Philippians 2

I have been thinking about family a lot today. My family, extended family, church family, my friend's families, and it occurred to me that the Bible does not tell us a whole lot about Jesus and His family. We know who His family is, we know some of the interactions between them, but there is that gap of 20 some years of Jesus growing up, maturing, and family.

It is easy to observe my family and notice the faults, because it's my family. I am sure everyone can relate to this. So many other families seeeeeem to have it together, and then you wonder what's wrong with mine? Everyone has their flavors of dysfunctional right? But we all want our family to be that family. You know, the one that has family reunions, and loves spending time together and they get along for the most part and eats meals together, and...well you get the idea. So now we are all thinking again...what's wrong with my family? And not just your immediate biological family.

Consider your church family, and think of the diversity. There are some really hokey people in the church, can I get a witness? Yeeeeah! And I think to myself, I would never talk to or spend time with this person if we did not go to the same church...but we do...brothers and sisters in Christ right? And there are people that don't get along and there is conflict and there are divorces and separations and enough sin to dam us all to hell 10 times over...and our biological family has the same flavors of dysfunctional.

I wonder how we would rate Jesus' family? I can imagine there were times when Mary and Joseph were those parents that everyone complains about how they are disillusioned to think their child can do no wrong, and you want to shake'em and say "Open your eyes! Your kid is not perfect!" and then it would occur to them, "oh yeah, their son really can do no wrong...crap" It would be sooooooo much worse with Mary and Joseph...you can't go there. There had to be some resentment in that church : ]

But the root of my thoughts comes out of a desire for my family to be more like a family. And like so many things in our short lives, I believe it has much to do with attitude. Here's a list of attitudes, and ask yourself, when I act and speak and feel this way, how does that affect my family?

Resentment
Anger
Bitterness
Annoyed
Entitlement (I deserve this)
Pride
Arrogance
Laziness
Stubbornness
Apathy

How about...
Patient
Compassion
Sacrificial
Empathetic
Servant leadership

I see it all in my family, often given and received without balance. But I wonder fundamentally how my family would function if each individual approached every day with an attitude of, "I want to be more like Jesus Christ. I want to know His words intimately, I want to know His heart deeply, deeeeeply.......and the days I don't feel like it and don't want to...I want to want Christ more."

Instead of examining the dysfunctions and trying to manage and change behavior, why don't we seek and transformed heart? A transformed heart that will transform every other part of life, that will transform our family. There are so many days I know it is easier to avoid the hard work of investing in family. I can work hard on most anything else, but it's totally different when it comes to relationships.

"Do not conform to the ways of this world(insert dysfunctions and selfish attitudes here), but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2

Time is running out...

Needle in a haystack.

Today I was working in the yard with my Mom and as usual I had my ipod on. Headphones in, ipod in pocket working away on ripping out some ivy/ groud cover stuff. Of course this stuff is all over the place and very green. I take a quick turn, a branch catches my headphone cord, rips my ipod out of my pocket and goes flying. It took me a minute and then realized it was gone and only knew that it was within 10 feet of where i was standing. The best part of all this is how my ipod is a shade of greed that matches beautifully with its surroundings. I like it when my clothes match, but this matching sucked. Mom and I spent a good 17 mintues looking my proverbial needle in a haystack. Not 16 and not 18, yes, 17...whatever.

All this to say I was reminded and given new perspective on the lost sheep and lost coin that Jesus speaks of in Luke 15. Of course my ipod is super nice luxery to have. But I have spent the rest of my day considering other things I value and the vigor I give to finding them. While digging for my ipod I kept thinking, "I know it's here and I am not giving up looking for it." Especially because online sermons and music from my ipod is way better to listen to than the whrrrrrrr of a vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaner or the dead silence in the church during my late work shift. Praise the Lord that I found my ipod, but I think I will be taking some more consideration of what or who is more deserving of my time and effort.

Peace.

It's about that time...

Well I think it's been long enough since I last posted that nobody is reading this blog anymore. Bwahaha. Maybe a few checked up on it for a while and then realized, he may never come back. I have another blog these days and honestly I am not very good at maintaining that one either, but it's focused on my workouts with crossfit. But what caused me to come out of hiding and post again was a result of me having the time to do so and a moment of not paying attention in church this past Sunday. : ]

Jonathan was speaking about Hebrews 1 and I was off in chapter 12.

7It is for discipline that you endure; (P)God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

8But if you are without discipline, (Q)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we (R)respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to (S)the Father of spirits, and (T)live?

10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, (U)so that we may share His holiness.

11All discipline (V)for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the (W)peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Hebrews 12:7-11

I have never been good with discipline. Part of me despises my lack of discipline and yet it has taken till now to start moving int he right direction. The one phrase I love that sums it up..."All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."

Peaceful righteousness, two things I could use as a life goal. My goal is to find peace in righteousness. Security in surrendering to God, to be molded and guided and disciplined and knowing eternal joy is closer and closer with every day. Some of you have noticed that I often end my conversations and emails and messages with "peace". Some probably think, "hah what does he think he's some sort and gansta/ rappa that speaks the lingo?" nope. yeah certainly no. I honestly wish peace upon the other person. If you have spent any time in the Christian Reformed Church you may be familiar with "passing the peace", a fancy way of greeting one another, but is also comes in the benediction at the end of the service...

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

So remember, that God is a good God. He wants the best for his children, including discipline, and know that He works all things together for His glory and our good.

Peace.

Flossing teeth and reading the Bible

Two things that I have been doing more of lately. I have never been a great flosser. My dental hygienist is always letting me know that my gums bleeding when she cleans them is a result of not habitually flossing. I apologize for the metal image, and I do understand that there is truth in what she is saying. A friend of mine humorously stated it this way, "Of course my gums are bleeding, you are poking them with sharp objects!" I have never been ashamed of my smile. I went through the braces faze of my life, thank you Mom and Dad. But I do notice the much more pearly white, healthy mouths of some of my friends, and so I have decided to floss more religiously. It is not that I have never flossed before, but sporadic would be more accurate as opposed to twice daily. In two days I have noticed phenomenal improvement; nough to ask those around me, "do you notice anything different?" unfortunately, no correct answers yet. : )

What on earth does this have to do with reading my Bible? Well you could also describe my reading scripture as sporadic and not twice daily. But fortunately I gained new fervor for my reading habits along with my frequent flossing miles. I have always had an appreciation for how the Bible always has new application for my life. It is neat to see the work of the Holy Spirit in that way. I also appreciate the years of AWANA that provided a strong foundation of memorized scripture. But habitual Bible reading has also shown to bring more joy to my life. I would bet that some of you may be thinking, "you are a theology major, shouldn't you be more of a Bible scholar than the average Christian." I was given many assignments in college that required critical analysis of scripture, but most of you college grads would agree that the amount of retained information from year one to year four has an tendency to blend together by graduation.

Furthermore, the Bible should always be a progressive and repetitive habit, never a quick read through. Silly. Again, I frequently enjoy the new revelation, interpretation and application of scripture given by the Holy Spirit.

All this to say that I am pleased with the results of both my renewed zeal for dental care and reading of scripture. A meticulously clean, merry mouth and a daily devotion to the Divine Word is sure to bring more smiles and joy to your Christmas season.

Observations. Yeah, cool.

Sometimes it is really entertaining to just watch people. Two things I saw this morning that made me laugh.

1. An older man in a really nice, black, convertible, Chevy Corvette and cruisin' through freeway traffic...with the top down and wearing a santa hat. I believe the temperature this morning on my thermostat outside was around 15 degrees? Yeah, cool.

2. A mother hauling her aqua blue mini van at forty mph through a school zone, JUST to get her child to school because she is already 5 minutes late. Are these not the same people that flip out about the safety of our children, because of reckless driving? Yeah, cool...really cool.

Enjoy the crisp December weather everybody, and try to find some joy in the little things.

The Interview

I have been hunting for a job for a while now. There have been a few interviews, nothing successful, but something I have always struggled with is feeling comfortable in interviews. Some might say, "well duh, nobody feels comfortable in interviews on either side of the process." But I am starting to realize that there is more to landing a job than a well structured resume, grammatically correct cover letter and experience. All of these being the foundation, but there is something to build on top of these.

Rapport.

When I worked for Vector Marketing selling Cutco for a summer, rapport was a huge topic. "The best way to sell the product is to build rapport with the customer." This may sound cold and I do not want anyone I sold Cutco to think I swindled them into buying the product. For two reasons...I had a hard time building rapport with people I knew never mind strangers, and I actually believe Cutco is a good product. That aside, I have yet to master the art of rapport. I feel like I can read a person's body language pretty good, but to translate that into a conversation is a challenge.

I need to make the distinction that I believe the rapport you build with a future employer and a future girlfriend are two different worlds. While you may use the same tools in each situation, said future employer might not always respond positively to flirty smiles and complements on wardrobe...especially if it is a 50 year old man. Disclaimer: I do necessarily use previously stated techniques to pick up a girlfriend. I digress.

I don't know how much TV you all watch, but there is an extremely entertaining show that me and some guys in college would watch purely because of how preposterous the idea was. Have you ever heard of "The Pick Up Artist" ? I will not go into details, but it is based on this guy that calls himself "Mystery"(See Picture above). He believes he can pick up any girl he wants and uses this competitive show to teach a group of guys to do the same with his techniques. Like I said, it was for entertainment not practical application. But the point is that much of his techniques could be considered building rapport.

This whole thought process on rapport was triggered by some articles about building rapport on a resume builder website. It mentions how the interviewer, maybe not even intentionally, will make a decision on who is offered the position based on emotions and how memorable the interviewee was and if there was a "connection". So the challenge is perfecting the art of connection. This website also suggests practicing in other contexts to refine one's ability to build rapport before going into an interview. I just might go to the library today and do some observing and approach a complete stranger to see if I have appropriately read body language and interaction with other people. Maybe the grocery store is a better idea.

Happy job hunting to all my unemployed readers!

Tear Down the Walls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-R314tcUFw

Tear down the walls see the world
Is there something we have missed
Turn from ourselves
Look beyond
There is so much more than this

And I don’t need to see it to believe it
I don’t need to see it to believe it
Cause I can’t shake this
Fire burning deep inside my heart

Look to the skies hope arise
See His majesty revealed
More than this life there is love
There is hope and this is real

Cause I don’t need to see it to believe it
I don’t need to see it to believe it
Cause I can’t shake this fire burning
Deep inside my heart

This life is Yours and hope is rising
As Your glory floods our hearts
Let love tear down these walls
That all creation would
Come back to You
It’s all for You

Your Name is glorious
Glorious
Your love is changing us
Calling us
To worship in spirit and in truth
As all creation returns to You

Oh for all the sons and daughters
Who are walking in the darkness
You are calling us to lead them back to You
We will see Your spirit rising
As the lost come out of hiding
Every heart will see this hope we have in You

Cause I don’t need to see it to believe it
I don’t need to see it to believe it
Cause I can’t shake this fire burning
Deep inside my heart

This life is Yours and hope is rising
As Your glory floods our hearts
Let love tear down these walls
That all creation would
Come back to You
It’s all for You

Your Name is glorious
Glorious
Your love is changing us
Calling us
To worship in spirit and in truth
As all creation returns to You
(x2)