In life, generally speaking, there is always an opportunity to learn.  I’ve lived a life of learning the hard way.  I’ve never taken the easy road, but I’ve finally gotten somewhere.  By the grace of God.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, on what I’ve learned in life so far, and I thought I’d hash out a bullet list.  From that bullet list, I plan on writing a post about each one.  We’ll see how it goes.

1. Life’s Too Short to be Angry.
2. Marry Your Best Friend.
3. With Age Comes Wisdom.
4. Never Make Assumptions.
5. Your Parents are Right A Lot of the Time.
6. Vision is Only Half the Battle.
7. Never Give Up.
8. If You’re the Smartest Person in the Room, You’re in the Wrong Room.
9. Kindness and Hard Work Will Take you Farther than Intelligence.
10. Laugh.
11. Never Detour From Your Beliefs.
12. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone.
13. Don’t Lie, Don’t Cheat, Don’t Steal.
14. In Every Battle, Arm Yourself With Love.
15. Nothing is More Important Than Family.
16. Everyone is Going Through Something.
17. Forgive. Holding a Grudge is Only Hurting You.

These are the things I try to remember every day.  These are the things that I believe have shaped who I am today.  I plan on going in to detail on each one.  What are somethings I’ve missed?

Dear Gemma,

Yesterday, I had to pick you up from ‘School’.  I have to admit, I was a little frustrated by it.  My daily routine was disrupted, and it was throwing me for a loop.  I left work, hopped in the car, and headed your way.  I got to the church, hopped out of the car and made my way to where they told me you’d be.

I peaked my head in the window, and I saw you about to play ring around the rosey with the teachers, you were having a blast.  And then you saw me.  Your face changed from having fun to pure delight.  You screamed, “Daddy” and ran towards the door.  The moment you saw me, nothing else in that room mattered.  My heart melted, all over again. I’m not sure I’ve seen that much excitement on your face before.

I opened the door, scooped you up, and you grabbed a hold of my neck.  I mean, you grabbed tight.  Like you were never going to let go.  More importantly, like you never wanted to let go.

Gemma, yesterday you changed my life.  I don’t know what, if anything was different, but you made my schedule being a bit off, totally worth it.  You made my frustration disappear, and you made me remember a little clearer what is important in life.

I love you,

Daddy

From the eye’s of an addict, the media frenzy amazes me.  Charlie Sheen is saying crazy, crazy things.

He’s been quoted in saying that he’s a rock star, that he’s living the life.  Quote, “The run I was on made Sinatra, Flynn, Jagger, Richards, all of them just look like you know, droopy eyes armless children.”

It sound insane.  It sound absolutely nonsensical, and, to me… it sounds like things I’ve thought or said before.

I remember living at a bar.  Sleeping on the floor by dart boards, I remember telling people, “Man, it’s the dream. I wake up, I work, I drink, I party…”   I remember telling people, “I haven’t slept in days, I’ve never seen things so clear.”  ”No one understands what it’s like to be in my brain.  If you took my brain for 5 minutes, you’d lose it.”

Addiction is an absolutely insane disease.  It makes people say, do and think crazy things.   I watched Charlie Sheen last night for about 5 minutes and thought I was going to cry.  Seeing a man in such obvious suffering, and we are sitting around watching.  We’re not just watching!  We’re popping the popcorn, sitting back and watching the decline of a human being.  We’re sitting back, and, can I say, ‘getting off’ on the idea that he is crazy.  He’s not.  He’s broken.  He longs for love.  He longs for something every addict longs for.

Here is another quote Charlie Sheen said last night.  He was talking about the ‘other bad boys’ of Hollywood (Sean Penn, Mel Gibson and Collin Farrell) calling him and checking on him.

They didn’t give me any advice. …It was just love … Occasionally, you know, a giant marquee name comes through on your caller I.D. And it’s like, ‘winning.’

You see.  The one nice, normal thing he said last night was talking about the people reaching out and… just…. loving.  People who had been there.  People who know the feeling.  People who are showing compassion.

Now.  Choose your darkest moment.  Now.  Put it on national television, for everyone to see.  Are we all so different?  As far as I’m concerned, we’re all the same.  But the people showing compassion right now, are the other people we love to hate.  (Sean Penn, Mel Gibson and Collin Farrell)

What is wrong with this picture?  Where is the outpouring of love us ‘Christians’ are supposed to show?  Does that go away with the click of a remote?  Have we separated our God and our Entertainment?

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
Col 4:5

My buddy Adam sent that to me the other day, and said that it made him think of me.  I’m not sure why, because I certainly do not live by this, though, I probably need to.  Maybe that’s why he thought about me.

That sentence is pretty incredible, and again, is a bold order.  The part that gets me the most is “make the most of every opportunity.”

When I read that, I first thought, “Well, I do that.  I try for every promotion at work, when I see the chance to make extra money, I do it. If I see a chance to move ahead, I look into it. Heck! I even have been known to use a coupon from time to time.” That’s opportunity to me.  Typically, when we think of the word opportunity, we think work, wealth, greed….. The American Dream.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that is what Paul was trying to say. I do not think Paul was saying, “Watch how you act towards someone different from you, and always try for that promotion, and always try to make or save money when you get the chance, and ALWAYS worry about money.”

It made me realize that every second is an opportunity. Not an opportunity to get rich.  Not an opportunity to get famous.  Not an opportunity to be popular.  An opportunity to Love.  An opportunity to allow Christ’s love to shine through me.  See, people observe.  They see how I react, they see how the world is.  That’s why people are so darn bitter these days.  When people see something that is literally out of this world, they recognize it.  They will wonder what’s different.

Maybe for you, it’s not shouting, “Hey F#(* You Buddy!” when someone cuts you off.

Maybe for you, it’s not punching a wall when you’re upset.

Maybe for you, it’s smiling and saying ‘good morning’ to the person who hasn’t had their coffee.

Maybe, it’s simply not complaining about stuff.

Maybe, it’s that dime in your pocket that that dude (who you think should get off his ass and find a job) desperately needs.

Maybe it’s just a hug, to the girl, who just did something so horrible that you (and she) disagree(d) with so much, who needs your love more than she ever has before.

I could go on forever… But, what I’ve realized is that, at any given second, someone could be watching me.  At any given minute, someone could notice something unique about me.  Any given day, someone could see a living and walking Christ, for the first time, in me!

Or.  Someone could realize that this world actually IS crap, just like they thought before they watched me.

Opportunity is knocking, this time…. I’m answering.

I’ve been really focused on me.  The heavy stuff on my heart.  Can I just say that being a husband and father is the most amazing thing in the world!? [sthumbs=1599|1598|1597|1591|1595|1593|1587|1594|1589,144,3,n,center,]