Rick Beeman

The is the last of the three part installment of my top 10 list of 2011.  At first I didn’t think 2011 was all that great.  But on careful recollection in going over the list I have discovered/remembered that 2011 was actually quite remarkable for me.  I think that is the value of counting your blessings and looking back for a short time.  One shouldn’t live their life in the past, but rather use it as a springboard for justification of their optimism that their future will be brighter.  My father always said, “May the best of your yesterdays be the worst of your tomorrows.”  Again, I reference Romans 8:28, as a believer each year should get better and better otherwise you’re not doing it right.  Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways.  Actually in my life, that’s the norm.  God doesn’t always make sense in the present.  Only in retrospect I see how His perfect plan had unfolded.  Take Tim Tebow for instance.  I am a life...

This is a continuation of the my top 10 list of 2011.  I would greatly encourage you, if you haven’t already started doing one of these of your own, that you do so.  It can be a great reminder of God’s faithfulness and blessings.  As a Christian I believe in the tenet of Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good for those who believe and are called according to His purpose.”  But the catch is… ‘for those who believe.’  So if you are a Christian that essentially means you are in a no lose situation if you are living your life right.  Even in the most dire of circumstances you know eventually that everything will come up positive in the long run.  That promise I’ve seen evident in my life over and over again.  So no matter how bad things appear, I know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  I’ve been so brutally honest in this blog about my own struggles with highlights and lowlights to prove this.  I hope it has been co...

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...

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 g...

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 th...

I haven’t written in this blog for quite awhile.  Its not because there hasn’t been big things happening in my life, because there have been many big things.  Rather, I don’t want this to become like a Christmas card.  Christmas cards are when you get those form-like letters telling you how great the sender is, and what amazing things they accomplished over the last year.  But the truth is, this is Christmas card, its unavoidable.   I just feel so incredibly blessed right now.  Things in my life are going very well.  That is not say that my life is perfect.  My life is far far far from perfect.  Yet I have developed an attitude and methodology of looking at life and it really works.  I’ve said it many times before in the space of this blog and it bears repeating.  Instead of focusing on what I don’t have, I simply focus on what I have.  I have a beautiful wife, a healthy and happy baby girl, a new house, a dog that lo...

I apologize that it took me so long to get this up here.  Life has been busy, but pretty fantastic.  I feel like I am the most blessed man on the planet.  Having a new life to be responsible for sure helps you keep your perspectives and priorities in check. God is faithful.  I'll write a little bit more in an update later this week.  For now, a picture is worth a thousand words. Rick

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...

I went to the movies today.   Going to the movies is one of my most favorite things to do in the world.   I was reading Wild at Heart by John Eldredge a few years back.   His theory was that God speaks to us most in whatever mode are most passionate about.   That could be nature, athletics, music, etc…   Well I am very passionate about movies and that is where he really speaks to me.   To be honest he speaks to me all the time because I have learned to listen, but I feel his presence most when I either watch movies or listen to sermons from Joel Osteen or Steve Madsen.   So I was watching a movie today, Cowboys and Aliens.   I love going to movies, did I say that already?   I estimate I’ve probably seen over 15,000 in my lifetime.   But please don’t ask me how many fiction books I’ve read.   I think you can count them on both hands and 20% of those were written by Alexander Dumas. (bonus points if you can guess th...

The first few days of Sloan Violet Beeman’s life have been quite harrowing.   As a parent you feel helpless sometimes.   Sloan was just a little over 12 hours old when Jennifer was feeding her in the hospital room.   Suddenly she started spitting up.   Jennifer quickly grabbed the aspirator and tried to clear it but it didn’t work.   Then Sloan started choking.   We quickly called the nurse.   The nurse took one look at her, had a panicked expression and whisked her out of the room.   Jennifer and I just looked at each other not knowing how to react.   What do you do in that situation?   After a few anxious minutes of trying to console a near hysterical wife we both tried to calm down.   I (by experience) have learned no not stress about much.   God has proven to me time and time again that he is in control and I trust him implicitly.   But there was just something about this that was different.   In...