The Christianville Spirit: God's Church

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Opens Your Eyes

April 25, 2012-TCS # 297

So, You Know what I really haven’t written about in a while? Church, or anything about that wonderful church I went to years ago. So, This Week, I’m going to write about it. You See, In My Life, I’ve gone to churches of many different branches of Christianity. I’ve been through many of them, Catholic (because My Mom was Catholic), Episcopalian (something different from Catholic), United Methodist (both here and in San Antonio), and Non-denominational (which was the church I had gone to years ago).  But, the sad part about all this was that except, the one that we go to for the Annual “Special Friends Christmas Dinner”, there aren’t many churches that are accommodating to People with Special Needs. You See, the one that has this Christmas Dinner is first of all, the largest church known in Plano. We have alot of Mega-Churches here in Texas. This church has their own separate area where they can watch the service on the TV Screen or do something else. But the church that we went to, in the way of services was beyond amazing. In Fact, most of it’s congregation referred to it’s services as “Shows”; as in, “are you going to the 8:00 Saturday Night show or the 11:00AM Sunday Morning show” it was that good. How the service would play out was you’d walk into this room that looked like you were attending a rock concert. After you sat down, you’d look at the screens on either side of the stage and it would show a countdown to when the service was ready to start and once it did, that’s when the awesome part came. The band would start playing Christian Rock Songs that got you ramped up to worship God, I mean your hands were in the air, Clapping along with the music, Standing up, and just plain peppy. it was just awesome! It was not like any church service I’ve ever been too. Anyway, after a couple songs, one of the pastors would come out and introduce the announcements of what was going on at the church, following that then, Pastor Keith would come out and do the sermon. Now, the sermon was more relatable to our everyday life and how we can relate to it. Which brings us to the not-so-great part. You See, I though it was going to be awesome if I brought My Friend of mine who worked with me at the local Baseball Team, Frisco Roughriders. I brought so that he could experience this awesome church service and besides, he hadn’t been to a church service in a while so, I decided to take him. So, everything went well until the sermon came and let’s just say, we got a little over-excited. Now, I don’t remember what the whole sermon was about but, I think it was about living the life you want and what to do about it. The thing that got us so excited and by the way, “Pastor Keith” brought this on him, by getting you excited by saying things like “Dance like No one is watching”, “Care less about what other’s think”, and the thing that got us excited, “Love like You’ve never been Hurt!” and then he said from a bible verse, “Follow Me” My Friend and I thought that we were supposed to repeat it and we hollered, “Yeah!” and “Follow Me”. Now, keep in mind though, that during this time in My Life, I was dealing with Madison in “The Madison Days.” Anyway, I thought everyone was going to shout along with us because he said, “Shout it out!” and we did. After that, the whole congregation and Pastor Keith went silent, A second later he says, pointing toward me and my friend at that time, I was about 20 or 19; he asked “who old are you”, I was silent and My Friend answered “I’m 17” and he said “you and your 16 year Old friend, we are supposed to follow you?” I would probably list that moment as one the most embarrassing moments and My Mom was really upset. So, after that, he moved on with the service and at the end, one of the ushers came to meet up with us asking “How old are you”, “What makes you interested in our church”, and stuff like that. From that time on, we stopped going to that church, we spent a couple sundays watching it online and he mentioned us twice in the services afterwords. After a while, My Mom went back to the church and My Mom explained the situation and inquired why they don’t welcome those with Special Needs to the church, as it turns out, we weren’t the only ones who this happened to. So, we stopped going and watching it online and we moved on. This whole  thing leads me to believe that if church is called, “God’s House” then, why don’t they except people with Special Needs and I figure that as long as you have a close relationship with God, you put him first, and you pray daily (however many times a day you want, because he’s always listening) then, you don’t have to go to a Church building or at least one that doesn’t except you. Now, of course that doesn’t stop me from going to the Christmas Dinner because I know full-heartedly that they will except me there. All in all, God knows who He put on this earth and he loves me alot.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Stand on your feet and shout out praise, regardless of those who agree or don’t.       

The Christianville Spirit: The Bridge to Nowhere

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Opens Your Eyes

April 18, 2012-TCS # 296

So, over the past couple months, The City of Dallas has been hard at work coming up with the next awesome thing to make our city a bit more attractive than it is already. You Know, Every City needs to have to a makeover every now and then, so they started with introducing and voting on a Project called “The Trinity River Project,” where they redo the entire riverfront on the Trinity River, along areas surrounding Downtown Dallas. So, their idea, out of many, where to build a tollway along side the Trinity River from West of Dallas into Downtown, add really cool parks to it, and finally rebuild and build new bridges to cross the Trinity River. Well, as far I know, the “Trinity River Project” isn’t doing so well due to funding and flooding hazards, especially the “Trinity River Tollway” and it’s awesome parks. Also, that and the fact that most of the “area of concern,” we’ll call it, which is just Northwest of downtown is a very industrial and poor area. Anyway, they decided to go with the building of existing bridges like the I-30 and I-35E Bridge, which if your from around here, are very old. However, that brings me to the new bridge that they’ve been building. You See, again The City of Dallas thought that it would be smart if they built a new bridge with an awesome design as sort of an extension of Woodall Rodgers Frwy., which runs as a connector highway from those who are trying to get from I-35E to US 75 to reach northern suburbs like Plano and Mckinney, it’s a road the at runs the northern half of downtown; if you are from around here, you know what I mean. Also, it connects Woodall Rodgers in Downtown to Singleton Blvd. in what they call “West Dallas.”  Anyway, they started building it and wanted to have it done to shine off for the Super Bowl that was here last year. So, because the Super Bowl came before it was done, they had a lighting ceremony to show that it was there and it was going to make the skyline look even better. However, this bridge named the “Margaret Hunt-hill Bridge” has had a lot of issues in the way of the weather (Severe Weather, Crazy Drought, and Crazy Severe Weather), Being Struck by Lightning, in The more official Lightning Ceremony; the lights took a while to come on (which by the way, was really funny to watch it on the news as it happened), and changing the opening date twice. Now, of course My Mom will tell you that the building of this bridge, “Wasn’t supposed to be there” because of all the problems that it has encountered and in her eyes, if it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen naturally. Because, as I told you of all the problems, if you force something that you want to happen and it seems like it’s happening, your going to have “Epic Fails” along the way. I know it’s not related but, as My Mom’s former boss, Kelli said about her move to Arkansas, “It happened Naturally, I didn’t have to lift a finger.” Anyway, the bridge finally opened on March 31, two weeks too late and yes, knowing me, My Mom and I drove across the first day it opened. By the way, the bridge looks really good for a bridge that goes to the poor and not-so-good part of town. Of Course, the next part of the project will be when it get interesting, The Re-Building of the I-30 Bridge and I-35E Bridge. I’ll tell you though, that I think those bridges are meant to be built because the existing bridges have been there for a long time and there is more traffic then there was when it was being built. Also, the view coming in on the I-35E Bridge will be really awesome with a new design. So, I’ll leave you with an update on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge’s Epic Fails, there’s been a lot of accidents at the “West Dallas” end of the bridge because people are driving too fast and they don’t realize that the bridge dumps onto a not-so-thoroughfare street; now, you tell me, Is it meant to be there or not? All in all, like I said, If things are meant to happen, then they will, naturally.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit.  Let things you want come Naturally, otherwise be ready for the Epic Fails.               

The Christianville Spirit: Transitions and Crossroads

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Opens Your Eyes

April 11, 2012- TCS # 295

So, For This Week’s Newsletter I’m going to talk about something that is more personal to me that has been going on. We’ll call it, “Transitions & Crossroads.” You See, unfortunately we have what I’ll call, “Transitions & Crossroads” in our life where things start to change a little bit for the better and although, you don’t see it that way at the first; when the phase is over, you’ll wonder why it didn’t happen sooner because it pushes you. Well, that’s what has been happening to me in some way, where you start to lose contact with your high school friends (and, the really good ones, you keep) and of course, you start making new friends that last into your adulthood. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m used to people “Moving and Shaking,” (making big changes). I mean my friend, Karleen, alone has moved to 8 States in her life, so she’s used to it. And yes, she is moving again and for what I believe is a good reason, it’s quite daring but, that’s not what this is about. The Fact is that I’m losing or have lost some of my really good friends recently. For example, I know I’ve already written about this but, it still bothers me sometimes of My really good friend, Lynee, dyeing. Now, as I’ve mentioned before that I had a crush on her and she was a really good friend, but, I’ve realized just how important she was in my life. How she would hang out with me, talked to me, and yes, she did understand, or at least tried to understand, the things I was saying (because my speech was not very clear and I was hard to understand), and she liked me for who I was. The second time that I saw her, back in Jasper, it took me a long time to get up the nerve to say hi to her and try to jog her memory about who I was and our memories together. Then, when I think about the date of when she passed away, I wondered “What was I doing then, in May of 2008.” I asked my friend, Karleen, that and she said, “Probably crushing on Madison.” Although I think she thought I was referring to 2006, when Lynee’s Friend died and Karleen’s Dad too, she was probably right. However, As much fun as I was crushing on, holding hands with, and kissing Madison, I would have loved to seen Lynee one last time so I could pay respects to her and thank her for being so awesome with me and understanding me. Of Course, it also might have helped to tell her how I felt about her and now, she knows because I said, “I Love You too, Lynee” in my prayer when she died and on top of that, I’ve assigned her to be My Guardian Angel so she can watch over me. Anyway, enough about Lynee, there is also another friend that I’m losing. Now, this friend is a more recent friend from High School. I’ve mentioned him several times in my newsletters, his name is Steven. Steven is moving for the first time in my life and I mean, really moving. Now, the first couple times he’s moved were to the temporary group homes in San Marcos, Sunset, and Tyler. But this is very different because he’s moving out of Plano. Now, rest assured he’s just moving to Dallas, which is just down the road a bit, but that’s not what bugs me. You See, he’s had a love for and a dream to finally be with Tigger (the disney character, that he sees in his mind and has given him great comfort for many years). He’s always said, in his deep passionate voice, “One Day I’m going to able to bounce with Tigger by My Side!” and I believed him but, I didn’t know how he has going to do it, but I knew somehow he would. Now, keep in mind here that Steven and I have been through a lot in both the “Ali Days”, “Madison Days,” and Job Crew ( which was a program at school) which was my favorite time and he stuck with me through that. Then, he started dipping his feet into a new thing called Second Life ( which is a game on the computer). Now, when he first started Second Life, I warned him to be very careful of the kind of people that are on there. He just ignored me and went on, he and I, however, have slowed down our communication, fewer calls, fewer IMs(although I don’t IM that much anymore), and fewer emails. Well, recently he emailed me, telling me that he was moving to Dallas, that things with the furries (or Furrsuiters, to be correct, people who he has met that wear fur suits) is going well, and that he’ll be much closer to the “Furrsuiter Convention.” but, when I emailed him back to ask him, where he’s moving and everything like that, he gave me a very unlike Steven response telling his whole “Tigger Dream Story.” and saying that his dream has finally coming true. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe in following your dreams but, he wrote to me as if I were someone else, as if I were one of the furries and not his best friend. Anyway, we still say, as we have for many years, “Love you like a Brother” as we’ve always said so, that’s all right but, I’m concerned that he’s turning into a different person then what I’ve know him to be. However, ending this newsletter on a more positive note, I met a new friend named Danielle who has become a sister to me because she has PTLS also. How awesome! All in all, this tells you that in life, friends come and go but, whether friends stick around or not is up to Fate, because as I believe, “Everything happens for a Reason.”     

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit.  Cherish The Friends You Have, While you still have them.      

The Christianville Spirit: Texture Issues

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Opens Your Eyes

April 4, 2012-TCS # 294

So, For This Week’s Newsletter, I’m going to continue to help answer questions on PTLS. Now, This Question is actually another trademark to PTLS, just like the Lining-Up of Objects and Pacing back & forth. Anyway, This is something that effects more aspects of Life of kids with PTLS and that is Textures. Before I start, here’s My PTLS Disclaimer, Not ALL PTLS Kids have this particular Behavior. So, back to Texture Issues. Now, our issue with Texture is not just with Food, it can be Objects, or things that we hear about or see. As for me, I’ve had Texture and Appearance issues since I was younger. When I was Younger, I actually didn’t eat that much or many different foods because I didn’t like the way they appeared or the fact that it didn’t look good to me and I didn’t like the Texture of it. According to My Mom, I didn’t even eat the meat baby food when I was a baby, but I would the Fruits and Vegetables. As I got a little older, like in the Child Years, I loved to eat things like Mac N‘ Cheese, Grilled Cheese, Pasta, and Yogurt. In Fact, that was nearly all I ate until My Mom figured that she’d put something that I liked like Honey or Cheese, on top of a New Food and then, I would eat it. Also, when we’d go to this Mexican Restaurant named The El Norte which was down the street from our house back in the “Jeff Era”, one of them would get something that had a Texan Staple called, “Guacamole” or Avocado smashed together, every time I would start gagging because I didn’t like the Light Green color or it’s appearance because it reminded me of a putty called “Gak”, more on that in a minute. Anyway, after a while, I started gaining new foods to eat because I started to find them more appetizing that I did before. But, there are some foods that I still don’t eat like French Fries because they looked gross to me when I was younger. However, weirdly enough, I’ll eat French Fries if they had Cheese on top or as an alternative, I’ll try Sweet Potato Fries because they taste really good. So, back to the “Gak” thing, I don’t like it at all; I don’t like the appearance or even the sound of it, it makes me gag and get sick sometimes. The same thing goes with Silly String, Silly Putty, and Slime, all of them are tied together, I get the same feeling with all of them. Now, My Mom and Brother will tell you, the ultimate signs that I don’t like something is My “I’m Concerned about Something, Something’s Bothering Me, or I’m going to be Sick” expression on my face. You’ll know when this is happening because I start becoming quiet, being less talkative than I am usually am, and I do what My Mom calls, “Shutting Down.” So, the next time your child turns down eating a Food or being near an Object, check to see if it’s a Texture thing. All in all, Don’t worry about your kids not eating because they will eventually eat more than they do now.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. What we feel, taste, and see does make a difference.