Ben Jamin Lately ?

I will preface this story by saying that it is odd that my first two posts on my blog both involve fish which is rather odd considering I rarely mention fish, either in conversation or any other medium of communication.

As the day began today I woke up (which happens every day..... wierd...huh?) and slapped my alarm clock across the room (which also happens every day). I start with my morning ritual of brushing my teeth then sitting in the bathroom with the shower on hot so it gets all steamy, which I highly recommend as it is very refreshing, then acctually got in the shower. I had lots of emails from work which I answered from home vs. going into the office. After finishing up all the work stuff I played on my computer and then got ready to go to church. I arrived at church after a short pit stop to get my hair cut. Luckily it was a short stop, you never know how long it will take there.

My reasoning for going to church was a Men's Group fish fry of which I was helping cook for. All the staff was helping plus a few volunteers. I enjoy hanging out with the Pastors especially in situations away from normal church related functions ( not that this wasn't), you really get to see a different side of them. A lot of people put pastors up on this pedestal and think that they are reverent and serious all the time. Well that is not the case at all. It was just like any other fish fry I have ever been to, guys standing around pots of hot oil swapping stories and joking around. There were probably 75 men that came and after we all ate we joined together for worship led by Daniel, the lead guitar player in our worship band. It is so awesome to see men of God worshiping together.

As we finished up I found myself talking to one of our mens group leaders, and somehow or another got volunteered to go help unload some sheetrock at a local place calle "Journey Home", which is a project of one of the men in our church. To be honest, I found myself regreting agreeing to help. The whole drive over I was thinking to myself,"man i really don't want to do this." But as I arrived I realized, here I am whining over moving a few boards of sheetrock and Scott (who started the project) has put so much time and money into something that is not even for his gain. He is doing it so that people who have nothing can try to get back on their feet and providing a christian atomosphere for them to do it in. How awesome is that!!! Needless to say I soon got over my little pity party and helped with enthusiasm. So much enthusiasm, in fact, that I ripped my pants open at the crotch. I could probably attribute that to the fact that I ate SOOOOOO much fish tonight. I was nibbling the whole time we were cooking and I had a full plate of 3 catfish, white beans, salad, fried chips and finished it off with some apple cobbler and ice cream. I should be good for a few days now.

So I guess the moral of this story is...
#1 Volunteer with an open heart and you will be richly rewarded.
#2 Don't eat a truckload of catfish and then go move sheetrock and you will probably rip your pants.