Judd's Blog

Lord, grant me the strength to make it through another day. Help me to understand the blessings you have given me and see them for what they truly are. Help me not to lose myself in selfishness and see the plan you have for my life. Help me to take one day at a time and not try to outrun your blessings. Thank you for a wife that stands behind me, loves me and encourages me no matter what the circumstances and three children who love me unconditionally. Thank you for a child that calls me her Hero and sees no wrong. She sees me with your eyes. Help me to become a leader within my family and in what you have planned for me as your child. Carry me Lord, I know those footprints are yours.

Lord, grant me the ability to remember the thigs I have learned when I need it the most. Help me to trust that whatever you have planned for me is so much bigger than what I can see even from my highest point. Help me to have focus on you in my darkest hour and most of all, help me not to take all you have entrusted me with for granted.

The word rule has lots of meanings. It could mean that you are governing or dominating a body of people, court proceeding or some other event. It can also be a way to measure how we hold up against others in our field of expertise. Mostly though, it is a way to describe how our lives are controlled by things of society around us. Some of us are ruled by money, some by family and some by substances like drugs or alcohol. Whatever the case may be, we should be mindful that while other things are ruling us we are slowly spinning out of control. Where my family attends church we have been asked that question a lot lately. Who or what rules your life? It is a question that I am beginning to take more seriously than before. While all of us are somewhat controlled by the jobs or careers we have chosen, we can choose to be very careful of the things that can quickly overtake every aspect of our lives. Recently I lost my job, again, and while it was painful I knew the assignment was not to ...

Struggle: to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition 2 : to proceed with difficulty or with great effort. Merriam Websters Dictionary I have been struggling but it has been extremely hard to pinpoint the source of the struggle. It seems lately I have struggled with the one thing that seems to help me sort out everything: My blog. This is an avenue that in years past I had never thought of using to vent frustrations or just "air things out" and reorganize my brain. Most days I strain under the immense pressure that others in my family do not see. In my head there are a thousand things flying around and not one of them making sense. I am finding it difficult to move on from my last job which I lost due to financial reasons within the company. I struggle with not seeing my daughter regularly even though she is just a few miles up the road. As anyone with children will tell you, being without your children can haunt you. Especially if you h...

I have a friend who seems to always think that things happen to him because of some injustice he has done to someone else. He is always asking the question "Why me?" or "What have I done to deserve this?" It is a theme that is heard all to often in these times of blaming others instead of taking responsibility for our actions. It is a hard task to swallow when we realize that we have done something to either harm ourselves or harm others. It is in that moment that we can choose to take responsibility or to blame someone else for the problem and make ourselves feel more comfortable. I have recently been watching a show that outlines the story of two friends that grew up in show business together. In their earlier days as teenagers they enjoyed immense success. As the success grew both young men had to deal with issues of abuse by people they knew and both had very important decisions to make. While both men now still have their issues one of these men has done ...

Well, I promised to keep in touch after the wedding and that hasn't worked out the way I wanted it to. We have been very busy and working nearly 70 hours a week. It frustrates me to think that no matter at which point in your life you decide to get married, it is never easy. I am definitely not saying that I thought this would be easy but I did truly want to be able to spend weekends with my family. Not a lot to ask but my employer has definitely had other plans. I have some hard decisions to make in the coming weeks. Do I stay where I am and become hardened by the retail world or do I move on to other things while staying in the tech field (so to speak). I love technology and the joy it gives me to learn new and different things every day. The problem is that I find myself disgruntled by complaints by customers everyday about things that I have no control over. While my employer has been very successful over the years they have failed to do so in a retail environment. So now, ...