I was shocked to learn that, although Bridge City and it’s surrounding area were literally just as devastated by violent hurricanes as the New Orleans area after Katrina, the Bridge City area has been nearly neglected in terms of help. Within just several days after Hurricane Katrina broke vital levees in New Orleans, people were rushing to help out in any way they could, whether through donations or traveling to help rebuild, etc. We learned from Pastor Sam that this wasn’t the case with the Bridge City area and Hurricane Ike. So it was a great blessing for us to be able to go down and help out, even though overall our contribution was small. 

Hurricane Ike brought a huge storm surge to the area, flooding the majority of the city. From the outside, many homes and buildings look untouched, but if you were to look inside a window, you would see most of the insides ripped out to prevent mold and mildew from spreading. On the inside, houses have been literally reduced to the framing. In many cases, only the shell of the house remains intact. Pastor Sam told us that about 92% of the people had no flood insurance–meaning that 92% of the people there had to rebuild on their own. 

We stayed in the house we were helping to fix up, who was Pastor Sam’s sister-in-law, Miriam. She definitely made sure that we were never hungry! She cooked so much food for us. And yet again, we were blessed by people who, despite difficult times, are so thankful for help and so willing to give more than they should. Aaron and I witnessed the same thing when we went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina–people seem to give abundantly despite their circumstances. After Katrina, people who literally had no homes were cooking food for us and bringing water and drinks for us, and we receieved very similar treatment in Bridge City this week. The neighbor across the street offered us cots and mattresses so we wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor. Miriam was constantly cooking and was just such a sweet lady. 

I have seen devastating aftermath from two of (if not the) most powerful storms of the last 20 years. But throughout these I have seen the power of the human spirit prevail despite difficult circumstances. All is not lost, there is always hope. 

So to Pastor Sam and family in Bridge City, and to Pastor Steve in Gretna, Louisiana (who we helped after Katrina), thank you for the opportunity to serve you. We were greatly blessed by you and your overwhelming compassion for others despite having troublesome times yourselves. Thank you for continuing to make a difference in your communities.

Afterwards, Neely and I went to get her oil changed and then we drove up to Fayetteville. No reason really, but it’s always nice to get out of town, even just for the evening. We went to the mall, went to Louis & Clark Outfitters for a bit, and ate at Tim’s Pizza, which is always delicious. Definitely one of the better places around.

So anyway, nothing special really. Just a fun day with some friends and with the lady.

Having said that, my “resolution” this year is and will always be to be a better person tomorrow than I was today, not only for myself but for those around me. 
 
Hopefully yours is similar.
If not, check your pulse.

Happy New Year!

Now this will sound weird but deep down I do like Christmas. I’m just not fond of all the bells and whistles that come along with it. But one thing I love about Christmas is giving–especially this year. Call me crazy but I think that’s the whole point of the holiday. Obviously, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but it’s also a time where we can give randomly to others and not feel weird about it.

This year a couple of us decided to give something to some people in a fun new way. There’s a girl in our junior high ministry who is nothing short of awesome. She is at every event, comes early to help out, and is just a joy to be around. She and her family have not had any presents from “Santa” under the tree in several years, just due to some financial lack. So one of our leaders, Leslie, has a brilliant idea.

Ding Dong Ditch. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. A lot of us (including me) did it as kids. But we adapted it a little bit for the holiday and unofficially called it Ding Dong Gifts. We bought gifts for the whole family, attached a note and went to their house. We must have driven up and down the street four or five times before we decided how we were going to do it. I was the runner, Robby was the driver, and Leslie was the door opener. We pulled up quietly and I snuck up to the house, placing the gifts on the doorstep. After ringing the doorbell, I sprinted back to the car and we drove off laughing.

A few days after Christmas we were able to hear from the girl how excited she was and how happy the whole family was as they opened their gifts on Christmas morning.

I love this season of giving. It’s a shame that for most of us, this time, this attitude, this spirit of giving will be gone until Christmas next year. I hope that that is not the case with you. May you continue to give to and bless others as you have been blessed.

My Thanksgiving this year has been a little bittersweet. Today I was able to spend some time with my family, who, because of my busy schedule, I unfortunately don’t get to see very often. Definitely a time of good food, football and fun with the people I care about most. After I had gathered up all my take-home leftovers and was about to get in the car to drive to Thanksgiving Part II, my mom informed me that my dad had been laid off from work earlier this week.

How do you respond to that? The only source of income for my dad, mom and brother has just been “laid off.” Now, my parents are and always have been very frugal with their money. They’ve never owned a brand new vehicle, have no serious debt, and believe in saving, so they’ll make it through. 

The part that sucks about this is my dad has worked with this same company for nearly 30 years. And in 30 years of working 12-hour days, he’s only called in one day of scheduled work…ever (as far as I can remember). A near perfect record along with 30 years of hard work, gets him this? That’s so messed up.

What I’m thankful for this season is God’s faithfulness and provision. In times of difficulty, we can be sure he will come through. I am looking forward to how my family will be blessed through this. I may sound a little biased here, because I am, but if anyone deserves God’s blessing and favor on their finances, then my parents do. My mother has been an incredible model of a faithful tither and giver all of my life. My father has taught me the value of a dollar and how to work hard for everything. 

So having said all that: Mom, Dad, if by some chance you read this, know that I love you and we’re gonna make it through. You have given me so much when you didn’t have to, and I will do the same for you.

So, lots of stuff has happened lately. First of all…

Wall Street was last night. Amazing, incredible night last night. Props to everyone who had something to do with this. I guess as the creative director for 180Remix, I had somewhat of a role in this, but really not much. Landon Satterfield did, however. He filmed and edited 3 different versions of the drama in less than 3 weeks. He is seriously a stud.

It’s really cool to me how God can use so many different things to bring people to know Him. Somewhere around 30 kids gave their lives to the Lord last night, and that’s a big deal! We truly are blessed–many churches don’t see that many people saved in a whole year, and we got to experience that last night in our youth group. 

We have a new President. That’s still such a weird thing to me, even after having witnessed six elections. So whether you voted for him or you didn’t, Barack Obama is our President. Love him or hate him, we’re stuck with him. So let’s pray for him. He needs it. 

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (Romans 13:1)

That’s all I have to say about that. :)

Feels good to be back, ol’ blog!

So what happened? Why didn’t some of us become what we really wanted to be? For some of us, our dreams were a little naive, or they didn’t quite match up with our natural giftings. Some of us just changed our minds when we realized how long we would have to go to school to become whatever.

Others of us, like me, were just told that we couldn’t do it. We were told by our teachers, our families, our friends–or many others–that we weren’t good enough to do that. Or we weren’t smart enough to do that. Or we weren’t talented enough to do that. There are countless excuses we were given (which leads me to believe that’s why many of us are so eager to make excuses for things later in life) as to why we couldn’t reach our dreams. 

And so what did we do? Many of us adapted our dreams to fit into our reality. We just stopped dreaming. We believed the lies that we would never be able to become an archaeologist, or a doctor, or a lawer, or whatever else and we just quit trying. And now we’re burned out, frustrated, and just passing time. 

We’ve all heard it said that “if you can dream it, you can achieve it.” I believe that to be true. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire anymore to become an archaeologist, and to be honest, I’m glad I didn’t pursue that. I feel like I am right where God wants me to be right now. I am in the process of living out my dream. 

But maybe some of us need to get back to those dreams we used to have for our lives. Maybe we’d be a lot happier. Maybe we wouldn’t be as irritable. Maybe we just need to sit down and figure out what our dreams really are at this point in our lives. 

Anyway, here’s a funny little comic I found today that was the reason I’ve even been thinking about all this. I thought it was hilarious. (click to make it bigger)

“God loves the sound of our voices when we are singing praises to Him. But I also think he loves the smell of our sweat when we are serving Him. Service is how we love God with all of our strength.”

I really like that last line. It’s like I’ve always known, or at least thought this, but Mark put it into words so much better than I could have. I love serving, and pray that I always have an opportunity and the heart to do so.

I hope God can smell my sweat this week. 

We pulled up seats and gathered around the television, none of us quite sure how to react. I remember watching as the second tower got hit, and I remember how my stomach sank into my feet as we continued watching. It was an odd feeling, really. Still looking back today it almost doesn’t seem real, although there are thousands of people who unfortunately lost loved ones that day. When the towers collapsed you could hear whispers of “Oh my gosh…” all around the room.

As the day went on, people kept slowly trickling in the library until there were around 150 of us. Classes kind of just stopped. I remember sitting there watching the CNN coverage for literally around 5 or so hours. I remember calling my mom from the office phone just to make sure she was ok (although to this day I still have no idea why because we live in Arkansas, haha..). No one really knew what to do. We were all hurting inside, in one way or another, and it seemed like none of us knew quite how to respond. Some people were crying, some just sat quietly in shock, some tried to pretend it was no big deal. Some, like me, just had a sick feeling inside and couldn’t quite process all that was happening. It was just too much–like something out of a movie that just wouldn’t stop.

One of my most vivid memories of the day was after school had let out, sitting on a bench outside with a close friend. We sat quietly for probably a good 10 minutes or so; not a word between the two of us. It was one of those moments where you just know exactly what the other is thinking. Finally, 

“Don’t guess anything’s ever gonna be the same, huh?
“No. I don’t think so.”

That was my experience. What was yours?

For me, Labor Day was relaxing. Slept in, worked out a little, sat around, ate burgers with my fam, came home and here I am. That’s it, really. And it was super nice. Tomorrow will be back to the grind, but that’s OK because today we all got a little less psychotic, and hopefully none of us are brain-sucking zombies anymore.