Personal Space

In our civilized culture, it is a common courtesy to honor another person's personal space, the space around them that no other person should enter into. I have come to realize that there are varying sizes of personal space needed by each person. For me, I require a large amount of personal space. For others, personal space is almost non existent.

Why do I need so much personal space? I really don't know. I just have a hard time dealing with people leaning over my shoulder or bumping into me. I hate large crowds, because I do not have adequate personal space. Whenever I sit at a stadium, movie theatre, or even church, if it is not a member of my immediate family sitting next to me, I like to leave an empty seat between me and that person. Now that I think about it, that is probably why I am so adamant about the Men's room etiquette of leaving one urinal between me and the next guy.

Can a person cause his need for a large amount of personal space to decrease? Maybe. But I don't think I want to. I am happy with the size of the bubble I try to keep around myself.

Another job I'd like to try once

On our vacation to Hollywood, I came across another job I would like to try, if only for a day. That job: a costumed street performer in front of Graumann's Chinese theatre on the walk of fame. Well, I guess you would call it a job. They do it every day and make money at it. So, yes, I would call it a job.

The good thing, it seems, is that you don't, necessarily, have to look like the person you are trying to portray. We saw an Elvis impersonator that looked no more like Elvis then I do. There were, however, many impersonators that looked a great deal like who they were impersonating. We saw a very good Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean), Gene Simmons, and Superman.

I am not sure who I could impersonate, but I am sure there is someone that I kind of, maybe, look remotely like that people might give me a few bucks to have their picture taken with. I think it would be a lot of fun, for a day.

The Ohio State Fair

The Ohio State Fair starts today. I have not been to the fair in years, but after getting information about the fair for an article I wrote for Examiner.com, I realized that the fair might just be a fun place to take the family.

I had always stayed away from most fairs, because I am allergic to ever animal, it seems. But, the Ohio State Fair offers many, many more choices then just the livestock area.

Every fair has great food and this one is no different. I love the Italian Sausage sandwhiches. I can even be talked into a carmel apple or funnel cake. Fair food is the best!

The Ohio State Fair also has a great Midway with lots of kid friendly rides. I am sure our boys would love that.

It is also amazing to me the entertainment that is coming to the fair, Kelly Clarkson, Rascal Flatts, and even Kenny Rogers. Very impressive.

So, if you are like me and have not tried a fair in a while, I would check out the Ohio State Fair. It looks to be awesome.

What I've learned from T.V. (3)

People say that you can never learn anything by watching television. As a huge fan of the medium, I must disagree. I am a firm believer that you can gain great amounts of knowledge by watching t.v. This is my third post in which I will highlight some of the useful information that I now have stored in my brain because of television.

Happy Days:

From watching Happy Days I have learned that, no matter how tough someone is on the outside, they can be very tender hearted on the inside.

I also learned that sometimes, siblings just disappear (Chuck).

Finally, I learned, from Happy Days, that trying to jump 14 garbage cans with my motorcycle is probably not a good idea.

Examiner.com

Do you know anyone that is a paid journalist? If you answered no, hold on a minute. Now you do. That would be me!

Last Monday, I started as a travel writer for Examiner.com. I am writing for their Cincinnati, Ohio page with a focus on Road trips. I have posted 4 articles so far and it has been pretty cool.

Paid journalist is probably a bit over stated. I do get some pay for each time my article is read with a few other factors that are involved. Certainly nothing I could make a living from, but hopefully enough that I can take Sarah to a nice dinner once a month.

So, if you enjoy my blog, check me out on my page on examiner.com. Even if you are not from the Cincinnati area, I should have a few things that are universal to everyone. That, and maybe you just want to help put a few bucks in my pocket. Either way, thanks in advance. Also, if you have any ideas for what you think I should write about, let me know.

United breaks guitars

When I was doing a little research about United Airlines, for our last trip, I came across this video. Apparently, the gentleman featured in the video, Dave Carroll, flew on United with his band. During the trip, his guitar, that he had checked as baggage, was damaged. He contacted United several times, but they refused to compensate him for the cost of repairs to his guitar. So, in this day in age, where does someone turn to get results? Youtube, of course! Dave and his band made a video, posted it on youtube.com, and though and behold, United saw it and agreed to pay for the cost of repairs to his guitar. The video itself is pretty funny. Check it out.

Movies I haven't seen

You may find this hard to believe, but I had never seen an Indiana Jones movie until the end of last year. It is not that it was intentional not to see them. I just never got around to it. I knew they were classics, that everyone loved, so I did want to see them. It just never happened.

Apparently, there are a lot of classic movies I have yet to see. Here are a few that have escaped my view:

Casablanca
It's a Wonderful life
Dances with Wolves
Gone with the Wind
The Godfather I,II, and III
Schindler's list
Silence of the Lambs
The Terminator
Braveheart
Die Hard Series
Shrek
Gladiator
Rain Man
The Lord of the Rings
The Matrix
A Beautiful Mind
Remember the Titans
The Dark Knight

Wow! That is a lot of highly rated movies I have yet to watch. What about you? What movies have you not seen that everyone else calls a classic?

Backing in

On our last vacation, I was reminded, a few times, of one of my biggest pet peeves. That would be the driver that must always back into their parking spot. You know that person. Whether it be in the parking lot at a crowded concert or a church parking lot on a Thursday morning, they have to back into their spot.

What makes this worse is that the driver doing the backing usually has no backing skills. They have to take 3 or 4 runs at it before they can get their car parked straight. And, they don't care who has to wait on them while they attempt to back their car in.

I don't get why people do this. Does it save time? In the grand scheme, it costs more time. I have never seen someone have to take 4 tries to back their car out of a parking spot after being forward facing. If I had to group the drivers that do this, I do believe it may have a little bit to do with the age of the driver. It seems that the majority of backer-inners are older drivers. Now, that doesn't preclude younger people from committing this awful act.

If you are a backer-inner, please let me know why you do this. You may say that it helps you get out faster when you are leaving. I can understand that. But, why do you still do it when you are the only car in the lot? It just may be something I will never get.

The Ice Cream Cone

A few days ago we celebrated National Ice Cream day. Today, we will talk about the single greatest invention that took the enjoyment of ice cream to new heights. That invention, the ice cream cone.

On July 23, 1904, Charles E. Minches of St. Louis, Missouri, came up with the idea of filling a pastry cone with two scoops of ice cream, thereby inventing the ice cream cone. The walk-away cone made its debut later that year at the St. Louis World's Fair.

So, today, feel free to enjoy an ice cream cone to commemorate this wonderful date in the history of desserts. And, of course, you can't really enjoy an ice cream cone without a huge scoop of ice cream on top!

First, First Class

On our recent trip to Hollywood, California, we flew United Airlines. We, of course, flew in what they call their Economy class. I have always know it as coach. As a frequent flier in coach, I have always wanted to fly first class, but could never really afford the ticket price. So, my first class envy has always been pretty high. But, now, United Airlines has caused my envy to raise yet another notch.

On our flight to California, we boarded the plane as usual and walked through the first class area to get to our seats. (I think airlines do this to make sure you know you are not a first class passenger) The plane had the normal first class seats, but then I noticed something different. United calls it their first class suite. I call it first, first class.

What the United suite is, is basically your own personal, all in one, area. It is like your own little pod away from everyone else. First of all, you have a seat that lays completely flat to make a bed. Not the two inch recline we had, but an actual bed. You have your own personal video screen and work station, complete with a laptop power source and fax. And each passenger receives a 5 course meal. We didn't even get peanuts!

So now, first class isn't even enough to desire. Now I want to sit in first, first class. But, until I strike it rich, I will be happy with my crammed coach seat, with it's 2 inches of recline, while I look around other people's heads to try and get a glimpse of the movie that is being shown.

What I've learned from T.V. (2)

People say that you can never learn anything by watching television. As a huge fan of the medium, I must disagree. I am a firm believer that you can gain great amounts of knowledge by watching t.v. This is my second post in which I will highlight some of the useful information that I now have stored in my brain because of television.

Three's Company:

The most prominent lesson I have learned from watching Three's Company is that eavesdropping, although often tempting to do, only leads to misunderstandings and awkward situations.

I have also learned that, no matter how difficult times may be, pretending you are gay is not always the best course of action.

...in front of a live studio audience

In a previous post, I told you about attending the taping of "Rita Rocks", with the exception of one minor incident. I call it an incident, because it was nothing short of brutal. Here is what happened...

Before the taping begins, and during the breaks between scenes, there is a comedian that entertains the live audience. Well, at one point, the comedian asks if there is anyone in the audience that can juggle. No one, in the entire audience, raised their hand. That was, until my wife, Sarah, raised her hand, pointed at me, and hollered "He can juggle!" The problem...I can't juggle. It is probably better stated that I can barely juggle. Nothing more than that at all.

The comedian saw Sarah pointing at me and beckoned me to the front. I assured him that I really couldn't juggle. However, he wouldn't take no for an answer. At some point he had the audience chanting my name. So, to my dismay, there I was, in front of the entire, live studio audience, the "Rocky" theme playing in the background, showing my lack of juggling skills. And, to top it all off, it wasn't just for one break between scenes, but more like four or five times I had to juggle.

Towards the end, I was starting to get into my groove. I was able to keep all three balls going for at least 10-15 seconds at a time. I will have to admit, it was fun and I got a free T-shirt out of the deal. I even had a couple of people in the elevator, after leaving the show, tell me how much they liked my juggling. It was pretty cool.

National Ice Cream Day!

In 1984, President Ronald Regan declared July National Ice Cream month and the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream day. So today, my friend, is National Ice Cream Day! What does that mean for you and me? That means that today we can eat all the ice cream we want and not have to feel even a little bit guilty. After all, we are just celebrating the freedom provided to us by our forefathers. In fact, it would be down right unpatriotic to not have an extra scoop or two. So, make sure to enjoy your Ice Cream on this very special day.

Ketchup? Really?

For the most part, when I sit down to eat with someone, I don't care what they eat or how they eat it. My sister, Tammy, used to dip her pizza in ketchup. Sure, disgusting, but I didn't care. I have eaten with several people that dip their french fries in ranch dressing. That's fine too (I actually kind of like that one myself). However, the one thing that I can't stand is when someone puts ketchup on their hot dog.

I don't know what it is, but it is just wrong. I think it disrespects the hot dog, and I won't stand for that! If you have to go with a singular condiment for your hot dog, it must always be mustard. There are many, many other acceptable hot dog toppings, just not ketchup. There are onions, chili, cheese, and even sauerkraut, all of which are perfectly fine. I am even willing to listen to other exotic items as possible hot dog toppings. Anything, as long as it isn't ketchup.

I don't have a personal thing against ketchup. In fact, I think ketchup is perfectly acceptable on many other things, just not hot dogs!

Gordon Ramsay - London West Hollywood II

My worries about eating at Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood, from a previous post, proved to be unfounded. Our lunch turned out to be wonderful. We knew it would be a bit expensive going in, but, afterwards, I felt that it was well worth the splurge.

Here are a few of the highlights from our dining. I started with an asparagus risotto that was amazing. It was finished with mascarpone and aged Parmesan. So, good! I also had, what had to be ranked toward the top of the best steaks I have ever had. It was a seared rib eye steak with horse radish pomme puree and truffle sauce. Just delicious! Sarah had a chicken dish that was really great too. Her highlight was the dessert. She loves grapefruit, so she tried the grapefruit sorbet with a grapefruit foam. She loved it.

So, the next time we watch "Hell's Kitchen" and see Gordon Ramsay yelling at his chef's, I will better understand that he knows exactly what he is doing. The food that comes out of a Gordon Ramsay kitchen is truly world class.

Rita Rocks

We just recently returned from our trip to Hollywood, California. We had a great time. We did a lot of fun things. One of the most enjoyable things we did was attend a taping of the sitcom "Rita Rocks". The show stars Nicole Sullivan (King of Queens) and co-stars Tisha Campbell-Martin (My wife and kids) and Richard Ruccolo (Two guys, a girl, and a Pizza Place).

It was very interesting to see how a t.v. show comes together. From the stars to the director to the camera guys to all the assistants, everyone had their own roles to play to contribute to the final product.

One of the most interesting things to watch was how the writers got together after every scene. You could see that they were discussing how the scene went and whether or not to make changes. A few times they would then re-shoot the scene with a new joke in place. I assume the original joke, that looked good on paper, didn't play out how they thought it would, so they changed it.

So, if you ever have a chance to attend a live taping of any show, I would suggest you do so. It is a lot of fun. And, I would also recommend checking out "Rita Rocks" when it starts again in the fall on Lifetime. It is a pretty funny show that they whole family can watch.

Men's Room Etiquette

In many areas of our society, it seems that proper etiquette has been lacking for some time now. No area is that more evident then when it comes to the Men's room. I feel that this is not, necessarily, due to a wanton disregard for proper behavior, but a lack of knowledge of how to act once inside the Men's room.

With that, I have decided to take it upon myself to help educate the men in our society, as it pertains to proper Men's room etiquette. It is quite simple to practice proper Men's room etiquette as long as a few rules are adhered to. Here are the rules.

1) It is alright to talk to someone in the Men's room up until the point you start to reach the urinal area (approximately a 10 foot radius). Once within this area, all conversation must stop. Conversation may resume once out of this 10 foot circle. No matter who is next to you, even a long lost friend you haven't seen in years, there is to be no conversation in the 10 foot "Urinal Circle".

2) When choosing a urinal to take care of your "business", you must choose a urinal that is not adjacent to a urinal that is currently being used by a fellow patron. For instance, if you enter a restroom with three urinals and the one to the far left is being used, you must use the one to the far right.

Special note: If there are only three urinals available and both the left most and right most urinal are being used, you must then use a stall. If no stall is available, you must come back when the restroom is less crowded.

3) A few short items that you would think should be common sense, but apparently not:

A) No food or drink of any kind is to be taken into a public Men's room. Just plain disgusting.

B) Footwear is mandatory for a public Men's room. Again, just disgusting.

C) When using a urinal, you must look straight forward at the wall in front of you and no where else. For obvious reasons.

D) Absolutely no contact is to be made with another patron while in the Men's room. No handshakes, no high fives, no pats on the back. Again, the reasoning behind this should be obvious.

I hope that posting this will help bring back civility to the Men's room.

What I've learned from T.V. (1)

People say that you can never learn anything by watching television. As a huge fan of the medium, I must disagree. I am a firm believer that you can gain great amounts of knowledge by watching t.v. In this post, and future posts, I will highlight some of the useful information that I now have stored in my brain because of television.

The Brady Bunch:

The Brady Bunch has taught me many valuable things. The first thing it has taught me is that a blended family, although it may be difficult at first, can truly work.

I also now know that "stinker" is not a socially appropriate name to call someone.

When catching a football, it is always preferable to catch it with your hands or arms, rather then your nose.

Finally, the Brady Bunch has taught me that, when it's time to change you've got to rearrange, who you are into what you're gonna be.

What in the world did you say to me? IV

This "What in the world did you say to me" moment happened at a White Castle restaurant. It was a Friday morning, around 11:00 and I stopped in to buy lunch for my team at work. I was the only person in the restaurant at the time. I walk to the counter and here is the exchange:

Me: "I will take 20 cheeseburgers, 20 hamburgers, 5 orders of onion petals, and 5 orders of fries."

White Castle counter guy: "Sure, will that be for here or to go?"

I didn't say anything, but thought to myself, "What in the world did you say to me?" It was probably more like, "Did you really just ask me that question?"

After a long pause, he responded, "Oh. I guess that would be to go."

I am sure the guy just gets used to saying "For here or to go", but it just stuck out as funny to me. I don't know that I have ever ordered that much food at once, and the one time I do, the guy seems to think I might be capable of eating all of it.

Guilty Pleasures (music)

Do you ever find yourself listening to and enjoying a song that you wouldn't dare let other people know about? If so, you, my friend, have a guilty pleasure song. I actually have a few. At the risk of embarrassing myself, I am going to list them here. However, you can continue to read this only if you agree to post a comment with your guilty pleasure song. Think of it as group therapy. Here's my list:

I think we're alone now - Tiffany

I'm gonna be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

U can't touch this - MC Hammer

The Rose - Bette Midler

How do you talk to an angel? - The Heights (Jamie Walters)

Now your turn. What is your guilty pleasure song?

Gordon Ramsay - London West Hollywood

Today is the day we will be having lunch at Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood. As fans of the show, Hell's Kitchen, we have always wanted to try a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. I am really looking forward to this. However, I am a little concerned with the menu. It certainly contains many things I have never tried, but, I am up for an adventure. With items such as tuna tar tare and braised ox tongue, I hope my stomach is up for an adventure as well! Here is a link to the lunch menu.

Camping

As we are on vacation, staying in a very nice hotel, I am reminded of how some people choose to spend their vacations. To some, camping is the greatest vacation there is. I would not be one of those people. I just don't understand why people love to go camping, yet, every summer, camp grounds are packed with people. I can understand the cost savings of camping. If you want to go somewhere and a hotel room is too expensive, camping can be that cost effective way to still go on that vacation. I get that. However, the people that their only reason to go camping is the enjoyment they get from camping, I don't understand. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Brilliant inventors have come up with things that give us comfort, things like air conditioning, indoor running water, a bed. Why would you purposefully give these things up? And, probably my most pressing question for you camping loving people is that, if you are the type that gets no greater joy then when you are camping, then why do you have a house? If camping and living that lifestyle are so awesome, why not live that way 365 days a year?

Do you enjoy camping? If so, please let me know why? I don't know that I would ever change my mind about camping, but would be interested in hearing your point of view on the subject.

Leaving, on a Jet Plane

This morning, we leave from Norfolk, Virginia headed for Los Angeles, California. I'm not looking forward to the 6 1/2 hour flight time, but I'm very excited to get to Hollywood. We are sad to leave the boys for 4 days, but they will be in very capable hands. And, I am a firm believer that a husband and wife need to, periodically, take a few days away from their children. It will strengthen our marriage in the long run. Besides, the boys could probably use a few days away from us as well.

So, were off to Hollywood

Chad Jarnagin

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I have recently started my own Facebook page. It has allowed me to reconnect with a lot of friends from my past. It is really cool.

One such person, I reconnected with, is a friend that we went to the same church and elementary school growing up. His name is Chad Jarnigan. What I knew about Chad was that he moved away to sing in a gospel quartet. They were really good. I knew they had put out a couple albums and toured around a bit. However, that was about all I had known about what happened to Chad.

After connecting through Facebook, I was happy to learn that Chad has done some awesome things. Check out his website, chadjarnigan.com. He is currently the Worship arts Pastor at Rolling Hills Community Church in Nashville, Tennessee. According to his site, he has toured over 1800 shows/events. He has performed in many sports stadiums and arenas. Needless to say, he has made a great life for himself. I am proud to say that I know him.

Facebook

Now that I am leading the College age Ministry, at Liberty Heights Church, I have been encouraged to start my very own Facebook page. Apparently, everyone who is anyone has a Facebook page. And now, that includes me.

Facebook is a great tool to reconnect with people you haven't talked to in years, as well as keeping up with the goings on of people that we do see frequently, but had no idea what their day to day life was like. Facebook is also a great tool to communicate things to large groups of people very quickly. That is my main hope for use with our College Ministry.

For those of you that haven't used it, Facebook allows two users to declare themselves "friends". So, when you first start using Facebook, you, kind of, feel like the kid sitting alone at the lunch table. You see everyone else with lots of "friends", but you don't have any. Slowly, but surely, people you know start "friending" you. I have to admit, it was a pretty good feeling to pass the 100 friend mark. Of course, I then took a look at some of the members of our College ministry and see that a few have well over 700 "friends". That puts me back in my place.

So, if you haven't signed up for Facebook, you should. It is pretty cool. Besides, I could always use another "friend".

What in the world did you say to me? III

Here is a recount of a "What in the world did you say to me?" moment I was a witness to. I was standing in line at Penn Station restaurant (For those of you that may not know, Penn Station is a east coast style sub shop). I had placed my order and was waiting on it to be cooked.

Through the restaurant entrance, I see a guy walk in and immediately realize that he knew one of the guys working behind the counter. The conversation went like this:

Customer: "Bill, man, I haven't seen you in forever. What have you been up to?"

Worker: "Not much. How about you? Where are you working?"

Customer: "I've been working at this store in the mall. I am now the assistant manager."

Worker: "Man, that is great to hear."

Then it happened. The "What in the world did you say to me?" moment.

Customer: "So, where are you working?"

The worker responded with some version of "What in the world did you say to me?" I think it may have been more like, "What kind of stupid question is that? You see me behind this counter with an apron and a spatula, don't you?"

The conversation ended with the worker turning around and never again acknowledging that the customer was still in the restaurant.

The Outsiders

One of my all time favorite movies, that was originally a best selling book, was "The Outsiders". This movie may have had the all time greatest cast, from top to bottom, of any movie. How about these names? Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Leif Garret, and Matt Dillon.

The movie also has my favorite character name of all time, Sodapop Curtis. I just think it is a cool name. So cool, in fact, that I begged my wife to let us name a child Sodapop, but should wouldn't go for it. (She wanted S names and Sodapop is an S name) If you have seen the movie or read the book, you know that Sodapop was one of three brothers. His youngest brother (And the star of the movie/book) was named Ponyboy, another original name. Then there was the oldest brother, Darrell. Really? Darrell? Sodapop, Ponyboy, and then Darrell? I think the author must have gotten tired of coming up with really cool names. Not that Darrell isn't a fine name, but it is nothing compared to Sodapop or Ponyboy!

If you have never seen the movie or read the book, I would suggest doing so. Both are great. If you have read the book or seen the movie, I have 2 words for you, "Stay Golden".

Independence Day

One of the coolest perks of our new house happens on the 4th of July. In our town of Monroe, Ohio, each year they celebrate the 4th with a very nice fireworks display. Last year, with Slade only being a few months old, we decided that going to the park to watch the fireworks was in the "too hard" category. So, we chose to stay home. We happened to be upstairs when we heard the fireworks start and took a look outside to see if we could see anything. We discovered that we had a great view of the fireworks from our master bedroom. We opened the curtains, brought the boys to the window, and enjoyed a great fireworks show from the comfort of our own house. It was great. And, we didn't even have to fight the crowds to get back home after the fireworks, because we were already there!

This year, however, we are out of town for the 4th and will have to miss the Monroe fireworks. We are spending the week in Virginia with Sarah's parents and, I am sure, will be checking out a fireworks display in their town. They do have fireworks in Virginia, don't they?

Another Vacation

I'm on Vacation! Today we are leaving for a few days in Virginia, then we are off to Hollywood, California!

In Hollywood, we will be staying at the Renaissance Hotel, which is right next to Grauman's Chinese theatre (The one with all the star's hand prints) and the Walk of Fame. We plan on trying a world famous Pink's hot dog and I am trying to talk Sarah into a stop by Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles. We also have a lunch reservation at Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood. More about that in another post.

We have tickets to a sitcom taping and will do lots of other touristy things. We will also take these few days to sleep in! That might be one of the best parts of the whole trip. I will make sure to blog some of the highlights when we get back.

Packing

Tomorrow, we leave for another vacation. Being on vacation is wonderful. However, the day before vacation, is the worst. Why? Because I hate to pack.

The entire process of packing frustrates me. It starts with deciding what to take. Is it going to be cold or hot? Are we going to be casual or do we need to dress up some days? Do I need dress shoes or will tennis shoes do the trick?

Then, once I decide on what to take, cramming all my clean, wrinkle free clothes into a small suitcase, just knowing they will be wrinkled when I get them out, is maddening. Because of my indecisiveness, I tend to overpack. So, of course, overpacking means even more wrinkles.

Finally, after stuffing the suitcase full, the worry sets in. Did I pack everything? Do I need another shirt or another pair of pants? Will my mouthwash spill out all over my clothes. So frustrating!

But tomorrow, all the frustration will end. I will be on vacation! Anything I didn't pack, I'll either do without or buy another one when we reach our destination. I can't wait!

Be a Radical

When it comes to the big things in life, I tend to be very conservative. I don't really like to take chances. Sure, on small things, I can take a few chances, because, with small things, what I may lose by taking a chance is also small. I want to stop being so conservative and start being radical!

What I mean by that, is that I am challenging myself to step out and take a risk that is so radical that, as God calls me to take that risk, the only way to accomplish anything is for God to step in and intervene on my behalf. Something that is so out of my comfort zone that I can only be successful through and by Him. I want God to take someone like me, that may not be equipped or gifted for what He is calling me to do and for Him to lead me step by step through it, to bring Himself even greater glory.

What is it that God is calling you to today? What is it that, as we speak, you are not equipped to accomplish and only through God's grace and mercy will you have the tools to be successful? Whatever it is, I pray that we step up to become radical!