Theology of a Roller Coaster

Sometimes for me it is easier to process something by writing it out. This is my attempt to work through something God has been teaching me as of late. There have been some things going on in my life, not the least of which is moving across the country to a new life 2,000 miles away, that have me a bit out of my ‘normal’ and ‘safe’ view. These things have rattled me a bit and I wanted to share a bit of me. (this blog is called, ‘You Know Me’ so I figured I’d continue that process)

In my life God seems to talk to me in concentrated times. Just the other day as I was trying to hear from God about some stuff in my life and really needing something to hold on to I came across Romans 12: 33.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

I get caught up in the strategy of life. I become overcome with my chess-like existence. “I’ll move here, then he/she/they will move that piece to there. I’ll counter with ______, etc., etc., etc.” I get tired thinking for others and anticipating life. I am learning about this idea of letting go. It’s not a letting go in an acid-trip kind of way. It’s a letting go like a roller coaster. You know you are not going to fall out so you rest in the craziness of the ride and trust you will make it back in one piece. (but there are those times when you are not too sure, right?!)

The Old Testament is rife with God’s overall plan overcoming the intentions of others. I’m not here to debate predestination or free will. I just know I take great comfort in instances such as with Joseph—arguably the first Metro, best-liked youngest child of Jacob—going from betrayed by his brothers to Pharaoh’s 2nd in command. When the family comes to Egypt to by food, due to the famine, he is gracious to them and then Genesis 50:20 Joseph states, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…”

I breathe that in very deeply.

God is bigger than anything we can do. He is bigger than evil and good. He is bigger than “fair.” He is bigger than all that. God is always at work.

2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds me I “walk by faith and not by sight.”

The challenge is not to ignore my fears or explain away things that are hard to understand. But it’s simply to trust, simply to trust to the point beyond understanding and human comprehension. That’s hard.

“Please keep your arms and hands inside the car. Pull down the bar and hold on.”

Here I go?!


NOTE: check out http://www.churchatcharlotte.org/nodes/11.aspx to download the sermon “Ester—The Bad Haman” for a great word on this idea.

hole in the wall

While the chicas were gettin' their hair done and nails did, the fellas ate. Oh and did we eat. I had no idea where we were going but I relinqished that worry to Dave and allowed him to steer me and my belly to Ted's Kickin' Chicken. Hm..that sounds good. After driving for about 2 days we found the end of the road. Literally the road ended into the parkinglot of Ted's. We purused the extensive menu consisting of the following options:

1) Full chicken
2) Upper 1/2
3) Lower 1/2
* all with special sauce
* with one side item

sides: french fries

Needless to say it didn't take much time to choose my meal. The "special sauce" by the way was Pete's Hot Sauce with a little water. No so special but I did choke and my eyes watered.

Just like to keep you guys in the loop.

OH YEAH: this little jem was on the wall

A Random Wedding

Have you ever had the opportunity to crash a wedding? Well I highly recommend it. Now, lest you believe I have become a John Beckwith or Jeremy Grey I must let you know this was an 89% crash. That is to say I knew probably about 11% of the wedding party/guests. I received a phone call from a friend who said she had a "proposition" I couldn't turn down. I'm usually intrigued by this kind of statement because I love proving people wrong (side note: this was also the type of motivation my mother used to get me to clean my room: "I'll bet you can't do it in 8 minutes!").

Having heard the proposition in only it's beginning stages I quickly accepted. Here was the criteria:
1) Really fun date
2) 2 nights in a hotel
3) Full open bar (pretty much everywhere we went)
4) 2 great meals (rehearsal dinner/reception)
5) Lots of dancing
6) (I added this one) The challenge to meet as many people and fit seamlessly into a group of people where only a handful actually know me.

So boom. It was on like Donkey Kong. I had a freakin' blast and loved every minute of it.

This was a picture from the chapel in Winston-Salem where Martha and Sam were married. Congratulations, guys!

ladies...this one is for you

So in the world of high school kids you hear all kinds of strang stuff. I get to be on the frontlines of new music, lingo, video games, etc. Really they set the pace (or follow it) for many of the "hot" items today.

Just the other day I was with some guys before going to a Charlotte Knights game and one of them told me about this number. It's the "reject hotline." If you want to give some guy the cold shoulder...and do it with style you need to give him this number.

704.264.2861

everyone needs to call this

it's pretty funny!

my best friend's wedding

Take 7 crazy guys and one man getting married, add stories from the past and jokes about the future, a night of dares, laughs and real brotherhood and you have this past Friday night.

Chris Jessen, friend to many and enemy to none, was set to be married. It had finally come. I couldn't believe it was really happening. I mean we had talked and joked about marriage pretty much since becoming friends in high school. People asked if it was weird for me that he was getting married. Well, pretty much everyone he has dated I thought he'd marry--that's a compliment--so it wasn't that wierd...until the reception.

I guess when you actually articulate something yourself rather than simply hearing others it hits you; it did with me. A simple question, "Chris, where's your wife?" I caught myself as the words escaped my mouth as if I said something I shouldn't have. For me that was the time when it became real.

There will be many more pictures and stories to follow so stay tuned.

xm

I have some new friends here in Charlotte. Sam is an actress and her brother, Adam, does some directing stuff. So they were talking about making a commercial for XM about life being uniterrupted. This is one of a few commercials we've worked on. Post what you think about it either on YouTube or on my blog here.

The scene is out of "Say Anything." It's a Cusak classic from the 80s (I think).

Anyway, good times.

Oh yeah..there are two other cuts on the YouTube website. Search for "interrupted 1."