If

If I could go back to my younger self, I would tell myself to be patient, to listen more, to try to understand the bigger picture and not be so quick to jump to conclusions or jump to the next thing… But to give situations time to grow and to move forward. 

I would tell myself that you need people, and those are gonna be more important than any accomplishment you ever make. The ones that you meet for a moment or the ones that you keep for a lifetime. I would look at myself and go “Chad, You need to really pray this through. Chad, you need to walk through this.” I think my current life over the last 4 + years has definitely been more like this. More walking through, more trying to listen, more trying to be willing and open to what God has. 

If I could tell my younger self one last thing it would be, “it’s gonna be okay. It’s okay. 

It’s okay.”

“You are good enough, you are smart enough and gosh darn it… People might just like you!”

02/15/25

clc

~ Peace

The Burtle

https://youtu.be/6ldAQ6Rh5ZI?si=f7a3Gp2G4mbRWyhV

February 14, 2025

Someday someone’s gonna recognize the man who I am. The man who loves God, struggles with life and still tries… I try. The sarcastic, witty, sensitive asshole who just loves people and wants to help. Funny thing is though, the person who needs to see that first is me. And that’s a journey that I am working through. I work on it every day.

This morning I sent an apology/thank you text to a man who I don’t know very well. We had a tense conversation several days ago and I realize that I still need to make sure that I keep my side of the street clean. That when something comes up - and I have not been the better version of me – that I own it, apologize and look to do it better next time. I hope that makes sense. This is kind of a shotgun blog written in haste as I’m heading into work. Because there’re some things on my mind.

I’m so blessed with what God has given me. So very thankful. And as I woke up at 4 AM with a super killer headache, nauseous and just pounding, I’m still trying to do the day. One step at a time. 

There’s been some new things come up that I’m praying about. Some old things that I’m letting go. All in all, it’s a beautiful chilly Friday. And maybe as most of the world is celebrating a fabricated holiday for couples made by Hallmark and candy manufacturers… I’m just so thankful that God loves me.

And I love me. Not that I don’t beat the crap out of myself sometimes - but again, progress not perfection! 

So as I looked this morning up at the stars well before sunrise, even as my head was pounding, looking Westward… I breathed and started my day. 

I have a date this evening with Drew Holcomb and his music at symphony hall. Guess that’s not the worst way to fake celebrate the day!

Thank you!

Anyone who reads this, anyone who is a part of my life. And thank you, God. For everything.

~ Peace

The Burtle

Crossing Over

There is something about crossing over, whether it be a magnificently built bridge, a natural stone path over a creek, a Red Sea, a rope bridge over a canyon or a small row boat filled with two boys out adventuring. The symbolic and the physical moving over to a place that we can’t reach without some type of help.

And while often times it’s just to get to the other side, sometimes it’s escaping the past, getting to safety on another shore, exploring a new land or even just the need to find something new in our lives.

Crossing over matters. It’s biblical, it’s philosophical, it’s damn well part of Joseph Campbell’s ‘The Hero’s Journey’. Why do I always come back to that? Because it’s life. We do have a journey. We do have this Hero inside us - and I’m not talking about Hercules or Captain America or Spider-Man like I watched with my son this last weekend. But there is a hero inside us that has to go on a journey. Otherwise we get stuck in the mud.

And the journey, it may be crossing over the river Styx, it may be to go rescue some damsel in distress, or a guy in distress - let’s be real, a lot of women are a lot stronger than some of us men! It could be to start a new life. It could be simply walking through the sadness and the hurts that still prick at times.

Regardless, we have a journey. What do you need to cross over today? What are you working towards? Is it a long drawbridge that you have to time it just right to get over, is it the rope bridge from Indiana Jones that you know the enemy is going cut as soon as they can while you’re on top of it, or is it a little dinghy that you are frantically rowing to get across to freedom… to breath, to life?

I don’t know your journey, but I hope you’re on it. I hope your feet are planted firmly in the knowledge that you can do this. That even when it gets hard, you can do this. There’s help. There’s a village around you if you want it. There’s people who do care in this world. There’s hope. It may be in your faith, it may be in a social structure, a wise teaching - but there is hope. I have to believe that. Otherwise, why are we here? Why are we here?

I hope you take that next step.

And cross over that bridge.

~ Peace

The Burtle