Atown’s Place to Think

So I came to a weird realization. And let me help you follow my train of though. I’m not sure where I’m going in life, but I know I want to change the world. But I relized I don’t have desires of a different kind.

As I’ve thought about dating and whatnot, something of note I’ve come to relize is that its best to be equally yoked. Even past just being christians, our goals and dreams must be equal. Our hearts must have a similar mission and call.

Currently I’m writing this from a fundraiser dinner, where the girl has known for years that she wants to go to africa, uganda specifically, and has had this longing and desire for ages.

Another gal I know wants to and desires just to go and live in honduras after her degree to work and minister…

As I’ve thought about it, I have no… Great desire to go to other places. Well I don’t have much vision for when and where I’m suppose to minister to.

I know for now I’m suppose to work on these guys but sometimes I really feel that I’m not doing a great enough of a job. I have been wanting to go back to the west side of the state but haven’t felt led to go back yet. So I feel I’m trying to prepare as best I can but don’t know what else I’m suppose to do.

So I’m looking for vision. Wish there was some concept and brand/branding classes I could take.

What is life that we should believe that we are setup and suppose to do things of our own accord? Anything we ever do in this life is because we had the backing of other people. Whether we have friends, family, spouse, or God, we must have support. We must be driven by community, but above all else, the leading of God by Walking in the light, as He is in the light.

Why do we think so independently when businesses look for partnerships, collaborate, and network? Why do we think we are so capable and our own strength when the bible clearly states we are all apart of a body. These desires for self work is only in the context for selfish desires and the inherent wanted fulfillment of said desires. Yet in business terms, though we’re trying to fulfill selfish desires, we are still using other people.

So as we submit ourselves to God, each of us submitted together can create a meaningful community and church body as outlined in the book of acts and we could change the world. Why change the world?

If we really believed every person who is not saved is going to die… Our evangelism in america and the world would be so different. So why change the world? Because if we don’t, we fail our friends, and family members who do not know Christ. Are we really loving our neighbors if we don’t tell them about God? Then changing the world should be the result of the overflowing love in our relationship with God.

Why change the world? Because we have to, need to, and should choose to.

So i recently graduated and now working full time at WSU and its been pretty good. I do have some odd down times here n there but oh well. Work is work. Its interesting though, I’m surrounded by a lot of asain and muslim people now and I really wonder some days how I really can live and show them the Lord through my behavior and relationship with Christ.

Leading a bible study has been an awesome adventure too. Leading and mentoring random guys has been really awesome.

I just hope I walk in the grace, faith and spirit of God enough to change the world.

Now there are many ways we can be discouraged in our lives, for me it usually tends to be me self analyzing too much and i really come down harshly on myself. The other form is when we know someone was counting on us and we let them down. Another one dealing with people is where we unknowingly did something and the person becomes upset at us. I’ve recently come across another type of discouragement. It is where you (person A) wish to help person B, and you offer advice or services and then person C comes along with much better advice or abilities or services and person B is grateful for the help from person C. Now the focus of this was to help person B, and that was a shared goal by both A and C. C did not mean for A to feel inferior, yet in some weird way, it may discourage person A even though the initial goal was achieved.

Now why would this even matter? Well to dive further in, was the discouragement stemming from the lack of ability to sufficiently help person B or is it a prideful hurt that was unintentionally done by person C? For more information concerning the situation we must ask what is the relationship between A and B. Are A and B just friends or acquaintances or is A attempting to find themselves in a position where B would be reliant on A e.g. dating relationship/marriage. Then we have to ask what is C’s relationship with B and A.

Before i make this into a soap opera, in which nothing is accomplished, the core issue comes back to discouragement. Is it a legitimate experience? possibly. But where should our hope and and self worth come from? From our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yeah, im feeling like i need to ramble just a bit today.

Its funny because as humans we are always looking forward to the next big thing. Even in the book by Ted Dekker, The Slumber of Christianity, this is the case. We are always feeling like we need to wake up and find ourselves in heaven and then we get our big pay off. All the this is going on we’re subconsciously and sometimes very consciously waiting for our time on earth to end so that we can go about being happy in heaven. Content is the issue.
Why do i bring this topic up? Well ive found myself lacking contentment lately and its been bugging me alot. I’ve found that i have an awesome ministry, I just got a mac at work so i can fulfill my work appropriately, i have an awesome car, awesome friends, longboarding is pretty bawesome, etc. and yes i just used the word “Bawesome.” So why am i discontented? I have no idea, it might be my food didt really sit well with me and i dont feel up-beat or it really could be that I need to start counting my blessings more, or just need to have more worship music playing to help lift my spirits in the meandering parts of the day.

as far as society is concerned, I am horribly unhappy because i dont party, drink, have a girl friend or lead a promiscuous life. As far as society is concerned, society itself can go shoot itself for believing that those things will really make you happy. The thing we have to come back to, is Joy vs. Happiness. Happiness happens, joy is everlasting. So it has become my week goal to walk out in Joy in my heart and life for I know the things my savior has done for me and it should reflect in my life, regardless of what im feeling in the here and now.

As far as unmet legitimate desires, well God is my rock and my refuge and I will abide in Him and his shadow for my fufillment and wait patiently upon the Lord.

Well im torn. I really want a quad monitor setup. and i could do it but i would have to change my setup to a water cooled and spend $200 on a single card with 4 dvi outputs (already have the water cooled system but its in another pc).

Or i could spend about $400 and get a quad core, 2 cards with 2 dvi each = quad monitor, 8gb setup, and basically double my entire pc specs…. cant really afford it right now though and if i did update later on i could use the $200 still….. so hard >_<

ya stuff has been busy as of late but thats ok. I recently went on a camping trip and it made me think alot. the reason i thought alot was because i had alot of time to myself which is why i thought of something to write here

So essentially i’ll admit im not a great camper, outdoors person, etc. and i even fell asleep in the sun and burned a little bit which, if you knew me irl, is very hard to do. But the fact of the matter is, i really dont interact well with others. one girl kept saying through the whole weekend how creepy and weird i was (known her for 2 years). Now i admit im nerdy, but im not THAT weird. but apparently my social skills are not usually up to snuff.

Now i recently also had some hits to my self esteem, and it really made me wonder why in the world im even leaving my house because of what everyone says and does. mind you this is in the context of a church/bible study group atmosphere. As christians are we that judgmental to the point of even little things are weird or creepy? I know no one is perfect and everyone judges but seriously, i dont blame people for not wanting to be or hangout with christians.

I also began to wonder if alot of things that God even blesses us with are worth it sometimes. but thats a rant i dont feel like going into today.

Patience, and long suffering are the keys though in my opinion. God tells us to wait, and know that his plans are above our own. i would agree and do my best to walk out in obedience.

well in an effort to generate more traffic i have permalinked everything to a better pattern. hopefully it helps. me and my boss might put together a marketing website that we update every so often with some resources and strategies. dunno if we will yet or not but that could be alot of fun.

Well Its been a while and I feel I need to finish this argument before beginning my next blogging schemes. I also recently began reading mere Christianity, from which i will borrow some argument type elements.

To be able to define laziness for the most part, there is an opposite by which to help define it. likewise, fast or high rate of speed is contrasted and opposite of slow or low rate of speed. Darkness is defined as the absence of light. These terms although opposite can hardly exist without one another. So truly what is the opposite of lazy? I would say that it would be that which is ultimately productive, and a balance in the middle riddled with exceptions. These exceptions may include sleeping/resting, which although can be considered lazy for the lack of productiveness, is actually a productive action because you are resting your body and regenerating energy.

Motivation being more of a state of mind can be altered. Happiness Happens, Joy is Everlasting. Music, food, life, people, stuff, traffic, weather, almost everything can affect our moods. For this reason we must capture our mind and our heart. Psalm 119:15-16 says: “15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” Proverbs 4:23, “23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (NLT) or 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (NIV). I think if we let despair or helplessness it can drain not only our spirit, but drag on our minds and our hearts. Depression can steal away our promises, minimize them. However we can make a choice to get up and move and take steps. We are called to meditate on Gods promises and his precepts and principles. Guarding our hearts we must not let evil come out of it. We have been saved and purified. Despair should have no place for our hope is in God, the one who destroys the impossible.

Meditating on our hopes and promises that God has given us and What we have and have to come will help keep us motivated. With our hope put in something firm, we will always be taken care of. Motivation to do something successful and our hope put someplace firm, man think of the things we could do to change this world and live full lives with blessing and storing of treasures in heaven.

So how do we know what that is? Well we have to practice listening to God, spend time in prayer, fasting, reading the bible, seeking wise council consistently and on a regular basis, asking the holy spirit to help lead and guide us, getting plugged into a church. All of this and more can help us be motivated, not only in the physical but the spiritual too.

Lately its come to my attention that the factors in life can be broken down simply, over simply, into two main categories. motivated and unmotivated. Motivated being, you have the drive and will to do something, and unmotivated indicates that you have no will to do anything.

Motivation is defined as, the condition of being motivated. Synonyms include, predetermination, encouragement, and desire.

“will” as it stands will be defined by a rather large definition, the faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action; the power of control the mind has over its own actions. the act or process of using or asserting one’s choice. wish or desire. purpose or determination.

These definitions were pulled from Dictionary.com but I believe they have been appropriately attributed and referenced for the purposes of my thoughts.

so how does my title of laziness fit into thoughts of motivation? Well, that is very simple. Unmotivated people seem lazy. Desire, encouragement, and purpose of determination and the lack thereof, is what drives unmotivation. Unmotivated people are not necessarily lazy, they are just have no drive, no purpose, or (not always, but some cases) no encouragement. With this notion in place, it can explain why students dont do well in school, why people are on welfare and stay there, why people at work can perform better but dont. Students may have no drive to succeed because they dont know what that brings. Those on welfare get fed and have money, so no purpose is created for their lives. Employees do not excel or perform at their highest because there is no encouragement.

The latter of the three is clearly pointed out in popular illumination studies that suggested that, more lighting would increase worker productivity. whether it was darker or lighter had no effect, what was found was that the workers were having constant contact with their bosses and had encouragement and general contact.

So what is the key to staying motivated? I’m not sure, I’m going to try and find that out myself find a way to present it an a relatively academic form.