Merry Christmas!

It's a great time of year to make a final connection with friends and family isn't it?  What a joy it's been for Karen and I to spend our Christmas season with Paul, Ashley and Alison.... did I say Alison.  Good... what a doll baby.

We spent around 18-19 hours in the car..... plus an extra day and night in Wilson, NC, due to the huge blizzard that went through the northeast (making our trip a total of 57 hours) ....... got into huge backups around Washington DC due to snow removal efforts ..... and now have to make the return trip.  Would we do it again?  Of course!

Otherwise we would have missed our granddaughters first Christmas...... letting her crawl all over me on the floor.... getting those open mouth kisses...... hearing those random laughs whenever she felt like it..... seeing Alison play in the snow for the first time (okay, not really "play", more like lay on the snow in her new snow suit and watch her family have a snow ball fight)..... 24" of snow....... fun Christmas movies........ approximately 10 lbs. of monkey bread consumed by myself.......... my daughter's killer white chicken chili...... and of course, we would have missed making the three anatomically correct snow "people" that represents the Earwood family, right outside their front door.  It doesn't get any better than that!

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas time this year as well.  I love and appreciate each of you who take the time and effort to share my life through my blog.  It's been fun.  I hope you all have a great 2010.  God bless!

Christmas Season Choices

The holiday's are bittersweet, aren't they?  The anticipation of time with family, days off work, presents and good food have to be weighted against the stress it takes to get through ALL that is expected of you during this season.  And when does that bitter turn into the sweet?

I think the answer is when we choose to "flip the switch."  It has to be a choice we make to quit stressing, stop the running, end the to-do list (no matter how many items are left) and say, "It's time!"  We decide to shift our focus from all the "stuff" and refocus our thoughts on the real priorities of the season.  (Apparently we need to do the "stuff" to appease our conscience too some degree, or we just couldn't enjoy the holidays at all.)  The priorites, as I'm sure you'll agree, are time with our family and reflection on who's birthday it really is.  A time of sharing our love, showing appreciation for what our family means to us, and reflecting on what the year brought us.

Another choice that people apparently make this time of year is to decide to be "cheerful".  With all the stress so many people are under, it seems strange sometimes to see how friendly some people are.  I mean, it usually isn't THAT easy to get out into traffic......  It just shows me that kindness is a decision that we all make every day.  Why do we tend to step it up on the holidays?  Shame on us.  It should be year around.....

Finally, this season is a time to reflect on the past year, and see what we did well and what we could do better.  It's then a choice to decide whether we will learn from our last years mistakes, and not make them again this year or not.  Can you say "new year resolutions"?  I'm not going there now, so just relax and wipe that sweat off the back of your neck.

Karen and I are making a choice tomorrow morning.  We're getting in car and driving for 17+ hours through a potential snow and ice storm to visit our "priorities".... our family.  We hope that you enjoy the holidays and have "flipped the switch" by now and are in relaxation mode.  Don't forget the true reason for the season -- Jesus Christ.  God bless you all and Merry Christmas.

Turning Tough Times Into Triumph

On a flight home from a trip last week I had a chance to read a great book called "Bounce - The Art of Turning Tough Times Into Triumph".  If you're like me, facing the economic crunch and issues of the day, including the bittersweet holiday season.... you can probably relate to the challenge of triumphing over tough times.
Let me highlight a few passages in the book to give you some food for thought --

"It's often during life's most difficult times that we discover our most critical hidden strengths and that we forge our most important capabilities."
So, I guess we need to look at the silverlining during our tough times, huh?  It allows our strengths and capabilities to surface.  If we didn't go through these times, we may never know we had them.  Apparently tough times are good for us......

"The significant problems we are facing cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."  Albert Einstein
So, I guess we need to "think outside the box".  We might have to get creative to solve some of these issues.  Who knows, we might create an entirely "new world" or paradigm that takes us to a new level.

"Hold hands in traffic"
People naturally want to blame someone other than themselves in times of crisis.  This phrase serves to remind us that it is in difficult times that we most need one another and most need to stick together.  We have to remember that we're in control of how we respond to a situation.  We shouldn't blame outside forces.  We need to focus on attacking our problems and not one another.

"It takes pressure to get people out of their comfort zone to change.  Any meaningful change is painful, which causes people to naturally start to feel anxious"
The book relayed that the key to anxiety is focusing on the correct anxiety.  There are two types of anxiety -- one is caused by the fear of change, while the other is the fear of what will happen to you if you don't change.

Just some food for thought...... I hope you triumph over your tough times, if that's where you are right now.  I know that's my goal.

Boys Forever.....

We've all heard that most men are just little boys, and will ALWAYS be little boys..... my wife tells me that all the time.  (Usually because I'm tattling on Honey Bear, or wanting extra dessert, or playing what I think is some great music through the card board tube when I empty the paper towel roll... need I go on.)

Anyway, I saw a great example of this phenomenon  at the airport yesterday.  I was riding the tram from the terminal to the airside.  I was watching the 5-8 people get on as the doors closed.  The lovely ladies voice reminded us to hold on to the pole as we pulled away, as it is not safe and we would probably fall....

So what happens..... the ladies all reached out and grabbed the poles to steady themselves as the tram took off.  However, EVERY man chose NOT to hang on to the pole, but braced their bodies to compensate for the take off!  One man was actually holding the pole, and when the lady told us to hang on, took his hand OFF!

You see, men love a physical challenge, not to mention making a game out of anything they can.  A lady uses wisdom and chooses to safely make it to airside without a busted lip.  A guy throws caution to the wind to prove that they can stay up during this challenging ride....risking physical harm and an embarassing fall just to prove he can do it.  Or at least try, and set a new time record before grabbing the pole...

What can I say.... long live the little boys in each of us!

The Power of a Smile

Hope you're doing well today.  I don't have any real purpose in posting today.  I just want to make sure I get in the habit of doing it more regularly.  In fact, I think I'll make it one of my resolutions for 2010.  It makes me keep thinking..... something I probably don't do enough of.  (Or some people would say I do TOO much of.....)  For instance, have you ever wondered if a fly didn't have any wings, if they would have called it a "walk"?

I'm looking out my office window at the steady rain falling.  It's suppose to last for a couple days.  It's amazing how we take the sun for granted down here in Florida.  My work has not been going too well as of late.  It seems like every situation is a hassle, with very little good news or success.  It makes it hard to feel like you're accomplishing something for God in your work, when you aren't able to help the churches your working with.  So.... I'm having a down day today, and to be honest, really don't mind it.  I don't have them very often, but when I do, I kind of enjoy them.  I know that sounds weird, but I guess every now and then I feel like I need to be honest with myself and not act like I'm enjoying life today when I'm not.

I know how to get myself out of those moods, as I'm sure you do too.  (And when I feel like it, I will... thank you very much.)  For instance, you can 1) look at all the blessings in your life; 2) reflect on others less fortunate than you; 3)  pause and consider what's the worst that could happen in this situation; 4)  realize how little this will matter to you in 5 years; or finally, 5)  see somebody smile at you with genuine joy.

We should never underestimate the power of a smile.  Our facial expressions can be so impacting to the people we come in contact with.  To often, we lose sight of the influence we have to make somebody's day better, or make it a little worse.....  So remember today to let the joy within you reflect on your face today.  Your smile can be contagious.  You know that happiness is really surface, right?  The deep down joy we have in our lives comes from our relationship with Jesus Christ.  That doesn't go away easy.....we just have to remind ourselves sometimes it's in there.

I can never stay too melancholy while I'm working, because I'm using the picture below as my desktop background.  In fact, everytime I look at it, I just have to smile back.....  When you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about.  SMILE TODAY!  It's really not that bad.

Home Sweet Home

It doesn't matter how old you get, it's always fun to go home and visit mom and dad and the brothers.  That made Thanksgiving special this year.  I mean, having a contest with your bros to see who can eat the most food without throwing up.....it doesn't get much better than that.

We're all getting older, but that doesn't mean we have to mature, right?  I hope not, as it's not something we appear to be reaching anytime soon.  We DID have a lot of laughs and fun though, but tried not to lose sight of the incredible reasons we have to be thankful (starting with our family).

Iowa gave me just a little reminder of it's cold nights and windy days, but then treated me to a couple sunny days to remind me of what I had just left behind...... You might have to look a little bit closer at times, but there is still a lot of beauty in the old home state.  (I haven't confirmed if the state tree is really the telephone pole, but I'm checking my sources.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to finishing off the homemade peanut brittle, chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate chip-cheerio cookies and the last three pieces of pie...... Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!