Last night I was driving home and my Explorer completely gave out. I lost complete control of the wheel and brakes. Thankfully I was able to get off the road without hitting anyone. I called AAA only to find out that my policy had expired, so I had to spend a half hour alone just trying to renew it, then another half hour trying to explain to some person, who probably was somewhere in middle America, where I was located. Then wait another hour for the tow truck to show up...only to be told that I had intrupted the guys dinner. The drive to the Dealer's was me basically listening to him talk on the phone to his girl. Once there, he told me to get in the car (while it was sitting at a 45 degree angle) and drive it off the flatbed...that's gotta be illegal somewhere. But the worst thing about that....the service guy calling me today with the damage report. It's never a good sign with they start off the conversion saying, "um, yeah, were you in a really bad accident or something." "Um, no...why?" Then the best is how they start listing all the terms you've never heard of in your life..."um, your ball-bearing crankshaft caused the glow plug to bust the steering pipe which in turn caused the lay down to over run your chassis." Of course you have to sit there and pretend you know exactly what he's saying. Well, looks like it back to bread and water for the rest of my life...

One of the greatest quotes I loved from the LOTRs trilogy was from Frodo wishing the ring had never come to him:
Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

It struck me today how often I find myself wishing that the "rings" that have come into my life would just be taking away. I find that I continually have this conversation with God about how these "rings" are really messing up my plans...and that if only He would remove them, I could get on with my life. But I think we all reach a point that we have to decide what to do with these "rings" during the time that is given to us. Are we going to allow it to infect us until all we do is complain about out state of existence? Or are we going to learn to live free and let Christ move you in ways you never imagined. Not easy, but it is the call of the Christian. After all, the Bible is filled with story after story of men being called and used mightly by God through their human weakness. Christ had to make the same choice...."not my will Father, but yours be done". We must decide to fight, and not let these "rings" hold us down from who Christ calls us to be.

 

 

Went out this past weekend and did some Country Line Dancing. It was actually kinda fun. Here's a few pictures of the crew. Gitty Up. 

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
Charles Swindoll

Christmas is just one of those times I believe God gave to us as a gift. It's a time that we can just put down all the work and just spend time with loved ones. It was special this year cause my oldest brother come home from Iraq and was able to be reunited with his wife and 2 boys. As we move on into 2006, I really wonder what this new year will hold. For someone who so desires stableness, I'm sure it'll be one of unpredictability. Good thing there's faith. 

Seriously, how can you say no to that face.