Lately I have been struggling with the complexity of my life. My mind is occupied with my aging parents in Brazil, my son in his first semester in college, starting a new business; it all can be overwhelming at times.  I have longed for the simple, uncomplicated days of yesteryear where there was freedom and opportunity. Well, that was until I started to think more clearly about the good ol’ days. Once I woke up from my glamorized stroll down memory lane, here’s what I really gave up: I had $25 dollars left to my name during at the end of my freshman year of college. I certainly would not want to relive that. I didn’t own a car until after I graduated from college. How in the world did I get around? I was cleaning toilets my second week of school. Then I washed dishes for another year. I…

I was stuck in my career until David Foster offered me a job based on the potential he saw in me. Late into my twenties, I worked on the staff of a small, traditional congregation, but my heart yearned to reach those outside the faith with a non-traditional approach to church. My experience, however, showed a completely different type of ministry. During that time I felt like being in a no-man’s land where my desires and opportunities were not in sync. David’s vote of confidence in my abilities was the catalyst that changed the course of my entire career. Sometime in the early hours of Monday, David woke up in heaven. He was only 58. During my nearly seven years of working for him, I learned a lot from Dave, but a few of these lessons are salient in my mind today. Church should be a safe place for the…

Life is precious. We are not guaranteed tomorrow on this earth. Those two thoughts came rushing into my mind as I read an email today about the passing of Gary “Shoe Shine Guy” Armstrong. He was found dead in his apartment over the weekend. Gary was 51. I saw him this past Friday afternoon at his usual spot at the bottom of the main staircase at the Maryland Farms YMCA. I had a pair of shoes for him to shine this morning, but he was not there. Since 2003 Gary had worked at the same spot, and over the years I gave him a lot of business. It will be strange going down the stairs and not hearing Gary’s soundtrack of 60, 70 and 80 tunes in his old-school stereo he setup every day. Interestingly, Gary had a blog with only four entries from April of 2007. I only discovered…

There are some rights of passage in life I look  forward more than others. During my run this morning, I noticed that I might have been going through yet another stage. I’ve heard we become more “eccentric” as we age. I’m not wealthy enough to garner the title of “eccentric.” I’m just getting old and peculiar. Here’s a few signs that point to my aging status: I can’t run, workout or pretty much leave the house without at least 800 milligrams of ibuprofen, metabolic and thermogenic enhancers and a couple of pills I’m not even sure what they do but I’m afraid to stop taking them. I must check the weather as soon as  I wake up. First I was just interested in the local weather, but it has now expanded to cities all over the globe including entire regions in the Pacific rim and western Europe. My growing fascination…