RE:think

The Holidays

Hey! Christmas is next week! Wait, what? It’s not? Well with all these crazy shoppers and Christmas music all last week I figure it was already here. And that’s a problem for me. People get started so early and go so hard that it kills my holiday spirit. That is probably a “me” problem, but what if it’s not?

Are we in love with the season and what it’s all about, or are we in love with the idea of the season that we miss the point?

I know some people are just built for this time of year. They love the weather, the food, the music, and even the shopping. Many of them are in it for the right reasons even. But I think a little of the luster is taken of when we get started so early.

For me, the holidays really begin the week of Christmas. It’s a special time. I look forward to Christmas Eve with the whole family. I look forward to Christmas day with Evette and the kids. I just find it crazy to try and manufacture those good times and feelings more than a month ahead of time before Thanksgiving dinner has even been cleaned of the table! I can hardly stand to listen to Christmas music that week because we’ve been bombarded with it for 4-5 weeks already!

I know, I am probably a Scrooge, and I am most likely the one with the problem here. It just seems like we overdo and force it. I wonder if it could be a more special, more precious time if we slowed down and let Christmas come to us and not do everything we can to make it happen now?

All of this said, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays a few weeks early! :)

Worst Things About Being Sick (other than the pain and discomfort)

1. You fall behind, on everything.

2. You wonderful and lovely kids grate on your last nerve.

3. Nothing tastes good, not even sprite.

4. Showers are a chore.

5. Getting dressed while having the worst balance ever.

6. The ridiculous fevered dreams. Vincent Price and Lucky, from Lucky Charms, actually showed up in one of mine last night. WEIRD.

7. Those teasing hours where you think you are getting better only to get socked one more time.

8. Your wife works and you are left to fend for yourself.

9. Hungry, not hungry, hungry, not hungry, hungrey, not…

10. Thermometers under you tongue.

When You Lose Your Way

Through many seasons of wondering, seeking, living, and moving along in my journey, I have found that it is very easy for a person to lose their way. We all get distracted. We all take our eyes off the ball. Sometimes it ends in heartache. Other times it can be much worse and end in disaster.

The crazy thing is, we can move along in one or more areas of life and not miss a beat. All the while there is a part of us that is completely and utterly lost. Maybe it’s our marriage. Maybe it’s work. Maybe it’s something more simple. Whatever it ends up being, we all get to that place. We don’t know what to do, where we are, or where to turn.

The past couple of years ended with me finding I’d lost my way in matters of “church”. To be specific, I am talking about the who, where, and how’s of worshipping with other Christians. It was no one else’s fault. Those I chose to journey with were trying to make their way, same as me. It just so happens nothing seemed to work out. When it didn’t, bam! I was lost.

Evette and I really didn’t know what to do or where to go for a few months. Traditional church hadn’t worked out. House church hadn’t worked. We’d been through disappointment after disappointment over our entire marriage. Here we were again. And like each time before, it seemed harder than the last. Or was it?

What DOES one do when they go through these times only to find they’ve lost their way?I’m no guru and certainly do not have all the answer, but for me it turned out to be fairly simple. (at least the first step)

You remember what is important, and move on it. Getting lost and standing still won’t make even one thing better. You make the main thing the main thing again and take some action.

Now, you may have to eat some crow (doesn’t taste as bad as you think), and you may need to admit you were wrong. It’s never easy to do this and pride can certainly get in the way. But we’ve done both of these things in the our search to find some folks to journey with as we do our best to follow Jesus. We didn’t want to and we fought it a little. In the end, we just wanted to find our way again.

The cool thing is that what has come out of this has been surprisingly liberating. There is something to be said for stopping and saying, “I don’t know where the hell I am or what I am doing anymore.” Because once you do this, not only can you find your way again, you might find that something you wouldn’t have considered before is exactly what you needed.

We all lose our way. Anyone who says they don’t is either arrogant or flat out stupid. And it’s not the end of the world to end up lost. When you take that attitude you find that being lost is not the real problem. Staying lost is.

Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

Well, at least not to my blog.

Many of you will get the link to this post via Twitter or Facebook. That means many of you have either met or reconnected with me in just the past year. You have no idea just how much energy and traffic was at here at rdwagner.com 2, 3, 4 years ago. Before the big social networking sites hit hard, I blogged. A lot. I was in the range of 150-200 unique visitors at my peak about 2 and 1/2 years ago and averaged over a post a day. I had comment threads that went on forever. I was a blogging fool.

I hope to be again.

I love to write. I’m not great at it, and don’t always have something to say that others want to read, but I do have fun with it. I find  that I miss it. Twitter and Facebook are great, but the “drive by” style of status updates just doesn’t do many of our ideas justice. Some things need a little more development that 140 characters allow.

I just needed a break, even if it wasn’t announced or a conscious decision. I burned myself out a year ago posting on politics. Never again. I had a couple things in my life that were topics I liked to post about. But I was disappointed in them when it came to real life application. Add to these things the Twitter and Facebook explosions, and it was the perfect recipe for leaving this space for a while.

I blogged solidly for 5 years at one point. I am quite sure I can do it again. I hope I write something you like. If you are a new reader, bookmark the site or subscribe to my feed. Comment often. Tell me I’m an idiot when I spout off so I might learn something. More than anything, I hope you enjoy this blog. I know I have for the last 6 years…