A Slower Pace

The blog post title does not refer to getting back to work because today is Monday and most people depart from the weekend to get back to their day jobs. It is a nod towards yesterday’s Father’s Day. You see, all those accolades, thank you’s, love, acknowledgement and all around gratitude is usually a result of effort, toil, tough love, leadership, hard decisions, life lessons, and discipline that make up a good dad’s life. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are also the throwing of the baseball, the swimming with the kids, the building of sofa cushion forts and what not. But the nuts and bolts of it is hard, determined, consistent work that usually goes unnoticed and unappreciated…..until about 20 years later.

So this post is an encouragement for all dads and fathers to put away the cards and gifts from yesterday and get back to the tough, but most important job of raising your kids. You cannot and must not fail at this task. Put it at the top of your “to do” list — both at home AND at work. It is a huge challenge but I know you are up to it.

Now get out there and be engaged, loving and accountable in leading your family.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Spending the next 2 minutes and 41 seconds to watch this video will probably be one of the best things you will spend your time on today. Guys, fathers, dads — man up and click on the vid.

This video was played during the intro to last night’s message at church. It was extremely impactful – both this video and the sermon which is why I choose the blog post title I did. The message cut deep to a man’s heart and challenged him to do the things he needs to do to lead his family in a Godly way.

The link is not on their website yet. However, I am posting the general sermon list link and highly encourage you to either watch it online or download their sermon podcasts.

And to my own Dad…..Happy Father’s Day! Thanks for all you have done that was invisible, gone unnoticed or was behind the scenes. Those were probably some of the most impactful decisions and actions you had.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Today is my folks’ 45th anniversary. I shouldn’t have to write anything else about it. The number should say it all. With a large number of marriages these days choosing divorce, I am in admiration of couples that can begin to quantify their marriage in multiples of decades. THAT is dedication. THAT is true love. THAT is taking the marriage vow and covenant seriously.

And I am lucky because of their commitment to stay together. Not only as a child – to have the security, consistency, reliability and stability of a loving two parent home. But also as an adult as a model for marriage, love, commitment and fortitude.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! May your marriage union continue to be blessed, upheld and centered in Christ.

For those who are having trouble in their marriage and hope to see a 45th anniversary some day, here are a few resources:

Fireproof – The Movie

Fireproof Couple Resources

Fireproof Your Marriage

Marriage 911

Christian Counseling of Mansfield

Focus on the Family – Free Marriage Booklets

Crosswalk Christian Resources

Christian Marriage Today

Marriage Rocks

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This morning’s drive into work was a bit different. While I have seen some wonderful scenery both God-made and man-made, this morning it was an opportunity to serve.

I was almost to work driving along the fast, busy four lane divided highway road and I noticed and passed an older man strolling along the side of the road. As I approached, he lifted up his hand to wave while I drove by. It wasn’t abnormal but it also wasn’t normal either. The industrial area is not conducive to people walking along the road. I watched him in my rearview mirror and he would repeatedly lift his hand and wave at each passing vehicle. It was at that point that my heart tugged at me to turn around (and we all know that it was the Holy Spirit telling me to be obedient and “love my neighbor”).

I hit the next U-turn opportunity and headed back to him. I rolled down my passenger window as I rolled up and asked him if he needed anything. He just smiled and said no and continued his stroll. I was unsafely and partially blocking traffic (no cars were coming…..yet) so I pulled all the way over, shut off my car and exited the car to walk with him. I asked him again if he needed any help and that people usually don’t wander along this industrial road. It was at that point I noticed a name tag pinned to the front of his shirt. It was one of those metal dog-type name tags and it had his name, the word Alzheimers and a phone number on it. Because my father-in-law is suffering from the same disease, I knew that he probably shouldn’t have been out wandering the streets in an industrial area. I introduced myself to “Blaine” and told him that we should find one of his family members or friends. He was cooperative but seemed very incoherent.

I was pulling out my cellphone to call the number on the tag when a Louisville Metro Police Department officer pulled up. I walked Blaine over to the officer who had gotten out of his car and introduced him. I then informed the officer of Blaine’s situation and what I knew. The officer took over from there and insisted Blaine wait in the front seat of his car while the officer could locate one of Blaine’s family members.

The public service message of this is:

If you have a friend or family member that has Alzheimers, get them a metal ID tag like Blaine had. Put their name on it and their Alzheimers condition along with a contact number of someone who is always available. It is a simple, great idea and allowed me to understand Blaine’s situation and help him when he couldn’t help himself.

Do it now because that simple act could save their lives and return them back to your family.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Today is my wife’s birthday. And because she is my “Happily Ever After”, I took the day off work today to do whatever she wanted me to do.

Did we go shopping? No.
Did she want me to take her on a day trip somewhere? No.
Did she want to laze around the pool and have me bring her cool drinks and fan her with a palm leaf? No.

What she wanted was for me to tackle something on her honey-do list — clean the garage. I didn’t put up much of a fuss because the garage is my domain and I thought it would be cool to hang in the garage all day and get it straightened out.

Boy did I get a surprise when she clarified that she wanted me to CLEAN the garage. That meant sweeping, wiping down the walls of the cobwebs, cleaning the windows (including the channels where flies, wasps and other flying insects go to die), as well as throwing stuff away and organizing.

It would have been easier if I had gone to work today!

So I arose at 5:30am, took her and the family to breakfast, and have been eagerly at it in detail since then. It is slow going but I think I really impressed her. She returned from the grocery store and said “Now THAT’S what I’m talkin’ about!”.

Luckily, we are breaking early for “linner” (the flip side of brunch) to go to her favorite place — Cheesecake Factory.

And while I have been out in the garage, I have been streaming miscellaneous country music from one of my favorite artists, Brad Paisley. The song below came on and I recite the lyrics in tribute to my wife on her birthday.

Brad Paisley
“She’s Everything”

Everything I ever wanted
And everything I need
She’s everything to me

Happy Birthday, my love! I love you bigger than the mountains!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I posted earlier this week about my wife’s truck hitting 100,000 miles. Well, this afternoon on my commute home I doubled that on my daily driver. See my cellphone picture below.

This is the second time I have clicked over 200,000 miles on a vehicle. And both are Mercedes diesels. Gotta love ’em.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

So I just finished writing the last post on something funny my son said and he popped off another one.

He was speaking about his day swimming and he used the word “gotten”. I corrected him that “gotten” was not a word. He reworded it using the word “got”. I corrected him again that “got” wasn’t a proper grammar word. His reply cracked me up.

D: “So then how do you say “Got Milk”?

Again, I laughed.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

My wife posted this as her Facebook status recently.

My son: “Mom, I finished trimming the bushes in the back”
My wife: “Great!”
My son: “It’s NOT perfect but I’m NOT God.”

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I ran around crazy this morning looking for one of the four digital cameras that reside in our house just so I could capture this morning’s sunrise. The picture doesn’t do it justice. It was an orange ball penetrating the green tree canopy capped by a blue morning sky.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Recipe for an awesome weekend day:

• Fishing with my son D
• the NASCAR race
• some mowin’
• swimming in the pool to cool off
• burgers on the grill
• s’mores

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net