Thursday, January 24, 2008

Dude...

I was walking out of the house tonight to go to another meeting when Jackson calls to me. "Dad...you are my best friend! I love you!"

Wow. Right now I have a ton of things happening, (I'm also watching Duke play and I'm totally pulling for VT) as I'm getting ready for ordination interviews. I have a final (I pray) interview for my full ordination as an Elder in the United Methodist Church. My mind is running all over the place and with the pressure I feel preparing for this interview, I was almost brought to tears when my four year old son gave me a little perspective.

Don't get me wrong, I think the time is at hand for ordination, but I'm my son's best friend and right now that's enough to speak on it!
Peace

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Always Surpised...

So tonight we were riding home from church, and we started talking about the night and the church school classes when all of a sudden Jackson laid it down. His church school class is learning the Lord's prayer and things got crazy. He says, that the Power is in the blood! Well, nobody said anything to him about the blood but he's totally right. The power is in the blood that cleansing blood of Jesus that washes over us, cleansing us from sin. I'm always surprised! Speak On It...


By the way...I'm a little ticked because Carolina (My favorite team ever) lost to Maryland (I do like Gary Williams) but dang!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Check this out...

Yo...a friend of mime turned me on to this blog. I don't know how to link it, so this is the best I can do. I think it's pretty tight. Peace.

A Church for Starving Artists: Can't We All Just Get Along?

A Little Bit of Hope & A Dash Of Hot Pepper...

So tonight during worship my son, Jackson, completely flipped the script when he went to pray. We serve communion every week and invite people to move to a time of prayer at the altar. My wife usually takes Jackson to pray and she will pray-hold him-pray and generally ask him what he wants to pray about. Tonight when they went to pray she said Jackson started praying by himself and offered two beautiful prayers that have nearly brought tears to my eyes and also brought a deep laughter.

His first prayer went like this. "God, I hope that you love me." WOW. Of course Lori reminded him that God loves him so so much and when we put him down for the night, after we prayed, I gave my son one more hug and kiss and said, "God loves you big guy" Jackson responded...I know baby...

What a huge thought from a four year old. How many times do we wonder or want to ask the same question? "God I hope you love me. " It is your job, my job, the churches job to remind the people we see day after day, that no matter who you are, what you've done and how far you think you might be from God...it's good to be reminded that God loves you baby...

His second prayer went a little more like this..."God, I hope I stop biting my finger nails, so mommy and daddy don't put hot pepper on my fingers!"

Jesus said come to me like a child...I wonder if he said anything about biting finger nails?

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Cool is Cool...

So I wear glasses and I've worn them since I was in college, but my godson (who is 8) is about to get glasses this week. Of course he's worried that other kids are going to make fun of him, which the sad reality is they will, and he's trying extra hard to find a pair of glasses that look really cool.

But regardless of what type of glasses he gets, the question I have is "will he still be cool?" Who determines what cool is? Of course he's going to be cool! It's not going to matter what type of glasses he wears, or what type of clothes he has on, because the reality is he is important to God and according to God my godson is a masterpiece! (Ephesians)

Which leads me to some thoughts about how we let other people determine who we are and how we live. I mean, even as adults we get caught up with how other people want us to live, act or respond to life. It's almost like it never stops. Sometimes we forget that we are that same masterpiece of creation, whether we are 8 or 38! Hello!

I don't think this is anything original, but it's just where I'm at tonight and I think I needed to hear that God has some crazy love for me just because I'm me. That's what's UP!

Much Love & Peace...

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Sunday School Class...Not Done Yet?

So this morning, I went to our 11-12 Sunday School class with all intentions of disbanding the class do to very low attendance. The craziest thing happened when all of a sudden five kids showed up. I was like dang...five kids. Now, you may be thinking that's not a lot of kids, but the reality is, for whatever reason, this class has very poor attendance, I'm talking like two kids, maybe three...sometimes. We, meaning Cheri and I (who btw is a great teacher) asked them what they wanted to do and they were like "Whatever", "We're okay either way", "Dude, we don't care" so we're thinking "Hey...maybe God's not done with this class yet."

The point of these ramblings is that even when we have ideas about how things should be or think we've got it all figured out, God has a gentle way of reminding us that maybe Sunday School class is not done yet.

Much Love & Peace...

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Wedding Stuff

It never ceases to amaze me! This morning I was counseling a couple for marriage, which is a pretty cool aspect of my job, and as I was talking/listening, I couldn't help but think about my own marriage with Lori. Last week I officiated a wedding at Natural Bridge, (http://www.naturalbridgeva.com/) which btw if you haven't been, you should totally go, and as I'm watching the newly married couple walk down the isle, I turn and catch my own bride smiling wide and I think...Dang! I'm totally married to this great woman. In the back of my mind, it's like I hear "don't forget that dork!" All this talk is basically an opportunity to thank God for reminding me of how blessed I am to share my life with a woman like Lori. Thanks for the Reminder GOD!
Much Love....

Go Hokies...

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Getting Started...

Speak On It...
So here is the first post of hopefully many more insightful, thought provoking and ridiculously ignorant notions about how I'm trying to keep it real as a husband, father, and Jesus follower. If you read this, thanks for your time.

Much Love & Peace, T. Bryson