"Ohh Cute"

I was having some good father son time the other night playing with some little football figures. I was explaining to him how when one guy has the ball the other one is supposed to tackle him. I then proceeded to demonstrate. He responded with "Ohh cute".
Just today, I was painting our front door and he came outside and said the same thing.
I put on some of my "cool" sneakers the other day and I guess they are more cute than cool, so my son thinks.

I realize more and more how my son is watching my every move. This. is. Scary.
Liam is right there learning from his mother and I. He watches the way I talk to my wife and the way I treat her. He watches how I communicate with family, friends, and neighbors. He watches me in the car when I drive and sees what reactions I have. He's there when a stranger drops something and I choose to help them pick it up or just walk by. I think you get where I'm going with this. He is in prime learning mode.

 Yes, this is scary but imagine all the good that can come about in all this!

If my life didn't already have a purpose it sure does now! We are raising an incredible young boy who has the ability to change the world. Is this because he has perfect parents? Absolutely not. It's actually the complete opposite. He has imperfect parents. Where the world changing ability comes is from the only perfect man that has ever walked this earth. We have the opportunity to raise this little guy and tell him all about Jesus. And what we do on a daily basis reflects that.

Being parents can be exhausting, fun, hard, exciting and a whole other slew of emotions. Rewarding is the one that sticks out most of the time for me. If you focus on some of the harder things about being a parent then you lose sight on so many of the incredible things. And this is something I have to remind myself of daily.

One of the reasons I blog is to hopefully get others to be able to relate and see that they may not be the only ones out there that aren't perfect. I fail my wife and son way more than I want to but it's part of life. You live and you learn and you ask for forgiveness and you wake up everyday trying to be the best you...the "ohh so cute you" :)

Hot Lava

I was sitting in our family room after dinner this evening playing with my almost 3 year old son, Liam. Is he really almost 3?? Anyways. So I am sitting in a chair and my son starts tickling me, on my face. For some reason that is his favorite spot to tickle. Not the most ideal location seeing that there are eyes on my face and not sure if you know this but little fingers fit perfectly into them. So there we are, wrestling and tickling away and then I get a great idea and throw some big pillows on the ground so I can push him down on to them. Don't worry, he enjoys it :). But then it hits me...THE LAVA GAME!! I wasn't sure if he would understand it or if he would actually believe that the carpet was hot lava and then never want to play in the family room ever again. It was a risk I was willing to take. Well, he loved it! Sometimes I think I scared him a little because I was getting so into it but don't worry I would catch him before his head actually hit the lava. And we saved Mickey Mouse as well so it was a great day.

I really have no idea what this blog post is going to be about, I just knew that I needed to start typing and I thought the lava story was a good place to start. I'm sure we all can relate to playing the lava game at some point in our lives. If you haven't experienced the lava game then you are more than welcome to join Liam and I next time.

One of the things I love most about being a daddy is I get to be a kid all over again. I get to have the little kid imagination! Oh what an awesome thing. I still have an imagination and it comes out here and there, but nothing like a little kids imagination. It's so innocent and fun and it makes you feel alive. I hate that the older we get we become less fun. More things make us grumpy and irritated and we aren't near as much fun as we used to be. Part of it is just growing up but part of me believes I can be more fun, creative, imaginative.
And most of all, I need the "I can conquer the world" mentality. There wasn't a bad guy we couldn't capture and a princess we couldn't save. 

Well I now have my princess and I think it's time I start being her night in shining armor and rescue her from the dragons and hot lava.
They always say a happy wife means a happy life. Well I think it's time to take it to the next level.
I say a happy life comes when a man deeply loves, cares, protects, honors, respects, pampers, places above himself, cherishes, tells her he loves her, again, and again, and again, and most of all, FIGHTS for her daily.

As my son and I were in his rocking chair snuggling, I asked if he wanted to pray or if he wanted daddy to. He pointed to himself, in the dark, I finally saw his little finger pointing to himself so I said okay buddy. This was his prayer:
Jesus, thank you God, Hot lava.

The innocence and realness of a child is incredible. May we never forget to have child like faith. I hope and pray we can bring out the little kid imagination in us a little more and enjoy life a little more each day.

"Just Do It"

 I used to think Nike was awesome. I wanted the Nike swoosh on everything. I remember one time that I wanted a pair of shoes so bad that I bought the only ones they had left, even though they were way to small. I showed up to basketball camp that year with some rockin kicks. I think that was about all I had going for me because all I remember that day is how bad my feet hurt. As some men say their kidney stone experience was like being in labor I would have to say that day in camp I felt the women's pain of wearing high heels.

Hey Luke, you should start blogging again. Hey Luke, you should really start working out. There is a lot of good books you could be reading right now. How's that budget coming? What about your business?

Just Do It! Why is it so hard to just do things? Why do I push things for a later time? Why am I so good at justifying? I love the idea of doing a regular blog and working out on a consistent basis and so forth but some reason I have an incredibly hard time with just doing it. I know what I want in life and when I play it over in my head it makes sense and seems doable, but once I have to start taking action is where I fail. 

The phrase, "If you fail to plan than you plan to fail" has become so prevalent in my life lately. Life just happens and it happens really really fast. I wake up, have good intentions to workout, eat dinner, check facebook, good night babe I love you. Wait, what? It's bedtime?

There is a lot of stuff in my life I need to change and do better with. I do a lot of comparing myself to other men, husbands, fathers out there and I tell myself that I'm not so bad and sometimes I think to myself that my wife is pretty lucky to have a man like me and she should be really thankful (makes me feel like a dirtbag just typing that). And then it hits me. Why am I comparing myself to these other guys? I was created in the image of God, not man. He is who I need to be comparing myself to. My wife and son don't need a good worldly husband and father, they need a godly one! It's time I start comparing myself to the only perfect man that has ever and will ever walk this earth.

Just Do It!

I would love for you to keep me accountable. Feel free to yell it at me from time to time.

The wave

I just realized that I took a break from blogging...like 3 years. Moving on.
I was thinking of a really creative start to my "coming out of retirement first blog party," and this is all I could come up with. Can only go up from here I guess.

What I realized today was that no one will ever be moved, touched, inspired, or any other similar adjective you can think of, by what I am thinking until I tell someone.

I will never forget the story my mother told me of the "oh so simple, but oh so empowering wave." No need to buckle up for this one, it's short and sweet.
My mother was picking up one of my siblings at school one day, when all of the sudden, it happened. She did what most people never think to do. She waved. She wasn't too caught up with road rage and wanting to murder the car in front of her. She wasn't so distracted with the car behind her because they were riding her tail. She waved to a random lady picking her son up from school. Pretty incredible of her, right? Well, not really. I mean it's pretty simple to wave to someone. Try it. I'll do it with you. I just waved to my recliner because I am the only person in the room. Person or no person, the point is that it's pretty darn easy to wave. Then why don't we do it more? Anyways, back to the story. This was just a normal wave with one hand. It was also packaged with a glowing smile. That's it. End of story. Well, not exactly. You can buckle up now if you'd like as the story is a little longer than I thought :)

 A couple days later my mother received a letter in the mail. It was from the lady who was on the other end the famous one handed wave accompanied by the very underused expression we call, the smile. The letter thanked my mother for the simple gesture and told her how it changed her day. The lady was caught off guard and was confused as to why someone she didn't know would wave and smile at her. She went on to express how it made her feel happy, noticed, and a bunch of other great and encouraging feelings. Hold up, Luke. This isn't adding up. Aren't you missing some of the story? Like maybe your mother bought her groceries because they had no food to eat or maybe she did something over Christmas and bought her and her kids presents. This would make more sense as to why someone would express such gratitude. (This part of the story hasn't happened yet)
I was a little confused as well when my mother first told me. I mean, we are talking about a wave here.

Anyways, to make a short story that turned into a longer than anticipate story, short, I'll wrap it up.
Out of this "famous wave" a life changing friendship was formed. Will this happen every time you wave, of course not. Our family ended up having a relationship with this lady and her family that went way deeper than a wave and a smile. Once we got to know her story it was hard not to go deeper. We ended up buying groceries for them on several occasions because they simply didn't have any more food to eat. We would help out with any clothing they needed. And one Christmas, we as a family decided to use some of our Christmas money and buy their family presents. I tell you this not to boast about how wonderful my family is, but to open your eyes to see how a simple wave accompanied by a beautiful smile can change someone's life. The awesome thing is that our lives were changed just as much, if not more. The bible nails it when it talks about how it's more blessed to give than to receive.

Simple but incredibly powerful. Let's go get our wave on, people.

Humble

Humble- Not proud or arrogant.

    This word, concept, desire has been on my heart for the past couple weeks and it was just a matter of time before I had to let it out. I was asked the other day why I am doing a blog, and my response was so I can share some thoughts (ofcourse, because this a blog), but more importantly, remind myself of different things. This blog in particular, well pretty much it's to get me off my high horse. And this is no little horse, I am on some mythical creature monster horsee. What does that look like you might be wondering, well I have no idea, I just know its big.
    Somewhere in my journey I convinced myself I was good and... I guess special. It was probably around the time I got that darn 17. I think I am better than most people and I deserve better than most people. I thought since I didn't do certain things and I was nice to most people that I was special. I sometimes think I am this wonderful husband and my wife should be so thankful to have me. Do you ever wish God would literally send his Son back to this earth and have him walk right into your living room(while you are sitting on your monster mythical horsee watching your flat screen tv) and punch you right in your stomach, and say you know what that is for, and then just walk off? Luke sorry to break it to you, but wow has pride taken over. It all starts with pride, and once you start believing in it, it slowly takes over like a nasty disease.
     At church on Saturday night the preacher admitted how he struggles with pride and how he goes through moments like I mentioned, just without the horsee thingy. It was encouraging to hear this from a man at his position, becuase this is someone who is leading a mega church and is doing unbelievable things in the community and all over the world. It is like if anyone can have some pride, it would be this guy you know? I compared my life to his and what he was doing and I started to realize, who am I?  Who am I that I think I am something special? Then I compared my life to Jesus, well not really compared because, well I can't even start to compare because what he did and what I think I have done or am doing, is nothing.
      The first step to fixing any problem or disease in this case, is to admit it. Now you don't have to post it on a blog, but for me, that is what I needed to do. Problems are hard to fix when you are the only one who knows, because honestly, we don't do to well on our own, or atleast I don't. We need people, more importantly we need friends, close friends. Make as many as you can.

English. Blah

      The english launguage is so stupid, period. But, since I scored a 17 on the ACT, I am pretty sure that qualifies me to be an english scholar, and with being a scholar I figured I would clear up something that has deeply put a strain on all of our lives... Is it taking something for granite, or taking something for granted? Lucky you, Mr. 17 is here to save the day. The correct answer is taking something for granted. You guys are probably assuming I knew that because I am unbelievably smart, but the real answer is that I married into a family of english majors, minors, and majoriners. And that does not fit to well with a 17, but luckily I aced Phys ED.(Don't worry, that is not supposed to make sense).
     My whole life I have used these words granite and granted in the wrong way. I told people that I take them for granite(also known as a rock).I take you for a rock? Oh how I hope all my friends were a 17 like me.
      It is pretty funny how we can misuse words and say things on a daily basis that don't make any sense. The not so funny thing is how we can take endless amounts of things for GRANTED. When I sit and really think about what I have in my life in which I take for granted, it blows my mind. It is literally everything. It starts from the time I wake up in a bed, to putting on my slippers, to eating breakfast, to putting on clothes(clean clothes at that), to driving a car to work(and actually really enjoying work), to eating, and eating, and eating, to watching tv, to having a bathroom. I could keep adding but I think you get the point.
      It get's worse. As we live everyday taking it all for granted, as that is not bad enough, we complain about it all. I need a new job, new clothes, better food, better car, more comfier couch, more things, more things, more things. Someone please punch me in my face because I am horrible at this.
      My wife Adrienne likes to answer the phone sometimes when I call with a man voice, a deep man voice. She thinks this is super funny. I think it is kind of funny for the first second, and then I am ready to not be talking to an old scary man. I laugh, and then instantly carry on hoping she will turn back into normal pretty Adrienne. She does this for about 30 more seconds and finally stops and becomes normal again. At this second, her voice has never sounded more beautiful. I realized that I even take my wife's beautiful, sweet innocent voice for granted. 

-When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Well, here we go

Blogging... How do you even start your first blog? Well, that sounds great so lets make like a third grader on fire safety day and stop, drop, and ROLL with it. Ok I promise I will not ever say that again, I am just nervous people. I mean for all I know there is going to be atleast 4 people reading this. Let's get to the point. I started this blog because the other day I was sitting on the couch and..., well actually it was when I was in the car driving to work and..., ok it was really when I was at work and...well yea. So much goes through someone's mind in a day and who do we express it to? Do we tell our friends, family, spouse? Do we even tell God? Of course He knows what we are thinking and I often think since He knows than why do I need to tell Him? My wife knows how much I love her so I don't need to tell her, right? My family knows how thankful I am that I was raised in a Christian atmosphere, and that they are totally awesome, right? My friends know how much I appreciate them and cherish the times we get to play games and just hang out, right? I guess what I am trying to say is start assuming, yes I said it. Start assuming that all these people in your life don't know how you feel. Oh the joy it will bring me when I let my family and friends know how they keep me grounded and how lucky I am to have them in my life.
    Oh the joy it will bring when I tell my spouse on a daily basis how beautiful she is and how much I love her. Oh the joy it will bring when I talk to my heavenly daddy not just before I eat and go to bed. This life goes by pretty darn quick and the older I get the more I am realizing that. I hope that after reading this you are reminded of what you have in your life, because I sure need to be.
     Blogging...How do you even end your first blog? Well, let's make like a, ok ok I promised.

-V- (it's a peace sign without the hand)