On January 12, 2010, at 4:53 in the afternoon, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the richter scale hit the small country of Haiti. In the days following, an additional 33 aftershocks measuring from 4.2 and 5.9 were recorded. Over 300,00 people perished as a result of that. Millions more Haitians were affected as homes were destroyed and lives forever changed. Little did I know, at that time, that those events would change me, too. Shortly after, I felt lead to head down to Haiti and offer my assistance. I went down and made my way to Jacmel, on the southern coast of the island. It was a place I had visited previously, but this time would be different. I spent 3 months there helping clear rubble (they don”t have a lot of heavy machinery…we broke concrete up by hand), building homes, a school, and a church. I assisted medical clinics, played with kids, and generally did everything I could to help bring some normalcy back to the country, in whatever way I could. And something happened that I never expected. I fell in love with them. It became a second home to me. The people in that community became my family. I even learned to speak a little Creole (I can tell them I’m hungry….) Those 3 months changed me in ways I’m not sure I can ever fully explain. I have always known since that I would eventually move to doing that full time. It just felt natural. Continue reading →

Dad:

Today is Father’s Day.  I wanted to take the opportunity to put fingers to keyboard and share with you everything you’ve meant to me over these 31+ years.  I certainly wouldn’t be the man I am today without your influence.  From the day I was born (I assume….the first 3 years of my life are a little fuzzy…but Mom says it’s true, so I will assume it is) you’ve loved me.  There have been plenty of times I times I surely didn’t deserve it.  I know I tried your patience at times.  But no matter who bad things got, you were still there.  I’ll never forget that.  You did a lot of things that dads should do.  You came to little league games and Boy Scout events.  As I got older that turned into high school basketball.  I don’t think, in 4 years, you missed a home game and made a good bit of road games, too.  You taught me how to drive (that may be responsible for a good chunk of they gray hairs you have…) Continue reading →

I have been reading a lot lately about breaking the cycle of consumerism. There are a lot of great websites out there devoted to this (and yet, you’re reading mine. Not sure why…). One that really inspired me was a website called http://www.guynameddave.com. He came up with a crazy concept a couple years ago called the 100 thing challenge. Getting fed up with the sheer amount of stuff invading his life he elected to simplify and get down to 100 personal belongings. He wrote a book about it, titled, appropriately, the 100 Thing Challenge. Bonus points for creativity, right? Anyway, the premise of this was that he sold off belongings and got down to under 100 personal belongings. He committed to living that way for a year. Simplicity at it’s finest. So I got to thinking about how much stuff I owned and decided to count. Thus begun my own 100 thing challenge. Of course, the amount you own is truly irrelevant. The goal is just to not have excess in your life. For everything to have a purpose. Here is the list of everything I own:

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It’s 630 miles from where I currently live in Mechanicsville, VA to where my parents live in Franklin, TN. When people find that out, and the fact that I drive it, they seem shocked. Why don’t I fly, they ask? They don’t understand why I would want to spend 10 hours in my jeep. Well, aside from the fact that I then have to figure out how to get around once I am back in TN, I like to drive. Driving, to me, is extremely peaceful. I get in the jeep, plug my iPhone into the stereo, and just go. I get to spend some time with God driving through the beautiful Smokies, seeing some of His incredible creation around every bend, and listening to my favorite music. Continue reading →

I am going to be honest with you here. I have failed recently. I have been feeling restless and I know why. I have been slipping up a lot. Not doing what I should be doing. And God is taking my to task for it. And honestly, I am getting to a point where I am tired of it myself. Before you feel I am going to get all pentecostal on you and tell you that I can ask and receive and be done with it, that isn’t how it’s going to work. I simply need to make choices. And make them again and again until those right choices become a habit. I need to eat better. I eat horribly. In high school I could eat what I want because my metabolism was fantastic. Unfortunately, it quit on me a long time ago. I woke up one day (I believe it was a Thursday…I could never quite get the hang of Thursdays) and realized my metabolism had given up and I was suddenly 40 pounds heavier. That should have been a wake up cal, but who wants to change? I also need to exercise more. I went to the doctor yesterday. I was told I was generally healthy. Weighed in at 224 lbs. And seeing as 2 years ago, I was pushing 300, this should be happy news. But when i came back from Haiti, I was 191. So I have but back on 23 lbs in the last 10 months. It’s easy to see why I lost the weight there. My diet consisted of mainly beans, rice, chicken, fruit and some fish. With the occasional goat, or beef thrown in for variety. Plus I worked constantly. With my job now, I am sedentary for 45+ hours per week, and humans aren’t designed to be that way.

So these choices are going to be made. It isn’t going to be easy. I realize that. I am going to start eating better. Going to look into a better diet. I need to start working out daily. Even though I am sure it will kill me, I am going to look into the P90X (does anyone out there have a set they aren’t using?) I’ve had friends who have done it and said they’ve never been in better shape. Plus it doesn’t involve running, which I megaloathe. But the changes are going to be internal as well. I need to pray more. Read my Bible more. I need to finally deal with some of the same stuff i have been dealing with for years. I deal with the one sin that a lot of men have dealt with, the sin of lust. I feel ashamed even typing that, but I do want to be honest here. My struggle with that comes and goes, but I’m frankly sick of myself. So it’s time to be done with it once and for all.

I am 31 years old now. I was back in Nashville this past weekend, and at the one year annibirthary of Conduit (Darren couldn’t decide if it was the first birthday or one year anniversary, so it was combined) Darren made mention that he and I have discussed the goal of me heading back to Haiti long term. And while I know one of the things that has to be done is I need to get myself out of debt. The other side of that is I need to take the opportunity ti prepare myself for ministry. I need to put myself in a position where I can be as useful to God as possible. Now I know He doesn’t need me. He will accomplish His purpose with or without me, but if I feel like I am supposed to be a part of that plan, I need to be ready. No more excuses. And maybe by sharing this with all of you, everyone can keep me accountable