The B-52's and The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

I've found an awesome band that reminds me so much of my infatuation with The B-52's. Same trippy lyrics and videos. Fred Schneider should be proud...

Did I mention that I named my

first car after Kate Pierson?

Probably not. My Chevy Nova's name was "Kate". Here's The Golden Age by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. I don't endorse Heineken commercials, but that's where you've heard the song.

And here's The B-52's video Girl From Ipanema Goes to Greenland.

Just something fun I thought I'd post before bed.

All Things New, Pt. 2 (Cornerstone Sermon Podcast 03-04-12)

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

This is by no means an escape from accountability from our own actions. I'd like to make that perfectly clear. This sermon deals with hitting rock bottom, the judgement that comes with it, and God's grace.

Sure. I've done some really bad things in my life. Made some idiotic decisions. Does that make me evil? No. It means that I have to learn from my mistakes, make amends, and do better... or I repeat the same things over again.

At this point in my recovery, I still have a lot of people casting stones. Can't blame some of them. I do, however, know who my true friends are. The people who truly love me. I've seen it and felt it. You know who you are, and I am eternally grateful.

The subject matter is slightly different, but that is what I got from the message. In addiction, you are always cheating on somebody. Most of all, your Higher Power and yourself.

Here's a link to the Cornerstone sermon...

All Things New: Pt. 2 (03-04-12)

Goodnight and God Bless...

The Divine Spark

The elimination of selfishness is the key to happiness and can only be accomplished with God's help. We start out with a spark of the Divine Spirit but a large amount of selfishness. As we grow and come in contact with other people, we can take one of two paths. We can become more and more selfish and practically extinguish the Divine Spark within us, or we can become more unselfish and develop our spirituality until it becomes the most important thing in our lives.

So at what point in my life did the Divine Spark begin to diminish? It was well before my career as an alcoholic, I can promise you. The more I think about it, the more I believe that there is a good possibility that I've always been a bit of a brat. Somewhere in my young life, I developed a very unhealthy sense of entitlement.

It's a hard mentality to overcome, but rediscovering my Higher Power, working the steps, and a little growing up is helping to defeat that character flaw.

I'm grateful for today's meditation. It's given me something to reflect on.

The day went well. Work was fine. Just getting ready for a busy week. I hope everyone had a great day too. Going to leave you with a vid I made back in.... October I think. It's from the Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival. What a wonderful time that was! Thought I'd share something fun.

Goodnight!

Jack

Had a good day. Not much out of the ordinary... except for the beginning.

I'm walking up St. Charles Ave. on the way to work. I'm talking to my uncle on the phone. I look to my left and there is a guy walking down the middle of the street. There's a line of cars behind him. What I found fascinating was that not one horn was honking. Upon closer inspection, I realized that this guy had a white cane and sunglasses. Aha.

I politely excused myself from the phone conversation and ran to the edge of the sidewalk. "Sir! You may want to step about 5 feet to your right!" He comes to where I am, starts telling me about his bus ride and how rude the driver was. He then introduces himself. "I'm Jack by the way."

"I'm Jay. Nice to meet ya, Jack." He was surprisingly enthusiastic that we both had "J" names.

"So is this McDonald's?" He's on the opposite side of the road from the popular fast-food chain... and facing the old Border's Books building.

"No. I can take you there if you want. It's right across the street." It occurs to me that he must certainly know his way around if he got this close.

There's alot of traffic on St. Charles, and there are the streetcars to look out for. As we are crossing, he's telling about his life and the book he's writing about being blind in New Orleans. Fascinating stuff. Seriously. I was loving hearing about his experiences. Unfortunately, I also had to concentrate on keeping us from getting run over.

We got across successfully, got inside the fast-food restaurant, and got him in line. "Well, Jack. I have to get to work. Be careful out there. If the ground seems particularly smooth, you may be in the wrong place." To a blind person, New Orleans sidewalks are a hazard to say the least. Describing them as smooth is like describing Rush Limbaugh as tactful.

I made sure that an employee would get him safely back to the bus stop, said my farewell and departed.

I like to think that Jack is out there somewhere right now enjoying a Big Mac. I thank God that we crossed paths and will perhaps meet again.

Goodnight and have a great tomorrow!

Helplessness and Surrender

Getting pretty late, so this wont be a long one.

Work went really well. Just slooooow. I'll take slow over super busy any day, though. ;)

I really really like the thought for today...

Over a period of drinking years, we've proved to ourselves and to everybody else that we can't stop drinking by our own will power. We have been proved helpless before the power of alcohol. So the only way we could stop drinking was by turning to a Power greater than ourselves. We call that Power God. The time that you really get this program is when you get down on your knees and surrender yourself to God, as you understand Him. Surrender means putting your life into God's hands. Have I made a promise to God that I will try to live the way He wants me to live?

I talked about this a bit in my share at the Round Table meeting. About how I failed and failed until I opened up, surrendered, and admitted that I couldn't do it without God. He has given me the guidance and strength to truly recover, and for that, I am grateful.

Alright... I'm going to get ready for bed. Gotta close again tomorrow. Big fun. Have a great night, folks, and God bless!

All Things New, Pt. 1 (Cornerstone Sermon Podcast 02-26-12)

Don't have a lot of time to write about it, but I love this new series so far. All things new... Life changes, hard work, surrender, and faith. Thanks for the message, Rusty!

Gotta be at work soon, but I'll write again tonight. Until then, enjoy the sermon. Here's the link...

All Things New, Pt. 1

Humble Pie

Homegroup went really well tonight. Bit of a small crowd, though. I did get my literature for next week's H&I, and I have two speakers who volunteered. Can't wait!

I would like to talk about last night's post for a moment. Something has been weighing kinda heavily on me today. One of the paragraphs seemed a bit boastful. When I asked someone about it this morning, she agreed. The idea I was trying to convey was that traveling and living a fancy free lifestyle isn't worth sacrificing relationships with loved ones. I could have worded that much more humbly... And more truthfully. Most of my running around and partying was at the expense of others. Figuratively and literally. I never accepted any consequences for my actions, so they were left on the people who loved me. And for that I am eternally sorry. Hopefully, in some way, my new actions can make up for some of it.

I've been waiting all day to say that. And it's been a long day. Got up very early, went to work, and then to my meeting. Pretty tired, so I'll probably hit the hay soon. I still encourage anyone who sees something askew, or something I've missed in my writing to call me on it.

Well. I'm going to start winding down... Goodnight, world.