I love art. Many people don’t know this about me, but I took some advanced placement art classes when in high school and was offered several scholarships to some prestigious art schools. But I didn’t take them because, well, artists don’t make money (we’ll discuss my insecurities and self-worth another time).
There are different views of art. Some look at Picasso or Warhol and just love it. That is not me. I’m more of a da Vinci and Michelangelo type person. I look for realism. “Modern” art just doesn’t float my boat. If someone hands me a picture they painted and tells me it’s a beautiful woman, it had better look like a woman. I don’t have time to stand there and wonder what the artist was thinking when they threw a bunch of paint onto a canvas and called it “woman on couch”.
That got me to thinking this morning as I was reading in I Corinthians 12:12 and it said, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.”
Now, if you are a Picasso fan, please indulge me for a moment.

The world moves at a very fast pace these days. I’m on the edge of that generational gap that remembers life before computers, so life and information can even move faster than I’m comfortable with at times! With this fast-paced life those who are outside the church walls don’t have time to stop and contemplate what you are thinking when a pastor or fellow believer makes a negative comment or heavily critical toward non-believers (which is another one of my soapboxes, which we can discuss later). They don’t stop and say, “Well, they could be talking about X or Y.” No, they take it at face value – right or wrong.
Sometimes I wonder if the body of Christ looks more like a Picasso than da Vinci. People look at us from the outside and go, “Wow…” and not in a good way. They look at us and wonder what kind of monstrosity they are beholding.

And that leads us to how we live our personal lives as well. To our neighbors, what do you and your family look like to them? Do you exude the love of Christ, or do people look at you and see, well, a messed up painting that resembles nothing but a mess.

Mona Lisa

I’m not perfect. My family has its flaws. I live in a neighborhood where all my neighbors know us and know us well (better than we probably should sometimes). But I strive to have my life and my family resemble a beautiful painting that reflects the awesomeness of the creator and shows the love and care that was taken to restore me to my pre-fallen state.

I want my life to be the spiritual equivalent of the Mona Lisa.

What a day today has been! I got to connect my Dad and one of his heroes of the faith, Jim Hylton, over lunch. To hear the two of them share stories of God over a two-hour time period was amazing and encouraging!
Then, on the way home from lunch, I get a text from a close friend that her brother-in-law was found dead at his home. What a roller-coaster of emotions to feel in one day (not that I have anything on the emotions of my friends over the suffering of their tragic loss, for sure).
But it made me think, “Today is the day the LORD has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” I am so incredibly guilty of complaining about the gift of today that the Father has given. When traffic isn’t the way I want it, when the coffee doesn’t taste just so, when the Dallas Cowboys blow an easy game… and I have the audacity to say, “I’m having a bad day.”
Then there are days like my friends are now going through. The death of a brother, father and son. How can we “rejoice and be glad” in the midst of such trials and suffering. Surely, that makes for a bad day worth complaining about.
Bad days, legitimate bad days, come and go. And that is ok. We grow through pain. We find the fortitude that the Father has equipped us with to make it through those days. But how many of us complain to the Father about illegitimate bad days? I know I do. I listed some of my most recent “bad days” above. How petty are we? That God has given us the gift of a day and we squander it and complain about it.

Today is the day that my Father, my provider, my sustainer has made, and I will choose to rejoice and be glad IN it.
Be grateful for the gift of a day. And choose to rejoice, be glad, and do something with it!

After a one-year hiatus, I’m back to Bobbysfam.com! What a year it has been! In the coming weeks I will be posting new video blogs, family updates, and random thoughts on random stuff. So much is happening and we’re excited to share with you what’s going on in our lives.

Hope to see you soon!

Let me start by saying this… I hate vacations.
The last time I had a vacation was June, 2007. I have, quite possibly, the coolest job on earth (everyone who loves their jobs say this… if you cannot say that about your job, quit)! When you love your job that much, you can go longer between vacations (although I would not recommend it) without noticing much. As the time draws near for us to go “home” to Colorado, I’m starting to feel the excitement of having a vacation. I’m going to have to battle everyday the need to work, though. I know that taking two weeks off of work is going to mean that I’m going to have a pile to deal with when I return… for that reason alone, I hate vacations.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE going to Colorado to see family. I love the time to be able to re-calibrate myself. I love the time with my girls. But the sheer fact of knowing I will have two weeks worth of work to deal with upon return is more stressful than just not taking vacation. One of my goals of 2009 is to learn how to vacation well, how to take a proper Sabbath, and how to re-calibrate on a monthly basis. I’m not good at those things. I’m a workaholic. I have certain processes I live by, schedules I keep, and vacations and days off mess that system up.

With all that said, pray for us. We leave either tomorrow night or Monday morning for Colorado. It’s been snowing there. Pray for clear roads and safe travels. For some reason I’m worried about this trip this year. It’s funny, I’m less stressed about flying half-way around the world than driving my family to Colorado!

I’ve been so busy I haven’t even posted to the blog here. I’m thinking about doing a fresh re-design for 2009, and doing a more “focused” blog. Being on staff of NorthWood has presented some exciting opportunities for me and the family and people are beginning to ask, “Where’s your website?” Since this has, to this point, been a mostly private blog for family and friends, I’m going to have to do something, I guess. So, tell me, should I keep this one for family and friends and make another public blog? Or, do I just re-design this one to accommodate the public?

What say you?

You have got to listen to this. Penn (one of the duo of Penn & Teller) talks about a man who gave him a book. Pay attention to what this self-described Athiest says, “I don’t respect anyone who does not proselytize.” That’s deep.

Here’s a little video I put together on my free, rainy Sunday. It may sound funny, but making this video was one of the best personal worship times I’ve had in months! Enjoy.

Well, you can keep an eye HERE for more updates, but the rains and floods are getting worse by the minute. I’ve never in my life seen rain and floods like this. Stores are closed and the ones that remained open get a foot of water every time a car drives by! Major intersections are blocked by stalled cars, causing major traffic issues. I couldn’t get a better video of the floods, but this video is of Huong, one of our GVI staff members going back to the office with some things we dropped off for her. At one point in the day, the knee-deep water you see here was waist deep! We did not make it to the orphanage this morning because of the flooding, and we’ll see if we can make it tomorrow. But the weather says it’s supposed to rain the entire time we are here. Start praying for us now! At this point we’ll be lucky if we make it up to Sapa!

It rained HARD all night long. It’s still coming down in waves. Slept good (up at 2am, though… we’ll see how I transition). This video was taken from the roof of my hotel this morning, gorgeous view of the lake!