When it comes down to it, we are put in performance situations more than we realize. Not acting fake, but actually being real in fake situations. Whether you are in a meeting where you need to present an idea or product, trying to buy or sell an expensive item or property, at a job interview or meeting someone for the first time… all of these are ‘manufactured’ situations. So, it’s not about creating a fake personality in a real situation but more, the act of making decisions and presenting yourself or performing in a fabricated or unnatural environment. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many professional performers… from local folks to mega stars like George Strait and Blake Shelton. The bigger the performer, the more of one thing I’ve noticed…

I love the story about the old man who carves duck decoys. You may have heard it but it has a powerful message. It goes something like this: Walter walks into a new friend’s home for the first time. The home is small but neat and orderly. What got Walter’s attention were the duck carvings on the shelves. There weren’t many but Walter couldn’t keep his eyes off them. They were exquisite; carved in perfect detail.

A.J. Gordon is quoted as saying, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” While we may believe that, how often is prayer, our ‘go-to’ response to a situation? I confess that a lot of times I SAY, when I should PRAY. Let’s be real. Prayer takes time. You have to be ready to wait on the Lord, and who wants to do that? Especially when we can just take matters into our own hands. Let me put words to what I’m being taught, and what you may be being taught, too.

My oldest son and I were having a conversation the other night. I intended for the conversation to be more about letting him talk out his upcoming plans, you know… career and so forth. For me, things get more concrete in my mind when I discuss the things I’ve been keeping in my head. As often happens, with both of my kids actually, I was asked a question that I wasn’t expecting and I shot from the hip. -That’s actually most productive for me. Not with everyone, but with my closest friends and family, I think there is enough forgiveness and understanding available that we can give our first thoughts about a subject and then discuss it to a refined answer. His question couldn’t have been simpler. “What do you want to do?”

So the whole Uber taxi thing was a little disconcerting to me. In fact, I don’t like Taxis in general. That said, there are times a person should take a cab and I actually like other people driving, believe it or not. Once during my time living in LA, I told my wife,”people would know I’d ‘made it’, not by the size of my house but because I’d hired a chauffeur.” Don’t get me wrong, I like driving… sometimes however, it’s more productive to ride, that’s all.

It may or may not be obvious that when bloggers write about something, it most likely reveals what they themselves are going through or have gone through. Sometimes it may seem like we are pointing out something we have noticed in others while in fact, it’s a matter we’re dealing with, ourselves. My post today is a confession of sorts. Something for me to look back on. Like the day an alcoholic puts down a drink or the chronic glutton says, “no” to french fries once and for all, I hope to look back on this post for my own acknowledgement and correction.

According to mathematician Dr. Jason Marshall, there are about 700 million cubic meters of beach earth which works out to roughly 5 sextillion grains of sand (One sextillion is 10,000 million million million or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). Even more amazing? For every grain of sand, there are approximately 6 stars in the universe.

I was blessed to know both my grandfathers. Although he did not live to be as old as my father’s father, my mother’s father probably had more impact on the man I am still becoming, than any other male figure. He had every single trait I long to possess. I have often said that his life represented the life of Jesus with more accuracy than anyone I have ever met since. I will talk about him more in a future post, but I am thinking this morning about my grandfather on my father’s side. Albert.

Ken has been sick for the past week with upper respiratory stuff and I think the cold weather blues. For those of you who know much about Ken know he loves the warm sun and the occasional cool night breeze off the ocean is his limit to the cold. So while he is recovering I got the bright idea to hijack his blog so it doesn’t lapse too long from his encouraging words.

I have been doing a lot of reflecting on these first few months of 2015 because they have thrown a few curves at us. In January while celebrating my 55th birthday at a cabin in the Oklahoma I fell and that incident seriously could have been the death of me. But as Ken was driving me to the hospital and not knowing how serious my head injury was, we prayed in faith that I would receive a report of no concussion or bleeding in the brain. A few hours later and a CT scan we received that exact report. It was a gift from God, my injuries were not life threatening.

Then in February we made a trip back from Nashville in an ice/snow storm. Our commercial flight was canceled and the generosity of a friend offered us a ride home on a private jet. This was a huge leap of faith for me to fly this way but amazingly the peace that I felt while on this flight was surreal. Just shortly before making the final decision to return this way I was pretty adamant that I didn’t want to go down like Buddy, Richie and the Big Bopper. I did however agree and boarded with the gang. Then a few hours later we were back in Fort Worth stopping off at our son’s house to give hugs and see the grandson before going home (a block away). Another gift from God, our safe return.

Now in March I am watching my husband be the sickest I have ever remembered him being. His ears and hearing capability is crucial to his line of work (producing a radio show each week) and his hobby (playing & recording music) and they are in a bad way right now. Also this week my grandson is experiencing his first respiratory virus at the young age of 17 months. Watching these 2 guys feel miserable breaks my heart, and then I remember God’s huge gifts so far this year and I rest assured knowing He will be presenting me with the gift of their healing soon.

I am so thankful that I can receive His gifts of comfort, peace, assurance, and healing while here on earth and then be a recipient of the biggest gift; the reward of living alongside Him when my earthly days are over. So those thoughts I had of 2015 throwing me curves, I now know they were circumstances orchestrated by God that I may see more of His glory.

May we all learn to trust that the events of our life are authored by The One who knows us best and loves us the most.

-Susan