The Big Boss Man

I stumbled upon this article about the Big Boss Man when I was looking for something else.

I considered Ray Traylor a friend. Our daughters were close friends through elementary and middle schools, frequently spending the night with one another. I never knew him as a wrestler, but rather as a man. He was probably the nicest, friendliest man I ever knew. He always had a smile on his face and a friendly greeting for everyone he met. Kids loved him.

I remember one time when our daughters were in middle school and were going on a field trip to Perry for the state fair. Somehow when I dropped her off, I got talked into going along as a chaperone. Ray went too, but not before trying to convince me that we should follow behind in his truck instead of riding the bus. I refused the ride so Ray climbed his huge frame onto the bus too. At the fair, the teacher let the kids pick which chaperone they wanted to stay with to walk around the fairgrounds. 90% of the kids went straight to Ray.

His life ended much much too early. It is hard to believe he has been gone almost six years now. Our daughters just graduated high school together. You are still missed Ray.

Look Past the Distractions

Yesterday morning at church during a prayer before the service, I prayed to myself that God would remove any distractions that would hinder us from worshiping. I felt like God replied to me that He wouldn't do that, but rather that I need to learn to look past the distractions and look to Him. There will always be things in this life that can distract us. If He removed one distraction, but our focus is upon distractions rather than on God, then pretty soon we will be distracted by something else because we live in an imperfect world. We need to be focused upon Jesus and leave the other stuff where it is.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Help a Friend Win!

My friend Jeff Chandler is trying to win a contest sponsored by 104.7 to win $10,000 for a charity he supports, 4SARAH. All you have to do is watch this video of him singing a song he wrote. He is really good, so don't worry about not enjoying it.

Click here to see the video.

My First Real Life Bingo

Sunday afternoon I attended a new Scrabble club for the first time. The Atlanta Sunday Scrabble Meetup is much more competitive club than the Kennesaw group I have been attending. The try to abide by the official rules of the North American Scrabble Player's Association which includes the use of clocks.

This group meets at Oz Pizza in East Point. I did not try any pizza as I was stuffed from a after church meal with my family. I arrived early and waited for the restaurant to open. As the the door was unlocked the group organizer Artis got out of her car with a satchel. After some introductions and instructions I was paired with a fellow named Bright to play my first Scrabble game on the clock.

It was a little intimidating at first to use the clock. Each player gets a total of 25 minutes to complete all his turns before incurring penalty. You make your play, announce your score, and then hit the clock stopping your time and starting the clock for your opponent. Each of you keeps track of the game score.

On Bright's fourth play, he got a bingo. A bingo is a word that uses all the letters on your rack and you awarded a 50 point bonus. "What had I gotten myself into?" I wondered. But then a few plays later I played my first bingo ever in real life - ZEALOUS through the top center triple word score for a total of 105 points on one play. What an amazing rush! In the hundreds of games I have played online, I think I have only had three 100+ point plays, so to get one in my first time in an official type setting was quite enthralling.

After my bingo I was able to extend my lead and won that game by the score of 382-318. While we played our first game, other people had arrived and started games so we played another game with each other. In the second game Bright bingoed twice and won 378-331. Bright played quickly and we finished our second game around the time the others finished their first. Then we exchanged opponents.

Now I was paired against Phyllis who I later learned has been playing in tournaments for over 20 years. She offered to give me help. She went first and then I played the bingo TRAILING on my first turn. She then withdrew her offer to help me find points. Phyllis was tracking tiles - writing down each word played and crossing the letters off a list. I went on to lose the game 416-366.

For my next game I was paired against Delbra. We did not have a clock for this game as not enough people have one. This was my first game of the evening when I could not achieve rack balance between consonants and vowels. I struggled and was beaten soundly 437-288. It was also during this game that I realized that the restaurant was a bit on the warm side.

Next I played JJ. I learned that she had played in one tournament but did not think she would try that again. I got to open our game together and played the bingo DEMOTEE. I wasn't sure if it was a word or not, but I figured I would take the risk since it was the opening play. JJ did not challenge, but as she started to lay her tiles down she realized that she had misread my word, but it was too late. I wound up losing the game 360-306.

After my first game with JJ, some folks left. We decided to play another game with each other. It was during this game that I played my fourth bingo of the night - ARCSINES. I won this game 360-310.

I went 2-4 with 4 bingos my first time playing in this type of environment. I was pleased with the competition and pleased with my results. I realized that I need to really learn the two and three letter word lists in order to achieve greater success at this game. I am looking forward to next time.

Razor Sharp

This weekend I got a new razor. If you are not aware of the fact, I tend to push the useful life of items as long as I can under the banner of frugality. I usually don't start using a new razor or blade until I perceive the quality of my shave has diminished. Shave quality has two primary components: the smoothness of my face afterward and the comfort provided during the process.

The odd thing about waiting so long to change razors is that there is such a profound difference between the quality of the last shave with an old blade and the first shave with a new one that I wonder why did I not change earlier. However, it is hard to perceive the difference in quality on a day to day basis. I know that it will only get worse each day, but that imperceptible daily difference eventually results in me doing this daily activity with much greater effort with worse results than it should.

I think that life in general is somewhat like this. We go through our daily activities over and over, each day dulling the sharpness of our souls until we are putting forth much more effort with worse results than we should tolerate yet we might not even realize it. We must make a conscious effort to renew ourselves in order to get the most out of our lives.

I am reminded of Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 7th habit is Sharpen the Saw. It is something I definitely need to work on.

Draw Me Close

Last night at church June Evans taught on seeking God. To me this message served as a reminder of a truth that God had revealed to me several years ago as I was driving to work. I still remember the exact spot on the highway where He showed this to me.

I was singing the worship song "Draw Me Close to You" when I felt like God asked me, "What more do you want me to do Preston? I gave my only Son so that the world could be close to me. The veil into my presence is removed. My Spirit lives within you. How much closer can I get?"

It hit me like a ton of bricks that when I don't feel close to God, then I need to examine myself. God hasn't gone anywhere. It must be me that is distracted from seeing that truth. God doesn't manipulate us into a relationship with Him. We have a choice. James 4:8 reads "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." God has already done His part. We just need to receive Him.

The Carnivore Challenge

Last night I made my second visit to Big Pie in the Sky. This pizzeria has what they call the Carnivore Challenge. Two people get one hour to eat a 30 inch, 11 pound all meat pizza to win a cash prize. They are proud of the fact that it has been featured on the Travel Channel show Man V. Food.

I thought maybe I might could pull off this feat. I am a big guy and I love to eat. I ordered a slice of the Carnivore pizza to get a taste of the pizza. After just a few bites I knew that there was no way I could attempt such a thing. The meat on this pizza was cured to the point it would survive a trip across the Atlantic on the Mayflower: salt cured ham, salt cured bacon, salty and spicy pepperoni, spicy sausage. I also had problems keeping the meat on my slice. It was just piled up loosely with very little cheese. I had to drink plenty of sweet tea just to wash it down.

Later in the evening a pair of young, athletic looking men did attempt the Carnivore Challenge. They started off quickly stuffing the pizza into their faces. As I kept glancing in their direction I noticed their pace quickly declining. I walked by their table when their pizza was about 2/3 gone and noticed one of the fellows had that glassy look in his eyes. Just a few moments later he bolted out the front door and his companion followed. They returned several minutes later to box up the remains of their failed challenge.

And just in case you are wondering, I won both Scrabble games I played.