Do You Know?

I read an article the other day titled An Epidemic of Bible Illiteracy. The surprising part was it was not from unbelievers, it was in the group of people who claim to be Christians. The article is here. It's not too long, I suggest you take 2 minutes and check it out.

It's been obvious for a long time that society in general is less Christian-oriented. So it's not too surprising to hear about people who grew up without attending to church to be unsure what the Bible says. There are also a lot of misconceptions in comic strips and articles on the web about what Bible does and does not say. I've seen situations where something about the Bible was said in complete and total sarcasm and satire, but people have taken it for the gospel truth.  That leads to some really unique beliefs when you think the Bible says the exact opposite of what it actually says.

We've relegated groups of people to take care of things in our lives. Most of us don't scour the Internet for independent news sources; we flick on the TV and watch the station of choice. Most of us don't watch every game in our sport of choice; we rely on ESPN to summarize the day in sports for us. Many of us don't even like to read books anymore; we'll wait for the movie to come out. So it's not surprising that many of us don't read the Bible; we rely on the pastor to find the important parts and let us know about it. It's not a good way to be knowledgeable about the source. I have a pretty good pastor and I like his sermons, yet I would have a hard time telling you what he preached about 3 or 4 weeks ago. But I still can remember books I've read years ago. When you've discovered the knowledge yourself, it sticks in your brain better.

We also don't read the Book anymore, we simply search it. It's so much easier to just type a key word into our fav Bible app and be given a whole bunch of texts on the subject than it is to actually read the book and remember what it says. It's much harder to understand the context and determine how to apply the knowledge to our immediate situation when you are looking at a list of random Bible texts that match a key word. So we often take individual texts out of context because it popped up on our Bible app, it's God's word, so I must be using it correctly. I'm quite sure that's not the best way to do it.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16

Hopefully we aren't just relying on the pastor to give us our weekly dose of the Bible, but we are reading it and studying it for ourselves. 

Do you know what God's word says? That's worth pondering about...

There is no iTeam

As you are probably quite aware, Steve Jobs passed away. The news of his passing has been everywhere. Steve brought us many innovations through the years. Not just mundane products and innovations, he brought us products and innovations that people loved a great deal. So naturally people have been commenting on his passing.

One thing I can’t help but notice is that everyone attributes every innovation from Apple to Steve Jobs. I admit that I do not know exactly how they dream up and design new products at Apple. But I’m pretty sure Steve didn’t design every circuit, he didn’t write every line of code, he didn’t design every cool looking case. He had help. Probably lots of help from teams of committed engineers. Steve seemed to be the vision caster, but those products probably wouldn’t have come to be if there wasn’t a team of people working on them. But that team largely gets ignored. Lost in the shadow cast by Steve Jobs.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against Steve Jobs. He did help shape technology over the past several decades. But if it was all Steve, Apple is in trouble now. If it was a team, then they are much more likely to be able to continue to innovate and bring cool products to the market.

Though one may be overpowered,
   two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (New International Version)

Are you a one man (or woman) show? Or are you building a team? That’s worth pondering about…

But, I don’t want to….

Most of us have had to go to a function that we didn't want to attend. Maybe it was a work thing that we didn't feel like being at. Maybe it was some family event, like your spoiled nephew’s or niece’s birthday. Maybe it was an event with people you don’t even know, like when your spouse needs to go to a wedding for one of their friends and you won’t know anyone there. You start dreading going. Your mind starts telling you how much you’re going to hate the event. How boring it’s going to be. How much you’d rather be doing something else. It’s just like a big, dark cloud on that date. You might even wake up in a bad mood because it’s the day of the [insert ominous music here] dreaded event.

Usually when this happens to me, the event is not nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. You might end up at the good table with some friendly people and actually have a good time. Who would have thought that was possible? Occasionally, the event is as bad as you thought it would be – but in my experience, it’s usually not. We build up the possible things that could go wrong that we won’t like and make it much worse in our minds than it really is.

We do this with more than just work functions, family get-togethers and weddings. Have you ever dreaded going to the doctor or the dentist? I’m sure we’ve all looked forward to cleaning out the garage or that junk room/closet. Sometimes even the mundane chores like doing the dishes or getting your car smogged can be an exercise in procrastination.

I suspect there are many reasons for why we do this. There’s probably nearly as many reasons as there are people. But I wonder how much easier our lives would be if didn’t make mountains out of molehills. What if we didn’t dread going to these events so much? What if we tried to look forward to these things? What if they were opportunities to have some fun instead of something to dread? What if they were opportunities to make a new friend instead of something to endure? What if they were opportunities to show a loving and kind spirit instead of getting into the usual family argument? What if they were an opportunity to show God’s love? I think that would change a lot of things. It would probably make our lives a quite a bit easier. We’d probably be a bit closer to the kind of attitude Jesus would have. And we might even help bring someone to Jesus.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 (NIV)

Can you change the way you think about things you don’t want to do? That’s worth pondering about….

Perspective Matters

Thanks Mom and Dad!

I was at a high school graduation today. That in itself is not all that interesting.  There’s an almost uncountable number of graduations going on this time year.  The graduation I attended was for a smaller, Christian school. If you never been to a graduation at one, it’s quite a different experience than the megalopolis high school graduation. The smaller school is able to do something things that just aren't possible when hundreds and hundreds of students are graduating.

One part of these smaller graduations I like is when the students have a moment to thank their parents. Today this was done via pre-recorded video messages. Some of the students are heartfelt in their thanks and some are humorous. But what is constant in nearly all of them is theme of “how far we’ve come.” The graduates talk about “having made it all this way,” or “you’ve really supported me in this long journey,” or some such statement. Those comments always make me smile.

I’m sure to the 18 year old graduate, it does seem like a long journey to graduation. After all, it’s been their whole life.  However, to those of us who are a little, well, ummm, a little more seasoned - 18 years just doesn’t seem like that long of a journey. Perspective matters. Those 'long' 18 years don't seem so long when you are two or three times older than that. I'm sure the grandparents in the audience really understand that irony.

It made me think about how God must view my few short years. I wonder if he smiles just a little bit when I remind him how long I’ve been waiting for something. How short my few years must seem in compared to all eternity.  But I think the real issue is not for God to understand my impatience and my short time line view, but for me to try to grasp God’s timing.

Are you stuck on your short time span? Or are you considering God’s much longer time span? That’s worth pondering about. 

And congratulations to the class of 2011. May God bless and direct your paths.

That Doesn’t Look Right to Me!

Have you ever noticed when things just seem wrong? Maybe it’s something that you’re not very knowledgeable about, but it still doesn’t ‘look right’ too you. Recently I noticed a transition ramp between two freeways. This ramp takes you from a lower freeway up to the freeway that is crossing over the first one. If you are local in So Cal, it’s the 605 S to the 91 W. This particular transition ramp is on top of a large berm of dirt to help it rise to the higher 91 freeway. However, the drop off is very steep, nearly vertical.

What’s weird about this whole thing is, there is a guardrail on the inside of the turn on the transition ramp, but not the outside of the turn. That just doesn’t seem right to me. I’m not an expert on such things, but I’ve never seen a car miss a turn because they turned too sharply. Generally they are going too fast and go off the outside edge of the turn. If it’s raining and slippery, the car isn’t going to slide off the inside of the turn (this transition ramp has nearly no banking), the car is going to slide off the outside of the turn, where there is no guardrail. It just doesn’t seem right to me.

I guess I’m supposed to trust Cal Trans and their experts that they know what they are doing and a guardrail is not need in that spot. But that’s kind of tough to do. Because right where this transition ramp joins the 91 freeway, I’ve only got a few car lengths to merge through 5 lanes of traffic to make it to the carpool lane. That monster merge turns out to be fairly challenging most days. If the people designing this couldn’t see that this arrangement was going to make those merges really hard and move the carpool entrance a few feet further down the freeway – how am I supposed to trust them that they know where a guardrail should be? You’ve got to be able to handle the small things (where the carpool entrance should be) before I’ll trust you with the big things (safety).

I’ve seen this same principle at work in spiritual matters. Someone reads a story about having strong faith and they want a deep faith like that too. So they attempt to trust God with something. Generally with something big and heavy. And if things don’t turn out just exactly like they wanted, their faith in God is shattered. But it was a fragile faith to begin with. Because it was not grounded in a lot of small things, but perched on top of one big thing. That just doesn’t seem right to me. A strong, dynamic faith is grounded in a ponderance of small, little things. That’s what makes it strong, many data points. Consider the example Jesus used to demonstrate faithfulness.

You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness! Matthew 25:21 (NIV)

How is your faith? Is it grounded in the little things? Or just balanced, precariously, on one big thing?

That’s worth pondering about.

3 Reasons Why Friday is the Best Day of the Week

I love Fridays. That's not unusual. Nearly everyone who works in an office all week long loves Friday. It's the end of the work week. The beginning of the weekend. Time for some R and R. T.G.I.F. We all know the drill about Fridays. 

I certainly like those things about Fridays too. But that's not the real reason I love Friday. I really love Friday because on nearly every Friday night of the year, I get together with 8 of my friends for band practice. Yup, that's right, I absolutely love band practice. Weird, huh? This particular band practice is for the worship team at our church on Saturday mornings. Even when the week has been long and tiring, I look forward to band practice.  It's rejuvenating. It's fun. It restores me. It's hard to describe why all these things are true. It's many, many reasons and factors, but I'll keep it to just 3 for now.

1. I love music. I always have and suspect I always will. Music is unique in the way it works within us. Words and logic are useful in expressing ideas. Pictures are worth a thousand words. But music trumps them all. It has the ability make us feel. Music has the unique ability to lift my spirits without all the side effects of caffeine or an energy drink. I could go on and on about why I love music and all its endearing qualities. So I guess I'll just leave it at, I really love music. Getting together on Friday evening with my friends to make some music is one of the highlights of the week. Sometimes I enjoy practice more than playing at church. At practice there's no pressure and we have a lot of fun. We try different things, mess around. It's great. Playing for the worship service is wonderful, but it's more structured, and not quite as freeing as just playing at practice.

2. I love my band mates. Seriously. The folks in our praise band at church are great people. I like spending time with them. It's fun. It's uplifting. We don't have a lot of problems with attitudes or whatever. If you've ever been in a small group and you've enjoyed the fellowship, then you know what I'm talking about. Some of the people in the group I've known for many years and some of the people I've only known a few years. Yet, we all get along like we've been friends for decades. I look forward to spending time with these people. It makes ministry fun when you are serving with people you like.

3. I love God. That's easy to say, or put on a t-shirt or bumper sticker. But sometimes it's pretty hard to figure out what we are supposed to do to show that we love God. We try all kinds of things, like good works, Bible reading, study time, prayer, the list is long of things we try to do to show our love. These things can be good and worthy. But for me, music is such a simple way to show how much I love God. I sing his praise. Not only do I sing, but I encourage others to sing it too.  Music helps open our hearts to God. It prepares us as we enter into his presence. Yes, all the parts of a worship service are important. The Bible readings, the prayers, the sermon, the giving, it all works together. But I just can't imagine a worship being effective without music. I know it wouldn't work for me. Music begins and ends the service. It's the bookends that hold the whole thing together.

Do you look forward to the time when you are serving in your ministry? If not, why not? Do you love what you're doing for God? Do you love the people you are serving with?  If the answer is no, how are you going to change that?

That's worth pondering about.

What a Coincidence

I tend to notice coincidences. Unique little quirky things that happen seem to get my attention. Patterns also jump out at me. I don't know why, they just do. I notice when numbers line up in a pattern. I notice when an unusual number of the same make of car are around me as I drive. There's a thousand and one little things that happen like that seem to be grabbing for my attention. The other thing I've noticed, is that most people don't notice these things, and really don't care when I point them out.

However the other day there was one that really kind of tickled me. I was driving in my truck, when I noticed two Cadillacs in front of me. Side by side, going down the street in front of me. They were the same model and roughly the same year. Certainly the same body style. That's the kind of little thing that I regularly notice, but that in itself was not the interesting part. One car was driven by an elderly gentleman and, what I presume to be his wife, was in the front with him. They were what I consider the typical Cadillac driver. They were nicely dressed. They sat up nice and straight in their seats. They almost looked regal, like they were going out somewhere. The other car was a completely different story. It contained 4 young men who looked like gang members, or at least wanna be's. They all slouched and leaned over as they were attempting to be cool. Their clothes consisted of white tank top t-shirts, and flannel shirts. Two of them had bandannas on their heads.

The occupants of these two very similar cars were about as different as they could be.  Opposite ends of the spectrum is how they might be described. I suspect they picked similar vehicles for very different reasons. Yet the same vehicle was meeting the needs of these very different groups. I wonder if Cadillac considers both groups when designing their cars? That seems unlikely.

In a small way, this reminds me of God. God is the same for everyone, yet some how he's able to meet the needs of some very diverse people and groups. He doesn't need to change for you or me or anyone. He's able to provide for all of us.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

Are you willing to give him a try? I mean really try it. Let him help with some of the hard problems in life. That's worth pondering about...

Truth Is

People have been arguing, oops debating, what happens to people when they die for centuries. Some think you go to heaven or hell. Some believe you are re-incarnated. Some think nothing happens. And there are many other variations too.

However, all of those options cannot be true. Only one is true. There are not all of these alternate realities so Christians can go to heaven or hell and atheists can take a big dirt nap and other people can be reincarnated and so on. Only one of those options will happen. We can debate which one is true until we are blue in the face. But it will be difficult, if not impossible, to scientifically prove what fate awaits us when we die. But that doesn't change the fact that one of those options is true and others are not true. Because 'truth is.' Truth exists regardless of what you or I believe. 2 + 2 = 4 whether or not I believe it to be true. Because 'truth is.' I can believe there is no God, but that doesn't change the fact of whether there is or is not a God. Because 'truth is.'

Have you seriously considered what will happen when you die? It is something worth thinking about. If you come to the conclusion that heaven is a possibility, are you taking the necessary steps now to make certain that's where you will spend eternity? That's worth pondering about...

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."  John 14:1-4 (NIV)

Typography and Conviction

Great video showing some very cool typography. Not only that, this really hits home a point about speaking with authority and conviction.


Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

How much conviction and authority do you speak with? That's worth pondering about.

Except for Just One Thing...

Have you ever used a product that was so close to being just perfect for it's intended use, except for just one thing. That's a big "except," isn't it?

Here's an example. One of the companies that we buy food for our two birds from packages their product in a wonderfully thick plastic bag with a heavy duty zip lock top. This is awesome as it can be difficult to keep bugs out of the bird seed. But there is just one thing. (Isn't there always?) The opening of the bag is too small. So when the bag gets about half empty you can't fit your hand in the bag with a little scooper to get food out. What I end up with a product, with it's packaging, that is so close to perfect. Yet a simple defect makes it so difficult to use that we only purchase that product as a last resort.

It's a great bike, except for just one thing...

As an engineer it just drives me crazy that something could be so close to perfection and yet so far. I wish someone had just done a little testing. And there are plenty of more issues like this in products we use daily. It drives me nuts. Yet we as the customer allow companies to sell us items that aren't as good as they could/should be, because we keep buying them. We should hold these companies to a higher standard.

The only place that I know of where you won't get the "except for just one thing" is with God. Products have their exceptions. "It's a really great car, except...." The software that we use has its exceptions. "This is a great program, except I can't figure out how to ...." Our friends have exceptions. Religion certainly has it's exceptions. God does not have exceptions.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:8

Have you tried God? Or are you basing your beliefs on what someone else told you? God has no exceptions. He can handle all the problems. God doesn't promise us a perfect life. Be he is the beginning and the end and everything in between. Are you willing to turn your problems and exceptions over to him? That's worth pondering about.

Bad Logic

One of the things that always gets me, is when someone used bad logic to make a good point. Like somehow that makes it OK.

A classic example is "You have two ears, but only one mouth. So it's more important to listen than to talk." NO! You have two ears because God is wise and understands physics. Two ears allow stereo hearing which enables you to tell the direction a sound is coming from. That's a very useful thing. Two eyes allow stereo vision which enables depth of field. It has nothing to do with what's more important. Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with listening. It's a valuable skill. But it's not more important because you have more ears than mouths. Using that logic, walking is more important than thinking because you have two legs and only one brain. Grabbing someone is better than hugging someone because I have 10 fingers and only two arms. Yea, that doesn't work.

Sometimes we ignore good logic and listen to really bad advice. Usually because we want to do something and we really aren't looking for advice, we are looking for affirmation. So we rationalize and ignore good logic to accept the bad logic. It's bad enough that we can be our own problem when trying to use reason to come to a good conclusion, but sometimes people in positions of influence intentionally try to obscure the truth with bad logic and bad advice. It's enough to confuse anyone.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:7

Who are you listening too? Have you carefully evaluated whether they have your best interest at heart? That's worth pondering about....

Size matters....

I don't know how my wife does it. She can walk into a clothing store and go to any type of clothing, pick up her size, take it home and it fits. It doesn't matter if it's jeans, shorts, skirts or tops. It's always the same. She just holds it up and somehow declares this will fit and it does. It is amazing.

I on the other hand, know the exact manufacture of my jeans AND the exact model AND the exact size and can't get them to fit. I don't understand how I can take off my old jeans, put on the exact same make, model and size and have them fit differently. They will be too long, too short, too big, too small, too something. It drives me nuts. I have shoes, that I regularly wear, that range from size 10.5 to 12. That's not even close to the same. I've been buying the same brand of walking shoes for a while. Last time I went to the store I had to get them a size and half larger so they would fit. I'm pretty sure my foot is not longer than it used to be.

This just frustrates me to no end, which is why I hate shopping for clothes. Congress should be doing something about this catastrophe!

Size matters. It matters in more than just our clothes. It matters in our living quarters. It matters in personal space. It matters in the garage/storage unit. It matters on our hard disk. It matters in our TV size. It matters in the amount of food we get for a meal. It matters when we select a church to belong too. Size matters in a lot of places. When the size is right, we don't even think about it. It's just so perfect it's not even something that crosses our mind. When it's wrong, it is so frustrating and it drives us nuts.

Fortunately God understands that.

"And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Matt 10:30 (NIV)

If he's got the hair on your head numbered, he won't get the size wrong. Don't fall into the trap of thinking something is too big, or too small, for God to be concerned about. What is the thing that you are dealing with that you are concerned God won't help you with? The thing that you feel like you need to deal with on your own. That's worth pondering about....

Patience is ....

over-rated. I need some patience and I need it now! Seriously though, you've probably heard that "patience is a virtue." I guess that's why it can be quite difficult for me to have patience, I'm just not that virtuous some days.

What can really make it hard for me to be patient, is incompetence. It frustrates me to no end when I'm dealing with someone who is just plain old incompetent. It's even worse when you are paying for the privilege of dealing this with this individual. Business and organizations that want me to spend money with them, but then hire people who are incapable of doing the job just drive me crazy.

I recently had way too much fun with the L.A. World Honda dealer. We've been getting our cars serviced there for quite a while. To make a long story short, they really screwed up and wanted me to pay nearly $4000 to fix their mistake. Can you say "forget that"? I told the service rep that their mess up was going to cost them way more than $4000, because I was going to take my three Hondas somewhere else from now on. They'd more than recoup their money if they fixed their mistake and made it right. They didn't want anything to do with it. Maybe my 3 little Hondas just aren't enough to affect them, I don't know. But in any case, I'm done with them.  I found another shop to fix their mistake and it only cost me $2500. (I still think the dealer should have fixed it for free...) But if you need a great transmission shop, I HIGHLY recommend Stu's Transmission on Cherry Ave in Long Beach, CA. Great place. Oh and did I mention that you should avoid L.A. World Honda like it's the plague? But in all the hassle, I had to learn to be patient -- once again. It wasn't easy because I really wanted to choke someone.

Why is it harder to act like a responsible, decent human being, than it is to be a complete jerk? Maybe because we are all a little weird and dysfunctional. Maybe because it's just easier to take the low road instead of the high road. Maybe because we think expressing some of our frustration will make everything better - or at least make us feel better. Neither of which is true in my experience. So I guess I need to continue to work on my patience. Sigh....

What virtue do you need to work on? That's worth pondering about.

Rule Followers

Have you ever met someone who HAS to follow the rules? Always. Everytime. No room for just winging it a bit. These are the people who can't just pick up a game and play it. They have to read every single rule and follow them precisly and exactly or they won't play. They can't just play a game for the fun of it. Those people can be bit annoying sometimes.

Now, don't get me wrong. It's good to have rules and it's good to follow those rules. I'm glad we have rules for driving and that most people follow them. That's good stuff. But sometimes people use rules as an excuse to do things a certain way - mostly so they won't have to think. If you have a procedure to follow at work for something and you want to trying improve the process - the rule followers will fight you all the way. Again, it's good to have some rules at work. There are somethings that just have to to be done. But when you are trying to improve the process or sometimes even just get by as best you can in the current situation, the rule followers can be a big pain. They will complain that you are doing it wrong and just generally be a pain in the neck. Of course, they rarely have any positive suggestions for improvement.

Listen to what they have to say, but if they are just complaining to complain - or they are just complaining because you aren't follow the rules, don't let them get to you. You've got a better idea. Keep after it. Don't let the stone throwers stop you. After all, nothing would ever get invented or improved if we all did everything the same way all the time.

What's your idea? Are you keeping after it? That's worth pondering about....

A Good Thing or a Bad Thing?

When you get to work and the security guard tells you that only one of the 4 elevators in the building is working, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

It's good because I was at work earlier than most and there wasn't a huge demand for that one elevator.
It's bad because I wondered what my odds of getting stuck in the last elevator in a failing system are.

It's good because I didn't have to take the stairs to my floor.
It's bad because I didn't get the exercise of taking the stairs.

It's good because I safely arrived at my floor.
It's bad because I wonder how poorly our elevators were made and how poorly they are maintained.

Most of what happens to us in a our daily lives has a good side and a bad side. The question is, what side do you spend the most time dwelling on? That's worth pondering about....

Rain, Response and Re-Think

Rain in So Cal is a funny thing. For one thing, it makes the native Californians a little crazy. Secondly, it makes the transplanted Californians remember other places they lived with rain – sometimes with fond memories, sometimes it re-enforces why they moved. Thirdly, it never just rains in So Cal. It's always a storm. The local news goes crazy with “StormWatch.” They put our all their reporters out in various locales so they can comment on whether or not any moisture is falling from the sky yet. Sometimes it’s almost too much.

But the one place that rain really messes up, is the freeways. When it rains in So Cal, it divides people into two groups. Those who don’t slow down one bit and those who nearly stop completely. Neither of these options is the appropriate response. When the roads get slick from the rain, it’s a good idea to slow down some and take it easy. That doesn’t mean business as usual at 80 miles an hour. Nor does it mean that you should go 10 miles an hour on the freeway because there’s a light mist falling. (Does it make me a bad person to enjoying seeing the yahoo who went by at 80 facing the wrong way against the center divider a few miles later?)

Appropriate response is a good thing. Whether you are dealing with disciplining a wayward child, or dealing with an organization that has provided a poor service for your money, or dealing with a perceived slight from a co-worker or family member - take a moment to think about the appropriate response BEFORE you act. Maybe now is the time to re-think your response regarding spiritual matters as well. Have you responded appropriately to God's calling? That's worth pondering about....

Opposites Attract

We seem to love things that are opposites of each other. Sweet and Sour Chicken is a great example. We put "hot" chocolate on "cold" ice cream. If we get dressed up, we often where black and white. Snacks are often sweet and salty or sour and sweet. We like to jump out of a hot tub into a cool pool. And "good" girls like to date "bad" boys. Some "good" people like to dress up like big, "bad" bikers and go to the local bar on weekends.

Those last ones open up a whole area of strange human behavior. Many times we like to be a little bad. We don't want to kill anyone or go to jail, but we like to be bad - a little bit. We just want to have some fun. I think sometimes this how people get into big trouble without really realizing what's going on. One classic example is cheating on your spouse. It's naughty and often times we think it will be a little fun and no one will really get hurt. We won't go to jail. It just a fun way to be a little bad. Ask Tiger Woods how that's working out for him. There's many other examples of this type of behavior.

It's like we are trying to have everything. We want to be bad and good. We want the respect of being a good person and we don't want the cops to harrass us, but we also like the alure of being a little bad. Why be a fence sitter? You can drive yourself crazy trying to lead a double life. It doesn't seem to be worth the headache. Can you imagine anyone at the end of their life wishing that had just been a little more bad? Me neither. So why bother with it? That's worth pondering about...

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

What's Important?

This holiday season was quite a bit different than I expected. I was expecting a regular holiday. We have a bit of routine down and it's good. I was going to get some time off and do a few minor projects around the house. Just kind of lay low and enjoy the time off. It didn't really work out that way, but I'm ok with that.

However, part of the holiday was really unique, and dare I say it, even special. It was totally unexpected. Without going into all the details, several times during this holiday people did something or shared something with me and my family that was very thoughtful. We got one card from someone who really took their time to write something very nice and uplifting. We were invited to share the evening with some friends. Someone shared something with me about what had made their year one of the best ever. Just some little things. Nothing big. Certainly nothing expensive. But that's what made it so cool. It was personal. These things probably wouldn't mean much to anyone else, because they were custom tailored for me.

It really made me reflect on what is important. I tend to be very task oriented. I guess that's not all bad, someone has to get stuff done. But I need to be careful not to be only task oriented. Tasks don’t matter near as much as people do. I know that, but I’m afraid I don’t always act like that.

Take the time to be part of the lives of the people around you. Think about where you, your family and your friends are headed – not only in this life, but for eternity. When you are part of someone’s life, you have influence. You can make suggestions that could help in the course of their life. That’s a good thing. The question is, what suggestions are you making? What course adjustments are you responsible for? That’s worth pondering about.

How Does that Affect Me?

Humans divide themselves into all kinds of different groups. Almost all of us group ourselves by family units. We live with our family, generally not with other families or in group settings. Sometimes we divide ourselves by our gender. Sometimes it's our profession and we will associate with people who work in the same field that we do. Sometimes it's by nationality, race or religion. Sometimes we group ourselves by hobbies or activities that we like to do. People who like to shoot guns generally hang out with other people who like to shoot guns. You get the idea...

Often times we can be protective of our groups too. If someone says something hurtful or mean-spirited about our group, we get defensive. We don't like it when someone else is tearing down our groups. We don't like it when someone else views us as bad, or substandard in someway. It's not unusual to hear about a group boycotting a movie because somehow their group was portrayed poorly in the movie. I'm quite sure the police officers and lawyers are tired of everyone viewing them as bad-guys because of some the members of their groups act poorly. Because of this defense mechanism, many times when we see someone in one of our groups acting in a way that might not reflect well for our group, we get concerned. Our first thought is usually, how does that affect me? If that group member continues with that behavior, will there be repercussions that affect me?

For example, if you've been reading this blog, you know I'm a member of the group of motorcyclists. Now motorcyclists, or bikers, are often portrayed poorly in the media. Sometimes the reputation is well earned. But I'm still often very aware of how bikers can actly badly and how that affects me. Recently I was riding home and the traffic was horrible. I was going between lanes trying to just move through without going too fast and upseting John Q Public in their cars. Another biker came up behind me and I let him pass as he wanted to go faster than I did. This guy was a piece of work. He was yelling at the cars, shaking his fist at them, acting like he was going to kick in their doors, I think he even spit on one car. He was one seriously angry dude. If someone didn't move over and let him pass, he acted like a federal offense had been committed. As I watch his tirades, I wondered - how does that affect me? Now I have to drive along behind him. What if the motorists are ticked off and they decide to take it out on me? What if they get fed up with bikers like him and they decided to change the laws so they are less friendly to bikers? etc. etc...

Never once was my concern for that individual or even the people that he was acting so poorly towards. All I could think about was myself and how his behavior might affect me. That makes me sad. It's hard to believe that I am so self-centered. Now I don't know what I could have done to help that individual. The middle of the freeway during rush hour is generally not a good time for an intervention. But I wish I had offered up a prayer or at least thought about something other than myself.

"How does that affect me?" is not something I want to ponder about too much. Apparently I spend way too much time thinking about me and not near enough time thinking about the people around me. What, or who, are you thinking about?

Risky Business

Recently son #2 very thoughtfully bought me a package of Jelly Bellies. He was getting himself a bag and he remembered dear ol' dad and got me one too. That's my boy.

So for the past few days I've been snacking on Jelly Bellies while I work on the computer in the evening. The problem is, eating Jelly Bellies is risky business. The bag I have has 30 different flavors. My unscientific guess is about a quarter of those flavors are just plain old nasty. You never know what flavor your going get. You could get a couple of great ones and then one that tastes like the cross between the bottom of a coffee cup and an ashtray. Not that I've ever tried eating either one of those, but I imagine that's what it might taste like. When I mentioned it to son #2 as we were in the car headed somewhere, he laughed and said "Oh, that's the cappuccino. I didn't like it either." That's my boy.

Eating Jelly Bellies is not the only activity that is risky. In fact all of life is risky. People often comment that my riding motorcycles is risky. And there is an element of risk to riding. But anyone could trip, fall and die at almost anytime. Life is fragile and valuable. You can't just stay at home and avoid all risks. That's no way to live. The Christian life is no different. Often we long for safety, security and assurance. And while I understand that, being a follower of Christ should have an element of risk to it. You should be out there doing things, and some of those things will be risky in nature. People might laugh at you, or belittle you for your beliefs, or cuss you out, or who knows what. But how much did Jesus risk for you?

Reminds me of the old quote.

"A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for."

John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic, 1928

Are you hanging out in the harbor when you should be out sailing? What are you built for? Are you willing to take the risk to find out? That's worth pondering about.