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Did you that Visine WILL clean out your nose if you squirt it in? But neither Johnson & Johnson nor I recommend that you use it for that purpose. (Don’t ask me how I know.)
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There are two ways to learn by experience – be amazing without realizing it, or be imperfect and realize it. Either way, it helps to have someone else to help you do the realizing. The word for that is, “teacher” or “mentor.”
If you’re amazing and know it, fine. But that’s not learning. If you’re imperfect and remain clueless about it, that’s not learning either, because you’re still, well, clueless.
The role of the teacher or mentor is to be a “realization specialist.” Sometimes that means being a passionate encourager. Sometimes it means being an honest critic. Always, it means pointing toward excellence and inviting someone to join you on that journey.
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Be amazing in your grace. [click to continue…]
So many random and not-so-random thoughts… so little time… Here are the latest places and spaces where my mental wheels are turning. You can find others here, here, and here. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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“It takes just as long to be great as to be mediocre.” -Brian Tracey
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“Every day you live there are more things you are never going to do.” -Al Mohler
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Good teachers answer your questions. Great teachers question your answers.
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Have you ever noticed that the people who holler the loudest about grace are the ones who seem to need it the most? Uh huh. [click to continue…]
(Something of a “life lessons year in review,” in no certain order. I’d love to hear yours. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.)
1. How awesome your cancer surgeon is.
2. How nice people can be, even when you wish they would just hate you.
3. How God provides, even sometimes for fools.
4. The sun really does come out tomorrow.
5. How to spell “aneurysm.”
6. Life goes on, with you or without you.
7. Contrary to the words to the MASH theme, suicide is NOT painless.
8. Failure doesn’t stop people from loving you.
9. Rejection does not come with a cocoon to wrap you away for a while.
10. Nobody is more committed to your success than you are. [click to continue…]
(The Twelve Ways of Christmas, Part 12 – The Way of Revelation)
It had been months since Dylan Jackson made the trek to Lynwood Nursing Home to see his grandmother. Even longer since they’d had an intelligible conversation. Once they’d been close, as he had been with both grandmothers. One had died when Dylan was 10 years old. Dylan promised himself he’d stay as close as possible to the other as they both got older.
Time and Alzheimer’s had other ideas.
When Helen Jackson first entered Lynwood, she could still recognize her grandson at times. Now he was a 38-year-old stranger. And Dylan had gotten a bit lost himself in a high-stress career and higher-stress home life. But this would be the year he made some changes, beginning with family. What better way to start than by taking his 14-year-old son Sean down Halls Mill Road to see Helen just before Christmas?
As he texted friends on his iPhone, his long hair hang-framing both sides of his face, Sean was anything but thrilled.
It had been an angry year for Sean Jackson. Hurt and betrayed by his closest friends – the “Christians” at his church – then dumped by his girlfriend this summer, Sean had retreated to a world of virtual reality, virtual “friends” and virtual silence. Making matters worse, the fighting between his parents made him feel all the more alone.
Now his dad –suddenly Captain Cheerful – was taking him on a guilt trip for Christmas to see somebody who had no clue who he was.
Ho. Ho. Ho. Let’s just get this over with. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on November 5, 2010
in 100 Words
(You can make it yours, too.)
Because of God’s unsparing love for me,
I am a new creation of infinite worth.
I am chosen to live because He wanted me.
I am destined for a purpose because He called me.
I belong to his family because He connected me.
I am righteous in his sight because He covered me.
I am beautiful to behold because He crafted me.
Whenever my lifestyle, loneliness or looks
Try to condemn or accuse me,
I will raise the banner He purchased in blood,
And find my peace in His victorious love.
I AM my Beloved’s, and He is mine!
Here are seven more ideas, thoughts, or “wish I’d said thats” baking in my mental oven lately. How about you? Do you have any half-baked ideas you’d like to share? Drop it in the comment box below.
Want to see more? Try here, here, or here.
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“God is a violent pursuer of a wayward soul.” – Brandon Gilbert
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“Even when we fail to validate the gospel, the way we respond to failure can validate the gospel.” -Nathan Ables [click to continue…]
Time for full disclosure.
In the previous post I shared ten false beliefs that lead to shame. You may have your own variation, and probably do.
Those are mine. Every one of those came right out of my journal.
Not that I actually believe them, but they are the lies the enemy hurls or has hurled at me over the years. And given the right set of circumstances, they can be very persuasive.
Maybe that’s why Jesus revealed Himself as the Truth (John 14:6). God knew it would take a personal relationship with Truth-as-a-Person to ever set us free from the lies of shame.
Stop. [click to continue…]
Pssst.
Tap, tap, tap.
Sorry to interrupt. I know you have a lot of important things on your mind, so I’ll only keep you for a minute.
Oh. And let me quickly say that I’m not here to sell you anything. But, as the envelope says, you may already be a winner!
So wouldn’t it be sad if a winner was living like… well, otherwise?
Wouldn’t it be tragic if this incredible wealth was there all along, but went unnoticed or unclaimed?
Let me show you how extraordinary the Grand Prize is. [click to continue…]
I want to talk to you about something that for some people is pretty painful and scary. Because of that, I want to say first that I am writing this in love. I hope you can feel the love that compels me to say these things, even if they are difficult to receive or comprehend.
If this isn’t for you, it’s for somebody you know. Maybe you can pass it along.
The truth is, I am afraid for you.
As you look in the mirror, as you go forth into the world, and as you relate to others, you only know two views.
You’re either a hero or a zero.
You are either on a pedestal or in the sewer. [click to continue…]
So many random thoughts or snippets of wisdom (or something)… so little time. Here are seven more ideas that are still in my “oven”. And if you’re a sucker for these kinds of things, and just can’t get enough from Facebook or Twitter, check this out. Or maybe this or this.
Not long ago I read about this great procrastination test on the Psychology Today website. The test helps you target patterns of procrastination, then do something to change them. I clicked on the link and left it on my browser for a couple of days until I could get to it. Yes… I procrastinated taking the procrastination test. Until the browser locked up and I had to restart it… and lost the test. Ugh. The good news is, I found it again (thanks, Google). The bad news is, I’m still procrastinating. If you’d like to load it up and procrastinate taking it with me, you can find it here. [click to continue…]
Did you that Visine WILL clean out your nose if you squirt it in? But neither Johnson & Johnson nor I recommend that you use it for that purpose. (Don’t ask me how I know.)
