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Give Grace
This is hard. Grace is something we all can receive through Christ but its something that can be very hard to share with others in return. My suspicion is the primary element that makes this hard is because it often feels unfair to us. We don’t want to forgive some for something they did wrong. Grace requires us to forgive and let grudges go. Even then its that later one that is truley gut wrenching because we want to be able to make up for past actions or hold things against people in our own favors. Grace can be hard to give, but because God has given it to us,…
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Income Upping the Ante
If you make a lot you’ll spend accordingly. That’s an observation made on the Praxis podcast “Forward Tilt”. It means that you’ll up your standard of living according to what you currently make, even if it isn’t sustainable. Its hard for me to see so many other people my age going on various trips, out to eat all the time, or buying designer items. That being said, I remind myself that what they’re used to at 23 or so will predictably only grow over time, and become more expensive habits. That and I don’t need the latest handbag, I’ve already been to another continent, and homecooking is usually better for you…
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Do you Love to Win or Hate to Lose?
I was challenged the other night by a friend with this question that he said he had heard in an interview. I’ll admit I thought about it for a minute, but when he mentioned his answer it almost immediately made sense. He said he loves to win, because this mentality helps him appreciate the little victories. It also helps him with the rejection he gets as a salesman. I want to have this mentality more. It means seeing the small victories in life and keeping a more positive attitude overall. Loving winning means you’re striving for a better goal, and you’ll be more likely to see the good progress along the…
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Generally a Bad Option
I try not to generalize. Its quite often not very fair to people. Generalizing not only usually involves making a lot of assumptions but also judging people based on a few key elements. Generalizing can often paint a more extreme version of a person, good or bad. Whether you start seeing someone through rose-colored glasses, or a negative outlook, it’s not good. This is because it’s not the whole truth. Seeing a real (because an actor’s characters don’t count, but the actor does) person as something else is a bit of a lie. Also if you lump someone with a whole group you leave out what makes a person unique…
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Cold Turkey
Quitting things is hard even if its tiny habits like looking at your phone in bed, or eating candy. I imagine that a lot of people wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s been helpful to me in the past, that is, quitting something cold turkey. The ideas is that by quitting it completely is that you don’t have leeway to over do your limits, and that you can realize stark differences in your habits/lifestyle with certain changes. The first time I can remember trying it with food was with a mediocre snack cake, it was something my family kept in the pantry and we all liked it too much. So one day I…
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What’s Behind the Tradition
I went to senior high Sunday school with my youth group student’s this morning. We actually watched a film made for kids much younger but it had some very helpful elements for explaining the traditions we have at Christmas. First off was explaining the name Christmas, this comes from early, mostly Catholic, churches celebrating Christ’s Mass which celebrated Christ’s birth, Christmas simply combines the two words. As for the chopped down tree in your house, that comes from a German tradition where people had been worshipping a maple tree, but then Christian missionaries where able to convert them and then encouraged them to use the fir tree as a symbol…
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White Elephant
Everyone who’s been to a white elephant party knows that although the gifts aren’t always intrinsically valuable, the funniness/goofiness/oddness of the gifts makes the experience of the exchange valuable, and often times people find value in things other people don’t. Mind you some gifts at these kinds of exchanges are still quite dumb, or useless. It really goes back to the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, and “value is in the eye of the beholder”. Preferences are different between different people, and I believe this game challenges what value can be to a certain extent. People are unique obviously and so are their senses of humor, and their…
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Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
I don’t like making them, but I’m trying to get better at it. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 When I am facing tough decisions, I get flustered quickly, because I wonder a lot about the consequences of my actions and if its really God’s will or not. I’m still learning this lesson but I take comfort in this verse. Decisions are tough but its what our lives here are built on. Keep on making decisions as promptly as you can, while making sure you’re as informed as you can be about your decisions.
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Do Hard Things
Last night’s Praxis Wednesday was more interview preparation, and we collaborate with other Praxians about questions we might be met with; we developed and stories and ideas together. As I’ve touched on before, Praxians are the kind of people who take on a challenge and do hard things. We do what no one expects, go above and beyond, and keep pushing ourselves. The challenge we had on the call was to think up hard interview questions to ask each other, so we could be better prepared for if similar questions are asked on a real interview. It was good to think through stories and experiences and hard things we had…
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Unexpectedly Wonderful
I went to my tenth GracePoint student ministries Christmas party last night, between being a student and a volunteer, and being a part of senior and junior high groups, I’ve had my fair share of these parties, and I’ve loved every minute of it. It’s fun to dig out my “ugly” Christmas sweater, and find old, funny things from around the house for the white elephant gift exchange, and see who will “pick” my gift. After the party, I got talking with the pastor. I’ll be leaving soon for my apprenticeship soon and I wanted to touch base with him about the direction I’m headed. We got to talk about what…
