everything designed

Great word this weekend from the “Pleasers, Perfectionists, Procrastinators and other people like me” series.  Control Freaks is the topic. So which are you? I really identify with all of them at one time or another but recently I seem to fit into the “Worry wart“. Seriously, have I always been that way and just never noticed?

Just in the past year I have really began to experience the consequences for being a control freak. I seem to be very frustrated, fatigued and honestly feel like I am failing. So what now? Lately, I feel like God is just trying to show me how to do well with what I have been given, with what is right in front of me. Make sense, but harder than it sounds. My mind tends to stay 2-5 years ahead of where we are and if I/we are not making progress towards those goals, dreams and the vision then I panic. Still working on this and other things. Feel better just writing it down though. Peace.

Oh yes, types of Control Freaks just in case you can’t read my writing:

• The Intimidator
• The Perfectionist
• The Worry Wart
• The Uber-Planner
• The Anti-Planner
• The Master Manipulator
• The Micro Maniac
• The Opinionator

Are you a Control Freak? Comments from You

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named… be strengthened with power through His spirit in you and the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

Ephesians 3:14

Thank you for today. You are our Father and you only want the best for us. Sometimes you let us see it through our choices or possible choices. Our hearts can be filled with so many things. Thank for time enough to slow down to make sure it is you.

Sitting Poolside at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center. Beautiful place.

Posted via email from Everything Designed

Join in the conversation. This week: “Where does compassion come from?”

What makes up our soul? Where do feelings come from? Why are we compassionate for other living things?

Seriously, where does compassion come from? From our neurons firing in our brain, from within a group of muscles in the middle of our chest pumping oxygen and platelets and fluid around? From where? How is it that we have the capacity to love and hate with such intense emotion?

Discussing now @ Soulpancake.com or http://www.soulpancake.com/view_image/1000/1/photo-3967040.html

We find one example in Genesis 2:7: “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [nephesh]” (King James Version). The New International Version says “man became a living being.” More can be found in scripture at YouVersion.com & also in “The Scrpture Doctrines of the Person of Christ.” Google docs are amazing.

Great summer project actually.

Some of my favorite games; Risk, Scrabble, Monopoly, Chess, Apples to Apples and others. Wow, how excellent would it be to have a lawn Risk or Scrabble game. Thinking this will have to be a summer project.

Today I am thankful for so many things. I will be back to record them here (after we eat and chill). What are you thankful for today?

I am chilling at Panera Bread this morning before my son’s school dedication and award ceremony. He mentioned last night right after baseball that he was supposed to present an award this morning at school. Myra and I had not heard a thing about it but apparently the school was holding a dedication ceremony and presenting an award to W. Lloyd Meador this schools namesake. He was so excited, he looked straight at me and said “you have to be there”.

I am very proud of him. It is interesting how our kids and families help keep us anchored and focused on what is important. Over the past several weeks, some of my best and happiest moments have come from spending time with my family. Thank you God for your reminder of what is most important in this life.

Lloyd Meador Quick Facts from HCNOnline.com

Named in honor of a long-time Willis resident, W. Lloyd Meador Elementary features nearly 45 classrooms and six labs in seven hallways.

Born and raised in Willis, William Lloyd Meador graduated from Willis High School in 1942. His three children, including Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador, all graduated from the school in the top of their class. William Lloyd Meador also served 14 years as a WISD trustee.

Link Here: http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2008/08/28/conroe_courier/news/wisd0828.txt

Pouring a fresh cup of coffee this morning and thinking about how cool it would be to tap into the coffee business. My Grandmother just told me about six weeks back that her brother owned a Community Coffee plant in Monroe, Louisiana (Jack Kelley). How cool is that, our family owned a community coffee plant? I love the taste of Community Coffee (almost as much as Starbucks Coffee). It just really makes me think about the risk he had to take to get that bad boy off the ground, the hard work and time that was invested. Was he able to leave the plant to someone he trusted; to his kids or to a trusted business friend? Did he sell out and use the money for something even bigger or did he just blow it on something else? I will definitely have to dig a bit to pull out the details on that one. How cool would it be to know that one day you would be left something as big as a Community Coffee plant? That opportunity would be amazing!

Family History and Legacy is interesting for me. I have not exactly been left a Community Coffee plant. To be honest, to think about what our parents left us is extremely painful at times, yet some parts are so mysteriously gratifying. Even though things have been tough, we are “struggling well” today.

Option #1 – Leave an Amazing Legacy

Our mom invested in us Spiritually, she followed Christ and submitted her life to God – not perfectly but she did. She loved us, she loved others, she loved life and we saw it. She got all that from her mother who got that from her Father – my great grandfather. They have instilled a deep rich love for God and Christ that I am so grateful for. Even though I have struggled through this life I know I have a Father God who cares for me and has invested in me and protects me even today. So my mom, grandmother and great grandfather loved Christ – for some reason they all chose to settle down with people who could care less. Two very important words come to mind: equally yoked. This inequality in Christ and contrasting views of life have made a ripple in our family that we are still battling today.

Option #2 – Leave a Painful Leftover

When I think of leftovers, I think of the “stuff” that we were left with that we are still struggling through today even with God leading and guiding us we are still paying for what our parents left us. This isn’t your normal midlife crisis bullet list – we were left with some crazy stuff (Drugs and Alcohol use, domestic violence, loss of parents, divorce, shame, guilt, physical abuse just for starters) that has really brought all of us to our knees to focus on God’s plan for our lives. At times we have allowed our parents consequences to impact our choices in a negative way which brings about more negative consequences. I learned this lesson quick.

Myra and I talk about this every now and then about how God must have a plan for our lives – it is really amazing when we look back and see what we both have experienced and how God had protected us but that most of what we experienced was a direct result of our parents decisions and their consequences. We are still experiencing their consequences, the trick is for us to do the hard work and trust God to help lead us into a place where we can leave a legacy for our kids. To throw out the leftovers.

At the Leadership Summit Bill Hybels presented the life of Mother Teresa as an amazing testimony to leaving a legacy. She clearly heard God’s call on her life and left everything she knew to go care for the sickest in the world. She did not live to leave a legacy she just answered a call to care for others which left an amazing impact. She was not all jacked up on her ego, escaping in drugs, trying to be like everyone else and “buy” a better life. She simply prayed that God would use her and that He would speak to her and that He would love her. He did. Even when she did not feel so loved, she still did His work. She left an amazing legacy.

Am I going to inherit and pass on a successful coffee plant or something a bit simpler yet so much more impactful? We were designed to leave our print on others; to let God work through us. We were designed to leave an amazing legacy. As I begin to think about the legacy that was left for Myra and me and our brothers and sisters it makes me want to live a life that our kids will one day be proud to write about – that they will feel that we cared for more than just ourselves. That we have had a glimpse of the life that we were created for and that we will make the choices that will leave a legacy that will outlast us.

Something cool, get a FREE Legacy Journal online here to get started thinking about the legacy you are leaving your family, friends and community: http://www.legacyjournal.org/

these blog posts are probably going to be short and sweet to get it going. Pumped about my family right now, Blake is stepping it up in little league baseball – and it’s really more that he is becoming confident in himself and what he can do. He is really quite shy and likes to play it safe but Myra and I are seeing a different side. Lots of thoughts on how and why this is all happening now (more on that later).

Myra is heading up the summer program at First Baptist and we are beginning classes on adoption this summer. Exciting and scary all at the same time.

Chloe is a spunky firecracker. what else can I say – she is going to grab a hold of this world and shake it – because it is her ball and she will do what she wants with it. Thank you God for her confidence – I just ask for grace and favor with helping her channel it.

Lots of good-crazy stuff at the office aka “the church” – I will drop some of our projects on here – it is great to see how things change and progress over time.

Short. Sweet. Out.