Crucial Encounter

Ok guys.  Normally I don’t get many comments, but I thought this would be fun.

Tell me one time you felt an amazing interjection by God.  One time you just couldn’t help but get a little emotional because you knew He was there.   Go.

It’s Tuesday again, and I am choosing another child from http://www.compassion.com who needs your sponsorship.  Today I choose Lesly.  To sponsor Lesly click here or the picture below.  Thank you.

Personal and Family Information:
Lesly makes her home with her father and her mother. Carrying water and gathering firewood are her household duties. Her father is sometimes employed and her mother maintains the home. There are 2 children in the family.

As part of Compassion’s ministry, Lesly participates in church activities. She is also in kindergarten where her performance is average. Playing with dolls and running are her favorite activities.

Because of your sponsorship, Lesly will have new opportunities to learn and grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. Thank you for your concern and prayers.

I find it hard to believe my life is what it is today.  I’ve gone into details in some of my stories, so I am sure you can understand my doubt.  Here’s where my awe stands.

I have been healed.  No, I wasn’t blind and I could always walk, (Most of the time without falling up stairs or something.)  No, I wasn’t a mute or a leper.  I was an addict.  I can say with (almost) 100% certainty that you could take away everything I love in my life, and lay any drug in front of me, and I will not touch it.  I don’t crave it.  I don’t miss it, I don’t need it. 

I used to be a very angry person.  You can ask any brick wall, car door, sheet rock, or some people.  They will tell you, I was quick to throw a punch.  I’ve actually been told that if I punch with my left hand again it will most like shatter. (Due to some incorrect healing from several broken hands I never took care of.)  OK. Hear me on this.  I still get angry, and sometimes it’s overwhelming.  But it’s been quite some time since I’ve punched a hole in something, smashed my head against a car, wall or refidgerator.  I have prayed through all of these things, and I feel like a new person.  I feel completely different. 

I’m not writing this to brag.  Truth is.  When I seperate myself from God, which I think we all do from time to time, I am nothing.  I am a weak sorry excuse for a human being.  With God, I’m a new person.  A person who is filled with love, remorse, and who isn’t afraid to say “I’m sorry.” (most of the time.) 

I am sure Andrea can tell you some stories, and I am sure she will agree that I am a different person from even a year ago.  I am sure Andrea will tell you, if I didn’t pray through my struggles, and God hadn’t intervened, she probably would not be my wife today.  Andrea has seen me at my lowest, and prayed with me through it.  Listened to me cry out to God, and has seen the change. 

I write this rambling of what I think is a coherant thought to say one thing.

GOD IS GREAT!

I was looking at my analytics and found some terms that got people here.  Some not so fitting, some are.

To the person who Googled:

“Best Writer” and “Worlds Best Writer” - I’m really sorry I let you down.  I really don’t know what Google was thinking, They should have pointed you here.
“danny devito and zacchaeus” - HA! I see the connection, except I don’t think Danny DeVito could climb a tree.
“how do you know when you encounter people from a past life” - I’m sorry. I do not know.
“Fool for Christ Andrea” - That’s great that Google knows I’m a fool for Christ, and Andrea..
“Do addicts care about anyone?” - Yes.  They do, but they are scarred somewhere, and need help.  Try your best to help them find help.
“I want alcohol first thing in the morning.“  - I’m sorry.  I’ve been there, it’s not fun.  Anything I can do to help?
“I want to talk about compassion on Jesus Christ” - Me TOO!!!  Read around, talk!

Those are just a few.  Some of them I thought were really relevant, and some of them I just wonder, what was Google thinking?  Maybe those were the yahoo search results. ha.  What weird search terms have YOU gotten?

Go.

I have been married for what 12 days now?  I realized I can’t post “Rules of Engagement” anymore.  Which is kind of sad.  I thought they were fun.  Then I realized, I can post a final thoughts. (like Jerry Springer)

Being engaged is pretty cool, but can be stressful.  Through everything, I realized it’s worth it.  We had some arguments.  I had some struggles.  I found it hard at times to get in touch with my groomsmen, and she found it hard at times to sit down and relax.  We butted heads a few times, but in the end, the wedding happened.  It happened beautifully.  I realized that I had NO CLUE how much went into a wedding.

I have the utmost respect for my wife, as she put the whole thing together, with the help of some awesome volunteers.  She was a little overwhelmed at times, but man it was sooo worth it.

So guys, remember, it’s worth it.  That was the happiest day of my life, and I am SOOOO glad that Andrea took the time and thought to make it as perfect as she did. Pictures coming soon!

So. Andrea and I have been getting a lot of E-mails from a lot of different people asking for a lot of different things.  It’s actually pretty neat.  It seems people might trust us enough to spread the word, and have a little compassion for this stuff.

Even at exits on the highway, or outside of wal-mart, I end up giving to that ‘good cause’ or that guy that needs a sandwich.  Say what you will, I have good faith that that 3 dollars might be the 3 dollars he needed to restore his faith in humanity.

So, you guys may or may not have heard of Shaun King. Well, if you do know him, you know he sometimes makes insanely crazy promises.  He’s done it again.  And I support him.  I’ve come to realize where he is coming from, and perhaps he can explain it better than me.  But, there is something to be said about the insane.  Shaun is insane.  And there is something to be said about him.  I’ll let you draw your own conclusions to that. Again, I digress.

http://www.500uniforms.org is his newest promise.  It’s a promise we can all support. ESPECIALLY if you live in or around the Atlanta area.  Over 98% of the students at Bethune Elementary School are below the national poverty level.  These kids are sharp, intelligent kids who want to learn.

And the blessing is that you have an opportunity TODAY to be a bright spot in the lives of these children. This Christmas, we want every single child (about 500 students) in this school to have a NEW SCHOOL UNIFORM and a FUN TOY to call their own. If YOU don’t help, many of these kids simply won’t receive anything at all this Christmas, but we believe that God is going to use you to be a blessing to these beautiful children.

Anything you can give!  Anything.  Even if it is forwarding this Site in E-mail form to 35 people.  Even if it is reposting this Blog on your blog.  Even if it’s 5 bucks.  Every single time helps.  We WILL roll pennies.  If you have a jar of pennies to give.  (Shaun, that’s my promise)

So.. yeah.  I’m begging again, but this time, on behalf of 500 kids who won’t have a Christmas if we don’t do something.  Leave a comment if you want, and you donated.  I may have something special for you…..

Ok. It’s that time again.  I admit I was absent last week because I was on a honeymoon, in a remote location with no electricity or internet.  (Ok, that’s a tiny lie.  I was in Orlando, but I did not blog at all, I hope I can be forgiven.)

So.. here’s the scoop.  Every week, me and a group of bloggers each take one day to choose a child who has been waiting at Compassion for longer than six months, and put that child up on our site.  The schedule is as follows:

• Toby Keathley – Monday
• ME!!– Tuesday
• caffeinatedfaith – Wednesday
• shawnw.org – Thursday
• Andrea | Shalom  Existence – Friday

This week I chose Gladis. If you’re feeling a void, or even feeling like God is calling you to do this.  Take a second to pray about it, and see if this is the direction God is moving you.  If it is.  Click here or the picture below. Together we can make a difference.  Is it in you?

Name:       Gladis Guadalupe Mejia Dominguez (ES7980366)
Birthday:  August 10, 2002    Age: 6
Gender:   Female
Region:   Central America and Caribbean
Country:  El Salvador
Program:  Renacer Student Center
Personal and Family Information:
Gladis lives with her father and her mother. She is responsible for running errands and cleaning. Her father is sometimes employed as a laborer and her mother maintains the home. There are 3 children in the family.
Telling stories and playing with dolls are Gladis’s favorite activities. In kindergarten her performance is above average and she also regularly attends church activities and Bible class.

My kid sister’s name is Heather.  I guess some people would say she’s a little old for me to call her kid sister, but that’s her name.  She is 23, and has a kid of her own.  So, “Kid Sister” is probably a little out of date. I digress.

Heather has grown to be an amazing woman.  As you can tell by reading this blog, the struggles of our childhood were real, and traumatic.  Adrienne and I did our best to protect the youngers, but they still got some backlash.  When Adrienne died, I was not living at home, and I think the realities of every thing we had protected Heather from hit her full force.  Fortunately, Heather was wise enough to know how to handle it by that point, and never took what we had taught her for granted.  She quicky realized what she had only had a glimpse of, and sometimes I think she regrets not realizing it before Adrienne passed.

Somehow, in the recent years, she has, bless her heart, become the mediator for our family.  She talks to everyone and explains things better than we could explain to each other.  She’s wise beyond her years, (Though sometimes I still need to straighten out her views. ha)

She is a runner.  Meaning, whenever crap goes bad, or good, she runs.  She runs to celebrate, she runs to let off steam, she runs.  That what she does.  (Like Forrest Gump, but smarter)I think it’s good.  She has ran marathon’s, and recently (within the last few years) started riding a bike. She is amazing.

I think she always looked up to me, which could put me in blame for some of her issues, but I think all in all, she has learned a lot.  Mostly a lot of what NOT to do, but I like to think she took away some of my good traits too.  I was always able to make her laugh, no matter what situation we were in, and throughout our lives, I don’t think we have ever had a really bad arguement. (Aside from her Ron Paul fiasco, but that was just a learning experience.)

Now, from what Adrienne and I have taught her, she is on her own.  Raising a baby (and a husband)  I couldn’t be more proud of her.  She has overcome so many obstacles, and is making a life, a family, and is well in tune with the curse of genetics she needs to overcome.  It’s a great thing to see her realize that. It’s an even greater thing to see her overcome that.

Every day I talk to her, I am reminded that we didn’t do so bad.  Life wasn’t so much crap that we weren’t able to come out of it with our heads up.  We just had to clean some of the dirt off, and move forward.  It’s great to know that we have such a headstrong family, probably the best trait my mom gave us.

So.  If you want to go cheer my kid sister on in her post baby running adventures, PLEASE PLEASE do.  She loves encouragement, and your words will mean the world to her.

WHAT?

Ok.  Probably sounds crazy.  I think so.  I really do.  But, I’ve heard a lot of people say that they like to dream up things sooo big and crazy, that the only way they can happen is if God really is the center of the whole thing..

So, the challenge is simple.  It’s the biggest social network charity challenge ever.  Donate enough money in 50 days, to donate 50,000 pairs of shoes.

Can you help?  Yes.  How you ask?  Well it’s simple.  Go here. Follow the directions, and boom.  You can change a life.  Maybe two.  Seriously.  Leave a comment if you want, and let us know what you’ve donated.

I’ve been married for one week, and one day.  I think I got the hang of this. hehe.

For anyone who cares, the wedding went beautifully.  Aside from the power outage at the church earlier in the day, which caused a bunch of stress, and the fact that one of my groomsmen (I won’t name names) left my fireplace gas on the previous night and caused a ‘gas scare’. But all of that junk got cleared up before the wedding.  It was insanely scary, and when we get some pics, you’ll see how nervous I actually was.  (If you ask me, I was cooler than a polar bears toe nails.)

The honeymoon went well.  We had a great time in Orlando, and didn’t wait more than 15 minutes for any ride.  I am a happy happy husband.  Thank you all for your prayers, and blessings, and everything.  You all rock.  I am happily married, and happily in love.

Did anything disasterous, or almost disasterous happen at your wedding?  Tell me here.