'The Spot'

I took Ashley and the kids on a drive the other day.  It was a pretty long drive...maybe about an hour and fifteen minutes or so.  Winding roads, too.  The weather was amazing!  Clear blue skies, no humidity, low 80s.  We were finally going to revisit our "spot."  The spot where I asked Ashley to marry me 12 years ago. It is a wayside on the Blue Ridge Parkway between Big Island and Lynchburg, just after you cross over the James River.  There's a creek that runs into the James River known as Otter Creek.  That's where I popped the question!  For the longest time I couldn't find the spot on the maps.  I wasn't exactly sure where on the parkway the spot was.  I was so excited to go back there once I found it.  Ever since we moved back to Virginia I've been dying to hunt the spot down.

We decided to bring a few snack and play in the creek a bit while we were there.  Ashley was a bit woozy from the drive, and I think she and I both were not exactly sure if this was the right spot or not.  Until we saw this....

I carved our initials in the tree on our first visit to this spot 12 years ago.  When Ashley saw this she started to cry....this was the spot!  The spot that changed the course of our lives forever.  The spot that brought us to the beginning of our commitment to loving one another till death do we part.  And here we were staring at our own little piece of history with our four children.

We had a blast playing in the water.

And before we left, I spruced up the tree carvings to make sure they lasted for years to come.  I also added a few "new" initials!  Now the kids can bring their kids to our little piece of history.

Wow!  I am so very blessed!!!

The Fishersville Memorial

After the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and entered the promised land, the people of Israel got a lot of rocks and piled them up as a memorial.  It was to serve as a reminder to all the generations to come of that momentous occasion, and what God had done to prove his love and faithfulness.  Well, I don't exactly have rocks here.  What I do have is the internet, though.  And my desire is for these posts to remain as a memorial and reminder for our kids and for their kids of what God has done along our Journey Together!

If the size of the rock pile indicates the significance of the event, then today's post would be a huge pile of rocks!!  So big, it might be confused for a mountain.  We just put a contract on a home in the little township of Fishersville, VA.  Okay...let me back up a little.

Earlier this year, Ashley and I were contemplating my future with Walmart.  Things were going extremely well.  I have been given assignments and making an impact in my field across the entire company.  I was being recruited by senior managers for positions around the east coast.  So that led Ashley and I to wonder what sort of job or option would be a good one for our family.  We concluded that if anything at the Mount Crawford, VA facility opened up, then that would be a good promotion.  It would keep us close to family while allowing me to take a promotion at the same time.

And wouldn't you know it, Mount Crawford opened up.  The Asset Protection Manager at that building resigned out of the blue one morning in February.  I immediately texted Ashley, and then put in the for the job.  And now, we are only three weeks away from this being a reality for our family.

We just returned today from a 5-day house hunt, and we cannot begin to express how thankful we are to God for his leadership in all of this.  We prayed for wisdom.  We prayed that the house would really jump out to both of us.  This one sure has.  It is a larger home, but it is one we can grow in for years to come.  It is in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley and is surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.  And for anyone who knows us (and Ashley especially) we never like to pay full price for anything.  The sellers of the home needed to sell fast and were ready to cut a good deal.  We had a set price in mind of how high we would go, and no further.  It was the exact amount the buyers said was their bottom price!  With every other house we saw, we found ourselves comparing it to this one.  No, it is not a perfect home, but we are truly grateful for every square foot of it.

Walmart will do all the moving, which is a first for us!  This is also the first job I will have where I will work "normal" business hours.  Monday through Friday, baby!  If you had told me nine years ago as I was bouncing in and out of frozen trailers that I would be doing this, I would have told you that you had lost your mind.  I think I hear God laughing even now.

So.  We are beginning our goodbyes to Wake Forest, North Carolina.  It will be a sad departure, no doubt.  And we do not know what God has in store for the next ten years.  All we do know is that we will serve Him whole-heartedly....and let him do the rest.

Frozen and the Love of God

In the new Disney movie, Frozen, two orphaned princesses contrast each other in their response to some of life's mysteries.  This movie is in my estimation one of Disney's finest hours, and I find myself most often to be a huge Disney critic.  Not this time!  What I enjoy most about this film is the very same thing I enjoyed about the movie Cars....the message.  Without giving the story away, I was blown away at the clearest message of love being the selfless act of humility in the form of sacrifice.

In the movie Cars, Lightning McQueen purposely finishes dead last in the biggest race of his life.  In finishing last, he let's the antagonist finish first, and pushes the King (the car brutally knocked out of the race by the bad guy) across the finish line.  As he crosses the finish line, the King (played by Richard Petty) tells Lightning that he just gave up the piston cup (his life-long dream).  To this, McQueen responds, "It's just an empty cup."  LOVE IT!

In similar fashion, Frozen crosses a different finish line.  Princess Ana can only be saved by an act of true love, and everyone in her unusually snow-covered world is convinced she needs the kiss of a prince.  After all, that is what we have all been told is the act of true love, right?  Instead, THE act of true love comes from a most surprising place.  I do not want to give away the ending, but I will say that this story serves as one of Disney's greatest stories.  And what is my criteria for a "great" story?  Well, if a story, regardless of how fantastical, conveys the most important realities of life in a fashion that causes the audience to be challenged to live a life of Christ-like love and selflessness, then that is a great story.  I don't mind a bit if my kids watch this one over and over again.

I'm a bit of a literary nerd, and Ashley has to put up with me at times when it comes to this.  I cannot help but take in all the metaphors and imagery in stories and movies.  Frozen is absolutely filled with literary tools that Disney does very well.  Just listen to some of the names of the characters - Christoph (sounds a lot like Christ to me), Ana (much like her name, this princess experiences a sort of resurrection as a result of laying down her life for an undeserving sister).  Interestingly enough it is these two that work together more than any other in the film.

The cold heart of Princess Elsa and her journey in figuring out the ins and outs of her special gift is a very important metaphor in the story.  Instead of hiding and concealing a gift (which is often called a curse) Elsa learns in the end how to best use her gift.  The coldness of her heart ends up trapping her in a self-made castle of fear and pain.  This castle is absolutely elaborate!  At the same time it is deadly, and almost takes her sister's life.

I give this movie my blessing and hope that everyone who watches learns this....."greater love has no man this, that he lay down his life for a friend." John 15:13  AND  "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:8

Good job, Disney!