Monthly Archives: April 2009

Talent Show

23 April 2009
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Recently I was a guest judge at a local talent show. Because of my honored status, I was treated very well. I had a very comfortable chair, a cold beverage of my choice, and my own bottle of mosquito repellent. I felt honored to be judging this year’s event, but I felt I was chosen only because of my connection to the venue – my backyard! The participants (the only participants)were none other than my children Madison (11), Brandon (8), and Brady (4). My children frequently showcase their talent in these backyard talent shows.

They spent a majority of the morning and afternoon preparing costumes, setting up the lawnchair audience seating, and constructing the scrap/leftover 2×4 stage. Then it was showtime. An audience of teddy bears and stuffed animals filled the available seats. And the guest judge, with a fresh coat of mosquito repellent, was in his place of honor.

Brady, wearing last Halloween’s ninja costume, showed off his Kung-Fu moves. Madison, in full Cinderella attire, sang a song as Brandon provided the sound effects. At the end of the show, thunderous applause could be heard from the audience. I gave all the participants a “10″ for showmanship and heart. They were all smiles. They had given their very best and I was pleased.

Not good enough for Broadway, but good enough to please a loving father.

Decide to give GOD your best offering. Do something for Him. Fast on His behalf. Dedicate some time and talents to pleasing Him. It may not be the best in the universe, but you’ll hear thunderous applause from heaven as GOD sits back and enjoys the performance…

… not good enough for Broadway, but enough to please a loving FATHER.

Heroes

17 April 2009
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On January 15, 2009, less than two minutes after take-off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, U.S. Airways Flight 1549 sent out a mayday. The airbus A320 carrying 155 passengers and crew had struck a flock of birds and lost power to both engines. This airliner was going down. To make things worse, it was going down in one of the most densely populated areas in the world – New York City. All the lives on board that airliner and the lives of people down below were suddenly in the hands of one man …

Flight 1549 ’s Captain, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III.

No fatalities in this accident thanks, in large part, to Captain Sullenberger. Not to minimize the work of his well trained crew who performed their parts flawlessly. The crew gave their credit to Capt. Sullenberger. Capt. Sullengberger guided a powerless 75 ton aircraft over New York City and crash landed in the Hudson River. The first time in 45 years that a major aircraft crash landed in the water and every person on-board survived.

A similar landing in 1996 was not as fortunate. On November 23, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked by three armed men. Circling the Comoros islands, the airliner ran out of fuel. With nowhere to go but down, Pilot Leul Abate attempted a crash landing in the Indian Ocean. The left wing and engine struck first, causing the airline to spin violently and break apart at 200 mph. 123 of the 175 passengers and crew were killed, as well as the three hijackers.
Ask any pilot, a water landing has to be perfect. Sullenberger told about all the things that have to be considered: air speed, angle of attack, wing balance, trajectory… no place for mistakes. And what a perfect man for the job. Sullenberger had 40 years commercial flying experience, teaches emergency flight procedures, investigates airliner accidents, and was a safety board chairman.

In an interview, Katie Couric asked Capt. Sullenberger, “Did you think ‘How are we going to get ourselves out of this?’” Sullenberger’s reply, “No … I had a job to do … I knew I could do it.” During his interview, Sullenberger said something that I have experienced in my life. Maybe you have too? Sullenberger said, “It’s like my whole life, up to that point, was preparation for that one moment.”
Amen, Sully …

It was no accident that Capt. Sullenberger was on that flight. Far from coincidence that Capt. Sullenberger had years of training and experience in accident investigation and emergency procedures. Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberg III was there on PURPOSE … For a PURPOSE.

Paul explained to the church in Rome that GOD causes things to happen for the good of His purpose for them (ROM 8:28). Did you catch that? GOD causes things to happen for His purpose. So all the schooling and expertise you have … hero training! All the experiences (good and bad) that you’ve gone through – hero training! God’s got a plan, and YOU are the hero part of it.

Maybe your part doesn’t involve landing an Airbus A320 in the Hudson river. But I guarantee that what ever it is, you’ve been training for it your whole life.

You’ve got a job to do … It’s HERO time.

Holes

10 April 2009
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I recently met Martha (name has been changed). She was in my office giving a statement and having some pictures taken. No glamorous photo shoot or media frenzy. I’m a police detective. I was taking pictures of the wounds inflicted on Martha the night before. The statement she gave would put her current live-in boyfriend in jail for assault and unlawful restraint.

12 hours before I met her, Martha was in her boyfriend’s car … held captive for 4 hours, being beaten. Her attempts to escape were met with an enraged fist. Her screams for help went unheard in the vacant lot they were parked in. A nightmare out of her control. He finally let her go when he ran out of beer.

“I thought I knew him?” Martha kept telling me.

“How long have you known him?” I asked.

“Four months,” she says.

“How long have you been living with him?“

“Four months,” she said so matter-of-factly. “It all started when we went to the bar to get drunk.“

Do you see the pattern there – the hole? I did.

Martha had a hole in her heart. A critical piece needed to complete the person was missing. This piece was a nagging mystery to Martha. She didn’t know what was missing. All she knew was the emptiness she felt and the need to fill it with … something. So Martha’s life to this point was spent looking for anything to fill the hole. She was never told where to look, so she naively followed where Satan (the world) told her to look for some hole-filler. Drugs, bars, and live-in boyfriends gave some temporary hole-filling satisfaction. But eventually these fleeting-fillers led to more emptiness. Which led to more searching, which eventually led to a chair in my office and her name filling the blank entitled “victim.”

The incompleteness that Martha was feeling was the lack of God in her life. A hole in her heart created by sin’s separation. Martha was created to have a relationship with her Creator. But that relationship was missing, leaving an empty space – a hole. Martha’s natural instinct was to fill the void. She searched for anything to lighten the heavy feelings. But without a relationship with God, she was only forcing a square peg in the round hole.

Martha is not a unique case. All man-kind has the same heart-hole.

Only a relationship with God can fill this hole. Once that hole is filled, your created purpose becomes reality.

Are you are felling empty, lonely or unfulfilled? Maybe you should trade in your bondage-bondo for a little divine purpose. Travel the road, and at the intersection of divinity and ability …

… you will find your purpose.

Snow

7 April 2009
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It snowed at my house !

Only in my living room though.

A reality in my world is Ronda and I both have to work. It creates a problem. The kids get home from school at 3:30. Ronda sometimes goes to work at 4:00. I get off at 5:00.

Therein lies the problem.

One hour of unrestrained chaos, having its way with my house. I guess the best way to visualize it is imagining a category 5 hurricane contained inside four walls. I think I qualify for FEMA relief.

Madison (the oldest) is old enough to babysit her younger brothers. So that was the solution to our problem. Madison will babysit the boys until I get home. It’s only one hour … what can happen?

I underestimated the destructive force of my children.

I came home from work and as I am unlocking the front door, a sweet aroma hits my nose. It’s strong! Wait, I recognize that smell … “Spring Fresh”. That’s what Glade calls it. I open the front door, step into the living room, and immediately reach sensory over-load.

Visually, I am blinded by the thin layer of white powder covering every inch of the carpet. Olfactorily, my nose is burning from the Spring Fresh-ness.

Brady (4) decided the carpet in the living room was stinky. So he spread Glade carpet deodorizer – over the entire living room. I didn’t know the box could hold that much!

Where are the other two (older) kids? Good question. Brandon (9) is playing the Playstation 2 … sitting on the carpet … in the living room. He is totally zoned and unaware that he sits in the only un-deodorized area of the room. Brady just worked around him. Madison (11) is in her bedroom listening to her MP3 player. She noticed the smell and thought, “Wow, that smells good,” and just kept listening.

Daddy to the rescue. I open ALL the windows and give the vacuum a good workout – chuckling.

I can’t count how many times I’ve made a mess in my life. Not spills or kitchen disasters. Those messes are easy to clean up. I’m talking about mistakes, choices and pathways in my life. Things that are not so easily fixed… by me. Some of those messes were made with good intentions. I thought a choice was a good one, or a pathway was God chosen for me. I’m only trying to help God out. And thinking I’m doing the right thing, I make a mess. Trying to make the stinky carpet in my life smell Spring Fresh.

“Father, can you fix this … please?”

God breaks out the Divine vacuum cleaner, chuckling. “Next time, let ME handle this, ” He says.

Back to the living room. Luckily, I got it all cleaned up before Ronda got home. I even got an “atta-boy” for vacuuming!

Madison was FIRED !!

Broken

5 April 2009
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My son Brady (4) brings me his favorite toy …

Broken!

This toy has seen a lot of action, but is now action-less. “Daddy, can you fix it please?” How can I deny that! Especially since the fix is so easy – at least for me.

Brady has already tried everything he knew to fix the toy. But at his level of fix-it, nothing worked. Now compared to his level of fix-it, I’m a fix-it SUPER HERO! So when the lifeless toy is brought to me, I know exactly what needs to be done. You don’t get to fix-it SUPER HERO status by merely changing batteries. A few twists of the pliers and this toy will be back in action.

“Daddy, can you fix it please?”

“I can, ” I reply. “I just need to get a tool.”

Brady smiles wide and … runs off. Not what I expected, but ok. He returns with the “tools” he thinks I’ll need. He wants to help fix what he broke. He hands me a crayon, a pair of tweezers, and a Darth Vader light saber. Now at Brady’s level of fix-it, this stuff will fix anything. But this broken toy requires more.

“No Brady, ” I speak softly, “A pair of pliers will do nicely.” He watches in amazement as, with each magical turn of my wrist (and pliers), the toy is fixed. “Wow daddy, you fixed it.” Was there any doubt? Not on his part.

Our lives are broken. Heartaches cripple. Tempers flare. Temptations prevail. Something happens that shakes the bolts loose and we break. All attempts at repairing ourselves are childsplay. The solution is above our level of fix-it.

When it comes to humanity, God is the fix-it SUPER HERO. He knows exactly what needs to be done. And He’s got an AWESOME set of tools! A few turns of His Unconditional Love will heal a wounded heart. A few splashes of His Peace will extinguish a temper flare-up. A lose sin can be tightened with His Grace.

We get to a point in our lives when we realize that we can’t fix what is broken. We try, but we can’t. And out of frustration, we grab our crude tools (crayons, tweezers, and light sabers), take our brokenness to the LORD and say, “Daddy, can you fix it please?”

His reply, “I can.”

Hopelessly ….

3 April 2009
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Read the latest headline.

We are in an age of trouble and despair. Unspeakable acts of mass violence are on the rise, making no place safe. Violence is no longer in its sanitary and safe place on the big screen. It’s playing out in our churches, nursing homes, grocery stores and schools.

If that wasn’t enough, global terrorism is buying airline tickets for North America. The Mexican drug cartels are kidnapping and killing people along our Texas border as a show of force and coercion. The economy is in a slump and claiming victims everyday through suicide and foreclosure. And to top it off, there is talk about the end of the world!

No relief in sight.

It seems like things are pretty hopeless.

I want you to remember a story. I know you’ve heard it. 600,000+ Israelites were sitting on the muddy west banks of the Red Sea. Panicking ! 10 miles of salty sea in front of them and a charging Egyptian army behind them. 24 days of marching from Goshen to the Red Sea, only to be trapped …

Hopelessly?

Moses tells them, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still and you will see the LORD save you today. You only need to remain calm … the LORD will fight for you.” (Ex 14:13)
A nation was delivered. An enemy was vanquished. And the rest is history … or is it?

The LORD speaks the same promise to you today. Hold your ground and don’t panic, because I (the LORD) will fight for you today. He is not asking us to forcefully take ground, convert Mexican cartel assassins, and single-handedly thwart terrorist attacks. In the noise of chaos, His is the soothingly calm voice saying, “Stand still, remain calm, the LORD will fight for you today.”

In Hopelessness … is where God works best.

Welcome

2 April 2009
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We are all broken.

Flawed … damaged goods.

Immediately after birth, we spend the rest of our lives trying to fix our birth defect of …. ready? Loneliness.

From newborn baby to neanderthal old-timer, every one of us seeks a relationship with someone else. It’s a hole in our heart that is constantly seeking fulfillment. Be it a group, a spouse, or a dog, we are constantly seeking relationships. This hereditary defect can be traced back to our ancestors, Adam and Eve. Adam was created to be in a relationship with his creator. When sin separated that relationship, his purpose was flawed.
We naturally seek relationships to remedy our flaw. It’s what we were created for. Cell phones keep us in touch, Blackberries keep us connected, Facebook keeps us updated, and blogs keep us informed. All revolving around our need for relationships.

Jesus Christ repairs the broken relationship between God and humanity. He seeks a relationship with each of us to complete our purpose. He asks us to do the same.

I seek a relationship with you. To share my stories and experiences along my journey as I seek a relationship with my creator. I hope to educate and encourage you as we travel this road …

Together.