Tim Boyd's Blog

Discouragement is a force in my life.  Most of the time I feel it hanging over me, making me slouch in my chair.  I can feel it in my stomach.  It warms the back of my neck.  It makes me feel so foolish.  It really makes me embarrassed to be me. Discouragement lies to me.  It lies so well.  It takes all of the things I’m good at and makes me ashamed of them.  If I’m great at meeting people - it makes me feel like a flake.  If I come up with an amazing idea - it makes me feel like a loser who could never actually pull it off. Discouragement yells at me to “shut up!”  I have nothing important to say.  Anything that I would say would just come across as dreams of a man with his head in the clouds or empty platitudes by a Pastor. Discouragement tells me that people can’t really change.  I am who I am and that’s all I will ever be.  That man over there will never be any better off than he is right now, no matter wh...

I attended a Town Hall Meeting yesterday in Bradenton put on by some local government agencies.  The purpose was to discuss the overload of kid's in out-of-home care for various reasons, but mainly the local heroine epidemic.  I was very pleased to see about 200 people there.  I thought that was a good sign.  I was able to see many of the people that I have got to know because they are either parts of non-profits or work in government for the purpose of dealing with kids who need help.  I was also very pleased to see some local Pastors. I have been involved with the foster care epidemic in Manatee Country for just over 2 years.  So I understand that I'm a new-comer to the table.  Our family has gone through the process to adopt and I am on the board for Guardian Angels of Southwest Florida and serve in the 3 county area for the 1-1-1 Project .  The Guardian Angels is a group that builds large homes for families to move into and foster children....

We all hate changes that we don't instigate.  I am a HUGE fan of changes that I decide to make.  Sometimes I wonder why everyone else isn't.  I sometimes even think that I am just the kind of person who loves change.  Then someone changes something and I hate it.  It makes me mad.  I doubt why that person should even be able to make that sort of change.  "How dare that restaurant decide to change their menu!  I eat here at least twice a year.  Why didn't they consult me?" I think we all hate change.  Change is really hard.  We get comfortable when we know what's happening.  We like the rhythms that we live in.  We don't enjoy people messing it up. Unless we believe that the change that is made will lead to a greater place. I had lunch with an 80 year old guy that has been a part of our church for as long as I've been alive (36 years).  You could say that he has a heart of gold but the look of a curmudgeon. ...

I needed some crossbars for my existing (factory) roof rack for my 2007 Chevy Uplander LT.  I went to the internet to buy some.  I had so much trouble finding any that were specifically made for my van.  So I decided to make my own.  The following are my pictures of how it all went down. I spent roughly $18 at Home Depot . 2 4ft lengths of electrical conduit 4 U-bolts 1 can black spray paint Strong drill bits The tools that I needed to have: Cordless drill Wrench (for the u-bolts) The rest is shown in the pictures.  It all looks pretty good, but I couldn't find any caps to put on the ends of the conduit.  I just grabbed some gorilla tape to seal them off.  When I was driving down the road with the ends not sealed I had a terrible whistling. Here is a link to the roof carrier that I purchased off of amazon for $50. Happy building!

So there we all were.  Well, we weren't all there.  We were all home.  Each child somewhere in the house doing something.  One on a phone.  One on a game.  One on the computer.  Occasionally they would interact.  They would rotate.  They would group up and go outside for some swimming, jumping on the trampoline, etc. And I sat there hoping we wouldn't lose this summer. Our Channel Our family will never again get a chance to live summer 2016.  The first summer with a teenager in our ranks.  The first summer with baby Wesley.  The last summer before middle school for one and the last summer before kindergarten for another.  It's a special summer.  Shouldn't we do something special? My wife and I talked about it for a few weeks.  Really, it's a conversation that is always ongoing though.  How do we "family?"  How do we create memories that will shape these kids?  How do we get everyone to bu...

So much tragedy in the news this week.  A lot of it centers around 3 very different, yet incredibly sad stories from Orlando.  Each one of the stories ends in death.  One ended in multiple deaths. Change needs to happen.  I'm sure we agree with that.  The problem with real change is that it takes a long time to come about and most of us just don't want to actually do anything helpful.  We want to get mad.  We want to use it as a platform for our own agenda or (just as bad) cash in on it either in cash, cause, or popularity.  We want to complain and blame.  I know that that is the temptation for me.  Complaining comes very naturally to me.  Helping does not.  Forgiving does not. Soon the news will find another story.  The politicians will find something else to talk about.  The world will have the Olympics and countless other stories.  If you follow the news in other countries and other continents you ...

In his book, The Effective Father, Gordon MacDonald wrote: "It is said of Boswell, the famous biographer of Samuel Johnson, that he often referred to a special day in his childhood when his father took him fishing.  The day was fixed in his mind, and he often reflected upon many things his father had taught him in the course of their fishing experience together.  After having heard of that particular excursion so often, it occurred to someone much later to check the journal that Boswell's father kept and determine what had been said about the fishing trip form the parental perspective.  Turning to that date, the reader found only one sentence entered: 'Gone fishing today with my son; a day wasted.'" I'm currently on the downslope of the most busy season I've had in my life.  I have had the opportunity to see how much I can be involved in and just how severe my own limitations are.  I have noticed that, when push comes to shove, I will shove a person out ...