Looking For Good

No less than three times last week I was reminded to look for more good around me.

There is so much bad in the world. So much evil. So much trouble. So much pain and sorrow. And as a Christian, I know that much of the bad that comes my may is either of my own doing (flowing out of my sinful human nature) or of the devil’s doing.

I’ve realized that I’ve been sucked into the devil’s trap of focusing on all that bad stuff. I forget the good that God gives. The Bible says, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning….” (Lamentations 3:22-23a).

When I turn my head – and my heart – to look at the mercies, at the good, that God showers on me every day my whole attitude changes. A smile comes to my face. My heart is lighter. I tend to say nice things, and do nice things, to other people.

When I’m focusing on the bad stuff in my life and in the world, I feel differently. I feel tired, worn out, beat down, and I tend to say snarky things about other people. Mostly without their knowledge. I’ll read something on Facebook that someone says about an idea being stupid and take it personally (hopefully more personally than they actually intended). Or I’ll be driving in the car and listening to talk radio and really get in a poor mood about what they are saying.

I need more good – and more God – in my life.

So, I’m being more intentional about looking for the good from God in my life today. And the second half of the passage from Lamentations is thumping in my heart!

“Great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (Lamentations 3:2b-24)

Make A Dent in the Universe

A couple of months ago I re-entered the wonderful world of Junior and Senior High School ministry. Twenty years ago I was a youth ministry in St. Louis. But that was when I wasn't much older than a youth at the time – 25 years old.

Now I’m 46. I’m the age I felt was old when I was in high school.

I suspect that I’m considered old by the high school kids in my church. I know I am to my own kids (one of which is now in high school).

You would think that many things would change in 20 years. And they have. In 1991, the World Wide Web (WWW – sound familiar) had just come online.

However, that year the WWW could only be used on a NeXT Computer.

What a NeXT computer is isn’t nearly as important as who created the NeXT computer.

Steve Jobs.

Yes, the guy who co-founded Apple Computers!

Last week, Steve Jobs died at age 56 – 10 years older than I am – from complications due to pancreatic cancer.

A lot has been written about Steve Jobs, but there are two things that Steve Jobs said that caught my attention and really made me think.

The first one is this:

“I want to put a dent in the universe.”

This made me think about what Steve Jobs did with his life. Yes, he made a boat-load of money. But from what I read and heard about him, that wasn’t the reason he did what he did with his life. His motivation was to make a difference. He had a dream of doing things that went beyond the two feet around him. I get the impression that he didn’t really think of himself in a selfish way. His approach to life was not “what’s in it for me” but rather one of “how can I make a dent in the universe.”

This is a good way to live. But I didn’t think that way when I was in high school. When I was a teenager, I thought only of myself most of the time. Most of the things I did were designed to make me feel good. I did them to have fun and didn’t really think all that much about what other people thought.

I see this in high school kids today. I’d like to tell them what I needed to hear more often when I was their age, that there is more to life than just “me.” But that I also can “make a dent in the universe” through what I do and say.

There’s nothing wrong with having fun and feeling good. But there is so much more for a son or daughter of God. You don’t have to wait till you are older to make a dent in the universe. Look up and look out beyond you.

So a lot of what I do with the youth group today is based on a question, “What are you doing to make an impact in the Kingdom of God?” A corollary to this question is “Is what you are doing bringing glory to God’s name?”

I never gave that much thought when I was their age. I wish I had. Maybe I could have gotten to some very important and impactful things a lot sooner – and could have made an even larger dent in the universe.

The second thing that Steve Jobs once said just floored me.

“I want my kids to know who I am.”

He said this in answer to the question, “Why did you authorize your biography and sit down and do so many candid interviews for it?”

Steve Jobs was afraid that the only way for his kids to know him was to make sure a biography was written about him.

How sad is that?

I want my kids to know who I am. So I spend time with them. Lots of time. I pitch to my sons until my arm feels like it’s going to fall off (then I feed balls into a pitching machine). I sit with them as they fish. I play Wii bowling with them (but not as often as they would like, I suspect). I worship with them daily through devotions and prayer. I eat dinner with my family at least five nights a week.

That’s how I’m making a dent in the universe. I won’t invent some new technology like the World Wide Web or an incredible piece of electronic gadgetry like an iPhone or iPad. I won’t make billions of dollars.

I will make a dent in the universe by loving my kids – and the kids I minister to in our church’s youth group. They won’t need a book – or an ebook – to know who I am.

And I will tell them of the love of Jesus Christ. I will do it by making it a goal that everything I do will be so that God gets the glory and others will know I work in God’s Kingdom.

Guest Post: Christian Dealbreakers

I came across this blog post earlier today and it really caught my attention. I wrote to both the author of the post and the author of the blog it was on and they both said I could repost it here.

So here it is.

It was posted here: 

And was written by the author of the blog A Woman’s Guide to Women: A Blog for Men

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Episode #22 of the Wise Guy Wednesday series features Sharideth Smith, a humor writer who mostly ghost writes and has a lot work that appears on e-How.

She’s got two kids and a husband.  All of which she likes most of the time.  You can find her ridiculous advice to single men at A Woman’s Guide to Women: A Blog for Men. I guarantee you’ll laugh out loud and maybe even learn a thing or two.

On my blog I have a series of Relationship Deal Breakers. The idea being there are really very few things that cannot be overcome or compromised on when it comes to keeping a relationship in tact. No, loving vs. hating Good ‘N Plenty’s is not one of them. Though that may require some counseling.

The same is true for our faith and denominational boundaries. My being okay with wearing jeans to church does not negate my salvation even if you think a woman should only wear skirts with Keds and bobby socks. Totally not a deal breaker.

Real deal breakers only include how you define who Jesus is, whether you believe the Bible is that actual word of God and how salvation occurs.

There’s an easy test to figure out if you have crested a hill worth dying on. Ask yourself “Does this change who God is or the role of His Son in my life?” If the answer is no, you do not have a deal breaker. Which is exactly what I told my son when he asked what would happen if we found out aliens were real. Score!

Everything else falls into one or more of these 3 categories:

1. Preference

Skirts vs. my evil pants. Hymns vs. CCM. Cathedral vs. meeting in a bar. Pentecostal vs. would rather eat glass than raise my hands in church. These are preferences. We all have our comfort zones and there is very little more personal than how we choose to approach God. The important thing is that we do approach Him.

2. Discourse

Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Drinking vs. T-Totalling. Old Earth vs. Young Earth.

Democrat vs. Republican. These things are up for discussion. Talking good. Fighting bad. We should have open discourse about anything and everything. Iron sharpens iron and all that. We should constantly be increasing in wisdom and a good way to do that is to have open, non-hostile conversation with those who interpret things differently than we do.

3. Grace

Oh boy. I get in trouble sometimes by reminding my fellow believers that the only people Jesus ever got really mad at and condemned were those who professed piety while sitting in arrogant judgment over others. Yeah. Think about that. He didn’t offer the woman at the well judgment and conditions for His approval. He offered her grace. We need to stop sitting in judgment over those who find their way to Christ differently than we do.

If you ask Christians about who has hurt them most, the majority will point the finger at their brothers and sisters in Christ. How profoundly sad.

How do we fix this? Simple. Always choose to err on the side of Love God and Love Others. If those two things are most important to God, then shouldn’t they also be most important to us? Let everything else fall away like chaff.

Have you ever been judged for worshipping in a certain way or holding to a specific doctrine?

Is there someone you have sat in judgment over who you need to ask forgiveness from?