Collecting Memories

(High class piano movers: 6/13/14)

I once had a great collection of cheesy souvenir coffee mugs that came from every place I vacationed.  The more it screamed, “I am cheap, but I have the name of this place in big, bright letters,” the higher its chances of making my collection.

Then I got married.

Mrs. Sweetie ever-so-sweetly began suggesting that my collection was not consistent with the kind of home décor atmosphere we were trying to create. I didn’t know we were trying to create one, but I was smart enough to know what kind of happy wife atmosphere I wanted to live in, so my collection went to my office. 

If she had known what she was getting into, she might have gone with the mug collection. I sold one of my old guitars about a month ago, so I am down to 5 guitars, 2 mandolins, a ukulele, and an accordion. Our living room has a spinet piano and a baby grand. I came home yesterday with an antique upright piano that I bought on eBay for $1.

You read that right: one crisp George Washington.  Ok, it was eBay, so it was an electronic transaction and they only got 67 cents, but you get the picture.  I got a beautiful antique piano for a dollar!  It is in terrible playing condition, but it will never be played.  I am going to use it to make a custom desk for my man cave/home studio.  And I got it for a dollar!

Of course there were a few dollars added to get it here.  I had to drive to Shreveport, Louisiana to pick it up (4 hours one way). So that added a tank of gas in the truck.  I had to wait until after work to go, so that added a night in a hotel. And it was in Shreveport, so it added a big seafood meal at Ralph and Kacoo’s.  And I needed help loading it, so that required that I take a strong person with me, feed him said seafood meal, and pay him a little something for helping me out.  For the several hundred dollars I spent on the trip, I probably could have found one closer to home.

So, how expensive was that piano?  A dollar! All the other dollars were associated with my most treasured collection: my memory collection. The person I took with me, a recent college graduate, grew up in my church.  I have been a part of his life since he was in elementary school and he is like another son to me. I couldn’t put a price tag on the shared experience of those 23 hours. 

Our lives matter so much to God that He lets us share the journey with friends. Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, “If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

No matter how the desk turns out, it was a dollar well spent. 

Question: How are you investing in friendships?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

A Foodie's Guide to Life

Anyone who knows me well knows that I enjoy good food.  Anyone who doesn’t know me well, but takes a look at my physique, isn’t surprised.  If you are what you eat, I will have to admit that: (1) I am not always the healthiest choice on the menu; (2) I am, however, tasty and never boring.

I even plan trips and meetings around food.  I have one friend that I would describe as my “ian” friend.  No, his name is not Ian, but when we get together, we like to eat food that ends in “ian”: Indian, Egyptian, Mediterranean (close enough).  Another friend is a steak and/or seafood buddy.  I’ve got a couple of others that will almost always involve Starbucks.

When I am eating a meal that I know my kids would enjoy, I take a picture with my phone and send it to them.  Some people think that is cruel, that I am perhaps torturing them.  That is true less than 25% of the time. (I am not above the occasional harassing food photo).  But, in reality, I am sharing my love of food with them because, at the moment, I can’t share my love of them with my food.  I wouldn’t send a photo to them if I weren’t first thinking of them and wishing we could share this meal.

(My breakfast last Wednesday at the Toasted Yolk Cafe in Conroe, TX)

I share food photos with another friend who has moved several hours away.  We used to have lunch together at least every other week.  Now we are lucky if we manage to get together every other year.  The food photos we send to each other always deliver a message:  “I thought of you when I was eating this and I miss you, my friend.”

I feel like I should interrupt this and say, “Hello.  My name is Gerry and I am a food addict.”  But, I’m not going to.  I am unashamed.  Yes, I need to make healthier choices and I really am trying to do that more often.  But, you will never see me take the approach that food is no more than fuel.  God put these wonderful things in my mouth called taste buds and I intend to enjoy this gift while continuing to learn how to enjoy it in ways—like enjoying smaller portions--that allow me to honor Him with all of my physical being. He does not, after all, intend for me to be controlled by those taste buds.

Our lives also matter enough to Him that He wants us to develop a taste for more than good food. 

Psalm 34:8: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”   

Psalm 119:103: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

John 4:34:  "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Now that’s a meal to be savored!

Question: What is one way you can think of to apply the idea of the verses listed above?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear your perspective.