“Fun in the Sun” is a misnomer.

I have spent most of my life in Florida.  People assume that I love the sun.  I do not.  It is the arch enemy of any fair-skinned American, what with all the melanoma going around these days.  That is why on Independence Day, an all-encompassing celebration of the birth of our nation, I would like an indoor alternative to all of the festivities.  I spent basically all day outside yesterday playing a gig with the ZDB.  Whatever fun I was supposed to be having was ironically ‘overshadowed’ by my burning flesh and the onset of acute heat stroke.  Now it hurts to take a shower.  God Bless America.

Happy Birthday America. You’re friggin’ old.

Gary and I were invited out to the lakehouse of our friends, the Clarks. There was boating and eating and volleyballing… all kinds of things. They really outdid themselves. Then for the finale, we watched fireworks from the boat. I used to LOVE fireworks. I mean (ladies take note), all dudes love fire. If you want something to be set ablaze, you’ll never have to ask twice. We started talking about how much these fireworks cost the neighborhood to put on. Ummm…. thousands. Seriously. A bunch of money.

Probably the most American thing we could ever think to do is shoot tons of money into the air and have it explode. I love my country as much as the next guy, but when you really think about fireworks, they really are the silliest thing; especially when you’re just watching them. If someone offered me the blowtorch to light those, I’d be all over it. Don’t get me wrong. But still, fireworks - big waste of money. I’m not advocating that we quit using them to celebrate, I’m just saying “Hey America, we’re in a recession. Let’s take a critical look at where our precious dollars are being spent and prioritize a little.”

Bottom line, if you want to send a colorful firework into the sky to entertain all onlookers and passerbyers for, oh, about half a second, be my guest. I will gladly watch. But if I could trade that experience for a tangible gift of equal or lesser value, I’d probably make the trade.

Get your head in the Game.

I went to my buddy Luke’s baseball game today. As Gary and I sat with his Dad, John, I realized I’m not really into baseball. However, there are other things than the game itself I do enjoy. The greatest of these are the comments the parents yell at their kids and the kids of others; things like “Wait for a good pitch!” and “Hit the ball!” I can’t help but laugh. Were these things not part of the battle plan already? As hilarious as I found all of this, I was struck with the massive amount of time and support these parents had been pouring into their kids lives through baseball. I started wondering if someday my kid want to play a sport. How committed would I be to come to every game? How many of the parents there don’t even like the sport? It must be real love to commit to watching amateur baseball nearly every afternoon for months on end.

I also love the umpire. They call him”blue”. Apparently he regularly wears a blue shirt. Not today. I was utterly confused. Every time he called a strike, he makes some kind of grunt. What would I yell? I think I’d just make up words, or maybe default to the words of the Kool-aid Man; “oh Yeah.” I think Gary decided he would go with “Dight!” and do a jump kick instead of the finger point. If Gary was the ump, I’d go to every game.

twitter.com

Before I forget, I just wanted to say that I just discovered twitter.com. If you haven’t already checked it out, it’s awesome. Seriously. It’s microblogging from your cell phone. I didn’t even know that was a thing. Apparently it is. It’s just short blurbs about what you are currently doing. It’s amazing and possibly another indication of the demise of our culture. Either way, I have one. Check it out at twitter.com/pattymack. Get one for yourself. We’ll follow each other. You’ll see…

Oh Blog. You know me so well.

I was once an avid blogger. I found the old blurty the other day. I really had nothing to say and my perspective was very myopic. I was 19. What could I expect? But I’m realizing, my life hasn’t been much different since then. I’ve had a very limited world experience. My exposure has been confined to the people in my direct circle of influence and half of them live in my house with me. I’ve been learning much about myself this year, though, as I spent several months pretty much all by myself, and most importantly, away from Florida. I’m slowly seeing definition take place in my beliefs and personality, my desires and my goals, and my identity in Christ. What had been, for all too long, vague orbs of spirituality, morality, doctrine, and preference, are painfully becoming a sharp image of who I really am. It’s not always a pretty picture.

Now that I’m on the road with the Zach Dodd Band (you can check us out here) and the ministry of beggartown (you can check that out here) I’m coming into contact with a lot of people. A lot. Their perspectives and beliefs really challenge my own, and God is truly using them further shape who I am and to incite growth. Sometimes growth happens so slowly, though, that we don’t even really notice it happening. I really want this blog to be a chronicle of the events over the next season of my life that will, undoubtedly, change me. Hopefully, a lot of great things are going to be happening over the next month or so on the road. I guess we’ll see.