Dream A Little Dream

     There I was, my eyes were closed and I could hear the children playing, laughing and giggling, there was so much life in their voices, so much joy in the moment. When people get older, some of that wonder just washes away from life's trials, heartaches and so much more; people forget what it means to be alive. Kids just take it all in, they are fresh with dreams, ideas, imagination and complete wonder. Children taste imagination, adults look at it from a distance. Well I quickly got up from my chair and instead of sitting around, I wanted to taste it, see something I have never seen. I wanted to come alive with my imagination, dance with mystery and look through the eyes of a child. I quickly picked up my camera and began walking all around the park and just began smelling what was around me, closing my eyes and hearing the sounds dance between my ears; playing with with my memories with such sweet surrender. I wandered along a beautiful trail where I began to capture the beauty in the small things, the things that are often missed by the human eye. I watched as life suddenly began to sing with joy all around me. I was so captivated by what I saw and what touched my heart. God is the most brilliant painter of life and it sweetly sings of His love for us and the beauty of peace. Never take a day as just another day, capture it, dance with it, feed it your imagination and learn to fly!

Count Your Blessings

     A beautiful day to praise God and remember that counting your blessings makes you forget all the things that were never really worth complaining about in the first place.

     When I can't talk I sing praises in my mind, when I can't walk, I pray for all those God wants me to reach with the gospel, when my mind is angry I pray for all those who have hurt me most. So whatever struggle I go through I'm keeping my eyes on Gods purpose and focusing less on my struggles. God always triumphs over the worst of adversity, I just have to know that He has me in His hands and that everything is going to be okay, in fact everything will be so much better because I walk with God or in my case RUN. 

Rise Above It

     What an awesome night of training!!!! For the first time I ran 7 km while skipping and I was able to perform for the last km a double skip every 5 minutes and then I did my regular routine of martial arts and acrobatics. Towards the end of my training a group of teenagers were cheering me on and screaming and shouting after I performed acrobatics. One teenager ran across the street and nervously came up to me and wanted to shake my hand. It was weird to see all of them filming me with their cell phones though.
     When I got home I couldn't help but remember when I couldn't speak, walk, understand language and more, I thought of all the people who turned away and stopped talking to me or people who would look down at me because my stroke often presented itself as a person of less intelligence or to say it kindly, they thought I was mentally challenged. I saw through their eyes the shallow judgement, the snobby refusal to even look at you because of your behaviour but in turn I also saw and met some of the sweetest people who wanted to find the deepest part of me, they wanted to know who I was despite what they saw. God does that but with far greater wisdom and he takes our lives when we trust in Him and He plants a new beginning with much more than we could ever conceive on our own strength.

The Covering

     Last night I was redoing my trailer, fixing it up and re-coating the cedar when a young kid came running up to the house to hand me my newspaper. He always smiles and says just a few words but his attitude is awesome. I stopped him to tell him a story. I told him about myself and when I was younger I did the newspaper just like him, I loved it and enjoyed the reward of awesome customers who appreciated my happy attitude. He smiled quickly and then I pulled out my wallet and gave him 10$ and said "I knew this one guy who always gave me money because that's what he did, he appreciated me and he told me that lots of times." So I looked the kid in the eyes and said "You have a good attitude, keep smiling, keep being awesome and enjoy what you do."
     As he turned around, he looked over his shoulder with a huge grin and said "Thank you so much!!!" It was like he just received the lottery for being himself. Now that I look back I could see why that one man always gave me money, he wasn't rich by any standard, in fact the house he lived in was weathered, some shingles were often missing and one of the windows was broken. The paint on the house was so faded that you could see the bare wood and the grass was always overgrown. Every time he came to the door he looked disheveled and in need of a good shower but he was in my opinion one of the most giving people, foul in language but someone who you by assumption would believe he was in all pretenses a bum. I learned early on in my daily newspaper route that you should never judge a book by it's cover. In fact on that same route I had a family that I thought had it all together and they spoke well, they smiled at all the right times and presented themselves in such a kind manner but when it was time to collect the money for the route, they often gave excuses, lied repeatedly to me and I lost money. I new from that moment on that when someone tells you something it doesn't mean much unless there is reputable action that follows.

Time given, Time taken

     I was heading out to home depot to get some materials when I saw a neighbor walking with her kids, as I drove by I could see a wince of sorrow in her eyes, a moment of emptiness behind the smile. I stopped the van and called her to me. As she walked back to the van I could clearly see she was broken inside. I asked her if she was okay and her eyes looked away as she began to tell her sad situation. You see she recently divorced and I knew her husband well, sadly everything fell apart and of course things got messy. 
     I remember speaking to the husband telling him that he needed to draw close to God and start removing the stress in his life with his work and start eating healthy. He looked fine but I felt I needed to say that, well during the ex-wife's conversation with me it obviously didn't happen. He had a sudden heart attack and was rushed to the hospital for a triple or quadruple bypass. His arteries where all clogged. I quickly stepped out of the van and ran around to hug the ex-wife and give her comfort. It was the first time it felt like I was holding a bunch of broken pieces melting like wax under a hot sun. Her kids came running up and she quickly put on a brave face and smiled and said "Well, have a great day Ernie, I'll talk to you soon." 
     Time passes quickly, sometimes we assume that tomorrow is a guarantee or at the very best our health will somehow be the same but we really never know and the time we have now is precious. Some people spend all their precious time trying to acquire things instead of embracing the people who so desperately want their love, friendship and kindness. 

Today I saw an opportunity to take a fantastic shot and as I focused on how I should take the photo, I could hear a light buzzing sound and then a CLICK. I took the shot and immediately looked around and just off to the right was an elderly woman looking at me with a big smile, she quickly chuckled and said "I stopped so you could take your shot." I laughed and said "Thank You" We quickly began laughing together and saying a few things back and forth with big smiles and I asked her if I could hug her and she had a BIG GRIN and said "OH of course, I LOVE hugs!" so I quickly gave her a gentle hug and laughed once again. She looked up at me and said "you just made my day, more than you know!" She asked for my name and then wheeled away for a cup of coffee. 
 

    Sometimes the littlest things can change everything in your day.

A moment of patience

in a moment of anger

Saves you a Hundred

moments of regret.