Smell the Coffee

What I love about coffee is it is part sedative, part motivator, and now part fund raiser all at the same time.

The reason I started this blog last May was to raise awareness about the adoption my family and I were pursuing at the time. Adoption is not for the faint at heart because it takes a continuous effort of filling out paperwork, meeting the country’s criteria, and paying fees when they become due. Overall, a very overwhelming process in which you can easily lose focus and heart. Yet, when the end result is finally realized, it becomes well worth the fight.

So, if the spirit leads, there is an interesting way for you to join us in our adoption journey. It’s real simple and you needn’t even leave your house. Just sit back in your computer chair, click on the JUST LOVE icon and purchase a bag of coffee. When you do my family gets $5 sent directly to our adoption agency, so everybody wins. You get a great cup of coffee and we get closer to bringing a child to their forever home.

I know a small thing like this may appear to have little effect on the big picture, but I disagree and so does Jesus. He said in Matthew 10:42, “And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”

That reminds me of the time this past winter when God used this verse on me. I was at a local Wal-Mart and it must have been about twenty degrees outside when I walked past the Salvation Army guy going in and then fifteen minutes later, walked past his partner on the way out. Earlier that day, I asked God to use me and the answer now seemed obvious. If I could not give out cold water, how about hot coffee for two freezing guys who were doing something noble. Somehow, their simple thank you and God bless you did more to warm my reluctant heart than the coffee actually did in warming them. It felt right to act on something instead of just driving away and thinking, “oh well, they’ll be warm soon enough,” when I possessed the ability to change their situation instantly.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” ~Aesop

Swavel

Every Fan

This is a lark I know, but I entered a contest sponsored by Major League Baseball called “Dream Job” where the winner gets to report on baseball every single day for the entire season. Don’t laugh too hard, here it is:

Hi, my name is Swavel and welcome to Major League Baseball’s first edition of Every Fan.

Baseball is a game of redemption. I know what it’s like to lose because in my first 2 seasons of Little League my team lost every single game. Then in my third year, I caught a fly ball in right field that won the game. As I watched the All Star game that same evening, I can remember feeling like a million bucks with the game ball still in my hand. For one night, I felt like an all star too.

Baseball is a game that brings families together. My first date, with my wife, was to Baltimore to watch Cal Ripken and the Orioles play the Detroit Tigers. I, also, fondly remember my dad taking the time to play catch with me and come to my games and now, I in turn, have taken every chance to do the same with my kids. If I am to win this dream job, it would go a long way in helping my family and I bring our third daughter home through adoption. I firmly believe that everyone and I mean everyone should have a family.

Baseball is full of stories: from the past, present and future. Who can forget Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest man Alive” speech or Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair or George Brett going ballistic over the pine tar incident or my favorite moment form the past, Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game mark.

Baseball is full of current stories as well. Since I work and live in the Philadelphia area, my “Plead the Fifth” segment will chronicle every pitch the 2011 Phillies rotation makes. Then, there will be a piece called “Getting it Right” that will focus on a different player every day. And of course, there will be the daily highlights and scores from around the league, called “Need to Know.”

Baseball is full of stories waiting to unfold before our eyes. Who knows what could happen this year? Will Zach Greinke be unhittable again now that he is with the Brewers? Will the Giants defend their title? Will A-Rod regain his old form? Will the Phillies play the Red Sox in the Series? Will Miguel Cabrera be able to succeed despite himself? I don’t know, but I would love to find out all this and more, together with you every single night.

So, here at Every Fan I promise you this, a season you will not soon forget.

Spare Change

There is a very special pink purse that hangs on my bedpost. It contains only four dollars and some spare change, but to me that little pink purse is priceless because it belonged to my first daughter. The money has been in this purse since she changed her address to Heaven.

Ten years ago, Alisha had just received money for her seventh birthday and she decided to buy some snacks for her friends she would see that evening. So, off she and I went to the local store. Her smile let me know she was pleased with her selection of chips and crackers, so she began her march toward the register. I can still see her with that pink purse belt strapped around her waist, as she skipped and danced her way to the checkout counter. She was so proud to hand the cashier her money and then she carefully put the dollars and odd cents into her purse. And so it remains there ever since.

Spare change has always been an issue with me and I have always liked to have some jingling in my pocket. My wife would prefer to save it and I believe she is right, but it goes against me. I know if I were to put it aside, after a while it would add up, but I struggle to do so. Why? It’s not a good reason; it’s simply the truth because old habits are hard to break.

Recently I have been thinking about my spare change issue and realized that my spare change isn’t life-changing to me, but when added to others or given to someone with far less it becomes significant. It doesn’t matter where you give your spare change to the Ronald McDonald House, the people who ring the bell for the Salvation Army, or other great charities, it is just important to give.

My daughter, Sianna, who is 8, sweetly told me the other night when we were in the car that she just loved the thought of going home. In her sweet voice she almost whispered, “I can’t wait to get home, I just love it there.” My thoughts went to the children who don’t have a home or a family to call their own and I realized that I need to form a new habit and put my spare change aside.

“Some people give time, some money, some their skills and connections, some literally give their life's blood. But everyone has something to give.” ~ Barbara Bush

Swavel

Fear Proof

The results from the first poll are in and it revealed your biggest fear is your family being harmed. To paraphrase former President Franklin Roosevelt, our biggest fear is often fear itself. I can understand this to a point since I had thought my entire family had been lost in a car accident, nearly ten years ago. But there is someone who knows exactly what it feels like to lose his entire family.

On Labor Day weekend of 2003, Robert Rogers, his wife and their four children were caught in a flash flood in Kansas. In a matter of minutes, Robert, lost everything he cherished most and only he would miraculously survive. He had every right to give up, but when Robert’s worst fears were realized he turned them over to the only One who could truly save him, Jesus.

In the aftermath, Robert started a ministry called, Mighty In The Land, designed to help encourage families to keep their priorities right. Whenever I hear his story and his motto: “Know God, No Regrets” it becomes obvious he is someone who fears God, not circumstances. He now is remarried with two children and also keeps his family’s memory alive by seeking to support five orphanages worldwide, with three having already been established. Each orphanage will ultimately bear the name of each of his family members whose addresses have been changed to heaven.

I will leave you with a quote Robert made a few days after the tragic loss of his family. “Savor every single precious minute with your spouses and children, hug and kiss them every morning and evening, tell them over and over how much you love them.” Perhaps instead of fearing, we should be focusing and finding where our priorities truly lie.

Swavel
For Robert Rogers’ full story or more details on his ministry please visit: www.MightyInTheLand.com