Saturday, October 18, 2008

Where Laptops Go To Die

The answer to the title of my blog is...INTO MY POSSESSION!!!!

I currently own 2 laptops. Both of them are very valuable paper weights. The first one was fixed by my good friend Chuck. It was dead, and he revivied it. This becomes important later.

For my new teaching job, I went out and brought a brand new laptop. I had it about 3 weeks. Then, it stopped loading. I bought the new warranty for it ( the extra one) and took it back to Best Buy. I recieved a call later that week and they told me my laptop had ants. I thought this was a new bug or virus. The Geek Squad told me this was not a virus. My computer became a nesting pad for a beautiful family of 500 ants. So I went back to the afore mentioned laptop that my friend fixed.

This laptop worked great...for 2 weeks. You see, I have 2 wonderful blessings in my house. My wonderful son, Devin, and my adorable weiner dog Oscar Mateo (went away from the mayer middle name and chose a name from the movie Anaconda). One of these 2 blessings, and by the bite marks it looks like it was my son, chewed through the power cable ( unplugged) leaving me again laptopless.

I do have a home computer. It works great, only we have no home internet. You see, my wife and I decided that home internet as not a luxury we needed. We are part of a church plant. Even though everyone else planting with us is raising support, I decided to use the gifts that God gave me and got a job teaching at a Christian school. As a youth pastor it kept me plugged in with teens and gave me daily practice sharing the gospel. I took the money I would spend on cable and internet and going out to eat to help a friend who is doing ministry. It is a sarifice that, while difficult, is well worth while and I feel that God is blessing Sue and I.

Continue to pray for Sue and I as we journey with our friends in this church plant.

Keanu Reeves does not care about Ant Infested Laptops.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Does Football Really Matter?

I know what you are thinking. Yes, my canes lost a close game and we are no sitting with 2 losses. You may also guess that I would not question whether or not football matters if my team was undefeated right now. Well, I would still question it.

I love it when at the end of a game players from both teams join together at the 50 and pray. To a player, football matters. For the players that gather after the game to pray, it just does not matter the most. These players get it. Its a game. Its a job. Its an activity they enjoy greatly. It is not the most important thing. God is. Plain and simple. Even when a team beats another by 30 or 40 points, you will still see players from both teams gathering to pray at the end of the game.

How come these football players get it and most fans dont. And I dont mean just with football. Is my job more important than God? Is my paycheck? Is my family? I have all those things because God has blessed me with them. Anyone who has seen my wife can tell that God had something to do with that. She is gorgeous, smart, and a true Proverbs 31 woman. I was none of that when we married. I was average looking, in my 12th year of college with a 2 year degree, and slowly becoming a man of God. So why should I worry about a paycheck, a job, or my family when I am living proof that God provides.

As far as football goes, I hate it when my canes lose. I hate it so much that I will not watch sports center for the week following a loss for fear that a highlight may show up. I dont even want to talk football with anyone who is not a canes fan. The sad part is that sometimes that transfers over to my non football life.

You see, when I loose a job, or a paycheck does not come in, I shut down. I dont want to talk about finances. I dont want to see a bill or a bank statement. I know that is wrong, and I am working on it. What I need to do is, after a "loss" in life is to grab some of my close friends and gather at "midfield" to pray. Thank you, football players, for helping me to see something I should have been doing all along...and GO CANES

Keanu Reeves does not care about the Canes getting their swagger back.