Nothing Specific

Our December weather in Ohio has been rather mild over the past week. That was a blessing as Chappy and I camped out at the new Chick-Fil-A grand opening in Grove City this past Wednesday night. The temperature never dipped below 40 and we both walked away with the great prize of 52 free meals at Chick-Fil-A. This was my third Grand Opening and I plan to do 3 more at the first of 2007 (Beavercreek, Tri-County Cincinnati, and Florence).

I gave up on training at Gold's. Every time I met with a District or Regional manager, I just got the run-a-round and have still not received a call back from the last interview...which went very well. So I decided to investigate the Fitworks which is down the street from my new Starbucks location (Newport, KY). That went very well and I finished the new-hire paperwork today with the district manager. He began the interview as a real "hard ass" (can't think of another way to put it!) however, the interview turned a corner and I realized he was just setting me up to be a model trainer for some of the slackers they've got in the company. So that was encouraging actually...that he saw me as someone to help raise the bar (literally) in their clubs. I actually work for Body of Change which operates inside the Fitworks gyms. There are seven of those in the Cincy area...at which I can workout or train clients at anytime. Training could turn out to be a great thing since I determine my schedule and can block off time to be away (vacation etc.) pretty much whenever necessary. I start spending time at that gym and training clients on Monday!

Still no real clarity on the spiritual journey. I continue to struggle with the thought of plugging back into a traditional congregation. Deb and I had a difficult conversation yesterday on the topic. She percieves that I talk down to her because I've attained some higher plane or experience of Christianity. I think the phrase I used was "Yeah, that's how I used to see things" in response to something she said about spiritual matters. It was kind of ironic since my perception has been that she sees me as spiritually inferior since I no longer hold to some of the traditional Christian values and practices which have been such a huge part of our experience. Yet, part of my present difficulty is in not wanting to subject my family to the whole searching process that I seem to be in right now. If the conventional church paradigm still works for them...why should I upset that? But what gives if I decide I really can't continue to relate to the Father in that setting? The God Journey has been a very helpful discussion and conversation to listen in on lately. I was also encouraged by a recent Catalyst podcast interview with George Barna discussing his latest book on revolutionary Christianity. To be continued...