St. Marks United Methodist Church

I have only really been interested in Golf during one period of my life.  During my High School years, my friends and I would go to the par 3 course every Wednesday afternoon.  The only clubs I had were my Grandfather’s 40 year old right handed clubs.  The problem with this is that I am left handed. 

          I used the backside of the putter so that I could putt left handed, but to tee off I had to hit right handed.  I always finished last when we played but I became very comfortable playing right handed.

 I played for 2 years as a mutant right handed / backward left handed golfer.  One afternoon when we were playing a round there was a group of older gentlemen in front of us.  They decided on the 6^th green to wait there and let us play through. 

One of the older gentlemen had watched me tee off and finish putting with the backside of my putter.  He came over to me and asked if I would like to try his left handed clubs.  I thanked him but told him I was fine and that I had played this way for two years and it was working for me so I didn’t need to change now. 

We continued to play through the 10^th hole with me struggling to get a drive on the green and putting backwards. As I stepped up to tee off on the 11^th hole, I felt a tap on my shoulder.  It was the older gentleman.  He took the club out of my hands and handed me his driver.  “Just try it,” he said.  I hesitated but decided to give it a try. 

After a couple of practice swings, I reared back and swung through the ball, hitting a shot that bounced a couple of times and landed two feet from the cup.  It was the best shot I had ever taken. I turned around to the gentleman and told him how wonderful it was to actually hit a ball on to the green.  He told me he had had the same problem until he realized you could buy left handed clubs.  I told him that I should have changed a long time ago and started to pass back the driver to him.  “Keep it” he said, “from one left hander to another.”

 Often we go through life used to the way things are.  We don’t stop and open our eyes to realize that the world changes, people change, and technology changes.  We start using phrases like “well that is the way it has always been or that is the way we have always done it.”  Sometimes not making changes hinders us over helping us and we get stuck being a left handed player playing with right handed clubs.  We have to understand that change helps us to reach out to serve God in different ways and brings others closer to God.  When God offers us a “God Sized Dream”, we have to take that opportunity, grab that left handed club and aim for the green.

For the past two months I have been on a walking kick.  It is a lot of fun and I really enjoy getting out and walking.  One of my favorite places to walk is around Lake Lynn.  There is a really nice paved path around the lake.  Oh, did I mention that it is flat all the way around, no hills!  Anyway, as I walk, I often find myself people watching. It is hard not too.  You watch what people dress in as they walk around the lake.  It kills me when I see someone walking around the lake in flip flops or jeans. I also find myself wondering what is going on in people’s lives.  I offer you the two following stories to ponder over.

1.  As I walked around the corner of the trail, right before it opens into a big field, I noticed a man walking slowly with his son.  They were involved in a deep conversation.  The man was dressed in Army fatigues from his hat to his army boots.  The boy probably eight or nine stood waist high to his Dad.  As they walked they came closer and closer to the water’s edge.  Dad’s arm was around the boys shoulder and he held him tight as I watched this intense conversation happening between them.  When they reached the edge of the lake they sat down, Dad’s arm was still around the boy, as the boy nestled his head into Dad’s chest.  I turned down my MP3 player and stopped to stretch for a moment to see if I could determine what they were talking about.  A couple of minutes went by as they sat there in very close intense conversation.  I did some last stretches and decided to move on so that I could give them some moments of peace with out someone looking over their shoulder.  As I turned to walk away, I saw that the boy had started to cry and he reached up and hugged his dad with every ounce of strength he had.  Dad picked him up and swallowed him with a giant hug.  I smiled and nodded at them as I started to continue my walk. Dad, with tears in his eyes, nodded back and carrying his son started to walk the other way.

What I assumed from the scenes that took place before me was that this man was leaving to go to Iraq or Afghanistan and was saying good bye to his son.  He was telling him that he was the man of the house now and that he needed to take care of his Mother until he came back home.  That he needed to be strong and know that Daddy loves him so very much.  What do you see?

2.  Today I decided not to bring my MP3 player as I walked around the lake.  I was listening to the geese and ducks as they quacked, the sound of the water as it lapped against the banks, and the chatter from other people as they passed by me on the trail.  I was really enjoying my walk when I heard someone screaming behind me.  I couldn’t make it out but it was getting louder and closer.  I continued to walk but was very conscious of someone coming up behind me.  As I came to a bridge I heard the sound of someone running.  I turned to see a woman with headphones on dressed in athletic apparel come running up behind me.  She smiled as she passed me and I smiled back.  She ran a couple of feet in front of me and stopped and turned around.  She started to scream at me.

 ”Did you know that the end of the world is coming!  That Revelations is true! They murdered my husband and they are coming for us all.  It is here soon!  God and Jesus are both aliens!  They are coming for us all.  If you don’t believe me well you will see very soon!”

She turned and started to run off, quacking at a duck as she ran away. I was in shock.  There was no one else around to see or hear this lady that had stopped in front of me.  I didn’t know what to think as I stood there.  I decided to keep walking.  I could hear her yelling ahead of me.  She kept talking about the end of the world.  People would stop and warn me about her as they walked toward me.  I told them that we had already spoken. I asked each of them if she addressed them directly, they all said no that she was just randomly yelling or talking to the ducks.

I continued my walk that day but when I got home I thought a lot about it.  Why did she choose me as the one to directly talk to? I came to the conclusion that she chose me because I am supposed to pray for her, and that I can tell others to pray for her too. That she needs prayers and who better to stop and turn around and show that too then the Youth Director at St. Marks UMC.  So with that, I ask you to prayer for her.  What do you see?

Those are just a couple of stories I share with you from my travels around the lake.  Maybe I will share some more in the future.  What I take back every time I encounter a story on the lake is that each of us has our own story, our own life.  Others don’t know what is going on in our lives or know why we do the things we do.  We need to remember that about each other and that God created us each as individuals.  He gave us  the beautiful gift of free will and allows us to make our own choices.  We should try to remember that before we pass judgment on someone. We should remember the military dad and his boy or the lady of the lake.

 A couple days a week I am met with the sound of “Hey Chicken Fat” coming from the hall outside my door.  As I swing my chair around to look out I am always met with the huge smile that crosses my little sandy blond haired friend’s face.  I can’t help but smile when I see him.  I often reply with “Hey Chicken Fat” right back to him.  He will then come into my office and play with the stuff on my desk or just hang out with me and tell me what he is going to do today.

 Ok, so now you want to know why he calls me Chicken Fat.  I am sure you think it is because I am a portly fellow, but its not.  Well, one day he came to the church with his mom and while she and I were running around doing a couple of things, he was with us and he kept calling me names.  He called me “eyeball, door, shoe, sock, Mr. Potato head, Seminole (his dad is a FSU fan), Tar Heel (his mom is a UNC fan), window, and tree.”  After all those different names, imagine my surprise when he hits me with Chicken Fat.  I didn’t know how to take that until his mom said “I don’t know where he got that from, he just started to say that the other day when we were at the mall.”  So I smiled at him and said “no, your name is Chicken Fat.”  For the next couple of days it was “your Chicken Fat”, “no your Chicken Fat.”

Well, obviously it stuck.  Ever since then, we have both been Chicken Fat.  He calls me Chicken Fat and I call him Chicken Fat.  Every time I see him its “Hey Chicken Fat!” But nothing and I mean nothing puts a smile on my face faster than hearing him calling my name (Chicken Fat) or seeing him run into my office!

 His mom came into my office one day and said, “Eric you made the list,” I said “What List?”  Last night when his Dad took Chicken Fat up to go to bed he told him to say his prayers.  Chicken Fat got down on the side of the bed and bowed his head and said “God bless, Mommy and Daddy, and Grandma and Grandpa, and my sister, and God bless Chicken Fat.”  So you made the list.  I told her that was the funniest and most touching thing I think I have ever heard. 

 They say God works in mysterious ways.  Nothing is more mysterious than “Chicken Fat.” Who knows where it came from and honestly I don’t care.  God knows when you need a pick me up and he puts things there when you need them.  The little sandy blonde haired boy with the big smile can call me Chicken Fat whenever he wants for as long as he wants.  He needs to watch out though, because when he’s 16 and in my youth group, that’s right, I will still be calling him Chicken Fat!

I have played soccer all my life.  I started when I was five years old.  I scored my first goal when I was seven years old (from a defensive position I might add, sweeper for those of you that are soccer fans).   After my eighth grade year I told my parents how badly I wanted to play on the soccer team at the High School. 

My dad said I needed to get in shape, so that summer we started to run every morning.  The two of us would get up and go running.  It was so hard.  Running has never been my strong suite but we did it.  We even went to the beach for a week on vacation and Dad and I got up every morning and ran.  I can remember my Dad with his headband on, and me chugging along beside him, down the road parallel to the beach.  A beach I was not sitting on, or playing in the water, or making sand castles, nope it was a beach I was running next too.  I could smell the salty air, and hear the crash of the waves. Man it was tough, but it was definitely the most dedicated to something I had ever been.

The week came and it was time for try outs. Each day we ran and  practiced.  I ran so hard and played so hard.  I felt so good about it.  As the week ended, it was time to see who made the team.  The lists were posted in front of the school.  My best friend asked me if I wanted to ride up with his family and our friends to see the postings.  I of course said YES!  I was riding in the back of a van. There were 5 of us riding up to see the lists.  The other 4 were friends of mine.  All kids I had played soccer with for many years.  When we got there we all unloaded and headed up to the bulletin board.  I ran up and ran my finger down the Varsity list.  Nothing, then I ran my finger down the Junior Varsity list.  Nothing, my name wasn’t there at all.  I didn’t make the Varsity or the Junior Varsity.  I was devastated.  On top of that, my 4 friends all made the Varsity team as freshman.  Dejected, I got back in the van and sat in the back seat holding back my tears and leaning my head against the window.  I didn’t want to let on how upset I was.  My friend Danny kept looking back at me, I could see in his face how sorry he was.  He told the other guys to be quit a couple of times because they were celebrating and being loud about making the team. 

 I got dropped off at the top of my drive way.  I didn’t even make it down the driveway.  I sat at the top and cried.  I mean, CRIED!  It was so hard to want something so much and not get it.  I slowly found my way down the driveway and into the house.  I sat in my room and just looked at the wall for awhile.  When my Dad got home, he came into my room and sat next to me.  Mom had told him that I didn’t make the team.  Dad looked at me and he told me how very proud he was of me.  I looked up at him and among the tears that had stained my face a smile started to creep out.  We just kinda sat there for a while until dinner was ready. 

 Have you ever had something that you wanted so bad and didn’t end up getting it?   In life there are great things that happen and there are disappointments, there is happiness and there is sorrow, there is the good and there is the bad.  Yep, life is hard.  I wanted to play soccer so bad but God had other plans for me.  You see, I ended up taking some computer courses at the community college where my mom worked.  I got some college credit for some of those classes but on top of that I learned a lot about computers.  To this day I use my computer knowledge in a lot of different ways.  God had a different plan for me, I would of only played soccer for a short period of time in High School but I will always have the skills that I learned while taking those classes.  I would of never been able to do both and still have time for my other classes.  God will lead you and guide you and show you the way.  It may not be what you want it to be but sometimes our life takes us in ways that we would of never thought of, and that is God leading the way.  So follow the path, go after what you want, but if you don’t make it, stop, talk to God and find out what he has planned for you.  You may be surprised.  Oh yeah, one more thing, I went to college and got a degree in Environmental Science Natural Resource Management, and I am the Director of Youth Ministries.  Thanks God!  I will explain that one another time!

I had a sandwich yesterday.

 Not just any Sandwich a FOOT LONG Cold Cut Combo from Subway.  I love them.  I had Italian bread and American cheese.  The meats were bologna, ham, and salami. There was mustard and mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, banana peppers, jalapeño peppers, green peppers, salt and pepper, oil and vinegar.  

 It was SO GOOD!  I could eat one everyday and love every bite.  I could live off of them alone and not eat anything else or need anything else to be happy and fulfilled.

 Wait a minute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Isn’t there a food out there that you just absolutely love and you say that you could eat it everyday for the rest of your life?

 We often get caught up in those things that make us so happy.  Foods, activities, books, family, etc, are all things that we love and cherish. Everything that we find important and fun in our lives is great, but as Jesus said:

 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” Matthew 4:4 NIV

 We often forget that there is more to life than the possessions that we have and the food that we eat.  We must remember to read and study the word of God and listen to hear him when he speaks to us.  Prayer, bible study, community service, and just living and being in the word, those are the things that God gives us to balance our lives.

So the next time you take a huge bite out of your favorite food and that smile creeps across your face as you savor the flavors.  Remember that you can also savor the flavor of your relationship with God!