This tune…

You’ll never forget it. February, 2006. One of the darkest moments of your life. Your arrogance had finally caught up with you, and you knew it. You were too good to apply for the jobs that you really ought to have been focusing on. You’d been ballooning your debt to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a stupid apartment that you thought you deserved.

Oh you had it coming all right. You were about to lose your home. Not a house, just an apartment… but with the kind of debt you had compiled, and new government regulations from the Comptroller of the Currency – some bureaucratic agency you’d never even heard of – you had to learn your lesson.

You cried, feeling like you were a failure. Knowing it. You were supposed to be the one that overcame problems like this. You were supposed to be the one that people looked up to.

But not anymore. Now you would be the guy living on his parents couch at age 30. Yeah… you of all people…

That $1000 a month apartment you thought you could somehow afford on your beloved Queen Street… yeah the house of cards came tumbling down. You had lost everything and had finished packing….

…Ready to leave your beloved Holy City with your tail between your legs.

You had packed all night. But there was no way you were going to sleep. And sure as hell no way you would sleep now. So you did what you always did when you had insomnia… you walk to the streets of downtown Charleston….

…And wound up staring tearfully out to sea at Waterfront Park.

You thought you had had a charmed existence; like thanks to lessons you had learned you were done learning lessons. Now you would be humiliated by your standards…

…and your tears rained down.

Until you saw them. Something you knew that swam around in the harbor From time to time that you had only seen once or twice.

A pair of dolphins. The good luck charm of the sea. Of home.

And in that moment, the tears stopped. The dread didn’t. The pain didn’t. But the tears did.

You knew that you were going to be fine. You didn’t know how, when, or why. But you knew you would be fine.

In that moment you’d learned the lesson that God was teaching you, and exile from home… wasn’t a death sentence…

…but a second chance…

There was peace in your heart. Peace that has not since departed you even now over 13 years later.

What you would give to be able to share that peace with those so dear to you…

So do it.

Be that peace in their lives. Find joy in your heart so rich and full that you fill them with it as the sight of those dolphins filled you with it.

Joy. Peace. In the face of uncertain futures and seemingly insurmountable odds. You had to find them to learn your lesson.

And when you need to remember…  just listen to the tune…  and go straight back to February 2006,  Waterfront Park,  and those blessed dolphins.

 Never, ever let them go. I mean that would just be really stupid…lolz 😂

 

 

 

 

The only time. If a good man cares, This is when it’s alright to lie. When someone he cares about more than anything else needs to hear that the glass is half full.

The only time to lie… is when is it isn’t a lie…

Because he will suffer for her. Happily. Endure for her. Fight any foe. Shoulder any burden. Suffer any sling or arrow.

Because he loves her. Or him. Or them. Or whatever his family is. 

Because he will do anything for his family. To keep them safe. To help them find happiness. To be with them when they need help.

It’s never a lie when you mean it.

And a good man… means it. And always will.

Hold her in your arms, Lord. Every second I can’t hold her in mine.

 She is sacred to me,  and always will be.

I will follow the rules Wisdom has given me… but this new heart…That I have built with Your help?

It works. 🙂

Eternal thanks… now hold her in your arms…

Hold her in your arms…

Please just hold her in your arms…

 

Guilty 🤔

We meet again…. 😒

Some people want to be rich. Some want to be powerful. Some want to be champion at some sport.

Right now literally all you want tonight is to hold someone you care about and watch a movie. Any movie. More. Less. You don’t even care anymore.

It literally never works for you. Never. You’ve tried every way that you can think of, but no one you’re interested in is interested in you, and you’re not interested in those who might be.

You’ve tried to get past the latter on occasion and hurt some really nice girls. Not gonna do that again because now that will be taking advantage of them.

Life is an adventure that you want to share with someone else. Someone that you love and trust completely. The overwhelming majority of people on the planet have it and you don’t.

And honestly it doesn’t look like that’s going to change soon. Frankly it’s getting insulting. Why be who you are?

You were meant to love someone. Be a good man and eventually a good husband. Maybe even a good father but you’ve given up on that.

Another Friday night. You’ve done the bar thing. The Match thing. The volunteer thing. The church thing.

Because you don’t believe in settling. And your standards are high, but there are plenty of women who could meet them.

Another Friday night. Yeah this is why you stay late. Try to build a career. To save up to have vacations you spend alone. Weekends.

Run the numbers. You’re statistically halfway to the grave, and she’s nowhere in sight.

You have the kind of happiness that you will be fine no matter what at the end of the day. God owes you nothing, and you have infinitely more to be thankful for than to wish for.

But even the Bible in its first story tales of someone lonely who wished to have a companion to share their life with.

This is getting so fucking old. Either she is missing in action or you just don’t have it together yet. You’ve got to stay positive and find a way to get whatever it is together. Just don’t hurt anyone.

Just don’t hurt anyone.

You can’t even imagine…

If someone were to ask you who was the bravest person in the entire world, most people wouldn’t really know because, well, there are a lot of brave people… And who could actually find one above others to name?

30 years ago this week, the entire world knew who the bravest person in the world was. But that’s literally all we knew, and would ever know.

We have no idea what his name was. What he was doing in Tiananmen Square. If he had a family. What he did for a living. What groceries he had in his bag. And whatever poor fate befell him.

Those were the protests where convoys of military trucks came in en masse… half filled with soldiers, and the other half empty.

Words cannot describe how fortunate we are. How blessed. And yet how quickly we will forget in our daily struggles this unknown man who wanted for his people to be able to have the daily difficulties we complain about.

And today, it’s fair to say that very few of his nation’s people have even seen this image of his sacrifice.

What do you have to get outraged about? What causes you daily stress?

What is there to complain about, compared to what there is to be thankful for?

Find peace. It’s so much easier for you than it was for this man. Even now in stormy seas, no matter how bad they get.

You’re going to complain tomorrow at work. Something always seems to come up to give you reason to, doesn’t it? Fill your heart with joy being able to laugh at yourself.

Remember the man that stood up to the tanks, armed only with a bag of groceries… and dreams of the world that you take for granted.

A Manager, his Assistant, one old woman and her young daughter are traveling in a train and during the course of time get themselves introduced to each other and become temporary friends. The train goes through a tunnel and it gets completely dark. Suddenly there is a kissing sound and then a slap! The train comes out of the tunnel. The women and the Assistant are sitting there looking perplexed. The Manager is bending over holding his face, which is red from an apparent slap. All of them remain diplomatic and nobody says anything.

The Old woman is thinking:

 These Managers are all crazy after girls. He must have kissed my daughter in the tunnel. Very proper that she slapped him.

The Young girl is thinking:

 The Manager must have tried to kiss me but kissed my mother instead and got slapped.

The Manager is thinking:

 Damn it. My Assistant must have kissed the young girl. She might have thought it was me and slapped me.

The Assistant is thinking:

 If this train goes through another tunnel I will make another kissing sound and slap my Manager again.

Soooooooo don’t want to work today….