POSTS

Nothing else matters but the Gospel

This weekend I had the privilege to attend a conference at church. It’s aim was to get men to focus on God. To stop being fence straddlers and live for Jesus. Part of me was dreading it earlier in the week, and another part of me was encouraged. It was exactly what I needed in this busy time of my life.

Time for a confession: I imagine some of you may be like me. You’ve come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but you’ve gotten busy due to life and compartmentalized Jesus away. I’ll give Jesus this day or that relationship, but not my work friends. Or I’ll give Jesus this money, but that side income shouldn’t count for tithe because I want a new xyz.  I’ll work on developing this relationship because it’s easier than reaching out to new people. I can flirt with this sin because I can handle it unlike others. I can act one way with one group of friends but pretend God doesn’t exist with another group of friends. And on and on it goes. We rationalize it away in our mind.

Project Sunken Treasure

You probably didn’t notice or care. But this site has been down since August 22nd. That’s 8 weeks to the day.  That was a rough day as I woke up to 8 inches of water in my basement.

I learned a few lessons that day. Here are a few of them.

1. Don’t store your computer tower on the floor.
2. Don’t put your hard drive in the lowest bay in your computer tower.
3. Your backups of your computer files should not be on the computer next to your tower.  (I wasn’t quite at the 3 - 2 - 1 backup rule.)
4. You’d be surprised how much junk you store in your basement that you don’t need.
5. Throwing away your stuff is emotional. (It was my junk!)
6. Thank God for insurance.

So despite that major setback in life, things have been crazy busy and the world drives on.

Meet Benjamin Joshua!

On Friday January 27th, 2017 at 12:32am, My 4th child was born. Benjamin Joshua Creason. He is a pretty cool little kid and he is doing well. Both him and mom are back at home and settling  in nicely. Here are a few pics.

As many people know, I like to keep the names of my children a secret until they are born. This is usually for a few different reasons. Mostly its just fun and adds to the excitement.  For our 4th child, we chose to honor some soldiers with the naming  of our son. Here is the meaning behind his name.

Goals

So it’s a new year. Which means a new round of goals. No, not silly resolutions that you don’t take seriously. It’s time for you to sit down and spend a few minutes (if not hours or days) and think about what you want to achieve and what you actually can achieve.  Here are the guidelines I used for last year and this year.

• Your goals must be specific.
• Your goals must be measurable.
• Your goals must have a time limit.
• Your goals must be your own.
• Your goals must be in writing.

I used the following categories and tried not to put more than 5 or 6 goals in each category.

2016 Movies!

So we all love movies.

Here are my top 10 movies of 2016, my top movie awards, and a few honorable mentions.

Note: This is of all the movies that I saw in 2016. There are plenty I didn’t get to see yet that would probably make the list, but life is busy.

Top Ten Movies of 2016!

1.  Rouge One
2.  Free State of Jones
3.  Eye in the Sky
4.   13 Hours
5.  Hacksaw Ridge
6.  Captain America: Civil War
7.  Money Monster
8.  Nerve
9.  Deepwater Horizon
10. Zootopia

Derek’s Best awards! Best Action: 13 Hours Best Drama: Free State of Jones Best Comedy: Zoolander 2 Best Horror: Purge: Election Year Best Sci-fi: Rogue One Best Kids: Zootopia

Money

So after a few blogs on politics, let’s change gears. Let’s talk about money. Something everybody knows something about. Everyone has an opinion. Many people don’t want to deal with it or understand it. But just like knowing how to change a flat tire, or change your oil, if you have some basic knowledge you can be ready to deal with pop-up emergencies and keep your money working for you like a well-maintained engine. Ok. Enough car analogies.

Why I'm still #NeverTrump

I just re-read my blog post from back in July and it still rings true now more than ever in my opinion. I feel obliged to give one last written update on my feelings regarding the election before it’s finally all over and we can go back to normal life (if there is such a thing) in just a few short weeks. If only just to address some of the sad themes that keep recurring.

Think and (Vote) for Yourself

I generally don’t care for politics that much. But it’s the season for it, so let me take the opportunity to articulate some of the conclusions I’ve come to.

I’m disappointed in all of the presidential candidates. They all have flaws. Some of them very major ones. I’ll get to more of that later.

First, lets start with some background on myself. Living in Missouri, I’m not required to register with one specific party affiliation regarding voting. In primaries, I can walk in and pick a ballot of any party and then vote on candidates. I guess I would have considered myself an independent Republican. I’m independently minded, and tended to lean towards issues first, then generic Republican support second usually in the name of “voting for the lesser of two evils.” I can’t say this strategy has worked well or that I’m proud of it.

Soldier Suicides

Today I had the displeasure of attending another funeral of a soldier in my unit that committed suicide. That’s the 2nd one in less than a year. Honestly, it’s an awful experience. If I never have to watch another mother bawl her eyes out for her child that is gone while hearing taps, I’d be ok with that. Sadly, I’m afraid it won’t be the last time I will have to go through this. As hard as it is for me and my fellow soldiers who were his friends, I can’t imagine what sorrow and pain the family is going through. I pray they will find comfort in this awful season of their lives.

Writing More Better (Often)

I keep mentioning the idea of wanting to write more. I definitely feel that I have things I can contribute to the world. Some of that is through writing. I’m a creative person naturally and love to create ideas, videos, music, etc. I tend to hesitate to create because it involves putting your ideas out there and waiting to see if people like/understand/approve of it. This fear and hesitation has held me back quite often from putting my creative things out into the world. So I’m working to overcome this and start creating more. I’m moving towards the attitude of not caring about your opinion of my work. If you like it, great! Share it, comment on it, etc. If you don’t like it, that’s ok too. When you create passionately, you are going to get people who don’t care for your work, don’t like it, don’t agree with it, etc. But at least you are being authentic to the creative process.