ramblings of a wannabe rockstar

Man…this holiday season blew by so quickly, it feels like I barely had a chance to enjoy it. If it wasn’t for the Legacy tree lighting back before Thanksgiving, I think I’d have probably missed most of the season. This is a little bit of a frustration for me, though. I was actually coming around to enjoying the Christmas season this year. The last few years have found me being somewhat of a Scrooge around Christmas but this year…man, I was in it. The tree lighting at Legacy with the Bournes and the Terrells was a blast. Thanksgiving weekend with the Greneauxs and visits with Erin/Michael and Marty/Monica was dear to me.

However, after a short break, work got back into full swing and the frequency of spending time with the folks I enjoy diminished and…well…the spirit of the season died off. We had fun decorating our house and compiling Christmas music but with the sheer crazy busyness of life cast, we barely got a chance to enjoy it.

Now, Christmas is over. The New Year is rapidly approaching and the the impending return to work casts a looming shadow. The holiday season–Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year–for me is one that should be spent surrounded by friends and family. Our family is out of town, but we have the wonderful friendship of so many amazing people. With some exception, though, I feel like that connection was lacking this season.

That’s not to say that the season wasn’t without its sweetness. Playing Rummikub into the wee hours of Tuesday morning was about as good as it gets. But it was long over before I took the chance to slow down and reflect on it. The bonfire with the men of GM was an amazing time, but short lived. Trips to Starbucks, lunches, Sunday mornings…all great times…but all fleeting.

I think that my having missed out on connection this past month might play somewhat into what I intend to do for me, personally, in the upcoming year, but I need to hash that out some more before I write more about it.

I want to hit rewind and go back about two weeks, slow down, be more intentional about connecting with my favorite people, and enjoy the holiday season…now that it’s over.

There’s a part of me that is lacking fulfillment, I think. I need to figure that out and get it corrected. I think I can figure it out by way of deduction. My marriage is as fulfilling as it ever was, my relationships in life are as sweet as ever, my work in ministry with GM gives me new life every time I have a chance to step up. What’s missing? Hmmm….what to do about that?

The Russell family of Savannah, Texas is no longer a one-car family. That’s right friends…I am the proud new owner of a ‘98 Ford Ranger truck. Good times.

Pictures to come.

My dear friends Dan and Mel Lundmark lost most of their belongings and two beloved cats yesterday when their apartment complex burned down. Dan and his sister were home but thankfully not injured. Sadly, however, two others lost their lives and several sustained injuries. Please remember them and others affected in your prayers.

For more on this, interviews with Dan, Mel, and Sarah, and some video shot by Dan, check out this link: 2 Killed In Long Beach Apartment Complex Fire

Thanks for praying.

So, I thought I’d revive this series with an absolutely chillingly beautiful arrangement of O Holy Night as performed by Troy Andrews and a fine supporting cast of New Orleans jazz horn players. This rendition was featured on last Monday’s episode of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip as a tribute to NOLA and I was quite moved by the segment that accompanied the music, because of the music.

Merry Christmas, friends.

Dan sent me this quote from one of his favorite authors, Annie Dillard. It’s one of the more profound things I’ve read recently.

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.

I’m pretty sure that I’m still digesting the gravity of that statement.