5 Times Better!

While standing out in the rainy backyard this morning with Fiver, I got to thinking that due to family circumstances, I believe that I was actually raised to be more independent than my siblings.  By the time I began to go to school, my folks were well known and very active at the St Rose Catholic Parish near downtown Santa Rosa.  Both of my older siblings attended St Rose Elementary School through sixth grade when, on my Dad’s request, left to attend Herbert Slater Junior High where he taught.  They both developed strong friendships with their fellow students and church friends at St Rose and my brother still interacts with many of them to this day!

I on the other hand, attended first and second grade at St Rose but then my family moved across town and out of the parish boundaries.  I went to public school for a year until there was room for me at St Eugene’s Elementary School beginning with the fourth grade.  Following sixth grade, I also moved over to Slater, which was within walking distance (spell that l-o-n-g distance, although I did it – as did my Dad, many times) from our new home.  Both My brother and sister were in Junior High when we moved.

My Mom immediately got involved at Matanzas Elementary School and then at St Eugene’s when I attended them… but it wasn’t quite the same as before.  At St Rose, our family was part of the old crowd, like I said earlier.  We were well-known and seemed to know everybody.  My folks were very active in everything at both the church and school.  When we moved, we were the new guys! 

By the time I got to high school, I tended to be fairly self-motivated having learned, especially through running track in ninth grade, that I could succeed in something I set out to do, when I trusted in myself, pushed myself and not dwell too much on what others may have thought about me.  Then when I met Piper in eleventh grade, I really began to grow in self-confidence by leaps and bounds.  She just seemed to have a way about her that brought out the best in me!

From what she had told me and from little bits of information I have picked about her childhood through the years and especially lately when I reconnected with one of her older cousins, Piper also seemed to be more of the independent one in her family.  She was born when her Dad was attending college (at three different schools) and said that she spent a lot of time with her paternal grandparents during her early formative years.  She also tended to “hang out” with her older cousins at family gatherings as well as well as at her grandparent’s ranch near Cloverdale California.

In most of the pictures that I have seen where she is standing with her younger sister, as well as in the stories I heard, Piper was normally the leader and also the one who instigated the silly grins and poses and the daring adventures... Like going partially down the driveway and unto the steep private road that they shared with their immediate neighbors in their red Radio Wagon!

After we had been dating for a while, I finally asked Piper why her older neighbor would always honk the horn on her big Cadillac as she neared the bend of the road at Piper’s house, on the way to her spacious home at the top of the hill.  That’s when Piper burst into laughter and told me the story of her sister and her wild wagon rides down part of the hill… and how it scared the living daylights out of her neighbor… who continued to blow the horn until they moved a few years later!

So… it was only natural for us to be the more independent ones in both of our families!  We tended to think differently and do things differently from the rest of our immediate kin.  When we got married, we wanted to break out from the family norms, establish our own traditions, and follow our heart's desires as we sought the Lord’s personal plans for us.

I was reminded of all this during my Bible Study today when I read from one of my favorite and what we always believed to be one of the most powerful scripture promises spoken out by Jesus in Mark 11:24 when He declared, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” (KJV – I updated the original “ye” to the more modern “You.”)

We combined our individual PERSONAL PASSION for life in line with the Word of God, into everything we set out to accomplish as husband and wife… and as parents to our kid’s.  To me, this verse is the best example of the importance of each person’s need to develop a PERSONAL PASSION for life.  You’ll notice that this verse repeats the word “YOU” FIVE TIMES.  As I take it, according to this statement, Jesus is saying that the success or failure of receiving the things that we may need or desire is up to you and me… not someone else.  Not someone else’s faith, not someone else’s influence, not according to the balance in your checkbook or even on how many friends you have on Facebook or followers on Twitter!

It’s all about “YOU!” and your PERSONAL PASSION for God, for life, and for success.  In some respects, it’s rather simple… but it sure isn’t always the easy way to go!  As Fiver and I walked yesterday, I began to list all the seemingly incredible things that God made credible for Piper and I during our lives and especially during the last eleven years of her earthly existence.  And let me tell you, when you choose to live life this way, you’ll will face many people who will tell you to your face that you are crazy, stupid, naïve, selfish and worse… (which are some of things actually stated about us… and me in particular).

But in the end… as I look around me today… they are no-where to be seen.  And even if things didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned, I really couldn’t have asked for better as Piper has graduated to heaven, is in the best place possible for her, she’s healed, set-free and I am positive that she is smiling from ear to ear… and if I listen closely, I’d swear that I can hear her all-familiar laughter ringing in my ear!  And honestly, I would not change a thing that we did!  We began our relationship with that PERSONAL PASSION for the God kind of life and she went out in that same mode… we kept seeking His way and following His directions all the way across the country, until she took the offramp from the end of this road onto her eternal highway!

Are YOU ready to explore YOUR own PERSONAL PASSION for your Life?  I believe that it will make your life at least FIVE TIMES better than it ever had been before!