Chris's Musings

I know that this is a tired joke, but sometimes comparisons to middle school dances are appropriate in many cases of adult life. You know the drill... the girls stand on one side of the room and the boys stand on the other side of the room... and yes, nobody dances. The girls do what girls do, and the boys do what boys do (which usually involves simulating bodily noises with our armpits... of course that was junior high ;)... at least that's what I'm letting any girls reading this know :) hahaha) You know, the world would have been much better if (and when) the boys and girls actually met at the middle of the room and... danced. Funny thing. Somehow, as I've watched the view from "my side of the room" in this political season, I feel like the way our country's debate is going is about the same craziness. Conservatives sit on one side of the room, with their pet issues... bickering when they don't get their way (unlimited drilling of oil on our country...

I heard an interesting thing the other day at a mentoring group session... a mentor of mine told me (and the group) that "every man needs a Paul in their life, and a Barnabus, and a Timothy." These relationships obviously are Biblical models of the types of horizontal relationships we build to build and strengthen our faith... A "Paul" - meaning having an older, wiser guy that can mentor you and provide wisdom based on experience and a deeper faith A "Barnabus" - meaning confidants that I can mutually encourage and are at the same stage of life. People that can cheer us on and relate to us in our struggles, and A "Timothy" - meaning a younger guy that we are mentoring and providing wisdom to based on the experience we have being at a later stage of life. I totally buy into that... over my life I've had several "Barnabus" people in my life, many of whom I meet with regularly for lunch, coffee, etc. to talk about life and to mutual...

I landed this morning with reading some of Solomon's wisdom, and it got me thinking. Namely, I was reading through some of the things he wrote in Ecclesiastes about wealth and prosperity... Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. - Eccl. 5:10 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.- Eccl. 5:12 Now I realized that is good and proper for a man eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God. - Eccl 5:18-19 I also liked what he wrote in "chapter 6," but I won't quote it here because it is a little long for blog. What was interesting to read, and note, was t...

Happy birthday America!!! :-) What an interesting time in the history of our country... Here's hoping that year 233 is incredible... including lower gas prices :-). As in the past two years, I celebrated the Fourth early this morning by denying myself sleep (my body wasn't happy with me at 6AM this morning) and donning my running clothes to go out to the Peachtree Road Race and go earn that coveted t-shirt. This year's shirt was really neat.. it is SIMPLE and includes an American flag theme which is something that I like. It's also colored steel blue (not to be confused with "Blue Steel" from Derek Zoolander's reprotroie) which made it a relatively attractive find. I earned it this year because I have been nursing a sore left ankle since Wednesday and decided to go for it... if I had to walk I had to walk and I did walk a good part of the race because of the ankle, but I finished in good time considering :-). Some interesting observations from the rac...

See Matthew 26:65-68 for reference If you read through the gospels, you may notice an interesting switch in persona among the Pharisees and Jewish religious leaders from when before Jesus was placed into their custody and once He was "on trial" with them. Prior to that moment of the dead of night trial, these people were very pious acting... disguising their hatred for Jesus with questions veiled in order to trap him and done under the auspices of seeking truth. From the surface, you would look at them and say perhaps: "They are very religious," or perhaps "They are seeking out truth," or even "They are very knowledgeable and want to understand Jesus." Words that you would not describe them as would be "hateful" (or any derivative). However, under the veil of night and having "captured" Jesus in their trial, a different persona comes out (especially when the high priest... who's one of them... declares him "wort...

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" - King Solomon (Proverbs 4:23) "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." - King Solomon (Proverbs 16:9) "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of hat for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." - The Apostle Paul (Philipians 3:12) In my mentoring group, we have started to read through and discuss "The 9 things you simply must do" by Henry Cloud. It is a book about learning to embody the principles and traits that people who are successful (defined as "life works for them") employ. This is actually a re-read for me and I've enjoyed discussing and applying the principles from the book into my own world and bouncing ideas off of the guys in the group. One thing that I keep coming back to often is this idea that "What exists in the visible world always ori...