It’s been a fun week having family in town from Houston. Overall, I think they had a pretty good time while they were here. They went to a few places for the kids and even got to do some things for the adults. I took my Brother-In-Law, Gary, fishing close to 6 times this week. It was lots of fun.
As always, having family come to town is great, but there’s always that thought in the back of your mind that’s saying, “It’s going by way too fast!” It usually does too.
It’s especially true for me. Aside from the Pea Ridge Fire Department and my church (Because I don’t get to see them very often), I don’t really have many friends up here. I never really thought about it until this morning when I told Gary good bye and to drive safe. When he left, I almost felt alone. He’s the one guy I get to hang out with who never asks for a thing. Don’t get me wrong, Gary can be rather grouchy at times, but I still consider him a really good friend in addition to being family. I can tell you this though, if it weren’t for my wife and kids, I’d be spending lots of time alone.
Why does this even matter? I don’t know. It probably doesn’t matter at all, but it’s something I’ve noticed. I have no one to hang out with every once in awhile. No one to go fishing with when Gary’s not here. I do have to admit that my wife and kids like to go fishing. Amber LOVES to go fishing! In fact, we’re going again tonight! Yippee!
I have other family up here. I have 2 more brother-in-laws, but they both hate me… Why? Well, I bought one of them a used car when he first moved up here and gave him a job working for me. I was going to leave him on a job once and he asked me to pay him in advance. Like an idiot, I did. He left and never finished the job. He also kept the money. He claimed it was too much work and he wasn’t getting paid enough… The other one doesn’t like me because I gave him a job working for me, let him use my trailer, paid for an ad in the phone book and pushed him to start his own business…
I know what you’re thinking… I’m making it sound like I did all these nice things for them and I’m keeping track. Not true! It’s just that when you do nice things for people, you don’t expect them to treat you like dirt all the time. Like you’ve done something wrong towards them. That’s the case with me. Incidentally, one of them still owes me money. He avoids me like the plague now. He has the money to pay me, he’s just avoiding doing so for some reason.
My family might be bad about not paying me the money they owe, but I’ve got people I thought were my friends in the church that owe me too. That hurts more than anything to be honest with you. I thought because they were Christian family, it would all work out. I’ve done 4 jobs for the same guy. He owes me a lot of money. I guess it’s not the fact that he owes me money, it’s that he hasn’t even made an attempt to pay me anything. We’ve been out of work for almost 2 months straight. Money’s tight and we could use a financial injection. One of these jobs was done almost a year ago too! Our families were quite close at one point, but we seem to have fallen off the radar lately. Mostly because of me. I want to be friends with him, but the only time he calls anymore is when he wants something. It’s never a call to just say “Hi”, or “How’s it going?”. It’s always a call of need… and I always answer!
I guess I’ve said enough. Probably more than I should have. Let me just make a couple of quick points though.
Point 1: I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I learned a long time ago to be thankful for what you have, and I’m extremely thankful! God has blessed my family and I enormously! I give God ALL the glory and praise for what He’s done in our lives. If I had to live with only the company of my wife for the rest of my life, I’d be perfectly happy with that. She’s my soul mate with whom I would be more than willing to die for! Friends are just the bonus in life that my heart desires.
Point 2: As much as it hurts when I don’t get paid, I will continue to do the things I’ve always done. My character is to help. I will always help people when they need it, but I run a business, so it’s natural to want to get paid when you’ve completed your job(s).
Point 3: I will rely 100% on God to meet our needs financially. He has never failed us and never will. As long as I have my wife and kids, everything will work out for the best. It may not be the way we want it to work out, but nonetheless, it does in fact work out!
Aug
08
Family and Friends
It’s been a fun week having family in town from Houston. Overall, I think they had a pretty good time while they were here. They went to a few places for the kids and even got to do some things for the adults. I took my Brother-In-Law, Gary, fishing close to 6 times this week. It was lots of fun.
As always, having family come to town is great, but there’s always that thought in the back of your mind that’s saying, “It’s going by way too fast!” It usually does too.
It’s especially true for me. Aside from the Pea Ridge Fire Department and my church (Because I don’t get to see them very often), I don’t really have many friends up here. I never really thought about it until this morning when I told Gary good bye and to drive safe. When he left, I almost felt alone. He’s the one guy I get to hang out with who never asks for a thing. Don’t get me wrong, Gary can be rather grouchy at times, but I still consider him a really good friend in addition to being family. I can tell you this though, if it weren’t for my wife and kids, I’d be spending lots of time alone.
Why does this even matter? I don’t know. It probably doesn’t matter at all, but it’s something I’ve noticed. I have no one to hang out with every once in awhile. No one to go fishing with when Gary’s not here. I do have to admit that my wife and kids like to go fishing. Amber LOVES to go fishing! In fact, we’re going again tonight! Yippee!
I have other family up here. I have 2 more brother-in-laws, but they both hate me… Why? Well, I bought one of them a used car when he first moved up here and gave him a job working for me. I was going to leave him on a job once and he asked me to pay him in advance. Like an idiot, I did. He left and never finished the job. He also kept the money. He claimed it was too much work and he wasn’t getting paid enough… The other one doesn’t like me because I gave him a job working for me, let him use my trailer, paid for an ad in the phone book and pushed him to start his own business…
I know what you’re thinking… I’m making it sound like I did all these nice things for them and I’m keeping track. Not true! It’s just that when you do nice things for people, you don’t expect them to treat you like dirt all the time. Like you’ve done something wrong towards them. That’s the case with me. Incidentally, one of them still owes me money. He avoids me like the plague now. He has the money to pay me, he’s just avoiding doing so for some reason.
My family might be bad about not paying me the money they owe, but I’ve got people I thought were my friends in the church that owe me too. That hurts more than anything to be honest with you. I thought because they were Christian family, it would all work out. I’ve done 4 jobs for the same guy. He owes me a lot of money. I guess it’s not the fact that he owes me money, it’s that he hasn’t even made an attempt to pay me anything. We’ve been out of work for almost 2 months straight. Money’s tight and we could use a financial injection. One of these jobs was done almost a year ago too! Our families were quite close at one point, but we seem to have fallen off the radar lately. Mostly because of me. I want to be friends with him, but the only time he calls anymore is when he wants something. It’s never a call to just say “Hi”, or “How’s it going?”. It’s always a call of need… and I always answer!
I guess I’ve said enough. Probably more than I should have. Let me just make a couple of quick points though.
Point 1: I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I learned a long time ago to be thankful for what you have, and I’m extremely thankful! God has blessed my family and I enormously! I give God ALL the glory and praise for what He’s done in our lives. If I had to live with only the company of my wife for the rest of my life, I’d be perfectly happy with that. She’s my soul mate with whom I would be more than willing to die for! Friends are just the bonus in life that my heart desires.
Point 2: As much as it hurts when I don’t get paid, I will continue to do the things I’ve always done. My character is to help. I will always help people when they need it, but I run a business, so it’s natural to want to get paid when you’ve completed your job(s).
Point 3: I will rely 100% on God to meet our needs financially. He has never failed us and never will. As long as I have my wife and kids, everything will work out for the best. It may not be the way we want it to work out, but nonetheless, it does in fact work out!