Tag: Volkswagen

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Where’s the Fun

Way back in December of 2009 I posted about the Volkswagen fun theory. This has been something I have been thinking about a lot lately, and it was brought back to my mind with earnest first by this interesting quote that appeared on Amy’s daily calendar last week

Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun. -George Scialabba

and then by two very innovative Volkswagen commercials that have made the scene in recent weeks, The Force and the Black Beetle.  Both of these commercials are fill of innovation and fun.

I have often thought about this whole concept of the fun theory over the last 14 months.  Trying to see how to apply it to my home life, my church life, and my work life.  Hey 2 out of 3 aint bad – is it?  Well, that would probably be ok if it wasn’t that the 1/3 that is sans fun accounts for oh 2/3 of my waking hours. It seems sometimes that we I forget that enjoyment of our days is all that we I have.  There is so much to this fun theory, yet it is so incredibly easy to assume that there is something else that we are striving for.   I am all for getting the job done, working hard, and producing a product that brings glory to our Lord,  however, it has to so much better when there is an element of fun involved.

But unfortunately some time the creative is eaten up by the mundane, and the imagination is stymied in process and procedures.  Yesterday was one of those days where I wanted to reach through the telephone and produce untold damage on some of the people of the other end.  Fun.. well not really.  It was actually the farthest thing from fun. I guess that could be viewed as extreme, but is was not fun and as produces a very unpleasant working experience.  It shouldn’t have to be that way.

I have posted about the whole concept of work and my reliance on the writer of Ecclesiastics for a sign of hope before ( here, here and well here.  Or here for the whole list), and once again I go back to the well for some direction on having fun and enjoying the days.  The old man of wisdom says this

24 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. Ecclesiastes 2:24 (New Living Translation)

and in the even more contemporary Message paraphrase

24-26 The best you can do with your life is have a good time and get by the best you can. The way I see it, that’s it—divine fate. Whether we feast or fast, it’s up to God. God may give wisdom and knowledge and joy to his favorites, but sinners are assigned a life of hard labor, and end up turning their wages over to God’s favorites. Nothing but smoke—and spitting into the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:24, The Message)

Let’s not let our God given intelligence go unused. Let us use let that intelligence have fun and let our imaginations take over. I strongly believe it will make the toil of work so different and that it will produce the satisfaction that many of us ( er me) long for each day when we head off the exchange our time for money.

Be creative, have fun , let your imagination run wild and bring glory to God.

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10 Types of People

This weekend, Amy, Alex and I went out to test drive some VW vans!  No, although it apparently it is Alex’s dream vehicle, it was not the classic hippie vans.  It was the newer Chryslerish model – the Routan.  Let’s say a new vehicle seems to be in the cards soon, but at this time we were just looking.    Anyway, the van was great and all, but there was something that I found particular peculiar and interesting.  It may be this way with all European cars, and since all of my vehicles have come out of Detroit or Spring Hill, I was drawn to this one aspect – the fuel gauge.

It did not have an E for Empty and an F for Full, but instead had a 0(zero) for empty and a 1(one) for full.  Like I said, other cars may have been doing it this way for years, but for me it was a first, or at least the first time it hit me.  It reminded me of two things.  First the good old geek joke that there are only 10 kinds of people in the world, those you understand binary and those who don’t.  ( for those of you in the second category, 10 is 2 in binary.  Like this 00 = 0, 01= 1, 10 = 2, 11 = 3, yeah ok whatever).

Secondly it reminded me once again of this idea of being lukewarm, as there was a ½ in the middle.  But really, I want to be a 0 or a 1.  Off or on?.  And really I want to be obsessed, I want to be on, I want to be 1.  And maybe that’s why I noticed it so much, as the zero and one concept made it so black and white, so binary.  It was not empty and full, it was on or off.  It was just another stark reminder of how we should be living our lives.

Take a look at this video, and think about Romans 12:1-2

1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1-2, The Message)

God wants you to place your life ALL before him, and let him fill you up.  If you are on for him, he will make you full.  Lets live a binary life in the on position!

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Fun Theory

A few days ago I was sent a video of a piano staircase that Volkswagen built as part of a project they call The Fun Theory.   The tag line from the site says this:

This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

This has really started my mind going.  Fun imagine that- it can change behaviour or behavior?  I showed this to Amy The First Grade Teacher, and she said “That’s why we don’t sit in desks anymore”.  Hm.  Then I think about our churches and for the most part the word “fun” never comes to mind.  I wonder if there is something we can learn from this.  After all, one of the biggest messages of the Bible is about changing your behavior from someone full of evil and selfishness to someone full of love and mercy and grace and concern for others.   This is a half baked thought at the moment, and I am sure this space will be used to elaborate on these thoughts in more detail after the “GREATEST DAY OF THE YEAR” – which is quickly coming upon us.

Oh a quick aside, after missing a day in the countdown yesterday – my count downer was ill – here is BonJovi’s I Wish Everyday Could be Like Christmas to get you through the third day before Christmas!

And back to our thought’s for today-behavior change .  As you have great fun this week, celebrated your blessings with your family, and remembering the gift of the savior.  Let this fun which is transforming you into a gift giving machine continue to change your behavior.  Take a look at those first shepherds.  you know it was fun to see that baby, to bow before the king – awe inspiring –  but fun.  And they walked away changed.  Walk away from this Christmas changed by the newborn babe!

Luke 2:20 (New International Version)

20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told