everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Just do something
Some thoughts from a book I'm reading. It's Erwin McManus' book Seizing Your Divine Moment : Dare to live a life of adventure, and I've only just started it. But a couple of quotes from a chapter called Initiative: Just Do Something:
And:
I think this addresses a large part of my life, I'm ashamed to say. First, I think there's no doubt that, perhaps due to the church I grew up in, I often defined my Christianity by what I don't do. Don't curse, don't drink, don't smoke, don't this, don't that. Avoiding the appearance of evil, I suppose. But too often avoiding the appearance of doing good, as well. Mostly just doing nothing.
And second, reacting has been the norm more than acting. More often than not, only when forced to will I act. Some of that, I believe, goes back to some of the things I mentioned regarding fear. But not always. Sometimes it's a concious choice to not act, to not do the things I know I should, to see good that could be done, and choose to look the other way. He also mentions this well-known verse, which is always hard to hear:
Back home
As I've said, we recently moved back to Little Rock from Alabama, a land which, sadly, is almost completely unfamililar with the great sport of basketball. It was 4 years ago today that we moved over to Huntsville, and it's pretty much football 12 months a year. Sure, there's some NASCAR talk, too, which is about as exciting to me as watching golf or CSPAN. A lot has changed in 4 years - we have a new son now, who was born in Huntsville, and my daughter is now in 1st grade. I've managed to increase my waistline, which wasn't really that hard. It's been much harder to decrease it, I can tell you. Little Rock itself has changed a fair amount as well. But there is so much that's familiar. We enjoyed living in a foreign land for a while, but it's good to be back home.
We have put so much emphasis on avoiding evil that we have become virtually blind to the endless opportunities for doing good. We have defined holiness through what we separate ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to. I am convinced that the great tragedy is not the sins that we commit, but the life that we fail to live.
And:
When we react, life invades our space, intrudes on our comfort, interrupts our apathy, and forces us to respond. But to react is different than to act. We react when we are forced out of neutrality. We act when we refuse to stay there.
I think this addresses a large part of my life, I'm ashamed to say. First, I think there's no doubt that, perhaps due to the church I grew up in, I often defined my Christianity by what I don't do. Don't curse, don't drink, don't smoke, don't this, don't that. Avoiding the appearance of evil, I suppose. But too often avoiding the appearance of doing good, as well. Mostly just doing nothing.
And second, reacting has been the norm more than acting. More often than not, only when forced to will I act. Some of that, I believe, goes back to some of the things I mentioned regarding fear. But not always. Sometimes it's a concious choice to not act, to not do the things I know I should, to see good that could be done, and choose to look the other way. He also mentions this well-known verse, which is always hard to hear:
"Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it." James 4:17 (NLT)I think this is going to likely be both a challenging book, as well as a convicting book at times, and I look forward to reading more of it. I'll likely be posting more out of it as well.
Back home
As I've said, we recently moved back to Little Rock from Alabama, a land which, sadly, is almost completely unfamililar with the great sport of basketball. It was 4 years ago today that we moved over to Huntsville, and it's pretty much football 12 months a year. Sure, there's some NASCAR talk, too, which is about as exciting to me as watching golf or CSPAN. A lot has changed in 4 years - we have a new son now, who was born in Huntsville, and my daughter is now in 1st grade. I've managed to increase my waistline, which wasn't really that hard. It's been much harder to decrease it, I can tell you. Little Rock itself has changed a fair amount as well. But there is so much that's familiar. We enjoyed living in a foreign land for a while, but it's good to be back home.
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