Living Hazzardously

Little pieces of our journey with Jesus

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The authority to destroy a boy

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My entire life has been marked by authority! Do I have authority? Do you have authority? Do they have authority? All great questions, different connotations, but all around authority… but what is authority? How do we get it? Maintain it? Give it? 

The definition of authority is :

The power or right to give orders, make decisions, enforce obedience. A person or organization having power or control in a particular, typically political or administrative, sphere.

The power of yielding to authority or the power of wielding true authority is the only thing that gives authority any value. This is a difficult balance for the person with authority, because with authority comes power, with greater authority comes greater power… power corrupts and greater power corrupts greater… So does authority mean corruption? This is where I want to park today… authority that is used improperly. 

When I was a child in school, I got my grades on a card every semester. I would need to bring that card home, have a parent sign off that they saw it and bring it back. But whose authority was it if I refused? May father? He would have beaten me first and then asked questions… my mother? She was hooked on pain killers this year and she wasn’t really in touch with the world… myself? Yes, there it was, I somehow needed to take charge and figure out a way to get a signature without getting a beating…. I was too young for that authority… so I lost that report card, I made the school redo that report card and things went much better…

You see, the words on that report card from one music teacher would have driven my father into a rage and I would have once again been beaten with a wire coat hanger, I knew if he saw what she wrote about me, my underwear would surely have been stuck to my backside with the bloody stripes of a wire coat hanger, and the next step would be going into the laundry tub to soak the underwear off those bloody stripes in order to use the toilet. So what were those fateful words from a seventh grade music teacher? 

Let’s back up a year, the year was my 6th grade, a summer that changed me forever, my neighbor molested me, my grandfather died, my mother was hooked on pills and I entered JR High. My first 6 grades were in a private school, Immanuel Lutheran Grade School. I was a custodian’s assistant and played basketball. Everything was going fine! I started 7th grade, got picked on, got in typical Jr High fights and was awarded a 2 year all expense paid scholarship at the UofM… tuition, fees, books and housing (I never went to college, that scholarship was wasted) so back to my music teacher. What could be so bad on a report card? Well, I kept that report card, I never actually lost it and I still have it today as a reminder that words can cause more damage than a knife.

 “Charlie is not much use to us!”… 

Those words set me on a path of self destruction and eventually led me to be the man I am today, no regerts! (intentionally misspelled). I remember those words almost as clearly as the words my father spoke with colorful expletives… He exclaimed “you (meaning me) are the worst thing that ever happened to me (meaning me)” of course that’s not the actual quote, it contained many words that should never see the light of day in my blog, but the intent is fully understood when I clasp that phrase in quotes for you.

Back to authority, today God has given me authority in many areas of life: My family. My business. Sam’s Place. Operating our farm… and so much more. But with authority comes responsibility, and with great authority comes great responsibility… that responsibility should never be taken lightly, for we will all be judged by God on what we have done with what has been given to us, as stewards, because in reality, it’s not our authority, it’s Gods!

So this day, remember this, if you are given authority over twenty dollars, and you use it to cause harm to yourself or others… you will not escape the responsibility of that authority. One day I will answer for my actions and I have a shield to protect me from what I have done and what I deserve… That comes with the responsibility of surrendering not just my failures, but also my success… because I can do nothing good apart from HIM who saved me! So give praise where it is due, and not to men, for nothing good has ever been done aside from the father ordaining that good to happen. Nothing good has ever been done in Charlie’s name, except that God has done it though me.

What are you going to do today that is honorable, good and delightful in Gods eyes?

C.

The despair that comes from strength.

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When I am strong, I fail, when I am weak, I am strong!

God gave me a strong body, that body is definitely breaking down and starting to fail… The morning pains associated with waking up. The knee that needs injections. The hands that once turned oil filters. The shoulders that pop and crackle. The eyes that once saw clearly. It’s no lie that youth is wasted on the young.

 If I knew then, what I know now, I would not be the man I am. Instead, I would be a different man that does not know what I know now.

One life lesson I am still learning is trusting God to always do what is good and right! 

About two weeks ago Jess and I hit a bump in the road with a situation at Sam’s Place. I wont get into the details, but it discouraged us greatly… We started to question the WHAT, WHY, WHEN, and HOW… Looking into all our alternatives, questioning God himself, asking God… are we hearing your voice? Is this still what you are asking of us? And then, three days ago… I sent Jess this text:

 “Do you think our discouragement about Sam’s Place is because it’s a satanic attack?”

Low and behold, My asking that question has changed our hearts almost overnight. The situation changed dramatically, we got some news that helped us to realize God is still bigger than our issues… God let us know we had been operating in our own strength and we needed to pray more and lean on him more, and so… reclining back, into his arms, we now step forward with his strength.

I am indestructible, unstoppable and in control! Until God destroys my plans, stops me in my tracks and removes me from the operators panel of my life… Jesus regains the lead and I once again, I get out of the driver’s seat, taking my proper place as the tour guide, on the bus that Jesus is driving.  Jesus determines why, where, when and how that bus is operated and I simply tell others about what is outside the  windows of that wonderful tour bus. 

Its difficult to be given the role of “leader” in the Hazzard family tree… Hazzard men are strong, fearless, determined and focused, that leads to being the most important person on the planet! Imagine being so strong that you become blind to restraint! I was once told… “Manly strength is the power to do so much, yet restraining that power for the good of everyone but yourself”… self sacrifice for the good of others? BUT I LIKE TO TAKE CARE OF ME! Like the great words of agent Smith…

ME, ME, and also ME!

How easily I can turn from God and lean on my own understanding, forsaking the words of Jesus “I will never leave you or forsake you” 

How quickly I forget that Jesus has mended my broken heart, held tight the ropes of unbelief, lifted me out of the sewage in my very own Kidron Valley. 

Jess and I are on track again, the unstoppable team with the unstoppable dream. Now, I start playing in a new arena… FUNDRAISING. I know, this is the part that makes you want to avoid me. Do you remember playing “hide and seek”? I was excellent at finding others, not so good at hiding, so, with no further ado… “ready or not, here I come” I am coming in strong. Like it or not, I’m comin in hot. I am asking for donations, and I have God on my side! Or should I say, I am on GOD’S side? 

Today I officially started the unofficial fundraising at Sam’s Place! What are the goals we have to achieve:

Adding Air conditioning for our residents’ comfort during the hot times of the year.

Adding an elevator

Replacing the ramp that meets ADA for our residents safety. 

Updating the kitchen.

Exterior upgrades like paint & awnings.

A van to help residents get to appointments. 

Pavilion for smoking. Away from the building. 

Operational costs of programs that integrate community involvement.

Upgrade our security system.

AND SO MUCH MORE!

Visit us today on the web and contact us. Help us make a home for someone in need.

Welcome to the Sam’s Place family located in the great north woods of Minnesota:

Sam’s Place

200 Huskie Blvd

c/o PO Box 313

Bigfork, MN 56628

218-256-9154

samsplacebf@gmail.com

https://www.samsplacenorth.com

https://www.facebook.com/p/Sams-Place-61559249289857

Thank you, Charlie.

Success in failure

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As we sat deep in the woods overlooking the ravine, a twig snaps, leaves crunch and out steps the largest buck I have ever seen, It had to score around 350, perfectly balanced and a body that easily hit 290 lbs. The most majestic buck I have ever seen! I coached my son: as we gazed upon the monster… “slowly” I whispered. He slowly raised his shotgun filled with a finely tuned sabot round, dead eye! Can’t miss! Once in a lifetime! Taking Aim, he breathes in, holds for a moment and slowly releases his breath… his first ever White tail is about to drop on the spot. He gently squeezed the trigger, not jerking a bit, steady and true, just like we practiced. And then in an instance, it’s over, I woke up in the comfort of my bed realizing it was a dream. I never had the opportunity to watch my sons succeed in deer hunting, at least not like in my dream. 

Years later I sit and remember the feeling they shared as they all found success in failure. Learning how to fail is a much better lesson than dropping the big one first time out. Failure is by far a better way to learn than success. But sometimes we need a little success to have the motivation to fail. I remember my first time hunting, I was 18, in winter Wisconsin. So many good and bad things about that trip. Rolled a friend’s fathers truck, over drinking and shot a monster 12 point… I still have that mount. Never a day goes by where I don’t see that mount and remember the person I was, and the things I did… Success? Perhaps… Failure? MOST CERTAINLY!!  

I don’t dwell on my mistakes like I used to, after all, that was 40 years ago. I have grown a lot from that fate filled day. I respect people more and I don’t drink or do drugs anymore… Instead, I have turned my life over to doing GOD’S will and not my own… ohh I’m still in there, waiting to screw things up and learn a new or previously learned lesson… there is no end to my failures, but I look at things different now, I can see the hand of God leading me, and when I let go of that hand, I can hear the still calm voice of my Lord say: “Charlie, I am” and once again I reach out to the everlasting Father that has kept me alive to this day. 

My life? HA, I’m on borrowed time! I think back to the movies of a man that gives his life to servanthood because another man saved his life. So now, he gives his life to serving that man in a debt of gratitude.  A debt he can not repay! Debts we can not actually conceive in its fullness. A debt I gladly turn over to serve the one that saved me… and yet, we forget!

Eventually these three boys learned to love hunting and found success on their own timeline, and learned the lessons they needed to learn. Years later Sam and Al joined my family… The only one I never got to share in hunting success was Sam… we went out a few times but I don’t think he was ever truly interested in woodsy stuff. I took Al out hunting porcupines one year. He was successful in how he stood there as I pulled the trigger, no flinching, screaming and no freaking out. I kept him focused on the object and he found success in my pulling the trigger… incase You don’t know, balloon pops are Als biggest phobia, and it’s a major deal to have him out hunting. 

I am thankful God has a use for me. That keeps me motivated! Much like the success he gave me in hunting for the first time. In this, I could teach life lessons to 5 boys, and many more if we count Boy Scouts. I wonder how all my Boys Scouts are doing today, are they successful because of my failures? I sure hope so!!

Have a blessed day today, tomorrow I bring 5 fat hogs into the slaughter house to be processed into food for our family and friends. I STILL HAVE A HOG IF YOU ARE INTERESTED.

God Bless, Charlie.