Monday, June 5, 2023

A Second Blog!

    Let me start by saying, don't worry, this blog isn't going anywhere. However, in the interest of keeping topics separate I have started a new blog! My ministerial blog can be found at: Pastor Burton's Blog and the first post is up! Exciting times for me. Yay! Now of course, I also have the podcast: Healing Scars with Pastor Burton | RSS.com and it's updated weekly! So to start the blog content is different from the podcast post. Specifically what's there isn't recorded anywhere else, or in any other format. For now. I am thinking about also transcribing the podcast and posting it there as well. 

    Decisions, decisions. If I did do that, it would be bonus content of sorts. The messages I've already recorded, plus the blog posts that haven't been recorded. Hmm? Thoughts? Anyone? So much on my mind to reach out to the world. Anyways, short and sweet. 

Thanks, 

~B

Saturday, June 3, 2023

Puppy Love

 Puppy Love


    Well, a few months ago our beloved Mary passed away. At the gentle age of 12, she lived a good dog's life. Man, I miss her. 

    Then a few weeks ago a friend contacted me with a dilemma, her girlfriend from nursing school had the place she'd been renting for years sold out from under her and the new owner was forcing her to leave! Insane right?! Well, fortunately she found a place for her and her kids to move into with one caveat. She could only have one dog. They had two. To make matters worse, they've had both since they were pups! What's a family to do? 

    Well, being a dogless house we were already fixing to adopt a new fur baby. So the timing was perfect! Thank the Lord! And I offered to take in their oldest. A 12-year-old, sweet dog named Rosie! You couldn't have asked for a more perfect connection! Everyone's in love with her! She loves to travel. And being an older dog, she's not a runner and doesn't need really long walks! Which is great since we live in a desert and it's heating up!  

    I didn't want to leave her original family in total heartbreak. My eyeballs almost started sweating when we had the turnover. It was rough, no pun intended. Okay, a little intended. So, my wife and I agreed that they could see Rosie at any time. And we send them pictures regularly. Our family has gotten a little bigger. And we're glad we can spoil this old pup for whatever time we have with her!




Blogging Return

 Blogging Return


    I've been debating a return to blogging. For a while it seemed like every time I'd start to write, something would pull me away! Look! Squirrel! 

    Oh, but I've been writing. That's the thing. Only about something different than what I'd put up here over the years. You see I've been writing sermons. Times have changed and so have I in a lot of ways. Growth is good though. Now, where can they be read? Well, nowhere and everywhere. You see I started a Podcast specifically for my ministry. If you're interested, feel free to check it out. It's called "Healing Scars with Pastor Burton" and is available to stream on a ton of platforms. Spotify, IHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer, RSS.com, Amazon Music, Audible, and so many more. 

    The first episode was put out just before the new year. Here in a couple of weeks, it's actually going to be a solid 6 months running, with at least 1 new episode posted every Friday. Watching the analytics has been fun because I'm seeing more and more countries pop up as well. As of this writing, it's been listened to on every continent except Antartica. It would be sweet to see, however that may be a bit ambitious. Time will tell though. I've actually thought about taking those sermons, and creating a blog just to post them in. Not everyone listens to podcasts after all. It's interesting that that's the platform that's being used as I rarely listen to podcasts myself! Perhaps, I should turn on a camera when I'm recording and start posting to YouTube as well? Or Rumble even? 

    I logged in here and was surprised to see so many people keep checking in from time to time too. Blogging isn't dead! YAY! 

    Have you ever looked back on your own blog to see how you've changed over the years? I used to cuss a lot, drink, and smoke (tobacco), and that's all turned around. Well, let's be honest, I still cuss but not nearly as much, and rarely drink. When I do it's at home. Thanks for letting me ramble today. 

~B

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Hindsight

     You know, hindsight likes to taunt you sometimes. I recently started a podcast. A believe me, a blog voice is easier to find than a vlog/podcast voice is. I already have material recorded and scheduled to post. Then it hit me...I should have kept my old ministry blog. DOH! There was so much material there! What was I thinking?! Oh well.

    A lot of things are like that in life, aren't they? One day you're good. You're thinking you're doing the right thing. And let's face it, at that time it really was for the information you had. But in the future, POW! I won't if this is the kind of thing hoarders are prepping for. The whole, "I might need this one day" event. 

    Now I know not to do it again. Maybe I should start a new ministry blog and convert my podcast notes into something readable. Hmm. There's a thought. 

    In the meantime, you can check out the new podcast at: Healing Scars with Pastor Burton | RSS.com and tell me what you think! It's also available on over a dozen other podcast services right now. And about to be submitted to Apple for approval on their services as well. 

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Road to Becoming a Caffeine Dealer

 Road to Becoming a Caffeine Dealer

    So much to cover, I'm not even sure where to start. A little over 2 years ago I had something unique popup in my feed. A Veteran based coffee company called Scars & Stripes Coffee. Over and over this ad would show. So I finally looked into it, just to find out if it's legit or not. Plus, who doesn't love coffee? It's the second most consumed product on the planet after water right! Turns out it's a legit company. Here's a coffee company made for Veterans...take my money at least once! I ordered a bag, had it shipped out to me, and what do I find? A coffee that straight up lived up to it's hype about the product. Like many, the coffee itself is what I cared about at the start. I mean, if the coffee is garbage, bye-bye. 

    At this point I'm interested in the company. The coffee is solid, so what's the Veteran empowerment part all about? I aim my browser to their site and away we go! So it says, ONLY Veterans can sell their product. And they have a vetting process. Admittedly I was hesitant because they ask for a copy of your DD-214. Any that's ever held one will tell you there's a plethora of vital info there. Date of birth, social security number, full name, a summary of your service and awards. In the wrong hands some serious damage can be done! But I took a leap of faith and bam! I was a team member. I'd worked with MLM's in the past, so I kept my guard up. Turns out this wasn't an MLM at all. They didn't even require you to make a monthly quota, or spend anything right away to get started. Instead they sent me a ton of paperwork. Literally the foundation of how to start my own company with their backing. Sounds weird right? 

    The beginning. I fired up a facebook page dedicated to only my coffee. And in my posts I'd guide people to the company website. All they had to do was plug in my last name at checkout and I earned a commission. This worked even better than I thought! I even worked my way up the chain being promoted to Squad Leader! I was on a roll! Then COVID happened. Right when I was thinking about working events and getting out with it, the pandemic shut down everything. So ecommerce became my friend for a while. Then my state finally started to open back up. I made a small investment in myself. about $500. I told myself if this doesn't work, then I'm done. Within my first two outings, not only did I earn it back with interest, but I found myself selling out of certain products! I took my commission, and dumped it all back in to my venture. My next promise to myself was that I was going to earn that $500 initial investment back, and make sure that my SSC business was self sustaining. And it happened. 

    Now I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Nor will I be doing this. But I've found I have a lot of fun going out to events, connecting with people, and hearing their stories of service or the stories of their loved ones who served or are currently serving. It's helped me bring down more barriers that I put up in my own life and get back out into my community. Last year I even made it out to Oklahoma for the annual sales meeting and had a blast running a 5k mud run. There's nothing like the bond of fellow Veterans though. That's really the best part. 

2021 was a great year for coffee. 2022 is going to be even better!

PS: If you want to try it for yourself you can. Head over to www.ss.coffee/Rominger and give it a go. 

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Basic Time

A blast from the past! What? Yes, the little things really can just make your day in a big way.

Recently I was going through some boxes in storage with my kiddo, looking for a couple of items I needed. And Junior just happened to stumble across something I forgot about. As a matter of fact I thought I'd lost it years ago. He came across my old pocket watch!

So when I was younger, I'd eat watches up. Washer, smashed in a bicycle wreck, lost. You name it, I probably used it to destroy a watch. So in 1993 I saw this pocket watch I just had to have. So I got it. I took a beating and kept on ticking. Pun intended. It was so good that it became my every day carry watch, until I went to military school. I kept it in my pocket sans chain. But not having the chain just felt wrong, and the bulge in my pocket just didn't seem proper with my uniform. Moving forward I wore a wrist watch like everyone else.

Now I've tried many a watch. And some are very handy for certain things. For instance my Suunto is tops when scuba diving. A basic analog is best in health care were my hands are full, but I need the seconds hand to time things like a pulse. But nothing has ever felt as natural as a pocket watch.

Upon its recent discovery I wondered if it would even still work. After all, the last time I knew it was running was when I was still in school. It's been packed away ever since. The logical thing to do was to take it into a shop. In record time, the gentleman pulled it apart, cleaned it, replaced the battery (I may have the insides changed one day) and then put it all back together. It works! He even commented that he was impressed with it, and recognized that it was a limited run device for it's time. It's been back in my pocket everyday since then, and I don't miss my wristwatch a bit. It didn't cost much when I bought it. But for me at least, it's priceless now.

Front of my 1993 Looney Tunes Pocket Watch
Back side

Inside


Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Music to My Ears.

Years ago I learned how to play music. Not as much by choice but because the school I went to required two years. The first year everyone picked up the recorder. Typical. The next year however, everyone had to pick an instrument. Keep in mind I commuted to school from the next town over. So by the time I arrived to try picking out my instrument, many had already been filled up. Percussion? Filled. Trumpet? Filled. Sax? Filled. I ended up with a flute. Yes, my first instrument was the piece of metal that was given new life as a dirty joke. At the time I thought it was a joke too.Fast forward a few years, and I not only learned to appreciate it, but loved it. I played right into my Junior High days. Then change was about to happen.

Teenage angst was setting in. The bad director I had was a... well 30 years later and I still can't find a word to describe my disdain. Not only did I get the flute jokes from other band members, and the student body, but was belittled by this toxic life form for the same thing. I no longer wanted to play. I kept my flute at home and made a change. I finally went to the percussion section. Xylophone, tympani, bells, cymbals, etc. You put me behind them, and I wasn't going to just play them. I was going to beat them! My anger and frustration went into whatever I was going to be playing for a given song. And he hated it.

Enter my dad. He played guitar since he was a kid, and picked up piano/ keyboards along the way by ear. He'd played with many a band, and had tried to teach me some guitar, but I didn't want it at the time. So he did the next best thing, and bought me a drum kit. At this point I didn't like playing in front of people much because of said band director. I'd mess around sometimes with friends. My pleasure was much more in the confines of home though. I'd crank the stereo, or put on my headphones, and would kick that kit for all I was worth in high school.

Then of course life happened. I went to a military school, enlisted in the Marine Corps, had a child, and on and on. When I finally came home to the US. My beloved flute was long gone, lost amongst my parents moving. My drums were destroyed by a bad roommate of my future stepdad's when my folks split. The only music in my life was the radio, cd's, and old cassettes. I accepted it for years. I tried getting into the whole guitar hero thing with my kids. And while the drums were good "FOR A GAME". They weren't the real thing. I had a hole begging to be filled.

The day finally came to fill that hole. I'd been looking around some local music stores. One day, my dad was in town and asked me if I could get any instrument there, which one would I choose? Thinking is was a hypothetical question I answered honestly and showed him the bass guitar I'd had my eye on. I don't know what it was, but I was just drawn to her. He bought her on the spot along with an amp. My jaw dropped!

The day I brought Ol' Blue home.
My journey back into music was rekindled. My ex thought I was wasting my time. So I'd spend what time I could back in the bedroom (sexy I know) getting to know my new found love. Not long after I had started to get to know her, tragedy struck. My dad died unexpectedly. I couldn't even look at Ol' Blue without wanting to cry. So she was put away for a couple years. Once in a while I'd try, but couldn't. Finally, enough time went by and I not only could bring her out of her confinement, but I started getting to know her all over again. Just a little at a time. It was like I was able to spend time with my dad.

Fast forward a little bit, and the church was looking for a bassist. I didn't say anything at first. And then a friend, who knew I played a little, told the music director. I explained I was just learning and didn't think I'd be up to par. Really it was because after all those years, I was still that kid that didn't want to play for people anymore. But after some discussion I went out, and a couple weeks later found myself stepping into a band again. It was different this time. I wasn't playing for people, I was serving the Lord! While it wasn't exactly my style of music, that didn't matter anymore. The game had changed!

The Artist hanging out on stage.
A a rapid rate I found myself starting on just mid-week service, to playing mid-week and all Sunday services as well. It was exciting. And then it got more exciting. Mid-week service went away during the summer do to so many things happening in the church and there not being prep-time. But when they came back, we found ourselves doing an acoustic night, since our keys man was leading the Youth service now. So I found myself an acoustic/electric bass to go with the sound. She's gotten a lot of praise. And then another change had taken its toll as well.

My violin bass Happy Camper.
 I'd sustained a back injury at work and needed something a little lighter than Ol' Blue. Enter Happy Camper. And just like any other instrument, they each have their own personality and sound. I've found myself switching out between the three, depending on what day it is, what we're playing, or just plain how I'm feeling.

That hole has been filled. I have music in it's rawest form back in my life. And when I'm down, it really helps. It transcends just listening. I hear it, feel it, clear my head, spend time with loved ones past, and most importantly learn. Whether it's a technique, and adjustment to a song, or a riff that's in my head, I'm a student of music. I enjoy playing again. Not only am I part of a band of people I respect, I'm part of the greatest band on earth. God's band. You'll find them in your local church, with varying styles of play and worship.

Now you're probably asking what the point is. And there is one. This has just been a part of my journey. NEVER LET ANYONE STEAL YOUR MUSIC. You may not find it again. Your music may be literal, or something else entirely. But it's a part of you. You can take breaks if need be. But don't lose it. Ever.

Serving with the Lords blessings upon me.