The Morning Battle

Every morning I sit here. I try to pray, blog, read, work... 1/2 of me wants desperately to use this time for productivity, the other half of me wants to have this time to do absolutely nothing because no one can require anything of me this early. It's a battle I get dragged into every morning no matter how much or little I actually have to do. It seems to me that 1/2 of me is always in the dark trying to peek out to the light where all of me is supposed to be. I am reminded of it every morning as I try to make my mind and body do what God wants from it. The quiet exaggerates my awareness of it...though it's always there. My hope is that I will eventually win the battle of discipline and that all of me will be on task every minute of every day. But, for now I am wrestling with half of me. Don't know...just know I wish I didn't spend so much time wrestling myself...Maybe that is winning? Seems counter productive...dang it, see what I mean?

Birthday Blog to Noah

Noah,

You turn 11 today. It's amazing to me that we could have an 11 year old! Time has really flown by. I was talking with grandma Becky yesterday and realized we only have 7 more years to build into your life while you are home...that blows my mind! What an amazing young man you are. Noah, you are the kindest kid I know. You always have been. You put others first and care for people in a way that most trained counselors can't. God will use you to do mighty things. You could be an amazing leader someday because of the way you innately understand people. It will be fun to watch.

I pray for you daily. There will be many potholes and temptations along the way, but I want you to live dangerously for God. I think you will.

Happy Birthday Noah! May your 12th year of life be the best one yet as you follow God and learn more about who He made you to be for others. Your Mom and I love you very much and thank God for the blessing you are every single day.

-Dad

Marriage Monday

For the benefit of those who follow in our footsteps:

This morning I keep thinking about the marriages I know of that are falling apart. I spend lots of time each week talking and praying with guys whose marriages are on the rocks. Most of the time it is their fault. For whatever reason we are living in a predominantly weenie generation of guys. They won't take the lead and wonder why their wives have no respect for them.

I am continually frustrated by guys who quit. No one is perfect and everyone messes up from time to time...but for crying out loud, your wife is worth fighting for even if you haven't fought for anything else in your entire life. I don't know one single person who is "happier" because they are divorced. I know several who claim to be, but you can look at their life and see very quickly that they are not "happy" to be divorced. At most, they have made the best of a terribly unfortunate situation. No one wants that...it's not the goal of marriage.

So, this morning I am thinking about this as I am praying for these guys... I want them to stay put, figure out how to love their wife starting today, hang in there even when it's hard, just get up and do the next right thing even though she hates you right now... eventually it will all turn around or she will run away because she won't allow herself to be loved (which you can't do anything about). Once it gets there it is completely in God's hands. You just do your part 100% everyday and watch what God does. He blesses it every single time. I have seen it too much to not talk about it.

Fight hard for your marriage. Tell your wife you are going nowhere and you will dig in and do whatever it takes to turn your marriage in a Godly direction. It will bless the generations to come. The worst thing that could happen is it goes where it is already headed right now...the best thing is God can redeem even the most broken. He redeemed you and me.

The road is long and it ain't easy. It may take years, but it is worth it. Take it from someone who has walked it and was fortunate enough to have someone tell me these things... I am glad to have listened. My kids are glad I listened too...and they don't even know it.

Today's Recap:

Stop being a weenie. Your wife and kids need you to serve them well. Teach your boys how to love their wife...teach your girls how to be treated and how to respect their husbands.

Sunrise on the Lagoon

Andy and the calm water of Mosquito Lagoon at sunrise...

Next to the sunrise in the woods, the sunrise on Mosquito Lagoon is my favorite. The sunrise in the woods or on the water represents a day that is pregnant with unrealized potential. All the reason in the world to believe a record book trip is in store... no past experiences matter... it is a new day that could be the day. I can hardly contain myself the hour before the sun comes up.

No record day today, but it won't matter the next time I go out. I will still believe that the record redfish or the new Pope & Young record typical buck will come my way...And if not, I don't care. My soul gets filled and I am always reminded of how big our God is.

I think God lives outside. He doesn't like offices.

Also, I caught 2 catfish and stepped on a stingray... no harm done by either...I live to see another sunrise...

My Lady

It's my beautiful wife's birthday. She is awesome. I love her. She is a wonderful wife, a great mom to our two lil' shorties, and an all around swell friend. She deserves a great day today (hopefully the barefoot stepping on dog poop first thing doesn't ruin it). The kids and I are going to do our best to serve her today. She is super.

Isaac

This morning is different. I feel the need to talk about my brother, Isaac. My brother is a preacher. He led the "Partnership Class" at Summit last night. He is amazing. He stood for two hours and talked about what it meant to make a a commitment to formally join Summit in God's vision for the church... and I wanted to join all over again. This is like my 10th time at the class. I go because I am staff. Every time I am there I am reminded of why we do what we do at Summit and I am inspired all over again.

Isaac has a gift. God gave it to him. God uses him. He spends time on a stage talking to people every weekend and when He is done talking they want to pursue God. That is not my gift. When I am done talking on stage people want to thank God. Isaac puts in the time and works hard every week. He does it for the church, for his family and for his friends. He is an inspiring person to be around and it's incredibly fun to watch my younger brother let God lead and use him.

I am blessed to be a part of and surrounded by such talented, committed family. The scary part is the thought of living up to what God requires of me. He is clear that "to whom much is given, much is expected". I've been given a lot in my family...and I know it.

Mostly, this morning I am thankful for the way God uses my middle brother. I pray for him everyday that he will stay faithful to God and his family. This morning is no different.

Gun Range

I hung out with my people last night. I went to the shooting range with our security guys from Summit. It is a great time to hang out and bond for the team that does the thankless job on Sundays. These guys are there every weekend and no one even knows it. They don't wear badges, not even a nametag...they just make sure that the kids are safe. That is the number one priority.

It's always fun to go to the range with them. Some of them love guns and have forgotten more about guns than I will ever know. Some of them have never shot a gun before. No matter what they all have fun. The range is full of all kinds of people...little ladies, huge men, and many skinny guys with huge belt buckles. It's fun there. The guy at the counter started telling me about some cigar bar he goes when his wife bugs him. He doesn't know it, but he is coming to church with me in the next year or two. I am going to be praying for him.

It's fun to shoot guns, no doubt there...but it is even more fun to be in an environment where God wants you to be. I speak that language. Not gun language, but blue collar man language. I can empathize with the guy who wants to get away from his wife to go to the cigar bar. But, I know God has so much better planned for him. It will likely take me a while, but I need to tell him. I don't care if he goes to a cigar bar...I care that he does it to get away from his wife.

God wants all of us to invest in our family. It's not always easy and a cigar bar with the buddies always is. Nothing worth doing has ever been easy. Having a family that is whole is worth putting in the effort. Our actions today carry over for generations. This guy will hopefully bless his grandchildren in 30 years and he hasn't even thought about it.

Like I said. The gun range is awesome.

Date Last Night

Crazy. Lisa and I actually had time to go out together last night. Grandma took the kids for a surprise sleepover and we found ourselves sitting home wondering what we should do. We landed on going to a movie after about 45 minutes of ideas that would have been fun (no doubt) but didn't set right with one or both of us.

We saw "The Proposal"... Great movie. We both really liked it. It was not vulgar. It was funny. It was happy. It was great! Now, mind you I am no movie buff that really gets into acting and all that jazz, so it's possible some critic somewhere saw it and was like, "Oh, Ryan Reynolds gets an A- for not being believable in scene where the protagonist falls for the antagonist right before the climax of the writer's story line." (I don't even have any idea what that means....)

Bottom line is it was a great movie and a great date. 13 years after getting married I still have such fun with my wife when we go just "do stuff" together. It's a reminder to me to not be such a schlep and to actually ask my wife out on a more regular basis. Got to get better at that.... So many things to get better at, but this one is important.

That's it for today's thoughts.

Normal

Another week in the books.

Family Highlights:

Body for life week 2 went pretty well.

I worked early and late on Hunter Vision

I worked normal hours at Summit.

Cash flow projections for Hunter Vision completed.

Business Plan Executive Summary for Hunter Vision completed.

Lisa did lights for Marraige Show and regular Summit Worship.

Kids went to various places with Grandma Becky.

Noah and I played golf.

Lincoln was in and out of the hospital with asthma related junk.

Ava started getting a cold on Thursday.

I stepped in dog poop at 5 am this morning in bare feet in the dark.

Just a normal week at the Hunter home.

Why I like "Middle America"

Just to clarify, I am talking about the good ol' country boys that work hard in the trenches everyday (like Bo and Luke Duke).

Somehow, I was born into a white collar family. I believe I was misplaced. It was my own good fortune, but I was born to need to do manual labor to feel like I accomplished something. I was born to be in the outdoors to feel closest to God. I have few regrets in my life, but one is that I did not serve in the military. I think about hunting more than most people think about eating...(sidenote: I spent an hour last night sitting perfectly still with Noah's bb-gun as I waited for a rat to come to the bait I set for him so that I could make sure he took a dirt nap. He came, I won. He will not get into my house now.)

I like the good ol' boys because they care about people and not what they look like to people. They love their families and are proud of their kids...usually to the point of ridiculous. They are easy to talk to and are completely unimpressed by your use of big words...they actually think you are stupid for having to use such big words to describe something that could have been talked about using single syllables.

These are my people. Why? I have no idea. I just know I am one of them and feel most at home when I am around them...How do I know this? I know this because I have spent this entire blog time trying not to go to Cabelas' website until I finish writing this.

P.S. It should be noted that my 3-d deer target showed up yesterday. Oh, man...so awesome.

Goin' Golfin'

Noah got straight A's this year in school. I asked him what he wanted as a reward...He said, "can we go golfing?" Well, that was an easy one for me. I love to play golf and to be able to do that and spend some time with my boy will be great. We tee off this morning at 7:07. I can't wait. These are the little things that are marked in my mind... "man-time". We will go play golf and talk about life and school...that is if he doesn't get so mad that he wants to break his clubs. Either way it will be great. Outdoors is the best way to start a day. I am excited. The next few hours are going to be fun.

Morning Quiet

The morning is great. It is so quiet. Being an introvert, I wouldn't mind having my whole day be morning. I like alone time. However, I also know that I need time with people. I would be bored and sorry without it. So my question to God this morning is... If we were built for relationship, why did you make it so that some of us need quiet mornings? I am sure he has a good answer.

Things ya just do

Spent all week reviewing employees at Summit. I am the HR guy, so it is part of my duty to be in all reviews and take notes for the file and such. I have been amazed at what an awesome group of people are there serving God and our congregation every single day. Out of 20 full time employees, there is not one single person who is having a "difficult" review. That is unreal and mostly unheard of. Most people wouldn't even be able to say that about their own small circle of friends, let alone a group of 20 co-workers. It's been time consuming. I was not looking forward to it, but it was actually pretty fun.

Speaking of very fun, eating healthy (which I am a week into) is not. There is a lot right now that is not "fun" to do. I have learned that over time you must just put one foot in front of the other and do what you believe God wants you to do as you follow Him. I believe I honor Him more when I am disciplined.

Now, I've gotta go get some work done. Here is a picture of my office right now. As you can see, there is a lot getting done, most of it is still on my desk...also, I have a few reminders of the fact that hunting season is near.

Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Hunter Vision

The last several weeks have been a flurry of activity for Hunter Vision. While Joel and I continue to refine the services we will offer to patients, there are a bajillion items to attend to on the business side of things. The planning that is currently happening is going to increase over the next 6 months, but it is now about 5 hours per day. I have been getting up early to work on it before work and staying up later to work on it before I go to bed. I figure I can sleep in 5 years when it works, but for now it actually wakes me up and keeps me up. The stress is good an far from unhealthy at this point and I am working out and eating pretty healthy too so that is keeping me sane.

I have great hopes for Hunter Vision and I know we can do it. There is no plan B, so we have to. The way I look at it, our families have to be taken care of... so failure is not an option. Eminem once told me that in a song...He said "success is an option, *cussword* failure is not." It was very emphatic, so he must be right. Actually, I fully believe we are doing what God wants us to do. I am convinced that this is the way he meant for me to affect the lives of others. This clinic will support ministry...that is what I was born to do. That is what I love to do. I have spent all of my adult years and some of my high school years doing it and I will do it for the rest of my life.

My hope is that we will be able to participate in the ministry to millions because of the existence of Hunter Vision. I am fired up.

First Northland, Then Summit, Now Hunter Vision...I love my family.

On another completely unrelated note, I have graduated to Cabela's deity status. They now send me hardback, coffee table books that are their catalogs...they do that for their top 5% or so of their customers. SO AWESOME...I feel like I just acheived Eagle Scout.

Summer

Summer is really only tolerable because it gives me time with my family (when we go on our annual trek to the lake) and it is the season before fall (which is the best season of the year by miles). Summer in Florida is hot, wet, and dank. It's literally like someone made all of the outdoors a steam room at the gym. You can see a little better than in a steam room, but it is the exact same feeling.

Generally, everyday starts out beautiful and is miserable by noon. Then it pours rain from about 3:00-4:00 and if you dare go outside following that you will certainly understand what it is like to have boiled water, stuck a blanket in it, then covered yourself with it as you sit in a sauna while drinking coffee.

Florida summer is not awesome unless you have time to do the beach thing. As much as I love to be outside, I just can't do it June- August. But, come Sept. 26th, I will be outside.

What is Sept. 26th? Opening day of bow season.

I have been thinking about hunting a lot lately. Wonder if anyone can tell???

I am getting a 3-d deer target next week...

Coffee is cool

...and by cool, I mean a great gift from God. Coffee makes me go from feeling like I would rather sleep another 2 days to actually feeling like I enjoy being part of civilization. Nothing is better than coffee before dawn breaks on a fishing or hunting trip. That smell and the dark cool air tell my soul it's time to spend the next few hours with God. That is where God lives. He actually claims residence in the woods and on the water. He told me. He also made the woods and water and coffee. He clearly knows what we need. As you can see, this morning I am grateful for coffee. Everyday, I am grateful for the woods...only 90 days till deer season. I can almost smell the coffee.

Been a while...

The NBA finals and general lack of fortitude threw me off of my very well disciplined start to the year. It's ok however, I am back. Today marks Day ONE, Round TWO in body for life and my practice of 5am wake ups. So far, so good. I haven't eaten anything yet and have managed to stumble out of bed. Lots has happened since my last post...end of school, vacation, Hunter Vision heating up...which reminds me, I gotta get to work on that. Mornings for the next year are for time with God and time with the new company. Just for posterity, here is a pic from vacation...