The Horn of Anger

Have you ever wondered what that horn is for, that sits in the middle of your car's steering wheel?

Sure, it may seem absurd to question the function of such a basic and obvious operation. But let me ask you the same question that led me to ask this introductory question...

When was the last time you used your horn? Huh!?

I bet you can't remember. But even if you can, I bet it wasn't to warn somebody of an impending accident he was about to cause. Like myself and the rest of us, you were probably angry at someone.

Ya see, I had noticed for many years that I never used my horn. The only rare occasion that I used it, I was simply expressing my annoyance at whoever cut me off. And so I got to thinking, is this really what the car manufacturers intended? Did they design this horn to help us audibly express our disgust with another driver? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

And yet that's what we all use it for! And that seems to be all we use it for. Ya see, I had fully understood its function, but what I was really trying to grasp was its purpose.

I'm sure by now, you know where I'm going with this: that the horn's true intended purpose was to be used as a warning for other drivers in potentially disastrous situations. But what was interesting for me in this is where this came alive to me.

Ya see, in being trained as a UPS driver, I discovered just how useful this neglected piece of simplistic ingenuity is. I can let people know that I'm there. For anybody parked along the road or about to pull out from a driveway, it is a wonderful warning for them.

I view the horn so differently now. I respect the horn. Now I use the horn - as intended, not as an extension of my temper.

My Friends... Old and not so old...

Here I am again.... Greatful. I thank my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ (I like to specify this because sometimes when people say "God", others can confuse what that person actually means...) for giving me and bringing to me the friends that I have in my life. When I think back at my life and remember the fond memories about my life... the fondest memories almost always involve my friends. This makes me miss them all... Old friends from back when I lived in Hartland... (some I keep in touch with better than others... but I'm very glad that I still keep in touch with them)... and newer, yet still good, old friends that I met back at College... such as ...Ney to name one (my best man!). Man... if you look down the list of posts in this blog, you will find the list of memories that ...ney and I have had... it's crazy the fun and good times we've had!

Anyway... I'm finding it very difficult to express what I'm actually feeling here. I can barely put it in words... The words here tonight do not adequately express my love for my friends and for my Lord for bringing them into my life.... You guys know who you are!

THANKS!

Church Shopping Results

We're still looking. We didn't settle yet. Talk about a bummer. But some new developments have taken place. As far as the Sunday all one of you voted on, it was gonna be your vote, but I really wanted to introduce my family to the Faith Baptist Church in Hollis. So we went there, just to show my family.

And it's quite fitting that we didn't pick a church yet, because the very next day I finally went to check out working at a Christian School close by. They have openings, but don't pay much. And it feels like they like to get their teachers from within their church. I would have to agree with their doctrine, become a part of their church, and a contributing member to be able to work in their school.

So guess what? That's where my family and I went to church today, March 11. We went "all day" to their 9:45am SS, 11:00am Service, and 6:00pm Service. Fortunately we liked it. But it's still so hard to decide to pick this church. I don't want to pick it just out of a prospect to work there, but it feels like it might fit. They are more conservative than what we're used to, but we can live with that. They had a good spirit there. They seem to be a healthy church.

So I'm very glad we hadn't settled on a church yet. I was about to settle on the Crossway Christian Church, but I just felt the need to go back to Faith Baptist for some reason. And the reason was that we weren't meant to settle on a church yet. Because, as I said, I finally got up the nerve to go check out this Christian School at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Litchfield.

The funny thing is, if we settle on any church now, we won't even be considering the whole original list of churches we had already been to. So much has changed this past week. I really don't know what to think about it. All I know for sure is that God is leading us into the next step.

We walk by faith in God.

PS. They also may have openings for their youth ministry. That would be great.

PPS. I now want to check out a couple more Christian Schools in the area to find out about opportunities. I don't know what will come of this journey, but I know God is leading. As far as I'm concerned, everything else is in the Lord's hands from here on out. As a result, I will conclude my Church Shopping postings now. Everything else is now in His hands.

Some ups and downs

Hey... it's been far to long since I've posted here so here I go... to let you know what's been going on in my life and stuff....

You may or may not have known this, but my wife and I had found a house that we wanted to buy and we put in an offer and everything was a go and we were so excited to finally own our own home. We were going to be moving in on March 23rd and then we were going to have our new baby shortly thereafter and everything was grand. We had even started to slowly pack and had a couple boxes ready to go and everything. Then....

... our lawyer sent us a letter saying that there was something wrong with the Title to the property of this house and that he wanted nothing to do with it. This house... is on shared land with 6 other people. We thought we were buying 16.67 acres of our own land when in fact we were only buying 1/6th ownership into the shared land and there is nothing that says that we own the land that the actual house is sitting on. Is that a little weird to you? You don't own the land that your house is sitting on, but you're buying 16.67 acres of... land... where? Do you see something wrong with this picture? I know I do.

So, we have backed out of the deal at our lawyers advice and now the vendors of the house refuse to sign the mutual release.... which is the piece of paper that we and they would both sign to just break the obligation to this contract to buy the house.... they don't want to because they are... well, I won't go there... but now this issue is with the lawyers and my lawyer is trying to convince their lawyer to convince them to sign this silly release.

So now, we are stuck here for another few months because of this stupid issue. Our experience buying our first home turned out to be a real drag. We hope the next experience will prove to be the complete opposite. Those of you who pray to God, the Creator of the Universe, please pray that The Lord would help resolve this issue quickly so we can continue our search for our new home for before or shortly after we have the new baby...

Out.

It's Time for you to Vote!

So where do you think we'll be attending from now on, starting this first March Sunday? Or do you think we'll look up another church to try? Place your guess now in the comments section.

1. New Church
2. Trinity Baptist Church
3. Nashua Baptist Church
4. Heritage Baptist Church
5. Nashua Presbyterian Church
6. Faith Baptist Church
7. First Baptist Church
8. Crossway Christian Church
9. Nazarene Community Chapel

If you want to make an educated guess, check out my weekly reviews of each place. If you want to make a guess in the comments section, you can just list the number that corresponds to the option you pick. I'll post the compiled results next week.

The date you are voting on: Sunday, March 4.
You can vote until Saturday, March 10 at noon.
I'll post the results by the end of that day.

Happy Voting!

Shopping for a New Church, Week 7

We went to the Nazarene church in Nashua this past Sunday. It's called "Community Chapel." It was big. They have three services in the morning. I would have gotten lost in the building if not for the guide.

It was worse than I thought it would be. I thought they would at least be organized enough to give us the time of day. It didn't feel like anybody cared that we were there. The people we met didn't seem to care that it was our first time there. Sure, they were friendly, and there's a lot going on as a part of their "organization" - or ministry, as it should spiritually be put - but I didn't find them to be very receptive. Nobody tried to befriend us or even introduce themselves. Nobody welcomed us to their church, to be a part of it, or even offered us one of their cute little welcome packets.

I found the service very churchy - like the way I used to lead services. Trying to make everything sound so profound and pious. I used to try to act like everything was so meaningful and important, and serious, I guess. I mean, the service was very standard. I can't believe how many standard evangelical services are out there. We've only attended a few just here in Nashua and I already feel bored with the same mood, order, and elements of the service. Yeah, they had their band playing, latest technology with powerpoint and such, but that doesn't mean much, does it?

But it's a Nazarene church. As good Wesleyans, we should really be attending there. It's the closest thing we have to our tradition and persuasion. So we'll see.