Seasons Turn

New Twitter Account

2010-04-11T05:51:00.000-07:00

If you are interested, I have a new Twitter Account that will have daily positive messages to encourage Fathers and Husbands.

Here is the link: http://twitter.com/Fathers4Jesus

Values Survey

2010-04-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

Please take this survey about the Values that make good Husbands and Fathers.

Click here to take survey

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

2010-02-14T05:22:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why I am this way, but it is very difficult for me to just sit. I almost feel guilty for not working on something; home improvement projects, this blog, cleaning house, washing the car, organizing the garage, organizing the basement storage, etc...

It wasn't difficult for me to make that list. It seems these things are always on my mind. I know what I want and I know what's important, and many times I do follow my values, but there are times that it is difficult. I wonder if others have the same issues with choosing what to do with their time?

For example, if my kids are awake, I can either be in the moment with them, get down on their level and spend quality time with them, OR I can wash the dishes. There are days where quality time gets shoved aside and my excuses aren't very convincing.

And I know, in my heart of hearts, that moments missed with my two kids cannot be recovered. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. That cheesy Aerosmith song about "not wanting to miss a thing" starts running in my head. And maybe at first I am driven by guilt to spend time with my kids, but then I start to enjoy it and anxiety starts to leave.

So my new found wisdom can be summed up in a few words: "THE DISHES CAN WAIT!!!"

Continuity Insights Magazine

2010-02-04T10:25:00.000-08:00

I just had an article published in Continuity Insights Magazine...it's on pandemic preparedness for business. This is in their January/February 2010 issue.

http://www.continuityinsights.com/Magazine/Issue_Archives/2010/01-02/Pandemic_Planning_Protective_Measures.html

Where's Your Refining Fire?

2010-01-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

Eight years ago I stood on the balcony of my apartment, smoking a cigarette and thinking abstractly. Staring into the dark, star filled sky, feeling empty myself, I pondered akwardly out loud the question, “Is this all that life is about?” Over the next several weeks it felt like my life was on pause, this single question still hanging from my lips. I remember feeling overcome with hoplessness and defeat.

But God reached out to me and challenged me to learn more about Him. I eventually learned that God was not who I thought He was. To me, God was just another authority figure who had rules to control me and limit my life of fun and happiness. At this time, God just wanted me to see Him better and to continue on this path ever so patiently learning more about Him.

Now, I feel as if I’ve found Heaven, buried it in a field and walked away. I haven’t sold everything I own and purchased the field. And the only answer to the question Why Not? I can come up with is “because I am a lukewarm, consumer christian who lacks the type of faith Jesus REQUIRES”. But, that’s not who or what I want to be. God knows it, I know it.

For years, I have focused and spent my energy on things of this world. A good job (instead of being a good employee), higher salaries (instead of what’s needed), promotions (instead of promoting God), having good friends (instead of being a good friend), cool tech gadgets (unnecessary), my ideas that would make me money or fame or popularity (instead of my ideas that would bring Glory to God and serve only Him) and a countless number of other things that won’t last past this life.

I’ve got this desire to let the cares of this world go, but the other part of me says “that’s not very practical”.

God, I need You to get me past this, I need you to refine my current state. God, thanks for bringing me here. Glory and Honor to you, in your place and in this place.

Spiritual Disciplines: A Better Personal Understanding

2009-11-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

As I stated in a previous post, some of my friends and I have been practicing what are known as the "spiritual disciplines". We are doing this for the purpose of better understanding these through experience.

Upon first study, I would have declared the purpose of practicing the spiritual disciplines was to bring one’s “will” into submission; to bridle the “will” by sheer repetitious exercise. But, after further study and experiment, I now understand that the purpose is to allow God to bring our “will” under His submission and transform it to His “will”. Otherwise stated, we must allow God to overcome our “will” and transform it. We cannot do this by sheer “will” and right thinking.

The important difference here is that the first declaration requires one’s “will” to overpower itself, which is obviously both impossible and ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the fact that this is exactly what we in the church have been trying to do for centuries; it is in our teaching, our conversations and in our thinking.

Truly, a stronger “will” is required to overcome the weaker. One’s “will” cannot overcome itself. Our “will” and God’s “will” simply cannot co-exist! A failure to understand this truth has allowed our current condition to remain unchanged.

Isn’t it interesting that God will not overpower our “will” unless we desire and allow Him to do so? In every case, the spiritual disciplines are an exercise of depriving the “will”. Consider the “will” to be an empty bucket and each day it desires to be filled with some thing or another. Instead of filling the bucket with the thing that our “will” desires, we purposefully leave it empty and allow God to fill it with what His “will” desires.

It is impossible for God to fill our buckets if they are already filled with our own selfish desires.

The exercise of these spiritual disciplines for any other reason would be a waste of time. If your “will” desires to practice these disciplines to become “good” in the eyes of others then I assure you, you will become arrogant and haughty in the eyes of your friends and family.

You must practice these disciplines because your soul desires a transformation of your “will”, because your mind understands your “will” is God’s enemy and your enemy too. In fact, Satan desires nothing more than the desires of your “will” to be completely fulfilled and overflowing. Satan knows that your “will” is very much like his and he has no purpose for changing it.

Lastly, we cannot expect God to transform our “will” into His “will” by just hoping it will happen. We must stop doing the things that fulfill our “will’s” desires and start doing the things that deprive our “will”, but for the right reasons.

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your “will” be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.

Here is a way of describing the spiritual disciplines, but there are many other true and accurate ways to describe these complex exercises.

Solitude – Deprive your will of the company of others
Silence – Deprive your will from speaking your mind
Fasting - Deprive your will of providing your body with sustenance
Frugality – Deprive your will of seeking pleasure through material things
Secrecy – Deprive your will of seeking praise from others
Sacrifice – Deprive your will of seeking security in anything other than God
Study – Deprive your will of seeking knowledge for knowledge’s sake
Prayer – Deprive your will completely of everything
Service – Deprive your will to seek significance
Submission - Deprive your will of seeking self satisfaction
Worship – Deprive your will of focusing on worldly things
Celebration – Deprive your will to worry and focus on today’s suffering
Fellowship – Deprive your will of isolation and selfishness
Confession – Deprive your will to hide your sin

Spiritual Discipline

2009-09-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

Recently, some men that I share life with, have begun studying and practicing the “Spiritual Disciplines”. Our first two disciplines to learn about and practice were Solitude and Silence. As Jesus shows us, sometimes you have to get away and be quiet to hear God. That is the general idea around this.

At the end of our two week trial run with Solitude and Silence, we all realized just how difficult it can be to carve out time for these two disciplines. Nevertheless, we all did carve out a small amount of time and can say that while none of us had any life changing experiences (which wasn’t expected) we did realize the value of this discipline. For me, this could lead me to make some major life altering decisions.

For the next two weeks, our group will be practicing the spiritual disciplines of Study and Prayer. Some of us plan to read some commentary, or a good Christian book and others will stick with our Bible. One of the men in my group reminded us that when you read the Bible, you should be asking yourself, “what does this say about God?” and not necessarily the named characters in the story. I think this is excellent advice!

Solitude and silence coupled with prayer and study…it is easy to see how this could be a powerful combination. I should point out how surprised I was to read that study and prayer are not necessarily designed to make us knowledgeable, rather they are designed to help shape our character. I can say that my character definitely needs work…so I hope God puts that on his “To Do” list and that I give him that opportunity.

What I am struggling with today…

Like most Christians of our time, I have heard countless sermons and I have seen many techniques deployed for conveying a message to a starving crowd of believers. And, I can honestly say that I have learned quite a bit from these sermons.

I wonder though, what good do we expect to come from these sermons each week? Has this technique proven its value or ability to adequately prepare us for the spiritual walk into which we have been called? I mean, for 200 years, the church has focused on the same techniques (sermon, singing, prayer, small group) and it does not appear to evaluate itself very often.

I think we can say with authority, that for most of us, attending church, participating in group bible study and bowing our heads during scheduled prayer does not lead one toward a path of Spiritual Discipline.

Dallas Willard Quote:
“Bible study, prayer and church attendance, among the most commonly prescribed activities in Christian circles, generally have little effect for soul transformation, as is obvious to any observer. If all the people doing them were transformed to health and righteousness by it, the world would be vastly changed. Their failure to bring about the change is precisely because the body and soul are so exhausted, fragmented and conflicted that the prescribed activities cannot be appropriately engaged, and by and large degenerate into legalistic and ineffectual rituals.”

It is this thought that spurned me towards practicing the spiritual disciplines. So, while Sunday sermons continue to be part of my walk, they are not the sum total of my life of faith in Jesus Christ.

Peace!

A Peaceful Day

2009-02-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

We are having a wonderful and unusual day today here in the Midwest. The sun is out, no clouds are in the sky and it is 62 degrees outside. They are saying we set record high temperatures yesterday and today. Nobody is hesitating to take advantage of this weather. Everybody that we would see daily before the harshness of winter set in, are again outside walking their dogs, playing with their children, washing their cars and just enjoying what we know will fade away quickly.

If the Midwestern winter is like a hurricane, then today is our eye of the storm, and it is quite sweet! And I am just enjoying one moment at a time, living and being in this day.

This day comes on the heels of some wonderful news we received last night. Some very dear friends to us found out yesterday that they are going to have their third baby in September. This is good news because there was a minor scare; however, I think God worked that out to just increase everyone's appreciation for this baby.

Personally, it gave me another opportunity to realize how powerless we are in this world. I too often feel powerful, like I have things under control and am coasting through this life quite peaceably. Until a situation comes along, such as a medical condition or unexpected situation like my 21 month old son falling through the banister and plunging 8 to 9 feet down or upon hearing my uncle fell and experienced a terrible broken leg on the eve of Christmas…then I realize that I did not have the power to foresee nor prevent what has occurred. And, now that it has occurred, more often than naught, the power to remedy the situation exists only in God's hands.

Then, I am more motivated to practice posture before petition. I can kneel more freely having been humbled before God, powerless, with only simple words on my tongue: "Help us God, we don't know what to do!"

God help my friends to:

Live one day at a time;
Enjoy one moment at a time;
Accept hardships as this is the pathway to peace;
Take, as You did, this sinful world as it is,
not as they would have it;
Trust that You will make all things right
if they surrender to Your Will;
That they may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You Forever in the next

Squeeze those Lemons and Pour on the Sugar

2009-01-24T07:25:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since last I wrote…

My 21 month old son fell through the banister 8 to 9 feet and hit the bottom stair…but after a helicopter ride to a hospital he came out of it without a scratch. Hallelujah!

Our family traveled to Texas for Thanksgiving and Christmas and loaded up on Tex-Mex. I can never get enough and it is impossible to find it up here in the frozen Midwest. We’ve had snow on the ground for over two weeks now. We still like it, but check back with us next year.

We have also survived minus 22 degree weather that lasted almost a week…our friends are telling us that we are now official Midwesterners. I’m still not calling coke pop or soda!

For the first time in my life I can honestly say that I love my job. There are so many challenges however and I have to keep my inner workaholic in check. I strongly believe that family comes first, but I am finding that living this principle is not easy at times. I cannot complain though, I am usually home by 5pm and we spend a lot of time together.

We are also surrounded by friends, great friends…and we are enjoying sharing our lives with them.

I am scheduled to go to Beijing, China in a few weeks. This will be my second trip there. I also was able to travel to Porto Alegre, Brazil last July. I am a bit disappointed right now, because our trip to Madrid was cancelled. I have never been to Europe and was really looking forward to it.

I guess I will have to have some patience with this one. Well, I will try to be a bit more responsible for updating this blog more often this year.

For now, I am enjoying our lemonade life and thankful to God for our many blessings - none of which we deserve!

Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.
– Romans 12:15-16

You Find Out Who Your Friends Are

2008-12-01T16:52:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard the country song by Tracy Lawrence called, "You Find Out Who Your Friends Are"? Recent events have really revealed the truth in the lyrics to this song. I am not going to say much about this, other than my wife and I cannot express with words what our friends mean to us and how they make us want to be there for them in the way they've been there for us! These friends make this thing called "LIFE" so much more special.

YOU FIND OUT WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE
by Tracy Lawrence

Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
Or get yourself in a bind lose the shirt off your back
Need a floor, need a couch, need a bus fare

This is where the rubber meets the road
This is where the cream is gonna rise
This is what you really didn't know
This is where the truth don't lie

You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?'
or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are

Everybody wants to slap your back
wants to shake your hand
when you're up on top of that mountain
But let one of those rocks give way
then you slide back down look up and see who's around then

This ain't where the road comes to an end
This ain't where the bandwagon stops
This is just one of those times when
A lot of folks jump off

You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?'
or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are

When the water's high
When the weather's not so fair
When the well runs dry
Who's gonna be there?

You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?'
or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are

You find out who your friends are (yeah, yeah)
You find out who your friends are
Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
(Well man, I've been there)
Or get yourself in a bind lose the shirt off your back
Need a floor, need a couch, need a bus fare
(Man, I've been there)
Man, I've been there
Oooh yeah.

Changes in Lattitude

2008-11-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

Change is constant here in the Midwest. From the crops being harvested, the leaves turning shades of red, yellow, orange and brown and the weather going from warm to cold, all have recently changed in ways impossible to go unnoticed. And for Jennifer and I, it is amazing.

We have seen barren fields sprout forth life and frozen rivers thaw and run. The grass here is a dark rich green that almost looks fake. It rains about once a week so we did not have to water our lawn even once this past summer.

This will be hard for our friends back home to believe, but in June the sun rose at 4:45AM and stayed up till almost 9PM. We understand much better the reason for daylight savings time. And now, our days are shorter with the sun not rising until 7AM and setting at 5PM. I drive to work in the dark and drive home in the dark.

The corn fields are being harvested all around us. It’s been an experience to see the stalks grow to almost 8 feet high with ears of corn growing all over them. Because most of the corn around here is used for either feed or ethanol, the farmers don’t harvest until the corn dies and dries out.

It has been a long while since I have been introduced to so many new things. In every season, my curiosity has peaked here. Whereas before this northwind blew us here, I had been living La Vida been there/done that. I was surrounded by the familiar, and while it felt safe, it was also desensitizing.

I've realized here that the changes in nature at times parallel our lives. Not only do we go through seasons of physical growth, but we also grow and change intellectually and spiritually. These new experiences continue to teach me as well as remind me of things I once knew.

And just like Jimmy Buffet says, these changes in lattitude have led to changes in attitude.

Tears by Night, but the Morning brings Joy!

2008-10-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about moving away from familiar settings, the safeness of old friends, and the security that exists when you are surrounded by family in all directions. If you have ever left home, to experience something new, to take a risk and let life show you its other side, then you know what I am talking about.

While I won’t try to paint a false image that everything has been perfect and nothing has left us at times, tired, it has overall been a positive and educational experience. I can look back and see things that were once very important to me, become dull and insignificant. Things that I wanted (prayed) to one day see as trivial; and I couldn’t be more satisfied with this new outlook on life.

I used to think that things like 4X4 trucks, hunting, and grandios stories of days gone by were a symbol of who I really was. 4x4’s are still cool!

These days, I treasure things like the roof, the heater (it’s the Midwest), food on the table, my family’s health, fresh water, the shower, clothes, and the blessing of medical insurance. We’ve seen our bank account go lower than anyone we know could possibly imagine, and while we felt vulnerable and at times scared, something inside us said, God’s got it covered.

Recently, I was buying all store brand products and thought to myself, “I see what your doing God, you know how I really think about store brands AND the people who buy them, and that you need to teach me this lesson. Thank you!”

This comedian, Mark Lowry once said, “if I knew I was going to live through it, I might have enjoyed it a lot more.” I think we’re learning that we’re going to live through this and it’s time to just sit back and look for all that life has in store for us.

The truth is, we’re happy and have everything we need. God has left nothing out that we need. In fact, He’s even included a few things that we didn’t know we needed. I’m so thankful, words do not exist to describe it.

"God's promises are like the stars; the darker the night the brighter they shine."
~David Nicholas

Blame It On the Rain

2008-10-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

Jennifer and I have already experienced some interesting things here in the Midwest. In my first post, I touched on one of them; the flood. It was early on the first Sunday in September and we were stepping out the door to go to church, when something told me, "go check the basement".

That week we had seen close to 10 inches of rain, which fell in just 3 days and it was still raining outside. Our new home here is only 2.5 years old and is not in a floodplain, but I’ve heard of basements flooding for all kinds of reasons. It turned out to be a good decision. As I walked down the stairs, even before I reached the bottom, my ears detected a familiar sound, like a running shower. It was loud, like hard water on concrete. Sure enough, in a storage area, water was pouring in like it would a crack in a dam.

We quickly jumped into action. I grabbed some empty trash cans, and Jennifer got on the phone to find a plumber. The water was coming through the concrete wall, where the septic return pipe exits the house. The previous owner had not sealed it properly. This explained everything. It became even more clear later, when we went to dig a hole next to the house to reroute the water from the pipe opening; we found that the previous owner had already dug a hole there, it was still dug.

Anyway, while I am still aimlessly fighting the water by putting trash can after trash can under the gushing tidal wave; Jennifer tells me that she has called four plumbers and none of them can make it for several hours. I then decide to go get my wet vac. This turned out to be another good decision; not because the wet vac did a good job, but because of what happened next.

My next door neighbor, Ryan, saw me cleaning out the wet vac outside in the rain; and a few minutes later he knocked on the door and asked, “Is your basement flooding?” and “do you want some help”. "Yes & Yes", I said. Ryan built his house next door, by that I mean he literally built his house, so he knows a lot about houses.

As soon as Ryan sees what is going on, he rips back the carpet, rips out the soaking wet carpet pad, which now weighs about 200 pounds, throws it over his shoulder and runs it up the stairs and outside. Then, it was his idea to re-route the water. So, the next thing I know, we are both outside in the pouring rain, digging a hole and a trench to reroute the water. I felt like a real burly outdoorsman, Paul Bunyanesque, I was wet, muddy, and finally had a really good reason to be that way.

Anyway, we cleaned up the mess, dried the basement with the wet vac, four fans and a de-humidifier over the next three days. Ryan had really helped us. The water never reached an inch high and so damage was minimal.

The story isn't over and neither was Ryan’s act of kindness. About two hours later, Ryan comes over and offers to help me seal the pipe properly and lay down new carpet pad and re-stretch the carpet. So later that week, he did just that. He spent several hours on two evenings and even showed me how to do it all, should I need to do it again, which I won’t. Total cost of this flood: just barely over $200, some sweat, no blood, no tears.

And since then, Jennifer and I have been able to create a bridge of friendship with Ryan and his wife, Leigh. And here in the midwest, 850 miles from our family and friends, a couple of new friends are like God calling an audible…a loud answer to prayer.

"The longest Journey a man must take is the eighteen inches from his head to his heart."
-Unknown

This New Life

2008-10-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

My family and I have recently moved to the Quad Cities (Illinois/Iowa). We are making it just fine here with the help of a few of God's blessings. At least that's how we see it.

Who knew that we would settle in a neighborhood where we would find so many blessings of friendship? Who's plan was it to find a couple in our neighborhood who would invite us to join a small group of believers they host at their home every week?

Who went ahead of us and made our path safe and straight and would think of all our needs and make sure that they were met? Who knew that a flood in our new home would bring us closer to our next door neighbors?

Who knew that we couldn't do it on our own?

He truly is Immanuel! (God with us)