<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> <% Dim sActiveMenu sActiveMenu = "Blog" %> The Life and Times of Jon Graves
 

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Creative cleaning

Yes, this may be cheesy, but it served its purpose tonight. Welcome to Boys in the House, the Graves Boys' new reality TV show where two contestants and the show's producer are learning to live life cleaner.

And if you haven't yet seen what RJ, Jesse and I are trying to do at SingleDad.com, have a look at our Oprah segments... Can you imagine three single dads on Oprah? Lord, help us.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A Little Heart's Cry

As I waited outside the boys' tutoring center this evening watching their friends and former karate buddies spill out of the dojo, I couldn't help but lose heart for the boys. School has become their occupation, and homework their recreation. And I have to admit that I hate it.

So tonight we broke home policy and watched a movie on a school night. And after I tucked them in bed, I felt a tug at my heart to visit this blog again. Not knowing what to write or how to start, I thought of the boys and the quiet time they spent in the learning center as their friends left for home. And out came my first effort at poetry. Is that lame? I don't know. But as I read the end product, I couldn't help thinking about the boys and all they do to keep going each day. How wonderful it is to have hope in God...

Oh my troubled heart,
How do you go on as you do?
Urging yourself on each morn,
you fight and claw your way
through the day with the hope
God alone can provide.

Is that why you endure?
Is that why your beat remains constant?
Is it merely because you have hope from above,
or that you hold to the promise of
an everlasting and undying love?

I wonder where I'd be without you...
Could I face the trials of each day,
or smile the darkness away,
or laugh nearly as much as I do
without the beating heart that
carries me through.

But is it really you, or is it something more?
Don't take offense, but I believe it is...

For within you lives the Super Man,
the eternal Hope of all mankind.
It is He who has given you your beat,
your hope, and your willingness to survive.

It is He who breathes life into this soul
when all else fails. It is He who formed
me and you for a single purpose...to live,
and to live for Him alone.

So do not fret, oh troubled heart.
For He who promised is faithful, and
He will never let you down.

No, He has a plan for you that will
never be broken as long as you follow
Him. Look to Him, dear troubled heart.
He will not fail. He will never let
you down.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

These Experiences



I've had many people tell me over the past year or so that "kids are resilient." That's true to a certain extent, but I have to give credit to God for the way each of them have handled the most difficult experience in their young lives. It reminds me a bit of Abraham Lincoln, whose mother died when he was 11. Lincoln had memorized three books by that time: The Bible, Pilgrim's Progress and Aesop's Fables. Can you imagine that? But that was all his family had in the shack in which they lived. There was no TV, Nintendo, Internet or even Karate. He had three books. Years later he changed the direction of America.

Is that what God has in store for Everen? For Christian? Can they maintain their sweet innocence and enduring faith and change the world in which they live? It's not out of the realm of possibility. Years ago I would never have thought that I'd share stories with the founder of the Mexican Mafia (Donald Garcia) or speak at prisons in the U.S. and Mexico. Yet somehow God uses our experiences to encourage other people.

As I looked into Christian's eyes tonight and told him how proud I am of him for reading so well, he beamed with delight. It was as if I spoke joy into his soul. God does indeed have a plan. I anticipate a great and interesting future for these two young warriors of mine...

And Nadine......thanks. You're great.

© 2006-2008 Jon Graves. All rights reserved.