Memorial Day

I have to admit to you, I love Memorial Day weekend.  It’s not just for the day off work, though it does help!  When I was growing up this was always the start of summer in my mind.  In my hometown of  Port Clinton this is the weekend of the annual Walleye Festival.  That meant a parade, and just lots of stuff going on in town.

Now as I’ve grown up the Walleye Festival has become less important to me.  In fact, if I don’t go there at all I’m fine with it.  Yet, we always end up going back to spend time with my parents and enjoy the parade (aka enjoying the kids who enjoy the parade).  It brings back memories and is always an enjoyable family time.

I mention all of this because  in reliving my memories we’re hopefully also creating memories for our kids.  We’re trying to pass on the good times and have things that we do that are traditions.  These kinds of things will hopefully be things that our kids will remember when they have kids of their own.  It’s those lasting memories that we feel are important for a family and that bind all the generations together.

What kind of memories have you created for your family, or do you want to create when you have a family?  If you truly want a loving family atmosphere with kids that love God as much as you do, then you have to spend time together.  So, why not spend time creating memories/traditions that will have a lasting impression.  Grow close to your kids, and hopefully they’ll be able to pass that on to their families as well.

Lastly, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of those who have spent time in the armed forces and local support services or had loved ones who have done so.  I thank you for protecting our freedoms.  God bless you all.

Different Is Good

A month ago, as we were traveling for a basketball tournament, I discovered a radio station in the Toledo area.   It’s a Christian station that plays  a lot of the Christian alternative music that I enjoy.    Red, Skillet, Toby Mac, Lecrae, Family Force 5, Hawk Nelson, Capital Kings, and Owl City are in regular rotation on this station.  They also play a number of different shows that are informative.  The best part for me is that I can stream it online. 

Now this station may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I am really enjoying it right now.  I often listen to 97.7 out of Castalia, 95.5 The Fish from Cleveland, and the national Air1 streams.  But having more variety in my listening is making me happy.  Depending on my mood comma  I now have even more options for good, quality Christian music to listen to during my days. 

As I stress over and over again, it’s all about putting God first.  Part of that for me is putting God in my mind first and foremost, and I do that by listening to quality radio stations that remind me all day long of His love for me.  Maybe this station isn’t the one for you, but then again maybe it is.  Check it out if it may be:

http://www.yeshome.com

Lose The Weight

I’ve decided that losing weight is just too hard for me.  As I noted last week, our schedule is too rough and we end up eating at strange times, and often we don’t have time to make a good-for-us kind of meal.  But to me that isn’t even my biggest problem.  That would be the fact that I love all the things that just aren’t good for me.  I love chocolate.  I like pop.  I LOVE bread.  I am not a big fruit eater, though there are a few that I do like.  When I am hungry between meals, peeling a banana or orange is just too much work when you compare that to putting my hand in a bag of chips and getting some out. 

Yet, with all of that said I’m not happy with where I am.  I know a lot of that is just an excuse.  If I truly wanted to lose the weight I could, right?  It would be much easier if I talked to God about it and let Him lead my weight loss, right?  So the only way it’s going to change is if I make a step in the correct direction.

This is almost parallel to people and their relationship with God.  There are many people in the world who think that having a relationship with God could be a good thing for them, but they aren’t willing to give up the things in their lives that they like.  They like going out drinking and partying all the time.  Their favorite rock band or singer curses all the time and they couldn’t see giving that up.  Maybe they love porn or cursing themselves and couldn’t see giving that up.  It’s also easier just to stay where they are than to make the move into the unknown.

Just like with weight loss, it’s easier to give excuses and not make a change.  It’s easy to see the benefits but hard to make the change.  The incentive seems so far away, quite often to the point that it’s too far away.  Yet, just like weight loss, when you start to see little progresses in your life they become addictive in their own right.  When you lose five pounds you think that maybe the end goal might be attainable.  Same with your life changing when you get a relationship with God.  He will take your life and change it little by little until it’s so much better. 

Can you do it?  Yes, 100% yes.  Don’t give up, go towards the goal, and enjoy the small victories that are leading toward the bigger ones.  You are worth it, and a life with God is worth it as well.

It's Not Easy

When I first started to think about having kids I knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy thing.  I knew that diapers weren’t going to be my friend.  I knew that there was going to be the birds and the bees talks as well.  Yet one thing that I didn’t think about was all the time I was going to be investing.  I knew there would be helping with homework and sports (ok I was hoping there, and thankfully it has been realized!). 

My weeks are almost completely run by my children’s schedules.  With three kids and their various events it’s all that Traci and I can do to keep our heads from spinning off.  Almost every night we have at least one kid with a practice or game.  Then you add on their homework and other school events and that is a busy schedule.  Then, as a Christian family we also have church events that we add in there.  Oh, and Traci sells Pampered Chef, I move tables and chairs at our church, and we both try (she more than I) to get workouts in, have meals to make, laundry and housekeeping stuff to do, etc.

That is a pretty busy schedule, one that I never had dreamed of when I first thought about having kids.  People often ask me how we do it all, and I’m extremely honest with everyone.  If it wasn’t for us not only having God in our lives, but having Him first in our lives, none of this could be accomplished.  We might not always make it to church on Sundays but we live the Christian life every day.  To me that is the key.  God has to be #1 for us.  Then my family comes second, then everything else. 

God never promised any of us that life was going to be easy.  He never promised that raising kids was going to be easy.  (Especially in this day of social networks, the internet, cell phones, video games, and the list goes on.)  Yet, through it all I love this task that God has given me.  I can’t predict how my kids will end up as adults.  However, I know that God has His hands all over the three of them, and that with His guidance we’ll get them to where He wants them all to be.  It’s not going to be easy, but living our lives with God is worth it.