Gotta do it!!

Well, part of a 150 year plan to leave a legacy for your famiy is sticking around long enough to see it happen. I regret to say that I'm currently only 10 pounds away from my all time high of 260 pounds. That's right, I'm at 250. I need to get back down to the 225 I weighed a year ago after losing 40 pounds. Unfortunately, I can eat relatively healthy and mantain my 250 weight. I must be a little more disciplined with my diet, but most important need to get off my butt and run daily. So, it is my goal to get up in the mornings and run. I'm hoping to be able to force myself through a mile tomorrow. I know a mile isn't much but part of this will be uphill and I've got to start somewhere. So, I'll post a picture here of myself currently and will blog on the 15th and end of each month with an update. A little "atta boy" and encouragement would help along the way although I need to be a self motivator on this thing and make it happen. So here I am Sunday at my daughter's birthday party (the same daughter I need to stick around long enough for to see her kids.)

My Princess is two

I can't believe it, my baby Princess Peanut, Alyssa is turning two tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of her getting older at all, but I will be carrying on a second generation tradition tomorrow. My dad used to take me (and my brothers) out to breakfast on the morning of our birthday. I have always done that with my kids as well and will be going to McDonalds tomorrow with my little two year old princess for some pancakes and lovin'. Since she's only two, we won't be having a heart to heart but we will be building memories.

Two Weeks Old




First Year Birthday

Couple days ago

what if???

That's the big question, what if I hadn't won the bracket pool at work? The loser was going to have to wear a moustache (porn-stache as we called it) for a week at work as we serviced our customers and dealt with high finance, all the while trying to be taken seriously. So, if I hadn't won, this is how bad it would have looked.

Seriously, would you entrust your life savings to this? ??? Didn't think so, good thing I didn't lose (thank you memphis)

FFFIIIINNNAAALLLYYY!!!!!!!!!

Today, was, according to the weather man, going to be a beautiful day and my wonderful wife said "Are you going to ride the motorcycle to work?"

I have to admit, my ride to my mens meeting, Mens Fraternity: The Quest For Authentic Manhood, was a little chilly as it was in the upper 30's, but it was beautiful by 8 when I left my small group to go to work and it was fantastic riding the rest of the day.

The only bummer is that my Grandmother, Nanoo, wasn't here to ride with me like she was last year, that's right 86 year old biker mama.

yep, in a dress!

Horton Hears a Who and The Intimate Friendship of God

On Sunday, I took the family to see Dr. Seuss' HORTON HEARS A WHO. It was a really cute movie and the kids all liked it. Alyssa kept calling Horton the elephant a "poppie"



















which was also very cute.

The movie also had quite an element of theology to it, although I couldn't agree with it wholeheartedly. The mayor of Whoville was discovered floating adrift without any hope of rescue until discovered by Horton, the goofy elephant. The movie then goes on to show Horton and the mayor having a personal relationship in which the mayor could speak to Horton any time he wanted. In fact, oftentimes the mayor was very much the high priest standing in the gap for the town and speaking to Horton for help and rescue. (Maybe I'm stretching it here, but I couldn't help but wonder if the genius of Dr. Seuss wasn't trying to make a statement.)

Anyhow, what I didn't agree with was the fact that Horton, representing God, didn't know what was going on in the lives of the Whovillers. He couldn't see them because He was too big and they were too small and insignificant. He couldn't be intimitately involved with their lives and therefore became the genie in the bottle to respond to every request brought by the mayor. However, there was something quite endearing in the way Horton went out of his way to take care of these little people... that he couldn't even see...on a little speck of dust... on a cloverleaf...in the middle of the jungle . In fact, I didn't even come to appreciate how cool that was until I was reading Job 29 this morning during breakfast and I saw the beauty of it. Job was lamenting and longing for the months gone by in which, in verse 2, he states "when God's intimate friendship blessed my house"

The Hebrew word for friendship is COWD, which means "the company of a person-intimacy" and it comes from a root word meaning "be alert and sleepless-on the watchout".

I'm sure we've all had friendships in which we feel completely safe and can be vulnerable, but there is no friendship that creates safety and comfort like that of God's intimate friendship. As the man of my house I desire to bring my family the enjoyment of the days in which "God watches over me, his lamp shining on my head and by his light we walk through darkness! When God's intimate friendship blesses my house and the Almighty is with me and my children are all around me." Job 29:2-5

So WHOever you are out there in Whoville, begin to experience God's intimate friendship which will bless your house.

Apostle Paul and Piers Morgan

So, we watched the finale of Celebrity Apprentice that we had DVR'd tonight after getting home from hiking at Starved Rock state park in the "sprawling metropolis" of Utica, Illinois. Very cool history. There was a war going on between two indian tribes, one tribe went to the highest point on the river but were victims of a siege by the other tribe and some of their allies until they all starved to death. Anyway, a lot of anaologies there but that will have to be for another blog at another time.


Back to Celebrity Apprentice. Several observations. One it's a bummer that Trump had to choose Piers over Trace Adkins, but Piers did do a better job raising money. Two, Omarosa is as classless as I thought. Three, if I ever had any respect for the Backstreet Boys (I didn't in case you were wondering) it is all gone now after their requests for Wheat Grass Juice and black nail polish. Four, it's a shame Trump is only donating 250k to the charities as he is worth billions. But, most importantly, the observation that stood out to me the most is the reason Piers was able to win Celebrity Apprentice. He is renowned for his "deep roladex". In contacting celebrities for charity events, he was able to call on people such as: The Osbournes, Simon Cowell, The Dutchess of York and "Lord" Andrew Lloyd Webber of Phantom of The Opera fame. In watching this I realized that it wasn't a matter of merely having these peoples phone numbers stored in his I-phone, but of cultivating a relationship with these people over the course of many years. My first inclination was to feel as though I was missing out on many benefits of keeping up with my contacts that I meet on a daily basis, many of whom are quite influential and affluent. This was merely a selfish thought as I was thinking of how those relationships could benefit me in the future. I then realized that this is what the Apostle Paul did. Only he did it in a day and age without email, cell phones, faxes or even a reliable Postal Service. Paul intentionally cultivated his relationships in order to continually speak life into these people. I have been convicted to begin doing this as well, to keep up with the people I continually come into contact with for the purpose of creating a window of opportunity at some point in the future that God can use me to speak life into them.

So, I hope to begin "deepening my rolodex" in the future and create a network of people who God may use me to bring life to. Pray for me in this endeavor.

1st graders, farts and bloody butts

So...I volunteered to help in The Great Adventure kids program at our church THE CHAPEL...wow, that's not my calling. It's a great kids program and it is very interactive and is fast paced to keep the kids attention. However, I had first grade boys and nothing keeps their attention. The story of course was the resurrection of Christ and after a short cartoon, we were to discuss, in our small group some of the things that ocurred. Well, immediately a hand went up to inform me that "someone did a fart over here" which of course sent the kids laughing and pointing at each other. Then, when I asked what happened to the guards at the tomb, I thought we were making progress when one little boy answered..."There was a big flash of light, like lightning, and it hurt the guards eyes and scared them, so they passed out." However, he went on to explain that the guards fell and hit their heads on rocks, so "blood came pouring out of their butts"??!!???!!???!!???!??? I don't remember that ever being in the Bible and I don't think a knock on the head could possibly cause that bodily reaction and I'm more than a little disturbed that this kid had a bit of a fixation on blood and farts!! And more than once I wanted to shout BUHLUD NOT FUNNYYYYY!!!



It was quite an interesting night. I confiscated a hat, pokemon cards, a game stop gift card, had to stop a boy from sitting in front of the smaller kids to block their view, had two boys doing a push up contest in the middle of the lesson, one kid jumping on others, one taking his shoes off and sticking his feet on another kids nose, two kids pulling up the carpet and someone "doing a fart over here." Wow, I think I'll stick with older people from now on. More power to those of you like my brother Seth who are childrens pastors cause it takes a special grace.

Sportin a "Porn"stache

So, me and a couple guys at work filled out our NCAA brackets and since we're all family men with kids to support and the sole income of our households, we decided we didn't need to put any money on the table. So...we decided that the last place person would have to sport a full on moustache for an entire week at work. The second place person would have to sport the "chin only" beard for a week as well. Of course, the winner can just laugh at everyone else. Currently, I am in second place due to Xavier pulling it out over Georgia and busting my bracket up a bit. So, if it ended now, I would be sporting the chin beard, so I decided to post this pic of when I once rocked it out before. So, what do you think?

So, this is the beginning stages and the next picture was mid stage. It got to the point that I could braid it into two different braids but I couldn't find a "full grown" picture.
So, what do you think? Even if I win the bet should I keep growing the chin?

What would you do?

So, as a Financial Advisor, I have to learn about my client's goals and passions in order to understand what emotions are driving the decisions they make regarding their finances. It also helps when we are in tumultuous times like this to know what their passions and goals are to avoid making irrational "knee jerk" reactions. I usually just simply ask what they want reirement to look like etc. I've been trying to find ways to ask this question in a manner that demands a more creative answer. One of these questions would be: "If you had enough money to take care of all of your needs for the rest of your life, how would you live differently than you are now?" This not only defines our financial goals but reveals the truly important things in our lives. Helps us define and discover God's calling on our lives. "...I will give you the desires of your heart." He placed the desires in us and we honor Him by discovering those desires and beginning to long for them.

Curious to know some of your thoughts on this question. Think about it and leave a comment letting me know how you would live differently.

I know my answer is that I would spend a lot more time at home with my wife and kids, working only just enough to afford a lot of exotic travel, and I would be able to spend more time planning social projects/mission projects with my kids. Working with homeless, helping children etc. We would also probably pursue adoption with a little more fervor and urgency.

Let me know what your heart says.

Legend, John

So, I'm a big music lover. Music of all kinds: Country, blues, easy listening, classic rock, swing, jazz, oldies, folk, rap, hip hop, bluegrass, classical, gospel, worship and even old hymns. My most recent purchase is John Legend-Get Lifted. I really enjoy his voice, piano, hip-hop fusion and the gospel influences you can hear in his songs. The most popular track and one of my favorites is called Ordinary People in which he chronicles the ups and downs of his relationship and the promise to stick together through all the ups and downs. However, the chorus bugs me. "We're just ordinary people/ We don't know which way to go/ Cuz we're ordinary people/ Maybe we should take it slow/ Take it slow...This time we'll take it slow."

It seems to me, that husbands and fathers should be able to remedy the problem presented in this chorus. That is, assuming they are AUTHENTIC MEN of God. An AUTHENTIC MAN knows that He is not ordinary because he has been called to a Higher purpose by his God. He will know which way to go because he listens closely to his God for the direction of his family. He has a specific plan in place in which to lead his family and he has a vision for his family. A 150 year vision that looks beyond his lifetime and the lifetime of his children, to the LEGEND or legacy that he will leave behind. When a man is being a man there is no insecurity or lack of direction in his family, it is only when a man abdicates his responsiblity that families feel like ordinary people who don't know which way therefore have to take it slow. In fact, God once punished Jerusalem and Judah by removing from them all the men of valor.

Isaiah 3:1-12

1The mighty LORD All-Powerful
is going to take away
from Jerusalem and Judah
everything you need--
your bread and water,
2soldiers and heroes,
judges and prophets,
leaders and army officers,
3officials and advisors,
fortunetellers
and others
who tell the future.
4He will let children and babies [a] become your rulers.
5You will each be cruel
to friends and neighbors.
Young people will insult
their elders;
no one will show respect
to those who deserve it...
8Jerusalem and Judah,
you rebelled against
your glorious LORD--
your words and your actions,
made you stumble and fall....
You are in for trouble,
and you have brought it all
on yourselves....
12Though you are God's people,
you are ruled and abused
by women and children.
You are confused by leaders
who guide you
down the wrong path."

The question I have to constantly ask myself is..."am I allowing my family to be blessed or cursed due to my absence or presence." I want to be sure that my family is never without the soldier, hero and prophet I have been called to be.

So, when it comes to Legend. Will it be John Legend or the Legend of the Goodson legacy? Will it be John Legend or the Legend of your family? Come on guys, be a man.

Long time no blog

Just felt the need for a little transition as I haven't blogged in quite some time. My nephew Gideon,passed away after a little over a month of blessing us with his presence and incredible example of a warrior's heart. That was obviously a difficult time for our family and we appreciate the prayers and support of all who were involved in doing this. His celebration/memorial service was moving and touching with well over 100 people there to celebrate the life of this little warrior. Since then Seth and Tarah had my niece Jericho (Jerry Curl) Joy Goodson and she is quite a cutie, seen here with my kiddos. Also, my other brother Khane and his wife Elisabeth have just found out they are pregnant with their first.

We have seen a long history of Satan's attack on the first born of our families. There were complications with my birth and then quite an attack on my life from age 9/10 until about 12 when I was being pulled away from God in some rather drastic measures relative to my age. Then, my oldest son was born with a spinal disorder which my wife has chronicled in one of her blogs lypoma which could have created much more drastic disabilities for him than he has already experienced, we now pray for him to remain strong and untouched in his emotions as he deals with difficult side results of his disablity. Then, Seth and Tarah had a miscarriage of their first child and experienced the death of their second. Please agree with us that there will be no way the 150 year legacy of Goodson's can be hindered by the attack on our children and pray for protection of Khane and Elisabeth's child and all the Goodson clan still to come. Quite reminiscent of the attacks on the firstborn children when Moses was targetted and later Jesus.

So, now that you are caught up, I do intend to be a little more frequent with my blogs than once every couple years. There will be random thoughts, funny thoughts, scriptural insights, challenges to be a man and who knows what else. Would love some feedback and comments ocassionally. This blog is primarily intended to be something that my children can read one day along with my Bible study/prayer journals and help feed the flame of intentional legacy creation within them.

good news bad news gonna be good news

Good news, we are in our house. We moved on Thanksgiving day into the house. We are loving it but are now trying to get rid of boxes. It is a 5 bedroom 2 bath 2700 square foot home with a ton of character. It had hardwood floors covered with carpet so i pulled the carpet from the formal living room and dining room and used the carpet to piece together in the basement/den for a little more warmth. 9 foot ceilings all throughout, crown molding, fireplace, big kitchen, plaster walls, beautiful oak doors. It is a real blessing that we were able to move in. We are now waiting for estimates on chimney work, roof work and a fence to be built. If you know anyone in the Chicago area, please recommend them.

Bad news, my little brother and his wife had their baby premature at 26 weeks and there are a lot of complications. He wasn't expected to make it through last night but did. There was only a 3-5% chance of his survival after a minor surgery was done to determine the source of swelling in his abdomen. Currently the specific prayer requests are that there will be no more brain bleeding, that his kidneys continue to have restored function, that the infection which has found it's way into his blood stream will go away and that he will be fully restored to health.

Gonna be good news, there are literally thousands of people across the world praying for him and we are excited to see the testimony God is going to bring out of this situation. He is named Gideon Uriah and Gideon means "mighty warrior" If you are familiar with the story of Gideon in the Bible you will understand that the victory Gideon led the Israelites to was so against the odds that recognition could only go to God. Little Gideon Uriah Goodson is in a situation that is hopeless in our eyes and the healing that he will receive will be so against the odds that the recognition can only go to God. I have been passing on emails to my little brother that people have been sending so if you have a word of encouragement or prayer, please send it to me at goodsonfam@hotmail.com so I can forward it on to he and his wife in New York state for their encouragement.

house news

Things are looking good on the house. They accepted our offer then after the inspection they agreed to our request to have money credited back at closing to do a minor roof repair in one spot as well as repair some brick work on the chimney and have it cleaned. The closing is set for Nov. 17th so the only remaining piece is the details of the financing. Looks good so far so we are beginning to get excited and looking for boxes.

house updates

Looks like we have a house. It is the house we wanted but didn't think we could get up here. It is a old house with a lot of character and is built really well. It is a five bedroom two bath house with a full basement. The seller has accepted our offer and we are approved on the financing. All that is left now is determining and coming up with the closing costs. We are excited about moving in and celebrating christmas in the new house.

what a great sports weekend. The Sox win game one and are working on game two as we speak. BIG NEWS, Alabama beats hated Tennessee to stay undefeated. The Bears beat the Ravens, great sports weekend. We also just got back from Medieval Times and that was a lot of fun. A little pricey but worth it for a good evening. We went and looked at all the swords and horses. We also paid a little extra for my oldest son who is celebrating his sixth birthday, to be knighted. They called him out in front of everyone and he kneeled before the king and wore a red cloak as the king knighted him then posed with the king and his hand on the sword for a picture that they framed and gave us. We then went in and watched the show, with sword fights and jousting and amazing horsemanship. We also were served a 4 course meal that you have to eat with your hands. It was an amazing two hour show. We decided that all of the boys cousins would have a great time and need to come up here sometime and go to the show. We will also have a pizza party at pizza hut in our town on saturday night for all of his friends

We are still looking for houses and my tenant in Alabama is serious about buying our house which would be a big financial blessing for us. Also, my wife has been doing very well this week and shown no signs of bad symptoms so we are hoping and praying that the blood clot has dissipated. We see the doctor Tuesday for another ultrasound.

Enough for tonight.

good weekend

what a great sports weekend. The Sox win game one and are working on game two as we speak. BIG NEWS, Alabama beats hated Tennessee to stay undefeated. The Bears beat the Ravens, great sports weekend. We also just got back from Medieval Times and that was a lot of fun. A little pricey but worth it for a good evening. We went and looked at all the swords and horses. We also paid a little extra for my oldest son who is celebrating his sixth birthday, to be knighted. They called him out in front of everyone and he kneeled before the king and wore a red cloak as the king knighted him then posed with the king and his hand on the sword for a picture that they framed and gave us. We then went in and watched the show, with sword fights and jousting and amazing horsemanship. We also were served a 4 course meal that you have to eat with your hands. It was an amazing two hour show. We decided that all of the boys cousins would have a great time and need to come up here sometime and go to the show. We will also have a pizza party at pizza hut in our town on saturday night for all of his friends

We are still looking for houses and my tenant in Alabama is serious about buying our house which would be a big financial blessing for us. Also, my wife has been doing very well this week and shown no signs of bad symptoms so we are hoping and praying that the blood clot has dissipated. We see the doctor Tuesday for another ultrasound.

Enough for tonight.

house

This house thing is driving us crazy. We got our pre-approval and had a pretty good offer on a house but got beat out by a cash offer. Oh well, the house we are meant to have had better be a good one after losing out on three. Also, our renter in our house in Alabama has offered to buy our house from us. Not sure if we are ready to sell yet, but on the other hand, the cash would be nice and i wouldn't have to worry about the monthly rent being on time and making all the small repairs. Oh well, interested to see what happens.

I'm Back

Sorry for the long delay, life has been taking us the full 12 rounds. My wife is still on bed rest, going on one month. The subchoreonic Hematoma is about 1.5 cm which isn't small but isn't large either. The doctors aren't too concerned but there is an element of worry that the hematoma could enlargen which would endanger the baby.

We are still looking for a house and have jumped through hoops to get preapproval for a mortgage and are now waiting to hear back regarding the offer we submitted to a seller. We are asking them to pay the downpayment which limits our negotiating room.

My oldest son is doing much better with his spina bifida related issues at school. With the aid of a daily suppository, he has gone one full week now without any accidents at school. He even wore underwear instead of a pull up one day last week without us knowing it.

The big news for the week is that my oldest son just turned 6 today!!!!!! Freaky that he is that old already and I just got there college investment plans started. He and I woke up early this morning and went to McDonald for his daddy/son birthday breakfast that my dad used to have with me. He then got to choose the class snack so he took 25 individual chocolate puddings to school. He got to sit in a special birthday chair and hold the birthday teddy bear at school today. He also wore a crown and had the class sing to him. This afternoon I picked him up to school instead of him riding the bus. I picked him up on my motorcycle and all the kids oohed and ahhed. When I pulled up, one of the safety patrol kids yelled "who's dad has the cool motorcycle?" When he walked up, they all started saying, "wow, a kindergartner gets to ride home on the motorcycle just because it's his birthday" It was nice weather so we rode around the lake a bit. When we got home we played "butts up" with the tennis ball outside and went exploring in the woods. After dinner we had cake and let him open his GI Joe he's been wanting. On the 29th we will have a pizza party at pizza hut with all his friends, but this Sunday he gets to go to Medieval Times with the family. He's pretty excited.

Will try to stay on top of things now, would appreciate your prayers for my wife and the house situation.

Yes Matt

Yes Matt, it is me, would love to hear from you. Why don't you shoot a email to my junkmail account at goodsonfam@hotmail.com and I'll get in touch with you.

sorry

sorry it's been so long since my last post. It has been a very eventful week so I will have much to share with my next blog, stay posted