Author: jcudd14

Once again it’s been awhile since I’ve been on here. There’s no reason really other than, well there’s really no reason. I just haven’t. I spent several days in quarantine with Covid and got wrapped up in some tv shows I had never watched before. So I wasted some opportunities to write there. I recently ran into a friend and he asked me about my blog. He told me his wife had heard about it at her beauty shop and she had read it and told him about it. He asked me if I was still doing it and I told him yes but it had been awhile. I found myself trying to think of a reason why and the only other reason was that there wasn’t one. I have actually had several people ask me if I was still going to write and my intentions were good, but the results were not. So I’m going to try and be better at being consistent. I’m just thankful that people read my ramblings. I enjoy doing it and hope to get more consistent again.

There are so many things going on right now. I can’t even begin to write, talk, or even think about everything. 2020 was a year like no other. I had a discussion the other day and we talked about how one day there could be a whole semester of History class in school devoted to 2020, and that still might not get it all covered.

I have said it on here before, I’m not an overly political person (and this post is not to spark any political debate either). I follow it some, but I don’t get too wrapped up in it. Some people love it and that is just fine. If that is what they love then there is nothing wrong with that. What I have learned over time is that I personally don’t believe anything I read or hear when it comes to things like that. The main reason for this is the media, among other reasons. In fact, it is getting to the point where it is that way with anything in life honestly. But, when it comes to the issues in our world right now, I don’t put any stock into anything I hear or read. I don’t take it for truth unless I personally see it for myself. Obviously I’m not involved in any of it personally, so if I have to see it first hand to believe it, that tells you how much I believe right now. I guess you could say I have trust issues.

It’s sad that it has come to that, but it has. People present things they hear or read as fact when they really don’t know for sure what happened. The things they read were speculated or passed down from one person to another and presented on social media or the internet as fact. Then the next person reads it and presents it as fact. And so on and so on. Then I see that lead to so much division in our country. It’s not just politics. It’s Covid. It’s sports. It’s anything that people can have an opinion about. Somehow in this world we have been convinced that the only opinions that matter are ones that match our own. If someone doesn’t have the same opinion on a matter as we do, they are wrong. I wish this wasn’t the case, but unfortunately in a lot of instances it is. I would love to see people unite in just being Godly people instead of division caused by things like this. I wish people would just come together and work hard together to just love one another and be good, solid human beings. Regardless of our opinions on matters, just be good, loving, God following people. Things have definitely changed and sadly, so have people.

I don’t get wrapped up in all of this because, well, honestly I have a lot of other things to worry about that hit a lot closer to home. I could sit with some one and argue or get in a social media argument with people about some controversial issue. But, the bottom line is it more than likely won’t change how they feel or how I feel. The only thing that will happen is possibly ruining a friendship or inciting anger that is unnecessary. Now I won’t lie, and I bet I’m not alone on this. I will sometimes look at the comments on some of these post on Facebook or Twitter and be entertained by people halfway around the world arguing with each other, and I have no clue who either person even is. They will go at each other for hours about something like this all due to a differing of opinion. They just know what they believe has to be true. So when I don’t feel like spending money on entertainment, or since it’s 2020-2021 and I might be quarantined, I can pop some popcorn and indulge in reading some comment wars and further solidify my previous stance on not believing anything I read or hear. But, it sure is good and cheap entertainment provided by complete strangers.

There are three things that I do have control over that are important to me. There are three things that directly impact me and I directly impact them. The first one of those, and the most important, is my relationship with God. That is focus #1. This controls so many other aspects of life. When it comes down to it, it really controls every aspect of life. There can either be peace in my heart or animosity. I can either have hatred in my heart for people that have different view points than I do, or I can love those people regardless of their opinion and have peace in knowing that everything will be ok because God is in control, not me.

The second thing that I focus on is my family. This is another thing that I have a direct impact on and they have a direct impact on me. I have a responsibility to treat my wife the way God designed. I have a responsibility to raise my kids to have a relationship with God. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not turn from it.” That’s a big responsibility, and it is mine. I have a responsibility to provide for and protect my family. Not only from physical harm, but from this world as well. There are a lot of responsibilities that go into having a family and these are just a few.

I mentioned that I have a responsibility to provide for my family and that deals partly with my profession. I have to focus on this as well. I have to take pride in what I do and work hard to be the best I can for who and what I represent when it comes to my job. My profession is no doubt time consuming and sometimes stressful. There is a lot to it. While the other two things previously mentioned are mentioned first for a reason, I do believe that my work is definitely intertwined with both of them. I have to rely on God to guide me in what I do and the decisions I have to make. I have to spend a lot of time in prayer asking God to give me wisdom to make good decisions. I have to include my family in a lot of what I do after hours or I would never see them. They are my support system. So I believe they are all definitely connected.

I have a lot going on with the last three things mentioned. These three things are near and dear to my heart. They require a lot of time and dedication to be successful at them. That success rate has its ups and downs as well. The difference in them and the things mentioned in the beginning of this post is I see them first hand. I believe in them. I don’t know what to believe when it comes to all the craziness that has gone on the last several years, especially 2020. But this is what I do know. I am going to focus on God, my family, and my career because that is my responsibility. I was blessed by a loving God with a family and career that I love. I owe it to that family and career to be the best I can be for them and I owe it to my God to be the best I can for Him and do the best I can with what He gave me. I will let the people whose job is to try and sort out the mess our world is in do their job and try to fix that. I personally will try and be the best I can for my God, family, and profession.

So I challenge everyone to figure out what our jobs are. I don’t mean just our careers, but what we are responsible for. Have we been the best we can for those things? Have we put the focus on those things or have we put our focus on other things because we have let satan deceive us into thinking that is where our focus should be? I don’t know where you are with those things you are responsible for, but I know for me it had to become a priority and focus to stay on track and not let satan creep in. There are so many things going on right now and it was easy for awhile for me to slip into the habit of spending time and energy on things that were out of my hands. But with the help of #1, I realized what was really important in my life and what I could honestly and truly believe in. We have to ask ourselves what our life’s framework is made of. What is our life centered around? How solid is our structure? If you haven’t ever heard the song “Bones” by Maren Morris, I encourage you to listen to or read the lyrics. Part of the song says, “When the bones are good, the rest don’t matter.” I challenge everyone to check their bones because as the song goes on to say, “The house don’t fall when the bones are good.”

Let me begin by explaining this picture. This is just your common woodpecker. I’ve heard about woodpeckers my whole life. Up until a couple of weeks ago I knew probably what most everyone knows about them. They use their beaks to peck at wood. Hence the name woodpecker. I have never been around one long term though. Until this deer season. I have watched this fella whale away violently on the same tree for 16 days now while deer hunting. I have sat there thinking he can’t have enough beak left to do anything productive with it. I was afraid if he ever finally broke through that tree I would come out to find the tree laying on the deer feeder. I guess I just had no idea the persistency, consistency, and the aggression these things pecked with, regardless of what was going on around them. After being intrigued to do some research I have found out more about woodpeckers and their beaks and so forth. But, wow, I have been amazed to watch this guy at his craft the last couple of weeks!

That led me to think about other things I have learned during quarantine. Some of you may already know, but Channing was diagnosed with Covid a couple of weeks ago. So we have spent the last couple of weeks all here at the house. She has been in isolation in her room. The rest of us have been out in the rest of the house, but haven’t left our ranch (all of our hunting is right here at our house). Kristin has been the one taking care of Channing. She has to have dreams of Channing yelling, “mom, come here.” It has been about as consistent as that woodpecker banging on that tree.

The first thing I learned, and quickly, was that I would not make a good elementary teacher. God bless the ones that do this for a living every day. They are special people. They have a heart of gold and the patience of Job. Me on the other hand, not so much. Those that have had kids in quarantine and had to make sure their kids had all their work done can probably relate to this. Trying to keep up with 3 of them has been hectic to say the least. Maybe even overwhelming at times. But we have made it. We have waded through the waters of distance learning.

I also learned that these masks we have been wearing for months have multiple purposes. One of those being warmth. Since it has been deer season, there have been some cold days in the woods. They have came in handy for that. It really helps with not breathing in near as much cold air. I remember when I got my first masks. I thought one was all that I needed. I thought we would wear them for just a little bit and it would be over. Little did I know that we would have a whole area of the laundry room designated for masks. I also did not foresee looking through them to find mine like I am looking for matching socks. But, that happens daily.

Technological devices can be a good thing at times when used in the right way. They can be a tool for some amazing things. I was able to work on school things all day each day from home. Although I missed being at school and around the kids and my coworkers, because of this technology I was still able to get all my school work done. That was a huge blessing. They can also be a detriment to children (adults too for that matter) when it comes to socializing and communication. It is easy during a quarantine to use them as a baby sitter. I bet we have all said during these times, “I just need a break. You can get on the ipad or the computer or whatever else you want to.” I know we did at times. Especially in the beginning. I then realized that this was becoming a problem. We had to limit the use of those devices to school work only. Except for the one in isolation in her room for 10 days. I mean really, what is a 10 year old going to do in her room for 10 days? Although we limited her use too, she was granted some special exceptions to this rule.

This isn’t something I learned really over the last couple of weeks, but was reminded of. That is that squirrels are the archenemy of deer hunters. Hunters everywhere know exactly what I’m talking about. You hear something moving around you. You slowly turn your head so that whatever beast is moving into your area does not see you move. You are certain that a 210 pound 170 class deer is looming in the trees and fixing to reveal himself so you can shoot him. Then you realize that it is a 1-2 pound squirrel causing all kinds of commotion. Although frustrating, it is also quite impressive the noise they can cause.

What I also learned during this time is to cherish these times. I turned 40 while we were stuck at home. While age is just a number, that number gets more disturbing the higher it gets. I have had several comment to me about the gray in my beard. I have just responded that it is wisdom and experience coming in. It’s all relative to how you see it, right? While thinking the other day about being at home and turning 40 and everything else that has gone on the past couple of weeks, I realized that the next time I roll into another decade of age my youngest son will be a Sr. That means that our other two will be out of our house and Kristin and I will be empty nesters soon after. WOW. That hit home. So I want to cherish these times. Even if we hear 2051 times a day, “mom, come here.” Even if we have to break up fights between our boys. Even if we are stumped by how to help our 6th grader with their math. I still want to cherish these times.

I was also reminded that God is good. Even in hard times, God has a plan. We may not see it right away. We must have faith. Faith is having complete trust and confidence in something, even if we can’t see it. I saw a quote on facebook last night that said, “We can have fear in the unknown or faith in the all-knowing.” Hebrews 11 talks about faith and what that faith does for us. God is the only one that can save us from eternal death if we have faith in Him. Satan is full of lies. The Bible tells us that God cannot tell a lie and satan cannot tell the truth. I would much rather put my faith and allegiance in the One that cannot tell a lie!

I don’t have all the answers to Covid, or anything else for that matter. But, I can’t imagine going through tough times like so many are right now without hope. Hope in a God that does have all the answers. Hope in a God that will wrap his arms around us if we keep our faith in Him. As we are in between Thanksgiving and Christmas let us remember to be thankful for what we have. Let us be thankful for a God that won’t ever leave us. Let us remember to be a friend. Let us remember to be good human beings. We have had so many people reach out to us and offer help during the last few weeks. It is so comforting to be surrounded by people like this. Hopefully we can pass it on to others, not only during the holiday season, but always.

If we have that hope that only comes from God, I challenge us all to share that with others. Share the story of Jesus with others. Share the peace and hope God provides by how we live. Sharing Jesus with others doesn’t mean having to sit down with them and literally tell them about Him, which would be great too. We can share Jesus with others by how we treat people and by how we help our fellow man. If you don’t have that hope or faith, reach out to someone that does and have them share this story with you. It can change your life. It can transform your life in so many ways. So let us be like the woodpecker at the beginning of this blog post. Let us be persistent in what we do. Let us be consistent in what we do. And let us never stop doing what we do as God’s disciples, regardless of who is around or what is going on around us!!!

I haven’t been on here for awhile now. The reasons are many, most of which I won’t bore you with. Things have been crazy with school and Covid and a lot of other things going on as well. I would say I haven’t had time, but honestly, I haven’t made time. I needed a break. I needed to recharge. I’m sure many of you can relate to that in some aspects of your life. It’s not a bad thing to step back and recharge sometimes.

About a month ago the world lost a great man. The world lost a man that dedicated his life to young people for over 60 years as a coach and mentor. He coached at the high school and college level. He coached me in college 20 years ago. He had a huge impact on me and my life for the last 20 years. Any time any of us got together there were many Coach Powell stories told. We would tell of the many injuries he endured on the baseball field and how he would just keep on keepin on. We would talk of all the times he would chew us out, and sometimes we wondered why. But, he always had a plan and a reason. We would talk about some of the things he would say in his pre or post game speeches, and just like any players do with their coaches, there would be imitations of those speeches. He left an impression on all of us. While he could chew on us when needed, everything he did was done out of love and the impression he left on all of us was positive!

He had a gift for what he did. He not only taught us about the game of baseball, but more importantly how to be a Christian, a man, a husband, a father, and a genuinely good person, among many other things. He kept up with his players years after they were out from under his wing. He would call me anytime the weather got bad out here in western Oklahoma just to make sure we were alright. He would call me every year when our baseball season began and when we were getting ready to begin the playoffs just to check on my team and how they were doing. I always looked forward to those phone calls. They continued right up until the very end. Whenever I would call him at random times he would start the conversation off the same way I’m sure he did with many others. I would say, “what are you doing?” He would respond with, “Well, I was just getting ready to call you.” For awhile I thought it was ironic that he was just getting ready to call me every time I called him. I eventually figured out that was just his way of saying he was thinking of you and making you feel special. He loved his players’ families as much as he loved his players. He always asked about our kids and wives. When you saw him in person, he treated your family like his own too. He truly lived out God’s two greatest commands, love God and love your neighbor. If you ever met Coach Powell, even if only for a few minutes, you felt that love.

He was thought of by so many as a coaching legend. He coached for so many years and had so many successful seasons. He won countless games, but more importantly, he molded countless men and women. I say women too because I’m not sure if he ever coached girls, but surely after that many years of coaching he did at some point. Even if he didn’t, he had an impact on many female athletes while coaching the boys teams and also his players’ wives. While he will be remembered by so many as a baseball coach, he will be remembered by those baseball players as a mentor and a father figure.

So that lead me to think about legacy. It made me think about what that means. It made me think about my life too. I have said this on this blog before, but we will influence people every single day. Every one of us will. There will not be a day that goes by that we won’t influence people in some way. It is up to us if that is positive or negative. But, going beyond that, we will leave a legacy as well. Hopefully that legacy is full of love and positive experiences for those around us.

Mark 8:36-37 says, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Many of us spend our time and energy seeking earthly pleasure in whatever form that is for us. But God tells us that is only temporary. In the end, if we do this and this only, we are left empty. Coach Powell did not leave this world empty by any means. He focused every day on others. He didn’t focus on worldly pleasures, but making sure those that he knew and loved felt special and that they were taken care of. He passed that love on to others. That love has been passed down to so many that had the pleasure of knowing him in whatever capacity that was. May we pass that love down to those we know and care for as well.

I challenge us this week to think about our legacy. What do we focus our time on? Is it worldly pleasures? Is it complaining about things? Are we known as that person that is always unhappy about something? Do we focus on our own selfish desires? I know many reading this knew Coach Powell. Partly because I tagged a lot of people in his circle when I posted this on facebook. But, also because his circle was large. So many people had the privilege of knowing him and being mentored and loved by him. He was thought of by so many as a coaching legend. But to so many more of us he was a legend for so many other reasons as well, and that will live on forever! I just hope that I can have a small portion of the positive impact on people that he had. If we all had a portion of that impact, this world would be a much better place. So as we think about our own every day life and our own legacy, please keep in mind that legends never die, they just don’t live forever!!!