Champions

So, what does it take to be a Champion; a Campion runner or a Champion Husband or a Champion Father?  I ask this question tonight because I just got back form the Florida State Cross Country Championships in Tampa Florida.  It was a lot of fun, and I saw some really good runners there today.  But there are many good runners, but very few champions.  I am watching my granddaughter learn to become a champion.  My prayer for her is that she will not only become a champion in running, but a champion in life as well.

I believe champions are made and not born.  Sure, talent helps.  But talent will only take you so far.  I have seen many people with talent only go so far before they were left on the wayside.  So, what are the qualities that it takes.  I believe that the two main qualities that you must have to reach the championship level are will power and focus.  Focus is the most important quality because there is so much that we can be involved in, but if our focus is on the prize, then we will be willing to do what ever it takes to see it happen.  Focus gives life direction and drive.  Without focus, we can all be messed up. 

But almost as important as focus is will power.  It takes will power to sacrifice certain areas of your life to make sure that you have time and commitment to do want needs to be done to see that you make it to the next level.  There is always another level, and if it takes us time to get everything together then one has to be willing to sacrifice other things to make it happen.  It takes a lot of will power to be willing to give up things you like in order to reach your goals.  Most people don’t have the will power to see things through when they get hard.

As I look at Adair I see focus and will power mixed with talent.  These are the perfect ingredients for a championship cocktail.  I have seen it in her for a long time, but it is really beginning to stick out as traits now.  I see total focus on what it takes to reach her goals, and I see the will power to do what ever it takes to get it done.  Yes, Adair has talent. And that is important, but not as important as her focus and willingness to do what ever it takes.  I saw all three in her race today.  She came in ranked eighth in the state 1A schools.  Her Personal Best for the 5K cross country was 19:04.  Well, today she finished seventh in the 1A schools and ran an new Personal Best of 18:47.  That was an awesome race and I am so glad that she did that.  She ran the race that she wanted to run.  You have to be happy when you do something and I think that she was.

Yes, it takes people who are champions to make others around them champions,  I truly believe that Adair will win a championship race someday, but to me, she is already a champion in my book.  It was really fun to watch her run, and to be with the family today. 

In Tampa for the Race

Sheryl and I got up early this morning to make sure we were able to catch a flight down here without waiting around all day. It is good to be off today. Yesterday I had a double period at work and then did a Sozo last night after work. Needless to say, I was too tired to get the blog done last night. But we are here in Tampa tonight to watch Adair run in the state cross country finals tomorrow morning. My prayer for her in the morning is that she be able to run the race she knows she can run.

It is really good to see Jennifer, Sean, Adair and Meleah again. It's been way too long since we have seen them. Seeing Adair is hard. Most of the time she is with the team, but we did get to see her a little bit. It's a quick trip, but that is better than not seeing them. Tomorrow morning we will go to the race and then leave for the airport in Tampa. I am so glad that we have been able to make this trip.

This afternoon, we were unable to check into the hotel early, so we made our way to a movie. But traffic and other things made us late. We wound up in Ybor City. , it is a historical district that was the hub of American Cigar production in the 1800's. This place was the home to Spanish, Cuban, Italian and German immigrants. They were tobacco specialists. All the cigars were hand rolled back then. At the heigh of this industry this area hand rolled over 500 Million hand rolled Cigars. We hung out tonight were all afternoon. We looked at shops and finally sat down for a drink. We had a good time in a place we didn't even knew existed. Well, it is late, and the race does come early tomorrow. So, we will go tonight and then give Adair our best as we pull her on to the state finals.

Saying Goodbye

I’ve always been a big proponent of change.  One of my favorite sayings has been “Change is inevitable”.  You know that is really true.  It is inevitable, in almost every form of life.  If you live long enough, you will see a lot of change, whether you want to or not.  Some change is forced upon you, like the death of a spouse.  But there are many changes that are really by choice.  Getting married is one of those changes.  I think it’s the combination of changes that get to you. 

It’s a combination of changes that brought me to today.  I was up north in the house waiting for the Salvation Army to come make a pickup.  I had time, so I walked through that empty house and spent time just remembering all the good times that I have had in that house.  I can call it a house now because my home is in Peachtree City.  The house will be on the market soon and today was probably one of the last, if not the last times that I will ever see it.  So, it’s only natural to walk through each room thinking about the good times. 

One of the best times in the house came right after one of the worst.  Watching Julia Anne being born in that house was a refreshing treat for all of us that night.  Well, maybe it wasn’t so refreshing for Lisa.  But the results were refreshing anyway.  I remember sitting by the fire listening to music writing my blog.  I remember friends coming over for dinner and a movie.  I remember the joy of building the house and putting the things in it that would make it uniquely ours.

But saying goodbye was really easy because I have already begun to become accustomed to the house in Peachtree City.  Sure, Sheryl and I both want to know where the cart paths go, but that will come with time also.  So, it is true, Change is Inevitable.  I’m living proof of that.  The changes that I am going through right now are good,

Settling in, Finally

Well, I’m sitting here in my rocking chair by the fireplace listening to Judy Collins, so things are slowly getting back to order.  I give Sheryl most of the credit for this.  I am definitely not the one to build any kind of a nest.  But I still enjoy it once it is built.  The great room is pretty well finished.  It has pictures on the walls and all the furniture is in place.  The only thing that I need to do is to get the sound system for the TV hooked up.  But I have to buy the replacement speakers and figure out how I am going to do that.  It might take a while.

The Master Bedroom is almost finished, office desk and all.  We still have a couple of pictures to hang, but the big mirror has been hung and looks good.  All our clothes are unpacked and everything there is pretty well situated.  The dining room is almost finished as well.  We still have to hang pictures there and then it be finished as well.  The Kitchen, now that could be a blog post in itself.  We have lots of stuff and very few drawers, but things are still beginning to come together.  The biggest problem is deciding what to keep and what to put in the basement and what to give away.  We had duplicates of many things, and we both liked our own things.

Yes, the kitchen, that is the place where it was possible for us to maybe have a fight.  But calmer heads prevailed.  Basically I just told Sheryl to choose what she wanted.  Ther were only a couple of exceptions.  She did a great job bring in the best of both houses, and I really think that she did a great job.  There weren’t many other areas where we had different opinions, except maybe the great room originally.  We have a lot of furniture, but this room is really big, so most all of our furniture fit.  The hardest part was coordinating where it would go, but we finally agreed to an arrangement that is really good.  It will seat a lot of people, or can be divided into two seating groups if need be. 

Yes, we are settling in.  The biggest job that I still have is trying to clean out the basement.  Where am I going to put my pressure washer and shop vac.  The basement doesn’t have an outside entrance.  I might put the pressure washer under the house if it will go there.  The shop vac will have to go in the basement.  But there are many other decisions like that to make the right choices on.  The garage is big, but I need to get it cleaned out enough to hold my Harley, two cars, a refrigerator and a golf cart.  I think it will, but we really have to work on it.  So, that is my next project.  Hopefully I will be able to get it done before Thanksgiving.  We will see.

Birthright

Jesus died to give us eternal life, not life after death.  When does eternal life start?  If we are in Him, we are in eternal life because His life is eternal.  So, I guess eternal life starts when we are first in Him.  That means it starts when we accept Him as savior and Lord of our life.  Our problem in America is that too many Christians are waiting for the rapture to begin their life when they should already be thinking and living as if they were extensions and ambassadors of the Kingdom.  Our enemy loves it, because if we don’t believe we can make a difference in our surroundings, then we can’t. 

Tonight we had a South African preacher named John Sheasby speak at our school.  His message is all about the new covenant and grace.  As far the staff goes, he was preaching to the choir.  However the students, well they are coming from many different backgrounds and they might not understand the new Covenant like he was explaining it tonight.  Probably the majority of Christians, especially in the south, have taken the “Saved by Grace” part of the Gospel and have just added it to all the works that they feel that they have to do to get to heaven.  John told the story of a Chaplin in a hospital who had been with over 2000 people as they died.  He said that it was so easy for the non believer to accept and receive the grace of God for salvation on their death bed.  He said that they died so peacefully, resting in the arms of their newfound friend.  He said that Christians had a much harder time dying.  They kept asking “if they had done enough”.  They didn’t realize that it had all been for them and that all they really had to do was to rest. 

Rest; that word is easy to say, but very hard to do.  It’s really sad when Christians think that they have to perform in order to do anything in the Kingdom.   It’s important that we as teachers understand that we should make sure that our students begin to understand and experience the grace that Father God was giving.  We have to realize that it is not about any one person, but also understand that there was no striving in the Kingdom.  There was so much more that I could say, but we will save them for another time and another place. 

Face Time

Today was a good day.  We got up and had coffee in the sunroom.  The sun was shining and all the plants and sunlight made the morning special.   I then went outside and got the leaf blower started.  Then I blew thousands of leaves off the yard and the driveway.  It was cold, but it was rewarding to see a clean driveway and yard.  There was a church craft fair and we went to that.  We bought some items and it was fun as well.  I wanted to leave because I had to work and I still wanted to get a run in before I left.

The run was a lot of fun.  There are many reasons for enjoying Peachtree City but probably for me the best one is living near the trails.  I love running on the cart trails.  I can run a different route almost everything I run.  That is so much fun; to have that much variety.  It’s almost like living by Kennesaw Mountain.  I haven’t enjoyed running as much since I moved away.  I think I can get back into it now.

 

After that I worked and then came home for dinner.  We watched a movie.  It was “The Green Lantern”  I definitely need to see it again.  There was so much spiritual stuff in it.  I have to see it again just to sort it out.  During the movie I got a call from Lisa.  She just got a new IPhone, and she was calling on “face time”.   If you remember Dick Tracy in the comics, he had a watch where you could talk and see the person you were talking too.  It was pretty far out, science fiction, back then.  Well fiction becomes reality.  Today, with the new IPhones if you are in WiFi you can not only talk, but you can see each other.  Well, that’s what we did tonight.  It was so much fun to be able see Anna Roan and Julia along with Lisa.  It was fun for them to see us as well.  I loved seeing them, and we will definitely have to do that more often.  Tomorrow is an A period with an early getup.  So, I think I will call it a night.  Today was really fun.  I can’t wait until we can do it again.

11/11/11

Today is 11/11/11 and change really is in the air.  On another note today is Veterans Day.  It’s the one holiday where we honor all those who have served our country.  Freedom is not free, it cost dearly.  Our men and women have, and still pay for it with their blood, sweat and tears.  Many pay for it with injuries and some pay with their lives.  But whether you served in wartime or peace time, I want to thank you for your service.  It seems like we have been in a constant state of war all of my life.  I know that it is not true, but I think back to Korea onward, and I was born just after WW2.  Then there was Viet Nam, probably one of the worst times to be a Soldier.  Then there were little conflicts like Panama and Granada.  There were things in Europe and Kosovo and Serbia.  Then came Afghanistan and Iraq.  I can understand Afghanistan better than any war I have been alive for.  We had to go after the terrorist and those who were hiding them after 9/11.  Today, things are getting even more crazy.

We have Iran, Libya, Syria, Egypt and more fighting.  But what are they really fighting for?  Who is actually in charge?  No one knows, especially not Washington.  We are so concerned about our politics and who is responsible for all the debt that we seem to have our head in the sand when it comes to foreign affairs.  If I wasn’t a believer in God and His goodness, I could easily be depressed.  Especially when I think of how messed up things are going to be for my grandchildren.  Will we be free?  I guess it depends upon how many brave men and women will still stand in harms way, even when they know that their country is messed up and spending their inheritance.  So thank all of you who served, but I especially thank those of you who are serving now. You truly are my heroes.

Now back to 11/11/11.  Numbers have meanings and one of the meanings for 11 is change. Well, this will be triple change.  It’s the only time in our lives we will see it.  I plan on staying up for a few more minutes to be up at 11/11/11; 11:11PM.  My prayer is for our nation tonight.  I pray that we would have heavenly protection from angels and no terrorist would be able to bring us harm.  I also pray that we would understand how to steward all that God has entrusted us with.  Yes, 11 means change.  My prayer is that it would be change that would bless our people and bring prosperity back to the land.  That is what we are trying to do with His help.  There is no poverty in Heaven, and we need to continue to press for a poverty free country: a country where everyone can and will work.  It’s not about capitalism or socialism.  It’s about releasing the Kingdom of God into the earth.  It’s about allowing Him to invade our space where we can learn to change our ways to adapt to the ways of the Kingdom.  That’s the change that is coming.  That is the change I am declaring every day, not just on 11/11/11.  Change is coming.  I believe it.