Tracks In The Dust

A Father's Advice About Learning the Mission of Life

Archive for the tag “Faith”

18 Feb 2014

Keeping Your Head Above Water

Keeping your head above water. Swimming along with the life you have. It can be a challenge just to swim and keep it up when you are not so sure you how you will survive.

But we all should be doing that, shouldn’t we? Some days it may seem automatic. We have a life to live despite the struggles, and some complex things can keep you distracted. In some ways keep your mind off it.

Other days we risk getting caught in the undertow of the reality that we are struggling  and virtually everyone around us is struggling too. In their own way. They are messing up and getting things wrong, they are sad from loss or angry with their situation. They could swim for brighter days ahead- but it looks bleak to them.

This is my battle song. Fighting cancer, I realized that we have to SWIM. Swim for our lives. But it would be good to find the grace in what we are doing as we continue along. That purpose of our constant paddling along.

The spirit of God can give that to you. The purpose may mean less if you think that at the end it is over and you stop swimming because you no longer exist, but if you believe – eternity can matter. We all fall short of perfect, but this helps. It makes life’s swim easier – especially if you are paddling against the currents of adversity.

Make every day count for something . Swim for it.

Here is a song “SWIM” from Andrew McMahon from a group called “Jack’s Mannequin”.

Andrew is battling cancer (diagnosed in 2005) and this song is one of my favorites.

“Swim”
You’ve gotta swim

Swim for your life
Swim for the music
That saves you
When you’re not so sure you’ll survive
You gotta swim
And swim when it hurts
The whole world is watching
You haven’t come this far
To fall off the earth
The currents will pull you
Away from your love
Just keep your head above- I found a tidal wave
Begging to tear down the dawn
Memories like bullets
They fired at me from a gun
A crack in the armor
I swim to brighter days
Despite the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I’m not giving in
I swim You gotta swim
Through nights that won’t end
Swim for your families
Your lovers your sisters
And brothers and friends
Yeah you’ve gotta swim
Through wars without cause
Swim for the lost politicians
Who don’t see their greed as a flaw The currents will pull us
Away from our love
Just keep your head aboveI found a tidal wave
Begging to tear down the dawn
Memories like bullets
They fired at me from a gun
Cracking me open now
I swim for brighter days
Despite the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I’m not giving in
Well I’m not giving in
I swimYou gotta swim
Swim in the dark
There’s no shame in drifting
Feel the tide shifting and wait for the spark
Yeah you’ve gotta swim
Don’t let yourself sink
Just find the horizon
I promise you it’s not as far as you think
The currents will drag us away from our love
Just keep your head above
Just keep your head above
Swim
Just keep your head above
Swim, swim
Just keep your head above
Swim

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music), The Cancer Letters and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
04 Feb 2014

Songs About “Home”

There is somethings about the word “HOME” that conjures up a lot of feelings.

Home

A destination perhaps, the place you live for sure- but a lot more than that.

A place of comfort – safety.  A familiar place. A place for happiness or defeat. Some may see it as a place to run away from. Many may see it is a place they want to return to, while others may see it as something they want to re-create in their lives based on their emotional past.

Home can be where the heart is, or can be what brings you back to the grounding you needed after you have drifted or traveled so far away from it. Like a homecoming. It can contain all of your things that allow you to regain your confidence in who you are, or contain all of the people who are there to reinforce what you were.  It can be the place you want to forget on your journey to a new life, or the place you never want to leave because protects you from the unknown.

Home for the holidays, home is anywhere you hang your hat, home sweet home, home is where the heart is, home coming, leaving home, home is where you were born, home is where you ended up, home is where your parents live, a house is not a home, home alone, home together, home at last, running from home, headed home, home by the sea, home on the hill, … the songs and references are endless.

Before you hit your “home” button.

  • What does HOME mean to you?
  • What are your favorite song(s) about “home”?

Here are just a few  favorite songs of mine 🙂

Homeward Bound – Simon and Garfunkel ( Classic)

Head  Home- Midlake ( Great Texas band)

Home Again- Carol King ( Another Classic)

Home Again- Elton John ( All new song from Sir Elton)

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
29 Jan 2014

Facing Your Fear Through Faith

Faith.

It’s easy to give-in to the pressure of the people and things that are happening around you. We have a tendency to reach for our own personal courage and convictions to help defend ourselves from those things that seem to attack our sensibilities.

Sign of Faith

Defending the purpose of our day and the reason for our existence ends up being something that takes a lot of effort and seems to be an unending lifelong job.

It’s a wonder we don’t just give-in to those things that create personal fears and doubts. But we have something that is much stronger than our personal resolve, something that is the shield that helps to make each day what God intended it to be. We can stand firm in our faith and not let personal fear and doubts chip away what God has asked of us.

There will be numerous attacks on our faith. There will be numerous reasons put into our path to convince us to step aside from the strength God provides. Often we can forget what makes us strong, and try to overcome things ourselves.

We tend to believe our strength is ours alone, and then when things aren’t going the way we plan- we give into the fear that waits inside us and we ignore the place of real strength. As a personal cancer warrior I battle that every day of my life.

So there is one answer. Put it all in your faith in Him. Make sure you are consciously aware of the strength it provides;be sure to use your faith and confidence your faith to make yourself stronger each day of your life.

Count on that faith to make the decisions you need to make. Count on the courage that it provides when things aren’t going the way you think it should – because trusting in Him will make the difference. Looking at your life through God  will allow you to “be on your guard”.

I had posted this on another blog of mine, but it seems to ring true every day of my life. How about your life?

It’s something to work on daily. It is practice in our faith that will make us strong. Standing firm on what that will provide the courage we need to face our fears and doubts.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
27 Jan 2014

Passing On Stories Worth Remembering

Since I can remember I have always been interested in “stories”. I think it is fundamentally something that must be in our DNA from our ancestors. Years before there was a way to communicate in written form, wise men from tribes would pass down  to the younger members the most important stories about their history, about lessons learned.

We all have personal stories we want to pass on to others. It is the life blood of social networks and certainly of this wonderful WordPress blogging forum.  So much to tell. We all want stories in our lives that are meaningful. Sometimes they are and other times they may be less than profound. It may be that they are meaningful only because of the very perspective you have at the time, the personal eye in which events happened.

Other times they are lessons learned that we need to pass on, if only to provide others the opportunity to know about the past, or to find their own way, or to make sure they miss some of the perils that lie ahead for their own lives.  So that was my intention; to tell my kids everything I can about the things that could be important to them. To make them realize that they don’t have to make the “exact” same mistakes I did (even though they will ironically do it anyway).

So years from now, when I have succumbed to the end that faces us all, I hope and wish that my children will have stories for their children and the people around them. They will marvel that many of them were stories that had roots from their father, or that in retrospect were those things they had so passively listened to and filed away and finally they could apply.

Hopefully some of those stories stick, like one of those richly good novels that are fondly recalled. Perhaps like the story that made time stand still for even a seconds pause to be embraced by the generation ahead.

What are your stories? What are the things that you want to pass on that are worth remembering?

A song about “remembering” 🙂

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
02 Jan 2014
7 Comments

A Song Called “I Can Sleep Again”

I am sharing a song that was written by our children as a gift. Our children are the most precious things my wife and I have in our lives. This is a very special gift. Take a listen.

closed-eye

They are all over 20 years old and have found directions in their lives that are making them become the adults we had hoped they would become. They are also very much into music (much like their dad). This holiday 2 of our sons and our daughter were all at home and had time to visit with each other and remind themselves and us that they are truly brothers and sister in a family that loves each other.

During their time they created this song ( in the span of 2 days) . It is 4 1/2 minutes long and created on the spot during their visit. It is a song about “finding your way back” with the help of someone you love. Beautiful. Some production work from my son Ryan on his PC and it was presented to my wife and I. It has become the greatest Christmas gift we could ask for.

It will never be a top-hit on tomorrows Billboard charts, but it is something that we will always cherish.

If you can stream it and choose to find the time to indulge, I appreciate your listening. Just wanted to share it because I am very proud.

It's a song called "I Can Sleep Again" 
(© 2013 Ryan, Greg and Jennifer Gertenbach)
Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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