All Things New

It's about time I took one of the many nonsensical whimsies of my mind that Blogger has labeled a draft and formed it into a comprehensible opinion!

Life has been pretty crazy so far this year. Our life is overflowing with a type of newness that I praise God's name for!

A New Car.
For those of you who have known me for quite some time, you might question my vehicle trend in life...I do. God has recently allowed me to have the Fiat 500. It's comparable to a smart car but bigger and slightly more powerful.

Fiat claims to rival the Cooper, and I am totally behind this claim for the following reason...

Yes. The Italian Job Claims the Cooper can carry 1 and a 1/2 times it's own weight in gold while still out-preforming its pursuer in true Jason Statham fashion. While I would possibly consider this car for a 2300lb gold heist, the fact that all of it's gauges are in the middle of the dash as opposed to above the wheel (talk about your sight-line deficiency) makes this vehicle inferior to the Fiat in every way.   

A New House.
THIS has been an interesting endeavor to say the least. I start by saying despite common belief, rarely do I ever rush into giant decisions. But we found a house by missing a turn on an interstate. (literally- saw the sign for the homes after missing a turn...lol)

After much deliberation and outside advice on the subject, we decided to move forward with the purchase. The entire process has been surprisingly smooth (maybe because we're buying directly from the builder) and straight-forward. The location is amazing and central to our lives, the price for what we are getting is very good...The consensus of me and Jen is that God has dropped this opportunity into our lap.

I originally did not want to buy a house for a couple of years, but the housing market suggests otherwise. With rates that allow for a monthly payment to be slightly higher then rent, we figure now is the time to buy.

A New Church.
We have recently decided to switch churches. We actually made the decision quite some time ago, but decided recently to actively look.

Church shopping makes it onto my top 50 hated activities of life. Scoring right along side cooking, decorating, dancing, and running into the person from my past who is really happy to see me, but for the first 5 seconds of our interaction I have no clue who they are.

I don't know about you, but I have never found a church on my own accord. Ever. I believe God is all about making it very clear that HE is the one who will supply the church in my life that is solely focused on Him and His word. Google, while great at finding many other things in life, has been severely lacking in the godly church department. It's not how I found Mclean, WEC, Crossroads (our current church- http://www.crcnorfolk.com/page/home) or any church that will significantly impact me spiritually. Nope. Our church was suggested to us by a good friend. (which is how God operates in this department)

There are two surprising factors about this church..

1. Its small. About 150 people. Me and Jen are used to the mega church scene. But in the church searching process I made myself a disclaimer that size, although a preferable trait, would not dissuade us from a decision. While our area is sort of known as being a spiritual desert, (eh...) Crossroads has stood out to me as being the only church I have visited in the area (out of many) that emphasizes God's word as being it's primary rudder and guiding light for direction.

2. It's only service is Sunday morning. And while getting up early also scores on the list of hated activities of life, I told myself that an evening service rates in the preferred but not required category. And God called me on it...:)

A New Marriage. 
Been getting alot of questions about how married life is going. My response has been that marriage so far has been one of the very few things in life that has exceeded my expectations of it. God has blessed this union immensely, and me with an amazing woman to go through life with. Sadly, we have gotten a few "well it's great NOW." responses. And maybe surprisingly, I would agree that marriage without any sort of conscious effort to combat my sinful nature to only focus on what I can get out of it- will indeed lead to an unpleasant place no couple WANTS or foresees themselves ever being, but sadly end up.

The frame of behavior that the bible teaches on marriage (and relationships) is that of a constant pouring out to your spouse. In return, God pours into you. Both through your spouse and other avenues. This is what was emphasized to us through premarriage counseling. The biggest and most tragic misinterpretations I have witnessed of marriage and the christian life is that both are motivated out of obligation...Nothing could be further from the truth!

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Gal 5:1)

Writers Block...(?)

For some reason I am having problems thinking of a solid subject to write on since being married. Maybe it's because that is indeed what I want to write about and I feel people are probably over our wedding and tired of hearing about it. Maybe I shouldn't care and write something that I want to because it's my blog...

In anycase...I have decided to write about smaller things going on in my life instead.

-As before mentioned, I am now married. This has pretty much permeated my thought life. While I love being married, I can't help but to recall a tweet from one of our pastor's at Mclean Bible Church..."I don't love my marriage; I love Ashley." Every so often I remember this to remind myself of who I truly love...(Not Ashley- my wife!)

-I was reading a box of Cheerio's today and thought to myself- there's alot of friggin Cheerio flavors. I then began to wonder what flavors were up for review, but ultimately got rejected. Ice cream Cheerio's? Pepsi Cheerio's? Cantaloupe Cheerio's? I would eat all of these.

-This past Sunday we believe to have found a new church. In true God fashion, it was not church we found via Google, or even on our own accord. God likes to teach me that He will be the one who puts His church into my life. It's a very small church compared to what we have been attending, but passionate about God and His word...I am very excited about the potential witnessed this past Sunday.

-Been playing tennis alot this season with Michael Harper I love tennis with a fiery white-hot passion. It takes just about everything I have to compete with this dude, and a tremendous amount of soreness and suffering afterward...Which then results in a conviction to hit the gym. Thanks Mike...

-We went out to grill some chicken this past weekend on what we thought were our complex's grill. Turns out it was not, as a not so neighborly neighbor informed us. This guy was mad. And not mad like "Hey, why are you inadvertently using my grill that's located next to a public bench, in a public area, and has no lock or any indication otherwise that it's privately owned" mad. More mad like "Hey, you have about 10 seconds to step away from the grill you assumed was public before I grill your face" mad. I was upset at first- until I thought back on the situation and realized that if someone gets that upset over a mistake a stranger makes, clearly some bigger issues must be going on in his life...It made me reflect on the importance of not responding rashly in a situation.

Proverbs 12:18
The words of the reckless pierce like swords,
   but the tongue of the wise brings healing.


-We are going up to NoVa for the first time since being married this weekend. I couldn't be more excited to see friends, new family, and of course my second home in general :)

Thankfulness

Being recently married to my beautiful wife-I have much to be thankful for. Infact, from now and forever more, I don't believe a word or collection of words exist to describe April 29th, 2011. The day was more epic then the dreams I have been having about it beforehand.

Looking back, it is abundantly clear how much God will make His name justifiably glorified through those who desire to do so. How things fall into place for that to happen.

I am very thankful beyond comprehension for the effort of all involved! (family, friends, wedding party)

Not much else to say really...:)

-Lucky Man

P.S. Link to pics (not in order) http://photobucket.com/JenandSean

Affianced/Betrothed/Husband-to-be, And Other Such Fun Synonyms

SO.....Last Friday (the 15th) I asked this amazing woman Jen Catalfamo to marry me on the beach of Virginia.....And she said yes!

1-What?? Nice!
2-I am one lucky man.
3-Welp, looks like I'll be getting THAT resized.

Up to this point, as I witnessed close friends getting engaged, planning a wedding....I always wondered what thats like. Whats it like to go to marriage counseling? To make a guest list? Have a registry, start a knot page? (link to come soon!) and MANY other things involved in this amazing event. I have heard things like "This is the most stressful thing anyone will ever endure." To "It's an amazing blessing for 2 people to go through." and just about everything in between.

I feel we as people tend to over-hype many things in our life which ultimately leads to disappointment....and while I tried not to do that before our engagement, I can say for me personally, this has lived up to every ounce of anticipation I tried not to muster up :)

I LOVE planning this with my future wife (and yes, I understand some things are just not fun to do...) I love that we both want to honor God in as many ways as possible in our wedding, and show others exactly what were about as a couple.

I love that we're both about a short engagement...:)

While I'll try and not make this blog about the things I love, I will make a point that God has clearly....CLEARLY blessed me with what I do not deserve (in many areas of life) and one of my goals in life is to honor him through marriage and a family...(eventually!)

Through this process, whatever it may look like for us, I'm pretty much one excited man who has much to learn in the marriage department....:)