Jimmie Ingram

Today I’m reading through Mathew 12 and came across this passage that punched me right in the face. Jesus said, make a tree good and it’s fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and it’s fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by it’s fruit. Then I skipped down a verse and read. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

This got me thinking about how impatient I can be, or about how I’m always looking for the flaw or fault in someone. I usually always have something negative to say. Of course I do have my good moments too:) The point I’m trying to make is, I want to bring life to people. Even when I don’t feel like it, that there would be enough good stored up in me that it would over ride the negative.

The more I read the gospel the more challenged I am by it. I’m the king of finding a loop hole to get out of doing something I don’t like. Jesus doesn’t really offer any loop holes. We’re supposed to love our enemies and it’s hard to love our closet friends sometimes:) That’s what frustrates me and compels me about following Jesus. I can’t wait to meet face to face one day.

I just got back home from South Podre for a little family vacation. It’s good to finally be home and getting plugged into the Austin Stone church. I’ve already met so many amazing people there and I’m looking forward to getting more invested. Laura and I are both excited about being here and seeing what God has in store for us. 

Sorry I haven’t written in awhile, It’s been a crazy summer. It’s good to be home and settling in. I hope everyone who reads here is doing well.

This is the summer of me breaking things and I hope it’s about through. It seems like once you get in a cycle of things falling apart it just keeps going. Here’s a little list for ya.

2 cell phones, 2 guitar speakers, 1 guitar amp, 1 busted Les Paul head stock. Head ache priceless!!:)

I wish I were rich when things break so I could throw them away and just buy something new. I know, I know I’m really shallow, but you’ve all been there. You know the times in life when it feels like everything is falling apart and you can’t catch a break. Anyone else ever feel like that?

I hate being inconsistent especially when it comes to my relationship with Christ. It’s funny that the most important relationship I have, gets put on the back burner most of the time. I can’t just put my marriage on hold and get back to it when I have the time. I have to constantly be listening and communicating with Laura, finding out what she needs from me. If I put that relationship with her on hold I might find myself alone one day.

Why is it that I feel like I can give God my left over time? Or I’ll have a real encounter with the Lord and feel like he’s trying to do something new in my life and just drop the ball after awhile. I hate that and I’m not really sure how to get out of that rut. Sometimes we talk about God’s grace and mercy so much that I wonder if we use that as an excuse to be flippant with our faith. I do believe that God’s grace is huge but I don’t want to cheapen it either. Maybe I’m being too honest but it is what it is and God still has a lot of work to do on me.

Friday Laura and I set out to Missouri and it turned out to be a pretty eventful day. We drove through Jonesboro Illinois were and admiring the beautiful scenery. The gps was taking us down this old country roads we’re you felt like you were back in time. We ran across this old house and church. 

Then these beautiful little country roads got us in trouble. We had to cross the Mississippi and the road was washed out. We had to leave Jonesboro and head to St. Louis, witch was a nice little 60 mile detour. Then if that wasn’t bad enough, we hit one of the worst storms I’ve ever driven through. Laura handled the car like a champ but she was a little freaked out and I can’t blame her. That storm could have crushed our car like a little coke can. Here’s the pics. Looks like a tornado could drop right out of the sky at any time.

Anyone else have any crazy road stories?

My vox isn’t working for crap right now. It’s bright, brittle and has no head room. I think it’s broken because I’ve played on other vox amps that sound awesome. It does have the junk speakers that come in the new ones. I’m seriously tired of fighting with these amps. I played on a Divided by 13 today and it just sang to me. It was bright, warm and punchy. It was the FTR37 through a 2×12 cab loaded with blue alinco speakers. There’s part of me that just thinks it would be more responsible to fix the vox and change speakers and I think I’ll try that first. If anyone has a divided by thirteen they don’t want anymore, give me a shout.

I’ve been reading Mathew 5 lately and have become convinced that I could spend the rest of my life working on this chapter. If I were told to memorize one chapter because my bible would be taken from me, Mathew 5 would be it hands down. I stopped on blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth and I looked up the word meek, quiet, gentle and easily imposed on. I realized that I’m hardly any of those things, in fact I’m quite the opposite most of the time. How bout the whole part about loving our enemies?! I stink at that too and I have to admit, that doesn’t sound like an exciting thing to learn. Jesus teaches a lot of hard things in this chapter. I always thought of the beatitudes as this cute little thing we learned in sunday school as children. Nothing cute and easy about the beatitudes:) These attitudes go against how most of us are wired. I only hope that by the end of my life with much time and season, that I can be more like Jesus.

Anyone else have any books or scriptures that really hit them like this? 

I’ve been turning into the biggest guitar tone geek, I spend hours thinking about how to make it better. I’ve been rocking the samamp for a quite some time now and it just isn’t working for me anymore. So I pulled the AC 30 back out yesterday and it just freakin screams, I love the sound of a loud vox at teeth shattering volumes. Hopefully this keeps me happy for a while and I don’t have to keep changing gear:)

Oh cell phones, it’s a love hate relationship. I have to have one but hate paying for it. Last week mine finally broke but it still worked, if that makes any sort of since:) The hinge broke and it was hanging on by one little copper wire. I had to leave it open on the hotel desk and run up every couple of hours to check for missed calls or texts. I lasted a whole week with it in this condition. I always brake cell phones, someone needs to make a Jimmie proof cell phone. I could buy 1 or 2 guitars a year for what I spend on my cell bill every year. I think only guitar players think in those terms:)

This week has been tough for some reason. I just feel like I’m stuck in a weird funk that I can’t seem to shake. It’s hard to get inspired to do anything positive right now. I think I started this week off on a bad foot because I’ve been complaining about the beach all week a long with a hand full of other things. Sometimes I let things get on my nerves that shouldn’t. Like teenagers are awkward and don’t always think before they speak, I know it sounds like a lot of us, but it’s a whole other level:) It’s hard to answer “Hey are you albino or Hey is that your natural hair color?!” so many times without being a jerk. I even got tone advice from a kid last night, he had to let me know that my guitar gave feedback and that he didn’t think it sounded good. I’m glad he told me since I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, I would have never known if he hadn’t pointed it out to me:) Sorry for the sarcasm.

God’s really using this summer to teach me about becoming more secure in myself and showing grace. It’s freaking tough though. I just have to remember, I was awkward once and still put my foot in my mouth quite often, I’ve just learned to do it with style now:) 

Anyone else ever get hit with their insecurities like that?