Month: February 2010

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Daily Post random thoughts

Random Thoughts <3 Day Edition

Its Friday again, and since this is a double bonus weekend- Presidents Day and Valentines Day, I thought I would provide some extra motivation

lolmart shirts, nerd love
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Hey Guys – need some Valentine Cards that will definitely keep the romance in the air.  Check these out.  I used them – the work great!

I remember making Valentine boxes. Well, I guess I remember just decorating a bag.  Not anymore, my oldest made a pirate ship one year for Valentine’s Day and this is what my youngest is taking today.  Complex:

And you know, no Valentine’s Day would really be complete with a reference to 1 Corinthians 13. Make sure you are doing everything with love not just this weekend but all the time.

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

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One Word – “Intense”

“Intense”.

Several years ago that was the word that a co worker of mine used when asked to describe me in one word.

“Intense”.

At the time I thought that was cool.  I thought it was great – even awesome. And that’s how I was – “intense” – focused on the goal. Come hell or high water, I was getting the job done, not paying attention to the human carnage I left along the way.  The crying in the office – weak.  Calling people on the weekend and demanding they fix the problem – of course, they should be in here working as well.  Get it Done!  Deliver. Destroy.  That’s good.  Right!

Over the past week I watched my son’s basketball team beat two opponents by the combined score of 106 – 6.  Yes, that’s correct.  49-3 in the first game and 57-3 in the second.  The boys kept the half court man to man press going the entire game – pressuring the opponents into mistakes.  Some of the starters were always on the floor. They pushed the ball, fast break after fast break, up and down the court.  They destroyed the other teams.  Destroyed!  That’s good! Right??

No, its not.

I have learned that relationships are more important than the work, and the way you win is just as important as the win.  I have lived and played with intensity and I have seen the pain and carnage it brings.  I have worked with such intensity and disregard for others, that my job has hung by a thread, only saved by the good will of others.  Sometime,  in some way, that intensity must give way to mercy.  It must give way to grace.  We are called to give our very best to God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 (New International Version)

31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23 (New International Version)

23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,

We are called to play as hard as we can.  Give 100 percent – always.  But sometimes 100 percent means playing with control.  Whether on the court, in school, or at work we must know that doling out mercy and compassion and grace are equally as important as pushing and driving and forcing.

And that’s why my heart is heavy.  I sat at the scorers table for both games.  I saw the angst and brokenness of the players.  I saw the overwhelming helplessness and frustration of the coach, and the exasperation of the parents.   Did we have to run a half court man to man press when we were winning by 25, and it was obvious this team was not coming back even if we played with 3 players?  One of the teams only had 5 players.

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 (New American Standard Bible)

24Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

25Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

There is a time to push it and to go right to the edge, and even more. But there is to be something different about those followers of the Christ.  There is also a time to be in control and to pull back, and to show restraint.  Both of these games demonstrated one of those great teaching opportunities, where we could taught our children the importance of  displaying control and restraint and modeling Christ is all that we do.

I still am a very intense person, a driven person, but I hope that if my current coworkers where asked to describe me in one word that they would pick something other than “intense”.  Maybe something closer to  “servant”, or “merciful”. (Most would probably just say “Jerk!”)

It maybe that I am so sensitive to this because I am in such need of mercy and grace myself.  Well, who isn’t?  And that is why I want to teach our children that control, and extending grace, and extending mercy, are a very important part of giving 100 percent to God.

So, I write about this to use the opportunity to teach, I hope that as you read on, you consider your life.  Is there a place where you still are running the full court press, where maybe you should drop back into a 2-3 soft zone and reach out to that person and provide the mercy that you have been all so freely given.

36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:36 (New International Version)

Also, what word would people us to describe you?

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Understanding the Value of Weakness

Sometimes in the car I listen to Way-FM. There is a DJ in the morning named Brant.  This guy has a sort of dry mono toned voice, one that on the show has been compared to Kermit the frog, which gets you in the general direction of his voice, although its not the best comparison. Anyway, when I first started listening to this guy, I really didn’t enjoy it, so much that when the song was over and he started talking, I would change the station.  That’s crazy isn’t.

But I suppose my hands had better things to do, like driving the vehicle, and so I began to listen to what he was saying and got past the idiosyncrasies of his voice.  The more I slowed down and listened the more I liked the what I was hearing, so much that I actually enjoy his commentary now. That’s crazy isn’t.

A few weeks ago, he was talking about where are strength comes from, and how God uses us when we are weak. Its stuck with me over the days, as this is a truth that I have heard from when I was little, but really I don’t it’s been well explained . I mean, we are taught to be strong, to be tough, to be rugged.  Although on a physical level there is merit to buffeting the body in a way that it is in its best physical shape, more on that another day.  So, we are taught to be strong, however, its not always when we are the strongest that we are used.  I think mainly because, when we think we are strong, we look at ourselves.  “I have this all under control!”  When we are weak, we look other places “God help me”.

So the trick is, staying weak.  Staying in a place where we need God – where we recognize our need for God, and not making it all about ourselves.  I think that’s called being humble!

9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:9-11)

So three things this mornings. First don’t judge  so quickly, sometimes you may end up missing some great things, Second, if you are in an area where you can listen to Way-FM, I think you may find some encouragement and some challenges listening in sometimes.  And finally, lets delight in our weaknesses, and we ready to be used.  Stay lowly, stay meek, and He will use you in ways you cant even imagine or blog!

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Always Something

As you know I have teenager.  Its always something.  Help with Algebra, help with his computer, where are my shoes, I need money.  Its always something! This morning it was “Where is my wallet?”.

ARGH.

Man, I wanted to react like this:

Matthew 17:17 (New American Standard Bible)

17And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”

But knowing that what I am doing as a father is showing him his heavenly father, I had to look past that.  Yes, there are times to overturn tables with a teenager.  And Jesus took the approach with those who held him in complete contempt.  But most of the time his approach is more like this:

Matthew 7:7-11 (New International Version)

7“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Yes, God is patient with us.  He is OK with us asking.  He is ok with us bringing it again and again and again and again and again and again and again etc etc.  Just ask he says.

Man, if I could just be that kind of father, and friend.

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Weekend of Champions

Everyone wants to be a Champion.

This weekend in my house there were several Mario Kart tournaments.  Andrew was schooling his grandparents in the finer arts of racing, while his grandmother was just figuring out how to turn the Wii Wheel. That didn’t seem to deter her however, as she hung in there, putting around the course in 12th at her own speed, undeterred by the constant heckles of “push 2”, “you need to go faster” and “here comes Andrew to lap you again”.

Then there was that Super Bowl.  Mr. Manning throws an “pick 6”, interception for a touchdown, to lose the game. Disappointing, to say the least. Do you think that makes him any less of a winner?Any less then of one of the greatest players ever to play.

Oh and then there were the commercials.  Disappointing.  But we know, the marketers will be back again next year with another brand of humor and attempts to keep us glued to the set.  (Also, here is the link to the Tebow Ad – what was the big deal?)

And then there is us.  We continue to battle and fight and race.  Sometimes we lose ( read sin), sometimes we throw an INT ( that’s interception for you non football fans out there, also read mistake), sometimes our words just don’t have the impact they are meant to have.  Does that make us a failure? Does that diminish who we are in God’s eyes?  Even though we think it does, it doesn’t.  He love is unfailing and our hope keeps us going:

Hebrews 10:23-24 (New International Version)

23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

And we keep on fighting.

Hebrews 10:39 (New International Version)

39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Don’t shrink back, even in the the face of mistakes – keep on fighting.