Weekend Update

August 5, 2007 by Leave a Comment

In case I haven’t already said it enough – I’VE BEEN EXTREMELY BUSY LATELY!! That’s ok though. It is all worth it when we get to spend some down time with friends. This weekend it was on the lake. Then end it off with one of the most creative services NewSpring has done in the few years I’ve been going there. Unbelievable!!! So here’s a bullet summary of the lake and the service.

  • It was hot as hell Saturday (100 degrees) and we were on the lake – all day. Everyone got burnt. My head is especially red – the receding hairline and balding crown…
  • A wasp stung me on the left bird finger at the very beginning of the day – not good. My whole hand swelled up but went back down until the end of the day. Today (Sunday) it has been swollen so big I can’t even use it. I’m taking benadryl and soaking in ice but neither is helping much. Pray that my hand gets back to normal.
  • The jetski broke while our new friend David was riding it. The rest of us didn’t see him around the bend 150 yards off shore. He swam the jetski all the way to shore before I finally noticed him stranded and waving his hat in the air to get our attention. Then we went a rescued him and gave him a hard time for breaking the jetski.
  • Eric threw me off the tube twice. The second time I skipped on the water 3 times which is normal for a small stone, but I’m a 200 pound man. That means we were going really fast.
  • Did I mention it was hot as hell.
  • Speaking of hell – that’s what the service was about at NewSpring.
  • The stage set is one of the best I’ve seen NewSpring do (Jon Creamer is the guy on staff that creates the special stage effects – excellent job). Also, I have a little bit of an inside scoop on a big surprise that is supposed to be added to the auditorium at the end of the current series they’re doing. It will be very moving to say the least.
  • I’ve seen Perry come out on stage in some creative ways – with a surf board and wearing swimming trunks, on a Harley Davidson, smashing cars, and more. Today he came out in a casket. You have to watch it to believe it.
  • The music was amazing – Justin is extremely talented – all the other musicians are too but Justin amazes me with his singing ability.
  • Later this week I’m sure you can watch the service on the web when it will be posted somewhere on these pages.

That’s about all I’ve got for now. Hopefully I’ll have some time to write more this week but I already know I’m going to be very busy. Shawna seems to be doing better with the pregnancy sickness. My wonderful mom was here to help all last week, but I’m back on my own working and helping out with the kids this week… 

Filed Under: Misc, Stories

A New Blogger Out There

July 26, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I heard from a very reliable source that there is a new blogger out here in blog-world. It is the one and only Jake Beaty. You might recall my mention of him in these posts. Now I know some of you who read this blog might be wondering who that is and why you should care that he has a blog, so I’ll give you some reasons that I’m going to read his blog.

  • He and I have a couple of things in common – a passion for relationships and a love of basketball (he played b-ball in college so he loves that more than I do, but still…I love to play).
  • He is an outstanding teacher and counsellor on the subject of relationships and marriage and he communicates so well both speaking and writing.
  • God has blessed him and NewSpring with an amazing ministry for relationships. The Biblical material on relationships and marriage that Jake and his team have put together is so thorough and creative yet understandable and applicable. It’s the best I’ve ever seen and I’ve said it before on here – I’ve seen a lot as a preachers kid.
  • I’ve gotten to know him just a tiny bit through volunteering. He’s one that you don’t get to know very well unless you have an opportunity to spend some time around him (I’m kinda like that too – don’t initiate conversations very often). So I’m hoping his blog reveals more and more about him to get to know him better.
  • The best reason of all to read his blog is to give him comments and a lot of uplifting…because he’s really short and I think it makes him self conscious.

Anyway, go check out Jake Beaty .com. I know you won’t be disappointed.

Filed Under: Faith, Misc, Relationships

Not Knowing When To Quit

July 17, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Here’s another life lesson from my perspective – something that is challenging me to think and change my behavior.

I remember growing up my brother Matt and I would wrestle and fight like siblings do. It seemed more and more through the years that Matt never knew when to quit until he got hurt. It got so bad in our teen years that I would hurt him on purpose just to get him to quit. He’d get mad about the knot on his head but he’d quit. He still has a complex about it and still tries to pick a friendly fight with me once in a while. I just try to keep it friendly without reminding him too harshly that I’m still his big bad brother (even though he is a little larger than me now). This is just a comical example of what I’m talking about when I say – “not knowing when to quit”.

Being older I find I still run in to situations where it seems like people (myself included) don’t know when to quit. Maybe it’s the friend who always has a one-up on whatever story somebody is telling and they just don’t quit until they have the grandest story. That is usually funny to watch taking place to me, although it can be extremely annoying if there are two people like that in the same conversation. Maybe it is the person who is so competitive they go way over the top with how serious they play a board game – they just don’t know where to draw the line of ridiculous. I could probably make a long list of people who at various times and various scenarios don’t know when to quit, but instead I’ll keep it about me and examples of humor gone bad. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good laugh, but I think I’m re-learning some boundaries so I’ll know when to quit.

Since I was raised up a preachers kid it is easy for me to make fun of preachers and/or church, especially pentacostal, and I know there have been times when my making fun has been inappropriate (like around mine and Shawna’s dad’s – both pentacostal preachers, or around people who don’t have a clue what I’m joking about because they’ve never been exposed to pentacostal church). I’ve had to admit that I’ve gone too far and try not to cross that line any more. I might still slip up but I at least admit using discernment is necessary so I try and know when to quit. It’s probably easier for me to not know when to quit concerning this because of how I grew up – in pentacostal church.

Here’s another example of how people can go too far. I grew up in a family that doesn’t particularly like fat jokes (read in to that however you want I guess – we’re all a bit overweight ok – I said it). I would hear people make a fat joke and I would shrug it off and maybe even chuckle. They would continue with more fat jokes and I would begin to be annoyed – no longer laughing. If they didn’t know when to quit I would remind them the family I come from and let them know they don’t have to take it so far. To me this is an example of how most people like myself can be a good sport about something in moderation but it can go too far. If only they knew when to quit we could have gone without the awkward moments of me being annoyed and them feeling like I was booing them off a comedy stage.

I’ll put the monkey on my back one more time… For many years I offended people by going too far joking about mentally handicapped people. It was easy for me to joke about because at an early age I knew people at my dad’s churches who were mentally handicapped and all through my school years I always noticed the mentally handicapped kids and made humor (usually acting like I was mentally handicapped myself) just to get a laugh out of my friends. I would get dirty looks from people but I would just keep on joking. Why? I don’t know. Either because I didn’t care if I was annoying and offending people or because I cared more about getting a laugh out of my immature friends who were encouraging me to “do it again” referring to the little retarded act I did. Hind site is 20/20 though – there were people who actually avoided being around me until years later when I grew up and stopped acting like that.

Is it wrong for me to knowingly continue to annoy someone with something they find repulsive? How do we know where to draw those lines? Is it only where we draw the line of sin? How do we draw such a fine line for our humor in today’s culture without being legalistic? Where does the Bible really say anything about this kind of stuff. Should we just not give a rip what anybody else thinks or should we use at least some level of discernment and moderation?

As you can see – I’m guilty. I used to poke fun about my brother not knowing when to quit but I’ve done the same thing in more serious ways and crossed boundaries when it wasn’t necessary. The stories I’ve shared here are probably mild instances to say the least.

I don’t know a definitive answer to any of the questions and challenges. I’m trying to figure all this out myself. Tomorrow I’ll share what I’ve been reading in scripture.

Filed Under: Misc, Personal Growth, Relationships

Prayer Requests

July 16, 2007 by Leave a Comment
  • Steven Furtick rocked the house at NewSpring yesterday. Excellent speaker. Great encourager. Inspiring passion. Now that I know about his growing church in Charlotte that is a lot like NewSpring I’m even more open to moving there (that possiblity has crossed my mind many times since most of the opportunity for me in what I currently do for income is in the Charlotte area). Pray for God’s guidance in my career.
  • Speaking of work… Pray for me. I’m incredibly busy with my current clients and I need a lot more. Pray that I manage my time, my priorities, and my income with good stewardship. I’ve got a new baby on the way which means I’ll need more time and money before I know it, so I’m trusting the Lord to provide. I think he’s been telling me to have a yard sale…
  • Speaking of the new baby on the way… Pray for Shawna. She didn’t have “morning” sickness with either of Devin and Skyler so I guess she’s getting a triple whammy this time. She has been pretty much incapacitated with “all day” sickness for about a week with no end in sight. Pray that she can eat and hydrate without feeling like she’s gonna hurl.
  • Since Shawna has been incapacitated I’ve been in high-speed action mode around the house. Doing everything I normally get done as well as everything Shawna normally gets done. But I worry that Devin and Skyler aren’t getting as much of our attention as they need. Pray that I keep up with everything and stay patient with Devin and Skyler so we don’t all go nuts.
  • On top of it all this week is Summer Blockbuster (NewSprings version of VBS) so we’ll be very busy volunteering for that……
  • You know what – just say this prayer – “Lord help those Asbell people. They’ve got issues.”
Filed Under: Business, Faith, Misc

Friday 13th

July 13, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Ok, the title is misleading. I never even saw those movies because they came out when I was still young enough to live under my parents roof where there was at least a perception that we were being sheltered from all evil. But I’ve heard other folks tell of how their lives weren’t nearly as peachy as mine growing up, so I guess I’m fortunate to have parents who cared.

Now that I’m older and more mature I find myself watching crap that I would have never been allowed to watch as a youngster. I just have to be careful that none of it causes me to cross the boundaries I like to keep control of regarding sexual impurity and taking the Lord’s name in vain (I can’t stand it when movies use GD – totally unnecessary).

I love movies though. Never knew it was such a passion until a few years ago when I started spending time with other guys who like movies (my friend Lenny and his son Christian, and my brothers-in-law David and Kyle).

Anyway…. this is really random. I’m in the mood for a freaky scary movie on this infamous date. Any suggestions??

Filed Under: Misc

Why I Blog

June 29, 2007 by Leave a Comment

I’ve seen several other bloggers do this one so I’d like to take a stab at it too. Here are some reasons I think describe why I blog:

  • I actually enjoy writing. This is fun to me. I didn’t realize I could enjoy writing so much until I started blogging. All dat der ejicatin I dun did got shor is hepin me.
  • I like to play around with the words to try and make sense of the craziness in my head. I like to tell stories and try to make them sound interesting with some descriptive wording and a bit of humor. Putting a bit of my real speaking style in to writing is kinda fun too because of the redneck roots I come from. Ain’t nuttin like usin the word ain’t in yur writin.
  • Blogging is almost as good as keeping a journal. Of course it doesn’t read like a journal would because then no one would want to read it. But it speaks from my mind and a bit from my heart to show who I am and what I believe in. The only reason I think about that is so my kids can read this some day when they’re old enough to care and hopefully understand their daddy and why I’m getting some things right and others wrong along the way. I hope they learn from it.
  • I think it is important to speak the truth or at least try to speak what I believe is truth. Sometimes it’s difficult because sometimes the truth hurts or is tough to accept but it’s necessary to put it out there and try to apply it to our lives.
  • I like to share life with people. The good times and bad, joy and pain, laughter and sadness, memorable moments, learning lifes lessons. It all seems worth sharing.
  • I like to check my stats and see that people are actually reading what I write or that somehow people are at least accidentally landing on my site. It is very interesting to see how they’re located all over the country and occasionally all over the world.
  • I love to get comments from people either sharing their own thoughts or just appreciating mine.
  • I am truly rewarded and blessed when I feel deep inside that something I’ve written has either brightened someone’s day with a smile or laughter, challenged someone who might need spurring, or encouraged someone who might be hurting.

That’s all I can think of right now. Maybe I’ll have more to add another day.

Filed Under: Misc, Personal Growth

Weekend Prophet

June 10, 2007 by Leave a Comment

This past weekend has been so busy. We seem to like it that way…

Friday night our kids went to play with friends (the Baughman family) while Shawna and I enjoyed dinner together and grocery shopping. Wasn’t what we would like to call a date night but it did remind us of what it must have been like to grocery shop together before we had kids.

Saturday morning we went out with some of our newest friends – Eric & Kim Lee. They took us out on their boat with our kids and theirs (Olivia and Haley). It was a great time – the most enjoyable moments I’ve ever had on Hartwell Lake and we’ve lived here almost 7 years. We can’t wait to do it again.

Saturday evening we had our first gathering with our new home group. We’ve been trying to start a new group for months and the challenge is that we’re trying to gather on weekends. The challenge being it is difficult to organize a group of more than about 3 couples at a time on the weekend because of everyone’s other plans. That’s ok though. We got together at our house. It was fun. Can’t wait til the next time we get together and see who else can show up.

Sunday we went to the lake again. This time it was for a picnic with some people Shawna works with. That was nice but short lived because we had to be back for church. We go to NewSpring which has a 4pm and 6pm service. We attend the 4pm service and volunteer at the 6pm. We wish we would have gone to an early service so we could have stayed at the lake longer, but part of me is glad we didn’t wear out the fun all in one weekend.

At church mine and Shawna’s volunteer role is usually to take care of all the volunteers who work in all the children’s rooms (basically we serve them drinks and snacks and help them in any other way we see fit). This time I filled in for the regular sound man (Lenny), which I’ve done before so it wasn’t a big deal. But it turns out the acting team for the children’s production needed someone to play Elisha. You guessed it – I was Elisha.

Being Elisha was particularly funny to me because I often joke with Shawna about being a prophet. I can’t help it I have God given prophetic gifts. I’m only joking but what’s funny is when I’m right. Sometimes I’ll say “I’m a prophet” when I know what somebody is going to say or do or react. But the majority of the time my prophetic gift is only good for predicting things like “Devin is going to spill that” or “Skyler is going to get hurt if she doesn’t quit”. Sometimes when the phone rings and I know it is Lenae (Shawna’s sister) without looking at caller ID.

Anyway, it was a great weekend so I just wanted to share a bit of the events. Now I’m predicting a very good week ahead – I’m a prophet.

Filed Under: Misc

Defining Moments in Life

June 8, 2007 by Leave a Comment

When I think about the fact that I’m almost 30 years old I sometimes wonder where the time has gone. What have I done with my life? What am I doing with my life? Why am I where I am? Why is it taking me so long to get where I want to be? What am I supposed to be learning along the journey? Bla Bla Bla. So I will sometimes think back on the things in my life that had significant influence in my life and defined who I have become. Here’s a list I came up with just really quick off the top of my head (partially in order of events but not really).

Playing Soccer.

Playing T-ball and baseball.

Playing football.

Girlfriends.

Playing trumpet.

Being the best trumpeter in the state at one time.

Being region champs in soccer in high-school.

Being known as “Do-It-All Asbell” in the newspaper and local TV for football.

That football team being a losing team for 3 out of 4 of my high school years.

Setting the field goal record that still stands at that high school (49 yds).

Graduating High School.

Graduating College.

Being a “Who’s Who” student all through school (whatever that means – mom was proud).

Getting married.

Devin being born.

Skyler being born – 13 months after Devin.

Paying for 2 kids in that amount of time.

Going broke along the way.

Learning how to get un-broke.

Owning a mobile auto detail business.

Four year learning process in BWW (no detail necessary – I’m so much wiser now).

Working for Delta Airlines – best part was flight benefits – I was still in colllege at the time.

Working for Milliken & Co – tough company to work for.

Working for SGP – another tough company to work for.

I could probably add a lot more to this list but I’m starting to get bored of this. Live and learn. I guess that’s the best thing I’ve done with my life. Anyway, I’m going to go have a life for the rest of the day rather than think about the past…

Filed Under: Misc

Disneyworld Secrets

May 30, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Another quickie. I have this google adword stuff set up on my site becuase it’s a good way to make pocket change. Once in a while I’ll look at what is popping up on this site as advertisements because I don’t like it when the “web crawler” (evil artificial intelligence) scans my site and posts an ad for something opposite of what I’ve written about (aka – advocating the “d” word I’ve written about or lawyers who help with it). Let me put this disclaimer on here for the web crawler – I said I look at what is popping up as ads but I don’t click on them. I’m not allowed to because then I’m paying myself for my own clicks and that will get me in trouble.

Anyway this isn’t turning out as quick as I thought. I noticed an ad for this site so I copied and pasted it in to a new window (you can feel free to click on the google ads – I won’t get in trouble for your clicks – in fact I get some pennies for your clicks so check some of the ads out and let me know what you find). I didn’t read all the marketing copy but it looks like a good deal – $20 bucks for some info that could save me thousands. Shawna and I did pretty good on our trip to Disney but we only got 2 day passes to the parks. Next time we’d like to get 7 day passes and stay in Orlando for 2 weeks but that’s looking a bit in to the future (I will not be going to those parks 7 days out of 14 with two children under 5 yrs old). The info this lady is selling might be something we’d like to purchase for future reference. Thought it was worth sharing in case you might have plans of your own…

Filed Under: Misc

Prom Redefined

May 25, 2007 by Leave a Comment

If you live in upstate SC you know who I’m talking about when I say “Hawk & Tom”. They are the morning radio show on B93.7 and I personally think they are hilarious. I don’t get to listen to them very often but when I do I’m always humored. Anyway, several weeks ago they hosted their first ever Hawk & Tom Prom. Shawna and I went with several friends. It was a blast.

Once again I have been slack with the camera but I bummed a couple of pics of some friends.

Below is a picture of the whole bunch of us at dinner (except for Ken – he got cut off on the left side) I’ll try to name everybody but I’m afraid I might have forgotten one couples names. From the guy front and center. I think he is Chad and I think his wife’s name is Amanda (I hope I’m not getting that wrong). Then moving around the table there is Chase & Crystal, Chris & Elizabeth, Lenny & Tathie at the far end, Me & Shawna of course, then Orion and Kim, and part of Ken and Christy. 

Dinner was excellent – great food and a lot of fun. Forgot the name of that place in Greenville where we ate but it was probably the best steak I’ve had in a while. Our server was a good sport too cause we were having a lot of fun and including him in the fun. We were having so much fun at the restaurant I didn’t want to leave there.

Special thanks to Orion and his special hook-up for getting everyone in our group tickets. And special thanks to Kim for giving me these pics. I want the pics off Chris’s camera but after the post about his birthday he might be afraid to give them to me. Here’s the beautiful couple Orion and Kim:

And I couldn’t post about this without including a picture of me and my gorgeous wife Shawna. Unfortunately her shoes and purse didn’t make it in to any of the pictures but she was extremely proud of her dress and stuff. I was just glad she was happy. As for me – that’s my high school tux except with pants that fit cause I’m a little, ok a lot, bigger below the chest and above the knees now.


My wife is so HOT! Uhhh, yeahh. Let’s just say I was the ladies man that night. Those Hawk & Tom characters knew what they were talking about when they said this prom would be better than your high school proms. I think dancing is better after marriage. Being allowed to legally partake of a drink probably helped a bit too. But one of the greatest benefits of prom after marriage is getting to go home with your date and we’ll just leave it at that. I will say it sucks to be a high school punk hoping to get what he should wait for cause it just ain’t as good as when you’re married.
This is another unforgettable moment because prom has been redefined for me. It used to be a part misery part shame experience because I don’t remember anything good about it from high school. But now it is an unforgettable moment with my wonderful wife and all our wonderful friends. Prom Redefined.

Filed Under: Family, Misc, Relationships, Stories
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