Rick Beeman

I am doing this exercise with my men’s group at church.   The purpose behind it is to take an honest valuation of who you are right at this very moment.   It is so hard to be self-aware sometimes especially if we don’t like some of the things we see in the mirror.   So many of us live in denial.   It might not be full denial but partial.   We can all justify our actions.   I remember watching an old Maury Povich show where they were interviewing a murderer.   The killer admits that he murdered the guy.   But it wasn’t the murderer’s fault you see, at least in his mind.   The victim shouldn’t have been standing on the corner that day.   So in the murderer’s mind it was the other’s guy’s fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.   We all justify our actions. That is why it says in Proverbs that “A man’s ways is right in his own eyes, but God weighs the heart.”   We can put on a full mask or part...

2011 was a real year of transition for me in so many ways.  For me following up 2010 was difficult, as 2010 has gone down as the best year of my life, so far.  The key here is “so far” as I believe that if you are doing it right, life should get better and better.  That isn’t to say you won’t have setbacks, rather the setbacks will not be debilitating.  With the right attitude you will be able to build on them.  I certainly had my share of setbacks this past year, but I refused to do be identified with the setbacks.  Instead I think of setbacks as just setting the stage for the comebacks.  If you would like to read the highlights of the aforementioned 2010 it can be found here.  http://rickbeeman.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html Jennifer gave me this idea about doing a top 10 list.  I think it’s a fabulous idea for a number of reasons.  First of all, it will be nice in a few years to look back and see what the actual highlights wer...

It was a nice moment earlier tonight.  Jennifer was taking a break from baby duty, my mother, father and I were on the couch.  We were all watching a movie.  I am pretty sure my mother was in heaven as she was holding Sloan while she slept.  I believe Sloan is different for her then most other grandparent-grandchild relationships.  Sloan is a little bit more than that.  I think Sloan represents not only God’s faithfulness to me, but to her as well.  Not only did I lose the relationship with my children like I used to have, but she lost her relationships as well.  They used to be very close, now they barely speak at all.  Its just another tragedy of divorce, the kids lose out on all the relatives as well.  When my divorce happened, it really hit my mother much harder than myself.  Why, because I knew how to channel my hope through faith. I learned to have peace in the midst of the raging storm.    For my mother, it w...

For children, divorce is like the father grabbing the left wrist of the child and the mother grabbing the right wrist in a tug of war for control and affection of the child.  Kids are obviously the ones injured in the tussle.  Alienation is using words and actions so the child will shun the other parent in the tug of war.  I for the most part have let go of the wrist in order to not further harm the children.  Here is how Wikipedia describes Parental Alienation: Parental alienation is a social dynamic, generally occurring due to divorce or separation , when a child expresses unjustified hatred or unreasonably strong dislike of one parent, making access by the rejected parent difficult or impossible. These feelings may be influenced by negative comments by the other parent and by the characteristics, such as lack of empathy and warmth, of the rejected parent. I have mentioned past illustrations of alienating actions in previous versions of this blog so I wont re...

I haven’t had much time to write lately, though I’ve had so many blogworthy items to write about.  I’ve had my boys for the last six weeks and Im devoting all of my extra time to them and caring for Jennifer.  We are at a lull at the moment as its bedtime for Jennifer and I. The boys wanted to stay up to watch TV so I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing time with them.  Your prayers are so appreciative and coveted.  They really do work.  I feel amazingly blessed at the moment.  I feel my life is peaking, but the peak from this vantage point doesn’t seem to have an apex, it just keeps getting higher and higher.  Isn’t that how life is supposed to be?  I don’t mention all of the blessings in my life to gloat.  Instead I try to use my hardships as a testimony to how God can turn a life around.  I’ve heard a lot of dramatic testimonies of people lives before and after Christ.  But since I’ve been a Christian virtually my entire life, I have...

It was a nice day today.   I am enjoying my career thus far at SAS.   To update you, Jennifer had planned on moving to Dubai to join me.   Then at a crucial moment I was waiting on a key decision from the people I was working for in Dubai.   That same day I got a job offer to come back to the US.   I don’t really think it was entirely my skill.   It was more like they were trying to keep my wife in the US.   Since the timing was so perfect, the day we were to make a decision, it was an easy choice to come back to the US.   I have found that as long as you are walking according to God’s plan the hardest decisions become the easiest to make.    It seems that God closes all the doors and keeps one open so you really don’t have much of a choice.   That’s why it confuses me when Christians spend so much time searching out God’s will.   I think as long as you are living your life right, every choice you make is according to God’s ...

I felt very silly sitting in a Fat Burger restaurant with tears streaming down my face. This is not your everyday experience so let me explain. I am a creature of habit so I have a routine I follow. I am alone for another 2.5 months so I’m going to continue to follow this routine as I have been generally for the past three years since I came to the Middle East. For breakfast I spend time with God, reading my Bible then praying/listening to Him. For lunch I spend time with whatever reality show Im addicted to at the moment (either Amazing Race or Survivor). I can buy the past seasons on itunes for about $20. So I don’t have to wait week by week to see the cliff hanger. I usually watch one episode after the other (Yeah, Immediate Gratification!). So this particular episode of Survivor aired in the US sometime early December. It usually makes me cry but even moreso this year. It’s the episode they always do where the remaining survivors are reunited with their loved ones. Its ...

Those are awfully strong words I know. Emerging from the pits of despair and rebounding so poetically made the emotional elation all the more sweeter. Its kind of like when you go on a fast and the first meal you have is so delectable. I have said this a few times before but it bears repeating. It was July 09 and I was visiting my boys in Texas. It was a bittersweet visit. When I visit my boys it fills me with so much joy but also reminds me of the family that I lost. So I was somewhat melancholy when I was praying when I heard the Lord’s voice tell me very clearly that I’d be married within a year. I have heard this voice before so I could recognize it. I didn’t really believe it though. But just to make sure I told my good friend Darren in Bahrain, David my roommate in Texas and Isa in Bahrain. They all said…to who? I said, I don’t know. I wasn’t dating anyone so it was a complete mystery to me. Then last year right about this time I got matched on eharmon...

It’s the weekend for me. This usually means very long talks with Jennifer. We are now less than a week away from her being here. Im pretty excited about it. The only visitors I’ve had have been my parents. While they were nice to have…something tells me I’m going to have a lot more fun with Jenni. I stayed up til 4 am talking with her. Then again at 9 am (my time) and we spoke for another two hours. I just can’t get enough of her. That is such a good feeling to have. I went to lunch with Pat. He really is a good guy to talk to. I told you he is the coach out here for the Professional basketball league of Bahrain. He’s been coaching internationally his entire career. It’s a pretty good gig. He gets to see the world and meet all sorts of people. Throughout his career he told me that in all the leagues he has coached, his teams have won 20 championships. By any measure that is impressive. Especially because each stop he has he has to learn a whole new team, immediately. ...

I am sooooooo tired right now. I haven’t been treating my body very well in the sleep department. I have a tendency to stay up way too late chatting with friends. Its good that the weekend is just about here. I have some potential exciting news to share…not on the location front but other potential news. I always go to fast in everything so prudence is telling me to delay. So I will. I finished up the documentary on Adam today. I was quite pleased the way it turns out. The editor of the newspaper came by my office to look at it. Here we both our leaders of various large media departments each with a common goal to use our medium in order to enact social change. There was this special sense of oneness of purpose. It was true camaraderie. We are going to use the media…to not change the world…at the moment…but we are trying to change the world for one family. For us…that is enough. So however I can help Stan…and he can help me….we have the same common goal. He’s going to...

It was a very good day today. I think I’m nearly coming to the end of the 6 weeks of suckage. Not a moment too soon either. I stayed out last night way too late. After drinks at my friend John’s house, a bunch wanted to go to swanky club. I truly hate clubs which is a shame, because of my connections I could get a lot of perks. So I got to sleep really late. I got up early for church. I so wanted to sleep in and skip it. But last week I did sleep in and Pastor Graeme noticed. So this week I had to make sure I was there. But wouldn’t you know it, Pastor Graeme wasn’t there. After the service I met these two really interesting characters. They are both coaches for a professional basketball league in Bahrain. We went to lunch together afterwards and really had a great time. I invited my friend Mr. Harlem over, Art, and we all had a great time talking and getting to know each other. One of the coaches is looking for a new place to live and Im looking for a roommate. So he c...

Today was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be. Which hopefully is a good omen. I’m hoping this week will be a whole lot easier than I anticipate. October is almost over….Yay!!!!! I had a conversation with God today (boy I know how strange that must sound, but we really do have conversations). He let me know that the worst of the six weeks is over whew… So today I got up to do the new voice over for project #3. We went into a very old but workable studio. They recorded the session on ¼” reel to reel. Are you serious? Yes..I am serious. It felt like I was in the 1960’s. The VO guy was great. I was following along the script in Arabic, and remember I don’t speak, read or write it. But I could tell when he was making mistakes and cut in, and it turns out I was right. Im learning so much about communication. Words are not that important when you communicate. Being over here is really helping hone my listening skills. So we got the project done in half the time...