Five Spoons to Rule Them All

Five Spoons to rule them all, Five Spoons to find them,
Five Spoons to bring them all and in the chocolate bind them

This Bag Is Not a Toy

Obviously. So I slough off the warning and throw away the bag that is not a toy.

But the words bother me. I return immediately to the kitchen trash can and wipe away the ketchup from the little plastic bag.

WARNING: THIS BAG IS NOT A TOY.

It makes sense. People sue anybody these days over anything to make a buck. A hot coffee burn. Slipping on a wet floor. Or suffocating in a plastic bag. I get the disclaimer. Even still, something itches me. I decide to forget about it.

Several days later, a brief lull at the office resurrects the bother. I spot a plastic bag, this one holding a computer power cord, albeit no warning is printed on it.

When I arrive home that evening I hunt down the bag with the "NOT A TOY" imprint. It's nowhere to be found. I cross the border into ridiculous by weeding through a trash bag full of sticky newspapers, soiled Kleenexes, and the smell of meatloaf and sour mayonnaise. Where is that flippin' bag!

I rush to the basement and luckily, thankfully, find it on the table where I'd placed it. I press the bag flat, smoothing the creases toward each corner. The bag, and its message, shimmer beneath the ceiling lights. I laugh at this crazy episode, but I'm catching on.

Life is so obvious sometimes that we miss it. We disregard it. We toss aside the warnings meant to preserve the very life we are throwing away. We ignore our bodies cries for healthier choices. We suppress our anxiety and deny our need for help. We neglect the eternity of our souls by avoiding the subject altogether. We see, we hear, we touch it even, but we keep missing it.

I'm starting to like this bag. I'm recognizing, again, as when I first found it, that I don't need the silly warning to tell me it's not a toy. But I think I'll keep the bag anyway.

A Better End

I welcome 2012 like a cool surf on a warm beach morning. I leave behind a year of transition, and quite frankly, months of frustration.

One year ago, in January, I wrote in my journal these words:

My big, extraordinary circumstance for this year is whether to move to Indiana or stay in Colorado...I'll walk wherever God leads, albeit severe difficulties...

On this cold and windy evening, one year later, I sit in my home office with a Rocky Mountain landscape adorning the western wall and a window overlooking an Indiana countryside. Moving across the country straddles so many facets of life. Patterns change. Habits. Comforts. Familiarity. And often, we change.

How our circumstances change isn't always up to us, but how we respond to that change is.

And I've been a bit of a grouch...for months. Moving my family 1,000 miles, even to a familiar place (our Indiana hometown), would seem easy, but writing this new chapter has proved as rough as swallowing sandpaper.

Moving twice in 8 months—once to our temporary residence with my in-laws and again to our new home just one week before Christmas—simply put, has sucked. Starting our three children in new and unfamiliar schools at ages 15, 12, and 11, is not a comforting experience for parent or child. A new job—like all new jobs—brings its own set of demands and challenges. And saying goodbye to dear friends and the mountains my family loves will wrench even the strongest of heart.

Even with the many positive reasons to relocate (and there are many), that much change puts life on hold. For a guy like me who has goals, plans—a vision even, for his family and future—putting life on hold is not a place I like to linger. But here's what has helped me make it through:

Pray without ceasing. We read in the Bible to "pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). More oft than not, my unceasing prayers in the car have resembled angry shouts at God instead of the two verses sandwiching verse 17, which say "Be joyful always" and "give thanks in all circumstances." But God is big enough to handle my shouting. And when I pray, I know He is listening.

Stay in the Word. "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." (Psalm 119:32.) There is no substitute for the truth of God's Word. Power dwells in its words, the power to calm my shouting and frustration despite how I feel. I've had to force myself to sit and read it. Sometimes I just refused and pushed it aside. But my refusal is proof enough that something positive occurs inside of us when we read it. When we sit in a pity pool, we naturally only allow in whatever amplifies, and thus justifies in our mind, our emotions. The Bible, contrarily, draws us out of the stench, but it usually requires us letting go of our emotions and our blame before joy can wash away our pain.

God has a plan, and it is good. Despite how life changes course, and no matter how difficult the new path, God will use it to grow us and reveal more of how much He really does love us. The difficulty won't last forever, and peace can exist within a storm (think Jesus sleeping on the fishing boat amidst a brutal storm, Matthew 8:23-27). God is not freaking out because we are. If we let Him, He'll use those situations for something important down the road, whether for us or for another. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11.)

Small things trump the big ones. It's cliche`, but it's true. The small things matter most. Give thanks for every blessing we have, and I mean every single one. Write them down. Count them. Thank God for each one, out loud. Although I don't feel thankful at times, I'll thank Him anyway. For my wife. For my children. For my relatives and friends. For my health. For my car. For my job. For food to eat. For clean drinking water. For a roof. For clothing. For rain. For sunshine. For sleep. For forgiveness. For freedom. For love. And yes, even difficulty—not for the problem itself but for the good that waits on the other side.

This time, I'm not walking into the new year with hopes that it will be a "better" year. Seems I re-live that mantra every New Year's Eve. The only thing that improves is how fast I close the curtains on last year and re-open them to what's really the same stage. Let's be honest. The only thing different come January 1 is the calendar, and if we're lucky, we might get to sleep in.

No, instead I'm walking into 2012 hoping that I will find the strength to overcome the challenges I will face in the new year, and the ones I still face today. To pray my engine doesn't break down with every bump in the road. To choose a positive attitude when life isn't smooth, and when easy only comes after "eggs over." And to believe the result will give hope to at least one other person. To make a positive difference.

God bless, and here's to a wonderful, life-changing new year.

Stay Tuned...

Photo courtesy of Ryan's Journal

...the transmissions aren't over. Just delayed. 10-4?

My family is transitioning from the alpenglow of the Rocky Mountain morning to the harvest moon of the Midwestern horizon. Two beautiful landscapes, one journey all the same.

Seasons change in life with no regard for nature's calendar. In one sense it is spring. In another, autumn. It's always been that way. But it's good.

Thanks for checking in at Lifesummit. I appreciate your time and interest! Despite leaving Colorado's 14,000+ foot peaks for Indiana's highest molehill of roughly 1,200 -- quite a downer for a guy who gets high on elevation -- Lifesummit's theme remains the same, to climb Life's summits. And that's the real high.

So yes, I'm still climbing mountains. Are you? I can't wait to share this next leg of the journey with you. Remember, we're all in this together.

Many blessings to you!

If People Can't See - A Proverbs 29 Post for Goforth's Journal

Photo by sweetzphotography

There’ll come a day when life tests you, even “tumbles in” on you, as described by the writer of Proverbs 29:1 (The Message). I don’t like things tumbling in on me. I don’t like being tested. And I especially don’t like to fail. But it’s usually neither tumbling nor failure that cripples me, but the fear of failing.

It’s the fear that drives me to push away what matters most when life feels out of control. I’m afraid of being considered a fraud, a boy who has been pretending to be a man. A father who wants to be the world’s best Dad, but feels like the worst. A professional, one mistake away from a major business screw-up. A husband of sixteen years, who still rushes out last-minute for a Valentine’s Day gift and the one remaining bouquet of wilted roses—nobody will know, right? So I cling to that which anesthetizes my fears. My hands reach for any illusion that makes me believe I’m still in control, that I’m somehow immune to a personal meltdown of disappointment.


...to read the rest of this post, please click here for Day 29 of Proverbs at Goforth's Journal. (post is listed below a read-through of Proverbs Chapter 29)

Thanks to writer and friend from the Pacific Northwest Chris Goforth for posting today's story! If you want to take a trip through the real, check out Goforth's Journal and follow Chris @pacnwdadof6 on Twitter.

The River

Photo by Ansel Adams

"The River"
by Garth Brooks

You know a dream is like a river
Ever changin' as it flows
And a dreamer's just a vessel
That must follow where it goes
Trying to learn from what's behind you
And never knowing what's in store
Makes each day a constant battle
Just to stay between the shores...

And, I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

Too many times we stand aside
And let the waters slip away
'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow
Has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline
And say you're satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids
And dare to dance the tide...

Yes, I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

There's bound to be rough waters
And I know I'll take some falls
But with the good Lord as my captain
I can make it through them all...

Yes, I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

Yes, I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
'Til the river runs dry