Random Things About Me

1. I learned to ride a motorcycle (mini-bike) when I was 4 years old and was never without a bike to ride, until the last semester of my Senior year, when I traded my 1975 Mach III Kawasaki for a 1970 Roadrunner. The car was fast, but the bike was crazy fast!

2. While riding my Trail 70 Honda in Arapaho, I was hit by a car. I was in the 4th grade.

3. From year 13 to 14, I made my spending money working for a fur buyer… I skinned opossums, raccoons, beavers, coyotes and bobcats. I quit when my friends began telling me I smelled like the animals I was skinning!

4. I played some mean foosball… can still hit it pretty good!

5. I graduated High School… to most this isn’t anything out of the ordinary, but most who knew me back in the day doubted I would.

6. A lot of people say my wife looks like Sandra Bullock… I think Sandra Bullock looks like my wife! Love you honey!

7. I have built my homes with my own hands.

8. Before becoming a pastor I worked in construction, as a commercial roofer, and on jet engine parts at Tinker Air Force Base. I still miss Tinker… loved being around the airplanes… nothing like watching a detachment of F-14’s ignite the afterburners and go vertical just as the sun is coming up.

9. I am over half way to earning my private pilot certification.

10. Brenda and I have 2 children and almost 4 grandchildren; Tish and her husband Scott, who have two children and one with Jesus, and Shane and his wife Ashley, who have one on the way.

11. I love my wife, my kids and my grandkids.

12. I’m thinking I don’t know myself very well… this is difficult!

13. If given the opportunity, I will eat Mexican food 11 times out of 10.

14. Is there a restaurant other than Chili’s?????

15. I hope to gather a couple of partners and buy an airplane.

16. I am amazed that God would give His Son for me… while I was yet a sinner!

17. If broccoli grew on a tree, it would have been on the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden (I don't think it was intended to be eaten).

18. I get to work everyday with some great guys and gals. Thanks gang!

19. Salsa is a beverage.

20. Other than home with Brenda, my favorite places to be are… anywhere with my kids and grandkids; a beach with white sand and clear salt water; at our place on Lake Eufaula; in the cockpit of an airplane.

21. 50 pounds and 25 years ago, I could dunk a basketball… yeah, the white boy could jump a little!

22. I miss the days when our children were small and we lived in Paden, OK. Times were difficult, we always had more bills than money but… life was fun.

23. I dream of FBC Woodward really reaching the world from Woodward, OK.

24. I try to do something everyday that I haven’t done before. When was the last time you did something for the first time?

25. Whew!!! Last but not least… I look forward to Brenda watching me grow old.

Things I've Done

Here is a list that someone created and you must copy and paste the list below into your own post, and then make bold (and/or italicize) all the things you have done.Here we go:

Started your own blog
Slept under the stars
Driven a stockcar
Played in a band
Visited Hawaii
Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity
Been to Disneyland/world
Climbed a mountain
Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo
Bungee jumped
Wrecked a motorcycle
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Slept on an overnight train
Had a pillow fight
Hitchhiked
Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
Built a snow fort
Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping
Been to a Broadway show in NY
Ran a Marathon
Been in three states at once
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Seen a total eclipse
Watched a sunrise or sunset
Hit a home run
Been on a Cruise
Seen Niagra Falls in Person
Visited the birthplace of your Ancestors
Seen an Amish community
Taught yourself a new language
Had enough money to be truly satisfied
Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Gone rock climbing
Seen Michelangelo’s David
Sung karaoke
Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Piloted an airplane
Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
Walked on a beach by moonlight
Been transported in an ambulance
Had your portrait painted
Gone deep sea fishing
Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Been to Grace Kelley’s grave in Monaco
Gone to a drive-in theater
Been in a movie
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Taken a martial arts class
Swam in the Mediterranean Sea
Visited Russia
Served at a soup kitchen
Sold Girl Scout cookies
Gone whale watching
Gotten flowers for no reason
Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp Museum
Bounced a check
Saved a favorite childhood toy
Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Eaten Caviar
Pieced a quilt
Stood in Times Square
Toured the Everglades
Been fired from a job
Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
Broken a bone
Been on a speeding motorcycle
Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book
Visited the Vatcan
Bought a brand new car
Walked in Jerusalem
Had your picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible
Visited the White House
Killed and prepared my own meat
Had chickenpox
Saved someone’s life
Sat on a jury
Met someone famous
Joined a book club
Lost a loved one
Had a baby
Seen the Alamo in person
Swam in the Great Salt Lake
Been involved in a law suit
Owned a cell phone
Been stung by a bee

I tag anyone who wants to do this.

Thump - Thump

Yesterday I took the afternoon off and Brenda and I drove to Cheyenne to help my mom move her motor-home to Weatherford. Due to minor difficulty, a trip that should have taken about an hour and a half took a little over three hours. We rolled into town just as darkness engulfed us, leveled the vehicle and hooked it up to electric and water. After a brief dinner break at a place called Vinicio's (I think that's an Italian name, but the Mexican food wasn't bad) it was off to Wal Mart and then back to the RV park where I tied up some details and headed home.

Somewhere south of Thomas, Brenda's phone rang. Unbeknownst to me Shane and Ashley had rented a device to detect and listen to the heart beat of their growing baby, and they were calling us to let us listen. So... as we spead through the dark West Oklahoma night, we were blessed to hear the thump-thump... thump-thump of grandbaby #3 via a wireless connection. What a time to be living!

God is GOOD!

Crazy Love

Lately, I have had a blast re-connecting with old friends on Facebook. I know... 99% of Facebook users were probably born after 1980, so I am definitely in the minority here. But my generation is catching on.

This morning I met one of my old friends for breakfast at United. He lives in Yukon, but comes to Woodward once a month on business... and has the entire time I've lived here. This I never knew, and probably would have never known, had it not been for Facebook.

The times have changed... but more importantly I have changed, and so has my friend. When Darren and I left Arapaho High School we threw caution to the wind and lived fast and hard. Back then our conversation would have consisted of something quite different than our conversation this morning. Today we discussed, of all things a book! That's right... "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.

Friends... today I rejoice in the fact that I have been arrested by God's "crazy love" and... so has my friend!

Limited View

Yesterday afternoon I completed yet another step of the journey toward becoming certified as a private pilot. Upon leveling off at an altitude of 3500 ft, Randy (my instructor) handed me a view limiting device which I slipped on over my glasses. Up until this moment I had been trained to navigate by the horizon, but now my view was literally limited to a set of gages directly in front of me. For the next 30 minutes Randy instructed me to perform turns to various coordinates by trusting nothing but the gages. There were times when it seemed as though the gages were lying to me... my mind literally was in conflict with what the gages were reading... I was experiencing spatial disorientation. But since I know the gages do not lie, I trusted them rather than my own deceived intuitions. Friends, this brought a new meaning to the phrase... "Living by faith instead of sight."

In a very real since, we live out life under a view limiting device. Many times along the journey, we come to a places of uncertainty and we aren't sure which way to go, or what to do next.... we become spiritually disoriented. These are critical moments because the decisions we make here affect our destiny. Our tendency is to go with our gut, but doing so could be disastrous. There is a different way... a way that is safe and sure.

Proverbs 3:5-6... Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not to your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your ways.

Today, while you journey, you may loose your way. You will know what to do, but your intuition will challenge you to do the opposite. Don't do it! Like properly calibrated avionics, God never lies. Trust Him and enjoy the journey.

I'm Inspired

I'll admit that I am more than a little weary of hearing all the hoopla over an African American man becoming President of the United States of America. I could care less about the color of a man's skin... I am much more concerned about the content of a man's character. My hope is that Barrack Obama is more than a sauve politician, a passionate orator, and a brilliant campaigner. Time will tell.

Whether a fan of the man, or not, one cannot overlook the fact that his journey is inspiring. His rise to the highest office in the land reminds each of us that America is still the land of opportunity... that in America, if a we make the right decisons and are willing to work hard, we can be what we want to be. Unfortunately, many will settle for far less.

So... today, as I wonder what the outcome of his leadership will mean for America, I applaud him. No doubt little people told him he couldn't do it... that he didn't have what it takes... but he didn't succomb to the doubting discouragers. He must have rather chosen to surround himself with people who shared a common belief... a belief far greater than an African American should be elected... a belief that he espoused a set of ideals that were good for America. Today, because he set and stayed a specific course, he will be given the chance to test his ideals.

As I watch segments of the celebration (probably replays) I will not see a America's first African American President... I will see a man who, because he lives in America, had the opportunity to come out of no where to be President of the United States, and he took it.

I'm inspired.