I sold my last Harley Davidson Motorcycle recently. I’ve owned at least one Harley for the last 20 years. I love to ride. When I ride, it’s a time for me to clear my head, relax, and enjoy the freedom that can only be experienced on two wheels with a 1.8 liter motor between your legs.

I sold my last Harley because we had quite a few medical bills with Eden’s hip reconstruction, and Caroline’s heart surgery this past year. I got a good offer on my last bike, and decided it was time.

I still went on two, 1000+ mile Harley rides this summer with friends/clients from around the world. I just had to rent a Harley for those trips. Honestly, it is kind of nice to always have the newest bike to “test drive” on these adventures, but I do miss the freedom of having my own Harley and taking an hour or two after work, or on the weekend to enjoy the open road.

My dad taught my brother and I how to ride a motorcycle when we were young. First lesson: BALANCE IS EVERYTHING. When riding, you have to master balance. Without balance you fall, and you get hurt.

Similarly, when my life is “out of balance”, I also “fall”. I hurt myself, and I sometimes I hurt others.

I must take the time to do all the things for good soul maintenance so I can stay balanced in life.

Read. Pray. Serve. Love. Give. Create. Play. Laugh. Mentor. Teach. Exercise. etc.

When I don’t consistently care for my soul, I lose life balance, and I eventually “crash”.

When my life “crashes”, it can get pretty ugly.

This spring and summer I had a weed problem in my yard. Weeds were everywhere. In my garden. In my flower beds. In my sidewalk, driveway, and even my patio!

So I made a new house rule. Rule # 19W: “Everyday from May 1st through August 31st each person under the age of 25, must pull the number of weeds that coincides with their age.”

So if you are 19 years old, you must pull 19 weeds. Everyday. I didn’t care where you pulled the weeds. Just pull them. Roots and all.

Rule #19W is better than spending hours pulling weeds every weekend. Weekends are for family, friends, fun, church, and rest. Weekends are not for pulling weeds.

I have 4 people that live with me that are under 25 years old. They are 14, 16, 19, and 21. Together, they pulled 70 weeds a day. It only took them 5 minutes each day. They usually did it after dinner when it wasn’t so warm outside.

After just one week, the yard looked much better, and after two weeks it was difficult to even find weeds to pull anymore!

Lesson: Take small steps to remove the weeds. Be consistent Be diligent.

Beautiful yards are like beautiful people. It takes time, patience, discipline, and a little help from friends.

A little progress each day adds up to big results.

I mentioned in my last post that we have weekly Family Meetings. As the kids got older, and their lives more complicated, it seemed like a good idea to have a weekly “check-in” together. It’s been a pleasant surprise.

Each week, usually Sunday evening, our family cooks and eats dinner together, then we hang out to discuss life. Here is a rough draft of our agenda.

1) Any news to report? This could be anything you want to share. A relationship change, future travel plans, personal struggles or victories, seeking advice or opinions, confession, health updates, etc. Nothing is off-limits.

2) Review the week’s schedule. Our family has a shared calendar on our iPhones. We review upcoming stuff as well as see who is around this week for dinners, etc. It’s good to know each other’s general schedules.

3) Quote of the week. I will share a thought-provoking quote for us to discuss. Sometimes we all just nod our heads in agreement, while other times we will chat about it for a few minutes.

4) Short teaching from dad. This isn’t anything super deep or theological. It is mostly a time to keep us focused on the big picture of life. We have found it doesn’t take too long before we start to focus on things that don’t matter.

5) Who is the next recipient of a Love Basket? You’ll need to read my previous post to understand.

6) Pray. We believe in the power of prayer. Not because of the words we say, but because of Who we are saying them to. We also know a family that prays together has a deeper love for each other.

Family Meetings can last anywhere from 30 -60 minutes depending on how tired I am. #grandpagreg

One day I know these family meetings will stop. But for now, we enjoy listening, sharing, learning, praying, and serving together.

Once COVID19 reached the USA, and lockdowns started taking place, many of our opportunities to serve people were sadly eliminated.

So my family got together and came up with an idea we’ve been doing together now for the past 19 months. We call it “Love Baskets.”

At our weekly family meetings, one of the topics we discuss is “Who should receive our next Love Basket?” Nobody is off limits. It could be a friend, neighbor, classmate, co-worker, stranger, enemy, or anyone that God may bring into our lives. It is someone our family think needs a bit of extra love and encouragement for whatever reason.

Our Love Baskets are physical baskets (about 12″x12″x12″) that we buy at the dollar store. Together, we brainstorm personal, thoughtful, and meaningful items to “fill the basket with love”. We also include a nice hand written card explaining why they are receiving this random basket.

Once our person is chosen and the Love Basket filled, we drop off the basket at their front door and send them a text to let them know they have a delivery at their door. We tell them to get it quickly before something either melts, blows away, or before someone walks by and steals it.

We typically think most people don’t receive enough encouragement and love in our world today.

Hence… Love Baskets.

This spring, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and complete strangers, enjoyed juicy, sweet, peaches from two peach trees in my backyard. They were delicious! My favorite dessert all summer long was fresh peaches with some vanilla ice cream!

I inherited these peach trees when I bought our house a few years ago. The first couple years I had plenty of peaches to enjoy. But last year, my peach trees didn’t produce any peaches at all. Not even one. I was confused. I didn’t understand what was going on. I thought I killed them, or didn’t do something right. It just didn’t make any sense.

Since I’m not an arborist, I did some research.

Turns out, these peach trees require 50 continues days of temperatures below 45 degrees during the winter, or they don’t produce any peaches in the spring! The year I had no peaches was a mild winter in Chicagoland. If the winter isn’t cold enough, for a long enough period of time, the peach trees produce nothing.

One of God’s primary tools to produce fruit in my life is pain. Not short term pain, but often times long term pain. If I don’t endure a difficult season ,for a long enough period of time, I tend to go back to the way things were, and I produce nothing. (Love. Joy. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self Control)

My peach trees reminded me the fruit God produces in my life first requires a difficult season.

The most beautiful people in my life have endured some of the most difficult seasons of life. This is true of my wife Caroline.

ps – remember, not every difficult season in life is orchestrated by God. Sometimes I am in a painful season because I’m an idiot and make bad decisions.