Influence

Thanks to everyone that takes the time to read these. It's a challenge to create. Well, of course it's a challenge to create. It's that way for everyone that does. However, here are some challenges specific to me.

First, I'm disorganized with and unsure of what I want to say.

Second, I have a small circle. Very small. Circle of you name it. Friends. Influence. Etc.

Third, I'm not good at sticking with what's best for me.

All of this makes me a poor candidate for enriching and adding value to the lives of those around me.

Hopefully I still can make an impact in some small way though. And while I'm at it, I can work on the challenges listed above at the same time.

What should I do?

I should blog more. I should work out more. Eat less. Drink soda less. Work in the yard more. Save more. Spend less. Read more. Write more. Drum more. Watch less. Game less. Call friends more. Do awesome stuff more. Make mistakes less. Pray more. Trust more. Fear less.

And much, much more...more. And much, much more...less.

Psalm 46:10 reads, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." (KJV)

Of all the stuff that I need to do more and less, I will be still and know that God is God. And I am not.

Goal

I'm not much for goals. I wander rather aimlessly and have somewhat of a throw it all on the wall and see what sticks mentality. Today I met with a brother in Christ and he asked me what goal I have. I didn't really know what to tell him. I still said something but it was pretty weak. I confessed that I never was big on setting goals.

And now I realize that I really want to get better. I mean at least a little better, right? That should be doable.

I just don't know what goal I should set. And what if I don't want to work toward it? I suppose to help me want to work toward it, I should make it fun.

What goal should I set for myself this year? What goal have you set for yourself this year?

Recap

Some of you may be wondering what I've been up to this year. It's a little uncivilized of me to just start writing blog posts without any context as to recent events

This past year we got to watch our youngest, David, grow into the ripe old age of...well, a year. Between our oldest being five and our second-born sprinting through his second year, it's been an adventure as we welcomed David. I've loved seeing the three children interact. I'm reminded often of a moment that I witnessed in which David, who at the time was six months old, had not seen Selah or Noah for a couple of weeks. When he first clapped eyes on them, he squealed with delight. Before that time, I didn't think that someone so young and so small could be that ecstatic to see anyone, least of all siblings.

In January, I scheduled "weekends of rest" for the whole year. Some of you may have gotten the email. One weekend per month to reconnect with family and friends, to disconnect all of the distractions, to refocus on what's most important in my life and the reason why. This is the first time I have been so intentional in this area of my life and I honestly don't know what took me so long.

I think when you start to get older, you become more intentional automatically. With everything. Not that I think of myself as older, but I'm older than I was!

On my way home this evening I started thinking about a lot of my earlier posts on this blog. I admit I'm kind of embarrassed at some of my choices of topics of discussion. I'm a little irritated that I spend most of my time creating discussions without really getting to the point of anything. At least that's the way it feels. Some might disagree.

But again, thank you for sticking with me. I hope that even with my ramblings, I've been able to encourage you from time to time. I think that some of my best posts have been when I discussed things that have happened to me and what I learned from it. So I will try to do that a little more.

Well everyone, it's 10:11 PM and I will probably wait until tomorrow morning to publish this. I hope everyone has a great Thursday.

Anew

Happy Friday, July 29th, 2016 everybody! I know I always say this, but I'm going to try to post a little bit more than I have been. Starting today. I hope that everyone has a great day! I hope that today you are able to feel a sense of accomplishment in your life. Whether it be reaching out to a friend that you haven't talked to in a while, finishing that report you've been working on, getting more of a tan than you had yesterday, finding that new Pokemon character, getting just 10 extra steps on your Fitbit, giving your kids an extra hug than they got yesterday, and just...well, anything else that you can think of throughout your day.

This morning I was thinking about all of the stuff that I've done wrong. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and hurt a lot of people. Sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose. One thought quickly turned into two, then three, four and....it cascaded from there. I had to remind myself that it's in the past. Today is a new day and I have a new opportunity to not be that guy that still tries to haunt me sometimes.  2nd Corinthians 5:17 says Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (KJV).

Thank you to all of you that have continued to stick with me, be it friendship or readership or both.

You Gonna?

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry that it's been so long. I really, really, really, am-uh gonna try to get back to this more frequently.  I woke up this morning eager to put together a quick update on what's been going on.

First bit of news: our son David was born August 31 at 11:00 in the a.m. The joy of having him in our hearts and home has been unspeakable. I have found myself a little bit more perceptive as to why couples have a lot of kids. The more kids we have, the more fun we have. I can't say with any certainty that this realization will manifest itself into an actual following in the footsteps of those couples. I'm just saying that it's been a nice awareness.

I had been training for about a month and a half for my first marathon. My training started in July and about halfway into August, I started experiencing a really sharp pain in my knee at about the second mile. So unfortunately my training was put on hold, and I am still in need of putting together a new plan to accomplish this quasi-lifetime goal.

I turned 36 this August--did everything happen in August--and I still feel every bit of 25. I have no plan. I have only scratched the surface of my hopes and dreams. I'm still overcoming the obstacle of a lack of confidence. And yet, I feel great about it. I really do.

Did you notice I said "am-uh" at the beginning of this composition? I encourage you to try that sometime today; just once. When you go to say "I'm gonna..." modify it just a little bit to say "I'm-uh gonna..."

It's just so much more fun and at no extra work. In fact you'll notice that it rolls off the tongue a little easier.

Water

I was listening to someone talk about water awhile back; and had a lot of really cool bits of info. One little bit of info that has surfaced my memory in the past couple days is how he connected dehydration to depression. He said that when the body is lacking in water intake, the body is in a state of panic. The body is "worried" that it is not getting the proper amount of water to help it function like it's supposed to. Which many times will cause a state of depression or being down that--often times--the person will have no idea why they feel the way that they do. That just really impacted me. In the past, I had only thought of the need for water as something that affects the physical requirement of the body; and not including the mental and emotional stability and well-being of the body. So, I just thought I'd share as well.