Today, or exactly what I needed

There have been a few times in my life where the simplest thing has changed...well, everything. Perspective shifted. Theology formed. A heart warmed.

I can still vividly remember when my theology about prayer and God's specific care for my every need cemented when a quarter fell out of my wallet.

Or when I discovered that my own little, seemingly insignificant role mattered when two teenagers called to tell me that I had encouraged them and that they were so grateful for me.

Or the moment I encountered the reality that God, as a Father, is perfect in His tenderness toward me as my infant son tightly grasped my left index finger.

For me, God thunders in the softest moment. His love and affection sirens through the quietest room. I know it's not the same for everyone.

Today, it's one of those days. There's no possible way I could have gone quicker from ground level to soaring heights than I did today. That trip took me about 3 seconds. As long as it took to read (and then fully comprehend) the text from my wife. I won't go into details, but today, we got exactly what we needed. We prayed for it yesterday. And today it came. And it came with a simple "we love you". Whoa.

Certainly, I'm not naive enough to believe that everyone's own personal paradigm shifts the same way. We're all very different and unique individuals and are shaped and formed in very different and unique ways. For me, though, it's a very good day. I wanted today. I needed today.

How about you? What "little" big moments have shaped you? What "huge" big moments have done the same? I'd love to hear about it.

Happy...anniversary?

Happy...anniversary? Is that correct? That can't be right, can it? Has it been a year already? Yep...it sure has.

What am I talking about? Maybe this will refresh your memory. Or maybe this will. Simplified, on November 30, 2011, I was wrecked...broken...and perhaps only a few millimeters (check out the 5th paragraph down) away from a very different life.

And a LOT has changed in the past year: my job, my home, my church. Practically, everything...except for the three crazy people (and one crazy dog) with whom I love living this adventure.

So, what do I say? What now? I recently read a quote from Robert Frost:

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on".

Life, is going on. I didn't even realize that it had been a year since the 'accident that changed everything' until my wife texted me about it a few minutes ago. I started thinking, which, this time at least, led to writing what you're reading now. In the past 365-ish odd days, there is no greater lesson than this: life goes on. There have been a lot of ups and, quite honestly, a few downs. The highs have outweighed the lows, and I'm pretty sure that's a good thing. I have health, my wife, my kids and my dog. I'm also pretty sure my wife and kids and dog are happy to have me around. I can walk and talk and sing and play my guitar. And all are very good things for me.

I still have faith and hope and love. I still have friends both old and new. The understanding of Grace still causes my heart to stir and brings a tear to my eye. Life has happened wicked fast this past year. It happened without my approval. It happened when and where it wanted. And thank God, I'm still here for it.

On becoming a "Yes" man

It's funny what comfort and safety bring to your life. It's also devastating, sad, easy and mostly, comfortable.

The family Long has taken some pretty big steps over the past 6 months. Some of those have been forced. Others, the result of just simply saying, "Yes".

And I find myself doing this a lot lately. Wanna move to the Detroit area for a job? Umm, OK. Want to come to a cookout with my family? Absolutely. Spend a little bit more to make sure you get the house? Yes. Go to the concert alone for a band you really had never heard of? Of course. Mountain biking? Sure...as long as you don't laugh at me.

We've been saying all along that life is an adventure. And marriage, kids, dogs, music, faith...certainly have been an adventure for the past 17 years. Here's the thing, though: I was never very good at just saying yes. There was usually a "but" or "maybe" or "I don't know". I never realized how much I hesitated until these past few months, when I've had to choke back that urge to hem and haw and hesitate.

So, I'm celebrating. And I'm celebrating something that we usually don't want to celebrate...I am a "yes" man. Or, at the very least, I'm no longer a "Hmm...let me think about that" man.

How about you? Is there something you're resisting the urge to say "yes" to because it's just a bit uncomfortable or unorthodox? Is there something you've said "yes" to that's stretched you a bit? Tell me about it!

Michigan and Modern Family

Michigan...and Modern Family. Doesn't really make sense, does it? Let me explain.

While we're waiting for school to be over (and for the rest of the family to move with me), I've been spending three weeks in Michigan working in the office and then one week working from home in Florida. Living in a hotel, renting a car, not very fun. And missing my family. A lot. But, the coolest thing has happened.

My wife and I have started watching the show Modern Family "together".

See, I have been hearing amazing things about the show and just have never had the time to catch up...until now. Having three or four hours to kill in a hotel room each night gives you all kinds of time to do these sorts of things. So, I was able to download the first two seasons of the show and began watching. And then, after telling my wife all about it...we ended up watching them, well, together. Each of us starting the show at the same time on our laptops and then texting, laughing and rehashing things as they happened.

It's been...magical. It seems that life is done differently from 1200 miles away. Car rides to school become the one time during the day when I can goof off with my kids on the phone and talk about what happened the day before and the day coming up. Nights are filled with text laughs while watching the same show at the same time with the same girl. It's a routine and it's probably as close to normal as we can get for the time being.

And it just works. We keep saying that this is the great Long adventure and that we can't wait to begin this new chapter of our life. What I now realize is that we're already doing it. It's different and sometimes difficult and never cheap. But, it's part of the journey that's already happening and modern technology makes it all possible to remain so connected, even while sitting "alone" in a hotel room watching TV episodes on my laptop. Or playing Draw Something with my very dearest friends and family. Or sharing the ride to school together with my boys laughing and being ridiculous and feeling missed and loved and so blessed.

Yep, I'm in Michigan. 1200 miles away from my family and friends. But still so very close to each of you. This is part of being a modern family...and enjoying Modern Family. So we're almost done with season 2 and I'm working on getting season 3 ready to go. After that, well, we should be just about ready to settle for simply watching TV together in the same state in the same city in the same house and on the same couch, no more than two feet from each other. And that sounds like my kind of adventure.

Search terms

OK...I have to admit that I borrowed blatantly stole this idea from someone else's blog. Google is an amazing thing. However, I'm not at all certain how the following search terms could have landed anyone on my little cyber space over the past month.

With all that said, here is the list:

"cheap flowers" (I'm not sure if I should be offended or oddly proud of this one)


"trombone tattoo ideas" (To the best of my knowledge, I haven't ever blogged about those)

"hispanicpastries" (Thank God for that 'r')

"key tattoos on legs" (Again, I'm drawing a blank on how tattoo searches would have led to my inkless blog)

"one of my favorite" (Aww shucks, you're one of my favorites too!)

"st pete vineyard facebook" (Totally legit, since I have been the worship leader there for over two years)

"tattooed legs" (Maybe I should get some tats and begin blogging about them...seems to be in high demand)

So, there you have it. These are the search terms that led some of the 344 visitors to my blog over the past month. I have to admit that this is a pretty cool exercise and I'll plan on updates from time to time.

Sneaky

"I think I'll visit a Vineyard church today."

One simple sentence...as a status update and it was done. The groundwork was laid for the Long family to be super-sneaky today.

See, I was supposed to be coming back to Florida on March 30th. Supposedly. What happened instead was that I came home on the 23rd–a full week early. The only people that knew were my immediate family. No friends and certainly not my church family. Sneaky.

So, I've been home since Friday evening, catching up on hugs and kisses from my wife and boys, turning off location services on my iPhone and iPad, hoping that I wouldn't be caught hanging out in Florida a week earlier than had originally been planned.

Today, I got to surprise my church family by showing up unannounced. And it was so much fun. I love the St. Pete Vineyard peeps so dearly and it was a blast to get all the hugs and such all day long. It was great to eat lunch with my friends and it's especially awesome to get an extra week with the family Long.

I'll be hanging out here for the next two weeks, working from home and trying to convince my bosses that it's a great idea for me to work two weeks here and then two weeks in Michigan, as opposed to the initial three weeks in Michigan and one week in Florida plan that we started with. They're from the midwest and are honestly some of the most sincerely nice people I have ever worked with so hopefully, this works out.

More importantly, the life on pause phase is over for the time being and I can do normal things like watch TV on a couch instead of a bed, eat something other than peanut butter sandwiches and fast food, and hug my wife and kids every night and morning and in between. I love FaceTime on my phone, but nothing beats the real face time I'll be getting with family and friends over these next couple of weeks.

I have so missed you all very much.

Here's to many more to come

Week one of the Long Family Adventure is in the books. I made it. I beat the Michigan winter. I am a survivor. Kinda.

I heard on the news this was the 6th warmest winter in Michigan history. For me, this is the coldest week of my life. I've never worn so many layers, worn as heavy a jacket...indoors, or suffered as much from dry sinuses as I have this past week. And this is a mild winter. To be precise, as long as they have been keeping track of weather in Michigan, there have only been five other winters where the temps and snowfall have been less. As Michigan winters go, 2011-2012 is the absolute runt of the litter...the 90-pound weakling.

So, as much as I would like to tout how tough and thoroughly bad ass I am for making it through my first week, I'm probably a weenie. And I will stick by that story as long as I keep wearing gloves in 35 degree temperatures.

On top of channeling my inner Bear Grylls, I'm also trying to buy a new car, looking into finding a furnished apartment for less than $2000 a month, scouting potential landing spots for the Family Long and visiting churches. All of this is sandwiched between working 40 hours a week, learning a new job and doing my best to maintain connection with my wife and kids, and all my friends and family still back in Florida. Whew...I'm tired. But, strangely, I'm energized. This is, after one week, one of the craziest, most thrilling and exhilarating adventure I've attempted. And I love it!

Don't get me wrong...I miss the love of my life. I miss my goof ball sons and I miss all of my friends and family. I miss the familiarity of Florida. I miss not having a stuffy nose. And I even miss flip flops. But, this is gonna be a blast and I can't wait to share even more of it with you. In the meantime, I'll leave you with one of my favorite pics from the weekend:

This is a shot of the downtown of one of the towns we're considering, Northville, MI. Stay tuned, folks...there's (lots) more to come.

Aaaand...we're off!

If you've been keeping tabs on my recent blog posts, you'll no doubt be aware that a new adventure has begun. As of today, I am officially in Michigan, starting a new job and biding my time until June when my family can join me here.

The new job is great and the people here are just so darned nice. Seriously. The one thing I've always loved about the Midwest is how incredibly friendly and neighborly people just seem to be. No one appears agitated. They're quick to offer recommendations on towns to consider moving to and about schools and the like. One of my co-workers is apparently working on a "things to see/do" guide for me to work through on my free time. Just very cool.

Since tonight was my first night of many to come in Michigan, I figured I would start off with one of my favorite past times...visiting the mall. So, my first official day on my new adventure ended with the mall.

The coolest thing was that I think I've identified one of my next purchases:

See? I love TOMS, but they are incredibly impractical for the harsh weather in the great white north. So just slap some faux fur in the lining and call them mine. This is all but a sure thing.

I also discovered what I'm sure will become a shop that I will visit WAY too many times over the next month until I'm back home for a week, Just Baked. Oh, how delightful to see a shop that sells over 50 varieties of freshly baked, gourmet cupcakes. It was staggering.

What was even more staggering was the delectable goodness that came back to the hotel with me. It was good while it lasted, but I shall be back for more, I promise.

The times, they are a-changin'...

If you read my last post, then you would know that A LOT had been going on over the past month or three. Well, I'm finally able to publicly talk about some of the stuff that I wasn't really willing to share then.

I mentioned that companies were calling me even before I knew I would need a new job. What I didn't say was that of the five or six companies that called, only one was local. All the other interest was coming from out of state and all of them were offering substantially more in salary than I had ever made before. Fast forward to yesterday and what that means is that...

...we are moving! From Florida...to Michigan. Yep, that Michigan. With the ice and snow and seasons and window scraping and running your car in the morning to heat it up. Eek!

The deal is that I'll be in Michigan three weeks a month and in Florida one week a month until the boys are out of school in June. Then, the family Long will begin a brand new adventure in our own wintry wonderland. This all begins on February 27th, 2012.

So, I told 2012 to bring it, and bring it she did. We're excited and nervous and overjoyed and overwhelmed and sad and probably too many things to list in one blog post.

I guess if I were to ask one question, it's this: what advice does anyone have for a big move? More importantly, does this down parka make me look fat?

Well...hello, twenty twelve

The past two months have been...eventful? Interesting? Ridiculous? Incredible? I'm not quite sure what word or phrase would be adequate here. Perhaps I should explain. 

 

On November 30th of twenty eleven, I decided to take on a police car with my VW Passat. Turns out, that's not a good idea. I have no idea how or why that happened...just that I didn't see him when I pulled out of a parking lot. What that little event got me was six days in the hospital with a collapsed lung and the temporary inability to sleep comfortably on my left side for two months (and counting). 

 

Then, on December 9th of twenty eleven, I was notified that the job I had started in October was no longer the job for me. I was let go one day short of the 60-day probationary period for this position. Hmm...interesting. 

 

While in the hospital, I received two or three calls from companies that were looking to talk to me about coming to work for them. Now, keep in mind that I didn't quite know that I was on the hunt for a job yet. This wouldn't happen until I had been out of the hospital for two days and returned to work. So, I already had prospects lined up before I even knew I would need them. OK, this is getting ridiculous. 

 

On top of everything I mentioned already, I also was told by my chiropractor, after he spent some time studying my X-rays, that the neck injury I sustained in my accident was basically the same injury as Christopher Reeve, except that my spinal cord didn't get caught up like his did. I was literally a few millimeters from being in a similar place and situation as Christopher Reeve. 

 

**Sidebar**: I love the movie Bruce Almighty. There is so much rich, spiritual depth to it and I don't have the space to get into all the intricacies and nuances that endear me to it so much. But, there's a scene at the end of the movie when Bruce says to God, "Now, you're just showing off." **End of sidebar**

 

Well, now you're just showing off, God. 

 

I'll have to admit I was ready to tell twenty eleven to shove it, or to kiss my tookus or something along those lines. But, I love so much of what the year brought me. I failed miserably at keeping up with my blog. I got to take an epic road trip to Atlanta to see my most favorite band, Mumford & Sons. I made some amazing new friendships. I grew more deeply in love with my wife, sons and family. I witnessed the grace and abundant favor of my God as He carried me through unemployment twice, and an accident that very well could have ended my life. There were some fantastic times in twenty eleven, and there were some insanely crappy times. 

 

Frankly, there were moments where, to my ecstatic joy and utter elation, God inexplicably–with a wide smile drawn across His face–decided to show off. 

 

Now, twenty twelve has started and I'm not quite sure how or why or where or what I'll be. But, so far, it's been defiant in not revealing all it has in store. To date, this has been a sneaky, hiding something up its' sleeve, not showing the cards kind of year. I'm excited, baffled and a little giddy about all that awaits me in the next weeks and months and am already seeing God puffing His chest out, rolling His cuffs up, and grinning with a wink...as if to say, "You ain't seen nothing yet! I'm about to really show off!" 

 

OK, bring it, twenty twelve. I'm ready for just about anything.