Ferrell

Our good friend Ferrell (F.B.) Lawrence passed away this past Monday, August 30th. Ferrell was 78 years old. He is survived by his wife Gwen, his six children and nine grandchildren. Ferrell was a very special to Kathy and I. To say he did alot for us would be an understatement. I strongly ask you to please read the following account of our relationship. It is my hope that you catch a glimpse of the person that meant so much to us. We will miss him dearly....Ron

We moved to Panama City in the spring of 1989. I was in the Air Force, my wife was 8 months pregnant with our second child and our oldest son was 4 years old. We weren't familiar with the area and didn't know a soul. We moved into temporary quarters at Tyndall Air Force Base until we could find a place to live. It wasn't easy for us to find a place to live. Actually, it was down right difficult to find a nice, affordable place to live. We were only allowed to stay in temporary quarters for a limited amount of time and that time was about to run out. We were frustrated from feeling the pressure to find a place to live. We found a small apartment that would meet our basic needs but it was far from what we were looking for. It was a Saturday morning and we had settled it in our minds to move into this 'lesser' apartment. We called the realtor and told them that we would be over to sign the rental papers. On our way out the door, Kathy said let's check the paper one last time and see if there is anything new for rent. We checked the paper and noticed one new listing for rent. My wife called the number and talked to the gentleman who answered - it was Ferrell. She told him of our situation and what we were about to do. He was kind and understanding. He told us that his rental property was near the realtor’s location. He suggested that we stop by and look at his place before we made our final decision. We agreed and arranged a time to meet him to look at his duplex. I'm glad we did. Little did I know at the time, but this was to be a life changing meeting. We were about to meet someone who would be used by God to help change the entire course of our lives.

We followed the directions that he gave us and met him at his duplex on Chippewa Street in Callaway. When we first met Ferrell we knew he was special. He was warm, kind, friendly and charming. I'd never met a true southern gentleman before. He said "My name is Ferrell but you can call me F.B" and we did. We talked and he showed us the duplex, it was like we were old friends. We hadn't even seen half of the unit and we knew that this is would be our new home. It was exactly what we were looking for - it was nice, clean and affordable. We signed the papers to rent the unit on the washing machine. He asked where we were coming from. We told him that we had just returned from Belgium. He explained that he had been to Belgium during World War II and fought at the Battle of the Bulge. My respect for him was immediate. As we began to leave, he turned to us, smiled and kindly asked "Do you folks go to church anywhere?" We told him we didn’t. I hadn’t been to church in years and had no plans on going back. He said "Well, you ought to come out and visit us at the Palo Alto Church of Christ this Sunday." Just the way he said it was non-threatening, sincere and genuine – you could tell he cared. We said we would think about it. When we left we were excited not only about our new home, but that this kind man was going to be our landlord. For the next couple of days we thought about his invitation to church. We spoke to him later in the week about moving into the duplex and we also let him know that we had decided to visit his church on Sunday. And we did. He met us at the front of the building and introduced us to anyone who would stop long enough to shake our hand. He showed us around the church, he made us feel special; he treated us like family. We met his wife Gwen; she was just as kind and generous to us as he was. We ate lunch with them after church, we were becoming friends. We came back the following Sunday and then the next and then the next. Shortly after our 2nd child was born, Ferrell and Gwen opened their home to us by hosting a baby shower for our new son. I couldn't understand how these people who just met us could do something like this for us. Ladies from the church showed up for this baby shower. People we had never met were giving their time and gifts to us and our new baby. I believe this event impacted me far more than my wife. Shortly after the baby shower, we began a Bible study in our home on Monday nights. We studied with for about 3 months and then on August, 7th 1989 at about 9:30 in the evening I called Ferrell at his home. I explained that we had made a decision and wanted to be baptized in the Lord. I told Ferrell that we would like him to baptize us. He met us at the church building and baptized both myself and my wife. Our lives were now forever linked.

From that point on Ferrell became more than just a friend. He was also a mentor and someone I could trust. Years later Ferrell would tell me that the day we met was due to God's Providence, not anything he had done. He would say that he hadn't really done anything except been obedient to what God called him to do. In our early years at the church, we would eat with Ferrell and Gwen after church quite a bit. Ferrell made really good hamburgers. When we visited his home, he would show us his garden and give us vegetables. F.B. would show me the latest car he had bought and tell me how he was going to turn around and sell it. We talked about his rental properties that he had throughout the town, I even helped him paint some of them. And of course we would talk about the Lord. He talked about how he used to preach the Word of God at churches in the area. Ferrell always seemed to sense where I was at in my life and would provide me with advice and guidance. Ferrell was always gentle and kind with me. I can’t ever remember him being hurtful or rude to me. As the years passed, we continued to attend Palo Alto and we met many new friends our age. We became involved in our church, busy with our careers and faced the challenges of raising two small boys. And as often happens, life gets in the way and we slowly saw less of Ferrell outside of church. But that didn't mean Ferrell love us any less, quite the contrary. Fourteen years after we first became members of the church we made the difficult and agonizing decision to leave and find another church home. When Ferrell found out, he was the first person to contact me to find out why. When speaking to me about this, he spoke to me with concern and love. He wasn't judgmental or harsh with me. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes as I explained why I felt led to leave. Again, all I felt from my friend was love. The same love I saw on that spring day in 1989 when we first met. The same love I had felt during all the years I had known him. That love - was the love of Jesus. Ferrell loved Jesus with all his heart and he loved me the same way.

Whenever I tell people how we came to the Lord through Ferrell or became members at Palo Alto they are surprised. They are surprised that a then 27 year old kid and a then 60 something man became good friends and formed a life long bond. Strange I know, but I believe the story of my relationship with Ferrell is not unique. I believe that many others can tell similar stories of how Ferrell extended them kindness, generosity and love in ways they had never seen before. I believe that was Ferrell's gift, his ministry; to be a friend to those who needed one. There is no way I could ever list all the acts of kindness and generosity that Ferrell showed us over the years. There are simply too many. I for one can see the fingerprints of Ferrell all over my life. I don't intend to wipe them away anytime soon. We who knew and loved him grieve with and for Gwen and the entire Lawrence family. I know Gwen will miss her husband, their children will miss their father and I will miss my friend.

Burning House

The last Sunday night of each month our church has a service called "Burning House". It is a time when we come together, worship and take communion/Lord's Supper. The sole purpose of this time is to focus on the Lord's Supper and contemplate what it means. The name Burning House means that we are places(houses) where the Lord dwells and that we want to be consumed (burning) with His Spirit. To put it simply, these are propably some of the most meaningful and inspiring times I have ever spent in a church. Tonight was no exception. Worship was outstanding - then our pastor discussed the Lords supper and what it meant, this too was great. We then served each other the Lords Supper. We had grape juice and bread on the table and shared it amongst ourselves. While we were doing this we had a young man who did pottery come up on stage and made a vase on the pottery wheel. He did the whole thing, from putting the lump of clay on the wheel until it was finished. While he was doing this our pastor spoke of the scriptures relating to this and what this meant.

A few things really hit me. What really struck me is where the Bible says that He (God) is the potter and we are the clay. He went on to say that no piece of clay tells the potter what it wants to be made into, the potter decides what will be a bowl, what will be a vase, an ash tray etc.. If God is the potter and we are the clay, then the same is true with us. He will shape us into whatever He wants us to be, to be used for whatever He wants us to do. He also went on to say that the clay must centered on the pottery wheel. If it isn't it will be lopsided and can't be used. In the same way we must be centered in order to be shaped. The final thing that impacted me was that pottery is both intimate and messy. The potter is totally involed with touching and watching what he is doing. He is completely involved in the process, he doesn't just put the clay on the wheel and leave it. He shapes and straightens and does what he needs to do in order for it to become what he wants it to be. Pottery is also messy - it splatters, gets on the potters hands and clothes. It's the same with us, God is intimately involed in our lives and cares - even when it doesn't seem like it. But at times it can be very messy becoming what God wants us to be.

I left church very encouraged and lifted up. However, all day I felt this incredible burden for some folks that we know. I have mixed emotions - on one hand I love what I have felt and experienced in the Lord today. On the other hand I am sadden by some of the circumstances and events that are going on in our friends lives. The man who introduced us to our old church, Ferrell is sick with cancer and is expected to die within the next 48 hours. He and his family have done so much for us that I can't even begin to say. Our friend Ernest goes in for surgery tomorrow to have a tumor and parts of his liver and bladder removed. He'll be in the hospital for a least two weeks. They won't know if he has cancer until they do the surgery. Again, he's another person who means alot to us. Kathy's customer Mary - lost her husband yesterday. We know a couple who each lost thier father within the last month. We have a friend here and Ron has a friend from high school whose marriages have been destroyed and it appears that divorces are ineveitable. I am not trying to be depressing and I know we all know people in similar or worse circumstances. My point is simply this. I feel and sense God's presence so strongly and it is wonderful but at the same time I feel sad and hurt for those I know who are hurting. I also know that all I can do is pray for them, give them my support and help them when it is appropriate. I know I can't fix their circumstances, so I won't even go there. There are some things that only God can do, not me.

One of the things I want this blog to be is 'real' - it's important to me for alot reasons. Basically I can't stand fake people or fake religion. I've had enough of both to last a lifetime. I'm not trying to make myself into something I'm not or try sound holy or self-righteous - cause that I'm not. Most of you who are reading this know me very well and you'd see through that in a second. I'm not the bible thumping, scripture quoting type - never have been and never will be. I just want to be a real person with a real faith. I believe that I'm like that lump of clay on the potter's wheel - still a work in progess. Still being molded, still being shaped into whatever the potter wants it to be. Like I said it's a messy process - seeing people that you care for hurt, is messy but somehow it helps shape you into becoming what you're supposed to be. I trust that the Potter knows what He's doing.

Gorgeous

So the other morning I was getting around for work. I had just finished taking a shower and had gotten dressed. I was in the bathroom finishing up when I noticed that my wife was beginning to wake up. Our bathroom is attached directly to our bedroom so you can easily see into the bedroom. As my wife was beginning to stir she glanced up, saw me and smiled. Ahhh, doesn’t she look sweet. I’m touched. My response to her was to simply say “Good Morning Gorgeous”. The words hadn’t even finished crossing my lips when she blurted out “Hey, you can’t call me gorgeous! Only my customer Tom calls me gorgeous. You always call me beautiful; you’re supposed to call me beautiful – not gorgeous.” Well Good Morning to you too.

I’m dumfounded. Immediately I think to myself; what do you mean I can’t call you gorgeous? Why is another man calling you gorgeous? Why are you letting him? Worse yet do you like it? Where did these rules for pet names come from and how come I’m just now finding out about them? How come I get stuck with ‘beautiful’, I like ‘gorgeous’ better – can I change? Do I need to submit this request to change from ‘beautiful’ to ‘gorgeous’ in writing? Will it have to go before some type of committee to get approved? Gasp – Will it cost me money?

I’m confused, hurt and….a bit jealous. Of course all of this is happening in jest and I know my wife is teasing me. My wife says to me “Honey, you never have called me gorgeous in over 20 years of marriage.” Ouch – that stings – she may have a point. She continues by saying “You always call me beautiful and I like it. My customer Tom calls me gorgeous just to butter me up to get an appointment. For goodness sakes he’s old enough to be my dad! I’m just used to you calling me ‘beautiful’ – you understand don’t you honey?” Now I know Tom and he has been one of Kathy’s best customers for years. He’s a good guy, I like him. I’ve even been out fishing with him on his charter boat. But calling my wife gorgeous – come on!

I try to plead my case with her “No, I don’t understand. You’re my wife and I can call you whatever I want, even gorgeous!” She’s now laughing at me, which frustrates me even further. I continue by saying “Things are gonna change around here missy! You’re no longer ‘beautiful’ – you’re ‘gorgeous’ – you got that? You’re gorgeous and that’s what I’m going to call you from now on!” I have put my foot down, I have spoken – end of conversation. She just smiles and says “Okay, that’s fine” then rolls over and goes back to sleep. Well, so much for that. As far as Tom goes I’m willing to make a concession. The way I look at it if he is willing to continue to pay $15 a month for haircut the least I can do is let him call her ‘gorgeous’. I do need to support my wife in her career don’t I? I look at it as a value add type of thing.

All this heartburn just to be nice, forget about it. Now I know why men don’t like to speak. Ladies if you ever wonder why you husband doesn’t talk, it’s because of exchanges like this. Maybe on second thought I will call her ‘beautiful’ - just to keep the peace.

Horsing Around

We haven't put any new pictures out in awhile so we decided we probably should. First, here is Kiel and his girlfriend Liz playing around.

School Daze...

Katlin on his 1st day of his Sophomore year.

20th Anniversary

Here are Kathy and Ron on their 20th Wedding Anniversay Cruise this past October. Is that a tux?

Fire Truck

Last night we went to dinner with Ron's parents and Kathy's dad and his girlfriend. Afterwards we stopped by Butch and Rose Mary's (Ron's parents) to visit. We sat on the front porch and visited and decided it was time to leave. As we were saying our good byes, something very strange occured. Frist, let me say a couple of things. Ron's parents live on Highway 231 which is a major four lane road in and out of Panama City - their house and porch face this highway. They live about 25 miles north of Panama City on the outskirts of a small town called Fountain. Anyhow, as we were saying good bye, we all sort of noticed at the same time a small pickup truck going by the house. What we noticed about this truck was that it was on fire! On the passenger side near the front tire, by the engine, flames were shooting out the side. Not a tremendous amount but still enough to get your attention. The truck began to slow down as it passed our location and then went out of site. We all were a bit surprised by what we had just seen - flaming trucks are the not the norm. A couple of moments passed and Katlin and I decided to walk up to the road and see if we could see what happened to the truck. We walked about 40 yards to the highway and looked to the south where the truck was traveling. The truck is now about 120 yards south of where we are standing. By the time we got the road, the truck was really beginning to smoke - alot. We didn't notice any flames but the smoke is pretty intense. Don't forget its about 9:00PM on the outskirts of a very small town so it was dark. However, you could see the plume of smoke rising from this truck. It's dark, smokey and you can't see a thing.

For some reason, the genius (a girl by the way - nuff said) who was driving the flaming truck did not pull off the road. Lady Enstien stopped her flaming truck in the right hand lane of the highway - in front of a gas station. I'm thinking that the flames and smoke must of became to much and she had to bail. At this point the situation is becoming a bit interesting. The smoke is now so thick that you can't see the truck stopped in the lane of traffic and cars heading in that direction have no idea what lies inside of the smoke cloud - this could get real ugly, real fast. Kat and I call for my dad - he calls 911 to let them know whats up. The rest of the family now comes to where we are to see what is going on - a couple of flash lights show up - Butch the honarary volunteer firefighter/traffic cop springs into action. A "real" volunteer fireman from Georgia happens to drive by and he jumps in to help as well. He turns his car towards the oncoming traffic and turns his strobe lights on to alert them that danger is ahead. So traffic control begins, some people are just stupid and don't listen but that's another issue. There a couple of very close calls that become near misses - how they didn't hit the truck is a mystery to me. The smoke from the car begins to lift a bit and you can now see shadows of folks darting in and out from near the truck. In the distance we now hear the sirens of the fire engines. Once again we can start to see flames coming from under the truck - then a few moments later from the hood - then from the sides. By the time the fire engine arrives, the truck is now completely engulfed in flames. I'm talking about flames shooting 20 foot into the air - around the whole vechile - in front of a gas station. Traffic is now stopped in both lanes, people have gotten the hint that there is a problem. Traffic is backed up in both lanes for about 1/2 a mile. No one's going anywhere for awhile or so we thought.

All of the sudden a lady jumps out from one of the stopped vechiles and she is frantic. She goes on to say that she has her mother in the SUV and that she is having a stroke. We look at her mother on the passenger side and she does not look good at all. We tell the lady to get back in her SUV and work her way through the median or side of the road to near the fire engine. We tell her to drive to them and get some help or an escort to the hospital. She does and she works her way through and a Sherriffs car goes with her to the hospital. No sooner do they pass by the flaming truck do we hear a loud boom. The gas tank on the flaming truck exploded! (That part was kinda cool) - So now we bascially have chaos. I'm thinking that the gas station is gonna go up any minute now - but it doesn't. After about 20 minutes, the firefighters put the flaming truck out, the smoke clears and they are able to open up a lane of traffic and once again cars are moving. The situation is now under control and we decide to leave. We don't believe anyone was hurt nor do we know the cause of the fire. But it was pretty wild and made the evening interesting. Brings a new meaning to the term "Fire Truck" doesn't it?

Home Again

It's been a while since I posted, not easy when you're out of your normal rotuine. Well I made it home from Missiouri, I got back yesterday(Friday) a little bit later than expected. My trip was fine just work, did go to the Lake of the Ozarks for dinner one evening and that was very nice. I believe this is my last work related trip for awhile. I'm very glad about that but that could change at any time. Warren and Jean are still here with us. I believe that they may be heading back home tomorrow (Sunday). They were going to leave today but decided to stay to see Katlin play soccer and all have dinner out tonight with Ron's parents. They have been in touch with some folks back home and things are slowly getting back to normal. Electricity has returned, water is back and buisness's are beginning to function again. I'm sure they're ready to get home and do their own thing. Warren has attacked my 'honey-do' list which is very cool. Kiel started school on Wednesday - loves his schedule. Has classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Alot of his friends who were a year behind him in High School are now at Gulf Coast with him - he really enjoys seeing them again.

Both the boys are refereeing soccer today, they both will work two games. Katlin also plays later this afternoon. I have some pictures and some things I have been working on that I will try to post later this weekend - so stay tuned.

Have enjoyed catching the Olympics when we can, especially gymnastics and swimming....

Stuff...

Just a quick post: Kathy's father (Warren) and his girlfriend Jean are going to come up from Sebring and spend some time with us. They will be here either late tonight or tomorrow morning. They felt the effects of Hurrican Charley pretty good. Although they only sustained minimal damage to their homes, they are still without electricity, water, ice etc. and may be for some time yet. It is very hot where they live and to be without comforts that we sometimes take for granted, it can be very uncomfortable.

The boys are busy with school - Kat had both golf and soccer after school today. Plus he still has homework, so he'll be pretty whipped come days end. Kiel signs up for school at Gulf Coast tomorrow and starts classes on Wednesday. He wanted me to tell everyone that his blog is now back up and running! He gave it a facelift. He also wanted to say that on his blog that if you wish to leave a comment you must a memeber of "Xanga". That is not the case with our blog, you do not have to be a member to leave us a comment (hint hint).

I (Ron) leave tomorrow(Tuesday) for Missiouri for the remainder of the week. I'll get back Friday afternoon. I believe that after this trip my traveling for work may be done for awhile. Kathy worked most of the day without air conditioning in her shop - it was pretty hot and wore her out. I'll try to post something other than boring and mudane while I'm gone. Later....

Post-Charley

Kathy spoke to her Dad (Warren) last night about 8:30PM after the storm had passed through. They had to evacuate their park and went to Jeans (his girlfriend) sons house to ride the storm out. They are both OK and seem to be doing fine. Warren and Jean both had some minor damage done to their homes. They were without power last night and very well may still be without it. Kathy also spoke to her cousin Julie. Julie's dad, which is Kathy's Uncle Wayne had to evacuate his home as well. He too had some minor damage to his home but is OK. We've tried calling Warren again this morning but we can't get through, the phone lines are jammed. We didn't feel any effects of this storm either - it was too far south. We feel very lucky to have dodged both Bonnie and Charley in the same week....

Near Miss

Well Tropical Storm Bonnie missed us. The storm ended up going about 30 miles or east of us. It was supposed hit us directly but turned more easterly before it landed. We got a couple of inches of rain and virturally no wind. Actually, it was pretty anti-climatic. It wasn't bad at all, it could have been alot worse. On the bright side, we all got to sleep in really late today, 10:00AM - we're slugs aren't we? Kathy and I both went into work about noon time. So we were able to salvage some of the work day. Now we turn our attention to Hurricane Charley. This will be a considerably stronger storm. The good news for us is that it appears to be headed to the Tampa area. The bad news is that Kathy's dad lives down in the area where the storm is headed. He's inland but will get some wind and rain. Hopefully he'll be fine. I guess this is the price we pay for living where we do...

Sign Language

Hurricane

Kinda how I feel about this storm. Tropical Storm Bonnie will be here in the morning - groovy. School and Work has been canceled for tomorrow (heck of way to get to sleep in). Also, President Bush came to town yesterday. We didn't get to go see him even though we had tickets. I had to work and get ready for this storm. Even though I didn't get to go, here are some of my thoughts on President Bush.



I'm not in the mood to write, so I'll let the little emoticons speak for me. Hope all is well with everyone and I'll update after the storm passes. Later....

Bonnie

We have a storm in the gulf and her name is "Bonnie". As you can see, her projected path brings her right into Panama City. Of course anything can happen but we'll keep an eye on her. Bonnie is still a Tropical Storm but is supposed to be a Hurricane before it makes landfall. What makes this interesting, is that there is another storm south of Cuba that is supposed to be in the Gulf on Saturday. The name of that storm is "Charley". Charley is supposed to be even stronger than Bonnie when it makes landfall. At this point, where Charley will go once it hits the gulf is a crap shoot. Keep an eye on the National Hurricane Center to see the latest on Bonnie and Charley. Should be interesting....

Bonnie's Storm Track from NHC

King For A Day...

It's good to be the King, even if it's only for a day. Today is my birthday(43) and my family has done an incredible jobs of making me feel special. We've had a great day together - we went to church and it was inspired and challenging as usual. We then went to lunch at the beach and it was great. We then hung out on the beach for a few hours - played in the water, tossed the football, got sun burned and then played some mini golf. I think we're even gonna go to a movie tonight and I get to choose! I guess that's one of the advantages of getting older is that people treat you nicer cause they don't know how much longer you'll be around. Just kidding - I really appreciate all that my wife and sons do - not just today but every day.

I’m actually not too bent out of shape about having another birthday. Do you realize that in seven short years I’ll turn 50 and then I get some really cool benefits, like the free coffee at McDonalds and the discounted auto insurance with AARP. That’s good stuff now! Plus, I know that so many of you who are reading this are much older than me. I draw great comfort knowing I'll always be younger than you (and you know who you are).

Actually, I found a few thoughts on aging and getting older – thought I would share them with you. Any comments you see to the side in ( ) are mine.

The nice thing about getting senile is you can hide your own Easter eggs.
When you are young, you want to be the master of your fate and the captain of your soul. When you are older, you will settle for being the master of your weight and the captain of your bowling team.
Anybody who can still do at 43 what he was doing at 20 wasn't doing much at 20.
People who are over 40 are worth a fortune, with silver in their hair, gold in their teeth,stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet, and gas in their stomachs.
Old age is when a person notices that his shoelace is untied and asks himself. "Is there anything else I can do down there when I lean over to tie by shoelace?"
God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway... The good fortune to run into the ones I do... And the eyesight to tell the difference! (True…)
If I knew I was going to get this old, I would have taken better care of myself when I was young. (Truer Still)
There's nothing wrong with the younger generation that twenty years or so won't cure. (Truest Yet!!)
The older you get, the better you get (unless you're a banana)
You're asleep, but others worry that you're dead. (Just put a mirror under my nose)
Your knees go out more than you do. (Yes they do don't they Rob?)
You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room. (That happened along time ago)
You buy a compass for the dash of your van. (Warren….)
You are proud of your lawn mower. (Butch….)
You're getting old when getting lucky means you find your car in the parking lot. (Rose Mary…)
Your arms are almost too short to read the newspaper. (Ron…)
You take a metal detector to the beach. (Ron again….Hey, I like my metal detector!!!)
Your friend is dating someone half his/her age, and isn't breaking any laws. (I ain’t saying a word)
You sing along with the elevator music. (Feelings, nothing more than feelings…)
You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge. (No, but my 19 year old son does)
People call at 9:00 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you?"
You answer a question with, "Because I said so." (Yes, Yes I do)
You send money to PBS. (Not quite yet)
The end of your tie doesn't come anywhere near the top of your pants. (I don’t wear ties anymore thank you very much)
You can't remember the last time you laid on the floor to watch television.
Your ears are hairier than your head. (No their not, I use my nose hair trimmers on them!!!)
You talk about "good grass" and you're referring to someone's lawn. (Ahh the good ole days…kidding)
You're getting old when you don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along. (Have fun at the mall baby, take your time)
You know you're into middle age when you realize that caution is the only thing you care to exercise.

You Know You’re getting Old when:
The candles cost more than the cake.
You go to the mall not to shop but get a free blood pressure examination.
Your ears perk up when a laxative commercial comes on TV. (Actually Imodium)
You spend more time on the menu than the waitress. (Let me see, I’ll have the….)
When you do the hokey pokey and you "put your left hip out" . . . it stays out.. (….and you shake it all it about.)

…and finally a short poem on aging:

I get up each morning, and dust off my wits,
pick up my paper and read the "obits".
If my name is missing, I know I'm not dead,
so I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.

Update:: Kiel

Yes it is I, Kiel that has taken over this family blog ::muhahahaha:: .... at least for right now and the next twenty lines or so. So this summer was alot of fun I got to spend alot of vacation time and tried to make some green along the way. The trip to Iowa was awesome.. beautiful weather and I got to meet some family I had never met before really cool. Wiregrass was cool Mr. Jack was gracious enough to let me attend even though I was rejected a previous week for not being "An Active Member" (thats a whole nother story ....) it was fun I learned alot from 3rd graders.. there amazing...Another year at shipwreck has been good too, I learned that I now suffer from motion sickness and I fear it is due to age.... I hate it rollarcoasters are awesome and now.. I get sick... hmmph I am lookin forward to my final year at GCCC next year this time I will possibly be down in the Orlando area... so I am a little nervious about that... I'm obviously not as good with the words as Ron or Katlin so I am gonna go talk to a man about a wallabee....

Less than three,
Kiel

Get Your Marbles Worth

Several years ago I heard a story in church about a young man who wanted to be ensure he lived life to the fullest. But he decided that he needed a visual reminder to help him achieve this goal. First, he found out what the average life expectancy of the American male was. He then subtracted his current age from the average life expectancy age. Let me stop and say I know there are no guarantees that any of us will live to a certain age, but bear with me for the sake argument. Once he knew how long he had to live (wink, wink), he then converted the number of years and months he had left into weeks. So now that he figured up how many weeks he had to live if he lived an average life, he went and bought marbles. He went and bought one marble for each week of his remaining life expectancy. He then put these marbles, thousands of them, in a huge glass container where he could see them all throughout the week. As each week/weekend would come to an end, he would remove one of the marbles and throw it away. While he was throwing the marble away he would be reminded that another week of his life had went by. At this point he would then ask himself if he had done all he could do to live his life to the fullest in the past week. Sometimes he would smile and easily throw the marble away knowing he had done all he could to get the most of life. Other times he would have a tear in his eye as he tossed the marble in trash knowing he hadn’t made the most of his past week.

I find what he did to be very interesting. Now I haven’t sat down and figured out my remaining life expectancy and went out and bought marbles….yet. Although I have threatened to do so on several occasions. Anyhow I like the concept of what this guy was trying to do. I like the idea of being reminded that I need to make the most of every opportunity presented to me. I like the thought of being reminded that life is a tremendous gift and we shouldn’t take it for granted. We’d all probably agree that life is too short and goes by incredibly fast. Particularly as we get older, gain responsibility and at some point in time, face our own mortality. Let me say this, so there is no mistake – I know there is life after this one and it’s actually a far better one. The idea of spending eternity with The One who created, loves and died for me is just too cool for words. But I’m not talking about that life; I’m talking about making the most of the time we have been given on this earth.

Often times on Sunday nights as we lie in bed discussing the past week and what we did over the weekend, Kathy will ask me “Did you get your marbles worth?” and I’ll know exactly what she is asking. Meaning, did you do all that you wanted/needed to ensure you got the most out of the past week/weekend. The majority of the time I can honestly say “yes”. Other times I’ll pout and tell her “I want my marble back” so I can do it again. She’ll kindly remind me that there are no do-overs and that I’ll have the chance to try to get it right this week. I don’t like when she tells me that because she’s right. And I hate it when she’s right because that means I was wrong – which is most of the time.

How each of us determines the answer to the question my wife asks will be different. I know what it takes for me to answer this question. As I write this post, I’m finishing my 6th day of a 10 day road trip for work. Since I haven’t been with my family this past week, the question is a lot tougher to answer. The question I have for you, is the same one my wife ask me – “Did you get your marbles worth?” - I hope you can determine the answer to this question. I hope that you get your marbles worth this week and every week from now on. I hope that there are a lot of marbles left in your jar. Shoot, I hope there are a lot marbles left in my jar! That’s really the issue isn’t it? We really don’t know how many marbles are left in our jar do we? Which is why we should make each and every one of them count. Get Your Marbles Worth.