Taking the Challenge

Okay, so back in January, I can’t remember if it was K-Love or Way-FM but one of the two gave a challenge asking the listener to listen to only their station for 30 days straight and see a change in the his/her life.  At the time I listened to K-Love and Way-FM sometimes, but not every single time I turned on the radio.  Side note:  I have an old shower radio I love and at the time I was driving a car that only had radio.  Even though I have my iPod, which I love, my primary choice seemed to be listening to the radio.  Anyways, I really had begun to enjoy a radio show that came on in the morning time when I was getting ready to go to work and on my way to work.  It was a secular radio show, which I don’t think secular radio is bad to a certain extent.  I LOVE MUSIC.   I love pretty much any type of music except the dance-tacular electronic songs that the Jersey Shore folks love.  So I took the challenge and stopped listening to the radio show that I rationalized in my head was okay that I listened to because well the things they talked about I didn’t do, didn’t believe they were right in the sight of God, but hey, I wasn’t going to do them, just listen to other people talk about it.  Clear rationalization, right?!  Well the month came and went and another month and another month.  I have to tell you I was surprised.  I thought yeah, great, listen to Christian radio for 30 days and you’ll be changed, different, whatever, but I was different and in a good way!

Now I say all that not to give myself praise for listening to only Christian radio, but during this time I began to search out other Christian artist on YouTube and even watched some Gaither Sing Specials on the TV and it made me so thankful.  I am so thankful to God for gifting these people with the minds and the abilities to perform these amazing songs that can bring someone to the throne of God.  Artist like the Gaither Vocal Band (you might thing old-fashioned, cheezerific, but listen to the words, watch the videos, see the emotion of the people.  They have really been there and they really believe), Carman (Yes, he can come of cheesy too, but the words in some of his songs are powerful and he happens to be my first crush!  He hugged me once when I was singing on stage with him!), or Israel Houghton, Kirk Franklin, Natalie Grant, David Phelps, Jeremy Camp, Christy Nockels, Hillsong, Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale’s Worship Team, 33 Miles, The Katina’s, The people who wrote the Hymns that we used to sing back in the day, Michael W. Smith, Crystal Lewis, well I could go on and on, but you get the idea!  I am so thankful that the Lord saw fit for the world to have amazing musically talented people!  I think I need to write each of these artist thank you notes for how much their music has impacted my walk!

This is one of my favorites right now, probably because of Easter time J
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3RqhIPYMpE

And this one too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vX3HHtytDo

God has a plan and He's working it out.

I heard a teaching a few months ago that encouraged me to leave God stories as a memorial for my children, for my children’s children, and so on so that they could see my God’s faithfulness in my life and so in those times where my feelings take over I can see God’s faithfulness my life.  So I guess this is one of the first ones I will put down.  How many times have I heard  it in teachings, “Nothing is coincidence, God has a plan for He’s working it out,” but how many times have I actually taken the time to stop and recognize it and give God thanks? 

Yesterday was just one of those days.  Everyone has them I guess.  Everything that could go wrong did and I wanted to get home as soon as possible.  In my haste to leave work as close to the 5’oclock dot as I could, I locked up the office and building and ran out to my car only to realize that I had left my purse and my access card to the building locked  in my office.  In my head I rattled off possible solutions and decided that since my dad has an access card to the building I would ask him for his later that evening and I would be fine.  Well my genius self forgot to ask him.  WINNER.  As I left for work this morning I was trying to figure out how I would get in and decided I would have to wait for someone else who had an access card to show up to let me in.  When I got to work the parking lot was crowded with cars, people, and a moving truck.  Did I mention I work at a storage facility?  Anyways, as soon as I got out of my car, I was met by a man and 4 movers asking me when I could open the place up so the movers could get to work putting stuff in his unit.  As panic started to sink in, realizing he wanted to rent a unit…give me money…and I was locked out of my office as well as the storage building, I looked up  and there is Mrs. Leslie James, who  had surgery less than a week ago, smiling and waving at me.  My mom made her dinner LAST NIGHT LESS THAN 12 HOURS AGO and she was returning the dishes to my mom through me….over achiever ahm! ....The James’s have had a storage unit for a little while and she had her access card.  She happily gave me her card to use and I was able to get in and open the office and building up for the man with his movers!  I sent her a text after she left telling Leslie how thankful I was and how awesome she was for being in the right time at the right place and she quickly responded that I should thank God because He was the one that orchestrated it all.  And how right she was!  He planned it exactly.  He knew that I would lock my purse up in the office the day before, forget to ask my dad for his access card, and He knew Leslie would show up the next day.  Thank you Lord!!!

Oh, give thanks to the Lord!  Call upon His name: Make known His deeds among the peoples!

1 Chronicles 16:8

It Ain't Over Til' It's Over

Ok, so I made this blog back in the begging of August…and now it’s September 18^th and I am posting my first blog…is that a bad sign?!  I am not really sure what this blog will end up being, but it will be a little personal challenge for me to keep up with blogging on a regular basis. 

Since besides my relationship with Christ, at this time in my life, my most favorite thing in the world is NEW YORK YANKEES BASEBALL, it’s only fitting that I start the blog about baseball!

When I was a little girl I went to my brother’s football games, baseball games, and karate matches.  Having an uncle that worked for Florida State University athletics and grandparents that were season ticket holders meant I was privileged to attend a lot of FSU football and baseball games.  I enjoyed going, but it wasn’t until I was older did I really fall in love with sports.  By no means would I qualify myself as a tomboy, but I sure do love me some sports!  I played softball for a few years, but then I changed to baton twirling (Weird change, but I was actually good at it…so weird). 

One summer several years ago my dad came up with the GREATEST vacation idea EVER!  We decided to travel up the east coast hitting historical spots and most importantly going to a few baseball games.  Our first stop was Atlanta….wait I should say that my dad’s dad grew up in New York and loved two teams: The Yankees and The Giants (NFL).  So needless to say that trickled down from my dad to me and to my brothers. … Most baseball fans in the south are Braves or Marlins fans…so when someone finds out we are Yankee fans, we typically get a response like this…”Band-Wagoner…You only like the Yankees because they win a lot!  The only reason they win is because they have the most money!” (Jealousy is not attractive)…Ok, before I go off the deep end….Our first stop was Atlanta to see the Braves play the Dodgers.  The Braves really have a great stadium, fireworks, and most of all they live in the home of Coca-Cola!  The next baseball stadium we ventured into is, was, and still is the GREATEST, even though they built a new version of it next door 3 years ago.  For a baseball fan in general, not a crazy one like me, there are some “Cathedrals” in baseball. Yankee stadium, Wrigley Field, and…oh I am sorry I just threw up in mouth a little bit…Fenway park.  We watched the Yankees play the Texas Rangers that night.  If you ever go to Yankee Stadium you NEED to visit Monument Park inside the stadium.  It has retired Yankee player’s numbers and monuments to the GREATEST Yankees.  If you’ve ever heard about the ghosts of the stadium, if it’s true, these are the guys.  Side note: my favorite past Yankee would have to be, o well crud, a tossup with Thurman Munson and Mickey Mantle, or no wait Don Mattingly and Reggie Jackson, no, no, Roger Maris and The Babe…ah geez I can’t pick.  The next stop on our trip was Boston…I will say some really cool things have come from Boston, but eww Fenway Park eww….The Red Sox played the Angels that night…and that is pretty much all I can say nicely about that.  Our last baseball stop on that trip included a tour of Cooperstown, baseball’s Hall of Fame.  Cooperstown is an awesome place.  Walls are lined with plaques of baseball greats and each room is filled with monumental artifacts from the game.  I probably could have spent a month there and it wouldn’t have been enough!  Anyways, after that trip I went from a casual fan to one of them crazy avid fans!  I have since ventured to many Yankee baseball games, and every spring I head to south Florida to spring training games, and plan to soon make a trip to spring training in Arizona...once I win the lottery and don’t have to work and all that fun stuff….

O and by the way it is my grandmother, Mama Catty’s 70^th Birthday today!  70 years!  I pray the Lord will grant me at least half as many years and make me half as great as she is!