I woke up an hour earlier than my alarm this morning.
It’s probably related to the workload I have on my plate right now: In addition to the day to day responsibilities of running my own business, I am flying out tomorrow morning to attend Coffee Fest Dallas (yes, if the comic book people can have their own convention, then we coffee people certainly can as well!)
Read MoreElection season.
Political signs on every corner, my mailbox stuffed with political propaganda, a list of presidential candidates that gets people from all political persuasions fired up out of fear, hatred, angst—all with an increased level of voter apathy among the younger generations.
Why such a furor?
I think it’s because we feel like we’re continually being let down by our elected officials. It can be due to shady morals, untrustworthy actions, or simply unfulfilled promises.
But is it possible that we get let down because we allow our hopes to get too high?
Read MoreAs a parent, I find that I learn so much from my children…
My oldest son, Garrett, has been asking for new soccer cleats for a while now. He is an avid fan and dedicated player, and the cleats he’s been using have had their fair share of punishment.
He had some extra birthday money, so I decided to take him and his brothers to Sport Chalet; the store is closing shop after many decades in Southern California, so everything in stock is massively discounted.
We negotiated the chaos of the parking lot, making our way to the back of the store where the cleats were. To our delight, there was a sign marking all cleats at 60% off.
Read MoreWe’ve all been there... Rejected.
I’m not talking about when someone rejects your outfit, or rejects your sales pitch, or even your resume.
I’m talking about when they reject you.
Read MoreI made reference to physical and financial pain in my last post, and a number of you have reached out to check in on my well-being, and I’m oh so grateful.
To fill in some of the details, let’s back up about 6 weeks…
I wrote a post called Finding Your Harp, where I chronicled the value I was finding in cycling—how it was my source of physical, emotional, and even spiritual recharging.
Shortly thereafter, my harp broke.
Read MoreGrowing up, I never cared much about being popular.
That is, until I hit junior high.
Then I had to have all the right brands of clothing , because I knew that if I was wearing anything that might be found on a rack at Mervyn’s, I could risk the danger of being socially ostracized.
So my parents would give me a clothing budget, and I would blow the entire wad onone pair of pants and a shirt or two.
Read MoreI’m assuming I’m not the only one to have ever struggled with this question—does God love me? Is He proud of me?
Or when things don’t go as I would like them to—why does God dislike me so much? If that weren’t the case, things clearly wouldn’t be like this, right??
The more days on this planet that I experience, the more I come to the conclusion that stuff happens, both good and bad, and if I allow that to dictate my view of God (or God’s view of me), I tread some dangerous waters.
But even though I know that intellectually, I still struggle bringing that down to the heart-level.
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I have a small confession to make: I wrote recently that the world is in need of more heroes. And while I still firmly believe that, I also think I’m wrong…
We don’t need heroes nearly as desperately as we need guides.
Think about it—without Yoda, Luke Skywalker is just an angry, misplaced youth trying to find his way. With him, Luke defeats the entire Empire.
Read MoreLast night was simply… special.
To watch Kobe Bryant’s last game in a Lakers uniform was a transcendent experience that left me with tears trickling down my face as the final buzzer sounded.
For those of you who missed it, Kobe, in his final game of a distinguished 20-year career, scored 60 points, leading his team to victory after coming back from a 14-point deficit in the final 10 minutes. The crowd was electric, Kobe was exhausted; it was the perfect end to a brilliant career.
Read MoreDo you feel like you’re constantly on the go, rushing from one place to the next? Rushing out the door to make it to work on time; packing up from work so you can take the kids to soccer practice; running home to make a quick dinner so the kids can get to bed at a reasonable hour? Then you collapse on the couch and throw on a show so you can unwind a bit?
My life feels this way far too often.
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