Discipline.............or lack thereof!!

So, it's been, well, quite a while since I've posted anything. (Thank you Nathan for mentioning my blog today, by the way!!)  One of the reasons I've been absent is, well, just life.  Life has been so busy the past few months that sometimes I have to just slow down and catch my breath!!  It's been a good busy though, for the most part!!  In this chaotic run of life I've been in recently, one thing has been bothering me and that's the fact that I feel I've lost some discipline in some areas of life.  I don't want to be too hard on myself, but in all reality, it's been laziness............and the fact that I had to have my phone reset and updated not too long ago and man, I have to catch up on all that progress I had made on Angry Birds!  I mean, come on, I had beaten every level and now, well, I've got to catch back up!!!  LOL!!  OK, had to have a little comedy, right?? 
First, and in no particular order, our finances.  Don't get me wrong, we are fine.  In fact, on Sept. 29th, Kylie and I finished a 12 month and 2 week journey to become debt free besides our home.  On Sept. 11th, 2010, we started Financial Peace University at church and we started out with $42100 in consumer debt! (if you've taken the class, we only wrote down $39700 on our total debt card in the first class, only to realize when we got home that we had left out a $2400 credit card!!!)  So we succeeded in knocking that out through budgeting, sacrifice, creativity and LOTS of discipline and it's a great feeling and while I know that it's been less than a month, I feel that we've slipped some in this area.  No, we haven't gone into debt at all and I know that we need to let loose a little and celebrate, but some of the little things that we used to think as trivial are now bothering me.  For instance, going over budget on eating out or stopping at the convenience store and grabbing sodas and snacks when I know that we have that stuff at home.  I know it seems like no big deal but it just bothers me a little since the discipline is what allowed us to beat our debt and stay on the right path.
Second, and I know for most, this is not a priority at all, but my running has slipped........badly!!  I love running, I REALLY love running and I got back out on the road Friday night and it felt great but before that it had been more than two weeks since my last run and before that like a week and a half.  While I know that it's easy to say that "I'm too busy", or "I don't have time", or "Since I had that late night car deal, I'm gonna skip my run tonight", I feel like I'm letting myself down and not because of anything competitive at all.  I feel like I'm letting myself down because when I'm out on a good long run, I have time to relax(is that a contradiction?? LOL), wind down, listen to music, pray, think, and really just enjoy God's creation!!  Not to mention the fact that I can ALREADY see a little bit of that annoying gut coming back!!
Third....................my guitar..............there Caleb, are ya happy?!?!?!  HaHa!!  I have a beautiful acoustic guitar that I really enjoy playing and wow, it sure looks pretty there next to our fireplace on it's stand!!  I really don't have a lot to say about this one because I've been lazy on this on for a LONG time!!  Caleb, keep prodding me on this one and I'll pick it up again!!  Probably this winter when there is too much snow on the ground to run!!!  LOL!!!

Thanks for reading, now that I've put it in writing, it should be a nice way to get back on track.  Is there anything you've been slacking on that you need to get a handle on??  Now I can get back to playing Angry Birds!!!

Going deeper with Compassion International!!

So if you've been following my posts, you know that we have been sponsoring our beautiful little Rosa from Peru through Compassion for a few months now.  I honestly can't even begin to describe how much of a blessing this has been to us!  We've already received a letter from her and two very cute drawings and my heart was bursting when they came in the mail.  We've been fortunate enough to be able to send her and her family some extra gifts, including a gift for Rosa's 5th birthday!!  It feels so good to know that we are seriously making a monumental difference in this little girl's life through our sponsorship and gifts.  While this is very rewarding, I knew there had to be more that I could do.  I had to find a way to get involved and find a way to be more effective at getting the word out and raising awareness on child poverty.  Folks, there are kids dying EVERY day as a result of extreme poverty!!  In my search to find a way to serve, I came across a part of Compassion's website called "my advocacy" where I was invited to apply to be a volunteer child advocate.  I was hooked!!  What a great way to spend just a few hours per month on my off time!!  I turned in my application, background check, and got excited!!  I was contacted within a few days by Compassion and scheduled an orientation call.  The call went great and the ideas started rolling around in my head about how to get the word out and do my best to help get more children like Rosa sponsored.  I've completed my initial training and will be getting everything I need to get started within a few days, including specific child packets with the mission of getting those little ones sponsored!  Let me tell you how much it costs to sponsor a child.................$38/month..................yeah, that's all, $38 per month.  Guys and gals, that's literally a couple pizzas for us but to these kids, it's a life changer!!  Let's see, how many ways could we break this down...I already gave you the pizza analogy, how about ONE night out at the movies, ONE dinner at the local Mexican restaurant, less than ONE tank of gas, for you ladies, ONE manicure/pedicure, for some of my good friends out there, just a few Starbucks coffees!!  HAHA (you know who you are!! and yes I know you're sponsoring, just had to use the analogy!!)  The point is that I could go on and on!!  Come on guys, there are people out there who are HURTING, and STARVING and who have NO CLEAN WATER!!  Who are we to NOT try to help out while we sit on our couches eating take out pizza, watching satellite TV and complaining that we don't have enough??  Seriously??  Guys, let's get over ourselves for just a minute and THINK about this.  I'm sorry that I get a little charged up on this but it has really become a passion of mine.  Would you at least consider praying about this?  Just give me a chance to talk to you about it and if you don't want to hear it from me, that's fine.  Check out http://www.compassion.com/ for more info.  Until next time, Jon

What in the world is God teaching me through this???

OK, so I haven't been on here in a while.  Guess nothing has really hit me to write about..............well, actually I have lots to write about but just haven't found the time. 
A few months ago, March 13th to be exact, I wrote a silly post about how I, yes me, was going to try running.  I figured it would be a short lived deal and I would just run a few times and get sick of it.  Well, at first, that is sort of what happened.  I ran a mile that first day, then a few days later, ran another mile then.........well, yeah, I pretty much slacked off for a while.  Then, a couple friends here in our subdivision invited me to join their running challenge on Nike + and that's when the fun began.  My first run in the challenge was on April 26th.  I ran 1.1 miles and thought I was really doing something!!  My next run was like 1.2, then 1.8 (boy was I hitting it!!  LOL!!!) after that, it jumped....quick.....REAL quick!!  My next run was like 3.13, then 4.02, 4.52, etc. Within 3 weeks I hit 8 miles!!!  No stopping, no walking, 8.04 miles.....running!!  My longest run to date is 10.16 miles 2 days after my 35th birthday (who says I'm old!!!)  Hahaha!!  I don't even feel like I've gotten a real workout unless I get in at least 6 miles now!  Since April 26th, I've run a total of 129.61 miles!! What in the world is going on here?  There is NO way that I should be putting up distance like this such a short time in, but I'm doing it, and the only thing that keeps going through my mind is, What could God be teaching me through this?  I think of this while I'm running.  I just keep going, and going, and going.  Could He be teaching me to not give up, to stay the course, to keep pushing in other areas of my life??  My faith, my trust in Him, my relationship with my daughters, with my wife, my career??  I have no idea.  I may ramble a little here, so forgive me.  To some of you, this may seem trivial, but read my other post.  I was seriously the guy who had absolutely NO interest in running at all!!  There is no way that this is of my own ability.  I give credit to God in all of my accomplishments, including this.  I try to look deeper into the situation to try to see what I'm supposed to learn through all of my experiences.  That remains one of my toughest challenges, to try to take a step back from every situation or experience, whether good or bad and try to see what God is trying to teach me.  I LOVE Him.  I depend on Him and I do my best to trust Him in every area of my life.  I don't have all the answers and I certainly don't know exactly what He is trying to teach me through this but I do know this......I'm ready and willing to learn!!

Rosa!!!!!

Our church has partnered with Compassion International in an amazing program called Church 2 Church!!  In this program we have partnered up with the Filadelfia church in Los Heraldos, Peru.  It is a desert community outside of Lima.  With the Compassion program, our church has committed to sponsoring 50 children.  As soon as I heard about this, I was on board.  I couldn't wait to get started.  Well, Sunday morning at church, they had some of the packets there so that you could pick your child to sponsor.  Kylie had to stay home because Emma has been sick, so in my mind, I would get to pick our child!!  I called Kylie after church and she happened to be in town getting medicine for Emma so she stopped by and when she got there, only 2 packets remained.  One boy and one girl.  Well, having two little girls ourselves, we wanted to go with a girl and I'm tellin ya, when I looked down and saw the picture on that packet, Rosa had my heart immediately!!  She is 4 years old and beautiful!!  She's got that "tough girl" look!!  Eerily similar to the "tough girl" look on my beautiful wife's face pretty often!!  HAHAHA!!  Maybe that's why I was drawn to her!!  (at least that's what Kylie says!!)  I had no idea that I would be so smitten with this little girl that I've never met!!  I just know that I am so excited to get to know her, yes, only through letters and pictures at first, but I may have the opportunity to travel to Peru to meet her in the next couple years!!  When I think of Rosa, I can't help but think how much we take the blessings we have here for granted!!  For instance, the average family in her community brings in the equivalent to $162 per MONTH!!  Not each week, each MONTH!!  Their homes have dirt and cement floors and tin roofs!!  There are people in this world that are hurting and who are we to complain about being broke while watching cable tv and eating delivery pizza??  Seriously??  Some of you just might say, oh big deal, so your sending money to some organization and you don't even know how your money is being spent.  Or you might say, yeah right, like that is really going to make a difference!!  Folks, I have very good friends who have been there and have seen first hand how much the sponsorship helps these kids.  Compassion provides these children with Bible teaching, health and hygeine instruction, medical checkups, nutritious foods, homework help and academic reinforcement, along with monthly meetings and health workshops for the parents or guardians of the children.  Kylie and I are not able to have any more children and we've prayed about adoption and that still may be a future option but I can't express enough how much this is going to bless us as well as Rosa!!  This little girl has stolen my heart already and she doesn't even know it!!  I find myself thinking of her and praying for her and her family several times daily.  I am so blessed to have two beautiful little girls here at home and now God has given me the opportunity to be a blessing in this little girls life.  I can't wait to see what God is going to do through this journey, because it's amazing to see what he has done in my heart through this little girl in just a few days!!!  Stop and think.............what if the tables were turned?  What if you had to wonder, day to day, if you were going to eat that day, have fresh water, have education for your kids?  I could type all night of the advantages that we have here that we take for granted.  All I know is that I am going to pour my heart into this ministry and I am going to do everything to let little Rosa know that someone half way around the globe does love her and is praying for her and will help support her and provide for her!!  I plan on sending birthday and Christmas gifts and I'm going to write her regularly and when we have extra to give, we're going to give and I pray that I have the opportunity to travel to Peru and meet this precious little girl!!  Just pray about getting involved instead of standing on the sidelines and leaving it up to someone else.  Just give it a shot and I guarantee you won't regret it!!  http://www.compassion.com/

Who's In Your Corner??

OK, so a friend of mine used to be a professional mma cage fighter.  And I mean he was the real deal!!  This was his full time job.  His career!!!  He was on a very strict 10,000 calorie PER DAY diet.  Read that again, 10,000 calories PER DAY!!!!  How would your nutritionist feel about that????  He would eat and train from 6am to 10pm Monday - Friday and on Saturday and Sunday he would watch 6 hours of film of his next opponent!!  He was on his way up in the fighting world when he was dealt a devastating blow!!!  Type 1 diabetes.  He felt like it was the end of the world for him.  He lost the only livelihood that he had ever known.  He was obviously forced to quit fighting and he lost everything.  Married with young children, it was a catastrophe for him.  I'm happy to say that this young man is getting back on his feet and has found a profession that he loves and will do very well in.  During his fights, he always had his trainer in his corner.  I can only imagine some of the advice he gave him between rounds.  One thing that he told me was that when he was in his corner between rounds, while his trainer was talking and telling him what to do, all he would do is listen and breath.  He would never say a word.  Hold on to that.  All he would do is listen and then do exactly what his trainer told him to do.  How many times in this fight that we call life do we just need to listen, not say a word and do exactly what our "trainer" tells us to do?  I guess that depends on who is in our corner.  Can I venture out here and suggest that it's God who is always in our corner??  No matter what life is throwing at us, He is there.  God is always in our corner, working on our behalf.  Through the trials that we go through on a daily basis, our Heavenly Father is there.  ALWAYS.  When life deals us the uppercuts, the devastating left hook, the repeated jabs right in the heart, He is there.  He loves us so much and wants to see us through the good times and the bad but most of us just refuse to go to our corner, listen, breath and do exactly what He says!!  When life wrestles us to the ground and just seems to have no mercy, God is there to keep us going.  But we have to TRUST Him.  When it's the toughest of tough times or the best of the best, God is there.  I LOVE that about Him.  You see, no matter what troubles I have in this life, I know that this is not my permanent home.  This is but a season.  Our home, for those of us who call Him our Savior, is eternity with Him.  An eternity with no more tears, no more pain and no more fear!!  How awesome is it that the God of the Universe, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, The One who placed the stars in the sky wants to be in YOUR corner and mine???  I could ramble on and on but I couldn't begin to tell you how much that means to me!!  So sit back and think just a little while, who is it that's in YOUR corner???

Running??? Are you Serious??????

Ok so I have no idea what is going on here.  I'm the guy who, every time my friends talk about running so many miles or running marathons or 1/2 marathons, will immediately speak up and say, "have fun man, but I have absolutely no interest in running."  I've never enjoyed even the thought of running.  My thoughts were: "Why would I want to run with no destination?"  or "Why run if you're not being chased??"  HaHa or countless other reasons why there was no way in any way, shape or form that I had any desire to run.  So that brings me to today.  Here in a few hours, after a possible short Sunday afternoon nap and letting lunch settle, what is Mr. Goofball here going to do????  I'm going running!!  I have no idea why I've felt the drive to run and I have no idea where it came from but we've mapped out our route through the subdivision, our cool down walk and we're ready.  We do plan on waiting until the cover of dark as not to scare the neighbors with all the ugly, pained faces we will no doubt be making!!!  HAHA!!  Actually, maybe that makes it a better idea to run during the day!!!  LOL!!!  I'm not going to tell stories on here and say that I'm committing to running every day or 3 times per week or anything like that.  All I'm saying is that we'll see what happens!!  Maybe I'll run/walk 1/2 the route, get tired, come home and not run again, who knows???  Maybe I'll love it and start running regularly but whichever it is, I'm sure I'll keep it posted!!! 

We all fall short...............

This has been a tough few days!!  My faith and integrity were put in question this week by someone who really has no idea who I am, about a situation that was twisted and taken completely out of context.  Hurt??  Yes, it hurt really bad.  I went through a number of emotions but mostly, it REALLY hurt.  So as I sit and reflect on what happened I realize, even more than before, that we ALL fall short of God's original plan for us!!  We ALL sin and we ALL need forgiveness.  While the person did not know the entire situation, they reacted with the information that they had.  They had that information, not maliciously, but by not being involved with the entire situation, but only a small part.  At first was I mad??  Yes.  Furious??  You bet!!  But like I said before, it mostly hurt.  It hurt because if this person really knew me, they may have chosen to calmly talk about the situation instead of a violent lashing out!  If they really knew me, maybe they would have known that there was more than meets the eye in this situation.  I know that I make mistakes, I miss the mark, I fall short often!!  I know this and I'm thankful that Jesus took all of my sin and yours upon his shoulders on the cross.  I'm thankful for everything that God has given me.  I'm thankful for my wife, my beautiful little girls and I'm VERY thankful that God loves me and He loves you even though we ALL fall short........................