Humble Pie!

Tonight I had the privilege of serving some very special kids in Tifton! They were our Backpack Blessings kids. If you do not know what backpack blessings is let give you a short run down. The schools in Tift Co. have identified students in their schools who are not getting enough food and so on the weekends our church partners with other churches in the community and we pack food in small backpack for them to take home and bring back after the weekends. Tonight we FBC Tifton's annual Backpack Blessings Christmas Party!

While at the party the kids and their families fed a full Christmas dinner of Turkey, stuffing, rolls, sweet potato yummyness, and a table full of cookies and other really "healthy" stuff that only comes at Christmas. Then there were games for the kids to play while the church hooked the parents up with some awesome things for these kids. First they got a full turkey dinner boxed up for them to cook on Christmas day. Along with the dinner each child received three weeks worth of backpack food since the kids were out on break! Then each child had a bag pack specifically for them with new clothes and shoes and PJ's and a jacket and a toy

for their parent to give them on Christmas Day! In addition to those thing SANTA and Mrs. Clause came to visit and they gave each child a stocking full of goodies and a toy for each of them!

Then after all of these things had been passed out our Sr. Pastor Bro. Wayne gathered all the children around and read them the story of the very first Christmas! While he was reading the story some of the kids had the opportunity to dress up as some of the characters and act it out! Now there were 125 children who were served tonight along with many more who were parents or aunts and uncles or grandparents. It was a very special night because the smiles on the kids faces were of pure joy and it was over some of the simplest things. It really cause me to stop and think about all that I have and how I take all of it for granted.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."

John 21:15

Happy Birthday Jesus!

So tonight was our church's "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for the children's ministry. It was a pretty rockin' time. I was asked to play the part of Joseph , aka I was Jesus' daddy for a couple of hours. It was a really cool time to get an opportunity to just really interact with people from church that I don't normally get to. But while we were getting the last second stuff set up I had the mom of one my 8th grade boys come up to me and tell me how much she appreciated me be his Sunday school teacher. Because one Sunday on their way home she asked him what he had talked about in class and he really grasped the concept we had covered that day and took it to heart. When I heard this I was really taken aback, because in SS we have a group of boys who are really rambunctious and I did not know how much they were paying attention. That just made me more thankful to God that I was able to be apart of their lives and invest in them.

Tonight we had our community wide Thanksgiving service; and let me tell you Pastor Chris brought a message that rocked me to the core! Pastor was from one of the other churches in the community and he opened up God's Word and brought it to life. Pastor made one statement that caused me to stop and think. He said, "Are you serving the blessing or the one who does the blessing? Cause if you are serving the blessing you will run the other direction when the blessing is gone." That is so true cause there are many people in our church who serve until their feeling get hurt or have someone call them out on something or do not get the appreciation they think they deserve. If you serve God then he will abide in you and there will be no need for someone to give you accolades cause we are working for the one who has our best interest in mind. So I am going to ask myself every day who am I serving the blessing or the one who is doing the blessing?

So to the few people who still check this blog I am sorry that I have not been more faithful to post on it!

Here is an update:

September was a month where there was nothing big that happened but it was super busy with the little everyday things! Then came October! This is my favorite month of the fall season. First because it is the month of my birth, and for my birthday this year I was able to go home and spend it with my family and friends! That weekend was a time of refreshing myself. Then when I came back to Tifton I hit the ground running. I started to prepare for a big milestone in my career in student ministry. I was given the opportunity to bring the message on Wednesday night at youth on the 27th. This was huge growth experience for me because I was able to bring the word and share part of testimony with the youth at FBC for the first time. To be honest I was so nervous that I almost peed on myself, but I put all my trust in God and let him use me and guide me through the service. Then on Saturday October 30 came one of the coolest things I have seen since I have been in Tifton. It was the night of THE GREAT PUMPKIN HUNT! This is a big scavenger hunt across Tift Co. where my boss has placed 12 clues all around town to lead the youth teams to an undisclosed location where we had hidden THE GREAT PUMPKIN. This was a blast to watch and be apart of while watching the youth try and start to think like my boss, because all the clues are a little warped like my boss's mind. The Sophomores pulled out the win which is unusual because the Sr. are the ones who typically win.

Well that is the highlight of the Oct.

My Heart Hurts!

I saw a quote the other day that stopped me in my track:

"More than 80 percent of the churches on this continent are plateaued or declining. Despite having more than 350,000 churches, the United States is now one of the top four lost nations in the world" - Dr. Chuck Lawless

This quote has really made me stop and think: Am I living my life in a way that is outreaching to those around me that are not followers of Christ so that they are having the opportunity to have a radical life altering experience of knowing him as their Lord and Savior?

I would like to say yes but I know that daily I stumble and fall. The only reason that I can get up and keep going is because of the all sufficient GRACE that God gives us through his son Jesus Christ. I hope this quote makes you stop and think about your life like it did mine!

"The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, GRACE increased all the more."
Romans 5: 20

MY FIRST WEEK PLUS SOME!

In the first few days of working here at the church I have learned a lot of things. Like how to take a driving class in 3 hours that should take 20 min. That class we one of my favorite things that I have done so far because I am not certified to drive the church's center aisle vans. To some who know me this could be a very scary thing because I want to follow in the footsteps of my youth pastor in some of the antics that he pulled but for right now I will stick to following the rules until I am a little more adjusted to how things work around here. Also I have found myself being somewhat organized, this is really scary to me because I have never been organized. I have even started making a to-do list for myself everyday!

So the other day I had one of my first bad days where I thought I did nothing right! I came home and was on a woe is me trip! I called one of my many church moms back home and she set my head and my heart back on track where it really needed to be and that I was not placed here for man's purpose but for HIS purpose. So I sat at home and hung out with my Georgia family (they really have taken me in and made me one of the family). It started with my little buddy Adam who is five. He came and crawled up in my lap and we played with the family's new iPad. Then my two other brothers and I played some PlayStation3, let just say I suck at the newer gaming systems since the last one that I owned was an N64. Then I had the coolest thing happened. Mr. Mike and I sat down just the two of us and started watching the Braves play. He and I really got to share life with each other and it was reaffirmed that I was a true member of his family and that he was proud to have me around.

Today was a really big success! Our boss has been out of the office for the past two and a half days and we had everything finished on our list of things to-do. Plus we had done some other things that were not! But late this evening I had one of the college students text me and told me how much he appreciated the job I was doing and how well I had been doing as well. That meant so much to me because I really feel like I was not doing such a hot job.

I had come upon this verse the other day that said I should not be worried when people put me down because they are not who I have to worry about!

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

Georgia Is On My Mind!

So it has finally happened! I have successfully transitioned to S. Georgia. It is amazing at how warm a reception I received upon arriving. I have not stopped going since I got here. I see how God worked his ways to get me here and it just makes me stop and really just stand in awe of HIS greatness and glory.

REDEFINE

I have embarked on a journey that is unfamiliar for me. I have decided to pick up a book and read for fun! Now what I have chosen is not a book most people would think is for fun, but for me to read for fun is reading anything that I am not forced to read for class. It was recommended that I read Radical by David Platt. Now I just finished the first chapter and I have so many question running through my head. He is dealing with examining the words of Christ against our modern Middle American Christianity. He starts off by telling a story of when he was serving overseas meeting with leaders of underground churches in Asia that struck me to the core. How these leaders had members of their churches being openly persecuted for faith in Christ Jesus and I have take my own faith for granted on numerous occasions.

Now I am hoping for the sake of the Gospel this book will allow me to take the harsh statements of Christ and mold me life around them instead of molding the statements to fit my life. Platt in taking a harsh look at the American Church points out that Jesus' message is basically "Give up everything you have, carry a cross (an instrument of torture), and hate your family. All of this he backs up using the words of Christ in the Gospels. I don't know about you, but that is tough for me to swallow.

One of the toughest images that Platt pulls out in the first chapter is found in Luke 9:59-60 where he tells a man to follow me and he responds let me go bury my father for he just died. Jesus responded with, "let the dead bury the dead and you proclaim the Kingdom of God." Now this is tough for me because I am all that my dad really has left as far as family goes. Then to have Jesus tell me to let someone else take care of his funeral arrangement is hard to hear but one that I know I have to come to terms with.

I will leave you now with these thoughts and will reflect after I have read more of the book.

SO I WAS CALLED A YANKEE THE OTHER DAY!

This past week I had the opportunity to go and hangout with the youth group that I will be working with come August. I was welcomed in right away as one of their own. It was one of the best feelings in the world to know that you were doing exactly what God wanted you to be doing. I not only got to know the youth but aslo some of their parents. That was a trip. I met one mom who is the lost Sugarbaker sister(reference to an old tv sitcom), along with another mom who could pass a Paula Dean.

One of the middle school youth called me one of the most hurtful things I have heard in a while. They said I was a yankee. I am know to them I am because I live farther north then them but I live below the Mason-Dixon Line and that make me a southerner. Then they said I had a cool accent and I said well it is Kentucky Redneck. They thought that was funny.

Now my youth are great! There is a group of guys that I feel like I am going to be able to connect really easy with cause they love sports. Also this is a small world cause I move to southern GA and the church I am working with has a family in it from Kentucky. Now I know I will not have to watch the UK games alone this next year.

So that is my two cents worth of what is going on in my life!

Washington DC

I am visiting some friends in the DC area this week, but today they both had to work so I had the opportunity to go and explore. I rode the metro and started doing some people watching and discovered that no matter where you are people have needs that are not that different where ever you happen to be standing. They all have baggage and some know how to deal with it and other people need someone to help with figuring out what to do with their baggage. But back to the real reason that I decided to write this post. I was walking the National Mall seeing all the memorials and monuments. Every time I see them it takes my breath away. Today I went and sat at the World War II memorial today and just watched all the school age children running around having a good ole time and filling out their packets of information (because it is a school trip you have to learn something). It was nice to see that our country despite all the stupid thing that our Government has done over the past few years we are still a united people from many different backgrounds.

Also, word of advice: DO NOT TRIP AND FALL BY THE REFLECTING POOL. I did this and there were some awesome people who stopped and helped me mend up my bloody knee, but there was one lady that I thought was going to have a nervous break down. She was pacing back and forth and almost crying over a little blood. I look back (about 2 hours ago) and find this kind of funny now.

If someone was that upset and worried over me having a little blood on my knee it makes me think how serious should we take the act of obedience that Christ did for us when he poured out his blood for all of the world's sins. That means he took care of all my sins that I have committed and will commit.

OK so I have been processing through some tough issues over the past 4 days and I have come up with an answer that to some people it will not shock them others it may. Men are sinful and prideful. That is the great re-revelation from the past few days. I saw a close friend burned by people who claim to be Godly men but have allowed their pride to step in and cloud their decision making abilities. I have run through the gamut of emotions and now I am drained. The hardest one for me to deal with was anger. I was angry that there was nothing that I could not say because I was asked not to say anything. Then after I dealt with my anger I had the overwhelming feeling of courage and compassion. I do not understand how God works but he does and I love him for it. The next step is for me to try my best to support those who are in the thick of the mess and encourage them to stay strong. I still have love for those who have wronged my friend because God commands that we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar.
For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen,
cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
1 John 4:20

After reading this and really letting this scripture set in I was ashamed that my first thought was not to love those who have done wrong but to turn on them and make them my enemy.


Love is our proof of identity that we live in Christ and I must keep my checking my heart and mind.

We As a Generation are in Big Trouble!

So over the past few months I have noticed a trend among people my age! That is to say those of the college ranks. This trend makes me become really sad and extremely angry. I have noticed that we are really excited and willing to commit to something, that is the easy part. The part that makes me mad is that when it comes time to actually follow through on our promise we seem to flake out. I do not know what our deal is but we as a generation are starting to develop and identity that is not very flattering. I wish we would live up to a higher standard like we are called. I know that some people are reading this and are calling me a hypocrite but I am including myself in this. If you go back and read I used the words "we" and "us". So this is a plea from me to my generation to step up and let our "yes" be "yes" and our "no" be "no". That means if you know that you are not going to be able to complete a task that someone asks you to do then tell them no so they can find someone else. Now I understand that things come up but I feel that we are double booking ourselves and when that happens people get short changed and hurt. Especially in ministry this is true. I know more people who have had ministry events fail because they do not have people that have bought into their overall vision and allow God to work is way in the situation.

A short reflection!

Talk about an up and down time in my! I am about to depart from a chapter in my life where I have had more personal growth then I could ever have imagined. I walked on to the campus of WKU in the fall of 2005 and had an idea of where I was going and who I was. Well that all changed and I ended with a better understanding of who I am in Christ and where my calling in life leads. The process that I went through was not always an easy one and I am not proud of the way I handled some of the situations but I learned one thing that will carry me throughout the rest of my life and is God will work everything out no matter what has happened for his glory. I have people who I know God placed in my life to be beacons of light to help me along the way and to them I cannot tell you how much that means. You all were there for me in the good and specially through the bad. You saw me at my low and picked me up and told me it will be ok and to not give up.

This thought process came about from sitting and reflecting back on the past 5 years and realizing all who have invested and encouraged me through some of the toughest times of my life so far.

It is official! I will be the Youth Intern for First Baptist Church Tifton, GA starting Sunday August 1st! I am really excited about all opportunities that God has placed in front of me over the past several years that has led me to this point. It was not an easy journey but one with a great reward in the end. If you have been reading my past blogs you know some of what I am talking about. The best part is that my family is really excited for me which makes this whole transition a lot easier! It just goes to show that HE has everything under control and it will happen in His timing which is sometimes hard to wait on, but that is why you have to have faith.

New Stage of Life!

So the last three months have been really hard for me. I have been walking closer to God then I have ever been but God chose to keep me out of the loop on what was exactly going to happen when I graduate in May. I went from planning on going to Seminary to putting seminary on hold and start working. This was a tough decision for me to let the Lord take control of but I knew I had to. I applied to several jobs but only interviewed with one. It was with the church in GA for their youth internship. I got a call today to come down and meet with the youth committee. I am really excited about where this opportunity could lead. Over the last few days God has brought me back to the same passage of scripture and it funny how he has done this. The scripture is Isaiah 40: 27-31. It really has a strong message.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God"?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

My Hope!

Ok so I have not written hardly anything about the fact that I am interviewing for an intern youth ministry position in Georgia. Well that is on Thursday and I am really excited. This would be my first full-time job ever. But it is funny how God used this situation to stop me dead in my tracks. I was seeking the advice of several ministers for some pointers on the interviewing process. My aunt asked if I wanted to talk to her pastor. I said I would love the opportunity. He could not meet up with me because he just found out that he has cancer. Now that in of itself would have stopped me in my tracks but that is not what did. Her pastor in the midst of his own storm took the time to send me words of encouragement and advice.

I hope that one day I am as strong as he is in his storm when God send them my way, that I am not sitting there in my own self-pity and miss a golden opportunity to make an impact on someone's life.

After thinking about this situation for several days I am finally able to write something to how it has affected me but I do it with reservation because it is a gut check for me from God. But then I found the verse James 1:2-4 and it gave me confidence that it will all work out for HIS glory in the end.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4

Shut up or put UP!

So I have had an internal struggle over the past few months. I keep hearing and talking about change. I am tired of talking and now need to be bold to step up and take action. This finally smacked me in the face during my week in Fargo, ND. I have decided to shut up until I have something positive or productive to say and can back it up with some action.

Yesterday I was so tired that I did not write a post SORRY! Today was different because we switched up our schedule. In the morning we went and filled sand bags and then went to hangout on campuses in the evening. You would not think that this would really be a big change but it was. We got to really hangout with the Fargo Fire Department guys that have been pulled from their regular duties of fighting fires and have been filling sand bags. Today I hung out with Paul. This guy was a huge dude. He said that he could lift like 330 lbs. Holy crap that is more then I weigh. But Paul is an awesome guy he has two little girls who are under the age of 3 and he has a boy on the way. I found out that he is not only a very strong man but also a strong Christian. I had the opportunity to encourage him in what he was doing. This really meant a lot to me. Today made such an impact on me that a I am going to go back tomorrow and spend all day with the FFD boys. Yea there are 4 of us going to spend from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm filling sand bags. Some would say we are crazy and I say yea I am cause who in there right mind would go to Fargo in the first place for SPRING BREAK! But here is a verse that we looked at tonight in our nightly devotion that really stuck with me.

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
1John 3:18

This verse just spoke to me because how can I show Paul that love that God has placed on and in me then by standing shoulder to shoulder with him to help him protect his family and city by filling sand bags. Just think about that and how you can do something for someone in your life because my life has to change when I get back or I am denying God and that is not what I want to do.

Sand! Sand! Sand!

Okay day two in Fargo was life changing, and attitude altering. Today was one of the coolest things I have ever done. This evening we had the opportunity to go and partner in with the people of Fargo and fill sand bag. This may not seem like fun at all, and to tell you the truth it was not fun just filling the bags. Good thing that was not all that we did. They way this is setup is there is a machine that drops a certain amount of sand down a tube and you have to hold a bag up there and catch it. Then you pass it off to someone who ties the bag off. Next they stack the bags on a pallet for storage. O did I mention that the sand is coming down the tube every 7 second, pretty fast paced. So for every tube there are about 6 to 8 workers. That means there are many opportunities for us to live out part of Sojourn Fargo's plan of ministry of strategic living. I was at a table with 6 guys who all worked for the city plowing the streets and doing other maintenance to the roads. I was stationed there for 3 hours with out moving my feet once. They wanted me to help be apart of the team that caught the sand and handed it off to be tied by someone else. I met this one guy and I really got to know him. He told me all about his family. He has two boys and he is very proud of them. One is playing Babe Ruth baseball and the other one is wrestling. The wrestling is only in the first grade. This guy says that his boy is just like him at that age. Through all of our talking he told me that his boys go to after school care at the local YMCA. This was my perfect in to start sharing with him what I was really there for and that was to help Sojourn Fargo get up and running. Why you may ask? Simple, John one of the pastors of Sojourn is the director of the YMCA after school care. Just so happened that about five min. later John showed up and came over to my station and started to help us. It was really awesome. Then I the all of the guys really started to open up and we had some really good conversations about what was Kentucky really like. I was really blessed to have been able to be at the station I was at. I truly believe that God places people in places at a certain time. And there are no accidental meetings.

I Totally Missed That One!

Today was my first day in Fargo, ND. To my surprise it is not as cold as I was told. Thank the Lord for that one! This morning we had the opportunity to worship with the church that is hosting our group. This was a reality check for me because it was the largest Southern Baptist Church in Fargo. This church had a loving and very welcoming congregation of roughly 50. This was very sobering to me because back home I attend a church that has roughly 1200 to 1400 on a Sunday morning. Not only was it small but it is one of about 3 SB churches here. Now this services was awesome it was not the big production that we as Southern Baptist have come to expect from our medium and large churches. I was so humbly reminded that it is not about what is involved in the service but are we there and present to focus on our attention on Glorifying God. A member of the congregation did a welcome and read this passage to focus our hearts and mind on the service and it spoke such truth into my heart.

Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

Psalm 33:1-3

After church we ate lunch like good SB. Then we did some orientation for the week with one of the sojourners that is heading up Sojourn Fargo (a church plant with a twist). His name is John Fisher and he is an alum of WKU along with the other sojourner Jeremy Robinson who is also an alum of WKU. Jeremy holds a special place in my hart because he was my bible study leader at WKU for my first two years. These guys have an amazing vision of how to reach Fargo for Christ. It is by no means a quick fix but a very relational approach to ministry. They both are bi-vocational pastors. They believe that this is necessary because they understand that financial support given to them may not always be there so is how they approach it so they can continue to be there when the money may not be. Also this style of living gives them the opportunity to take part in what they call "intentional living". This is where they live normal lives but are seeking opportunities to share the gospel with those they make connections. Who do you have the closet connection to on a daily basis? Your coworkers. On top of that they both are married and John has a little girl that is one years old. On a lighter note John's little hates boys and so during the worship service this morning she gave me and one of the other guys the stink eye all during service.

Another interesting aspect of their ministry is that they have not immediately sought to find a building and start their own church. They have decided to build relationships with people and then over time encourage people to either come partner with them in starting a fellowship with them or to partner in with one of the established churches in Fargo. This is huge because there are not many people who are actively living to seek God's purpose for their lives. They have run into many people who went to church and were confirmed at a young age and then have wondered off on their own path and may frequent a church from time to time but not living out what they claim to be. They say they are "religious" but do not have a personal relationship with our creator. This saddens my heart to think that I have gone overseas to share the gospel with those who are "lost" and I have missed my own fellow countrymen. I have understand the need for international missions but I had never fully understood how important it was for "home" missions.

This week we have a very special opportunity to help these guys out. There are three campuses that are in Fargo-Moorhead area that crosses over the two states of North Dakota and Minnesota. We are breaking up and going and surveying these three campuses to help them figure out where are the hot spots on campus and how can they get involved on campus. This task may seem very easy to me but I understand that as a college student I should be able to walk on a campus and find out these things. For someone who is not a college student then it could be difficult to make these connections. Then two nights out of the week we are going to the Fargo Dome to make sand bags. This city floods almost annually. Last year the river crested at 41 ft. That is almost double what is considered flood stage and almost 10 feet above what their natural level system can handle. So we are going to help them try to get started on having one million sandbags in reserve before the snow really starts to melt.

This is a recap of day one in Fargo. Please pray for us as we make our way out on the campuses that we make connections and find ways for Sojourn Fargo to make impacts on them. Also that we keep up our spirits because there are 20 members on this trip and one shower for all of us to share. It might get a little tense around here.


Here is a scripture that we as a group pondered over this evening in our devo time as a group:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

1 John 1:1-4

My Big Boy Pants!

So over the past few weeks I have been had several job opportunities placed before me. It is really exciting and at the same time, a little scary. The job that I am most excited about is one in Georgia (the state, not the country). This job is a two year internship where I would be given a lot of mentoring over those two years. But through all of this I have submitted my resume to all of the opportunities placed before me. I am in a waiting game. It really stinks but I know that God will provide a job when it is time for me to have one.

Through this experience I have become close to someone that I thought would not ever happen. This person has been able to be very honest and open with me. God has place her in my life with the right words to say to help calm my nerves.

I hope makes since to you if not sorry!

I have not posted on here in over two months. I really have been processing through several changes in my life. Most of these changes have to do with where is my life heading. I spent a weekend at YAC 1 in E-town. During this weekend God really grabbed my attention and showed me that I have been setting my own path and not following the path that HE has set out for me. The major change is that I am not going to go to seminary this fall like I had planned. I have currently put all plan for the future on hold until the Lord prompts me to move. Since I decided to do this I have seen God at work in my life by allowing me to do the things that I love to do without the worry of what is coming next. Last week my campus minister Tommy Johnson approached me about a church near Barren River Lake that is looking for a youth minister. This really caught me off guard because I was not looking for a job and I was not for sure if this was what God wanted me to do. I told Tommy J that I would pray about it and get back to him in the next day or two. Well that was all the room God needed to start working on my heart. The night after Tommy told me about the job he and I did some serious talking with one another, aka HE talked and I listened.