Perspective

Mondays with Michael 1.6

Forgive me if I have shared this story with some of you before. This happened to me when I was in college (somewhere between 6-10 years ago). I know I shared this story with some people back then, so if you are one of those, I apologize.







I was leaving my house one day getting ready to head up to IPFW and I was struck by the beauty of the sky. Now, I'm not the type of person who normally notices things like that, so it must have been extremely beautiful on this particular day. The sky was a beautiful deep, rich blue, not like the normal light "sky blue" that we are all used to. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. The sun was shining brightly. Everything was perfect! There was an extra bounce in my step as I walked out to the car. This was going to be a great day!







Approximately 1/2 an hour later, I was cruising along on 469 singing along to Rich Mullins. My mind was wandering (it does that a lot) and I wasn't thinking about anything in particular. And then I noticed the sky. The sky was dark and scary. (And to set the stage, I should preface this by saying that I am extremely afraid of storms.) My thought process went something like this: "Oh great, I'm probably going to have to walk to class in the middle of a thunderstorm! I'm gonna get soaked! Who knows, we might even have a tornado! Oh, man, we were supposed to have potluck tonight! Why is there always bad weather on potluck nights?" And then I remembered how beautiful the sky was when I left my house and that made me even more mad!







And then I remembered something else. It was so beautiful when I left and the sun was shining so brightly that I had put my sunglasses on. I took my sunglasses off and instantly it was a beautiful day again.







This made me realize something. It seems that so often in life we are walking around with our sunglasses on. We have a negative attitude about everything. And what if God had decided that it was going to rain that day? Who am I to argue with God? And considering God used a tornado to draw me to Him in repentance, who am I to complain if He decides to send another one?







This experience encouraged me to take off my sunglasses, to embrace all the beauty that God has so richly poured out around us.







And now, I would like to leave you with words of wisdom from two men whom I greatly respect:







Smokey the Bear always says, "Only you can prevent forest fires." Ok, maybe Smokey is only talking about wild fires in California, but lets look at the big picture. "Only you can prevent yourself from having a bad (or good) day."







The other piece of advice I have comes from someone I look up to a lot more than Smokey. My dad always says, "Make it a great day!" When we were younger, getting ready to leave for school or work, he wouldn't tell us to "have a great day," he would tell us to "Make it a great day!" No matter what happens, it is ultimately up to you to decide how to react to the situation. When someone says something to you that really hurts or makes you extremely angry, you still have a choice as to how you respond.







What kind of a day are you going to have today? The choice is yours.







Make it a great Monday!

*86

Such a simple task, right?

Just dial *86 and you can check your voicemail.

But not me. I do not leave messages and I do not listen to them.

If someone calls me and I have a missed call, I simply call them back. . .and don't check my message. Which turns out to annoy a lot of people. So for all of you (Dad, Jessica, Adrianne. . . . ) that have been asking me to clear out my full mailbox for several weeks. . .

I DID IT!

You can call and leave me a message now! (But I probably won't get it until April:)

Big Brother

Mondays w/ Michael 1.5

Last week I talked about The One Factor. One person, one action, can affect thousands. Today, I'm giving you the opportunity to make an impact. Next Friday I will be participating in Bowl for Kids Sake at the Bluffton Bowling Center. It's a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters. I've been involved with BBBS for a number of years. I started as a Lunch Buddy for Sterling. Once a week during the school year, I would go eat lunch with him. After lunch I would go out to recess or help him with homework or study for a test. More recently, I've been in a One-on-One match with Chase. We would get together a couple times a month and go bowling or fishing or just go out to eat. Even though it was only 1 lunch break a week with Sterling, or fishing with Chase, I hope that I was able to be a positive male influence in these boys' lives.

I know some people are hesitant to help BBBS. But here are some facts:

-46% of Littles are less likely to begin using illegal drugs

-52% are less likely to skip school

-27% are less likely to begin drinking

Allow me to share a personal story with you. I had been a Lunch Buddy to Sterling for a couple of years. BBBS was in desperate need of mentors. So they changed one of their policies. They began allowing homosexuals to be mentors. I was outraged. Several other brothers were also Lunch Buddies at the time. Some of us wrote letters to BBBS demanding that they change their policy. They didn't, so we dropped out of the program. We couldn't support an organization that would allow a homosexual man to be a mentor to a young boy in need of a father figure. Sometime later (as I was thinking about becoming a Big Brother), God revealed something to me. No organization is perfect. My job isn't perfect. But that doesn't mean that I am constantly searching for the perfect place to work. My church isn't perfect. But that doesn't mean I try out new churches every Sunday until I find one that is. Just because whatever you are involved in isn't perfect doesn't mean you should drop out. Quitting doesn't make anything better. The only way to improve your imperfect job or your imperfect church is from the inside. Get involved. Get your hands dirty. Me dropping out of BBBS didn't do anyone any good. The only way I could make a difference was by getting involved.

I shared this with Vince Pfister who is also a Big Brother (and the captain of our bowling team). He had a similar struggle until he had the following revelation. If he didn't become a Big Brother, someone else would. Someone will step up to the plate and be a mentor to those kids. The problem is, we have no control over who that someone is. That person may be an atheist or a homosexual. Because BBBS allows homosexuals doesn't mean that we should drop out. Now more than ever, Christians should be getting involved.

Well, enough of this. If you would like to sponsor me in the Bowl for Kids Sake, here is the website: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=291433&lis=1&kntae291433=DD41BB90C6B54C8394558211AFA29F98&supId=205531938

All I'm asking for is a few dollars, but if you would like to do more than that: become a Big Brother/Big Sister. There are hundreds of kids in the area who are in need of a mentor. Still not enough? Ok, if you want to do more than that, become a foster parent. There are over 500,000 children in the United States foster care. Still not enough? Ok, adopt. There are 143,000,000 orphans in the world today.

The point is this: There are children in need. There are many ways you can help.

Make it a great Monday!

Passion. Pride. Pacers.

Well, here we go.

Our first blog actually written together.

This should go over well. . . .

Well at least we had an AWESOME night last night on a date!

Michael: I got tickets to the Pacers game last night through Nesco, so I took the afternoon off and we headed down to Indy. Jane isn't a sports fan, so I had to bribe her to get her to go along with it. We spent a few hours shopping at Circle Centre and then got a bite to eat before the game.

Jane: We ate at Johnny Rockets. It's nothing fancy but the atmosphere is fun because it is like an old diner. You even have your own juke boxes at your table and the best thing about ours was that it was broken and we didn't have to pay the 5 cents to play our favorite oldies! I was turning out to be a cheap date!

Michael: After supper, we walked to Conseco Fieldhouse to watch the Pacers take on the Orlando Magic. Evidently, Jane looked pretty suspicious.

Jane: Well, afterall, I did have my purse stuffed with things to do (remember, this is Michael's dream date) like my book, letters to write, phone calls to make, and knitting supplies. Thankfully, I didn't need those things because God gave me a friend to visit with during the game. We didn't know who else would be there from Nesco, but then we were glad to see Mick and Brooke Gerber there!

Michael: Here are some pictures from the game. As you can tell, we had really good seats on the lower level.

Dwight Howard (#12) and the Magic shoot around before the game.

See the guy in the grey suit standing beside the scorer's table? That's one of the Magic's assistant coaches: the great Patrick Ewing!

The Pacers warm up.

The jump ball to start the game. (Sorry, it's a little fuzzy.)

Travis Diener brings the ball up the court for the Pacers.

Jarret Jack hits the three!

The final score. The Pacers win!

Every time there was a timeout or a break in the action, the Jumbo-tron would show fans in the crowd. A guy sitting a few rows in front of us would stand up waving his Pacers shirt in the air doing anything he could to get on TV. We were all hoping that they would finally put him on the big screen, just so he would sit down. Alas, it was not meant to be. He never got his 5 seconds of fame.

Jane: But I felt sorry for him. So when we got up to leave after the game was over, I said, "Sir, I'll take your picture." And he instantly lit up and held up his Pacers shirt and said, "Finally, someone who appreciates me." And I snapped the picture and said, "God loves you!"

Michael: So even though he wasn't seen by the thousands in Conseco last night, here is his chance to be seen by the world!

It was a fun experience and we look forward to our next date.

99 Balloons

As I have been reflecting on one of God's precious gifts to us, Deacon, I was reminded about this clip. It is a good reminder that we should cherish each and every day that God gives us and not take them for granted. For each day we breath life, it is truly a miracle!

10 months ago. . .

10 months ago today. . .

. . . .my sweet baby boy was born!

Today, he is still sweet. . .

. . .but also a little ornery!

The One Factor

Mondays with Michael 1.4

Jane ordered an adoption packet from Focus on the Family. There were a couple of books, a DVD, an Adventures in Odyssey CD, etc. I started reading one of the books called "The One Factor" by Doug Sauder. It starts by talking about the power of one. One man, Moses, led the Israelites out of slavery. One action by Rosa Parks on a bus brought around justice. One affects thousands!

There is a saying in Kenya: If you think you are too small to make a difference, you have never spent the night with a mosquito.

What the book is really about is the foster care crisis in South Florida. Apparantly, in the 1990's the foster care system in South Florida was a disaster. One lady finally had enough. Irene went door to door trying to raise awareness. She visited several churches trying to get help. Finally, one pastor, Pastor Bob, pledged his church's support. Within one year, 40 families from his congregation were foster parents. The following year, another 75 families became foster parents. That is a testimony of the power of one.

But it doesn't stop there. As I continued reading, things started clicking. We adopted Deacon from Ft. Lauderdale. That's in South Florida. I looked at the back cover of the book and read the following comment: "Doug Sauder and the ministry of 4Kids are daily reminders to me of the power of one." 4Kids...our adoption agency was Adoption 4Kids of South Florida! Who made that statement about Doug and 4Kids? Pastor Bob Coy, Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. Calvary Chapel? The office for Adoption 4Kids is located on the grounds of Calvary Chapel! And Pastor Bob Coy? Could he be the same "Pastor Bob" who pledged the support of his congregation a decade ago? Isn't God amazing! Because one woman contacted one pastor about the foster care crisis, an agency was formed that allowed us to adopt our son 10 years later!

One more interesting fact to wrap all of this up. Doug Sauder, the president of 4Kids, did not always attend the large Calvary Chapel. He grew up in a small church. His father, Roger Sauder, is the minister of the Apostolic Christian Church in Ft. Lauderdale.

So, what can God do through you today?

Make it a great Monday!