The future has been on my mind a lot. This may be because I’m about to start testing for my Architecture license, or because my career has stagnated in to a struggle to survive each month. There is a wealth of directions to go from the bottom. It’s a good place to set a course from.
I made a big list of what I wanted to accomplish in life. Learn to play piano and speak Spanish. Own part of an Architectural firm by the time I’m fifty. I stepped back from my list and noticed a glaring omission. Jesus. I didn’t mention Him at all. The spring point of my entire life and I didn’t even give Him a sentence. I can say with almost complete sincerity that the thing I want to accomplish in this life above all else is to become as much like Jesus as I can. How does that factor into my more worldly life goals? Does He inform Why I do things, What I do, How I do things or all three?
"Why"
Why get up in the morning? Why go to work? Why get married? Why learn Spanish? Why become an Architect? Does Jesus answer any of these whys? Certainly at some level He does, but that universal truth sounds hollow to my human ears. Besides why questions don’t move you forward. My counselor from back when I was dealing with depression/anxiety said it was better to ask how. How I got to the point of breakdown has more substance than why I broke down. If I know how I got to the bottom then I can work to circumvent the situation from happening again.
"What"
I struggled most of my life with what I was going to do in life. Is this question even important to God though? According my pastor Jesus wants us to have a relationship with Him. He isn’t concerned with whether were doctors or lawyers, married or single or whatever. I think there are exceptions to this. God will call people to do certain things, but He has not called me as of yet.
"How"
The answer to the question I posed above is Jesus informs How I go about life? When I own an Architectural Firm I do not run a sweat shop. I do not work my employees to death to turn a profit so I can have lots fabulous sports cars? I do not put my desire to be a Cat 3 bike racer above everything else and leave my children to raise themselves. I live my life as close as I can to how Jesus would live it.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
My Dream Car?
Two car seats will not fit in the truck so I’ve been thinking about trading for something else when the baby comes in September. Probably won’t happen right away because of finances. When we do get to it though what car would I want?
Right now it would be a Mini Cooper. Not practical, but we have the Pacifica for that. I figure I could get two car seats in there and zip around town. It’d be cool. Maybe a Jetta or extended cab truck? Of course my eye is drawn to the high end cars as well: Audi, Lexus SUV, and BMW.
One of the smartest things I ever read about finances was in (I think) Rich Dad/ Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. He said if American’s just changed the way they bought cars they would all be rich. In other words if we didn’t buy too much car and finance it we’d be much better off
Something else I have to consider when making a car choice is my faith in Christ. He calls us to not conform to the pattern of this world. We are to be different. Saint Peter says we are aliens and strangers in the world. I think this should inform all of my decisions in life; from where to live, what to do, to what kind of car to drive.
So Audi it is right?
Right now it would be a Mini Cooper. Not practical, but we have the Pacifica for that. I figure I could get two car seats in there and zip around town. It’d be cool. Maybe a Jetta or extended cab truck? Of course my eye is drawn to the high end cars as well: Audi, Lexus SUV, and BMW.
One of the smartest things I ever read about finances was in (I think) Rich Dad/ Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. He said if American’s just changed the way they bought cars they would all be rich. In other words if we didn’t buy too much car and finance it we’d be much better off
Something else I have to consider when making a car choice is my faith in Christ. He calls us to not conform to the pattern of this world. We are to be different. Saint Peter says we are aliens and strangers in the world. I think this should inform all of my decisions in life; from where to live, what to do, to what kind of car to drive.
So Audi it is right?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Between Safety and Adventure I Choose Safety
Several times in his autobiography Craig Ferguson said, “Between safety and adventure I choose adventure.” Isn’t that a great line? I think nothing could be less descriptive of my life than that.
That may be a little too harsh. After all I could make a fairly strong argument that I’ve lived an adventuresome life. I did college and Europe. I got drunk for the first time in the shadow of the tower in Pisa. I’ve flown all over the country by myself. Took a ten month sabbatical and cycled over 2,000 miles in the upstate New York county where I was born. More than once I rode a hundred miles in a day. Worked swing on fourth stack of Aggie Bonfire. Studied Soto Zen Buddhism, sat Zazen at the Austin Zen Center and done a weekend retreat at the Syracuse Zen Center. I got a tattoo on my 27th birthday. I’ve done stuff.
However, I still contend I choose safety over adventure. Take working stack for instance. I was about four stories in the air sitting on a swing made out of rope tied to the top of center pole and a 2x12. I was cautious about it though. I didn’t do anything risky while I was up there. I remember some random guy asking me if I was scared. He saw me double check each handhold before I moved. I was not scared. I’m not scared of much of anything. I was being cautious - choosing safety.
I’m not contending this is a bad thing, but it does explain my behavior and goes a long way toward predicting my future. When given a choice if you always take the safer of the two options you could have a good life, but it probably won’t be that successful. In life if you do not risk much you will not gain much. This can explain why even though I have brilliant ideas and I’m very good at whatever I put my mind too I am not wildly successful. I don’t know that this is something I need to change about myself. After all success by the world’s standards isn’t really success at all.
That may be a little too harsh. After all I could make a fairly strong argument that I’ve lived an adventuresome life. I did college and Europe. I got drunk for the first time in the shadow of the tower in Pisa. I’ve flown all over the country by myself. Took a ten month sabbatical and cycled over 2,000 miles in the upstate New York county where I was born. More than once I rode a hundred miles in a day. Worked swing on fourth stack of Aggie Bonfire. Studied Soto Zen Buddhism, sat Zazen at the Austin Zen Center and done a weekend retreat at the Syracuse Zen Center. I got a tattoo on my 27th birthday. I’ve done stuff.
However, I still contend I choose safety over adventure. Take working stack for instance. I was about four stories in the air sitting on a swing made out of rope tied to the top of center pole and a 2x12. I was cautious about it though. I didn’t do anything risky while I was up there. I remember some random guy asking me if I was scared. He saw me double check each handhold before I moved. I was not scared. I’m not scared of much of anything. I was being cautious - choosing safety.
I’m not contending this is a bad thing, but it does explain my behavior and goes a long way toward predicting my future. When given a choice if you always take the safer of the two options you could have a good life, but it probably won’t be that successful. In life if you do not risk much you will not gain much. This can explain why even though I have brilliant ideas and I’m very good at whatever I put my mind too I am not wildly successful. I don’t know that this is something I need to change about myself. After all success by the world’s standards isn’t really success at all.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)