Laughing out loud with fear and hope I've got a desperate plan
About
My name is Bill
I’m married to Jill
Yes, our names rhyme. Very cute
I really, really love my wife. She’s awesome
We have four kids. They range in age from 29 to 21,
Our two oldest are grown up and married
We haveĀ five grandchildren. They are awesome
I can’t believe I get to be a parent and now a grandparent
We have awesome kids
Every one of our kids is different, and each in good ways
Someone once asked me why I wasn’t nervous before giving a talk in front of a few hundred people at work. I replied “I’m a parent. I know what fear is. This isn’t it.”
I’m a Christian
I follow Jesus imperfectly, and am an often timid and tentative disciple
Jesus has changed my life in ways that take my breath away
In my life, I’ve found that things that didn’t make sense at the time generally make a lot more sense later on. I’ve found that the hand of God is generally recognized in hindsight
I believe that one big purpose of living is to learn humility
Humility is learned through the cool ways life has of teaching you that you don’t know as much as you thought. Getting your rear-end kicked is one of the “cool ways” that life uses to teach you these lessons
I think I’m learning humility, because I’m a lot dumber now than I used to be
I’ll know that I’ve arrived, humility-wise, when I no longer notice that I’m learning humility
I’m not “post” anything (many thanks to Jared for that line).
I find usages of “post” to be primarily a form of chronological snobbery. I feel a post coming (no pun intended).
I often have post ideas that never get posted. Probably about one in 10 post ideas I have ever hit this blog
I like blogging, but have had serious problems in actually doing it these last few years
No one really reads this blog. That’s a feature, not a bug
I’m not a big fan of most of the blogosphere. Too much heat, not enough light
I’m even less of a fan of most social media
I minister to College students. I also have a day job. But I think ministry is my true calling.
It’s a challenging ministry. I need to get better at it
Growing up, I lived in the United States, Japan, Okinawa, and Germany
We’ve lived in the same house for the past 23 years.
I’m shy in a lot of circumstances, but not all
For instance, I don’t mind talking in front of large groups, though I don’t get that opportunity very often
Sometimes I find it harder to talk to one or two people than I do talking to a lot of people
I like Chinese food. Only one other member of my immediate family shares this like, so I don’t get too much Chinese food at home
I’ve been told in the past that I have a dry wit
I’m terrible, though, at snappy comebacks. I generally think of them about two hours after the fact
For many years I worked with junior high and high school students at church. I have a special place in my heart for them
I don’t like violent movies
Except Lord of the Rings. But I somewhat justify that because the majority of the violence is not human on human
Does that make any sense? I didn’t think so
But seriously, violent movies mess me up
If a movie is honestly redemptive, I’m going to love it
Even if the movie gets bad reviews
I’m a sucker for redemption
Although I don’t like it too formulaic in movie format. Kid sports movies where the underdog team wins at the end don’t do much for me
One reason The Bad News Bears worked was because it wasn’t formulaic. They lost at the end.
I tend to have a really good memory for what I’ve seen in movies. Case in point, that last item. I haven’t seen that movie in thirty years
It will come as no surprise that It’s a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie
I like history. A lot
I tend to delve deeply into subjects I care about. I’ve learned a lot of minutiae about, for instance, the Civil War and the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs
I like soccer. I didn’t used to, but one of my kids plays it a lot and I’ve grown to really appreciate it
Soccer is the world’s sport
The previous statement had nothing to do with me and so probably doesn’t belong on this list
I can’t park
Seriously, I’m the world’s worst parker. I almost always leave one tire over the line
I’ve never been in a wreck
I’m an extremely defensive driver, because everyone else on the road is tripping on crack and ‘roids
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve run over a curb I’d be a wealthy man
I think this all points to me being seriously deficient in navigating through three dimensional space
I also have a really bad sense of direction. Much of my life has been me, driving around in tight, panicked, lost circles.
But I’m getting better . . .
GPS helps
I’m a musician of sorts
Guitar is probably the instrument I’m most decent at. I used to be better
I learned how to play bass a few years ago and got decent at it. But not so much anymore. I used to be better
I was a drummer through high school and college. I also played drums for our church for awhile years ago. I used to be better
I can make my way around a piano. Never was particularly good, though
My mind is a much better musician than my hands
I am really good at computers
I like programming. I do it for fun. Weird, no?
I’m a big fan of open-source software. This blog used to be based on software I wrote myself. But it became abandon-ware in 2011
Computers don’t scare me, and I’m usually pretty good at figuring out what ails ’em
I’m not as handy in real-space. I wish I was better at fixing my house
I’m learning, slowly
God is good
I am his child
One thought on “About”
Thank you for being a vessel of the Lord. Exactly what He was speaking to my heart as I rose early to meet with Him, He confirmed in what you shared about feeding the people. Thank you! Keep guarding over your place of abiding in Him.. He will carry us through to the end!
Thank you for being a vessel of the Lord. Exactly what He was speaking to my heart as I rose early to meet with Him, He confirmed in what you shared about feeding the people. Thank you! Keep guarding over your place of abiding in Him.. He will carry us through to the end!