From the Desk 8/31/2008

This morning I woke up and got ready for His Hands. I then woke up Hickey by assaulting him with a barrage of various objects until he acknowledged he was conscious. We left and picked up Christina around 9:40 and then headed to His Hands. The service was good as usual, and I again recognized some of the songs that they have played before. We observed the Lord's Supper and then the band played the song "I'm Not Alright" by Sanctus Real. It is my favorite song by that band, but I never thought about the words and how they match up with the meaning of the Lord's Supper. Some of the lyrics are: "I'm not alright, I'm broken inside and I all I go through brings me closer to you, closer to you". By accepting/observing the Lord's Supper, we are remembering Jesus' body and blood that became broken like ours so we could have new bodies that were un -broken in heaven. Everything He did, He did to bring us closer to the Father and by following His example and teachings we are brought closer to the Father as well. The final song was not one I recognized, but it was slow and soft using only an acoustic guitar and soloist. The message was taught today by the guy that usually does the greeting. It was on a topic that everyone can apply: resting. The scripture was Matthew 11:28 and the references to every one's schedules being packed with activities, work, family, and even church hit home for pretty much everyone. I have, since moving down here, tried to pack my days full of things so I would be busy and not have "too much" free time. I think other than Christina, work, and exercise I will try to minimize my schedule to allow for more rest. We wrapped up the service with a loud song of praise. When we were leaving we decided to grab a quick bite to eat before Christina had to be at work.

Deciding where to eat was like an Olympic event. There was lots of preparation, discussion, and planning that went into even naming the participants (restaurant choices). Once the contestants were named they had to qualify for the event (were they quick enough to eat and leave before Christina had to be at work). Finally, they had to be a brand new face in the competition (someplace Hickey had never eaten before). We settled on Ted's Montana Grill as it was located in the same shopping center as The Box. After much discussion with the waitress about the quality of green beans they served, Hickey placed his order as did Christina and I. We ate and talked about the service as it was a stark contrast to CBCB back in Knoxville. We dropped Christina off at work and then Hickey and I returned to the apartment. I took a brief nap on the couch while Hickey updated his MySpace photos. We then watched various music remix videos on YouTube until it was time to go to The Box. I wanted to arrive about 30 minutes before Christina would be ready to leave as I needed to update the website header since the sale advertised was ending today. I tweaked and worked with the header graphic and finally got it working.

When we walked out to the sales floor Christina was almost ready to leave and soon we left. We stopped by the apartment to change into running clothes and start my camcorder recording the VH1 Storytellers performance by Dave Matthews Band. (Side note: if anyone can tell me an easy way to capture straight from the TV to my camcorder I'd appreciate it). We left and stopped by Christina's apartment so she could change into running clothes. We then went to Cobb County High School's track and ran and walked for about 3 miles. It felt good to be active and the weather couldn't have been nicer. After that we returned Christina to her apartment so she could shower and Hickey and I followed suit at my apartment. We all watched some TV before realizing that we were hungry. We once again went through the difficult process of picking a place to eat and ended up at one of my favorite restaurants: The Marietta Diner. We were seated and all ordered various sandwiches (my Crab meat Melt Sandwich was phenomenal!). We ate and talked and mostly people watched as the mirrors lining the interior walls of the dining room made it easy to observe other tables without being obvious. We opted out of dessert as none of us could eat anything else. We returned to the apartment and ended up watching some of a comedy special on Comedy Central before I walked Christina out to her car as we were all exhausted from our day. We said goodnight and then I returned to watch part of a Dane Cook comedy show before I grew too tired to keep my eyes open. I checked email and then crashed into my bed falling asleep quickly.

Meditation for the day: Matthew 11:28 "Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."