Archive for change

Can You Control Your Happiness?

// March 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // change, life struggle, spiritual growth, stories

The older guy in this video has some interesting advice. Pretend that it is not a Coke commercial and answer this question:

How much control do you believe you have over your own happiness?

Churches Dissapearing In the UK

// November 14th, 2008 // No Comments » // change, stories

The below video is an interview with a gentleman (Sir Roy Strong) who is behind an initiative to turn abandoned church buildings, in his country, into a useful community space. It is really too bad that these churches didn’t maintain that type of attitude while they still had people in them. That is one of the reasons I am so excited about our church facilities and campus maintaining a community friendly posture on a daily basis. During seasons of nice weather people enjoy the walking path on rollerblades or walking their dog. Daily there are families on our campus bringing kids to our pre-school and many them don’t attend our church. Now with a new gymnasium I am looking forward to basketball, indoor soccer and other activities at our facilities and seeing sports teams utilizing our field space. Hopefully CCV can be a force of change in our region and an encouragement to other churches. The last thing I want to see in our area is this discussion that they are having now in England.

McCain-Palin or Obama-Biden

// September 3rd, 2008 // 11 Comments » // change

What a historic political race we find ourselves in! I must say, I think it is quite interesting that John McCain chose a woman as his running mate. However, as I was discussing the race with some friends, we found ourselves asking this question. Is John McCain choosing woman simply because Barack Obama is black? Wherever the vote lands, it will be a mark of social change and progress in our country.

I would love to see a woman in the White House and I would love to see a black man or anyone of color in the White House as well. I hope I get the chance to see both in my lifetime. So far, I am still undecided in this election. My personal choice didn’t make it past the primaries, so I am going to have to do some research.

On a lighter note – answer this quick question for me… Don’t you think Sarah Palin looks like Tina Fey?

I Find Joy In Order

// January 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // change, life struggle

I recently ran into this quote and found it interesting…

Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.

– Gustave Flaubert

I know that I find myself being the most creative when I am at peace and removed from stress. For me that is sitting down with a fresh cup of coffee or after a good night’s sleep, first thing in the morning. When are you at your best? Maybe you schedule a time to tackle that big problem at that moment.

Hatchet Man

// August 2nd, 2007 // 1 Comment » // change, relationships, spiritual growth

I tend to be the kind of guy that wants to cut someone off at the knees when they mess up. Jesus extended grace and I struggle doing that… I want to extend the hatchet, or maybe a baseball bat, or perhaps a sledge hammer. I recently didn’t extend someone grace and God showed me that quite clearly today . Maybe God returned the favor and hit me with the hammer.

Today I was reading Galatians and it says this:

Galatians 6:1 – Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.

I need to get better at the “gently” part. I tend to lead towards shoving people into restoration.

The Greek word for “restore” that Paul uses here is kat-ar-tid’-zo and it means to completely and thoroughly repair.

How does that translate into life application?It does not simply mean stating the obvious mistake someone has made and moving on. It means that God expects us to participate in completely and thoroughly repairing that person to full health. In order to really do that we have to be in relationships with the people we are confronting, we have to care for them and they have to know we care. If people don’t know that we genuinely care they often wont allow us to help them.
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