Speaking Tonight!

Haha...We will see how I do.
I guess, I am not really nervous. Excited, but not nervous.
I have not spoken to a big group in about 10 years. I am not giving my original message....I scrapped it. I think that this new one is more in line with the ideas that P. Erik has been talking about. At least some of the concepts. My videos are ready and so is my pps.
w00t!

Be Patient

Please be patient with blogger. I think that they are updating some of the features that I have been testing...causing the sidebar to display incorrectly

Losing a Part of Yourself

If you had to give a part of you away in order to be accepted, what would it be?
Would it be a hand? A foot?
Jesus loves us no matter what. This we know. Or should.
But sometimes, in order for us to make room for God, we need to get rid of things.
Spring Cleaning if you will. There are parts of us, as humans that hold us back from God. Ill will towards others. Lies. Vices.
What holds you back? In truth, most of the time, it is ourselves.
You see, even though God is always there, sometimes we hold ourselves back from God. Maybe it is the fear of being ostracized at work or school...or even our own family or church.
Sometimes, the hardest thing in life is facing our own fears. Taking a step forward instead of back. Maybe it is being unsure of ourselves. Sometimes it is hard for us to comprehend God's love. The fact that there are no consequences to it. he loves us. No hooks, snags or hidden agendas. Jesus accepts us, as broken as we are.

So, back to the question:
What would you give up to be accepted? Did you answer with a body part? Thankfully, Jesus doesn't require us to amputate anything. In fact He only asks that we love Him. Getting rid of the stuff in between Him and us is up to us. Yes He helps, but we need to get rid of the junk in order to make room for Him.
What things do you need to throw out?
BRING IT.

What is he singing?

So..take a guess to yourself before the halfway point. I thought this was kinda of a neat way to emphasize the importance of actually listening. A lot of times, we are going through life so fast that although we "hear" somebody, we aren't actually listening. (What did he just say?).

To actually listen someone it takes effort, and concentration. Think about that the next time you have a conversation with someone, or moreover an arguement. (Side note: about 75% of all arguments come from miscommunication, rather than a difference of opinion).

BTW, it is possible to get the song before halfway through, if you concentrate hard enough, the tune will come to you.

One Thing

If you had one chance to give a piece of advise to someone what would it be? What one single thing in your life that has the most impact? I know that most people have a lot that could go here, but if you had to pick one...what would it be? What one piece of information has helped to shape you the most? It is easy to make a list of "things that I have learned in this life", but much harder to narrow it down to a single thing.
For me, it would be that you can't do this on your own. Life is much too hard to struggle through, day by day to make it without some help. I am a stubborn person by nature. I was always that kid that said "I got it. I can do this. I don't need any help!" When I finally realized that I couldn't, it was quite humbling.
Whether it is a helping hand from a friend or a loved one...or more importantly from God...we all need a little stepping stone from time to time.

So...You have one chance to impart some wisdom to the world...
BRING IT.

What Would You Do?

What would you do if you had no repercussions for, consequences of, or limitations upon your actions?
Would you be different than you are now?

"With great power comes great responsibility." (Uncle Ben-SpiderMan I).

New Day

I have said it before: A sunrise is something very special. To me it represents a lot of things: new chance, new day, a chance to start over.
In my mind, a sunrise represents God's love and commitment to us. Kinda his way of loving us unconditionally. No matter what choices we made yesterday (Good or Bad), it is His way of saying "It's okay. I love you anyway."
Even when we cannot actually see the sun because of the clouds, it is still there.
So is God.
Whatever mistakes you made yesterday, realize that with the sunrise...they happened yesterday. Don't dwell on them. Learn from them and move on to today. Whatever good decisions that you made yesterday, capitalise on their outcomes. Don't let it go to waste. With each new day, remember that Jesus loves you. No matter how much we screw up.
When you stop to think about what you are witnessing, a sunrise is enough to bring you to your knees. To me, it is a constant reminder that God is there, right by your side. No matter what you are going through.
I think that each new day becomes even more special when you remember that.
How awesome is that?

Grace Under Pressure

How we deal with pressure has a lot to do with how we view the world. Everybody's body, mind and soul processes things differently. What is stressful to one is another's bread and butter. Sometimes, after a truly stressful day my body and mind just shut down. I feel as if I can't make a decision and I just want to go to bed. Othertimes, the same type of day will bring a different result.
The difference is as simple as waking up looking at things from another view.
If you wake up and look forward to your day versus dreading it, you will find that you deal with problems with a different attitude.

Through God, all things are possible. His grace allows us to move through our day with the confidence, knowing that He is by our side. Sometimes, it is just a helping hand...and othertimes it is a full blown fireman's carry over the shoulder.

If you are going through a rough patch of life, try waking up with this thought: No matter what you are going through in this life, Jesus is not going anywhere. Through God, all things are possible.
Not just some.
All.

Moving Not

This is off one of my favorite coffee mugs:
To Do Is To Be
Socrates
To Be Is To Do
Plato
DoBeDoBeDo
Sinatra (from "Strangers in the Night")

The 3rd was just for fun. But take a deeper look at the first two.
One simply states: To exist, we must do something.
The other says: To do something, we must exist.

So, by rights, we could have doing=being and being=doing
Essentially two fancy ways of saying the same thing...right?

Comes down to two words: Doing and Being.
Take away either one or the other and you have two verbs...
One suggests a static, unmoving state, the other suggests action, and movement.
So we might really have only two states in our lives: Moving and Not.
So if you are Not Moving, what are you doing? Standing still.
Maybe you should be Moving Not?
What do I mean?

Moving Not ("Not my Job", "Not my Place", "Not my Crowd", "Not my Friends", "Not my Group", "Not my Family") is essential to living.

So many people are so afraid of Not, yet they claim that is what everything is.

You see, if you push Not out of the way you get this:"My Job", "My Place", "My Crowd", "My Friends", "My Group", "My Family".

You get ownership of your life.
Once you have ownership of your life....That's when you can really, truly give yourself to your God.
Once you do that, you realize that all the problems that you are facing....all those "Nots"?? They are essentially just Things that keep us from knowing ourselves and our God.
And what are Not Things to Jesus?
Nothings.

So tell me..What is it that stands between you and your true self? Your true God?

BRING IT.

Noun, Adjective, verb

Open the below picture in another window and stare at it for 30 seconds. Try not to blink.



Not really exciting huh.
Now try doing it again, but this time, after the 30 seconds are up....look quickly at a light colored (read: white) wall.
What did you see? Kinda neat huh.

Quick point that I wanted to make (is gonna sound cheezy for a second but bear with me) is that sometimes you can concentrate all your might on being a Christian, but I think a lot of times we can't see the forest for all the trees. We miss the big picture.

A Christian, by definition, is a person who follows Jesus Christ.
Christian = (noun) a person who follows Jesus Christ.
Christian = (adj.) describing something pertaining to Christianity.

Sometimes I like to think of the word Christian as a verb.
YES I know it would make bad grammer.
But think of the concept instead of trying to use it in a sentence.
What if...instead of being "A" Christian, we focused more on "BEING" Christian. A subtle but profound difference.

What if we were more focused on giving, instead of getting?
What if we were more focused on doing instead of being?

(back to the picture) Focusing on God is important. But (to me) sometimes being a Christian makes more sense when you can project it outward. Share what you know.
The picture wouldn't make much sense if I hadn't told you about looking at the wall would it?
We would be kinda silly if we were in the habit of hollering "I'M A CHRISTIAN!!"....and then just standing there.
Tell somebody. Don't keep it to yourself.
Do something. Don't keep it to yourself.

Chain Surfing

I saw this and thought it was pretty cool.
I am not sure if they edited it to make it or not but I have seen others like it, although not nearly as cool.

New Feature

I am testing out blogger's new rss links for my blog friends list. Look to the right and you should see them. Tell me what you think? Should I keep it, or go back to the way it was?

Another One Bites the dust.

Yah. I knew it would happen.

I have been twittered.
Look for me misteng@gmail.com.

The extra 10%

Fact is: Not many people, when performing a task give 100%.
I know that I am guilty of this. While I was growing up, my dad used to tell me to give 110% on everything that I attempted. His reasoning was pretty sound...he said that if 70% of the world only gave 80%, you have a pretty good chance at achieving a goal if you were competing against them. BUT if the other 29.9999% were giving 100%, you might lose out on that opportunity. So by giving 110%, one can rationalize that you are pretty much assured of attaining whatever you attempt.
I would like to generalize a bit however: if you were to give JUST 10% more effort than the next person, I think that your chances would be more than fair that you would attain your goal.

If the others were to feed off of your extra 10% and up the ante, so to speak? Well things just got more interesting becuase now you have to take another look at the situation and perhaps try harder. Would that, when you achieve your goal not make success that much sweeter?

NOW, take the competitive aspect out of it.
What if you were to give your extra 10%....but to give, not to GET, but to give.
If you were to give just 10% more than you do now (time, money, resources..whatever). The nature of the beast (in this case human nature) would indicate that others would try a bit harder to attain the same goal. This is not a selfish idea of "oh look at me! Look at how much ______ I gave!" No. It is the same unspoken principle as above. Challenging others to excellence, without a word, calling people to do more.
Leaders, in my mind will always lead by example. The captain of the football team can hardly inspire others to work hard, by sitting and eating doughnuts in the weight room...any more than as Christians, we can tell people to do great and Godly things, without attempting the feats ourselves.
Step up to the plate. Give your 15 innings instead of the 9.
Step out.
Give an extra 10% for one day. See if you not only feel better, but take a step back and see if the fire spreads. It is an interesting phenomenon....sometimes, it is a slow burn, and other times it takes off like gas from a match.
Try it.
Step up.
Step out.
Bring it.

ugh.

So two brithday celebrations at my office in the same day. If I don't see a piece of pie or cake or cookies again in a MILLION years, it would be too soon.
But then again, there is always space for dessert.
"Hey someone pass the ice cream please."
ugh. Too full.

HAHA

Don't you love how sometimes, when you think that your life can't get ANY busier, it does? LOVE IT. Tis life, I know. Jesus will see me through any trial.
I just find it mildly ironic that when things are crazy busy...more things that you were hoping would happen for months previously, happen. Bad timing? Nah. But I truly find it funny. I actually laughed out loud at work today when that thought hit me.
When it rains, it pours. All right. Bring it. I know that if I keep my faith in Jesus, keep doing the right things and pray, things will turn out how they should. Not according to me and how I want it to work, but I know that the big man upstairs has this all mapped out....this storm will pass.

Tired

Do you know that groggy feeling when you first wake up? Supposedly, it starts to fade after the first couple of minutes after you get outta bed. This morning it seems to be chasing me. I am on my 3rd cup of liquid wake (coffee btw) up and it is just hanging over me.
Maybe it is allergies? Or the deprivation of my internet last night...maybe it was the nail biter of a Cubs game (Yess! they won!) that I raced home to watch....and ended up listening to on the radio cause the cable was out. Did I mention that Comcast is a bane on society? No? Hmmm, well let me just tell you. J/K.
So the ONE good thing about listening to the Cubs on the radio is Pat and Ron.
The following is not meant to offend anyone, I just found it funny that Ron had the bravado(not sure if it is that or he just wasn't thinking) to put this on the air:
Pirates pitcher Meek goes to the mound in the top of the 12th inning.
Ron Santo: He's a little heavy. (Talking about Meeks)
Ron Santo: Yep, he has a belly.
Pat Hughes: Yes Ron.
Pat Hughes: In the stat book it...it really doesn't list a weight for him.
Pat Hughes: It just lists that he has a belly.

Ya gotta love those two.

NCAA Championship

Yah....I don't watch it. But I couldn't have if I wanted to tonight. I am quite fed up with Comcast cable. I just got signal back on and I still have a ton of stuff to do. One of the downsides to online schooling I guess.
I mean, these things happen...
Funny how rejected and out of sorts we feel when something that we have come to depend on doesn't work, huh. Happens with people too.
One of my biggest fears is letting people down. I hate that feeling I get when I let someone down. Self imposed guilt maybe?
Anyways...short post tonight, I have way too much to do.
What makes your stomach turn inside out?
bleh. I soooo don't like that feeling. Kinda like when you show up for school on test day...and not just "not studied" but completely blanked on the fact that you had a test.
uh.

Pay to Play

I saw this pic on Digg. It made me think a bit. There are soo many people in the world (including me) that are always willing to let someone else take the blame. Oh man...it's the parent's fault...or my teacher is way too tough for me. How about, those people will just never understand me. I remember a game when I was growing up called "Not it!". Anybody ever play?
1....2....3.......NOT IT! Yah. Now you remember.
Ever seen the 3 Stooges do their pointing act? Moe points at Larry points at Curly points at Shemp (for those that remember) points at Moe.
In today's society, people are willing to play, or act and never acknowledge a responsibility for it.
Fess up, own up...whatever you want to call it. Pull a Nike. Just do it. You will feel better and the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Not only are we responsible for ourselves...but as Christians, do we not have a responsibility to others as well?
A lot of times, I feel that turning a blind eye to something is just as bad as commiting the act itself.
What do you think?
I apologize for the rant, but this popped into my head on a bike ride today...and it wouldn't come out.

God's Grip

This morning during service, Pastor Flattery talked (among other things) about trust in God. God's Grip Don't Slip. Bad grammer, but very poignant. How many times during our lives do we feel desolate and alone? How many times have we felt like no one cares about what we are going through? Truth is, God does care. Always has, always will. The only thing that He asks, is to have faith and believe. We, as Christians need to have faith and believe that He knows what He is doing. So many times we try to wrestle with giants that are way too big to handle. (I used to do this all the time, still do occasionally) God has always said "Give this to Me!" but a lot of times, I say "No, I got it. I can do this." Fact of the matter is: I can't. You can't. But if we let go and let God? You betcha...He can, and will. We as humans are taught from a young age that the world gives nothing to you and if you want something, you must work for it and take it. While I think this is true to some degree, there are things that we will need help with along the way...someone to cheer us on and give us a helping hand, even though we refuse to see that we need one. Remind you of anyone you know?
Yah. Me too.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Yah...Ok. So the last post was a hoax. BUT I do hope and pray for my Cubbies to have a stellar season. It has been 100 years since the Cubs brought it home.
Go Cubs!