KTF

I was packing for my trip today, listening to a radio station that plays both kinds of music, Country AND Western (1), when one of my favorite songs came on, "Live like you were dying." I also came across Ephesians 4:31-32, which instructs us to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. It got me to thinking more on the topic of living a theme. In the song, the singer states that he became the kind of friend that a friend should be, and that he gave forgiveness that he had been denying. He also rode a bull and went sky-diving, but that deviates a bit from my point here. The song and the Bible verse brought something else to my mind. In church a few weeks back the rhetorical question was posed; “Where are you building your house, on earth or in heaven?” This question also fits somewhat with the question, "What would you want said at your eulogy? Or written on your tombstone?"

Hmmm, so perhaps answering questions such as these can help to define and refine my theme. This thought process led me to ask myself another question. Yes, I am sometimes accused of  “over-thinking” things, whatever that means. Here is the question, and some possible answers that popped into my over-analytical but small mind:
What would my last actions be if this were my last day? Would I engage every opportunity for a conflict or argument, and play to win? I wonder about that sometimes, that maybe I should be more assertive, make sure I get my way. Would I go about settling old scores, exacting revenge for past mistreatment or injustices? Sometimes it bugs me when I think people get away with taking advantage of others. Would I work as hard as I could to accomplish as much as possible in hopes of achieving something noteworthy in my few remaining hours? If my past and current behavior are any indication, that is exactly what I would do. However when I put these options up against the measure of scripture I realize “assert thyself” and “revenge is yours, the Lord is too busy,” and “work ceaselessly to accomplish great works to impress your fellow man” are only in my personal “marked up” version of the Bible. Do I really want my tombstone to read “worked most weekends, won some arguments, died with money in the bank, and kept his car waxed.”

I can only conclude that if I truly, deep down understood that my days are numbered, and I truly believed that God’s instructions for living are in everyone’s best interest, I would realign my priorities. My overall theme would have a different tune, and a different cadence.

So I would like to think I would make any apologies that are due, give people more attention than I give my tasks, and encourage and build up people. I would like to think I would appreciate more all the blessings in my life, and complain less. Maybe instead of buying a boat I would donate the money to build a church or support a ministry. I would like to think I would stop my work a bit early and make phone calls to family and friends. These are just a few applications of me putting people above tasks or achievement, putting my relationship with God above my own plans, of being kind and forgiving rather than assertive and vindictive, and building treasures in Heaven rather than accumulations on earth. So, since I don’t know my last day, and I know these examples I’ve just listed are representative of a Biblical theme for living that I wish to emulate, what is stopping me?

The photos here have no direct relevance to the topic, just snapshots I’ve taken in the last few months that represent the environment I live and work in. The last photo was taken just before my meeting with the Director of Technical Services at Universal Studios. God's hand has carried me to a point where I may soon be using my talents, training and background in the entertainment industry. I have a shot at fixing part of the Jurassic Park ride (the ride is safe, don't worry). If I can lead our team to do that well, we will be very busy with other projects.

Footnotes:
1. Classic line from the bartender in a scene in the “Blues Brothers” movie

Theme Song

I have been giving more thought to the subject of my theme. I can’t think of that word without remembering the movie “A Christmas Story.” In one scene, the teacher thinks up the worst punishment imaginable for the students, she makes them write (dramatic pause) “a theme.” I now understand the punishment better, as I am having a very difficult time coming up with my “theme” and writing about it.

As I wrote about this before I began to realize that I didn’t actually understand the meaning of “theme.” I understand rules, operating principles, and beliefs but what exactly is a theme? In older movies, and in cartoons, certain characters have a theme song that plays when they enter the scene. The villian has a foreboding theme song, the comic sidekick has some kind of goofy playful theme song. People decorate rooms based on a theme. Many amusement parks are built around a theme (theme parks). I looked up the definition, and even that was a bit vague, and the definitions varied. It is a specific quality or characteristic, and it has a unifying effect. As I mull it over, theme as it applies to a person is similar to motive. It is not the same, but it is similar.

I stopped typing and picked up the Bible, looking for the verse that states the God weighs our motives. I did not find it, and I knew I was not supposed to cheat and use my notes or an online searchable Bible. So I looked and read and this jumped out at me, the second part of the 9th verse of the 12th chapter of Romans:

1. Abhor what is evil. 

2. Cling to what is good.

If my theme for living were to just be made up of those two characteristics, I would expect a pretty good outcome. The advantage of pursuing a theme rather than a dream or goal is that I can actually achieve it despite my environment, current circumstances or future events. Pursuing a proper theme should lead to the best goals. There are numerous verses in the Bible where Jesus gives direction on how to live, I don’t know of any where he specifies what to achieve. I remember a statement I have read in many books on self-improvement, “you are where you are today because of the choices you made yesterday.” There is a lot of truth to that, but a lot of our future is out of our control. Trying to pick a specific outcome or goal for the future is not as simple as planning and carrying out a trip to, your favorite theme park. Our destination in life can vary wildly from what we planned because there are far too many variables beyond our control as we navigate through life in pursuit of happiness, wealth, fame, retirement, and whatever other goals we typically consider worthy.

I decided to back up and read the earlier verses in the 12th chapter of Romans, to understand the context. What is being said here is that we have each received gifts and we are to use them to minister. Furthermore we are to love without hypocrisy, abhor evil and cling to what is good. Love without hypocrisy? Does that mean that we are to be genuine in the way we demonstrate our love for others? The actual verse reads “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Maybe, true love is demonstrated when a person is genuine, not a poser, not wearing a mask, not saying one thing and doing another. I have to confess, I don’t have a lot of love for fake people. I guess you could say I abhor hypocrisy and duplicity. Did you catch that? I just admitted that I have a hard time loving people if I abhor their behavior. That is a tough one.

So I ask myself, if I were in a movie or a cartoon, what would the theme song sound like when I entered the scene? Would it be an ambling, aimless, laid back song? Definitely not. Would it be foreboding and menacing? I certainly hope not. Would it be the theme song of the tough, confident, invincible hero, like in the Clint Eastwood westerns? I wish. Or would it be like the theme song for the comic sidekick? I am starting to think so. Actually, I don’t think most non-fictional people can be summed up in one theme song, though someone has suggested that my theme song could be “oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way.” They were kidding of course. Yes they were.

The images you see in this post are random photographs I have taken lately, no unifying theme here.The last one is just after a test of a couple cranes for an offshore rig. I grabbed the controls and acted like a kid playing with his new toy just before he snapped the photo, to get a laugh out of the team there.

Theme On

My mom sent me an email a few days back, talking about pursuing a “theme” as opposed to pursuing a “dream.”  That statement impressed me, and got me to thinking about the implications. I have struggled for some time with this very subject, but the whole theme vs. dream statement turned the light on for me.

I am, as a follower of Jesus Christ, instructed to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” That is a pretty big kingdom, and that statement doesn’t really give me instruction for the day-to-day living. Also, I am to do good works, which God has planned for me in advance (Eph 2:10). That is a little more specific, but I may not know which good works I should put my time and energy into, because the world is full of hurting, damaged people who should have someone help them. I know that God directs my steps, so I know that I should (and mostly do, but not always) ask for His guidance every day, and with every decision. I read a book some time ago called “Practicing His Presence.”  This book explained the impact realized (by the author) by essentially talking to God all day, throughout every activity, before every decision, basically behaving as if Jesus was physically right there with him all of the time, counseling, consoling, advising, encouraging. That actually works very well, but it is hard to maintain. I am also instructed to pray continually 1 Th 5:17, which to me sounds a lot like the concept in “Practicing His Presence.” But, in Romans 8:26 it actually states that we may not actually know what to pray for. Well, that’s a big help.

So, my dilemma has been this: I achieve goals (dreams) by pursuing them. Taking all actions and making all decisions with that dream in clear focus. Read any of the millions of motivational books and you will see that this is the key to achieving YOUR dreams. And it actually works pretty well. But, as you have probably heard before, you  may work very hard to climb the ladder but when you finally get to the top you realize it was leaned against the wrong wall. Wow! Think of pursuing your life’s dream for 20-30 years only to find out it wasn’t YOUR dream, but it was your worst nightmare. Bummer. Or, maybe, years later in Heaven God shows you what  you could have done with all that effort-if you put it into His plan. I'm stressing just writing this.

So, what do I do? Wander about, live in the moment, have no dreams, hopes or goals, pray all the time (but not knowing what to pray for) and just see how it all pans out and deal with it?

I don’t think so.

This is where “theme” comes in. I now think I’m starting to get it, it has only taken me 53 wonderful years to “get it,” because I’m slow. The real focus is “what is my theme” rather than “what is my dream.”  By living by the correct theme, I can achieve the dream that God has planned for me. I don't have to know the end game, I have to know what to do now, today.  He is the one to direct my steps, so He knows where I should walk. I just need to walk ( not run, scamper, wander, limp, nap) according to the theme He has placed in my heart.

I’ve had some very excellent “luck” in my career life, but as I look at my life honestly I see that my “luck” would not have been so “lucky” had I not stuck with my theme for living, career-wise at least. What principles guide my thoughts, beliefs, words and actions? By the way, I learned to not underestimate the power of beliefs.  I read in a book by John Eldridge recently that principles are not enough, that a daily walk/conversation with God is an absolute necessity because life has so many twists and turns that navigating without damage is impossible without a guide.

I’m not going to go into my theme in much depth here because that is not important, your theme is what is important to you, and you reading this. Here are a few key points on my theme. 
1) Honesty is essential, and must be exercised in a manner which is not inconsiderate of others, and must be exercised in a timely manner (don’t let it fester). I’ve done the former MUCH better than the latter.
2) Put others needs before my own. I’m actually pretty good at that.
3) Place relationships at a higher priority than accomplishments. I miss that one about half of the time (see I’m Honest).
4) Be nice to animals, except mosquitoes, wasps and roaches.

That is all, I’m not sharing my “theme” any further because I realize I need to spend some more time figuring out what theme has driven me all these years. I think I’ve lived my theme as it relates to career much more so than as it relates to relationships.

The photo above is from my time at the lake today. The dog “photo-bombed” the picture I was taking to show my friend what they missed by not coming out with me today. Dogs are such fun. This one is named Evander. His owner tied a bottle to his collar, so he (Evander) spent much of the day picking up “another” bottle out of the water and placing it on the beach where it belonged.

In the words from the song by Aerosmith, Theme On.

True Love, Gifts

Some time ago I took one of those tests designed to determine what character you would be in a movie. The movie was "The Princess Bride" and my match was Westley (played by Cary Elwes). I thought, "what, are you kidding? I'm probably more like the goofy and annoying Vizzini "(played by Wallace Shawn). Inconceivable!

But then I thought back on the test questions and scenes in the movie and realized that Westley's motivation for everything was, True Love. Of course the primary focus was his love for Buttercup (the Princess Bride), but if you pay attention you will notice that he has a love even for his adversaries. For example, he is engaged in a fight to the death with Fezzik (played by the late Andre the Giant). During the course of the fight he does not spew out words of hatred and blood lust, he just calmly approaches the situation as another challenge to be confronted. He overcomes Fezzik without even injuring him, and they later become friends.

When I think about it honestly, my primary motivation actually is True Love. I don't always practice it perfectly, and I don't even apply to myself as well as I do with others, but that does seem to be at the core of most of what I do. As I have matured (gotten old) I seem to practice it better.
I have had many people ask me how I put up with so many difficult situations and people without lashing out in anger or retaliation. Many have stated that my ability to remain calm under fire is unbelievable. Some have said I'm too calm, but the outcome indicates that they were incorrect. The source of this ability is my True Love to serve God by helping people, and the Holy Spirit provides me with that gift.

You have probably heard that the term "love" has many meanings and is often mis-used. I can say that I "love" avocados, grilled fish, cruising at 70 mph across the water on a jet ski. But what I'm really saying is that those things make ME feel good. That is not True Love. I can even say that I "love" a certain woman, when "in love" may be the more accurate phrase because what I'm really saying is being with her makes ME feel good. When I develop True Love for a woman then I serve and help her without requiring reciprocation. I won't get into long-term relationships here, but for one to work, each must have True Love for each other.

I believe that True Love is the desire to minister to God's creations. Obviously the primary ministry is to people, needy people, hurting people, and people who just need support to carry a burden.  Another form of ministry would be to animals, rehabilitating them, saving them from danger, etc. I think True Love involves ministering (helping) when the opportunity presents itself.



True Love does not always have to be an intimate relationship between two people, or specific help to a hurting person or animal, it is often between friends and groups of friends. Just the sharing of life experiences and being in each others company has a beneficial, ministering effect.




 
From the time I was a very young child I had a "love" for turtles. One of the first words I learned was "tuttle." I always stop and move turtles off the road. I sometimes keep them for awhile, take good care of them, then release them in a safe place.Let's be honest, though turtles are interesting creatures they really aren't affectionate, they're kind of cold and self-absorbed. They have tiny brains, they don't coming running to meet me at the door when I come home. They don't like to cuddle or be held.The only time they come to me is when I'm holding a wriggling worm out for them to eat, then they walk away with it. So, my love for turtles is simply to take care of them, expecting nothing in return. They don't make ME feel good. I just help them as one of God's creations.

True Love involving people is difficult because it often results in rejection, and it can be taken advantage of (abused). I'm reading a book, and this statement hit home with me:
"We are tested through rejection and misunderstanding so that we can overcome rejection. If we are to accomplish the purposes of God, we must come to the level of maturity where "the love of Christ controls us" (II Corinthians 5:14)." So, the love of Christ, rather than the love of making ourselves feel good is what controls us, and experiencing and overcoming rejection makes us better at that, hmmm.

Many people (me included) hold back on practicing True Love, because it can result in pain. There is a line from a song "I'm going to love you like I've never been hurt before, I'm going to love you like I'm indestructible." When I think about this now, it brings new meaning to 1 John 4:18: "there is no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear."

In the next post I will cover gifts, and how those are given to each of us so we can demonstrate True Love to others.

Below are photos of Rowdy, the box turtle I just released, and PD (Porch Dog) who always comes to visit me at my lake house.

Who Am I and What Happened to My Zeal?

Wow! Has it really been almost two years since I have posted on this blog? Obviously I've had my attention, time, energy and efforts focused elsewhere. Which brings me to the subject of today's long overdue blog. I think I may not know who I am, again. And I seem to have misplaced my zeal.

I'm not genuinely concerned, I'm sure it will all come back to me. Hopefully sooner rather than later. So what brings me to this place? How does a person move through life, accomplish many things, develop many good relationships, live responsibly, have actions motivated by good intent rather than selfish gain, and get to a point where they say "hey! I vaguely remember a time where I had a better sense of purpose, hope and zeal, how did I get here?" I'm there now.

The various photos you see here are from my days of car racing, car building, and motorcycle riding. The Pinto was one that I completely rebuilt and modified, it outran several V8 muscle cars and was reliable enough as a daily driver and a trip from Hampton Va, to Atlanta Ga, to Orlando Fla, to Richmond Va, then back to Hampton Va-with zero problems. The photo with it painted red was the completed project. The photo with it still yellow was me racing it at Langley Speedway before I finished the bodywork. I did every detail myself, with my own hands. Very rewarding, even if the results were not perfect.


In addition to building and racing cars I was married for 22 years, raised a family, obtained my P.E. license, wrote and produced two feature films and several short films, worked at several companies as an Engineer, worked an Engineering consultant, was chairman of the board for a nonprofit organization for homeless families,  traveled the world applying my expertise to several specialized projects for oil and gas drilling and production, obtained two patents, and now am the Vice President of Engineering of a company that produces turnkey offshore oil drilling rigs. All that sounds pretty impressive, but I don't state it to impress anyone. If you know me personally, you know I put very little effort into impressing people.

Well, I'm not that impressed myself. I'm here now, single again, thinking again-what is it I'm here for? And I've lost that zeal to go out and be the adventurer, the entrepreneur. Is it my age? Am I having a mid-life crisis? (I hope not, living to 106 years old doesn't appeal to me ).Is it the results of job stress? Is it the fact that I have about 1,000 copies of movies I produced sitting in my spare room that I couldn't sell, Is it the result of my failures in marriage and parenting?  Those are all pretty good reasons now that I think about it. But, I think it has to do with my focus, which has changed many times. My focus has moved from education, to career, to family man, to ministry (through film productions), and back to career. All those are noble pursuits, but except for short periods of time I have not been looking at God as my focal point. So, I poured my heart, soul, mind and strength into those pursuits, but that doesn't quite cut it.

In the service today at the church in Tomball, the topic was; what should we be "Zealous" about. It is in Mark 12:29-31: Know that the Lord our God is the ONE God, and love Him with all your:
1. Heart
2. Soul
3. Mind
4. Strength
And love your neighbor as yourself.

I've not done that so well. I let my focus shift.

So, I think I'm not going to get to any conclusion here at this time. No tidy little summary to wrap this all up into a great object lesson. Nope, I'm going to refocus, and then maybe the picture will become clear. And maybe I'll find time to blog again before 12 months pass. Oh, this last photo was just before the enduro race at Langley. I was happy and confident then. I'll get back to that soon (happy and confident, not enduro racing).

On The Verge Of...

Have you ever found yourself in the course of the day or maybe over a week or so in an emotional and physiological state where believe you are on the verge of some inappropriately extreme reaction? What I mean is, do you sometimes feel like you are just one teeny tiny step away from screaming, collapsing, exploding (metaphorically), punching someone (actually), quitting, or crying? I have. In fact, I have lately found myself in that state a little too often. Of course, being a man, I'm not specifically admitting that I have ever cried or think I'm on the verge of it. Come on, really.

Something happened several weeks back that awakened me to something about myself. Something that is not so good. I was at the early service at our church. I sat in my normal spot. Just as the service was about to begin, a married couple and their two friends rushed in and squeezed into the pew with me. By "squeeze" I mean I had to scoot to my right until I was just about three inches from the woman next to me, and that only left about three inches to the woman on my left who had just arrived. So, I'm no longer perfectly aligned with the center of the pulpit area, and have people to either side of me about 24 inches inside my personal space. I got tense. I got a little irritated. How am I supposed to worship my creator under these conditions?! So I sat there, elbows tightly tucked in, legs perfectly aligned in front of me, compressing myself into as small a space as possible, ready to worship my Lord and Savior. Yeah, I know.

As the service began I became aware that the woman to my left was giggling at almost everything, and outright guffawing at actual humor. I thought, "come on, its not all that funny." This continued for some time, and I realized that I was actually irritated by this person being so darned happy and giggly. It was not that she was being too loud, or distracting people in the service, I just found it irritating. Irritating, irritable. Hmmm, I started to detect a trend.

I am all too often on the verge of some kind of negative behavior. I have to restrain myself, then I commend myself for my restraint. It is good to have restraint. It is not so good to have to exercise it too often. This woman was obviously on the verge of uproarious laughter. She was filled to the point of overflowing with joy, happiness, contentment. Wow!, it hit me, she was not on the verge of despair or crying, she was at the opposite end of the spectrum. She was on the good end of the spectrum.

I suddenly felt ashamed, then a little jealous. Why was she so darned happy? She obviously lives here on earth like the rest of us, where bad things happen. Oh, maybe she is truly exercising the things I have been recently learning and trying to practice. Yes, that is it. She has become proficient in keeping her thoughts focused on all the good (and there really is plenty of good) rather than focusing on the bad. So, in the course of this service I went through the following phases: inconvenienced, irritated, perplexed, ashamed, jealous, humbled, enlightened, encouraged, then grateful. I was grateful that God had arranged another situation to help me. I've read "Learned Optimism" and "Every Day a Friday" and have been making progress in moving from pessimism to optimism, and I realize how critically important it is. But on that day, in that service, I saw the lightness and happiness and vitality that results from truly trusting the Lord and knowing that He has blessed us and truly works out even the bad things for good. She actually believes this stuff! Which, by the way, is the truth.

To put icing on the cake, and to provide me with another slice of humble pie (baked goods metaphors) at the end of the service this wonderfully cheerful woman turned to me and said something that both humbled and complimented me at the same time. She looked at my name tag, said my complete name, and said "have you ever considered being on the praise team." The praise team is the group of people standing on stage with the microphones, leading the singing. They have very, very good singing voices. She completed her statement with "...because standing here next to you, hearing you sing, was so good, such a blessing to me. I think others deserve to hear you too." So, there I stood trying to respond; the obessive-compulsive wound-too-tight idiot who was irritated by sitting too close to a wonderfully kind and considerate person with a cheerful and encouraging spirit. All I could say was "Thank you, I very much appreciate it, I may consider that." That was all I could come up with, because at that time I was on the verge of...well, you figure it out.

The photo at the top of the post is one taken by my daughter, Megan. She covered her school play last Friday, she is quite skilled at photography.

Field of Weeds

I drove up to our lake house to get away for a couple days, and to do the routine mowing, trimming, bug spraying, etc. I always look forward to my visits there. It is in a tiny town on a tiny private lake, very quiet, slow paced, and relaxing. When I arrived just an hour or so before sunset I looked across our yard and our adjoining property to see what could only be described as a “Field of Weeds.” I assume you have heard of the movie “Field of Dreams”, in which, Kevin Costner plays the role of a man with a vision to build a baseball field out in the middle of nowhere. This dream came to him when he is visited by Ray Liotta who plays the role of the late Babe Ruth (I think) who visits Kevin and tells him “if you build it, they will come.” By the way, Ray Liotta scares the heck out of me, especially when he laughs. There is something about the intensity in his eyes and the tension in his face, particularly when he laughs. Some people are scared of clowns, I’m scared of Ray Liotta. I’m straying from the point.

Getting back to our lake property, as I looked across the property I see that the entire one acre area is covered with what I call “speargrass”. The speargrass is waist high so walking anywhere on the property results in collecting multiple “spears” in my clothing. When I was young, my friends and I would remove the spears and throw them at each other, which was fun because they flew very straight and stuck in the target easily. We could never get them to stick into someone’s skin, it would just stick to clothing. Okay, I’m straying again.


As I unloaded the car and surveyed the “field” I concluded that I would be spending more time than expected doing the mowing. Speargrass is difficult to mow. It is wiry and tough, and tends to just get bent over. To make sure I’m actually cutting it rather than bending it over, I have to set the transmission to a lower speed so the blades have more time to cut. If I run at the normal speeds I just end up flattening all the weeds, which is great when I’m making crop circles but not when I’m mowing the property. It was no “Field of Dreams,” and I knew that if I mowed them, they would come…back.


Mowing, particularly when using the lawn tractor, is actually pretty relaxing “work.” While mowing I tend to think, mull things over, and philosophy. As I make two and three passes over certain sections to finally cut the weeds down I’m thinking, “weeds happen” deal with them, but don’t agonize and fret and complain. This is a problem I have suffered with for most of my life, not actual weeds, but the “weeds” that show up in my life. The weeds I’m referring to are conflicts in the workplace, harmful and hurtful actions done to me by others, difficulties in relationships, unfulfilled needs and desires, unrealistic expectations placed upon me by others and myself, tiring and seemingly endless work to pay the bills, and stuff just wearing out and breaking. I probably don’t have any more “weeds” in my life than most people, in fact, my “weeds” are nothing compared to what many people in the world have to deal with. My problem is with my focus. I focus and fret and agonize over the weeds when I should be focusing on the dreams (vision) that God has placed in my mind and heart.

I work hard at everything, and I put a lot of energy into pursuing the dreams I have of serving God through a full time media ministry, and actually creating the ministry rather than just working in one. My focus has been detrimental to this pursuit. My focus all my life has been on the weeds, the negatives, and that has resulted in an unhealthy level of pessimism and cynicism. A little of those “isms” is beneficial because it instills some necessary caution, but too much drains my energy, steals my joy, diminishes my vigor, damages my health, and so on. Based on some feedback I have had over the years I think that my focus on the weeds and the resulting pessimism has mutated the natural drive, energy and enthusiasm into an intensity and tension that makes me difficult to be around; and maybe a little scary. But not as scary as Ray Liotta! I’m in my early 50;s, but it was only about 8-10 months ago that I realized this. Unbelievable! I read the book “Learned Optimism” and it was eye-opening. I also read “Every Day a Friday” and “How to be a Winner” and they each helped me to understand my struggles. So, for the last several months I have been re-programming my thinking. I only give the weeds the time needed to attend to them, then I spend as much mental energy as possible on the positive side of life. When I am realistic about it, and when I recall the truth in Romans 8:28, even the weeds and the time I spend “weeding” results in something good. I have a ways to go with the re-programming, because old habits die hard (and die hard 2-die harder, and die-hard 3). I have again strayed from the point. My point is, I'm seeing benefits of the re-programming, though it is not 100% complete.


I love it when I hit a patch of wild onions with the lawn tractor and the whole area is filled with an aroma similar to an Italian kitchen. I’ve strayed again. To conclude this long-winded rambling blog, I want to simply share something that is probably so obvious and automatic to many people, but not to me. There is so much more good stuff in my life, and good stuff to be done, than the difficulties I have to deal with. Dealing with the difficulties is actually “good” because God uses those to improve me and others in my life. And, if I keep my focus away from weeds, I will have the joy, the energy, and the drive to do the good stuff that God has planned for me, see Ephesians 2:10.

Okay, I’ve mowed and trimmed and used the blower to clean all the walkways, and I’ve finished this blog. Now its time sit back, relax, enjoy the beautiful weather; or maybe I’ll go make some crop circles.