Why not?

This summer an amazing friend of mine did an internship as the pastor of a church.  I had the opportunity to hear him preach on two occasions, and at first I thought, am I really going to get anything out of this?  It sounds horrible that I would think that, but I've known this guy for many, many years, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  However, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard on of his sermons.  I can't remember the exact context that this was in, but he talked about the need to clean our inner selves, not just the outside.

In today's world we are so concerned with how we look, how others perceive us, what kind of hard/soft exterior we show others, etc.  but we often forget the introspective part of ourselves.  We all have baggage, some of us more then others, so what do we do with this baggage?  How do we deal with it?  How can we cleanse ourselves?  I'm not purposing to have all the answers about this, nor do I claim to be an expert at ridding the baggage of my own life, however I think I have a few ideas on this.

Inner baggage can cause a huge stress in our lives and effect our relationships with others and God.  If we are not willing to look inside ourselves and see what kind of baggage we are carrying around with us that is going to strongly effect our relationships with others.  We need to look deep inside ourselves and ask ourselves some of those deep, underlying questions that we hate to ask:  What is bothering me?  What am I really like?  Who do I want to be?  How do I do that?

We can not have an effective relationship with others if we don't truly know ourselves, too often people are afraid to look inside themselves and have a real conversation with themselves about what drives them.  If we can not be honest with ourselves, how can we be honest with others?  And if we can't be honest with others why would they want to invest time in establishing a relationship with us?  I realize I am just asking questions instead of providing answers or solutions, however I think that everyone needs to answer these questions for themselves, because I don't have the answers for you.  Everyone knows the answers to these questions if they are to be really honest with themselves, and if you can't think of answers to these questions I have just one more question for you.  Why?

Random Acts of Kindness

Today is Random Acts of Kindness day.  It's pretty crazy that we need a day like this to do random acts of kindness don't you think...however, I think that it's a good way to encourage random acts.  I remember a few years ago I was working at a Starbucks.  It was around Christmas time, and this person came in and loaded a Starbucks gift card with $100.  He then proceeded to give the card to me and said that I was to use this card for everyone after him, until the card was done.  I was floored!  Wow!  And then the man got his coffee and left!  I'll never forget some of the reactions that the following people had. They were so surprised that their lattes and coffees were going to be free!  I think it's a moment that had a huge impact on me, and I think the people that got free coffee's won't forget that experience too soon either!

Today is Random Acts of Kindness day...what are you going to do?

you know it don't you...

Holy crap it's been a month already!  Brutal...my apologies.  Soooo anyways, I want to talk about a quote that I saw recently...I love it, it's superb.  Ready?  Here it is;

"People are usually more convinced by reasons they discover by themselves than by those found by others."

-Blaise Pascal
One of the things I like about this quote is the incredible amount of truth that it brings.  Let's think about this for a minute, what are you most likely to believe?  Someone telling you facts and/or reasons, or finding them out for yourself?  I think everyone will agree that you will be more convinced of something if you find it out for yourself first hand, right?

This is just one of the beautiful things I like about mediation.  When I am mediating a case between people, the two parties are more likely to come to an agreement if they talk to each other and find out things through their conversation rather then me telling them reasons on why they should agree.  This is why a huge part of the mediator is to facilitate the conversation, ask good questions, and uncover interests.

Everyone has problem solving skills, it's a matter of them using them effectively.  Many people don't realize the skills that they do have and it's part of the mediator's job to help that person uncover those skills and to put them in action.  So if your talking to someone about a problem they have with a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, parent, or child, try asking them questions.  They know how to deal with the conflict at hand, they just need the right keys to unlock what they already know.  So before you spout off some advice for someone, ask them what they think they should do!

Get some Passion

Ok, so the last few days I've watched this video with Gary Vaynerchuck.  I had never heard of him before...but he blew me away!  The video is about 15 minutes, but once you start watching you can't stop!  He talks about two things in this video, Patience and Passion.  This is one extremely passionate man! He goes on to say that if you are 1% unhappy, it's time to get out and do something you are passionate about.  Even if that something makes less money, if you are going to be happier then it's worth it to get out.

This concept of happiness while at work has always been something big for me.  I've talked to lots of people that hate their jobs, and simply bitch about them nonstop.  I have always said to them, if your not happy with what you are doing, find something else!  Find what your passion is and go for it!  Another thing Gary addresses is a question from someone who asks, "What about getting enough money to do something?"  Gary just kind of laughs and tells the guy that even if your working 9 to 5, you come home spend some time with the family, kiss the dog, and work from 7pm-2am.  Doesn't this make sense?  If you are passionate about something wouldn't you just work on it all the time?  Put effort into it? Have a drive to succeed in it?  That's what I think.  

Another thing that I thought of while I watched this video was that we need more Christians like this.  When did we lose our passion for Christ?  Now we wuss around the topic of God and religion, we sidestep those conversations, we say do whatever you want!  I know where I'm going!  When did we become such wimps? And if your thinking right now, "I can't believe he's saying this about Christians!" Then get your head out of the sand and look around you.  I'm not proud to say, but I do it sometimes, and I'll admit sometimes I need to get some balls and address some of these things head on.  But there are many people that do this, and it shows a lack of passion, a lack of love, a lack of trust in God.  We lack a holy rage to being outspoken towards God. Think about it.  And while your thinking, read this qoute by a dude named Kaj Munk...oh and watch the video!
"What is, therefore, the task of the preacher (or the church) today?  Shall I answer: "Faith, hope and love?" That sounds beautiful.  But I would say - Courage.  No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth.  Our task today is recklessness.  For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature, we lack a holy rage."
-Kaj Munk

For Communities' Sake!

Last week I went to a Trauma conference...I know what your thinking..boring right? But actually it was quite interesting! However, that wasn't the most exciting thing that was happening there. When I first walked into the large room I found that I was not sitting with any co-workers at all...which at first I was disappointed in...I was, instead, sitting with a group of complete strangers. The cool part about it, however, was that there were people there from all different positions within the social service field. So we were able to make connections with different agencies/people in our area (geographically) which was pretty awesome. The even better part was that all these people were at this conference to serve the clientele that they support/serve. It was one giant community coming together to show support for the work that others did and learn how they can do the work that they do better!

While I was there I began thinking that we don't often do this within the church community as often as we should. Sometimes it feels that we're "competing for souls" within our communities. Should it really be this way? Obviously there are some communities that are already doing this sometimes, but not near enough of our communities are doing this. I think that too many churches are still stuck up and don't want to deal with other denominations, for whatever reason, which is depressing and truly sad. People are scared to commit to something as large and life-changing like this...why? Why are we afraid to be apart of a movement that can forever change people's lives?

I love community, and I feel that I'm lacking in it right now, mainly because I'm not actively involved in one church, however there are still other communities that I am involved in, and they truly bless my life and make it worthwhile. To be able to serve others and be served by others, truly nothing compares to the feeling! So why are we afraid to commit to being active within these communities? We say that we're busy as we flip on the TV, we make up various excuses (and we could all name 50) not to be involved in something that could potentially change our lives and the lives of people around us. I think one of the reasons is that people will truly to get to know aspects of our lives that we wish to hide from the people around us. We are frightened of showing our weaknesses and having people expose us for our faults. But how else are we supposed to grow? So get involved, be active, get off the couch, be outspoken, dare to be wrong, dare to be vulnerable!

Satan's a salesman

Ask anyone...I love a good deal...but who doesn't? However, getting a good deal can sometimes get me in trouble...for example, buying many things that I don't need and then coming home to my wife...oops!

Lately I've been thinking about the relationship between God and Satan. It's a pretty complicated relationship I think...but in order for me to think about their relationship, I first thought about who they are individually. The more I thought about it the more I think that Satan is an excellent salesman. He could easily sell cars, insurance...pretty much anything! Satan is probably the ideal salesman...he can make anything look inviting. For example...think of some of the "sins" in your life, why do you do them?

Satan needs to sell us things because that is his contribution in stalling God's kingdom. Without that constant temptation it would be a lot more joyful of a world don't you think?

take a breathe...

The other day I heard something amazing…want to know what it is? It was this line, “Every breath we take is God breathing life into us.” Isn’t that amazing? Think about how many breathes you take in a day…that’s a lot isn’t it? So every time you take one of those breathes God is breathing life into you. He’s providing you the life that you are living! Incredible don’t you think?

Everyone takes life for granted sometimes…we all are busy with our work, friends, social events…usually too busy. With this busyness we can often lose sight of the “smaller” things that are going on around us; The grass growing, the world turning, the breathes we’re breathing. When was the last time you thought about your breathing? It’s something incredibly small, but earth-shatteringly large!

We are still breathing because we have a purpose that we have not yet fulfilled. I don’t know what yours is but I think mine has to do with spreading the Word of God…I don’t always remember this purpose, and I don’t always live out this purpose…but if I think of all the times that God has breathed life into me (every day…every breath) I need to be a better lamb to my shepherd.

Sometimes I forget how important it is to breathe, it’s our survival, it’s our will to live. It’s something that we do without thinking, but if I stop to think about it, God is breathing life into us…and if God is giving us life, shouldn’t we be shouting that from the rooftops?

God gave me life today…how about you?