Thursday, May 29, 2008

Warp Speed!

The days are just flying by. I must be way to busy - with good things. I've talked about busyness a lot over the years, but an involved father of a big family is just busy. There is also work and church and friends and volunteer stuff and - well I guess I dive into everything I do 110%. Sometimes I think of things I'd like to do for people to help them, but I just don't have any more time.

Enter time management. We have to prioritize what we want to do most or think is most important and put those things at the top of the list. There is simply not enough time to do all the things I want to do. I guess that is a good thing.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Road Trip

My wife and I are getting ready to go see my youngest son at teen challenge in Minnesota. I can't hardly wait to see him. Its been two months since I've seen him.

To save a little cash (couldn't really take off work anyway) I decided to only get a hotel for two nights. We are leaving at 1:00am Sat. morning and drive straight through. I know I won't have any trouble staying awake on the way there. Now on the way home may be a different story.

We get to see him for 2 hours on Sat. from 12 - 2pm. Then on Sunday, we'll see him in whatever church they are singing at. And then on Monday, we get to spend the whole day with him from 10am to 6pm. Can't hardly wait!

I really hope its not as hard to leave him this time as it was last time. It nearly ripped my heart out last time. But I know its for the best.

We'll leave Monday evening to drive home. My wife has to be home in time for school on Tuesday at 1:00pm. I'll head home and sleep...sleep...sleep!

Pray for us that our time with Mike will encourage him and make him more successful in the program!

Monday, May 19, 2008

S..T..R..E..T..C..H ! !

God stretched me a little more last night. We had a Sunday night service that was planned to be worship only. A night of worship (N.O.W.) I have never led an entire service of worship. I lead worship every Sunday morning and evening all the time, but worship time is usually about 20 - 30 minutes. I had a lot of questions about whether the band, the congregation, and my voice would last for an hour and a half. But, you know, it did, they did, we did!!
God showed up like he always does and I believe lives were changed - and I was stretched a little more and I think we, as a congregation, moved a baby step closer to where the Lord wants us to be.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Wild Ride of Life

Ever Feel like you're on a runaway train going downhill and you’re the conductor. Your responsible for all the people and cargo on the train. You can't stop the train for whatever reason (brakes don't really work) and you are desperately trying to do everything it takes to keep the train on the tracks.

You look ahead and there's another curve you were not expecting. Your stomach knots up and you thing "Oh Lord God, how will I keep this thing on the track around this curve. You feel the urge to jump, but you know that if you do, you will surly die and so will all the people you are responsible for, plus the loss of all the cargo. You frantically work the levers and the buttons to try and control the train and - whew! - you barely make it around another impossible curve and you don't know how.

You keep waiting and hoping that the track will flatten out so that the train will slow down, but all you see ahead is steep grades and blind curves.

Meanwhile, on the train, there are some of the people in coach fighting over the window seat and others in the dining car can't stand the calamari. Most of the people think the train is moving too fast, but not all of them. Some like a wild ride. Some want to jump off. Others sleep. Not very many of them seem to be happy and you do everything you can think of to calm and appease and reassure the people that we're going to make it just fine.

And then...another curve - sharper this time! Woooooh! Barley made it!!

It's well beyond what you could ever control on your own. You could just give up and ride it out, hoping and praying to God that the tracks will flatten out and the train will stop so everyone, including yourself, could just get off and walk away.

You ask yourself, why did I ever get on this train? Did I know where it was headed when I got on? Did I know what the ride was going to be like? Would I have chose to board if I knew what the ride was like - the fast pace - the grumbling and complaining - the curves?

Is this your life? Maybe your marriage or your family? It could be your church or your work place. It is most likely all of this combined in some way to varying degrees.

How do YOU keep the train on the tracks headed to…?

Friday, May 9, 2008

Kicking & Screaming

It's been a few days since I've posted so I thought I would write a few things.
Not everything in my life is going the way I would prefer it to. So many things happen that are out of my control and I have a choice how I will respond. "I" want to kick and scream sometimes. I get frustrated, I get tired, I get worn out by "life". Here's the problem - I'm trying to do things all on my own again. Once again, I've left God out of the equation. I need to accept that (like Kieth Green said in one of my favorite songs) once I've done my best, I need to let God take care of the rest.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Look Behind the Mask

I had a conversation today with my boss about another employee who had made some interesting comments to me. My boss gave me some great insight by telling me to look past the comments that were made and see the root of the comments. The reason or the perspective that this employee has compared to what I see.

We all see things a little differently (just ask three witnesses of a car accident what happened) and I think we need to be a little more understanding of others when their comments ruffle our feathers. Look past the outer shell and try to understand why the said what they said or did what they did. I am not proposing that we excuse rude or bad behavior, but sometimes we crucify others who lash out and what they really need is for someone to see their hurt and help them through a tough time. It would serve us well to put our instant wall of self defense aside and display compassion and understanding to those around us that we often disagree with.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Saturday - In the Park - I wish it was the fourth of...

Actually Saturday was spent in the Rarick park - my yard - on the 3rd of May.
It was a good day. Elaine planted flowers and I mowed the lawn. Duke (my German Shepherd)ran loose all day. He loved it. Kevin helped mom and I felt like we got a lot done today. I always like the feeling of getting things done. It makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere, even though I may not be. We ended the day by going out to eat and eating way too much, but it was good. It's always good to spend time with family - working, playing, eating, or just sitting around. We need each other. It was a good day!

Friday, May 2, 2008

I'm Back In Town!

It's good to be home. I missed my family and ooh I missed my bed!!!!! The trip was a whirlwind of appointments and travel. No time to see any sights, except while driving through downtown NYC, China Town, the Bronx, seeing all the crowds of people, no grass, not very many trees, dirty, crowded, cars honking, not somewhere I would want to live. I went to look at a concrete forming system that we am thinking of using on one of our new projects. It was an impressive system, very pricey. We went to a couple of job sites and to the distributors warehouse. I did have some good seafood at a recomended place in NJ somewhere. I really don't know where we went, but it was good food. I had some fish I can't remeber the name of that lives off the coast of Italy. It was an expensive dinner - like everything else in NY. The people I met with were nice (they are trying to sell me a product) and I really enjoyed my time with them, but like I said, I good to be home!