Jack Bauer is awesome

10:51 pm

Halloween! Today was a pretty uneventful day. I actually left work before 5:00pm for the first time in over a week. It was nice actually. I had lunch at Johnny Ray’s with Brady, Todd, Lee, and Chris. I went to McElwain Baptist’s Fall Festival tonight. The reason I went was to meet with my group from Supervise Ministry class to “evangelize”. As I found out in my spiritual gifts inventory, I am not “gifted” in the area of evangelism. Tonight was a big waste of my time, partly because I guess I didn’t expect God to move through me. I ordered Chinese food on the way home and stopped by and picked up Rascal to go pick it up with me. Jaime said we got a few Trick-or-Treaters. Somebody came and swiped most of our candy from the porch when we were both out of the house. Probably my mistake for leaving it on the porch.

I watched John Kerry make some wisecrack comment about education and our troops. It’s hard for me to act Christ-like when I have to listen to his nonsense and see his face. God is amazing because he can love people like that as much as myself.

Jaime and I finished off Season 4 of “24” tonight (she dozed through the last half). Jack Bauer is so freak’n cool. I can’t wait for Season 5 to come out on DVD. This is the best show on TV in my opinion. I’ve also started watching “Friday Night Lights”. Good stuff too. I guess I’m hooked now.

I’m headed to bed. I’m going to try to wake up before 6:00am and go to Spin Class. We’ll see!

Thank you Mr. Robber

10/19/06
11:00pm

Yesterday as I was returning to work from the doctor’s office, I was pulled over by a Hoover police officer. I was driving down Valleydale Rd. and passed a school zone. I noticed the flashing sign saying 25 mph, but I guess I didn’t slow down enough. The cop came to my door and asked if I knew I was driving in a school zone. I confess that I lied and said “no sir”. He said “Well that’s no excuse, I’ll have to give you a ticket. We have no tolerance for speeding in school zones”. I tried to talk him into letting me slide but my charm was not working. I do remember praying as I was getting pulled over as my heart was beating out of my chest. I’m not sure what I was asking God to do? As the cop asked for my DL and proof of Insurance, his radio chirped and said something like “37 or 47”. The cop said to himself, “Is that a robbery?”. He excused himself and returned the radio call. After a few minutes (and more prayer), the cop returned to my window and said “Mr. Gambrell, you have the luck of the Irish”. He told me to slow down and off he went to catch the robber I guess. I wanted to say, no sir, it’s not the Irish that I have, but I didn’t want to chance him coming back to reconsider my ticket. I honestly feel like God intervened in that situation to reveal his glory to me. I was impressed to say the least.

Today was another rainy day. I had my yearly performance evaluation today with Chris. It was mostly good but he did say that I needed to improve on my procrastination. I do agree with him there. My ADD and his OCD is a unique mix.

Jaime and I just got back from a cookout with the other Dawson staff members who live in the Dawson houses. We met at Kellee McCoy’s house. Kellee and Natalie, Jeremy, Lee and Dawn, and Jaime and I attended. It is cool to have these opportunities in this area.

The Cardinals just beat the Mets to win the NLCS. They will be playing the Tigers in the World Series.

I’m excited about the Alabama/Tennessee game this weekend. Roll Tide

I just saw a Fox6 News story about some redneck Bama fans who just got hitched at Legion Field. I’m wondering if they know that Alabama doesn’t play there anymore?

Rainy Monday

11:31 pm

It finally felt like I had an off day today. I woke up at about 9:00am this morning. It was a very rainy day. Chris called and I went to lunch with him, Rowan, Jeremy, and Mandy at U China Buffet. I went to my Helena house to move a few more things. Rascal went with me. It is so great to be living in town now. I’m so blessed to be in the situation that I’m in. I pray that God gives me strength and ambition to diligently get up every day and perform my daily duties. I pray that God gives me people to minister to this week.

I went to the FRC to workout for the first time in no telling how long tonight. I thought I was going to die on the elliptical machine. I switched machines and finished my 20 minutes of cardio. I pray that I can continue this habit for a while.

Jaime cooked stir fry tonight and we watched a great Monday Night Football game. The Bears came back from a 20-3 deficit to defeat the Cardinals. I lost 20 on the game after a very successful weekend. I have mixed personal feelings about gambling. I’m not trying to justify it because I know people who struggle with it. For me personally, I put 80 bucks into an account at the first of the year and when that money is gone, I am done. Maybe it’s like playing with fire and I just haven’t gotten burned yet. I just find it enjoyable watching a game on tv when I have something riding on the outcome.

Jaime and I watched 24 tonight on DVD. We are deep into season 4 after starting from Season 1, earlier this summer. Marriage life is cool. It’s cool to have someone to go to the gym with, eat with, and watch tv with every night. I think living at this location with help grow our marriage by getting to spend more time per day with each other.

Aaron’s baby was born on Friday via an emergency C-section. Here is the email he sent me today:

Everyone,
As most of you already know Friday at 1 AM Tracy’s water broke. When we went to the hospital they were very concerned about the baby’s heart rate so they decided to do an emergency C-section. Kayla Elizabeth was born at 8:28 AM Friday 18 October. Kayla did not have a heart beat for approximately two minutes after the birth. She was resuscitated and seem to be doing all right until about 1 PM on Friday. Around 1 PM her temperature and heart rate dropped dramatically. The doctors made the decision to move her to another hospital off post (Columbus Regional Medical Center) where they have an outstanding Neonatal Center for High Risk Infants. Tracy still remained at Martin Army Community Hospital at Ft. Benning, GA.
Some time during the night around 2 AM, Kayla had a seizure. They gave her some medications to control these but she had another one while I was visiting her at 10 AM on Saturday. The doctors were concerned with some of the hand and leg movements she was doing were signs of seizures. On Monday they will perform an EEG to test to see if Kayla has any damage to her Neurological System that can be causing seizures.
On Sunday morning, Tracy was released from the hospital where we went straight to see Kayla. Kayla had made significant progress that morning. She was able to get her first bath. They took her off oxygen and her movement was much better. Tracy was able to hold her which really lifted her spirits and made everyone smile. Tomorrow she gets her EEG and will probably get to eat. Thing look much better for now but it is still a waiting game. I will keep you all updated and thank for all the support and prayers. We have lots of support her and really don’t need anything other than your thoughts and prayers. I have attached some pictures of Kayla for you all to see. As you will see she has here mother’s nose and mouth and her daddy’s long legs and big feet.

Kayla Elizabeth Billingsley
20 in. 5 lbs 12 oz
Time of birth 8:28 13 OCT 2006

~The Billingsleys

I called Aaron today and the baby seems to be doing better. They did and EEG today and should get the results tomorrow. I pray that God gives Kayla a healthy life and blesses her and her parents.

We had the opportunity to go visit my family in Jasper on Saturday. It was good birth control to be with my sister’s new baby haha. It slept, ate, and cried all day long. This was good for my wife to witness because it seems that everyone has been asking her about kids. We just got married in January and I’m not sure if I’m ready for kids yet. I pray that God gives me wisdom about that kind of timing.

As I mentioned earlier, I watched a great MNF game tonight. SportsCenter just showed AZ’s coach, Denny Green “go off” at the press conference. A very disappointed coach.

I should be in bed. I am going to try to get up before work and workout. We’ll see if that happens.

Why Blog?

10/11/06
12:29 am

I created this “blog” tonight because I am getting bogged down with my journaling assignment for my Spiritual Formation class at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Hopefully this new format will inspire me to express my thoughts on a more regular basis. The word “blog” itself kinda annoys me. I feel like I should be on a Mac computer in a coffee shop wearing dark rimmed glasses or something. Instead, I’m on my couch with my dog watching SportsCenter and listening to a sermon on itunes.

Today we had a staff meeting at Dawson. Steen gave us the chance to share some thoughts that we experienced at Catalyst Conference. I shared about what I got from Andy Stanley’s session:

Leadership is a Stewardship…it is temporary and I’m accountable…
-Be Diligent, Fearless, and Humble

We must declare daily that the most high God is sovereign over the kingdoms of this world and he gives them to anyone he wishes.

I also shared how I enjoyed getting to know the staff better on the trip. God has placed me in this position and I must take full advantage of my daily work. I am so blessed to be where I’m at.

I’m heading to bed. This blogging stuff is for the birds.