It was on a Tuesday somebody touched me...

Revival: 1.) a renewed attention to or interest in something, 2.) an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings

This is some of what Webster's has to say about revival. Actually, these two definitions fit the revival that's going on this week at Rock Springs Baptist quite nicely. Revival, to me, has always a designated week during the year that is filled with going to/from church, praying, singing, visiting, fellow-shipping, preaching, and seeing people saved. To be honest I'm really not so sure that it ever meant much more than that up until about 12 years ago.

On a Tuesday night during summer revival I got a hold of the one thing that makes a revival happen and thrive. I got the Holy Spirit and the gift of salvation. Not just a gift, the gift. The only gift that truly holds any value in this world. The greatest gift of all. My gift. Sure, lots of people have received this amazing gift, but none are exactly the same as mine. The most special thing about this FREE gift is that it's only enough for me; I can't give any of it to anyone else because God designed it to just be enough for one individual. Don't worry though, God isn't stingy with his gift-giving. He set aside enough individual doses of the salvation for each and every human being on Earth and those to come. He created this world with me and and you in mind and was keeping me and you in mind when he sent His only Son to die on a rugged cross so that me and you could call Heaven our home after our life on Earth is finished. Pretty amazing, huh?

You see, God offered the gift of salvation to me and I accepted it. There wasn't any bargaining, money transactions, or time spent setting up a payment schedule. Remember, I said this gift from God was a FREE gift. All I did was claim Jesus as my Savior and put my trust and faith in God that He would one day make a home on Heaven for me. The great thing about this gift is that it never runs out or has to be returned, instead, it only seems to get better and better as I grow older. I just can't get over the fact that God loves me so much and wants to be with me at all times. He's truly an amazing God and values His relationship with each of His children.

Today revival means so much more than just going to church 14 times during the week, singing song after song after song, and hearing sermons from many preachers. Revival means that I can go back to that Tuesday night almost 12 years and know without a doubt that God still loves me and is still promising a home in Heaven for me when my body dies. It's a time for me to draw closer to my Lord and renew my spirit that so often gets beat down in this world. And, one of the most exciting and worthwhile times during revival is the opportunity to welcome new members of the family of Christ into the fold; to see someone saved is probably the most miraculous, happy, uplifting, and feel-good-to-the-soul moments that can be experienced in this life, and I'm thankful to have had two of these moments during this week's revival and confident that God has much more in store for the remaining services.

Just like the song says, "It was on a Tuesday somebody touched me; It must have been the hand of the Lord!"... what was your day?

Just add it to your wish list...

I've been in a bit of a nesting mood for the past few weeks which has led me spend countless hours of my down time digging through my closet, cleaning out drawers, and unloading packed shelves. To some this may seem like a tedious task or perhaps just a headache, but for me its fun and most often leads to a therapeutic session with an ample time for reminiscing, soul searching, and unloading burdens.

While I do love organizing, relocating, and sometimes parting ways with gifts, treasures, and junk that I've stored for too long, I love looking for new items to fill the newly available voids in my closet, drawers and on the shelves. Thankfully, I tend to do more "window shopping" than actually purchasing which my bank account thanks me for often. The term "window shopping" might provoke your mind to think of a sidewalk along a highly known street that holds the box numbers to some of the most exquisite, ritzy stores known to man, but that's not my kind of  "shopping without buying" scene. No, not even close. You'll only be smelling musk and wiping the dust off your hands in my favorite shopping locations which you can often be led to with the help of only a poster board, permanent marker, and a wooden stake. Don't act like you've ever been driving anywhere on a Saturday morning and NOT seen those neon posters in the grass that proudly proclaim "BARGAIN" in bold letters spelling out... Y A R D  S A L E!

Yard sales are the one place you can go to find everything and anything that you ever or never wanted. You know that coined phrase from Forrest Gump that goes like "Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get"? Well, I say "Life is like a yard sale; you never know what you're gonna get". The fun part of the yard sale is that there are new things, old things, broken things, and, well, things that you can't even identify. If you don't see what you're looking for you can't just waltz up to the owner and ask to see this season's catalog and order the item you've been looking for, instead, you have to substitute it for some other quality item at this yard sale or go on to the next one to see what they have to offer. Furniture has become the "treasure" that I'm drawn to at yard sales, antique shops, and second-hand stores. However, I don't exactly have a "need" for furiniture at this particualr moment, but hey, what's wrong with looking.

This brings me to the point that I can't just subscribe online to a yard sale and create a wish list of all the things I hope to buy one day. It just doesn't work that way. I suppose I'll just have to settle with the yard sale wish list I have in my head.

Why?

Living an exceptionally exciting life? No. Far away from most relatives and friends? No. Promoting a business, hobby, or craft? No.

All of these might lead or obligate someone to create a blog that's open to the entire electronic world and population, but this is not the case for me. My life is not overly exciting at the moment, my family members (with the exception of just a few key people) are located in Georgia within about a 20 mile radius of each other, and I'm not in the process of starting a small business with the hopes of selling some unique, easy to manufacture, over-priced good. (However, I AM currently unemployed, so if you have an idea for a unique, easy to manufacture, over-priced good please send me an email,  and I'll start working on another blog to showcase my new business endeavor.)

Now, back to what DID prompt the creation of this blog... I've basically found myself thinking "this would make a good blog post" too many times in past couple months. I got on a pretty good schedule of blogging, journaling, soul-searching, making a cry to the world, or whatever you choose to call it during my time in Belize and have missed my time thinking, writing, and documenting memories and nonsense in the hopes that one day I'll look back on my entries and reminisce about the exceptional, awful, life-changing, or ordinary days of my young adulthood.  I've been inspired to write more frequently through the numerous blogs that I follow or just come across on a daily basis. And let's face it, Facebook stalking seems a little too last-year and time-consuming when there are much more entertaining, creative things to see on people's blogs.

So, here it is. A new opportunity for you to fill the useless hours during your day at work or in class. You're welcome! I promise to keep you away from doing anything productive as much as possible. And, let me remind you that the "comment" section below isn't there to fill up empty space, but for you to use to waste away even more hours of the day. Now that we've gotten that settled... Ready? Go!