The Hello I Didn’t Give…

The music brings a vibration to my ears, my fingers clicking town on the keyboard in the only exercise I’ve had today… but as always, humor arises while posting up in the caribou coffee off of highway 5.  While I manage my homework and catch up on blogging, I find myself entranced by the people coming and going, always so fascinated by the human characteristics and how immensely they can vary.  But today it’s not so much the uniqueness of individuals, but the childlike world so many of us have forgotten… left behind.

I see a young boy across from me playing his Nintendo DS, eating a cup of straight whip cream (oh the benefits of having your mom work at caribou).  Another boy shows up almost as if he appeared from nowhere… are they friends? nope.  But they act as if their brothers or old friends.  Conversation sparks up about the game or other miscellaneous topics.  Surprise, a young girl shows up and feels like joining the conversation…. does she know these other two kids? Nope!  Three very young strangers act like friends and enjoy each others company, the awkwardness is non-existent.

 

Sometimes Childhood Friends Become Brothers And Sisters Forever

The unknown journey… Care for a ride?

Imagine for a moment your past…

In a moment I want you to imagine how your life has unfolded…  How were your childhood years, how did elementary school treat you, was high school and puberty brutal, did college force you to grow up or prolong your childish attitude, were you scared to start your first career, did you marry the girl of your dreams, have your children brought joy in the midst of cloudy days, has your life been all that you hoped for?
Perhaps that’s a lot to think about… but take a moment to think about life, read on after the 10 seconds or 10 minutes needed to reminisce.

My younger years…

When I look back on the memories of my childhood or gaze at the pictures in old photo albums, I have no choice but to laugh at myself.  I went through so many confusing phases, none of which I understand to this day.  I thought being mean to girls was clever to try to get them, my sweats and hoody phase, the horrible “skater” phase of huge shoes and backwards hats, I even had a phase that existed of me playing “Skip-it” from morning to night…

Highschool…

When high school rounded the corner in my life, I had a very small idea of what my identity in this world was… but still mostly clueless on where God was calling me.  School didn’t matter, grades were irrelevant, and the odd social life of my private school was the priority.  Friends in the morning, friends in the afternoon, friends at night.  High school was a four-year hang out with the people I cared about.

Where am I now… Where has life led me…

College, a time of life that can truly be defined as the highlight of my physical existence thus far.  But college is ending, the memories will soon cease to be created.  Twenty-four hour trips to the cabin, climbing around the Stone-Arch Bridge, Caribou escapes, concerts, laughing until you cry in the arms of your “brothers and sisters,” even crying in the arms of your “brothers and sisters,” a world of memories in only 4 brief years.  My room mates were there for me when I heard the news of my Grandma… a moment that still renders me teary eyed.  Ryan, Drew, Jordan and I growing in friendship… growing in brotherhood.  The men I’ve grown close to in college, will carry me through life until I reach the grace… and I them.

Bored yet?  The point is just around the corner, don’t give up on me yet…

An unknown journey to my future... Care for a ride?

Most of my readers are at this point…. college is ending or will end soon.  If your one of the adult readers, then you probably know how scary this moment in life can be.  I’m graduating in a few months, and I have no idea where I’m going.  I’m taking an unknown journey towards my future, care to join me in this adventure?

For months of this year I was worried about my future, where I would end up or how I would get there.  I would look at my past and the memories I’ve had, and I used to consider them just that… memories, nothing more.  There couldn’t be a greater lie in my life! These seemingly pointless events in my past have prepared me for whats to come.  They have set me on course and helped me build up speed for the more challenging aspects still to come.  Do I hate not knowing the future? YES!!  But there is an exhilarating aspect the I’ve come to know and appreciate.  Do you go into a horror movie and know the ending before it begins, do you truly want to know how Bruce Willis is going to kill the bad guys in Die Hard 4 before the movie even starts?  Wow, I couldn’t think of a bigger waste of time than seeing a movie I know the ending to (thanks Justin for ruining Fight Club before I saw it 😛 ).

Life scares me… My future worries me… The questions without answers silence me…
But if my future is anything like the events of my past, God has a remarkable life in store for me.

Look back on the years you’ve lived and smile…
Now imagine how much more you’ll have to smile about in ten years…..

Coach Like Wisdom…

I admit it! This post is due to a lesson from a true man of Christ, Coach Johnson of Bethel University.  During my trip to Europe, Coach J. would spend many of the nights for lessons; brief lectures that were emphasized in leadership.  When I first heard this was te plan for a month, I immediately became nervous that these would be deathly boring, perhaps I’d slip into a brief slumber until he finished a rant or two.  But… I was wrong, wow so very wrong.  His words were true and they spoke to the heart.  Without a doubt one of the best speeches he gave was about our God-given gifts, and more specifically, how we are supposed to use them.

We’re one piece in a larger puzzle

Look at the picture overhead for the remainder of this post, and you’ll have a perfect visual for Coach J’s lesson.  he explained to us how we’ve all been given gifts, we are all exceptional individuals within particular areas of life.  Jordan (my brother) is fantastic at math, me on the other hand… well I make a 5 yr old look intelligent in math.  But Jordan may not thrive in the area of papers like perhaps I would.  We are two different people with two different sets of gifts.

But it’s not enough to simply recognize that we each have unique gifts.  Coach taught me that i must love others gifts, praise them and congratulate them for the skills they’ve been given.  But i mustn’t desire them, for God has blessed me  with my own gifts and i’d be taking them for granted if I lust after others abilities.  Not only is it wrong to desire another’s gifts, it’s a waste of the talent God has given me.

I need to remember to wake up in the morning praising God for the abilities I’ve been given… well also praising God for the abilities he has given others.
We are all one piece in a larger puzzle… imagine the beautiful image we’d create if we each work together, putting our pieces together with others.

you cannot lead, unless your willing to learn

I have a confession to make and I figure this is as good of place as any to do it….

I Truly Dislike Reading
most books at least

But despite my dislike for the popular past time, I love to read John C. Maxwell books, I find his words inspirational and always applicable to my life course.  Ask any of my room mates, they enjoy mocking me for my book collection.  Nothing but Leadership and Inspirational books, mostly by Maxwell.  But I mention my lack of interest in books for a specific purpose.  Without reading a book on the history of Minnesota, there is no way I could teach a class about Minnesota.  Without reading books about WordPress (this blogging software), there is no way I could utilize the template for web design in my current job.  If I don’t have an accurate understanding of leadership, I shouldn’t assume I know how to lead.

Something I believe many of us struggle with and don’t have a true understanding of, is needing to listen (and learn) twice as often as we speak.  Being an effective listener is one of the greatest skills a leader can develop.    By listening to others, we are capable of learning their needs/wants/emotions/etc…  and by understanding such aspects of a person’s mind, we suddenly have a greater ability to lead the group effectively.  Example… If I listen effectively to my siblings, I would learn that Jordan is by far the best at managing the groups finances and detailed  aspects… Justin would be the best at handling our public engagements/media/publicity/etc.  And Janelle, she would be the best person to meet with clients and really talk to the people we would be working with, manage our photography and assist Justin in web design aspects.
But between you and me… They wouldn’t actually have me lead the group.
It’d probably be more along the lines of anarchy… 😉

The point is… Listen to your group  and learn about them… you’ll then gain the respect of your group
When you have the respect of your group… a truly effective group will begin to emerge.

Endless laughter

~A Unique Chuckle~

If you think about it, God has given us a pretty extraordinary variation of blessings… I’m not even going to attempt to explain the things He has done in my life or the types of blessings I attribute to His doing.  But there is a particular blessings that came to mind through reading the book Crazy Love, one that is often overlooked but is remarkably special.

The sound of a laugh is infectious, capable of bringing the laughter from other individuals out to fill the room.  Laughter is unique to the person, similar to a personality, appearance, or the tone of a persons voice.  Often times you can identify someone based on their laugh, like a vocal fingerprint.  Take my dear friend Mark for example… This strong man who illustrates loyalty in his image, has the highest pitch laugh you can imagine.  Something you wouldn’t expect out of that body.  But his laugh brings happiness to the people around him, it’s been one of my favorite laugh’s ever since I was a kid.  The Sheehan family has a laugh all their own, one that you can distinguish from others rather easily.  I’ll be in my living room and hear a giggle from the other room, you can discern within seconds if it was Carla or Bry.  Or.. take me for example.  My laugh is more like a giggle in its initial “stage,” but push me far enough in laughter and suddenly the sound ceases… rendering me a bouncing, speechless, tear filled blob.  A rather odd sight, you’d probably agree if you’ve ever seen it.

It’s truly fantastic how drastically different we each are as human beings… from our clothes to our bodies, our bodies to our faces, our faces to our voices, and our voices to our laughter.  Don’t take something so simple for granted, often times the simple things in life are the things we most cherish.

A new experience… A new adventure…

Experiences bring about change, a new aspect of life

I slide off my headphones and allow the soothing music to dissipate… My fingers cease from their speedy movements on the keyboard… leaving me in what you’d expect to be, silence.  But that’s not how it goes, that’s not what I ended up hearing.  Nope, instead I heard the faint whispers of speeches.  Men and women speaking, practicing for the forensics event they were participating in.  But I didn’t take off to hear them speak, I took them off because I was confused by a hall way with people talking to a wall… or the corner of a wall. Perhaps that doesn’t make sense, it shouldn’t!  A normal person doesn’t talk to a wall, illustrating the illusion of being close friends with some good ol’ fashion drywall.  Now I don’t want you to misinterpret my words, I’m not mocking the forensics tournament or the people who participated.  I want you to understand that we come across experiences in life on a regular basis.  Some of them are normal, hardly able of being considered new.  Others… well others are unique and a brand new experience to us.  We may be confused by people talking to a wall, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some level of value to these experiences.  Take a moment to think through your life and the experiences you’ve encountered, how many of them seemed scary or weird… but ended up to be a remarkable blessing?

Sleepless Thoughts

A Sleepless Night
Provokes Thoughts Of A Positive Outlook On Life

The night is over and I prepare for bed… and a thought remains in my mind as I strive to empty it, attempting to fall asleep.  There is an aspect of life we all know exists, yet it seems to me we all try to avoid it or ignore its true existence.
Life is consistent of ups and downs, yet we are completely capable of determining whether we live in the positive or the negative realm.
This thought has been instilled in my mind for years… thank you dad (I actually mean that). But its lingering in my mental world because of the “Forensics Tournament” from this weekend, which is a fancy way of saying speech tournament.

During an impromptu speech I was given an energy drink, it was then my job to create a five-minute speech derived from my thoughts on an energy drink. Sounds odd perhaps, but rather exhilarating at the same time.  It reminded me also of the Caribou quote, “Life is short, stay awake for it.” Regardless, I proceeded to explain to the audience how an energy drink gives you more energy to make it through the day… just as a positive attitude is essential to getting you through the day.

Think for a moment about some of the key individuals of our past… Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, etc. (I know, there are lots more).  These two men, like the other thousands that are famous, went through extreme challenges.  Not just trying to invent a completely new concept, but also trying to maintain a positive outlook.  They are/were living-breathing examples of how “Attitude, not aptitude, determines your altitude.”

Not fully grasping the message of this particular post?  Let me put it another way…  You probably want to be successful right?  Climb that occupational ladder, make it to the top of the career mountain, make it to the top of the stairs in your faith……….. I’m running out of analogies.  The point is, you’ll never make it to the top (altitude) if you don’t have a positive outlook (attitude) on life and its recurring challenges.  Sure, you’ll make a living or get by in life with that annoying pessimism, but you wont live to be the individual others admire… that your wife admires… that your children admire… or that even yourself could admire.

Don’t worry, I struggle immensely at maintaining that positive outlook.
But that’s not a break or break deal… Because failing isn’t falling down
It’s staying down…

Pick yourself up, wipe of the dust
Adjust your attitude so that you can reach that air thing altitude
Live a life that makes your dreams appear underrated.

“From The Outside Looking In”

Memories are brief… like a short whisper from a friend, a gust of wind gone by, a portion of time slowed down to a near halt.  Memories are made each minute.  Some with great joy and happiness defining them, and others with feelings of sadness or agony.  But this story will not bring sadness to your heart, it will not bring a tear to your eye… on the contrary.  Hopefully it will remind you of the beauty our world holds within each day.  Like the times spent with friends, and the love that can emerge in our hearts while simply looking from the outside in.

The World Through Another’s “Lens”

When I look at the world I visualize each aspect from a unique point of view, I see things from my own perspective. When you (the reader) look at the world, you see it from another unique view… a view unmatched by anyone else. We each wake up and gaze into our world, we each wake up and look through our own “rose colored lens.”

Forgetful with more than just thoughts.

It’s a blessing and a curse… a gift yet also a hinderance… a joy but sadly stressful.

It’s been 5 days since I’ve posted on my blog, which may seem minor… but when it’s one of the most effective outlets for my emotions, that presents a challenge. I feel like the odd one out at times, always contemplating some deeper aspect of life… allowing emotions to play a heavy role in my life.  Thinking in this way creates countless blog ideas, but if I forget to write them done… you’ll never see them appear here.  If there is any good idea, I’ll forget them unless I write them down.  I have a journal in my car, in my laptop back, my backpack, even my phone has memo’s and voice recordings reminding me of the simplest things.

Confused yet?  Wondering why I’m blogging about my forgetful nature and deep thoughts I must always write down?  I realized today that it had been 5 days since a blog entry, which made me realize how fast life moves.  We wake up, create memories, then go to bed.  But just as I forget my thoughts, I forget my memories if I don’t stop and think about the moments of life.
Perhaps we all do…

From the moment we wake up to the time we lay our heavy head on what seems like a cloud, so much happens.  Today a simple class brought laughter, just because a small group had to act out a communication model.  But trust me, Mike standing on some boxes breaking out in song, is something worth remembering about today.  I saw my great friend Julia, it’d been two months since I heard about her life and the craziness that sometimes falls within it.  I’m listening to music that brightens my spirit, keeps my foot and head bouncing in the middle of Bethel’s commons like a dork.
The day is normal, but the moments are new…  blessing or curse the moment is written in stone..

I love it!
I love the challenges we face, the drama that emerges, the inevitable conflicts.
I love the joy, the laughter, the creation of genuine happiness with the ones around us.

I truly hope that someday the world realizes the gift of time, and the blessings hidden within each moment we’ve been given.  I don’t want to slow down, I don’t want to live a life that’ll be taken for granted.
I want to live in a way that continues to bring adventure, memory, new experiences.