The Big Finale

Well it is almost midnight and I just got home from celebrating my 31st birthday with one of my best friends. We almost didn't make it due to some family circumstances, but we pulled it off in the end. We went and spent a couple of hours at PF Changs at Victoria Gardens. We had some great appetizers and a couple of Good Martinis. It was great being with her to see how we have changed. Before we would have been through our first two drinks in the first twenty minutes. It was awesome to see that we could share a good time without having to be stupid intoxicated. It amazes me how God can deliver a person from their deepest vice. We had some great conversation and an awesome walk down memory lane. If this is how it is starting out, then the 31st year of my life won't be so bad. Thanks to my family for the great meal and awesome gifts (all green with dead presidents on them), and to Kim for the great time tonight and for being a friend, and to God for the blessing of another year of life, I pray that I am able to glorify your name with my life even more this year.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

PS-->Here is a picture of my gift to me this year!

Eve of the Unknown

It is my birthday eve. It is the big 3 -1. It seems that this birthday is a lot more difficult to accept than my 30th was. So I decided to treat myself today. Actually I started last night when I ordered my birthday present to myself. But today--I have been a good boy and my glucose levels have been real good--I decided to celebrate with a little treat from Alicia's Cookery and Catering in Brea, CA. It is a chocolate kaluha cake with a rasberry and what I think is lavender on top, drizzled with some white chocolate.

I couldn't eat the whole thing, that would just be being greedy ;)

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing! Mike

I Will Not Change

Being a disciple of Christ means caring about and hoping to reach the hundreds, thousands and millions. As much as I get excited about the crowds I never want to lose sight of the individual that I can reach. I'm putting the world on notice (especially with all the terror and horrible things flooding the news) that it will not change me. Be Blessed and Be a Blessing! Mike

The Change Performed by Garth Brooks



One hand
Reaches out
And pulls a lost soul from harm
While a thousand more go unspoken for
They say what good have you done
By saving just this one
Its like whispering a prayer
In the fury of a storm.

(chorus)
And I hear them saying youll never change things and no matter
What you do its still the same thing
But its not the world that I am changing I do this so this
World will know that it will not change me.

This heart
Still believes
The love and mercy still exist.
While all the hatred rage and so many say
That love is all but pointless in madness such as this
Its like trying to stop a fire
With the moisture from a kiss.

*chorus*

As long as one heart still holds on
Then hope is never really gone.

*chorus*

What I do is so
This world will know
That it will not change me

Wisdom From A Cup

The Way I See It #185
"A valuable lesson I've learned from making music is to never let anyone intimidate me. Every student, celebrity, CEO, and math teacher in the world has experienced love, loneliness, fear and embarassment at some point. To understand this is to level an often very lopsided playing field."--Anna Nalick--Singer, songwriter.

Most of the time I spend my time asking myself why can can't I be more like that person. I guess what I should be asking when I see someone who has qualities I like is, "How am I like that person already." We spend so much time on the differences between us that we fail to notice the similarities. Thanks for the reminder Anna! Be Blessed and Be a Blessing! Mike

Saying GoodBye

I went to a funeral today. A good friend of my mother's passed away last Sunday. She had cancer. I can say that she had cancer, cancer didn't have her. Through her whole ordeal she never lost the love of life that epitomized her life. When I get sick man, my sickness kicks me around for a bit. She never lost her smile or the love she always felt for everybody she came in contact with. While I didn't know her very well, I know she left her mark on people's lives and on the world in general. What was even more beautiful was the person that people were eulogizing today was actually the person who was in the casket. There was no struggle to come up with good things to say about her, there was no creating an image of her that was far from the truth. The church was full, the tears, for not only a life lost, but a life that will be missed, flowed. Even in her death she made people smile, laugh, love, and made it possible for them to encounter the God she loved so dearly. While I did not know you very well Gayle, thank you for the message today and for the inspiration to live a life that makes a difference. I can only imagine what heaven is like, but you don't have to anymore.

Be Blessed and Be A Blessing! Mike

Leaving My Mark

I had a conversation with my best friend tonight that was kind of upsetting. I actually didn't know quite what to say. It is going to be my birthday in a few days. She was talking about my birthday present. She doesn't know what to get me. She said "I guess I don't you as well as I thought I did. I guess I am gonna have to study up on you." Granted we were a part for a few years and we never paid much attention to birthdays with each other. But how close do you have to be with someone to know what they like. That was upsetting to me but it was kind of the icing on the big cake. My family has been asking me the same question. It was not so startling when they asked because I know in essence they want to make the most of their shopping time to make sure they get me something I either need or want. I just found it kind of ironic that a day after I start this blog about finding what makes me, well, me someone tells me they don't know me as well as they though they did. Do you hide a light under a basket? What good is a lighthouse with no light? How useful is salt that has lost its flavor? Don't build up walls and then ask yourself why people don't really know you. I'm learning the lesson. Be Blessed and Be a Blessing! (for real!) Mike

How Do You Measure...?

What could be more appropriate for the first post of my new blog. This fits in perfectly!



Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike