If I Could Turn Back Time??

"If I could go back and change it...."

We've all said it. We've all thought about it. Would we really change anything that we did in our lives?

My personal fear is that I would go back and change things, and just as I think I'm in the clear I start fading from pictures. A complete and total "Back to the Future" disaster would ensue, and a giant rip would form in the space/time continuum, and no flux capacitor could save us then!

If I were assured of having no such McFly disaster scenario take place, some things I would go back and change would be...

1. As a child, I would decide that I could NOT fly, thus NOT jumping head first off the couch into the wall, and therefore NOT scaring the crap out of my mom.

2. I would decide to pick up baseball, basketball, and/or football in 5th grade...not wrestling. I may have lasted longer than 2 weeks, and the uniforms aren't nearly as embarrassing.

3. I would ask that girl out.

4. I would ask that girl out again.

5. I would make an effort to stay in touch with a handful of folks after high school.

6. I would remind my teenage self that he had no idea.

7. I would get a haircut.

8. I would go to Chillipepper in 2004, and suffer on the bus through the ice storm.

9. I would aggressively pursue that job at Clemson.

10. I would turn the volume down.

11. I would visit my grandma more often.

I was going to go the humorous route, but it didn't work out that way. So, I stopped before I got down,haha...

Regrets are an unfortunate part of life. We make stupid decisions. We take actions we shouldn't, and stay still when we need to move. We end up missing out on good things, and make bad things out of good ones.

I find that the older I get, the fewer regrets I create. I think it's because I've created about as many as a saved person can already.

So what do we do? We seek God. We do right by Him each day He gives us. We forgive. We don't forget, but we don't hold on to it. We get on with it. No wallowing!

I often wonder how things might have turned out differently for me had I made different choices. But in the end it's moot. I'm sure I've missed out on some things God tried to bless me with, but I also know that God still blesses me, even though I don't deserve it.

I may not get all I want, but I have everything I need. That's one thing I never want to change.

Adam

Musical Tastes

In this blog's infancy, one theme seems to be coming up more often than not already: music.

Music's one of those things that everybody likes, but there are so many styles and options to choose from that noone has the same tastes. Similar maybe, but not the same. And it's one of those things that get people in a wad if you talk bad about their favorite singer or band. I get that way sometimes myself.

I think that's why I liked the movie "High Fidelity". The scenes w/ Jack Black and John Cusack carrying on about different songs and the best/worst lists they have is so identifiable with me. I love a good discussion about music. I love a good argument about it. And like the characters in the movie, I always feel like I'm right and that my musical interests are superior than yours. Sue me!

So with this topic in mind, I thought I'd start a series of posts about the albums or songs that have stuck out in my mind over the years. Some are going to be things that I still think are great, others are going to be in the "I can't believe I thought that was good" category. Some blew my mind when I first heard them, some made me want to rip off my ears. So, hopefully this will be fun to type and fun for anyone else to read.

I'll start with one I pulled out the other day. Pearl Jam, "Ten"....

When they started playing Pearl Jam on MTV, I didn't like them...at all. Hated them. It wasn't just that I was still clinging to the last days of "hair" metal, but I genuinely thought Pearl Jam sucked. And I didn't like grunge in sound or looks...

Then one day I heard my brother playing "Ten" in his room one day. I heard the usual "crap": Evenflow, Alive...but then I heard a slower song. The song built as it went. And the end of it got me in the guitar part, and the vocal...the song was "Black"....of all songs, that got me hooked. So, to this day, "Ten" is one of the few albums I call perfect, meaning I like every song on it. "Once", "Garden", "Oceans", "Deep", "Release Me", "Why Go"...wow...the singles were great, but the other stuff was incredible to my 15-16 year old ears! I can remember me and my buddy Sean singing "Porch" ALL the freaking time,haha...

So, in review...Pearl Jam's album "Ten" is in the "wow" category. It steered me into a new direction in my music listening preferences, and it's still the best thing they'll ever do. I would put it in my top 10 albums ever.

I'm sure I'll do a top 10 on here one day, but not right now. There are hot grits in the kitchen calling my name.

"tattooed everything..."
Adam

Easter

It's Good Friday.

I've had people ask me why it's called "good" Friday if something terrible happened that day?

Well, my response is this: if Jesus had stayed dead, then yes, it was a bad day. But in actuality, it was one of the best days of all time.

It's "good" because of the sacrifice. In the Old Testament, God required a blood sacrifice to atone the people of their sins. The sacrifice itself didn't forgive the sin, God forgave the sins as a response to the people's willing sacrifice, as it's through the sacrifices that they admitted to God their wrongdoings.
Well, fast-forward to the New Testament and we see God becoming a man. Totally God, totally man. He did this to show us how to live and also so that He could relate to the struggles we have as imperfect people. He ofcourse, was perfect even still!
Jesus, who IS God in flesh, sacrificed Himself on that "good" friday, to atone for all sins for all time. The perfect blood sacrifice. He did it for everyone.

Now, Jesus was dead. The Romans knew how to execute people. They were quite good at it. So, no doubt he was dead. They wrapped him in burial linens...w/ pounds of spices and oils, that basically formed a glue-like sealing as they wrapped him in it. Houdini wouldn't have broken free from this one!
A couple days later, w/ Roman guards (not just a couple, but an entire group!) protecting the tomb from grave robbers, something amazing happened. The stone in front of the tomb went flying off the entrance...Jesus wasn't there any more...his burial clothes still in the shape of his body, but no body!
He didn't walk out. He didnt' break out. The disciples didn't take the body (had the Roman guard allowed that to happen, ALL of them would have been executed, per Roman customs). Almost immediately, the cover up began from the pharisees, sadducees, and Roman soldiers who "were like dead men" when all this happened in front of them...so the story was "the disciples stole the body". The beauty of it is, they never hunted down the disciples to arrest them for it...the Roman guards weren't executed...and best of all, the never produced a body...

Jesus started appearing to a few folks here and there, and then to up to 500 at a time. He who was dead was now alive! Not a ghost, but flesh and bone.

After a while, He ascended into Heaven. I can imagine the scene THAT day.

Anyway, it's Easter weekend. The events that unfolded almost 2000 years ago changed history forever. As much as they try to not say "B.C." any more, face it, Jesus' entry on the scene changed time and how we keep time! haha...If Jesus was simply a good teacher and good guy, would it had made that big a difference? Probably not. There was something different about Him. That something is that He...is...God!

One day He's arrested, beaten, mocked, and crucified. Then He's dead, wrapped up tight in burial cloths and embalming spices. Then He's walking around, popping up all over the place, even cooking breakfast for Peter!

All these things really happened. It takes more faith to NOT believe it than it does to accept it. I'm so glad the God of Moses and Abraham, that fiery presence on Sinai, decided to become flesh and bone and live among HIS very own creation. And that same God, Jesus, willingly gave Himself as a sacrifice, so that I could one day, nearly 2000 years later, go to Heaven to live with Him and worship Him for all time. Even had I been the only one to believe, He still would have done it.

Hallelujah, what a Saviour...indeed.

If you read this and you've never met my Jesus, I recommend Him. He's the best.

Adam