A Legend In My Own Mind

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Busy Busy

As Mrs. McGoo alluded to in her blog, things have picked up quite a bit for us. This hasn't been the typical summer for us. We've both been extremely busy and I realized the other day that I have hardly spent much quality time with my wife.

Whether it has been school, kickball, work, housework, or some other things, we both have had plenty to keep us busy.

Summer school has been very hectic for me recently. I took a financial management class in what is called a "pre-term" session at the beginning of the summer. It was basically a semesters worth of work, wrapped up in 2.5 weeks. Crazy times I tell ya. Now I'm taking Sport Law and it is kicking my butt. It is basically law, applied to sports. I feel like I'm in law school. It is pretty neat to cover contracts and stuff, but some of the other things are a little boring.

It hit me two nights ago that things are about to pick up for us. As if our lives aren't already busy, the fall will present a whole new scope of things for the McGoo's. I came home from watching a movie with a buddy the other night (Inception, which I highly recommend) and I tried going to sleep. I just couldn't. It started to hit me that this fall was going to be crazy and my mind started racing.

I began thinking of all the things that are going on this fall and began to question how was I going to be able to manage it all. Here's what it looks like:

Soccer, School (20 hours - junior and senior level classes), house projects, my sister getting married, helping my mom try to move from Kentucky to Arizona. These are all the definite things happening.

There is a potential for something else on the table that I cannot speak about right now, along with bible study on Wednesday nights and potentially another bible study in the works. Then just trying to be a husband and spend time with my wife, friends, and family that is important to me. And finally, which should be first...trying to improve my personal walk with Christ.

I haven't even mentioned Kickball and fantasy football that seem to take some time to do.

As I was saying, I couldn't sleep the other night. Therefore, I went out into our living room and grabbed my bible and started praying. Just praying for clarity in knowing the things that I needed to do and pushing out some of the things that I don't need to do. Prayed that God can give me wisdom in knowing that he won't put anything on my plate that I cannot handle. It is the clarity that I seek in knowing what is from Him and differentiating what is from me.

That being all said, we'll just take one day at a time.

"The future is no place to place your better days"

Now to get back to reading chapter 7 on "Sexual Harassment." Joy

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Two Passions

I grabbed this video off of Katie Dunlap's blog. It only took a few seconds of watching it to see that it had in it not only one of my passions (which is the greater one) but another one of my passions as well.

I won't say what they are. Instead, I'll let you guess...

Moses' Story from Global Support Mission on Vimeo.

In case some of you didn't know, Mrs. McGoo and I have been greatly affected by our trip to Africa. We constantly ask God that he continues to stir in our soul a way that we can continue to do missions, whether that is in Africa or here in Memphis.

I can tell you this...we're excited to see what God has in store for us in the future...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

My Comfortable Life

Years ago my grandfather use to own a chair. It was HIS chair. He watched TV in it, enjoyed company while sitting in it, rocked his children to sleep in it, and eventually rocked his grandchildren to sleep in it. One day however, my grandmother bought him a new chair for their house. One that matched a little bit more with the decor. She offered the chair to me and I quickly said yes. Reluctantly, my grandfather gave up his chair to his grandson and the chair moved from his house to mine. When I went to visit him in Kentucky he use to ask me if the chair was still as comfortable for me as it was for him. He told me a few times that he never had a chair that was its equal. When he comes in town, he loves to come by the house and sit in it. I still refer to it as my grandfather's chair.

Now that I own it, I agree with my grandfather. The chair is VERY comfortable and as ugly as it is, I love it. I love my comfortable chair. My dogs love sitting in my lap when I am in the chair. One day I will hopefully rock my children to sleep in that chair.

I say all this because I feel like I've sat in my grandfather's chair long enough. My life has been comfortable for a long time.

Monday night our Ethiopian team members (minus 2 people) got together for a final debriefing of sorts. To come together to hash out what we had seen and what we have felt now that we are 3 weeks removed from our trip. It was a night of good food, good memories, and good conversation. Most talked about how life hit them in the face when they got back home and how difficult it can be to apply what they had seen to their daily life.

I kept rather quiet most of the night until a question was posed to me. I was asked what God was showing me in the time that I have been back. My answer is a two part answer..

1. Since I've been back, I've seen things a little different than I use to. I see things on the news differently. My heart responds differently to someone talking about what God is doing in their life. I had a friend go to Haiti recently and hearing her share her story actually meant something to me. Before my trip, I would have just said the token line of "Wow, that's great that God used you there." Then I'd go back to my own comfortable life. Now, it means more to me. I find myself wanting to do more with what little I have. I keep hearing in my head, "How can I make a difference in people's lives?"

2. Because of what I have seen, I feel responsible for my actions. Not that I wasn't before, but now I "know" and as GI JOE always says, KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE. I personally feel convicted of how comfortable I have become in my live. While Mrs. McGoo and I don't exactly have the funds to make huge differences in charities, we do have the belief system in our Lord that we can make a difference in things through our prayer, actions, time, and resources.

What I'm saying is that I've lead a very comfortable life. And I have noticed how we all find our ways into a life of luxury and comfort. A lot of my guy friends (YES, I'm calling you out) I met at church. We all met each other and use to pray for one another and now our conversations generally revolve around fantasy football, fishing, money, kids, work, beer, sports, and other things. As close as we are and knowing where we met, I couldn't tell you the last time I had a meaningful conversation with some of them about what God is doing in their lives. It is like we have all become so comfortable in our lives that talking about God and what he is doing has become a non-existent thing.

This bothers me. Big time. These are guys that I've been in their weddings. They've been in mine. I've had meals with them. Fished with them. Laughed with them. Watched sports with them. Traveled with them. Yet no conversation comes up about our Creator, Maker, and Savior. It's concerning. I'm holding myself as responsible because I've found my way into a comfortable life.

Funny, that's what the enemy wants of us. Have the good ole family. Get married, have a few kids, and get comfortable with having fun with our spouse and kids. Make us believe that is what life is all about. The classic nuclear family.

I'll let some in on a little secret. Those of you that might read this...I'm praying for you. I'm praying that God stirs you up and rattles you like he has me. I'm praying that your life ISN'T comfortable. I prayed about it at church on Sunday in our class. I prayed about it Monday night at our debriefing and I am going to continue to pray about it. I don't believe that Christ wanted us to life a comfortable life.

So I'm here to say to some of you. I'm going to be asking you what Christ is doing in your life. I want you to ask me what he's doing in mine. I give you that accountability for me. I pray that you can find comfort in God's provision for you and know that it does not mean that you can always have a comfortable life.

I'm beginning to understand that comfort in Christ is all I really need. He'll provide the rest. So here's to being uncomfortable.

Except when I sit in my grandfather's chair.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Traveling and Gods Directions

The past couple of days have been fun. On Saturday the wife and I headed out to the Blue Ridge Mountains to meet up with the Wilson clan for a family vacation. This would be the first that I and my brother-in-law Brent have attended since we both wed two of the three Wilson girls.

Anyone that has ever traveled with me knows that I love to travel. The one area that I could improve on is the preparation for the travel. For some reason, and I can't explain, I turn into a bear when we are getting ready. I get moody and short. My wife, who has experienced this more than anyone, understands this and, for the most part, lets me be. I'm not sure if I am worried about forgetting something or what, but I do know that I see travel as a time schedule and if we are not on it, I start getting stressed. I like to get on the road with no hassles and put 'life' behind us.

Once we got on the road, I calmed down and we had a rather pleasant drive. The area of Blue Ridge Mountains we are staying at are tucked away in an area that basically is the tip of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Think the Ocoee River for some of you that have been near there. Where we are staying is actually in Georgia. As I was saying, the drive is beautiful. We took the route that takes us across the bottom of Tennessee, into Alabama, into Georgia, back into Tennessee, and then into Georgia again. The wife slept most of the way to the cabin, which should have taken us around five in a half hours. I say should because we ran into some trouble finding the cabin.

Once we made it to the point where our GPS no longer detects roads, we followed our printed out Google maps version. It said to take a right on Hardscrabble then a left on to Laurel Springs. CHECK. Once on Laurel Springs, go .3 miles and take a right onto Dana Rd (Which is where our cabin is). CHECK. Oh wait...there is no Dana Rd. So we drove up this street 3 times trying to find Dana Rd to no avail. My wife was manning the directions and I was following them to a T. Obviously she did something wrong! So she tried calling my father in law, but she couldn't get a signal. So we backtracked a bit and went back a few streets to make sure we didn't miss something. I pulled into a Dollar General about to walk in. I looked at the directions and pointed something to her that she missed. I had printed out text directions as well as mapped directions street by street. All you had to do is LOOK AT THE MAP and see what the next street was near DANA Rd. Pretty simple huh?

I'm being nice in this 'depiction' of our journey because it was anything BUT nice. I basically told her that she couldn't read directions and THIS is how you do it. So I went back where we were missing and was going to show her! The problem...still no Dana Rd. Fortunately we were able to get a signal (I did with my phone) and called my father in law to which he told me that you had to turn onto RHONDA RD (which we saw) and then turn onto Dana Rd. So we finally made it...only an hour later than we should have. And a good argument in between.

Moral of that story for me. Be cognitive of my words to my wife. I didn't want to talk for a bit after that and it occurred to me later Saturday night that it was exactly what Satan wanted me to do. Here we are trying to get away from 'life' and enjoy each others company and yet he used something as stupid as bad directions to cause an argument. It's amazing to sit back and realize how the enemy can interject himself into something so small and make it so big.

I thought about asking Heather for us to pray before we left on the trip. That God would watch over us in our travels and continue to bring fruit to our marriage and conversations. I thought about it and decided I didn't want to. Turns out I should be more sensitive to the spirit when my convictions are telling me something.

Turns out I neglected the most important directions before the trip ever started.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

What Now?

Now that we've gotten back from Ethiopia, I have been struggling a bit with the "What Now" mentality. What am I now to do with what I know and what I've seen? I guess I am a little worried that life is going to get in my way of what I need to be doing.

Like a lot of people, Mrs. McGoo and I lead a pretty busy life. Ask most that try and get together with us and they'll tell you, we're always on the go. So it can be easy for us to get distracted with "life" and everything in it. I have been praying that God continues to show me the things that he desires of my life and where he wants me. I feel like I am in a bit of a holding pattern right now to some degree. Still got a little bit of school left and then what...

I have been seeing things a little differently lately as well. While I've never been one to worry about the latest and greatest gadgets and stuff, I've found myself annoyed at things that normally wouldn't bother me. Example...I was annoyed after reading that people stood in lines for hours to get that stupid iPhone. Normally, I'd still think it was moronic to stand in line for a stupid phone or an iPad. Those that know me know my disdain for Apple Nerds. But now it is on a whole 'nother level. My mind immediately goes to this..."these folks can sit in a line for 5 hours to worship the Apple God's, yet can't spend one hour serving our ONE true God." I must admit, this is the enemy working in me to some degree. Who am I to judge?

While there is merit to question how some people can throw away perfectly good money that could go to some great cause, on a brand new phone (even when their other phone is perfectly fine). Yet I am reminded, they do not know. Maybe some do not want to know, but maybe they do not know what is out there.

As I wrote before, I felt very selfish when I was in Addis. Not because of what I had, because I am not condemning what I own or what someone else owns. I felt selfish because of what I have done with my time. I felt that a lot of my time had been wasted. So whether it is spending 5 hours in a line for a stupid phone, spending 6 hours on the couch watching sports, sleeping in until noon on weekends, or whatever, we've all been guilty of it. So for me, what can I do to change that behavior of wasting time?

That is the question I need answering. Only God has the answers for me. I guess I just need to ask.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Ethiopia Reflections

Mrs. McGoo and I have been back from Ethiopia for a week now and one might think that we've had ample time to sit back and reflect on our visit. That being said, she and I sat down for the first time Saturday night for the first time to discuss. While I have been home sick (and watching the World Cup), Mrs. McGoo had to hit the ground running and didn't really stop at all this week to reflect on what going to Addis Ababa really meant and the impact it had on her. As we all know, life doesn't stop while we're gone, so it quickly met us as soon as we got back.

We were blessed with being able to discuss our trip with our Sunday School class Sunday morning and I know for me, it was a good way of getting off my shoulders some pent up frustration. Frustration because I hadn't really had a chance to tell people what went on over there as well as what God was doing in my life. Being sick all week forced me to sit at home and not get out much. So I was chomping at the bit to preach the news.

Our Sunday School has grown leaps and bounds in the last six months where I don't really know half the class now. Seems like we've added around 20-30 new people to our class. I was telling a friend Mrs. McGoo and I have been gone so much lately that the "new" people were coming up to us introducing themselves to us and welcoming us to the class. So it has been encouraging to see how God has started moving in our young marrieds class. However, I wasn't sure how my talk about our mission/journey to Africa would be met. Would they be like, "Who is this dude and where did he come from and why is he talking about Ethiopia?" Much to my delight, everyone at least laughed at my jokes and listened to my heart.

We presented to the class a little about the mission trip and the organization we worked with, then talked about what we did while on the trip with the kids and the staff members. Once we did that, we showed them the video that Joe Bridges put together. Let me say that I was fine until the video portion. He did such a good job on it and it brought everything back into perspective for me. Then I told the class a little about what Ethiopia represented to me. Here's my story...

About 3 years ago, I lost my job. Not knowing what to do, we fell to our knees and asked God to guide us in what direction we should go. Throughout it all, I felt his push for me to go back to school. It went against everything that "the world" tells us. 'THE MAN SHOULD TAKE CARE OF HIS FAMILY' is one of the things my pride kept telling me. Fortunately for me, I have an incredible support system in place with my wife. She encouraged me to follow the Lords desires for me and to not be afraid of what He had in store for me. I looked at it from the worldly perspective and my wife from God's point of view. So I decided to go trust the Lord and go back to school. When we decided this, we thought, "OK God, now how exactly are we going to pay for this? Not only do we not have money coming in from one half of the family, but now we've got to pay for it." We got on our knees, like we so often do, and told God that if it was his will, he would make it happen.

One day after church, I ran into the soccer coach at the University of Memphis. In talking with him, I told him of my desire to go back to school and we were following the Lord in it all and trusting that he would provide, since we did not have the means to pay for it. The coach looked at me and said, "Well, we're in the market for a new soccer manager, so if you are interested, we'd love to have you. It would pay for your school." I remember looking up at the sky after that conversation and saying to God, "You really do have your hand in all of this." Come to find out that not only did it pay for my entire schooling, but books as well.

Then came time to pick a major. I chose Sports and Leisure because I LOVE sports. I thought that I would work for a athletic dept or a pro sports team. God had other plans. Throughout my time working in this department, I've found that God is wanting me to go more towards the Leisure side of the major. Now I know what you are thinking...Leisure? You major in laying around? Not exactly. Leisure is the side that is more Non-Profit related and Youth Organizations. So think Make-A-Wish, Special Olympics, or YMCA. Or, Missions...

Anyone that knows Mrs. McGoo or has read her blogs, they'd know she was and has been on fire about going to Ethiopia for a mission trip. I, on the other hand, was a but apathetic about it all. I remember asking her why Ethiopia? Why did she have to pick the most expensive trip instead of going to say, Uruguay or somewhere else in South America. She looked at me and said, "Kelly, because this is where God has placed in my heart...I want you to come with me."

I've always had a longing to go to Africa and especially recently, but that is because the World Cup is going on. I told her that I was looking into going on a study abroad trip with school. As luck would turn out, I got accepted for two trips. One was called the Great Western Trip and the other was a trip to England to work for some professional sports teams. I chose the Great Western trip and put the other as my secondary choice. When it came time to find out about the trip, I got a phone call from the leader and he said that the trip had been canceled. Then about 30 mins later I got a phone call from the leader of the other trip telling me that my application was perfect, but since I didn't put them as my first choice, they selected someone else. So there I was, left without a trip. Enter Africa.

We started raising money for the trip and again, I asked Mrs. McGoo how would it be possible that we would be able to raise $6000 necessary for the trip. She looked at me and said, God will provide. We were quickly humbled by the generosity by so many. People that we weren't even that close to donated support. I remember rubbing my eyes one day realizing that we had met our goal faster than anyone else on our team.

I say all this to explain to you that I was not overly shaken by it all. Until I stepped foot on African soil. It immediately all made sense when I got there. God had been preparing me all along for this trip. I said before in another blog that my senses were attacked when we got their. It smelled, pollution was everywhere, the smog overtook your senses, and it was so dirty. Yet when I got to the drop in center, I saw the children. I saw the beauty that was in their eyes and the beauty of the culture. It all made sense to me. This is exactly how God sees us. Broken, nasty, messy, dirty, smelly, and yet in it all, he still loves us.

I realized then how selfish I had been. I've lived my life, believing in a God that has taken care of me, yet done nothing to take care of others. I felt so small. I've been given it all, yet have squandered so much of my life. I just couldn't stop thinking about all that I have taken for granted and how I have envy in my heart for things that I do not have...new car, new clothes, new this, new that...

Since I have been back, I have had a little more clarity with my life and where God wants me. I love helping people, love kids, love activities...my major is Sports and Leisure...so why not put all these things to work for God's purpose. Without getting into any details, because I don't want to get ahead of myself, but God has some stuff working. Hopefully I can expand on it more later, but rest assured, He's working.

I say all this back story to show how it wasn't me asking for something and God delivering in a week or a month. This has been God's plan now for going on 4 years. It is pretty neat to look back and see Him working in us and knowing where He has us is right where He wants us. I can honestly say that I have renewed faith in him saying, "Trust Me."

So for me, trusting the Lord means starting small and dreaming big. My goals are to begin to pray more for my wife and how I can continue to be a man that puts the Lord first in our marriage. Pray for my family. Pray for my friends and begin to expect greater things from them. Pray for my community and start serving more in it. Once I can get those tackled, the rest will follow suit.

Here is the video from our trip to Ethiopia. Got the embed code to work. I love the song Joe put with the video. It hits me right where I need to be.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Wednesday Pics from Addis Ababa

Wednesday - the end of the school year celebration - we traveled over an hour outside the city with about 80 children to enjoy some larger areas of land to play in and experience the "end of school year" program that the staff and children had put together. Team Ethiopia put on ACTIVITIES & GAMES once the program was completed that afternoon and after lunch was served. Here is a glimpse of the day in pics: