The big Day!

My family is just as weird and funny as anybody's, and I would like to share some of those priceless experiences with you. "I hope I don't embarass anyone!" I remember when... my brother was about to be born. I was about 7 years old then and was very excited! I had even told my elementary school class and they were excited too! That day I was called out of class to go to the hospital where my mother had my little brother Travis. The coolest thing about it was that I was in the delivery room and was present during the birth. I got to see my brother's head peek out and I even (though I was deathly afraid of cutting something valuable) got to cut his umbilical chord! Well, I was so enthused that I went back to school and told the whole class about being there for the birth of my brother for show and tell. And I was sure not to leave out any details! I mean I told them EVERYTHING. (I had to compensate since I couldn't show, only tell) Well, I think the class enjoyed my talk and description of my brother's birth! I just know that I am always thankful that I was a part of that wonderful event. And, through my storytelling exploits, so was my whole second grade class!

Memoirs of a Mission Trip

Our first day of traveling went okay praise God! Of Course there were ‘hiccups’, but we all made it safely to Dominica and that is what matters most! Our luggage on the other hand is a different story…
I have been on trips out of the country before (France, Uruguay) that involve several connecting flights, and in situations like these one has to expect not everything will go as planned, but this one was definitely one of the more hectic times I have traveled!
Our trip involved 4 separate flights. From Houston to Miami, to San Juan, to Antigua, to Dominica. Our lay-over time was at most about 1 to 1 & ½ hrs between flights. This might seem like plenty of time, but for the first flight after we got to Miami, we couldn’t find a monitor screen with our connecting flight information on it. We had to hunt down a flight attendant to find out where our next flight left which gate! After we had the attendant confirm our next departure time and gate# we realized that the gate was actually 20 minutes away! (That’s 20 minutes running by the way) Yeah, Miami is a Huge airport! We made it in time though. After arriving at the new gate and using the bathroom it was only another 20 minutes before we were boarding again. But don’t let me fool you into thinking that that small ‘close call’ was even close to some of the other ‘hiccups’ we had during our travel over here…

Tricking Myself

I think its amazing how sometimes we can trick ourselves into thinking things don’t matter to us or don’t worry us when they really do. On occasion, I have actually been able to fool myself into thinking that I am not worried about a particular situation, and then later come to find that my worry was nonstop!

Recently I celebrated another year that God has given me on this earth. I was very blessed to have many people wish me a happy birthday and give me cards and gifts. Last year things were a little different because I had just recently moved to Texas and therefore didn’t know many people and I didn’t tell many people that it was my birthday. I convinced myself that it wasn’t a huge deal, but I realize now that it was a big deal for me, and I think it is for most people. Every person on this earth needs love, and needs love expressed to them, especially during important times. When I say expression of love it doesn’t necessarily have to be an expensive gift. It can be a really good hug, or an encouraging word on a small card, or even an encouraging word from someone’s lips, or even a picture; the kind that expresses what we find hard to put into words. We should all take the time to tell those we love that we love them, and not only that, but to also tell them why. For loving is not a passive activity, it is an active one. And God leads the way in showing His love for us and provides the example that we should show our love for others by acting, not just feeling. For true love is shown by our actions.

“Let us not love in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth” 1 John 3:18

I thank all of those who have shown me their love on my birthday. I thank you and hope to show my love for you in return.

Have you ever?...Cont'd again and again

So...

There I was with no car because I wrecked it, and now with no bike because the tire went flat! All I could do was just walk my bike all the way back to my apartment, and that was quite a long way! As I walked in the black night with my bike beside me, I had time to fume over how bad my luck had been recently, especially concerning transportation. I can't believe this! I kept saying to myself. And as more time went by instead of looking at all the inconvenient things that happened to me, I began to look at the amazing things right in front of my face. Just the fact that I had already secured rides to every place i needed to be that week was such a blessing! I had a ride to work, I had a ride from work, I had a ride to bible study and from bible study. I had a ride to church and from church. I was even offered a car to drive around in until I could get another one! I was so blessed to be surrounded by people who would inconvenience themselves to help me! Well, I began to realize that maybe my situation wasn't so bad. That I was thankful for those times where we are forced to slow down and reflect and realize how truly blessed we are!

Isn't it funny when...

Isn't it funny when gross stuff happens unexpectedly to your family members and not to you? Well, I remember back in April I went to a botannical gardens at a place called Moody Gardens in Galveston TX. The botannical gardents held many trees, reptiles, and birds from the different rainforrest habitats around the world, and some of the animals were free to range and walk whereever they wanted to!

It just so happened that as my brother and I were looking at ducks and monkeys over a small pond some white gooey stuff landed on my brother's arm! It turned out to be bird doo from the colorful bird standing on the branch right above us. My brother made a gutteral sound conveying how disgusted he was and then turned to head for a bathroom. Frantically trying to pull my camera out of its case, I said "Travis," hoping he would turn around and I could get a good pic of it! But he knew what I was up to instantly and immediately said "NO" and started running! So I only got a picture of him running to the bathroom.

After we finished the tour I asked if he enjoyed the botannical gardens. He said "It's okay," When clearly it was better than okay, and it was also clear that he enjoyed himself! I said he didn't like it just because he got doo-dooed on! And to tell you the truth, if an event like that had happened to me I would have been traumatized as well!

But wait a minute, an event like that did happen to me! It was at a family vacation...

Every Day embarrassments

I have been involved in martial arts ever since I began college, which has been for about 8 years now. I was thrilled to be able to start a Cuong Nhu dojo (the style I train in) when I moved to Houston Texas because of an engineering job at the Johnson Space Center. As a head instructor I try to be dignified and respectful, and hardworking, and positive, so that I can set a good example for my students but also because that is the kind of person I aspire to be. But tonight, it just was not meant to be! I walked into the work-out building, passing some of my students and saying hello. Then proceeded to the locker room to change into my uniform. That is when I realized that I had packed two tops, and nooooo pants! Oh No! I imagined myself leading punching drills with a uniform top and only underwear on. That was a crazy image! How can I teach with a uniform top and no pants! Well, I couldn't. So, I had to put back on my civilian pants and let them know that I needed to run back to my apartment and why. They had a good laugh! Thankfully the other sensei (teacher) was there to warm up the class while I left to go get the rest of my uniform. I hope that they won't start teasing about this incident. I am already embarassed enough at what happened!

Have you ever? Continued

So... there I was with no car, and trying to find a way to get to work and church, not to mention my girlfriend's house! So, it was friday night and I decided to surprise my girlfriend by riding my bike over to her house! This was a great idea...except for the fact that it was getting dark outside and my bike had no reflectors, and that the road I lived on had a lot of construction and therefore no shoulder to ride on. And of course I should mention that it had just rained so there was mudd all over the place caking on and slowing down my road tires! The real biggie though, was the nice surprise I got when I finally arrived at my girlfriend's house and realized she wasn't even there! But wait, there is more!

TBC

Have you ever? Cont'd again...

So...

There I was feeling a little crusty since I had just rode/walked through 5 miles to visit my girlfriend who wasn't at her house, on a bike with no reflectors, on a street with no shoulders, in mudd that was caking up the tires and brakes, in the dark with cars whizzing by me! I was thinking to myself sarcastically,"This is just great!"

After standing in front of her house for a few minutes, I decided I had had enough of feeling crusty, and continued to ride my bike around the area. It was actually relaxing, when I wasn't scared one of the cars would run over me! I rode fairly far to the end of the main street, and was trying to take a circular route back to my apartment instead of just turning around and going back the way I came. As I was turning right, I cut a corner a little too sharply and my back wheel went off the paved sidewalk and then bumped up hard as it hit the paved sidewalk again. For some reason the last bump didn't feel too right, and a few seconds later I realized why. My back tire had gone flat!

So now not only didn't I have a car because I was in a wreck last week. I didn't even have a bike that I could ride!...

A million miles an hour!

Usually I am the type of person going a million miles an hour, that loves getting involved in doing different things and staying busy. Currently I am involved in teaching martial arts, teaching 6th grade bible study, attending a young adult bible study, swing dancing, and recently trying to train for the MS 150 bike ride for charity. Today I realized though that one of the most dangerous things we can do is to get too busy.

Becoming too busy can confuse our priorities and make us forget what is truly important in our lives. Love, relationships, and people. Being involved with programs and activities is good, but not to the point where we can't see anymore why we are in these programs and activities.

Today I had to remind myself of my priorities. To take some time and to be still, and to remember the love, relationships, and people in my life. I had to remember the love God has shown me in His action of becoming a man known as Jesus Christ and bearing my sins. I had to remember the right relationship God wants us to have with Him, so that we can have a fullfilling life in this life and the afterlife. I had to remember God wants us to love all people so much so that we would want them to experience the salvation found in Jesus Christ, and to help them if they are in need.

Have you ever?

Have you ever been pulled into something you kind of wanted to do but didn't really, but the peer pressure was so much that you just did it anyway? Well, that's how I got into blogging! Yep, this is my very first one. As a new blogger I would like to tell you a story of my life the past couple of weeks...

I recently was in a car accident because I was distracted trying to answer my phone while it was really wet outside. The truck that I rear-ended had a scratch on the bumber. My pristine state-of-the-art 1994 190,000 mile ford Escort though was a little worse for wear. So, since I only had liability insurance on the car, and it would have cost about 3 times its worth to fix it! So, there I was needing to get to work and to church and everyother place imaginable, with nothing...

tbc