BLOGGOD

article on FOXNEWS about Christian Blogging and a Conference for Godbloggers. This was certainly the idea as I started blogging, to share my faith as I go through life. I feel like that has been tremendously lacking in my posts and just in general. I really want to change that and begin to live out my faith more at home, at work and here on my blog.

Hire me to cheer for your team

my services are now for sale. Apparently God has ordained all my teams to kick butt. The Longhorns. The Astros. The Spurs. Heck, even the Cowboys are getting their act together.

Prices will be determined based on my loathing of your team.

Dreams of a Chainsaw

Alicia and I have finally been able to take in a hurricane evacuee like we had first set out to do. If you remember back, some entries ago, I mentioned that we were wanting to help out a single mom who was displaced to the hurricane and now we are doing just that!

When Rita blew in and knocked out Beumont and Port Arthur, Myrtle (aka Mimi) had no place to stay and needed a home to refuge in. Fortunately, Mimi's granddaughters did not live too far away, one in San Antonio and the other in good old Sugar Land. So after a brief stint in SA, Alicia's gramma (and her little dog too!) came to stay with us until they can get Beaumont up and running again.

We are absolutely blessed to get to spend this time with Mimi and she is just a wonderful lady and a get-along to go-along kind of a person - which is some what uncommon in old people. call me a hater but it's true. She has been pretty worried about damage done to her house and her town, so on Saturday I drove with her to Beaumont and surveyed the damage. Fortunately, her house was absolutely fine. Zero damage. Every freaking tree in the county did not fair so well. Driving through there was pretty amazing. Awesome in the terrible sense of the word. Gigantic trees pushed over like it was nothing. Some were snapped in half, but most were uprooted. Trees as long as 3 house lengths, laying on the ground with their tremendous root system sticking out of the ground. This story repeated everywhere. Tree after tree after tree consumed people yards and crowded into the streets. (I guess what they say about George Bush hating the environment IS true) Amazingly, we saw very little structural damage compared to the Ent-terrifying tree damage.
The power was still off in almost all the area (even for the white people!) and our biggest task was cleaning out Mimi's refrigerator and freezers. You know how old people keep their house stocked with food...
Imagine a freezer packed to overflowing with meat and chicken (all raw) sitting in a hot box for almost 2 weeks. Maggots crawling everywhere. Blood dripping on everything. The sweetish smell of rotting meat stuck in your nostrils and on your hands. I did my task without looking at everything too closely but the smell almost overcame me twice. I can't write gross enough words to describe that smell. A mortician I'm not.
The local radio was taking in calls all day and dispensing information. The biggest complaint/most common was 1. that it was impossible to nail down a correct number for the red cross and 2. FEMA was evaluating income levels before dispensing food stamps unlike with Katrina - I guess the government really doesn't help those who help themselves.

Highway 90

have you ever had TOO much to blog about? that's me right now. the whole hurricane and gridlock experience. getting back to work in the midst of a vacant town. work finally taking an upswing. taking on a cool part time job at crosspoint. i am pregnant with ideas and thoughts - rants and philosophical questions. but i am completely incapable of writing them all down. too much time to unjumble my thoughts and write them down coherently and it would be too long of a narrative if i did unjumble anyway.

at the same time, i feel like that is the next entry i should include. why throw something urbane up here when i have interesting and funny stuff?

because i have a freakin' life and i don't have a flippin' clue how to share all of the vomit up in my head. so with that being said, i'm going to skip that whole chapter. but i will give you a mental picture that i think surmises the entire episode: driving through east Texas at 3:30 in the morning, hopped up on Dr. Pepper and Starbucks Double Shot. Surrounded by 2.5 million of my closest Houston friends. Drinking my only food: Slim fast shakes, which, if you don't know, act like a diuretic. With absolutely no restrooms in sight.

does it get any better than this?

shooting skeet all day, taking a break to try my hand at bow hunting, talked about God and how to raise a family, drank Crown under a huge oak tree and stared up at a full Texas moon.
Malin shot a shotgun for the very first and second time, she made new friends and gave me lots of hugs.
life is good

You've come along way baby

I think it takes a lot of guts for NARAL to use the term "baby" in any of their slogans. But I guess some people have no shame.
Basically, 4-5 pharmacists have refused to sell the "morning after pill" to some women based on moral convictions and NARAL is having a cow over it.
get it...NARAL... giving birth... you know, because they love abortion. Oh, is that tacky? I guess only conservatives are supposed to have class.
What does truly get me is that the byline to "You've come a long way, baby" is "but how much further do we have to go?"
What do these people want?
abortion for anyone, at anytime, for free. regardless of age, or length of pregnancy. Generations from now, people will view this practice as abhorrent, in the same vein as slavery and genocide. As science takes a closer look at the beginnings of life, abortion rights activists will appear more and more barbaric.

rumination

something strange has been taking place in the Maroney household as of late: I have actually been doing some thinking.
Living here in Houston, puts us in the Katrina aftermath. Not as victims but as either participants or rubbernecks. A train wreck of humanity just exploded on Houston's doorstep and people have to decide how they are going to react to it. Similarly, in San Antonio and Baton Rouge and multiple other sites to a degree.
Let it be said that New Orleans and even Louisiana has allowed itself to be a cesspool of sin, poverty and corruption for generations. That it has now become a virtual cesspool is a sad irony. New Orleans should by all reason and intellect be the trade and oil capitol of the United States but it's hand-out mentality (one hand for a bribe the other for welfare) has closed the door to this possibility. Now these victims of New Orleans and survivors of Katrina are here.
I am ashamed to say that I have watched as Houston has thrown open the flood gates of compassion to these poor families. Donating food, money and clothes. Volunteering to work the night shift at the dome or Reliant Center because they work 8 to 5 at their real job. And I have watched.
My parents are part of Concordia's effort in San Antonio. In fact, they both went down to help out in person. My dad unloading donations and handing them out and my mom as a ad-hoc grief counselor.
Alicia and I have talked about ways that we can help and we want to help a single mom get back on her feet with housing and finding a job. will update as this gets underway.

the other issue that is pressing home for me is a longing to be serving full time in ministry. Granted, there is a lot about my job that I simply hate. Granted, it is a daily struggle, one that I am not sure I will win. But beneath all of that and stronger is the desire to put all of this effort, energy and 70 hours a week into something that matters, something that makes a difference in people's lives. not just trying to make a buck, get the sale and move on. I do not and will not approach my job in a way that sees only what's in it for me. But beyond doing my job with morals and looking after their financial needs, I want to look after people's spiritual needs.
These are my thoughts as of late. the more I think and the more I pray, the stronger they get. In many ways, I feel like I have found one piece of a puzzle and am groping around for more pieces, not sure if there are any more pieces.

It's almost not fair

Fresh from their 2005 championship against the Pist-ons, the small market nobodies went and picked up Michael Finley. Doing so, they beat out Shaq who was personally handling the recruiting for the Heat, who were able to offer quite a bit more cha-ching. In the end though, Finley was more interested in the bling. Apparently, the poor deluded superstar thinks that the Spurs are set to grab their 4th ring. Obviously, all of the press and attention has gone to his head. I mean what chances do the Spurs really have...
All they did was steal another great foreign player in Fabricio Oberto (post), add Nick Van Exel to back up Tony Parker (point) and now Finley as a dynamite backup for Manu Ginobli.
Hold on... am I crazy or did the Reigning NBA Champion Spurs just firm up their 3 week spots with great players?
Oh yeah... did I mention that Finley turned down $5 million with the Heat to play for $2.5 with the Spurs... Sandbox Recruiting Lesson #1 for Shaq: don't be a jerk your entire career and expect people to play with you.

What is greatest?

Have to give a shout out to my Boys in Big D! Especially now that we have some D! I was listening to the pre-game and the game on the radio Saturday night and there is nothing that makes me more agitated than having to sit through Houston's whiney-cry baby, excuse making, slandering homer announcers on 610.
I know the announcers in San Antonio were way biased for the Spurs but these guys absolutely take it to a new level. After a full hour of trashing the "Ka-boys" they are quick to drop in a "and if we lose, this game doesn't matter...".
It was sweeter than Boones Farm Strawberry Hill, listening to their voices drop and have to report each of Carrs' interceptions, and apologize for saying that Roy Williams is decapitating recievers. I thought my joy was complete as the game wrapped up Saturday night but I was treated this morning to a special post game morsel. The get-along gang on AM 610 were whining about how Dallas fans were being mean and rubbing their noses in the loss, and Texans fans were jumping ship.

Ahhhhhh. the sweet smell of defeat. Or as Conan would describe what is greatest "CRUSH YOUR ENEMY. SEE HIM DRIVEN BEFORE YOU. HEAR THE LAMENTATIONS OF THE WOMEN."

I know it's just pre-season, but listening to the lamentations of those women on Sports Talk is just too good to not comment on.

write it out

I remember as a kid my family went up to see Uncle Richard in Dallas. Growing up, my family rarely went on vacations where tents weren't involved and Coleman stoves didn't heat our meals. But our Dallas visit was different. Uncle Richard had a huge, fancy house with a gigantaur pool. This was back when pools were the absolute end-all, be-all of childhood existence.
My sister and I played and swam and Uncle Richard morphed into "the monster of the deep" a dangerous being that would well up from the bottom of the pool, grab kids and fling them across the pool. Everything was very relaxed and easy going.
While on our visit, he even sprang for tickets for our whole family to go to Sesame Street Place (knock off on Disney Land only newer, smaller and Big Bird)
He was loved by the entire family and although he was my grandfather's brother he was as much a fixture as any immeadiate family.
Richard never married. he has always had the same friend for as long as I have known him. While there were definite "issues" between my grandfather and the questions revolving around my uncle's lifestyle, he has always been accepted and loved. that went equally for his friend as well, who would accompany him to family get togethers.
The intent of this post is not to bash or to make generalizations but it is to question and grieve.
Does the homosexual lifestyle generally lead to the type of isolation that my departed Uncle felt? The two instances that I have seen personally have been very similar. Individuals that are accepted and loved by their family but have chosen for one reason or another to separate themselves and live apart from a community of people who care for them. Is this symptomatic of the entire gay and lesbian community?
I would venture to say that a fair amount of people have no choice but instead have been cast out of family environments (or because of past encounters, envision family as hostility). Two other factors in this equation would be committed relationships and parenthood.
Before I get bashed over the head, I will admit to very little knowledge of the GLBT community. Looking to have a conversation here and wonder out loud a bit.

new kid in town

check out Matt and Lisa's new site. Pretty Ava Elise...glad she takes after her mom

life cycle

experienced death and life yesterday.
I was able to witness a beautiful new baby being baptized by her daddy, mom fighting back tears watching on. both of them committing their lives and the life of their new child to God. As Alicia and I looked on we committed ourselves to this child and to helping her grow in faith.
Watching a miracle take place and so much love focused on such a small, little person.
Driving home, I was talking with my dad and I found out that my uncle (really my dad's uncle) passed away. It turns out that he had a stroke about a week ago and went into the hospital and that he never regained consciousness and eventually died.
No one visited him in the hospital and he was cremated and interned within a days time. No funeral.
My family recieved a letter that he passed away and that contributions could be made to his favorite charity. This was all done according to his own requests. He requested that if something should happen to him that no family would be contacted until after everything was taken care of.
Everything is going through my head at once and I want to share about it and I think it is important to share this but while I have words, I don't know how to put it all down right now and that may take some time. Not due to being emotionally overwhelmed or because I am in some deep greiving because neither are true. I just don't know how to put it all to paper.

my wife made me write this

I think it's funny to do a search on your own name and see who the other people are that share your name. What they look like and what they do. it's a way to size yourself up and see how you're doing in life.
So when I found the blondheaded cheeseball in the picture on the right, I had to paste him up there.
411: he's a car salesman in Canada and his brother works at the same dealership. His brother's name is Lance.
When I explained this inside joke to Alicia she just looked at me quizzically. I used to think that when she looked at me like that, she was trying to figure out what I had just said. Now I realize she is trying to figure out why in the world she ever married me.

passmore capacitor

when you join a church, you always hear "the best way to get to know people is to get involved, start helping out". heck, I've even said it. while it did ring true, it always had more of a "we need volunteers and new people are willing to take the crappy jobs" kinda feel to it.
but last night, while working on the set of the new series "Parenting in the Chocolate Factory" it struck me that this theorum is exactly true. It was only when we started serving and helping that we started to make friends and meet people on a personal level.
whether it is putting up chairs or hanging backdrop, VBS or communion set up. It has been fun getting back into the swing of church stuff. Spending time with people over a Taco Bell burrito or kicking peoples' butts in every game known to mankind. there is something to this fellowship thing. Having relationships with people that are centered in serving Christ and others.
I used to always feel a little guilty about asking (begging) people to serve in ministry, (probably because they would say stuff like "I helped, now will you leave me alone?" or "Fine, I'll spend one more night away from my family") but I realize what an opportunity it is to be given a chance serve. For most, it may be the only chance that they get to relax, laugh and enjoy other people's company.

destiny's child

interesting how life makes it's twists and turns, exactly when you think you have everything figured out, another twist shows up in the road you are on. Strangely, the norm for our path has become change and movement, while permanence and roots have become very forgeign.
Although I am a very "flow with the Schmo" person, I also lived in 1 house from birth to age 21. I knew my neighborhood and neighbors. I knew their neighbors and their relatives' neighbors. Watching the same local sportscaster for twenty years and even sharing the same barbershop with him (my claim to fame). This anchor growing up contrasted with our Odyssey of the last 4 years has produced if not unease, definitely some longing for durable relationships.
And when we first moved down to Sugar Land we had absoluely no plan or desire to sink our roots down. Zero. Zilch. Nada. It was a year and half and out. Then we start to serve and help at our church. We make friends there. Work starts to go...well, better. So we start having conversations like: I guess it wouldn't suck too bad if we had to stay a little bit longer. Then the talk turned more to "i hope we don't have to move within...such and such time/months/years".
So I guess that there aren't any startling revelations here, except that we are planning on settling in. which, for this family of troubadours, is a little bit startling.

a tale of 2 daddies

we're smack in the middle of VBS in Katy, Texas. Alicia is in charge of games (not just the usual psychological games she plays) and I run herd on the volunteers. I love VBS. I love the panic and confusion of Monday and the well-oiled machine hum of Friday. I love bringing order out of chaos and giving direction to the lost. Although I am not naturally a high energy person, I do enjoy reaching the fever pitch of excitable kids screaming at the top of their lungs.
Amazingly, we had too many volunteers yesterday. Although we had 377 kids (congregation member size 400) we continued to receive volunteers until stations started returning the people I sent to them.
Towards the end of the opening melee, two dads came up to me at different times and said they would be able to help. Not wanting to miss the opportunity for a) the kids to have a adult male leader and b) the dads to have fun serving and being needed, I placed them in already staffed groups, hoping that they would find a way to help out.
I watched from a distance as they awkwardly tried to fit in. That's hard when you're either 3 feet taller than everyone else or 200 pounds heavier, both wearing business clothes. I worried for a moment about whether it would work out or if they would hate the experience and never return to another church again. But then some kid threw up and I forgot about my 2 dads.
Later that day, I was walking by the craft station and I noticed one of the dads working with the kids and I stopped over to see how everything was going. his words: "thanks so much for giving me the opportunity! the kids are so great...they just jumped right in and accepted me. it's mr. c this...and mr. c that...I will have to work my schedule but I gonna be here every day this week!"
After the closing daddy number 2 came by and introduced me to his kids. he was beaming and you could tell he had been touched emotionally by his experienced "I don't see how I can make it before 6, but I'm gonna be here every day!"
So completely amazing how the Holy Spirit works. How good serving and helping others through Christian love opens up chambers of your heart and even heals areas you didn't know were hurting.

Can't Lose

This last week I've been playing a lot of different games with friends (i.e. Settlers of Cattan, Farkle, Cards) I freakin' can't lose. I was winning like I was paid to do it. like it was my job.
Since the majority of those wins were against some new friends of ours, Alicia keeps telling me that I needed to lose a couple or Matt and Lisa wouldn't be our friends anymore. So last night I split our farkle games 1 and 1. that's right... purely intentional loss. just threw the game in order to keep the tenuous friendship in tact.

Or not... In Maroney genetics, no friendship or marriage supercedes winning. Win at all cost, no matter the casualties and no matter the insignificance of the game.

As kids, my dad would teach us card games and once we had caught on, there was no mercy given and none asked for. cut throat games and rub the loser's face in it. mom would complain and tell my dad that he was being mean to us but this was to no effect. spades, hearts, gin, poker, you name it.

In today's world of everybody wins, nobody loses, this "must win" mentality is outrageous. Even in P.E., kids learn to play games that foster no competition and no score is kept. What will happen to this generation of young people when they run smack into the real world like fattened veal calves into the butcher. Graded papers in purple and green ink so that their padded grades carry no stress. Test anxiety? somebody holds their hand while they take it and points out areas that they overlook. What kind of sissyfied America are we going to be living in?
what happened to pull yourself up by your bootstraps? Today we ask "what circumstances led to you being upside down?" and then we try to figure out how we can help that person have the same luxuries that right-side up people have.
Freaking Pull Yourself Up! Overcome whatever weakness you were dealt. Overcome your situation and learn to rely on yourself. Stop looking for someone to feel sorry for you.

Lower Elements Police RECON Sighting

Apparently colder temperatures affect how the brain functions and limits all logic and reason. You gotta read this article about Icelanders and their quirky elf sightings. Where is Artemis Fowl when you need him?

naivete

With my forray into the secular world, from safe within the confines of churchdom, the biggest shock is the amount of infidelity. Getting to know co-workers in both jobs has been a little too enlightening.
I guess I was pretty naive.

huh. me being naive. who would've thunk?

some time around midnight

This is my quandry: I get off work around midnight tonight and Alicia and I are scheduled to do our turn at the prayer vigil from 1 to 2 am. Now, is it better to try and buy my copy of the newest Harry Potter before or after the prayer vigil?
Of course I'm just joking. There's no way I could grab a copy in that short of time. the lines would be way too long.
My take on Senor Harry is that the books are a pretty good reflection of our times. I don't think that they are the scourge of western civ nor are they going to draw an entire generation of young people from God. The books success does point out the lack of quality literature today, truly good books that capture kids imagination, take them to a far away land and introduce them to these mystical beings called foil characters, multiple plot lines, imagery and depth.
Imagine a kid grabbing a 500 page book and wrestling with themes like good and evil and personal responsibility. Unselfish love and inner turmoil. Fighting against personal demons to do what is right. Going into issues that are not clear cut and easy to label, but instead require soul searching and seeking out advice that has been seasoned with age.
Now imagine if those books were written by modern Christian writers. Instead of the paltry, how to books that are churned out daily (how to be a Christian in Middle School, how not to kiss boys, how to be a cool teenage witness etc) The fiction that does come out is wierd, incorrect and usually pretty lame. but most of all it is written only for Christian audiences with Christian friends to talk about at their Christian gatherings, where they can spend their Christian money to buy more Christian trinkets.
Similar to most of the Christian music out, the youth literature deals with a very whitewashed life and fails to capture the imagination or spirit of modern youth culture.
Gripe and Complain about harry pot-head but maybe we should be trying to find the next Tolkein or Lewis instead.