Quickies

No, not that quickie...

A friend of mine told me this freakin' funny story. He's a dentist here in Greenville and has a couple offices around town. Well, one of his office locations is what we like to call, close to Furman...or Berea (other names could follow, but would be demeaning to some people).

So anyway, you the people, my kind of people...they come into his office and tell him that they have a quickie?! What!! You may be asking what a quickie is...well, let me tell you. Apparently, a quickie is an undefinable discomfort that centers around a tooth. It is not a cavity, or a sensitivity to hot/cold. It's not a throbbing or sharp pain either....no, no folks...it's a quickie!

I just love some good old SC terminology. I'm learning things living here I would never have learned elsewhere!

Dinner and a Shoe Story

The other night, Kristin and I were out with some friends...there names are Matthew and Beth, and they're really cool...in fact, I think Matthew and I knew each other in a past life based on our views of life, spirituality, relationships, and philosophical ramblings.

So anyway, Matthew and Beth met Kristin and I for dinner at this really cool, home owned Cajun place, Chops. It's one of those places that is never busy, but they have great food, and you're terrified the next time you go by they will be closed...you know that kind of place, it just hasn't caught on yet so the owner knows you by name and realizes you are his one connection to more customers because everytime you come in you bring someone new....that kind of place...

Ok, so as we were eating dinner our waiter comes up to us and notices my shoes...if you haven't seen them, they are these white, 70 style running shoes with blue stripes, that I found in Kristin's grandfather's home basement....they were brand new, never worn, and the perfect size...

Back to the story...the waiter commented that he loved my 'traxs'...convinced I was unaware of the new lingo for shoes, I just nodded my head and went back to the conversation at the table...but he just kept on talking...come to find out he actually recognized the style and informed me that the actual brand name of my shoes were, in reality, Traxx. A brand that was started in the 70's and faded out of popularity into the eighies (though they are still around, but not as cool).

Regardless of the name of my shoes, I am for now and evermore referring to all shoes as 'trax'....I just love coming up with new terms?!

Let's Continue This Conversation

Today was one of those days that you realize how sick humans are, how much help we need...how disturbed this planet has become...

There is a story that must be told...a real story of a real life.

A friend of mine (I believe I can now call him friend, because I believe so much in what he and his organization is doing) sat down with me today and told me this story that left me emotionally shocked and spiritually challenged...

Rob knew there were horrors untold taking place everyday in Thailand, and it was time to take action...in fact 2 children are sexually trafficked every 2 minutes...posing as a predator he and a colleague walked into a brothel aimed at trafficking children. As he stood in a row, next to his enemies...men, inspecting what was not theirs, stealing innocence for pleasure...Rob peered through a pain glass window at 7-9 year old girls as their lifeless and dead eyes peered through the cartoons playing on a shoddy TV.

All dressed in red dresses, each was ripped of their dignity, nameless...only numbered....One girl, new maybe, with pain filled eyes, scanned the men though the glass and met Rob for a moment...number 146...this one girl, one life, one more innocence lost...what would happen to her that night...where is she today...number 146...what can we do to save her, who will take on this misison...number 146...who will tell her story.

Rob and so many others have given their lives to seeing children freed from slavery...freed from a life of torment. JFCI is teaching children to play again, dream again...restoring lives who will give THEIR voice to stop this evil.

Let us tell the 146 story. May she inspire us to move to action...may her story move you, rouse you, motivate you to speak.

Let's Take Action

I have benn given a great opportunity to work with a wonderful organization, JFCI. I wish I could tell you more about my inolvement with them currently, but that will have to wait.

In the mean time...let me tell you that I have fallen in love with their vision and mission. It has burned me to know that this is even an issue we have to fight in our world.

JFCI is fighting one of the darkest battles we face as a society today...child, sex, trafficking.

I encourage us all to visit their website and become an abolitionist so that we can bring more awareness of this issue to the public.

Also, check out Stop the Traffik if you want more information.

A New Beginning

Not too long ago...that is just over two months ago...our family relocated to Greenville, SC from Nashville, TN. Some of you may be saying why?!...well there are many reasons...and I will not go into ALL of them...but sometimes, I think, you just need a new beginning.

Life is a funny thing...those black and white issues I was so certain about a few years ago are now a little more gray. This can be a scary moment, but...at least for know...I have felt great comfort in embracing the gray in life. I have found solace in self expression...whether that be writing a song, engaging new ideas and dreams, putting myself last, or playing 'tea time' with my kids...I am comfortable with me...and what makes me...me.

I'm happy with that.

...Fix You...

One of my favorite songs...by Coldplay...it takes me places...I like to be taken by songs, moments, movies, poems, and just about anything creatively placed in my world...

but this past weekend someONE, and not someTHING, was unexpectedly placed in front of me...and that looks different.

let's be honest, we're often moved by the arts...but will they mold us? or shape us...as we shape them? It's the arts that are to provoke us to a greater good...to bring out an honesty in us that is often lost in our busy and redundant lives...but more often than not it is an unforseen conversation that makes life real again, and brings me to a true place of honesty with myself.

This past weekend that happened. I was introduced to an uncomfortable sort of person...one who needed money...but had a real story to tell. When we pulled up in front of the shack she rented a room from...it was a moment of poetry (which is often a sad reality) that imprinted my soul...a single mom...evicted...walking the streets...her baby with a friend, and no place to stay.

I felt helpless...and humiliated with the first thoughts that had come to my mind earlier..."here's just another person asking for money".

What can be done? I feel like this is an epidemic...people trying to raise children, one parent, no job...or two jobs...and nothing left for their kids. What can we do to fix this situation?

Let's Have a Conversation

So here it goes....my first post.

I named this blog "Conversations" for several reasons. One, I love to have deep meaningful conversations...and I hope this blog will be a conversations you enjoy....and secondly, because conversations are the fabric of relationships....it is what begins relationships, sustains relationships, develops relationships, and keeps relationships going...Let's get for real....everything I become and to everyone I give, will be based on the conversations I chose to invest in.

Let me be clear...a conversation is not just gabbing with a friend over the results of last nights American Idol results...no...conversations involve listening, engaging, responding, questioning, loving, believing and encouraging. My conversations shape me, mold me, challenge me, reveal me, anger me, frustrate me, liberate me, humilitate me, dimantle me, break me, deliver me, save me, change me.

Life is a conversation. Love is a conversation. God is in a converstaion.

I hope to live my life building, developing, sharing and participating in conversations that will make me, my family, and this world a richer place to live, and I would like to invite you to this conversation....

...And please join in....