a day to think and work

so this is a strange day for me. this morning when i was leaving to take isa to school i met a gentleman that was raking leaves next door. when i saw him, for some reason, i was compelled to go speak to him. so i walked over and introduced myself. he was hispanic and spoke in broken english. he was really nice. the kind of guy that seemed likely to help someone out if they needed it. but on his face i clearly saw years of hard work, pain and life showing. our yard needs cleaning badly, so i offered to pay him to blow the leaves away from the house into the yasd so i can mow them up. he said, "no money. happy to do it." still, i was determined to pay him. so i left for school. when i got back home to change for work, i saw him working in our yard so i went to help him pick up sticks so we could get started. he was working in our yard while he waited for the guys to come help him again in the neighbor's yard. when our neighbor got here, he said that they would all be happy to help clean our yard, and that, no, we could not pay them.

i had to come inside for a while to handle some work stuff. so i started cleaning our house and thinking. i cleaned in silence just praying and thinking. ange and i are adopting form ethiopia and this experience has been so much harder but better than i thought it would be. so i find myself praying and lost in thoughts often.

well, i felt like i needed a few minutes to break from it all so i sat down to eat lunch and got to listening to jon foreman's cd's. they are really well crafted and written songs. it is a nice surprise of music from the frontman of switchfoot. well, he has song called "sombody's baby" that really penetrated to my core. it is a sad song folks. this is not one that you listen to in order to start your day. but it is an honest and real song about a homeless woman that finds herself alone and without hope. it exists in this world more than we think, and now more than ever before, i am aware of that.

as i listened, i was consumed by the thought that somewhere in ethiopia, there is a woman that is either pregnant or has recently had a baby that she will give up. she does not know what is going to happen. she may not have much hope for herself, but i imagine that the decision to give up her child is one that comes with whatever remaining hope she has. it is a hope that her baby will not have to grow up in extreme poverty, disease and malnutrition. i imagine that she is holding out hope that there is a God that loves her child and will take care of her. so i sit here, excited beyond words about adopting a baby and bringing them into our family. and as i do, i am only begining to realize that adoption is about so much more than the life of a child. it is about the fact that deep down inside of us, we all still have hope. it is the hope of God manifested through Christ. it is the hope of a woman somewhere that life will be better for her child than it was for her. it is the hope of a nation that is wracked with poverty and crimes we cannot imagine, that one way or another, life has to get better.

so i sit here, praying for the moms around the world that are wondering how this life of is going to play out for them. i sit here praying for the mom that will make the gut wrenching decision to turn her baby over to hope. i pray that she somehow knows that our family is prayng for her. that she is loved by God, and that yes, He has a plan for all of us. not just here. not just there. hope for all of us.

it has been a strange day. but, it has been a great day, and one that i needed.

sidetracked

So I sat down to write a blog about bands/artists that people most likely have not heard of but I think they should listen to. After all, there is a lot of good music out there if you just search for it a little harder. So one of the artists that I wanted to mention was Andy Gullahorn. He is a Christian songwriter that really is one of the best songwriters that I know of in general. He is crazy funny and witty, but let me tell you, he can cut right to the point when he needs to. So I started re-listening to his stuff and I was struck by one of his songs. It is called That Guy. I am not going to go into great detail about the song because you really need to listen for yourself. Even if you have heard the song many times before, check it out again. And yes, the rest of his stuff is this good.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Khw3GOQ824


(Note: video is not from Andy but rather something someone made independently.)


Peace out.

The Perfect Song

So I have not felt like writing my blog about the threats of this administration lately. Maybe I will again, I don't know. But until then, I feel like going a different route...again.

Ange showed me a blog with an interview with Andrew Osenga. In that interview, he was asked what he thought the perfect song was. He gave an answer, that to my delight, would have been one of my potential answers. Well, that got me thinking, what do I consider to be the perfect song. (Note: not my favorite song necessarily, but the perfect. Just so happens that I really like each of these.) So my brain has gone nuts thinking about this. So I started with what I consider to be songs for consideration, then narrowed it down to the top 3. Then I decided what I consider to be the perfect song.

So, hear are the top 3:

3) I Keep Forgettin' (Everytime You're Near) by Michael McDonald
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjw0u_michael-mc-donald-i-keep-forgettin_music

So, first off let me say this song is a jam. Second, you know who co-wrote this song with Michael McDonald? None other than Kenny Loggins. Say what you want, Kenny can write some music. Also, when this song came out, Michael had just finished singing with the Doobie Brothers for 5 years. The reason he stopped singing with them is because the whole band broke up. Really though, listen to the last few Doobie albums...they needed to call it quits. So when Michael came out with a solo CD, everyone was expecting a dud. Then his album had this song on it and it was a perfect blend of classic rock riffs and beats, disco rhythm and what became known as the 80's sound. And then the lyrics are great. It's a story of two people who really want to be in love, but they just aren't. Really though, they can't even decide. Either way, really good. Lastly, the riff that everyone gets in their head is crazy good and was later used by Nate Dogg for the great classic rap song, Regulators.

2) Deacon Blues by Steely Dan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inz9Sa_CVFs

Note: the video is pretty lame, it's the song I was looking for.
So I firmly believe this is the best Steely Dan song they ever made. Their sound was never better than on this album. They were way ahead of their time on creating a constant "sonic sound" that could be found in all of their music. And they were perfectionists of sound. In fact, it is so pitch perfect that U2 uses their albums for sound check at every venue they play in. Think about that. Also when Bose first started selling high end speakers and stereos, they used Steely Dan for all of their sound demonstrations.

This song is a sad one. (seems like all the best songs are sad) So Donald Fagen wrote this song about himself, sort of, but more so about the prevailing attitude of many musicians of the era of this song. It is over 7 minutes long, and was said to be too long for radio play, much less to be a hit. But it went to #19 and was on the top 40 for eight weeks. Fagen said that it is one of the only songs he has ever done that he can listen to and think, "that is a really good song."

1) Mandolin Rain by Bruce Hornsby
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1xv89_bruce-hornsby-mandolin-rain_music

What is there to say? Great lyrics, phenomenal music, and the music matches and plays off the story...this song is in my opinion, perfect. It came out in late 1986 but honestly, it has a sound that could come from anytime. It charted on not just one chart, but crossed music genre lines and charted in the top 40 on the Adult Contemporary chart, the Mainstream Rock chart and the Country chart. When that happened, in 1986/87, there was not as much genre blending music as there is today, so that really is a special feat. Just listen to the song and I think that it will speak for itself.

Honorable mention:
-Jeremy by Pearl Jam
-I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
-Neither one of Us (Wants to be the First) by Gladys Knight and the Pipps
-Piano Man by Billy Joel

Change of pace.

I am changing, for the time, the nature of my blog. I have no idea if anyone reads this anyway, but I still have some stuff that I have to get out. I love politics, always have. I enjoy debating it with people, as long as we both can act like adults. I cannot stand when people yell about something...even if I agree with them.



Before this past presidential election, when the Democrat party nomination was still up for either Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama to recieve, I remember saying something to Angela that was hard for me to believe I was saying. I said to her "you know, I would rather Hillary get the nominaiton and possibly become our next president that Obama. I don't like her, but I don't trust him." She agreed, and I sort of left it at that. But with each passing day it seems, I am reassured of that sentiment. I believe that this administration is very dangerous for this country and for you and me. Now, yes, I am a conservative. Note that, I said conservative and not Republican. On the whole, the Republican party, I believe, holds to the true values of conservatism more than the Democrat party. Yes, I have worked for 2 conservative members of the House of Representatives (Rep. Patrick McHenry and Rep. Virginia Foxx) and also for a conservative member of the Senate (Senator Richard Burr). But, and this is assuming that someone out there in space is reading this blog, I am asking that you read this blog over the next few days, or weeks, or months with an open mind. Please do not dismiss this by saying, "well he is just some conservative, and of course he does not like the president." I am not intending to bash the Democrat party. I am not intending to name call our President. He is a man, and God loves him the same as He does me. I simply believe that as the leader of this country, President Obama and his administration adhere to some dangerous policies. So, I will be back soon with the next installment.

10 minutes

So why is it that no matter what you order from a Chinese restaurant, they tell you it will be ready in "10 minutes?" 1 order of fried rice...10 minutes. Lunch special #4...10 minutes. 3 pints of scallion chicken, 4 orders of sweet and sour pork, 1 order of mei fun, 4 orders of beef and broccoli, and 47 egg rolls...10 minutes. Always makes me laugh.



The best was in college, we would order from a place called Golden Dragon. Well, if the older lady answered the phone when you called to place your order, you were in for a treat. After every item that you order, she says "10 minutes" and then hangs up. I mean after every item. We would have to call right back and say "I need to add to that order" and then we would tell them the next thing and she would say "10 minutes." And yes, we had to do that with everything that we wanted to order. That lady was the funniest!



So watch, next time you order some Chinese takeout they are gonna tell you "10 minutes." but man, that 10 minutes is worth it!

Cynicism

So I sat down to write my first post about something that bothers me and I came to a realization that has been reinforced this afternoon. As I started writing, I began to notice just how easy it was for me to go from pointing out something funny and asking "what's that about" to becoming cynical. I try not to live my life like that. I don't want to be the kind of person that sees right through the heart of anything and finds the negative. The funny thing is, I am at the core an optimist. But man oh man, how easy it is to slip into pessimism.

So I was thinking about that today. It has been the thought that has rolled around my brain all day. So I have been especially aware of negativity today, mostly coming from me. But I realized that there is something about our nature as humans that makes it easy to sink to the shallow and negative. I call it original sin, some call it a product of our culture. But really, us Americans are not the originators of pessimism, it goes back to the beginning of time. So anyway, I'm standing in line at the DMV office this afternoon when I overhear a conversation. Let me restate that. The DMV office in Davie County is really, really small. So more accurately I heard a conversation. OK, so one of the employees tells another that the Vice President of an insurance company called to wish her a happy birthday. This particular lady, Pat, has been at the Davie County office for over 30 years, and is super good at what she does. (Shout out to Pat that the Davie DMV!) Well, a guy waiting in line yells out "go ahead and send them some more money and they will call next year too."

With that I thought to myself, What's that about. The VP of an insurance company is not campaigning for office, so he is not talking donations. And even if she has insurance with the company, the VP is not just gonna call her and wish her a happy birthday because of that. The VP of Allstate didn't call me last September. No, he called her because she is really good at what she does and has been helping people out for over 30 years. She earned a call from that VP.


What's that about? Give credit where credit is due.

Alright, so I have a blog now. I have to be honest, I don't even really like the sound of the word "blog" so I have resisted making one until now. But I have one now and it is what it is.

My wife was nice enough to set it up for me. She did it because she loves me. Also, I think that she wanted there to be a place for me to go to get my thoughts out. You see, I get bothered a lot by things. Now I'm not talking about the kind of bothered where you get all mad and go outside and kick the trash can. (You can do that you know? It's made of plastic and can really take a beating. I hit our can for fun one night and I was surprised.) Anyway, the kind of bothered I am talking about it the kind where you see or hear something that just kind of sticks in your brain for some reason or another. So when this happens to me, I always tell Ange about it and then ask the question "what's that about?"

I would say that most of the time the things that bother me are just innocent funny things. But sometimes the things that bother me are more serious. Either way I am just the kind of guy that walks around watching people and noticing things that many just don't even notice. And that means that at least once a day, I think to myself "what's that about?"

So there you go. Now I have a blog. And if there is something that makes you ask that question, let me know, I would love to hear about it.

Until then, big ups to my peeps in lockdown.