Author: nick

So…I couldn’t wait to get to California for the Gathering and to visit with my uncle Kevin for a few days in L.A. I’ve been waiting for a year for this trip and it couldn’t come fast enough.

My friend Ben Taylor who used to serve in a student ministry in Macon and I both got to Orange County within a few minutes of each other, he Jobi (from Jacksonville, FL.) and I went to Wahoos right away for a traditional lunch of fish tacos. (Yum!) Everything seemed perfect…Ben and I went to the hotel room to drop a vehicle off, check in, and drop off our luggage, I guess it was at that moment that we broke a mirror, killed a crow or black cat, or something that turned things around. We had pretty much the whole afternoon to hit some of the hot spots around town, so we hit our favorite shopping district, the Irvine Spectrum. Well we couldn’t get there fast enough, in fact, without trying we were attempting to get there faster than we did, we got caught in a speed trap. Fortunately, Ben was driving, the cop busted him for 66 in a 50 zone. Here’s the deal…50 on this road is a death wish, we were traveling with the traffic, in fact we were slower than the traffic and I guess that is why he came after us. This dude was literally ‘Ponch’ Poncherello. I say it was fortunate that I did not get the ticket, because of two reasons, one I will explain later and the other is because I did not have my insurance card with me. This guy would have probably arrested me, so I am kind of happy that it happened to Ben and not myself, even though that sounds bad.

The Gathering was awesome! I will blog more about it later, but for now I can say that God has reminded me why he called me into full time ministry and that is where he wants me to be and that is where I have to be to honor him!

Finally, some of the guys wanted me to hang out with them on the last night and travel to L.A. later, but being the good nephew that I am, I declined and went on to L.A. so I could get there and avoid the traffic and spend more time with my uncle. Well in L.A. it is a late city, so people do not get home at 5 as in the south or other smaller towns. I knew I would be waiting until 6:30 or 7 p.m. for Kevin to get home. So I paid for a meter went to Subway to get a drink and start on one of the 17 new books I was given at the Gathering. I read for a little while, and then at 6:15 I started my walk back to Kevin’s house, I waited there for a while, and then started to go back to put more $$ in the meter, low and behold, up comes my uncle and he tells me that since it is after 6 I do not have to pay at the meter, so we go in and talk for about an hour. At 7:30 p.m. we go to dinner walking to a small Italian restaurant down the street, as I show my uncle where my car is, it is no longer a car, but a truck…Hmmm! Was I on the right street? Yep, but my car had been towed!!! My uncle told me, oh, I thought you were on the side street meters, yeah they will definitely tow you on the main street. $184 towing fee and a $140 ticket later I now have my rental back. I am still in L.A. but my trip has not started off the best.
Nick

5 Days until California!

I believe for all of those who were alive during Pearl Harbor, they can remember where they were and what they were doing on the day Japan attacked the U.S. unknowingly and unprovoked. So is the similar memory seared into my mind of the day when terrorist attacked our country using planes as missiles.

Like everyone else, I did not know what was taking place as it was taking place. I was on the phone ordering some equipment for an upcoming gate security system install, when the guy on the phone told me that a plane had just crashed into the first tower. As soon as we got off the phone I went to ask my boss if he had heard what had happened, by the time we got a little TV connected and turned on, the second plane crashed, then the Pentagon, and finally the reports of flight 93 being taken down into a field. I went home immediately and was in shock for several hours, it was unbelievable.

I personally think it is a disgrace to this country and to those who died that day for the media to have pulled the images and the coverage from this horrific event. I know the families of the victims need and needed to heal, but in the same sense we have lost all remembrance of what took place and why we have engaged in this war on terror. I believe in the same sense there needs to be a balance, where the world will see that we will protect our land and we will destroy anyone who tries to bring harm to our people, but as a country we have to spread compassion and mercy to those who are as well innocent.

I also think it is despicable and a disgrace for these conspiracy theorists to say that 9/11 was an inside job and that the Bush administration was behind it all. Get a life! There is no better way to dishonor those who have fallen. The funny thing is…most of these people with the 9/11 truth, Alex Jones, and the other nut cases have no evidence or proof of their claims, yet they speak out against and call the experts who have investigated their false claims liars. I’ve researched their claims and they show a few videos clips of tower 7 falling, and they say that it fell because of pre-set explosives, so when did they become demolition experts? What is their background and history in the destruction of buildings, and why are they the experts to tell us that since “the look” of the falling tower appeared to be similar to that of a building that has been purposely demolished that it is a cover up. Get real!!! Seriously…they have the dumbest theories on this planet.

May the victims never be forgotten, nor the act that took place in our country. May God bless and comfort the families who lost loved ones in 9/11.

1 Week to Cali!

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