A poem for the masses (and to prove my life is not all sad)

FEARLESS ME, AND MY TEDDYBEAR

Like Abbot and Costello, the Lone Ranger and Tonto,
Wherever I'm headed, he too is sure to go,

We’ve rescued maidens in distress,
Completely fearless... more or less,

We’ve stood up to an ogre, face to face,
And we've dared the depths of outer space.

When it comes to danger and fear, we've done it all,
So if you ever need help just give us a call,

And before you know it, we'll be there,
Fearless Me, and my TEDDYBEAR.

Sometimes the TinMan Sometimes the Scarecrow

As my knees popped and cracked their way up the stairs this morning I certainly felt like the Tin Man looking for his can of oil... But being the Tin Man is so much more than that... I have always been ruled by my emotions, I am a very deep sensitive person and many times I am overcome by the emotions of others. As a child it was very difficult for me to seperate my emotions from the emotions of everyone else. I felt what they were feeling. It was not until well after college that I really learned to distinguish between what I was feeling internally and what I was reacating to externally. Many times I felt that my heart was busted, that I needed a new one...

At the same time I was that kid that was always the smartest kid in the regular class or the dumbest kids in the honors class. Put a little ADD on top of that and there were so many times that I new I had to be smarter than this... that if I only had a brain... because it certainly felt like I didn't...

I have always loved what the Wizard of Oz represents because in the end what each of them desired most, they already had.

As I was thinking about this I realized a couple of things, the first about myself and the second about my children.

First ME...
I have spent my whole life wanting to be great at something. I have many things that I am above avaerage at and a lot that I would even say I am good at. But I always wanted to be great. I have said on many occasions I would give up all of my other gifts if I gould just be amazing at one of them. I have compared myself to the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, even the Lion and occasionally I have even felt like Dorthy - looking for a place to fit in. Yesterday I think I reached a student that the rest of the world has been unable to reach... I've figured out what I am great at... I know who I am. I am not the Tin Man, I am not the Scarecrow, I am not the Lion, and I am not Dorthy.....

I am the great and powerful OZ... What I am truley great at, my gift... I help people to see whats already inside them. I make other people great. My own greatness seems intangible at times, but it can always be found in the success of the people that I touch and help.

Second - My kids:
I am raising the Wizard of Oz... Tyler is the Tin Man - ruled by his heart, always seeking to love and care for others, the first to help out, the first to nurture, the first cry... Jayden is the Scarecrow - ruled by his brain, constantly seeking to be smarter, will think a problem through rather than hit it head on, always looking for a puzzle, has to know the answer... Ajay is the Lion - scared of his own shadow, and the first to jump in to save you, always ready to fight, he seeks out high places, and jumps in to any situation (even if he is terrified), he is one of the most couragous people I know... And Ashtyn - I guess she has to be Dorthy because shes the girl right - but she will also be the driving force behind the other three, they are "Her Boys", she is the link that will hold them together, her family (Her Boys) are what keeps her going, she has to take care of them, she has to know where they are, she is our hall monitor...

----

May all your dreams come true,
May your nightmares fade away,
and may you find tomorrow
what you've lost today.

I am praying for you.

A puzzle Piece

I often hear people talk about how we are like puzzles and how we feel incomplete when we are missing a piece. I'm not sure that I completly agree with the picture. I think that the events of today have made me ponder the life of the puzzle piece. What would it be like to be a single puzzle piece...

One could argue that a single puzzle piece has infinite possibilities, that it could be anything in the world. And yet, I think, that one single puzzle piece is void of all meaning... it is not the pieces that define the puzzle... it is the puzzle that defines the pieces. It is the picture that tells us what we are. Without a place in the world, without a purpose we are lost and often hopeless. What makes a really good puzzle is one that has only one solution, it only works when all the pieces are there. But without the puzzle the pieces have no purpose.

Words are often defined by the context of the sentence, a wide reciever can only function as part of a team...

I think many of us wander this world as a puzzle piece discarded from the box... we move from box to box looking for that puzzle that we are a part of, the puzzle is not complete because of us but it is only complete because we are there.

Off by a day

Ok so I am off by a day... I apolopgize to the two people that read this. I reached a point where I just didn't feel like the things I had to say needed to be said.

But in truth if I don't say them they just seem to pile up in my head and I begin to loose what sanity I have left.

I posted that I would start writing again on the 15th and here it is the 16th and no new posts... so here it comes...


I may have posted on this before I need to go back and read - but even so it has taken on a whole new meaning as of late...

I believe that the true power of the Spirit is not to take away the....

well ok... so five hours after I started this, not my network will let me finish it. I guess it was self prophecy...

So as I was saying, I believe that the true power of the Spirit is not to make the chaos peacful, rather the true power of the Spirit is to allow me to be at peace in the midst of chaos. When Christ was on the boat in the storm with his disciples he was peacefully asleep. When they woke him in fear they needed him to calm the storm, which he did. In addition he rebuked them for their lack of faith. I always assumed that he was rebuking them because they doubted that he could calm the storm... I have come to believe that he was rebuking them for needing the storm to be calmed. It was their lack of faith that God would not let them sink. My life has been in chaos as of late and I have found myself begging God to calm the storms and I have found myself angry with God when he doesn't...

But when I stop and pray and listen... I can hear God saying, it's only a storm I will not let you sink. And I can find peace in the chaos knowing that it is only chaos... it is merely noise that must be tuned out.

I pray that all who read this may find peace, our world will never be peacful, yet the Spirit will let us be at peace in God. Relish in this peace, seek it always...