Tim Boyd's Blog

Several years ago I was a young mid-20’s dude living in Minnesota.  One normal day I was in my car with a passenger who was in his low 20’s.  I was far more mature, obviously.  As we were waiting at a stop light, a middle aged man came down the sidewalk riding a pink kid’s bicycle.  The guy I was with started to laugh at this guy.  It made me mad.  So I went into a story with it. “What if this guy is married and has lots of kids?  What if they are young and his wife has to stay home to take care of them?  What if he’s working two jobs to provide for his family?  What if his oldest daughter really wanted a bike for her birthday, but he knew there is no way he could afford to buy her a new bike?  What if he found this used bike on the other side of town and the only way he could bring it home was to walk it across town or to ride it across town all the way home?  What if he was tired from working the morning shift and the night...

One of the best books of the last century is about an old fisherman who represents man's great struggle with life.  This is my favorite quote from the book. "He held on to that fish not knowing how long the struggle would be."   Old Man and the Sea , Ernest Hemingway.  In this story that old man let himself get caught up in the struggle knowing that he was going to lose.  He finally landed the big fish that he had needed so badly, but at a great cost.  He fought that fish for several days and got dragged out too far to sea. The old man kept that fish on his line far too long.  He fought it longer than he needed to.  He let himself get dragged too far out to sea.  He knew better.  He tied the fish up knowing that the sharks would eat it all.  He couldn't stop himself.  He just kept going down that path. Is there something in your life that is dragging you too far out to sea?  Are you "holding on to that fish not knowing ho...