By now it should not be a secret to you that my iPhone 4 was stolen yesterday on MARTA.  Probably because of my ridiculous ADD and carelessness.

I felt mad. Sad. Depressed. It affected my mood for the entire day.  I was short with my wife.  I was frustrated by my daughter’s screaming and crying. I was pissy.  All I could think about was finding it, or finding the man (or woman) who took my phone.  All the way to last night, I was in a horrible mood.  To be honest, if I had 1 second to myself yesterday, I would have cried.

Now here’s the thing.  IT’S A PHONE. Seriously.  IT’S A PHONE. Is it not insane that a phone can make me feel that way?  It’s probably a great thing that I lost that phone.  Not because the phone, in itself was bad, but because what the phone represented to me. (Which, I didn’t recognize until it was gone.)

I just finished reading “Radical” by David Platt.  At the end of the book, he challenges you to make some pretty dramatic changes.  One of them is how you spend your money. (Not JUST that, but it’s the core thought of the challenge)

To be honest, I was a little relieved that i was tied in to a 2 year contract, so while I was convicted to change something, it COULDN’T be my iPhone.  I was safe in my conformity.

Well, crap.  Looks like that was all made up in my mind…

So, I guess my timing is bad.  Reading that book, making that excuse and then this happening, has me thinking it’s a ‘sign’.   It has me thinking I need to amp up my faith.  It makes me think I’m not living right.  It makes me think my faith needs Caffeinated.

Unless “Love Wins” tells me it doesn’t really matter….

Dear Gemma,

Yesterday, I had to pick you up from ‘School’.  I have to admit, I was a little frustrated by it.  My daily routine was disrupted, and it was throwing me for a loop.  I left work, hopped in the car, and headed your way.  I got to the church, hopped out of the car and made my way to where they told me you’d be.

I peaked my head in the window, and I saw you about to play ring around the rosey with the teachers, you were having a blast.  And then you saw me.  Your face changed from having fun to pure delight.  You screamed, “Daddy” and ran towards the door.  The moment you saw me, nothing else in that room mattered.  My heart melted, all over again. I’m not sure I’ve seen that much excitement on your face before.

I opened the door, scooped you up, and you grabbed a hold of my neck.  I mean, you grabbed tight.  Like you were never going to let go.  More importantly, like you never wanted to let go.

Gemma, yesterday you changed my life.  I don’t know what, if anything was different, but you made my schedule being a bit off, totally worth it.  You made my frustration disappear, and you made me remember a little clearer what is important in life.

I love you,

Daddy

From the eye’s of an addict, the media frenzy amazes me.  Charlie Sheen is saying crazy, crazy things.

He’s been quoted in saying that he’s a rock star, that he’s living the life.  Quote, “The run I was on made Sinatra, Flynn, Jagger, Richards, all of them just look like you know, droopy eyes armless children.”

It sound insane.  It sound absolutely nonsensical, and, to me… it sounds like things I’ve thought or said before.

I remember living at a bar.  Sleeping on the floor by dart boards, I remember telling people, “Man, it’s the dream. I wake up, I work, I drink, I party…”   I remember telling people, “I haven’t slept in days, I’ve never seen things so clear.”  ”No one understands what it’s like to be in my brain.  If you took my brain for 5 minutes, you’d lose it.”

Addiction is an absolutely insane disease.  It makes people say, do and think crazy things.   I watched Charlie Sheen last night for about 5 minutes and thought I was going to cry.  Seeing a man in such obvious suffering, and we are sitting around watching.  We’re not just watching!  We’re popping the popcorn, sitting back and watching the decline of a human being.  We’re sitting back, and, can I say, ‘getting off’ on the idea that he is crazy.  He’s not.  He’s broken.  He longs for love.  He longs for something every addict longs for.

Here is another quote Charlie Sheen said last night.  He was talking about the ‘other bad boys’ of Hollywood (Sean Penn, Mel Gibson and Collin Farrell) calling him and checking on him.

They didn’t give me any advice. …It was just love … Occasionally, you know, a giant marquee name comes through on your caller I.D. And it’s like, ‘winning.’

You see.  The one nice, normal thing he said last night was talking about the people reaching out and… just…. loving.  People who had been there.  People who know the feeling.  People who are showing compassion.

Now.  Choose your darkest moment.  Now.  Put it on national television, for everyone to see.  Are we all so different?  As far as I’m concerned, we’re all the same.  But the people showing compassion right now, are the other people we love to hate.  (Sean Penn, Mel Gibson and Collin Farrell)

What is wrong with this picture?  Where is the outpouring of love us ‘Christians’ are supposed to show?  Does that go away with the click of a remote?  Have we separated our God and our Entertainment?

This is a re-post. I re-post sometimes when I can’t think of anything to say, or just to make sure there is content here for people, when they swing on by my portion of the internets.

So, here is my post today.  Happy Valentines day.  I love you guys.

Do you know how much He loves you?

I mean, seriously do you know?  I hope not.  I mean, I hope you know that you can never know how much he loves you.  The minute we start to say we grasp that love, I think is the minute that we’ve lost touch.

I read something the other day, that knocked my socks off.  I’ve been in constant amazement ever since I’ve read it.  I’ve constantly been awed by the love that God has for me.  I don’t know if anyone else can tell it but me, (I bet my wife can) But I’ve been just a little bit brighter.  (and I’ve been cussing a little less)  I’ve come to the conc.. no.. the realization that I cannot even begin to fathom the love that Jesus has for me.  That’s OK.  I don’t think we will ever be able to, until we get to the party.

God desires us.  God wants us around, sometimes more than we want to be around.  The story of the Prodigal Son should captivate that.  (I contemplated adding a metaphore, where the earth was the younger son, working with the swine /swine flu, but then in better judgement decided against it) God forgives us.  He doesn’t make us wait, and wonder if we’re being forgiven.  He doesn’t hold it over our heads. He doesn’t say, “I hear you, I’ll E-mail you later and let you know my decision.”  All the things you’ve done in your life to screw up,  God’s over it.  He knows it, but it’s forgiven.  Crazy right? The question is, can you forgive yourself?

We’re not chastised.  We’re not forgotten.  We’re not hated.  We are just a bunch of failures on this earth, who are loved.  Loved more than we can ever imagine.  Our sin was taken up for us, that’s just one of the miracles.  He rose again, defeating death so we can have life!!  (’nuff said)

I pray now, that the moment I think I start to understand his love, that I get knocked off of my high horse.  I pray that I’m kept in awe and wonderment.  I pray that what Jesus has done for me already is enough to never question His love, and to never understand it either.

There is nothing a church or person has to do to make that relevent my friends.  If that gospel isn’t relevent, then something is seriously wrong.

Ok guys, you know the drill.  I need someone to step up and sponsor Figo today.  I mean… Look how cute he is!  If you have been paying attention, you know he’s been waiting over 6 months.  You could change his life today.  How does that make you feel?  Click the link or the image.  If you do sponsor him, please, post a comment below and let us know that you did.