There She Blows....

No... not susie blowing bees off herself... I mean Hurricane Katrina.

It has been extremely busy at the hotel. I think this is the first time we have been properly staffed and we have been doing amazing! Refugees have been filling the hotel since Friday and I have been glued to the TV ever since I found out the "big one" was going to finally hit New Orleans. Wow, it's been an adventure watching the storm, especially for me since I am native from there. After the bustling winds and rains took out buildings and levees, my entire parish laid wasted under water. Dead bodies, debris, and rooftops are the scenary left behind. Luckily, Mom and my friends made it out fine, leaving the replaceable possessions behind.

It only took a day for Mom to find out that her house in LaPlace was not flooded at all. The only threat had been trees. Tomorrow I am heading out early to Beaumont to meet up with Mom to see if we can make our way back to the house. I'm also going to take some supplies with us to bless some people who stayed behind and now are left without water or food. We ask God that His prescence be with us.

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Louisiana with as many supplies and I can afford. I pray that God's glory shines. I'm excited to see what He does next!

Because of Our Lord who floods our souls,
Potter

OH LOOK!!! THEY HAVE BLUE BELL ICE CREAM!!!!

...."well, bless their hearts."

Yeah it's true. Grandma Sue got a little excited after checking-in today as she passed the suite shop. It's ok, grandpa Moses kept her blood-sugar down. They're a cute couple. Their presence made me smile.

Today is a good day! Maybe it's the harvests of sleep I had in combination with the long vacation after Freed. Today, I just feel good! I should write a Psalm like David did when he was in a great mood. Maybe an ode. Perhaps a couple of Haikus would be more fitting.

God who's majesty is great and not so wee
Your presence is like sugar, in bitter tea

"It was good for me to be afflicted...
...so that I might learn your decrees."
Little did I know, that was more than a tease

You know, I once heard a great sermon which outlined and highlighted several prayers of faith warriors in the past: Moses (Ex 15), Hannah (1Sam 2), and Jesus (Jhn 17). When you read each prayer, hear a personal cry out to God. A psalm. Detailed. Personally tailored. Not vague in the slightest. Have you ever wondered what prayers are really all about? The word invokes a distant emotional response in me. "I'll pray for you","I'll keep you in my prayers","We'll put you on the prayer list." - hearing these phrases over the years seemed to numb the word.
I love the word our greek brothers used for prayer: Parakaleo -"To call beside." Omgoodness... what a different that one notion makes to me. Growing up, "Prayer" meant speaking toward God in a kind of cold corner waiting for His response through time. "Parakaleo" is a proactive method saying "God, I need your prescence here with me." Hey, it's not unreasonable asking for God's presence. That's what heaven is all about anyway, right?

Is God walking along side you today? Just ask Him, and believe that He will! The Messiah said "Whoever asks through calling God to your side, and believes will receive." No,.. no. God will not grant every request, but he will answer every request. You silly creation :)

Read the Bible, it's good for the soul.

Because the Messiah who has been there from the beginning,
Potter

Days of Elijah...

...i wonder what those were like anyway?

Ok, so I've put in my two weeks notice at Hampton Inn. Their response? "Eh, we suspected it would happen." WHATS THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN!? Am I that obvious. Eh, yeah, guess I am. My first day at A&E is Sept 7 and the more I think about it, the more I see how blessed I am to get the position. It's just about everything a college graduate could ask for in benefits and work environment. When I ran some paperwork downtown yesterday, one lady said "wow, thats a great company to work for. You're going to love it!" Ok, so it was only one lady probably paid to say such things, but it impressed me :)

Ok, so you know how weird things are witnessed in the hotel industry? Well I gotta story for you. Why this man comes stumbling through my lobby doors at 9:30pm, with krispy kreme donuts and milk in hand, and comes up to my desk? He shows me a key card and proceeds to slur to me "Um,......I don't know what hotel I'm staying at." I stare at him blankly trying to figure out if he hit the bottle too hard or if he's a little slow. My first reaction was a little irritation. Why doesn't this guy have his act together enough to know what hotel he's in? Man, he is in a messed up situation. I asked him a few probing questions, but their was no resolve. He wasn't my guest, so in a small ploy to get him off the property I told him that he is probably a guest at the InnTown Suites and sent him on his way. I watched as he walked out, stumble past the bush-wall and on to the hotel. Then it occurred to me that the hotel's office is closed... oh well.
About 20 minutes later, another gentleman enters the hotel carrying krispy kreme donuts and walks up to the front desk. "Oh boy, here we go again." He said "Hey, there's this guy who just knocked on my door and he doesn't know which hotel he is in. Is this your key?" Then I explained that he came in earlier and I thought he was at the InnTown. Appearantly he wasn't. So I volunteered to call LaQuinta Inn and ask them about the key. I identified the key to them and they said that was their key. The guy thanked me for my detective work and walked back out. He went out to the man, took him by the arm and walked him over to the LaQuinta to make sure that he made it home alright. Unbelievable servitude! All I could think about is how much I should have been the one to take on that attitude.
I even felt a little ashamed. My priority was to get a neusence off the hotel property. The other guy's priority was to comfort the man and get him back in a safe place. I don't know if the second man was a christian or not, but he showed me a little bit of Christ's character. Because of his example, my new priority is to worry more about Christ's perspective than hotel security.
May God grant me His perception of everyday life, so I know where to plug in and serve.

Because of the Messiah who showed compassion.
Potter

So... that new job right?

...thats what you'd be saying to me if you knew I had a new job.

God answers prayers. It's just that simple in this case. I took the first step in sending out resumes... but he made the connections. How? You should call me. We'll talk about it over brunch. You'll pay ofcourse.
The company is A&E Graphics. I'm excited because it is the first daytime job I'll ever have. It also provides medical benefits and such and their character and attitudes are too awesome. They are so positive and ... well, liberated. The dress code is laxed, even jeans are permited. There's practically free parking... meaning it's 13 bucks a month...i can handle that one. The only downside is that the company is located 50 minutes away from my house. Oh well, get a closer house, right?

God has been revealing new things throughout the last few days to me. No, not just the whole "new job" thing. I mean, through life in general. God has been calling on me to change my mindset. I've been trying to break a certain self-centeredness I've been plagued with. It seems as though all I can think about is what is my next need rather than thinking about creative things to brighten other people's day. God has also shown me that I need to take more initiative in my church family, but also in everyday life. I'm just existing right now...there's not much substance. It's human nature for me to think "well this new job will make things different in life." The truth is, no matter what environment I'm in, reflecting God's character should dominate over anything I immerse myself in. God, give me the strength.

I also ask God to brighten and bless your day. You, the reader. Yes... you. What's been on your mind lately? You can put it in the comments if you like, or email me.

Because of the Messiah who doesn't think of himself,
Potter

I Want a Job that pays me more!!!!...

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Good one James. I wonder what lesson I'll learn today? Maybe he'll use the blind lady using the seeing eye dog, or perhaps the pain from the stitches on my finger, or maybe the chubby little kid who smiled at the free cookies as he walked in the hotel, or Mrs. Griffin - a guest who always comes to the front desk with a smile and offers to buy me a krispy kreme donut, or maybe the Nelson's when I walk in the front door tonight. So many wonders God places within my reach, and I often look past them. I need to pay a little more attention today and worry about tomorrow... well, tomorrow.

Because of Our Lord who just wants us to worry about today,

Potter

White and Puffy...

no, not cotton fields, just my finger. It's damaged.

So, I experienced my first martyrdom-like activity. As I lazed about Wednesday afternoon, my cousin comes in sick and complaining of stomach-aches. As she stumbles in and runs for the bathroom, her mom kindly reminds her to feed the dog. No fear, I'll take her burden upon my back and couragously hurl a can of dog food outside and feed that which had been starved for a few hours. Well, to my demise, I found myself exerting maximum amounts of strength and speed in my de-canning techniques. After my task had been completed, I found the tip of my ring finger dangling painfully. The dog was most disgruntled because I had failed to transfer the food from the can to the dish before I had run inside to fetch assistance. No worries... Ellie just ate out of the can. She could rough it just this once I suppose. Caralon and Valerie wasted no time rushing me to the 5 bed hospital of Alvin. Its small size proved helpful because there was no line. I was in and out in 1hr and 1/2. Those people...love 'em to death. Caralon says that the chick at the counter totally dug me. She was cute. Perhaps I'll call again.

Our leadership retreat last weekend was pretty awesome! It was all thrown together at the last minute, but it came out so well because of all the dedication and hard work put into by the adults who went along with it. My favorite part was when reenacted the Last Supper. Candles lit the room as we sat on the floor and ate a typical passover meal. We even read some scripture and remenisced about what the Last Supper was about. Then we had a ceremonial feet washing. It was inmportant since this was a leadership retreat. As Christ showed, a influential spiritual leader must be willing to do humbling acts of servitude. The ACOC kids are awesome. I'm glad God has them around.

Wednesday was too early of a morning. I awoke around 5 in the morn and stumbled up to the church building. Yeah, stumbling around in a car during the drive is quite disturbing. I got stares. We fired up the griddles and produced bacon, sausage, and pancakes for all High School students alike. You see, it was the annual pancake breakfast. An awesome way to start off the high school year. After eating and time came, we packed up the current high school students in the church van and made haste as we traveled 2 blocks in 20 minutes. No...it really happened. However, little did our high school sweethearts know that the adults, high school graduates, and myself had a wee little plan asunder. We weren't just going to light candles and standby silently as the kids exited the van. Actually, we turned up the cheesy, accordian filled, mexican radio station to the max, rolled-down the windows and screamed out everything we can think of. "GOODBYE SNUFFLE BUNNY","SCHOOL ROCKS, YEAH!","WE"LL MISS YOU!!". and the dreaded "WE LOVE YOU!" all while the horn and lights are activated. Heads were turned... it was great. However embarrassed they were... alteast people wanted to know who they were and where those crazy Jesus people in the green church van came from. They walked out of the van knowing they were loved.... awe, tear. Later that morning, we did the same for the middle school kids. They were embarrassed too. It's really funny how things quite down when a loud bunch passes a cop. Windows miraculously roll up and radio music turns down by half. Gotta respect, right?

I just wanna give a shout out to Jessica Phillips. She's had a rough couple of days, but she's been lifted up to the Father. Hey, can you ask Him to help Jessica out a lil. Thank God He's there to be able to make things better.

Because of the Messiah who is cool,
Potter

Man Dressed for a leisurely sunday drive....

Yeah, he's here in my lobby.

So it's another day at work. I actually enjoy working sundays at times. The hotel is usually always less than half-way filled and the phone-ringing stays aslumber. Here's to being the front desk guy during Sunday's.

Last weekend was some-what exhausting. I engaged in a leadership retreat with the Alvin C of C youth group. I love those kids... but not neccesarily in a grandpa-ish sorta way. We had fun doing a hands-on, reflective reenactiment of the Lord's Supper. It was so awesome! It even involved a candle-lit dinner sprawled out on the floor as everyone around the table reclined on pillows and sleeping bags (mock mats.) When we discussed unity, we labeled each other what body part they represent in reference to paul's teachings in 1 Corinthians 12. I think the funniest one is when they first labeled Aaron G. as a germ because of his contageousness.

Today was a good day in worship. I love it when Mr. Wofford leads singing and prayers. I also enjoyed today because I wasn't assigned anything to do. I just got to sit with the church fam and kick back with God for a little. It's good to do that often.

I enjoyed Jerry's lesson today from Romans 9. God leaves an open door for a relationship with him. The free-will created in us gives us the opportunity to close that door. Often we grow confused and angry at God because of a "strain" in the relationship... or lack there of. The door in the relationship will be closed... or open slightly and we'd want to know why God is treating us poorly. God is consistant. Our perspective is limited. We were created to learn through doing. Frustrations come from limiting God or altering what God has laid out in his revelations.

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if we remembered everything God said and did it? Would it be amazing? What if everyone lived the perfect life? Would the perfect life be necessary? What if we attained the desire to read God's word to further our revelation, rather than just completing another Christian duty? Let's ask God what he is willing to reveal to us today. I think it'd be cool... whatever it'll be.

Because of our Lord who Sings... Zeph 3:17
Jeremy Potter