Think About It

While I don’t have a problem with people who do, I don’t have religious sayings or symbols on my vehicle. In fact, I don’t wear a cross or have a Christian symbol tattooed on my body. The main reason I don’t have any of these probably goes back to a religious theory from when I was a child. Again, I am not offended by these displays, but if someone chooses to do this there needs to be a caution. If someone is going to advertise their beliefs, they’d better be prepared to live them. If we claim to be Christians, we’d better be living the lifestyle. The conflict between displaying religious symbols and living a carnal lifestyle is called hypocrisy. There are several issues with being a hypocrite, but one of the most dangerous is that when people see it they are apt to be put off by it. They might tend to be inspired by the claims, but they are almost certain to be repelled by the inconsistency. Jesus (who was known to call out hypocrites) understood this dissonance when He said,...

Most of us understand the need to be good people and treat people well. We do our best to demonstrate respect to others we meet. However, have you ever thought about how we can take this to the next level? Rather than merely being content with making sure that our relationships are in order, have you ever thought about how we can encourage others to treat one another better? The Bible talks a lot about our relationships with each other, but it also encourages us, “See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.” (I Thessalonians 5:15). Did you notice the impetus of this passage is not just our own personal interactions, but helping to make all relationships better? In essence, in addition to being good people, we can make a bigger difference by inspiring others to do so as well. By setting a good example for others to follow we can establish the foundation for a cultural shift, but it doesn’t stop th...

Today is Labor Day, so I thought I put together some thoughts about working. There are several different directions I could take this theme – the value of having a job or even the need to appreciate our workers, but I would like to visit about enjoying our jobs. Most of us will work the majority of our lives, so how do we make the most out of it? Here are a few observations: 1. Find something that brings value to the community. This covers a broad area, but if we work at something that makes people or the community better we will never work in vain. If, at the end of the day, we can look at what we have done and honestly say that people benefited from it, we can feel successful. 2. Find something that you enjoy. There is an old saying that advocates, “If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” There is something to that philosophy. When we enjoy what we do, the work may be hard, but we won’t find it draining. 3. Focus on work at work and rest when you a...

What do you have planned this weekend? Let me rephrase that – other than going to church this weekend (hint, hint), what do you have planned? With this being a holiday weekend you may have some pretty detailed plans. If so, that is great, but let me make a suggestion. We are coming out of hot, hectic summer and approaching an autumn that is typically filled with family commitment and renewed focus on accomplishing tasks at work. So, with this in mind, I would like to suggest that we spend some of the weekend recharging our batteries. At some point, take some time to rest and relax. Now you might find this recommendation odd – I mean shouldn’t we try to cram as much into life as we only have a limited number of days? While there is logic to that reasoning, I also believe that to make the most of our days, periodically we need to make the effort to “chill”. By taking the time to purposefully relax we give our bodies and our minds a chance to refresh. Some of us spent time in is...

According to those who purport to know history, on this day in 1985 a crew led by Robert Ballard found the remains of the Titanic at a depth of about 13,000 feet on the floor of the Atlantic. The Titanic was heralded as the latest and greatest sailing vessel of its day when it left England in 1912, but it would never complete its maiden voyage to New York. On April 15, 1912 it struck an iceberg and about 1500 of the 2200 people on board perished. While this remains one of the greatest tragedies in modern history, the mystique of the ship led a lot of people to try to find its remains. Countless hours and dollars were spent looking for the Titanic, so when Ballard’s crew found it, it was a big day. When Jesus was introducing the world to the kingdom of heaven, He told this story, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44). Jesus’ origin...

I am not a big fan of the phrase, “stay in your own swim lane”. I believe in building partnerships and collaboration and feel like this philosophy tends to lead us toward another modern phrase, “living in our silo”. I realize the dangers of dabbling in someone else’s business, but think that we work better, together. Now, having said this, I also believe that we can become too involved in things that really shouldn’t matter to us. All too often, we allow things that are well outside of our span of control to negatively affect us. When we get upset in the grocery store because a parent refused to discipline their child properly, we allow their decisions to impact our happiness. When we get worked up over how the politicians in another state voted or what a school district all the way across the country teaches, we are borrowing trouble that is beyond our ability to control. Sure, it is necessary to evaluate the actions of others, but when we allow them to steal our joy, we are in...

When was the last time you cleaned out the cache on your tablet? How much “trash” and deleted items do you have on your hard drive? Now, I am not just providing you with a technical reminder for your devices, this prompt is more about our lives than our laptops. You may have noticed that when your computer starts to bog down and run a little sluggishly it could be because of all the junk that has accumulated on it? There are a lot of files that are no longer applicable and many more that just don’t need any more that just sit there taking up space and draining energy. When our devices aren’t running like they could or should, one easy fix is to just get rid of all the stuff we don’t need anymore. Now, let’s talk about us. Have you ever thought about why we may be sluggish and not running up to our potential? Could it be because we are carrying around past hurts, old habits or maybe even scars from sins? Are we are allowing stuff that happened to us in days gone by impact our p...