::: In Exile :::

33 and 1/12th

2 months into the new year (1 month into being 33) and my how the time has flown.

Life’s been busier to say the least.
Work has been more challenging than ever (you’ll see what i’m working on in the weeks ahead).
Side projects are progressing well, some at different paces than others but all is well and somethings are extremely encouraging.
Social life has improved tremendously, for the first time i feel like i have a sane social life here and am meeting all sorts of new people and getting reacquainted with old ones. Still lacking any romance but what’s new about that.

Also of mention is the dropping of 15+lbs since the beginning of the year. Over the past couple of years i’ve tried all sorts of things to drop my weight but generally nothing worked. So what’s my secret? i call it the white ain’t right diet. which is a cooler name than any actual diet plan. Basically the premise is to avoid anything processed like flour, sugar etc.
But mostly i attribute it to avoiding regular sodas and sweet tea (essentially the sugar they contain). The amount of exercise i’ve had in the last two months really hasn’t been anything remarkable or out of the ordinary. This is the lightest i’ve been since 99. This is rather important now that my regular monday nights equate to more empty calories but i
gotta say it is a fuller life.

Valentine’s Day, a day when many of us take the time to tangibly express our affection or love for others. Often with very expensive flowers, chocolate, jewelry, stuffed bears and on and on. I admit it; I’ve spent my fair share of money on flowers and stuff over the years.

For the record I’m single and still trying to figure out what love is and is not. I’m reminded often of the love of Christ but really that is so far removed from the western idea of love that I have a hard time grasping it at times. He gave his life for us out of love? That’s not a love you see everyday. A self-emptying, self-sacrificing love that gives completely even up to giving up his life.

We’re called to be like Christ and many of us try in our own ways but for the most part we’re caught up in our own lives. I’ll be the first one to admit that I am guilty as charged.

So I have tried and am trying to show my love more, not just on Valentine’s Day or to my friends and family but those that need it most, people that I encounter through the day at gas stations, restaurants and even those I will probably not encounter ever but can still affect in some way.

So here’s my challenge to you — SHOW YOUR LOVE

To your friends, family, people you meet throughout the day, the poor, the downtrodden, the least of these because how else will we ever understand the love of Christ if we do not try to love like He loved.

Here’s the basic rundown. For the cost of two coffees/mochas a month you can:

• Give 9 orphans 3 meals in a day, or
• Pay for 21 orphans’ housing for 1 day, or
• Keep a child in school for 3 months, or
• Give 7 Africans clean water for a year, or
• Provide one month’s worth of life-saving drugs to someone living with AIDS.

Pretty amazing, huh? $7 dollars is generally chump change for most of us but it can do so much for people in desperate need. Yeah it’s small a thing but definitely not small to people whose lives you may just be saving and impacting forever.

Here are some options for you

Join my Mocha Club team http://www.mochaclub.org/join/203

Read more about Mocha Club at www.mochaclub.org

Union Station

short commute and no obligations in the evening…on the surface these things are desired by many and had by few.

My avg commute is about 3 miles round trip and if I include lunch driving mileage comes out to 5 miles a day. In 14 months of owning a brand new car in texas i put 26k miles on it. in the 21 months since i’ve been in tennessee my car is only up to 34k miles. One of the few positives financially of the move to tennnessee is that my car has gone up in value.In houston i averaged about 70 miles a day. The gas prices would have killed me this last year. But also gone with the commute was time to think, contemplate, listen to the radio and talk to friends around the country.

And another thing that disappeared with the move out east was my regular monday evening small group/support group.

Well i’m glad to say i have a small group (emphasis on small) again and the drive in to town to meet is commute enough to decompress and make some phone calls.

-that is all