Forty Plus Miles

         To get back up again. To rise after the sudden falls of life. Looking up from failure's floor and we are left to ask how to get back up again. This is restoration calling.            We see the heights above, the depth from which we have fallen, and we struggle with growing from this.             To get back up again, climb the pit called failure and scale the walls toward hope and freedom. This is perseverance, where we grow stronger, walk more humbly, yet in grace. This is thriving, healing, the way toward becoming whole again. This is life, where we recover from failures and setbacks at times, times where we grow stronger and learn to live again in spite of them. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else ...

           The honest moment. The vulnerability and the good impact soon to follow. The broken get it. The wound shown. The comment made. The bleeding shared, and the injured carrying one another through empathy. The broken get it. They get grace, understanding, kindness and ultimately hope and healing.....when pain becomes purpose, shifting from hurting alone to helping another who may feel alone, alone in their shattered state. The beat up parts can make you gracious, kinder, more loving in healthy empowering ways that lift up and bind the wounds inside of others broken like them. Only here (in empathy and support of others) will wholeness happen again from the hurts of our lives, in constructive ways that aren't weak but life changing, if we'll let it. The broken get it.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please ...

          Around the last two years or so, during what was known as The Great Resignation, (where people were quitting their jobs in mass) our world started to change once more. People wondered how to respond to this, and while I will honestly say I do not have the answers for this, I can say this one thing with certainty: things have been redefined, and we must consider how to better respond properly to this process. This isn't a "tell it like it is" kind of post, and it is certainly not a "gloom and doom" type post either. Yet, whenever I would go into a place of business to do business, and witness the lack of staff or services that was glaringly obvious, I'd often hear at least one person express how no one is willing to work anymore.              While there is some truth in this, it isn't ENTIRELY TRUE and has often frustrated me greatly (and still does at times).  While there are people that are not willing to work,...

         Down the long and winding roads, writing strange unfiltered odes. Down the endless mazes known, bumps at times give bruises shown. Up and down these wild ways, looking forward is this gaze.          On the paths we travel through, hurts and heartaches fill us too, still we travel on these ways, that seem to run endless days. Gaze is forward and we change, stop to simply rearrange, embrace what's here that we not miss, the good we might otherwise dismiss. Calling calling and I hear, with hungry heart and itching ear, to push past usual known fear.            Down the long and winding roads, find I'm writing these strange odes. Ramblings of a restless heart, releasing to not fall apart. This is freedom in this way, going through a crazy day. Here I've known the miles shown, listening to where I've grown. Hope is rising once again, reading and listening to where I've been, recorded by this fleshy "pen"...

           Sometimes it can be a bit too easy to get ensnared by many things, and ways, in life. Enter the rejection of a submission or application for something, the day filled with rocky roads and more hardships than we know what to do with, even the good thing we hope for that seems to never arrive; when things don't look the way we hope.             When I consider these trying moments of life I must admit I find comfort in the bold humanity displayed in many in the Bible. From Peter going fishing after Jesus was crucified, to the Israelites wanting more than simply manna. It's easy to get used to what is familiar and comfortable and not really be willing to look to Jesus for something better. That "quail" sounds better than this strange white, semi sweet wafer stuff we find (Manna LITERARY means, "What is it?" . Fun fact) Jesus providing. If we're all honest with ourselves we have all questioned those divine provision...

                 Some plan, and some don't, and it's always at different degrees of both. Some days all goes well and nothing seems to be against you. Other days nothing goes well and all is against you (or at least this is how it can seem). It's here where our "plans" are interrupted that this can actually be a good thing sometimes. Resistance isn't always a bad thing, though when our way is suddenly disrupted (at whatever amount, and for however long) we can become discouraged and even frustrated (this is typically, and more often than I like to admit, my struggle).                  It is here we can find growth right in the thick of these interruptions. It is here the "interruptions" can even sometimes be what we needed. I don't always like this truth (if I'm being fully transparent); though I don't like being stuck as a person and not growing even more so.           ...

           Not enough road, yet still there are miles to drive. The tires may be worn, and the engine may have many miles, yet still there is the call to "drive " through these roads called days and lives...with words. Not enough road, and yet a road will be made....somehow.  <This is pressure for those thinkers, creative types, the simply hungry for change and growth that stretches beyond themselves.....when you're worn out and need to find a healthy expression of thoughts and ideas.  .           This is a long day, the one where so many ideas simply get lost in the journeys of life's responsibilities, yet expression and impact refuse to stay at the "rest stop of life" where fatigue will not hold us. To leave something good. To inspire the worn and discouraged. Still words happen, expression enters the hard road taken, and hopefully some sort of impact creatively speaking.  .         ...

              It's a Monday. It's been a cold start and the miles have worn me, the tasks have taken alot out of me. It's the other side of a holiday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas isn't far away. It's alot that keeps happening (even when things SEEM slow!). Days will drag on and the events of each one can be alot to take in.  .             Even here though I still find words. "Look again. Remember what you've come out of, what you've been delivered from. Remember to step back, pause if you must, and consider Me (Jesus) and all I've done in your life.". Even here I still find the words, words of Jesus speaking to me, "It will be better and there will be rest. Rest in Me.", and it is here amid the hustle and hurrying (where I've found most of the anxiety I tend to face) suddenly calm and my tired soul find the strength and encouragement to continue on; among the words and pause found in Jesus on another relatively b...

           Waves wash over you and you brace yourself with each swallowing of these giants that rush against you suddenly. Over and over it hits you and eventually you will realize this isn't going away. It's here you begin to learn how to move through these massive mountains, to "swim" toward growth and a strength....eventually; this is burn out, where I've been walking through lately.              Slow motion is the way, forward yet slowly, and you struggle. You can "see the blue skies"(see what's good), and you have good days where you feel stronger and can appreciate good things, but that deep down fatigue still hits you. It's more than just a physical fatigue though, and this is where the challenge lies for those enduring this......those like me. I wish I had the answers, even a better handle on how to face this sort of thing, but I don't......though I'm learnING some ways.....and maybe that's better; maybe someone ou...

           " Successful people do consistently, what others do occasionally. " . < This was the quote I heard Pastor Craig Groeschel of Life Church say in a sermon not long ago. To be fully transparent, I don't remember what the sermon was about, but that really stuck with me; 'cause I don't do consistently well for some reason. Call it lack of discipline, lazy, resistant to a rigid structure of living, or simply misinformed about the true joy of such regular consistency, I don't know. I only know I am FINALLY starting to learn this hidden gem after 44 years of life. It has been a game changer for sure.               Consistency doesn't have to be boring though, nor limited to only a few things. This can take place with the everyday life responsibilities, but also in the lesser known areas of life as well. We can consistently be kind to others and ourselves. We can choose to consistently be supportive and encouragi...

         You're not quite there, and you're tempted to stop, even turn around and go back; yet I hope you don't. Don't stop in the middle, don't be afraid of the middle. The middle of your journey, the middle of whatever it is you are heading toward. I don't know what your goals are, I don't know what it is you are seeking to eventually step into and do well in, I hope however that you would not stop in the middle on the way there, when things look messy, and progress is little to none, where nothing seems to be working out well.            This is where exciting happens and when we remember we are no longer at the beginning confidence and a growing faith that Jesus will make this into something good can take root in us. "Don't be afraid of the middle.", words I keep hearing in my head and heart, words I keep getting the impression I needed to share to encourage someone else who may be in "the middle" like my family and I have been ...

           It went with a beat (one in my head), and it often would rhyme. First it was lyrics I'd write. It wasn't good (ninty-five percent of it or so anyway). At some point poetry began to show up (can't remember when), and I learned how to write poetry and discovered it came naturally for me. I used to rhyme EVERYTHING written; EVERYTHING. The more I consider why this was, my experiences with gangsta rap music came to mind and their rhyming ability (good content or not) impressed me.              It wasn't until the discovery of poetry that WASN'T rhyming scheme though that everything would change. This became good. It wasn't great, it was good. Poetry, all.the.time. when I'd write. I still love to write poetry, but better was on the way quicker than I knew.               Fiction and nonfiction used to TERRIFY me. The thought of such pressure to create seemed a mountain to me, on...

          "You must.". "You should.". "You have to."; all things we've all heard about various aspects of life and the living of it. I've personally heard these responses on many things and while I understand there is truth in these approaches, I notice something else: we don't encourage. Yes, tell the truth. Yes, sometimes we require getting such a response to various matters (or being the one GIVING them). Yet here we don't always take the time to think through a matter as we should and ask a vital question, "What if someone doesn't believe they are capable of doing ________?". Notice how I said BELIEVE AND NOT FEEL.              This doesn't mean there will not be a time for "tough love ", but discernment must be in order also, along with empathy (notice I didn't say sympathy, they are similar, yet not the same). We can all "call things out", express those things that "shake up our world...

         I can't shake the response and words of Peter to Jesus. Jesus who asked Peter to go and set out the nets to fish again....after they've been fishing all night and caught nothing (Peter's words). Yet, something crazy happens when Peter listens and is willing to try again: they catch so many it takes TWO boats to haul all the fish in; and they BOTH almost sink (See Luke 5:4-7)!          I can't help but be encouraged by Peter's honesty (and His willingness to be so with Jesus, "We've worked hard all night and caught nothing."), yet his willingness to be faithful and hopeful in spite of such discouragement ("Because You said so we will cast our nets."-Peter's response). We all get discouraged, lose heart, even wanna quit at times; but this is where we must be willing to "fish" when Jesus leads us into that same scenario.....GOING WITH US. Sometimes we've "worked hard all night and caught nothing", but when we...

             The days past quickly. The hours become minutes and we are left to scramble; but for Hope. Hope that says, "Try. Try and see how it turns out.". We approach our mountains, look to their seemingly endless heights, we question whether we can overcome them, even climb them sometimes (I know I do). Hope speaks in our overwhelmed soul, "Go, a little at a time If you must, but go...and climb.", and we do. Hope changed things in this encouragement and empowering.                We can't always see the full picture, and Hope shows us the rest, reminds us of the truth and what can be done. I still struggle to believe this sometimes, then Hope empowers me, fearful and self-conscious me. Here I am reminded what can be done, I just need to have faith that Hope will do what I can't, and through Hope I can: for Hope is Jesus; and I can be "renewed in strength", "soar on wings like eagles", "run and not grow weary"...

          The car hid them well, (whoever they were) and then from the dark someone slowly emerged walking toward our son (I was nearby). It was Halloween night and we were out trick or treating and this strange moment happened when leaving one house. It was a bit unnerving to be honest, but then our little boy of not even ten did something encouraging and bold....he greeted them. "Oh, hello.", replies our son in a calm voice; I was laughing at the contrast that just happened. It was funny, though I felt kinda bad for the person who didn't achieve their goal of being scary (in a playful spirit I could tell).             For some reason I'm remembering this moment again today. I wish I could say I'm not deeply frightened by different times in life, but I am. It's times like this we must remember (myself especially) to not let what may be (or just seem) scary not frighten us (not frighten me also); only greet it that we may grow as pe...

           When you climb mountains, do so a little at a time, or you'll fail before beginning. When you ascend the heights (whatever those "heights"are), remember that you chose to climb when you could've stayed below in a valley (and this is a good thing). When you see the distance to reach the top, and you question whether you should even climb, climb still; there is good still ahead.              When you climb your "mountains", no matter how long they take, keep climbing, even if it's only a little at a time; you.can.do.this! Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

        "Those who sow with tears, will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.", over and over I'll recite these words from the ending verses of Psalm 126 as I walk. Over and over quoting the verses above of 5 and 6 I drill these into my thinking to make it more constructive and healthy; for this has been a go-to for me more and more.           These verses (the whole Psalm in fact) have been a GREAT help for me in difficult tasks and particularly difficult work days; days where I feel forgotten or my work doesn't seem to find any success. This is the promise for all of us when we wonder if we even need to try and put in the work or not, if it will see any success or abundance in rewards or blessings: "Those who sow with tears, will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying shea...

         I don't do good with failure. I often take it personally. I carry the weight of the fall from grace fully. Yes, there is personal responsibility to be taken for it, yet we aren't meant to let it KEEP us down.           I've met many people who wrestle with failure over the years (whether they admit it or not). The one thing I've witnessed over and over here is we don't know how to fail well. Yes, it's possible to fail well. I've only just begun learnING this I must admit. Yet, here are some things I'm currently learning from it (ways to fail WELL): 1.) your failures are not the end, they only remind us we all need Jesus. They teach us how to look for errors and problems to not repeat the same thing again, 2.) We can begin again. We often feel we can't begin again after failures (I am personally VERY bad about believing this lie), we can, we just need to ask how to and what we can learn from it to achieve that how, and 3.) Y...

             When you're walking through a valley, and the clouds above seem endless, keep walking. When you're walking through a valley, and the road before you feels endless, don't stop...just.keep.walking. When you're walking through a valley, and the mountains feel far and beyond reach, remember they had to start somewhere; keep going.  .            When the days appear hopeless, and you wonder if you'll overcome those long journeys through the trials you face, remember the valley doesn't last forever, and it's here you learn endurance and wisdom to reach mountaintops. Keep going. Keep remembering good is possible. Never focus on the valley floor, only that you'll be stronger for the climb to a beautiful reward of hope and healing when you didn't quit and could've.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed readin...

            The miles have been long that have been traveled today, and I feel weary within this spirit; yet even here I feel a stirring deep in my soul (I know that sounds strange, but it's true). Though the day has been hard, and the demands of this day sought to own me, Jesus is building within this life He's given me.                So here I am, building upon this life in creativity given. These are the unscripted words, the ones I didn't plan for, yet feel I need to express somehow. This is where creativity is building, dare I say even a calling; so I'm writing along the miles of a long day, hoping to be faithful and maybe inspire some Holy determination to someone out there who may need it. I don't know what your calling or gifts are, but may you be found building also (whatever that looks like), in Jesus' name.             So let's build together in creativity as Jesus leads us; l...

             The words hit me hard, another rejection. One more place declined my writing; I expect it. Rejection comes with the writing journey, but when someone wants ONLY perfection, THEN tries to define your work, it can hurt....alot. To be clear, this post isn't some random hate-filled rant. It isn't another spiteful "In your face" kinda post either; it's just me being sincere.                I am not the best writer (or the best anything really), I do know I have skills and abilities that I'm meant to use though (writing being one of them), and so I write. Me. Some middle class, forty-something guy who started out in a trailerpark of all places. I genuinely wanna empower and encourage others with these words I write, and to think I am left somewhere in a metaphorical "line" (think every sport you encountered where someone had to pick you) is painful and humbling to say the least.        ...

             In the embers there is still hope, hope when all feels spent. In the glowing ashes there is a flicker of grace, and with it rest. In the gray floor of life's most beat up, worn out, and nearly extinguished moments and seasons of living there is renewal; renewal and restoration to begin again from burn out.               In the embers of a nearly extinguished belief of any good.you.can.rise.again! Even when you've experienced burn out....like I have been lately. I am rising from it THROUGH AND IN the presence and power of Jesus, and you can too. In the embers of trial there is still hope (Psalm 34:18, Isaiah 42:3a). Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

        I used to live a C average life. I'd exist, fulfill responsibilities I needed to, and went to bed. I never realized for years why creating SOMETHING was important. We all have our "rituals" and things we are all engaged in, but this is different. We are made to create. We may be good at having conversations with people and socializing, maybe we can encourage, maybe it's even just giving someone a smile to let them know they matter. These are all ways of creating. The fun part is when it goes to a deeper level.             This is where our encouragement may be expressed through poetry (or any other form of writing or art), it can be sharing someone's heavy burdens in conversations by sharing what we know or simply empathizing, it can also go to another level when we use a skill (such as building or administrative) to help another; we create something new! I LIVE to empower and encourage others, and I tend to create through w...

         Over and over can be bad. It can even feel tedious. I used to always think this...until one day I was wrong. Sure, it was tough, but it was necessary: to repeat Scripture. Over and over I'd listen to the same chapter, verse, and even book of the Bible. It even started becoming memorized more and more (some I can still quote). I don't say this to come across as one of those uber spiritual guys, but when you need encouragement and motivation, and what was repeated becomes your lifeline, it changes everything.            This is true in everything. We can repeat GOOD practices and habits and find a healthy way forward, even growth in our lives. Successful people do consistently what most do occasionally. This isn't easy, but possible. What are you repeating? If you don't master it right away, or struggle along the way, give yourself grace and try again; this is another good thing about repetition: you can try again, 'cause you...

.           When you're beginning and you're afraid, begin afraid. When you're beginning and you are overwhelmed, begin one small step at a time. When you're beginning and you question yourself, take steps toward action anyway.  .           When you're stumbling, pause and regain your foundation again; if you must stop and pause for a moment that's okay. When you've fallen, made mistakes, remember that didn't work to not do it that way again. When you wonder if you should even try again, try again; failure isn't the end.               When you're beginning, whatever thing you are beginning, know you aren't alone, you can do this, just try......perfect or not.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone ...

                 In teaching, Jesus was crowded in the process. Looking around He saw two boats at the shore near Him. At once He began getting into one, asking Simon (who He later named Peter) to push off from the shore a little. Fast forward a little and Simon was found catching so many fish he needed help AND both boats started to sink. (These events are found in Luke 5:1-12). I heard someone speaking on this earlier today and the speaker highlighted this: Jesus could have chosen the other boat, and on Simon's boat there was blessing because Jesus was with him, chose him.                  He (Jesus) calls us all. He wants to get into the "boat" of our lives and bless us to do great good IN AND THROUGH Him for His glory; a glory that is ALSO for our good. Through such things He (Jesus) is known and trusted, even followed and further proclaimed. He wants to get into our "boats " of talents, abilit...

             The clouds cover, and the light is gone, gone for a time. The roads we travel are no longer exciting, only existing, dare I say surviving. This is only half the picture though. The one where things aren't right in our lives, troubles or even the failures we relive for that moment; I am far too good at staying here.               The clouds cover, and the valley roads we take seem to never end, still there is light. Here, we MUST keep walking, I must keep walking, to see the rest of the picture; the one where there is good. Here we must keep walking through the unpleasant and unwelcome parts of our journeys. As a recovering pessimist this is something I've been having to learn and relearn....but I'm an eager student. Here, when we keep walking through these times of our lives we will find a WHOLE view of the picture we need to see. This may be VERY small steps in the littlest of "good" we hold onto, or sim...

    Little steps, eleven words....forward. Past normal, numbered efforts this time. Sidenote: this is one writing experiment I've been working on, where what is written is LITERALLY eleven words (see the words above). Eleven words since this was written in the eleventh month of the year. 

          This is the hustle. This is the rush of a day. Pressures felt and the relentless speed of a pace that can break us. Strange how the very thing that seems to have become our obsession is the very thing we all need to stop: speed.             This is the "hot drink" moment, the one where we can "burn" ourselves if we aren't properly focused; or simply going too fast alone. This speed has nearly wrecked me a number of times if I'm being fully transparent. We must be quick in life at times, yes, but NOT all the time. It was here that something donned on me the other night. I believe an insight was given by Jesus (one I'm still seeking to understand): if we channel our speed into intentional actions we will become healthy and stronger for it. How? By NOT focusing on the steps and what is lacking (our to-do lists that can overwhelm us comes to mind as an example), but instead putting our scattered energy into these moments ...

       Well, not perfect. A little at a time, one brick on the other as walls are built and a foundation for life is laid. Well, moving forward with intention, for this is the way toward healthy, toward well, one I am learning how to take more and more. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         One more variable taken out of the work equation, no spraying required. One closed gate coming into view, along with a vehicle and the kind heart it bears...one to grant access to the formerly barred area I was needing to enter. The tired soul on the other end of the phone who was available when others weren't, available to provide needed resources to responsibilities that were being taken care of.            Little graces, moments where Jesus shows up in small ways with large impact. Little times of blessings. Here, after witnessing these I am pensive yet grateful. It's been a hard day, but to see prayers answered through few (but deeply meaningful) little graces I am encouraged; encouraged and eager to keep praying for bigger. Praying with more than the intention of seeing answered prayers but a growing faith from such little moments leading to such big surprises witnessed in this day.  Thank You Jesus for such amazi...

         When life is busy, the sheer amount of everything that is going on can overwhelm (I can honestly say it does me at times). Sometimes our days can become little else than a word or two on the pages of life. Other days we have "sentences". On our best days we have "paragraphs". What's the difference? On "word" days, it is hard to keep up with anything; and that is okay. On "sentence" days we achieve a fair amount, yet still feel disappointed at our lack of results. It is here that it's very easy to put down the "pencil" of our efforts and stop writing all together. However, on our "paragraph" days we absolutely crush the day. Here everything feels effortless. We would look back over those words we've written in this book most call days and we would be grateful for what has been accomplished. .            I am simply here to say, however, at whether our efforts are an absolute war and we have too many "w...