I must say, though, that I'm quite relieved I was finally journaling yesterday with some more raw feelings and thoughts to process. I think during the period of time these past few weeks that I've stopped blogging I was a little lonesome because so many people whom I feel at home with weren't around and I had a hard time processing my thoughts and feelings and worries. And when I don't process my thoughts, they either just sit there, get buried, grow into lies, or make a great foundation for an explosion of emotions or seeping into my attitude. And it gets more and more difficult when I want to process things but for some reason resist or don't have the time to do so.
It's dangerous, I must say.
For the record, just because we in the world of introverts prefer to sustain our energy from our own inner being and tend to shy away from large groups of people doesn't mean we necessarily like to be alone all the time.
A few weeks ago Alan, who came back from China for a little bit (and who I also believe should win as a parent for the Cutest Baby Award of 2011 because I've seen a lot of cute newborns from this year, but I think Janie is the cutest yet), taught an awesome Sunday School lesson. He made a list of challenges on the dry erase board with prizes listed next to them if it was accomplished. We had some fun seeing who would volunteer to hold a plank position for 2 minutes, attempt to do a hand stand for 30 seconds, do 35 push-ups, etc. Mindy practically knocked out my ribs to get me to volunteer to sing the national anthem without mistakes in order to win a bag of candy, but I was too shy and didn't think the bag of candy was worth it since I didn't want to eat it.
After most of the challenges were attempted and completed and no one else wanted to do anything, Alan used the activity to help us try to figure out how we made the decision to take on the challenge or not. Here's some things we came up with:
- Do I have the ability/capacity to take on the challenge?
- What do I receive if I am successful? How much do I want it?
- What would happen if I am not successful?
- What's at stake if I do not take on the challenge?
Alan challenged us in a few ways. One particular thing he said that struck me was this:
It's not enough to say, 'I know God.' If you walk up to the White House and say, 'I know Obama, let me in,' there's no way the guards will let you in. But if Obama himself came outside and said, 'I know him,' and invites you inside, then that changes everything.
We claim to be Christians, but do we understand the cost it takes to be one? Or have we forgotten what's at stake if our lives don't really reflect Christ's lordship?
So I finished reading this book last week called, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable by Seth Godin. I picked it up at the library recently because within the last few years I've piqued an interest in marketing and communications. I love the concept of trying to figure out the relationships between a message and an audience and how to bridge that gap. And since I don't plan on attending grad school, I thought I'd pick up some books and start my own little self-taught class, much like last summer when I read and learned a lot about finances (although, I think I need to review because I've forgotten a lot of stuff...whoops).
So a Purple Cow is described this way:
Cows, after you've seen one or two or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable.
There's this one chapter that struck a chord in me because it seemed to apply to my life - beyond the concept of marketing:
Why do birds fly in formation? Because the birds that follow the leader have an easier flight. The leader breaks the wind resistance, and the following birds can fly far more efficiently.
A lot of risk-averse business people believe that they can follow a similar strategy. They think they can wait until a leader demonstrates a breakthrough idea, and then rush to copy it, enjoying the break in wind resistance from the leader.
The problem with people who would avoid a remarkable career is that they never end up as the leader. They decide to work for a big company, intentionally functioning as an anonymous drone, staying way back to avoid risk and criticism. If they make a mistake and choose the wrong bird to follow, they lose. When a big company lays off ten thousand people, most of those people probably don't deserve to get fired. They were doing what they were told, staying within the boundaries, and following instructions. Alas, they picked the wrong lead bird.
The lesson the Cow is worth repeating: Safe is risky.
To go along with this idea, I think following Christ is the ultimate purple cow. Just stay with me for a second. I'm not trying to say Jesus is some marketing strategy or that Christianity has a marketing scheme or anything like that. It's just the concept of following Jesus is phenomenal, counterintuitive, exciting and flat out unbelievable.
What makes him the ultimate purple cow is that Jesus Christ (as a purple cow) doesn't ever become a brown cow - something common or boring. We as sinful, flawed, finite humans treat following Jesus Christ like He is a brown cow and turn life into a routine. We get comfortable, don't really challenge things, and go with the flow.
Earlier this summer I was talking with a friend about living "comfortable" lives. We're both at a transitional period in our lives where we just graduated college and are learning what it means to make decisions in "real life." My friend explained that he tended to make decisions based on what was done before, because it feels safe and reliable and gives a sense of security. He said he tries his best to challenge himself and take steps out of his comfort zone, but at the same time, is there really anything wrong with being comfortable?
I didn't think there was anything inherently wrong with being comfortable. But I knew it wasn't something we should necessarily be aiming for because when Jesus calls us to follow him he doesn't call us to a life of comfort. I didn't really know how to answer my friend at the time.
There was another conversation I had with another friend where we talked about how sometimes it seems as though our lives and beliefs don't look that much different from the people around us. We'll go through hard things, be good people and fight injustices - and the people around us will stand beside us. I didn't really know how to answer him at the time, either.
I thought it was funny how the InterVarsity NY/NJ 2011 Regional Staff Conference's theme was on taking risks. It was interesting how our speaker, Ted Esler, focused his talks on taking risks on ourselves, on others, and on God.
"Risk and faith are inseparable," Ted said at the beginning. We looked at Hebrews and saw how this was true with examples like Abraham and Moses and Rahab who all took huge risks. Some points he made (some note credit to Nathan):
We were given some articles to read about taking risks, and in one of the articles it said:
People who undergo a crucible and grow through the experience all share something vital: they don't become stuck. No matter how much they struggle, no matter how much they may grieve, and no matter how much they may chafe at finding themselves in situations they cannot immediately control, they are not paralyzed by difficult situations. Where others see chaos and confusion, they see opportunities to learn and grow.
A crucible is a transformative experience through which an individual comes to a new or an altered sense of identity.
Crucibles catalyze the process of learning from experience.
So in response to my friends: it's not wrong to be comfortable, but if we settle for comfortable all the time we may be missing out on important opportunities to grow in our faith, in our relationships, and in our lives.
I'm also reading Kingdom Come by Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi, but this post is way to long to start connecting that dot.
And from another chapter of Purple Cow:
You can't know if your Purple Cow is guaranteed to work. You can't know if it's remarkable enough or too risky. That's the point. It's the very unpredictability of the outcome that makes it work.
We claim to be Christians, but do we understand the cost it takes to be one? Or have we forgotten what's at stake if our lives don't really reflect Christ's lordship?
So I finished reading this book last week called, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable by Seth Godin. I picked it up at the library recently because within the last few years I've piqued an interest in marketing and communications. I love the concept of trying to figure out the relationships between a message and an audience and how to bridge that gap. And since I don't plan on attending grad school, I thought I'd pick up some books and start my own little self-taught class, much like last summer when I read and learned a lot about finances (although, I think I need to review because I've forgotten a lot of stuff...whoops).
So a Purple Cow is described this way:
Cows, after you've seen one or two or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable.
There's this one chapter that struck a chord in me because it seemed to apply to my life - beyond the concept of marketing:
Why do birds fly in formation? Because the birds that follow the leader have an easier flight. The leader breaks the wind resistance, and the following birds can fly far more efficiently.
A lot of risk-averse business people believe that they can follow a similar strategy. They think they can wait until a leader demonstrates a breakthrough idea, and then rush to copy it, enjoying the break in wind resistance from the leader.
The problem with people who would avoid a remarkable career is that they never end up as the leader. They decide to work for a big company, intentionally functioning as an anonymous drone, staying way back to avoid risk and criticism. If they make a mistake and choose the wrong bird to follow, they lose. When a big company lays off ten thousand people, most of those people probably don't deserve to get fired. They were doing what they were told, staying within the boundaries, and following instructions. Alas, they picked the wrong lead bird.
The lesson the Cow is worth repeating: Safe is risky.
To go along with this idea, I think following Christ is the ultimate purple cow. Just stay with me for a second. I'm not trying to say Jesus is some marketing strategy or that Christianity has a marketing scheme or anything like that. It's just the concept of following Jesus is phenomenal, counterintuitive, exciting and flat out unbelievable.What makes him the ultimate purple cow is that Jesus Christ (as a purple cow) doesn't ever become a brown cow - something common or boring. We as sinful, flawed, finite humans treat following Jesus Christ like He is a brown cow and turn life into a routine. We get comfortable, don't really challenge things, and go with the flow.
Earlier this summer I was talking with a friend about living "comfortable" lives. We're both at a transitional period in our lives where we just graduated college and are learning what it means to make decisions in "real life." My friend explained that he tended to make decisions based on what was done before, because it feels safe and reliable and gives a sense of security. He said he tries his best to challenge himself and take steps out of his comfort zone, but at the same time, is there really anything wrong with being comfortable?
I didn't think there was anything inherently wrong with being comfortable. But I knew it wasn't something we should necessarily be aiming for because when Jesus calls us to follow him he doesn't call us to a life of comfort. I didn't really know how to answer my friend at the time.
There was another conversation I had with another friend where we talked about how sometimes it seems as though our lives and beliefs don't look that much different from the people around us. We'll go through hard things, be good people and fight injustices - and the people around us will stand beside us. I didn't really know how to answer him at the time, either.
I thought it was funny how the InterVarsity NY/NJ 2011 Regional Staff Conference's theme was on taking risks. It was interesting how our speaker, Ted Esler, focused his talks on taking risks on ourselves, on others, and on God.
"Risk and faith are inseparable," Ted said at the beginning. We looked at Hebrews and saw how this was true with examples like Abraham and Moses and Rahab who all took huge risks. Some points he made (some note credit to Nathan):
- Everybody has a different risk threshold, but it doesn't matter - God will take you were you are and push your boundaries.
- Some risks are not worth taking.
- Success gives us more to lose.
- "I don't feel qualified," fear of success, fear of failure, cynicism, and social stigma are bad reasons to avoid risk.
- Taking risks on ourselves is not optional. If we wait for perfect conditions we will never sow and never reap.
- You cannot build a ministry without risking it on other people (note: don't forget, every Christian is in ministry, not just those formally in "full-time" ministry!).
- We are commanded to take risks on God - to trust Him for huge things.
We were given some articles to read about taking risks, and in one of the articles it said:
People who undergo a crucible and grow through the experience all share something vital: they don't become stuck. No matter how much they struggle, no matter how much they may grieve, and no matter how much they may chafe at finding themselves in situations they cannot immediately control, they are not paralyzed by difficult situations. Where others see chaos and confusion, they see opportunities to learn and grow.
A crucible is a transformative experience through which an individual comes to a new or an altered sense of identity.
Crucibles catalyze the process of learning from experience.
So in response to my friends: it's not wrong to be comfortable, but if we settle for comfortable all the time we may be missing out on important opportunities to grow in our faith, in our relationships, and in our lives.
I'm also reading Kingdom Come by Allen Mitsuo Wakabayashi, but this post is way to long to start connecting that dot.
And from another chapter of Purple Cow:
You can't know if your Purple Cow is guaranteed to work. You can't know if it's remarkable enough or too risky. That's the point. It's the very unpredictability of the outcome that makes it work.
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