45 Life Lessons

This came to me in an email. I thought it was really cool, and decided to post it here:

From Regina Brett on her 90th birthday (written as a column for The Plain Dealer):


1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7.. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything..

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Prayer Request: what's next?

So, the diploma is in, and I’m “done” with school. So, what’s next? Well, as many of you know, I have a real desire to “expand” my teaching. I’m currently teaching ESL to adults part time through a civic organization… and I’d LOVE to figure out a way to expand that to more like full time (yet still make a living … I have student loans now remember)!!! Melissa and I are also very strongly drawn toward South America, and we’re praying for a way to go visit a country or two together… maybe as a scouting trip for a possible move (?)! While we are drawn toward several countries, Argentina comes up again and again because our companies both have locations there, which may make work a bit easier (not sure yet how that works)… there’s also my long time goal to visit Costa Rica in Central America. Most importantly, I’ve felt a particular drawn to figure out a way to also bridge teaching ESL with ministry of some sort. The plan (right now at least – God could change it) is for me to teach through the majority of the year (domestic or abroad), and then partner with some Christian organization or church to do short term missions trips. Will that happen? Well, I guess that's in God's hands... certainly that IS what we're praying about/for right now.

Of course … there’s always the opportunity to return to school again (possibly for a MAT: Masters program for teaching, or some other ESL related certification). I would need a MAT to teach at most US universities, and many foreign universities. However, that also means yet more student loans. Certifications, particularly through TESOL, may help me teach at private schools or organizations (domestic/abroad) ... which might be an easier "in", but will likely pay less and hire on for shorter terms. If I take something short-term, what do I do for work when the term is over? Which brings up another good point... do I take something short term overseas and travel out of country alone, leaving Melis here to maintain our "home base" until I return? All things we're discussing and praying on...

So, if possible, please be praying for us regarding:

Wisdom and patience to wait on God and HIS plan for us
Continued Godly vision for our lives
Opportunities for Chris to teach
Opportunities for bridging teaching with ministry
Godly strength and unity as a couple

Thanks!

Chris and Melissa

The Christian life is not a solitary walk

More thoughts from my study on Hebrews...

In Hebrews 3: 12-15 we are called as brothers and sisters in Christ to exhort each other daily. The Greek word for “exhort” is parakaleo. The pre-fix means “alongside”, and the end is a verb (kaleo) which means to “call out”. Some might recognize this as similar to parakletos, which was another word used in scripture to describe the Holy Spirit as “a helper” who comes alongside to help us (John 14: 16 – 17). This section of Hebrews seems to match the daily exhortation of brothers in Christ to holding fast to our faith during the course of our daily walk with God.

David Guzik, in his book “Hebrews” describes it like this (you may want to read the following after also checking out Ephesians 4:29 – a great companion to his commentary below):

If we will strengthen our faith and avoid the ruin of unbelief, we must be around other Christians who will exhort – that is, “seriously encourage” us. This shows our responsibility to both give exhortation and to receive exhortation, and to exhort one another daily. It is an easy thing to judge and criticize, but that is not exhortation. If you are out of fellowship altogether, you can’t exhort or be exhorted. When we are out of fellowship, there is much less around us to keep us from becoming hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. – Guzik

Guzik also quotes Spurgeon: “You are to watch over your brethren, to exhort one another daily, especially you who are officers of the church, or who are elderly and experienced. Be upon the watch lest any of your brethren in the church should gradually backslide, or lest any in the congregation should harden into a condition of settled unbelief, and perish in their sin. He who bids you take heed to yourself, would not have you settle down into a selfish care for yourself alone, lest you should become like Cain, who even dared to say to the Lord himself, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’”

The above quote from Spurgeon is a great thing to keep in mind if you’ve been around a while in your walk with God or serve in the church, but it’s also key for those of us who are younger in our walk or don’t serve. If our more mature brothers and sisters are to minister to (or exhort) us, we need to make ourselves available to them. This simply cannot happen if you make your walk a quiet, solitary walk.

Christianity, then, is certainly not a solitary endeavor. Phillips, in his book “Hebrews” writes this:

Christianity is not an individual but a team endeavor. So if we do not know the nature of our fellow believers’ struggles, and if we do not share ours with them, then we will never be able to follow through with this command. The result, in that case, will be that people among us will fall prey to sin. Therefore we are commanded to be watchful for just these things in the body of Christ, thereby ensuring that none of us falls away because of sin’s deceitfulness. We must watch out and exhort one another daily in the things of the faith. - Phillips

Phillips then goes on to describe relationships between Godly brothers and sisters that are not just surface level, but instead undeniably deeper. It could be argued then that we must know our brothers’ struggles and victories in order to truly exhort each other daily. Only by cultivating deeper and richer relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ, can we actually spot or uncover the deceitfulness and lure of sin as it may be trying to work its way into the lives of those around us – or for certain or own lives (don’t forget the log in your own eye!). Sin advertises quick relief, a quick fix, and even great pleasure and personal satisfaction. It may do this through false teachers, the great deceiver, or even our own wicked hearts. Sometimes it attacks forcefully, sometimes gently, more often than not it comes gradually and quietly… like the parable “How do you cook a frog?”. You sit it in a pot of cool water, and then very slowly and very gradually turn up the heat … just a little here, a little there. The frog never knows what hit it!

Phillips further writes:

The problem is that our hearts are so willing to be deceived. Combine this with the reality that sin is deceitful in its very nature, and you see why we have so great a need of godly fellowship, of exhortation, and of warning at the very first states of temptation. We need help being watchful over the spiritually dangerous temptations that by their very nature are hostile to Christian faith. Therefore, we must exhort one another, lest some of us should fall prey to sin’s deception, even to the hardening of our hearts against God. We must realize that sin is not merely something we do. Sin is a power, an enemy army, like a pack of wolves surrounding the flock and darting in to pick off likely targets. Therefore, as Simon Kistemaker writes, ‘Believers have a corporate and an individual responsibility to care for the spiritual well-being of their fellow men. They must consider this responsibility a holy obligation and exhibit utter faithfulness’. Christian fellowship, including prayer, Bible study, and meaningful friendship, is a great bulwark against sin’s deception; in such company the arguments of sin lose their force, and we are strengthened in faith and obedience. Our goal is to persevere to the end and enter into God’s rest, and our strategy is mutual watchfulness. What a worthy cause that is! It is worth inconvenience, it is worth giving up some leisure time. It is worth real sacrifice and will repay the dividends of eternal life. - Phillips

Fall in Racine

Here's some recent pictures from around town.

I thought this tree downtown looked incredible!


A roadside pumpkin patch out of town. This one was off the side of the road out in the country near some farms. This is actually someone's front yard!


This is from our backyard. It's a peony beginning to yellow in our raised bed.


This is just a small portion of the tree in our backyard. I took this pictures from the window at the top of the stairs.


Another tree downtown. I loved the contrast between the golden leaves and the darker trunk. Sometimes trees like this seem to glow on their own!


This is a shot of the of the streets downtown in our historic district. I just thought it was a neat picture.


This is an old birdbath in our side yard. I thought it was a cool picture.


Melissa and I took the dogs for a walk and happened upon some wild roses among some white asters. This picture is of the red rose hips with the pale asters. Neat contrast!

Nala is back home.

So, Nala is back home now. The vet said she ran into a few more problems than she was expecting, but her eye seems to be doing well. She's on 3 different medicines, and wearing a cone right now. She's so spoiled that she even gets a cold compress twice a day, and "dad" carries her up and down the stairs for bed!

Pray for Health

So, the flu seems to have hit our house. For months, different "bugs" have been drifting around Melissa's work (including both the regular flu and H1N1). We kept thinking we were being spared, but then Melissa started feeling a little "odd" as we were driving into work on Wednesday morning. By that afternoon, she had gotten a hold of me to take her home, and she's been miserable ever since!

If you will, please pray for her recovery and my health. (I have a co-worker out with the flu now also.) We would much appreciate it!

God bless.

Chris

Unbelief

I read this in my devotions this morning. I thought that it was a very interesting (and somewhat convicting) take on the times we doubt, or simply refuse to believe, God's promises. The initial verse is taken from Hebrews 3. I believe it can be found in verses 12 through 15.

"Lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief: This is strong language, but we often underestimate the terrible nature of our unbelief. Refusing to believe God is a serious sin because it shows an evil heart and a departing from the living God.

Unbelief is not the inability to understand, but unwillingness to trust ... it is the will, not the intelligence, that is involved (Newell).

One can truly believe God, yet be occasionally troubled by doubts. There is a doubt that wants God's promise but is weak in faith at the moment. However, unbelief isn't weakness of faith; it sets itself in opposition to faith." - "Hebrews", by Guzik

So, there's a difference between doubt and unbelief. However, I suspect that if we aren't careful, the former can soon lead to the latter. Yet, if you think about it, it's strange that we would even doubt. God's promises to his children are fantastic! Further, this isn't just "some guy" promising these things... it's GOD. I mean ... he's the CREATOR of all that is in existence (seen and unseen). Do we really think that he'll just forget about us, change his mind, or (worse yet) that he's incapable of following through?! Such thoughts are laughable!

... anyway, I digress. Sorry ... just some thoughts this morning.