Portraits Of Truth

Write Your Story

2011-10-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

I was driving my kids to school this morning and they asked me to play one of their favorite songs. They chose the song “Kung Fu Fighting” as performed by Jack Black in the motion picture “Kung Fu Panda”. I smiled since it happened to be a song that I like as well. As we were all singing it the last part of the chorus really stood out to me. It goes like this “It’s the book of your life that you’re writing”. For some reason it struck me as profound thought this morning as I sang it and contemplated. This brought me to some deep thoughts of course. On the one hand I wonder how many people walk through life believing they have absolutely no control over their lives or simply don’t care. On the other hand I wonder how many people walk through life believing they have absolute power and can control everything. Either extreme has its deficiencies. One life is an action while the other is a reaction. As I consider these things I constantly think we can’t live in the extremes but we must… live. Is life something you get up and react to or is it something you take action with?

The Meaning of a Name

2011-09-21T12:52:00.001-07:00

Have you ever considered what your name means? When considering what to name a child some people think “what sounds good?” while others think “who will this child be?”. No matter what side of the spectrum you’re on we all know that our names help shape who we are. So I thought I’d share a little bit about my name… My name “Assad” is ( a boy’s name) and variant of Asad (Arabic: أسد‎) and originally comes from two sources onef rom an Arabic personal name, As‛ad ‘happiest’, ‘luckiest’ or ‘more fortunate’, a superlative adjective derived from sa‛īda ‘to be lucky or happy’. The other source comes from the root word meaning "lion". Assad is not a popular first name for men and an equally uncommon surname or last name for all people. (1990 U.S. Census) and is probably a lot less common now due to the conflict in Syria. Now I wouldn’t say a name is a self fulfilling prophecy but…It is interesting that in some ways the meaning of my name parallels some of my personal characteristics.

Relax Your Grip

2011-09-13T11:15:00.001-07:00

This summer I worked on teaching my son how to swim. He is six years old and though he enjoys being in the water is sometimes nervous about going under. His response to dealing with his fear is never getting his head wet. So I watched him as he played and observed his commitment to never letting his head go under the water. I thought to myself “he’s missing out on so much and doesn’t even know it.” I think there are several times in our lives where we are missing out on things in our lives because we have taken such a tight hold on every aspect of our life that we actually lose our grip. In training people on how to hold a bat in baseball you teach them to hold the bat tight enough so it doesn’t fly out of your hands but not so tight that you’re actually clenching down on it. Its kind of like holding a small bird in your hands, holding tight enough that it doesn’t fly away but loose enough that you don’t hut it. If we’re not careful we will hold our lives too tightly and never really get to truly experience the power they are capable of. Last summer my son went from being committed to not getting his hair wet to swimming because he was willing to “let go”. Are you willing? What are you holding tightly to?

Supernatural Preservation

2011-09-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

A few days ago my wife was in a car with her mother and sister driving roughly 60 mph on a freeway in Orange County They noticed a car conducting itself in a peculiar manner. When they could make the car out they identified the vehicle was heading the wrong way on a one way freeway. Within seconds their lives flashed before their eyes. They were hit by an oncoming car on the freeway and my wife was thrown from one end of the car to the other. Miraculously they left the accident unharmed. When she called me I experienced a wide range of emotion from fear and sadness to great joy and gratitude. Needless to say I was happy to embrace my wife after this encounter. The thought came to my mind that something was out there protecting her. Have you ever felt that way? That feeling that maybe your life is more important than you think. That you are worth saving for a greater purpose and if that’s true then thinking about what that greater purpose is. Maybe it’s time to discover your purpose. So many peopel live their lives without ever seeking to discover any greater meaning for life. What if something greater is out there? What if we can connect to something beyond ourselves? I believe we can. Let me know if you want to know how.

Cooks in the Kitchen

2011-08-31T11:38:00.001-07:00

My wife is an amazing cook. Seriously. Her excellent cooking has caused me to develop a greater interest in the art of cooking itself. The thing is, our kitchen is small, therefore when we’re both in there trying to cook something we can tend to butt heads. Sometimes too many cooks in the kitchen means no food gets cooked. This principle really translates as “work together as a team”. Working together sometimes means knowing when to lead and when to follow. It means submitting to one another in a way that best accomplishes your combined vision or task. One of the most famous depictions of how teams working together can accomplish much is how the Greek city states worked with one another in the 5^th century to defeat their Persian enemies. In the historical context each state was independent and either despised each other or had very loose loyalties at best. Yet when faced with the idea annihilation they pulled together and worked toward victory. As a people it is important for us to recognize when we are leading and following. This helps to ensure we are in-line with the combined vision of our teams. This is useful in the most powerful governments of the world and… my kitchen… probably yours too.

Responding

2011-08-29T16:15:00.001-07:00

Has anyone ever asked you to do something? How did you respond? Many times in my life I’ve been asked to do things. I typically try to find the angle of the person asking me (which reveals a certain measure of skepticism on my part) then I try to get on board and help. Sometimes those things are easy to do while in other circumstances doing those things is very difficult. It can be difficult to have a request made of you on some level thereby having to trust someone with the next step in your life. In those moments I wish I could see my life on a timeline (past, present & future) so I can know what the next “right” step is. This way I don’t have to guess. I used to get caught up in making the “right” decision and disregard the process. It’s easy to do when you’re not concerned with it, though I’ve learned “the process” (or how you deal with things) is one of the most important parts of life. Will you respond to situation in life with willingness or reservation? Flexibility or rigidity? Compassion or indifference? How do you respond to what you encounter in life?

Will We Go Too Far?

2011-08-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

I grew up watching the old school Sci-Fi movies like “Logan’s Run” and “The Time Machine” even “Mad Max” & “Blade Runner” are getting up there in age now. What I remember most about them is how they present an idea of our future being something we rather not exit in. They almost act as a warning to us living in the present to change our ways “or else” this will happen. I often wonder if we (as the human race) will go to far. Will we try and reach the heavens or clone ourselves? I’m often not sure of the purpose of such actions. I’m definitely someone who loves to push the envelope and dream bigger and higher than I have before but the question emerges “when will we have gone too far?” I’m not sure the answer is as easily delineated as we would like to think. I do know there will come a time where we will begin to push further than the natural, which will make it “un-natural” I guess. Are you okay with living in a world that is un-natural? It’s a hard question for me because I like some of the amazing technological advances we have witnessed, but some technology has a strange and frankly perverted effect on the human beings. I was recently watching a TED talk that spoke on “The Demise of Guys” were the presenter communicated that boys brains are literally being reprogrammed (for the worse) by excessive internet interaction. Something just doesn’t seem right about that.

Anger & Mt. Krakatoa

2011-08-24T20:24:00.001-07:00

Have you been so mad you thought you’d literally blow up? I know I have. I have four kids constantly testing my boundaries so most days it's just a matter of time before I feel like I’m going to explode. There is something about that feeling that is similar to the mechanics of a volcano. Pressure builds, and builds, and builds and then boom! A destructive force on par with a megaton bomb is unleashed on nature. I was most reminded of this upon hearing of a famous volcano called Mt. Krakatoa. In 1883 this island volcano produced the most destructive natural explosion in modern history, it was something like 200 megatons of TNT or about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the Little Boy bomb that devastated Hiroshima. The devastation included the deaths of over 40,000 people, the thought to be loudest sound in modern history (heard over 3,000 miles away) and sent shockwaves that were recorded around the world. The blast destroyed 2/3 of the island. Sometimes I wonder if Anger can be likened to the events that happened on Mt. Krakatoa that day. Explosive anger hurts people, is visible to the world and can yield a destructive force. How do you deal with anger? How do you release the tension?

Ancestry

2011-08-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

I’ve met many people who have the most incredible stories in the world. They come from all different places and backgrounds. They have rich ancestries. People are definitely interested in their ancestry as you can type the word “ancestry” in an Internet search engine and find about 153,000,000 results (in 0.22 seconds). I always find it fascinating to hear how they got here. I love the different nuisances to their lives and behavioral patterns. What’s most interesting is how they really are part of something bigger, something…else. I guess we all are. There is a distinctive reality to being connected to our ancestors. In my youth I connected the idea of ancestry to the limits and or opportunities in my life. That was immature thinking. Sure there are limits we all face in this world, some due to the certain realities everyone faces in the world and others as a result of our capacity or willingness. The truth is for every limit we have, so to an equal amount of opportunities exist as well. We just don’t see them. We don’t have to see the world that way. We can live in a new reality and find different ancestral connections that will inspire us. Who are you connected to? Whose shoulders have you stood on? Who has inspired you to dream bigger, farther and greater dreams?

Rainbow

2011-08-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you stopped to casts your eyes on a rainbow and take in its beauty? Many times we see them as we’re doing something else and peer over at them. It’s interesting to me that the “rainbow” has had such an impact on our culture. I typed the word “rainbow” in the Google search engine and it recognized the word somewhere on the internet with about 395,000,000 results (0.17 seconds). The last time I saw a rainbow I was driving, coming out the other end of a rainstorm. I remember the clouds looked heavy and as though someone painted them with streaks of black and gray. The weather seemed cold and I remember just wanting the warmth of the sun. Seconds later, the sun began to break through the clouds. It was as though the sun itself heard the secret whisper of my heart and decided to respond. In that moment I also recognized I was beneath an amazing rainbow. Probably the largest one I’d ever seen. So I pulled over off to the side of the road, got out of my car and after I got to a safe place on the road I just took it in. It was amazing. It reminded me that I too am in the midst of something amazing.

Well Done

2011-08-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

It was 6:00am on Saturday morning and I'm rushing out the door trying to beat my dad to work. I was 17 years old and probably shouldn't have been running a store by myself but I just didn't think of stuff like that then. My dad was riding in his car and I was driving the one he let me use. His was an old White Cadillac Sedan, fully loaded with leather seats and air shocks so every bump felt as though you were floating on a cloud yet you could feel every bump in the road at your finger tips. I had the old Oldsmobile with beat up seats, headliner falling down covering my face while I drove. Looking back on it now I can't help but laugh envisioning a kid driving up in that old car with the shocks blown out from driving over too many speed bumps at 50 mph. We were both headed to work and it was my responsibility to get there, turn the alarm off and get the coffee started. I wanted so badly to get there ahead of my dad in order to make him proud of me. I did it. I arrived, scrambled to get my keys out of my pocket jumbling them a few times trying to get the right one in the door. The alarm went off like clockwork screaming like an ambulance siren causing panic in me, yet I remember I know the code. Check. What am I forgetting... I see dad's car coming up... The Coffee! Dad drank a pot of coffee once or twice a day and liked it black and hot. I frantically made it over to the coffee maker and got it going just in time for him to walk through the door and see the coffee pouring and the aroma gently maneuvering its way from the pot to his nose. He looked at me and said "Well done". Those words are powerful aren't they? Not just to me or every other first born child of the house, but to every human being who seeks to do well. We want our efforts to matter. We want our parents to be proud. We crave to produce in a worthy way. On some level deep within our core we desire to live in a way that is honorable. We long to have someone say to us "well done".

Immortality

2011-08-04T11:48:00.001-07:00

Can you imagine living for hundreds of years? What would that be like? There are times when I wish I could live for thousands of years, experiencing many different eras, art, fashion and music trends in human history. It's not a new quesiton, in fact it has been explored by familiar characters many times through written works by Jonathan Swift in his illustration of the island of immortals in Gulliver's Travels, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Even more recently the idea of immortality has been portrayed in film by Stephen King's The Green Mile and vampire movies like Catherine Hardwicke's Twilight. Our culture is fascinated with the thought of everlasting life or life after death. I find it interesting how many of the best stories we have present a skewed or distorted view of a life lived over several hundred or thousand years. In fact I don't believe there are many stories at all that present an immortal life lived happily ever after. Probably because in these kinds of stories life doesn't end. They are just stories. Immortality is a difficult concept for us. Probably because we can only see the world in its current context, confined to its limitations. What if we could be free from those limitations? What if we could dream of a different kind of immortality? A life that is everlasting and abundantly filled with joy and peace. An immortal life that sets us free to run, jump, create, write, work... live. I believe that life is possible. Not just a story.

Virtue

2011-08-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

When I was in Kindergarten my teacher had an empty glass jelly jar that sat on top of a piano, you know the kind with the tin screw on top. She told us that everyday we behaved she would put a blue marble in the jar. When the jar filled up we'd all be able to go on a picnic at the park and slide down the grass hill sitting on cardboard. So as a class we tried really hard to sit still and be quiet to acquire the marble. You can imagine thirty kindergartners trying to sit still and listen. It was really hard. I also remember having a great insatiable desire to posses the marbles in the jar. I wanted them so badly that every time I passed them as I walked by my heart would beat faster. So I took them. I took them by the fist full. Though my fists were small I still managed to deplete the jar fairly quickly. Soon enough the teacher knew someone was taking the marbles. She asked the class if they knew where they were. We all said no. Somewhere deep down inside I knew the truth would get out and I would be found out. The teacher stopped putting marbles in the jar until we found out who the culprit was. So, one day after school I let her know it was me and I brought all of the marbles back. It was one of the most humiliating situations in my life. I for some reason thought I should have what I wanted but was caught between my desires and the reality that I had been taking something that did not belong to me. The teacher was gracious and she awarded my repentance by taking the whole class out on the picnic a week after I confessed. Sometimes we struggle with owning up to the things we do that are wrong, especially when we know they are wrong. Owning up to the areas in our lives where we handle ourselves in a sub-prime manner requires something of us we don't see glorified in our culture. That is humility and repentance. Both of which require honor, respect and courage. The task of being a person who "owns up" or takes responsibility for their actions in life requires true virtue.

Gardens & Souls

2011-07-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

I've always been fascinated with gardens. Not the ones I grew as a kid of course, full of weeds and dying for lack of water. No no, the ones that are flourishing with life. The ones that have many types of vegetables, spices that produce an aromatic cloud that seems so thick you can touch it. These are the kinds of gardens I like and want to grow. I think I long to produce at least one good garden because it seems connected to my soul. Somehow there is a likeness between the gardens we plant in the ground and the gardens we plant in our souls. They both require preparation, careful planting, protection, water, maintenance, pruning and harvesting. If we unintentionally bump along not planting and not caring for the gardens we have influence over we will see no growth. If we intention to plant healthy gardens and follow through with the aspects necessary for growth, we will yield a great harvest that smells sweet (and spicy), is full of life and will be sustaining. What kind of garden are you planting?

Absolute Creativity

2011-07-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

It had to be the coldest and darkest thing imaginable... Absolutely nothing as far as the eye can see... No light, no heat, no color... Yet, in an instant, something happened... It happened fast and slow at the same time... Somethings were colliding exploding splattering color onto the black canvas... Land forming... Water rushing... Wind howling... Life beginning... So many things to take in... We have to blink just to gaze again... It has become the warmest and brightest thing imaginable... When I consider humanities beginnings, its origins, I can't help but let creative part of my brain run as far and fast as it possibly can. Maybe thats the world I want to live in, one thats filled with wonder, creativity and something far greater than I can possibly imagine. What kind of world to you live in?

The Desire to Know (Part 2)

2011-07-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

Our desire to know can be all consuming. Perhaps British playwright Ben Jonson truly meant to warn us and not just entertain when he first penned "care will kill a cat" in 1599. The point drives the question. The point being we are far too consumed with knowledge we do not possess. The question then is "what motivates your desire to know?" Is it concern for others, fear, anger, jealousy etc.? The long and the short of it is that we should reconcile what we know about ourselves and temper our desire to know with the sober realities of our true self. Yet we are human. Humanity desires to push forward into something else, launch into the unknown or press the boundaries of the known world into the unknown. By nature we are discoverers. Something about us has shaped us in that way. Something within us beckons and pricks the creativity within. There is something within the fabric of our being that nudges us toward becoming, something, else.

The Desire to Know (Part 1)

2011-07-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

Many times I come across situations where I my utmost desire is to know what lurks around the corner. I’m not sure if this is a failure to trust people or if I have hidden insecurities deep in the recesses of my soul. It is in those times I seek to find an anchor or firm thing to hold on to. It is not a secret; fear nudges these emotions much like a mother bird nudges her nestling out of the nest. Fear lurks deep within us waiting for the opportunity to thrust variant feelings into our faces so as to create a smokescreen for itself throwing us off its trail. It amazes me to see how quickly my feelings convert from fear to control. It is almost as if I have left my desire for the knowledge of whatever situation left me feeling troubled and have given in to the impulse of control in order to assuage the fear of the unknown within me. What are we so afraid of? To embrace the unknown yields a far better return than to cling to the known gripped by fear. To be Continued…

Leadership

2010-11-11T21:38:00.001-08:00

Every time I think of leadership I picture someone who is up front delegating tasks out to people, has a charismatic personality and communicates well. Today I learned that sometimes the leaders is the one who is willing to stand up for what they believe while laying their pride down all for the sake of the vision. Leaders have to be people who are willing to see beyond themselves in order to lead people forward. They will build for the sake of the vision and not for their own sake. Leadership must be sacrificial in order for it to be transformational.

Encouragment

2009-12-15T22:41:00.001-08:00

The Lord brings encouragement in many different places. Have you ever experienced that? Sometimes I think we believe it has to be through believers or from the bible. The truth is God can use anything to encourage his people and at times it can come from the most unlikely place. I was encouraged today by someone who called me to express love and concern who doesn’t know and love the Lord. It was a sweet/bitter moment. Sweet in that I felt encouraged, bitter in that I felt sorrow for their choice to reject the truth of Jesus Christ. My hope is those of us who call themselves Christ followers will continue to be testimonies of the God who loves, guides, transforms and saves.

Promises

2009-10-03T18:41:00.001-07:00

There have been many times in my life where I wished I could find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Partly because I enjoy nice things and enjoy the idea of enough money to take care of my needs. Then I realize I've taken my eyes off of the rainbow. It's beautiful, simple, and complex at the same time. It's a reminder to me of all that is true, beautiful, and virtuous. It's also a reminder to me of the promise of a God who is concerned with us and desires to see become all we were intended to be. Are you living in that promise?

Beautiful Sounds

2009-08-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever encountered beautiful sounds? Like that of a symphony or single violin. It could be the playful laughter of three children or one baby giggling. Where do they come from? Why do the sounds touch us? How are we so connected to them? These beautiful sounds remind us we part of something bigger than we can imagine. When we hear something beautiful we distinguish it from all others by calling it "heavenly" or "extraordinary". The beautiful sounds in our life remind us of a transcendence we cannot comprehend, calling us, lulling us to sleep at night, comforting us in the midst of chaos. What are the beautiful sounds in your life?

Thats My King

2009-03-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

This video says it all.

Eating The Apple Core

2009-01-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

About a year ago my son asked me for an apple, so I gave him one. He took and began eating it, and it was interesting to watch him because he had no ordered way of consuming the fruit. He just ate the apple. I walked away for a moment to clean up another area of the kitchen we were in, and when I walked back over to my son a few minutes later he had began eating the apple core. Everything in me at the time wanted to stop him and let him know he was eating it wrong and then it struck me. There was nothing wrong with eating the apple core. In fact by eating core he was consuming beneficial nutrients the apple had to offer. So I let him eat it. Its amazing to consider how many times we limit ourselves simply because we dare not do something different. Sure there are necessary limits in life, but I wonder how many times we limit ourselves for no reason at all. There is something freeing in coloring outside the lines, and I believe its important to challenge ourselves from time to time to consider whether or not we are limiting ourselves for no reason at all. My son reminded me of a valuable lesson that day as I watched him eat the apple core. He reminded me to never unnecessarily limit myself to an idea or practice. In fact I stand a good chance at gaining more of an understanding sometimes when I choose to color outside the lines. All this to say when you see me eating an apple, and you watch as I eat the apple core, you’ll know I’m considering if I’m being limited in my thinking or if I’m pushing the boundaries.

The Argument

2008-10-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in a situation where no matter what you said someone else had something to say about it? For some reason I tend to be in the center of these types of conversations all the time, maybe because I’m an easy target, maybe because I’m willing to enter into them, maybe because I invite them. The how is less important than the why. I find it both exciting and interesting how the human soul desires to contend both through our physique and our intellect. It is as if there is something to be proved all the time. It would be an interesting social experiment if everyone on the planet practiced humility for 30 days. I wonder what the world would look like. Could we solve world hunger? Would people talk to each other with love and respect or would it be so difficult for some they wouldn’t speak at all? I’m going to throw out a challenge to anyone reading this; for 30 days would you join me and do your best to be humble? Try not to pick a fight, try not to be rude or disrespectful or proud. Lets see what our worlds will look like.

Human Touch

2008-06-29T22:25:00.000-07:00

We live in a technological world filled with multiple methods of staying connected with people. These methods include, texting, email, and various other internet “friend” based websites. We have all these different methods of staying “connected” to each other and yet sometimes we are left with the inexplicable longing to physically touch someone. I recently took a trip to see my father in Berkley, Ca. I hadn’t seen my dad in a couple of years but maintained constant communication by phone. The first thing he did when he saw me was grab my face with both of his hands and kissed my head. After the plane ride home I was waiting for my ride and as I waited I watched different people embrace their loved ones as they came to pick them up. Human beings are wired for physical connection with each other. What is it inside our being that causes us to desire human touch? Do you think people would be happy living in a world devoid of physical connection? Do you get enough hugs and handshakes? No matter how many different ways we connect, we cannot escape the longing within our soul to physically connect to each other…maybe its time you reached out and touched someone.

Desire

2008-06-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

Desire can be dangerous. I found myself watching the move “Alexander The Great” an awesome movie. While I was watching it I began thinking of all Alexander The Great did in his life, and I started dreaming of all the things I wanted to do and began diving into this world of desire. It was a hard thing because it took me down a path where all I could think about was attaining that which I desired. I spent the next day obsessing over my desires and lost sight of everything I was currently involved in. You see my desires began to consume me very quickly. I went outside and looked up into the sky and cried out “What am I supposed to do?” There are times in our lives when we can let desire get the better of us. When we do, its time to take a step back and begin to realize the things we wish to accomplish are good things, and its good to have desire, but we can’t let those things consume us, change us, transform us into someone else. I have learned that we have to be true to ourselves as we desire to reach out and change the world. There is definitely something within the human soul that drives us to reach out and do something, change something, become something, and to desire to achieve those things is good. It’s when desires begin to consume you that things get dangerous. What are your desires? How are they affecting you? I encourage you to “be” first and when you do that you’ll find yourself accomplishing your desires without sacrificing yourself.

Catching The Wind

2008-06-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

I was walking in Mexico today thinking about all the different things I had to do when I got back home. As I was nearing the border the cool wind blew across my face, and it felt good. It wasn’t a very strong wind, it wasn’t very special, it was just refreshing. It was an interesting moment for me as I was walking. I put my hands out so I could feel the wind and it began to fill my hands, and for a moment I thought I could actually hold it. Of course as soon as it came into my hands it blew right out. I know in my head a person can’t catch the wind but for a moment I felt as if I could. As I kept walking a observed a long line of people in Mexico waiting to get work permits for the United States, and I wondered what their dreams were, and if they’d achieve them or if they’d feel like they were trying to catch the wind. Then it hit me, some of us have dreams of doing something big and maybe getting beyond the boundaries in our minds, but those desires are always just out of reach so we feel as if we are trying to catch the wind. So how do we move beyond the different boundaries in our lives? There is something about the wind that is mystical and simple at the same time, its strong & soft, cold & hot, blistering & soothing, it comes and it goes and sometimes seems fleeting, yet when it brushes across your face or sits in the palms of your hands it is ever present. Are your dreams like the wind? If so how can you catch it? Something drives us to pursue the wind, to run in it, to try to embrace it, maybe one day we’ll be able to catch it.

Hope

2008-05-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I had the great opportunity of sitting down with a man and talking with him about his life. Shortly into the conversation the man had said "I just want to feel something". It was an emotional moment... It was an emotional moment because he felt as if he was walking through life utterly alone, it was an emotional moment because he was searching for some meaning in his life and he couldn't find it, it was an emotional moment because I could see in his eyes he had lost hope in life and began to ask the question "If I'm not here for something, why should I go on in this world?" I sat there I listened to him, I cried with him. And then I put my hand on his shoulder and said three words "there is hope." And then I gave him a tissue to wipe his tears away and said five words "I know where hope is." And then I looked him in the eye and said six words "I can show you the Way." We spent some more time together and after a few more tears and tough moments he walked away with hope in his heart following the Way. Where do you find hope? This is the question that had been plaguing this man for so long. People are so interesting, more and more I watch people find and lose hope like they find and lose their car keys. The problem seems the foundation of their hope shifts like the ocean current. The key is finding a foundation of hope which doesn't shift, doesn't move, doesn't get lost. So let me ask you..."Where do you find hope?"

Simplicity

2008-04-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

Do you ever think about the simple things in life? You know, like being outside on a sunny day while a cool breeze brushes across your face, or watching a lady bug crawl around on the ground and fly away. Somehow the simple things make sense, I can't explain why... The other day I was having a really rough time trying to get things done at work while gearing up for school, and I called home to check in with my family. It was then my wife began to tell me a story about my son, it was time for lunch and she looked over at the table and there he was holding a snail. He was being so delicate with it, watching it crawl so slowly on the table. When she asked him why he brought the snail in he said "he's hungry mama". I believe God has placed these things in the world around us and these simple things set us at ease. The remind us there is a bigger picture of the world, and we're a part of that picture. Simplicity. When is the last time you did something simple?

Red & Yellow, Black & White

2008-03-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

I've been in my masters program for almost a year now, and part of completing my degree is taking an ethnic diversity class. The first thing that came to my mind during class today was the old song "red & yellow black & white”. One of my friends was talking to me about how she was talking with her mom about the attempts from churches to address the race issues. I can’t imagine how much pain racism and prejudice has brought to people. People have been slaughtered, abused, tormented, and just treated horrifically and for what? Any time I begin to think of why people feel the need to segregate or huddle together in comfortable groups, I can’t help but ask why. Why? What is the benefit of giving one group a privilege over another? I can’t quite figure it out other than to say that humanity is flawed. Everyone of us has the capacity to do bad things, and yet we all have the capacity to do such great things. I believe we’ve come into an era where people are doing more and more great things for one another and I can’t wait to look back twenty years from now and say “I can’t believe how good we have learned to be toward one another.” It takes acts of humility and self sacrifice, and as we seek opportunities to be enlightened I believe transcendent truth will be given to us.

Knocked Down

2008-03-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been knocked down? Staying down isn't an option, you eventually have to get up. I went snowboarding a few weeks ago and attempted a jump I had no business attempting. I fell and hurt myself pretty bad, and yet everything in me worked hard to get up, get down the mountain, and hit 15+ runs the next day. Granted I may be a little stubborn, but I believe there is something inside each of us that causes us to get up after we've been knocked down. No matter what the scenario there is something in the human spirit that yearns to move forward, make progress, get up, and move on. Have you been knocked down? Are you struggling to get up? What's holding you back?

Staying Afloat

2008-02-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel as if I’m sinking. I think all of us get to the place in our lives where we feel as if we are headed somewhere and start loosing steam. It seems like no matter how hard we try we just can’t seem to get the momentum need to move, so we float. We get tired of swimming up stream and settle for staying afloat. At first floating becomes more of survival mechanism than moving forward, but then I started thinking maybe seeking to stay afloat is what is keeping us from moving on. Think about it, everybody likes to have wind in their sails, or be on a bike headed down an decline with the wind in your hair. We like those times because we feel a sense of excitement, its the excitement of progression. Moving toward our goals gives us a sense of accomplishment, moving forward helps us to feel as if we we're really living. Focusing on staying afloat distracts us from the type of forward movement we really want, and maybe need. We should focus on our destination. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe you're just staying afloat because you've diverted your eyes from your original destination? When is the last time you remember where you were headed? My question to you is where are you? Are you on the path to your destination or are you just staying afloat? Lets set our eyes on our perspective destinations and focus on moving toward our goals.

Stepping On The Brakes

2008-01-26T15:09:00.000-08:00

I've recently experienced higher levels of stress in my life. Its so easy to get involved with something or volunteer to help somebody and soon enough a little turns into a lot. I can't say I'm at my limit right now but I can definitely see myself headed there which means its time to slow down. If we don't step on the proverbial brakes in our lives we can burn out fast and lose our passion for life. Life is not worth living if you're not living, and part of living is carving out time for yourself. Some ways I intend on changing my habits are to look for times in my day when I can get away from everything and everyone to enjoy peace and quiet and focus myself. Some Questions: Are you carving out time? How are you doing it?

Resistance & Control

2008-01-16T19:54:00.000-08:00

I am still in the process of learning how to deal with people who resist change or need to have control. Have you ever had to deal with that? There are so many things I'd like to say but none of them would be helpful to me or anyone else. I guess I have a hard time understanding why some people have a hard time adjusting to change. If the change was bad it would be difficult, but difficulty brings growth (what's the worst that could happen?). When we try to control things I think it displays an insecurity within us (why do people hold on to things so tightly?). Maybe the best way of dealing with people who resist change or need control is simply to embrace them with love and respect, waiting for them instead of trying to change them. Maybe doing just that would help them embrace a little change, and loosen their grip.

Why Rush?

2008-01-11T22:17:00.000-08:00

Do you ever find yourself rushing into something? I do. Rushing into things seems so tempting sometimes. It just seems right to you or to a few people you know at the time. I think its part of our culture these days, cell phones connect us to people immediately through text messaging and phone calls, and the internet gives us information as fast as we can type and read. Just these two things give us a sense that things are happening so fast all around us and we won't be apart of it unless we get our piece and get it fast. To deal with this I've resolved myself to being aware of my surroundings, getting good advice, and spending time truly thinking about all aspects of the things I want and want to get into. Even though I've begun practicing these things in my life I still deal with my desire to rush into things. Do you feel like you have to rush into things?

Do you ever feel stuck?

2008-01-09T22:35:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you how many times I've felt stuck. Sometimes when I'm studying and I can't figure something out, or if I'm trying to find more money in my budget, sometimes I'll just feel like I'm stuck. I had the feeling...but something in me always leads me to seek answers. Sometimes the answers I'll come up with are more complex than the problems and yet I find myself enjoying the process. Maybe being stuck is more about discovering ourselves in the process and less about finding the answer. Sometimes I just want the solution...and sometimes I know there is more than the solution to be found. Sometimes I need to learn something about myself.