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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Offences

Sometimes, I hate being around other people. They sit on their little thrones. If you hurt their pride or attack something they believe, they become angry. By the way, I'm one of the most guilty of this act.

Then, at the same time I tend to be someone who wants to please others. I want others to be happy. I don't want people to go away angry. But, it's so much work.

In our culture of people who are raised by media and culture to become angry if their food is cold when it's served (and it's supposed to be hot.) They become flustered if you tell them something isn't going to go their way. $5.00 is a life or death issue for them.

To be honest, it can end up driving me crazy. You go to church and with most people it seems like you have to tread around them with a 10 foot pole feeling like if you say something wrong they'll get up and leave. And, that's our culture. We've been trained because of good return policies and good customer service and lots of beautifully built malls and the so many other things God has blessed us with to be whiny and ungrateful people. You get offended or turned off, well then move on to the next product, or church, or friends, etc.

And, by no means do I not struggle with these things as well...

It comes down to how much you love other people and how much you love God. God gave us commands that tell us turn the other cheek and to love one another. But, guess what it's going to be hard. I personally think I have the biggest trouble with loving other people. And I'm not talking about where you have to love each other when you're enjoying an ice cream sandwich or a fun picnic. No, it's when they're angry with you or you messed up and lost one of their dogs or something much worse... Anyways, you get the point.

In the end, what are you willing to sacrifice for friendships? Christ sacrificed his life for his friends. What are you willing to give up?

The End

P.S. This post isn't meant to offend anyone. ;-P The reason for this is in my life I don't really like to have close friendships because I understand how easy it is to offend people and the farther you keep them away the less of a chance you have to offend them or be offended. And, I'm trying to grasp the concept of close friendships and it really comes down to offering up of yourself. And, I see very few people who are willing to do this. So, if you find a friend who's willing to give up their lives for you, count that friendship precious because there are very few you'll have like this over your lifetime.

P.S.S. I apologize for all the terrible grammar mistakes... Note to self: Don't write when you're tired....... zzzz.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Discipline

It's easy to start projects, but not easy to finish them. I tend to have all of these ideas for things I want to do and start them but end up not finishing them. Especially in a culture that talks about following your heart I see how it's easy for people to not stick to things but to follow their heart in a thousand directions.

You can see it in college where the majority of college students change their majors three times. And, then a lot of people don't even use their degrees later in life.

But, I think the true challenge is becoming a genius at something. I have this tendency to get involved in something till I learn the basics and then I want to go learn something else. But, this isn't a way to get good at anything. Whatever we do, we need to do with excellence and when you're always switching to different things then it'll be hard for you to be successful or excellent in anything you do.

There's a number out there that says that to be a genius at something you need to do it/study it for 10,000+ hours. Which is basically 3-4 years of full time work.

Whatever it is in your life, be it your work, or your relationships, or even hobbies if you really want to succeed at it, you need to spend the time on it for it to come to a true fulfillment. Life wasn't meant to be easy...

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Winding Road

As I rode in the car this past Saturday down a long highway with trees on all sides and just winding through them with them never stopping I thought about how our lives tend to be this way. We're going down this long winding road and we can never see far ahead of us. There are other people we meet along the way and sometimes they walk with us for a ways and then they'll leave us. So much happens over one's lifetime. I don't know where I'll be in the next 10 years. What will be the path that God takes you down?

As you wander down the road it's so easy to be unsure. You think you're going to go one way and you fall into a ditch and go a different way. Your friends today won't necessarily be your friends tomorrow. You may live on the other side of the world in ten years. Many of those around my age will be married as well.

Life can be quite an exhilarating and exciting journey. Yet at the same time it can be very stressful. Relationships will break down, you may lose you job, your house could burn down, or you could even die in a car accident.

And so as we stare down this winding road not being able to see very far in front of us we move forward in faith. It's God who will keep us. The Lord is our refuge and our habitation.

Let's not get caught in the winding road, just look forward and up toward the wicket gate and follow the light of the Word of God.