Out of the Basement

Courage  to start... mission accomplished. Strength to endure... it's three steps forward and two steps back but, long term, the math is on my way! Resolve to finish... unequivocally unquestionable! (It's a Roman's 12 kinda day!)

I have always been intrigued by polarities. More specifically, in figurative terms, opposites. I have read, studied and talked about them for a long time.  The purpose of my personal quest has been less to understand the opposites themselves than the space that exists between them. People think and say things like, "There's only right or wrong" or "It's black or white" or even "It's my way or the highway!" Such sentiments,  in most cases are farthest from the truth. In God's economy, there are absolute absolutes! In our human experience... and perspective,  nearly everything can be seen as fine shades of grey.  In other words, there are usually three not two answers. For instance... My opinion... your opinion... reality of the situation Right...  wrong... truth Your way... my way... compromise Honestly, even that is oversimplified! As long as we are human, polarities will exist. "Your yes" and "my no" will rarel

When I heard that Merle Haggard had passed, I was saddened.  I listened to and played old Hag songs that week just to try and remember. When I heard that Prince had died, I was shocked... and saddened.  I listened to and played a few songs just to try and remember. Why? Both were gifted singers, writers, and musicians. Both in some way impacted my childhood. I did not know either of them personally. Why did I feel the need to pause? To grieve? I think it is not so much about them as it is about me. They were on their journeys; going their way. Our paths intersected when I heard them and made the commitment to emotionally invest!! I chose them... and now they are gone. And, now I mourn their passing. Our lives are filled with such moments. For everything that we put our hearts to, we will at some point experience loss. It is the way and nature of our human experience. That can be to death, divorce, distance, disillusionment, disinterest... and so many other things... How unfortun

"There's a light,  shining bright, somewhere up ahead of me, There's a path, a well worn path, to a place I know I'm meant to be, Someone went before, looks like they cleared the way, A direction almost certain, a road paved yesterday,  it was you,                     Legacy   David Callahan (c) 2011 (First verse to a song titled Legacy that I wrote in 2011  to celebrate my company's 75th anniversary and to honor two of my mentors.)  Rarely do we find our success to be individual. Almost always someone has offered a hand or a shoulder that moved you a little farther along the path. If someone has inspired you or your journey today, tell them thank you! 

Getting ready to head back home! I have enjoyed being in Chicago, though most of it was from inside a convention center. It is one of my favorite places "for sure" and we will have to come back again soon! But, now that it is time, I am ready to go home. I miss home, I miss my dogs, I miss friends and family. I miss Angie! So I go home with a renewed appreciation for the familiar. It always happens, no matter where we travel. Angie and I have been so blessed to see so much of the world and we intend to see more, but the greatest place on earth is 1302... its home! I need to get back to working on my office remodel, catching up on work stuff, getting all my books and shelves out of the dining room! The list is long, but I am excited because its comfortable and its home. "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

I saw a couple of old friends last night. In my business you meet people and then over the years you get to see them from time to time at different events  and you catch up as life moves along.  One of them I worked with twenty years ago and every time we see each other we just pick right up talking and laughing about the same things. He is just  one of those people who the instant I see him we start laughing and recalling old stories and making new ones. The other friend is someone I hired years back who never quite got comfortable in his role and eventually moved on to other opportunities. I usually see him around once a year and its always pleasant and cordial. We used to be closer but I just always thought he just grew away. Finally, last night as I was walking into the dinner I was attending (extremely late),  someone said John is here and wanted to see you. I thought to myself it would be good to see him. Upon greeting him, he said to me, "I always thought you were mad at

I woke up this morning to an interesting view of both the skyline of Chicago that stretches on seemingly forever, but also at the same time, all of its tentacled streets as they twist and turn through all the little neighborhoods and communities that make up Chicagoland! It's intriguing to me to see both the big and the small... the wide and the narrow all at once. It reminds me to see life as such. There is a grand plan that is playing out for us on a larger scale, but we have to  traverse and meandering those sections  daily that occupy that more immediate space in our lives. We cannot afford to live our lives only  looking and wondering for whats ahead. At the same time, we cannot get too busy focusing on the immediate and the now only to forsake the eventual and then. Attention is required for both. Good morning Facebook

It's Day 21 of the journey. It just happened up on me actually. I think that any such endeavor should be such; almost organic as you grow away from what was an initial uncertainty into a determined transition to committed persistence. Strangely tied to that,  I was thinking this morning about perspective and how far Angie and I have come in the last year. Working on my new home office over the weekend set my mind to thinking about why I was in a new home office to start with... which led me to perspective. This time last year we were still mourning the passing of Angie's father. Just a short three months later on July 4th we would get the news that my dad had stage 3 lung cancer (Which was the reason I moved my office; to give him more space for home health care.) It would be a few months beyond all of this that we would lose our beloved Spencer, the craziest and most wonderful Pug ever! We were both very happy and changed when  2015 came to an end.... But the point is not

As we were walking this morning I said to Angie, "well there's Halfway Rock!" By the very moniker it's given its obvious that it sits at the midpoint of our daily walk. I told her that when I see it I know I have only as much in front of me as I put behind me! It's like my way of cheering myself onward. In life though we don't usually have a rock to measure our journey. In life we have to keep moving forward... hoping and trusting. Reminds me of an old saying... "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift!" It's so true.  You can't change what has happened, nor control what is to come. But, today is your gift from God to open up and live out to your purpose and His glory!

I was telling some folks at dinner last night that I really don't sleep well when I am out of town... especially in other time zones! Maybe its a different bed. Maybe its a different normal. But it definitely changes how I sleep, eat and think. Its the thinking part that has me... thinking (sorry I can't help myself) this morning. So many battles, adventures, and journeys are waged in our minds long before we take the first step! Often times, we have all the acts and interlude completely worked out in our head long before the curtain opens on anything that transpires in our lives! But we really only control a few aspects of any future situation, incident or circumstance. We can control our state of mind as we approach each new thing and we can continually rely on God. Philippians teaches us to continually think about the things that are good, honorable, just, pure, commendable, and excellent.  Just focusing on those things makes little room for fear, anxiety and all other ne

A journey can be to somewhere or from somewhere.  It can even take place in the heart or mind with little exertion otherwise. I posted a couple pics last night of our journeys... more to come! Speaking from personal experience, often times a journey from something is usually not nearly as fun as the journey to something. But again, you have to take into account the motivation for the journey. Jonah journey to Nineveh and did everything he could to change his direction. He objected with the motivation of the trip so he fought it all the way. On the other hand, history records Jesus' journey to the Cross as steadfast, purposeful and committed. I have read the account a few times and I can't recall His ever questioning the journey, despite His knowing the outcome. It makes you stop and think about our purpose and perspective as we launch into new directions with agendas to be met and circumstances to engage. Just going is really, well, just going. But to go with purpose and pe

Where have I been? I seem to have come back around. This place is so recognizable, so familiar... so me. Where did I go? Why did I wander from this incredible wonder when it's so perfectly me? Thank you for staying here... awaiting my return. You knew I'd come back, didn't you ? How could I not? Whatever silly thoughts or regards I had were by no means compelling enough to keep me from coming back here... into your presence.

21 Days to break a bad habit... 40 days to create a new behavior... 90 days to  change a lifestyle... Give me the courage to start, the strength to endure, and the resolve to finish!

"Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, strength, and mind." We are called to love Him from the emotional, spiritual, physical, and intellectual seats within us.  It is to be an all encompassing love that reaches into the essence of who He has made us to be. I am convinced and committed that's where the journey is; it's where the full expression of who we are in Him resides... I have a lot to do, so for me, the journey this morning begins anew... After all, Jesus did say it was "the" greatest commandment!

Journey is defined as something suggesting travel or passage from one place to another. This can be literally leaving one place to arrive at another. It can also be figurative as in a journey from childhood to adulthood. It is also spiritual; as "we now see through the glass dimly"... But as the Holy Spirit teaches our rejuvenated hearts, we start to see from a different perspective where we've been and where we are going. That wonderful journey from darkness into brilliant light. Enjoy today's journey. We have a wonderful traveling companion!

The scribe asked Jesus, "what is the greatest commandment?" In His response we are given this incredible gift to see God's heart!We are told to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. And, in so hearing, we determine by these words to  have evidence of a God who wants to have a relationship with us! How awesome to know that in a day when it seems the world has lost its bearings, that the family hangs in the balance, and the individual person has low/no self worth and feels helpless and alone... God still want to be our friend! His relationship is not free... it requires something from us; if it didn't we wouldn't value it! How great to know, that he loves us enough to call us friend! Good morning Facebook!

After He had spoken to the question from the scribe, Jesus chose to amplify his answer with a truth that is often talked about but sorely goes unpracticed. He said, "and love your neighbor as yourself." What would our world, our country, our homes, and our relationships look like if we spent a little time just doing that? The difficulty is that in our "me-centered" culture where on one hand it's all about "getting mine or on the other hand political correctness and moral relativism squelches individuality,  we are seemingly incapable of loving our neighbor as ourself. That would require surrender or sacrifice. It is, however, possible to give, sacrifice, and love others and it happens all the time. Open a door... reach down and pick up something dropped... offer a kind word... embrace someone longing for connectivity but unable to reach out themselves.  It is possible. And the beauty is, that love magnifies and returns itself ... like a moth to a flame

Packing a suitcase is one of my least favorite things to do! Work or vacation, either way I just don't like to do it. It's stressful and I always worry about forgetting something I need. Something about it this time ties to a devotion I read that put me to thinking... Every day we pack our emotional/spiritual suitcase as we prepare for today's journey. We know what we should put in it: kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, faith, love, devotion, etc. But too often we tend to leave some of those things sitting back at our emotional/spiritual hearth and home. Ironically,  some of the things that find their way into our bags tend to make our trip more difficult like unbelief, anxiety, stress, regret, fear, disillusionment.  Those things make for a less than memorable travel experience. On this trip, I am double checking and repacking  (as needed) my travel bags! No reason to waste that precious space in my heart and head that should already be filled with the incredible fr

I have been thinking about Jordan Speith and his losing that five stroke lead on the back nine at the Masters yesterday. It is a lesson in overcoming adversity but not so much like a typical sports story, but a life story.  He had the lead... and he lost it. The weight of his success was holding all the other competitors back. But in a split second everything changed. One demoralizing set back at a time  the lead and the match crept away from him. We are much the same. If we don't persist... diligently and vigilantly,  we will lose ground. And, we often cannot slow the slip until we are long passed recovering from an eminent tumble. We have complete control over pursuing the journey, but at times the journey  takes us over the craggy and loose rocks of circumstance that afford us wonderful climbing lessons or bitter and sore reminders of the fall. It's not just that we take the journey, it's also about how we react/respond to what we find on the way.

I climbed in my truck this morning to the sound of Toby Keith singing "Cryin For Me" a tribute song to his friend Wyman Tisdale, an incredibly gifted athlete but also a brilliant musician who passed a few years back.  Kind of ironic after what I had read about Toby playing Merle's last show!  But things like that happen. Still it got me to thinking again about friendship how there is this amazing linkage between the tempests of trials and travail and the sanctuary of loving relationships.  If one looks back, for probably every trial you endured you could see a face (or more) that helped you bridge the heartache and uncertainty of that moment. And the greatest gift is that the relationship took on a different complexion as it was strengthen from the waging of the circumstance. We read that in God we have a friend that sticks with  us closer than a brother. So friendship is family. And we also read that no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his brother.

It's amazing to me that even though waking this morning I quickly assessed that it might have potential to not be among the best of starts but then I stepped outside and wow! A light wind blowing. Birds chirping and fluttering from tree to tree.  The night giving way to morning. It's Spring; the season of renewal! It reminds me that He makes all things new. Every situation or circumstance. Every sorrow or crucible. Even a morning that seems less than bright is enlightened by the renewal He brings. I was just thinking of the old song lyric... "Joy comes in the morning!" That makes me smile. Good morning Facebook

I woke this morning to a text sent last night from someone I've had a close relationship with for nearly 15 years. He mentioned he had been reading my recent posts and was concerned that I might be going through some challenges and offered to walk/talk with me through it. It was ironic to me because I had a recent conversation with someone whom I shared the following statement, "I don't want to be your friend, I want to have a relationship with you." Much like it did to to them, it probably raises eyebrows and requires a better explanation. See when God said you were His friend, it was/is a really big deal... on a gigantic universal eternal scale. No greater label can/could be bestowed than be called a friend of God.  My wife, Angie Stewart Callahan still loves to hear Israel and New Breed singing, "I am a friend of God!" But in today's vernacular the word friend has lost its power. Honestly, for all the Facebook "friends" you have, how many