Archive for August, 2006

a spirit of fear

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006

Friends and family, it is time for another message from your old pal, Lloyd. I have many fun things to tell you about my weekend in Nashville, but tonight, I have some more important things I want to talk to you about. Those of you who are brothers and sisters in Christ, and followers of the Way, children of God, these thoughts are directed specifically at you.

You obviously have access to the internet if you are reading this. In our country, we have television, magazines, and all types of media able to tell us what is going on in the world. Reading the news, especially on the internet can be scary these days. So many bad things over which we have little or no control happen every day. The more we see these and the more we take them to heart, the easier it is for Satan to come in and steal our joy. It is ever easier for him to make us doubt… ever easier for him to try and bind us with fear.

At times I notice myself worrying about all of the ills in this world. I worry how God will take care of it. I worry whether my descendants will live in as great a nation as I do now. I know I am not the only one. Yes, there is much going on in the world right now, and it is directly in our faces 24/7 more than has ever been possible in the past. There are some crazy things happening, but keep in mind, it has always been so.

I say this to encourage you. Paul said to Timothy, “for God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline.” (1 Timothy 2:7) Do not cave into the fear Satan desires to ensnare you with. Put on the “full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13) Paul told us about this protection and weaponry for a good reason. Stay in the Word, keep on praying daily, and do not fall prey to the spirit of fear under which Satan wishes to place you. Our God is already the victor, the battle was won when Jesus was raised from death.

May the Lord continue to be with you, and please pray for me as well. I am struggling to keep that armor on and to leave fear buried with my old sinful self. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 1:18).

the way things were (since last time)

Thursday, August 17th, 2006

It’s been more than a little while since I last posted. I’ve been busy — here’s the short version:

  • 7/21 – 7/23: Nashville
  • 7/28 – 7/29: Navarre
  • 8/4 – 8/5: Conquerors
  • 8/7 – 8/15: Leslie visited P’cola

Now for the long version… settle in. A few weeks back I took a trip up to Nashville to see my good friend Melanie “is there a Doctor in the house? why, yes there is!” Harkabus. I was considering being lazy and not going, but she kept telling me I was coming, and eventually I believed her. It was good times, I must say. Nashville is a really cool town, if you ever get the chance to go. Me and Harkabus assembled a computer desk in *well* under the 90 min suggested serving time. I also rid her computer of spyware and junk. I love fixing computers.

I also got to stay with Mr. Pimptastic himself, Nick Howell. He has been kind enough to open his couch, shower, and fridge every time I’ve come to Nashvegas. Saturday night we went to Dave & Buster’s. If you’ve never been, it’s basically like a grown-up version of Showbiz Pizza. (If you’re old school you’ll know that is now Chuck E. Cheese’s.) Anyway, it was a whole lot of fun. I got to see some friends I haven’t seen in a very long time. Hope Huckeba from HUG was there, Toasty from King’s Men, Jaime (Wanda) Boone from OLC, and my very good friend Nivia Snowden (well now she’s not Snowden anymore, she’s married to a really cool guy named Marlan who I finally got to meet.) It was really good to see Niv again. We used to be like peas and carrots, as Forrest would say, but it’s been awhile. It was great to reestablish that friendship.

One other cool thing that happened that night was playing a game called “In the Groove” (basically a Dance Dance Revolution knockoff). I will admit, i beat both Harkabus and Nivia, though the fact that they were wearing some sort of heels probably had a lot to do with it. Anyway, I liked the game so much that I went home and ordered my own pad off the internet for my computer. This is what it looks like:

homepad

I play it on an open source (source code is available and legally free) program called stepmania. (This program works on Linux and Mac, too. W007!10101) One of the cool things about it is that you can import your own songs in mp3 or ogg format and make your own steps. I have almost completed a step routine for Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie”. (yes, i bought the album) A video of me doing this nonsense is going to be appearing here very soon. Those who don’t think they can take the gayness should probably not watch.

Back to the story, on Sunday I went to church at a large congregation (I don’t remember the name) in Nashville. During one of the songs (they have powerpoint lyrics), a message popped up for the parents of child # 168 to please come to the classroom area, as they were needed. Either that congregation is so large that they have begun to number their students, or some poor mother has birthed more than 167 children and is now numbering them rather than naming them. Either way, I’ve decided I will also number my children, using either Fibonacci sequence or prime numbers.

The last weekend in July, I am sad to say my friend Sarah Todd left Gulf Breeze for greener pastures. Actually she is moving to be closer to her grandparents and to start nursing school. Head over to the images section to see some photo goodness. Also that weekend, Jarrett at Church helped me and some other guys at Church trim trees for one of our members who can no longer be climbing around to do it. (p.s. I can climb trees in sandals, no problem.) I was really thankful to have Jarrett’s help and also to spend some one-on-one time with him. He managed to down one of those quadruple burgers at Burger King in a pretty short amount of time. It was a sight to behold.

The weekend before last was Conquerors. It’s a youth rally here in Pensacola that Scenic Hills Church of Christ holds annually. If you read my post about Focus, you’ll remember the name Wiley Lowe. Well, he spoke at this and did a great job. I was so suprised and happy to hear that he was speaking. He mostly talked about getting rid of the old man, because the old dead earthly body is not something we want around us. Once again, see the images link above for pics.

Last week, my brother came to town for a visit. It was really great spending time with him. He is a very spiritually mature guy, and I’m proud of him for all he’s doing, and very excited that he’s getting married. To my surpise and delight, he actually tried the DDR thing with the dance pad. We both did a lot of that over the course of the week, as it’s super addictive. He left on Tuesday, but I’m going up with the family to see him this weekend and to meet his fiancé’s parents. That should be lots of fun. Oh yes, the pad is coming with me.

In other news, today is was my birthday. I am officially a quarter of a century old. 30 looms like an ugly beast on the horizon. I’m going to walk backwards til I get there so I don’t have to look at it. Other than having to work, it was a fun day. My parents took me and my family to Zea’s tonight. It was fun, and it is great to spend time with family. I wish my brother had been here though. I’ve saved up some money, and combined with the birthday loot I’m planning on buying a really sweet guitar when I go up to Nashville in a couple of weeks for a concert (Dave Barnes is playing, going with Hope and some other folks… it should be a blast). There will be photos and probably some video of that guitar once I get it.

Finally, it’s been a long time coming, but as promised, here are a few videos from Focus 2006. You can grab all my videos (including high definition 720×480 videos) here. You will need the Divx web player to play these. This is also available for Linux and Mac. Alternately, you can use VLC and VLC mozilla plugin to play it (you can use VLC with Linux, Mac, and almost everything else).

[ACT]http://www.floydius.com/video/blog/20060625thrillersmall.divx,360,240[/ACT]
Colton dancing to Thriller… priceless.

[ACT]http://www.floydius.com/video/blog/20060627flavorsaversmall.divx,360,240[/ACT]
Macaroni & Cheese Pizza.

[ACT]http://www.floydius.com/video/blog/20060627beepssmall.divx,360,240[/ACT]
Musical Genius.

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Enjoy, and keep an eye out. it won’t be long before I update again.