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Go ahead, do it: www.TheRieslands.com

Well, I guess it wasn’t new. Let’s say I was reminded of a good lesson recently.

Since it involves a moment of personal vulnerability in someone else’s life, I’m going to leave out lots of details that would probably make it a better story and just cut to the chase. If we ever get the chance to sit down and chat, you can ask me for the long version :0)

Here goes:

A couple of weeks ago I sat with a handful of brothers in a friend’s dining room.

We were sharing prayer requests and praying for each other, and a new friend of mine shared a short story.

You probably can’t fully appreciate his story without knowing him a lot better than it’s my place to help you here, but we’re talking about a guy who seems to really have it together. At a glance, he appears to fit nicely into lots of stereotypes, several of which us hypocrites love to judge.

You also need to know that he has been jobless for quite a while, although, pulling up in his driveway, you would never guess that the man who owns the house hasn’t had a consistent paycheck in over a year.

OK. So with that tiny snapshot, here’s what he shared:

He said that the previous week, his wife had been out of town visiting family for the holidays, so, with nobody in need of his attention, he decided to seize the opportunity to catch up on a couple of movies he had been wanting to see.

One of the movies was the Russell Crowe film “Cinderella Man“, which is based on the true story of Jim Braddock.

He said it was strange that he decided to watch it, because he had already seen it in the past, and he never watches a movie twice.

Nevertheless, he put it in late one night after staying busy all day.

If you haven’t seen the film or read the story of Braddock, the crux is that he couldn’t find work during the great depression, so he became a boxer in a desperate effort to keep food on his family’s table. The movie is very deep – the cinematography is kind of gray, representative of the period in American history that it represents. And you get a glimpse into this guy’s daily grind of getting up early and doing whatever it takes to keep his wife and kid warm and fed, even when this means literally taking a beating in the boxing ring.

My friend vulnerably shared that while watching that movie, he cried for the first time in ten years.

He said that he looked at a man who was desperate to provide for his family — desperate to be able to look into his wife’s eyes and see respect and admiration.

He said that after a year of spending all day, every day looking for full-time work, he knows exactly how that feels.

He said that what has been especially hard for the last year is that when you have a full-time job, there is a clear calendar of when to work and when to rest. There are weekends and vacations and holidays. But when you don’t have a job, and your job is to look for a job, there are no weekends, no holidays, no vacations. You are always scrambling to try and figure out how you’re going to land a salary — and with it, some sort of stability.

He said that though he hasn’t been boxing, he knows the feeling of emotional and mental exhaustion of the character in the movie.

This wasn’t some sort of tear-filled, heart-wrenching, lay-hands-and-pray-for-me moment. It lasted for 2 minutes and he wash just sharing the way that he would like for us to be praying for him.

But it was a wealth of an education for me.

So far, by God’s grace, I haven’t had to experience what it feels like to be unemployed while being responsible for a family.

And I never in a million years would have guessed that this friend was wrestling with the weight he carries on his shoulders.

Never.

You could fit my house in his living room. He seems to be playing a different ball game.

But at the end of the day, a man is a man. Whether he’s hunting in a field, or boxing in a ring, or filling out endless job applications and networking with everyone he’s ever known, he’s really just trying to be a provider.

In the end, my jump to conclusions where a great hindrance to my ability to effectively love this brother.

Who are you doing that to in your life right now?

From the minute I walk through the door on Tuesday afternoon, my night is full:

First we play.

Then I feed him.

Then he watches me make my dinner.

Then we watch a movie while I eat.

Then we play some more.

Then we go for a walk.

Then it’s bath time.

Then it’s story time.

Then it’s bed time.

Being a daddy is so awesome. I hope I remember these days when I have to send my son a facebook message to get his attention…

One of the recent distractions was my birthday, and my awesome family bought me a snazzy new camera lens, so Steph and I have been playing with it whenever we’ve had time.

Here are a few of my favorites so far…

The car he’s playing with was also a birthday present. Steph asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her the Camaro from Transformers, so she bought me a remote-controlled replica from the dollar store! Josiah loves chasing it around the kitchen :0)

Last week I was hard at work in the (home) office when Steph came home from running some errands.

She said there was something she wanted to show me.

I was a little resistant at first, because I didn’t want to loose my work momentum, and especially because she needed to use the computer, which meant I had to disconnect a handful of programs. But I got up, expecting her to show me some video of a baby on a mommy blog she likes to read.

Instead, she said that she had heard a song in the car.

She went to youtube and found this video, picked up our son, and said, “This song is all about your daddy.”

…just about made me cry

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcZoNBngAnM

I share this not to brag -- if you know me, you know that I don’t deserve her sweet compliment.

But this is just a reminder that little gestures of love and admiration to your spouse can go a long way.

In my case, I made this the ringtone for when Steph calls me. Every time she calls, I’m challenged to prioritize my thinking, and I’m encouraged!

What can you do today?

After much sorting and deleting, here is our vacation through a lense.

A few of my favorite pics are below.

You can see more from Stone Mountain here, more from the Georgia Aquarium here, and more from the rest of our vacation here.

(PS – There are 28 pictures below, so please be patient if it takes a minute to load)

Here are a couple more…

Josiah had his first experience with “solid” food about a week ago.

It was basically a couple teaspoons of milk with a little bit of rice cereal mixed in.

It was the first time he’s ever had anything edible in his mouth besides milk or formula, so he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.

The whole eating-from-a-spoon thing took some getting used to as well..

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjxxFUtsTr0

Here are a few of the photos:

So expect several photo-oriented posts over the next couple of days. (I’ll use this album as I get the pics cleaned up)

To kick us off, here are a few photos from Dad’s recent birthday:

Dad got a new laptop for his birthday!

Josiah loves being up on his grandpa's shoulders

Got dad smiling on one

He has no idea how much it hurts when he yanks on your hair

Here are a couple of my favorite photos that we’ve taken around the house recently.

I just created a new album called “Josiah’s 5th Month” under our picasa web albums where you can see a whole bunch more.

Does he have the prettiest blue eyes you’ve ever seen or what?

I really believe that the most important problem in our country, and even in the Christian church, is men not behaving like real men. It seems like most men live with this misconception that their career, ‘ministry’, and bank accounts are at least equally important with their calling as hushands and fathers, and I think the whole world suffers for the lack of real men.

I just came across this “Ask Carolyn” letter on facebook.

Very, very true.

I took care of Josiah for about 6 hours one day when he was particularly fussy and I was ready to sleep for a week!

My hat’s off to all the mommies out there, especially my wife!

(I tried to link to the author’s page, but you have to go through a 3-step process of registering with the Washington Post just to see it)

I stumbled across this photo when I was at Katie’s the other night. Apparently, even though I beg and plead for good pics, Katie’s the one who gets them…

That’s my big sis Jennifer with her husband, Moses.

They live — along with my five neices and nephews — clear on the other side of the country in southern California.

If I had 50 grand laying around, I would use it to move them in next door….

One of my greatest sadnesses in life right now is that I can’t really be a part of their lives from 2,800 miles away.

Jen, Mo, if you see this, I love you!