Check out the new cover of The Door magazine. Sweet! For those unfamiliar with this magazine, you might want to keep it that way. If you are overly sensitive to “Christian” sattire, steer clear of The Door. They are often over-the-top, but other times quite funny. Here’s an example of their merciless humor.
The silence has been broken. I have actually been home for nearly a week now, but I guess I never snapped out of vacation mode so far as blogging goes. Excuses, excuses. You know how it is. Once you return from vacation, you get punished with all the catch-up work for being gone. E-mails to answer. Phone calls to make. Meetings to have. Then you start thinking, “Was it really worth it to go away after all?” In my case, yes it definitely was. We had a great time in Oklahoma and Texas during our 10-day trip.
I think what made this vacation so great was our attitude going into it. Having studied and taught Philippians over the past few months, I have been daily confronted with my disgusting pride and Christ’s others-preferring example of humility. Brook and I pledged to “have this attitude which was also in Christ Jesus” as we went on our vacation to see family. In the past, my philosophy of vacation has been very simple: please me, serve me, leave me be! I had certain expectations that I wanted to be met. After all, I work hard, receive little credit, and DESERVE some time off. Inevitably, those vacations where I carried this proud and selfish attitude into them proved to be miserable. So this year, we decided that we would view our vacation as an opportunity to love and serve one another and our families in a unique way that we can’t normally do. What a difference that made. It was probably the most enjoyable and relaxing time we have had with our families.
One more lesson I have learned over the past week: I need to thank God for my wife more often (and thank her). I left my family in Texas a week ago so that I could work a week and they could stay a bit longer there. So I have have been bach-ing it for the past 7 days. I confess, at first it kind of sounds nice–peace, quiet, no kids waking you up at night, time to read, study, get things done around the house. And it is nice for about 24-36 hours. Then that feeling wears of and from then on I hate it. I don’t know how single folks make it–especially if they don’t have a roomate. Thankfully, my time as a bachelor is almost complete. I am awaiting a ride to the airport from a friend as I am typing, and then I will fly back to Dallas and reunite with my wife and kids before we make the drive back to Georgia. After this trip is over, we will have been in 10 of the 50 states in the Union.
Thank you, readers (if there are actually any left), for your patience with me and my lack of blogging. I hope to be back up and going again after I return on Saturday. But for now, let there be silence . . . again . . .
Although some of you probably thought I have already been vacationing over the last week due to the silence of this site, I have not. I have just been busy and a little bit lazy (at least with regards to the blog). But that is all about to change. Next week my blog will be quiet again, but it WILL be because I am on vacation. We will be heading west tomorrow on our way to Oklahoma and then Texas. The past several weeks have been unusually hectic due to several exciting happenings at our church, so this next week is a welcomed break. Water skiing, golf, reading, family, playing with the monkeys, corn on the cob–it’s going to be great. Perhaps after my return I will be rejuvenated to actually write a good post again (I know “good” is a relative term and some of you are waiting for my first “good” post). Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity on Tuesday to burn and blow up things in the name of patriotism. Independence Day is every pyro’s favorite holiday.
Here are a few bulleted items worth mentioning before my departure:
-Congratulations Brad and Laurie Wilson on the birth of your beautiful little girl, Abigail. We could not possibly be happier for both of you.
-Pecadillo is back and better than ever. Fresh out of the police academy, he is trained to protect, serve, and humor us.
-I found some new music for the 16+ hour ride in our sweet ride over at Getty Music. Keith Getty is a modern hymn writer who has written several new hymns that are theologically rich and of excellent musical quality.
Happy 4th!
