Keeping the BP Disaster in Perspective

I was watching the news recently, listening to several stations continue to report on the BP oil-spill-disaster, showing countless pictures of oil covered critters, and diagrams with plums of oil filling up most of the gulf. Reporters over and over indicated that this event was the worst industrial disaster the world had ever seen. Reactions from many have been to consider boycotting BP filling stations, and donating money/time to the efforts to cleanup the animals, and the coast affected by the tragedy. Enraged by the greed of BP Execs and many engineers who “overlooked” certain warning signs focusing on a bottom line profit, many are calling for the BP execs to be tried in court, and held responsible for their actions. But is this really the worst case of greed and negligence the world has ever seen? Are these BP teams who are seeking profit really guilty of the worst case of disaster capitalism the world has seen?

In December of 1984 a Union Carbide (now owned by Dow Chemical) pesticide plant exploded in Bhopal killing over 5,000 people, and leaving over 120,000 others with a need for lifelong care. After the disaster, Union Carbide settled with the Indian government for $470 million….$350 million of which was the insurance sum…meaning that most of the victims got less than $1000 dollars each. When Dow purchased Union Carbide in 2001, there was finally hope that victims from the Bhopal incident when Dow announced that it would promptly “compensate victims of Union Carbide’s past negligence”. Dow promptly paid over $2 billion to… 14 asbestos plaintiffs in Texas, doing nothing for the victims who were continuing to suffer in Bhopal. Worse still, some 25 years AFTER the incident, some 390 tons of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UC plant CONTINUE to leak into the groundwater of the region affecting thousands of residents that depend on it. Not only was the area not cleaned up, and not only were the victims not taken care of, but the incident has continued to affect generations beyond the explosion due to the lack of concern for taking care of the area.

The BP incident in the gulf is terrible. The beauty and wildlife of that region have been destroyed, and may likely be affected for several generations to come…but looking at the numbers from the explosion itself, of the 126 oil workers who were on board the BP oil rig… 11 people went missing, and an additional 8 were critically injured. So well say that 19 people were DIRECTLY affected from the explosion of the rig… that is .000152% of the number of people who were affected by what happened in Bhopal.

A valid argument would say that as of now, we cant tell definitely how many people may be impacted by eating fish from the contaminated area, or drinking water from that area in the gulf. Very true. It’s also very difficult to compare the disasters based on the value of human life alone, when so many animals, and so much of the ocean has been destroyed by this disaster. But this is also not the first time we have seen greed take precedence over the value of the environment, and especially over the value of human lives. I don’t write all of this to say, “Get over the BP thing” or to try to say it isn’t that bad. I hate that animals are getting sick, I hate that the once beautiful coastline is being destroyed, and I hate that oil continues to leak into the ocean. I am saying that I believe we need some perspective on what is going on here, and we need to recognize that we have the opportunity to do something about it. Daily we have the opportunity to cast our vote for corporate accountability, greed, and/or negligence. With every dollar you spend, you are casting your vote…buying from a company that has ethical standards, and supporting what they do. BP is obviously not the first company to ever cut corners to lower costs and increase profits at the cost of the environment and human lives. Many of the products we purchase every day are made in less than savory environments for people working for well under what we would consider a fair days wage.

Should BP be held accountable for what went on? Definitely, but hopefully this will also serve as a wakeup call that above huge profits, the preservation of human lives, and the care for the environment deserve a value on a company’s spreadsheet. So vote. Do your homework; try buying a product that might be slightly more expensive if you recognize that the company’s values are in line with your own. Don’t let BP off the hook, we can’t let this be another Bhopal…Encourage social and environmental responsibility with the way you spend your $$.

Why you SHOULDN’T get an iPhone 4

Apple released today their newest update to the iPhone line, the iPhone 4. With the iPhone 4G come exciting new features such as a front facing camera, the ability to record high definition video, and the ability to take 5MP pictures. The phone’s new iPhone 4OS also supports the ability to do video chatting from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4, as well as multi-tasking capabilities. The phone also features a trendy new design that seems to be similar to that of the current MacBook Pro offerings.

So, why not get it? The only features that REALLY stand out as being major changes from previous versions include the updated Camera, the front facing camera, and of course the new Apple A4 processor. The screen resolution is also said to have a great improvement. Cool right? but that also means having to sign away your soul to AT&T who is at best a poor cell phone service provider. While they claim coverage all over the nation, AT&T 3G coverage is only in MAJOR markets, and includes less than 30% of the US. In addition, AT&T has recently changed their data plan offerings to have a $15/200MB per month version, and a $25/2GB version….completely eliminating their unlimited data offering. While these price points may SAVE some iPhone users money, they also come with the risk of potentially going overboard, and being hit with data-plan overages…especially for those users who dont use Wi-Fi or aren’t “tech-savy” enough to really control how/when their phone is checking for new email in the backgroud.

My proposal is this…in the beginning of September for the last 3 years (September 5, 2007, September 9, 2008, and September 9, 2009) Apple has introduced a new version of the iPod touch (Currently on the 3rd generation). Here is how Apple’s product offerings work: Each summer, they have a promotion that offers a free iPod touch with the purchase of any new Apple laptop. This allows them to clear out inventory, so they can release a NEW iPod touch once the promotion has ended. While the current iPod touch doesn’t have a camera, I would be willing to bet that the newest version of the iPod touch will include not only a back, but also a front facing camera allowing it to have “Face Time” video chatting capabilities with other iPod touches, as well as other iPhone 4 devices. The iPod touch does not require being tied down with the lackluster service of AT&T, and still allows users to use most all of the apps hosted in the Apple app store. I would suspect that the newest iPod touches would also carry the same design, as well as new and improved screen offered by the new iPhone 4. Bottom line, if my contract were up with my current carrier…I would wait until late September to see what Apple will roll out in their iPod line before jumping on the iPhone 4 and having to sign another 2-year contract with AT&T.

A better alternative: Wait for the iPod touch, and look at an Android phone on either Verizon or T-Mobile…that way you will get the best of both worlds.

When Reason Runs Out

I have a particular pattern of reason that I apply to almost any decision or stressful situation. I’ve spent time analyzing that pattern, and seeing why it has often left me with the same result, even though I sometimes feel like it isn’t work. For example, not too long ago I bought a car. Anytime I intend to make a major purchase like this, I thoroughly evaluate all potential sides of the decision. Is this something I need? Will this be something that will last long? Is this the best price? What are my alternatives to spending this amount of money on this particular item? The list goes on.
After taking some time to ask those seemingly tedious questions, I start to seek the council of another. This sometimes comes in the form of a friend or family member, but can also be done researching online. What do people think about this product? What are the positives and negatives to ownership? What do those close to me think about my reasoning for buying this? Do they agree with me that this is a sound decision? And then more research.

When I feel like I have narrowed down my options, done my homework, and talked to people around me, that’s when I feel like I’m ready to kick the proverbial tires. In the example of a car, go take a look at it, maybe take it for a drive, even have a mechanic take a look at the vehicle for a more professional opinion. Once everything comes up ok, I make my decision and pray I did the right thing.

By most accounts, my reason and logic for making a decision seems well thought out. My steps seem clearly planned, there is plenty of room for those “red flags” both during research, and through the council of others that can always say “this is not a good idea”. What happens, however, when we take this approach in other areas of our life…like when things don’t exactly go our way?

Turns out I’m not the only one who hasn’t exactly gotten his way. The book for Job recants the story of a man name Job as his life is literally flipped upside down. The main reason the book is of interest though, is because of the dialogue between Job, his friends, and God. Backing up, in the beginning of Job, Job loses his servants, his land, his livestock, his camels, and all of his kids.  Job then is afflicted with painful sores covering his body. Towards the beginning of the story, Job sticks up for God, saying, “If we can accept the good from God, we have to be able to accept the bad”. As time passes, the book covers conversations had between Job and his three friends. In Job 10, Job begins to question God. “I will say to God: Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me.  Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?”

I can’t help but read that, and feel like I have been there. I haven’t lost everything I own, or had my entire family die, but we have all had those situations where we have to ask God why haven’t we? “God, why? Why did he/she die? Why this burden? Why this pain? Why don’t I feel like I am going to get through this? God I’m not sure I can make it.”

We come to that point of desperation, where we feel like things can’t possibly work out; we find ourselves at the end of ourselves. See, I DO apply the same methodology to my problems that I apply to my purchases.  I start off with those haunting questions that now turn inward, asking, “What’s this going to cost your life? How does this event impact YOUR plans? How could I have been prepared for this?” And just like with my purchase, I move straight into talking to people. “What’s your advice? Has this happened to you? Do you have any experience here? Any console for my situation?” We quickly find ourselves burdened by these seemingly overwhelming circumstances. Unable to make sense of it all; unable to answer the “why?” at the end of all reasoning.

In my pattern of decision making, notice I mentioned that I make the purchase, and “pray I did the right thing”. Seems to be how we approach problems too huh? When we can’t reason, when someone doesn’t have the quick answer, when the cancer has spread, when the child passes away, when the spouse is gone, we turn and ask “Why God?”

We don’t hear from God for a majority of the story in Job. In the beginning we hear about his dialogue with Satan, but after that God remains out of the picture until Chapter 38! When God answers, it’s interesting that He doesn’t directly reference Jobs troubles, or even the reason Job was suffering. Instead, he questions Job! Job 38:3 “Brace yourself like a man; I will questions you, and you shall answer me”. God proceed to pummel Job with questions that Job obviously has no answer for. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?”, “Do you give the horse its strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?”, “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?”. But what was God getting at?

Though he didn’t answer to Job’s pains directly, I think his message to Job was clear. This isn’t about YOU. This is MY story and you are playing a part in it. I am in control. To quote Donald Miller, from his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, “[God speaks] as though to say, Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means YOU matter, and you can create within it, as I have created you.” The story of God’s redemption, and of his love, means that as his followers, we have the honor to play a roll in that story. Will there be plot twists, and things we don’t see coming? Without a doubt, but God reminds us in Hebrews 13:5-6 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”” God never promised us an untroubled life, but what he does give us is hope, and hope will not disappoint. Romans 5:3-5 “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

I don’t know where this hits you today, for me, it reminds me that my decision-making process needs some fine tuning. My reliance on God can’t just be an afterthought once my decision has been made or a last ditch effort when problems arise. May I seek first the Kingdom of God for wisdom and discernment in any situation, and may the results of my problems and decisions be reflectant of God in my life. May God give you comfort where you are, and may you seek him in your time of need.

Never Ending Pong

As anyone who has read more than one of my blog entries may realize, I don’t exactly paint the most attractive picture of myself on here. I mention how I can be materialistic, I that I ‘might’ have a slight problem always buying, wearing, coordinating lots of different shoes and watches, and I mentioned that as a young white male, I listen to quite a bit of hip-hop music even though I’m a Christian and work in IT. I make myself sound like a real catch and this entry is no exception… To add to my list of extremely desirable qualities, I admit that I play(ed) a lot of video games growing up. While I did surprisingly well in High School and College, I easily admit that I spent more time playing Halo than I did studying on any given year…especially my Junior and Senior years of college. Something about belittling a 12 year old boy after beating him in a taxing round of Halo- slayer via my Xbox live headset never seems to quite get old; an exigent task, but someone has to build up and break down the leaders of tomorrow. As a videogame connoisseur, I have played from the newest systems and games, all the way back to the originals on Atari like the fine game of pong. So somewhere between getting my first Nintendo before I attended first grade, and mastering online multiplayer games like Halo through college, I became quite practiced at beating people at video games, and then ruthlessly rubbing their faces in it afterward…And at the same time when/if I lost, I would be the first person to throw my controller and leave the room/be mad at the person who rubbed it in my face the exact same way. Exactly what the call of Christ is for men right? No?

At first glance, the call of a Christian seems pretty simple and straight forward; yet when digging a little deeper, unfortunately things don’t pan out as simple as they seem. When asked by the Pharisees for the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:36, Jesus replied “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ‘This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself”. So, loving God…doesn’t seem so difficult right? He made me, He gave me everything I have, He sent His Son to die for me…He seems like a pretty logical guy to love. Loving other people? That’s not so bad either right? I love my family, I love my friends, I love the people I work with, so that’s not that bad either right? And sure, I occasionally love people who are having a hard time, and I love orphans because they don’t have anything, and I love poor people from other countries, and that seems all fine as well because I have very little contact with those type of people, so it’s easy for me to say that I love them. What about the person that has hurt me though? What about the person whom I trusted with my heart and they let me down? What about that guy/girl that I let into my life who left me? What about the person who sits across from me at work who was talking about me? Where does Jesus mention the clause that I don’t have to love them in the Bible? He does doesn’t he? No? So by ‘neighbor’ he really meant EVERYONE?

Something that God has really put on my heart recently is the idea of forgiveness. I am the first person who is willing to accept forgiveness, either from God, or from other people when I have done something wrong, yet I am also the first person to hold on to a grudge and not let someone go when they have done something to wrong me. I don’t think I am the only one who is like that. We like that feeling right? Letting someone else feel how we’ve felt after doing something dumb. Letting them suffer a little bit like we suffered, while hanging on to that “you owe me” feeling. Colossians 3:13 says “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” So I feel like I am at a place where God is showing me that in continuing to grow in His image, I need to learn how to forgive others, the way that He has forgiven me.

In thinking about my reactions to being hurt, and how others have treated me when I have hurt them, I believe we generally respond to hurt in one of 4 ways. 1) We give it back – this is the easiest and most common way for us to deal with our pain. This is revenge. This is where we say, with regards to our hurt and pain, “I don’t want to live this, so I will do ________ to give it back to them”. We pass it back; you hurt me, so I will hurt you back, probably a little worse than you hurt me just to make sure you feel it. Ever play the game of pong growing up? The white bar hits the little white ball over to the other white bar, and the ball keeps bouncing back and forth. Revenge is relational pong. Revenge is hitting the ball back, but banking it against the wall to put a little English on it just to make sure it sneaks bye their white bar. Revenge is saying “God, I don’t fully trust you to deal with this, so I’m going to do this my way, and I’m going to make sure it makes up for what they did to me.” 2) We pass it around – The second way we can choose to deal with our hurt and our pain is to pass it around to those who live among us. This includes other friends, family members, children, employees, roommates, etc. Someone hurt us, and maybe because of our position (employee to boss or member to organization) or our situation, rather than throwing our hurt back at the person who caused the pain, we choose to spread that pain around to those who come in contact with us. This reaction to hurt is normally inadvertent. We don’t normally choose to take our frustrations and our hurt out on our families and friends, but sometimes we find that in those situations where we don’t/can’t strike back, we spread the pain out on those who are close to us. 3) We carry it – I think our third option for dealing with hurt and pain is to carry it. Load it up, and add to the emotional baggage that we may already be dealing with. “I don’t choose to strike back or I may not feel like I am in a position to hurt that person back, so instead I will just carry the pain”. We bottle it up, we don’t let it show, and we keep on going. This on the outside may seem like a somewhat healthy reaction to the hurt or the pain, but on the inside, it is tearing us apart. We dwell on it; we continue to think about what was done to us, and in some situations, that pain and that hurt can consume us. 4) We forgive – The final response to hurt dished out by someone else is for us to forgive the person that has wronged us.  Forgiveness means refusing to make them pay for what they did; refusing to take control of making things “even”, and turning that hurt, and that pain over to God. With forgiveness, you are absorbing the debt. You own it….and it hurts. It can hurt terribly. Taking the cost of that pain, the price of that hurt on to you instead of taking it out on the other person. Surrendering our right to get even, and taking a step of faith that through that pain, and through that hurt, that God will come through. Do I trust God enough to handle this, rather than me making things even in my sight? Forgiveness is the opposite of relational pong. Forgiveness is taking your hand off the joystick and saying “I’m not going to get caught up in this; I’m not going to be a part of this cycle anymore”

Through forgiveness I believe that we are experiencing in full what God has for us. When we forgive, we turn things over to God’s hands, and we let him be in control. We acknowledge that “getting them back”, is not love, and not how we experience Christ in our lives. Forgiveness also allows us to grow. The full redeeming love of God allows us to see those we have forgiven as well as ourselves in a different way. That hurt, and that heartache can either destroy us, or transform us…but it will never leave us the same. I believe that as we begin to allow God to intervene in our pain, and as we begin to forgive others, he begins to change our hearts. In that process of forgiveness, we are transformed. Where we used to see ourselves as victims, we start to see ourselves through the eyes of Christ. Our hearts are changed, our views are change, and we don’t have to live like victims anymore. Where we used to see those who hurt us as evil, we see them as broken people, living in a broken world just like us. Romans 12:2 asks us to be living sacrifices to the Lord and speaks to this point; “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Rather than passing it on, or spreading it out (the ways of the world – passing it back/on just like everyone else), by forgiving others we are transformed by the renewing love of our Savior who wants the best for us. May we not miss out on the fullness of life that God has for us by getting involved in the never ending battles of relational pong. May we be constantly renewed and built up in our pursuit of our Savior as we seek to live and love like Him in our relationships. May we be transformed and take the path that says “I can’t fix it, I cant make it better, so I give it to You Lord and asking for your healing”…and may we not yell profanities at 12 year old boys who are better than us in video games, because who knows? They may choose to pass it along and yell at my kids one day.

Urgent Care

What a great place to spend an afternoon; an overcrowded room full of miserably sick people. The pale green and light pink chairs set the mood for a wonderful time. Picking a seat may be the toughest part of the day. After a quick inventory of the room, try to find a seat not near any of the sickest looking people there. You always want to have at least a 2 seat buffer between you and anyone else there. If someone breaks that barrier, don’t be afraid to move. You never know what incurable air born pathogen Mr. jeans and tucked in tee may be carrying. Opening your eyes? Forget it. Do your best to squint, and take extra long blinks to make sure nothing too crazy blows its way into your eyes. The urgent care waiting room is a sensory experience; if you want to make it out alive, you have to make use of all of them. Be on guard at all times, leaning if you have to, to eaves drop on EVERYONE there. If something sounds terminal, pick a different seat. If someone is moaning or making sounds of unutterable pain, check for blood near your chair, you never know what vessel may have burst when you took your last long blink. If you smell anything that isn’t the smell of sterile gloves or antibacterial hand cream, get up immediately and point out the culprit so other would be survivors may be in attention of the crowded disservice. Most importantly though, DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING. If that means slinking through closing door rather than pushing it open for those behind you, then do it. It may come in the form of pretending you are deaf to avoid a handshake introduction in the lobby and if it does, feel no shame, its ok. The urgent care is a place where you must look out for numero uno. Socializing will only leave you in a worse position than you were before. Besides, who needs sick friends anyway? Now, if you live in San Diego, like myself, an extra challenge is also presented…try to sit in an area where people are actually speaking English. The unknown dangers of other urgent care patients is enough, don’t up the ante by putting yourself in a situation where you can’t eaves drop on someone else’s problems. Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Spanish seem to be the spoken language of choice at the Mira Mesa urgent care, and the translator app on my iPhone can only pick up so much of a mysterious conversation. All I can hear is urgent care threat level red.

Have heart. Navigating through the Urgent Care is possible, but is not an easy task. Plus, there is always that possibility that you will leave in worse shape than you came.

Opening my eyes this wide for a picture, invited more viruses to enter my body than I may ever know. Guess ill be back in a week to take care of whatever I caught during this shot!

What You Think You Need

After working out the other day, I walked down to the beach to watch the water and do some prime time people watching. This isn’t that uncommon for me. After a good workout, it’s relaxing to come down and see the water and feel the breeze. Anyway, a block from the gym is this small grassy area that I go out to because it sits high up above the beach, and there are some pretty good views of the way down the beach. As I was sitting there, I noticed this guy with his dog on one of the grassy areas one level down from me that was right next to the edge of the cliff. The dog was on a relatively short, red leash, and was pretty much the only thing there that wasn’t watching the ocean and admiring the view. Nope, the dog was MUCH more concerned with all of the seagulls that were flying around behind him. The seagulls were almost taunting him, flying really close, and then shooting away. Every time the seagulls would fly close, the dog would make a leap in their direction, not really paying attention to which direction he was leaping, and every time, the owner would firmly hang on to the red leash to stop the dog from getting too far away. As I watched this for a good 5 minutes, (yea I don’t know why it was that long, I guess not having a dog anymore makes me feel like I have to watch them in public more?) I thought about what would have happened if the owner wasn’t there with the leash. The dog wasn’t really looking at anything BUT the target, which for him was the seagulls, so he would have easily jumped off the edge, if it meant he might catch one. To the dog, the owner seemed like a buzz kill right? Keeping the dog from getting what he wanted.

I think a lot of times, the same thing happens when I approach my relationship to God. I go for all these things that to me may seem like perfect targets; getting that car, buying a really nice house, getting that nice watch, that perfect relationship… whatever it may be. In my head, I’m thinking “If I just had this, then finally, I would be complete. THEN I could be happy”. I might say to God things like “I need this” and when I don’t get it, I might cry out, “But I thought you loved me”. The goal of my relationship though isn’t more things, or better things, the point is the relationship itself. We often have our own ideas about what would be best for our lives, and we expect God to agree with what we think would be best, but is it possible that God’s idea of better is actually better? God loves to give us what we want, but he doesn’t always, sometimes he says no. Just like the dog, I believe that our perspective is limited, and just like the cliff at the park, there is stuff we are unaware of. Some stuff we want may make us miserable down the road, and other things may be great for us some day, but not yet, or not right now. The thing is, sometimes when we ask God for things, and God doesn’t deliver, we think there must be something wrong with God. We think “How long do I have to wait”, “When is God going to deliver”. To us, I believe God is saying “How long will it take for you to see there is a bigger perspective here, you are a part of my plan”.

Matthew 7:9-11 says “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.” Its saying, look, you know how to give good gifts, and you are human. Your messed up, damaged, and have a limited scope on things, how much more does God know, and have the ability to provide for us.

I think the question we have to ask here, is “Do I deeply believe that God is good?”. I don’t know why there is so much pain in the world, but I do deeply believe that God is good. Until we deal with that question, I believe that none of our questions or God’s answers will make any sense. See the thing is, across the street from the beach is this huge, fenced park where dogs can run around and chase (and actually catch) balls and other toys. As easy as it would have been for the dog to get really down about his owner not letting him run and chase birds, the owner had much better things in store for him when they walked across the street after going to the beach.

Where Im At

To be completely honest, I have had a crippling couple weeks. Things have just not gone my way recently. By reading my most recent entries, its clear that things have gone in a direction I wouldn’t have really guessed. Its weird too, because normally things are kind of mellow for me, and I lead a pretty laid back life. And even though I have been pretty bummed about a lot of what’s going on, I’m not mad about it. It happened for a reason, that reason, im still trying to figure out. I honestly believe that a lot of times God will use situations in our lives, as well as circumstances to bring us closer to him. To strip us down, and make us rely on him alone. He’s a jealous God, he doesn’t do well when we start to worship other things. Fortunately hes also loving, and rather than just ditching us for ditching him, he still chases after us, and he is still there for us when we screw things up and have to come back with our head down. I don’t have clarity on all of it yet. Ill be honest. I’m not sure where all of this is going, but I really felt like I needed to take the time, and do some reading and writing tonight to get some things off my chest. I normally have an idea behind where I am going to take each post that I write, and tonight when I started to do that it just didn’t feel right, it felt forced. So I decided I would just start writing and see where things took me. I pray that in this time in my life, where I find myself at the end of my own means, that God would take control, and lead and direct my paths. Revealing to me His desires for my life, and displaying His glorious excellencies through me.

 

I end with a piece of Gold; a few lines from the song “Split-Screen Sadness” by John Mayer. It seems to amazingly capture my mood recently.

 

“Cause I can’t wait to figure out what’s wrong with me

So I can say this is the way that I used to be

There’s no substitute for time”

Leading the Blind

I recently took a flight from Nashville, TN to Charlotte, NC. I was pretty excited since for the first time in a long time I had actually got a good seat…the very first row, with a window so I could sleep. As it got closer to flight time however, I heard my name being called over the loudspeaker. Upon making my way to the gate desk, the airline attendent asked if I would mind switching seats with a blind man in row 3 to make room for his seeing eye dog to sit with him. I didn’t mind, since he had a good looking dog, so I made the switch. Seeing him get on the plane, and take the trip however made me think a lot.

He had absolutely no idea about anything around him. Sure he knew he was sitting down, and things sounded like a plane, but he didn’t know if the aircraft was small, empty, old, or new. He knew that he had to rely on his seeing eye dog, “chief”, and trust that everything else would be ok. Imagine that kind of life…on the same plane I’m checking my bag to make sure I didn’t forget anything, eyeing over other passengers to see if the Micah-Smith-40,000 ft-anti-terror operation needs to go on, all while trying to take a quick nap.

I think this concept related closely to our spiritual lives. Like the blind man, we have to allow ourselves to be led. Imagine if the blind man let go of the dog’s leash and started running away for 20 minutes, would it be fair of him to get mad at the dog for letting him do it?Aren’t we the same way sometimes? We run away from God and his guidance and we get mad at God because he let us do what we wanted. It makes sense that the man folow the dog’s lead as the dog knows how to navigate the man off the plane and to wherever he needs to go safely. How much more does our heavenly father desire to lead us, and know what is harmful and what is pure in our pathways of life. I pray that I would submit to God, and let him lead, rather than sometimes wrestling for control and being upset with the outcome. James 4:8-10 says “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up”

See the great thing about being under Gods leadership, is that even though we may not always get it right, or we may not always be good at submitting to his will, he is always a prayer away. Draw near to him and he will draw near to you. Admit your mistakes, confess when you have missed the mark. Humbling ourselves before the Lord says “Not my will, but yours oh God”. Be wants us to want him, he wants to lead you, you just have to let him. This all sounds great, but how can I practically be lead by the Lord? Try starting by using a technique called “spiritual breathing”.

1. You “exhale” by confessing your sins immediately to God and asking for his forgiveness.

2. You “inhale” by asking the Holy Spirit to control and empower you, keeping you from returning to sin.

Allow Christ to be your leader. I’ve never hear anyone who has said “I wish I wouldn’t have trusting God on that one”. Let him lead your life, he won’t let you down

Just My Luck

I have had that kind of week…and it’s only Tuesday. You know that week where pretty much anything that could go wrong actually does. Then even the stuff you didn’t think could to wrong does as well. After getting in an accident on my motorcycle last week, I figured there was no where to go but up…how wrong I was. Not only was my laptop stolen only days later from an airport security blunder of the TSA (see previous and continued blog entries) but my rental car reservation ended up only being for one day, rather than 5 like I had intended. Ohhh San Jose, you tricky mistress. Last night I hit rock bottom (or so I hope). I had a long day of training in Santa Clara, and the only thing I was looking forward to was climbing into the hotel hot tub for a little r&r.
The mood was set, the air was cool, the sky was clear; a perfect night for a nice trip to the hot tub. As I kick of my sandals and take off my shirt, I walk over to press the button to start the jets and let the fun begin…then I press the button again, then a little harder, then a little longer. No jets. It’s ok though, I won’t let that ruin my night, I’ll just enjoy the semi warm water and try to think of bubbles or get a straw to blow some or something. I get in, only to get out 5 min later to try the button again, no luck, so I get back in for a final 5 minutes of bath like water. As soon as I climb out of the hot tub, I begin to dry off my legs and of course, the jets start on their own, randomly. It couldnt have happened any worse for me, but i press on. Just when it seems like life couldn’t get much worse, tonight I sit and eat gellato across the street and it seems life has once again shined it’s light on me…maybe all is not lost….they have apple pie flavor. (bottom right in the photo)

Airport Security pt 1

Thank you to the guy in the red shirt, white winter hat, and black basketball shorts for stealing my laptop from the airport security checkpoint in the San Diego airport. You came through security with no laptop, yet you left with mine. I’m at a loss for words. What should be a very secure place has been taken advantage of by the scum of the earth. After cutting everyone in line, you just HAD to steal my laptop. Nice one two punch. Thanks for that. Now I write from my phone (which luckily you forgot to steal) as I sit in a business meeting with a loaner. This is my great luck.