Expect Everything…whatever

Jay-Z in the most recent Budweiser Select advertising campaign tells us consumers to “Expect Everything”. I hate that because I think sometimes expectations can really turn to the negative. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have them. I wish I could just turn them off.

I love it how I just create all of these schemes and plans in my mind that aren’t necessarily God’s and get bummed out when things don’t turn out how I wanted them to.

I wish (in certain situations) that my mind would NOT run the ING Marathon over and over again in my head making up hypothetical situations and outcomes.

And it would be nice if I could prevent my mind from planning ahead 6 months to a year in like 2 minutes flat. Sometimes I think I am immune to something and then that something comes along and smacks me right in the face just to remind me that I am not immune after all.

Basically, I had a plan in my head recently. I set an expectation and I let it consume me a good bit and, don’t you know it, the plan didn’t really turn out how I expected it to.

Big surprise, huh?

I think this might just be a human thing. I am guessing I am not the only one who wrestles with expectations from time to time.

But for once, it would be nice to not fall victim to that hype that gets built up in my head.

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'

So today marks my annual trip up to the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta to run spotlight for the Habima Theater. The Habima Theater is made up of individuals from the MJCCA Blonder Family Department for Developmental Disabilities. Every year they stage a show and for the last five years I have had the great honor of running spotlight for them.

It is an annual reminder that if you have a dream…you should follow it. I am realizing as I type this post during rehearsal that these amazing people with disabilities that I have watched put on these shows for the last five years have had a greater impact on me personally than I have ever realized. I just don’t think they understand the word Can’t.

Amy, my friend from work, is the stage manager and she recruited me to help five years ago. I had no idea what it was that I was actually going to help with and when I first started helping it was really just about getting a little extra cash in my pocket.

But after watching the process for five years now it is so not about money anymore. In fact, I think I would still help even if I didn’t get my $150.

This year’s production is Oklahoma and this show holds a special place in my heart. Oklahoma was the first musical that I ever saw and it was a production by the drama department of Mississippi College in Clinton where I grew up. I definitely think God has a sense of humor sometimes. Given the fact that the first musical I ever saw is going to be one of the last that I work on before I move on to the next chapter of my life.

I am just so in awe of the actors on this stage. They are truly an inspiration. They love what they do, they are happy to be here and they can’t wait for that curtain to open. I want that kind of attitude.
I want their smile.

Well, the show is starting now so I better go…

House lights out…go
(Overture starts)
Light cue 1…go
Spotlight on Curly…go

Curly:
OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNIN’,
OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY.
I GOT A BEAUTIFUL FEELIN’,
EV’RYTHIN’S GOIN’ MY WAY.

Not just about green beer after all

This past fall when I took a class called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement one of the speakers actually told us the real story of St. Patrick. I had no idea and this post has been in the hopper ever since then. I just needed the next St. Patrick’s Day to roll around. So in honor of the festivities this upcoming weekend I thought I would share.

Check it out if you are looking for some reading material at work...

The Real Story of St. Patrick

It’s all about the benjamins baby…

So a few weeks back I started meeting with a new community group from church. Basically, this is just a group of single guys that I meet with for two hours on a weekly basis. And when we are not talking about girls we use the last fifteen minutes to talk about what God is doing in our lives and how He has impacted our lives. Just kidding. We talk about God way more than that.

Anywho…we had an interesting discussion tonight about money. We were confirming that sometimes life is just simpler when you don’t have a ton of dough. How having a good amount of money just opens you up to more temptations, simply because you can AFFORD those temptations.

I have been blessed to work in the non-profit industry for my entire career and have never really had the luxury of direct depositing the amounts of cash that some of my friends have had. In some respects I feel lucky. Sure I have bought my fair share of stuff and I have always wanted more money to eliminate my debt, I just haven’t had that Richy Rich vault to deal with.

But a thought came to me tonight as we sat around discussing how to not make money an idol…can money become an idol when your life totally depends on receiving donations from people?

I have never really had that much positive financial margin in my life so I just learned to be content with what I had. But can I be content when the funds I need to raise for this whole missionary thing don’t come in on my timeline?

It’s just an interesting thought. I know the abundance of money can make it an idol but can the lack of money make me place those benjamins on that same pedestal?

Things that make you go hmmmm...

Open for Business

Well...the process of finalizing details and raising funds to move to South America has officially begun.

I am now set up with my own page on the SAMS website. You can see it here. Also, my good friend Adam has created a website for me and if you haven't seen it you can check it out at www.curtlittle.com.

I am coordinating a trip to Bolivia in June to finalize the exact city that I am going to live in and the exact ministry that I am going to partner with. My current timeline has me finalizing my placement this summer, training in Colorado in late September and October and officially moving to South America at the beginning of December.

No doubt it is going to be a very exciting nine months as I prepare to get on that plane and move.

Game on.