Happy Friday Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you having a great day as this beautiful Friday morning dawns! Here is a quick quote by Todd Stocker that I tweeted this morning to get your day started right: "A sunrise is God's way of stating, "Let's start again."
Progress. Dictionary.com defines progress as "a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage" and "the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level." I was reading The Carpenter by Jon Gordon on Monday morning and the chapter was on progress. It has had me thinking about progress - what it means, what it looks like, how it happens, etc. - all week.
The first thing I want to tell you Friends is it is o.k. to make progress. I hope you feel the freedom in that statement. You don't have to be the finished product today. In fact, I truly hope and pray that you and I continue to progress each and every day of our lives until we breathe or final breath. While we understand that in "the big picture" do we truly understand, and more importantly, live it in the day to day lives we live? I know I struggle with it...a lot. I strive every day to be the man, husband, father, leader, friend that God has called me to become. I want to be everything to everybody and I want to do the "right" thing, to say the "right" thing all the time. I expect perfection from myself which is completely unrealistic. I can get so caught up in trying to be perfect that I don't give myself the grace of progress. Yes Friends, that is what it is...to give ourselves grace. To constantly strive to be better today than we were yesterday but not grade ourselves against what we will be when the Lord says our work on earth is finished and calls us home. You and I are human. We will make mistakes and fail. Progress is good, it is refining us into the men & women God has created us to become. Let us live in that freedom.
So what is your struggle, battle or challenge today? We all have one...at least one. We are all fighting something, wanting to improve something. It's just life. We don't like change however life is constantly changing. A coach once said (I Googled who said it and I got it attributed to like 20 different football coaches!) "Everyday you either get better or worse, you never stay the same." It is true in football and life. It is true in you and me.
Are we making progress? This is the question we really need to ask ourselves. It is not an excuse to not change, it is actually the motivation to do so. Have you ever beat yourself up because you made the same mistake, did the same thing, again? Have you ever not started because, well you won't be the finished product today? How about this one - are you worn out from fighting the fight? You have taken a step forward and then two back, step forward, two back. You have fought and tried and you keep sliding back? Hey, don't think you are all special Friend! :) We all experience these things.
Whoever you are, wherever you are and whatever your struggle, battle or challenge is today - start! Take one small step to face, fight and conquer whatever it is in your life. You don't need to win the war today, you just need to begin the fight. Determine who in your mind you will be. Determine in your mind that you will overcome whatever it is you are facing. Determine in your mind that you are going to be better today than you were yesterday. Determine in your mind that you are going to be kind to yourself, that you will not hold yourself to impossible standards. As with anything worth having it will take courage, sacrifice & hard work. Know this Friend, if you will intentionally choose to fight your fight daily, if you are determined to persevere, you will in fact win. Let progress be the goal, live fully in the moment and the Lord will lead you to your final destination.
I want to close by sharing a text exchange between Payton and I this week:
Payton - Hey Goodmorning dad! (It is 1:18 p.m...gotta love teenagers!) Landrys being ridiculous and throwing candy at my face and throwing clothes around cause he's trying to be funny and it's ridiculous
Me - Do me a favor; say to him "Dad wants to know if you are being a Tender Warrior right now." If it doesn't change instantly, call me...I am eating lunch right now and I have a meeting at 2
Payton - Okay sorry for bothering you! He just looked at me when you said that smiled and was about to say something but stopped :) have a good day
Me - Sweet! Just remind him...we all forget who we are sometimes. :)
Payton - Okay thanks :)
We all forget who we are sometimes...I just want to close by reminding you who you are. You were fearfully & wonderfully created for a purpose for which you are perfectly equipped. You lack absolutely nothing Friend. Your life has great value, meaning & purpose. This world is blessed by and because of you. Just in case you were wondering. :)
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
Friday, July 25, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Talk or Listen?
Happy Friday Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and that an awesome week is coming to a close for you!
This morning I am going to share a few excerpts with you from Jon Gordon's new book, The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All. I highly recommend you read this book!
I have learned to talk to myself instead of listening to myself. If I listen to myself I hear all the negative thoughts, all the complaints, all the fears, all the doubts, and all the reasons why I shouldn't be able to finish the race. But if I talk to myself I can feed myself with the words and encouragement I need to finish the race.
Negative thoughts are the nails that build a prison of failure. Positive thoughts will build you a masterpiece.
...a positive pledge that you can say when challenges come your way and you aren't feeling very positive.
I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and that an awesome week is coming to a close for you!
This morning I am going to share a few excerpts with you from Jon Gordon's new book, The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All. I highly recommend you read this book!
I have learned to talk to myself instead of listening to myself. If I listen to myself I hear all the negative thoughts, all the complaints, all the fears, all the doubts, and all the reasons why I shouldn't be able to finish the race. But if I talk to myself I can feed myself with the words and encouragement I need to finish the race.
Negative thoughts are the nails that build a prison of failure. Positive thoughts will build you a masterpiece.
...a positive pledge that you can say when challenges come your way and you aren't feeling very positive.
I vow to stay positive in the face of negativity.
When I am surrounded by pessimism, I will choose optimism.
When I feel fear, I will choose faith.
When I want to hate, I will choose love.
When I want to be bitter, I will choose to get better.
When I experience a challenge, I will look for an opportunity to learn and grow.
When faced with adversity, I will find strength.
When I experience a setback, I will be resilient.
When I meet failure, I will fail forward, toward future success.
With vision, hope and faith, I will never give up and will always move forward toward my destiny.
I believe my best days are ahead of me, not behind me.
I believe I'm here for a reason and my purpose is greater than my challenges.
I believe that being positive not only makes me better, it makes everyone around me better.
So today and every day I will be positive and strive to make a positive impact on the world.
This is all tied directly back to last weeks Happy Friday - What Will Your Influence Be...? The first influence we must determine, the influence that will dictate what all of our other influences will be, is the influence of our own hearts. We are human; sometimes we are going to wake up feeling happy, energized, ready to roll and other times we are going to wake up feeling sad, drained, not wanting to participate in life. Feelings do not define you and they don't define me. By the words we speak to ourselves, the words we are speaking directly into our own hearts & spirits, we are ordering our day. This is not to say that life is not hard, that there won't be challenges, hurdles and setbacks. There surely will be, for each and every one of us. You and I however will choose the words we speak to ourselves and in the process influence our own hearts, minds and spirits which will then determine the influence we will have in the lives of all those in our lives.
Here is funny twist for you that my Spirit just spoke to me; in matters of the mind, or feelings, it is much better to talk instead of listen. In matters of human interaction it is better to listen instead of talk. In matters of self, seek to intentionally, positively influence your own heart, mind & spirit. In matters of others, seek first to understand. I will leave you with that one to ponder...
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish those precious families.
Kev
Friday, July 11, 2014
What Will Your Influence Be...?
Happy Friday Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful Friday morning dawns!
This is my 150th post. I thought this would be a great time to regain focus, to discuss briefly, what is meant by "What Will Your Influence Be...?" I am actually going to break this down in what I think is the reverse order. For most of us, the less directly the mirror reflects our face, the easier it is to accept.
What Will Your Influence Be...In Others Lives?
All of our lives are constantly influencing the lives of all of those we are privileged to cross paths with on a daily basis. In one of his books John C. Maxwell sites research that says that the most introverted person will influence more than 10,000 lives in their lifetime. Whether the interaction is long & deep or short & shallow, you & I influence the life of literally every single person we come into contact with every day - pretty deep if you think about it. Our body language, our words, our actions have an influence on everyone touched by us. There is no escaping the fact that you will have an influence on everyone; by being alive, walking the face of this earth and interacting with others, you influence.
The question then becomes "what will your influence be?" Knowing that you can't escape your influence - many try, a lot will argue...accountability can be difficult! - you and I must determine, will determine, what our influence will be. Will our influence be intentional, positive, encouraging or will it be thoughtless, negative, discouraging? For most of us, we will not think about or ask ourselves these questions - we are simply trying to survive, to the very best of our ability, each and every day. I get that...we are all fighting battles, have struggles, etc. We don't pause to think about the impact of our body language, our words, our actions. So we stop by the store on the way home, we have had a very tough day - we would all define tough differently - and we are rude to the person checking us out. We didn't mean it personally towards them, we didn't mean/want to hurt their feelings however we can't escape the fact that our life just influenced theirs. Now this person, perhaps negatively impacted by our influence, will interact with other customers throughout the day and then perhaps he or she will go home to a family. The influence you had in this persons life will now impact how they interact with and treat, influence, every single life they then interact with the rest of the day. Now it makes much more sense how you and I will influence more than 10,000 lives in our lifetime, huh? Please think about this Friends; the next time you interact with someone, think about the influence you want to have in their spouse/child/friends lives. The reality is whatever part of yourself you leave with the person you interact with will touch, to some degree, every single life in that persons life as well - intentional, positive, encouraging or thoughtless, negative, discouraging.
My heart as I write Happy Friday, post quotes/thoughts on Twitter and Facebook and share the idea of "What Will Your Influence Be...?" is not to judge or condemn. We ALL have struggles, challenges, hopes & dreams. My hope is to raise awareness, yours & mine. To recognize & realize that we are all pretty much the same - we all have hopes, dreams, fears, failures, insecurities. To recognize & realize that we all have talents, gifts & abilities...they are just different. I don't think the purpose is so much to compete - to be the "better" person - but rather to complete. To recognize & realize that we all have great potential to accomplish great things within our areas of gifting...and to encourage, empower & equip one another to fulfill our individual potential (complete). My hope is, as our awareness is raised, that we will make thoughtful, positive choices about our influence.
As I write and share about "What Will Your Influence Be...?" I speak to the priorities I have determined, established for my life. I can't tell you what your priorities should be - I can only testify to what I have found for my life. I would like to encourage you again to be thoughtful in this area. The reality is you and I are living out our priorities. If we don't like where we are in our life journey perhaps it is time to have a heart to heart with ourselves about our priorities. There is not a "right" or "wrong" answer. You are you, I am me...we simply have to determine what we stand for and believe, what matters to us and how we are going to live our lives. Please be mindful, however you answer the question of priorities is essentially answering the question of your legacy. What Will Your Influence Be...?
What Will Your Influence Be...In Your Life?
I told you I was starting this whole deal backwards. It is the things that we allow to influence our lives that determine our thoughts, body language, words, actions...our influence. What we allow in to our hearts, minds & spirits shapes everything we then think, say & do. Sadly, most of us give very little thoughts to these things. Ironic, funny, sad...I don't know the write adjective. The nursery rhyme says "be careful little eyes what you see" and "be careful little ears what you hear" however as adults we tend to ignore these things. Seriously, you are smart. Do you really think that you can listen to negativity, gossip, pour all kinds of bad things - you define it, I don't care...you get the point! - into your heart, mind & spirit without it having any sort of impact on your thoughts, your words, your actions and therefore on your relationships/interactions? What do you think my thoughts about, words to, actions with my wife would be like if I read & listened to things that spoke negatively about women & marriage? Do you really think you or I can put in negative, negative, negative and then have all my thoughts, words & actions be intentional, positive & encouraging? It just doesn't make sense and yet sadly, this is exactly what far to many people try to do.
Please listen Friends; you - your heart, mind, soul, goals, hopes, dreams, talents, gifts & abilities - are SO valuable. Please guard, protect & fight for them! Please fill yourself with things that will encourage, empower & equip you to fulfill your greatness. Please be intentional, please choose the things that are positive and encouraging...you are far to valuable for anything less!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your families & friends.
Kev
I hope and trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful Friday morning dawns!
This is my 150th post. I thought this would be a great time to regain focus, to discuss briefly, what is meant by "What Will Your Influence Be...?" I am actually going to break this down in what I think is the reverse order. For most of us, the less directly the mirror reflects our face, the easier it is to accept.
What Will Your Influence Be...In Others Lives?
All of our lives are constantly influencing the lives of all of those we are privileged to cross paths with on a daily basis. In one of his books John C. Maxwell sites research that says that the most introverted person will influence more than 10,000 lives in their lifetime. Whether the interaction is long & deep or short & shallow, you & I influence the life of literally every single person we come into contact with every day - pretty deep if you think about it. Our body language, our words, our actions have an influence on everyone touched by us. There is no escaping the fact that you will have an influence on everyone; by being alive, walking the face of this earth and interacting with others, you influence.
The question then becomes "what will your influence be?" Knowing that you can't escape your influence - many try, a lot will argue...accountability can be difficult! - you and I must determine, will determine, what our influence will be. Will our influence be intentional, positive, encouraging or will it be thoughtless, negative, discouraging? For most of us, we will not think about or ask ourselves these questions - we are simply trying to survive, to the very best of our ability, each and every day. I get that...we are all fighting battles, have struggles, etc. We don't pause to think about the impact of our body language, our words, our actions. So we stop by the store on the way home, we have had a very tough day - we would all define tough differently - and we are rude to the person checking us out. We didn't mean it personally towards them, we didn't mean/want to hurt their feelings however we can't escape the fact that our life just influenced theirs. Now this person, perhaps negatively impacted by our influence, will interact with other customers throughout the day and then perhaps he or she will go home to a family. The influence you had in this persons life will now impact how they interact with and treat, influence, every single life they then interact with the rest of the day. Now it makes much more sense how you and I will influence more than 10,000 lives in our lifetime, huh? Please think about this Friends; the next time you interact with someone, think about the influence you want to have in their spouse/child/friends lives. The reality is whatever part of yourself you leave with the person you interact with will touch, to some degree, every single life in that persons life as well - intentional, positive, encouraging or thoughtless, negative, discouraging.
My heart as I write Happy Friday, post quotes/thoughts on Twitter and Facebook and share the idea of "What Will Your Influence Be...?" is not to judge or condemn. We ALL have struggles, challenges, hopes & dreams. My hope is to raise awareness, yours & mine. To recognize & realize that we are all pretty much the same - we all have hopes, dreams, fears, failures, insecurities. To recognize & realize that we all have talents, gifts & abilities...they are just different. I don't think the purpose is so much to compete - to be the "better" person - but rather to complete. To recognize & realize that we all have great potential to accomplish great things within our areas of gifting...and to encourage, empower & equip one another to fulfill our individual potential (complete). My hope is, as our awareness is raised, that we will make thoughtful, positive choices about our influence.
As I write and share about "What Will Your Influence Be...?" I speak to the priorities I have determined, established for my life. I can't tell you what your priorities should be - I can only testify to what I have found for my life. I would like to encourage you again to be thoughtful in this area. The reality is you and I are living out our priorities. If we don't like where we are in our life journey perhaps it is time to have a heart to heart with ourselves about our priorities. There is not a "right" or "wrong" answer. You are you, I am me...we simply have to determine what we stand for and believe, what matters to us and how we are going to live our lives. Please be mindful, however you answer the question of priorities is essentially answering the question of your legacy. What Will Your Influence Be...?
What Will Your Influence Be...In Your Life?
I told you I was starting this whole deal backwards. It is the things that we allow to influence our lives that determine our thoughts, body language, words, actions...our influence. What we allow in to our hearts, minds & spirits shapes everything we then think, say & do. Sadly, most of us give very little thoughts to these things. Ironic, funny, sad...I don't know the write adjective. The nursery rhyme says "be careful little eyes what you see" and "be careful little ears what you hear" however as adults we tend to ignore these things. Seriously, you are smart. Do you really think that you can listen to negativity, gossip, pour all kinds of bad things - you define it, I don't care...you get the point! - into your heart, mind & spirit without it having any sort of impact on your thoughts, your words, your actions and therefore on your relationships/interactions? What do you think my thoughts about, words to, actions with my wife would be like if I read & listened to things that spoke negatively about women & marriage? Do you really think you or I can put in negative, negative, negative and then have all my thoughts, words & actions be intentional, positive & encouraging? It just doesn't make sense and yet sadly, this is exactly what far to many people try to do.
Please listen Friends; you - your heart, mind, soul, goals, hopes, dreams, talents, gifts & abilities - are SO valuable. Please guard, protect & fight for them! Please fill yourself with things that will encourage, empower & equip you to fulfill your greatness. Please be intentional, please choose the things that are positive and encouraging...you are far to valuable for anything less!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your families & friends.
Kev
Friday, July 4, 2014
A Couple of Weeks Worth of Lessons
Happy Friday Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you having a great day on this absolutely beautiful 4th of July morning!
This is my first Happy Friday from Texas. When I would sit and write Happy Friday in Arizona I would sit at our kitchen table and, when searching for the right word, I would look out the window to my left and gaze at the beautiful view over the 8th fairway of the Kokopelli Golf Course. Now? I am staring at the back of a parking garage!!! :) Ah, lest you think this is a bad thing, I know that I can walk less than 50 yards and drop a line in Galveston Bay, something by the way that my Tender Warriors and I have already done a couple of times in less than a week. Yes indeed Friends, I am blessed!
There is so much I want to share with ya'll (the boys gave me a hard time about saying that last night...hey, when in Texas do as the Texans do!) this morning. I didn't get to write Happy Friday last week because, well, I was on day 3 of our journey to Texas! So much has happened, I have learned so many lessons, I thought I would just throw a few of them out there this morning for you.
Packing for the great adventure went well...remember, it is all about perspective. We ended up needing two U-Haul trucks (bad...we have too much stuff!) however it all fit (good...I think!). As we were packing I was getting increasingly frustrated that we had so much stuff, wondering why we had so much stuff, repeating over and over again that we are getting rid of stuff, etc. My Beautiful Bride was the main receiver of my thoughtless, mindless comments...as though all of the stuff is hers or somehow, some way she is exclusively responsible for us having all of this stuff. Pretty soon guess what happens? Yeah, slowly I have one son, then another and finally another complaining about all of our stuff...and their comments are aimed at Mom as well. I wish I could tell you that I recognized at that moment what was happening and stopped. I didn't. No, it wasn't until the most beautiful big green eyes in the world looked at me, full of hurt & pain, a word not spoken, that in an instant I realized the damage I was doing, the hurt I was causing. I immediately stopped with the comments and got the trucks loaded. Guess what? The boys stopped making comments as well. I went to Kath, apologized for the things I had said and told her how much I appreciated all she had done. My heart still hurts thinking about it...
Another great reminder during this time is how small acts of kindness, how friendship, truly matters. A sweet lady who we met at the garage sell we had a week earlier and her two kids stopped by and dropped off slushes from Sonic. Didn't ask us what we liked, didn't tell us she was going to do it...she just did it. It truly touched all of our hearts. We had four friends stop by and just help. We would have been there for several more hours had these sweet people not just stopped by to help any way they could. It was overwhelming and humbling to see their selfless sacrifice for us. They inspire me...that is the type of friend I want to be! Thank you Adam & Danielle, Michelle & Katlyn.
With the trucks all packed it is now time for me to take my 26' U-Haul back to U-Haul so they can put the trailer on the back of it so I can tow our Tahoe (gulp). I drive a Toyota Corolla, O.K.? I am NOT looking forward to driving this truck over 1100 miles pulling a Tahoe. The stress level is high. It all gets hooked up, my great Little Warrior Landry has to ride with me because when you are 9-years old this is very cool. As we are driving back to the house I am thinking not good thoughts, praying - knowing this is the only hope we have, etc. All of the sudden I hear this sweet little 9-year old voice say, "this is the coolest thing ever!" It jolted me out of my thoughts. In that moment, and over the course of the next 3 days as we bumped along to Texas, I drew strength from my Little Warrior. He wasn't worried about a thing - he was with his Dad, we were in a big truck...life is good. We had such a great time riding together, talking mostly non-stop...so thankful for that time and for him! :) Yes, it was in fact the coolest thing ever.
I love the quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that says, "Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of being." I saw this in action during the course of our move. Payton & Gehrig truly amazed me. From Payton driving my car all the way to Texas to Gehrig calling U-Haul when he was riding shotgun with me and some warning lights came on...they were clutch. The time that touched my heart the most however happened on Saturday. Did ya'll know it gets pretty humid in Houston?!?! I knew it got humid however I had no idea it got THAT humid. Anyways, it was sweltering. We unloaded one U-Haul into storage on Friday evening and now on Saturday we are unloading the other. We had unloaded most everything into the apartment and we had to now go back and put more stuff into storage. I am drenched. I am on my 3rd shirt, my shorts, socks & shoes are drenched...I really look like I have hopped into the shower with all of my clothes on. As we get to storage I am starting to get light headed and beginning to cramp pretty bad - people who made fun of or were critical of LeBron James have no clue! As I bent over and put my hands on my knees to catch my breath, and hopefully not pass out, Payton looks at me and then gets the funniest, most compassionate look on his face. He knows that his Dad is in trouble and he knows that I know he knows. All of the sudden all of the little brotherly bickering, fighting, arguing, etc. stops. The wandering around stops. All of the sudden both of the boys are totally focused. All of the sudden they can lift things they couldn't lift before. The "Dad, come and get this" is replaced with, "Dad, we got this." It was amazing. Exhausted, I can tell you I honestly stood in awe of my sons.
The last lesson from these past two weeks I want to share with you happened on Monday - my first day at work. I had a lunch with two amazing women...my new bosses. We were driving to lunch, they in the front seats, me in the back. We were driving down Seawall Blvd and I looked out the car window to my left and all I see is the Gulf of Mexico. It is beautiful! The waves are rolling in and I am staring at miles and miles of ocean...right there! For an Arizona native this is amazing! I don't ever want the beauty of this to fade, for me to no longer appreciate it. I think back to being in athletics at ASU and having the privilege of working at Sun Devil Stadium every day. I think back to St. Mary College. I used to go to the office early and as the sun would rise each morning the light would reflect off of one of the water fountains and it gave an appearance of a fountain of fire...awe inspiring in it's beauty. I think back to standing on the practice fields at Eastern Arizona College and looking about at majestic Mt. Graham. Beauty surrounds us every day Friends! I pray that our hearts & minds don't get so calloused that we fail to recognize it!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a safe & Happy 4th of July and please cherish your precious families!
Kev
I hope and trust this post finds you having a great day on this absolutely beautiful 4th of July morning!
This is my first Happy Friday from Texas. When I would sit and write Happy Friday in Arizona I would sit at our kitchen table and, when searching for the right word, I would look out the window to my left and gaze at the beautiful view over the 8th fairway of the Kokopelli Golf Course. Now? I am staring at the back of a parking garage!!! :) Ah, lest you think this is a bad thing, I know that I can walk less than 50 yards and drop a line in Galveston Bay, something by the way that my Tender Warriors and I have already done a couple of times in less than a week. Yes indeed Friends, I am blessed!
There is so much I want to share with ya'll (the boys gave me a hard time about saying that last night...hey, when in Texas do as the Texans do!) this morning. I didn't get to write Happy Friday last week because, well, I was on day 3 of our journey to Texas! So much has happened, I have learned so many lessons, I thought I would just throw a few of them out there this morning for you.
Packing for the great adventure went well...remember, it is all about perspective. We ended up needing two U-Haul trucks (bad...we have too much stuff!) however it all fit (good...I think!). As we were packing I was getting increasingly frustrated that we had so much stuff, wondering why we had so much stuff, repeating over and over again that we are getting rid of stuff, etc. My Beautiful Bride was the main receiver of my thoughtless, mindless comments...as though all of the stuff is hers or somehow, some way she is exclusively responsible for us having all of this stuff. Pretty soon guess what happens? Yeah, slowly I have one son, then another and finally another complaining about all of our stuff...and their comments are aimed at Mom as well. I wish I could tell you that I recognized at that moment what was happening and stopped. I didn't. No, it wasn't until the most beautiful big green eyes in the world looked at me, full of hurt & pain, a word not spoken, that in an instant I realized the damage I was doing, the hurt I was causing. I immediately stopped with the comments and got the trucks loaded. Guess what? The boys stopped making comments as well. I went to Kath, apologized for the things I had said and told her how much I appreciated all she had done. My heart still hurts thinking about it...
Another great reminder during this time is how small acts of kindness, how friendship, truly matters. A sweet lady who we met at the garage sell we had a week earlier and her two kids stopped by and dropped off slushes from Sonic. Didn't ask us what we liked, didn't tell us she was going to do it...she just did it. It truly touched all of our hearts. We had four friends stop by and just help. We would have been there for several more hours had these sweet people not just stopped by to help any way they could. It was overwhelming and humbling to see their selfless sacrifice for us. They inspire me...that is the type of friend I want to be! Thank you Adam & Danielle, Michelle & Katlyn.
With the trucks all packed it is now time for me to take my 26' U-Haul back to U-Haul so they can put the trailer on the back of it so I can tow our Tahoe (gulp). I drive a Toyota Corolla, O.K.? I am NOT looking forward to driving this truck over 1100 miles pulling a Tahoe. The stress level is high. It all gets hooked up, my great Little Warrior Landry has to ride with me because when you are 9-years old this is very cool. As we are driving back to the house I am thinking not good thoughts, praying - knowing this is the only hope we have, etc. All of the sudden I hear this sweet little 9-year old voice say, "this is the coolest thing ever!" It jolted me out of my thoughts. In that moment, and over the course of the next 3 days as we bumped along to Texas, I drew strength from my Little Warrior. He wasn't worried about a thing - he was with his Dad, we were in a big truck...life is good. We had such a great time riding together, talking mostly non-stop...so thankful for that time and for him! :) Yes, it was in fact the coolest thing ever.
I love the quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that says, "Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of being." I saw this in action during the course of our move. Payton & Gehrig truly amazed me. From Payton driving my car all the way to Texas to Gehrig calling U-Haul when he was riding shotgun with me and some warning lights came on...they were clutch. The time that touched my heart the most however happened on Saturday. Did ya'll know it gets pretty humid in Houston?!?! I knew it got humid however I had no idea it got THAT humid. Anyways, it was sweltering. We unloaded one U-Haul into storage on Friday evening and now on Saturday we are unloading the other. We had unloaded most everything into the apartment and we had to now go back and put more stuff into storage. I am drenched. I am on my 3rd shirt, my shorts, socks & shoes are drenched...I really look like I have hopped into the shower with all of my clothes on. As we get to storage I am starting to get light headed and beginning to cramp pretty bad - people who made fun of or were critical of LeBron James have no clue! As I bent over and put my hands on my knees to catch my breath, and hopefully not pass out, Payton looks at me and then gets the funniest, most compassionate look on his face. He knows that his Dad is in trouble and he knows that I know he knows. All of the sudden all of the little brotherly bickering, fighting, arguing, etc. stops. The wandering around stops. All of the sudden both of the boys are totally focused. All of the sudden they can lift things they couldn't lift before. The "Dad, come and get this" is replaced with, "Dad, we got this." It was amazing. Exhausted, I can tell you I honestly stood in awe of my sons.
The last lesson from these past two weeks I want to share with you happened on Monday - my first day at work. I had a lunch with two amazing women...my new bosses. We were driving to lunch, they in the front seats, me in the back. We were driving down Seawall Blvd and I looked out the car window to my left and all I see is the Gulf of Mexico. It is beautiful! The waves are rolling in and I am staring at miles and miles of ocean...right there! For an Arizona native this is amazing! I don't ever want the beauty of this to fade, for me to no longer appreciate it. I think back to being in athletics at ASU and having the privilege of working at Sun Devil Stadium every day. I think back to St. Mary College. I used to go to the office early and as the sun would rise each morning the light would reflect off of one of the water fountains and it gave an appearance of a fountain of fire...awe inspiring in it's beauty. I think back to standing on the practice fields at Eastern Arizona College and looking about at majestic Mt. Graham. Beauty surrounds us every day Friends! I pray that our hearts & minds don't get so calloused that we fail to recognize it!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a safe & Happy 4th of July and please cherish your precious families!
Kev
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