My Ramblings

Today seems especially tough for me. I have been physically ill the last couple of days. I have a million things that I need to do at church. I have a hundred things I need to do at home concerning our house, our cars, my children, my wife, etc. All of this seems to be building up over the last month and today is most difficult of all. I think the best way for me to articulate what is happening comes in two word pictures. First, my filter is missing. Everything I need to do seems URGENT. I feel like it all needs to be done right now. I know it's not all that urgent, but I can't shake that feeling. It is almost to the point of mental paralysis. Second, I am having a difficult (to say the least) time compartmentalizing. Usually, I can tuck stuff away and think about it later. Today I can't. It is all right there in front of me. I feel like I am being overloaded with no way to process all the information. Working on this blog is helping some. As I type this, my son is playing ...

What a week! Here I am at the airport again. This time I am in Tampa on my way back to MD. I just spent an amazing week in classes for the Masters Degree I am working on. All of our classes have been great and our professors even better. But, this week…. For as long as I can remember, I have had convictions about what it means to be Pentecostal and what that should look like. The problem is, outside of a church service, I have never seen it. So, like many, I tuck away the thoughts and live life like everyone else. This week I saw my thoughts lived out in front of me. Our professor operated in the Holy Spirit like no one I have ever known. I found joy this week seeing that living in the power of the Holy Spirit is possible. Even more so, I was challenged this week with what I need to do personally to live a truly Pentecostal life. Thank you, Lord!!!!! Now, help me to do what I know (and have known) I need to do. Look out world; God loves you and He wants to ...

Well, here I am sitting at the airport waiting on my flight. I just had an experience that surprised me. As I was walking by one of the News stores in the airport on my way to Arbys, I noticed that the current cover girl for Maxim is Hillary Duff. When I saw that, my heart sank. I started to cry. The Spirit moved on me to begin interceding for Ms. Duff and for all the teenage girls (and boys) who look up to her.; my six year old used to be a big Lizzy McGuire fan. It bothers me that our society not only allows such a turn of events, but seems to encourage, almost cause, it. I know there are much worse things Hillary could do than be on the cover (and most likely on the inside) of Maxim. Except for blaming the Holy Spirit, I can't explain why this incident had the effect it did. Somewhere deep inside this was another sign of what is going on in the world around me. Innocence seems to be lost and traded like so many stocks on Wall Street. I will continue to ...

My wife is out of town for a week and I am home with the kids. Before tonight, I hadn't shaved since last Sunday morning. I had a week's worth of itching, scratchy stubble on my face. My boys suggested I shave before mommy comes home on Tuesday; I did them one better, I shaved tonight, before church tomorrow. To be perfectly honest, I shaved all my facial hair except my goatee. Several years ago, I had a goatee, it was one of the prerequisites of being a youth pastor ; ). I had a goatee when our first son was born. I had a goatee when my wife discovered my addiction. I had a goatee as my wife and I both struggled to find our way through the mess I created. In the midst of that long process, I shaved my goatee. Somehow, that act came to have some symbolic significance to Moriah and me. It was symbolic of my making changes, of the Lord working in me. It was symbolic of my becoming a new man. Today, I have a goatee again, for a little while. Tomorrow, I will p...