Archive for May, 2025

It takes Real guts to say No

Posted: May 26, 2025 in Inspirational
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Have you ever heard the expression “if you give them an inch they will take a mile”? I am sure you have and it happens to be the phrase that illustrates what I wanted to talk about today. 

You see, the very expression “give an inch” implies from the outset that you gave in or you gave up something. But, in actuality, what you did was compromise. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. Compromise in a relationship is critical for it to last but remember, we don’t agree with our spouse or even our friends all the time. I am sure you have even “agreed to disagree” and maintained the relationship from there. I think that good debate is healthy and promotes independent thinking which is one of the keys to long lasting friendships. 

However, its that compromise in important areas of our lives that I am focusing on today.

I remember reading a book a few years ago by Dr. David Jeremiah called, The Handwriting on the Wall which talked about Daniel, who, while being held captive in Babylon for 70 years, never compromised his faith in God no matter what his circumstances ended up to being and this included facing sure death in the lions den.

His consistency was astounding and a model for all of us to follow. However, Dr. Jeremiah made a point that I wanted to illustrate to you which was simply that it takes guts…real guts, to say no to a terrible situation, even with God on your side. 

Daniel was resolute in his faith while in Babylon. For you and I, no matter where we are in life, we do not “have to bend the rules to be blessed of God. Our success is NOT dependent upon our compromise”. Our job is to trust and believe that He will take care of us because he has told us so.

From the very beginning in the Bible, we see compromises with very poor results:

Adam: he fell right in line with Eve’s sin by compromising and eating the forbidden fruit. 

Sarah :(Abrahams wife) her lack of faith in God caused her to compromise and send her husband Abraham to Hagar, her servant, who then gave birth to Ishmael. Life in the Middle East will never be the same.

Do you remember Esau who compromised his birthright because he was hungry?

King David: he was the man after Gods own heart, BUT, he compromised Gods morality by sleeping with Bathsheba and then killing her husband Uriah. 

The list goes on and on with Solomon, Judas and Ahaz who all compromised something significant in their lives and it cost them. 

Guys, think about this…all they would have had to do was to say NO…and then take a stand on faith and on what God promised them. After that, God is in charge of the situation.

I want to finish this post with a story Dr. Jeremiah shared in his book about a verbal exchange in a high school class between some students and a professor who was an athiest.

The professor stood at the lectern and began his lecture by saying, “will all of you who believe the myths of the Bible please stand.” Several stood.

Then he added, “now this semester I am going to free you from this religious Bible nonsense. I have read the Bible, and it is certainly written by a bunch of mixed up men.”

One young Daniel stood up and said, “Sir, the Bible is God’s letter to Christians, and if you are confused it’s because you are reading someone else’s mail.”

Guys, I pray that all of us can stand firm in our faith and NOT compromise in the face any adversity against you. You already know this, but adversity will continue to come. That is the way life goes.

I can also tell you with certainty that you are going to be in circumstances where you will be asked to “give an inch”. And after this blog, now you know why an inch matters. As Christians, it’s the difference between a life spent with God in Eternity or the alternative…

It is that simple and you get to make the choice…

My advice to you, be like Daniel…don’t compromise…

Until next time Guys… 

Jeremiah, David. 2020. The Handwriting on the Wall: Secrets from the Prohecies of Daniel. Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Dad Stuff…

Posted: May 18, 2025 in Father
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Many years ago, when my son was about 10 years old, he asked me a very interesting question that caused me to think about the person I was. He said, “Dad, do you think you and I would have been friends when you were younger”? 

I was completely surprised for a second because I was remembering that I was kind of a jerk when I was a kid….(allegedly). But of course my response back to him was quick to say “absolutely, I know we would have been friends”…but in my mind, I thought to myself, would we really?

Another time, I was over at a friend’s house picking up that very same son from a sleepover and the mother pulled me aside to tell me that my son was adamant that when he went to bed, that he be allowed to sleep without his shirt on because that is how his Dad sleeps. She thought that was great…I stood there in amazement thinking my little man is literally watching me all the time.

I don’t tell you these stories to get an “Ahh shucks” effect; I tell them to remind you that your children are watching you 24/7 and what you say and do now…I can assure you that in a couple of years they will also say and do…exactly like you.

Are you ok with that?

Look guys, for me, losing a child changed everything. It has made me realize how quickly time flies with my kids, and since then, I really tried to make the most of it. You just never know what he future holds and going through horrible experience has definitely taught me to be more focused on being present with them.

So here is some advice, don’t be left wishing you would have said something or did something when you could of…because that feeling sucks.

But if I were to narrow in on your own time management right now, where do you spend most of it? Are you focused more on your hobbies, or your business, or maybe your phone? It’s a simple question to answer and not anything you haven’t heard before.

The question is, do you really understand what your true legacy will be when you die? And trust me, it won’t be the time you spent at work or at play. It will be the family you helped create and what kind of people they grew up to be.

Guys, I can’t stress that fact enough. Your legacy is NOT your work but your family. Everybody will forget what you did rather quickly, but they won’t forget the people you made and the impact they ultimately had on others.

Again, I know you know this so I won’t beat this drum forever. Take some time and be the Dad your kids need you to be. Just hang out with them and make them laugh…those can be some of the best times ever and it’s so easy…you have it in you, I know you do…you just need to let that fun guy out now and then.

Honestly guys, this was probably one of the easiest posts I have ever done. Why? Because what I am telling you is NOT rocket science, it just Dad Stuff…

Until next time guys…

Letter to my Second Son, the College Graduate

Posted: May 10, 2025 in Father
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I have said since the day you were born that you were a blessing from God. No one would have predicted what the future had in store for our family with the tragic loss of your sister. But to be honest, without you to keep our family active with regular day-to-day life duties, we might have fallen off the cliff into untold grief. Only God knows… 

So…even though I have to mention her loss because it happened; today this post is all about you…and everything began with your birth on August 27th, 2002, and now, fast forwarding to the present, a Grand Canyon University college graduate. 

But before I can celebrate the present, I have to go back to the past and talk about how you got here son. Besides the reason above, how did you make it from then (22 + years) to today, walking across that podium and accepting that Criminal Justice Degree? Well let’s talk about that- 

It started with you being born into the amazing family you have. Your sister was so excited about your upcoming birth that she literally interrupted my big birth announcement to the whole family and told me I was taking too long to tell everyone. From before day one, she was ready to have you around and be your big sister. Oh, and by the way, your older brother was pretty excited to have you show up too.

You grew up with your days filled with piano lessons, grandmas, and baseball…and not necessarily in that order. Both of your grandmas kept you very busy when you were young. One of them helped you learn over 100 Bible verses and the other one drove you all over town looking for squishies? I think that’s what you called them. But back to piano and baseball. The thing is, you were very good at both, and soon they competed for your time and much to your grandmother’s chagrin, you chose baseball. And that turned out to be a good choice with everything you accomplished by the age of 13.

You played so well that you earned a roster spot on the Little League All Star team your 10, 11, and 12 year old seasons. Those same 3 years your team also won the District tournament which was hard to do. The day I knew baseball was your sport was when your team played a tune-up game against the vaunted Encinitas Reds, a local travel ball team that was stacked with talent. They had a young man pitching that was 12 years old, 6 feet tall and could throw the equivalent of 80 mph because of the short pitching distance. I will never forget when you launched his fastball completely out of the park into the neighborhood behind. EVERYONE turned around and looked at me screaming out of their minds at what you did. I am pretty sure you were just as shocked as everyone that you hit such a bomb.

I am not sure you knew this, but your mom and I worked hard to keep you in Christian schools. In fact, you went to the same school your entire life; Pre-K through high school, which helped build loyalty as well as create long-time friendships like what you have with Caleb. It is beyond crazy to me that you are college dorm roommates but met in a pre-K class. Being friends for that long is difficult because as you get older, your interests change, and the people you enjoy also change. But you are both still friends even through 4 years of living together in college. I find that very impressive.

What I have always enjoyed watching you do is find something you want to try and then you attack it with a ferocity. No one likes to lose but especially you and if you can avoid that through preparation, you do. Take Football as an example. You decided you wanted to play in 8th grade and you stuck with it through your senior year. You learned new positions and then completely changed your body shape to play them.

Finally, and I love this, you shared what you learned with your teammates. Before each huddle broke, you made sure each person knew who they had to block which made all the difference. Your team was amazing. In your senior year, in your division, your team won the equivalent of a state title in that pandemic shortened season…AND…No one can take away from you.

But life goes on and then High School was over and you pressed on to College where out of the many choices you had, you chose GCU in Phoenix, AZ. And, as I previously mentioned you and Caleb have been able to be room mates these last few years together. And to all of our excitement, you succeeded…you graduated.

I am sure I don’t have to remind you but over the last 4 years you have dealt with and persevered through all kinds of problems; girl problems, priority issues, homework, late nights, early mornings, super late nights, roommates, crazy roommates, loneliness, grief, exhaustion, money problems, parents, 6-hour trips home, loyalty, laundry, cooking, cleaning, deadlines, fear, relationships, and the list goes on…all of this while maintaining your integrity. 

For all of these reasons and more, I tell you son that as your father, I could not be any prouder of you than I am right now. Did you make mistakes? Yep, and we all do (and continue to do) but yet you kept, and keep on, getting up and forging ahead. 

Adversity will come in your life. You have faced some of it already and will continue to face it because that is the way life happens. The question is, how will you face it? Will you cower and hide hoping that whatever it is, will blow over? Or will you stand up and look it straight in the eye and say, “God, you and I got this!” Because that is how God expects you to react. You have a calming personality and that will help you greatly when adversity comes your way…you can remain cool under pressure.

Now you get to take this degree you earned to move on to the next stage of your life. I know that you know your career choice is one that can put you in danger…but that is what you and God decided what you should pursue. Each and every day, I encourage you to begin by turning that day over to Christ and rest in the fact that He will protect you.

So here is my advice to achieve a satisfying life…

No matter what LIFE throws in your path; No matter what pain you may have to bear; No matter what suffering you may endure; or even hardships. OR maybe the opposite; No matter what successes you may enjoy; No matter what happiness you may be blessed with; 

NEVER EVER take your focus off of Jesus Christ. 

For you to endure anything in your future son, good or bad, you must trust and have faith in Him even if your mind says maybe to do something else. As I learned dealing with the death of your sister, sometimes we are not meant to understand the “why” part. 

Our job is to trust and rely on Him completely…your job, as the future head of your home, is to trust Him completely as well…

22+ years ago, God blessed me with a second son and he grew up to be you. And you? Well, you became an amazing blessing to our entire family and I firmly believe with all my heart that God has a strong and solid plan for your life. You are going to do GREAT things.

Your job is to take that first step, just like you have always done…

I Love You Son and I am truly blessed God chose me to be your Father…

Your Dad