The Lights Are On

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day on this beautiful clear, crisp Saturday morning from the Texas Gulf Coast!

This week I want to share two things with you. It is kinda interesting, I know that I am to share both of these things with you however I really only know why I am sharing one of them. I just feel a conviction for the other without the understanding of it's purpose. What I have found is that when these times come I need to get out of the way, let God do His thing and things tend to work out pretty well. So here goes...

1. The last two weeks have been an incredible journey to get the Haslam family Christmas lights & decorations set up. Yes, it took two weeks. There are a combination of factors that led to this crazy long time most notably, our desire to decorate the house in such a fashion that the folks at the International Space Station can see it (sadly, being 3 miles from NASA I heard an astronaut interviewed on the radio the other day and he stated that they cannot see lights from space...Kath & the boys are going to be so devastated!), nearly 10' of rain spread over 5 - 6 days and the fact that I had to do this at night when I got home from work, starting at about 7:00 p.m. and ending usually around 10:00 p.m. . Yes indeed my Friends, it has been an adventure.

So I think it was a total of 6 days, perhaps 7, that we were actually doing stuff. And a ton of things happened from the scary to the funny to the frustrating to the joyful. One little dude was with me every step of the way... until the very end - Landry.

Day 1 was putting lights on the barn garage. Nothing much to report. Having learned from last year, we knew the outlets to use, how to put the clips on the roof, etc. What defined this night was 80 degree temperatures with 80+ % humidity. Nothing like dripping with sweat as you put up Christmas lights. Welcome to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Day 2 was the lights around the lower portion of the house. Landry was amazing and had the lights out and strung together when I got home from work. Seeing things start to come together we struggled with focus however we did manage to get it done.

Day 3, I think it was day 3, I took a few hours of vacation time to try to get some good work done as the rain was coming the following day. It's day 3, I am tired of climbing up and down a ladder...things are starting to get interesting now.

I figured I would get the trees in the front yard wrapped, the inflatables (we have 4) up and the lights in the bushes. How is it that I can't remember things from year to year?!?! Crazy me; I was thinking I would hammer this out in the afternoon and that we would shut it down by 7:00 p.m. or so...you know, enjoy a family night.

So I started wrapping the two pine trees we have in the front yard. When I tell you wrap the trees, I take the strand of lights and wrap them around the trunk about 1/4' apart, go high up high into the tree and then work out on each branch as I come back down the tree. It is really pretty at night...and a complete pain in the rear to get done!! There are several quick snap shot moments of this day I want to share with you:

• It's pretty cool when your 20-year old son comes home from work, brings his lunch out into the front yard and sits and visits with you while you work in the tree.
• It was during the tree wrapping venture that we have to make the first, and actually only...some kind of Haslam family record, "emergency" run to Wal-Mart for more lights. It seems I got caught up in the moment and went higher than usual into the tree. Payton & Landry made the run and got back just as I finished the first tree and was ready to begin the 2nd tree. This is great.
• The "greatness" ended abruptly about 20 minutes later as said 20-year old and 11-year old were playing "Wall Ball" as Dad was up the extension ladder in the pine tree. Have you ever heard a head hit concrete? If so, it is a sound you don't forget. As soon as I heard it I started flying down the ladder. In my mind I looked like one of those firefighters who don't even really use the rungs...they just glide down. In my mind this is what I looked like - I realize reality is much different, just leave me alone! Anyways, I start running towards Landry who is coming towards me with a knot on his forehead that is expanding out by the millisecond. I am looking for blood...there is no gushing blood, just the scrape variety. We are good. We go in, put ice on the head and Landry sits out for 20 minutes. He is bummed he can't help me with the lights. I tell him he can after the 20 minutes of ice. When he comes out we talk about what had happened. He said after crashing into our brickhouse he just wanted to get to me. He said all he was doing was looking at me to see how bad it was. I asked him what I was doing. He said I was just looking at it and that my calm demeanor told him it was o.k. There is a lesson in that...
• Back up in the tree an hour later my Beautiful Bride comes out and says, "You are still in the same spot! I would've thought you moved by now." Let me just suggest, DO NOT say something like this to someone on the 3rd day of putting up lights. The quote, "Never criticize someone making progress, no matter how slow" comes to mind.
• There was a pretty cool moment later in the night where Knot Head, I mean Landry, and I are up on the extension ladders on opposite sides of the tree, passing the lights back and forth as we wrap the tree. We had some neat conversations and he felt so big being high up in the tree.
• I asked Landry to wrap one of the little trees - yes my Friends, we wrap a total of 4 trees - for me. He took his time and wrapped it beautifully. I am reminded that the only way to learn is to do and that those we are privileged to lead will do great things when we allow them to do so.
• We finally got all the trees wrapped, inflatables put up and the bushes wrapped. Did I mention that we have to cover all the plugs with plastic and duct tape? Yes, we live on the Texas Gulf Coast and rain is a certainty. And when water gets to the plugs/outlets the electricity kicks off. Who in the heck wants to put all these lights up and then have no lights on?!?! Everyone disappeared during this most fun task, except Landry. Always the Warrior. Kinda touches your heart when you say, "You can go in eat and get ready for bed" and he says, "I just want to be with you Dad." A lot to learn from him.

Days 4, 5 & 6 were lost to the rain.

Days 7 & 8 were lost to a business trip.

Day 9, oh day 9! I had kinda been dreading this day and yet it is the day that signals the end...or at least should have. This is the day I have to climb up to the top of our 24' extension ladder and hang lights from the top of our 2 story house. Up the ladder, 3 clips, hang the lights, move over about 10' and repeat. This goes on all the way around the house.

One of the really difficult parts is the back part of the house. Because of the garage, I can't use the ladder. This requires me to get on the roof, climb out to the edge, reach out, put on the clips and then string the lights. I am doing this while gravity is attempting to pull me down to the ground. A little stressful...

A couple of pretty cool reflections from this night:

• It was pretty awesome talking to my two oldest Tender Warriors as we strung the lights around the top of the roof. Them feeding the lights to me as I reached out on the edge to put the lights up. We laughed, had serious conversation...pretty awesome.
• It is a really cool experience when you are on the top of an extension ladder and you hear your 3 boys below singing Christmas carols, very proudly and way too loud. I am not sure the neighbors found it quite as neat, especially considering we didn't end that night until 10:30 p.m.
• And guess who stayed outside the entire time, though he couldn't get on the roof? Yes, Landry. He sat out in the backyard and listened for the yell of, "we need more lights!" and then he faithfully brought them to us. I am reminded that we all have jobs to do, some more glorious than others, however all critically important.

The house is finally done! WooHoo! We are so excited we leave all the lights on all night. When I wake up the next morning I see that the lights at the top by the driveway are out...I am not happy. We have blown a fuse on the light strand.

Day 10 - there is not supposed to be a Day 10! - is fixing the blown fuse on the light strand and creating a new power source down the line. This is the only time Landry does not come out to help. The two oldest boys help and we get it done in about an hour.

As I reflect on this Haslam family adventure I am reminded that all of this, life, is about the journey and the people who are on it with us. I want to encourage you that whatever your project/adventure, please take those in your life with you. Enjoy the time with them. There are priceless moments that we will never get back. Let's simply live them fully.

2. The 2nd thing I want to talk about briefly is progress, specifically mine & yours, as we are on our life journey's. My family and I watched a wonderful sermon a couple of weeks ago by Joel Osteen where he preached about taming the tongue. Our little family watched that sermon and talked a lot about it. I am blessed by many things in my family heritage and, as with all families, there are also a couple of curses. One of them is a sharp tongue. The words I speak sometimes do not line up well with my spirit...this is a curse I really want to break.

Is it funny, ironic or just God being God that we watched that sermon before the above mentioned "light adventure" took place?! Anyways, there were plenty of opportunities over those 10 days to have a sharp tongue. This morning I don't want to focus on the moments where the tongue was sharp - yes, there were a few - but rather the moments when I did in fact hold my tongue. Praise God, there were several.

I took it seriously when we watched that sermon and I really do want to break this curse. I have prayed for God to help me, to give me the strength and to break this curse. The first time I realized I held my tongue it was surreal. I realized it and I was like "Whoa! Normally I would say _______ and I didn't." I then thanked God. But almost instantly there was this condemnation that came over me. "No, you didn't say something this time but an hour ago you said__________." I thought a lot about that. How often do we focus on our failures rather than our successes? No, I am not perfect however I am making progress. The Bible tells me I will never achieve perfection however I will keep making progress - provided I seek God and allow Him to lead my life - until the day I go to Heaven. This my Friends is what we need to focus on - God and the good He is working out in our lives. Conviction comes from God and condemnation comes from Satan. If we focus on our progress, spurred by conviction, we are answering to God. If we focus on our failures, spurred by condemnation, we are answering to Satan. I hope & pray that you and I will focus on God, answer to Him.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev