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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

You know you want it:

1.  In just about a week Homestead has gone from brown and crunchy to green and lush. That’s what 10 inches of rain – over a foot in some areas – will do to the surrounding landscape. We are now right smack in the middle of a tropical rain forest. That’s why they call this ‘America’s Riviera’.

2.  I could use another three-day weekend like this past weekend. I used Saturday and Monday as my ‘stay-at-home’ / ‘get-caught-up’ days, and I used Sunday as my ‘play-outside-with-friends’ day. I enjoyed all three days in their own special ways. I’m thinking about repeating the scenario this weekend by taking Friday off. It all depends on my requirements at my workplace.

3.  Yesterday was Memorial Day – a day that we set aside each year to honour those who served, fought, and died defending our country and our freedom. Unfortunately in this new day and age our Armed Forces are not recognized and respected for the hard work that they do for us around the clock and around the world. Our military heroes should never ever be written off or forgotten.

4.  Say what you will about this recent Miami Herald article, but I think that the news of Homestead’s death has been greatly exaggerated. I strongly believe that she will recover rather nicely once the global recession eases and the full-blown economic expansion presses forward full blast. Thousands of people moved down here to Homestead from 2002 to 2007 for a reason, and they will resume their MASSIVE migration southwestward sooner rather than later. There are already signs that this is starting to occur. History has shown us over and over again that with each new recession the expansion that follows is bigger and stronger than any previous one before it.

5.  The month-long celebration that is my 42ND birthday continues for another couple of weeks. I’ve already celebrated it with my family over in North Texas, and now I hope to do the same with my friends and family here in Homestead. If you’re looking for that something special to treat me with for my very special day then you simply can’t go wrong with … FOOD !

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Holidays

Memorial Day 2009

On this Memorial Day we honour all of those brave heroes of our Armed Forces that served, fought, and died for our freedom during times of war.

Memorial Day

http://www.usmemorialday.org – In Memory Of Our Honored Dead

http://www.history.com/minisites/memorial – Memorial Day

http://www.memorialdayfoundation.org – The Memorial Day Foundation

http://www1.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday/index.asp – U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs

http://www.remember.gov – U.S. White House Commission On Remembrance

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Blogging Food God Holidays People Travel

Life Pointe Church Plantation Key Lime Pie

I’m deviating from the normal ‘Mini Thoughts’ format of the ‘Tossed Salad’ to present a very special edition of the ‘Key Lime Pie’ in standard paragraph format with complete sentences !

This was the Life Pointe Church weekend that actually wasn’t supposed to happen. I had planned to be out-of-town during this long Memorial Day holiday weekend, but those plans never really got off of the ground, so here I am – and there I was.

I senior-skipped the 9 AM service this morning, as I slipped in to the movie theatre shortly after 10 AM. I attended the 10:30 AM service up in the ‘stadium’ seating area. I was able to sit with some really good people behind me and on my row, so that was quite the treat. (I’ll be back to serving again next Sunday morning.)

After the service me and most of those same good people headed on over to Mamma Mia (Italian ristorante) to enjoy some food, fun, and fellowship. It was definitely time well-spent with some good food and some good people.

Later on in the afternoon I visited John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (in Key Largo) for the first time ever. It’s part of my continuing ‘2009 Economic Stimulus Tour’ (of tourist attractions). I mainly checked out the fish tank exhibits within the visitor center, walked a cool nature trail under the hammocks, and sat by the dock of the bay wastin’ time. I plan to do the 2½-hour glass-bottom boat tour of the coral reefs on a future visit to the park.

Following the park adventure I got to experience the 6 PM service at our Plantation Key campus for the first time in over 5 months (since last December). The new church campus is coming along rather nicely, and I was happy and proud to see vibrant Life inside that building. The expansion of God’s Kingdom all around Mile Marker 90 in the Florida Keys is well on its way. Service is done on a more intimate level there than at our Homestead campus. It was rather surreal to experience it all. It had that unique Life Pointe Church flavor to it with that special Plantation Key feel. It was a cool combination. Check it out for yourself whenever you get a chance to head southwestbound.

Pastor Travis spoke to us on the revolutionary woman. It was based on the Good News that is 1 Peter 3:1-6 and Proverbs 31:10-31.

I am looking for a revolutionary woman in my Life that I am attracted to physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Past behaviour is generally a reasonable indication of future behaviour, so one who has disrespected relationships in the past will probably do so in the future as well. This is not always the case – especially if there has been a major life-changing event – such as (in my specific case) – a Rebirthing. Before this journey commenced over 1,000 days ago I always thought that ‘she’ completed me. That will never be the case again. Jesus Christ will always complete me, and He must also complete the revolutionary woman in my Life.

Can you believe it ?  Pastor Travis actually set aside a few minutes earlier today to blog a rare ‘Sunday Wrap-Up’. That’s the cool Travis 2.0 that I know !

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Animals Career Commerce Food God History Life Money Music Radio

Saturday Night Retro

My old (and well-preserved) checkbook registers reveal a lot about the storied history of my life.

19 years ago in May of 1990 my take-home pay from the base was less than one-fifth of what it is today. Things were much cheaper back then !

Back then I drank Coca Cola Classic and I used Plax and Act in conjunction with brushing my teeth. I also washed my clothes with Tide. I know this because I wrote these items down within the ‘description’ lines of the checkbook register. Some things just never change !

My cable bill was $40.12 and my long distance carrier was MCI. It cost $20.60 to register my vehicle for another year. That’s almost exactly half of what it just cost me to do it again this past month.

One last thing. I was buying cat food at the HAFB Commissary. I didn’t ‘own’ a cat at the time. Oh yeah – there was however that mangy yellowish cat that essentially lived underneath my car in the parking lot of my dormitory on base for a few years. I suppose that it picked my car as its ‘roof’ because it (allegedly) continued to find miscellaneous food laying there.

Back in May of 1990 this was one of the hottest songs in the entire free nation. It’s the U.S. TOP 10 megasmash “I Remember You” from heavy metal glam rock band Skid Row (featuring then lead singer Sebastian Bach). It’s from their self-titled multi-platinum debut album, and it was one of the top high school prom songs in the nation in May of 1990. So all you 37-year-olds out there from the ‘Class Of 1990’ – this one is for you !

That’s my long distance dedication from Chris in Homestead to the entire ‘Class Of 1990’. Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for God. Oh yeah – and keep your web browser tuned – right where it is !