November 22, 2009 in
GODSTUFF with
Today I was not the person I want to be. Come to think of it, I wasn’t that person yesterday either. I’m tired. I haven’t been feeling well. Every time I try to sleep, some noise in the house wakes me up, and God forbid that the maker of the noise should be someone in my family, or she is sure to find herself on the receiving end of something she almost certainly does not deserve. I have been downright insufferable, like a two year old who gets so tired he cannot sleep, cannot be kind, cannot relax, cannot take directions, and cannot accept the love of those who just want him to be well. Lately I dread the thought of moving, or trying to accomplish anything. I simply cannot stand myself. At least my family can go in the other room and close the door. I have tried that, but no matter where I go there I am, and I continue to strongly dislike the company.
I cannot accept what I need most. I get in these funks and I push people away. I’ll bet I’m not the only one. Most of us are blessed to be surrounded by people who care about us and just want us well, and most of us get into these dark spaces where instead of receiving that love, we reject it. We prefer, for some sick reason, our tension and anger and darkness. God help me that I am such a person, that I have times where I willfully retreat into darkness and illusion instead of allowing those I love to keep me grounded in the truth. The truth is simply that I am loved. I am loved more than my wife and children can express to me, and I mean more to them than I even understand. I am the recipient of the most abundant grace and yet, in the times when I need it most, I cower in shadows, refusing to be loved, even going out of my way to be unlovable.
This is my deepest problem. It is the deepest problem of nearly all human beings. We are in various forms of rebellion and refusal to accept our true identity as the ones who are dearly loved of God.
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November 16, 2009 in
MISCELLANY with
November 16, 2009 in
MISCELLANY with
MichaelHyatt
I just tried to upgrade Microsoft Office. It crashed my Mac. I used to be a fan of Microsoft.
Twitter / Home
Above is a recent Tweet from Michael Hyatt who runs one of my favorite blogs at http://michaelhyatt.com. First of all, I’m no Microsoft fan-boy by any stretch of the imagination. Last year I put Linux (first Kubuntu, then Ubuntu) on all my PC’s and would be running it now, except the software I use most often cannot be run on Linux. Having said that, this Tweet struck me as odd, yet typical of a Mac user. It seems with Mac users, crashes and other computer issues are always Microsoft’s fault!
In this case, we have Microsoft software and an Apple computer. A problem arises. Blame goes to: MICROSOFT! Yet when I talk to Mac users and tell them about a computer problem I have had, they nearly always tell me I should get a Mac, as if it MUST be the hardware. As if that problem would NEVER have happened on a Mac.
I’m perfectly open to the idea that perhaps in Hyatt’s case, the problem really was the software. Hyatt writes a lot on productivity and seems to know his way around a computer, so perhaps he really knows this is the problem. But the Tweet still embodies what I generally see in the Mac community, which is resistance to admitting that Apple hardware might be responsible for a problem.
Just once I’d love to come across a post on the Internet saying, “My Mac is broken – AGAIN!!” You know it happens. By the law of averages, it has to. It makes you wonder if when you buy a Mac, you sign a legal agreement stating that you will never post anything negative about Apple. Or say it to anyone in private with the shades drawn. Or even think it.
The other interesting thing in Hyatt’s post is that he used to be a fan of Microsoft. The only Microsoft fan you’ll find among most Mac users is a reformed one – the kind that used to be.
To end this post and put it in perspective, I love the cult-like atmosphere Apple engenders among its users. If you have read Jim Collins’ Good to Great, you know this is something great companies do, creating feverish enthusiasm and devotion around everything they do. This in itself is a big part of the Mac vibe. Still, I can’t help but await eagerly a Tweet one day from a Mac user that says, “I just tried to upgrade to Microsoft Office. It crashed my Mac. I used to be a fan of Apple.”
When hell freezes over.
Update from Hyatt:
MichaelHyatt
I rebooted my computer and installed Microsoft Office 12.2.3. It worked “as advertised” this time. All is well.
November 7, 2009 in
MISCELLANY with
I’m not much of a graphics guy. I’d like to have some kind of picture to put with each post, but don’t really know where the sources of good pics are (you can tell I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel when I’m putting up pictures of me), and actually don’t have time to do pics in addition to writing the blog content. I’d be open to anyone who might be willing to suggest pics for me for my posts. I make $0.00/day writing this blog so there’s no money in it, but if anyone has an interest in graphics and would like the site to look better, I’d welcome some ideas!
November 7, 2009 in
GODSTUFF with
Dallas Willard has said that anyone who stands up and speaks for 45 minutes is bound to be badly mistaken about some things. That’s a perspective I always try to keep in mind and that I hope my readers and students keep in mind as well.
To be a pastor is to presume to teach others and to teach others is to have to communicate a certain level of confidence about what one teaches. This can come across as a sense that the teacher believes he/she knows everything, or has it all together. Not the case! This blog, over the past few months, has begun to pick up some steam and I think this is a good time to go on record as saying I’m not interested in being anyone’s Svengali. Though I enjoy theological topics and write frequently on them, I am not a theologian. (Okay, I am an armchair theologian.) I never went to seminary and do not have formal theological training, other than the theology classes I took for ordination. Having said that, here’s why I presume to teach, and why I write this blog.
Seminary isn’t everything. Have you ever had contact with a pastor who seemed to know a lot about God but didn’t project any real understanding of people? At its core, effective spiritual work with people is about bridging a gap between people and God, and this requires understanding of both. In fact I am convinced we cannot understand God if we do not understand people, and we cannot understand people if we do not understand God (insofar as that is possible). In fact I believe true understanding only happens where God and people converge. My formal training is in counseling. I believe I understand people pretty well, not just because I have degrees and a couple licenses on my wall, but because of 15 years of work with people as a pastor, teacher, administrator, counselor, leader, and communicator, in clinical, religious, and university settings.
In addition to this, I am a voracious reader. Most of what I know was not learned in graduate school but from the school of life, and from books. Many dismiss those of us who can’t get our noses out of books, claiming it’s impractical. In some ways it is. (You definitely don’t want me to work on your leaky faucet, or landscape your yard.) But let’s face it, we bookish types are usually the ones people come to see when their real, everyday lives aren’t going very well. But we are not consulted simply because we have read a lot of books, which leads to my next point.
Reading books and acquiring information can actually be dangerous.
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