ManPower

Looking for God's Stuff

2012-02-17T13:49:00.000-05:00

What would the things of God be?

I imagine God toying with a nebula or stoking the flames of a supernova.

In my last post Trifecta, I said that what we should be doing - rather than stressing - is seeking after the things of God. Well, what are the 'things of God'? And how do we seek after them?

That phrase is a reference to the passages in Matthew 6 and Luke 12 where Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about the things of this earth. What is actually stated there in both passages is that the disciples should 'seek after His kingdom'. The Matthew passages also adds 'His righteousness'. There are some other somewhat enigmatic references in these chapters about selling possessions, money belts that don't wear out, storing up things in heaven and about how the eye gives light to the whole body.

Rather than try to explain all this, allow me to simply post the passages and get your thoughts.

Matthew 6

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

²⁵ “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? ²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

²⁸ “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God^[d] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

³⁴ “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Luke 12 adds:
²⁶ And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
³² “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
³³ “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. ³⁴ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

What are we supposed to be doing?
And what are we usually doing that isn't really all that meaningful?

Trifecta

2012-02-08T11:39:00.000-05:00

British man on Tuesday at 11:45

According to a survey done in Great Britain, Tuesday at 11:45 is the most stressful time of the week. Particularly if you coast through Monday and allow your work to build up. I had a patient today who's an attorney. She said stress is a major factor in her life all the time - even though she's reduced her workload from 80 hours a week to 65.

How's your stress level?

It's something we face, at some level and in some way, every day. It affects us in multiple ways.

Some are obvious, some not so obvious and some are probably not even known yet.

You're probably familiar with what goes on mentally when you are stressed. Worry, anxiety, feelings of impending doom, anger, frustration, fear, and so on. Do you know what goes on physically?

A hormone called Cortisol has been identified as being overproduced in people who describe being under elevated stress. Cortisol is useful and necessary in the right amounts as it regulates blood pressure, heart functions, the body's use of fats and proteins, inflammatory response and 'fight or flight' response, improved memory, reduced pain, and increased energy among other things (www.cortisol.com). But when it is chronically high, you can have suppression of thyroid function, cognitive impairment, increased blood pressure, decreased bone density, and blood sugar imbalances. High levels of cortisol can also lower your immunity and inflammatory responses, as well as slow down the wound healing process. Chronic stress leads to a high concentration of cortisol in your body. Chronic high concentrations of cortisol is toxic to brain cells and can cause short-term memory loss. A lifetime of high cortisol levels may be a primary contributor to Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia and is also a primary cause of osteoporosis.

Didn't think it was all THAT bad, did ya?

When I have patients at work tell me they are stressed, I usually give them a copy of an article from the newspaper by Dr. Bryant Stamford, the medical columnist. My disclaimer is that it may not directly apply to their circumstances, but it's worth checking out. In the article, Stamford describes some of the destructive properties of stress and he talks about the aspect of stress that comes from fear of the future. He states that the past and future don't exist, except in our minds. Yet we spend most of our time there, worrying about things that have already happened or that probably won't occur. He says it's the ultimate stress-promoting Catch-22 - conjuring up fears and threats we can't do anything about. One of my favorite pastors, D. James Kennedy, said that worry is like paying interest on a debt you will likely never owe.

Most of what we worry about doesn't even come to pass, yet we suffer anyway. This is important to understand for our present peace.

I can look at some circumstances in my life right now, extrapolate them out based on current trends and decide that all is in fact lost and will turn out horribly. Yet my own life is proof of the opposite. Stamford says we need to come fully to the present and practice the critical life skill of living 'here and now'.

Back to cortisol.

(Not a self-portrait)

One effect of the stress response is to break down adipose (fat) cells to move triglycerides (fat molecules) into the bloodstream for more energy. Your body would use the energy from triglycerides in the "fight or flight" physical responses to stress. But do you have increased physical activity in response to most of the stresses you experience in the modern world? Most people don't. Instead of burning the triglycerides, cortisol causes these unused fats to be re-deposited in the adipose tissues surrounding the belly. This inspires me to coin a new phrase 'fear belly'.

This is one of the many reasons exercise is good for us. It burns off the elevated 'free floating' fat molecules produced by stress AND increases the release of the happy hormones - endorphins - making you feel better which in turn also lowers stress. Of course, a stronger heart, lower blood pressure, and lower weight are associated as well. I implied at the beginning that all the negatives associated with stress haven't been fully understood yet, and I also believe that all the benefits of exercise cannot be overstated. I've read that lifting weights strengthens your bones. I didn't understand how that could occur, but here's a connection. Exercise = lower cortisol = stronger bones. And this is just one example.

In some of my favorite passages from the bible, Jesus uses the phrase 'do not worry' 3 times in Matthew 6:25-34 and it's repeated in Luke 12:11-29. Read over those passages again. God doesn't want us to stress. It's not good for us and it's not necessary. Yes, we'll have trials and difficult times that He can use to grow us, but if we rest in the assurance that He's going through them with us, that He works out everything for our best, and that we can fully trust Him because He cares for us and has our eternal best interests as an endpoint we can quit diminishing our daily level of joy and quit slowly killing ourselves.

Don't run after the things the world runs after - money, fame, power and pleasure. That's a cortisol factory waiting to happen. Seek after the things of God. He knows what you need and what's best for you. Jesus asks an interesting question in the above passages, 'if you can't even do the small task of adding a single hour to your life, why do you worry about all the rest?'.

Don't worry.

Why Trifecta? Because this is a win on all 3 of the main topics this blog is supposed to be about.

STATS

2012-01-27T12:45:00.000-05:00

I found it interesting that Generate Good? - the post about whether or not we have the ability to alter our genes through behavior - was the most viewed post in the last week. In the last month, Superficialites was. And of all time - it was Generate Good? followed closely by Insult to Injury, the post about offending others, from Romans 14. I know you guys don't get to see the stats (at least I don't think you do) and thought you may find them interesting.

Another interesting thing - somehow this site gets quite a few hits off of the image associated with the post.

Instilling Values

2012-01-27T12:08:00.000-05:00

instill: verb, gradually but firmly establish (an idea or attitude, esp. a desirable one) in a person's mind

What do your kids value? Is it what you value? How do you 'establish' your values in their hearts and minds? How were they 'established' in your mind? Is your set of values different than your parents? These are the million dollar questions I now open for exploration.

In your life, when you were young, did you do what your parents told you because 1) it seemed good and right to you? 2) they told you it was good and right and you believed them? or 3) you were going to get in trouble if you didn't?

It may have been a combination of those things in varying percentages depending on the individual, but I'd venture a guess that for most of us it was mainly 3. In other words, doing X or not doing Y, was not part of our value system. But we may have complied in order to avoid our parent's wrath and/or punishment. The highest 'value' was placed on avoiding a negative. This can be true even in adulthood. Just switch parents with law enforcement or social mores.

But for most of us, especially Christians, we began to 'own' a different value system than the one we were born with. One that's more like what our parents - if they were good role models - valued. Good, kind, honest, self-sacrificing behavior.

How does this happen?

Certainly the Holy Spirit plays an important role in this. But there are other factors too. Many times, when we DO bad things, bad things HAPPEN to us. I've wondered recently if this is the primary way we incorporate good thinking, and thus behavior, into our lives. We compare good instruction and the results of following it, with the results of doing bad and then we 'get it'.

Questions:

1. Do Christians 'behave' correctly in order to avoid punishment.

2. Is that a 'lower' or less mature reason for right behavior. Should 'avoiding a negative' transition into 'receiving a positive' - or something even higher?

3. What can we do to effectively cause our kids to 'buy in' to the way of life we think is best for them.

I know one method that's very powerful and it's simply - by example, by the way we live. Our actions, for good or bad, speak much louder than what we say. We need to have those 2 things in agreement with each other. Not that we have to be perfect, but practicing as best we can the things we say we value.

Other than that, and the work of God, I don't know what else would work besides cold, hard experience. Get smacked in the face, knocked on the ground, and kicked a few times and you start to learn (at least most of us do). Unfortunately, that's not a much different model than how we started with our parents. Do bad = get spanked/grounded/sent to room etc.

Last question: what role does faith play in all of this. We are instructed that the righteous will live by faith. If we truly trusted God, and all that He says, we would obey Him without having to suffer through bad consequences that resulted from sin. Wouldn't we?

I had lunch with Steve yesterday and he asked me what's the one thing, if I could only have one thing, that I'd want for my kids. Salvation, I answered. Right, he responded. Therefore, everything else is secondary. Hmmm...

Superficialities?

2012-01-12T15:01:00.001-05:00

I had a conversation recently with a friend who suggested that another mutual friend of ours needed to 'upgrade' his appearance in order to be more effective at his job. I understood his point: if you 'look' a certain way then people are more apt to go along with whatever it is that you want them to do. The clothes make the man, dress for success, etc. But I was reluctant to agree with my friend on the basis that the issue he was talking about seemed to be a superficial one.

Or is it?

This raises all kinds of questions with me. Is it wrong to make judgements about people based on the way that they look? We think the right answer is no, but this can go either way. If you see a person who is dirty, dressed sloppily and shows no evidence of personal grooming; you could make the assumption that they are either 1) a homeless street person, or absent that, they are at least 2) undisciplined and apathetic, or 3) possibly mentally out of touch with reality. These are all 'judgements' we can make. The person may even have a heart of gold, but if they were a CPA, would you trust them with your retirement account?

What about people who are overweight? I know some have health reasons that lead to obesity, but aren't most simply overeating and underactive? And do those personal deficiencies in their behavior translate into other poor decision making?

Does the admonition to 'not judge' from Matthew 7 apply here? That passage is routinely twisted out of context. I think the warning there is against being hypocritically judgmental. There is a difference between judging and being judgmental. We have to make judgments every day in order to function. We certainly wouldn't say the judicial system is unbiblical since there is judging going on. There's even a book called Judges in the bible.

It is true that judgments can be made based on what we observe about others - there will be 'fruit' of the persons character and motives. However, people can also make us think one thing is true by their words and actions, while the exact opposite may actually be the case. We can be very good at hiding our true feelings and motivations from others - though not God.

As I said in Off To The Races, racism takes the individual out of the picture. It creates stereotypes that may have no connection to reality. We wouldn't want to make those kinds of judgments. Another big problem is comparing ourselves to each other in the way we look, or how eloquently we speak, or how talented we are at something. When we do that, we are making judgments on superficial things. Usually those assessments make us feel bad about ourselves if we determine that we don't match up, or prideful about ourselves if we determine we are 'better' than someone else.

What do you think about this issue? Is there validity both ways?
Is it always wrong to make decisions based on appearances?

The Shack Attack

2012-01-04T12:48:00.000-05:00

The Shack is a Christian novel by Canadian author WilliamP. Young, a former office manager and hotel night clerk, published in2007. The novel was self-published but became a USA Today bestseller, andit was the #1 Paperback trade fiction seller on the New York Times best sellerslist from June 2008 to early 2010. The title of the book is a metaphorfor “the house you build out of your own pain”, as Young explained in atelephone interview. He also states to radio host talk show Drew Marshallthat The Shack "is a metaphor for the places you get stuck, you get hurt,you get damaged...the thing where shame or hurt is centered." (Wikipedia)

Two issues for me:

One: The book

In this book, Mack, the main character, meets God at 'theshack' as 3 different persons. Jesus is, appropriately, a Jewishcarpenter. The Holy Spirit is an Asian woman with flowing robes. The Father isportrayed as a large, black woman. The portrayal of this last character is the beginning of manyof the issues some mainstream Christian leaders have with the book. In the story, theFather explains to Mack why He needed to meet him in this form and it makessense to me. I don't read new-age, gender-blending subversiveness intothis. Also remember, this book is advertised as fiction, which it is. It'snot intended to be a systematic theology text. However, our own Al Mohlercalled it 'dangerous fiction'. Maybe that's the role a Christian leaderwho is the head of a major seminary needs to take - defender of the faith, nomatter how innocuous or trivial the perceived threat is. I, however,found many good things to be gleaned from the book - especially about therelational side of God - even though I did not agree with every statement the book made.

Two: The church (little c)

Therefore, I find it sad when I hear that people who are beingconsidered for church leadership are actually judged by church leaders onwhether or not they take a stand against this 'heresy'. You better keepyour mouth shut if you liked it, or you're obviously in error or simplyignorant. Plus you won't get 'promoted'. If you're a person who thinks differently than the norm, you are to be feared or shunned. Why? Can't the church withstand a little scrutiny, or differences in opinion on these matters. If not, then open dialogue is shut down and members are afraid to say what they think - to their own detriment. I'll tell you what else people in the church are afraid to do - give voice to doubts. I'd like a place where I can air my doubts without being attacked. Just because I have doubts or questions about some things considered Baptist doctrine doesn't make me evil. In fact, to honestly and fully explore them will give deeper and richer understanding into the topic and this whole thing called Christianity. But not if I have to keep my mouth shut for fear of being categorized and ostracized.

Well, I think you know I won't. I wonder sometimes if it's my God-given role to be anti-establishment. I know it would be much harder for me to say that if I was already part of the 'establishment'. This is my argument against the institution. There is pressure to conform. We have to be able to distinguish between, and lovingly live in the tension of, unity and non-uniformity.

The quote is well known:

In essential things - Unity

In non-essentials, or debatable things, or matters of opinion - Liberty

In all things - Charity (or love)

What Time? Is It?

2011-12-30T14:53:00.000-05:00

Another year draws to a close.

What is a year?

I like very fundamental questions. Sometimes things are so common to our thinking that we get misled by the supposed obviousness of the situation. Or maybe it's just a man's perspective as opposed to God's.

A year: 365 days? What's a day? 24 hours? What's an hour ... well, you get the picture. We define time by more time. But what is time really? We call one cycle by the earth around the sun a year. Or the perception of the sun rising 365 times. But the sun doesn't really rise, the earth rotates us into it's view. More perspective issues. We normally think of all these things as being the passage of time.

I propose that time is not real. It's a concept. It's an illusion of sorts. We are subjected to changes as we are born, mature and die. We call that the passage of time. We use the concept of time to place events in a sequence. We use a ticking clock to count off seconds and minutes and hours and call that time. The other illusion that accompanies it is the idea that we've got plenty of it.

God is not impacted by this concept of time. How is that? He doesn't change. He doesn't get old. He isn't any different now than yesterday or a million years ago, or a billion years ago, or...how far back can we go? It doesn't matter because time is irrelevant when you talk about God, or eternity. To speak of eternity as being timeless is more accurate than to speak of it as being unending time.

Here's the important part: Life is short. What are you doing with it?

We are repeatedly told by our Creator that life is a vapor, a mist, a flower that blooms in the morning and is gone by evening. In other words - brief. Why? What's the point? A couple of things come to mind. As I said earlier, we have this incorrect idea that we've got plenty of time. Is there something important we need to do? We'll get to it - eventually. Yet, the reality is - we aren't guaranteed even 1 more breath after this. Also, we like to think very highly of ourselves. We can accomplish great things. Build huge monuments to our cleverness and ingenuity. But we quickly fade away. Even the monuments crumble and disappear over time.

What is truly lasting? Only God, life for the believer, and those things we do by and for Him.
The spiritual is more 'real' than the physical, yet we are usually dominated by the physical.

No matter how old you are - 'time' is almost up. Make the most of it. Get started.

“All people are like grass...the grass withers and the flowers fall...but the word of our God endures forever.”

Are You Rich?

2011-12-23T09:17:00.000-05:00

1 Timothy 4:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 Butif we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Are you broke yet?

With all the Christmas shopping going on, it’s hard tostay on budget.

Steve and Micah have already encouraged us to slow down,take the hectic out of the holiday, and meditate on what it’s really allabout. I’d like to take this opportunityto remind us of how blessed we are, even as the over-emphasis on materialtrappings (interesting word in this context – trappings) of this time of yearseek to cloud our vision and rob us of contentment. You may have heard what follows before but it’s worthrepeating. We can so easily loseperspective in this culture. We are the proverbialfrogs that slowly get the heat turned up around us until we’re boiling to deathand we didn’t even realize it. WAKE UP!

If you are an American, you are rich. If you have electricity, are able to purchasefood at a grocery store without having to own land, plant, and harvest yourown, own a cell phone, go to the bathroom indoors and have a toilet to flush,have running hot and cold water, live in a place that has a refrigerator, ownclothes that you did not weave or kill an animal to get, you are rich. If you have a computer, air conditioning,central heating, an automobile, live in a dwelling that’s more than 500 squarefeet, you are super rich.

It wasn’t that long ago that there was no airconditioning and heat came from a fireplace, not piped into your bedroom.

The majority of people around the world – billions ofthem – have very few of the luxuries that American’s possess. What does it mean when one of our greatesthealth problems is obesity? We’re toorich for our own good. Storagefacilities populate the landscape of our cities to hold possessions that wecan’t fit in our homes and apartments.

Are you rich?

The answer is not as dependant on your checking accountbalance as it is on your perspective.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

2011-12-21T09:08:00.005-05:00

Ricky Bobby: "I like the Christmas Jesus best when I'm saying grace. When you say grace you can say it to grown-up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, or whoever you want. Dear Tiny Jesus, with your golden fleece diapers..."
Cal Naughton: "I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T-Shirt because it says I want to be formal, but I'm here to party"

Forgive me for starting a Christmas post with a quote from Talladega Nights, but the dinner table scene quoted above does bring up one valid point: Jesus wears many hats. He has many faces, if you will.

You have Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Son of the Living God, Jesus the King of Kings, Jesus the Intercessor, Jesus the Word, Jesus the Good Shepherd, and many other roles that Jesus fills. But during the Christmas season, more so than at any other time of the year, I'm reminded of Jesus as God's Gift to the world. God had a plan, and that plan was Jesus. Humanity had a problem, and the solution was Jesus.

I don't know about you, but I find myself surrounded by people who seem to get no joy from Christmas. I see posts on Facebook, and hear conversations from coworkers, that express frustration over Christmas. People feel harried, hurried, and hectic trying to "get everything done". When I think about Jesus as God's greatest gift, you know how I feel? Grateful. When I think about God's plan that comes through that gift, I feel hopeful. During the Christmas season, as I soak in the carols and choruses that sing of the birth of the world's savior, I'm continuously reminded of this gift that makes me grateful and hopeful.

I wish that my coworkers and Facebook friends who seem so stressed out by Christmas could share in the gratefulness and hopefulness that I feel. If you're a Christian and feel worn out by the season, I'd encourage you to meditate on the generosity of God in giving us this great gift, and the hope that you have because of it.

Merry Christmas!!

Prepare A Place For Him

2011-12-14T17:25:00.001-05:00

Luke 2

¹And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed….

³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Over the last couple weeks I’ve been doing something that is definitely in my top ten most hated things to do: Moving.

But as I’ve been moving I’ve discovered two very important things. First, I have entirely too much junk. Over the course of moving I’ve thrown away literally 15 bags of trash or things I just don’t care about anymore, given away 8 bags of clothes I’ll never wear again that were just taking up space, and cleaned out stuff I’ve been carrying around with me from when I was in grade school!

And second, I need to prepare a place for the one that I love. I’m about to get married, and the biggest thing about getting married is that it means you’re going to share your life with someone. But how do you share your life with someone when it’s already full of junk? You have to dig it out and throw it away. You have to prepare a space for them to be in your life. And really, everything else in your life needs to fit around them – if something is going to conflict with your marriage relationship, then it needs to go, that’s how important marriage should be!

And here’s how this all ties into the birth of Jesus. That last little line of Luke 2:7 – she “laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Back in the 1300’s there was a guy named Thomas a Kempis, and he said “Christ will come to you, and impart his consolations to you, if you prepare a worthy dwelling for Him in your heart.” He was pointing out that we let so much junk into our hearts that it crowds out Jesus. We need to clean house so to speak.

Jesus wants to make his dwelling in our hearts, he wants to be with us, and he wants to be in a relationship with us that is deeper than any marriage. But we walk around with entirely too much junk in our hearts and we don’t take the time to prepare a place for him. Like the people of Bethlehem, there’s often just no room for Jesus in our hearts.

So this Christmas, take the time and energy to prepare a place for Jesus in your heart, and get rid of some of the junk that’s crowding him out!

Food Fast

2011-12-13T14:06:00.000-05:00

Anybody who knows me will probably think the title of this post means I want some food and I want it now. But the truth is - I've just come off of a 4 day fast from solid food. I know that when you fast for spiritual reasons, you're not supposed to tell everybody and be a starving martyr. But I'd like to explore some important issues - related to eating - surrounding this event for me.

This is the second fast I've done in the past year. The last one was for 7 days. If I've ever done any fasting before these, I don't remember it and it definitely wasn't for more than a day or two. My fast was a liquid one. I allowed myself to have any liquids such as water, milk, juice, coffee, Coke Zero, and sweet tea. I minimized any sugar, caffeine or alcohol intake. I had a glass of juice in place of a meal. I had chicken broth, tomato soup or a protein drink for 1 meal - usually dinner - to keep some nutrition up.

Here's some observations: Many times I wanted to eat, but wasn't really that hungry. One thing this points out to me, which I am well aware of already, is that I want to eat whether I'm hungry or not. Sure, I 'feel' hungry when it's meal time or food's cooking, but that seems to mostly be a result of my desire to eat, not actual hunger. The fact that I am accumulating weight over the years means I am taking on more calories than I need. True hunger is not a reality for me. The desire to taste and chew on food is. I point out those 2 aspects of eating because I think those are the primary drivers. My main goal isn't to make my stomach stop growling, or make it feel full. My main goal is to enjoy the experience of eating, which is experienced through taste and texture. This is the idea behind 'diet' foods and drinks. They give us (close to) the flavor and texture, things we really want, plus the physical sensation of eating, without the calories (or at least as many).

My primary goal isspiritual development through fasting. But I also hope that, through these fasting experiences, I can learn a couple of life-long lessonsabout eating.
1) I NEED far less food, on a daily basis, than I consume. The human body is amazingly economical with calories. For proof, just observe the number of calories you have expended on a device that tracks them, such as a treadmill, after nearly killing yourself from exhaustion - 300? - that's a single cheeseburger at McD's. I never get less than a double.
Even their GRILLED chicken club is double that.
And 2), I CANcontrol my urges to ingest calories.

Interestingly, it actually seems a bit easier to do when I have 'set' my mind and KNOW I can't have anything.

One of the things I, and many others, have said regarding dieting, is that you need to be careful about dramatically reducing your calories because of the slow-down your metabolism would experience. I'm beginning to think that's an excuse. There is some truth to it, but the end result of that kind of thinking for me is little to no reduction in consumed calories in the interest of keeping my metabolism up. And the main reason I want to keep my metabolism up is so I can consume the maximum amount of calories. The thinking is all wrong.

What are your thoughts or tips on this topic?
It's a big one, especially this time of year, that resonates with a lot of people.
The multi-billion dollar diet and exercise industry can attest to that.

Generate Good

2011-12-06T12:54:00.001-05:00

Today we're going to contemplate the mystical and powerful realm of DNA, chromosomes and genetics.

It's well-known that there exists within all of us genetic predispositions. Usually, these are talked about medically as causing us to have a higher likelihood of heart disease, cancer, high cholesterol, and other health-related problems. Problems we can't specifically control (except possibly through medications for some). There are factors we can control, but the ones we can't are the genetic ones. We get it from our parents and there's nothing we can do about it.

However, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that certain behaviors have a genetic component. Alcoholism is one such behavior. Or is it a disease? A study in Sweden followed alcohol use in twins who were adopted as children and reared apart. The incidence of alcoholism was slightly higher among people who were exposed to alcoholism only through their adoptive families. However, it was dramatically higher among the twins whose biological fathers were alcoholics, regardless of the presence of alcoholism in their adoptive families. What caused this? Was it a genetic abnormality that helped cause the alcoholism? Or is it possible that the excessive consumption of alcohol altered the genes of the biological parents, which in turn were passed on to the kids? This is one of those 'which came first' type questions. I saw a study once that claimed to show there were differences between the brains of homosexuals as compared to the brains of heterosexuals. The point trying to be made was that people are born gay (an argument I don't see the need to get involved with). But what if gay behavior caused the brain difference? What about taking drugs? Legal and illegal. If alcohol can do it, surely drugs could.
What about behaviors that affect brain chemistry like gambling and pornography?

Can you change your genetics for the worse?

Obviously, our behavior affects our kids in that we are training them by example. And that, itself, can be passed on through generations. But if you can alter your genetics by behavior, what kind of responsibility does that place on us?

In Exodus 20, while giving the 10 commandments, God says:

I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

Later, in the New Testament, the disciples asked Jesus about a man blind from birth. Was this situation because of the man's sin, or the sin of his parents? Jesus answered neither, at least in this case. But the disciples saw a strong connection between sin and effect, even to the children of the sinner.

How could it be fair to punish the children for the sins of the parents? I like the unfailing love part in Exodus 20, but what is this 'affect' for the entire family and generations to come?
Is it a learned behavior? Genetics?

And if we can alter our genes for bad, what about for good?
Could it be possible to improve our genetic makeup through good behavior?

We can, at a minimum, recognize the role of example and behavior in affecting generations. But if there is any validity to this idea of genetic alteration, the stakes have been raised to a whole new level.

Wonderful Incarnation Day

2011-12-01T10:03:00.000-05:00

Hello frosty December! I've heard a lot said about how Christians need to be sure to say 'Merry Christmas' this time of year instead of the heretical 'Happy Holidays'. After all, the heathen Baal-worshippers said that I guess. I am glad to use the word Christmas, or Christ, whenever I can. But when you think about it, who says 'merry' anymore. The only time that word is used, other than in Merry Christmas, is when someone quotes Shakespeare, or KJV, by saying 'eat, drink and be merry'. So it's an archaic word. Kind of like singing My Old Kentucky Home, where some group of people are 'gay', oh yeah, that was 'darkies' who were gay. Another word that has mercifully been removed from current language. By the way, what homosexual genius thought 'gay' would would work nicely as a descriptor for sexual orientation?

Anyway, I guess Happy Christmas, or Joyful Christmas doesn't have the same ring to it.
And there is an old-time nostalgia to the perennial greeting of Merry Christmas. But if I, as a self-avowed and practicing Christian, find the debate over saying Merry Christmas a little silly, how do you think all the non-Christians find it? I'd file this under 'Pick your battles wisely'.

Wonderful Incarnation Day to you all.

Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

2011-11-27T00:13:00.001-05:00

This whole past week I've had blessings on the mind. Preparing for a sermon for the weekend after thanksgiving will do that to you I guess. Anyways, looking at all the blessings we have as Christians and as Americans I was overwhelmed with the question of how we look at the glass of our life - is it half full or half empty with God's blessing?

I mean we live in America, where we stuff ourselves with turkey and call it a holiday. We have stores who compete against each other to open just that little bit earlier so everyone can rush in to shop for black Friday on the day before (Gray Thursday?). We even have commercials of crazy middle-aged women who apparently had a bad experience last year shopping and are convinced they need to condition like someone competing in the Iron Man so they don't pull a muscle this year and miss out on all the deals (here's looking at you Target).

Don't get me wrong I'm all for getting good deals and making the most of our money as God's stewards. But seriously, in America we're conditioned to ask the wrong questions. Is my glass half empty or half full? I think if we as Christians see our glass as anything other than overflowing, we're looking at it from the wrong perspective. God has blessed us immeasurably with Jesus' sacrificial and saving love on the cross. Everything else is icing on the cake, and he wants us to share the cake with others. Our lives should be so filled with Christ's love that we're literally overflowing with it!

So, what's your glass look like this Thanksgiving?

The Reason

2011-11-25T08:09:00.003-05:00

Stephen R Covey has been credited with the saying "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." While not necessarily even religious in nature, I find this statement to be particularly true when describing one's Christian walk. Perhaps moreso at this time of year than any other, when the world seeks to distract us with doorbuster sales and lit-up houses and flying reindeer and sugarplum fairies and fat men in red suits.

How do YOU keep the main thing the main thing during this time of year? Do you have any special traditions that keep the focus on Christ during the Christmas season?

One thing I've done in years past, and that I'm doing again this year, is to listen to nothing but Christmas music from Thanksgiving until Christmas. I listen to music like a fish drinks water. All day long at work, in the car, at home. A lot. All of that is going to be Christmas music for the next month.

Understand, also, that when I say "Christmas music", I'm talking about songs and carols that herald the birth of my savior Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about "holiday music" that sings of Rudolph or jingling bells or chestnuts roasting over an open fire. At best, those songs remind me of my more selfish years when I thought that Christmas was all about me and scoring as many great toys as possible. At worst, those songs actively irritate me, as they attempt, and succeed, at ripping the focus of the season away from The Main Thing.

On my morning commute today, I had tears in my eyes as I heartily sang "Joy To the World" in my car along with Third Day. It was wonderful. I look forward to another month's worth of celebrating Jesus' birth. How about you?

GrAttitude

2011-11-22T09:47:00.001-05:00

Excerpt from the First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving given by the Continental Congress in 1777:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance;...

Can you imagine Congress making such a statement today?
Mentioning Jesus by name? Shocking!

One of the reasons that I like holidays (a word derived from the phrase Holy Days) like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter is that it gives us an opportunity to stop, reflect and celebrate what God has done. The Jewish people of the Old Testament certainly understood this principle.
They took Holy Days very seriously and spent weeks at a time on some of them.
Even weddings were extended celebrations.
We are missing that in our modern culture.

Unfortunately, I think many of us don't stop. We actually ramp up into higher gear. Guests coming over, visiting relatives, dinners to cook, houses to clean, games to watch, presents to buy, etc. The purpose of the holiday gets lost, stress increases, relationships strain. Been there? The only reflecting going on is about how to get home as quickly as possible. Celebration? Maybe a nap.

Take this as a reminder, which I think we need to hear every true Holy Day celebration, to pause from activity, truly reflect on the meaning behind the day, put aside differences (you can always be mad at Uncle Joe next week), put effort into bonding rather than repelling each other, and give God the gratitude and honor He is due.

Onward and upward.

Speed of Life

2011-11-21T09:24:00.001-05:00

Refine your perception filter.

Slow the speed of life.

Reframe your daily experiences.

These are the 3 things advocated by the writer of today's AoM blog.

He claims the third one is the biggest problem for men today, but I think the second is. At any rate, I'd like to explore that idea a little bit.

Under the heading 'The deceleration of the speed of life', the writer says the following:

In a modern world, your life is allowed to move at whicheverspeed you choose for it. And the predominant setting for most men is “fast,” soyou’re likely to default there without consciously deciding on it. But once you’ve adjusted your perception filter to take inmore of life, fast becomes incompatible with your new settings. Fast results ininformation overload and makes it nearly impossible to choose and analyze themost important micro life events that will allow you to make the progress youwant.

When you drive through a city, how much detail do younotice? If you were to travel back through on a bicycle, what might you seethen? And if you took the whole day and simply walked across it, what kind ofrelationship would you build with that place that would have been impossiblefrom a car?

The goal now is to place the emphasis of your actions on“effective” over “efficient.” You must give yourself the opportunity to see theright pieces of life to be worked on. When you move slowly, this is easy to do.But if you move too quickly, it’s very difficult because the temptation to“just get things done” becomes more and more pervasive.

In practical terms, this may mean removing yourself fromregular social habits and replacing them with solitude where you can reflect onyour day. Or it might mean refusing an extra task at work so that you can giveyour full attention to the project that’s most important to your success.

When life slows down, improvement speeds up.

The writer seems to be focusing on work tasks but I think this concept applies in all areas of life. I definitely see the pace of life as being one of the most detrimental factors in a person's life these days. We all experience it. We're too busy. And the things we're too busy for are usually the important things. Time with our spouse, time with each of our kids, time with God and His Word, time for exercise, time to help someone out that needs a hand, time to rest, time to think, and on and on. We let our pace of life control us instead of the reverse. How many times have you heard someone say 'I know I need to do 'X', but....(insert flimsy excuse) and you think - but can't you see that 'X' is more important than most of what you DO spend your time doing?
Maybe we don't say that out loud because we know we're doing it too.

Solitude is one of the spiritual disciplines. One of the best and easiest to read books I've seen on spiritual disciplines is The Life You Always Wanted by John Ortberg. In there, he talks about the importance of Solitude. Solitude is necessary, but it's a lost art/science these days. It's unheard of. And if you took a day, or a weekend, to periodically achieve it - people would wonder what in the world is wrong with you. So we keep up the relentless pace. Another book related to this topic is Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard Swenson. I haven't read this book, but I fully agree with his view that there is not only a lack of margins in our lives, but we are many times overextended beyond our limits.

Do you find time to slow down and meditate/contemplate/rejuvenate on any kind of regular basis? Are you paying a daily price for not doing it?

Related: Time Matrix

Trouble Commenting Part 2

2011-11-21T09:09:00.001-05:00

I'm still hearing stories of people having trouble commenting. Until I move this to a new site, I recommend the following: prior to attempting to make a comment, simply type a test word or phrase (like 'test') and see if it appears as a comment. If it doesn't, you need to sign in a different way until you can get some kind of comment to appear. You or I can always delete any 'test' comments. Sometimes 'anonymous' works and sometimes it doesn't. I think the most effective way to make comments is to have a gmail account. It's easy to sign up for through the google home page. Select Mail from the header and make up a user name and password. You don't even have to ever use the account for email. I'll be looking at moving to WordPress during the holidays. Thanks for all your comments, we don't want to miss any of them.

Civil War

2011-11-17T12:42:00.001-05:00

Do you have a split personality?

Are youschizophrenic?

One of the definitions of schizophrenia in dictionary.comis: a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatibleelements.

Doesthat describe you?

Paul, in Romans 7 describes a heated battle going onright inside of himself. He describes a dilemma in which he wants to do goodbut can't. He doesn't want to do wrong, but does it anyway. He saysthere is a power within him that is at war with his mind. It's sin.

We also call it the 'natural man' or the 'flesh'.

Paul's description of his struggle is so bleak that somehave concluded he wrote these words prior to being converted. I don't think so.

Haveyou noticed the same struggle going on within you? Do you ever askyourself, "why did I do that again"? Can't I ever get thatright? God must be mad at me, I'm always failing.

How should we deal with this struggle? Just keep trying to be good?

Is there honor in the never-ending struggle? If you didn't care, there would be no struggle.

Also, who is the real me?

Is the real me the 'spiritual me'? Or is the real me the 'natural me'. Or are they both me?

I tend to think in terms of the real me being the natural me. It's the part that wants it's own way, is selfish and prideful, dislikes the things of God. That was me prior to salvation. Is it still me?

2 Corinthians 5:17 says I'm a new creature and the old has passed away.

But I find old desires still present. Am I a new creature or some kind of hybrid? Old and new?

In Galatians 6, Paul is writing to Christians. In vs. 8 he says: Whoever sows to please the flesh will reap destruction, whoever sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life.

As a saved Christian, can I sow destruction for myself?

Also related: What is my standing before God as a Christian who sins?

I've heard it said, and repeated, that Christ died for ALL of my sins. That includes past, present and future sins. Others contend that while my salvation is secure, since I still sin I'm in need of forgiveness from those sins. Ongoing sin is not forgiven. What is this difference between sin that is forgiven and allows me entrance into heaven and sin that does affect me?

And how does it affect me?

A lot to think about.

I think a useful model may be one where you consider your 'natural man' as getting fed all the time from the world, culture and selfish actions. He's always pretty strong. The 'spiritual man' needs to be fed and exercised also. We do this by reading the Word (eating, man does not live by bread alone), doing what it says or applying what we've learned (exercising), and by prayer. It would be important to keep the spiritual man as healthy as possible in order to be able to effectively combat the enemy within - whatever you call him and whoever he is.

Insult To Injury

2011-11-15T12:31:00.000-05:00

We are going through the book of Romans in class currently. This past Sunday we began to cover chapter 14. In that chapter, Paul discusses and contrasts 'stronger' and 'weaker' brothers, freedom and not abusing that freedom, offending and being offended.
Very interesting stuff.

Personally, I don't have any problem with the part where we are NOT to look down on others for how they believe they should live their life. The difficult part for me is this idea of adjusting my life to what is acceptable to others. It seems to me that it would be very fair to live and let live. I won't judge you on matters that are 'disputable' or non-essential to being a christian, and you afford me the same respect.
But that's not what it says.
Paul states in vs. 15 that I'm not acting in love if I 'distress' my brother with what I'm doing. He goes on to say that I shouldn't let that which I know is good be spoken about as evil. Hmmm.
Vs. 20 - 21 talk about not causing another to stumble or fall.
So let me get this straight.
I can, by exercising my own legitimate freedom, cause another person to fall because they erroneously believe that what I'm doing is wrong? Maybe they see me doing what they consider wrong, and are influenced to do the same, which results in their conscience convicting them. I don't even like to use the word 'conviction' in this context. I think 'guilt' would be more accurate, and inappropriate guilt at that. (We can discuss later whether feelings of guilt are ever good) However, vs. 23 warns that if you have doubts about what you are doing, and go ahead and do it, you're sinning.

A point was raised that we always, or often, think of ourselves as the 'stronger' brother having to put up with that poor weakling brother. So maybe I'm just plain wrong, and the one I consider 'weak' is the right one? Yet, in the context of Romans 14, the stronger brother is the one who doesn't look down on, or condemn, his brother for what he does in these matters.
By definition, the weaker brother is the one who is offended.

Another point was made that the 'stronger' brother would be the one who gives preference to the one who insists that his way is right. That seems legit.

I'm no expert on this matter, and I don't have a tidy summary/conclusion.
I'm asking questions.
I hope I haven't offended anyone.

Off To The Races

2011-11-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

Is racism alive and well in America in the 21st century? I think most people would say yes. Obviously it's not doing as well as it was in the mid-20th century and before. There are many that would point to a black president as the end of widespread racism in America. And I do think there's some validity to that point. But there are still underlying currents of it that show themselves every now and then - in the news, at work, with your friends or acquaintances.

Maybe in our very selves.

Are you a racist? At least a little bit? I think it's possible that racism of some degree is as inescapable as cliques and social hierarchies. If we dig down deep, do we find that there is a natural aversion to anything that is 'other' or different than our selves. And if so, then it is perpetuated on both sides.

I wrote a post recently entitled Politically Correct and out of that came comments regarding the 'PC-ness' of using the term 'African-american' instead of 'black'. It's a sensitive subject - on both sides. Why does it seem that these topics are somewhat 'taboo' in 'mixed' company? How do we make progress on this important issue? I think one way is by having open communication, which is what I'm trying to do here. The problem is, as I mentioned on the PC post, is that I don't think there are any black readers. So can we truly have a meaningful dialogue with only one race represented? I invited a black person, whom I've had these types of discussions with in the past, to view and comment on the PC post. If they viewed it, they didn't comment. So, how do we do it?

A problem with racism is that it lumps people into groups. It takes the individual out of the picture. If I have predetermined stereotypes about a race, those will reflect onto the individual and 'color' my attitude and actions. I hate it when someone tries to tell me about how bad a certain person is before I meet them. The majority of the time I find that I don't have any problems with that individual, as long as I went in with a clean slate and interacted with that person as though I didn't expect there to be an issue. It can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm sure that when we enter in to any kind of relationship with someone expecting there to be problems, that's what we'll get. The other person will pick up on it and begin thinking the exact same kind of negative thoughts about you. They will then interact with you just like you 'knew' they were going to do. A recipe for disaster.

What about the issue of profiling? If Muslims are the main perpetrators of terror, shouldn't the police pay special attention to those 'types' of people? Is that racist? I know doctors who have been detained because of their nationality or name. Is that fair? According to Wikipedia, 70% of the prison population is non-white. Does that mean whites are better people, or that the system is biased, or that social and cultural elements have non-whites at a disadvantage?

The answer you get probably depends on who you ask, and their own personal bias.

Age Discriminations

2011-11-09T16:19:00.000-05:00

In a popular Brad Paisley song called I'm Still a Guy, Brad sings, 'I don't highlight my hair, I've still got a pair. Yeah honey, I'm still a guy'. Which led me to think about (now that I'm approaching 50 in the next few - very few - years) the difference between highlighting and hair coloring. One is strictly an attempt at beautification, the other is an attempt at defying age.
A small difference maybe.

Obviously many guys feel the compulsion to keep that virile look going by turning their gray hair to dark via one of the popular men's hair products such as Grecian Formula. It may be partially pride, it may be partially effective marketing strategy, it may be that their wife wants them to.

I would wager that those of us who are going gray would say that we don't care as much about the color as the presence of hair. Especially when you can rock the gray like ol' Gandalf here. Of course, many times going gray and balding go hand-in-hand. Same type of problem. Age related. Cosmetic and superficial really. The average U.S. consumer spent $616 on personal beauty care in 2008, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If there was even 100 million 'consumers', that would come to over 60 billion dollars. I know that 'beauty care' covers a lot more than hair coloring, but by comparison, less than 2 billion was spent on all types of cancer research that same year (according to the National Cancer Institute). Gotta have priorities I guess.

Going gray can be a distinguished look. It's also probably the single most visible sign of age. You can be young and fat, but you're not too likely to be young and gray.

Proverbs 16:31 says: Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life.

There's also a Greek proverb that goes, 'Gray hair is a sign of age, not wisdom'.

Birthdays

2011-10-17T12:18:00.000-04:00

With the advent of yet another birthday right around the corner, and considering what I would do on that day, I wondered the following:
When did the custom of celebrating birthdays begin?
And - What's the point of celebrating your birthday?

I know many of you are probably saying: What?
Of course it's a good thing.
Nobody better forget my birthday.

I recall that when my birthday came around in my younger days I was very excited about it. Just the fact that we were in the month of October was enough reason to celebrate. Nowadays, it's still nice, but definitely less exciting as I near 50. Still, what should my attitude be about my own birthday? Did I accomplish something by living one more year. Many times I have semi-sarcastically congratulated co-workers in their birthday card for making it another year.

What should the occasion of another year of life completed entail?
It's nice to have your birthday remembered, to have people honor your birth and show their appreciation of you. But what should it mean personally?

My work used to give a day off for birthdays. They stopped that perk a few years back, but I still (usually) take the day off anyway. Partially to passively protest losing that benefit, but mostly to have time to reflect on another year in the books. What did I accomplish? What do I need to accomplish? I think there is a benefit to this kind of Self Examination. It allows you a moment to assess where you're at and think about where you need to be. Not that you can't do that on any other day. But an anniversary like a birthday seems a very appropriate time to pause and consider just those kinds of things.

Don't misunderstand - I'll still eat cake and accept presents too.

Be What You Are

2011-10-14T12:39:00.000-04:00

I wasn't planning on writing any more on this blog until I moved to a new site. But since I'm still getting hits and it's been 2 weeks, I thought I should dust off some drafts I had previously started.

Are you a victim?

Do you have a victim mentality?
Or are you a warrior!
I know that's a question but I'm putting an exclamation mark after it.

You may have heard the saying that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. How can someone who seems to have been handed a pitiful life situation be upbeat and positive and even seem to make something good out of adversity; while another who appears to have relatively minor problems be so depressed and depressing to be around?

Our attitude decides the outcome.

This is a topic similar to others that have been posted on this site. My last post about the Pain Benefit is highly related, but these concepts warrant repeating and of being re-reminded about.

Do you have the kind of attitude that can be hit with a negative, absorb the impact and convert the energy into something that's positive?

But that's hard, you say. Of course it is, but do it anyway. Find a way. Search for the reason, and lacking that, seek the upside. What's the alternative? The Victim Mentality and all the negativity that can flow, be reproduced even, out of that. I'm not saying Positive Thinking is the solution to all your problems. However, I am saying positive thinking is right and good. Especially when positive lessons and actions flow out of that. The victim is defeated and helpless. The warrior sees opportunity for improvement (victory) and the option and ability to forge his own path. He also has the ability to lift others up with him. The victim cannot.

Live your life with purpose. Be an encourager. Look for opportunity.

Is life an adventure for you? I was struck by Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford in 2005 when he said (and I paraphrase): Do you wake up in the morning dreading what you've got to do that day, or looking forward to it? He then said if he spent too many days dreading it, he needed to change what he was doing. I've told my kids that it's wonderful to make good money, but it would be tragic if it was made doing something you didn't like. 40 hours a week X 50 weeks a year X 50 years of working is a long, long time to spend NOT liking what you're doing.

A victim is not on an adventure. A victim toils in despair.
A warrior finds his path and is energized by walking it- and even struggling with it.

Have you had negative events in your life knock you down? Of course you have.
Do you like it down there? Nope. Then get up. What's the alternative?
The ironic thing is that most people who have the victim mentality are actually, like Gulliver, tied down with threads. They can rise up but their mind is shackled with beliefs no stronger than threads that say they can't. We are in a battle everyday. Rather than be scared, be prepared, expect it.
Be ready to engage and facilitate victory.

Be what you are - more than a conqueror.

Trouble Commenting?

2011-09-29T13:48:00.001-04:00

I don't guess you'll be able to answer this question if you can't comment, but let's see if we can get something figured out here. Tanya, my wife, wrote a couple of paragraphs the other night as comments to one of my blog posts. She said that when she hit the 'post comment' button - the whole comment disappeared, never to be found again. I recalled Derek saying that he had tried to comment on a post in the past and lost the comment also. So I went to the blog, didn't sign in, and tried to comment anonymously. It disappeared. That would be extremely frustrating to me if I was a visitor trying to comment, and I probably wouldn't try again. It actually is frustrating to me to think that readers are unable to post without having a Google account. I would rather move the site than force readers to join something in order to comment. My intent is to have a discussion involving many people about these issues and this isn't helping. I also don't even like having to read and type some kind of wavy letters in order to comment. I know that's supposed to cut down on spam, but I don't really think that's a problem. I see other much more popular websites where you can comment without doing those things.
Has anybody else experienced these issues?
Do you have any suggestions?
Can you answer me?

The Pain Benefit

2011-09-27T11:58:00.001-04:00

Have you ever considered the benefits of pain? We can all readily see the downside. It hurts. In an earlier post about Discipline, I quoted a favorite saying of body builders - Pain is just weakness leaving the body. That's a clever way of saying - You're getting stronger by putting yourself through this misery. And believe me, every time I step on a treadmill, it's misery for me. I don't 'run for fun', as you may hear some people say. However, when I get finished - especially if I lasted the whole 2 miles - I am glad. Not just glad that it's over, but glad for my accomplishment.

I stuck it out. I endured.

I got a little stronger.

I got a benefit from pain.

Without pain, you wouldn't even survive life. One of the reasons dentists tell you not to eat anything after having dental work that required anesthesia is because you might chew your tongue off without realizing it. That picture is an actual x-ray of my hand taken just yesterday. If you click on it, you may be able to make out one of the two breaks at the base of the index finger. If I didn't experience pain, I would have kept playing (as I tried to do) and possibly lost total use of that finger. Pain protects you.

The challenge for us is to take those things we view as painful and use them for good. From a physical perspective, I won't play tennis on a court that has leaves on it again. That's a self-inflicted pain that I want to avoid. But more importantly, there are spiritual. intellectual and emotional Opportunities we encounter every day that extend to us the invitation to grow.

Will we rail against God or Fate for our sorry lot in life?

Or will we take full advantage of the Pain Benefit?

Politically Correct?

2011-09-23T09:06:00.000-04:00

What does it mean to be 'politically correct'?

Is it being careful to not be offensive to anyone? That seems like a good thing. But then why is being 'politically correct' generally used in a negative sense? You've probably heard someone say, 'We have to be politically correct you know' in an exasperated tone. Is it because we don't like having to consider how others will receive our comments, especially when they don't agree with our own point of view?

Of course, being 'PC' can get out of hand, or ridiculous - exhibit 1 is the accompanying t-shirt picture. One quote says, 'Being politically correct means always having to say you're sorry'. I'm sure you've seen or heard many other examples of PC gone wild. Did you hear the story, earlier this year, of the teacher who wouldn't let a student's picture of an American flag be displayed because it may offend a Jehovah's Witness? I don't even get that. One of my biggest pet peeves is the old Push (some #) for English. Let's please assume I speak English since this is America, and have the person who doesn't speak English push something for their language.

Is that politically incorrect? Is that rude? Or does it just make sense?
Can political correctness be good? Related: What are your pet peeves?

Examine Yourself

2011-09-21T12:28:00.000-04:00

Socrates is credited with originally saying, 'The unexamined life is not worth living'. In my previous post Imago Dei, I described a time in my life when I began to examine who I was and what I believed. This is a valuable and necessary practice - and should be an ongoing one. The following is an paraphrased excerpt from a sermon by Spurgeon.

"Examine yourselves."

This is a 'legal idea'. You have seen the witness in the box, when the lawyer has been examining him, or cross-examining him. Now, mark my words: never was there a rogue less trustworthy or more deceitful than your own heart, and - as when you are cross-examining a dishonest person - you set traps for him to try and find him out in a lie, so do with your own heart. Question it backward and forward, this way and that way; for if there exists a loophole for escape, if there be any pretense or self-deception, rest assured your treacherous heart will be ready enough to avail itself of it.

This is also a 'traveler's idea'. I find in the original (2 Cor. 13:5), it has this meaning: "Go right through yourselves." As a traveler, if he has to write a book about a country, is not content to merely go around its borders, but goes right through the country. He climbs the hill top, where he bathes in the sunshine: he goes down into the deep valleys, where he can only see the blue sky like a strip between the lofty summits of the mountains. He is not content to gaze upon the broad river unless he traces it to the spring from where it rises. He will not be satisfied with viewing the products of the surface of the earth, but he must discover the minerals that lie within its bowels. Now, do the same with your heart. "Examine yourselves." Go right through yourselves from the beginning to the end. Stand not only on the mountains of your public character, but go into the deep valleys of your private life. Don't be content to sail on the broad river of your outward actions, but go follow back the narrow creek till you discover your secret motive. Look not only at your performance, which is but the product of the soil, but dig into your heart and examine the vital principle. "Examine yourselves." This is a very big word—a word that needs thinking over; and I am afraid there be very few, if any of us, who ever come up to the full weight of this solemn exhortation—"Examine yourselves."

What think ye brethern?

Imago Dei

2011-09-19T13:32:00.001-04:00

Origins.

How did we get here?

How you answer that question has a profound impact on the way you live your life.

I was raised in a Christian household and attended a Baptist church as a youth. I blindly accepted what was told to me as fact. I pulled away from that setting through the teenage years and upon entering college I began to ask myself some hard questions. Why do I believe the things that I believe? Do I have any proof to support the accuracy of my belief system. Do I only believe certain things because I was told as a child that they were true? Maybe I was just programmed. Brainwashed. I needed to own who I was.

To do that, I had to know exactly what I believed and why.

I began to research the validity of the claims Christianity made.

At the foundation of this is the question of origins.

Right at the very beginning of the bible, Genesis 1, the claim is made that the heavens, the earth, and everything in it, to include humans, were all created by God. Without turning this post into a creation/evolution debate, allow me to simply say: as a health science major, and a lover of science, the facts (as far as we can know them since no one was actually around at that time, plus the events are not reproducible) are overwhelmingly in support of creationism. However, it's not provable either way. So there is the element of faith involved either way - whichever side you choose to accept. But accept wisely, there are some very long-term effects.

OK, accepting the reality of creationism, what does it mean to be made in Imago Dei? That term is Latin for 'the image of God'. There are various views on this.

I would say that the popular understanding of being made in the image of God means we have a spirit that is eternal, and that we have cognitive, or reasoning, ability. These 2 things set us apart from the animals. In an earlier post, I talked about being a Creator. Is that what being God-like is all about? Does the ability to have meaningful relationships factor in? Compassion? Love?

What does it mean to you?

(See Wikipedia Image of God, Three Ways of Undestanding Imago Dei for more info).

Hey buddy can ya spare a dime?

2011-09-15T16:26:00.002-04:00

I'm feeling convicted as I type this.

For several years now, I've routinely not carried cash on my person. I carry my debit card and that's it. I prefer not to hassle with cash, to be honest.

However, there's one big problem that I'm running into by doing this, and it's bothering me. I'm largely unable to help people.

Today as I was walking back to the office from lunch, a homeless guy asked me for some help. I gave him my standard reply: "I'm sorry man, but I don't carry cash. I've only got plastic on me." I said the same thing yesterday when a different man asked me for a quarter as I walked to lunch at 4th Street Live. Last week there was a women's and children's charity collecting donation at the intersection nearest my office. I gave them the same response.

This is troubling me.

In making my own life easier, simpler, I'm making other people's lives harder. It's not that I don't want to help these people. I just can't, while carrying only plastic.

I think that what I'm going to start doing is carrying a $5 bill in my pocket every day, along with my debit card. I'll still buy my lunch and everything else with plastic, like always. But the next time a person in need asks me for a hand, I'll give em that 5-spot that I've earmarked for just that purpose. The next day, I'll have to remember to replace that Abe Lincoln in my pocket with another so that I can help the next person who asks.

What do you guys think? How often do you give money to folks who ask you for a little help?

Just a job?

2011-09-14T12:41:00.000-04:00

Rich Christiansen, now an entrepreneur and author of “The Zig Zag Principle,” remembers being a “peon” at a start-up company where “everyone was busting their gut to make this little leading-edge technology business work.” As he was leaving one night, he noticed that the office’s floor needed mopping and the place as a whole was pretty filthy. With an important potential investor set to visit the next day, Christiansen decided to come back that night and clean up.

The next day, there was a buzz among the workers as to who had secretly played janitor, and someone eventually figured it out. A vice president offered him a promotion and became a lifelong friend and mentor. Christiansen notes that “by being competent and looking for ways to give and do a little extra, I was able to form a relationship that has been mutually beneficial over the years.”

Do you 'just get by' in a job you consider thankless?

Or do you go out of your way to please your employer and customer?

I used to call that kind of behavior, especially as it applies to the boss, 'brown nosing'.

Then I realized I was just a jerk with a chip on my shoulder.

Now I do nice things for my boss, peers and customers because I like to. Many times it's a simple act of kindness that I would/should extend to anyone. I also try to make authentic connections with our customers (patients in my case).

I find this not only makes their experience better, but mine too.

There are higher reasons also. Colosians 3:23

A Blog about Blogging

2011-09-13T14:08:00.000-04:00

Though I have been enjoying posting thoughts on this site, I have noticed that there are few (and diminishing) responses. The odd thing is - there are several page hits a day, but no comments. Why? (my favorite question) Maybe what I'm posting is not interesting (obviously that's highly unlikely). Maybe readers think they will be revealed for what they truly are, nominal sycophants (also highly unlikely). So what's up? Is the posting of your thoughts on the internet intimidating to you? Am I not reaching the very heart and soul of your deepest concerns? Are you watching football? Speak! (or type)

Money

2011-09-12T09:10:00.000-04:00

This post is edited from The Simple Dollar, a worthy blogabout money and frugality.

Money is something we choose to trade our life energyfor.

Point 1: If you earn $15 an hour at work, you’re notactually trading an hour of your life for that $15. In truth, you’re not earning that $15. Some of it is goingaway to taxes. Some of it is going toward buying your work clothes. You’re alsoworking some hours for free, including the commute time and so on. If you startcalculating the numbers there, you quickly get down to a rate of $8 or $9 perhour (perhaps a little better, perhaps a little worse) that you actually earnfrom your job that you get to keep.

Point 2: When you spend money, you’re actually spendingtime at work. If you actually earn $8 per hour invested in your job and you buya $2,000 television, you’re swapping 250 hours of your life working forthat television. Why not buy a $1,000 television and reclaim 125 hours of yourlife? If you earn that $8 an hour and buy a $200,000 house on a30 year mortgage, meaning you actually dump in $400,000 after the interest,you’re swapping 50,000 hours of your life for that house. Why not live in a$100,000 house and reclaim 25,000 hours of your life? That’s twelve years ofworking 52 weeks a year, five days a week, eight hours a day.

Some food for thought. See full article Money

God Is Not Mad At You

2011-09-07T08:18:00.000-04:00

Maybe this will pull some of you out of the woodwork.

God is not mad at you.

Let me qualify that remark with - if you are a Christian. People take exception with me when I say that, but I defy you to show me where God is mad at the Christian. Is He disappointed at times? Let me answer this way: Do you believe God is omniscient to the point that He knows all future events? If so, then how could He even be disappointed about what He already knows you're going to do? In fact, if He knows how many times it's going to take you to get it right, then that's just one more step in the right direction. "51 down, 49 more to go for Rob. He's finally over the halfway point. Not that I AM surprised." Does He discipline? Of course, see Hebrews 12, but not out of anger. Was He mad at the Jewish people? Yes, and in fact He killed many of them. But they didn't have the indwelling Holy Spirit and atonement of Christ. Also, His wrath will pour out on the unsaved on judgment day. But again, if you are 'saved', what you are saved from is His wrath. Now and then.

The saddest part about all of this is that many of us go through life believing God, like in this picture, is mad at us and is just waiting to hammer us for doing wrong. The beauty of the gospel is that ALL of our sins are paid for. That means the ones in the past AND the ones we haven't even committed yet.

Start living with that joy.

Are You A Creator?

2011-09-06T10:13:00.000-04:00

I was viewing an interesting video over the weekend made by a pastor who owns a brewery. The brewery is called 2 Beers. He said after 2 beers the walls come down and people are a little more open and honest about life. Here's the link On Human Being, Doing, and Brewing. Anyway, this guy talked about how being made in God's image, in part, means we are able to 'create'. Which reminded me of a very good article from the Art of Manliness (see link under my blog list on right) called Modern Maturity - Create More, Consume Less. The thrust of that article is that men create, boys consume.

So, my question today is: Are you a creator?

In my own life, I enjoy playing music. I sometimes think up (or do I hear?) musical passages. I have recorded some of them in the past and it's fun to go through this process. I could say I'm creating anytime I write anything of substance, like these blogs, to anybody. And I enjoy that too. I sometimes have serious talks with my kids and I think I am helping create their perception of reality. My wife likes to make cards (extensive amount of tools/supplies for this), decorate and cook new things.

What do you create?

Or are you more consumer-minded?

Here's an interesting question...

2011-09-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

A friend informs you that you have upset them for some reason, but in your view that person has no legitimate reason to be upset - How should you handle it? Blow them off, let time do it's work? Try to reason with them about the issue? Accept that their response is legitimate for them? I don't think you should tell them that they shouldn't be upset. That's not likely to fix the problem. In fact, it can be demeaning to them. You could certainly explain that it wasn't your intention to upset them, and try to make amends. There's even the possibility that you were in the wrong without realizing it. Call it a 'blindspot'.
What's the over-arching factor that would go in to your response?

The Mentality of Courage

2011-08-24T12:21:00.001-04:00

As I stated last week, I was one of the speakers at the 'Maximum Man' conference our church held this past weekend. My topic was on 'Leading Courageously'. So I explored a variety of issues related to leadership and courage.

The most interesting thing that came out of that for me (and when you speak/teach, YOU are the primary one to benefit or be taught) was this idea that - as Robert Louis put it in Mens Fraternity - our #1 obstacle to courageous leadership is......our feelings!?

Now, you may not have expected that to come out at a 'mens' conference, unless it was some kind of new-age, sensitive man conference - WHICH IT WAS NOT! I would think, as far as emotions go, that anger would be the number 1 enemy for men, or maybe apathy. But the more I think about it, the more I agree.

When we run into conflict while trying to lead in the home, what happens? Our wife doesn't agree, our kids don't follow instructions, and we...get our feelings hurt. NO I DON'T, I GET MAD! Right, but why? What's the deeper issue? Your opinion doesn't carry weight? It doesn't count? Nobody cares what you think anyway? Nobody agrees with you? Nobody 'cares' about you? There's something else going on that triggers our reaction, and it's internal to us. Do outside forces impact us? Absolutely. Do they dictate our response? Probably, but they shouldn't. Are you a victim? Do you have a victim mentality? Then you've given up. You're not doing what 3 other speakers talked about at the conference. Reject passivity, Accept Responsibility, and Expect a greater reward, both now and in eternity.

Again, as Louis stated so well, we have turn our faces into the full gale force of our emotions and say "NO", I'm not giving in to you. And we keep doing the right thing, whatever that is. That's practicing mature manhood.

Do you think this applies to work as well?

Sign Up!

2011-08-12T08:18:00.001-04:00

If you don't receive an email notification whenever a new post is written, or a comment is made, then you need to submit your email address in that box on the right side that says 'Follow by email'.

The Jeremiah Syndrome

2011-08-10T13:33:00.003-04:00

For my first post on this blog, I'll share something that's been gnawing on me for some time.

How do we, as Christian men, live in a fallen world that attacks us for even suggesting that there's anything wrong with the manner in which the lost are living their lives? For merely offering up the thought that homosexuality is wrong, we are labeled bigots and hatemongers.

I have some liberal former classmates on my Facebook friend list, and I have to say...I've given heavy thought to removing them just so that I don't have to be subjected to their "fairness" propaganda, which usually ends up with me defending the God who spoke this universe into existence. It would sure be a lot easier if I didn't have to constantly defend the concept of righteousness to a world that is so thoroughly saturated in their depravity that they don't even realize they have a problem.

But is that the Christian thing to do? Just isolate myself in a little holy bubble? Surround myself with likeminded yes-men who believe as I do?

Jonah ran away from Ninevah because he knew God would have mercy on them once they turned from their wickedness. I feel like the "Ninevah's" in my sphere are more like hopeless causes who would never repent to begin with.

How did Jeremiah do it? How did he persist year after year, seemingly gaining nothing for his troubles but ridicule? How do you do it? I would particularly like to hear from Will Howlett on this issue.

Opportunities

2011-08-09T12:18:00.001-04:00

Back to the spiritual then.

How do you have 'joy' in difficult circumstances?

Should you view pain and trials as good?

Are difficulties evidence that God doesn't care?

I assert that we only grow when we're forced into doing it.

Why would we want to, or see a need to, otherwise?

We don't like it, but we should.

What if you looked at every 'negative' in your life as an opportunity for growth and maturity?

"We often pray for God to remove the very things in our life that He wants to use for our good and His glory."

Wayne Jacobsen, He Loves Me

Make the most of your opportunities.

2011-08-09T10:46:00.000-04:00

Come on...

I know you're out there...

What's On Your Mind?

2011-07-29T15:19:00.001-04:00

Is there any topic you'd like to discuss? My intent was for this site to be a forum for discussion, rather than just my view on things.

I'll be on a hiking trip in the Smokies this weekend. I'll be glad to engage on any relevant topic for next week. A few of you signed up as authors. Feel free to put out a post on your own.

Discipline

2011-07-27T15:42:00.000-04:00

I know what you're craving. Some cold, hard facts that will set you on the pathway to a more disciplined life.

What if you could determine what was important, best, and just plain right for you to do, and then could move into making that a reality? Is a lack of self-discipline the only thing keeping you from saying to yourself: Body, you're overweight and need to lose 20 lbs. and then effectively go about reducing your caloric intake and/or increasing your exercise? Is there anything you couldn't do with the right amount of self-discipline? What are the roles of willpower and motivation in this? Are the concepts synonymous? This issue permeates all aspects of life either positively or negatively. In fact, this concept has already been part of a couple of posts here: The Will and Physically Speaking.

I can still clearly recall a moment in my life when this idea intruded into my mind: Discipline is good. The reason I say intruded is because that idea was so foreign to me prior to that evening, walking across a yard outside some army barracks at Ft. Gordon, GA when I was 19. Prior to that moment, I had understood discipline to be a negative. It was restrictive. It was punishment. But after going through boot camp and advanced training in the military, I began to see a different side of discipline. Let's be honest, discipline can be punishment. Even self-discipline. There's an interesting saying used by bodybuilders: Pain is just weakness leaving the body. I think that's a useful way of looking at this issue. We don't want to force ourselves out of comfort. But the 'pain' we feel from self-discipline is accomplishing the very thing we truly want or need, namely change for the better.

I wish cold, hard facts could set us on the pathway to a more disciplined life. Unfortunately, facts alone don't motivate us very well. I think that's where willpower comes in. We do first need to understand the issue, and then plan our course of action. But how will we be consistently successful at accomplishing our goals? Our will enables decisions to be effective. Where does our willpower-enhancing motivation come from? I would say that, generally, my 'will' to eat too much good-tasting food is stronger than my 'will' to be healthy (long-term Important/Non-urgent goal, see Time Matrix) or to have a slim physique. However, I think I could be effectively motivated to achieve that goal if my doctor told me that I will have a heart attack in the next year if I don't make serious changes. It would be my over-arching will to make this happen. Why can't I apply that discipline now? I don't see the urgency? One theory says that our will serves various motivations aside from reason. Maybe my will is unreasonable.

I'm sure there's much more to be said on this subject. What do you think?

Physically speaking

2011-07-22T10:11:00.002-04:00

In keeping with the purported purpose of these posts (tongue twister), I have covered some aspect of spiritual, mental, and now for the Physical.

Our physical body is incredible in its abilities and complexity. It is the greatest gift or tool we will ever possess. Do you view it that way?

I have often said that the benefits of exercise cannot be overstated. Science is continually finding out new advantages to exercise. The 3 components of a man are all inter-related. If one area suffers, the others do as well. When you've got a cold, you're not very spiritual or mentally alert. An ironic thing about exercise is that, although it expends energy, you ultimately have more energy when you do it. I hear people say frequently that they don't have enough energy to exercise (or time, but that issue was covered in the last 2 posts). Those people are on a downward spiral of decreasing results. Less energy = less exercise = less energy.

Maybe your problem isn't exercise but, like me, you lack discipline with what you eat. Food should be enjoyable, but you can definitely have too much of a good thing. A couple of helpful phrases I've heard that come to mind are: Food is for fuel (not just pleasure), eating is not an event (meals are often the most anticipated event of my day), hunger is OK (I think a stomach growl is an emergency).

Any other helpful tips? I know a food log (much like what a spending log does for your budget) can be very helpful. You may be surprised at how those 'little snacks' or seconds at the dinner table add up. I've even heard that having a day to 'splurge' and have whatever you want can keep you on track for the rest of the week.

What do you think?

Time Matrix

2011-07-21T11:38:00.007-04:00

Your comments, Steve, remind me of scale devised by another Steve - Stephen Covey. He's the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and used the descriptors of Important and Urgent in his scale (below). It's in Habit 3, also called First Things First, and it's about time management. He said everything we do falls into a grid with Important/Not Important on one axis and Urgent/Not Urgent on the other axis.

Covey stated that, in order to effectively manage our time, we needed FIRST to identify those things that ARE important to us. This step is vital so that we can separate those things that aren't important out of our lives. Quadrant 1 has to be done. Those items are both Important and Urgent. The other quadrants are where we have more choice about how our time is spent. Our problem is that we are frequently drawn into Quadrant 3 (Not Important/Urgent) by what Covey calls the 'Tyranny of the Urgent'. This quadrant consumes our time but doesn't contribute to our goals. Obviously, Quad 4 (Not Important/Not Urgent) is a waste of time. We need to be in Quadrant 2 (Important/Not Urgent) as often as possible. This diagram is based on business issues, but we could replace the items in Quad 2 with Family, Health, Spiritual issues or whatever you determine to be most important in your life.

I think this ties in well with our topic of values. It seems to give credibility to the idea that we can make an adjustment from where we ARE spending our time to where we think we SHOULD be spending our time. By doing a rigorous self-assessment, we can identify those areas where our belief isn't in line with our actions (or time) and adjust. I think the diagram is a worthwhile tool to consider and use.

If you have an idea, then help me out here!

The Will

2011-07-20T09:50:00.001-04:00

Do you think of the soul as synonymous with the spirit?

I always did.

However, in my last post, I defined the soul as being comprised of the mind, will and emotions. I'd like to talk about emotions later (is that OK on a Men's website?), but for today let's explore the will.

A friend of mine and I have been having an interesting discussion about priorities. He asserts that we always DO what we think is most important. It's almost by default that this happens. You may argue, as I did, that you find this or that to be very important, but you just don't have the time or energy to get to it. My friend then stated that I don't really find those things to be more important than what I actually do instead of those things. I then tried to factor in things like motivation and plain laziness, but there's a lot of truth here - we (nearly) always do the things we place value on. If I find that I relax on the couch rather than exercise, do I really value exercise? I might think it's a good idea. But I don't really place a higher value on exercise than on rest and relaxation.

This topic ties in with a good post about Sacrifice on the Art of Manliness site found here The Law of Sacrifice. I could have put this under a future post about the physical based on my previous example, but this concept applies very broadly. Do I think family time is important? Do I place a high value on prayer or reading the Bible? How valuable is TV time for me? Do the areas in which I spend my time show my true values as opposed to my stated ones? And if there's a disconnect between my stated values and where I spend my time, how do I adjust?

Go!

The Spirit

2011-07-14T09:17:00.001-04:00

For the sake of foundational primacy, I will need to start with a spiritual post. What is your spiritual awareness? Do you think about 'spiritual realities' on a regular basis, or at all? To some, that phrase is an oxymoron. To others, the spiritual is 'more real' than the physical. The bible says that God is spirit. The first definition found on dictionary.com when searching for the word 'spirit' is: 1. the principle of conscious life, the vital principle in humans animating the body or mediating between body and soul. That last part is intriguing to me. Based on that definition, I am 3 parts: body, spirit and soul, with my spirit mediating between body and soul.

Have you ever talked to yourself? I've actually had some serious conversations with myself before. During one of these conversations, this thought occurred to me: who am I talking to? And if it's 'me' that's being talked to, who's doing the talking? Is our spirit a separate entity from our soul. Maybe we could define 'soul' as being that part of us which is mind (as related to, but different than, the brain), will (or volition), and emotion. How does the spirit factor in? If you're a computer guy, you could think of the body as the hardware, the soul as the software and the spirit as...the electricity?

I'm not really answering many questions here. I just want to stimulate some conversation.
Do some soul-searching and then tell me: What Do You Think?

Open for business

2011-07-13T13:40:00.001-04:00

OK! So, I was reading an interesting blog at http://bibletherapy.blogspot.com , go ahead, check it out. Good stuff. Anyway, I noticed a link at the top of the page asking if I wanted to start a blog. I was intrigued by this idea. I followed the steps and ended up with this. ManPower. The name does not mean I am seeking job applicants for placement. It does mean that I would like a forum to discuss issues that men deal with on a day to day basis - hopefully with a view toward improving our attention and skill regarding the spiritual, mental and physical aspects of a man's life. This is the first step I'm publicly taking. Join with me in this journey. Let's see where we end up. Here we go...