Monday Morning

It’s Monday morning, day 14 of lockdown. So, looking around I see that my house is totally neat and organized, my bed is made, my bathroom is clean, my patio is swept, my weeds are pulled, my tools are organized and dang it, I’ve just about run out of things to do. All I have left is to empty the trash, and then what am I gonna do? Stupid Coronavirus!

Where we live, garbage pickup service happens every Monday Morning. This Monday morning, just like clockwork, I noticed the garbage truck coming down our street right on time at 7:30am. Except this time his truck was the only truck around. And there were no other vehicles, or people for that matter. Just an eerie early morning calm, broken up only by the sound of the beeping trash truck in action.

And that got me thinking… As difficult as things are, there are things to be appreciated. God bless those people who are still working because their jobs are essential. That includes doctors, nurses, policemen, firemen… and you guessed it… garbage men!

I’m a garbageman. I can’t work from home, but my job is an essential city service that must get done. 

It’s a tough job, from getting up pre-dawn to the physical toll it takes on my body to the monotonous 

nature of the job. At times it’s hard to keep on going. Right now though, right now I am feeling an 

extra sense of pride and purpose as I do my work. I see the people, my people, the people of my city, 

peeking out their windows at me. They’re scared, we’re scared. Scared but resilient. Us garbagemen 

are gonna keep collecting the garbage, doctors and nurses are gonna keep doctoring and nurse-ering. 

It’s gonna be ok, we’re gonna make it be ok. I love my city. I love my country. I love my planet Earth. 

Be good to each other and we’ll get through this.

                                                                              ~ Jester D, Garbageman, Planet Earth

Finding Funny

My world is very different at the moment, but not just my world, the whole freakin’ entire world is different! If you would have told me a month ago, that in March we would run out of toilet paper and paper towels, that we would be confined to our homes with most of us not allowed to go to work, that we would have to keep 6’ away from every other human being… I would have said you are crazy!

But sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction and that’s the world we’re living in at the moment. And that’s the important thing to remember. That it is only for the moment. That things will change. It will take time for sure, but things will change and eventually we will get our normal lives back. Although, we may have a “new normal” in some ways.

In the meantime, we have to make the best of it and focus on the positive. So with that in mind, this morning when I sat down on my couch to say my morning prayers, I focused on all the blessings that God has bestowed on me throughout my life. Good parents, good schools and teachers, living in a plywood shack for a year to learn humility and resourcefulness, living in a big beautiful home in the country, being successful in business multiple times, falling in love, raising a family, overcoming illness and injuries, spending time with six wonderfully different grandchildren, and friends, more great friends than I could ever deserve.

This went on for quite a while because I really have been blessed in thousands of ways. But when I was finally finished, I raised my head and was going to look out at the ocean through our sliding glass doors when I noticed my view was blocked. Standing there, smiling, was our dog. (Okay, it’s not our dog, it’s the neighbor’s dog, but he thinks he’s our dog, so… so do we!) Tucker was standing there smiling and wagging his tail but somehow, he looked different. Somebody in Tucker’s family must have gotten really bored and decided to paint white eyebrows onto his face. Poor dog aged 10 years overnight! I’ve never seen anything like that before but like I said in the beginning of this story, the world is a little crazy at the moment, so maybe “finding funny” things to do, isn’t such a bad idea.

One day this is going to be over – can you imagine that day? 

How we’ll come out into the sun and laugh and hug and sing and dance and hold hands! 

I am living for that day. It’ll be like nothing we’ve ever experienced before!

~ Glennon Doyle 

Broader Shoulders

Everywhere you go right now, and everything you see and read is about the Coronavirus problem. It’s definitely a very serious issue because in my lifetime I have never seen everything come to a halt like it has right now. There will be no final tournaments for the basketball season and no start to the baseball season. I am bummed that the Masters Golf Tournament isn’t going to happen, and that every other sporting event, concert, and entertainment experience is a no go too. How crazy is that? Talk about bumps in the road, this is a big bump in the road!

This is a life-threatening situation for sure. So we would be totally justified to focus on the problem to the point of making ourselves miserable. But is that really the right approach? What if instead, we remember that God is always with us, molding us, testing us, and helping us grow. What if we took a different perspective…?

Dear Lord,

• I am so thankful we have dedicated doctors and nurses attending to the sick and needy.
• I am so thankful that we have first responders, firemen, and policemen who are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to help those in need.
• I am so thankful, that we have government officials who are taking massive amounts of action to slow down the spread of this disease.
• I am so thankful that we have dozens of different ways that we can communicate with each other without actually having to be face to face.
• And I am so thankful that when I woke up this morning and looked outside… I didn’t see a world in panic. Instead I saw a whisper of light rain falling onto beautiful rolling green hills in front of me and the sparkling blue pacific ocean behind me. A reminder from you that our blessings are far more plentiful than our struggles.

There are always going to be bumps in the road of life, some of them bigger than others. But we don’t have to let them steal our joy, or our thankfulness. I think we should realize that those bumps are there for a reason, a reminder that we shouldn’t ask God for a lighter burden, we should simply ask God for broader shoulders!

We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, 

only to learn that it is God who is shaking them.

~ Charles C. West

Fruit That Will Last

I’m not exactly sure what my true purpose here on earth is really supposed to be. But what I do know, is that I was planted here for a reason.

The sunrise is beautiful as we head to Battle Mountain in San Diego

Sometimes the hardest part is just getting there!

Electrical Work on 30-year-old wiring can be really tricky

So many rocks to deal with

Our work is done!

Heading home...

I gave you this work, to go and produce fruit, fruit that will last.

~ John 15:16

The Battle Mountain Cross, established 1988

Passion Statement

Sometimes in life, we have to do things we don’t necessarily want to do. For example, you might want your son or daughter to join a youth soccer league, but they’re short on coaches so you get roped into coaching, even though you don’t know anything about soccer. You don’t want to do it, and you don’t know how to do it, but you know you should do it. Recently, I noticed something interesting, and good, about that problem when it happens. Let me explain.

Some friends of ours go to the same Church we do, and they were talking about participating in an upcoming Bible Study Program. They said they wanted to participate in a “Small Group” to follow the new program but didn’t necessarily want to host it or lead it. I liked the subject matter for the study but I’m not a Pastor, or an Elder, or even all that smart, so I didn’t volunteer for anything. But a week went by and the time was getting close to start the small group study. I knew I wasn’t qualified, but I do have a passion for my faith. So, although I didn’t want to do it, my passion…led to action… and I soon found myself picking up the phone and making the commitment to lead the group.

Now I was stuck! I had made a commitment! And I’m not the type of person who goes back on their word. So, I started by taking a class on “How to Lead a Small Group” at the Church. I then began reading the printed study materials and watching the DVD about the program. I even took it a step further and started going to classes to join the church because I knew those classes would give me better insight into how Bible Study works. I thought about ways to make the Bible Study sessions fun and how to get people interested and involved so that we not only learned something, but also enjoyed the time together and bonded as friends.

So far, I’ve led two study sessions and guess what, I am really enjoying it! I don’t know if the other people are having fun and enjoying it, but I do know that I feel really good about fulfilling the commitment I made. The interesting thing I noticed is that participating in a Bible Study Group has always been fun, but leading one is actually both fun and satisfying. I also learned that making a commitment to doing something good, even if it’s outside your comfort zone, helps us to grow as human beings. Just remember, the first step begins with passion, but it won't go anywhere without commitment!

Passion is empty without action.

~ Dave Ramsey

Somebody Somewhere

Did you notice that spring training started this week for Major League Baseball? I did, so I tuned in to catch some of the action because I absolutely love baseball. Watching a game though, made me sad because it’s been exactly one year since I played my last MSBL baseball game. I miss the game, I miss the competition, but what I miss most are the close friendships I made over the past 16 years in the MSBL.

I can’t play baseball anymore because it’s too hard on my aging back, so I’ve turned to golf to get my fix for competition. And as far as friendships, the cool thing about golf is that it gives you the opportunity to make a lot of new friends when you get paired up with strangers who love the game just like you do.

So, here’s a question. How do you handle it when you have to compete against friends? The answer might say a lot about your character and here’s an example. Over the weekend my wife and I went to visit a couple who live in San Diego who are really good friends of ours. He loves sports as much as I do, so we played two rounds of golf, several games of darts, and a mini billiards tournament as well. I only won one round of golf and he won every other competition. Funny thing is, at times I found myself rooting for him to make a putt, or hit a bulls eye, or sink the eight-ball. Trust me, I am extremely competitive, but if I compete against a friend, I am rooting for both of us to play our very best.

I know there are a lot of people who might think my attitude is stupid and makes me a loser. But if you think about it, being upset or envious of others can make you a miserable person. But if you choose to rejoice in God’s goodness to others, you can be joyful all the time – because something good is always happening to somebody somewhere!

Angels Spring Training starts at Tempe Diablo Stadium

A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.

~ Tim Cahill

In-N-Out

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s the small things in life that make a difference. If you stop and think about all the different interactions you have with different people in a single day, and all the different words spoken, you might discover that small things really can make an impact.

For example, I’ve owned three companies over the past 40+ years and had interactions with hundreds of employees. Over time I learned that it pays off to pay attention to each and every one of them. So I would always try to catch an employee doing something right and when I did, I would immediately reward them with a gift card from In-N-Out Burger. The gift cards are only $5.00 but I swear you would think I was giving them $500 by the way they reacted. That’s because praise and recognition are rare gems that are not handed out very often these days.

At this point in my life I am currently working on my fourth company. Even though it’s very small, (I am the only employee), I still carry In-N-Out gift cards with me everywhere I go because it’s become a habit for me to look for people doing something good. Last Thursday I got the chance to put them to use.

I was making sales calls all over Orange County and I always carry my thin black notebook with me everywhere I go. In that notebook are my business cards, a pen, and a yellow pad to take notes. But hidden behind the yellow pad are three very valuable items; a copy of the “Salesman’s Prayer”, a picture of my family, and a photo of the most influential man in my life, my Dad. These items are my motivation to work hard every day, do what’s right, and make my family proud. Unfortunately, as I got to my last sales call, I realized my notebook was missing. I thought hard about the last time I saw it and realized that I might have set it on the back of my truck and driven away. So I drove back to my last three stops and scoured the parking lots and streets for that notebook. I never found it and my heart sunk. Those photos are irreplaceable and to make matters worse, there was a check in my notebook that was made out to my company by mistake, and I needed to return it.

As I was heading home, angry and upset at my own carelessness, I received a phone call from someone who said he found a black notebook in the street. The caller said he thought I might want it back, especially since there was a check inside. I was ecstatic and immediately drove to Lake Forest to meet up with this wonderful good Samaritan. When he handed me the notebook, I thanked him and handed him every In-N-Out gift card I had with me, which was four of them. He tried to turn them down, but I explained how I enjoyed rewarding people that I catch doing something right, and he loved that idea. Said he would try that with his own employees.

There are so many times that we pass “in and out” of people lives. Even though it may only be for a brief moment, that doesn’t mean… it doesn’t matter!

Oh Creator of all things, help me. 

For this day I go out into the world, naked and alone, 

and without your hand to guide me, 

I will wander far from the path which leads to success and happiness.

~ From the Salesman’s Prayer, by Og Mandino