Another day

I miss my friends, family, and my wife especially.

However, today marks the halfway point between getting married and the planned date of Nishadi moving back to me - 3 months left!

Married Life

So supposedly some of the most stressful times in your life are planning a wedding, switching jobs, and moving, and Nishadi and I went through all of those at pretty much the same time. I'd have to say the most stressful thing is living 1500 miles from your wife, but maybe that option wasn't included in the study. We made a long term decision to get married even if in the short term we are separated by distance for a little while, and I have no regrets about that.

The best thing about the upcoming week is Nishadi coming in town after a week of not seeing her. The best thing about the previous week while she was gone was that I presented Conner his Aggie Ring, and I couldn't be more proud of all the hard work he's already and will continue to put in. Since it's been done twice in our family now we have a Davis Aggie Ring Tradition. Congrats Bro!

Blessing in Disguise

I've spent the last several years hating that I hurt my knees. I used to love sacrificing my body to dive and slide and land hard and collide if it would help my team win whatever stupid pick up game I was playing. That all changed in 2009 when I was looking up while running full speed, and planted on my left leg to jump at the same time some kid hit my knee to the side. My knee swelled up and hurt for a while, but I didn't get any diagnosis after the swelling went down so it could have either been a torn ACL or just a sprain - either way I didn't take care of it. About a year later I was playing flag football on my hurt left knee, which resulted in me tiring out my right knee. I tried to plant as hard as i could on my worn out right knee, and it just popped.

I was so sad. As much as I loved playing stupid pick up games, I knew they would never be the same now that I couldn't jump or turn or run near as fast as I used to. I hate it. Even after two surgeries and rehabbing them, my left knee is probably at 90% and my right knee is probably 75% of what they were before. So now I'm probably like 70% total capacity of what I used to be. I used to pride myself that I could be competitive without arguing or cussing or other douche things competitive people do, but now how can I do anything competitively.

So I spent all these years hating my stupid knees. So what could make me thankful that I destroyed both of my knees?

All of this is due scrutiny cause my memory is generally terrible but this is the best recollection I can do: Me and Nishadi had dated for a few months in spring 2010, then broke up that summer when we were long distance. We were still long distance the next semester when she had a coop, but we talked and hung out when she came in town still. We started dating again when she was done with her coop. So what does this have to do with my knees? I hurt them that fall while we were separated. While I was sitting on the bleachers, unable to play, watching my team play, it was really hard for me. I called Nishadi while I was really sad and wanted to talk to somebody and Nishadi was the one I wanted to talk to. Come to find out, Nishadi was getting tired of being the one to call me, and had just decided she didn't need to hang on to an ex that much. So if I hadn't hurt my knee and given reason to call her, I may not have called and possibly wouldn't be so fortunate to be with Nishadi right now?

After my surgeries, every time my knee tweaked or twisted and hurt, it just made me more frustrated. But now anytime that happens, it's just a reminder of how lucky I am. It just threw me for a loop to realize this injury I've spent so much time regretting, should actually be one of the things I am most grateful for.

Dear Nishadi,

So Nishadi was a little upset that I tried not to write about her, so now I will throw that away and try to write about her and if she's embarrassed about it maybe it will be good for her. So Nishadi I just want you to know you're my favorite and soon all the work you are putting in will be worth it.

You and your family are a blessing to me, giving me a place to stay while we save money. And even though this long distance stuff is the worst, you are the best at it and I am the luckiest person that you would want to be with me the rest of your life.

CHUMBLE SPUZZ

This was a little pick-me-up for me today:

Music from the heart

So I heard South Mac is starting to use instruments. This was sad news for me. Not because I think God doesn't want us to use instruments to worship, or it's a salvation issue, or that the lack of a mention of instruments in the new testament is supposed to mean to not use them, etc... but because that's how I learned what little I know of music and I feel like I am a part of the reason some kids won't get to grow up learning like I did.

Do you know what perhaps the saddest part of the whole Bible is to me? It happens when Joshua dies in Judges 2. Joshua is someone who Moses - who the Lord knew face to face - laid his hands on. And then Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua, while he was leading them. So Joshua is doing a lot of things right. Then you get to a little verse in Judges 2, which is the worst verse to me: After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 

How could there be such a big contrast between two generations that overlapped living at the same time? It doesn't matter what you do, good or bad, THIS TOO WILL PASS. This makes passing on learning from one generation to another so important. By leaving the acappela tradition, I am passing down a little less of what was passed down to me.

Now that's out of the way, here's why I am a fan of the move. It is SO much easier for new people to feel welcome imo - and this is extra important to me since I have been looking for a new church in Houston cold turkey and have had some trouble feeling welcome in several places. Blast that guitar up to 11, I got plenty of other junk to pass on to the kids younger than me. This is the church moving towards King David dancing in the streets and away from the conservative religious rules Jesus spent his ministry pooping on. If it is really that much harder to be intentional about teaching music to kids then we weren't really being intentional about it when services were acapela either.

Here is a question that made me rethink a previously negative stance on adding instruments: When you are standing there in either type of worship service, what should you be focusing on? Judging other people whether they don't seem to be truly worshiping (whether getting into the worship too little like barely singing or not singing joyfully, or getting into it too much like clapping, dancing or raising hands)? Should anyone's worship depend on how other people are worshiping? How does a concert negatively affect your worship?

Here is where my questions kind of hit a snag - why does the band have to be in the front on stage? I don't have a good reason, and I'd guess everyone might be better served by putting the worship-guides to the side and placing more attention on the words. But if you are thinking about the band on stage doing it for attention, I'd guess you are judging them by what you think their intentions are and judging yourself by your actions. If you did it the other way around I know you could find some fault with your own intentions and see that their actions are commendable. If people didn't commit themselves to worship the same because they are paying attention to the band, well then that's a problem, but it's not necessarily a problem with the band. Which style gets more people to focus on worship?

If you can't hear yourself over the guitar - good, now you don't have to worry what your voice sounds like you can worry about what your heart sounds like. Or sing a little bit louder because you don't have to worry about the guy next to you hearing. Enjoy it because it's just another way to experience worship!

So there now there are no logical arguments why to ever go back to acapela. YOU WILL BELIEVE ME

Long Awaited Return

So I know you have been waiting feverishly for me to continue to update you, and your patience has not been in vain! I am back and will hopefully continue to use a couple minutes every now and then. My life right now is so different than it was the last time I updated, here's a 1 sentence overview - I'm an engineer at Ao Manufacturing in Conroe and I'm getting married on February 16 nbd.

relevant websites:
My wedding website
My company's website that I made