Points2Ponder

“Missed Moment--Our Trip to Naples—how I wish it had happened!”

                                     Points2Ponder

                                                                                                       By Alan P. Scaglone

Missed Moments.

That’s what I call them…those moments in life that… you let get away from you…and they just never seem to come back around.

I know, I know… so many people subscribe to the adage “what I’ve been through makes me who I am, so I have to accept that I had to go through all of that … to be me today!”

I get that, but… I’m talking about those missed moments…the ones you wish you could get back… if you could do it all over again.

I’ve got a few of those-- and they have been haunting me lately.

Mind if I share a few? Maybe you have a few too… and I would love to hear some of yours!

POINTS2PONDER  Why do we always think—it will come back again – I’ll do it next time – when, sometimes….there just isn’t a next time!

Missed moments… I’ve got a few.

MOVE When I was 28, I was working at IBM, and I had the opportunity to move to The Netherlands, with my family, for a year or more.

I wanted to go so badly. I thought, “great opportunity for the kids to see Europe, see a life they wouldn’t normally see in Seffner, Florida, and I could visit Paris more often!”

I was ready to say yes, but my wife said, “the kids are just starting kindergarten and we really don’t want to expose them to one way of teaching and then come back and do another.”

We didn’t move.

JUMP For my 30^th birthday, I planned to jump out of a plane, tandem. I had it all paid for, planned and ready to go. It was a lifetime dream.

A week before my 30^th birthday, my brother Joe’s daughter Nikki was killed by a drunk driver.

It just didn’t seem appropriate for me to do something so daredevil a week after her death.

I said, “I’ll do it later. In a few months, when things are not so raw and emotional—no problem—there’s always next year!”

I never jumped.

RISE For my 48^th birthday, I planned to take a hot air balloon ride to celebrate the fact that I had lost a lot of weight the year before, and I was feeling better than ever.

We got up at 5am, my brother Paul and sister-in-law Kay, picked us up. We were laughing at how crazy it was to be doing this, but… so like me!

We were almost there, and I noticed that a voicemail was left on my cell phone.

I laughed and said, “You wait—it’s probably the Balloon people, cancelling the ride—Story of my life!” We laughed and I listened to the voicemail.

It was— They  did – and I never did rise in the sky!

GO For my daughters(twins) 28^th birthday, we planned a 3 day excursion at my brother Paul’s timeshare in Naples, Florida.

It was to be the girls, the grandkids and us – just a time to celebrate their birthday like we used to—all together—sharing the moment.

We were all excited to go to Naples at a resort and just hang out together.

It was a first since they became adults—vacationing with their Papa.

At the last minute, I got called into work—we didn’t go.

Sadly--We never made it there that year, and… life changed a lot in a short period of time. No one seems to want to take that vacation together these days.

So…sometimes, missed moments are…just that! You really can’t get them back.

In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t listened to the reasoning of competing education philosophies, hadn’t postponed that airplane jump or never rescheduled that air balloon ride…

And most importantly, I would give my eyeteeth to NOT have gone into work that weekend we were supposed to have gone to Naples.

You will sit there and say…”guess you just weren’t meant to go”.

But…I just sit here and say…some moments-- you just don’t get back again… No “do-overs” In life!

And…if you’re asking, I would say when those moments arise in your life… MOVE, JUMP, RISE and GO!!!

See?? Maybe YOU can learn from my Missed Moments!

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!    We made it EASY TO COMMENT!

SELECT the link BELOW!   YOU can send me an email!   I CANT WAIT!

Ask Alan the Author 

I'm Just Sayin

“Who you callin’ Old?” Not this KoolAid Man!”

                                          “I’m Just Sayin’”

                                                                 by Alan P. Scaglione

When did I become… the “old” guy?

My whole life, I have always been the youngest one of the bunch.

Back growing up, the thing I loved most about my brother Paul was…

He let me hang out with his gang! They were all 5 years older than I was!

But Paul said, “If Alan can’t go, then I’m not going!” – Thank you, Paul!

Maybe that’s why I’ve always fit in with older people?

I’ve always done things older people were doing—at a younger age.

There’s an “old” couple, in their 80’s, The Brocks, who will tell you every time they see me…

“Alan taught our adult Sunday school class when he was 12, and it’s the best lesson on Faith that we’ve ever heard!”

And they are right—I did!!

And I didn’t think anything of it! Just thought ALL twelve year olds taught Sunday school--the Adult Class!

When I was in high school and college, I always hung out with older kids.

And I never felt like I was the “young one” around them – I just always fit in!

So somehow….we get from there….to….my life today!

I work in a CallCenter!

I sit on a row with the following:

Three 32 year old guys

Two 22 year old girls

And…me!

The OLD GUY!

And I have to wonder… How’d that happen???

Back in my day, that “old guy” was TK ! That’s what I called him!

His name was Tim Killion—picture an old man of the sea!

Navy guy who never got off the ship….even though he is on dry land.

Tim would bark answers at you – never explaining why the answer applied…

Or how…to arrive at the answer! His philosophy was…

You climb the mountain, knock on the door, hope it opens, ask your question…wait forever and…Voila!

 Answer provided! BUT NO explanation…you just go away, until…you have to climb that mountain again!

Maybe you have worked with people like that?

They don’t want to teach—they just want to bark answers!

For the record—not an effective way to teach!!

I was determined NEVER to be that guy!

I consciously set out to teach as I learned. Dispensing my knowledge to those around me as I learned it—I would pass it on!

I set out to tear that mountain down—along with the door that held the mystical answers!

I said, “When I get old… I want to be approachable, knowledgeable and appreciated!”

And apparently, I became my version of “That” old guy!

I pass along tidbits as I learn them…to my managers, my colleagues, customers.

I give advice along with those “back in our day” comments.

Apparently, I’ve collected a lot of “Alanisms” that I dispense.

They are my parables to life—funny and yet memorable.

Like “If you don’t water your own garden, someone else will!”

Or… “The grass on the other side may look greener, but be careful…it’s Astroturf!”

You know…”old guy” wisdom!

By the way, you know you’re old when…

You start your comments with “back in our day…”

Never realized how many times I say that???

My colleagues also know…I’m “that guy” who prays…for them, for their families, for their lives.

And encourage and remind…”there’s a higher power you can call on and God is always available to you”—

All they have to do is call on HIS name!

I am consistently someone they can depend on to help, teach, advise and encourage.

But…I was that when…I was “the young guy!”

Funny, but today…I guess I am THAT old guy…

The scripture says “I was young, and now am old, but I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or His seed out begging bread!” Psalm 37:25

And that’s the consistency to my life—when I was young, He fed me; now that I am “old” He feeds me—He has been the consistent presence in my life… my whole life!

He’s the Keeper of My Life!

My goal has always been…to reflect Christ in all I do.

I just hope…they see Jesus in that Old Guy at work!

Until Next Time

I’m Just Sayin’…

Brother “A”

SELECT the link BELOW!   SEND me Email!   Share your thoughts!

Ask Alan the Author

Points2Ponder

                                     Points2Ponder

                                                                                                       By Alan P. Scaglone

So… I spent the day alone…and I wasn’t lonely.

My wife is out of town this week. Her daughter Lauren is getting married Saturday, and it is a wonderful time for mother and daughter to spend together, sharing lifetime moments that turn info lifetime memories that are cherished and treasured… for the rest of your life.

And I would do anything to make this moment perfect for my wife—even if it meant not going!

That was my gift to her and her daughter—this time together, with no tension or pretense.

Maybe you have a perfect life with everyone getting along all of the time – we haven’t had much of that story when it comes to our children.

She has three, I have three—we thought we had six kids together, but… sometimes, you just have to accept that “it’s not the way we planned it, it’s just the way it is!”

And…for us…it’s just the way it is!

Back to my day alone!

I got up Saturday morning, and I took myself to breakfast at a little Cuban Café in Winter Park, Florida that serves really good café con leche and pan con montequilla—

In American…they serve coffee with milk and bread with butter! It just sounds better saying it in Spanish!

Winter Park is in interesting, upscale town, with a central park lined with shops and restaurants.

I sat outside, dunking my bread with butter in my coffee with milk – yes, you read right! I dunk my bread into my coffee!

Growing up, this was our breakfast in the winter. We had coffee and bread and… off to school! From first grade on!!

Guess someone should have told us NOT to feed coffee to a first grader—who knows how much better I would have turned out??? Yeh Right!

I am sitting outside, with a nice breeze flowing, sun shining, people walking by, and I think “I’m alone, but I’m not lonely!”

POINTS2PONDER  Why do we assume that we have to always be with someone to enjoy a moment? Why can’t we just enjoy our own company? When’s the last time you took yourself out?

I got up and thought, “What do I want to do next?”

Then… I just did it!

I walked through Restoration Hardware; meandered through Pottery Barn(bought an interesting blown glass item!).

Before I knew it, I was crossing the street, headed into Rollins College.

For those who have read my first novel “One Unexpected Event”, you will remember that the main characters graduated from Rollins College.

I walked up and down the streets, went into the Library, found a dorm called Genius Hall – Have to wonder “do you have to show your SATs to get in?”

Then I found a lake that Rollins is nestled around. It was beautiful!

 I saw a kayaker standing up kayaking! Never saw that before.

I discovered Rollins has a private beach—that’s where the picture is from. I helped myself to a chair and sat for a spell and watched life go by.

It was interesting to see all the things you see when you are not in a hurry getting to all the places you have to go—you may want to ponder that for a while!

Then I found a street, conspicuously called “Lakeview” and I said, “So here are the houses we’ve been looking for!”

And they were—beautiful!

I walked through that central park—children playing, parents chasing them, grandparents sitting, cheering them on, and I thought “Life is happening before my eyes and yet…I’m an observer!”

I was enjoying my own company… and not lonely at all!

I couldn’t remember the last time I took myself out on a date, but I promised myself, “We’ll do this again, real soon!”

Try it sometime!

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!    We made it EASY TO COMMENT!

SELECT the link BELOW!   YOU can send me an email!   I CANT WAIT!

 Ask Alan the Author

"I'm just Sayin

”You gotta get in the water...to learn to swim!”

                                          “I’m Just Sayin’”

                                                                 by Alan P. Scaglione

Sometimes, He needs us to show our faith BEFORE He shows His miracle!

My friend Josh shared a word with me recently that just illuminated in my heart.

I knew the story but had never compared it to another story to see the difference in the two.

And wow! What a difference and…what a reason for the difference!

And I received a Rhema(Living-Right-Now) Word!

You remember the Israelites?

Of course you do…40 years wandering in the wilderness because of their murmuring and backbiting.

Yeh…the trip should have only taken about 9 months, but…due to their constant bickering and doubting…40 years later!!

But, that’s a whole other column!

Josh called me to console me and let me know…sometimes, God does the miracle to increase our faith,

But sometimes, He asks US to have a little faith and THEN does the miracle!

Back to those backbiting, murmuring Israelites.

Remember the Red Sea? Yeh, of course—We’ve all seen that Ten Commandments movie—the parting of the Red Sea.

What a dramatic cinematic vista of God’s miracle of that wall of water on both sides…and DRY LAND in the middle!

Dry Land… how cool was that?

They came to the edge, Pharaoh chasing them down, and they were backed up to the Red Sea… nowhere to turn!

And Moses parted the Red Sea.

Great story of God’s miracle to free His people…by parting the waters for them to walk on dry land!

But…did you know???

That God did it a SECOND time??

He sure did!

This time… it was the Jordan River…

And this time…He required a deposit of Faith first…before He delivered the required miracle!

Sometimes…God wants us to work a little, exercise our Faith…BEFORE He comes through!

Joshua 3:1-17 tells us how the Israelites needed to be rescued AGAIN… from a backdrop of WATER… AGAIN!!

15And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

¹⁶ That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

¹⁷ And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

They had to show that they remembered what HE had done for them before… and TRUST Him to do it again!
Sometimes…that’s what God is asking us to do.
“Will you trust me to take care of this situation the way I see fit? Can you trust me with the outcome?” God is asking us.
So many times… in the face of adversity, when our backs are up against the Wall of Water…
We start drowning in unbelief and amnesia—YES! Amnesia!
We forget what God did last time—But REMEMBER -- IF He did it before, HE can do it AGAIN!
There’s a line that goes “The best predictor of future behavior is the pattern of past behavior!”
 Apply this to our Lord and Savior—IF He brought you through the LAST crisis—HE can and will bring you through this crisis!
I have this Alanism(that’s what my friends and colleagues call those little sayings of mine)
 That I always quote when we need to be reminded to have a little faith and a lot of patience:
“I understand less than I ever have, but…I trust more…because…He is a proven commodity—His pattern speaks for itself!”

And understanding??? that is not necessary; but trusting…that’s mandatory!
It’s God’s only pre-req to a miracle!

Until Next Time

I’m Just Sayin’…

Brother “A”

SELECT the link BELOW!   SEND me Email!   Share your thoughts!

 Ask Alan the Author