What if? God is trying to get you to ditch yourself so you can get something much better?
What are you holding on to?
Monday, January 11, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
abstract vs. concrete, part 1
At some point in life I would endeavor to have two different rooms, a "clean room" and a "dirty room".
The clean room would have blank walls, no furniture, and a hardwood floor on which to sit and read, ponder, or pray. It would serve as a "sterile" environment, of sorts, with no distractions.
Progress would be made in such a room, but only in intangible ways. That's why the dirty room is a necessity; it is the opposite of the clean room, generally speaking, where tangible progress is made. It contains tools to help execute on the ideas that come from the clean room, where ideas are born with more clarity.
Since I realized this desire last month, it's been very striking to me how much this notion of recognizing and balancing both the abstract and the concrete needs to occur for healthy living. In the past I've fallen heavy onto one side or the other. Many times I've attempted to do way too many things at one time without appropriately planning or considering what to do. I've also spent too much time considering situations at times when I should have been out executing (generally, helping or attending to people) and opportunities have been missed.
The clean room would have blank walls, no furniture, and a hardwood floor on which to sit and read, ponder, or pray. It would serve as a "sterile" environment, of sorts, with no distractions.
Progress would be made in such a room, but only in intangible ways. That's why the dirty room is a necessity; it is the opposite of the clean room, generally speaking, where tangible progress is made. It contains tools to help execute on the ideas that come from the clean room, where ideas are born with more clarity.
Since I realized this desire last month, it's been very striking to me how much this notion of recognizing and balancing both the abstract and the concrete needs to occur for healthy living. In the past I've fallen heavy onto one side or the other. Many times I've attempted to do way too many things at one time without appropriately planning or considering what to do. I've also spent too much time considering situations at times when I should have been out executing (generally, helping or attending to people) and opportunities have been missed.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
some lessons
Some lessons I have learned in the last 10 years, all of which I have really learned in the last 3.
I wrote less in 2009 because my head was down in the books. I wonder how 2010 will be different.
- Having the "best intentions" is not enough.
- There is a difference between 99% honest and 100% honest; honesty is black and white.
- When you are in debt, you are in debt not only the face value of the loan but also the face value of your life.
- Prayer isn't for God, it is for man. The prayerful man weathers the storm far better; the prayerful man has a better idea of what to do.
- Fully knowing or understanding is out of reach.
- Following blindly is far worse than standing still.
- Growth is found most in the things that hurt us the most.
- I fail because I was designed to fail. Yah'shua, His very name, translates to "God saves". He designed a system in which He is the always necessary savior. I suppose being God and all, He has this right, and it seems like a bad idea for me to try and operate against that.
I wrote less in 2009 because my head was down in the books. I wonder how 2010 will be different.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Sunday, December 20, 2009
i still don't go to church
It's been almost a year and a half... and yet spiritually, mentally, relationally, I'm in the best shape I've ever been. How does that work??
I'm not questioning the value of church or any specific church, but the formula in which many of them appear to be carried out.
Some part of me foolishly thought I was breaking new ground a couple weeks ago when I made the firm decision to stop trying to attend a church (which had basically become any church) and to start a re-evaluation of what the church was about and what it was supposed to be about. But, as in all things, I've been beaten to the punch.
Donald Miller's "Searching For God Knows What" has been sitting on my bookshelf un-cracked since last Christmas (thanks Mom) and only showed itself a few days back. Not knowing what it was about, I picked it up and read the back cover and realized that I wasn't the only one thinking this way. So far I am very impressed on the written insight it provides into what I think are universal questions about the modern day church. It helps me articulate the thoughts that have been going through my head as well.
Chapter 1: "It seems if there was a formula to fix life, Jesus would have told us what it was." Even after reading all the self-help and how-to books in the world, we would still make mistakes and we would still not have everything figured out.
Chapter 2: "...that doesn't sound like a very good god to me. The televangelist can have him, for all I care." Perhaps God is not the god that we, from all numbers of sources, are told to believe He is...
I'm not questioning the value of church or any specific church, but the formula in which many of them appear to be carried out.
Some part of me foolishly thought I was breaking new ground a couple weeks ago when I made the firm decision to stop trying to attend a church (which had basically become any church) and to start a re-evaluation of what the church was about and what it was supposed to be about. But, as in all things, I've been beaten to the punch.
Donald Miller's "Searching For God Knows What" has been sitting on my bookshelf un-cracked since last Christmas (thanks Mom) and only showed itself a few days back. Not knowing what it was about, I picked it up and read the back cover and realized that I wasn't the only one thinking this way. So far I am very impressed on the written insight it provides into what I think are universal questions about the modern day church. It helps me articulate the thoughts that have been going through my head as well.
Chapter 1: "It seems if there was a formula to fix life, Jesus would have told us what it was." Even after reading all the self-help and how-to books in the world, we would still make mistakes and we would still not have everything figured out.
Chapter 2: "...that doesn't sound like a very good god to me. The televangelist can have him, for all I care." Perhaps God is not the god that we, from all numbers of sources, are told to believe He is...
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
.net telecommute position available
I've recently been hired on at a major insurance company to lead a very small new "swat team" of designers and developers charged with re-developing a number of reporting and other employee-facing software systems. We are currently looking for another probably mid-level C#/.NET developer to join us.
There is a great opportunity here to make a big impact on the everyday lives of thousands of employees, all the while working from home, enjoying excellent benefits, and maintaining a fantastic life balance in general.
We will be building new systems using ASP.NET 3.5 and C#, all test-driven applications. The team will be provided with excellent and thorough specifications prior to development to make life easier (a promise I can make good on, because I will be overseeing the analysis and documentation process itself). This team may also be responsible for understanding, but not maintaining, the code of older systems written build on various legacy platforms.
Basic qualifications:
There is a great opportunity here to make a big impact on the everyday lives of thousands of employees, all the while working from home, enjoying excellent benefits, and maintaining a fantastic life balance in general.
We will be building new systems using ASP.NET 3.5 and C#, all test-driven applications. The team will be provided with excellent and thorough specifications prior to development to make life easier (a promise I can make good on, because I will be overseeing the analysis and documentation process itself). This team may also be responsible for understanding, but not maintaining, the code of older systems written build on various legacy platforms.
Basic qualifications:
- 3+ years experience developing web-based software in .NET
- C# and ASP.NET 3.5
- Very strong working knowledge of SQL, SQL Server, and ADO.NET
- Ability to write and modify clean XHTML/CSS layouts
- Experience with object-oriented JavaScript and/or jQuery
- Experience with WCF is a plus
- Experience developing in a test-driven environment is a plus
- Experience developing in a Java, PHP, Perl, or other environment is a plus
Friday, October 2, 2009
I think that there's a few things that never change and a few things that never stop changing.
I don't think we go through "dry periods". I think we go through periods where the opportunities presented are more difficult to recognize and the opposition is too easy to recognize, and we don't give opposition a good enough fight.
I think.
Where is the fight in us supposed to come from, during these different times? Different places, or the same?
I don't think we go through "dry periods". I think we go through periods where the opportunities presented are more difficult to recognize and the opposition is too easy to recognize, and we don't give opposition a good enough fight.
I think.
Where is the fight in us supposed to come from, during these different times? Different places, or the same?
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