Re: Sweet Chaos

Here's a post from the summer that I think you'll truly enjoy. Leave some feedback and share it with your friends and family!

This weekend was crazy.

This weekend was awesome.

This weekend was the most fun I've had in a long time.

And this picture pretty much summarizes it:

Sweet, sweet chaos. That's the only way to describe it.

We spent the past weekend hanging out with a lot of people we had only ever met once in our lives, and a lot of other people we had never seen before. It didn't matter, though. Love was in the air. It was a different sort of love, though. A sweet, chaotic, beautiful love - one only possibly born of God.

How else can you explain this situation? 

30 people, all unrelated, gathering together...

In the name of adoption.

In the name of love.

In the name of worshiping God, who has brought us all together, regardless of geographical or biological distance.

For their children, whom they love with all of their hearts.

For their children, who may be a little tanner than the rest of us, but are the most beautiful sightin the world.

For their children, who were alone, but now have a place they can always call home and people they can always call family.

This weekend was a picturesque portrayal of God's love. It was out of control, chaotic, fussy, messy, and a little cranky at times. But there has never been a more beautiful, more sincere, more passionate love among a group of people. And it is that love which pulls my heart-strings. It'sthat love which brings me peace. It's that love that moves my heart toward adoption, toward love.

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. [Ephesians 1:5]

I believe this weekend gave God great pleasure. He saw his children, adopted through his Son, caring for his little ones, who they had chosen to adopt in love.

I can't wait for the day that God leads us down that same path. And it's coming soon - my heartcan feel it.

How have you experienced adoption in your life? Has it been a positive or negative experience? Do you have relatives or friends that are adopted? How has that shaped who they are? Have you ever considered adopting a child? Why or why not?

I'd love to hear from you about this (or anything else!). Just leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail!

Re: She Said Yes!

This is a continuation of reposts from 2011. Enjoy, leave some feedback, and share this with your friends if you enjoyed it!

We're goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get marrrrried...

Okay, just kidding. 

Been there, done that. One wedding was enough for me!

Today, two years ago, my wife and I stood before hundreds of people and proclaimed our love for each other. At the ripe, young age of 19, we knew who we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with, and we weren't ashamed.

Too young? Psh.

Too tough? Yeah right.

Too much for a 19 year old to handle? Wrong-o!

Two years ago today, we were wed. But five years ago, to this very day, we started dating. And we continue to date to this day.  

Yes, married people still date each other. 

It's way better than pre-marriage dating.

Truuuust me.

So, in honor of our five years of dating, I'd like to share with you five things I've learned since being married.

1. She is always right.

You and I both knew this was coming. It's the first thing most guys learn after being married for any amount of time. No matter what, no matter where, now matter when or how. She. Is. Right. Is she wrong? Too bad. She's right. Does it make sense? No. Does it work, though? Definitely.

2. When you marry the girl, you marry the family.

Now I definitely have to be careful about what I say here, because her family does read this blog from time to time... just kidding! I love them! Having a set of in-laws is like having an extra set of parents, which is great more times than it's not. But I definitely could've used a little more warning about how true this is before I got hitched.

3. I married the most beautiful girl alive.

No, this isn't open to discussion. I did, and that's that. Just look at her! 

4. There is an appropriate length for every piece of hair on my head. 

This most certainly coincides with the first thing that I've learned - she's always right. Every single piece of hair has its place on my head, and if it gets outta control, Kalyn will let me know. Is my hair getting a little long? Always. Is my mustache starting to show itself? Shave immediately. Is there hair anywhere on the sides of my face? Get that razor out. Is my beard longer than it is in that picture? Gotta find the beard trimmer before Kalyn trims it herself. 

(Okay, she's actually pretty nice about it. I'm just telling you what I know!)

5. You don't stop pursuing the love of your life after you get married.

This is probably the most important thing that I've learned over the last two years that I missed before I got married. And it doesn't mean you start seeking more wives after you find your first one (unless you're into that sort of thing). Most of us (guys, at least) are left with the impression that once we say "I do," there's no more work to be done. You've got the girl - what else do you need? Well, there's a lot more to it than that.

You see, I love my wife. And I love her too much to stop pursuing her. She deserves my very best, and I want to try my hardest to keep winning her love. I want her to keep liking me as she did before we were married. Therefore, I am going to keep pursuing her like I did before we walked down the figurative aisle.

This girl means the world to me, and I am amazed every day at how much she cares about me. So today, this is just one of the ways that I want to say...

I love you, Kalyn!

I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment or send me an e-mail! And while you're at it, "Like" the Life Before the Bucket Facebook page and find a way to follow this blog!

Re: Captchaphobia

In order to enjoy the holidays with people (instead of my laptop), I'm going to be reposting a few of my favorite posts from 2011. Enjoy and remember to follow Life Before the Bucket!

Alright, I've got a bone to pick with the Internet. Does the Internet have bones? I don't know. But I'm going to pick one anyway.

Let me preface things with this: I'm pretty good with computers. I understand technology, and I can navigate the Internet like nobody's business. If you need to know something, I can usually figure it out.

However, what I cannot, for the life of me, figure out, are Captchas.

Captchas are this evil invention that keeps spammers from flooding websites with nonsensical dribble about their diet pills that can help you lose 500 lbs in a day. However, they are also so coolthat they keep me away from stuff at times. Absurd!

Please tell me I'm not alone in this. Please tell me I'm not the only person who has "failed" a captcha online. Especially on Facebook. I'm not sure what it is about the captchas on there, but they're meant for space aliens. They don't make any sense! My blood pressure rises a little each time I see that familiar box pop up to confirm that I'm a Homosapien, or at least a really smart monkey. And sometimes, the pressure gets to me.

So maybe I'm crazy, and a little out of my mind, but I'm all for getting rid of captchas. I've had enough of my intelligence being insulted with ridiculous word puzzles every time I want to tell a friend "Happy Birthday" on Facebook. I don't want word puzzles; I just want to use the Internet!

So let's start a petition. Let's get rid of captchas. Until there's a way that people can simply verify that they're human by using a computerized heart rate monitor or blood test, I say... Bring on the spam!

Okay, so maybe I'm being a little facetious. But seriously, am I the only one who has ever failed one of these? Are there any other Internet peculiarities that fluster you? Leave me a comment and let me hear about it! Or e-mail me - I love responding to e-mails! And while you're at it, Share this post with one of those little buttons right there and find a way to follow Life Before the Bucket!

The "I Don't Care" of Christmas

This is a follow-up to another post I recently wrote. Enjoy!

So apparently there's this big holiday coming up. People are getting excited, and for some reason, extra mushy-gushy. Something about presents, a tree, and some other nonsense. Yada, yada, yada.

Is there any chance that this echoes how you feel around this time of the year?

If so, you're not alone.

Every year around this time, I get a little (read: very) cynical. Frankly, I stop caring about Christmas.

Say whaaaaaaaaat?!

Yeah, I know. I'm not a good American. Or Christian. Or both. Something like that. Feel free to stone me, if you please. But hear me out before you do.

I'm so fed up with everything about Christmas. This post should have made that clear enough. It celebrates everything I hate about America. Our materialism. Our self-centeredness. Our excessive wealth.

More than that, though, it celebrates a fundamental truth about each and every one of us: there's an emptiness inside of us that needs to be filled. We each recognize it to some extent and go to extravagant measures to fill it. Sadly, all the stuff in the world can't patch the crater that exists in our souls.

Sure, some of us think that "Jesus is the reason for the season." If that's really the case, why don't we show that? Christmas season lasts about a month, and yet we only dedicate a few hours of that month to "the reason" for it. Sounds like a big, fat lie to me.

Instead, we dedicate hundreds of hours to shopping, wrapping, and opening presents. The culmination of it all comes Christmas morning around the Christmas tree as we try our hardest to top the "magical" feeling we had the year before. Really, though, we're just looking to get more stuff than the year before, and if we don't, it's a "bad" Christmas.

None of it makes sense.

As I've thought about this, I've wondered what I can do to rekindle the true meaning of Christmas, even for a moment. I've submitted to the fact that, by myself, I can't make Christmas about what it truly should be. And it may never mean what it should. However, I have found that if I can claim moments of Christmas for what it should be, that must be better than nothing.

So I remember...

I remember the silence - the hundreds of years before Jesus' birth when everyone thought God had died.

I remember the pain - a teenage girl giving birth in a barn.

I remember the hopelessness - a child born at the worst possible time.

But I also remember...

God speaking. Not through word, but in action. Instead of just saying, "I'm still here," He came.

The healing. A broken family, united in love by a child.

The hope. A savior, born to bear the sins of the world, to give us a second chance at life.

And so, like Mary, I treasure these things. 

In a world of broken busyness and extravagant excess, I remember that I have a father who was willing to sacrifice everything for me, and not so I could spend my time giving people stuff they don't need.

People need to hear God's voice. People need to be healed. People need a new hope.

People need Christmas.

I need Christmas.

And though you don't care about it, maybe you do too.

... ... ...

Questions: Do you care about Christmas? What is your favorite part about the holiday? What can you do to enjoy Christmas more?

Assuming the Position: Maybe I Did, Maybe I Didn't

This post was originally written for and posted by Jamie, the Very Worst Missionary. Enjoy!

Alright, tell me I’m not alone in this:

You’re sitting in church, in those god-awful pews – who decided chairs weren’t good enough, anyway? – and you’re getting a little hazy. The eyes start drooping a little, the drool starts running from your mouth, and then suddenly…

SMACK!

The significant other next to you lays out a new bruise on your finely gelled hair.

Not cool, significant other.

After you get over the fact that you’ve just had a mini-stroke, heart attack, and peed your pants all at once, you’re suddenly more aware than you’ve ever been before. Even though the scenery is still the same, something is different. Your eyes have been opened, even if unwillingly.

That’s where I was at this past summer.

I’m a 21 year old male. I go to a Christian college. So, naturally, I would do my internship at a pregnancy center, right? Riiiiight.

Let’s just say pregnancy centers aren’t exactly overflowing with young adult males who like Jesus.

Thankfully, there were a few guys that graced our presence this summer. Except they didn’t like Jesus, which was fine by me. So we talked about other important stuff – like… sports cars fishing trying to stay sane while the girlfriend is pregnant. So basically, yeah, we talked about sports.

Once a week, though, I would sit in on a class with a few dads that came around this place. We would talk about the importance of dads – and by we, I mean, one guy would talk, and the rest of us would listen. We’d all be watching the clock, hoping God would have mercy on us, and eventually, we would get through the class.

This lasted for 7 weeks.

Seven weeks of sitting in a room, bored out of your mind with two other guys who were at least as bored as I was. And you could tell that the guy teaching didn’t want to be there either. You see, the guys in the class were what we call “court ordered.” So they had to be there. And so we had to be there to teach them.

Cue the head-bobbing, the glazed-over eyes, and the drooling.

Sounds a lot like church, right?

And then the significant other goes and ruins your good hair day.

It was our last class. In fact, it was after our last class was done, and I was so ready to be done with this stuff. I can only handle so much “dad-talk,” since I’d like to think I’m about 20 years removed from having kids (the wife would beg to differ).

And then it happened.

My significant other, aka, the God man himself, smacked me upside the head. And he made it about as obvious as it can get.

The teacher leaves to go print something off for the guys, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, one of the guys says, “Mannnn, do you believe in destiny?”

After I picked my jaw off of the floor and responded, he went on to tell me about some struggles he was having with his girlfriend and how he’s not sure how hard he should fight for her. I told him that I personally don’t think God has one special person for him and that if he doesn’t get it right, then it’s game over.

Naturally, like in all the good evangelism videos, he wanted to know more. And, frankly, I told him that I didn’t know much more. I told him straight-up that he needed to try praying. To which he replies, “I don’t know how to do that, man.”

WHAT?!

So I taught him to pray that day.

Anyway, I’ll save you the rest of the story by telling you that this kid wasn’t “saved” that day. He didn’t pray “the prayer,” and we didn’t baptize him. But I’d like to think that God got through to him that day.

God reached out to him.

And I'm still hoping, three months later, that this kid reached back.

So maybe I “evangelized” and maybe I didn’t. But I do know that I got to share the love of Jesus with that kid.

And that is all that matters.

... ... ...

Question: Have you ever had an experience like this? When (if ever) did you first "learn" to pray?

Don't forget to find a way to follow Life Before the Bucket!