Caffeine Free

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the fact that I am now caffeine free for 5 days. FIVE WHOLE DAYS!!! I had to go off of the caffeine...

I was only drinking diet soft drinks, but for some reason or another, I believe that drinking 8-10 diet dr. peppers during a day is not the greatest thing to do. I was having stomach problems, sleeping problems, and all sorts of other things were starting to happen. I was hooked, addicted, and hard up for caffeine.

About 3 years ago, I was able to do this. I did it for around a year, and then slowly started to drink caffeine again.

My head was in a continual state of throbbing yesterday. All through class, through church, through my Honduras team meeting, and through life groups. This morning however, I feel much better.

I'm hoping that this step of going off of the caffeine will help me redirect my eating habits as well. The other day, I ate something that will shock the stew out of a whole lot of you who know me. I ate a piece of raw, non-condiment covered broccoli. Yes, I Lane Widick, the pickiest eater on the face of the earth...ate broccoli, along with some cherry tomatoes.

I fear the caffeine withdrawl symptoms may go on for a week or so, but its worth it to me.

Who's Out There????

Recently, a friend of mine, Kevin Westmoreland, told me about a really neat incident. He has a relative who lives in New York named Becky who was curious about his faith, and was looking things up online to find information on it. Of all the pages in the world she could have come to, she came to my blog page!

This is just truly amazing to me. I have said from the get go on this whole blog thing that I may not specifically post about Christ everyday, but I want Christ to be seen everyday in my blog.

This brought up some curiousity on my part, wondering who all is actually looking at my blog. If you would, kindly click on the comment link below this post, type in your name, your comment, and word verification code (this is so I can avoid spam). On your comment please leave:

1. Your name
2. Where you are located at (city, state, country)
3. How you came to find my blog

Thanks everyone!! I really look forward to hearing from you all!

Carrying the cross

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to fill in for our minister while he was away on a quick vacation. As I was preaching, on the topic of Carrying Your Own Cross, some more ideas popped into my head that I'd like to share with you.

We must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Christ in order to be one of his disciples. Denying ourselves is a hard thing to do. Everything within our living being promotes us to do what feels natural, take care of ourselves, protect ourselves...not deny ourselves.

Denying ourselves means to make a choice as to who is number one: Yourself or Christ. The thing is, included in yourself is all that is important to you -- your wife, husband, children, pets, home, cars, your love for a deep dish pizza -- all of that is included in denying yourself. If you choose any of those over Christ, you have chosen not to be a disciple of Christ.

I love my wife dearly, more than anything in this world. However, since I choose to be a disciple of Christ, I must love Christ more. I must love my cause for Christ more than anything that means something to me on this earth.

How hard is to deny ourselves? Well, how hard is it to say no to that food you really love...pizza, chips, chocolate, Starbucks, honeybuns...its hard to deny yourself those foods. Even if you know they're all terrible for you on a consistent basis, we consistently choose to put those things into our bodies.

God asks us to put aside all pleasures and happiness...focusing completely on Him. I have every good intention of denying myself and taking up my cross, but its so hard.

I must put those things I love on this earth on the cross. I must take up my cross by placing those things on it, and follow Christ. When I do this, Christ comes along to help me in my burden. Christ didn't carry his cross by himself, nor does he expect us to carry ours on our own. He wants to help us in this burden.

God bless.

Faced with a Decision

Everyone comes to this point in their life: Is it time to get a new car?

Here are the reasons I'm thinking of doing so.

1. My 98 Ford Explorer Sport has some issues
- It needs 4 new tires (cost estimate is $600)

- It needs to have the window tint removed so it can pass MS inspection ($40)

- It seems to be idling a lot rougher than it used to be (??)

- It gets TERRIBLE gas mileage. I drive 4 miles to work and 4 miles home...total of 8 miles a day. I may drive an additional 4 miles during a day every now and then...so about maybe 70 miles a week for work. Then I may put an additional 80 miles or so a week on it. Total of 150 miles a week on average...and I fill up once a week...on a 16 gallon tank. If i'm doing the math right, that's a little over 10 miles per gallon...yuck!!

- Its losing value every week. It has 124,000 miles on it, and I can sell it for about $4000, or trade it in for about $3000 or less. I figure with the door locks, the tires, the engine idling problem, and a few other mechanical problems (struts and shocks, etc.) I'll be spending around $1500 for tune ups and repairs.

- It is a two door vehicle. My wife has told me whenever we have kids, she will NOT put the babies in it.

Thing is, we have both of our cars paid off, and we don't want a car payment, or if we have to have one, it can't be for very long...like maybe a year. Car payments are from the devil, just like student loan payments!!

Now, EVERYONE WEIGH IN!!! Let me know what I should do:

CHOICE A: Fix the car, drive it for another 50,000

CHOICE B: Sell or trade it in, get what I can for it, and get a new vehicle

O Happy Day

This morning was great. You see, my wife is off for Spring break this week, so instead of her waking up an hour before me, we woke up together, and got to spend the morning together. Its really great to spend some time with the person you love in the mornings before your day begins.

I also have the opportunity to preach at our congregation this Sunday morning. We were supposed to go on a relief trip to Pascagoula, Mississippi, but it was cancelled. Our minister is going to take an opportunity to take a weekend off with his family (who is also off for Spring Break), and asked me to preach this coming Sunday. It is always a privilege to be able to do that for any congregation.

We also got our tax refund via direct deposit this past Saturday. I go to check my bank account online, and got a really nice surprise. Its like finding a $20 bill in your coat from last winter.

Its very obvious to me that this week, God is going to be blessing me in ways I can't even begin to imagine. When a week starts off this great, how can you not be optimistic about the rest of it? We slept with our windows open last night, which means spring is here, which also means that we enter that beautiful time when you don't need the heat, you don't need the air conditioner...which equals wonderful savings on our electricity and utilities.

What a great day. God is great, all the time! All the time, God is Great!!!

Happy Birthday to Kristen

Today, March 8th, is my wife's birthday. No words can describe how wonderful of a woman she is. She stands beside me, despite my sarcasm, my evil looks I give to waitresses who don't refill my drinks, and the fact that I hate making the bed.

My wife and I met at FHU when I was a senior. It was my 5th year, and we started "dating". We didn't really date that much, because we bonded as such good friends. In fact, my old roommate Kevin Westmoreland wanted to date her. He would come back talking about how cool she was before I ever met her. When I finally met her, I knew there was something extremely special about her, and if you've ever met her, you would agree.

The most special night we ever had while we were still at Freed was a night we went to the now torn down Milan Sitka building. It was a really old building at Freed, and they had some staircases outside the building. I took her over there, and took my guitar with me and some paper. I told her that we were going to write a song together. I was going to write one line, and then she would write the next line, and so on. We called it "Moral of the Story". I knew that night, as we wrote that song together, and the words fit together so perfectly, that we too could fit perfectly together.

I didn't ask her to marry me until about 2 years later. In fact we stopped dating completely. I moved to Houston after graduation. I told her that I had to focus on graduating (since I had been there 5 years already). We never got back together. Sure, we played Volleyball together, and we hung out every now and then...but I didn't get a chance to date her again until....

When the movie Spiderman came out, I went to see while I was in Houston. Kirsten Dunst, the girl who played Mary Jane was in that movie. All night long, I saw Kristen's face instead of Kirsten's. I couldn't stop thinking about her. When I got home that night, I sent Kristen an email out of nowhere, just telling her that I missed her, and I was thinking of her. A few weeks later, I was visiting Kevin at Freed, and Kristen was there as well. We got to hang out some, and she realized that I had grown up quite a bit from my college days. (Long story, not enough time in the world to discuss it!)

Bottom line, we dated over the phone basically for about a year. On Christmas Eve of 2002 I proposed to her (another Long story), and she said yes. My life has been so much better with her. In fact I can't remember life without her.

I love my wife more than anything else on this world. She is a friend, a support, a fellow youth minister, and more than that, she is a Christian and shares my love and faith in God.

I love you Kristen.

The Death of an All Star

When I was a kid in around 6th and 7th grade, I remember that I really loved watching baseball, playing R.B.I. baseball on Nintendo, and collecting baseball cards. It was pretty much what every young guy wants to do at that age, maybe not with baseball, but with some sport. I was never very good at baseball, but I sure loved the game.

I remember developing a passion for the New York Yankees. The reason? I went to a baseball card show with my dad one night. I only had about $10 to spend, and I didn't want to spend it all. I walked around with my dad all night long, looking at cards and dreaming of owning some of them. Finally, at the end of the evening, there was a guy selling packages of 50 baseball cards randomly thrown together for $2.00. I bought one package.

As I went through them, I remember asking my dad what good players were rookies that season. The only one we could think of was Don Mattingly. As I went through the remainder of the cards, the very last one I got to was none other than a 1984 Topps Don Mattingly card. I treasured it, and thought it was great (now, its only worth about $10, but at the time it was worth about $60).

I loved the Yankees even then, when they weren't all that great. The 1994 season which was ruined by the strike was about the only season back then when the Yankees were pretty good. Alas, The Hit Man Donnie Baseball didn't make it to the series.

But one man who did, who I respected so very much at that age, was Kirby Puckett. I remember sitting on my couch in our living room as he hit the home run against the Braves in the 11th inning during game against I believe Charlie Leibrandt (Jason, correct me if I'm wrong...). Kirby Puckett played for the Twins, and was about the nicest guy ever in baseball.

He made the Hall of Fame on his first appearance on the ballot, not really because of his numbers (which by the way are comparable to Don Mattingly's), but because of who he was. He seemed to really just love the profession of being a professional baseball player.

Kirby passed away from complications due a stroke. He was only 45 years old. In a 12 year career, he stayed with only one team. He helped lead the Twins to championship seasons against St. Louis (sorry Jason) and Atlanta (whoo hoo!!).

They just don't make them like that anymore. He will be missed.

An Eclectic post

I have lots to say today, so there can be no clear cut title.

1. On Friday night, my wife and I, along with Jason Bybee and his wife Sunny, went to a truly awesome concert. Third Day and David Crowder performed at the FedEx Forum, and it was amazing. It was a lot of fun, and its great to see one of my best friends in the entire world. Jason, great to see you and Sunny. Hope all is well with you and the twins.

2. Sunday morning marked the first day for the class I'm teaching to the parents of our teens here at Ross. It was a good class, and I'm so glad everyone came. I believe we had about 25 or so in the class.

3. Last night we had the Baby Dedication service here at our church building. It was so precious to see the little babies all up front, being prayed for by our elders, and being blessed in prayer.

4. I love my wife. Her birthday is on March 8. She'll be 25 years old. This is probably the last year I can publicly announce that without being slapped. My wife is an amazing person, mainly for putting up with me, but also because she is so genuine and true. God could take away everything else in my life and I would still be happy, as long as she was by my side.

5. Finally, last night as I was watching the Oscars (well, the last hour only), I was pleasantly surprised that Brokeback Mountain did NOT win best picture. The movie Crash, while even though having some foul language and is not a movie I endorse for any teenager to see, deserved to win. It truly was a powerful movie. I was upset Joaquin Phoenix didn't win for Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, but other than that, I thought everything else was pretty much on the money.

God bless everyone!

Who are you, and what have you done with my teenager?

This Sunday morning, I'll be teaching a ten week class to the parents of my teenagers. It shares the title of this blog, "Who are you and what have you done with my teenager?"

It will be hitting simple basic issues of the fact that there is a continual generation gap that seems to be widening. We will tackle issues such as the music they listen to, the fashion they wear, the internet they surf, the movies and shows they watch, and many many more things.

I think it is crucial in this day and age that parents seem to understand as much as they can about the lives of their teenagers. Case in point: I don't frequently watch this show, but the other night on WifeSwap, there were two women who switched places who couldn't have been more opposite. One spent all sorts of time with her family, going to ball games, dance recitals, and anything else her kids were involved in.

The woman she swapped with had FOUR nannies. She only had TWO children. She had the nannies so that she could spend all day shopping, running around, and doing pilates. I thought it was absurd, but the more I think about it, that's how so many parents are now....Let someone else raise my children, but as for me, I'm going to do what I want to do.

If you have any advice for my class, please buzz in. I hear so many people complimenting my blog and that they love to read it...I would love to hear back from you. Teens, ring in with comments about your parents...I promise they won't ground you.