Thursday, December 15, 2011

3 of the first 12 days of Christmas...Literally!


Sloan helping me write my blog.

Three nights ago Jennifer and I were about to eat dinner.  We heard the doorbell ring.  Both of us were surprised as we hardly ever get unannounced guests.  So I yell to the door hold on, and I finish what I was doing and go to answer it.  When I opened the door, no one was there.  Doorbell ditch was my first thought until I looked down.  On the porch was a small basket with two wrapped pears.  The note on the outside of the package said, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”  I thought it was cute.  I showed it to Jennifer and neither one of us had a clue to who it was from.  Jennifer thought one of the neighbors, I thought maybe someone from the new church we are attending.  Later that night was trivia.  That is my regular thing on Tuesday nights.  Not really sure why I enjoy it so much.  Perhaps it makes me feel smarter or I am getting something useful out of the warehouse of useless information in my head. 

I am enjoying myself at work.  I was transferred to a different department called Curriculum Pathways at SAS.  They provide an incredible online resources of information for schools.  It’s a huge philanthropic endeavor from SAS as the entire program is absolutely free, no catches at all.  It is quickly become a staple for teachers around the world as they plan their curriculums for their students. I am the producer-director-editor-cameraman for the department.  I started out my career as a one-man-band, and now I find myself getting back to my roots.  It’s a little bit of an adjustment because when I was in Dubai I was only a writer-director.  I sure enjoyed the perks of being pampered like a director.  With staff fetching diet cokes for me and not having to carry any equipment.  I embraced the role of the director, calling out the shots, having crews of up 25 people waiting on my instructions.  I was really good at it.  So now I am back to the original and I am enjoying it.  I am working with fabulously talented people. Most of my co-workers have been with the company for 10-15+ years.  That is such an incredible concept for me to witness.  Stability…Wow.  I want that too.    

If you know me, you know that I tend to have moved around a lot in my career and life.  It seems that aside from 8 years in Los Angeles, I have pretty much moved to a different part of the country/world every 18-24 months.  After growing up in California for 18 years 68-86, I went to college in Springfield Missouri 86-90.  The I went to Graduate School in Virginia Beach, VA 90-92.  I then lived in my hometown of Hayward, CA for a year 1993.   I had a Master’s degree on my wall but I was busy delivering pizzas and parking cars to make a living.  These were hard times.  I decided that if I really wanted to be a filmmaker I had to go to Los Angeles.  So we lived in Los Angeles from 93-2001.  Los Angeles was my favorite place to live.  The energy there was just amazing.  But it was difficult too.  LA was extremely superficial, hyper-competitive and really expensive.  Leaving there was tough as I thought I was leaving my dream behind.  Little did I realize at the time that God had other ideas and other timelines for my dreams.  We moved to Oklahoma for 18 months from 2001-2002.  Then we were dramatically called by God to move to Taiwan in 2003.  Taiwan other than 2010 was the best year of my life.  It was an amazing experience.  I wasn’t keeping up with the Joneses as I felt compelled to do while I was in Los Angeles.  In fact, I wasn’t making hardly any money, didn’t have any saved up for the future, but we had enough.  I think that is what God was trying to teach me.  To be content with whatever I had.  Like Paul said in Philippians 4, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  I should write a whole blog on my experiences in Taiwan, really I could write a whole book.  But sadly SARS hit.  We felt compelled to leave because of my diabetes and history of upper respiratory illness.  God for my safety was telling me to get out.  We thought we temporarily relocated to San Francisco 2003-2004 as we wanted to go back to Taiwan.  But that opportunity never reappeared.  About 18 months in San Franciso is when I was called to Saudi Arabia in 2005.  My family was supposed to join me in Saudi once I determined it was safe, but by that time my ex wife decided she didn’t want to be married anymore and she relocated to Texas to start a new life, unbeknownst to me at the time.  When I realized my marriage and family was in serious jeopardy I followed her to Texas 2006-2007.  I tried and prayed to save my marriage but she had moved on.  I lived in Texas for another 18-24 months.  I got a pretty amazing job offer back in San Francisco, so in 2007 I was a commuter.  I worked in San Francisco/Dublin area and lived with my parents while maintaining my home in Texas.  I used to fly from Oakland to Houston every other weekend for a year to maintain visitation with my children.  In 2008 I moved back to the Middle East and lived in Bahrain for 18 months.  You see a pattern with the 18 months here?  I loved living in Bahrain.  It was a rebirth for me in a sense.  I had just turned 40 the week before I arrived and I was starting a new life on my own through Christ.  I met Jenni in Bahrain and got married there.  I left Bahrain and moved back to North Carolina for five months in 2009 then lived in Dubai for 9 months in 2010.  Along the way Jenni and I got pregnant on one of my visits back…”Bullseye”…and I felt compelled to return to the US in 2011, and that is where we are today…Whew…what an adventure.  I am not averse to having roots.  I loved living in Los Angeles for as long as I did.  The plan for whatever reason keeps changing.  The good part with all the moves that I have been content wherever I have lived. 

OK…I went off on another tangent.  Back to roots and North Carolina.  Yesterday we got another ring on our doorbell.  I made it to the door quicker this time.  Still when I got there, there was no one there except another package on the porch.  This time it was two boxes of chocolate with one of them being turtles.  Tonight I made it to the door within 10 seconds and they just vanished.  These people whoever they are, are good.  Tonight was a nice bag on the porch.  Inside was a rotisserie chicken, French style green beans, and French bread, with a note, on the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me, three French hens.  So its nice to have roots and community again.  We sure feel loved and appreciated both in our place of employment, our church, and our family.  I guess I am living out the personification of the American Dream.  I am halfway through this latest version of the 18 month treatment.  What will the next nine days leave on our porch and what will the next nine months bring? Whatever it will be, I just hope it will be more of the same.  I have truly lived a blessed life.  

Monday, December 5, 2011

Goals


Jennifer and I have been searching for a good church for the past few months.  We thought we found one then something just didn’t feel right about it.  At the same time we got a flier in the mail from some small church in a corporate district right around the corner from my house.  The timing was impeccable.  So we decided to give it a shot.  This was different for me.  I am used to mega-churches.  If there is not more than 1000+ that attend, then I won’t feel right at home, or so I thought.  Its not that Im trying to avoid interpersonal contact, but a lot of these mega churches allow you to come and go without being noticed.  Even the church I call home while I am in Houston, Lakewood Church, can be characterized by this.  Lakewood is the largest church in the U.S. at approximately 40,000 members per weekend…plus all the millions of television viewers.  I know Pastor Joel Osteen comes under a lot of criticism, especially within the Christian community.  But Lakewood remains one of the best churches that I have ever attended, and I’ve attended many churches over my 43 years.  What made Lakewood so great is its infrastructure.  I was involved with various men’s groups and small groups.  The relationships I established were lifelong very close friendships.  For about a three year stretch I would go and virtually every week I would see someone I knew.  That’s pretty remarkable for a church as ginormous as Lakewood. 

So the church we got the flier for was a start-up church.  We were there right at their one year anniversary.  There was probably around 30 people total there when Jennifer and I attended our first week.  It was obvious that we were the new people as everyone else knew each other.  Instead of feeling uncomfortable, we felt right at home, immediately.  The pastor was a graduate of the Assemblies of God theological Seminary in Springfield, MO, and his wife was a graduate of my alma mater, Evangel.  Jennifer comes from a more traditional, conservative Lutheran background.  So all these Charismatics make her a little nervous.  But still we both agreed that this is home.  We have already established several very solid relationships.  That is what the church is all about…relationships.  Iron sharpens iron so we want to associate ourselves with strong people spiritually so that we ourselves will grow stronger as well.  My friend Wayne from Lakewood said it best. “Show me who your friends are and I’ll show you what your destiny is.” 

I jumped in headfirst into this church and immediately got involved with a men’s group.  Unfortunately this group meets at 6:30 AM on Wed. mornings.  I say unfortunately because I always go to trivia at the pub on Tuesday night and usually don’t get back til midnight.  But still, Im glad I make the sacrifice to get up.  Getting together with Godly men has already stoked my spiritual fire.  I think its human nature to get a little lazy with our spiritual walk from time to time as we get comfortable.  That is why it usually takes some sort of crisis for God to get our attention.  But I’ve been through enough crisis to last two lifetimes.  So Im getting involved early as a preventive measure.  I was asked to lead the group last week, as our normal leader was away for work.  We are studying Today Matters by John Maxwell.  It’s a really good book in the line of “Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren.  Its all about making the most of your opportunities on a daily basis.  Since I was in the rut of getting comfortable and a bit lazy, the timing was perfect for me.  I challenged the other guys in our group to write a list of goals they want to accomplish.  There is just something psychological about writing out your goals.  Here are some stories I found about it on the net:
In 1964, all members of the Harvard Business School graduating class stated that they have, at graduation, clear goals that they want to accomplish in life. Among them, 5% took the time to write it down on paper. In 1984, a follow up study was done and it was discovered that 95% of those who wrote down their goals were able to achieve them within 20 years. Among the “lazy” majority, only 5% of them were able to reach their expected goals.
An earlier study in Yale University also had similar results. This time, only 3% of the 1953 graduating class made written goals. Twenty years after, in 1973, it was found out that this 3% of Yale graduates were able to accomplish more goals than the rest of the other 97% combined.
I am not sure if these stories are verifiable, but they make sense to me.  So I encouraged the guys to write down the goals they had and to share them the next week.  I thought I would share my own personal and professional goals with you.


1.   Spend at least 30 minutes a day reading the Bible, praying and listening to God.
2.    Continue to provide for my family emotionally and spiritually .  I want to be the best husband and father possible.
3.     Make enough money so we can live comfortably so Jennifer won’t feel as if she has to work  I want to be a good provider so that if I someday get cancer I won’t have to cook Crystal Meth. in order to provide for them ;o)
4.     Be reconciled with my children in Texas. (this one is mostly out of my control, but I can still pray, hope and dream)
5.     Exercise and get fit.
6.     Write more in this blog (this has become a real ministry outlet for me)
7.     Inspire others with both my words and deeds
8.     Finish my current screenplay and sell it
9.      Pay off the mortgages for both of our houses
10. Continue to be a man of integrity
11.  Travel to Paris, Finland, South Africa, and the Caribbean and a few other cool places.
12. Teach acting classes again.
13. Waste less time. 

Now what I need to do is examine this list add more detail and dates to when I want to accomplish these things.  By God’s grace, I think I will be able to accomplish everything.  What are some of your goals?  I would love to see them.  If you are comfortable share them in the comments section, be as brief or detailed as you like.