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What an opportunity, I think I’m gonna hurl

I am writing this blog from an unusual place… the back seat of my truck.

We’re headed to the Amarillo, TX., area for a week of camp with Paramount Baptist Church and company. Nathan sickly

I usually don’t spend much time in the backseat on 6 hour road trips, but this one has some special circumstances. As the Addis clan woke this morning with great expectation for some time together, poolside fun, fishing, the blob, eating snack shop food, and getting to share Jesus with a crowd we’ve never met before, we heard the words no parent likes to hear: “I don’t feel very good.”

Wasn’t long after that we had… er… evidence?

Poor Nathan, he hates getting sick. I realize no one enjoys it, but this isn’t in his top 5 worst things ever. It is his top 1, and has been for a while.

So it started:

    *”Lay down for a couple of minutes and see if you feel better.” – 10 minutes late
    *”Take this Emetrol baby… Well, if it does make you throw up, you probably needed to (mom logic at it’s best)” – 25 minutes late
    *”Try some crackers, they always make me feel bet… Oh, oh… Here’s the bowl… Use the bowl!” – 50 minutes late

After the clocked ticked past an hour late, I was still sitting on the living room floor rubbing his back. The truck was loaded. The students were en route. Camp was waiting.

Any parent knows this kind of thing usually passes in a few hours. By lunch he’d most likely be trampoline ready, and this sickly business just a not-so fond memory.

Still, none of that changes the present.

Being sick, sucks.

I mentally went over the options:

    *Call grandma and tell her she has a surprise 5 day houseguest
    *Unpack the truck and make a solo flight, leaving the family behind
    *Have the little man suck it up, tough it out and make the trip

So, we had a little talk…

Opportunity, as a word, has its origins in a Latin nautical term denoting ‘favorable winds’. But, the root of that is an even simpler word for ‘port’ (the source of the English word port).

In other words, opportunities are like different ports of call. You can sail past them, ignore them, avoid them, be afraid of them, talk about them, pray for them, visit internet sites about them, but you will never experience a port/opportunity if you don’t sail your boat into that harbor.

Colossians 4:5 promotes the same idea:

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward boutsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

Very rarely do opportunities come to you, as we like to say. We have to make something of them.

What port of experience have you been sailing around? What harbor holds a conversation you just won’t anchor near? What dock connects to the gangway of your future that’s just up the coastline?

It’s time to pull into port and make the most of our opportunities.

So, back to Nathan. I laid out the options for him and let him know that time was getting away from us. We had to make a decision.

I believe my exact words were, “I’d really like you to man up on this one. It won’t be a fun trip. It might even be miserable, but I think it’ll be worth it. Once this passes you’re going to wish you did the hard thing. I don’t want you to miss the opportunity.”

So, here we are. Seatbelt awkwardly wrapped around his sprawled out, lanky frame. Puke bowl on the floor board. Wet wash rag hanging on the door handle. Feet on my lap.

No more crying. No more gagging. Just sleeping.

Five hours to go.

I’m pretty proud of my little man. This could be a great opportunity.

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I’m All Out Of Love

For those who are not geographically aware of this bloggers location, the following statement won’t mean much:

It’s State Fair time!

Living three blocks from the fairgrounds is a good or bad thing depending upon what you think of the fair.

The Addis from high atop the Weenie Wheel.
The Addis from high atop the Weenie Wheel.

I get most of my fair jollies just sitting on the front porch. Watching the parade of happy people walking to the fair early in the day as they park somewhere beyond my house.

And, then, I am blessed with the occasional treasure of seeing the exact same people coming back later that night… transformed.

Tired, broke, sun burnt or freezing (it’s Kansas, you know) and almost always “less happy.”

This people watching is a little thing I have learned to enjoy in the last seven years of living here in Hutch. I do it every year as I listen to the concerts from the comfort of my porch swing.

You know what else doesn’t change?

The Fair!

That’s amazing to me.

  • They set up the rides in the exact same place that they did in previous years (although some of the rides change).
  • They do the concerts in the exact same venues as every year gone by (although some of the artists change).
  • They have the same vendors in the same booths making the same claims as they did in every year past (although some of the prices change).

And, honestly, I love it. Continue reading “I’m All Out Of Love”

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Deal With It…

Exactly 15 days after brain surgery… it’s time to blog. Thanks God for answered prayers, His love and compassion and my faith community’s support.

I decided to write this blog for three reasons:

  1. Many people have been asking for an update on the physical well-being of this blogger
  2. God has given me some new insight into a familiar passage through this experience, and personally I feel that being productive is healing
  3. My medical authorities have given me permission to write despite the fact that I am well inside the “DO NOT WORK” time parameters, or more simply put Kathy said it was OK

So, lets cover the reasons for this blog. First, what’s the physical update. For those who are feeling a tad clueless about all this and didn’t know anything had happened… please subscribe to the blog. Its quick, easy and free, because obvisouly you haven’t been checking in enough and there are some questions as to whether or not you are really going to heaven.

Alright, that was a joke. The last part of it at least, but I still would love for you to subscribe to the blog… please. Just out of pity for the sick guy… pretty please. Continue reading “Deal With It…”

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Fear Not…

Fear is a funny thing. Some of it is good for you. God gave it to you as a way to protect yourself.

For example, when you’re walking down the street and massive pit bull with foam dripping from its mouth comes running at you, your typical response isn’t, “Nice, puppy!”

It’s fear… run, kick, scream. That’s a good thing.

However, the vast majority of our fears aren’t pit bulls. They aren’t collies, or even kittens. Truth is a good chunk of our fears are like that noise in the basement we  imagine is a serial killer whose been hiding there all day and is waiting until 3:46 AM because of some sick ritualistic obsession of his to come in and pounce on my entire family!

When actually it’s just the sump pump.

I’ve got some potentially scary days ahead and I just wanted to offer you this children’s camp moment as a reminder to Fear Not.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Now, watch the video below! Continue reading “Fear Not…”

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Expectations

 I am not a natural optimist. In fact, my natural propensity for fear, tends to lead me the…er, other way.

So, trying to have a positive expectation is not the norm for me. If I am getting ready for travel then I think about every nightmarish movie scene of plane, train and automobile disasters I have ever seen and simply overlay my face into the scenery… fun!

If I get a mysterious phone call and need an urgent reply, then I am sure that the person on the other end of the phone message has had their life completely unraveled or hates me… or their life has completely unraveled because they hate me… super fun!

If I have a soar throat, it’s never sinus drainage, it’s always some precursor to cancer, a rare disease in its final stages that will only be discovered in my autopsy, or the final mutation of the swine flu that has evolved to its pristine killer form within me… uber fun! Continue reading “Expectations”

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Bucket Theology

So what are you afraid of?

Financial issues, health concerns, family matters, ending opening sentences with prepositions…

The only people who really have anything to worry about as it relates to their fears are the ones who say they aren’t afraid of anything. Take it from me, I’m an expert in fear as one who is afraid of a multitude of things (not a positive, of course, just a statement of fact)… everyone is afraid of something.

The problem is our fears tend to camouflage themselves. We see the obvious ones:

· “I’m afraid of dogs” – Well, you were probably bitten as a child

· “I’m afraid of getting pulled over by the police” – Well, slow down genius

· “I’m afraid of tornados” – Well, you’re not an idiot

· “I’m afraid of those creepy sounds downstairs in my house at night” – Well… Well, actually, I agree. Do you mind going down to check? Thanks.

The obvious fears we get. They are easy to spot, label and either accept or deny. The problem is many leaders are leaders because they have learned to wrestle these obvious fears to the ground and knock’em out with the classic sleeper hold! Continue reading “Bucket Theology”