Learning to swim

Today as I laid out by the pool I watched a man with his son. The dad, holding his son (who looked to be about 6 or 7) was backing slowly into the deep end of the pool. As the son began to realize where he was going, he immediately began to protest and attempt to squirm his way out of his fathers arms. As the boy panicked, I could see his father whisper something very calmly into his ear and then he tossed him out about 3 feet in front of him into the water. At first when the boy popped up he instinctively began to flap his little arms, but when he realized he wasn't paddling quite hard enough to keep his whole head completely above water, panic set in and he began to flail and scream for his father. The dad continued to coax and encourage him as he calmly made his way over to get his son. As soon as he was close enough, the boy, in tears, latched on and clung for dear life as his dad told him over and over "its ok son, its ok." The father held him out and showed him how to kick, and then how to float.

Half an hour later, the boy was jumping off the side of the pool into his father's arms, into the deep end...with a smile.

As I watched this scene unfold right in front of me, I couldn't help but flash back to an almost identical situation with me and my dad at about the same age. I was terrified of the water, and refused to take swimming lessons. As soon as my dad even began to loosen his grip on me, I remember freaking out and clinging on for dear life. The difference in my story though, is that my dad didn't toss me in. Maybe it was the fear in my voice or my little claws in his arm, but my dad opted to heed my panic and hold onto me. Even though it would have scared the life out of me then, and even though I know he didn't let go because I was begging him not to, now as a 27 year old who is still afraid of the water...I kind of wish he would have just thrown me in.

This little moment between father and son and the reflection of my own moment with my dad made me think about how many times in my life i've been in this same situation....but with my heavenly father. There have been so many times that i've been scared to death of what lies ahead, or terrified of a challenge or burden at hand...but God, all along, is standing there saying "it's ok, it's ok" right before He throws me in the deep end.

Why?

Because sometimes the fear will overcome you. Sometimes the anticipation of stepping out into unfamiliar territory will paralyze you and keep you from completing the task at hand. Sometimes we need to just be thrown in the deep end, under the watchful eye of someone who knows how to save us if we were to start to drown.

There are a few areas in my life, two in particular right now, where I feel like God is holding me out over the deep end. Even though I barely know how to keep my head above water, I'm ready Lord, and I trust you...toss me in.

Jamie

It's the little things

Here's a great thought for the day that I found...

"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee."

– Marian Wright Edelman

So don't forget to...
... hold the door open
...say thank you
...make eye contact and smile at total strangers
...write a thank you note or a note of encouragement
...pick up the phone and call the friend that's been on your heart
...give a couple extra bucks to the homeless man on the corner
...tip well
...hug someone
...ask the cashier at the counter how their day is, and genuinely be interested in their response
...let someone go first
...go the extra mile, even though you don't have to

To you or I these may be small gestures...but to someone else, it very well could just turn a bad day into a good one. :)

Jamie

Happy Birthday Tat!

Just a little birthday shoutout to one of our favorite security guards here at Buckhead Church...Tatiana!

Chances are, if you've been at Buckhead Church, then you've seen the fabulous Tatiana (or "Tat" as we call her) doin' her thing. She's a rockstar...always has a smile on her face, and always taking care of us staffers as well as the entire church. I'll just say it....if you get outta line, she isn't afraid to lay the smackdown on you...so watchout. We are so glad that she's a part of our Buckhead family.



Tat...we love you and we're so thankful for you - hope you have the BEST birthday ever!! :)

Jamie

Passion Sydney

It's coming....

Are you ready? Stay tuned....

10 years and a million miles

Tonight was my 10 year high school reunion. It made me remember just how much some things never change...and how much some really do.

I won't lie, I wasn't overly excited about attending in the first place. Maybe because most of the people I wanted to see, I still keep in touch with. Maybe because I feel like I was a completely different person then...one who was often shy, fairly insecure, and wet behind the ears in terms of the realities of the "real world."

I'll admit - there was about an hour of the day today when I genuinely panicked just a little bit. Fearful that my old insecurities would come back out, and fearful that the reunion would be just like high school...a popularity contest. The old me back then would have never dreamed of braving an event like this alone. But here I am...27, single, and happy to attend date-less. By choice. No longer do I feel the need to constantly show up accompanied. I learned that through experience...multiple years of having no other choice. In high school you can take your buddies every where you go, but in real life, not so much. I've grown comfortable in my own skin...not that i'm 100% satisfied with it, but comfortable with who God made me to be, nonetheless.

The crowd there tonight was an odd mix...probably about 1/4 of our graduating class. It was an eclectic intermingling of the old "cliques," and I felt like the only people there not drinking were me and the 4 pregnant ladies. It felt as if I had pressed pause on a movie (we'll go with Fast Times at Ridgemont High just to give you a visual), and came back to that same scene ten years later. It felt like everything in the scene was exactly the same...everything except me. I can't really explain it. I know some people have changed (some for the better, some not-so-much), and some are exactly as I remember them...but I felt somewhat like Marty McFly watching himself have a conversation that had already happened.

I think tonight just made me grasp that I have grown a lot in ten years....more than I realized, I think. Don't get me wrong...I'm still a work in progress, but I feel like i'm lightyears away from the girl I was at EPHS.

And then I realized that the next time I will see a lot of these people, we will all be close to 40.

Wow.

I can't imagine how much will have changed by then....and how much will still be just the same.