I started a club!

I hate waking up early. I have never been one of those guys who embraces the early morning hours of any given day.

Honestly, I have always been jealous of “those guys” who can get up 7 hours before the sun rises and have time to read their Bibles, pray, plan their weeks, solve world hunger, make breakfast for their wives and children and groom their pets. Of course, I hate having a breakfast meeting with them, as I show up 9 minutes late with my disheveled hair under a baseball cap and my super sexy morning voice while they have that fresh-from-the-salon look, already having accomplished more by 7:30am then I might accomplish all day.

Over the past few years, I’ve had good reason for not being a morning guy. How many youth pastors do you know that are morning guys? (In fact, I’ll say what few others are bold enough to say in such a public forum: never trust a youth pastor who is a morning guy!) Youth ministry often runs late, I’ve always worked well late at night, and my wife and I have, together, found evenings to be a good space for productivity.

However, in prep for 2016, I’ve been reading several books on pursuing God-sized dreams and goals, as well as material written about time and talent management. They all have the same advice when it comes to mornings: those who tackle the biggest goals and achieve the greatest success in their fields, almost universally, embrace the early hours of each day.

I’ve had moments in my life where I tried to make friends with the predawn hours, but I’ve never kept a lasting relationship with them. You know, it’s not them...it’s me.

2016 is different though, and the season of life we’re in, and the situation we find our marriage/family/ministry in, is unique; clearly God has given us an opportunity to chase something, full steam ahead! I don’t want to miss what’s in front of us, so I’ve committed myself to learning more -- both knowledge and skill -- and making the necessary personal changes to embrace this future.

So dreaded thoughts of dreaded thoughts, I’m learning to accept mornings as part of the pathway to watching God unveil His plans in our lives. There...I said it.

Of course, if you’ve ever tried something new, “hating it” doesn’t help you embrace it. If you want to change your diet, hating the option that will bring you the changes you want, is not the key to success. In fact, quite the opposite, it’s a formula for disaster. So what do you do when you hate the change you most need in your life?

You create a club. Because clubs are fun, right?

So now, every night before I lay my 7 3/4” cranium down for sleep, I set the alarm to make sure I’m up in time for Club 555. That’s right, 555 is my new club and already it’s paying dividends. My productivity is up, beginning with more time each day in the Bible and in prayer. My focus on important tasks is more refined and I feel like the big picture items are becoming clearer.

Some of you are mocking me for getting up at 5:55 because you already do 3am. Cut me some slack, because embracing this is new to me! And embracing it as something that’s more than just a short-term fix is even harder. At four weeks in, I think it’s starting to stick, but being a club owner is no easy task. I’ll keep you posted a few weeks from now and let you know how things look at the end of another month.

As you pursue the Overboard Life, what change do you need to embrace? I’m not talking about making a change that becomes a strong habit, I’m talking about making a change that you embrace so that it becomes a strong habit you love. Maybe it’s time for you to start a club? Maybe it’s time for you to join me in my club? Can’t say I love the early morning hours yet, but I don’t hate them any more. At least I know I’m on the right path.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life -- including your club! -- is always better on the water.

Some anniversaries aren't fun to remember

This past weekend we remembered an anniversary. It’s hard to say we “celebrated” because that certainly wasn’t the tone, but we definitely remembered. Some anniversaries are, after all, hard to enjoy. The moment in recall was the day I lost my job, January 16th, 2015, and the day our family began a year like none other we’ve experienced. In the 12 months since the afternoon I took my last walk from the office to my house, we’ve experienced the life of faith like never before. Traci and I have felt the love of friends and family like at no other time in our marriage, and we’ve felt some of the highest highs and lowest lows. It has been a wild journey.

The first seven months after that departure were filled with many couch-surfing adventures (with our family of five!), thousands and thousands of miles on the road (two trips to the West Coast and back) and many tearful nights and tension filled days. We had to make tough never-been-here-before decisions, and trust in God’s hand to take care of us. We made some great memories along the way, including the time we spent on road visiting friends and family.

I remember vividly, the August 5th morning that we were returning from our six week, 11,000 mile road trip to the West Coast. We were still uncertain about the details of the future, but confident that God wanted us to stay in Michigan. We were driving in from a couple night’s rest in Galena, Illinois, and we literally didn’t know where we were going to stay that night (or any night thereafter!).

Some dear friends texted with my wife asking about our living situation, and they assured us that their home would always be available to us, and for the next two nights we would rest in their hospitality. As Traci and I fell asleep in their camper (not even joking when I tell you that it was the absolute best night of sleep I had experienced in months!), I became profoundly aware of how much God had taken care of us. How much He had provided for us along the way.

By that night in August, I had lost track of the number of different beds we had fallen asleep in (well over 30!), and the number of times financial gifts came in to bless us at “just the right moment” of need. Two trips to the West Coast had gone off without a hitch, literally, without a single problem from our 280,000-mile-old vehicle. Hundreds and hundreds of emails, FB messages and posts, texts and phone calls had come our way from people who just wanted to encourage us along the journey. Truly, in the midst of being homeless and jobless, I had never had a more profound sense of God’s work in my life.

So this weekend, on the one year anniversary of watching God change things up as only He can do, I remember, somberly, that His ways are not mine. I remember that He holds the future in His hands -- He already knows tomorrow better than I know yesterday! While I was experiencing (perceived) injustice, hurt, uncertainty and far more questions than answers, God already knew where the path was leading, and He was directing me -- the whole family! -- with the patience, grace and mercy of a loving father.

Ultimately, the goal of living the Overboard Life is that, through an active faith in God and His work in our lives, we are becoming more and more like His Son. That transformation is worth all the uncertainty, hardship and challenge that God directs our way and that this world throws at us. I am praying that 2016 is vastly different than the year we just put behind us, but even more, I am praying that the seeds of change God planted in our hearts and minds last January, take full root and began to blossom and produce fruit in this year.

When I think of the past year with that perspective, I have no choice but to celebrate this anniversary.

What about you? Do you have a painful anniversary that you need to see in a different light? It’s not easy, but it is freeing. After all, since becoming like Jesus is the goal, we must learn to embrace the process that gets us there.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life -- even your painful past -- is better on the water!