MOM

Tomorrow we will celebrate Mothers Day.

I wanted to take a few minutes and personally acknowledge my Mom. She has always been there for me. When it's been good and not so good, regardless of what I've done, she has been there. While this post could go on forever about all of the great things that my Mom has done for me and how great she is, I will only mention a few.

1. Little League baseball

When we lived in West Virginia, I loved baseball. I mean a lot. If I wasn't at practice or in a game I was usually collecting baseball cards or in the yard hitting rocks into the woods with a bat. When by Dad had to work, my Mom was the one driving me all over Webster County for baseball. And when I say all over, I really mean it. We weren't around the corner from the field like we were in Toccoa or in Jefferson. Usually practice or games meant either going down off a mountain and going up another. This not only took a lot of money in gas, it also took a lot of her time. She also would practice with me at our house. She did all that not because she loved baseball, but because she loved me.

2. Military

When I decided to join the military, my Mom let me make my own choices. She was not uninterested in those choices, but she knew they were my choices. She always wrote me letters (as did many others in my family) of encouragement in basic training giving me support. She would send me care packages of snacks and other stuff that she knew I would like. My face always lit up when I got those packages. It was during this time that Justin was born. She was always there for me, helping this new dad when I needed it most.


3. Justin and Katelyn

My mom loves being a grandparent. And her grandkids love her. She would keep Justin and Katelyn everyday if we asked her too. She would cancel any plans that she has in order to see her grandkids. How do I know this? Because she has. I've had to ask my Dad what's going on before I ask my Mom, because I know that she will say "there's nothing going on, bring them on over". Now, I will say that she lets them both get away with way too much stuff. She'll fix them mac & cheese and let that be their dinner along with many other "mamaw" type things. See, she gets to give them back to us after they leave her house. :)

This is only 3 of the many things that I can say about my mom. I'm sure that my brother and sisters can mention many more as well, along with the other grandkids.

I love you Mom and thank God for you!

Easter Bunny run

For some reason in the past year I have picked up running both as a hobby and as a lifestyle. I used to run all the time in the Army and while I did enjoy it some it's not something that I would say that I would do on my free time. I tried to run a few years ago but my knees hurt too much. In the past year though I've not only been able to run without serious injury, I've actually enjoyed it. I've been able to enter some 5k races, placing in my age group and even did well in a 10k. I've had a guy at work talk about a half-marathon for a while now (almost 6 months). I kept saying that there was no way I could do that, that's just too far. That doesn't sound like fun. That's not even a possibility. Well, over the past few months I kept increasing my distance runs on Saturday mornings and felt confident enough to give it a shot. I had considered the Publix Marathon/Half-marathon in Atlanta but decided against it for a few reasons. It was expensive. I'd have to go to Atlanta and even spend the night there, which would not be fun at all. It also fell on the same weekend that our church was having our missions conference that I didn't want to miss. All of those factors led me to a small "Easter Bunny" race in Clemson, SC. It was less than half the price of the Georgia Marathon, a whole lot less runners (under 200 in the half-marathon), and it included a 5k run/walk that Stephanie and Katelyn could participate in followed by an egg hunt. On top of that we could stay at the In-laws house in Toccoa and drive up early the next day. Justin stayed at a friends house that night or he would have participated as well. This seemed like a great fit for our family.

After visiting with Stephanie's parents the evening before, I was very glad we hadn't driven to Atlanta. We were up early the next morning and on our way. Traffic wasn't a big deal at all and we were there with plenty of time to spare to pick up our race packets. Again, I'm glad we didn't go to Atlanta. Can you tell I don't like driving to Atlanta? This was the first race that Katelyn participated in. We weren't sure how she was going to do, but figured the egg hunt afterward would be some good motivation. The half-marathon started first, and then the 5k kicked off soon afterward.

I was surrounded by runners with gps watches and heart monitors. Many also had belt "fanny packs" with water and energy beans/gel. I thought "ok, I thought ok, even with all that, they still have to run though right?". My goal was to maintain a good pace and finish the race. I had never ran over 10 miles and this one was 13.1 miles. I had followed a training program that had you build up to 10 miles till a week or two before the race, then back down your mileage to conserve energy and allow your body to rest. I had also planned to walk for about 20 seconds or so at each water station. The weather was great, a slight chill in the air, perfect running conditions.

After a bumpy start because there were different paces of those in front and behind me, we spread ourselves out. I had figured out early on that my key to doing well was to find some runners to keep a good pace with. I would need those who would challenge me, but not kill me. Fortunately, I was able to do that throughout the race. At times I would pick someone with a little faster pace, sometimes a little slower. We ran through downtown Clemson, along Lake Hartwell, through Clemson University and back to the finish line. At the finish line there was someone in a Dunkin Doughnut costume giving the finishers a high-five. I was happy to finish and gave him the high-five, mainly beacuse I didn't want to be 'that guy' who didnt. :)

My time was 1 hour 42 minutes, well ahead of my goal of 2 hours. I had no idea how the last 3.1 miles would go, but I knew in training that around 10 miles it got kinda rough. My hip started hurting some around 11 miles, but I knew I was close to the finish so it didn't both me that much. I ended up in 4th place in my age group. I didn't get any awards but was very pleased with the finish. Actually, I was pleased just to finish.

Not long after I crossed the line, Katelyn ran up to me and said "Daddy, we won". Stephanie told Katelyn that everyone wins who finished the 5k and in a way, she's right. I'm not going to say where they finished, but I will say that they weren't last. :)

At the bottom are some pics of us before the race. The only thing that I didn't like was having to be around all those Clemson fans, yuck!

We have another 5k race tomorrow in Winder that all of us are participating in. It's a Chick-fila race full of kids activities and I'm sure, their cow mascot. Maybe I'll be able to give him a high-five. I can only hope. :)

God is so good to our family. We're able to do things together and enjoy each others company. These races are only a small part of it.

This and That

More funnies for a Friday:

This is so true:


For those who sit at a desk at work:


Never thought about this before:


Popular brands with their real marketing slogans:







I love this one:


And for the redneck in all of us: a Monster Truck Backflip

It's Friday

It's Friday (Good Friday), but Sunday's a comin

Camp Tugalo Men's Retreat

Tonight a few guys from work will be going with me to a place called "Camp Tugalo" on Lake Louise in Toccoa. We first took the trip back in 2006 and have been going every year since then in the fall, except last year (although I did go with another group of men away from work). We decided this year to go in the Spring.

For a couple of years before our annual retreat we were having Bible studies at work on a weekly or every other week basis. From there we started thinking about 'events' to get away from the office for fellowship and discipleship purposes.

Once we traveled to the pond of an employee's family, had a devotional, ate some chicken and did some bass fishing. We also went to an event on the UGA campus to see Ravi Zacharias speak. Over our Christmas break one year we played a round of golf and met at an employee's house to eat and watch "The Passion of the Christ".

Then we started thinking about something overnight, away from our families. Camp Tugalo was the perfect fit. Basically, it's cabins on the lake that are heated and air conditioned, that will sleep around 14 or so. There's a place to build a fire on the side of the lake and a dining hall to use if we need it. We've had up to 8 take the trip and as few as 5. This year we'll have 6.

The first year we stayed all weekend long through Sunday morning and had a guest speaker. Since then we have changed it to leaving on Saturday evening or Saturday around noon. We also switched to watching dvd's from Tommy Nelson's men's conference and other messages from various people in place of a live speaker.

The speaker that we invited the first year was a great start. He told the testimony of his failed marriage ending in divorce. She had an affair with another guy and ended up leaving him because of it. As he painted the story, you began to really feel sorry for him and disgust for her. Some of the guys in our group had either been through a divorce or had similar experiences and could relate. Then he shocked us all. He said

"you know what I learned during that time, and realize now: while she made the decisions she made and will have to live with them, I made a lot of decisions that led her to make those decisions. I wasn't loving her the way I was supposed to, although I wasn't abusing my wife mentally, physically, and emotionally and not loving her as I should. She left me because I wasn't giving her what I should have been giving her. So although it wasn't abuse, it was certainly neglect. Yes, she made the choice to cheat and leave, but I made choices too".

So here we were thinking how foolish she was, and he was admitting his sin in not leading his wife properly. He wasn't saying what she did wasn't wrong, clearly it was. He was just admitting that he wasn't innocent in the situation. The men in that room and myself needed to hear that. People tend to think that whatever happens is not their fault. We ended up during that retreat around the campfire talking about ways that we could better understand and serve our family. For those who were single, they learned the importance of starting out right. For those who were divorced they were able to look beyond the sin of their spouse and own up (man up) to their own failures. You see, we are all screw ups in some way, the question is, "Will we admit it and learn from it or will we stick our head in the sand and pretend otherwise?".

Each trip tends to have it's own flavor based on the people who go, the topics discussed, the food we eat, even with the weather we get, which looks like rain for this trip, so much for the fire and horseshoes. While each is different, a lot remains the same: we are still men who are sinners in need of God's mercy and grace, and are called, commissioned, and commanded by God to lead our families.

This song by Sanctus Real shows why we take our annual retreats. Yes, we hang out and have a good time, play some sports and eat some food, but beyond that we remind ourselves of who we are and who God has called us to be.I really enjoy this song and plan on playing it at our retreat this year. It's the cry of wife for her husband to lead, the cry of the children for their dad to lead, and then the prayer of the dad to God to lead him in leading his family. I don't know about you, but I can relate fully.



Here's the story behind the song by the lead singer Matt Hammitt if you're interested.

The Story of Jonah as Told by The Cutest Little Girl

More than a story of a big fish swallowing a man, Jonah is a story of a self rightous man running from God, thinking he's better than other people and God relentlessly pursuing people in their sin and changing them for His glory. Simply put:

We are sinners who run from God, but He is merciful and loving and pursues us. This of course is only possible because of the shed blood of His Son.

I love this story told by this little girl. Hope you enjoy it as well.

This and That

I used to have this kind of Gameboy, and I had some accessories like this kid. My, how the size of electronics have changed.


Speaking of electronics:


And of facebook:



The Great Chuck Norris:


There's no way our cat would be able to do this:


This is pretty cool:


I love this rhyme about the best story ever.

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!