To Whom Are You Connected?

Considerable research confirms a simple but very important truth: we are significantly influenced in many different ways—including even aspects of life like physical health—by the people to whom we are connected. Are the people to whom you are connected likely to influence you in the way that’s best for you to go? [Scripture, speaking to the church] “Let us not give up meeting together…” Heb.10:25

A Cell Phone Tale...Really

Last fall, we changed cell phone plans and Nadia came home with these fancy new cell phones.  I mean they could do it all…texting, pictures, music.  I accidentally left my phone at home one day, when I got back…it had painted the house.  That’s how incredible these new phones are!

When she first brought the phones home, I was like, “…Yeah, whatever.  They’re nice.  That’s cool, but it doesn’t matter to me.”  In fact, at the time, part of me would prefer not have a cell phone.  I don’t necessarily like being available to people all the time.  (Actually, there aren’t that many people who are dying to reach me, but just pretend to accept that last sentence at face value.)

But you know what?  Then I started texting, and taking pictures with the phone, and posting things on line.  And very quickly…well, I’m a little embarrassed…but very quickly, I got to where I really liked it.  In fact, I loved my new phone.

Around Christmas, I was walking in the door at my sister-in-law’s house and I was carrying a bunch of things, including my phone and a large cup of iced tea.  And in a strange fluke of an accident, I dropped my phone and it fell right into the iced tea!

I was heart broken.  Electronic gadgets don’t do well when they’re submerged in liquids.  (You knew that already, didn’t you?)  My phone was dead.  That phone that initially I didn’t care that much about…?  Now, I loved it.  Now I was sad and crying.

We used a blow dryer on it. 

Nope, it was dead. 

We buried it in rice because that’s what people told me to do.

Nope, it was dead.

We gave it a paint brush and tried to coax it into doing some painting.

Nope, it was dead.

Finally, I took it to the phone store and told the guy, “I dropped it in a cup of iced tea.”

He said, “You’re not supposed to do that.”

I said…“Really?”  

(That’s my famous response to everything… “Really?”)

Anyhow, for a fee, they replaced the phone and I was happy again. 

But wait, then my brand new phone—the new replacement phone—began to have some problems.  So, I took it in last week to the phone store.  And the guy at the phone store looked at it and he said, “Oh yeah, I’m familiar with this model.”  Laughing, he said, “We had this dumb guy in here back in December who dropped one of these into a cup of iced tea.  Can you believe it?"

And I said…“Really?”

Today, the “new replacement” of the “first replacement phone” came in and I went to the phone store so they could…I don’t know…do their thing that they had to do.  (I hope I didn’t lose anyone with that sophisticated technical description.)

They transferred all of my contacts and pictures, etc. over to the new replacement of the first replacement phone.  And the guy at the phone store said, “Take care of this one, I don’t think we’ll be able to get you another one.”

I said, “No problem.  I’m really careful with my phone.”

But I don’t think he believed me…really.

The Good News Is...We Don't Save Ourselves

Isn’t it great to know that we don’t save ourselves? I do not like the thought that my eternal destiny would depend on me & what I do. With my track record, that’s not a comforting thought—it is not what I would call Good News. The Good News is that Jesus has done it. Jesus has already provided salvation. The work is DONE. It is liberating to simply accept the salvation that Jesus freely offers.

Trusting God And Stepping Out In Faith

God wants us to trust Him so completely that we will step out and follow Him even though He doesn’t make it totally clear, in advance, where we are going. In a way, this can seem like a somewhat foolish concept but actually it’s the simple concept of “faith”. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place…obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Hebrews11:8

Do People Worship Idols?

When I was young, I used to think that God’s commandment against idolatry was sort of silly and unnecessary. “Gee whiz, no one worships idols,” I thought. I hadn’t lived much, at that point. (Can you tell?) Now I’m older and I’ve come to realize how easy it really is to value and desire other things over God. “You shall have no other Gods before me.” Exodus 20:3.

People CAN Change

I heard a famous Christian minister say that people don’t change.  Because of the context in which he made the statement & because of the particular subject that he was discussing many of the people at the conference nodded their heads in agreement.  But I thought to myself, “I’m at a conference for CHRISTIAN MINISTERS & we don’t believe people can change?”  I’m glad Jesus doesn’t feel that way about me.

God Is The Ultimate Gift

God, himself, is the ultimate gift of infinite worth. Until we understand that truth we search in vain for happiness in shallow reflections that will not satisfy. I admit I don’t always grasp the full truth of the statement I just wrote entirely, but I’m moving in that direction.

Be Assured: God Understands

One of the reasons we don’t live God’s way is we believe, on some level, that He doesn’t really understand. “God says what...?!?” we think.  Well then, “He can’t possibly understand!”  This is probably not an overt thought—we rationally understand that it’s not sound thinking. But people are perfectly capable of holding irrational beliefs. Please be assured of this: God understands.

Push Up Project, Day 11

My friend Raiye asked me, “So, how’s that push-up thing going?”

Here’s what I did today: 

REGULAR PUSH-UPS

2 sets of 14 reps; 2 sets of 12 reps; 1 set of 9 reps. 

All done less than a minute apart.

(Why an odd number like “9”, you ask?  …Because at that point, I couldn’t do anymore!)

Then, later in the day, 2 sets of 25 push-ups.

DIAMOND PUSH-UPS (this is a push-up with the fingers of the hands on the floor pointing inward and the hands close together—it really works the triceps…and it gives your hair a natural bounce with a lovely flowing luster).

1 set of 15 reps; 2 sets of 14 reps.

You say, “Hey Dan, I just counted, that’s only 168 total push-ups for the whole day!  That’s a long way from being able to do 100 push-ups, non-stop!”

I know, but I have to work my way up gradually, so I don’t get injured.  That’s why the whole process is going to take 75 days, remember?  Two days ago, on Tuesday, after I finished doing the push ups I had a weird buzzing sensation in my arm and then my arm felt a little bit numb.  This episode happened for, like, 3 or 4 seconds.  It reminded me that I was either having a heart attack, or, that I need to be careful how I approach this.

By the way, after that episode I woke up very groggy in a ditch on the other side of town.  Is that a bad sign?  Hmm, I’ll run that question past a trained professional.

I did some other exercises, also…but I won’t bore you with the whole routine.  Oh…I also did my Bible reading for today.  That doesn’t help much with the push-ups, but it keeps my “spiritual abs” rock hard!

This picture of a guitar

has absolutely nothing to do

with the story, but it's 

getting late and it's the only

picture I could find on

short notice.

Seeing Relationships As Precious And Important

“Instead of thinking about friendship or marriage as relationships with intrinsic value, we look to them as a means of fulfilling our needs.  When the needs are no longer satisfied by that relationship, we discard it and move on to another that we believe will be a better use of our resources.” [Wilkens & Sanford] 

This quote is a description of how relationships are sometimes approached in our culture.  Some of us could probably think of specific examples in our lives when we’ve witnessed or, perhaps, even experienced what is described above.

God’s intention is not that friendships & relationships would be “tools” which we utilize for the fulfillment of our needs but rather that they would be understood to be connections of utmost significance and value to us—that we would see relationships as something precious and important—based on the realization that every person we encounter is made in the image of God and is loved and valued by God.

"Little" Is "Much" When God Is In It

One of God’s beautifully encouraging attributes is that He can do A LOT with a little. Think of the story of Jesus feeding the 5000.  This is great news for all of us who are not rich and famous and brilliant and well-connected and extraordinarily gifted.  Offer what you have to God, for His purposes, and see how He multiplies. “Little is much, when God is in it.”

Wisdom And The Virtue of Self Restraint

In the West, wisdom tends to be associated with “knowledge” or “experience”. In the East wisdom tends to be associated with “self-restraint”. “Self-restraint” is an important virtue. It is discretion and prudence. It is a discipline that can serve us well—especially those of us who tend to get ourselves in trouble with impulsive, brash words and actions. This post is, among other things, a reminder for myself.