Pieces of my Brain for Sale (Finally!)

Wow, my first blog!  I feel like I'm about 5 years behind the rest of the tech world, but that's okay.  I've always been a bit behind the tech wave, not wanting to get bit by the buggy new stuff, but rather waiting until it's stable to jump in with both feet.  Like Windows - I never get a computer with the latest OS unless I can absolutely help it.  I bought Dell computers for years because they were the only ones that still shipped with Windows XP.  When I finally had to buy a computer with Windows 7, it was stable and I loved it. 

First, the blog name, dougisfun...back in college, I had a dial-up account with America OnLine (AOL, remember them?).  The account name was dougisfun.  Back in those days, there were no privacy settings for the accounts, and anyone could search for anyone's login IDs.  I got more than a few Instant Messages from men of the less-than-straight persuasion who wanted to know just how "fun" I was.  Kinda funny, and I was secure in my masculinity, so I kept the name.

That said, I hope this doesn't turn into a complete rambling mess...Our family has been at Disneyland for the past two days.  We head home tomorrow night.  Today we saw a woman running around Fantasyland screaming for her daughter who had disappeared.  A Disneyland worker was walking with her helping her, and so were Alice and the Mad Hatter!  It seemed strange to me that characters would be searching and calling for this little girl, but it impressed me that they were willing to help, even if it took them away from the line of people waiting for autographs.  The little girl's more important, right?  It reminded me how precious my kids are to me, and how shook up I'd be if they disappeared suddenly.  Panic-mode!  Luckily, we saw the woman walking about 10 minutes later, holding her daughter in her arms, whispering in her ear.  Both of them looked pretty shaken up and scared, but relieved.

As a pastor, I can find a sermon illustration in just about anything, but this seems rather obvious.  Our Heavenly Father is searching for us every time we slip away and start doing our own thing.  When we finally return to Him and run back into His arms, He doesn't reprimand us or punish us.  He simply holds us in His arms and whispers in our ear.