Year One

This past weekend marked Lindsay and I's one year anniversary, which has caused me to do a bit of reflection. First off, I have to explain the weekend because I am proud of the surprise that I had for her. Lindsay has never been to Chicago, she loves shopping, and she loves surprises. So naturally, this was an easy one, I surprised her with a weekend in Chicago full of walking up and down Michigan Ave., stopping in any and every shop that sparked interest in her eye. We also were able to eat some great food, Chicago style pizza, and a fabulous dinner next to a window on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Tower. The weekend was fun, eventful, and relaxing. We were also able to stop back at the Oppy's in Indy for a short visit on Monday, which was nice and suiting because we haven't seen them in a while and Mick was the one who performed the ceremony.

My first reflection on this monumental occasion is that the past year has flown by, but at the same time I feel like Lindsay and I are well into our marriage. At times, this is so much so, that I feel like an old man and all I want to do when I get home from work is eat, watch the Reds game, and go to bed. Time has seemed to fly by.

Even though this past year has flown by, it has been extremely exciting. Lindsay and I have gotten to do a lot, which I realized just recently, and we have been blessed with cool oppertunities. We did our honeymoon thing in the Dominican Republic, which was amazing. We spent a weekend in New Orleans in December visiting my friend Daniel and going to Hornets game. We spent a weekend in a cabin in Pigeon Forge with Paul and Laura Travis, which was amazing, in January. Then we got to go to Zambia, Africa for two weeks this past May and work at an orphanage. Then the year was capped off with our trip to Chicago. Now that's not to say that we didn't do some more travelling in between, because I would guess that we were on the road more weekends than we were home, travelling to friends and family's houses.

Another reflection that I have made is that I am positive that I am a better husband at this time than I was a year ago. With that said, I am also positive that there is a ton more that I can get better at to be a better husband, to make my wife more appreciated, to show her love in different ways, and to quite simply be a better me.

I would like to think that on every July 13th I would be able to look back on the last year and say that I feel like I had gotten better at being a husband. I hope that there are years to come of getting closer to my wife.

Me

So I have thinking quite a bit lately about how I interact with God and what my relationship with God really consists of. My thoughts and putting these thoughts here stem from reading James this morning. James 5:16 reads, "Therefore confess your sins to each other..." My relationship, or lack of relationship has been bothering me and this is an attempt to start the process of rebuilding and pursuing God.

This is what I wrote down this morning:

I am bad at this. This being a great multitude of things, in which I can only ask God's help and forgiveness. I rely too much on ME. I make almost zero effort to ask God for help and rarely do I strive to be closer to Him. Is this really what a Christian is supposed to look like? I know I am never going to be perfect, but I imagine that God is not pleased with my faith or my relationship with Him. My life, my body, my thoughts, my actions are not my own. I am sorry for this distance between us. I need your help.