Father, Son and The Holy Goo

I would like to think that I am strong and not afraid of anything. That I have the strength to build a home for my family, and the courage to protect my wife and kids from anything and anyone. That’s a real man, right? But here’s the truth, I freakin’ hate spiders!

It probably started when I was a teenager. I worked on an avocado ranch and the spiders that hung out in the avocado trees were huge! I would be walking through a grove and all of sudden my face would be covered in a giant nasty spider web. I just knew some big fat brown spider was crawling up my back to bite me in the neck. I had never-ending nightmares about those creepy, nasty, ugly, little beasts.

In my twenties, I rode dirt bikes, and often went on camping trips to the desert and Mexico. On one trip to Guadalupe Canyon, we slept on the ground in sleeping bags. But I woke up in the early dawn with a severe earache. It was so bad, I had to load my bike into my truck and head back to the US. When I arrived, I went straight to urgent care where they gave me antibiotics for an ear infection. But by midnight, I was in extreme pain. One half of my face was paralyzed, I couldn’t see very good, and I couldn’t hear. So I was freaking out. I somehow managed to drive myself to the hospital, where I was given antitoxins because they said I had been bitten four times inside my ear by a brown recluse spider. Like I said, I hate spiders!

Throughout most of my life, I have been involved with lighting maintenance, electrical work, and pole inspections. In all three of those endeavors, I encounter spiders everywhere I go. They hide inside light fixtures, junction boxes, ground vaults, and underneath pole base covers. I just can’t seem to avoid those nasty eight legged creatures, so I am trying to accept it and deal with it. But I gotta say, I still hate ‘em!

Until yesterday morning that is. I was taking a shower and as I reached up to grab the shampoo, I saw a huge brown “Daddy Long Legs” spider just inches away from my hand. That scared the holy crap out of me and to make it worse, he had a large web with a ghostly brown glob of something in the middle that he was guarding. My first thought was to spray him with water and wash him down the drain. But then I noticed something… there was a tiny little baby “Daddy Long Legs” spider scurrying up the web to back to Papa. I stood there for a moment, looking at that big spider, the ghostly glob of goo, and the little guy running like a demon to get back to the web. And I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill them. For some reason, all I could think of was the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

And that got me thinking… It really is stupid and silly to be afraid of spiders because, in a way, they are just like us. They have to create a home, and they have to protect their wife and kids. I can so relate!

If you wish to live and  thrive,

let the spider run alive.

~ Old English Proverb

The Power

I find myself offering up a prayer quite often these days. In fact, most morning when I leave before sunrise to go to work or to go play golf I enjoy voicing a prayer out loud, especially  as the sun rises. I am all alone, don’t have to feel embarrassed, and sometimes I even picture Jesus sitting next to me… and we talk. Okay I talk, but I believe he listens. And I believe He cares. Funny thing is, as I pray and the sunrise bursts forth over the tops of the hills, so does a feeling of calmness within me, combined with happiness.

Call me crazy, because I admit that I never used to pray very often as a young man. But as I’ve gotten older two things have changed in my life.

• One – I appreciate the blessings that I have a lot more these days because I’ve been through enough hard times in my life to recognize when I have it good. So I feel grateful and want to express my gratitude in prayer. Doing so makes me feel good, and happy as I mentioned above.

• Two – Being older, I have a lot of friends my age who are going through health issues and some of them have even lost loved ones recently. They need all the help they can get so I put them in my prayers and let them know I am praying for them.

However, I am having a problem with number two above.  There is no way for me to know if my prayers are doing any good. I mean I am just your average Joe. I am not a pastor, I am not super smart, I don’t have any special power, and I don’t even know if I am structuring my prayers in the right way. Sometimes my prayers are answered the way I hope. Other times a friend stays sick, or a relative dies, and I feel really sad.

Until today, Easter Sunday, that is. As I was reading the book of Psalms in my Max Lucado Study Bible, I saw that Max added a sidebar note. It will forever change the way I look at prayer, which is to say that I will never stop praying and never stop believing that my prayers are heard.  

Since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it,

Our prayers do make a difference!

                                                                                                      ~ Max Lucado

Hold On Tight

It seems like just yesterday that we met. I don’t know if it was her captivating smile, cute dimples, or infectious personality that attracted me to her so much. But what I do know is that when I fell in love with her, I fell hard!

She warned me, “Once you kiss me, you will never stop”, and she was right. And the moment we told each other how we truly felt, we were constantly together, never ever wanting to be apart, holding hands, holding on tight. I think that both of us were so thrilled to have found true love, that once we found it, we wanted to make sure that we didn’t lose it. And maybe that’s why after nearly three decades, we are still madly in love with each other, still holding hands ever so tightly, and still never want to be apart.

Yesterday was our 28^th wedding anniversary. So I made sure there was a fresh rose on her nightstand, an anniversary card propped up against it, and an anniversary present hidden in the back of my truck. The present was an issue though. After 28 years, I feel like I’ve given her just about every creative gift that I could come up with. So this year was a struggle, until I overheard her on the phone. She was telling a friend about her new charity venture that involves creating suitcases filled with clothes for Foster Kids. The tremendous excitement and passion in her voice fired off a light bulb in my head. So this year, instead of buying her a gift for herself, I decided to give her a gift for her charity, a suitcase filled with clothes and toiletries for a young child. I hoped it would be both a show of love for her and support for her passion and I lucked out. She loved it… and held on to me tight for a very long time.

When you first fall in love, it can take your breath away and give you goosebumps all over your body. Later on as you share life’s struggles, sort through problems, and enjoy good times together, love will often mature and create a special, long lasting bond that can’t be broken. That’s how I feel about my wife these days. It might be because 20 years ago I nearly lost her to a life threatening lung disorder, or it might be because she has always had my back when I needed it most, or it might just be those cute dimples that pop up when she smiles. All I know for sure is that life can be a bumpy road, so no matter what... I’m gonna forever hold on tight!

Speaking of bumpy roads, as I drove to a job site yesterday, I called my wife just to tell her I love her and miss her. Sounds silly right! But as I heard her say “Love You” when she hung up the phone, a lighted traffic sign on the side of the intersection switched to say, “Love You”.  Love can be crazy right!

Love… is the perfect bond of unity.

Colossians 3:14

Teach Your Children Well - Part Two

Last week I wrote about how important it is to teach our children to do the right thing. But the real message I wanted to convey is that the best way to teach people is to model that behavior ourselves. Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done… and I am guilty quite often myself. Let me give you an example.

The sign hanging at my daughter’s house that I mentioned in my last Monday Message had a dozen “Family Rules”. Two of them, however, are related. “Share” and “Think of Others Before Yourself”. Even as kindergarteners we are taught to share, but somehow, as go down life’s rocky roadway, it gets harder and harder to do that. I hate to admit it, but I have trouble sharing sometimes. And by that I mean giving things, like my money, time, possessions, etc.

Actually though, I’ve always considered myself a generous person. I mean… I do tip generously, I donate to charities, and I buy girl scout cookies… even though they’re not good for me. But at the same time I worry about money in the back of my mind when I do give to others, especially now that I am “semi-retired”, and I also I worry that my wife will have enough money if something ever happens to me.

So with that going on in the back of my mind, my wife started a new Charity this year. It’s a wonderful cause called, “My Own - A Case for Kids” and she is super excited about it. Her goal is to raise enough money, clothing, and essential items to be able to create 340 fully filled suitcases this year that are gender and age specific, to be given to Foster Kids in Orange County. In her first two months she already delivered 60 suitcases to the County of Orange Social Services Agency, and they were absolutely thrilled! But as with most new ventures, she needed seed money to get started, quite a lot of it. And that’s where I come in.

My wife is super hard working, and awesomely inspiring, so I definitely want to support her cause. But the fear of spending so much money on a new charity was stressful for me. But then two things happened on the same day. First, we received handwritten notes from several young children that received a “suitcase of their own”. What they wrote was both heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time. My stress for myself went down as I thought about the stress those poor kids have to endure every day. The second thing that happened, was that when I did my daily Bible reading, I came across Psalm 112:4-5. When I read it, I was reminded that the more we give to others, the more we will receive in return. That’s when my stress stopped altogether. How can I stress when I know that my wife will be successful with her goal of helping others… and that God will always be successful in His goal of helping us!

myownstuffoc@gmail.com

Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious 

and compassionate and righteous. For good will come to those who are generous.

Psalm 112:4-5

Teach Your Children Well

When I was growing up my Mom had a colorful sign hanging in our kitchen. It was all about the “Golden Rule” and doing right by others. She hung it in the kitchen because she was trying to teach my sister and I right from wrong so that we would grow up to be responsible adults. But I think it was more than that. I think my Mom was really wise and knew that by teaching us to have faith in God and encouraging us to be good to people, we would grow up to be happy. I’m pretty sure our happiness was her main goal in life and thankfully, she achieved it.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day at my daughter’s home helping my wife care for our baby granddaughter while my daughter and her husband went to Disneyland. I actually wasn’t much help, but at least I was there for moral support, and I also fixed a broken gate latch, so at least I added a little bit of value. But as I was walking through the kitchen I noticed a sign hanging up about “Family Rules”. It spoke of sharing, loving others, and doing your best. It reminded me of my Mom’s sign and brought back a flood of great memories, not the least of which was the smell of great homemade cooking floating throughout our home.

I read that sign over and over again and thought about how hard most parents work at instilling character and integrity in their children. It isn’t easy and most of the time it seems like the world is pulling at all of us to go in a different direction, the wrong direction. Why? Because it’s a whole lot easier to focus on ourselves than it is to focus on others. It’s easy to lie but often hard to tell the truth. And it takes hard work to make an honest dollar, despite all the legalized gambling and get rich quick schemes on TV and Social Media.

My mom passed away several years ago, but she is not forgotten. In fact, one of the best lessons she taught me should have been painted on a sign for all to read. “When you are trying to decide what to do, ask yourself to think about tomorrow and what you will wish tomorrow that you had done today.”

Character is doing the right thing even when it costs more than you want to pay. 

~ Michael Josephson

Time to Change

I had an appointment to meet with someone at 1:00pm on Sunday. As I approached, I checked my watch, and it read 5 minutes to 1:00pm. So I felt good that I was on time. But when I parked, I realized I had forgotten to change my watch for daylight savings time. So I was actually one hour late. I no longer felt good, I now felt really bad because I was late!

Forgetting about daylight savings time and forgetting to change my watch reminded me of two things. One, time is the most valuable asset there is, so we need to use it wisely. Two, things are always changing and they always will, so we need to be willing to accept change.

So why did we “change the time”, meaning go to Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the first place? DST was adopted during the summer months to take advantage of more daylight hours in the evening. The idea behind it was to save energy and promote outdoor activities during the evening. That way, we would drive to work in the dark, but we would have more time for our family and hobbies after work. Sounds like it was a good idea to make that change right… more time in the sunshine!

Well, apparently not all change is good. The “House Energy and Commerce Committee” has decided that the twice annual changing of clocks, which was originally adopted in 1918, is no longer a good idea. And part of the reason is that Frank Pallone, Chairman of the Committee says that “the change to DST can disrupt sleep patterns and cause confusion for our kids and pets”. Really? I’m not kidding… that’s exactly what Frank said!

Okay Frank, I guess any type of change can be confusing for people (and their pets). I mean I was definitely confused on Sunday, but that’s just because I was too friggin’ lazy to check the time on my phone. So here’s the deal. The change that we are going to make regarding time, is that we are not going to change it anymore. Anyone confused?

And there is nothing more surly 

Then a watchless man 

Who doesn’t know whether 

He is late or early.

~ Ogden Nash

No Bad Days

Things happen almost every day that can be very frustrating and annoying. In fact, there are days when it seems like everything I touch breaks and everything I do goes wrong!

I had one of those days last week wrapped around electronics. First, my printer stopped printing. Then my computer stopped computing. Then, when I got in my truck to go buy either a new computer, a new printer, or both… the electronic “sync” system in my Ford F150 started acting up. And just to totally annoy me to the max, when I tried to drive back home through the main gate at Coto de Caza, my electronic transponder wouldn’t work. The guard yelled out asking me my address and I answered with something fairly unpleasant, “F..ing Transponder blah blah”. But fortunately, he still let me in.

At that point, it would have been easy for me to say that I was having a bad day. And I did say that a lot, back in my younger days. But I can’t say that anymore. Or let me rephrase that, I never feel that way anymore.

Sure, there are bad moments in any given day. There are even extremely bad things that can happen at times. But as I’ve grown older and more patient, I’ve learned to broaden my focus and always try to envision the big picture. It isn’t easy, but if I start every day with a prayer of thanks, and list off each morning all the things that are good and right with my life, the big picture looks pretty great!

It might even be said… that when bad things happen to us, it’s simply a reminder to appreciate the good things in our lives, which in turn helps us to enjoy the “good things” that much more. Here’s another reminder… we are loved from above... so how bad can things really be!