CharlieHolder.com

We (Amanda and me) were looking at our queue and our list of subscriptions the other day on Hulu. We have so many dang shows in our subscriptions. There’s so many I’m glad they aren’t all on at the same time. There’s no way we would be able to watch them.

I wanted to share our list (please remember that some of these shows are only for Amanda):

• 10 Things I Hate About you
• Being Erica
• Better Off Ted
• The Biggest Loser
• Bones
• Burn Notice
• Castle
• Chuck
• Community
• Cops
• Covert Affairs
• The Deep End
• Desperate Housewives
• Glee
• Greek
• Happy Town
• Heroes
• House
• How I Met Your Mother
• Huge
• Human Target
• John Doe
• Justified
• Lie To Me
• Make It Or Break It
• Minute to Win It
• Modern Family
• The Office
• Parenthood
• Parks and Recreation
• Past Life
• The Pretender
• Pretty Little Liars
• Psych
• Rookie Blue
• Scrubs
• The Secret Life of the American Teenager
• Solitary
• White Collar
• Wipeout

It should be longer because we’ve gone through once or twice already and purged things we didn’t watch anymore.

Last Sunday was me and Amanda’s one-year anniversary. I can’t believe it has already been an entire year since we took the plunge. I remember going shopping with Amand and my mom a few days before Sunday and they were reminiscing about what they were doing on that day one year ago. Most of their comments consisted of either freaking out, shopping, or more freaking out.

So here we are. One year into our marriage. Has it been easy? You know, for the most part yes. I’m not going to try and say that we haven’t had some disagreements, or that we haven’t gone through some rough times, but it has been very easy to live, talk, and do life with Amanda. I think that a major factor behind all of that is that Amanda is incredibly patient. She’d have to be to live with me, AM I RIGHT? Through all the ups and down with where we’re living, the money situations, how often I’m home, and my spiritual learning curve, she’s been really great.

I could on for hours and hours about how awesome my wife is, but that’s not really what the point of this post was intended to be. It’s more to simply just celebrate our first year together, pray for 50 or 60 more, and know that one year ago I got the better end of the deal.

I’ve been reading every day for five days now. It’s a HUGE commitment, but my goal is fervent pursuit.

So this guy Joseph was one of twelve sons and he was sold into slavery and ended up ruling over most of Egypt. That’s the short version obviously, but the main thing that I remember about Joseph is that he suffered without complaining.

I’m going to be honest, working in the restaurant industry isn’t the easiest business to work in. It’s highly stressful to put on a smiling face to every person that walks through the front door and give them everything they want so they will give you money. (Oh WOW. I just read that back.)

Anyway. It’s pretty easy for stuff to go wrong. You forget to substitute some food, or make a drink, or bring extra items, or the kitchen doesn’t cook something fully, or whatever. If your customer isn’t happy, it can be stressful. You can imagine that will all the stress that might occur with a shift, a person may feel the need to vent their frustrations to someone. On totally NOT the same level, I think I can learn something from Joseph. I don’t have to get caught up in the complaining at work. I don’t have to show how frustrated I am when a customer says they ordered a large but really said small. I don’t have to be upset when my tip isn’t 20 percent. I can suffer in silence and show people, through my actions, that I am different.

That’s my prayer for every day I walk through those work doors. Those people are my flock. I may not be a shepherd, but I want to be a good example.

Today was a lot of history. Jacob and Esau and Joseph and others mixed in. But the very frist verse I read today stuck out to me.

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. —Genesis 28:20-22

It might be the Techie in me, but I’m really having a hard time understanding something. I read, IF God is with me and does this, THEN I will do that. That seems backwards to me. I feel like I’m missing the meaning because I’m caught up in the semantics of words. I feel like the real meaning, at least to me, should be interpreted as: SINCE God is with me and does this, I WILL GLADLY do that. Every other translation that I look at says IF-THEN.

What thoughts come to your minds?

I did have a lot of time to think, as far as how many hours have passed since I read yesterday, but my mind was kind of busy at work taking orders, refilling drinks, and running food last night.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” —Genesis 22:12

I think the biggest thing that I got out of reading was that nothing is yours. Nothing is mine. Everything belongs to God. It’s only because of Him that we have any of our possessions. Abraham was called to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him. He led his son to an altar, bound him, and raised a knife in the air. That’s nuts to think about.

I wonder what the world would be like if everyone always acted like nothing they had wasn’t worth giving up for God. It’s a struggle for me to give 10 minutes a day let alone one of my prized possessions. I know we dedicate babies at church and I will probably do the same at same point, so I hope to be like Abraham and remember that it’s not mine anyway.