6.21.14

Breakfast - 2 frosted blueberry poptarts
Lunch - Jets pizza (thanks Mia!)
Dinner - TBD

Months

June is becoming one of my favorite months.

I have this thing with months. Novembers suck and Januaries are awesome. It's a trend for me. I didn't really notice this until probably 2011 but when I looked back on the previous years, I recognized this bizarrely reoccurring theme of anxiety and peace.

It started in November of 2009. I just remember that month sucking for a number of personal reasons. But sure enough January of 2010 came and it was better. And ever since then the trend just continued; even through this past November and January.

Novembers are full of anxiety. The hustle & bustle of finishing up the calendar year catches up with you and then at the same time you're supposed to reconnect with family and be thankful. Family members like to ask questions. The kind of questions that if you can't answer well, you feel unprepared for life. Thanks for asking Grandma, but I really couldn't tell you when I'm going to give you some great grandchildren…

Januaries somehow always bring peace, though. There's something in the air with Januaries and it probably has to do with the optimism that comes from people making resolutions they truly believe they will keep. God always calms my heart in January and reminds me to be present where I'm at. He reminds me that the anxiety of being unprepared for life is unnecessary as long as I have faith in him. A "let's take this one-day-at-a-time" faith. Cause that's how years happen; one day at a time.

Junes are new for me. This is the second June that has been outstanding for me and it likely has a lot to do with sunshine. Cause sunshine has a way of bringing people together. The day I fell in love with this town was a day in the middle of June. I don't remember the exact day but I do remember the exact moment. I was driving down the highway with an unbelievable view of the Nashville skyline. The sun was setting and I was on my way to meet up with some friends in an unfamiliar part of town. Unfamiliar things usually make me feel a little uneasy, a little out of place. But I realized that this time that wasn't the case. Something was different. And that's when it clicked.

Nashville is for everybody.

I remember growing up in Tampa and knowing that there were parts of town I didn't belong in. Certain "old money" suburbs or retirement beach fronts that didn't like young kids hanging around. Feeling unwelcome is the pits.

But there is no exclusivity in Nashville. Everyone can go everywhere, and anyone can be a somebody. You can walk into almost any bar and watch a dirty, skinny-jean-wearing hipster sing along to Wagon Wheel right next to a 55 year old farmer in a cowboy hat. And the two get along famously. It's the coolest thing. And I think that's why I wasn't unsettled about heading to an unfamiliar part of town that particular day.

A couple months ago I started going to this new church. It's unlike any church I've ever been to before. The people there are incredible, the worship is incredible and the teaching is incredible. This place is anointed. Over the past few weeks I've really watched myself be overwhelmed with joy from the community of this church. The funny thing to me is that the name of this church is The Belonging. A little weird the first time you hear it. But then you show up and you experience it. The Belonging.

Nashville is a place where anyone can belong. The Belonging is a place where anyone can belong. And June is my new favorite month where I belong.

6.16.14

Breakfast - 2 blueberry poptarts
Lunch - 3 cookie butter rolls
Dinner - greek yogurt, honey and granola

Pain in the Neck

I love going on bike rides. It get it from my Dad.

Yesterday was Father’s Day and I know that if I had been back in Tampa with my family, the one thing my Dad would have wanted to do would have been to go on a “Family Bike Ride.” So instead I went on a bike ride here. The Father-Son-Bonding thing again.

It’s been a minute since I’ve enjoyed a nice bike ride. And I hate that because every time I go on a bike ride I remember how much I love it. The word is peaceful. Bike rides are peaceful. Why don’t I do this every weekend?

Today, though, I’m admittedly kind of sore. The bike I have is a stupid one. It’s a trendy hipster fixed gear bike that my friends talked me into getting before I lived in a place with hills. Hills and fixies don’t mix well. This bike also has drop handle bars (another stupid characteristic). Which means the position I have to ride in is a fairly low one. So if I want to see where I’m going at all I really have to bend my neck back to look up. Because of this, my neck is pretty stiff today.

And I like it.

I’m not like a masochist or anything. I just liked the reminder I got every time I turned to answer the phone today. A reminder that not only says, “Hey, you did stuff yesterday. Feel good about that.” but a reminder that says, “Look up, look forward.”

I used to ride my bike all the time. Miles and miles of training. My neck never used to get sore cause I had built up a tolerance I guess. But somewhere over the past couple of years I stopped riding my bike, I put my head down and quit looking ahead.

You miss a lot when you put your head down and quit looking ahead.

Sometimes thinking about the future is overwhelming and can bring about a good bit of anxiety. Which is why it's so easy to put your head down, ignore the inevitability of certain responsibilities and avoid any potential "pain in the neck." But you miss the opportunity to really build your future and make it what you want it to be. If you keep your head down the world is going to pass you by whether you want it to or not. But if you look up, you'll suffer a little bit of stiffness, but you'll also get the chance to make some really great decisions.

Looking up and looking forward isn't about dreams and goals, it's about facing life head on and making any adjustments necessary to get to where you want to go.

I came to an abrupt fork in the road yesterday on my ride. If my head had been down I probably would have missed it. I'll be honest, neither path looked to be exceptionally different. But for me, I was just glad to have the opportunity to make a decision. Here's a moment where I get to choose my path; my future. Where do I want to go?

There's a little bit of pain in my neck, but I'm looking up and I'm looking forward... let's do this thing

6.14.14

Breakfast - 2 blueberry poptarts
Lunch - probably crackers and cheese
Dinner - probably chicken of some sort


My Favorite Place

I have this theory about my favorite place in the world.

I used to work for an event operations company that put on endurance races across the country. We were basically one huge traveling circus that would go from town to town all summer long. We were carnies. It was a great experience for me. I got to do tons of traveling and ended up spending time in places I never would have ever intentionally visited. Like Racine, WI. Even the people who live in Racine don't like Racine. I never need to go there again. But I'm glad I did because now I know what I'm not missing out on.

I spent a lot of time on airplanes when I worked with this company.

Anytime we did an event out west, the travel coordinators would always stick us on the same flight out there, probably cause it was the cheapest option. I loved that flight.

While you would think that an airplane would take you to your favorite place in the world, did you ever stop to think that the actual airplane could be your favorite place in the world?

At 37,000ft you find yourself above the clouds in what I imagine is the one place on earth that is as close to heaven as you can get. When you took off it may have been raining or overcast, but above the cloud line its nothing but serenity. Clear sky as far as the eye can see.

This flight that we always took out west had the perfect timing; it typically took off around sunset. I always made sure to get a window seat for the view. The plane would climb and climb until we'd break that cloud line and then BAM! we were there.

My favorite place is what I call the eternal sunset. I have this theory that if everything holds constant, a plane could fly west and chase the sun around the globe forever, basically living in this place of eternal sunset. Cause if you think about it, the sun is technically always setting somewhere (it's science). And if you could use a plane to always be in that place, then you could live where the sun is always setting. How freaking rad.

I guess this theory would hold true for sunrises too. So maybe if you're a sunrise person, think about this idea from that angle. But don't think too hard cause there's no theme here about "tomorrow never coming" or "new beginnings" or "what are you chasing" or "what are you running from," ok?

I just really stinkin' like sunsets.

6.7.14

3am Waffle House
11am Blueberry Poptarts
8pm About to drive to Little Caesars for a pepperoni deep dish


Welcome to Manhood

My 18th birthday was on a Sunday.

I remember it specifically because this was to be a very special birthday for me. My dad, in true dad fashion, had something unique planned. He's a pretty radical guy so I assure you this story is about to get good.

After the 11am church service my dad corralled all of my friends and their families into the chapel; he wanted them to be apart of a special rite of passage ceremony for me. It was a "welcome to manhood" celebration thing that he had read about somewhere called a "Bar Barakah", which I guess is like a Bar Mitzvah but for non-jews? I don't even know…

So it's my 18th birthday. It's Sunday. 100 of my closest friends and their families are sitting in a chapel as my dad brings me up front and begins to perform this non-jew ceremony. He has me kneel at the alter. He says a bunch of "We're so proud of our boy" and "We want to ask God's blessing on you" kind of stuff.

And this is where it gets good.

All of a sudden my dad whips out a sword. Yes, a real sword. In fact, it was actually an exact replica of the sword from the movie Braveheart. Apparently he had ordered it a few weeks earlier from one of those graphic novel/comicon/super hero catalogs. 

And then he knighted me with it.

Yes, my father knighted me on my 18th birthday in a chapel full of 100 of my closest friends with the sword from Braveheart. Today's forecast is cloudy with a 100% chance of awesome embarrassment.

But it gets better.

After knighting me my father has me recite a creed that he had written for my life. "I was created by God, I was created for God and my life's highest ambition is to be best friends with God." I say these words out loud for all to hear (cheesy but great stuff, honestly). And upon completing my creed, my father turns his back to me to grab something.

Out of nowhere, he spins back around like a hurricane and slaps me in the face with a pair of gloves he had been hiding tucked in his back pocket. With the infamous, fiery Leatherwood intensity burning in his eyes he says, "And that is so you'll never forget it!"

My friends' jaws dropped. My Mother gasps out loud. And I look like I'm crying cause one of the gloves cut my eye.

Did my dad just knight me, have me recite a creed, then slap me in the face with gloves so I'll never forget the creed? And did he just do this in front of the most important people in my life? Yes. Yes he did.

Ahh, so this is what manhood feels like.

My mother didn't speak to my dad for 48hrs. She was livid. I mean, she had tolerated the knighting thing, but the slapping thing had taken it too far. "We've never slapped our kids, Robert! What makes you think it's ok to do so in front of the community?!"

Apparently my dad had recently watched a movie called Kingdom of Heaven, and there's a scene where Orlando Bloom has a guy recite a creed then slaps him in the face with gloves so that he'll "never forget it." Orlando Bloom wasn't a good enough reason for my mom. It took him a couple days but Dad finally came to sincerely apologize, both to me and my mother.

Truth be told, in hindsight, I loved the whole thing. I got a killer story out of it, a killer Braveheart replica sword and all my friends got to really see how dad-like my dad truly is. Oh, you thought your dad was awesome? Yeah, I got you beat...

                                                                                                               

For some reason I started thinking about this story the other day. The purpose of this Bar Barakah was to be my rite of passage, my welcoming to manhood. And while the ceremony may have served its purpose in expressing that publicly to the community, I still never felt quite like a man after that. Not until recently that is.

I drink chocolate milk, watch cartoons and play with my dog all the time, so yes, I still have boyish tendencies. But I'm starting to watch myself grow, specifically, in Christ. And this spiritual growth is what I'm realizing is making me a man; this following of my creed, if you will. Seeking his face on my own accord, prioritizing his place in my daily life and allowing his teachings to transform my heart all build my character and take me to a place where He equips me with leadership, confidence and wisdom.

I'm a man.

Not because I pay bills, lift weights and know how to spit. But because I was created by God, I was created for God and my life's highest ambition is to be best friends with God.