Rick Beeman

Strange Day, I have so many up days here , there’s bound to be a down one every once in awhile.    And today wasn’t really down, it was just kind of blah.    Nothing really happened.    Which in retrospect is a good thing.    I think Im so acclimated to being blessed    and having fantastic days that an average day is considered to be a bad day as compared with everything else.    That is a great thing I think.    It reminds me of what my father always says (I think it’s the only toast, he knows) “May the best of your yesterdays be the worst of your tomorrows.”    So I think that is what is happening to me.    God is transitioning me to higher plateau of being.    Where an average day, can be considered as bad as it gets.    That is so encouraging.    Does that mean I’m not going to have bad days.    Absolutely not.    Like Rick Warren said, either your in the midst of a trial right now, just coming out of one, or just about to go into one.    I think God is constantly challenging us. ...

Another good day on the island of Bahrain.    I was torn at first, I woke up for church, they do church on Fridays here, the first day of the weekend and its still weird.    But just as I was about to leave Ms. Texas popped up on IM.    I love chatting with her, and its difficult to find mutually convenient times to chat.    So I had a choice, skip church and do what I really wanted to do, which was connect with her, or go to church.    I chose the latter and Im glad I did.   This whole blog started out as a way for me to break perceptions that America has with the Middle East and Arabs.    Somehow slowly it has morphed into my spiritual and emotional journey.    I’ve complained, whined, rejoiced, marveled, expressed my peace, joy and elation.    It just has meandered away from a cultural understanding of Arabs.    I ask myself why.    I think its because that there just isn’t that many differences between Americans and Arabs.    We have the same hopes, dreams, and desires.    In fact,...

Magic…what a magical day it was, simply magical.    Im having more and more of these so I think its becoming a trend.    First of all it started out with me waking up at 4 am…and chatting with Ms. Texas for an hour.    Its hard to connect with the time change.    The spa day for her went over very well.    When she got there…the workers were buzzing…Oh so you’re…Ms. Texas….    They went on and on…how they wish their spouse/significant others would do something considerate like that for them.    I had her favorite flowers delivered to the spa too.    She had never had anyone pamper her like that before so it made her feel incredibly special.    And thus, because she was so genuinely appreciative, made me feel special.    I love doing that kind of stuff for people I care about.    I did that sort of thing for X all the time, but it had the opposite effect after awhile, the more I did the less she respected me in the end.    I did love X dearly…but not in the way she desired me to love he...

I installed a stat counter on this blogspot…Well I didn’t…I had Reji..our IT guy do it.    I was just curious how many people were accessing it.    Before I came over here, God had laid it on my heart to write a book about my divorce and how I overcame the hurt, pain and rejection.    Somehow…this blog is the result of that.    Im honored that I have so many readers…supporters…and prayer partners.      Im really blessed.    But then I got to thinking.    The stats…isn’t that just the flesh talking?    I just read about David when he took the census when he was King.    The sin was he was placing his faith in numbers and not God who had provided again and again for him.    I worked for a few churches and missions organizations.    They were very concerned about their numbers.    Its like a Christian scorecard, how many people raised their hand at the end of the service meant validation or valuation for them.    That so turned me off… I think it comes down to the parable of the lost shee...

Wow…am I spent.    What a great day of activity it was.    Intellectually I was going all day.    We have a ticket booked for Guy, he’s going to get here on Monday.    Im excited about him coming.    Since he’s going to focus primarily on sales, I can keep focused on making movies, my true passion.    I am actually a really good salesman, but I think Im a better filmmaker.    So its all a part of being balanced.    We are starting the acting school in mid-Feb.    So to promote it and our ventures, we did a press release that went out wide yesterday.    We were in a few publications already, but due to the nature of the piece as a feature, its more likely going to go to print on the weekend editions.    But we did have a reporter from a local paper and her photographer come to interview Khalifa and I for her paper.    We spoke about two hours with her.    She was from Sweden a former Gulf Air hostess turned reporter.    She was really smart.    A lot of our goals and objectives cultural...

Mean people suck.    Have you seen that bumper sticker?    I think it was my mantra today.    I was trying to figure out what to get for my daughter for her birthday.    I called her, at first she said, ipod or iphone.    Then she changed her mind, I think because she thought it was frivolous, Im not sure why.    Still I wanted to be a blessing to her.      Her mom confiscated her other phone.    Plus, since Im not allowed to leave silly messages or call on the house/X’s hubby’s phone/formerly Lindsey’s, I thought it would be a good idea to buy Linz an iphone.    So I could call my daughter directly, like I call my son.       I sent an email to X offering to pay for a year’s worth of coverage if I bought Linz a phone.    A few rude emails later, it was expressed to me that I don’t listen and Lindsey doesn’t want a phone. Which got me to wonder, what soon to be 15 year old girl in the world doesn’t want her own phone…I thought that was state law.    But x has so much control…its sad rea...

Another great day here.    So what happened that was great today?    Not really much of anything, but Im living my life right right now, so I’m overflowing with peace and joy which is cool.    Because I don’t have to have anything external happen to make me happy.    Wait…I just thought of something.    Had a very nice and long chat with Ms. Texas, so I guess something good did happen to me today.    I posted a picture of her and other new pics below if you want to check them out. Its so interesting the way my career is turning.    Being on the other side of the desk feels great.    I had several meetings today.    The first was with a lady that built a small theater (seats around 50) and she wanted me to use it for my acting classes that I’m starting up here.    She was very excited about the plans we have.   Then I had several appointments in the afternoon with people wanting to see me.    Apparently they think Im important or something…I am.    It’s a really cool feeling.    The fir...

It was a great day today.    The highlight was that I talked to my children.    Well two of them at least. (Spencer was grounded and said he couldn’t talk on the phone)    It was wonderful.    I love them so much.    I miss them terribly.    I went to see Slumdog Millionaire, if you haven’t seen it, It is an absolute must.    It depicts the slums of India in a    pretty start and unforgiving fashion.    I can tell you that, Slumdog Millionaire is amazingly accurate.    Bahrain isn’t like that at all.    Bahrain is more like Europe than the Mid-Far East.    But with all my Indian friends here, I can tell you it is spot on for the culture.    In fact, many of the films for the Bahraini film festival were made by Indians, and they were all quite similar to the style of Slumdog.    There is a reason why the Indians leave their families and come here for one to two year contracts before seeing them again.    The economy over there is that bad.    That type of film is exactly the type of fil...

It was a great day today.    The highlight was that I talked to my children.    Well two of them at least. (Spencer was grounded and said he couldn’t talk on the phone)    It was wonderful.    I love them so much.    I miss them terribly.    I went to see Slumdog Millionaire, if you haven’t seen it, It is an absolute must.    It depicts the slums of India in a    pretty start and unforgiving fashion.    I can tell you that, Slumdog Millionaire is amazingly accurate.    Bahrain isn’t like that at all.    Bahrain is more like Europe than the Mid-Far East.    But with all my Indian friends here, I can tell you it is spot on for the culture.    In fact, many of the films for the Bahraini film festival were made by Indians, and they were all quite similar to the style of Slumdog.    There is a reason why the Indians leave their families and come here for one to two year contracts before seeing them again.    The economy over there is that bad.    That type of film is exactly the type of fil...

I pretty much love my life right now.    Im convinced that this amount of joy is directly connected with the fire within my spiritual walk right now.    I am so blessed finding favor wherever I go, and in my mind doing nothing really to deserve it except be myself.    This peace that Im experiencing is important because I never thought it would be possible for me to attain it after my divorce, yet here I am.    I still long for someone to love and for a restored relationship with my children, but other than that, I’m on top of the world.    I have a great job, great social life, great friends, great future, there are just a lot of positives overflowing in my life right now. Im starting to become really good friends with J.P. Cormier (Google him).    He really is quite popular though I never heard of him prior to this week.    He and I just connected and we are friends.    I think it has to do with three important things.    1. We are both artists    2. We both use our artistry to reach...

It was another one of those days where a week’s worth of blog items happen in one day.    Im getting more and more of those.    I was telling Ms. Texas, that I feel the gates of heaven are pouring down their blessing on me.    I went into work today and Benny our new accountant was reading Joel Osteen’s new book, Become a better you.    So get this…I go to Osteen’s church when Im in Houston, My IT guy Reji, has read about 4-5 books from John Osteen and downloads Lakewood and Bennie, the new Filipino accountant downloads Joel as I do.    So what are the odds of that..an Indian, Filipino, and an American with the Osteen connection working together ½ across the world in a Muslim country.    Plus, I’m starting that Bible Study/church and Lakewood is sending me a bunch of DVD’s/CD’s and books to help start it.    There is a divine plan at play here.   I was telling Tanya (Khalifa’s daughter, my sales manager and dear friend) about Bennie praying for the cash flow of the company and then get...

Wow what an activity filled day.    I was mentioning this to a friend earlier…I really don’t waste anytime at all over here…unless I purposefully choose to do so.    You would think a single guy like me, living in a foreign country knowing no one when I came over here exactly three months ago would have a lot of time on his hands.    That is absolutely not the case.    Now I’m even choosing not to go out to the night spots and im still filling my quota for social activity.    I got invited to a dinner that Nabs hosts every Wed. night at his house.    A guy by the name of, I think Russ, made homemade pasta.    It was delicious.    The first home cooked meal (not counting Christmas) I’ve had in months.    It was absolutely delicious.    There were about 20 people there from all over the world.    It was a great great time.    I took the Romanian…or was it she took me.    Again this Romainian thing is strictly platonic because I really like her boyfriend/pilot.    But Its still nice to ha...

Had a long talk with a dear old friend of mine last night, Thad.    I love that guy one of my best friends.    I worked with Thad for a year but then there was some crap that happened that was quite unfortunate but it drove a bit of distance between us.    But we got past that…life is too short to harbor any ill will.    God really used Thad in my life.    It’s a pretty cool story.    It was August 2007, God spoke to me, and said, You have one week to fast and pray, because the last week in August is going to be difficult (this is part of the early warning system).    So I did just that.    The last week was tough.    I had my kids for the previous 6 weeks, and had to return them to their mother.    Whenever that happens its like I get divorced all over again.    Their mother was being difficult…so I thought that is what I was preparing for…but no.     I went into work on a Monday…and I just knew I was going to lose my job.    Yet it didn’t happen on Monday…I lost it on Tuesday.    Yet...

Wow…heavy emotional day today.    Very busy at work.    I like it that way.    Im learning to be very efficient.    I have to channel my A.D.D. and make it work for me.    At the end of the day I had a long intense chat with an old friend.    Well let me give you just a bit of background.    This was/is a dear friend that I’ve known for years.    This friend did something quite horrible and wounded me very much over the course of several years while she was admittedly far from God.    She told me this really cool story today that I had not heard.    She was rebelling from God and essentially was shaking her fist at God saying leave me alone.    Why do you love me?…im your worst kid she cried out to God.    At that same time, I was leaving a movie and I had this overwhelming thought that I needed to call this friend right then.    Keep in mind since the pain occurred I had not talked to this person for three years (and no…this person is not my ex…but close).    So it was with a bit of t...

Very busy day today.    We are so busy, but the cash flow situation is tight at work.    Cash is king during this recession that is what Nader keeps drilling into my head.    We have a bunch of huge proposals going out this week any number of them would be fantastic to land.    Plus, there is a lot of potential cash out there with the acting classes I’m starting and the archive picture sale.    We have a gallery coming in Monday or Tuesday and hopefully they’ll make a big purchase.    That would take the pressure off.    The long term future looks great….but the short term is kind of tight. I went out and got a new client today.    I had met this German girl at the Ritz Carlton a few weeks back.    She’s the marketing director at Banyan Tree Resort, an amazing luxury spa/resort.    I was just blown away by its opulence.    So we are becoming a preferred vendor for them in the wedding department and a few other projects.    It was nice. She’s apart of a group of friends that are my age ...

Yesterday was such an amazing day.    For those of you who know me, you know me as quite charismatic.    I think as Christians we need to let our joy be full whenever possible.    So when I get excited I try to share it a bit.    I called my kids, on their house phone after I couldn’t get through on Max’s.    So I enthusiastically left a voice mail, “Lovely Lindsey, Marvelous Max, and Spectacular Spencer, I had a great day…call me back and I’ll explain the details.”    Now I did this in an excited voice, because that’s how I usually talk to them.    I got a call back from Max no less than five minutes later, saying he couldn’t talk long, and that I was no longer allowed to call their house phone (which used to be my daughter’s phone) because I left a silly message. (they had earlier warned me not to do so).    He then hung up on me.    Max is a great great kid.    But hanging up on a parent is amazingly disrespectful, but I really don’t blame him.    He’s having it modeled for him.    ...

Wow…I had about a month’s worth of things happen to me within about an 8 hour period.    My head is still spinning a bit.    First of all, I had a wannabe actor come in yesterday and he wanted me to cut his acting demo reel together for him.    He wants it to audition when he gets back to the states.    He said he found me because his brother had read about me in FACT magazine.    Well he dropped his demo material off and brought his brother by.    His brother is young, 22 but extremely sharp.    He comes from a lot of money and is connected within the Bahraini finance community.    His objective is to build a media city, larger than dubai or Abu Dhabi.    A facility with several sound stages, production facilities, post-production, computer animation, basically everything.    The guy already has some major Hollywood players interested.    So get this, in two days I meet a guy who wants me to give him content so he can pitch it to the power brokers to get the green light for production...

Very busy day today. I’m still kind of in the afterglow of yesterday’s really amazing meeting. Its just so cool. I don’t want to count my chickens before they are hatched, But I also want to speak out in faith. So it’s a fine line. So many really great things happened to me today. God really speaks to me so often over here. Its like I’m never alone as we are constantly communicating with each other. I finally figured out what Paul meant when he said pray unceasingly. I went to the big mall, City Center, today. This place is gigantic. So I wanted to grab lunch in the food court since I was close by. I carried my Bible in. I carry my Bible everywhere I go. It’s a tattered and worn Bible that I’ve had for 25 years now. It has been through some battles with me and you can tell that is has been around the world a few times (literally). I actually take great pride in the fact that it is so beaten up. It has been used a lot. So I was getting ready to eat lunch and delve into ...