For my entire candy eating career, I’ve pretty much had an affinity toward confections of the “gummy” variety. I like to buy them buy the pound in tourist trap candy shops so I can put 1 or 2 of every shape and size into my bag. It’s funny how the shapes really do matter and when it all comes down to it, it’s all about the bears. They provide a the chewy gummyness but also provide the bite that goes along with a small morsel.

Anyhow….

Any respectable gummy ninja like myself knows that while all gummys reside in the world of delicious, the is one company that makes the very best…

HARIBO GUMMY BEARS are different and better than the rest for several reasons.

a) They are slightly tougher, providing a better bite. I like to let other varieties sit out for a day or two so they bring a similar bite with them.

b) They other guys provide subtle flavor differences between colors while Haribo Bears have very distinct flavors from one to another.

c) The clear ones are pretty much unique to Haribo and they rock. I don’t even know what flavor they are but it’s awesome.

Anyhow…

I like to scan the candy isle at CVS when I run in to grab this or that because…well, they have a really good candy isle. Recently I spotted these candies called “Brixx” I had a sweet tooth when I bought them so I tore into the bag before I got to the car and had the bag polished off before I made it the 3 miles home. They were seriously among the finest candies of the sweet / chewy / tart variety that I’ve ever had. They are pretty much little dice sized bricks of the same-ish material that those red shoe lace candies are made of….like a sourpatch kid with only about 65 percent of the sour and not so much sugar on the outside.

I’ve only seen them at the CVS on Discoll in Fremont CA but I’m sure they are elsewhere. Deffinately an item to put on your radar if you love the gummy / sour / sweet / chewy types of candies.

 

Elijah Truman is my Son. In this picture, he is once again reminding me that I need not take life so seriously. A few weeks ago, I had to fly to Chicago for a meeting so I decided to bring the little man along so he could spend some time with gramma and pa. He was so very excited to be on this journey with me that at first it seemed that he forgot to bring his mischievous self along on the trip. We departed from Oakland. He was very serious…as was I. We both had a lot on our minds. He was peering out the glass terminal, anxiously waiting for the “rocket ship” and I was rehearsing in my head the ten thousand reasons why my dear client should place substantially all their print-eggs in our basket. We boarded the plane and mostly kept to ourselves, he in his world and me in mine. Once we got going though, the stir craziness set in for both of us and we enjoyed a 4 hour case of the “silly willy’s” we laughed and tickled each other, we watched Toy Story, we read stories, we made weird noises, we kicked the seat in front of us a hundred thousand times, we drank tons of apple juice, we prayed for mommy, we kicked the guy in front of us some more…and then we (he) fell asleep. 45 minutes after that we arrived at Midway. While we were waiting for our bags, I began getting my serious “game face” on. I mean, I had to manage the little man, identify and grab our bags, coordinate our pick up with gramma and pa, call Rebecca to let her know we were alive, call my boss to let him know I was in town and ready to rock, urinate, change a diaper, administer a time out, and probably 3 or 4 other things I can’t remember….it was serious time.

Anyhow….Once we made our way to the baggage claim, I quickly identified one of our 3 bags. I muscled in and grabbed it and set it down. I asked Eli to watch it for me so I could focus on getting the other 2. He immediately saw an opportunity to lighten the mood. He went over to the bag and laid down next to it. Before he even made his next move he started laughing uncontrollably. Then he reached up and grabbed the bag and pulled in on top of himself and started laughing and hollering so loud that people were watching and laughing hysterically. This of coarse caused him to go into full show boat mode and lead into a full rendition of all his current animal sounds at the top of his lungs. I couldn’t help but be as proud as I’d ever been of him. Once again, he leveraged his gift of humor and levity to bless those around him. Stay tuned, I believe he is the real deal…

I have a distant cousin named Terry. Terry and I had the good fortune of spending some time together several months ago and we connected deeply on several levels. He and I are like-minded in several ways and I imagine this blog will include a multitude of insights I pick up from him as time goes on.

 

The first has to do with seeing the future…

I reached out to Terry this week to let him know how things were going and to let him know about some new developments in my life. He encouraged me greatly, and took some special time to talk to me about seeing the future.

He started by saying…”John, belief enables us to see the future before it comes to pass.”

Terry is one of those guys that has the abillity to shock you with profound statements like this but before I could even develop a skeptical thought, he began reminding me of 1 Samual 17…David and Goliath.

Please take a moment to read the account….

1 Samuel 17 (The Message)

1 Samuel 17

Goliath

^1-3 The Philistines drew up their troops for battle. They deployed them at Socoh in Judah, and set up camp between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. Saul and the Israelites came together, camped at Oak Valley, and spread out their troops in battle readiness for the Philistines. The Philistines were on one hill, the Israelites on the opposing hill, with the valley between them.

^4-7 A giant nearly ten feet tall stepped out from the Philistine line into the open, Goliath from Gath. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was dressed in armor—126 pounds of it! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail—the spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds. His shield bearer walked ahead of him.

^8-10 Goliath stood there and called out to the Israelite troops, “Why bother using your whole army? Am I not Philistine enough for you? And you’re all committed to Saul, aren’t you? So pick your best fighter and pit him against me. If he gets the upper hand and kills me, the Philistines will all become your slaves. But if I get the upper hand and kill him, you’ll all become our slaves and serve us. I challenge the troops of Israel this day. Give me a man. Let us fight it out together!”

¹¹ When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope.

^12-15 Enter David. He was the son of Jesse the Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse, the father of eight sons, was himself too old to join Saul’s army. Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the three sons who had joined up with Saul were Eliab, the firstborn; next, Abinadab; and third, Shammah. David was the youngest son. While his three oldest brothers went to war with Saul, David went back and forth from attending to Saul to tending his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

¹⁶ Each morning and evening for forty days, Goliath took his stand and made his speech.

^17-19 One day, Jesse told David his son, “Take this sack of cracked wheat and these ten loaves of bread and run them down to your brothers in the camp. And take these ten wedges of cheese to the captain of their division. Check in on your brothers to see whether they are getting along all right, and let me know how they’re doing—Saul and your brothers, and all the Israelites in their war with the Philistines in the Oak Valley.”

^20-23 David was up at the crack of dawn and, having arranged for someone to tend his flock, took the food and was on his way just as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the army was moving into battle formation, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines moved into position, facing each other, battle-ready. David left his bundles of food in the care of a sentry, ran to the troops who were deployed, and greeted his brothers. While they were talking together, the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, stepped out from the front lines of the Philistines, and gave his usual challenge. David heard him.

^24-25 The Israelites, to a man, fell back the moment they saw the giant— totally frightened. The talk among the troops was, “Have you ever seen anything like this, this man openly and defiantly challenging Israel? The man who kills the giant will have it made. The king will give him a huge reward, offer his daughter as a bride, and give his entire family a free ride.”

Five Smooth Stones

²⁶ David, who was talking to the men standing around him, asked, “What’s in it for the man who kills that Philistine and gets rid of this ugly blot on Israel’s honor? Who does he think he is, anyway, this uncircumcised Philistine, taunting the armies of God-Alive?”

²⁷ They told him what everyone was saying about what the king would do for the man who killed the Philistine.

²⁸ Eliab, his older brother, heard David fraternizing with the men and lost his temper: “What are you doing here! Why aren’t you minding your own business, tending that scrawny flock of sheep? I know what you’re up to. You’ve come down here to see the sights, hoping for a ringside seat at a bloody battle!”

^29-30 “What is it with you?” replied David. “All I did was ask a question.” Ignoring his brother, he turned to someone else, asked the same question, and got the same answer as before.

³¹ The things David was saying were picked up and reported to Saul. Saul sent for him.

³² “Master,” said David, “don’t give up hope. I’m ready to go and fight this Philistine.”

³³ Saul answered David, “You can’t go and fight this Philistine. You’re too young and inexperienced—and he’s been at this fighting business since before you were born.”

^34-37 David said, “I’ve been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I’d go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I’d grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it. Lion or bear, it made no difference—I killed it. And I’ll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive. God, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will deliver me from this Philistine.”

Saul said, “Go. And God help you!”

^38-39 Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge.

David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.

⁴⁰ Then David took his shepherd’s staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath.

^41-42 As the Philistine paced back and forth, his shield bearer in front of him, he noticed David. He took one look down on him and sneered—a mere youngster, apple-cheeked and peach-fuzzed.

⁴³ The Philistine ridiculed David. “Am I a dog that you come after me with a stick?” And he cursed him by his gods.

⁴⁴ “Come on,” said the Philistine. “I’ll make roadkill of you for the buzzards. I’ll turn you into a tasty morsel for the field mice.”

^45-47 David answered, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!”

^48-49 That roused the Philistine, and he started toward David. David took off from the front line, running toward the Philistine. David reached into his pocket for a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine hard in the forehead, embedding the stone deeply. The Philistine crashed, facedown in the dirt.

⁵⁰ That’s how David beat the Philistine—with a sling and a stone. He hit him and killed him. No sword for David!

⁵¹ Then David ran up to the Philistine and stood over him, pulled the giant’s sword from its sheath, and finished the job by cutting off his head. When the Philistines saw that their great champion was dead, they scattered, running for their lives.

^52-54 The men of Israel and Judah were up on their feet, shouting! They chased the Philistines all the way to the outskirts of Gath and the gates of Ekron. Wounded Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road all the way to Gath and Ekron. After chasing the Philistines, the Israelites came back and looted their camp. David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem. But the giant’s weapons he placed in his own tent.
⁵⁵ When Saul saw David go out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Tell me about this young man’s family.”

Abner said, “For the life of me, O King, I don’t know.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Well, find out the lineage of this raw youth.”

⁵⁷ As soon as David came back from killing the Philistine, Abner brought him, the Philistine’s head still in his hand, straight to Saul.

⁵⁸ Saul asked him, “Young man, whose son are you?”

“I’m the son of your servant Jesse,” said David, “the one who lives in Bethlehem.”

 

 

WOW…

As you can see, David had a clear vision of what Goliath was in for by taunting the the people of “God Alive”. David didn’t need to pray or contemplate or plan…he could see Goliath hitting the ground from the get go.

 

Terry is right…As we approach life in light of the greatness of God, we are able to see victory plain as day before it ever happens.

What is your giant? What’s the thing you have been shuttering at the sight of for way too long?

Infuse belief into your nightmares and watch them become sweet dreams….and then realities.

PS: I know this was a long post, I’ll be more considerate in the future but I thought it was an insight worth sharing without edit:)

 

A couple weeks ago I was made aware of a lunch truck that roams the Bay Area serving Lobster Rolls and Chowder. I’m a sucker for rolling kitchens and shellfish sandwiches so I got excited….so excited that I invited about 40 people to join me on a delicious field trip. A good number of my friends, clients and prospects indicated they were going to come so I decided to post up in front of the truck for their entire 3 hour stay in the east bay parking lot.

I pulled in and saw the crowds gathering. People were smiling and counting their money while waiting for the glorious arrival of the chowdermobile.It’s funny how niche cuisines evoke storytelling. The soon to be patrons were gitty and chatty, sharing their Lobster Roll experiences and testifying to the superiority of the little shack THEY found in nowheres-ville New England.We all waited….and waited…and waited. Finally, my cell phone made it’s wretched sound, indicating that I had a message. My heart sank as I read the twitter feed….

“Sorry Fremont, not able to make it today, Tsunami washed out the pier and we couldn’t load the truck!…cu next time!”

This is a problem…

The mood changed quickly and I went into damage control mode as I pounded out a group email to everyone I had invited letting them know of the bad news. By the time I raised my head, I realized a few of my cohorts had already come too far to turn back so a small group of us found our way to a Mexican lunch truck down the street and enjoyed a nice lunch in the sun.

It’s strangely fitting that my experience would be thwarted by the Tsunami I had spent far too little time thinking about until that moment.

This strike out set me on a mission though, to catch up with this crustacean cruiser in short order….

I’m happy to report that our calendars collided today in Palo Alto as I had a 1st am appointment about 2 miles from the chowdermobile lunch rendezvous. I spent some time with a client and then worked from a coffee shop as I waited for the arrival.

It was remarkable….

It’s funny…

I’ve thought long and hard about what I might post about when I finally decided to begin the journey that is blogging. Now that I sit in front of my screen, and my blank page, it’s clear that this is going to be an evolution. Homeruns are for those that have practiced and exercised and I’ve done neither as it relates to sharing my thoughts and experiences with you.

The blog is called faith…family…food…etc in that order because those words loosely represent my areas of passion…in that order.

Faith and Family deserve better than my best blogging so I’ll begin with food and let things develop as they ought, over time.

I hope my thoughts warm you belly, your brain and your heart moving forward.