Charlie Lehardy

Yep, it’s that time again and this time it’s about my favorite topic… Driving!

First off, lets start with the basics. I consider myself to be a fairly good driver. Agressive, yes. But good anyway. I’ve never caused any accidents, have avoided numerous people who have tried to hit me (having a small car like I used to and driving on the interstate lends to people NEVER seeing you and trying to pull into the space you’re occupying… SCARY!), and have not had any driving violations for 5 years (I have had two tickets since then, but both were due to my registration being expired so… not driving issues).

I have hit one car once and unfortunately it was parked. In my defense, it was a dark night, black car and I was in a bad mood and NOT paying attention. So pretty much, it was COMPLETELY my fault, I admit that, but it was also an isolated incident that had never occured before and has not since.

Ok, with that out of the way, here’s what my major problem with many drivers (especially older ones…). I HATE it when they drive on the fast lane, otherwise known as the left lane. If they’re making a turn in the next 1/4 mile, ok… I can understand. Or of course, if you’re passing people, then by all means drive in the left lane. But for goodness sake, do NOT drive the same speed as the people in the lane next to you. ESPECIALLY if you’re driving at or under the speed limit. (oh yeah, that’s another thing I should have said up top. I do speed… but still I don’t get tickets for it so I guess it’s OK

This behavior is what causes people to get mad and start doing the whole finger-flipping, getting out of the car to pummel you kind of thing. NO, it’s not your fault they’re hot-heads (for the record, I don’t get mad like that, I just get annoyed and wait until I can get around while calling you nice names… :-)), but if you’re driving badly, then you’re certainly not helping the situation.

I was in Colorado a while ago and found out that they passed a law in Denver area that basically states that you can’t drive in the left lane. It’s reserved for passing ONLY. No ifs, ands or buts. I LOVE this law and I wish it would be passed everywhere else. Because that’s the point of multiple lanes. Letting the faster traffic move along faster than the slower traffic. Not so that the slower traffic can take both lanes and block everybody else up!!

So yeah, that’s my rant for today. If you’re one of those “bad” drivers, please think about it this way… If you were behind two people going under the speed limit next to eachother and couldn’t get past, what would you be thinking? Well, that’s what the people behind you are thinking about you… Just remember that!

God is truly amazing and I feel sorry for the people who don’t know Him. Where else do we get such unconditional love and forgiveness? Not from each other… We’re pitiful beings who would sell ourselves for the right price and don’t deserve anything from God, but yet here He is. Giving us the gift of life with HIS.

There’s nothing else like it. We don’t deserve it, but yet it was given to us freely as a gift so that we might live and have eternal life. For the longest time I didn’t want that gift. I refused to accept it and wouldn’t let God’s grace and forgiveness surround me. This was because I didn’t forgive myself for my transgressions and didn’t consider myself worthy. But I was missing the point. I’m NOT worthy, not ever but yet God has given us this gift. Yes, it’s ours to accept or not, but if we want it, it’s there for the taking and life is GOOD when you accept that gift.

So today I will be thanking God for the gift He gave me. For the new life He’s offered and remembering that He loves me no matter what I do. Yep, there’s those times He’s wondering what the heck I AM doing, but He loves me anyway and is just waiting for me to jump back into His arms and follow His plan again. God is GOOD. Thank you God for everything you’ve given me. I don’t deserve it, but I need it. So thank you.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I am in the same group of Christians I describe below. I really try to be good, but there are those times I fail and am NOT good. I’m no better than most Christians, but that still doesn’t make it right…

AMAZING! Two blogs in one day. Well, two in one day if I finish this in 15 minutes that is and I should since this one is pretty quick…

What’s it about? Well, it’s another rant and it’s about Christians and cussing. Call me a prude, but I consider your normal four-letter words to be taboo still. And I think that as Christians, we should ALL consider them taboo too. Do they mean what they used to? No… But they do still cause people to take notice and are considered offensive. Movies can still be rated R because of the language in them (although, it does take more now than before), so why do so many Christians think it’s OK for them to cuss?

We’re meant to be the salt of the Earth. The seasoning if you will. That means we’re supposed to be DIFFERENT. It DOESN’T mean we’re to act the same as everybody else. Am I in that boat? Sure, I cuss at times. I know this, but the difference is that I don’t WANT to and I try hard not to. Sometimes it slips out (especially when everybody at work cusses all the time), but that’s just what it is. A slip, not something I do on a normal basis. Is that good? Nope, but I think that’s the best anybody can expect from anybody else (it’s all I expect from my friends…).
Anyway, just something for you to think about.

So, a lot of things have happened since my last post. I guess I’ll start with the beginning and go from there! April 1st was a very good day (really, no April Fools!). That night was Stomp in Phoenix at ASU Gammage Theatre with a bunch of friends, but first my Dad and I went up early to look at a car (again, in Phoenix).

Well, a few hours after looking at it, I had purchased it and drove it off the lot! So, I’m the new owner of a 2002 Honda Accord Coupe. It’s just the 2.3L 4cyl engine, but that also means that it’s pretty fuel-efficient (good with the way the gas is going) and cheaper (guess that’s good so I can pay off debts and the car quicker). This did unfortunately mean that I couldn’t join my friends for dinner before the show, but that was ok because I had a new car!

Anyway, after that I went to the show and it was awesome! Lots of fun and I was really glad to go. Tried to take a few pictures but… they were all blurry in the end so I deleted them. *sighs* Oh well… Sunday I went to Rocks & Ropes (an indoor rock climbing gym) with some friends and then of course volleyball afterwords. Good end to that weekend.

So then that week (the week of the 3rd) was more training at work (actually in classes). Everything went well until Wednesday night (a week ago exactly!) when I went to play raquetball with a friend at Gold’s Gym. I hadn’t played for a LONG time (years) and hadn’t been to Gold’s for a while either (months). And I don’t think I’ll forget the experience for a while

What happened you ask? Well, really, nothing all that much. I just got hit in the face with a raquetball racket while playing with two friends. Of course, it bled pretty well and cut me pretty deep (I did get hit pretty hard) and so I went to the hospital (my right eye, where I got hit, was a bit blurry which was not making me too happy…). I did drive myself and went to my place beforehand to get some contacts and glasses JUST in case they (the people at the hospital) wanted me to change them.

Got there around 9:30 PM or 10:00 PM and by that time, my eye was not so blurry and the cut had stopped hurting a LONG time before that (about 10-20 minutes after I got hit really…), but I still decided I needed stitches. Well, after getting in and waiting for HOURS, I finally talked to the Doctor who wanted to give me a CT Scan (lovely…) and then stitch me up. Long story short, I was there for a total of 7 hours or so (actually went home and then found that my cut was under my eyebrow which the doc didn’t see and didn’t stitch and so I went back) and didn’t get to bed until 6:00 AM or so.

They gave me a total of 10 stitches (nine the first time, one the second), plus of course some anti-biotics (well, got that at Walgreens on the way home) and pain medicine. I took the next day off (well, really that day which was Thursday) of work (after notifying them of course) and slept most of the day. So yeah, that was great fun. But I’ve had no pain from it all so I guess I can’t complain too much

Then on Saturday night I had a BBQ at my place and I guess about 25 people showed up. Quite a large number for the size of this place (two bedroom, two bath townhouse), but it was a lot of fun. A number of us then went to a local park for a night hike since the moon was fairly full and the weather was nice. Then on Sunday the 9th, I played Ultimate frisbee and just today I stopped being sore from that. But I had a LOT of fun. We had 20 some odd people in all (maybe closer to 30) so it was a good game for sure. Just tiring! Then again, volleyball of course

And now we’re here at today. Still doing training for work and all that. I’m due to get my stitches out tomorrow (could have gotten them out yesterday but… I couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment in time) and I’m actually thinking about playing raquetball tonight with the same guy who hit me last week… Guess I am crazy after all!!