BRAD DOLL

Spring

2014-06-21T07:07:00.000-04:00

A lily among thorns, that is what you are;

a captivating beauty among women.

You have taken my heart hostage, my beloved, my bride;

you have stolen it with one glance,

captured it with a single strand of your hair.

How satisfying is your love, my beloved, my bride!

Your love is more pleasing than the finest food,

your friendship more fragrant than costly perfume!

Your lips taste sweet like honey off the comb, my bride;

milk and honey are beneath your tongue.

The scent of your nearness is like the freshness of spring.

I have set you as a seal over my heart, my bride;

I display your companionship as an emblem on my arm.

Our love is stronger than death,

our togetherness, more relentless than the grave.

Our love flares up like a blazing fire, a very ardent flame.

No amount of water can quench it;

a raging flood cannot drown it out.

If all the wealth of the world were offered in exchange for our love,

It would be utterly insufficient.

So arise my dearest, my beauty, my bride, my love,

and come away with me.

The flowers are unfolding in the fields;

the birds are warming up their songs.

Let us return to the spring of our love.

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Written for Tammy Doll by her husband, Brad, on the Occasion of our 23^rd Wedding Anniversary 6-22-14

Treasures Hidden in the Darkness

2012-08-31T11:05:00.001-04:00

If you are stumbling in a dark night of your soul feeling like there is no hope, open the eyes of your heart to God and let Him show you His treasures hidden in the darkness....

I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.

I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—
secret riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.

(Isaiah 45:6b-7, 45:3, NLT)

Fail Your Way to Success

2012-04-12T03:08:00.000-04:00

You must fail in order to succeed. Approximately 1 in 10 new business ventures make it. So get your 9 failures out of the way asap!

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Posted by Brad Doll on April 12, 2012

To Voluntary Fathers of Broken Children Not Their Own

2011-06-19T11:34:00.000-04:00

Happy Father's Day to all of the men out there - like my dear Uncle Jim Dvorak - who voluntarily assume the role of father for broken children not their own, love them as if they are their own, heal their wounds, give them wings, and then celebrate as they fly away to better, more beautiful destinies because of another father's love. I love you with all of my heart, Uncle Jim. You are the finest example of a father I have ever been privileged to know. If I am half the father to my kids that you were to me, then they will be blessed children, indeed.

Death. Burial. Resurrection. LIFE.

2011-04-24T04:51:00.004-04:00

I worshipped at the altar of education.
Death.

I worshipped at the altar of science.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of ambition.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of money.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of power.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of success.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of popularity.

Death.
I worshipped at the altar of pleasure.
Death.
I worshipped at the altar of fun.
Death.

I worshipped at the altar of philanthropy.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of charity.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of kindness.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of altruism.

Death.

No matter what I did.

Death.

No matter whom I knew.

Death.

No matter where I turned.

Death.

Undeniable.

Death.

Inconsolable.

Death.

Un-conquerable.

Death.

Incurable.

Death.

No purpose.

Death.

No hope.

Death.

No solution.

Death.

No escape.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of Jesus.

Death.

I worshipped at the altar of Jesus.

Burial.

I worshipped at the altar of Jesus.

Resurrection.

I worship at the altar of Jesus.

LIFE.

I like this new altar.

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Written by Brad Doll on Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011

MY FAVORITE QUOTES

2010-10-08T01:30:00.001-04:00

"The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose." - Hadia Bejar

"Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand." - Augustine

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble." - Helen Keller

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"To be honest, in life, I have failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success." Jerry Maguire

"When the illusion of control disappears, we become men and women of prayer." – Rick Warren

“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard

In a profile, Scott Boras, widely regarded as the most powerful agent in professional baseball, describes a dinner with one of his mentors after a record-breaking contract: “He said that if you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative. Keep your head on straight, don’t get emotional, take the heat, and just make sure your clients are smiling.”

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled
as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying to self
that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen." – St. Francis of Assisi

"There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit."

"What good is it going to do you if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?" – Jesus in Mark 8:36

"We can do no great thing, only small things with great love." – Mother Teresa

"I do not at all understand the mystery of grace--only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us." – Anne Lamott

"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." – David O. McKay

"Friends are the family we choose for ourselves."

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." – Helen Keller

MY ROSE

2010-05-09T02:21:00.001-04:00

I once picked a rose and the sun shook my hand,

Crystal clear dew saluted from petallic stand,

Insects sang a harmonious tune: Farewell to the Setting Moon,

While birds lullabied, I . . . cried.

Tears of joy, I cried, of joy and sorrow,

Of past and present, of day and morrow.

Rare is the beauty which rouses them both.

The line which divides our deepest emotions need not be large,

Nay, but as the sand separates earth from oceans,

Rare is the beauty which rouses them both.

When I kiss my rose, I understand,

Why teardrops fall, what God has planned.

Together our minds are a harmonious tune,

And every moment, a honeymoon.

And listen, as I may, to love’s lullaby,

Of joy and sorrow, past and present, day and morrow,

I . . . cry.

Rare is the beauty which rouses them both.

Rare is your beauty, Tammy, my rose.

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Written for Tammy Doll by her husband, Brad

LITTLE ANNIE

2010-02-23T20:52:00.001-05:00

At the turn of the twentieth century, there was an asylum in the suburbs of Boston which dealt with severely mentally retarded and disturbed individuals. One of the patients was a girl who was simply called Little Annie. She was totally unresponsive to others. The staff tried everything they could to help her, yet without success. Finally, she was confined to a cell in the basement and given up as hopeless.

A beautiful Christian woman worked at the asylum who believed that every one of God’s creatures needed love, concern and care. So she decided to spend her lunch hours in front of Little Annie’s cell reading to her and praying that God would free her from her prison of silence. Day after day, the Christian woman came to Little Annie’s door and read, but the little girl made no response. Months went by. The woman tried to talk with Little Annie, but it was like talking to an empty cell.

She brought little tokens of food for the girl, but they were never received. Then one day, a brownie was missing from the plate. Encouraged, she continued to read to and pray for her. Eventually the little girl began to answer the woman through the bars of her cell. The woman soon convinced the doctors that Little Annie needed a second chance at treatment. They brought her from the basement and continued to work with her. Within two years, that little girl was told that she could leave and enjoy a normal life.

She chose not to leave. She was so grateful for the love and attention she was given by the dedicated Christian woman that she decided to stay and love others as she had been loved. Little Annie stayed on at the institution to work with other patients who were suffering as she had suffered.

Nearly half a century later, the Queen of England held a special ceremony to honor one of America’s most inspiring women, Helen Keller. When asked to what she would attribute her success at overcoming the dual handicap of blindness and deafness, Helen Keller replied, “If it hadn’t been for Ann Sullivan, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Ann Sullivan, who tenaciously loved and believed in an incorrigible blind and deaf girl named Helen Keller, was Little Annie. Because one selfless Christian woman in the dungeon of an insane asylum believed that a hopeless little girl needed God’s love, the world received the marvelous gift of Helen Keller.

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Author unknown.

I Wish You My Kind of Success

2010-01-14T22:46:00.001-05:00

"To be honest, in life, I have failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success." Jerry Maguire

When God sends you a soul mate, it's an amazing thing. That's what Tammy is. My soul mate. My best friend. My lover. The wife of my children. The heart of our home. Master chef. Photographer. Filmmaker. Graphic designer. Home decorator. Event planner. Volunteer. Lover of God. Church devotee. One who still honors her parents. Believer in dreams. Romantic. Never say die. Don't give up. My biggest champion. She is nothing less than the physical embodiment of everything that is meaningful and important to me. I thank God for sending her to me because I didn't know what it meant to live until I looked into her eyes on the altar of Franklin Baptist Church on June 22, 1991 and promised her that I would love and cherish her until the day I die.

Here's the cool thing I've learned since then. When you love your wife, it's easy to love your life. And when you love your wife and you love your life, you have discovered what it means to be truly successful. Turns out, Jerry Maguire was right.

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Written by Brad Doll