Don’t Worry

One of my new friends and new favorite people is leaving town for a couple of months to head to the Middle East for work. I am sad about this reality, which is interesting to me for two reasons:

  1. This individual is a relatively new friend; I’ve known him for several years, but we’ve only recently come to be acquainted.
  2. I don’t typically feel anything, except when I watch The Wire, Friday Night Lights or Parenthood.

But this post isn’t about my sadness, it’s about something his wife said before one of his previous similar trips.

A couple of years ago, as the church anxiously gathered around him to pray for his safety, she said “Don’t worry, but pray.”

I thought that was a pleasant, helpful thought. I’m not much of a worrier, but I’m even less of a pray-er. I don’t really understand the power or purpose of prayer, but I like the idea of being a person who says “I’ll pray for you.” and mean it. And, I love the idea of seeing God at work as a result of my praying.*

Now, to make this post timely and relevant, let me suggest that we work to adopt that mentality after whatever happens Tuesday night.

If the “other guy” wins, don’t worry, but pray.

*It should be noted that the seeing God work is not a result of my praying. Rather, by intentionally praying, I will be more perceptive to what God is up to.

A Reflection On Worship

For the last couple of years, I’d been hung up on the point of worship. I didn’t really enjoy it anymore, because I didn’t understand why we were doing it.

Three years ago, I wrote a post titled “Three Views of Worship,” and while I don’t necessarily disagree with what I wrote, it left me with a lingering question: who is worship for?

If worship was for our benefit, why don’t we sing songs that are a better reflection of what we’re actually feeling rather than always talking about how good and wonderful everything is? What about the suffering, anger and loss that we experience? Why not also express those feelings in our songs?

And if worship was for God’s benefit, what kind of God is He, really? It seems quite selfish to create us and demand for us to lavish him with songs every Sunday morning.

Writing these arguments out now, it seems a little funny that I was so hung up on this issue, and I’m able to see some pretty serious flaws in that way of thinking. But, fortunately, I had a minor breakthrough a few months back.

We were staying at my in-laws’ house and my niece and nephew were there with us. Before we left to go to church, I noticed a little scrap of paper on the counter. It said something like “I lov you gradnpa” in what was clearly my niece’s crude, 5-year-old handwriting. Something clicked for me.

Worship, much like that handwritten, misspelled note, is our attempt to express the deep affection we have for God. My in-laws know that my niece loves them – she didn’t need to pen that note. But she felt compelled to. And God, much like my in-laws, doesn’t demand such tributes from us, but he unquestionably delights in them – I’ll bet that scrap of paper wasn’t tossed out with the other similarly scribbled-upon scraps (at least not intentionally).

I don’t know that this “epiphany” is especially profound, but it had a profound effect on me.

The video at the top of this post is one of my current favorite worship songs – it’s two years old, so it’s not new, but my good friend, Ryan Eichelberger (who I hope will write a guest post or two here on the blog) led it at Wheatland a couple of weeks ago. It was quite a touching moment for our little community.

The ToddBlog Is Back

In news that no one was expecting or cared to receive, I am attempting to revive ToddBlog.net.

This attempt has been made numerous times over the years, the most recent was 18 months ago where I had a whopping THREE new posts before giving up the attempt. This time is sure to be a greater success, as I have FIVE new posts scheduled to go live.

“Why is Todd making this effort?” you may be asking yourself. It’s a fair question, and one I don’t have a strong answer to. But here are four weak ones.

  1. Hayley and I are beginning a new stage of our life as foster parents. I’d like to chronicle this adventure in some way. My posts won’t be specific about the kids we’re serving, but will merely serve as a relatively honest reflection of our experience.
  2. I am about to be a (self-)published author of a (children’s) book. The feeling is amazing. I hope to repeat it. And according to Google, every author needs a website. So…ToddBlog.net lives!
  3. I’ve started a new business (Apples & Arrows), and my old website (TheToddRamsey.com) is woefully outdated. I’m going to shut it down and point people to here for my personal stuff (writing, speaking, stand-up comedying, etc.) and Apples & Arrows for the business stuff.
  4. I’m doing some fun stuff that I want to talk/brag about.

So, I hope you’ll join me on this new adventure that is bound to last at least five posts.

P.S. The gallery on this post features the headers from the original design of the ToddBlog in 2006. They still make me self-indulgently chuckle to this day. Please to enjoy.

Question

Why did God “try” the law if he knew he was going to send Jesus to fix what we couldn’t live up to?

Cabo Wrapup

Well, reality has set in – Hayley and I have been back from Cabo for a little over a week now, going back to our regular, everyday, non-pool-filled lives. We had an absolute blast in Cabo and we’re incredibly grateful to Jan and Jeanine, our new friends, for sponsoring our getaway.

As I’ve mentioned previously, we’ve never done an all-inclusive vacation before. I didn’t know if I would like it. But I did. A ton. We didn’t have to think anything other than whether or not we had on enough sunscreen (we didn’t), which drinks to consume (I enjoyed the Bob Marleys) and whether or not the entertainment was lip-synching during the entertainment (they definitely were).

The biggest disappointment of the trip was definitely the beach. It was beautiful, but the water was crazy-cold and unbelievably rough (which did lead to a hilarious situation of a couple of girls trying to look hot, but ended up getting flipped upside down by the surf), and the sand was pretty rocky. This resulted in a ton of time by the pool rather than on the beach. A pretty minor setback in the grand scheme of things.

I’m not going to do a hard-sell here, but I do want to explain what Jan and Jeanine do, as well as I can. They are part of a company called World Ventures, a travel club that offers incredible vacations (like the one we went on) for some crazy-low prices. They explained that it was like a Sam’s Club for vacations – you join, pay a monthly membership fee and have exclusive access to bulk-rate trips.

As reps for World Ventures, they are able to both go on the trips and offer others the opportunity to sell the memberships. (This is as hard-sell as I’ll get in the post) If you’re looking for an at-home work opportunity, I encourage to check them out. The networking model is unlike any I’ve ever seen before and it seems like there’s actual potential to make some money without a huge initial investment.

But even if you’re not interested in selling anything, you should definitely consider the club. Heck, maybe we could even plan a ToddBlog vacation or something.

Leave a comment below or shoot me an email if you’re interested in connecting with them. I’d love to hook you up!

Hayley’s Cabo Report

As we’re almost out of minutes in the Internet Cafe, I will link to Hayley’s recap on yesterday in Cabo.

Click here to check it out.

I will add the following notes to flesh out her account.

  1. I ended up singing “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi for Karaoke last night. My dreams of becoming a rock star begin and end in my living room with Rock Band 2, I’m afraid.
  2. I didn’t get as sick as Hayley because I’m not as adventurous on vacation and I’m strong like bull.
  3. Rocky IV gets a bad rap. I kind of enjoy it.
  4. I like Bob Marley more than I thought I would.

Tomorrow is our day with the dolphins. I’m going to see how smart they really are.

And it begins

After a couple of delays at the Wichita and Houston airports, Hayley and I landed safely and soundly in Mexico, ready to soak up the sun and consume large amounts of free resort buffet food.

Despite Hayley’s and my strong desire to go on the Amazing Race – and strong belief that we could win – neither of us have ever traveled internationlly before. It was an experience to go through customs and its stringent examination to ensure we were who we said we were. We then picked up our bags and found our travel club’s prearranged transportation waiting and ready for us. No thinking or planning required on our part.

When we got to our room at the resort, there were a lovely pair of swans fashioned from towels watiing for us on the bed. They really were quite impressive. A little bit more impressive, however, was the view from our room. (Sadly, the Internet isn’t as impressive so the pictures will have to wait.)

Last night we had quite an experience – the entertaiment was a dancing review of Mamma Mia. I’ve never seen Mamma Mia before, but I think, thanks to Hayley, I have a general idea what was happening.

Today, Hayley and I are planning on relaxing by the pool, partking of resort buffet food, lying by the pool, walking on the beach (which is wickedly cold), and a Broadway dancing review.

On Saturday, Hayley and I are trying to decide between swimming with some dolphins and snorkeling. If you’ve done either, which would you recommend?

Cheers from Cabo!

Mexico, Here We Come

In two weeks, Hayley and I will be sipping margaritas, lying by the pool and frolicking (ok, I will probably the only one frolicking) on the beach in Cabo, Mexico.

Our friends Jan and Jeanine invited us to participate – for free – in their travel club. We’ll be blogging, tweeting, photoing and maybe even videoing our experience to share with the world. Or at least our little online slice of it.

So far the experience has been pretty amazing. We haven’t had to really do anything. We sent our flight itinerary to the booking agent and they’re handling transportation to and from the hotel as well as our accommodations, and they’ve provided a really nice guide of what to do and expect when we get there. All we have to do is get onto the plane.

We’ve never been to an all-inclusive resort, so we’re looking forward to having our care taken care of. But we’re also eager to travel into town to see the local sites.

So we’re looking for advice from you. If you’ve ever been to Cabo, what are the not-to-miss things we should check out?

If you’re interested in learning more about the travel club, let me know. I’d love to connect you to Jan and Jeanine. Not only are they lovely, fun people, they can get you all the information you need.

And to all would-be Internet stalkers and robbers: we will have a security guard on-site and our trusty ADT security system activated. So don’t even try it.

The Arrested Development Movie Trailer

This is the post I’ve been waiting to write for four years. Below is a trailer for the upcoming Arrested Development movie.

Let its beauty wash over you.

Ok. Sorry. That’s not real at all. But it is really awesome.

Gone too soon, AD. Gone too soon.