Last year I introduced you to my hero, June Oulund.  Today I’d like to introduce you to two more of my heroes.

We spent the weekend with my college roommate Gerry Andersen and his wife Julie.  Though we haven’t seen each other for almost twenty years, it’s like our relationship was on pause and we took up the conversation instantly.

Where Have They Been?

Gerry and Julie live in a small village in the mountains of Mexico with people who have never had their language in written form.

Stresses weigh us down.

When we’re screaming nonsense, pounding on walls, swearing about our circumstances, and mumbling under our breath, we need hope; because , “A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day.“  1

Worries tighten us up.

“If you are cheerful, you feel good; if you are sad, you hurt all over.” 2 Fortunately, there’s hope. 

And, now’s an ideal opportunity to introduce you to an uplifting, hope-filled song by India.Arie.

“There’s Hope“

Author and speaker Phil Callaway took an oath of honesty for one year, and wrote about what he discovered.

“To Be Perfectly Honest” is formatted as a year-long diary, with 365 entries chronicling the author’s year of trying to tell the truth.

I found “To Be Perfectly Honest” to be very good at exposing weaknesses in our lives; in MY life.

Though I was taught better, I grew up an insecure liar. As an adult I am committed to telling the truth, but I am amazed how often “little white lies” creep out unexpectedly when talking to a stranger in the phone who is not giving me the customer service I think I want and deserve.

I live in Minnesota and recently a local baseball player, Scott Baker, required arm surgery.

Baker, according to TwinCities.com, “was scheduled for surgery to clean scar tissue off a flexor tendon, a procedure that would have required about six months of rehabilitation. Instead, he will miss at least 12 months.”

I love mysteries.  I love pondering mysteries.  I love trying to solve mysteries.  I wonder:

Why did two MRI exams failed to detect a tear in Baker’s ligament?
What causes baseball pitchers to have such a high rate of elbow injuries?  

I’m forty-nine years old. I don’t feel old, but I don’t feel young either.

I spend my life encouraging others to live their life well.  Mysilentscream.com exists — through stories, some tips, and some Scriptures — to inspire you to live well. 

As I’m nearing fifty I’m looking for “older” people to inspire me to live the rest of my life well too.  Billy Graham’s book Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well seemed like a good fit.

Billy Graham’s book is honest, vulnerable, and inspiring.

As the NCAA Basketball Tournament continues I think back to the only basketball tournament I even played in.  For some reason the adult league in which I played allowed most if not all teams to play in the end of the year tournament.  Injuries, absences and poor play contributed to our team’s terrible record, but during the tournament all the pieces came together and we nearly won.

I love playing defense, and then, and now, I played with determination and success.
On the other hand, I dreaded every time I had an open shot.

Amy’s dream vacation — and therefore my dream vacation — was to go to Hawaii.  Not just to go to Hawaii, but to go to Hawaii and see whales.  That meant, of course, that we would have to do many things that we had never done before. 

As many of you know a very kind and generous man gave us his frequent flier miles so our airfare to and from Hawaii was free.  Thus began our scramble to do our part to make the rest of the dream a reality.

The Best Sunrise Of My Life

“Today, when I woke up I suddenly realized that the sun had not.  While I could have been exhausted from twenty-plus hours of airports and uncomfortable airplane seats, I had to get up.”

Saturday, February 25th I woke up in Hawaii.  Amy’s dream come true; and since it was #1 on her list, it was mine too.

So, as tears fill my eyes thinking about that I realized that Saturday, February 25th at 6:08am started the best morning of my life, ever!

Overcoming Fear

Eric Valli, a professional photographer, is dangling by a nylon rope from a 395 foot cliff in Nepal.

Nearby on a rope ladder is another man, Mani Lal, doing what he has done for decades: hunting honey.

Here in the Himalayan foothills, the cliffs shelter honeycombs of the world’s largest honeybee. At the moment, thousands of them are buzzing around both men. Lal, a veteran of hundreds of such attacks, is calm. Not so Mr. Valli.

Tom Coughlin, head coach of the Super Bowl winning New York Giants, spoke about the importance of having a player like quarterback Eli Manning in a leadership role for the Giants.

The New York Times quoted Coughlin: “Eli stood up in the team meeting the other day and said a lot of things that were responded to not only by the young kids, but by the veterans as well…I think that the information gathering and sharing of information from someone who has been there and succeeded, that can be extremely valuable.”