Beautiful Places

3:51 AM

It is a time when most are still sleeping comfortably in their beds.

Sensible folks with families have been in bed since 10, and they will not wake for at least another hour or so.

Even the late night rousers have called it quits after a night of revelry and Waffle House.

But here I am, awakened to the insistent vibration of my trusty iPhone 6 plus among the faint strums of guitar as Aloe Blacc’s “Wake Me Up” plays.

“Wake me up indeed” I think to myself.

I wipe the sleep from my eyes, and I fumble to turn on the flashlight app on my phone to its lowest setting as not to disturb my wife and my son, who at some point during the night, made his way to the middle of my bed with his trusty companion Chewbacca in tow.

I stumble through the garage and into our laundry room where our “guest” bathroom is housed.

Other than myself, I am not sure any of my family has ever showered inside the bright avocado green tile room, and we certainly do not allow guests to venture outside. Which I often think is a shame because no one but me gets to ever experience and admire the spectacular and colorful Sgt. Pepper’s themed shower curtain I chose for the room.

My day then officially begins as I open up Tweetbot to check any mentions or replies I may have missed in my six hours of slumber. After the twitter machine, it is on to Instagram.

Did we gain any followers overnight?

How many total likes is that most recent photo at now?

Why did someone like a photo from a week ago?

From Instagram I navigate to Facebook to check messages and notifications. At this point, I feel confident the realm of social media can wait for another hour or so as I open my Bible app. Some mornings, I just read wherever I left off, some mornings I read a devotion plan and the attached scriptures, and I read the verse of the day. It never ceases to amaze me how God can use a “randomly” chosen verse each day to speak directly to my heart and my life’s situation.

4:30 AM

My phone begins to once again buzz.

Time to put the phone down and get in the shower.

I am terrible at keeping track of time so early in the morning, so I use alarms to keep myself on track. I got the idea from one of those parent blogs. The suggested it for getting your kids to do things like brush their teeth, comb their hair, eat their breakfast, and so on in a timely fashion. I often wonder if it actually works for parents, but it has proven to be quite effective in keeping this big kid on track.

4:50 AM

There is no way that alarm should be going off.

I could not have really been in the shower for that long.

Do I have to get out?

This water is really warm.

I begrudgingly dry off and get my clothes from the dryer which is conveniently located five feet from my bathroom. On good mornings, I dress in the laundry room. On not-as-good mornings when my balance is suspect, I gather my clothes, once again turn on my flashlight app, and make my way into my son’s room to put on my day’s attire.

After I dress, I carefully choose Davis’ clothes and shoes for the day. I take them to the bathroom where in several hours, he will unwillingly put them on. A last minute check in the mirror ensures my shirt isn’t too wrinkled, and a quick application of beard balm ensures my beard is not too Grizzly Adams-esque throughout the day.

Now, it is on to lunch and breakfast.

Oh, and snacks.

I dare not forget the snacks.

Once a lunch is boxed up, a breakfast is prepped, a milk cup and a juice are filled, and a snack bag is replenished, my work here is complete.

I gather my necessities of the day.

Koozie in back left pocket, check.

Handkerchief in back right pocket, check.

Keys, wallet, and pocket knife in left front pocket, check.

Phone in right front pocket, check.

5:21 AM

The sounds of Silverchair’s “Anthem for the Year 2000” begin to play as my pocket vibrates.

It is time to go to work.

As a grab my trusty backpack and my favorite NSU baseball hat, I shuffle off to the bedroom to whisper, “Bye, Amanda. I love you.”

Sometimes my sentiment is met with, “I love you, too. Have a good day. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

Other times it is met with a startled breath or a mumble.

I make my way to the car, unload my gear for the day, plug my phone into the charger, and begin my one hour and 41 minute trek to my office.

I have learned to appreciate Audible and iBooks more so than I ever have before.

This time before dawn is my time to engage and my time to learn. It was an audiobook which actually inspired me to type out these thoughts. I feel as if I may have gotten off course a bit with the description of my morning routine, but alas, here we are now at the crux of this writing.

6:15 AM

The sun is beginning to break over the horizon, and I am listening to John Eldredge narrate the book he also penned entitled “Fathered by God.”

Eldredge is one my favorite authors, and his audiobooks are my companions of choice nearly every morning as my black 2010 Ford Escape and I roll down Highway 167.

In this book, he ventures into the stages of which all men go through in life. It’s an excellent read (or listen), and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is a man or wants to better understand men.

In the particular chapter which struck me, the author describes his beautiful places: the places which are glorious and touch his soul.

As he wistfully described mountains with beautiful meadows, canyons with a multitude of rock colors, and other outdoor creations, my eyes began to water, and tears started streaming down my face. I said, “Lord, I am not an outdoors person. I will never climb a mountain. There is no joy in that experience for me. Will I ever find my beautiful place?”

Immediately I felt as if Jesus was riding shotgun with me, and I heard him say, “You know that feeling you got the first time you walked up the ramp at the Astrodome and saw the diamond for the first time? You still get that feeling every time you see a baseball field, don’t you?”

I was stunned.

He continued on, “You know the smell of an old gym? The sound of a bouncing ball? How do those make you feel?”

I now began to see where He was going with this.

“How about when you pass by the football field where you grew up? How does being back there make you feel? These are your beautiful places. You don’t have to be like anyone else. I am there.”

Wow.

My tears of sadness quickly turned to tears of joy.

It was in that moment I realized how Jesus truly does meet me where I am. He has no interest in me being someone other than myself, and He wants me to tell my own story, sing my own song, and claim my own beautiful places.

2:56 AM

That is what time I woke up today after a series of dreams involving my beautiful places. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I felt Jesus’ calling. “Write your story down. Share your heart. Help others discover their own beautiful places.”

4:27 AM

So here we are, and I guess I am supposed to ask you, my dear reader, what are your beautiful places?

Where are those places where you feel and see God all around?

You might be surprised as you look into your heart.

I know I was when Jesus revealed mine to me.

Once you’ve discovered them, go there, be there, get away, and let God wash over you and refresh you in every way possible.

Just be still, and experience Him and His beauty.

I will never again take for granted the stirring in my soul I feel when I see a baseball diamond shining brightly in the sunlight, because Jesus confirmed to me what I already knew…

There is something about the outside of a ballpark that is good for the inside of a man’s soul.