It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is married by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms , the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows that in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.                                                      Theodore Roosevelt

I love being in the arena, it's where God has me. And I love being there with our team at ATB and the rehabs and sober living facilities who are also in that same arena with us.  In the addiction recovery arena it is an extremely dysfunctional place to begin with.  It is often kindergarten on steroids dealing with folks that have failed to master basic living skills and are constantly in need of finding hope.

All of us together are imperfect but in the perfect place to make a difference and show people the way to live and find that hope. Whether people love us or hate us collectively, we have saved thousands of lives and turned them toward heaven. If you think about it, it's what Jesus did, and he too, being in the arena, was often criticized for his methods.

This blog is not aimed at anyone in particular except at the modern day Pharisees who have failed to grasp the Biblical concept that "love covers over a multitude of sins". So all of us in this arena will continue to help and love on you, your sons and daughters, despite our imperfections by pointing them to the one who is perfect.

As the theme from the successful series of Wide World of Sports said, we experience ​the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. One thing we, or our partners will never do is throw in the towel and quit!

Happy New Year, may God bless you always!

He's making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice, Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. Oh you better watch out....."

After reaching adulthood and reading these lyrics does it seem encouraging to our young children or rather threatening? Or is it just a "kids song" and we act jolly and bright when we sing it? I think it's actually a pre-cursor to the Santa Clause. That's right, the planting of a seed when we are young that naughty is always punished and nice is always rewarded. It may be a kids song but is it real life?

The strangest thing I have seen God do in my own life is reward me even after I have done something "naughty", and it's happened several times and literally shocked me. It's also shocked me into being "nice" because of the way that reward showed me how much He loves me. My Mom was also like that.

Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

What I learned is that in my faith walk I will screw up somewhere, but God looks at the overall picture of me and says that guy is following me, and that in that walk I am earnestly trying to seek him even when I go off the rails a bit. Not excuses, just examples like Peter and even Abraham who did some really knucklehead things on his way to becoming the father of all the nations. Read Romans 4:18-21 and tell me what you think. Did he lose either his faith or promise of gifts from God just because of bad decisions? Simple answer, no!

Bottom line, God certainly cares if we are naughty or nice, but he's not looking over our shoulders cancelling us out for our mistakes every day when he knows that our heart has turned to him. Though for many years through many kids and grandchildren I sang this song, I think I will replace it with the Jesus Clause:

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so! (you know the rest)