Ticked Off

I’m pretty ticked off.  I learned today that a pastor in GA cheated on his wife with his personal assistant.  That ticks me off.  This arrogant punk didn’t respect his position.  He didn’t listen to his own sermons.  I’m angry.  Well at least I was when I heard the news.  In fact when I heard this news, I kept telling myself, “I knew it, I knew it.”  I’d never even met this pastor, but I’ve followed him and have heard him speak a time or two, and in my own world, things didn’t match up.

After my initial anger faded, I started thinking about guys in the Bible, good, righteous, holy guys.  Guys that walked on water, and killed giants.  Guys that effectively changed the world.  And you know what, those guys screwed up too. Bad.  And I kept going through the Bible comparing this pastors story to others, and they are all the same.  Screwed up people, with the only hope being Jesus.

Then I looked at my life.  I’ve never cheated on my wife, and by the grace of God I never will, and I’ve never killed anyone, but my pride and greed are just as ugly in eyes of Jesus.  How dare I judge.  I repent.

$73 and a Chicken Burrito

Last night my wife woke me up in a frenzy of pain and saying that her stomach was hurting her. We called the ER and they kind of ruled out anything super serious. So Kellie loaded up on Tylenol and said she could make it through the night. This morning she said she felt better, so I headed off to work.

When I got home, she was still in pain. We called in a favor from our neighbor, to watch our kids as we headed to Urgent Care. Urgent Care is awesome with our insurance, we only have a $15 copay. So we paid the 15 bones, and waited for the Doctor. They ran a bunch of test, only to say we needed to head to the ER to get some more test done.

Off to the ER. I was pretty hungry, Kellie wasn’t, so I headed out to grab a quick bite to eat. The first place I happened upon was Chipotle. I love Chipotle chicken burittos, they are worth every penny of the $8 you pay for them. Yum. I got back to the ER just in time for them to call us back, and to collect our $50 copay. Cha-Ching.

So far tonight they have ran a CT Scan and an Ultrascan. Kellie has an IV in her arm and is being a trooper.Now we are just waiting to hear the outcome. The Doctor has already ruled out a few major things, but now we just wait.

Update:  After several test they determined that Kellie has a cyst on one of her ovaries.  We left the ER last night armed with a prescription for Vicodin and an order from the doctor to rest.

Be Who you Are

Be who you are.  I know it sounds simple, but for some reason most of us can’t figure it out. I get so ticked off at myself for trying to be something I’m not.  I try to find the cool, hip shirts, you know the ones that are embroidered and bedazzled, but they don’t have them my size.  The truth is, I can’t stand those shirts, but since they are popular, for some reason I want to be like everyone else.  Too many of us, need to find out who we are.

Figure out who you are on the inside.  Take time to, bleed, cry, hide, seek, run, stop, walk, dance, dream, go.  So this is who I am:

I’m a big dude, who is passionately chasing my dream.  I can rock the Mop Top hair style, better than anyone I know.  I can speak vision, and hope to the deepest part of who you are.  I can see your potential.  I’ll never be the coolest cat in the room, and I’m OK with that.   I won’t be the most stylish, happening, hippster out there, I’ll never wear my sisters pants or deep plunging v-neck shirts, but, I will be me, Chuck Taylors and all.  Don’t try to be me, you’ll fail.

Be who you are.

Movement

Another Late Night Video Blog

First Ever Video Blog.

It’s been a long time

Holy Crap!  It’s been a long time.  So a few things have happened since my last post.  I redirected www.dartstrickland.com to a new redesigned blog, but haven’t posted there either.  So I am changing back to here.  My middle daughter had her 5th birthday, to which she responded, “Dad, this is the best day ever!”  And Kellie and I took a couple of days to get away to Boston.  And for that, here are some videos!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

He Speaks My Love Language

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night to the howling wind.  I listened as the wind whipped around my house and sounded like it was destroying limbs and branches on every tree nearby.  I wasn’t afraid.  In fact I found myself smiling, not wanting to fall back asleep.  Because this was the second night in a row that the weather was flirting with me.  The night before I woke up to one of the most impressive thunder and lightning storm I may have ever witnessed.  It was incredible.  I knew that I was loved.

I have always had an inclination to nature oddities, and for some strange reason I believe that God is trying to tell me that He has everything in control during these times.  In 1997 El Nino hit the California cost, and I was living in the San Francisco Bay area.  One particular night I stood by the Light House in Santa Cruz while waves from the ocean broke over the sea wall and onto the road.  I was ecstatic.  God was in control of the waves.  I clearly was not.  I felt loved.

I’m not sure how to express my thankfulness other than, I’m glad that He speaks my Love Language.

Chuckaholic

I don’t typically have a addictive personality.  I’ve never really been addicted to anything.  I have a bunch of likes and preferables, but no real have-too’s and must-haves.  Ever since I was a wee little lad I’ve wanted to collect something.  I’ve tried Baseball cards, and decided that I liked the 16 year old piece of gum that was included more than I enjoyed the cards themselves.  After baseball cards came hats.  I loved hats, big hats, small hats, silly hats, and sports hats.  Then my hair got too big and I could no longer wear hats.  Lame.  My worst collection of sorts was Hawaiian shirts.   My wife still reminds me of that horrible misguided phase in my life.  

These days I’ve found a new vice.  Shoes.  Specifically Chuck Taylor All Stars.  More specifically Low-top Chuck Taylor All Stars.  I’ve got a couple pairs.  How many you ask?  I’m not telling.  But you can check out some pics here: Part of D’Art’s Chuck Taylor Collection

Enjoy.

Process

New Years thoughts. 2008 was a year of process. Between the promise and the payoff there is always a process.  The process is the part where God goes silent, where you don’t know if you are still on the path, because all of a sudden you’re not walking anymore, but you’ve found yourself swimming, just trying to keep your head above water.  The process is the part where you feel like giving up, giving in, giving out, giving anything just to get some release from the pressure of life.  The process is where men are made, and boys die.  The process is the place where diamonds turn from just a lump of coal into the worlds most precious gem.  The process is where the magic happens.  And if I were to be true to myself, I would say that I hate the process.  No matter how beneficial the process is, whenever I’m in the process, it’s no fun.  It’s painful.  It bites.  I hate the process.  

I’m guessing that 2009 will also be a year of process.  My hope for 2009 is that no matter how much I hate the process, that I’ll embrace it.  That I’ll learn from it.  That the process wouldn’t break me, but that it would shape me.  I hope that the pain of the process wouldn’t be lost, but that it would be driven to inspire.  

My hope is the same for you.  Happy New Year.