great movie and i must say that i had forgotten that tom hanks was ever so thin. i just love the character of forest. he tells the story as an adult, but yet from a child like point of view. through all of his experiences in life he still has a child's innocents about him and that's where the humor in the movie comes from.

i guess it is a phase i'm going through, a good phase, because i couldn't help but notice that the movie had several messages that it conveys about life. truly that is what the movie is really about, life. the messages i got from it are.....

believe in God
love God
put other's interest before your own
love others even when you think they don't love you
a life is worth saving even if it doesn't want to be saved
stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves
keep your promises
friends are more important than money
share your wealth with others
true joy is found in the simplest of things
stupid is as stupid does
life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

pure gold i tell you, pure gold.

Explosive Worship

last night i accepted a friend's invitation to attend fellowship church's emergent service, which is held the first wednesday of every month. she told me that they play some great music and thought i would enjoy it. i myself don't have any reservations about going to a mega church. i have never had an experience to make me feel that way. my first experience with church was at a rather large church just outside of my home town, and the church i attended back home was quite large in relation to the size of the town. so i would venture to that i'm comfortable in a large church just as much as i am in a small church like the one i am now a member of.

fellowship church's website describes the monthly event as an explosive worship experience, and i would have to agree. the young pastor who spoke last night did a very good job of delivering his message. the music was just as the website describes. it was explosive. i found it very refreshing, mostly comprised of upbeat rock, and all songs that i have never heard. we also took part in communion. i really enjoy communion, but i must say that as they past around the trays of crackers and juice i couldn't help but think of a traditional baptist church and how i like my church's way of taken part in communion more. still, i was thankful for the reminder of what Christ sacrificed for me.

on a side note...while i was sitting up in the balcony i noticed two things. one was how many old people where there. i would have never guessed that so many people in there 60's and 70's would have come to a "rock show". i wonder if that was their first time and they didn't know what to expect, or if they attend the emergent service on a regular basis?

another thing i couldn't help but notice was the young twenty something guy sitting one row in front of me just off to my right. he kept looking over his left shoulder at one of the three attractive girls sitting next to me in my row. i know not everyone in the worship service was there to worship God. you have to expect that some people go just for the "meat market" atmosphere, but i would think that he would have made it a bit less obvious. or, maybe he wanted it to be obvious? if he did he should have smiled at least once while looking over his shoulder. possibly he wasn't smiling because the girl he was scoping out never looked at him. every time he looked back i just wanted to tell the guy that he needed go find his balls and walk up to the girl after the service and introduce himself. sadly, like most guys, even like me, he didn't.

I Thought I Wanted Water

tuesday afternoon while occupying some time i went to b&n to buy the book "blue like jazz". after buying the book i walked next door to the grocery store to buy a drink to go with my pb&j that i brought with me for dinner. instead of going all the way inside the store i decided to buy a drink from a vending machine in the entryway. there was a canned coke machine and a bottled dasani machine. i try to limit my soda intake so i decided to get some water from the dasani machine, which also sales soda and juice.

before i put in my dollar i noticed that the machine was displaying $0.50 in the red digital readout. i thought that it had a $0.50 credit and i might get a discount on my drink. i put in my dollar bill and then decided that i wanted a lemon flavored water. i have never had a bottle of lemon flavored water and wanted to give it a try. i pushed the button and a coke fell to the bottom along with $0.50 in the coin tray. even though i received the bottle of coke at a discount i was a bit distraught about not getting my lemon flavored water. i'm standing there staring at the machine in disbelief when i noticed that the digital readout still displayed $0.50. thus, i came to the conclusion that everything in that machine would cost $0.50 despite the $1.00 yellow tag stuck to the front of the machine. obviously an error on the vendors part.

since i wasn't content with my discounted coke i decided to put in my $0.50 and try for the regular water this time. i pushed the button and out came an apple juice. at this point i didn't know how to feel. i wasn't sure if i should be mad that i didn't get either of my choices or be happy that i got two drinks for $1. i like apple juice, but i really wanted to try the lemon flavored water. in the end i decided to be happy with my apple juice and take my bonus coke home for consumption at a later time.

as i write this post it makes me think about how God answers some of our prayers. we go him, push the button of prayer and something totally different comes out of it. if we are not content about what God gave us we push the prayer button again and yet again something completely different comes out. something that God obviously thinks will benefit us more, but we continue to stand in disbelief.

Texas Beauty

this morning, like many mornings, it was hard to roll out of bed at 5:00 am. that's why i waited until 5:30. after rolling out of bed i prepared for work as usual and headed out the door. with the sky clear and the clock turned back an hour i got to see beauty at its best. i was a witness to a texas sunrise.


it was awesome. so full of color and warmth, it turned my mood from somber to joyful in an instant. i love the way the sun makes me feel and i thank God for it every time i see it.