Rick Beeman

I rarely get angry and hardly ever lose my temper. I think I’ve lost it three times in my lifetime and I can’t even remember why I was angry. I think I get that from my father as he is very even tempered as well. Thank God I didn’t take after my mother that way (she’ll read this and get angry at that.) Kristen got all of that. So I think I must have been under some sort of test today because there were many things that happened that just got on my nerves. I think I must have passed the test as I didn’t lose my cool and reacted calmly and rationally some of the time. The first issue happened at work with two co-workers. I suspected something was up. I don’t want to get into details but their actions made me angry. When they got into the office we all talked it out. I think they were quite concerned that I was angry and they wanted to tackle it head on. It was very responsible for them to do so. I think they were kind of surprised to see me so bothered. T...

We had our positive living group tonight. It was a special one. I told everyone that it was the last one for a couple of weeks, because Im headed to the U.S. So my dear friend Mrs. India came by just to say goodbye. She was going home to India, so I won’t see her for nor her kids for about 6 weeks. She has invited me to come visit their family in India. I would love that, but im not sure if I can swing it. Mrs. India really means a lot to me. She is always so supportive and encouraging. I love her kids and her husband too. They don’t make too many families like this one. I went to her son’s birthday party the other day, which I blogged about. She told me that the little Donald Duck that I bought him has been with him non-stop since that time. That really made me feel good. You never know what a small little gesture will mean to someone. This was the topic of our group tonight. We watched a video where Joel was extolling the virtues of being an encourag...

Im hangin out at my friend Darren’s house. Darren and I are squash buddies. We played yesterday in fact. Boy after a day of kayaking and then an intense game of squash, I can hardly move today. Darren is engaged and is from Dallas. We go to church together and can relate on a number of different levels. Turns out he’s a real big sports fan as well. I was planning on a nice quiet evening but that had gotten blown up. Had a long chat with Ms. So Ca. She’s a flight attendant so she usually calls on layovers at certain airports. Turns out she’s a film buff too. So we have lots to talk about with the film industry. I was about to blog and head to bed when I checked out ESPN. The U.S. was up 1-0 in the Confederations cup against Brazil. What???? Is this even possible. I didn’t want to miss anything historic, and I don’t know how to get some of the channels on my TV, so I rushed over to Darren’s house to watch it with him. We watched the Superbowl together, s...

This is the first Saturday that I’ve had off in four months. Its been a pretty grueling schedule, but its fun while I work so it doesn’t sting as much. So I had two days off this weekend. I sure had a lot of fun. Yesterday I forgot to mention, I was invited to a couple of birthday parties. One for a 6 year old and the other for Muneer who’s I think 29. I was kind of surprised by the 6 year old party. His mother, who is a dear reader of this blog, called me at the last minute to tell me how special it would be for me to show up for her son. So I made it just at the end of the party. I was fortunate that I found a store just outside and bought a little Donald Duck stuffed animal. So I get to the party and the grown ups kept asking me which is your child? Um…..no, Im here for the cake and ice cream. So I kind of stood out, but still had a nice time. The 6 year old called me this morning to thank me for the gift and to also let me know that he slept with it last...

It’s hard to top a day like yesterday. But still this one was wholly satisfying in a slow very relaxing way. I started my day off right with a long conversation with Ms. So. Ca. Since she was an actress in the industry for so many years we have plenty to talk about. Plus the spiritual journeys which we are both on fascinate us both. It’ll be interesting to see where this leads, but we’re both excited about meeting each other next week. I had to get up to prepare my lesson for the teens at church. I went to my favorite breakfast haunt. My normal server was back from his 1 month holiday in India. I was glad to see him. So I prepared the lesson and went to church. The teens meet in someone’s house about a five minute walk from the church. We played a an improv game to warm them up, but they were very stiff. When I started the lesson, I felt compelled to just throw the book down and share from the heart. I did that and I feel like the Holy Spirit was directing me to share very...

What an amazing, absolutely, incredible day. I was gripping hard last night as you might have surmised by my blog. As I was crying out to God, he basically said “chill”. So that’s what I did. I was gripping because Miss So. Ca hadn’t talked to me for 24 hours and my mind was racing. So I thought it was over…what…after 24 hours? In the etiquette world of online dating, you never really break up, you just stop responding to emails or calling, most of the time anyway. The thing is…as a result of my divorce I am incredibly emotionally insecure. When I feel attraction to someone, any time there is a break in the routine, my mind immediately thinks the worst that Im going to be abandoned again. This is what I have to deal with. God knows my heart, pain and struggle. Im pretty stable in every other way…except emotionally. I think its going to take the unconditional love of the right one to help me get over that. In the meantime God knows my heart and is helping me ...

Wouldn’t you know it. As soon as I get into my rhythm of teaching, the classes are coming to an end. Im actually kind of melancholy about it. Even the children I think I’m going to miss. I had one of the mom’s come up to me today. She said, 17 screaming children (well they weren’t screaming just then) I don’t know how you do it. The kids are very excited when they get to class so I can’t really blame them. Every week they make this thing of requesting what color shirt I wear the following week. They all have votes. So we made a game, and last week I had them give an impromptu speech of what I should wear and why. They gave me all the colors of the rainbow as requests. So I wore the secret weapon. I have this absolutely hideous multi-color fluorescent Hawaiian shirt of my father’s from the 60’s. When I say this is the worst thing ever created in terms of fashion, its not an exaggeration. The thing almost looks like you need to plug it in to recharge it. B...

I am a real creature of habit. There are so many different types of food and restaurants here, yet Im content going to the same places and ordering the same exact thing. The only real variety is which day I’ll go to which regular spot. I think I have about 15 regular eating spots. One of those is Dairy Queen. On Sunday quite by happenstance I stumbled into a Dairy Queen for lunch. I was quite surprised that it was the first of a three day customer appreciation event. Everything on the menu was ½ off. Since that point, I have eaten at Dairy Queen seven straight times. It doesn’t end there. Yesterday I took the South African there for lunch. For dinner, I bought everyone in my Positive Living Group dinner from there. And for lunch today, I bought everyone in the office their own meal from Dairy Queen. I needed and excuse, and that excuse was that it was the first day for our new sales person. Now its an interesting thing with Indians. Most of them don’t make enough money to...

We just got finished with another Positive Living Class. This time there were four of us. Im not really that interested in numbers anymore. I worked for churches and missions organizations that were so pre-occupied with the amount of people that raised their hands to rededicate their lives, or give their lives to Christ. It was like a Christian scorecard. I was at meetings where Pastors..Godly men…would almost brag about how many got saved during their services. Of course they would figure out how to do this in humility. One particular meeting, I got fed up. I said you know all this talk of numbers is a little discouraging. When I was a missionary and I took my entire family to Taiwan. I firmly believe it was to save one guy. That man’s name is Kidd. You know what? One was enough for me. That God loved this one guy so much that he moved an entire family across the world just to use us to lead one person to Christ. If anything illustrated the parable of t...

Its hard to figure out what to write tonight. My head is going in a million different directions. I know that God is control. I just have to do what Im telling Ms. So. CA to do, Wait on the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret because of Him who prospers in his way.” That’s from Psalms. I try not to feel sorry for myself too much. It was ultimately my choice to come over here after God’s prompting. I know Im here because God wants me here but he never forces us to do anything. Man plans his way but God directs his steps. Maybe my way was to do some sort of ministry work in my professional field and God led me here. I know Im supposed to be here during this season. God really has been doing some amazing things in my life. I have told you that God speaks to me. At first I thought it was just for me, but the more that I look back, He has often given me words for others. I think I realized that I do have a spiritual gift. It is the Word of Knowledg...

A tale of two halves. Today could have been a challenging day…but it wasn’t. I got up early and had a long kayak ride. I’m so digging the kayak thing. I think Im the fittest (well at least on the upper body) than I’ve ever been. Kayaking is so different from lifting weights. Lifting is made up a several excruciating short bursts of pain. While Kayaking is more of a slow, long, consistent methodical burn. Both are challenging and both have their rewards. What I like about the kayak is that it is so calm and peaceful. Its very meditative. Plus its nice that I can physically measure my progress by going a little further each day. Plus…on a purely superficial level. I got this cool ego boost today. I drive around with my kayak in the car. I put the front seat down and put the kayak in the back, and it fits perfectly. The problem is I can only have one passenger and they have to sit in the back. So as I was walking into teach the children in the acting cl...

One of the reasons I didn’t stay out too late at the parties on Thursday night is that I had church Fri. morning. Periodically Im on the schedule to teach the teens. I really enjoy that. I feel like I have a lot of practical wisdom to share with them. I so enjoy being used of God that way. Anytime God uses you for any purpose, he blesses you immeasurably. So after church I went off to Fuddrucker’s and I took my laptop with me. Nothing makes a good cheeseburger better than sharing it with good friends. When good friends aren’t available, nothing makes it better than a laptop with LOST season 4. Only two more seasons to go and my obsession will come to an end. I was excited last night. My friend Ghassan who is one of my acting students and a member of the Bahrain 10, the improv troupe competing in The Funniest Person in Bahrain contest. Join the group on Facebook for more info. Ghassan invited me to Lebanon, his home next weekend. I thought about it, then I thought it would ...

We’re going through a tough time financially at KSDi. It’s a cash flow thing. Not having an effective sales team the last six months or so is really catching up to us in a big way. My problem is that I relied upon my sales team so much that I neglected my role in the sales department. I trusted them too much. When they say General Manager, they really mean a jack of all trades. I so enjoy being just on the creative end. But I do have a gifting when it comes to being a producer and in sales. Im certain everything is going to wind up ok. God wouldn’t have brought me around the world to fail. Or perhaps looking on the bright side I’ve already accomplished my purpose, which I don’t think is the case. There is a plan unfolding before me almost on daily basis. Im on this Christian Dating website. I meet plenty of girls in Bahrain, but you can count the amount of Christian girls here on one hand, and that would be the Simpson’s hand with three fingers. I do believe in the equall...

It was Wednesday so another long day. I only have two of these 14 hour days left so the light is at the end of the tunnel. I do enjoy teaching. But it seems like that is the only aspect which I talk about my work. I think it’s the aspect that brings me the most fulfillment because I can see people growing and developing themselves. For the adult class I decided to get involved tonight. There is this technique I use called Sense Memory. You go back to a place in your past and your remember the sensory elements of that place. Stuff like sights, smells, sounds, touch, taste are the elements. If you go experience the sensory elements that somehow triggers a real emotional response. Now normally this takes about 10-15 minutes to build up with beginning actors. I take them on a guided meditation. Its not really hypnosis but its similar. It’s really powerful. The idea is that the more you do this exercise the better you become at it and you transition easier. S...

Today I have to consider an average day. So…with the way my life has been going, an average day has to be considered a bad day, and that’s a good thing. My father always says, may the best of your yesterdays be the worst of your tomorrows. Or was it the worst of your yesterdays be the best of your tomorrows. Either way…I’ll take the optimistic route. So that’s where I am. I have so many good days out here, when I have an average that is a anomaly. I’m not going out much with friends more. I don’t think Im a loner, I’m not lonely. I have many very good acquainstances here. And very good acquainstances on this island translates to good friends back home, since everything is more intense here. I can call up a number of friends to go out with If need be, but I generally like the solititude. That is soooooo different than when I first got here. I needed friends in the worst way, and was very lonely. Now I’m acclimated and thus far…God has been enough. I came ...

I’ve been on quite a good run lately.   Im a pretty fortunate guy.   Other than the emotional department, I’m living a pretty darn good life.   I’m very appreciative of it, especially considering the depths of despair I climbed out of the past three years.   But what rings in my head is the vision that I had sitting across from the South African and his wife a few months ago when he had the look of panic in his face, but was gripping onto his wife’s hand.   He had just lost his job, had his bank account frozen, and his credit cards cancelled.   All in the span of a day.   Now he had 30 days to figure out if he was moving back to South Africa, with no money, and having to pack up a house full of stuff, or stay in Bahrain and find another position in the midst of the recession.   I looked at him, and I don’t think he really grasped it.   I said Casper, (he said I could use his name) I know you are in a sense of stunned panic right now.   You probably feel like your world is caving in. ...