Performed Well

Last weekend, my wife and two oldest children, Angel (11) and Tony (10) attended the funeral of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab.  I've known Caleb's father Kansas Representative Scott Schwab since I was a teenager in Clint Sprague's Youth Group (where Scott volunteered), and my wife was friends with Scott's wife (Caleb's mom) for years while we attended the same church. Caleb died instantly in a waterslide accident.  It's the kind of tragedy that no family could prepare for or anticipate.  Tens of thousands of people have ridden the same slide without issue.  We grieve for the loss of Caleb's life and for the years of pain this will cause his parents and three brothers. The funeral was beautiful.  Caleb's uncle spoke of life as a vapor, here one moment, gone the next.  We don't compare the length of one vapor with another because all of them are fleeting.  So it is with our lives.  Caleb lived his 10 years with honor and put his love for Jesus on dis...

After enduring the very trying experience of mid May this year (see my June 5 blog post), I determined to be more of a family man and less driven by outside pursuits.  I have been living a less busy life and spending a lot more time with the kids. Admittedly, I've also been spending more time playing video games (usually with them), and it gets surprising how fast the time can fly by while engaged in mindless activities like that. A recent example is that Tony and I discovered we both enjoy playing Pikmin 3 on the Wii U together and working toward personal record speed run times.  I bought a game capture device so that we can record our games and upload them to a site that collects speed run data on various games.  We don't have any delusions of being truly outstanding in challenges like this, but the act of creating the speed runs, I hope, will be a fun bonding experience for us and hopefully teach him a bit about video editing, commentary and confidence.  It's ...

The middle of last month (May 2016) gave me the most challenging week I have ever experienced.  I was faced with a forced business decision where I could either make the popular choice or what I believed (and still believe) to be the principled choice, the latter of which would lend myself to backlash from dozens of people. My pastor told me that because I do business in the arts, I would be confronted with decisions such as these earlier than most, but that these things "are coming for all of us here in the church."  Ironically, those who profess tolerance often show absolute intolerance for those of us who hold to conservative values. This spread through the Kansas City theater so fast, and libelous statements were made about me by some who I had trusted for years and had even been on my payroll.  And all of this was not because I changed anything about who I am or the way I had presented myself for years.  It was all because my open, outspoken, unchanged belie...

My daughters Angel and Harmony in the latest DeerAngel video on homeschooling!