Wall O' Blessing

so, church family right?

Yesterday was a fun day for me. I was dubbed the official representative of the Alvin to scurry near and far and glean any candles from flower shops willing to donate to our churchly cause. What is that cause prey tell? Well, it's a really awesome idea that the worship team came up with. Three times a year (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years) we assemble a blessing wall. During Wednesday nights before each holiday, we spend time in praise and worship with various singings, prayers, blessings from the shepherds, scripture readings and such. Then a few people hand out special pieces of paper for us to write how God has blessed us through someone in the church family. After we write the blessing on the paper, we put it up on the wall so that everyone has a chance to see how members of the church family bless others.

Tonight we added a little candlelighting ceromony to it. The objective was to recognize friendships blessed by God. We turned out the lights, and started singing songs (clayton chapel style) and everyone was invited to grab a friend and walk up front and light a candle together. It was good for me because I saw these people with different opinions, beliefs, traditions, etc walking up together willingly to light a candle representing their relationship blessed by God. At the end of the lighting, a table with 50 blazing candles stood lighting up the room with a dark, velvety glow. We continued to praise God and talk to him by the candlelight. It was very comforting for me after a stressfull week of work, worry, and travel. I hope we get to do it again soon!

So Friday, the provider of the womb that bore me is celebrating her birthday! Alas, I'm working that day, so i thought it nice to go home and celebrate it with her tomorrow! I plan on performing a good ole texan bbq complete with sugarfree ice cream cake from MarbleSlab cremery (operantly owned and operated by a Oriental dude). Does anyone else get the feeling that the orientals are taking over America very slowly through economical means? It scares me, but I have to die sometime anyway, right?

---Potter

Who is your Baghdaddy?

...reads the soldier's wife who just checked in the hotel.

10 soldiers have come home and made this hotel their home for 10 days while on their holiday home. These guys are amazing. I love the soldiers fighting for the freedom of Iraq. You go boys! (and girls, ofcourse).

Ok, so im spending 53,000 dollars on a degree I don't like. I've always known it was a default degree, but I've never had a true passion for a career. However now, i have a special interest in being a Christian counselor. I know i would need to get a psych BA and Masters, but I don't know what to do afterward. I'm also not sure if I want to spend extra money acheiving these degrees. Hopefully, some prayers will be answered and money will not be an issue!

Potter

Jeremiah is my new homeboy and Santa is dubbed clear for take off...

Santa's sled was officially inspected by the FAA and authorized by the secretary of Transportation to fly across United States air early Christmas Eve.

Santa's sled must have been a death trap on whe.... well, sleigh skis to warrant such precautions and inspections these days! Maybe too many reindeer and chiminey sweeps died and the human society lobbied for such action.
I don't know about you, but Christmas just isn't the same anymore! First santa's has to undergo beaurecratic-prone inspections, my parents divorce, and my limp node glands are filled with excessive fluid! What happened the magic and naiveness I once felt as a little tater tot (not to be confused with tater salad)!

Not only all this, but I'm called to duty at the Hampton Inn on Christmas day as well! I'm currently in the process of twittling my thumbs as I gaze relentlessly out the Hampton Inn door in hopes of sheltering a stranger caught in the postsnow weather crying in the wilderness seeking out a place to lay their head. As they enter through the door post, I comfort them with my maternal smile, place their head upon my breast and commense to sing "lay your burden down, we are all unworthy..." -- weary pilgrim, come, there is room at my inn!

Or perhaps you are wondering as to why Jeremiah is my new proclaimed "homeboy." Well, lets just say his book Lamentations helped me put on a new perspective for the day. My favorite verse is Lam 3:55-57 and it actually comforted me in the midst of my fanaggling and awryness. Oh, and don't worry Nelson's Ill be home for Christmas! 11:45pm to be exact!

In lieu of our Awesome God,
Potter

It's a snowy christmas...and I'm not talking about Cousin's dandruff

JK COUSIN, JK. Mandy really doesn't have dandruff...or does she?

That's right, Houston is just a spit cup's distance from the equator but we experienced a flurry or two. In fact, I can reminisce just this morning when the Nelson's excitedly counted out both of the flakes that made it to the ground! Oh but this is no small feat! Those flakes faught tooth and nail (assuming that is part of their anatomy) to reach the parched ground of Houston.

Oh wow, I gotta tell you this story! I work at Hampton Inn & Suites @ NASA in Houston and as a guest was checking in, he peeked at the front page of the Houston chronicle lain upon my front desk. He chuckled a little and told his friend next to him "Unblieveable." I look up and smile and kindly inquire as to what he was looking at. He then held up the paper to display a front page title that read "If Your Boys don't obey, sell their gifts on eBay." That's right, no kid was going to be bad on christmas eve and get away with it. The situation isn't as abusive as it may sound, the article reads that the kids were disobedient and the family spent a whole lot of money on christmas when they didn't have the money anyway. Makes you glad God doesn't sell our salvation on the web when we mess up, right?

Because of Our High Priest,
Potter

A Wedding Story...

Wow, what an amazing time!

Ok, so this journal is more for me than the readers, so don't feel compelled to read the whole thing. (as if right?). Summary: I was the best man at the most amazing wedding. I love Bethany and Nolan and have gotten to know their families and friends very well. I ask God to watch over them and to continue to bless their lives and ministry. I gotta shout out to Nolan, Than, Justin, Blake, David, little Nolan and John Paul: the greatest groomsmen and friends Nolan and I could ask for!

Disclaimer: Warning-This post is one page short of being "Gone With The Wind"

Details: Wednesday
I left at 10:30am on Wed with Stephanie and began my trek to the Clinton-crazed-infested Little Rock. Ok, so the road trip was only suppose to take 7 hours. However, in a desperate attempt to save milage and gas, we took little wee roads. So after nine hours of vigorous traveling, we arrive in Little Rock just in time for church!!! We greeted the members there and as soon as the final amen was said I hear "GO!!" WOOSH! We were clearing communion tables and podiems (how do you spell that word anyway?) alike to make way for the wedding. Next thing I know, I am hauling 100 pound, live pine trees out of the baptistry room (appearantly thats what grows in there while its not being used.) As you can imagine, this is a winter wedding, so what wedding planner wouldn't want to bring a live, snowy forest onstage. The design was to have 5 trees in an arbor (horseshoe) shape. At the base of the trees, they lain white christmas lights all of the floor and covered them with white, fluffy sheets and lace. The auditorium is circular with a beam lining the walls, just below the ceiling in which we placed 15 strings of ice cycle lights. After my auditorium tasks were done, I ran (no, really, RAN) over to the reception hall to do more. You'd think I was in the ER. Behold, there was a dilemma!!!! WE HAD TO SUSPEND $8 SNOWFLAKE ORNAMENTS AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE OR THE WEDDING WAS SHOT! It took us awhile, but we engeniusly figured out a method of prefabrication in which we could successfully hang up the overpriced ornaments. DINNERTIME... the grooms parent's graciously went to Wendy's and purchased 33 jr bacon and other various burgers for the $.99 menu. Absolutely amazing! After we finished, we tied up a few loose ends, but relatively we were done for the evening.

I went back to the hotel room and chilled with Nolan (the groom) for while. A little Best-man/Groom chat, ya know? He walks to his parents room and next thing I know he rushes back in the room and says, "ok, dad's going to the hospital." The mother tells me to stay behind and then Nolan takes off to the Hospital going 105 MPH (no, for real) down the 60 MPH interstate. In the mean time, I'm alone in the room and I hear a stirring in the grooms man room connected to mine. It's the two groomsmen whom I haven't met yet, Justin and Than (short of Nathaniel.) So they are both awesome guys, we hit it off immediately just talking about whatever and having a good time. I get a call from Nolan at 2am and his dad is undergoing testing but things seem good. He wanted me to pick him so I took the guys in my civic and went there. After we picked him up, we decided to go for a random drive out on the town. Nothing was open, you hear me? Thats ok, because we didn't need anything to do we just drove crazy and with the intent to yell at people if we saw anyone. During this time, we cross this bridge and Nolan realized that it was the wrong way and we had to turn around. Well, I obey so I proceed to do a U-ey on the bridge going about...oh, 20mph. To my demise, there was about a 4 inch median that I didn't spot because it was the same color as the concrete and it wasn't painted yellow AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN! Stupid Little Rock. Well after I accepted the fact that I would require a new wheel alignment; the fun, music and such continued until 5 am.

Thursday

9:30 the wakeup call comes in-- thats right, 4 1/2 hrs of sleep. We all piled in Nolan's mom's van and Nolan drove us to the airport at 11am to pick up Blake and Bama (Amanda)- the maid of honor. We had to enter the gate careful so that the box of granades, or Nolan's "hemroids" wouldn't explode entering the gate. JK US government, JK! We picked up the packages then made our way to Men's Warehouse to pick up the tuxes as my first official duty as best-man. The bride met us there to pick up Bama and then we went to the "guitar center" since all of the groomsmen and groom are obsessed with that place. Then we went to eat lunch at "The Old Mill" which is a sandwhich and soup shop and they make the best bread in the world. It got embarrasing because we were moving tables across all these people until they were like "you want us to move and take our spot?!?" NO!! Difficulty is King in our world. Stuffed, full, and tuxedofied, we then made our way back to the Comfort Inn where we slumbered until the rehearsal.

5PM, rehearsal begins. This is when Nancy was no longer "Nancy the wedding planner." Oh no, the bachelors referred to her as "Nancy the wedding nazi satan reincarnate." Ok, mean right? Howver she wanted people to know about the tight shift she was running. We ran through the ceremony a few times for 2 hours and then we made to a restaurant in which I still don't know the name. However, we entered an elegant, italian themed party room which Bethany loved. I sat in the middle of the honor table where the people of the wedding party sat. I was placed at Bethany's right hand and we were served chips with cheese sauce, Italian salad, and thin pasta with very juicey strips of grilled chicken breast. After eating, it was the task of the groom's father, myself and Than to present toasts. Nolan's dad gave advice about a successful marriage. I gave a toast about how I cant get women, but I reflected on my friendship with them as a couple. Than gave a toast reflecting on Nolan before and after meeting Bethany. Then Nolan got up to present the groomsmen with gifts. I received a big old honking tool kit to keep tools in. Appearantly the running joke is that I was suppose to keep tools in it to keep fixing the Focus. However I furled his plot because I bought a new car after he had bought the gift. After all of the groomsmen received gifts I presented a gift to him on behalf of all the groomsmen. It was a pocketwatch with his initials engraved on the front and Phillipians 1:7 on the back. It was a silver watch with an amazing blue clockface that I knew he would love. Bethany then handed out Bridesmaids gifts to all her bridesmaids. After eating guitar-shaped, plum filled vanilla cake (that was AMAZING!!!!)we were headed out for another night of venture as groomsmen and bachelors. We left, did a little driving and retired to the hotel around midnight and most of the guys went to the pool to swim and mess their feet up on the rough bottom surface. I leisurely reclined in the room and chilled with Blake for the rest of the eve.

Friday

I had a really hard time sleeping last night because I had to share a queen-sized pull out sofa with a 6 foot 16 year old. I rolled outta bed about 9 am in preparation for a journey to Searcy, AR - a one hour drive. We had to haul buns in order to retrive MIA pumpkin cheese cakes from Nolan's apt and then do the whole bachelor party thing there. The bachelors set off and we were about 30 minutes out of Little Rock when Nolan discovered he had left the keys to the apt at the hotel. Ok, maybe the office manager will let us in. Nope, she's off on Fridays. Great! So Nol decides it'll be better to buy new cheesecakes than to run around and miss on the bachelor party. No sooner than 5 minutes later, Bethany calls and tells me that we forgot her younger brother John Paul. We didn't have time to go back and get him. After much deliberation, Nolan's uncle was gracious enough to make the hour long drive to us and bring John Paul and the keys to the Apt with him. While we waited for their arrival, we made way to the Farmer Joe's golf driving range where farmer joe himself manned the counter. Without missing a beat, Nolan goes "5 JUMBO BUCKETS please!" What's crawling up your shorts that we need that many balls? In fact 5 jumbo buckets was not enough to pease the aggressiveness-packed bachelors. SEVEN is our number. Thats right, and since we forgot John Paul - who met us on the course later - we bought him his own wee bucket. Dude, there is something in the gulledge blood because John and David were the only ones driving balls past the 100 yard line consistenly. OOPS, except Than! He's great too!!! David was hitting those suckers 200 - 250 yards and this was his first day to pick up a golf club. (Not counting goofy golf or putt putt) David and Than were so amazing, that Blake and I felt very sheepish and inadequate next to their beastly demeanor and somehow turned into personal caddies and cheerleaders for them. We then proceeded to the Chinese buffet and ate like Kings. We all talked about normal bachelor stuff and I gave lessons on how to eat crawfish (being the extreme cajun that i am). We talked about hopes, dreams, fears and women. After I took a picture next to the biggest fish in the world, we left and proceeded back to LR in fear that nancy will eat us if we were late.

Luckily enough, we survived Nolan's driving and we picked up our stuff at the hotel and made it promptly to the church at 5:15 --- all without losing the rings. We played Wedding Night hangman to keep us entertained. However, all was asunder when the 10 year olds entered the room. We had to go into PG mode, but we still had fun. Now we had to line up to walk out. The wedding all went to plan. The minister offered a pray, I read my speech, etc. The minister just happened to be Bethany'd dad and my favorite line in the whole thing "Nolan don't be fearful, no man is good enough to stand where you are." No sir! Well, just a few minutes into the service, one of the service girls is bout to pass out, lose her groceries, something! She's all weaving and wobbling, so the grandmother of the groom walks up to her and escorts her to the back room by the baptistry. Well, to our demise, the baptistry acted as an amplifier and groaning, crying, comforting, and dry heaving was heard by all. Fortunately, I don't think the microphones for the video picked it up. But I was impressed that the people were more concerned about her well-being than the wedding. As the bride and groom were about to kiss, a nice touch was added and Beth'sd dad held misletoe over their heads. After the party walked out, we took pictures and then went to the reception.

The reception was nice and very elegant. The bride and groom chose to have finger foods from all the countries visited during our europe trip. A picture show, complete with music, was playing which featured past pictures of Nolan and Bethany. Bethany's pictures were displayed to Enya "Who can say" and Nolan's to U2 "Still haven't found what I'm looking for." Goose and I had to make fun of the picture taken of Beth and Nol in front of the mountains, just outta sight of the hooters establishment to their left. What if a hooter's girl walked out in front of them! Then punches were AMAZING. Bethany's sister Emily caught the bouquet. However, Than, in leiu of a conspiracy caught the garder. The plan was for the groomsmen to scatter away from Than so that he would catch it...but Nol just turned around and flicked it at him. Ok, the garder was our que to run outside and trash the car. The trashing was rather simple in design. Just car chalk, toilet paper, silly string and obscene words such as sex (13 times), pimp (5 times), Bow Chica Bow Wow (1 big ole time), etc. We then proceeded to tie a double 'D' bra to the antennae so that it would fly and display all its glory. It might cause some drag and eat some gas...but hey, it would be worth it. In a mad rush I was determined to put cans dragging behind the car and I was running out of time. I only had time to rigg 2 cans to wire before I had to shove Nolan from the driver's door before he got in, pop the trunk, and slam the wire into the hatch. Mission Complete. The groomsmen and I ran to the front of the church to wave them on as they turned on the street to proceed on to Outback Steakhouse for the wedding dinner and then to the Double Tree for..other festivities.

The groomsmen and I changed back into civilian clothes and then took the bridesmaids out on the town...literally. All we wanted was a small coffee shop nearby to play cards but I got lost and we ended up driving around Little Rock for 1 1/2 before making to a waffle house close to the hotel. It was a fun crowd and we spent many o' hour making fun of the past event and hicks that would randomly come in and out of the restaurant. I took the ladies back to the Gulledges house and the groomsmen went back to the hotel and crashed on the king size bed that Nolan left us!

Saturday

It was sad, sad day. We lost Bethany and Nolan and now the groomsmen were losing each other. Oh well, get over it right? I was the last one to leave and it was my duty to return the used tuxes. I stopped by the Gulledges on the way and got to see Nol and Beth and ate all of the left over food from the wedding for lunch. What a massive feast! Then they opened gifts and they recieved the nice salad bowl from Mom (salad bowl? good one mom!)

It was a long drive home. I know this event took place only over a few days, but I really felt God's presence with the people I spent time with. We didn't have special devos, prayer sessions, or anything out of the ordinary. Maybe it's because I felt like this period of time was an answered prayer from God. I had an awesome week with Stephanie and she is an amazing person. Her and I click and we had many o' laughs in Henderson, New Orleans, Houston, and Little Rock. The time spent at the wedding was a special highlight for me. I never had a "group of guys" that I could kick back with and be so comfortable. It's not even that we had similiar personalities or traits, but I found great solice and comradery being with them. Wow,...how poetic and over dramatic can I be about just a few days with strangers right? Then dedicating a few moments out of my life to help begin the benchmark of two of my best friends was an amazing notion for me. My prayer remains that God will continue to bless their lives and ministries.

May their hearts continue to be linked together and spread the gospel according to God's grace - Philippians 1:7

There's no place like home

Wow, who knew I could miss Houston so much!

So Stephanie and I have celebrated our 24 hour anniversary of being in Houston today!
We got to induldge in Golden Coral with mom yesterday! They have the most amazing buffet in the world. However, I was not mused by the "whole" catfish in which I had mistaken for filets. The bones in tha thing almost took my life.

Stephanie and I planned on being at church at 9:30am, but decided to sleep in and get some well earned rest. We strolled in the church doorway about 10:10 and decided to grace the college class with our presence. To our demise, we were immediately labeled as pharisees and officially marked for the rest of the evening. Yeah, thanks cuz...(inquire about details if you'd like to know more about that venture). Anyways, I felt so loved just before worship started because so many people came up to greet me before I even had a chance to put my stuff on the pew. My church family made Stephanie and I feel welcome and set up a great worship atmosphere for us. The praise and worship singing, prayers, sermon, lord supper, etc were very uplifting. I had longed to be with everyone all semester I was at Freed. Stephanie could finally see why I talked about my church family all the time. We went to Joe's for lunch and had a wonderful time and then we kicked back at Cousin's for awhile.

Then, we had an uplifting small group in which LeAnn shared her testimony with us about how God has touched and changed her life. She highlighted the need to satisfy the hunger for God's character and presence. A comment she made I could relate to is to stop getting in the way of letting God take control of my life. That was even a highlight in this morning's sermon. Afterward the teen's christmas party took place and I had an amazing time hanging out with them. I love those kids! As a festivity, they selected 5 kids and transformed them into reindeer. How did they do this? Well, little panty hose and balloons can certainly add to the transformation. I've got pictures!!! In the meantime, Stephanie made her way to visit friends (who are totally awesome) in friendswood. However, the Nelsons and I had an awesome time after everyone had left the house. We laughed at each other and just experienced a great family atmosphere. I will remember these times always.

A special thanks and shout out to God for making it possible for these experiences to happen!

Because of His Blessings,
Potter

Oh...wow

Ok, so New Orleans right?

Finals are finally over!!! I feel kinda guilty though because for 5 days, i look over and I see underclassmen and seniors alike studying vigorously in preparation for finals. However, I am too busy resting after a hard semester to study. I'm so burnt out on school ya'll it's ridiculous. So what do I do in protest? I don't study. Ok, thats a lie, i look over some material 1/2 hour before the final as a much needed refreshener. However, I figure "why cram for 3 hours + for an exam which spans the entire semester? If I haven't gotten the jist of the class over the semester then what is 3 hours going to do?" Optimistic right? Oh, well...it's finished. Freed-Hardeman and all of its technological glory has allowed me to check my grades online and the results are in. Three 'B's and Two 'C's!!!! What in the world? I was so expecting some 'D's in there... It's no 4.0 GPA but I'll take it! This was a tough semester and I am glad it's over!

So anyways, I have been on a 4 of 10 day journey. Thus far I have spanned the globe from Henderson, TN to the depths of New Orleans, LA and now to the wonderful metropolis of Houston, TX. Why take this exuberating jihad? Well, I am on a road trip with my wonderful friend Stephanie and we are wasting time before the wedding of Nolan and Bethany. Just as a bonus I am the best man. So anyways, before Steph flies to Oregon, I decided to take her on a trek to places she has never been before. Being a West Coast dweller, she has never experienced the Cajun country nor the cowboy plateau. But now, a conglomeration of culture is swimming about her as she indulges in her travels. French Quarter! Jambalaya! Cafe DuMonde! Refineries! Plantations! Drag Queens! Mississippi River! Downtown Houston! Steak Houses! Oh what a wonderful world!!! Ok, well, region... So now I am looking forward to worship tomorrow. It has an exhausting week and I need some spiritual healing and physical rest. No better place to go for that right?

God Bless!
Potter

Why am I so worry-free!?!?

Wow, finals are just around the corner and here I am bloggin'

So, tonight was the Benefit Dinner for Freed-Hardeman University. Interesting enough, they had Walter Cromkite (sp?) come and speak. I didn't get to attend, but the people who did go told me that he gave an amazing performance! I mean, the dude was reminiscing (again, spelling? Spell check blogger.com, spell check!) about the interviews and fun rendezvous (wow how did i spell that?) with little people, like President Eisenhower and Carter, etc. He talked about how Truman was stuck up when he gave cromkite a tour of the White House. He talked about the behind the scenes atmosphere of the news room when JFK was assassinated or when the Armstrong landed on the moon. He reflected on memories about WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm wars. Ok, I'm sure he talked more about other people than presidents and war. However what an amazing feeling it must be to be in the presence of someone who can reflect on experiences he had and lived what we only can read in history books.

Wow, how much greater would it be to be in the presence of God? Someone who can share His reflections when he created the world, what he had in mind when he thought of man, what did he think about when he planned out the flood, what flux of emotions did God have when His Son pleaded for his life, or his thoughts when He turned against the Christ in order to fill the promise to a people who are lower than the angels? Wow, what is heaven like? I don't know, but I know how to get there! See inside for details (meaning, me...not that I am God...but, I know some answers...)

So, naps right? I got a big ole nasty nap in!!! That's right, one of those snoring, drueling, nasal naps between 1 and 3! Mass...extasy! Ya hear me? Then, I went to an unproduction review session for Managerial Finance? Why was it unproductive? Well, lets just say i didn't learn anything over the semester and I'm not really going to learn anything in an hour, ya know what I mean?

I went to work tonight. It was a horrid day and the manager broke down multiple times. It was almost worse than playing foosball for eternity (which, by the way, would be my eternal damnation if I ever entered hell...ask cousin for details). Wow, so heaven right? Great place to be and I can't wait to be there! I want everyone to be there! Come on, it'll be fun!

After work, I went to campus devo. That's kind of unusual because they turn out to be "hell rallies" sometimes... but I had a friend from europe who was speaking tonight and I wanted to be there. Ironically enough, he used a really funny story that I was involved in as a foundation for his lesson tonight. I felt special and honored. Wanna hear the story? Wait till I am in storytelling mode and I will tell it to you. It's officially labeled as the "red handle scandle". Anyways, afterward I mingled with some buds whom I haven't seen in a really long time and then exited the scene with my friend stephanie who is truly dear to my heart! We went for a walk and then coffee and then a drive. We'll be going on a road trip soon and I am so looking forward to it!

Before I close, I want to give a shout out to my best friend Sarah Tunstall (aka, Wee T). She just had a 21st birthday and she is so special to me!!! She has made such an impact on my life and I am glad she's around! Let us pause...and give a big ole maternal smile in thanksgiving for her birth and praise God for creating a spirit like hers! Thanks God!

Because of Our High Priest,
Potter