No April Fool's Joke

When I Called into work to tell them I wouldn't be coming in on Monday, April 1st, some thought it was an April Fool's joke.  Honestly, I wish it had been.  But unfortunately, the joke had been on me the day before.

That Sunday morning began like most - we got up and were running behind and trying to rush and get ready for church.  But while getting ready, Britt and I both started feeling a little puny.  In her wisdom, she persuaded me that it probably would not be very beneficial to take our germs to church and spread them around some of our more "seasoned" members and the kids in Children's Church so we stayed home.

While not feeling well, I didn't have much of an appetite and barely ate or drank anything all day.  That's when the fun began.  Around 11 PM, I got up, helped Britt with something, and then according to her, "went stiff as a board and belly flopped" onto the bathroom floor.  I don't remember how I got in the floor but I do remember her asking me if I was okay and telling her that I had bit the inside of mouth (slightly under exaggerated) but she placed a pillow under my head and waited a few minutes until I stopped snoring (her words not mine) and decided to get back in bed.  

If you had ever paid my smile much attention before you may have noticed that I had a slight overbite and my two front teeth were a little crooked.  While I would not recommend this method of realigning your teeth, I can proudly say that though I now have a small underbite, my two front teeth are perfectly flush.  Well, my front tooth and the partial that I'm wearing while the cracked bone in my jaw heals up.  

This year's April Fool's joke was on me since I spent the morning literally picking my teeth, or pieces thereof, up off the bathroom floor. 

And while I haven't been thrilled about this whole experience, I did learn a few things:

1.  Working out is not as important as I thought it was.  Don't take this thought too far, I was back in the gym on a regular schedule this week.  But I did learn that a few days off here and there may actually be good for your body, your mind, and even your soul.  My gym time had become really close to being an immovable idol in my life and I realized that missing a workout or two would not have the disastrous results I used to think it would.

2.  It's okay to eat slowly.  I used to eat super fast.  This was good when in a time crunch but unhealthy in so many ways.  I realized during these past few days that you can savor that food more by eating slowly and that many of us can actually get by on a lot less food than we consume.

3.  Your life can drastically change in an instant.  I get it, what happened to my teeth won't have dramatic long-term effects on my health and life.  But it vastly changed my lifestyle for a few days.  And had I made it a couple more steps and hit my head on the corner of a cabinet, things could have been much, much worse.  Enjoy the moments, the hours, the meals, and the days that you have now.  I didn't plan on not eating breakfast the next day.  Sadly, some don't have the option of drinking it as I did.

It's no longer hurts to smile, unless I get to laughing too hard or smiling too long so we are headed in the right direction.  I'm still not eating apples or burgers and I feel pretentious eating chicken wings and pizza with a knife and fork but hey, you do what you've got to do.

P.S. - If you need any great soup recipes, Britt can hook you up!

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...

How to Pray - The Object of Our Prayer

In our College & Career Sunday school class this week, we started a series titled, "How to Pray." I plan to try to and share the lessons each week in case anyone wants to follow along with us here...or you can come join us Sunday mornings at Tabernacle at 10 AM in room 218. Any good speaker, teacher, or presenter knows that the #1 rule of public speaking is to know your audience. You don't want to prepare a discussion about retirement for preschoolers and a presentation themed with Disney princesses most likely wouldn't spark the interest of a group of businessmen. In order for someone to prepare a dynamic and engaging presentation, they must know their audience, who they're preparing to talk to. The same is true in our prayer life. The Point of this week's study is: "A right view of God fuels how we pray." The conversations we engage in with our friends about are often focused on topics that interest them: their favorite team, favorite ...

The Waves of Change

I often hear older people talk about the "good old days" or "back in my day" and they wish that things would go back to the way they were back then. That will never happen. And sadly, many of us in the millennial generation may even make the same statements one day, if we haven't already. A.W. Tozer said this, " Regardless of where you look these days, change is inevitable. Things are not what they once were. I am not one that bemoans the past for the simple reason that the past was not as good as we remember." People, technology, industry, work, laws, morals, relationships, social media, privacy and so many other things will always be changing. If you want to survive the storms of change in your life you must have some constant that holds you on course. There is only one things that never changes, that has never had to change because He has always been good and perfect - God. Malachi 3:6 reads, "For I the Lord do not change......

Growin' Up Gregory

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