Days To Remember

That's Lyn and my sister's youngest daughter (the newly 1) LK and my sister Susan with my youngest boy (Mack) -- this is Christmas 2006 at my parents house.

Last week - on Tuesday (I think) I turned 40. It was neither the world ending day that some had described it -- or the day of nothing that I thought it would be. Part of that is certainly because my wife already passed that number of birthdays and she helped me "gentle" into that day. She and Tim (Mack's not really old enough to help much yet) made that day really special. Then, on Sunday - several friends got together to honor with me a birthday party. It was a wonderful time and they really showered me with love. It's good to have friends.

It's even better when your best friend is also your wife. Today - 3 October - I get to celebrate with her. Today is our ninth anniversary. That's something that I have thought more about than turning 40. Looking back over the last nine years and forward into the next nine is ... humbling really. That this amazing woman would choose to stay with me despite my flaws; that she really does love me ... is something that's hard for me to wrap my mind around.

God has blessed us with two wonderful boys and has grown us both as parents so that we can deal with the strange mix of our traits in each of them. We have our very own house with an overlook of the mountains and Lynchburg below us. It's hard to call this life we live anything but good. There are certainly hardships, fights, sadness. We could certainly have "more". But, "more" seems like an empty chase.

What we have, the blessings that God has given us; the joys that He has placed in our hearts and hands should always out-weigh the "more" that we don't have. Sometimes, it takes special days like this to force me to think back and realize just how good my life is.

I love you Lyn. You honor me with your love and support.
Andy

That's Lyn reading at Tim's fifth birthday party. I'm pretty sure it's a Curious George story. Man - I love her.

PS: This is not just a special week for Lyn and I. It's also special to my sister Susan who celebrated her 5 year anniversary last weekend and the one-year birthday of her second daughter. *And* my cousin, gave birth to her second child on Tuesday. This little boy had to be delivered very early and will spend the next several months in the hospital getting everything properly grown and ready to meet the world. But, I'm sure that God has great plans for him.

The Coolest Guy I Knew

When I was six years old or so, my best friend's name was David. We had been in school together and we had numerous "playdates" (back before they were called playdates). When we were at my house - we played in the woods that surrounded my parent's house. When we were at his house - we played in the streets and yards around his parent's house. David's mom was super-hella-mega cool: she made him capes! Red Superman capes; Black Batman capes; all kinds of capes. We ran around like superheroes - we never sat when we could stand; never walked when we could run; and never running when we could jump.

We had such great times at his place. But - there was another reason that his house was so cool. He had a big brother - Brian. Brian introduced me to two things that have been with me since I was six: rock-and-roll music and comicbooks. And - at this point in time - rock music meant KISS. I remember thinking how cool KISS was -- I'm pretty sure that the mini-posters from Alive were on his wall - and the sounds "screaming" out of his low-fi turntable. Along with those sounds - he let us read his old Legion of the Superheroes comics.

I can still remember the way they smelled; the way their paper turned in my hands; the joy-ride the stories took me on - even though I could not read at the time. It's a good memory.

I was at my mom and dad's over Labor Day weekend. When -- David's name came up. He's some kind of genius, electronic engineer or something. He runs triathlons now - and does pretty well for a 40 year old guy. Then, I said something to Lyn (my wife - who had never heard of either one of these guys) about the capes and the comicbooks (KISS is still kind of a sore subject in that house). And I said something about Brian being the coolest kid I ever knew. Then - she told me - Brian was maybe too cool and overdosed on drugs in August.

I sat there. I hadn't seen either of them in 20+ years -- I found myself numb. Memories of joy, mixed with this kind of crap. I felt for my old friend who had lost his brother. But apparently - he had lost him years ago. In my mind, Brian is immortal -- every bit as immortal as Demon-skull-boot/fire-breathing/bass-playing Gene Simmons. I've been thinking about those memories since last Saturday when I learned the news. And - I figured that you guys would understand.

I'm going to try and reconnect with David - good friends (even ones you haven't spoken to in a long time) are worth the effort. That's what this has taught me.

Peace -- Andy

It's All About Me

Two totally unrelated things happened this week that have me wondering about … well, me. The first was the reaction of a friend who did a small freak-out because he is going to turn 40 – in a couple of weeks. He didn’t do anything stupid: no red, sports car; no three-day blow binge; he didn’t start dating self-destructive, early-20s girls … all he did was just check out from “stuff” for a several days and got depressed. I have a lot in common with this friend – we have similar hobbies; we have kids about the same age, and battle some of the same problems. So, since I am turning 40 (in September), I began to wonder if I would have the same kind of reaction.

I am getting middle-aged (wait – I am already there). I’m not the kind of person who thinks of themselves as old (or even middle-aged). I am very much a kid at heart and try and stay young. But, there’s no doubt that I can’t work a 12 hour shift in a Wendy’s and then go and play basketball until 4AM with my friends from the crew; catch 4 hours of sleep and pull another 12 hour shift. I certainly can’t do that over a week. What used to be my amazing eye-sight (20/5) has become 20/25 over the last several years. It annoys me that I can’t read the streets signs before everyone else.

Event Number Two: Monday night, I went to a seminar about prayer and praise. It was *really great*. His talk/practice was about “Worship driven prayer”. You should check him out if you have any desire to never go to a “same old, same old” prayer meeting again. http://www.navpress.com/Store/Product/1576836878.html

Toward the end of the evening, he asked everyone under 30 to raise their hands. Since the event was hosted at Thomas Road Baptist Church, it has a lot of kids from Liberty University there – there was a lot of “young people” (wasn’t I just one of those?). He then asked for “the old people” (I’m not sure if those were his words or not) to go and lay hands on the young ones. As I looked around the room, God pointed out a guy to me – he was a college-aged guy and I was lead to pray for him. I’m not really sure what I prayed for the guy; I am pretty sure that I didn’t pray in the Spirit – out of respect for the place where I was. But, I felt the power of God flowing from me to him.

I guess that it had not really hit me that part of “not being young” was that I had something to offer that I didn’t have when I was younger.

You’d think that being a father would have made that pretty clear; apparently not. I need something – or maybe someone – other than my own life and kids to make that apparent.

So – to sum up: getting older isn’t so bad. It’s just different. Still, I miss my eye-sight.

I have started reading the Bible through. And, so you can keep score at home, I thought that I would add an update about where I am. Today I ended my readings with Numbers 20.

I’m listening to Toby Mac – Welcome to Diverse City.

Peace - Andy