Make Some Time

The past couple of weeks I've gotten myself into an uncomfortable position. My son was having trouble with his Chemistry class in school, so the hero, me, opened my big mouth and said I would help. You must realize, it has been 25 years since I have cracked open a chemistry book, so to jump in, in the middle of the second semester, has been a bit challenging. This is how it works, I read the chapter he is going to be studying next, work through the study questions, familiarizing myself with the work, so if he gets stuck, I can help him work through it.

It has gone fairly well and I soon remembered that chemistry class was kinda fun, a lot of work but enjoyable. The best part though is the extra time I have been able to spend with my son. We get a couple hours a night to talk, laugh and agonize together, what a deal!

It is not often that an opportunity like this comes around. If you get a chance to do something like this with your child, don't squander the blessing. One on one time with a child pays some of the greatest dividends in family life. Remember, they are only with us for a short time, so make the most of it.

Riding The Storm

Ever driven through a blinding snowstorm? You strain your eyes to see what's ahead, knowing that a car is there only because the snow is billowing up behind it. You pray that if they stop, you will see them in time.

Life is much like driving in a storm. As you attempt to move ahead with your goals and plans it is difficult at times to see just what's ahead. If only we could clearly see the obstacles ahead, they would easily be avoided.

It is tempting in the storms of life to slow down or stop completely. But, like a snowstorm, if you slow down too much the snow sticks on your windshield and we lose sight of where you are going.

If you will just keep up your pace the snowflakes of life will just blow on by. You may have white knuckles at the end of the trip, but remember that the great stuff in life always comes at those white knuckle moments. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Muscle Up Your Mind

I have always been good at working with my hands. For as long as I can remember, if something needed doing, I could generally figure it out. Physical work just came naturally. Now that I am getting a little bit older, just a little mind you, my body doesn't cooperate like it used too. My joints hurt, my back creaks, I sound like a bag of pop rocks when I get off the couch. All this noise brings me to my subject. For those of us who have depended on our muscles, when our body starts to wear out, we need to start using that oft neglected part of our body, the brain.

Some people figure out early in life that the brain is quite useful and amazing. For some of us, this realization takes a bit longer. For the last few years, I have been trying to exercise my brain muscle a bit more and I have discovered a couple of things. First, when the brain muscle has atrophied, it takes a while to get it back in shape. I have first hand knowledge in this area. Second, our brain doesn't know the difference between what is imagined and what is real.

I want to talk about this second discovery. Now, I'm quite sure that someone much smarter than I am discovered this long ago, but for me personally,it was a great discovery. It took reading a few books on the subject and looking back on my life for some personal confirmation that what I could believe, I could achieve.

Australian psychologist Alan Richardson did a study in which he took thirty people, had them all shoot free throws and recorded the amount of free throws they made. The people were then divided into three groups. The first group was instructed to practice shooting free throws every day for a month. The second group was instructed to visualize shooting perfect free throws every day for a month and the third group did nothing. The results of the study showed this; The first group improved 24% in that month. The second group improved 23% without ever touching a basketball. The third group was, of course, unchanged.

How is it that the second group and the first were virtually the same in their improvement when group two didn't even touch a ball? The brains of group two had shot just as many free throws as group one. Their brains had taught their muscles what they needed to do to improve. This floored me when I read it. To a hands on guy, this didn't make much sense.

In the Bible it says that "as a man thinketh, so is he". There is a book with that title that is a good read on the subject as well. What we visualize in our mind is what we will get. I'm not talking about wishful thinking. Visualization is an action word, it takes work to visualize what we want. We have to picture our goal in our mind, make it real so to speak. We have to visualize the actions needed to make this thought a reality, just like the free throw shooters had to see themselves making the shot over and over again. I am convinced that our brain is the most powerful tool we have if we will put it to work. Let's dust ourselves off and start exercising that most important muscle, the results will be astounding.

True Heros

In every great story there is a great hero. In fiction, there are characters like Ivanhoe, Gandalf, or Sherlock Holmes. In real life the heros seem even greater, heros such as John Chamberlain, Corrie Ten Boom or Ghandi. The fictional hero is always larger than life and somewhat superhuman while the true hero seems more like you and I, unsure of their path, but confident that what they are about doing is the right thing.

I don't know about you, but I don't feel like a hero most days. I wake up, go to work, come back home and try to be a good dad. I feel pretty good if I'm on top of the bills and trying to be a contributing member of society.

If you look a little closer, those things are heroic. What can make a bigger difference in todays world than being a loving parent? What a big difference is made in each community by people who contribute, even a little, to making their town a better place to live. It's funny, in this world of instantaneous, worldwide news, we can get so caught up in national or international politics, that we forget how much influence we can truly have within our own families or communities.

Reading with your kids, or volunteering at your local school or church, can make such a big difference in the lives of those close around us. The fight for freedom will not be won by writing your congressman, it will be won in each and every family. Teaching principles of freedom to your children and friends will make a lasting difference in peoples lives and outlooks. This grassroots effort will eventually result in good honest people being elected to political office. No amount of protest or argument will produce more lasting results than instilling of good character in our children.

It's time for all of us to step up and be the real heros that the world needs. If we don't do it, who will?

Parenting 101

I'm going to tell a story that you might not expect from an old nail-bender like myself. I hope you will take a minute to read it because it was a life changer for me and it could help you too.

I attended an education seminar several years ago, weird right? Anyway, my wife and I went because we had decided to home-school our kids and we wanted to know all the best methods and tools available to help us do a great job.

Little did we know that the presenter had a dirty trick up his sleeve. He didn't teach us one thing to do to teach our kids. He just said over and over again, "if you want to fix your kid, fix yourself." He gave many examples, for instance, if your kid wasn't interested in reading, he said that I as a father should start reading books where my child could see me, and soon my child would want to read. If he didn't like math, then I should do math. Practice their music? You guessed it, play music on your favorite instrument.

I was a bit incredulous, this sounded like a lot of work. After two days of having this pounded into me, I thought, okay I'll give it a try. I went home and began the experiment. I started reading some tough books and I learned to pluck a few chords on a guitar (I am still struggling with the math thing). I put consistent effort into this and you know what? It worked! I noticed that as I put effort into self-improvement, my kids just naturally put more effort into their studies. There is an old saying that says we must practice what we preach. If our children see us working and struggling to understand a concept, they won't bat an eye when they face a challenge, because they know that it just takes some work, they saw their parent do it.

If you want your kids to be great, you need to be great first. This is one secret weapon of great parenting that we all need in our quiver. So just remember, if you've got problems in your home, one of the first places you ought to look is at yourself. If you start there, most of the problems will iron themselves out.

The Tempered Soul

Have you ever experienced that moment when you think that you are all that? You're on top of life, well adjusted, going places and then you have an experience that shows you where you really are?

I was flying high today, things had gone pretty well and then I went to visit a friend. This friend has been having some struggles, and I wanted to give her some words of faith and comfort. So, in all my shining wonder I went to spout my wisdom to her. I took a message of faith that I thought might help in her situation and began to share it when she began to speak.

She related experiences from her life which were horrific and beyond anything that I have ever experienced, then she related how each of those trials had served to increase her faith. I began to see that I have much to learn, which she, and others like her, who have been through the grist mill of life, could teach me if I were to come down off my high and mighty place to listen.

There is a strength which comes from test and trial. A resoluteness that seems to say, whatever comes, all will be well.

It is never easy to admit to yourself that you have been seeing yourself in a greater light than actually shines. Though the experience, if allowed to sink in, opens up an honest look at your inner self. You begin to ask important questions, such as, how would I do in such a test? Would I grow strong or wither under the pressure? Can wisdom be gained by learning from others or do we only learn true wisdom from the trials? What do you think?

Dreamers

There is an old saying out there that tells us that we are what we eat. If this is true then I am made mostly of sugar and Colby-Jack cheese. In reality, I believe that which shapes us, in ways that matter, has more to do with our thoughts than what we eat. Early in my marriage I had an experience that brought this to light. This isn't one of those life-defining moments but one which clearly shows the power of concentrated thought.

Valerie, my lovely wife, and I were building our first home and we had designed a large deck off our master bedroom. As we were building it we thought how cool it would be if we had a hot tub to sit on that deck. We talked about how cool it would be to sit out there on a cold night and watch the stars. Now, you must realize that any extra money we had was going into building materials for home and a hot tub did not fit into our budget. Regardless, we kept thinking about it and imagining how awesome it would be to have one.

We kept on with our building project and out of the blue a neighbor came by our home one day and asked if we wanted a hot tub. He was moving and would take a little work in trade for the tub. We agreed to the deal and we owned a great hot tub. This must have just been a coincidence, you may be telling yourself. As this experience is one of many, I now believe it was the result of focused thought.

I recently re-read "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen in which the author writes that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." In this short book Mr. Allen shows the effect of our thoughts on our character, our circumstances, our health and our achievements. "Dreamers are the saviors of the world" and "dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become" are two of my favorite quote from this book. If we dare to dream them we will dare to try and that is what will make all the difference in our lives. If we wallow in self pity, or bemoan our circumstances, nothing will change.

Christ taught that as we sow so shall we reap. With our thoughts we sow the fields of our lives. We should expect the harvest of the thoughts we have sown. So let's lift our thoughts to a higher level and we will arrive at a higher place.