Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Oh no...

...someone talked about me in the past tense a few days back.

Curt "was" _____________.

Oh man it's started already. I'm already gone.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Storytime

One of the amazing blessings of being at home right now is the opportunity to spend some time with my six-year old niece Carolyn. She has a great imagination and I love to help her make up stories. Here is our latest creation. Well, I should say that here is HER latest creation. All I did was help her with the camera, type the story for her and play the role of the male voices in the story...


Poems and Revenge
By Carolyn and Curt
(As told by my six-year old niece Carolyn)

Main Characters

Princess – she lives at the richest castle in the Land of Animals

Leroy – he is the brother of Samuel the King

Samuel – he is the King of the Land of Animals and he lives in the castle in the mountains (He looks happy but he is really mean)

Mr. Giraffe – he is the postman

Once upon a time in the Land of Animals…

Samuel the King lived near his brother Leroy in the castle in the mountains and they overlooked the castle of Princess.

Princess is the richest one in the land and she is richer than the King. Her castle is very big and she has an indoor swimming pool. And she has a huge yacht and the King only has a jet ski that doesn’t so anything.

Samuel wanted Leroy to marry Princess because she was richer than him so Samuel made fake love poems with Leroy’s name on them and sent them to Princess by way of the postman Mr. Giraffe. So Princess made a sign that said “No more love poems!” And King Samuel did not know what to do.

So he figured out a way for Leroy to marry Princess by writing a note that said “Can I visit?” And Princess said “Yes.” So the King and Leroy went and visited Princess. But Princess knew why the King wanted Leroy to visit. (Cause her cousin Fox had spied on the King ever since she moved here.)

While the King was looking at her yacht, Princess and Leroy had a little secret from the King. The secret was that she knew what the whole plan was because her spy told her. Princess and Leroy decided to hide the secret from the King but acted normal.

But the next day, Leroy was telling Princess what they had been doing at the castle. But the only thing that was wrong with that was that Leroy was worried that the King would hear the secret while he was looking for him. The King called for Leroy to come. So Princess answered, “He is having some lunch with me.” The King said, “When is Leroy going to come home?” And Princess said “Probably tomorrow morning.”

But the King said, “No. He must be home by after lunch.” So he was waiting and waiting for Leroy to come home. But Leroy did not come. The King did not know why Leroy was not coming. The King got very mad! So he was very very upset and then Princess and Leroy came home to the King’s castle.

The King asked Leroy, “What were you doing? You did not come.” And Leroy accidentally said, “But I was having pizza with her.” The King was mad. He put Leroy in the dungeon just for having pizza with her and not for coming at the right time. The Princess was very mad because Leroy was in the dungeon and he is the only one that she wanted to talk to. So she made the King jump off the diving board and land on his jet ski. She jumped onto her yacht and pushed his jet ski so hard that she pushed him all the way to a deserted island where there was nothing but sand.

48 years later…

The King had turned his jet ski into a rocket but also when the Princess hit him so hard she moved onto a part of the island that he did not know about. (So she could keep an eye on him.) But one day, he saw that part of the island where Princess was and saw that she had built a boat. So she was very unhappy to see that the King had spotted her. So he flew over to her part of the island and tried to get her boat but she karate kicked him all the way back to his part of the island because she was a black belt.

The King had a plan. He decided to go back to his castle and hurt Leroy so she would have to come back and save him. But when he got back to his castle to hurt Leroy he was going to make Leroy walk off the diving board. And once Leroy jumped off the diving board Princess’s bird swooped down and caught him on his back. The bird flew Leroy all the way back to the island but the King did not know where the bird was going. But he figured out where the bird was going and his jet ski broke down again on the island. Princess’s bird grabbed the King so hard and Princess threw the King all the way into space.

And Princess and Leroy lived happily ever after.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Thermal Curtain Failure

Well my computer gave me the blue screen of death error message this weekend and it would not boot up properly. I spent the majority of my time and energy over the last few days trying to fix the error on my own. But I was also “supposedly” enjoying a spiritual retreat this weekend on Navarre Beach in Florida. It was going to be the perfect opportunity to get away and spend some quality time alone with God.

The issue with my laptop pretty much messed everything up and that’s a real shame because I didn’t even need my laptop this weekend yet I was still consumed beyond belief with fixing it. I am totally addicted to that thing. I could have put the laptop down, thanked God that I even have a laptop and enjoyed some quiet time with Him minus technology.

But as I came to realize this past weekend my laptop = my control. My laptop represents communication, emails, meetings, ministry, support, donations, etc…and when that crashes, I found out that I kinda crash myself. I am mad at myself for not reacting better when my computer crashed and I am frustrated that my computer is such an idol in my life. And I took out the anger that I felt towards myself on others by withdrawing and becoming silent. It wasn’t until last night when I really openly and honestly talked to God about the issue that I felt any better. Why can’t I involve Him in my everyday issues more?

I really need to realize that things are not always going to go according to plan and my response when things go wrong says a lot about where my focus is and where my priorities are. I let this computer issue prevent me from growing closer to God these past two days. I mean, I am about to move to Bolivia and things there are certainly not always going to go according to plan. And chances are it could be a much bigger deal than a stupid laptop.

How will I react the next time something in my life “crashes”?

The words God gave me through all of this were that I place way too much value on my laptop and also He reminded me that silence and withdrawing in no way shape or form build relationships.

Father, I beg you. Show me how to see the blessings when things go wrong because my natural tendency is to only focus on the negative and the problem at hand.

I need You to help me zoom out before I zoom in.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

You know?

What up. So below is the link to the interview that I did at Holy Cross church on Nov. 4. If you are bored at work check it out. It is only twenty minutes long. But you get to hear me talk from my own lips about why I am about to do what God has called me to do.

I say "You know" like 500 times during the interview but it's all good. It's my own little version of "Um" or "Like" I guess.

To the Glory of God the Father.

Enjoy.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Yikes!

47 days...

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

One Way Tickets

Thanks for your prayers. My talks at church this past Sunday went swell. God showed up. I felt the Holy Spirit giving me strength and I pray that He was glorified and I pray that He spoke to the hearts that He needed to speak to.

It’s more about God getting glory than me getting funds but I was able to distribute a lot of my contact/prayer cards after the services. One thing that has happened already since Sunday is that one person who was there that I had never met before contacted me and set up my flight from Atlanta to Miami using Delta Skymiles. God is so good. I had already booked my flight from Miami to La Paz but I had not yet booked my flight from Atlanta to Miami.

So now my departure is officially set. Goodbye everything and everyone I have ever known. Hello everything I’ve never been before.

Somehow this whole thing became more real when my flight out of Atlanta was actually on paper. I now know exactly when I will be leaving and that would be 2:52 p.m. on Friday, December 28th. I must admit that my stomach dropped a little when I saw that 2:52 p.m.

The Friday after Christmas is when I will officially leave everything and everyone here and head to my new home. Wow. I will ring in 2008 about 3700 miles from the Giant Peach.

And not to mention that both my ticket to Miami and my ticket to La Paz are ONE WAY TICKETS. I have never ever bought a one way ticket to anywhere before. I mean, I always know when I am coming back from places. It is a very strange feeling to know that I am going somewhere but that I don’t know exactly when I will be coming back. All I know is that God willing I will come back.

I hear that in the “old days” when missionaries left to go to the field they like really left. It was goodbye forever in many cases and they took their caskets with them. Crazy. I can only imagine what those goodbyes were like.

I guess I just better get ready to have all of my bags searched multiple times on the way down there. I have no doubt that me and my fellow one-way ticket buyers out there cause someone to get an IM message when we check in. Well, I should look on the bright side. At least I will get some personalized attention as I make my way through the airports.

“Sir, I really AM a missionary who is going to live in Bolivia, I promise.”

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Prayer anyone?

Yo...so if you read this before tomorrow morning (Sunday, 11/4) and you are the praying kind please lift me up as I have been asked to share my story and talk about what God has called me to do in La Paz during both services at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville.

Just pray that God says through me what He needs to say and that the people hear what God needs them to hear. (And if you read this after Sunday just pray that all went well)

Gracias.

P.S. Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour tonight...