Sunday Carey and I plan to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.

In one way, it feels like we’ve been married for a long time – we both think so much alike and feel like we’ve known each other all our lives.

In another way, it feels like we just got married – everything is still exciting and new and feels like it always will be.

I wanted to take Carey somewhere for our anniversary. I wanted to fly somewhere warm and wonderful. God had other ideas.

Our friend Garland bought a house near Destin, Florida last September and plans to rent the house. He wanted us to ride down to the house with him today to enjoy the last weekend before the tourist season starts and the house is rented out.

But we have too many family things to do this weekend, so he let us drive down by ourselves last weekend.

Some very amazing things happened on our trip.

We read the book “Salt & Light: The Sermon on the Mount” by Bob Yandian. The fact that we sat down to read a book was amazing in itself, but we also received many great revelations and new truths.

Carey and I read the book out loud to each other over the course of a few days – I would read a few chapters then she would read a few chapters – at the beach, by the pool, in the car, and in Garland’s beach house. When either of us had something to say, we would stop and talk about it. It was a great way to read a book and to hear, share, and understand the Word of God.

It was warm enough for us to walk barefoot on the beach every morning. One morning, lots of seaweed and small, blue jellyfish had washed up on the beach.

It felt like God was purging us of our preconceptions and our tendency to paint our own picture of our circumstances. It felt like God was making us more accepting of others.

And, not coincidentally, the sinus infection I took to Florida left that same morning.

In just a few short days we reached another level, another layer of love for each other, love for others, and love for God.

A little over a year ago Carey wrote the following for our wedding invitations:

“Lord, may Your spirit of supernatural love and hope be released and magnified through the story You have written for us.” (Inspired by Romans 15:13 – “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”)

God continues to answer our prayers.

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. You don’t have to own a place in Florida to help brighten the light and stir the salt in someone else.

Nathan asked us to build him a sand castle at the beach. We let these two boys from Wisconsin do it for us.

Saturday before last, on the way to Wal-Mart, Carey and I heard a “ching, ching” that sounded like something falling off our 1965 Jeep.

Just outside the Wal-Mart parking lot we heard a clunk followed by a horrible grinding noise. We were able to make it into the Wal-Mart parking lot where I looked under the Jeep to find one side of the steering damper had fallen off and was dragging.

I opened my toolbox (a necessity for the Jeep) and took the damper all the way off. I told Carey we would just drive slowly on the way home.

After shopping, as we drove down the parking aisle, a tall man who had just walked out of Wal-Mart with his wife, waved and gave a “thumbs up” for the Jeep. I think they were both surprised to see the old Jeep running.

We got to the end of the aisle, turned into the main drive in front of Wal-Mart, then heard the biggest clunk of all as we dropped about two feet to the pavement. Then I saw the driver’s side front wheel roll in front of us. The wheel had fallen off.

As we sat – at an angle in the Jeep – Carey and I looked at each other and said, almost in unison, “Well God, what do we do now?”

That’s when the same man who had given us the thumbs up ran up to the Jeep and said, “I have a high rise jack. You want me to get it?”

I said, “That would be great,” as I watched a police officer pull up behind the Jeep and turn her blue lights on to help other drivers see and avoid our stopped vehicle.

The man with the jack pulled his new Jeep Rubicon into the closest parking space, hopped out, and ran over with his jack and unwrapped it – I am convinced he had never used it.

He said, “This is a God thing. In a Jeep, it’s never just a trip to Wal-Mart, it’s an adventure.” His wife said, “You Jeepers have to stick together.”

I put on my emergency brake (I keep a rock in the back of the Jeep to wedge behind the rear wheel.) My new best friend Bryan jacked up the Jeep and used his lug wrench to remove the spacer from the wheel – it had wriggled loose of its lug nuts somehow.

As he worked on the Jeep, I discovered Bryan and his wife Cindy live in Fieldstone Farms – not too far from us. Our officer friend said, “Maybe this happened so y’all could meet your neighbors.”

It took less than fifteen minutes to get the spacer off, put the wheel back on, and be ready to roll again. The officer was worried about further difficulty, so she gave us a police escort three quarters of the way home before waving to us and heading back to the station.

As Carey and I talked on the way home, we wondered what the event meant in the spiritual. Was there a place where we had lost part of our spirit? Was this a warning for something to come – a place where the “rubber was going to meet the road?” Or was it just another layer of pride peeled off of me? The only two parts of the Jeep I repaired by myself had fallen off the Jeep.

Whatever the meaning, we realized the event was another example of God’s provision for us – the “calamity” couldn’t have happened at a more blessed time.

We weren’t in a hurry to be anywhere. Bryan was there for us before it happened – and had all the tools. We were only going 5 mph in the Wal-Mart parking lot, not 50 mph on Mack Hatcher Boulevard. Wal-Mart had held a safety demonstration that Saturday so the police officer was there for us.

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. You don’t have to keep a high rise jack in your car to lift someone’s spirit during what could otherwise be a calamity.

New Year’s Day Carey and I went for a motorcycle ride.

It was warm for January. We thought it warm enough for a ride, but the partial sun was deceptive, it was windy, and 50 degrees is still pretty brisk when traveling 60 miles per hour on a motorcycle.

When I asked Carey if she had a destination in mind, she said, “Let’s do what we usually do – just start riding and see where God takes us.”

When I pulled out of our driveway, I heard “Fairview,” so I headed west. It wasn’t long before I wished I had worn my long underwear. And soon after that, I wanted my leather chaps.

As we rolled past the Fairview city limits sign, it seemed like the sign read “fair view” – as in not great, not good, just fair.

I asked God if it’s only fair, why we were going there? He said we weren’t, He wanted us to push through to Centerville – another 30 miles. I resisted – it was colder than I thought it would be. But when I saw the sign to Centerville, it seemed to read “center will.” He wanted me to be in the center of His will.

We rode on.

We made it to Centerville around lunchtime. There were restaurants and lots of other places to get coffee and get warm, but God said keep going. He wanted me in the very center of his will.

We made it to the town square, the center of Centerville, stopped the bike, and sat on a cold, cast iron bench with wind whipping all around us.

It was Sunday, just before noon, and no one else was there. In the 20 minutes we sat there asking God why we were there, a car, two pickup trucks, and a Wal-Mart bag blew through the square – each on its way to somewhere else.

Finally God said it was time to go and we rode back to one of the restaurants we had passed on the way in. When we walked in, we saw that this restaurant was the place to go after church in Centerville.

All eyes turned to us when we opened the door, like we had walked into the back of a church service right at the sermon’s crescendo. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best while we had on our black leather jackets and were carrying our helmets.

Carey said quietly, “They don’t like us here.”

I said, “It doesn’t matter, let’s just find a seat.”

I asked Carey if she had ever thought she would be a Biker Chick in a church. She said, “No. I’m sure they see us as a ministry opportunity.”

We found our seats in a corner and people stopped watching us, so we watched them. We weren’t in a hurry to leave – we were still trying to get warm – and watched as denominations left and others came in.

We saw the twenty-something girl in playboy pajamas come in for take out food. We saw the fifty-something woman come in wearing only a tank top and shorts and decided she either misjudged the weather as we did or she was menopausal.

Nothing about this day was as it seemed it should have been. Just as I was feeling like I was in an old Twilight Zone episode, Carey said, “It seems like this is something like what heaven is going to be like. All of us there will be looking at each other asking, ‘How did you get here?’ Every day we will be more amazed at how God’s grace covers all of us. All we have to do is listen as He guides us to the center of His will.”

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. You don’t have to be a Hell’s Angel to enjoy the ride into heaven.

"Admiral Dog" picture in the men's room at the restaurant.

We talked with our son Nathan in Knoxville again this week and he and his girlfriend Ashley were cooking again.

This time Ashley had baked an apple pie using fresh apples peeled, cored, and sliced on the “apple machine” Carey gave Ashley for Christmas.

It’s an old-fashioned-looking kitchen tool on which you place an apple, then turn a crank to peel, core, and slice in one pass. It has a suction cup that holds it on the kitchen counter – as you crank – so the continuously curled peeling falls neatly into the disposal side of the sink.

Our phone call this week put us in the mood for a fried pie.

Last fall Carey and I became connoisseurs of fried pies. We went to many fall festivals and tried the fried pies at each.

The fried pies at the farmer’s market at The Factory were good. The ones sold at a little corner store in Lynchburg were better. But the best, come to think of it, were the ones made by Nathan and Ashley in the kitchen at our house.

They came in town one weekend late in October. Carey cooked a big Sunday lunch – which has become the tradition when Nathan comes to town.

That’s how I learned that Carey knew how to cook – last March Carey cooked on one of Nathan’s trips in. We had been married for six weeks and she hadn’t cooked – we had never even talked about the fact that she is a great cook.

Early last fall we had seen – on Facebook – pictures of Nathan and Ashley making fried pies together. And Carey has never made fried pies. I worked at a pie factory for 13 years but I had have never done fried pies.

So we asked them to bring their stuff to make fried pies.

In October, Ashley used our “apple machine” and loved it. We loved the fun we had watching them prepare and fry the pies. And, of course, we enjoyed eating them, too.

Our phone call this week sent us out in the subfreezing weather to find a fried pie. We had to settle for McDonalds – not nearly as good as homemade, but at least their cherry pie is back!

Matthew 12:33-37 tells us that you can tell a tree by its fruit – that a good man brings good things out from the good stored up in him. We are thankful that our fruit is bringing forth more good fruit.

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. You don’t have to be a machine in the kitchen to reveal and enjoy the fruits of life.

Carey gave me a ski coat for Christmas.

As soon as I saw it, I wondered why – I already have a ski coat. And I don’t know why I have that. I only wear it to ski and I’ve only been on one ski trip in the last 18 years. I love to ski, but it’s just something I haven’t done often enough to warrant having duplicate pieces of equipment.

When I opened the present, Carey said, “Maybe God will take us on a ski trip soon. If He does, you need a new covering.”

The morning after Christmas, just before I went to get the paper, God told me I needed a coat. I went to the hall closet to get a jacket. But when I opened the closet door, there was the new ski coat. God said, “That’s right. The ski coat.”

I said, “It’s not that cold. And I’m not going skiing today.”

He didn’t say anything – He doesn’t argue often – He gave me free will. I put the ski coat on – it felt very good. But after three times trying to zip it, I decided it was broken – I couldn’t get it zipped.

I looked again. What was keeping the coat from zipping was a beaded chain holding one of the tags. I hadn’t taken any of the tags off the new coat.

You know how you don’t take the tags off something until you wear it? You don’t really own something until you take the tags off. Until then, you can return it. I still wasn’t sure about keeping the ski coat, but I took the tags off and it zipped right up.

For some reason, at least one of our cats has decided the dining room is the perfect place to urinate.

We have tried many things to stop this disgusting habit, but the only thing that has worked has been to tape a huge sheet of plastic across the eight foot opening leading to the dining room. It keeps the cats out and for four or five weeks now, we have kept the plastic up until and unless we have company. Then we put the cats in the laundry room and take down the plastic until the company leaves.

On the way in from getting the paper December 26th, the plastic barrier had fallen. It had never done that before.

God said, “The veil is torn.”

“Yeah, yeah, God – I know,” I said. “Jesus died so I could come straight to you. I know all that.” (Matthew 27:51.) I taped the plastic back up.

Talking with Carey at breakfast that morning, I marveled at how she always sees the bright side of things – the goodness in people. I tend to look for the motives behind a person’s actions and what they might be trying to gain for themselves.

I started feeling a little down on myself. Carey asked me what was wrong. I asked God what was wrong.

He showed me: I have never felt truly worthy of God’s love. I have never felt like I deserved it.

It just doesn’t make sense.  No matter what I say, no matter what I write, no matter what Christian shirts I wear, no matter what Christian music is in my iPod, I know who I am and what I think. And God knows who I am. How could He love me anyway?

Then He showed me – that’s the whole thing. That’s what grace is. He loves me even though I don’t deserve it. I have known that in my head. This was the fullest I’ve ever known it in my heart.

God’s gift is grace. Now I have fully received His gift. I have cut off the tags. I won’t return it. I know God has smiled on me many times in my life. But this was the first time I saw Him smile. I finally got it. The veil is torn.

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. You don’t have to wait until you smell something to hear God.

This week Carey and I had dinner with our daughter Lindsey and son-in-law Jarratt. They served a deer roast.

Both Jarratt and Lindsey are avid hunters and Jarratt killed a deer last Saturday.

Whenever the subject of hunting comes up, I tell the truth in saying that I’ve never been hunting. But it makes me feel like I regain some “man points” when I quickly say, “But I shot on the rifle team in high school.”

The whole truth is that I was on the B-team of the junior varsity rifle team in tenth grade. I never even shot in a meet – they only let us B-teamers practice shoot on the range.

I always thought I would be able to be a better provider if I could hunt and I knew how to dress and clean my own meat. You know, in case I ever have to.

In 2007 Pat Robertson predicted another terrorist attack on the United States and I went a little overboard. I read survival websites and bookmarked them for the oncoming emergency. (Bookmarked websites? Did I think we would have electricity during a total meltdown?)

I bought a survival knife and carried it in the fishing vest I wore everywhere I went. Also inside my survival vest I kept duct tape, sewing needles, fish hooks, a reflector mirror, waterproof matches and two other ways to start a fire, a compass, a whistle, a survival blanket that could also be used to make a lean-to, and dental floss (for rope/string/fishing line.) There were more items – these are just the things I remember.

When my daughter Darcy shamed me into stopping wearing my vest in 2009, I downgraded to a small backpack to carry my “gear.” I told people I used it to carry my wallet, keys, checkbook, pens, and papers.

Even though Darcy called it a “murse” or man purse, I knew it was still manly because I still carried survival items. I did lose a little testosterone by not being able to fit my survival knife in the backpack.

Not long after I met Carey, she was able to talk me into not carrying the backpack any more. She didn’t use shame. She used the truth.

One day she asked me, “What would happen if we left that at home one time?”

I couldn’t tell her I wouldn’t feel like a man without it. She heard my silence and asked, “Just what is in there, anyway?”

I finally felt as silly as I was – as I showed her the items in my bag. She asked how long I had carried these items – I told her, “Years.” She asked how often I had needed any of the items – I told her, “Never.”

She said, “Maybe you can let God be your shield today.”

I didn’t take my bag that day and God gave me an exhilarating feeling of freedom. It was the beginning of my letting go of a lot of baggage, a lot of false strength, and hoarding. It was the beginning of my making room for a purer truth and truer strength.

Once I thought I could live on my own out in the woods. Then I wondered where I would plug in my rechargeable electric toothbrush.

At Jarratt’s house, the deer meat was good and I was glad that his fun is also part of God’s provision for his family. I was also thankful hunting is not God’s provision for me and I thanked God for loving me through my “survival days.”

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. You don’t have to hunt a long time to find your method of survival. Just ask God.

My daughter Lindsey said it best, “I don’t get all worked up about Christmas. I celebrate with God every day. He didn’t invent Christmas.”

Santa Claus came from man. You won’t find Christmas trees, tinsel, egg nog, or fruitcake in the Bible. That doesn’t make them bad, they are here for us to enjoy. We often make things divisive. Some even fight over the “real” date of Jesus’ birth.

This week I did some shopping – if you know me, that will shock you – it’s not Christmas Eve yet.

There seems to be an overall spirit of “good will towards man” at Christmas time. Most charities see their biggest surge in donations this time of year. And it feels like people drive more courteously, even in church parking lots.

But I saw a lot of folks shopping who were unhappy. They seem to miss out on any joy and peace as they hurry and worry. It seems like they have lost at least two of the first three fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23.)

So, I wondered, what is the true meaning of Christmas?

I don’t mean the Charlie Brown sense of meaning – the sentimentality – but what is the definition of the word Christmas?

“Christ” means anointed or the anointed one.  And “mass” has lots of meanings: a body of coherent matter, often of considerable size (a mass of dough;) a collection of incoherent particles, parts, or objects regarded as forming one body (a mass of sand;) aggregate (people, in the mass, mean well;) a considerable assemblage (a mass of people;) and others.

It feels like Christmas means something like “bringing anointing to a large body of people.”

In Galatians 4:4-7 Paul talks about how Jesus came (was born) at exactly the right time to free people from the law so we could become sons and heirs of God. In Ephesians 2:14-18, he talks about how Jesus is our peace because He reconciled the enmity in man by removing our separation from God – through Jesus we have access by one Spirit to the Father.

So, maybe Christmas is not so much the celebration of the day of Jesus’ birth as it is a celebration of every Christian’s re-birth, made possible by Jesus’ coming. And since that happened on different days for each of us, that date never can really be defined. So, doesn’t that make every day Christmas?

If you have lost some of your peace, joy, or love this holiday season – or any day – maybe you can focus on receiving and giving His presence instead of giving and receiving presents.

Instead of getting anxious and excited about all that you have to do today, you can be ex-sighted and think about what God did for you through Jesus’ birth two thousand years ago.

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. Ask God about the presence He wants to give you this Christmas.

We have a beat up, rusty, greenish, 1965 military style Jeep with no windows or doors. It always gets attention when we drive through the neighborhood. For the most part, mothers gather their small children to keep them from being run over by the large mud tires on the Jeep.

Many of those who are not fearful of the Jeep are repulsed by it – we have received letters from the homeowners’ association. I washed it – once. It looks better with mud on it.

Last Saturday night, the night before Sunday’s College Grove Christmas Parade, I asked Carey, “What if, instead of going to the parade tomorrow, we were in the parade? We could decorate the Jeep, go a little early, pull into the parade line and go when everyone else goes. They won’t arrest us – probably.”

She balked for a few minutes, thinking of what could happen, then asked God if we were supposed to do this. When she heard the answer, she quickly got in the spirit.

She suggested we go to Goodwill. We spent $6.00 to buy back tinsel and other decorations that we gave them after our yard sale in September. Carey planned decorations for the Jeep while I rigged up our iPod to play Christmas music through a pair of outdoor speakers I have had in our basement since 1994.

We drafted our sister-in-law Vicki to help decorate and Carey and I each wore khaki hats, red shirts, and green pants that sort of matched. But even while driving to the parade, I thought it was lipstick on a pig. We looked like a collision between “M.A.S.H.” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

We arrived about 20 minutes before the parade was scheduled to start and pulled into line with other “floats.” I had barely turned off the Jeep’s engine when an official looking man with a walkie-talkie started walking towards us.

“Uh oh,” I thought. “The moment of truth.”

He studied the Jeep as he was walking up, then came up to where the driver’s door would be – if we had one – and said, “I’m John. Love your Jeep.”

We had a great time driving in the parade, with many people yelling, “Love your Jeep.” We waved, wished people “Merry Christmas,” threw candy, and I managed not to run over any children (or adults.)

But the best part of the whole experience was seeing our two, three, and five year old grandkids’ faces when they saw us in the parade. When we got to where they were standing, the shock, then amazement, then joy on their faces melted my heart and started the true Christmas season for me.

No matter how many Christmas shoppers we get traffic jammed with, or how many clerks are grouchy, or how many times we hear, “Bah, humbug,” no matter how much ugliness we see, we’ll remember seeing the love of Jesus in those little smiling faces.

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. You don’t have to be the Grand Marshall of a parade – just share the love of Jesus that covers you.

Our Jeep in the College Grove Christmas Parade.

Two weeks ago Carey and I celebrated the anniversary of our first date.

Even though it was love at first sight and we have had a whirlwind romance for over a year now, it’s hard to think that I wasn’t with Carey on Thanksgiving Day last year. It feels like we’ve been part of each other all our lives.

Carey’s family welcomed me with open arms immediately, if not sooner. Any hesitance in her family disappeared when they saw us together – they knew we were right for each other.

This year I was with Carey – and her family – for Thanksgiving.

One of the best parts of being married is learning the traditions of the in-laws. Things that you thought of as “right” and “what one always does on Thanksgiving” are not done and new things are done – and always have been done – in the new family.

For example, when I was growing up, we always had turkey at Thanksgiving, like most people do. But we always had rice with the turkey.

My first Thanksgiving with my first in-laws, I thought it was very strange that they had mashed potatoes with their turkey. I soon learned that almost everyone has mashed potatoes with their turkey at Thanksgiving. In fact, I can’t remember ever hearing of anyone else who has rice with Thanksgiving turkey.

Another tradition that I have noticed is that the patriarch of the family – or at least the father of the house where the dinner is eaten – asks the blessing at Thanksgiving.

Last week, in Carey’s childhood home, as folks gathered to start lining up to eat Thanksgiving dinner, Carey’s parents asked me if I would ask the blessing. There was a time when that would have made me nervous – even fearful.

But now I talk and listen to God many times every day. And just that morning He had told me this might happen. And He had told me what to say. I told Carey’s parents it would be my honor to ask a blessing.

I thanked God for His many blessings. Then I apologized to the group but asked them to break tradition by opening their eyes right there, during a prayer, and look around the room.

I told them I was thankful for this family. Each with their own lives, but each loving each other to make time for each other. And I was thankful to have been welcomed so warmly and so quickly into this family.

When the prayer was over, Carey’s Mom gave me a big hug and said, “We’re glad you are here.”

One of Carey’s brothers helped lighten the mood by saying, “Well, that was different, praying with our eyes open.”

And her other brother said, “You never know what’s going to happen with Carey and Rob around.”

When I pray, I rarely know what is done in the Spirit for others. And that was true for this prayer that day.

But for me, it was yet another, deeper place of knowing God’s unconditional love.

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. Even if it’s not your tradition – especially if it’s not your tradition – ask God – He’ll tell you how.

Comedian Steven Wright said, “You can’t have everything . . . Where would you put it?”

Of course, the answer is the Nashville Flea Market at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds.

I’ve been going to the Flea Market for the 16 years I’ve lived here in middle Tennessee. Not every month, of course, but off and on.

I found some of the Coca-Cola memorabilia for our basement there. I bought some of the furniture for our house there. And I bought a leather jacket there.

Even when Marcy was totally paralyzed and on a ventilator, we went to the Flea Market several times. It has always been a fun place to people watch.

Four weeks ago I heard God tell me there was something for me at the Flea Market. That had never happened before.

Carey and I had never been together, so we went.

We saw a truckload of socks sold at dozens of booths – bundled and discounted more than the prior booth. We saw lots of knives and a few mothers telling their boys how this is not a toy and how very careful to be.

If I didn’t know better, I would say I saw some of the same furniture I saw last time I was there – over two years ago.

There were antique tools that were fun to examine and try to figure out how they were once used. And there were new things “As seen on TV” – invented for very specific purposes – especially kitchen items – that might be used once, then placed in a drawer until the next yard sale.

I saw acres of stuff we don’t need.

After walking the whole fairgrounds for the first time in years, I had nothing to show for it. I had bought nothing.

There was a time when I would have looked at that as a defeat of some kind – a waste of an afternoon.

So I asked God, “What’s up with that? You said there was something for me here?”

His answer? “I have given – and continue to give – you everything you need. That’s what I had for you here.”

I thanked Him for His provision and for someone to share His provision. No matter what we do, if He told us to do it, it’s not a waste of time.

So I just had my Thanksgiving a little early.

You can’t remove all the need in the world today, but there are lots of ways you can help. Even Black Friday is not too early to start re-celebrating your own thanksgiving.