Proud grandpa, "Popcorn", and grandson Lane, riding on Big Pop's tractor in Louisiana.

This is my daughter Erin and our newest grandson, Ethan, who, in this picture, is about 8 weeks old. Aren't they both beautiful?

I recently had the opportunity to lead a seminar for a great repeat client at Copper Mountain, Colorado, and got this beautiful shot of the moon sitting right over the ski slope...

Flexibility

It's been awhile since my last post, you might have noticed. I've been quite busy. I'm approaching a slow season in my business, and have decided to pick this up again and try my hand at this more regularly. So, here goes. Don't konw if anyone will "get" me, or what I tend to wax eloquent about, but here's what's on my mind today. Enjoy, reply, respond, forward, or whatever. I just had to get this out! Here goes...
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If you bend, you won’t break…

I took a course in ceramics my senior year in college. I needed a few more credits. I didn’t want to have to “study” for anything else that was going to take a lot of work. And I loved to see those beautiful works of art take shape on the wheel under the hand of the potter. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the clay and make something beautiful.

The first night in class, the professor did, indeed, let us have a shot at the wheel. He gave us each a lump of clay, showed us how to get the wheel spinning, and slopped a loose lump of clay down in front of us. Several hours later, after we were finished cleaning the clay off the ceiling, out of our ears, noses, and hair, we realized we had a lot to learn about the wheel.

So we had to start learning how to work with clay. The next night, I made a giraffe. Actually, it was a freak of nature. Sort of a giraffe crossed with an armadillo, with a little porcupine mixed in. Maybe a horn from a rhino got in there somehow. And what’s funny is, I started out to make a vase. I’m sure my mother was very proud.

One of the things we learned about clay is, you can always work with it and make changes and adjustments. As long as it is flexible. If you let the clay start to dry out and become stiff, it won’t bend anymore, it will break. So when you take a break from working on your giraffe-a-dillo-rhino, you have to cover it with damp cheesecloth, or when you come back, you’re stuck with what you’ve got. It’s too late. You try to bend it, or shape, or fix, or smooth out the rough edges, and it shatters into a thousand pieces. So what we learned is, until you’re completely satisfied with the piece you’re creating… until you’re sure you’re finished with it, keep it covered, or you’ll have to start all over from scratch.

I wonder if we’ve learned this lesson in our relationship with our heavenly potter? Until we’re sure He’s finished with us, until we’re positive we’re just like He wants us to be, we need to be sure we remain flexible. We need to make certain we’re covered in the heavenly cheesecloth that keeps us moldable and makes us flexible in His hands… Know what that is? Prayer. Are you soft in the Father’s hands? Or have you already become rigid and unyielding to the Master’s touch? Remember, if you don’t bend, you’ll break.

I don’t want the potter to have to start all over again with me. Lord, cover me, keep me flexible, mold me into just who and what you need me to be. You’re the master potter, and you know what you need me to be. I trust you. I trust your hands.

Remaining flexible in His service...

This is my pond after a MAJOR re-construction job this summer. After the vinyl liner failed on my beloved pond, I had to completely re-do the pond. Instead of just replacing the liner, I completely reconstructed the pond out of concrete. It's going to take a while for the plants to recover on the perimeter of the pond, but when they do, the pond itself will look better and darn well better last longer! The whole re-construction project probably took me about two months, total. Hopefully, it will have been worth it in the end. Whew!

Now that's a trusting face, isn't it? Little Ethan Andrew White, laying on his grandad's lap, as peaceful as it gets. They're home now, and everyone's doing great! Welcome home!

This is "Granna", getting good at spoiling a new one!

Baby Ethan, doing what he does best! Sleeping! His mother Erin is very thankful for this!

Mom Erin, after 3 extra days in the hospital running a temperature of 104 degrees! She's finally through all that and home safe! Thank you to everyone for your prayers!

Welcome to the world, Ethan Andrew White, born July 27th, 10:06am, 7lbs 7.7oz. He's a keeper!

We believe this is actually a case of infant snoring...

This gives you an idea of how tiny this little one is... He was 7lbs 7ozs, which is plenty healthy, but look at that tiny little head by my hand! And how about that little face he's making! Oooooo, keep your hand right there.... right there.... He's a cutie, isn't he?

Look at those arms behind that head! He's comfortable, isn't he? Relaxed!

Suzanne holding our new bundle, Ethan Andrew... He's so cozy! And my goodness, he does love to SLEEP!

That's me with Ethan... Proud Popcorn!

One of the gifts from Popcorn and Granna... the "mo-cycle" was getting lots of mileage...

The evidence!

What a nice two year old!

Let me just get a little taste here... Little two year old Lane has no idea he's being watched by Granna, and even being recorded by his Mom... either that or just doesn't care! He's just gotta get at that icing! Mmmm' good!

No one will notice, right?

I want to open THAT One! Grandson Lane, with his uncle JohnMark, who helped him bake his cake, and his mother Erin... Boy! Were we ever having fun!

A Happy Birthday Face!

Grandson Lane with Suzanne at his 2nd birthday celebration in Baton Rouge. Happy Birthday, Lane!

Our new pond addition, a Leopard Frog, from our neighbor, Desiree Fairooz. Look at her cool reflection in the water!

Latest addition to our pond! This beautiful Leopard Frog was a gift from our neighbor, Desiree Fairooz, who raised her from a tadpole, and hand delivered her last night. She wasn't eating in her little fish-bowl, but as soon as we put her in the pond, she immediately began to feast on the buffet of insects and bugs which are a natural part of the pond eco-system. She looks happy, don't you think? Thank-you, Desiree! She seems quite adept at staying away from the hungry gold-fish! Let's hope she stays that way!

This is my gorgeous wife, Suzanne, mugging with our grandson, Lane, at about 10 months of age. As always, smiling and laughing. From the first day, he has brought joy to everyone around him, and still is...

The Pond...

One of the more beautiful water lilies in my pond, this one blooms daily until it is spent, and by then another bloom will have taken it's place. Every night they close up tight. They are gorgeous to look at. This is truly a great hobby... very time consuming, as I often find myself sitting out here drinking my coffee watching the fish or thinking of something else I need to do to make it look nicer. Every year it looks different, but it is always a blessing.

Lane enjoying a game of chase with Harley, who wasn't enjoying the game nearly as much as Lane was, I don't think! But you can tell, even from the back, how big the smile is on Lane's face. His squeals of delight could be heard for miles... This wonderful boy never stops laughing and bringing smiles to everyone around him. What a wonderful blessing...

Lane and mom playing with his new Thomas the Train musical engine. Happily it has an adjustable volume control... Thanks, Popcorn!

Another view of my newest water lily bloom and the waterfall in my pond.

Newest water lily bloom in my pond, which is my biggest hobby...

My wife, Suzanne, playing in the sandbox with grandson Lane, who is giving very clear instructions about what she's supposed to be doing with the sand...

Daughter Erin, with our grandson Lane, who, as you might be able to tell, is going to be a big brother in a few months... Yippee!

"Popcorn", reading to Lane...

Grandson Lane, playing in, of course, a box, which turns out to be a great go-cart.

My kids, Erin, Daniel, and JohnMark... are and have been the greatest kids ever! Erin is now married and the mother of Lane... will soon bring a new one to the mix! Daniel leaves for a summer missionary post in Ottowa on a college campus with the Baptist Collegiate Missions group, and JohnMark is a great student and musician, soon to be a junior. All great, loving, fun, fantastic kids...

Grandson Lane

Grandson Lane with my wife, Suzanne. They're both beautiful, aren't they?

Finally, it's done... Thanks to Jay, and Meeting a new friend.

My friend Jay Clark sent me a link to his blog page. I've been thinking about doing this for awhile. Key word... THINKING about doing... The exquisite pain of seeing the actual fact that Jay has beat me to it finally spurred me into action, and here we go, my very first blog. Not that anyone will be beating down the bushes, (or racing over the web) to read it all), but it's begun. Thanks, Jay... I think. I'm anxious to see where this leads. First, a quick post about meeting a new friend today. Met a new friend today. Didn't mean to. Was actually in a hurry to get home after a very early start to my day. Had a VERY early meeting today of a men's fraternity "kick-off" meeting for which i had to arise at 4:30am and depart my home at 5am in order to arrive at my church some 50 miles away slightly before 6am. Great meeting, fantastic speaker, etc. However, due to my lack of sleep related to some other issues that were bothering me all night, I was anxious to get back home and get some rest before taking my wife to lunch around 1pm. About 9:50am, less than a mile from my house, I passed a guy standing beside his mini-van in the humid 85+ degree heat. Many mornings, it being a guy, especially my being so intent on getting rest, i might have gone on by, especially since I've learned to use a little excuse that sounds like "Hey, these days everyone has a cell phone, right?" This particular morning, however, something (or someone) inside my heart said "stop". I've learned to obey this voice, so I pulled over and backed up about 25 feet, put on my flashers, and stepped out to see what was up. His name was Dietmar, and as it turns out, today, at least, he was cell-less. No big deal, unless you're late for work, and your tire is flat, and you can't get the spare off the mini-van because one of the kids has used the thousand page booklet with the barely legible instructions but the pretty pictures as a coloring book at some point in the past and you don't have a clue how to decipher all the potential possibilities for lowering the tire from beneath the belly of the van. Soooo, as it turns out, the voice knew what it was talking about, (it usually does, which is why I've learned to obey it, not to mention the fact that things usually turn out best when I do, and usually turn out poorly when I fail to do so..., but that's another story...) and the entire morning turned into a MUCH better morning than my planned nap before lunch. Dietmar was overjoyed that someone stopped. As soon as I stopped he was already thanking me for stopping. We did the standing there with our hands in our pockets staring at it (Looking very wise, I believe) while ocassionally offering a little kick at the offending tire or walking a step or two to one side or the other and bending down to get a better angle. "Yep, it's flat." "Nope, it's not getting any better." (This because he had one of those little take all day to inflate it little life-saving devices that plugs into your cigarette lighter and (HA!) inflates your tire while you wait. (Key word - WAIT, and wait, and wait.) Well, after waiting for about 15 mintues while this thing sat there and struggled and struggled and vibrated and danced on the pavement, but no noticeable inflation occurred, we both (wisely, I believe), agreed that there was likely not going to be any, or at least, not enough, inflation at this rate in our combined lifetimes for us to continue this course of action. Hence, we agreed, a second course of action was called for. So... we took the tire off, left the car where it was, and headed off to go get a new tire put on the rim. (Darn spare!) Along the way, sometime during this process, Dietmar said to me... "Are you a minister?" He had seen the bible in my car as we were getting in the car, and maybe since it's a big black bible, (my newest one, a real beauty, a brand new black leather Holman Christian Standard Translation that my parents recently bought me), or who knows why? But for some reason he just assumed that I was #1, a Christian, and #2, a minister. Now both of these are true, but how funny that he made these assumptions... Are Christians and Ministers the only people that stop to help? That can't be, in fact I KNOW that's not true... But I digress... (now THAT's funny!) Anyway, that launched us into the conversation that was probably the whole reason the Lord put him in my path today. He is a fairly new Christian. He's from Columbia, only been in the States since '91, saved in '95, and is teaching and leading a group of men at his church in the DFW metroplex. He's excited about what's happening as the Lord works in his life and in this group. I also am a teacher, and love to encourage new teachers. I'm a teacher of teachers, so the Lord put this excited young teacher in my path today and gave him an opportunity to share with me his excitement about this ministry he is so thrilled about and to really share his passions about it with someone who would just listen and encourage him. It was absolutely the most invigorating morning I've spent in weeks! SO much better than a nap! We connected SO completely, sharing our joy of seeing the light come on in someone's eyes when they "get it"! Sharing about how much we love to build relationships with people and create the setting where the Lord can use those relationships to allow us to minister in ways we never can if we don't get outside our comfort zones to build the relationships. We talked of our common love for the Lord, how GRACE has been a common thread in our lives, and how we were sure God had ordained our meeting that day. Before we knew it, it was time to pick up the tire and return to place it on the van and head our separate ways. (Side note, as we were doing so, a 3rd car stopped to see if we needed help. A wonderfully kind brother named Alvin checked in to see if we needed any assistance. Dietmar said, Brother Alvin, it is so kind of you to stop, but God has already blessed me with Keith today, and we about have it taken care of! Bless you today for stopping to check on us! Alvin said, "Well we're just blessed all around, aren't we?", and wished us well, stayed for a couple of minutes to make sure we had it under control, and headed off, gave us a friendly honk and wave...) Before we left, we exchanged contact information, and importantly, there on the side of the road, we put our hands on each other's shoulders and prayed together, thanking the Lord for bringing a new brother into our lives. I promised the Lord to check up on Deitmar in the days ahead, and we promised each other we would continue to pray for each other and hopefully get our wives, and our lives, together. I'm hoping and believing this is the beginning of a great new friendship in the Lord. All this to say... I could have passed him right on by and come straight home and taken a nap. I needed one. I got no sleep at all last night. As it turns out, the source of my sleepless night was a satanic attack, a temptation against my family. Thankfully, since I have such a wonderful wife and a God who loves me and has promised to strengthen us for every attack we undergo, we survived that attack. However, I could have succumbed to the temptation to come straight home, get some much needed sleep, used my age old excuse, (everyone has a cellphone these days, right?) and missed the chance to develop a brand new God-ordained friendship with a brother in Christ, who, by the way, needed some encouragement TODAY. And the Lord sent me. Now don't hear me saying that I think I personally did some great thing by stopping. Fact is, I needed some ministering to this day. I was having one of the worst days I've had in a long, long time. Hadn't slept a wink all night long and had been suffering all morning long. Truly a bad day. I was in a bad way. And what does the Lord do when we're feeling all sorry for ourselves? He puts someone in our path who needs our attention more than WE need our attention! And I got so caught up in this wonderful conversation with my new friend and all the great things the Lord was doing in this circumstance, that I forgot all about my weariness and my hurts and my woes, and by the time we went our separate ways I was completely re-energized. I was a new man. I thought when I stopped that I was stopping on the side of the road to help someone else, but the truth of the matter was, the Lord put someone in my path who helped ME! The truth was, he needed my help too, but the help I needed was to get outside myself and look up! The sun was shining! The wind was blowing! The birds were chirping! And here was a brother in Christ with whom I was bonding at just exactly the right time and there's no way you'll ever get me to believe that it was any kind of accident that his tire went flat right there on that day at that time on that stretch of road. No siree... God needed that to happen that day. Maybe for him... Maybe for me. I don't care who needed it more. Fact is we were both helped today. Because the Lord loves us. I'm just glad He does. It is such an affirmation to be used by the God of the universe, isn't it? He can speak worlds into existence. He can move mountains. He can raise the dead. But when He wants to encourage a brother or a sister, He usually calls on one of us, who, tired, perhaps discouraged or downtrodden or feeling a bit sorry for ourselves at the time, have to recognize at that very point in time... "Hey, here I am at a fork in the road... now what am I gonna do?" Interesting how small our own discouragements become when we invest ourselves in whatever, or in whomever, God had planned for us on that very day, isn't it? So what will you do at your next fork in the road? Bit of advice from an old road warrior? Remember Yogi Berra's well worn advice... "Next time you find yourself at a fork in the road... take it..." Because somewhere down that road the Lord's leading you down... may be someone who desperately needs you... and maybe, just maybe... will be your next best friend. And furthermore...