"Inspirational place"

I keep reading in the gospels that Jesus "went up the mountain to pray". I know that we can (and should) pray throughout our day to day lives...but there are special places that just seem to "click" for us. For Jesus it was the mountains... Do you have a "inspirational place"? A place that just naturally leads to a conversation with God? A place where the "muddled" becomes clearer..and the tension just kind of fades away?

My "inspirational place" is being behind the wheel of my old truck. Maybe it's the oil fumes...maybe it's the fact that I am hurtling along the interstate in a rusty old box that is only 3 inches off the ground...maybe I feel "closer to God" because every moment on the Capitol Beltway in my old truck is a "near death experience"...I'm not sure. I just know that my "mountain" was made in Germany in 1965...where's yours?

Wrecked

Last week I was looking for photos online for the promo for our new "Wrecked" series. Michele laughed at me because, as she pointed out, "we have a barn full of wrecks...why are you looking for a picture online?". I took her advise and used a photo of "Otis" my wrecked 68 VW panel van for the promo picture. (...yes we name all of our cars)

Maybe you don't have a barn full of wrecked VW's like I do- but I bet you have a "barn full" of wrecked dreams, relationships, and plans somewhere... We all do. Even though we may feel like everyone else is "normal" and we are "messed up" the truth is we are all in some way "wrecked". The good news is that the Bible is filled with flawed, "messed up", wrecked people that God chose to work through in amazing ways! Over the next four weeks we are going to "expose" the stories of an extremely dysfunctional family, a convicted murderer, a prostitute, and a disgraced leader... Starts Sunday

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm checking out until after Christmas to enjoy some time with the family. I hope everyone has a chance to do the same.

Comparing...

I parked next to this truck at work last week. I snapped a picture because I thought it might be the only truck in the world that made mine look "newer" and "prettier". I guess that's the trouble with comparing...We can compare ourselves or our stuff with others and pretty much justify anything.

It all depends on what you compare yourself to... For example, when Michele "mentions" that I might have failed in some area as a husband or father I like to compare myself to the "Simpsons" (Homer and O.J.). Compared to them I feel pretty good about myself... When I want to justify purchasing something that I probably don't need I tend to "compare" myself with someone who already has one (or twelve), not with the millions of people that live on less than a dollar a day...

The "trick" is to stop comparing ourselves to others and know that our Creator loves us exactly the way we are...and sees our potential in spite of our "wrecks" and imperfections... even more than I love my old truck.
(Don't hate it because it's beautiful...at least to me.)

(L)earning

Reagan helped me wash the cars today. She's been "helping" me since she could barely walk but today she wanted to earn 50 cents to buy some stickers, so it was her first car washing "job". Since she doesn't read this,(she's 4 after all) I can tell you that she isn't really a "help" to me. When she "helps" I usually end up drenched from being sprayed by the hose, and the job takes twice as long. You know what though, I love having her "work" with me!

I think God looks at our efforts as his children to "earn" his blessing or attention much like I look at my daughter's efforts to "earn" money by helping me wash the cars. God can do whatever we can do better and faster without us...but he loves to have us "help" him. So many times we think we are "earning" when he knows we are actually "learning" to be more like him.

Speaking of learning , the picture is of Reagan washing the wheels on her own "ride"... Just like Daddy. That's my girl.

Workin' on my old truck.

Lately my old VW work truck "Brutus", hasn't been "feeling well". The engine has had a bad "miss" and it has generally just been running poorly. Since I've been busy and not feeling so well my self, I let it go. I just pushed the gas pedal harder and tried to ignore it. I finally had the time and the energy to work on it yesterday and wow, what a difference! I changed one simple thing and he runs like a new truck... Well, maybe not a "new" truck, but I had forgotten how much fun he was to drive when everything is working right!

Life is kinda like that isn't it? Sometimes little things go wrong in our relationship with God, others, or even in our health. Little things get broken. We screw things up, we sin. It's not a perfect world. The problem is, we don't take time to fix them, ask forgiveness, find out what's wrong. We are so busy we just push the "gas pedal" of our life a little harder and try to ignore the problems that weigh us down. Sometimes things completely "break down" and we have to stop and fix it. Usually though, we just keep on going even though life has become "less powerful", less enjoyable, less full. I was shocked recently when I became so ill to discover that I had probably been walking around with mononucleosis for weeks. I thought I was just tired and getting older...I didn't take time to stop and see if something was wrong before I "broke down".

I'm trying to be more proactive in my life. I hope you will too. Let's agree to not ignore the things in our life that we actually have the power to "fix". Let's ask forgiveness sooner rather than later. Endeavor to ask God to search our hearts and minds for things that could cause us to "break down" later. Let's try to live our lives at "full power" whenever possible instead of limping around due to our own neglect.

For the Gearheads: Brutus is a 65 VW doublecab truck. Low? yup, 3 inches off the ground and the lowest point. VW/porsche Type IV power. 944 four wheel discs. Front end narrowed 5 inches. IRS rear suspension. BRM wheels... "custom paint" by me. HA ...and yes that is an actionchurch sticker on the window.

It's an actionchurch "thing"...

Mondays are my family day off so I have been enjoying this awesome weather with "the girls". I did put an actionchurch.com windshield
banner on my VW Thing. (wiki) If you've never seen one they basically look like a clown car on crack... I figure if people want to "stare at my thing" maybe they'll check out the website.