V-Day.. Success!!!

I came. I saw. I sorta conquered. Hahaha Ice and rest ruled the last two days and now, back to work at DAEP. Trina was fantastic taking care of me!!!

9/11 - 17 years ago!!

Holy smokes!!! The day that changed us more than anything since Pearl Harbor. I'll not forget my location, my kids, my pluresy, my fear, my confidence, my prayers, my nation, my God.

Risinger.. A Lovely Lady

Linda served on our Special Education Staff on our campus. She loved me being in ARDS with her, I kept meetings moving along. She would sometimes come into my room and listen to me teach. I asked her once about why certain troubled and behavior-deficient students were not coming into my class.. her reply: "Feeback, you work hard here, I take care of you." My favorite quote: "I like you, Feeback. You actually care about these students and you teach."

I heard from many teachers and staff members last night. Mr. Pena texted me, "she was a lovely lady."

Well said.

A Poem of Pain

March 1st – The Day After April: Today I wake and feel even lonelier, but I see positive potential. My heart shook much like the quake, then the pain was gone. The arctic breeze formed the fortress, barricading my fragile heart with pain. - Tupac Shakur

He wrote this after his divorce with April. Notice the despair and wound, yet there is a thread of hope here. He vaguely alluded to it, but it's presence kept him focused and moving on. Was it from God? From within himself? From others? We don't know, but we know this.. he got up and kept walking. I can relate to the subject matter, but my hope was in Christ and who I am in Him. Yes, I got up and kept walking as well, but knowing God has my back and and my future.

The Empty House

It's been a year this weekend since my children rode away with their mom in the van. I watched them leave their empty rooms, the wooden fort, and the swing set they played on for many years, plus the trampoline they dearly loved.

I have them this weekend in a new house, well not new, but new to me and them. I am renting from Pastor Len. I have been living with people, renting rooms from friends and strangers for a year. Now, the time has come for healing to come to my children.

We have healed and are healing from so much pain and loss. Yet, have remained strong and loving through the mess and tragedy. I love them with every ounce my heart can conceive. A new day has begun and we are moving on to greater things than I imagined. God is good.

Praying for Connie Christoph

Connie Christoph, wife of Jim and mother of Sarah and Jamey, has ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). They are friends of mine from back in the days of Warner Southern College (now University), South Lake Wales Church, and Barry/Dana Shick.

I am praying daily for her condition and family.

Sad Songs

This song, "I Wonder", is an awesome tune about a daughter who's mother left her and now she wants her to come home. I must admit, it brings moisture to the eye when you hear the longing and hurt in her voice and in the words.

I Wonder
by Kellie Pickler

Sometimes I think about you
Wonder if you’re out there somewhere thinkin' 'bout me
And would you even recognize the woman that your little girl has grown up to be
‘Cause I look in the mirror and all I see are your brown eyes lookin' back at me
They’re the only thing you ever gave to me at all

Chorus
Oh, I hear the weather’s nice in California
There’s sunny skies as far as I can see
If you ever come back home to Carolina
I wonder what you’d say to me

I think about how it ain’t fair that you weren’t there to braid my hair like mothers do
You weren’t around to cheer me on
Help me dress for my high school prom like mother’s do
Did you think I didn’t need you here to hold my hand, to dry my tears
Did you even miss me through the years at all?

Chorus

Forgiveness is such a simple word
But it’s so hard to do
When you’ve been hurt

Oh, I hear the weather’s nice in California
And just in case you’re wondering about me
From now on I won’t be in Carolina
Your little girl is off,
oh your little girl is off,
your little girl is off,
to Tennessee

Mighty To Save

This has to be my newest favorite song these days:

Josh Hamilton

- A man who was a first round draft pick.
- Quit playing baseball due to drugs and alcohol.
- Picked up again several years later and sober.
- Now is an All-Star and the star of the 2008 Home Run Derby.

John 16:31-33 (TNIV)

"Do you now believe? A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
- Jesus of Nazareth circa 30-33 A.D.

This of course is when Jesus is speaking to his followers about his death and how they will all leave him alone to suffer and die. I love the part, "In this world you will have trouble." OK - and your point is...

The point is clear in the next phrase. It is for them and us a glance of hope, a knot to hold onto, a glimmer of light in the darkest days..."But take heart! I have overcome the world." WoW!!! Say it again Jesus...I have overcome the world! One more time for those who know this text and line way too well..."I have overcome the world!!"

So whatever trouble we face, let's keep it straight...Jesus faced the world and won! If God raised Jesus from the dead, he too can raise you and I from the depths of hell and destruction, as long as we are breathing - there is hope. "Even though I walk in the shadow of death, you are with me..."

That's something to write home about, hang your hat on, and do a jig in the middle of the mall!

"I Don't Like Remembering"

If you haven't seen the movie Reign Over Me (Adam Sandler),
There's a scene in the waiting room of the psychologist (Liv Tyler). Sandler's character is very complex and has really "lost it".

So often, we refuse to remember. It's just too painful. But in my life, I've learned that the possibility of healing and redemptive value is worth the tears and pain.