Bringing in The New Year Crossroads Style!

Well tonight is the night! The Crossroads Garage New Years Rockin Eve! ( I know i'm not Dick Clark but hey it fits! ) The garage is nearly all but fine tuned and is getting ready to help the youth of our community bring in 2009! The bash gets kicked off at 9! I understand that the band has been working really hard on a there tunes they are going to play, and let me tell you, you are in for a treat! I know that there have been people working to all hours of the night to get this project completed! I dont even know where to begin to say thank you to all who are making this a success! The out pouring of love and hard work that has gone into this project will be felt for years to come and to the workers I pray that God blesses each and every one of you! Your service is to be commended and I bring it before God in prayer, that He see's your heart and adds to your life health and prosperity to you and your families! I pray a harvest of what they have asked you for God! I pray for the needs of the workers that they be met in full and that you would keep your hand in all they do! Jesus in 2009 bless the youth of the Garage, God my prayer as a Teaching Pastor is that they remember you and that rememberence would change the way you are viewed, and to allow that change to work on there hearts as well as there minds! God we pray for your love to make a difference in the lives of those young people! God as we love them let that love begin to draw them closer to you and as we work oh God bless our efforts, inspire our hearts to bring hope to the indifferent, let our words be fresh water to those that are dying of thirst! In this day where souls are so dry oh God rain down on us! God may it be evident that you are alive and well in the hearts and lives of the young people of Crossroads! We will work your works, we will bring hope, and we will life high the name of your son Jesus! Man, I cant wait for tomorrow night!

A New Era on the Plains!

Let me preface this with saying that I was for the firing of Tommy Tuberville. I was and still think to this day that the right decision was made! As the saying goes ," it couldnt have happened to a nicer guy! " And to Tommy that may have been his downfall! You saw it in everything Tommy did, and his nice guy attitude was not all bad! Tuberville did restore class to the Auburn program, and he did put Auburn on the map as far as the exposure Auburn recieved during his run! But in my opinion Tommy was too passive when it counted and that cost Auburn alot both financially and on the field! In order for things to work at Auburn changes had to have been made no doubt, but the ones that were made werent the right ones and it cost Auburn huge! Bringing in 6 Offensive Coordinators in 10 years meant no commorodary between the coaches that were there and the new ones coming in, but like I said, he is gone and so is that era!
There is a new era on The Lovliest Village on the Plains! The Coach Gene Chizik Era has begun and so far he has made quite a splash! Once he arrived at Auburn he didnt slow down, met with the team, met with the press the following day and then hit the recruiting trail! Once he established himself there he began to bring his plan into practice and hire the best coaches he could find to fit what he wants to accomplish at Auburn! Bringing back James Willis, Reverend Chette Williams, Kevin Yoxall, Jimmy Perry and Phillip Lolley was a very smart and very good decision on the part of Chizik, but the best hire came when Sunday I got a text from saying Auburn has hired Gus Malzahn for Offensive Coordinator! Chizik said that was his plan the whole time and let me tell you I am thrilled at what they are working towards at Auburn! Methodically putting a team together that fits in every category and taking your time where time is of the essence, so far Chizik has hit a homerun and I for one say I am behind you Coach Chizik, I believe in what you are doing and am with you all the way! War Eagle Coach Chizik!

Year In Review!

Wow! Thats all I can say when I look back at 2008!

From Janurary til now I think back to all that has happened in my life and what I saw, experienced, felt, and lived through, God is amazing! Feburary was a bitter sweet month for me! On Feburary 10th of this year I decided to make a new and young church my church home, and it still is to this day! Also in the month of Feburary I had a co-worker of mine pass with cancer! Jewel McGee and I werent the best of friends or co workers, but reconciled and became good friends before she died and that holds a special place in my heart for one of my fallen comrads!

March, was a busy month with getting the annex, ( the old church building at Morgan Square Mall ) ready for occupancy, taking the Road Trip to Ocala, Fl with the Roadies to the first service Easter Sunday at Crossroads! I remember so much about that service, I remember some of the songs we sang, what I felt then and it holds a memeory not to forget! Seeing the room to capacity was awesome! Also going to the Auburn Spring Game with my Friend Dante, James, and of course my nephew Josh! Great day, alot of fun and a tradition that will carry on for a long time!

On April 5th I took a croos country trip to Oregon to visit my friends Chris and Clarissa! What a week I spent visiting California and Oregon! Things were very different there but it was awesome and I look forward to my return trip out there but to where , I dont know yet! I also made a good friend and although we didnt last as a couple I met an awesome person named Wendy! She is an incredible person with a huge heart that I learned so much from that she doesnt even know! God has incredible plans for her and I pray that her eyes will be opened to that as she lives her life to its fullest!

Football season, ha ha ha what a disappointment but it ended well with the forced passing of the torch so to speak from Coach Tommy Tuberville to Coach Gene Chizik! Josh experienced his first loss to Alabama and what that feels like, and in his words, lets not do that again! Ha ha I love my little buddy!

August 10, 2008 was the day Crossroads began at the College Cinema and it changed the way I view people and church forever! What a day, what a start, what a God! There is so much I am leaving out, Serving at Bama Jam, Freedom Fest, and the Beach, Barbaque, Baptism were all memorible events and being apart of them shaped the year into what it was, 2008 in the life of this roadie was very eventful, memorable, and is soon to be in the books! Next Blog I will talk about the life of this roadie in 2009 and what that means for me! Cant wait? Me either!

Defining Moments

Ever get the feeling sometimes that things arent as they seem? Happens to me all the time and it is getting more frequent! I live life on the go alot of the time, especially here lately! Work has been exceptionally difficult for a variety of reasons and on top of that trying to battle a sinus infection! We say it all the time to people we are close to slow down and take your time, rest! Things we all need to do but in doing so it means we might have the opportunity to focus on things we might not want to focus on, ourselves! Ugh, who wants to do that, right? I mean if I am on the go and I am too busy to think about me then I dont have to deal with my pressing needs, so I will make myself busy!

Now this can be a good exercise as well it doesnt have to be a negative thing, but when it becomes unbalanced and in it neglecting your needs becomes your focus, you can really be taken for a loop! You will always be looking for an escape, daydreaming at work or lack of focus in just about everything because deep down in you you know that something isnt right and something needs to change and that defines what a defining moment is! That realization that something needs to change that conclusion you reach in your mind that allows you to see through the thoughts and be able to refocus ond get yourself moving in the right direction!

Thats me! But if your like me when life gets too busy and all I see is more of the same and I wrap myself in it and completely tune out my needs, I am way off balance and I suffer for it greatly! Everything suffers because I refuse to want to change! It happens, something in me just shuts off and I become robotic! If your mind is like mine it can be a dangerous place! I know it is hard to believe but I can be a very negative and hard person to be around! I dont know about you but I am in need of serious change! I can see it, dont know what it is, dont know how to say it, dont even know how to express it but I am in need! Thank God when I am weak and I feel like I cant or dont want to go another step, that GOd cares and God is there to help me through my mess! It has taken me along time to realize that, God does care! He does, He absolutely does! God cares! And when I discovered that, it was a defining moment!

Farewell Tommy!

First of all I would like to say thank you! Thank you Tommy Tuberville for all of your hard work and dedication to the Auburn program! You did alot for the program that some coaches wouldnt even come close to doing, and that is coaching with conviction! For the past 10 years you have brought Auburn into the spotlight and made it uncomfortible for alot of analysts that normally wouldnt give Auburn the time of day, you forced them to look at Auburn seriously! And no one is forgetting the fact that you started the streak and gave us bragging rights with your 6 victories over Alabama! The players loved you, the fans loved you and we all still do! No one will forget you Tommy, and we will continue to pray for you and your family in your future endeavors! But I have to say that the actions taken by Auburn though they maybe wrong needed to happen! Eventually Coach Tuberville your lack of offensive knowledge has caught up with you and exposed the weaknesses of the program! The fact that we had " one " bad season is an incorrect statement! The program has been on a steady decline since our famous '04 season. At the height of your tenure Auburn was 12th in the nation in offensive production! The following season in '05 we dropped to 35th in the nation. Now thats not that terrible considering we lost 4 #1 draft picks to the NFL, and ended up having 7 players taken in the '04 draft! But the '06 season we dropped to 79th in the nation in offensive production! It cost us big time in our rivalry games especially ones to Georgia! Last years '07 we dropped to 94th in the nation in offensive production and this past season,...nuff said!

Coach Tuberville your decisions led to the firing of 6 Offensive Coordinators! If you had stayed on just one more year what could you do to convince an OC to come work for you? You knew you werent going to let them bring but one coordinator because your loyalty to your staff wouldnt allow you to change that! It just wouldnt and still wouldnt after your resignation! It is very commendible your loyalty but very unproductive in the sense of taking Auburn to the next level! Your record at Auburn was up there with the greats of Auburn past and you will always be revered as one of Auburns best coaches ever! You were always friendly to my nephew Josh and I and for that I thank you! I really do appreciate all you have done for the state of Alabama, the University of Auburn, and Auburn Football! I pray good fortune for you and your family wherever life takes you!

When you have nothing left!

Here it is day 3 in December and work has been brutal! In the last 2 days alone there have been over 1100 perscriptions filled and more to come! There have been periods at work where you just have to leave the place in a mess! I feel for our two faithful workers who work a tiresome day job at there respective schools and then have to come into that pharmacy and deal with that til 9? Those two ladies have my respect for what they have to do to live like they want too! In the days where, you just have nothing left, your spent, and your sick ontop of that, and you just cant go any further, and for the sake of saying it, you just dont want too! We are like that when we fill spent isnt it? We take that same attitude to God dont we?

The alarm goes off and were real chipper right? Ha ha ha ok God what is it?!! ( Ha ha Just for the record I have never said that to God! Yeah Right! ) And being genuine just isnt going happen,... or is it? I think, I think God wants our communion anyway! Because here is hope to our weary souls, God Cares! He cares about me! If you dont have that mindset about God then of course you would ignore Him in that time because you would treat your communion with Him like it was your duty instead of a relationship! Do we honsetly think that we are the only people that have been grumpy towards God? You Cotton Headed Ninnie Muggin, of course your not! You know God is a restorer, He sets things in motion to bring restoration not only to us but through us!
If you need strength He will renew it like the eagles! ( Ha ha see Auburn fans there is hope! ) If you need healing He is our healer! If you need assurance that it is going to be ok, God is your assurance! In times that we think He is so far away from our needs and that He is distant from us, maybe its because we need a perspective change! Maybe if we would let go of our hurts and frustrations and know that He is the air we breathe, we cant escape the Creator God! If you are going through something where you are tired and weary and have the dont feel like it attitude, just start there with God! By the time your done praying you finish the way you started thats for sure! Everyday isnt the same, today is a new day, its time we change our perspective and let go of our mindset, and sit back for a second and let God do his thing!

24 days!

Wow what a weekend it was for me, really , really good! Wednesday I got to hear Kelly Rice bring it! The whole why should we be thankful when this is what happened to me, abd then she nailed it! The reason we are not thankful in those times is because we arent focusing on the bigger picture! She used a picture frame and turned it around and talked about how a frame holds the picture but unless you turn it around you wont see the bigger picture! Like wow, I took so much away from Wednesday night! I went from there to meet up with friends and had one of those reunions! After Bobby and I were dropped off we had a great discussion on life and God and it was just a great night!

Thanksgiving was ok, I spent it hanging with friends and family, unfortunately my family doesnt get along that well so we ate in a hostil environment! But I was determined to stay joyful and I was and am and will bebecause let me tell you I am in love! I am, I am in love with Jesus! Let me explain, take saturday for instance, I went to a Iron Bowl party in Montgomery and didnt know but one person there! By the end of the night I not only knew everyone there but got to experience God and encourage everyone there! I took alook at the way that God brought them there and put me there too so that we could share and encourage each other and it was super special to me! I look forward to meeting more of there group and connecting with them as well!

Sunday at Crossroads was Sunday at Crossroads, it is hard to put into words what we experience every Sunday! I share my life with some great people at that place! And this morning I got to connect with some pastors in North Carolina just this morning and got to share God with them and connect them with some resources that will help them be more successful at connecting people to God! And when we do that with a heart that is open and pure before God, it shows our love for Jesus and shows the earth God's Glory! More to come on that right there but hey this Roadie is living life thankful for the reason of this season!