I don’t know if you have heard this or not, but there are varying opinions on whether or not professed believers and followers of Jesus should participate in the various frivolities associated with the celebration on October 31st that we call Halloween.

This post has nothing to do with that. 🙂

Two things that were both cool and odd about tonight’s Trick or Treating adventures for the Campbell Family:

1. The Location
Half way through the hunt tonight, I literally stopped in my tracks and laughed out loud that we were in Vermont. Again. We don’t live in Vermont. It’s several hours drive from our house. But this is now the second Halloween in four years that we have walked the streets of this tiny Northeast state in search of benevolent candy donors.

Isn’t that crazy?

2. Jo
We were running behind schedule and had two, no, make that three tiny children who were looking forward to trick or treating somewhere in the northeastern US on this chilly Monday evening. (Well, OK, Kirstie didn’t exactly understand how much she was looking foward to it, but we knew she was too!)

It was dinner time (5:30) and with the day-old time shift, it was already quite dark. We stopped first at McDonald’s to fill up the tiny tummies before traversing the unknown urban corridors we found ourselves surrounded by. I was not satisified with waging urban warfare, though. I knew there had to be less concrete clad communities nearby, and as we sat down to eat, I noticed a lady seated by herself at the table next to ours.

“Do you live around here?” I queried.

“Yes.” Her reply assumed that everyone who was in that building, and perhaps in that town currently, was of course a resident and had been for 4 or 5 generations. That was not the case, as I assured her.

“Well, we’re from out of town, and we have three little guys who would like to do some trick or treating tonight. Is there a neigborhood nearby that you could direct us to for a little halloween fun?”

Boy could she.

Long story short, Jo (we later discovered that was her name) directed us to her neighborhood where hundreds of folks wandered through blocks of small town America, dressed in an array of festive costumes and fraternizing with the locals – all seeming to know who the other one was, and have some history with each other. (All except us, of course). We were warmly received, though, and the boys were a hit with their Rockstar (Ian) and iPod (Alex) costumes. Great, great stuff.

So, we had a blast, and got home from our second tour of duty in Vermont with three full bags of candy, and three very, very tired kids.

Not to mention Mom & Dad.

Another Halloween in the books, and it was a great one!

The main event for my wife’s birthday this year was our departure for a weekend in Maine – without our kids! We were to leave shortly after Grandma arrived at our house to take charge of the kids at 10:30 in the morning. Well, you know how that goes. We ended up not leaving town till almost noon! 🙂

No problem, though. We were on vacation! It was Jen’s birthday!!

Let me back up a bit. As I was packing up on Thursday night for our week in Maine, I thought it would be fun to put our 24-hour McDonalds to work for Jen’s birthday. She had gone to bed by 11:30 or so, so I knew it would be perfect. She thought I was packing, so wouldn’t wonder where I had gone off to, and I could slip out to McDs and grab her some of her favorite food to eat at midnight on her birthday!!! After a few adventures, I returned about 12:20am with some McNuggets and fries, and set them out on our coffee table in the living room. I went upstairs and told Jen I had something for her downstairs for her birthday, and she (surprisingly) went along quite willingly, and we enjoyed a little happy birthday snack while taking in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.

A great start to her birthday. 🙂

Back to the trip to Maine… on our way out of town, I got Jen a roasted chicken sub from Subway, another one of her favorites, and a two-liter of caffeine-free Coke from Family Dollar (another Jen favorite) 🙂 We had a decent trip to Albany, where we took a little stroll through the Apple Store in Crossgates Mall. I had hoped I could buy Jen something from the Apple store for her birthday, but with our finances as they are, she had to settle for a Pretzel from Mr. Pretzel. 🙂

We got back on track for Maine at about 4pm, and the hope was to get to our destination and buy Jen a nice dinner to complete her birthday celebration at the on-site restaurant where we would be staying. But, in Rutland, VT, we noticed that we still had quite a ways to go, so dinner would be quite late. We were at a McDonalds for a pit stop, so we both thought it would be a good idea to grab a snack.

While we were ordering, we were chatting about our trip with the man taking our order (who seemed to be the manager on duty). We mentioned how we were looking forward to a few days without kids, and he talked a bit about his kids, and how he was glad they were grown. 🙂 And, as I got my wallet out to pay for our food, the manager slapped the receipt down on the counter and said, “Happy Birthday. It’s on me.” 🙂

That was cool. Free McDonalds for Jen’s birthday! 🙂

So we continued on, and after navigating through some small New England towns (usually behind a few slower vehicles) we realized that we were not going to make it to Maine in time for a birthday dinner. We were in a little town called Lancaster in New Hampshire (Our first visit to that state. Can you believe that? We’ve visited probably 45 other states, but not New Hampshire… which is two states away. Quite odd.) Jen saw a little family restaurant, so we stopped in at 8:55pm for her birthday dinner. 🙂

(The sign said they closed at 9:00, so that was again, quite nice of them.)

This was a very unique location as the owner had once owned this family restaurant and the local Chinese restaurant, but had since combined them into one. So the menu and the decor were half American, and half Chinese. It was really very interesting.

So, we had a nice dinner, and then only about another hour on the road until we reached our destination. It had beena long day though, so we unloaded some stuff, and enjoyed our new location for a bit (I think Jen looked in every closet) and then we wearily went to BED! 🙂

A long day, but a great one for Jens’ 2005 birthday. 🙂

A little while back, we met a lady named Susan. She boldly approached us – who at the time were strangers to her – on our city sidewalk and asked if we could help her and her husband purchase $10 in groceries for that day. She had received no help from the local churches (which I told her was to be expected, as they are organizations, and not as able to help individual people with such needs) and they didn’t know what to do.

Well, it happened on that day that there was actually cash in my wallet. I had gotten some out of the bank for our upcoming trip to Buffalo. We have had problems paying our bills recently, so as the clear thought to give them one of my Twenties resided in the front of my mind, I wrestled vigorously with it. But, in that brief, albeit lively conversation in my head with God, I decided that perhaps he had arranged the timing of this meeting. We never have any cash on us. It’s quite rare. So, we did, and they needed it, so we helped them. We stayed and chatted a bit, and found out a bit about each other, and in the end, they invited us over to share a meal after her husband got paid the following Friday. We accepted, and moved on, pondering the events that it seemed God had just arranged.

Well, Susan and her husband forgot we were coming to dinner, so we ended up just spending a little time hanging out, getting to know each other. It was slightly awkward, but it was alright. They definitely do not have what most would consider a “normal” life. They are both slightly different than the general populous, both in physical and mental capacities. But they are children of our Father, whom he loves. And it was nice to get to know them a bit.

A week or so later, I came across Susan again, on a walk to the post office. This time, she asked if I could give her a ride into Rochester to hook up with some friends. She said she and her husband were having a hard time, and she needed to get away for a while. I was in admittedly in a hurry, but did not just want to brush her off, so we chatted for a few minutes, and we both came to the conclusion that she just needed to talk with her husband about what was bothering her. So, she went home to do that.

That’s the last I have seen of Susan. But recently she came to mind again. And my first impulse was that we should go over and check on them. Make sure they are OK.

And then I thought that oh-so-familiar, free enterprise marketing genius phrase… WWJD?

🙂

I wondered, did Jesus ever deal with people who need a little extra time or help in life? And immediately, I concluded, “Yeah, he did. A lot! He was always helping people whom society might leave behind.” But, then I had a strange realization. I could not recall any time that Jesus went back to help someone he had once connected with. The only people he regularly spent time with were his disciples, and Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Other than that, we have no record of Jesus keeping tabs on someone, or helping them make the right decisions in life, and “checking up on them”.

And that’s when I realized that perhaps we are not doing WWJD as much as we think. Perhaps we do a disservice to people who we deem as “high maintenance” by continuing to provide “maintenance”? Jesus was great at helping people with their immediate problem, and then allowing them to continue their lives making their own decisions. That is how we have been built. We are equipped to fully choose our own path. Good or bad.

We are not left alone in that. We should encourage and support each other – in good and bad. (Not support people’s bad choices… support people who may have made, or even… are going to make a bad choice.) And Holy Spirit is with us, in us, so that we are not left to journey alone.

But, we are still capable of, and perhaps designed to make our own choices. That’s something I am not sure we as the church have been so good at doing. Even broader than the church, many people feel government organizations should step in and make sure everyone is taken care of, and/or doing things the right way.

Well… I think we might be better off letting people live their lives. Enabling people to choose, good or bad, which way they will go.

It seems like that’s what Jesus did. He didn’t try to conform anyone to his way of thinking. He offered the true kingdom perspective, and he helped people with their immediate needs, but he did not become a care taker for anyone. He allowed people to make their own decisions for their own lives.

I like Jesus. He’s cool.

So, I don’t know if you know a Susan, too… but perhaps we can be more help to each other by treating people as Jesus did. No favorites. No one he stepped in and checked in on regularly. He just loved people, and pointed them in the right direction – toward Father – and allowed them the freedom and the joy of the journey.

I’m still processing all of this, but these are some of the things I learned from our path crossing with Susan.

Tomorrow is my wife’s birthday. I have been looking forward to that day for months now! I love celebrating my wife. She is by far my favorite person. (Though, I do rather enjoy my kids, as well) 🙂

Speaking of that, Jen’s present tomorrow is a weekend at a cool time share resort in Maine — without the kids! (Thanks, Grandma!) We leave tomorrow morning, sans children, for 4 days and 3 nights … without kids.

Have I mentioned we will be leaving the children behind?

We’re looking forward to some quiet time together. An extremely nice birthday present for Jen, I know, and I can’t wait to spend some time with just my wife. It will be so great!

We will meet Grandma on Monday around noon at a half way point between here and Maine, and collect our offspring for the remaining 4 days of vacation (through next Friday.) We always love those times too! It’s fun to just be a family with no daily agenda! Just enjoy being together!

So… hooray for vacation! 🙂

Can’t wait!

I have officially contracted Foot In Mouth disease. I hear it’s not fatal, just quite painful, and slightly embarrassing to go out in public.

This week a series of events that have been building for a while, and then a “last straw” sort of event collided with my tiredness and an area of personal weakness, and I stuck my size 11 foot right in my rather large mouth. And now I am feeling the relational and internal repercussions.

My words were not exactly what I wanted to say, and in my haste, were certainly not how I wanted to say them. And so I hurt some friends of mine, and my wife. (That’s still a weird one to me, because she was hurt indirectly by what I said… that took me by surprise.) I have asked the one friend I thought I offended (I thought she was the only one) for her forgiveness of my stupidity, so that we could not let this hinder our friendship (or our families’ friendship). I think we’re cleared up there, though as mentioned above, Foot In Mouth disease causes the afflicted to be slightly embarrassed in public for a while.

Well, last night, I discovered there were still effects from my wake left a few days ago now. More people were hurt than I thought. Argh.

I definitely recommend keeping your distance. This might be contagious.

And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

I guess James contracted Foot In Mouth a time or two as well.

I hope to recover from this soon. The best thing to do, it seems, is to go back to the place I contracted the disease and display my foot firmly entrenched in my mouth, and ask forgiveness of my friends, who were the unfortunate recipients of the quite unpleasant results of my disease. I hope to do that next time we are together.

Until then, I will keep taking my medications, and deal with the public embarrassment, and keep my distance from anyone else who might become a casualty of my self-inflicted disease. Time will heal, but hopefully this bout with Foot In Mouth will help me see the symptoms long before I actually contract the disease next time.

That would be good.

So consider this a friendly reminder to avoid Foot In Mouth disease. It is not pleasant. For anyone.

I really should be going to bed right now, after finishing my second 9-5 shift today. On Mondays I do a regular 9-5 shift in the day light and then after dinner and a little fun with the family, I go back at if for the night time version of 9-5 for the Buffalo Bills show I am doing. It’s a blast, but Mondays can be pretty long…

I am doing all sorts of great stuff these days, and God has given a bit of a respite from the stress of unpaid bills, but I noticed tonight as I saw the uncontainable smile of our 4 yr old son panning across the screen of Jen’s computer in a random photo screen saver, just how much my family means to me. I get to live every moment of my life (that I choose to give) with my best friend who calls me her husband, and with three (and soon four?) tiny people whom I can’t imagine my life without. The beaming smile of Alex. The creativity and gentle heart of my son Ian. The spunk and beauty of my daughter Kirsten. Whoa. I know I am tired, but just thinking of them gets me teary-eyed.

Relationships, people. That’s what it’s all about. Love and cherish the people God has put in your life. They’re worth it.

Well, we got to see the baby yesterday! We’re about 20 weeks along for this little one, and happy to share some photos and yes, even the VIDEO from the ultrasound yesterday!

Click here to see our baby! 🙂

When you hear the word “Ambition”, what comes to mind? Perhaps not a ‘what’ but a ‘who’ pops into your conciousness first. Someone very driven to succeed, and quite good at accomplishing things they set out to do. Their motivation and their, well, ambition, produces very tangible, visible results in their life.

Now beyond the person, or definition you thought of, what was your first impression when you read the word, “Ambition”? Was it a positive, or a negative reaction to the word? Or, perhaps it was neutral, though I somewhat doubt that as the word is definitely loaded with meaning.

In many circles, the word signifies success, and the driving force behind it. When you have ambition, you are bound to do well. You will accomplish many things. You will taste the fruits of your labor. You are a “real go-getter”. And, most assuredly, ambition is a quality to be praised. Self-motivated behavior that adds to and improves your life and the lives of others around you is a great thing. No one needs to tell an ambitious person what to do next. They are already doing it.

I am such a person. I have so much ambition, and so much creativity, there never seems to be an end to the good things I could do. Aye, but there’s the rub. There never is an end. I go in these cycles of starting (and completing) project after project after project until I notice at the end of a very long day following a very long week… I am completely overwhelmed. My life is fragmented into too many good things. My attention is required in more areas than I can possibly handle. All because of my super high ambition.

Now, I must admit, my ambition is tempered by my refusal to let the things that I do overtake me. I do stop when it’s time to stop. I make time with my family a priority as much as I am able. I make time with friends another priority. So, I will never make it to Donald Trump status financially, but I will maintain some level of sanity. The part that drives me insane is that I think I do have Trump’s ambition, just not the desire to carry it out to its end (expending my life on a career, or the things that I do).

So, I am trying to figure out again what can get cut, what needs to stay, and how I can get out from under this giant weight I have put on myself to be so many things in only so much time. I know life will settle back down. It always does. I know God is taking care of me, even now. Part of my ambition is derived from that. I feel the crunch of bills waiting to be paid, and of everyday expenses needing to be taken care of. So, I do some more things. But I am tired. Weary. I want to know his peace right now.

Perhaps I will just ask him.

Yeah. That will probably do it.

By now you are keenly aware of the fact that I support Apple with all of my technogeek heart. I love their stuff. Every bit of it. But the coolest thing perhaps is their customer service. I might have mentioned before the free tech support offered at every Apple Retail Store – the Genius Bar – but after last night’s visit to our nearest Genius… their stock rose considerably in my mind.

We have been having a few issues with our third generation iPod’s battery. Some charges were only lasting a couple hours (should be 8 for this model). So, having heard of an Apple iPod battery replacement program on the web… I figured I should check it out. Sure enough, I found some info on it at their site, and after a brief phone call to Apple’s tech support, I was heading in to the Eastview Apple Store.

After briefly explaining our situation to the resident Genius that evening (who was supposed to be closed for the night since we were there just before the store closed) he offered to exchange our iPod for a brand new one if they had one in stock. (As I mentioned before, our iPod is a couple years old, so I figured chances were quite slim.) Well, they had one left, and after some brief paper work (and a waived $70 fee), we walked out of the store with a BRAND NEW IPOD.

Folks. No one does this. No one replaces a product they sold you (we even got ours on eBay, not directly from Apple!) after you just use it so much that you wear it out! WHAT IN THE WORLD???

So, again I ask you…

Why would you use anything else???

Go Apple.