Category: Unwinds (page 2 of 8)

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Happy New Year to all my loyal readers – all two of you! Here are a couple of things on my mind as the first day of 2012 begins to wind down…

• I preached from John 15 this morning, and I talked about the essentials we need for a truly successful and prosperous new year.
• Above all else, we need a living and vital connection with Jesus. Most believers have plenty of information about Jesus and His teachings. Too many of us substitute knowing about Him for living connected to Him. That vital connection brings clarity to our lives, provides the difference between frustration and fruitfulness, empowers our prayers, and brings real joy,
• We also need a vital connection to other people. Life is not a spectator sport. Don’t forget the command of Jesus to love one another is just as much a command as the Big Ten.
• And we need a purpose and a plan to achieve it. Jesus called us and commands us to be fruitful by doing what God intends us to do.
• By the way, the reason New Year’s resolutions don’t usually work is because we depend on our own effort and ability to make them happen. Jesus is clear that apart from Him, we are powerless to accomplish anything of lasting value.
• We tried recording my message directly to digital today. I know, I know…old coot, behind the times and all that. I’m going to try my hand at editing that audio in a bit.
• We are becoming Apple fanboys/fangirls at the Just Charlie hacienda. New iPads for the lovely and gracious Mrs. Charphar and The Boy. They were comparing the size of those little white Apple logo stickers yesterday. Sheesh! 🙂
• BTW, I’m thinking of stealing one of their stickers and putting it over the Dell logo on my laptop. Not…
• I interrupted this post to rescue a kitty. From the box springs. Don’t ask…
• And aren’t pets supposed to lower your stress level?
• For the past couple of years, I’ve read through John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals in the month of January. Each chapter is short enough to use as a daily reading. You may not agree with everything  Piper writes, but this book serves a s a good reminder for those of us “in the ministry.”
• Speaking of the iPad, it’s pretty cool and all, but right now, I really can’t see where it would replace my laptop. For this old coot, at least, it seems like a pretty expensive toy. Your mileage may vary. Of course, I might could come over to the Dark Side if someone dropped a  nifty 13″ MacBookPro in my hands!
• Georgia Tech did it again in the Sun Bowl. It seems nobody snatches defeat from the jaws of victory like the Jackets. I can’t decide if they need to find someone to play defense or someone to coach defense.
• It’s a sad day when the red cups go away at Starbucks.
• The old grind starts back tomorrow.
• The old grind is starting to really grind.
• Next week, I’m starting a series on the challenges of growing older.
• And with that, I’ve bored you long enough. Pandora’s Hillsong channel is providing the Sunday Night Unwind soundtrack.

Hope your 2012 is off to a great start. See you later!

Sitting in Starbucks on Hwy. 92 near Trickum Road in Woodstock, reflecting on the day, the weekend, and pretty much the whole week last week. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that I’m entering one of those infamous dark nights of the soul things. So maybe it might not be a great night to reinstitute the Unwind, but here goes…

• I could have sat at my office and worked, but I needed — no, I wanted! — some Internet connectivity. Isn’t it strange that we want to be “connected,” so we sit — alone — in a coffee shop, surrounded by all kinds of people, that we don’t even know.
• Yeah, don’t even get started on the glaring fact that even as 2009 is swiftly losing its identity into 2010, we have no Internet at our church office. I said don’t even get started!
• It absolutely stinks to get old! I don’t recommend it to anybody!
• But thanks for the birthday greetings last week!
• I’m not ashamed to say that I’m glad to see my friend Gary Lamb back online on a regular basis. I know there are a lot of folks out there who are looking for any excuse they can find to bash Gary and sit in judgment on him. I love that guy, and yep, I’m pulling for him, big time!
• There’s a gaggle of giggling Georgia Tech coeds in here right now. Man, they let 12- and 13-year-olds go to college! Amazing! (At least they aren’t some of the earlier-referenced “grazers” from that old Georgia Tech joke: “Why did they change to artificial turf at Georgia Tech’s stadium?”)
• I came across a random article today about what happens when leaders lose their way. The abstract of the article says there are five perils of the leadership journey, “distinctive destructive behaviors that tend to occur in the hero stage of managers’ early careers: being an impostor, rationalizing, glory seeking, playing the loner and being a shooting star.” I’m wrestling with some of these things at this late-middle stage of my life.
• Funny…Count Basie’s “Front Burner” is playing on iTunes, and in Starbucks at the same time!
• 12 0f the 15 people inside Starbucks have their laptops open. Looks like 9 of those 12 are on Twitter right now! That’s funny! (BTW, the other 3 are playing poker. With real cards. Go figure!)

I went to bed earlier, but was really waiting on The Boy to let me know he made it back to Rome, Georgia, so I really didn’t go to sleep. Now I’m up again, and can’t get sleepy, so here goes a rare Sunday Night Unwind.

• Today was a hard day at our place. It was the last official day for our Student Minister. Stinkin’ finances got in the way. I told our people that my first thought about Mark was: “I really don’t have time to train an inexperienced youth guy!” Then God  reminded me that somebody took a chance on another inexperienced kid about 28 years ago, and it worked out OK for me! Thanks, Mark and Alison, for some great years in ministry. Thanks for the lives you’ve influenced. Thanks for putting up with me. And thanks for being really good friends!
• I’m really put out by silly, petty people, who show their butts. I don’t know if they meant to show their butts or not, but the end result is the same…big ol’ ugly butts hangin’ out there. No class!
• Started re-reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala and Encourage Me by Chuck Swindoll. I think I need what both of these men are saying right now.
• I’m also re-discovering some old new worship by Roger Hodges tonight. I don’t remember how I first found Roger, but I know it’s been a long time since I’ve listened to the three CDs I have. Good stuff!
• I’ve got a real restlessness in my spirit these days.
• I’m hungry for something new, fresh, and exciting.
• I don’t know how to be a friend to a friend who needs a friend right now, and that bugs me. A lot.
• I really sense that God is nudging me toward a reset of my priorities, a “back-to-basics” emphasis, if you will, in my life and ministry.
• There’s a lot of clutter in a lot of the areas of my life that needs be cleaned out.
• I don’t ever want it to be said of me that I am “impressively energetic regarding God”—but that I’m “doing everything exactly backward.”
• I finished an impromptu mini-series on personal renewal today. I needed it, whether or not anyone else did.
• I don’t know what’s next for my preaching/teaching. Gotta get that figured out, and quick!

Well, I guess I’ve unloaded enough melancholy for one night. Hope your day has been better, and hope you have a great week! Stay tuned!

Very eclectic mix for the Unwind tonight: iTunes shuffling through all the music on my computer. No filters, no exclusions, no Genius feature, just the Music Library open and shuffle enabled. I bet that before the night is over, I’ll even break the Labor Day rule. Sue me, it’s my Unwind, and my music! 🙂

So, what’s up in the old Just Charlie world?

• Happy Birthday to the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie”! She turned, well…a year older today! (Oh, and happy belated birthday to her twin sister. Who turned a year older a day earlier! Nice, huh?)
• I had intended all kinds of cool birthday things to do, but hardly any of them actually panned out. Originally had planned to go the Atlanta Braves game, but couldn’t find any really great tickets, being as it’s Memorial Day weekend and all. Thought about the Georgia Aquarium. Holiday weekend, again…bunch of folks. Amicalola Falls? Rainy! Fancy Sunday Brunch? Crap, who wants to “dress up” to go eat breakfast, when you could scarf down oatmeal, fruit, and eggs in your underwear? In bed, if you wanted. Forget the brunch.
• So, how did we spend the momentous occasion? Home Depot, a little playing in the dirt, lunch at our old standby Eye-talian place, and a quick visit with “The Boy.” How’s that for par-tay?!?!?!
• Meanwhile, it was good to have a day off and just hang with the fam!
• But wait! Isn’t it Sunday? And aren’t you a pastor? Yep!
• One of my best buds in the world, Warren Moore, brought it at The ‘Crest this morning! My team – Mark, Alison, and Nick – handled everything. Thanks, y’all! Shoot! Nobody even missed me! Charlie who?!?!
• BTW, drum corps music just came on the Unwind soundtrack. From pre-DCI days, 1971. Cool!
• Been in a poetry mood lately. Reading The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology. Good stuff!
• Wondering about whether the time at the YMCA may be coming to its end. There may be some other opportunities. Just wondering…
• Had a great time with God early this morning, before the birthday celebration kicked off. Really challenged and encouraged by the story of David, especially this verse.
• I’ve also been thinking a lot about responsibility, initiative, and discipline for leaders and those who want to be.
• Tim McGraw’s Let It Go on the Unwind soundtrack. See? I told you it was eclectic and random!
• Probably heading out to spend a little money tomorrow.
• Looks like all three vehicles are trying to go kaput at the same time! Not good! Starter for my truck, transmission for the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Just Charlie’s” car, and well…college student driving for “The Boy’s” car. ‘Nuff said?!?!?
• Well, that’ll do it for the next month! See y’all later!
• Oh, and how about some Natasha Bedingfield to close the post? Did you know she sings?!?!?! Good night!
  

Unwind soundtrack? Tasty! by Ray Brown and Jimmy Rowles. Just good bass-and-piano stuff. Both of these guys were pretty big influences on Mrs. Elvis Costello, and that’s good enough for me!

UPDATE, 12:09 a.m. April 20, 2009…

I started writing this post and completely lost my train of thought. I saved the draft, and went to bed, lulled immediately into SleepyTown by a rather gentle thundershower. Then after about an hour of good sleep, I was awakened by the phone (my father-in-law) and the severe weather siren less than 150 yards from my house. They were both alerting me to the fact that we were under a tornado warning. That meant I was – and still am – wide awake, thank you very much! So I might as well try to finish the post!

On my mind tonight…

• The day started out to be one of those days…just couldn’t get on track this morning. Late, late changes to our Sunday program and that’s neither good nor fair to my team. I really, really need to be lots better on that front.
• Late start to church…got a call that one of our “regular” “friends” (which being translated, means, someone looking for a handout) was looking for me at the church.
• When I got there – LATE! – the old softy in me took him and got him some gas for a trip. But that threw me even further off my game.
• Of course, the week-after-Easter crowd was slimmer than the Easter one.
• Our music started off with “Mighty to Save.” Yessssssssss!
• Called an audible in the middle of the service, due completely to the aforementioned late, late changes.
• Started a new series about money. I thought it went pretty well, considering.
• I asked everyone to take out their checkbooks and calendars at one point during my message. Told them that theywe could look at those two sources of information and see exactly where theirour hearts are. OUCH!
• Had a good time meeting with a young couple that I’m going to marry in June.
• I just realized that there are some things I have to be careful of Tweeting and/or blogging.
• I’ve got some great friends and encouragers!
• I’ve really got to get focused in my workout/nutrition/etc. areas again. Trying to live on what you did three years ago won’t cut it today!
• I’m still wide awake and there’s no sleep on the immediate horizon. More rain and thunder, it appears, but alas, no sleep.