It was a rainy night as he walked up the rolling hill. In the distance he could see lightning strikes from the approaching storm. It’s so ironic that a storm is now approaching. The reason why he was on this journey was for him to overcome personal storms in his life. The storms felt so overwhelming that he wanted to give up. He discovered how to overcome these storms with God’s help. There is something about a thunderstorm that takes him back to home. He grew up in Texas and thunderstorms are a part of life there. He remembered the bright lightning flashes that would light up the sky followed by the boom of thunder. It would be better to be in a house when these storms rolled through rather than be outdoors in Colorado. He was outside on these isolated lonely roads because he felt led by God to make a journey. He didn’t know why God wanted him to make this journey; however, it had given him renewed purpose in his spiritual life. So many people questioned why he was on this journey. To him the answers to this question came down to making the right decisions and especially the ones that God wanted him to make. He hadn’t always made the right decisions up to this point in his life. It felt like this journey was finally one of the right choices. These bad decisions helped to place him in this position. So many times he thought about what this life was for. He felt lost and all he wanted was answers. This renewed relationship with God was helping him find the answers to these questions and make him become a better man. He wanted to become a better man and develop a closer relationship with God. He knew being a better man began and ended with Jesus Christ.

The choices he made hurt so many people dear to him. The bad choices always seemed to overcome him. It was easier to run from the consequences of these poor choices rather than face them head on. Then he had to deal with a close personal betrayal. He felt so hurt and betrayed over the things that happened in his life. This journey would hopefully help him come to terms with those issues. His renewed faith in Jesus Christ could help overcome the storms in his life. This was especially the case with his family. This journey really centered on the family. The journey that started in Colorado was grounded in rectifying his relationship with them. Every step he took made him feel he was getting closer to Christ. So many times he wanted to turn around and go back home. This renewed faith and drive, thanks to Jesus Christ, was the fuel to keep him going. When this journey was over he prayed his family could forgive him.

In the distance he heard an animal howl. This was common to hear in Texas but was a little unnerving when isolated in an unfamiliar place. It was late at night and he needed rest. He decided to stop for the night and make camp. Once the tent was ready he laid down to go asleep for the night. He laid there looking to the approaching thunderstorm and started to think back about the personal stories of his life that led him to this journey. Just as the lightning struck in the distance he remembered the strikes he made in his life that were tearing him apart. The booming thunder in the background was a reminder of how many times he made the wrong decision. However, what drove his thoughts was the rain. The rain came with a violent storm but brought life to everything around it. With this he felt a direct connection to Jesus Christ. He too had been renewed by Christ just as the rain gave vegetation renewal. He thought of John 3:17 that states“For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” This scripture gave him hope. This hope was for a brighter future with those he loved. Before falling to sleep he went to prayer. This was something newer in his personal walk with God and had become his favorite time of the day. He was overcome with joy by the fact he could talk to God whenever he needed. Tonight he prayed for the journey, his family and guidance from God to lead him. Once his prayer was over he laid in the tent while the storm was approaching and waited to drift off to sleep. He started to think of home and his family. His thoughts went back to the days that began this journey. Although those days were hard to bear, he knew brighter days were coming. As he fell asleep he remembered the journey to within.

FOR TRINITY

To all healthcare workers and first responders;

You walk through the doors of your office called a hospital,

Fear dissipates and determination sets in, You will not be defeated, not today

The sick and the dying have hope through your eyes, gentle touch and passionate care

You strive for greatness because that means one more person gets to leave your office recovering

At the end of the long 12 hour work day, You walk out the door, Determination dissipates and exhaustion sets in

Your prayers and tears meet you in your vehicle once more

You are comforted by your faith, hope and love that drives you everyday

As you begin your drive home, back to your reality

Remember you are not alone, we are with you every step of the way

You are the front line and last line that gives the rest of us

faith in each other,

hope for tomorrow

and love for what you do

Sometimes the holiday season seems like an obligatory task rather than an opportunity to congregate with those close in our lives. We collectively get caught up in the idea that we’re required to participate in holiday festivities instead of what a blessing it is to actually be around those who matter to us most. It becomes a chore to make sure every home is visited on Thanksgiving and gifts are handed out at Christmas time. We can even become reluctant to spend quality time with those people in our lives who we’re sharing the holidays with.

I had similar thoughts about the holiday season until an event caused me to pause and reflect on how special this time of year is. While a lot of people were participating in Thanksgiving with their loved ones other people throughout our land were experiencing illness, depression and even death. The latter was the event in which I experienced this Thanksgiving. As a healthcare professional we see illness and death on a daily basis. Most healthcare professionals are truly called to this line of work because of the emotional nature the job can be. This even rings true on a holiday.

Personally experiencing in the momentous life event for a family as they say their final goodbyes to a loved one on Thanksgiving causes one to realize what the holidays truly are to us. Holidays are an opportunity to spend time with those we love. It’s not an obligation or a chore, rather it’s a rare life blessing. How many more Thanksgiving visits or Christmas gift exchanges will we get to have? None of us have guarantees of any more time from one day to the next. There will be more football games, social media posts and shopping opportunities. However, having a chance to speak with a loved one or friend sitting next to you in this moment may never happen again.

So for the remaining time we have let’s live in the moment and enjoy the blessing of extra time we have with those who matter to us most. Losing time with those we love is something we can never get back.

ACR

Blessings in life come in different variations.  One would consider good health, happy life, family and a good career as blessings in this life. A blessing I’m most thankful for is that of being a father. Fatherhood has brought many joys to my life. There is no better feeling I’ve had than being in the presence of my children. It is truly a gift from God to have children in a person’s lifetime. I discovered long ago that being a father is not a role some men accept. Unfortunately, absentee fathers is a huge problem in our society today.

According to the US Census Bureau in a 2015 report 23.6% of US children (17.4 million) lived in father absent homes in 2014[1]. As a child from a fatherless home these statistics are disheartening. The ones who pay the biggest price for this parental abandonment are the children. These children will face obstacles in life that other children with active fathers will never understand. An example of this is that homes with no father present has a poverty rate of 47.6%.[2] However, I can attest that children with no father present has a survivor mentality that can propel us to great accomplishments in life if we maintain our focus on the correct goal.

This goal for me was to simply be active in my children’s lives. I refused to allow my fathers failing, as a responsible parent, to dictate how I lived my life. No matter what is going on with outside factors, I strive to be at my children’s functions, activities and recognition events. Your children need to know that they are more important to you as a parent than going on guys night out or catching a ballgame with your buddies. This also motivated me to accomplish objectives that would set a better example for my children to follow. One of the objectives was to be an example of the pursuit of higher education. Through hard work and dedication to this goal I did obtain my Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) in 2015.

The other purpose of this post is to share a principle that involves the community approach to confront this problem we face. According to scripture we are all responsible for our communities success and failures with those less fortunate. As it says in Deuteronomy 14:29 “so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”  As a child I was fortunate to have three wonderful men step in to help be a father figure to me. These men were my grandfather and two uncles. These three men didn’t have to contribute their time and energy to me and my siblings. They chose to do this because of the shared responsibility of our community. 

This Fathers Day I ask that we all look for ways to step in and help fill a void in a child’s life that may be lacking a parental figure. Additionally, all you dads out there who are active fathers I say thank you and God bless you. You fill a great need and responsibility in our society by shaping the generation of tomorrow. Your children need your love and attention no matter what obstacles you have to overcome to provide for them.

The best gift you can give to your greatest blessing, your children, is the time you spend with them.

ACR

1]US Census Bureau, 2015] Living arrangements of children under 18 years and marital status of parents, by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin and selected characteristics of the child for all children: 2014. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau.

2]Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (2012). Information on poverty and income statistics: A summary of 2012 current population survey data. Retrieved from: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/12/PovertyAndIncomeEst/ib.cfm.

Seventy three years ago Americas greatest generation took the battle to Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy. Many of the soldiers believed they were going to their death on the beach that day. The allies had 160,000 soldiers for this historic amphibious operation. The soldiers fought courageously and came up victorious. Throughout the day the allies lost 10,000 brave men. These men all showed that they refused to allow excuses from stopping them in their quest to liberate Europe and protect the United States. Staring death in the face, they chose to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Today’s world find a much different group of individuals who choose to allow excuses to stop them from accomplishing goals. It has become a self made barrier that many fail to overcome. While we aren’t facing the same monumental task as the soldiers did in WW2, we must still maintain focus as those brave people did and accomplish task that face us.

I relate this to my goal of seeking higher education as an adult. I didn’t choose the common route in going to college, graduating and then starting a family. Instead I married at nineteen, had my first child at twenty and worked full time jobs.  In between being a husband, father and employe I had to attempt to complete my college education. Through hard work and dedication I obtained an Associate Degree, Bachelor Degree and Master Degree. This was a painstaking process that took twenty two years. Excuses never held me back as I strove to accomplish my goal. 

The driving factor for me was to better myself because that would better my family and to set a good example for my children to follow. Any of you can do the same thing if you put your time and energy into the right goal. It won’t be an easy road, however, the payoff will be monumental. To complete your goals you need to apply the no excuse rule.

ACR

Baseball has been called the great American pastime throughout the years. This sport holds a special place in millions of people’s hearts all-around the world. A big reason for this is because a great number of us have played baseball when we were adolescents or have been lifelong fans of professional teams like the New York Yankees. The Yankees have set the barometer in measuring success in wins by capturing 27 World Series Championships. However, Championships aren’t the only measurement of success for sports teams. 

I have personally been involved in baseball as a coach for 18 years. Through these years I’ve see many ways measurement of success could be defined in this great sport. This success rarely, if ever, comes down to wins and losses for coaches that focus on the players. The first this I do to gauge success for my teams is to set goals. Once these goals are clearly defined then those goals will serve as our road map throughout the season. 

So what is a “goal”? According to Business Dictionary a goal is An observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed timeframe. With that in mind, goals I set for my teams are 1) Have each player improve from day one to the last day 2) Players always show respect to others 3) Never give up on yourself or your team mates 4) Be competitive every time we step on the field 5) Help the player to understand the game of baseball so they come to love the game for what it is.

I choose this topic for my second blog because a youth baseball team I coach just wrapped up our season with a heart breaking one point loss in the semi-finals to the first place team in our league. During the season we had ups and downs but we did accomplish the five goals I set for my teams. Did we win the championship? No we did not. However, all eleven players improved, they respected everyone, they never gave up even though we endured a 4 game losing streak, we were always competitive and most importantly the players gained a better understanding of baseball and loved playing this season.

Some people would consider the season a failure because we didn’t bring home a trophy. Once again, that is the wrong reason to coach youth. It was a success because we helped instill important life lessons to our players. Going forward in life they know to strive to become better in anything they do everyday, always respect others, never give up, always strive to be the best (competition) and love what you do. Just think how successful these young men will be if they apply these life lessons to their college, family and professional lives. 

That is how you measure success.

ACR

Roller coasters can be a fun activity for people. The anticipation of a hair raising experience you get when the ride starts comes to fruition when you come to that first big drop. On the way to that first big drop, the coaster takes you high into the air for you to contemplate as to what comes next. This gives you time to prepare for going from a slow rise to a jettisoning trip back down.  No matter what you do at the height of that roller coaster, you can’t do anything to stop the drop you’re about to experience.

Life is similar to being on a roller coaster in this sense. Unfortunately, life is not guaranteed to be just high peaks. In a persons lifetime they will experience the lows as well as the highs. When we come to the low points in our lives it is fast just like the roller coaster jettisoning down to the bottom. We have to come to a place in our lives that we can sustain the low points and get back to our happy point. This is called Perseverance. Dictionary.com tells us that Perseverance is the continued steady belief or efforts, withstanding discouragement or difficulty.

I have experienced setbacks in life that included parental abandonment, job loss, a child being ran over by a vehicle and even the death of another child. I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t persevere through those lows in my life. I owe this to a strong family, strong self and most importantly strong faith. Remember the words from the bible in 1 Samuel 12:22 that says “For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.” 

More than anything else your takeaway from today is that YOU will have to develop a strong self to persevere. You have to determine that you are a special human being and have things to accomplish on this earth. For me it was to accomplish goals that no one could take away. These things were to be a good father and achieve a higher education.

Life will get you down at some point during this journey we’re on. Start developing a strong self, stay close to family and strengthen your relationship with God. This will help you persevere during the lows and get you back to your happy point.

ACR