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 $$.

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.

New New Years Resolutions Pt 1

Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals…while at the end of the year only 12% had actually achieved their goals. That being said, most likely, you or someone close to you has already ditched their New Years resolution. Thus, I propose to not make resolutions until the middle-to-end of January. It gives me a good amount of time to feel things out, see where I want to take things this year, and see what other people have started failing miserably at.  This technique also allows me to dismiss myself from conversations dealing with topics like “What’s your resolution this year?” and “You know what you should try and do next year?” With this release from such conversations, I never end up looking like a failure statistic, and I never have to worry about anyone holding me accountable to my goals.  In addition, anything big I DO accomplish during the year sounds even better because it was IN ADDITION to normal yearly goals. I’m all about capitalizing on maximum success.  Keeping my goals a secret keeps things exciting for those around me, and never lets failures in my life receive much attention. Haha. That being said, I would like to share some very realistic, and very practical goals for the New Year.  The kind of stuff that is good to take a look at with fresh eyes in the beginning of any new year, and can serve as a great motivator for actually creating and knocking a few things off the ol’ list. Some of this stuff is coming from my list of “I’ll get to it eventually” some of it is coming from the Micah Smith-investments-in-future-success-list.

Backup/Cleanup Your Computer

I work in IT for a living, and many people ask why I don’t share more “tips & tricks” related to information technology on my blog…well to be honest, I do it all day, so writing about it afterwards has never been all that appealing. That said, I think that a clean computer is a happy computer. Many spyware/virus related issues can be quickly and easily solved with the use of virus protection. For that, I suggest AVG Free (http://www.avg.com/us-en/download) The AVG Free edition provides what I would consider above average virus protection, as well as a link scanner that will display in web search results indicating pages that may or may not be safe; Very helpful in keeping your computer clean. Unless you are downloading copious amounts of illegal materials, I would suggest that AVG is all the protection one would need. I recommend setting AVG to run once or twice per week at a set schedule so you know your computer is always protected. It will also automatically update itself with new virus definitions so you never have to worry about your protection being out of date.

In addition to clearing out viruses, I recommend weekly backups of your irreplaceable documents to an external hard drive. This external drive would be best of being stored in a fireproof box, that is then wrapped in Atom Bomb grade steel and then weekly duplicated to an offsite location just in case your home becomes the target of a mis-guided missile.  Joking aside, I do recommend backing things up to an external usb hard drive at a weekly basis. This way even if your computer takes a dump on you, the stuff that you REALLY need, will still be backed up someplace else.  Programs for the most part can always be re-installed, but self created resumes, pictures, and other personal files may not always be as easy to replace if not backed up. Because I am lazy, I don’t want to handle the backups myself, so I suggest letting that process be automated as well by using a free tool called SyncBack for Windows (http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/) You can set it up to run at specific intervals (again, the 1 to 2 times a week rule works well) and you choose exactly what folders to back up and where to throw them. Investing in a 500GB external drive is great for normal PC users because it has plenty of space to back EVERYTHING up. Set it to copy your entire “My Documents” directory and let it go. The first time it runs through, it will most likely take awhile copying all the files. I would just start it before bed, and let it go overnight. After the initial data transfer, all subsequent transfers should be pretty quick only copying over those newly created or newly updated files. On the OSX side of things, I would suggest buying an Iomega external drive as they come with EMC’s Retrospect software (which is great for backing things up), or possibly looking at purchasing the Super Flexible File Synchronizer (http://www.superflexible.com/mac.htm). It offers similar functionality to that of Syncback, but however does carry a cost for the software. Optionally if you are on a newer flavor of OSX, you could try using Time Machine to back up your entire system, however I have for the most part found this to be slight overkill for me.

I don’t like to be overwhelmed with tasks, and neither does anyone else. I will be adding to my list of “New New Resolutions” in the next coming weeks leading up to the end of February where it just becomes too late to create new resolutions. Start the New Year off right by making sure to clean up/back up your computer, because remember: A clean computer is a happy computer.

Lust: More Than Meets the Eye

I have a confession. Haha Scary to have a blog entry about Lust and then start out with a confession huh? No, my confession isn’t in the realm of odd sexual fetishes, it’s bigger than that. Many of my friends and family already know this, but here goes: I am a closet hip-hop fiend. That’s right, the nerdy white guy who writes these posts, works in IT, and teaches IT professionals on a weekly basis, is as raw as the streets. No, I don’t drink Colt 45, own a weapon, or even smoke weed, but I do like hip-hop music. I listen to a lot of Jay-Z in fact. I would say that he is one of the most influential artists in the hip-hop culture, and someone that many artists measure themselves up to. That being said, I was recently listening to a Jay-Z mixtape that featured a song called “History” which I said to be on his yet-to-be-released Blueprint 3 album. (yes, I’m soo hood i’m normally listening to stuff months before it hits any radio station) EDIT: Turns out History never made it to BP3…a good track none the less. Anyway, the song is produced by Kanye West, and is said to be written in response/support of Barack Obama’s run for presidency. One verse in the song really stuck with me; “I just threw on my hoodie and headed to the street, That’s where I met success, we’d live together shortly, Now success is like lust, she’s good to the touch, She’s good for the moment but she’s never enough.” Wow. Rarely do you see verses this deep in any kind of music; let alone a genre that typically promotes violence, drugs, and promiscuity.

When lust is mentioned with regards to the bible, most people immediately think of the story in the Old Testament where David is watching Bathsheba take a bath on the roof, and then eventually “lays with her” (haha I don’t know why I think that phrasing is so funny). The book of second Samuel talks about another lust that is even more interesting though; Amnon’s lust for Tamar. In chapter 13, it says that Amnon, son of David, became “so obsessed to the point of illness on account of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.” Amnon’s friends/advisors start noticing his declining mood, ask him what’s going on, and he tells them of his obsession for this sister Tamar. After talking with them, they come up with a plan for Amnon to pretend to be ill, and request to David that Tamar come and tend to him while he is sick. Once Tamar comes to visit Amnon, he sends his servent’s out of the room, and he rapes here (2 Samuel 13:9-14). Now, yes, I agree this is disgusting that a woman gets raped, and even worse that it is his sister. What they didn’t cover this story in Sunday School? Anyway, what’s really odd about this story is the information the author offers next. 2 Samuel 13:15 “Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, ‘Get up and get out!’” How Amnon feels after doing that seems like the last thing we would hear about. We could understand her repulsion, but his? “He hated her more than he had loved her”? What makes Amnon go from this intense obsession for his sister, to hatred; from one extreme to another? Lust.

The word for lust in the Greek language is the word epithumia. It’s actually made up of two Greek words: epi for “in”, and thumos which refers to “the mind”. Lust = “In the mind”. This is important as we begin to define lust. Lust begins with that “if I just….” question in our minds, and lust always promises what it can’t deliver. The things that we lust after aren’t necessarily the issue; it’s the weight that we give them. “If I just lost x lbs”, “If I just had THAT shirt”, “If I just had THAT wife”, “If I were THAT popular”…The idea creeps into our head as if we are missing something, and we spend our time, energy, efforts to fill that hole, fix that gap, capture what is in our sights. On top of that, consider the head-space we give those things we lust over… thinking about them, planning, schema, trying to hope no one notices our missing part. Lust = “In the mind”. Here is where I think Jay-Z’s line is brilliant. “Now success is like lust, she’s good to the touch, She’s good for the moment but she’s never enough”. How true is that? Lust promises something it can’t deliver. Lust may leave us satisfied for the moment, but lust will always leave us craving more, always leave us with something else to chase. Success, fame, money, possessions, the lust never ends. Proof of this is everywhere. Every person who has bought that “fix it all gadget” only to realize shortly after that it didn’t exactly make everything better. We see examples of this in people’s lives. Hip Hop artist Kid CuDi recently announced his retirement after only one album. Why? Fame wasn’t what it promised. The hype of “making it” was bigger than “making it” turned out to be. Something was still missing.

We have so much to enjoy in life, yet spend our time fixated on what we think we are missing. This is why gratitude is so important to the life God has for us. Until we can center ourselves on what we do have, on what God has given us, on the life God has allowed us to live, we’ll constantly be looking for another life. That’s why we see the word remember come up so often in the Bible. God telling his people “remember who you are, what you have seen, what I have done for you”. If we stop remembering, we might forget, and that’s when the trouble comes in. So what if we stopped chasing, stopped comparing, and stopped looking for the quick fix? May you remember where God has taken you, what God has done for you, and be thankful for the life he has given you, not looking at others to compare, but looking to a Heavenly Father who can be the only one to truly satisfy you.

It’s not all bad

The economy sucks, the job market is terrible, and the outlook for the future at times seems bleak. At times like this, it seems like it would be easy to become selfish, and get down. It seems like everyday a new company is announcing layoffs, life kinda sucks at times. Even those who have not been laid off show up to work everyday worried their number is the next to be called. That being said, I recently took a business trip to Cleveland, OH. While on the way to Cleveland, I read an article about Lebron James in GQ magazine that talked about the local economy, and James’s impact on the city. Like many other cities, according to thr article, Cleveland has been the victim of a struggling economy. Either way, while there, I made time to go see a Cavs game. Maybe it’s the fact that I really like basketball, maybe it’s the fact that I like feeling really depressed comparing myself to someone my same age (Lebron) who has become imensly successive, or maybe it’s just because it was a snow storm and there was nothing else going on. Anyway, I scalped tickets and enjoyed the game, but left not really thinking about basketball or how much money Lebron just got for ~35 min of work. See right at the end of the game, they did this promo thing where they were shooting out/throwing mini basketballs. I’m sure they cost the organization all of $.10 a piece, but when you are a little kid, catching something like that is a big deal. When the guy started throwing the balls in my section, he would run back and forth, acting like he couldn’t hear who was cheering loudest, then toss a few balls. There were three little kids sitting in front of me with their parents, and all wearing different variations of a Cavs home/away/throwback Jersey. As I watched this guy running around tossing balls, I noticed that the two of the three kids in front of me caught balls and were really excited. The littlest one cheered even louder after he saw how happy his brothers were with their newly caught sovieniers. Pretty soon, the guy tossing out the balls threw the last one deep into the section behind us, and ran back into the tunnel. The little guy in front of me put is head down, and just stood there. Both of his parent put their arms around him consoling him after his relatively crushing dissapointment. As he started sitting down, still keeping his head down, I see this guy from 2 sections over running across the aisle towards the kid. Not a Cavs guy, but just another attendee of the game. He jumps over a few seats, hands the little kid his ball that he just caught, and ran back to his seat. I’ve never seen a little kid so excited to be like his brothers and so excited to get something so small. He started jumping up and down, waving his ball in the air like it was the best thing in the world. He obviosuly had his night made all because some random guy was looking for an opportunity to make someone elses evening better. He wasn’t looking for an applause, money from the kids dad, or even any recognition. He was just watching what was going on, and wanted to do something to make it better.

We don’t have to settle. Sure it’s easy to get down hearing about the greed of some and the layoffs of many, but we don’t have to let things like that control us. Be the change you wish to see in the world and you will see the world change.

The Search for Significance

Sometimes I have those days where I put in a long day at work, go to the gym by myself with my headphones on, and head home once it’s already dark. I have trouble finding significance in days like that. I get home, and wonder what I really did today that made this day worth it. It’s in these times that I sometimes find myself searching for my significance.

If you were to watch an E True Hollywood Story on Adam, I think it would be pretty disappointing at best. While most people on there have a pretty exciting party life or celebrity stretch, it only took Adam two chapters of the Bible to live the good life before he screwed things up. By chapter 3 of Genesis, he’s already on his downward spiral…. actually he wasn’t even created until day six, which is mostly toward the end of chapter one, so it really only took him a little over one chapter to mess things up. Regardless, looking at the time he WAS spending in the Garden of Eden, he got to do some amazing things. First off, he gets to take care of this crazy garden that God creates. Imagine the responsibility of taking care of the first garden, ever. On top of that, God brings all of the animals and birds to Adam and lets him come up with the names. I can’t even begin to imagine this type of responsibility. All these animals God had just created, and he lets this man that he created in his own image be the one to name them all. Can you imagine how that would go? Adam spends all day naming these crazy looking animals he has never seen before. God rolls out an animal and Adam spends all of 10 seconds looking it over and comes up with a name like “Kangaroo”. And animal after animal God just sighs and says, “Alright, fine, well call it what you want, but I really wish you knew the work that went into making that one”. I can just imagine towards the end of that day, Adam is real tired of coming up with new names, and God says “This is the last one I promise, just give me one more name” and he rolls out the last animal only to hear Adam think briefly say “I will call this one dog”. Adam sits there snickering to himself as God realizes it is his name backwards and regrets letting Adam do anything, ever. Hahah. Alright, so a lot of that about the naming was possibly just made up, but Adam really did get this huge responsibility of getting to name a large portion of what God had just created. Adam had a significant role in helping to manage and maintain what God had created in the 2nd chapter of Genesis. By chapter 3, Adam and Eve have made a pretty nice mess of things and God reprimands them both by taking away something deep within them. To Eve, he gives her the desire for her husband, yet says that he will rule over her. To Adam, he says “from dust you were made, and to dust you will return.” Buzz kill for Adam. He went from being God main man (actually God’s only man) to being called back to the dust he originally came from. Adam had this huge responsibility, and this really important position to being called a nothing. Adam is no longer as significant as he once was and so starts man’s search for significance.

Everyone wants to feel important, wants to feel like they matter….that they matter to something, that they matter to someone, and that they have some purpose in being here. Unfortunately, in this search for significance, we find ourselves sometimes looking for that significance in the wrong things. We thing “if I had this girl/guy, then FINALLY I would be truly significant to someone”…if I just had this car, or this house, then FINALLY people could see my worth, people could know I am important. In all that searching however, people only find themselves searching more and more, and looking for bigger and better things. Always temporarily fulfilling themselves, but still left wanting for more. The thing is, we are all guilty of it sometimes. In those times, people turn to things like pornography, mistresses, over-spending, or to the abuse of drugs or alcohol to relieve themselves from their pain; to make themselves feel significant.

Here’s where I think we have really 2 main options. We can admit that we have this need, and do whatever it takes to always try to fulfill it ourselves with whatever feels good, and be always left wanting more, or we can take another road. Revelation (The last book of the bible) says in chapter 3:20-21 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” God says to us all “there is another way, it doesn’t have to be like this, you don’t have to do it on your own, once again, you can find your significance in me.” It doesn’t have to be the way it always has been. Search deep within your soul, you have been created for more than what you are living for.

“There has to be more to life than what I have yet experienced”

The Weight of it All

I have to admit, 1 year ago I would have never guessed that I am where I am now, doing what I am doing. I travel around the country, teaching system administrators and developers how to work with InputAccel Image capture software. Every little boy’s “When I grow up…” dream. I have to admit, the transition from college to the “real world” was not an easy one. It would have been nice to have almost like a mentor during the whole thing you know? Someone who I could ask when I had stupid questions about the whole life change. No such luck, I guess it ended up being a good thing though, because I ended up having to figure out a lot of stuff on my own. How much money should I be saving? What on earth kind of healthcare plan should I be signing up for? 401k? I don’t get it till I’m How old??? It’s a big difference. In college you just kind of show up, go to class, and play a lot of Halo in between. Now I have to actually go to work everyday, and its not like skipping a class if I just randomly forget to show up.

 

That being said, I wanted to write in summing up a few of the keys that I have learned that helped to make my transition a little more bearable. Even if only one person gets some benefit from this, then I guess it was worth my time during the long flight back from the East Coast.

 

1. Turns out saving money IS sort of a big deal. No matter what you earn right out of college, it’s most likely a lot more than you were making while attending school. Its weird at first to suddenly have money to buy things you couldn’t really afford in school; likewise it is also very easy to go off the deep end and just buy everything in sight. My #1 suggestion for preparing for your post college life is to at least try to structure our some type of budget. I know it seems impossible since I never really knew how much it would be for bills, and how much I would expect to spend on gas and everything like that, but again, this is just a basic structure. This can help you plan out how much you can afford to start paying back on your student loans, and also give you some idea of what kind of salary you realistically would need to live. I strongly suggest trying to live on the frugal side. Lots of hidden expenses can come up that you didn’t expect (car repairs, getting cable, buying new furniture), and it is MUCH easier to adjust to having more money if you life kind of like you did in college. If you come out and start trying to make it rain all the time, you will most likely have to tone down your lifestyle at some point which will be much more difficult than being able to spend a little extra. (note: rain- (verb) to make money fall everywhere as if it was falling from the sky). I know all of that is kind of vague, I just wanted someone to tell me straight up “ you need to save $X per paycheck and you should be good” unfortunately that is going to be different for everyone. My suggestion would be to take advantage of the company matching 401k (up to company matching max) and stock options if they are available. This is the closest thing there is to free money, so not taking it is pretty dumb. Yea you don’t get it till you are an old man, but its going to be a lot easier to start it out of college, than to scramble once you are 40 to get one started and still expect to retire at all. Plus, once the are already out of your paycheck for a couple iterations, you hardly notice you are still contributing. As for the saving on your own, I try to put away %20 of what I take home towards long term savings, and then the rest I kind of split up between my monthly expenses, and just throwing it in the bank.

 

1. Work will be overwhelming, that’s just all there is to it. If its not, you probably got a job that was below your potential. This was a huge thing for me. Like I said, my job is to be a trainer….so I always felt like I had to know absolutely everything there was about any possible topic with our software. Quite an overwhelming task in itself. Beyond that, I have trained people who have been working with our software for over 10 years! (Note: 10 years ago I was 14 and probably still thought I had a shot at making in the NBA and marrying Jennifer Aniston). So, not matter what your job, we’ve established it will most likely become overwhelming at some point; what’s really important here is how you deal with it. Some people get overwhelmed and just quit. Those are the people who end up living with lots of regrets in their lives. Other people become overwhelmed, and try to hide behind things. Some look to alcohol to allow them to hide from their problems, others turn to the opposite sex so they can at least control some area of their lives, while still others just try to fake their way through it and hope that no one finds them out. For me, this was a difficult one. At a certain point, I just came to the end of myself. I had tried faking it, I had tried just not thinking about it and hoping it would go away, but at a certain point, I just had to deal with the issue head on. I saw God do some amazing things in my life at this point. Once I had stopped kicking, stopped flailing my arms and trying anything else, I had to just come to him with my tail between my legs and admit that I could do it alone. Why I didn’t do this from the get go, I’m not sure. Pride got in the way and I just tried to deal with things and not appear weak. God wants to be the God of your work, the God of your money, the God of your relationships, and the God of your life, not just the God of your eternity. I had to ask myself “Would I accept life the way it was, or would I escape, pretend, numb, or run?” That’s life, things will not always come as easily as they did in High School and College. Face them, don’t hide…you’ll find a life that is so much more fulfilling than any of the other outlets or options.

 

1. People still care about you, and still need you even if you don’t live as close to them as you once did. Don’t completely ditch your friends and family just because you think you are a big shot and have moved out. They still need/want you in their lives and you need/want them the same. I still call a lot of my friends from college/high school just to see how things are doing, and try to encourage them. The main key I’ve learned here is be more than just someone who calls to talk about themselves. God gave you two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Call/email to encourage others and be engaged in what they are doing, not just waiting for your turn to talk about your life again. No one wants to hear from that guy who calls just to talk about what he did that day or the awesome girl he met/things he bought. I want to call people and genuinely be happy to hear that something has gone right for them. I always want all my friends to succeed and always try to do whatever I can to help them if possible. That doesn’t make me a big person, or even mean that I always get this one right, but I’m still trying to work on it.

 

So I guess in looking at this list, these should be kind of all obvious things that maybe I just forgot to pick up earlier in life. Or its just maturity….yuck.

 

 

 

 

 

God Buffet

I LOVE buffets. I think love is an understatement, its one of those situations where you really enjoy something a whole lot, yet no word seems to capture all of its glory. So much so that I would probably look to invest in a Hometown Buffet season pass if one ever became available. I don’t love buffets for the same reason that most people love them though. Its not the unlimited food thing, I mean that is great and all, but in all honesty I eat like a kid; I can normally only put down two plates of food at max. I like buffets because of the options. I can walk around the different islands, press my nose up against the glass, try to determine what the items are that are missing name tags…its really quite an adventure. The best part about it is that it’s not like a normal restaurant. I don’t have to order something, wait for 20 minutes, and then be disappointed when it comes out because it doesn’t look as good as what everyone else has. Buffets are great because the food is right there, already waiting, and I can pick and choose what I want to eat. I can eat corn with mashed potatoes on top and no one can say anything. I have the option to go around, pick up the stuff I really want, at the quantities I want, and skip the stuff that is actually good for me. This usually includes a lot of corn, some macaroni and cheese, and several items from the dessert section. 

 

 

My love of the buffet style eatery is fine, as long as it is saved for buffets. A lot of times, I find that I try to do the same thing in my spiritual life, where the buffet style doesn’t necessarily translate so well. I think many times people (myself included) try to define/box up God so we can make him in to someone we like. We try to make him predictable and definable so that he feels safe. Often times we come to God with a buffet attitude. Our prayer life is a clear example: “Dear God, forgive me for my sins, and give me the following: great health, a beautiful family, that perfect mate, a new car, a good house, a stable job, a nice salary…”. We come to God looking for 5 helpings of blessings, and only a dash of trials/tribulation only if we really have to. We want lots of the FRUITS of the Spirit (lame buffet joke) and none of the God who does things that we don’t understand.

 

Oddly, this isn’t something that is a new idea though. In Exodus, we find Moses learning that he will be God’s instrument for leading the Israelites out of Egypt. To make a long story get to the point, God leads them to Mt. Sinai where he had Moses stand atop the mountain to receive the Law. The mountain was shrouded in smoke and fire, and lightening/thunder enveloped the region. The people were so afraid, that they asked God to stop speaking to them, and only speak to Moses. Some time later (in Deuteronomy), Moses spends 40 days away from them with God on the mountain. In his absence, the Israelites decided to make an image of a calf, and worship that as God. Many scholars believe that they weren’t actually attempting to create a new god, but rather create an image of God they could actually worship. They were not comfortable with how big and terrifying God was without Moses around, so they constructed an image of him that was more comfortable and less demanding.

 

When I try to take the parts of God I like, and create a god that I feel like meshes well with my lifestyle, something very dangerous happens. Rather than worshipping the God of the universe, I find myself doing the same thing as the Israelites; creating a god that fits my needs, and is comfortable for my life. I pray that the real God of the universe, the God who is beyond definition, and beyond my understanding, would reveal himself to you and me. That we would seek out God for who he really is, and not for who we want to make him.

Not What You Expected

I think I have heard the Easter story about 20+ times. (once per year since I was able to actually listen and make sense of things at least.) What really amazes me, is when I can hear something that many times and still manager to catch/learn something new even now. For the most part, it all seems pretty simple…Jesus comes to Jerusalem, he gets crucified, and then he comes back to life. Yea, not simple at all, and unfortunately I find myself guilty of not always being completely in awe of that entire thing. As I learned this year though there is a lot more to the story, and as I learn more about what was going on, I find myself in the story.

It starts off with Jesus heading to Jerusalem right? He comes in from the east, and rides in on a donkey. I was hoping that I would read that at some point in history a donkey was a respected animal or something, but no, it turns out a donkey was about as cool then as they are now. Not representative of power by any means, and incapable of ever going very fast. Jesus was greeted with people throwing their cloaks on the path and waving palm branches. This never really made sense to me. Why throw a cloak down? Why the palm branches? What significance is this donkey? First of all, any Roman higher-up would always enter the city on a large white horse, showing their power, and entering the city from the West. Whenever they would come back from a battle where they were victorious (which was pretty much all the time because Rome ran things back then) they were greeted with the customary palm waving and cloak throw-down. This was how the citizens of that city would show respect and honor to the conquerors or royalty. Much like how we “roll out the red carpet” for special events/celebrities/government officials today. Think about this though, Jesus is supposed to be the “savior” for the Jews who are pretty much being treated terribly in Rome. He comes in from the opposite side of the city, riding in on a donkey of all animals. Its amazing how this starts off, clearly showing that this is no normal King, and not just another conqueror. He didn’t need the fanfare of powerful horses and parades like the earthly kings, and he came to do something far greater than any of them could do. This is the part of the story where I got really confused. These people come and wave branches at him and throw their cloaks down and chant, “Blessed is the name of the king who comes in the name of the Lord”… They were really excited about this guy, really giving him the royal treatment. Why then, 5 days later are they the same people who are calling for his crucifixion?

The Jews of Jerusalem had big expectations for Jesus. They were expecting that this King of the Jews would come to the city, and lead the revolt to take over Rome. When it turned out that he didn’t come to forcefully take over the Roman Empire and free the Jews from Roman rule, they were dissatisfied. Dissatisfied is an understatement, they were pissed. This guy was supposed to be their savior, yet he wasn’t leading any takeover in their eyes. The Jews were being treated terribly under Roman rule. Some say they were being taxed at 80-90% of their income. Understandable why they would be so excited to finally have a leader that would lead a huge revolt for them. Amazing how in only 5 days ago they were praising him when he was entering the city, yet now they are calling out to Pilot for his crucifixion. In reality, no the Jews didn’t get what they wanted, they got something far greater. They asked for a revolution, and expected God to answer their prayers by way of taking over the Romans and finally sticking it to them for their terrible treatment. Instead, God said, “I have something far better to give you, its my son.”

What’s most amazing about this story is that we are no different than the Jews of that time. We expect that God will keep us in our jobs, keep our family from getting sick, and make sure we always can eat. We sometimes even falsely think he will always keep things from going wrong for us, and when things don’t necessarily go our way, we get mad and demand to know where God is. We pray to God for things we think we need…a wife, a kid, more money, a car…yet he doesn’t always answer in the ways we want. Its amazing what we have made faith out to be. God never said he would make our lives perfect if we followed him. He never promised us to always have the nicest cars and the most well behaved kids. All he asks is that we fully trust him, and know that he will never leave or forsake us. Is there something you are mad at God at? Is he not living up to your expectations? Do we sometimes fall guilty of loving God for being this magic genie we can ask requests of, and put expectations on? or are we really loving him for who he is? Ask God to reveal himself to you in unmistakable ways and learn to love him for who he is, not for who we want him to be. 

The Godfather or God the Father

I watched the Godfather the other day and thought about how badly I would love to be involved in some type of organized crime. If I didn’t have a conscious, it would definitely be the way to go. Think about it, you get an amazing “favor” from the Godfather, and he looks out for you. You don’t owe him anything until he needs a favor back from you… but he may never even call on you for a favor so maybe you just get hooked up. It sounds like a great system; you give a little and get a lot. Plus you get to eat a lot of Italian food and you never have to tell your wife about what you are doing all the time…not that I know what that is like anyway.

 

Unfortunately, I think that often times this give and take attitude that I would take if I was somehow involved in the mafia bleeds over into my spiritual life. Too often I find myself almost trying to make bargains with God. I come to him with these outlandish propositions as if I expect him to want to make a deal with me. Not yet has he responded favorably to any of them either. More or less it’s my feeling that God is lucky to have me and that he should owe me something for loving him. Probably the worst thing someone could ever think. This type of thinking tears me apart because I so desperately desire to see God for who the Bible paints Him to be, and not for what other people, or my own mental images turn him into. Worshiping my own version of God is like telling Him that the real version needs MY improvements to be worthy of my attention.

What really amazes me is how could I ever want more from him? “Hey God, I don’t know if you could tell by my actions, but Your Son died for my sins, and yea I understand that, but what have you done for me lately? I still haven’t seen Gabriel flying around to deliver my drop-top lambo” It’s sick. And in really thinking about it, accepting Christ as my savior is a wayyyy better deal than ever tying myself in with an Italian mafia family. First off, that whole eternity thing will be really nice as soon as I die. But not even thinking about that, here is a guy who gave his life for me and died one of the worst deaths ever, and all he asks for in return is that I trust him with my life. Seems like a pretty small sacrifice on my part. John 10:10 says “I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly”. That was his entire purpose in coming. He already did the huge favor for me, and all he asks for in return is my trust. So the next time I try to make a deal with God, I need to remember that God the Father already made me an offer I couldn’t refuse…