31 Day Writing Challenge Day 22 - What Course Are You Setting?

We currently live in a society where people for the most part are wandering around aimlessly, eking out a living and exist to just make it through another day rather than living full lives.  I know this has been my lot for many years now.  Each day one of routine; get up, drink coffee have breakfast, fix my lunch, shower and get to work on time.  You know, rinse, lather, repeat.

We’ve all been there I’m sure, doing those mundane things day after day wondering if there really could be more to this life than what we see.  There is an old adage which goes, “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.”  This statement means you are too close to it to actually see it.

I read a post this morning which said:

“This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time.”

~ Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Well this got me to thinking, if our life is ending one minute at a time, perhaps we should do more with the minutes we are given.  This isn’t a new thought, it’s one I’ve had quite a bit; usually while I’m griping and complaining about my place in this world.  The thing is I control my own destiny; me and no one else. 

I’m at the helm of the ship of my life, and I steer it in the direction I want it to go.  And just like a real ship on the ocean, if I release the control of the ship’s wheel, the boat will wander aimlessly on the water.  Which isn’t a big day on calm seas, but if there is any wind at all, who knows where the craft will end up.

This is how it is for so many of us today; we’ve relinquished the control of our lives, letting go of the wheel and have been floating around with no real direction.  And when the storms of adversity blow, we end up in some places we never wanted to be.

It’s time we grab the wheel of our lives and begin charting the course to where we want to go instead of letting fate decide.  Do you want financial security?  Then start by charting a course to those waters.  Maybe you want to go on a family vacation to Disney or Hawaii.  Just dreaming about it isn’t going to get you there; you are going to have to do some things to make it a reality.

First things first, you have to get this before anything else. 

·       You have what it takes to do whatever it is you want to do in this life, if you will just believe it.

Regardless of past failures, or even future ones, understand you have what it takes.  And you must believe it before it happens; everything you want in life you must see on the inside of you long before it ever manifests into reality.  If you can believe it, you can achieve it.

Begin by dreaming, but then take hold of your life and start steering it in the direction you want it to go.  I won’t happen overnight, but you will begin to see changes; small ones at first, but then like a snowball rolling downhill they will begin to grow and take shape and before you know it, you’re on the course you want, and your life will then be an inspiration to others instead of one of the many ships floating around aimlessly on the ocean of life.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 21 - It's Been Six Years

Six years.  This is how long it has been since my youngest son Noah took his own life.  As I sit in what was his bedroom, which is now my office writing this, I have mixed emotions.  Part of me doesn’t want to acknowledge this date in history because it is truly the worst day I have ever experienced.  And the other part of me wants desperately to share with you the reader just how incredible my son was.

Noah was a handful from the very beginning.  While Cheryl was pregnant with him, she had more challenges than with our other two kids.  Kidney stones were the bane which my bride endured for the many months she carried our third child.  Two nephrostomy bags and more trips to the emergency room than I can actually remember were part of the life we led during those eight and a half months.

I remember Cheryl was actually in the hospital because of the kidney stones and I had the other two kids at home with me the morning Noah arrived.  I got the call from Cheryl he was on the way, and got the kids dressed and in the van to take to our friend’s house.  After dropping them off, I called the hospital to let Cheryl know I was on the way. 

The nurse who answered said, “Just a minute,” and laid the phone down on the counter.  I heard another voice say, “Did you tell him?”  and the first nurse replied, “No.”  This is not a conversation you want to hear as you are driving down the highway let me tell you.  I had all kinds of thoughts racing through my head before I heard Cheryl’s voice on the other end.

She told me we had a baby, and I replied, “Yeah I know dear, we’re having a baby today.”  She said, “No.  We have a baby, Noah is here.”  I was shocked to hear she had delivered him naturally with no medicine of any kind.  Our other two kids had been born C-section, and we were told this is how Noah would arrive too.  But apparently the night before he was born, Cheryl was passing a kidney stone, which also caused her to go into labor.  Since she had never been in labor before, she didn’t know it was happening.  I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say, Noah was a handful from the beginning.

Noah was the most adventurous of my three kids, always wanting to be outdoors and doing something with his hands.  I remember when the television show “Survivor Man” first came on, the kids and I would watch each week as Les Stroud would pit his knowledge against the elements in a different local.  One night, Noah got up from watching the show, went into his room and came back out with a camping light strapped to his forehead and a knife, and announced he was going to survive the night out in our yard.  About a half an hour later he came in freezing, because it was cold and windy out there.

The boy was hilarious, and not always because he was trying to be.  He and Micah shared a room for a while, and one day he called Micah to ask him how to tune the bass guitar Micah kept in their room.  He was determined to learn how to play it, but before he started teaching himself, he needed to tune it first.  It didn’t matter that he knew nothing about the bass; he just needed to tune it first.

One of the things everyone always says they remember about Noah was his smile, and he did do this often.  But when Cheryl and I had to discipline him, there weren’t many smiles from any of us.  We spent more time disciplining him than either Micah or April.  I’m not sure it was because he was such a bad kid, he just like to live life fully and it caused him to cross the line more than the other two.

I remember the day Cheryl told him she was going to do what God does, and give him grace instead of spanking him.  She said, “You deserve a spanking, but I’m going to show you grace instead.”  From that day forward, any time he was about to get a spanking, he would plead, “Grace mommy, give me grace.”  It’s hard to not laugh when he was pleading so hard.

I miss my son very much.  He was a good kid, hard worker and loved Jesus with a passion I’ve not seen in many kids his age, not to mention adults even.  But just like any one of us, if we listen to the wrong voice we can be tempted to do stupid stuff.  And unfortunately for Noah on this day six years ago, he listened to the wrong voice and took his own life.

People have asked me if we saw any signs leading up to this, and my answer is always no.  The morning he died, he was playing with Micah and April, acting goofy, just another normal day in the life.  There were some things going on in his life at the time which allowed him to listen to the wrong voice and make a stupid decision. 

One thing about Noah was he didn’t always think things through.  There was a time when a piece of one inch door trim on April’s bedroom door had come loose.  Noah thought, “I can fix that.”  So he went to the garage, got a hammer and two six penny nails, nailing the trim back into place.  One of the nails he couldn’t hammer all the way in, so he just hammered it over so the door would shut.  Everyone got hung up on that nail for many, many years.

My son was an awesome young man who loved Jesus and is with him now.  I miss him, and realize I will one day get to hug his neck once more.  My family is stronger today than we were before this happened.  I wish it had never happened, but it did and now we just have to live with it.  We had a choice six years ago to either fall apart or fall into the arms of Jesus and we chose the latter.  God carried us through then, and He continues to do the same today.  It’s not easy, it never will be, but we can carry on and continue to live.  We just take it a step at a time staying as close to Jesus as we possibly can.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 20 - Do You Miss the Magical For The Mundane?

As I was busy washing dishes this morning, (yes ladies, I do the dishes from time to time) the thought crossed my mind about how many times in my life I have actually put my hands into the soapy water to scrub the remnants of the meals my family and I have had from our dishes and silverware.  While I didn't actually do the math, (which would require much more thought than I was willing to give) I know it is a bunch; probably way more than I'd actually like to count or even really know to be honest with you.

As I continued to swish the plates and bowls around in the water, I realized what I was doing is really a very mundane task. Not unneeded mind you; cleaning your plates help to keep you from getting sick or eating spoiled and rotten food.  But it really isn't very glamorous; because if it was then Cinderella's ugly stepsisters would have helped out around the house and we'd have a very different story to tell.  Mundane tasks are typically not really fun.  I mean, you agree, right?

Years ago I was reading a book which stated we live in a fairytale world; full of mystery, magic and fantastic creatures.  Now I know what you are thinking, but before discount what I’m saying, do you know what tomorrow holds exactly? Not really.  You have to enter the day to find out the mysteries it holds for you.  In this time we live in, you are able to talk to a loved one who is halfway around the world, not to mention talk face to face in real time with them by using a small device you carry in your back pocket; sounds pretty magical to me.  And have you ever watched a field mouse?  I mean really watched one up close, they are pretty fantastical little creatures.

I wonder how many of us miss out on these magical moments in our lives because we are too focused on the mundane things of life.  On our ride to church this morning, I asked my bride what kinds of things she would like to do in the evenings after getting off of work, and she said, "I honestly don't know.”  And to be quite honest with you, I think this is where many of us are in our own lives.  So busy, if we had a free minute we wouldn’t really know what to do with it.

The reason I believe is we get so caught up doing what we need to do to keep our lives moving forward, we inadvertently miss out on the truly magical moments which are all around us and happen each and every day.  For instance, have you ever heard a baby belly laugh?  You’re a liar if you say it didn’t bring a smile to your face.  I say this is a magical thing, an elixir if you will for those who need to let go of the little things irritating them and have a moment of pure bliss.

I know it’s not popular to talk about “magic” in Christian circles, and there are those I’m sure who think I am speaking heresy when describing a baby’s laugh like it’s some type of magic potion, but then do we really need more people with frowns on their faces?  I think maybe what we need is a little bit more fantasy and less of the mundane things in life.  
After all, if you ignored the dirty dishes for one night and instead spent that time with your family making some memories (not watching television or looking at your phones) wouldn’t this do your heart more good than checking something off of your to-do list before going to bed?  I think so.  Look around you, there are magical moments happening all around you every day.  All you have to do is lift your eyes up from those mundane tasks for just a minute and see them for yourself.

Dave’s new book “Show Me the Money!” is coming out on April 19, 2016.  If you’d like to learn more about it, click here.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 19 - Men Are Not Stupid

I know I’ve talked about this before, but once again I was reminded of how there is an all out assault on men, and it is trying to discredit them in the eyes of the world.  Now before you think I’m some type of conspiracy theorist or something, let me just say if you open your eyes and keep an open mind you will see what I am saying is true.

When I was growing up John Wayne was king as far as I was concerned.  It wasn’t until later on in my life I realized just how truly awesome he was as a man; both in his movies and his life.  I just read yesterday about John Wayne on the set with one of his stunt doubles, when the man’s grandson came for a visit.  Upon meeting Mr. Wayne, the young boy asked, “What do you do in the movies?”  He replied, “I stand in for your grandpa, and do his close ups.”

Instead of taking the credit for being a big Hollywood star, he made the decision to lift up this grandpa in the eyes of his grandson.  He set himself aside; which is one of the traits of what a true man does.  Hearing these kinds of things about one of my heroes helps me to see how I should act in my own life as a man too.

The society we live in could use more men like John Wayne too.  I feel we have allowed the world to dictate to us what men should be, and how we should act, to such a degree that when you actually see a man living in a way other than what is considered the norm by the world’s standards, people are shocked, and don’t know how to handle it.

Too often, men are portrayed as imbecilic, selfish morons who are only about themselves.  I remember there was a commercial for State Farm a few years back which really made men look stupid.  In it, a man and woman are walking in a city, she is talking on the phone to their State Farm agent, and he is carrying a falcon.  Check out the video here.

If you will notice, there are men all throughout the commercial who have purchased ridiculous things.  The woman says, “That explains it.”  at the end of the commercial and the implication is men are stupid.  Truthfully, I don’t find this commercial funny, but offensive.  It’s just one more slam by society to show men as morons bereft of the ability to make wise decisions.

Does this mean I’ve always made great decisions as a man? Absolutely not, I’ve made some doozies in my time.  But does making bad decisions define who I am?  No.  I’d like to think what defines me as who I am is this ability I have to put my needs aside, and see to it those in my life are taken care of first; namely my bride and children.

I wish John Wayne was still alive today because I think we need role models as men who are willing to portray what a man really is not only as a Hollywood star, but in real life too.  God I pray you bring real men back to forefront of society and help us lead others to become the men You want us to be.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 18 - I'm Not Sure What This Is

Today I don’t really know where to start.  I woke up later than usual, and even after having gone to bed early, I had a difficult time opening my eyes and getting things going this morning.  I have these kinds of days from time to time, and I’m not really sure why exactly.  I worked hard yesterday, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.  We entertained some friends for dinner, but even they left before it got dark, so it wasn’t a late night which brought about this tiredness.  Just one of those things I guess.

When I wake up later than I had planned, it seems as if I get in a panic to try and make up for lost time.  Yet because I usually wake up later than normal because I’m tired, I end up sitting in my chair with the iPad opened to my Bible reading and doing everything in my power to keep my eyes open.  It usually ends up in the one eye open, the other eye closed scenario my wife hates. 

Usually when I get to this place where I’m doing everything in my power to stay awake, she will tell me to get up and go to bed.   And of course a lot of the time this happens about seven thirty to eight o’clock, and my reply is always, “I’m fine, I’m just resting a bit.”  This is followed by me waking up enough a few hours later and going to bed.  It really frustrates her; I should change this I guess.

Then after I wake up late, fight to stay awake, and realize I’ve wasted yet another morning and not really finished any of the stuff I wanted to do, I go to work thinking, “Well that was a waste, I should have just stayed in bed.”  Another thing Cheryl tells me to do pretty often.

With just twenty days until I release my latest book, “Show Me the Money!” you’d think I’d be hot and heavy working on it every waking minute, but I think the last time I worked on it was three days ago.  It ain’t gonna write itself, but then I keep finding other things to drag my attention away.  It’s really hard work writing, and putting all of your thoughts in the correct order.  I love it, but I need to put a little more attention into knuckling down and getting on with it daily.

The task of becoming a paid writer is a daunting one to say the least, but like anything in this life, if you want it you’re going to have to go out and get it.  The life you want for yourself and family doesn’t just happen, it takes effort and a lot of work.  If you are willing to put in the time, effort and work, then dividends will come into your life.  But if you are unwilling to do these things, if you only dream about what you want, and never do anything to achieve those dreams, then you are only fooling yourself.  You may end up being one of those people who talk about all the things you wanted to do, but never did.

And I for one don’t want to be a has been, or a never was.  I want to accomplish things in this life I’ve been given.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 17 - What's It Going To Take?

One of the truths I’ve learned in my life is a man needs to do what makes him come alive as a man more than anything else in this world.  I’m talking in regards to what he does with his life, and his place in the world.  I told my kids all of their lives growing up in my house to not worry about just finding a job, but to find what it is that makes them truly come alive and go do that.

I told them this because once I figured this out; it seemed as if it was too late for me.  I was in a job, raising a family and had bills out the wazzoo.  Little did I know I know at the age of fifty-two, with my children out of the house and chasing their own dreams, I’d still be working a job just to pay the bills?  Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy my job (most days) and the people I work with; it just feels as if my dream of being a paid writer is further from me now than it has ever been.

I guess I’m feeling this way because there is a pressure to provide for my family, leave some type of inheritance for my kids and grandkids, and now realizing I spent too many years existing instead of planning for the future.  It’s a daunting task set before me to do what I need to do, knowing I only have a limited amount of time to reach these goals.

Listening to some friends talk last night about retirement, and what they were planning to do, got me to thinking about my own situation.  I mean my life is not bleak, I’m not living on the streets, I have a little bit of money in savings, and I am healthy enough to go to work each day.  Yet there is not a day which goes by where I don’t remember the passage of Scripture which says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren.”

While I don’t have any grandchildren yet, this persistent thought hounds me like a pack of dogs on my heels.  What is it I will leave my grandchildren?  A good name perhaps, but will they be paying for my funeral, or will I?  Will I leave them a little walking around money, or just a few Star Wars toys I enjoyed having in my office?

The truth is this is why I am working towards my goal of being a writer and getting paid for it.  Yesterday as I thought about this, it occurred to me one other thing I’ll have to do as a full time writer is pay for health insurance on my own once again.  No, this doesn’t add any pressure for me. (Sarcasm laid on real thick here)  It seems the more I work towards my goal, the more I seem to want to just drop it, and spend the remainder of my time here on the planet working to just get by.

It seems as if this would be so much easier to do.  But then there is this thing inside of me which whispers, “There is so much more for you.”, and it drives me back to my keyboard to punch the buttons and put my thoughts down onto the page.  I will be a paid writer, this is my dream, and I believe it will be the pathway towards paying off my mortgage, bills and setting aside something for my grandchildren.  I will be called a good man when it is all said and done.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 16 - What Are You Saying?

What do you think would happen if the idle words you speak on a daily basis actually came to life?  Remember when you were a kid and said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”?  Didn’t you find out later in life how much words can in fact actually hurt you?  I think at times I’d rather take a beating with sticks than to be berated with words.

Are you aware of the words which pop out of your mouth without your thinking too much about them?  What kinds of things to you say about yourself, or if you’re a parent to your children?  We actually believe what we say more than what anyone else says about us, unless it is our parents.

Words are powerful; they can create and they can destroy.  If you actually got what you said quickly, I think we would really put a watch over our lips.  For instance, if you said, “its cold outside today, I’ll probably catch a bad cold.”  And before you went home you were sneezing, coughing and feeling like crap you would agree with me how important words are.

Yet what happens is words don’t usually manifest themselves this quickly, so you don’t see the correlation about what you are saying, and what you are getting coincide.  The words you say each day are like seeds being planted, and in due time when it comes harvest time, you will see the crop they have produced in your life.

And when it comes to the words you say about your children, this can be devastating for them.  Children come into this world not knowing anything, and it is up to their parents to teach them all the things they need to know.  Yet so many parents I’ve seen say the most horrible things to their children.  Things like; you’ll never amount to anything, quit being so stupid, what’s wrong with you, etc.  When the person who holds the most influence in your life tells you all the things you can’t do, or will never be, you will begin to believe it.

A friend of mine was asked to counsel a teenage boy, because his parents didn’t know what to do with him.  He tells the story about how the parents brought the boy to his office, saying, “We’re going to the mall, and will be back in an hour; fix him.”  After they left, he looked at the boy and said, “Do you want a Pepsi?” and then they talked about sports and school until the parents returned.

When they returned, he met with the parents separately for a few minutes and the dad asked, “What’s wrong with my boy, why’s he an idiot?”  To which my friend replied, “Your son thinks like an idiot because he feeds on idiotic stuff.  The things you say about him, and to him are doing more damage than good.  If you want him to do better, then help him to think better by encouraging him and belittling him.”

I’m pretty sure this wasn’t what the man wanted to hear, but it is true.  If you call your kid an idiot, and then he does idiotic things, who’s to blame here?  You’re call to do what the Bible refers to as calling those things which be not, as though they were.  Yeah, but isn’t that lying Dave?  No, it is calling forth what your kid truly is; you just haven’t seen the manifestation of it yet.

Remember, your kids don’t know anything when they’re born, it’s up to you to teach them, and calling them stupid and idiot won’t help.  Begin telling them who they are in Christ, and what they can do in Him.  At first you may not see it, but if you continue and be intentional about it, before long your child will grow into an awesome person. 

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 15 - Grow a Set

Tonight I was relaxing in my recliner after an afternoon of napping, watching the movie Tears of the Sun starring Bruce Willis.  It’s really a great movie about following orders and doing what is the morally and ethically correct thing to do; something which men can relate to because we are forced to deal with the same issues on a daily basis. 

While it may not be disobeying a commanding officer’s orders and leading people through the African jungles with enemy soldiers on your six, we do face this moral dilemma more often than any of us would probably want to admit.

And as important a message as this is, it is not really what intrigued me the most as I re-watched this movie.  What really struck me tonight was the senseless and brutal violence which humans can exact on other humans.  There is a scene in the movie where rebels have come to a village, and are destroying it.  The thing which gets me is they didn’t just come in, kill everyone and burn the village down.  They took there time, making a day of it, raping women, killing children and torturing the men.

Where does this total lack of compassion come from?  I understand men needing to fight a battle against their enemy.  But I will never understand the utter disregard for life and the use of superiority over civilians.  It is thinking these humans are worth less than you are, and I totally do not understand this thought process.

It was Edmund Burke who said, “All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”  I hope to be counted as one of the good men, not one of those who can put himself above others.  I want to be one of those good men who stand in the way of evil, regardless of the outcome.  I want to charge into danger to protect the innocent, not be the one who stands on the sidelines and gripes about how bad things have become.

There is a time when a man just has to stand up and say enough is enough!  The main problem with our society today is there isn’t a lot of room for men to do this.  We are looked on as mindless oafs who just want to go around beating our chests and grunting, all while holding a turkey leg and chasing girls.  And the biggest problem about this is so many men have bought into this ideal of what it means to be a man.

Men should be men, and not worry about how society is going to judge them.  I liked it when John Wayne movies were still popular, when guys would open doors for a lady and wouldn’t put up with it if someone said a cuss word in front of a lady.  Yeah, men back in the day may have not been perfect, but nowadays you don’t see a lot of men, you see a lot of boys in men’s bodies.

I read something the other day which said, “In 1944 eighteen year old boys were storming the beaches of Normandy.  Today, eighteen year old boys are looking for safe places, and getting their feelings hurt because words are mean.”  What have we allowed ourselves to become?  A bunch of limp wristed namby pambies, who are more concerned with their own welfare instead of the welfare of others. 

What I think needs to happen more than anything in today’s society is it’s time for all of these boys to quit being women and grow a set of balls and act like men; real men, those guys who go out and take care of business.  Seeing to it their needs fall second to the needs of those around them.  And when we see injustice being done, don’t just tweet about it, actually do something about it.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 14 - Easter Again?

Once again I find myself waiting for Easter to pass.  Don’t get me wrong, I love what Jesus did for me, and I never want to take His sacrifice lightly, even though on more occasions than I’d like to admit, I follow my own desires instead of His. 

Easter is another one of those holidays which has gotten away from us.  Now it is full of bunnies, eggs and candy.  I’m not really even sure how the bunnies and eggs go together either, I mean if it was chickens and eggs this would make sense, but bunnies and eggs?  Who knows?

What I do know is we should be thinking about what Jesus did for us every day.  You know being conscious of the Easter story every day and not just one time a year.  It’s kind of like Valentine’s Day; the holiday made up by a greeting card company to sell more cards.  So every year, men all across this nation run out and purchase stuff to show the girl of his dreams how important she is to him.  Instead of making it a daily ritual like is should be.

Easter reminds me a lot of this, people run back into church on this holiday to ease their conscious and make them show God how they should be allowed into Heaven because they went to church.  The funny thing is, God doesn’t want you in church just for the sake a getting credit.  What He truly wants is a relationship with you, and yes going to church is a part of it, but not just during Easter.

I’ll love going to church in the morning; seeing all the little kids dressed in their Easter finest, the worship songs will be great and I know my Pastor has been preparing a message to reach the lost.  It will be nice to worship with my church family and to see some of the faces I haven’t seen in a while.  But truthfully, Easter is just another Sunday for me to attend church.  The reason I say this is because I go to church every week, I follow Jesus (to the best of my abilities) every day, and I try to think about all He’s done for me more than once a year.

This is not to say if you are planning on attending church this Easter, and haven’t been in a while, you are not a good person.  I don’t believe this for a minute, but I would ask you this, why is it you only go every now and then?  Have you been hurt in a church or by a Christian before and this is why?  Maybe you’ve watched church leaders fall and think only hypocrites go there.  Perhaps you’re one of those people who think going to church is a crutch. 

Whatever the case, the bottom line of Christianity is a real relationship with the Creator of Heaven and Earth, who sent His son, Jesus to die on a cross for the sins of the world and bring God’s children back to Him.  God has a plan for each and every one of us, and it is for our good, not for bad.  As my good friend Daniel Shirley is always saying, “God’s not mad at you, He’s madly in love with you.”

Anyway, I hope you will attend church tomorrow; not just because it’s Easter, but because it is where we get to experience God with our Christian brothers and sisters, who are just as messed up as we are.  Happy Easter, and thank You Jesus for what You did for us all.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 13 - Pharaoh's Troubles

Waves crashing mixed with the sounds of splintering wood and the screams of men sent shivers down the spine of Pharaoh once again waking him from his slumber.  He’d been having the same dream every night now for the past two weeks since the Israelites fled from his army through the Red Sea.  As impossible as it seemed, the Hebrew’s God had done a miraculous thing by splitting the waters in two.  The most amazing thing about it was the sea bed was dry enough for men to walk on, and even drive chariots across, there was simply no mud.

Reaching for his cruse of water, Pharaoh lifted it to his lips, but not before peering inside to make sure it was water he was about to drink.  One of the many plagues sent upon his people had been all the water turning into blood and ever since then he did not take a drink without checking first.  Satisfied, he lifted the container to his lips and drank deeply, allowing the liquid to quench his thirst.

Placing his drink back on the table by his bed, he slipped from the bed, placing his feet gently on the floor half expecting to see frogs once more.  These past weeks had been trying on his leadership of the Egyptian nation.  Facing his half-brother day after day enduring one plague after another was tiring, not to mention leaving his rule looking incompetent to his subjects.  He’d spent the last two weeks doing damage control, and enduring long lines of his subjects demanding retribution for their lost crops, animals, first born children and finally the soldiers he had lost at the Red Sea.

Calling for his advisers, he pulled on his silk robe and strode over to the chair which used to belong to his father.  Sitting down, he stroked his chin as he thought about the situations facing his rule now.  If only his father were alive to advise him on how to fix this situation.  In all the years he’d spent at the knee of the former Pharaoh, sitting on the ground as a child listening to him about how to rule a kingdom, he could not remember one time this subject had ever come up.

A sob rose up from his chest, as he thought about his own young son sitting at his feet listening to his instruction just a few weeks prior; before his death at the hands of the Israelite’s God.  A single tear fell from his left eye, and he wiped it away with his finger as a renewed hatred for those slaves burned in his heart.  “What will be the result of my rule now?” he thought, “My wealth is gone, the people are on the verge of revolting and my son is dead.”

Clearing his throat, Pharaoh’s chief advisor bowed low as he said, “My lord, we are here to serve you.”  Looking up in acknowledgement, he motioned for the men to come before him.  Straightening up in his chair, he smiled a weary smile and said, “Thank you for coming at this late hour.  Once again, I have been pulled from sleep by this insidious dream and need your council on what I am to do in ruling my people now.”

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 12 - What a Piece of Crap

Writer’s block is a curious thing.  It is when the flow of ideas just doesn’t come.  It’s a lot like being constipated; you want movement, but there just isn’t any.  And the more you force it, the less anything happens, you just sit there sweating and wishing for relief.

I decided to do this thirty-one day writing challenge and today is the first day where I’ve not had an idea of what to write.  And as I watch the minutes tick by, realizing shortly I will have to begin getting ready for work, it is not helping my situation at all.

You would think writing five hundred words would be an easy assignment, and usually for me it is.  But today as I sit here having written only one hundred and thirty four words, it’s beginning to look like a giant mountain I want to scale, but I’m only ten feet from the base.  I know I’ll get there, but wonder how long it will take for me to actually find the words to say to accomplish my goal.

Interestingly enough I have now used two different metaphors in this article which do not go together; constipation and mountain climbing.  I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere, but I’m not sure I’ll find it in time to finish writing.  Thoughts and ideas are like this for me, random and usually not the things you would connect together.  Although I’m pretty sure being constipated while climbing a mountain would not be a fun thing to experience. 

Well, now I’m a little over half way there and this may be the worst thing I’ve ever written.  It doesn’t make sense, and I’m not even sure where I want to end up, other than just getting to my goal.  Today is one of those days, where I don’t really feel it, it’s not here, but I’ve got to accomplish what I’ve decided to do; and this is only day twelve, nineteen more days of writing.  Oh joy.

What I need is a muse I guess.  What is a muse you might ask?  A muse is someone or something which inspires us to creativity.  Legendary muses were spirits which do the same thing, inspire.  While I don’t believe there are spirits which do this, unless perhaps the Holy Spirit of God maybe, I wish there was something to send a jolt of inspiration through me to help with my writing today. 

As I work to complete my goal, I can’t help but think about an article I’m working on for my church.  I started working on it yesterday, and am looking forward to seeing it to completion.  I probably should have been working on it instead of this; it would be a whole lot more interesting I’m sure.  But it’s too late now; this is going to have to be it for today.

Today I had no muse, no inspiration of any kind, yet I have managed to make it to the five hundred word mark.  While not my best work, I at least accomplished what I set out to do.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 11 - Growing Old Ain't For the Faint of Heart

I’m fifty-two years old, and I had no idea what life in my fifties would be like.  But to be honest, I didn’t know what to expect in my forties, thirties, twenties…okay l admit it, I’ve never known what to expect.  I guess one of the things which snuck up on me was this growing older thing.  Nobody ever told me what happens as you mature.  Well maybe they did, but when I was young and thought I’d live forever, I probably wasn’t paying attention to what older people said.

I will say this about getting on in years; it ain’t for the faint of heart for sure.  The creaks, groans and assorted pains started manifesting a couple of years ago.  Watching me get up off of the ground, well let’s just say it is not a thing of grace and beauty.  Not that I’m complaining you understand, today’s blog is purely in fun. 

Since we are going to have a little fun, let’s start with some of the changes I’ve noticed about my body in the past few years.  To start with, about five years ago I started noticing pain in my backside when I sat for long periods of time; it was almost as if I could never get comfortable.  Peering into my bathroom mirror one morning after getting out of the shower, I noticed my butt looking a little saggy, and thought to myself, what happened to my butt? 

Then one day at work, I was delivering parts from one side of the plant to another using a forklift.  This required driving the forklift along a gravel road with all kinds of potholes and such.  As I was slowly making my way to the drop off point, I noticed a lot of movement from my chest.  When I say movement, it was like a bouncing motion, and was actually a little bit painful.  I now have of a new degree respect for women all together.

It appears gravity is winning in my life.  All those jokes I’ve made over the years about the Bible saying bodily exercise profits little, and who wants to do anything there is little profit in, may not have been the best thing.  Perhaps I should’ve invested a little bit of time in some type of exercise to tighten up things.

As I said earlier, getting old ain’t for the faint of heart.  One of the things I’ve found is the hardest to deal with is when I start a task, thinking in my mind this will be a piece of cake, only to see my body rebel against this idea for lack of ability.  My wife for years said I am stronger than I realize.  At work sometimes I have to throw four by fours up onto a semi trailer as we load steel pipe, and while the guys in their twenties are tossing them like toothpicks, I’m down there struggling to lift it up in the air.  This doesn’t keep me from doing the job though; I just have to take a little bit more time than the rest of the guys.

As I said earlier, growing older isn’t for the faint at heart, and it is definitely not for sissies.  What I’ve learned is now I just have to go a little bit slower than I did before, and pace myself a bit more.  One thing which hasn’t slowed down is my mind however.  Regardless of what the next fifty years holds for me, I know I’ll be thinking and using my brain as much when I die, as I am today, and this brings me joy.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 10 - Are You a Loser?

If you could meet the eight year old version of yourself, what would he/she think about you?  In the movie The Kid, Bruce Willis plays a man who gets the opportunity to do just this; meet his eight year old self.  It’s a funny little movie, but very poignant in how we set aside the dreams we have as children when we try to control our adult lives.

In the movie little Rusty is running around the house looking for his dog.  Big Russ tells him he doesn’t have a dog, because he’s never around to take care of it.  Rusty sits down in disgust and says, “I don’t have a dog, I’m forty and not married and I don’t fly jets.  I turn out to be a loser.”  Check out the scene:

While it’s a funny scene from the movie, if you had the opportunity to meet your eight year old self, what we he/she think of what you have become?  I think for most of us, the realization would be we were losers too.  What I mean by this is, are you doing even close to what you dreamed about doing as a kid?  There may be a few of you who are, but I would say for the majority of us, this is probably not true.

What were your hopes and dreams as a kid?  Did you want to grow up to be a fireman, or policeman?  Maybe you wanted to be a race car driver, or a soldier.  How many of you sat in your room at night and dreamed of being in the corporate setting, working at a desk in a cubicle staring at a computer screen all day or out on the road traveling away from your family six nights a week?  I’m betting probably not a lot of you did.

Yet isn’t this what many of us do daily?  We live this life of existence, working away most of our lives, instead of truly living out those lives we once dreamed about?  What if you could go back and chart a different course for your life, would you do it?  What would your life look like now, if you were afforded this opportunity?

I’m afraid we all are like little Rusty; at a pivotal point in our lives were told we needed to just grow up, stop being a kid and grow up.  And this is what we did.  We grew up, became adults and joined this thing called the work force, and began to make money.  And like big Russ, there became a very hollow place in our heart, unable to dream like we did when we were eight.

Some of you probably are saying, “Who cares what I dreamed about when I was a kid?  I was a kid, and kids don’t know anything.”  I think sometimes as kids, we probably knew a whole lot more about what was what, than we do after we “grow up”.  I read once “Don’t ask what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs are men and women who have come alive.”

It may seem like there is no way you could ever do what makes you come alive.  Maybe like me, you’re mired in debt and financial responsibilities which make it seem impossible.  I challenge you to take the steps towards this dream you once had, regardless of the sacrifices you might have to make.  Take a baby step towards your goal, and then another until one day you are doing just what it is you’ve always wanted.

We need to do more than just exist on this planet, we need to thrive and do what we were meant to do.  I believe God has placed each and every one of us here for a reason, and truthfully we may have understood what this was better when we were eight years old than we do at forty.  Whatever it was, start making strides to get back there, and in doing so you will truly come alive and not be a loser.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 09 - To Binge, or Not To Binge

To binge or not to binge, this is the question.  I started this 500 word writing challenge knowing Netflix would be starting season two of their hit show Daredevil.  What I guess I didn’t realize was how hard it was going to be for me to stop watching television in order to write my 500 words each day.

As of right now, I only have three episodes left to watch and with enough time left before I have to go to work, it is really eating me up inside to sit here and write.  Perhaps it’s not helping I’ve got the television on, and the screen is primed and ready to start the next episode as soon as I finish with my writing.

My wife isn’t a huge Netflix fan because she doesn’t really like to watch TV as much as I do.  One thing I have always loved is stories, and now with the advent of streaming television, we don’t have to wait a week to see what happens next in the story.  It’s called binge watching, and while I agree it probably isn’t the best thing for us as a society to spend our time on, I do enjoy it from time to time.

What I really like about watching episode after episode is it almost feels as if it is in real time.  I guess this is because I don’t have to wait a week between episodes to see what is going to be revealed.  And especially now with some of the more well written shows intentionally placing things in each episode revealing hidden treasures about the characters and situations they are faced with.  It’s to the point now that you cannot miss an episode, or you are out of the loop.

I guess binge watching for me has brought story telling to a new level.  It’s like watching a movie in little parts, but unlike a movie lasting a couple of hours, this is like a super director’s cut which lasts ten to twenty hours.  It has made watching TV fun again.  When I say fun again, I mean I’m being entertained by something other than reality television; which I feel had its time and place, now it’s just drama for the sake of drama.  The newness of it has worn off for me; I just want to be entertained.  I can get enough drama in my own life, I don’t need to watch somebody else’s.

It probably doesn’t help the fact how I was a comic book nerd growing up and into my twenties.  In fact I still have a lot of my comics from back in the day.  Daredevil was a disaster on the big screen; Ben Affleck making it a joke in the super hero movie genre, and don’t get me started about him playing Batman now.  Daredevil was one of those conflicted super heroes I read back when I was reading comics, and Netflix has created a version of it which is very close to what I remember the comics being.

Marvel Comics has become a juggernaut in the entertainment industry, and for me it is like manna from Heaven.  All the comics I used to read are now either in movie form or are on television.  And I am so excited Netflix has joined the ranks of those who see the potential for super hero shows and want to help Marvel tell these stories.

As for me, I will continue binge watching despite the looks I get from my bride as I’m watching the various shows.  If you haven’t check into Netflix, perhaps you should.

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 08 - What is Writing?

What is the art of writing?  It’s me capturing the thoughts which are in my mind and putting them on a page for you to read and be intrigued by as well.  It’s not as easy as it seems either.  Some days it is as if I am pouring out of my soul things which every person on this planet needs, and then other days it just seems to be drivel.  What will today’s prose hold?  Who knows, and this is just one of the things which cause me to sit at my desk and peck away at this tiny little keyboard.

I don’t know why God chose to give me this particular desire, or at this point really what He is intending me to do with it.  All I know right now is to just keep writing, honing this craft until it is better than it was the day before.  I’ve already learned when writing not to use the word “that” too much.  Usually when you write something using the word that, you can say the very same thing without it, for instance; He was looking for Straight Street that Simeon lived on.  Could also be said this way, He was looking for Straight Street which Simeon lived on. 

Every day I want nothing more than to learn some other way to make my writing better, or to be able to say things in what appears to be a much more intelligent way.  It is also my desire to learn every day how to paint a picture with my words in the mind of the reader to such a degree they are willing to rethink the way they thought about the subject I am introducing.

How do you do this you might ask?  By setting aside time each and every day to write something, anything.  Part of this 31 Day Writing Challenge is not to write things which will go on to be published, as much as getting those of us involved in writing.  I may or may not write something inspirational every day, but each day I learn a little bit more about how to motivate my brain to actively think about how to put things onto the written page.  You might think writing a minimum of 500 words a day is easy, but let me tell you, if you don’t have the ability to think about a topic and then start writing about it, it ain’t.

I love the process of putting things together.  This creative part is what I really love about writing.  I remember one day being in the shower and pictured in my mind’s eye an older military man lying on the ground peering through his binoculars, a smoldering cigar clenched tightly in the corner of his mouth.  The words; “Curling around his head like gossamer, smoke from the stub of his cigar clenched tightly in the corner of his mouth floated effortlessly into the air.” popped into my head, and I knew I needed to start writing.

This was all there was to start with, and within a few days time I had written almost 2000 words and from this one image in my head, a story had emerged about an ex military man who now helped break down current security systems, and put new ones in place which were much better.  And it all came from a simple little image in my mind while I was lathering, rinsing and repeating.

This is what I love about the writing process, and each day I’m getting a little bit better at it.  Go me!

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 07 - Let Passion Be Your Guide

One thing I appreciate about being a human being is passion.  Now before you think I’m talking about sex, this is just one of many areas of passion.  Human beings were given this ability to be passionate about things, which animals are not.  I’ve always found it curious when people work so hard to say humans are nothing more than just evolved animals.  Truthfully, I think this is stupid, and can passionately argue the point with you if you like.

One of the main reasons I feel this way is because animals are moved by instinct, and people are moved by passion.  This strong sense of feeling about things drives people to do great things in this world.  Animals, who are moved by instinct, don’t.  Oh don’t get me wrong, they are cute and cuddly (in pet form of course) and provide us with a sense of love and camaraderie for our lives, but they don’t build orphanages, hospitals or do things to better the quality of the lives of the people on this planet.

I’ve got a friend who is passionate about math.  Jason was awarded the Teacher of the Year award this year, and mainly it was due in part to the passion he has for teaching kids the value of math.  And while my math teachers in school were good, if I could do it over again, I wish Mr. Schrepel could be my teacher, because I didn’t learn nearly enough math while I was in school.  He tutored my daughter when she was in high school, and she credits him with the success she is having in college math now.

One thing I have learned in my life is there are different types of passion people can have.  Some have a passion for music, while my friend Jason has it for math and teaching.  I myself have a passion for writing and helping people become better in their lives; especially in the realm of their spiritual lives.  I love to help people find out who they are in Christ, and what they can do in the Kingdom of God.  Whatever you are passionate about you should go out and pursue, because it is in this pursuit you will find your true calling and what you should do on this planet.

This being said, your passion should never violate someone else’s place in the world.  In other words, if you are passionate about golf, but refuse to go to work and provide for your family because you are trying to make it on the golf circuit, you might want to reconsider where your passion is leading you.  You should never put your passion about taking care of your family.  Some people allow their passions to drive them to places they shouldn’t go, which results in destroying their lives.  Drugs and alcohol can do this. 

The passion I’m talking about should drive you to do great things, and in the process help your fellow man.  If we would all follow after these passions, we would see our world end up being a much better place in the future.  Another way to say it is, to follow your heart.  When you follow your heart, and not put your desires always over those of others, you’ll be surprised at how much better your life and the lives of those around you will become.  

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 6 - My Bride

I met Cheryl Holt in 1987 while we were both attending Hillcrest Christian Fellowship, a non-denominational church in Muskogee, Oklahoma.The youth leader got up one Sunday morning and asked if anyone could help drive kids from the youth group to a Carmen concert in Tulsa, and maybe even pay for a ticket or two.

The girl I was dating at the time and I decided we could drive a couple of kids and pay their way, so we made the preparations to go to the concert.  At this time I had seen Cheryl at church, but didn't know who she was, or anything about her.

Well the day of the concert came, and we drove caravan style all the way to Tulsa.  Once we arrived at the theatre and took out seats I looked at the row behind us and sitting on the opposite end from me I saw Cheryl sitting there.  My breath was literally taken away when I saw her, and I remember thinking, "Man I wish I was sitting next to her."

A few weeks later she came into my dad's shoe store where I was working, and purchased a pair of Dexter shoes from me.  I was in heaven getting the opportunity to talk to this beautiful girl after having noticed her at the concert.  I don't remember how many days later it was, but she brought the shoes back. At first, I thought it was because she wanted to see me again, but as it turned out, the shoes she’d bought from me were defective and she needed to exchange them.

I'm not sure how long it was after this, but one night after a church event I helped her return her brother’s truck, and then when she took me back to my car, we sat and talked for several hours about Jesus, our likes, dislikes and what the future held for each of us.  I went home knowing I wanted to marry her and this was the girl for me. Afterwards I would tell people I was going to marry her, but I would ask them not to tell her because we hadn't actually discussed it yet.  

My mom says I chased her until she caught me.  I’m not exactly sure what she meant by this, but the next several months were heaven on earth for me as we dated.  I was never a morning person before meeting Cheryl, but I would be up before dawn and be at her convenience store, which opened at six in the morning, just to spend a little time with her before I had to go to work. To quote Mike Myers’s character from So I Married an Axe Murderer, “I was smitten, I was in deep smit.”

One night all of her family was getting together to have dinner at an all you can eat fish restaurant in Fayetteville, Arkansas and she asked me to go with her.  This was a big event; because it was the first time I was going to meet the family.  We arrived, met everyone and then the waitress took everyone’s order.  I was the only one who didn’t get the buffet and ordered a steak instead.  An hour later, everyone had eaten but me.  It seems the waitress had forgotten to turn in my order.

Well the Holt family wasn’t going to stand for Cheryl’s boyfriend not eating and went out of their way to make sure I got my food.  It was great sitting there with 20 – 30 people talking and watching me eat my food.  It was a great first impression with the family. 

As we drove home,Cheryl said she was too sleepy to be able to drop me at my car and then drive herself home and asked if I would take her home and spend the night.  Everything was above board, me sleeping on the couch and her in her bedroom.  But at the time I was a night owl, and going to sleep at 10:30 for me was too early,so I sat and watched television.

The TV was in her bedroom, and she was all nestled in her bed, while I sat in one of the most uncomfortable chairs I’ve ever sat in and watched Saturday Night Live.  During one of the commercials Cheryl rolled over, looked at me and said, “So, do you want to marry me or what?”  I replied, “Yeah that sounds good.”  And then she rolled back over and went to sleep.  The next day at church I told my friend Cary what had happened the night before, and asked him if he thought I was engaged, to which he replied yes with a huge grin.

Plans were put into motion and before you knew it I was standing in the church waiting for my bride to walk down the aisle, take my hand and my name.  It seemed as if it had all happened so quickly, but now here it is almost twenty-eight years later, and I still feel as if I’m the luckiest man on the planet. I’ve had the opportunity to walk a life out with a girl who means the world to me, still takes my breath away and who I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the two of us as we enter the phase of life of being empty-nesters alone together once more and eventually become grandparents.

My life is a living testament to what the Scripture which says, “He who finds a wife, finds a good thing and obtains favor with the Lord.”  

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 05 - My Friend Jason Kearney

Entrepreneurs; the dictionary defines them like this: a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.  I like to define them as those people who see things from a different perspective than others, usually resulting in monetary rewards which are greater than just working for someone.  I’ve got a friend who is just this, and I decided today to dedicate my 500 words to him and his business. 

Jason Kearney and I have been friends for close to twenty-five years.  I first came to know Jason when he came into my shoe store to buy shoes.  I was so impressed with this young man I asked him if he wanted a job working for me.  He worked with me in the shoe store for many years, many times people thinking we were brothers more than a boss and employee. 

I’ve always found Jason to be a very talented young man, gifted in his ability to draw and do things creatively.  When we were decorating my son’s room when he was younger, Jason painted a Star Wars space scene on one of the walls, complete with Star Destroyers, x-wing and tie fighters and the Millennium Falcon.  It was so cool; I told him I wished I would have had such an awesome thing when I was a kid.

Through the years, we’ve watched our kids grow, and we’ve both gone on to do other things besides selling shoes, but our friendship has remained.  A little over a year ago, I noticed he was selling beard combs online, and I contacted him to see if we could get together because I had to ask him about this new venture he was starting.

He told me the story about how he started Bedlam Beard Company, and like most stories about how a company began, I found it hilarious.  Jason and his wife Kari were discussing the differences between Oklahoma and her home state of Washington.  At one point in the conversation she told him, “Your state even looks like a comb.”  He told me after she had gone to bed for the night, he began playing around with the idea of a comb shaped like Oklahoma.

Contacting a local company, he took his design to them, and they cut out a few stainless steel beard combs for him.  Setting up and Easy account, and pursuing beard fans on Instagram, he began selling his product.  It wasn’t too long before he was back having more products produced.  Then expanding his company by adding beard oils and mustache waxes, it seemed as if he’d been given a license to print money.

One of the really cool things about Jason, is he loves to give back.  He has sold some of his beard combs to raise money for St. Jude hospital, and was a part of a rally to help cover medical expenses for a child in need.  I read a review just a couple of days ago from a customer whose order got messed up.  Jason sent the customer a replacement product, telling him when he had the actual product he’d ordered was available it would be sent to him at no extra charge.  The reviewer was blown away by the attention to detail and customer service; something Jason has always been great at doing.

I’m very proud of my friend for taking the risk and going after something he feels passionate about.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the cover of the Fortune 500 magazine in the future.  There was a very nice online article written about him, and you can read it here: http://www.johnbranam.com/bedlam-beard-co/

And if you are a fellow brother of the brush, check out his Etsy account and see what this great company is all about.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/BedlamBeardCompany

https://www.facebook.com/BedlamBeard/?fref=ts

https://www.instagram.com/bedlambeardco/

31 Day Writing Challenge Day 04

When my children were little, it didn’t take very much to keep them entertained.  I’m not sure how many hours were filled with a little reindeer hand puppet we picked up somewhere.  I would put the little fella on my hand and in a funny little voice begin to talk to them about whatever thoughts hit my  brain.

Each of my kids has played with this toy, and quite honestly I had completely forgotten about it until the other afternoon when I was rummaging around in the garage for some packing tape.  I happened to notice the little brown puppet inside a plastic box full of my daughter’s toys from days gone by, and instantly remembered the days of using him to make my children happy.  I’m not sure if he ever had a name, and he probably managed to live in each of my kid’s toy boxes at one point and time.

Isn’t it funny the things we remember, or how our memories work? Before last Saturday when I was looking for a roll of clear tape, I never gave this toy a second thought, honestly even though the memories are locked deep within the recesses of my brain, I would have never even thought about him.  But, seeing him through the clear plastic storage box, and beginning to remember all the times my kids laughed and giggled at the fun we had with him, at once there was a sense of nostalgia, and I had to bring him into my office.

This toy, while getting close to 25 years old probably cost me no more than five dollars back when he was purchased, and what would have possessed me to buy it back then anyway?  Who would have thought a couple of decades later I would find him, and add him to the collection of things important to me in my office?  I guess the thought of my future grandchildren and having fun with them like I did my own kids is why I rescued him from the box of toys.

While I know this blog may be more of a nostalgia tour for me, and not really mean that much to you the reader, I would ask you, is there anything in your life which you might want to hold onto because of the good memories attached to it?  Do you think this is where hoarding begins? 

As I put the puppet back on my hand, memories of my kids as little children replayed in my mind like watching an old eight millimetre home movies, I kind of felt like Clark Griswold watching home movies in his attic on that cold winter morning in the movie Christmas Vacation.  It kind of made me long for those days when my children still lived at home.

And while you can never go back, except in your memories, this little puppet helped to take me back to a great time in my life.  Being a dad, and playing with my kids was one of the highlights of my life, a time when I am pretty sure I was living a full life, even though at the time it just seemed to be a minute here and a minute there.

I’m pretty sure all those times I have played with this little guy; entertaining my children, I never had any idea of what this furry little puppet would mean to me later on in my life.  He’s got a place of honor in my office now, and who knows, in the years to come maybe he will help me bring smiles and giggles to my grandchildren too.

Well until tomorrow, for the Kingdom and the King!