Coming Alive

Read this. 

Two weeks ago Kristan and I bought a new lawnmower.  Last summer we borrowed a friends self-propelled mower and got extremely spoiled.  Previously we had used a mower that cut grass slightly faster than me on my hands and knees with a pair of hedge clippers.  With the self-propelled mower I could start her up and go in and make a sandwich while it did the work for me. 

So I was pretty excited to get a brand new “go inside and relax while I do all the work” mower of my own.  Then I started putting it together.  I was setting up the handle of it in kind of a hurry.  In my haste I guess I failed to lock the top piece into the lower section.  When I let go it folded up like a lawn chair and caught the tip of my left index finger between the two pieces.  Underneath my nail it quickly filled with blood and started throbbing pretty badly.  Being the tough guy that I am I went inside and stomped around looking for someone to blame other than me…
Kristan – Although she had said only moments before that “lawn care is your thing”, I really didn’t have much room to be mad at her.  I had in fact put off putting the mower together for 2 weeks and then decided that it was far to simple to glance at the instructions.
Nolan – If we lived on a farm he would be taking care of the yard work by now.  Alas, kids in the city don’t have the work ethic
The salesman – Who said that putting it together was so easy Nolan could do it.  Yea, I am pretty embarrassed if that’s true.

Anyway, this morning I woke up and it hurt enough that I couldn’t go back to sleep.  If it interfered with any other natural function of my day I may have let it go, but I enjoy sleep; so I quickly looked up online how to relieve the pressure under my nail.  Apparently all you have to do is heat up a tack or the pointed part of a paper clip and hold it on your nail.  If hot enough it should burn a hold in the nail and release the blood underneath.  I even watched a youtube video of it being done here.  When I told Hal my plans he (in all his nursing wisdom) said I was stupid to try this at home. 

So I went to my doctor and, after convincing me that she had never done this procedure before, she pulled out an instrument with a tip as hot as a thousand Suns and stuck it on my finger nail.  Then there was a “pop”.  Then blood sprayed out all over the floor and walls (ok, I may be exaggerating – I don’t like blood).  And it feels much better now. 

Doctor lady did tell me she is pretty sure my finger is broken near the tip though.  This extremely long blog took FOREVER to type!

This evening Kristan and I were playing Cranium (a board game) with my family in Charlotte. At the beginning of the game my mom prepares the rest of my family for games against me, saying, “Careful, Mike hates to lose”.

OF COURSE I DO!

Who loves to lose? I never want to love losing. Certainly you should always learn from failure and grow from it, but love it? Never…that’s a loser thing to do!

On the other hand, throwing a temper tantrum and insisting the other team is full of no good cheaters probably isn’t the most healthy of responses either.

I found this hilarious article found here!  It’s kids insight and wisdom about relationships. 

My favorite:
How do you decide whom to marry?
You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
Alan, age 10

The fatal flaw in the parental argument, “If everyone else was jumping off a bridge would you do that too?”, is that every hormonal young man would indeed jump if “everyone else” included but one girl.  Pretty much anything that a man accomplishes before the age of 25 is due almost entirely to the presence of females.  Men, by nature, are lazy creatures who left to their own devices would sleep til noon and watch 6 hours of TV, leaving only to pick up something from the dollar menu at Wendy’s. 

Women make men act like men.  Helen of Troy had the face that launched a thousand ships.  I don’t have a thousand ships, but Kristan makes me dunk harder on Jason when we play basketball at the pool (he won’t even play me anymore if Kristan is watching).  On any given day of pool basketball I can be pretty good.  When Kristan is around I really good.

It’s all about motive.  Paul addresses motive in his letter to the Colossian church.  He wrote, “Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily (from the soul), as something done for the Lord not for man”

A person who understands and applies this admonition WILL overcome any lazy tendency within him.  Laziness at it’s root is the devaluing of the action being put off.  Paying the bills, exercise, writing an important email can all be delayed in part b/c of a myriad of reasons (fear, guilt, temptation, etc) but the foundation of any excuse is the belief that the action itself is not the most valuable/important thing you can do.  There is also the notion that the important thing is that the task gets done…not the manner in which it is done (timeliness, with passion), but in reality the opposite is true.

It is God who judges the heart.  While your earthly master (your boss) may care more about the results God is equally (or more so) interested in the glory brought to Him by the faithful work of His servants.   

Kristan and I just got back from a few days in the Big Apple.  Here are some highlights -
- I found out my coat is broken…it doesn’t keep me warm at all!
- Our friend’s apt. costs almost 3 times more (a month) than what we pay for our house (which has 3 times the space).  You do the math!
- Under no circumstances do you accept free hot dogs off the street.  Worst decision I’ve made in a long time!
- Times Square at night looks like 3pm in Greensboro.  Wow. 
- There are no fat people in NY b/c they have to walk everywhere. 
- Seeing a movie set in NY at a NY theatre makes it so much better!  (I AM LEGEND)
- Altar Boyz (a Broadway show) was hilarious…and not offensive at all.  If you go to NY be sure to check it out. 
- You don’t get to go straight up to the top of the Empire State Building like in Sleepless in Seattle.  They left out the hour long security lines.
- Our friend got pick-pocketed.  Seriously NY, if you don’t want your image to change you have to knock that crap off.
- I’m really glad we didn’t get pick-pocketed.
- Central Park is only cool b/c there isn’t another blade of grass in NYC.  In North Carolina it’s just a park.
- Coffee is better in NYC. 
- It’s the only city with a soundtrack.  Seriously there is just Christmas music playing out of thin air.  It really gets you in the Christmas spirit.  Until you hear someone yell, “up yours” as you wander in front of their car. 
- People don’t use nonverbal communication.  They say, “I’m angry” but don’t frown, or “I’m happy” but don’t smile, or “That’s funny” but don’t laugh.  The only time you see anyone with an expression that matches their feeling is when they say, “I’m constipated”.  Oh well.

At the end of our trip we were on a crowded subway when an angry woman who was blocking the door was asked by a nice young lady to slide into an open spot to make room.  Angry woman replied, “You move in, I’m staying right here” to which the nice young lady responded, “I thought you would want to move off the door…it gives more room for the world to revolve around you!”

OK, she didn’t say that, but I thought it would have been great if she did!  Yea, I would be a jerk if I lived in NY.

Do you have a lot on your “to do” list today?  Well, is reading my blog one of them (it should be)? 

Then get off the freakin computer and get to work!

Dr. Bennett used to tell me that the way to eat an elephant was, “one bite at a time”.  Just b/c something is big doesn’t mean it is too much…as long as you manage it well.  Once, in college, I had a 45 page paper due for my internship.  The good news was I had 6 months to work on it.  The bad news?  Yea, I waited until the night before.  Yep, I didn’t even do an ounce of research until 16 hours before it was supposed to be on my professors desk. 

It was my finest hour!  45 pages, completely off the cuff, without a shred of premeditated thought.  I got a B+.

Procrastination is a lot like having too much to drink.  After the consequences of your actions begin to set in you raise your head out of the toilet bowl and say, “I’m never doing that again”.  Yes, procrastination makes you puke…so don’t do it!

This is so simple it’s stupid, but guys especially really suck at this so I am going to say it anyway: GET STARTED!  Not tomorrow, not after you finish creating your Madden team, not after you watch another episode of Heroes…now! 

Today a friend of mine and I talked about a really positive way to help his prayer life.  He really enjoys extra-curricular activities (TV, movies, etc).  Nothing wrong with these things by themselves, but they completely take the credibility out of an “I’m too busy” excuse applied to prayer or ministry.  So, instead of convincing him that these things are of the devil we talked about how to use his love for this stuff to help his prayer life.  He can play as many video games or watch as much TV as he wants…after he spends an hour in silent, focused prayer.  A person can absolutely still waste a lot of time in the remaining part of a day.  However, considering most young pastors pray about 5 minutes a day I figure this is a pretty good start. 

Tomorrow morning at 3 am Kristan and I will be waking up to head to the airport.  Our Christmas present to each other this year was a trip to NYC!  Well, it was actually several people’s Christmas present to us (including us).  Apparantly New York is expensive…who knew?

I’m not sure if I will have Internet access there (or if I will use it if I do), so I will continue the “Overcoming Laziness” series after I return next Wed.  If, by chance, I am able to blog regularly while there  I will be writing of the wonders of modern day Rome. 

Oh, and regarding the ”Overcoming Laziness” series, NYC does not constitute a ”distraction” causing me to become slack on my responsibilities…just in case you were wondering.   

The most important thing for me in overcoming laziness is…hold on a sec, I need to see if my fantasy football QB has scored yet (Cutler)…

PUTTING AWAY THE DISTRACTIONS WHEN WORKING!

Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit”.  Jason has been communicating his passion for living remarkably nonstop over the last couple of weeks.  I love that he had a chance to share this with everyone on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago.  Back in college it seemed like every person I knew wanted to graduate and go on to change the world…to leave a legacy.  Then, after passionately describing how we would initiate change we would head back to our apartments and spend hours playing video games and watching tv.  We sincerely wanted to do something great.  Somewhere between the idea and the action we would find ourselves distracted.  Jason has been communicating the urgency of living remarkably b/c you don’t stumble butt-backwards into it while playing Halo. 

I’m going to speak directly to the church here.  If you take a glance through the book of Acts you see the Church selflessly giving up everything to share a message of hope to the world.  We carry that same message.  We all will stand before God one day to give an account of how we managed the time He has given us.  I don’t presume to speak for God, but I’m pretty sure He won’t be impressed I’ve seen every Adam Sandler movie enough times to quote them verbatim. 

The problem with distractions isn’t that we do them, it’s what they keep us from doing.  Mark Twain said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover”

Kristan is a runner.  I on the other hand don’t run unless I’m being chased.  This is an example of a complimentary marriage.  She is absolutely amazing.  Seriously, she takes our dog out for runs and every time Sawyer has to stop and rest!  He will find a shady place and just lay down.  More than once Kristan has had to CARRY Sawyer back home.  She is like a marine with a fallen buddy! 

Since I have known Kristan she has faithfully demonstrated this discipline of running.  I have noticed, however, that once she started joining Sandy, a neighbor who could knock out a marathon and still be up for a game of hopscotch, Kristan began to double the time she spent pounding the pavement.  Sandy isn’t some sort of drill instructor shouting at Kristan to pick up the pace.  She is just another person on the road helping Kristan keep the pace.

I haven’t been in ministry all that long, but in my experience serving at three different churches, and having many friends in the ministry, it seems as though most ministers discipline is directly related to their own initiative.  This leads to a lot of pastors polarized either at the end of laziness or being a workaholic.  Apparently God has designed most of us to struggle with getting going or taking a break.  I haven’t met a lot of guys who have found that balance…none who have done it without some outside accountability. 

Here is my plan for spiritual growth in this area:
1.  Be honest about my tendencies: slow to start/complete avoidance of tasks I’m not particularly passionate about
2.  Enlist “running partners”: My wife, my leadership team
3.  Make others known about what I need to accomplish

It’s so simple, but just today I had a conversation with another pastor and we went over some of this stuff and as he left I felt productive for him!  He discovered that his to do list was written out in such a way that made it look like he had 25 hours of work to do today.  We went over it together and wrote the same information out in such a way that revealed he could finish everything up by noon!  Had we not talked he may have never even begun that list.  It’s hard to initiate oneself when you are staring down at what looks like an exhausting task. 

I think it’s important to mention here that, although it’s slightly separate from the topic, for guys like me that have a hard time getting started on tasks I’m not particularly passionate about; it is huge that we delegate effectively.  There’s a lot of good resources on the art of delegation, and I am no where near close to being good at it yet.  Churches are really heavy…one guy can’t carry the whole thing on his back for very long.