Sometimes we get down on ourselves, even throw pity parties if you will. I have found that when I get to that place, and I assure you, I do, God has an interesting way of bringing us back around to a place of reality.Prior to leaving for Fargo some time back now, I was in over my head. I had a new ministry going, trying to get everything in place, still am in fact, and life was, well I just don’t know any other way to say it, but life seemed to be a bitch. A huge part was the pressure of being dependant on other people. I still am and hate being in that place. You have to wait, learn patience, and ultimately survive at the mercy of others. Then I got back from Fargo, things escalated and kind of have been until the last week or two. Since then, I feel like a manic depressive on a manic stage going to town to pick up some happy pills.
Truth is, as of recent, with the exception of still having to wait on some things, (maybe God is teaching me patience, but I am ready to move on God) things have actually been going pretty good. Let me explain.
I have mentioned before that my mothers side of the family, like my dads, has some pretty rough and tough people in it. My mothers family especially has some difficult and tough people. In my moms family, as I can recollect, she has one sister that over dosed on drugs and committed suicide. Another runs a house of prostitution, or has made most of her living that way, has a brother doing well in Florida, another sister is homeless, another brother was in a motorcycle gang, The Outlaws, he was hurt seriously in a motorcycle accident, paralyzed in fact, and later died from a heroin overdose, and another brother who died from complications of psoriasis of the liver related to alcoholism. My mother has her own stories but that is another book.The last two uncles, JD and Bill Estep were great boxers. JD in fact used to say that Bill was the better boxer. That was hard to imagine because JD held, I think he still does, the record for the most consecutive Golden Glove National Championships. In fact he fought Jimmy Ellis in the Olympic trials and lost in a very controversial split decision by one point. Ellis went on to win the gold medal, and became Heavy Weight Champion of the World. Many who saw that fight say JD should have, and in fact did win.
I recently got an email from an individual in Arizona who had seen an article I wrote that mentioned JD. He contacted me and low and behold, this individual was a fighter who had fought heavy weight for JD some years ago in a club he had started with the Job Corps back in Tennessee. Since then this person and I have had several interesting and fun emails back and forth. It is a reminder of the family I have left, that I have lost and are now gone, and of individuals who are great people, but sometimes need a helping hand.
Then there is the story of Muscle Cars. My son and I spend a lot more time together than a lot of fathers and sons. I think one of the reasons is I never knew a father. Most of the time my son and I spend together in things related to wrestling. I learned a long time ago, it is good if you can pass your kids along to let others coach instead of coaching them yourself. My son has a great coach in Billy Ross now at Derby High School and has had many others along the way. If I started mentioning names this blog would be so long you would think my other blogs are short poems. The bottom line is, I think it is good for a father and son to be together in a variety of ways.Shortly before Fargo, I told Nathan that if he did well, made the cut, wrestled strong, I would buy him a car. Now don’t think I was bribing, him, truth is he needed a car and he is at the age where I realized he needed some independence. The other truth is he had never cut the weight he did and we wanted to have some motivation that would help insure he did it the right way.
We hoped an older model car with a standard Chevy block engine. We wanted something we could learn to work on and play with if you will, together. We looked long and hard and had just about given up. I was at the point of recommending a newer model car. Nathan had the option of several cars much newer and, much better shape. I decided to post on the local Wichita area groups letting people know we were looking for a car. Within a day, I had an email telling me of a car for sale here in Wichita. The car was almost exactly what we had been looking for. A 1977 Chevy Impala, with dual exhaust, new wheels, a fairly new paint job, and more. The price was right and the work that needed to be done we could get done, (in fact it is getting done as I type) and the other things on the car we didn’t have the money for where things we could work on together. I learned another lesson, God can give you the desires of your heart if you are just patient. Darned, there is that patience concept again.
During this time I have been pretty moody. I have actually been doing good over the last few weeks, especially after I came across this character on MySpace. A character who had joined my Hollywood Jesus Group, posting a video they had done on YouTube. The individual is called Jubee. I have to tell you, I haven’t seen a raw talent like this come around in a long time. All great comedy has to be centered in truth in someway, and Jubee has hit the nailon the head with a sledge hammer. I have found myself appreciating this person so much, I even found my self searching for and bidding on some of the items he had for sale on eBay. I have since joined his MySpace group, signed him up as a friend, and have had several communiqués back and forth. What a wonderful person. I have said I would love to tour with him at some point. Jubee has concerns because we don’t exactly see eye to eye on religious issues, maybe not even on political issues. He does however have a God given ability to make one think, make them think, and laugh at the same time. Jubee, whether recognizing it or not, has an incredible talent and gift from God. I happen to think his ability to communicate is something that would make a great dual presentation concept, the Preacher and Jubee if you will. I know I have found a kindred spirit, who thinks enough like me that I happen to appreciate him. He is one of those people, that hopefully, someday, I get the chance to meet. I assure you, he is taking over MySpace and YouTube for a reason. His stuff is that good.How does all of this fit together and arry over to that wrestling comment? Pretty simple really, of course a simple mind like mine don’t need a lot of complicated concepts. I was taking my wife and son to school this morning, notice the comment earlier about the 77 Impala getting worked on today and was listenint to the radio. I listen to Imus in the Morning, the shock jock some love, and others hate. All of a sudden he started talking about a church in South Carolina that was starting a wrestling program. They were going to be using the fake stuff but the illustration still worked for me. Imus is talking and all of a sudden when being questioned about the legitimacy of this church doing this he states, and I quote, “ Yea, well you know we’re all wrestling for Jesus.” I couldn’t believe it, right out of Don Imus mouth came this spiritual insight. Truth is, whether we realize it or not, whether we accept it or not, we are on this spiritual journey where we are in essence wrestling for Jesus. One may not even accept Christ or God for that matter but we are all wrestling in life, and ultimately for spiritual truth.
I guess I just happen to believe I know where that truth is, it is in Jesus Christ. That don’t mean I don’t still wrestle with life, in fact, I do on a constant basis. But God has a way of winning battles for me. He has a way of putting people in my path that can remind me of family. He has a way of using things like MySpace to help build a relationship between my son and I that goes beyond just wrestling. He even has a way to find crazy people with my sense of humor to put in my path to make me laugh and have some fun when I am feeling down like Jubee. God in reality is an amazing God, and while I am wrestling with a lot of things, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, I know that ultimately, because I am wrestling for Jesus that the ultimate judge is in my corner. If he is in my corner, who can be against me? Yea I know a lot of folks, but I think I’m on the winning team.
Oh Yea, here is that contact information again.
The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217
Or you van give on line via Pay Pal at: http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html
To become a part of The Virtual Pew, visit, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ To learn more about me visit http://www.furches.org/ I am also active on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/mikefurches I have another blog at http://blog.myspace.com/mikefurches To visit the Hollywood Jesus group at MySpace with membership by numerous Hollywood Jesus reviewers visit: http://groups.myspace.com/hollywoodjesus For a more in depth weekly study and conversation you an visit: http://virtualpewsermon.blogspot.com/ where you can access deeper teaching and ultimately videos for viewing and teaching. You can contact me via email at mike@furches.org or mike@thevirtualpew.com For those interested in knowing more about my own story, contact me for a free e-copy of my book The Keystone Kid in pre-edit form.
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