Let There Be Light

Genesis 1:3-4

Amplified Bible (AMP)

"And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it; and God separated the light from the darkness."

God is the ultimate creative genius. He literally thought about what our world would be; with all of the plants, animals, humans, mountains and plains, and every facet of every technological advance we enjoy today, long before there was a physical universe. When there was once a only void, God had an idea, and spoke that idea into action.

It all began with light. It's funny (and not coincidental) that the light bulb has become associated with one of humankind's greatest ideas. The invention itself was spawned by a creative human mind, and the illumination it yields mirrors God's initial radiant gift.

Being created in God's image, many of us also have great ideas. The issue is that most of us have no clue how to make the idea grow into the thing we've envisioned. We may have creative prowess, but lack the discipline to develop it. Fear may be holding us back, or any number of other obstacles may be keeping us from sharing our great idea with others, and bridging the gap between concept and reality.

I've decided to share an idea with you, that I've been noodling on for a couple of years now. It's a business that I'm in the very early stages of forming, therefore in these early days, I will have to speak in abstracts. However, the goal is to share the progress of this business with you as it unfolds; the good, bad and ugly. You'll get inside "fly on the wall" access to this "reality show" business process, and hopefully it will serve as inspiration for you to cultivate your own brilliant ideas, and take action!

Please join me over at http://itbeginswithanidea.blogspot.com as this process begins over the next couple of months.

Take care!

Goodbye, Friend

Instead of going to church this evening, my family gathered together at a local pizza parlor for a tasty supper and fellowship with a truly remarkable human being. This man was one of the very first people to warmly welcome us into the church family. He's fostered positive development of our children over the past few years, and has developed deep and meaningful relationships with my wife and me.

He also happens to be moving out of state in the morning.

It's extremely difficult to say goodbye. I mean, it's not as if the person who moves away is dead. God forbid! However, there is a palpable, tangible, grief that accompanies a major relational change, or physical departure. While things will undoubtedly never be the same again, we are extremely excited for, and in support of our friend. A new journey is unfolding, and his whole life is about to receive a well-deserved restoration. While we won't be with him to experience the metamorphosis firsthand, we pray for covering over his life, and wish him all the best.

Godspeed, EJ!

Good Night

500 Days Of Walking

Tonight marks the 500th consecutive journal entry for The Daily Christian Walk! It's time to kick back, and celebrate the achievement of realizing a worthy goal- something I've admitted to having trouble with in the past. Perhaps, some of these memories of failure can finally be replaced with success- we've made it! I'm so thankful for this process; it's been tremendously rewarding sharing many of life's experiences with you over the past year and a half. I pray that reading each evening's entry was a worthwhile investment of your time, as well. A lot can change in 500 days...

This week, we will begin the next phase of the online journal. I envision more of a free-form entry schedule for the foreseeable future. This new approach will allow for me to set some new goals to accomplish in the scope of my evenings, and relieves some of the pressure to post something each night, even when I'm completely spent. I believe that by yielding to the Holy Spirit, and posting only when prompted to do so, that resultant blog entries will be more meaningful, and of higher quality in the days, weeks and months ahead.

God Bless You,

Good Night

We Must Train Our Children

We've been virtually walking through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University together over the past couple of months. While I've shared some of the experiences and insights derived from attending the classes, one of the great treasures that accompanies the program is the book Financial Peace Revisited.

In Chapter Seventeen: Family, Friends and Money, Dave unknowingly sucker-punched me in the gut. He explained how he and his wife raised their children to adopt a strong work ethic, and how to properly manage their money. By the time they were teenagers, they were able to seek out and earn commissions on various jobs, run a household budget and make adult-like financial decisions.

And then, I thought about the things I have (and haven't) taught my own children. Our kids are "normal", having grown up in a lower middle-class neighborhood. While they do not receive everything they want, they aren't in need. Often, they have things given to them (such as portable electronics) on holidays, instead of working towards reaching a particular goal themselves. On all accounts they're on par with the average American- which is sad. What have I done to teach my children about money? What about hard work?

If I take an honest look at my children, it's obvious we've done them a great disservice. Currently, none of them will work unless poked, prodded or nagged to do so. And, I'm certain that the word "budget" isn't a part of their young vocabulary. While they vary in age, they're what Dave would call "financial four year olds". If left unchanged, I worry about what kind of adults they'll become. They're great kids, mind you. But are they prepared for the real world? No.

It's definitely time to change all of that. In the days to come, I hope to teach basic budgeting skills, and the power found in working hard and saving money. Most importantly, we'll keep taking steps to model Godly, responsible adult lives for them to mirror.

Proverbs 22:6 (The Message)

Point your kids in the right direction— when they're old they won't be lost.

Good night

Winning Through Simplification

The other day, while I was synchronizing Daily Audio Bible podcasts between my computer and phone, I noticed that the transfer rates were extremely slow. I waited for a couple of minutes, but because I was running late for work, I ended up having to choose which of the audio programs was most important to me, and stop the remaining streams which were parasitically utilizing bandwidth. There simply wasn't enough time, or resources to waste while waiting for everything I wanted to download.







As a result of focusing on the important download, all of the time and compute resources were focused on the accomplishment of the goal. Had I not simplified my experience, I would have likely been late for work, without any of the desired audio programs on tap.







The more I thought about it, I noted some interesting parallels between this simple transaction and life. As we live our lives, we can often choose to attach ourselves to several things, important or not. Often times, we spend so much time focused on things that aren't important, that we can become "bogged" down. If we've never developed discipline, or adjust our habits, we can spend years in this condition. It's important to remember that we only have so much available bandwidth (time) and resources- they're finite. I think it's best to simplify, and focus on our priorities. Priorities in our relationships. Priorities in our finances. Priorities in our spirituality.

Good Night

Happy Mothers Day

I'd like to take a minute to wish all of the mothers in my life a very Happy Mother's Day. God bless you.

Good Night

Tired Saturday

Today was hectic. We were up at 6:00 AM, and driving to Walker Middle School by 7:20. After helping with light duty volunteering (guest check-in), it was off to our youngest son's final bowling league game of the season. Afterward, we made a B-line to the gas station to fill up the tank and then headed home for a quick sub-sandwich buffet lunch. After cleaning up from the meal, we hosted a family "laundry party" where everyone was recruited to fold the various clothes and blankets and put them away.

After catching our breath from the busy morning, everyone piled back into the car for a trip across town to a graduation reception for a dear family friend. We were only able to stay a bit shy of an hour, because I was on tap to run slides for the church services this evening. (By the way, the church service was good, however I completely botched a series of slides). Once rehearsal and services concluded, it was home for a quick bite to eat with my wife, before preparing for sleep.

I'm going to bed now. Thank God!

Good Night