Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Top 10 moments of 2012

I got the idea of doing a top 10 list from Jennifer. If you haven’t done one, I encourage to do so.  It’s a nice way to look back at the past year to remember God’s faithfulness.  It’s also helpful to illuminate and remember the bright spots of the year as opposed to the darker stretches.

2012 really sucked for me.  Yet at the same time it was one of the best years of my life.  The year was filled with so much despair and disappointment yet as we round into 2013 I’ve never been more filled with hope.  I’m a walking, living, breathing dichotomy.  How can a person be so down yet be on top of the world at the same time?  I guess that’s where my faith, and the peace that passes all understanding comes in.  My secret weapon is my faith, “Where all things work together for good for those who believe and are called according to His Purpose.” (Romans 8:28). That’s the difference between happiness and joy.  Circumstances dictate my happiness and the moments are fleeting.  Yet Joy is the constant.  Throughout every storm that 2012 threw my way I never lost my peace nor my joy.  I don’t know how it works psychologically, I just know that it does.  Its like when you are standing out in a driving rainstorm and you are dry under an umbrella.  You should be drenched but something is protecting you.  If everyone could experience the peace that I feel even in the midst of blazing inferno’s of life, then everyone would want to be a believer in Christ.  I guess what holds people back is they are not willing to take that first step to jump into the pool, unless they are forced.  But once you jump in, you realize that water feels great. 

I could go into detail about everything that went wrong in 2012, but I've heard it said that 80% of the people you talk to don’t care about your problems and the other 20% are glad you have them.  But let me synopsize.  I thought I had a dream job lined up in May.  This is what I thought God had been preparing me for my whole life.  Yet just a few weeks before production was to commence we suddenly lost funding.  Our project was pushed back to at least 2013 and maybe even further.  The sudden unemployment set off a chain of events and created circumstances that were very difficult to deal with.  While I never lost my peace, I had a responsibility as a husband to ensure my wife maintained her peace as well. With me not providing the security (something that every woman deserves and craves) it was difficult for Jennifer to have the same peace that I had.  How can you transfer your own faith onto someone else?  Other than leading by example, I’m not sure how to do that.  Men like to fix things, and I was suddenly thrust into a situation where I couldn’t fix it.  Instead I found myself at the mercy of God, helpless and dependent.  I think that was the point of this lesson from Him all along.  God saw us through every emotional and financial storm. It might not have been the way Jennifer or I would have chosen him to see us through, but He saw us through nonetheless.  I’m a little bit older and more experienced in this walk of faith than my young bride.  I guess that’s a by product of the Hell I endured and overcame from 2005-2009.  But that’s probably why I’m in her life to show her by example how to have complete and utter reliance on Jehovah Jireh “Our Provider.”  Consider the lilies of the field, they neither toil nor they spin.  Seek First the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.  So this past year when the wheels fell off the bus and I was face down in the mud, I did just that.  By Seeking First everything seemed to have worked out with the full culmination about to happen in 2013.  God is Faithful. 

Now onto the list. 

#10  Trivia Tuesday. 
I took about 5 months off from this as I thought I was leaving the country.  When the realization hit that I was staying, I slowly made my way back to this.  It’s the same group of Jennifer’s friends (I kind of took over for her) that has been meeting in various pubs playing Pub trivia for years.  I don’t drink, so I just go and have water or copious refills of Diet Coke.  Getting a few questions right (My expertise areas are Film and Sports) helps me feel a little better about all this useless knowledge running around in my head.  It makes it feel useful.  Plus I just love competition.  Some are there for the social/drinking aspect, I’m there to win.    

 #9  Driving to Houston and Back in 57 hours
I know this seems a little crazy to put on a top 10 list, but this was something that needed to be done and I’m proud of the way it happened so quickly.  I have a home in Houston that I kept some furniture in for my renters.  Jennifer and I decided to give the responsibility of managing the house over to a management company, so I needed to get all my stuff out. The beauty of this is that I had a week open up in my schedule where it would be convenient to do this.  I rented a pretty reasonably priced cargo van from Enterprise and off I went.  I had an air mattress I slept on, on the way out, somewhere in Alabama I think.  Really the mission was all about getting my prized orange recliner chair back.  This chair I purchased in Taiwan and we had it shipped around the world back to us.  It’s Italian leather.  It’s oversized so my boys and I used to sit in it and watch movies together when they were little.  It’s very sentimental to me.  Once I arrived in Houston my friend Kevin helped me load as much stuff in it as possible.  It turns out I had a lot of stuff.  What I couldn't fit, I told him he could keep or throw out.  Loading only took 2 hours and I was back on the road.  I got sleepy in Georgia on the way back but still made it back in 57 hours.  I felt like the Road Warrior.  Maybe I should have been a trucker. 

#8 Trips to the Park with Sloan and Ellie


Ellie, our dog, loves to run and exercise.  I wasn't exercising her enough and she was pooping everywhere that she wasn't supposed to be.  Since then, I've been taking her to the park regularly this has thankfully stopped.  I try to go once a week at least, and went today as a matter of fact.  Ellie gets very excited even when we say the word park.  Once she recognizes where we are driving she goes bananas.  I take the tennis racket and tennis ball and walk to a large clearing with Sloan.  Then I hit the ball as hard as I can and Ellie tears after it.  I’m trying to wear her out quickly.  After about 20 minutes of this she is spent.  While we’re doing this Sloan explores the leaves, trees, and dirt and just enjoys being outside.  Today she just lied down on the grass to look up at the trees and the clouds.  I laid down next to her.  What a neat a beautiful perspective I had laying down next to my daughter staring up into the heavens.  Those are the types of moments that leave a permanent imprint on your psyche.  Within a minute or so, she got restless then we rolled down the hill together as I cradled her in my arms.  After Ellie was pooped, we made it to the playground for Sloan.  I usually tie Ellie to a bench then do the swings, slide and jungle gym with Sloan. 


#7 Holidays with Jennifer and her Family
I am fortunate that I really enjoy Jennifer’s family.  Since I went roughly 5 years (through my divorce) without my own family I’m finding that I’m craving these family get togethers ever more-so now.  I think I appreciate these times more now as I no longer take them for granted. 
 #6 Dollar Movies on Friday, Taking Sloan to see Madagascar

I work a Sunday through Thursday shift at the moment and that mean my days off are Fri-Sat.  It sucks because I can’t go to church with Jennifer and need to find my community elsewhere.  I download podcasts of sermons and read the Bible every day.  So even though I’m not attending a service my spiritual walk is growing.  I have a routine on Friday of cleaning the house then having lunch at the dollar movie.  Money is tight so as much as I like going to see movies, I cannot justify the expense.  It only took about 4-5 months but now every Friday is like a new release at the theater for me.  I took Sloan one weekend and we went to see Madagascar 3.  I had taken her to two others but it didn't hold her attention.  This one did.  I think it was combination of the colors and music.  She was transfixed on my lap and her eyes on the screen the whole time.  I have always enjoyed taking my kids to see movies. 

 #5 World Shakers
This is a curious choice here as it wound up to be my biggest disappointment as well.  World Shakers was my dream job.  We would have taken 12 people from around the world to go on a 40 day missions trip in South Africa.  I was so stoked about this.  Yet two weeks before I was about to move down to Florida we lost our funding.  It was a heartbreaking setback.  Yet I know that God had a plan for bringing this project in and then closing the door.  I’m just trusting Him that He knows better than me.   Hopefully World Shakers will get its funding in 2013.  We’ll just have to wait and seek.  I have to go by faith that God purposefully shut down this project for His greater purpose.  Who knows, maybe a tragedy was averted. 

 #4 Working at Lizard Lick
Shortly after the World Shakers postponement.  I found myself unemployed.  I wasn't unemployed for long as I found that there was a reality TV show that was in production about 30 min. from home.  The show is Lizard Lick Towing on TruTV. www.lizardlicktowing.com  While working there has had its ups and downs I’m glad to have a job.  The show is simply a phenomenon that no one can really explain.  It’s kind of like a reality version of the Dukes of Hazard.  I've been fortunate to meet and interact with our fans that come to see us from all over the country, literally.  I put a US map up a few months back and we've had visitors from all 50 states since then.  We just started airing in Australia and the South is blowing up down there.  While this might not be my dream job yet, I’m so thankful to be employed. 

#3 Renewed Intimacy with Jennifer, struggles brought us closer together.
As I mention that 2012 has been difficult financially, the bonus is that it has brought Jennifer and I closer together.  I am seeing a level of spiritual maturity in her that I've never seen before.  It’s cool to see her faith grow.  We are a team through this and this is the silver lining in the cloud.  She’s my teammate and supporter.  We know we’ll get through this and be the stronger people as a result.  I hate to use the word Soul Mate, because I've only heard it used in people’s second or third marriages.  Maybe it’s a way to justify or bring more credibility to a relationship.  But I can honestly say, that Jennifer and I were made for each other.  We fit together like two very complex pieces of an intricate puzzle.  I have often used the metaphor of the sports car for our relationship.  I chose the high performance, high maintenance model while I could’ve had the low maintenance low performance model.  So when the car breaks down, do I blame the car or look in the mirror at the mechanic.  Fortunately Jennifer is turning from a Jaguar into a Ferrari as our relationship continues to have less and less breakdowns.  I’m a lucky guy. 

#2 Summer visit with the Boys
I love spending time with my children from Texas.  I’ll just leave it at that. 

#1 Hawaii and seeing Kristen. 

My parents were planning on going to Hawaii and they invited us along. All we had to do was pay for food and airfare.   What a great way for Sloan to get to spend time with her grandparents. Going to Hawaii from California is pretty simple.  Going from North Carolina, is entirely different story.  Going to Europe from NC is shorter.  Sloan was 10 months old and wrestling with her on the plane was a task in and of itself.  Jennifer did most of the work, I just pitched in when needed. We stopped over in California to visit my sister Kristen and her new baby Bailey for a few nights before continuing onto Hawaii. We had a great time there with plenty of memories.  One other thing, Babies don’t respond well to time changes initially.  There was a six hour difference so there were many morning Sloan woke up 4 am, thinking that it was play time.  I tried to explain to her about the time difference but I don’t think she cared. 
All in all, 2012 was great because I have the peace that passes all understanding with me throughout every trial that came my way.  I know that the doors will open big and brighter in 2013.  We are just being set up for a comeback.