Today's Episode: On Christ the Solid Rock I stand...

For those who may know me through Tumblr or the Radio Dead Air chat, please bear with me for a few minutes as I share some things that are on my heart.  

Most all of us have had a little over 24 hours to digest and to think about and talk about what all went on as far as processing the sudden passing of Justin aka JewWario.  Lindsey touched on something that struck a chord with me.  She talked about different coping strategies.  I'm going to share mine for a few minutes.  I do want to preface by saying that I realize that some people may not espouse the same beliefs as I do and that's fine.  I am not one to bop you over the head with a Thompson Chain Reference Bible and say "Thus Saith the Lord" and sound like a backwoods Kentucky preacher.  I do though want to share how I have coped with this so far.

This morning, as I have done every Sunday morning for as long as I can remember since I was a child, I got up and went to the church just down the street from my house.  It's a church that I've called my church home for a little over a year now and I must say that I am comfortable being in that church and fellowshiping with other brothers and sisters.  

In good times, in bad times, as the old hymn states, "whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say 'it is well, it is well with my soul'".  Is it hard, on days like this weekend, to say "God I'm leaning on You to help me through this situation"?  You know it.  Do I?  Most of the time.  Am I saying I'm the perfect Christian?  No.  There has only been one perfect person walking the Earth that I know of, they nailed Him to a cross.  But He didn't stay there.  Right now He's seated at the right hand of the Father praying for us.

Again, I am sharing with you how I have dealt with this in my own life.  You may be dealing with it in other ways.  It's not my place to say whether you're doing right or wrong.  If anyone does want to talk with me, I'm open.  My Skype ID is rjkeil38.  If you're not friends with me on Facebook, look me up.  I am @ rjkeil on Twitter.  Feel free to cuss, discuss and cuss some more.  I promise...I won't use a Bible as Mjolnir!!!

Today's Episode: Speechless in Western Oklahoma...

I wasn't hardly planning on doing a post today...but at the time of this writing, I am speechless and shocked right now.  And it's not the good kind of speechless and shock.

I just received word that an internet reviewer (not one of the ones I spotlighted yesterday, but he has done work with the group I mentioned) Justin Carmichael aka JewWario had committed suicide this past Thursday.

Words can not express how shocked and saddened I am about this.

All I'm going to say from this point is...pray for Justin's family, his friends and colleagues.

Wow...

Finding a Niche...

First blog post of 2014...and it's on what I think is a very complex subject.

I watch a lot of videos here on the Internet and read different blogs and stuff, and it seems that the people have found their niche in what their blogs/web shows, etc. are supposed to be about.  Some examples:  

Atop The Fourth Wall -- hosted by Lewis Lovhaug, a guy in Minnesota who takes really bad comic books and points out the flaws in the editing and the drawings and is quite entertaining.

The Nostalgia Critic -- a character who takes different pop culture favorites and adds insight and interesting little tidbits that either want to make you go up and thank him for bringing that up or to punch him in the mouth for ruining it for you forever.

What the (Bleep) is Wrong with You -- a weekly schadenfreude during a Monday night webcast called "Radio Dead Air" where the hosts comment on news stories from around the world sent in by viewers of the show.

(all of those by the way can be found on That Guy with the Glasses.  Radio Dead Air can be seen on Monday nights here)

Anyway...all of those have found their niches.  Me, on the other hand...finding mine is, to borrow a line from Garth Brooks, like trying to rope the wind.  As you have seen on this blog and everywhere else, I go anywhere and everywhere with this.  I blog about sports, about life, comment on what I see on the local news (I doubt someone in Podunk, PA would want to know what goes on in the Oklahoma City market but I comment about it anyway), I'll throw in some Scripture sometimes to keep you (and me) on our toes.  I'll blog when I'm sad, blog when I'm happy and sometimes blog about something when I want to go introduce someone to the five-fold ministry...and I don't mean the one outlined in Ephesians either.

It's been suggested that maybe I should do this on a daily basis.  Being that when I do do this, it's when something is weighing heavily on my mind/heart.  Not saying I won't do it, but it is a strong possibility.

That's all I've got for now.  Until next time...

Thank God It's Over...

Today is the day we kick 2013 into the horizon and look forward to a better year in 2014.  I'm sure a lot of people can relate to the song I posted...

For a lot of my friends (live in person and friends I know through the Interwebs), 2013 was a completely sucky year.

For my church, 2013 was a year of transition as we welcomed not only a new senior minister, but the children's and youth ministers as well.  And I started to get more involved in the church as I am one of the sound techs.

I think a lot of us can pick one particular stand out benchmark moment for this year.  For me, it would definitely be the weekend a group of us from church went to Moore to help out with the tornado relief.  Just looking at all the devastation and some of the rebuilding (at that time) that had gone on...jaw dropping, life changing to say the least.

Here's to 2014 being a better year spiritually, physically, emotionally...and probably financially too!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Dreaming with my eyes wide open...

Do you ever have one of those dreams where you wake up from it like "Oh dear God, please don't let this happen"?   I just had one and "oh God..."

Here's the scenario...

I'm at church sitting in my Sunday School class.  The way our classroom is set up is there are five tables around the room...if you're looking at it from where the teacher stands, there are two tables on your left, one in the center and two tables on the right.  I usually sit at the center table because 1) that's usually the first place I park when I get there and 2) I can hear the teacher.   Anyway, he usually goes around the room from table to table asking for prayer requests and/or praise reports from all of us seated at the various tables.  He comes to the table where I am sitting and I go to start speaking, and....

Mouth is open, but no sound coming out of it.    I try again, nothing.  I try a third time.  Finally, I have this deer in the headlights look like "Oh God...what's going on".   Someone in the room immediately recognizes that I am having some sort of stroke so they whisk me across to the hospital.  And someone did have the presence of mind to go get Mom and Dad and let them know what was going on.


It's one of those dreams where I don't know if it was a warning to prepare me or one of those "scare tactics" that the devil likes to throw out there on occasion.  Whatever it is, I just pray that that doesn't happen, especially if it is that specific...

Reaching for the Right Words...

As we all know, God has a way of blessing people in ways that would totally blow the human mind out of the water...and bring people into your life that you would least expect, including long lost family members. A prime example would be the person that we just lost yesterday -- my Aunt Betty.

I mentioned this briefly, but here's a little more background on what I mentioned in my post about the newspaper ad that brought my Aunt Betty and my Mom together again.

I was in the 4th grade and my sister was just a baby.  We were living on North 6th at the time in a house we affectionately called "The Butterfly House" (don't go try to go looking for it today...it's been long since torn down and now just a vacant lot).  Anyway, a relative of ours in OKC had gotten the paper and something wasn't quite right.  If you've ever gotten the paper delivered to your house, the front section is always the section that shows.  This particular day, the classifieds were out front (maybe the carrier was led by the Lord to do it that particular way -- we may never know the reasoning but other to say it was God). It was then given to my grandparents who eventually got it to Mom and Dad after much deliberation. There was a particular ad that caught our eye.  It was needing some information on siblings that this particular person was looking for and gave a number to call -- a 276 prefix which is in the community of Burneyville in southern Oklahoma, other than maybe Thackerville it's the closest you can get to the Red River without actually going into the river.  Mom and Dad got to investigating and turned out, Aunt Betty had placed the ad in The Oklahoman and was looking for her other sisters who were all adopted out.  As you know, my Mom and Aunt Marsha were adopted by my grandparents Ray and Goldie Tucker and one other sister was sent to an unknown location.  1981 was the first time in several years that my Aunt Betty and my Mom had seen each other since they were children.  She brought her family up and visited for a weekend and a few months later we reciprocated and went down to her neck of the woods.

Putting the last 30+ years of remembering and reminiscing about someone like my Aunt Betty into words is unfathomable.  From all the good things that happened (her sons graduating HS, marrying and having their kids and everything) to the sad things including yesterday, it's just hard to comprehend it.  But I'm glad that God put this all together so we can remember a wonderful wife/mother/grandmother/sister/aunt like Betty (Jerri) Burton.

Rest in Peace Aunt Betty.  We love you and will miss you!!!

Editor's note:  Thanks to my mother for fact-checking this post.  I wasn't clear on some things so she corrected me on what I got wrong.  Thanks Mom!!!

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

Apparently my brain did not want me to go to sleep unless I added "My 2 Cents" on the whole "government shutdown" thing...so here it goes...

Yes, people are pointing fingers and blaming the other side for this shutdown,  acting like a bunch of spoiled children who don't get their way when they are told they can't have a certain item (candy, toy, etc.)  My niece and nephew are better behaved than these numbnutseses...and they're 5 and 3.

I am of the thinking here (and the opinion expressed here is mine and only mine, not influenced by Beck or Limbaugh or whoever) that if someone is to blame for all this...we should look at ourselves in the mirror.  We voted these goofballs in there...they told us what they would do if we elected them and we were like "ok" like a bunch of dunces.  And I've noticed that while nobody that I know of on the state and local level act like this, it's become apparent that the national Democrats have acted more and more like their mascot. Not pointing fingers, just stating an opinion.  I know, you're going to pop up "Well, Rob...some of the conservatives aren't that much better."  True...hence the acronym RINO (Republican in Name Only).

We've got pretty much a whole year to commit this to memory until the next election cycle.  I'm sure there will be a lot of us that will keep this in mind when we go to select who our next Congressman or Senator will be that will probably have to take up this issue next year....and pray that we don't make the same mistake as we did last time when we voted these knuckleheads in.  

OK, brain...now that I've said my piece, will you shut up and let me sleep?