Random Thoughts in Alphabetical Order

Random Thoughts in Alphabetical Order: The Letter D

D is for…

Daughter. I still can’t believe I’m going to have a daughter! “Daughter.” The word just suddenly sounds awkward in my mouth, yet it makes my heart jump with excitement. A day is coming soon when I’ll answer questions about my family not just by saying “my wife,” but “my wife and daughter.” In that day I’ll regularly go down that aisle in Walmart that glows pink. I’ll find myself buying dresses and little pink toys and coloring books. And I’ll be on a first-name basis with all the Disney princesses. I can’t wait!
Dad. That word to me has always meant my dad. It’ll be so weird to have someone calling me that! My dad did a pretty good job of defining the concept for me. If I can imitate a lot of what he did, I should do alright.
Dr. Pepper. This is the best drink ever. My consumption these days is mostly limited to the diet variety because I’m quickly becoming an old fat guy. By the way, the Diet Dr. Pepper people did a brilliant job of spreading the rumor that Diet Dr. Pepper tastes just like regular Dr. Pepper. What a lie. But for some reason a lot of people actually believe it. All you have to do is taste them both and the whole thing is quickly revealed as a marketing sham. But it’s still better than drinking tea or something dainty like that.
Doo wop. This is good stuff. Whenever I think of oldies, especially 1950s, doo wop is what comes to mind. The beat, the harmonies, the melodies–I love the stuff.
Dylan. Every kid has a weird uncle. I thought that my younger brother Dylan would be Laura Marie’s weird uncle. Then I realized that all four of her uncles are weird… most of them are really, really weird… like Dylan, for example. But he’s a pretty cool guy. And it only took three decades of my influence to make him that way.
Dog. There’s one in the hallway right now. Not sure what’s up with that. But that’s okay, because dogs are awesome. A lot of ’em are, anyway.
Drums. When I first started playing the drums at church exactly a year ago, it was terrifying. I would actually tremble with nervousness as the worship service started. But now I have so much fun playing them that when I’m not behind the set, I ache to be banging on the kit! We’re blessed with a great group of music folks at CrossWay, and it’s a lot of fun to play God songs with them.
Daniel. I’ve been studying the book of Daniel, in the Old Testament of the Bible, for over a year now. It is so fascinating! One of the really cool things about the Bible is that you can read it literally countless times and always see something new. I’m just now beginning the verse-by-verse part of the study, and it’s already blowing me away.

Published in:

on March 25, 2009 at 5:29 am Comments (2)

Random Thoughts in Alphabetical Order: The Letter C

C is for…

Christ. I love the word, the name, the sound, the meaning: Christ. With those hard consonant sounds, you can’t just roll on by. It sticks in the mouth, forcing your attention. And it’s a beautiful name, the name of my Lord and Savior. No wonder so many of our names today are variations of it, like Christopher and Christine. Christ is the best C word, because everything is all about Christ. The Bible says: “For by him all things were created: things on heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created by him and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
Carolyn. Wow, what can I say? What an amazing gift God has given me by blessing me with Carolyn for a wife. When I stop and think about it, I just can’t believe she actually married me. It’s one of those things that seems too good to be true, like one day I’ll wake up and it will all have been a dream. She’s the best. I’m so totally absolutely thrilled that she’s going to be my baby’s mommy!
Church. The letter C is turning out to be some of the most important things in my life. I love church. “Church” means many things to many people, but the Bible says it’s the body of Christ, the family of God. For all the problems with it (it is, after all, made up of people), it’s still God’s plan for this planet. People knock the church all the time–sometimes it’s constructive criticism, sometimes it’s just whining and complaining. And we’ve certainly earned a lot of our criticism. Even so, the church is still where God is at, and it’s His plan for redeeming creation. For all of the church’s flaws, it’s still the best thing going. God loves it dearly, and so do I. It’s a tremendous privilege to be a part of it.
CrossWay. We’re small. We’ve got our problems. But there’s no place I’d rather be. By the way, Carolyn’s been updating our website. Check it out here.
Cheese dip. This is the one thing I can make and make well. My Texan mom taught me the recipe when I was 6 years old, and I’ve been making it ever since. I like to experiment, and I’ve made some seriously delicious batches. One nice thing about cheese dip is that it’s something I can make for group events. Whenever we have Mexican food day at church, Steph has the signup sheet printed with “cheese dip” next to my name. I don’t mind at all… especially since there are usually leftovers.
Cell phone. What did we do without them? It’s hard to remember what life was like before everyone had their own personal phone that was always on them. I’ve almost forgotten how to ask for someone on the phone because I’m used to the direct connection that cell phones offer. And thanks to the voice-activated and speed functions, I don’t even know anyone’s phone number anymore–not even my wife’s. Now that Carolyn is pregnant, I’m very grateful that I can always be accessible whenever she goes into labor, thanks to the cell phone.
Chili. My mother-in-law, Linda, gave me some chili for lunch today. I’m eating it right now, and it totally rocks my taste buds off.

Published in:

Random Thoughts in Alphabetical Order

on March 5, 2009 at 5:36 am Comments (5)

Random Thoughts in Alphabetical Order: The Letter B

B is for…

Babies. I still can’t believe we’re having one. That just totally blows my mind. Every time Carolyn walks through the door after getting home from work, it still startles me when I see her babyized belly. (She said I should write a blog post–based on experience–about what not to say to your pregnant wife, such as, “Whoa!!!”) I can really see the wisdom of God in having people bring in a new generation about every 25 years. And it’s cool that at any given time, someone somewhere is adding a new person to the population. If we didn’t have little children around us, life would become so stale. As much as we might resist, we tend to set like cement. Every new child is like wet cement. They’re still shapeable, impressionable. They have a fresh perspective on everything and still marvel at everything their senses take in. For example, a child on a playground will see a bug and yell, “Bug! I see a bug!” All the other kids will run over to stare in wonder at the bug. Meanwhile, as adults we tend to view bugs simply as something to be sprayed or stepped on. Wow, I just totally can’t wait to hear Laura Marie’s observations on the world around her. I’m so thrilled that I get to witness her trying to put the pieces together.
Bathrooms. I’m so grateful I live in the era of indoor plumbing. While there’s something primally pleasing about standing in the woods under a starry sky and… um… communing with nature, it sure is nice to have indoor facilities when it’s 20 degrees outside. And being able to take a hot shower at any time? That’s just awesome. The only problem with bathrooms is their constant need for cleaning, which is not exactly a skill I’ve got in my toolbox.
Bologna. Can we just go ahead and officially change the spelling to “baloney”? Is there a Facebook group I can join to promote this cause? When I was a kid I absolutely loved bologna sandwiches. Some of my favorite memories are staying with my grandmother in Fort Worth and eating the delicious bologna sandwiches she made me. Now I can’t even smell the stuff without feeling like I’m going to puke. What is it about being a kid and being able to eat nasty stuff? My repertoire also included Spam and Vienna sausages. Does anyone even know exactly what those things are? Doesn’t it violate some law of nature for a sausage to be able to spread? And people wonder why I spent several years in adulthood as a vegetarian.
Bible. What an amazing thing for us to have: a book written just for us by God Himself. In this country we grow up knowing that the Bible exists, and so we take it for granted, most of us rarely if ever even reading it. But think about it. I mean really think about it. The God who is truly God and can do anything and made everything that exists including us has given us about a thousand pages of His thoughts. He’s actually given us a big ol’ book to communicate with us! What an incredible thing for us to have. It’s really a pity to think of all the years I wasted ignoring the Bible and not believing it. What a shame for so many people today to have access to God’s thoughts and not even believe it! What unbelievable riches we have in the Scriptures. What a timeless, valuable treasure, this ancient volume!
Books. I can totally relate to the little four-year-old girl I recently heard declare: “I love books!” Books rock. Books contain endless possibilities. It’s cool how you can take the 26 letters of our alphabet and combine them in unique ways to tell an infinite number of stories and share a limitless amount of ideas and knowledge. It’s especially cool when you realize that–let’s be honest–some letters like “c” and “q” really aren’t necessary. But in the interest of fairness they’ll still get their own moment in the Random Thoughts in Alphabetical Order spotlight.
Bolivia & Bangladesh. Though they’re nowhere near each other and we’ve never been to either one, Carolyn and I pray for these countries and hold them dear to our hearts. For over a decade, through Compassion International, Carolyn has sponsored a girl named Eliana in Bolivia. Eliana has a baby sister named after Carolyn! I’ve sponsored a little boy named Sujan in Bangladesh for a couple years now. (In case you’re wondering, Bolivia is in South America and Bangladesh is in Asia, near India.)
Baseball. Our voracious consumerism has ruined a lot of great things in this country, and I’m afraid the great game is among them. But it’s still the great game.