2008 End of the Year Review

Here are a few thoughts and happenings from the year of 2008:

If you had told me this time last year that the Giants would win the Super Bowl, I would have said you were nuts. But, the other Manning brother carried them through, and beat the giant New England Patriot team.

We saw a resurgence of the Lakers/Celtics Rivalry in the NBA. The Memphis Tigers almost won the NCAA March Madness Title. They lost to Kansas in OT.

David Cook won American Idol. This was the first season I had ever watched it from beginning to end. I really enjoyed it, and the winner as well. His new album is pretty top notch as well.

I realized in May-July of the summer of 08 that Youth Ministry and having a new baby don't really mix in the best of ways. Its hard to totally devote yourself to two really big things in your life. It was a challenge, and I don't know if I'll ever truly master it. I do know that I have great admiration and respect for those youth ministers with multiple children who still do their jobs so well.

We had our first child in May. Josie Layne was born on May 27th weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces. She was 19 1/2 inches long. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. She is a joy and a blessing from God.

Kristen and I celebrated five years of marriage on September 13. There is not a better woman on the face of the earth. She is patient, loving, kind, and the best mother in the entire world. God knew that I needed someone who could constantly lift me up, and she is the one that does so.

In October, we took our first family vacation in about 4 years by ourselves. We've been on to a few places with the in laws, and those were wonderful, but we hadn't been anywhere by ourselves in such a long time. We spent a week in Gulf Shores, doing absolutely nothing, watching the Hurricane pass by, and enjoying doing whatever else came into our heads. We ate a whole lot of seafood.

My beloved Yankees didn't even make it to the playoffs, even though they had a payroll of about $900 Trillion. They finished behind the Red Sox and TAMPA BAY!!! However in the offseason, they finally signed some pitchers, and even added arguably the best 1st baseman in the game today.

The start of college football brought a new found Alabama Crimson Tide. They finished with one loss on the season, coming in the SEC Championship game to Florida. Congrats to Saban and the Tide.

The Tennessee Titans, amidst what is thought to be the toughest conference in the AFC, went undefeated until the Jets rolled into town about 10 weeks in to the season. They finished first in the AFC, with a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. What a difference a year makes! Go Titans!

Several things happened to friends this year. Jason McKnight and his wife Jenny had a little boy, Jonathan McKnight and his wife Rebecca had a little girl, Richard Willis got married, Kevin Westmoreland returned from China, and now he his roommate Kyle are planning on going back, after Kyle gets married to Rebecca Harp (coming June of 09).

We elected our first African American president in 08 by voting for Barack Obama. While I personally did not vote for Obama, I am confident that God will bless him. The sad part about it is that so many people I know, including many Christians and family members, have let their racism slip and let it be known that they will not support him. Sadly, I've heard the beginning to more racist jokes (I leave or step aside if I know they're coming) since Obama has been elected than I have in my entire life. Do me a favor, and please don't tell the racist jokes around me. Have a little class, and instead of telling a racist joke, why not pray that God will use Barack Obama to unite our nation and bring peace, reduce poverty and hunger in the world, and make things the best they can be??

Not all things are the most positive of happenings:

We lost several people at our church this year. Our beloved Jennie Finley and Mack Whitaker were two of many who passed on this year.

About a week ago, my wife and I made a hard decision to adopt out our beloved little pug Chloe. Since Josie has born, she had spent more time in her crate, in the hallway, or in the Kennel than she had with us. We love her dearly, and for that reason we decided to put her up for adoption through a local agency that is absolutely wonderful.

2008 saw declining health for several family members. My grandparents on my father's side or rapidly declining in health. He had a stroke a few years ago, and my grandmother is getting weaker and weaker. Kristen's Granny and Pa in Tallasee, AL are also experiencing some health problems.

2008 will be a wonderful year to remember for years to come, but now its time to bring on 2009. God bless 09 and thank God for the wonderful 08.

Prayers for 2009

God,

I recognize You alone are the true Father of my life. You live in heaven above, which is where I want to be. Your Name is Holy God. Sometimes I don't use Your name in the best of ways. I often use it in vain, along with unholy thoughts and words. God, forgive me for this. Your Name is set apart from all words ever spoken.

God, sometimes I'm not so sure I'm ready for you to come back. I know you have already established your reign on earth when you sent your Son, and now You are preparing Your heavenly Kingdom for us. Help me to be prepared so that when your Kingdom does come, I will be ready.

I know Heaven is a perfect place. God I know that since this earth is covered with humans, we don't always do what You want us to do. I pray that your will be done here as it is heaven -- without thought or hesitation. I pray we do only what you want us to do. Help us to live your will.

Thank you for all you do for us daily. You provide for us every day. There is a hunger, deep inside of me, for the power of your Spirit, the passion and the flame. Fill me with your fire and satisfy my soul. My spirit longs for you. Help me to accept not only the daily bread you give us as a physical need, but give me a desire to accept your spirit and goodness you offer daily as well.

There is no way I can repay the debt you paid for me. I owe you everything for the fact that you gave me your son's death to pay for the sins I've committed. I know that I also need to forgive others as you have forgiven me. God help me to forgive all of those who have hurt me, because there is no way the hurt they have caused me is worse than the hurt i caused you when you gave up your Son.

Satan goes around like a roaring lion, seeking those he may devour. But he has been defeated, so I'm testifying by the blood of Jesus. You have defeated Satan. Help me to defeat Satan. Help me to solely belong to Jesus. The blood he paid to buy me shows that he owns me. Help me to remember who my master is, and that is Jesus, not Satan.

Thank you for blessing my life the way you did this past year in 2008, and may the blessings continue upon my family and friends in 2009. Help me to live for you, and only you. Guide me where you want me to go. Live through me, so others can see you in me.

Amen.

Prayers for the family of Mack Whitaker/ Arrangements

Two and a half years ago, I interviewed to become the youth minister here at the Guntersville Church of Christ. During the interview process, as all ministers do, I went through some time with the Elders here. You know how before you ever really know someone, you can tell there's something special about them? That's what I felt for a certain man named Mack Whitaker.

As we met, and as he prayed for my wife and I and the decision we had in front of us, I could tell this man was very spiritual. He had a connection with God that was enviable. Come to find out, this man has basically influenced just about everyone in this town of Guntersville, if not all of Marshall County.

Mack Whitaker, a man known for his generosity and kindness, and for his deep spirituality and leadership, sadly passed away yesterday afternoon, December 16, 2008. He leaves behind many many family members who loved him so dearly. His wife Diane, needs extra prayers, as she lost her mother this time last year, and her father just a few short weeks ago.

Mack's influence spreads far outside of Marshall County, as he had much influence at Lipscomb University and at Auburn University. Calls have been flooding our phone lines at the office with kind words and concerns for the families.

The visitation will be here at the Guntersville Church of Christ tomorrow, Thursday December 18, 2008 from 5pm to 8pm. The funeral will be here at the building as well on Friday at 2pm. The burial will be at the Crestview Cemetary.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to one or all of these causes, all of which were near and dear to Mack:

The Guntersville Church of Christ Building Fund
The Auburn Christian Student Center
Madison Academy
Lipscomb University North Alabama Eastern Region Scholarship Fund

Please pray for the entire family, our church, our city, and our county in the loss of one its great leaders.

Christmas Goodies

The Widick Family Tooth Story

Once upon a time, there was a family called the Widicks. They were a good family, with a daddy Widick, a mama Widick, and a little baby Widick.

One day, daddy Widick was eating a chip at a football game. He chewed it in a bad spot, and crushed his tooth. He had to go the dentist, and gave the dentist lots of dollars to fix it. Finally, after two weeks of having a metal tooth in his mouth, daddy got his new permanent tooth. It sure is shiny.

While daddy Widick was sitting in the dentist's chair, mama Widick gave daddy Widick a phone call. Mama Widick was letting daddy Widick know that little baby Widick was growing her very own, very first tooth. Much joy ensued.

For four nights in a row, little baby Widick decided she would cry and be restless during the night instead of sleep, since her very own very first tooth was about to pierce through the skin. Daddy Widick slept in the recliner rocking her, getting her to sleep for a few minutes at a time. Daddy Widick got about 5 hours for those four nights.

Daddy Widick went to his office, sitting there like a zombie. His mind would tell his fingers what to type, but his fingers just wouldn't move. He sat there hoping that tonight, little baby Widick, with her very own very first tooth would sleep through the night...

...to be continued.

Being Transformed

Romans 12:2 has an interesting perspective that I like to remind myself of from time to time. The NLT version reads like this:

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

In essence, its impossible to transform your life until you transform your mind. There was a song that came out a few years ago called "Change Your Mind" by Sister Hazel. The words simply went

"If you want to be somebody else,
If you're tired of fighting battles with yourself
If you want to be somebody else
Change your mind..."

Do you ever look in the mirror and see someone you don't recognize. Maybe you look at yourself and realize the hope you used to have is gone. Maybe the happiness is no longer there. Maybe, just maybe, you want to be somebody else.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says "If you are in Christ you were made new." Obviously, after you give your life to Christ, you are a new creature. People see you emerge from your watery tomb and see a soaking wet, clean and pure creature.

You now have the name of Christian. You now have the hope you did not have before.

Your identity is new, yes. But what about your mind? When you think like you used to think before you gave your life over to Christ, chances are you will begin to act like that once again.

So be transformed, from the inside out. If the inside of your home is dirty, you don't fix that by raking the leaves and cleaning out the gutters outside. You clean the inside. My favorite Max Lucado illustration was always the one where he talked about how he went on vacation and the chest freezer in his garage blew a fuse, and all of the meat and food inside spoiled. He asked "How do I clean the freezer?", and obviously, if you just cleaned the outside of it, it would do no good.

Romans 12:2 does say: "let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think," and that's how we truly become new. But the part at the end of the verse is even more exciting:

"Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."

When we achieve that threshold of renewing our mind, wanting to live like Christ, THEN He's going to let us in on what He has planned for us. He realizes that until we can change our minds into the mind of a Christian, we won't be able to comprehend His plans for us. And His will is always good, pleasing, and perfect.

A Mansion, A Robe, and a Crown

I figured out the other day, that in order to get a crown, you better have a Mansion, and probably a robe.

The mansion- well, to afford a crown without dental insurance, you need to live in a mansion.

The Robe- I had to lay on the "chair" for over an hour while the dentist drilled and cut and sliced around in my mouth.

The Crown- it will arrive in two weeks, matched to the shade of the teeth around it.

Friday night, at the last Guntersville High School Football game, I broke a tooth eating nachos. Sounds pathetic, to say the least, but do you ever bite into a chip that maybe is a bit harder than the others? Sometimes cooked a bit longer, folded over, or burned? That's what happened to me. I bit into it, and then I felt my tooth break, and pieces of it fall into my mouth.

Fortunately I had a filling that stayed intact, or otherwise it may have been extremely painful.

Also, they did not have to do a root canal, the tooth was still alive and well. They just filed it down, fit me for a crown, and told me to come back in two weeks.

All for a measly $700.

But I'd rather pay that than lose the tooth completely.

On another note, Josie continues to grow up on us. Her latest thing now is that not only can she roll over, but she can continue to roll over and over and over. Its amazing watching them develop these skills.

Now if we can only get her potty-trained so we won't have to buy these diapers...

Corn Nuts

Have you ever eaten a corn nut? Its basically a corn chip condensed into a smaller piece, being ultra crunchy and leaves a horrible taste in your mouth.

Yeah, that's how a lot of people are going to feel after the election. This won't be like when Reagan won 49 states, all but Minnesota, in 1984. I have a feeling its not going to be pretty, and the nation will still continue to be divided.

So I thought I'd put some lighter news up today.

Fulmer is out as Head Coach of the UT Vols. Even though I'm a Bama fan, I hate to see Fulmer go. He was a great coach.

The Guntersville Wildcats host a playoff game this week. Will the streak continue? Every time Guntersville plays and wins, the Crimson Tide and the Titans win.

Speaking of which...had you told me my beloved Titans would be 8-0, I would have said "Well, it would be nice, but it won't happen." I suppose after this season, anything is possible. They still have to play the Bears, the Jets, and then the Colts again, so its not going to be a cake-walk. The most brutal team left would the rivaled Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 21.

The Crimson Tide is Number One. I can't believe that either. Whether or not they stay there is a different story. Texas Tech is all the rage, and if they win out, I feel like they'll be hoisted to number 1. Sorry Joe Pa, Penn State just isn't going to make it.

I may not like everything Barack Obama says, but I did like his interview last night with Chris Mortensen calling for a college football playoff. If he wins, I hope that's the first thing he signs into law.

Don't forget, regardless of what happens tonight, Fulmer is still leaving, with a hefty $6 million buy out. Not too shabby.

A Nation Divided, A Media Divided

On my last post, I placed an emphasis on the fact that there needs to be more to our vote than just voting on the economy, on taxes, and whether or not Bill Ayers is indeed a friend or not of Barack Obama. I'm not just looking at Abortion and Homosexual rights based upon the last video I posted, but I just wanted to remind everyone there's more to this election.

I'm drawn to I Timothy 2:1-4. It says:

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

Regardless of whether your man gets in or not, we must continue to pray that God will watch over this nation.

On a different note:

I just want everyone to know that I've never wanted something to end more than this year's election. The Media and lots of Americans, on both the conservative and liberal side, have shown their true colors. Fox News has done its share of belittling the Democrats, and CNN has done its fair share of shredding the Republicans.

However, I think the following video shows a complete and total bias. If this had been reversed, the outrage would overwhelming:

Regardless of you are for or against, there is no humor in this, and no place for this. Sarah Palin has a family, is a good person, and is the victim of radical leftwing liberals and their attack on good wholesome family values.

Who will decide?

This video, put out by the Value Voters of the USA, touches on many of the issues at hand this election year.

We can't just let foreign policy and taxes be the only issue.

New Shoes, Free Gift Certificates

If you've never bought shoes online you don't know what you're missing. Okay, cheesy line, but its true.

I've bought one pair of shoes online at Shoebuy.com, and they are great.

If you will go and buy some shoes there, you could help me win a $100 gift certificate to buy shoes there. Being young and having a new child has left us with little money, and could use the help.

Go to that link now, and you will save $10. Its free shipping, and free returns, and the prices are the same or better as going to a department store.

Please help me out. Thanks a bundle! After you buy your shoes, if you can get three people to buy shoes there, you will get a $100 gift certificate too!

SNL gains some momentum

I haven't been a big fan of SNL in recent years, but Thursday night's special weekend update was spot on:

Josie's Does Something Amazing!!

Take two minutes, and watch this

Maybe they should watch more cartoons

Here is a lesson about spending from the classic cartoon, Ducktales.

The Common Sense Fix

I'm a long time Dave Ramsey fan, and once again, he's trying to help America with their debt problems, but this time, with the bailout plan. Here is his proposal he is emailing around to all his listeners. If you agree you can send it to your SENATORS and your REPRESENTATIVES by clicking on the words and it will send you to their contact info. If one of the links doesn't work, its because of the overwhelming amount of traffic they are getting at this time on their servers.

The Common Sense Fix
Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare in this country,but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following threestep Common Sense Plan.

I. INSURANCE
a. Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance.
Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the
world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.

b. In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they must do two
things:

1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent to a 6% fixed-rate mortgage.

a. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into the balance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a chance to keep their homes.

b. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any deficit balance. FHA does this now, and that
encourages mortgage companies to go the extra mile while working with the borrower—again limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.

2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and executive team members as long as the company holds these government-insured bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming executives from being paid when they don’t do their jobs.

c. This backstop will cost less than $50 billion—a small fraction of the current proposal.

II. MARK TO MARKET
a. Remove mark to market accounting rules for two years on only subprime Tier III
bonds/mortgages. This keeps companies from being forced to artificially mark down
bonds/mortgages below the value of the underlying mortgages and real estate.

b. This move creates patience in the market and has an immediate stabilizing effect on failing and ailing banks—and it costs the taxpayer nothing.

III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX
a. Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the real estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating tremendous—and immediate—liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the taxpayer nothing.

b. This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many will say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but it will be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all Americans to have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up instead of down.

This is not a time for envy, and it’s not a time for politics. It’s time for all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.

Roughly $770,000,000,000

I'm not an economist.

I'm not really all that affected right now by the Dow Jones plummet yesterday. I have no credit cards, no car loan, no mortgage, and no stocks.

I have a decent amount of savings, nothing that will keep us going for 10 years, but enough to live on for about a year if we needed to do so.

But I started thinking about this close to $770 billion dollar bailout plan, and how much you could buy for it. Here's some figures I came up with:

- In 2007, the average home price in America was $220,000. With the bailout money, you could by 3,500,000 average price homes.

- The top of the line 2008 Honda Accord, brand new, costs $28,384. That's brand new, no negotiations. You would be able to purchase 27,147,088 top of the line 2008 Honda Accords.

- The average gallon of gas around North Alabama right now is $3.60. It takes 18 gallons to fill up my Accord. That equals $64.80 to fill up my car. Even though I don't, lets say the average person fills their car up once a week (for me its more like once every 2 weeks). That would equal $3369 a year to fill up my car once a week. With the bailout money, I could fill my car up once a week for 228,554,467 years.

- The average cost for milk across the nation is $3.81 a gallon. You could buy 202,099,737,532 gallons.

What other fun numbers can you come up with?

- According to the WFP School Feeding Program, a program that feeds orphans and needy children in Africa, it costs, according to March 2008 prices, $0.25 to feed a child per day. We could feed 308,000,000,000 with the bailout money.

Let's look at this way, as many of you think as well, if I don't pay my bills, I could go to jail. If I don't pay, then I will be punished. This is absolutely ridiculous.

Here's a number for you: I pay right at $3000 to the government every quarter. Why? Because as a minister, I'm technically "Self-employed". You can do the math. $12,000 a year to the federal government for taxes, and that's with all the great benefits we get. Since my wife is self-employed also, we pay close to 40 cents on the dollar to taxes.

Now, i don't like it, but its the law. I pay what the law asks me to pay. However, its hard to make it sometimes when almost HALF of your money goes to pay taxes. There's got to be a better way than what we're doing, especially if my taxes are going to pay for the mistakes of people making millions more dollar a year than I make.

I don't know how I feel about the bailout plan, because of all the mis-directions we're getting on it. How can we trust these guys when they've put us into this position?

Thoughts on the bailout? Thoughts on the fact that they won't meet again until THURSDAY AT NOON??

Introducing Josie "Michael Phelps" Widick

So I'm on the phone with a friend I haven't spoken to in about a year, and Kristen is giving Josie a bath. She yells for me to come into the kitchen, I rush in, and this is what is going on:

5 Years Ago

Five years ago, on a Saturday afternoon, September 13, I was fortunate enough to marry my best friend.

Five years has brought us much joy, happiness, and a new member of the family.

Today, we celebrate five years at one of Kristen's favorite places, the beach. Later today, we'll go and eat some shrimp and walk on the beach, but for now, we're relaxing in the Lighthouse, room 1217, watching the waves, and doing nothing but enjoying each other.

I don't have access to my pictures, so I'll post those later on in the week when I'm back at the office.

Here's to many more anniversaries. I love you, Sticky!

Vacation Time for the Widick's

This will be a lengthy post, so bear with me...

Saturday morning, Kristen, Josie and I left for our first family vacation. Our first stop was from Guntersville to Franklin, TN. We stopped and celebrated a monumental birthday for my mom and Buca di Bepa, an Italian place that has tremendous food. All the family was there, and we were able to sit around one large table with a lazy susan in the middle of it. Its family style food, so we all ordered different things and shared with each other. After that, we went on to Lebanon, TN, to enjoy the afternoon with my family and have cake and ice cream.

Sunday morning, I was able to worship with my family at the Maple Hill church of Christ. Being a minister myself, I don't have many opportunities to worship with my family at their local congregations. It was a wonderful service. They have worship first, which I really enjoyed.

After worship service, Kristen and I left Josie with my parents (this was the first time we left her with anyone) and we went to the Tennessee Titans vs the Jacksonville Jaguars game. It was amazing! I never really did anything like that growing up, and my eyes actually started to tear up when the game started. Here are a few pics from the start of the game:

Here come the Titans!!

Really cool American Flag for the National Anthem sung by Martina McBride

The airforce flew planes over at the end of the national anthem. This was so cool!

We were there amongst the boos for Vince Young, and the cheers for when Kerry Collins came in. Sure, Vince stunk it up, but that's no reason to treat him the way some of the fans were at the game.

After the game, we drove down to Birmingham and stayed with Kristen's aunt and uncle. They grilled out for us, and we had a wonderful time. The next morning, we drove down to Gulf Shores, AL. We're staying here till Monday of next week, spending our FIFTH anniversary at the beach.

Here are some pictures of us and first few days at the beach:

Us after eating at Sea N Suds.

Mommy and Josie at the beach!

Daddy and Josie at the beach

Mommy and Josie at the pool

Daddy and Josie at the pool

Hurricane Ike is supposed to miss us, but it might rain for the next two or three days. We're about to go walk on the beach, and then off to lunch.

**Prayer Request**
We just got word today that Jenny Finley, grandmother of two kids in my youth group, and sweet Christian lady passed away. Miss Jenny was informed she had cancer around Thanksgiving, and the doctors did not give her the best prognosis. She has been a fighter, but more importantly, she has been an example of courage to so many. God bless the Finley family at this time.

259

My weekly Weight Watcher meetings are on Thursday, so my offical technical weigh in is then, however, I just thought I'd report that this morning I'm down to 259, and feeling fine.

Starting weight: 266
Current weight: 259
Total loss so far: 7 pounds

Plus, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm learning what portion control is. Sure, when I was younger I could all I wanted and it would melt off, but now that I'm getting a bit older, the metabolism starts to slow down.

My true test will be vacation on September 8. We'll be at the beach for a week. Here's to a strong week!

A Conversation with an Indian

I despise calling for technical support, customer service, or any other calls like that, especially since none of them speak English.

Today, I called a Linksys support line for troubleshooting with my router. They asked for my telephone number, so they could open up a case number. Here is the conversation with lady technician:

Linksys: Hello. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?

Me: Yes, my name is Lane.

L: Can you give me your home telephone number so we can open a case for you?

Me: Okay, my number is (changed so I won't get junk calls) 256-682-5710.

L: I'm sorry, can you kindly give me that number again?

Me: Sure, its 256-682-5710

L: I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding your English. Can you please speak clearly and slower so I can understand?

Me: Okay. its 2....5....6....6....8....2....5....7....1....0

L: Hold one moment please

I wait for a while, wondering what is taking so long, and also wondering how she's going to help me if she can't even understand my phone number. About 3 more minutes go by, and then I hear a different voice, this time male.

Linksys: Hello Mr. Lane, I understand that you are not giving your phone number to our technician, we can not help you until you do that.

Me: I gave the lady my number 3 times. She said she couldn't understand me, and then she put me on hold.

Linksys: All right, please hold for moment again (not a mistype, that's how he said it).

I wait for a few more moments. About 5 minutes later:

Linksys: Sir, we will not be able to help you at this time, please call back when you can give us your telephone number. Is there anything else we can help you with today?

Me: (Wanting to throw my phone at the guy, but remembering who I am, and that this isn't that big of a deal...) No thank you, I'll call back later.

Olympic Confusion

I'm more of a fan of the Olympics than I thought I would be. I honestly did not think I would get so into it. Of course, athletes like Michael Phelps has tremendously increased my interests, and the interests of millions of Americans. Enough so, that NBC is concerned their ratings will drop now that the swimming events are over.

Now, there are a lot of Olympic events in which I feel are merited as events: Track and Field (especially the marathon), all the racing events, the wrestling and gymnastics (even with the corrupt point systems they use). I'm amazed at the Diving, and the distance events like the 5000 meter events.

But there is one event, no matter how I look at it, that I can't understand it being an Olympic event, better yet, a sport at all. Now understandably, I'm not a horse lover. I'm not a horse hater either. I'm all for Horse Racing and the jumping events, but please some explain "Dressage" to me, and why its an Olympic event? Turn your volume down (annoying music) and watch the video below, and then weigh in.

The number is 39, no more

So, I took the plunge.

I took the plunge because I've been taking a plunge, daily, for the past 4 years.

If you went back over the writings of these blog pages, you would see at least 6 promises and guarantees to shed the pounds that have hindered me for so long.

But I haven't.

I've consistently stayed at the past year around 255-260 pounds. My scientifically determined healthy weight is 195. I was there 5 years ago. Now, I'm officially at 266, at least according to my official Weight Watchers weigh in last night.

How humiliating is it to get to a point where I have to pay someone to tell me I'm fat? How embarrassing is it to walk into a room where the youngest person by 20 years, and, oh yeah, the only guy? How does it affect one's budget to pay $39 a month to be a part of a group that weighs you in each week?

Turns out, not so much to all of the above. The meeting went well, and I found out what I already knew, I'm too fat and I eat too much.

My daily point allowance is 39. No more than 39 points worth of food can I eat. Let's talk about my bad days in the past and see how many points I would have had:

If I eat a breakfast sandwich from McDonalds: 9 points
If I eat the hash browns: 3 points
If I eat lunch with Jason at Five Guys: (cheeseburger) 13 points
If I eat the fries: 13 points
If I get a candy bar on the way home: 6 points
If I get dinner out with Kristen at the Italian Place in town: (with the bread sticks): 20 points

I'm already at 64 points, and I haven't added an evening snack to the mix. Now, this isn't a typical day, because most of the times, I don't even eat breakfast, and I don't eat lunch with Jason everyday, and we don't eat out every night. However, there are days when this happens in the life of a youth minister.

So here's to Weight Watchers, a program I know works for many, and praying it works for me.

I do get a weekly allowance of 35 extra points, that can be used all at one meal, or over the course of the week.

If I start exercising, I get to add so many points to my daily allowance.

Here goes nothing.

Josie "Cooing"

By the way, we officially moved Josie into her room on Tuesday night. She's been sleeping in her own little bed in our room for the past two and a half months, but now she has officially moved into her own room. We've been told horror stories of parents who waited too long to do this, and the kids would have a horrible transition.

For the past few nights, she has been sleeping wonderfully. She still gets up once a night, but that's to be expected for a while, because she still needs that early 3 am feeding. But we put her down at 8:30 or 9, and she sleeps till 3, and then she sleeps again till about 7.

So here's to the first major transition in her life, hoping it will continue to go smoothly.

The Gold, The Silver, and the Bronze

So Saturday morning, Kristen and I sit down to watch some of the Olympics. After such an AMAZING opening ceremony, I got really stoked about watching some of the events. We watched the US Women's Volleyball team beat China, we watched a game of Handball, which is really cool, and then we watched some of the Men's long distance cycling.

I believe, however, that I was most mesmerized by the Fencing event. I didn't understand a bit of it, but what was so amazing was that all three medals went to the Americans. As I watched the Medal Ceremony, it brought an enormous amount of Patriotism to me. Here I am, almost in tears over an event I know nothing about.

But what's even more amazing than that is that I find myself being extremely proud of anyone who wins a medal at all. Most recently I just saw a Men's Japanese swimmer win gold, and Norway's first swimming medalist ever on the Medal stand. These athletes work so hard to be as perfect as they can be to compete in these games.

It was stated in the opening ceremonies that around 80 of the 205 nations represented have never won a medal at all. The chances of winning a medal are extremely slim. Even though for most a medal is never realized, they strive for it with all their heart. Medals not being won because of a loss by less than .001 of a second. Its truly amazing

If we could learn as Christians from these athletes, I think it would be this: If we just try our hardest to be the best we can be in God's eyes, and do all we can to represent Him and His Kingdom, we have a guarantee of the prize. Why is so many can strive for something that is never guaranteed, but so many never strive for something that is promised?