Still in the dating world

Not too long ago, I had a date and while I fancy myself good company, I do always hope that the company I keep is good, as well. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that! Well, lately my few and far between dates seemed to have been cursed.

You see, I have a personality trait that 1) thinks too much and 2) loves to anticipate. So with most dates, I think about them a lot beforehand and if I’m already clicking with the woman, I anticipate a lot about the first date, or second or third, whatever the case may be.

So this particular relationship was headed for the first date, anticipation building. We’d seemed to connect, at least through various messages, and there also appeared to be chemistry. It’s such a coin flip when it comes to “real life / face to face meeting,” though. And this coin flip landed on whatever side means:

The date itself was fine. With the right person, it would have been a great first date. The anticipation from earlier, though, wasn’t fulfilled, so I arrived back home deflated, annoyed, frustrated. Trying to glean something positive from it, I counted the date as practice; a chance for me to hone my dating skills so that one day when a great match comes along, not only will I be good company, but also her anticipation will be met with a great reality.

-Out of the Wilderness

What changed with the roosters?

I wanted to write up an extremely insightful post about the deep spiritual message about Peter in the last few days of Jesus’s life on earth. Something about the time between when the rooster crowed and when he ran to the tomb to see if what he’d heard was true, that Jesus wasn’t there.

You see, Peter was a disciple, a devout follower of Jesus, and was willing to die for Him, as recorded in Luke 22:33. So I am trying to put myself in Peter’s position, with such a confidence in my relationship with Jesus.

Then you get to the part where a rooster crows and everything changes. Fast forward to a few days later and women who had gone to visit Jesus’s dead body in the tomb report that HIs body is no longer there. Those women tell the disciples and who was it running to the tomb? Peter.

So my questions for you are these:

  1. What happened in Peter’s mind and heart between the rooster crowing and the empty tomb?
  2. How can this part of Jesus’s life and story, relating to Peter and his own personal journey, be applied to our lives today, in 2018?

I’d truly love to get a conversation going in the comments and I will definitely be anxiously awaiting your take!

-Out of the Wilderness

Music that lasts forever and ever, amen

Quick note: All the links in this post are to other posts I’ve written, take a look!

This past weekend I went to an Elvis festival in Nashville. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved his music. Being among all those Elvis fans reminded me of my nieces. The oldest is 16 and the youngest is 5 or 6. But when they were younger and Elvis came on the radio, most of them wanted us to change the station fast! For whatever reason they didn’t like Elvis music. Well, come to find out they didn’t like any music that wasn’t Justin Bieber or whatever played on Radio Disney.

I never really thought about it much but their constant disdain for what is widely considered good music (Elvis is just one example), I began to appreciate the music I was “forced” to listen to when I was growing up. This isn’t a condemnation of how my nieces and nephew are being raised at all (I would never tell someone how to parent! Actually, I take that back, I wouldn’t tell my siblings how to parent!), but while my parents were kind and would leave the radio on a certain song we liked only sometimes, most of the time we listened to music they liked.

As I grew into an adult, I became more and more thankful for the music I had already heard before. Because of this, I really, really want the kids in our family to be exposed to that kind of music. Elvis, the Beach Boys, U2, Led Zepelin, Billy Joel, this singer (who was my first crush), Bob Marley, Alan Jackson, wait wait… I can’t do this. The post would be 5 days long. To be fair, there are a lot of current bands that are making good music, too… that list would also be 5 days long but bands like The Head and The Heart (I wrote about their show in Nashville here), OneRepublic, Zac Brown Band, Josh Ritter, Jack White, Lumineers, and again, I won’t keep going.

I keep thinking about the youngsters my family, “They have no idea what they’re missing. There is SO. MUCH. MORE.”

Well, last week something huge happened. Something monumental. I was hanging out with a few of the kids and I’d almost successfully drowned out the music that was playing when a Randy Travis song came on. My ears perked up and I asked, “Who picked this song?” My oldest niece (the 16 yr old) said she did because she likes it.

There is a God in Heaven.

-Out of the Wilderness

The one and only Elvis!!

I’ve been full of hunka hunka burnin’ love all day because this morning I went to the Nashville Elvis Festival! Lots of events going on all weekend but I went to the second round of the Elvis Tribute Artist competition; Twenty performers trying to finish as the best tribute artist and earn a spot in the national competition later this year in Memphis.

So what was it like? Well, imagine hearing 20 “entertainers” who all somehow sound exactly like Elvis! I still can’t wrap my head around it.

How does anyone sound like anyone else?

Impersonators are a unique group to begin with, but to sound like the iconic and one-of-a-kind Elvis Presley? Well, now you’re just shooting for the stars, arn’cha?

Throughout the event, I tried pretending it was the 1950s or 60s. How would’ve it felt to been at an Elvis show? Could I even feel a sliver of what it must’ve been like back then? I don’t know. But these artists were AMAZING. I’d confidently say that if you were to shut your eyes and just listen, you’d swear Elvis was there. It was incredible.

I’m so glad I went! Here’s a gallery of the performers in full Elvis wardrobe, from the peacock jumpsuit, to the Aloha from Hawaii clothing, and everything in between.

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-Out of the Wilderness

Dreading the way back

I’m not sure what this says about my personality, but when I take my dogs on a walk, we have a joyous time. We have a fun time. We run, we laugh, we play, we sniff things. Life is just rosy. At least for the first half.

But then we turn around and it’s as if the amount of fun we just had is dealt back equally to us but in opposite form. We’re stubborn, moody, hasty, and yet moving slow. No matter if it’s a 1 mile walk, or 2 mile walk, when we make the turn or circle around for the second half, my dogs seem to think, “Now we’ll be poky little puppies.”

It’s not all their fault, though. They are just doing what they do by sniffing and exploring. But I turn into an impatient bully!

-Out of the Wilderness