This morning, we found out that our minister of worship, Simeon Nix, died early this morning of a heart attack.  He had two of them earlier in the week, was treated in hospital with the insertion of a stint and also diagnosed with severe diabetes, and was allowed to return home on Friday. Late Saturday night he was rushed back to hospital after he had stopped breathing, and was pronounced dead of another heart attack at 1:15 this morning.

The video below was his last sermon at Bell Shoals, when he was a guest speaker on "Effective Evangelism."  Simeon’s message starts at about 30 minutes in.  This was Father’s Day, by the way.

Effective Evangelism from Bell Shoals Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Main Street, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World.

It’s a bit amazing what happens when I get to teach or share my story. It’s like for those 20 minutes everything else disappears and I get to do what I enjoy.

My story underwent some major updates since last November when I previously shared it.  A lot has happened since then.

Testimony 08-11-2008 (Click the Play icon next to the link to play directly in the browser, or click the link to download)

If things had held out, last weekend would have been a tenth wedding anniversary celebration. However, things didn’t work out that way. August 1st came and went like any other day. So will August 15th (my now ex’s birthday) and probably October 7th (when the boy I haven’t seen in nearly a year turns five).

Between getting a new job, commuting back and forth from Plant City to Tampa five days a week, adjusting from a house to a small apartment, trying to get the financial ship back in order after being unemployed for almost nine months, taking the trip to Boston (and getting stuck in Philadelphia for a day)…

…I don’t think I’ve taken any time to just slow down and take things in, let them process, find out where I’m at and where I’m supposed to be headed.

I’ve learned when riding the Burgman to take my time, because when we’re in a rush we can sometimes make some stupid mistakes.  When riding a scooter or a motorcycle, being a rush can cause not just stupid mistakes, but deadly ones.  I’ve been trying also to learn in my new job how to slow down and take the time to make sure everything is reviewed and accounted for; when I’m rushing through I’m always missing things and having to rerun three or four times because I’ve caught something else that’s wrong, instead of taking the time to do it right the first time and only having to run a set of documents once.

Over the past three years I’ve learned a lot about sexual addiction and anger (my old habits) and have the practical things in place so that it’s no longer a major part of my life.  However, now they’ve been replaced by new things, like depression and a sense of abandonment.  It’s very true that when we remove something from our lives, there will be something else to take its place.  The hours I used to spend looking at pornography on the Internet are now spent in boredom, mostly.  Due to lack of furniture it’s not like I can plop down on a couch (I don’t have one) to watch TV (no cable or DirecTV here) or something. I’m neither a movie watcher nor an avid reader (the latter always making trying to have a quiet devotional time difficult—trying to read puts me to sleep).

I sit here at my worktable (one of the few pieces of furniture I do have) looking at life, and realizing that of all the past relationships, the friendships, the people that were close, all that is gone.  I’m staring at a totally blank screen waiting for new input.

So, what do I start putting into it?