I am thankful for the rain.

~ David Willis ~ 6 Comments

I woke this morning to the sound of thunder. I almost didn’t know what it was. It has been a few months since it has rained in this part of Oklahoma. It has been dry and dusty for weeks. So, I lay there in bed listening to the rain come down. It was a peaceful moment.

Aside from enjoying the sound, I am thankful it rained because my yard and my garden needed it. It amazes me how differently things grow when they are watered by rain water. I can water my yard and it greens up a little. It can rain and the whole yard explodes into life. We also noticed last year that our tomato plants responded really well to the rain. It left everything outside my house looking clean and fresh.

Though I know that the rain is a good thing (or can be), why do I almost always think of it in a bad way? I am usually frustrated when it rains. There is something I wanted to do that the rain has interfered with. Or, the electricity goes out in the house because of a lightning strike (not fond of this one) and we are left in the dark for a while. Despite all of the good things that the rain brings, we focus on the inconveniences or troubles.

Maybe this is why we call the hard times in life the storms. We all face times of life when it feels like the wind is howling around us. Thunder and lightning are crashing from all sides. The water is pouring down, cold and hard. We feel battered and are in desperate need of shelter. Anyone who has ever been caught out in an Oklahoma thunder storm knows exactly why this metaphor is used. The storms are hard, but many times good comes from them.

Have you ever had a storm in your life that caused you to reevaluate the way you did things? I have had many. Cancer, financial hardship, and lost friendships just to name a few. After these storms blew over I had a different perspective on things. Many things that I thought were important no longer were and that is OK. I needed the priority change. The storms left some wreckage, but they also washed a lot of things clean. There was a chance to start over at the storm’s end. The yard had been watered, so to speak.

I try to keep this perspective when it rains (in life and for real). I welcomed the rain today because the ground needed it very much. I welcome the rain in my life because it helps shape my character. I may not always like it when it is going on, but I know that it serves a purpose. Even if I can’t see it immediately.

She’s got nothing on you

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Hang out with me for long enough and there are a few things you will pick up on: I love my wife and son like crazy, I enjoying cooking very much, I talk to myself in funny accents (I can do more than 10), and…I am crazy about my wife. There are other things that make me me, but two of these four really define me.

I was listening to the radio today and a song came on that I haven’t heard before. The chorus said something like this: ‘beautiful girls all over the world I could be chasing, but my time I’d be wasting cause they got nothing on you.’ I had to sit back and smile. I feel that way about Marixa. She is the one for me. There is no other.

Strangely enough, the song reminded me of a verse from Proverbs 31:29 that I had just read not too long ago: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!” (NLT). Loosely translated: they got nothing on you.

I can think of many reasons why I feel like Marixa has surpassed all the others. She is a beautiful woman. She is a wonderful mother. She is the best friend I have ever known. She is brilliant. She is so very creative. She is compassionate. All of these reasons are good ones, but they are not the reason I can say with confidence that she has surpassed all the other women in the world in my eyes. What is my reason? She is my wife.

There is no one in this world that is like her for many reasons, but this is the one that I want to address. I fell in love with Marixa. I asked her to marry me. In front of our God and our family and friends I pledged to love her and cherish her above all others for all of my life. I chose her. I choose her still. She surpasses all the other women in this world because she is my wife. She is the one I made a covenant to love and cherish.

There will never be another. There is no need. I already made my choice. They have nothing on her. Does this ring true in your marriage? It is my prayer that you can say the same thing about the woman who wears your ring.

Now that is Weird.

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

For the past few weeks at church we have been involved in a series called Weird: Because normal isn’t working. Our pastor, Craig Groeshel (LifeChurch.TV), has been challenging the church to take a good look at what the world calls normal and urging us to be Weird in a good way. (In this context weird is a very good thing…keep reading). It has been an eye opening experience.

What is normal in America today? Normal is broke. Normal is fat. Normal is divorce. Normal is doing things because everyone else is doing them. Normal is depressed. Normal is stressed. Normal is without hope. Who wants to be normal? Not me.

We have been called by God to live differently than that. The key point that has been repeated over and over the past couple of weeks goes like this: If you want what normal people have do what normal people do. If you want what few people have do what few people do.

This is an issue that Marixa and I have become very passionate about over the last few months. (You can read her take on it here.) We have been evaluating what we do. Is it because it is the way it has always been done? Or because we have chosen to do it that way through thought and prayer? This relates to how we spend our money, how we treat our relationships, how we care for our bodies, and many other things.

I have a confession to make. I have been so normal in many areas of my life that it disgusts me. I have made some of the worst goofs with money that can be made, because it was normal. I have made some of the worst decisions with my health, because it is normal. I could go on for a while here. I have come to this conclusion: normal stinks.

Why do we fall into the rut of the normal? It is the path of least resistance. To be weird you have to work at it. You have to think about what you are doing. You have to walk a different path than those you disagree with. To be weird you have to do what few people do. That is the hard part. That is the rewarding part.

I am reading through Craig’s book of the same title. It is amazing how simple this stuff is and still so profound. Is your life overwhelmingly normal? Are you looking for something different? Want to be a little weird? Pick up the book and check out the sermon series at www.lifechurch.tv. 

She makes everything alright.

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Something happened this evening at my house that has not occurred in many moons: my son fell asleep before nine o’clock. He has been a ten thirty warrior of late. Even when we get him in bed at eight thirty he still doesn’t give up until then. So, Marixa and I took advantage of the time and talked…for over an hour. That is the good stuff.

It always takes a little bit to get into the deep conversation. You have to get through the ‘what happened today’, the ‘he did what to the dog?’, and any other thing that might distract. But, about 10 minutes into talking the pace gets steady and ideas and dreams start to come out. Real communication starts to happen. I love it when she and I get to do this.

How much time do you spend really talking with your spouse? Since we had Trey we haven’t had the opportunities like we used to. But, I will say this: talking with her has a way of making everything come back into focus. She has an in to my life that no one else does and I trust what she tells me. There are times I don’t like what she tells me, but I trust her and 99.9% of the time she is on the money.

This is one of the parts of marriage that I love the most. There is someone who loves me and has committed their life to spend walking beside me through all the stuff. We don’t have to go it on our own. We have each other. Whatever comes we face it together. The years keep passing by and I am more hooked on being married to Marixa. It just keeps getting better.

If it has been a while since the two of you have had a good long conversation, it is time to have one. Don’t put off connecting with your spouse any longer. Two is better than one. Much better.

It is worth far more than 20 bucks.

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Delivering pizzas was not my dream job, but it did help pay the bills when I was younger. I worked my 8-5 M-F and then 3-4 nights a week I would put in a few hours to help supplement my income. Dave Ramsey is right. It is a quick way to make a few extra bucks when you need them.

I was a few years older than most everyone who worked in the store (which shall remain nameless for this post). But, I tried my best to fit in and have conversations in the slower times.

I still remember one conversation between me and another driver as clear as day, and it has been over 6 years ago:

"How was your last run," I asked.

"It was fine. He didn’t tip worth a crap, but that don’t matter." The driver smirked as he said this.

"Why doesn’t it matter?" I didn’t like where this was headed.

"Guy paid me with a twenty. It was fresh and crisp. Dumb (word omitted) didn’t see that there was another one stuck to it. Serves him right for not paying attention." He laughed.

I went on to ask why he didn’t give it back. He told me that the customer (which he called a few more names) wouldn’t miss it. I was disgusted.

Obviously, he had no qualms about skinning the customer. I was not in a position to make the matter right. Had I said anything to management about it, it would have been his word against mine. (Had I been the manager I would have fired him on the spot.) So, I swallowed the issue and did my best to avoid that driver.

Isn’t integrity worth a bit more than 20 bucks? One would hope so. He had the opportunity to do the right thing. He chose not to. He could have made a faithful customer for the store, but he was just a driver and he didn’t care. What did it matter? Strangely enough, he was promoted to store manager a little while later. I had moved on by then. Had I been there, I am not sure I could have worked for him. If he couldn’t make the right decision with 20 bucks, how was he going to keep the store running? He was fired not too long after taking his managerial role.

I thought about all of this a few days ago when I was buying some office supplies at Staples. There was a sale on one item, 10 for 10 bucks. So we got 10 and with our other stuff we checked out and left the store. My wife looked over the receipt and told me she felt like we hadn’t spent enough (I don’t hear that one too often). Then she realized we had only been charged for one of the ten items. So, I took the item and the receipt and went back in and paid for the 9 others. The cashier thanked me with some surprise in her voice. I smiled and told her that I was glad to help.

It would have been easy to shrug my shoulders and drive away. I am glad those choices are easy. I don’t want to turn around one day and realize that I can’t be trusted because at one point I was willing to take 9 bucks from Staples.

It starts somewhere. If you can’t be trusted with a small amount, how can you ever expect to be trusted with a big one?