How does God teach you? (part 1)

Here is a series of questions I'd love to ask pretty much the whole world (realizing the number who read this blog will fall woefully short of that aspiration):

1. Do you ever recognize God teaching you via life situations and events?

2. How do you recognize those times? Do you ever feel like God pulls you out of your own life as if you are looking in from outside?

3. How does God teach you? With humor? With melancholy? With sternness? With trials? With opportunities? With a chalkboard? What does it look like?

4. What is the most recent lesson God has taught you via life situations and events?


Here are my answers in two parts. Part 1:

1. God often teaches me through life events and situations. I read the Bible, and I try to read it a lot. God certainly teaches me through Scripture, but the Bible also talks about being hearers and doers of the Word. In a sort of parallel structure, I often find that I learn truth in the Bible but I don't fully understand what it means until I rub up against it in real life. To that end, God has always been willing to give me ample opportunity to rub up against truths; especially those to which I have some hard-headedness.

2. Some may attribute the opportunities to life lessons, or simple randomness; but God is behind them. They don't happen all the time, but when they do it is unmistakable. It's as if the normal cadence of my life is interrupted and a pattern of events tells a story; a story that has an author, a purpose, a perspective, and a particular point. For a minute, I am outside of my own life and someone else is using it to bring truth to life in a way that is specifically adapted for my own understanding.

3. Here is the thing that makes me immensely curious about other people's experiences. When God orchestrates these teachable moments in my life, He often bathes them in humor and irony. Not the "Dumb and Dumber" humor that exists for its own sake, but the "Dan in Real Life" humor that has direction and teaches. This has always taken me by surprise. I often walk away laughing and saying to myself "I got ya God." To this day though, it still surprises me that God has a sense of humor. Does God have a sense of humor in your life?

4. Will answer in part 2

Wittnessing History

"I was there when....". I sometimes wonder what I'll look back on with whimsy when I'm older. I was there when Tiger Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open. I was there when Hands across America linked up in the middle of Washington D.C. I was there when Prince, Chaka Khan, and Dougie Fresh took the stage for an electrifying performance of Loddie doddie. Who knows what stories I'll bore my grand kids with over and over again. I do know that there will be stories that I share over and over again, and some of them will definitely start with "I was there when."

Lately, I can't help but wonder if this won't be one of those stories. "I was there during the roaring 90's and early 2000s. I was also there during the great awakening of the early 2000s. I was there when the world, and the U.S. changed forever." I believe we are living at a historic inflection point in our society. Since the 1970s we have been leveraging up on every dimension. People have borrowed, businesses have borrowed, our country has borrowed, and finally we have reached a point where there is nobody to borrow from and nothing to borrow against.

There is a weird thing happening in this latest recession. If you look backward in time, generally people save during the good times and borrow during the bad times. A key metric called the net savings rate has generally demonstrated this pattern. When times are good, this metric goes up and when the economy gets bad, this metric goes down. This time is different. Heading into the latest recession, the U.S. had a zero to negative savings rate meaning people were spending more than they made...that was during the good times. Now that times are bad, the net savings rate is actually going up meaning people are holding on to more of their money and putting it aside for the future. Its a double whammy given the consumer accounts for a majority of our economy. But, I think its an important symbol of what people are realizing: house prices don't always go up, times are not always good, and living beyond your means doesn't work.

It is going to be a tough lesson with long lasting ramifications; and its just getting started. But, in the end I fully believe that we will persevere. I believe we will learn and adapt and come together to bear one anothers burdens. But, I do wonder what the story will look like once we start looking back on what I believe is a very historic time.

The Upside of Colds

It seems like everyone gets a little something this time of year. Sinus problems, cold, flu, virus...something. Except me, of course, because my immune system is super human. I don't get sick. Occasionally, I have a little drainage or sinus pressure but that is more a result of the weather than any weakness in my immune system. All of which brings me to an aside. Pride can be a very pervasive characteristic.

In any case, one thing that I have come to appreciate about having sinus issues, or what some might perceive as a "cold", is the resulting voice. Deep, gravelly, downright sultry, that's what comes to mind. Sometimes, in times of sinus discomfort, I will say to myself, "Hello Darlin". Honestly I get a little tingly. Singing with the sinus voice? Like Barry White and Johnny Cash are in the room singing a duet. I am really thankful its not my normal voice, the fame would be just too much.

So, like everything in life there is a silver lining. Even though the "sinus" problems might produce achiness, fever, limited breathing, and general malaise......they also produce some of the best renditions of "Ring of Fire" ever uttered this side of Nashville. That is payment plenty.

Train of Thought

Sometimes I wonder where a train of thought comes from. Some simple thing happens or some innocent observation occurs and a few seconds later it turns into an internal conversation on world hunger or some internal pondering of how gravity actually works. I am not sure if everyone experiences the same thing, so I don't often share these internal trains of thought. Does the same thing happen to you?

In any case, I had one of these occurrences last night. I was eating pasta, a little piece went down the wrong way. My first thought: why do you suppose God put two very different openings so close together? My second thought: I haven't felt the little piece cough up yet. I wonder if its gotten down into my lung. If it gets down into my lung, what happens? Does it disintegrate? Do my lungs continue to force coughing for days until it finally comes out? Do you suppose everyone has lungs littered with little pieces of food? What if it does get down in there and start rotting, does that cause bad breath? Is it possible that simple recurring halitosis is really just rotting food down in our lungs? Are we really fighting bad breath correctly? Instead of mouth wash should we be using lung cleaner? Is there such a thing as lung cleaner? Should I invent lung cleaner? How much money could a person make off lung cleaner? What would I do with the money if it was a lot? I really like houses on water...especially near golf courses?

"Huh, whats that?" "Oh, no I'm OK Honey, I just got a little piece of pasta down the wrong pipe."

Function over Form or Mon-chi-chi

Some times function is way more important than form. But, do you ever wonder exactly what you look like in those situations? I saw a picture of my nephew today. He was dressed to get bad guys and hunt bears. Clearly in such a case function trumps form.

This weekend, I cut up leaves in our yard and it was cold. Not just cold by southern standards, but cold for a November day anywhere. The ground was frozen, the lawn mower was sliding around, my hands got numb. Much like hunting bears and getting bad guys, function is way more important than form in such cases. So, I had layer upon layer including earphones, golf gloves and a big heavy brown sweat shirt. I had the top of the sweat shirt pulled over my head so that I could barely see out of it. For two hours, I had nothing to do but listen to an assortment of Christian, rap, country and southern rock...and wonder exactly what I looked like to people passing by.

I have to believe I looked like a Mon-chi-chi. Remember those? Oh so soft and cuddly? But, it must not have been a happy Mon-chi-chi. The mail lady stopped by with a package. As she set up at the mail box, I waived at her letting her know I would come and get it. She ignored me, or perhaps with the golf gloves she thought I was playing through. But then she drove by me, and I flagged her again. She uncomfortably avoided eye contact. She drove all the way down our driveway and dropped the package at our door (its a long driveway). When she started backing up, I wanted to let her know she could turn around in our yard. As I drove toward her she sped up, even catching a little wheel on the way out. Oh well, such is the cost on such occasions that function is indeed more important than form.

Some Days

Some days are infinitely better than others, but it always pays to laugh. This morning, when I went out to get in my car, I realized I didn't have my keys.

"I must have left them in my other pants pocket," I thought. Checked there...nope. "Maybe they fell out into the laundry basket". Checked there....nope. Hmmmmmm.

Then I remembered laying them in my wife's car the night before. Oh, but she just left for a play group that is 30 or 45 minutes away. I called her cell phone..it rang in the other room. Hmmmmm. Spare keys? Locked inside the console which is locked inside the car for which I have no key. Hmmmm. Note to self: do not store spare key inside of said car.

I have a meeting in 45 minutes with the head of the organization I work for. Hmmmm. I call a cab company. "No problem," says the voice on the other line, "We'll get you there in time." "I'll wait outside for the cab to come," I said, "Do you want my cell phone number in case he gets confused on the way in?" "No, we know exactly where you are," He says.

Outside, I pick up trash while I wait. In the night, some kind of critter had gotten into the garbage and spread it all over our yard. Hmmmm. Note to self: Don't overfill the trash can with good smelling stuff because animals seem to dig that.

25 minutes pass, no cab...hmmmmmm. Finally he shows up, I get in. Legally blind he must be; dodging curves, revving the engine, and missing trees. "Sorry sir," he says after rolling through the stop, "Is that your building?" "Yes it is." I say as I jump out with a "bye and thank you."

I stroll in the office, up to the 4th floor. A cup of water, a warm "hello", and 4 minutes to spare. Hmmmmm, sometimes you just have to laugh.

I wept yesterday morning; tears of joy. Did you? We have an African American man as President Elect of the United States of America. The fabric of this nation is forever changed. The color of a man's skin is no longer the barometer of his heart nor the measure of his aptitude. Anything is possible, "yes we can!"

When I was growing up, I remember people joking about the impossibility of having a black President. Oh, what sweet irony that Barak Obama will walk across the threshold of the White house as our President. We have come so far and we have changed so much.

I can't pretend to understand or know what it feels like to be a minority in the U.S., but I have seen first hand the evil, destructive force of racism. That force suffered a major blow yesterday. Thank you God for delivering us.