My beautiful little sister graduates from high school tonight. I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by. I still remember the day she was born. She’s a real special girl with a big heart. Her middle name is Joy, and I feel like that’s the most appropriate word to describe her. I’m so proud of you Rachel! I’m proud to be your big brother.
Today Tyler and I helped move all of the furniture, desks, and well… everything touching the floor out of the our church office. We’re getting new carpet so I guess it’s sort of a given that we’re to move all the stuff out. I think I have been deemed the permanent “mover” (for better or worse) for the office as I’ve helped out several times before. It was just us two this time around so we had our work cut out for us. Since we’re a mobile church and we don’t have space to keep all of our stuff we got a hold of a big freaking truck to keep the stuff in while the carpet installers do their dirty work (pun intended). I was quickly shown how to operate this girthy truck and we were on our way! After several hours we finished, and I got to drive it a little.
And no, not the popular board game. Although I do own at that game so I suggest you never challenge me to a match. The risk I am talking about is in everyday life. Some of us are risk takers, some of us are not. I am one of those people who are not a risk taker. I won’t be the first person to jump off a bridge… and well probably won’t even jump off the bridge at all. I’m an over-thinker. Before making a decision I think of all the different outcomes and possibilities, as well as who else my decision effects. I think that sometimes this way of thinking holds me back from greatness. Now I’m not getting a big head here by any means, but I do think I have the potential to be great, and to do great things. But up until now I have been afraid to. So here’s to the new Tim. I’m still the same ol’ lovable guy only now I have a new face….just kidding. But I am choosing to see the world through new eyes. Eyes that see more possibility and hope rather than fear and insecurity. It’s time to let go.
Funny how a simple piece of scripture I learned back in the Awana days (yeah, we all remember those days!) has a whole new meaning now. ”Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5
When I was little I was fascinated how it was not the same time in California and in Japan (or insert any other country here). My family took a trip to my great uncle’s farm in New York when I was younger. My dad had to join us a few days after our arrival because of work. I remember staying up late to watch the local news in New York in order to write down the winning lottery numbers. I called my dad to give him a heads up so we’d get rich. If it were only that easy. I thought I was the smartest person in the world, and I couldn’t believe that no one else thought of it. Of course my dad then explained to me how this information didn’t help him. Oh well.
This morning I got the privilege to teach for our jr. high/high school students. We finished up our three week series entitled, “Simplify Your Life.” Mostly speaking about how we’re so busy, and sometimes “too busy” to have a real relationship with God. This week’s lesson was about how we can take action against being so busy! I decided to make a short (3 minute) video to base our discussion questions that I came up with. So I uploaded this video for you 5 readers out there. I hope you get a good laugh! Sorry, the audio is out of sync at the end (stupid conversion process)
Here were the three points I used (note: I went deeper than what I’m about to share)
1) It’s ok to say “No” - Sometimes we say “yes” because we don’t want to disappoint others, when we know we have too much on our plate. Sometimes we have to say “no” to good things in order to make room for the best things.
2) Turn it off - We spend (especially high schoolers) so much time on our cellphones, computers, internet, TV, video games. We need to turn it off from time to time in order to hear God’s voice.
3) Leave some room - Even in the midst of our business, we need to leave room for our creator. Daily. We need a real relationship with Him. I gave the example of how friendships on earth take time and effort. And if we want a relationship with God it’s also going to take some time and effort on our part.
I always use my left ear when talking on the phone. I hear SO much better with it, than my right. Whenever I watch a tv show, or movie, or see some random person use their right ear when talking on the phone, it bothers me. It’s probably really prejudice, but for some reason I imagine how uncomfortable I would feel if I were that person using my right ear to try and hear what the person on the other line is saying. I just watched a movie where the girl (main character) was ALWAYS on the phone… and used her right ear when answering the phone… errr… Maybe it’s not a pet peeve, but it bothers me none the less.
What ear do you use when on the phone?
I’m moving to Europe. Well, not yet anyway. But I am going to backpack part of Europe in the summer of ‘09. Some friends and I decided its something we’d all like to do together. Our “group” (Ashley, Sarah, Kim, Jameson, Myself and Tyler) are the ones going. Jameson and Sarah will be married by then, and a couple of the other peeps (I don’t know if I like that word “peeps”) are in relationships right now so their significant others might come as well. Any way it works out, it’s sure to be a big party. We’re planning on being gone between 3-4 weeks… I wish we could go the whole summer but I don’t see that happening financially! We recently took a vote on our top places to visit while we backpack. I circled those places on the map above. I can’t wait to visit Ireland, Scotland, and the rest of the UK. I’d like to visit Denmark too but I don’t think we’ll have the time. Who knows, maybe if I like it I’ll just stay! 
Actually, there’s a part of me that would love to just move there for a year and travel/experience different cultures. But that’s for another blog post.
This post was completely inspired by Brody. If you have never read his blog, you need to now! Earlier this week he wrote an interesting post which you can read about here. Basically, he wrote about how his fingers and palms are the same size. Well Brody, I’m here to tell you that you aren’t alone. Only, this doesn’t mean you have cross-gender hands… this means you have bear paws hands like me.
Exhibit A)
length of middle finger from palm = 3.25″
length of palm = 4.5″
Exhibit B)
A little crunch of the fingers and BAM! You have yourself a paw.
Now I know what you all must be thinking, “oh how cool Tim, you can like maul people and stuff now!” Well though that may be true, it comes at a cost. Playing bass and guitar is a bit tougher because your fingers can’t stretch as far… so I had to develop my own style. And you can pretty much kiss winning thumb wars goodbye. And palming a basketball is out of the question. But all in all I’m ok with my hands, and Brody I hope you are too buddy! Wear them proud.
The title of this post says it all. Back in December (before all those annoying commercials came out) I signed up for freecreditreport.com. When signing up, it said I had 30 days to check my scores and such… and nothing was mentioned about hidden fees. Well I didn’t notice until earlier this week that I had monthly $14.99 charges on my checking account. When I called to cancel my membership and receive my refund, they told me I agreed to the monthly fees, etc. I asked for proof that I clicked the “agree” button or what not but of course they “don’t have that”…. probably because it doesn’t exist. I was given an address to voice my concerns and request my refund. I’d like to think that they’d rather refund my $60 rather than spend time and more money trying to fight me on this. After doing some research, it turns out many others were “scammed” as well. freecreditreport.com in fact is not a part of the government’s program for yearly free credit reports. It’s a private company posing as a free site. Maybe you already knew this, maybe you didn’t. But for those who didn’t… now you know not to use freecreditreport.com
Before rumor-ville is unleashed, I’ll set the story straight. No, I do not have a kid, or have a kid on the way (despite what the tabloids may be saying). Anyway, I spent most of the weekend with the Hall family. Gordon Hall is our lead pastor at River Valley Church. He has a really rad wife, and 3 crazy (but very cool) boys. One of which is a student in Jr. High making him somewhat, “mine” for the next 4-5 years. I was invited to the youngest Hall boy’s baseball game (I’ve blogged about him before) Saturday morning. Lucky kid plays for the Red Sox! It was great to watch little leaguers do their best, and let that be that. This is a rare time where having fun is all that matters.
Later day I got a text from Gordon which read, “Dude, pasta and meatballs tonight for dinner, you coming?” Can’t really turn down a free meal and good company can I? All three of the Hall boys had 2 friends spending the night. Nothing like 9 boys at the house at once! One of Caden’s friends couldn’t make it last minute so I was deemed as his 2nd friend. I guess I do fit in pretty well with a couple of 8 year olds!
The night consisted of a tasty meal (with an awesome desert called “chewies” that Gordon’s wife made), playing catch with Gordon (baseball) before hitting too much oncoming traffic, building a fire that took WAY too long to catch, cooking smores, talking around the fire about our church, “the church”, my past relationships, their relationship while growing up, and then Gordon asked me what celebrity would most resemble my “type”. So, Naomi Watts, if you’re reading this and you want to leave your Husband (just kidding, seriously) and move to the United States, and attend RVC Church, you’ll know where to find me! So I left that night seeing how blessed I am to have friends like Gordon and Tammy. It’s pretty cool being able to hang out with your pastor!
(yes, that’s Tammy shushing Austin while Gordon prays for the meal)
Now to clear up the title of this post. A bunch of us went to Wahoo’s after church yesterday (including the Hall family). I sat near Caden and at one point he took my glasses off my face to mimic me. Then he called himself Tim jr. It gave me a good laugh. I don’t know what’s up with his pose, because I’m pretty sure I don’t do that… but maybe I should???
