I ran across the albumCD, “1984″ by Van Halen, at Walmart for 7 bucks. I had to buy it. As soon as I saw the cover I was transported back in time. I can remember waiting ever so impatiently for the new Van Halen album. The rumours had been flying for months; “Eddie doesn’t even play guitar on it. The whole thing is nothing but keyboards.” “No way”, I would reply.
Then finally I heard the debut release of the first single, “Jump”. I was horrified! What was this crap! Then I saw the video for it. This was back when MTV actually showed videos. I couldn’t believe my eye and ears. Van Halen, the most awesomist hard rock, guitar pounding band… and fallen victim to the wussification of Rock & Roll that was taking place in the early 80’s.
Shortly after I got a call from a friend of mine who had bought the album and said it “kicked a**”. I rushed over to his house for a listen. As much as I was anti keyboard in those days, I thought the intro was pretty cool. Next came that Jump crap…awful! Panama was next… not bad. There was hope after all. Then came Top Jimmy….. Ahhhh. This album really did kick a**. It continued with Drop Dead Legs, and then Hot For Teacher. The rest of the album was ok, but those four songs quickly became some of my favorite Van Halen Songs. In particular Top Jimmy and Drop Dead Legs.
It is amazing to me how God chooses to speak to me sometimes. Tonight he spoke to me through the words of a professed atheist. Go to my friends Paul’s blog post and watch the video and then come back here. It’s not long, about 5 minutes or so.
Here’s the statements that “wowed” me:
How much to you have to hate someone to not proselytize them. How much do you have to hate someone, if you believe that eternal life is real and possible, and not tell them about it.
This was a good guy… and he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me this bible.
As I listened to these words I felt a knot forming in my stomach. While I am much more outspoken about my faith today than in the past. And I have shared my beliefs with non believers. There have been many occasions where I felt it might be too awkward, it might cause them to think differently of me, and I kept my mouth shut. How many opportunities do you get in life to make a difference in the salvation of someone? How many opportunities have I missed because of fear? Now I know I do not have the power to save anyone. But how many times has God wanted to use me in the process, and I have disobeyed. Disobedience is not only actions but inaction as well.
The next take away from this is: There is a right way and a wrong way to proselytize. The gentleman in Penn’s story is an example of the right way. I believe that the best way to proselytize is to follow Jesus’ example. He didn’t go aroung yelling at people to change their ways or go to hell, turn or burn, follow me or die, or any of that. Jesus cared for and loved people. When asked which of the commandments was greatest of all. He replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it:You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40
Now to do this properly, you may have to care about people who don’t necessarily think the same way that you do. This is not easy for a lot of us Christians. It is uncomfortable to associate with people who don’t believe the same as we do. However, look at Jesus’ example. Who did He spend the majority of his time with? Thieves, crooks, and tax collectors (the lowest of low back then). The people who needed to know Him the most!
So its time for me to jump out of my comfort zone. I hope to never miss and opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with anyone. I pray I have the courage to follow through even when I am fearful of rejection.
It became crystal clear this past weekend that someone very dear to me is suffering from depression again. It is breaking my heart knowing there’s nothing I can do about it.
Not much going on in the life and times of Brad Bobo these days, nothing I feel blog worthy anyway. So I thought I would point you in the direction of some of my favorite blogs.
pualpetersonlive.com Paul’s blog was the inspiration for this blog. Paul is a church planter from New York who came to Georgia for a year to go through the church planting residency at our church. He used his blog to communicate with everyone back in New York about his experience. So I thought I could use a blog to keep in touch with my family and friends which are scattered all about the world. I had the pleasure of becoming friends with Paul and now I keep up to date about his experience of launching a new church in Cincinnati.
The following blogs I have came across at some point in my blogging journey. These are blogs that are entertaining to me and generally people I like. These are folks I could sit down and have a beer or cup of coffee with, and discuss life, politics, sports, parenting, movies, etc.
N*ked On the Roof The author of this blog, “More Than An Electrician” aka MTAE, is someone I have got to know over the past year through his blog. He is very funny and he and I seem to have a lot in common. Which is probably why I enjoy his blog so much. I hope you do to.
Sitting Pugs I don’t remember exactly how I came across this blog. The author and I share a passion for football. In particular, Atlanta Falcon football. I love reading her reviews of the games, much more entertaining than other sports sites. She is also an avid movie fan. Here reviews of movies are very detailed and often leave me wondering… Did she like that movie?
Terri Terri Quite Contrary An aspiring writer who I feel would make an excellent author and should go for it! Check out her series of post titled “A Rude Awakening”. She is also a very talented amateur photographer.
Rindy Walton: Experiencing the Journey I met Rindy through Paul Peterson. She has partnered with Paul to plant a church in Cincy. Rindy has an amazing story and if you get a chance to browse through her archives, you will see what an extraordinary woman she is. I wish I had a fraction of Rindy’s inner strength and faith.
The next site I would like to direct you to is not a blog. It is the site of a former classmate of mind, Holt Webb. Holt’s Vanishing America Project is an intriguing one. Holt is traveling the country and documenting through photography all of the things that make America beautiful which are in danger of being gone. I think it is worthwhile work he is doing. He is early in the project and already has some amazing pictures.
It’s kind of a long story how this little guy came to live with us this weekend. We had already decided that getting a new puppy for the girls this Christmas was not the smart decision at this time. New puppies require many visits to the vet for numerous shots, so we decided to put off those expenses for another day. Then came a call from a friend about a dog who’s owner could no longer care for him and they were willing to give him away to a good home.
Sparky is a 4 year old Dachshund. He is current on all vaccinations and has already been neutered. He just needed someone to take him in and give him a good home. So Sparky came to live with us today. He is a very loving, playful little dog and has taken to my wife already. She has herself a lap dog now. He is very good with the girls and allows them to pet hug him with no problem whatsoever. We are all thrilled with our new family member. Well, not all of us, our cat Missy is not a happy camper today.
P.S. Sparky is a really cool coloring called Dapple. He also has really cool looking eyes -one blue and one brown- which I cannot get a good picture of even using redeye reduction setting on our camera.
The other day I was hanging out with my girls and I told Hannah that we needed to exercise that evening because it had been a few days. The following conversation took place.
Me: I thought you were going to be my partner and make sure I exercise everyday.
Hannah looks at me, but no response
Me: Your falling down on the job
Hannah: Yeah well, I’m not getting paid enough for this job.
Yesterday Hailey and I were hanging out coloring and listening to some music. I had one of out worship cd’s playing. One of the lyrics said “Take my heart Lord and make it yours….”
Hailey stopped coloring looked up at me and said, “If they took your heart, you would die”. I tried as best I could, explain to a 4 year old the meaning of the lyrics. When I was done, she looked at me and said, “You would die.”
The most common question I get these days is, “How are you doing it?”. They are referring to the fact that I have been out of a job since June and I just started college this fall full time. What they really mean is, “How can you afford it?”. The plan is to remain in school full time and live mostly off of my wife’s income. I say mostly because eventually I will need to get a part time job. But for now I am concentrating solely on my classes.
Truth is, if you had told me 3 or 4 years ago that we would be able to accomplish this, I would have said you were crazy. We were like most everyone these days. We lived paycheck to paycheck, spent everything we made, and then some, and had nothing to speak of for savings. My wife and I have been married for nine years, both worked at our companies for 10 years. There were annual raises and promotions, but we never seemed to get ahead. We were on disturbing path, literally one paycheck away from disaster.
About two years ago something clicked in me and I decided that we had to change the way we handled our finances, or we were going to find ourselves in serious trouble. When talking to a coworker about my fears, she told me about a guy on the radio who gave money advise. The guy was Dave Ramsey and I tuned in that day and the rest of the week. I was hooked. I bought his book and read it in about a week (no easy task for me). I told my wife about it. Told her this was something we had to do and she reluctantly agreed.
What Mr. Ramsey teaches is not new. It used to be the way people in America lived. In a nutshell, he helps you form a plan to get out of debt… quickly. Then you follow a 7-step program, he calls the Baby Steps, to financial freedom.
We began the program. We wrote a monthly budget, developed a plan to pay off our debt, and away we went. We made a lot of mistakes in the beggining. We even took a budgeting class at our church to get some hands on help. It was tough at first. My wife and I were not exactly on the same page with the intensity at which we were approaching this. But eventually (about 6 months) we began to see results. We were out of debt in 10 months and then began stockpiling our savings. After about another 7-8 months, we had a fully funded emergency fund (6 months of expenses). We began working toward our retirement plan and then I got laid off in June of this year.
Because we learned how to live on a strict written budget every month during the debt payoff period. We were able to tighten up the budget again and live on my wife’s salary and what minuscule amount I am receiving from unemployment. Our household income has dropped by about 60% and we have yet to have to dip into our savings.
Since all this has taken place I have had several people ask me to teach them what Kari and I do. I have counseled several people on living on a budget and getting out of and staying out of debt. Some have done well, most are not willing to put forth the effort in the short term to enjoy the benefits in the long term. Our society today is one of have it now, pay for it later. It is one of the underlying problems of our current economic status. If any good can come from this economic turmoil of today, I hope it is a turn back to the common sense approach of spend less than you make and don’t incur unnecessary debt.
Today I finished the 1st chapter of this new era in my life. I had final exams in two of my three classes today. I finished up the third last week with a final project. I would be lying if I said that it hasn’t been challenging. I would also be lying if I said that I have not enjoyed it. I am thrilled to be back in school and I am looking forward to next quarter all ready.
In looking back on the last few years of my life, I believe that part of my discontentment was not so much I had a bad job or a bad boss (although he was a bad boss). I believe that the problem all along was me. I had gotten in such a deep “rut”, and I felt trapped by it. I’ve never considered myself the type of person who thrives on new challenges. But I really think this was the root of all the problems that manifested in the last two years. It was the same thing day in and day out, and I was needing more. The problem was, I wasn’t going to get any more where I was. I had gone as far as I could. But not fully understanding what the problem was. I stayed way to long and the frustration just kept building and led to that final conversation in my boss’ office back in June.
So now I’m here, learning an entirely new career. I’m still not sure how I got here. And I’m still not sure how this is all going to shake out in the end. But I am loving every minute of it. I go to bed now looking forward to the next day. I can’t remember the last time I could say that.
p.s. For those of you who read last week’s post about the “slippery slope”… see how fast things change in my world.
That title is base on the Jimmy Buffet song Boat Drinks which came to mind as I was looking at the thermometer and hearing a hockey game on in the background.
…Twenty degrees and the hockey games on
Nobody cares they are way too far gone
Screamin boat drinks, something to keep em all warm…
The song continues…
This mornin, I shot six holes in my freezer
I think I got cabin fever
Somebody sound the alarm
Id like to go where the pace of lifes slow
Could you beam me somewhere mr. scott?
Any ol place here on earth or in space
You pick the century and Ill pick the spot
Oh I know, (I know)
I should be leaving this climate
I got a verse but cant rhyme it
I gotta go where its warm
You get the idea for the theme of the song. This has become my theme song for this time of year. This hasn’t always been the case. I used to love this time of year. But as I get older cold weather just hurts. I mean literally HURTS! Why is that? Why does cold weather make things like arthritis and metal implants hurt. I’ve never heard a good explanation. But I am beginning to understand why so many of our elders retire to places like Florida. So they can retire in relative comfort. Hell, I may be one of them eventually.
My wife doesn’t share my disdain for cold temperatures. And she loves living where there are actually four distinct seasons. She grew up in Florida and there was only very hot, hot and for two days in the Winter you got mildly hot. She also says she doesn’t care if she ever lives in Florida again, which could throw a wrench in my retirement plan.
at the thermometer and hearing a hockey game on in the background.
