Category Archives: Brief Blog Banter

Brief Blog Banter

Beginning or End – Amazing Insight Today

The journey with Christ, on day one, rises forward from the point where all other religions, philosophies, affections and pursuits aspire to attain at their final peak.

I was blown away by this idea while listening to a podcast this morning featuring Pastor Bobby Pruitt from Hill Country Bible Church Hutto.  The religions of the world provide men with a complicated map to Nirvana that only the most faithful and moral can even hope to attain, in some cases, even after many life times.  Philosophies fare even worst at their final destination as they rarely recognize God or the need for transcendence. All earthly affections struggle to achieve unity and unconditional, sacrificial love and none ever attains it. And all the ladders of success rising above the mountains like our own personal towers of Babel confound and haunt us with their beautiful view of all we can survey as far as our eyes can see – for we are left to wonder, “Is this all there is?”

None of these in their highest imagined zenith, much less the real ledge far below that might realistically be attained in the short morning walk that measures the brief life of a man, comes close to attaining what Christ brings to those who love him on day one of their life together.  And that is only the commencement – the beginning.  The Bible say Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.   It says the lamb was slain before the foundation of the earth and it says that only he will be able to open the scrolls that will complete history on this earth.  So all the starts begin after his provision for us and after his creation of us.  And all ends do not touch his.  All of mans effort to find perfection fall short – but Christ is not asking us to obtain this elusive and impossible perfection, he gives us his perfection by joining his life to our own – as a wedding gift.  We only have to say, I do.

Becoming Well Read – Update

Currently reading Middlemarch by George Eliot – but I’m on chapter nine of 86 so it will be awhile before I blog about this book.  In the meantime, I have completed, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni  and will blog about it this weekend.

Other exploration this weekend – I will be attending a workshop titled Listening – The 4th “R” – Uncovering the Forgotten Business Tool.  This is being conducted by Mike O’Krent who I’ve known with for some time and by Jacqueline Rixen.  I’m excited to be able to attend.

Mike O’Krent, founder of LifeStories Alive, LLC, makes personal history videos for families that value their heritage. Mike interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. During that incredible experience, he learned valuable listening skills and discovered the importance of recording the life stories of our loved ones. http://www.lifestoriesalive.com/about.html

Jacqueline Rixen  is an Austin attorney who uses listening every day to help her clients accomplish their legal goals.  She has over 20 years experience as a lawyer and many more years as a listener. http://www.rixenlaw.com

Morality vs Nobility

Perhaps the saddest deception that Satan has perpetrated on the human race is that morality is what God wants from man. Our enemy was pleased to convince us that God was angry with us because we weren’t being good boys and girls. In this way, he enslaved us in between guilt and pride. First he pushes us into a prideful pursuit of proving to ourself and heaven that we could be good which of course sends us into condemning self-conceit and judgement of others. Then he is swift to accuse us and drive to guilt.

But the reality is that God is not after morality from us, he is pursuing us fully. He is about providing us nobility. Regardless of our human plight and because of his love for us, he has made Christ to become our very life so that we are his children. This is the secret his enemy hides because by merely receiving God’s gift, we are forever his child and the knowledge of good and evil is replaced by the tree of life.

Accountability

We tend to hate the idea of accountability. I think this is because we imagine it to be about somebody telling us what we can’t do. The reality is that good accountability is positive. It enables those who love you to help you progress to where you really want to go but likely may not get to without a helping hand and encouraging words.

God gave us three gifts to help us accomplish our mission: the Word of God, the Spirit of God and the People of God. Sometimes, we really need all three gifts working together.

Sifting Sand to Soar

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey illustrates the secret of doing first (important) things first by putting big rocks into a jar first followed by smaller rocks then pebbles and finally sand. You cannot add the big important rocks on a life filled densely with sand.

Still, there are many day-to-day activities that can be added in while the sands of time are pouring your day away. Being prepared to leverage that time can help you maximize your effort and avoid the frustration that can occur when you feel like you are wasting your time. Waiting for a friend at the coffee house, or for your doctor to call you from the waiting room or in a line at the grocery store is a perfect time to check or update your list, sequence your next step or think about the challenges you need to work with next. You can often to this in your head but you can usually find paper and pen if you need to make notes.

If you have technology such as the iPhone at your disposal, you can do even more: call and setup that appointment or make it via their webpage form, reply to that email you haven’t had time for, find and order that birthday present and so much more. The iPhone is a great tool that can crystallize all the tasks that keep getting lost between the rocks and ever blowing sand of time. The only trick is to use it effectively and not let it fill your time with more sand.

One last note: driving is not sand time.