good bye cav...

I’m going to miss my Chevrolet Cavalier.  It was red.  It was dependable.  It was driven longer than it needed to be driven.  It lasted longer than it should have.  It was purchased at a time when it probably wasn’t the wisest thing to do.  And it probably saw more of this country and its roads than it ever needed to.  I thank God for my Cavalier.  I thank God that He always provides for me.  I thank God that even when I feel I have less than enough to get by I don’t just squeak by, but His providence makes it abundantly clear that He is still very much in control.

Maybe it’s not a Cavalier for you.  The sign of God’s providence in your life could be anything.  It could be a rainbow.  It could be a DOUBLE rainbow.  Either way…He’s firmly in charge.  Not me.  Not you.

Tuesday Melissa and I find out if we’re having a boy-Ramirez or a girl-Ramirez.  Either way, He’s in control, right?

What do I prefer?  Do I want a boy?  Perhaps.  I feel that with a boy I’ll be able to head him off at the pass.  I have this feeling that there’s absolutely nothing he could hide from me that I wouldn’t know or find out through my cunning snooping.  I feel like I can build fences and boundaries around a boy that wouldn’t suffocate him and would allow him to make some mistakes and at the same time guide him in the right direction.  I feel with a boy I might be better equipped. 

With a girl…I feel I’ll need a door to my basement (complete with multiple locks), a view out window for sunshine and a lot of sweatpants and sweatshirts to give her plenty of variety in her wardrobe.

But He’s in control, right?  Just like with the car that He gave me and made work for all those years I have to trust that no matter what it is we find out on Tuesday that He’s going to provide all we need in order to accomplish His plans through our child. 

Here’s what I DO know.  This one is His.  Even now, this one is His.  I’m sure that will be harder to live out later as I try to wrangle control from the creator of the universe, but right now I want to openly say that his one is His.  All of them are.  I’m just the steward.  I’m the one who has set apart to watch over, love and nurture this future minister of the gospel.  This future missionary.  This future work-place missionary.  This future first time ever Hispanic NBA All-Star Center.

I welcome the task.  I look forward to having NO idea what to do.  I can’t wait to depend on God in ways I’ve never known possible.  I look forward to keeping you guys up to speed on the development of this future Ramirez. 

Thank God for Chevy Cavaliers.    

Denny's, Kool-aid and a life after college...

So my friend Eddy is a huge Denny’s fan.  I can remember back to one of the first times my roommate Ben and I actually hung out with Eddy exclusively (sorry if this sounds like we were dating).  It was the middle of the week after a mid-week worship service and we had a hankering for some breakfast food I suppose.  We decided on the local Denny’s that was really close to the FSU campus.  The funny thing was, when we walked in every single one of the workers yelled, “Eddy!!” just like they would yell “Norm!!” on Cheers.  I think Ben and I knew at that point this was a man who knew people.  It was like eating with the godfather, Eddy didn’t have to order because they knew what he wanted and then didn’t have to pay because apparently, “his money was no good there.”

True story?  Perhaps…

The point being is that two weekends ago, during MLK weekend, I was able to travel to Atlanta and meet up with Eddy and Ben for the first time since Ben got married several years ago.  All three of us Texans.  All three of us married. All three of us somehow placed at Florida State University.  And I could not have been more encouraged by the weekend.  I’m not going to lie, life after college sometimes has it’s “WOW THIS SUCKS!” moments.  We even talked about it that weekend.  Take for example the fact that at any given point we really had nothing to do in college.  We would simply move from apartment to apartment hanging out on a moment’s notice and had nothing to really worry about.  Another aspect of college that seems to be extremely different post-grad were the gross amount of believers that seemed to congregate together.  We just found one another; so it was really easy to make promises to God about life styles and choices because you were surrounded by so many people who drank the Kool-aid with you. 

Life is full of people who don’t like your Kool-aid though.

And so post-college it’s been easy to lose track of those commitments and lose sight of the way it used to be.  When you don’t have 30 people pressing you to be more like the person Jesus has called us all to be.  And so to Eddy and Ben I say thank you for a great weekend.  Thank you for encouraging me.  Thank you for showing me that in spite of several perceived ups and downs that the life Christ calls us to live CAN be lead outside to confines of a hermetically sealed Christian “Bio-dome” (thank you Pauly Shore for your fine cinematic work).  Even as a pastor it’s hard some times to live right and continue to grow in the right direction. Sitting around MLK weekend and discussing a plethora of spiritual issues with these guys was like a lightening bolt of energy to my Dolorian.  I heard their stories of life post-grad and how it’s been tough at times and easy during others.  We all talked about the struggles we’ve faced and the things that have kept us from moving forward.  

Life outside the bubble is hard some times but life outside the bubble is ultimately good.  Life outside the bubble was always part of the plan.  Do NOT misunderstand; this is not a blog discounting the value of the body of Christ and our fellowship together.  It’s simply an observation regarding the difficulty of making the same wise choices when living in the world and no longer constantly around a virtual commune of believers.  There's got to be something in the middle.  There's got to be something in between being with ONLY people who share your thoughts and then living and working in the real world in real life with people who a) probably don't care what you have to say and b) don't agree with you.  

So here’s to a healthy mix of post-college living.  To my friends from school who are reading; my prayer is that since moving on you have all found a strong group of believers with whom you can relate to, worship with and serve along side.  My prayer is that you would view wherever you are as the mission field God has specifically designed for you and only you.  And I pray that your walk with Christ doesn’t hinge on the amount of people around you sippin’ the same Kool-aid.  I pray it hinges on the One we live for.

It is my humble opinion that more people should eat at Denny’s.  It is not only the home of the famed, “Moons over my-Hammy” but a place where something special always happens; a place where the godfather eats free.  Thanks Eddy and Ben.

Monday...Snowy Monday...

There aren't many things that would cure a case of the "Mondays".  When I woke up this morning the ground was covered in snow.  I'm guessing roughly 3 inches of white, fluffy, soft very peaceful snow.  Nothing earth shattering.  Nothing that would keep me home from work.  Just snow.

Luna L. Ramirez (our tiny chihuahua seen here inside of a pink Snuggie), had yet to experience snow until this morning.  I was a gracious master/pack leader and cleared out a path to the grass for her.  I even shoveled some snow away from the grass so she could poop and pee as she pleased.  Luna was a bit timid at first and then jumped right in.  It was like Christmas morning for her.  My worst fear was that she was going to be so scared of the cold-icky snow that she went nuts inside of our house with a pooping spree...twas not the case.

This got my Monday off to a great start.  She was so happy prancing around the yard.  I thought that while I was in such a good mood I would go ahead and go weigh myself.  Turns out, even with a couple of fatty meals this weekend I was able to shuck 2.5 lbs.  It's not life-changing, but the thing is, I didn't go crazy last week.  I worked out 5 out of 7 days (including a REALLY bad decision to go jogging on a VERY cold VERY windy Friday).  It was a good week and it would seem that I did pretty well.  We'll see next week I guess if I can keep up a consistent rate of loss.

Today I've started 2 of my 4 classes for the semester.  I'm knee-deep in Christian Apologetics and Evangelism.  I would love to write more and fill you in on our fun filled weekend, but it's off to read about faith and reason.  I'll write again soon...until then...

adios...

Frustration...1 pound at a time...

I realize that I lump myself in with the millions of cliche Americans that vow every new year to make themselves less fat.  I KNOW that I've gone on more diets and eating plans than I can remember or care to count.  I'm to the point now where I don't even mention it to people if I'm doing something to try to lose the weight.

I suppose I'm breaking that right now as I'm about to complain about my current weight loss venture.  I'm fat.  There aren't any nice ways to put it.  Now I have not ballooned out to an all-time high, but I am fat none the less.  Normally this wouldn't bother me.  I would simply drown the sorrows of my fatness inside the maple-buttery goodness of a plate of Solo's chicken and waffles.  But, I have a kid on the way.  And I would prefer not to leave my wife a widow in her thirties and my child fatherless due to his/her father's lack of self discipline.

So this approach is a bit different.  I've curtailed my use and consumption of sodas; yes, even the diet ones.  I drink large amounts of water each day even though 50% of the time I can't stomach it.  I hate water.  What a horrible drink.  More so in the morning when there's still remnant sludge inside of my mouth making the water taste even worse.  I'll have the occasional coffee or tea, with no sugar and no creamer but for the most part am trying to drink as much water as I can.

I own P90x, an intense work out program geared to kick my butt and turn me into a hunky piece of man-meat.  I said i "own" it.  I did not say I "use" it.  I've tried.  But the leap from doing nothing to starting P90x is a huge one.  Instead, I've purchased a six-week cardio-max work out from, you guessed it right, The Biggest Loser.  I figure if I can get through 6 weeks of this perhaps the leap to P90x won't be so drastic.  Bob is the devil disguised behind a happy fit man who likes to smile a lot when he works out. 

I enjoy the biggest loser dvd more so than the P90x one because it's FAT people working out.  I LOVE IT!!! I feel at home.  I remember vividly going through one of the P90x workouts and feeling horrible about myself because the dude with the prosthetic leg on the dvd did better than me with my two healthy natural legs.  I can't even outwork a ONE LEGGED MAN!!!!

On top of the dvd and the lack of soda I'm also trying to eat like someone who isn't a 500 pound fool with a death wish.  I usually have one of those "instant breakfast" drinks in the morning because I'm not a morning eater.  For lunch I'm usually eating a turkey sandwich with some swiss, VERY little mayonnaise and some Baked Lays.  And then for dinner I'll eat what we normally have, I just only get one serving instead of 2 or 3 or 4. 

I'm fat and I'm tired of being fat.  I've got it cemented in my mind that there is no quick-fix here.  So let's hope these small changes begin to equal a couple pounds a week off my fat body.  I see people all around just shucking off weight.  I see friends losing it by the truck load.  I see family members who continue to lose.  I see wives with their husbands (their very fit, very healthy, very toned husbands) and I feel bad for Melissa because she's stuck with me. 

So here's to change.  I'll keep the blog posted on how much weight I'm losing each week.  I weighed in this past Monday and will do so again Monday morning.  Let's hope I can keep this up with more discipline than I have in the past. 

After all, what baby wants a fat dad?!?!

until next time....adios!

the year of the blog?...

Things are quickly changing.  No lie.  I just got a phone call from my wife.  She was on her way home and had to all of a sudden pull into a parking lot and blow chunks (ralph, puke, vomit, become a human volcano).  Of course this comes as no shock to me seeing as Melissa (my wife) is entering into her 2nd trimester with our soon-to-be offspring.

Things are quickly changing.  This semester I'm going to be taking 11 hours of course work while continuing to work full-time at the church.  Most of you reading this would tell me to stop complaining and suck it up, but for those of you well versed in the land of vocational ministry and seminary you know how taxing the next few months are going to be.  The beautiful result when the month of May comes calling will be my master's degree, finally attained after a few years of toiling.

Things are quickly changing.  I'm embarking this year to read through the New Testament with my students.  It's already been a huge challenge (we started in late 2010).  I'm learning all kinds of new things about what it means to be a follower of Jesus and I'm having my face-melted (Raiders of the Lost Ark style) by several of the passages I'm reading.  I'm being challenged to be more and more the person Christ calls me to be.

I think it is a fair to say that I will not leave 2011 the same as I entered it.  And so we have the "Coherent Ramblog".  Usually when I read through or visit someone's blog it can quickly turn into incoherent rambling.  So with as much intentionality as I can muster I'm going to make this a very coherent blog and a much less ramble-ly blog.

For those who care to keep pace or read to keep up to date with the life of Ramirez then here's your chance.  Until my first official post of consequence....adios!