Future/Eternity

It's important to plan for your future. To know you have one that is. You shouldn't put off the present but prepare for what will come. This is my poor attempt at being subtle, I'm running the risk of being misunderstood.
Eternity consumes the future as we understand it, present and the past as well. But right now, in our present situation, a decision of our eternity is before us. So it's important to plan for your eternity.
How you plan for it is up to you, but may I suggest some reading. The Holy Bible spells out the only Way to have an eternity in the presence of God. That Way is Jesus Christ. All other ways provide an eternity apart from the presence of God. The gift to a thinking mind is choice. So the choice is yours to make.

Family

Family!!!

Tact

It's important to use tact when discussing relocation possibilities with your children.

Sleep

Most people love sleep, some don't. Regardless if you enjoy it or not, everyone sleeps. Some take advantage of every opportunity to sleep, others consume chemicals or practice rituals that deter slumber. I have never actually felt the need to not sleep. For the past couple of weeks, I've been getting four to five hours a night. Wednesday, at work, I became weak, pale, nauseous, clamy, fatigued, I was trembling. I felt bad. That was at the beginning of the day. I made it through, however I was miserable. That evening around six, I said my goodnights and passed out. My alarm woke me eleven hours later, and I still feel wonderful.
At twenty-one, I could work all day on three hours of sleep. At twenty-five, I could run all over town all weekend long on six hours of sleep, total, for the week end. At twenty-eight, quite a few things had caught up with me, and it was time for me to catch up on my sleep. Now in my mid-to late-thirties, I can not express enough the importance that sleep has to my calm, soothing, sense of well being.

Focus

My daughter accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior late Saturday night. She was baptized this morning at worship service. I recalled the baptisms of my wife and sons and my own when I was a child. I began to recount the events in my life since that time. I'm reminded of the importance of keeping focused on the will of God. I will do all I can to assist my wife and children keep that focus, as well as mine. I'm a very happy and thankful man.

Room To Breathe

It's important to clear the clutter. Make room to breathe, so you can focus on what really matters.

Making the Right Choices

I find that I struggle day by day with making the right choices in life. A better description would be moment by moment. I've realized that I am not the only one with this problem, but I have to live with me like no one else could. It's became less difficult to make choices that are on the path in the Life I've chose to follow, but I always seem to get in the way. But there is a Way.

The Way is the Truth in Life. That Way, Truth, and Life is Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. By His blood, I am forgiven. By His victory over death, I am assured of a life with Him. He has allowed me to better love my wife and children. He is teaching me, through His word, how to love everybody. I'm not the best at it, and will always be in the position to improve, but I am trying. With Him, all things are possible. Only through Jesus can I get to the Father, and I sure do thank Him for that. I could not do it on my own.

What's important to me is my relationship with my God. He takes care of the rest. He can take care of you too. It is your choice. I believe an important one.

Family Day Out

Twenty feet or so above a deep pool in a mountain stream. One of my kids was standing next to me with eager eyes of anticipation. My wife in the shallows, was staring at me as if it were eighteen years earlier. My youngest next to her, laughed and shouted "jump daddy." My oldest searched through our bags for some chips. I looked at the child next to me and said, "alright."

The air flew by my eyes and ears. I heard a grunt inside my head as I braced for impact. Suddenly, I was surrounded by the fridged waters, my fore arms were stinging from slapping the water. My feet landed on the sandy bottom, I almost went to my knees. I pushed off from the bottom, releasing my air as I rose to the surface.

My son with the chips was shaking his head. My daughter was almost howling with laughter. My wife had the look of "well," in her eyes. My other boy was teetering up on the rock, grinning from ear to ear. I motioned for him to join me. I was astonished at the small amount of hesitation then, he was airborn. A moment went by and then another, then he came to the top still grinning. It's important to go out of your way to have a wonderful day with your family.

New Respect

I have the privilege of working with my brother on the railraod. He is the foreman of our gang (crew). He has taken a vacation this week and my seniority moves me into the foreman slot while he is out. The line our bridge is on sees quite a bit of traffic. Double tracks to single tracks and so on and so forth. We are installing new bridge ties. By the way, the bridge is 312 feet from the top of the ties to the earth below. Dispatchers are wanting us to get out of the way of the trains. Supervisors wanting the ties to be installed as quickly but as SAFELY as possible. The safety of your co-workers that are also your good friends, and asking them to work their tales off at the same time. The forms, forms you need to keep up with. With all the dotted "I"s, boxes checked, "T"s crossed. My big brother has a tough job. I'm trying my best to fill his steel toed boots while he's at the beach for a well deserved vacation. I'm ready for him to be back so maybe I can go. You never know what people go through until you experience it yourself. Even then, I reckon, it's not quite the same. I have new respect for my brother, in whom I've always had respect. I guess I'm trying to say, it's important to give people the benefit of the doubt instead of always giving them down the road.

Suds

Important, becareful when you inhale through your nose with head slightly tilted back while rinsing shampoo. In 30 years of remembered showering, this was the first and hopefully the last time.

Got Your Back

My 15 year old recieved his first roadway verbal critism by someone from another vehicle. He took it better than I did. However, as I calmed down he let it get to him a little. I told him he didn't do anything wrong, the other dude must have been having a lousy day. The important thing that I let my son know was, I always have his back. That seemed to make a difference. We all can make a difference, tell friends and family we've got their back. Just as important, maybe even more so, pray for the others that seem to be having a lousy day.

Following?

I was going to follow another blog. I clicked a few things, now I'm following my own blog instead of the other one. It's important to be smarter than what you're fooling with, if you are expecting the desired results. But more importantly, try to be cool to everybody you run into today, huh!

All That Jazz

I'm not a real musician, but I can carry a tune. What I mean is I dig music. Growing up, I was steeped in classic rock, heavy on the Southern kind. Some blue grass, quite a bit of blues. Driving home I landed on public radio, apparently jazz hour. I discovered it is important for me to expand my listening pleasures. Although I've had trouble with jazz in the past, every tune I heard this evening was fantastic.

We'll See

Alot of people have differing views on what's important. What I find important you might dismiss, then again maybe not. Anyway, we'll see. Let me collect my thoughts, meager as they might seem and I'll get back to you. Until then, any thoughts?