Doug Van Pelt

The Longhorns - Take Dead Aim

Tonight's the night: the NCAA national championship game. I can't tell you when I've been as excited about this game. I don't think I have. My alma mater the University of Texas, is playing USC for the title. I practically get goose bumps thinking about it when I see the television hype, etc.

Last night I stayed up to see the triple overtime victory of Penn State over Florida State. I made sure I programmed the recorder to get the Jimmy Kimmel show, cuz it was scheduled to have some New Year's Eve performance by P.O.D. They were playing "Goodbye for Now," "Boom" and "Alive," which was "broadcast" onto the giant tv screens in Times Square on 12/31. I can't wait to see it. I've been listening to their new album a lot and I really, really like it.

I'm back at the office trying to catch up on emails. Looks like there's 2,269 emails coming in to my old (doug at) account, and only 630 into my active (dvanpelt) account. Fortunately, I had a high-speed internet connection over the holidays and was able to "keep up" with email correspondance, yet I have the "keep a copy of the message on the server" box checked in my notebook's Outlook settings, so all the emails that I read over vacation are going into my desktop at work's inbox. It'll be a couple hours of "filing" (and deleting) them away now.

I was unfortunate enough to come down with a bug or food poisoning on the second to last day of my vacation, so instead of relishing the last moments together with my family, I was downstairs in bed. I hate being sick, but I find myself praising God a lot in those situations. Subconsiously I might be wishing that my praise would move God into healing me instantly, but I don't really sense that as my motivation. I've simply trained my tongue and mind to praise God in the midst of adversity. I'd much rather have this habit that profanity rising up out of my mouth, though, that's for sure. My very small and tiny suffering is nothing when compared to that of the slaves in Egypt or early American history, but many of those folks found a way to turn their hearts toward the Lord in the midst of grueling and seemingly never-ending suffering. I'm amazed by their faith. That's where much (if not all) of the "soul" comes from in many Blues, Americana, R&B, and Roots Rock comes from -- that spirit inspiring flesh creativity that spills of hope in the midst of pain.

What a great legacy we have. I imagine all the people in heaven we will run into that set such heroic and godly examples while on earth. It'll be rich to sit at their feet and hear their stories. I am glad for the myriad of such opportunities we have right here in today's day and age to hear such stories. One trip to a nursing home to visit gray-haired folks ("strangers" we don't even know) can be a start...

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at January 4, 2006 10:21 AM