Tag Archive - Lubbock

What Not To Do!

June 19, 2007 in Personal with 2 Comments

I’ve had my house in Dallas on the market for over 80 days, and about 45 days ago, I moved to Lubbock. For the past 40+ days I’ve had a deal in the works for someone to assume my loan, and pay cash to move-in. It was a terrible deal for me, I mean terrible; but at least I could get myself out from under the loan. Today that deal fell through.

Here are the list of things I’ve done wrong with my first time home purchase:

  • I bought my house 3 1/2 years ago.

  • I used a FHA loan at 5.75% and made bi-weekly payments.

  • I paid over $2,500 as a down payment.

  • I purchased the home for close to the exact appraisal value, $82,000.

  • I paid $2,000 to have a privacy fence installed.

  • I paid $1,000 to have the outside AC unit replaced.

  • I paid $1,500 to have the sewage line repaired under the house.

  • I paid over $3,000 to have the foundation repaired.

  • I took on a small kitchen remodel project and installed new laminate counter tops, painted all the cabinets, installed a new sink, updated the electric stove and hood vent, and replaced all the lighting in the kitchen.

  • I installed new light switches and electrical outlets in the entire house.

  • I installed new ceiling fans in the entire house.

  • I patched and repaired numerous holes in the drywall throughout the house.

  • I put new flooring in the main bathroom, and installed two new toilets in the house.
  • I finished off part of the garage, creating a utility room/office; and installed a window unit AC to provide some comfort.

  • I meticulously kept my lawn in perfect condition; watering, fertilizing, and mowing it on a regular basis.

  • I repaired everything in the house when it broke, and provided regular maintenance on every major appliance.

  • I never made even a slightly late payment on my mortgage for years.

I warn you about these things, because even having knocked my payoff amount down to $76,000 on the mortgage, and upgrading so many things in this house… I still stand to lose major money when and if it ever sells. I would have saved THOUSANDS of DOLLARS if I had rented the past 3 yeas. I can remember hearing it said that buying a house is the best investment you can make, and that to upgrade things in your home will only increase the resale value of the home. This is a load of poop. At least for me anyways.

And please don’t post the comments telling me that you did these same things, and made $46k when you listed your home for sale. These things don’t comfort me.

Blowing Dust

June 6, 2007 in Links with 1 Comment


Just had this weather bulletin pop up on my desktop. Now, I’m new to Lubbock, TX but I never knew “Blowing Dust” was a weather condition.

Leader’s Luncheon

June 4, 2007 in Ministry with 0 Comments

Today I attended a lunch for the 15 or so staff pastors at the church I work at. The lunch was held at the Lubbock Club; It’s a nice place to eat, at one of the highest places in Lubbock. The lunch was special because we had a guest speaker there, Charles Neiman, to say a few words to us as church leaders. These kind of meetings are new to me, and I really enjoyed my time.

Here are some quotes that I remember from the talk:

  • “We shouldn’t put the heaviest burden of our ministry on our weakest leaders.”
  • “Stop expecting an infantry of Navy Seals to run your ministry. Navy Seals are a specialty group, and were never designed to be a large force.”
  • He spoke for a long time on taking down the barriers in our church that make it hard for people to become members. His church in El Paso, personally only has 1 membership class then gets these new members involved in some area of ministry ASAP. Granted, they won’t be counseling or teaching a class; but they learn and grow by finding a place to serve.
  • “What in your church says ‘Not Welcome’?”
  • He compared the simple business practices of Starbucks to church ministry. Starbucks makes it as easy and quick as possible to become saturated in their ‘coffee environment.’ But often times in churches, we make it almost impossible to join our church, unless you commit large amounts of time to our ministry jobs.

Overall it was a great time. And get this, the church paid for child-care so my wife could attend!

The Weekend Not from Heaven

May 20, 2007 in Personal with 0 Comments


Geesh what a weekend! My mother-in-law (aka granny) came for a short visit, arriving Thursday and leaving Sunday afternoon. We had a full schedule for the weekend. We wanted to show her the city of Lubbock, and spend lots of time out and about. All went well until Friday night. Starr and I were offered a date night by granny, and we took her up on it. It’s when were driving home that we find out that Dylan has been sick. I mean ‘get the carpet shampooer’ sick. So all Friday night I’m up with my dry heaving 3 year old. Not exactly the kind of night that lends itself to early morning IHOP runs. Slowly over the next 24 hours, we all were hit with the dreaded bug; and after pulling myself through 3 services at church this morning I’m ready to crash. However my three kids have never met an afternoon nap they truly loved, so my wife sleeps it off while I take one for the team.

Again, nothing makes me want to run for the hills like my family being sick. Sad, but true.

A Long Way Gone -Book Review

May 17, 2007 in Personal with 1 Comment

Book Cover

A Long Way Gone is a book that took me way too long to read. I finished the first chapter right before moving to Lubbock, and my life had been to busy too pick it back up again. I also was slightly disturbed by the first chapter, and I knew that to finish the book I would need to be in a good state of mind.

In A LONG WAY GONE: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah, now twenty-six years old, tells a powerfully gripping story: At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to heal.

This is an extraordinary and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

This story is gripping to say the least. I mentioned it earlier in the week, but the actions of both the army and the rebels in this book are disgusting, and they tend to make me ashamed of being a human being. I’m actually embarrassed on two levels. I’m embarrassed that we as humans have the propensity to act like savage animals and ignore our conscience in so many ways. I’m also embarrassed that I was so unaware of what was happening in that part of the world at the time. I was in college when this story takes place, and this is really the first time I’ve heard of these things. I mean, I knew that there were terrible things happening in Africa, but never knew the details. It’s sad that I spent years in High School and college, and never once was informed of current events in the world I was being educated in. Seems that the OJ Simpson trial took preeminence on the news at that time.

A Long Way Gone is an excellent read! It is one of those books that will stick with me for the rest of my life. The stories are so vividly told, and the writing is superb for such a young first time author. It’s an A++, and the littlepastor highly recommends it!

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