A Blessed Life

Happy Friday on a beautiful Sunday Morning!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day, that you had an awesome work week last week and that your weekend has been incredible & refreshing!

I want to quickly share with you my last 72 - 96 hours:

• Thursday, 5:00 p.m. club baseball doubleheader for my 12 (turning 13 this week...holy smokes!) year old. Done, home and to bed at 11:30 p.m.
• Friday, 7:00 p.m. varsity football game and then post-game dinner with players, parents and coaches. Home and to bed at 1:30 a.m.
• Saturday, 6:00 a.m. wake up. 8:00 a.m. club baseball tournament starts. Games at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Second game ends at 12:30 p.m. Rush everyone to car, get home, take a nap, wake up at 3:00 p.m., back to the ballpark at 4:00 p.m. Third game of the day is supposed to start at 5:00 p.m. Game before runs over, third game starts around 5:40 p.m. We are up to bat, bottom of the 7th (last) inning. We are losing 2 - 1. If we win we play tomorrow (today) at 12:30 p.m. If we lose there are no games tomorrow. Talk to Beautiful Bride and ask her if it is o.k. to cheer against our sons team...heart won't let me do it. Our team wins with a walk-off single...Yes! Dang it! I mean Yes! Coaches buy pizza for players after game, check tournament board for what field we play on Sunday, get home at 8:30 p.m. From 9:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. fight to stay awake to talk to 16-year old who is at Homecoming dance. Wake up somewhere around Midnight on the floor snuggling 7-year old, see 16-year old sitting on the couch watching the West Virginia - Texas game I recorded and was trying to watch before I fell asleep, try to ask him about his night, have no clue what he said to me however I know he is home and he is safe...nothing else matters.
• This morning I woke up at 5:00 a.m. I have read my bible, a leadership book, the newspaper from front page to back page and at 8:21 I start typing Happy Friday.

So now you understand why you are getting Happy Friday on Sunday morning however that is not what is really on my heart. Here is what is on my heart; I am so blessed and I love my life! Somewhere around the 3rd inning of the 1st game on Thursday night, knowing what was in front of me and my precious family over the next 3 - 4 day, wanting to feel sorry for myself, wanting to dread the running all over the place, there was this great clarity - this is my  life, my oh so very richly blessed, wonderful life. I have an incredible wife - very beautiful on the outside and even more so on the inside - who I have the honor & privilege of experiencing all of this with. I have a 16-year old young man who I will hug after a tough loss on Friday night, who I will sit out on the back porch and talk with until 1:00 a.m., who I will watch walk away on Saturday night to go to the Homecoming Dance, trusting, knowing that he will make good decisions, that he will be responsible. I have a 12/13-year old who will peek at me from 2nd base, look at me over his glove on the pitchers mound, stick his head around the corner of the dugout - just to make sure I am still there, who will say "right Dad?" countless times as we rush home to take a nap as we analyze the first 2 games of the tournament...and then repeat the process all over again as we rush back to the ball park for the evening game. I have a 7-year old Tender Warrior who will sit and snuggle me at the 12/13-year olds baseball game, coming to life when his brother comes up to bat...cheering for him, who will snuggle up next to me, as close as he can and fall asleep on the floor trying to watch a football game that we both already know the outcome. This, all of this, is my life. I love my life! I can't believe how blessed I am! I thank God for my life, for His love, mercy, grace & perspective and for this precious, oh so precious, family that he has blessed me with. While sleep would be nice, I wouldn't want to miss a single moment of what I have lived in the last few days.

Our lives - your life, my life - they are blessed Friends. The question, the challenge I think is to realize the blessings, to live blessings and to truly cherish each moment. I don't want to live a life of regret, of dread. As I told my Beautiful Bride, we are going to go through this - the hectic schedule of the past 4 days - one way or another...we get to choose how we go through it. Are we going to embrace the day, the moment, live them fully or are we going to dread it, have a negative attitude, missing out on so much that each experience has to offer? I don't want negative, dread, discouragement...I want positive, excitement, encouragement. I want to be alive and to live - so many are alive without truly living, I don't want to be one of them!

I don't know where you are or what you have going on today Friend however I want to challenge you to find the blessing(s) in this day and to live your life fully. I promise you, if you will truly embrace this day, truly live this day, you will find great joy & fulfillment. You very well may collapse in bed tonight, completely exhausted however I promise you there will be great peace in your spirit, their will be greater depth to your relationships and you will find that you would not have lived your life any other way.

Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, please live your life fully today and please cherish your precious families and friends.

Kev