Tales From The Bullpen by Jared Cudd

It was fall break. We had been at the lake for 3 days already. It was the first Saturday this fall that we didn’t have something going on. We had a glorious day planned. We were staying in our camper at the lake. That is something that our family loves to do together. We go to the lake where we can get away. We also love watching football together. We also love eating good camping food. The Blackstone was primed and ready for a great round of breakfast burritos Saturday morning then burgers and fried taters later that day. So those things combined with cooler weather…nothing was going to come between us and a perfect fall day we dream about the rest of the year!

I woke up about 6 am yesterday morning, which is typical while out there. It got down to 37 degrees during the night. I got up to go to the bathroom and realized it felt like 36 degrees in our camper (this will be explained a little later). We didn’t have the heater on because it had been pretty warm Friday, so didn’t really think we would need a heater that night. When I got up I thought about how wrong I was. I then realized there were no lights working.

I then looked outside and realized there were no lights working anywhere around us. I went outside, where it felt warmer than our camper. Yep, no lights anywhere. So I called in the outage, but didn’t know how long that would take. We waited around until about 8:00 am, then decided something else had to be done.

I had also noticed when I went outside that the two hoses that were connected from the hydrant to our camper were leaking pretty bad. So I thought it was a great opportunity to run into Elk City and get a couple of hoses and also get warm in the truck for awhile. As I went to start the truck I realized that the back window of the camper, which happened to be Channing’s window by her bed, was wide open. That would explain a large reason why the camper was so cold and why she complained of her feet freezing all night.

I woke up the troops and we loaded up and headed to Elk. We thought they were still sleeping, but they were just so cold they didn’t want to get out of bed. We got to Wal-Mart and got everything we needed. We got some hoses, a new filter, and some round-up to kill the poison ivy right by our camper that has plagued our house for the last 3 weeks. Perfect right? Quick, efficient trip to Wal-Mart to get the essentials then head back and the electricity would be back on. Not in the original plan of how we hoped the morning would go, but not a big deal.

We got up to the check out line and noticed about 50 people standing around waiting. We found out that their computer system was down due to a blown transformer. Their registers weren’t working and they didn’t know how long it could take. We were told it could be 15 minutes or all day. We waited that 15 minutes, but we were out on the all day option.

We called Atwoods and they said they had camping supplies, so we opted to go there. We arrived there and they did have camping supplies, about half an isle of them. They had nothing we needed. So by that time we weren’t sure what the plan was. The only thing I was sure of is that I knew my family was starving. I knew this due to the reminders I got about every 15 seconds about how they were starving. I decided to go to McDonalds and ravage the dollar menu and buy some time for another plan. A good portion of Elk City had that plan too. Since there were 20 cars in the drive through I decided to go in and order. Inside were about 15 people waiting on their food. So after about 30 minutes at McDonalds we finally got to enjoy some sausage biscuits and coffee.

I was determined to get the hoses since we had went through all of this already. I decided that we were going to Weatherford to Wal-Mart. For those that don’t know this area, we were at Foss. We went 20 miles west to Elk City then 45 miles back east to Weatherford. Sure enough though, Weatherford Wal-Mart came through. We got everything we had planned on, except I forgot the round-up at Weatherford. We even got to visit with a good friend’s dad while we were there (great to see you Snuffe). That made the trip worth it.

We headed back to Foss and at that point feeling a sense of satisfaction knowing that we had stuck with it, even though it wasn’t the original plan for the day. We had overcame a lot of alterations and stuck with it to leave with the hoses in hand. I think the men reading this will appreciate that dedication to the mission we were on.

We returned to the campsite and got the new hoses hooked up and no leaks. Mission accomplished. By then it was after lunch and it was time to settle in for some football finally. We had already missed some of the games we had planned to watch. We are OU fans though, so the real game wasn’t until 6:30.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching football outside. We had some good friends there that afternoon and evening to enjoy the games and relaxation with us. We threw the football around ourselves (as seen below), played some cornhole, ate some great food, and ate lots of toasted marshmallows around the campfire. It was everything we had imagined, maybe more. It just came a little later than planned, and we had to go through a lot of things we didn’t see coming to get to that point.

As I sat there last night thinking about what a great afternoon and evening it was, I laughed about all the inconveniences we had from about 6 am until about 2 pm to get to that glorious day we had envisioned. Kristin and I did get a good laugh out of it though because in years past it would not have at any point been a pleasant day. I would have let the morning’s events completely ruin things because of my impatience. I would have lit up a few people in our adventures in Wal-Mart and McDonalds. It just would not have, at any point, been that wonderful and relaxing day we had been waiting on.

We also talked about how my patience has increased over the past several years. Believe me, this has been, and still is a work in progress. This is a two part blog because there will be more on that next week. So tune back in next week for an explanation of how that has gone down.

This day honestly reminded me of life. We all have a plan. We all have a way we think life will go. But, sometimes that plan gets blown up. There are times when what we think or wish would happen doesn’t. That is because sometimes God has other plans for our life. We want to make our own plan and feel like it should work out that way. When it doesn’t we either panic or get impatient and upset in a lot of instances. As we mature as Christians, that can change. As we learn to trust God, those inconveniences are just turns in the road that we learn to navigate through and come out on the other side better in a lot of ways.

When things don’t go our way, just remember that God is in control. It may be something big in life that doesn’t go according to our plan. It may be something that in the big scheme of life is as unimportant as a Saturday of camping and football. In either instance, it is our plan and we want it to work out our way.

Next week will be part 2 of this topic. So tune back in then to hear, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story”. We have to remember, God has a plan and we have to be willing and humble enough to realize that His way is always the best way!

I have spent a lot of my adult life trying to be healthy. I have tried to eat right and have tried to stay active. I have done this for a number of reasons. One is that it is a form of stress relief for me. It helps my state of mind when I can just get in some good exercise and feel good about it. It also is something that just makes me happy. I truly enjoy doing it. Most importantly, it just makes me feel better. I have found that my moods are better and I have more energy when I am active, not to mention that it helps slow the aging process.

It took me a long time to figure this next part out though. What I have found in recent years is that it is not just the exercise that is really important to being healthy. What I put into my body is just as much, if not more important. I used to exercise and stay active so I could eat what I wanted and not gain weight. I have found over the last few years that if I eat well, I feel even better. I find it easier to lose weight, I have more energy, and am just overall happier.

Here is what else I have noticed. With three kids and a busy lifestyle, consistency is near impossible when it comes to diet and exercise. I go through spurts. I am really active and a healthy eater for awhile. Then life gets crazy and I get away from that for awhile. When this happens, I feel bad. Not only do I feel bad emotionally because I worked so hard to be good at it and feel like I let myself down, but I feel bad physically. I just don’t have the energy that I have when I am consistent. My moods aren’t as good. Just my overall well-being is greatly effected. Does that sound familiar to another aspect of our lives?

I spent the last few days in Oklahoma City with our softball team while they played in the state tournament. That means not eating my normal diet. That means eating at restaurants every meal of the day, besides hotel breakfast. As much as I’d like to say that I stuck to my diet perfectly, I can’t. I ate a lot of things that I don’t normally eat when I am home. I ate lot of things that tasted amazing. They were so good in the moment. But later, like now, I don’t think so fondly of those choices. I don’t feel good. When you get used to eating certain things that are healthy for your body physically, then you change that up and eat a lot of things that aren’t healthy, it definitely effects the way you feel.

As I’m driving home from OKC Saturday, I couldn’t help but think about how this is so much like my spiritual life. I’m going to bet that many reading this can relate. I hope some people can anyway (I don’t mean that in a bad way for you as you read on). I bet that I’m not alone in this. Just like it took many years to realize that what I put into my body effects how I feel, it took me a long time to truly realize that what I put into my mind spiritually effects how I feel spiritually as well. That comes with maturity as a Christian. It took me longer than many to mature spiritually, but I am finally improving. What we feed our spiritual self effects how we feel. It effects our moods. It effects how we treat people. It effects our happiness. It effects so many aspects of our life.

Just like I used to work out so I didn’t gain weight, I used to be just spiritual enough that I didn’t think of myself as a bad person. I thought that was good enough for a long time. I thought I was doing good for myself. Boy howdy, was I wrong. I later learned that was far from the truth. We don’t want to try and be just a good enough Christian that we get by. That isn’t a true servant’s heart. That’s not loving God and loving our neighbor. That’s loving ourself and being selfish. That’s doing what we want instead of what God wants from us.

As we mature as Christians, there is another challenge that we face. Just like consistency in my diet, consistency as a Christian is constantly challenging. There are so many things that will try and pull us away. We have to keep the mindset that we will not give in. Does that mean we never slip? No, absolutely not. There will be times, just like this weekend, that we will fall off the wagon. We will veer from our intended path. It happens to everyone. Just like that food that tasted so good this weekend, there will be people that tell us that things that are spiritually bad for us are ok. They will try and convince us that it will be fun and that those worldly things will feel good and be so much fun. We have to be strong enough to not fall into that trap. But when (not if) we do, we just don’t feel as good. We aren’t as peaceful. Our overall outlook on everything is effected.

I have some work to do this week to get back on track and feel better. I have to get my diet back in check. The great thing is I have the ability to do that if I choose to. I can refocus and get back to where I need to be. (As I knew what I was writing about this week, I get to church this morning and I see what is in the picture at the beginning of this post. It just so happens that the apple fritters are my favorite. But, I can truthfully say, I said NO). Our spiritual life is no different. We will all slip at times. We will all have highs and lows, but the great thing about our Lord is that we can refocus and get back on track and He is always there for us. In fact, if we watch, He will many times give us signs here and there and put things in our life to help with this. We just have to be willing and faithful and He will supply those opportunities.

Maybe you are in one of those lows right now. Maybe you have went through a rough stretch and it’s time to get refocused. Maybe you are on one of those highs right now and feel like your spiritual nutrition couldn’t be better. I don’t know where you are at. But I encourage you to figure that out. See where you are. Look at where you are and see what you need. If you need to readjust your spiritual diet, then by all means, do it. Get back on track where you need to be. It’s not too late to make changes. Maybe you have never been on a spiritual nutrition plan at all. Guess what, that’s ok. It’s not too late either. All you have to do is get with someone that can share the good news with you. Get with someone that can fill your mind and soul with exactly what it needs that will lead you to spiritual nutrition.

Whatever our situations may be, may our highs be long, and our lows be short. I pray that our spiritual nutrition will be dialed in. When things get in the way and we fall away from our spiritual diet and we get away from feeding our mind full of Godly things, I hope that we get back at it quickly. I pray that we find the right spiritual diet that leads to nothing but God’s peace and we feel God’s love in our life!

Love God, Love People

Have a great week and God bless!

I’ve been a part of a lot of teams over the years. From the time I was 5 to the current age of 40, I’ve been a part of many athletic teams of different sports. Some as a player and some as a coach. I’ve also watched several as a parent. I’ve also been a part of a team in the workplace my whole career. There are many facets of a team that play into the success of that team. There is obviously the talent. This plays a role in the success no doubt. There is experience and age and maturity that plays a role as well. But, there is also another factor that largely determines the success of a team and that is team chemistry. Team chemistry and the culture and climate of any team might just be the single most influential part of the success or lack thereof, that any team experiences.

This is created by the leaders of that team. The leaders are the coaches, then followed usually by the older members of that team. Younger, less experienced members can also lead, but usually they progress with age and lead as they become the veterans of the team. There is a process and a progression that takes place with most players and teams.

Does this mean that every team that has great culture and leadership will be successful? No, not necessarily. Sometimes there are just days when someone is better than you. There are days when you get beat no matter how great your team chemistry is. That’s just life. We can also learn in those moments and it helps make us better in the future. But, is the chance for success greater with great leadership and culture? Yes, it is!

There’s also a factor that can lead to the downfall of a team, or the underachievement of a team. That is a drain. We have discussed fountains and drains on here before. Life is full of fountains and drains. What we don’t want to be is a drain. But, there are plenty out there. Drains can destroy a team’s chemistry and culture and directly effect the success of a team very quickly. A lot of the time they don’t even realize it. They have no clue that they are the issue. They constantly complain or have a something negative to add to the mix. They constantly look for problems or feel that someone is always out to get them. They just have such a negative outlook on life that it in turn has an effect on the rest of their team too. We’ve all seen it at some point in life. The sad thing is that most of the time, the drains don’t realize they are the drain. They feel it is always someone else. That’s the drain mentality.

I relate this to sports and to teams because right now our fall sports are winding down and the playoffs are in full swing. I see teams succeed and teams that don’t make it as far as they want to. It reminds me every year of why sports are great. They teach us so much about life. They give us lessons that can only be learned in competition and being a part of something bigger than ourselves. Everything I have talked about in this post has a direct correlation to life, more importantly, to our Christian life.

Now that we have talked about some factors that make a team successful, let’s look at something that deals more with us individually. That is choices. Think about how many choices we make daily. There are so many, beginning from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep that we take them for granted. We don’t even realize we make them a lot of the time because it is just what we do every day. Then there are those choices that are a lot bigger deal and have a lot larger impact on our life.

We honestly don’t have a lot of say as to who is on our sports teams growing up. It is who is from the town we are from and who plays that sport. But, within every team there are leaders and people we want to model our craft after. Then there are those that we don’t. This is where choices come into play. It’s just that simple. Life is much the same way. There are those we want to model our life after and those we don’t. There are leaders and there are followers. There are great examples for us to try and be like, and there are examples that show us what to not be like. The biggest difference between our childhood sports team and our Christian life is that we get to choose our circle as Christians. We get to choose who we are around to a certain extent. We still may have those at work or the gym or other places that we would rather not be around. But, for the most part we have a choice who we let influence us.

As I watch these teams compete this time of year, it is so awesome to see the good guys win. It is so cool to watch people that do it the right way succeed. Does that mean that every team or person that does it the right way always succeeds? No. Life is that way too. Bad things happen to good people as well. Challenges happen to good people. But, when someone that does it the right way succeeds, it just makes my heart happy. When fountains reap what they sow, it is very satisfying! When drains reap what they sow, well……………..(You can fill in your own blank here)

Choose wisely who you model your life after. Choose wisely who you follow on social media. Choose wisely who you are around daily. The things you see, hear, and participate in will have an effect on you. The mind is a powerful thing. The things we allow to enter our minds will eventually control us. I Corinthians 15:33-34 tells us that “evil companions corrupt good manners” ( or morals, depending on your version). Does that mean that we never associate with this type of person or that we don’t try to be their leader? No. We can still try to influence these people just as Jesus did. We just have to be careful not to let them change who we are and change our moral compass.

I challenge everyone this week to evaluate whether we are the one lifting others up or if we are the one bringing others down. Are we the one contributing to our circle’s positive chemistry and culture or are we the one bringing others down with our negative attitude? Are we the one complaining about everything and looking at life like someone is always out to get us, or are we taking challenges head on and embracing the chance to overcome obstacles? Which one are we? If we are the ones bringing others down and contributing negatively to those around us, we might need to reevaluate who our influence is. We might need to look at our choices and see just who and what we are allowing into our minds. Have we chosen wisely? Have we posted things on social media that had a positive influence on others, or have we posted things or commented on things that contributed to the negativity that this world is filled with? Have we sent someone a text message to lift them up and let them know we were thinking about them and praying for them, or did we send someone a text message complaining about something or someone else?

I got a lesson in this one time that I will never forget. I had a principal when I first started in education that I went to with something I didn’t really like about something at school. I’m not even sure almost 20 years later what it was. When I finished telling him about it he asked me, “well, what’s your solution to the problem?” I said, “I don’t know, that’s why I brought it to you.” He said, “don’t ever bring anyone a problem without at least having thought about a solution. If you do that’s just complaining, not trying to make anything better.” This world is full of problems and it needs solutions. I hope we are part of the solution and not the problem! I hope we are the ones that lift others up and that we are the example to others that Jesus has been to us! It all comes down to choices! Choose wisely my friends, choose wisely!

Love God, Love People!

Have a great week and God Bless!