Thursday, September 30, 2010

Die another day...

"Live as if you will die tomorrow, learn as if you will live forever..."


It seems as though a lesson is a structured period of time in which we are expected to learn...insight gained...yet there are so many lessons that pass like water under a bridge.  We go through life experiencing easy lessons, hard lessons, long lessons, short lessons and hope to learn some sort of, well, lesson - because after all, that is the purpose of a lesson, LEARNING - as not to make the same mistake again.  We experience a hindsight bias...Like staying up too late to watch an award show knowing the result won't be good the next morning, speeding when you know you'll probably get a ticket, or drinking more than you should, knowing something bad is likely to happen.  We all can see what the possible outcome might be, yet we continue to play with matches and just hope we don't get burned.


"There's mistakes that I have made, chances I just threw away, some roads I never should have taken..."

These "lessons" bring us to some sort of crossroad, whether big or small, and we have a choice to make.  Do we continue living life the way we have and hope for a different result or do we take different steps day by day in order to achieve an outcome we may not have desired in the past, but realize as time goes by that it just so happens to be the outcome that causes us to change/better ourselves?  Change is a process.  It requires choices throughout the day, wise choices...the decision to gain a better consequence.  

Operant behavior "operates" on the environment and is maintained by the consequence - therefore, when one decides to change his outcome he must change his environment.  If a drug abuser wakes up one day and says, "I'm not living this way anymore," he simply cannot continue living in the same situation and expect a different result.  However if he changes his friends, hang-outs, living arrangement, everything associated with his usage, he has a much better chance of overcoming his past and moving forward towards a different result, a better result.

Habits are hard to break, but they can be broken...with effort, perseverance, time, ambition, and wise choices...anyone can change his stars.


Sunday, September 5, 2010

Bagging Groceries for a Fake $20...









Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking...

Growing up, I took this verse thinking it was talking about "the world" as in non-Christians, you know the original version - "Do not conform to the patterns of this world" (Romans 12:1-2) bla bla bla.  So, I guess what I want to know, is which world is Paul talking about?  First of all, it shouldn't be two separate worlds, but unfortunately we have made it that way.  From the very beginning.  You know, Eve, the apple, the snake.  I like how the message says, "so that we fit into it without even thinking," I think that means don't believe everything you hear --I'm going to refer back to when I was growing up a lot in this post so get used to it -- Growing up, I found it very easy to believe everything I heard anyone say, pastors, leaders, parents, friends, family, teachers.  But not once did I say, "Hmm, I'm wonder if that's true."  Now, I'm not saying that everything I heard growing up was wrong or that anyone was wrong in what they taught, all I'm saying is I didn't even think about it.  I never questioned it or found out for myself.  Technically, I conformed.  I knew THIS was wrong or THAT was wrong or if I did this it would make me a Christian, or better yet if I DIDN'T do this it would make me a Christian.  But I only knew it because that's what I heard someone say.

We've grown so accustomed to just listening and living and not KNOWING and living.  I thought once that it was just my immaturity but it wasn't.  I did eventually grow out of it, but it took a lot for that to happen.  Is this just our mental state as lazy ignorant Christians?  You know, the ones that when you ask them what books they read, they always say, "The Bible" or the ones that hand out those tracts that were made about 15 years ago that look like 20 dollar bills...Sorry if that's you, but why are you handing out those sorry excuses for a witness?  And why aren't you reading other books like books to help you relate to that person you just handed that tract to, because if you really wanted it to do any good you might actually have to connect with them in one way or another.  But chances are that's not why you're handing out that piece of paper...but that goes to an even deeper issue that you and I both don't have the time for and it deserves a whole post just for itself.

So now, I'm getting to the complaint.  Have you ever read Habakkuk?  One of the books in the bible that is so short people often forget it's there.  Well, that book is about a complaint.  THE WHOLE THING!  About a complaint.  You may say, "Now, how dare that man with the crazy name write an entire book in the bible about a complaint?  Doesn't he know it isn't supposed to be easy???"  But it was actually a complaint that got God's attention.  It wasn't about Mrs. Edna planting the tree over your parking space so you always leave the parking lot with bird crap on your windshield, or even about the music being too loud.  It was about injustice, about his people.  He saw a problem and desperately wanted it fixed.  When do we have the position to complain?  When we are a pastor, or someone that wrote a book of the bible?  I think anyone that is in this world has a valid complaint.  It's obvious what the complaint should be.  Something like that of Habakkuk's. 

My complaint deals with ignorance in Christianity.  We are supposed to be the one's fixing the problems not making them worse.  We are here to feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, and protect the widows and children.  We are here to LOVE.  How simple is it really?  Not preach without follow up, or build big fancy gold empires with the "offerings" people have sent you.  How much do you think the chair Jan Crouch (TBN) sits on with her blown up botulism butt cost you?  It's solid gold for the record.  I bet they could have paid for an orphanage to have year’s worth supply of food with that money she sits on everyday only to ask you for your hard earned money so she can buy more silk flowers and hairspray.  


When are we going to take care of this task we've been given.  Stop conforming to the patterns you've been taught and figure this thing out for yourself.  Find out what makes you tick and run with it.  Jesus would much rather Christians be interested and passionate than dumb and lazy.  Take what you've learned and KNOW it, USE it, and LIVE it.  Don't just hand it out to the person bagging your groceries and walk away.  INVEST. Time. Thought. Money. Work. Effort. Knowledge. But most of all, Love.


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Call me spoiled...


When life gives you lemons...buy your own...

I've always enjoyed taking things that are given to me, but those things have always come with a price.  There are very few things selflessly given and well, I can't think of any at the moment.  If someone smiles, they expect a smile in return.  If someone gives you a ring they expect an "I Do" and much more shortly thereafter.  The thing that most annoys me about taking the lemons life "gives" me is when I take them from someone and they use it as collateral until I have paid them back, if I can, be it with my time, efforts, or money.

I say all this to tell you that I'm trying to be more independent and buy my own lemons from now on.  I'm not saying I won't take a small thing here or there but the big things, like a car for example, I'm going to work very hard to get that lemon (hopefully not literally) on my own.  I think that by doing this, not only will I gain my independence, I'll also gain a sense of appreciation for things because I'll be more aware of where my money is going instead of swiping my card every chance I get.

Being able to stand on my own two feet is not an easy task for me...I've been given a lot in life and usually the only way for me to let go of my parent's hands is when forced.  Like when I moved to Tampa, for example, I had to keep my space clean because I had roommates, do my own laundry, cook my own food, buy my own groceries, even get my own gas.  Yes you're very right, I had it made...but when most, or even a little of that was taken away I was in a state of cultural shock and it didn't sit well with me.  However, through the years, I realize there are steps to growing up.  We learn how to walk on our own and then years later it becomes literal in a whole new way, with bills and responsibilities and hopefully teaching our own children how to walk.

I like buying my own lemons.  No I don't enjoy bills or responsibility, but I like the idea of calling something my own be it an apartment, car, groceries, or laundry detergent and I feel accomplished when I budget my own finances well and get to splurge on myself with a new dress or two and even have money left over.

Life doesn't have to be handed to me, I can take it by the horns myself, add some lemons, and at the end of the day drink my own fresh squeezed, cold glass of lemonade.