About ME

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Grand Prairie, Texas, United States
Mr. E is a Christian, Husband, Father of 2, former Army Officer and Texas Rangers Baseball fan.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Waiting and More Waiting

Waiting seems to be my occupation at the present time.

As of today I am waiting to hear back from my latest job interview. It went very well, so well in fact that I was called back for a second interview and they have started to check my work references. That's good right? I should know by the end of the day or at the latest , Tuesday of next week. So, that leaves me waiting. (I will continue to scour the want-ads in the meantime though, just in case.)

I am also waiting for 3:30p.m. to arrive. This is the time I get off work today. After work my wife and I will be heading back to Howe, TX to pick up our children. They have been spending a week with their cousins (my wife's sister's kids). Before we head home; however, we will be going to watch the Texas Rangers play baseball on Saturday. I am really anxious to go to this game. So, once again I am waiting. Dang clock!

What can I learn from all this waiting? God works on His own schedule, not mine. God has always provided for my family (despite some very stupid mistakes on our part) and he does it on His own good time. Several times when my wife and I have been looking for jobs, God has literally waited until the last day to provide us with our new job. He seems to be doing this again with my recent job search. I really need to learn to be still and patient; listen to what God is trying to tell me. I am trying God, I am trying. While I am waiting though, could you take away my OCD so I am not freaking out during all of this waiting? : )

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

How Healthy Marriages are Important to a Community

As part of my job interview tonight I am supposed to make a three-minute speech about How healthy marriages are important to a community. Here is what I am planning on saying, barring any last minute changes....

Why I Think Healthy Marriages Are Important to a Community

I believe strong and healthy marriages are essential to the growth and development of the community. They can impact a community on several levels.

Healthy marriages most visibly impact our community in the effects they have on our children. Parents in healthy marriages have the potential to shape the future of their society in how they impact their children. Children learn many of their moral principles and guidelines in life from their parents. It is upon that foundation of beliefs, that future generations will conduct not only their personal lives, but how they conduct business, treat others, and their own children.

Speaking from personal experiences, I have witnessed the impact of both healthy and unhealthy marriages on today’s children. Children who come from strong marriages tend to be more well rounded in their beliefs, their commitment to education, and their treatment of their fellow students and teachers. Children from healthy marriages have a greater self-esteem and a greater sense of wanting to achieve goals and ambitions that will benefits others. Children from healthy marriages have better problem solving skills and a wiliness to help others solve problems as well. Children from healthy marriages are less likely to involve themselves in destructive behaviors in order to seek the love and acceptance that children from unhealthy marriages often do. Healthy marriages, more often than not, produce healthy children. Children who grow up in healthy marriages generally do not become burdens to their community when they reach maturity. Instead they seek out ways to improve the community as well as their own families and marriages.

A community will often spend large amounts of time of money attempting to help children of unhealthy marriages. They will create programs to treat addictive behaviors, such as drugs, alcohol and sex. They will create programs to promote abstinence, in order to curtail teen pregnancies and the spread of STD’s. A community will hire specialize police officers to deal with growing gang violence. Schools will spend money on specialized buildings and teachers to house students who cannot function in a school environment. Cities will build prisons to house the most violent of children. All of this can be stopped or reduced if a community would focus on the root of these problems; the break-up of our families.

Truly healthy marriages produce young adults who are better equipped to handle the challenges of today’s world. These children would have seen first hand how to properly handle disagreements between adults. They would have witnessed first-hand how husbands and wives show love and respect to each other. These children would have a moral set of rules to live by, that when consistently enforced, will teach them how to show respect to authority and live by the laws of the community. These children would have been taught the proper ways to budget and spend money, so that they will not spend beyond their means and have to rely upon the charity of others to help them. These children will have learned how to show charity to others, so they become partners in recovery for those in need, rather than idle watchers.

Healthy marriages show a community’s commitment and hope towards the future. It shows that a community has not adopted the “throw away” attitude of the rest of the world. When a community shows that it is committed to saving the most sacred of institutions, then a community will put forth that same effort in how it conducts business and how it treats its fellow communities.

As you can see having healthy marriages are not just the “moral thing” to do, they are a vital part, if not the life-blood of a thriving and growing community. Don’t you agree?

7-22-08 -- This blog earned a Genius reading level! Cool...maybe this is why I got the job!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Job Interview

I finally have a job interview! It is with the Longview Wellness Center for the position of Healthy Marriage Outreach Coordinator. This job seems to be a perfect fit for what I love to do. It is working with an agency that focuses on healthy families, including healthy marriages. This agency is also responsible for the VOW Program, that my wife and I attended. It is a great program, that I think this job will be working with. The interview is Wednesday evening.

Pray that all goes well and, that no matter what happens, that I keep my focus on GOD as my provider.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Congratulations Texas Rangers All-Stars

The Texas Rangers are sending four players to this year's Major League Baseball All-Star Game!

Josh Hamilton finished 2nd in the fan voting to become a starter in this year's game. This is his first All-Star appearance.







Ian Kinsler was elected by the players to be a reserve player at 2nd Base. He finished 2nd in the fan voting. (He should be starting!)







Michael Young was also elected by the players as a reserve player, after finished 2nd in the fan voting, for Short Stop. Even though this is not his best year, he is still one of the best short stops in the game this year.






Milton Bradley finished 5th or 6th in fan voting this year as an Outfielder, and he was also elected by the players as an outfield reserve. He is a strong candidate though to start the game as the Designated Hitter, due to the injury of David Ortiz, who was elected by the fans as the starter for that position.





Congratulations guys, you deserve it.

IM SAVD

The State of South Carolina is planning to issue personalized license plates for Christians. Some people; however, are extremely upset about this. They are claiming this a clear violation of the "separation of church and state" laws.

I say "Nonsense!" This is the biggest bunch of hooey I have ever seen. Why can't I personalize my license plate. I can put on my plate what college I attended, what sports team I like, semi-vulgar messages in code (such as the title of my blog), but I cannot put my religious preference on my plates. If I pay to have the state print my plate, why can't I put my religious beliefs on my license plate. The state is not forcing me to put a particular religious belief or idea on my car, I am choosing to do so.

I think it is time for Christians to stand up to the government and claim "reverse discrimination". In the interest of not forcing a religious belief on others, the anti-religious folks are not allowing anyone to practice their religion at all.

Go, South Carolina...print those plates. Good for you!