The Week in Words

This was a tough week in many ways. This week, Lily and I had a conversation about death. I met a guy who just found out his brother was the real father of his wife's baby. And there has just been general negativity surrounding me this week.

On the bright side, I've really been feeling God working in my life lately. I challenged God in a big way, and I think he responded. I'm not trying to say I have everything figured out, but I do believe that his spirit is leading me in a good direction right now. I have been at peace for the first time in a long time with where I am spiritually. Not that I have everything figured out by any stretch of the imagination, but I am walking by faith and living in his light. My outlook on life is just much better. I'm getting more sleep, stressing less, spending more quality time with the family and still getting all my work done. I think I'm more effective as a minister as well.

One of the things that I don't like about my job is that we have people walk in our office all the time. I can honestly say that most of the time I just want to know what they want me to do to get them out of there. But I don't believe that's what God would do. The other day I had a guy come in who was crying his guts out. I took him in the office and he told me that he had married a girl to keep her in the country (which is bad news already), and that he just found out that his brother was the real father of his eight month old son. He lost his apartment and car, because his wife was spending all his money. And now that he lost his job, she is leaving him. Sounds like the classic case of a user who preyed on his naivety. He's 21. He dropped out of high school and left home, but did go back to get his GED. He's not afraid to work and not hung up on having lots of things. In fact, he didn't ask me for anything. He just needed someone to talk to. So we walked over to Subway and had some lunch, once he pulled himself together. I didn't know what to say, so I mostly just listened. The thing is that I knew we had a parent meeting on Sunday. I knew that I wasn't going to get the Keynote presentation finished. And I knew that meant I was either going to be finishing it on Friday or Saturday. But I didn't worry about it. I figured God had sent this guy to my office for a reason, and I listened to what he had to say. At the end of our two hours together, I gave him a Wal Mart card, a bible and a ticket for a free meal at the church building on Wednesday.

I honestly don't know if I'll ever see George again, and I am certainly not trying to pat myself on the back. I didn't really do anything for him. And I have done more than my fair share of giving a few bucks just to get a homeless guy out of my office. But Wednesday night, we looked at 1 Corinthians 12, the passage where Paul explains how the church works like the human body. And in that passage, specifically in verse 7: "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." Simply put, that means God has given us gifts to physically show the world who God is. And we all know that God is love. So we were created to do good works and given spiritual gifts to be God's love in a world that really needs to see that. That's awesome. And I feel like God really gave me an opportunity to do that for someone Thursday. I hope I get more opportunities like that. But more than anything, I hope I let his Spirit reveal his love for the person sitting on the couch.

I'll have to talk about my conversation with Lily in another post. It was one of those things where you really feel like you have a teachable moment, even if it is about trying to explain death to a six year old.

2012 just got a whole lot more interesting

So I thought I should weigh in on the latest Spider-Man news. Word is that Sony and Sam Raimi have parted ways, and they're starting all over with the fourth Spider-Man movie. I'm talking totally over -- new cast, new writer and new director. And with a new director comes a new direction. The rumor is that Raimi had a script and even villains. Sony couldn't get on the same page with him, and so they mutually agreed that they should end the relationship and start the franchise over again. Now, three years ago, I would be miffed by this. I would probably be writing a letter to my congressman. But not so much now. While it is true we're now going to have to wait until Summer 2012 for the new installment, it's going to be worth the wait. I can't believe I'm going to do this, but here it goes.

Spider-Man 3 -- where do I begin? I liked it. Wanted to love it. But the more I watch it, the more I realize how all over the board it was. It didn't suck me in. I didn't care about Venom, and I should have. But that's probably because he seemed like an afterthought. And the Sandman . . . really? I've been screaming for The Vulture since the first one was over. And they go with Sandman? I don't get it. And of course, they have to tie him into Uncle Ben's murder. Like they got it wrong in the first one. C'mon, man. Just let him be a bad guy. That could have been a good storyline without the Uncle Ben thing. We know Peter Parker fights bad guys because of what happened to Uncle Ben. But everything doesn't have to tie in to that. Some people just want to watch the world burn. Why can't that be enough sometimes?

That leads me to my next point. Batman is kicking tail right now. And why? Is Batman more beloved than Spidey? I say he's not. But is he cooler? Slicker? More interesting? Right now, you'd have to say "yes" to all three of those. And why is that, do you think? Well, let's be honest. The last movie (The Dark Knight) was a perfect storm of box office glory. They had a lot of things working for them at once. They were a juggernaut waiting to happen. Think about it. Batman Begins didn't set box office records. It was solid, but heck, it wasn't even Iron Man if you just look at box office results. But TDK had several things working for it. First, Chris Nolan is the best director in the world. Don't even argue this point. The man knows how to tell a story. Think about it. TDK would have been a good movie if it had different characters in it, characters that you didn't even have a history with. That's one reason it works. Secondly, and let's be honest, Heath Ledger dying whetted appetites for this movie. I mean, that's just going to happen. Did they want Heath Ledger to die? Of course not. Did his death boost ticket sales? Of course it did. That, plus the fact he was probably one of the top five movie villains ever, put this movie in rare air. Thirdly, and lastly though, the PR people for this movie did an amazing job pumping this movie. They were more creative than anything I've ever seen. The viral marketing campaign they used on this movie should be bottled up and put in The Smithsonian. It was brilliant. They should all get their own island and never have to pay taxes again. Brilliant.

And so here Batman is kicking butt and all I have to look forward to is Kirsten Dunst coming back in Spidey 4 and being the worst Mary Jane Watson ever! And we're going to rush through another movie, throwing in as much as we can to try to make everyone happy. The folks who have produced these first three movies seem to think we're more interested in seeing cool villains than an actual story. I mean, come on, how many times you gonna use that "gotta go save Mary Jane" crap? It's old, Sam. Go make Evil Dead 17. You made Spider-Man a reality. You got it jumpstarted. Then you ran out of steam. S-M3 was lazy, confusing, rushed and frankly, insulting. Spider-Man has been my favorite superhero since I was 10. But you focused too much on tying things together and making it about Mary Jane. And it got old. I'm personally thankful that Spidey is getting a reboot. It was much needed. I think this is the best thing that could happen to Sony. Now, let's get a hot young director with a penchant for spinning a good yarn. Let's get a new cast with a better looking Mary Jane. And let's tell a story. A really good story, not rehashed peril. Let's look at new villains. Oh, and don't even think about getting any of the Twilight guys to play Spider-Man. I swear. If you thought I pitched a fit about the organic web shooters thing, you haven't seen anything until you try to get Taylor Lautner in this film. Just don't do it, turds. And don't make it cheesy. And for crying out loud, please leave Stan Lee out of it. Enough with the cheese already!

I know I sound like a colossal nerd on this one, but I have to go back to my nerdy roots here. Oh, and just as an aside, for some reason I am really interested in The Flash lately. I would love to see that come to life on screen. I don't know if it will, because there was once a rumor that Ryan Reynolds had signed on to play him. But he's doing Deadpool now, so I don't think that's going to happen. So we'll see. But The Flash has such cool colors and a really interesting back story. I think it could be DC's answer to Iron Man. Just a thought. I'd go see it. Well, I have really nerded myself out on this one, haven't I? 'Nuff said.

My Life As A Cynic

I've been in ministry for 11 years. In that time, I have taken my fair share of benevolence cases, most of them on the spot, with little to no prep time. And in that time, I'm pretty sure I've been taken advantage of more often than not. I'm not complaining, necessarily. I'm merely stating fact. There are people out there who are looking for easy targets. They prey on churches and church people. Some go from church to church until they find one (or several) that will support them. And every time you get burned, something happens to you that only God can fix. Heck, if God's Spirit wasn't working on me 24/7, I would be a bitter man right now. I probably would have already left the church and everything in it. I know as a follower of Christ that my duty is to help people. The problem is that scammers know that too. Many of them know all the right things to say to garner sympathy.

In the time that I have been working in ministry and helping people through that venue, I remember the ones specifically that I know took me for a ride. I do that, not to use that as a reason for not helping someone, but for the motivation I need to recognize that these instances can't stop me from being what Jesus has called me to be. It would be so easy to give up on humanity, especially when you have guys like Jonathan, who came into my life (and office) one weekday with his pregnant girlfriend. Yeah, he took me for a ride. I vouched for him. I begged our benevolence group to help him. And it bit me. Hard. Each time gets harder, because you look in the mirror and hate yourself for being so gullible, for trying to be Jesus for people. There was this dude in Pensacola. His name was Chuck. Ok, I'm going to stop there. I still can't talk about Chuck. Let's just say Chuck took me for a ride. Boy, did he ever.

So it happens a lot. And I remember the ones who burned me. But the one thing I cannot do is allow that to jade me. I can't stop helping someone based on what someone else did to me. Jesus knew there were people following him because he fed them. They weren't looking for answers. They were looking to have their bellies filled. And so this morning, along comes Craig. And once again, I got suckered. Or let's just say I listened to him. I bought his story. I walked into M'Liz's office and asked her if we could help him. And we did. And I'm proud of that. After the mistakes I've made and the errors in humanity I have committed, these folks around here are still willing to listen to me when I go out on a limb for someone. Do M'Liz or Bobby believe this guy is a phony? Possibly. Do I believe he's telling the truth? No . . . ok, that's not true. I am still looking for someone genuine. And I'm still willing to give the benefit of the doubt. But regardless of any doubts any of us may have, we still helped him. And we will continue to do that until our Creator comes back to fetch us. Why? Because that's what we do. That's what He did.

I say this not to proclaim myself to be a saint or closer to Jesus than anyone else out there. I say that because every day presents opportunities. What we do with those opportunities say a lot about who is living in us and ruling our hearts. I'm asking God to live there, so I have to be willing to take some shots. But I also have to keep reminding myself that when I do something for someone in need, I'm doing it for Jesus.

I'm Back

I can't believe I'm blogging again. The first time I did a blog, I used it to vent. I gave very few people access to the address, so that I could say what I wanted to without fear that someone who didn't need to find it would. This time, I just feel like I need the therapy once again. But I think I can control my thoughts to a degree. Well, I can't control my thoughts, but at least I can control what I type in response to those thoughts. I just have a lot going on lately that I'm trying to process, and this is a good way to work through some things. I have always enjoyed writing. I think I have amazing things to say sometimes. I'm also very aware that not everyone feels that way about me or anyone else, for that matter. That's why I've always been leery of giving out my blog address or what not. I find it amazingly narcissistic that anyone would care about what I have to say about such things as fatherhood and the Miami Dolphins, as if somewhere in those misguided ramblings lies the cure for cancer.

But I'm done apologizing. If anyone wants to read, they will. If they don't, that's fine too. I'll keep writing. This is for me. I don't know how often I'll be tapping into this source. Something tells me that my time is already filled Sunday through Thursday. And Friday, often one of the last five things in the world I feel like doing is typing my thoughts. The other four happen to be waking up, so you can see where I'm coming from. If I do find the energy to get out of bed, it's only to move from one reclined position to another in the hope of finding the best spot in front of the TV to catch up on everything I missed.

That's what this blog is going to come to. It's going to be me rambling, moving all over the place, because that's how my brain is working these days. I find it more and more difficult to stay on task, partly because I always feel like I should be doing something. Then, when I am doing that, I feel like I should be doing something else. I have so much to say this week. I have milestones in fatherhood to work through, my thoughts on Haiti and the Christian response and, of course, the Miami Dolphins. But it's not going to happen today. I've got the juices flowing and it's not even 8:30. A quick trip to the bank, and I'm ready to take on the best the day has to offer. So my deepest thoughts are at least going to have to wait until after that.