Diet and Health

I want to be healthy. I want to work out and be stronger and more fit. But that takes effort and desire and I am lacking both. Shar on the other hand has always been health conscious and has made an active effort over these past 13 years to be fit, healthy, in shape and so on. I on the other hand am still counting on my faster than normal metabolism.

Here is my diet for the day.

6:15 - 2 sausage biscuits from Mc Donald's.

11:30 - a home made chocolate chip cookie that I took from Tyler Park. His mom makes great cookies.

11:35 - large cup of sweet tea. Very sweet.

11:45 - bowl of Chunky Soup.

5:00 - turkey and cheese sandwich on the way to the soccer game. Package of cheese and crackers, smaller serving of chips, small tootsie roll.

7:50 - Double Cheese burger from Mc Donald's (team mom gets them for us after away games), Gatorade and a small brownie

11:30 - Chips and salsa from Chilies.

Do I care? No.

Work, Work, Work.

I am not sure what you do for a living. I am not sure if you love your job or hate it and what your plans are in the future. I will say that I really enjoy coaching football. It is a mental and brutally physical game that I was not good at as a boy but that I really enjoy teaching to young men. Teaching history is fun but I am not all that great at it and my kids are most likely missing out on some significant details that they need to know. For that I am sorry and I will work to improve on that as I do every year.

The one thing I am pretty sure of is I have no clue what I would do for a job if I was not teaching and coaching. It just might be one of the greatest jobs in the world. Similar to youth ministry which I have considered in the past, teaching kids is just great. But even better is the time and opportunity you have to build a relationship with kids. I love it. I could write all night sharing the events of just one day. There is something really special about high school kids and I get to be around it, the good and the bad, every day.

I am grateful for my job and my career, and I am amazed at how God used Dr. Jim Mankin all those years ago to nudge me in this direction.

""For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord.""

Hey.

If you are not listening to Rick's sermons online then I would have to say that you are really missing out on some great insight from God's Word. We are again examining our giving and understanding of giving to the kingdom. Check it out.

Sing,,,, Sing A Song.....

I drive a bus. Not everyday but as often as I can. Games, school trips, and other events for the school. On Friday I took Mrs. King and the Keller Choir on their recruiting trip to the local feeder schools. Great day, great kids and amazing voices. The day caused me to think about some stuff.

As Mrs. King and I were eating the fine food of Double Dave's Pizza, she began to ask about my singing and if I would be interested in being involved in her fall adult choir show. She really thinks it would be great if the kids saw coaches singing. I decline and use my football responsibilities to not commit at this time since the concert takes place around week 7.

But the part of the day that caused me to think was watching these young men and women sing and thinking back to the days of Western Hills and my short lived endeavor of leading worship. I remember feeling so confident and able and I acted as if I knew what I was doing, but now I realize how out of place I really was. In Mrs. Kings choir there are many future praise team and worship leading singers and they are awesome. I do not have the ability to even hold their music much less sing with them, but my epiphany came when I thought back on the massive amount of talent that I was privileged to sing with in Temple.

Jim and Syree are musical masters that could read, sing and write anything they desired. Their gifts and knowledge were unmatched. Todd and Mike are professional musicians in my opinion and can lead with authority because they understand music. Lorean Glover is a mighty Alto/Tenor and could sing both at one time, or so it seemed. LeGay sang with elegance and her heart made the music that much better. Sharisa and Jenna have pure beauty leave their mouth every time they sing. The are amazing. Julie and Randy are modest and prefer to stay out of the spotlight, but have musical talent share. Richard is the bass of the basement and is unlimited in his depth.

When I think back on how arrogantly I entered that room every Wednesday night, I become embarrassed and can only imagine what those trained singers and musicians thought of that pompous coach. Good thing we were at church and grace abounded. Watching Mrs. King direct her choir and hearing those kids sing gives me a greater appreciation for what we had in Temple and what I was lucky enough to be involved with. Only now do I fully understand how much I must have irritated the talent I was with. My sincere apologies to all of you. It was my honor to be able to sing with you for those years.

Money..

Had another great discussion on Wednesday night about finances and our understanding of how we use them for God's kingdom.

How do we save for our later years in life and be good stewards of the finances we have and still trust that God will meet the needs we have?

In Proverbs 30 the ant is praised as being wise for storing up food for itself in the summer, but in Matthew 6 we are reminded of how God provides for the even the birds of the air.

So where is the middle ground that God will be pleased with?

The greater concept that Shar and I are discussing is this: all we have comes from and belongs to God. If that is so, then is my savings account a safety net if God does not provide? Does my tax deferred annuity question God's ability to take care of us? The ant stored food for the summer. How many summers is enough?

Another question deals with my desire to retire. For me in my teaching career that age of retirement is 52. Then what? What section of scripture deals with retirement? Where does God encourage us to work hard for 30 years and then stop and rest and enjoy the good life? Is that a biblical idea or an American idea?

The conclusion to our discussion was that we need to individually work to have biblical principles guiding our finances and not American or worldly principles dictating our financial goals, thoughts and decisions. What does God want me to do with the money he has entrusted to my care?

Money

We are having a 2 week study with our small group at church on giving generously. I am convicted at the moment, and hopefully it will last, at how much we have, how little we might give, and how we consider the things we have to be ours and not gifts from God. We is me, and you, and our peers. I will be sharing more on this in the coming days, but I wanted to leave you with a wealth calculator to see where you stand in comparison to the other inhabitants of the world.

How rich are you?

First Post 2010

Good morning, and Happy New Year.

We shall see if this blog will last another year.

I have never really been a big "new year resolution" kind of guy. The one tradition that we had as a family growing up was that my Papa (dad's dad) would get out the Saxaphone and play Auld Lang Syne on the front porch at midnight, and my Nana (dad's mom) would sing.

Some people are really set on the fact that January will bring them the desire to have drastic change in their life and that it is an opportunity to start over. To me, January 1st is the first day of the calender year, but that is really it. I try to be a better husband, dad, friend, coach, son and follower of Christ just as much on February 1st as I do on January 1st. Life does not start over for me on this day for a few reasons, which are long and boring and will not be discussed at this time.

So instead of resolutions, I am telling you things that I want for New Years 2010. If you could buy and send me these items I would be very grateful.

1. I want to be more patient. With Shar and the kids I often lack the patience that God desires me to have.

2. I want to be more dependent of God. I need to hand my life back to Him and trust that His desires for my are good, and my dependence on him makes me a better father and husband.

3. I want to be more willing to serve. Being in a larger city, and in a larger church and as Blake and Anna Jo grow and need more attention I have found myself less willing to serve others. I want to take more opportunities to serve others and provide my kids with experiences of helping others so they will have that desire as they grow older.

These are just a few items that I want for this new year of life that we have. There will be many joys and some sorrows this year, as there was in the previous year and I trust that God will continue to be faithful and loving as he always has.

Happy New Year.

B

Christmas..

I was the first one up this morning, again, and I am sitting here in Ruidoso watching the slow gently fall to the ground. What a great way to start your day.

The house we are in is just great, sitting on the golf course which offers a great place to go sledding. The cousins all love being together and are having so much fun.

Kenny and I and the older boys are going snow boarding and the rest of the family is heading to a tube park after lunch. The fresh powder should make it perfect for both.

Have a great day.

Christmas

Hope the rest of you are having fun with family and gifts and food. Beautifully cold Christmas here in Central and North Texas and the weather looks good for our activities next week.

Santa came and delivered to Blake and Anna Jo again and they still have the tender hearts needed to believe in that fun story. We can't go to sleep on Christmas Eve without spreading out the Reindeer food so Rudolph will know where to go.

Have a great day and weekend and enjoy your time with your family. Remember to be mindful and prayerful for those who are missing loved ones this holiday season. Joyful times and painful times and I want to be more aware of those who are hurting and more conscious about loving the ones that are here.

Merry Christmas.

Brian....

When Brian and I first met we both drove Toyota Extra Cab trucks with 4 wheel drive. Each truck had a crack in the front right turn signal. He pointed that out to me.

Both loved golf and felt that playing church league softball was one way to get closer to God.

Loved to water ski and would often find ourselves on Belton Lake, in my boat with Sharon. The three of us could have been an up and coming water ski team. Lane Smith was our full time alternate.

We both loved to skip church, or at least talk about it because it made Dana and Shar so mad.

Being with Brian was like being with that kid in school that was good enough for your mom to let you hand out with, but bad enough to do fun things that your not supposed to do but not get caught.

He played a big draw and out hit me and I never beat him at a full round of golf. Front nine a few times, but never a full round.

We talked about everything. Church, golf, business, coaching, wives, marriage, raising kids, stupid people, cool people, sports, golf, wives and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Dana was wanting to paint Rian's room, but Brian's first surgery had just happened and so she asked Shar if I would. Dana picked out this paint that had a pound of sand added to it. Brian was laid up on the couch, I was painting Rian's room the girls were gone with the kids. We yelled back and forth about that stupid paint and he swore that if he could get off the couch he would throw the whole can in the street.

When the four of us were together it became boys verse girls. Dana and Shar swore that the two of us brought the worst out in each other. That was what made it so much fun.

Brian and I first met in 1995 at a Kojie Social in Abilene. I had no idea at the time what a great friend God had just put into my life. What a blessing Brian was to me.

Brian was an easy friend to have. Comfortable.

Brian White...

So I burst into tears last night while typing. It has been an emotional week, but I have held it in, without really trying, but last night as I walked through my own thoughts I was overcome with sorrow for the loss of a dear friend.

As we walked up the hallway from the FLC at church to the main entrance of the church, I began to see the crowd that was coming for the funeral. I greeted a few as I walked with Shar and the other pallbearers to receive our instructions. It was at that moment that the emotions I had been anticipating came so unexpectedly. I saw old friends. Not just people we went to church with, but the old members of our small group.

When we first moved to Temple Shar and I really did not want to attend Western Hills. Shar was raised there and wanted new environment to worship in. The only problem was Dana. She begged us to come the WH and hated the idea of us worshiping somewhere else. We had been friends with Dana and Brian too long to not go to church with them, but we needed to search out the best place for us. God opened doors for us at WH. We shopped around but found our home there. Once there we needed a community our age and began meeting with some other young marrieds that were in our age group and life stage. The group grew and change over the years and included a variety of people, most of whom moved away from Temple as we did. The beauty is that so many were returning for this event. This is was caused my heart to break.

I saw Jeff and Danette. My tears began with them. Carl and Lane were next. Barry and Diane, Kyle and Cami, Chris and Jenn, Jason and Kendra, Todd and Julie, Ryan and Amy, Scott and Sandy, Aunt Sharon (with Jarrod) and the Meyers ( and of course Dana and Brian). It was a homecoming of sorts, but for the first time I understood that one was missing. My heart broke and I realized that my friend was gone.

I cry.

The people that you are with when your children are born hold a special place in your heart. They see you and assist you through some wonderful and difficult times and those memories and friendships can not be replaced. These are the people that prayed over Shar when she was pregnant. These are the families that we spent our free time with. These are the people we studied the Bible with. Prayed with, laughed with and cried with. This was our family and now the circle was smaller.

I hate that the circle is smaller.

Brian White..

I do not have the reputation of being emotionally strong. Emotional yes, strong no. It is not something I am ashamed of, but rather something I have embraced over the years and years of uncontrollable crying in front of other people. For the above reason is why I have been so disappointed with myself these past few weeks.

We lived one street over from Brian and Dana in Temple. We went to church together, played softball and water skied and golfed and watched each others kids. It was a great situation and friendship. I was still coaching and teaching in Belton when Brian was diagnosed, but just as Dana expressed at the funeral, I was confident in Brian's healing because he made me feel that way. He had cancer, he was going to beat it and we would grow old as great friends.

When we left Belton in 2007 and I did not do a good job of keeping up with Brian and. We talked when Shar and I would visit and played a few more rounds of golf in the summer but I was removed from the area and felt removed from the situation. I was emotionally unattached to the pain the White's were enduring. It was an error of mine and I wish I would have acted differently.

I sat with him this summer at church as we sang It Is Well With My Soul. I hugged his neck and kissed his cheek and told him how much he meant to me. He was fine, I was overcome with emotion. I was hurting for him, but my life resumed back in Keller and distance caused my emotions to ease. When the cancer returned, I was again comfortable that Brian would win. He always had and would continue to do so. I had no reason to doubt.

With the latest rounds of scans showing more and more cancer areas in his body I began to fear a negative outcome. A lack of faith or a pessimistic outlook. Either way I began for the first time to visualize what we all dreaded. Seeing Brain and Dana at Thanksgiving was difficult. Family all around and Brian was obviously feeling bad, and our only communication was a hug in the hallway of church.

My heart sank when we heard the results after his Saturday night emergency room visit. I was in shock, but still without tears. I hurt, but I could not bring myself to cry. The news of Brian's passing came to us on Thursday morning. Shar called me at school and I went home to pack for our family. We arrived in Temple that evening. Shar went to serve Dana Friday and stayed until Sunday. I was busy with the kids and still guarded my heart from what had happened. The viewing was Sunday afternoon and it was my first time to see Dana. I expected to fall into pieces, but she was so strong and so drained that I fed off of her response to me. I kissed her cheek, told her of my love for her husband and family and went to the store to buy her a Dr. Pepper. If I stay busy I stay calm. A trick I learned from my dad and Bubba.

Lunch before the funeral was fine. Great stories with Patrick and Bullock and other family members. I laughed with Dana at the ties she had us wearing and we agreed that it was Brian's last joke on the pallbearers. The time from 11:30 to 1:30 was a very peaceful pre funeral meal, and even though I knew the actual ceremony would be difficult for me I was still not fully aware of the fact that my friend was no longer with us.

Too emotional to finish tonight.