keep the Christ.

    I have stumbled across something the last few days that really bothered me. Now before I tell you what it was, I feel I need to give you a little background about myself.

   I am a Christian, I was raised a Catholic until something happened (not exactly sure what) with my parents and the church. Some kind of misunderstanding. My mother stopped going to church when I was seven years old. I was no longer required to go as well.  Yay!!! For a seven year old kid that was cool right? I had a choice!
    I stayed away from any churches until I was thirteen and was living in Sicily, (Navy Brat). While there I used to go to the church services in the community center in the housing area where we lived. I even became an altar boy.  When we moved from the housing area and lived "In Town" I stopped going to services but would often find myself sitting in the small cathedral (more of an ornate church) embracing the silence. Sitting in the comfort of God's house, no words necessary to reflect, to heal, to cry and release. Now, don't get me wrong, I loved where I lived and all the amazing people surrounding me, I just felt a little lost. It was one of the happiest times of my life but it also ended up being the most sheltered time of my life. The point I think I am trying to make is although I wasn't attending a church I never lost my faith in Jesus, just in the church.
  It took more than twenty years for me to cross the threshold of a church for the purpose of worship again and I'm happy to have found a place where my family and I can share our faith. We can grow together.
   That being said, I still tend to think of myself as a new christian. I have a lot to learn and a long way to go. I still have a few of those old catholic chains to break, One day I will be comfortable praying out loud, (Shhhh...you're in a church..) and one day I will be able to belt out a prayer that has not been preprinted and memorized without stammering and stuttering or thinking I sound silly. Where I was once Catholic I have learned to let go of the guilt and become a Christian. I will happily give up doing the "God Calisthenics" ( sit..stand...kneel...pray...sit...stand...kneel), but I must admit it will take me some time to get used to the "PDA for Jesus" (Public Display of Affection). I may tear up, and bow my head but bear with me if I don't raise up my hands or sing out loudly, still breaking those chains.
    Which brings me to my my little peeve. I feel like the best way to learn something is through observation of others who have been doing something longer than I myself have been doing it. I have always had a problem with the use of  "X"  in the place where "Christ" should be in the word Christmas (X-Mas). Throughout my childhood  "X-mas" would pop up during the holiday season and I would just brush it off  knowing it was just a person with a different belief system and lets face it the world was a little less politically correct back then. Now they just say Happy Holidays. I thought the politically correct world we currently live in was finally going to be the death of the "X" but then came the cyber realm. Texting , Twitter, and other social networks with their limited number of characters have brought the "X" back out to replace Christ once again. Leaving a whole new generation behind to remove "Christ"  (from Christian) and casually replace it with "X" ( Xian). I'm sorry, as far as I know Xian is the area in China where they found all of the terra cotta Warriors, and although I'm sure Jesus can be found in a remote province in China I don't think it is an adequate replacement for the word Christian. The saddest part to me is that it is Christians who are taking this shortcut in the hopes of saving their character spaces so they get their full message out in 140 characters or less. The question I have is are they REALLY getting the message out or are they sending another message by so casually omitting "Christ"?
     I look up to all of my friends, and as a newer christian I will learn from you by following your example.  I love you all, but this is one example I can not follow. I totally understand why it is being done, and I am not judging you but rather expressing concern. It seems to me there are plenty of other words that can be shortened  to get your message out with out undermining the message itself.

   All I ask is that we keep the Christ in Christian.

...pick you up.

I have never been comfortable with the "Pick up Line."

It always amazes me that some guys use some of the silliest lines and they actually work. "Darlin, did you hurt yourself when you fell from Heaven cuz you sure are an Angel!"  Yeah I think she bumped her head pretty hard if she fell for that line, you might want to stop by the hospital before bringing her to your place, that girl has a concussion!

I wonder what is it that makes women Choose the guy with the lame pick up line. Is it that they are impressed that he possesses the self confidence to use such a silly line?  Or do they lack the self confidence to say, "Dude that was horrible, please go away." 

"Hey babe, wanna get LUCKY!?"........Ladies...... the response should be, "My luck will improve as soon as you leave." ,  unless you really want to get "Lucky" then go ahead go home with the guy but I guarantee you if he lacks the imagination to come up with a clever and original line he will lack imagination and originality in other places as well. Not sure "Lucky" is how you're going to feel afterwards.

I do tend to think there are some women who fall for the bad pick up line because they are funny, but guys, you have to understand what is funny to a guy is not always funny to the ladies. On several of the websites for bad pick up lines, (to be honest the "Good" ones aren't much different.) This little charmer can be found... "Eww..Someone farted, lets get out of here." ( I really can't make this up.) Now Ladies if that's the line that gets you to go along then there's no hope for you. But I must also add that if a girl were to use that line on a guy the first thing he would think is, "Yep, She's a KEEPER!"

Some of the lines I have read are just downright nasty, and as I have chosen to keep this blog as a PG-13 posting I can not give you any examples. I will say, "I would look good on you." is pretty tame but still very high on the lame factor

Austin Powers, was only funny for about 3 months, you should never use the term "Shag". It's dumb and begs her to associate you with a silly hairy brit spy with bad teeth, and a big fat guy that eats babies. Although, if that's the impact you're looking for then go for it, but I bet you won't be bringing home any Elizabeth Hurleys.

I wonder sometimes if girls go for so many bad lines because they just feel sorry for us guys, I know I always thought the approach was the worst part of the game. Guys really struggle coming up with such lines, they (sadly) put a lot of thought into them, they pour their hearts into them. The poor guy can sit for weeks, months, or even years crafting the perfect line for the cute girl that works in the coffee shop or the waitress in the restaurant that he can't afford to go to twice a week but has to keep going because this time, this one last time she will come to his table to take his order and he will FINALLY have worked up enought nerve to look her in the eyes , smile to her and say, "I'd give you a piece of my mind, but I have more of something else." Then instantly his face would go blank and he will go into panic mode thinking to himself, "Holy Crap Dude!, That was not what I wanted to say! What the heck is wrong with me! That didn't even make any sense! Stupid, stupid,stupid!"

 Yeah, I'm guessing the pick up lines work because the ladies have it so easy with guys, they look at us from across the bar (optional), walk up (optional), smile (optional), hand us a beer (optional) and say, "hi"...............BAZINGA!!!!!!!! WE are hooked, we will follow you anywhere!

I'm so glad I'm happily married, and if you have any doubts about how bad it is for me to come up with a line, it took 15+ years of knowing each other, working together for her dad, both of us moving away, getting married to other people and seperated before we even started dating.  Yeah....I got Mad Skillz! yo.

...call myself a local.

    The other day I was talking with a group of people and the phrase "Known only to us locals" was thrown into the mix. When it was said it was quickly stabbed across the table and twisted into my being with such force that I became offended that I was NOT one of the "Locals" being referred to in the conversation. The funny thing is, I already KNEW the subject they were speaking of and was STILL not considered a local.
   "Known only to us locals." Hyuk, hyuk, nudge nudge... My reply was, "Well the secret must be out because I already knew that."

Local :1- pertaining to, characteristic of, or restricted to a particular place or particular places: 2- pertaining to a city, town, or small district rather than an entire state or country.

Usage:  A local custom, local publication, local transportation, local disease, the British have my favorite usage, A local to them is a bar or pub.

With just the quick glance I took on the definition of the word LOCAL, I never once saw any connection with birthright.

NO... I wasn't born here, I get it. But I think I stopped being an outsider the day I accepted that KERR Lake is pronounced CARR. 

I have lived here longer than I have lived anywhere in my life. I own a home here. I pay taxes on that home and many other things. I work, eat, sleep, breathe, vote and live here. I have seen one lane dirt roads expand into highways and hog farms turn into shopping malls. I know where buildings used to be and why they are gone now and most importantly my son was born here and this is where we will raise him.

You can hold on to your birthright all you want but don't you dare brush me off because I was born in Florida and my family is from the north. The simple fact is, I am rooted and this is my home, it is truly the only home I have ever really known.

  I am a local, I won't tell you how we did it in the north as long as you don't tell me how it is.

Bless your heart.....