Huh??? Did I mis something?

I was crusing out on eBay yesterday afternoon and I remember someone had told me that there were some Gmail addresses that had a pretty high asking price. I went an checked it out, but decided I was not interested in paying $1,000.00 for magicjohnson@gmail.com

I noticed that people were selling Invites as well. They seemed to be going for around $.25. I have about 6 of them, so I thought I would save some people the hastle of the quarter and send some emails to people who had been outbid asking them if they were still interested in a Gmail invite and that I would send them one for free. Here was one of the responses I received:

eBay Buyer: Why do you want to give me an invite when you can sell on eBay?

Me: I could sell them - but I received mine for free along with a bunch of invites. I saw that you were looking to buy one so I thought I would get you an invite for free. Its yours if you are interested

eBay Buyer: Thanks anyway. I will pass. It takes the fun out of eBay.


Is it just me, or am I missing something here? I guess I should keep this guys name handy in case I am looking to sell some stuff to a sucker.

Day 3 - What drives me?

Best chapter so far!!

What really drives me?? I do not have a need for material items. I have no problem being the one to go without. I do not need to live the lifestyle of luxury. I am comfortable with enough $$ to pay my bills and feed my family. I am not driven by need for recognition. I have no problems playing second-fiddle to people or stepping aside to let others shine. I would love to say that my primary driving force is my desire to live for God. However, this does not always feel like the driving force of my actions.

I guess I would like to see what my family and friends would list as the driving force behind my actions. They may perceive the meaning behind my actions differently.


How will you answer the following questions: "what did you do with my son Jesus Christ" & "What did you do with what I gave you" The answer to the first question determines your disposition for eternity, and the second determines what will you do for eternity.

I have no fear of the first questions, it is the 2nd question that scares me. What if I am missing what God has given me. What if I am using the wrong tool. I guess that is one of the reasons why I/We chose to read this book and host a small group at our house. The 2nd part was more for accountability reasons than anything.

Day 2 - You are not an accident

Ahh yes - the infamous discussion over evolution vs. creation. I honestly say, that for many years I was on the evolution bandwagon. Why not? That was what they taught us in school. The information they gave seemed full of facts, a few holes in the idea, but pretty solid. When you are only given one side of an argument, it always looks like it can hold water. It took much reading and research to realize that there is actually more evidence to support creation. Likewise, there is more evidence that supports the Bible as being factual, than any other book written.

As often as I have wondered what life, anyones life for that matter, is all about, I always have found comfort in knowing that there is reason for why we are here. I am hoping, that when I reach those streets of gold, I will get the chance to see why I was here. I will get to see all the people I encountered and why. I will get to see why I experienced the tragedies, the pains, the blessings, the miracles. I will get to see how every prayer was answered, maybe not in the way or the time frame that I wanted, but they were all answered. I look forward to seeing why good people died, and why others were allowed to live on.

The author asks: "What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?"

1. I have a metabolism that is freakin' outrageous. The more I eat, the less weight I can gain. My goal a few years ago was to make it to 180lbs. As I worked towards that goal, I had this fear that my metabolism was going to change and I was going to balloon and jump straight from 160 to 260. That was about 7 years ago now. The metabolism hasn't changed. I still eat like a horse, but am unable to gain weight. I have, in the past, taken weight-gain powder and supplements to try and help the cause. No luck. I finally gave up the hard fight after I realized that I would go broke trying to buy enough food and products to get me to that level. And once I was there, the chances of me keeping that weight on were not good. So here I sit, with my 5'9", 165lbs frame. I am not complaining, I just wish I was able to bulk up a little bit more.

2. I wish I felt more comfortable around people. I don't enjoy small-talk. I don't enjoy having to initiate conversations. I can sit and talk with someone for hours, but not if I have try and push the topics. The problem is, I am comfortable with silence. I am content sitting in a car with someone else, no music, no talking, just the sound of the road. It does not make me uneasy when there is no discussion, I actually find solace in it.

40 Days of Purpose - Day 1

Yesterday was the start of this 6 week program.


Day 1 - It is not about you.


This title reminded me of a time when we were in church. The music starts and people begin singing and dancing: "It's all about you. It's all about you. etc..." My Sister-in-Law was in town and had joined us. Over the rest of the congregation, I hear this little twist on the words coming from both my wife and her sister - "It's all about me. It's all about me. etc.." I found out later that they had always made fun of this song and claimed that it was just the church's way of getting everyone to sing to the 2 of them. That everyone was really trying to convince them that it was really all about them. I laughed at their little joke, but only a courtesy laugh. j/k




So, it really isn't about me?? I guess that I always knew this, so this is not really that big of a shock. In my younger days, my ego was a little larger, so you may have seen more of an argument from me, but I have come to understand that world no longer revolves around me.

Although, I do remember watching the movie The Truman Show a couple years ago. I really enjoyed the movie. The whole premise of the movie really stuck with me for a few weeks as I tried to determine if it was possible for something like that to happen. If it did, how would you know? I figured, you only know the things that you are told, the things you read, or the things you see(experience). How do you know that there is more out there than what you already know? Just because you learn something new tomorrow? Who's to say that this new thing wasn't conjured up overnight for you to learn tomorrow? All the people that you meet were placed in your life for a particular reason. All the things that happen to you, happen for a reason. That movie actually helped me to realize that there was the possibility of a greater power in charge over my life. I felt pretty small that week as I sat and realized that I only know, what I know.


So, as much as I realize that it's "Not about me." Maybe it does have something to do with me.



We will have our small group meeting at our house tomorrow evening. I only know 1 of the 12 people that will be there. It should be lots of fun.

Wasted Opener

Came home a little early yesterday from the duck opener. The original plan was to get home about 7Pm, but we rolled into the driveway about 12:15. I wish I could say that the early arrival was due to fact that we had reached our limits in ducks, but unfortuantely I think the limit was higher than 2. I suppose it would be okay if I was able to say that we only had 2 ducks because we were such bad shots that we missed everything else we shot. This would be true, to a point. We did miss the only other duck we saw. Actually, my Dad missed it. I only fired twice all weekend - 2 for 2. This was one of the wettest years we have seen, but for some reason the ducks were not there. I thought maybe it was just the we had picked a bad location or something. That was until we talked with other hunters on Sat night and then on the way home Sunday. Everyone was saying the same thing - "No ducks around." I think it may have something to do with them adding 2 weeks to the beginning of the season rather than putting them at the end. The weather has been pretty nice around here for the last couple of months, so the northern birds have had no reason to start migrating. We will make some calls over the next couple of weeks to see if the population begins to pick-up. There may have to be another trip if that becomes the case.



We did have a little scare while out there in the blind. My Dad and I had left our blind to go in and take off some layers of clothes and grab some lunch. We finished up and headed back out to our spot. We got all comfortable and were standing up checking the skies, when my Dad strted to lose his balance. Within seconds he was out of the boat and on his back in the water. I reached down and grabbed his gun in one hand and his arm in the other. I pulled him up high enough to get his head out of the water and get him up to his feet. The water wasn't too deep, maybe up to his waist. But the bottom was all mucky so there isn't anything to push off of when you are trying to get up. I got his gun secured and then helped him to get himself back into the boat. We spent the next hour or so getting him out of the wet clothes and bailing water out of the boat. My Dad is 55 and not in the greatest of shape so this incident was a little frightening for me. It may not have been such a issue at the time, if not for the fact that his older brother died of a heart attack about a year and a half ago when he fell out of their fishing boat. As I was reaching down, pulling my Dad out of the water, that was the image that was going through my head. I spent quite a bit of time the rest of Sat and Sun thanking God that everything was okay.

The good news was, that after we got home, he said that even with the lack of ducks and the unplanned swimming, he had a great time and wanted me to make sure I let him know if I was going back out again this season so that he could go with. He may not realize it, but this was one of the best times I have ever had hunting, only because I was able to really spend some time with him doing something he realy loves. Although I did make sure to remind him that I was the only one of us that actually hit anything. ;)