I should have known

I need to toughen up. I mean, sometimes I am such an easy touch…

For example, as I sat in the truck outside of Costco, my wife called and asked if I was already outside waiting.

“Yes.”

“I have to buy a few things. Do you want to wait in the truck or come inside?”

I am a man. The answer should have been OBVIOUS.

“I’ll wait in the truck.”

“All right.”

However, there was some small thing in her voice that told me that she really would rather that I come inside. So, being the softy that I am, much to her delight, five minutes later, I went and found her inside the store.

She took me over to taste this new dip “that I’m not going to buy but you have to taste it because it is sooooo goood!”

I took one bite and immediately realized that this was a BIG problem!

“Do you want me to buy it?!”

“NO! THERE IS NO WAY!”

“You don’t like it?”

“Of course, I like it! But how will I ever keep my weight down with this in the house?”

The 4′ something tall woman behind the table with the big blue food service hairnet said to my wife, “Well, I sure couldn’t tell you!”

I started laughing. She continued…

“I’ve been on every diet there has ever been and haven’t lost any weight.”

I went into second stage laughter.

“I’ve been dieting for 50 years and haven’t lost anything!”

Third stage

“In fact, I’m going to start Slim Fast and I am old enough to qualify for their Silver Program so I’ll get a break on the cost.”

At this point, I was helplessly propping my body up on the refrigerated dip display. It was either that or fall to the ground!

“I’ve gained so much weight since I started here. I’ve gained 25 pounds and I’ve only worked here for a year and a half. At this rate, I’ll weigh 500 pounds in 5 years.”

At this point, I couldn’t see anything because my eyes were welded shut. My stomach was about to succeed in wrestling me to the ground despite the help I was receiving from the dip refrigerator.

She moved in for the kill. “They say fat people are jolly! Well, I’m jolly!”

I lifted my left hand (the cracker was still in my right) in surrender, tried to close my mouth to keep from drooling on the floor and begged her not to say another funny thing. I give up! Please!

After I composed my self, my wife took me over to look at some pants!!!!

I should have known this was a trap. I was suckered in because I was a softy, a little woman reduces me to waving a white flag and now this is turning into SHOPPING! I’ve got to get out of here!

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You have a chance to change

My youngest daughter has started an exercise program this year. And like most people, she has struggled. She will get inspired, start vigorously, make a few allowances because she doesn’t “feel” like exercising, have a few small changes in her schedule that devour the time that she was going to exercise, and then she feels like she is starting over.

She is in the midst of her third assault on this fortress and I think that she turned a corner a little over two weeks ago.

She and I were going to go to the prayer room. She had planned to exercise after school but the weather was rather inhospitable. Finally, one half hour before we were going to leave, the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun broke through.

“Dad, should I go run?”

I hesitated. In my mind this is about so much more than just exercise. I think that she is in the midst of changing her character. She is changing the way she views herself, what she expects of herself.

“Cakes, I think that if you run, you will experience a big breakthrough. Not because you are running, but because you are changing from looking for an excuse to taking advantage of an opportunity. I think you that you will look back at this decision and be glad that you chose to run.”

And, so she did. And she has not been the same since.

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What are you worth?

My son is a good looking young man. He gets that from his mother. However, he is going through a little test right now.

As you probably have read, he is a wrestler. Wrestling requires close physical contact. Unfortunately, at the very end of the season, he came in contact with some bad stuff.

First, he picked up scalp ringworm. He was very diligent to apply the medicine and the disease faded away.

Then, while wrestling at Nationals, he picked up a staff infection. He applied the medicine and it seemed to fade away…

but it didn’t. It morphed into another skin condition.

Back to the doctor. After 3-4 weeks, it became obvious that the prescribed medicine was ineffective.

Next, we went to a dermatologist. For the last week, he has been using the new treatment and it looks like it is working but boy does he look bad!

The medicine causes the infected area of the skin to erupt and scab over. The entire front of his neck is infected! He does not look good!

I feel for him. However, I hope that it is bringing home a point that I have tried to impress upon all of my children:

Your value and/or worth is not based on your physical appearance. It is based upon your character; who you are! Your physical appearance could change in a moment.

He has to walk out that value every day in front of all of his peers at high school!

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What could I say?

My wife introduced me to one of her Costco friends tonight named Ashley. The two of them like to talk politics. Ashley is voting for Obama.

I asked her what her primary reason for voting for him.

“I’m for abortion and for gay marriage.”

I didn’t know how to respond. Inside, thoughts about the foundations of human society swirled around in my brain.

“I don’t mind socialism. I grew up in Italy. At least you are taken care of.”

Thoughts on the value and meaning of freedom swirled through my head. I knew that there was nothing that I could say that would changer her mind so I said, “Then you have chosen the right man!”

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Finally, a possibility

As you know, I have not been having much success in my search for a job here in my new hometown. I am either over qualified or not qualified enough. It seems that my choices are either working at Home Depot or applying for jobs that require 20 years experience in 15 different IT acronyms, a security clearance just under the president and multiple doctoral degrees!

However, there might have been a break in the logjam today. I interviewed for a job at the end of 2006 with a small company in KC. He really like me and wanted to hire me but it took so long to finish my house that he had to hire someone else.

I called him to see if he knew of any other companies in the area. He said he would be glad to but he wants to hire me himself. He wants me to take over someone’s responsibilities so they can devote more time to sales.

I will have to wait to hear back from him as the man that I will likely replace is out on his honeymoon all of next week.

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A young lady blossoms

I am really blessed with GREAT children. I mean that-GREAT children.

I first started talking to my youngest daughter about developing the character trait of self-control and the importance of setting goals when she came out to help me pack up our house in March.

Over the past six months, she has really been making an effort to change her character.

She has been learning to control her eating, embarked on a running program and begun to write out some goals. In the past few weeks, she has even made up an Excel spreadsheet to keep herself accountable to carry out the plans that she has made to reach her goals. Aaah! A girl after my own heart.

She is really beginning to enjoy the sweet taste of success. Slowly but surely, she is losing weight. Her consistent exercise is slowly changing the shape of her body. She is developing a consistent devotional life and she beginning to excel in school! Most importantly, she is becoming more more confident.

I have told her that she looks great. But, I have told her that I am far more proud of who she is becoming. She is changing from someone who adopts the first available excuse to someone who takes action.

I am so happy for her. She is growing up!

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A manly decision

This morning, my wife told me my son got home at 3 IN THE MORNING!!!

He was pretty frustrated when he learned that he had to work last night. He was looking forward to a very busy and productive night of homework. (he studies/worships at The Prayer Room)

Well, when work was over at 8:00, he drove straight over and studied until 3:00 A.M.!

I am proud that he pressed through and didn’t use the changes to his plans as a reason to fall behind in school or fail a test.

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Pretty cool

I just finished my morning run. It did not feel great. From about the halfway point, I was giving myself a pep talk.

“Just keep going. You can do it. You can make it. You’ve done it before.”

Imagine my surprise when I hit the button on my watch at the end of the run and discovered that I ran my second fastest time of the year! And I felt like trash.

I am beginning to think that I might have been entertaining a vain hope in thinking that I would eventually enjoy running. Today was just as challenging to my will as it was 3 months ago.

It is, however, very rewarding to feel the benefits to my body. I feel more energetic. My body is steadily getting more firm. I even have some muscles returning. Pretty cool!

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Dad saved his bacon!

My son, my youngest daughter and I were headed to The Prayer Room early this evening when I asked my son what his work schedule was for the week.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Do you work tonight?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Dude, you should KNOW that! You need to call and find out.”

“O.K.”

“You need to call right now!”

Sure enough, he works tonight! …in 20 minutes! How did I know that?

We made a quick U-turn and headed straight back home.

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Adding something new

Early this morning, I walked to the gym and officially added weight lifting to my fitness regimen. Hopefully, I will run three days and lift or do calisthenics three days. We’ll see how faithful I am.

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