For you Veggie Tale watchers, that song is probably my favorite of all the songs that I have heard. If you have never heard of Veggie Tales - I feel you have missed out on some of the best vegetable cartoons of all time.
It has been a while since I have written down my thoughts for everyone to read (Sorry Mom). As you may know, I left my last ministry position at the beginning of February. In the time since that move things have drastically changed in my life. Janel has lost over 100 pounds, I have lost nearly 60 pounds, both the girls have turned a year older, I am now in the middle of training for a half-marathon (then a marathon next year, then an Iron-man.....I know its crazy). The time since February has been some of the most difficult times that I have gone through. I was at the point of leaving ministry for good, questioning whether or not God was still going to use me in ministry. But at the same time that I was questioning my call to ministry, God was in the works in an amazing ways. Unlike most employment opportunities, searching for a ministry position is does not depend on the school graduated from, how successful you were in your previous position, or even your accomplishments. Ministry is all (or should all be) about God drawing together a church and a minister. During the time since I left the last position in February, I have been looking for a new place to serve. The process has been difficult and frustrating at best. I went on several interviews at several churches, but something would always happen were the position would no longer be available - but none of the positions were filled. After every interview, I would get an email or phone call saying that the committee was having trouble making a decision and would need more time, or was not ready to hire someone at this point.
Looking back over the all the opportunities, I can see that they are not at all what God had in mind for me. Fortunately, God did have a plan for me. In April, I was contacted by a woman from a Presbyterian church in Hammond. They needed someone to teach the youth on Sunday Nights for youth group. Since I had no better plans in life, I agreed to go teach on an as-needed basis.
Little did I know what I would be stepping into. The group of students, parents, and volunteers were amazing! The first week I was there, I believe there were as many parents as there were youth. I have been back nearly every week since April, and things have not changed.
I am proud to say that this Sunday will be my first official week as the Christian Education Director, and I couldn't be happier. The church family is excited to support the youth and the children's programs, the youth are craving the word of God and to learn about the God. This is looking like one of the best places I could possibly be.
Here is the lesson for you - God is bigger than all those boogie men in your life. No matter the situation, God is not surprised about it, he has control of it, and he can get you through it - if you let him have control.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Apple bottom Jeans, boots with the fur!
Before you ask, I do not own either of these. I just could not think of a catchy line to title the blog. I don't really have a life lesson for this entry but I did reach a milestone in my weight loss journey. Thus far, I have lost over 45 pounds and have begun training for the Louisiana half marathon, with the goal of doing a full marathon next year with my friend Dustin. Let me tell you about the milestone.
As is the case with most people that have gained weight, I have that one pair of jeans that was kept and hid at the bottom of the dresser drawer. You know what I am talking about, its that pair of jeans, dress shirt, or suit that was purchased before the weight gain, squeezed into until the buttons would no longer come together, and then was stowed away in the dresser to serve as a constant reminder of what once was, and to drive their victim (i.e. Me) to a binge of depression eating to comfort the feelings of sorrow which ultimately drove the waistline further from fitting back into the jeans.
Last night I was looking for a pair of jeans to wear to a VBS parents night, when I came across a pair of Aeropostale blue jeans that I purchased 4 years ago. If you have ever walked into an Aero store, the sizes only go up to a guys 36 inch waist, which in the real world is actually about a 34 inch at best. When I bought the jean I could barely fit into the jeans, or breath once I was in them. Needless to say, I wasn't wearing them for long before they found the bottom of the dresser.
As I was looking, I thought I would try them out. I really was looking for motivation to workout harder and stick to the diet even better. I was extremely surprised as they slid over my waist comfortably and then buttoned WITHOUT any sucking, grunting, or cursing! I could actually fit a couple of fingers between the jeans and my waist - which means I am can now go shopping at Aeropostale, and that I a weigh less then when I bought them. Here are some pictures to show what I am talking about.
There is one amazing thing in these pictures.......The soap that my wife keeps in the bathroom is awesome. Okay, just kidding! Before you get jealous, that guy in the pictures belongs to Janel. The jeans cost $34.50 at Aeropostale this week.
Until next time.
As is the case with most people that have gained weight, I have that one pair of jeans that was kept and hid at the bottom of the dresser drawer. You know what I am talking about, its that pair of jeans, dress shirt, or suit that was purchased before the weight gain, squeezed into until the buttons would no longer come together, and then was stowed away in the dresser to serve as a constant reminder of what once was, and to drive their victim (i.e. Me) to a binge of depression eating to comfort the feelings of sorrow which ultimately drove the waistline further from fitting back into the jeans.
Last night I was looking for a pair of jeans to wear to a VBS parents night, when I came across a pair of Aeropostale blue jeans that I purchased 4 years ago. If you have ever walked into an Aero store, the sizes only go up to a guys 36 inch waist, which in the real world is actually about a 34 inch at best. When I bought the jean I could barely fit into the jeans, or breath once I was in them. Needless to say, I wasn't wearing them for long before they found the bottom of the dresser.
As I was looking, I thought I would try them out. I really was looking for motivation to workout harder and stick to the diet even better. I was extremely surprised as they slid over my waist comfortably and then buttoned WITHOUT any sucking, grunting, or cursing! I could actually fit a couple of fingers between the jeans and my waist - which means I am can now go shopping at Aeropostale, and that I a weigh less then when I bought them. Here are some pictures to show what I am talking about.
There is one amazing thing in these pictures.......The soap that my wife keeps in the bathroom is awesome. Okay, just kidding! Before you get jealous, that guy in the pictures belongs to Janel. The jeans cost $34.50 at Aeropostale this week.
Until next time.
Friday, July 8, 2011
The world is my oyster
Have you ever been to an amusement park and seen a pearl diver? One of those places where a person will dive down, gather oysters and then you get a surprise as to what size pearl will come out of the shell. Have you ever wondered how those pearls got in the oyster. Unfortunately, oysters are not born with a pearl, they actually produce the pearl as a way of removing an irritant that gets into their shells. When piece of sand or small rock gets into the oysters mouth, they produce saliva to coat the particle and it eventually turns into a beautiful pearl. So when you see a lady wearing a real pearl necklace, try not to laugh to hard when you remember that she is wearing oyster saliva around her neck.
Anyway, I say all that to say this. I was on a run this evening and I got one small piece of something in the toe of my shoe. Normally, one little particle wouldn't even be noticeable, but I was running in Vibram five finger shoes and I don't (can't) wear socks with them. Therefore, that one little piece of something quickly became a problem and ended my run much earlier than I was hoping for. I now have a small blister on the pad of my big toe - NOT COOL!
As always, these things in life make me think about some life lessons. Sometimes in life, we get small irritants in life that just rub us the wrong way. At that point, we have the choice of either doing something to get rid of the aggravation or we can ignore it util it causes an even bigger problem. Often when we do something to get rid of the thing that is aggravating us, we end up with our own pearls to share with the world. Take for example, Patience. I was always warned as a child to not pray for patience because God would grant it in a way that I would not like. Well, I did pray for patience and God gave me Morgan. I love this child to death, she is truly a good kid, but she does push my buttons very efficiently. We are working on me being more patient with her and others, and one day that "pearl" is going to be amazing.
Don't let those small things in life get under your skin, choose to figure out a way to get rid of it. That way you can have your oyster, and eat it too!
Anyway, I say all that to say this. I was on a run this evening and I got one small piece of something in the toe of my shoe. Normally, one little particle wouldn't even be noticeable, but I was running in Vibram five finger shoes and I don't (can't) wear socks with them. Therefore, that one little piece of something quickly became a problem and ended my run much earlier than I was hoping for. I now have a small blister on the pad of my big toe - NOT COOL!
As always, these things in life make me think about some life lessons. Sometimes in life, we get small irritants in life that just rub us the wrong way. At that point, we have the choice of either doing something to get rid of the aggravation or we can ignore it util it causes an even bigger problem. Often when we do something to get rid of the thing that is aggravating us, we end up with our own pearls to share with the world. Take for example, Patience. I was always warned as a child to not pray for patience because God would grant it in a way that I would not like. Well, I did pray for patience and God gave me Morgan. I love this child to death, she is truly a good kid, but she does push my buttons very efficiently. We are working on me being more patient with her and others, and one day that "pearl" is going to be amazing.
Don't let those small things in life get under your skin, choose to figure out a way to get rid of it. That way you can have your oyster, and eat it too!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Love Hurts, and scars. Love wounds and marks
Today I experienced one of the most traumatic things in my entire life. Mind you, I have witnessed my wife going through 18 hours of labor -and before all the mothers say "YOU didn't go through 18 hours of labor," watching your wife is not at all easy (you ladies say some pretty mean things that you have selective amnesia about later), I have lived through one of the worse natural disasters in history with Hurricane Katrina - which included living in a house with 15 people, 5 animals, 1 bathroom and zero electricity, and a pregnant wife for a few days until we decided to try to get to my family in Florida, I have been through death and loss of family members and ministered to families in the same circumstances. But today had to be one of the worse I have ever gone through. I took both of my girls to the doctor for their check ups...BY MYSELF.
Before you roll your eyes, I have always taken the girls their doctors appointments, and I have no problem doing so. Janel is not a fan of doctors, doesn't like shots, and since my schedule is more flexible, I have taken the girls to the doctor all but 1 time in the combined 6 years of parenthood. Today was different then all the other times I have taken them to the doctor.
This was Madison's 1 year appointment, so I expected for her to be getting shots - smartly, I gave her Tylenol before going into the office to help off put the pain and fever - what I was completely unaware of was a new "fun" activity they do at this check up. On top of the 3 regular shots they gave her, there was also the finger prick tests for blood hemoglobin or something like that (I was in a daze when she was trying to explain it because it was the last thing they did, and I had already seen 4 needles, of which I am not fond). This test consists of them stabbing Maddie's finger and squeezing out 2 tubes of blood. Of course this caused my beautiful child to turn into the spawn of Satan and scream continuously for the next hour.
Morgan, I thought, was going to be easy as pie. A 5 year check up is normally just to make sure she can hop on one foot, speak full sentences, and is toilet trained. This would have been excellent, if Janel and I had not been concerned about her petite size. If you know Morgan, you know that she is small for her size and has actually been getting picked on at school for this - please pray for her and us as we work through this in her life. I asked the doctor about it, and she decided to do a thyroid test. Sounds great, except for the part where they draw 3 viles of blood from Morgans arm. Imagine this, I am holding Morgan in an MMA body triangle, with my arm over her shoulder across her body to keep her still. A nurse is holding each arm to keep them still, another nurse is holding a screaming Maddie, and a nurse is holding Morgans legs between her knees and is about to stab Morgan in the arm. If you were not counting, that is 5 grown adults to control 2 children that combined weigh 52 pounds. It was a freaking circus in that room.
The best part of all of this was, I paid $50 in co-pays in order to have the pleasure of the experience. You should have seen the eyes of the kids that were in the waiting room as we walked through after we were finished. I believe I heard one of the parents saying "see what happens when you misbehave at the doctors office," but I may be wrong.
I love my children, and to see them go through that was difficult for me, but I know that it needed to happen. So as the band Nazareth tells us "love hurts, and scars, love wounds and marks" but sometimes it is for the better.
Until next time.
Before you roll your eyes, I have always taken the girls their doctors appointments, and I have no problem doing so. Janel is not a fan of doctors, doesn't like shots, and since my schedule is more flexible, I have taken the girls to the doctor all but 1 time in the combined 6 years of parenthood. Today was different then all the other times I have taken them to the doctor.
This was Madison's 1 year appointment, so I expected for her to be getting shots - smartly, I gave her Tylenol before going into the office to help off put the pain and fever - what I was completely unaware of was a new "fun" activity they do at this check up. On top of the 3 regular shots they gave her, there was also the finger prick tests for blood hemoglobin or something like that (I was in a daze when she was trying to explain it because it was the last thing they did, and I had already seen 4 needles, of which I am not fond). This test consists of them stabbing Maddie's finger and squeezing out 2 tubes of blood. Of course this caused my beautiful child to turn into the spawn of Satan and scream continuously for the next hour.
Morgan, I thought, was going to be easy as pie. A 5 year check up is normally just to make sure she can hop on one foot, speak full sentences, and is toilet trained. This would have been excellent, if Janel and I had not been concerned about her petite size. If you know Morgan, you know that she is small for her size and has actually been getting picked on at school for this - please pray for her and us as we work through this in her life. I asked the doctor about it, and she decided to do a thyroid test. Sounds great, except for the part where they draw 3 viles of blood from Morgans arm. Imagine this, I am holding Morgan in an MMA body triangle, with my arm over her shoulder across her body to keep her still. A nurse is holding each arm to keep them still, another nurse is holding a screaming Maddie, and a nurse is holding Morgans legs between her knees and is about to stab Morgan in the arm. If you were not counting, that is 5 grown adults to control 2 children that combined weigh 52 pounds. It was a freaking circus in that room.
The best part of all of this was, I paid $50 in co-pays in order to have the pleasure of the experience. You should have seen the eyes of the kids that were in the waiting room as we walked through after we were finished. I believe I heard one of the parents saying "see what happens when you misbehave at the doctors office," but I may be wrong.
I love my children, and to see them go through that was difficult for me, but I know that it needed to happen. So as the band Nazareth tells us "love hurts, and scars, love wounds and marks" but sometimes it is for the better.
Until next time.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
If the shoe fits.....
Over the past 75 days, a lot of things have changed in my life. My youngest daughter turned 1, my oldest daughter turned 5, Janel has passed me in the weight loss challenge (she has lost nearly 80 pounds), and I have lost 40 pounds (which puts me under 200 pounds for the first time since I moved to the land where everything is fried and/or covered in a cream sauce known to the rest of the world as New Orleans).
There are lots of benefits to having lost this much weight. I am sleeping better (imagine Janel sarcastically saying "You had trouble sleeping ever in life?"), I do not snore as bad - as indicated by the healing of the bruises on my ribs from my wife trying to get me to stop in the middle of the night, clothes are fitting better, and I can play on the floor with my children without needing a forklift to get up after. One of the benefits that has me giddy (yeah, you read that correctly) happened over the weekend. I was getting dressed to get to my friends wedding on Saturday, and I noticed that I had to redo my tie several times. I had to keep adjusting the tie SHORTER. Before I started losing weight, the only reason I would wear a tie was to hide the fact that my belly was stretching the buttons on my shirt, and therefore would have to make the tie very long to reach over my stomach and touch my belt buckle (which is the proper length for ties). But on Saturday, I noticed that I had to shorten the ties because they were hanging too low. This was one of the great accomplishments of the journey so far.
I know that is kind of a silly thing to be happy or excited about, but it was important to a guy who wears ties as part of his occupation (which, ironically, I promised my mother I would never do because I use to hate when she would make me wear a tie on the holidays). It got me thinking about how things fit. My clothes are fitting better - no long ties, stretching buttons, bulging pockets, or using the last hole on a belt because I am eating and exercising correctly and taking care of my body. As people created in the image of God, we fit better when we are living harmony with his will.
I see people everyday both in ministry settings and at Starbucks (which is also a ministry setting) that do a lot of "covering up" to make themselves appear to be happy and put on the facade that they think everyone wants to see. When in reality, their lives are in shambles, their marriages stink, they are unhappy in their jobs,etc because the manner in which they are living is in complete discord with what God has for their lives. Whenever I see someone that is giving in to some kind of addiction - drinking, shopping, drugs, whatever vice you can think of - I always wonder what they are trying to hide from everyone seeing.
This world is full of so much hurt, pain, and "long ties" because WE are trying to live OUR lives, not the life that reflects that image of God in us. If we could start living in accordance to what the Bible show us as right, we could have a lot of shorter ties in the world
There are lots of benefits to having lost this much weight. I am sleeping better (imagine Janel sarcastically saying "You had trouble sleeping ever in life?"), I do not snore as bad - as indicated by the healing of the bruises on my ribs from my wife trying to get me to stop in the middle of the night, clothes are fitting better, and I can play on the floor with my children without needing a forklift to get up after. One of the benefits that has me giddy (yeah, you read that correctly) happened over the weekend. I was getting dressed to get to my friends wedding on Saturday, and I noticed that I had to redo my tie several times. I had to keep adjusting the tie SHORTER. Before I started losing weight, the only reason I would wear a tie was to hide the fact that my belly was stretching the buttons on my shirt, and therefore would have to make the tie very long to reach over my stomach and touch my belt buckle (which is the proper length for ties). But on Saturday, I noticed that I had to shorten the ties because they were hanging too low. This was one of the great accomplishments of the journey so far.
I know that is kind of a silly thing to be happy or excited about, but it was important to a guy who wears ties as part of his occupation (which, ironically, I promised my mother I would never do because I use to hate when she would make me wear a tie on the holidays). It got me thinking about how things fit. My clothes are fitting better - no long ties, stretching buttons, bulging pockets, or using the last hole on a belt because I am eating and exercising correctly and taking care of my body. As people created in the image of God, we fit better when we are living harmony with his will.
I see people everyday both in ministry settings and at Starbucks (which is also a ministry setting) that do a lot of "covering up" to make themselves appear to be happy and put on the facade that they think everyone wants to see. When in reality, their lives are in shambles, their marriages stink, they are unhappy in their jobs,etc because the manner in which they are living is in complete discord with what God has for their lives. Whenever I see someone that is giving in to some kind of addiction - drinking, shopping, drugs, whatever vice you can think of - I always wonder what they are trying to hide from everyone seeing.
This world is full of so much hurt, pain, and "long ties" because WE are trying to live OUR lives, not the life that reflects that image of God in us. If we could start living in accordance to what the Bible show us as right, we could have a lot of shorter ties in the world
Saturday, June 25, 2011
You have to live with choices
Today I made the conscience decision to wear blue underwear. Why? Well, because I liked the powder blue color and because they were clean. I also made the choice to eat some Cookie Crisp Cereal - a correctly measured portion of cereal for those that are wondering if I fell off the weight lose wagon. I have lost 40 pounds over the past 2 1/2 months all based on the choices to eat better and to actually workout.
Choices surround us on a daily basis and most are of no more significance than ensuring that I have a underwear on for the day - Mom's always want you to have on clean underwear if you were to ever get into an accident; I do not know why but that is important to Moms - or to make sure that the belly stops growling in the morning. But there are some choices that leave a lasting mark on our lives and on the lives of others. Who you marry or date, what you do for a living or where you studied in college are all choices that can have a major impact on the rest of you life.
I recently was struck by the fact that choices can often have painful consequences on not just one persons life but have a far reaching effect on many people. I will not tell you about the person or the situation that I am referring to because I wish to respect their privacy, and they are the ones that have to live with those decisions. I will tell you that in this one situation, two people were faced with the same problem but responded in vastly different ways.
For one person, they chose to meet the challenge and conquer the statistics that faced them. In one of the ultimate turn lemons into lemonade stories I have see in my life, the choices that were made in the midst of a very confusing, life-altering situation have led to this young lady being an inspiration and example of what good choices can lead to. As she continues to defy the odds by shear will and determination, I know that she will go on to be successful.
On the other hand, the other person has made choices that have alienated them from every person that was important to them. I have watched as they have tried to fill the void left from the choices to walk away from everyone and everything, but it is painfully obvious that they are just hiding from life. They have put on a face that everything is peachy, but holistically they are in a tail spin based on the choices they have made.
The point here is that our choices are not always as insignificant as blue or green underpants, Cheerios or Cookie Crisp. Often, life altering choices need to be made in the heat of the moment. I can't tell you what choices to make, but just know that if you only base those choices on what you want like a selfish child, you will most likely end up pushing (or running) away from those that love and care for you and want to help you.
Make good choices, based not on the impact on you, but based on the impact on others.
Choices surround us on a daily basis and most are of no more significance than ensuring that I have a underwear on for the day - Mom's always want you to have on clean underwear if you were to ever get into an accident; I do not know why but that is important to Moms - or to make sure that the belly stops growling in the morning. But there are some choices that leave a lasting mark on our lives and on the lives of others. Who you marry or date, what you do for a living or where you studied in college are all choices that can have a major impact on the rest of you life.
I recently was struck by the fact that choices can often have painful consequences on not just one persons life but have a far reaching effect on many people. I will not tell you about the person or the situation that I am referring to because I wish to respect their privacy, and they are the ones that have to live with those decisions. I will tell you that in this one situation, two people were faced with the same problem but responded in vastly different ways.
For one person, they chose to meet the challenge and conquer the statistics that faced them. In one of the ultimate turn lemons into lemonade stories I have see in my life, the choices that were made in the midst of a very confusing, life-altering situation have led to this young lady being an inspiration and example of what good choices can lead to. As she continues to defy the odds by shear will and determination, I know that she will go on to be successful.
On the other hand, the other person has made choices that have alienated them from every person that was important to them. I have watched as they have tried to fill the void left from the choices to walk away from everyone and everything, but it is painfully obvious that they are just hiding from life. They have put on a face that everything is peachy, but holistically they are in a tail spin based on the choices they have made.
The point here is that our choices are not always as insignificant as blue or green underpants, Cheerios or Cookie Crisp. Often, life altering choices need to be made in the heat of the moment. I can't tell you what choices to make, but just know that if you only base those choices on what you want like a selfish child, you will most likely end up pushing (or running) away from those that love and care for you and want to help you.
Make good choices, based not on the impact on you, but based on the impact on others.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Absolutely!
One thing that we can count on these days, is that we really cannot count on anything. I mean, one constant in life is that for at least 17 weeks a year the world would be revolving around the gridiron and pigskin. I have employees that would literally throw money at me not to schedule them during game time of their favorite teams, and are nearly in tears if they are scheduled any time close to the Superbowl. We may not even have a season if the owners and players cannot learn to play nice with each other.
Unfortunately, in life there are only a few things that can be counted on for everyone (even the death and taxes thing is somewhat questionable - ask Enoch and Elijah, and for the taxes you just need to find a really smart tax accountant). I was reminded today that the one thing that every one can count on is the unconditional love of God. No matter how badly we screw of this life, and no matter if we ever come to the point of recognizing that we need a savior, God will always love and care for us beyond what we ever deserve. As I was (and still am) processing this thought, I can remember several times in life where I either didn't want to, or where not ready to forgive someone for what they had done to me; God on the other hand has never withheld forgiveness from me. In fact, before I get to the point of asking for forgiveness for the things that I have done, He has released me from it through Christ Jesus. For most the idea of an unconditional love is a completely foreign idea. To think that some one could love us in spite of anything that we do, baffles the mind because we are looking at it from a human point of view. As humans, even the people we love the most have the ability to disappoint us to the point of hatred, but with God this can never happen. God loves us unconditionally because he created us, he formed us, he knew us even before Mommy and Daddy had feelings for each other. We are created in His image, formed by his hands, and for those that have given their lives to Him, we are the benefactors of the sacrifice of Jesus to give us eternal life. How could he not love unconditionally love something that He is so intimately involved with?
It is good to know that as least one thing in life is constant and unconditional. When people, government, friends, family, and even professional sports leagues fail all around us; we can turn to God for a consistent source of unconditional love.
I hope that you have come to a point in our life where you know and have experience the unconditional love of God, which only comes through a personal relationship with Christ. If you have not, I encourage you to contact me and we can talk about this life changing decision.
Unfortunately, in life there are only a few things that can be counted on for everyone (even the death and taxes thing is somewhat questionable - ask Enoch and Elijah, and for the taxes you just need to find a really smart tax accountant). I was reminded today that the one thing that every one can count on is the unconditional love of God. No matter how badly we screw of this life, and no matter if we ever come to the point of recognizing that we need a savior, God will always love and care for us beyond what we ever deserve. As I was (and still am) processing this thought, I can remember several times in life where I either didn't want to, or where not ready to forgive someone for what they had done to me; God on the other hand has never withheld forgiveness from me. In fact, before I get to the point of asking for forgiveness for the things that I have done, He has released me from it through Christ Jesus. For most the idea of an unconditional love is a completely foreign idea. To think that some one could love us in spite of anything that we do, baffles the mind because we are looking at it from a human point of view. As humans, even the people we love the most have the ability to disappoint us to the point of hatred, but with God this can never happen. God loves us unconditionally because he created us, he formed us, he knew us even before Mommy and Daddy had feelings for each other. We are created in His image, formed by his hands, and for those that have given their lives to Him, we are the benefactors of the sacrifice of Jesus to give us eternal life. How could he not love unconditionally love something that He is so intimately involved with?
It is good to know that as least one thing in life is constant and unconditional. When people, government, friends, family, and even professional sports leagues fail all around us; we can turn to God for a consistent source of unconditional love.
I hope that you have come to a point in our life where you know and have experience the unconditional love of God, which only comes through a personal relationship with Christ. If you have not, I encourage you to contact me and we can talk about this life changing decision.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Pookie
How many of you had a security blanket or favorite stuffed animal that you couldn't sleep without? My favorite stuffed animal was a small brown teddy bear named Pookie (pronounce poo-key). I had that same teddy bear until a few years ago when my Mom re-married and moved out of the house in Beverly Hills. I have to admit, I struggled with the decision on whether or not I should have taken Pookie to seminary. Luckily for me, my mom got rid of Pookie without my knowledge after I got married. I was angry for a while about that, but ultimately got over it.
Morgan never really had a security blanket or toy that she has clung to for a long period of time; although, she does get overly attached to a variety of different things - foam swords (she named it Swordy), a stuffed monkey (she named Mr. Banana Pants), a rock (named rocky), a old wipes box (named boxy - just kidding on that one) - she is really original with her naming of things. Let me explain that last one- Janel was cleaning out a storage box one day and found an empty wipes box that we use to keep in Morgans diaper bag when she was little. Janel threw out the box, but Morgan literally cried for an hour that we threw it out. Like I said - overly attached to things.
Madison on the other hand, has become completely inseparable from her teddy bear that we call Bear - can you guess where Morgan got her naming abilities. The other day, I crept into Maddie's room and gently pulled the Bear from underneath her so that I could wash it overnight without her noticing it was gone. I was looking at Bear and this thing was absolutely gross. Originally this bear was given to Maddie by her Aunt Lana as a gift card holder from Baby's R Us. The bear is normally pink, but on this night, Bear was closer to black than pink.
As I was looking at this animal, I thought to myself, "Self, how could anyone love this dirty, filthy animal." but then God dropped a message into the mailbox of my heart. He reminded me, that until I was covered by the blood of Christ, I was a filthy, dirty animal in his eyes, but he still loved me unconditionally. Ultimately he sacrificed his only Son for this filthy, dirty animal so that I could be clean in his eyes. The washing of Bear took total of an hour, and only about 3 minutes of my time. But for me to be clean and presentable to God, took Christ Jesus coming to earth, living a perfect life, dying on a cross like a criminal, and then rising again three days later.
Its very humbling to know that in spite of my uncleanliness, all that defects that I have in my life, and being just plain dirty in comparison to God's perfection, that someone loved me enough to sacrifice to make me clean.
Morgan never really had a security blanket or toy that she has clung to for a long period of time; although, she does get overly attached to a variety of different things - foam swords (she named it Swordy), a stuffed monkey (she named Mr. Banana Pants), a rock (named rocky), a old wipes box (named boxy - just kidding on that one) - she is really original with her naming of things. Let me explain that last one- Janel was cleaning out a storage box one day and found an empty wipes box that we use to keep in Morgans diaper bag when she was little. Janel threw out the box, but Morgan literally cried for an hour that we threw it out. Like I said - overly attached to things.
Madison on the other hand, has become completely inseparable from her teddy bear that we call Bear - can you guess where Morgan got her naming abilities. The other day, I crept into Maddie's room and gently pulled the Bear from underneath her so that I could wash it overnight without her noticing it was gone. I was looking at Bear and this thing was absolutely gross. Originally this bear was given to Maddie by her Aunt Lana as a gift card holder from Baby's R Us. The bear is normally pink, but on this night, Bear was closer to black than pink.
As I was looking at this animal, I thought to myself, "Self, how could anyone love this dirty, filthy animal." but then God dropped a message into the mailbox of my heart. He reminded me, that until I was covered by the blood of Christ, I was a filthy, dirty animal in his eyes, but he still loved me unconditionally. Ultimately he sacrificed his only Son for this filthy, dirty animal so that I could be clean in his eyes. The washing of Bear took total of an hour, and only about 3 minutes of my time. But for me to be clean and presentable to God, took Christ Jesus coming to earth, living a perfect life, dying on a cross like a criminal, and then rising again three days later.
Its very humbling to know that in spite of my uncleanliness, all that defects that I have in my life, and being just plain dirty in comparison to God's perfection, that someone loved me enough to sacrifice to make me clean.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Its hard to stop a Trane
If only I were popular enough to make money off that tag line. Oh, well.
I know I posted last night, but I was listening to a sermon podcast while working out today and I was hit with a life lesson. I know its weird to listen to sermons while working out. Most people listen to AC/DC, 80's rock, etc. to keep them moving during a workout, but I was at the gym yesterday and discovered I had accidentally erased my entire music collection off my iPhone when I did an update earlier in the day. The only thing that survived were the podcasts. I would have listened to the music at the gym but right in the middle of lifting weights is not a time to hear "I want to know what love is. I want you to show me." Its just not that inspirational.
Anyway, today during my workout I wanted to finish the series that I started yesterday. I am listening to Ed Newton. If you do not know who Ed Newton is, he is a evangelist that speaks at various youth camps, college ministries, events, and so on. He is very dynamic and entertaining. His podcasts are free on iTunes if you want to listen to some of them.
He was speaking out of Daniel 3, which is the story of 'Rack, 'Shack, Benny (for you Veggie Tales fans) and toward the end of the sermon he as making the point that these three men made the decision to stand up to the King and not bow to his idol and remained consistent even in the face of being thrown into the furnace.
The question that was posed was whether we, as followers of Christ, are living our lives as a thermostat or a thermometer. Do you understand the difference? A thermometer is used to tell you what the temperature is, it changes with the circumstances. A thermometers consistency is that it is it does not stay consistent. Conversely, a thermostat (ideally) determines what the temperature is. You set a temperature, and the thermostat keeps the temp in the house at a consistent level.
The message that impacted me was whether or not I allow my life circumstances to affect my faith and reliance on God, or do I follow and believe on a consistent basis because of who God is. In thinking through that idea, I wonder what if God operated as a thermometer and not a thermostat based on my faith in Him. Not pretty was the answer. Going forward, my desire is to be more of the thermostat and not so much of the thermometer.
I know I posted last night, but I was listening to a sermon podcast while working out today and I was hit with a life lesson. I know its weird to listen to sermons while working out. Most people listen to AC/DC, 80's rock, etc. to keep them moving during a workout, but I was at the gym yesterday and discovered I had accidentally erased my entire music collection off my iPhone when I did an update earlier in the day. The only thing that survived were the podcasts. I would have listened to the music at the gym but right in the middle of lifting weights is not a time to hear "I want to know what love is. I want you to show me." Its just not that inspirational.
Anyway, today during my workout I wanted to finish the series that I started yesterday. I am listening to Ed Newton. If you do not know who Ed Newton is, he is a evangelist that speaks at various youth camps, college ministries, events, and so on. He is very dynamic and entertaining. His podcasts are free on iTunes if you want to listen to some of them.
He was speaking out of Daniel 3, which is the story of 'Rack, 'Shack, Benny (for you Veggie Tales fans) and toward the end of the sermon he as making the point that these three men made the decision to stand up to the King and not bow to his idol and remained consistent even in the face of being thrown into the furnace.
The question that was posed was whether we, as followers of Christ, are living our lives as a thermostat or a thermometer. Do you understand the difference? A thermometer is used to tell you what the temperature is, it changes with the circumstances. A thermometers consistency is that it is it does not stay consistent. Conversely, a thermostat (ideally) determines what the temperature is. You set a temperature, and the thermostat keeps the temp in the house at a consistent level.
The message that impacted me was whether or not I allow my life circumstances to affect my faith and reliance on God, or do I follow and believe on a consistent basis because of who God is. In thinking through that idea, I wonder what if God operated as a thermometer and not a thermostat based on my faith in Him. Not pretty was the answer. Going forward, my desire is to be more of the thermostat and not so much of the thermometer.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Time, why you punish me?
Time has definitely punished me on this blog. It has been a while since the last time that I checked in here. I am sorry for that, but life is crazy in the Evans household and I don't normally get a chance to sit at my computer until late at night. Several times I have started a post and woke up many hours later with 85 lines of "d" - and I don't feel that is something that anyone would be interested in.
On to catching up with my life. Over the past few weeks, Morgan has turned 5. Yeah, that says 5 - I cannot believe how quickly the past 5 years have gone. This is how life as changed since Morgan was born. I graduated from NOBTS, we moved to Covington, bought a house, started a full time ministry and then a part time ministry, was promoted from Shift supervisor to Assistant Manager to Store Manager at Starbucks. Janel has changed jobs twice (UNO to Cox to Poolcorp), we bought and paid for a car. Where has the time gone? I am so proud of her. Janel (as she is reading this) is saying to herself ,"really?" cause Morgan and I admittedly have a difficult relationship. We are the same person, and I bug the crap out of myself! We have all the same unsavory qualities (our unbreakable attention to the TV is the one that annoys Janel the most - there are times both Morgan and I will be standing in the middle of the living room glued to a commercial and Janel could push us over like she was cow tipping). But even though she can get on my nerves, and vice versa, Morgan is one of the most beautiful, loving, caring, intelligent, well spoken 5 year olds I have ever met.
Mothers day and Morgan's birthday were on the same day, and luckily Morgan choose to go to a Hibachi restaurant. She likes the fire volcano, but Maddie was not a fan and she let everyone know it. Overall it was a good day.
Janel has completed several more 5k races and is getting faster with each one. She is now at 60 pounds lost. I have started running again, and time is not a friend of mine. I use to run cross country in HS. I could complete a 5k in 21 mins, which is not great but okay. Now the only way I am completely and 5k in 21 minutes is if I start running at the start and then the ambulance will pick me up when I past out at the 1.5 mile mark. I am ssssllllloooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyy getting back into shape and running form. I have lost 22 pounds since the start of my journey of lifestyle change.
Well I think I unloaded enough for this post. I will be back later this week with some more life lessons and thoughts. But until that happens - "Time is wasting. Time is walking. It ain't no friend of mine. You don't know where I'm going. I think I'm out of my mind, thinking about time."
Don't let time get away from you, I am beginning to understand what people mean when they told me that I would blink and Morgan would be walking down the aisle. I know for sure I am not going to blink any time soon
On to catching up with my life. Over the past few weeks, Morgan has turned 5. Yeah, that says 5 - I cannot believe how quickly the past 5 years have gone. This is how life as changed since Morgan was born. I graduated from NOBTS, we moved to Covington, bought a house, started a full time ministry and then a part time ministry, was promoted from Shift supervisor to Assistant Manager to Store Manager at Starbucks. Janel has changed jobs twice (UNO to Cox to Poolcorp), we bought and paid for a car. Where has the time gone? I am so proud of her. Janel (as she is reading this) is saying to herself ,"really?" cause Morgan and I admittedly have a difficult relationship. We are the same person, and I bug the crap out of myself! We have all the same unsavory qualities (our unbreakable attention to the TV is the one that annoys Janel the most - there are times both Morgan and I will be standing in the middle of the living room glued to a commercial and Janel could push us over like she was cow tipping). But even though she can get on my nerves, and vice versa, Morgan is one of the most beautiful, loving, caring, intelligent, well spoken 5 year olds I have ever met.
Mothers day and Morgan's birthday were on the same day, and luckily Morgan choose to go to a Hibachi restaurant. She likes the fire volcano, but Maddie was not a fan and she let everyone know it. Overall it was a good day.
Janel has completed several more 5k races and is getting faster with each one. She is now at 60 pounds lost. I have started running again, and time is not a friend of mine. I use to run cross country in HS. I could complete a 5k in 21 mins, which is not great but okay. Now the only way I am completely and 5k in 21 minutes is if I start running at the start and then the ambulance will pick me up when I past out at the 1.5 mile mark. I am ssssllllloooooooowwwwlllllllyyyyy getting back into shape and running form. I have lost 22 pounds since the start of my journey of lifestyle change.
Well I think I unloaded enough for this post. I will be back later this week with some more life lessons and thoughts. But until that happens - "Time is wasting. Time is walking. It ain't no friend of mine. You don't know where I'm going. I think I'm out of my mind, thinking about time."
Don't let time get away from you, I am beginning to understand what people mean when they told me that I would blink and Morgan would be walking down the aisle. I know for sure I am not going to blink any time soon
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Saving Private.......
Most of you will say Ryan. While Tom Hanks and Matt Damon were great in that movie, I want to think of things a little differently in light of the importance of this day.
At the end of the movie "Saving Private Ryan", a much older Private Ryan stands over the grave of one of the men that was sent to save his life. He asks his wife if the life that he lived was worthy of the cost. He was deeply concerned that he honored the men that paid the ultimate price with the life that he lived.
As I was studying for the Sunday School lesson this week, I was reading about the final day of the life of Christ and of his resurrection. As I was reading through Matthew 27, I was struck with the high price that was paid for my (and your) life. Christ gave up everything, suffered the ultimate humiliation, and became the chief of sinners just so that I could be forgiven of my sins and have the gift of eternal life. I then began to wonder if I was living a life that honored the price that was paid. I am by no means a perfect person, but do my choices, attitude, motivations reflect that I was purchased at the highest cost. I believe that part of the message of Easter is that because Christ has been risen, as followers of Christ (and those of you that are reading this blog that are not Christians - I encourage you to start that journey) we need to live in a manner that is worthy of the price.
I hope that you had a great Easter holiday and got to spend some time with your family and friends, but I don't want the fact that Christ died and rose again for YOU to be lost in the midst of bunnies and candy.
Live a life that is worthy of the price!
At the end of the movie "Saving Private Ryan", a much older Private Ryan stands over the grave of one of the men that was sent to save his life. He asks his wife if the life that he lived was worthy of the cost. He was deeply concerned that he honored the men that paid the ultimate price with the life that he lived.
As I was studying for the Sunday School lesson this week, I was reading about the final day of the life of Christ and of his resurrection. As I was reading through Matthew 27, I was struck with the high price that was paid for my (and your) life. Christ gave up everything, suffered the ultimate humiliation, and became the chief of sinners just so that I could be forgiven of my sins and have the gift of eternal life. I then began to wonder if I was living a life that honored the price that was paid. I am by no means a perfect person, but do my choices, attitude, motivations reflect that I was purchased at the highest cost. I believe that part of the message of Easter is that because Christ has been risen, as followers of Christ (and those of you that are reading this blog that are not Christians - I encourage you to start that journey) we need to live in a manner that is worthy of the price.
I hope that you had a great Easter holiday and got to spend some time with your family and friends, but I don't want the fact that Christ died and rose again for YOU to be lost in the midst of bunnies and candy.
Live a life that is worthy of the price!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Negative is never positive......
I know, I know. The three people that read my blog have been asking when I will be posting another one. Its been almost 2 weeks since the last post. If you knew how many times I started a new post but fell asleep at my computer and woke up with 50 lines of a single letter, hopefully, you would laugh - but I will make it through this one.
A lot has gone on in the past two weeks. I have recovered from that spinning class, and I have gotten over the pride issue - I don't mind the grandmother of the class knowing that I am a sissy. Unfortunately, a few days after the spinning class, I had my initial assessment at the gym (you know the part where they put you through an impossible workout, and then try to sell the personal trainers to you). The guy who put me through my paces is the classic "gym rat, meat head" guy - and has the personality to go with it. He KILLED me! I know Janel was getting annoyed with me, but I was having trouble keeping my balance while walking and standing. I believe at one point I had to get someone grab a gallon of milk out of a fridge at work because I couldn't bend down. I have recovered from that experience and am happy to report that I have lost 10 pounds since joining the gym.
I have decided to take on a leadership role in my district - I volunteered to be the lead for the summer promotion. I am not sure if that is a really good choice or a really stupid choice - I will let you know in 10 weeks. If you want to help me be successful and live in the Northshore area, go to your local Starbucks and buy a pound of 3 regions blend coffee (its delicious and it has coffees grown in all 3 growing regions), buy some of the petite cake pops, and also coming back after several years is the mocha coconut latte and frappuccino. I know, thats a shameless self-promotion - but if Morgan Spurlock can get away with it, so can I.
Now to try to explain the title to this post. As most of you know, I am not a negative person. I don't like to be negative and I do not like to be around people that are - I think that is true for most people. But some people in life feel that is it their job to be nothing but negative. I am sure that you have encountered these type people at work, bosses, big wigs, or co-workers that wouldn't know how to give a compliment if their lives depended on it. Thursday I encountered one of these people and after my time with them, I felt like I was one of the unfortunate people on the MTV show "Bully Beat Down" - if you do not know about this show, look it up, it will make you feel better. When this lady walked in to my store, she was a sweet as could be but that quickly changed. I swear at some point her body was taken over by the devil. She did not have one positive thing to say.
I have been in management long enough to know that some times a little negative is needed to push someone toward the desired end. But at some point, that negative needs to be balanced with a positive. This goes for work and personal life. If all you ever hear at home or at work is negative, if all you get is someone to tell you that you are not good enough, it doesn't take long for that to affect your outlook on things. I have also found that finding something positive, even in the person with the worse performance goes a long way towards improving their work ethic.
I am not saying its easy, but everyone needs that positive re-enforcement in life. I am writing this part mainly to myself. Too often I hear my self saying "no" or "don't do that" or "stop it" to my kids, not often enough do I say "good job" or tell them how special they are. I don't want my children growing up thinking that they are not good enough. They have been wonderfully made by a God who knows them personally, and they could never be NOT good enough. They may not listen perfectly, or do what they are told right away, but if they are what God had in mind, who am I to think my standards are better.
A lot has gone on in the past two weeks. I have recovered from that spinning class, and I have gotten over the pride issue - I don't mind the grandmother of the class knowing that I am a sissy. Unfortunately, a few days after the spinning class, I had my initial assessment at the gym (you know the part where they put you through an impossible workout, and then try to sell the personal trainers to you). The guy who put me through my paces is the classic "gym rat, meat head" guy - and has the personality to go with it. He KILLED me! I know Janel was getting annoyed with me, but I was having trouble keeping my balance while walking and standing. I believe at one point I had to get someone grab a gallon of milk out of a fridge at work because I couldn't bend down. I have recovered from that experience and am happy to report that I have lost 10 pounds since joining the gym.
I have decided to take on a leadership role in my district - I volunteered to be the lead for the summer promotion. I am not sure if that is a really good choice or a really stupid choice - I will let you know in 10 weeks. If you want to help me be successful and live in the Northshore area, go to your local Starbucks and buy a pound of 3 regions blend coffee (its delicious and it has coffees grown in all 3 growing regions), buy some of the petite cake pops, and also coming back after several years is the mocha coconut latte and frappuccino. I know, thats a shameless self-promotion - but if Morgan Spurlock can get away with it, so can I.
Now to try to explain the title to this post. As most of you know, I am not a negative person. I don't like to be negative and I do not like to be around people that are - I think that is true for most people. But some people in life feel that is it their job to be nothing but negative. I am sure that you have encountered these type people at work, bosses, big wigs, or co-workers that wouldn't know how to give a compliment if their lives depended on it. Thursday I encountered one of these people and after my time with them, I felt like I was one of the unfortunate people on the MTV show "Bully Beat Down" - if you do not know about this show, look it up, it will make you feel better. When this lady walked in to my store, she was a sweet as could be but that quickly changed. I swear at some point her body was taken over by the devil. She did not have one positive thing to say.
I have been in management long enough to know that some times a little negative is needed to push someone toward the desired end. But at some point, that negative needs to be balanced with a positive. This goes for work and personal life. If all you ever hear at home or at work is negative, if all you get is someone to tell you that you are not good enough, it doesn't take long for that to affect your outlook on things. I have also found that finding something positive, even in the person with the worse performance goes a long way towards improving their work ethic.
I am not saying its easy, but everyone needs that positive re-enforcement in life. I am writing this part mainly to myself. Too often I hear my self saying "no" or "don't do that" or "stop it" to my kids, not often enough do I say "good job" or tell them how special they are. I don't want my children growing up thinking that they are not good enough. They have been wonderfully made by a God who knows them personally, and they could never be NOT good enough. They may not listen perfectly, or do what they are told right away, but if they are what God had in mind, who am I to think my standards are better.
Friday, April 8, 2011
You spin me right round baby, right round........
Hey Everyone, its been some time since the last time that I post a blog and a lot has gone one in life. As you may know, my wife is on a journey to change her lifestyle as it relates to eating and exercising. She has done an amazing job of transforming her life, she has lost nearly 40 pounds since Feb. 1, and has even won an award at the American Heart Association 5k last week (you can follow her blog at covingtonmomof2.blogspot.com - do you see what we did there with the names - genius I think). Anyway, she recently threw down a challenge on me - she may now realize it, but she did - and I joined the same gym that she belongs to. I signed up for the gym on Thursday night and Janel thought a great way to reward/punish me for this decision was for us to do our first ever spin class together. For those of you who do not know, spin classes originated from the devil, and involve you riding a stationary bike with varied tensions and speeds for approximately an hour. This sounds easy, and the instructor seemed like a very nice person as we talked prior to class but apparently, when you give a 5ft 4in tall lady that has 9 children (should have been a sign of crazy from the get-go) the reins of a spin class, the volume control of the stereo, and a mixed tape of 80's songs- they turn into drill instructors. Let me tell you, I have never in my life been so glad to walk (read stumble - I am 100% serious when I say that Janel and I both nearly fell over trying to take the step down into the parking lot after class because we couldn't support our own weight, or feel our butts for that matter) out of a class in my entire life. Luckily, Madison was getting cranky in the gym's toddler room and someone came to get either Janel and I to come calm her down - being the good husband I am, I naturally volunteered to leave class about 10 min early. I do not think I will ever return to a spin class again, for several reasons. First, the class was all females other than myself; secondly, one of the participants was around the age of 60; and finally, my male pride was severely damaged at the fact that these women were kicking my tail. I just can't have that!
As I have mentioned before, I work for Starbucks. April is the our global month of service, and as a company we hope to volunteer over 200,000 hours of time to various causes around the country and the world. Today, I had the privilege to be able to work at the regional Special Olympics that took place at Ponchatoula High School. Even though I got burned to a crisp, the day was a great time of giving back to the community. The athletes were able to compete in several events from running track races to a softball throw.
Throughout the day, one thing continued to happen. No matter how fast or how leisurely the athlete ran or how far they could throw or jump, everyone parent, friend, volunteer, and even the high school students that volunteered to miss classes all day cheered for the athletes like they had just beat Michael Phelps to win the gold medal. Every athlete had such a sense of pride, not just because of the people clapping and yelling their names, but because they had accomplished a task - and for some, the tasks were very difficult. None of them gave up, not one of them quit because it was too hard, or hot, or too far to go. They had enough pride not to quit.
Take that lesson back to my spinning class. I have too much pride to go back, but I had to ask myself today - between me and these athletes that have struggles day in and day out - who is the better person? Pride can make us do some really dumb things, and can lead us to places in life that we don't want to be, all because we are focused too much on ourselves and how me might be viewed or perceived. My hope is that you and I do not allow pride to change us into people that we don't want to be.
I will leave you will a quote from one the schools that was competing today, and I hope it inspires you to push pride aside and strive for greater things in life.
"Everything I can, I will."
On the Journey
Jonathan
P.S. - Tomorrow, we are going to the local strawberry festival tomorrow. It should be lots of fun and a lot of walking. I may have to pilfer the wagon from Morgan with the way my legs feel tonight. I will let you know how things go in a later blog.
As I have mentioned before, I work for Starbucks. April is the our global month of service, and as a company we hope to volunteer over 200,000 hours of time to various causes around the country and the world. Today, I had the privilege to be able to work at the regional Special Olympics that took place at Ponchatoula High School. Even though I got burned to a crisp, the day was a great time of giving back to the community. The athletes were able to compete in several events from running track races to a softball throw.
Throughout the day, one thing continued to happen. No matter how fast or how leisurely the athlete ran or how far they could throw or jump, everyone parent, friend, volunteer, and even the high school students that volunteered to miss classes all day cheered for the athletes like they had just beat Michael Phelps to win the gold medal. Every athlete had such a sense of pride, not just because of the people clapping and yelling their names, but because they had accomplished a task - and for some, the tasks were very difficult. None of them gave up, not one of them quit because it was too hard, or hot, or too far to go. They had enough pride not to quit.
Take that lesson back to my spinning class. I have too much pride to go back, but I had to ask myself today - between me and these athletes that have struggles day in and day out - who is the better person? Pride can make us do some really dumb things, and can lead us to places in life that we don't want to be, all because we are focused too much on ourselves and how me might be viewed or perceived. My hope is that you and I do not allow pride to change us into people that we don't want to be.
I will leave you will a quote from one the schools that was competing today, and I hope it inspires you to push pride aside and strive for greater things in life.
"Everything I can, I will."
On the Journey
Jonathan
P.S. - Tomorrow, we are going to the local strawberry festival tomorrow. It should be lots of fun and a lot of walking. I may have to pilfer the wagon from Morgan with the way my legs feel tonight. I will let you know how things go in a later blog.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
I have a dream....
Don't we all? From the time I was a little kid, I can remember many dreams that I have had. These dreams range from playing professional baseball and being the guy to hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to win game seven of the World Series for the Cleveland Indians (that dream never had a chance since I have never hit an over the fence home run - I have hit several in the park home runs- and the fact that the Cleveland Indians have not won a World series since 1948; we are not going to talk about the two melt downs in 1995 and 1997 - I am still mad at Jose Mesa for handing the Marlins that game), to being a race car driver, or even being the president of the United States (8 more years and I am eligible to run - who is voting for me in 2020?). Never did i dream of being a store manager of a Starbucks, living in Covington and having 2 daughters. I don't think anyone actually accomplishes all the things they dream of as a child, but that doesn't mean we should stop dreaming.
So even though I never went on a different path to chase some pipe dream of mine, life had a way of making my reality exactly what I wanted. A couple of posts ago, I wrote about perspective, and that seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life over the last couple of weeks. Dreams are great and fun to remember but reality is so much better.
As I mentioned above, I manage a Starbucks Coffee in Mandeville, LA. While it is not the job I dreamed of as a child (I don't even like the taste of coffee - its like owning a bar and not drinking, ironic I know), it is a great job and great company to work for. Recently, Starbucks has gone through a "re-branding" and there has been a major redefining of my position as Store Manager. Just as much as serving a great cup of Joe, my job is to inspire my baristas to do great work. Part of the way that I do that is to put inspirational quotes on my communication board to get everyone to think and respond in a positive manner. This week I posted a quote that has stirred a lot of conversations - which is saying something considering I also posted a quote by Tupac Shakur. The quote is a Chinese Proverb that says "I have dreamed a thousand new paths, but I woke and walked my old one."
At first this seemed not to be the inspirational item I was looking for, but the more I have thought about it I realized something. Sometimes our dreams are a little outlandish - i.e. the 9th inning home run to win the World series, but life often has a way of turning "the same old path" into new and better dreams. As a child, I dreamed of being a husband and father, but never the father of two girls. Like most guys, I always thought I would have 2 boys - 2 little baseball or football stars that would be the superior athletes that would be drafted in 2 sports, make a boat load of money and be able to put me in a nice retirement home, but ultimately carry on the family name (maybe I reached into the outlandish there) - or at least have a son first and a daughter second, so that my son could be the big brother and protect my daughter. But life had a way of making sure that did not happen. I married Janel, dream come true, who's family has a history of only girls (Morgan and Madison have about 8 cousins on Janel's side - only 1 boy), and we obviously have two beautiful girls.
This may not have been one of my thousand dreams, but I would never trade what I have now for even one of those dreams. Janel, Morgan, and Madison are the most precious things I have in my life and I could never dream of life without them. My girls may never play professional ball or even be able to put me in a nice retirement home, but I love them with everything I am - I just hope I don't have to bust out my shovel and bag of lye on some guy trying to woo them away from me.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Fake it 'til you make it
One of my favorite songs and music videos is a song by R.E.M. called "Imitation of Life." If you have never seen or heard the song, I highly suggest that you take about 4 1/2 minutes to watch it on YouTube. The song has lots of meanings depending on who you ask, but one of the things that makes the song great is the is how the music video and song play off each other. The video is of a pool party scene and through out the video you get to zoom in on different aspects of what is going on at the party. The scene is actually less then a 30 second snapshot of life, but you get to see the scene from multiple points of view, and ultimately get to see that a lot of the people are playing a part and not being real with themselves or the people around them. The reason that I have been thinking about this song and video is because my computer crashed and I lost all my music and apps that were saved on my itunes account. When I was finally able to recoveedr all my stuff, I heard this song playing as my phone was syncing. I was thinking "yeah, I wish I could have imitated this part of life," but then I realized that most of us "imitate" life on a daily basis. From getting the kids ready for school, getting ourselves ready for work, doing work around the house, our routine at work, and sometimes even the interactions we have with our spouses are just going through the motions. (Don't lie to me and tell me that none of you have had conversations with your spouse where you knew what they were going to say/respond to whatever you said. In fact, I just got in trouble for that. I thought I knew what Janel was going to say, but I was wrong. She shouldn't break the pattern after 7 years of marriage - it throws me off!) Anyway, I was at the splash park today with a friend of mine and as our children were frolicking through the sprinklers it hit me - this is what life is really about, things that can't be imitated. I don't know about you but I hate to get caught in the rain, but the kids were soaked to the bone and loving; whereas, a lite spring shower can ruin my entire day. I had a blast watching my 4 year old daughter run around splashing and playing while catching up with my buddy (even if we did look like a homosexual couple with our three kids - thanks for hanging out with us today Dustin). If you live in the Covington/Mandeville/Abita Springs area there are a couple of great splash parks to go to (for free), if not a sprinkler and a kiddie pool in the yard work just a well - go out and be a kid for a while.
All of us have our routines and habits, but if we are not careful we can easily fall into the trap of just faking our way through life. TPS reports and dealing with the Bill Lumbergh (umm, yeah, uhh) at the office should never take the place of the raw and unscripted moments that make you realize that life is pretty cool deal.
Well on a real note, laundry is calling my name (I am going to have to go through the motions of folding clothes). I do want to say how proud I am of my wife for completing her first 5k race today. She did an awesome job and I am sure she will update everyone on her blog (covingtonmomof2.blogspot.com) as soon as she recovers.
You can follow me on Facebook (which is probably how you got here in the first place), but also now on twitter, and YouTube. You can follow the links below to find both of those sites.
So, umm, until next time, I am going to need you to, uhhhh, live life for real. Yeah, that would be great.
- Jonathan
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Old lessons, new application
Life is a consistently evolving maze of lessons to be learned. I am only 27 years old, and while people tell me that I am more mature than that number suggests, I have a life time of lessons to learn. Never has this been more real to me than in the past few weeks. My wife, Janel (you can follow her journey via her blog - covingtonmomof2.blogspot.com - BTW, Janel is an amazing writer; if you are reading my blog, you will soon find out that I am not), has started a journey of changing her lifestyle around food. I am proud to say that she has lost over 30 pounds since February 1st, but her journey has put me under a lot of conviction about my relationship with food and has led to conviction is many areas of my life. More on those topics in future posts.
Today was my "off" day from work. I do not know how "off" pressure washing the entire house, 2 loads of laundry, vacuuming, getting 2 children ready for school and then picking them up really is - but I digress. Anyway, I had to go into my store this morning to put in an order (I know, sorry Janel), and life hit me with an old lesson.
Several years ago, a wise person told me that rules and laws were not put in place to oppress me, but to give me freedom. Can anyone say oxymoron? I never really understood what that meant - until today. Let me try to explain. While at the store, it was very apparent that one of my workers was not in proper uniform which has become a major emphasis with the re-branding of my company. Before I continue, this worker is one of my favorite. He works hard, has a great sense of humor, and does his job well. But the topic of uniform is his Achilles heel. I had no choice to have a conversation, and it was in the midst of this talk that I finally learn the lesson from so many years ago.
Freedom to be myself comes from the boundaries that are set on my life, and those boundaries are in place to keep me safe and happy. State law says that I can go 70 mph on I-12. Seventy-five mph will get me a ticket, 45 mph will get me a lot of dirty looks, but driving 70 mph with music blasting and the windows down on a gorgeous day is plenty of freedom for me. Rules, whether they be from work, home, government, family, or whatever, are not meant to keep me locked down and living in fear, but to give me choices and ultimately live my life that way I want to. Lets take this back to Adam. God put Adam and Eve in the garden at the beginning of the world and told them they could do what every they wanted. Eat, drink, and play were all at their fingertips with one rule - do not eat from this one tree. God didn't put this one rule in place to be a jerk (no comments from my non-religious friends out there), he did it to keep them safe from the dangers that the one tree held. Adam and Eve had freedom because of the rule in their lives.
Heres the lesson in short - Life is all about perspective. If you focus on the rules, you get bogged down in what you "can't" do, but if you know the rules but focus on the freedom that gives you - life is awesome! Like I told my employee today, you can look at the uniform policy and say "I can't wear my beach shorts to work" or you can be like Will Smith in "Men in Black" and say "the difference between you and me - I make this look good."
Enjoy your freedom
- Jonathan
Today was my "off" day from work. I do not know how "off" pressure washing the entire house, 2 loads of laundry, vacuuming, getting 2 children ready for school and then picking them up really is - but I digress. Anyway, I had to go into my store this morning to put in an order (I know, sorry Janel), and life hit me with an old lesson.
Several years ago, a wise person told me that rules and laws were not put in place to oppress me, but to give me freedom. Can anyone say oxymoron? I never really understood what that meant - until today. Let me try to explain. While at the store, it was very apparent that one of my workers was not in proper uniform which has become a major emphasis with the re-branding of my company. Before I continue, this worker is one of my favorite. He works hard, has a great sense of humor, and does his job well. But the topic of uniform is his Achilles heel. I had no choice to have a conversation, and it was in the midst of this talk that I finally learn the lesson from so many years ago.
Freedom to be myself comes from the boundaries that are set on my life, and those boundaries are in place to keep me safe and happy. State law says that I can go 70 mph on I-12. Seventy-five mph will get me a ticket, 45 mph will get me a lot of dirty looks, but driving 70 mph with music blasting and the windows down on a gorgeous day is plenty of freedom for me. Rules, whether they be from work, home, government, family, or whatever, are not meant to keep me locked down and living in fear, but to give me choices and ultimately live my life that way I want to. Lets take this back to Adam. God put Adam and Eve in the garden at the beginning of the world and told them they could do what every they wanted. Eat, drink, and play were all at their fingertips with one rule - do not eat from this one tree. God didn't put this one rule in place to be a jerk (no comments from my non-religious friends out there), he did it to keep them safe from the dangers that the one tree held. Adam and Eve had freedom because of the rule in their lives.
Heres the lesson in short - Life is all about perspective. If you focus on the rules, you get bogged down in what you "can't" do, but if you know the rules but focus on the freedom that gives you - life is awesome! Like I told my employee today, you can look at the uniform policy and say "I can't wear my beach shorts to work" or you can be like Will Smith in "Men in Black" and say "the difference between you and me - I make this look good."
Enjoy your freedom
- Jonathan
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