Once upon a time in my life I had a job I hated. We can all relate I am sure. One of the functions of this job was to run the errands for the office. My official title was Office Manager. My actual title could have been Office Gopher. So, I made a point to run my errands in such a way that I got to go by places or see things that gave me hope. One day I inadvertently found an oasis.

I was trying to get to a Bank of America branch. I had a large amount of coins that I had to deposit for the business owner (So he could put them in his granddaughter’s savings account. It had nothing to do with the business). The drive through would not take the large coin bag and I had to go to the nearest walk in branch. It is in a downtown office building that is made of glass. Inside the building are several businesses spread over 10 stories of building. The first floor of the building has a large water feature. When you walk in the building it is the first and loudest thing you hear. It was like white noise blocking out the frustration I felt inside. There is a cafe across from the water feature. I didn’t care if it took me an extra 20 minutes to get back to work. I bought a cup of coffee and sat and listened to the water. It was a healing place.

The office I worked in was one the most unprofessional places you could imagine. From the barrage of foul language to the owner’s love of smoking cigars in an open office, I could not see any hope some days. My self worth was plummeting. Somthing changed inside when I found the oasis. I was reminded that there was a much bigger world. One that was professional (and didn’t smell bad). Every time I went I watched the people around me. They were sharply dressed. They looked like they had a purpose about them. It was an amazing encouragement. I started to believe that I could be like that.

Do you have an oasis? Is there a place you go to gain perspective? Does it help you find focus?

I went back a couple of days ago. It had been a while. I am since in a job where I feel like those people I described before. I have worked hard. I have gained respect. I feel like the work I do matters. I needed the oasis for a different reason this time. I have dreams and goals I am working towards now. Personal and professional. Life gets so busy sometimes it is hard to find a quiet moment to think. So, I went back. The oasis I needed was still there, even though I needed it for a different reason. After a few minutes listening to the water and surrounded by the people the thoughts began to flow.

If you feel stuck, I encourage you to find your own oasis. Even if it is just 40 minutes in the middle of an average day, it will do wonders for your soul.

I found this out the hard way the other day. I already knew it, but I got a fresh reminder all the same. We are potty training our son. He gladly gets up to do his thing, but usually wants to play one of his favorite applications on one of our iPhones when he does. I guess he was sitting different this time. One second he was playing his Grover game (of Sesame Street fame) and the next my phone was dropped into the toilet.

I was standing in with him when this happened. Thankfully. I had the phone out in a couple of seconds and then…the screen went black. I was certain the phone was ruined. I went from zero to frustrated in as long as it took to drop the iPhone in the water. (Note, I was not frustrated with my son over this. He is two and he had no intentions of doing what he did. Complete accident.) My frustration came from the fact that replacing an iPhone that is under contract before the renewal is an expensive ordeal…especially if the iPhone is out of warranty. (Water voids the warranty regardless, but if it is still within the warranty time the Apple Store Genius Bar will replace the iPhone 3G for $200.) My phone was out of warranty. This was not going to be cheap.

It is sad to say that I am as addicted to my smart phone as I am. I realized over the next day that I spend way too much time on the thing. I use it for valid reasons, but my emotions were too tied up with it. So much so that I was considering laying the money down for a new phone that afternoon. I went to the AT&T store. I asked for the early upgrade prices for the new iPhone 4 (I have the 3GS.) I swallowed my tongue when told the price. After recovering I asked the price on an upgrade to another 3GS. I fought back swallowing it again. The cheapest I was going to get out was $300 and that was for a smaller sized model. In the back of my mind I had the thought, “man, I never knew potty training would be this expensive.” I asked the associate if the phones were in stock. He said no and that it would take 5-7 days to receive a new phone.

Again, I am way too plugged into the stream of information. My mind went numb to the idea of having to spend 5 days without my iPhone. (Oh, the horror!) To my credit, I thanked him and walked out….and went straight to Best Buy to see if they had any in stock. Same deal. They did not. Thankfully.

An hour had passed since the phone dropped in the water. I had been able to get it back up to a degree (not recommended, I was a moron for trying to turn it back on with water still in it), but it was doing very funny things and the water damage sensor was on in the upper left corner of the phone. I turned it back off and started thinking. I had an old spare cell phone at the house. It is not like I wouldn’t have a phone. I started to calm. Then, I did something else that should have come to my mind much sooner. I prayed. It seemed silly, but I know God loves me. So, I asked Him to fix my phone. I turned the power on again and it powered up. The screen had some lines going through it, but it wasn’t black anymore. Progress is progress.

Again, I have fried an iPhone in the water before. If you get water on the motherboard they can go out in a flash and never come back. There seemed to be some hope and I had found some peace, so I got home, pulled the sim card, and threw it in a bag of rice. A day later the phone worked without a hitch. God had answered my prayer. I am left on the other side with a few lessons to ponder.

When do I need to use my smart phone? Why do I need to use it? Why did I feel the angst deep inside for not having it with me? My wife gave me a hug and a good reminder…”It is just stuff,” she said. “It will be all right.” She was right. It was not worth getting as upset over it as I did. It was replaceable. Not cheap, but replaceable. It was nice to have something drastic to help me put this issue back into a healthy perspective.

I watched Meet the Robinsons for the umpteenth time this evening. It is a great Walt Disney movie for kids. My son loves it. I really enjoy it as well. There was a quote at the very end of the movie from Walt Disney himself that is too good not to share:

Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

If you have a dream, keep moving forward. Learn from the failures, but don’t focus on them for long. Success is waiting to be found.

I have only been to Utah once. It was during the week of the playoff matchup between the Bulls and the Jazz in the summer of 1998. I had never seen the mountains like I saw them there near Salt Lake City. They were enormous. They were beautiful. It definitely made me feel small.

Those mountains are not even big by comparison with many others in the US. That same summer I went to Colorado and was with a group that drove up Pikes Peak. Oy. I don’t think I realized that it could be 90 degrees at the bottom of the mountain and in the 30 degree range at the top. So, needless to say, I didn’t get out of the van for long. The elevation also got to me and I fell asleep. That was a big mountain. I almost thought we were going to crash on the way down from that one. The driver smoked the brakes for all they were worth!

I remember those mountains well. They were big and I am small. This is how the problems of life feel to me sometimes. They are so big. So formidable. So unscaleable. Or so it seems. They overwhelm me at times and it is all I can do to stand, let alone fight and climb.

Then, I get a fresh reminder of reality at church this morning at Lifechurch.tv. Pastor Craig Groeshel has been speaking on Toxic things in our lives. This morning was about Toxic words. Words have the power of life and they have the power of death. It just depends on how they are used. The old saying is not true. Sticks and stones will break your bones…and words can hurt even worse. Here are the words that got me:

I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Mark 11:23

My God is bigger than the mountains. The problems may be big, but my God is bigger. This God lives in my heart. How often do I forget that? So, I can move forward with confidence. I will pray with my legs. I will pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on me. I will trust the words God has spoken that He wants good for me and not evil. I choose to believe.

Mountain, it is time for you to move.

Why is it that the simple things of this life are so hard to grasp sometimes? I was listening to Zig Ziglar a couple of days ago and he asked the question, “How can you hit a target you can’t see?” He then asked a deeper question. “How can you hit a target you don’t even have?” The simple thing that has been hard to grasp? I need to have a plan. Not just in my head. I need to keep it in front of me where I can see it. Where I can’t ignore it. How do I expect to get anywhere without it?

“Without a plan, you cannot beat your competition.” Fran Tarkenton The truth is, without a plan, you can’t do much at all.

I was riding my motorcycle back from work today and had this thought, ‘ What if I planned my monthly budget out six months in advance?’ I about fell of my bike because of the simplicity and the profoundness of this thought. We are so programmed to live for today aren’t we? Do you see this in your own life? I know I see it in mine.

I wonder if that is why many people settle for living from paycheck to paycheck? Is it they don’t know how to make a plan for their money? Why do so many people say they want to start a business and never do? They fail to plan. If we don’t know what we are going to be doing tomorrow, how on earth could we be successful in business where you have to forecast sales and schedule clients?

So, I am making a commitment to myself right now. I am going to make a solid plan for the next 4 1/2 months. I am going to use the fire out of my outlook and my iPhone calendar. I have the eerie feeling that this simple paradigm shift will cause a firestorm of productivity that I have never known.

On a side note, I read this blog post by Michael Hyatt today about To-Do lists. Check it out.