Archive for the ‘Videos’ Category
Love Letter to My Beautiful Bride
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010An Attitude of Gratitude
Monday, July 19th, 2010People sometimes ask why I respond to the rhetorical question “How are you today” with the Dave Ramsey response “Better than I deserve”. It’s because as a Christian, I believe that the only thing I “deserve “ as a sinner is to burn in Hell, and everything I have is a blessing I’ve been given through the Grace of God.
There’s nothing that chaps my hide more than ungrateful people, especially when I see that the entitlement minded folks who take the most are usually the ones who are the least grateful. They don’t realize how self-sabotaging that attitude is, or conversely, how powerful an attitude of gratitude is. They just don’t get it. As Zig Ziglar says, “The more you are grateful for what you have, the more you will have to be grateful for”.
Last night after I got up off my knees from thanking God for all that I’ve been blessed with, this song came to mind:
“What Do You Know… We Made Our Dreams Come True”
Saturday, July 17th, 2010Yesterday as we drove to our new home to begin setting up house, I thought about the thousands of miles I traveled down that Lonesome Highway to make this happen. I turned on the radio and kid you not, this Sugar land song came on: “It’s worth all the dues I pay…what do you know, we made our dreams come true”. I love what Kristian Bush has written on the napkin at the end of this video.
Closing Day
Thursday, July 15th, 2010Closing on our new house is scheduled for this afternoon. I don’t know how many hotels I’ve stayed in, because I quit counting years ago when I surpassed 1,000. But what I do know is that only someone who’s spent 20 years or so on the road could truly appreciate how much more a house is than a home for a road warrior. It’s a refuge where we don’t have to remember where the bathroom is when we get up in the middle of the night (lots of running into doors in the dark) and get to wake up in our own bed the next day.
It’s the only place where we don’t have to worry about saying to a live audience “Hello Detroit! I’m so glad to be here today!”, only the realize we’re in Des Moines. (I’ve done it, I’ve seen Paul Stanley of KISS do it, and The Today Show even covered it when Bruce Springsteen did it last year).
Here in Music City, USA (aka Nashville, Tennessee), we have a saying that if anyone has ever felt it, someone has written about it in a song. As I was driving to the final walk through this morning, I turned on the radio wondering if anyone had ever written a song about what I was feeling at that exact moment. And Viola! My main man Jon Bon Jovi came on, summing it up perfectly with these lyrics:
“There’s only one place they call me one of their own,
Just a hometown boy, born a rolling stone.
There isn’t one of these lines that I would erase,
I lived a million miles of memories on that road.
Been all around the world and there’s only one place left I wanna go”.
“Where the Boat Leaves From”
Monday, July 5th, 2010Day Four in the Bahamas. Heading back to Nashville tonight, so that we can close on the new house tomorrow morning. Then I head out on the road for the rest of the year. Thought I’d let Jimmy Buffet and Zack Brown close it my little tropical getaway with this one:
“That Old Blue Chair”
Sunday, July 4th, 2010Day Three in the Bahamas. Happy 4th of July to everyone back in the States. Seems a little odd to be spending this holiday in another country. By now, I’ve probably got enough sailing and scuba diving out of my system to take it down a notch. K.C. seems to have the right idea on this as well. Click on the play button:
“No Clock, No Stress, No Dress Code”
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010Day Two in the Bahamas. I did not bring my laptop (this was posted in advance) or cell phone, and by now, have probably shed the shirt and shoes too. I’ll let K.C. sum it up my frame of mind again with this one. Click on the play button:
“Living in Fast Forward”
Friday, July 2nd, 2010By the time this posts, I’ll be in the Bahamas, far away from the any microphone or live audience, flood reconstruction, or the frenzy of buying a new house and moving for the first time in 24 years. My fellow Nashvillian Kenny Chesney, who understands what it’s like to sleep in hotels more than at home, summed it up best in this video. Click on the play button:
Aftermath of the Nashville Flood – Monday, 6/28/10: “Miranda Lambert”
Monday, June 28th, 2010It feels so weird that the flood that destroyed so many homes and businesses, including mine, is responsible for us getting the house of our dreams. This morning I heard Miranda Lambert’s song “The House That Built me”, and my beautiful bride commented that we’ll have to call our new home “The house the flood brought us”. The concept in Lambert’s song that a house might help heal a brokenness inside strikes a nerve now. Guess it’s true that God moves in mysterious ways.
Aftermath of the Nashville Flood – Saturday, 6/26/10 – “I Don’t Want to Hurt My Wife Again”
Saturday, June 26th, 2010Dr. Laura says that while a man’s home might be his castle, it takes a woman to make a house a home.
On February 8, 2010, my beautiful bride and I put a contract on our dream home. It was a short sale, and we waited for an answer from the seller’s first mortgage holder, Bank of America, for two months. Closing was finally set for April 15. Late on April 14, BOA called to tell us they changed their mind. It crushed my beautiful bride’s dreams, and I’ll never forget the look of disappointment and sadness on her face.
After another closing date was set and then postponed again, the house washed away in the Nashville Flood five days before the third closing date. She told me she never wanted to go through that again, and I agreed. Though she’d be perfectly happy in our existing home, I couldn’t help but feeling a little as if I failed her as a husband.
We’ve been looking over the past two months, but have found nothing.
Then last Thursday when I was in Wisconsin, she found a house online that she loved. I looked at it, and it seems perfect. We have a showing scheduled at 10:00 this morning, but I have a knot in my stomach.
It takes a special woman to love a man who spends half his life on the road, and I believe the least I can do is make our home as perfect for her as possible for while I’m gone. But I can’t stand the idea of disappointing her again, and I can tell she’s not letting herself get her hopes up.
When I woke up this morning, this Rascal Flatts song was in my head. I’m hoping it’s a good omen.