Please pray for Tim, the brother of a college friend of mine. He was in a serious accident in Germany, and you can read his story here, as well as journal updates on his condition from his family.
I hope it's okay that I quote a journal entry, because the Bettger family have been so faithful throughout this ordeal, and Tim especially has been amazing...
In talking about Tim's upcoming surgery, and recent decision to go through with it, his mother had this to say:
"Clearly this event will change us and change our family. But I like Tim's assessment, 'It may delay some of my plans, but it will not derail them.' As we talked about losing part of a limb and fighting through a series of surgeries, Tim said, 'I much prefer the thought of learning to use a prosthesis to the thought of relearning the alphabet.' What is clear to us is that God stepped into this situation and protected Tim from much more serious injury."
Isn't that amazing? I have no idea how I would feel if I were in a similar situation. I'm sure I would be thankful to be alive, but I can't say how I would react to having my life forever changed by a drunk driver.
What strikes me most is how there is no blame or hatred directed to the drunk driver. The Bettger family have been incredibly strong in their faith, and have constantly given Glory to God through their difficult time.
Please keep them in your prayers. Pray especially for Tim's recovery and that their faith remain strong as they face adversity.
Romans 8:26-28 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Five Love Languages
How you give and receive love, and how it affects your relationships (and not to mention, your reactions to certain situations)
Driving alone for long distances gives one a chance to contemplate life. Well, driving home from a weekend with friends, I began to ponder how I best give and receive love. I once attended a Bible Study on Gary Chapman’s Five Love Languages. We discussed the variations of giving and receiving long, and I was able to determine which language I ‘speak’ when showing love, and which one is most effective to me when receiving love.
I was looking back to certain situations in my life and realized that, because the language X (we’ll call it “X” for the purposes of this post) is most effective for me when receiving love, I’m very careful about whom I use X with and how they use it with me. Which sounds extremely vague, I know, but it’s a bit too personal to go into details without disclosing which language I’m talking about.
Basically, my point is that X means more to me than it may for others, and that’s why I’m careful about using it. And that may make for some awkward experiences, one of which happened recently. Which got me pondering. Which got me posting.
So my ‘Tip to You,’ dear reader, is to think about which language you use for giving love, and which you use for receiving love (and the same for your partner). It’s an interesting study that can open up a world of better communication in relationships. And consider it for relationships beyond romantic love (i.e. friends and family). If anything, a good discussion on the subject will help you understand what you want, and hopefully save you from miscommunication.
I respect Gary Chapman’s research and thoughts on this subject. It’s an interesting way to view our relationships with one another.
Driving alone for long distances gives one a chance to contemplate life. Well, driving home from a weekend with friends, I began to ponder how I best give and receive love. I once attended a Bible Study on Gary Chapman’s Five Love Languages. We discussed the variations of giving and receiving long, and I was able to determine which language I ‘speak’ when showing love, and which one is most effective to me when receiving love.
I was looking back to certain situations in my life and realized that, because the language X (we’ll call it “X” for the purposes of this post) is most effective for me when receiving love, I’m very careful about whom I use X with and how they use it with me. Which sounds extremely vague, I know, but it’s a bit too personal to go into details without disclosing which language I’m talking about.
Basically, my point is that X means more to me than it may for others, and that’s why I’m careful about using it. And that may make for some awkward experiences, one of which happened recently. Which got me pondering. Which got me posting.
So my ‘Tip to You,’ dear reader, is to think about which language you use for giving love, and which you use for receiving love (and the same for your partner). It’s an interesting study that can open up a world of better communication in relationships. And consider it for relationships beyond romantic love (i.e. friends and family). If anything, a good discussion on the subject will help you understand what you want, and hopefully save you from miscommunication.
I respect Gary Chapman’s research and thoughts on this subject. It’s an interesting way to view our relationships with one another.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Corporate Volunteerism P.2
What Skills-Based Volunteering Means for the Food Pantry
According to VolunteerMatch.org, the benefits of an employee volunteer program for the company are an “increase in retention, growth of brand awareness, strength to customer loyalty, and improvement in productivity.” The benefits to the community are that the employee volunteer program “provides skilled and talented volunteers, it creates a quantifiable social impact, helps bring the community needs into focus, and offers direct cost savings in recruiting and labor costs.”
This list, particularly the “benefits to the community,” is based on the assumption that the community organization can easily utilize professional workers in a valuable way. This isn’t always the case.
In fact, as more and more volunteers request opportunities that allow them to build job skills, gain work experience, and use their professional knowledge, nonprofit organizations are having a hard time getting people to do the grunt work. Monotonously make sandwiches at a homeless shelter for a never-ending line of hungry clients? No way! Not when I can write, edit, design, and publish an organizational newsletter for an up-and-coming charity.
Of course, I must add that many volunteers are more than willing to help wherever is needed, and I have yet to meet a volunteer who doesn’t have his or her heart in the right place, but I’ve been reading a lot about how volunteer motivations, especially for the educated set, are becoming more about, “what you can do for me,” rather than, “what I can do for my country.”
I’m not saying that volunteering can’t be a 50/50 beneficial relationship. All I’m saying is that certain organizations, namely, those with grunt work-based opportunities, may see a shortage of applicants to fulfill the monotonous, low-skilled jobs.
But that’s just one girl’s opinion.
According to VolunteerMatch.org, the benefits of an employee volunteer program for the company are an “increase in retention, growth of brand awareness, strength to customer loyalty, and improvement in productivity.” The benefits to the community are that the employee volunteer program “provides skilled and talented volunteers, it creates a quantifiable social impact, helps bring the community needs into focus, and offers direct cost savings in recruiting and labor costs.”
This list, particularly the “benefits to the community,” is based on the assumption that the community organization can easily utilize professional workers in a valuable way. This isn’t always the case.
In fact, as more and more volunteers request opportunities that allow them to build job skills, gain work experience, and use their professional knowledge, nonprofit organizations are having a hard time getting people to do the grunt work. Monotonously make sandwiches at a homeless shelter for a never-ending line of hungry clients? No way! Not when I can write, edit, design, and publish an organizational newsletter for an up-and-coming charity.
Of course, I must add that many volunteers are more than willing to help wherever is needed, and I have yet to meet a volunteer who doesn’t have his or her heart in the right place, but I’ve been reading a lot about how volunteer motivations, especially for the educated set, are becoming more about, “what you can do for me,” rather than, “what I can do for my country.”
I’m not saying that volunteering can’t be a 50/50 beneficial relationship. All I’m saying is that certain organizations, namely, those with grunt work-based opportunities, may see a shortage of applicants to fulfill the monotonous, low-skilled jobs.
But that’s just one girl’s opinion.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Developments in the Big Debate
Facebook v. MySpace
Is it a socio-economic thing?
In writing this entry, I had meant to get into the various socio-economic differences between my Facebook friends and MySpace friends, which effectively divide them along class lines. However, I didn't want to mistakenly alienate anyone by drawing attention to those differences.
Today, I opened up my MSN homepage and saw this article which describes the class distinctions teens are seeing among their friends on each social networking site, and how many teens are switching to Facebook in the hopes of getting into the "college set" before college. The articles states that, "Affluent kids from educated, well-to-do families have been fleeing MySpace for Facebook since it opened registration to the general public in September, while working-class kids still flock to MySpace."
I am one of those "kids" (not so much "teen" as "in my twenties") who flew the coop of Myspace to the affluently crowded nest of Facebook, and was immediately innundated with long-lost university friends and old high school acquaintances who are now college graduates. However, I must disagree with the author in that, I didn't flee to Facebook because, "Constant local news stories on predators targeting kids on MySpace further alienated the good kids." Rather, I just noticed that more of my friends were on Facebook, and I wanted to reconnect.
Take what you will from this article, and think what you will about the Big Debate of Facebook V. MySpace. All I can share with you is my experience on both networks, and my reasons for switching. This is, after all, just one girl's opinion.
Is it a socio-economic thing?
In writing this entry, I had meant to get into the various socio-economic differences between my Facebook friends and MySpace friends, which effectively divide them along class lines. However, I didn't want to mistakenly alienate anyone by drawing attention to those differences.
Today, I opened up my MSN homepage and saw this article which describes the class distinctions teens are seeing among their friends on each social networking site, and how many teens are switching to Facebook in the hopes of getting into the "college set" before college. The articles states that, "Affluent kids from educated, well-to-do families have been fleeing MySpace for Facebook since it opened registration to the general public in September, while working-class kids still flock to MySpace."
I am one of those "kids" (not so much "teen" as "in my twenties") who flew the coop of Myspace to the affluently crowded nest of Facebook, and was immediately innundated with long-lost university friends and old high school acquaintances who are now college graduates. However, I must disagree with the author in that, I didn't flee to Facebook because, "Constant local news stories on predators targeting kids on MySpace further alienated the good kids." Rather, I just noticed that more of my friends were on Facebook, and I wanted to reconnect.
Take what you will from this article, and think what you will about the Big Debate of Facebook V. MySpace. All I can share with you is my experience on both networks, and my reasons for switching. This is, after all, just one girl's opinion.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Corporate Volunteerism P.1
Is it just a reason to get out of the office? Or do corporate volunteers really want to make a difference in the community?
The other week we organized a group volunteer project in our school. We set up a project where employees could take a half-day, come to the school, and spend time with our younger students.
The preparation for this day was going well. We had a schedule, we had supplies, and we even worked through some issues to accommodate a smaller-than-planned corporate volunteer group. However, a communications challenge arose when we tried to confirm the group’s participation. This company always had one main contact for it’s volunteer projects. She, however, was not the contact in this particular instance. Perhaps we should’ve seen the red flag.
The day of the project began bright and early with the preparations for the group’s arrival. Everything was set, and the kids were ready to go, and then we waited. And waited. Fifteen minutes after the allotted start time, two volunteers from the group arrived and assured us that, though the rest were in a meeting, they would be along shortly. Cut to thirty minutes later whereupon I welcomed two more volunteers. Then thirty minutes later when two more came. The arrivals continued in thirty-minute increments until all ten volunteers finally made it, the last two arriving after the project was finished.
Despite the disruption from the regimented – and highly irregular – arrival procession, our students managed to enjoy the time they had with the volunteers. After the project they (the students) went merrily on their way to lunch while the volunteers proceeded to the lobby of our organization.
They sat chatting for the next twenty minutes until I could coerce them into another activity at the organization. I imagine they simply tired of me asking if they wanted to do anything more productive with their remaining time, and were placating me by following along. The entire time I felt that I was infringing on company sponsored Social Time. Worse, I was the one left feeling guilty because the students were promised a morning of reading, and instead were given disruption and disappointment.
This made me wonder what expectations the volunteer group had for the day. Did they truly sign up for the project in order to share their love of reading with young students? Did they want to spend time interacting with kids in the classroom? Or was this simply a means to get off company property for the morning?
The corporate group’s actions left me in a bit of a conundrum, to say the least. We’ve had volunteers from this company before, and they are always polite, on time, and excited to participate in the activity. So what went wrong?
Before I can answer that question, I will need to understand the motivation behind the group signing up for the project in the first place. I must also review our communications, and look for ways to improve the information-sharing process before our next event.
Instinct tells me it was just a one-time flub. I believe there was a breakdown in the communications regarding the expectations for the project. There are many resources that discuss Corporate Volunteerism and many of them specifically list the benefits for companies and employees through such a program. However, very few talk about the benefits to the community organization, and even fewer are written from the perspective of the nonprofit.
I feel that some volunteers view their service as a blessing that the recipient should be thankful for, regardless of any extra work it causes on the part of the nonprofit. I feel that the needs of the volunteer are sometimes put before the needs of the program, which is a contradiction to the idea of volunteerism.
But that's just one girl's opinion.
The other week we organized a group volunteer project in our school. We set up a project where employees could take a half-day, come to the school, and spend time with our younger students.
The preparation for this day was going well. We had a schedule, we had supplies, and we even worked through some issues to accommodate a smaller-than-planned corporate volunteer group. However, a communications challenge arose when we tried to confirm the group’s participation. This company always had one main contact for it’s volunteer projects. She, however, was not the contact in this particular instance. Perhaps we should’ve seen the red flag.
The day of the project began bright and early with the preparations for the group’s arrival. Everything was set, and the kids were ready to go, and then we waited. And waited. Fifteen minutes after the allotted start time, two volunteers from the group arrived and assured us that, though the rest were in a meeting, they would be along shortly. Cut to thirty minutes later whereupon I welcomed two more volunteers. Then thirty minutes later when two more came. The arrivals continued in thirty-minute increments until all ten volunteers finally made it, the last two arriving after the project was finished.
Despite the disruption from the regimented – and highly irregular – arrival procession, our students managed to enjoy the time they had with the volunteers. After the project they (the students) went merrily on their way to lunch while the volunteers proceeded to the lobby of our organization.
They sat chatting for the next twenty minutes until I could coerce them into another activity at the organization. I imagine they simply tired of me asking if they wanted to do anything more productive with their remaining time, and were placating me by following along. The entire time I felt that I was infringing on company sponsored Social Time. Worse, I was the one left feeling guilty because the students were promised a morning of reading, and instead were given disruption and disappointment.
This made me wonder what expectations the volunteer group had for the day. Did they truly sign up for the project in order to share their love of reading with young students? Did they want to spend time interacting with kids in the classroom? Or was this simply a means to get off company property for the morning?
The corporate group’s actions left me in a bit of a conundrum, to say the least. We’ve had volunteers from this company before, and they are always polite, on time, and excited to participate in the activity. So what went wrong?
Before I can answer that question, I will need to understand the motivation behind the group signing up for the project in the first place. I must also review our communications, and look for ways to improve the information-sharing process before our next event.
Instinct tells me it was just a one-time flub. I believe there was a breakdown in the communications regarding the expectations for the project. There are many resources that discuss Corporate Volunteerism and many of them specifically list the benefits for companies and employees through such a program. However, very few talk about the benefits to the community organization, and even fewer are written from the perspective of the nonprofit.
I feel that some volunteers view their service as a blessing that the recipient should be thankful for, regardless of any extra work it causes on the part of the nonprofit. I feel that the needs of the volunteer are sometimes put before the needs of the program, which is a contradiction to the idea of volunteerism.
But that's just one girl's opinion.
Monday, July 23, 2007
The Lord's Supper
From NIV:
24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:26 says, in regards to the Lord’s Supper, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” In pondering this verse I came to the realization that I always practice this sacrament with a certain level of introspection; I’m more focused on my shortcomings and prayerfully approaching my participation in the Lord’s Supper, than I am concerned with any other congregant’s experience. However, the use of the verb, “proclaim,” is interesting in that it defines the action of participating in the Lord’s Supper as something all (believer, nonbeliever alike) will see and take note of. I never before thought of the possibility that any bystanders were taking note of my involvement in Communion, nor that by my participation I was making any sort of proclamation other than that I was a confirmed member of the church. The secret? Therein lays the proclamation.
The Hyperstatic Union song, “In Remembrance of Him,” is largely focused on the believer’s experience during Communion: taking the bread and wine and prayerfully considering what it symbolizes (I use that term loosely, there’s another time and place for a doctrinal debate on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper). While, yes, we are to “do this in remembrance” of the sacrifice of our savior, and Hyperstatic Union’s lyrics and melody beautifully demonstrate the thoughts and feelings behind this act, 1 Corinthians 11:26 hints at a more influential reason for partaking of the Lord’s Supper. It’s not just a sacrament between you and your savior. It’s not just something we Christians do because Jesus said so. It’s a way for us to express our beliefs, “proclaim the Lord’s death,” and share our reasons for doing so with anyone who asks.
This thought is made clearer by my experience as a missionary. I’ve been to church services around the world and in several languages. I didn’t always understand what was being said. Okay, strike that, I usually didn’t understand what was being said, and I had little to no communication or fellowship with my fellow congregants. Nevertheless, this verse is saying that even though I didn’t speak the language, even though I had little in common, culturally, with the other congregants, and even though I was an outsider I could still be effective as a missionary through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Simply by participating in “the breaking of the bread,” and, “the drinking of the cup,” I was able to “proclaim the death of my Lord.”
Maybe someone who never heard of Jesus saw me go into that church on Sunday and asked themselves, “Why?” Why would a turista (which is what they probably thought I was) take the time out of her sightseeing schedule to spend an hour at church service? Why would this visitor go out of her way to attend service and eat a bit of bread dipped in wine? (Intinction: highly recommended for bread served with sour European white wine) Maybe, just maybe, that same person took the initiative and asked a fellow communicant, and native speaker, why he or she takes part in this sacrament. Who knows?
1 Corinthians 11:26 gives me a bit of hope that God was using me in ways in which I wasn’t even aware. In fact, there are probably hundreds of similar instances when I thought I was acting normal, mundane, and He used it to open the curiosity and heart of a nonbeliever.
Oh, and for the Worship Leader's out there, the next time you need a hymn to sing during communion, try the song I mentioned above. There are many possibilities for instrumentals between verses and improvisation with the chorus. Take a listen on iTunes (it's the bonus track after "Now That It's Over")...it's a stirring tribute to this blessed sacrament.
In Remembrance of Him by Hyperstatic Union
Oh Sacred hands, wounded for my soul
This brokenness makes me whole
So my hands break the bread
Heeding words Jesus said
And I do this in remembrance of Him
By His stripes our bodies are healed
For this sacrifice the covenant was sealed
So my hands break the bread
Heeding words Jesus said
And I do this in remembrance of Him
This sacrament demands my purity
His blood was spilled and I have been set free
So my lips touch the glass
Doing what my savior asked
And I drink this in remembrance of Him
24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:26 says, in regards to the Lord’s Supper, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” In pondering this verse I came to the realization that I always practice this sacrament with a certain level of introspection; I’m more focused on my shortcomings and prayerfully approaching my participation in the Lord’s Supper, than I am concerned with any other congregant’s experience. However, the use of the verb, “proclaim,” is interesting in that it defines the action of participating in the Lord’s Supper as something all (believer, nonbeliever alike) will see and take note of. I never before thought of the possibility that any bystanders were taking note of my involvement in Communion, nor that by my participation I was making any sort of proclamation other than that I was a confirmed member of the church. The secret? Therein lays the proclamation.
The Hyperstatic Union song, “In Remembrance of Him,” is largely focused on the believer’s experience during Communion: taking the bread and wine and prayerfully considering what it symbolizes (I use that term loosely, there’s another time and place for a doctrinal debate on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper). While, yes, we are to “do this in remembrance” of the sacrifice of our savior, and Hyperstatic Union’s lyrics and melody beautifully demonstrate the thoughts and feelings behind this act, 1 Corinthians 11:26 hints at a more influential reason for partaking of the Lord’s Supper. It’s not just a sacrament between you and your savior. It’s not just something we Christians do because Jesus said so. It’s a way for us to express our beliefs, “proclaim the Lord’s death,” and share our reasons for doing so with anyone who asks.
This thought is made clearer by my experience as a missionary. I’ve been to church services around the world and in several languages. I didn’t always understand what was being said. Okay, strike that, I usually didn’t understand what was being said, and I had little to no communication or fellowship with my fellow congregants. Nevertheless, this verse is saying that even though I didn’t speak the language, even though I had little in common, culturally, with the other congregants, and even though I was an outsider I could still be effective as a missionary through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Simply by participating in “the breaking of the bread,” and, “the drinking of the cup,” I was able to “proclaim the death of my Lord.”
Maybe someone who never heard of Jesus saw me go into that church on Sunday and asked themselves, “Why?” Why would a turista (which is what they probably thought I was) take the time out of her sightseeing schedule to spend an hour at church service? Why would this visitor go out of her way to attend service and eat a bit of bread dipped in wine? (Intinction: highly recommended for bread served with sour European white wine) Maybe, just maybe, that same person took the initiative and asked a fellow communicant, and native speaker, why he or she takes part in this sacrament. Who knows?
1 Corinthians 11:26 gives me a bit of hope that God was using me in ways in which I wasn’t even aware. In fact, there are probably hundreds of similar instances when I thought I was acting normal, mundane, and He used it to open the curiosity and heart of a nonbeliever.
Oh, and for the Worship Leader's out there, the next time you need a hymn to sing during communion, try the song I mentioned above. There are many possibilities for instrumentals between verses and improvisation with the chorus. Take a listen on iTunes (it's the bonus track after "Now That It's Over")...it's a stirring tribute to this blessed sacrament.
In Remembrance of Him by Hyperstatic Union
Oh Sacred hands, wounded for my soul
This brokenness makes me whole
So my hands break the bread
Heeding words Jesus said
And I do this in remembrance of Him
By His stripes our bodies are healed
For this sacrifice the covenant was sealed
So my hands break the bread
Heeding words Jesus said
And I do this in remembrance of Him
This sacrament demands my purity
His blood was spilled and I have been set free
So my lips touch the glass
Doing what my savior asked
And I drink this in remembrance of Him
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks
Because I will be attending three baseball games in one week. That's 27 innings (barring overtime) in 168 hours.
"Heaven!" cheer you baseball lovers.
"Boring pit of dispair," cringe haters.
And while I don't consider myself a Baseball Hater per se, I will admit to feeling little love for the sport. In fact, I will say that I find it the most boring sport to watch. Even golf is better (I will be watching quite a bit of that in the next week as well).
I never understood why there must be 9 innings when 7 will do just as well. Seventh inning stretch? Not when you have the end of the game fast approaching. I always find the actual "stretch" portion of the game to commence around inning 4 anyway. That's usually when I make the second trip to the beer stand.
I don't know why baseball bores me. I certainly enjoyed playing the game in gym class...to an extent. Perhaps it's having to watch long stretches of boring nothingness until something exciting happens. But don't blink! That "something interesting" will be over in less time than it takes to flag down the roving beer vendor. And it's not like they won't have an instant replay or three on the Jumbotron for you to enjoy if you happened to be in the restroom during the play.
And goodness knows you'll be using the restroom if you've been using your boredom as an excuse to drink yourself into excitement.
"Heaven!" cheer you baseball lovers.
"Boring pit of dispair," cringe haters.
And while I don't consider myself a Baseball Hater per se, I will admit to feeling little love for the sport. In fact, I will say that I find it the most boring sport to watch. Even golf is better (I will be watching quite a bit of that in the next week as well).
I never understood why there must be 9 innings when 7 will do just as well. Seventh inning stretch? Not when you have the end of the game fast approaching. I always find the actual "stretch" portion of the game to commence around inning 4 anyway. That's usually when I make the second trip to the beer stand.
I don't know why baseball bores me. I certainly enjoyed playing the game in gym class...to an extent. Perhaps it's having to watch long stretches of boring nothingness until something exciting happens. But don't blink! That "something interesting" will be over in less time than it takes to flag down the roving beer vendor. And it's not like they won't have an instant replay or three on the Jumbotron for you to enjoy if you happened to be in the restroom during the play.
And goodness knows you'll be using the restroom if you've been using your boredom as an excuse to drink yourself into excitement.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Ho yan
Happy 2007 everyone. Let me just say that this New Year's was much better than last, although it doesn't take much to beat out being that sick...even if I was in Ireland. And it really did set the tone for the rest of 2006. There were some good times, I'm not lying, but many things happening in the past 6 months have been cherries on top of a really excellent year. And when I say "really excellent" I'm saying it in the most sarcastic way possible. I don't think the banana split of 2006 can handle any more cherries on top of it, which is rather a good thing actually seeing as how it's now 2007.
Anyway, enough griping. Not much is happening in my world lately so I haven't been blogging. That's really the whole story. Boring I know. Hopefully there will be more later...if anything exciting happens that is.
Anyway, enough griping. Not much is happening in my world lately so I haven't been blogging. That's really the whole story. Boring I know. Hopefully there will be more later...if anything exciting happens that is.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Displays of Wealth
Sorry if you still read this and thought I was MIA. I haven't been busy, and I haven't had a million things to do. I'm just lazy.
Last weekend I went to the Showcase of New Homes in Green Bay. I'm conflicted in my feelings about the massive displays of wealth I experienced on the tour. It was interesting to see the big homes until I started to think about what my friends in Hungary would say if they were with me. I mean, one house we saw was designed for a family of five and it had 6,000+ square feet of living space.
Seriously, why would a family of five need that much space? And how many other, better things could people do with the money it cost to build such homes? Perhaps they've never heard of Warren Buffet.
Many of the homes we saw would comfortably fit 5-10 Hungarian homes in them, and I couldn't help but wonder if they were all just so many temples to the almighty dollar. Please Lord, if I ever have that much money teach me to be content with NOT showing it off by building a 7,000 sq ft home with sauna, pool, game room, basketball court, and movie theater. Nor by owning 2 Cadillac Escalades, 1 Corvette, and 2 Harley special editions.
Last weekend I went to the Showcase of New Homes in Green Bay. I'm conflicted in my feelings about the massive displays of wealth I experienced on the tour. It was interesting to see the big homes until I started to think about what my friends in Hungary would say if they were with me. I mean, one house we saw was designed for a family of five and it had 6,000+ square feet of living space.
Seriously, why would a family of five need that much space? And how many other, better things could people do with the money it cost to build such homes? Perhaps they've never heard of Warren Buffet.
Many of the homes we saw would comfortably fit 5-10 Hungarian homes in them, and I couldn't help but wonder if they were all just so many temples to the almighty dollar. Please Lord, if I ever have that much money teach me to be content with NOT showing it off by building a 7,000 sq ft home with sauna, pool, game room, basketball court, and movie theater. Nor by owning 2 Cadillac Escalades, 1 Corvette, and 2 Harley special editions.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The Daily Devotional
Do you know what I like about John Ortberg? I'm reading his book, "God is Closer than You Think," and what I like about it is that he gives you everyday applications for each lesson in the book. In every chapter there's another step you can take in experiencing God's presence in your life (what many like to call a "personal relationship with Jesus"). Instead of just telling you what it's like, or giving you scripture to study, he does all of that and then also tells you how to make changes in your daily life so you too can start building a deeper relationship with God.
I'm a fan of Max Lucado, but books by John Ortberg (see also: The Life You've Always Wanted) are easily applicable, and I enjoy them as daily devotionals.
That's just one girl's opinion.
I'm a fan of Max Lucado, but books by John Ortberg (see also: The Life You've Always Wanted) are easily applicable, and I enjoy them as daily devotionals.
That's just one girl's opinion.
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