Having a hard time starting this out tonight. Part of it is because I didn’t have a lot of time to think about the day. Started this morning out picking up Senor Poopie Pants for the day. It was weird because I am so used to having him here spending the weekend. But nonetheless I spent the day with him. Since it was a rainy day we started it off playing “hoops” in the living room. I have to say that little boy has game. He was sinking 50 footers. Well fifty footers for someone his size. After several games of hoops we moved to the table to color. Coloring wasn’t enough today I felt like doing “arts and crafts” with him. I didn’t have any construction paper so I went upstairs and grabbed some files, empty the contents into the garbage and cut them in half. Boom…. Construction paper. Not sure what were the contents of the file folders considering I haven’t looked at those files in years I am sure the contents will not be missed. So there we were, crayons and cut up file folders. I began searching and went through the “junk” drawer in the kitchen and found buttons, rubber bands, paper clips, pasta (okay the pasta was in the cupboard). Then I went searching for glue…. the only glue I could find was from 1998 in the garage. I figured its glue doesn’t it last forever? So there we were, gluing buttons, paper clips, q-tips whatever we could find on these sheets of homemade construction paper. It was awesome. No matter how sad I feel that little boy brings a smile to my face. Now here is something that really brought a smile to my face. We were sitting there coloring and gluing and out of nowhere he put his hand on my should looked me in the eyes and said “that’s okay grumpy its okay”…WOW hand me a box of Kleenex because the tears of happiness came streaming out of my eyes. I was blow away. This kid has such an amazing presence. He is one of the reasons that I keep pressing on. After that we settled in for lunch and a few episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba. Then it was back to playing. We ran, jumped off the couch, played soccer in the house (does anyone know a good glass guy)…. Anyway we had a blast. Then it was naptime…we went into the bedroom and kicked back with “Blues Clues”…. As I started to drift off Senor Poopie Pants decided he wanted to PARCOR off the bed and try to grab the pull thing from the ceiling fan…. Not once but twice…. Then he said “Grumpy get the trampoline”…See I had bought one of those little trampolines to “exercise.” (Yeah that’s a good one, used it twice and felt like I needed a hip replacement after a week so in the closet it went with all my other genius purchases). Anyway it was like a flying Whalindas Act…. He would leap off the bed onto the trampoline where I would catch him…. I know, I know but it was fun.

I dropped him off at his mom’s and picked my daughter up for our “night out.” I invited her to Lakewood Church because she was feeling down and stressed about certain things and I figured we could both use a little spiritual guidance as well as some music. Israel Houghton was performing (who, yeah I said the same thing on Wednesday) and I knew she would like it. By the way if you get a chance check him out on youtube. He is amazing. This was a very significant night for me because I re-connected with my daughter. Not in a long lost way but more on a spiritual level. Something we had never done or even thought about doing. As we were sitting there she had a very happy look on her face. I asked her if she could feel it and she said yes I feel something. I said that’s God coming into your heart. She looked me straight in the eye and with missing a beat said “either that or heartburn.” That’s my girl!

I have been to hundreds of concerts in my life…(yes here it comes)…this was one of the best I have ever experienced. Not because it had anything to do with God but because it was moving, it was music being played how it should be. With heart, soul and emotion. It had a meaning. There was no phoning it in here. This show had the same amount of energy as the one on Wednesday where they were taping a live DVD. Something that blew me away was how cell phones have replaced lighters. Remember the days of flicking the old bic to that Journey or Motley Crue ballad. Now its lighter apps on cell phones. What will they think of next? Another awesome thing about going to this concert was leaving. Remember the days of trying to get out of your parking spot to get in line and no one would let you out…Hey these people are Christians we got in our car and pulled right out. We pulled out of the parking garage from a show that drew over 15K and didn’t have one problem getting out. Gotta love those Christians.

Today I was able to think about me on the drive home. I am now in a place in my life where I can become anything I want. Once that sunk it was an amazing feeling. Throughout this journey I will be taking some major leaps of faith in the next year. I will do things that I always wanted to but put off because I was afraid. I was scared and hated change and being out of my comfort zone. Well guess what, I am out of my comfort zone already. I have been picked up and tossed miles away from my comfort zone.

As I take these leaps of faith I will share them with you (if anyone is still reading) hoping my experiences will inspire someone reading this to take their own leap of faith.

While I was at Lakewood Church I took home one thing. God is no longer number one in my life. He’s not number two either. As a matter of fact he no longer ranks in my list. He is now in the center of my daily life.

Again thank you all for your support and remember, its not over until God says it is.

Love,

Jim