Call the Whaaaambulance

I tend to be a bit of a whiner. It just seems like sometimes it’s way easier to see the negatives vs the positives. Sort of like how the news tends to report way more negatives stories than it does positive ones. Or how typical conversations are often about what’s wrong with our government or the economy or how that Chinese restaurant messed up my order yesterday.

As a Christian, I like to consider what pleases God or what bothers him in our behavior. The journey of the Israelites in the desert with Moses was a picture of the Christian life. Out of a million Jews… only two entered into the promised land. Why? If you read through the story, those people experienced many awesome miracles from God, but they were largely ungrateful. They whined a lot. And that did not turn out well for them. They whined about not having food. Then, after God started providing food for them daily, they whined about the lack of variety in their diet. At one time God caused the earth to open up and swallow several thousand of them in one fell swoop. Because they wouldn’t stop whining. This is a big deal to God.

If one believes the Bible, one must conclude that things and circumstances in our life occur for a reason. One of God’s primary wishes for us is that we grow. This is way more important to him than our “comfort”. When we encounter things that we consider unpleasant, it’s often an opportunity for personal growth, specifically engineered by God for our benefit. What kind of people would we be if everything always went our way? Spoiled brats perhaps.

Do we really believe that God is in control? Then what exactly are we doing when we whine about our circumstances or problems in our life? We are essentially questioning the fairness of God. It’s like saying that we don’t approve of His handling of us or the affairs of our life.

In addition, consider how Christ suffered on His way to the cross. More than we can possibly imagine. After all, He was God. And He submitted Himself to the most humiliating suffering and death that was possible. At the hands of His own creation. He did this for us.

And we complain when we have a stomach ache.

New Diet Plan

Shawna and I started a new diet yesterday. This isn’t one of those “we’re going to eat healthier” diets. It’s a Medi-Fast diet. You eat six times a day. Five of those “meals” are provided by Medi-Fast. The sixth meal is a “lean and green” meal. It consists of 5-7oz of lean meat and a veggie. This meal you provide yourself.

Each of the Medi-Fast meals is 100 calories. And they are entirely interchangeable. There are about 70 different things you can choose from. They all have basically the same nutritional profile.

So what we’re talking about is basically around 800-1000 calories per day. They actually warn you against exercising during the first 3-4 weeks of the diet. And they give you measures to take if you suffer from headache or dizziness as a result of the low caloric intake.

The Medi-Fast meals are interesting. Many of them are simply powder that you mix with water and microwave. Two such meals I had yesterday were eggs (egg whites) and vegetarian sloppy joes. These were both surprisingly good.

The program also calls for drinking a gallon of water per day, or 1oz of water for every 2lbs of body weight, whichever is greater.

It’s certainly too early to draw any conclusions. Based on our experience with day one, we think this is something we can do. And with one month of Medi-Fast food coming in at over $600, we had already decided that this was a commitment we were determined to make.

I personally think that one of the bigger factors in the success of this program will be the almost complete removal of decision making from our diet. We totally don’t have to think about it.

Ship of Fools

This was written right after President Obama’s initial election. It’s doubly true now that he’s been re-elected, with half the nation in utter disbelief that anyone in their right mind would give this man a second term.

“The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president.“

~from a Czech newspaper

Life Changes

Today I accepted a new full-time programmer/analyst position with a wood products company in Eugene, and gave my two-week notice with my current employer.

Roughly three months ago my employer reduced my hours (and pay) by 40%. Otherwise known as a partial layoff. The reason given was dollars. Government budgets are tight everywhere and the particular services I am employed to support are not bringing in the revenue to justify the cost. And I was the last one in my group to be hired… so that made me the first to go.

If you count both of my stints with the ESD… I’ve worked there for a total of 9 years. That is far longer than I’ve been with any other programming job. Most of the people I work with have been there that whole time. My coworkers have been great. And no matter what else has happened… it’s the people I work with that made the ESD a great place to be. I’m definitely going to miss that.

So a new chapter is beginning. I’m moving from a government job back into the private sector. And this is not only a private sector job I’m taking, but it’s in a family-owned business. About as far from a government job as I’m likely to get.

I mentioned to my new boss today that I might experience a little “culture shock”. But I made sure he knew that I fully intend on stepping up to the plate and doing a good job for them. One of the notable things about my new boss so far… it’s obvious that he really *wants* me there. They are totally glad to get me. That’s a nice feeling.

Regarding the culture shock… at the ESD we are limited to 40-hour work weeks. At my new job, they are scheduling me for 48-hour weeks right off the bat. I will be one of two programmers… and the other guy typically puts in 50 hours a week. But the job is salary… so 48-hour weeks pay the same as 40-hour ones do.

They don’t award sick leave at my new job. They just figure if you’re sick, you’re sick. I guess with overtime being the norm, they assume you’ll make that up and it will still work out in their favor.

They are initially going to have me working four 10-hour days in the office, and one 8-hour day from home each week. In addition to the mandatory overtime, I will have a one-hour commute each way. That’s going to make for some long days. Each workday that I’m in the office will be about 12 hours long if you include the commute. I haven’t figured out how lunch will factor in. At least I will only have to do that four days a week.

I feel like I’m making a big leap. Not really sure what I’m getting myself into. Not sure how it will all work out. A lot of unknowns. But I have high hopes and a sense of adventure. I am feeling pretty good about a challenge. I think I will probably find out a few things about myself in the process.

My wife has also taken a new job. She has one day left to work on her current job before she starts on with the office of the state fire marshal (part of the state police). I will see if I can get her to blog a little about that.

Great C.S. Lewis quote

I posted a portion of this quote on Facebook today. Then I found myself wanting to read the context in which it was written. Well here it is!

“But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away “blindly” so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality: but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether. Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Our wayward selves

I’ve been reading one of those daily “one-year” Bibles for a number of years. They walk you through the Bible in one year. They give you a little Old Testament, a little New Testament, a little Psalms and a little Proverbs each day.

This really gives one a clear contrast between the Old and New Testaments. The New Testament is full of the love of Christ. All about Him wanting to give us new life.

But the Old Testament seems to paint a very different picture of God. The God of the Old Testament seems to really be a jealous God who is not always that merciful toward His people when they go astray.

So as I read, I’ve been trying to see some sort of balance between the two seemingly different pictures of God.

Yesterday I ran across this in Jeremiah.

“My wayward children,” says the LORD, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.” Jeremiah 3:22

This verse comes after a fairly lengthy description of how unfaithful Israel had been to God. In spite of that, God wanted them back.

The neat thing about this is, God appears to be saying that if they return to Him, He will essentially help them to be less wayward.

Even though I may not want to do what is right all the time, I would like to want to. I think that as we turn to God, He helps us want to.

There’s a rule and there’s a judge

There is a new movie coming out about the start of Scientology. It’s called “The Master”. Apparently it’s quite good as far as acting and recreating the 1950 time period goes.

I was just reading another review of the movie here.

The review states that some in Hollywood turn to Scientology to help them have the discipline to combat the temptations of the show biz world. Below is an excerpt where this benefit of Scientology is compared to similar benefits of other religions.

And of course, others will say that traditional religion provides even better answers to eternal human concerns. Those traditional religions, after all, can provide plenty of rigor; indeed, it can be argued that the more rigorous the faith, the longer it survives and flourishes.

A case in point is Orthodox Judaism. Lloyd Green, a lawyer in New York City–and sometime contributor to Fox News Opinion–notes that every day, the observant Jew recites a liturgy that includes the words, Yesh din v’yesh dayan–“There’s a rule and there’s a judge.” Green explains: “We are reminded that there are rules and the individual is not the ultimate self-arbiter.” Those rules were decreed by God, and have been adhered to for thousands of years. Now that’s rigor.

So yes, “The Master” is an interesting movie to see, and Scientology is interesting in its way, too. But for most people, other traditions provide more. Much more.

I really like that Jewish saying… “There’s a rule and there’s a judge“. We are not to be our own masters. Not a bad idea to remind oneself of that daily.

One Person Can Make a Difference

I believe that one person really can make a difference.  All too often we hear reference to the fact that I am just one person, I can’t change the world.  I am learning that we really do all individually and collectively make a difference.  Just like the rock that is skipped across the still water that sends ripples as it disappears into the bottom of the lake; we too send ripples across not only our lives but the lives all around us.  Just imagine what the lake would look like if 3 or 4 were skipping rocks at the same time, now imagine how dramatically the face of it would change if a hundred all did the same.  The ripple effect becomes exponential, not only do we have an impact on those around us but also on the spheres of influences that those around us have.

One can look back at history and see many examples of individuals who made a huge impact on the world.  Billy Graham, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Helen Keller, Anne Frank, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln just to name a few.  We see their influence on the world and attribute it to some special gift that they had.  While circumstances may have impacted their influence they each chose to use the situations they were given to make a difference for others.  I am not sure that they were really anything “special” more that the outcome was based on the decisions that they made.

We are all nobody special and yet we all are special in that each and everyone regardless of status, upbringing, mistakes of the past, and even natural ability can and do make a difference.  Recently I received notice that my son was going to receive the Presidential Unit Citation.  This award is given for “extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy.  The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions so as to set it apart from and above other units participating in the same campaign.”  How does a young man from Keizer, Oregon; raised by a single mom; not associated with anyone of high stature; just a regular every day kid become such a hero?  I would like to take credit that I was such a wonderful mom who had all the right answers and did all the right things but that’s really not true (except the wonderful mom thing, well okay truthfully, I just did the best that I knew how with lots of mistakes and tons of God’s grace).  What really shaped this young man was a result of the seeds that were planted by all those who crossed his path, yes even the bad seed.

Kind of an interesting thought how does bad seed turn into good fruit?  While the seed that was sown may not have necessarily been meant for good; our attitude, decisions and choices that we make can stall us, turn us bitter, or even develop into a full blown pity party.  (Oh yes I have often had coffee with pity, sometimes even a full scale lunch, it was a lonely gathering that only I enjoyed, unfortunately for those around me it often had a rancid odor, in other words while I might have enjoyed the pity party it stunk for those around me.)  Or we can use the seed to turn a different direction, reevaluate our purpose and mission, or in my sons’ case set out to prove that they were wrong.  Whatever the motivation it still boils down to decisions and choices and in many cases those decisions and choices must be made over and over again.  The problem with much of life is it is so daily.  Daily decisions (often the same ones being made over and over again), daily habits, daily choices that often don’t really seem to make a difference.  Maybe it’s just that we don’t see the difference that they make.  Consider eating a 3 inch chocolate chip cookie.  Will it make a difference if I have one today? Probably not, but if I make a decision to have a cookie today, and then tomorrow, and the next and so on that simple cookie that adds 120 calories a day, adds 3600 calories in a month or 43,200 calories in a year.  There is power in exponential growth.  Influence works the exact same way; if we each only made a difference in a person’s life exponential growth will automatically kick in.  But even more what if we each made a difference each and every day whether it be simply holding the door open, buying a meal or a bag of groceries for someone who is hungry, a kind word, or even simpler sharing a smile with everyone we walk or drive by.  By looking at things this way changing the world seems more of a possibility, maybe even a reality.

One may never know the impact that they have on others.  I have been extremely blessed to see the impact of one’s life that really just loved and accepted others where they were.  I have had so many come up to me and tell me how much they knew that Ryan loved them.  He didn’t just say it, he showed it.  It has impacted me to emulate my son and make a difference in others and I do believe that I can inspire others to do the same.  It is best summed up by John F Kennedy “One person can make a difference and every person should try.”

Shawna

For Your Birthday

I like to think about
God watching over our lives
from the beginning…

…arranging things
so that our paths would cross
and we would realize
we were meant for each other.

God made you for me…
and I bet it makes Him happy
to see what a wonderful husband
you are.

It makes me happy, too…
having your love
and sharing our faith
in the One who knows us so well.

I love you.

—————————————

Above was the verse on the birthday card my wife gave me today. While I’m not entirely sure I’m worthy of such praise… I can truly identify with the idea that our relationship was divinely arranged from the beginning. I know that some people have their faith reinforced after witnessing healings and such. Our relationship is one miracle that has definitely reinforced mine. It was as much an obvious evidence of God as I could imagine.