Choosing To See

You probably know the story of the tragic death of Steven Curtis Chapman’s daughter.

Steven’s wife, Mary Beth Chapman has written a book called “Choosing To See”. Jen Melanson loaded me her copy. Apparently Mary Beth talks about their emotional recovery to their daughter’s death, the adoption process, and their good friends Geoff Moore and his family.

To me Steven Curtis is not only an anchor of talent for Christian music but after losing a family member, he is living out his faith, speaking openly on Larry King Live - even when it hurts - and that gives me great encouragement, even though my troubles are nothing compared to his tragedy.

Well I can’t comment more because I haven’t read it but I’m excited about it. When I finish, I’ll post a review.

An Early Morning

During my sabbatical I changed my routines in a major way.

Getting up earlier. For 35 years I’ve been a night owl. I’m at my most creative between midnight and four, but at 8am, I’m looking like a bag of dirt. That’s where sleeping pills and other aids entered my life.

Now, during the sabbatical, I have made a conscious effort to be in bed between 9:30 and 11pm, almost routinely. And, I’ve been waking up BEFORE my alarm goes off. It’s crazy!

So my mornings, consist of devotions and the gym, or a bike ride.

Daily devotions - never worked at night. TV gets in the way. My mind has melted from the day’s work, Bible Study, movies, etc. God gets squeezed out. For me, it’s working in the morning and I never would have expected that to happen.

The gym. Previously I went at night when the punks have cleared out and the equipment was more accessible, but now with the routine of getting up early, I have more energy. Today, this morning was amazing. Maybe it was my attitude, or a good night’s sleep, or no pizza in the middle of the night. Not sure.

Today on my iPod here’s what kept me moving in the gym:

Morning Air - The Wedding
Dare You To Move - Switchfoot
Before The Morning - Josh Wilson
Everybody’s Broken - Bon Jovi
All Things Are Possible - Hillsong
How He Loves - David Crowder
This Is Me - Demi Lavato and the Jonas Boys

I am amazed, that at this stage in life, when my routines are set and I am supposed to be stuck in my ways, I am getting up early and making great use of the time.

The one thing that suffers is "my creative time". Without the late nights, I don't seem to be "finding the stuff" that I had before. And, I miss that.

You?

Jojo Bye Bye

JoJo McKnight, our part-time DJ has spun his last disc, well, played his "last music file"! He's moving on for worship studies at Liberty University in Virginia, following in the footsteps of many friends and our own Jen Melanson.

Here's Jojo on the air during his last show!

The City Is Named "Intercourse"

I'm sorting my photos from my recent visit to Woodstock and Philly.

In PA we traveled through Lancaster, which is a small rural farming area and very much Amish country. Horses and buggies share the road with the tourists.

This is very different country. The grassy hills were rolling, the roads were curvy, the farms and houses didn't look all the same. And there was a peace in the air. It felt different. Like the kinda of place you would go to get away and hide, read a book, walk and smell the air. If it wasn't in the middle of nowhere I'd love to go back for a weekend.

Well between Lancaster there is a small town named, ahem, Intercourse. Believe it or not it, the town changed their name to Intercourse from something else. (I'd hate to think of what they used to be named!)

After a quick photo op, we strolled through a market that was really quaint - real girly stuff, like ceramics, rug hooking, trinkets and 1,000 calorie treats.

After I hurried my wife to 'hurry up and let's go', I noticed a photo op - with a cow. And I couldn't resist to snap this picture.

Wear It - Don't Wash It

Us guys, we get in the comfortable groove of wearing a t-shirt and it feels so good that changing it is an act of injustice!

I mean, wear it, wear it to bed, wear it on day 2, repeat on day 3, repeat on day 4, then it's day 5 - ok, maybe, if absolutely necessary, it goes in the wash hamper.

It isn't any one particular t-shirt. For the last week, I've worn this COKE t-shirt. I love it. It's loose and sloppy. Easy to pull off for the shower and slide back on even before I towel off. So what if the water soaks in?

My wife knows NOT to touch "the t-shirt of the week", which by the way is not folded. Are you kidding? When I get dressed for work, "the t-shirt" just lies on the floor, waiting to be worn.

Tell you a secret - shhhh! Sometimes, but not often, I come home from work, put on the t-shirt of the week, wear it all evening, to bed, do that for a week, and then on the last day of the week, I'll wear it to work!

Normally I wouldn't have shared this story because it sounds rather Neanderthal but I was telling my friend and he does the same thing! Right Rob?! Hey, oh no, I don't mean he wears my t-shirts - he has his own!

Hahaha.

Have a great week!

Hope?

13 weeks on sabbatical. Good and bad moments. A bit of traveling. A bit of freelance work. Dark nights.

I'm still reflecting on last week - Woodstock was awesome! Running up “the Rocky Steps” was amazing. Seeing my good friend Tim Cardascia was great! Visiting other radio stations - always inspiring.

Today is the last (official) day of my sabbatical. I return to LIFE 100.3 on Tuesday. After 13 weeks, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.

I hoped for something big to change inside of me - a new perspective, preferably spiritual. Maybe I'm missing the whole thing.

On the positive side, sigh, I’m waking up before my alarm each day. That’s miraculous. I’m also digging into the Word almost every morning, cross-referencing, journaling - a major improvement. One simple comment from my psycologist brought closure to the goofy midlife crisis.

Some of my devotions have been about marriage - being a good husband, honouring my wife, sharing, surrendering, shouldering burdens - all that stuff. But so many of my Christian friends are separated or divorced. In fact I would say, most (75%) of my Christian friends are on their second marriage.

Recently a good friend whom I’ve known for a long time told me that his martial relationship is shaky. It was the last thing I expected to hear from him. He’s one of those people who is more advanced in his walk with the Lord, taken risks I would never take - everything deeper than I could hope to be. And now HE is on the list of marriage failures.

My insides are aching for this guy. It just can’t be.

Of all the Christian couples I know, THIS GUY would be at the bottom of the marriage failure list.

I guess what really rattles me, is that, if he is near the bottom, what hope is there for me?

Running Like Rocky!

Video blog today.
Museum steps in Philly.