Out of the Wilderness

The Reawakening: Part 5

Please fasten your seat belts and turn off all electronics… next stop, Las Vegas!

My job comes with perks, and one of them is traveling to exciting locations, for instance, this particular work trip was to Las Vegas, Nevada. We were there shooting a couple of episodes for the show I helped create each week, and Lowe’s sponsored us at the Kobalt Tools 400.

Jimmie Johnson in the #48 car in Las Vegas.

Being at the track, hearing the loud roar of the engines, meeting rabid fans who camp out for days hoping to watch their favorite driver get the checkered flag is a really fun experience. So is staying at the Venetian Hotel and playing pai gow poker till late in the night. Even when I’m down $80 bucks and say…

“I’m going back to my room to think.”

But it was on this particular trip I again began to struggle reconciling what I do with feeling unfulfilled. I say “again” because it’s not the first time a wave of dissatisfaction came over me. The first time was actually in Vietnam with my sister and brother-in-law. They were adopting a little girl (more on that here), and I went along to capture the story on video. When I was asked by the adoption team in Hanoi what I do for work, the more I explained, the more trivial it seemed. They’re saving kids from a lifetime of poverty and I’m, well, I’m not.

Now in Las Vegas, those feelings wash over me again. I’m in a sour mood (not because of the $80 bucks), wishing I was doing something else entirely, but not having a clue what that could be. In the meantime, more pai gow poker, black jack, and casino war!

-Out of the Wilderness

Furious 7 and the U

If you have the chance to watch Furious 7, do it. The movie is action-packed and it’s quite remarkable how they kept Paul Walker in the entire film, even up to the very last scene, though he died halfway through production. I wish I read the IMDB trivia before I watched, it would’ve made the movie even more interesting. One scene that triggered a memory for me is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a hospital bed. The scene opens with him there, watching football on the hospital television. The action in the game looked familiar… I guessed it was a clip of Dwayne Johnson playing college ball at the U. When I got home I checked the trivia and confirmed my suspicions. It’s actually #94 Dwayne Johnson on defense for the University of Miami breaking loose to sack Seminole quarterback Charlie Ward. You can see the play in the video below, so watch it, then go watch the movie!

Home Improvement: My experience installing a screen door

Now, I’m no handyman. I’m somewhere between Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor and a pool float. But since I was laid off, I’ve been tackling projects around the house, the most recent was installing a storm door on the back door entrance. Thanks to the wide selection at Lowe’s, I went with the 32-inch Larson Screen-Away.

It was all paws on deck with this installation.
I had the instructions, all the screws and parts, almost all the right tools (I had to make another trip to Lowe’s for a 3/7 inch drill bit and a 9/16 drill bit), and a few hours to get the door mounted. At one point early on, I thought to myself,

“That doesn’t look right.”

But I charged on determined to finish the task with speed and gusto! Now the door is mounted but there are still a few things left to do: installing the latch frame, the drip guard, the closer, and the handle/locking mechanism. I was knocking these things out like a champ. I thought to myself,

“Dang, I’m good.”

Then I let the door close as I was standing inside the house, as opposed to outside where I had been working up to this point. Sadness. Deflated excitement. Shoulders slump at the sight of huge gaps above the door, beside the door, and under the door. Deep airy sighs. What went wrong? “Dang, I’m good” turned into “Darn, I’m the worst.” Remember the thing that “doesn’t look right”? Well, it turns out that “thing” was the door frame, and it was upside down. Who knew it mattered so much?

[also check out my first attempt at doing my own PEST CONTROL!!]

So after 2 and a half hours of work, I had to essentially start over. The funny part is, once I righted the wrong, it took about 30 minutes to get back to where I was. Oh, how frustrating it sometimes is to be hard-headed.

The door’s been working now for about a week, and I love it (scroll down for pictures). Although, the process would’ve gone much smoother had Al been around.

-Out of the Wilderness

Were Adam and Eve vegetarians?

I’ve wondered this question for a while now. Back when humanity was perfect, as in, no sin, fellowship with God, before people had to learn lessons like this, I don’t recall any mention of Adam or Eve eating meat. The story that comes to mind is the one most people have heard: the two love birds eating an apple. Therein lies the strongest case for them being vegetarians, right? If they ate meat in the Garden, wouldn’t it be mentioned in the Bible?

It wasn’t till after sin entered the world that animals were killed and as this very insightful article points out, there’s no mention of animals as food till after the flood that made Noah’s ark float. In fact, the article also reminds the reader that before the flood, animals didn’t have a fear of humans.

I brought some of this up with a friend of mine and he made a good point about the sacrifice of Jesus long after the Garden of Eden, Noah, Moses, King David, etc, Because of Jesus’ sacrifice that saved mankind, animals didn’t have to die anymore either (ceremonial sacrifices). Jesus death saved mankind for eternity, and saved animals here on earth, as far as sacrifices go, at least. Quite an accomplishment!

“For God so loved the world…” and perhaps this means everything in it, as well: men, women, children, beagles.

If God said to eat seeds and food from trees, I have a hard time believing Adam and Eve would dare go outside of that commandment. You know what I mean? For instance, if a teenage kid “borrows” his dad’s car and gets caught, he wouldn’t then lie about going to the library next weekend when he’s really going to a party. So after Adam and Eve made a gigantic mistake, and theirs was quite grand, would they really risk doing anything to draw more attention to themselves?

-Out of the Wilderness

The Reawakening: Part 4

December in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was excited because not only was it Christmastime, my birthday was coming up, too. Some people say it’s possible to have too much of a good thing, but tell that to any 4th grader who has 2 rounds of presents coming in the same month and you’ll be laughed out of the building. Impossible. To understand the significance of what I’m about to tell you, you may have to use your imagination. It was the mid-80s so there were no smartphones. There were no GoPros. No Internet, no HD televisions. No tablets, no digital photo cameras. No Dash Cams. We didn’t have Wikipedia, we had actual encyclopedias. There were huge boxy televisions… with maybe 50 channels, maybe. Phones were plugged into the wall and were attached by a cord. Computers were not very common and definitely not essential to everyday living. It was a world very unlike the one we live in now. Most families had one video camera, if any. And it was a giant VHS camcorder that was so big the back half rested on your shoulder while your hand propped up the front. Parents used it to record Christmases, birthday parties, maybe a child’s sporting event, or having fun in the back yard. Or hilarious sledding accidents. Yes, what you’re about to see is my brother crashing, then sounding like a girl.

Footage on those VHS tapes was precious, special, and regarded as delicate because it only existed in one spot, on that tape.

So on this memorable birthday, I received a gift that would change my world forever. In fact, I can probably dedicate my entire professional existence to the present my grandparents Mom-Mom and Pop gave me that day. My very own PXL2000.

I know what you’re thinking: he was the baddest 4th grader in all of the states. I felt it.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that since then, I’ve been making videos. Some of which are on the Internet… like this, this, or this. Also not surprising that I would seek work in a related field. That’s how I ended up at Country Music Television and volunteering as a camera operator at my church.

Because of the persistent notion that there’s more out there for me (what this reawakening is all about), I found it curious that I recently got an email about a job opening at church. It was exactly lined up with my skill set and seemed to be dropped in my lap. Could this be the next step I’m supposed to take? The next chapter of my life? I couldn’t dismiss the timing of this job possibility. So I was open to exploring it as an option, even responding with the intentions of later sending in my reel and resume for consideration. Full disclosure, though, I had one hesitation: I’ve never wanted to work for a church, and more clearly, I’ve wanted to never work for a church. The reason for such a decision is simple, and I suppose it’s become a sort of mantra for me: I will go to church because I want to, not because I have to. For me, my own life and my own journey, I don’t like the idea of getting paid to be at church. I envision it stealing the joy from my life. Turning it into a sense of duty instead of an act of worship and a recharging of my soul. I wholeheartedly support those that do work in churches, and I love that they can work in a place where they can also worship and serve.

So the more I think about this particular offer, I’m realizing that it’s pretty much the same thing I do now at CMT, just a different location. It might ultimately lead to some sort of dissatisfaction, although I would feel a stronger sense of fulfillment there. Evenso, I won’t pursue the job any further. I love volunteering at my church, and perhaps that’s exactly how I’m supposed to be connected there. Either way, there’s a take-away from this whole post… if you only remember one thing:

I was the baddest 4th grader in all the states.
-Out of the Wilderness

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