Going to Mexico with one other person is going to be a great experience. I’ve taken teams of 5, 10, & 15 there before and, although it’s always a blessing to have a large team, it also has it’s limitations. 2 guys can move quicker than 15. We can sustain ourselves much more easily than some of those other groups. Also, and I don’t want to speak too much on this, a small group keeps the whining to a minimum.

It will be an awesome week connecting with God, serving His global Church, and experiencing the Mexican culture. I look forward to Tacos al Pastor, freezing showers, and lots of walking.

Thanks to all who have helped support this trip! Our poker night fundraiser brought in over 1200$ for the trip. Amazing!

I hate to lose. I’ve never been very good at it. Going into tonights softball game I hadn’t been present at an Awestruck defeat. My ability to lose with grace had never been tested on the softball field. It was tonight.

My stat line: 1-2, walk, rbi. – from an offensive standpoint I played pretty well.
Fielding: 3 balls hit my way – 1 got past me (not exactly an error, but I should have made a play). I did make one error on a throw in from the outfield that I expected to hit the cutoff man. By the time I realized it was coming my way I misjudged it, allowing runners to advance from 1st and 2nd to 2nd and third. Frustrating situation late in the game as the other team was making a run.

We lost. I made some fielding mistakes that contributed to the loss (as did pretty much every position player). In our loss there was cause for great frustration…

But I see victory. Here’s my victory from tonight…

1. I’m a father of a 4 year old who was watching from the stands. He saw his daddy make some mistakes, lose a close game that he should have won, and handle himself like a man. After the game I asked him if who won; He said, “Awestruck!”. I never want my son to see my posture/language reveal a loser. Nor do I want him to see me whine and complain, throwing my glove or kicking dirt (like I have been known to do in the past). Our team was frustrated, but unlike other church league games I have participated in, we maintained our example to those watching.

2. I’m not a professional softball player. Tomorrow, I get to go to WORK as a minister of the gospel. In the end of time no one will care about tonights game. Heck, at the end of the season everyone makes the tournament anyway. We almost had to forfeit (which could cause us to miss tourny) – our loss was a win!

3. It was fun tonight. We hung out with church family. We played a game together. Several of us went out to eat afterwards. I almost couldn’t make it this evening, and I am so glad I did! I love hanging out with my Awestruck family…even if it means embarrassing ourselves a bit.

4. Our gathering tomorrow was prayed for. Charity Baptist church and Awestruck circled around to lift up our services tomorrow in prayer – requesting that our God would bring visitors and bless our time together. I believe in prayer. I believe in the fellowship of the (C)hurch & I rejoice in having the prayers of our brothers at Charity celebrating the work of the same God.

So, yea, I’m sitting at home tonight knowing I made a couple of bonehead plays. I know I could have gotten on base the time I was thrown out had I taken that pitch. I could have run the bases better…but I am sitting here feeling like a winner.

Apparently it’s the best thing you can do. “Only floss the ones you want to keep” my dentist tells me. Another hygenist friend of mine tells me that if you were stranded on a desert island it would be preferable to have dental floss rather than a toothbrush and toothpaste. I’d agree, but I’m thinking I could use the floss for fishing line…otherwise I find it hard to believe.

Anyway, for the last 6 months I’ve been flossing daily. My dentist has always told me to floss and I always mean to, but it’s just so…ugh! I don’t know what has changed since my last cleaning, but apparently the switch has been flipped. We recently ran out of floss and I couldn’t go to sleep until I found some. I was pretty close to digging through the trash to find one of Kristan’s old lines of floss.

Yuck.

“Your King is your most important piece. You want to protect yours and take mine from me”

Nolan then looks down at his king, puts his fist around it, rams it through his front row and shouts…

“GET OUT OF THE WAY PAWNS!!!!”

After a solid 30 minutes of teaching the game and making sure he was getting the basic idea of how his pieces move this was how it all ended. The moment Nolan understood the challenge in front of him he charged after it. Chess strategy aside, I think there is something meaningful in his instinctual response to grab “the most valuable piece on the board” (or what he mistakingly understood as, “best”) and use it as a weapon to win the battle.

He wasn’t going to hold back. He decided to be proactive and launch an attack.

Too often we grow into an adulthood of hesitation and self-preservation. We disguise our uncertainty in intentionality, believing that wisdom is found in calculated steps. Perhaps it most often is, but adventure rarely is. Sometimes you just have to take a chance, charge ahead through your created lines of protection, screaming at the top of your lungs…

“Get out of my way!!”

My serve is relatively strong, I am tall and quick, and I’m not particularly weak with either my forehand or backhand. I started playing pretty young (about 10) and took regular lessons when I really started getting into it. I had a foundation to really build upon to be a very good tennis player.

Despite my decade and a half of complete dominance, I am not now nor will I ever be “great” at tennis. I’m average. Undefeated & average.

When I play tennis it is exclusively against people in my “class”. I don’t play against people who would beat me. Every time I walk onto the court I believe I am going to win b/c I pick opponents who are just beginning to pick up tennis or who haven’t played in a long time.

Which leads me to the real reason I never lose…

I don’t make mistakes. The reality of my class of tennis is that we aren’t good enough to “win” points. We just rally back and forth until one of us “loses” the point. I learned a long time ago that as long as I kept putting it over the net between the lines, eventually my opponent would make an error.

It totally works. While my opponent is slamming the ball just a bit too long or into the top of the net I am content to just push it back to their side. Sure, sometimes they make a great shot, but over the course of a match or even a set they give me as many points as they take.

When the match is over we walk away. I usually offer a couple of tips to my opponent. The next time I play them I can see them getting better.

I never get better.

That’s the thing about playing not to lose. No risk, but no reward. Undefeated yet perpetually average.

Over the years I came to recognize the significance of the wedding ceremony, and in turn my approach to it was changed.  Now, I tell people all the time I enjoy weddings more than preaching on Sunday morning.

That brings me to the #7 moment on my countdown. It’s more of a collection of moments really – a collection of moments called, “The Summer of Love”

This past summer I was asked to officiate 3 weddings.  It was great!  I am close to all three couples, and it was such a blessing to stand with them as they made their covenant with one another.

Bunch wedding – Vickie, the bride, has been a part of our lives for years now.  I am pretty sure she asked me to do her wedding before she ever met Jason.  I had the privilege of not only being a part of the ceremony, but really having a front row seat to this couple coming together.

Donahoe wedding – It was an honor to not only perform the ceremony, but to share the duties with a pastor that has done so much in Greensboro (and in Jen’s life specifically).  I got teared up in this one.

Astuto wedding – Ok.  Here is why the Astuto’s are awesome.  They let me, the pastor, take the picture of their first kiss!  Seriously, I have the best seat in the house for it anyway…and man, it’s much cooler having the background of the first kiss be the friends/family watching on (rather than just me…so awkward).  I think you can find the pic on Mike/Karen’s facebook pages if you know them.

A big thank you goes out to the Jason/Vickie, Joe/Jenn, & Mike/Karen for inviting me to share that moment.

* Several people asked me after the Astuto wedding have asked me for the exchange of rings speech.  Here it is…

“I, Mike, take you Karen to be my wife, my helpmate as I pursue God in this life.  Today I make this covenant with you:  Every day I will seek to lay down my life for you.  I will always place your needs above my needs.  It will be my ministry in life, from this day forward, to guide you to a closer relationship with God.  I promise you this: when the world sees the way I love you – they will see the way Jesus loves them.”

“I, Karen, take you Mike to be my husband, my guide as we pursue God together in this life.  Today I make this covenant with you:  I will respond to your love with love.  I will be your faithful wife, trusting you as a man after God’s own heart.  Today I promise you this:  I will follow you as you seek God’s will for our family.”

Our first summer there we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together.  We were working with an organization and they felt it would be prudent for us to focus on the work rather than each other too much (we were dating at the time…not engaged yet).

After two months of seeing my new girlfriend, but not being able to date her I was really anxious for the final day of our trip.  After two months of work it was time to go home.

Before we went to the airport with the families we stayed with (Kris was living on one side of Mexico City; I was on the other) we met at the Zocalo for breakfast.  It was there we found this hotel overlooking the square.  The food wasn’t great, but the atmosphere was perfect.

It was my best day in Mexico.

Side note – Nolan just climbed up on the stool behind me and put his arms around my neck and asked me if he could play on computer.  I told him I was writing a story about him and one day he could read it.  WIth an emphatic, “Yeah!”, he climbed down and walked back to his trains.  Things like that would dominate my list if I was 100% honest.

Anyway, so I can’t write about my wedding, but I can write about the honeymoon!  OK, relax, this is still a family friendly blog. 

Kristan and I went on a cruise for our honeymoon.  Some people don’t like cruises.  I don’t get it though, what’s not to like?  It’s a hotel that takes you to awesome places.  We had a balcony, which we totally couldn’t afford.  However, that first morning on the boat was breathtaking.  Waking up to the sun coming in and hitting illuminating Kristan was absolutely perfect (at least that’s how it happened in my memory).

1a.  If someone is more than 5 minutes late (and they don’t call) you have every right to leave.  Yea, you will look like the jerk…but after all, your meeting was at 5…not 5:05 (and you were there)

2.  Tip your waiters/waitresses well

2a.  Tip well regardless of performance (For Christians) – God shows you grace when you fail…do likewise to your waiters. 

2b.  Tip well on Sundays (For Christians) – Christians are the “worst” customer in the eyes of servers.  Let’s fix this.

2c.  Gift cards – If the “proper” tip leaves less on your gift card than it would cost to pay for your next trip just go ahead and give it to the waiter.  After all, you will probably just leave the 7$ gift card in your wallet for 6 months and forget it’s in there next time you go to Outback anyway. 

2d.  Gift cards (part 2) – If your card doesn’t take care of all your meal – you still tip whatever the total was BEFORE the card.  This really should go without saying.

3.  Parking – If you are concerned about your car being hit in a parking lot you should park at the back of the lot…not near the front, taking up two spots for a buffer.

3a.  In the case of someone taking up two spots (on purpose) it is NOT ok to intentionally hit their car with a shopping cart…but it is ok to laugh if one accidently gets blown by the wind into their car – after all, irony is funny.

4.  It’s ok for someone to have 14 items in the 12 item or less line.  Don’t be a jerk.

5.  It’s not ok for someone to have 20 items in the 12 item or less line.  I can’t think of anything more arrogant than that. 

6.  If the checkout guy at the grocery store doesn’t have a bagger you should bag your own groceries. 

7.  If you are driving on a two lane road and as you approach a red light you notice the guy behind you has his turn signal on – you should move out of the right lane (if possible) so he can turn w/o waiting on you.

8.  If you don’t notice his turn signal until you have already stopped at the light, but you can move up so he can turn behind you – DO IT!  That makes you the most thoughtful person on the road.

9.  Every now and then when you go to Starbucks (or any drive-thru) you should pay for the person’s coffee/order behind you.  Even if you just saved the guy 2$ you just made his day.  He will be nicer, the drive-thru person will be nicer, and you will feel really good about it.

10.  Check your drive thru order after you pull up a little bit so the next car can pull to the window.  Your order is almost always right.  And if it is wrong and they have to fix something it’s so much more considerate to do it inside so te drive thru line doesn’t have to wait on you.  Is it your fault?  No…but again, you have an opportunity to be considerate.  Take it.

I have a feeling this is just part one of a series as these things strike me.  If you have some to add feel free.

Thankfully that didn’t send her running.

When the time was right I found a ring and hashed a plan.

Every year a group of us take a beach trip.  That was the where.  I just had to figure out the “how”.  I don’t recall having a plan until we got there…which makes sense b/c what I came up with was contingent on the kindness of friends.

Several of us stayed up through the second night of the trip.  I remember walking up and down the beach at 2 in the morning with my good friend Josh…talking through what was about to go down.

At around 5 the guys all came down to the beach in front of the condo and started digging.  We (by “we” I mean “they” – somehow I didn’t carve a letter) dug out the words, “Kris – Marry Me” in huge letters in the sand.  They finished just in time for me to hustle up to the 6th floor condo Kristan was staying in where I woke her up to come see the sunrise from the balcony.

She stood against the railing looking over the sand and water.  I followed her out and got down on one knee.  It took her a solid minute (a long time) to notice the writing in the sand.

She turns to see me on my knee with the ring.  Thankfully, unlike agreeing to a first date, I didn’t have to talk her into this one.

The rest of the girls in the condo woke up and got some pics of the event.

For the life of me I can’t remember another moment of that trip – complete blur.