If you're happy and you know it...

There are people out there who are life takers. No, I'm not talking about serial killers, I'm talking about your every day person who comes around and drains the life out of others. We all know at least one of these people. When they show up at your door you want to hide out like no one's home to avoid talking to them. When they call your cell phone you quickly press the "ignore" button. When you see them at the mall you duck behind a clothing rack praying they didn't see you first. Yes, we all know at least one. They are all talk and no listen. Preying on your sympathy...devouring your positive outlook...demolishing your perfectly good mood. They are selfish and self serving. The last thing they want to do is hear about your problems or concerns, however, they are more than happy to dump their issues on you.

Personally, I'm not a "feel-sorry-for-myself" kind of guy. I don't like dwelling on negative things. I'm a compartmentalizer. I can take a negative and store it deep in the back of my brain...and because I try not to think very often...those negatives tend to get lost back there and never come up again. I don't like feeling sorry for myself, therefore I don't like feeling sorry for you either. I'll listen and try to help but after awhile I just want to say "GET OVER IT!...SNAP OUT OF IT!...MAN UP!...QUIT FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF!!!", but I digress.

I don't enjoy dealing with these types of people but sometimes it is absolutely necessary. I have to put on my delicate gloves and treat them to a good ol' fashioned pity party. I'll only do this a limited number of times, mind you, because pity partys are the worst kind of party possible. Eventually I will say ENOUGH with the pity partys, lets go out and have fun! Lets get through one conversation, one day even, without discussing the reason behind your pitifulness. Look, I get it, you're depressed because your girlfriend left, your dog died, you don't look quite how you think you should, you're addicted to this or that, your parents don't love you, you don't like your job, you don't make enough money...blah...blah...blah. You are not unique in your problems, though. You're not the only one that has feelings like that, the difference is you choose to let your problems define you where I do not.

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see your problems or your successes? Do you see the moment or the big picture? Do you see hope or despair?


Jeremiah 29:11-13
11 "I know the plans I have for you," announces the Lord. "I want you to enjoy success. I do not plan to harm you. I will give you hope for the years to come. 12 Then you will call out to me. You will come and pray to me. And I will listen to you. 13 When you look for me with all your heart, you will find me.

Da Big Boy!

I love my son. His name is Roy Michael McClain. He’s the coolest kid I know. No, I don’t know that many kids, but I’m convinced that even if I did he would be the coolest.
Every day when I pick him up from daycare he yells “DADDY!” and runs to me as fast as his short legs can take him. Then I tell him “Daddy missed you today Roy!” and he says “I miss you and Mimi today!”.
He loves spiderman or miderman as he calls the web slinging superhero. He has miderman pajamas, a miderman t-shirt, two pair of miderman shorts, a miderman ball and two miderman rings. I’m sure I’m missing multiple miderman items that he posseses.
He loves trucks, any truck will do as long as its ripe for pushing. He has so many trucks that at the end of the day our living room will look like a matchbox/tonka truck junkyard. Almost every time we go to Wal-Mart I can’t resist taking him to the toy truck section and buying him another one. He doesn’t need it, but I know it makes him happy. He loves his new trucks, but he loves his old trucks too. He has one that is his favorite. It’s a dump truck. It’s big and noisy and he loves to push it around as fast as he can. He’s a truck maniac. I look forward to buying a real truck for him one day. I know that’s what he’ll want because HE LOVES TRUCKS!
At night my wife and I let him lay in our bed with us until he falls asleep. I know, big mistake, but I like it as much as he does. He plays and plays until he gets tired. Then he’ll begin nodding off and when he realizes it he’ll say “Mimi, look at me.” or “Daddy, what are you doing?” to try to stay awake as long as he can. Then in the middle of the night I’ll hear his music come on in his crib. He’s woke up and is using the music to go back to sleep. Such a big boy!
He loves riding the four-wheeler with his daddy. He will try to hold the handle bars but his arms aren’t quite long enough yet. A few weeks ago there was a hurricane that was supposed to come through our area. We got the day off of work and decided to go check out Spring Creek on the four-wheeler. I took Roy to Academy and bought him some camo boots and he was so proud of them. It was raining steadily as we were riding so we were wearing raincoats. He looked so cute in his raincoat and boots. He would frequently point to his boots and say “My boots!”. He’s so proud.
I could go on all day about my boy. He’s the coolest.

Yesterday and Today

These past few days have been self reflective indeed. It's not very often that I stop and look at myself in the mirror and really survey the man I am vs. the man I want to become.

Excuses, I have soooo many of them. I continually tell myself and others that I will do this or that when I have the time, when I have the money, when I have three songs memorized. (we'll get to that later) Will I ever have the time? Will I ever have the money??? Probably not. The past few days I believe God has been speaking to me, in fact, I know He has. It couldn't be any more clear.

Lets get one thing straight, I don't often listen to preachers via streaming audio but in the past few days I've been listening to Andy Savage at The Loop, Memphis. (a young adult bible study in, you guessed it...MEMPHIS, TN) It just so happens he's been preaching about the book of Jonah and it just so happens that Jonah and I have a lot in common. Never has it been more clear to me that God has given me a place, much like God gave Jonah a place. The difference is God has given me a church where God gave Jonah Ninevah. (an evil place at the time) Both Jonah and I turned and ran from our place. According to Andy it's our job to go...that's it. Now, certain people (I won't name names) have been encouraging me to audition for the praise team at my church for three and a half years now, one of those being God. I haven't wanted to go, not in the least! I used to sing at a different church and each Sunday that I had a solo was extremely uncomfortable and stressful for me. I've REALLY been enjoying church "from the stands" so to speak. It's been so comfy for me not to be involved, however, God has bestowed upon me the gift of song...not so that I could sit in the congregation but so that I could GO and LEAD others in their worship experience. Am I particularly excited about giving up my Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings? No, much like I'm not particularly excited about being stressed or nervous before each service. However, like Jonah, God has given me a place and I must GO.