Digital Wilderness

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Another year, come and gone. I can’t believe how quickly it’s flown by! It’s been a very busy, very eventful year, but VERY good, filled with many fun adventures, much personal growth and the meeting of a special someone.

With the year winding down, I wanted to do a wrapup on my goals for the year.

• Run three 5ks or one 10k
  – Done! Ran the Flying Pig 10K in May, as well as the Susan G. Komen 5K in September.
• Become and stay debt free, completing baby step 3 of Dave Ramsey’s plan
  – I became debt free for the first time in a couple years in March. I’m still working on the full 3-month emergency fund, but paying for school (to stay out of debt) is a focus.
• Complete a minimum of 12 credit hours of classes without incurring any debt
  – Done! 13 credit hours will be completed, with no debt.
• Complete two landscaping/outdoor projects
  – Done! I finished both the walkway/landscaping bed from the garage to the deck and cleaning/treating the deck.
• Become more knowledgeable about mutual funds and retirement savings
  – Done! I’ve read several books and many articles online, and continue to stay on top of financial news. I rolled over my old company’s 401k to a Roth IRA and I’m contributing to that for the time being, until I qualify for my new company’s 401k matching plan.
• Maintain weight
  – Done! Though I’ve struggled with eating healthy since I started the new job, and at times dipped below the goal, I’m currently at where I wanted to be at the start of the year. Thankfully, gaining weight hasn’t been a problem.

I’m very much looking forward to all that’s in store in 2009! I hope God has blessed each of you with a great 2008 and continues to bless you in 2009!

Wow, I saw the following post a couple weeks ago and it really got to me. I couldn’t not post it… Before reading it, first check out Perry Noble’s post Advice For Single People. Specifically, the post to which I’m referring seeks to explain the follow point from Perry’s blog:

single men – treat all single ladies with respect (& as a friend once told me) lead her away from the curse

The Curse, from Shane Duffey (emphasis mine)

I have received many questions in regards to the phrase, “lead her away from the curse”. What does that mean? What curse? The following is an attempt to explain the wisdom that a friend shared with me:

Genesis 3:16
To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”

This whole verse is the curse. The specific part to which I’m referring is the second part, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Shouldn’t a woman desire her husband? On the surface that seems appropriate and good. The only problem with that is that God is calling it a curse. So, this desire is something different from a holy desire that a woman should have for her husband… instead, it’s a manipulative, controlling and insecure desire to possess a man and either make him her slave (to worship her) or her idol (for her to worship). So a guy who allows a relationship in which he is the primary desire of the woman has not “led her away from the curse”.

A guy will be naturally be drawn to the outworking of this curse… I mean any guy will love the “he will rule over you” part. But, the man’s responsibility in a relationship should be to point the woman to Jesus… not himself and if he isn’t careful he will place himself in the position in which only Jesus belongs. If that happens, then a woman will be drawn further into the ills of that curse and that plays right into the very thing that appeals to a man. He can get what he wants. Because a woman who wants to own a man and makes him her primary desire will fall under his rule and then do whatever it takes to keep him… potentially to the extreme of giving up her body.

To complicate matters (as if a curse from God isn’t enough) most guys battle low self esteem and high levels of insecurity. So a guy who isn’t conscientious about leading a lady away from the curse will easily start to seek power over her. What I have seen is that a man who flirts with any girl that catches his eye isn’t really seeking affection as much as he is seeking power. This is to combat what he lacks in his view of himself. Even a guy with good intentions will be drawn into the curse and actually start to enable it because the lure of power is strong. That is multiplied when that lure is on the lips of a girl who, because of the curse, will make him her ultimate desire.

Practically, for a guy this would mean he needs to measure every word and he needs to be bluntly honest all the time. He must expect that a lady is a victim of the curse and know he can make it worse… or better. A guy can be a stumbling block by simply being passive and allowing the lady to do what she will do naturally, place her desire for the man above her desire for Jesus. Even on a date, a man should be measuring his every word to make sure he’s not placing himself in Jesus’ place and thereby leading the lady toward the curse instead of away from it. Because, if he views himself as desirable to the lady he may not place forth the effort necessary to serve her and conversely, if he has too low of a view of himself, he will say and do things to sweep a girl off her feet. Either way he ends up leading them both further into the curse and misses out on an opportunity to actually get to know who she really is by focusing on her character.

There you have it… I hope this helps.

So, for all of you who don’t believe me or consider it real or official until I blog about it (seriously?!?)…

Meet Laura! (gallery)

I’m not going to go into details – some things are meant for the interwebs and some aren’t, and spilling my relationship beans all over my blog is not something I’m going to do – but if you want to know more, catch me on email, IM, the phone or in person sometime and I’ll be glad to tell you how wonderful and awesome she is!

Happy now, all you Facebook comment folks?

Relient K – Sleigh Ride from gotee on Vimeo.

Too good not to post this quote…

Bacon is…glorious. What you need to know is this: bacon – it cooks best on a Foreman grill…The problem with bacon is when you cook it, it splatters, so you’re all covered in bacon, which it’s worth it, truly. But like if you look at the bacon you can put an eye out ‘cuz hot grease comes flying out of the bacon. It’s like the pig’s revenge. But if you put it on a Foreman grill, a couple magical things happen – 1) it can’t splatter and 2) it cooks two sides at once, so it’s quick and you don’t have to wait for your bacon. I would just tell you, if you’re real Christians, you’ll get a Foreman grill and you will cook bacon and you’ll put one hand on the Foreman grill and you’ll raise the other in praise to the glorious God who allows you to eat the meat.

–As said by Mark Driscoll in a sermon on Genesis 9, in reference to verse 3 – “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”

A couple weeks ago, Tony Morgan from NewSpring Church (Perry Noble‘s church) wrote about 10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail.

I was going to comment on each of these, and in fact had written my thoughts and applied each to my life, but decided to let them stand as is. Instead, I invite you to examine your own life, to discern those areas where you are failing, consider why this is and then do something about it.

10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail

01. It’s not your passion.
If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing.

02. You don’t have a plan.
You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That includes a financial plan. (I happen to believe you need direction from God on this.)

03. You’re waiting for it to be perfect.
Test-drive it. Beta-test that new idea. You’ll fall into the trap of inaction if you think it has to be absolutely right from day one.

04. You’re not willing to work hard.
Everything worth pursuing in my life has involved discipline and perseverance.

05. It’ll outgrow you.
Keep learning. Keep growing. But more importantly, build a team of people including leaders that can be who you’re not.

06. You’ve had success in the past.
I’ve watched organizations hang on to a good idea for too long. Time passes. Momentum fades. It’s risky to let go of the past and jump on the next wave.

07. You’re unwilling to stop doing something else.
Complexity is easy. Simplicity takes discipline. You can’t build a healthy marriage if you’re unwilling to give up dating other women. Who/what do you need to stop dating?

08. You won’t build a team of friends.
Anyone can hire from a resume. You need to find people you want to share life with. In the long run, great relationships will get you out of bed in the morning.

09. You won’t have the tough conversations.
When breakdown happens (and it always does), someone needs to put on their big-boy pants and initiate the difficult conversation that leads to relational healing.

10. You’re afraid of failure.
When fear consumes you, it will cause you to do stupid things. You’ll let negativity distract you. You’ll embrace the known, and grow comfortable with mediocrity. The more often you fail, though, the more often you’ll find success.

I will share that #3 is the one I have always struggled with the most and #1 is the one I’ve thought about the most lately.

Number three summarizes what I consider my tragic flaw, in the same vein as Hamlet…and we know how that ended… I feel the need to gather information, research, plan things out, make a list and check it twice, make sure everthing is perfect and in place, wait for the burning bush as a sign – all before I will take a risk, take the leap. This is a huge lack of faith on my part, something I’ve been challenged hard on in recent months.

Having a new job, classes – an overall busy schedule – that has led to exhaustion, yet still I’m left feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled has let to thoughts about number one – passion. I’ve really had to re-evaluate my activities and where I’m investing my time and energy. I’ve had to consciously consider if the activity in which I find myself involved is truly in my sweet spot, or just something I’ve found to pass the time. I’ve realized just how much time I’ve been wasting on things for which I have no passion, and how much time I’m losing which could be spend on those things for which I do have passion.

Here are some quotes I’ve been collecting for…months, I guess.

“There is nothing so inspiring to a man as a beautiful woman. She’ll make you want to charge the castle, slay the giant, leap across parapets.”
–John Eldridge, Wild At Heart

“The battle itself is never enough; a man yearns for romance. It’s not enough to be a hero; it’s that he is a hero to someone in particular, to the woman he loves.”
–John Eldridge, Wild At Heart

“Men are like trucks – without a load, they’re squirrelly, but if you put a load on them, they’ll go straight.”
–Paraphrased from Mark Driscoll

“Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.”
–Blaise Pascal

“I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.”
–Blaise Pascal

“There is nothing that we can see on earth which does not either show the wretchedness of man or the mercy of God. One either sees the powerlessness of man without God, or the strength of man with God.”
–Blaise Pascal

“Try to give your agenda to God. Keep saying, ‘Your will be done, not mine.’ Give every part of your heart and your time to God and let God tell you what to do, where to go, when and how to respond. God does not want you to destroy yourself. Exhaustion, burnout, and depression are not signs that you are doing God’s will.”
– Henry Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love

“It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.”
–Henri J. Nouwen

[Via LC]

The story of Christ’s birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love.

So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

And when it’s all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

Welcome to Advent Conspiracy.