Perspective

I was asked last week to give my testimony in our weekly staff meetings. When preparing for it I really didn't know what to say. I feel like my story isn't that interesting. I feel like I don't have this story that grips your heart & makes you ponder the meaning of life afterwards. It's just me. After giving my story to our staff, I was met with so much praise & amazement it blew me away. So many people said I moved them to tears in my story. Many said they couldn't believe I had been through so much. I was simply shocked when I stopped & thought about it how much I really have accomplished in my life & what I have been through. Seeing your life is a thing of perspective. It's what you put into it that you will get out. It's what you expect that you will have opportunities for. It's what you seek that you will find. Many people have called me a "complex" man in my life. Many have said I have way too many layers for a man. You know what though? At the end of the day all I can be is....well, ME! So I thought I would write out a few highlights of my story that I shared with the staff:

• I was born into a loving family with 2 present parents & 4 older sisters.
• Basketball was, is, & will continue to be a huge driving passion in life.
• I had numerous scholarships to play college basketball prior to ruining my playing career by fully tearing almost every major ligament & cartilage in my left knee.
• I ran a multi-million dollar company at the age of 19 & hired/fired people twice my age. I successfully completed a sell & consolidation of two corporations as well as provide for my parents during my Father's lengthy cancer fighting treatment.
• I was married at the age of 22 & had my first child at the age of 24.

My name is Robby David Gilliam. No one can take who I am away from me. Everything that I have gone through has made me who I am. I am who I am today through the many ups & downs that life has thrown my way. I am many things to many people. I carry a title of Husband, Friend, Brother, Son, Grandson, Dad, Coach, Sir, Director, Worship Leader, Colleague, & most of all Robby. Life is a thing of perspective. It is good if you choose to see the positive & stretching going on in your life. It is bad if you choose to look at the negative & have pity on yourself. It is boring if you choose to let life come to you instead or going after life.

What is your perspective? Where do you find your joy? If someone were to look at your life through your eyes...what would they see?

I leave this with 2 comments:

If you do not look at things on a large scale, it will be difficult to master strategy.

Leaders don't wait. They shape their own frontiers. The bigger the challenge, the greater the opportunity.

As many of you may know I have been struggling with massive ear infections for over 2 years now. They start as your typical "swimmers ear" & by the time they are done transform into the most painful inner ear infection where my ear drum feels as if it is bursting. With many at home remedies & antibiotics the infection subsides only long enough to jump to my other ear. This cycle has happened on & off for 2 years now & I finally had about enough. I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago & she was shocked & rather amazed at how my ears looked. Most people have a protective lining before your ear drum that is white & round shaped on the outside (see picture above). Mine, however, was red & purple as well as many crater looking gaps in it. My doctor was rather conserned & her assessment was either I have a degenerate disease where I will eventually lose my hearing or there is some sort of tumor there based on what she saw. She was not guessing, she was rather mater of fact & shocked I was living with this pain.

I went to see an ear specialist yesterday. I had many, many people praying for me before & during the whole appointment. Sara & I were expecting the worst & hoping for the best. After carefully looking & many "hmmm's" later, the doctor told me my ear drum is still not perfect but appears to be healing itself. It is starting to go back to normal & gave me some medication to complete the process. Whether natural or divine healing, I completely feel blessed to have escaped what could have been here. It was a painful journey & as little as a week ago the pain was almost unbearable at moments. Now...no pain. I haven't had a flair up in 7 days now & I am looking forward to a normal hearing life now!

Allison is growing so big. She is changing everyday & becoming so much fun. She is starting to talk often & wants to play whenever she is awake. She is making her Mom & Dad very proud every day!

Her precious little feet are quiet now, but soon will be walking everywhere. It changes your perspective as a parent when you think about making where you child walks a little easier then you had it. Trying to have your ceiling be their floor. Sara & I are trying to give Allison the very best & let her experience every possibility that comes to her.

Have a great weekend everyone!

See You At The Pole

Today was our annual "See you at the Pole" prayer event. This is an event that really took root about 19 years ago, encouraging our youth to arrive early to school or whatever "flag pole" they could find to pray for their school, their city, their city churches, & they nation. We meet around our fountain in the center of our quad and pray. I run our Student Council here at Western & my Council is in charge of planning all events like these. I was proud & amazed when I looked outside this morning & saw a large crowd simply praying. Students getting up early & getting to school at 7:30 opposed to 8:00 to take 30 minutes out of their morning to pray for blessings. Last year we had 30. This morning I counted 57 people in the prayer circle or standing close by joining in the prayer. Of that 57, only 2 were adults. I am blessed to be in such a great environment & I love being around kids that don't wait for change, but simply expect & demand it. Carpe Diam!

My sister, Tracy, was down last week for a visit. She currently lives in Virginia & works at a hospital back there. Thankfully she is moving back to Oregon in the next few weeks. I always enjoy my visits with Tracy & to hear all of her stories. She is definitely my most entertaining & crazy sister. I keep telling her we could make millions if we sold her story to a reality TV show. I mean you can't write the kinda stuff that happens to her. Trac is also a great Aunt & loves her nieces & nephews. She held & fed Allison for over 2 hours. It was a nice visit.

Our little stink-weed, as Sara & I affectionately call Ally, is growing so fast. She is such a happy baby & loves to be close to Mom or Dad. She is starting to learn how to play as well. She loves her little rattles & is starting to "talk" to herself. It's such an amazing journey to see your own child grow up right before your eyes. It seems like yesterday we were waiting on pins & needles for her to come.

We have compared Allison to numerous babies we have seen in the doctors office, at the grocery store, at a restaurant, or yesterday our good friend Christy Reyes stopped by with her daughter Jaeda. Jaeda is exactly a week older than Allison. It is amazing as we see Allison compared to these other babies, how big she is. Her head is double the size of all of theirs. She is much longer. Her feet are twice as big. She weighs more. As our doctor put it so eloquently: "When you have a average sized woman & a 'freakishly' large man, you never know what type of baby you will get out. It appears you have a really cute baby, but boy is she big!" I'm hoping for a 6' 5" girl. That would work for Volleyball, Golf, Basketball, or Modelling. Either way I figure my retirement is set!

Amazed

Sara & I find ourselves just staring at Allison Faith & standing in amazement at her life. It is absolutely amazing how God can take part of Sara & part of me & breath life into the joining of the cells. When we stop from the hectic pace that is our life, we can't believe that we both aided in creating such a magnificent & gorgeous girl!

Ally has become such a happy baby. She smiles often and loves to have her picture taken. I have taken so many good shots of her over the past month. I'm sure she's destined for paparatzi some day. Whether modeling or basketball I figure my retirement is set either way!

This is Master (Masterpiece). He a new addition to our family as well. He is a new addition to our family's Labradoodle business. He became part of our family as Promise is off at Aunt Terrie & Uncle Gene's house having puppies & we would have missed having a dog around. Master has become my little buddy. He follows me to work everyday & has a blast walking around the dorm & meeting all of the kids. He loves interacting with the student's & is my cuddle buddy. Between Promise & Master I could cuddle with a dog all day. However, it would only last so long as Allison & Sara get most of the snuggle time. Thus, Master is regulated to cuddling with my feet.

I took this picture last week while watching the Seahawks play a pre-season game. She watched the game for a good 10 minutes. Don't worry...I'm raising her right. She also enjoyed the Beavs game on Saturday.

Things are going extremely well for Sara, Allison & I. School has started, we have a full dorm, & things are extremely busy. However, we love all of our students & are very excited to spend the year surrounded by them. All the students love Allison & we have more babysitters then we know what to do with. Hopefully Sara & I can escape for another date soon as we are missing our married time. "Mom & Dad" time is fun, but every once in a while you have to get a much deserved break & we are looking for opportunities. This weekend we are escaping for the weekend to Sisters to see Promise & her puppies. We are then travelling to Lebanon for our sisters birthday & to spend some time with "Mouse" our Grandpa. He has recently been re-diagnosed with cancer. He beat it 4 years ago & it has now come back. We have not seen him since he has been diagnosed & we really want to spend time with him & let him & Grams see Allison. It should be a fun weekend!

Finally I just want to say...I love my wife more now then ever before. I am so blessed to get the privelage of sharing my life with such an incredible woman & my best friend.