Points2Ponder By Alan P. Scaglione

“Living in the Moment- Jett Meets Thomas The Train!”

                                    

 Points2Ponder

   By Alan P. Scaglone

I think I had an “Ah-Ha!” moment this weekend.

Thought I would share it—with 500+ of my favorite friends.

I was touring the city of St. Augustine this past weekend with my wife and good friends Sandy and Derrick, and I found something that stopped dead in my tracks.

You have to know—I have one rule about buying something—IF it moves me, then it stops me, then it speaks to me, then…I have to have it.

It was a statement that just slapped me in the face…get ready—I have a feeling, it just might do the same for someone else.

“Cherish Yesterday. Dream Tomorrow. Live Today!”

WOW!! Simplicity in verbiage, but…complexity in meaning!

POINTS2PONDER  Why is it that we can “know” something and yet…never “get” something until—We suddenly GET what we KNOW!!

I just stood in the shop, looking at this sign. My buddy Derrick asked me “you okay?” I honestly wasn’t sure.

Suddenly…I thought of my grandson Jett. The apple of my eye. Nano’s sidekick. My Mini-ME!

Yeh…I haven’t written much about him lately. Haven’t seen him since Christmas Eve 2011.

Sometimes, family drama is the most painful to live through.

So…I just studied the comment, and I thought…Cherish the memories. Hope for more someday, but…you gotta let it go so you can actually LIVE your life-- not waiting to “live your life!”

And it hit me…I have been “waiting to live my life…until…Jett comes back into my life!”

And….I just can’t do that anymore!

Then I got home and went out on Facebook and saw pictures of what Jett had done while I was at St. Augustine.

He and his parents and his Nana Chrissy and Papa Larry went to The Thomas The Train Exhibit—with a Real Train!!

And I saw his face, and I knew—this kid was in Hog Heaven!! He was loving every minute of his Saturday—with his Thomas The Train Conductor Hat and sticker tattoo. He was so happy!

And you what? That’s all I want for that little boy.

 To know…he is ecstatically happy with his life and enjoying every minute of it and laughing and playing and excited to wake up each day!

And it hit me—I can cherish the memories. I can hope for more someday. AND I can Live Today…not wait to live today!

Anybody remember the song that said “A fool will lose tomorrow, looking back at yesterday!”

So…for the first time since January, I was able to look at 38 pictures of my grandson having a grand time—and not cry or mourn or regret—

Nope, I just laughed…at him looking so happy!

Maybe I am being too transparent. I am letting you know that there are relationships in my life that are strained and there are pains in my heart that are fresh.

Anybody else out there going through what I am?

IF you are….

Then share this “AH HA!” Moment with me…we have to quit Waiting to Live…and Just Live Today!

I still cherish the memories. I still pray for more in the future, but…I have decided to Live the Moment called Today! Nothing to wait for…just Live your Life!

And yeh—my wife is reading this and saying “I’ve been telling you this for 3 months!”

Yes dear!

But sometimes…  You know something BUT you don’t GET it UNTIL…you finally GET what you KNOW!

So…today is the first day of Spring. A time for new life, new growth, new beginning!

Anybody want to join me?

I plan on Living Today…”aint nothing I’m waitin for”…

I’ve lived through a Dress Rehearsal!

Today, I’ve decided to-- Live Life!

Every day really is a GIFT—that’s why we call it “The Present!”

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I'm Just Sayin by Alan P. Scaglione

“Sometimes...those who CAN....Teach!”

                                       

   “I’m Just Sayin’”

   by Alan P. Scaglione

Kids these days!
No one wants to save the world!
All they want to do is…talk to Siri!
If you don’t know who Siri is…you are as old as I am.
Apparently, the new IPhone is so smart…it comes with someone you can talk to… her name is Siri, and she converses with you.
And the kids today….they love their Siri!
And their answer for every question??? 
“There’s an App for that!”

So I sit across from a 22 year old single young lady named Michelina.
Poor thing…she is 22, and I am 52! What could we have to talk about?
She is so polite…she laughs at my Alanisms; she pretends(very well) to be interested in my “View” toward life.
I tell her all the time that she can ask to be relocated just based on generational differences. She laughs!

So… I caught her completely off guard the other day when I looked at her and said,
“Michelina, do want to change your world?”
She looked at me like I was suddenly speaking Chinese, and not very well, at that.
Then she spoke and said something so profound, it inspired me. She said,
“I don’t think anyone is listening. I don’t have a voice. No one is listening to what I have to say, so why bother?”
WOW! What a statement from a 22 year old. I was stunned…and impressed!
She then proceeded…”I knew about Koni (the dictator kidnapping kids and turning the boys into terrorists while enslaving the girls!)
5 years ago. A friend and I raised a lot of money to help. We even sent it off to somewhere to help them. We never got a thank you.
Never got a note acknowledging what we did or that we helped. No one even noticed that we were trying to help!”

This is the same young lady who just changed her major to childhood education because she decided to be a teacher.
I asked her if she thought being a teacher would be her way to be heard.
Michelina replied, “Maybe it will be my way to change my world by teaching.”

I wondered…maybe she did have a voice? And maybe, the ones who would listen to Michelina were the students she would teach.

Just when you think…this “Millennium Generation” has given up on making a mark on their world, you get a message so profound…
“What’s the point in speaking…if no one is listening?”

But every generation…finds their voice!

I mentioned to Michelina how I have always been a “speak up” kinda guy, never ever a “go with the flow” person. I told her that
I was the first man at IBM to request father bonding time. Time off when my son was born to be home with our family.
This was 1985—my boss, who was a woman, literally laughed at me and said, “Why do you need to be home? You didn’t have the baby!”
I explained that we had twin 2 year old daughters and my wife needed help bringing our son home and adjusting to our new addition!”
I took it to corporate HR…they came back with “Give him a week!” and, I started a policy for fathers to take time off for new births!

We can choose to give up because no one is listening or… we can decide to do something that will lend an audience to our voice…
Like teaching!

The Word says “Go ye therefore, teach all nations…” (Matthew 28:19)

And that’s how we are heard—how we find our voice—we teach by example; we teach by words; we teach by passion!

Just like Michelina… we teach!

Until Next Time

I’m Just Sayin’…

Brother “A”

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Points2Ponder

                                            Family Reunion 2012-- Why not plany yours?

                                     Points2Ponder

                                                                                                       By Alan P. Scaglone

Families just don’t seem to get together anymore.

For those family reunions.

Remember them?

I used to love the ones that required that everyone wear the T-Shirt proclaiming “Your Name Here Family Reunion 1987!”

Just loved those shirts…I always wondered? When and where would you ever wear them again?

Apparently, as witnessed at our local Wal-Mart, whenever you need to wear a shirt that no longer fits and has one too many holes in it!

Well….maybe lose the t-shirt, but…we still have Family Reunions.

We had one this past Saturday for my mother’s side of the family, the Cabreras.

My mother Rose, the eldest of five children, passed away in 1977, but…I have remained close to her side of the family over the years.

My Aunt Ciria, God rest her soul, made me promise on her death bed last September, “Please have one more gathering after I am gone—to remind them how important family still is!”

And…in her honor, to keep that promise, I planned this picnic.

POINTS2PONDER  Why don’t families prioritize time spent together? Why aren’t there anymore reunions, with cousins, uncles/aunts, memories shared, new memories made! Why is it out of style to reconnect with extended family and share today like you did yesterday, keeping in mind, none of you may have tomorrow!

So, they all came in, one family at a time; the one last surviving sibling and his wife, who have no children; the wife of the favorite uncle who passed years ago; the eldest cousin; then my generation of cousins and our spouses; then our children; and lastly, their children! All of us, gathered under a pavilion, in a park that was in the middle of the neighborhood the five siblings grew up in and still housed so many childhood memories of those gathered.

I played a game called “Cross the Branch!” Everyone had to share a memory of someone there or passed away, who was not their parent or sibling. Could be an uncle or aunt or cousin.

I started with a story of how the favorite Uncle literally saved my life. I then opened it up to others. Hands went up all around the pavilion. With each story, there were laughs, there were tears; there was a lot of reminiscing and a lot of “I remember that dog—Lucky, right” and everyone seemed to really enjoy our sharing of the memories.

I was amazed that the next generation, our children, wanted to share memories they had of some of us. They talked about Sunday dinners with family gathered; they even mentioned a fortuitous meeting with Jesse  Jackson while running backward around the Washington Memorial one Thanksgiving weekend. They seemed to have made a few family memories of their own.

We looked around, and others kept coming in, hugging one another, bringing their children, eating some of the food that had been prepared. I know southerners put out a good spread but, latins who are from the south? That’s the perfect combination! There was more food than we could eat, but…somehow, by the end of the picnic, it had been devoured or diveyed up, wrapped up by the ladies for every family to take home leftovers “for later”. Don’t you just love that term? “for later!” And we all know…nothing better than, “later” that night, going into the fridge and pulling out the leftovers and Voila! Better than at the picnic!

I looked around, and there was my Bella, who was handling the food assembly line along with the paper products and the drinks and the serving. She is not latin, a good old fashioned Florida Cracker who can cook black beans/yellow rice and MoJo Pork with the best of them. She was there, by my side, making this picnic a success!

As we all said our goodbyes, one of my cousins leaned in and whispered “I’m sorry none of your kids showed up—maybe next time, we’re still praying! God will work it out!”

You see…I had sponsored this picnic for my family to gather, for generations to share memories, for new memories to be made…

Bella and I were the only ones who didn’t have a single child or grandchild show up…and our hearts were breaking the whole time!

Sometimes, the greater good is worth the greater sacrifice.

Maybe next time?

Maybe…

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”sometimes, a chance meeting is NOT chance at all!”

                                          “I’m Just Sayin’”

                                                                 by Alan P. Scaglione

You just never know…when you are at the door to a new stage in your life, and…it’s about to swing wide open!
That’s why…you have to do your best…and let God do the rest!
Cause you never know…what’s about to happen!
The Word says to be instant in season and out of season and to always be ready to give an account for what you believe!
In other words…be a testimony on pause! Once they hit that start button—Testify of God’s goodness! You never know who’s listening!

I met my Xulon Press editor last Thursday to discuss my book “One Unexpected Event”. It was supposed to be a 30 minute meeting.
I guess God had other plans.
Karla started listening to me talk about my journey writing this book, from KickStarter.com to our Can-Do Train-- calling those things that be not as though they were!
She said…”Give me a minute! I’ve got someone I want you to meet!”
She brought in Tracey, my Sales Rep! We talked for a few minutes!
Tracey said, “I think the guys would love to meet you!”
Tracey brought in Terry, James and John, my marketing rep, book sales guy and design consultant.
I talked with them a minute before Terry said, “Wait a minute, I have someone who would love to meet you!”
He brought in Joan, the director of the site. She was in another meeting but…Terry told her, “You’ve got to meet this guy!”
All I was doing was sharing God’s goodness to anyone who wanted to listen…apparently, that group kept growing!
They all stayed for over 30 minutes, asking me questions, taking notes, going to my kickstarter.com project, watching my video, logging onto grannyzann.blogspot.com and looking at our columns…and just listening to me testify about God healing my heart and putting feet to my faith!

And they weren’t in a hurry to leave. I told them we have lazy dreamers who need to Work Their Dream!
They loved that!
They loved my line “Put Feet to your Faith!” They thought that would be a great title to another book! That’s mine! You can’t have it!
After an hour plus…I was walking out the door, feeling like I was with the right Christian publisher and glad God had opened this door!
Memory made…move on!

Not so fast!!
I get an email last night from Joan. She stated they were very happy to meet me. They had prayed in their weekly prayer time for someone I mentioned to them at our meeting last Thursday! WOW!…they REALLY were a Christian group...and they prayed together…Cool!
Joan said I had passion, motivation, excitement, can-do attitude, self-confidence…all things a lot of new authors do not possess.
She said I was an inspiration!
 She then wrote words in her email that changed my life!
“Would you consider writing an article twice a month to encourage new authors? We would send it to all of our clientele. We could call it “Ask Alan The Author”… and we would pay you for writing!”
WOW! I was NOT expecting that…all because I shared my testimony! And the crowd grew as I shared!
Needless to say, I responded “YES! YES! YES!”
And last night, I submitted my first two columns for Xulon Press!
All because…I told people what Jesus has done for me!
I woke up this morning thinking about Mars Hill!(Acts 26:28)
Anybody know what I am talking about?
Paul spoke to King Agrippa….sharing his testimony of who he was before the “chance” meeting on the road to Damascus and…how God changed him!
Everyone was listening to him testify… he just told them how Jesus changed his life!
And King Agrippa said, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian!”
Almost?
You never know…who’s listening!


Until Next Time

I’m Just Sayin’…

Brother “A”

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Points2Ponder by Alan P. Scaglione

                  "No matter how old they get...they know who to call..to pray!"
                                                 Points2Ponder



                                          By Alan P. Scaglone



“Huddled in office...waiting on tornado...keep us in your prayers”

Suddenly…the tornadoes in the Midwest… were personal!

This was a text from my daughter, huddled in an office at work, in Chattanooga, facing a tornado, fearing the worst.

And… reaching out to the one she knew…would pray!

Even when they stray….they know…you pray!

I was walking the streets of downtown Savannah, on a restful long weekend jaunt with my sweet Bella.

Beautiful weather Friday, cool breeze, full sun, just enjoyable kinda day!

And my daughter was huddled in an office, taking cover, hoping for protection, asking for prayer they would be spared.



POINTS2PONDER Why does it take sudden impending tragedy…to remind you…I need to ask for prayer…from someone I know…who prays!



And the nation started hearing all of the stories. The one that touched me the most…the story of “Angel!”

A little 18 month old baby girl…found in a field, alone…in critical condition.

Her parents and siblings…had died in the tornado, but…this little girl…clinging for life…our “Angel!”

Unfortunately, the next day, we got news…God had taken our “Angel” to heaven to be with Him and her family!

49 confirmed tornadoes….40 people and counting, perished in those 49 tornadoes, spanning five states.

But, all I cared about was…there was one Angel of my Heart, huddled in an office, in Chattanooga, reaching out to her father…and asking…for prayer!

And just 400 miles away, I was strolling through Savannah with my Lady Love.

Just reminds you…at the very same time that you are having a leisure filled day…someone is taking cover, praying for their life!

Thank God for texting—how else would I even know that my baby girl needed her Papa…to pray?

And in the middle of a period of time when my daughter and I are estranged…fundamentally at opposing sides of a character defining moment in life…

She still knew…her Papa would drop anything that was going on in his life…and, pray for his baby girl.



Take heart, parents out there! They know… they know! They can still depend on you…to reach across the miles and even across the controversial emotional continental divide…

And put all that aside… and just wrap your arms around them…and assure them…they are safe, they are protected, they are loved!

And the things that seemed to matter…for the moment… for this moment-- don’t matter at all!



All that matters is… when they need prayer, they still know…who (that means YOU) will pray!



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I'm Just Sayin by Alan P. Scaglione

“What’s your mouth... say about you?”

                                          “I’m Just Sayin’”

                                                                 by Alan P. Scaglione

Why are so many people so negative?
It’s what they say…how they say it…what they mean by their words!
Always half empty….never half full!
And I just want to shake ‘em sometimes and say…”YOU’re ALIVE…What more do you need?”
I talked to someone today. He was 56 and he had quadruple bypass surgery.
All he could tell me was “I can’t believe I have to miss work…and I may not be able to go back to what I did! Why me?”
I stopped and said, “Sir! You are ALIVE! Anything else can be adjusted, but…you can’t adjust death! It’s pretty final!”
He was not amused….neither was I!

The power of the tongue.
Scripture talks about it— There’s life and death in the words you say—they reveal your real heart!
And when it’s always negative, I just want to take them for a tour…of the morgue!
Yep…I said it…the MORGUE!
You want to find a few people who would take your bad back, your diabetes, your unemployment, your getting older…
I bet most of them would JUMP at switching places—and you want to complain about how bad you have it?

The words we say…can be life!
I have a friend whose brother is in a coma.
They are not sure if he can hear them, or…if he will survive.
Reminded me of being called to the bedside of another comatose victim.
It was after midnight. The nurse said they had called the family in to say their goodbyes.
Tommy was 35 and had contracted meningitis…and he was dying.
I had gotten a call around 11pm asking me if I was the preacher at this church. I said I was the youth pastor.
They told me about Tommy—said he had my name and number in his wallet. I had met him once and written down my contact info.
I never have been the business card kind of guy…always just wrote it down and handed it to them.
So…I went to see Tommy…for the last time!

When I got into the room, the nurse said I could stay 5 minutes. The family was on their way up.
I looked at this young man. Yes—35 is young to be dying!
All of a sudden, the Spirit of God welled up inside me, and I followed the lead I had been given!
I went to his left ear and whispered “Jesus”.
I went to his right ear and whispered “Jesus”.
I repeated this for the 5 minutes I had been allotted.
The nurse came in, started saying it with me…and then…told me it was time.
I left Tommy as his family came into the room.
I passed them, and they whispered to each other “who was that? That’s NOT the preacher we called!”

Two days later…I get a call.
It’s from Tommy!
He woke up that next morning.
The first words out of his mouth were “Who kept saying Jesus? I saw this beam of light each time it was said…I followed the light back!”
Tommy explained that his mom meant to call the preacher of another church and thought my number was for him!
She never meant to call me!

Tommy is still alive today! And when you meet him, he will tell you about the power of the tongue!
I could have walked in and said, “poor Tommy…gone too soon…he will be missed…sorry to see him go!”

Instead, I believed in the scripture Romans 4:17 “…Calling those things that be not…as though they were!”

And I believed in the power of the tongue…and I spoke the most powerful word I know … JESUS!

Next time you want to say something…
Try a word that will raise the dead!!
Now that’s something worth talking about!

Until Next Time

I’m Just Sayin’…

Brother “A”

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