Closing

Today is a notable day. And no, not because its Halloween.

Today, Brandon and Megan closed on their house! And all the things I worried and fretted and prayed about turned out just fine. Probably due to the prayer, and not the worrying (see previous post).

Tonight, Brandon and Cathy and I went over and just walked around the empty house (Megan had to work). It was really exciting to think about not only what God has done over the years in that little house, but what awesome things He has yet to do there.

It is my prayer that God will bless Brandon and Megan's marriage, and that their new house will become a home filled with love, laughter, and good memories. I pray that God will continue to allow that neighborhood to be safe and trouble-free. I pray that those rooms that hosted so many small groups and Bible study groups in years past would continue to be used by God for his purposes. (And on a more earthly level, I pray that any flimsy repairs I may have done will continue to hold up! Ha!)

So, the big move will happen Friday, but unfortunately I will be out of town (I'll explain why in tomorrow's post). It will be good to have Brandon and Megan so near by.

At the risk of repeating myself (again), God is good!

Anxiety

Be anxious for nothing. Wise words from God's Word, but easier said (read?) than done.

Its Monday night, Oct 29th, and the closing for Brandon & Megan's house is Wednesday at noon. But, we found out this morning that the termite letter indicated some prior damage to the wood under the house. So, the lender needs either 1) a letter from a licensed contractor stating that the damage does not require repair (i.e. does not affect the house structurally, or 2) proof that the damage has been fixed.

If scenario 1 happens, then we should be good to go for closing on Wednesday. If, on the other hand, scenario 2 happens, then closing will probably be delayed, according to how much damage must be repaired and how long that will take.

According to the contract, the sellers must pay for any termite repairs, but even so it causes us problems. Brandon and Megan have already given notice at their apartment, and must be out Sunday. Of course they are welcome to stay with us for as long as they need, but where will they store their stuff?

I think the point of the Lord's words is that if we truly trust Him to look out for our good, then we will not be anxious about anything, but instead will accept circumstances as His will for us. But oh, that is hard to live out!

If you're the praying type, pray that things will work out for the Wednesday closing. But also, pray that we can be OK with the situation, and trust His will.

Ahhh.

Well, it's Monday night, and it is a "free night". That is, I don't have to go anywhere, be anywhere, or do much of anything.

Nights like this are nice, but seemingly rare. I thought when the boys grew up and we were empty nesters, things would be much less busy, but that's not been my experience. When the boys were little, it was church Sunday am and pm, Scouts Monday night, basketball practice Tues and Thurs nite, and church Wed night. Saturdays were pretty much spent working in the yard or on the house, so Friday nights were our only real family night.

Now, the kids' activities are gone, but my band (www.lastroadbluegrass.com) keeps me pretty busy, as well as Life Group once a week. Time seems to fly by.

I once heard a sermon that described BUSY as Being Under Satan's Yoke. I think there is a lot of truth to that, as we can stay busy doing good things, but not have time for the best things. I am often guilty of that.

So, all that to say, its really nice having a "down" night to just unwind and relax.

Ahhhh. :)

Seventeen

Just got back into town from our anniversary trip. Yesterday marked 17 years of marital bliss for us! In some ways it seems like much longer, and other ways it seems like just yesterday.

Here's a reality check: when we got married that cool October day at Pretty Place, Brandon was 7 and Zach was 3. Papa Scott had "Zach duty", which meant he got to hang out in the parking lot listening to Zach, who was pretty darn talkative back in those days.

To celebrate our 17th anniversary, we made our standard pilgrimage to the Inn on Church (see picture) in Hendersonville NC, where we have been going for several years now. H'ville has a great historic downtown section, with antique shops, boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants, etc. Our favorites are: Mike's on Main (in an 1880's drug store with tin ceilings and an awesome soda fountain counter), Black Bear Coffee, and a couple little antique malls whose names I don't know.

Unfortunately, our idea regarding taking Rupert along (our Lhasa Apso) was not a great one. For various reasons we won't go into here, it would have been a more relaxing weekend had we left him at home. I think next year we'll do like most normal people: board the dog, and go on the vacation just by ourselves!

But no complaints about our marriage -- I do believe I am a very lucky man. When I was single and far away from God, I only remember praying one prayer, and that was that God would send me a girl who would be faithful to me always. Cathy was the answer to that prayer, and she has not disappointed me. Once again, God is good.

Random

Random life updates:

• Our life group dedicated the Prout's new house tonight, by praying in every room. It is a beautiful house, and I know without a doubt that Steve & Angie will use it for God's purposes in the upcoming years.
  
  
• Brandon & Megan's closing for 202 South Pliney is two weeks from today!
  
  
• This Saturday is our 17th wedding anniversary. God is so good.
  
  
• New show on Discovery called "Storm Chasers"...man, I would love to go out west and go on one of those tornado-chasing vacation weeks... I've always had a fascination with tornados.
  
  
• Election '08 thoughts. I'm a Huckabee man. He is the closest I've found to a truly conservative, Christian candidate. Oh, and Alan Keyes, too. But I like Huckabee best - a true class act.
  
  
• Dentist appt today, with the usual outcome: no cavities. My teeth may not be the prettiest, but man they are hard as diamonds! ha
  
  
• Started reading the book of Ezekiel today. The visions God gave Ezekiel were really fascinating. I have some trouble with folks today seeing visions supposedly from God. I think God allowed Ezekiel to see, through visions, real things in the hidden spiritual realms. I think this is vastly different from people today with charismatic leanings who are always offering up visions they have seen. If God gives me a vision, you'll be the first to know, but I don't want to think up visual analogies in my head and then claim them as "visions". Rant over.
  

Golf

I am blessed to be able to play golf four or five times a week. No, not that golf, DISC golf. You know, what people call "frisbee golf".

Basically, I played a lot of disc golf in high school with my friends. When I came south, there were no disc golf courses around (that I knew of), so I gave up playing for 10 or 15 years. Then one day in the mid-90s, Zach told me that they had put in some disc golf baskets at Simpsonville City Park, a few blocks from our house.

So, I bought a couple discs, and kinda got back into playing, although not really regularly. Zach and I entered a disc golf contest, and Zach won the 12 and under division (the first time he played!). In fact, the kids he beat were the contest organizer's kids, and I think he was ticked. Zach came away with five or six golf discs that day.

Fast forward another ten years, and now I find myself living directly across the street from the City Park! As in, one of the tees is literally 50 ft from my front steps. So, I have been playing quite a bit this summer. This summer, I transitioned from throwing mostly backhanded to driving with a forehanded shot. This has greatly increased my drive distance. I must confess that Zach was my inspiration for learning the forehand -- he plays ultimate for NGU, and has a wicked forehand drive...

My record for the Simpsonville City Park course is a 51 for 18 holes (that's 3 under if you count all holes as par 3s). I'm working on my mid to long distance putts, and honestly have been sinking quite a few of them lately.

Another big highlight is that Cathy has been playing disc golf with me a bit this summer. We went on a disc-buying binge one day, and got her her own discs. She does well with a 149g shark (the light weight suits her and adds distance to her shots). Today we played nine, and it was a beautiful cool night spent with my favorite person on earth (yes, Cathy, that's you!).

Oh well, catch you later!

Kansas

Well, it was a weekend of beautiful weather in Greenville SC. Finally, it feels like fall! We'll see if it sticks, or if the hot weather returns.

Two cool things took place Saturday. First, my bluegrass band played at the Pumpkintown Festival. It's a great fall festival - arts and crafts, pretty setting, greased pole climb, hayrides, good food, and live bluegrass music. Benji was sick, but still sang better than I do when I'm well! Cathy made the trip and really enjoyed the experience. We got to meet Leo, Dave Snyder's new golden retreiver...what a beautiful, well-behaved dog! Anyhow, it was a nice afternoon.

Second, on Saturday night, I went to Fall for Greenville to see Kansas perform. I've been listening to Kansas music since I was a teenager. I remember it well -- my brother David and I, against our Dad's advice, joined the infamous Columbia Record Club. 7 albums for 1 cent, too good to pass up. That first shipment came, and in it we had chosen the double-live Kansas album called "Two For The Show". We spent hours listening to that album!

This is the third time I've seen Kansas live in the past five years. I'm a huge fan of progressive rock (lots of keyboard, musically complex, crazy time signatures, top-notch musicianship, etc). Kansas is considered "America's prog rock band", as most of the other big names like Yes and Genesis were British.

Anyhow, they played a phenomenal show. It is the 30th anniversary of the classic album, "Point of Know Return", and they played a number of songs off that album. Musically and vocally they were superb -- I know a lot of young folks there had to be thinking, "Man, that old guy sure can play guitar!" Carry On Wayward Son and Dust in the Wind were the encore songs, and really brought the house down!

Interestingly, Kansas broke up around 1980 because two of the members (guitarist and songwriter Kerry Livgren and bassist Dave Hope) had become born-again Christians and wanted to start doing songs that were "overtly" Christian. Dave Hope became a preacher and left the music scene, and Kerry Livgren went on to create a number of great Christian "rock" albums.

For many years of my life, before coming to know Christ, I used music as a "safe place", something to run to when the pain and trouble in my life became overbearing. Kansas' music was certainly part of that. Now that I have a relationship with Jesus, I look at my favorite music as a nice gift from God to be enjoyed, but not something that is central to my life as it once was. As I stood listening to the concert last night, I realized that I really needed to thank God for how he has blessed my life, and how he revealed to me that I can turn to him for my comfort in the tough times.

Although I love listening to great music like classis Kansas, it is not a crutch in my life anymore, but simply one of many wonderful gifts in my life that God has given me.

Beater

Well, its been a busy few days since I've posted. Here are some highlights...

This weekend, I bought yet another mandolin. Actually, I have a mandolin that a guy at work gave me, free. It is my "beater", the one that doesn't even have a case, and sits by my chair in the living room. Basically, I can grab it and play it anytime, mostly during commercials. Well, anyhow, the top on this beater mandolin has started sinking, and I can't raise the action high enough to stop the strings from buzzing.

So, I ordered (and received, this weekend) a new beater mandolin: Rogue A-style, $49 from MusiciansFriend.com - that's it in the photo. Yes, that's right, $49 new! I have no idea how anyone can make and sell and archtop instrument with binding for $49. Heck, the tuning machines are probably worth $15, and a fret job runs $50 these days! I guess it's made in Chinese sweat shops... The tone is nothing to write home about, but the intonation ain't bad and it seems to stay in tune, so it fits the bill for my next "beater". Nice sunburst, too.

Also this weekend, I went to the Clemson vs. Virginia Tech game Saturday night. I think it was the first college game I'd been to since actually attending Tech in 1988! It was fun, especially since the tickets were free. And who won, you ask? Hokies, of course, 40-24.

I learned a couple things at that game. 1) There are a LOT of rich people giving to IPTAY, and 2) There are a lot of rich people who are really upset that Clemson has a not-so-outstanding football program. Look for Bowden to get the boot soon.

Sunday night, Last Road played at a little Baptist church in Bowersville, GA. Great people, and they were truly appreciative that we came and played. They treated us to a nice dinner afterward, too.

Anyhoo, that's the news. A plus tard.

Pliney

Well, this morning my son Brandon and daughter-in-law Megan signed a contract to buy the house on Pliney Circle where Brandon spent his teen years.

We all have a lot of good memories from the ole Pliney house...

Like the time Brandon and I had lowered the basketball goal so we could have a dunking contest. We were using those "mini" basketballs, the ones most normal people can palm. I proceeded to throw down a monster dunk, hang from the rim, and then follow up by clenching my fists and yelling out in a great roar. A moment later, after hearing a noise behind me, I noticed that the nosey neighbor lady was standing ten feet away, and was trying to ask if she could get a clipping from our yellow rose bush. I'll never forget the look of horror on her face as she saw my antics.

Or like the time Cathy saw an animal in the far part of the yard, and tried to attract it with "Here, kitty kitty", only to find out it was a (rabid) fox that the animal control folks had been looking for. Cathy later said "I thought it looked a bit orange and pointy-nosed for a cat..."

Or the time it snowed, and the boys invited their friends over for a massive snowball war until the wee hours of the night. Or the time a cat had a litter of kittens under our house, and they clawed their way into our warm ductwork and had to be rescued by hand through the floor vents. Or the times Brandon would challenge Zach and I to a game of half-court basketball (the two of us against him), and the game would inevitibly end up with Brandon getting mad and slinging the basketball across the yard.

Or the time... Well, you get the idea. Our family had a lot of wonderful times in that little house.

Interestingly, the house was hand-built in the early 1950's by a local preacher, "Pastor Brandt." I think God has had his hand on that little house over the years. We'll see just what he has in store for it next.

Updates

Yesterday's post was kinda heavy, so today it's just a couple random updates.

Kids update:

Brandon is down in Columbia at the USC-Kentucky game. Bummer that it's raining, but it should be a good game anyway. Not that I'm any kind of sports expert, or anything... Tomorrow, hopefully, Brandon and Megan will sign the contract on the house Brandon grew up in. Pretty cool how God has made it available at this time, and how Brandon was interested in the house.

Saw Zach and Sarah last night for the first time in a while. It was good just to sit around, chat, and laugh. Zach is playing in an ultimate tourney down in Columbia this weekend -- go NGU! Ha.

House restoration update:

Last Saturday, I re-screened the original screen doors for our house and hung them. It was nice to get a cool natural breeze going through this old house, for the first time since we've been here! It's going to be GREAT when the weather finally cools off a bit. LOVE autumn. Anyhow, this Saturday, I have to finish trimming out the screen doors. Unlike most screen doors, these don't use the spline-in-channel method. In our case, it's the staple-screen-to-door method like in the old days. Looks more authentic, but kind of a pain to stretch the screen evenly. But it's worth it, it looks right for the house. Don't you just love the sound of an old wooden screen door slamming?

God is good - Rupert is curled up next to me, The Office comes on in about 20 minutes, and there is a piece of Key Lime pie with my name on it in the fridge. We are blessed.

Widgets

Today I was in an all-day meeting at work. And it got a little ugly.

I work for a global company. That is, a company which has plants and facilities in many countries across the world. In order to be more efficient and avoid duplication, my company wants departments who do the same thing, but in different countries, to use the same software. Makes sense, right? If I'm building widgets in the USA, and someone else in my company is building widgets in Japan, why not use the same widget-building software?

Well, this is easier said than done. Though we are both building widgets, my buddy in Japan has a slightly different process for building his widgets, so he claims his software needs are slightly different from mine. The challenge is, can the software be made to accommodate the slight differences in the widget-building process, or must we design and build two sets of widget-building software? My job is to help find ways to allow the use of one software tool which accommodates the needs of "widget-builders" in all countries.

So anyhow, in today's meeting, things got a bit heated when one group of widget-builders became convinced that their method of widget-building was fundamentally different from another group's, and thus required different software. They were convinced that the other country's widget-building process was crazy, and the folks from that country didn't understand why on earth we would use such a crazy method for building widgets here in the US of A.

So where am I going with all this?

It occurred to me that this gulf of understanding I witnessed today, regarding "widget-building", was very much like the talk-radio arguments you hear between liberals and conservatives. Both groups are convinced they are morally "in the right", and are doing the best thing for our country. Neither group of well-intentioned individuals can understand AT ALL how on earth the other side can possibly hold the positions they do.

I believe these positional differences (on abortion, the war in Iraq, taxes, etc) come from a fundamental difference in worldview. Wikipedia has a good definition of worldview: it is the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and interacts in it. In order to have a rational discussion of issues, it is necessary to first understand everyone's basic assumptions (worldview), and to work from there.

One of my goals as I blog is to lay out for you my worldview, and how I came to have it. Then, I can hopefully show that my opinions/thoughts/positions are internally consistent with my worldview. All this will hopefully lead to meaningful dialog with folks who may not share my opinions. You may not agree with my worldview, but hopefully you will be able to see how someone with my worldview would think, feel, and act the way I do...

Anyhoo, gotta get to bed, more widget arguments tomorrow!

* Sniff *

Well, fall is officially here.

How do I know this? Because when the temperature change happens, spring or fall, I always seem to come down with a cold. Today I had the scratchy throat thing, now it is getting sore, and I'm starting to sniffle. Cathy has already bought me vitamin C, Zicam, and throat lozenges. Where would I be without her?

Should be interesting trying to sing tenor at our Last Road gig Sunday night. Oh well.

Other cool news: a family friend has made available tickets to Saturday's Virginia Tech - Clemson game, so I think I'll be watching the Hokies clean up in Death Valley! I think this will be the first college football game I have attended since my senior year at Virginia Tech in '88. But it will be great just to be there and "see the spectacle". Go Hokies!

Oh well, gotta get some sleep to combat this cold.

Wow, my first blog post!

There are (at least) three reasons it doesn't make much sense for me to start blogging.

First, there are a number of other important things in life I should be doing, if in fact I have "spare time".

Second, I'm pretty sure there are very few folks who will actually read my posts.

Third, I don't want to be responsible for adding just another egocentric blog to the blogosphere.

Having said all that, the idea kind of intrigues me. My older son Brandon has started blogging, and I must say I have enjoyed reading his posts. One of our pastors at Crossroads, Rich Butler, maintains a great blog that really challenges me spiritually. My wife Cathy, who is an awesome writer, has even kicked the idea around.

Oh well, enough said. Here it is, I'm starting. Those of you who know me know one thing: my mind works in a totally random fashion, so at least this blog won't be boring. Stay tuned...