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Thursday, 28 October 2010

An Obnoxious Servant

Me: Hey can you help out this weekend?

Person: Ummm... we'll, do you need my help?

Me: Yea, so can you do it?

Person: Ummm.. we'll do you want me to?

*At this point I'm thinking to myself, "Dude, the only reason why I would ask you is BECAUSE I NEED YOU! NO DUH!".

Me: We'll yeah, why would I ask you?

Person: I guess.

*Discussion over.

As a leader it's my responsibility to ask for helpers sometimes, but it gets on my nerves when I ask someone who intentionally tries to be obnoxious because of the mere fact that they KNOW they're the only one/few who can execute the help.

I let this person slide. My biggest mistake was to let this person serve with an obnoxious attitude. I realized that an "I guess" doesn't cut it. If an "I guess" is all that you can offer to God, then perhaps I/we can do without you. Leaders, you must learn to listen to those around you. How they respond tells a whole lot about where they are spiritually and mentally. It also speaks much about their ability to serve in a justly manner. We're looking for a "yes" or a "no", but when someone requires for you to state that you NEED and WANT them to serve, and marks an attitude of obnoxiousness, it is a clear sign the they should not be serving that particular purpose.

Monday, 22 March 2010

A Discouraging Father
- Has a bad day at work and dumps it on the family. Moreover, the children EXPECT to hear something negative. If everything is as it should be (house cleaned, dishes washed, laundry..etc), he'll find something to complain about.
- His children doesn't remember the last time he ever encouraged them. Or differently put, according to him, DISCOURAGEMENT is the only form of ENCOURAGEMENT. In his mindset, he thinks it's encouragement, but he children never see it.
- Compares his children to the children of others. i.e. intelligence, physical appearance, academics, etc. (all degrees of life).
- Always begins a sentence with, "You'll never....".
- Even if he is in the wrong, the son/daughter always has to initialize the asking of forgiveness first.
- Will never sincerely apologize to his peers. His pride is his weakness.
- Always uses the argument, "I raised you this many years" as if it refutes ALL ARGUMENTS or makes up for all DECISION MAKING PROCESS.
- Argues with his wife in front of their children, thinking they'll just mind their own business.
- Tells others how worthless you are in front of all your peers while you hold on to a dying smile. Public humiliation is in some sense worse than private physical abuse.
...interesting enough this works for a discouraging mother too.

Wednesday, 24 February 2010

Jesus, Philosophy, and a subjective professor.

Jesus, Philosophy, and a subjective professor.

I'm currently taking Jesus and Philosophy right now and the professor is ridiculously subjective. In subjective, I mean subjective to his own personal opinion as the only valid interpretation of the Gospels. It's not surprising, taking that my school is a public college. But since the beginning of this semester, the dude has been rendering himself ignorant- even though at times he is hilariously non-believing funny. But he gets on my bad side for the most part. For example, in class we are supposed to read the Gospels without any form of allegorizing. So pretty much when Jesus said "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days (but the temple he had spoken of was his body).", we somehow cannot take it as allegorical. But that's the problem. The meaning of the verse itself is implying that it is allegorical! The whole objective of the class is to understand the truth of the Gospels, but frankly it cannot be done if you cannot to some extent use figurative allegorical interpretation. It's like telling a person to drive a car without a steering wheel.

I have to stick through this class and pass it. At least the professor carries some sort of humor, but the humor is often dismissed when he uses it as a way to avoid the valid questions from students in which he REFUSES to accept. It's perfectly clear that he's an atheist or agnostic, but the man should at least teach from a relative point of view bringing forth arguments from both sides instead of being so narrow-minded to his own subjective opinions. I've learned that a good professor is one who can practice this example without referring to their own position all the time. Thus far, he's been taking much of the Gospels out of context. I can write an essay from an atheist point of view and he would probably pass me with a decent grade. All you have to do is know the motif of their argument; taking Jesus or any of the biblical characters out of their context (especially historical) and then expounding on it. This is the same idea of not playing by the rules of interpretation, such as restricting figurative language to understand a truth of the Gospel. I wonder just exactly how different it would have been if Dr. Doug Groothuis from Denver Seminary had taught this class. The class is in fact Jesus and Philosophy and the dude is an adjunct professor of philosophy for my school who has written on Jesus and Philosophy before.

Sunday, 14 February 2010

LAST YEARS VALENTINE

Last year around this time I remember walking in circles outside a church wondering what the heck I was doing in California. I was there to visit a girl I had prematurely "fallen" for. It was surprising that the parents were nice enough to purchase a plane ticket in hopes of fulfilling my need for a "potential". Sounds funny right? What I'm about to share is a simple truth that maybe you all can learn from. I have never told anyone this; not even my closets guy friends but it is perhaps an important mistake you can learn from. Maybe just for the simple fact of pitying or sympathizing with me. What say ye?

I met this girl in California two years ago at an organization party. Upon meeting her, out of good curiosity, I asked her was if she was a christian. It was a yes. With that in mind, all signs pointed to the possibility of pursuing friendship (or so). We started exchanging text messages back and forth for a while. I was never into the texting movement, but she definitely got me hooked, so I upgraded for an extended text messaging plan. Come later on, she calls me up and tells me that she likes me. Surprise? We'll maybe. Eventually, I ended up flying to visiting her. Just being around her felt really weird. Weird in the sense that I was leading myself to live a lie. I hung out with her friends who were co-habiting. I heard them arguing about how ridiculous the elders of their church were for suggesting that they should marry each other. She, the girl I was talking to, even went on the defense for co-habiting. It was then that I felt I was in the wrong place. I'm completely against co-habiting and perhaps it was then that I realized my world-view was different from hers. Isn't it crazy that at times you can tell how a person really is when he/she are around their friends? Having opens ears and being observant is a virtue. It may deem itself to be selfish, but theres no other way around it when you want to know who a person really is. The way they respond, act, answer, look, are major pointers. I began to piece out a mystery, that is, with her ex-boyfriend and her. As it turns out, I was a tool used as a means to an end; jealousy. I was only there to bring about jealousy upon her ex-boyfriend, who was still close friends with her. It totally worked on him. I hung out with her and her friends on Valentines night. She texted him, and he eventually surfaced to the occasion- quiet and lonesome. The night slipped away and we all went home. As soon as I got to my cousins place (home for me), already being friends with him on myspace (believe it or not, I knew her ex-boyfriend before I met her), he posted a bulletin which railed against Valentines Day. It was then that I had to confirm to myself that I was in fact wasting my time. I was ashamed of myself for being there. The next day, the same group of friends asked me what I was doing in Cali, supposing at first, that I was a California native. When my response was to visit her and that I was actually from Colorado, the reaction was priceless. So immediately I snapped a glimpse at her while she looked away and smiled- mysteriously. I knew I was in for a lie. I was being led on BIG TIME!

The point is, I'm not trying to brand her as a tyrant, but leading anyone on to the point where I was led on, is straight up evil! I've come to realize this past year that I can only become better friends with ladies who I'm clear romanticism is not an option. As a determinist, I wear my heart upon my sleeves now. I would never again wish to enter into that "falling-in-love" state again unless it is bounded for courtship- the only reason why anyone should be pursuing a relationship in the first place.

Speaking of being led on, have you seen 500 Days of Summer? The best part (if any) was the last five minutes. Summer's using of Tom was completely disrespectful. Imagine the roles switched to 500 Days of Tom? Tom being the one who completely leads Summer on, and then ditches out Summer and gets married out of nowhere to another girl. I know girls who believe what Summer did was completely permissible, yet if they switched roles, it would be deeply offensive. I immediately think less of any girl siding with and thinking that Summer's actions were morally justifiable. She's not YOUR excuse to be indecisive anymore than the guy who thinks that having a "cheating gene" gives him the right to continue cheating. Other than the fact that the asian family in the IKEA/"playing house" scene looked exactly like a hmong family, the movie was quite horrible. It was based upon a false sense of love. Infatuation. Do I believe I was infatuated last year? With humility, yes.

I arbitrarily began this post walking in circles at a church in California. The very point to where I realized there was more to life than chasing a lie. There was a warm California breeze that night and I was just wishing for it to carry me back to Colorado. Afterwards, I was relieved to be home once again and glad the trip was nothing more than what God had willed it to be. It'll never work, and praise God for that. The simple truth of this is that God's providence stands even when man believes he has it all under control. Happy Valentines all.

Monday, 25 January 2010

Last Friday, I had a really bad day. The entire objective for that day was to return some books I've purchased. When I got to the bookstore, I realized that my receipt was not in my pocket. I emptied my pockets and sighed in disbelief. I knew clearly that the receipt was in my pocket before I left the house. After a minute or so, I realized it was time to head back home- disappointed. So I began to analyze the mystery on the drive back home. When I arrived, I found the receipt on our sidewalk. It must had fell out of my pockets before I got into my car. It was wet but still in good condition, so at this point I was relieved to some extent. I decided dry the receipt by sticking it in the sun. When the receipt dried, I noticed that the receipt was wrinkled, so I then placed the receipt between a t-shirt and ironed it. When I did, I began to see black silhouette of the receipt through the white shirt. When I lifted the shirt and pulled the receipt out, it was BLACK! Unfortunately, the receipt paper was THERMAL PAPER! When heated, it changes color! I was devastated! Having an all black receipt is worse than having a torn up receipt. I wasted my TIME and MONEY! But I guess I gained a little KNOWLEDGE; thermal paper changes color when heated. And don't ever screw yourself over doing what I did unless it's a Burger King receipt (which are not thermal). O, How I wish the GEICO money was staring at me right now.

To the left is the original receipt. To the right is the test receipt of another thermal paper using an iron and a blow dryer. So this concludes the HORRIBLE LAST FRIDAY I had.