If You Watch LOST

There is a great new promo trailer for LOST, which starts January 31st! You can check it out here...

http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/james-hibberd/2007/12/abcs_new_lost_trailer.php

I am getting excited about the return of one of my favorite shows.

I'm Vexed

So, I realized something tonight.....I am having difficulty allowing myself to feel comfortable in our new apartment. Don't get me wrong, I love it. Angie and I have already made it feel more like home. Friends and family have already come over and helped us make some great memories. Friends and family have also loaned us stuff to furnish the home, which is greatly appreciated. But the problem is this.....since we moved out of our apartment in Ancona, we have stayed in approximately eight different bedrooms in seven different places. Some of those were hotels, some were by the hospitality of friends or family, yet none were for very long.

We moved out of our apartment on October 23, which is about eight weeks ago. That means we have stayed in as many bedrooms as weeks since moving out of our apartment. That means we have had very little stability. That means my mind has gotten more accustomed to staying briefly in places, than for lengthier periods. And that has created a habit. Now, a couple weeks into our new home, I am realizing the difficulty in letting myself relax. We will be in this apartment six months. It's okay for me to let my hair down.....even thought my hair is short. I don't have to pack up all of my belongings tomorrow, next week or even next month. We can put down some roots. I have met a couple neighbors, "D" and Steve. Seem like two nice enough guys. I want to allow God the opportunity to refresh us while we are here in the states. I want to relax in the Lord. Will I feel that feeling of relaxation? I think so. But I wonder, when that will happen. Will I wake up one morning two months from now, and realize it happened slowly and I missed the transition? My Lord knows. My job is to be content. We don't know the future. We can't trust in the things of this earth. What is a home, but shelter that God has provided. Hasn't He always provided everything for us? Hasn't He always taken care of us in every situation no matter how grim it appeared to be? Yes, yes a thousand times yes. Now, I just need to reconcile my heart and my mind.

Ice Storm in Tulsa

So, we had only been in our new apartment in Tulsa for a week, when a major ice storm hit. It has been pretty bad, with up to half of the Tulsa residents being without power for one to three days. We have been very fortunate that our lone apartment complex has managed to keep its power on throughout the entire process. Our apartment has only had a few blinks off and on of our electricity and internet, other than that it has been great. Angie's sister, Mary Ann, and her two kids have been staying with us, while her husband, David, has been getting extra time making sure cable stays on for the homes that have electricity (he works for Cox Cable). My parents, and one brother lost their electric, so they went over to my other brothers house and he has two fireplaces....which ended up coming in handy since his electric finally went off today. At Wal-Mart today (my first journey out for two days) I picked up some more items in case the electric still does go off, like three cans of self-heating soup, a bag of beef jerky, several candles and heat bags, that once popped will provide small amounts of heat for 10-24 hours (depending on which bag you use). At Wal-Mart several of the food shelves were low or completely empty....my cashier has not had electric since Sunday. It's bad, but hopefully getting better. Here are some pictures.

Check out the thickness of the ice on these branches (above and below)!

Below you can see one of the many trees that fell in our complex...this one just happened to fall on one of the townhouses...ouch.
Below you can see the icicle beard along the truck we have been driving.

You wouldn't want one of these icicles to fall on your head.
This was the hot dog section at Wal-Mart (for all those using fireplaces and outdoor grills for cooking, I imagine).

The section below looks like it was part of the dairy section. Not sure if this was because it was shopped over, or because it went bad when Wal-Mart lost electricity.

And here you can see the empty pizza shelves, with one lone DiGiorno pizza left behind. There were more around the corner, but this sight was pretty shocking to see.

Moving Again???

So, here we are on the eve of yet again, another move. Tomorrow, Angie and I are moving from my brother's house into an apartment. Staying with my brother has been good and I'm glad we had the opportunity. Moving into an apartment however, will give us some routine, family space, stability and normalcy. Starting in January we will be travelling and speaking at several churches to promote and communicate about our ministry, and when we aren't travelling the apartment in Tulsa will be a great homebase to return to. Also, we are planning on inviting over family, friends and supporters to the apartment and providing them with some great hospitality.

Tomorrow will be busy, but good. In the morning we will get to the apartment, clean up after the bug bombs, and straighten what few things we already took over this evening when we got the keys. Then from 10 AM to noon, the cable guy will come to install internet and cable. Sometime after 10 AM several guys from Highland Park Christian Church will be coming over with all the furniture that many at the church have so selflessly loaned us while we are in the states for Home Assignment. We are awed and overwhelmed by the support our churches give us, and this is a great example. Later in the afternoon, we will work on the apartment, unpacking and moving things into their permanent position, then that night we'll come back over to my brother's house to watch OU play Missouri for the Big 12 football championship. Great stuff. I can't wait.