Have you ever met a US President?

In the next couple of hours, we'll find out if I've joined the list. On Saturday, I stood in line for 5 hours for the chance to buy a wristband. That wristband has gotten me the chance to stand in line AGAIN at the Billy Graham Library.


So let's back up a little. Last Thursday I found out that George W Bush was coming to the library to sign his new book. My first thought was, I'm there. So on Saturday, I got in line at 7:45am for a book sale that didn't start until 9:30am. I stood in that slow-moving line until almost 1pm. Doesn't sound bad until you consider that it was in the 30's and sleeting/ snowing a good portion of the time. By the way, we were standing in line outside.

It's been an interesting experience so far. There are more rumors than a gossip website. We all get to see him. Only a certain color wristband is guaranteed to see him. Suddenly every has their sources or knows someone who works for BG ministries. So we'll see how this goes. Lord willing I'll have the chance to talk with the 43rd President of the US. I'll keep you posted...

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What are you thankful for?

Is it a day off work? A plate full of food and leftovers for later? Maybe football on TV all day on a Thursday? To be honest, I'm thankful for all those things. But. I'm also thankful for so much more.

First of all, I feel blessed to just be alive. I have a wonderful wife, a cool son, a terrific family, and a great job with good people to work with. This week I was witness to the sting of death. I had a fried whose father passed away. He was probably around 70+ years of age so I believe he lived a full life. He'd struggled with illnesses including cancer so he's in a better place where he's hurting no more. Still, his family will deal with loss as they go through this holiday season.

The other brush with death was far more sudden. We were driving home (actually from this visitation for the man I mentioned earlier) and saw fire trucks, an ambulance, and police cars lining the road. As we rolled past, we saw a body in the road covered in a sheet. We later found out the man was killed trying to cross a busy highway in the rain. He was struck twice by a car while trying to get to a gas station because his car had broken down. I don't know who he was. I'm sure he was someone's son, possibly a father, brother, or friend.

I tell of this not to depress or cause concern but rather to encourage. Oh really? Live every day with a purpose. Be thankful for the blessings you are given. Even on the darkest day, there is a light that will shine.

I'm also thankful because I don't fear death, the darkest of dark times. When Christ died on the cross, he conquered death for you and me. That's what I'm most thankful for, real hope. As I type this and ride in the rain, I look over and see a rainbow. That was first used by God as a sign of hope after a worried time. Just know that God is in control. Look to Him and be thankful.

And after you've had a chance to thank Him for your blessings, sneak back in the kitchen and see if there is any pecan pie left...

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Does your kid like Fox News?

Mine does. Or at least he says he does. The somewhat odd thing is that my son is only 3 years old. I know he would much rather watch The Wonder Pets or one of the Toy Story Movies, but ocassionally he will show some excitement that Fox News is on. A couple things happened this past weekend that showed the indoctrination of my child is taking hold. I just wish we could have the same affect on the 8 or 9 people that watch "The Ed Show" on MSNBC each night.

Before this weekend, he's always shown an interest in his daddy's favorite news channel. When he was about 2, he walked into the room while I was watching Fox News. Karl Rove was being interviewed. He asked, "Daddy, who's that on TV." To which I replied, "Karl Rove. He's the smartest man in the world." So for the next couple of months when someone would ask him, "Who's the smartest man in the World?" He'd quickly reply, "Karl Rove." When he'd hear his name being said on TV, his eyes would light up, and he'd say, "He said Karl Rove! He said Karl Rove!" I'm not sure if it's Karl's tussle with Kristine O'Donnell or just that he's moved on, but he doesn't mention Karl too much anymore.

Another funny thing happened when we were reading his pop-up book on America. The US Capital Building is on one of pages that pops out. The first time he saw that he said, "Look. It's Fox News!" He recognized the Capital Building which is in the background during Bret Baier's show. That's usually on while we are eating dinner at night. He was able to make the connection without me having to say anything. In the same book, one of the pages is the Golden Gate Bridge. We were reading it one night, and I asked him if he knew who lived under that bridge. I told him the evil witch Nancy lived under that bridge (referring to the elected official from that particular district, who could that be?). The next morning he was reading the same book with his mother. They got to that page and he explained to her that the evil witch Nacy lived under that bridge. My wife could just shake her head. I on the other hand was beaming with pride.

Back to this past weekend. The first example happened when we went to visit my wife's aunt on Friday. We walked in and Fox News happened to be on. He said, "That's Fox News. I love Fox News." Her aunt asked him what he watched on Fox News. He replied, "Glenn Beck." She was a little taken aback that a 3-year-old knew that he watched Glenn Beck on Fox News. I once again beamed with pride.

The next example occurred this past Sunday when one of our friends were watching Taylor because my wife had a baby shower and I had a church meeting. Imagine that, everything happening at the same time. Anyway, she asked him what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to go play in her son's room upstairs. That's normal for a 3-year-old so she said great that he could go play with his Lego's. He then said that after that he wanted to come back downstairs and watch Fox News. A little surprised, she jokingly asked him, "Who do you watch on Fox News?" To which he once again replied, "Glenn Beck." I think she about fell out. She was so surprised she had to call her husband in to hear him repeat that. He then had to record that to send to one of his conservative friends in Texas. Once again, I beamed with pride.

This may be no big deal, and it's just a kid repeating what he's heard. But I think it's pretty cool that he chooses this to repeat. Fair and Balanced.

Can you show me the way to Sante Fe?

Alright, alright.  I know that is not how that phrase goes.  But I'm in Santa Fe, so work with me.  This is a very cool little town.  And if you didn't know, it's actually the state capital of New Mexico.  Usually when you travel to a place for business, you spend more time in the airport, a cab or rental car, or a conference room than you do getting to enjoy what the city has to offer.  Luckily for me, I've had a little time to enjoy the local culture.  The city is over 400 years old so it has some history to it.

My co-workers have traveled out here many times before so they know some of the historical places to visit and the must-try restaurants.  This is the market that we got to visit the other day.  Local Native American artists set up to sell their hand-crafted jewelry, pottery, and other crafts.  One of my co-workers compared Santa Fe to Charleston, South Carolina.  That seems like an odd comparison, but I think it's very fitting.  As I mentioned earlier, you can feel the history when you walk around.  With the market, fabulous church buildings, and other historical sites, there's a sense of a time gone by that you get in Charleston.

So you may be wondering what I'm doing in Santa Fe.  We are traveling out here to meet with our scientists in our Los Alamos office.  Yeah, scientists, how cool is that?

If you don't know about Los Alamos, it's a pretty interesting place.  It's a city on a plateau almost in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico.  It's about 45 minutes outside of Santa Fe.  It's also the home to the United States work on developing the atomic and nuclear bomb.  In fact, there is still a nuclear facility where testing and research is still conducted.  We drove by it.  It basically looks like a normal production plant.  No large towers or huge billowing smoke, but very cool none the less.

One cool thing we got to do was tour the Bradbury Science Musuem (named for a former director of the testing facility).  It was interesting to read the history around the development of this weaponry and how it was used and implemented.  This is a picture of a replica of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima during WWII.  They also had a replica of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki; it was a little smaller and less impressive.  This is not to celebrate the lives that were lost in the dropping of those bombs or in the ware in general.  However, it is interesting to learn about the history behind that and how that helped us defeat the empire of Japan which had attacked us at Pearl Harbor.

So that was my visit to Santa Fe, which technically isn't over because I fly home today.  The best I can remember, I've now visited 21 states.  Maybe not that impressive, but I'm almost half-way there.

How tough is the color pink?

I don't wear pink. It's just now my color. I rarely even wear red (that's mainly did to my distain for North Carolina State University). I just stay away from that section of the color spectrum.

After all, I'm an Oakland Raiders fan. "Real men wear black." I'm a Tarheel, I can't be seen in any shade of red or pink. And let's not even get into the Red Sox. Argh, I hate that color. And like I said, that hatred has seemed to spread to its cousin pink. Guys just can't look tough in pink. Ever see any biker gangs in pink? What about ninjas in kungfu movies. Never in pink. I even got paranoid when my three-year-olds favorite color was pink for a while. Luckily, that too did pass.

But this past weekend, I was involved with something that showed me the real strength that color represents.

I've been doing some running lately to counteract the fact that my metabolism is slowing and my penchant for sweets is ever increasing. I wanted to run in some sort of organized event, somewhere I got to wear a number like I was an Olympian. My wife suggested (there's that phrase again) that I run in the Susan G Komen race. My mom is a breast cancer survivor so that has a special place in my heart. I signed up to do the recreational run because the competitive run sounded a little too intimidating.

So I show up on Saturday morning with my running shoes and my headphones ready to dash. Only problem was there were about 20 thousand people in my way clogging the streets. Mothers, grandmothers, teenagers, guys pushing strollers. This was a mass of humanity. At that point I realized this was less about me running a little over 3 miles this morning and more about the courageous journey these women were on. I remember the fight that my mom successfully won against her cancer. I remember how tough she was and the fact that she never complained. She fought through the pain and the chemo and the losing of her hair with grace and courage that I admire deeply. I also think of a friend who lost her battle earlier this year with the same disease. She trusted God through the entire journey that he had a plan for her. She knew her fight was bigger than her and that God would take care of her husband and two young sons.

As I walked, I read the notes of celebration or honor for loved ones that had experienced this disease. While watching football yesterday, I asked my wife why the NFL had chosen this disease as a focus. The players and coaches were wearing pink armbands or towels and pink-trimmed hats in tribute. Then, I thought back to Saturday and the fact that we all have mothers or grandmothers, sisters or aunts, or someone who'd been affected.

So on Saturday, I saw how tough pink is. It represents strength, couarge, and hope.

To end on a lighter note, here are some of the top slogans I saw on t-shirts or posters. Normally, these things said in public would be offensive or given a weird glance. But in this case, they were celebrated:

Running for Ra Ra's Ta Ta's

Helping save the A's, B's, C's, and DD's

We're breast friends

GRITS for ..

OK, you get the point.

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Does God care about the details?

I'm sure there are cynics out there that say that God isn't real. Some others may say he might be real, but he doesn't care about me. "Do you know what's happened to me in my life?" or "Why does God feel like He's got to pick on me? What did I do to Him?" I'll admit up front that I feel like I've had a blessed life. I was raised by parents who loved me and are still married. I went to the college I always dreamed of attending. I married the love of my life, and we have a healthy (although "busy-body" little) son who I wouldn't trade for the world. I love my job and the people I work with (that's the truth, really). So a cynic may not appreciate my point of view on this. We still struggle with money, figuring out how to discipline a busy-body little 3-year-old, and don't seem to have enough time for the ones we love among other things. But as a Christian, I would like to think that I would still have this world-view even if the struggles were tougher.

Our lesson this month in Sunday School was on apologetics, defending our Christian faith. It seems that Christian values are under constant attack so you have to be strongly rooted in the things that you believe. The last lesson was on the fact that God is in control. He's a personal God who loves and cares for each of His children even though they may spite him to His face. I believe he sent His Son to die a horrible death so that I can be eternally forgiven for my sins. He's not a God that created the universe and now sits back to watch us fight it all out. He tries to lead each of us to His love that I feel we all need and yearn for in some way. So yes, I do think that God cares about the details.

This was made even clearer by some events that took place this week. If I may tell the story... I usually work on-site at one of our clients on Wednesday. Well this week, I went up on Tuesday. It just so happened that I needed to get my network access renewed at the client office (this is something that I have to do only once every 3 months, so it's pretty infrequent). I was there early so there was only one lady in the entire department where I sit. While I was walking over to ask her for help, another guy walked by and spoke to her. She sounded congested so he said he was sorry to hear she was still struggling with allergies. Her eyes were red, but she said that it wasn't allergies but that her husband wasn't doing well. I've known her for a couple of months, and we usually speak for a few minutes when I'm on-site. We've not gotten past casual conversation. But she began to tell me of her husband's struggle with a cancer relapse. I'm not very good in these situations in knowing what to say. I talked about the only thing that came to mind, that God had a plan. He wouldn't take us through anything that He didn't think we could handle through faith in Him. We go through things in life and God will lead us a little deeper into the water to strengthen our faith in him. As she sat with tears rolling down her face, I could only think that God had lead us to that moment. He was using me at that moment to talk to somone who was having trouble finding peace in a turbulent time. And it wasn't the specific words that I was saying that would make her or her husband's pain go way. It was the reassurance that God is in control. Sometimes it helps to hear someone else say it.

That has stuck with me all week. How many times do we miss the opportunity to help someone? It may be just a caring word or a kind inquiry when you know someone is struggling. God calls us to be encouragers of each other and to not beat each other down to make ourselves feel better. I got an email from her this morning that said he husband is during better after visiting the doctor. He's worrying less and returning to his normal self. Was it our conversation that caused that? No. But I think that God did teach us both something in that conversation. Sometimes all we can do is pray and rely on Him to provide something or someone that will give us strength. Because through our weakness we will see His strength.

Can you forgive me?

As in any relationship, mistakes can be made.  Things are said and actions are taken that are later regretted.  Once words leave your mouth, they cannot be returned.  Many times those unfortunate events will be caught on video or in pictures and posted for the world to see.  Forgiveness can be given, but often times, things are not forgotten.

I made one of those mistakes. We should support the ones we love no matter how hard times are.  We shouldn't give up on someone just because we feel we've been wronged.  I gave up on someone I have loved longer than I've known my wife.  Even though the bond is not strong and the commitment not as deep as my marriage vows, this love has existed since my childhood.  Yes last night, I quit on the New York Yankees.  It was a big game against the rival Red Sox, and I quit.  Facing a home sweep and the possible collapse of our season, I gave up.  And I'm sorry.  Can you forgive me?  We've had a good relationship.  It started out rough, but they've been very good to me over the years.  And in return, I've been very loyal.  I rooted for Hideki Irabu and stood by Jason Giambi.  Relationships can hit a rough spot.

In this game, Phil Hughes had pitched very well.  Alex Rodriguez delivered in the clutch with 2-run homer in the 7th inning that gave us the lead.  We made it through the 8th and had Mo Rivera coming back in the 9th.  He's been more than reliable for over a decade and is a major reason that I've seen 5 World Series championships won by my team, but Mo had a bad night.  After giving up the lead in the top of the 9th, I held out hope that we could win it in the bottom of the inning.  Papelbum was coming in, but he was far from perfect this season.  Thanks to Cano who's been a league MVP caliber player this year, the Yanks tied up the score.  But with the bases loaded and only 1 out, they could not take the lead.

I was done.  It was 11:30, and I had to go to work the next day.  I'd given them 9 strong faithful innings, but I couldn't stay up any longer.  Once again, I'm sorry.  I woke up the next morning to find out they won the game with a walk-off walk in the 10th.  Just one more inning was all it would have taken for me to see the Yanks defeat the Sox.  I gave in too soon.  I'm always the optimist, but in this case, I was weak.

I promise that as long as the season continues, I will be there watching.  I won't give up.  My sleep will be sacrificed to offer up the support that may be needed to pull another late-inning victory out.  Let's just hope that the games continue until late in the month of October.