Things That Go Bump In The Night

As a child growing up, I think it was only natural to be afraid of the dark. It was what you couldn't see that made you afraid.

Your imagination could literally fill in all those holes for you of what you weren't seeing.

Noises that couldn't be explained.

Shadows that you don't recall being there before.

But did you ever feel as if there was something really there? Lurking about just beyond your ability to see them?

There were many times as I lay in bed in the wee hours of the night when I would find myself wide awake at something I heard.

"What was that?" I found myself saying in my head. I didn't want to say it out loud just in case there really was something there.

I waited.

Holding my breath, closing my eyes so I could focus on what was there just out of my eyesight, but yet something that could give itself away.

There it was again. Was it outside the house or inside? I think for sure it was outside, but how can you be sure. The hallway just outside my partially closed bedroom door could make things sound different than what they really were.

Stay still, I told myself. Close your eyes. Maybe it will simply go away.

You certainly don't want whoever is making the noise to know you have heard them. So you close your eyes, pull the covers up around your shoulders and ever so slightly open your eyelids so it would look to the casual observer that you were asleep, but in reality you were looking out the slightest crack in your eyelids. Even though your bedroom is dark, you have gotten so used to the low light, you can make out what is there.

On the corners of your bed are the rising sentinels of your canopy bedposts, lacking the overhead covering thanks in part to a little creative experimenting of you and your brother thinking you could swing from the rails that stretched out to support the canopy. I guess they really weren't meant to support the weight of a little human body after all. However the poles remained. Like soldiers standing at attention waiting and watching over your bed. It looked funny no matter how you tried to picture them.

To the left of your bed was your window to the front yard. Shadowed by the growing cypress trees outside. Concealing your window and what was inside but more, hiding whatever could be lying in wait just outside the window. Spaced about 3 feet apart and staggered across the front of the house, they had grown tall ever since moving into that house. They now reached up in a zig-zag pattern up to the roof line in a frozen dance pose. I always hated those cypress trees. They prevented one from seeing out the window to whatever was happening just outside on the isolated neighborhood street. No chance in knowing for sure if there was anything outside. Those trees could keep anyone well hidden until they found a way inside.

Just in front of my bed and closer to the door on the right was my 6-drawer dresser. White and something your dad would buy cheap from the local hardware store, paint and then pass off as a fine made piece of furniture, but I knew what it was. A way to provide for your daughter a place to put your clothes when you barely had any money to avoid good quality furniture. What did I know anyway as a kid of 11?

My door was still partially closed and just outside that door was a corner hallway. One way lead into our family room, kitchen and dining room beyond and the other way lead to the small bathroom just between my door and my brother's bedroom. My mom's room was the dead end at the end of the hallway. Her door was always shut, much like my brothers. I could see no light coming from anywhere in the house which further confirmed for me that the noise had to come from outside. The way I saw it was that I was on my own. None was coming. No one heard the noise but me.

A loud thump again.

A slight pause and then another thump.

I know this is definitely coming outside. The window rattles slightly with each thump. It seems as if a giant were walking outside slowly stomping his way down the street. Is that even possible?

Heck anything is possible in the mind of an 11-year-old girl in the middle of the night that hears a noise she's never heard before.

With each thumping sound there is a slight pause before another thump. I lay in my bed, swallowing hard and wishing harder than ever that someone else besides me has heard that noise. Do I have the courage to get up and look outside my bedroom window? It honestly sounds as if it is coming just outside, perhaps at the end of the street.

More vibrations rattle my window and more loud thumping. I'm almost in tears now. What if I try to get out of bed and it gets me? What will happen to me if I get taken in the middle of the night? Will my mom and brother even miss me?

I hold my breath and slowly peel my covers back on my bed. I can feel my heart racing with each thump and rattle of the glass in my window. I slowly slide my bare feet out and touch the carpet. I move slowly towards the window. I have to tip toe in case it hears me or perhaps if I need to leap back to the safety of my bed.  My curtains are drawn back but the window remains open to allow the cool night air in instead of running the air conditioning and raising the electricity bill.

I need to remind myself to breath because I am holding my breath longer than I believe is humanly possible.

What if I pull back my curtains, and there is someone staring back at me? Do I even want to see what's on the other side of the curtains? Do I scream, run or just stand there literally scared stiff?

Holding my breath and placing my back against the paneled bedroom wall, I reach out for the curtains slowly. The thumping is getting louder and I honestly feel like it's right outside my window now. Slowly I pull back the curtain and try in vain to look around the lone cypress tree that is twisted outside my window. The pale night sky is lit only from the moon that is passing over creating a blueish glow on everything. Nothing is moving outside. No branches from the trees, no alley cats out for a late night stroll, everything is still as if the world outside is holding its breath too.

Then I realize that the thumping has stopped.

Does it see me?

Am I missing something I should be seeing?

I look down the street to the left and just darkened houses fill both sides of the streets, only the house right across the street has its porch lights on, everything else is asleep. Even to the right I can see a few houses, but the cars parked in our driveway are blocking my view of what could be lurking just a couple houses down.

It knows I can hear it!

It knows I am looking for it.

It knows and it's waiting for me.

Waiting for me to go back to bed thinking its all a bad dream before it comes.

But I can't go back to sleep. If I do, something bad will happen.

So I wait.

I wait until my eyes grow so dry I can barely keep them open. I tell myself I will only blink them for a short while just to moisten them with my tears and then I'll keep watch.

Only that is my fatal mistake.

The moment I close my eyes it's all over.

Morning has come and when I awaken the thing that went bump in the night is gone.

I missed it! I tell myself that tonight I'll make plans to make sure I don't fall asleep. I will find out what walks in the darkened streets just outside my house in the middle of the night. Tonight I will make plans.

Do You Believe in Magic?

"Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

I have often sat wondering about when I made the change between the way a child thinks and the way an adult does. At some point in time, my way of thinking matured.

Perhaps it's when I first discovered that Santa Claus wasn't real, that the present that were found each Christmas morning were placed their lovingly by my parents. I had often wondered when I noticed the subtle changes, the wrapping paper was the same as what we were using that year, the signatures and writing on the gift tags were in my mom's unique writing style and not to mention the year while playing hide and seek in my mom's room I stumbled into the far back end of her closet and found bags of what would soon be me and my brothers Christmas presents that year.

Yet I said nothing except to my brother of the treasured discovery in the depths of my mother's closet that year. We took everything out and looked it over with smiles but then something changed.

Even though we used to sleep with anticipation of what would await us that morning, when it came I was no longer surprised. Those same toys we discovered were the ones wrapped in Christmas paper with our names and signed by Santa. Magic gone.

I used to believe in all kinds of child-like magic. I believe that Mary Poppins really could stuff all that stuff in her carpet bag and when she opened her umbrella she could fly away. That is until I tried to fly with my own umbrella and jumping off the roof. I plummeted to the grass below off a single story home and thankfully wasn't hurt.

I believed in fairies in the garden and in the tooth fairy and Easter bunny. I believed in pots of gold if only you could find the end of the rainbow before it faded away.

I believed in magic, real magic that there wasn't some trick behind it all. And once the secrets are discovered perhaps that is when we grow into adults. When we take on responsibilities and stresses that come with growing older.

We forget to do things like playing in the puddles when it rains, getting soaked to the skin only to come inside to a warm cup of hot chocolate and some chicken noodle soup. We forget to play in the waves at the beach and try to jump each wave that laps at the sandy shore. We forget to have snow ball fights and rush out to make the first snowman when it snows enough to make such things possible.

Like the quote above I think we tend to grow older when we forget to play. Who said that adults can do this stuff any longer. Who said we can't call in sick just to enjoy a summer day and go fishing, or on a dark night in a star-filled sky, wish upon a falling star and believing with all your heart it will come true.

I think we all need to remember that simple child like faith in believing in things unseen. God calls us to be like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven and perhaps this is a great way to start. So what are you going to do today?

Gone In A Flash

This story arrived in my email this morning and it moved me to tears I knew I just had to share this with all of you amazing bloggers. Enjoy!

GONE IN A FLASH
Michael Smith

The sun dropped below the horizon. The sky turned dark. The first stars of the night began to shine.

It was the peak night for the Perseids meteor shower. We gathered our grandchildren in the backyard. Some sat in chairs and others stretched out on blankets. No street lights were nearby to hinder our view.

"There's one!" Seth, the oldest yelled.

"I missed it!" I whined.

"There's another one!" Josh yelled.

"I saw it!" Ginny and I said together as a streak of dust burned across the sky and faded into nothing. The youngest, Benny, sat in a chair beside me.

"Are you watching, Ben?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Did you see that last one?"

"No!" He sighed. "I missed it."

"Then you weren't watching, were you?"

We cheered and pointed each time a meteor lit the night sky.

"Poppa Mike?" Benny asked.

"Yes, Ben?"

"Clara is the loneliest train, you know?"

I had no idea what Benny was talking about or where the thought came from, so I just played along. "Is that so?" I asked.

"Uh huh?"

"Why is she lonely?"

"She has a boyfriend you know." He paused.

"But she's still lonely?"

"Yeah."

Another meteor made a white slash in the night sky. "Wow! Did you see it, Ben?"

"No, I missed it again."

A few weeks later, a lightning storm slowly crawled across the western sky. We watched the bolts of lightning streak diagonally from north-to-south. It was a spectacular display of nature, one we safely watched from a distance.

"Wow! Did you see that one boys?" I asked my grandsons.

"No! We missed it again."

"Guys, you have to focus, these things happen fast. If you don't focus, you'll miss them."

Later that night, after the boys went to bed, I sat out on the deck while Ginny, her daughter, Heather, and her son-in-law, Nathan, watched a show on TV. They laughed each time I screamed, "WOW! That was a good one."

Alone with my thoughts and the lightning, I remembered the meteor shower. The lightning was the same. The flashes of light were gone in the blink of an eye. I asked myself, "Mike, how many of life's meteors and lightning bolts have you missed because you weren't paying attention?"

I had no answer to the question, for if I knew, then I wouldn't have missed them. How many times have I come home from work too wrapped in my own thoughts and missed those "daddy's home" smiles of my children? Those little smiles are lost forever, as I walked right by them.

How many opportunities did I miss to praise my wife or my children? How many chances to say, "I love you" to my wife did I miss?

I made a pledge that night to pay more attention to those around me. When I arrive home from work, work stays at work and my attention is on my family, because those opportunities -- those
streaks of light -- don't last long.

They're gone in a flash.

I Had A Bad Dream...

All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you." Mark 11:24

How many times do you recall a child who wakes up in the middle of the night because they have had a bad dream and the first place they will come is your room. Why? Because they want you to put their fears at ease, to talk about the dream, get a hug and a kiss and have someone to put them back to bed and reassure them that everything will be OK. Finally before you turn off the light and head back to dream land, you sit with them and pray that God will be with them during the night and keep the bad dreams away.

A child trusts their parent when they come to them at night, they know mom or dad will handle it, without question. Do you ever remember your child doubting whether or not that bad dream will come true or the monster in the closet really does exist?

We are exactly like that child with a bad dream, when we take our cares to God and ask him to remove our worries, our anxieties, our fears and even our sickness. We should be like that child that never doubts their parent, and realize without a doubt that He will take care of it and peacefully go back to bed or back to our lives.

"The Lord...is the One who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you...do not fear." Deut. 31:8

Imagine carrying a 5 pound bag of potatoes. For the first 60 seconds it is heavy. After about an hour, our arms would begin to ache. If we were to do this all day, it would be unbearable. The longer we hold it, the heavier it becomes.

Such it is with worry, the longer we carry the burden, the heavier it becomes until it is too difficult to bear.

Would you believe that success is not determined by having been dealt a good hand in life? It is determined by taking the hand you were dealt and utilizing it to the best of your ability.

Just when it looks the darkest, the clouds will always part and the sun will coming shining through. Trust in HIM.

God will never ask us to endure a trial without having a purpose behind it. There is no task you can't handle it you can break it up in to little pieces and tackle it a little at a time.

Happiness keeps you sweet,
Trials keep you strong,
Sorrows keep you human,
Failures keep you humble,
Success keeps you glowing,
But only God keeps you going.

"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion". ~ Philippians 1:6

Child Like Parents

When God said that we have to become like children to enter the gates of heaven, I don't think He meant it literally. I think that we have to become childlike in our faith and beliefs where we believe without question and are nice to one another and easy to forgive.

Remember what it was like growing up and you got into a fight with your "best friend?" Oh sure you said some angry things but we never swore or cussed each other out, or even raised a finger to harm them. We usually said some mean things to cause pain, and then we wouldn't talk to them for a day or so. The next day, one of us would eventually call the other to ask them to do something, and it was like nothing happened. Sure apologies would come out, casually but we knew these were nothing major.

Flash forward to the present when I am talking about the "new child like qualities" in adults. These are not positive by any means.

These are the child like qualities of parents who think no rules apply to them, they can do what they want, and when they want and they answer to no one. If any one so much as questions them, Oh are they going to get an earful.

These are the very same parents that raise their children to the same levels as themselves. No rules or guidelines, no consequences for their actions, just do whatever you want, and if anyone questions you, we sue!

Huh?? Did you catch that?

We were involved in a situation last night, where the manager of an establishment for families had to confront an 18 year old who insisted on using foul language and deadly threats, when asked to leave this place due to his rude behavior and comments. The manager simply asked him to leave.

Suddenly phone calls were made, other teens were involved and this situation soon escalated to a level no one wanted. As the 18 year old was walking out of the building, he kicked open the door to the building and hit a 6 year old girl knocking her some 4 feet back.

This is where it gets ugly, the manager can no longer deal with the situation with the little girl because now this 18 year old is out of control. Parents are arriving to pick their children up and are asked to leave immediately. The police are called.

The 18 year olds mother now gets involved threatening the employees of the place with lawsuits for harming her child. Did you catch that? He was politely asked to leave and didn't. No one touched him, the security guards merely walked him outside to prevent the escalation from getting out of hand indoors and injuring kids. This parent now arrives with 4 other males intent on a fight and continues to spew profanities on all the employees and any one else involved.

The police still haven't shown up, but eventually do but it now has become a spectator sport of sorts with people standing around waiting to see what will happen. The 18 year old is still threatening the manager with bodily harm and even taunts him with trying to hit him. "Go on and just try and hit me!" The mother is still swearing at everyone else and teens are almost coming to punches with other teens.

Finally more parents arrive and few begin to discipline their kids for their rude and disrespectful behavior, use of inappropriate language, and making threats on other kids there.

The father of the injured girl shows up and isn't the slightest bit pleased with how their evening has come to an end, and he is also an FBI agent. NICE!!

Let's just say he put things into perspective with the 18 year old teen, his mom and her four male friends. He isn't the least bit happy his daughter has been hurt and is going to handle things quite a different way with them. He doesn't hold the manager and employees responsible for the injury to his daughter, he is holding the mom and her son responsible.

What chaps my hide is where does the mom think that her sons actions are OK? She doesn't reprimand him but reprimands everyone else for telling her son what to do and what not to do. It's her right. As far as she is concerned, he can do whatever he wants, says whatever he wants and can go where ever he wants.

Let's just say he and his mom aren't welcome at this family place any longer. They are trying to weed out the bad elements and keep it family friendly. I don't understand and can't tolerate bad parents. Now the establishment is having to become even more strict in their rules before opening the doors again at a cost to them.

They set horrible examples to their kids which we other parents have to deal with. They see nothing wrong with their actions or their child's. These parents need serious help. Serious help!

What's even worse is that these children all come from broken homes, and have already found there way into crimes and jail. Yet they keep lashing out at everyone. Everyone else is to blame for their circumstances. These are the parents and kids that refuse to take responsibility for their own actions.

Even though I have written this blog to protect the identities of those involved, please pray for this manager, let's call him B that God will strengthen him and will move in powerful ways to create a place where families and kids can have an evening out without this type of element being there. Please pray that God will severely deal with their teens and their parents and allow Him to work mightily in their lives to bring about a more positive change.

Kids Have Super Powers!

I remember the child-like innocence in growing up. The simple life. People said it, you believed it.

No second guesses.

No cause for concern.

No asking, "but why?"

We, as children, took things literally until someone or something came along to prove them wrong.

I grew up in the land of make believe.

I didn't have an imaginary friend or even an imaginary world.

I did have an IMAGINATION.

Something lacking in today's society.

Today, our children live in a world where everything is stimulated all at the same time, by technology. TV, Movies, DVDs, CDs, Ipods, Gameboys, Wii's, Playstations, Xbox, Nintendo's, Cell Phones and Computers.

Our kids today aren't being challenged like we were in growing up. Here is what I remember.

I had super powers!

Did you?

I had them until I tried them and found out, I didn't.

But I believed I did.

I believed if you jumped off the roof, with your umbrella, wide open, that you would become like Mary Poppins. You would either fly away, or simply float to the ground.

Gravity proved me wrong there. I fell like a brick! Yes I tried it. That is how I learned that umbrellas don't work for anyone else but Mary Poppins.

I guess it was her 'super power device!'

I also believed that if you tried hard enough, focused intently enough, and squeezed your eyes tight enough, you could make things happen!

You could bend spoons.

Read peoples minds.

Make things move.

Hear peoples thoughts.

But it never happened. Oh I tried long enough and hard enough, but it was a reality check for me. No super powers there.

For now, just Hiro in Heroes has that ability to stop time, Matt can read minds and make things happen. Yes, I watch Heroes!

From the time we watched The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman, we believed we had super strength and super speed.

Remember how you used to try running super slow but over exaggerated, and made the 'bionic sound?' We tried to lift mom or dads car in the driveway or pick up a large boulder, along with the sound, but nothing happened. Nothing moved.

I believed that if you strapped on your roller skates and held onto a plastic bag in the wind, you'd go places. Guess I was too heavy or it simply wasn't windy enough, we didn't move.

I also believed if you tied a towel or sheet around your neck and ran really hard with your arms held out in front of you, you would experience lift off and begin flying.

Nope, still nothing happened.

Reality, again!

My hubby told me that growing up, he believed that if he put his fishing pole into his swimming pool, if he was patient enough, he could catch a fish.

He got lots of practice casting but no bites.

Kids experience life, because we don't question reality.

We experience reality, when we risk trial and error, and things don't work out. We may even try again.

God's faith is a lot like that. It reminds me of the line from the movie, The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. Seeing isn't believing, it's believing when we don't see. Everyone can experience faith in its purest form.

Just ask the next child you meet, what their super powers are? It starts out that simple!

The Second Mile Club

I hate running. I don’t like the fact that there are people that can wake up at the first sign of the sun and throw on their running clothes and go out for a jog or a run. Why? Just because they love doing it! They also don’t just run one mile. They run lots of miles. For me, to get down the end of the block without grasping for air, and clutching my chest, would be a major miracle. I am what you would call a walker.

I don’t have anything against runners; I just hate the fact I can’t do it. I would love to do it. To put my iPod on to some upbeat tune, and just feel the wind rush through my hair. A bounce in my step and the occasional wave to the neighbors you pass by. Runners most of the time look happy. I am a walker. So I have resolved to walk. I am happy with walking.

Most runners run for miles at least, more than the one mile I would see as a ‘lifetime achievement award mile’! Some run marathons. My hats off to you! I am a walker. There are some people however in life, we call “one milers”.

They are the people that do just what they need to and quit. No more for me thanks. I am done!

These are the students who study just enough to get a passing grade on the test when just a little more effort would get them a better grade.

These are the people that do just enough around the house and no more. They do just what is asked and nothing extra.

The employees who show up and just do what they were hired to do and then leave precisely at 5pm.

The people who show up at church to put their time in and leave when it’s over.

The people who see others hurting and walk away.

They are only willing to go one mile.

But what happens when you do go the extra mile? When you are willing to do just a little bit more. Doesn’t something inside you change? Your attitude, your heart, your soul change just a little bit for the better. Here are classic examples of “second milers”.

They are the person who serves in the ministry at church, but is also willing to help clean the bathrooms because they need it. No one asked them to do it.

The parent who chooses a better school for their children, over a career advancing promotion. The children usually will never know.

The student who eats lunch with the neglected kids instead of the cool ones.

The daughter who spends her day off visiting her sick mom instead of hanging out at the mall with her friends.

We make all kinds of decisions everyday on which fork in the road we will chose to take. All of them fall under the category of who comes first; do they or do I?

If we turn away from personal dreams for the sake of others, you are, in Christ’s words, denying yourself. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24 NLT.

The most surprising ingredient to any great day is self-denial.

The world’s expectation of a great day is just the opposite. It is a day filled with self-indulgence, self-expression and self-celebration. Isn’t that the reason for day spas? The way to pamper yourself, feel good about yourself and indulge yourself. I am not in any way putting down spa treatments, but what if we were to think about someone else. Like taking a friend who really needs a relaxing day, then we would be second milers. It’s the ones that see it as a deserved reward. I am entitled to it, I need it, and I have to have it. Watch that attitude.

My challenge for you, “Daily do a deed for which you cannot be repaid.” It will get the ball rolling. There is a joy in the second mile. Trust me. Try it.

There is an elderly man in your community who just lost his wife. An hour of your time would mean the world to him.

Some kids in your city have no dad. No father takes then to the movies or ball games. Maybe you can. They can’t pay you back. They can’t afford popcorn or sodas. But their smiles and memories you create with them will be beyond what words could ever convey.

Down the hall from your bedroom is a person who shares your last name. Shock that person with kindness. Something outlandish. Your homework done without any complaints. Coffee served before he awakens. A love letter written to her for no special reason. Just because you went that second mile.

The world needs more people willing to go that extra mile. I want to be counted among those that do, even if it means I walk to that second mile instead of run. I want to be a “second miler”!