For a better part of the last 14 years I’ve been a closet country music fan. Yup! that’s right I’ve come out of the closet per se! There is a song called “gimme that girl” by Joe Nichols that every single time it’s on it brings a smile to my face & I have no choice but to crank it up.

Call me sappy if you want to but like I titled this post this is my home on the net so I’m posting this “because I can!” In fact, just typing this has me laughing hard enough that the people here at the coffee shop are looking at me strange. And that’s OK by me, because what they don’t know is that there is nothing more beautiful than my wife when we’re just around the house! In fact she’s probably at home right now with a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt on dancing as she sweeps.

Maybe that’s why while I’m supposed to be here working I can’t get her or this song out of my head:

Gimmie the girl thats beautiful,
without a trace of makeup of on,
barefoot in the kitchen,
singing her favorite song.
Dancing around like a fool,
starring in her own little show,
gimmie the girl the rest of the world,
ain’t lucky enough to know.

Most people only get to see the quite Heidi, most people just aren’t lucky enough to know that she does have a tendency to “dance around like a fool and star in her own little show”. And the best part is that me and our boys LOVE IT!

So like I said earlier I’m posting this:

1. Because I can…
2. I can’t get her out of my head and nor do I want to…
3. I can’t imagine life any other way or with anyone else!

So here’s the video, I’m going home…

One of my favorite things to do is to get the water boiling, grind some beans & grab that french press so I can sit down and read.  With that said we’re starting something new on here I’m calling the Daily Bean, just a place where I write down some thoughts in regards to what I’m reading and leave with a question to ponder. Now, is it gonna really be daily? Not sure but here goes nothing…

Over the past year I’ve spent a lot of time in the book of Colossians. It’s easily became on of my favorite epistles. With verses like:

“For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you the assurance of sharing his Glory.” Colossians 1:27 (NLT)

“⁶ And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. ⁷ Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6-7 (NLT)

“⁹ For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. ¹⁰ So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Colossians 2:9-10 (NLT)

“¹³ You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” Colossians 2:13-15 (NLT)

And many more…

But I recently began reading a book called Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola and something jumped out at me and caused me to pose a question to myself. Colossians 1:19 says:

¹⁹ For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,

Now if God was pleased to in all his fullness live in Christ, and Christ now lives in me, wouldn’t it be safe to assume that the very fullness of God lives in me. I think it’s time that we as Christians live worthy of not just the calling, but the caller. I mean come on, think about this for a minute (READ IT LOUD & SLOW):

¹⁹ For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,

I think that the idea of God being pleased with anything to do with us is hard for most of us to comprehend. But if we look at this verse with literal eyes then: “God in all his fullness is pleased to live in you!” So to coin an old phrase why don’t we all just “put that in our pipes and smoke it today!“ No matter how you currently feel about yourself smile and rejoice that the God of Heaven and Earth is pleased to dwell within you! Can I Get An AMEN!

Kids are a daily learning experience for the parent.

For those that know me, it’s no secret I love baseball. As a father of two boys I want my kids to like sports, but I want my kids to love baseball. I want my kids to have a favorite team, as long as it’s the Redsox! So far it’s working, well one of them loves the hotdogs more than baseball, but what’s a trip to the park without a dog?

"E"man (4 years ago) @ Safeco

I love my boys, I’ve talked about this a little here before but I coach my oldest son’s Little League team. We’re currently wrapping the season up and playing this Friday in the Semi-Finals of the City Tournament attempting to re-peat as champs. Before last night’s game I was pretty excited about the season coming to an end and getting back to some sense of a normal home life. Then watching my son play last night really stirred some mixed emotions. He’s grown so much, last season his first 6 at bats all ended with him striking out. He ended the year doing pretty well hitting .330 with a couple doubles. This year it’s been completely different  leading the team in extra base hits with 2 triples, 6 doubles and finishing 2nd in batting avg by hitting  .480. To top it off he’s been nominated to try-out for the City All-star team. I had no idea what those mixed emotions were until I read this post from Pete Wilson this morning.

Margin Is Essential

Monday morning I was heading in for a 7:00 a.m. breakfast meeting and for whatever reason I actually left the house early. The breakfast place I was headed to is exactly 15 minutes from my house so I knew I had to leave at 6:45 to make it on time, however, I remember sitting down in my truck, looking up at the clock and seeing that it was only 6:39 a.m.

Just a few minutes from my destination I noticed a middle aged man in a maroon Honda Accord who was trying to pull out of the gas station into my lane of heavy morning traffic. I had plenty of time left to get to my appointment, so without hesitation I put my brakes on and let him out.

As he pulled out and waved the thought crossed my mind…

Margin is essential for the unexpected!

I tend to plan my schedule and my budgets based on perfect scenarios. The problem with that is obvious. Rarely are there perfect scenarios. In other words I have no margins.

A margin is something allowed, or reserved, for that which can not be foreseen or known with certainty.

If I had left right “on time”  I probably would have been so focused on where I was going that I would have totally missed the opportunity to let him out. Even if I did see him I’m not sure I would have taken the time to stop. Now it doesn’t sound like a really big deal, right? I mean, it’s just let a car pull out in front of me. However, this principle plays itself out in almost every area of my life and has huge implications.

I’m afraid margin is something that is missing way too often in my life these days.

My lack of margin impacts…

How generous I am with my money.

How generous I am with my time.

How I lead.

How I love.

How is your margin or lack of margin impacting you these days? What one area of your life do you need more margin the most? - Pete Wilson

I guess I didn’t fully realize what I was doing last year when I was asked to help coach my son’s team. Now as the season is wrapping up I’m starting to recognize & ask myself the same question that is in Pete’s post:

What opportunities are we missing by not having intentional margins in our lives?

Those mixed emotions are pretty obvious today. If I would have chosen to just drop him off at practice and pick him up when it was over I would have missed the fist pump last night as he tagged the runner out trying to steal third. I would have missed getting yelled at by the umpire for hugging him at third base after his first triple. I would have missed the good conversations we’ve had about disappointment and sportsmanship. In essence the list could continue, but today the greatest lesson I’ve learned is that;

“Margin gave me something unexpected. Margin took me from just being there, to being involved…”

Today following a great service we read that Zac was healed! The world might say that he lost his battle with cancer and went home to be with the Lord. Yes, he did in fact go home to be with the Lord but I don’t know if that is the best way to put it. You see Zac’s story has not only touched the lives of his family and friends, it didn’t only impact those who worked for him or the people in his church. Zac’s story has touched countless people in numbers that neither he nor his family could ever imagine. His statement “God is still God & God is still good” has become a mantra of our family and we will be forever different because of it. So to say he lost a battle with anything may not be the best way to put it. Yes his wife lost a husband, and his children lost a father & please don’t get me wrong, I feel for his wife and children, my heart goes out to those in his family. But, Heaven gained a man with a faith I dream of having. When we read the news this afternoon our whole family shed some tears as we prayed for them! Our prayer is that God would comfort them and bring peace, but also that this story of faith would continue to touch people all over the world. God give me that kind of faith! The kind of faith that can say with boldness that no matter what “God is still God and God is still good”

It’s funny how sometimes it’s the subtle things in life that carry the most weight. Unfortunately they are also often the most overlooked. I have a hard time believing that God is ever really silent, I believe he is constantly shouting his affections for us from the balconies of heaven and that they really would echo through the halls of our lives if we would take the time to slow down and listen. Like I said earlier, I’m learning it’s the subtle things that seem to carry the most weight.

I’m one of the coaches on my oldest son Tre’s team. The other night we found ourselves in a position where we were up 8-7 in a rain soaked, cold game with only two innings left. Our starting pitcher had reached the 75 pitch limit and with no other pitchers available the head coach looked to Tre and asked him to bring it home. My heart sank, he’s never pitched before, in fact he’s never even thrown from the mound. He nervously accepted the challenge, wiped the rain from his hat and took the lonely walk to the mound where he proceeded to blow not only this dad away, but pretty much everyone else. He struck out 5 of the 6 batters he faced and got the save. Everyone was shouting and ran out and greeted him at the mound when it was over. It was an amazing moment for not only him, but for me as his dad. I can honestly say that it was one of the proudest moments I’ve ever had watching the team give him the game ball. He left that night and fell asleep with the biggest smile on his face. Last night we were back out on the field and Tre was tabbed as the starting pitcher against the best team in the league. To say he was nervous would be an understatement & I even more so, lets just say it didn’t end in the same fashion. He did great, but his nerves got to him a little. We lost 9-2, & he blamed himself. No matter what I said that look of disappointment didn’t disappear & there wasn’t a smile this time as he fell asleep.

Normally when we get to his school in the morning he is excited to get out and see his friends yelling I love you as the door slams shut. Today, he didn’t even open the door. I looked back and he apologized to me for his performance on the mound. Talk about ripping your heart out. I did my best to lift this little guy up and assure him of how proud I was of not only his baseball prowess but the man he is becoming. The hardest part was that my words didn’t seem to be penetrating the weight of emotion he was carrying. I got to the office and proceeded to edit some of the pics taken from last night when I saw this…

There I was forced to stare at the look of disappointment again. I began to pray for him, I prayed that he would know just how proud I was and that no matter what happens that nothing would change how I feel about him. That he was my son and that would never change. When I then could hear that subtle voice saying that no matter what I do the Father loves me and that I’m his son and that that would never change. It’s funny in that moment staring at that very picture above, the overwhelming feeling of love that I have towards my son, my God has for me. I began to think of all the times where I’ve felt disappointed and discouraged in myself, feeling the walls of life closing in only now to see that there was the love of a cross holding those walls back. Thank God for subtle lessons.

Then I stumbled on this video…

All I can say, & I know I’m not alone in this. This kid is amazing! There is no doubt about it. Not only is he only 5 & rocking the Ukulele, he’s also doing it to one amazing song.

Last night my husband showed me this video, and to say I was moved, would be an understatement.

Afterward, I found myself remembering my life as a child, with really no worries, just ambitions and the dreams of who and what I would become.

I would find myself dreaming only the biggest dreams, wondering where they would take me. I would sit at the piano for hours thinking about where I would end up and what I would do. It’s funny, looking back it was probably like every other child’s dream of being famous, or at the very least someone important.

In all that dreaming I NEVER once thought I would have struggles or experience disappointment in my life. I guess I had always thought that life would be perfect, but what I’ve come to know is that life is not perfect, it’s definitely not always easy and we don’t always get what we want out of it. In other words God has a plan, and that plan doesn’t always match ours.

Sometimes God will give us the desire of our hearts, but sometimes God will say NO! And we have to not only be OK with that, but we need to realize that no matter what, God is still God and He is still good!

Here’s the video…

Yesterday was not just another day, well at least not for me. I suppose you could say that it started out that way. I mean I got up and turned on the stove, prepped the beans and got the french press ready for deployment. Turned on some music opened my bible and dove in. Got to church and had a great time getting things ready and praying with the staff. Church was good and so was life. So I suppose one could say things were pretty normal. And then it happened and I left absolutely wrecked. Pastor Dan gave the altar call and so I came up with the prayer team to pray for those responding. I found myself standing in front of a man with his son holding tightly to his dad’s side.  I prayed for them, I earnestly prayed for this man and his son. I looked around to see who else was still waiting to receive prayer when I felt the need to ask them a question. I looked at this man and his obviously distraught son and asked if there was anything specific I could pray for. He informed me that his whole world had fallen apart. He told me that his wife who was about 10 feet behind him had just been diagnosed with cancer and they didn’t know what they were going to do. They didn’t know how they were gonna pay for treatment. Then he said holding his son and teenage daughter “How am I gonna do this…” as to refer to life without her. I was stunned all the wind had now left my sail. Here I stood with a beautiful healthy family living a dream with a good home and great friends. While in front of me lies a family who’s life seems to be in ruins. I grabbed as many as I could to pray for this family. Not that other people didn’t need prayer or have needs but for me something was happening on the inside, something that I just couldn’t shake. I believe with all my heart that God can heal this woman. I believe with all my heart that God can give this family peace and we prayed for these things. But I found myself wanting nothing more than to try to give this family a little hope. Even if all that meant was knowing for a few minutes they were not alone. Don’t get me wrong we presented Christ, we explained healing, we offered the hope of knowing who He is. The results, who knows. We’ll continue to follow with this family and be there as much as we can.

You see lately I’ve found myself really stirred by this passage in Romans:

Romans 15 (AMP)

¹³May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.

I keep reading this passage and desperately want to see this transpire in my own life. I love how the amplified translation says that through the experience of our faith our God will fill us with all joy and that by the power of the Holy Spirit we may abound and be overflowing or bubbling over with hope. I read this and dream of a life that literally overflows and bubbles over with hope. Where hope just leaks out of our pores. I looked up the definition of hope and was blown away by one in particular:

Hope
a person or thing in which expectations are centered:

Think about it like this, we can overflow with hope (the person in which all expectations are centered). In fact we’re called to. What would it look like if we all lived with Jesus our hope, bubbling out of our lives. What would the lives of those that we come into contact with look like if  He literally spilled out of us on to the hopeless. So like I said I’ve been wrecked…

“…The book is really about a couple of guys who introduce themselves to me. They were film makers and they wanted to make a movie about a book I’d written called “Blue Like Jazz” which is a memoir. But in the process of creating that screenplay, they had to edit and change so much of my actual life, basically they had to make a bunch of stuff up to make my life more meaningful and exciting for the screen. So i studied the principles of stories that screenwriters use to make a story more meaningful and i began to apply those actual principles to my real life to make my real life more meaningful… I talk about those principles, i talk about the adventures i went on as i began to apply them to my life and what it takes to make a story beautiful when the credits roll at the end of it you feel fulfilled. And that can happen in our lives to not just in movies…”

For me once again one of the best parts of this book is the author’s ability to keep you as the reader completely captivated in the story. Tugging on all of your emotions from laughing to holding back tears as you join him in his pursuit of living a meaningful life. You then find yourself wondering what your life will look like as the curtains close and the credits roll.

“…the stories we often tell ourselves are very different than the stories we tell the world…”

“…The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.” – Donald Miller, A Million Miles In A Thousand Years

I actually was kind of sad when I closed the book. I was so caught up in the pursuit that I didn’t want it to be over. And then I realized now I get to better write my own.

If you had the chance to change your life for the better, would you? All it takes is a decision.

Trapped by harmful habits, behaviors, and attitudes, we struggle to become the person God has created and called us to be. Saddleback Church teaching pastor Doug Fields says it’s never too late to get a fresh start. With personal stories and youthful writing, Doug challenges readers to recognize that they may say they want God in their lives, but they really don’t want to change. They are stuck. He says, “It’s not about trying harder, it’s about plugging into God’s transforming power and submitting your entire life to Christ. Age doesn’t matter; fresh starts are for everyone.” Topics include:

• Dealing with pride
• Defining success
• Living with guilt
• Struggling with conflicts
• Finding true friendships
• Overcoming discouragement
• Facing rejection
• Attacking Anger

Unlike Doug Fields other works, I did find “Fresh Start” a little difficult to dive into. Although the book provides some pretty good content, I found myself wanting to skip ahead to different areas of the book that might prove to be more beneficial. I do believe this book would be beneficial for newer believers while also working as a great group guide for these people. The author has a way of just scratching the surface of some of very difficult issues that  people find themselves dealing with but would definitely lead to some healthier discussions and conversations in a group setting.

(This book was provided for free by Thomas Nelson)