What's up, my peeps?

What are you remembering today? I remember how I felt when my dad took my brother, Stephen, and me to Gettysburg. Walking past the fields with row upon row of crosses that marked soldiers' graves is something I have not forgotten (nor will I) since we made that trip over 15 years ago. I remember walking down the Mall in Washington, D.C., when all noise seemed to cease while we walked through the Viet Nam memorial. I remember watching TV news coverage of 9/11 almost non-stop for an entire weekend. I remember hearing "Taps" played at my uncle's funeral and the 9 gun salute he received. I recognize that people shout loudly about freedom without realizing the full implications of that word. Today, I am thankful. I am thankful for the freedoms that I do have and I am also thankful for the areas of my life where I have willingly surrendered my "freedom." I am thankful for those who choose to serve their country in the military and for their families who are separated from them. For me, today is not going to be much different from any other day. So I am going to make a conscious effort to make some time to spend in quiet and say a prayer of thanksgiving. I encourage you to do something similar.

What are we doing?

What is the church doing to aid people caught in addiction?

Some churches have recovery ministries. Others have members who are in recovery and they reach out to those who come in needing recovery. But my experience has been that addiction scares many Christians.

I do not know if this makes sense, but I have witnessed people telling others, "You are a Christian now, you should be over your addiction. You don't need A. A. (or NA, or GA, or SA, or OA, etc.) anymore."

So is there a difference between sin and addiction? In one sense, the answer is yes. It is not a sin to be an alcoholic. It is not a sin to be a drug addict. Overuse of alcohol, illicit drug use, sexual immorality, and all those actions are sinful acts. The addiction is more than the action. Addiciton and sin are different. The action itself may not be a sin, but for some people, they cannot participate at all without doing it to excess.

However, all sin can be viewed as an addiction. The reason addicts give in to their addiction is because the action they are participating in fills some void, some need, that they do not (or will not try to) fill in appropriate ways. All sin does that. It is a quick fix, instant gratification, self-centered, adn selfish. All sin separates us from God. Many good people are twisted and torn because they know what is right and wrong, they want to do what is right, but they keep giving in to what it wrong. (Read Romans 7).

So what is the church doing? After reading Romans 7, read the change that can take place in our lives described in Romans 8. How are we helping people move from, "What I want to do I do not do," to, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"?

Just wondering out loud.

Shawna is an STL!

Shawna found out today that she did get promoted! Yeah! That means we are one stop closer to overtaking Wegmans! Just kidding. But she has been wanting to make it to this level for quite some time now. She is very excited. Being an STL (Service Team Leader) means she gets to tell people what to do. She is very good at that. :)

I'm still waiting for my switch to dairy, but that should happen soon (hopefully). It will be nice to sleep at nights again. Hope all is well with all who read this.

By the way, is anyone still checking in? Let me know how you are doing.

With so much to write about

I think I will talk (again) about overrated athletes. I was speaking with a fellow Red Sox fan and asked if we could feel confident yet about the season. His response was, "Everything will turn out all right. The Yankees will win the division and A-Rod will choke in the playoffs again." Mr. April (who has only 1 HR in May) absolutely cannot produce when needed. Since he can walk at the end of this season and the Yankees pitching is old and decrepit (to which they added a 45 year old), he will probably put up great numbers so that he can sign a new huge contract with a losing team and be the "best" again.

As for football players, I will continue to maintain that Michael Vick is the most overrated QB in the past 80 years. He is almost like Randall Cunningham, only nowhere near as good. Except when it comes to having his property used for dog fighting. Then he excels. He is fast, he can scramble. He just can't lead a team to ultimate victory in the NFL.

And in basketball, he reared his ugly head again last night: Vince Carter. He can dunk. And then he can...dunk again. But he is also able to...dunk. That is pretty much it. He can put up meaningless points when he's on a team with a great point guard. He can draw attention to himself. He just stinks.

So there you go. Overrated players. I would not want any of them on my teams (in fact, I was angered when the Red Sox considered A-Rod and DELIGHTED when he was not allowed to sign). Since I can't quite get my mind around any one topic to write on when about 10 are swirling around in my mind, I thought I would write this. Always default to sports. Seems to work for me.

By The Way...

Have I mentioned that I am getting off of night crew? I will be moving to the dairy department. My normal schedule will be around 5:30AM until 2. That means that afternoong and evenings will be spent awake with the children. AWAKE! More good news is that Shawna just interviewed for a full-time team leader position on the front end. She will have her second interview next week. So after seven years, she may finally get full-time at Wegmans! (I am trying my best not to mention that I made full-time in less than three months and made team leader in less than a year. It would just be rude of me to mention that.) The funny thing is now that I know I am leaving, night crew is the best it has been since we moved down here. Go figure.

Sad Stuff

This has been an emotional week. A couple of weeks ago, I met a young man (20) who was in the clutches of addiction. I offered help, prayer, encouragement, and my phone number. On Sunday, I learned that he overdosed on Saturday and was dead. His viewing was last night and Shawna and I were able to go and pay our respects to the family. At the funeral home, his mother said to me, "Why couldn't you knock some sense in him?" (That is a paraphrase of what she actually said.) She said it with no blame or accusation, just with the pain and despair of a mom who has lost her son.

There is large part of me that hates to see people endure the consequences of their actions. I wish that people could just be told, 'What you are doing is wrong, dangerous, deadly, hurtful, etc.' and they would stop right away. I wish people did not have to bottom out. But everyone has to. True change can only come about when you are totally laid bare and you have nowhere to go but up. I had to hit bottom myself. Fortunately for me, my bottom was not death. There are many things I did that hurt a lot of people. I have learned in my own experience that each of those consequences were necessary for me. I don't like to see people endure consequences, but it is needed. Unfortunately for some, when they hit bottom, it is too late; for others, they won't care and they will keep their own personal hole deeper and deeper. Others, however, will hit their bottom and start digging their way out. I hope to be there for as many of those people as possible.

Please pray for Matthew's family. His funeral was today and I know they need prayers to make it through these next few days.